We begin with The Haunted Tank in "The Gold-Plated General" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. After an encounter with a Nazi tank, Jeb Stuart and the crew of the Haunted Tank make their way back to the command post to meet their new commanding officer, General Norton (who bears a striking resemblance to George C. Scott in Patton). The general is a stickler for appearance. He wears a gold helmet and brandishes golden pistol sidearms. The men begrudgingly follow his orders to clean themselves up.
A short time later, Jeb leads his newly polished crew into battle. The general is right beside him in another tank. The brash general charges the enemy position and leads the surge to overtake them. Following the victorious battle, the general's clothing is soiled. The men hope he will relax discipline now that their leader is no longer immaculate. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Haunted Tank Vol. 2 TPB (2008).
Next up is our first reprint, "Blind Bomber" by Hank Chapman and Mort Drucker and reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #84 (1959). In the skies above their target, a bomber is blinded by flak fire. He is told to just circle the area slowly and once they drop their bombs, the other bombers will talk him home. Best laid plans, as they say, and the other bombers miss their target requiring our blind bomber to make a run at the targets, sight unseen. He drops his bombs perfectly and somehow manages to dodge the MIGs trying to shoot him down. Back at their carrier, they are under attack, but the pilot is able to land on the deck while under heavy enemy fire. Once down he learns that his sight should return in a week or so.
Next, we have "Cry 'Wolf' Mission" by Bob Haney and Russ Heath and reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #91 (1960). Davey Lee is a frogman and his senses have developed for his specialty of working underwater. While attempting to get at an enemy sub, Davey sets off a few underwater mines and has to call the mission off. The skipper of their ship decides to send Davey back with his brother, Ben, as his partner. They return and find the sub and the pen that protected it are both gone. Some searching turns up the sub, but it is now unprotected. They set charges and blow it up, but back on the ship the skipper is worried that Davey made up or hallucinated the traps he found the first time. even Ben wonders if his brother was simply crying wolf. Two days later one of their ships is destroyed and the skipper wants to know how. Now both brothers are looked at with suspicion.
The next day on a practice run, the brothers once again encounter the underwater net and traps and are attacked by enemy frogmen. They manage to fight them off and find the submarine again. They again set charges and blow it up. Back on the ship, the skipper explains that intelligence discovered that the traps Davey first encountered were real, but when he set off the mines, the enemy removed them and put a dummy submarine in their place. This time, they blew up the real sub.
That is followed by "Soften 'em Up" by Bob Haney and Irv Novick and reprinted from Our Fighting Forces #57 (1960). A green recruit and a savvy vet watch the artillery, bombers, and tanks work over the city of Dulac. While the greenhorn is sure the town will be "softened up" the vet says not to take anything for granted. Although the town appears "softened" they soon find themselves avoiding Nazi tanks, snipers, and machine-gun nests. The two men then take out the sniper, blow up the nest and take out the tank proving the town to not be as soft as the greenhorn thought.
We end this issue with another Haunted Tank story, "Battle Window" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from G.I. Combat #102 (1963). The ghost of General Stuart warns Jeb that his life will depend on a single shot. Later that day, the Haunted Tank is attacked by several German tanks, Jeb and his crew manage to escape and destroy the enemy tanks, but their gun is jammed. When a fighter attacks from above they are unable to fire back until Rick repairs the gun for a single shot. They shoot down the plane, but the General explains that it was not the single shot he was talking about.
When the Haunted Tank enters an abandoned French town that serves as a Nazi trap, an old French soldier manages to warn the crew in time. The Haunted Tank is chased through the streets until it eventually prevails against the German opponents. The French soldier then saves Jeb from a sniper with a single shot.
Edited by Joe Kubert.
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