America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

In Normandy, France – (by wireless)
This war in Normandy is a war from hedgerow to hedgerow, and when we get into a town or city, it is a war from street to street.

The other day I went along, quite accidentally, I assure you – with an infantry company that had been assigned to clean out a pocket in the suburbs of a city.

Since this episode was typical of the way an infantry company advances into a city held by the enemy, I would like to try to give you a picture of it. I can’t do it in just one column, so you’ll have to read this in instalments covering several days. I hope your patience holds out.

As I say, I hadn’t intended to do it. I started out in the normal fashion that afternoon to go up to a battalion command post and just look around. I was traveling with correspondent Charles Wertenbaker and photographer Bob Capa, both of TIME and LIFE magazines.

Well, when we got to the CP, we were practically at the frontlines. The post was in a church that stood on a narrow street. In the courtyard across the street, MPs were frisking freshly taken prisoners.

Russians have wives with ‘em

I mingled among the prisoners awhile. They were still holding their hands high in the air, and you’re pretty close in the front when prisoners do that. They were obviously frightened and eager to please their captors. A soldier standing beside me asked one German kid about the insignia on his cap, so the kid gave the insignia to him.

The prisoners had a rank odor about them, like silage. Some of them were Russians, and two of these had their wives with them. They had been living together right at the front. The women thought we were going to shoot their husbands and they were frantic.

That’s one way the Germans keep these conscripted Russians fighting – they have thoroughly sold them on the belief that we will shoot them as soon as they are captured.

Below us there were big fires in the city, and piles of black smoke. Explosions were going on all around us. Our own big shells would rustle over our heads and explode on beyond with a crash. German 200mm shells would spray over our heads and hit somewhere in the town behind us. Single rifle shots and machine-pistol blurps were constant. The whole thing made you feel tense and jumpy. The nearest Germans were only 200 yards away.

We were just hanging around absorbing all this stuff when a young lieutenant, in a trench coat and wearing sunglasses – although the day was miserably dark and chill – came up and said:

Our company is starting in a few minutes to go up this road and clean out a strongpoint. It’s about half a mile from here. There are probably snipers in some of the houses along the way. Do you want to go along with us?

Ernie accepts and starts walking

I certainly didn’t. Going into battle with an infantry company is not the way to live to a ripe old age. But when you are invited, what can you do?

So I said, “Sure.” And so did Wertenbaker and Capa. Wert never seems nervous, and Capa is notorious for his daring. Fine company for me to be keeping.

We started walking. Soldiers of the company were already strung out on both sides of the road ahead of us, just lying and waiting till their officers came along and said so.

We walked until we were at the head of the column. As we walked, the young officer introduced himself. He was Lt. Orion Shockley of Jefferson City, Missouri. I asked him how he got the odd name Orion. He said he was named after Mark Twain’s brother.

Shockley was executive officer of the company. The company commander was Lt. Lawrence McLaughlin from Boston. One of the company officers was a replacement who had arrived just three hours previously and had never been in battle before. I noticed that he ducked sometimes at our own shells, but he was trying his best to seem calm.

The soldiers around us had a two-week growth of beard. Their clothes were worn slick and very dirty. They still wore the uncomfortable gas-impregnated clothes they had come ashore in.

The boys were tired. They had been fighting and moving constantly forward on foot for nearly three weeks without rest – sleeping on the ground, wet most of the time., always tense, eating cold rations, seeing their friends die.

One came up to me and said, almost belligerently:

Why don’t you tell the folks back home what this is like? All they hear about is victories and lots of glory stuff. They don’t know that for every hundred yards we advance somebody gets killed. Why don’t you tell them how tough this life is?

Exhaustion makes ‘em that way

I told him that was what I tried to do all the time. This fellow was pretty fed up with it all. He said he didn’t see why his outfit wasn’t sent home, that they had done all the fighting.

That wasn’t true at all, for we have other divisions that have fought more and taken heavier casualties than this one. Exhaustion will make a man feel like that. A few days’ rest usually has him smiling again.

As we waited to start our advance, the low black skies of Normandy let loose on us and we gradually became hopelessly soaked to the skin.

