Parachutists scorn tag of supermen
‘Just fighters commuting by plane’ – and first jump’s not always the hardest
…
The Pittsburgh Press (January 25, 1943)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
A forward airdrome in French North Africa – (Jan. 24)
The 10 men who brought their Flying Fortress home from a raid on Tripoli, after they had been given up for lost, will undoubtedly get decorations. Nothing quite like it has happened before in this war. Here is the full story.
The Tripoli Airdrome was heavily defended, by both fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns. Flying into that hailstorm, as one pilot said, was like a mouse attacking a dozen cats.
The Thunderbird – for that was the name of this Fortress – was first hit just as it dropped its bombload. One engine went out. Then a few moments later, the other engine on the same side went. When both engines go out on the same side, it is usually fatal. And therein lies the difference of this feat from other instances of bringing damaged bombers home.
The Thunderbird was forced to drop below the other Fortresses. And the moment a Fortress drops down or lags behind, German fighters are on it like vultures. The boys don’t know how many Germans were in the air, but they think there must have been 30.
Our Lightning fighters, escorting the Fortresses, stuck by the Thunderbird and fought as long as they could, but finally they had to leave or they wouldn’t have had enough fuel to make it home.
The last fighter left the crippled Fortress about 40 miles from Tripoli. Fortunately, the swarm of German fighters started home at the same time, for their gas was low too.
The Thunderbird flew on another 20 miles. Then a single German fighter appeared, and dived at them. Its guns did great damage to the already-crippled plane, but simply couldn’t knock it out of the air.
Finally, the fighter ran out of ammunition, and left. Our boys were alone now with their grave troubles. Two engines were gone, most of the guns were out of commission, and they were still more than 400 miles from home. The radio was out. They were losing altitude, 500 feet a minute, and now they were down to 2,000.
The pilot called up his crew and held a consultation. Did they want to jump? They all said they would ride the plane as long as it was in the air. He decided to keep going.
The ship was completely out of trim, cocked over at a terrible angle. But they gradually got it trimmed so that it stopped losing altitude.
By now, they were down to 900 feet, and a solid wall of mountains ahead barred the way homeward. They flew along parallel to those mountains for a long time, but they were now miraculously gaining some altitude. Finally, they got the thing to 1,500 feet.
The lowest pass is 1,600 feet, but they came across at 1,500. Explain that if you can! Maybe it’s as the pilot said:
We didn’t come over the mountains, we came through them.
The copilot said:
I was blowing on the windshield trying to push her along. Once I almost wanted to reach a foot down and sort of walk us along over the pass.
And the navigator said:
If I had been on the wingtip, I could have touched the ground with my hand when we went through the pass.
The air currents were bad. One wing was cocked way down. It was hard to hold. The pilots had a horrible fear that the low wing would drop clear down and they roll over and go into a spin. But they didn’t.
The navigator came into the cockpit, and he and the pilots navigated the plane home. Never for a second could they feel any real assurance of making it. They were practically rigid, but they talked a blue streak all the time, and cussed, as airmen do.
Everything seemed against them. The gas consumption doubled, squandering their precious supply. To top off their misery, they had a bad headwind. The gas gauge went down and down.
At last, the navigator said they were only 40 miles from home, but those 40 miles passed as though they were driving a horse and buggy. Dusk, coming down on the sandy haze, made the vast flat desert an indefinite thing. One oasis looks exactly like another. But they knew when they were near home. Then they shot their red flare and waited for the green flare from our control tower. A minute later, it came – the most beautiful sight that crew has ever seen.
When the plane touched the ground, they cut the switches and let it roll. For it had no brakes. At the end of the roll, the big Fortress veered off the side of the runway. And then it climaxed its historic homecoming by spinning madly around five times and then running backwards for 50 yards before it stopped. When they checked the gas gauges, they found one tank dry and the other down to 20 gallons.
Deep dusk enveloped the field. Five more minutes and they never would have found it. This weary, crippled Fortress had flown for the incredible time of four and a half hours on one pair of motors. Any pilot will tell you it’s impossible.
That night, I was with the pilot and some of the crew and we drank a toast. One visitor raised his glass and said:
Here’s to your safe return.
But the pilot raised his own glass and said instead:
Here’s to a goddamned good airplane!
And the others of the crew raised their glasses and repeated:
Here’s to a goddamned good airplane!
And here is the climax. During the agonizing homeward crawl, this one crippled plane shot down the fantastic total of six German fighters. These were officially confirmed.
U.S. State Department (January 25, 1943)
Monday, 25 January
At the last minute, as the President and his party left for the airport at 7:45 this morning, the Prime Minister, deciding to accompany him, got into the President’s automobile in bathrobe and slippers. Marrakech was the place where the trail split. Au revoirs were said.
At eight o’clock, the planes took off toward Bathurst, 1400 miles to the southward, crossing the Atlas Mountains in flight. In another hour, the planes flew through a pass at 9,000 feet and emerged finally over the endless wastes of sand first seen when flying up on 14 January.
