Historical Covers - Action Comics #43

So in what I envision as being a recurring post on comic history (a.k.a. an easy out when I can't think of a topic to write about). I want to take a look at old covers and discuss some of the elements that appear in them.

First off lets discuss what I think constitutes a good cover for this blog, since I am the one to writing about them. We can begin our discussion with a great cover on an old Action Comics issue.

By the way I found this site today and will link it in my resource section but http://www.coverbrowser.com/ is absolutely sweet and makes my job so much easier.

Okay lets take this cover from Action Comics #17, it has Superman lifting a pretty unique looking tank. The tank is officially known as Mk. IV, no. 6039, and saw service in France during World War I and is unofficially known as the "female tank." Interesting? Sure but not enough to do a whole post on.


Now this cover to Action #43 has Superman flying up to meet a German paratrooper who is taking potshots with his pistol. Good luck with that Fritz! This cover has more than enough elements for a good post.


It starts with the German's attacking one lone building, seems like a bit of an overkill to drop a bunch of paratroopers down to take out a lone building but maybe it held some top secret French weapon that could have stopped the Nazi's from going around the Maginot Line. Perhaps the French were developing common sense in this building, I don't know but Hitler felt it important to send two planes and paratroopers in to take it out and it worked like a charm, except for this guy who is about to get a swift flying uppercut courtesy of the US of A and Superman. You want some apple pie with this knuckle sandwich ya ratzi?

So let's talk about the German Paratroopers shall we? "The Nazi paratroopers were known as Fallschirmjager which translated means Paratrooper Hunter. They were the elite airborne and ground units of the Luftwaffe. On 11th May 1936, Major Bruno Oswald Brauer made the first parachute jump from a wing of a Klemm KL25 sporting aircraft and became the first German Fallschirmjager to be given a Fallschirmschutzenschein (parachuting licence).

The German military was among the first to drop soldiers into battle far behind enemy lines. They would take this concept to new levels and use these airborne soldiers in the first operations of WWII.

The Fallschirmjager Ten Commandments

1. You are the chosen ones of the German Army. You will seek combat and train yourselves to endure any manner of test. To you, the battle shall be fulfillment.

2. Cultivate true comradeship, for by the aid of your comrades you will conquer or die.

3. Beware of talking. Be not corruptible. Men act while women chatter. Chatter may bring you to the grave.

4. Be calm and prudent, strong and resolute. Valour and enthusiasm of an offensive spirit will cause you to prevail in the attack.

5. The most precious thing in the presence of the foe is ammunition. He who shoots uselessly, merely to comfort himself, is a man of straw who merits not the title of Parachutist.

6. Never surrender, to you death or victory must be a point of honour.

7. You can triumph only if your weapons are good. See to it that you submit yourself to this law - first my weapon and then myself.

8. You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader is killed you can fulfil it.

9. Against an open foe, fight with chivalry, but to a guerrilla, extend no quarter.

10. Keep your eyes wide open. Tune yourself to the top most pitch. Be nimble as a greyhound, as tough as leather, as hard as Krupp steel and so you shall be the German warrior incarnate.

Their most famous airdrop was in the Battle of Crete in 1941, where the entire 7th Air Division division was deployed along with other assets such as the German 22nd Air Landing Division. The operation was successful in capturing Crete, but the high casualties among the Fallschirmjager convinced Hitler that such mass airdrops were no longer feasible - though it has to be noted that surprise was lost even before the drops started, and the battle might have caused less German causalities otherwise. Still, the Allies would come to a similar conclusion near the end of the war, as each successive large-scale airdrop resulted in higher and higher casualties.

After Crete, the Fallschirmjagers would never again be used in large scale airborne operations. However, these highly trained, elite soldiers would conduct smaller scale operations throughout the war, culminating in the pinnacle battle that won them there place in the annals of military history."

All of this information and some sweet pictures and paintings can be found at:http://www.sixthscalebattle.com/photo2.html

So there you have it, I would say that the cover to Action #43 makes for a pretty good cover to write a post on. Your thoughts?