U.S. moves to speed up veterans’ reemployment
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President Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat 25
On the fall of Mussolini
July 28, 1943, 9:30 p.m. EWT
Broadcast audio:
My fellow Americans:
Over a year and a half ago I said this to the Congress:
The militarists in Berlin, and Rome and Tokyo started this war, but the massed angered forces of common humanity will finish it.
Today that prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled. The massed, angered forces of common humanity are on the march. They are going forward – on the Russian front, in the vast Pacific area, and into Europe – converging upon their ultimate objectives: Berlin and Tokyo.
I think the first crack in the Axis has come. The criminal, corrupt Fascist regime in Italy is going to pieces.
The pirate philosophy of the Fascists and the Nazis cannot stand adversity. The military superiority of the United Nations – on sea and land, and in the air – has been applied in the right place and at the right time.
Hitler refused to send sufficient help to save Mussolini. In fact, Hitler’s troops in Sicily stole the Italians’ motor equipment, leaving Italian soldiers so stranded that they had no choice but to surrender. Once again the Germans betrayed their Italian allies, as they had done time and time again on the Russian front and in the long retreat from Egypt, through Libya and Tripoli, to the final surrender in Tunisia.
And so Mussolini came to the reluctant conclusion that the “jig was up;” he could see the shadow of the long arm of justice.
But he and his Fascist gang will be brought to book, and punished for their crimes against humanity. No criminal will be allowed to escape by the expedient of “resignation.”
So our terms to Italy are still the same as our terms to Germany and Japan – “unconditional surrender.”
We will have no truck with Fascism in any way, in any shape or manner. We will permit no vestige of Fascism to remain.
Eventually Italy will reconstitute herself. It will be the people of Italy who will do that, choosing their own government in accordance with the basic democratic principles of liberty and equality. In the meantime, the United Nations will not follow the pattern set by Mussolini and Hitler and the Japanese for the treatment of occupied countries – the pattern of pillage and starvation.
We are already helping the Italian people in Sicily. With their cordial cooperation, we are establishing and maintaining security and order – we are dissolving the organizations which have kept them under Fascist tyranny – we are providing them with the necessities of life until the time comes when they can fully provide for themselves.
Indeed, the people in Sicily today are rejoicing in the fact that for the first time in years they are permitted to enjoy the fruits of their own labor – they can eat what they themselves grow, instead of having it stolen from them by the Fascists and the Nazis.
In every country conquered by the Nazis and the Fascists, or the Japanese militarists, the people have been reduced to the status of slaves or chattels.
It is our determination to restore these conquered peoples to the dignity of human beings, masters of their own fate, entitled to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
We have started to make good on that promise.
I am sorry if I step on the toes of those Americans who, playing party politics at home, call that kind of foreign policy “crazy altruism” and “starry-eyed dreaming.”
Meanwhile, the war in Sicily and Italy goes on. It must go on, and will go on, until the Italian people realize the futility of continuing to fight in a lost cause – a cause to which the people of Italy never gave their wholehearted approval and support.
It’s a little over a year since we planned the North African campaign. It is six months since we planned the Sicilian campaign. I confess that I am of an impatient disposition, but I think that I understand and that most people understand the amount of time necessary to prepare for any major military or naval operation. We cannot just pick up the telephone and order a new campaign to start the next week.
For example, behind the invasion forces in North Africa, the invasion forces that went out of North Africa, were thousands of ships and planes guarding the long, perilous sea lanes, carrying the men, carrying the equipment and the supplies to the point of attack. And behind all these were the railroad lines and the highways here back home that carried the men and the munitions to the ports of embarkation – there were the factories and the mines and the farms here back home that turned out the materials – there were the training camps here back home where the men learned how to perform the strange and difficult and dangerous tasks which were to meet them on the beaches and in the deserts and in the mountains.
All this had to be repeated, first in North Africa and then in Sicily. Here the factor – in Sicily – the factor of air attack was added – for we could use North Africa as the base for softening up the landing places and lines of defense in Sicily, and the lines of supply in Italy.
It is interesting for us to realize that every Flying Fortress that bombed harbor installations at, for example, Naples, bombed it from its base in North Africa, required 1,110 gallons of gasoline for each single mission, and that this is the equal of about 375 “A” ration tickets – enough gas to drive your car five times across this continent. You will better understand your part in the war – and what gasoline rationing means – if you multiply this by the gasoline needs of thousands of planes and hundreds of thousands of jeeps, and trucks and tanks that are now serving overseas.
