Thousands attend church services
Record of London’s bow bells, heard in Times Square at 4:00 a.m., calls city to worship
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D-DAY SEES SPORTS TAKE A ‘TIMEOUT’
Major and most minor league baseball games off along with boxing programs
No racing at aqueduct; programs at Boston. Chicago, Detroit tracks suspended; will resume today
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FOOD IS READY HERE FOR INVADED LANDS
Butter, cheese and eggs not included in huge stores set aside at start of year
Meat is the chief item; most of it is pork, less than tenth beef; more to be allocated as needed
By Jefferson G. Bell
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Decorations given to 92 war nurses
Col. Blanchfield tells convention of awards for wounds, devotion, heroism
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House women aid poll
Named by Spangler to advise Republican campaign
Washington – (June 6)
The six Republican women members of Congress were named today by Harrison E. Spangler, chairman of the Republican National Committee, to a special women’s advisory committee for the 1944 campaign.
All except Rep. Winifred Stanley of New York, absent on a speaking engagement, attended a luncheon conference with Mr. Spangler at which he expressed great pride in “the largest contingent of women Representatives of any one party serving at one time” and said that it was “fitting they should be the original members of the Woman’s Advisory Committee.”
The others names were Reps. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, Frances P. Bolton of Ohio, Jessie Sumner of Illinois, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine and Clare Boothe Luce of Connecticut.
Editorial: Let us pray
The President’s prayer last night was the nation’s prayer. This nation was born in the only revolution in history made in the name of God. It was born of the conception that the rights of man are not conveyed to him by any accident of class or color, race or creed, are not conferred or withheld by any government, but are given him by God as the inalienable birthright of the human being. it is to defend this inherent right of the human being, the right of free will, against the most ambitious tyranny that ever shadowed the earth that we are today storming the beaches of Europe with the legions of all the people, conquered and marked for conquest, who would rather die fighting than live as slaves.
We have come to the hour for which we were born. We go forth to meet the supreme test of our arms and of our souls, the test of the maturity of our faith in ourselves and in mankind, and it is fitting that in this hour we at home, citizens of all confessions and no confession, should follow the ways of our fathers and solemnly place the fate of our country, our cause and our sons, in the hands of God.
We pray for the boys we know and for millions of unknown boys who are equally a part of us. A year, two years ago, they were the grinning, careless youngsters we saw on the campuses and ballfields and streets of every American town. Now they are steeled and exalted into men; they are the heroes in the hardest and most crucial adventure in history. All too literally, their flesh and their spirit are our shield, the shield of the Republic. “Lead them straight and true, O Lord of Hosts; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness to their faith.”
We pray for our country, this country that is ourselves, as strong as we are strong, as great as we are determined to make and keep it great. In the eyes of our soldiers, looking back for one last look at home as they go forward into the unknown dangers before them, we see that “home” means to them all the world is fighting for. In this moment of pure light that burns away all trivial issues, they see the war aims with perfect clearness, and so do we. Our prayer is to be worthy of their courage and their faith in us and the future and brave enough to keep on fighting for peace when they have won it for us.
The cause prays for itself, for it is the cause of the God who created men free and equal. Victory may be hard to win, but it is as certain as the eventual triumph of good over evil is always certain. In this searching hour we are humble as well as proud. We know that we are paying not only for the awful sins of those who willed war but for the sons of those who did not will peace hard enough to take responsibility to maintain it. We are paying also for our own sins. Let us pray for the grace to avoid committing them over again. On our knees let us seek the wisdom to turn the victory we will buy with a great price into a reign of justice.
Editorial: The invasion
The first reports from the battlefront sound like an answer to the prayer that accompanied our troops, smashed by Allied bombers and by the guns of the United Nations’ navies at least sections of the vaunted German “Atlantic Wall” have crumbled, and our troops are established on beachheads along a front from Le Havre to Cherbourg, while Allied parachute and glider troops leaping beyond the “wall” are fighting in Caen, nine miles in the interior, and according to enemy reports even north of Rouen, 41 miles from the coast.
