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

5926

Auch Roosevelts Sohn beteiligt sich –
Vernichtung der Kunstwerke Italiens

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

al. Rom, 26. Juli –
Italien erlebt täglich die Richtigkeit des Ducewortes, daß einen Unterschied zwischen innerer und äußerer Front nicht gibt. Der Luftterror gegen die Zivilbevölkerung hat zwischen den in Sizilien kämpfenden Truppen und den Bewohnern der Städte und Dörfer der Halbinsel nahezu gleichwertige Lebensbedingungen hergestellt, und die Bemühungen der italienischen Regierung und der Faschistischen Partei sind darauf gerichtet, die Voraussetzungen für einen möglichst dauerhaften Widerstand zu schaffen.

Auf die Verwüstungen Roms sind gestern die Verwüstungen Bolognas gefolgt. Unter den Opfern des feindlichen Terrors befinden sich mehrere Krankenhäuser, das Geburtshaus des Erfinders der drahtlosen Telegraphie, Marconi, die Kirche von San Francesco, ein schöner Bau aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, und das Grab eines der berühmtesten Bologneser Rechtslehrer, Rolandino Passeggeri. Bologna besitzt bekanntlich eine der ältesten Rechtsfakultäten Europas, die im Mittelalter internationales Ansehen genoß.

Die Planmäßigkeit, mit der die feindliche Luftwaffe sich gegen die Kunstdenkmäler Italiens richtet, läßt den Schluß zu, daß auch die Ausrottung Italiens als Anziehungspunkt für die Kunstfreunde aus aller Welt zu den Kriegszielen des Gegners gehört. Es fehlt in der Tat nicht an Anzeichen, welche den totalen Vernichtungswillen des Gegners auch gegenüber Italien erkennen lassen, den wohltönenden, aber unverbindlichen Agitationsphrasen der offiziellen Proklamationen zum Trotz. Von gestern stammt die Äußerung des britischen Diplomaten Vansittard, dessen Name bereits zum Programm für die Befürworter einer völligen Ausrottung des deutschen Volkes geworden ist, die er gegenüber die Daily Mail in einem Interview über das Bombardement von Rom gemacht hat:

Man muß das deutsche und das italienische Volk ausrotten!

Nur am Rande sei vermerkt, daß es zwei englische Kunsthistoriker, I. W. und A. M. Cruickhank, waren, die in ihrem Werk Christian Rome über die beim Angriff auf Rom zerstörte Basilika San Lorenzo schrieben:

Es gibt in der Tat keine Phase der Entwicklung der katholischen Kirche, die nicht in einem Denkmal innerhalb der Mauern dieses Tempels dargestellt wäre.

Dem Vernichtungswillen des Gegners entspricht die Verbitterung, mit der sich die Verbände der Achse zu Lande und in der Luft gegen den zahlen- und materialmäßig überlegenen Gegner zu Wehr setzen. Aus einem Bericht von zuständiger Stelle geht hervor, daß beispielsweise eine kleine Bahnstation bei Caltancetta (Sizilien) nicht weniger als zehnmal den Besitzer gewechselt hat. Von italienischen Frontfliegern wird berichtet, daß sie, nachdem sie bei vorhergehenden Luftkämpfen abgeschossen und gerettet worden waren, sich sofort aufs neue einsetzen ließen, um der überlegenen Zahl des Gegners die eigene Opferbereitschaft und Kampferfahrung entgegenzusetzen.

5927

U.S. Navy Department (July 27, 1943)

Communiqué No. 451

Central Pacific.
On July 24, Army Liberator (Consolidated B‑24) heavy bombers at­tacked Wake Island. Thirty Zero fighters intercepted, of which nine were destroyed, four were probably destroyed, and five others were damaged.

The U.S. planes on closer approach to the island were met by additional fighters and heavy anti-aircraft fire. In spite of this opposition, U.S. bombers scored many hits and caused a large explosion on the runway. One U.S. plane is missing.

