America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 7, 1944)

Ein Kreuzer und sechs vollbeladene Transporter versenkt

Alle Feindangriffe in der Normandie und in Italien abgewiesen – Weiter schweres Vergeltungsfeuer auf London

dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 7. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Im normannischen Landekopf lag der Schwerpunkt der Kämpfe gestern wieder im Raum südwestlich Carentan bis zur Westküste der Halbinsel Cherbourg. In dem unübersichtlichen Wald- und Buschgelände kam es oft zu erbitterten Nahkämpfen, in denen unsere Truppen alle feindlichen Angriffe, die durch starke Luftangriffe unterstützt waren, abweisen konnten. Bei Le Plessis und südlich Montgardon wurde der eingebrochene Gegner im Gegenstoß geworfen. Die Säuberung des Waldgeländes östlich La Haye-du-Puits von dem dort eingedrungenen Feind ist noch im Gange.

Im französischen Raum wurden 157 Terroristen und mit Fallschirm abgesetzte britische Sabotagetrupps im Kampf niedergemacht.

Über dem Landekopf und den besetzten Westgebieten wurden 22 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.

Durch Kampfmittel der Kriegsmarine wurden im Seegebiet der Invasionsfront erneut ein Kreuzer, drei Zerstörer und sechs beladene Transporter mit 32.000 BRT versenkt und ein weiterer Kreuzer schwer beschädigt.

Nördlich der Seinebucht versenkten Sicherungsfahrzeuge in der letzten Nacht ein britisches Artillerieschnellboot und beschädigten mehrere andere.

Im Seegebiet von Brest kam es in der Nacht zum 6. Juli zum Gefecht zwischen vier deutschen Vorpostenbooten und vier feindlichen Zerstörern. Zwei Zerstörer wurden in Brand geschossen. Ein eigenes Boot ging nach heldenhaftem Kampf verloren. Teile seiner Besatzung wurden gerettet.

Schweres Vergeltungsfeuer liegt weiter auf dem Raum von London.

In Italien griff der Feind gestern, von zahlreichen Panzern unterstützt, fast auf der gesamten Front an. Nach harten Kämpfen an der ligurischen Küste, bei Volterra, nordwestlich Siena, im Raum von Arezzo, beiderseits Umbertide und an der Adriaküste wurde der Gegner bis auf geringe örtliche Einbrüche verlustreich abgewiesen. An der adriatischen Küste sind die Kämpfe noch im Gange.

Nachtschlachtflugzeuge griffen in der letzten Nacht wieder den feindlichen Nachschubverkehr an der adriatischen Küste mit guter Wirkung an.

In den Kämpfen der vergangenen Wochen hat sich eine Flakbrigade unter Oberst Müller im Erdkampf besonders ausgezeichnet. Im Süden der Ostfront führte der Feind zwischen dem oberen Dnjestr und Kowel mehrere vergebliche Angriffe. Im Mittelabschnitt dauern die schweren Kämpfe an den bisherigen Brennpunkten der großen Abwehrschlacht an. An der Landenge von Baranowicze wurden feindliche, von Panzern unterstützte Angriffe östlich der Stadt aufgefangen. Auch im Raum westlich Molodeczno wird erbittert gekämpft. Nördlich davon sind feindliche Angriffsgruppen im Vorgehen auf Wilna. Nordwestlich des Naroczsees, wo zahlreiche Angriffe der Sowjets scheiterten, hat sich die bayerische 212. Infanteriedivision unter Führung von Generalleutnant Sensfuß besonders bewährt.

Nördlich und nordwestlich Polozk führten die Bolschewisten gestern nur schwächere Angriffe, die vor unseren Stellungen zusammenbrachen.

Schlachtfliegerverbände griffen wirksam in die Erdkämpfe ein und zersprengten zahlreiche feindliche Kolonnen.

Schwere Kampfflugzeuge setzten den Kampf gegen den sowjetischen Nachschub bei Nacht durch Angriffe auf Bahnhöfe und Eisenbahnlinien mit guter Wirkung fort.

Nordamerikanische Bomber führten gestern einen Terrorangriff gegen die Stadt Kiel.

In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Gebiet. Außerdem griff ein schwacher feindlicher Bomberverband den Raum von Wien an. Durch Nachtjäger wurden zwölf feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

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Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 7, 1944)

Communiqué No. 63

The battle for LA HAYE-DU-PUITS continues. East of the CARENTAN-PERIERS road, we have advanced towards SAINTENY.

There is no change in the CAEN sector.

