America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

7754

Mosley: Paratroopers spring trap on 600 German grenadiers

By Leonard Mosley

With British 6th Airborne Division, France (AP) – (June 12, delayed)
Paratroop Capt. Charles Bliss had that grin on his face that always means something brewing.

Charles said:

This is going to be good. Do you remember the gap we left in our lines just around Bréville? Well, Jerry’s found it at last and he’s coming through. We have a report of at least 600 panzer grenadiers advancing through the woods and believe they’re going to try to drive through Ranville to break our line and gain the east bank of the river. well, what we are going to do to those Jerries should make a nice little story for you. Look.

He pointed along the walls and through the orchards and when you looked hard, you could see British troops everywhere.

They were well dug in among bushes and grass, and only the green camouflaged tops of their helmets poked around the skyline – that and the muzzles of their Brens, heavy machine guns and Stens.

See for approach

It was just before noon that we saw out first Germans. Over on the other side of the dropping zone, you could suddenly see figures moving among trees. We watched them forming up into batches of 10-15 men.

No one fired at them. Only the dull boom of artillery from somewhere away in the distance, and the busy hum of fighting planes disturbed the placid Saturday morning.

Shortly after noon, the German attack began. In those batches of 10 and 15, spread out over 200 or 300 yards, the German infantrymen came in at a run. They moved through the waving corn in the black ploughland until they reached a line of wrecked gliders. Then, they fell on their faces and lay there. After a few minutes they got up again, ran forward, then fell flat again. It went on like that for about 400 yards. Still, no one fired.

Mortar gun fires

From somewhere in the wood now a German mortar gun was going into action and its shells fell all around us and in the serried rows of gravestones in a churchyard. Splinters fell among us. There were casualties. But there was no retaliation.

Stretcher-bearers wriggled forward and dragged wounded men away, but never showed themselves against the skyline.

Now the enemy was gaining confidence from the stillness. Smelling no danger, his loping advances were longer, his periods flat on the ground of only a few seconds duration. He came on fast. He kept on coming until he was about 100 yards away. Then at a prearranged signal every automatic weapon, every rifle in the paratroops’ line opened up. It was a roar that set your teeth chattering with shock.

You suddenly saw the Germans grimacing wildly, clutching their bodies, throwing up their hands, then falling by the dozens into the corn. They all flung themselves down and the British paratroops continued their fire.

Rain of bullets

A rain of bullets surged across those 100 yards of French farmland and battered into the huddles on the grass. The earth was scuffed up in showers of corn and went down as if under a flail.

But the Germans weren’t beaten yet. One of their officers rose to his feet and called to his men, and those not wounded charged once more. This time, the paratroops held their fire even longer, and it was 23-30 yards when the small-arms barrage hit the enemy.

Fingers squeezed triggers almost simultaneously up and down the line. In writhing heaps, the Germans went down again. And now the remnants turned and began to flee.

Bullets chased them across the field as they raced for woods. But only a few made that shelter, for now our shells and mortars came into play and plastered a river of steel between the enemy and the sanctuary for which he was racing.

Hundreds killed

By 10 o’clock, it was all over, and the dropping zone was littered now not only with gliders and containers, but with hundreds of enemy dead and enemy wounded.

On Sunday morning, the Germans tried again to blast through to Ranville.

Once more they came in batches, and once more the British mowed them down with the same grim efficiency. That same morning, they had enough and went limping away to the safety of the marshes beyond the Orne.

With the men who had killed them – boys from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Somerset – I went into the woods to see the flotsam and jetsam this short but bloody war had left. Everywhere was death. But it was Nazi death. At least 400 had been killed and nearly 2,000 made prisoners. And in breaking the whole of a German regiment and capturing its commander, British losses did not number over 50 all told, including wounded.

7755

Editorial: Montgomery’s return

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7756

Editorial: Scrapping ships

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7757

German prisoners display treachery

With British forces in France (AP) – (June 12, delayed)
German prisoners on the Western Front have to be watched almost as carefully as Japanese in the Pacific.

Three British soldiers and a photographer were standing in a doorway watching a column of Nazi captives passing through a village late yesterday. Suddenly there was a violent explosion. All four were killed. One of the German prisoners had tossed a hand grenade which he had somehow managed to hide.

Facts about the behavior and control of anthracite mine fires, published recently by the government, will provide mining engineers with life- and property-saving information.

7758

Women join Navy as invasion begins

News of the Allied invasion of France prompted many Virginia women to join the WAVES, Navy Recruiter Alton Frix said here today.

