U.S. is hopeful Axis fugitives will be barred
But efforts to trap war criminals may meet some opposition
By John A. Reichmann, United Press staff writer
…
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
With the U.S. Navy in the Mediterranean – (by wireless, delayed)
Just before daylight on the morning we landed in Sicily, I lay down for a few minutes’ nap, knowing the pre-dawn lull wouldn’t last long once the sun came up. And sure enough, just as the first faint light was beginning to come, bedlam broke loose for miles all around us. The air was suddenly filled with sound and danger and tension, and the gray-lighted sky became measled with thousands of the dark puffs of ack-ack.
Enemy planes had come to dive-bomb our ships. They got a hot reception from our thousands of guns, and a still hotter one from our own planes, which had anticipated them and were waiting out beyond.
The scene that emerged from the veil of night was a moving one. Our small assault craft were all up and down the beach, unloading and dashing off again. Ships of many sizes moved toward the shore, and others moved back away from it. Still other ships, so many they were uncountable, spread out over the water as far as you could see. The biggest lay far off, waiting their turn to come in. They made a solid wall on the horizon behind us.
Between that wall and the shoreline, the sea writhed with shipping. Through this hodgepodge, and running out at right angles to the beach like a beeline highway through a forest, was a single solid line of shore-bound barges, carrying tanks. They chugged along in Indian file, about 50 yards apart – slowly, yet with such calm relentlessness that you felt it would take some power greater than any we know to divert them.
Italians blast away, miss
The airplanes left, and then other things began to happen. Italian guns opened up on the hills back of the beach. At first the shells dropped on the beach, making yellow clouds of dust as they exploded. Then they started for the ships. They never did hit any of us, but they came so close it made your head swim. They tried one target after another, and one of the targets happened to be us.
The moment the shooting started, we had got quickly underway – not to run off, but to be in motion and consequently harder to hit. They fired at us just once. The shell struck the water 50 yards behind us and threw up a geyser of spray. It made a terrific flat quacking sound as it burst, exactly like a mortar shell exploding on land.
Our ship wasn’t supposed to do much firing, but that was too much for the admiral. He ordered our guns into action, and for the next ten minutes we sounded like Edgewood Arsenal blowing up.
A few preliminary shots gave us our range, and then we started pouring shells into the town and into the gun positions in the hills. The whole vessel shook with every salvo, and scorched wadding came raining down on the deck like cinders.
We traveled at full speed, parallel to the shore and about a mile out, while shooting.
Ships’ shooting thrills Ernie
For the first time, I found out how they do something like this. Two destroyers and our ship were doing the shelling, while all the other ships in close to land were scurrying around to make themselves hard to hit, turning in tight circles, leaving half-moon wakes behind them. The sea actually looked funny with all those semi-circular white wakes splattered over it and everything twisting around in such deliberate confusion.
We sailed at top speed for about three miles, firing several times a minute. For some reason, I was as thrilled with our unusual speed as with the noise of the steel we were pouring out. If you watched closely, you could follow our shells almost as far as the shore, and then pick up the gray smoke puffs after they hit.
At the end of our run, we would turn so quickly that we would heel far over, and then start right back. The two destroyers would do the same. We would meet them about halfway. It was just like three teams of horses plowing a cornfield – back and forth, back and forth – the plows taking alternate rows.
This constant shifting would put us closest to shore on one run, and farthest away a couple of runs later. At times, we were right up on the edge of pale-green water, too shallow to go any closer.
Barges go in under
During all this action I stood on a big steel ammunition box marked “Keep Off,” surrounded by guns on three sides, with a smokestack at my back. It was as safe as anyplace else, it kept me out of the way, and it gave me an $8.80 view of everything.
Finally, the Italian fire dwindled off. Then the two destroyers went in as close to shore as they could get and resumed their methodical runs back and forth. Only this time they weren’t firing. They were belching terrific clouds of black smoke out of their stacks. The smoke wouldn’t seem to settle, and they had to make four runs before the beach was completely hidden. Then, in this blinding screen, our tank-carrying barges and more infantry boats made for the shore.
