All-Star Squadron #58



Robotman's got a girlfriend.....

Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Dann Thomas-co-plot, Arvell Jones-pencils, Vince Coletta-inks, Cody Weiss-letters, Carl Gafford-colors

Synopsis: It's April, 1942 (Finally!) and early morning, in New York. Some bystanders (including a pair of servicemembers who are about to get lucky) witness a light streak across th sky and street and crash into an alley.....



It's some kind of robot, with breasts....



The robot rises, dropping debris and notices a poster of the World's Fair and changes direction and heads out, but first zaps a wino, before she(?) leaves. Meanwhile, in Queens, the All-Stars are rebuilding the Trylon & Perisphere, after the previous fun. Robotman is working on Gernsback, their robot valet. He gets a little testy with Hourman when he makes an innocuous, if perhaps clumsy, remark about how human Gernsback seemed, which Robotman seems to take personally. Amazing Man drags Hourman away as Hourman tries to apologize. We then learn that Robotman is still torn about breaking off seeing his former fiancee, in disguise. He takes Gernsback inside and mopes some more. Libby tells Johnny that she intends to resign as leader, surprising him. Hawkgirl is worried about the missing JSA, including her beau, Hawkman. Tarantula and Hourman are feeling inadequate, next to Green lantern and Superman.

The mechanical woman arrives and runs into Gernsback and then neutralizes him, with ease...



Firebrand puts Hourman into the "friend zone" and Tarantuala twists the knife. Firebrand leaves them to act like teenagers and runs into the mechanical woman and gets knocked through a wall. The All-Stars react and find the mechanical woman, who does not know who she is or where she is from. She then zaps them. They fight, seem to win, then the mechanical hand reaches out and grabs an unsuspecting Liberty Belle and zaps her. Dr Fate starts pounding on the robot



Then, he is stopped by Robotman....



He attends to the fallen robot, who utters the name "Rotwang." Robotman carries her off to his lab and throws back a bitchy comment to the All-Stars. There is a gleam in the robot woman's eyes.

There follows a Johnny Thunder story from the Shanghaied into Space story and I can't be bothered.

Thoughts: Well, Robotman certainly has a bee in his bonnet. It all seems to come out of left field, but, you can kind of buy it, as Roy adds severing his contact with past humanity, while picking up the pieces of another mechanical form. The big question who is this mechanical female, who is obviously more advanced technology than 1942, even a 1942 with a Robotman.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of sexual allusions in dialogue. Page one has a soldier and sailor, arm and arm with two women, one of whose skirt is slit to nearly the hip (not a common sight, in 1942, mind you) and one of the women invites the men to "take the party back to my place." It happened; but, this is a Code-approved book. Next, Johnny and Libby have a private word and Johnny alludes to having a "quickie" and Libby shoots him down, which he replies "Can't blame a newlywed hubby for trying." One reference I can see, but two suggests they had given up on the premise that this is being written for children. There was a trend with more mature content at DC, beyond stuff like Swamp Thing, as Nightwing and Starfire would be shown in bed together, in the new Baxter format series, New Teen Titans #1. There was little uproar over that, according to George Perez. The reality was that children were either not entering the comic book ranks or had aged on and comics were shifting to focus on teens, a trend that had been building by the end of the 70s.

Apart from that, this is the start of a new mystery, which will seem to focus around Robotman and this female robot, called Mekanique, on the cover, but not named inside.

Mekanique is an homage to the female robot, who takes the place of Maria, in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis...



The name she utters, Rotwang, is the name of the robot's creator, in the film. She is used to replace Maria, an advocate for the underclasses, who has swayed Freder, privileged son of the city's leader, Jon Frederson, Frederson conspires with Rotwang to have the robot replace Maria and betray the workers, destroying her esteem in Freder's eyes and quell a workers rebellion. It will be interesting to see how much of that plot Roy borrows for this story. Some years later, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier and Roy Thomas wrote Superman: Metropolis, where the mixed the story of Lang's Metropolis with Superman. A little after that, Alan Moore placed Rotwang as a member of Die Zwielichthelden, The Twilight Heroes, the German version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (along with Dr Caligari, his servant Cesare, Rotwang's robot and Dr Mabuse). Metropolis was one of the most visually influential films of its day, with its images of towering skyscrapers, with aircraft moving between them, giant machines manned by the underclasses, running the city, Rotwang's lab, with Tesla coils and equipment, and the robot Maria. The design of the robot, in the film, would influence Ralph McQuarrie's conceptual art for C3PO, in Star Wars.

This has me intrigued to see where Roy is going.

Historical Notes: Well aside from references to Metropolis, there is a poster for The Maltese Falcon on the wall. By that point, the novel had been filmed twice, in 1934 and the previous year, 1941. The poster on display refers to the 1941 version, starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, directed and written by John Huston. It is this image that is referenced, in the poster...



Later, Tarantula mentions how the city almost tore down the Trylon and Perisphere for scrap metal. That was indeed their fate, in December of 1940, as the fair had proven to be a financial failure and resulted in the bankruptcy of the corporation that ran it.



July 1944:

On July 6, in Hartford, CT, a fire broke out at a Ringling Bros. Circus performance and quickly engulfed the main tent. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 168 were killed (records weren't well kept) and over 700 were injured, with at least 100 of the dead believed to have been children. Paraffin coating, a weatehrproofing agent, added to the rapid spread of the fire. No definitive cause was ever established, though an arsonist confessed to it in 1950, though his mental state and lack of evidence to place him there made the confession suspect.

On the Eastern Front, the Soviets liberate Minsk and begin operations to liberate the Balkan countries. By mid-july, they have liberated Vilnus, capital of Lithuania and re-established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Fighting will continue into October.

In the Pacific, the Japanese call off their advance on Imphal. On July 21, American troops land at Guam. Guam had been a US territory, since the defeat of the Spanish, in 1898. It was one of several targets of the Japanes, immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (along with Wake Island and the Philippines). The Allies planned to use Guam and Saipan as staging bases for further landings in Taiwan, the Philippines and the Ryuku Islands and both were ideal for B-29 bases, from which to attack the Japanese Home Islands. Landings were carried out by the 3rd Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, and the 77th Infantry Division. Based on lessons learned, the island was first subjected to massive aerial bombardment by carrier-based naval aircraft and land-based Army aircraft, over a two-day period. That was then followed by a massive naval bombardment, in advance of landings. The Marines quickly established a beachhead; but, the Army had greater difficulty, as they lacked armored amphibious vehicles and landing craft were forced to offload at a reef and the soldiers had to wade ashore. Eventually, on July 28, the beachheads were linked and the Allies moved inland, though fighting was intense. The Japanese line finally broke around August 4 and organized resistance ended on August 10, though over 7,000 troops were at large, on the island. The Chamorro natives of Guam suffered harsh treatment under the Japanese and were herded into concentration camps. Over 600 died in the camps and 2,000 during the 3 years occupation, out of a population of 20,000.

