War Picture Library

War Picture Library was a was a British war comic published by IPC Magazines from 1 September 1958 "FIGHT BACK TO DUNKIRK" to 3 December 1984 "WINGS OF THE FLEET" , spanning 2103 issues.

It was characterised by having several memorable features:
* 1. Real dates and places are usually used to create a historical setting.
*2. The weaponry illustrated was usually accurately drawn.
*3. The story lines were strong with realistic characters, frequently lacking in courage or otherwise inadeqate for the task set them but coming through in the end.
* 4. Non-frontline staff are sometimes the main characters - a medic, a supply unit, a bomb disposal engineer - though always gettign into the action eventually.
*5. The German soldiers are often treated fairly, as men caught up in war, though battlefield atrocities and Nazi interrogators are depicted correctly.
* 6. The successful completion of an operation is usually depicted as having an inordinate impact on the course of a campaign or battle.E.g:"The Invisible Enemy" featured German troops disguised as Americans in the Battle of the Bulge, and shooting prisoners.
*"Raven over Berlin" showed the development of the bombing campaign and the use of the Master Bomber technique.
*"Umbrella in the Sky" tells the story of RAF pilots flying Hurricanes in Russia as part of British aid to that country during the German assault.
*"Fix Bayonets" covered four conscripts in training and eventual action in Italy. Two are killed, one heroically attacking a machine-gun, one pointlessly by a booby trap.
*Three, two, one, zero! tells the story of a navy bomb disposal expert dismantling accurately-depicted delayed action aerial mines.
*Under Fire is a story of an escaped PoW who fights with the French Resistance.
*Convoy tells of a traitor betraying the routes of Arctic convoys

ee also

*Commando Comics from 1961 a related title by D. C. Thomson
*Air Picture Library - similar but solely aerial warfare related stories
*Battle Picture Library - also IPC/Fleetway from 1961

External links

* [http://www.bookpalace.com/PicLibs/War/index.htm A website showing many covers of the series]