America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

Shell program dims hope for civilian steel

Third quarter rail orders face cut


Rail financing fees called ‘scandalous’

Competitive bidding on binds urged

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9439
Establishing a Uniform Monthly Rate of Pay for Student Nurses Transferred to Federal Hospitals

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 4, 1944

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by Section 11 (b) of the Act of June 15, 1943 (Public Law 74, 78th Congress), as amended by the Act of March 4, 1944 (Public Law 248, 78th Congress), student nurses transferred to any Federal hospital in the continental United States, exclusive of Alaska, pursuant to subsections (e) and (f) of Section 2 of the said Act of June 15, 1943, shall be paid a stipend at the monthly rate of sixty dollars for that period of training requisite to graduation: Provided, that the period of training in no case shall extend beyond the period required for graduation by the institution from which the student nurse was transferred, but may be terminated at any time prior thereto as the interests of the service may require.

This order shall be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 4, 1944

Völkischer Beobachter (May 4, 1944)

Europäische Vision in Frankreich

Von Kriegsberichter Fritz Zierke

Erfolge bei Hollandia und Truk

Tokio, 3. Mai –
Die Mitteilung des Kaiserlich japanischen Hauptquartiers über die neuen Erfolge der japanischen Luftwaffe bei Hollandia und den Trukinseln wird wie folgt ergänzt:

Nachdem in den Morgenstunden des 22. April die Westmächte nahezu eine Division bei Aitape und Hollandia (Neuguinea) unter dem Schutz machtvoller Seestreitkräfte gelandet hatten, um die japanischen Truppen von hinten anzugreifen, statt Frontalangriffe gegen Madang und Wewak zu führen, warteten die japanischen Luftstreitkräfte nur eine günstige Gelegenheit ab.

Erst in der Nacht zum 28. April ergab sich die Möglichkeit eines Angriffes, der mit der Versenkung eines Kreuzers und der Beschädigung eines weiteren großen Kriegsschiffes, vermutlich eines Flugzeugträgers, durch direkten Torpedotreffer endete.

Das Erscheinen feindlicher Kriegsschiffe in den Gewässern von Truk läßt darauf schließen, daß die Westmächte in ihrem Bestreben, in die japanischen strategischen Stellungen im Abschnitt der Karolinen einen Keil zu treiben, sich nicht mit den täglichen Luftangriffen gegen Truk und Meryon begnügten. Durch Zusammenziehung starker Seestreitkräfte, die aus mehr als zehn Flugzeugträgern und Schlachtschiffen bestanden, versuchten sie vielmehr einen unmittelbaren Vorstoß in den Abschnitt der Karolinen durchzuführen.

Am 30. April und 1. Mai griffen die auf den feindlichen Flugzeugträgern stationierten Flugzeuge die japanischen Stellungen auf den Trukinseln an, während die Insel Mortlock zugleich mit Schiffsgeschützen bombardiert wurde. Auf solche feindlichen Angriffe wohlvorbereitet, warfen sich die japanischen Armee- und Marineluftstreitkräfte auf die feindlichen Geschwader, wobei es ihnen gelang, mehr als 30 Feindflugzeuge abzuschießen und einen zweiten feindlichen Flugzeugträger zu beschädigen.

U.S. Navy Department (May 4, 1944)

CINCPAC Press Release No. 386

For Immediate Release
May 4, 1944

Seventh Army Air Force Liberators bombed the Truk Atoll on the night of May 1‑2 (West Longitude Date). Fifty tons of bombs were dropped on airstrips and adjacent installations, starting fires and causing large explosions. A searchlight battery was destroyed. Anti-aircraft fire was moderate. Two enemy planes were in the air over the target but did not attempt interception.

A single 7th Army Air Force Liberator bombed Ponape Island at night on May 1. A fire was set in Ponape Town.

Remaining enemy positions in the Marshalls were bombed on May 1 and on May 2 by Mitchell bombers of the 7th Army Air Force, Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two and Navy Hellcat fighters. Gun positions, shore installations, buildings and a power station were bombed and strafed.

The Pittsburgh Press (May 4, 1944)

NAZIS FEAR 3-FRONT ASSAULT
Allies troops mass in Italy, Germans say

Berlin also expects drive by Russia
By Robert Dowson, United Press staff writer

London, England –
A Paris broadcast said today that Allied armies in Italy have taken up “battle positions” for a new all-out offensive coincident with an Allied invasion of Western Europe and a Red Army thrust from the east.

A German DNB broadcast also told of Allied offensive preparations in Italy, with reinforcements and supplies being moved up all along the front from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the mountains north of Cassino.

