MAG002 War Illustrated

During World War II the publication ‘War Illustrated’ was published - however its circulation and regularity of issue reduced. Initially, it was produced weekly, but as materials became more difficult to obtain - many readers had to share the same issue. This only helped for a short while due to restricted imports and availability of wood for pulp!

It’s articles of course related to the happenings of the War and made very interesting reading, catching the spirit of pain - courage - misery - desperation and agony, with superb pictures detailing victories and defeats.

One such article - It was on October 30th 1942, (nearly fifty years ago), that the pale gold of a full moon cast ashen over the desert as General Bernard Montgomery gave the fateful command; within the instant one thousand guns thundered into action. The Battle of El Alamein had begun. The Eighth Army infantry attacked on two fronts. Montgomery’s 200,000 men included Britons, Australians, New Zealands, Indians, Frenchmen and Greeks. By the 15th November the bells of victory were ringing, it was the first time they had been sounded since the threat of German invasion in 1940. The Eighth Army had virtually wiped out the Afrika Corps.

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We recently discovered this edition of the magazine, one reason for it being kept was that it related to my wifes uncle, Sgt Robbins, D.F.M. A newspaper report of the time stated------A sergeant whose jaw was broken by a cannon shell during a raid on Hamburg, and was wounded in the shoulder and leg,is decorated for continuing his duties as a wireless operator air gunner until overcome by exhaustion. He was then a patient at the Guinea Pig Hospital but i am glad to say he lived a long life and was married with a family. He did suffer some pain during his life perhaps a result of his injuries.

Regards A. Mason.

I hold the complete collection of War Illustrated from issue number 1 to the final issue volume 10 number 255 dated april 11th 1947 when it ceased publication. The date it became a fortnightly issue was april 2nd 1942 issue number 125, the priced increased from the original 3d to 4d with issue number 82 march 28th 1941, it increased again to 6p with issue 125 april 2nd 1942 where it remained till the final printing.
With issue 92 june 6th 1941 the front page style changed completely to a less colourful format probably because of ink shortages.
Sixty years on with most of the 2nd World War history available it is amazing to see how bad news was portrayed with a rosy picture painted of even the most unfortunate setbacks, news release and censorship must have been very tight indeed.
If anyone needs specific data I will try to oblige.
Regards J L Blackwell
jlbpasty@aol.com