He quoted LtCdr. Charles L. Kessler, the officer in charge of Navy recruiting in Virginia, as saying:

Since word of the invasion of Western Europe reached Virginia, young women have been responding magnificently. Most of them realize now is the time to help Uncle Sam and the U.S. Navy in their task.

Full information concerning enlistment in the Navy or WAVES may be secured from Frix at the Navy recruiting substation in the post office building here each Monday,

7759

The Pittsburgh Press (June 15, 1944)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Normandy beachhead, France –
The ship on which I rode to the invasion of the continent brought certain components of the second wave of assault troops. We arrived in the congested waters of the beachhead shortly after dawn on D-Day.

We aboard this ship had secretly dreaded the trip, for we had expected attacks from U-boats, E-boats, and at nighttime from aircraft. Yet nothing whatever happened.

We were at sea for a much longer time than it would ordinarily take to make a beeline journey from England to France. The convoy we sailed in was one of several which comprised what is known as a “force.”

As we came down, the English Channel was crammed with forces going both ways, and as I write it, still is. Minesweepers had swept wide channels for us, all the way from England to France. These were marked with buoys. Each channel was miles wide.

We surely saw there before us more ships than any human had ever seen before at one glance. And going north were other vast convoys, some composed of fast liners speeding back to England for new loads of troops and equipment.

As far as you could see in every direction the ocean was infested with ships. There must have been every type of oceangoing vessel in the world. I even thought I saw a paddlewheel steamer in the distance, but that was probably an illusion.

There were battleships and all other kinds of warships clear down to patrol boats. There were great fleets of Liberty ships. There were fleets of luxury liners turned into troop transports, and fleets of big landing craft and tank carriers and tankers. And in and out through it all were nondescript ships – converted yachts, riverboats, tugs and barges.

The best way I can describe this vast armada and the frantic urgency of the traffic is to suggest that you visualize New York Harbor on its busiest day of the year and then just enlarge that scene until it takes in all the ocean the human eye can reach, clear around the horizon. And over the horizon, there are dozens of times that many.

We were not able to go ashore immediately after arriving off the invasion coast amidst the great pool of ships in what was known as the “transport area.”

Everything is highly organized in an invasion, and every ship, even the tiniest one, is always under exact orders timed to the minute. But at one time, our convoy was so pushed along by the wind and the currents that we were five hours ahead of schedule, despite the fact that our engines had been stopped half the time. We lost this by circling.

Although we arrived just on time, they weren’t ready for us on the beaches and we spent several hours weaving in and out among the multitude of ships just off the beachhead, and finally just settled down to await our turn.

That was when the most incongruous – to us – part of the invasion came. Here we were in a front-row seat at a great military epic. Shells from battleships were whamming over our heads, and occasionally a dead man floated face downward past us. Hundreds and hundreds of ships laden with death milled around us. We could stand at the rail and see both our shells and German shells exploding on the beaches, where struggling men were leaping ashore, desperately hauling guns and equipment in through the water.

We were in the very vortex of the war – and yet, as we sat there waiting, Lt. Chuck Conick and I played gin rummy in the wardroom and Bing Crosby sang “Sweet Leilani” over the ship’s phonograph.

Angry shells hitting near us would make heavy thuds as the concussion carried through the water and struck the hull of our ship. But in our wardroom men in gas-impregnated uniforms and wearing lifebelts sat reading Life and listening to the BBC telling us how the war before our eyes was going.

But it isn’t like that ashore. No, it isn’t like that shore.

7760

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 15, 1944)

Communiqué No. 20

Further steady progress has been made west of CARENTAN and between the rivers VIRE and ELLÉ.

Allied troops have repulsed several violent armored attacks in the CAUMONT-TILLY sector with considerable loss to the enemy.

In the CHERBOURG PENINSULA, ground gained in the area of QUINÉVILLE has made available a valuable new outlet from the beaches.

During yesterday, mobile batteries on the flanks were engaged as necessary by Allied warships. On the eastern flank HMS BELFAST (Capt. A. H. MAXWELL-HYSLOP, AM RN) engaged the batteries of LE HAVRE.

During an unsuccessful enemy air attack in the western assault area, an enemy aircraft was shot down by the USS AUGUSTA (Capt. E. H. Jones, USN) wearing the flag of RAdm. ALAN GOODRICH KIRK, USN.

Convoys of Allied merchant ships are arriving satisfactorily and the armies continue to build up with men, stores and equipment.

Allied aircraft in great strength ranged from the CHERBOURG PENINSULA southwards to the LOIRE and eastwards to CHARTRES and PARIS, continuing their attacks on communications, airfields, and tactical targets. Coastal aircraft kept up their attacks on enemy shipping in the channel early today.