8601

Völkischer Beobachter (July 13, 1944)

‚Pufferstaat Kanada‘ –
Die Ausschaltung des Empire

England soll aus dem Machtbereich der USA verschwinden

…

8602

Montgomery soll die ‚V1‘-Stellung erobern

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

…

8603

Die Provokation Japans durch die USA –
Lippman bestätigt Lyttelton

…

8604

Roosevelt stellt sich zur Wiederwahl

Stockholm, 12. Juli –
Wie Reuters aus Washington meldet, gab Roosevelt in einem Brief an den Vorsitzenden er demokratischen Partei, wie zu erwarten war, seine Absicht bekannt, sich zur Wiederwahl als Präsident aufstellen zu lassen.

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Die Luftwaffe im ersten Invasionsmonat

Von Kriegsberichter Wilhelm Jung

Zwei Dinge ließen die Invasoren außer Acht, als sie im Vertrauen auf die Ziffernmäßige Stärke ihrer Luftstreitkräfte an der normannischen Küste landeten:

  • Die Härte und Entschlossenheit, mit der sich die deutschen Flieger dem Material und der Masse entgegenwarfen und durch die sie, wie sich am Ende des ersten Invasionsmonats ergibt, selbst unter schweren Bedingungen dem Feind schwere Verluste zufügten.

  • Den Einsatz der neuen Vergeltungswaffe „V1,“ die nicht ohne Rückwirkung auf die Entwicklung der Luftkriegslage gewesen ist.

Greifen wir auf die Erwartungen und Äußerungen repräsentativer amtlicher Persönlichkeiten der Feindseite zurück, die die deutsche Luftwaffe bereits vor Beginn der Invasion als zerschlagen bezeichneten, so können wir am Ende dieses Monats mit Genugtuung feststellen, daß die „niedergekämpfte“ Luftwaffe den feindlichen Luftstreitkräften sogar beachtliche Verluste zufügte. 1.300 Flugzeuge haben die ersten 24 Invasionstage dem Feind gekostet, eine Ziffer, die selbst in Anbetracht der starken anglo-amerikanischen Reserven nicht bedeutungslos ist. Was die Jagdgeschwader in diesen besonders harten Wochen des ersten Aufeinandertreffens der Kräfte an soldatischer Pflichterfüllung geleistet haben, steht auch im Vergleich zu anderen Taten unserer Jagdwaffe in vergangenen Kriegsjahren ohne Vergleich und Beispiel da, weil bisher nirgendwo unter solchen Voraussetzungen gekämpft und dennoch nachhaltige Erfolge heimgebracht wurden. Die Worte „Tapferkeit und Heldenmut,“ die wir in diesem Kriege bei der Würdigung und Dokumentierung der Haltung soldatischer Leistung anwandten, sind, wenn auch mit Recht, zu häufig gebraucht, als daß sie sich steigern ließen. Sie lassen sich nur steigern, indem man zur Schlichtheit zurückkehrt und feststellt, daß diese Männer in schonungslosem Einsatz ihre Soldatenpflicht erfüllen. Wer einige Tage bei unseren Jägern gewesen ist, die vom Büchsenlicht des Morgens bis in die Nacht hinein starten, gegen den Feind fliegen, landen und wieder starten, die durch nichts in ihrer selbstverständlichen Einsatzfreude zu erschüttern sind, versteht das Erstaunen der Feindseite über die Härte, mit der ihm auch im Luftraum begegnet wird.

Wir sprachen mit einem jungen Flugzeugführer, der infolge Motorschadens aussteilen mußte und sich bei der Schirmlandung verletzte. Erst wenige Wochen war er an der Front und hatte bereits acht Abschusse Sein Gesicht macht einen unwilligen und geradezu verbitterten Eindruck, weil er einige Wochen nicht fliegen kann, „während die anderen ihre billigen Abschusse machen.“ Auf unsere erstaunte Frage, daß doch diese Abschüsse alles andere als „billig seien, entgegnete er: „Jetzt sind wenigstens genügend Ziele da. Man verliert keine Zeit mehr mit Warten. Jetzt kommt man immer zu Schuss.“ Dieser junge Flugzeugführer ist mir als der Typ unserer jungen Nachwuchsflieger in Erinnerung geblieben, die heute die Reihen unserer Geschwader ergänzen. Er hat bisher gar nichts anderes kennengelernt als den Kampf gegen einen Feind, der an Zahl immer mehr oder weniger stärker ist, aber er ist seelisch und in seiner fliegerischen Form ganz darauf eingestellt. Nur so sind Einzelleistungen zu erklären wie die einer Staffel, die wir am 15. Invasionstag besuchten und die bis zu diesem Tage bei nur zwei eigenen Verlusten 25 Feindflugzeuge abgeschossen hatte. Bei einem Einsatz schossen fünf Männer dieser Me-109-Staffel aus einem geschlossenen Pulk von 20 Thunderbolt sieben heraus, ohne selbst dabei Verluste zu haben. Eine andere Staffel, die mit acht Maschinen gestartet war, griff 30 bis 40 Mustang an, von denen – wiederum ohne eigene Verluste – acht vernichtet wurden. Zweifellos sind dies einige überdurchschnittliche Einzelleistungen, aber immerhin kennzeichnend für den Geist der Männer, der hier mehr ist als eine „moralische Zutat,“ sondern von greifbarer militärischer Auswirkung ist. Unsere Jäger haben ihre alte Tradition an der neuen Front im Westen würdig fortgeführt.

