Lincoln City versus Liverpool: a 1950s traumatic flashback

 

Liverpool’s Carabao League Cup match away to Lincoln City tomorrow evening got me trawling through the history books for previous clashes between the clubs. And along the way I also stumbled across a few random points of Lincolnian interest.

Firstly, Lincoln biscuits (a 1980s childhood delicacy when served with butter and jam) are now apparently available only/mainly in Ireland, being made by Jacobs. Their actual connection with the city of Lincoln is unclear.

A Lincoln biscuit with its characteristic raised dots

And the distinctive packaging...

And speaking of tenuous links with Ireland, there is also the etymological connection between Lincoln and Dublin, both containing the old Celtic word for ‘pool’ (i.e. lin or linn), with Dublin being a black (Dubh) pool and Lincoln being simply ‘the’ pool. Incidentally, the origin of Liverpool’s name comes from a pool of thick or muddy water.

Also of historical interest and with another vaguely 1980s connection is the Gremlin like Lincoln Imp, a 'grotesque' that is to be found on Lincoln Cathedral and that somehow manages to make its way on to the crest of Lincoln City Football Club.

Lincoln Cathedral - with construction commencing in 1072, this was the world's tallest building for over two hundred years

The Lincoln Imp, to be found within Lincoln Cathedral and on the crest of Lincoln City Football Club

Lincoln City's grotesque home jersey for 2020-2021 

But back to football. Liverpool have played Lincoln City on 23 occasions in their history, including Liverpool's first ever Football League game at Anfield in 1893, when they beat Lincoln City 4-0. In total, Liverpool have won 13 of their matches against Lincoln City, drawing 5 and losing 5. Twenty of those encounters were league games, with three in the FA Cup. Of the league games, all were played in the Second Division, with six played in the first two decades of Liverpool’s history and the other 14 played between 1954 and 1960. This was the darkest footballing era for Liverpool FC, and worse even than the 1930s, also a trophy-less decade but at least First Division status was maintained throughout https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/09/liverpool-fc-in-1930s-great-footballing.html.

So, with no offence intended to Lincoln City, Liverpool returning there tomorrow night is likely to awaken dark and traumatic 1950s memories for any Liverpool fans old enough to remember when this was a regular Second Division fixture. 

For the three previous seasons when Liverpool had started in the Second Division (1893-1894, 1895-1896 and 1904-1905), they managed to win the division and obtain immediate promotion. But the 1950s was to be different. After being relegated in 1953-1954, Liverpool dropped to an 11^th place finish in Division Two in 1954-1955 and at one time looked at risk of falling into the third tier of English football. At the risk of overdoing the linn-related references, the Second Division became a pool of quicksand for Liverpool for eight seasons. Incidentally, while Liverpool's footballing fortunes have improved beyond recognition from those 1950s lows, Lincoln City never made it out, dropping back further to their current status as a third tier, League One club. 

As you can see from the 1950s summary stats at the end of this blog, the ignominy of Second Division football for Liverpool for six seasons of the decade (and two seasons of the 1960s) was compounded by the concurrent successes of clubs that would become Liverpool’s greatest domestic and European rivals.  

So while Liverpool suffered relegation in 1953-1954 and a subsequent protracted battle to get back to the First Division, their (in recent decades at least) fiercest rivals Manchester United won the First Division three times in the decade (1951-1952, 1955-1956 and 1956-1957) thus catching up with Liverpool’s total of five top flight titles. To add insult to injury, United got to strut their stuff in the newly established European club competition, known then as the European Cup and known now as the UEFA Champions League.

United even managed two European Cup semi-final appearances in the late 1950s, but the competition was completely dominated by Real Madrid in those early years, with the Spaniards winning the first five consecutive titles, between 1955 and 1960.

And when Real Madrid took that fifth European title in 1960 they would have known little of the still sleeping giants then stuck in the English Second Division who would ultimately rise again and beat them in the 1981 European Cup final to win their own third European title.

