America at war! (1941--) -- Part 2

5347

U.S. State Department (July 7, 1943)

860C.002/328

Memorandum by the Polish Ambassador

Washington, July 7, 1943.

The Polish Ambassador informed the Secretary of State that he had received today the following urgent telegram from Count Raczyński, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland:

Information is being received by the Polish Government in London directly from Poland that news of the death of Prime Minister General Sikorski is causing depression bordering on despair among the Polish people. There appears to be urgent need of raising the spirit in Poland. In view of the enormous personal authority and popularity of President Roosevelt in Poland, Count Raczyński asks, on behalf of the Polish Government, whether the President would very kindly agree to make a suitable declaration referring to the death of General Sikorski and stressing his faith that the Polish people will follow General Sikorski’s leadership by continuing their united and unbroken resistance in their struggle to regain Poland’s independence and for the triumph of the principles for which the United Nations are fighting and suffering.

The Polish Ambassador added that General Sikorski had succeeded in fully organizing Poland’s underground army which, together with the entire nation, regarded him as their military and political leader in their organized struggle against the enemy.

5348

Brooklyn Eagle (July 7, 1943)

NAVY BOMBARDS KISKA
Beaten Jap fleet trapped in Solomons

U.S. loses cruiser Helena – enemy’s toll put at 10 ships

…

5349

Allied fliers sweep skies over Sicily

Powerful fleets hit 8 targets – leave trail of fire and ruin

…

5350

Jack Dempsey wins divorce from Hannah

Her separate maintenance suit dismissed – custody of children to be decided

…

5351

House bars crop insurance funds

Washington (UP) –
The House today for the fourth time refused to provide funds for continuation of the federal crop insurance program.

The House defeated, 123–52, a motion to concur in a Senate amendment to the second deficiency bill to appropriate $7,818,748 for crop insurance in fiscal 1944.

The bill goes back to the Senate, which earlier this week receded from a demand that the crop insurance program be provided for in the agriculture appropriation bill.

In an 11th hour effort to save crop insurance, however, the Senate had amended the second deficiency bill to provide funds for it. The House served notice today that the Senate must give in or kill the second deficiency bill.

5352

Navigational mistake caused bombing of town

Boise City, Oklahoma (UP) –
Army Air Forces authorities said today that the bombing of this little Oklahoma panhandle town early yesterday resulted from “a mistake In navigation.”

Maj. C. E. Lancaster, commanding officer of the Dalhart (Texas) Army Airfield, said the bombs were dropped by student fliers who mistook the town for a practice bombing range.

Lancaster said the damage would have been more severe had not the planes been using practice bombs.

5353

See Roosevelt action in Jones, Wallace dispute

Speedy intervention expected – Byrnes said to be urging move

…

5354

Tells WLB pay must be raised in shipyards

Frey of AFL urges increase ‘promised’ 1,100,000 workers

…

5355

Editorial: Our bright naval record augury of Japanese doom

Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox does not submit a documented record in support of his statement that action in the Southwest Pacific in recent months constitutes the “greatest naval campaign ever waged by man” but laymen, considering the last nineteen months of sea warfare in retrospect, will accept it with confidence in its accuracy.

In addition, the American people will find in the consistently brilliant performances of U.S. ships and men a basis for the conviction that the victory over Japan will be swift and crushing once there is a concentration upon the war in the Pacific.

By reason of the vast sea spaces to be covered in the Pacific, with a front stretching down from the Aleutians to New Guinea, naval superiority is indispensable to success and the United Nations have demonstrated in successive operations that they possess a substantial margin of strength.

Even in the earlier days of the war, when Japan held the advantage of the initiative, a combination of British and U.S. naval resources saved Australia, the greatest objective of the Japanese and the last base remaining, with the exception of Hawaii, for a continuance of the fight in the Pacific.

Since then, the onrush of the Japanese has not only been halted but the processes of rolling back the tide have been started and, in the last few days, have been stimulated to such a degree that Rabaul and even Truk, the great bastion which is a vital source of enemy naval power in the Pacific, have become objectives of future operations. Without minimizing the importance of the part played by land campaigns and brilliant victories in the air, it may be stated that the naval campaign has been fundamental to success, also that it will have an increasingly significant place in the scheme of things as time goes on.