Die beiden Oberstleutnante Priller und Bühligen, beide Sieger in über hundert Luftkämpfen gegen Engländer und Nordamerikaner, sind in diesen Wochen weit über die Reihen ihrer Waffengattung hinaus zu einem Begriff für den kühnen Widerstandswillen auch im Luftraum geworden. Ein schweres Opfer hat die Jagdwaffe an der Invasionsfront gebracht, als Hauptmann Wurmheller, Träger der Schwerter zum Eichenlaub des Ritterkreuzes, im Luftkampf den Heldentod fand. 102 englische und amerikanische Flugzeuge hat er in die Tiefe geschickt, bis sich sein soldatisches Fliegerleben über Frankreich vollendete.

Während zu Beginn der Invasion Jäger Und Nachtjäger in erster Linie zur Abwehr feindlicher Kampf- und Tiefflieger auf Nachschubstraßen, Eisenbahnknotenpunkte, Fliegerhorste und andere strategisch oder taktisch wichtige Punkte eingesetzt wurden, haben sie nach dem Eingreifen der neuen Vergeltungswaffe „V1“ eine weitere Aufgabe übernommen: die Abwehr der feindlichen Bombenangriffe auf die Stellungen der Vergeltungswaffe.

Noch stärker als in Flugzeugverlusten durch Jagdabwehr hat der Feind die zunehmende Wirksamkeit der deutschen Gegenmaßnahmen zur Luft in den Schlägen empfinden müssen, die deutsche Kampf- und Torpedofliegerverbände der Invasionsflotte zufügten. Die massierte Abwehr zahlloser Geschütze der Schiffs- und Küstenflak hat nicht verhindern können, daß unsere Kampf- und Torpedoflieger in nächtlichen Angriffen Handelsschiffseinheiten aller Art, Fahrgastschiffe von 10.000 bis 20.000 Tonnen, Truppentransporter, Frachter, Kanalfähren, Tanker usw. neben einer Menge von Landungsfahrzeugen aller Art versenkten und etwa die gleiche Anzahl beschädigten.

Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Heeres- und Marineküstenbatterien versenkten im Juni 312.600 Tonnen Handelsschiffsraum, beschädigten über 328.000 Tonnen. Weit über eine halbe Millionen Tonnen Handelsschiffsraum sind also vom Invasionsbeginn bis Ende Juni entweder völlig oder zum anderen Teil für eine gewisse Zeit außer Gefecht gesetzt worden.

Auch die feindliche Kriegsmarine hat, besonders in der dritten Invasionswoche, starke Ausfälle durch Versenkungen und Beschädigungen gehabt. Allein zwei schwere und drei leichte Kreuzer, 22 Zerstörer und 15 Schnellboote wurden versenkt. Von mehreren Schlachtschiffen, 21 Kreuzern und 22 Zerstörern außer einer großen Zahl von Landungsspezialschiffen und Schnellbooten, die nur als beschädigt gemeldet werden konnten, muß angenommen werden, daß ebenfalls ein Teil vernichtet sein wird. Da die feindlichen Kriegsschiffe sich bei Angriffen sehr schnell einnebeln, ist diese Augenbeobachtung sehr erschwert.

