America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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The Brooklyn Eagle (June 2, 1944)

Pope: Save Rome

Warns leaders harsh terms may prolong conflict

London, England (UP) –
Pope Pius XII warned the warring nations today that demands for total victory might prolong the war unnecessarily, and appealed to their military leaders to spare Rome from the battle now raging a dozen miles from its gates.

Speaking against the distant thunder of Allied and German guns dueling on the approaches to the Eternal City, the Pontiff reiterated his stand that the war must be terminated by a just peace.

He said:

Fear has risen with many that there would be for the nations and their peoples no other alternative but full victory or complete annihilation.

Once this dreadful dilemma has penetrated the minds of the people, it works as a stimulant for prolongation of the war, even with those who by an inner impulse or for realistic considerations would be inclined to a reasonable peace.

The Pope deplored the “mournful happenings and unmeasured, unspeakable suffering” of the past year of war.

He said:

The terrible tragedy of the World War as it unfolds itself before and around us has reached a pitch and kind of frightfulness which smite and shock every Christian and human sense.

‘The gravest moment’

At the same time, the Pope, broadcasting to the world over the Vatican radio, declared somberly that the sweep of battle northward to within earshot of the Vatican had brought Rome face to face with “one of the gravest moments in its history.”

“Whoever would raise hie hand against this sacred territory [of Rome] will be accused of matricide,” the Pope told the College of Cardinals on the occasion of the Feast of St. Eugenio, his name saint.

It is the duty of the Holy See and Apostolate to look after the welfare of souls and protect the town of Rome… The Church will continue its efforts to see Rome spared. No human hand could prevent us from carrying out our duties according to law and God.

The Pope disclosed that hungry, suffering refugees were streaming into Rome as the fighting drew closer to the capital.

Rome city of misery

He said:

In few places in Italy and other places in the world is there such misery as in Rome, where the entire mass of people is suffering. The army of miserable people increases daily.

He said he had requested that food be shipped to Rome by sea, but was still awaiting the reply of one belligerent, whom he did not identify.

The Pope noted that the sacred territory “around the sepulcher of Christ” was becoming a theater of war and said that a year ago a development would have seemed to some people “incredible, impossible.”

He urged that the belligerents reach a peace “designed according to Christian doctrine” and called for the increased influence of Christian teachings in all nations.

Calls for lasting justice

He said:

It seems humanity finds itself In the face of victory or utter destruction. The ghost of these alternatives is suffocating all hope. People with such feelings are going to all sacrifices and are dragging with them all others. A true, lasting justice should be the right solution.

No just peace can be reached, he said, if the victor would “by force of arms dictate” the terms.

He said:

A just policy has to give the defeated nation a dignified place. Therefore, we hope that the rulers of peoples think they have to tolerate a defeated enemy and show some generosity, hoping that Our Lord will give peace all over the world.

The Pope cited “two grave, complicated questions – guilt for prolongation of the war and formation and continuation of a true peace.”

He said:

We hope that the prosecution of the war connected with an increase in cruelty in war will not extinguish good thoughts and cruelty and vengeance will not prevail.

Nazis pick June 22 as likely invasion date

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7364

Hull’s freedom outburst seen baiting empires

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7365

Editorial: Stimson’s confidence in troops should buck up U.S. spirit

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Editorial: Cheating in wartime

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Corby: Tender Comrade, Ginger Rogers film, new screen offering at the Capitol

By Jane Corby

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7368

The Pittsburgh Press (June 2, 1944)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

London, England –
There was a knock at my door and two young lieutenants with silver wings and bright medals on their chests walked in. They were in town on leave and had decided to pay a social call.

They are the pilot and navigator of a Flying Fortress. They came to see me because I had known the pilot’s mother in San Francisco. She is Mrs. Mary White, she used to manage the coffee shop at the Hotel Californian, which was my home whenever I was in San Francisco.

Her son, Lt. Bill White, is a likeable young fellow whose blond hair sticks up high from his forehead and whose eyes crinkle when he smiles.

His navigator is Lt. John D. Bowser of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. They’ve been over here whacking at the Germans since February.

