Taft: Congress regains status
Most encouraging is its ending of ‘rubber stamp’ era, he declares; prerogatives won back; Senator tells Alabama bar the session marked turning point at capital
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Review: First blow at Japan’s heart
A pilot’s own story of his part in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
By W. L. White
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THE NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Zero hour
‘The Battle of Europe has begun’
The invasion begins
At 3 o’clock yesterday morning the Battle of Europe began. The second front was opened. The moment which the Allied world had long awaited came with dramatic suddenness in the dead hours of a moonlit Mediterranean night. From North Africa to Sicily moved thousands of Allied troops that have for months been in training for the initial assault on the fortress Hitler has made of a continent.
The invasion forces came by sea and air. Over the quiet waters steamed big transports, snub-nosed, shallow-draft invasion barges, powerful warships of all kinds. Above them were big troop-carrying planes guarded by fighters. In minutely timed coordination the Allied forces swept ashore or dropped from the skies to assault the tightly drawn defenses of the Italian island. A naval barrage and days of aerial attack had helped to clear the way. But the ultimate task was one for fighters on foot – man-to-man combat of the toughest kind.
Allies in action
It was truly an Allied attack. The bulk of the assault forces that had been gathered in North Africa were made up of British, Canadian and U.S. troops. But there were also Polish, Czech, Yugoslav and Greek units and large French contingents. In all – the Axis reported – there were more than a million United Nations fighters assembled. The Allies made no statement, but Berlin dispatches said there were 44 infantry divisions, 15-20 armored divisions, at least 4,000 airplanes of all kinds, “a considerably strengthened” naval force and two full divisions of parachute troops.
Their objective was one of Hitler’s most important bastions. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. It is Italy’s second largest “compartimento” – department – in terms of area, third largest in population. Until recently more than 4,000,000 people lived in its 9,926 square miles. Many thousands are reported to have been evacuated in the face of the Allied invasion wheatfields, hillside vineyard, citrus and olive groves.
Militarily, Sicily is an island of strong natural defenses. Its mountains and seaside cliffs in the north command the sea approaches. The southern coast is shelving, but the terrain that lies between it and the strategic centers northward and eastward is cut by many valleys, which afford the principal lines of communication. These present a tough footing for an invader. All these natural defenses have been capitalized by the Axis. Large coastal guns and airfields have been installed in profusion. Mines have been strewn thickly in the coastal waters and planted in belts all along the beaches. Barbed wire and machine-gun nests bristle everywhere facing the sea. Naval installations, including submarine facilities, ring the island. The volcanic rock has been funneled for underground hangars and garrisons. Troops estimated at 300,000-400,000 are believed to be stationed there, and yesterday reinforcements were being rushed from the mainland across the two-mile-wide Strait of Messina.
The enemy’s power
Thus, the Allies faced formidable resistance. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Commander-in-Chief, told correspondents that “we may be riding for a bloody nose,” but he thought the job could be done. Early reports from Berlin and Rome said the fighting was proving “extraordinarily costly for the invaders.” But it was obvious the Allies had not moved without vast preparation – the assembling of great strength and the most intensive training possible. The presence of the Canadians was apparently a complete surprise to the enemy. They had been in England for more than two years and in all that time they had been rehearsing landings on the beaches of the south and the rocky coasts of the north.
By these signs the importance the Allies attached to the Sicilian assault could be gauged. It was a big stake for both sides. Sicily is the doorstep of Southern Europe. It leads directly to the mainland of Italy, and the Italian peninsula leads toward the German heartland. The Alps are a barrier, but the need not be traversed. The conquest of Italy would give the Allies an all-important foothold on the continent, a powerful base for sea and air operations. Moreover, Italy flanks the Balkans, where most observers expect an Allied move at any moment and sections of which Germany has put under a state of siege.
The effects in Russia
A further significance of highest importance, lies in the effect of the Sicilian move on the Russian Front last week’s blow, like the Allied invasion of North Africa, came at a time of heavy fighting between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht. This time the Germans had just launched their long-expected 1943 offensive. They had thrown great weight into the drive but were being vigorously resisted. The sudden attack in the South came at a time when Hitler’s forces – Luftwaffe, infantry and armored divisions – were heavily committed in the East. What the result will be only the coming days will tell but it was certain that Hitler was at last faced with a second front. Before and in the early days of the war he had talked so much about the dangers of fighting on two fronts at once that it seemed an obsession. If so, Nemesis had not caught up with him. He has millions of troops, including a recent new mobilization, but there seemed to be no way in which he could possibly stretch his most needed resource – airpower – to meet the enormous demands being placed upon it. Much of it was anchored in Russia. There is believed to be a large concentration – larger than recent Axis activity would indicate – in the Mediterranean theater. And yet there was the crucial need of ever-greater air defenses against the bombing from the west.