On July 18, Hideki Tojo resigned as Prime Minister of Japan and was replaced by Kuniaki Kuniso.

In France, the Allies capture the town of St Lo and Caen. The British launched Operation Goodwood, a large armored advance on a German held ridge, above Caen, in conjunction with the Canadian Operation Atlantic. After two days, the advance was halted and few gains were made, while between 4000 and 5000 British and Canadian casualties were suffered and the loss of 300-500 tanks. Some 2000 Germans were taken prisoner. The mission was an operational failure; but, it did occupy German forces, lightening the forces facing the American forces that would advance in Operation Cobra, which led to the German collapse, around Caen, by August 7. On August 1, the 3rd army, under Gen George S, Patton is activated.

On July 12-21, a Cossack volunteer unit, within the Wehrmacht, carried out a massacre of 35 civilians, in the village of Dortan, as part of anti-partisan operations. With the Normandy landings, the Maquis rose in open revolt against the Germans, harrying their response to the Allied invasion. The Cossacks declared the area a bandit center, shot 7 people immediately, then carried out systematic looting and the rape of several woman, while killing additional civilians, including rape victims. The village was then burnt to the ground, though it was rebuilt after the war.

On July 6, at Camp Hood, TX, 1st Lt Jackie Robinson boarded a base bus to reach a medical appointment to examine an old ankle injury. Despite an unsegregated bus line, the bus driver ordered him to the back of the bus. Robinson refused and the driver backed down. When the bus reached its destination, the driver alerted the military police and Robinson was arrested. He was subjected to interrogation laced with racist comments and treatments and, when he confronted the interrogating officer, he was recommended for court martial. His CO refused to undertake a court martial and Robinson was transferred to the 758th Battalion, where charges were quickly brought, though they were ultimately reduced to 2 counts of insubordination, during questioning. Robinson was acquitted by a nine man, all-white panel. Robinson's court martial kept him from accompanying the 761st Tank Battalion to Europe, where it engaged in combat operations against the Germans. Robinson was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he coached athletics and was honorably discharged in November, 1944. He played for the Kansas City Monarchs, in the Negro League, before he was eventually signed by the Kansas City Royals as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball.

On July 20, conspirators within the Wehrmacht and civilian leadership attempted to execute Operation Valkyrie, to seize control of German cities, disarm the SS and arrest Nazi leadership, after the assassination of Adolf Hitler. Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg, who was Chief of Staff to Gen Friedrich Fromm, carried a bomb in his attache case to Wolf's Lair, Hitler's operational base in East Prussia. The case had two bombs, but Stauffenberg was only able to prime one, before it was placed near Hitler and it is believed that Oberst Heinz Brandt might have unknowingly nudged the case further away from Hitler, behind a table leg, allowing him to survive. 20 people were wounded, one killed instantly and 3 succumbing to wounds, later. Von Stauffenberg escaped; and, after vacillating, the operation to take over was executed, but word soon reached that Hitler was alive and the plot collapsed. Von Stauffenberg was court martialed and executed under orders from Gen Fromm, who sought to hide his own knowledge of the conspiracy. Fromm was arrested and discharged from the army and then snetenced to death, as a civilian, for cowardice int he face of the enemy. However, because of his actions in executing the conspirators, he was given a military execution, in March 1945.

On July 26, the Me 262 gains its first combat victory, becoming the first jet aircraft flown in successful combat operation.

All-Star Squadron #60



Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Dann Thomas-co-plot, Mike Clark & Arvell Jones-pencils, Vince Coletta & Tony DeZuniga-inks, Cody Weiss-letters, Carl Gafford-colors

Synopsis: Spectre and Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt team up to miracle back the JSA...



They return to Earth to a farmhouse, surrounded by the FBI, with Nazi agents inside and the launch tubes for the rockets which carried them off into space. They bust in, smash up the place, capture Gootsen and send an F_U to Schicklgruber...



So, that's finally put to rest.

Meanwhile, Mekanique is threatening to kill anyone who comes near Robotman...



Robotman reveals she is made on non-earthly metals and says she is on a mission of peace. They ain't buying it and attack and Mekanique puts up a shield they can't break through. She reveals a moment of the future (Iran breaking off diplomatic ties with Japan) and it comes true. Shining Knight is still hostile and Robotman urges her to tell them more. She speaks of a future world-destroying war caused by a road accident when a little girl chases her cat into the street. Green Lantern and Firebrand fly off and, sure enough, a little girl's cat leaps out of her arms and she chases him into the street. firebrand stops her in time and Green Lantern prevents the car from crashing into a pole, which is carrying one Admiral Higby, a naval strategist. Everyone is safe and the All-Stars stand down and reconvene at the Perisphere. They all line up for a group photo, for FDR....



Robotman and Mekanique walk in the garden outside and Robotman presses her about the future and Rotwang. She is hiding something and he uses an electronic "hypnosis" to force her to reveal all.



Turns out she is the robot Maria of Fritz Lang's (and Thea Von Harbou) Metropolis, created by Rotwang to replace the voice of the worker resistance to the elites who controlled their society. She failed, as Freder saved mMria and they saved the people from a flood and rose up against their masters. The robot was rebuilt and sent back in time to prevent Maria from ever being born. The plan has succeeded and Mekanique also reveals that, somehow, she has held back the time altering effects of the Crisis, keeping their knowledge of Earth-2 in tact, until she lets the change flow and history is altered, including wiping from existence Superman, Batman & Robin and Wonder Woman.

The effects overcome Robotman and he has no memory of what she just said. Everyone thinks the world is hunky dory and FDR gets his photo.

Thoughts: Kind of a weird ending that will not carry on, as this is the last original story of the All-Star Squadron, as Roy engages the final 7 issues in pure fan fiction, retelling origins and adapting another All-Star story. So, the issue of Mekanique and her future is left unfulfilled, until Roy picks it up in Infinity, Inc as she is mixed with the history of Per Degaton.