North Pacific.
On July 25, Army Warhawks (Curtiss P‑40) fighters carried out ten bombing attacks on Japanese installations at Kiska. At North Head hits were scored on the runway and antiaircraft positions. The main camp, North Head and Little Kiska were also strafed. Fires were started at Little Kiska and a large explosion was observed on North Head.

On July 26, shortly after midnight, a U.S. Catalina (Consolidated PBY) patrol bomber attacked Gertrude Cove and the main camp section of Kiska. Fires were started in Gertrude Cove.

5928

The Pittsburgh Press (July 27, 1943)

ROME REPORTED READY TO ASK PEACE
Italian action due in 2 days, London hears

German Gestapo ousted by Badoglio, says Stockholm
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer

London, England –
The first peace overture from Rome may be expected within 48 hours, by way of Switzerland, the British Press Association’s diplomatic correspondent, who sometimes reflects Foreign Office opinion, said today.

It would cause no surprise if the first official peace overture from Rome were put out within the next 48 hours through Switzerland – the protecting power (acting for the Allies) – rather than through the Vatican, the correspondent wrote.

There were many new reports regarding Italy and the still-undisclosed whereabouts of deposed Benito Mussolini, but most of them appeared to be in line with the propaganda theme of the new government of Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio to convince the world – especially the Allies – that the new regime was anti-Fascist and popular with the people.

Gestapo reported leaving

A dispatch from Stockholm quoted the newspaper Allehanda that the Nazi Gestapo had started leaving Italy on orders from Badoglio. There was no official confirmation of this or other reports. It said the Gestapo was leaving on trains running at night to prevent anti-German demonstrations by Italians.

The same newspaper also said the Swiss were planning to close the frontier against Fascist refugees from Italy.

Travelers arriving by plane in Spain said Badoglio had dissolved the Fascist Party and Rome was normal except for a few demonstrators shouting, “Long Live Italy!”

The London Daily Mail reported that Hitler had flown from the Eastern Front to Berlin because of the Italian crisis, and a so-called German underground station said Italian workers in Germany were rioting and demanding transportation back to Italy.

Seek to convince Allies

A peculiar circumstance developed in connection with reports of demonstrations – some disorderly – against Fascists in Italy. The Italian government appeared to be permitting some of these reports to circulate for propaganda purposes – to convince the Allies that Fascism had been overthrown. On the other hand, the German news agency DNB carried a belated report from Rome today saying:

Anti-Fascist demonstrations in Italy on Sunday night were outrages which have already been suppressed.

The same Italian propaganda theme was apparent in a Rome radio broadcast, recorded by CBS, saying that Italians had rejected Fascism after finding that curtailment of liberty and errors of its leaders were compromising the war effort. The broadcast said the change in government was essential to achieve a “much stronger welding to spiritual forces in order to put up a more effective defense.”

It appeared to have taken the Nazis some time to form a propaganda attitude toward the demonstration.

One Swiss dispatch said five new political parties had united in a common front under an implied demand for Italy to quit the war.

The Rome radio made no mention of Germany and avoided any suggestion of peace moves.

“Reliable sources” in Madrid said Mussolini, along with Fascist General Secretary Carlo Scorza and other party prominents, had been detained under police protection at a villa near Rome, while a Berne dispatch asserted he had been interned at Villa d’Este, near Lake Como, in northern Italy.

Punishment demanded

A proclamation by five new Italian parties, the first to be established in Italy since the Fascists banned all opposition parties 20 years ago, demanded the “inexorable” punishment of Mussolini and all others responsible for dragging Italy into “a war which was unwished and forced upon us.”

The proclamation was published in the Turin newspaper Stampa, a copy of which was smuggled out of Italy into Switzerland, and was signed by the National Christian Democracy, Communist, Liberal and Socialist Parties.

Italian sources in Berne interpreted the proclamation as a direct attack on the statement of Marshal Pietro Badoglio, new chief of government, that Italy would “continue the war.”

Discard insignia

Swiss reports said that Italians were throwing away Fascist Party insignia and demanding that the new government speed a purge of Fascist officials. Industrial workers in northern Italy were said to be threatening to strike unless Fascist members of the staff and organizing committees were removed.

