Roosevelt-Maximov meeting, 4:30 p.m.
The visit of the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires lasted at most 20 minutes and was presumably in the nature of a courtesy call.
The Pittsburgh Press (November 27, 1943)
STUTTGART RAIDED; YANKS RIP BREMEN
RAF drops 1,000 more tons on still-flaming Berlin
30,000 killed in German capital, reports to Sweden say
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer
…
Yanks smash two attacks near Venafro
British improve positions across Sangro near Italian coast
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer
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U.S. Fleet now includes over 40 plane carriers
Report by Knox indicates preparations underway for smashing assault on Jap homeland
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Aussies seize Jap fortress
Push beyond Sattelberg in New Guinea
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer
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Eisenhower report on Patton fails to close incident
Senate Military Committee asks further details before it will consider slapping case ended
Washington (UP) –
The personal report of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower today whetted, rather than satisfied, the Congressional appetite for more details on Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s slapping of an ailing soldier in a Sicilian field hospital.
Gen. Eisenhower’s report acknowledged that Gen. Patton was “guilty of reprehensible conduct” which might have merited his removal except that it apparently did not impair his efficiency as a military leader. It was submitted to the Senate yesterday along with a statement that Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson believed Gen. Eisenhower’s ruling was “right and proper.”
Seeks more details
The Senate Military Affairs Committee, which had asked Mr. Stimson for a full report, decided it wanted more details before it would agree. Committee Chairman Robert R. Reynolds (D-NC) and several other committee members declared that Mr. Stimson’s and Gen. Eisenhower’s statements “by no means close the matter.”
Some of the questions in the minds of committee members include:
- Are there other similar incidents in Gen. Patton’s background?
Gen. Eisenhower’s report revealed for the first time that Gen. Patton had berated two shell-shocked soldiers but slapped only one.
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Why wasn’t this incident, which occurred in August, reported by the War Department earlier?
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Why did Gen. Eisenhower’s Algiers headquarters issue a flat denial of knowledge of the affair when it was first reported last weekend?
The Algiers headquarters issued a denial Monday but confirmed the story the next day.
- Since Gen. Eisenhower’s decision against firing Gen. Patton was based on a finding that Gen. Patton’s own 7th Army troops felt “no great harm was done,” has subsequent publicity brought about the need for a new appraisal of Gen. Patton’s present efficiency?
To consider promotion
These questions, along with others, may be addressed to Mr. Stimson or some other War Department representative in executive session next Friday when the committee meets to consider Gen. Patton’s promotion from the permanent rank of colonel to that of major general. His present rank of lieutenant general is temporary.
Two service publications – The Army and Navy Journal and The Army and Navy Register – expressed disapproval of the Army’s handling of the affair. Both are unofficial but highly influential publications.
The Journal advocated editorially that Gen. Patton be relieved of his command. The Register regretted the suppression of the news at the time of the incident.
Brother comments
Other expressions of opinion on the Patton affair came yesterday from Congressmen, the top Protestant Church executive in the United States and Gen. Patton’s brother, a doctor.
Rep. Bernard W. Kearney (R-NY), a retired brigadier general of the New York National Guard, condemned Gen. Patton as “unfit and dangerous for duty.” His colleague, Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-NY) said Gen. Patton’s apology was enough and further controversy over the issue would undermine American morale.
Dr. William Barrow Pugh, Protestant official just back from a war-front tour, said “there is no excuse for a general striking a soldier.” He said he had an hour and a half interview with Gen. Patton, during which Gen. Patton had his Bible close at hand and frequently quoted from it.
In Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. C. D. Patton, the general’s brother, said Gen. Patton’s apology to the soldier was in effect an apology to the nation, and the public’s raking of the general over the coals afterward was unwarranted.
Stimson believes decision proper
Washington (UP) –
The following is the text of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson’s letter transmitting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s report of the Patton incident to the Senate Military Affairs Committee:
In sending you herewith the report requested by you on the incident involving Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., I wish to make clear certain basic principles which, from the beginning of the war, the War Department has followed because the Chief of Staff and I have considered adherence to them necessary to bring to our country, as quickly and with as little loss of life as possible, the ultimate victory in the great struggle being fought around the world.
In the first place, the greatest care was exercised in selecting the commanders of the distant theaters of war. The selected commander was then given the fullest authority to deal with all problems which might arise within his theater. Our principle in doing this was that the man on the ground knows the details of each such problem much better than we could know them in Washington. We then held – and hold – the theater commanders responsible for results.
Accordingly, Gen. Eisenhower is responsible for all matters of discipline within his theater. I am therefore sending you his report with the full confidence of the War Department that his sense of justice and fairness has resulted in his acting in this matter, as in all others, in the highest interest of his soldiers and his country.