Before long, you could see the tanks let go at the town. They only had to fire a couple of salvos before the town surrendered.
That was the end of the beach fighting in our sector of the American front. Our biggest job was over.
‘Green verdant Sicily’ is really a barren waste
By John Gunther, North American Newspaper Alliance
With the British 8th Army in Sicily, Italy – (July 28, by wireless, delayed)
Anyone who thinks Sicily is a green verdant isle should visit this sector of the Catania front where the Germans are fiercely resisting tried British troops. Perched on a cropped hilltop 1,000 yards from the enemy lines, we can survey a broad arc embracing almost all of the Catania plain.
As far as the eye can see, there is not a single spot of green and not a sign of water. The dusty fields have been harvested. They are covered with dry, tawny stubble that looks like Nebraska during a heat wave.
I asked an officer at headquarters in a deserted barn where we were. He replied:
We aren’t anywhere. This is a point on a map, nothing more.
The Germans up here are attempting infiltration tactics at night. They cross no man’s land in small groups, get among or behind British advance guards and try to toss grenades or shoot up posts with Tommy guns and then retreat into the darkness. Some of these enemy raiders speak English. They call out in good Oxford accents:
Sergeant major, who goes there? What unit is this?
They hope to get information this way, but they don’t often get it.
Main enemy position
The German defenses appear threatening in this particular area which I reached after a long tour of the front. It is one of the enemy’s main positions.
One officer told me:
I should call the situation rather stationary from the big point of view but we certainly are kept busy.
He described a British battalion which was isolated for 23 hours. It could not be relieved; no supplies could be sent up and nobody could be evacuated except a few men who were seriously wounded. Violent German shellfire prevented relief units from reaching the battalion.
An officer with a ripe Scottish accent commented:
It was a hellish business, mark you. Our troops in this sector are being carefully rested before new operations begun. In this kind of fighting, a man is virtually useless after eight or ten days in the frontlines. He must be given a chance to recuperate and replenish his energy.
British exposed on plain
So, the general lull and stalemate continues with the British pecking away and maintaining steady pressure but not yet attempting a full offensive. As in other areas of this general front, the enemy has cover on high ground whereas we are exposed in the plain below.
German reinforcements are believed still pouring in. The British are tired, largely because of the intense, pitiless heat and the lack of sleep. They didn’t get much sleep at night because German artillery keeps busy and infiltration parties cause confusion.
This is not like the desert. Digging in is very difficult because of the stubborn, stony nature of the ground. By day, rest is almost impossible because there is no shade.
An officer said:
My men are shag tired, that’s the word for it, shag tired.
A group of us manage to spend an hour swimming at a beach near Catania nearly every day and we see some remarkable sights from the waterfront. Those elegant folk accustomed in former days to loll lazily on the Mediterranean beaches should get a quick eyeful of this one. It is not merely a beach with a fine aquamarine water, but it is also a perfect ringside seat for one of the most striking shows on earth.
Find ‘chutist’s grave
We first got the idea that swimming at the beach had unusual elements when – the first time we were there – our conducting officers happened to find a couple of grenades lying around. They thoughtfully exploded them and tossed them aside. Next, we saw a grave of an unidentified British parachutists a few yards from the pellucid surf. He had been buried where he fell presumably in the first landings. His parachute gear was set up in a kind of tombstone.
Then it became apparent that we had accidentally stumbled on a sheltered cove which commands an absolutely clear view of German-held Catania, a few miles away. We saw Spitfires rolling in nice decision patterns above the town and we poked through long reeds along the shore, wondering how close Nazi patrols were.
Battle of Sicily war writer’s dream
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance
With the Canadians in central Sicily, Italy – (July 24, delayed)
A dramatic change took place this afternoon in the shape of the battle for Sicily.