Es ist ein Kampf, der große Anforderungen an die fliegerische Kunst und Kaltblütigkeit der Besatzungen stellt, vor allem aber ist er, vom höheren Gesichtspunkt gesehen, ein Kampf, der Zähigkeit und Ausdauer erfordert. Die Auswirkung dieser Versenkungen ist daher nicht plötzlicher Art, sondern braucht ihre Zeit. Eine örtliche und zeitweise Entlastung für die Truppen unseres Heeres bedeutet aber vor allem der Ausfall von Kriegsschiffseinheiten, die als Träger der den Küstenraum beherrschenden Schiffsartillerie der stärkste Rückhalt für die feindliche Front im normannischen Brückenkopf sind. Die Ergebnisse, die im ersten Invasionsmonat von den Kampf- und Jagdverbänden unter Bedingungen von großer Härte erzielt wurden, dokumentieren die ungebrochene Bereitschaft zum rücksichtslosen Einsatz auch im Luftraum gegen den Feind im Westen. Die von Lufttorpedos, Luftminen und Bomben getroffenen Schiffstonnen und 1.300 verlorene Flugzeuge sind Tatsachen, die dem Feind gezeigt haben, daß lediglich in seiner Propaganda die deutsche Luftwaffe „niedergewalzt“ worden ist. Wir sind sachlich genug, diese Leistungen nicht in falschem Optimismus zu überschätzen. Noch stehen wir mitten im Kampf, der auf seine Entscheidung wartet. Dennoch erfüllen uns diese Leistungen voll Stolz, weil sie erstritten wurden in einem Geist, der nicht vor der Masse kapitulierte, sondern seine

Kräfte aus dem unerschütterlichen Pflichtbewusstsein und dem unbedingten Vertrauen in die Gerechtigkeit unserer Sache schöpfte. Wie der Grenadier in den Schützenlöchern der Normandie oder in seinem „Tiger“ sich dem Anprall des hochgerüsteten Feindes entgegenwarf und ihn aufhielt, haben auch die Männer hinter dem Steuerknüppel ihres Flugzeuges, hinter ihren Instrumenten, Funkgeräten und Maschinengewehren alles eingesetzt, den Stoß aufzufangen, der gegen das Herz Europas zielt.

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Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 13, 1944)

Alle Durchbruchsversuche der Anglo-Amerikaner gescheitert

In Italien Feindangriffe zerschlagen – Schwere Abwehrkämpfe zwischen Pripjet und Düna – Wuchtiger deutscher Gegenstoß bei Olita

dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 13. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Während sich der Feind infolge seiner hohen Verluste im Raum von Caen und westlich davon gestern nur auf verstärkte Artillerietätigkeit beschränkte, griff er nordöstlich von Saint-Lô nach stundenlangem Trommelfeuer und starkem Schlachtfliegereinsatz Unsere Front an. Fallschirmjäger und Infanterie brachten alle Durchbruchsversuche zum Scheitern und fügten dem Gegner hohe Verluste zu. Zwischen der Vire und dem Raum von Sainteny sowie zwischen Gorges und der Küste wurde während des ganzen Tages erbittert gekämpft. Zahlreiche Angriffe des Gegners wurden hier abgewiesen, örtliche Einbrüche im Gegenstoß beseitigt oder abgeriegelt.

Über dem Landekopf und den besetzten Westgebieten verlor der Feind gestern 27 Flugzeuge.

Im französischen Raum wurden 189 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.

Das schwere Feuer der „V1“ auf London dauert an.

In Italien kam es gestern nur zu größeren Kampfhandlungen an der ligurischen Küste und südwestlich Cita di Castello. Trotz starker Artillerie- und Panzerunterstützung konnte der Feind nur an einigen Stellen geringe Erfolge erzielen. Die Masse seiner Angriffe wurde durch zusammengefasstes Artilleriefeuer oder im Gegenstoß zerschlagen.,

Im Süden der Ostfront wurden örtliche Vorstöße der Sowjets abgewiesen. Im Raum von Kowel brachen wiederholte feindliche Angriffe verlustreich zusammen.

Im Mittelabschnitt dauern die schweren Abwehrkämpfe zwischen Pripjet und Düna an. Während westlich der Szczara alle sowjetischen durchbruchsversuche vereitelt wurden, setzten sich unsere Divisionen im Raum südlich Wilna in erbitterten Kämpfen weiter nach Westen ab. Bei Olita fügten sie den Sowjets im wuchtigen Gegenstoß schwere Verluste zu. Die Besatzung von Wilna behauptete gestern den Westteil der Stadt gegen alle feindlichen Angriffe.

Im Raum südwestlich und südöstlich Dünaburg stehen unsere Truppen in harten Kämpfen mit starken feindlichen Verbänden, östlich Opotschka wurden wiederholte stärkere Angriffe der Sowjets abgewiesen, örtliche Einbrüche abgeriegelt.