Certainly in the first phases of the invasion, Allied strategy has been brilliant. Instead of striking at the high cliffs opposite Dover, where the Germans expected the attack, and had therefore placed their heaviest fortifications, Gen. Eisenhower struck at the low-lying sandy beaches of Normandy, using methods which had produced such excellent results in Sicily, at Salerno and at Anzio. And the location of the landings also indicates the further plan, which seems aimed at putting the whole Normandy Peninsula into Allied hands as a base for a drive up the Seine Valley directly on to Paris. But the landings in Normandy are merely the first of a series which may now be expected to crash other beaches of France, both north and south, and possibly those of other countries as well.
Yet though the enemy’s “Atlantic Wall” has proved to be quite vulnerable in spots, the German Command has still mobile armies estimated at some 50 divisions in France, in which it has placed its main reliance to bring the Allied invasion to a halt. These armies will counterattack and attempt to drive the allies back into the sea. As Gen. Eisenhower said, the landing is but the opening phase and great battles lie ahead. But the enemy armies can scarcely move until they are certain where the main blow is to come from, and they cannot be quite certain while other invasions are still pending. That is the advantage of the initiative, which is now firmly in Allied hands.
Editorial: France
It is the strange but noble destiny of France to welcome passionately in secret an army of invaders that must bring more destruction and death upon her, who has suffered so much and so long. It will soon be four years since the armistice with Germany was signed after six disastrous weeks. What a monstrous irony it is to recall the strictly “correct” behavior of the Nazi troops in Paris. The Parisians were nit impressed. The artificial, clumsy, Teutonic politeness was soon thrown off. In 1941, Pétain’s “honorable peace” had turned into reneging of the armistice terms. The Nazis put a stranglehold upon French industrial and economic life, made almost two million French captured soldiers do forced labor, refused to reduce the enormous overcharge for the support of the army of occupation.
Violence, sabotage inevitably followed. The slaughter of “hostages” began. It is now in its fourth year. The work of the French groups of resistance has been continuous. In the face of death, they have never flinched. They are now ready and waiting to aid the friendly invaders, not merely by information but by arms. French soldiers are among the friendly invaders. In Africa, in Italy, in the air and on the sea, Frenchmen have fought for us and for themselves.
In these fateful hours, Americans send their wishes and hopes to these brave and enduring fighters for freedom. For the mother of modern freedom, Americans have a kindness that is more than historical. Who that has been in France, that federation, we might call it, of little provinces or countries, each with its individual charm, can help loving it? Unyielding and indomitable people of France, have faith and courage! We are coming.
Editorial: Weapons and the invasion
Where were those “secret weapons” of the Germans when Allied troops swarmed over the sands between Le Havre and Cherbourg? That rocket shell of diabolically ingenious Nazi physicists which was loaded with so lethal a charge of liquid air and uranium salt that it could destroy all life within a range of 500 yards – where was it? And what about the preposterous German bomb which, when it exploded, would freeze everything within a quarter of a mile and clog the Channel with icebergs to block transports? So far as we can tell at this early stage of the invasion, both sides used weapons that have been familiar ever since the Allies landed at Salerno.
When Hitler began his depredations neither side had today’s weapons. The equipment evolved in four years came only in stages, by way of Russia, North Africa and Italy. Hence the invasion was conducted with the aid of an accumulated engineering experience. Bombers of unprecedented carrying capacity and range, troop-laden gliders towed by “locomotive” planes, rocket guns big and small, radio-controlled shells with wings, radar, machines to generate steam and oil fogs that conceal square miles, jet-propelled fighters – the invaders had them all and more to boot. These are the engineering surprises of the present war. In 1918, we could speak chiefly of gas and the tank.
A foothold was gained on the shores of France partly because of these innovations, but largely because of a plan and an organization without a parallel. We have not only to think of 4,000 larger vessels in the Channel, 11,000 planes in support, several hundred naval vessels to cover the transports, tanks, special artillery in every size and for every destructive purpose, balloon barrages, but also of a masterly coordination of movement in three dimensions. Everything had to be thought of – from dehydrated food to typewriters, from mine sweeps to binoculars. We may be sure that the engineer was everywhere the director and coordinator. For this was essentially a stupendous engineering enterprise. If Addison could eulogize Marlborough at Blenheim as he who “rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm,” what shall we say of Eisenhower and a terrific mechanical tornado?