After advancing northwest for 100 miles from the Pachino Peninsula in 14 days, the Canadians suddenly wheeled right from the central part of the island and moved due east in a flareup of the most spectacular fighting they have experienced in the campaign.
Resembles Tunisian campaign
Gen. Alexander’s plan of campaigning naturally cannot be revealed but as I stood on a mountain top this evening, I watched the Canadians moving eastward, battling fiercely for a town and later fanning out toward the mountain top. The direction of the Canadians was easily visible from my point of vantage.
Beyond the rolling foothills of Mt. Etna, the famous mountain itself hung like a shimmering backdrop in the heat haze of a blazing day. Beyond the gun muzzles of the Canadians is Mt. Etna and eight miles beyond that lies the sea.
On the south side of the mountain, the British are developing a situation comparable with the next final stages of the Tunisian battle. The Germans are steadily being pushed back into the northeast corner of the island and the Allied forces are converging on the enemy’s defenses perimeter.
Maps hardly necessary
This campaign is a war correspondent’s dream. From commanding mountain tops, an observer can see not only the complete battleground, including the artillery of both sides and movements of tanks and infantry, but also the final objective of an advance.
Allied planes supporting the attack swooped down to the level of my vantage point and beyond loomed Mt. Etna, the south side of which I saw a few days ago while observing the battle for the Simeto Bridge. Printed maps are hardly necessary in this campaign, for each mountain top affords a view of a natural relief map.
Today’s action started promptly at 3 p.m. when the biggest concentration so far in the Sicilian campaign opened up suddenly against the German positions. War correspondents had been advised in advance and early in the afternoon I drove up the mountain to the observation post.
Allied air force strikes
This town is protected by sheer cliffs which were conquered by the Canadians last Tuesday (July 20). My jeep had difficulty in managing the terraced road to the town. It was full of sharp hairpin turns and we were eating our own dust all the way, I finally went the last lap on foot, climbing the cobbled streets built for mule traffic until I reached the topmost peak, crowned by an ancient turret reputedly built by the Normans.
From here the entire battle scene lay before me. After 45 minutes of creeping artillery barrage, a Canadian regiment advanced behind tanks.
At this point, the Allied air force swept over the German positions. I counted 50 planes in five minutes, and probably there were many more. Meanwhile, the Canadian artillery got the range of the German posts and our troops swept through.
I saw the flash of a German anti-tank gun, followed in a minute by a heavy explosion at the same point. The German gun was silent from then on.
As darkness fell, the Canadians had cleaned up and were advancing toward frightening heights guarding the approaches to the east. The hardest part of the battle remained for the hours of darkness. The Canadians were scaling cliffs which made the cliffs of Québec City look like curbstones and Gen. Wolfe’s storied victory seem like a second-class affair.
As I write this by the light of a curtained military truck the valley below is dotted with burning tanks and other vehicles. Shells are still screaming across the valley with a sound not unlike Benny Goodman’s top note. Canadian troops are still pouring into the valley. Tomorrow’s dawn will have a bloody story to tell.
Jap pillboxes are duck soup for tough
Special Army unit uses grenades and cold steel, neither of which the Nipponese like
By George E. Jones, United Press staff writer
…
Sicily to get U.S. supplies
Island first enemy territory to receive aid
Washington (UP) –
An innovation in Lend-Lease procedure which would make Sicily the first enemy territory to receive American supplies and equipment may be announced soon, official sources said today.
President Roosevelt discussed the steps being taken by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to help the Italian people yesterday while other government officials went forward with plans to put the whole undertaking on a business basis.
Meanwhile, Washington was outwardly calm, in contrast to the apparent tension caused in London by the urgent early morning cabinet meeting there yesterday.
Many rumors heard
Rumors raced through this capital and there was a feeling that momentous events were in the making, but there was no exceptional activity by any of the high-ranking government officials.
The more or less customary Friday Cabinet meeting at the White House was not held and department heads appeared to be concerned only with their usual wartime duties.
