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

6720

The Pittsburgh Press (August 19, 1943)

Destroyer cuts Lt. Kennedy’s PT boat in two

By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer

John_F_Kennedy_Navy_Getty
Lt. Kennedy

Somewhere in New Georgia, Solomon Islands – (Aug. 8, delayed)
The luck of the Irish – and some first-class skill – brought lanky Lt. (jg.) John F. Kennedy, son of former U.S. Ambassador to Britain Joseph Kennedy, and 10 of his torpedo boat mates back from a brush with the Japs and death today.

A week after they had been lost and practically given up, another PT boat went through hostile waters to rescue them in response to an SOS scrawled on a coconut shell and carried through enemy lines by a native.

Three men, including Petty Officer Patrick H. McMahon, 39, of Los Angeles, who has a son in the Navy, credited the 27-year-old Lt. Kennedy with saving their lives.

Their extraordinary adventure began the night of Sunday, Aug. 1, in Blackett Strait just west of Kolombangara Island north of New Georgia Island.

Three torpedo boats from this base were patrolling. A Jap destroyer bore down on the lead boat commanded by Lt. Kennedy and manned by a crew of 12 and cut it in two.

Lt. Kennedy said:

I’m certain that destroyer was going 40 knots. I summoned the crew to general quarters and then tried to get into position for a shot with the torpedoes. But we were too close.

The crewmen were flung into the water. Some were painfully injured.

The gasoline went up in flames. One section didn’t burn.

Petty Officer McMahon, who was badly burned, said Lt. Kennedy, a backstroke swimmer on the Harvard team before he graduated in 1940, towed him three miles.

Lt. Kennedy said:

We clung to that bow of the boat for nearly 12 hours. And we left it only when it was just a foot above water.

They drifted through the night nearer and nearer a Jap island that had a big garrison but a sudden shift in the current saved them and they reached a tiny unoccupied islet. But they were still surrounded by Japs.

After a few days, they sneaked over to another island and found friendly natives. Lt. Kennedy scratched an appeal for aid on a coconut shell. A native carried it through the enemy lines to this base.

Last night, in a PT boat, under one of the original expendables, Lt. Henry J. “Hank” Brantingham of Fayetteville, Arkansas, we went through rough weather into the Jap-controlled waters to pick them up.

Lt. Kennedy rowed out in a native canoe to meet us. He had told us to fire four shots, then he’d answer. We fired four shots. Only three came back through the darkness near the rendezvous point – then silence for a moment. Then came a louder burst. He had only three cartridges in his .45 caliber pistol. The last shot came from a rusty Jap rifle and the recoil nearly capsized the canoe.

Two trips in the canoe were necessary to bring all the men out to the PT boat.

Lt. Kennedy guided us through reefs and coral heads, in constant danger of being seen by enemy planes.

Among the men was Ens. Leonard Thorn of Sandusky, Ohio, a blond giant with a new beard whom the natives had thought a man from another planet. Ens. Thom used to play football at Ohio State. The other officer with Lt. Kennedy was Ens. George Henry Robertson Ross, 25, of Highland Park, Illinois, who went along for the ride because his own boat was temporarily out of whack.

Lt. Kennedy lauded the work of Petty Officers Charles Harris, of Boston, and McMahon. His other men were Seaman Raymond Albert, 20, of Cleveland, Ohio; Radioman John Maguire, 27, of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York; Torpedoman Ray L. Starkey of Garden Grove, California; Petty Officer Gerard Emil Zinser, 25, of Belleville, Illinois; Petty Officer William Johnston of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Quartermaster Edman Mauer, 28, of St. Louis, Missouri.