Völkischer Beobachter (January 26, 1943)
U-Boot-Gefahr und Nordafrikaverwirrung –
Churchill muß wieder nach Washington
vb. Wien, 25. Jänner –
Zuverlässigen Nachrichten aus Lissabon zufolge, hat Churchill vor einigen Tagen eine neue Fahrt nach Washington angetreten, die dritte seit dem Eintritt der USA. in den Krieg. Als Gegenstände seiner Aussprache mit Roosevelt werden die gemeinsame Kriegführung und einige Nachkriegsprobleme angegeben. An erster Stelle soll eine Vereinbarung über den Zustand in Französisch-Nordafrika stehen. Churchill will die Schaffung eines gemeinsamen Oberbefehls an dieser Front zur Debatte stellen, ebenso einen Ausgleich zwischen de Gaulle und Giraud. Schließlich wird auch wieder von jenem Obersten Rat gesprochen, der schon seit langem vorgeschlagen wurde und in dem die USA., die Sowjetunion, China und England vertreten sein sollen.
Zur Lage in Nordafrika bemerkt die englische Presse, die Verhältnisse gestalteten sich im Rücken der 1. britischen Armee, die in Tunis kämpft, „täglich verworrener.“ Der Observer zeigt sich darüber beunruhigt, daß „die wirklichen Kämpfe bald zum überwiegenden Teil eine britische Angelegenheit sein“ würden, und das Land sei:
…beunruhigt über Englands Rolle in einer politischen Transaktion, für die seine Soldaten vielleicht den Preis in Blut bezahlen werden.
Daß gerade auf diesen Punkt eingegangen wird, ist begreiflich, da England bisher gewohnt war, seinerseits Verbündete vorzuschicken und sein Blut zu sparen. Im übrigen ist es schwerlich ein Zufall, daß in dieser Lage in den USA. einige Senatoren vorgeschlagen haben, Amerika solle sich in Zukunft auf die Versorgung seiner Verbündeten beschränken und ihnen den Waffenkampf im wesentlichen überlassen. In New York World Telegram schreibt der bekannte Leitartikler Raymond Clapper dazu, es sei anzunehmen, daß sich der Kongreß bald mit diesem Vorschlag befassen werde, der:
…den Vorzug hat, außerordentlich praktisch zu sein, da die USA. jetzt bereits durch Masseneinberufungen Gefahr laufen, die Knappheit an Arbeitskräften zu verschärfen.
Außer diesen Fragen, die das Verhältnis der beiden Seemächte angehen – es gehören dazu auch die Schiffsraumnot und der Kampf gegen die U-Boot-Gefahr – wird bei den Besprechungen Churchills mit Roosevelt die Stellungnahme der Sowjetunion eine Rolle spielen. Es kann in London und Washington nicht übersehen werden, daß sich Stalin zu den Nachkriegsproblemen, die im Lager seiner Bundesgenossen unabhängig erörtert werden, nicht äußert. Er hat lediglich befriedigt zur Kenntnis genommen, daß England bereit ist, Europa weiterhin den Sowjets auszuliefern und er sieht darin eine willkommene Unterstützung der bolschewistischen Weltrevolution, deren Entfesselung und Ausbreitung mit Waffengewalt das Ziel Moskaus war, ist und bleibt. Das ist Stalins Programm – daher sein Schweigen zu den englisch-amerikanischen Projekten, die von der Illusion ausgehen, man könne die Sowjets als „Ordnungsmacht“ in Europa einsetzen und doch sich noch selbst neben den Bolschewisten auf dem Kontinent behaupten. Da natürlich niemand England ein solches Seiltänzerkunststück zutraut, möchte sich Churchill in Washington eine nachdrückliche- Unterstützung beschaffen und gleichzeitig durch die Einsetzung eines Viererrates Moskaus Aktionen an das gemeinsame Handeln der Briten und Yankees binden, also auch weiterhin die Hauptlast des Kampfes den Sowjets zuschieben.
Diese Bemühungen bestätigen nur erneut, wie fieberhaft sich England, das in der feindlichen Front nur noch an dritter Stelle mitläuft, bemüht, aus seinen Bundesgenossen das Letzte herauszuholen und eine Führerstellung vorzutäuschen, die in keiner Weise gegeben ist. Der englische Ministerpräsident sieht sich genötigt, immer wieder nach Washington und Moskau zu fahren, während Roosevelt und Stalin die Briten ruhig an sich herankommen lassen. Schon dieses äußere Bild ist bezeichnend. Es umschreibt den wirklichen Hintergrund, auf dem sich diese Besprechungen vollziehen: Englands Verlegenheiten geben den Grundton an!
Die führende bulgarische Zeitung Sora schreibt dazu, nicht umsonst verlangten die Sowjets die Eröffnung der zweiten Front.
Sie wissen gut, daß England Sieger in Europa nur dann gewesen wäre, wenn die Briten an ihrer Seite im Herzen Europas einen Großstaat gehabt hätten. Noch besser aber wissen die Sowjets auch, daß sie allein in Europa auf dem Kontinent Deutschland nicht schlagen können.