The enemy’s supply system was again the principal target for our air forces, which operated in strength throughout yesterday afternoon and evening. The attacks were mainly between PARIS and VIERZON in the east reaching west and northwest into BRITTANY and towards the battle area.

Heavy bombers, escorted by fighters, bombed railway bridges over the LOIRE, while medium and light bombers struck at other rail targets west of PARIS.

Fighter-bombers and fighters continued their armed reconnaissance, medium bombers joining them in attacks on fuel dumps and rail facilities.

Preliminary reports show that 12 enemy aircraft were shot down. Six of ours are missing.

During the night, light bombers attacked rail targets behind the enemy line and in the neighborhood of LE MANS.

Communiqué No. 64

Allied forces have made some progress southwest along the CARENTAN–PÉRIERS road.

West of AIREL, our troops have captured a small bridgehead over the River VIRE.

Air activity over the beaches and battle area up to noon today was confined to reconnaissance patrols.

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U.S. Navy Department (July 7, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 74

Our ground forces on Saipan have continued advancing against strong opposition. On the eastern side of the island our line has reached a point less than two miles from Inagsa Point on the northeast tip of Saipan, and extends laterally across the island to a western anchor slightly more than four miles from Marpi Point on the northwest tip. A force of approximately 200 of the enemy attempted to evacuate from the northwest coast of Saipan in barges on the night of July 4‑5 (West Longitude Date). The formation was broken up by artillery fire. Our troops have buried 8,914 enemy dead.

Aircraft of our fast carrier task force attacked Guam and Rota on July 5 and 6 (West Longitude Date). Airstrips and other ground installations were worked over with bombs, rockets, and machine-gun fire. At Rota one enemy plane was destroyed on the ground, and two were damaged. There was no enemy interception at either objective. We lost two fighters. The pilot of one was rescued.

During July 5, 7th Army Air Force Liberators attacked Moen, in the Truk group, with 30 tons of bombs. On the same day Corsairs and Dauntless dive bombers of Group One, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked Wotje, Jaluit, and Taroa in the Marshall Islands. We lost no planes.

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The Pittsburgh Press (July 7, 1944)

CIRCUS DEATHS MOUNT TO 146
Many children among victims of tent fire

Five officials accused of manslaughter

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B-29s rip Japan again

Superfortresses blast big enemy Navy base and big steel center

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Yanks capture key junction in third drive

Arc around La Haye almost complete

map.070744.up
New American offensive has been opened in France in the Saint-Lô area (2), where U.S. troops smashed across the Vire River above the town. To the west, U.S. troops drove back into La Haye-du-Puits (1) after being driven out and smashed around the town in an attempt to encircle it. On the British front (3), the Allies widened the base of the salient southwest of Caen, while the Canadians repelled two counterattacks on Carpiquet.

SHAEF, England (UP) –
Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley started a new American offensive on the mid-Normandy front north of Saint-Lô today where his assault forces captured the rail junction of Airel and stormed across the Vire River for advances of more than a mile.

Other U.S. forces to the northwest almost completed the encirclement of La Haye-du-Puits, narrowing to two and a half miles the gap between the prongs of an enveloping arc, and a headquarters spokesman said it is “now only a matter of time” until the town falls.

A front dispatch said U.S. infantry patrols fought back into La Haye late today and there were indications that a majority of the German garrison had left the town to escape the closing trap.

Caen dock area deserted

At the eastern end of the French battlefront, British patrols thrust into the dock area of Caen and found it deserted, giving rise to speculation that the Germans might be withdrawing from the great inland port, the most stubbornly defended objective of the Normandy campaign.

The new U.S. offensive some six to eight miles above Saint-Lô was aimed squarely at the highway hub of Saint-Jean-de-Daye, some two miles west of the Vire. Front dispatches reported violent fighting at close quarters near the town.

Great artillery barrage

Henry T. Gorrell, United Press correspondent on the newly-opened front, said the offensive was launched at dawn after the greatest artillery barrage of the French campaign had dazed the Germans and eased the job of doughboys who swarmed across the river in collapsible boats.

Mr. Gorrell said the troops were “making good progress in the region of Saint-Jean” at midafternoon. They were supported strongly by Allied planes and artillery hammering the German positions in their path.

Headquarters here reported that U.S. forces had advanced some 2,000 yards – well over a mile – across the Vire and consolidated their gains. They seized the town of Airel, highway and railroad center, and an intact bridge across the Vire, and engineers swiftly threw additional bridges over the stream.