I think that the personal convenience of the individual, or the individual family back home here in the United States will appear somewhat less important when I tell you that the initial assault force on Sicily involved 3,000 ships which carried 160,000 men – Americans, British, Canadians and French – together with 14,000 vehicles, 600 tanks, and 1,800 guns. And this initial force was followed every day and every night by thousands of reinforcements.
The meticulous care with which the operation in Sicily was planned has paid dividends. Our casualties in men, in ships and material have been low – in fact, far below our estimate.
And all of us are proud of the superb skill and courage of the officers and men who have conducted and are conducting those operations. The toughest resistance developed on the front of the British 8th Army, which included the Canadians. But that is no new experience for that magnificent fighting force which has made the Germans pay a heavy price for each hour of delay in the final victory. The American 7th Army, after a stormy landing on the exposed beaches of southern Sicily, swept with record speed across the island into the capital at Palermo. For many of our troops this was their first battle experience, but they have carried themselves like veterans.
And we must give credit for the coordination of the diverse forces in the field, and for the planning of the whole campaign, to the wise and skillful leadership of Gen. Eisenhower. Adm. Cunningham, Gen. Alexander and Sir Marshal Tedder have been towers of strength in handling the complex details of naval and ground and air activities.
You have heard some people say that the British and the Americans can never get along well together – you have heard some people say that the Army and the Navy and the Air Forces can never get along well together – that real cooperation between them is impossible. Tunisia and Sicily have given the lie, once and for all, to these narrow-minded prejudices.
The dauntless fighting spirit of the British people in this war has been expressed in the historic words and deeds of Winston Churchill – and the world knows how the American people feel about him.
Ahead of us are much bigger fights. We and our Allies will go into them as we went into Sicily – together. And we shall carry on together.
Today our production of ships is almost unbelievable. This year we are producing over 19 million tons of merchant shipping and next year our production will be over 21 million tons. And in addition to our shipments across the Atlantic, we must realize that in this war we are operating in the Aleutians, in the distant parts of the Southwest Pacific, in India, and off the shores of South America.
For several months we have been losing fewer ships by sinkings, and we have been destroying more and more U-boats. We hope this will continue. But we cannot be sure. We must not lower our guard for one single instant.
An example – a tangible result of our great increase in merchant shipping – which I think will be good news to civilians at home – is that tonight we are able to terminate the rationing of coffee. And we also expect (that) within a short time we shall get greatly increased allowances of sugar.
Those few Americans who grouse and complain about the inconveniences of life here in the United States should learn some lessons from the civilian populations of our Allies – Britain, and China, and Russia – and of all the lands occupied by our common enemy.
The heaviest and most decisive fighting today is going on in Russia. I am glad that the British and we have been able to contribute somewhat to the great striking power of the Russian armies.
In 1941-1942 the Russians were able to retire without breaking, to move many of their war plants from western Russia far into the interior, to stand together with complete unanimity in the defense of their homeland.
The success of the Russian armies has shown that it is dangerous to make prophecies about them – a fact which has been forcibly brought home to that mystic master of strategic intuition, Herr Hitler.
The short-lived German offensive, launched early this month, was a desperate attempt to bolster the morale of the German people. The Russians were not fooled by this. They went ahead with their own plans for attack – plans which coordinate with the whole United Nations’ offensive strategy.
The world has never seen greater devotion, determination and self-sacrifice than have been displayed by the Russian people and their armies, under the leadership of Marshal Joseph Stalin.
With a nation which in saving itself is thereby helping to save all the world from the Nazi menace, this country of ours should always be glad to be a good neighbor and a sincere friend in the world of the future.
In the Pacific, we are pushing the Japs around from the Aleutians to New Guinea. There too we have taken the initiative – and we are not going to let go of it.
It becomes clearer and clearer that the attrition, the whittling down process against the Japanese is working. The Japs have lost more planes and more ships than they have been able to replace.
The continuous and energetic prosecution of the war of attrition will drive the Japs back from their over-extended line running from Burma (and Siam) and the Straits Settlement and Siam through the Netherlands Indies to eastern New Guinea and the Solomons. And we have good reason to believe that their shipping and their air power cannot support such outposts.
Our naval and land and air strength in the Pacific is constantly growing. And if the Japanese are basing their future plans for the Pacific on a long period in which they will be permitted to consolidate and exploit their conquered resources, they had better start revising their plans now. I give that to them merely as a helpful suggestion.