Außerdem wollten sie nicht allein kämpfen, sondern auch die Briten und Amerikaner bluten sehen. Jeder Versuch, in Europa zu landen, sei aber bis jetzt gescheitert, und die Tätigkeit der U-Boote werde auch in Zukunft solche Versuche zum Scheitern bringen. Die Reserven Deutschlands, Italiens und Japans seien noch längst nicht in den Kampf eingesetzt. Man solle stets den Gesamtblick für die Ereignisse haben und dürfe sich nicht von einzelnen Phasen beeindrucken lassen.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 26, 1943)
U.S. MASSES TROOPS TO CUT OFF ROMMEL
Axis reports large force in Gabes area
British seize town beyond Tripoli – Allies blast Tunisia targets
London, England (UP) –
Radio Rome said today Axis reconnaissance planes had discovered large-scale U.S. troop movements in lower Tunisia, indicating Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s 5th Army was about to thrust toward Gabes to cut off the retreating Afrika Korps.
Gabes is 100 airline miles from the Tunisian border and above the French-built Mareth Line, which the bulk of the Afrika Korps remnants was believed to have reached.
Radio Paris broadcast a German report that British Commandos had struck on the Tripolitanian coast between Tunisia and Zuara, 32 miles from the border, in an effort to cut off the Afrika Korps. Nazi Radio Paris claimed the attempt had been “frustrated.”
At Cairo, the Middle Eastern Command announced the victorious British 8th Army has captured Zaura, 30 miles west of Tripoli. Allied bombers blasted the Axis airfield at Medenine, 68 miles inside Tunisia, Sunday night, and also hit nearby targets.
A United Press correspondent reported from southern Tunisia several days ago that U.S. troops in the area near Gabes might soon be engaged in the biggest fight of their lives.
Fighting French enter Tripoli
Gen. Jacques Leclerc announced his Fighting French forces, which had driven 1,300 miles from the Lake Chad region, entered Tripoli yesterday. They were now ready to join the 8th Army in its pursuit of the Afrika Korps.
The Middle Eastern Command was still vague about the relative positions of the 8th Army and the Afrika Korps, although units of the 8th Army were reported more than 24 hours ago to have crossed into Tunisia in hot pursuit of the Germans and Italians.
Allied bombers and fighters carried on their relentless day-in-day-out harrying of the Afrika Korps. The Afrika Korps was machine-gunned and bombed near Zuara yesterday, the Middle Eastern Command said, and hits were scored on a vessel in Zuara Harbor.
London press hails news of ‘momentous decisions’
Watch for big news
The Brooklyn Eagle is now receiving from United Press correspondents a series of dispatches of transcendent Importance which will be released for publication tomorrow. Watch for these dispatches. They will appear in all editions tomorrow. All major radio stations will make announcements at 10 p.m. tonight.
London, England (UP) –
Today’s newspapers, anticipating an important announcement on United Nations strategy and policy, displayed arch headlines as these over dispatches from their Washington and New York correspondents:
Biggest Talks of War.
United States Awaits News on Tiptoe.
Momentous Decisions by Allies.
Grand Strategy in 1943.
United States Expects News to Stir World.
Two newspapers published editorials on the general war situation.
The News Chronicle, Liberal Party organ, said:
The United Nations are waging at least four wars which in no sense are subject to common strategic direction.
The vast resources of the Allies can only be brought to bear with full effectiveness in terms of a fully concerted plan… individual interests must be subordinated to the supreme interest of winning the war as rapidly as possible.
The conservative Daily Mail said:
Formation of anything like a supreme war council would be warmly welcomed by Allied peoples. We have always taken the view that complete unity cannot be achieved until such a body has been set up. However, there is much to be done yet and coordinated policy would be but the first step toward doing it.
The Chicago Sun said today in a copyrighted dispatch from London that Gen. Charles de Gaulle, head of the Fighting French, and Gen. Henri H. Giraud, High Commissioner of French Africa, had reached an agreement. U.S. and British mediation aided in the agreement, the Sun said.
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, replying in Commons to a question by Sir Thomas Moore, Conservative, said he understood suggestions for formation of a United Nations war council had been canvassed in the United States as well as in Great Britain but he had nothing to add to them.
Frederick S. Cocks, Labor, submitted a question to Eden for answer later whether he would make representations in order to improve the flow of political news from North Africa.
It had been expected there would be a bombardment of questions for Eden on the appointment of ex-Vichy adherent Marcel Peyrouton, as Governor General of Algeria, but members apparently awaited further news of the African political problem.
Eden last week had sidestepped questions regarding Peyrouton, asked him by opponents of the policy of including ex-Vichy men.
Axis radio stations continued broadcasting reports Prime Minister Winston Churchill had left London to confer with President Roosevelt.
Today’s Völkischer Beobachter, official newspaper of the Nazi Party, quoted by the Berlin radio, said “the meeting” was a sign of British embarrassment. The newspaper suggested questions to be dealt with probably would include “Russia’s attitude.”
Völkischer Beobachter said:
It can no longer pass unnoticed in London and Washington that Stalin makes no statements regarding post-war problems which are being ceaselessly discussed in his Allies’ camp. He merely contentedly acknowledges the fact that Britain is ready to deliver Europe to the Soviets, in which he sees welcome support of Bolshevism for a world revolution which it is Moscow’s aim to break loose, spread by the power of arms.
The British Premier is always forced to travel to Moscow or Washington while Stalin and Roosevelt calmly let the British come to them.
The United Press New York listening post recorded the following English-language voice broadcast by Berlin:
Churchill has left London to confer with President Roosevelt, it is learned.
