Background of news –
Is Guam next?
By Bertram Benedict
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Welles wants three-way split of Germany
Would give East Prussia to Poland
By R. H. Shackford, United Press staff writer
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Public, private debt rises to $338 billion
War accounts for all of increase
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Money conference enters last lap
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CIO political group hit by AFL spokesman
Support by committee called kiss of death
Washington (UP) –
Philip Pearl, publicity director and official spokesman of the American Federation of Labor, charged today that the CIO Political Action Committee was resorting to “typical communist technique” and predicted that most candidates would find its support “the kiss of death.”
As far as President Roosevelt is concerned, Mr. Pearl declared, his election to a fourth term would be in spite if, rather than because of, CIO backing.
‘A tricky outfit’
Mr. Pearl said in his column in the AFL’s Weekly News Service that the CIO committee had shown itself to be a “rather tricky outfit” when it set up its new national citizens political action committee “to front for it.” By thus going underground, he said, the committee followed typical communist tactics.
He said:
The reason given is that unions, under the Connally-Smith Act, are forbidden to make political contributions and that therefore a new committee was necessary to raise campaign funds by voluntary contributions.
But a more practical reason is apparent. That one is to take the CIO name out of the organization’s title. The communist stooges behind the PAC are canny enough to realize that the initials CIO are
Backs Gallup poll
Mr. Pearl said that while he often disagreed with findings of the Gallup poll, he agreed with its recent report asserting that many people would be “inclined to vote against, instead of for, candidates who bear the CIO label.”
He declared:
If President Roosevelt is elected, the CIO will loudly claim all the credit. But if the President is elected to a fourth term, it will be in spite of rather than because of the CIO’s help.
As for candidates for lesser office, they are likely to find that the benison of the CIO in 1944, as in former years, will turn out to be the kiss of death.
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Normandy, France – (by wireless)
Everything seems odd in Normandy.
The hedgerows are thick and ancient. The stone walls are sometimes so mounded over with earth that you don’t know there’s a wall beneath. The trees in the apple orchards are mellow with moss so thick that it seems like a coat of green velvet.
The towns and cities are just as old and worn-looking. I have yet to see a building in Normandy that appeared to have been built within the last three generations.
The tone is not one of decadence, but just of great and contented age. Even Cherbourg was a surprise. All of its buildings were old and worn.
It was a contrast to other war cities we have passed through – Algiers and Palermo and even Naples – where much building and remodeling have been done in this country, and the new homes are shiny and modernistic, and the street fronts look almost American.
A street scene in Cherbourg looks so much like the Hollywood sets of old European cities that you get your perspective reversed and feel that Cherbourg has just been copied from a movie set.
It’s the same way with the Norman architecture. The houses aren’t so smooth and regular and nice as California homes of Norman design. When you look at them you feel, before catching yourself, that they have copied our California Norman homes and not done too good a job.
Everything is of stone. Even the barns and cowsheds are stone – and in exactly the same design and usually the same size as the houses. They are grouped closely together around a square, so that a farmer’s home makes a compact little settlement of buildings that resembles a country estate at a distance.
Have more butter than they can use
Normandy is dairy country. Right now, the people have more butter on their hands than they know what to do with. It is a stupid soldier indeed who can’t get himself all the butter he wants. But even though it is a glut on the market, the French still ask 60 cents a pound for it.
When the Germans were here, they bought all the Norman butter, and at fancy prices too. German soldiers would ship it home to their families.
And although their new order is strict and full of promises of an ordered world, the Germans themselves created and fostered the Paris black market, according to the local people. Much of the butter bought in Normandy by German officers went to Paris for resale at unheard-of prices.
To be honest about it, we can’t sense that Normandy suffered too much under the German occupation. That is no doubt less because of German beneficence than because of the nature of the country. For in any throttled country thew farm people always come out best.
Normandy is rich agriculturally. The people can sustain themselves. It is in the cities that occupation hurts worst. I suspect that when we get to Paris, we will hear an entirely different story from the people.
Good-looking children the rule
Normandy is certainly a land of children. It seems to me there are more children here even than in Italy. And I’ll have to break down and admit one thing – they are the most beautiful children I have ever seen.
It is an exception when you see a child who isn’t exceptionally good-looking. Apparently, they grow out of this, however, for on the whole the Norman adults look like people anywhere – both good and bad.
