America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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President calls Army, Navy chiefs for a council of war in capital

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt summoned top Army and Navy chiefs to the White House today for an invasion conference and prepared to lead the nation in a prayer he wrote last night as the Allied armada moved across the English Channel to France.

Mr. Roosevelt called in Gen. George C. Marshall (Army Chief of Staff), Adm. Ernest J. King (Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet) and Gen. H. H. Arnold (commander of the Army Air Forces).

Meanwhile, reports poured into the White House from the War and Navy Departments on progress of the invasion.

In his prayer, which the President will deliver at 10:00 p.m. EWT – and in which he asked the nation to join – Mr. Roosevelt asked for divine battle strength “to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogance.”

‘We shall prevail’

The President’s prayer said:

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.

Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world-unity that will spell a sure peace – a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, Almighty God.

White House Secretary Early said Mr. Roosevelt began writing the prayer several days ago. He completed it, Early said, last night after he delivered his radio “fireside chat.” He was sitting in his bedroom at that time receiving telephonic reports on progress of the invasion, Early said.

The prayer was made public hours in advance of the President’s broadcast tonight in order that it might be printed in newspapers during the day so the people would know it and could say it with the President in their homes tonight.

House hears prayer

At the request of Speaker Sam Rayburn, the prayer was read in the House of Representatives when it convened today. The first copy of the prayer after it was transcribed from the President’s own handwritten copy was sent by special motorcycle messenger to the Capitol.

The President will have his first opportunity to discuss the invasion publicly when he meets at 4:00 p.m. with his regular press and radio conference.

Acting Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius Jr., meanwhile, said this is not the time for rejoicing but the time for everyone at home “to put everything he has into his job to speed the day of victory.”

Early told reporters the President’s fireside chat discussion last night about the capture of Rome had the effect of a psychological diversion. The Germans and others undoubtedly listened to it with interest, he said, and replied “I think you might call it that” when a reporter asked if it was a psychological diversion.

Mr. Roosevelt, in his talk last night, had warned that victory over Germany “will be tough and costly.” People in the capital recalled the somber warning when they awakened to discover that the long-awaited invasion had begun.

Roosevelt slumbers as D-Day news breaks

Washington (UP) –
When the invasion came early today, President Roosevelt was sound asleep and the White House was quiet except for a message center through which came official reports of last-minute developments.

Being one of the few persons in Washington who knew exactly when the invasion would occur, the President retired early in the evening after his radio broadcast, but was undoubtedly up early canvassing the latest official dispatches.

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Boro millions pray, rejoice or work grimly

Church bells announce news; courts open with brief ceremony

George C. Tilyou, head of Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, said, “The park will be closed today. This is not a day for amusement.”

Brooklyn’s millions greeted news of the invasion today with prayer, with some restrained jubilation and with work.

Men and women gathered in churches, in stores, in shops and factories and courtrooms and prayed for victory and the safe conduct of sons and brothers and husbands through their ordeal by fire on the soil of France. And often the eyes were moist while lips moved in prayer.

Church bells announced the invasion news and almost every church had planned invasion services.

Every Supreme Court part in Brooklyn and Long Island was adjourned until tomorrow, by direction of the Appellate Division. The five County Judges in Brooklyn, after a brief ceremony at noon which included a minute of silent prayer adjourned for the day. Most of the lesser courts also adjourned.

The Brooklyn Hebrew Home and Hospital for the Aged, 813 Howard Avenue, instituted a fast day, along with prayers for the success of the invasion.

Don prayer shawls

News of the invasion reached the institution very early and spread quickly among the 640 elderly inmates. At 5:45 a.m., 15 of the elderly men donned prayer shawls, and carrying shofar, or ram’s horn trumpet – normally blown only twice a year, on the two High Holy Days – paraded through the neighborhood streets, summoned the people to Invasion Day services at the adjoining synagogue. More than 1,000 persons crowded the synagogue hall when prayers for success of the invasion began, at 7:00 a.m. ET.

The sports world marked the day in its own way. The Dodgers-Philadelphia night game at Ebbets Field tonight, the only baseball game in the metropolitan area today, was called off. So were all horse races, not only in the New York area, but throughout the country, except for one racetrack in California. Prize fights scheduled for MacArthur Stadium tonight were put off to tomorrow.

Night war workers were the first in Brooklyn to get word of the invasion… Some wondered, skeptically, if it wasn’t another false report… Some prayed… Some shouted with release of tension long restrained… Many turned grimly back to their worn benches, determined to give the enemy not one moment of time lost.

In the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the borough’s hugest war industry, thousands were at work at 4:30 when a voice broke in abruptly over the loudspeaker system: “The invasion has begun!”

Spontaneously, as if by prearranged signal, workers stood up for a moment of silent prayer, returned at once to their work.

At the Bethlehem Steel yards, the chattering radio interrupted a night music program with the first news of invasion at 4:00 a.m. ET. There was a shouted “hurray!” and then, over the sprawling yards, men in overalls, men holding tools in their hands, stood beside their workplaces while their lips moved in solemn prayer.

At the Bendix Aviation Corporation plants, the first report was the definite and official word from Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters. And here the men simply bent to their jobs. Said a head timekeeper who had watched the phenomenon:

Nobody stopped. You could hear remarks like, “We’ll clean up the Nazis then get to work on the Japs.” But everyone agreed the best way to help the boys who were going through hell over there was to keep on working.

At the Sperry Gyroscope Company, 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension, some of the night workers declined to believe the first reports as the radio doled them out at 4 o’clock. Then a foreman telephoned, came back with the report that yes, this time it was true. The invasion was on. The men went back to their jobs, worked silently and without interruption.

At the Frederick Loeser store on Fulton shortly after it opened at 9:00 a.m., the entire store personnel gathered on the street floor and, led by Capt. M. M. Witherspoon, chaplain of the 3rd Naval District, joined in prayer for the success of the invasion, the safety of the men in the invading legions.

Capt. Witherspoon read the prayer of Gen. Clark on the eve of the entry into Rome, and then Gen. Eisenhower’s pre-invasion prayer. Then he pronounced his own prayer that God teach us to “catch the spirit this day of the sacrifice by our boys overseas.” Several hundred customers waited in a roped-off area until the employees could return to their normal duties.

Early this afternoon, storekeepers up and down Kings Highway closed their stores and joined with other residents in an open-air invasion rally in Joyce Kilmer Square, Kings Highway and East 12th Street. Clergymen of every denomination led in prayers.