One Berne report said that many Fascist officials had been arrested and placed in protective custody.

Virginio Gayda, long known as Mussolini’s “mouthpiece,” was displaced as chief editor of the Rome newspaper Giornale d’Italia, the German radio said, and replaced with Senator Alberto Bergamini, 72, founder of the newspaper in 1901 and its editor since 1924.

Attack newspaper

The Milan newspaper Gazzetta, according to a Berne dispatch, said thousands of persons attacked the office of Mussolini’s newspaper, Popolo d’Italia, while the famous “Lair” at Milan, in which the former Duce drafted plans for Fascism as long ago as 1919, was sacked and burned.

The Gazzetta said that various Fascist clubs and headquarters in central Italy were burned, especially in the Bologna area.

Another Milan newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, editorially commented:

We are finally free.

The newspaper said:

Nobody slept in Milan last night. We newspapermen work with truth and enthusiasm. It is a difficult task for us to turn out a newspaper, when for 20 years we saw it entirely dictated to us by the Press Ministry. The enthusiasm of the people is fantastic.

Rome radio described crowds marching through the streets of Rome toward the Royal Palace shouting, “Long Live Italy! Long Live the King! Long Live Badoglio!”

Council meeting revealed

The Italian Stefani Agency, in a Rome broadcast, revealed belatedly that Mussolini attended a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council Saturday night and presented a report on the military and political situation.

After Mussolini spoke, the broadcast said, Count Dino Grandi presented a resolution asking the King to assume effective command of the armored forces and it was adopted, 19–7, after a 10-hour debate. Count Galeazzo Ciano, son-in-law of Mussolini, was said to have been among those voting in favor of the resolution.

The underground radio station Atlantic said that a confidential report from Lt. Gen. Marras, Italian military attaché in Berlin, summarizing the Axis military position and predicting that Germany could wage war for only six more months, was discussed by the council.

5929

Allies destroy 40 Axis planes

Troops close in on foe on tip of Sicily
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Allied HQ, North Africa –
Allied airmen shot down 40 Axis planes – including 21 big transports carrying troop reinforcements – over Sicily during the last 48 hours against loss of only three of their own aircraft, it was announced today.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Canadian troops, forcing the Italian and German Armies estimated at less than 100,000 men back toward the Sicilian northeastern tip, were advancing from the west and southwest, the Allied communiqué revealed.

‘According to plan’

The U.S. 7th Army racing along the northern coastal road toward Messina, was proceeding “according to plan” while the Canadian units, striking northeast from Enna, were reported to have made “limited” gains in a sharp engagement.

The London radio reported that the Americans had occupied Cefalù, midway between Termini Imerese and San Stefano on the northern coast.

The victory of British Spitfires over the lumbering German troop-carrying Ju 52s was described in a dispatch from Richard D. McMillan, United Press writer at an advanced Allied base. It was the worst beating the Axis had taken in the air since the Sicilian campaign got underway.

Sighted at dawn

A dawn patrol of Spitfires sighted the formation of transports along the northern coastline Sunday. The pilots methodically picked off the slow planes. In addition to the 21 transports, five of the escorts were shot down.

The German transports have a capacity of 20 passengers, indicating that more than 400 Axis troops may have been lost in the air battle.

Bitter fighting was reported still in progress on the southern and southwestern approaches to Catania, anchor point of the Axis defense line on the east coast.

The defense line running around Mt. Etna from below Catania to a point near Cefalù on the northern coast was being strengthened somewhat as it grew shorter, according to reports reaching headquarters. The Germans launched a counterattack yesterday but it was repelled by the Americans and Canadians. Enemy losses were heavy.

The engagement brought the Americans up against German troops after dealing mainly with Italians while completing the conquest of the western end of the island.

Nazi losses high

German losses were reported to be running as high as 400 men per battalion, or close to 50%. German reinforcements had been rushed from Messina to the fighting front, possibly indicating their distrust of the Italians
since the ouster of Premier Mussolini.

