America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

7938

The Free Lance-Star (June 22, 1944)

JAP FLEET ESCAPES IN DARKNESS
Four ships sunk, 10 damaged in battle near Philippines

20 planes also downed in brief engagement – U.S. loses 49 planes but no ships; enemy aircraft carrier among vessels sent down
By Charles H. McMurtry

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Carrier planes of the U.S. Fifth Fleet inflicted smashing defeat on a formidable Japanese naval force trapped Monday off the Philippines, sinking four ships and damaging at least ten before the enemy escaped under cover of night.

The victory, the third great blow since Pearl Harbor against the Japanese Navy, stemmed from Sunday’s great air battle off Saipan Island, in which U.S. carrier planes and warship guns shot down 353 enemy aircraft.

Because of this stunning aerial loss, the Japanese fleet, caught between the Marianas and the Philippines, could send up only a handful of interceptors from its five or six carriers. Of these 15 to 20 were shot down. The American loss was 49 planes.

The enemy lose an aircraft carrier and three tankers sunk, possibly a destroyer sunk, and nine or ten ships (including a battleship and cruiser) seriously damaged. Adm. Raymond A. Spruance’s Fifth Fleet suffered no surface vessel losses.

The Japanese fleet, which for nearly a week dodged contact with the U.S. force protecting the Saipan invasion, turned and fled with all speed toward the China Sea. Nightfall saved it from further battering and there was no indication from Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, who announced the victory today, that the battle had been resumed.

In the Sunday air battle preceding the bigger struggle, U.S. plane losses were 21 against Japan’s 353. The Sunday attack represented an arms-length enemy attempt to break up the U.S. invasion of Saipan, principal island of the Marianas and only 1,500 miles from Tokyo and the Philippines.

Japs flee at nightfall

The Monday action ended at nightfall with the Japanese fleeing and there was no indication that the battle had been resumed.

Adm. Nimitz also announced that 353 enemy planes were shot down in the Japanese futile attempt Sunday on Adm. Mitscher’s force. This added 53 enemy craft to the previous estimate of 300 destroyed.

Two U.S. carriers and one battleship suffered “superficial damage” and 21 aircraft were lost in combat. A Fleet spokesman said superficial damage means the ship’s capacity for battle was not impaired, indicating these three probably participated in Monday’s action.

The attack of the Fifth Fleet under command of Adm. Raymond A. Spruance was such a complete surprise that the Japanese apparently made no counterattack against any of our surface units.

Adm. Nimitz, who stayed at his headquarters past midnight receiving battle reports and still appeared bright eyed despite his 60 years, said the Japanese force consisted of four or more battleships, five or six carriers, five fleet tankers and an unspecified number of cruisers and destroyers.

Damage tabulated

He listed these casualties inflicted on the enemy:

  • One carrier, believed to be the ZUIKAKU, received three 1,000‑pound bomb hits.
  • One HAYATAKA-class carrier was sunk.
  • One HAYATAKA-class carrier was severely damaged and left burning furiously.
  • One light carrier of the ZUIHŌ or TAIHŌ class received at least one bomb hit.
  • One KONGŌ-class battleship was damaged.
  • One cruiser was damaged.
  • Three destroyers were damaged, one of which is believed to have sunk.
  • Three tankers were sunk.
  • Two tankers were severely damaged and left burning.
  • Fifteen to 20 defending aircraft were shot down.

Greatest since Midway

This destruction or damaging of 14 ships was the third greatest single blow dealt the Japanese fleet of the war.

The greatest was the Battle of Midway in June 1942, when another carrier force under Adm. Spruance sank four enemy carriers and near a score of other ships.

The second biggest defeat was Nov. 13-15, 1942, in the battle off Guadalcanal when the enemy lost more than 30 ships sunk and damaged.

The battle summary for Sunday’s and Monday’s action shows conclusively why Adm. Nimitz in a Monday press conference stated he hoped the enemy would close with the U.S. Fleet for a decisive naval action.

On Sunday, Japanese planes attacked Adm. Spruance’s Fifth Fleet. They achieved no surprise. They lost 353 planes – 335 to our fighters and 18 to our ship’s anti-aircraft. They inflicted superficial damage on only three of our ships.

