The 1965 Topps Battle Cards series is a gorgeous collection of trading cards featuring the work of pulp artist Norman Saunders. Saunders — best known for his work on Mars Attacks and three of the five Batman series’ from 1966 — illustrated gory and sensationalized depictions of World War II in his classic style. Several cards include damsels in distress and American soldiers engaged in bloody fisticuffs with Nazis and Japanese fighters.
Each pack of cards included a cloth emblem of different divisions of the armed services. The emblems could be applied to surfaces by wetting the back.
Because of the cutting and inking quality of the era, it can be difficult to track down a complete set in top condition but fans of Saunders’ pulp style artistry will want to have this in their collection regardless of card grade.
1965 Topps Battle Cards Checklist
Base Set – 66 Cards
Cloth Emblems – 24 Patches
| 1 | Fight to the Death |
| 2 | Attack on Pearl Harbor |
| 3 | Execution at Dawn |
| 4 | Grenade of Death |
| 5 | Collision in the Sky |
| 6 | Watery Doom |
| 7 | Ambushing the General |
| 8 | Death of a Frogman |
| 9 | Hiding from the Nazis |
| 10 | Medic under Fire |
| 11 | Death Rides the Wing |
| 12 | Death on the Bridge |
| 13 | Death in the Street |
| 14 | Stop Those Planes |
| 15 | Dog Warrior |
| 16 | The Ocean’s Victims |
| 17 | Attack on Nazi Convoy |
| 18 | Jungle Duel |
| 19 | Hand to Hand Combat |
| 20 | Snipers in the Snow |
| 21 | Saved in Time |
| 22 | Stockade Attack |
| 23 | Suicide Dive |
| 24 | Trapped! |
| 25 | Stopped by Grenades |
| 26 | Blasting the Nazis |
| 27 | Train of Death |
| 28 | Caught While Escaping |
| 29 | Smashing thru the Guards |
| 30 | Cossack Charge |
| 31 | Battlefront Transfusion |
| 32 | Confession by Force |
| 33 | Nazi Terror |
| 34 | Saving His Buddies |
| 35 | Terror from the Sky |
| 36 | Helpless Paratrooper |
| 37 | Jungle Execution |
| 38 | School Bombing |
| 39 | Death Blow |
| 40 | The Flaming Sea |
| 41 | Hospital Raiders |
| 42 | Fiery Death |
| 43 | Disaster in the Street |
| 44 | The Torture Chamber |
| 45 | Trainyard Bombing |
| 46 | Assassin in the Sky |
| 47 | Battle on the Beach |
| 48 | Exploding Grenade |
| 49 | Death Struggle |
| 50 | Bomb Victims |
| 51 | Tangled on a Tree |
| 52 | Flames of Death |
| 53 | Beautiful Spy |
| 54 | United States Sailor |
| 55 | U.S. Commando |
| 56 | U.S. Marine |
| 57 | U.S. Paratrooper |
| 58 | Japanese Soldier |
| 59 | Nazi Soldier |
| 60 | Charles DeGaulle |
| 61 | Winston Churchill |
| 62 | Gen. Douglas MacArthur |
| 63 | Pres. Franklin Roosevelt |
| 64 | Gen. Dwight Eisenhower |
| 65 | U.S. Military Cloth Emblem Checklist |
| 66 | Battle Checklist |
| Emblem 1 | 7th Army |
| Emblem 2 | Army Air Forces |
| Emblem 3 | HQ. European Theater |
| Emblem 4 | 2D Division |
| Emblem 5 | 17th Airborne Division |
| Emblem 6 | 59th Division |
| Emblem 7 | 63D Division |
| Emblem 8 | 10th Mountain Division |
| Emblem 9 | 11th Airborne Division |
| Emblem 10 | 77th Division |
| Emblem 11 | 187th Airborne Reg. Team |
| Emblem 12 | 4th Air Force13 Alaska Air Command |
| Emblem 13 | Alaska Air Command |
| Emblem 14 | Aviation Cadet |
| Emblem 15 | Air Material Command |
| Emblem 16 | 99th Infantry Battalion |
| Emblem 17 | 442D Regimental Combat Team |
| Emblem 18 | 101st Division |
| Emblem 19 | Armored Force |
| Emblem 20 | U.S. Wing Marking |
| Emblem 21 | 73D Air Base |
| Emblem 22 | 31st Bombardment |
| Emblem 23 | 3D Observation |
| Emblem 24 | VF-2 |