GOP NOMINATES DEWEY-BRICKER TICKET
New York Governor Dewey for President!
Ohio Governor Bricker for Vice President!
Address by Ohio Governor Bricker
June 28, 1944
I am deeply grateful to the many friends who have expressed their loyalty to me, far more important than that, to the cause for which I have tried to stand. I have traveled throughout the United States for the last six months preaching to the best of my ability the gospel of Republicanism, which is the gospel of Americanism.
I have talked with you in your homes and your public meetings. I have talked with you privately, and I know the heart, the feeling, the longing, and the determination of the people of America, expressed through the representatives assembled here to preserve, not only for America but for the whole world, the blessings of free government and liberty as we have them here in America.
There has been a magnificent response everywhere to the preaching of fundamental American constitutional doctrine. Everywhere Republicans have come, and come enthusiastically, and Democrats have come by the thousands to Republican meetings.
Time and again I have said throughout this country, to the Democratic friends who are supporters of our cause, that the old-line Democrats, the Jeffersonian Democrats, and the Republicans have so much in common now; neither side has anything to say about what goes on in Washington today.
A thousand times I have said to you and Republicans everywhere that this is an hour when personal ambition should not prevail, that the party is greater than any individual ambition. In this hour, when the nation calls for unselfish service, the Republican Party unselfishly goes into the campaign to redeem free government that the world may be better tomorrow.
A thousand times I have said to you that I am personally more interested – and this comes from the depths of my heart – that personally I am more interested in defeating the New Deal philosophy of absolutism which has swept free government from the majority of countries throughout the world; I am more interested in defeating that than I am in personally being President of these United States.
I say to you today that it is the first duty of every Republican, as of every patriotic American citizen of every political party, to do all in its power to promote the war effort and bring speedy victory, that our boys may soon come home again.
I would not be here today, pleading the cause of the Republican party, if I did not believe with all sincerity in my heart that the best thing that could happen, the one thing that would bring speedy victory, a better world in which to live, better international relations, would be the election of a Republican President and a Republican Congress this fall.
Industry, under the impetus of such a victory, would produce as it never produced before. Labor would work as never before. When victory comes, we should have a stable, consistent economic tax policy in this country which would give greater hope of return than possibility of loss.
Labor would work as never before because it knows, as you and I well know, that this government cannot reach out its tentacles and take a strangle hold on one segment of society unless ultimately every segment of society comes under the domination and dictates of government.
Agriculture would be encouraged as nothing else could encourage it – by a Republican victory – because a bureaucratic government would be taken off its neck and farmers again could till the soil as independent farmers of America have always tilled the soil.
Appreciative as I am of the devotion to the cause which I have tried to represent of the many that are gathered here, I understand it is the overwhelming desire of this convention to nominate a great, a vigorous, a fighting young American, the noble and dramatic and appealing Governor of the State of New York – Thomas E. Dewey.
He charged the ramparts of crime and took them. He took over the government of the great State of New York, the largest state of the Union, and what a magnificent job he has done as Governor of that state! He understands not alone domestic problems, but international issues. The relationships of the nations of the world of tomorrow are going to be more trying than they ever have been before, and we cannot separate our domestic policies from our international program.
The hope of a better tomorrow lies in Thomas E. Dewey becoming the leader of the Republican hosts who will free us from the clutches of bureaucracy next January.
Time and again I have said that as this campaign goes on my heart and soul will be behind it, regardless of who might be nominated here today. Let me say to you that the best President of the United States to build a better international order tomorrow will be the best American President.
He shall speak for the people of America through the platform which has been adopted by this convention, one of sound American doctrine, which will preserve our form of representative republican government and which will bring a Republican victory this fall.
I am conscious of the fact that it is the desire of the great majority of the delegates to this convention to nominate the gallant righting Governor of the State of New York for President. I believe in party organization, as expressed in this legally constituted representative body of my party.
I believe a Republican victory is not only necessary this fall to preserve the Republican Party, but it is necessary likewise to preserve our two-party system. To preserve a representative system of government here in America, and likewise necessary to preserve the Democratic Party.
I appreciate the support which has been accorded me by the delegates from Ohio, especially the support which they have given in the last few days; but I am now asking them not to present my name to this convention, but to cast their votes, along with those of the host of friends I have here, for Thomas E. Dewey for President of the United States.
The Free Lance-Star (June 28, 1944)
GOP NOMINATES DEWEY
Bricker named running mate for New York chosen on first ballot at convention
Nominee to fly to Chicago to make acceptance talk
Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
A 1944 Republican ticket headed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey for President, with Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio as his running-mate, was nominated in a whirlwind session today by a national convention that gave Dewey all its votes save one and made it unanimous for Bricker.
Dewey immediately arranged to fly here from Albany and appear before the convention to deliver his speech of acceptance at 9:00 p.m. CWT.
The nominating session recessed at 1:56 until 8:00 p.m. CWT.
A lone delegate from Wisconsin, Grant Ritter, 55-year-old farmer of Beloit, cast his vote for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, explaining “he’s still my candidate. We didn’t get an opportunity to present him.”
A committee hurried to telephone Governor Dewey at Albany where he awaited formal notification before going ahead with plans to rush here for his speech of acceptance – tonight, if weather does not interfere with a trip by plane.
Martin wires news
At the same time, Rep. Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts, convention chairman, dispatched the following telegram to Dewey:
May I on behalf of this great Republican convention advise you of your nomination as President.
Heartiest congratulations. We know you will make a winning President.
Even before the roll call, shortly after Dewey’s name was placed in nomination by Nebraska Governor Dwight Griswold, Wendell L. Willkie, the 1940 nominee, whose possible attitude toward a Dewey candidacy was a subject of conjecture, drafted a message of congratulations from New York. A bulletin over the Associated Press wire at the platform brought word of the gesture.
Governor Bricker, playing the key role in a harmony move that developed overnight, announced his own withdrawal as a presidential candidate as soon as Dewey’s name was placed in nomination.
Bricker speaker
In a dramatic convention appearance to tremendous applause, at the termination of a rousing demonstration which greeted the nominating speech for Dewey, the tall Ohioan strode to the speaker’s stand, looked steadily over the vast reaches of the teeming convention hall and said:
I am deeply grateful to the many friends who have expressed their loyalty to me, far more important than that, to the cause for which I have tried to stand.
I am personally more interested – and this comes from the depths of my heart – personally I am more interested in defeating the New Deal philosophy of absolutism which is threatening Americans today; I am more interested in defeating that than I am ever of being President of these United States.
I understand, as you do, that it is the overwhelming desire of this convention to nominate a great, a vigorous, a fighting young American, the noble and dramatic and appealing Governor of the great state of New York – Thomas E. Dewey.
Praises record
There were cries of “no” from some of the Bricker boosters, as the Governor continued:
What a magnificent job he [Dewey] has done as Governor! He understands not only domestic problems, but their involvement in international issues. The relationship of the world of tomorrow are going to be more trying than they ever have been before.
Thomas E. Dewey will become the gallant leader of the Republican hosts which free America and return American to the Republican democracy next January.
Bricker thanked the Ohio delegation for its support, saying:
I am asking them not to present my name to this convention, but to cast their votes, along with those of the host of friends I have here, for Thomas E. Dewey for President of the United States.
No sooner had Bricker turned from the platform than Chairman Joseph W. Martin announced, “I now introduce Senator Ball of Minnesota.”
Proud of Stassen
Ball led the campaign on behalf of LtCdr. Harold E. Stassen for President. He said:
Ours has been a clear fight. We are proud of Cdr. Stassen…
As long as there was the slightest chance of Stassen’s nomination, we were determined to present his name to this convention. Governor Bricker’s eloquent statement has eliminated any chance that existed. Minnesota’s delegation has therefore decided not to present Stassen’s name to this convention.
…
Dewey approves party platform
Amplification of views is expected in his acceptance talk; floor fight fails
Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey apparently held the key today to a question of whether Wendell L. Willkie and other party critics will go along with a Republican platform pledging American cooperation to prevent future wars by use of “peace forces” and ruling out entry into a “world state.”
The party’s prospective presidential nominee was expected to amplify, in his acceptance speech, a post-war foreign policy plank shoutingly approved by delegates but sharply criticized earlier by the 1940 standard-bearer and a group of governors.
A convention floor fight failed to materialize after it was reported that Dewey had given the plank his specific approval and two critical governors – Walter Edge of New Jersey and William H. Willis of Vermont – had expressed the view to reporters that nothing could be gained by a fight.
Upon the ability of the New York Governor – assuming, of course, that he will be the nominee – to satisfy criticisms of Willkie and the governors that the plank is “ambiguous” and offers inadequate hope for post-war peace collaboration, possibly hinges the question of whether the 1940 candidate will go along, bolt, or remain silent during the campaign.
Willkie silent
In New York, Willkie refused last night to say what action he would take.
The controverted plank was a featured part of a 2,000-word statement of principles.
On domestic issues, the platform promised the party would devote itself to “reestablishing liberty at home;” to providing stable employment by encouraging private enterprise freed of government competition and “detailed regulations.”
Remedies for economic and political problems should be based, the statement asserted, “on intelligent cooperation between the federal government and the states and local government and the initiative of civil groups, not on the panacea of federal cash.”
The platform said:
Four more years of New Deal policy would centralize all power in the President, and would daily subject every act of every citizen to regulation by his henchmen; and this country could remain a Republic only in name. No problem exists which cannot be solved by American methods. We have no need of either the communistic or the fascist technique.
Making appeals to business, labor and agriculture alike, the platform charged that New Deal “perversion” of labor laws “threatens to destroy collective bargaining completely and permanently.”
Promises to farmers
Farmers were promised an “American market price” to be maintained by commodity loans, price supports and other measures, and government aid in dealing with “unmanageable surpluses” by means of crop adjustment. This probably will go a long way toward removing the principle of crop control as an issue. The Republicans pledged, however, the elimination of subsidies as a substitute for adequate prices at the market prices. They also promised to free farmers from “regimentation and confusing government manipulation and control of farm programs.”
In the field of foreign trade, the Republicans promised farmer, livestock producers, workers and industry that they would establish and maintain a “fair protective tariff” on competitive products produced with lower-paid labor.
They expressed willingness nevertheless to cooperate with other nations to remove international trade barriers.
Other planks pledged aid to small business; tax belief for individuals and corporations when peace returns; a “genuine” Western Hemisphere good neighbor policy “commanding respect, and not based on reckless squandering of American funds;” rigid economy in government expenditures; extension of Social Security; and enforcement of laws against monopoly and unfair competition.
Address by Governor Dewey Accepting the GOP Nomination
June 28, 1944, 9:00 p.m. CWT
I am profoundly moved by the trust you have placed in me. I deeply feel the responsibility which goes with your nomination for President of the United States at this grave hour of our nation’s history.
That I have not sought this responsibility, all of you know. I told the people of my State, two years ago, that it was my intention to devote my full term as governor exclusively to their service. You have decided otherwise. In accordance with the principles of our republican form of government you have laid upon me the highest duty to which an American can be called. No one has a right to refuse such a call. With the help of God, I will try to be worthy of the trust. I accept the nomination.
I am happy and proud to be associated with my good friend from the state of Ohio, John W. Bricker. For many months, John Bricker has gone from state to state telling the people of the issues, of the great need for better government, for the sound principles of government, and the leadership which will come to it with a Republican victory this year. Never before have I seen such good sportsmanship as that displayed by John Bricker here this morning and I am proud to be associated with him.
I come to this great task a free man. I have made no pledges, promises or commitments, expressed or implied, to any man or woman. I shall make none, except to the American people.
These pledges I do make:
To men and women of the Republican Party everywhere I pledge my utmost efforts in the months ahead. In return, I ask for your support. Without it, I cannot discharge the heavy obligation you lay upon me.
To Americans of every party, I pledge that on January 20 next year our government will again have a cabinet of the ablest men and women to be found in America. The members of that Cabinet will expect and will receive full delegation of the powers of their office. They will be capable of administering those powers. They will each be experienced in the task to be done and young enough to do it. This election will bring an end to one-man government in America.
To Americans of every party, I pledge a campaign dedicated to one and above all others – that this nation under God may continue in the years ahead a free nation of free men.
At this moment on battlegrounds around the world Americans are dying for the freedom of our country. Their comrades are pressing on in the face of hardship and suffering. They are pressing on for total victory and for the liberties of all of us.
Everything we say or do today and, in the future, must be devoted to the single purpose of that victory. Then, when victory is won, we must devote ourselves with equal unity of purpose to re-winning at home the freedom they have won at such desperate cost abroad.
To our allies let us send from this convention one message from our hearts: The American people are united with you to the limit of our resources and manpower, devoted to the single task of victory and the establishment of a firm and lasting peace.
To every member of the axis powers, let us send this message from this convention: By this political campaign, which you are unable to understand, our will to victory will be strengthened, and with every day you further delay surrender the consequences to you will be more severe.
That we shall win this war none of us and few of our enemies can now have any doubt. But how we win this war is of major importance for the years ahead. We won the last war but it didn’t stay won. This time we must also win the purposes for which we are fighting. Germany must never again nourish the delusion that she could have won. We must carry to Japan a defeat so crushing and complete that every last man among them knows that he has been beaten. We must not merely defeat the armies and the navies of our enemies. We must defeat, once and for all, their will to make war. In their hearts as well as with their lips, let them be taught to say, “Never again.”
The military conduct of the war is outside this campaign. It is and must remain completely out of politics. Gen. Marshall and Adm. King are doing a superb job. Thank God for both of them. Let me make it crystal clear that a change of administration next January cannot and will not involve any change in the military conduct of the war. If there is not now any civilian interference with the military and naval commands, a change in administration will not alter this status. If there is civilian interference, the new administration will put a stop to it forthwith.
But the war is being fought on the home front as well as abroad, while all of us are deeply proud of the military conduct of the war, can we honestly say that the home front could not bear improvement? The present administration in Washington has been in office for more than eleven years. Today, it is at war with Congress, and at war with itself. Squabbles between Cabinet members, feuds between rival bureaucrats and bitterness between the President and his own party members, in and out of Congress, have become the order of the day. In the vital matters of taxation, price control, rationing, labor relations, manpower, we have become familiar with the spectacle of wrangling, bungling and confusion.
Does anyone suggest that the present national administration is giving either efficient or competent government? We have not heard that claim made, even by its most fanatical supporters. No, all they tell us is that in its young days it did some good things. That we freely grant. But now it has grown old in office. It has become tired and quarrelsome. It seems that the great men who founded this nation really did know what they were talking about when they said that three terms were too many.