All in all, July of 1943 had brought to the test the Hitlerian plan of world domination. No one in Allied circled expected an easy and early decision. The move against Sicily simply inaugurated the whole gigantic task of the reconquest of Europe. It seemed clear that other moves, in other sectors, were in prospect. But the attack demonstrated, in the words of a London newspaper yesterday:
Our invasion brings the war of coalition to a new point… a point at which all the United Nations are engaging every enemy and all Allied resources are converging ion Hitler’s fortress,
In Britain and the United States, military leaders were grimly cautionary, warning that heavy losses must be counted on. In the White House, President Roosevelt, confiding the dramatic news to a distinguished gathering at a dinner part for Gen. Henri-Honoré Giraud, said:
Last autumn, the Prime Minister called it “the end of the beginning.” I think you can almost say that this action tonight is the beginning of the end.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 12, 1943)
In schweren Kämpfen weiteres Gelände gewonnen –
Die große Panzerschlacht im Osten tobt weiter
85 Feindflugzeuge im Raum von Kursk und 64 über Sizilien abgeschossen
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 11. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Die große Schlacht im Osten tobt weiter. Unsere Truppen konnten in schweren Kämpfen weiteres Gelände gewinnen und 193 feindliche Panzer vernichten.
Die Luftwaffe unterstützte trotz schlechter Wetterbedingungen mit starken Kräften die Angriffe des Heeres. Panzer- und Truppenbereitstellungen des Feindes wurden zersprengt und 85 Sowjetflugzeuge abgeschossen.
Leichte deutsche Seestreitkräfte griffen überraschend den Hafen Atschujew am Asowschen Meer an, versenkten drei Küstenfahrzeuge und beschädigten drei weitere schwer.
An der Südostküste Siziliens sind heftige Kämpfe deutscher und italienischer Truppen mit gelandeten feindlichen Kräftegruppen im Gange. Über Sizilien und im Seegebiet um die Insel wurden bisher 64 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen. Italienische Torpedoflugzeuge versenkten drei Schiffe, darunter zwei Transporter von 13.000 BRT., und beschädigten im gemeinsamen Angriff mit starken deutschen Fliegerkräften drei Kreuzer und zahlreiche große und mittlere Transporter sowie viele Landungsboote so schwer, daß mehrere dieser Schiffe als vernichtet angesehen werden können.
Im Kanal kam es am 10. Juli zu einem Gefecht zwischen einem Verband englischer Zerstörer und Schnellbooten mit leichten deutschen Seestreitkräften. Ein britischer Zerstörer und zwei Kanonenboote wurden durch Artilleriefeuer versenkt, ändere schwer beschädigt. Auf deutscher Seite ging eine Einheit verloren, deren Besatzung zum größten Teil gerettet wurde.
‚In Sizilien wird für die Größe Italiens gekämpft‘ –
Die Parole bleibt: Sieg oder Tod!
dnb. Rom, 11. Juli –
Die römische Morgenpresse steht im Zeichen der Ereignisse an der sizilischen Küste. Sie legt den Hauptnachdruck auf die stolze Ruhe und Entschlossenheit, mit der das italienische Volk in dieser Stunde höchster Bereitschaft den Tatsachen ins Auge blicke.
Der Angriff auf Sizilien kam nicht überraschend, wie Gayda im Voce d’Italia ausführt. Die Geschichte wird über den Ausgang entscheiden. Man kann aber heute schon sagen, daß das feindliche Unternehmen in ganz Italien auf Festigkeit, Kaltblütigkeit, unbeugsamen Kampfeswillen und Vertrauen stoße. Jeder stehe fest und einsatzbereit an seinem Platz, jeder sei ein Kämpfer. Der Feind werde von allen Italienern die Antwort darauf erhalten, daß er gewagt hat, dem italienischen Volk moralische und kämpferische Attribute abzusprechen und gegen Frauen und Kinder, gegen Kirchen und Schulen mit Terrorangriffen vorzugehen.