Heavy bombers in great strength attacked many targets in FRANCE this morning, including railyards at ANGOULÊME, airfields near BORDEAUX and PARIS, and railway bridges near TOURS. They were escorted by strong forces of fighters which also strafed ground targets. In these operations, twelve enemy planes were destroyed. Three of our bombers and three of our fighters are missing.

Medium and light bombers attacked bridges at CONDÉ-SUR-NOIREAU, SAINT-LÔ, LESSAY, CHARTRES and COLTAINVILLE, and a road junction at ARGENTAN. None of these bombers was lost.

Fighter bombers and fighters provided close support for the ground forces and swept over NORMANDY, attacking supply dumps, troop concentrations, tanks, convoys, and railway bridges. Other fighters attacked a ferry at QUILLEBEUF near the mouth of the SEINE. In the course of a patrol this morning, five enemy fighters were destroyed near ÉVREUX.

Photographic reconnaissance shows that the German naval forces in the port of LE HAVRE suffered very severely from the attack by heavy night bombers on the evening of June 14.

7761

Völkischer Beobachter (June 16, 1944)

Bewegungskrieg auf engem Raum

Verzweifelt ringen die Eindringlinge in der Normandie um Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten

vb. Wien, 15. Juni –
Der Kampf in der Normandie beginnt immer mehr die Züge zu tragen, die ihm die starken Panzerverbände von beiden Seiten geben. Das bedeutet, daß er immer mehr die Züge des Bewegungskrieges annimmt. Aber zugleich sind in der Normandie die Wesensmerkmale des Bewegungskrieges so verändert, daß zum Schluss doch – bisher wenigstens – die schnelle Veränderung des Frontverlaufs, die eigentlich zum Begriff des Bewegungskrieges gehört, aufgehoben erscheint.

Wir sehen starke Panzergeschwader vorbrechen, wir sehen sie mit ihrer beträchtlichen Geschwindigkeit gewisse Strecken Landes durchqueren, aber wir sehen auch, daß der Frontverlauf nach Westen und Süden immer noch, wenigstens im Großen gesehen, derselbe ist wie gegen Ende vergangener Woche. Der Gegner ist seit acht Tagen bestrebt, den Brückenkopf mit Hilfe seiner Panzerdivisionen zu erweitern. Er kann seine Angriffe wohl über eine gewisse Strecke vortragen, er stößt aber dann auf heftigen deutschen Gegendruck und auf Gegenangriffe und wird gezwungen, das eben noch gewonnene Gebiet wieder aufzugeben. Es ist also eine im taktischen Verlauf etwas seltsame Form des Panzerkrieges, die sich hier abspielt, gleichsam ein Bewegungskrieg auf engem Raum. Natürlich ist die Front hier nicht erstarrt, wie sie es 1917 war, sie ist flüssig und unaufhörlich in Veränderung begriffen. Aber im Ganzen ändert sich die Gesamtlinie nur sehr wenig.

Auch die Gegner berichten, daß sie am Mittwoch eine Reihe der Dörfer und Kleinstädte, die sie zunächst nach Süden und Nordwesten hingenommen hatten, wieder aufgeben mußten, daß sie da und dort wieder „hinausgeworfen“ worden sind. Auch sie können nicht bestreiten, daß sowohl ihre Versuche, nach der Tiefe Raum zu gewinnen, wie die anderen, sich Cherbourg vom Rücken her zu nähern, erfolglos geblieben sind. Ihre Angriffe in den letzten vierundzwanzig Stunden beweisen von neuem, wie stark Montgomery unter dem strategischen Zwang steht, anzugreifen. Die Angriffe der letzten Tage sind denn auch mit noch größerer Wucht und Kraft unternommen worden wie die der Vortage. Aber sie sind dafür auch wieder auf noch stärkeren deutschen Gegendruck gestoßen. Die Schlacht hat also noch an Umfang wie an Erbitterung zugenommen. Aber am Ende der hin und her wogenden Kämpfe stand dann fast die gleiche Frontlinie wie vorher.

Wir haben also das merkwürdige Bild, daß große Verbände einer starken und schnellen Waffe miteinander kämpfen, daß ihr Einsatz immer stärker wird und daß die Gesamtentwicklung doch etwas Ruhendes hat. Das bedeutet nicht, daß der Einsatz der Kräfte nicht noch gesteigert werden kann. Wir müssen versuchen, uns in die Gedanken des Gegners zu versetzen. Nach dem, was er vorher ausgeplaudert hat, aber auch nach dem objektiven Bild der Lage, hat er sich den Verlauf der Schlacht ganz anders vorgestellt.