In the Midwood section, the neighborhood merchants held a similar mass meeting at Avenue and East 14th Street. Prayers were offered by Rabbi M. J. Mintz.

At the Wheeler Shipyards, Cropsey Avenue, and Coney Island Creek, several hundred workers joined in a brief prayer service.

There was an outdoor prayer service by the men of the Naval Receiving Barracks, Flushing and Vanderbilt Avenues, at 8:00 a.m. Civilian passersby paused and stood at a strict attention.

The Brooklyn Jewish Center, 667 Eastern Parkway, it was announced, will hold D-Day services at 8:30 p.m.

Alfred B. Auerhaan, safety director of the Arma Corporation, announced that Arma employees responded to the invasion news by 300 of them offering to visit the Red Cross Blood Donor Center, 57 Willoughby Street, and donating a pint of blood each. That will bring Arma employees’ total to more than 1,000 pints since Jan. 1 – a record equaled or exceeded only by the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Person riding on the subway trains readily spoke to perfect strangers today when the subject was the invasion. Many said that, recalling the false armistice of the last war and how quickly it was followed by the real armistice, suspected that the unauthorized Associated Press report of the invasion Sunday “meant something.”

Employees of the Borough President’s office were given two hours off about noon today for Invasion Day prayers. The majority visited churches but a few visited their homes during the work intermission.

7478

Germans flee across Tiber on 17-mile front

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Europe’s relief needs to end of 1945 put at $90 billion

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U.S. planes slash Jap defenses in Schouten sector

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Senators propose own probe of Jap sneak attack

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Small: Sees troops landing under shell canopy

By Collie Small

With a Marauder formation over the invasion coast, France (UP) –
No-man’s-land is 5,000 feet below.

It’s somewhere between the grey, Channel-washed beaches on which Allied troops are swarming from their landing barges and the brown fields beyond. The wink of gun flashes in the half-light of dawn in those fields came from Germans fighting the invasion.

My aerial grandstand seat is in a Marauder piloted by 1st Lt. Carl Oliver of Sacramento, California, a part of an unending stream of Allied aircraft, ranging from fighters to heavies, which is streaming across the Channel to support the infantry assault.

Five thousand feet is one of the lowest altitudes the medium bombers have ever bombed from in this theater but we chance the German flak to pinpoint our targets.

As we wheel off the targets and streak back toward the Channel, dawn streaks the eastern sky. Peering down I can see our troops scrambling ashore under a canopy of shells hurled over their heads by warships in a harbor that dents the shoreline.

In the half-light we can see the flashes from German shore batteries all along the coastline and inside the harbor.

We know that it must be a disjoined and disorganized defense, for, right in this section, American paratroops floated down earlier to soften up Germans for the great armada crossing the Channel.

By now, as we across the white-capped Channel, we have a bridge of ships from England to France. They range from mighty battlewagons down to tiny, gnat-like PT boats and include all manner of transports and landing craft.

Some of the landing craft plough through the swell leaving a thin, white wake. Others have arrived off the appointed shore and appear to be just waiting.

From the cockpit of this Marauder, no-man’s-land is an eerie strip of dimly-lit coastline and fields which show dull green and brown as the first rays of the sun slant upon them. We can see the puffs of bombs and shells falling in it as the German batteries duel with the long rifles of Allied warships offshore.

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‘They can’t stop us’ is the watchword as invasion opens

By Sandor S. Klein

Washington (UP) –
An American sergeant, packing concentrated destruction, peered into the darkness toward France and said, “They can’t stop us.”

His four words, from an “invasion front” dispatch to the War Department, were uttered as the greatest military operation of history began “very quietly and without tension” from a small British town whose inhabitants had little idea that anything unusual was going on.

From this town, the War Department dispatch said, the liberation of Nazi Europe “began in a small way” as assault troops – relieved of practically everything but weapons – walked calmly aboard their blunt-nosed landing craft “without attracting the slightest bit of attention.”

Thus started what in a matter of hours became a roaring, flaming, crashing inferno as the battle was joined on the northern coast of France and Allied airplanes swarmed against any targets, however small, which might have “a bearing on the strength of the armies…”

The men had been briefed carefully. They knew exactly what their mission was. At the last moment, the War Department dispatch said, they were relieved of “practically everything except their arms and ammunition.”

Picked Yanks spearhead attack, blast way through vaunted wall

Washington (UP) –
Specially trained, picked assault teams of the U.S. Army made the initial attack on Fortress Europe, knocking out pillboxes and other fortifications of the vaunted Atlantic Wall, the War Department said today.

Putting to use tactics perfected in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, the assault units hit the beach under cover of heavy naval and artillery fire.

These units, actually infantrymen, were given special training to spearhead the massive assault. These men were equipped with special engineer weapons.

Preparation for the assault was provided by artillery, by naval guns, by air bombardment and by waterproof tanks firing hull-down in the water.

The purpose of this is not only to knock out pillboxes but to tear up the enemy’s field of fire by providing shell craters as cover for attacking units.

First men clear mines

Each assault section is composed of 30 men – one officer, and 29 G.I. Joes. This is the capacity of the assault boats, and it is also the most convenient size unit for a single pillbox.

It is the job of the first men ashore to locate the mines, and mark safe lanes with special tracing strips. As part of this operation, the wire itself must be cut, and American soldiers have an efficient weapon for this purpose.

It is the Bangalore torpedo, which comes in long sections capable of being made into any length necessary, depending upon the depth of the barbed wire.

One member of the assault team, under cover of small arms, fixes the Bangalore, sets the fuse, and ducks for cover. The torpedo explodes with a terrific blast, blowing a wide swath through the wire. The other members of the team follow through the wire and move up the beach.

Composed of seven teams

An assault section is composed of seven separate teams of varying sizes, beginning with the riflemen who build up a line of fire to protect the others.

They are followed by wire cutters who clear out wire not blown by the Bangalores. Next in line is the Browning automatic rifle team, whose mission is to deliver fire on portholes of the emplacement and keep the heads of the enemy down.

Then there is the next team – the gunners, firing the famous bazooka rockets. Their mission is to attack the pillbox and aperture to silence enemy fire.

The climax of the entire operation is played by the soldier with flamethrower and the man with the demolition charge. These are engineer weapons, but the infantrymen have become proficient in their use.