Allied medium bombers attacked railway communications at Marina di Paolo in southern Italy yesterday while light bombers and fighter bombers continued attacks on shipping in Sicilian harbors and roads on the island.

Allied fighters made offensive sweeps over Sardinia and maintained patrols over Allied shipping and land forces. The port of Milazzo was attacked by medium bombers Sunday night and torpedo-carrying planes sank an Axis merchant vessel in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sardinia and Italy.

An Italian communiqué, broadcast by the Rome radio, said Allied planes had attacked both Naples and Messina.

Fierce final battle expected on Sicily

By Helen Kirkpatrick

Allied HQ, North Africa –
During the last 36 hours, enemy resistance in Sicily stiffened the length of the front running from the northern coast of the island to a point a few miles south of Catania with German troops making their appearance all along the line.

The growing strength of the enemy in the triangle which is all that remains to them of Sicily and the tougher opposition our advance is now meeting, suggests that the final battle for possession of the island may be a fierce one with motorized divisions and tanks playing a major role on both sides.

Railroads and roads in southern Italy and Sicily were attacked by Allied planes Sunday night and yesterday. But some mystery surrounds the destination of the Nazi transport planes encountered by the RAF near Messina. According to official reports, the Allies hold or have neutralized all the Sicilian airfields which would make it impossible for enemy aircraft to land.

But it is probable that in the Messina-Milazzo triangle they still have some fields, possibly emergency, for this purpose. Up to now it was believed that such enemy reinforcements as had reached Sicily had been transported by barges and ships from the Italian mainland or dropped by parachute as was the base of some infantry battalions sent into strengthen the Hermann Göring Division around Catania.

5930

Fifth in 60 hours –
Bombers lash Hamburg again

Mosquito raid follows big Fortress attack
By Walter Logan, United Press staff writer

…

5931

Of ‘major importance’ –
Roosevelt will speak tomorrow

President will talk to nation for half-hour starting at 9:30

Washington (UP) –
The White House announced today that President Roosevelt will make a nationwide radio address of “major importance” at 9:30 p.m. (EWT) tomorrow.

The President will speak for 30 minutes, White House Secretary Stephen T. Early said. His remarks will be broadcast over all networks.

“The speech will explain itself,” Mr. Early said when asked whether in address would be devoted largely to the home front or to the war in general.

There have been reports that Mr. Roosevelt was considering a major speech on home front matters, particularly the administration battle against inflation.

It was also possible that Mr. Roosevelt might discuss the general war situation tomorrow night, particularly in view of the “resignation” of Benito Mussolini.

5932

Yanks storm Munda; hard fight raging

Planes, warships support attack; battle to last Jap anticipated
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer

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5933

Wake and Kiska bombed by U.S.

Nine Zeros destroyed in mid-Pacific raid

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5934

ODT reports complaints on First Lady’s speech

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5935

Butter goes up two points as OPA revises red list

Beed cuts stay at new high levels while shortening and some meat spreads are favored

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5936

WLB invokes subpoena right on rival unions

Carpenters face board writ if they fail to attend meeting today

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Congress gets power to check aid to Europe

New Deal showing desire for approval on all post-war policies

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5937

Badoglio aims to help Nazis, London thinks

Premier’s declaration to live up to Italian pledge cited
By Victor Gordon Lennox

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5938

OPA maps plan to ration milk on local basis

WFA, meanwhile, seeks means to avert coupon need

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5939

Lend-Lease aid reaches island of Martinique

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5940

Between battles –
Men in Africa debate issues to follow war

‘What to do with Germany’ most popular subject for argument
By Helen Kirkpatrick

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5941

‘Chutist fights Sicilian militia

Yanks escapes after being held four days
By Gault MacGowan, North American Newspaper Alliance

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Nazis in northern Sicily forcing Italians in fight

Many units ready to surrender kept from quitting by handful of Germans
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer

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5942

Editorial: The victory road

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5943

Ferguson: Less fighting at home

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

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5944

$15 billion for war –
‘Back attack,’ President says

Call for biggest war loan officially issued

…

5945

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

With the U.S. Navy in the Mediterranean – (by wireless, delayed)
Our first day at sea on the way to invade Sicily was truly like a peacetime Mediterranean cruise. The weather was something you read about in travel folders, gently warm and sunny, and the sea as smooth as velvet.