Liverpool's ill fated 1953-1954 team - they would end the season 22nd and bottom of the First Division and thus relegated. Notable players include future managers Phil Taylor (standing on extreme left) and Bob Paisley (sitting on extreme right), along with Billy Liddell who is seated directly beside Paisley.  

Back row: Eddie Spicer, Charlie Ashcroft and Ray Lambert.

Middle row: Phil Taylor, Sammy Smith, Laurie Hughes, Louis Bimpson, Joseph Maloney, Roy Saunders, Alan A'Court

Front row: Jimmy Payne, Kevin Baron, Bill Jones, Billy Liddell and Bob Paisley

The 1950s: one Liverpool hero at least

Throughout those dark days of Second Division football, Liverpool had at least one stalwart player, who showed great loyalty in sticking with the club and who would go on to achieve legendary status.

Billy Liddell was a Scottish forward who played exclusively with Liverpool for his entire professional career, stretching from before World War II in July 1938 right through to those grim Second Division years of the 1950s and on to the very beginning of the Shankly era. During the 1950s, Liddell was top scorer for six seasons and captain for three of those. Matt Busby, one time Liverpool player and captain and subsequently quite successful manager of another club, is said to have tipped off Liverpool manager Gorge Kay to Liddell, saying ‘this Liddell lad might be worth an enquiry’. As stipulated by his parents, Liddell was contractually allowed to complete his training as an accountant while playing with Liverpool, thus having another career to fall back on after football. In fact, he continued to work as an accountant throughout his Liverpool playing career.

Billy Liddell (1922-2001) who played with Liverpool from 1938 to 1961

Liddell was extremely strong, fast and versatile, playing as a left sided winger and centre forward and scoring 215 league goals in 492 matches. At the time of his retirement his 534 appearances was a club record for Liverpool, and he is currently 12^th on that particular metric, and 4^th on the all time top goalscorer table. He also managed 29 caps for Scotland. Had it not been for the interruption of World War II, when he served in the Royal Air Force, Liddell’s stats could have been even more impressive.

In The Anatomy of Liverpool (Jonathan Wilson and Scott Murray) Liddell is highlighted as being one of five key era defining players for Liverpool, coming after Alex Raisbeck https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/08/liverpool-fc-third-decade-1910-1920.html and Elisha Scott https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/09/two-titles-two-irishmen-and-two-macs.html and before Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard. Such was his importance to the club that Liverpool got the nickname of ‘Liddellpool’ during his career. Accounts of his contemporaries describe a quiet and religious man who did his talking on the pitch.

Although he had only a brief spell playing with Bill Shankly as Liverpool manager, Shankly was well aware of Liddell’s talents and importance to Liverpool, describing him as ‘fast, powerful, shot with either foot and his headers were like blasts from a gun. On top of all that he was as hard as granite. What a player! He was so strong – and he took a nineteen-inch collar shirt’. 

The darkest hour is just before the dawn

So Liverpool spent the second half of the 1950s getting close to but never quite making promotion back to the First Division.

A footballing nadir was reached in January 1959 when (with Billy Lidddell dropped for the game) Liverpool lost in the 3^rd round of the FA Cup to Southern League team Worcester City, a defeat that may well have spurred the Liverpool board to look for a replacement for manager Phil Taylor.

The Liverpool board found their replacement later in 1959 when they lured a fast talking and ambitious but as yet unproven young manager from Huddersfield Town to Liverpool. Within a few years he would transform Liverpool Football Club and bring them back to the very top table of English and ultimately European football. 

The darkest hour is before dawn - Worcester City knock Liverpool 

out of the FA Cup in January 1959

A new dawn arrives - Bill Shankly signing as manager of Liverpool Football Club on December 1st 1959

Munich air disaster

Finally, the 1950s football related tribulations for Liverpool paled in comparison to the tragedy for Manchester United of the Munich Air Disaster in February 1958. Former Liverpool player and captain Matt Busby had assembled an extraordinarily talented young team who had come to be known as the Busby Babes, winning consecutive First Division titles and performing well in Europe. Eight of the team (along with fifteen others) were killed as a result of the crash, including 22 year old Irishman Liam Whelan. Among the survivors were Bobby Charlton and Matt Busby himself. 