‘Pole charges’ do trick

The final assault is accomplished by the demolition men, equipped with what are known as “pole charges.”

The “pole charge” is a device resembling an ordinary bricklayer’s hod, and upon it is placed a block of TNT. The purpose of this design is to enable the demolition men to lean the charge against the pillbox aperture.

As soon as the pillbox blows up, the entire section moves forward for another attack. During a landing operation, these tactics are repeated by many squads along a considerable front.

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Editorial: Our job at home is to match spirit of the invading forces

American soldiers, the sons, brothers, husbands and friends of all of us, have at last hurled themselves against Hitler’s Europe, where they will fight it out with the Nazi armies for the cause of world freedom.

They are united with the British in an undertaking which is recognized as the most difficult in military history and one which could not succeed unless it had been planned with care and skill and driven forward with irresistible might.

It will end triumphantly, however, because of the certainty that it is being directed brilliantly, that every essential element of power has been provided and that the men of all ranks will bring to their task a high order of resourcefulness and courage.

Naturally, the hopes and the fears and the pride of all Americans go out in these hours of terror and of trial to the men who swarm upon the beaches of Europe behind a curtain of fire from guns on the ships and from bombers, and who make their way forward through a veritable inferno to their objective.

No one at home can visualize the scene. Attempts to describe it must necessarily be feeble and futile. It will bring a test of human valor against all of the genius and the cunning that have gone into the Nazis’ long preparation to meet the challenge of this day – a challenge which involves their survival.

The German soldier dies hard. This much must be conceded to him. He mans his gun to the last and goes down fighting. The invaders know this as they start on the long road to the Reich and to the gleaming goal of peace.

Our job at home, now that the suspense is ended and the battle is in progress, is to capture as much as we can of the spirit which the soldier brings to his rendezvous with history. This is a stern mood, one which precludes baseless hopes and delusions, which takes into account the strength of the enemy, also his vulnerability. It is a spirit of quiet confidence, of dogged determination, with little passion. Nor is there anything in this deadly enterprise that even vaguely resembles glamor.

The soldiers on the beaches realize, of course, that this is a job that has to be done and they are bent on doing it well, regardless of the cost. Half a world away, they are setting the tone for the home front – a tone influenced by faith that whatever they give to the cause of victory during these next few months as the tide of battle sweeps in from the Channel and the sea and over tine continent toward the Reich will be worthwhile.

These young men are fighting for old ideals and old rights. It is not enough to be with them in spirit as they struggle forward. Unless those who remain at home work tirelessly and endure bravely, they will fall short of being worthy of those who represent them on the churned, blighted battlefields of the world.

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americavotes1944

Heffernan: Bricker or Dewey – which?

Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio concluded his address the Conference of Governors with these words:

The strength of America stems from the practice of representative government in the towns, the cities, the counties and the states of this nation. When state and local governments become paralyzed, the door is open to totalitarianism and every form of demagogy. When local responsibility is destroyed, citizenship atrophies and dies. But when state and local governments flourish, when men and women practice representative government and exercise home rule, the foundations of the Republic are secure. The more the history of the Republic is written at the crossroads and the less at the Capitol, the freer we shall be.

Mr. Bricker’s immediate predecessor on the platform was his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Governor Dewey of New York. Mr. Dewey had also stressed the desirability of strong state and local governments.

As I read both these addresses, each delivered by a statesman in whose hands may soon rest the destiny of our nation, a memory came to me. Where had words of the same import and in some instances very similar form been uttered before and by whom? In the capital of this state, and by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then – as now is Mr. Dewey – Governor of New York. Then, as now is Mr. Dewey, an aspirant for the Presidency.

And it occurred to me that among men of high ambition the desire often existed to have the seat of power wherever they may be themselves located. It is perhaps natural. So with this in mind, as a seeker for my own candidate for the Presidency, I studied carefully the two addresses. For I wanted to find a man in whom this feeling would be fundamental, as it was, let us say, in Thomas Jefferson, and would govern his actions when he had ascended from the Chief Magistracy of a state to that of the Republic. Would Mr. Dewey, who ran for the District Attorneyship and used it as a stepping-stone and the echo of whose declaration that he was resolved to serve four years in the Governorship is still on the air, hold true to the views now expressed, if he succeeded Franklin Roosevelt?

Or would John Bricker, who after three splendid terms in the Governorship of Ohio voluntarily surrendered the certainty of another successive term in order to seek the Republican nomination for the Presidency, hold fast should his ambition be gratified?

I think Bricker rings true. And, as one of those Americans who found themselves four years ago without a candidate and are again threatened with a Hobson’s choice, I hope Mr. Bricker will be the nominee.

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Corby: Servicemen in Pacific area see first-run 16mm films once a week

By Jane Corby

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General’s wife backs attack by selling bonds

Washington (UP) –
While Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark leads his 5th Army forward north of Rome, Mrs. Clark is preparing to fulfill her “partnership in this war” by assisting in the 5th War Loan Drive.

The energetic wife of the 5th Army commander said she was “very excited and very humble” when she heard the news of the fall of Rome – and very grateful that her husband had been spared.

She said:

But my heart was heavy because I couldn’t help thinking of the families of all those who fell in Italy before the 5th Army got to Rome.

Victory can’t be unmixed and give only joy, because we must think of those who die and are wounded.

To do her part at home, Mrs. Clark is active in the sale of bonds, having traveled more than 300,000 miles in previous drives.

Urging women to accept their responsibility in the bond drives and other war work, Mrs. Clark said:

There has never been a time in history when women could do so much as they can now – and I have no patience with those who are idle.

‘Stand ready!’ Eisenhower urges patriots

London, England (UP) –
**Gen. Eisenhower warned millions of patriots in Europe today against a premature uprising as the Allied forces landed in France, but urged them to prepare and stand ready for the signal that will hurl them into the greatest revolt in history.

Eisenhower said:

The day will come when I shall need your united strength. Until that day, I shall call on you for the hard task of discipline and restraint… follow the instructions of your leaders… be patient. Prepare.

Eisenhower’s message went out over Allied radios to all the peoples of Western Europe, where an underground army estimated at more than 8,000,000 has been built up during the four long years of occupation.

The Allied commander said:

I know I can count on your steadfastness now, no less than in the past.

Messages from underground leaders reaching the United Press said the patriot armies were prepared to strike and were awaiting only the signal from the Supreme Allied Command.