We are delivering planes and vital war supplies for the heroic armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and we must do more at all costs.
Our air supply line from India to China across enemy territory continues despite attempted Japanese interference. We have seized the initiative from the Japanese in the air over Burma and now we enjoy superiority. We are bombing Japanese communications, supply dumps, and bases in China, in Indochina, in Burma.
But we are still far from our main objectives in the war against Japan. Let us remember, however, how far we were a year ago from any of our objectives in the European theatre. We are pushing forward to occupation of positions which in time will enable us to attack the Japanese Islands themselves from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west.
You have heard it said that while we are succeeding greatly on the fighting front, we are failing miserably on the home front. I think this is another of those immaturities – a false slogan easy to state but untrue in the essential facts.
For the longer this war goes on the clearer it becomes that no one can draw a blue pencil down the middle of a page and call one side “the fighting front” and the other side “the home front.” For the two of them are inexorably tied together.
Every combat division, every naval task force, every squadron of fighting planes is dependent for its equipment and ammunition and fuel and food, as indeed it is for its manpower, dependent on the American people in civilian clothes in the offices and in the factories and on the farms at home.
The same kind of careful planning that gained victory in North Africa and Sicily is required, if we are to make victory an enduring reality and do our share in building the kind of peaceful world that will justify the sacrifices made in this war.
The United Nations are substantially agreed on the general objectives for the post-war world. They are also agreed that this is not the time to engage in an international discussion of all the terms of peace and all the details of the future. Let us win the war first. We must not relax our pressure on the enemy by taking time out to define every boundary and settle every political controversy in every part of the world. The important thing – the all-important thing now is to get on with the war – and to win it.
While concentrating on military victory, we are not neglecting the planning of the things to come, the freedoms which we know will make for more decency and greater justice throughout the world.
Among many other things we are, today, laying plans for the return to civilian life of our gallant men and women in the armed services. They must not be demobilized into an environment of inflation and unemployment, to a place on a bread line, or on a corner selling apples. We must, this time, have plans ready – instead of waiting to do a hasty, inefficient, and ill-considered job at the last moment.
I have assured our men in the armed forces that the American people would not let them down when the war is won.
I hope that the Congress will help in carrying out this assurance, for obviously the Executive Branch of the Government cannot do it alone. May the Congress do its duty in this regard. The American people will insist on fulfilling this American obligation to the men and women in the armed forces who are winning this war for us.
Of course, the returning soldier and sailor and marine are a part of the problem of demobilizing the rest of the millions of Americans who have been (working and) living in a war economy since 1941. That larger objective of reconverting wartime America to a peacetime basis is one for which your government is laying plans to be submitted to the Congress for action.
But the members of the armed forces have been compelled to make greater economic sacrifice and every other kind of sacrifice than the rest of us, and they are entitled to definite action to help take care of their special problems.
The least to which they are entitled, it seems to me, is something like this:
First, mustering-out pay to every member of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marine when he or she is honorably discharged, mustering-out pay large enough in each case to cover a reasonable period of time between his discharge and the finding of a new job.
Secondly, in case no job is found after diligent search, then unemployment insurance if the individual registers with the United States Employment Service.
Third, an opportunity for members of the armed services to get further education or trade training at the cost of the government.
Fourth, allowance of credit to all members of the armed forces, under unemployment compensation and Federal old-age and survivors’ insurance, for their period of service. For these purposes they ought to be treated as if they had continued their employment in private industry.
Fifth, improved and liberalized provisions for hospitalization, for rehabilitation, for medical care of disabled members of the Armed Forces and the Merchant Marine.
And finally, sufficient pensions for disabled members of the Armed Forces.
Your government is drawing up other serious, constructive plans for certain immediate forward moves. They concern food, manpower, and other domestic problems that tie in with our Armed Forces.
Within a few weeks I shall speak with you again in regard to definite actions to be taken by the Executive Branch of the government, together with specific recommendations for new legislation by the Congress.
All our calculations for the future, however, must be based on clear understanding of the problems involved. And that can be gained only by straight thinking – not guess work, not political manipulation.
I confess that I myself am sometimes bewildered by conflicting statements that I see in the press. One day I read an “authoritative” statement that we will (shall) win the war this year, 1943 – and the next day comes another statement equally “authoritative,” that the war will still be going on in 1949.
Of course, both extremes – of optimism and pessimism – are wrong.
