America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

7975

americavotes1944

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.

7976

americavotes1944

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

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7977

Ploești oil installations and ‘rocket coast’ bombed

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7978

americavotes1944

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.

7979

Lynchburg plant employees strike

Lost petition given as reason for walkout by 600

…

7980

americavotes1944

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.

7981

Editorial: Relief for England

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7982

Midwest tornado is fatal to eight

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7983

The Pittsburgh Press (June 23, 1944)

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

On the Cherbourg Peninsula, France – (by wireless)
The day after troops of our 9th Division pushed through and cut off this peninsula, I went touring in a jeep over the country they had just taken.

This Norman country is truly lovely in many places. Here in the western part of the peninsula the ground becomes hilly and rolling. Everything is a vivid green, there are trees everywhere, and the view across the fields from a rise looks exactly like the rich, gentle land of Eastern Pennsylvania. It is too wonderfully beautiful to be the scene of war, and yet so were parts of Tunisia and Sicily and Italy. Someday I would like to cover a war in a country that is as ugly as war itself.

Our ride was a sort of spooky one. The American troops had started north and were driving on Cherbourg. This was possible because the Germans in that section were thoroughly disorganized, and by now capable of nothing more than trying to escape.

There was no traffic whatever on the roads. You could drive for miles without seeing a soul. We have been told that the country was still full of snipers, and we knew there were batches of Germans in the woods waiting to surrender. And yet we saw nothing. The beautiful, tree-bordered lanes were empty. Cattle grazed contentedly in the fields. It was as though life had taken a holiday and death was in hiding. It gave you the willies.

Finally, we came to a stone schoolhouse which was being used as a prisoner-of-war collection point, so we stopped for a look. Here groups of prisoners were constantly being brought in. And here individual American soldiers who had been cut off behind the lines for days came wearily to rest for a while in the courtyard before going on back to hunt up their outfits.

Most of the prisoners coming in at the time were from a captured German hospital. German doctors had set up shop in a shed adjoining the school and were treating their prisoners, who had slight wounds. At the moment I walked up, one soldier had his pants down and a doctor was probing for a fragment in his hip.

Two of three of the German officers spoke some English. They were in a very good humor. One of them, a doctor, said to me:

I’ve been in the army for four years and today is the best day I have spent in the army.

In this courtyard, I ran onto two boys who had just walked back after losing their jeep and being surrounded for hours that morning by Germans.

They were Pfc. Arthur MacDonald of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Pvt. T. C. McFarland of Southern Pines, North Carolina. They were forward observers for the 9th Division’s artillery.

They had bunked down the night before in a pasture. When they woke up, they could hear voices all around, and they weren’t American voices. They peeked out and saw a German at a latrine not 30 feet away.

So, they started crawling. They crawled for hours. Finally, they got out of the danger zone, and they started walking. They met a French farmer along the road, and took him in tow.

They said:

We sure captured that Frenchman. He was so scared he could hardly talk. We used high-school French and a dictionary and finally got it through his head that all we wanted was something to eat. So, he took us to this house. He fried eggs and pork and made coffee for us.

Our morale sure was low this morning, but that Frenchman we captured fixed it up.

The boys pulled out a couple of snapshots of the Frenchman, and they were so grateful that I imagine they will carry those pictures the rest of their lives.

At this time the French in that vicinity had been “liberated” less than 12 hours, and they could hardly encompass it in their minds. They were relieved, but they hardly knew what to do.

As we left the prison enclosure and got into our jeep, we noticed four or five French countrypeople – young farmers in their 20s, I would take them to be – leaning against a nearby house.

As we sat in the jeep getting our gear adjusted, one of the farmers walked toward us, rather hesitantly and timidly. But finally, he came up and smilingly handed me a rose.

I couldn’t go around carrying a rose in my hand all afternoon, so I threw it away around the next bend. But little things like that do sort of make you feel good about the human race.

7984

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 23, 1944)

Communiqué No. 36

Pressure on the CHERBOURG defenses is increasing. Patrols east of CHERBOURG are finding little opposition in the sector between CAP LÉVI and SAINT-VAAST.

Local fighting continues in the CAEN-TILLY area.

Early this morning, an escorted enemy convoy was intercepted south of JERSEY by light coastal forces. One enemy armed trawler was sunk. One of the convoy was left ablaze and damage inflicted on the remainder by gunfire.

Weather restricted air operations this morning.

Fighters and fighter-bombers attacked varied rail targets beyond the battle area including the yards at MÉZIDON and a junction north of LE MANS. Rail lines south of TOURS and ORLÉANS were cut. Bridges and tracks at NANTES, LA ROCHE, SAUMUR and NIORT and to the east and southeast of GRANVILLE were attacked. Locomotives and other rail targets in the PARIS and CHÂTEAUBRIANT areas were shot up.

Preliminary reports show 11 enemy aircraft destroyed. None of ours is missing.

Heavy day bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked, without loss, flying-bomb installations in the PAS-DE-CALAIS.

Coastal aircraft attacked E-boats in the eastern Channel, sinking two, probably sinking three more and damaging several others. A minesweeper was also damaged.

Reconnaissance photographs show much rolling stock destroyed in attacks by heavy night bombers on railway yards at LAON and RHEIMS last night. Main lines were effectively blocked at many points by direct hits.

7985

Völkischer Beobachter (June 24, 1944)

Kapitalismus gegen Vollbeschäftigung in England

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7986

Kritischer Bericht der anderen Seite –
Rückblick auf die ersten Invasionstage

map.062344.dnb

Genf, 23. Juni –
In Gestalt einer rückschauenden Betrachtung auf die ersten zwei Wochen alliierter Invasionskämpfe erscheint im Daily Telegraph aus der Feder des Sonderkorrespondenten Christopher Buckley die erste nüchterne und zugleich für die anglo-amerikanische Kriegführung ungewöhnlich kritische Situationsschilderung.

Buckley schreibt, den Invasionsstreitkräften ständen zurzeit 15 wohlausgerüstete Divisionen einschließlich fünf Panzerdivisionen gegenüber, und viele weitere würden in Kürze noch zu ihnen stoßen. Die Deutschen befänden sich deshalb in keiner schlechten Lage, den lange erwarteten Gegenstoß zu führen. Aber alle deutschen Angriffe, so heftig sie auch manchmal gewesen seien, trügen einen rein örtlichen Charakter.

Buckley schildert dann die unübersichtlichen normannischen Bodenverhältnisse, die keinen weiten Durchblick zuließen. Man brauche kein Stratege zu sein, fährt er fort, um einzusehen, daß diese Landschaft eine Offensive nicht begünstige. Eine Kompanie, eine Abteilung, ein einziges Pakgeschütz oder ein einzelner Tank Seien in der Lage, den Angriff eines ganzen Bataillons zurückzuschlagen.

Jetzt, da die feindliche Front sich genügend gefestigt habe, könnten die Alliierten nicht mehr länger irgendwelche Risiken mit ihren leichten oder schweren Panzern eingehen. Die Erfolge der deutschen Scharfschützen hätten die alliierten Truppen häufig genug aus nur zu unangenehmer Nähe zu spüren bekommen. Die Deutschen zeigten in dieser Art der Kriegführung Mut und Stärke, doch sei es eine Art der Kriegführung, in der die Alliierten bisher noch keinerlei Erfahrungen sammeln konnten. Offen gestanden zeigen sich unsere Männer nicht immer als die Besten, wenn sie es mit feindlichen Scharfschützen zu tun haben. Das gleiche gelte für die Infiltrationstaktik der Deutschen.

Neben all dem spiele das Wetter eine entscheidende Rolle. Es sei in deprimierender Weise das gleiche geblieben seit dem ersten Invasionstage: immer grauer Himmel, scharfer Wind und stürmische See. Daher seien die Ausladungen am Strand über alle Erwartungen hinaus aufgehalten worden. Aber weiterhin sei es Luftmarschall Tedder nicht ein einziges Mal möglich gewesen, mit den vollen ihm zur Verfügung stehenden Verbänden im unmittelbaren Kampfraum einzugreifen. Es ist unumstößlich wahr, daß es unseren Truppen an genügender Ausbildung in den Kampfmethoden fehlt, die für die Deutschen heute selbstverständlich sind. Afrika und Italien lieferten uns keine Erfahrungen und deshalb empfinden wir jetzt in der Normandie, daß es für uns schwer wird.

In Geschützen und Panzerung, urteilt Buckley, könnten sich die deutschen Tanks durchaus gegen die Alliierten in der Verteidigung halten. Nur ein Durchbruch könnte die Alliierten in eine für ihre Tankwaffe günstigere Lage bringen, Solange das aber nicht der Fall sei, behalte ein gefangengenommener deutscher Tankoffizier recht, der sagte:

Es wird allmählich Zeit, daß ihr Wüstenmäuse erkennt, daß ihr nicht mehr länger mit euren Tanks in der Wüste operiert.