So, that's mostly it for the series. In the letters column Roy admits that #60 is the end of the series, as he conceived it, though Secret Origins and Infinity, Inc will carry forweard, and that he has plans for a post-Crisis All-Star book, which will become Young All-Stars. Secret Origins was presenting the origin stories of DC's heroes, starting with Superman and the early focus was on the golden Age, until editorial dictates demanded more modern heroes mixed with the Golden Agers. Infinity, Inc handled the next generation, while also linking to the old JSA adventures (as well as rehash them to sometimes off-putting degrees). As it is, the photo of the All-Stars ends up being a pre-Crisis thing, as Green Arrow and Speedy are also wiped from existence, though they appear in the final image of the All-Stars, post-Crisis....



Quite frankly, this ends up rather disjointed and unsatisfying. The Shanghaied into Space riff left me cold and detracted from the thrust of the book. Mekanique is left unresolved and we see Earth-2 blink out of existence. It feels rather like a big middle finger from DC editorial to fans of the Earth-2 characters and the stories with them. The stories still existed; but, now we could never again visit that world, slightly different from the one we know. I was never a fan of the premise of Crisis unifying the parallel worlds; streamlining them, maybe, but not eliminating them. If that was the goal, then start the whole thing from square one. Too many decisions were made last minute, or for poor reasons and were undone or further altered or made into a bigger mess, within months. I like a lot of what came out of DC, post-Crisis, as the 30 Years Ago thread reveals, when you look at what I was buying. Still, I missed the Huntress being the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, of Earth-2. I missed the Freedom Fighters battling Nazis on Earth-X. I missed the JLA/JSA crossovers and I would soon miss the JSA, as they were, for all intents and purposes, wiped out of existence in the DC Universe, until they backtracked on that. I hated that whole Ragnarok limbo mess. DC celebrated 50 years of existence by dumping their past, in favor of a new present and their past is what made them unique. It took a little time for them to understand that and it took a new generation of fan writers to remind them (and some editorial changes).

Historical Notes: The little girl's cat is named Ignatz, the mouse character in the comic strip Krazy Kat. That was also the name of Roy & Dann Thomas' cat. Nice way to treat a cat: naming it after a mouse that hit cats with bricks!

Admiral Higby (misspelled) is a tribute to retired Coast Guard Rear Adm Frank D Higbee, a veteran of WW1 and 2, who was Warden of the Port of Los Angeles, during WW2. Roy and Dann Thomas became acquainted with him and appropriated him for the story. Arvel messed up his uniform, giving him gold stripes down his trouser seams. The Navy has no such uniform, neither does the Coast Guard. They also put him in the Navy, though he was a Coast Guard officer, during WW2. That's been par for the course for the series, as the artists seem to lack proper WW2 uniform references.

Iran did break of relations with Japan in April 1942, as in the story.

Metropolis was filmed in 1927, directed by fritz Lang and conceived by Lang and Thea von Harbou, who wrote the screenplay. Rudolph Klein-Rogge, who was a mainstay for Lang, and had been involved with Von Harbou before she left him for Lang, played Rotwang, the evil genius inventor of the Robot who replaces Maria. Brigitte Helm portrayed Maria and she would become a foe of the Nazis, as she was targeted for marrying a Jewish man. She hated what the Nazis were doing to the film industry and retired to Switzerland, in 1935. She did not act again until an appearance in a short film, in 1978. She died in 1996. Klein-Rogge would also portray Lang's criminal mastermind Dr Mabuse, in both Dr Mabuse the Gambler and The Testament of Dr Mabuse, a film which ended up being banned by the Nazis as it was a thinly veiled allegory of Hitler and the Nazis. Lang left the country, though he embellished the story that he fled after a meeting with Goebbels, which doesn't hold up to cursory examination of his actions before permanently leaving Germany, first to France and then to the United States, where he worked in Hollywood, though he did not enjoy the experience. Von Harbou remained in Germany, working as a scenarist in the German film industry, under Nazi control, while secretly marrying and Indian student, with whom she had an affair, while married to Lang (who indulged in his own affairs).

Metropolis remains a cinematic masterpiece and has been referenced in things like Queen's "Radio Gaga" video, in the design for C3P0 in Star Wars, in the Colossus of Roads in Dean Motter's Terminal City, and with the League fo Extraordinary gentlemen. Some of the cityscape of Los Angeles, in Blade Runner, owed a legacy to Metropolis. In Japan, manga god Osamu Tezuka drew inspiration for his 1949 series, Metropolis. Later, Roy & Dann would revisit Metropolis, with Superman, in collaboration with Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, as part of a trilogy.

September 1944

In the Pacific, as part of Operation Stalemate, the 1st Marine Division landed on the island of Pelilieu, in the Marianas island chain, to seize a Japanese held airfield, as part of the strategy to support Gen MacArthur's push to retake the Philippines. US strategy placed importance on the island to protect MacArthur's right flank and provide an airfield for future strikes north. Planning deviated little from previous landings, with the Marines landing in three sectors, expecting to face the same kinds of battles they had elsewhere, fighting the Japanese on the beaches and moving inland to secure the island. The navy's Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) cleared beach obstacles and then a 3 day naval bombardment commenced, pausing only to launch carrier-based airstrikes on the island. The island was pounded mercilessly for the three days and it was believed that the Japanese would be all but wiped out, offering a token resistance to the landing forces, who would overwhelem the 11,00o Japanese troops stationed there. The US attacked with 47,000 personnel. What the US planners did not know was that the Japanese losses in previous operations had led them to re-examine their defensive strategy and abandon the idea of stopping an invasion on the beach. Instead, they developed heavy fortifications, with a system of bunkers and tunnels, honeycombing an island, well protected against bombardment and air strikes, by masses of natural rock, while setting up defensive positions that had overlapping fields of fire, concentrated on invasion routes. Thus, the Japanese could survive a bombardment and impede any advance inland for as long as the position could hold out. In fact, the Japanese mostly survived the 3-day bombardment with few casualties. They then fought a determined defense for the next two months, as the Marines and US Army reinforcements expended tons of ordinance and spilled gallons of blood routing out individual positions. The airfield was taken on the 2nd day and was launching artillery spotter planes by the third. It then provided a field for Marine Corsair aircraft to launch strikes on defensive positions, firing rockets into cave mouths and dropping a new weapon, napalm. This jellied gasoline was effective at burning away concealing cover, as well as burning out the defenders of such positions. The Marine pilots were engaging targets almost as soon as they lifted off and didn't even bother retracting their landing gear, as they would drop their ordinance and then maneuver into a landing pattern to rearm. In the end, the Mariens expended 1500 rounds of ammunition for every Japanese soldier killed. The 1st Marine Division suffered 6,500 casualties, a third of the entire division. The Japanese pretty much fought to a man. The 1st Marines were withdrawn after a month of fighting and spent their time rebuilding and recovering until the invasion of Okinawa. One of the Marines there was Eugene Sledge, who kept a diary of his experiences in his New Testament he carried in his pocket. In 1981, he turned these diary entries into a combat memoir, With the Old Breed: At Pelilieu and Okinawa, which is considered to be one of the most honest and finest accounts of a combat soldier. Sledge didn't pull punches, taking the reader into a world of fear and stress, fatigue and death, in a war of attrition to take the island. His memoir would provide material for both the Ken Burns documentary, The War and the HBO mini-series, The Pacific, where his role was played by Joseph Mazzello. Sledge suffered severe post traumatic stress upon returning home and it was only through the study of biology, which helped him focus on life, rather than death, allowed him to make peace with his time there. He earned his doctorate in 1960 and was a popular professor at Alabama College (now the Univ of Montevallo). He died in 2001.