One thing about the Normans is in contrast with the temperament we have known so long in the Mediterranean. The people here are hard workers. Some of the American camps and city offices hire teenage French boys for kitchen and office work, and I’ve noticed that they go at their work eagerly and like the wind.
The story of the French underground, when the day comes for it to be written, will be one of the most fascinating things in all history.
On the Cherbourg Peninsula the underground was made up of cells, five people to a cell. Those five people knew each other, but none of them knew any other members of the underground anywhere.
It was fun to see the Frenchmen on the day the underground began coming out into the open. They identified themselves by special armbands that they had kept in hiding. One underground man would look at a neighbor wearing an armband and exclaim in amazement: “What! You too?”
In one village, we asked some people who were not in the movement if they had ever known who the underground members in their town were. They said they could pretty well guess, just from the character of the people, but never actually knew for sure.
Pegler: Democratic Convention
By Westbrook Pegler
Chicago, Illinois –
With the presidential nomination disposed of long before the fall of the gavel by Mr. Roosevelt’s grinning acceptance of a fourth nomination, the incongruous and uneasy Democrats at their convention present a new spectacle in the politics of the United States, a strange congress of distrust, resentment, fear and a cynicism such as not even the most sordid Old-Guard Republican ever had the effrontery to express.
Here is idealism of the most pretentious and milky sort, the pious nobility of purpose of the New Deal, fermented and soured into a mesh of underworld politics and European continental trickery, all in the course of 12 years since the faithful went forth from the same hall in 1932, bawling “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
Many old faces are missing now, a few to appear in the following of Tom Dewey, disillusioned, repentant and humbly eager to atone. Many enthusiasts of the early New Deal have gone to their graves. And Jim Farley, standing ears above the crowd and wearing the same smile as of old, but a smile done with the muscles now and not by the impulse of a confident heart, has become a beloved but pathetic has-been, trampled, scuffed and confused, while Sidney Hillman, leader of the CIO-Communist coalition, holds press conferences at a hotel of his own selection, the Sherman House, at the other side of the Loop.
To a degree, it may be said for Jim that he is standing by his principles for he never would court or have any political traffic with Hillman’s aggregation of naturalized but unassimilated Europeans in New York when they called themselves the American Labor Party. Never yet has he compromised his total American devotion by appearing, under any pretext of emergency or wartime unity, on any platform where he could be photographed under the hammer and sickle of the Communist conspiracy.
Yet, although, as an American, he obviously believes the election of President Roosevelt to a fourth term would be a national misfortune, still his deep, personal devotion to the rules of the game will deter him from opposing the ticket.
No longer ambitious for Presidency
Jim is no longer ambitious for the Presidency. He may hope to become Governor of New York two years from now, but even that is a remote and highly speculative possibility and would be a dull climax to the career of a man who, four years ago, had an honest, if naïve, hope of going to the White House.
But boy and man, Jim has been a Democrat, and that perverse loyalty, that spirit of politics as a game, is stronger in Jim and, also, in many others here this week, than the inner whisperings of patriotic judgment.
Many men and women in this convention long ago lost their belief in the President as an idealist, even lost faith in him as a party man as he steadily took over and became, himself, the party, but, in resignation, go along anyway this once more because they don’t know what else to do.
Some feel an obligation to their little followings back home. Some are too proud to make public demonstration of their private fears for the country after four years more of the same. Some are so degraded they would risk it all for the little pay and power the politics gives them.
There are men and women here who hatefully resent Hillman and his small but tireless and clever group of scheming Europeans and fully understand the superior importance of a few hundred thousand New York votes, cast under the influence of European fears and hatreds, as compared with several times the same number of votes cast in their own home states.
Hillman most prominent lay-Democrat
They know the power of such people to pull the switches and throw American cities and factories into darkness and terror for they have seen it demonstrated. They know that, at Hillman’s plea, Charles Poletti, as temporary governor of New York, secretly released from prison a European communist firebug who held office in Hillman’s union and that, nevertheless, if not for this very reason, Poletti was made a full Army colonel and the American Military Governor of Rome.
It was not so much that Hillman and his group demanded Wallace. The humiliation, the startling, disturbing change lay in the fact that they could make any demands on the convention.
Whether or not, Hillman has his way, he becomes, nevertheless, the most prominent lay-Democrat in the party, although not necessarily the most powerful. For Kelly of Chicago and Hague of New Jersey are still in silent, secret action and these tough old brawlers this time are under no cloud of outward disavowal.