‘Important’ action forecast

The American drive across the Vire “may portend some important action,” a headquarters spokesman said, but no amplification of the hint was permitted.

Mr. Gorrell reported that the weather had cleared, the mud was drying up, and a summer sun facilitated the task of the Americans slicing into the network of communications below the Cotentin Peninsula.

The only reverse suffered by the U.S. 1st Army was the loss of a few hundred yards along the Carentan–Périers road, where the Germans struck back viciously.

Gain on most fronts

U.S. forces closing in on La Haye-du-Puits, hotly contested transport center in western Normandy, scored gains on all sides of the town except due south and appeared to have doomed the stand by the Nazi garrison which had driven out advanced American elements a number of times.

The spearhead thrusting southeast of La Haye made substantial advances in the forest of Mr. Castre, most of which was now in U.S. hands. The wooded heights command the whole area, and protracted resistance in La Haye was regarded as impossible after the high ground was won.

Gen. Bradley’s men captured the height known as Point 122 in the Mt. Castre forest and pushed on a mile and a half west-southwest to take a subsidiary height three miles south of La Haye.

The extreme American advance on the west wing had reached a point a mile and a quarter south of La Haye, almost cutting the highway south to Lessay, which was under artillery fire. The village of La Surelliere, a half-mile north-northeast of Lemont, which lies a mile southwest of La Haye, was captured.

Many Nazi planes downed

On the other prong of the arc around La Haye, the village of Nauventrie au Rou, two-and-three-quarters miles southeast of La Haye, was taken.

Headquarters announced that an average of 250 German planes had been shot down each week in the

The Allied penetration of the Caen dock area, disclosed at Supreme Headquarters, appeared to have been made from positions northeast of the key German defense bastion where British and Canadian troops were dug in across the Orne River a mile and a half from the town.

Nazi move expected

Observers emphasized that it was still too early to draw conclusions on the absence of the Germans from the Caen waterfront, but one suggested it would be no surprise to see the Germans withdrawing from the city in view of the increased pressure and intensified artillery fire against it.

Unofficial speculation at headquarters centered around the likelihood that if the Germans were driven out or pulled out of Caen, they probably would fall back to a line running roughly through Troarn and Falaise, seven miles east and 22 miles south-southeast of Caen.

Caen bridges demolished

An Exchange Telegraph dispatch from Normandy said Allied bombers knocked out of commission three bridges spanning the Orne River in Caen during the night, leaving the German garrison with only one single-pontoon bridge and a railway bridge in the city.

The new drive came as other elements of the 1st Army were fighting their way back into the streets of La Haye-du-Puits with Tommy guns, bayonets and grenades and outflanking columns were threatening to surround the embattled town.

The American offensive was believed designed to eliminate the German salient between the Carentan–Périers and Carentan–Saint-Lô highways, from which the Germans have been shelling the narrow coastal corridor between the Cherbourg Peninsula and Bayeux–Caen sectors of the 1,313-square-mile Allied beachhead.

The drive put the Americans on the offensive along almost the entire length of their sector of the front from the west coast beyond La Haye through a point some five miles southwest of Carentan to the Vire River above Saint-Lô.

12 more towns seized

The first of the coordinated offensives began on an arc above La Haye-du-Puits Monday dawn and the second came soon afterward along the Carentan–Périers road.

Allied headquarters disclosed that the Americans have captured 12 more villages and hamlets in the siege arc around La Haye, on the adjacent Saint-Jores–Périers road and along the Carentan–Périers highway.

The Germans, newly-reinforced, were resisting fiercely all along the 25-mile American offensive front in an attempt to prevent a breakthrough that would outflank Caen and pave the way for a drive toward Paris, 120 miles east of Caen, or southward into Brittany.

Yanks regain initiative

Spurred by their new commander, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, the Germans won back some territory around La Haye and along the Carentan–Périers road yesterday, but latest reports reaching Allied headquarters indicated that the Americans had regained the initiative, wiped out the enemy gains and were still advancing.

German sources reported that the Allies had launched a frontal assault down the Cherbourg–Paris road near Caen, but this could not be confirmed here.

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1,500 U.S. heavies blast Germany in 2-way attack

German oil and plane plants pounded in raids from British, Italian bases

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17 killed in wreck of troop train

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Editorial: Will we fail them?

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I DARE SAY —
Meantime – on the home front

By Florence Fisher Parry

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Simms: Allies, French cooperate well

Invasion chiefs aid in liberated areas
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

Cherbourg, France –
Despite dire predictions of critics of Anglo-American policy, the collaboration between the Allies and Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s representatives in France is working out very well.

