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