In the swirl of this directed tornado, we must include a mighty armada of transatlantic freight-carriers and the factories of Chicago and St. Louis, the oil refineries of Tulsa, the jeep and tank plants of Detroit and Toledo, the tailoring lofts of New York. No wonder a thrill runs through millions of workers in North America and Britain. They, too, are human gears and levers in a titanic invading machine. The screech of the tool that saws steel 5,000 miles from France is echoed in the screech of shells in flight. Science and technology interwoven with daring on French beaches to fashion a spiritual fabric in which the democracies are wrapped – that is what the invasion means.
Bund boasts told at sedition trial
Their newspapers are quoted as reporting Nazi movements in Europe, Latin America
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WARD CHIEF SAYS HE FORCED OUSTER
Avery tells House committee he acted to dramatize ‘march of dictatorship’
U.S. labor agencies hit; ‘government, unioneers’ are blamed for strike; WLB orders contract extended
By Louis Stark
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Blood donors swamp Red Cross; 300% rise in bookings in city
Thousands of New Yorkers, anxious to take some active part in D-Day swamped blood bank centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn yesterday in their eagerness to make blood donor appointments. By 8 o’clock last night, weary volunteer workers reported a 300% increase in “future bookings” over a normal day.
As early as 8:30 a.m. yesterday, the telephones in the booking rooms began to ring. Shortly thereafter, the number of women answering these calls for the New York chapter of the American Red Cross had to be doubled. One man reported that he had telephoned steadily between 9:00 a.m. and noon before he was able to make an appointment.
Hundreds of men and women appeared at the center, 2 E 38th Street, without appointments and waited as long as three hours to fill in when cancellations occurred. These were far below average. Other persons, unable to wait, made appointments for the future.
Invasion “jitters” apparently directed many to the blood bank. One woman, who waited two hours for a possible cancellation, said she was too nervous to sit at home and listen to the radio. Others revealed that they had wandered aimlessly, wanting to do something “useful,” until they found themselves in the neighborhood of the centers.
The long line of potential donors contained many who had never given blood before and an equal number who had. One man was waiting to make his 15th donation. Two women were celebrating their birthdays as well as D-Day. A family of three waited three hours “just in case our nephews and cousins who are taking part in the invasion might need the plasma.”
Servicemen and women, who are rushed through without appointments, also helped to swell the crowd. A dozen sailors appeared en masse. WACs and SPARS came in twos and threes. A soldier who had 25 minutes between trains thought there might be time for him to give blood.
Col. Earle Boothe, director of blood donor service, urged volunteers to keep appointments to assure a steady flow of plasma during the next few critical months. He appealed to residents not to relinquish their resolve to donate blood if they could not obtain immediate appointments.
The United Press reported a similar rush in Washington to give blood.
Mixed U.S. economy pictured by Berle
Tells ILGWU convention post-war period will combine enterprise and planning
By Joseph Shaplen
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Invasion may dull Mississippi issue
Democratic convention today may show political effect of news amid rebellion
By Turner Catledge
Jackson, Mississippi – (June 6)
The domestic political reaction to the long-awaited invasion of Europe may have its first practical demonstration tomorrow at the Mississippi State Democratic convention which, until tonight, had been all set to “read the riot act” to President Roosevelt and the New Deal wing of the party regarding white supremacy, states’ rights, the poll tax and Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
The dominant anti-New Deal leadership of the Mississippi Democratic organization declared that they still had the strength to put through a series of resolutions demanding that the party nationally take no stand prejudicial to the South on the above-named issues. They were able, too, they said, to send an uninstructed delegation to Chicago and to nominate an uninstructed delegation to Chicago and to nominate an uninstructed set of presidential electors to vote for “any other Democrats” except those named at Chicago if the demands were ignored.
“These things we can do, invasion or no invasion,” one of the original planners of this strategy said tonight.
But news tones down issue
Regardless of this contention, there was evident among these leaders, and some of their followers, a disposition to crowd in behind the banner of the President’s war leadership as news of the invasion continued to flow through the newspapers and over the radio.
Leaders of the “revolt” wanted it distinctly understood that whatever was done here at their behest tomorrow, it must not be construed as aimed at Mr. Roosevelt’s war commandership but at the “anti-Southerners” with whim they maintain he has surrounded himself in management of domestic affairs.
The anti-New Dealers came here with a set of resolutions already virtually drawn. These resolutions called first for rejection of Mr. Wallace as the party’s vice-presidential candidate. They demanded that the party at the Chicago convention restore the rule requiring a two-thirds’ majority to nominate candidates for President and Vice President; that it reject any proposals for equality between the white and Negro races; that it turn down any platform plank proposing federal action against the poll tax, or limiting in any other manner the rights of the state to conduct its own affairs.