On the Eastern Front, the Soviets continued their push through Estonia and signed a peace accord with Finland, ending their war which had raged even before the fight with Germany. The Bulgarian government fell and a communist regime took charge and reallied itself with the Soviet Union.

In Italy, the occupied "neutral" nation of San Marino was liberated by Allied forces. The nation declared neutrality early in the war, but the Allied advances in 1943 led to its occupation by the Germans, as part of the Gothic Line, protecting the southern frontiers of Germany. Fighting raged over 3 days.

The Allied gains continued in Western Europe. On September 3, the Allies liberated Brussels, the capital of Belgium and then the port of Antwerp, on the 4th. This was a prize for the Allies, as they now had a deep water port in which to move supplies, equipment and men in greater numbers, helping to alleviate supply problems plaguing their rapid advance. The exiled Belgian government returned to brussels on the 7th. By September 10, Luxembourg was liberated. On September 12, the Allied forces from Operation Overlord (Normandy) and Operation Dragoon (Provence) linked up, near Dijon. The stage was set for one of the most audacious Allied operations of the war, Operation Market Garden.



The plan was a bold one: a combined airborne and armored invasion of The Netherlands. The target was the bridge across the Rhine, at Arnhem, to allow the Allies to control an access point into Germany and end the war quickly. Amazingly, the plan came from notoriously cautious British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Montgomery's plan was to employ the 1st Airborne Division, in conjunction with the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions to seize a series of bridges across the Meuse River and two tributaries of the Rhine, as well as other canals and tributaries. The airborne forces would then be reinforced by the ground contingent and press forward to ultimately relieve the British paras at Arnhem and then bypass the Siegfried line into Germany. The plan consisted of two segments, Market was the airborne insertion of the paratroops all across Holland, with orders to sezie, intact, the key bridges and hold them against counter-attack until the ground forces could arrive. Garden was the ground portion, undertaken by XXX Corps, under the command of Lt Gen Brian Horrocks, one of Montgomery's most capable commanders. They had to fight their way through some 60 miles of enemy held territory and link up with each airborne contingent. The timetable for XXX Corps to reach Arnhem was 4 days, at most, along a two-lane highway, with surrounding ground that would inhibit tactical maneuvering. Allied intelligence painted a picture of the Germans as defeated and demoralized, on the run from the Allied advance. They believed the best troops had been withdrawn to Germany and that the defenders would be second tier units. Dutch Resistance intelligence suggested otherwise and they sent reports of troop stagings in key areas, including Panzer troops. Aerial reconnaissance even captured photos of tank units under cover, carrying out maintenance. These warning signs were ignored and a general attitude of not rocking Monty's boat prevailed. Allied logistics were committed to Montgomery, causing a halt in Patton's 3rd Army advance.

The US 101st were assigned the bridges at Eindhoven (across the Son and Veghel), the 82nd had the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the rail bridge at Oosterbeek, in Arnhem. Transport was an immediate issue, as there were not enough C-47 Skytrains to deliver all of the paratroops and tow all of the gilder troops on the first day of operations. Instead, 90% of the aircraft were used to drop the paras on the first day and tow gliders on the second, then provide supply drops and reinforcements. Loss aircraft was a major concern, leading to the 1st Airborne's landing zone being nearly 10 miles from their objective, eliminating the chance of a coup de main attack on the Oosterbeek bridge, as at Normandy, with the Pegasus Bridge.

The Germans were now under the command of Field Marshal Von Runstedt, one of the Wehrmacht's most capable leaders. he, along with Gen Model and Gen Sturdent, commander of the Fallschirmjaeger, had taken command of the situation and began building defensive lines along the Albert Canal, in the wake of the losses in July and August. These were not second tier troops.

On the 1st day, the American landings went well, with the bulk of the paratroops landing on or near target, unlike at Normandy. The 101st achieved their objectives without major incident, until the Son Bridge was destroyed before it could be captured. A similar bridge nearby could not be taken. XXX Corps, led by the Irish Guards commenced their attack and then were ambushed by fallschirmjaeger and SS Panzer troops. With air support of Hawker Typhoons, they hit them hard and eventually routed them, but, their timetable had called for them to cover 13 miles in the first 2-3 hours and they had progressed only half that, throwing the advance behind schedule. The loss of the Son bridge required engineers to bring up Bailey Bridges, a prefab bridging structure that had to be floated across the river and assembled into a functioning pontoon bridge. This created further delays as XXX Corps could not advance until the bridge was completed. The 82nd ran into stiff resistance at the Grave Bridge and Nijmegen required a water-borne assault, using collapsible boats...



The 82nd took heavy casualties crossing the river to attack the bridge at both ends; but, the succeeded in their mission, capturing the bridge intact.