Der frühere Volksbildungsminister und jetzige Direktor des Messaggero, Pavollini, erklärt, daß die Augen aller Italiener seit gestern auf Sizilien gerichtet seien. Die Abwicklung aller Geschäfte erfolge in ganz Italien mit völliger Ruhe und in einem einstimmigen, nüchternen und brüderlichen Vertrauen. Die Gedanken aller gingen zu den tapferen Kämpfern in Sizilien und zu ihren tapferen Verbündeten, deren Kameradschaft in dieser unvergeßlichen Stunde fester denn je geschmiedet werde.
Der Direktor des Popolo di Roma, Baroni, stellt fest, das Unternehmen stoße gegen den Abwehrwall, der von Männern verteidigt werde, die bereit seien, für die Kultur und die Freiheit Europas und der Welt ihr Leben zu lassen. In Sizilien werde seit gestern für die Rettung aller Völker, aber vor allem für die Größe Italiens gekämpft. Alle, Wehrmachtangehörige oder Zivilpersonen, stehen im Kampf. Sie wissen, daß dieser Kampf der entscheidende ist. Die Parole lautet heute in ganz Italien:
Sieg oder Tod.
Die angelsächsisch-sowjetische Feindkoalition, so führt Appelius im Popolo d‘Italia aus, kann nicht zuwarten. Sie ist zum Handeln gezwungen. Im Gesamtplan des Konfliktes beweisen die Kämpfe im Osten und an der Küste Siziliens sowie die jüngsten schweren feindlichen Verluste an Schiffen und Flugzeugen im Mittelmeer, daß Europa über eine gewaltige militärische Macht verfügt. Von Syrakus bis Bjelgorod steht Europa in voller Defensiv- und Offensivkraft da. In dem Augenblick, da bei Bjelgorod, auf Sizilien und auf den Salomonen drei Schlachten von großer Bedeutung für das Schicksal des Konfliktes toben, bekräftigen wir unser Vertrauen in die militärische Stärke der Dreierpaktmächte, in die höchste Gerechtigkeit unserer Sache sowie in die eiserne Solidarität unserer Völker. Ganz Italien steht ideell an der sizilianischen Küste unseres Meeres. ¾12 Uhr ist vorbei und die Italiener haben nicht nachgegeben, jetzt ist es 12 Uhr und sie werden nicht nachgeben.
Londons Klage über Sizilien:
‚Schwieriger Nachschub‘
tc. Tanger, 11. Juli –
Die Landungsoperationen auf Sizilien seien nach den nächtlichen einleitenden Aktionen in ein weit gefährlicheres Stadium getreten, heißt es in einem Bericht des Reuter-Sonderkorrespondenten Davis Brown. Die Landungsflottille habe sich nach Tagesanbruch immer noch auf die Küste zu bewegt und sei dabei dem Feuer der Küstenbatterien und der auf den Felsen angelegten Maschinengewehrnester ausgesetzt. Jedenfalls sei das Heranbringen von Verstärkungen die gefährlichste Phase der Operationen, da sie jetzt bei Tageslicht durchgeführt werden müsse und man auch mit der Möglichkeit von U-Boot-Angriffen zu rechnen habe.
In elf Monaten vier Inseln ‚erobert‘ –
Die Yankees auf Rendova
Sonderdienst des „Völkischen Beobachters‘
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La Stampa (July 12, 1943)
Accanita battaglia in Sicilia –
Il nemico impegnato e contenuto lungo la fascia costiera sud-orientale
31 velivoli avversari abbattuti – L’aviazione dell’Asse in energica azione contro i convogli anglosassoni; dieci piroscafi, un incrociatore leggero e numerosi mezzi da sbarco affondati; due incrociatori e numerosi altri mercantili gravemente colpiti
Il Quartier Generale delle Forze Armate ha ieri diramato il seguente Bollettino N. 1142:
Un’accanita battaglia è in atto lungo la fascia costiera della Sicilia sud-orientale, dove truppe italiane e germaniche impegnano energicamente le forze avversarie sbarcate e ne contengono validamente la pressione.
Intensa l’attività delle opposte aviazioni: I cacciatori dell’Asse hanno abbattuto 22 velivoli, le batterie controaeree 9.
