Battle Cry #13

PVT. IKE is tasked with delivering urgent photographs to LT. PIERCE out on a reconnaissance patrol, but when a dangerous detour puts him face-to-face with enemy soldiers, he has to fight his way through to complete the mission. What starts as a simple courier run becomes a high-stakes race against time in "Photo Finish!" from Battle Cry #13.

During World War II, German U-boats prowl the Atlantic as a coordinated "wolf pack," systematically hunting Allied convoys bound for England with vital supplies and troops. When conventional defenses prove inadequate against the submarine menace, British strategists introduce a revolutionary new weapon—a detecting device called radar—to locate and track the enemy beneath the waves. The tide of the Atlantic campaign turns as Allied destroyers, armed with this technological advantage, engage the hunters in a deadly game where the hunted become the hunters.

A soldier recounts his first combat landing on a hostile beach, where fear builds from the tense hours before the assault through the chaos of hitting the sand under heavy fire. In "Blood and Guts," the unnamed narrator grapples with paralyzing dread and the desperate fight for survival, discovering that true courage isn't the absence of fear—it's what you do when fear threatens to consume you. This raw 1954 war story strips away glorification to show the brutal psychology of a man in his first moments of real combat.

A grizzled crew chief refuses to abandon his aging B-17 Fortress when the brass tries to ground her and reassign him to easier duty—but when the old girl limps back from a dangerous bombing run over Germany battered and burning, Curtis must confront whether his devotion to the Bucket will survive the cost of keeping her flying. Written with the kind of intimate focus on man and machine that made wartime aviation stories sing, "Come Home Baby" captures the anxious vigil of those left behind during a bombing mission and the fierce pride of a mechanic who won't let go, even when letting go might be the wiser choice.

Exhausted after a grueling 36-hour patrol, Pvt. Ike can barely keep his eyes open—but when a dangerous enemy machine gun nest blocks the unit's advance, he volunteers for the suicide mission anyway, half-asleep the whole time. What unfolds is a wild, accidental streak of success as Ike and his partner Brooklyn stumble through their assignment in the most improbable way possible. By the time the dust settles, the impossible has happened, and the brass can't quite believe their eyes.