The Lend-Lease arrangements with Sicily would presumably be through AMGOT, the Allied military government there. The first movies would be through the military commanders.
But after military operations have ceased in Sicily, the Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation would probably take over. Eventually, some stable Italian government may be developed for the handling of supplies.
Supplies to be sold
Lend-Lease supplies in Sicily, except for those used for urgent relief needs, will not be given away but will be sold or bartered. The Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation has reported that the great bulk of its operations in Tunisia has been conducted on a commercial basis rather than on a direct contribution basis.
Mr. Roosevelt, discussing a cable he had just received from Gen. Eisenhower, told his press and radio conference yesterday that supplies for the civilian population in Sicily are being furnished from a stockpile in North Africa. They included pasta, sugar, flour, milk, olive oil, meat, soup, matches and medicines. Public heath officers are going into Sicily and agriculture experts are helping to organize the island’s food resources.
Völkischer Beobachter (August 1, 1943)
Gemeinsame Angst vor dem Partner
Washington sieht Moskau nicht deutlich genug
Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung
Stockholm, 31. Juli –
Schon der Abschiedsartikel der Times für den zum Stellvertretenden Außenkommissar ernannten Londoner Botschafter Maisky zeigte, daß man in London und Washington die Furcht vor dem sowjetrussischen Verbündeten nicht loswerden kann. Die Times sprach von Gefahren, die aus einer Uneinigkeit zwischen den Westmächten einerseits und der Sowjetunion anderseits entstehen könnten, und meinte, daß es nun höchste Zeit sei, sich für eine Politik der wirklich guten Zusammenarbeit zu entschließen, die in erster Linie darin zu bestehen habe, daß sich die Bundespartner endlich vorher und in aller Form über ihre nächsten militärischen oder politischen Absichten unterrichten.
Wie aber denkt man sich in England eins Verwirklichung dieses Wunsches, wenn sich nicht einmal England und die USA. in wichtigen Punkten ihrer Politik einig werden können? Sie haben sich in dem Ziel, die Achsenmächte zu vernichten, zusammengefunden, wie sie aber darangehen wollen, welche Methoden und welche Grundsätze sie dabei anwenden wollen, darüber können sie sich schon heute, da die Vernichtung der Achsenmächte jedoch nichts anderes ist als ein alliierter Wunschtraum, nicht einigen. Die Entwicklung in Italien hat, wie bei den Ereignissen in Nordafrika, schon dieses Problem wieder aktuell gemacht. Daß der amerikanische General Eisenhower auch hier wieder alle Vollmachten erhielt, um Entscheidungen nicht nur militärischer, sondern vor allem auch politischer Art zu treffen, ruft besonders in den Kreisen der englischen Linken Mißtrauen und Verärgerung hervor. Sie erinnern sich an den noch immer nicht beseitigten Konflikt in Nordafrika, fürchten ein eigenmächtiges Eingreifen der amerikanischen Regierung und sprechen, wie der Londoner Vertreter von Dagens Nyheter schreibt, bereits offen von „englisch-amerikanischen Gegensätzen in der italienischen Frage.“
Besonders bemerkenswert daran ist aber, daß flicht nur Labourkreise derartige Befürchtungen hegen, sondern – nach der Ansicht des schwedischen Beobachters – auch zahlreiche Londoner Politiker, die in verschiedenen Presse- und politischen Kommentaren zur italienischen Frage hervorheben, daß es:
…zweifellos verschiedene Meinungsdifferenzen gibt zwischen den britischen und den amerikanischen Ansichten über das italienische Problem und die politischen Fragen Europas überhaupt. Diese Gegensätze haben sicherlich kaum eine Bedeutung für die tagesaktuelle Lage, aber sie können möglicherweise späterhin Bedeutung bekommen.