The appointment of Paul Renault as mayor of Cherbourg was in line with de Gaullist procedure. Article III of the Algiers ordinance regulating such matters calls for the Vichyites and the installation in their stead of officials appointed or elected prior to September 1939.

Similarly, Vichy’s subprefect here has been supplanted by a local engineer, M. le Viandier, a leader of the Committee of Liberation. He was put in officer by the de Gaullist regional commissioner, Francois Coulet. The subprefect at Bayeux, likewise appointed by M. Coulet, has a similar political background. Apparently, this procedure will be followed throughout the rest of France.

Allies approve

Meanwhile, far from offering objections, the civil affairs branch of the Allied General Staff is looking on with approval. Instead of elbowing the French out of the way and insisting on bossing things, it is making itself helpful but unobtrusive. It neither seeks nor wants political power. On the contrary, it wants only non-interference with Allied military operations. That, of course, presupposes reasonable law and order behind the lines, and as long as these few requirements are met its main job will be to facilitate the task of the French civil authorities in charge.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and everybody under him are leaning backward in their desire to leave practically everything but the fighting to the French. To conserve the local food supply for the French, towns behind the front are “out of bounds” for soldiers. The purchase of anything except nonessentials is taboo. The armies of liberation are not living off the land; they are bringing everything with them.

Sleeps on floor

An icy drizzle was falling when I arrived in Cherbourg. I was badly in need of a dry place to sleep. At headquarters in a furnitureless house, I asked if they could direct me to a hotel. The answer was a polite reminder that we were not supposed to discommode the inhabitants.

“We sleep on the floor right here,” I was told. I spent the night on a filthy mattress left by the Germans in a wrecked house through the roof of which a cold rain trickled and turned to mud the dust and plaster which littered the floor.

Tales about Washington trying to ram Vichyites or Fascists down the unwilling throats of liberated Frenchmen and otherwise meddle in France’s affairs seem ridiculous here. So far, the French and the Allies are getting along well.

But a good word on behalf of his Allies from Gen. de Gaulle to the people of France, just now beginning to emerge from four years of Nazi blackout, would go a long way towards a still better understanding.

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Roosevelt, de Gaulle confer in new spirit of harmony

President rules out discussion of recognition of French Committee
By R. H. Shackford, United Press staff writer

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Visit revives French-U.S. amity

De Gaulle viewed as symbol of new nation
By Hal O’Flaherty

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American Airlines official dies

Cleveland, Ohio (UP) –
Hollis R. Thompson, 45, vice president of American Airlines, was found dead in his room at Hotel Statler today.

Coroner Samuel R. Gerber said that Mr. Thompson, a New Yorker, died of a stroke during his sleep the night before last. Mr. Thompson had arrived here on a business trip July 5.

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Suicide called proof of insanity

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Studio opposes review of Janet Blair’s contract

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americavotes1944

Keynoter’s son not impressed

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (UP) –
Governor Robert S. Kerr said today he hoped the Democratic delegates to the National Convention would appreciate his keynote address more than his six-year-old son, Billy.

Mr. Kerr quoted this exchange of questions and answers after he had read part of his address to Billy:

“How many pages to your keynote speech?”
“About 20.”

“How many did you read to me?”
“Three.”

“Do I have to go to the convention?”
“No, son, you don’t.”

Mr. Kerr said he had whittled another two and a half minutes off the keynote address, to be delivered July 19 in Chicago, but said it was “still five minutes too long.” He refused to estimate length of the address in minutes.

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10,000 Jap civilians warned to surrender to Yanks on Saipan

Enemy remnants bottled up by Americans on northern tip of Marianas Island
By Rembert James, representing combined Allied press

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan (UP) –
U.S. military commanders today designated a road to surrender for the 10,000 to 15,00 civilians still hiding out on Saipan Island, while the victorious Yanks surged forward to deliver the death blow to the battered Jap garrison bottled up at the northern tip of the island.

A single highway was designated as the road to surrender for civilians, almost 7,000 of whom have already been interned.

The rest, including Saipan business owners, insular government officials and white-collar workers with their families, have cowered in hiding places in the hills and canebrakes on northern Saipan.

Pamphlets dropped

By word of mouth, and by pamphlets dropped from airplanes and shot from mortars, the Americans offered water, food and complete safety to those who accept.

Meanwhile, Marines and Army forces pushed in to destroy the remnants of the defending forces under circumstances in which no one could doubt that the end of military operations was in sight.