Nostre formazioni aerosiluranti portatesi ripetutamente all’attacco di convogli nemici, colavano a picco due piroscafi per 13 mila tonnellate complessive ed una nave di tipo imprecisato; danneggiavano inoltre gravemente due incrociatori e numerosi altri mercantili, parecchi del quali s’incendiavano. Un incrociatore leggero, sette navi da trasporto di grosso e medio tonnellaggio e molti mezzi da sbarco venivano ripetutamente colpiti dall’aviazione germanica cosi da farne ritenere sicuro il successivo affondamento.
«Soltanto gli occhi per piangere» –
La pace che gli anglo-americani imporrebbero all’Italia se vincessero
I dodici punti fissati dalla propaganda nemica
Roma, 12 luglio. –
Ogni giorno che passa, si aggiungono nuovi documenti, che svelano quali sarebbero le reali intenzioni degli anglo-nordamericani se riuscissero a vincere questa guerra, e ad eliminare l’Italia dal conflitto.
Le ammonitrici parole del Duce che, se l’Italia dovesse capitolare, i nemici ci lascherebbero soltanto gli occhi per piangere, trovano quotidianamente dimostrazione nelle enunciazioni più o meno autorizzate dei giornali e dei periodici anglo-statunitensi, i quali, particolarmente nelle attuali contingenze di euforiche illusioni, svelano senza più alcun ritegno le loro intime e vere intenzioni, i loro più segreti e reconditi sentimenti.
Vale la pena di mettere sotto gli occhi degli italiani un documento da tenere sempre presente, elencando i 12 punti delle condizioni, che l’imperialismo anglo-nordamericano pretenderebbe di imporre a un’Italia vinta.
Sono dodici punti già accennati saltuariamente da questo o quel portavoce ufficioso, ma che oggi la propaganda nemica crede di potere ormai raccogliere e presentare al popolo italiano, come un conto che deve essere saldato al più presto.
Le condizioni sarebbero:
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Consegna della flotta e dell’aviazione.
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Soppressione delle industrie siderurgica, metallurgica e meccanica.
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Riduzione dell’esercito a modesti effettive di polizia per il mantenimento dell’ordine interno con esclusione di armi collettive, cioè mitragliatrici, cannoni, carri armati.
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Cessione all’Inghilterra di Pantelleria, di Tobruk, La Maddalena e altre basi strategiche.
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Cessione alle Jugoslavia dell’Istria, compressa la base navale di Pola e Trieste con delimitazione dei confini all’Isonzo.
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Cessione alla Grecia di varie isole dello Jonio e dell’Egeo.
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Rinuncia dell’Italia al suo impero coloniale compresa la Libia.
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Radiazione dell’Italia dal novero delle grandi potenze.
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Occupazione militare del territorio italiano per un tempo indeterminato.
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Soppressione della cerealicoltura e limitazione dell’agricoltura alle sole culture erbacce.
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Soppressione di molte università.
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Abolizione dell’insegnamento classico per impedire che la gioventù possa ispirarsi alla grandezza storica di Roma e limitazione dell’insegnamento a scuole di tipo professionale.
La tragica farsa dei generali francesi –
E’ duro servire gli americani!
Straziati da discordie intestine i francesi del Nord Africa si vedono disprezzati anche dagli indigenti; gli statunitensi comandano; loro altro non resta che abbassare il capo
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Allied HQ, North Africa (July 12, 1943)
Few details are available of the work of the Navy during the past 24 hours. The task of disembarking troops and their supplies on all beaches continued according to plan. On the whole, weather conditions have improved, though the enemy’s interference from the air has been on a slightly increased scale.
Defended areas near the coast town of Pozzallo, 12 miles westward of Capo delle Correnti, and the railway line between Syracuse and Ragusa, were bombarded last night by our destroyers.
The surrender of Pozzallo was accepted by the commanding officer of a destroyer during early afternoon Sunday.
Our ground forces have continued to make good progress. During the course of the day, seven enemy counterattacks, which were being made with tanks, have been repulsed, and at least 2,000 prisoners have been taken.
It can now be stated the following major ports and towns have been captured by our forces: Syracuse, Avola, Pachino, Pozzallo, Scoglitti, Gela, Licata, Ispica, Rosolini and Noto.
The advance continues.
Allied Force Command Post Communiqué:
Enemy troop columns were heavily attacked yesterday in a day of intense fighter-bomber activity. Many vehicles were destroyed.
Heavy bombers attacked focal points of communications at Catania and medium bombers carried out raids on airfields being used by the enemy. Fighters maintained patrols over our land forces in the invasion area.
