Vol. 6: 1945-1946
By Milton Caniff
Die-Hards
Nov 6, 1945 - Mar 11, 1946
This is the first of four stories in what Carl Horak, author of the Terry and the Pirates Companion, considers to be the fifth and final era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era began in late Nov 1945 and ran through the end of 1946 and is called On Final Approach in the companion book.
The Wikipedia article on Terry and the Pirates breaks the entire series down into 60 arcs. It breaks this arc down into the following arcs:
55 - "Forced Landing" (11/6/45 to 12/28/45)
56 - "Still the Traitor" (12/29/45 to 3/12/46)
10/06/24
Dec 29, 1945 - Terry wonders what they can do now that Fob has been taken hostage. The Japanese commander is quite pleased with his unit’s accomplishments.
Dec 30, 1945 - Fob and Madame Grosse-Nach meet the leader of the Japanese troops. He is a White man. He is a wearing a mask but Madame Grosse-Nach recognizes his voice. He orders her not to reveal his identity.
This arc just keeps getting weirder and weirder. It is now almost four months since the Japanese formally surrendered and Caniff is still chasing this story in which there is a Japanese unit fighting on. I don’t get it.
10/08/24
Dec 31, 1945-Jan 2, 1946 - Mr. Bruther asks for transport away from the airbase. Fob does what she can to annoy the Japanese soldiers. Major Pauley asks Terry to stick around and help him recover Fob and Madame Grosse-Nach.
Thus begins the final year of Caniff’s run on Terry and the Pirates.
10/09/24
Jan 3-5, 1946 - Fob complains to the Japanese soldier who brings her something to eat and learns that he speaks English. Major Pauley talks to Terry about the attack on the Japanese unit that he is planning. Madame Grosse-Nach and the hooded man talk.
10/10/24
Jan 6, 1946 - Fob is forced to dance for the hooded man. She rips off his hood while she is dancing.
10/11/24
Jan 7-9, 1946 - Fob learns that the hooded man is Tony Sandhurst. Madame Grosse-Nach gets slapped by Sandhurst for revealing his name.
10/12/24
Jan 10-12, 1946 - Fob talks to the Japanese soldier who speaks English. He worked in vaudeville as a child, as did she. He recalls that they were part of the same traveling show for a time. Connie and Big Stoop return. They are part of a unit of Chinese soldiers who are going to be sent in pretending to be peasants so that they can infiltrate the camp of Japanese soldiers.
According to my records it has been about 30 months since the last time (July 1943) that Connie and Big Stoop showed up in this strip. The pair has only had one limited engagement (Apr to Jul 1943) in the strip in the past four years, since Jan 1942. That’s when Terry and Pat left Hong Kong, after the Japanese took control of the city.
10/13/24
Jan 13, 1946 - Terry fills Connie and Big Stoop in on the plan. He explains to them that he wants them to infiltrate the Japanese camp, disguised as peasants.
10/15/24
Jan 14-16, 1946 - Fob and Sandhurst talk. She reveals that her first name is really Cornelia. He seems intent on having his way with her. She does her best to talk him out of it.
I guess Fob Cobb is better than Corn Cobb.
10/16/24
Jan 17-19, 1946 - Sandhurst gets knocked out accidentally by one of the Japanese soldiers. The Chinese soldiers take off on their mission. Terry talks to Major Pauley about the operation.
There is some of Caniff’s brand of humor in all three of these strips.
10/17/24
Jan 20, 1946 - Connie, Big Stoop, and the rest of the Chinese troops are dropped behind enemy lines. A couple Japanese soldiers find the Chinese soldiers and take them to their camp. Connie gets nervous when he hears that Sandhurst is the leader of the renegade Japanese unit.
Will Sandhurst recognize Connie and Big Stoop? I’m not so sure that he will.
10/18/24
Jan 21-23, 1946 - Sandhurst inspects the Chinese troops but doesn’t figure out that they have been planted there or notice Connie and Big Stoop. Connie tries passing a message to one of the women captives but it is Madame Grosse-Nach who gets the message.
10/19/24
Jan 24-26, 1946 - Ilsa Grosse-Nach goes to Sandhurst and tries to tell him that something is up. He is impatient and slaps her. The Chinese troops start a fight with the Japanese troops. Connie signals to the American troops that the fight has begun.
There is a lot of narration in the second of these three strips. That seems unusual to me in a daily strip. Usually Caniff seems to save that stuff for Sunday strips.
10/20/24
Jan 27, 1946 - Big Stoop grabs Ilsa Grosse-Nach and Fob Cobb. He and Connie and the two women quickly depart the camp. Connie sends up a signal flare to alert the Americans that the women are clear of the Japanese camp. American aircraft quickly set their sights on the Japanese camp. The Japanese soldiers decide to turn Sandhurst over to the Americans.
This all went very fast. It is unclear to me what happened to the other Chinese troops. Connie and Big Stoop are the only ones to appear departing the camp on panel in this Sunday strip. I’m guessing that the other Chinese troops must have left too but that isn’t clear.
10/21/24
Jan 28-30, 1946 - Terry leads the ground fight against the Japanese troops. Sandhurst has lost control of the Japanese troops but the battle rages on. Sandhurst has just about given up hope when he spots Fob and Ilsa, alone.
10/22/24
Jan 31-Feb 2, 1946 - Sandhurst knocks Fob through a hole in an icy river but then he falls in himself. They both get rescued by American troops.
This is all moving extremely fast and nonsensically so. It feels as though Caniff might be trying to get through this part as fast as he can so he can steer the story in another direction.
