Our Army at War #227

Our Army at War #227 (On Sale: November 3, 1970), has another cool Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert. 

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "Traitor's Blood" written by Joe Kubert and drawn by Russ Heath. When a patrol is sent to visit a North African sheik is found slaughtered and stripped for supplies, After fighting off a Nazi ambush, Easy Company heads to Sidi El Bar to meet the sheik themselves and Sgt. Rock leads his men to the sheik's tent. The sheik offers entertainment, but Rock is suspicious. Taking a walk through the camp, one of the sheik's dancers shows Rock the supplies taken from the ambushed patrol and tells him that the sheik has already sent word to the Nazis. At gunpoint, Rock forces the sheik and his men to switch clothes with Easy Company. When the Nazis arrive, they shoot the sheik and his men, and Rock and Easy mop up the Nazis Once again, a seemingly innocuous book hides some brilliant artwork by Russ Heath.

Next is  "The War Is Over" by Mike Friedrich and Frank Thorne. It is Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, and Deacon is bringing the good news to his friend Jackie in the trenches of the front, but Jackie wants to hear none of it. He is worried about his friend, Billy, who has not returned from the last raid. They find Billy, wounded and unconscious, but before they can bring him back, they are shelled and Billy is killed.  

Despite Deacon telling him to "let it go" Jackie sneaks forward across the and shoots a Nazi in the back. Deacon cold cocks Jackie before he can do any more damage and then bandages the wounded Nazi. As he walks away chanting, "The war is over!" the wounded Nazi revives and shoots Deacon in the back. Though the war is over, the violence of war is not so easily ended. The artwork by Thorne is top-notch. This story was reprinted in Sgt. Rock #384 (1984).

We have a two-page comedic interlude, "Private Buck's Army!" by John Costanza. During a practice emergency drill, Private Buck accidentally drops a dory off the ship and is forced to scrub the decks as punishment. What no one knows is that the dory dropped on top of a Japanese submarine stopping their attack.

We end with the U.S.S. Stevens in "Death of a Ship" by Sam Glanzman. When a Japanese submarine fires torpedoes at their convoy, the U.S.S. Shelton is hit. Depth charges take out the sub, and the crew of the Shelton is transferred to the Stevens. They attempt to tow the wounded ship to port but when a storm fires up, they are forced to cut the Shelton loose and sink it with shells. Like the other artist this issue, Glanzman knocks this one out of the park.

Edited by Joe Kubert.