45 Axis aircraft were destroyed. From all these operations, nine of our aircraft are missing.
Communiqué from Valletta, Malta:
Malta’s night and day fighters destroyed 27 aircraft over Sicily and southern Italy Saturday night and Sunday when they again gave air cover to Allied invasion shipping at the Sicilian beaches. The enemy made more frequent attempts to attack our shipping yesterday. They used small formations of various types, including Ju 88s and Do 217s, but Spitfires maintained a ceaseless watch during the day.
Negligible shipping losses were undoubtedly due to the Spitfires’ interception of the enemy before they could aim their bombs.
Malta’s Beaufighters and Mosquitoes during nighttime destroyed three enemy aircraft, with two more probables. The Mosquitoes stood guard over enemy airfields in Sicily and southern Italy. A Ju 88 in the Naples area was attacked and was last seen with one wing afire. A piece fell off and the Ju 88 was probably destroyed.
Beaufighters at nighttime destroyed three enemy aircraft and probably destroyed a fourth. One wing of a Ju 88 caught fire after an attack and there was a huge explosion. A CANT Z.1007 Italian heavy bomber burst into flames and hit the sea, burning fiercely. The last victims were two Ju 88s. one was left falling into the sea with its engine afire. The other probably destroyed was hit by a Beaufighter along the fuselage and one wing was seen going down to starboard.
At dawn, Spitfires took over from Malta and resumed the supremacy over the Sicilian coast. Other Spitfires escorted U.S. bombers on missions over Sicily.
U.S. 9th Air Force HQ, Cairo (July 12, 1943)
Airdromes at Reggio Calabria and Vibo Valentia on the Italian mainland were attacked during daylight Sunday by Liberator heavy bombers of the U.S. 9th Air Force.
At Reggio Calabria Airdrome on the Strait of Messina, a base for aerial defense of the important Sicilian ferry terminal, great damage was done by high explosive demolition bombs. Hangars on the south and east side of the field received many hits and were left burning. Other hits were scored on barracks and among motor transport. Dispersal areas were well covered with bursts and a large number of planes were seen burning.
At Vibo Valentia, the middle and west hangars were set afire and smoke arose from the entire hangar area. A large three-engined aircraft was seen burning in front of the middle hangar. Serious damage was done to the administration buildings.
Strong formations of enemy fighters attempted to intercept our bombers. Of these, two were destroyed and two others damaged. All our aircraft returned safely.
U.S. Navy Department (July 12, 1943)
Communiqué No. 439
North Pacific.
On July 10, Army Liberator (Consolidated B‑24) heavy bombers and Mitchell (North American B‑25) medium bombers with Navy Catalina (Consolidated PBY) patrol bombers attacked four Japanese cargo vessels 280 miles southwest of Holtz Bay, Attu Island. One vessel was sunk, another was left in a sinking condition and the remaining two were damaged.
On July 11, a U.S. light surface unit bombarded Japanese positions at Gertrude Cove, Kiska, and Little Kiska Island during the morning. The enemy did not return the fire.
On July 11, an additional four Japanese soldiers were captured Attu Island.
Brooklyn Eagle (July 12, 1943)
10 Sicily ports fall; Allies gain 15 miles
4,000 seized as Axis fails in 7 attacks
Allies make headway
After a series of fierce engagements with Axis troops in Sicily, Allied headquarters today announced the capture of ten strategic towns, including Syracuse, Noto and Gela along the southeast and southern coasts.
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Allied invaders captured 10 major towns in southeastern Sicily, repulsed seven armored counterattacks, took 4,000 prisoners and rolled at least 15 miles inland today in a smashing offensive for conquest of the Italian island bastion.
Led by tanks and paratroopers and strongly supported by naval and air bombardment, the Americans under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. seized the big air base at Licata on the south coast and the British under Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery took the vital port of Syracuse, to consolidate a 100-mile coastal invasion strip.
Patton’s tough U.S. units broke up a heavy Italian counterattack headed by 45 Fascist tanks just north of Gela and then repulsed the heaviest of seven enemy counterattacks by turning back the Italian 4th Livorno Division in hard fighting.
“The advance continues,” today’s communiqué from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower stated and dispatches from forward areas described the offensive as moving into high gear against stiff Axis opposition.
The population of Sicily was described as “showing great friendliness” toward the invasion forces and as being willing to cooperate, indicating that the conquest might be facilitated by the Sicilians.
