1940.10.23 “Letting Out the Tow-Lines”
by Charles (Chuck) George Werner (1909-1997)
12 x 15 in., ink in board
Coppola Collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Werner
Charles (Chuck) Werner won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1939 for a cartoon he did for the Daily Oklahoman titled “Nomination for 1938” which allowed for the transfer of the Sudetenland to Hitler's Germany (October 6, 1938). At age 29, Werner was the youngest person to win the Pulitzer. Werner left the Daily Oklahoman to be the Chief Editorial Cartoonist at the Chicago Sun in 1941 before leaving for the Indianapolis Star in 1947. Throughout his nearly sixty-year career, many U.S. Presidents expressed interest in Werner's cartoons, including Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry Truman requesting cartoons for their presidential libraries.
"Letting out the tow lines" is a crucial step in preparing for a towing operation, requiring careful planning, the correct equipment, and strict adherence to safety procedures.
During the late summer and early fall of 1940, the blitzkrieg (lightning war) had been damaged and bogged down considerably by the failures in the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe's failure to defeat the RAF and secure air control over Britain forced Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion. This marked the first major defeat for Hitler's forces in the war and prevented a German invasion of Britain. Hitler is trying to get help to tow his war across the Mediterranean, but he’s only got friends with baggage.
France was in tatters. It had just collapsed and been divided into Occupied France (controlled by the Nazis) and Vichy France (a nominally independent but German-aligned puppet regime). Free France, led by Charles de Gaulle, had been declared (June 18, 1940). In late September, Vichy forces failed in their attack on Free French forces in Dakar.
Mussolini’s Italy had entered the war (June 1940), and while Italy was poised to launch its own campaigns in Africa and the Mediterranean, it was already proving militarily weak and riding on Germany’s coattails.
Though officially neutral, Franco was being courted heavily by Hitler to join the Axis. Franco’s victory in the recent civil war had relied on support from Germany and Italy. Hitler is calling in favors from Franco to let German forces move through Spain and seize Gibraltar (we know now that Operation Felix was being considered). Franco stalled and played both sides, demanding steep concessions, including control of Gibraltar.