6721

Völkischer Beobachter (August 20, 1943)

Versuch mit untauglichen Mitteln –
Ihre letzte Hoffnung: ‚Verstärkter Propagandakrieg‘

Unsere Antwort: Härtester Kampf bis zum Endsieg

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6722

383 Panzer, 652 Flugzeuge, 568.850 BRT. vernichtet –
Sizilien kam den Feinden teuer zu stehen

dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 19. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

In der am 16. Juli begonnenen fünften Abwehrschlacht am Kubanbrückenkopf haben die unter Führung des Generalfeldmarschalls von Kleist und des Generals der Pioniere Jänicke stehenden deutschen und rumänischen Truppen bis zum 12. August andauernde Durchbruchsversuche von 17 Schützendivisionen, 2 Panzerbrigaden und 3 Panzerregimentern der Sowjets in harten Kämpfen abgeschlagen und dem Feind sehr hohe blutige Verluste zugefügt. An diesem Abwehrerfolg sind deutsche, unter Führung des Generalleutnants Angerstein stehende Luftwaffenverbände, und rumänische, von General Gheorgiu befehligte Fliegerkräfte beteiligt.

An der Mius front trat der Feind im Raum von Kuibyschewo nach starker Artillerievorbereitung erneut zum Angriff an. Bei Isjum setzte er die Durchbruchsversuche mit starken Kräften fort. In beiden Abschnitten schlugen unsere Truppen im Zusammenwirken mit der Luftwaffe und rumänischen Schlachtfliegern die Angriffswellen des Gegners in zähen Kämpfen blutig ab.

Im Kampfraum von BjeIgorod dauert der harte und für die Sowjets äußerst verlustreiche Abwehrkampf an. über 100 Panzer und Sturmgeschütze der Sowjets wurden hier abgeschossen.

Im mittleren Frontabschnitt griffen die Bolschewisten weiterhin in wechselnder Stärke an. Alle Anstrengungen des Feindes, unsere Stellungen zu durchbrechen, scheiterten. Auch bei Staraja Russa und am Ladogasee brachen alle sowjetischen Angriffe unter schwersten Verlusten zusammen. Deutsche Gebirgsjäger warfen im Louhiabschnitt den auch gestern wieder anstürmenden Feind unter hohen Verlusten zurück. In Luftkämpfen wurden ohne eigene Verluste 21 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

Am 18. August verloren die Sowjets 284 Panzer. In den letzten Tagen büßten sie 168 Flugzeuge ein. Sicherungsstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine versenkten in der Nacht zum 18. August im Asowschen Meer zwei sowjetische Motorkanonenboote. Im Seegebiet der Fischerhalbinsel vernichteten schnelle deutsche Kampfflugzeuge vier mit Nachschub beladene sowjetische Küstenfrachter.

In der Zeit vom 10. Juli bis zur Beendigung der Kämpfe am 17. August fügten die im Raume von Sizilien kämpfenden Verbände aller Wehrmachtteile und Waffengattungen den amerikanisch-britischen Armeen schwere Verluste zu. Neben einer hohen Zahl von Gefangenen verloren sie etwa ein Drittel ihrer eingesetzten Truppen an Toten und Verwundeten. Vernichtet oder erbeutet wurden 383 Panzer und Panzerspähwagen, 63 Geschütze aller Art, 652 Flugzeuge und 11 Lastensegler.

61 meist mit Mannschaften oder Kriegsgerät beladene Transportschiffe mit insgesamt 290.100 BRT., ferner ein Kreuzer, sieben Zerstörer, drei Korvetten sowie zahlreiche Motorkanonenboote und kleinere Kriegsfahrzeuge wurden versenkt. Weitere 59 Fracht- oder Transportschiffe mit 278.750 BRT. wurden im gleichen Zeitraum so schwer beschädigt, daß mit ihrem Verlust gerechnet werden kann.

In den ersten zwei Wochen des August sind von Sizilien aüf das Festland mit Kleinschiffsraum überführt worden rund 17.000 Tonnen Munition, Betriebsstoff und Stückgut, fast 10.000 Kraftfahrzeuge sowie sämtliche deutschen und italienischen Truppen mit allen Waffen und Kriegsgerät. Zurückbefördert wurden schließlich mehr als 4000 Verwundete.

Bei diesen Transporten sind von den Besatzungen der Fähren und Kleinfahrzeuge insgesamt 48 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen worden.

Ein Verband deutscher Kampfflugzeuge erzielte in der gestrigen Nacht bei einem Angriff in den Gewässern um Biserta Bombentreffer auf einem Kriegsschiff, 25 Transportern mit zusammen über 100.000 BRT. und Landungsfahrzeugen. In der Straße von Messina wurden durch Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe 7 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.