One of the first tangible reactions to the invasion news was a revival of the pro-Roosevelt forces among the Democratic ranks. Until today, these forces had remained quiet, seemingly content to let the anti-New Dealers go through with the program.
Agree on race question
They feared local repercussions over the race issue if they tried to stop it, and on that issue, there is no division among Mississippi Democrats.
But with the opening of the invasion, the pro-New Dealers saw a rare opportunity to raise the slogan of “stand by the Commander-in-Chief.” They were joined quickly by some of the forces of Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, who was not present for the convention in person. The Bilboites appeared not so much impressed by the virtues of the New Deal and the President as by the possibility of slapping down the prosperous business, professional, planter elements leading the other side.
Regardless of the new life of the pro-Roosevelt forces, most observers agreed tonight that the antis were in the saddle and whatever comes out of the meeting tomorrow will be their brew.
Moreover, it was evident on every hand here that Mississippi Democrats of virtually every strip are smarting irritably under what they regard as the efforts of the Northern wing of the party “to tell us how to run our business,” especially in dealing with the Nego problem. It seems an inevitable reaction to the pressures outside the South for the fuller emancipation of the Negroes, and particularly to the consciousness that those pressures are growing strong within the very party through which they have maintained white supremacy since Reconstruction. The invasion may have modified the immediate emphasis, but it has not changed the fundamental differences, nor can it.
Reading Eagle (June 7, 1944)
ON THE RECORD —
‘Assume a virtue’
By Dorothy Thompson
It is interesting to speculate why the Germans abandoned Rome. It is the first time in this war they have given up a major object without a real fight, or without destroying it. The stereotyped report has been, “Nothing of value has been left to the enemy.”
If we assume that the abandoning of Rome was simply a disengagement operation, we must ask whether it would have been more profitable for the enemy to have made more a prolonged defense of the Eternal City. That seems likely. In his last appeal before our troops entered Rome, Gen. Alexander told the Roman population to keep off the highways, as our troops would press urgently through Rome in the pursuit of the retreating enemy to the north. Knowing this, it would have been advantageous for the Germans to make a fortress out of every home, and to challenge us to destroy it.
That they did not do this may be due to another idea in the mind of Marshal Kesselring. On Saturday he transmitted to the Vatican a German proposal that both sides declare Rome an open city, promising that German troops would keep out of Rome if the Allied army would do the same. Had we accepted this proposition, Kesselring would have forestalled the use of Rome as a transit for the pursuit. But we did not even answer. Yet the Germans limited their resistance to small groups of snipers and minor skirmishes in the suburbs.
So, it was not military reasons that forced them to abandon Rome. And for once I believe we must accept the official German reason – that they wanted to spare Rome.
Seemingly, this explodes the picture we have in our minds of Nazism. As a matter of fact, the picture of Nazism is exploding. It is the most encouraging symptomatic sign in this war thus far, for it indicates the defeatism of the German Army.
We must not assume that here is an act of conversion. It is a matter of calculation. As long as they were certain of victory the Germans cared nothing for world public opinion. Victorious in Poland, they showed not the slightest respect for the religious and cultural institutions of that most Catholic of countries. They bombed Warsaw to bits to achieve more quickly what they could have accomplished without such destruction. They razed Czech villages – not alone Lidice – to the ground, simply as acts of wanton reprisal. They did saturation bombing over England in the so-called “Baedecker raids” against which they now protest in holy horror. They destroyed parts of Rotterdam after an armistice with Holland.
Furthermore, leading spokesmen of the Nazis have warned openly that, if threatened with defeat, they would unloose such destruction that all Europe would go down with them. Some months ago, people feared they would destroy Rome, carry off the Pope as prisoner, and fulfill the threats made when they were atop the world.
But that is not the way of bullies. Intolerable in victory, they begin discovering the instincts of gentlemen as defeat looms. This shows in their propaganda. At the beginning of this war, there was no talk of their being the saviors of Europe and the protectors of European culture. They were out for Lebensraum and domination. Now, to read the German newspapers, it is European integrity and culture for which alone they fight. They are even defending the Poles against the Russians! It is an odd way to defend Europe by first destroying her, but apparently, they agree with Emerson that “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Now, the Germans, confronting defeat, are apparently trying to balance the books more evenly on the crime record. Naturally, they show their most pious face toward the west – for two reasons. What they have done in the west is beyond explanation. They have never quite dared to show the same ruthlessness toward any eastern nation, as they have toward the Slavs and eastern Jews. This difference is in harmony with their racial theories which makes hierarchies of superior and inferior races.
