Bekannte US-Gangster werden nach Süditalien geschickt
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U.S. Navy Department (June 6, 1944)
Memorandum to the Press
For Immediate Release
June 6, 1944
The following was given to the press by Adm. Royal E. Ingersoll, USN, CINCLANT, at the press conference of Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal today:
Recently on a brilliant moonlight night one of our destroyer escorts sighted a submarine, fully surfaced, silhouetted against the moon. The destroyer escort immediately rang up full speed and headed for the submarine, opening fire with all her guns. The submarine elected to fight it out and opened fire with her deck guns and machine guns, tracers passing high over the bridge of the destroyer escort. The submarine maneuvered at high speed and fired a torpedo. The destroyer escort closed the range rapidly, following the sub’s evasive maneuvers and burying the sub under a withering fire at point blank range, machine guns and three-inch forecastle guns. The range finally closed until the submarine was only 20 yards away. All fire on the submarine having ceased at this point the destroyer escort rode up on the forecastle of the submarine where she stuck. Men began swarming out of the submarine and up onto the destroyer escort’s forecastle. The destroyer escort opened up on them with machine guns, Tommy guns and rifle fire. Ammunition expended at this time included several general mess coffee cups which happened to be at the gun stations. Two of the enemy were hit on the head with these. Empty cartridge cases also proved effective for repelling the boarders. During this heated encounter the destroyer escort suffered her only casualty of the engagement, when a husky seaman bruised his fist knocking one of the enemy over the side.
At this stage of the battle the boatswain’s mate in charge forward with a .45 Colt revolver and a Chief Fire controlman with a Tommy gun accounted for a number of those attempting to board. The destroyer escort then decided to back off to stop any more enemy trying to board her. Again the running battle was resumed, hits falling like rain on the sub’s topside. Even shallow depth charges were used against the submarine. The destroyer escort rammed a second time and then the submarine rolled slowly over.
Personnel on the escort’s deck had a clear view into the conning tower which was ablaze. A torpedoman threw a hand grenade which dropped through the sub’s conning tower before exploding. The submarine finally sank with her diesel engines still running, and the conning tower hatch open, fire blazing from it.
The commanding officer of the destroyer escort was a young Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, who came on active duty in 1941.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 434
For Immediate Release
June 6, 1944
Truk Atoll was bombed during the night of June 3-4 (West Longitude Date) by Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force. The airfields at Moen and Param Islands were hit. Four enemy fighters were airborne but did not attack our force. Anti-aircraft fire was meager and inaccurate.
Ponape Island was attacked on the night of June 3 by 7th Army Air Force Liberators and on June 4 by 7th Army Air Force Mitchells. Installations on Langar Island and anti-aircraft batteries were hit.
Lauru Island was bombed by 7th Army Air Force Mitchells during daylight on June 3, and by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two on June 5. Gun positions were the principal targets. Anti-aircraft fire was intense.
Enemy positions in the Marshalls were bombed and strafed on June 3-4 by search Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Two, Corsair fighters and Dauntless dive bombers of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, and Navy Hellcat fighters. Gun positions and runways were hit. Anti-aircraft fire was meager.
The New York Times (June 6, 1944)
ALLIED ARMIES LAND IN FRANCE IN THE HAVRE-CHERBOURG AREA; GREAT INVASION IS UNDERWAY
Eisenhower acts; U.S., British, Canadian troops backed by sea, air forces; Montgomery leads
Nazis say their shock units are battling our parachutists
By Raymond Daniell
First Allied landing made on shores of Western Europe
Gen. Eisenhower’s armies invaded northern France this morning. While the landing points were not specified, the Germans said that troops had gone ashore near Le Havre and that fighting raged at Caen (1). The enemy also said that parachutists had descended at the northern tip of the Normandy Peninsula (2) and heavy bombing had been visited on Calais and Dunkerque (3).
SHEAF, England –
The invasion of Europe from the west has begun.
In the gray light of a summer dawn, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower threw his great Anglo-American force into action today for the liberation of the continent. The spearhead of attack was an Army group commanded by Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery and comprising troops of the United States, Britain and Canada.
Gen. Eisenhower’s first communiqué was terse and calculated to give little information to the enemy. It said merely that:
Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.
After the first communiqué was released, it was announced that the Allied landing was in Normandy.
Caen battle reported
German broadcasts, beginning at 6:30 a.m. London Time (12:30 a.m. EWT) gave first word of the assault.
The Associated Press said Gen. Eisenhower, for the sake of surprise, deliberately let the Germans have the “first word.”
The German DNB Agency said the Allied invasion operations began with the landing of airborne troops in the area of the mouth of the Seine River.
Berlin said the “center of gravity” of the fierce fighting was at Caen, 30 miles southwest of Le Havre and 65 miles southeast of Cherbourg, the Associated Press reported. Caen is 10 miles inland from the sea, at the base of the 75-mile-wide Normandy Peninsula, and fighting there might indicate the Allies’ seizing of a beachhead.