Schlachtfliegerverbände unterstützten den Abwehrkampf des Heeres und fügten den Sowjets besonders im Raum Dünaburg–Wilna durch Bomben- und Bordwaffenangriffe hohe Verluste zu.

Ein starker nordamerikanischer Bomberverband führte gestern unter Ausnutzung der Wetterlage erneut einen Terrorangriff gegen München. Durch Flakartillerie wurden 3f viermotorige Bomber vernichtet.

In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Raum.

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Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 13, 1944)

Communiqué No. 75

The Allies continue to drive the Germans back in the base of the CHERBOURG Peninsula, and are now three miles south of LA HAYE-DU-PUITS.

LA SALMONIÈRE, southeast of FORÊT DE MONT-CASTRE, was taken. South of SAINTENY, our units hold LA MAUGERIE and LA ROSIÈRE. Allied troops converging on SAINT-ANDRÉ-DE-BOHON have met across the LA TAUTE River, and most of the village is in our hands.

LA MEAUFFE, bypassed in the advance north of SAINT-LÔ, has been mopped, and SAINT-PIERRE-DE-SEMILLY was occupied after we crossed the SAINT-LÔ–BERIGNY road.

German counterattacks, thrown repeatedly against our positions on the CAEN–ÉVRECY road, were beaten off by our forces.

Attacking targets in close support of the land battles yesterday, our NORMANDY-based fighters, carrying bombs and rockets, scored many successes on convoys, enemy occupied buildings, armored vehicles and a tank repair depot. Gun emplacements and mortar fire were silenced at army call.

Rail bridges at PONTORSON and CRAON were successfully attacked by fighter-bombers. At least nine enemy aircraft were destroyed in combat.

Despite unfavorable weather our medium bombers smashed the bridge at CINQ-MARS, 30 miles east of SAUMUR and the span crossing the EURE River at NOGENT-LE-ROI.

The railway centers of TOURS and CULMONT-CHALINDREY were attacked by our heavy night bombers.

Communiqué No. 76

Allied forces are making slow but steady progress in the sector north of LESSAY.

South of CARENTAN, we have advanced 1,500 yards and driven the enemy from the village of SAINT-ANDRE-DE-BOHON.

Further gains have been made along the BAYEUX–SAINT-LÔ road near LA BARRE-DE-SEMILLY.

Coastal aircraft this morning attacked two small forces of enemy shipping in the eastern Channel area. Two of our aircraft are missing.

Fighter-bombers attacked a fuel dump at SENS southeast of PARIS, and bombed railway tracks and yards in the area around CHARTRES.

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U.S. Navy Department (July 13, 1944)

Communiqué No. 530

European Theater.
In Allied operations for Europe’s liberation, the following U.S. naval ships were lost due to enemy action:

  • USS TIDE (AM-125)
  • USS PARTRIDGE (ATO-138)
  • USS SUSAN B. ANTHONY (AP-72)
  • USS MEREDITH (DD-726)
  • USS GLENNON (DD-620)
  • USS CORRY (DD-463)
  • USS RICH (DE-695)

Notification has been made to next of kin of all casualties.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 80

Guam Island was shelled by cruisers and destroyers of the Pacific Fleet on July 10 and 11 (West Longitude Dates). Gun emplacements, blockhouses, and warehouses were hit. Five barges were sunk. There was no damage to our surface ships.

Guam and Rota Islands were attacked by carrier aircraft of a fast carrier task group on July 11 and 12. Rockets and bombs were employed against defense installations and runways at Rota Island on July 11. Many fires were started. At Guam, military objectives near Piti were hit, and gun em­placements were strafed. Anti-aircraft fire was moderate. We lost one plane.

Truk Atoll was bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators at night on July 11. Anti-aircraft positions were principal targets. Several enemy planes were in the air but did not attempt to intercept our force.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 81

Elements of the 2nd Marine Division landed on Maniagassa Island ap­proximately two miles north of Mutcho Point on Saipan Island on July 12 (West Longitude Date). Light resistance encountered was quickly over­come. Elimination of the remnants of Japanese resistance continues on Saipan island, and additional prisoners have been taken. Enemy dead which have been buried, by our troops now number nearly 16,000 with a good many yet to be buried. Artillery bombardment and naval gunfire intended to neutralize enemy defenses is being directed against Tinian Island.