In Hungary, they are still going on with it, deporting all the Jews and what dissident elements they can lay hands on.
Also, our own air warfare has caused great suffering in Europe and destroyed cultural monuments, whereas the Russian fight has left Europe unscathed. Balancing the books is, therefore, easier with the Western Allies than with Russia.
The Germans will one day argue the difference between the behavior of the German armies and the Nazi Party divisions. The atrocities in Hungary are being carried out by SS men. The planned extermination policies in the east were in the hands of the Gestapo. Rome was spared by the German Army. The German General Staff already knows that it will backfire if they attempt to whitewash party Nazis, and they prepare to differentiate.
Thus, the sparing of Rome is a political symptom of the first order. The German General Staff has taken notice of the advice of Hamlet, “Assume a virtue if you have it not.”
Völkischer Beobachter (June 8, 1944)
Harte Kämpfe an der normannischen Küste –
Kraftvolle Abwehr gegen die zweite Angriffswelle
Große Verluste des Feindes an Menschen, Waffen, Schiffen, Flugzeugen
Berlin, 7. Juni –
Nachdem die deutschen Truppen am Nachmittag des 6. Juni die zwischen Cherbourg und Le Havre aus der Luft gelandeten Briten und Nordamerikaner teils ins Meer geworfen und teils auf schmale Küstensäume zurückgedrückt hatten, begann der Feind, wie erwartet, in den Abendstunden die zweite Angriffswelle. An zahlreichen Stellen flogen schwere Bomber mit angehängten Lastenseglern in Gruppen von je 100 Flugzeugen und mehr in das normannische Küstengebiet ein. Zahlreiche Staffeln gerieten in das Sperrfeuer der Flak oder die Geschoßgarben der deutschen Jäger.
Die Masse der Lastensegler ging im Orne-Abschnitt nieder. Die übrigen klinkten südlich Le Havre, im Raum von Carentan sowie an der Ost- und Westküste der Halbinsel Cotentin aus. Außerdem bombardierten schwere Verbände des Feindes die Abriegelung der Landestellen und das Hinterland. In harten nächtlichen Kämpfen rieben unsere Truppen die Masse der in ihrem Rücken gelandeten Fallschirmeinheiten auf und säuberten das Hinterland von Versprengten. Die Verluste des Gegners an Menschen und Waffen waren außerordentlich hoch. Die Höhenrücken im Innern der normannischen Halbinsel und das Gelände zwischen Orne und Vire sind von zahllosen abgestürzten Lastenseglern und gefallenen Fallschirmspringern bedeckt. Mehrfach gerieten geschlossene Einheiten in deutsche Gefangenschaft.
Gleichzeitig legte der Feind mit schwerer Schiffsartillerie eine Feuerglocke über die alten Landestellen und begann Verstärkungen an Land zu bringen. In einem Abschnitt schoben sich zwischen den ausgebrannten oder noch schwelenden Wracks von über 30 großen Landungsfahrzeugen die vollbesetzten Boote an den Strand heran. Die Küstenverteidigung und unsere in Wellen angreifenden Kampfflugzeuge hielten unter den Briten und Nordamerikanern blutige Ernte. Von Bomben getroffen sank unter anderem ein etwa 6000 bis 7000 BRT großer Transporter. Während der Ausschiffung griffen leichte deutsche Seestreitkräfte die in der Seinebucht zusammengezogene feindliche Landungsflotte an.
Mehrere der sichernden Kriegsschiffe erhielten Torpedotreffer. Weitere Schiffsverluste hatte der Feind durch das Feuer schwerer Batterien und durch hochgehende Seeminen.
Nach dem Niederkämpfen der hinter unseren Küstenbefestigungen aus der Luft abgesetzten Truppen drückten unsere Verbände von neuem auf die Landestellen. Ein kleinerer Brückenkopf im Gebiet der Viremündung und nördlich davon sowie die Widerstandsnester im Innern der normannischen Halbinsel wurden beseitigt.