Pursued by carriers

Adm. Mitscher’s carrier force pursued the Japanese. On Monday afternoon, it located the Japanese and attacked. There was time for just one assault before nightfall. But in just those two or three hours of daylight, his bombers and torpedo planes sank or damaged 14 enemy ships.

They destroyed 15 to 20 Japanese planes which rose in weak defense of the enemy’s great force. Adm. Mitscher’s force achieved such surprise that the enemy was unable to counterattack. Adm. Mitscher had one advantage Monday. He caught the Japanese with their planes down – down in the ocean.

This enemy fleet which Adm. Mitscher riddled Monday now has been fairly well established as the one which attacked our force Sunday. The loss of 353 planes from its five or six carriers virtually wiped out its planes so that it had to rely largely on anti-aircraft for defense – a defense which proved pretty futile.

Few planes lost

The fact that only 20 Japanese planes were downed Monday further indicates the enemy had very few aircraft to offer resistance.

Our loss of 49 aircraft does not necessarily mean anywhere near that total was lost to enemy action.

Because the battle was closed so late in the day and at nearly extreme range in order to catch the Jap fleet, all of our planes were unable to return to their carriers. Many of these 49 landed in the water and the crews took to rubber life rafts.

Some of these have already been picked up and others were undoubtedly rescued after dawn Tuesday although reports are incomplete.

The Hyataka carrier sunk in the Philippine Sea was at least the eighth Japanese flattop sent to the bottom. In addition to four at Midway, the Japanese lost two in the Battle of the Coral Sea and one to a submarine.

7939

CONCERTED ATTACK MADE ON CHERBOURG
Port city rocked by violent land and air blows

Hard fighting goes on in city streets

SHAEF, England (AP) –
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s forces unlimbered this afternoon their greatest assault since the storming of the beaches of Normandy – a combined land and air attack intended to crack the last defenses of the fortified city of Cherbourg.

The attack began when waves of British and U.S. planes swept in with a terrific aerial barrage lasting 80 minutes, a field dispatch from Associated Press war correspondent Don Whitehead reported.

Rocked back on their heels by the weight of this assault in which light and medium bombers dropped down almost to cannon-mouth level to drop their explosive charges, the Germans were immediately beset by a thunderous artillery pounding which left smoke and flame sweeping the German forts.

U.S. doughboys of Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, drawn up in position tensely waiting the effect of these blows, then swept forward. They were last reported hammering at Fort du Roule, only about 1,500 yards south of the military port, and at Fort Octeville, only slightly farther away to the southwest.

The latest headquarters announcements showed that the concentric attack had virtually split the German garrison into three segments.

Take road junction

Bradley’s troops captured Saint-Pierre-Église, eight and a half miles east of the port and the last road junction leading to Cherbourg from Cap Barfleur, isolating the Germans in the northeastern tip of the peninsula. Other troops coming up from the south had entered Quettehou, a large town near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue on the east coast and 13 miles southeast of Cherbourg.

On the west, another spearhead had practically split the Germans in Cherbourg from those in the northwestern tip of the peninsula by advancing to within half a mile of Beaumont-Hague on the road to Cap de la Hague. Beaumont-Hague is eight and a half miles west of Cherbourg.

Supreme Headquarters said it lacked any knowledge of a reported American ultimatum by field radio to the Cherbourg garrison demanding surrender by 7:00 a.m. GMT today (3:00 a.m. EWT). The London Daily Sketch said last night it had recorded such a broadcast.

It was assumed that if the ultimatum was made, it was rejected and that Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley had ordered a final attack. Supreme Headquarters said it was possible the field commander might have made the demand on his own authority.

Find rocket bases

Allied experts flew into the Cherbourg Peninsula to investigate the flying bomb bases captured intact by U.S. troops, but the Supreme Command said there were no indications the Germans had been using them against England. It appeared, a spokesman said, that the American drive over the peninsula left the enemy insufficient time to get the launching sites ready for operation.

Except for the swift encircling drive on Cherbourg, there was little activity on the beachhead. The communiqué reported only patrol activity elsewhere, although enemy artillery and mortar fire in the British-Canadian sector at Tilly was said to be unusually heavy.

