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

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s announcement to the people of Metropolitan France
July 10, 1943

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Anglo-Canadian Armed Forces have today launched an offensive against Sicily. It is the first stage in the liberation of the European continent. There will be others.

I call on the French people to remain calm, not to allow themselves to be deceived by the false rumors which the enemy might circulate. The Allied radio will keep you informed on military developments. I count on your sangfroid and on your sense of discipline. Do not be rash when the enemy is watching. Keep on listening and never heed rumors. Verify carefully the news you receive.

By remaining calm and by not exposing yourselves to reprisals through premature actions, you will be helping us effectively, when the hour of action strikes we will let you know. Till then, help us by following our instructions, that is to say: Keep calm, conserve your strength. We repeat: When the hour of action strikes, we will let you know.

La Stampa (July 10, 1943)

Confessioni nemiche –
556 aerei anglo-americani perduti in giugno in Europa

Lisbona, 9 luglio –
Il ministro dell’Aria britannica Archibald Sinclair ha ammesso, dopo molte reticenze, che nel mese di giugno nei cieli della sola Europa sono andati perduti 276 velivoli britannici e 280 nordamericani.

A sua volta il ministro britannico per la produzione aeronautica, Stafford Cripps, ha fatto delle dichiarazioni radiodiffuse nel corso delle quali – come annuncia l’Agenzia britannica di informazioni – ha detto che gli attacchi aerei contro le potenze dell’Asse in Europa rappresentano un gioco troppo costoso e che le perdite britanniche sarebbero tremendamente gravi.

L’avventura bellica sta constando agli americani assai più di quanto il presidente Roosevelt avesse preveduto al momento di spingere il suo popolo alla guerra. Secondo dati ufficiali finora le aeroambulanze hanno trasportato 50 mila soldati tra feriti e ammalati. La statistica non precisa i feriti e gli ammalati trasportati con altri mezzi.

The New York Times (July 10, 1943)

ALLIED TROOPS START INVASION OF SICILY; NAVAL ESCORTS BOMBARD SHORE DEFENSES; LANDING PRECEDED BY SEVERE AIR ATTACK
Several landings; U.S., British and Canadian troops carry out the attack

A ‘liberation’ start; but Eisenhower urges French be calm till their hour strikes
By Drew Middleton

Island of Sicily is invaded by Allied forces

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Gen. Eisenhower announced that his troops had debarked at various points on Sicily early today. The landings were preceded by furious air assaults and warships accompanying the transports shelled the coastal defenses. Troops got ashore at the western tip of the island (cross), according to the Algiers radio. Strong forces of tanks were reported being used. The invasion had been preceded by heavy bombings of a variety of targets (bomb devices).

Allied HQ, North Africa –
Allied infantry landed at a number of places on the rocky Sicilian coast under a canopy of naval gunfire early this morning as the long-awaited invasion began.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Commander-in-Chief, speaking to the people of Metropolitan France, called the attack “the first page in the liberation of the European continent,” and promised “there will be others.”

Allied headquarters announced the invasion in the following communiqué:

Allied forces under command of Gen. Eisenhower began landing operations on Sicily early this morning. The landings were preceded by Allied air attack. Allied naval forces escorted the assault forces and bombarded the coast defenses during the assault.

The Algiers radio, in an English-language broadcast to North America at 12:40 a.m. today, said that Allied forces had landed on the rocky western tip of Sicily, 260 miles from Rome. The broadcast was recorded by U.S. government monitors.

The broadcast said the landings were made in good weather, with German and Italian Air Forces providing “fierce” opposition. In anticipation of the assault, the island’s Italian-German defenders blew up harbor installations, the broadcast said.

‘Softened up’ by air attack

A heavy attack was carried out by planes of the Northwest African Air Force and the Middle East Air Command for nearly two weeks, reaching blitz proportions in the last week, when a round-the-clock assault blasted Axis air bases and communication centers with hundreds of tons of bombs. This came to a furious climax yesterday and last night.

The Allied naval force that escorted the invading troops pounded the formidable defenses of Sicily with salvos of shells while infantrymen, their bayonets twinkling in the starlight raced ashore from landing crafts. Many tanks were landed.

Sicily, largest island in the Mediterranean, has a population of just under 4,000,000 persons and has been strongly fortified, specially along the southern coast, since 1939. The coasts are heavily mined and beaches are covered by batteries of artillery that fire from hills.

French urged to be calm

Gen. Eisenhower’s announcement to the French people, which was sent by radio, asked them to remain calm and not to expose themselves to reprisals through “present rash actions.”

Many of the troops involved in the invasion of Sicily are veterans of the Tunisian campaign.

Military men here expect very heavy fighting. The Germans are known to have reinforced the island comparatively recently, and despite the prolonged aerial bombardment, strong fortifications remain to be overcome.