Die Lage der einzelnen Landepunkte zueinander läßt Rückschlüsse auf die Absichten des Gegners zu. Die Nordamerikaner versuchen durch ihre am Vire und gegenüber der Kanalinsel Jersey an Land gebrachten oder abgesetzten Kräfte die normannische Halbinsel mit Cherbourg abzuschnüren. Aus den Vorstößen der im Raum der Orne-Mündung stehenden Briten ist weiterhin erkennbar, daß der Feind seinen dortigen Brückenkopf zu erweitern erstrebt. Kennzeichnend für den bisherigen Ablauf der Kämpfe ist neben dem riesigen Aufgebot des Gegners an Menschen, Waffen, Schiffen und Flugzeugen vor allem die Tatsache, daß er alle seine verfügbaren Kräfte immer nur in dem gleichen Raum einsetzt. Die sowohl in den Morgenstunden, wie in den Nachmittagsstunden vor der Küste zwischen Calais und Dünkirchen beobachteten feindlichen Verbände hatten offenbar nur die Aufgabe zu täuschen. Sie haben bislang jedenfalls keinen Landeversuch gemacht.
In den ersten 24 Stunden der Invasion hat sich der Feind durch rücksichtslose Opfer starker Kräfte und durch Masseneinsatz seines von zwei Weltreichen bereitgestellten Materials eines etwa 40 Kilometer breiten, jedoch nur wenige Kilometer tiefen Küstenstreifens sowie einiger kleiner Landestellen bemächtigen können. Dieses Ergebnis mußte er mit riesigen Verlusten an Menschen sowie zahlreicher Schiffe, Flugzeuge und Waffen bezahlen. Der Gegner hat die Stärke der deutschen Abwehr zu spüren bekommen, und jeden Schritt weiter beantworten unsere Truppen durch immer härter werdende Gegenschläge.
Italienische Front: Nebenkriegsschauplatz –
‚Deutsche Führung urteilt richtig‘
e. a. Italienisches Hauptquartier, 7. Juni –
Der anglo-amerikanische Invasionsversuch hat im faschistischen Italien sogar die Räumung Roms und alles, was damit zusammenhängt, in den Schatten gedrängt.
Die Kommentare der italienischen Presse arbeiten den Zusammenhang, der zwischen den Ereignissen an der Südfront und dem Invasionsversuch in Frankreich besteht, klar heraus. Regime Fascista schreibt:
Die deutsche Führung ist nicht überrascht worden. Sie wußte, daß die Anglo-Amerikaner, wenn sie den Krieg fortsetzen und nicht mit den Bolschewisten brechen wollten, den Befehlen Stalins gehorchen mußten. Noch besser wußte die deutsche Führung, wo die Landung erfolgen mußte. Sie hat sich dabei durch die große Offensive in Italien nicht ablenken lassen, die aus politischen Gründen Rom zum Ziel hatte.
Die ersten Nachrichten aus Frankreich trösten uns nach der Bitterkeit, mit der wir den Verlust Roms vernommen haben. Immer mehr überzeugen wir uns davon, daß unter rein militärischen Gesichtspunkten die italienische Front nur ein Anhängsel der Entscheidungsschlacht ist, die die Anglo-Amerikaner in Frankreich führen müssen.
Auch Republica Fascista bringt die Räumung Roms mit dem Invasionsversuch in Zusammenhang und schreibt, in beiden Fällen gehe es um die europäische Kultur, aber es sei absurd, anzunehmen, weil Rom geräumt worden sei, würde Europa dem feindlichen Ansturm erliegen. Im Gegenteil sei das von farbigen Truppen geschändete Rom zum Symbol der für die Zukunft der europäischen Kultur kämpfenden Truppen geworden.
US-Gouverneur für Rom
Wie Exchange Telegraph aus Rom meldet, mußte der italienische General Bencivenga, der insgeheim von Badoglio zum Gouverneur von Rom ernannt worden war, sein Amt an den US-Brigadegeneral Harne abtreten.