When we have won the war, we shall still have to win the peace. We are agreed, all of us, that America will participate with other sovereign nations in a cooperative effort to prevent future wars. Let us face up boldly to the magnitude of that task. We shall not make secure the peace of the world by mere words. We can’t do it simply by drawing up a fine-sounding treaty. It cannot be the work of any one man or of a little group of rulers who meet together in private conferences. The structure of peace must be built. It must be the work of many men. We must have as our representatives in this task the ablest men and women America can produce, and the structure they join in building must rest upon the solid rock of a united American public opinion.
I am not one of those who despair of achieving that end. I am utterly confident we can do it. For years, we have had men in Washington who were notoriously weak in certain branches of arithmetic but they specialized in division. They’ve been playing up minor differences of opinion among our people until the people of other countries might have thought that America was cleft in two.
But all the while there was a larger, growing area of agreement. Recently the overwhelming majesty of that broad area of agreement has become obvious. The Republican Party can take pride in helping to define it and broaden it. There are only a few, a very few, who really believe that America should try to remain aloof from the world. There are only a relatively few who believe it would be practical for America or her allies to renounce all sovereignty and join a superstate. I certainly would not deny these two extremes the right to their opinions; but I stand firmly with the overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens in that great wide area of agreement. That agreement was clearly expressed by the Republican Mackinac Declaration and was adopted in the foreign policy plank of this Convention.
No organization for peace will last if it is slipped through by stealth or trickery or the momentary hypnotism of high-sounding phrases. We shall have to work and pray and be patient and make sacrifices to achieve a really lasting peace. That is not too much to ask in the name of those who have died for the future of our country. This is no task for men who specialize in dividing our people. It is no task to be entrusted to stubborn men, grown old and tired and quarrelsome in office. We learned that in 1919.
The building of the peace is more than a matter of international cooperation. God has endowed America with such blessings as to fit her for a great role in the world. We can only play that role if we are strong and healthy and vigorous as nature has equipped us to be. It would be a tragedy if after this war Americans returned from our armed forces and failed to find the freedom and opportunity for which they fought. This must be a land where every man and woman has a fair chance to work and get ahead. Never again must free Americans face the specter of long-continued, mass unemployment. We Republicans are agreed that full employment shall be a first objective of national policy. And by full employment I mean a real chance for every man and woman to earn a decent living.
What hope does the present administration offer here? In 1940, the year before this country entered the war, there were still 10,000,000 unemployed. After seven years of unequalled power and unparalleled spending, the New Deal had failed utterly to solve that problem. It never solved that problem. It was left to be solved by war. Do we have to have a war to get jobs?
What are we now offered? Only the dreary prospect of a continued war economy after the war, with interference piled on interference and petty tyrannies rivaling the very regimentation against which we are now at war.
The present administration has never solved this fundamental problem of jobs and opportunity. It can never solve this problem. It has never even understood what makes a job. It has never been for full production. It has lived in chattering fear of abundance. It has specialized in curtailment and restriction. It has been consistently hostile to and abusive of American business and American industry, although it is in business and industry that most of us make our living.
In all the record of the past eleven years is there anything that suggests the present administration can bring about high-level employment after this war? Is there any reason to believe that those who have so signally failed in the past can succeed in the future? The problem of jobs will not be easily solved; but it will never be solved at all unless we get a new, progressive administration in Washington – and that means a Republican administration.
For one hundred and fifty years, America was the hope of the world. Here on this great broad continent, we had brought into being something for which men had longed throughout all history. Here, all men were held to be free and equal. Here, government derived its just powers from the consent of the governed. Here men believed passionately in freedom, independence – the God-given right of the individual to be his own master. Yet, with all of this freedom – I insist – because of this freedom – ours was a land of plenty. In a fashion unequalled anywhere else in the world, America grew and strengthened; our standard of living became the envy of the world. In all lands, men and women looked toward America as the pattern of what they, themselves, desired. And because we were what we were, good will flowed toward us from all corners of the earth. An American was welcomed everywhere and looked upon with admiration and regard.
At times, we had our troubles; made our share of mistakes; but we faltered only to go forward with renewed vigor. It remained for the past eleven years, under the present national administration, for continuing unemployment to be accepted with resignation as the inevitable condition of a nation past its prime.
It is the New Deal which tells us that America has lost its capacity to grow. We shall never build a better world by listening to those counsels of defeat. Is America old and worn out as the New Dealers tell us? Look to the beaches of Normandy for the answer. Look to the reaches of the wide Pacific – to the corners of the world where American men are fighting. Look to the marvels of production in the war plants in our own cities and towns. I say to you: our country is just fighting its way through to new horizons. The future of America has no limit.
True, we now pass through dark and troubled times, scarcely a home escapes the touch of dread anxiety and grief; yet in this hour the American spirit rises, faith returns – faith in our God, faith in our fellowman, faith in the land our fathers died to win, faith in the future, limitless and bright, of this, our country.
In the name of that faith, we shall carry our cause in the coming months to the American people.
The Pittsburgh Press (June 28, 1944)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
On the Cherbourg Peninsula, France – (by wireless)
Just a column of little items…
The other day a friend and I were in a mid-peninsula town not many miles from Cherbourg, and we stopped to ask a couple of young French policemen wearing dark blue uniforms and Sam Browne belts where to go to buy a certain article.
Being quite hospitable, they jumped in the car and went along to show us. After we finished our buying, we all got back in the car. We tried to ask the policemen where they were going. They in turn asked us where we were going.
Knowing it was hopeless in our limited French to explain that we were going to our camp up the road, we merely said Cherbourg, meaning our camp was in that direction.
But the Frenchmen thought we meant to drive right into Cherbourg, which was still in German hands. Quick as a flash, they jumped up, hit the driver on the shoulder to get the car stopped, shook hands rapidly all around, saluted, and scurried out with a terrified “Au revoir.” None of that Cherbourg stuff for those boys.
Some of the German officers are pleased at being captured, but your dyed-in-the-wool Nazi is not. They brought in a young one the other day who was furious. He considered it thoroughly unethical that we fought so hard.
The Americans had attacked all night, and the Germans don’t like night attacks. When this special fellow was brought in, he protested in rage: “You Americans! The way you fight! This is not war! This is madness!”
The German was so outraged he never even got the irony of his own remark – that madness though it be, it works.
Another high-ranking officer was brought in and the first thing he asked was the whereabouts of his personal orderly. When told that his orderly was deader than a mackerel, he flew off the handle and accused us of depriving him of his personal comfort.
“Who’s going to dig my foxhole for me?” he demanded.
You remember that in the early days of the invasion, a whole bevy of high-ranking Allied officers came to visit us – Gens. Marshall, Eisenhower and Arnold; Adms. King and Ramsey – there was so much brass you just bumped two-star generals without even begging pardon.
Now, generals, it seems, like to be brave. Or I should say that, being generals, they know they must appear to be brave in order to set an example. Consequently, a high-ranking general never ducks or bats an eye when a shell hits near him.
Well, the military police charged with conducting this glittering array of generals around our beachhead tried to get them to ride in armored cars, since the country was still full of snipers.
But, being generals, they said no, certainly not, no armored cars for us, we’ll just go in open command cars like anybody else. And that’s the way they did go.
But what the generals didn’t know was this: taking no chances on such a collection of talent, the MPs hid armored cars and tanks all along their route, behind hedges and under bushes, out of sight so that the generals couldn’t see them, but they’re ready for action just in case anything did happen.
The most wrecked town I have seen so far is Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, known simply as “San Sahvure.” Its buildings are gutted and leaning, its streets choked with rubble, and vehicles drive over the top of it.
Bombing and shellfire from both sides did it. This place looks exactly like World War I pictures of such places as Verdun. At the edge of the town, the bomb craters are so immense that you could put whole houses in them.
A veteran of the last war pretty well summed up the two wars the other day when he said, “This is just like the last war, only the holes are bigger.”
So far as I know, we have entered France without anybody making a historic remark about it. Last time you know, it was “Lafayette, we are here.”
The nearest I have heard to a historic remark was made by an ack-ack gunner, sitting on a mound of earth about two weeks after D-Day, reading The Stars and Stripes from London. All of a sudden, he said, “Say, where’s this Normandy beachhead it talks about in here?”
I looked at him closely and saw that he was serious, so I said, “Why, you’re sitting on it.”
And he said, “Well, I’ll be damned. I never knowed that.”
Völkischer Beobachter (June 29, 1944)
Unsere Stunde wird wieder kommen –
Im Zentrum des Sturmes auf Europa
Auch die äußerste Kraftanstrengung unserer Feinde wird vergeblich sein
vb. Wien, 28. Juni –
„Das zwölfte Jahr der Neuorganisation unseres Volkes wird an die Front und an die Heimat härteste Anforderungen stellen,“ sagte der Führer in seiner Rede zum elften Jahrestag der Machtergreifung. „Wie sehr aber auch der Sturm an unsere Festung toben und heulen mag,“ so fuhr der Führer fort, „am Ende wird er sich wie ein Gewitter eines Tages legen und aus finsteren Wolken wird dann wieder eine Sonne hervorleuchten auf diejenigen, die standhaft und unerschütterlich, ihrem Glauben treubleibend, die Pflicht erfüllen.“ Heute stehen wir im Zentrum des Sturmes, der gegen Europa entfesselt worden ist und den der Führer kommen sah.
Briten, Amerikaner und Bolschewisten haben sich mit dem Einsatz des ganzen Kriegspotentials an Menschen und Material zum Sturm gegen das Bollwerk der abendländischen Kultur, im Westen, im Osten und im Süden vereinigt, um die langen, zähen Kämpfe des vergangenen Jahres, in denen ihnen trotz allem Raumgewinn der strategische Erfolg versagt blieb, womöglich mit einer einzigen gewaltigen Anstrengung zur Entscheidung zu bringen. Sie haben dabei Erfolge errungen, haben die Halbinsel Cotentin abgeschnitten, haben mit zehnfacher Übermacht die Festung Cherbourg angegriffen und mit der Unterstützung der Artillerie ihrer Schlachtschiffe zum großen Teil niedergekämpft.
Damit haben sie sich nach schweren, drei Wochen dauernden Kämpfen unter hohen Verlusten die normannische Halbinsel als Brückenkopf gesichert. Sie haben eine Ausfallsstellung gewonnen, aber noch keinen Platz für große Ausladungen, wie sie ihn brauchen, denn die Hafenanlagen vor Cherbourg sind zerstört. Bei dem großen Unterschied von Ebbe und Flut aber ist der Hafen, der keine natürlichen Möglichkeiten bietet, ohne die technischen Einrichtungen für lange Zeit unbrauchbar. Auch die operative Freiheit müssen sie sich aus der Halbinsel Cotentin heraus und an der Front von Caen bis Coutances erst noch erkämpfen, und zwar ohne von See her durch die schweren Geschütze ihrer Kreuzer und Schlachtschiffe unterstützt zu werden.
Zunächst wird der Gegner den Vorstoß auf Cherbourg als einen Erfolg, der ihm besonders wegen seiner psychologischen und propagandistischen Bedeutung wichtig ist, nach Kräften auszuwerten suchen, schon um damit der moralischen Wirkung der neuen deutschen Waffe „V1“ auf die Bevölkerung in England zu begegnen. Daß den Amerikanern und Engländern der Durchbruch zu der Hafenstadt gelungen ist, haben sie, wie aus ihren eigenen Berichten hervorgeht, nicht der überlegenen Tapferkeit ihrer Soldaten, sondern der vielfach größeren Zahl, der Masse ihres Materials und im Besonderen der zahlenmäßigen Überlegenheit ihrer Luftwaffe zu verdanken. Der deutsche Soldat hat gekämpft, als er auch auf einen taktischen Erfolg nicht mehr hoffen konnte, und er hat sich in den Widerstandsnestern oft genug mit der blanken Waffe verteidigt. Seinem Heldentum blieb die Krönung durch den Siegeslorbeer versagt – darüber aber soll sich niemand täuschen: Der Tag wird kommen, an dem die Früchte auch dieses Kampfes reifen werden. Keine Tapferkeit ist umsonst, kein Opfer vertan. Aus der blutigen Saat der Schlacht um Cherbourg wird zur rechten Zeit die Ernte reifen.
Niemand soll auch glauben, daß wir die Materialüberlegenheit der Gegner als unausweichliches Schicksal hinzunehmen hätten. Dieser Krieg wird nicht nur von dem Soldaten, sondern auch von dem Techniker, Wissenschaftler und Arbeiter ausgefochten. Und wie im Kampf an der Front zuletzt nicht die Masse Mensch entscheidet, sondern der kämpferische Wille des einzelnen Soldaten, seine Standhaftigkeit und innere Überlegenheit, so entscheidet in dem stillen Krieg auf dem Schreibtisch, auf dem Zeichenbrett, im Laboratorium, auf dem Versuchsfeld und in der Fabrik nicht die rohe Masse des erzeugten Materials, sondern seine Wirksamkeit. Als uns die Engländer, vorwärtsgestoßen von Roosevelt und der amerikanischen Judenschaft, den Krieg erklärten, waren wir mit neuen Waffen besser gerüstet, als sie ahnten. Dann haben sie von uns gelernt, haben den Vorsprung zum Teil ausgeglichen, haben auf dem einen oder anderen Gebiet mehr Waffen erzeugt als wir. Sie meinten, dass wäre die Entscheidung und sie brauchten nun nur ihren gewaltigen technischen Apparat gegen uns abrollen zu lassen, um ganz Europa zu zermalmen. Sie werden erfahren, daß es ein Irrtum ist.
Wir setzen der Masse ihres Materials neue Waffen von größerer Wirksamkeit entgegen, auch in der Kriegstechnik entscheidet wie in der Politik zuletzt die Idee. Wie unsere politische Idee ihrem brutalen Materialismus überlegen ist, so wird sich der deutsche Erfindergeist gegen ihre Fabrikation durchsetzen und eine neue Entwicklung bewirken. Das ist mit der deutschen Vergeltungswaffe „V1“ schon geschehen, aber das ist erst der Anfang. Andere Kriegsmittel werden folgen und eingesetzt werden, genau zu der Stunde und genau in der Lage, die ihre größte Wirksamkeit gewährleistet. Das wird nicht zu früh sein, wie ja auch der Führer mit dem Einsatz der „V1“ den rechten Augenblick abgewartet hat, trotz der ungeheuren Belastung, die manchen wohl veranlasst hätte, die Sprengmittel vorzeitig zu lösen. Wir dürfen aber auch vertrauen, daß keine Minute zu spät das technische Gleichgewicht hergestellt sein wird. Denn was auch die Engländer und Amerikaner durch ihren Luftterror zerstört haben mögen, sie haben die Wirtschaftskraft des europäischen Kontinents nicht lahmgelegt und werden sie nie lahmlegen können.
Wie an den Soldaten, so werden auch an das Volk in der Heimat noch härteste Anforderungen gestellt werden, so lange, bis die Gewalt des feindlichen Sturmes gebrochen ist. Daß sich das deutsche Volk nicht zerbrechen läßt, das hat es dem Gegner, der uns durch seinen Luftterror zu zerschmettern suchte, bewiesen. Damit haben wir eine moralische Position gewonnen, eine Bereitschaft der Herzen, eine Kraft des Willens, aber auch eine Festigkeit des Glaubens, die sich auch in den letzten schwersten Proben bewähren wird, bis eines Tages die Sonne wieder leuchtet über dem deutschen Volk, das dann gegen eine Welt von Feinden den Sieg erkämpft hat und damit das Leben und die Freiheit.
‚Britische Vorhut‘
SS-pk. Er heißt Rubert Haquin. Aus der Normandie stammt er und wurde am 17. Dezember 1922 in C. geboren. Es ist das gleiche C., das die deutschen Grenadiere gegenwärtig am Nordostrand von Caen gegen die anglo-amerikanischen Aggressoren verteidigen. Es muß für Monsieur Haquin, weiland in der Uniform der britischen Fallschirmjäger, ein erregendes Gefühl gewesen sein, nun als Gefangener in seine Heimat zurückzukehren, die er leichtsinnig Jahre früher mit den flüchten den Engländern verließ, und die Trümmer von C. und Caen als schmerzliche Mahnzeichen seines Irrtums vor sich zu sehen. Er gehört zu jenen, die nach dem Zusammenbruch Frankreichs den britischen Parolen mehr glaubten als den Tatsachen, die durch die deutschen Armeen geschaffen waren. Er ging nach England hinüber und verdingte sich als Arbeiter. Dort ist er aber von seinem britischen Freund den selbst über das wahre Gesicht der Anglo-Amerikaner aufgeklärt worden – und zwar furchtbarer, als er es je ahnen konnte.
Wie viele französische Arbeiter in England, so wurde auch er eines Tages aufgefordert, sich militärisch ausbilden zu lassen, um im Falle einer Invasion zur Befreiung seines Vaterlandes vom deutschen Joch mit der Waffe in der Faust bereit zu sein. Abgesehen davon, daß Monsieur Haquin gar keine Möglichkeit gehabt hätte, sich dieser freundlichen Aufforderung zu entziehen, meinte er doch gutgläubig, damit etwas Treffliches zu beginnen.
Als die Invasion dann plötzlich begann, wurde Monsieur Haquin in eine Fallschirmjägeruniform gesteckt. Allerdings gab man ihm und seinen französischen Kameraden eine andersfarbige Mütze – nicht die rote, die bei den, englischen Fallschirmjägern üblich ist, sondern eine grüne. So hoben sie sich recht greifbar von den echten Söhnen Albions ab.
Während der Kämpfe in der Normandie wurden diese französischen Arbeiter in englischen Uniformen immer in vorderster Linie verwendet. Gewiss ist es eine der vielen beredten Gesten Englands, in Frankreich den angeheuerten Franzosen wenigstens beim Kampf den Vortritt zu lassen – und beim Sterben!
Monsieur Haquin war zusammen mit fünfhundert französischen Arbeitern in einer britischen Kampfgruppe eingesetzt. An die Spitze befohlen, mußten sie – so wie sie, da waren, unerfahren und überhaupt nicht dafür ausgebildet – gegen deutsche Minenfelder vorgehen! Die Engländer benützten also diese unter betrügerischen Verlockungen angeworbenen und in Uniformen gezwungenen Franzosen dazu, sich mit ihren Leibern eine schaurige Gasse durch deutsche Minenfelder zu bahnen, um dann die britischen Kampfgruppen. ungefährdet hindurchschleusen zu können. Dreihundert der französischen Arbeiter fanden dabei den Tod. Ein anderer Teil wurde schwer verletzt, von den anderen weiß Monsieur Haquin nichts mehr zu berichten. Er selbst geriet in die deutschen Linien und gab sich – völlig niedergebrochen, angefüllt mit einem unbändigen Haß auf die englischen Freunde – gefangen.
So also sieht die Befreiung aus, die England der Normandie bringen will. Es zerstört die Städte und Dörfer des Landes, das es befreien will, bis weit ins Hinterland hinein durch seine Mörderpulks und begräbt unter den Trümmern gnadenlos Hunderte von unschuldigen Männern, Frauen und Kindern. Seine Tiefflieger feuern auf die Flüchtlinge, die dem Schrecken des Krieges und dem britischen Bombenterror zu entrinnen versuchen, auf offener Landstraße. Sie morden den Bauern auf den einsamen Farmen, das Vieh auf den Weiden. Und nun noch dies: Sie jagen hunderte französischer Arbeiter, die einfältig ihren Befehlen folgen, in das Feuer der deutschen Waffen und benutzen sie als lebendige Minenräumer! Das alles zusammen ist: Befreiung durch England. Das alles zusammen ist das Bild des perfiden Albion, das mit heuchlerischen Reden um die Seelen der europäischen Völker wirbt… Das alles zusammen ist für Europa Tatsache genug und bedarf keines Kommentars.
SS-Kriegsberichter WALTER BÜHROW
Eine der stärksten Tugenden der deutschen Wehrmacht sei stets die gewesen, daß sie habe warten können, schreibt Les Nouveaux Temps. Der Einsatz der neuen Vergeltungswaffe sei das Heben des Vorhanges vor einer neuen Phase des Krieges, den Deutschland führe.
Der englische Nachrichtendienst sei in letzter Zeit derart eingeschüchtert, schreibt Daily Mail, daß er in seiner Furcht, die Sowjets oder die Nordamerikaner zu verletzen, das britische Licht stets unter den Scheffel stelle. Diesen Eindruck hätten nicht nur viele englische Hörer, sondern auch viele Amerikaner. Es erwecke tatsächlich in seiner Nachrichtengebung den Eindruck, als sei die Kriegsanstrengung Englands der USA weit unterlegen.
Im Unterhaus wurde mitgeteilt, daß die Truppen des Empire, ungerechnet Kriegsmarine und Luftwaffe, seit dem Waffenstillstand mit Badoglio bis zur Besetzung Roms 73.122 Mann verloren hätten, darunter 14.331 Gefallene und 10.025 Vermisste.
„Meine persönliche Ansicht ist, daß der Feind sehr mächtig ist,“ so sagte der britische Unterstaatssekretär für Luftfahrt auf eine Anfrage, ob nicht mit einer schnellen Beendigung des Krieges mit Deutschland zu rechnen sei. Damit werde es noch „lange dauern“ …
Nordwestkanada wird nach einem Programm der kanadischen Regierung erst jetzt genau auf seine wirtschaftlichen Möglichkeiten hin untersucht und kartographisch präzis aufgenommen werden. Es gehöre „zu den reichsten unentwickelten Rohstoffgebieten der Welt.“ Die Besitzer dieser unübersehbaren Landreserve – das Land zählt nur 12 Millionen Einwohner auf 9½ Millionen Quadratkilometer – führen aber Krieg, um dem übervölkerten Deutschland und Japan jede Entwicklungsfreiheit zu rauben, anstatt im eigenen Haus Ordnung zu schaffen.
Innsbrucker Nachrichten (June 29, 1944)
Schwere Kämpfe im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront
Im Raum Cherbourg halten sich weiterhin deutsche Stützpunkte – London seit zwei Wochen unter dem andauernden Feuer der ‚V1‘ – Erbitterte Kämpfe südwestlich Siena – Voller Abwehrerfolg westlich des Trasimenischen Sees
dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 29. Juni –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
In der Normandie dehnte der Feind seine starken Angriffe auf fast 25 Kilometer breite aus. Besonders erbittert waren die Kämpfe im Raum südwestlich Caen, wo der Gegner in dem buschigen, unübersichtlichen Gelände einen schmalen Einbruch erzielen konnte. Der in den Abendstunden einsetzende Gegenangriff deutscher gepanzerter Kampfgruppen drängte die feindlichen Angriffsspitzen auf engstem Raum zusammen. Der Gegner erlitt schwerste Verluste an Menschen und Material. Allein eine Panzerabteilung vernichtete dabei 53 feindliche Panzer. In diesem Abschnitt haben sich bei den Kämpfen der letzten Tage die 12. SS-Panzerdivision „Hitler-Jugend“ unter Führung von SS-Standartenführer Meyer, insbesondere die Kampfgruppen des SS-Sturmbannführers Olbötter, besonders ausgezeichnet, östlich der Orne brachen wiederholte von starker Artillerie unterstützte Vorstöße des Gegners blutig zusammen.
Im Raum von Cherbourg halten sich mehrere unserer Stützpunkte auch weiterhin gegen die feindliche Übermacht. Der Hafen ist zerstört, die Einfahrt immer noch gesperrt.
Ein Vorstoß feindlicher Zerstörer gegen die Kanalinseln wurde durch deutsche Sicherungsstreitkräfte abgewehrt. Eines unserer Vorpostenboote kämpfte dabei die Geschützbedienungen eines Zerstörers nieder und brachte ihm aus nächster Nähe zahlreiche Artillerievolltreffer bei. Der feindliche Zerstörer geriet in Brand und wurde nach schwerer Detonation sinkend zurückgelassen. Zwei eigene Fahrzeuge gingen im Verlauf des harten Seegefechts verloren.
Über dem Landekopf und den besetzten Westgebieten wurden 41 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
London liegt nunmehr seit zwei Wochen unter dem andauernden Feuer der „V1.“
In Italien kam es gestern zu besonders erbitterten Kämpfen im Raum südlich und südwestlich Siena, wo der Gegner geringe Fortschritte erzielen konnte. Hart westlich des Trasimenischen Sees errangen unsere Divisionen erneut einen vollen Abwehrerfolg. Wiederholte, mit zusammengefassten Infanterie- und Panzerkräften geführte Durchbruchsangriffe wurden hier im Nahkampf unter Abschuß einer Anzahl feindlicher Panzer zerschlagen. Ein örtlicher Einbruch wurde abgeriegelt. Bei den schweren Abwehrkämpfen in diesem Abschnitt haben sich die 1. Fallschirmjägerdivision unter Generalleutnant Heidrich und die 334. Infanteriedivision unter Generalmajor Böhlke durch besondere Tapferkeit und Standhaftigkeit ausgezeichnet.
Im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront gewannen die Sowjets im Verlauf der erbitterten Abwehrschlacht an einigen Stellen weiter Raum. Die Besatzungen von Bobruisk und Mogilew setzten dem mit überlegenen Kräften anstürmenden Feind harten Widerstand entgegen. Östlich der mittleren und oberen Beresina sowie südlich Polozk dauern die schweren Kämpfe mit den vordringenden Sowjets an. Südöstlich Polozk scheiterten erneute feindliche Angriffe verlustreich für die Bolschewisten.
Bei den Kämpfen südöstlich Pleskau hat sich die ostpreußische 121. Infanteriedivision unter Führung von Oberst Löhr hervorragend geschlagen. Schlachtfliegerverbände griffen wirksam in die Erdkämpfe ein und fügten dem Feind schwere Menschen- und Materialverluste zu.
Ein Verband leichter deutscher und finnischer Seestreitkräfte beschoss im Finnischen Meerbusen sowjetische Batteriestellungen auf der Insel Narvi und versenkte einen feindlichen Bewacher.
Ein nordamerikanischer Bomberverband griff gestern das Stadtgebiet von Bukarest an. Deutsche und rumänische Jäger brachten zwölf feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter zehn viermotorige Bomber, zum Absturz.
Nordamerikanische Bomberverbände führten gestern Vormittag einen Terrorangriff gegen die Stadt Saarbrücken. In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Gebiet und im Raum von Saarbrücken.
Die Yankee-Invasion Englands
Ein Amerikaner über das englisch-amerikanische Verhältnis
Bern, 29, Juni –
Unter der Überschrift „Die Invasion Englands von der anderen Seite“ veröffentlicht der Bund einen Bericht, den der Amerikaner Murphy aus London für die Zeitschrift Fortune geschrieben hat. Darin finden sich folgende bezeichnende Feststellungen:
Die Amerikaner sind in der Ansicht erzogen worden, die Briten seien unheilbar geziert, eigensinnig, insular und entschieden gleichgültig gegen das, was andere angeht. Aber diese Eigenschaften nützen den Briten heute wenig mehr. Ihre schon überfüllte und vom Krieg eingeklemmte Insel wird von Amerikanern überrannt. Wo man letzten Winter nach Tausenden rechnete, da zahlte die „Invasion,“ wie man das mürrisch nennt, nach hunderttausenden. Schon die rein körperliche Muhe, Platz zu machen, wird mit der Zeit eine Nervenprobe. Die Briten haben der US-Flotte ganze Häfen eingeräumt, sie haben Dorfer verlassen, um unseren Truppen Unterkunft zu geben. Selbst Felder und hecken, die sie seit Generations mit Liebe gepflegt hatten, wurden auf Gnade und Ungnade unseren Panzertruppen preisgegeben, die Platz zum Üben brauchen.
„Ich beginne zu verstehen, was die Indianer durchmachten,“ bemerkte kürzlich ein Engländer.
Züge, Kinos, Wirtschaften, Taxis, Hotels füllen sich mit Amerikanern, besonders in London. In den Speisesälen der Hotels Claridge und Savoy glänzt es von den Schulterabzeichen unserer Offiziere nicht weniger als im Carlton in Washington und die Engländer find manchmal an beiden Orten gleich selten. Das berührt einen kitzligen Punkt der anglo-amerikanischen Partnerschaft – den Geldbetrag, den der Reichere ausgeben kann. Reisende sagen, in aller Welt sei man entzückt über die Art, wie die Amerikaner mit Geld um sich werfen, aber im schwerbesteuerten und streng rationierten England wirft dieses Geldausgeben soziale Fragen auf, die den britischen Stolz verletzen. Wenn der englische Soldat die Steuer abgelegt hat, dann ist er zufrieden, wenn er sich und seinen Freunden gelegentlich ein Glas Bier gönnen darf. Von Bewirtschaftung scharf trinkender Amerikaner ist keine Rede. So fühle er sich in seinen eigenen Wirtschaften arm und niedrig. Ähnlich ist es bei den Fliegern. Man kann sich denken, welchen Schaden der Soldunterschied anrichten kann, besonders in weiblicher Gesellschaft. Es genügt nicht, dass Roosevelt und Churchill auch fernerhin zusammenkommen und dramatische Entscheidungen treffen. Der Amerikaner – es ist Zeit, dass wir es merken – ist ein eigener Kerl, wenn er mit Seidenstrümpfen und Lippenstift sich hinter britischer Weiblichkeit hermacht, in England, wo sich die Reichsten und Vornehmsten den Luxus verjagen müssen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 29, 1944)
Communiqué No. 47
More Allied forces have crossed the river ODON and the width of the bridgehead has increased. Allied armor has been heavily engaged south of the river. There has also been heavy fighting, including armored clashes, north and northwest of CAEN.
