Our Army at War #211

Our Army at War #211 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "The Treasure of St. Daniel" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. Rock and Easy Co. are greeted as saviors by the townspeople of the Swiss Alp village of St. Daniel. We learn that the people of St. Daniel are hiding a treasure that they are saving for the allies, which is why Rock and Easy are there. Until yesterday, the town was under Nazi control, the Nazis having heard rumors of the treasure. It is surmised that the Nazis must have seen Easy coming and rather than fight, they left.

A crippled boy leads Easy to a grotto up the mountain where the treasure is hidden. Amongst all the valuables is a solid gold statute of St. Daniel. Rock says they will need to call HQ for some trucks to carry all this off the mountain. The Nazis sneak up on Easy and we learn that they did see Easy coming and knew if they left, the townspeople would lead Easy to the treasure.

Rock leaps at the Nazi commander and all hell breaks loose (I gotta tell ya, Russ Heath was a national treasure. His three panel page of the brawls beginning is just a thing of beauty and raw energy. It has the staging and raw power of the best Frazetta paintings.). As the fight wears on and Easy goes down one man after another, the Nazis start screaming as the statue of St. Daniel begins to cry.  Frightened, the Nazis all run out of the grotto, only the crippled boy sees them and brings the roof down on the Nazis and himself, saving the treasure.

The back-up story is "Dragon with Wings" by Ken Barr. German pilot Lt. Krueger distinguishes himself during WWI battles and is nicknamed the Dragon with Wings. When the war ends in defeat, Krueger vows to one day lead the fatherland to glory. He marries, has a son Rudi, whom he teaches all his flying and fighter tricks to. On his 15th birthday, his father comes home wearing his Nazi uniform and his mother sneaks Rudi and herself on a ship for America to escape the Nazis (something people used to do back in those days).

Rudi becomes a fighter pilot and later over France he meets the enemy for the first time and the Nazi squadron is lead by his father, Rudi recognizing his insignia on the German plane. Rudi gets his father in his sites, but cannot pull the trigger. Later now Col. Krueger wonders about the American who spared his life. Later Rudi receives a letter from his father calling him a coward.

The next day they meet again in the skies and Col Krueger tells his men to back off, that the fight is just between him and his son. Due to the lessons given to him as a boy, Rudi is able to out think and out anticipate his father's moves and eventually he shoots his father down.

As usual, Ken Barr's art is top notch; just beautiful stuff in gorgeous details.

Edited by Joe Kubert.