Am Vorabend des Jahrestages von Lukautschau –
Tschungking am Höhepunkt der Krise
…
Artilleriekämpfe an der Landfront Cherbourg
Berlin, 22. Juni –
Am Außenrand des mehrere Kilometer tiefen Vorfeldes des Festung Cherbourg hat am 21. Juni der Artilleriekampf begonnen. Wie festgestellt, beschossen unsere Feldhaubitzen und Festungsbatterien bereitgestellte Panzerkräfte, Truppenansammlungen und Anmarschwege des Feindes.
Der Gegner suchte seinerseits, unsere Artillerie durch Luftangriffe und Feuerüberfälle niederzuhalten. Auf dem Ostflügel konzentrierten sich die Artilleriekämpfe vor allem auf die zahlreichen Wälder beiderseits des La Saure-Tales, die der Feind zur Tarnung seiner Angriffsdivisionen braucht. Die dort im Schutz schwerer Waffen vorstoßenden Aufklärungskräfte mußten jedoch im Abwehrfeuer zu Boden.
Im mittleren Teil des Cherbourg Abschnittes versuchte der Gegner unsere Sperrfeuerzonen auf den von Süden und Südwesten zur Stadt führenden Straßen mit Panzern und motorisierter Infanterie zu unterlaufen. Er setzte stärkere Kräfte an, die im Quellgebiet der Divette und Ouve erneut einen Überraschungsvorstoß in das Herz des Festungsbereiches führen sollten. Der zweimal wiederholte Angriff scheiterte unter erheblichen Verlusten für den Feind.
Im Ganzen genommen, geht es dem Gegner im Augenblick darum, sich in günstige Ausgangsstellungen für den Angriff auf Cherbourg vorzuschieben.
Im Abschnitt zwischen Vire und Caumont nimmt der Feind weiter eine abwartende Haltung ein, nach seinen schweren Verlusten bei den gescheiterten Angriffen in Richtung Saint-Lô beschränkte er sich in diesem Abschnitt auf Artilleriefeuer und Stoßtruppkämpfe. Auch die Briten scheinen von ihren vergeblichen Angriffen im Raum beiderseits Tilly schwer mitgenommen zu sein. Sie legten eine Kampfpause ein, um die klaffenden Lücken ihrer dort eingesetzten Infanterie- und Panzerverbände durch angeforderte Verstärkungen aufzufüllen.
Auch dieser Vorgang zeigt wieder, wie notwendig der Feind einen bei jedem Wetter benutzbaren Hafen mit tiefem Wasser braucht.
Zwischen Philippinen und Marianen –
Schlacht der Hochseeflotten
vb. Berlin, 22. Juni –
Wie aus Tokio und Washington übereinstimmend berichtet wird, ist im Gebiet zwischen den Philippinen und den Marianen eine große Seeschlacht zwischen Teilen der japanischen Hochseeflotte und der US-Pazifikflotte im Gang, über deren vorläufige Ergebnisse beide Seiten noch Stillschweigen bewahren, was bei dem frühen Stadium, in dem sich diese Auseinandersetzung befindet, verständlich ist. Der US-Marineminister Forrestal teilte mit, daß der Oberbefehlshaber der US-Pazifikflotte, Admiral Nimitz, „absolutes Funkschweigen“ bewahre. Es könne daher für einen gewissen Zeitraum nicht mit Einzelheiten gerechnet werden.
Soviel scheint festzustehen, daß diese Seeschlacht in engem Zusammenhang mit den Kämpfen auf der Marianeninsel Saipan steht. In die zurzeit dort zwischen den japanischen Garnisonstruppen und den amerikanischen Landungsstreitkräften heftig tobenden Kämpfe greift, nach einer japanischen Meldung, auch die auf der Tinianinsel stationierte Artillerie ein. Den amerikanischen Truppen gelang es, schwere Artillerie zu landen und aufzufahren. Unter dem Feuerschutz der Artillerie konnten die Alliierten dann am 17. Juni bis in die Nähe des Asreetflugplatzes vordringen, welcher an der südlichen Seite der Insel gelegen ist. Die japanischen Truppen halten auf der anderen Seite wichtige strategische Punkte in ihrem Besitz, von denen aus sie wiederholt heftige Nachtangriffe gegen die Amerikaner durchführen und ihnen im Nahkampf große Verluste zufügen konnten. Die alliierten Verluste scheinen dem Bericht nach zu urteilen, in Zukunft noch höher zu werden, nachdem es den Japanern gelang, weitere schwere Panzereinheiten gegen die feindlichen Landungspunkte einzusetzen.