Tending to confirm the Nazi claims, the Badoglio government newspaper Il Corriere of Naples acknowledged there was “feverish activity in preparation for vast-scale operations” in Italy. That country appeared “on the eve of great events,” Il Corriere said.

‘Preparations complete’

Simultaneously, the Canadian Army newspaper Maple Leaf said that action was imminent on the long-stalemated Italian front.

“General Hell is going to take over and bust things wide open,” the newspaper said.

Jean Paquis, Paris radio commentator, said it was understood in official Axis circles that the “general offensive in Europe is not far off.”

He said:

In the two adversary camps, preparations are now complete. The German High Command expects a general Russian offensive in the east and at the same time, aerial reconnaissance shows that on the Italian front, the 5th and 8th Armies have taken up battle positions and are ready to go into attack.

In the west, concentrations of shipping in British ports along the south coast and the stepping-up of the aerial offensive by the Anglo-Americans brings the menace of invasion nearer.

Says Germany ‘not ripe’

In Sweden, however, a naval commentator writing in the Stockholm newspaper Svenska Dagbladet contended that Germany was “not yet ripe for invasion” and said that the Allied air offensive had not yet reached its peak.

The Stockholm correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph said information brought by observers from Germany, France and Holland indicated the Germans had mapped the following three-point plan to counter the invasion from behind their 20-mile-deep Atlantic Wall of coastal defenses:

  • While the Allied invasion fleet is approaching, it will be attacked by radio-controlled bombs and U-boats, including a new 30-foot two-man midget submarine, and electrically-controlled minefields will be set off.

  • German forces will make every effort to delay a breakthrough of the Atlantic Wall, which they realize is not impregnable, and inflict the maximum losses on the enemy.

  • Reserve forces will be brought up from the rear to counterattack in an attempt to drive the enemy into the sea.

From Ankara came a report that the German government has ordered all German civilians in Turkey to assemble in Istanbul.

ANTI-INVASION BASES BLASTED
RAF pounds munitions dumps, Fortresses hammer Dutch airdrome

Berlin reports U.S. bombers over Germany on 18th day of non-stop offensive
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer

Tempo of battle quickens in Italy

Bitter fights waged by enemy patrols
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

Case of mistaken identity –
2 Yank planes, PT boats battle it out to death

By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer


Truk bombed again

Washington –
Army Liberator heavy bombers followed last weekend’s naval task force assault on Truk with a 50-ton raid on that key Japanese base Monday night, the Navy announced today.

Jimmy Stewart wins DFC award

jimmystewart
Maj. Stewart

A U.S. Liberator base, England (UP) –
Maj. Jimmy Stewart received the Distinguished Flying Cross yesterday for leading a raid on a Nazi aircraft plant at Brunswick, Germany, last Feb. 20, the U.S. Air Force headquarters announced today.

“I guess I’d best sent it home, I’m mighty proud of it,” was Maj. Stewart’s only comment.

The former movie star’s parents live in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He is now serving as group operations officer at this base.

Pneumonia fatal to Mrs. Al Smith

Wife of ex-governor sick five weeks

War output crippled as Beaver inspectors, Detroit foremen strike

District propeller production slashed; 19 plants hit, 10,000 idle in auto center

Meat supplies unable to take a buying spree

Beef and lamb stocks reported as ‘tight’


americavotes1944

Politics charged in ration move

Washington (UP) –
Lifting of ration restrictions from all but the better cuts of beef today provoked the cry of “politics.”

“The administration is preparing for the fall elections by a program of appeasement,” was the way Rep. August H. Andersen (R-MN) put it. It was “purely a political move,” he added.

The Congressional farm bloc continued to criticize the lowered hog support price. Senator Clyde M. Reed (R-KS) said he and other farm state Senators were “on the warpath” until prices were restored. War Food Administration officials said, however, the feed situation would not warrant any such move, since it would divert corn from war industries to hog troughs.

I DARE SAY —
Search and seizure

By Florence Fisher Parry

At Biddle’s command –
Ward official arrested by FBI detail posted to guard U.S. placards

Assistant to manager handcuffed by agents as battle for ballots grows more intense

Union magazine is mailed as office strike is ended

Truman investigator uses ruse to enter Irvin plant

Carnegie-Illinois president stopped tour when he learned of probe, agent testifies
By Dale McFeatters, Press business editor

Library miners strike over pit travel delay; 2,500 idle in district

One Cambria County walkout is ended; Windber, Portage, Curtisville still out


Miss Perkins has respect of ILO

By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

As invasion nears –
Allied troops do not fear high casualties

Men unaffected by civilians’ anxieties
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance

Simms: Russia to ask Allies to back border plans

That’s price of Red collaboration
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor