Peter's Gallery :: World War II - Combat (Dell) 12, April-June 1964

Combat 12, page 15 by Sam Glanzman

Artists: Sam Glanzman (Penciller) , Sam Glanzman (Inker)

6 Comments - 123 Views - 2 Likes

Combat 12, page 15 by Sam Glanzman Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Combat 12, page 15 by Sam Glanzman
Artist:	Sam Glanzman (Penciller)
Artist:	Sam Glanzman (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	123
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	6
Added to Site:	9/5/2025
Comic Art Archive:	Combat Issue: 12 Page: 15 View

Description

"Guadalcanal" by Paul S. Newman. April-June 1964.

This account of the patrol deviates quite a bit from what actually happened during this poorly planned and executed reconnaissance mission.

Although the comic says the leader was a captain, the patrol was led by the First Marine Division's intelligence chief, Lt. Col. Goettge. He proposed and pushed for, as well as insisted on leading, the mission. The commanding general approved the mission but didn't want him to lead it, but after some discussion relented, according to a US Naval Institute article (full reference at the end.

The plan called for them to land in the daylight, conduct reconnaissance, and return overland the next day. Goettge was warned that rescue or relief was unlikely if they ran into trouble. He disregarded concerns raised by others and the lateness of the hour, pushing what was intended to be a daylight landing into the night.

As the landing craft headed in, Goettge ignored the prisoner's warning that they were in the wrong area. The comic is accurate that the landing craft's noise alerted the Japanese naval guard unit. That noise, however, also included efforts to free the craft after running aground while landing.

Firing didn't start with the men on the beach but when Goettge and two others approached the village scouting for a place to spend the night. Goettge was indeed immediately killed, but the prisoner wasn't with him or killed by enemy fire. A platoon sergeant at the beach shot and killed the prisoner when shooting started. A survivor remembers seeing the platoon sergeant on the landing craft holding the line that was attached to the neck of the Japanese seaman and saying "if anything happens, he�ll be the first to get it.�

Source: "The Goettge Patrol" by Lieutenant Colonel J. N. Mueller, December 1992, Naval History, Volume 6, Number 4
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/1992/december/goettge-patrol

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	Peter Roe ( 1 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	February 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Ruben DaCollector
Member Since 2008

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

The 3rd panel is beautiful. So is the 4th one, but it immediately gave me flashbacks to the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan, which makes me whince!

Peter Roe
Member Since 2009

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

Ruben DaCollector wrote:

The 3rd panel is beautiful. So is the 4th one, but it immediately gave me flashbacks to the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan, which makes me whince!

Thanks, Rubén. I like Sam's storytelling layout here and off-kilter perspective in the second panel. The last panel is indeed quite impactful. I probably mentioned this before, but I can't rewatch Saving Private Ryan because its opening and closing scenes are so graphic and heart-rending. It's like you are in the battle being shot at. On the other hand, the dialogue and scenes in the middle of the movie struck me as contrived, writing school stuff, further discouraging me from a second viewing.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

How can they trust a prisoner with real information? The center panel is very strong with the machine gun and its firepower cutting through the background of the brush. The bottom panel is a massacre in the making!

Peter Roe
Member Since 2009

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

Marcus Wai wrote:

How can they trust a prisoner with real information?� The center panel is very strong with the machine gun and its firepower cutting through the background of the brush.� The bottom panel is a massacre in the making!

Thanks, Marcus! Excellent question. From the US Naval Institute article: "He (sic the prisoner) was somewhat emaciated, and that lent credence to his statements. His account was further strengthened by similar accounts received from recently captured Korean laborers from the same area. It is unlikely that he deliberately set out to deceive his captors." It's unknown why Goettge didn't trust the prisoner about the landing site when the prisoner's other statements had been corroborated to the point of risking soldiers' lives in a reconnaissance patrol.

Kavi H
Member Since 2018

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

another great page! to me that bottom panel (in isolation or in context) may be the strongest image I can recall in a war comic I've seen in quite some time. excellent (and horrifying).

Miki Annamanthadoo
Member Since 2003

1 - Posted on 9/5/2025

Kavi H wrote:

another great page! to me that bottom panel (in isolation or in context) may be the strongest image I can recall in a war comic I've seen in quite some time. excellent (and horrifying).�

War is brutal!

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