Er hat geglaubt, leichter an Land zu kommen, er hat geglaubt, bessere Landeplätze zu linden, und er hat geglaubt, nach neun Tagen tiefer im Lande zu sein. Vor allen Dingen hat er geglaubt, mit weniger Verlusten davonzukommen, als es nun der Fall ist.

Die Darstellungen der englischen und amerikanischen Kriegsberichter sprechen da eine deutliche Sprache. Wenn der General Montgomery den Anschluss an den ursprünglichen „Fahrplan“ Eisenhowers wiedergewinnen will, muß er den Zwang zum Angriff sehr stark empfinden. Der gleiche Zwang geht von seiner gegenwärtigen Lage aus. Er hat keinen rechten Raum zur Entfaltung seiner Heeresgruppe. Er muß sehen, daß er ihn sich schafft.

Er wird kaum mit sehr leichten Gefühlen in den neuen Abschnitt der Invasion gehen. Er spürt den wachsenden deutschen Gegendruck, er liest die Zahlen der schweren Verluste. Dazu muß seine Sorge um den Nachschub sich von Tag zu Tag vergrößern. Je mehr sich die deutsche Luftwaffe und die leichten deutschen Seestreitkräfte auf den Kampf an der normannischen Küste haben einstellen können, umso häufiger und erfolgreicher sind sie am Feind. Die Versenkungszahlen der Wehrmachtberichte sprechen eine deutliche Sprache. Die Behinderung des Nachschubs ist umso empfindlicher für Montgomery, als er ja auch gezwungen ist, für die starken Ausfälle an Menschen und Material Ersatz herbeizuschaffen und damit die ohnehin beschränkten Möglichkeiten der Anlandungen noch zu überanstrengen.

Aber wir möchten annehmen, daß Montgomery trotz aller dieser Erschwernisse dem Zwang der Lage gehorchen wird, der ihm befiehlt anzugreifen. Vermutlich werden seine Vorstöße an Stärke wie an Heftigkeit noch zunehmen, er wird damit versuchen, sich den Weg aus der Enge des Raumes zu bahnen.

Auch der Wehrmachtbericht sagt, daß die Schlacht in der Normandie ihrem Höhepunkt zustrebt. Sie verläßt allmählich das Stadium der Einleitung und der Vorbereitung. Sie nähert sich dem entscheidenden Stadium. Es muß wiederholt werden, daß diese Entscheidungen kaum in einem einzigen Schlage lallen werden. Nach menschlichem Ermessen werden sie in einer Reihe von großen Kämpfen herbeigeführt werden.

7762

Neue Vernichtungsoffensiven eingeleitet –
Tojo fordert verstärkte Rüstungsproduktion

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7763

Englische Stimme zur Verworrenheit der Kriegsziele –
Wofür kämpft der amerikanische Soldat?

Genf, 15. Juni –
„Erfolg und Kampfgeist eines auf fremden Boden kämpfenden US-Heeres werden am leichtesten gewährleistet, wenn die Kriegsziele so einfach wie möglich dargelegt werden,“ schreibt Saturday Evening Post.

In dem Artikel wird auf einen Brief hingewiesen, den der Militärkritiker der New York Times von einem Unteroffizier des US-Heeres erhalten hat. Der Unteroffizier sagte, daß von all den eben eingezogenen nordamerikanischen Männern, die ihm begegnet seien, diejenigen an den Fingern abgezählt werden könnten, „die eine grundlegende, klare Vorstellung über diesen Krieg haben.“ Diese Verworrenheit sei nicht schwer zu verstehen. Der einleuchtende Grund dafür sei die Tatsache, „daß wir nicht unseren eigenen Boden verteidigen.“ Unglücklicherweise herrsche über die praktische Anwendung solcher Grundsätze, wie sie die Atlantik-Erklärung und andere darstellen sollten, keine richtige Einstimmigkeit. So lese man, daß Churchill sie nicht für Deutschland in Anwendung bringe und anscheinend einer Lösung der polnischen Frage zustimme, durch die die Sowjets den größten Teil Polens schlucken würden. Stalin schließe auch die baltischen Staaten davon aus.