Many military objectives were hit by U.S. and British bombers during the two weeks’ attack on the island. The main weight of the bombing at night was directed against the airfields, particularly at the one at Gerbini, which was attacked day and night.

News of the landing was given out at a press conference at Allied Force Headquarters. The aerial bombardment was most intense in the closing stages of the operation and was coordinated with a naval attack on the outer defenses of the island. This continued while Allied fleets steamed to the shores. Thousands of explosives were poured on the pillboxes that form the islands first line of defense.

Washington gets word

Washington –
First intimation that an important military announcement was impending came shortly after 11 o’clock last night, when press relations officers of the War Department telephoned newspapermen to expect a statement at 11:55 p.m.

However, it was several minutes after midnight when a high-ranking officer of the Army handed out the brief communiqué from Gen. Eisenhower announcing the invasion of Sicily.

There was no indication at the War Department exactly where the landings took place, but a military spokesman said that there must have been landings at many places. Principal objectives in the campaign, of course, would be Palermo, with its splendid harbor on the north of the island, and Messina, across the narrow strait from Italy.

It was indicated that the landings were made under cover of a fierce air and naval bombardment.

There was no indication as to the size of the amphibious forces which dashed ashore on Sicily this morning. However, there was some information of the strength of the island’s defenders.

It was estimated that there were 11-13 enemy divisions there, of which 9-10 were Italian and 2-3 were German.

That the conquest of Sicily will be no simple task was seen in the size of these defending forces and in the rugged terrain of the island.

However, in the aerial pounding which has taken place since the successful conclusion of the Tunisian campaign, Sicily’s defenses have undoubtedly been considerably softened, particularly her airports.

Bombs tore Sicily before invasion

Allied fliers ripped airfields, communications and plants in week-long blitz

Allied HQ, North Africa – (July 9, by wireless)
Swarms of Allied bombers maintained their round-the-clock pounding of Axis air bases in Sicily, and formations of fighter-bombers, including new A-36s which are also fitted as dive bombers, hammered transport, communications and industrial plants on the besieged island yesterday as the great Allied aerial offensive centered on Sicily for the sixth straight day.

The new A-36 fighter-bomber, which was developed from North American’s P-51 Mustang fighter, is the newest “plane of all work.” It is used as both a dive and glide bomber and takes part in strafing missions as well. The Mustang is supposed to be the world’s most effective fighter under 15,000 feet and one of the fastest fighters ever built. It is believed that the A-36 is faster than either the Warhawk or Hurricane, principal American and British fighter-bombers used in this theater until the introduction of the A-36. The new fighter-bomber is flown by American squadrons of the Northwest African Air Force.

The key airfields of Sicily at Gerbini, Comiso, Sciacca and Catania were attacked heavily yesterday after being pounded the night before. Hits were scored on a railroad junction and power station by fighter-bombers. A small schooner was sunk off the Sicilian coast by Lightnings that riddled it with cannon shells and machine-gun bullets.

Once again, Field Marshal Gen. Albert Kesselring, chief of the Axis air defenders in the area, held back his main fighter strength. Only about 60 enemy pursuit planes were sighted by wave after wave of British-American planes and of these, 10 were destroyed. Nine Allied planes are missing from the operations.

Since last Saturday, when both the Tactical and Strategic Air Forces of the Northwest African Air Force first concentrated on Sicily, 125 Axis planes have been destroyed. 44 Allied planes have been lost in that period.

A total of 328 enemy aircraft has been shot down in combat since the fall of Pantelleria against 99 Allied planes missing.

One by one, the principal enemy airfields were blanketed with bombs again yesterday, and the central airfield at Gerbini was pounded by strong formations of Liberators. Blast shelters there were “thoroughly covered” by bombs from Flying Fortresses and Mitchells that followed over the target.

About 20 Me 109s attacked the first Fortress formation over the target while the bombers were making their run. One enemy fighter was destroyed. Later in the day, other Fortress groups encountered no opposition. While Fortresses and Mitchells were concentrating on attacks on the main airfield, Marauders escorted by Lightnings assaulted satellite fields. Two of the fields were covered with bomb bursts, several direct hits were scored on aircraft in dispersal areas.

Heavy bombers of the U.S. Air Force based in the Middle East blasted Catania yesterday. The railroad station, factories, locomotive repair shops and warehouses were bombed. A number of explosions and many fires resulted.

A U.S. 9th Air Force communiqué said yesterday that crew members who bailed out of two Liberators of a force which attacked Catania, Sicily, Thursday, “were machine-gunned by enemy fighters,” an Associated Press dispatch from Cairo stated.

Wednesday, U.S. Middle East bombers made a very heavy attack on the Gerbini Air Base and its satellite fields.

