#WWII cw

[brassandblue]

⭐ - Jack in fallen Britain 🥺

Lord Jonathan Jack Lucius Kirkland, L o n d o n & the Fallen Britain AU

I really like how this one turned out.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

B-17 - Heavy Metal (1981)

[tuttle-did-it]

As someone who has worked on war and history in an academic setting, the rise of Trump all felt incredibly familiar to everything I've read and seen.

When Trump started shouting into the void, I said that he reminded me of Vollmer, the character Dennis Hopper played in The Twilight Zone episode, 'He's Alive.'

(First thing's first, please try to go watch this episode and then read the rest of this, because the episode was incredibly well done.)

Everyone told me that Trump was just a harmless clown-- that no one would really vote for him. That I was inventing absurdities just because I don't like Republicans and Trump. He's just a joke. He's a sexist, homophobic, racist, transphobic rapist. And no one would vote for him. We're too civilised for this, now. We've evolved as a species, and that will never happen again.

Everyone got a pretty clear reality when people did, enthusiastically, salivate over the idea of having a sexist, homophobic, racist, transphobic racist in power. And over the past few years, he's become enveloped in his own conspiracy theories and hatred. And I am still strongly reminded of Vollmer every time I see Trump speak.

For those who are not aware, the episode is about a tiny, useless little white man who craves power and adoration. (spoilers for a 61 year old show below.)

A man in the shadows teaches Vollmer how to capture the attentions and hatred of the white audiences and rise to power. The phantom is eventually revealed to be Adolph Hitler.

S4 E4, Episode aired Jan 24, 1963, Written by Rod Serling, directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Rod Serling's Opening Monologue:

Key scene where the Phantom (Hitler) teaches Vollmer from the shadows. Tell me that Trump and the other Republicans have not learned these lessons just as well as Vollmer ever did.

Rod Serling's End Monologue:

All of this has happened before. All of this IS happening again. Make no mistake-- Trump is unstable, and doesn't know about half the lies that come out of his mouth every day. But if you think, for a second, that this man has your best interests in mind? You are going to get a very, very harsh dose of reality. But not before millions of people suffer at the hands of this monster, and will for many, many years to come.

[tanuki-kimono]

cw: war, internment camps

I rarely speak about modern History on this blog, especially things concerning wwii. But some stories are far too important not to be shared.

It's not a story about grand battles, heroism, and other yadayada. And yet somehow it is. Because there is something visceral about mending the past and laughing through tears.

Becky you'll probably never read this but I am damn sure Akiye is cheering! I and all people hurt by war somewhere sure do!

(For those interested, Becky and Akiye's story starts here)

[lilyoffandoms]

What if the Kingdom of Morella had a war propaganda office that used MC’s image to further army enrollment?

Poster below cut without graffiti.

I just think this would be a thing. I don’t know. I guess I’m a sucker for the fact that you know everyone turned on MC no matter the choice they made in the end. Maiele’s choice leveled cities and killed many. I just know, I know, this would be the reaction. Plus I do so love the fallen savior that had no real choice in anything. What are the chances PB gives us this is book three?

For Day 21 (Theme Prompt: Adventure) of the @choicesjanuary2024 challenge.

My Art ish Tag: @aallotarenunelma @storyofmychoices

[todaysdocument]

Women’s Army Corps Cpl. Barbara Fenster (left) and Cpl. Genevieve E. Guethlein secure information from German prisoner of war Pvt. Frederick Bonk, captured in Tunisia. September 7, 1943, at Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation.

Record Group 336: Records of the Office of the Chief of Transportation

Series: Photographic Albums of Prints of Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation

Image description: Inside a tent, a young man in a German uniform with ���AFRIKAKORPS” on his sleeve stands to the side of a desk. Seated at the desk are two women in Women’s Army Corps uniforms, who are writing. In the background are more desks and more German prisoners of war. 

[troythecatfish]

[gemsofgreece]

On October 12, 1944, the Germans leave Athens.

📷"The helmet of the last Nazi who left Athens"

This helmet fell off the head of one of the last German soldiers to leave Athens, on the downhill of Anagnostopoulou Street, while they were fleeing at full speed on motorcycles. The helmet was collected by Stéfanos Ayélastos who donated it to the National Historical Museum on October 28, 1964.

© Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece

Photo from the National Historical Museum

[devileaterjaek]

Zombie Army Trilogy (PC) Join our community on //Discord// Support me on //Ko-Fi//

[enbycrip]

So I’m listening to The History of the Second World War podcast rn. One of the things that made me do so was the fact that it spent three years on the run-up to the war, going into detailed examinations of the situation in many of the countries involved, the Spanish Civil War etc etc.

I’ve been furiously angry recently at people using the language of social justice to muddy the water against people calling out their actions and to attempt to cast themselves as victims while engaging in violence against marginalised people. I’ve pointed particularly at Gender Crits and at the State of Israel in this.