The length of the war will depend upon the uninterrupted continuance of all-out effort on the fighting fronts and here at home, and that effort is all one.
The American soldier does not like the necessity of waging war. And yet – if he lays off for a single instant he may lose his own life and sacrifice the lives of his comrades.
By the same token – a worker here at home may not like the driving, wartime conditions under which he has to work and (or) live. And yet – if he gets complacent or indifferent and slacks on his job, he too may sacrifice the lives of American soldiers and contribute to the loss of an important battle.
The next time anyone says to you that this war is “in the bag,” or says “it’s all over but the shouting,” you should ask him these questions:
Are you working full time on your job?
Are you growing all the food you can?
Are you buying your limit of war bonds?
Are you loyally and cheerfully cooperating with your government in preventing inflation and profiteering, and in making rationing work with fairness to all?
Because – if your answer is “No” – then the war is going to last a lot longer than you think.
The plans we made for the knocking out of Mussolini and his gang have largely succeeded. But we still have to knock out Hitler and his gang, and Tōjō and his gang. No one of us pretends that this will be an easy matter.
We still have to defeat Hitler and Tōjō on their own home grounds. But this will require a far greater concentration of our national energy and our ingenuity and our skill.
It is not too much to say that we must pour into this war the entire strength and intelligence and will power of the United States. We are a great nation – a rich nation – but we are not so great or so rich that we can afford to waste our substance or the lives or our men by relaxing along the way.
We shall not settle for less than total victory. That is the determination of every American on the fighting fronts. That must be, and will be, the determination of every American here at home.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 29, 1943)
Verstärkte beiderseitige Artillerietätigkeit in Sizilien –
Alle Angriffe im Raum von Orel zusammengebrochen
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 28. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Die schweren Abwehrkämpfe im Abschnitt Orel dauern an. An der übrigen Ostfront ließen die Angriffe der Sowjets an Stärke und Ausdehnung nach. Von den einzelnen Kampfabschnitten wird gemeldet: Am Kubanbrückenkopf, am Mius und am Donez scheiterten feindliche Angriffe. Im Raum von Orel griff der Feind auch gestern mit unverminderter Stärke an. Alle Angriffe brachen unter hohen Verlusten für die Sowjets zusammen. An dieser Front hat sich in den letzten Wochen die rheinisch-westfälische 86. Infanteriedivision besonders ausgezeichnet. Auch südlich des Ladogasees blieben feindliche Angriffe, die jedoch mit schwächeren Kräften als an den Vortagen geführt wurden, erfolglos.
Auf Sizilien nahm die beiderseitige Artillerietätigkeit erheblich zu. Im mittleren Frontabschnitt blieben Angriffe britischer und nordamerikanischer Verbände im Abwehrfeuer vor den deutsch-italienischen Stellungen liegen oder wurden durch sofort einsetzende Gegenstöße zerschlagen.
In den Gewässern der Insel vernichtete die Luftwaffe bei Tages- und Nachtangriffen einen Tanker von 7000 BRT. und eine Korvette, sechs große Transportschiffe wurden beschädigt.
Starke feindliche Bomberverbände setzten ihre Terrorangriffe in der vergangenen Nacht gegen die Stadt Hamburg fort. Es entstanden weitere Verwüstungen und zum Teil ausgebreitete Brände in mehreren Stadtteilen. Die Bevölkerung erlitt wieder Verluste. Von Nachtjägern und Flakartillerie wurden nach bisherigen Feststellungen 47 der angreifenden Bomber abgeschossen. Am gestrigen Tage brachten Luftverteidigungskräfte über den besetzten Westgebieten weitere 9 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz.
Im Kampf mit einem britischen Schnellbootverband versenkten deutsche Sicherungsstreitkräfte vor der niederländischen Küste ein Artillerieschnellboot und beschädigten ein zweites so schwer, daß es als vernichtet angesehen werden kann. Unsere Fahrzeuge kehrten vollzählig in ihre Stützpunkte zurück.
Fernkampfflugzeuge griffen erneut den im Atlantik gesichteten feindlichen Geleitzug an und versenkten zwei Handelsschiffe mit 12.000 BRT. Ein Schiff von 5.000 BRT. erhielt so schwere Bombentreffer, daß es Schlagseite zeigte. Zwei weitere große Frachter wurden beschädigt.
Deutsche Unterseeboote versenkten im Atlantik und im Mittelmeer acht Schiffe mit zusammen 44.241 BRT., beschädigten einen leichten Kreuzer sowie sechs Frachter und schossen in der Abwehr drei feindliche Flugzeuge ab.