Kurschat: Das Aushalten an der Ostfront erhält seinen Sinn
pk. Die Invasionsschlacht um Westeuropa hat begonnen! Wie ein Lauffeuer dringt diese Nachricht in den Mittagsstunden des 6. Juni durch die Stellungen unserer Grenadiere an der östlichen Abwehrfront gegen den Bolschewismus. Die gespannten Erwartungen der bevorstehenden Ereignisse haben sich aufgelöst in ein tiefes Gefühl der Erleichterung. Keiner unserer Ostfrontgrenadiere unterschätzt den Ernst der Lage und die Schwere der Aufgaben, die den Kameraden an der Kanalfront aufgebürdet sind. Keiner aber verkennt auch, daß der Invasionsbeginn das Heranreifen der endgültigen Entscheidung über Sieg und Niederlage in diesem Weltringen gewaltig vorantreibt.
Ohne Zweifel steht der Invasionsbeginn mit der augenblicklichen Lage an der Ostfront in ursächlichem Zusammenhang. Das eherne Halt, das unsere Ostgrenadiere den durch den Wintervormarsch maßlos gewordenen Sowjets von Narwa bis zum unteren Dnjestr boten, unsere glänzenden Abwehrerfolge an der Südfront – die Zerschlagung des bolschewistischen Großangriffs beiderseits Tigins, die Bereinigung der Brückenköpfe von Butor und Rascäti und der Flußschleife von Koschnitze und endlich die deutsch-rumänischen Angriffserfolge nördlich Jassy – ließen gewiß die Forderung Stalins nach der Invasion in Westeuropa in den letzten Wochen immer dringender werden. So mußte sich das alliierte Oberkommando endlich bequemen, dem Befehl des Kremls zu folgen und in das Blutbad der Invasion zu steigen.
Die gefährlichen Entwicklungen dieses Winters an der Ostfront erhalten durch den Auftakt der Entscheidungsschlacht in Westeuropa ihren Sinn. Wie oft haben sich die deutschen Grenadiere im Süden der Ostfront während der schwerwiegenden Absetzbewegungen vom Unterlauf des Dnjepr über Ingulez, Ingul und Bug zum Dnjestr gefragt, ob es keinen Ausweg gebe, die rückläufigen Bewegungen aufzuhalten. Einige frische Divisionen hätten Entscheidendes erreichen können, und jeder wußte, daß im Westen ein ganzes Heer bestausgerüsteter, ausgeruhter Verbände lag. Manchmal wollten sich in die Herzen jener fast bis zur Erschöpfung kämpfenden Soldaten Zweifel einschleichen an das Sinnvolle des Opfers, das sie Tag für Tag bringen mußten. Aber sie fanden in den Stellungen am unteren Dnjestr das Bewußtsein ihrer eigenen Stärke wieder, wenn auch mancher sich vielleicht fragen mochte: War die Freigabe riesiger Gebiete wirklich gerechtfertigt? Wäre durch den Einsatz von Westreserven nicht doch die Lage im Osten früher zu stabilisieren gewesen?
Die Ostfront hat die ihr vom Führer gestellte Aufgabe auch ohne die Hilfe der Divisionen des Warteheeres im Westen lösen können. Eine Auslese von hervorragenden Offizieren und in allen Feuern des Winterkrieges zu Stahl gehärteten Männern hat einem vielfach überlegenen Gegner getrotzt. Und nun sehen diese Männer, die so lange vergeblich in der scheinbaren Sinnlosigkeit einen Sinn suchten, warum der Führer in rücksichtsloser Entschlossenheit den Osten zugunsten der drohenden Invasionsfront hintanstellen mußte. Nun erkennen sie das geschichtliche Verdienst, das sie sich um die Schonung der Westreserven erworben haben, und sagen sich mit berechtigtem Stolz, daß es nicht zuletzt ihrem winterlichen Aushalten zuzuschreiben ist, daß heute eine ungeschwächte Abwehr der anglo-amerikanischen Invasionsarmeen entgegentreten kann. Die Grenadiere der Ostfront verfolgen den Kampf ihrer Kameraden mit den heißesten Wünschen. Geht es diesmal doch nicht um eine Entscheidung auf einem Teilgebiet des Krieges, sondern eben um das letzte Wägen, ehe es die Siegesschale niedersinken läßt. Es ist der feste Glaube der Ostfront, daß die Kameraden im Westen bei diesem Wägen nicht zu leicht befunden werden. Denn die Männer, die heute an der Kanalküste stehen, sind ja fast durchweg zunächst durch die Schule des Ostkrieges gegangen, die beste Schule, die einem Soldaten zuteilwerden und die auch das intensivste „Invasionstraining“ nicht wettmachen kann.