Der in Verwirrung geratene Amerikaner, der sich als Verfechter des „freien Unternehmertums“ betrachte, erkenne viel Agitationsmache mit dem Schlagwort von der Zerstörung der deutschen Militärmacht, die man als Vorwand für die Zerstörung des deutschen Industriesystems benutzen wolle. Eine beachtenswerte Gruppe Amerikaner nehme an, daß „wir kämpfen, um in Deutschland die Form von Wirtschaft zu zerstören, die wir in Amerika verteidigen.“

Noch verwickelter gestalte sich die Situation dadurch, daß Schriftsteller und Propagandisten laut verkündeten, daß die Atlantik-Erklärung Schwindel sei, falls Polen nicht genau seine Grenzen von 1939 wieder hergestellt bekomme, während andere wieder verkündeten, die Atlantik-Erklärung fordere, Polen und die baltischen Staaten den Sowjets auszuhändigen, oder, alle Soldaten der Alliierten kämpften vergebens, falls die Forderungen der unbefriedigten Gruppen von Neuyork bis Kalkutta nicht vollständig liquidiert würden. Der Brief des oben zitierten US-Soldaten zeigt eindeutig, wie verworren das ganze Gerede von sogenannten Kriegszielen der Alliierten ist. Die Eingeständnisse dieses amerikanischen Soldaten sprechen Bände.

Bradley Montgomery unterstellt

b—r. Bern, 15. Juni –
In London wurde mitgeteilt, daß der englische General Montgomery zum Befehlshaber aller anglo-amerikanischen Streitkräfte auf französischem Boden ernannt worden ist. Der amerikanische General Bradley wurde ihm unterstellt.

Als vor etwa einem halben Jahr die Ernennung der Befehlshaber für die „Zweite Front“ bekanntgegeben wurde, bezeichnete sie Montgomery als Befehlshaber der englischen und Bradley als Befehlshaber der nordamerikanischen Streitkräfte unter Eisenhower.

Bei Beginn der Invasion am 6. Juni wurde Montgomery in den ersten Meldungen schon als Befehlshaber aller beteiligten Streitkräfte, Engländer, Kanadier und Amerikaner, genannt. Jetzt ergibt es sich anscheinend, daß er nur das Kommando der im Brückenkopf zwischen Orne- und Viremündung eingesetzten Streitkräfte hatte, während Bradley für das Gebiet des zunächst isolierten Brückenkopfes nördlich Carentan selbständig neben Eisenhower stand. Wenn jetzt erst, neun Tage nach Beginn der Operationen, eine Änderung der Kommandoverhältnisse vorgenommen und der amerikanische dem englischen General unterstellt wird, so hängt das wohl nicht nur damit zusammen, daß die Brückenköpfe allmählich zusammengewachsen sind und daher einer einheitlichen Leitung bedürfen, die ja durch Eisenhower ohnehin gewährleistet sein sollte, vielmehr drückt sich darin offenbar eine Kritik an der Leistung Bradleys aus, dessen Brückenkopfgebiet bisher nur wenig ausgeweitet worden ist und dessen Vorstöße gegen den von der anglo-amerikanischen Strategie angestrebten Hafen Cherbourg kaum von der Stelle gekommen sind.

7764

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (June 16, 1944)

Südengland und das Stadtgebiet von London mit neuartigen Sprengkörpern bombardiert

Erfolgreiche Gegenangriffe in der Normandie – Weitere Bekämpfung feindlicher Ausladungen – Erbitterte Kämpfe in Mittelitalien – Wieder ein deutsches Lazarettschiff bombardiert – Sowjetische Vorstöße in hohen Norden gescheitert

map.61644.dnb

Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 16. Juni –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Südengland und das Stadtgebiet von London wurden in der vergangenen Nacht und heute Vormittag mit neuartigen Sprengkörpern schwersten Kalibers belegt.

Der vergangene Tag stand in der Normandie im Zeichen erfolgreicher Gegenangriffe unserer Truppen, Panzerverbände trieben östlich der Orne einen Keil in den feindlichen Brückenkopf. Westlich Caumont sowie südöstlich und südwestlich Carentan warfen unsere Divisionen den Feind zurück und festigten ihre Stellungen. Die feindlichen Verluste waren besonders bei den Kämpfen im Raum von Carentan hoch.

Auch im Raum westlich und nördlich Sainte-Mère-Église hielten heftige Kämpfe an. Der Feind konnte dort nur geringen Geländegewinn erzielen.

Die Bekämpfung der feindlichen Ausladungen vor dem Landekopf wurde auch in der letzten Nacht durch unsere Luftwaffe erfolgreich fortgesetzt. Sie erzielte Bombentreffer in Schiffsansammlungen und Ausladungen.

Die im Kampfraum der Invasionsfront eingesetzten Bataillone der Freiwilligenverbände des Ostens haben steh bei den schweren Kämpfen voll bewährt und tapfer geschlagen.

Vorposten- und Minensuchverbände haben sich bei der Bekämpfung der Invasionsflotte in zahlreichen harten See- und Luftgefechten sowie bei der unter schwierigen Bedingungen durchgeführten Räumung feindlicher Minensperren und der Verminung feindlicher Schifffahrtswege besonders bewährt.

