Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

As a result of some superb investigative work by Steve Holland (author, ephemera historian and host of the essential Bear Alley Blog) and David Roach (comic artist, comic historian and co author with Jon B. Cook of the Warren Companion) we can say that War Picture Library was intriguingly almost a continuation of Leonard Matthews Thriller Picture Library, with many of the issues you are looking at either TPL one offs such as War Picture Library Number 1,"Fight Back to Dunkirk" which was originally slated as a Thriller Picture Library special under the title "Dunkirk". This in part explains the somewhat anachronistic cover for WPL number 2 with Patrick Nicholle's carefree adventurer starkly contrasting with the elemental ferocity of De Gaspari's "Fight Back to Dunkirk" soldier. Nicholle presumably being commissioned to provide yet another in his ongoing series of Battler Britton covers for TPL, Battler Britton scripts being notorious for their gung-ho implausibilty, whereas the editorial team at WPL were striving for an altogether grittier feel to their line of comics.