The Allies are now astride the vital road running from Pozzallo, which surrendered to an Allied destroyer, to Syracuse, which British and Canadian troops stormed and took Saturday. They were opposed by the Italian 54th (Napoli) Division, based near Syracuse.
Allied casualties were still described as comparatively light.
Axis broadcasts and communiqués continue vague except to claim that there was bitter fighting on Sicily and that counterattacks had defeated the Allies at several points. The enemy claims hits on three cruisers and said that eight ships had been sunk.
Strong winds on the first night of the invasion caused difficulty for Allied paratroops, who were scattered more widely than intended. They got together, however, in sufficient force to reach the first planned objective. They were later driven off by the enemy but succeeded in making contact with invading ground troops and made a new stand.
The point of greatest penetration by the Allies appeared to be Rosolini, about 15 miles inland on the southeast coast, but dispatches reported a “deep penetration” at several points.
Air fleets of the United Nations, meeting slightly increased Axis air opposition, destroyed about 50 enemy aircraft to maintain aerial superiority above the invasion forces and strike with heavy bombloads at Axis front and rear bases in Sicily and lower Italy.
Allied naval forces continued to disembark reinforcements and supplies and destroyers bombarded the Sicilian coastal town of Pozzallo and the railroad line between Syracuse and Ragusa, on the east coast.
Vital towns seized
The towns captured included important ports and air bases in a 100-mile strip along the southeastern coast of Sicily from Syracuse around the corner of the island to Licata in the west.
The towns captured were:
- Syracuse, one of the important ports and communications centers south of Catania;
- Avola;
- Noto, which is on the railroad a few miles inland and south of Syracuse;
- Pachino, an air base on the southeastern tip;
- Scoglitti;
- Gela, an air base on the south coast;
- Licata, an air base and coastal city;
- Ispica;
- Rosolini, 15 miles inland;
- Pozzallo.
Yanks took Licata
U.S. forces captured Licata, one of the main enemy air bases on the central sector of the south coast, and ran up the Stars and Stripes over the harbor. The Navy immediately began pouring reinforcements and supplies into the port.
The surrender of Pozzallo was accepted by the commander of an Allied destroyer early Sunday afternoon.
The Allied advance generally continued, it was announced.
The communiqué from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said:
Few details are available on the work of the Navy during the past 24 hours. The task of disembarking troops and their supplies on all beaches continues according to plan.
Weather improved
On the whole, weather conditions have improved, though the enemy’s interference from the air has been on a slightly increased scale. Defended areas near the coast town of Pozzallo, 12 miles westward of Capo delle Correnti, and the railway line between Syracuse and Ragusa, were bombarded last night by our destroyers.
The communique, giving the most complete picture so far of the invasion, made it clear that the main communications lines in southeast Sicily were largely in Allied hands, opening the way for a pincer drive from the Licata-Gela sector and the Syracuse region, which would be preliminary to moving northward toward Messina.
Shore bases in ruins
U.S. pilots returning from machine-gunning and wrecking hundreds of troop-filled trucks on the island said that large sections of the Island coast were “crumbling, smoking ruins” as a result of steady aerial bombardment.
Damage to Messina is “terrific,” one pilot said, and the port can probably be used only by small boats at night.
The Allied air attack had chased the enemy from his advanced airdromes and it was believed that from now on, the main Axis aerial operations would be from southern Italy, where Allied bombers heavily attacked the main Fascist air bases.
There was still no word of the Italian fleet going into action.
The BBC broadcast unconfirmed reports that part of the Italian fleet had put out from the Spezia Naval Base.
The Stockholm Social-Demokraten quoted a “German radio station in Sicily” as saying that the east coast port of Syracuse, only 33 miles below Catania, was threatened seriously by Allied troops who occupied several points to the south. Heavy fighting raged throughout the day near the south coast port of Licata with Allied efforts to penetrate to the interior being frustrated, it was said. An Allied landing attempt near Marsala in western Sicily was repulsed, the dispatch added. Several morning newspapers in Stockholm quoted Radio Bern as saying that an Italian naval force had left Spezia.
Field reports indicated that U.S., British and Canadian troops were gradually meeting increased resistance, but nowhere heavy enough to stem their advance. The bulk of the estimated 400,000 Italo-German defending troops were believed still concentrated in the center of the island.