Churchill intends to inquire into the view of the American government on Soviet aspirations in Europe so as to be able to pursue his own interest in that sphere accordingly.
Another topic of the conference is said to be the subject of setting up a council of war which would include Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.
Guadalcanal fliers foil Jap raiders
Washington (UP) –
U.S. troops consolidated their positions at Kokumbona on Guadalcanal and continued their offensive in the face of enemy resistance, the Navy announced today.
At the same time, American fliers foiled a large-scale Japanese attempt to bomb Guadalcanal when enemy airmen were intercepted before they could reach the island. Four Japanese Zeros were shot down. No U.S. planes were lost.
Beside capturing several supply dumps and a considerable quantity of munitions, U.S. troops killed 293 Japanese and took five others prisoner in the Kokumona operation.
Women’s auxiliary of Marine Corps planned by Navy
Washington (UP) –
The Navy Department is considering establishment of a women’s auxiliary to the U.S. Marine Corps, it was learned today.
Under questioning by Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT), Cdr. J. C. Webb, an official of the Navy Personnel Bureau, told the House Military Affairs Committee that a Marine auxiliary was “under discussion.” He said no name for the proposed auxiliary had yet been selected.
Nelson breaks with Jeffers on rubber output
Asserts he’s satisfied – House to investigate blast at Army and Navy
…
Wallace sees post-war utopia if we face facts
Vice President tells radio listeners plain people must be heard
…
Flynn resigns as Democratic Committeeman
Farley in line for job – Senators to vote on appointment tomorrow
…
The Pittsburgh Press (January 26, 1943)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
A forward airdrome in French North Africa – (Jan. 26, by wireless)
The Flying Fortress crew that made air history this month by flying 500 miles from Tripoli with its left engines out, after shooting down six enemy planes, was composed of men who were already veterans of the war in the air. They had been decorated for missions over Europe. They already had two official kills and several probables to their credit. The Tripoli mission, which only by a miracle was not their last, was their 22nd.
The skipper of the prize crew is Lt. John L. Cronkhite, of St. Petersburg, Florida. They called him Cronk. He is short, with a faint blond mustache and a very wide mouth, from which the words came in a slow drawl. His shoulders are broad, his arms husky. Usually, he doesn’t wear a tie. He says he isn’t married because nobody would have him. He’s 23.
Cronk’s father is a St. Petersburg florist. He has three pictures of his mother and father in his room. I spent the evening with Cronk and his co-pilot and navigator after their return from the dead. When he walked into the room, Cronk picked up something from the bed.
He said:
Hell, I can’t be dead. Here’s my dog tag. I forgot to take it with me. I can’t be dead, for they wouldn’t know who I was.
He and his co-pilot are bound by an unbreakable tie now, for together they pulled themselves away from death.
The co-pilot is Lt. Dana F. Dudley, of Mapleton, Maine. That is a little town of 800, and Dud says he is the only pilot who ever came from there. He is a tall and friendly fellow, who got married just before coming overseas. His wife is in Sarasota, Florida. Dud says one of the German fighters dived toward his side of the plane, and came on with bullets streaming until it was only 100 feet away. At that moment, what might have been his last thought passed through Dud’s head:
Gee, I’m glad I sent my wife that $225 this morning.
The navigator is Lt. Davey Williams, 3305 Miller St., Fort Worth, Texas. He too was recently married. The pilots give Davey all the credit for getting them home. He was about the busiest man on the trip, navigating with one hand and managing two machine guns with the other. When they thought they were done for, Davey said to the pilots:
I’ll bet those guys back home have got our stuff divided up already.
He said he mainly thought about how he was going to get word to his family that he was a German prisoner, and he felt sore that friends of his would soon get to go home to America while he’d have to spend the rest of the war in a prison camp.
I didn’t get to talk to the other members of the crew, but their stories are just the same. They all played their parts in coaxing the broken Fortress home.
They are Lt. Joe Dodson (bombardier) of Houston, Texas, and Sgts. Carl Olson of Chicago; John King of Hartford City, Indiana; Thomas Klimaszewski of Alpena, Michigan; Robert Jackman of Cleveland; Fred Littlewolf, a Chippewa Indian from Bagley, Minnesota, and Ted Nastel of Detroit.
One of those freakish little things happened to Lt. Dodson. He had hung his sunglasses on a hook in the nose compartment. A machine-gun bullet knocked out both lenses, but he didn’t touch the frame. If he hadn’t moved just a second before, the bullet, which grazed him, would have killed him.
When the Fortress finally reached home, Cronkhite decided to go through the co-pilot’s window onto the wing. As he stepped onto the wing his feet hit some oil and flew out from under him, and he went plummeting off the high wing onto the hard ground. The doctors thought he had been wounded, and picked him up and put him into an ambulance.
It sounds funny now, but as Cronkhite says:
I wouldn’t have given a damn if I had broken a leg when I fell off the wing, I was so glad to be on the ground again. I just felt like lying there forever.