Enemy resistance had ceased in the area of the MAUPERTUS Airfield east of CHERBOURG. A few strongpoints remain to be dealt with in the CAP DE LA HAGUE area.
Bad weather again restricted air activity during the afternoon and evening, but armed reconnaissance flights were carried out in the CAEN–LISIEUX–MÉZIDON area. Attacks were made on enemy road transport at several points and a railway bridge at the SAINTE-HONORINE-DU-FAY. According to preliminary reports, 26 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Six of ours are missing.
Last night, our heavy bombers, 20 of which are missing, attacked the railway centers of METZ and BLAINVILLE in eastern FRANCE.
During the night, two enemy aircraft were shot down over northern FRANCE.
Communiqué No. 48
Our hold on the crossings of the river ODON has been strengthened after further heavy fighting in the TILLY–CAEN sector.
Enemy forces which had been bypassed in the area of MONDRAINVILLE and TOURVILLE were eliminated and counterattacks against the base of our salient were firmly repulsed.
North of CAEN, Allied troops have achieved small local gains against fierce opposition.
Fighting continues in the CAP DE LA HAGUE area.
Since the landing in NORMANDY, 121 German tanks have been destroyed by our troops.
Thick cloud and rain squalls restricted air operation this morning.
Fighter-bombers, however, continued the attacks on enemy troops and transport moving towards the battle area. Their targets included road and rail bridges near MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE, CHERISY and SAINT-PAUL-DE-COURTONNE (west of BERNAY), locomotives and trains at ORLÉANS and near FLERS, and rail junctions at VIERZON.
Attacks were made on enemy R-boats and minesweepers off LE TRÉPORT and on self-propelled barges at CAUDEBEC near the mouth of the SEINE.
In a series of encounters, eleven enemy planes were shot down for the loss of four of our aircraft.
U.S. Navy Department (June 29, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 66
Organized resistance at Nafutan Point on Saipan Island ceased on June 27 (West Longitude Date). The entire point has been occupied by our forces. Small gains were made along the western shore into Garapan Town, and in the center of the island. Our advance northward is being made against severe enemy resistance. On the night of June 27, enemy aircraft dropped bombs in the area occupied by our forces. Two of the attacking planes were shot down by antiaircraft batteries.
Carrier aircraft attacked Pagan Island on June 27. Barracks and a water reservoir were hit. Only one plane was seen on the ground, and it appeared unserviceable. Several small craft badly damaged in previous strikes were hit by rocket fire.
Truk Atoll was bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on June 27, and neutralization raids were made against objectives in the Marshall and Caroline Islands on June 26 and 27.
Naval aviators have destroyed more than 6,259 Japanese airplanes
For Immediate Release
June 29, 1944
Naval aviators have shot 5,521 Japanese warplanes out of the air since Pearl Harbor, while losing 1,260 planes in aerial combat. At least 65 percent of the U.S. Navy airmen shot down have been rescued.
In addition to the 5,521 Jap aircraft destroyed in the air, naval aviators have, in 1944 alone, destroyed at least 738 Jap planes on the ground. Only 17 Navy planes were lost in this way during the same period.
This 43–1 ratio in ground destruction partially explains the drop in ratio of U.S. air victories In the last three months from 4.7–1 to 4.4–1, according to RAdm. A. W. Radford, USN, Acting VCNO (Air). He explained that the accumulation of Naval strength in the Pacific, plus increasing effectiveness of Navy aerial reconnaissance, has made it possible for carrier task forces to surprise the Japanese and destroy their aircraft before they can become airborne to fight.
“As a result,” Adm. Radford said, “fewer Jap planes are available for us to shoot down. In addition, the Jap pilot is becoming less and less anxious to close with our pilots. So, the air ratio of victories has dropped slightly. This is more than compensated, however, by the 43–1 ground ratio. We don’t care where they are when we destroy them.”
Compilation of statistics in ground destruction of planes for 1942 and 1943 is being completed, but that phase of the aerial war during that period was relatively unimportant.
Combining the available figures not including ground losses of 1942 and 1943, the Navy enjoys a 4.8–1 advantage over Japan in the air war, having shot out of the air and destroyed on the ground a total of 6,259 planes, as against 1,277 planes lost. These figures for destruction of Jap planes do not include losses inflicted by antiaircraft fire. They cover the period from December 7, 1941, through June 23, 1944. The figures for the period May 1 through June 23, 1944, are not final.
One reason for the increased air losses of Navy planes in 1944 over 1942 and 1943 is the loss of planes in the incessant bombing raids on Jap holdings, such as the Kurils, Truk and the Marshalls, where aerial opposition is rarely encountered any more, but where heavy anti-aircraft exacts a toll – a very small toll in relation to the frequency and intensity of the bombing raids carried out.
The record of air losses by years follows:
| Year | Japs | Navy | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 (including December 1941) | 1134 | 384 | 3–1 |
| 1943 | 2212 | 351 | 6.3–1 |
| 1944 | 2175 | 525 | 4–1 |
| TOTAL | 5521 | 1260 | 4.4–1 |
| 1944 (ground) | 738 | 17 | 43–1 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 6259 | 1277 | 4.8–1 |
All of the Navy’s planes have played a part in amassing the victory record. Naturally, it was the fighters – Grumman Hellcat and Wildcat and Vought Corsair – which scored the large majority of the victories, either while escorting the torpedo and dive bombers, or while defending American sea and land forces. The bombers – Grumman Avenger, Douglas Dauntless and Curtiss Helldiver, Consolidated Catalinas and Liberators, Lockheed Venturas – drove home the heavy blows while the fighters fended off the enemy’s air forces.
The Wildcat and Avenger are also built by General Motors’ Eastern Aircraft Division, the Corsair by Goodyear. The Helldiver is also built by Canadian Car and Fairchild of Canada, the Liberator by Ford and Douglas.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 464
For Immediate Release
June 29, 1944
Aslito Airfield on Saipan Island today was renamed Isely Field in honor of Cdr. Robert Henry Isely, USN, commander of VT-16, who was shot down June 12 by Japanese anti-aircraft fire as he was leading a bombing attack on the field.
The change in name was recommended by VAdm. Marc A. Mitscher, Commander, Fast Carrier Task Force, USPACFLT, and was made by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, CINCPACPOA. Aslito Airdrome was first attacked by carrier aircraft of Adm. Mitscher’s task force in February of this year.
A naval aviator since 1937, Cdr. Isely had taken part in attacks at Tarawa and other Gilbert Islands, at Kwajalein, Palau, Woleai and Truk. He flew aerial cover for Gen. MacArthur’s troops when they landed in Hollandia in New Guinea. Adm. Mitscher’s recommendation was based on Cdr. Isely’s gallant performance of duty during all of these Pacific actions.
The Free Lance-Star (June 29, 1944)
ALLIED FORCES REPEL NINE NAZI COUNTERATTACKS
British widening breach in lines
Nazis send two armies into armored fight near Caen; Yanks mopping up
SHAEF, England (AP) –
The Germans were reported today to have thrown the bulk of their 15th and 17th Armies into the defense of Caen in an attempt to halt the British flanking thrust south of the inland port.
But Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s men smashed nine counterattacks in 24 hours and widened a breach in the enemy lines.
Supreme Headquarters announced British infantry and armor were streaming across the Odon River southwest of Caen in an ever-widening bridgehead.
Field dispatches said the German command had sent virtually the entire strength of the two armies into fierce armored fighting raging on three sides of the city.