 

Liverpool FC in the 1950s: summary of a decade of footballing darkness

(Top scorer is based on combined league and FA Cup goals)

1950-1951

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Phil Taylor

League: 9^th in Division 1 (winners: Tottenham Hostpur, their 1^st win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners Newcastle United, their 4^th win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (15)

 

1951-1952

Manager: George Kay, succeeded by Don Welsh

Captain: Phil Taylor

League: 11^th in Division 1 (winners: Manchester United, their 3^rd win)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Newcastle United, their 5^th win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (19)

 

1952-1953

Manager: Don Welsh

Captain: Phil Taylor

League: 17^th in Division 1 (winners: Arsenal, a record 7^th win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: Blackpool, their first win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (13)

 

1953-1954

Manager: Don Welsh

Captain: Bill Jones

League: 22^nd in Division 1 and relegated (winners: Wolverhampton Wanderers, their first win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: West Bromwich Albion, their 4^th win)

Top scorer: Sammy Smyth (13)

 

1954-1955

Manager: Don Welsh

Captain: Laurie Hughes

League: 11^th in Division 2 (winners of Second Division: Birmingham City. Chelsea won the First Division for the first time)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Newcastle United, for a record 6^th time)

Top scorer: John Evans (33)

 

1955-1956

Manager: Don Welsh

Captain: Billy Liddell

League: 3^rd in Division 2 (winners of Second Division: Sheffield Wednesday. Manchester United won the First Division for the 4^th time)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Manchester City, their 3^rd win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (32)

European Cup: first championship and won by Real Madrid with Hibernian of Scotland the only British representatives, reaching the semi-finals.

 

1956-1957

Manager: Phil Taylor

Captain: Billy Liddell

League: 3^rd in Division 2 (winners of Division 2: Leicester City. Manchester United won First Division for the 5^th time).

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: Aston Villa, their 7^th win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (21)

European Cup: the second year of the competition and again won by Real Madrid, with Manchester United reaching the semi-finals

 

1957-1958

Manager: Phil Taylor

Captain: Billy Liddell

League: 4^th in Division 2 (West Ham United won Division 2, with Wolves winning the First Division for the 2^nd time)

FA Cup: Quarter final (winners: Bolton Wanderers, their 4^th win)

Top scorer: Billy Liddell (23)

European Cup: the third year of the competition and again won by Real Madrid, with Manchester United again reaching the semi-finals

 

1958-1959

Manager: Phil Taylor

Captain: Johnny Wheeler

League: 4^th in Division 2 (winners: Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves won the First Division for the second time).

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: Nottingham Forest, their 2^nd win)

Top scorer: Jimmy Melia (21)

European Cup: Real Madrid continue their complete dominance of the competition with their 4^th win. Wolves exited after the first round.

 

1959-1960

Manager: Phil Taylor, succeeded by Bill Shankly

Captain: Ronnie Moran

League: 3^rd in Division 2 (winners: Aston Villa. Burnley won the First Division for the second time)

FA Cup: 4^th round (winners: Wolverhampton Wanderers, their 4^th win)

Top scorer: Roger Hunt (23)

European Cup: Real Madrid remained the only winners to date, with their 5^th consecutive win. Wolves reached the quarter finals

The blue and gold

 

The unique colours and jersey of your team is an essential part of sports fandom. Team sponsors and kit manufacturers may change from season to season, but team colours and jersey designs remain pretty much the same. And on the rare occasions when team colours change dramatically, supporters tend not to take it well, e.g. Cardiff City changing from blue to red:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/09/cardiff-red-to-blue-kit-vincent-tan 

As the GAA club season powers on so successfully through this pandemic, we are all now starting to think ahead to an intercounty GAA championship, with All-Ireland finals a week or two before Christmas and the prospect of the Tipperary senior hurlers retaining the All-Ireland title for the first time since 1965 and hopefully the underappreciated Tipperary footballers having a good run too https://www.the42.ie/gaa-7-5203045-Sep2020/

Programme from the 1965 All-Ireland Senior Hurling final - the last time that Tipperary managed consecutive All-Ireland wins, a feat that will hopefully be replicated around Christmas 2020

And that gets me thinking about the Tipperary GAA jersey, among the most iconic of them all: that blue jersey with a gold hoop has inspired generations of players and fans through good times and bad.