Perkins: Democrats fully aware of importance of CIO
Hillman-Murray influence is indicated in deference shown them by party leaders
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
Chicago, Illinois –
As the Democratic Convention opens here today a definite contrast is presented in the political positions of the principal leaders of American organized labor.
Philip Murray and Sidney Hillman. of the CIO, are deeply involved in the affairs of the Democratic Party; staking their present prestige on winning a renomination for Vice President Wallace; and risking the future of their organization on success of the Roosevelt ticket in November.
William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, pursues the traditional policy of that organization in not becoming an appendage of any political party, and of working both sides of the street in efforts to get favorable commitments from both the Democratic and Republican platforms.
Lewis backing GOP
John L. Lewis, of the United Mine Workers, got some burnt fingers through involvement as head of the CIO with the Democratic Party in 1936 (on a scale not so great as that on which Messrs. Murray ad Hillman are now involved), is backing the Republican ticket, and hoping he will be more successful than in 1940 in swinging miner votes against President Roosevelt.
The Murray-Hillman importance in Democratic affairs is indicated by the deference being shown them by other party leaders in selection of the running mate for Mr. Roosevelt; by a press conference they held which drew one of the largest crowds of reporters during this convention period; by applause in the Resolutions Committee for Mr. Murray when he finished a spirited presentation of the CIO ideas of what should be in the Democratic platform.
Votes in strategic states
Just how many delegates the CIO has in the convention is uncertain, but the number is believed to be less than a hundred among the total of 1,176. That proportion, however, is not the important point. The Democratic leaders are depending on the CIO to produce enough votes in strategic states to produce a victory over the Dewey-Bricker ticket. If it works out that way, the Democratic Party will become more than an alliance of professional politicians with labor leaders. If it doesn’t, the strategy of the politicians and the labor leaders will be due for a revamping before another presidential campaign rolls around.
Allen: Roosevelt-Willkie ticket would save lots of metal
They could go out to Wisconsin and dig up all those buttons Wendell buried there
By Gracie Allen
Chicago, Illinois –
Every reporter dreams of having a scoop. Well, today it’s just possible that I may have a scoop. Here ‘tis: Guess who might be proposed as President Roosevelt’s running mate at this Democratic Convention. Wendell Willkie! Yes, sir, I heard that straight from a delegate who says he is going to do the proposing. George says the man pulled my leg when he told me that. Well, I was too excited to notice, and besides, if this turns out to be a scoop, let him get fresh.
Wouldn’t that be sensational? Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Willkie running together? It would certainly save a tremendous lot of metal, they could go to Wisconsin and dig up all those Willkie buttons that are buried there.
No more mussed hair
One thing – if Mr. Willkie should leave the Republican Party to run with Mr. Roosevelt, he wouldn’t have to worry about his hair being mussed up anymore. What the Republicans would have to say to him would undoubtedly curl it.
As I told you yesterday, stripteases have been banned in Chicago during the Democratic Convention. Today there’s a report that there will be no beer or hard liquor sold at the Stadium where the convention is to be held. The Republicans had all the stripteases and liquor they wanted. What puzzles me is that Chicago is Democratic, yet it seemed more hospitable to the Republicans than to its own party.
I asked one Chicago Democrat about that and here’s what he said:
Well, Gracie, we figure this way – let the Republicans have a good time at their convention. It’s the only fun they’ll have for four years.
On second honeymoon
The Democratic Convention officially opens today and that means I’ll be putting in my full time as a reporter. Up to now George and I have been enjoying a sort of second honeymoon. And it’s really better than our first. On our first honeymoon, we stopped at a cheap hotel and because George wanted to save money, I used to spend hours cooking our meals over a sputtery little alcohol stove.
Now we are stopping at the Ambassador East, where that famous restaurant, the Pump Room, is located. We have a lovely suite on the top floor and I don’t have to spend all that time cooking. The alcohol stove burns much better up there.
So now our second honeymoon is ended because I have to go out and get to work. Funny thing – that’s what ended our first honeymoon.
That’s all for now – more political news tomorrow.