I studied appeasement in Higher History at school, but it never dived into the detail of primary sources the way this podcast did. And, being fair, I was a kid; that’s the year I turned 16. It was a long time ago and I knew a lot less then.

I *knew* that Hitler had used the excuse of ethnic German populations for Nazi invasions of other states, but I hadn’t heard the full detail of his speeches. The very explicit accusations of violence and persecution against ethnic Germans (I’m using this to mean people who spoke German dialects and had some kind of German cultural historical connection; I want to make it fucking *clear* that I am really interested in ideas of ethnogenesis and ethnicity as a cultural phenomenon without even *remotely* endorsing his *abhorrent* ideas about race) in these places while he and his government were systemically and overtly engaging in incredibly brutal persecution of this kind against Jewish folk and, to a lesser, but still “intermittently murdering people in the streets” extent, anyone they didn’t consider “ethnic Germans” in both Germany and everywhere they conquered.

The open, shameless projection of what they were openly and overtly doing themselves onto their victims.

And the worst fucking thing was that it *worked*, then. As it’s still working now.

I thought this active and purposeful appropriation of the language of human rights to justify violence and prevent them being opposed by others by bigots and oppressors was a reasonably new phenomenon. It turns out it absolutely isn’t. This began right after the first time language about things like ethnonational self-determination was first used on an institutional level. It’s never really existed on a scale where it could be used to empower populations without being twisted.

I don’t have a giant conclusion about this, btw; I write to fully process thoughts, feelings and ideas a lot.

I do feel this should mean a massive expansion in critical awareness when people use such language to justify their actions; “in what *way* do you support x people *but*?“ “You say you don’t hate x people but what I’m hearing is that you support actions that will absolutely involve widespread and potentially fatal violence against them/massively impact their human rights in x way: I need more information to clarify your position here”.

And yeah, a lot of this is aimed at people in positions of systemic power or authority at least as much as individuals; I’ve been somewhat on the end of institutions engaging so shallowly with rights-based language recently that it has absolutely highlighted how these tactics work and how they are used to entrench existing structures of power and abuse.

[katy-133]

What's so funny to me about the whole "Medic vs Mercy" thing is that, if you try to look at it with a non-biased mindset, both characters could have worked and been very well-received. When you get right down to it, they are both one-sentence character archetypes (Medic is "a mad scientist" and Mercy is "an angel taken human form").

It's just that Medic was given additional nuance, because as you play Team Fortress 2, you learn about the contradictions to his character:

The medi gun he invented was originally designed to be a weapon but accidentally healed people instead, so he rolled with it.

He treats his fellow teammates as both his found family, and also as his own personal science experiments.

Lost his medical licence because he stole a patient's skeleton.

Was at least 18 years old during WWII and possibly fled his hometown to either join the Allies or avoid being drafted in Germany (his WWII paraphernalia helmet is of German shape, but is white, not grey-green, and uses Geneva Convention/red cross iconography).

Stole his teammates' souls by surgically removing their hearts (hearts are souls in the TF2 universe) and placing them inside himself, but we later find out that he did this to cheat the Devil by preventing him from taking any of them.

Was given a marble bust of Hippocrates with the Solemn Vow engraved on it ("Do No Harm"), but ends up using it as a bludgeoning weapon, thereby breaking his vow in the most ironic way possible.

Loves taking care of birds and has a pet dove named Archimedes, whom he can recognise amongst all the other doves.

Mercy is seemingly "what you see is what you get." An angelic doctor who aims to heal others and felt hesitation in joining the war. She is exactly as advertised.

The fandom found potential nuance to her character when they found dialogue between her and Reaper that implies she helped create him (specifically the exchange, M: "What happened to you?" R: "You tell me, Doctor."). The twist that she possibly created one of the more evil-aligned characters in the game could have helped expand her character, but the devs reacted by saying that the bark lines are not canon, essentially shutting down the conversation, and eventually giving Reaper a different backstory. I have no idea why the devs wouldn't just lean into it, even if it wasn't their initial idea. It was a concept that could have potentially made the fans more invested with Mercy (which is something you want if you're running an MMO) and would give them a starting point for giving players scraps of new lore to keep themselves fed between game updates. It's like Overwatch 2 is allergic to money (but then again, Activision Blizzard isn't known for listening--there's a reason they are referred to as "the Devil's publisher").

In conclusion, Medic became the more contradictory, developed character, and the fandom loves him for it.

Medic can be both this:

*Meet the Medic's choir introduction plays*

And also this:

*Rocket Jump Waltz plays*

And I think that's neat.

[dailylooneys]

Happy 80th Birthday to Private Snafu!

Snafu.......Situation Normal All........All Fouled Up!