The Vichy radio this morning said warships offshore were supporting the Americans, but Supreme Headquarters said it had no knowledge of such a bombardment.

Destroying port

The Germans were still rushing to destroy everything in the port and city which could be of use to the Allies.

Reports here said that Cherbourg’s airfield appeared to be within the Allied grasp, if not already taken. This would be the first sizeable field captured in the beachhead drive and, when repaired, would permit the use of medium bombers.

Bad weather yesterday hampered air operations and also delayed unloading of war materials. A strong wind from the northeast whipped up a heavy surf on the beaches.

A dispatch last night from Associated Press war correspondent Don Whitehead quoted French civilians struggling through the lines as saying the Germans in Cherbourg had prepared for a street-by-street defense by knocking holes in the corner of buildings and setting up machine guns and anti-tank guns to cover the approaches.

7940

Bombers support Cherbourg drive

Daylight raids follow night of heavy attacks

SHAEF, England (AP) –
Fleets of light and medium bombers carried out a crushing offensive in support of U.S. troops hammering Cherbourg today, while big forces of U.S. heavy bombers plowing through flak barrages attacked Pas-de-Calais rocket-bomb installations.

Marauders, Havocs and Thunderbolts swooped down to within 100 feet of German cannon to drive home the closest support yet given Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s doughboys.

Fortresses and Liberators gave the rocket launching grounds their fourth pounding in less than 24 hours.

The daylight blow followed a night of far-flung aerial attacks extending from France to Germany’s industrial Ruhr and Berlin – dwarfing the Germans’ cross-Channel barrage of rocket bombs, which they asserted today are now coming over with incendiary loads.

The Germans also said, without Allied confirmation, that U.S. planes which bombed Berlin yesterday and flew on to Russia used an air base at Poltava in the Ukraine, 1,500 miles from London. The Allies announced that some fighter planes escorting the Berlin bombers also flew to Russia.

Berlin hit again

Last night, Berlin was attacked by speedy Mosquitos while British Lancasters hit Ruhr and Rhineland objectives.

Keeping the assault going on the Germans’ still-active rocket-bomb launching bases in the Pas-de-Calais area of France, RAF Lancasters and Halifaxes followed U.S. Liberators and medium bombers over that region yesterday evening and delivered as a “devastating” blow at the German installations there.

Forty-six bombers were missing from the widespread British operations, which included minelaying in enemy waters.

The German radio warned today that Allied planes were over Syria – perhaps indicating that U.S. bombers from Italy were out.

The daylight raid against Berlin by a fleet of more than 1,000 U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators and 1,200 escorting fighters was the greatest of the war against the Reich capital. It was disclosed that some of the fighters as well as some of the heavy bombers made the shuttle flight between Britain and the Soviet Union.

While German flying bombs continued droning through English skies overnight, the mounting weight of bombs dropped on the Pas-de-Calais area indicated the Allies were making progress in their campaign against the launching mechanisms for these projectiles.

7941

European fishers told to stay in

SHAEF, England (AP) –
While fighting raged at Cherbourg, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower made clear to the Germans today that they could not pay attention alone to the defense of that port.

In a radio warning, the Allied commander-in-chief told the fishermen of Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France to stay in port until 9:00 p.m. June 20. This was the second seven-day extension of the original Supreme Command warning to fishermen.

Cherbourg area base for rockets

Allied advance command post (AP) – (June 21, delayed)
More than one-fourth of all the German robot plane launching installations are located in the area of Cherbourg, the great Normandy port on which the Allied armies are closing, it was revealed today at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s advance headquarters.

Correspondents here were informed officially that experts are accompanying U.S. assault troops toward the city for the purpose of studying the installations and obtaining information of possible value in eliminating the German weapon.

The other three-quarters of the German robot launchers are in the Pas-de-Calais region, it was said.

7942

AP: What do you think?

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7943

americavotes1944

Predict Roosevelt to accept 4th term

Washington (AP) –
Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia came out of President Roosevelt’s office today and predicted the Chief Executive will accept a fourth term nomination of it is tendered him by the Democratic National Convention.