10/23/24
Feb 3, 1946 - Terry tells Lieutenant Bayless, of the provost marshal’s office, all about what Sandhurst has been up to, going back to before the war. Bayless reveals that the reason he’s there is because Mr. Bruther has accused Terry of assault and battery.
10/24/24
Feb 4-6, 1946 - Fob is flown out because she in bad shape after getting soaked in freezing cold water. Tony Sandhurst and Ilsa Grosse-Nach are smugly satisfied that Terry is in hot water and ask to be released.
I hope this doesn’t develop into a courtroom drama with Terry having to defend himself against the charges brought by Mr. Bruther.
10/25/24
Feb 7-9, 1946 - Terry, Lieutenant Bayless, Tony Sandhurst, and Ilsa Grosse-Nach are flown together on a plane to a larger base. Tony and Ilsa try to slip away but Lieutenant Bayless insists that they stick around.
10/26/24
Feb 10, 1946 - Terry learns that Bruther’s accusation could lead to greater delays. He reaches out to the base where his unit moved but has yet to hear back. Fob wakes up in a hospital, loaded up with drugs to help her heal. She’s determined to help Terry and wanders out into the night wrapped in a blanket.
This doesn’t look good for Fob. The nurse that was attending to Fob looks a little like Big Jane who hasn’t been seen since Mar 1945, but I’m not sure that it’s her.
10/27/24
Feb 11-13, 1946 - Terry learns about Fob’s disappearance. He wants to go look for her but he is ordered to stay put because the matter with Bruther has yet to be resolved.
10/28/24
Feb 14-16, 1946 - Connie, Big Stoop, and the rest of the Chinese army unit that helped in the rescue of Fob and capture of Sandhurst are marching back to the base where Terry can be found when they run across Fob. Big Stoop carries Fob until he runs across a couple American soldiers in a jeep. He leaves her with them. He goes looking for Terry after receiving instructions from Fob.
I’m a little confused on the geography of the current story. I assumed that the base where Terry and the others were flown was much further away from the Japanese camp then seems to be the case.
10/29/24
Feb 17, 1946 - Terry continues to mope about his situation. Big Stoop arrives at the gate to the American base with a note written by Connie and evidence that Fob gave him but the guards at the gate are reluctant to let him pass.
10/30/24
Feb 18-20, 1946 - Big Stoop waits at the gate. The commanding general comes out to the gate and Big Stoop gives him a packet with testimony from the people who were on the airplane when Terry slugged Bruther.
10/31/24
Feb 21-23, 1946 - Sandhurst demands to know why he is isn’t aloud to leave. He tries to contact Fob once he learns that she is in the hospital. He bribes one of the men working at the base to get a message through to her.
Who is this guy that Sandhurst has bribed? He doesn’t look like a soldier but I can’t imagine that they would have any American civilians working on this base.
11/01/24
Feb 24, 1946 - Terry goes to see Fob. He thanks her. She appreciates the thanks but is disappointed that it took her bailing him out to get him interested in her. He tries to get her to see things otherwise but she just asks him to leave her alone.
11/02/24
Feb 25-27, 1946 - one of the nurses tries to comfort Fob. Terry encourages Big Stoop to return to his unit. Sandhurst continues to scheme.
11/04/24
Feb 28-Mar 2, 1946 - Terry decides to go see Fob one more time before he leaves. Sandhurst knocks out the soldier who has been visiting him, takes his clothes, and goes to see Fob.
11/05/24
Mar 3, 1946 - Terry visits with Fob. Terry heads out to deliver the package that Flip gave him months ago. Two Asian men observe Terry from a distance as he walks down the street.
One minute Terry is in the base hospital and the next he’s walking down the street of what looks like a city. This is the first indication that I can recall that the base was adjacent to a city.
There was no sign of Sandhurst in this strip but there’s still a little over a week left in this arc.
11/06/24
Mar 4-6, 1946 - Sandhurst lurks in the shadows. The base authorities learn that Sandhurst has assaulted Private Roan and start to look for him.
11/07/24
Mar 7-9, 1946 - Big Stoop charges through the base until he finds the hospital and Fob’s room. He arrives in time to pull Sandhurst off of Fob. Sandhurst was strangling her when Big Stoop showed up. He takes Sandhurst and disappears out the window with Sandhurst before the MPs arrive on the scene.
Is Fob still alive? She is at least unconscious. What will Big Stoop do with Sandhurst? I have no idea.
These three strips are devoid of dialogue with the exception of the first panel in the first strip.
11/08/24
Mar 10, 1946 - Terry confronts one of the two Asian men who has been tailing him. The man laughs and there is no threat of violence.
Terry uses the term Asiatic instead of Asian. Presumably the man is Chinese but that isn’t clear at this point. Presumably the reason why this arc didn’t finish yesterday is because tomorrow’s strip will have some follow up on the situation with Fob.
11/09/24
Mar 11-12, 1946 - Fob survived Sandhurst’s attempt to kill her but the troops at the base are unable to figure out what happened to Big Stoop after he departed the base carrying Sandhurst.
That’s it for this arc. Hopefully there won’t be anymore stories about Japanese units that think the war still isn’t over yet. I wasn’t crazy about this arc.
According to the companion book that’s it for Sandhurst during Caniff’s run on the strip, in other words until post 1946. He returns in 1947 but is eventually killed by Big Stoop. I’m happy enough thinking that he probably met some sort of Justice at the hands of Big Stoop in China.
I’m guessing that Fob Cobb, Connie, and Big Stoop won’t be seen again during Caniff's run on the strip. Flip Corkin is gone for good according to the companion book.
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For a list of all the arcs that I have read of this strip and notes about them see my Terry and the Pirates page
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