Mitchells made their sixth raid in six days on the important Axis landing ground at Comiso, dropping a heavy load of bombs on dispersal areas. These same areas had been bombed earlier by Bostons and Baltimores of the South African Air Force. They started nine fires and scored a direct hit on one large building.

Other formations of Mitchells laid four patterns of bombs across Biscari Airfield and another on administration buildings. The wreckage of the administration building was burning fiercely when the bombers left and there was another large fire on the north side of the field.

Bostons of the Royal Air Force bombed Sciacca Wednesday night. Crews reported a huge orange-colored explosion and fires. Several hours later, Baltimores of the RAF and American Bostons escorted by Warhawks attacked the field and buildings. One explosion was observed in a dispersal area in an olive grove.

About 40 enemy fighters engaged the Warhawks. Three Axis planes were destroyed, one of them by Lt. R. B. Spear of Waterbury, Connecticut.

Wellingtons, the sturdy medium bombers that bear the night aerial offensive, raided the Comiso, Catania and Gerbini Airfields Wednesday night. Two explosions were seen at Gerbini, where administration buildings were set afire. Dispersal areas, runways and headquarters buildings in the southeast corner of the field at Comiso were damaged by bomb bursts.

Fundamentally a fighter, the new A-36 is able to defend itself effectively during bombing and strafing missions. It is equipped with bomb racks and dive brakes. In yesterday’s raids, it made extremely successful attacks on military targets in central Sicily.

The A-36s scored direct hits on a power station, bombed a railroad junction and strafed warehouses and buildings. Two trains were attacked near Licata and Bega Norro and both locomotives were blown up. The converted Mustangs also strafed a convoy of 20 troop-laden trucks, setting at least eight of them afire.

Other formations of A-36s “freelanced” over west-central Sicily. At Canicattì, a hail of small-arms fire from rooftops greeted U.S. planes. Lt. Harry Dorris of Harrisburg, Illinois, reported seeing his tracer bullets going through walls and windows of a radio station there.

Meanwhile, Lightnings sped over southern Italy at treetop height, strafing radio stations at Catania and Cap Assero. One small schooner was sunk and another 100 feet long was damaged 10 miles off Catania. Formations of Lightnings also attacked military targets on Capo Murro di Porco south of Syracuse.

The enemy’s retaliation to all these blows was limited to attempts by two Ju 88s to reach the North African coast. Neither of them made it.

MUNDA HAMMERED
Planes, warships, guns batter Japanese at New Georgia base

Ground push gains; enemy’s counterblows to ward off assault are declared weak
By Tillman Durdin

ROOSEVELT VOICES DOUBT ON MAKING LEWIS OBEY WLB
He asks at press conference how to force someone to sign against his will

Order to ward is cited; he declares he could take property but probably could not seize union
By Samuel B. Bledsoe

June losses to U-boats lowest since we entered the conflict

SICILY ‘SOFTENED’ BY AIR POUNDINGS
Concentrated Allied attacks began with capture of Pantelleria June 11

Axis planes knocked out; our raiders also hampered island’s supply by attacks on links with mainland

Sicily was singled out for intense mass bombings by the Allies after the end of the Tunisian campaign in May. Previously there had been destructive raids on the Italian island, but little concentrated bombing until Pantelleria had been taken. The capture of that Mediterranean isle was the signal for the all-out onslaught on Sicily.

This began on June 11, the very day that Pantelleria fell. The principal objectives were the main airfields and the tangled lines of communications that form a network through Sicily. One of the first cities to feel the might of the combined Allied Air Forces was Palermo.

On the first day, 400 U.S. heavy bombers unloaded their racks on a thoroughly frightened city. Many German planes rose to the defense, but the Allied fighters that accompanied the bombers just about cleared the skies.

The Comiso and Milo Airfields were next. Reports from the returning pilots indicated that many Axis planes had been destroyed on the ground and that the attacking force so outnumbered the defenders that it was practically no contest.

Malta joins in attack

At about the same time, other bombers were converging on Sicily from Northwest Africa and the Middle East. Royal Air Force squadrons from Malta applied pressure.

After incessant attacks on the numerous and well-fortified airfields including Boccadifalco in West Sicily and Borizzo, the attack was shifted to the harbor facilities on the Strait of Messina, where the train ferry from the Italian mainland has its terminus. The extent of the damage at this point was great.

Meanwhile, heavy bombers showered destruction on the numerous mountain strongholds that spot the island. In one day, Allied pilots reported that they had knocked 73 Axis planes out of the skies during these attacks.

While this was going on, reports from European sources said that thousands of civilians were being evacuated from the Sicilian towns, especially Messina.

Axis shipping blasted

Aside from the damage done to airfields and principal cities, one of the most damaging blows to the Axis was the day-by-day destruction of ships carrying reserves, armaments and supplies to the besieged island. Practically every port was subjected to intense bombings in the around-the-clock raids.