De Gaulle in London

Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French liberation forces, arrived in London and conferred with Eisenhower and Prime Minister Churchill, apparently on military matters. De Gaulle was believed to have told Eisenhower that French resistance forces were prepared for an all-out effort when the Supreme Command was ready for them.

The French resistance movement, which military experts agreed was one of the finest underground armies in Europe, is estimated to contain 150,000 armed patriots. Led by the Maquis, the patriots have battled the Germans continuously for four months and forced the Nazis to keep troops, badly needed in Russia and Italy, on French soil.

Supplies and material have been pouring into Europe’s underground caverns for many weeks.

In accordance with Eisenhower’s plea against recklessness, exiled leaders of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands appealed to their people by radio today to wait and obey Allied instructions and be wary of German trickery.

King Haakon of Norway told the Norwegians they “must not let their enthusiasm lead them into a premature uprising.”

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Greatest merchant fleet backs invasion of ‘Fortress Europa’

By Sandor S. Klein, U.S. staff correspondent

Washington –
The “Western Front” invasion of Europe is backstopped by the greatest merchant fleet in world history.

Today these ships are carrying men and supplies from this great “arsenal of democracy” in numbers and quantities that dwarf anything seen in the last World War. And they are doing it in comparative safety, thanks to the Allied victory over Germany’s vast U-boat fleet in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Adolf Hitler had counted on submarines to thwart the long-planned Allied invasion of “Fortress Europe.” But his trump wasn’t high enough. The United Nations drew a higher hand. For months now, Allied sea and air forces have been destroying U-boats faster than Germany can build them and preventing those escaping destruction from doing much harm. Some ships are still being sunk but they are comparatively few in number; fewer, in fact, than the number of U-boats that are being destroyed.

The exact number of merchantman ships available is not known. But this is certain from production figures available: The so-called “bridge of ships” which did so much to bring victory to the Allies in the last war was a narrow catwalk compared to the great merchant armada spanning the Atlantic today.

By the summer of 1942, the navy and the army had perfected anti-submarine methods. Using everything it had in the way of small craft the navy began escorting coastal convoys. Army and navy planes coordinated their offshore patrol activities. By the fall of the year, the U-boats were finding it tougher and began moving into other areas.

Meanwhile, the navy gave top priority to the construction of special types of hundreds of anti-submarine vessels – destroyer-escorts, frigates, patrol boats and corvettes. It turned to the building of dozens of escort aircraft carriers.

By the latter part of 1942, the submarine menace had been brought sufficiently under control to permit U.S. participation in the invasion of North Africa.

Then, last year, as definite plans for the Western Front invasion began to germinate, the Battle of the Atlantic took a new, important turn. The Allies switched from “protective tactics” to a war of extermination against the U-boats. Special escort carrier task forces were turned loose to seek out and destroy U-boats wherever they could be found. These were supplemented by the huge fleet of anti-submarine surface ships and long-range bombing planes.

Meanwhile, Allied bombers operating from Britain smashed at German submarine-building centers, factories producing parts for the submersibles and at U-boat bases along the French and Norwegian coasts.

Thus, Hitler’s navy found itself in a two-way squeeze; one aimed at impairing U-boat production; and the other, striking at the raiders themselves.

Their effectiveness of anti-submarine measures is reflected in the monthly joint Anglo-American announcements of operations issued during the last six months. For example, during the six-month period from May to October 1943, a monthly average of 25 submarines destroyed was chalked up. This is 10 more per month than Nazi shipyards are now believed capable of producing.

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Hottelet: Coast guns silent as Allies landed

By Richard C. Hottelet

London, England (UP) –
I watched the first landing barges hit the beach exactly on the minute of H hour. I was in a 9th Air Force Marauder flying at 4,500 feet alone 20 miles of the invasion coast.

From what I could see in these first few minutes there was nothing stopping the assault parties from getting ashore. I spent about half an hour over enemy territory. We flew over and bombed some of the coastal fortifications but, except for some light flak from inland positions and from some types firing at us, we saw no enemy gunfire.

The only other sign of life in enemy territory were some white and yellow parachutes dotting the ground where our parachutists had hit.

The weather was favorable to the operation.

Offshore Allied warships were bombing the enemy coast. They seemed to do it without any opposition. The Luftwaffe just didn’t seem to be there.

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Broadcast, 4:30 p.m. EWT (NBC):

Broadcast, 6:00 p.m. EWT (CBS):

Report by Lowell Thomas, 6:30 p.m. EWT (NBC):

Fibber McGee & Molly, 6:30 p.m. EWT (NBCR):

Passing Parade, 7:15 p.m. EWT (CBS):

Dr. Goldstein and Ginny Simms, 8:00 p.m. EWT (NBC):

Broadcast, 9:30 p.m. EWT (CBS):

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A Prayer by President Roosevelt
June 6, 1944, 10:00 p.m. EWT

Broadcast, 10:00 p.m. EWT (CBS):

My fellow Americans:

Last night when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass to success thus far.

And so in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and day, without rest – until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home – fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too – strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our Armed Forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto, our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment – let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace – a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

D-Day Address by President Roosevelt, 10:00 p.m. EWT (NBC):

Bob Hope Show, 10:00 p.m. EWT (NBCR):

Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, 10:10 p.m. EWT (NBC):

Coverage by Ned Calmer and Quincy Howe, 11:00 p.m. EWT (CBS):

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 6, 1944)

Communiqué No. 2

Shortly before midnight on 5 June, 1944, Allied light bombers opened the assault. Their attacks in very great strength continued until dawn.

Between 0630 and 0730 hours this morning, two Naval Task Forces, commanded by RAdm. Sir Philip Vian, KBE DSO, flying his flag in HMS SCYLLA (Capt. T. M. Brownrigg, CBE RN), and RAdm. Alan Goodrich Kirk, USN, in USS AUGUSTA (Capt. E. H. Jones, USN) launched their assault forces at enemy beaches. The naval forces which had previously assembled under the overall command of Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, made their departure in fresh weather and were joined during the night by bombarding forces which had previously left northern waters.

Channels had to be swept through the large enemy minefields. This operation was completed shortly before dawn and, while minesweeping flotillas continued to sweep towards the enemy coast, the entire naval force followed down swept channels behind them towards their objectives.