Innsbrucker Nachrichten (June 23, 1944)
Neuer Erfolg unserer Kampf- und Torpedoflieger
Zwei Zerstörer, ein 10.000 BRT Truppen-Transporter und ein 8.000 BRT Frachter versenkt; Zwei Kreuzer, zwei Zerstörer, drei Frachter mit 28.000 BRT und vier weitere Schiffe schwer beschädigt
dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 23. Juni –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
In der Normandie trat der Feind gestern mit starken Kräften gegen die Landfront der Festung Cherbourg zum Angriff an. Heftige Kämpfe, in die starke feindliche Schiffsartillerie und Luftstreitkräfte eingriffen, entwickelten sich besonders an der Südost- und Ostfront der Festung. Wo einige unserer Widerstandsnester in der weitgespannten Festungsfront verlorengingen, sind Gegenangriffe im Gange. Küstenbatterien des Heeres und der Kriegsmarine griffen während des ganzen Tages in die Erdkämpfe ein und erzielten Treffer in feindlichen Bereitstellungen und Panzeransammlungen.
An der übrigen Front des Landekopfes fanden nur örtliche Kämpfe ohne größere Bedeutung statt.
Unsere Artillerie nahm feindliche Schiffsansammlungen und Ausladungen vor dem Landekopf unter Feuer. Zwei Frachter wurden getroffen, zwei feindliche Kanonenboote in der Ornemündung zum Abdrehen gezwungen.
Kampf- und Torpedoflieger versenkten in der vergangenen Nacht zwei Zerstörer, einen Truppentransporter mit 10.000 BRT und einen Frachter mit 8.000 BRT Zwei Kreuzer, zwei Zerstörer, drei Frachter mit 28.000 BRT und vier weitere Handelsschiffe wurden schwer beschädigt.
Über der normannischen Küste und den besetzten Westgebieten wurden gestern 72 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.
Das Störungsfeuer auf London hält an.
In Italien trat der Feind nach beendeter Umgruppierung gestern erneut fast auf der ganzen Front zum Angriff an. Im Raum nördlich Grosseto konnte er nach erbitterten Kämpfen unsere Front wenige Kilometer nach Norden zurückdrücken.
In allen übrigen Abschnitten wurde der Feind unter schwersten Verlusten abgewiesen. Uber 30 Panzerkampfwagen wurden vernichtet oder erbeutet.
Die dritte Flakbrigade hat in Italien in der Zeit vom 1. bis 20. Juni 114 feindliche Flugzeuge und 69 Panzer abgeschossen.
Seit Beginn des feindlichen Großangriffs in Italien wurden 1046 feindliche Panzer vernichtet oder erbeutet.
Im Süden der Ostfront scheiterten örtliche Angriffe der Sowjets an der Strypa, nordwestlich Tarnopol und südlich des Pripjet.
Im mittleren Frontabschnitt haben die Bolschewisten mit den erwarteten Angriffen begonnen. Die auf breiter Front mit Panzer- und Schlachtfliegerunterstützung geführten Angriffe wurden in harten Kämpfen abgewiesen, örtliche Einbrüche in sofortigen Gegenstößen bereinigt. Beiderseits Witebsk sind noch erbitterte Kämpfe im Gange.
Auch zwischen Polozk und Novoschew sowie nordöstlich Ostrow führte der Feind stärkere Vorstöße, die erfolglos blieben.
Starke Verbände schwerer deutscher Kampfflugzeuge führten einen zusammengefassten Angriff gegen den Flugplatz Mirgorod. 20 viermotorige Bomber und große Betriebsstoff- und Munitionsvorräte wurden vernichtet.
Einzelne britische Flugzeuge warfen in der vergangenen Nacht Bomben im Raum von Hamburg.
Deutsche Kampfflugzeuge griffen Ziele in Ostengland an.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 23, 1944)
Communiqué No. 35
Operations against the fortress of CHERBOURG are proceeding satisfactorily. Offensive action and local attacks have effectively pinned down enemy formations in the eastern sectors.