Völkischer Beobachter (January 27, 1943)
England zur Atlantikschlacht –
„U-Boot-Krieg nimmt völlig neuen Verlauf!“
dnb. Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Der Londoner Korrespondent von Dagens Nyheter stellt fest, daß nach Auffassung der Mehrheit der englischen Sachverständigen die U-Boote die gefährlichste Waffe Deutschlands im augenblicklichen Kriegsabschnitt seien. Die Bekämpfung der Unterseeboote sei daher das Hauptproblem der Achsengegner. Die immer ernster werdende U-Boot-Gefahr hat nach Londoner Eigenberichten zu erneuten lebhaften englischen Presseertörterungen geführt.
Der Manchester Guardian erhebt die Forderung nach einem Ausschuß für die Bekämpfung der Unterseeboote mit Churchill als Vorsitzenden. Die Daily Mail erinnert daran, daß bei Beginn des jetzigen Krieges in England vielfach die Meinung vertreten worden sei, daß Unterseeboote im Zusammenhang mit den vorhandenen Abwehrmitteln nicht mehr die Schiffahrt bedrohen könnten. Jetzt seien die Engländer eines Besseren belehrt worden. „Der gegenwärtige U-Boot-Krieg nimmt einen für die Demokratien völlig neuen Verlauf", stellt Daily Mail in einem Leitartikel fest. Früher seien nämlich die Schiffsversenkungsziffern von Monat zu Monat zurückgegangen, während sie jetzt immer weiter anstiegen. Dieser „Rhythmus“ habe etwas äußerst Gefährliches an sich. Er drohe in eine Katastrophe für die Verbündeten auszuarten. Mit den größten Befürchtungen müsse man dem U-Boot-Krieg in den Frühjahr- und Sommermonaten entgegensehen, wenn schon in den Wintermonaten so viele Schiffe den U-Booten zum Opfer fielen. Das Beunruhigendste am gegenwärtigen Verlauf des U-Boot-Krieges aber sei die Erkenntnis, daß Deutschland offenbar in der taktischen und technischen Entwicklung der U-Boot-Waffe der von den Verbündeten angewandten Methode der U-Boot-Abwehr weit vorauseile.
Auch die USA. stark beunruhigt
Die Schlacht auf den sieben Weltmeeren stehe wieder im Mittelpunkt der USA.-Presse, schreibt der Neuyorker Korrespondent des Daily Sketch. Das hätten die Achsenmächte ihren Unterseebooten und deren gewaltigen Erfolgen zu verdanken. Man müsse daran denken, daß der Gegner seine U-Boot-Kampagne bei ungünstigen Witterungsverhältnissen durchführe. Aus dieser Erwägung heraus zeige man sich in den USA. stark beunruhigt.
Der bekannte Leitartikler Raymond Clapper gebe dem auch in der Zeitung New York World Telegram Ausdruck. Er bemerkt unter anderem, den Demokratien ständen auf See schwerste Zeiten bevor. Andere USA.-Biätter dringen, wie der Washingtoner Korrespondent des Daily Herald meldet, in die Regierung, endlich genauere Angaben über die Schiffsverluste zu machen. Es sei lächerlich, schreibt die New York Times, wenn das Marineministerium der Öffentlichkeit Tatsachen verheimliche, von denen man vernünftigerweise annehmen müsse, daß sie dem Gegner nicht unbekannt geblieben seien. Man prahle, wenn einmal ein Geleitzug seinen Bestimmungshafen erreiche, doch werde gründlich geschwiegen, wenn nur Bruchstücke von ihm eintrafen.
Hore-Belisha gegen die Verheimlichungstaktik
Die argentinische Zeitung La Razon veröffentlicht einen Aufsatz des ehemaligen britischen Kriegsministers Hore-Belisha. Dieser kritisiert darin die britische Verheimlichungspolitik bezüglich der Schiffsverluste.
„Der Seekrieg geht unter größtem Geheimnis vor sich", schreibt er unter anderem.
Unser Kampf hängt von unserer Überlegenheit zur See ab und von der Möglichkeit, Truppen, Lebensmittel und Munition zu verschiffen und die notwendigen Rohstoffe einzuführen, über seinen Verlauf sind keine Informationen von zuständiger Stelle ausgegeben worden. Im vergangenen Kriege sowie im gegenwärtigen bis zum Juni 1941 sind regelmäßig die Flottenverluste bekanntgegeben worden. Seit diesem Datum aber sind keine Nachrichten mehr ausgegeben worden. Es liegt kein Beweis dafür vor, daß der Feind durch diesen Wechsel in der Nachrichtenpolitik gelitten hätte. Im Gegenteil, es besteht der unangenehme Eindruck, daß unser Stillschweigen auf die Unmöglichkeit zurückzuführen ist, all unsere Anstrengungen gegen die schreckliche Gefahr des Unterseebootkrieges zu konzentrieren. Es ist notwendig, das Publikum über die Tatsachen zu unterrichten, so wie sie sind, um zu vermeiden, daß sich mit Recht Furcht der Gemüter bemächtige, wenn ein so großes Stillschweigen bewahrt wird.