A series of World War 2-themed animated short films screened for young military men. They were mainly instructional, educational films, but still contained that same irreverent, slapstick comedy style of humor of the Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, thanks to the contributions of the boys of Termite Terrace: Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng and Frank Tashlin, and voice legend Mel Blanc.

The intention these cartoons had on the military audiences was that, the titular character, Private Snafu was an incompetent soldier that was meant to illustrate, in more straightforward way, what NOT to do (true to his name that is), with practically each short ending with Snafu getting blown.

Imagine how different it could've been if Disney had done these instead of Warner Bros., as that was the United States Army’s first choice. But that didn't happen as Leon Schlesinger would bid lower than Disney.

These shorts, of course, generally remained obscure in the minds of the mainstream audiences (until recently that is) as they never were intended to be shown in public theaters. As Martha Sigall, a staff of the ink-and-paint department at Leon Schlesinger Studios, stated these Private Snafu cartoons were top secret. They wore ID badges, did fingerprints, got FBI approval and were given ten cels rather than the usual thirty cels, to prevent them from knowing about the stories.

Therefore, it was never made for a general audiences of kids and adults as the publicly released Looney Tunes shorts were, especially considering it’s content; mild swearing (i.e., damn, hell) and fanservice displayed all over these cartoons that couldn't have been possible in the days of the Hays Code (it's especially surprising to note that Ted Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, of all people, was the main writer for THESE!!! Wowie!!!!). 

Fun fact: (one of the shorts titled “Censored” was shown on Cartoon Network’s trivia show Toonheads late at night with half of the scene featuring a topless Sally Lou cut out!)

And, naturally, because this was a WWII-themed series, featured a good deal of derogatory depictions/imagery of Japanese/Germans and Nazis (which will not be shown here).

It's interesting to see not only how strongly connected Private Snafu is to the Looney Tunes, considering, not only the same style of humor, but the two cameo appearances of Bugs Bunny (Gas and Three Brothers), which could make Snafu himself a Looney Tune. 

This is especially considering his early bird cameo in Chuck Jones’s The Draft Horse.

Later on, Private Snafu would not only be done by Warner Bros., but also by it’s competitors, like MGM, UPA, Harman-Ising and Disney. 

Two shorts were left unproduced. One of them was originally going to be directed by none other Tex Avery at MGM. Too bad that didn’t happen!! 

Though the Private Snafu series maybe a time capsule of World War 2, as oppose to being as timeless as the classic Looney Tunes cartoons are, they still serve as a fascinating historical art, a look at what our world was going through, and still included a lot of the trademark style of humor seen in the Warner Bros. cartoons that still kept it entertaining enough.

[goldammerchen]

No dejar títere con cabeza

Day 3 @hetahorrorweek, Experiment + Needles (some Distorted Vision too)

[Modern era] Out of nowhere, someone finds himself fighting for his life… (Something from the past comes to bite him)

(outdated screenshot, actual fics has more warnings for accuracy. see tags)

[ardent-apostasy]

I am BEGGING the internet to stop conflating both-sides-ism with human compassion and accountability. BEGGING.

Because the internet inevitably brings WW2 into everything, here are some topical examples:

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was horrific. The civilian casualties were unacceptable and those lives deserve to be mourned.

Japanese internment camps were racist and wrong. What the Japanese government did, did not give international governments the right to intern members of the Japanese diaspora.

The White Rose (a German group) and their peers were not evil, in fact, they were good people doing good things. Neither their ethnicity nor their nationality defines their characters.

Winston Churchill did war crimes, and those were unacceptable. Opposing the Nazis does not give him carte blanche to needlessly kill civilians.

ALL of these things are important to point/call out. And ALL these assertions can co-exist with the fact that Hitler and the Nazis were evil and committed unspeakable atrocities. NONE of the above excuses or justifies the Holocaust in ANY way whatsoever, and NONE of it is about humanizing or defending the Nazis. The Nazis sucked ass and there is never an excuse for genocide. Fuck them. (Same goes for other shitty groups: the Khmer Rouge, the IOF/IDF, all of them. No excuses.)

Here's the thing, though: that list of realities above isn't really about the Nazis at all — it's about civilian lives.

When we condemn both-sides-ism, the point we should be making is that we condemn atrocities unequivocally — that is to say, we should be asserting that there is NO excuse for the perpetrator to have committed said atrocities. I want to be very clear about that. But we shouldn't be refusing to acknowledge flaws on either side, or refusing to have compassion for those caught in the crossfire (and yes, that goes even for people who are flawed, because flaws do not strip you of your human rights).

Grief is not a crime, and neither is compassion. You can grieve the fallen on every side of a conflict, as long as you don't lose sight of the bigger picture of justice.

[stinkywormynoob]

[undertheredhood]

if i had a nickel for everytime a dc show had a "what if the 'ryhmes with yahtzees' won world war ii?" as a plot point, i'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's still weird right?