In preparation for our ground operations, waves of fighter-bombers attacked the strongly fortified German positions encircling CHERBOURG during the day and again at dusk yesterday. They went in, often at pistol range, to bomb forts, concrete pillboxes, ammunition dumps, oil stores and troop concentrations. Medium bombers also took part. Our aircraft flew through intense ground fire.
Strong forces of heavy bombers attacked rail and road transport, barges, and oil containers between the coast and PARIS, and the rail junctions at LILLE and GHENT. During these operations, six enemy aircraft were destroyed. Ten of our bombers and nine fighters are missing.
Light and medium bombers destroyed a steel works near CAEN. Fighter-bombers attacked bridges northeast of PARIS.
In ALDERNEY, one of the Channel Isles, gun posts and barracks were the target for bombers and fighters. During the evening, other formations raided fuel dumps at FORÊT DE CONCHES and BAGNOLES-DE-L’ORNE, railway yards at SAINT-QUENTIN and ARMENTIÈRES and tracks and fuel tanks at DREUX and VERNEUIL.
After dark, heavies attacked the rail centers at RHEIMS and LAON in force thus completing the biggest air effort for some days. Seven bombers are missing.
Rail targets at LISIEUX, DREUX, and ÉVREUX were the night targets for our light bombers.
Last night, our fighters and intruders destroyed seven enemy aircraft over northern FRANCE.
The weather over the beachhead has moderated and unloading is proceeding.
Special Communiqué No. 2
Since the 10th June, 1944, the French Forces of the Interior, in association with the Allied plans, have continued to harass the Germans by increasing acts of warfare and sabotage in the rear of the German lines.
In many regions, fighting has reached such proportions that the enemy has been forced to send considerable forces against the Marquis, without succeeding in overcoming them. The enemy has attacked the Marquis of the VERCORS and the AIN with armored forces, artillery and aircraft. Resistance forces have been compelled to withdraw at various points after inflicting losses on the enemy.
In addition, numerous engagements are reported from the PYRENEES, the VOSGES, the MARNE, the ARDENNES, the AISNE and the CREUSE. Elements of several German divisions and a large number of local defense troops are estimated to have been contained inside FRANCE by the action of the resistance forces.
Many cuts on the railways, and numerous obstacles on the roads have effectively hindered the passage of German reinforcements to the beachhead. In this way, two armored divisions have been seriously delayed in Southwest France.
In the BORDEAUX region, the railway lines BORDEAUX-LA ROCHELLE, LA RÉOLE-PÉRIGUEUX, BAYONNE-ANGOULÊME have been sabotaged. A large number of small bridges of the route Nationale BORDEAUX-POITIERS have also been destroyed.
Railway cuts have also been reported throughout the RHÔNE Valley and in BRITTANY, the LOIRET, AISNE and the area north of PARIS. The railway depot at AMBÉRIEUX has been sabotaged for the second time.
Strong resistance groups have occupied several localities in the departments of the JURA, AIN and HAUTE-SAVOIE, and have taken over the administration and the supply of the civil population.
After four days of hard fighting, the Forces of Resistance were compelled to evacuate one of those towns, after blowing up the railway bridges, the locomotives and the telephone lines. German losses were heavy.
In many regions, the enemy telecommunication installations, both underground and overhead, have been cut.
Many canals, in particular in the CANAL DU NIVERNAIS, the lateral canal of the MARNE, have been made unusable.
This systematic disorganization of enemy transport by the FFI has contributed directly to the success of Allied operations in NORMANDY.
U.S. Navy Department (June 23, 1944)
Communiqué No. 527
Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the sinking of 16 vessels, including one naval auxiliary, as a result of operations in these waters, as follows:
- 11 medium cargo vessels
- 4 small cargo vessels
- 1 medium naval auxiliary
These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 61
A Pacific Fleet submarine torpedoed a SHŌKAKU-class carrier on June 18 (West Longitude Date). Three torpedo hits were obtained and the Japanese carrier is regarded as probably sunk.
Supplementing POA Communiqué No. 59, the following more detailed information is now available concerning the strike by carriers of the Fifth Fleet against units of the Japanese fleet on June 19:
-
One small carrier of unidentified class previously reported damaged received two aerial torpedo hits.
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One destroyer previously reported damaged sank.
Two additional Japanese Navy twin‑engined bombers were shot down by carrier aircraft returning to our carriers after attacking the Japanese force.