Der Wahlbetrüger Roosevelt –
Eine Karte entlarvt den Schwindler
dnb. Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Die New York Times veröffentlicht soeben eine Weltkarte, auf der alle diejenigen Stellen besonders hervorgehoben werden, an denen sich zur Zeit amerikanische Truppen befinden. Die 50 bezeichneten Orte sind:
Nordirland, England, Französisch-Marokko, Algerien, Liberia, Anglo-Ägypt Sudan, Eritrea, Ägypten, Palästina, Irak, Iran, Indien, China, Australien, Neuguinea, Salomoninseln, Neue Hebriden, Neukaledonien, Neuseeland, Fidschiinseln, Samoa, Hawai, Midway, Alëuten, Guatemala, Nikaragua, Costarica, Natal, Galapagosinseln, Santa Elena (Ekuador), Aruba, Curacao, Kanada, Island, Trinidad, Britisch-Guayana, Surinam, Brasilien, Santa Lucia, Antigua, Jungferninseln, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaika, Kuba, Bahamainseln, Bermudas, Grönland, Neufundland und Labrador.
Die genannte Karte entlarvt aber zugleich auch den Präsidenten der USA. als einen infamen Betrüger an der Bevölkerung seines Landes, die ihn im Vertrauen auf seine ausdrückliche Versicherung wiederwählte, er werde dafür Sorge tragen, daß die Vereinigten Staaten von diesem Kriege ferngehalten werden, so daß auch in Zukunft keiner ihrer Söhne außerhalb der westlichen Hemisphäre zu kämpfen brauche.
USA.-Soldaten provozieren
dnb. Vigo, 26. Jänner –
Wie aus Blida bei Algier bekannt wird, kam es dort zwischen einer USA.-Patrouille und einer Gruppe von Mohammedanern zu einem schweren Zusammenstoß. Die nordamerikanischen Soldaten gingen mit Kolbenstoßen gegen die Eingeborenen vor. Die Angegriffenen setzten sich darauf zur Wehr und verletzten zwei USA.-Soldaten so schwer, daß sie im Lazarett starben. Die Militärbehörde nahm darauf Massenverhaftungen vor.
Die Beratungen in Washington –
Tunesien bereitet den Achsengegnern Sorge
Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung
Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Die Beratungen in Washington, an denen, wie bekannt wurde, auch Churchill beteiligt ist, obwohl darüber keine amtliche Mitteilung vorliegt, die auch erst nach seiner Rückkehr erfolgen würde, dauern weiter an und scheinen gerade in bezug auf die Lage in Nordafrika auf neue Schwierigkeiten gestoßen zu sein. Diese Schwierigkeiten beruhen einmal auf dem Scheitern der Pläne, die mit dem Vorstoß der 8. britischen Armee verbunden waren, und zweitens auf dem dauernden Gegensatz der britisch-amerikanischen Interessen.
In Londoner Kreisen neigt man der Auffassung zu, daß es sich um einp ausschließlich englisch-amerikanische Aussprache handelt, der es an Gesprächsstoff nicht fehle. Den Hoffnungen, die man in England daran knüpft, durch Schaffung eines gemeinsamen Oberbefehls den militärischen Teil der nordafrikanischen Frage einer Lösung zuzuführen, fehlt aber noch eine wichtige Voraussetzung: die Vereinigung der auf die tunesische Grenze vorrückenden 8. britischen Armee mit den unter dem Oberbefehl des Generals Eisenhower stehenden Truppen.
Selbst wenn die Truppen des Generals Montgomery im gleichen Tempo vorrückten wie bisher, so meldet Svenska Dagbladet aus London, so brauchten sie mindestens noch 25 Tage, um sich mit den Vorhuten des Generals Anderson zu vereinigen, das sei aber nur möglich, wenn sie auf keinen ernsten Widerstand auf seiten der Achsentruppen stießen. Dassei aber mehr, als man hoffen könne.
Der Versuch französischer Truppen, in erster Linie von Fremdenlegionären, in westlicher Richtung vorzustoßen, sei gescheitert. Statt dessen seien die Achsentruppen nach Süden und Westen vorgestoßen und bedrohen jetzt die 1. britische Armee in der Flanke.
Schließlich beschäftigt die militärischen Beobachter von London immer wieder die Frage: Was wird Rommel tun? Er hat, so stellt man resignierend fest, seine Panzerarmee gerettet. Der Plan also, diese zu vernichten, wird offen als gescheitert zugegeben. Wird sich Rommel nun mit den Achsentruppen in Tunesien vereinigen oder wird er selbständig in Mitteltunesien operieren und die offene Flanke der 1. Armee bedrohen oder wird er in der sogenannten Mareth-Linie haltmachen? Das alles sind Fragen, die bei den Beratungen in Washington eine große Rolle spielen.
Der „Henker der Destur“ –
Peyrouton droht wieder mit Gewalt
Eigener Bericht des „VB.“
Rom, 26. Jänner –
Eine wichtige innerpolitische Entscheidung für Tunesien fällte der Bey von Tunis, Sidi Mohammed el Mousef, anläßlich eines Empfangs des Führers der nationalarabischen Destur-Partei in Tunesien, Dr. Habib Thamer. Der Bey erklärte, daß sich die nationale Destur-Partei fortan unbehindert im ganzen Gebiet der Regentschaft betätigen könne. Der Entschluß bietet der Destur zum erstenmal im Laufe ihrer wechselvollen Geschichte der letzten drei Jahrzehnte die Möglichkeit, die gesamte nationalgesinnte arabische Bevölkerung Tunesiens legal unter ihre Fahne zu sammeln.