The inevitability of Japanese doom is found in a number of factors in the war, not the least of which is the demonstrated superiority of United Nations naval power up to date and the certainty that the margin of strength will become greater as time goes on.

Secretary Knox cites the fact that in one Guadalcanal action alone, the Allies sank more of the Japanese fleet than the Germans lost in the Battle of Jutland. When these high losses are considered in connection with Japan’s limited capacity for naval replacement and our own phenomenal ship construction record, the future, insofar as naval operations in the Pacific are concerned, becomes bright.

Ultimately, as Prime Minister Churchill said only a few days ago, there will be a concentration of the full naval and air strength of Great Britain in the Pacific, with the result that Japan will be compelled to hold island possessions and thousands of miles of sea lanes with infinitely inferior forces. The prospect is one to cause the warlords of Tokyo many anxious moments.

5356

yes…yes… yes!! The day is coming closer when they will maybe invade Sicily.

Also did the americans did not know the battle for kursk had kicked off?

1 Like
5357

Yes. The headline was “Reds Batter Nazis, Trap Tank Forces.”

1 Like
5358

Völkischer Beobachter (July 8, 1943)

Antiinflationsprogramm und Rekordproduktionspläne –
Roosevelt Gefangener seiner Wirtschaftspolitik

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

…

5359

In den Gewässern der Salomoninseln –
Vier feindliche Kriegsschiffe versenkt

…

5360

Ein neues Ablenkungsmanöver Roosevelts –
Die Bedeutung des Pazifikunternehmens

Sonderdienst des „Völkischer Beobachters“

Lissabon, 7. Juli –
Die vor wenigen Tagen eröffnete Pazifikunternehmung, deren Verlauf natürlich noch völlig offenliegt, ist sowohl für die öffentliche Meinung der USA. als auch für die anglo-amerikanische Strategie bedeutungsvoll. Die Nachricht wurde in den USA. zum Unabhängigkeitstag verbreitet und brachte eine starke Entspannung der durch das fortgesetzte Warten auf eine immer wieder als unmittelbar bevorstehend angekündigte Europainvasion allmählich überreizten Nerven.

Gleichzeitig verwies das amerikanische Kriegsministerium bezeichnenderweise zum soundsovielten Male auf die japanischen Truppenkonzentrationen in den sibirischen Grenzen, die wohl nichts anderes als den Wunsch darstellten, Japan möchte gegen die Sowjets vorstoßen und damit einen sowjetrussisch-japanischen Krieg auslösen, in dessen Verlauf den Amerikanern Flugfelder in Bomberreichweite der japanischen Kerninseln eingeräumt würden.

Der unbequeme Stalin

Gegenüber dem Drängen Stalins um Errichtung der „zweiten Front“ versichert Washington immer wieder, die Anglo-Amerikaner könnten sich eine Europainvasion nur dann leisten, wenn erhebliche deutsche Truppenteile an der Ostfront gebunden seien. Stalin wiederum behauptet, er würde eine Ostoffensive nur wagen, wenn die Deutschen dort zu einer Invasion zu erheblichen Truppenabziehungen von der Ostfront gezwungen werden. Die interalliierte Strategie bietet also das Bild des Tauziehens; jeder Partner möchte ganz sicher gehen.

Militärische Kreise Washingtons stellen nun zwei Punkte in den Vordergrund, die für die Sowjetrussen nicht gerade schmeichelhaft klingen. Erstens sei man nicht sicher, ob sie eine erfolgreiche Offensive durchführen könnten. Ihre Taktik sei immer noch sehr ungeschickt und habe sich bisher nur in den Winterfeldzügen bewährt. So sei es ihnen nicht einmal möglich, den kleinen deutschen Brückenkopf Noworossijsk zu beseitigen. Falls es den Sowjets aber nicht gelänge, den größten Teil der deutschen Osttruppen zu vernichten, ergebe sich für Deutschland die Möglichkeit, seine gesamte Wucht gegen eine Invasionsarmee zu wenden und sie zu zerschlagen. Wenn eine anglo-amerikanische Invasion jedoch fehlschlage, wären damit ungezählte Verluste an Truppen und Material verbunden und es würde sehr lange dauern, bis ein erneuter Invasionsversuch erfolgen könnte.