Ponape Island was bombed on June 20 by 7th Army Air Force Mitchell bombers, and on June 21 by 7th Army Air Force Liberators. Gun positions were principal targets.
Seventy tons of bombs were dropped on Truk Atoll by Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force on June 20 and 21. On June 20, five enemy aircraft attempted to intercept our force. Two enemy fighters were damaged, and one Liberator was damaged. On June 21, nine enemy aircraft attempted to Intercept our force. One Liberator was damaged and one enemy fighter. All of our planes returned.
Corsair fighters and Dauntless dive bombers of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, Catalina search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two, and Navy Hellcat fighters carried out attacks in the Marshalls on June 20 and 21, bombing and strafing gun positions and targets of opportunity.
The Free Lance-Star (June 23, 1944)
CHERBOURG BATTLE NEAR END
Germans resist strenuously but Yanks close in
City surrounded by fighting Yanks
SHAEF, England (AP) –
Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s finely tuned U.S. assault troops have stormed over one of the three fortified peaks dominating Cherbourg’s military harbor, Supreme Headquarters announced today, and speedy fall of the city is expected.
Describing Cherbourg defenses as “fairly formidable,” a headquarters announcement said a “prolonged siege is unlikely now.”
Attacking with a storm of artillery fire, and a huge array of instruments od destruction, the Americans captured a height at Tourlaville, four miles from the sea southeast of Cherbourg. The Germans had been reduced to machine guns, small arms and light artillery in defending their pillboxes and prepared defenses.
Americans and Germans were so closely interlocked in the grim battle that Allied air forces were unable to give the close battlefront the support that marked the opening of the all-out attack yesterday.
British and U.S. planes concentrated on “quarantining” the battle area, hitting rail, and road communications in a semi-circle 100 miles deep in France as the Americans clamped a visa on Cherbourg and smashed at the other two remaining hilltop bastions.
Many Germans trapped
Three German divisions, mixed with German naval units and a defense garrison, were believed caught in the American clamp.
The Germans apparently had withdrawn completely from the eastern tip of the peninsula in order to concentrate on defense of Cherbourg.
A Canadian press correspondent reported that the Germans may have evacuated Caen, at the eastern end of the Allied line in Normandy and dispersed their forces outside the city because of the terrific bombing to which the long-contested town had been subjected.
The Germans were making a desperate bid to hold the strategic port as long as possible. Everywhere fierce resistance was encountered and a particularly vicious battle was being fought for control of the big airfield at Maupertus, five miles east of the city.
Fighting is severe
Inside the besieged port, the German garrison stood up stubbornly under yesterday’s 1,000-plane assault on the forts and pillboxes comprising the city’s defense. U.S. ground troops had to fight for every inch of their advance.
Only slight German resistance was reported by U.S. troops which cut off the eastern tip of the peninsula by capturing the road junction of Saint-Pierre-Église and then driving two miles westward and taking Carneville within sight of the sea.
A report from the 21st Army Group headquarters said this advance provided “strong indications” the Germans had abandoned that tip of the peninsula despite strong fortifications in the Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue area on the eastern coast.
On the western tip of the peninsula, the Americans went forward in the area of Beaumont-Hague against scattered resistance, cutting off whatever Germans are in that area.
The Allied prisoner bag, meanwhile, was described at Supreme Headquarters as “well over” the 15,000 announced a few days ago for the period since the June 6 landings.
Underground busy
Bloody hand-to-hand fighting for Cherbourg was matched over two thirds of France where the French underground is striking at the Germans on a dozen “inner fronts,” tying up “several German divisions” in combat, a special communiqué from Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters reported.
The French patriots, the Supreme Command announced, have blocked movement of German troops against the bridgehead, have fought several pitched battles; have even occupied several towns in various parts of France.
Despite the biggest Allied air effort in more than a week, embracing more than 6,000 sorties, Gen. Bradley’s attack on Cherbourg made only a little progress. A mixed German force of three divisions of garrison troops, marines and sailors fought with the stubbornness of Stalingrad in the French-built fortifications protecting the harbor.
In the British-Canadian sector to the east, the Germans struck with a tank attack two miles southwest of Tilly-sur-Seulles, but were beaten off. British reconnaissance parties three miles east of Caen encountered determined resistance.
