Amazing find! The war articles are pretty intriguing, the illustrations are great, and the ads are sometimes hilarious. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
Looking at those maps, does anyone else find it hilarious that even when the Japanese and Germans are invading the United States, they still find it impossible to invade Britain on the way?
The common man couldn't know any of it. Reporters getting in touch with Admirals did have all the means to realize the Nazi Navy had no chance at all to invade the USA from the Pacific of all places. That book is propaganda, pure and simple.Remember, we are looking at World War II from the perspective of 69 years after Pearl Harbor and laughing at the silliness of these articles. To the common man in 1942 there was no way of knowing if the Germans had transatlantic bombers or not. Note what President Roosevelt said in one of his fireside chats in the articles, "enemy bombers could bomb Detroit, enemy battleships could shell New York..." There was real fear that we hadn't seen the full power of the Axis unleashed yet. These articles weren't meant to be comedy, they were meant to portray a very possible and frightening reality.
The common man couldn't know any of it. Reporters getting in touch with Admirals did have all the means to realize the Nazi Navy had no chance at all to invade the USA from the Pacific of all places. That book is propaganda, pure and simple.
And somwhere further down in the book another article shows the Navies of the belligerent parties (only heavy stuff like carriers & cruisers, but still), where the Allies already have a significant advantage in numbers, even though the french navy is (intriguingly) listed among the axis fleets.