Shortly before the assault, three enemy torpedo boats with armed trawlers in company attempted to interfere with the operation and were promptly driven off. One enemy trawler was sunk and another severely damaged.

The assault forces moved towards the beaches under cover of heavy bombardment from destroyers and other support craft, while heavier ships engaged enemy batteries which had already been subjected to bombardment from the air. Some of these were silenced. Allied forces continued to engage other batteries.

Landings were effected under cover of the air and naval bombardments and airborne landings involving troop-carrying aircraft and gliders carrying large forces of troops were also made successfully at a number of points. Reports of operations so far show that our forces succeeded in their initial landings. Fighting continues.

Allied heavy, medium, light, and fighter-bombers continued the air bombardment in very great strength throughout the day with attacks on gun emplacements, defensive works, and communications. Continuous fighter cover was maintained over the beaches and for some distance inland and over naval operations in the Channel. Our night fighters played an equally important role in protecting shipping and troop carrier forces and in intruder operations. Allied reconnaissance aircraft maintained continuous watch by day and night over shipping and ground forces. Our aircraft met with little enemy fighter opposition or anti-aircraft gunfire. Naval casualties were regarded as being very light, especially when the magnitude of the operation is taken into account.

7491

The Pittsburgh Press (June 6, 1944)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

London, England – (by wireless)
Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, head of the 8th Air Force over here, noticed one day in the roster of officers at his staff headquarters the name of a Capt. Doolittle.

The name is not a very ordinary one, and he made a mental note that some day he would look the fellow up for a little chat. One day not long after that his phone rang and the voice at the other end said, “This is Capt. Doolittle.”

The general said:

Oh, yes, I had noticed your name and I meant to call you up sometime.

“I’d like to come in and see you,” said the voice at the other end.

The general said:

Why yes, do that. I’m pretty busy these days, but I’ll switch you to my aide and he’ll make an appointment for you. Glad you called, captain, I’ll look forward to seeing you.

He was just ready to hang up when the voice came back plaintively over the phone:

But Dad, this is me. Don’t you recognize me? I’ve got a package for you from Mom.

The general exploded, “Well, why in hell didn’t you say so in the first place?!”

It was Capt. Jimmy Doolittle Jr., a B-26 pilot in the 9th Air Force. The general hasn’t got around yet to seeing the other Capt. Doolittle. It’ll probably turn out to be his brother or something.

The last time I had seen Gen. Doolittle was some 16 months ago, way down at the desert airdrome of Biskra on the edge of the Sahara. That was when he was running our African bomber force that was plastering the Tunisian ports.

Gen. Doolittle flew in one afternoon from the far forward airdrome of Youks-les-Bains. The night before, his entire crew except for the co-pilot had been killed in a German bombing at the Youks Field.

His crew had manned their plane’s guns until it got too hot, and then made a run for an old bomb crater 50 yards away. It was one of those heartbreaking freaks of hard luck. A bomb hit the crater just as they reached it, and blew them all to pieces.

Gen. Doolittle has written hundreds, perhaps thousands, of letters to people who have lost sons or husbands in his air forces. But one of the men in that crew was the hardest subject he has ever had to write home about. Here is the reason:

When he led the famous raid on Tokyo, Doolittle had a mechanic who had been with him a long time. Doolittle was a colonel then. The mechanic went on the Tokyo raid with him.

You remember the details of that raid, which have gradually seeped out. The planes were badly scattered. Some were shot down over Japanese territory. Others ran out of gas. Some of the crews bailed out. Others landed in Russia. The remainders splattered themselves all over the rice paddles of China.

That night Doolittle was lower than he had ever been before in his life. There wasn’t any humor in the world for him that night. He sat with his head down and thought to himself:

You have balled up the biggest chance anybody could ever have. You have sure made a mess of this affair. You’ve lost most of your planes. The whole thing was a miserable failure. You’ll spend the rest of your life in Leavenworth for thus, and be lucky to get out of it that easy.

As he sat there, this sergeant-mechanic came up and said, “Don’t feel so bad about it, Colonel.”

Doolittle paid no attention. But the sergeant kept at him.

It’s not as bad as it seems. Why, I’ll bet you that within a year you’ll have a Congressional Medal for it and be a brigadier general.

Doolittle just snorted. The sergeant said:

Well, I’ll bet you so, And I’d like to ask one thing. As long as you’re flying, I’d like to be your mechanic.

That finally got inside Doolittle’s gloom. Somebody had confidence in him. He began to buck up. So, he said:

Son, as long as I’ve got an airplane, you’re its mechanic, even if we live to be a thousand years old.

As you know, he did get a Congressional Medal of Honor, and now he has not only one star but the three of a lieutenant general. And that sergeant, who devoted himself to Col. Doolittle that miserable night out there in China, was still Gen. Doolittle’s mechanic the night they landed at Youks-les-Bains in February of 1943. He was one of the men who ran for the shell hole that night.

Gen. Doolittle had to write the letter to his parents.

7492

Völkischer Beobachter (June 7, 1944)

Die Abwehr ließ sich nicht überraschen

dnb. Berlin, 6. Juni –
Der seit langem erwartete Angriff der Briten und Nordamerikaner gegen die nordfranzösische Küste hat in der letzten Nacht begonnen. Wenige Minuten nach Mitternacht setzte der Feind unter gleichzeitigen heftigen Bombenangriffen im Gebiet der Seine-Bucht starke Luftlandeverbände ab. Kurze Zeit später schoben sich, geschützt durch schwere und leichte Kriegsschiffeinheiten, zahlreiche feindliche Landungsboote auch gegen andere Abschnitte der Küste vor.

Die Abwehr ließ sich an keiner Stelle überraschen. Sie nahm den Kampf sofort mit aller Energie auf. Die Luftlandetruppen wurden zum Teil schon beim Absprung erfaßt und die feindlichen Schiffe bereits auf hoher See wirksam unter Feuer genommen. Viele Fallschirmeinheiten wurden aufgerieben oder gefangen, andere von hochgehenden Minen zerrissen.

Trotz fortgesetzter heftiger Luftangriffe und schweren Beschusses durch die feindliche Schiffsartillerie griffen die Geschütze des Atlantikwalls ebenfalls sofort in den Kampf ein. Sie erzielten Treffer auf Schlachtschiffeinheiten und den sich einnebelnden Landungsbooten. Der Kampf gegen die Invasionstruppen ist in vollem Gange.