Hemmungsloser Imperialismus gegen den Kriegsgenossen –
England als ‚Gibraltar der USA.‘
tc. Ankara, 28. Juli –
Das Ansinnen des nordamerikanischen Gesandten Alexander Kirk an die ägyptische Regierung, der USA.-Luftverkehrsgesellschaft „Panamerica Airways“ Flugplatzkonzessionen abzutreten, hat die öffentliche Meinung in Kairo stark erregt. Die Nordamerikaner planen für die Zeit nach dem Kriege die Einrichtung eines Weltluftverkehrs und fordern dafür schon heute auch auf ägyptischem Boden Flugplätze in eigener Regie und Verwaltung. Die ägyptische Regierung wie vor allem breite Schichten des Volkes stehen diesen nordamerikanischen Wünschen mehr als zurückhaltend gegenüber, denn sie wissen, daß hier auch auf ihre Kosten der Machtkampf zwischen Großbritannien und den USA. ausgetragen werden soll.
Aufschlußreich ist auch, daß Ward Price, wie er kürzlich in der Daily Mail schrieb, im Flugzeug 100.000 Meilen über Afrika zurücklegte und dabei nicht ein einziges Transport- oder Bombenflugzeug englischer Herkunft ausmachen konnte. Diese und ähnliche Äußerungen, dazu eine mehr oder weniger heftige Kritik an den verantwortlichen britischen Regierungsmitgliedern reißen nicht mehr ab. Kritischen Beobachtern entgeht eben nicht, daß das Empire immer mehr reduziert wird, daß es zum „Gibraltar der USA.“ geworden ist, wie es der nordamerikanische General Devers kürzlich formulierte. England betrachtet man bereits als nordamerikanischen Stützpunkt am Rande Europas. Das ist das Ergebnis der vielgepriesenen Waffenbrüderschaft.
Die USA. betreiben einen schrankenlosen Imperialismus. Sie verlangen eine Brücke von See- und Luftbasen über den Pazifik bis zur sibirischen Küste Sowjetrußlands und über den Atlantik bis nach Ostasien. Die Briten sind nicht in der Lage, diesem Machtstreben Einhalt zu tun, obwohl es in der Hauptsache auf ihre Kosten geht. Die USA. haben sich kurzerhand zu Partnern im Empire gemacht, und zwar jedesmal mit mindestens 51 Prozent Geschäftsanteil.
Voreilige Pläne um Sizilien
Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang auch der Kampf, der um die künftige Verwaltung Siziliens ausgetragen wird. Obwohl man vorerst nur schwere Opfer an Menschen und Material darbringen muß, ohne zu wissen, wie dieser Raubzug einmal ausgehen wird, haben die USA. bereits unmißverständlich erklärt, daß für die künftige Sizilienverwaltung, wie für die Verwaltung aller anderen noch zu besetzenden Länder nur Nordamerikaner in Frage kämen, da in den USA. Abkömmlinge aller Länder lebten, die heute für solche Posten prädestiniert seien. Und die Briten müssen dazu gute Miene machen, wozu Churchill erklärt:
Zwischen den beiden Regierungen ist vollkommene Übereinstimmung erreicht worden über das, was künftig zu tun ist. Es gibt nicht den mindesten Gegensatz.
Andere englische Sorgen
Die britischen Handelsinteressen in Südamerika wurden von dem britischen Handelsminister Hugh Dalton in einer Erklärung vor dem Unterhaus betont. Hugh Dalton erklärte, keine Regierung auf dem gesamten amerikanischen Kontinent könne England das Recht absprechen, nach dem Krieg mit den südamerikanischen Staaten Handel zu treiben. Wenn irgendwo in Amerika Zweifel an diesem Recht bestünden, dann hoffe er sie mit dieser Erklärung zerstreut zu haben. Der Krieg verbiete zwar vorläufig eine umfassende britische Handelsexpansion in Südamerika, er hoffe aber, die Regierung der USA. teile mit ihm die Ansicht, daß nach dem Krieg England an den enormen Handelsmöglichkeiten in den südamerikanischen Staaten teilhaben müsse.
