Stimson: U.S. soldiers equal any in world
War Secretary pays tribute to 36th, 85th and 88th Division
By Eleanor Packard, United Press staff writer
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General fired for criticizing Hitler speech
Von Rundstedt ouster shows Nazi power
By Nat A. Barrows
Stockholm, Sweden –
Field Marshal Karl Gerd von Rundstedt dared to criticize Hitler’s latest speech. That was an affront to Der Führer and, combined with the High Command’s dissatisfaction over the poor German defense against the Allied push in Normandy, was sufficient to cause the German decision to remove von Rundstedt as their Western Front commander.
This change in top command on the Western Front is only a thinly disguised symptom of the crisis in Nazi leadership, proving again that Hitler still retains powerful control over his political and military subordinates, according to the interpretation given to the move here.
Ouster termed political move
Bern, Switzerland –
Politics once more appear to have the upper hand over military exigencies in Nazi Germany.
On July 3, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and simultaneously received a press accolade for his military “merits.” Der Führer even wrote him a personal letter of appreciation.
Today, four days later, von Rundstedt “for reasons of heath” is out as commander-in-chief of Germany’s Western Front, replaced by Marshal Günther von Kluge.
It is, of course, obvious, that “reasons of health” have nothing to do with von Rundstedt’s removal. His departure comes at the very moment when Nazi propagandists are playing up the cruelties of war. And he is a man known for his moderate Nazi sympathies and relative leniency in suppressing French patriots.
No doubt, now that the Gestapo are arresting French hostages by the thousands, he is considered too moderate to rule over divided France.
Casey: Yanks’ barrage a war ‘for keeps’
By Robert J. Casey
On the U.S. front in Normandy. France –
The American southward push in Normandy took a new turn this morning with a successful attack across the Vire River.
This widens the previous front considerably and gives the Germans new worries in the Saint-Jean-de-Daye area which is six or seven miles from Saint-Lô.
If any observer had thought that the American drive was a mere token performance, the operations since yesterday afternoon certainly should show their error.
There have been few artillery barrages in anybody’s war thicker, more continuous, or noisier than that which has blasted this ever-widening front for the last 18 hours. It started yesterday and is still going on with a din such as the world has probably not heard since the last war’s Battle of Verdun.
You wonder, as you hear these guns firing in such masses and so close together that their echoes blend in one continuous roar that shakes your diaphragm, how do much ammunition could have been hauled across the Channel in such a short time.
If you never realized before that this is a war for keeps, you realize it now and so undoubtedly do the Germans.
It surely sounds like one.