It was learned on Saipan that July 7 (West Longitude Date) VAdm. Chūichi Nagumo, CINCCPA, Imperial Japanese Navy, was among those who met their deaths on Saipan Island. On the same day one RAdm. Yano lost his life. VAdm. Nagumo was in command of the Japanese forces which attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; and was in command of the Japanese carrier task force that was destroyed in the Battle of Midway. Prior to his present duty, he was commandant of the Sasebo Naval Base.

It is now clear that Saipan Island was built up by the Japanese as the principal fortress guarding the southern approaches to Japan and as a major supply base for Japan’s temporary holdings in the South Seas area. Saipan was long the seat of the Japanese government for the mandated Marianas, and Garapan Town was the headquarters of CINCCPA(IJN). The topography of the island lent itself well to defense, and elaborate fortifications manned by picked Japanese troops testify to the importance which the enemy attached to the island. The seizure of Saipan con­stitutes a major breach in the Japanese line of inner defenses, and it is our intention to capitalize upon this breach with all means available.

8609

The Pittsburgh Press (July 13, 1944)

YANKS STORMING INTO SAINT-LÔ
U.S. advance threatens two other bases

Americans nearing Lessay and Périers
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

map.071344.up
U.S. attack on Saint-Lô highlighted the news from Normandy today. The westernmost U.S. forces threatened Lessay and Périers after capturing a height commanding approaches to those towns (1), while advance patrols of Americans battled into the outskirts of Saint-Lô (2). Another U.S. column outflanked Saint-Lô with capture of Saint-Pierre-de-Semilly. In the Caen sector (3), the British recaptured Maltot.

Nazis reported using robots against Yanks

With U.S. forces in France (UP) – (July 1, delayed)
The Germans were reported today to have used pilotless planes against U.S. troops in the frontlines for the first time.

The first reports of the German use of pilotless planes said a few had been in action against the Americans fighting alongside the British flank at the center of the Normandy line.

The above dispatch from United Press writer James McGlincy lacked immediate amplification. The dispatch was filed July 1, but as received in New York, it bore no explanation of the delay.

SHAEF, London, England –
The U.S. 1st Army blasted and bayonetted its way to the outskirts of Saint-Lô today and hammered out general advances of about a mile all along the Normandy front to threaten the German keystone defense bases of Lessay and Périers.

While Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s left wing closed on Saint-Lô in some of the bloodiest fighting of the French campaign, his assault forces battered forward in at least seven sectors, cleared the entire La Haye-du-Puits–Carentan railroad and highway, and completed the conquest of the sprawling swamp area called Prairies Marécageuses de Gorges.

Lessay under fire

In the west coast sector, U.S. forces overrun the strategic Hill 92, commanding the entire area of Lessay and bringing that key transport junction under direct fire.

The last “bloody mile” into the heart of Saint-Lô, hinge of the German defenses on the Normandy front, shook under a thunderous artillery and infantry attack as the doughboys drove spearheads to the east and northwest of the city, setting the stage for a possible encirclement of the stubbornly-defended hilltop citadel.

As the foremost elements slugged to the outskirts, a column striking upstream along the west bank of the Vire from Pont-Hébert advanced a mile south of that village to a point three miles northwest of Saint-Lô.

Straightening U.S. line

The advances of 300 yards, to more than a mile, were gradually straightening out the American line and eliminating the marshland salient, with the battlefront now stretching along a line running northwest to southeast from Lessay to Saint-Lô.

The Americans captured Nay (three and a half miles northeast of Périers), Saint-André-de-Bohon (four and a half miles south of Carentan) and Gornay (north of the woods known as Bois de Hammet, through which U.S. troops were advancing after squeezing out the last of the Germans.

Between Saint-André-de-Bohon and Sainteny, gains of 500 yards on a one-mile front carried to the edge of inundated territory and broadened the U.S. front about half a mile westward near Pont-Hébert.

Set for frontal assault

After rushing the Germans off Hill 92, dominating the approaches to Lessay, the Americans pushed some 300 yards down its south slopes and drew into position for a frontal assault on the town anchoring the German coastal positions.

The Germans still showed no signs of any large-scale withdrawal anywhere along the Normandy front. Headquarters sources expected that if and when such a withdrawal comes, it is more likely to be on the American front than the British, because Gen. Bradley’s forces were chopping gradually but steadily through the enemy communication system.

Everywhere along the American line, the battle was a story of relentless chopping away at entrenched Germans under cold, drab skies that almost grounded the Allied air arm again today.