At Arnhem, Lt Col John Frost led the advance force into Arnhem, then ran into heavy resistance at the bridge, including panzers. They were unable to communicate with headquarters due to problems with their radio crystals. Headqaurtersd had its own problems as their troops were scattered and commander Gen Roy Urquhart even had to take refuge in an attic to avoid capture by German troops, at one point. The Germans counter-attacked and overran British drop zones and subsequent resupply runs dropped supplies into German hands. The force at Arnhem was completely cut off from the rest and suffered heavy casualties, eventually surrendering when they were out of ammunition. The British launched an operation to withdraw as many troops from the area as possible, crossing the Rhine by swimming and in rubber rafts, as a relay system was set up, all under cover of darkness. This was after 9 days of fighting, over twice as long as planned.

British 1st Airborne suffered 8,000 casualties, while the total Allied losses were between 15,000 ant 17, 000, to the German 6-13,000 estimated casualties. Of the 10,000 troops dropped near Arnhem, 1400+ were killed and 6000+ captured. The Allies continued fighting in the Netherlands until February of 1945, when Arnhem was finally liberated in Operation Plunder. The operation was a limited success in the south, but the northern end was a fiasco that took far too many casualties without achieving the primary objective. Losses were such that further airborne operations were not conducted until 1945. Much denial and scapegoating abounded. Montgomery continued to push the idea the operation was 90% successful. Polish General Sosabowski, who had been one of Poland's most effective officers at the start of the war and built their first Airborne unit, was painted as a failure by Montgomery's supporters, despite the excellent record of the Polish Brigade in fighting and aiding in the withdraw of the 1st Airborne. The Poles were delayed by weather in their jumps and Sosabowski had been a vocal critic of Montgomery's plans and Gen Browning's optimism. After the war, he could not return to Poland, due to the Communist regime, who considered him a traitor. He ended up working in a factory and most who knew him only learned he had been a general and a war hero after his death.

On September 19, the Battle of Hurtgen Forest began, along the Belgium-German frontier, which would last into mid-December. The Allies were trying to break through the Siegfried line and move into the Ruhr Valley, hoping to take control of the damn there, to prevent flooding that could stop an Allied advance. The Allies suffered 33,000-50,000 casualties, while the Germans suffered 28, 000 but held the frontier, before counter-attacking with the Ardennes Offensive, aka The Battle of the Bulge. The US 1st Division suffered the bulk of the casualties in heavy fighting. In total, the Allies suffered over 140,000 casualties in the campaign to breach the Siegfried Line. , something that would not occur until 1945.

On September 2, Anne Frank and her family are transported to Auschwitz.

September began Hongerwinter, a famine which ravaged occupied Northern Holland. German forces had cut off food and fuel shipments to the farmlands and the occupied areas were densely populated. Soup kitchens worked to feed the populace; but, somewhere between 18,000 and 22, 000 are estimated to have perished. The winter proved to be one of the harshest on record, which contributed to the high death toll. the caloric intake dropped below 1000 calories and was down to about 500, by February, before the area was completely liberated. The Allies, in an amazing act of cooperation, secured permission to carry out mercy flights (code named Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound) to drop supplies into affected areas, flying on a specific course, unescorted, provided the Allies did not bomb German areas.



In his commentary for the movie Black Book, director Paul Verhoeven spoke of his childhood, eating the soup provided at the soup kitchens, which was often made with things like tulip bulbs. he said he could still taste it, watching the scenes of the soup kitchen, in the film.

On September 8, the first V-2 rocket attack on London occurred.

I find it a little difficult to understand why Crisis would have "totally ruined" this comic. The big difference (regarding the WW2 adventures) is that the "duplicate" characters have been deleted. But since Thomas used anyway them very little for various reasons , I think it could reasonably be said that 90% (or more) of the stories may have remained identical even in the Post-Crisis era.(I didn't actually read them, I'm basing this hypothesis on your excellent reviews )

All-Star Squadron #62



The Origin of the Shining Knight!

I believe it involves Brasso...



Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Tony DeZuniga-artist, Cody Weiss-letters, Carl Gafford-colors.
Based on Adventure Comics #66, with art by Craig Flessel

Synopsis: We go back to the (fictional) days of King Arthur, which looks vaguely Fosterian, as Queen Guinevere's cousin, Sir (Jimmie) Fallon gets F-ed up by the ogre,



Blunderbore. The Knights of the Round Table.....



....argue over who gets to go pop a lance in his @$$ as payback. The winner is Sir Justin...



Wow; who knew he was blond?

The rookie knight sets out on his quest and comes across some dues wearing someone else's colors and they fight and he inadvertently releases Merlin, from a spell. Merle rewards him with new threads....



...and a hint about the future. He peps up his sword a bit and turns his horse into Winged Victory which irks Mobil.

Ooooooh; John Byrne on Superman, in 2 weeks!



He takes WV out for a spin, then runs into Blunderbore....



No, no; that's Stumbo. I said Blunderbore...



He is pretty POd about Sir Justin invading his 'hood and he calls him out. They fight and Sir Justin sticks hsi shiv into him, but Blunderbore kicks Justin and WV off a cliff. Sir Justin and WV end up encased in ice (it is the Ice Kingdom) and floats off through the centuries, until his ice floe comes ashore, in New England, in the 1940s. He is unfrozen (caveman lawyer), thanks to the dynamite of a Dr Moresby, who takes him to New York and gives him some modern clothes. He shows him around a museum to explain the history and technology he missed...



The subject of Arthur and Gunivere comes up and Moresby mentions Guinevere's little dalliance with Lancelot and Sir Justin grabs a sword and is about to go ye royal postal, when a lady turns up and he simmers down. She flirts with him and says that if he is a chivalrous knight, she will have to become a damsel in distress....



Kinky!

Some hoods turn up to rob the place and injure Moresby. Sir Justin dons his armor and brings payback for his homie.



Round Table; represent!

They bring guns to a sword fight and he defeats them the Camelot way, then chases after them with his lance.



The crooks are rounded up, the lady gushes some more and Sir Justin goes on to become a member of the Seven Soldiers of victory and the All-Star Squadron, as well as market his image for video games...



In the letters pages, people talk about the Crisis reboot and how it affects the Squadron. Many suggest replacing Superman with Captain marvel and Roy hints that it isn't possible (well, it was, if you thought about it; but, DC had other ideas). There are suggestions for Tarantula to take over the batman role, a bigger presence from the Freedom Fighters (and Miss America as a stand-in for Wonder Woman, which sort of happens, in relation to Lyta Trevor aka Fury's parents) and an Aussie fan suggests a Soviet hero for the All-Stars, which Roy is wishy-washy about, but says there has been an idea for a Soviet for a while.