Auf Befehl Moskaus haben sich nun die Briten und Amerikaner entschließen müssen, das unabsehbare Risiko der so lange hinausgezögerten Invasion auf sich zu nehmen. Damit hebt eine ungeheure Kraftprobe an, für die der Feind seine seit Jahren gesammelten und aufgesparten Reserven in breitester Front einsetzen wird. Die deutsche Führung ist auf diesen Waffengang vorbereitet, in dem es um die Verteidigung Europas, seiner Freiheit und ewigen Größe geht. Das deutsche Volk ist sich bewußt, daß es seine ganze so oft bewährte Seelenkraft aufzubieten hat, um diese sieghafte Entscheidung, die nicht nur ein Kampf der Waffen ist, herbeizuzwingen. Es tritt in diesen neuen Abschnitt des Krieges mit dem unerschütterlichen Mut und Vertrauen ein, die es in nun fast fünf Jahren eines harten und opfervollen Ringens stets beseelt haben, die ihm große Erfolge schenkten und ihm die Kraft gegeben haben, auch allen Wechselfällen gegenüber in Ehren zu bestehen und nur noch entschlossener alle Energien anzuspannen, um seine Zukunft zu sichern.

In dieser Stunde wächst es erst recht an den Anforderungen, die der Generalangriff des Feindes an uns alle stellt, an der Größe der geschichtlichen Aufgabe, deren Bewältigung in unsere Hand gegeben wird. Wir gehen in diesen Kampf mit der leidenschaftlichen Entschlossenheit, ihn nicht früher zu beenden, bis der Sieg unser ist und damit Leben, Ehre und Freiheit unseres Volkes auf Generationen hin gesichert sind. Das deutsche Volk schart sich in dieser schicksalsschweren Stunde in festem Glauben an den Triumph seiner gerechten Sache um den Führer, den Garanten des Sieges und einer Zukunft, die, unserer Nation würdig, den Sinn unserer Geschichte erfüllt.

vb.

7493

Sündermann: Die Sowjetoffensive in Frankreich

Von Helmut Sündermann

Berlin, 6. Juni –
In den gleichen Morgenstunden des 6. Juni – fast genau vier Jahre nach der britischen Dünkirchen-Niederlage – ist gleichzeitig eine militärische Entscheidung begonnen und eine politische Entwicklung mit dem Siege Moskaus abgeschlossen worden. Als die anglo-amerikanischen Truppen sich zum Angriff gegen den Kontinent aufmachten, hat die Sowjetpolitik einen außergewöhnlichen Erfolg errungen – sie hat eine Armada zweier großer Staaten für ihre Zwecke in Bewegung gesetzt.

Es war bereits in den ersten Augusttagen des Jahres 1941, als die britische Sunday Times die folgenden bemerkenswerten Worte schrieb:

Selbst wenn die Invasion den Engländern Zehntausende von Toten und Verletzten kosten würde – so bemerkt man in Moskau – dürfte eine derartige Offensive trotzdem nicht unterlassen werden.

Dieser vor nunmehr fast drei Jahren veröffentlichte Satz enthält alles, was auch heute noch zu sagen ist. Was man damals in Moskau „bemerkte,“ führen die Churchill und Roosevelt nunmehr nach langem Zögern, aber wortgetreu aus. Es ist wahrlich eine Sowjetoffensive, die wir im Westen erleben.

Dieses Wort gilt nicht nur für die Beweggründe, sondern auch für die Ziele der Operation, die der us.-amerikanische Invasionsgeneral Eisenhower eingeleitet hat. Wenn er den Krieg nach Frankreich hineinträgt, so tut er es mit de Gaulle im Rücken – dem Manne, der in Algier sich bereits als Intimus des Bolschewismus erwiesen hat. Und wenn Eisenhower das Ziel hat, vom Westen her den Krieg gegen Deutschland voranzutragen, so geschieht es auf Grund einer militärischen Konzeption, deren Hauptabsicht ist, die deutsche Kraft im Osten zu brechen. Ein bolschewisiertes Frankreich und ein den Sowjethorden preisgegebenes Europa – das sind die wahren Parolen, für die die anglo-amerikanischen Soldaten ihre blutige Aufgabe begonnen haben.

Die deutsche Auffassung, daß der europäische Lebenskampf, der um die Rettung des Kontinents vor der bolschewistischen Niedertrampelung geht, im Westen genauso entschlossen geführt werden muß wie im Osten, erweist sich heute als richtig und vorausschauend» Wenn sie unvermeidlich zur Folge hatte, daß manche Position im Osten und Süden aufgegeben werden mußte, so hat sich auch dies als zweckmäßig erwiesen: auch ein Söldnerheer ist gefährlich, auch das Landsknechttum, das für fremde Interessen kämpft, muß mit der gleichen Entschlossenheit bekämpft werden wie die Horden des Ostens. Deutschland und Europa sind durch die Ereignisse nicht überrascht worden. Sie erkennen das Gebot der Stunde, und das heißt im Westen ebenso wie im Osten: die Kulturvölker unseres Kontinents vor der sicheren Vernichtung retten!

Daß es eine Sowjetoffensive ist, die sie unternehmen, mag manchem einfachen anglo-amerikanischen Soldaten, der in dieses blutige Abenteuer gesandt wurde, heute noch nicht so klar sein wie den Völkern Europas. Auch in ihrer Heimat mag es manche geben, die – von Phrasen umnebelt – den wahren Kern der Sache noch nicht durchschauen. Aber – das dürfen wir heute sagen – es wird bei ihnen ein blutiges Erwachen geben, ein Erwachen, das sich heute schon ankündigt und das die Churchill und Roosevelt und ihre ganze Judengesellschaft, die zwei Reiche in das Fahrwasser des Bolschewismus gesteuert haben, hinwegfegen und eine neue, gereinigte Welt zum Aufstieg bringen wird. Das wird die Sache der Zukunft sein: Die Angelegenheit des Tages aber ist der Kampf, der leidenschaftliche Kampf um die Vernichtung des bolschewistischen Verbrechertums, das von Westen her die Tore nach Europa aufbrechen will, nachdem sie ihm im Osten durch die deutsche Wehrmacht verschlossen sind. Aber es wird sich zeigen, daß auch dort Deutschland auf der Wacht war und ist.