Während die Achse in Tunesien der arabischen Nationalpartei freie Hand gibt, wurde von alliierter Seite mit Peyrouton ein Mann zum Gouverneur in Algerien bestimmt, der sich schon in seiner früheren Tätigkeit den Namen des „Henkers“ der Destur in Tunesien erworben hatte. Peyrouton hat jetzt auch Nieder die ersten Tage seiner neuen Tätigkeit in Algier zur Erklärung seiner Gewaltpolitik gegen die einheimische Bevölkerung benutzt. Auf einer Versammlung der mohammedanischen Notabeln von Algier erklärte er am Montag, daß er nicht vor Verhängung schwerer Geld- und Freiheitsstrafen für solche mohammedanischen Würdenträger in Nordafrika zurückschrecken werde, die nicht ihren ganzen Einfluß in der Bevölkerung aufbieten, um sie der Sache der Achsengegner zu gewinnen.
So erklärte Peyrouton:
Die Zwietracht die heute in der Bevölkerung herrscht, ist schwerwiegend. Ich bin gewiß, daß auf wirtschaftlichem Gebiet, zumal hinsichtlich der Lebensmittelversorgung, sich die Schwierigkeiten noch verstärken werden. Sollten jedoch die Mohammedaner das zum Anlaß zu Beschwerden nehmen, so würde ich mich gezwungen sehen, mit scharfen Mitteln durchzugreifen, um das notwendige Zusammenwirken durchzusetzen.
U.S. Navy Department (January 27, 1943)
Communiqué No. 263
Pacific.
On January 25, U.S. aircraft were attacked by eight Japanese Zeros during a reconnaissance mission over Wake Island. Two Zeros are believed to have been destroyed. All U.S. planes returned.
South Pacific.
On January 26: At dusk, a formation of Flying Fortress heavy bombers (Boeing B-17), heavily bombed the Japanese airfield on Ballale Island in the Shortland Island area and started fires in the revetments. Weak anti-aircraft fire was encountered.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 27, 1943)
Action will tell foe story of conference
By C. R. Cunningham
Algiers, Algeria (UP) –
Conviction grew today that the “unconditional surrender” pronouncement of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill tells only a part – possibly not the most exciting part – of the story of their 10-day meeting at Casablanca.
Correspondents who attended the historic Roosevelt-Churchill press conference, which concluded the deliberations in the white-walled city on Africa’s west coast, believe that the official communiqué did not cover all the activity of those 10 days in the sun-drenched Moroccan port.
Rumors of what occurred at Casablanca have run a gamut to end all gamuts and none, thus far, has taken any form of authoritativeness. These rumors had it that Italian, Spanish and even Finnish and Turkish delegates had representatives at the meeting.
The rumors were that these representatives were invited not necessarily to join the United Nations but to become convinced of the might of the Allies. Then they could make their own choice.
Walter Logan, United Press staff correspondent also present at Casablanca during the meeting, reported having seen "consular baggage bearing Finnish labels.” G. Ward Price, London Daily Mail correspondent at Casablanca, reported:
It may be said that the statements made here are only a partial revelation. It is obvious there may be additional activities which are unrevealable and may even be denied in the interests of the common cause.
A welter of rumors
There was a welter of rumors regarding those who participated at one time or another in the meeting. The fact that correspondents were not permitted to go into any great deal of speculation as to the conferees aroused their suspicion.
First of all, it is not believed that President Roosevelt would have cared to take the risk of a 6,000-mlle airplane ride for nothing more than a “heart to heart” talk with Prime Minister Churchill.
Nor was it thought likely that he would embark on such a venture simply to review the events of 1942 or even to plan the events of 1943.
It was noted that the combined Allied chiefs of staff could have undertaken these tasks without the presence of either the President or the Prime Minister.
Air of mystery
What particularly aroused the interest of the correspondents was the complete air of mystery which surrounded the entire proceeding.
The records of the correspondents accredited to the North African field have been scrupulously studied and a considerable amount of confidence has been placed in them. However, in the Casablanca instance, they were given not the slightest inkling of what was taking place until after they arrived on the scene.
Casablanca was literally saturated with rumors. Crowded as it was with special anti-aircraft emplacements, special guards, Secret Service men and troops, almost any kind of report was passed avidly from person to person.
One of many reports
One of the most frequent of these reports was that the anti-aircraft batteries had orders not to fire on any planes – whether enemy or not – which might appear at certain hours of the day. The inference, of course, was that some sort of emissary from some belligerent state was expected.
The President and the Prime Minister met correspondents in the rear garden of a beautiful white villa – the North African “White House” – marked simply “Villa No 2.”
With Churchill sitting at his left, Mr. Roosevelt explained to war correspondents hastily flown in from the Tunisian front that he and Churchill had pledged themselves that peace would return to the world and that this peace could not come unless it was accompanied by the total destruction of the power of Germany and Japan to make war.
Demand foe surrender
The President told correspondents gathered at his feet in the velvety grass of the Villa’s rear garden that the keynote of the meeting had been taken from Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
Gen. Grant, he said, was known as “unconditional surrender” and that was the purpose and purport of the present deliberations. He said that the meeting would be known as the “unconditional surrender” conference.