The Japs were penned into a space extending roughly two miles in each direction except for a slim area from Marpi Point at the northern end down the western coast toward Tanapag Harbor.

Hold only airfield

The Japs had already lost everything of value on Saipan except the Marpi Point airfield, where most of their troops have apparently chosen to die at the base of a sheer cliff 600 feet high.

They still held an entrenched pocket on the west coast, but were under heavy attack by the Army’s 27th Infantry Division troops there, while Marines pushed on northward.

The Americans on the other hand held approximately nine-tenths of the island, including the important Isely Airport (formerly Aslito), the town of Garapan and the harbor of Tanapag, as well as the island’s highest peak – Mt. Tapochau.

‘Gung Ho’ Raider chief wounded in Saipan battle

Col. Carlson hit while aiding Marine
By Mac R. Johnson, United Press staff writer

With U.S. Marines, Saipan, Mariana Islands – (July 23, delayed)
Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, 48-year-old founder and leader of the famed “Gung Ho” Marine Raiders, was wounded in one leg and one arm by Jap machine-gun bullets on the eighth day of the Saipan campaign and has been evacuated by transport plane.

Col. Carlson’s wounds, received while he tried to help a wounded private to safety, were not serious.

The Marine leader, plans officer for the 4th Marine Division, went to a forward observation post as a frontline observer June 22 while the Marines were assaulting the important Hill 500 on the southeastern slope of Mt. Tapochau, west of Magicienne Bay.

With him were Lt. Col. Justice M. Chambers of Washington, and Pvt. Vito A. Cassaro of Brooklyn, a radio operator.

Hit while aiding private

Japs spotted their observation post and sprayed the area with hundreds of rounds of machine-gun bullets, one of which hit Pvt. Cassaro in the leg.

Col. Carlson picked up the wounded radio operator and attempted to remove him from the area of fire but was hit himself in the leg and arm.

Meanwhile, Marines turned rifles, Browning automatic rifles and machine guns against the enemy positions and Col. Chambers, under cover or the protective fire, removed Col. Carlson.

Spurns help

When stretcher-bearers appeared on the scene, they attempted to get Col. Carlson out first, but the Raider chief turned down the offer on his prerogative as the ranking officer and refused to be removed, saying: “Vic Cassaro was wounded first. Take him back first.”

Col. Carlson organized his “Gung Ho” Raiders in San Diego, California, living up to the slogan which means work in harmony. Officers and men exchanged ideas at weekly meetings in which enlisted men had as much right of expression as their officers.

He led the Makin raid in August 1942, with then Lt. Col. Jimmy Roosevelt as second in command. His raiders killed all but two of Makin’s Japs in a 36-hour fight.

Fought on Guam

Another achievement of the hardened Marine leader was 20 days spent behind Jap lines on Guadalcanal, living off the land and captured stores while the raiders killed 500 of the enemy and gained valuable information.

An inspiration leader, Col. Carlson never took cover when he led his men through Jap snipers, defensive positions and machine-gun nests. He can be called the most beloved officer by the enlisted men of the Marine Corps.

Col. Carlson wears three Navy Crosses, a Purple Heart from a previous wound and two Presidential Unit Citation ribbons.

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Patriot raids replace Allied plane attacks

French disrupt Nazi communications

SHAEF, England (UP) –
Lt. Gen. Joseph-Pierre Kœnig ’s French Forces of the Interior, estimated at 500,000 armed men, have sabotaged German communications in France so completely that the Allied air force is now concentrating on fewer targets and the Nazis are forced to channelize their movements into the battle zone, an Allied headquarters spokesman disclosed today.

Paying tribute to the FFI, a Supreme Headquarters special communiqué said that the Vercors, and part of the department of Gers, in the southwest, Doubs and Ain, near the Swiss frontier, and Ardèche, in the southeastern Rhône Valley, had been liberated.

A spokesman interpreted this to mean that the sectors were under Maquis control and that no enemy movements through these areas were possible unless heavily escorted.

A French spokesman added that traffic was stalled entirely in Brittany in northern France, in the Pyrenees–Lyon areas, and on nine main routes, including the Calais–Reich and Paris–Belfort lines which are being cut an average of two to five times daily.

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Nazis battle desperately in central Italy

Allies slowed near German Gothic Line
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

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12 Jap ships destroyed by task force

113 planes blasted in Bonins, Volcanos
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

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Congressmen swab way to England as deckhands

Philadelphia Republican learns maritime problem the hard way

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Germans predict drives by British

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