Thoughts: Fun origin tale and really nice art from Tony DeZuniga, who gets to exercise his inner Hal Foster (whose Prince Valiant was shamelessly ripped off for Shining Knight and just about every other Arthurian or medieval tale in Golden Age comics (and Silver Age, for that matter). The modern lady with the hots for him is actually kind of intriguing and I wouldn't have minded a mini-series to explore their relationship. I think this is also the first time I have seen Sir Justin without his chainmail, revealing him to be blond, which might be a nod to Captain America, even though Sir Justin being frozen in ice predates Steve Rogers having the same done to him. The fish-out-of-water should be more pronounced, though, as Sir Justin comes from a period antiquity, rather than just a couple of decades before. Cap's culture shock would have been relatively minimal, in the 60s, though more pronounced today, as seen in the MCU films. Sir Justin would have been ignorant of the science behind the technological marvels, not to mention Old English and the modern variety are vastly different.

So, yeah; more of this would have been fun.

Historical Notes: There is little evidence of the existence of a historical "King Arthur;" just a lot of theories as to an inspiration for the legends and ballads. Arthurian lore borrows heavily from other cultures and is generally tweaked to fit the time period. The 9th Century Welsh Historia Brittonum (written in Latin by a Welsh cleric) mentions King Arthur and 12 battles, including the Battle of Badon. However, scholarship suggests that the work is highly suspect, from a historical record perspective, as are the 10th Century Annales Cambriae. In both cases, there is evidence of later editing to add elements to Arthur that are absent from earlier versions. The real cornerstone to things if Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th Century Historia Regum Brittaniae, which consolidates some of the stories and provides a foundation for later works, such as Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, Tennison's Idyll's of the King and TH White's The Once and Future King. The latter has a strong influence of Roy's interpretation, with Merlin depicted as living his life backward, remembering the future (his past) as he suggests Sir Justin's armor is bulletproof. That work was unfinished in 1941, as only the sections of The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkness, and The Ill-Made Knight had been published (the latter only one year before). In fact, the war was a major factor in the rather dark and despondent final section of the collected work, as White became disillusioned by mankind and the horrible death toll of the war, both soldier and civilian. It does not carry the brighter optimism of The Sword in the Stone, written just before the outbreak of the war, in 1938.

Foster's Prince Valiant is set in the legendary Arthurian time, though he mixes in 5th Century history, as Britain is plagued by the Saxon invasions, as well as other Viking raiders. Val is the son of a deposed king from the Germanic state of Thule (near Norway), whose people come to live in the fens of Britain. Val has adventures within these marshes and swamps, encountering prehistoric beasts (standing in for dragons and monsters), ogres and the like. He meets Sir Gawain and comes to Camelot, first as Gawain's squire, then as a full-fledged Knight of the Round Table. he later regains his father's kingdom, helps Arthur defeat the Saxons, helps the European kingdoms battle and defeat the Huns, meets Aleta, rescues her after they have been parted and goes on a Viking exploration to North America, where son Arn is born. Foster had a long shadow in comics, influencing adventure strips and, especially, comic book artists, who swiped his poses and layouts and drawing style, both from his run on Tarzan and Prince Valiant. He influenced everyone from Kirby (especially his Demon series) to Wood (who swiped techniques and costuming from the work) and beyond. The basic design for Sir Justin is pretty much Prince Valiant, with golden chain mail, instead of silver, and the winged horse.

Another inspiration for the character is Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (one of my favorites of Twain's writing), which tells of a modern man who slips through time to Arthurian times, but with a knowledge of engineering and manufacture and is able to bring some technology to Camelot and becomes Sir Boss and fights against Mordred as his traitorous knights with six-shooters.

Shining Knight was kind of forgotten, after the SSV appearance in JLA, apart from Roy's use, until the Stars and STRIPE book, where we learn that Sir Justin had suffered from Amnesia and was the janitor at Blue Valley High School, until his memory is restored. What a waste of a good character! Would have rather seen him in the hands of James Robinson than Geoff Johns.

November 1944-

The European Theater is a bit quieter. The Allies begin Operation Queen, an attempt to breach the Siegfried Line and enter the Rur Valley, the heart of German industry. The main obstacle wasn't so much the Siegfried Line as the Hurtgen Forest, a dense are where the Germans had established a layered defense. The 1st Army advanced slowly through the dense forest and met stubborn resistance. The 9th army advanced through the Rur plains. Both ends encountered heavy resistance, but had the aid of Allied air supremacy. By December, the forces were in striking range of the Rur dams, when the Germans launched the Ardennes Offensive, aka The Battle of the Bulge.

In the East, the Germans had been pushed back in Estonia and were in a precarious position, when operations were launched to evacuate German forces from the archipelago of islands that dominate the sea lane approaches to Helsinki and St Petersburg.

British air forces launch Operation Catechism, a bombing raid on Tromso, Norway, where the German battleship Tirpitz was anchored. The Tirpitz was the sister ship of the Bismark, which had wreaked such havoc on British shipping, until it was destroyed in a large scale hunter-killer operation. Previously, the ship had been damaged in an attack by British X-class mini-submarines. 32 Lancaster bombers, armed with 12,000 pound Tallboy bombs (a massive explosive bomb, designed by Barnes Wallis, who helped develop to skipping bombs for the Dam Busters Raid), which were designed to penetrate heavily fortified structures, such as bunkers and casements. The bombers were guided by radio signals from Norwegian agents. Several outposts spotted the bombers, but their course led the Germans to believe they were headed for the Soviet Union. A call to scramble fighters came too late to reach the Tirpitz anchorage, before the attack. Between 9:41 and 9:49 am, the Lancasters released their Tallboys, with multiple hits on the Tirpitz. Damage was extensive and attempts to control flooding could not counter the volume of water coming in. At 9:50, with the ship already at a 30-40 degree list, a magazine turret exploded, causing the list to increase until the ship was on its side and the order to abandon her went out. At 9:52, the ship heeled over and capsized. Over 1,000 men were killed or trapped on the ship. The ship's destruction left the Kriegsmarine without any capital ships to threaten Allied Supply Convoy routes. Much debate has raged about the necessity of the raid, as the Tirpitz had not been repaired since the previous attack with the X subs and Allied convoys had been all but unchallenged for some time. With the loss of France, Germany lost the vital submarine base at La Harve and this seemed more a propaganda exercise than a strategic target.