Feindschiffe im Hafen von Augusta versenkt –
Italienisches U-Boot torpediert Flugzeugträger
dnb. Rom, 28. Juli –
Das Hauptquartier der italienischen Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
An der sizilianischen Front heftiges Artilleriefeuer. Feindliche Angriffe im Zentralabschnitt mißglückten. Deutsche Flugzeuge griffen vor Anker liegende feindliche Schiffe im Hafen Augusta an, versenkten eine Korvette und einen Tanker von 7.000 BRT. und warfen sechs Transporter von über 40.000 BRT. In Brand. Angriffe der englisch-amerikanischen Luftwaffe auf kleinere Orte Kalabriens verursachten geringe Schäden und einige Opfer unter der Zivilbevölkerung. Zwei Flugzeuge wurden abgeschossen, eines davon durch die Flak in Messina und eines von Jägern bei Capua.
Bei einem mißglückten Angriff gegen einen unserer Geleitzüge im Tyrrhenischen Meer wurden vier feindliche Flugzeuge von Begleiteinheiten zerstört. Im Atlantik erzielte unser U-Boot unter dem Kommando von Korvettenkapitän Giuseppe Roselli Lorenzini aus Rom zwei Torpedotreffer auf einen feindlichen Flugzeugträger.
U.S. Navy Department (July 29, 1943)
Communiqué No. 453
Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the following results of operations against the enemy in the waters of these areas:
- 2 large transports sunk.
- 2 large cargo vessels sunk.
- 3 medium‑sized cargo vessels sunk.
- 2 medium‑sized tankers sunk.
- 1 small cargo vessel sunk.
- 1 large cargo vessel damaged.
- 3 medium‑sized cargo vessels damaged.
These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department Communiqués.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 29, 1943)
Italy gets surrender terms
Immediate peace offered by Eisenhower; hints negotiations begun
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean, formally offered today to make an immediate and honorable peace with Italy and implied that negotiations may already be in progress.
“Cease at once all assistance to German Armed Forces in Italy,” he said in a special message to the Italian people, and the Allies will “rid you of the Germans and deliver you from the horrors of war.”
The only remaining obstacle to peace is the “German aggressor who is still on Italian soil,” he said in hinting that the Allies were willing to recognize Marshal Pietro Badoglio, the new Italian chief of government, and King Victor Emmanuel III as responsible parties with whom to deal.
London sources said that the next 100 hours may bring a showdown in the Italian crisis.
Condition already given
“Honorable conditions” for peace have already been given the Italian government by the United States and Britain, Gen. Eisenhower said. This and the fact that Gen. Eisenhower’s message was far more conciliatory than either President Roosevelt or Prime Minister Churchill’s speech during the past two days strengthened a belief that preliminary peace negotiations may already be underway.
The “honorable conditions” were believed to follow the pattern of unconditional surrender laid down by President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill at their Casablanca Conference and the Four Freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter.
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, expressing confidence in Gen. Eisenhower, indicated today that the U.S. expects Italy’s surrender to be through military rather than diplomatic channels. Repeating that the policy of the United Nations is the unconditional surrender of Axis forces, Mr. Hull told a press conference that the War Department rather than the State Department would be the first to receive news of any Italian capitulation.
Offers prisoner return
Gen. Eisenhower also held out to the Italian people the promise of a “mild and beneficent” occupation and the return of all Italian prisoners captured in Sicily and Tunisia provided Allied prisoners are restored intact.
The British alone hold at least 410,000 Italian prisoners and tens of thousands of others are in American hands, while only 70,000 British and a comparatively small number of Americans have fallen into Italian hands.
The offer to return Italian prisoners was believed an especially powerful one, since many Italian soldiers have been away from home five to six years. Furthermore, Germany’s refusal to release French prisoners has long been a major factor in compelling the Vichy government to do Nazi bidding in vain attempts to gain freedom for their imprisoned soldiers.
The Allied commander told the Italians that his armies were coming to Italy as “liberators.”
The message was broadcast to the Italian people in Italian and also relayed to Europe in French, German and English.
Heavy jamming marred the initial broadcast to Italy, London reported.
Gen. Eisenhower congratulated the House of Savoy on overthrowing Premier Benito Mussolini, “the man who involved them in war as the tool of Hitler and brought them to the verge of disaster.”
He continued:
The greatest obstacle which divided the Italian people from the United Nations has been removed by the Italians themselves. The remaining obstacle on the road to peace is the German aggressor who is still on Italian soil.
Can have it immediately
You want peace. You can have peace immediately and peace under the honorable conditions which our governments have already offered you.
Gen. Eisenhower said that the Allies have already demonstrated in Sicily that any occupation of the Italian mainland would be “mild and beneficent.”
