America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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.

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

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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.

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.

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.

Nazi decision to give up Norway, Balkans reported

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

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

Trend to GOP noted in vote of six states

Republicans strong in Utah balloting
By the United Press


Band leader Ted Powell held on draft change

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

Foothold in Europe gained by move


Charges by Hague bring Edison protest

Red Cross post given O’Connor

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

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

Confidant of generals, G.I.s humanizes war

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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.

Ozark mountaineers save Missouri’s ‘best coon dog’

Hole cut through 30-foot stone wall to rescue dog imprisoned in cave


Employers’ rights clarified by court

Yanks seize stronghold in Italy

Fighting is bitterest since Rome fell
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer


War situation rules men over 30

Five Japs die on Saipan for every Yank killed

1,000 of enemy captured for greatest bag of prisoners in any Pacific campaign
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

Secret paper reveals Nazi need for men

Manpower shortage termed serious

Starving Japs open attack seeking to escape trap

45,000 face death in New Guinea
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer

Editorial: German peace feelers

Editorial: ‘The country is ailing’

Editorial: Congressional primaries