Allied bombers struck and destroyed a steel works just outside Caen. The Germans had been converting it into a fortified point to block the Allied forces standing less than half a mile away.
The wind dropped and the weather improved off the Allied beachhead, permitting the Allied to resume, after four bad days, the unloading of supplies.
Japs on Saipan fighting thirst
Low water supply may finally break down enemy defenses
At a command post on Saipan, Mariana Islands (AP) – (June 22, delayed)
As the battle for Saipan enters its second week, it begins to appear that lack of drinking water may turn out to be the fatal weakness of this island’s strong defenses.
There is evidence that the water supply is critically low behind the Jap lines. Prisoners invariably beg for water when brought in and many have to be forcibly restrained from snatching the canteens of their American captors.
The naval artillery smashed big Jap water distilling apparatus and fresh water tanks before the first waves of Marines hit the beaches at Charan Kanoa. Since then, the Japan probably have existed on the island’s few wells and rainwater cisterns, most of the latter already empty because of the extremely light rainfall since the invasion.
Promises of plenty of drinking water proved an effective means of getting Japs to come out of their pillboxes and surrender – which they are doing here in large numbers.
“Why die of thirst?” says an American voice in Japanese language through loudspeakers near the frontlines.
You’ve fought as well as any soldier of the Emperor should do. Now come out with your hands up and have a drink of this good water so you’ll be alive to serve your country when the war is over.
U.S. forces are rationed two or three canteens of water daily but the supply on our side of the lines is increasing as more and more distilling plants are set up. Water has been given a number one priority – on a parallel with ammunition.
20,000 Japs seen doomed on Saipan
Men are left to fate by fleet routed in fight this week
USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) –
Twenty thousand Japanese, apparently abandoned to their death by a routed Nipponese fleet, were hit high and low today on Saipan by a U.S. invasion army which now outnumbers the foe.
Sensing almost certain victory in the distant Marianas as the aftermath of a one-sided sea triumph, the reinforced Yanks scaled the heights and probed the flatlands of that island gateway to Japan, China and the Philippines.
The scales were tipped heavily in favor of the United States Monday by “Task Force 58,” a newly-disclosed fast and mighty armada with perhaps 20 of the nearly 100 U.S. carriers in action against Japan.
Saipan’s potential naval support was sent scurrying between Luzon and Formosa into the far China Sea by carrier planes of this specialized group which sank one Japanese carrier, heavily hit three others and damaged a battleship and cruiser. In all, four enemy ships were definitely sunk and 10 others hard hit.
Big assignment
Task Force 58, which Navy officials in Washington said has been assigned “the entire Pacific Ocean to the gates of Japan as its stamping ground,” thus paved the way for a stepped-up drive on Saipan itself. Last night, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz reported that the invasion of that island, 1,500 miles from Tokyo but 3,800 miles from Pearl Harbor, was going well.
Supported by planes operating off captured Aslito Airdrome and outgunning the Nipponese on the ground, the Yanks drove ahead more than a mile on the east side of the island at Magicienne Bay.
In the center, they were scaling 1,540-foot Mount Tapochau. In the southeast tip, they had wiped out half of an unspecified total of trapped Japanese and seized 500-foot Mount Nafutan.
Today Tokyo conceded in a dispatch heard over the German radio that the Yanks are pouring ashore, along with heavy guns, on Saipan.
Nimitz’s communiqué said:
Heavy pressure is being maintained night and day against enemy troop concentrations and defense works by our aircraft, Army, Marine artillery and naval gunfire.
Bombing fails
The only mention of enemy air action was an attempt to bomb U.S. transports but it “did no damage.”
Assessing Monday’s attack far to the west of Saipan on the Japanese fleet, Navy Secretary Forrestal said in Washington:
Our fleet did a magnificent job, but the Navy is not going to be satisfied until the Japanese fleet is wiped out.
He said the Japanese “never came very far to the eastward” and “we were able to send home but one air attack at very long range from our carriers just before dark.”
The dynamite punch of the task force was obviously a painful surprise for the Japanese whose carrier planes, at a cost of 353, superficially damaged two U.S. carriers and a battleship Sunday.
Japs alarmed by Saipan situation
By the Associated Press
Etsuzō Kurihara, chief of the Naval Press Section of Japanese Imperial Headquarters, declared in a formal statement broadcast by Tokyo today that the “battle situation in the Saipan area is the most critical one since the beginning of the war.”