He said:
Your men will return to their normal life and to their productive avocations.
If the Italians prevent the Germans from taking captured Britons and Americans from Italy, Gen. Eisenhower said, hundreds of thousands of Italian prisoners captured in Tunisia “will return to the countless Italian homes who long for them.”
He said:
The ancient liberties and traditions of your country will be restored.
Surrender expected –
Il Duce and gang must face trial, Roosevelt warns
‘Humanity on the march’ has seized initiative, President asserts, but victory road is still long, he says
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Washington –
The new Italian government was on notice today to hold Benito Mussolini “and his gang” for trial and punishment by the United Nations as a part of unconditional surrender.
In a broadcast beamed throughout the world, President Roosevelt last night reiterated the Casablanca unconditional surrender terms that are offered to all Axis members and said the United Nations were now substantially agreed on general post-war plans.
It appeared that Italians acceptance of those terms was of almost hourly expectation since ecclesiastical sources in Madrid reported – after Mr. Roosevelt’s speech was written – that the first Italian peace feelers of Marshal Pietro Badoglio’s government were en route to Washington and London.
Mr. Roosevelt spoke from the White House last night. He combined a vigorously hopeful review of the war fronts with announcement that coffee rationing had been abandoned, that more generous sugar rations could be expected soon, and revelation that the 1944 Democratic Party platform plank on war veterans’ benefits has already been written. Mr. Roosevelt proposed a broad program of aid for demobilized American servicemen that would provide substantial financial, educational and job-seeking help.
His broadcast, which bristled with warning to the Axis nations that “the massed, angered forces of common humanity are on the march,” also cautioned Americans that:
The length of the war will depend upon the uninterrupted continuance of all-out effort both on the fighting fronts and here at home.
Allied leaders praised
The President spoke warmly of his major associates – Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Premier Joseph Stalin. And for Russia, especially, he bespoke the constant friendship of the United States in the world of the future.
The United Nations are substantially agreed on general post-war objectives, he said, but it is too early to attempt to discuss all peace terms and all future details.
He continued:
We must not relax our pressure on the enemy by taking time out to define every boundary and settle every political controversy in every part of the world. The all-important thing now is to get on with the war.
Mr. Roosevelt promised early “serious and constructive plans” on the home front dealing with food, manpower and other domestic problems, but he did not go into detail.
Aid for war veterans
But for war veterans he proposed a detailed program of benefits which will undoubtedly figure in the 1944 presidential campaign unless enacted by Congress prior to the next election. The program, other than as it related to disabled veterans, would facilitate and in large measure underwrite the costs of reentry of servicemen and women in to civil life either as workers or as students at government expense.
Mr. Roosevelt rebuked those Americans who, “playing party politics at home,” ridicule post-war foreign policy planning as “crazy altruism” and “starry-eyed dreaming.” That reference was regarded as a kind but not-too-vigorous gesture toward Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
Mr. Roosevelt had his eye on Italy as he talked. And he promised that Tōjō and Hitler would follow Mussolini into ignominious retirement.
‘First crack in Axis’
The President said:
The first crack in the Axis has come. The criminal, corrupt Fascist regime in Italy is going to pieces. Mussolini came to the reluctant conclusion that the “jig was up.”
But he and his Fascists gang will be brought to book, and punished for their crimes against humanity.
Our terms to Italy are still the same as our terms to Germany and Japan – unconditional surrender. We will permit no vestige of Fascism to remain.
That language was deemed here to be a warning to Badoglio, the new Italian Prime Minister, to be ready to deliver Mussolini and his top associates to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower when the surrender comes.
To the Italian people – and Axis populations in general – Mr. Roosevelt promised immediate food, security and order as the United Nations take over and for the future, he reiterated the four freedoms guarantee.
Mr. Roosevelt found much that was encouraging on the war fronts. He considers the German summer offensive against the Russians a failure. He reported continued success against U-boats, but warned that we never know when the rate of sinkings may rise again.
War with Japan
The President said:
We are still far from our main objectives in the war against Japan.
…and stated those objectives to be attacked on the Japanese islands themselves from the north, east, south and west. But we are growing stronger in the Pacific, we have seized the initiative and we mean to keep it, he added.
He continued:
And if the Japanese are basing their future plans for the Pacific on a long period in which they will be permitted to consolidate and exploit their conquered resources, they had better start revising their plans now.