Ein ‚titanisches Vabanquespiel‘

Washingtons Verstimmung gegenüber dem immer heftigeren Drängen des sowjetrussischen Verbündeten läßt sich kaum noch verbergen. „Man kann es den Russen Überhaupt nicht klarmachen, daß wir nicht die endlosen Reserven an ausgebildeten und erfahrenen Truppen haben,“ schrieb Major Fletcher Pratt unlängst in der Newyork Post. „Eine Invasion über dem Kanal, weil sie die Russen verlangen, wäre im Augenblick ein titanisches Vabanquespiel.“ In diesem erhitzten Streit der Geister wirkt die begonnene Südpazifikunternehmung abkühlend. Sie zeigt Moskau den guten Willen, überhaupt etwas zu tun. Außerdem soll sie den ungeduldig werdenden Tschungking-Chinesen und den verschnupften Australiern und Neuseeländern zeigen, daß man sie nicht vergessen hat. In den USA ist man angesichts der fortgesetzt heftigen Zusammenstöße zwischen dem Präsidenten und dem Kongreß schon erfreut, wenn an irgend einer Front überhaupt etwas geschieht, was die Blicke von den immer unerquicklicher werdenden Zuständen im Weißen Hause ablenkt. Wenn dabei noch Roosevelts politischer Gegner General MacArthur in den Blickpunkt der Ereignisse rückt, so steigert das nur das Wohlbehagen der Opposition.

Wegen seiner USA.-feindlichen Politik –
De Gaulle von London abgehalftert

Stockholm, 7. Juli –
De Gaulle hat sich nun anscheinend auch noch die letzten Reste britischer Sympathien verscherzt. Denn sonst würde man sich in London wohl kaum so beeilen, ihm die Beweise ehemaliger englischer Gunst endgültig zu nehmen.

Das englische Informationsministerium hat, wie offiziell mitgeteilt wurde, der De-Gaulle-Zeitung La Marseillaise das Erscheinen verboten. De Gaulle hat damit die letzte Möglichkeit verloren, sich vor der seiner ewigen Klagen und Krakeelereien müden englischen Öffentlichkeit Gehör zu verschaffen.

Bezeichnenderweise begründete das Informationsministerium seine Maßnahme damit, daß die Zeitung eine Politik verfolgt habe, „die feindlich gegen die USA. eingestellt war,“ so daß es zu zahlreichen Eingaben im Unterhaus gekommen sei. Die andere Begründung, daß die „kämpfenden Franzosen“ jetzt in dem französischen Befreiungsausschuß in Algier aufgegangen seien, weswegen sie keine eigene Zeitung mehr in London zu haben brauchten, wurde von den Engländern der äußeren Form halber beigefügt. Das täuscht nicht darüber hinweg, daß sich London auch in diesem Punkt den amerikanischen Wünschen fügen und von de Gaulle endgültig abrücken mußte.

5361

Stampa Sera (July 8, 1943)

Siluri contro il traffico nemico –
Due piroscafi per 13 mila tonn. affondati da nostri aerei sulle coste tunisine

Diciannove apparecchi avversari abbattuti

Il Quartiere General delle Forze Armate comunica:

Nostri aerosiluranti hanno effettuato riuscite puntate offensive lungo le coste tunisine colpendo due piroscafi di complessive 13 mila tonnellate cosi gravemente da far ritenere sicuro il loro affondamento.

Incursioni avversarie su Trapani, Porto Empedocle e Catania causavano lievi danni e poche perdite fra le popolazioni. Quattordici apparecchi venivano distrutti dal tiro delle batterie della difesa: 3 a Trapani, 4 a Porto Empedocle e 7 a Catania.

Cacciatori dell’Asse abbattevano in combattimento 5 velivoli nel cielo della Sicilia.

Ecco i nomi dei piloti che si sono segnalati nelle azioni di aerosiluramento citate dal Bollettino odierna: tenente Bernardo Braghieri da Piacenza, tenente Francesco Pandolfo da Acireale (Catania), maresciallo Silvio Florentu da Roma, sergente maggiorie Lorenzo Sciarra da Roma.