The statement, recorded by the Office of War Information, said a major effort would be necessary to turn back advanced naval elements “centered around more than 20 aircraft carriers and more than a dozen battleships with more than 100 transport ships.”
Kurihara’s statement said:
The enemy’s plan of advance is the greatest since the beginning of the war in the strength of the main force and in the furiousness of the enemy’s fighting morale.
The statement broadcast on the Japanese home radio as well as abroad acknowledged the Saipan operation as an “advance of the enemy into our inner line.”
Germans recapture town in North Italy
New York (AP) –
Winston Burdett of CBS broadcast from Rome today that the Germans have recaptured Chiusi in Italy, a town 25 miles southwest of Perugia and about nine miles southwest of Lake Trasimeno. The British occupied the town Tuesday.
Boom for Byrd
GOP Congressmen see him as possibility for second place
Washington (AP) –
A boom for Senator Byrd (D-VA) as the vice-presidential candidate nominee on the Republican ticket developed today among GOP members of Congress.
House Republican Leader Martin (R-MA), who will be the permanent chairman of the Chicago Republican convention convening Monday, told newspapermen “there appears to be a great deal of sentiment for Senator Byrd.” He added that, “I’ll have to get to Chicago before I know just how strong this sentiment is.”
Rep. Knutson, Republican leader of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters he would arrive in Chicago Saturday, and would promote the idea of offering the Virginian the second place on the Republican ticket.
Rep. Eaton (R-NJ), ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was in the group discussing the convention and commented:
Senator Byrd is a great national asset. His party label doesn’t mean a thing. He’s an American.
Knutson said that with Byrd on the ticket, “We can carry Virginia, the Carolinas and several other Southern states.”
While observing that there is substantial sentiment for the Virginian, Martin did not express any personal preference, reminding those with whom he talked that his responsibility was to preside over the convention.
Disclaimed by Byrd
Byrd promptly said, “I am not a candidate on any ticket whatsoever.” He would not comment when newsmen told him that sometimes men are drafted at political conventions.
He said he had not heard of the announced plan of Rep. Knutson (R-MN) to work for him at Chicago and emphasized, “I am not a candidate and haven’t been a candidate.”
Byrd was on the floor of the Senate today submitting a report by his economy committee and incidentally taking time out to accuse Senator Guffey (D-PA) of making “a cowardly attack” on an absent Senator.
Guffey had taken the floor earlier to excoriate Senator Bailey (D-NC) for a speech several weeks ago calling CIO leader Philip Murray and Sidney Hillman “communists.”
Byrd stated:
I have been in the Senate 12 years and I have never seen a more bitter, vindictive and I think more untruthful attack on an absent Senator.
He said that Senator Bailey was absent for a necessary operation. The Virginian said:
Senator Guffey knew he was not here today and yet he selected this day to make this malicious and unwarranted attack on him.
Roosevelt dodges 4th term queries
Washington (AP) –
President Roosevelt declined with a grin today to confirm or refute a prediction by Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia that the Chief Executive would soon express his willingness to accept a fourth term nomination.
A reporter asked Mr. Roosevelt at today’s news conference if he planned such a statement shortly after next week’s Republican National Convention, as forecast by Arnall.
The President commented that it was the same old question taking a new form today.
“A new form in the light of recent events,” the reporter said. “Well, it won’t work,” Mr. Roosevelt replied. “Don’t I get anything for the effort?” the reporter asked. “No,” said the President and told him he would have to write it off as a total failure.
Another reporter asked the President if he will consult political leaders before making a decision on a presidential nomination. The President replied that this occasion was supported to be a news conference and that the inquiry was a boudoir question at the present time.
Roosevelt: U.S. policy is not for sale
…
Dewey critical of bureaucracy
Asks greater harmony between President and Congress
Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey sent Republican platform drafters a message today criticizing the national administration as “a sprawling, overlapping bureaucracy” and calling for a new regime in which the President would act with Congress to “raise the federal service to a high level of efficiency and competence.”
The message from Dewey, whose supporters have contended he will win the Republican presidential nomination on the first or second ballot at next week’s convention, was read to the platform committee after Senator Vandenberg (R-MI) had presented a proposed foreign plank calling for creation of “peace forces” to prevent future aggression.