Longford and Wicklow GAA county teams have jerseys made up of blue and gold, but not in the blue jersey/gold hoop design. And there’s Roscommon, with their combination of blue and primrose yellow. Our neighbours across the Shannon in Clare have jersey designs the mirror opposite of Tipperary, with a blue hoop on a yellow jersey that is described not as gold but saffron.

Then there are club teams within Tipperary (e.g. Kiladangan) and outside of Tipperary (e.g. O’Donovan Rossa) with actual blue and gold jerseys in the Tipperary design.

Seamus Calanan - Tipperary senior hurling captain for 2019

The jersey of Kiladangan GAA club, based in north Tipperary and recent winners of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship for the first time in their history: https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/0920/1166341-kiladangan-win-first-tipp-title-with-last-gasp-goal/

O'Donovan Rossa GAA club, of Belfast and Antrim

Going further afield in the search for blue and gold team colours, there’s an almost endless list, including the LA Pacers in American basketball, the LA Chargers in American Football and the West Coast Eagles in Aussie Rules.

Indiana Pacers (American Basketball)...

LA Chargers (American Football)...

West Coast Eagles (Australian Rules football)

But while many other teams around the world wear the blue and gold combination with pride, there is only one team that I know of from outside GAA circles that has the Tipperary design of a blue jersey with gold hoop and that team is the famous Argentinian football club Boca Juniors.

Boca Juniors are probably the top team in Argentinian club football, although fans of River Plate, their Buenos Aires rivals, would contest that. The record for Boca Juniors speaks for itself, with 34 Primera League titles (just behind their arch rivals River Plate) but leading the way in national and international cup competitions. Among the superstars who have played for Boca Juniors are Martin Palermo (top scorer), Roberto Mouzo (most appearances) and a few who have lit up European football, such as Carlos Tevez and Diego Maradona. 

Carlos Tevez, a player whose Premier League career was full of footballing brilliance and transfer related controversy, here wearing the blue and gold of Boca Juniors

Diego Maradona in his Boca Juniors prime

Maradona enjoying his retirement

And then I recently learned that, aside from the Tipperary jersey, Boca Juniors also have another strong Tipperary link in the person of Paddy McCarthy from Cashel. Born in 1871, McCarthy emigrated to Argentina in 1900. There he worked on the docks and excelled in boxing. In fact, he won the first professional boxing match ever held in Argentina in 1903 with a 4^th round knock-out of Italian Abelardo Robassio. McCarthy then went on to teach English and Physical Education. He is reported to have met a number of visiting dignitaries to the country, including Theodore Roosevelt (from whom he received a gift of the Yale sweater seen in the photograph below), the Duke of Kent and the Prince of Wales.

Paddy McCarthy from Cashel: footballer, boxer, teacher, coach, referee 

and a key figure in the foundation of Boca Juniors

However, Paddy McCarthy’s greatest sporting legacy was in helping inspire a group of young Italian and Greek immigrants to found the Boca Juniors football club. He then went on to coach the team for several years and he also had a successful career as a referee. In fact, despite his Boca Juniors connections, McCarthy refereed in 1913 the first meeting of Boca Juniors with their city rivals River Plate in a now supercharged contest that has come to be known as the ‘Superclassico’.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/soccer-angles-the-mysterious-irishman-who-helped-build-boca-juniors-1.3048949

McCarthy lived to the grand old age of 92 and left an indelible mark on Argentinian sport and society. However, his story has become forgotten with the passage of time. It appears that McCarthy was one of many Irish and British immigrants who introduced their native sports to Argentina at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. For example, the Lobos Athletic Club was founded by Irish immigrants in 1892 and hurling was also introduced by the Irish http://gaathenandnow.com/hurling-in-argentina-118-years-ago/.

