The Fifth Column: Fact or Fiction?

The Fifth Column uses real wartime posters and maps inside a fictional plot set in Manhattan in June 1945. Here’s where the history ends and our story begins. This page discusses game materials and puzzle details, so save it until after you’ve played if you want to avoid spoilers.

Fact: The term “Fifth Column” refers to a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within. This concept was common during WWII and American posters warned against “Fifth Columnists” who may be undermining the United States from within via spying, sabotage or propaganda. The poster below is a real poster from the era demonstrating this concept.

Fact: Eight Nazi saboteurs landed in the United States in 1942 with plans to attack targets in several cities, including New York. The plot was stopped after one of them contacted the FBI. Read the account of the 1942 sabotage plot.

Fact: The sarin gas details from the newspaper are true. The Nazis both developed the deadly gas and neglected to use it during WWII. It was originally developed as a stronger pesticide to kill weevils that were damaging German fields. You can read more here.

Fiction: The plot in our game combines sarin gas, New York and covert Nazi activity after Germany’s surrender. That particular operation is our invention.

The materials

Invisible Ink: Invisible inks were commonly used by spies during WWII, with both the Axis and the Allies developing a variety of methods. Of course, the exact formulation of UV ink (and the specific flashlight) used in the game is modern.

WWII ID: The ID in your game is based on a wartime identification document. The original below shows the format we worked from.

Map of Manhattan: The map included in Part I of your game is a real tourist map of Manhattan from 1945 (with the addition of our obviously fabricated locations).

Telegraph card: Western Union was the dominant telegraph company in the United States in the 1940s. The telegraph card in your game is designed after the real thing.

Posters: You may have recognized several already, but all of the posters in your game utilized real posters from the war. The original posters can be seen below.

From left to right:

Uncle Sam is depicted, calling on all men to go to their nearest army recruiting station. This is perhaps the most famous recruiting poster of all time.

Rosie the Riveter was, and still is, an iconic symbol of female empowerment. Women joined the workforce in unprecedented numbers during WWII to support the war effort. Riveters attached metal sheets together with circular metal rivets to build planes, tanks, and other military and domestic projects. The lines and circles in the puzzle were designed to look like metal sheets that were riveted together.

Americans were required to ration goods during WWII. Each citizen was given a ration stamp book (very similar to the one we added to this poster), that controlled how much each person could purchase of rationed items.

This British poster encouraged support for the war effort. The fleet shown in our puzzle is fictional: the Japanese Imperial fleet was larger, and it was never all gathered in Tokyo Bay. The bay’s coordinates are real.

Map of Grand Central Terminal: The map of Grand Central Terminal in your game is also real, though it was first produced in the 1930s and not meant for semi-transparent paper.

Punch cards: We started with IBM punch cards, which stored data and instructions in punched holes. The cards changed as we developed the puzzle, so the finished pieces look different from the originals.