The German communiqué said the British were attacking on a 17-mile front and had achieved a “minor break-in” in the bushy terrain southwest of Caen. One German tank formation destroyed 53 Allied tanks, the communiqué declared. The German Hitler Youth 12th Tank Division was said to have distinguished itself in the fighting.
‘Murderous barrage’
A field dispatch from Associated Press correspondent Roger Greene said hundreds of British guns laid down a “murderous barrage” against German armored forces moving up to attack the British right flank and quoted British officers as saying “German movement on the roads is being slaughtered by our planes.”
The Germans threw 150 tanks into flank attacks yesterday, the dispatch said, and much hand-to-hand fighting occurred in the woods where the British hunted down Germans in camouflaged nests.
Heavy fighting, including large-scale tank clashes, raged at distances of two to four miles from the strongly-defended German base in eastern Normandy. Little change, however, has occurred in the front positions in the past 12 hours.
While British tanks beat against the enemy in a flaming battle at points less than four miles southwest of Caen in an eastward thrust that would strangle the city’s communications, other forces battered the enemy from the north and northwest in fighting almost equally as bitter.
Americans mop up
Westward, the Americans on the Cherbourg Peninsula were mopping up isolated resistance in the Cap de la Hague, where it was unofficially estimated that about 3,000 Germans are still holding out.
The bag of prisoners taken there continued to increase. It was officially announced that Germans captured by U.S. forces in France from D-Day to Tuesday night totaled 28,849.
The fighting around Caen in the present stage is a typical big tank battle, with none knowing exactly where the frontlines are and towns being overrun, only to be retaken a few hours later.
The Supreme Command said:
Every British advance has been met with a most violent local counterattack. It is to be expected the Germans will make a coordinate major counterthrust.
It is considered unlikely that the battle for Caen will be decided before Marshal Erwin Rommel makes such an all-out bid.
Luftwaffe active
In the air, the long-dormant German Air Force sprang into life under a protecting cloak of clouds to support Rommel’s desperate bid to drive back the British, but 27 enemy planes were downed.
Indications that the Germans were moving strategic reserves from Germany into France to meet the Allies in Normandy was seen in a heavy RAF bomber attack last night on Metz, a railroad center near the German-French border. Improving weather gave promise the Allies would be able to bring mote strength into supporting air assaults.
A German report last night of a U.S. attack in the Saint-Lô sector in the western part of the Allied fighting zone lacked confirmation by Supreme Headquarters.
Dewey to consult leaders in presidential campaign
Party platform approved by nominee; ‘biggest’ press conference held
Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey told what he called the “world’s biggest press conference” today that he hopes to conference” today that he hopes to confer with all of the nation’s Republican leaders, including Wendell L. Willkie, on presidential campaign plans.
Declining to discuss Cabinet possibilities – if he wins the White House – the smiling GOP nominee gave speedy endorsement to many planks of the party’s platform, including those on foreign policy, the President’s Fair Employment Practices Committee, foreign trade and others.
One query was how he planned to reach the servicemen with campaign appeals. Dewey replied that had not yet been determined.
Dewey covered a wide range of issues in answer to questions. He said he had read the Republican platform only one – while he was en route here by plane – and that “it represents my views.”
Expresses satisfaction
The nominees expressed satisfaction with the foreign trade plank of the party platform. While stating that some persons thought it might have been better, Dewey said it should be recognized that the platform was drawn by persons with conflicting opinions, and that as a result there had to be some compromising.
Parts of the foreign trade plank may appear, at first blush, to be inconsistent, he said, recalling that the plank promised an “adequate protective tariff” on competitive products designed to assure American standards.
Dewey said:
The essence of the plank is to be found in the latter part. The party promises that this nation will work with other nations to promote greater trade. This is not inconsistent with the tariff part of the plank.
Foreign policy
Questioned closely about his views on post-war foreign policy, Dewey said he did not believe that the United States should surrender its “sovereign right to make war” to any international organization.
The nominee defended state regulations of insurance companies at length, and promised a Negro reporter that he would live up to his oath to enforce the 13th and 14th Amendments if he is elected.
More than 500 persons – reporters, delegates and just onlookers – were jammed into the conference room.
When Dewey was asked if he thought the GOP platform ruled out an international police force, he shot back at his questioner, “What do you mean by an international police force?”
The reporter said he meant a force to which the various nations would contribute troops. Dewey replied:
If you mean an army with American soldiers, directed by some disembodied spirit, as a world agency, I would say that was ruled out.
To consult Bricker
In discussing the campaign organization, Dewey made it clear that he will consult Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, the vice-presidential candidate, before making final decisions.
Dewey also replied “certainly I will” when asked whether he would continue as Governor of New York while campaigning for the Presidency.
The nominee was asked to tell how he would carry out his acceptance speech promise to provide full employment.
“I will elaborate on that later,” he said.
Dewey expressed the opinion that federal aid will have to be given to bolster reemployment in the post-war transition period but said he believed the problem must be met chiefly by private enterprise.
He replied affirmatively to a question whether he believed the party platform presumes establishment of a world court after the war.
Promises able Cabinet
The 42-year-old former racket-buster, in his opening statement to the American electoral jury last night, promised that “next year our government will again have a Cabinet of the ablest men and women to be found in America.”
The task of achieving a lasting peace, he declared, “is no task to be entrusted to stubborn men, grown old and tired and quarrelsome in office.”
A middle of the road path was advocated by the shaggy-browed 1944 standard-bearer on the touchy foreign policy issue.
He said:
We are agreed, all of us, that America will participate with other sovereign nations in a cooperative effort to prevent future wars.
There are only a few who really believe that America should try to remain aloof from the world. There are only a relative few who believe it would be practical for America or her allies to renounce all sovereignty and join a superstate.
Dewey to confer on GOP chairman
Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
The newly-elected Republican National Committee named a committee of six today to confer with Governor Thomas E. Dewey on his choice for a new national chairman to run his campaign for the Presidency. The full committee will meet again tomorrow morning.
Col. R. B. Creager of Texas was named ex-officio chairman of the six-member group. Other members: J. Russell Sprague of New York, Ezra R. Whitla of Idaho, Werner W. Schroeder of Illinois, Mrs. Horace A. Sayre of Oklahoma, and Mrs. Katharine K. Brown of Ohio.
Although the name of Herbert Brownell Jr., New York lawyer and Dewey’s gubernatorial campaign manager in 1938 and 1942, was the most prominently discussed for the national committee chairmanship, members said a definite decision is still up to Dewey.
Dewey told a news conference he wants to consult further with his running mate, John W. Bricker, before deciding upon a chairman.
“I want to make clear it will be a joint selection,” he said.
Harrison E. Spangler, present chairman who was elected in December 1942, would not say how he expected to figure in the coming campaign; many of his friends were urging his retention.
Japs declare war at ‘serious stage’
New York (AP) –
The Tokyo radio told the Japanese people today that the U.S. thrust into Saipan Island in the Marianas, coupled with other U.S. offensive gestures over a wide area in the Pacific had brought the war to “a very serious stage.”
The broadcast, reported by the Office of War Information, said:
We, the 100,000,000 people of Japan, must realize now, if ever, that the outcome of the battle of the Marianas will exert a very serious influence upon the future war situation.
This is an offensive in which the enemy is prepared to make sacrifices, and even though there are times when there is no strategy whatever behind his actions as regards tactics, the seriousness lying deep in the heart of the enemy, the fierceness of the enemy’s fighting spirit, the enormous number of his ground troops, all are at their highest since the beginning of the war.