Brian Coppola :: WW2 Era

1943.07.08 "The Way Things Stand" by Bill Crawford

Artist: Bill Crawford (All)

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1943.07.08 The Way Things Stand by Bill Crawford Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	1943.07.08 "The Way Things Stand" by Bill Crawford
Artist:	Bill Crawford (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	773
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	3/28/2018
Comic Art Archive:

Description

"The Way Things Stand" (July 8, 1943)
by Willian (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily News and the Washington Post from 1936 until 1938. Crawford then joined the Newark News as its editorial cartoonist. He was a highly syndicated cartoonist, noted for his WWII commentary.

One of the most provocative questions about WWII is �what did the German people know and when did they know it?� This cartoon gives a poignant and contemporary commentary on this question, as the broken, stumbling state of Germany is propped up by the German people.

In his 2015 book (The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945), Nicholas Stargardt draws on first-person accounts (diaries, court records, and military correspondence) and asserts that awareness was widespread. What drove the Germans to fight for a lost cause�a strong propaganda campaign of false equivalents that justified actions as retaliation and self-defense. Steve Forbes� review of Stargardt: �an extremely interesting yet disheartening tale of a civilized people�s descent into barbarism.�

Two years into the war, in September 1941, German arms were winning. Western Europe had been decisively conquered, and there were few signs of any serious resistance to German rule. The failure of the Italians to establish Mussolini's much-vaunted new Roman empire in the Mediterranean had been made good by German intervention. German forces had overrun Greece, and subjugated Yugoslavia. In north Africa, Rommel's brilliant generalship was pushing the British and allied forces eastwards towards Egypt and threatening the Suez canal. And the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 had reaped stunning rewards, with Leningrad (the present-day St Petersburg) besieged by German and Finnish troops, Smolensk and Kiev taken, and millions of Red Army troops killed or captured in a series of vast encircling operations that brought the German armed forces within reach of Moscow.

This proved to be the high point of German success. The fundamental problem facing Hitler was that Germany simply did not have the resources to fight on so many different fronts at the same time.

The winter campaign around Moscow failed. In late 1942, Stalingrad became the object of a titanic struggle between the Germans and the Soviets, less because of its strategic importance than because of its name. When the Germans moved their best troops into the city, leaving the rear to be guarded by weaker Romanian and Italian forces, the Soviet generals saw their chance, broke through the rearguard and surrounded the besieging forces. Short of fuel and ammunition, the Germans under General Paulus were unable to break out.

As one airfield after another was captured by the Red Army, supplies ran out and the German troops began to starve to death. On January 31, 1943, refusing the invitation to commit suicide that came with Hitler's gift of a field marshal's baton, Paulus surrendered. It was a turning point of the war.

The German armies were now more or less continuously in retreat on the eastern front. On July 4, 1943, the last great German counter-attack began at Kursk.

After a month, the Germans were forced to retreat. German tanks were pulled out by Hitler to deal with a rapidly deteriorating situation in Italy. Following their victory in north Africa, the allies had landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943 to be greeted in Palermo by Italian citizens waving white flags. On 3 September an armistice was signed, and allied forces landed on the Italian mainland. German troops had already invaded from the north, taking over the entire peninsula.

These events had a devastating effect on German morale at home. In particular the catastrophe of Stalingrad began to convince many Germans that the war could not be won. In late July and early August 1943, the center of Hamburg was almost completely destroyed in a firestorm created by intensive incendiary bombing. Refugees from the devastated city spread a sense of shock and foreboding all across Germany. In Hamburg itself, anger at the Nazis' failure to defend the city led to crowds tearing party badges off officials' coats amid cries of "murderer!" The chief of staff of the German airforce committed suicide.

By the end of 1943, German forces were retreating all along the line in the east and in Italy. The Reich had lost command of the skies and the seas. Devastating bombing raids on a growing range of towns and cities were making people's lives unbearable. Ordinary Germans knew that the war was lost.

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	Brian Coppola Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	March 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Michael Kenyon
Member Since 2008

Posted on 3/28/2018

This should be in a museum. Provactive and educational piece of art that really hits home.

Brian Coppola
Member Since 2009

Posted on 3/28/2018

Michael Kenyon wrote:

This should be in a museum. Provactive and educational piece of art that really hits home.

Thanks, Michael. I sincerely agree. Coincidentally enough, about a week ago (March 18, 2018), I visited the National WW2 Museum in NOLA (it is an exceptional museum) and I immediately wrote to them and offered them my WW2 era editorial and comic art, which I think would make a nice addition to their collection. I got no reply.

steve staszower
Member Since 2005

Posted on 5/23/2019

Outstanding work. Crawford was a master of the medium. Keep an eye on my gallery as I will be posting more Crawfords soon : )

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