1944.08.11 "Thrown Back" by Paul R Carmack

1944.08.11 “Thrown Back”
by Paul R Carmack (1895-1977)
11 x 15 in., crayon and ink on board
Coppola Collection

Paul Carmack was a staff cartoonist for the Christian Science Monitor.

August 11, 1944: Two months after D-Day, and the two-front press onto Germany was not only ramping up, but the Germans were starting to lose ground. 

(1) The 2nd French Armored Division, under General Leclerc, launched a swift counterattack to seize Alencon. They captured the city, despite a planned Allied air strike the following day, because the bridges were not mined, and the city was not heavily defended. This successful maneuver was part of the larger Normandy campaign and Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France.

(2) The Red Army launched a counterattack against German forces in the Eastern Front as part of Operation Bagration, a large-scale Soviet offensive aimed at liberating Belarus and pushing into German occupied territory. The Germans were facing a devastating defeat, and their forces were on the retreat.