3 Yanks lost 10 months are rescued near Rabaul
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Redheads supply Hollywood with its weekly argument
Charge made that Miss O’Hara’s locks are really Titian – Rita’s synthetic!
By Erskine Johnson
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria –
Here is the home of the renowned French Foreign Legion, probably, over the years, the most famous fighting unit in the world.
The Legion comprises the only true mercenaries left in existence. They’ll fight whomever their leaders tell them to; on either side, with the same emotions.
A Legionnaire lives with but one high goal – death on the battlefield. On the walls of one of the barracks is inscribed this message from a former commander:
You, Legionnaires, are soldiers made to die. I send you where you die.
The message is looked upon with reverence, almost as holy.
Like a good many things in this world, the Legion isn’t as romantic when you get close to as it is from a distance. It does have a fine fighting history, no question of that. And life in the Legion is much more modern than most of us have thought. And yet it is an empty life, by most standards. It is a bleak life. Men with fine minds, who for obscure reasons go into the ranks of the Legion, find that after a few years their minds have dwindled to a common denominator of mere existence.
They say that most Americans who have joined the Legion can’t stick out their five-year enlistments. Before the war Americans and British could get out of the Legion with a little diplomatic pressure. When a German enlisted, he was stuck for five years, no matter how he hated it. But Germans don’t hate it the way Americans and Englishmen do.
Glad to be beaten
The Legion consists of about 10,000 men. In this war, it fought the Germans in France and in Norway. Its record, as usual, was superb. After the fall of France, it withdrew to Algeria, its lifelong home. Last year, it fought against the British in Syria – it doesn’t make any difference to the Legion whom it fights.
Today, the Legion is scattered. Some of its units are bottled up by the Japanese in French Indochina. A few are fighting the Germans in Tunisia. The rest are spotted over North Africa, preparing for future battles. Fewer than 2,000 men are here at headquarters.
The morning the Americans landed in North Africa, the Legion started north on the 50-mile run to Oran to join the fighting. But they never arrived. Allied airplanes bombed and machine-gunned them along the highways, and they had to turn back. Their burned-out trucks still lie along the roadside. Fortunately, there were almost no casualties. The Legionnaires felt badly that they didn’t get to Oran in time. Not because they dislike Americans, but simply because they missed a fight.
Now the Legion is hand-in-glove with the Americans, and readying itself to join in the great fight on our side. The soldiers are impatient and itching to get going.
Discipline is absolute
Sidi Bel Abbès has become practically a shrine for Americans over here. More than 400 American officers go through the Legion’s home quarters every week. The Legion puts on parades for visiting American generals. American doughboys and Foreign Legion privates walk the streets together and sit in cafés, trying their best to talk to each other.
Discipline in the Legion is probably the strictest in the world. It isn’t just a brutal discipline; it is what professional soldiers point to admiringly as the absolute ideal in military precision of conduct. There is no sloppiness of dress, no relaxing of respect. Soldiers salute an officer clear across the street. They salute officers sitting at tables 50 yards away. Neglect to salute costs a Legionnaire eight days in jail. They salute me too. They would even if they knew I was only a correspondent, for I’m in uniform and it’s the uniform they salute.
‘French is spoken here’
There are still rough, murderous men in the Legion, but today many of them are high-type persons who left their home countries for political reasons. Fifty-five nationalities are represented. There are only three Americans and they are not here.
A large percentage of the Legion is now Spanish and German. Once we took over here, the question arose what to do with the German Legionnaires. That has been solved by sending them far to the south, with a detachment that will never come into contact with Axis troops and will fight no World War battles.
The Germans have made excellent Legionnaires, but they became so numerous there has been some resentment against them among the French. In one kitchen I noticed a sign in French saying “French is spoken here.” I asked the cook the significance of it. He said it got so that German was the predominant language around the kitchen, so he put up the sign to show there were some Frenchmen left.
U.S. Navy Department (April 4, 1943)
Communiqué No. 335
North Pacific.
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On April 2, formations of Liberator heavy bombers (Consolidated B‑24) and Mitchell medium bombers (North American B‑25) and Lightning fighters (Lockheed P‑38) made eight attacks against Japanese installations at Kiska. Hits in the target area were observed. All U.S. planes returned.
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On the same day a force of Liberator bombers attacked Japanese positions on Attu Island.
South Pacific.
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On April 2, a U.S. reconnaissance plane encountered a Japanese seaplane west of New Georgia Island and shot it down.
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In Navy Department Communiqué No. 332 it was reported that 16 Japanese Zero planes were shot down by U.S. fighters northwest of Guadalcanal. Further reports reveal that a total of 18 Japanese Zeros, instead of 16, were shot down by the U.S. pilots.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 132
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots at Guadalcanal flying Douglas Dauntless dive bombers and Grumman Avenger torpedo planes sank or damaged 85 Japanese ships in the period from August 25, 1942, to February 28, 1943.
In addition, the rear seat gunners aboard these planes shot down 14 Zero fighter planes and 11 floatplanes.
As of January 1, these totals included: Five destroyers, 8 transports and 3 cargo ships sunk; and 6 heavy cruisers, 8 light cruisers, 15 destroyers, 2 submarines and 12 transports damaged.
On November 14, 1942, these planes aided in the sinking of a Japanese battleship after she had been disabled by American surface forces in the night action of November 13‑14.
The dive bombers and torpedo planes scored hits on 25 enemy ships during January and February. Most of these ships were destroyers and light cruisers which maneuvered at high speed.
The above totals include only damages inflicted by the Dauntless and Avenger planes, and does not include damages by other aircraft operating in the Guadalcanal area.
The Douglas Dauntless is a two‑place, low‑winged monoplane, powered by a Wright Cyclone engine. Employed more extensively in the Pacific than any other dive bomber to date, it has figured prominently in all major naval air engagements.
The Grumman Avenger, also powered by a Wright engine, carries a torpedo completely enclosed in its fuselage. It first appeared in action in the Battle of Midway. Both types were developed by the Navy as standard carrier‑based airplanes.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 4, 1943)
YANKS ATTACK NAZIS IN MOUNTAINS
Patton hurls infantry and tanks at foe
Americans seek breakthrough to coast to meet 8th Army
By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
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Conrad Veidt dies while playing golf
Hollywood, California (UP) – (April 3)
Conrad Veidt, 50, veteran stage and screen actor, died of a heart attack while playing golf late today.
Veidt was best known for his villain portrayals and more recently had been featured as a German Army officer. He was born in Germany but became a British subject 10 years ago.
He is survived by his wife Lily, who lived with him here, and a daughter, Viola, 16, now in Switzerland.