Finally, it would be nice to think that Tipperary man Paddy McCarthy inspired Boca Juniors to adopt the blue and gold hooped jerseys of his native county. The truth is not so romantic. The generally accepted story (also perhaps apocryphal) is that Boca Juniors were looking for new team colours around the turn of the 20^th century. This was some years before Tipperary GAA teams adopted the blue and gold of Tubberadora as the county jersey https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/08/lena-rice-and-tubberadora.html. Someone suggested that Boca Juniors adopt as their colours those on the flag of the next ship to come in to Buenos Aires. And when the ship came in, it was carrying a blue and gold flag, not of Tipperary, but of Sweden.

A gold Nordic cross on a field of blue: the flag of Sweden

The Rock of Cashel, bastion of Irish kings for centuries and the home town of Paddy McCarthy, who would inspire the foundation of Boca Juniors, a bastion of Argentinian football. 

Liverpool FC in the 1930s - The Great (Footballing) Depression

 

Mirroring international economic fortunes, Liverpool went from the successes of the Roaring Twenties (https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/09/two-titles-two-irishmen-and-two-macs.html) to the harsh realities of The Great Depression in the next decade. 

And so the 1930s for Liverpool FC was a decade to forget, but I have trawled through the history books and managed to find at least a few things that should be remembered. 

Moving up and down the lower reaches of the First Division table, Liverpool managed their highest finish of the decade (7^th) in 1934-1935 but flirted with relegation in three of the seasons (1933-1934, 1935-1936 and 1936-1937). There was no joy in the FA Cup either, with their run as far as the 1931-1932 quarter final being as good as it got.  

Migrant Mother: photograph by Dorothea Lange (1936). The subject is Florence Owens Thompson and two of her children and the image has become synonymous with the struggles of Americans during the Great Depression. Such is the sombre tone set by the image that Ms. Thompson may also have been a Liverpool supporter during this time, the second least successful decade in the history of the club.

The political and military sabre rattling in Europe built steadily during the 1930s until the outbreak of World War II and the cessation after only three games of the 1939-1940 season. In football terms, the outbreak of war brought a welcome halt to the gallop of Liverpool’s great city rivals Everton, who had won the First Division title in 1931-1932, the FA Cup in 1932-1933 and then leapfrogged Liverpool on the roll of honour to take their 5^th league title in 1938-1939.

The outbreak of World War II puts an end to regular football in England at the beginning of the 1930-1940 season.

The team of the decade was undoubtedly Arsenal, who won their first five titles in the 1930s, while Sunderland picked up their 6^th (and to date their last) title in 1935-1936, thus joining Aston Villa at the summit of that league title roll of honour.

Delirious 1930s Arsenal fans celebrating their most glorious decade, in a time before tedious health and safety rules existed to restrict train based celebrations

From their lofty 1930s heights, one has to feel for Sunderland, who are now stuck in the quicksand of third tier football and, worst of all, have become serial victims of a Netflix football based misery-documentary known as ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’, featuring relegation, financial mismanagement, blubbering and heartbroken fans and a mawkish opening song about the demise of the shipyards.

A typically exploitative image from 'Sunderland 'til I Die', 

depicting misery levels akin to Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother

And as we’re on the topic of the success of other clubs during Liverpool’s somewhat grim 1930s decade, it’s worth noting that Preston North End won the 1938 FA Cup. On their team was a hardy Scottish half back who was described as being ‘full of good football and unlimited energy; he should go far’. That FA Cup medal was to be his only major honour as a player but he would indeed go far, bringing untold riches in silverware to Liverpool some years later, when he would become their most iconic manager. His name, of course, was Bill Shankly.

Bill Shankly in his playing days with Preston North End

Shankly (left) and Preston North End team mates with the 1938 FA Cup. It would be Shankly's only major honour as a player but he would go on to deliver masses of silverware for Liverpool as manager from 1959 to 1974, including a very belated first FA Cup win in 1965.