Kriegsberichter HEINRICH KURSCHAT
Staatsmänner zum Überfall auf Europa
Staatschef Marschall Pétain hat einen Appell an das französische Volk gerichtet, in dem er alle französischen Dienststellen, Eisenbahner und Arbeiter auffordert, auf ihrem Posten zu verbleiben.
So heißt es in dem Appell:
Franzosen! Verschlimmert unser Unglück nicht durch Taten, die tragische Repressalien über euch bringen könnten. Die unschuldige französische Bevölkerung würde die Folgen tragen. Nur durch Wahrung strengster Disziplin kann Frankreich gerettet werden. Gehorcht also den Befehlen der Regierung, erfülle jeder seine Pflicht. Die Umstände der Schlacht werden die deutsche Armee vielleicht veranlassen, in den Kampfzonen besondere Maßnahmen zu ergreifen. Fügt euch dieser Notwendigkeit!
Der Poglavnik Dr. Ante Pavelitsch erklärte einem DNB-Korrespondenten:
Die Geschichte Europas kennt das Wort Invasion seit jeher. Sie kam immer von Osten, und es handelte sich immer mehr oder weniger um halbwilde Horden, die in zivilisierte Gebiete Europas hereinbrachen, um zu plündern und zu zerstören. Die Invasion der Anglo-Amerikaner auf dem europäischen Kontinent kommt zwar nicht aus dem Osten, hätte jedoch dieselben Ergebnisse. Die Anglo-Amerikaner könnten einer Invasion des bolschewistischen Rußlands in Europa nichts entgegenstellen oder sie verhindern.
Das kroatische Volk schwur seinen unabhängigen Staat, für den es durch Jahrhunderte lebte und kämpfte, auf den es ein Recht hat, und für den es politisch und wirtschaftlich reif ist. Die anglo-amerikanische Invasion wird daher vom kroatischen Volk so aufgefaßt, als ob man es seines eigenen Staates berauben und anderen Völkern unterordnen wolle.
Aus diesem Grunde ist das kroatische Volk bereit und entschlossen, alle seine Kräfte für den gemeinsamen Kampf einzusetzen und mit dem deutschen Volk gegen jede Invasion zu streiten, denn es weiß, es kämpft für seine Freiheit und seinen Bestand.
Generaloberst Milan Neditsch, der serbische Regierungschef, sagte gegenüber einem DNB-Korrespondenten:
Auf jeden Fall wird die Londoner Rechnung, welche Serbien und die Serben in eine mit der Invasion verbundene Balkanaufstandsbewegung einsetzt, falsch sein. Wir wissen, daß uns die Anglo-Amerikaner an die Bolschewisten verraten und verkauft haben. So wandelt sich für uns wie auch für die anderen Südostvölker das Invasionsproblem in den konkreteren Fall des unerbittlich antibolschewistischen Kampfes, welchen wir schon bald drei Jahre mit steigendem Erfolg führen. Die Invasion ändert an Serbiens Standpunkt nichts. Wir sind bereit, alles für das Wohl unseres Volkes zu opfern. Wir glauben ebenso wie das deutsche Volk unerschütterlich daran, daß, wer in den jetzigen Versuchungen und Bedrängnissen durchhält, nicht nur das eigene Leben, sondern auch die Zukunft der ganzen Nation, ja ganz Europas gerettet hat.
Ministerpräsident Quisling betonte in einer Unterredung mit einem DNB-Vertreter:
Der europäische Kontinent habe ein Stadium seiner historischen Entwicklung erreicht, in dem die verschiedenen Staaten und Völker nach einer europäischen Einheit strebten, um ihre Freiheit und Existenz behaupten zu können. Das Dasein Europas müsse gegen Weltmächte verteidigt werden, die außerhalb Europas entstanden seien und die im Zeichen einer fortgesetzten Expansion den alten Erdteil mit Vernichtung und Ausbeutung auf Jahrhunderte hinaus bedrohten. England und Amerika mit ihren kapitalistischen und imperialistischen Eigeninteressen und der Weltimperialismus des Bolschewismus versuchten die rettende Neuordnung Europas mit allen Kräften zu hindern. Für jeden Europäer, der die Liebe zum eigenen Land und Volk mit dem Verständnis für das Schicksal an das Europas verbindet sei die Lage angesichts dieser Umstände völlig klar.