Soldiers are not that different from children, according to a playful and not so much decent saying. There was nothing wrong as long as military was armed with unsophisticated weapons and used primitive tactics, however adult kids were trusted with increasingly complex weaponry, machinery and taught various tricks as warfare advanced. With invention of printing numerous handbooks and user’s manuals came into play and suddenly it turned out that soldiers didn’t like reading boring books with small prints.
Eventually it was decided to convert soldier’s training into enjoyable game. Besides encouraging washing hands before dinner and not dismantling grenades with a hammer, considerably more complex topics were given visual representation. Thus WWII has brought quite entire part of training military literature with a side of comics filled with girls and funny stories. The Germans outdone themselves in particular – in Germany in a semi-jokingly form were published instruction manuals for «Tiger» and «Panther», handbooks that taught a dozen fun ways of destroying Soviet T-34 tanks for German Panzergrenadiers and explanations for Luftwaffe fighter pilots how to lead a moving target in order to shoot down a Spitfire.
Something resembling KV-85 got stuck in Hoffmann fairytale character’s wooden teeth