The Governor, freely admitting he had “talked politics” with the President, said he would not be surprised if Mr. Roosevelt makes a public statement shortly after next week’s Republican convention “as to his willingness to abide by party decisions irrespective of his personal desires and that he will submit to the mandates of the Democratic convention.”

The Georgia Democrat voiced this comment to reports as he left the White House after an appointment with Mr. Roosevelt which some Democrats in Congress hailed as a peace gesture toward Southern Democrats, some of whom have been cool toward the fourth term movement.

The Governor said Georgia’s electoral vote will be pledged to support the party nominee and said the action could be taken as a castigation of Texas, Mississippi and South Carolina where proposals have been made that electoral votes be withheld if the Democratic platform contains planks distasteful to the South.

7944

americavotes1944

Bricker to keep name in running

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker asserted flatly at a press conference today he would not withdraw his name from consideration for the Republican presidential nomination. He added he did not expect to be offered the vice-presidential place on the ticket.

The Ohio Governor, who arrived with a fanfare of a band playing the strains of “Beautiful Ohio,” met the press in a conference preceding his appearance tomorrow before the convention’s resolutions committee when he will report as chairman of a post-war advisory group on domestic issues.

The gray-haired Governor, flashing a smile, told reporters that he intended to keep his name before the convention despite reports that New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey has a long lead in delegate support.

7945

Roosevelt approves G.I. Bill of Rights

Washington (AP) –
President Roosevelt today signed the “G.I. Bill of Rights” setting up a vast government aid program for veterans of this war.

With Congressional leaders and heads of veterans’ organizations looking on, the Chief Executive put his signature to the measure authorizing federal loans, hospitalization, job insurance, schooling and other ex-service benefits estimated to cost between $3,000,000,000 and $6,500,000,000.

The President said the bill carries out most of the recommendations he has made for veterans’ aid and notifies the members of the Armed Forces that the people at home will not let them down.

7946

Army and Marines score decisive gains on Saipan

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP) –
Japan’s fleet after a week of complex maneuvering is still avoiding surface battle with the powerful U.S. Fleet guarding the Saipan invasion.

The Aslito Airdrome on Saipan, the most valuable in the Marianas and only 1,500 miles from Japan and the Philippines, was ready for operation today after Seabees repaired and extended its 3,600-foot main runway.

Shielded by a great U.S. battle fleet standing off the Marianas, Marines and Army troops launched a major attack this morning to wipe out Japanese defending the island. The situation forced upon Japan’s elusive grand fleet the grimmest challenge yet presented it – to come in and fight.

The enemy fleet, still avoiding battle, had the bitter choice oi fighting or abandoning Saipan’s weakening garrison to destruction.

On Saipan, the U.S. attack began shortly after dawn with veteran forces pushing ahead along a four-mile front extending entirely, across the island from the outskirts of Garapan, main town on the western shore, ands eastward along the slopes of Mount Tapochau to Magicienne Bay on the east coast.

At one point, the Marines advanced one mile in the first three hours. In exactly one week of fighting, the Americans had effected a landing across reefs in the face of extremely heavy fire and had captured the southern third of the island, including two airfields.

One of these fields was Aslito, now ready for operation.

The Japanese, who numbered at least 20,000, fought with ferocity and the advantage of entrenched positions along steep ridges, and made the American advance slow during the first several days. They used batteries of mortars and considerable artillery and employed landmines and booby traps.

One hard-fought battle between Marines and Japanese occurred on a hill overlooking Magicienne Bay, where Japanese artillerymen ran their field pieces in and out of caves firing from outside and ducking back into the mountainside.

The Americans finally captured this and similar positions, killing 75 Japanese in one cave. Flamethrowers were used in destroying enemy mountain strongholds.

7947

What war bonds mean –
The price of victory and bomb-free nights

By Robert Bunnelle

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7948

Battle casualties listed at 178,677

Washington (AP) –
U.S. battle casualties are nearing the quarter-million mark.

Secretary Stimson reported today that Army casualties through June 6 (which would include D-Day) totaled 178,677, an increase of 7,319 since his report on June 8, which covered the period through May 21. The Army dead now total 31,289, an increase of 2,337. The new announcement reports 71,432 wounded, 39,976 missing and 35,980 prisoners.