Im Morgengrauen des heutigen Tages kam es vor der holländischen Küste zu einem Gefecht zwischen den Sicherungsstreitkräften eines eigenen Geleits und britischen Schnellbooten. Der Feind verlor bei seinen erfolglosen Angriffen ein Schnellboot. Drei weitere wurden durch Artillerietreffer beschädigt.

Bei bewaffneter Aufklärung und freier Jagd über dem Atlantik warfen deutsche Kampfflugzeuge ein feindliches Handelsschiff von 5000 BRT. in Brand und schossen vier britisch-nordamerikanische Bomber, darunter zwei große Flugboote, ab.

In der gestrigen Nacht wurde bei Störeinflügen weniger feindlicher Flugzeuge im westdeutschen Grenzgebiet ein Flugzeug abgeschossen.

6723

Verfassungsbruch im Namen des Rechts –
Roosevelt bereitet seine Wiederwahl vor

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

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6724

The Pittsburgh Press (August 20, 1943)

Italian rail city blasted; islands off Sicily seized

44 Axis planes shot down in one of heaviest air attacks from Africa
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

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6725

Québec hints –
Aerial blitz will precede invasion move

But it doesn’t mean Allies will not attack Europe soon

Québec City, Canada (UP) –
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill – while aware of Russian demands for a second front – were believed today to have decided to give airpower its chance to crush Germany first and, in any event, to blast such a path of destruction that land armies may invade Europe with the fewest possible casualties.

Accompanying this first crushing phase will be reminders to the German people that they have the alternative of getting out of the war or seeing the Allies “bomb, burn and destroy” everything in their path.

Conference nears close

It was emphasized that this does not mean that the date of an Allied landing has not been fixed nor that it may not come sooner than ordinarily expected. It does mean, however, that the lessons of Pantelleria and Sicily have taught United Nations leaders the value of intensive air preparations in appreciably shortening any campaign.

The President and Prime Minister were drawing near the end of their historic sixth wartime meeting and late today were to be joined by Secretary of State Cordell Hull who, with British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden, will be given a review of decisions as they affect Anglo-American foreign policy.

The four will have dinner at the Citadel tonight.

Meanwhile, it was reported today that Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill have committed themselves to “bomb, burn and ruthlessly destroy the people responsible for creating the war” and have approved plans to invade Hitler’s Europe.

Japan to be levelled

As for Japan, that country will be “levelled” by the combined military might of Great Britain and the United States, once Hitler is finished.

The determination of the two leaders was made known here by British Information Minister Brendan Bracken, who indicated that the new pledges will be contained in a “Declaration of Québec,” expected to go far beyond the Casablanca “unconditional surrender” statement.

Meanwhile, it was understood here that plans for pounding into the European fortress had reached such an advanced stage that Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill have agreed on the general who will lead the assault on Western Europe.

Closest military secrecy naturally surrounded both military plans and the name of the military leader, but it became apparent that the welter of speculation produced by the conference is welcomed by the leaders as a convenient smokescreen.

The most touted choice for the Allied command was said to be Gen. Harold Alexander, chief of land operations under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Mediterranean area. He is reputed to be Mr. Churchill’s choice. Though Gen. Eisenhower is considered a contender, his services probably would be needed in his present post in the event of a simultaneous smash from the south. A third speculation centered on some dark horse, such as Maj. Gen. Alexander Gatehouse, commander of the armored forces at El Alamein.

Warning to Germans

Also, it was understood today, a direct warning to the German people that they must get out of the war or suffer “utter destruction” is being drafted by Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill and their military and foreign affairs experts.

The appeal will not be made until the Allies are poised for a leap onto the continent of Europe. Then the population of Germany will be told with bombs as well as words that the time has come when they are to be “ruthlessly attacked.”

The public was told by Mr. Bracken yesterday not to expect any “real” news from the conferences. Mr. Bracken meant that it would be foolish to expect the two leaders to give the enemy an accurate idea of what is coming next. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, however, were expected to do their part in the “war of nerves” by concluding their talks here with a press conference that will bristle with predictions of doom for the Axis leaders and their followers responsible for plunging the world into war.