DNB said in a broadcast just before 10:00 a.m. (4: 00 a.m. EWT) that the Anglo-American troops had been reinforced at dawn at the mouth of the Seine River in the Le Havre area.
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Invasion leaders of Allied forces
‘Thumbnail’ sketches of men who are directing blows against Hitler’s West Wall
By the Associated Press
SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower, 53, Texas-born, Kansas-reared; previously Allied commander of the forces in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
DEPUTY SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Air Chf. Mshl. Sir Arthur Tedder, 52, Briton who turned to the air after having been wounded as an infantryman in World War I; successful commander of Middle East and Allied Mediterranean Air Forces.
ALLIED NAVAL COMMANDER: Adm. Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, 61, the man who brought the British Army home from Dunkerque, planner of sea participation in North African and Sicilian campaigns.
ALLIED AIR FORCES COMMANDER: Air Chf. Mshl. Trafford Leigh Leigh-Mallory, 52, career airman, son of British clergyman, formerly commander of all British-based RAF fighters.
BRITISH GROUND FORCES COMMANDER: Gen. Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 56, another clergyman’s son, hero of 8th Army victory at El Alamein and push across Africa and Sicily into Italy.
SENIOR U.S. GROUND FORCES OFFICER: Lt. Gen. Omar Nelson Bradley, 51, Missouri-born, quiet-mannered hero of U.S. victory at Bizerte, called “Doughboys’ General.”
COMMANDER, U.S. STRATEGIC AIR FORCES: Lt. Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, 53, Pennsylvania Dutch, endurance flier, founder of 8th Air Force and commander of U.S. Air Forces in Mediterranean victories.
CHIEF OF STAFF TO GEN. EISENHOWER: Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, 48, native of Indiana, Gen. Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff for North African invasion.
COMMANDER, U.S. 8TH AIR FORCE: Lt. Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, 47, one of the world’s most noted pilots, “the man who bombed Tokyo.”
COMMANDER, U.S. 9TH TACTICAL AIR FORCE: Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, 54, Pennsylvania-born, went to Annapolis but joined Army after graduation, was air commander in the Philippines, Java, India and the Middle East; noted for driving energy.
COMMANDER, RAF BOMBER FORCE: Air Chf. Mshl. Sir Arthur T. Harris, 52, took over present post in 1942 and has since been trying to bomb Germany out of the war by mass “saturation” technique which he organized.
COMMANDER, BRITISH 2ND TACTICAL AIR FORCE: Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, 49, veteran of all kinds of air fighting, scored great success with RAF Desert Air Force and then commanded all Allied tactical operations in Tunisian and Sicilian campaigns; was cavalryman and fighter pilot in World War I.
Allied warning flashed to coast
People told to clear area 22 miles inland as soon as instructions are given
London, England –
The BBC began its 8:00 a.m. news bulletin this morning with quotations from a Supreme Headquarters’ “urgent warning” to inhabitants of the newly-occupied countries living near the coast.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower has directed that whenever possible in France a warning shall be given to towns in which certain targets will be intensively bombed.
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Parade of planes carried invaders
Witness says first parachutists met only light fire when they landed in France
The first eyewitness account of the Allies’ invasion of Europe was given in a pool broadcast from London this morning by Wright Bryan of NBC, who accompanied the airborne troops in their landings.
His account said the first spearhead of Allied forces landed by parachute in northern France to the first hour of D-Day.
Mr. Bryan said:
In the navigator’s dome in the flight deck of a C-47, I rode across the English Channel with the first group of places from the United States 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command to take our fighting men into Europe.
He added that just before he left French soil for the return trip, he saw 17 U.S. paratroopers, led by a lieutenant colonel, “jump with their arms, ammunition and equipment into German-occupied France.”
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PURSUIT ON IN ITALY
Allies pass Rome, cross Tiber as foe quits bank below city; planes join in chase
1,200 vehicles wrecked; 8th Army battles into more towns
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Roosevelt: Rome’s fall marks ‘one up and two to go’ among Axis capitals
Warns way is hard; asks world to give the Italians a chance for recovery
By Charles Hurd
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Pope gives thanks Rome was spared
Voices appreciation to both belligerents in message to throng at St. Peter’s
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Italy’s monarch yields rule to son, but retains throne
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Federal law held ruling insurance
Supreme Court, 4–3, decides business is interstate and subject to Trust Act
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Conferees accept cabaret tax cut
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2 flanking drives in Italy expected
One to east along highway to Pescara and another to north are predicted
By Drew Middleton
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Gen. Clark sees 2 armies beaten
Foe’s 10th smashed, 14th unable to give effective battle, he says in Rome
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Washington waits three hours for flash
Pershing sees victory is ‘like war of liberation’ fought by sons of 1918 troops
Washington –
Washington learned officially of the invasion of Europe at 3:32 a.m. ET today when the War Department issued the text of the communiqué issued by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces.