7987

US-Erlebnisbericht –
Die neue Waffe

Von unserem Madrider Berichterstatter

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7988

In 16 Tagen 70.000 bis 80.000 Mann Verluste

Aus einem Bericht des US-Kriegsministers

Genf, 23. Juni –
Der Sender London gab eine Meldung aus Neuyork wieder, nach der der US-Kriegsminister Stimson die Verluste der amerikanischen Armee bekanntgab. Danach beziffern sich diese Verluste auf mehr als eine Viertelmillion Menschen. Bis zum Tag „D,“ also dem Tage des Beginns der Invasion, so heißt es weiter, belief sich die Verlustziffer auf 178.677 Mann.

Durch die Bekanntgabe der Verlustzahl hat sich der amerikanische Kriegsminister der peinlichen Aufgabe entzogen, mitzuteilen, wie hoch sich die Opfer bisher belaufen, die das Invasionsabenteuer gekostet hat. Nach der Rechnung, die Stimson aufgemacht hat, ergibt sich jedoch ein Verlust von etwa 70.000 bis 80.000 Mann aus der Differenz von 178.000 zu 250.000. Das bedeutet also, daß die USA die ersten 16 Tage der Invasion mit einem Blutopfer von 70.000 Soldaten bezahlt haben. Damit bestätigt der US-Kriegsminister die Berichte der anglo-amerikanischen Kriegskorrespondenten, die immer wieder hervorheben, daß jeder Quadratmeter Boden an der Invasionsfront mit Strömen von Blut erkauft werden muß.

7989

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (June 24, 1944)

Amerikanischer Angriff auf den Festungshafen Cherbourg

Anschwellen der Kämpfe an der mittleren Ostfront – heftige Kämpfe in Italien – London weiterhin unter dem Störungsfeuer

rd. Berlin, 23. Juni –
Der erwartete Großangriff der Amerikaner gegen Cherbourg hat verhältnismäßig früh eingesetzt, weil der Feind es offenbar nicht für notwendig gehalten hat, das Eintreffen schwerer Artillerie abzuwarten, sondern sich auf die Reichweite seiner Schiffsgeschütze und auf den Einsatz starker Luftstreitkräfte verlegt. Nach heftigen Bombardements traten amerikanische Truppen in großer Zahl von Süden nach Norden gegen die Landfront der Festung an und stießen hierbei auf die ersten deutschen Widerstandsnester der Festungsfront. Damit kam aber der Feind gleichzeitig in den Bereich der Cherbourger Küstenbatterien des Heeres und der Kriegsmarine, die den Angreifern starke Verluste beibrachten. Aus der Eile, mit der der Feind seinen nunmehrigen Angriff vortragt, ist ersichtlich, dass der Besitz eines Hafens zu den dringendsten Voraussetzungen der Invasionsarmeen gehört.

Cherbourg ist keine große Stadt, sie zählte vor dem Kriege nur rund 40.000 Einwohner und ihre Bedeutung liegt einzig in dem Kriegs- und Handelshafen, den die großen Überseelinien berühren. Die Stadt liegt am Ende einer breiten Bucht, die durch einen gewaltigen künstlichen Damm abgeriegelt und gegen Sturmfluten geschützt ist. Im Süden, also nach der Landseite zu, wird Cherbourg durch Höhenzüge beherrscht.

An der italienischen Front Hat sich der Angriff nunmehr über die gesamte Frontbreite etwa auf der Höhe von Grosseto ausgedehnt. Die Kämpfe mit unseren Nachhuttruppen find heftig und brachten dem Feind nur geringe Geländegewinne ein. Seine riesigen Verluste im Italien-Feldzug gehen aus der Zusammenstellung des OKW-Berichtes hervor, wonach seit Beginn des feindlichen Großangriffes in Italien 1.046 feindliche Panzer vernichtet oder erbeutet worden find.

Auch an der Ostfront ist das erwartete Anschwellen der Kampfhandlungen im mittleren Abschnitt eingetreten. Hier haben die Sowjets ihre seit langem schon vorbereiteten Angriffe mit Offensivhandlungen eingeleitet, die der Auftakt neuer schwerer Kämpfe an der Ostfront sein durften. Als Hauptbrennpunkt werden vorläufig die bereits bekannten Kampffelder bei Witebsk und nördlich Ostrow genannt, wo jedoch alle Feindangriffe bisher abgewiesen werden konnten. Die an der Südfront im Osten erkannten Bereitstellungen lassen darauf schließen, dass es sich bei den Angriffen im mittleren Abschnitt vorerst um feindliche Fesselungsversuche handelt, denen jedoch der feindliche Hauptstoß im Süden der Ostfront alsbald folgen dürfte. Die deutscherseits getroffenen Vorbereitungen gegen die erwarteten Angriffe der Sowjets find umfangreich, so dass die feindliche Offensive auf eine harte und entschlossene Abwehr stoßen wird.