5362

U.S. Navy Department (July 8, 1943)

Communiqué No. 437

Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the following results of operations against the enemy in the waters of these areas:

  1. 1 large transport sunk.
  2. 1 medium‑sized transport sunk.
  3. 2 medium‑sized cargo vessels sunk.
  4. 1 large tanker sunk.
  5. 1 medium‑sized tanker sunk.
  6. 1 large cargo vessel sunk.
  7. 1 medium‑sized passenger‑cargo vessel sunk.
  8. 1 small cargo vessel sunk.
  9. 1 small schooner sunk.
  10. 4 medium‑sized cargo vessels damaged.

These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Depart­ment Communiqués.

5363

Brooklyn Eagle (July 8, 1943)

U.S. clamps vise on Munda with 2 surprise landings

Yanks drive inland on base cut off by 9–1 sea victory

…

Five Nippon warships, set ablaze in few minutes, lit battle scene

By Frank Tremaine

…

5364

19 waves of bombers pulverize Gerbini

Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Allied air fleets, smashing Axis defenses on the island invasion route to Italy, pounded airfields on Sicily and Sardinia for the fifth straight day yesterday and centered a day-long assault on Gerbini, where 19 waves of bombers pulverized enemy fighter defenses.

Flying Fortresses, Mitchells and Marauders blanketed Gerbini and its adjacent airfields with bombs, touching off big fires, without meeting an Axis plane. Raids on Gerbini have torn apart the Sicilian airdrome every day this week.

Eight Axis airbases, five of them on Sicily, felt the destructive weight of Allied bombs in the day and night attacks yesterday. At the same time, the raiders again blasted Italian communications in Palermo, Mazara and the Sciacca Harbor area, all on Sicily.

Order French coast cleared

Meanwhile, the French Ministry of Information in Algiers announced the Germans had ordered a number of areas on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of France evacuated because they are “urgently threatened.”

The evacuation order was described as mainly a Nazi attempt to “drain France of her young and resistant elements before an Allied landing occurs.”

The areas affected included Sète (west of Marseille) on the Mediterranean coast, and Hendaye, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Bayonne and Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay. Several hundred thousand persons will be affected.

As the day for the assault against Europe appeared to be coming closer, waves of Allied bombers swept over to pulverize the Gerbini Airfield on Sicily and pile wreckage on Milis, Villacidro and Pabillonis Airfields on Sardinia.

Fighter opposition continued on a reduced scale, and of the few score Axis planes seen, Allied gunners shot down ten and dispersed the others. Five Allied planes were lost.

Final checks on Monday’s Flying Fortress raid against the network of Sicilian airdromes revealed that gunners shot down 35 Axis planes, five more than originally reported.

Fortresses concentrate on Sicily

Flying Fortresses, Marauders and Mitchells concentrated on Sicily. The Sardinia raids were carried out by RAF Wellingtons. Fighter-bombers patrolled Sicily and P-40 Warhawks hit at railroads, highways and ammunition dumps through western Sicily.

An Italian communiqué broadcast by Rome radio said the Allied raids caused only “slight damage” and that 19 Allied planes were shot down. The targets were identified at Trapani, Porto Empedocle and Catania. Two Allied steamers (totaling 30,000 tons) were probably sunk by Italian torpedo boats off the Tunisian coast, the communiqué said.

Comiso blasted again

Mitchells hit much-bombed Comiso, in southeast Sicily, dropping nearly 50 tons of bombs.

Two waves of fighter-bombers got direct hits with 500-pound bombs at Porto Empedocle on the Sicilian coast.

Boston night bombers caught many Axis aircraft on the ground in a raid on Borizzo Airfield in northwest Sicily.

Seen massing for showdown

London, England (UP) –
Reliable air observers here believed today that Allied and Axis air forces were being massed for a showdown battle for control of the air over the Mediterranean.

After some weeks of hesitation, the Axis had apparently decided to accept the challenge of the Allied blitz and may be committing substantial forces to the defense of Italy and the Italian islands.

5365

Allied output to quadruple that of Axis

Nelson predicts great arms spurt in 1944 – explains summer lag

…

5366

Conferees send subsidy issue back to Senate

Wagner will urge CCC extension – corn price boost tabled

…