Allied reinforcements, both of men and armor, poured onto beaches along a 100-mile strip of the southern and eastern shores of Sicily in a constant stream from landing barges comprising part of the giant armada of over 2,000 vessels, more than twice the 850-ship fleet that landed Anglo-American troops in Algeria and Morocco last November.
Beachhead widened
The London Daily Mail said that the Allied front in Sicily had been widened to 150 miles by the establishment of an important bridgehead by Canadians near Porto Empedocle, 27 miles northwest of Licata.
The Daily Telegraph reported from Zürich that Carlo Scorza, General Secretary of the Fascist Party, called an urgent meeting of the party directorate Sunday night while Premier Mussolini called on King Victor Emmanuel to address the nation, presumably in an effort to rally the Italian people behind the defense of their homeland. The dispatch also said that a great number of persons had been arrested in a drive to stamp out gossip in Naples.
A Stockholm dispatch to the Daily Telegraph quoted a traveler just arrived from Berlin as saying that German troop trains were streaming southward through the Brenner Pass. The remnants of “a Hermann Göring division,” he said, were flown to Sicily from Reggio Calabria.
WAR BULLETINS
Jap cargo ship sunk; 3 blasted off Attu
Washington (UP) –
U.S. bombers have attacked four Japanese cargo ships 280 miles southwest of Attu and have sunk one of them, left a second in sinking condition and damaged the remaining two, the Navy announced today.
400 wounded saved as Axis sinks hospital ship
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Axis forces sank a fully loaded Allied hospital ship Saturday night during the Sicilian operations, it was disclosed today. Four hundred wounded troops were transferred from the ship without loss of life.
Italian horse cavalry charges Allies
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Old-fashioned Italian horse cavalry was reported to have charged Allied troops invading Sicily. Dispatches from the island said that at one point the horsemen charged the heavily-armored Allied troops, “but were quickly repulsed.”
Boro flier sees battle line move inland
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Spotter Sanford Arkin of Brooklyn, New York, of the Air Force, reported that the line of fires burning along the battlefront was moving inland steadily. On his flight over Sicily, he saw fresh Allied convoys pouring in masses of men and guns while the Air Forces were lashing the enemy in increased tempo.
Canadian House hears of Allied gains
Ottawa, Canada (UP) –
Prime Minister King told the House of Commons today that:
The first phase of the operations in Sicily has proceeded according to plan and the Allies are now striking into the interior of the island.
He said:
Sicily is only a small bridgehead. There must be many other bridgeheads established before the final struggle even begins.
Rommel gives alert order in South France
Madrid, Spain (UP) –
German Marshal Erwin Rommel, commanding anti-invasion defenses in southern France, has ordered his forces to “stand to” on the alert against Allied landings, reports reaching here from Vichy said today.
Rommel was also said to have informed the Italian High Command that he has sufficient troops to take over the protection of the Italian zone of the French Riviera and Corsica, but Rome failed to accept the offer.
Bulgaria rushes reserve troops to Aegean Sea
Ankara, Turkey (UP) – (July 11, delayed)
Bulgaria rushed all reserve officers and men from Sofia to the fortified line along the Aegean Sea today as reports of Allied successes in Sicily reached the Bulgarian capital, according to advices received today from Istanbul.
The military activity plus false reports of Allied landings at Salonika, Greece, caused a panic in Sofia. Word received here indicated the Axis might have had advance knowledge of the Allied Invasion because Bulgarian-Turkish telephone communications were cut off in Bulgaria on July 8.
Nazis claim they hurl Yanks into sea
London, England (UP) –
The official German DNB Agency, in a dispatch broadcast by the Berlin radio, said today that German troops in southern Sicily had thrown a U.S. “formation” back into the sea.
To the west of the German operation, the dispatch said, Italian troops engaged U.S. formations pushing into the interior of the island and threw them back to the coast.
Death rings down final curtain on long career of Cissie Loftus
World-famous mimic was the darling of old-time vaudeville
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U.S. losses half those in World War I
Pointing out that the United States has been at war today for exactly the same period as that of America’s participation in World War I – 19 months and 5 days – Dr. Louis I. Dublin, statistician of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, reports that our losses have been about half of those in 1917-18.
In the last conflict, a total of 52,692 soldiers, sailors and Marines were killed in action or died of wounds, he declares, while known U.S. losses since Pearl Harbor have been about 25,000. Battle losses have been almost evenly divided between the Army and Navy, he said, whereas the brunt of the attack in 1917-18 was borne by the Army, with over 95% of those killed being soldiers.