This flash was the climax of three hours of tense waiting that followed the first German radio reports that hostilities off France had begun. Before that both the War Department and the Office of War Information said they had no information to confirm or deny the German reports.
The communiqué was handed newspapermen in the War Department by Maj. Gen. Alexander D. Surles, chief of the Army Bureau of Public Relations. With the communiqué was issued a statement by General of the Armies John J. Pershing which declared the sons of the American soldiers of 1917 and 1918 were engaged in a “like war of liberation” and would bring freedom to people who have been enslaved.
The capital awakened rapidly after the initial broadcasts. Lights flashed on and radios began to blare. Newspapermen hurried to their offices. Everybody was demanding to know whether it was “official.”
If the White House was aware of the report, there was no outward indication. Only a few lights glowed there and the customary guards patrolled up and down monotonously.
Only a few hours earlier – at 8:30 p.m. – Mr. Roosevelt had addressed the world for 15 minutes on the fall of Rome.
By 1:45 a.m., almost the entire public relations staff at the War Department had reported for duty.
Elmer Davis, director of the OWI, met about half a dozen newsmen in his office about 4:00 a.m. and told them the OWI had no assurance that the invasion was coming off this morning but thought that it might be. He said that OWI did not put out any of the German broadcast reports prior to official confirmation from Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters.
Between the official flash and the time Gen. Eisenhower began his talk, the OWI was transmitting the text of the communiqué.
The OWI director added that ABSIE, the agency’s foreign radio, had broadcast Gen. Eisenhower’s speech in about 20 languages.
Pershing sees patriots rising
Washington (UP) –
Gen. Pershing, in a statement headed “American troops have landed in Western Europe,” said today that he had “every confidence” that the invasion would succeed.
The statement was released by the War Department.
The aged general said:
The overwhelming military might of the Allies advances. It will be joined by the men of the occupied countries, whose land has been overrun by the enemy but whose spirit remains unconquered.
Twenty-six years ago, American soldiers, in cooperation with their Allies, were locked in mortal combat with the German enemy. Their march of victory was never halted until the enemy laid down his arms in defeat. The American soldiers of 1917-1918, fighting in a war of liberation, wrote by his deeds one of the most glorious pages of military history.
Today the sons of American soldiers of 1917-18 are engaged in a like war of liberation. It is their task to bring freedom to peoples who have been enslaved.
I have every confidence that they, together with their gallant brothers-in-arms, will win through to victory.
McNaughton prays for invaders
Montréal, Québec, Canada (CP) –
Lt. Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton, former commander of the Canadian Army overseas and the man who trained the Canadians for their part in today’s invasion of the continent, said early this morning that “all I’d like to say is that my prayers are with them.”
Normandy airdromes wiped out
London, England (UP) –
The German DNB News Agency today broadcast a dispatch, unconfirmed by Allied sources, that the most important airdromes in the area of the Normandy Peninsula of France had been wiped out.
Davis warns of German trick
Washington (UP) –
Elmer Davis, director of the Office of War Production, warned the American public today that the German radio might be trying to build up a reputation for accuracy in its news reports of the invasion so that “they can put one over on the Allies later.”
La Guardia pleases at change in Italy
Says he hopes that abdication means end of hereditary rule
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Rome is up at dawn to cheer 5th Army
Joyful crowds greet tanks and jeeps threading city, its treasures unhurt by war
By Herbert L. Matthews
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Allied Burma push encircles Kamaing
Chinese and Americans pull noose tighter on Myitkyina; enemy set back in India
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6 Japanese forces drive on Changsha
Chinese troops, U.S. airmen take toll of enemy columns; Kungan in Hupeh regained
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Stettinius urges shift of UNRRA fund
He says House action may prolong military operations
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Green orders AFL to aid WMC program
Union chief says job priority plan was necessary
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Would halt rise of women pilots
Ramspeck Committee says no more should be trained, in face of men flier excess
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Gillette takes lead in Iowa primary
Senator ahead; Blue names in GOP race for governor
Des Moines, Iowa (AP) – (June 5)
Senator Guy M. Gillette, a Democrat campaigning for reelection, took a long lead over his opponent, Ernest K. Seemann, in the Iowa primary today.
Returns from 748 of 2,463 precincts gave Gillette 12,093, Seemann 3,181.
Mr. Seemann, a Waterloo factory worker, was making his fifth bid for a place in the national political spotlight.
The winner in the Democratic primary is to meet Governor B. B. Hickenlooper in the general election. Mr. Hickenlooper was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
In the Republican governorship race, Henry W. Burma, Speaker of the House, conceded the nomination to Lieutenant Governor Robert D. Blue. They were trailed by Milton W. Strickler of Des Moines.
Returns from 757 precincts gave:
| Blue | 31,925 |
| Burma | 19,215 |
| Strickler | 3,548 |
Two of the eight Republican Congressmen seeking renomination were trailing opponents, Henry O. Talle in the 2nd district and Fred C. Gilchrist in the 6th.