Magazine Review: Pulp Review #19: Patriots’ Death Battalion edited by John P. Gunnison
Let’s look at another issue of this pulp reprint magazine, this time an installment of the Purple Invasion!
“Patriots’ Death Battalion” by Emile Tepperman writing as Curtis Steele, came from the Operator #5 magazine series. #5, civilian name James “Jimmy” Christopher, was the top field agent of a never-named government intelligence operation that fought against various enemies of America on an alternate Earth. The “Purple Invasion” storyline was the longest-running in the magazine.
The Central Empire started as the country of Balkaria (a thinly disguised Germany), ruled by a dictatorial Emperor, Maximilian I, who was a military genius. By a shrewd combination of industrial might and innovative maneuvers, he managed to conquer Europe and much of Asia (probably just the Russia part.) Not satisfied with mastery over Europe and Asia, he then set his sights on Canada and conquered that.
Meanwhile, the United States had largely disarmed in a fit of isolationist pacifism, and refused to let itself be drawn into the affairs of Europe. This despite repeated warnings from Z-7, Operator #5’s boss. Only once Canada was invaded did it occur to the American government as a whole that it should probably start arming itself against a Purple Invasion, and they weren’t able to get geared up in time as Canada folded in weeks.
In the first installment of the series, “Death’s Ragged Army”, the Central Empire invaded America, starting at New England and swinging south and west from there. In addition to their superior military might, the invaders were aided by the Green Gas, a particularly horrific poison gas that ordinary masks were useless against. Operator #5 managed to destroy the manufacturing facilities, the secret formula, and everyone who knew the formula, so the Green Gas is off the table, but the Central Empire now controls everything east of the Mississippi River.
To make matters worse (or better depending on your point of view) Emperor Maximilian was assassinated by his own son, who now rules as Emperor Rudolph I and is personally overseeing the invasion of America. Rudolph is crueler than his father, and is big on committing atrocities to break the will of the occupied territories.
Which brings us to the beginning of this installment. What remains of the American land forces are dug in on the west side of the Mississippi, determined to hold the line. A few soldiers at an anti-aircraft installment are surprised to see one of the enemy planes being chased by other craft of the enemy forces. A man, or rather a boy, parachutes down while the pilot of the fugitive craft distracts the pursuers.
This is Tim Donovan, Jimmy’s teenage sidekick, who bears bad news. The Central Empire’s planning to feint an attack directly at several points along the Mississippi while the main force will be coming down from Ontario through the north woods of Minnesota. When the soldiers try to inform headquarters of this intelligence, it’s laughed off. After all, why would the Empire need to do that when the United States government is already surrendering?
Turns out that Operator #5 has gone missing, and in his absence General Redfern, the highest ranking remaining military officer, has convinced the President of the United States of America that a quick surrender and trusting to the mercy of Emperor Rudolph is better than fruitlessly resisting and raising the madman’s desire for retribution higher. Without America’s greatest hero available, the President reluctantly agrees to sign the unconditional surrender papers, then commits suicide.
And where is Jimmy Christopher? Turns out General Redfern and other high officers he’d persuaded had treacherously captured him and are holding him incognito so he can’t interfere with the surrender. Part of the surrender is turning him over, and the imperial officer offers an iron mask to fit the agent with so his identity won’t be known to anyone who might otherwise try to rescue him.
Meanwhile, Tim, the soldiers who’ve gone AWOL to help him, Diane Elliot the ace reporter and Operator #5’s sweetheart, and former pickpocket “Slips” McGuire form an impromptu rescue team.
Can the other heroes save Operator #5 from prison, and even if they do, what can be done to stop the Empire now that the government of America has surrendered?
This being the pulps, there’s plenty of exciting action and battle scenes. Despite his apparent youth, Jimmy Christopher is another of the omnicompetent heroes so common in the hero pulps. In addition to being a military genius, master of disguise and ace pilot, he is also one of the few white men who knows the true secrets of jiujitsu, including the mythical death punch. (Sadly, he doesn’t actually use it in this installment.)
His sidekicks are also very competent, though we don’t get that much characterization for them beyond being brave and heroic (with Slips being a bit less morally pure.)
We get a bit more for General Redfern, who sincerely wants what’s best for Americans, but is an administrator rather than a strategist, and thinks it’s best to try to save as many lives as possible since there’s no way to win against the Central Empire. He also has a festering resentment against Operator #5, who has consistently shown him up in the past. This leads to his treachery and apparent cowardice.
Most of the Purple Invasion troops are slavering brutes, living up to their symbol of a severed head over crossed broadswords, but a few do show a certain amount of honor.
Emperor Rudolph is of course mad, but rational enough to protect himself. He’s sadistic, and likes watching people be tortured to death. It’s his idea to execute particularly important prisoners using the Liberty Bell, which he has his troops drag around the country to demoralize the Americans.
He has a twisted relationship with his cousin, Baroness Anita Monfred. She tries to help the Americans when she can (for example, making sure Tim could escape at the beginning of the story) but refuses to let them harm Rudolph as she’s in love with him. And apparently, Rudolph’s in love with her, as he keeps not killing her for her defiance. She’s also the reason he hasn’t killed his one really competent general.
This being the kind of story it is, the logistics of the Central Empire and the Purple Invasion are not examined for realism at any time. There’s no explanation for how the Empire is actually administrated, or how Rudolph is keeping already conquered territories in line while taking on the massive task of conquering America. (Heck, he’s already swallowed Russia, which is a huge territory filled with very hostile subgroups.)
Mr. Tepperman frequently resorts to detailed footnotes to explain past events and who a character is; this is justified as the “frame” is that this is a fictionalized account of the events published several years in that world’s future, after the invasion is finally repulsed.
Content note: suicide, deaths in combat, torture, the Central Empire troops routinely rape civilians in the occupied territories (never on page, though.) A touch of benign sexism (“a certain elfin delicacy which only a girl can possess”) in the narration.
“Death from the Jungle” by Charles Barr is a Sally the Sleuth comic book story originally published in Private Detective (May 1950). Sally and her boss, “the Chief” are called to the apartment of late big game hunter Roy Randolph. His widow, Etta Randolph, receives them in a room filled with his trophies, including the ones that just arrived from his last hunt in India.
Mrs. Randolph has been hearing strange noises at night, food’s gone missing, and something scared the maid so much that she ran away. This would seem to indicate there’s an intruder, but all the doors and windows are locked, with no indication they’ve been tampered with.
The detectives are planning to sleep over in the apartment to protect Mrs. Randolph and figure out the intruder if that person actually exists, but just as the women are undressing, (lingerie shot!) the Chief is attacked and knocked unconscious. Still no sign of who might have done it.
Eventually, we learn that among the trophies is the Dagger of the Dokkas, a sacred jeweled artifact said to carry a curse on anyone outside the Dokka tribe who possesses it. Mr. Randolph had stolen it from that tribe.
More attacks from the seemingly invisible intruder ensue, resulting in Mrs. Randolph’s murder. Just as Sally is about to die herself, the Chief recovers and saves her, and we learn how the killer was able to hide in plain sight.
Content note: murder, lingerie shots, colonialism.
This is an interesting look at a small part of one of pulp’s great sagas. If you want to read the entire Purple Invasion epic, you’ll need to check around the internet for copies of the other chapters.
Recommended to fans of the invasion subgenre of pulp fiction.