The boys were in the midst of an eight-day leave, given them as a sort of reward for having survived a ducking in the cold North Sea. They had had to “ditch,” as the expression goes, and after a crew ditches it always gets a leave of absence.

They had a close call when they ditched. They had been to Berlin – their second mission over the big city. The flak was pretty bad. On the way back Bill White looked out and saw a big hole in the right wing. It didn’t seem to be causing any trouble. Pretty soon he glanced in the other direction and here was a big hole in his left wing.

At first, he thought he was crazy and had forgotten which wing he’d seen the hole in. His head went back and forth as though at a tennis match. Actually, there were identical holes in the two wings.

But that wasn’t what put them in the drink. Apparently, the ignition system had been hit, for every now and then all four motors would stop for about five seconds at a time and then pick up again.

Finally, the engines started going clear out, one by one. They saw for sure that they couldn’t make the coast of England. Lt. White had everybody get in “ditching position.” The radioman sent his distress signal. They hit the water. The plane broke in two. And yet not a man was scratched or bruised.

When they hit, salt water rushed up over the windshield in gigantic waves. The plane stopped moving and Bill looked up. All he could see was water. He thought they had dived straight into the sea and were going on down head first.

He said:

I thought this was it. I was so convinced I weas going to drown that I almost just sat there and didn’t even try to get out.

But actually, they came piling out of that plane like rockets. They said that in training they had been taught you would be all right if you could get out in 30 seconds. They were all out in 10 seconds.

The plane sank 40 seconds after hitting the water. They were 25 miles from shore. The men clung to their rubber dinghies, and in less than an hour a rescue boat came alongside and took them aboard.

Since returning they’ve had a wonderful time talking about their experience. They call themselves sailors now. Before this happened, the crew used to do a lot of joking about “White’s little air force goes to war.” Now they’ve changed it to “White’s little air force goes to sea.”

Whenever a ditched flier is fished out of the North Sea or the Channel, the RAF gives him a little felt insignia about an inch high in the form of a half wing, showing a fish skipping over the water. This is his membership badge in the “Goldfish Club.” He is to sew it under his lapel, and throw back the lapel to show it when occasion demands. It isn’t worn outwardly, I presume, because we don’t want German agents to know how many guys have been fished out of the water.

The boys have another memento of their saltwater bath. They all have Short Snorter bills, of course. But they’ve started a new series of signatures on bills which they call “Dinghy Snorters.” Only fliers who’ve had to ditch are allowed to bills. They flattered me by asking me to sign, and said mine would be the only non-Goldfish signature permitted on their bills.

All ten of the ditched crew had wristwatches. Two watches, apparently waterproof, are still running. The eight others were corroded by salt water and have stopped.

Lt. White still wears his, even though it doesn’t run. But while he ruined his watch, he did save $40. He had ordered a $40 pair of fancy boots made, which he had expected to be ready the day before this mission. They weren’t. He was pretty sore about it then, but now he’s glad, for he would have had them on.

These two boys really enjoy their job, I believe. They get an exhilaration out of it. They see the funny side of life, and they’re able to take things as they come. But still, of course, they would like to be home.

Lt. White’s mother now works at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, and we sat around here in London wishing we were sitting at dusk at the “Top of the Mark,” looking out over the steepled sea of San Francisco, so serene in its soft envelopment of peaceful mist.

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Völkischer Beobachter (June 3, 1944)

‚Amerikanisches Jahrhundert‘ – ungeschminkt
Demokratie auf Bajonetten

Revolutionsangst der Plutokraten Korruption der Gewerkschaftsbonzen

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Der Fall de Gaulle

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U.S. Navy Department (June 3, 1944)

CINCPAC Press Release No. 431

For Immediate Release
June 3, 1944

A single search plane of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed and strafed shipping and shore installations at Truk Atoll at night on June 1 (West Longitude Date). Four 1,000 pound bombs were dropped over a medium cargo vessel, two of them scoring direct hits and two straddling the vessel, which was believed sunk. The search plane then strafed a number of small cargo vessels, the seaplane base at Dublon and the airstrips at Eten Island. Two of the small vessels were set on fire, fires were started at Dublon Island and Eten Island, and an ammunition dump exploded. In retiring the search plane was pursued by a single enemy plane which did not make an attack. Over the target, anti-aircraft fire was moderate.