The decision to weigh Lt. Gen. Patton’s great services to his country, in World War I and in World War II, from these shores to Casablanca and through Tunisia to triumph in Sicily, on the one hand, against an indefensible act on the other, was Gen. Eisenhower’s. As his report shows, Gen. Eisenhower in making his decision also considered the value to our country of Gen. Patton’s aggressive, winning leadership in the bitter battles which are to come before final victory.
I am confident that you will agree with me that Gen. Eisenhower’s decision, under these difficult circumstances, was right and proper.
Maniac sought in deaths of 3 on Ohio farm
Questioning of victims’ acquaintances fails to produce clue
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Lewis, Burke in contest on new coal pact
Southern operators’ chief refuses to budge in wage deadlock
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In Washington –
Latin American ‘boondoggle’ gets Wallace’s goat
Vice President promises official denial in apology for Nebraska Senator’s ‘shocking slur’ to neighbors
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Chinese forces surround Japs near Changteh
Yanks and Allied bombers wreck 31 enemy planes on Formosa
…
U.S. engineers work wonders in the jungle
Airstrips, sanitary camps replace old chaos
By Hal O’Flaherty
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‘The Japs can’t beat us,’ Gilberts veterans assert
James Roosevelt, Col. Carlson tell of ‘toughest job in Marine Corps history’
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer
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Background of news –
Analysis of the subsidy vote
By Jay G. Hayden. North American Newspaper Alliance
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Most shell-shocked victims soon returned to front
80-90% of men are cured quickly by special treatment, officer says
…
Navy rated slight favorite over Army
Edge comes from Penn game scores; Blaik, Whelchel are moanin’ low
West Point, New York (UP) –
A trail of tears from those arch-pessimists coaches Earl “Red” Blaik of Army and John “Billick” Whelchel of Navy brought the inescapable conclusion today that it is a tossup who will lose the traditional football clash between the service teams.
Both coaches are convinced that victory is wholly unlikely unless their teams receive a series of breaks or luck, each describing minutely the advantage enjoyed by the opponent.
Behind their verbal sparring, however, the two elevens, both rounding out their most successful seasons in years, are drilled to razor sharpness and with the inevitable inspiration that comes from playing against the other service school, should put on their best performances to date.
Navy, probably because it beat Pennsylvania while Army had to settle for a tie with the Quakers, is a slight favorite. Cadet supporters stress that their team was the betting choice last year and took a two-touchdown drubbing,
In the ultimate, it will probably devolve itself into a contest between Army’s hard-driving backs breaking fast from the T-formation and Navy’s spot-passing out of the single wing. The team developing the best defense, barring trickery, will probably win.
The color and pageantry of other service classics will be minimized with only the lucky Orange County neighbors of the Cadets being legal spectators. President Roosevelt, by proclamation, declared all of the United States except a 10-mile area around the Academy “out of bounds” for the game and persons outside that charmed circle can’t get in for love or money.
Navy will be represented by a Lend-Lease cheering section made up of the Army Cadet 1st Regiment. Though Navy yells will be made with “tongues in cheeks,” the Cadets promised to give them lively representation.
Each team will be at full strength, with only Doug Kenna, the Army’s oft-injured back, not expected to see action among the regulars.
The probable lineups:
| Positions | Navy | Army |
|---|---|---|
| LE | Channell | McKinnon |
| LT | Whitmire | Merritt |
| LG | Brown | Murphy |
| C | J. Martin | Myslinski |
| RG | Chase | McCorkle |
| RT | Sprinkle | Stanowicz |
| RE | Johnston | Rennessy |
| Q | Nelson | Lombardo |
| LH | Hamburg | Minor |
| RH | B. Martin | Maxon |
| F | Hume | Davis |
San Diego Navy battles March Field
New York (UP) – (Nov. 26)
While the Army-Navy Game takes the spotlight in the East, the Midwest presents the Great Lakes-Notre Dame clash in Chicago as its outstanding attraction.
Elsewhere, Lehigh and Lafayette battle in the East’s only other game – a contest with little but tradition at stake between the two rivals.
In the Midwest, Oklahoma (Big Six champion) closes its competition an odds-on favorite to defeat the weakest Nebraska team in years. Tough Iowa Pre-Flight plays Minnesota in the only other middle country game.
In the South, Randolph Field plays Southwest Louisiana Institute with a probable bowl bid in the offing for the winner. Other contests pit Southern Methodist against Texas Christian in their annual close-out game, Georgia against a heavily-favored Georgia Tech, Rice against Southwestern University and North Carolina against Virginia Military.
In the West, San Diego Navy plays the March Field Fliers in the service contest of the day and Southern California meets UCLA in a return engagement while Del Monte Pre-Flight plays California.