One of the main targets in recent raids was the natural harbor east of Palermo at Termini Imerese, where a chemical plant produces carbon sulfide. Large refineries and stores are located at this point.

All of Sicily’s ports were fortified strongly against possible invasion several years ago and were again strengthened after June 1940, when the first Allied bombings started after Italy entered the war.

Air Corps surgeon dies in North Africa

Gen. Arnold reports death to Capt. Ben Robbins’ family

AXIS KEPT GUESSING ON SICILY INVASION
Propagandists said ‘weary’ Allied troops were being treated to a ‘rest’

Enemy caught napping; foe had expected action, but did not succeed in picking the time and place

Nine hours before this morning’s announcement of the start of Anglo-American-Canadian operations against Sicily, the German DNB Agency said in a dispatch for European consumption that one reason for recent Allied troop movements in the Mediterranean area was a desire on the part of the Allied commanders to “rest the battle-weary troops” and remove them “beyond the range of German and Italian bombers,” the Office of War Information reported.

A survey of Axis press and radio propaganda this week by the OWI indicated that the Germans and Italians had been expecting some sort of action against Europe, but there was no indication that they expected the next blow to come against Sicily or that it would come so soon.

An hour and 20 minutes of silence after the announcement of the Anglo-American-Canadian landings on Sicily, Axis propagandists made their first mention of the operation, the Office of War Information reported this morning.

The Nazi Transocean Agency, operating for foreign consumption only, made two bare mentions of the story, in German-language telegraphic code transmissions.

Not yet having developed a “line,” the Transocean Agency, as is customary for it in such situations, carried the story straight, mentioning London and Washington announcements of the landings.

Up to 2 a.m. EWT, however, neither the U.S. foreign broadcast intelligence service nor the OWI monitoring representatives overseas had reported any Axis mention of the landings on any voice broadcast. There was no indication that either the Italian home audience or the German home audience had heard from their own broadcasts about the landings, although United Nations transmitters were telling the story to them.

One indication that the Italians did not expect so immediate a blow came in a German-language broadcast to Europe by the British radio at 6 o’clock last night. The broadcast quoted a report that Carlo Scorza, Secretary of the Fascist Party, had called Fascist officials from Sicily to Rome for “instructions.”

Ship movements and troop concentrations, easily established by aerial reconnaissance, gave the Axis a clue that something was afoot, but the Axis propagandists were unable to put their finger on just what was about to happen.

For propaganda purposes, the DNB dispatch went on to say that the troop movements were being carried out for the added reason of diminishing “the constant clashes between American and British troops.”

Following weeks of Nazi reports of Allied ship movements, the German Transocean Agency, in a wireless telegraphic-code dispatch for American consumption today, said that a big Allied convoy had passed through the Strait of Gibraltar Thursday without stopping at Gibraltar. The dispatch, however, did not hazard a guess as to the destination of the convoy.

Italian propagandists this week also anticipated some sort of action against Italy without knowing just where and when the move would come.

The Fascist scare propaganda line for domestic consumption was clearly delineated by Premier Benito Mussolini in a speech released in Italy last Monday, 11 days after Mussolini had delivered the speech before a meeting of the Fascist Party directorate in Rome. Mussolini told the Italian people that a defeat would relegate Italy to the position of “fourth or fifth place among the great powers.”

ARMY DECORATES 33 NEW YORKERS
12 New Jerseyites also distinguished themselves in North Africa

One award posthumous; son of William Mulhall of the Bronx mortally wounded trying to rescue officer

U.S. PLANES RAID IN TUNGTING AREA
Japanese barges bombed and field strafed by Americans in central China

Burma bases attacked; our fliers and British in wide aerial assaults – Haiphong suburbs reported hit

ARMY KEEPS CURB ON HAWAIIAN LABOR
Military governor says workers on war projects are like frontline soldiers

Court decision quoted; Gen. Richardson stresses ruling on California Japanese as justifying stand

Sends 1,219 parcels to war prisoners

Committee acting through Red Cross via Geneva

SEAFARING WOMEN ASK JOBS ON SHIPS
Delegation from union pleads with Adm. Land to restore them to Merchant Marine

‘Battlefront,’ he says; ‘It’s our service,’ their leader retorts, demanding right to put training into war work

ASKS EARLY VOTE ON EQUAL RIGHTS
Professional women’s board wires plea for action by Congress in September

Backs world planning; business urged at convention to prepare to give jobs to servicemen after war

Mellett drops out as OWI film head

But he still holds place as one of President’s six administrative aides

Editor denies acting as Japanese agent

Surrenders at U.S. court and pleads innocent

Editorial: Back to the grassroots

Editorial: The meat shortage