The Prime Minister, speaking a few minutes later, echoed Mr. Roosevelt’s statement and said that with unconquerable will America and Britain would pursue their purpose to its logical conclusion.
The correspondent listened as Mr. Roosevelt told of the plans of the United Nations to utilize every last resource of the world – if necessary – in order to carry out the extermination of Axis warpower as quickly as possible.
Stalin was invited
Joseph Stalin, the President revealed, had been invited to attend but replied that he was unable to leave Russia because he was directing the Soviet winter offensive.
Although the Russian leader was not able to be present, Mr. Roosevelt said, he and Churchill kept him fully informed of their discussions.
While he and Mr. Churchill were in almost constant conference, said Mr. Roosevelt, the British and American combined staffs proceeded on the principles and methods of pooling all the resources of the Allied nations.
Mr. Roosevelt said that all those participating in the discussions reaffirmed their determination to destroy the military power of the Axis while proceeding with their discussion of the Allies’ military operations for 1943.
The President said that all possible material would be sent to aid the Russian offensive, thereby cutting down German manpower as well as wearing out German material.
The United Nations, he said, would give all possible aid in the heroic struggle of China now in its sixth year and thereby end for all time the attempts of the Japanese to dominate the Far East.
He said that de Gaulle and Giraud had been in conference for a couple of days and that both were wholeheartedly bent on achieving the liberation of France. He said they were both in accord on that.
He said:
I saw a lot of American troops, the greater part of two divisions. I saw combat teams and had lunch with them in the field – and it was a darned good lunch. Then we drove to Port Lyautey where American and French troops were killed. I placed wreaths on the graves of the soldiers of both nations.
I saw the equipment our boys are using over here. They are the most modern weapons we can produce and our men are adequately equipped. They are healthy and efficient and eager to fight again. I think they will. I saw with my own eyes the actual condition of our men and I would like to have their families back home know of the support they are getting.
Mr. Churchill said the discussions were the most successful war conference he had ever participated in or had ever seen.
He expressed regret that Stalin and Gen. Chiang Kai-shek had not been able to be present but said they had both been kept fully informed on the discussions.
Mr. Churchill concluded that he and Mr. Roosevelt were more than determined that their designed purpose was the unconditional surrender of the criminal forces which have plunged the world into sorrow and ruin.
Those who took part
President Roosevelt then gave the correspondents the name, of those who participated in the discussions.
They were: Gen. Harold Alexander, British Middle Eastern commander; Adm. Sir Andrew Brown Cunningham, Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Air Mshl. Arthur Tedder, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, Maj. Gen. Carl Spaatz and others.
He said that he and Churchill felt that the occasion was an excellent opportunity for Gens. Charles de Gaulle and Henri Honoré Giraud to meet.
A complete agreement between de Gaulle and Giraud was reached during their conference, it was learned, and only a few small details need to be worked out before full collaboration is effected.
Late Sunday afternoon, de Gaulle and Giraud issued a communiqué saying “at the conclusion of their first conversation in North Africa, Gen. de Gaulle and Gen. Giraud have made the following joint statement:
We have met. We have talked. We have registered our entire agreement on the end to be achieved, which is the liberation of France and the triumph of human liberties by the total defeat of the enemy. This end will be attained by a union in war of all Frenchmen fighting side by side with all their allies.
Churchill carried King’s message to Roosevelt
London, England (UP) –
Prime Minister Winston Churchill had lunch with King George at Buckingham Palace just before he left for Africa and the King shook his hand, wished him good luck and gave him a personal message for President Roosevelt.
He flew to Casablanca in the same converted Liberator bomber of the Ferry Command and with the same pilot and crew that took him to Cairo and Moscow last August.
No acting President
Washington (UP) –
There was no “acting President” while President Roosevelt was in Africa.
The Constitution provides only that the powers and duties of the Presidency shall devolve on the Vice President in case of removal, death, resignation or the inability of the President to perform his duties and powers. Absence from the country has never been held legally to constitute an “inability,” so there was no necessity for delegation of powers to Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
Sets new precedents
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
President Roosevelt, who has probably broken more precedents than any other U.S. Chief Executive, added these to his record in connection with his North African meeting with Winston Churchill:
- He became the first President who ever left the United States while the nation was at war.
- He became the first President ever to fly while holding office.
- He became the first President since Abraham Lincoln to visit an actual theater of war.
Casablanca a hive of rumors, air batteries and Tommy guns
By Walter Logan
Casablanca, Morocco – (Jan. 20, delayed)
G-2 (Military Intelligence) called me to headquarters and told me I would be shot if I tried to go near a certain villa.
Later Logan found out why. The villa was the meeting place of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
That was how thorough were the precautions taken to protect the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries during their conference.
Planes of all types crowded the airports, guards were increased, new anti-aircraft batteries dotted the landscape and at night officers went on guard duty with Tommy guns.
Casablanca was a fountain of rumors. One of the most recurrent was that anti-aircraft gunners at the airports had been instructed not to fire on any planes under any circumstances at certain hours.
The meeting place itself was protected by armed guards patrolling a barbed-wire obstruction and the President was protected by his own bodyguard, armed with Tommy guns and two companies of troops.