7494

Um die Entscheidung

vb. Berlin, 6. Juni –
Seit heute Morgen um ein Uhr dröhnen an der französischen Küste die Geschütze, knattern die Maschinengewehre, zucken die Mündungsblitze der Schiffsartillerie durch den künstlichen Nebel, der den Umriß ihrer Leiber verbirgt. Die ersten Gefechte einer der größten Schlachten unserer Geschichte haben begonnen. Die Welt hält den Atem an. Sie fühlt, daß von diesen Stunden eine große geschichtliche Entscheidung ausgehen kann. Ob ein ganzer Kontinent, der älteste des Erdballs, unter die Herrschaft der rohesten Zerstörungskraft geraten soll oder ob er die Möglichkeit hat, sein eigenes Leben frei zu entfalten: Dies wird mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit in den nächsten Wochen an der Küste des Atlantischen Ozeans entschieden werden.

Jeder kennt aus seiner eigenen Umgebung in der letzten Zeit die Frage, die immer wieder gestellt wurde: „Werden sie kommen? Werden sie es wagen?“ Aber diese Frage hat nicht den Staatsbürger in Deutschland allein beschäftigt. Die Unsicherheit darüber, ob die Westmächte wirklich die Invasion beginnen würden, hat die gesamte internationale Diskussion der Fachleute während der letzten Monate beherrscht. Die deutsche Führung hat sich zu keinem Augenblick davon anstecken lassen. Sie hat alle politischen und militärischen und vor allem auch die psychologischen Gegebenheiten auf der Gegenseite gewürdigt, und sie ist seit langem zu dem Schluß gekommen, daß die Westmächte unter dem Zwange stünden, in Westeuropa zu landen. Die heutigen Ereignisse haben dies bestätigt und damit die Gesamtstrategie der deutschen Führung in den letzten anderthalb Jahren glänzend gerechtfertigt.

Die militärische Entwicklung während dieser Zeit stand im Zeichen deutscher Rückzüge. Diese Rückzüge wären zu vermeiden gewesen, wenn die deutsche Führung sich entschlossen hätte, ihre reichlichen operativen Reserven an den von Invasion bedrohten Stellen abzuziehen. Sie hat das nicht getan, und sie hat im Gegenteil aus der Ostfront Reserven herausgezogen, um sie an die Stelle zu werfen, von der sie wußte, daß hier eines Tages die Entscheidung fallen würde. Das hat manchen schmerzlichen Verzicht bedeutet – schmerzlich für die Truppe und schmerzlich für die Heimat. So ist Kiew, so ist Smolensk, so ist Odessa, so ist am Sonntag Rom verlorengegangen. Aber mit den Ereignissen dieses historischen 6. Juni gewinnen diese Preisgaben erst ihr eigentliches Gesicht.

Sie waren notwendig, damit da, wo in dem eisernen Würfelspiel die Entscheidung des Krieges fallen muß, die Deutschen die stärkste Zusammenballung ihrer Kraft besitzen, die möglich ist. Indem die Führung der Verlockung standhielt, die der Sorge um große Städte mit alten Namen, die aber auch der nie zu beseitigenden Ungewißheit über die Pläne der Westmächte entsprang, indem sie mit der äußersten Entschlossenheit an der einmal als richtig erkannten Gesamtkonzeption festhielt, hat sie die erste Voraussetzung für kommende Erfolge bereits geschaffen.

Es ist nicht wahrscheinlich, daß es bei der Landung an der nordwestfranzösischen Küste bleiben wird. Es ist eher anzunehmen, daß der Gegner nun nacheinander auch noch an anderen Stellen Westeuropas Truppen an Land setzen wird. Wo sich dann eines Tages der Schwerpunkt des Kampfes herausbilden wird, ob das an den Landestellen des 6. Juni, ob das weiter nördlich, ob das weiter südlich der Fall sein wird, das alles wird sich erst nach Tagen, vielleicht nach Wochen zeigen. Aber das eine ist bereits jetzt sicher: Die Kämpfe werden in mancher Beziehung ein anderes Gesicht tragen als die Rückzugsschlachten in der Ukraine und in Italien. Diesmal spielt sich die kriegerische Auseinandersetzung dort ab, wo die deutsche Führung seit langem die Entscheidung erwartete und wo sie darauf gerüstet ist. Sie ist im Osten wie in Italien ausgewichen, weil sie es so wollte und weil sie es für richtig hielt. Sie wird in Frankreich der Entscheidung nicht ausweichen, weil sie sie selber hier wünscht. Sie hat sich hier darauf vorbereitet, und sie wird sie auszutragen wissen.

Die Meldungen über die ersten Stunden des Kampfverlaufes, soweit sie uns gegenwärtig vorliegen, zeigen denn auch, wie entschlossen der Abwehrwille der deutschen Führung, wie überlegen ihre Maßnahmen und wie hart die ersten deutschen Gegenschläge sind. Die Kämpfe werden weitergehen, wochen-, vielleicht monatelang. Wir wissen alle, daß sie sehr schwer sein werden. Der Feind hat viel dazu getan, eine große Kriegsmacht aufzubauen, und wir zweifeln nicht an seiner Entschlossenheit, diese Kriegsstärke nun auch voll einzusetzen. Die ganze deutsche Nation erkennt den hohen Ernst der Stunden, die begonnen haben. Aber gerade darum, weil der Gegner sich nun endlich gezwungen sieht, auf dem seit langem sorgsam gemiedenen Schauplatz der Entscheidung mit seiner stärksten Kraft anzutreten, gerade darum glauben wir auch, daß von den Kämpfen dieser Wochen her das militärische Gesicht des Krieges sich wieder wandeln wird.

Die deutsche Defensivstrategie der letzten anderthalb Jahre war nichts Endgültiges. Sie war ein Mittel zum Zweck, nicht mehr. Der Plan unserer Gegner, durch eine ununterbrochene Offensive das Herz Europas zu lähmen und schließlich zu vernichten, ist seit heute Morgen in einen Abschnitt der Entwicklung getreten, der sich im Verlauf der Kämpfe zu seiner eigentlichen Krise wandeln mag. Wenn dem Gegner der Invasionsfeldzug gelingen sollte, dann wären für uns die Folgen unübersehbar. Sie würden wohl das Ende bedeuten. Wenn aber die deutschen Soldaten die Angreifer Zurückschlagen, dann sind die Folgen unübersehbar für die Gegenseite. Die Entscheidung über beides, das Schicksal unseres Vaterlandes, das Schicksal unseres Erdteils liegt jetzt in den Händen und den tapferen Herzen der Kämpfer am Atlantikwall. In dieser ungeheuren Tragweite der Ereignisse liegt die Rechtfertigung für das Aushalten, für den Widerstand und den Gegenstoß der deutschen Soldaten an der atlantischen Küste.