In connection with presentation of a report on the Post-War Advisory Committee on government reform, Dewey’s message said:
The national administration has become a sprawling, overlapping bureaucracy. It is undermined by executive abuse of power, confused line of authority, duplication of effort, inadequate fiscal controls, loose personnel practices and an attitude of arrogance previously unknown in our history.
The times cry out for the restoration of harmony in government, for a balance of legislative and executive responsibility for efficiency and economy for pruning and abolishing unnecessary agencies and personnel, for effective fiscal and personnel controls, and for an entirely new spirit in our federal government.
We need an administration wherein the President, acting in harmony with Congress, will effect these necessary reforms and raise the federal service to a high level of efficiency and competence.
Essary: Many in capital head for GOP convention
Much hip-hip-hurrahing to be absent this year
By Helen Essary, Central Press columnist
Washington –
Half of official Washington is packing its bags for Chicago and the gathering there on June 26 of the Republican hopefuls. Despite the cut and dried program that awaits the delegates, and the prospect of news scarcity in the goings on there, many newspapers sent their correspondents out a week before the opening day.
I’ve been wondering about the mood of the convention. Would it be the usual compound of bands, waving flags, backslapping favorite sons and smoke-filled rooms? I called Robert Prichard, the Republican National Committee’s No. 2 man at the job of selling the country the virtues of the GOP and asked about the prospect of good cheer at his convention.
Prichard said:
The theme of the convention will be patriotism. We are going to cut down the number of bands. Of course, there will be music. But none of the old-time hurrah… Flags? Oh yes, some in the convention hall. But not all over the plane as they used to be… Elephants? Absolutely not. Tied to a string and being led around to whip up the crowds? No, sir-ee! It isn’t going to be necessary to have party mascots this time. This isn’t a circus we are putting on. We’ve got real business to transact.
All convention speeches will be shorter than ever before, Prichard promised. Seconding speeches will be limited to 15 minutes. Former President Herbert Hoover is allowed a speech of 45 minutes. Mrs. Clare Luce, who some people think may stampede the convention and get herself nominated for the Vice Presidency, will talk for 30 minutes.
Hoover and Mrs. Luce have already sent their speeches in to the Republican National Committee, where they are being peppered up or flattened out as the need calls. How long Governor Warren of California will talk is as yet uncertain. He hasn’t yet submitted his keynote speech to headquarters.
The Democrats have not gotten down to convention routine. Their committee on arrangements met in Chicago June 15 and 16. At the moment there are still some delegates unnamed.
But things will whip up in no time and as for that choice of vice-presidential nominee – why, anything can happen.
Some people think the Northern Democrats can be made to agree with the Southern, the Eastern, the Midwestern, the Northwestern and the Western Democrats (big country this), and line Henry A. Wallace up for Vice President.
Some people – not Democrats – say Mr. Roosevelt has the convention – and the country – and the world – on the spot and can get anything done he wants done. Anyhow the vice-presidential nomination will be the only fun the Democratic meeting of mid-July will provide.
I asked Miss Virginia Rishel, who gets out the Democratic Digest, official publication of the Democratic National Committee, if she thought her party’s Chicago meeting would be a merry one.
The wise Virginia said:
Oh, no! On the contrary, Hannegan, our national chairman, has passed the word down the line, “We’ve got to get down to work at once, get the work done and get out as fast as possible. This is no time for skylarking or cheering.”
Speaking of the international influence, I suppose there will be a lot said in words of many syllables at both conventions about “our foreign policy.”
Well, it is not surprising that we have no concrete foreign policy, actually most of the people in this country aren’t interested in a foreign policy simply because most of the people in this country are not interested in foreign countries.
It will take a powerful amount of sales talk to persuade half the country that the troubles and hates of Europe, Asia and Africa are our responsibility forevermore. And it isn’t impeding the war effort to say this.
I still hope, maybe it is a Pollyannish wish, but I don’t apologize for it, that some day some genius will sell the world the idea of the stupidity of war. Could anything be more imbecile than the way we killed, maimed and starved the Italians when they were fighting with the Nazis, and then suddenly changed to loving, feeding, arming and clothing the Italians the moment we captured Rome?
Before the war is over, we may be killing Italians once more. Four-legged animals aren’t half as dumb as we, the two-legged creatures provided by nature with what is supposed to be a thinking mind. Four-legged animals fight only when they have to and when they are mad.