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Quote1 I guess Axis Sally figures there are lots of joes like me in uniform! ... She doesn't realize that we can love our European heritage and still be ready to die fighting tyranny! Quote2
Dino Manelli

Appearing in "When a Howler Turns Traitor!"

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Synopsis for "When a Howler Turns Traitor!"

In an English pub, the Howling Commandos hear "Axis Sally," a Nazi propagandist, on the radio urging Allied soldiers of German and Italian ancestry to desert. Pinkerton hears an incoming buzz bomb. Everyone takes shelter until the bomb drops and the area is secure.

Back at base, Captain Sawyer has a new mission for Sergeant Fury: locate the buzz-bomb launcher and mark it for a bomber mission that will reach the area at 0300 the next morning. The commandos board a glider and land in France, some two miles from the last launch site. When the commandos reach the site, there is only a railroad track. A Gestapo officer, meanwhile, learns that the glider was spotted and sends a unit to capture its passengers. Fury and his men follow the tracks to a depot, where part of the German unit pins them down. Cohen plants a bomb in an alley and lures the group past it as it explodes. The other Germans, including a tank, show up. Jones uses his bugle to sound a Nazi retreat. The others fall upon the confused soldiers. Fury, alone with Manelli, tells him to pretend to desert, so that he can learn the location of the launcher. A reluctant Manelli waves a white flag. The German officer in charge recognizes Manelli from his movies and gladly accepts his surrender. The other Howlers, who aren't in on the plan, see it all. Fury uses their dismay to motivate them to tackle the tank. Ralston circles behind the tank and shoots the crew. The Howlers take over the tank and use it to make their getaway.

A Stuka attacks the tank. Fury shoots it down but loses his balance and falls off the tank. "Keep rollin'," he yells, "and that's an order!!" At the local SS office, awaiting transport to Berlin, Manelli learns that the launcher is on a railroad flatcar, which explains why no one has pinpointed its location. He slams together the heads of the two officers, puts on a German uniform, and takes a car. Following the railroad, he catches the launcher and jumps from the car to the train. With only minutes to go, he remembers his radio transmitter. He activates it, plants it on the car, and leaps to safety. The bombers follow his signal and destroy the train.

Fury, now in a POW camp, laments that he's the only one who can clear Manelli of desertion. Manelli, still in a German uniform, orders a pilot to take him to England. Anti-aircraft fire hits the plane when it reaches the coast, and Manelli bails out. The Shore Patrol take him into custody. Back at base, Manelli gets thrown into the stockade. Luckily, Fury succeeds in a desperate escape from the camp and makes it home in time to save Manelli from a firing squad.

Sgt

bonus artwork in this issue

Trivia

  • The inker's name is given as "Geo. Bell."
  • Fury identifies the fighter he shoots down as a Messerschmitt, although it has the distinctive gull wings of a Stuka.

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