British sector quiet

The British-Canadian end of the Normandy front was relatively quiet as Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey regrouped his forces for another blow to shatter Marshal Erwin Rommel’s tightly stacked defenses northeast and southwest of Caen.

The main blow on Saint-Lô was aimed down the highway running into Saint-Lô from Bayeux, to the northeast, but other columns were converging from the north and northwest and still another force outflanked the city with a push through Saint-Pierre-de-Semilly, three and a half miles to the east.

Seventeen towns and villages were seized by the Americans yesterday while the British 2nd Army recaptured Maltot, five miles southwest of Caen, and hurled back 90 tanks which threw themselves against the salient between Odon and Orne Rivers in two futile counterattacks yesterday.

The Germans counterattacked northwest of Saint-Lô, but were beaten off and the American advance resumed.

Surrender appeal made

Last night, Allied transmitters and sound trucks in the Saint-Lô area broadcast an appeal to the Germans to lie low in the grass when the American attack was launched and then surrender as U.S. troops came abreast of them. in this way, the broadcasts said, the Germans could shield themselves from the fire of their own forces.

So far there were no reports indicating the success of the maneuver.

German paratroopers, among the toughest Nazi units, fiercely resisted the advance and fighting raged at such close quarters that at some points the Americans were on one side of a hedgerow and the Nazis on the other.

Grenade over hedge

A dispatch said:

At one place, a German reached over a hedge and tossed a hand grenade at a company commanding officer and killed him. That’s how close the fighting is.

Once Lessay, Périers and Saint-Lô have been captured, the Germans must fall back as much as 12 miles to a new line anchored off Coutances because of the lack of natural defenses in the intervening terrain.

British forces were reported to have knocked out a large percentage of the 90 tanks which German Marshal Erwin Rommel hurled against them in two counterattacks southwest of Caen. At least 84 German panzers were destroyed or damaged by Allied planes and ground forces Tuesday and the British successes yesterday probably boosted the total for the 48-hour period to more than 100 and for the past five days to nearly 200 – well over the equivalent of a full German armored division.

Heavy fighting was also reported around Hottot, two miles below Tilly-sur-Seulles at the hinge of the British salient across the Odon River.

German ace killed

London, England –
Lt. Eugen Zeigert, one of Germany’s leading air aces who claimed to have shot down 69 Allied planes, has been killed on the Western Front, the German radio reported today.

8610

Seven U.S. warships, eight British vessels sunk during invasion

Three U.S. destroyers are included; six of seven commanders rescued

London, England (UP) –
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters revealed today that the invasion of France cost the U.S. Navy three destroyers and four other warcraft.

The destroyers lost were the USS Corry, USS Meredith and USS Glennon.

The other U.S. losses were the transport USS Susan B. Anthony, the minesweeper USS Tide, the destroyer escort USS Rich and the fleet tug USS Partridge.

This list of losses includes the two destroyers which Mr. Roosevelt mentioned as having been lost shortly after D-Day.

British losses were three destroyers, three frigates and two other smaller craft. This was the first announcement the British have made of their naval losses during the invasion of France.

The Susan B. Anthony was the former passenger liner Santa Clara. The ship was fully loaded with troops, but only six men were lost.

Through the first days of the invasion, more than half a dozen British and U.S. battleships and about double that number of cruisers worked the Channel, bombarding German positions and protecting Allied convoys.

All of the big ships were afloat and operating at the end of the naval phase of the invasion, although some were damaged to some degree.

Six of seven U.S. commanders saved

Washington (UP) –
The Navy revealed today that six of the commanding officers survived on the seven U.S. naval vessels lost in the landings in France, although two of them were wounded.

The only U.S. skipper lost was LtCdr. Allard Barnwell Heyward of the 890-ton minesweeper USS Tide. His next of kin was his mother, Mrs. I. K. Heyward of Charleston, South Carolina.

The wounded officers were: LtCdr. Edward A. Michel Jr. of Jamestown, New York (who commanded the 1,400-ton destroyer escort USS Rich), and Lt. James C. W. White of San Diego, California (who commanded the 400-ton minesweeper USS Partridge).

The other survivors were: LtCdr. George D. Hoffman of Washington (USS Corry), Cdr. Clifford A. Johnson of Baltimore (USS Glennon), Cdr. Thomas L. Gray of Teaneck, New Jersey (USS Susan B. Anthony) and Cdr. George Knuepfer of Boston (USS Meredith).

