Vulgar Army is on hiatus, and is likely to remain so indefinitely.
The intent behind VA is to identify and criticise themes in the use of the octopus as a metaphor in propaganda and political cartoons, as well as identify its relation to popular culture.
Clarification and
Disclaimer
Some of these cartoons, articles etc. express ideas I personally find abhorrent. Their appearance here is NOT an endorsement. Just thought I should make that clear.
“Erkenne die Gefahr! Wähle Österreichische Volkspartei, Wien 1949” (Recognize the danger! Choose Austrian People’s Party, Vienna 1949)
The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the dangers of Communism (1949) With a view to the parliamentary elections due to be held on 9 October 1949 in Austria, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) warns the country’s voters against the threat posed by the ‘Communist octopus’.
Last few minutes of “Victory Through Air Power” Disney made WWII propaganda film that shows Japanese octopus being attacked by American eagle. (Trying to get hold of a copy of this.)
“Es kommt der Tag!” (The day comes!), circa 1941, shows an octopus with only four limbs (and no eyes) in the shape of a swastika. The image appeared on a gummed perforated label to be used much as stickers are used now. To appear on street posts, tables, letter boxes etc. This one in particular was designed by the British for use in Germany during World War Two.
To learn more the is a very informative article “Propaganda Gummed Labels of WWII” at Psywarrior by SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
The following very pretty pamphlet cover was printed in 1944 by the ‘Ministry Of Information’. It shows a black Japanese octopus with rising sun behind it with the caption: “Japan Menaces World Trade”. The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives list it as a “leaflet on raw materials made unobtainable by Japanese conquest in the Far East, with pictorial statistics in black and red”1. The “symbols of industry”2 are more graphic than in the earlier l’etat monopoles of France, or monopolies of the USA. They appear to include: Tea, Rice, Textiles?, Tyres, Ingots of metal (gold?), Palm Trees?, Sugar, and some strange juicey pumpkin thing (coco, coffee?).
Where pulp meets propaganda. United States Marines No. 3. (1944) published by William H Wise featuring a US Marine using a flame thrower to fight a buck-tooth Japanese octopus (Tojo)1.
In a related note: The United States Marines did use flame throwers against the Japanese at the Battle of Iwo Jima in Feb-Mar of 1945 and it has been argued that comics such as these aimed to both dehumanise the enemy and make the use of flame throwers palatable2.
“The Marines learned that firearms were relatively ineffective against the Japanese defenders and effectively used flamethrowers and grenades to flush out Japanese troops in the tunnels. One of the technological innovations of the battle, the eight Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks equipped with the Navy Mark I flame thrower (“Ronson” or Zippo Tanks), proved very effective at clearing Japanese positions. The Shermans were difficult to disable, such that defenders were often compelled to assault them in the open, where the Japanese troops would fall victim to the superior numbers of Marines.”3