Bei einem Angriff britischer Bomben- und Torpedoflugzeuge auf ein deutsches Geleit vor Borkum wurden zehn feindliche Flugzeuge durch Sicherungsfahrzeuge und Bordflak zum Absturz gebracht Ein eigenes Fahrzeug ging verloren.

Vor der niederländischen Küste versenkten Vorpostenboote ein großes britisches Schnellboot und beschädigten ein weiteres schwer.

In Mittelitalien setzte der Feind seine Angriffe mit massierten Infanterie- und Panzerkräften vor allem im Raum nördlich und nordöstlich von Orvieto während des ganzen Tages fort. Die Kämpfe dauern in zwei Einbruchsstellen noch an.

Feindliche Flugzeuge griffen am 15. Juni vor der westitalienischen Küste erneut das deutsche Lazarettschiff „Erlangen“ an und warfen es in Brand.

An der Ostfront fanden auch gestern keine wesentlichen Kampfhandlungen statt.

Im hohen Norden scheiterten im Kandalakscha-Abschnitt erneut Vorstöße der Sowjets verlustreich für den Feind.

Im Finnischen Meerbusen beschädigten Sicherheitsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine ein erfolglos angreifendes sowjetisches Schnellboot. Wachfahrzeuge schossen über der Narwabucht fünf feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

Vor der Fischerhalbinsel griffen sowjetische Bombenflugzeuge und Schnellboote ein deutsches Geleit erfolglos an. Auch feindliche Küstenbatterien griffen in das Gefecht ein. Ein feindliches Schnellboot wurde dabei schwer beschädigt, zehn feindliche Flugzeuge wurden durch unsere Jäger vernichtet.

Ein schwächerer nordamerikanischer Bomberverband flog gestern nach Nordwestdeutschland ein und warf zerstreut Bomben im Raum von Hannover.

Angriffe einzelner britischer Flugzeuge richteten sich in der vergangenen Nacht gegen das rheinisch-westfälische Gebiet.

Deutsche Flugzeuge griffen wiederum Ziele in Südostengland an.

7765

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 16, 1944)

Communiqué No. 21

There has been no major change in any sector, but Allied troops have made further progress west of Pont-l’Abbé. All attempts by the enemy to gain the initiative have been frustrated and his counterattacks have been successfully repelled. Our striking power grows steadily.

Despite rain and limited visibility over many parts of FRANCE yesterday, the Allied air forces flew 3,000 sorties, many of them by aircraft based in FRANCE attacking targets indicated by advanced air force and army headquarters.

In the afternoon, medium bombers hit fuel and supply dumps, bridges and other communications targets from VALOGNES in the CHERBOURG PENINSULA to LAVAL and DOMFRONT about 75 miles behind the enemy lines. One medium bomber is missing.

Fighter-bombers, fighters and rocket-firing fighters were active throughout the day. Their objectives included railway yards at LE MANS, FOUGÈRES, MAYENNE, VIRE, GRANVILLE, FOLLIGNY, HYENVILLE, CHARTRES and COLTAINVILLE, and a bridge over the ORNE near AMAYÉ. East of CAEN fighter-bombers attacked enemy troops and tanks sheltering in woods and orchards. Others bombed SEINE river ferries, observation posts, radio stations, artillery concentrations and several bridges and railway lines near SAINT-LÔ. In these activities, 14 enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss of seven of ours.

Last night our heavy bombers in great strength attacked concentrations of E- and R-boats and minesweepers in BOULOGNE harbor as well as railway centers at VALENCIENNES and LENS and fuel dumps at CHÂTELLERAULT and FOUILLARD. Fourteen bombers are missing.

Four enemy aircraft were destroyed and others were damaged over FRANCE by our night intruders.

7766

U.S. Navy Department (June 16, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 51

Chichijima, and Hahajima in the Bonin Islands and Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands were attacked by carrier aircraft on June 14 (West Longitude Date). Thirty‑three enemy fighters which attempted to intercept our forces at Chichijima were shot down. Four multi‑engined seaplanes were damaged at Chichijima. At Iwo Jima, two airborne enemy aircraft were probably destroyed and 14 were destroyed on the ground.

One medium cargo ship was sunk by bombing at Chichijima, and four small cargo ships and six small craft were damaged. A medium transport, discovered underway near the Bonins, was heavily damaged by aircraft and later sunk by one of our destroyers. One hundred and twelve survivors were rescued and made prisoners of war.

Ground installations, including barracks, airfields, and fuel tanks were bombed by our aircraft.

Our losses were four aircraft and five flight personnel.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 52

U.S. assault troops are engaged in bitter fighting against defend­ing forces on Saipan Island.

