1943.07.02 “They can’t beat it” by Stanley DeTreville

1943.07.02 “They can’t beat it”
by Stanley DeTreville (1901-1984)
10 x 12 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Born in Stockton and settling in San Diego, the son of artist Richard DeTreville, Stanley studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was a taxidermist for the San Diego Natural History Museum and headed the art and photo department of the San Diego Union for a short while. Finally, he was art director of the Phillips-Ramsey Advertising Agency for many years. During WWII he headed the photo department of Leatherneck magazine. His cartoons and articles appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Outdoor Life, and other national magazines. 

Hitler’s failing strategic control: he’s not in command; he’s betting. Mussolini takes a jab at the false bravado of the Fuhrer’s master plans, which are proving to be ineffective guesswork.

By this time, the Allies had decisively won in North Africa (Axis forces surrendered in Tunisia in May). Europe was bracing for the inevitable Allied return to the continent, but nobody knew where or when. Hitler had fortified France with the Atlantic Wall but could not be sure if the Allies would strike there, in Italy, or perhaps the Balkans.

Mussolini’s regime was under immense internal pressure and would collapse by late July. The Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) was launched July 9–10.