London, die britische Hauptstadt, lag weiter unter dem Störungsfeuer der neuen deutschen Waffe, die mit nur geringfügigen Unterbrechungen Tag und Nacht auf das politische und militärische Zentrum dieses Krieges gegen Deutschland einwirkt.

K. S.

7990

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 24, 1944)

Communiqué No. 37

Fighting is heavy and resistance strong immediately before CHERBOURG. We are making steady progress and are now within a short distance of the north coast on both sides of the fortress.

West of CARENTAN, enemy resistance has increased.

Northeast of CAEN, our troops have made a local advance after fierce fighting.

To the east of the river ORNE, warships have bombarded enemy troops and armor.

Intermittent shelling of the eastern anchorage continues and brief gun duels between Allied warships and mobile batteries ensue.

The Allied air forces yesterday concentrated their attacks on enemy reinforcements attempting to move westward from PARIS and up from southern FRANCE. Principal road and rail arteries and airfields from below the LOIRE estuary to the OISE were bombed and strafed despite changeable weather and determined opposition by the enemy in some areas.

From noon till dusk fighter bombers and fighters followed the main railways east and west of CHARTRES and to the south, hitting railway yards at NANTES and CHÂTEAU-DU-LOIR, cutting tracks in many places and destroying locomotives and freight cars especially at QUINCÉ, SAUMUR and south of NANTES. Bridges and viaducts at CHARTRES, JUSSY, NOGENT and over the OISE and SOMME were also attacked.

At least 11 enemy aircraft were shot down, ten of them in combat over the CAEN-ÉVREUX area. Eight of our fighters are missing from the day’s operations.

On their second mission of the day our heavy bombers, eight of which are missing, attacked airfields at ATHIES and JUVINCOURT near LAON. Their fighter escort hit rail and road and other targets east of PARIS.

Towards dusk medium and light bombers attacked military objectives in the PAS-DE-CALAIS. Later, heavy night bombers attacked rail centers at SAINTES and LIMOGES, losing two aircraft.

Communiqué No. 38

Allied forces are steadily closing in on CHERBOURG. Despite fierce enemy resistance each link in the chain of the defenses is being systematically destroyed. In the center of the semicircular front, our troops are within two miles of the heart of the city.

In the river ORNE sector, a strong Allied attack has liberated the village of SAINTE-HONORINE after hard fighting in which infantry and armor were engaged. Some enemy tanks were knocked out.

A convoy of seven small enemy ships, attempting to escape from CHERBOURG to the west under escort, was intercepted early this morning by light coastal forces. Two of the enemy vessels were destroyed and three more are believed sunk.

Rocket-firing aircraft and fighter bombers damages three 1,000-ton motor vessels near SAINT-MALO and left one of them on fire.

Our air forces continued their program of obstructing the flow of enemy supplies and reinforcements to the battle area. Key points in a semicircle west and south of PARIS were under attack during the day by both heavy and fighter-bombers.

Armed reconnaissance in some force was flown over a broad belt extending from the line FALAISE-ARGENTAN-SAINT-GERMAIN in the north to the ANGERS-SAUMUR line in the south to oppose military movements in this area. Railways east of the FALAISE were bombed; a military train was attacked near DREUX and tank cars, ammunition cars, and armored vehicles were destroyed.

In the AVRANCHES-COUTANCES area, aircraft on patrol attacked targets of opportunity. Gun emplacements north of LA HAYE-DU-PUITS were attacked by fighter-bombers.

Heavy day bombers bombed railway bridges at SAUMUR and TOURS and airfields at CHÂTEAUDUN and ORLÉANS/BRICY.

During the period, attacks were made on flying-bomb sites.

Four Me 190s, of a formation of twelve which appeared in the CAEN area, were destroyed by our fighters without loss.

Reconnaissance shows that the bombing attacks on the night of June 23-24 on LIMOGES and SAINTES were highly successful.

7991

U.S. Navy Department (June 24, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 62

Carrier aircraft of the fast carrier task force swept Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands on June 23 (West Longitude Date). Sixty or more enemy air­craft of a force which attempted to intercept our fighters were shot down. Twelve of the enemy planes found our carriers and all of these were shot down by our combat air patrols. We lost four fighters. There was no damage to our surface ships.