On June 14 (West Longitude Date) and during the night of June 14‑15, our troops were withdrawn a short distance toward the beach in some sectors in the face of intense mortar and artillery fire. Positions were consolidated and during the night our naval forces carried out a heavy bombardment of enemy strongpoints.

On the morning of June 15, enemy resistance in the strongly held sector north of Charan Kanoa was broken. At midday a major element of our forces commenced an attack which advanced our line nearly one-half mile in the southern sector of the island. Lesser advances were made in other sectors.

Our assumption that Saipan Island would be strongly held because of its strategic location in the Japanese defensive system has been proven correct. Preliminary estimates indicate there are upwards of two divisions of enemy troops defending Saipan.

7767

The Free Lance-Star (June 16, 1944)

STUNNING BLOW STRUCK BY SUPERFORTRESSES
Jap steel center at Yawata is bomb target

Huge planes fly from China bases
By Clyde A. Farnsworth

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7768

Reporter gives bird’s-eye view of raid by Superfortresses

By Thoburn Wiant

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7769

YANKS AIM FOR ROAD CENTER
Driving to sever lines leading to Cherbourg

Nazi resistance grows in violence
By Wes Gallagher

Allied array in Normandy

map.61644ap
Here is the disposition of Allied divisions thus far officially disclosed to be participating in the battle of the Normandy beachhead (black line). Six U.S. Army divisions have been officially reported in action in the areas indicated by the pointers in the western sector, and two British and one Canadian division in the eastern sector.

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
Lt. Gen. Bradley’s troops, ramming home another blow to cut off Cherbourg, have advanced to within two and a half miles east of Saint-Sauveur, a junction controlling two of the three roads leading to the nearly beleaguered port, Allied headquarters announced today.

The Americans marked up a gain of two and a half to three miles west of Carentan after having previously reached Regnéville, three miles to the northeast of Saint-Sauveur.

Plugging away on a 10-mile front and rapping out repeated gains despite stubborn resistance, the Americans were now within 11 miles of the Cherbourg Peninsula’s west coast beaches. Their spearhead was some 17 miles below the big port.

While Bradley’s Yanks still fought a dingdong battle with Germans in the streets of Montebourg, 14 miles southeast of Cherbourg on the allied right flank, the British were engaged in stiff tank battles with German troops in force two miles south of Caumont. This is about 20 miles inland, the deepest Allied penetration.

Tank battles also still raged around Caen and Tilly-sur-Seulles on the Allied left flank.

Weather turns bad

Meanwhile, headquarters reported the worst weather over the battlefields since D-Day with a 20-mile-an-hour northwest wind blowing onto the beaches – the only place the Allies now hold for the reinforcement and supply of their invasion armies.

Despite the weather, however, the battleships USS Texas and USS Nevada and the cruiser USS Augusta were reported arching their shells deep inland in support of the troops driving across the peninsula.

A few miles south of the U.S. spearhead pointed at Saint-Sauveur was another column pushing toward Le Haye-du-Puits, a road junction controlling all the remaining roads leading into Cherbourg. The Americans were last reported about six miles from this objective.

A late dispatch from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s advanced command post said it was estimated 300,000 German troops had been thrown against the Normandy beachhead.

This dispatch said four German divisions had been badly mauled in battle, including the 709th, 711th and 352nd.

Reserves sent in

Alive to the vital necessity of holding Saint-Sauveur and Le Haye-du-Puits, the Germans rushed reserves into the battle and vigorous, fluid fighting was in progress.

The German communiqué said the Nazis drove the Allied back southeast and southwest of Carentan, but admitted Allied gains west and north of Sainte-Mère-Église. It also claimed that a wedge had been driven into the allied bridgehead east of the Orne River.

West of newly-captured Quinéville, on the extreme right wing of the 100-mile beachhead front, U.S. forces advanced a mile or more to reach the Sinope River.

These were the only advances registered along the front. Communiqué No. 21 said there were no major changes.

Furious armored fighting raged in the Tilly-sur-Seulles sector, while further east, the battle of Caen settled into trench warfare with the British and Canadians holding on tenaciously. The nearest approach to a “line” was held around Troarn, at the extreme left flank of the bridgehead.

Generals up front

Field dispatches said mobile fighting in the spearheads of the American sector found generals in the frontline with their troops, tossing hand grenades and firing rifles side by side with privates.

U.S. columns pushing forward sometimes were cut off and had to fight their way back into contact with the main forces.

Weather hampered air operations somewhat, but unloading of troops and supplies on the beachhead continued at full blast, and Supreme Headquarters declared Montgomery’s striking power “is growing daily.”