Two Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed Shimushiru Island in the Kurils before dawn on June 1. No opposition was encountered.

Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four bombed Paramushiru and Shumushu Island before dawn on June 1. Fires were started. Anti-aircraft fire was light and inaccurate.

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The Brooklyn Eagle (June 3, 1944)

5TH ARMY SMASHES LAST DEFENSES 10 MILES SOUTH OF ROME
Allies agree to spare city if undefended

Lanuvio and Labico taken; Nazis concede fall of Lake Nemi

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Tired G.I.s near Rome dream of soft beds

Express wish to see the Pope, Vatican; think city a milestone toward end of war
By Reynolds Packard

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Yanks twice blast French shoreline

Hit Calais, Boulogne areas after RAF hits Paris hub, Nazi city

London, England (UP) –
The U.S. 8th Air Force stepped up the tempo of its attacks on the French invasion coast today when Flying Fortresses and Liberators smashed twice within a few hours at German fortifications in the Pas de Calais and Boulogne areas.

Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle’s heavy bombers led hundreds of Allied planes across the Channel by daylight in the wake of a strong British night force which divided 3,000 tons of explosives among the Trappes rail junction outside Paris, the French coast and the German chemical center of Leverkusen.

The two attacks on the stretch of French shoreline across the narrowest neck of the Channel increased to four the heavy blows struck at that area in some 24 hours. The first was a record, or near-record, assault by 1,000 Fortresses and Liberators yesterday.

Strike in two waves

Nearly 500 U.S. heavy bombers escorted by a like number of fighters struck in two waves at the so-called rocket coast, laying a carpet of explosives on the mysterious “military installations” studding the area.

Thunderbolt, Lightning and Mustang fighters accompanied the Fortresses and Liberators in their second straight day of assault on the Nazi targets 20-odd miles from Southeast England. The striking forces flew over a solid cloud blanket and aimed their bombs by special devices.

The Americans met no German fighters over the clouds, but some squadrons ran into intense anti-aircraft fire, including concentrations of ground rockets which seldom have been encountered over the coast.

Tells of rocket attack

Second Lt. Martin Atkin of 115 Beach 74th Street, Far Rockaway, a Fortress co-pilot, said about 20 or 25 rockets were fired from the ground at his formation.

He said:

They left a beautiful white trail of smoke like a trailing bridal veil. They came at a slant and burst into a big ball of white flame.

While the home-based Royal Air Force was carrying out its three-way attack last night, British bombers flew from Italy against Giurgiu, the Romanian oil port on the Danube.

RAF crewmen reported seeing three big explosions at Trappes which blotted out the sprawling railyards with a blaze of multicolored light.

Other RAF planes maintained the campaign of harassment against Leverkusen, the Nazi chemical and poison gas manufacturing town in the suburbs of Cologne.

Mail from Britain is delayed by invasion controls

Washington (UP) –
British and State Department sources said tonight that they believed the recent delay in receipt of letters in this country from Great Britain was the result of transportation problems and pre-invasion censorship of mail.

Americans accustomed to receiving letters have regularly reported in some cases not receiving any for as long as two weeks.

Office of Censorship officials said Americans would have to be patient and added that they thought the public would understand the present difficulties.

The severe restrictions on communications out of the British Isles, which were imposed more than a month ago to prevent pre-invasion leaks, did not apply to ordinary mail, but only to communications in code. But officials pointed out that at the same time stricter censorship of ordinary mail was set up.

That, they said, might have resulted in the holding up of some mail until the flow through the more severe censorship began again. Transportation, always a problem, is believed to be even more difficult at this time.

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U.S. bases in Soviet Union open Nazi ‘blind spots’ to raids

Flying Fortresses serviced for return missions after ripping Romania

Eastern Command USSTAF, USSR (UP) –
The first U.S. shuttle raid involving the use of bases in Russia opened up all Axis Europe – including previous “blind spots” – to aerial bombardment today on a virtually unlimited scale.