We were kept at a sharp alert, for at any moment we could be attacked by a submarine, surface ship or airplane and yet, any kind of attack – even the fact that anybody would want to attack anybody else – was so utterly out of keeping with the benignity of the sea that it was hard to take the possibility of danger seriously.

I had thought I might be afraid at sea, sailing in this great fleet that by its very presence was justification for attack, and yet I found it impossible to be afraid. As we sailed along, I couldn’t help but think of a paragraph of one of Joseph Conrad’s sea stories which I had read just a few days before. It so perfectly expressed our feeling about the changeless sea that I’m going to quote it here.

Conrad sets the scene for Pyle

It was in a story called “The Tale,” written about the last war. In it, Conrad said:

What at first used to amaze the Commanding Officer was the unchanged face of the waters, with its familiar expression, neither more friendly nor more hostile. On fine days the sun strikes sparks upon the blue; here and there a peaceful smudge of smoke hangs in the distance, and it is impossible to believe that the familiar clear horizon traces the limit of one great circular ambush. One envies the soldiers at the end of the day, wiping the sweat and blood from their faces, counting the dead fallen to their hands, looking at the devastated fields, the torn earth that seems to suffer and bleed with them. One does, really. The final brutality of it – the taste of primitive passion – the ferocious frankness of the blow struck with one’s hand – the direct call and the straight response. Well, the sea gave you nothing of that, and seemed to pretend that there was nothing the matter with the world.

And that’s how it was with us; it had never occurred to me before that this might be the way in enemy waters during wartime. Why it remained that way we shall never know, but throughout our long voyage and right up to the final dropping anchor, we never had one single attack from above, from below, nor from over the horizon.

Excitement in the dark

Dusk brought a change. Not feeling of fear at all but somehow an acute sense of the drama we were playing at that moment on the face of the sea that has known such a major share of the world’s great warfare. In the faint light of the dusk, forms became indistinguishable. Ships nearby were only heavier spots against the heavy background of the night. Now you thought you saw something and now there was nothing. The gigantic armada was on all sides of us, there only in knowledge.

Then out of nowhere, a rolling little subchaser took on a dim shape alongside us and with its motors held itself steady about 30 yards away. You could not see the speaker but a megaphoned voice came loudly across the water telling us of a motor breakdown of one of the troop-carrying barges farther back.

We megaphoned advice back to him. His response came back. Out in the darkness the voice was young. You could picture a boyish skipper over there in his blown hair and his lifejacket and binoculars, rolling to the sea in the Mediterranean dusk. Some young man who had so recently been so normally unaware of any sea at all – the bookkeeper in your bank, perhaps – and now here he was, a strange new man in command of a ship, suddenly transformed into a person with awful responsibilities, carrying out with great intentness his special, small part of the enormous aggregate that is our war on all the lands and seas of the globe.

All for one – one for all

In his unnatural presence there in the rolling darkness of the Mediterranean, you realized vividly how everybody in America has changed, how every life suddenly stopped and suddenly began again on a different course. Everything in this world has stopped except war and we are all men of new professions out in some strange night caring for each other.

That’s the way you felt as you heard this kid, this pleasant kid, bawling across the dark waters strange nautical words with a disciplined deliberation that carried in them the very strength of the sea itself, the strong, mature words of the captain on his own ship, saying:

Aye, aye, sir. If there is any change, I will use my own judgment and report to you again at dawn. Good night, sir.

Then the whole darkness enveloped the American armada. Not a pinpoint of light showed from those hundreds of ships as they surged on through the night toward their destiny, carrying across this ageless and indifferent sea tens of thousands of young men of new professions, fighting for… for… well, at least for each other.