Eigene Absichten der Sowjets
Beunruhigend in den Augen englischer und amerikanischer Beobachter ist, daß man in Moskau noch ganz andere Ansichten zu vertreten scheine. Erst jetzt hat, wie der Vertreter von Stockholms Tidningen in Neuyork schreibt, Stalin die USA. und Großbritannien:
…darüber aufgeklärt, daß die Sowjetunion die Absicht hat, unabhängig von ihren Verbündeten Schritte und Maßnahmen für die Regelung nach dem Kriege zu ergreifen im Hinblick auf Ost-, Zentraleuropa und den Balkan, wenn nicht überhaupt ganz Europa.
Stalin scheine – so stellt man in diplomatischen Kreisen Washingtons erschrocken fest – die Absicht zu haben, „eine europäische Ordnung nach seinen eigenen Richtlinien und unter der Führung Moskaus zu errichten.“
Obwohl man, wie die Ausführungen des ehemaligen USA.-Botschafters in Moskau, Davies, gezeigt haben, selbstverständlich bereit war, der Sowjetunion das Recht auf „eigene Sicherheitszonen in Europa“ zuzubilligen, scheint die Tatsache aber, daß Stalin anscheinend nicht bereit ist, sich etwas von der Gnade der Westmächte „zubilligen“ zu lassen, sondern sich eigenmächtig das nehmen wird, was er haben will, in den USA. und in England peinliche Gefühle hervorzurufen. Während die Iswestija einen scharfen Artikel über das ost- und südosteuropäische Problem veröffentlichte, der, da er im Moskauer Rundfunk in englischer Sprache wiedergegeben wurde, ausdrücklich an die Westmächte gerichtet war und sich gegen die alliierten Pläne, Staatenbünde in Ost- und Südosteuropa zu schaffen, wandte, melden sich also in den USA. Stimmen, die die Sowjetunion bitten, sich mehr um ihre Verbündeten im Westen zu kümmern und ein wenig Rücksicht auf die Wünsche Englands und der USA. zu nehmen. Diese „Ermahnungen“ gehen selbstverständlich nur von einzelnen Politikern aus, die noch dazu in einem gewissen Gegensatz zu der offiziellen Regierungspolitik stehen. Daß Roosevelt und Churchill es schon längst aufgegeben haben, die Sowjetunion zurechtzuweisen, ist bekannt. Sie haben in ihrer Fügsamkeit allen Moskauer Wünschen gegenüber ihrer eigenen Atlantik-Charta bereits heute durch eigenen Willen ein unrühmliches Ende bereitet. Immerhin aber ist es ganz interessant zu wissen, daß man in den USA. dennoch im ungewissen über die Moskauer Politik ist, weil man nicht weiß, worauf sie hinausläuft und wie weit sie gehen wird.
Politik des Nachgebens
Der als „fortschrittlicher Republikaner“ bekannte Senator Nye drückte sich vor einiger Zeit so aus, daß Stalin leider noch immer die Welt über seine Kriegsziele in Unkenntnis schweben lasse. Was er bisher darüber enthüllt habe, sei ein „beunruhigendes Zeichen dafür, daß es nicht die Grundsätze der Atlantik-Charta zu enthalten scheine, sondern nur seine traditionelle Realpolitik.“ Wenn Stalins Außenpolitik, so stellte Senator Nye fest:
…nach wie vor im krassen Gegensatz zu unseren Grundsätzen steht, für die wir kämpfen, kann er nicht erwarten, daß wir miteinander einig bleiben…
Die Times hat also recht. Es gibt Konfliktstoffe zwischen den Westmächten und der Sowjetunion. Die Times forderte eine Politik der wirklichen guten Zusammenarbeit. Das kann nur bedeuten, daß England und die USA. den Forderungen Moskaus gegenüber immer nachgiebiger werden und noch immer größere Zugeständnisse machen müssen. Denn daß Stalin nicht gewillt ist, sich von seinen Verbündeten etwas vorschreiben zu lassen, das hat er nun schon oft genug gezeigt und ausgesprochen.