In the US, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a 4th term, as President of the United States, the only man to ever serve more than two terms. This would spur on efforts that led to the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, which placed term limits on the presidency, to 2 terms or a maximum of 10 years. Harry Truman was exempt from the provisions of the Amendment, since he was in office when it was ratified; however, he chose not to seek re-election, in 1952, after a poor performance in the New Hampshire Primary.

In the Pacific, the fighting continues in the Philippines, while submarines continue to wreak destruction on the Japanese merchant and naval fleet. Immediately after Pearl harbor, President Roosevelt ordered unrestricted submarine war on all Japanese shipping and attacks began soon after. However, with the loss of the Philippines and threats to Midway and Australia, the submarine effectiveness was low, worsened by poor performance of US torpedoes. By 1943, improvements in tactics and equipment, as well as the seizure of islands as new bases gave greater range to submarine forces and from 1943 until the Japanese surrender, the US submarine fleet launched an relentless attack on Japanese shipping, while also relaying vital intelligence about Japanese fleet movements and interception of troop ships bringing in reinforcements. In November 1944, the USS Queenfish succeeded in sinking the aircraft carrier Akitsu Maru, while the USS Archer sank the Shinano, the largest aircraft carrier built, until the launching of the USS Forrestal. The Shinano remains the largest ship sunk by a submarine.

On November 10, at Seedler Harbor, on the island of Manus, in New Guinea, the USS Mount Hood (an ammunition ship) suffered an accidental explosion which destroyed the ship, as 3,800 tons of cargo went off. The resulting explosion destroyed 22 small boats, damaged 36 nearby ships, and killed 432 men and injured another 371.

On Nov 27, in Staffordshire, in the UK, a storage depot at RAF Fauld suffers an explosion of between 3,450 and 3,950 tons of ordinance, killing 75 and creating a crater 1200 meters in diameter and 120 meters deep, in the largest non-nuclear explosion in history and the largest on UK soil.

All-Star Squadron #64



The funny pages just got serious!

Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Wayne Boring-pencils, Tony DeZuniga-inks, Cody Weiss-letters, Carl Gafford-colors
That's right; Wayne "Superman" Boring! DC was actually giving back, a bit, in this period.

Adapted from a story by Jerry Siegel and John Sikela, which means more fan fiction from Roy.

Synopsis: Johnny Quick is reading the funny pages, especially Detective Craig (Dick Tracy?)



Johnny and Libby (who aren't married yet, as this is set between issues 46 and 47) get mushy and, in Metropolis, the giant Torgo, from "Prince Peril" turns up, causing total chaos.



He robs an armored car, the radio broadcasts the news and Johnny and Libby are off to Metropolis, since Superman hasn't arrived on Earth yet (anymore). They get the 411 from one of the guards and track Torgo down in a park, where he is looking for the Master....



They fight, Libby hits him with sonics, he disappears and someone called Funny Face appears and heckles them...



Libby alerts the rest of the available Squadroners and then hears a report of Machine Gun Mike, a villain in Detective Craig, robbing a museum. So, it's off to the races, where we find MGM unloading his weapon, a cross between a Thompson, a Sten and something else...



Robotman turns up, whoops him and he disappears, but other crooks are making a getaway and Robotman pursues and catches them. Crimson Avenger and Wing turn up late to the party.

Meanwhile, Atom and Firebrand go hunting and run into the Black Raider, a western villain from the Solo Rider.



He starts a stampede, Firebrand tries to stop it and gets hit with a stream of water, putting her down for the count and she is captured. Silly girl, leave the fighting to the boys! She wakes up, tied up (of course) while being doused with water, by Funnyface, who is about to bring Goola, the villain from Streak Dugan, to life. He has been doing this with the other comic strip chaarcters.

Starman, Sandman and Sandy show up in Metropolis and spot Goola's saucer, attacking a train and go to work. Fight, fight, fight...Goola disappears, Funnyface taunts...and the heroes are fools. tarantual runs into the Viper, villain from Happy Daze and the same occurs. Firebrand had written the address on the comic, before it came to life, so the gang knows where she is at and attack in force.



Firebrand is freed, Funnyface is revealed as a huma nutcase inventor, and Libby rubs it in that his deice alone could have made him rich.

D'oh!

Thoughts: The original tale was from 1942, Superman #19, with Superman in place of the All-Stars. Probably seemed just as goofy then. It's fun, for what it is and it was nice to see Wayne Boring doing some work. He did a few things for DC's anniversary, including Who's Who and Secret Origins.

The strips spoofed include Dick Tracy, Prince Valiant, The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon and, possibly Hairbreadth Harry, which featured the misadventures of a melodrama villain, ala Snidely Whiplash. Sadly, no Alley Oop or Thimble Theater.

Historical Notes: The newspaper mentions an Allied convoy safely reaching Russia, as this s the height of the Battle of the Atlantic. It also mentions the bombing of Lubek, the first German city to be attacked by the RAF, in March, 1942.



January 1945

In the Pacific, The Burma Campaign experiences great success as the Battle of Hill 170 cuts off the Japanese 54th Division and makes their position on the Arakan Peninsula untenable and leads to large scale withdrawal of Japanese troops. The Burma Road is also opened into China, allowing large scale supply convoys to pass through, avoiding the more dangerous Himalayan air route into China.

