True Comics #24

Henri Giraud, a French general captured during World War I, discovers an unshakeable will to escape when imprisoned by the Germans—adopting disguises as a butcher boy, stable boy, coal man, and circus performer to reach Belgium, where Nurse Cavell aids his passage to freedom. Decades later, when Nazi forces capture him again during the 1940 invasion of France and lock him in the fortress of Koenigstein, Giraud schemes for two years to break free and rejoin the fight against tyranny. This is the true story of a soldier for whom captivity was never the final word.

United States merchant sailors brave the treacherous North Atlantic run to Murmansk, facing Nazi bombers, submarines, heavy ice, and punishing winter weather to deliver vital war supplies to Russia. As the convoy battles relentless attacks—some ships lost, others damaged—the crew must keep their vessel fighting through nine days and nights of assault, dodging enemy planes and warships while racing to unload their precious cargo before making the dangerous journey home. It's a gripping true account of the courage and determination of the men who kept the supply lines open when the stakes couldn't be higher.

Jeanne Mance joins pioneer settlers led by Paul Chomedey Maisonneuve in 1642 to establish Ville-Marie (Montreal) despite warnings of hostile territory, bringing with her a determination to build a hospital and serve the community. When floods destroy their first crops and Iroquois raids threaten their survival for two decades, Mance's unwavering courage and care—from tending the wounded to sustaining the children through desperate shortages—becomes the moral backbone that keeps the struggling settlement alive. From her vision and sacrifice grew not only a thriving city, but the hospital that would become world-renowned.

William P. Leahy's unlikely path from an Iowa farmboy who initially dreamed of West Point to a decorated naval officer unfolds across his service in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and beyond. Drawn to the Navy after his West Point dreams were dashed, Leahy proves himself aboard the USS Oregon as she races around Cape Horn to join the action in Cuba, and continues building his reputation through decades of service in troubled waters worldwide. This biography traces how a landlocked boy became one of the Navy's most influential leaders, shaping the fleet through his command of navigation training and personnel development.

At seventeen, Marco Polo set out with his father and uncle Nicolo on an epic journey across Persia, Central Asia, and the Gobi Desert to reach the court of Kublai Khan, encountering hostile assassins, nomadic tribes, and impossible terrain along the way. Serving the Khan for years—including military campaigns and diplomatic missions—the three Polos accumulated wealth and experience that would reshape European understanding of the Far East. Upon their return to Venice after twenty-four years abroad, they must convince a skeptical city of the wonders they've witnessed.

Col. Laverne "Blondy" Saunders, a West Point football legend turned bombing commander, leads his crew on a dangerous raid over Japanese-held Faisi Harbor in the Solomon Islands—but anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters cripple his plane, killing the pilot and wounding several men including Saunders himself. With two engines down and his wing ablaze, Saunders fights to keep the damaged fortress airborne long enough to reach cloud cover and spot a nearby island where he executes a harrowing crash landing. Stranded but alive, Saunders and his crew find unexpected allies in the island's natives, who shelter them from Japanese search parties and help them survive until a Navy rescue plane arrives to bring them home.

This eight-page historical account traces America's emergence as a world power from 1898 to 1918, beginning with the Spanish-American War and the pivotal naval victories under Commodore Dewey, then following Theodore Roosevelt's expansionist agenda—from the construction of the Panama Canal to his domestic trust-busting reforms. The story culminates in America's entry into World War I under President Woodrow Wilson, detailing the rapid mobilization, the deployment of millions of troops to France, and the nation's decisive role in the final campaigns that brought the war to an armistice in November 1918.

Dr. William Beebe, a pioneering deep-sea scientist, conducts daring undersea explorations from his base in Bermuda, walking the ocean floor in a diving helmet and later testing an experimental bathysphere capable of reaching depths previously thought impossible. Through these ventures—from encounters with sharks to journeys three thousand feet below the surface—Beebe discovers remarkable creatures and expands our understanding of life in the ocean's darkest reaches. His fearless investigations reveal a world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone had imagined.

Barney Ross rises from poverty in Chicago to become a celebrated boxer, earning titles in multiple weight classes through sheer determination and heart—but when Pearl Harbor changes everything, the retired champion enlists in the Marines to serve his country. This is the true story of how Ross's fighting spirit, forged in the ring against opponents like Jimmy McLarnin and Henry Armstrong, carries him through one of the war's fiercest battles at Guadalcanal, where he faces an enemy far deadlier than any he met as a prizefighter.