Pagan Island in the northern Marianas was attacked by carrier air­craft on June 22. The following damage was inflicted on the enemy:

  • Four small cargo ships and one sampan, sunk.

  • Two small cargo ships and 12 sampans, damaged.

  • Four enemy aircraft destroyed and two probably destroyed on the ground.

  • A flight consisting of one twin‑engine bomber and five Zero fighters Inter­cepted some distance from our carrier force was shot down.

  • A wharf and fuel dumps at Pagan were destroyed and buildings and run­ways were damaged.

We lost one Hellcat fighter and one pilot.

U.S. Marines and Army troops are pushing ahead on Saipan Island and have made new gains along the northern shore of Magicienne Bay. Booby traps and land mines are being extensively employed by the enemy. Two enemy aircraft detected in the Saipan area were shot down by carrier aircraft of the fighter screen on June 21. Coastal guns on Tinian Island have intermittently shelled our ships at anchor of Saipan, but have done little damage. On June 23, the airfields on Tinian Island were heavily bombed and shelled.

The airstrip and buildings at Rota Island were attacked by carrier aircraft on June 22. A medium cargo ship at Rota was sunk by an aerial torpedo. Our planes received no damage.

Shumushu Island in the Kurils was attacked by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn on June 23. In the Central Pacific, Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft continued neutralization raids on June 23 against enemy positions in the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

7992

The Free Lance-Star (June 24, 1944)

TORNADO HITS THREE STATES; DEATH TOLL 133
Twister causes heavy damage in West Virginia

Pennsylvania and Maryland suffer

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7993

AMERICANS FIGHTING IN CHERBOURG STREETS
Advance slowed by fierce Nazi resistance

Fighting renewed by British at Caen

SHAEF, England (AP) –
U.S. doughboys smashing yard-by-yard deep into the powerful outer shell of the Cherbourg line drove this morning within 2,000 yards – little more than a mile – of the port on the south, and “enemy defenses showed signs of crumbling,” a field dispatch declared.

An American spearhead punctured the stubborn, interlaced Nazi pillbox defenses southeast of Octeville, the fortress just southwest of Cherbourg, after a pulverizing air and artillery bombardment, Associated Press correspondent Don Whitehead said in a dispatch written at 9:15 a.m. (local time).

Headquarters said the doughboys fought forward slowly and had all but reached the sea on both sides of the besieged port in hand-to-hand struggle with Germans resisting fanatically. The assault troops are battling “within sight of the docks,” Supreme Headquarters said.

Whitehead wrote that 1,200 prisoners have been taken in the last 24 hours, and that the Cherbourg line had become a “deathtrap” for hundreds of Nazis who refused an Allied ultimatum to surrender and were forced to fight by German officers holding guns at their backs.

In bitter battle, the Americans have blasted a wedge deep into the German line, and “Cherbourg is doomed as an enemy stronghold,” he added.

20 tanks destroyed

On the eastern wing of the Normandy beachhead, Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery lashed out in a swift attack yesterday at the outer perimeter of Caen’s defenses, and 20 Nazi tanks were wrecked in day-long battle. British troops captured Sainte-Honorine-la-Chardronette, four miles northeast of Caen, and the Germans fell back to Cuverville, a mile to the southeast. Montgomery struck after a powerful build-up of his forces.

A field dispatch from this British sector declared the German command was moving up reinforcements from deep within France, and even drawing on strategic reserves in Germany itself “to replace forces thrown into the beachhead area.”

Clear, calm weather sped the flow of power into Normandy today from hundreds of landing craft, and sky trains of Allied bombers roared over France.

Cherbourg’s elaborate defenses buckled under the massive artillery and air bombardment, and so close were the doughboys to the Germans in the desperate struggle that Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley pulled his men back while the bombers came in to soften up the enemy pillboxes and trenches.

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U.S. heavies out over France

SHAEF, England (AP) –
U.S. Fortresses and Liberators, ranging over France with escorting fighters which made up a total force of 500 planes, hammered rail bridges, airfields and other enemy installations behind the Normandy battle zone today while Marauders ripped up four German gun positions blocking the advance of infantry into Cherbourg.

The Berlin radio reported U.S. heavy bombers were also heading into Northwest Germany.

The Channel skies were jammed with Allied planes of all types which roared back and forth continuously for more than five hours this morning and which were still going strong at noon.

Hit oil fields

Rome, Italy (AP) –
U.S. Liberators today blasted the Ploești area in Romania and Fortresses attacked a rail bridge on the Oituz River near Piatra Neamț on the main line from Ploești across Romania to Central Europe.