Poll: Rank and file of Democrats want Wallace
Barkley runs poor second in survey
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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Keynote Address by Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr
July 19, 1944, 9:00 p.m. CWT
In this solemn hour, as representatives of the common people of every state and territory in this nation, we meet again to reaffirm our faith in democratic principles and to give an accounting of our stewardship. But in this greatest crisis in history, America and the world have a right to ask more of us. They are entitled to know where we stand and what our aims and purposes as a great political party are. We are here to answer.
Our aim is complete and speedy victory.
Our goal is a just and abiding peace.
Our promise to a world at peace is responsibility and cooperation.
Our pledge to America at peace is a government responsive to the needs and hopes of every citizen, even the humblest, a government which will not shirk or fail, but will fulfill with gratitude and fidelity our sacred obligation to our returning service men and women.
The keynote of this convention and of America’s heart and mind is not being sounded here tonight. It is being thundered by our fighting men around the world; by those at home who provide the food for them and us, by the workers who provide the munitions of war, by the rank and file of our citizens who, through taxes and bond purchases, provide the money required to pay our part of the daily cost of this global war.
This keynote is being sounded loud and clear by the roaring, swirling thousands of our fighter planes, our slashing bombers and our mighty Superfortresses of the air. It comes from the deadly throats of the many guns of the battle units of our powerful fleets – all seven of them! It comes from the blazing firepower set and kept in motion by our men who fight on the ground, the infantry – yes, and the invincible Marines.
May God bless them and keep them – all of them, our fighting men and women, and give them the sustaining strength to match their glorious spirit. It is they who since Pearl Harbor have been and now are sounding the keynote of America’s unyielding purpose, of democracy’s aims and hopes.
Let us be in tune with the spirit of that keynote.
Hitler, in his blind ignorance and fury, called us a “decadent soft democracy.” Our fighting men have given him his answer – the greatest all-American team of all times – the team of all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, has given him his answer! The farmers, the workers, the rank and file of our citizens, the Armed Forces of our nation, democratic, but not decadent, are marching, tramping and climbing with our Commander-in-Chief to victory!
There is no easy way to win this war either at home or abroad. As our fighting men battle and slash their way closer and closer to Berlin and Tokyo, they will meet harder and sterner tasks. The same is true where we fight.
Our sacrifices will be harder and sterner. We know that in the long shadows we yet must travel there will be in the words of the mighty Churchill: “blood, toil, tears and sweat.” That is our portion – that we can and will endure – but wouldn’t it really be terrible if, in addition to all of these, we should be compelled to suffer the affliction and disaster of another Hoover administration?
In this hall last month, the Republicans nominated as their candidate for President the man selected for them four years ago by Herbert Hoover. As America looked on, she saw the mantle of Herbert Hoover not falling upon but being placed upon the shoulders of his cherished disciple, Thomas E. Dewey. What she did not see, but what will become more and more apparent, is that the mantle has become the shroud.
When that same convention snubbed and sidetracked Wendell Willkie, the last vestige of liberal leadership in the Republican Party was buried under an avalanche of reactionary sentiment from which it cannot soon emerge.
Talleyrand said: “The Bourbons were incapable either of learning anything or of forgetting anything.” To give these modern Bourbons, these Republican leaders, control of the nation for the next four years would bring about a certain return of 1932. It would be to invite disaster without even the chance of coming in on a wing and a prayer.
The Old Guard is again in the saddle in the GOP, hoping to run rampant over liberalism in America in November as they did over their own ranks here three short weeks ago.
In their blindness the Republicans have charted a course America will not follow.
In their hatred they have matched a fight they cannot win. The forces of democracy will accept their challenge and defeat them either on the issue of what they did not do and cannot do, or on the issue of what we have done and will do.
I have never in my lifetime seen men who had greater desire or a more consuming ambition, with less justification or worthiness for either, than the Republican leaders this year.
Do you remember the twelve long years from 1920 through 1932 when America “hardened” under Harding, “cooled” under Coolidge and “hungered” under Hoover?
The Republican Party had no program to prevent economic disaster then. It had no program in the dangerous years preceding Pearl Harbor to prevent war or to meet it if it came. Most of the Republican members of the national Congress fought every constructive move designed to prepare our country in case of war.
They fought and voted against the Naval Expansion Bill in 1938.
In March 1939, they voted against a bill to increase our air force to a total of 6,000 planes.
In June 1939, in the House they voted 144–8 to reduce the appropriation for the Army Air Corps.
In September 1939, after war started in Europe, they voted six-to-one against the repeal of the arms embargo.