Wenn aber der Rauch der Geschütze sich endgültig von dem Strand der Felsenküste Frankreichs verzogen haben wird, dann wird sich auch zeigen, daß das Gesicht des Krieges ganz neue Züge erhalten hat. Militärisch gesehen aber wird dies bedeuten, daß die deutsche Führung dann freier geworden ist in ihren Entschlüssen, als sie es anderthalb Jahre lang sein konnte. Die Nation weiß, daß in der großen dramatischen Zuspitzung dieses Krieges auch die große Zuversicht liegt. Sie weiß, daß in dem Gewühl der schweren Schlachten dieses Sommers das blitzende Schwert des Gegenschlages zu finden ist.

7495

Nördlich Caen 35 Britenpanzer abgeschossen –
Torpedoboote führten den ersten Abwehrschlag

Berlin, 6. Juni –
Der durch wochenlange Bombardierungen von Befestigungen und Verkehrswegen angekündigte Angriff der Briten und Nordamerikaner auf die nordfranzösische Küste hat in den ersten Morgenstunden des 6. Juni begonnen. Kurz nach Mitternacht wurden bei Trouville, bei Caen und an der Nordostküste der normannischen Halbinsel zahlreiche Fallschirmspringer und Lastensegler beobachtet. Gleichzeitig erfolgten heftige Luftangriffe auf die wichtigsten Küstenplätze zwischen Cherbourg und Le Havre sowie im Abschnitt Calais-Dünkirchen. Die sofort alarmierte Küstenverteidigung nahm die Fallschirmjäger schon beim Landen unter Feuer und rieb in Gegenstößen starke Teile der sich laufend noch weiter verstärkenden Luftlandetruppen auf.

Andere Gruppen wurden durch hochgehende Minen vernichtet. Während dieser für den Gegner äußerst verlustreichen Kämpfe schoben sich zahlreiche Landungsboote an die Küste zwischen Orne- und Viremündung. Beim Hellwerden wurde ein starker feindlicher Flottenverband im Seegebiet westlich Le Havre erkannt. An den beiden Flügeln durch Schlachtschiffe, Kreuzer und Zerstörer geschützt, sammelten sich im Inneren der Seinebucht zahlreiche Landungsfahrzeuge aller Art und Größe. Deutsche Torpedoboote griffen diese Schiffsansammlungen entschlossen an. Bei ihrer Annäherung versuchten die feindlichen Streitkräfte, sich durch Einnebeln der Sicht zu entziehen. Fliegerstaffeln halfen ihnen dabei und legten im Tiefflug dicke Nebelbänke rings um die Schiffe. Dennoch schossen unsere Boote ihre Torpedos und ihre gesamte Artilleriemunition mitten zwischen die dichtgedrängt liegenden Fahrzeuge und erzielten gute Treffer. Dann kehrten sie zur Munitionsergänzung vollzählig zu ihrem Stützpunkt zurück.

An anderen Stellen der Seinebucht stellten Vorpostenboote den Gegner ebenfalls erfolgreich zum Kampf. Im Sperrfeuer der Küstenbatterien sanken weitere Fahrzeuge, darunter ein größeres Kriegsschiff. Die feindliche Schiffsartillerie erwiderte das Feuer und beschoß mit Spreng-, Rauch- und Nebelgranaten die Verteidigungswerke. Die Granaten wie die fortgesetzt über den Bunkern abgeladenen Bomben blieben ohne Wirkung. Inzwischen ging der Kampf gegen die im Raum von Caen abgesetzten britischen, Luftlandetruppen und gegen die bei Carentan abgesetzten nordamerikanischen Verbände weiter. Zahlreiche Gefangene fielen dabei in diesen ersten Stunden bereits in unsere Hand. Zur Ablenkung der Abwehr warfen britische Flugzeuge östlich der Orne lebensgroße, mit Sprengladungen versehene Puppen ab. Das Täuschungsmanöver wurde rechtzeitig erkannt, über die Kampfzone hinweg flogen ununterbrochen feindliche Fluggeschwader ein und bombardierten die Küstenwerke sowie die Bahn- und Straßenknotenpunkte im Raum zwischen Le Havre und Cherbourg. Aber ebenso pausenlos rollten die Salven der Batterien unseres Atlantikwalls und der Geschütze der Eingreifdivisionen.

Schon bald nach Beginn des Unternehmens war zu erkennen, daß die Briten und Nordamerikaner ihren Hauptstoß zunächst gegen die Räume Caen, Carentan und Cherbourg richteten. Unter dem Schutz massierter Bombenwürfe und dem schweren Feuer der Schiffsartillerie führte der Feind seinen an der Mündung sowie am Ostrand der normannischen Halbinsel aus der Luft und von der See her gelandeten Kräften laufend Verstärkungen und an einigen Stellen auch Panzer zu. Hiezu kamen aber auch dann die deutschen Gegenschläge.

Beiderseits Cherbourg waren die feindlichen Luftlandetruppen bereits zerschlagen, bevor sie sich noch zum Kampf formieren konnten. Hohe blutige Verluste hatte der Gegner vor allem im Raum von Caen, wo die Briten große Mengen von Sturmbooten einsetzten und die vernebelte Steilküste mit Hilfe von Enterleitern zu überwinden versuchten. Durch die Vorstrandsperren und das Abwehrfeuer wurden zahlreiche Boote vernichtet, und nur unter schweren Verlusten konnte der Feind einen Teil seiner Panzer an Land bringen. Im Gegenstoß waren hier bis zum Mittag auf schmalem Raum bereits 35 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.

Im ganzen Küstenabschnitt zwischen Cherbourg und Le Havre sind die Kämpfe in vollem Gange. Weitere Teiloperationen des Feindes richteten sich gegen die Kanalinseln Jersey und Guernsey. Neue starke Schiffs verbände näherten sich im Laufe des Vormittags auch der Küste zwischen Calais und Dünkirchen. Der große Waffengang an der nordfranzösischen Küste hat begonnen. Er fand die deutschen Truppen überall bereit.