In the Pacific, we are pushing the Japs around from the Aleutians to New Guinea. There too we have taken the initiative – and we are not going to let go of it.
Mr. Roosevelt could say only that we are delivering planes and vital war supplies for the fighting Chinese and that we must do more at all costs. The manner of his reference underscored the obvious fact that the China front still lags behind all others in obtaining fighting tools because of tremendous supply difficulties. It was with obvious satisfaction that Mr. Roosevelt reviewed the situation on the Russian front.
Allies flank Sicilian line
Seize highway network in advance on Messina
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
Hints of German-Italian clashes came from Madrid today in reports that Italian soldiers were being sent north to stop the influx of Nazi troops into northern Italy. Developments in Italy shown by the map include:
1. The Po River line reportedly being manned by the Germans.
2. Italian soldiers sent from this area to the Brenner Pass.
3. Sicily, where Allied forces closed in on the Messina corner, capturing three more towns, including Gangi.Circled cities on the map are the scenes of outbreaks in the wake of the Mussolini resignation. At Bologna, however, quiet was being maintained by the presence of a strong Fascist Blackshirt force.
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Americans and Canadians smashed forward through strongly-defended German positions and over heavily-mined roads toward the Messina corner of Sicily today, capturing an important highway network and flanking the enemy’s defense line along the Dittaino River.
Acting Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson asserted in Washington that the Sicilian campaign had reached its final stage and the island should be completely in Allied hands in a matter of days.
The Americans, making advances of 7-9 miles, raced southward from the coastal road along an important highway leading to central Sicily, occupying Pollina, Castelbuono and Gangi and heading for Nicosia, key point of the last Axis defense line in the central part of the island.
The official German news agency DNB reported that Axis troops had already evacuated Nicosia, which is only 70 airline miles from Messina.
Skirt headwaters
Tough Canadian forces fought their way into Leonforte, eight miles south of Nicosia. The Canadians were the first Allied troops to reach the northern side of Dittaino, having gone around this natural barrier at its headwaters.
The Canadians inflicted heavy casualties as they advanced. They found large numbers of German dead when they reached the outskirts of Leonforte. Fighting had been particularly bitter in this area and one German officer taken prisoner admitted that the Germans had shot Italians who refused to fight.
Nazis reinforced
The Germans had strong reinforcements, including paratroopers. In one case, they lost 225 out of a unit of 250 men before yielding their position.
Stiff fighting was reported in progress in the Catania sector at the eastern end of the Sicilian front where German resistance was compared to Vimy Ridge in World War I.
The Germans were said to have used the white flag truck, displaying the sign of surrender and then firing upon the Allies.
Near main defenses
Capture of Gangi moved the Americans to within 75 miles of Messina, and only five miles from the main defenses. U.S. troops were known to be edging far in advance of their main lines and may already be slamming into German and Italian forces.
The Exchange Telegraph in London heard a Swiss radio report that the Germans were destroying military installations at Catania possibly preparatory to withdrawing.
Wreck 30 vehicles
A-36 Invaders and P-40 Warhawks destroyed at least 30 enemy vehicles in attacks on communications while medium bombers yesterday raided the Regalbuto communications center in the center and hit at shipping off the Sicilian coast. Other planes carried out sweeps over Sardinia. Three enemy planes were shot down for a loss of one Allied aircraft.
The capture of Pollina by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s swift-moving Americans represented a push of 8.5 miles from Cefalù, reported taken only yesterday, while the capture of Gangi carried the troops five miles east of Petralia, their last previous strongpoint in the sector San Stefano is only 11 miles from Pollina.
Hit road junction
South African and RAF Bostons and Baltimores hit at a road junction at the town of Regalbuto, on the German defense lines, and laid a carpet of bombs over the targets. One large explosion occurred.
Besides scoring hits on motor transport on roads in the northeastern Sicilian corner, RAF fighter-bombers scored hits on a merchantman at Riposte Harbor where other vessels were bombed. Enemy landing craft at Reggio Calabria on the mainland were attacked.
Allied troops now hold the seven airfields around Gerbini, west of Catania, field reports said, but Axis guns emplaced in the foothills of Mt. Etna prevent their use.
Down 60 Nazi planes –
Americans raid 2 plane plants
Fortresses attack city 95 miles from Berlin
By Walter Logan, United Press staff writer
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Fans yell ‘play ball’ –
Roosevelt hits into a double play at game
Rain, poor amplification system mar broadcast at Forbes Field
By Kermit McFarland
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