In September 1940, after France had fallen and the blitzkrieg against England had begun, the Republicans in the House voted 112–52 against the Selective Service Act.
In February 1941, the Republicans in the House voted 135–24 against Lend-Lease.
In August 1941, four months before Pearl Harbor, the Republicans in the House voted 133–21 to disband that part of the Armed Forces built from Selective Service personnel.
They fought every person who came forward with courage to declare the danger that threatened the world and us, and every person who sought to prepare this nation to meet the conflict that loomed across the world’s horizon.
The Republican Party has no program today, except to oppose. Let us limit them to that role.
They have played partisan politics with one of the most deadly dangers confronting our nation – the danger of inflation! They have offered no program to prevent it. Yet with reckless abandon they sought to destroy the one adopted.
Our Republican opponents are not even united among themselves. Millions of them favored Willkie and deeply resent his being driven from the party.
Confidentially, my fellow Democrats, real battles are being fought among the tall timbers of the Republican Party. I have never seen a group more keenly suspicious of each other, nor have I ever seen suspicions better founded.
Most Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, agree that our President has done a great job as a war leader. Our opponents attack him and seek to defeat him on domestic issues.
I take it that none here is too young to remember the tragic years of 1929 through 1932. The awful depression and Republican unemployment of those four years, brought on by the unsound policies of Coolidge’s administration and intensified by Hoover’s inadequacy and insufficiencies, created more suffering in this nation, destroyed more wealth, caused more poverty and left our nation in the most weakened and hopeless condition ever known.
What American is not grateful for the gains our people have made since those dark days? A prosperous nation now demonstrates its mighty power as its factories, mills and farms, year after year, set new records of production. They are the wonders of the world. I share your pride in the unparalleled peacetime advances won under the matchless leadership of our great President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt!
If you truly favor private enterprise and equal opportunity to all, can you support the Republican Party, under which these suffered most and came the nearest to destruction?
Do you remember when the President of the National Chamber of Commerce publicly urged that the President revive and restore the crushed and broken structure of private enterprise?
Do you remember when the captains of industry throughout the land, struggling to free themselves from the quicksand in which they were sinking, pled for the national government to save them? How often must they be saved from the flames of depression and bankruptcy brought on by the short-sighted policy of the Republican Party, when in power before they will seek to avoid the cause of their trouble with as much vigor as they strive to be relieved of its consequences?
How many whirlwinds must they reap before they learn the folly of sowing the wind? If we truly favor private enterprise, how can we fail to support the democratic President, under whom the greatest advance in material prosperity by the largest percentage of our people in all of the nation’s history has been achieved?
A few weeks ago, I read a news story as follows:
The 13,275 insured commercial banks reported net profits after taxes of $638 million for 1943, the largest total since the inauguration of deposit insurance.
Yet, I know a few bankers so concerned because their tax bill in 1943 was $51 million greater than in 1942 they ignore the fact that after all taxes for 1943 were paid their net profit for that year was $197 million greater than in the year before.
I even know some whose prosperity is exceeded by their pessimism. Their howls are louder in the midst of the most prosperous times they have ever known than their groans were in the bottom of Hoover’s black depression. And this when so many are suffering and sacrificing so heroically and without complaint!
If Americans truly favor prosperity for our farmers, can they support the Republican Party under which the farmers suffered the most, or oppose the present Democratic administration, under which they have prospered the best?
If Americans truly favor labor, can they support the Republican Party, under which labor fared the worst, or oppose the present administration, under which it has enjoyed the greatest progress?
If you truly favor old-age assistance to give our honored aged citizens freedom from want and starvation, can you support the Republican Party, under which this security was never known, or can you oppose the present administration which originated it in spite of the Republicans’ bitter opposition?
If America truly favors a social security program giving American workers security from starvation when conditions beyond their control temporarily prevent their employment, can we restore the party to power that fought the legislation providing it? Or can we afford to remove the party from power that erected this great milestone of progress?
If we in America truly favor a sound banking system providing profit to its owners and safety to its depositors, could we restore the party to power under which in twelve years more banks failed than in all the rest of our nation’s history, with the greatest loss to depositors ever known, or could we remove from power the Democratic administration under which the depositors have suffered the smallest losses and the stockholders received the fairest percentage of profit ever had during any similar period?
If we favor economic conditions permitting small business to prosper, could we vote to restore the Republican Party to power, under which in 1932 alone 32,000 small businesses failed, or could we vote to remove from power the Democratic administration under which small business has enjoyed its most profitable years?
