OWI survey: Food outlook bad but not alarming
Even at rosiest, civilian supply is 6% less – the heretofore well-fed to be hit hardest
…
Fortress crews training for European night raids
Bombers being fitted for ‘round-the-clock task; dawn and dusk attacks likely
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
…
‘A-Jap’s-a-Jap’ attack upsets work program
Administration wants Pacific Coast general to change views
…
Movie Code stays, Czar Hays declares
…
Congress hits food news ban
Censorship may halt necessary legislation
…
Roving Reporter
In Tunisia –
Little items – Petty’s drawing of his famous girl stretched out on her stomach musing about something is tacked up in hundreds of soldiers’ billets in North Africa.
The German photographic plane that covers every important sector in Tunisia daily is known in the trade as “Photo Freddie” …On days when more than one comes over, the second is called “Freddie Junior.” …Once in a while you can make out the plane as it flashes in the sun, but usually it’s so high you can’t see it at all, you just hear it…
I heard a funny story about a road-strafing the other day. Three soldiers were riding in a jeep when strafers came diving. The soldier in the back seat was riding backwards so he could keep a watch to the rear. The jeep took off across the fields, with the strafers after it. The rear guard kept calling “Right” or “Left” to indicate which way the driver should turn to dodge. But finally, it got too hot for the boys up front, and they just bailed out and left the jeep running. That left our hero alone, riding backwards in a driverless jeep, yelling “Right-Left” to nobody, while the bullets splattered around. Finally, he looked around to see why the driver wasn’t obeying. Then he too hit the dust.
Two smother in sand
In some parts of Tunisia, the sand is soft yellow and moist, and it’s almost a pleasure to dig slit trenches in it, the digging is so easy. But it does save its drawbacks.
I know of two cases where soldiers were sleeping in narrow slit trenches and the loose sand slid in on them without waking them. They were smothered to death.
Our tank warfare has shown two things – that many of our tanks catch fire when badly hit, and that, although the fire is all over the place in a few seconds, the majority of the crews are able to get out safely and struggle back to camp.
In wartime living, you relearn little things you had forgotten years ago. Such things, for example, ass lighting a cigarette simply by putting it over the chimney of a coal-oil lamp and puffing.
Italians are Eyeties, wops, guineas
One day I was up on a mountainside with troops holding a forward outpost. They were in such an inaccessible and perilous place that they were getting just one meal a day, and artillery fire was whining over their heads constantly. Yet, right in the midst of that, a truck arrived at the foot of the mountain, and here came soldiers lugging up sacks of mail. The boys were getting their letters right on the firing line.
You hardly ever hear Italian soldiers referred to as Italians. It’s either “Eyeties” or “Wops” or “Guineas.” In one case, the reason for abandoning “Italian” was a concrete one. In this case, a mountain lookout reported that “three Italians” were coming up the hill. The officer who heard it thought he said “three battalions,” and ordered a heavy barrage dropped in that area.
When the lookout called back to ask why such heavy shooting, the misunderstanding was straightened out. From then on, all men in that outfit were instructed to refer to Italians as “Guineas.”
Bomb blast vulcanizes bills
I saw the tragic remnants of a jeep that got a direct hit from a 500-pound German bomb. Three soldiers in it were blown to disintegration. Nothing was found of them to bury. But searchers did find scattered coins, knives, and bits of clothing. One soldier had a pocket Bible, and about half of its sheets were found.
Another had a large pad of currency – bills just folded over once. And the reason I’m telling this story – those bills were blown together with such force that it was impossible to get them apart. We couldn’t even strip off one bill with a pocketknife. The blast had vulcanized them together without tearing any holes in them.
U.S. Navy Department (April 17, 1943)
Communiqué No. 346
North Pacific.
On April 14, two additional attacks were made by Army Warhawk (Curtiss P‑40) and Lightning (Lockheed P‑38) fighters against Japanese installations at Kiska, raising to ten the total of attacks on that date.
On April 15, Japanese installations at Kiska were attacked thirteen times by formations of U.S. Army planes. Liberator heavy bombers (Consolidated B‑24), Mitchell medium bombers (North American B‑25), and Lightning and Warhawk fighters carried out these raids. Many hits were scored in the main camp and on the runway and hangar areas, causing numerous fires and explosions. One heavy bomber was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire.
Communiqué No. 347
Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the following results of operations against the enemy in the waters of these areas:
- One large supply ship sunk.
- Two medium‑sized cargo ships sunk.
- One large minelayer sunk.
- One small patrol ship sunk.
- One destroyer damaged.
- One medium‑sized transport damaged.
These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 17, 1943)
55 of 600 RAF planes lost –
Pilsen, Mannheim blasted in war’s biggest bombing
Škoda plant main target; two raids cost record number of aircraft
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer
Bulletin
London, England –
A large force of four-engined bombers passed over the east coast today, headed toward Europe. The roar of their motors continued 15 minutes over one town.