Photographs of Le Havre after a raid by RAF Lancasters Wednesday night showed the German E-boats, which had been lurking there to attack the flanks of the ceaseless trans-Channel convoys, had disappeared. Before the raid, 10 E-boats and motor torpedo boats had been seen in the harbor.

7770

Yanks advancing on Saipan Island

Push against Japanese tanks, artillery and soldiers; Navy gives cover

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
U.S. troops, landed by the most experienced invasion fleet in the world, advanced against Japanese tanks, artillery and soldiers today 1,500 miles southeast of Tokyo at Saipan in the Marianas – potential base for the B-29s which raided Japan Thursday.

Covered by battleship guns and rocket-firing carrier planes, the Yanks secured beachheads Wednesday, moving in from behind Saipan, 72-square-mile island 3,800 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, the starting point of the war.

They captured Agingan Point, a headland on the southwest coast. They battled two miles north across cane fields to the sugar mill community of Charan Kanoa. They were placed in reports covering action through Thursday within five miles of Garapan, Saipan’s major town of 10,000 population.

Supported by shells of offshore warships and bombs of planes from aircraft carriers, they beat off a series of stiff counterattacks by Japanese tanks.

Strongly defended

“In general, fighting is heavy but good progress is being made against well-organized defenses,” Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced last night in his second communiqué on the operation. He first announced the invasion, but supplied no confirmation of a Tokyo radio report that an attempt had also been made to invade nearby Tinian.

Battleships and cruisers, opening up with their guns after carrier planes knocked out Japan’s Southern Marianas Air Force Saturday and Sunday, silenced most of the Saipan coastal batteries and anti-aircraft positions.

Shells of the warships and rockets fired by planes and infantry landing craft effectively curtained the troops moving ashore.

“Initial reports indicate our casualties are moderate,” Adm. Nimitz said. Tokyo radio claimed, without confirmation, the invaders sustained 1,800 casualties and lost 40 landing barges.

Suitable for bombers

Saipan is relatively flat, adaptable for the Superfortresses which loosed their destruction Thursday on Japan’s industrial areas. But the same flatness prompted the invasion commander, VAdm. Richard Kelly Turner, to expect opposition for the first time in the Pacific amphibious campaign by mobile artillery. He warned that lightning victories in the Marshalls may not be duplicated at Saipan.

Saipan’s invaders leapfrogged 1,100 miles west of Nimitz’s previous forward base in the Marshalls.

They also sailed more than 600 miles past Truk, air and naval base fortified for a quarter of a century by Japan – and now bypassed.

7771

Japanese unable to combat fire

Primitive and confused methods to fight conflagrations
By Russell Brines, Associated Press war editor

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7772

Nazis send ‘secret weapon’ planes against England

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Bond drive up to 10% mark

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7773

Aerial offensive sweeping Europe

Nazis send pilotless bomb-loaded craft over Britain
By Gladwin Hill

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
The Allied aerial offensive against continental targets swept on today after RAF heavy bombers made their second big high-altitude pre-dusk precision attack yesterday plastering 12,000-pound bombs on Nazi E-boat, R-boat and minesweeper pens at Boulogne.

Meanwhile, it was announced that the Germans, in a desperate gesture against Allied air superiority, had begun hurling pilotless bomb-carrying aircraft against Britain.

As the aerial assault im support of the Normandy invasion rolled on this morning, the German radio reported hostile aircraft approaching the Austrian provinces of Carinthia and Styria.

Big British four-engine Lancasters, with their fighter escort, hit the French channel port of Boulogne first at 10:30 p.m. yesterday – just before dusk. The attack was similar to one the RAF made Wednesday on installations at Le Havre – a strike which reconnaissance indicated was very successful.

Other British heavy bombers continuing the attack into the night, hit railway centers at Valenciennes and Lens and a fuel dump at Châtellerault. Fourteen bombers were missing from all these operations which Allied night intruder planes destroyed four enemy aircraft and damaged others over France.

The evening and night operations also saw a Mosquito force hit targets in western Germany. These blows were a thunderous follow-up to yesterday’s daylight operations which included attacks by an armada of 1,300 U.S. heavy bombers.

In addition to the U.S. heavy bomber blows, Supreme Headquarters announced that 3,000 sorties were made by Allied planes yesterday in direct support of the ground operations in Normandy. Many of these were flown by planes based in France.

During yesterday afternoon, medium bombers hit fuel and supply dumps, bridges and other communications targets from Valognes in the Cherbourg Peninsula to Laval about 75 miles behind the enemy lines.

The use by the Germans of pilotless aircraft against Britain was disclosed in the House of Commons by Herbert Stanley Morrison, Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security. A small number were used in raids on Britain last Tuesday morning, and a larger number last night and this morning. The latest attack was described as the more serious of the two.