‘Vital’ decisions

Mr. Bracken confirmed that the conferences are producing military decisions of “vital” import. He promised that after the fall of Germany, the British Empire will throw its “full might” against the Japs.

When Mr. Bracken said that while the war was going along “well indeed” for the Allies, the road ahead still remained “long and hard,” the correspondent of the official Russian news agency asked whether he made any distinction between Europe and the Far East.

The bushy-haired minister replied:

It is all one war. Great Britain will not lay down our arms until we have completely conquered and inflicted exemplary punishment on the Japanese.

Bitter against Japs

The plans being drawn were to “bomb and burn and ruthlessly destroy in every way available to us the people responsible for creating this war,” Mr. Bracken said.

Mr. Bracken talked to newsmen after he had conferred with Mr. Churchill.

Mr. Bracken was bitter in his discussion of the Japanese, describing them as seemingly “content to live on blood.”

He seemed particularly anxious to offset any idea that, once Germany is beaten, the British will “pull out” of the war and leave the Japanese to the Americans.

He repeated:

It is all one war.

Warning correspondents to expect no real, factual information from Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, Mr. Bracken said:

The time will come when Hitler and Tōjō and their tribe of gangsters will get the news of Québec.

The news will come from the men in the Citadel through their generals, admirals and air marshals leading force fighting forces.

What of the Pacific?

Questions involving the Pacific loomed up with new importance after the Bracken press conference because of one off-trail remark of his. Talking about how Britain will fight to the finish of Japan, he said quietly:

We have very good sailors and bombers, and none of our Allies will be the slightest bit disappointed with our efforts.

Mr. Bracken’s casual remarks about Britain’s “good sailors” fitted in with reports that the naval situation in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean is easing to the point where Great Britain can transfer a large naval force from the Atlantic to the Pacific where, as the Allied timetable unfolds, the pressure on Japan will be increased.

Disposition of British naval strength may have been one of the big questions worked out here.

6726

Pre-invasion bombings –
British hit Berlin 5th time in 8 days

Yanks bomb airfields in continuing drives which experts say have cleared way for Western Europe landings
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer

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6727

Allies move up near Salamaua

Japs cleared from ridge near major base
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer

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6728

Army of idle feared –
Quick action urged on jobs for veterans

12 million may be without work if industry delays its post-war program

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6729

Soldier facing attack charge

Accused by Lina Basquette, former film actress

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6730

War prisoner packages now due by Aug. 27

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6731

I DARE SAY —
The normal way

By Florence Fisher Parry

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6732

Crew strips plane as one engine fails

Marauder limps into safe landing at airfield in Greenland
By Nat A. Barrows

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6733

3 die, 8 missing as blast razes Jersey factory

FBI and Army inspect ruins of plant used for war work

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6734

Farmers’ bloc may join fight on dad draft

Ban on induction would help aid labor problem, leader says

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6735

Québec Conference costs $8,000 a day

Québec, Canada (UP) –
It is costing the Canadian government $8,000 a day to play host to the Québec Conference, Dr. E. H. Coleman, Canadian Under Secretary of State, said today.

Dr. Coleman, in charge of arrangements, said this amount is being paid to the Canadian Pacific Railway, owners of the Château Frontenac Hotel, which had been taken over by the government for the conference. He said he considered the rate “most reasonable.”

All the Canadians are on one floor, the British and Americans are distributed in alternate floors.

At the Citadel, Prime Minister Churchill has the ground floor at one end of the building, and President Roosevelt has the upper floor, which opens out on to the terrace.

6736

Non-union men hired; AFL unit calls walkout

Strike hinders flight training at West Point center

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6737

Utopian plan is worked out for Southeast

$7 billion for housing is only one item on NRPB blueprint

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6738

McQuaid: Jap planes concentrate on invasion escort fleet

Dive-bombers pay no attention to congestion on Vella Lavella beach as Yanks land
By B. J. McQuaid

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6739

Austrian Archduke rejected by Army

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