Alle Durchbruchsversuche an der deutschen Abwehrfront gescheitert
Voller Abwehrerfolg auf Sizilien
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 31. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
In den Hauptkampfabschnitten der Ostfront nahm gestern die Kampftätigkeit an Stärke wieder zu. Gegen unsere Stellungen im Orelbogen führte der Feind neue schwere Angriffe zusammengefaßter Infanterie- und Panzerkräfte. Sie sind in wechselvollen Kämpfen unter hohen feindlichen Verlusten gescheitert.
Am Kubanbrückenkopf und am Ladogasee griff der Feind wieder mit starken Kräften an. Westlich Krymskaja brach der Angriff mehrerer Sowjetdivisionen vor unseren Linien zusammen. Südlich des Ladogasees wurden die mit starker Artillerie und Schlachtfliegerunterstützung angreifenden Sowjets abgeschlagen und feindliche Kräfte, die in die Front eingedrungen waren, vernichtet.
In den beiden letzten Tagen zerstörten unsere Truppen an der Ostfront 148 Panzer.
Ein Unterseeboot versenkte im Schwarzen Meer einen Tanker von 7.000 BRT.
Auf Sizilien erzielten gestern unsere Truppen bei den heftigen Kämpfen im Mittelabschnitt der Front einen vollen Abwehrerfolg. Alle feindlichen, zum Teil mit frischen Kräften geführten Durchbruchsversuche wurden unter sehr hohen Verlusten abgewiesen. Über dem Mittelmeerraum wurden 16 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
Im Kampf gegen den feindlichen Nachschub nach Sizilien beschädigte die Luftwaffe einen großen Transporter schwer und erzielte Bombentreffer zwischen Landungsbooten, in Treibstofflagern und Anlagen des Hafens Avola an der Südostküste der Insel.
Feindliche Fliegerverbände griffen am gestrigen Tage die Stadt Kassel und einige Orte in den besetzten Westgebieten an. Sie bombardierten in der vergangenen Nacht die Stadt Remscheid. Die Bewohner der angegriffenen Städte hatten Verluste. Schwere Zerstörungen und Brandschäden entstanden vor allem in den Wohngebieten von Remscheid. Luftverteidigungskräfte vernichteten nach bisher vorliegenden Meldungen insgesamt 60 Flugzeuge, meist viermotorige Bomber.
Deutsche Unterseeboote versenkten im Atlantik drei Schiffe mit 15.000 BRT. und im Eismeer einen Bewacher. Bei der Abwehr feindlicher Luftangriffe schossen sie im Atlantik ein nordamerikanisches Luftschiff und ein Flugzeug ab.
Kampf um beherrschende Höhenstellungen
dnb. Berlin, 31. Juli –
An der sizilianischen Front entwickelten sich am 30. Juli am mittleren und nördlichen Abschnitt größere Kampfhandlungen, während es an dem Südostflügel, vor allem im Abschnitt von Catania, bis auf geringe Spähtrupptätigkeit völlig ruhig blieb. Im nördlichen Küstenabschnitt versuchten sich die nur zögernd vorfühlenden nordamerikanischen Infanterieverbände an die neuen, günstigen Abwehrlinien der deutschen Truppen heranzutasten. Der einzige aus diesen Bewegungen heraus entstehende stärkere Vorstoß feindlicher Kräfte, der in den frühen Morgenstunden nach heftiger Artillerievorbereitung in Gang kam, blieb jedoch schon vor unseren Stellungen im Abwehrfeuer liegen. Den heftigsten Angriff führte der Gegner im mittleren Abschnitt mit starken Kräften, er begleitete den mit Infanterie, Panzern und Artillerie geführten Stoß durch örtlich begrenzte Entlastungsangriffe. Das Ziel der Unternehmungen war die Wegnahme beherrschender Höhenstellungen. Die Angriffe scheiterten jedoch unter empfindlichen Verlusten für den Feind, so daß die Höhen nach Bereinigung örtlicher Einbrüche fest in unserer Hand blieben.