Fighting continues in the Philippines. On Luzon, word reaches the Allies that the Japanese have started massacring prisoners and a camp at Cabantuan is threatened. A rescue operation is quickly mounted, involving the Army Rangers, the Alamo Scouts and Philippine guerrillas. The raid is led by Ranger Lt Col Henry Mucci and involves a deep reconnaissance by the Alamo Scouts, who survey the prison and linkup with guerillas. the main Ranger force trekked overland, through grasslands, avoiding known Japanese patrolling areas. After linking up, they prepared to assault the camp. A P-61 Black Widow nightfighter was attached to the raid to create a diversion. The pilot faked a stall and simulated emergency aerial maneuvers, then simulated a crash in the hills beyond, to draw Japanese attention away from the assault target. The Scouts and guerrillas crawled across open ground, cut telephone lines and began assaulting the watch towers and guard barracks. The main force hit the compound and quickly took down the guards. The hard part proved to be rounding up the prisoners, who believed it was a Japanese trick. They were soon gathered and marched away from the camp, with assist from local horse-drawn carts, whose numbers had to be increased as the prisoners were too malnourished to handle the physical part of the march. Wounded were medevaced, after an airstrip was cut to allow a small plane to land. The group continued their journey to the Allied lines. The freed men were fed and treated and eventually sent home on the shipUSS General AE Anderson, which Japanese propaganda claimed was being hunted. The ship arrived safely in San Francisco, on March 8 and were given a hero's welcome. The prisoners provided the first accounts of the atrocities faced during the Bataan Death March and subsequent imprisonment. Although tales were censored, sanitized stories were told and the resolve to defeat Japan was strengthened. Further raids were soon carried out at Santo Tomas Civilian Internment Camp and Bilibid Prison, and Los Banos.

In Europe, the Allies were busy recapturing ground from the Ardennes Offensive and crossed the Siegfried Line. During one of these battles, near a place called Holtzwihr, 19 year-old staff sergeant Audie Murphy and his platoon were fighting off a German counter attack, when Murphy was wounded in the legs, earning a second Purple Heart. he was made commander of Company B, while they awaited reinforcement. The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, forcing the crew to abandon it. Murphy order his men to take cover in the tree line, while he single handedly provided covering fire with his carbine and directed artillery fire with a radio. Murphy then mounted the stricken tank destroyer and used its .50 cal machine gun to decimate a German squad that was advancing via a ditch, towards his position. he maintained fire until the ammunition was spent, after more than an hour. he inflicted 50 casualties on the Germans and was hit in the leg, as he stood on the tank destroyer, firing. He rejoined his men, and, ignoring his own wounds, led them to safely and then saw that their wounds were treated before his own. For his actions and leadership, Murphy was promoted to 1st lieutenant and awarded the Medal of Honor.



Murphy would go on to become the most highly decorated soldier of the war, with the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, 2 bronze Stars, 3 Purple Hearts, 2 Distinguished Unit Citations, the French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, as well as the Belgian Croix de Guerre, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European, African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, WW2 Victory medal, German Occupation Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with rifle component, Expert Badge with Bayonet component.

After the war, Murphy would become a rancher and actor, including such films as The Red Badge of Courage and the dramatization of his memoir, To Hell and Back. Murphy suffered from post-traumatic stress after the war, sleeping with a pistol under his pillow and using barbituates to avoid nightmares, until he became addicted. he locked himself into a hotel room to go cold turkey. murphy was one of the first prominent veterans to speak out about PTSD, removing the stigma that often accompanied such cases. Murphy became the man of the house when his father abandoned the family and was forced to drop out of school in the 5th grade, going to work picking cotton. His mother died when he was 16 and his siblings were placed in an orphanage. After first being turned down by the Army for being too small, he enlisted and became a sergeant by the age of 17. he was a lieutenant at age 19. I wasn't commissioned as an ensign until I was 21, after 4 years of training and education. Murphy was a natural leader, with a quiet, calming demeanor that filled his men with confidence He took care of them and brought more back alive than most in his position. The word hero is used too freely in modern times; but, Audie Murphy was a hero; not because he killed the enemy, but because he protected his men and brought them through it and spoke openly about the price he paid, so that people understood the cost of war.

on the eastern Front, the Soviets launched twoo offense, the Vistual-Oder Offensive, targeted at Warsaw and Krakow, and a second in East Prussia. By January 17, they had taken and occupied Warsaw. On January 19, they liberated the Lodz Ghetto. Of a population of 164,000 Jews, only 877 survived.

The Germans began the evacuation of Auschwitz, leaving behind those too infirmed to move, with no supplies. As many as 15,000 died on the marches to other locations, out of 60,000 moved. On January 27th, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz and Birkenau.

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Jewish lives, was taken into custody by a Soviet patrol, during the Siege of Budapest and was never seen again.

The Germans begin Operation Hannibal, a mass evacuation of military and civilians from East Prussia.

On January 16, Hitler takes up permanent residence in the Fuhrerbunker, in Berlin.

On January 1, the Luftwaffe launch Operation Bodenplatte, a last-ditch effort to cripple Allied air fields int he low countries; but Allied numerical superiority has replacement aircraft at those bases within a week and continues attacking German positions and columns with impunity. the Luftwaffe committed their best squadrons to the attack, and their losses were irreplaceable. Lack of fuel and replacement aircraft and parts would cripple Luftwaffe operations, limiting them to a dwindling defense.

On January 24, 9 OSS men and 4 SOE agents are executed, under Hitler's Commando order, along with AP News Correspondent Joseph Morton, who was covering their activities. Morton is the only Allied journalist executed by the Axis, during the war.

On January 31, Pvt Edward Slovik is executed, by firing squad, for desertion. Slovik had been a troubled youth and petty criminal and was originally classified 4-F. However, soon after marrying, he was reclassified 1A and drafted. he was assigned to the 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Army Division. In France, he was separated from his replacement detachment, during an artillery barrage. On October 7th, he finally reported to his unit. The next day, he asked for reassignment to a rear area, as he was too scared to serve in a rifle unit. the request was denied and he deserted on the 9th. he walked to a rear area and presented a cook with a note where he stated he had deserted his post and the circumstances of his desertion. teh cook alerted MPs and he was brought before his company commander, who gave him the chance to tear up his note and return to his unit. he refused. he was brought before the battalion commander and again given the chance to tear up the note and refused. he was put under arrest and placed in the stockade to await court martial. The 28th Division was scheduled to advance into the Hurtgen Forest and casualties were expected to be high. Slovik was convicted in a court martial and sentenced to death. the sentence was reviewed and approved by Division Commander Maj Gen Norm Cota, one of the key figures in strengthening the resolves of troops on Omaha Beach, during D-Day. A plea of clemency was submitted to SHAEF, but the Battle of the Bulge complicated things and desertion was becoming a problem, in France. Eisenhower rejected the plea and confirmed the sentence. On January 31, Slovik was executed and buried in a military grave, with only a numbered marker, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion. The only other soldiers executed in the European theater were for the crimes of rape and murder. in 1987, Slovik's remains were exhumed and returned to the United States. his widow petitioned presidents Truman through Carter for a pardon, for her husband; but, it was never granted.