Striking from many sides, Allied bombers are continuing their pounding of the Axis. In raids announced today, the RAF struck twin night blows at Pilsen, home of the giant Škoda Works, and Mannheim, after daylight U.S. Air Force bombings of U-boat bases at Brest and Lorient, in France. The southern Axis partner, Italy, felt the aerial warfare in attacks on Naples and Rossano, in Italy, and Palermo and Messina, Sicily.
London, England –
More than 600 British bombers rocked Mannheim and Pilsen, two of Germany’s most important armament centers, last night with probably the greatest tonnage of bombs ever dropped in a single night.
First reports indicated that the weight of bombs – ranging from 8,000-pound super blockbusters to two-pound incendiaries – exceeded even the 1,500 tons dumped on Germany during each of last year’s paralyzing 1,000-plane raids.
While the Royal Air Force pounded Germany from the West, the Russian Air Force may have been bombarding the country from the East. A German broadcast reported that northeastern Germany was raided for the fifth time in a week.
Biggest operation of year
The Air Ministry said the British raids on Mannheim and Pilsen constituted the biggest night operation of the year.
Fifty-five bombers were lost in the twin raids, the largest British loss in a single night of the whole war.
The communiqué said:
Preliminary reports indicate that both attacks were concentrated and successful.
Striking into the heart of Germany, the main force, composed entirely of four-engined Halifax and Lancaster bombers, unloaded hundreds of tons of bombs on the sprawling Škoda Works at Pilsen, one of the world’s largest arms producers.
A smaller force of four-engined Stirlings and Halifaxes, with a number of twin-engined Wellingtons, simultaneously blasted Mannheim-Ludwigshafen.
The announcement that 600 bombers participated in the two raids indicated that upwards of 1,800 tons of bombs were probably dropped on the two targets. If true, the tonnage was the greatest ever dropped on Europe in a single night. Only 1,500 tons of bombs were dropped during each of the three 1,000-plane raids on Germany of last year.
Hundreds of four- and two-ton blockbuster demolition bombs were among the cargoes of destruction unload on factories turning out munitions and guns for the Axis.
It was the first time that the RAF has struck in such force at two widely-separated cities on a single night and seemed to emphasize Prime Minister Churchill’s repeated warnings that British planes will fly over Europe in increasing numbers to pulverize and paralyze Adolf Hitler’s European fortress as a prelude to an Allied invasion.
Cover 400 acres
The Škoda factories cover 400 acres in Pilsen and rank with Krupp as one of the world’s largest arms producers. The British bombers made a roundtrip of more than 1,200 miles – one of the longest of the war – to bomb Pilsen, which is situated in what was formerly Czechoslovakia.
Pilsen has been raided four times previously, the last on May 4, 1942.
Mannheim, the second largest inland port in Europe, contains war factories turning out tanks, motor vehicles, diesel engines, explosives and a variety of armaments. The Air Ministry said of Mannheim:
Few towns are more important to the enemy’s armed forces. Mannheim’s concentration of industrial plants is as close as anywhere in Germany.
56th raid on city
Last night’s raid was the 56th attack of the war on Mannheim.
A German broadcast reporting that northeastern Germany was also raided last night indicated that the Russian Air Force made its fifth raid in a week on the Reich.
The loss of 55 planes exceeded the 52 which failed to return from the 1,300-plane attack on Bremen, Germany’s second port, last June 25, as well as the 35 lost in a 1,036-plane attack on Essen June 1, 1942, and 44 in a 1,000-plane raid on Cologne the previous night.
The procession of bombers took more than an hour to pass over the southeast coast last night.
Yanks hit sub bases
Less than 12 hours before the RAF’s big force of night raiders took off, two flights of U.S. four-engined bombers struck a double blow at Germany’s submarine campaign by raiding Lorient and Brest, two of the principal U-boat bases on the French Atlantic coast, in daylight.
Returning American pilots reported bomb hits on the railroad yards and near the power station at Lorient. Staff Sgt. Fred Newcome, of Portland, Maine, said the raiders did “a damned good job” in the target area.
Four bombers and two of the escorting Allied fighters were lost in the two raids, but a number of intercepting Focke-Wulf fighters were shot down.
Nazis raid London
German bombers struck back last night with another feeble raid on the Thames Estuary. One plane skirted the London area, causing an air-raid alarm in the capital, and dropped bombs in a suburb. A number of houses were demolished. At least four German bombers were shot down.
A Nazi broadcast, obviously designed to placate the home front in the midst of heavy British raids, said the German planes bombed “war-important” installations in London during the night.
Eisenhower set for final African round
Axis loses half of supplies; Patton’s casualties are 5,372 at Gafsa
…
Steel men called by WPB to curb production slump
Truman group will insist government specifications be met; Nelson asks ‘common sense’ tests
By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent
…
Ships blasted in Sicily raid
British and French press attacks on Rommel
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
…
Bombers blast four Jap ships
Remnants of convoy flee from New Guinea
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
…
13 air raids in day batter Japs at Kiska
…
Stories of Pacific threat exaggerated, officials say
OWI chief declares ‘overstated’ appeals for aid for MacArthur give satisfaction to Tokyo
…