A Navy casualty list announced today reports an overall figure of 46,705, an increase of 932 since a list published two weeks ago. Those killed total 20,044, an increase of 242. The wounded amount to 12,905, missing 9,295 and prisoners 4,461.

7949

Nazi flying bomb reported ‘fizzle’

Military leaders say secret weapon once worried them

Washington (AP) –
From a strictly military viewpoint, the Nazi’s greatest secret anti-invasion weapon, the highly-touted flying bomb, is a fizzle.

This is the opinion of responsible military leaders here – men who were seriously worried a few weeks ago over the tricks the Germans might spring in the critical hours of the invasion.

Now the time for effective use of tricks has passed. Only by the proved weapons of war, tanks, guns, bombs, planes, artillery, gas, it is held, can the enemy do serious harm.

It is a question whether the Germans will ever release gas now, partly because they would have to employ it in the first few days when beachheads were narrow if they had intended it to stop the invasion and partly because of the threat of devastating Allied reprisal.

Concern over Hitler’s boasted arsenal of secret weapons was high in the weeks before invasion because no Allied leader could be sure exactly what German science had perfected. If Hitler possessed a powerful new weapon and unleashed it at the critical moment of attack, then the second front might be thwarted. Such was the line of worry.

London uncertain

London was as uncertain as Washington and in both capitals, there was speculation over super-explosives, mysterious rays, paralyzing gas attacks, counter-invasion by disease germs, terrifying rocket bombs controlled by airplane radio with deadly accuracy.

Now it turns out, according to estimates made here, that what the Germans actually produced to make good their threats is an explosive-laden rocket plane of limited range (150 miles) and great inaccuracy – this is the weapons they relied on to break the invasion at the critical moment.

Apparently, they conceived two main tactical uses for this weapon – to smash at London and to work havoc among ships of the invasion armada in the English Channel.

Distributing their limited number of rockets according to their fears of attack along the Channel, they concentrated in the Calais area.

There they waited for the Allied ships to come across and there they were outflanked when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower chose instead to strike into Normandy.

RAF pilots bring down Nazi robots

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7950

Hitler no longer at battle lines

London, England (AP) –
Reports from the underground in Germany said today that Adolf Hitler established headquarters at or near Le Mans the day after the Allies landed in Normandy 100 miles to the north, but soon withdrew to Troyes beyond Paris and finally returned to Berchtesgaden.

The argument used by the German generals to get the Führer to return to his mountain retreat, if was said, was that he could not afford to have his name associated closely with another German defeat.

It was reported from the same quarter that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had suffered a recurrence of his Africa-contracted intestinal fever and was in such poor health that his colleagues were trying to prevail on him to give up his operational duties.

7951

Aged Italian composer left hopeless by the war

By George Tucker and Edward Kennedy

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Fascist ties denied by singer

Opera star declares himself a victim ‘of mean people’

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7952

Editorial: News of war

Stories are still being written of the magnificent news coverage of the invasion by American correspondents. Millions of words were dispatched in a matter of hours.

The first story of the invasion to come out of France was written by a correspondent who went in by parachute hours before the first seaborne troops landed. Although he fell on his typewriter and damaged it, and was forced to write while snipers’ bullets were singing over and around him, the story was completed and dispatched on schedule.

Few who read the interesting and eagerly-awaited accounts of invasion progress realize what hardships and dangers are faced by men who make the gathering and writing of news their calling, although it takes them to far places, often at risk of their lives.

There are hundreds of these men. They are at the front in every battle zone, with the exception of the Russian front. Behind them are other hundreds serving in news and press centers, often going without sleep for hours or days that the dispatches may come through. In the newspaper offices of the United States, activity is never ended. Weary men sit at desks throughout the day and night, watching, waiting for the latest bulletins.

The American public has been so accustomed to being served news while it is still news that many persons take it as a matter of course. But covering a global war entails for every newspaper expenditure of time and money little of which the public has an inadequate conception.

The job starts with those who go out with the first fighters so that no details will be missed. It is the American way.