The Navy revealed that the destroyer Meredith was the second of that name lost in this war. The other USS Meredith was lost in action in the Solomons in October 1942.

The Corry had a record as one of the scrappiest small ships in the Atlantic. Shortly before she joined the Western European invasion fleet, she played an important part in destroying a German U-boat.

The Susan B. Anthony participated in the North African expedition and the Sicilian operation.

8611

1,000 Flying Fortresses pound Munich for 3rd day

Saarbrücken, on French-German border, also hit as Allies push air blitz

London, England (UP) –
A fleet of more than 1,000 U.S. heavy bombers accompanied by 500 or more fighter planes smashed through feeble opposition from the Luftwaffe today to bomb the Munich area for the third successive day and Saarbrücken on the French border.

Other U.S. heavy bombers, meanwhile, roared up from southern Italy to attack two oil storage installations in German-occupied northern Italy and four railway yards between Milan and Venice.

In the Munich attack, a force of German fighters estimated at 125 planes rose to harass the huge fleet of Flying Fortresses and Liberators.

Third day of attack

For the most part, they confined their activities to flash attacks on the bomber formation, making quick passes at the Fortresses with guns blazing.

The three-day intense bombing of Munich gave rise to the possibility that the Americans were after a specific target, probably the city’s aero engine works, at least one of which is known to be turning out new model engines.

Whether they are the robot bomb’s jet-propelled motors was a matter of speculation.

‘Not a retaliation’

A high Air Force officer said today the Munich bombing, during which the city has received nearly 10,000 tons of bombs, was definitely part of the strategic air pattern and “not in any sense a retaliation for the robot attacks.”

Munich, like Saarbrücken, is also an important rail hub for movement of troops and supplies.

The Luftwaffe attacks came after the bombers had turned back from Munich, where they encountered a heavy barrage of flak.

The Air Ministry announced today that the RAF Bomber Command had dispatched 1,300 aircraft, all in the six-hour period between 8:00 p.m. last night and 2:00 a.m. today, against flying bomb installations on the French coast, industrial targets in the Ruhr, and railways in France.

Yesterday’s raid on Munich was the largest attack on a single target of the war by U.S. bombers, with over 1,200 Flying Fortresses and Liberators and 750 escorting fighters taking part.

Nine Germans downed

Normandy-based fighters closely supported the ground forces yesterday, dropping bombs and rockets on German convoys, occupied buildings, armored vehicles and a tank repair depot.

At one point, the Allied planes at the request of the Army attacked and silenced several gun emplacements and mortars.

Despite the inclement weather, Supreme Headquarters said that at least nine German planes were destroyed in combat yesterday.

It was announced that since D-Day, the Allied Air Forces have attacked 313 bridges in France, including 144 railroad, 97 highway and 72 river bridges; 193 rail centers and 96 airfields.

8612

Nazi decision to give up Norway, Balkans reported

Nazis fear new invasion of France by Army led by Gen. Patton; War Council meets

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8613

President to get steel case few weeks before election

Faces problem of trying to appease 4th-term advocates, holding wage line
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

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8614

Trend to GOP noted in vote of six states

Republicans strong in Utah balloting
By the United Press

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Band leader Ted Powell held on draft change

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8615

In Washington –
U.S. agrees to air treaty with Spain

Foothold in Europe gained by move

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Charges by Hague bring Edison protest

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8616

Red Cross post given O’Connor

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8617

U.S. combat casualties are 235,411 through June 20

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8618

Pyle, TIME Magazine’s cover man, ‘on way to becoming living legend’

Confidant of generals, G.I.s humanizes war

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8619

McQuaid: Pitiful sights found in La Haye

By B. J. McQuaid

La Haye-du-Puits, France – (July 11, delayed)
The beautiful big church, which was practically the only sizeable structure here to maintain recognizable architectural lines through the bombing and shelling of the town, is going to be demolished this afternoon by the high explosives of an American engineer battalion.

Characteristically, the withdrawing Germans left it so full of mines and booby traps that there just isn’t any other way to deal with the problem.

No townspeople remain to witness this sorry sight, however. The last of them were passing by the church yesterday on their way to a nearby refugee camp.

I think this small column was the most pitiful sight I have seen, in a France full of pitiful sights.

There were only about 150 of them. They were straggling along on foot, carrying their belongings in pushcarts and hand wagons.

Their bent postures and the heartbroken looks on their faces told the story of La Haye with the same sort of eloquence as the chunks of broken masonry that clutter the village square.