Incidentally, while Bill Shankly was playing for Preston North End, a fellow Scot and friend of his was playing as a defender for Liverpool. His name was Matt Busby and he would play 122 times for Liverpool between 1936 and 1939. After leaving Liverpool, Busby would go on to become manager of a nearby club, achieving with them what some have described as being more than a modest degree of success.

Despite Liverpool’s struggles during the 1930s, there were some standout figures. George Kay took over as manager from George Patterson in 1936-1937 and, in a hint at glory days still some way ahead, he signed Billy Liddell, Willie Fagan and Bob Paisley.

However, the real standout player for Liverpool during the 1930s was a South African forward called Gordon Hodgson. The current Liverpool squad boasts African superstars such as Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita. But Liverpool’s recruitment links with the continent go all the way back to the late 1920s when they set up a club agent in South Africa. Some of the key South Africans to subsequently play for Liverpool included Berry Nieuwenhuys, Herman van den Berg, Lance Carr, Dirk Kemp, Bob Priday and Hugh Gerhardi, and Hodgson was the most successful of them all.

His stats alone are astounding. He scored 241 goals in 377 games between 1926 and 1935 and his 233 top flight league goals remains a club record, putting him ahead of players such as Ian Rush, Billy Liddell and Robbie Fowler. He also holds the Liverpool all-time goals per game ratio of 0.639, ahead of Luis Suarez, Mo Salah and John Aldridge. His 36 goals in 1930-1931 would stand as a season record until overtaken by Roger Hunt in 1964-1965. Finally, his record of 17 hat-tricks remains a club record, again ahead of such legends as Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.

And if Hodgson’s football achievements alone were not enough, he also managed to play baseball for Everton and cricket for Lancashire. 

Gordon Hodgson (1904-1951) who led the Liverpool line from 1925 to 1936

 

Summary of the 1930s:

(Top scorer is based on goals scored in league and FA Cup)

 

1930-1931

First Division: 9^th (winners: Arsenal, their first win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: West Bromwich Albion, their 3^rd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Tom Morrison

Top scorer: Gordon Hodgson (36)

 

1931-1932

First Division: 10^th (winners: Everton, their 4^th win)

FA Cup: Quarter final (winners: Newcastle United, their 3^rd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Tom Bradshaw

Top scorer: Gordon Hodgson (27)

 

1932-1933

First Division: 14^th (winners: Arsenal, their 2^nd win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: Everton, their 2^nd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Tom Bradshaw

Top scorer: Gordon Hodgson (24)

 

1933-1934

First Division: 18^th (winners: Arsenal, their 3^rd win)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Manchester City, their 2^nd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Tom Bradshaw

Top scorer: Gordon Hodgson (25)

 

1934-1935

First Division: 7^th (winners: Arsenal, their 4^th win)

FA Cup: 4^th round (winners: Sheffield Wednesday, their 3^rd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Ernie Blenkinsop/Tom Cooper

Top scorer: Gordon Hodgson (29)

 

1935-1936

First Division: 19^th (winners: Sunderland, their 6^th win, joining Aston Villa at the top of the roll of honour)

FA Cup: 4^th round (winners: Arsenal, their 2^nd win)

Manager: George Patterson

Captain: Ernie Blenkinsop

Top scorer: Fred Howe (17)

 

1936-1937

First Division: 18^th (winners: Manchester City, their 1^st win)

FA Cup: 3^rd round (winners: Sunderland, their 1^st win)

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Ernie Blenkinsop/Tom Cooper

Top scorer: Fred Howe (16)

 

1937-1938

First Division: 11^th (winners: Arsenal, their 5^th win)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Preston North End, their 2^nd win)

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Tom Cooper

Top scorer: Alf Hanson (15)

 

1938-1939

First Division: 11^th (winners: Everton, their 5^th win)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Portsmouth, their 1^st win)

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Tom Cooper

Top scorer: Berry Nieuwenhuys (16)

 

1939-1940

First Division: stopped after three games due to outbreak of World War II

FA Cup: not contested, due to outbreak of World War II