7953

Editorial: Japs reeling back

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7954

Editorial: Unsecret weapon

By The Washington Post

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7955

Nazi casualties in Italy 100,000

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German general killed in France

London, England (AP) –
The German communiqué today announced the death of Lt. Gen. Hellmich in the fighting on the Cherbourg Peninsula.

7956

Overseas fighting force of 5,000,000 men foreseen

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7957

The Pittsburgh Press (June 22, 1944)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Somewhere in France – (by wireless)
Folks newly arrived from America say that you people at home are grave and eager about this, our greatest operation of the war so far.

But they say also that you are giving the landings themselves an important out of proportion to what must follow before the war can end. They say you feel that now that we are on the soil of France, we will just seep rapidly ahead and the Germans will soon crumble.

It is natural for you to feel that, and nobody is blaming you. But I thought maybe in this column I could help your understanding of things if we sort of charted this European campaign. This is no attempt to predict – it is just an effort to clarify.

On the German side in Western Europe, we face an opponent who has been building his defenses and his forces for four years. A great army of men was here waiting to us, well prepared and well equipped.

On the English side of the Channel, we and the British spent more than two years building up to equality in men and arms with this opponent. Finally we reached that equality, and I am sure considerably more than equality.

Then – on June 6 – came the invasion we had waited for so long. The big show has begun. So, let’s divide the remainder of this campaign into phases.

Phase No 1 was the highly vital task of getting ashore at all. That phase could not last long. We either had to break a hole in the beach defenses and have our men flowing through that hole within a few hours, or the jig was up. Phase No. 1 came out all in our favor.

We planned Phase No. 2 so that we could throw in our first follow-up waves without casualties or delay. That was also a phase we didn’t care to dillydally about. The beaches were fairly clear of shellfire within two days.

Phase No. 2 is what we are in right now. And that is to build a wall of troops around the outer rim of our beachhead that will hold off any German counterattacks.

The whole split-second question of the first few days was whether we could get troops and supplies through our little needle’s-eye of a beachhead faster than the Germans could bring theirs from all over Europe.

As this is written, no important counterattack has developed. The Germans are having plenty of trouble moving their stuff up, because of our savage air activity. Every day that passes adds to our forces and gives us greater security.

If we can hold that outer line against all attack for a short while yet, then we will have won Phase No. 3. And right now, it certainly seems that we are winning it.

Phases 1, 2, and 3 were all preliminary ones. It took three of them merely to get us a place in Europe from which to begin. The three of them merely give us the corner lot on which we are going to build our house.

Phase No. 4 is the housebuilding phase. This is the phase you folks at home have been working so hard to make possible.

In England and America, we’ve got the men and machines and supplies and munitions to overbalance the great stockpile Germany has built up in Western Europe, But we’ve got to get it over here into France before we go on.

You may have imagined that we would hit the beach and go right on, advancing 30 miles a day till we reached the German border. We could no more do that than a baby, after taking its first step, could run a hundred-yard dash. You have to wait until your strength is built up before you can run.

That is Phase No. 4. It will go on for some time yet. Don’t be impatient. The wall in front of us will hold while we gradually pile this beachhead to the saturation point with extra men, guns, trucks, food, ammunition, gasoline, telephone wire, repair shops, hospitals, airfields, and thousands of other items – pack it until we have more than the Germans have, and with lots of reserves in addition.

Then and not until then will Phase No. 5 start. Phase No. 5 is the real war – big-scale war. How long we will have to wait between now and the beginning of Phase No. 5, I don’t know. But my guess is that it will take months rather than weeks.

Naturally there will be fighting during that time. The Germans will try to crush us back onto the beaches. We at the same time will try to extend our holdings enough to protect our accumulating men and supplies.

But Phase No. 5 will be the final one. How long it will last, I also don’t know – and in that ignorance, I have a great deal of company. I doubt if anyone in the world knows. All we do know is that things look good and that it will definitely end in our favor.

So don’t be impatient if we seem to go slowly for a while. You can’t lay the foundation of a house in the forenoon and move into the house that evening. We are just now laying the foundation of our house of war in Europe. It will take a while to build the wall and get the roof on. And then…

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