Eyewitness tells of landing –
Johnson: Yanks storm ashore under withering fire to crush Japs on Tarawa in bloody battle
One Marine major uses shotgun to blast snipers
By Richard W. Johnston, United Press staff writer
With U.S. Marine assault forces at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands – (Nov. 23, delayed)
Exactly 60 hours ago, the sea off this tiny island was swarming with Higgins landing boats and I was scrambling down a net with U.S. forces that were about to launch an assault on Tarawa.
It was 8:30 a.m. (local time) – zero hour – and the U.S. Marines were about to land again, and write another glowing chapter in their long and honorable history.
This was “D-Day” and for an hour, our big battleships offshore had been pouring shells onto the atoll. Still earlier – shortly after 6:00 a.m. – carrier-borne dive bombers peeled off above the island.
Orange flames shot into the air and then a pillar of black smoke rose slowly. We had hit a Jap ammunition dump.
I was assigned to a battalion commanded by Maj. Henry Pierson Crowe, 44, who has spent 24 years in the Marine Corps. We went down the nets at 8:30 a.m. and our boats streaked for the beach.
Then we were ashore and I flopped down in the sand. The Jap snipers opened up and bullets began whistling overhead. Then enemy machine-gunners put a curtain of fire across the beach.
Mortal shell crashes
I got to my feet and started forward, but a mortar shell crashed nearby and flattened me face down in the sand. Then another ammunition dump exploded and all of us were bounced off the ground by the explosion. Coral and debris rained down as I got to my knees and started crawling up the beach toward a primitive command post. There I saw one of the strangest sights I ever expect to see.
Maj. Crowe, standing upright and ignoring the Japanese fire, was stomping back and forth issuing commands and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. Every once and a while, he would swing the shotgun to his shoulder and take a potshot at a Jap sniper.
I paused there a moment and had time to think back on our landing and wonder how any of us had come through it alive. About 1,500 yards out from the shore, the Japs began to fire on our boats. A few minutes later, there was a crashing, scraping sound and our boat was hung on coral, 1,000 yards from the shore.
Maj. William C. Chamberlin of Chicago, Illinois, a former economics professor at Northwestern University, and now our battalion executive officer, decided on the spot to abandon ship. He plunged into water shoulder-deep and we followed him. The Jap machine-gunners let us have it and all we could do was to keep walking through the water toward the shore. It was the longest walk of my life.
Men fall into water
Bullets cut ripples in the water around us. A Marine walking by my side dropped with a bullet through his leg. I could see men falling into the water, wounded or dead. All the boats in our wave of the assault had been hung up on the coral and the water was filled with Marines plunging and slipping toward the shore.
That walk through the water was bad enough, but we still had our troubles at the command post where Maj. Crowe was blasting away at the Japs with his shotgun.
The Japs were endeavoring to pin our men down behind a natural barricade of sand. But time after time, the Marines went over the top in the face of Jap fire without hesitation or reluctance.
The Japs maintained a steady fire from a reinforced concrete blockhouse only 100 feet from our post until Maj. Crowe ordered up a demolition squad with flamethrowers. A great ball of flame engulfed the blockhouse and there was no more resistance from that quarter.
Wave after wave of Marines thrust against the Jap positions widening the beachhead.
Just after noon, a reinforcing wave appeared offshore. As the Higgins boats scuttled for the beach, Jap emplacements on our flank opened up with a five-inch automatic weapon and blew two of the boats out of the water.
Planes work over area
Survivors plunged into the sea and swam toward shore under relentless machine-gun strafing.
Maj. Crowe shifted several companies against the Jap flanking position because it was evident they would have to be knocked out if our incoming boats were to be saved.
At 2:30, after the bitterest fighting, our men fell back to give Hellcat fighters and dive bombers a chance to work over the area.
For more than an hour, our planes crisscrossed it, hitting a point less than 200 yards from my foxhole. The din was head-splitting but not as bad as that made by the destroyers which opened up with a tremendous fire.
After the destroyer finished, the Hellcats and dive bombers gave a return engagement. They came drilling in 60 feet off the water, their fire reverberating like a stick dragged over a washboard.
After the bombardments, our men were able to bring our casualties to the more or less protected area behind the barricade.
Typewriter survives
I broke out my typewriter, which had somehow survived the trek through the breakers and typed up my notes.
Beside me lay a boy with a shot through his shoulder. While my fingers tapped the typewriter keys, a Marine on my left died.
Then the Hellcats came over for a last pass at the Japs and something creased my chest. It was an empty .50-caliber shell kicked out by the planes. I thought at first it was a bullet.
Gradually, our men were pushing the Japs back across the island. Every man from private to major conducted himself without thought of personal safety. Because of this, many will never leave Tarawa. Their grave will be in its shifting sands.
But because they died, the Japs will leave Tarawa.