The initial such attack was completed yesterday when scores of Flying Fortresses, with an escort of U.S. Mustang and Soviet Yak fighters, landed at newly-completed bases “somewhere in Russia” after raiding Romanian targets selected by the Russian command.

The Moscow radio reported from “an airdrome in the Soviet Ukraine” that Flying Fortresses attacked targets in Romania on the shuttle raid, “leaving bases situated in Italy, England or North Africa or all of these places.” It said the mission was “quite successful,” that the U.S. airmen were welcomed warmly by the population and that a concert arranged for them was a “great success.”

Reds run interference

Red Air Force planes ran interference for the Fortresses and their American escort on the inward journey, attacking German airdromes along the route to keep enemy planes on the ground. Enemy opposition was slight. One bomber was lost and one fighter unaccounted for.

As soon as the big four-engined bombers rolled to a halt on Soviet soil, U.S. and Soviet ground crews began serving and rearming them for their return missions en route to bases in Britain, Italy and Africa.

Other sources suggested the potentialities opened up by the use of Soviet bases were staggering. British-based bombers have previously attacked east of Berlin only on rare occasions, while those from Italy have not penetrated north of Budapest and Vienna.

Among other effects, the new shuttle technique was expected to force the Germans to redistribute their already severely-strained fighter forces at a time when all possible strength was needed in the West.

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Stilwell shuts off Myitkyina escape

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FBI seizes 15 in wholesale draft dodge

Three servicemen held in Baltimore plot; fees ranged to $5,000

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Sedition attorney hints FBI ‘scandal’

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U.S. troops win strategic point on Biak Island

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Editorial: Fate of Rome up to Nazis as Allied armies close in

While the fall of Rome is inevitable, the conditions under which the first Axis capital will pass the possession of Allied armies cannot now be foreseen. Berlin has announced to the German people that “the war is on the threshold of Rome” and that “fresh decisions” are being contemplated by the German High Command. Upon these decisions, which will govern the course of action to be followed by the Allies, will depend the fate of the Eternal City, which the civilized world hopes to see spared the ravages which would be inescapable if it were transformed into a battleground.

A decision to hold and defend Rome, to fight in the ruins of its ancient temples, its venerable shrines and of its great cathedrals and churches, would reflect the spirit of vandalism which has been expressed so eloquently by the Germans in this and other wars. Such a decision would be inspired by vengeance and vindictiveness, by a yearning to punish the Italians for their failures of support and allegiance, also by the hope that the onus of the crime of Rome’s ruin would fall upon the Allies.

The Germans cannot hope to hold Rome. Their divisions are depleted by a mounting toll of dead and 15,000 prisoners in the hands of the Allies, and they have been served with the grim notice that the demands of the impending invasion preclude the possibility of reinforcements.

All of the advantages of strong positions in mountainous territory and of interior lines, which are being pounded mercilessly by Allied air forces, have been lost. The alternatives of destruction or “further systematic withdrawals,” as they are described by German commentators, face the German High Command for its decision.

In its explanation to the German people that reverses in Italy are attributable to inability to feed reserves to the front, there is implicit a recognition of the fact that Rome cannot be held. This being the case, the Germans may do the sensible thing and make a wholesale withdrawal of their armies to the mountains of the north rather than invite the destruction of the city by holding and defending it.

Regardless of what the German decision may be, there is basis for the confidence, expressed by the Catholic archbishops and bishops of the United States in their message to Pope Pius XII, that “Allied ingenuity in strategy” will prove itself and “enrich our victory by saving Rome from destruction or further damage.”

This purpose is in the mind of President Roosevelt and is influencing the decisions of Allied military leaders in the field. If humanly possible, the center of Christian faith and of world culture will be spared the ravages that have become, through Nazi genius for the tactics of barbarism, so symbolical of modern warfare.

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Corby: Roger Touhy, Gangster, new attraction at the Globe Theater, starting today

By Jane Corby

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7380

The Free Lance-Star (June 3, 1944)

Cochran returns from China area

Commanding officer of first commandos in Washington

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‘Phenie’ Tapp dies at 84; saw battle of wilderness

By Ralph Happel

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Editorial: The post-war world

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