If we in America truly favor the opportunity for the average family to own its home, can we vote to restore to power the party under which more homes and farms were lost and more mortgages foreclosed than during any other similar period, or could we vote to remove the Democratic Party from power when more millions of American homes, both on the farms and in our cities and towns were saved than during any other time?
If we in America truly favor conservation of our greatest natural resource, the soil, the reclamation of badly eroded or abandoned lands, the provision for irrigation of millions of acres, can we vote to remove from power the administration under which the most progress ever made has been brought about, or could we vote to return to power the Republican administration under which these matters were either forgotten or ignored?
If we favor winning an abiding peace after our magnificent fighting men and women have defeated our enemies – if we do not want to compel each succeeding generation of America’s sons to leave their homes and firesides and families to go yonder where the ravages of war maim and disable and kill, can we vote to restore to power the political party whose leadership after World War I willfully and wickedly sabotaged every effective vehicle for keeping the peace?
Shall we restore to power the party whose national leadership, under the domination of isolationists, scrapped and sank more of our fleet than was destroyed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor? Or can we fail to support the Democratic administration under which America has become the greatest naval power on earth?
If we in America truly love these sons and daughters of ours who today fight for us and who tomorrow will achieve the victory for which they fight today, and if it is our resolve that they shall have the opportunity for profitable peacetime employment when they return from the wars to take their place as the most respected and best loved among us, can we hope to return to power the political party whose national leaders were so indifferent to the welfare of the veterans of World War I? You saw those veterans compelled to sell apples and pencils on the streets of our cities because no jobs were available anywhere in the land.
You saw them go to Washington to petition their government, for which they had fought at Château-Thierry, at Belleau Wood, in the Meuse-Argonne and on a dozen other battlefields.
You saw that same Republican administration turn a deaf ear to their petition and order its military forces to drive those veterans from the streets of the capital of the nation they and their battle-killed comrades had saved. You saw the military armament, machine guns, rifles and tanks of the government for which they had offered their lives turned on them by the unwilling hands of their own comrades because of the stupid and brutal orders of Republican President; you saw some of them killed, you saw their pitiful personal belongings, evidences of their poverty, taken from them and burned.
If you oppose this kind of bitter ingratitude, and I know you do, can you oppose the Democratic administration which has already recommended and helped to bring about legislation providing lasting and constructive benefits to the returning servicemen and women of this war? Can you fail to support this Democratic administration that has declared so unequivocally its purpose of providing the opportunity for profitable peacetime employment to our returning servicemen and women?
The American fighting man aims to win this war and then come home to Mom and Dad and to Mary and the kids, and he wants a job, the opportunity for honorable and profitable employment. Where is the American who would deny him this blessed privilege? Where is the American who would give him less? The Republican administration gave him much less after the other war, at the very time Andrew Mellon, without even an act of Congress, was returning billions of dollars from the federal treasury to great corporations already war wealthy.
The Republicans made some vague promises to our fighting men here in this hall last month about what they will do for them after the war. That’s pretty good from a bunch that wouldn’t even give them the opportunity to vote during the war. I’ve seen the Constitution used for a lot of fine purposes, but that is the first time I ever saw it misused as a cudgel to drive millions of fighting Americans away from their own ballot boxes.
Many Republican leaders, sounding the real keynote and purpose of the Republican Party in this fateful year say: “There has not been a single constructive accomplishment brought about by the Roosevelt administration.” Reactionary Republicans have resisted every progressive measure of this administration and bitterly oppose them now. They remind me of the cantankerous old grumbler who on his 92nd birthday was asked: “Uncle, you have lived to the ripe old age of 92; you must have seen a lot of changes in your time, haven’t you?” Replied the uncle: “Yes, and I’m agin’ every one of them.”
I read a graphic, if not elegant, poem the other day describing the Republican opposition. It read as follows:
‘Twelve Long Years’
The Republicans for twelve long years
Have shed their coats and skins and tears
To tell their comrades how they feel
Regarding Roosevelt’s New Deal.For twelve long years they’ve pled for votes,
But never mention nine-cent oats.
They say “this New Deal stuff is rotten,”
But never speak or four-cent cotton.For twelve long years they’ve wept aloud,
And cussed this money-spending crowd.
They say “Of liberty we are shorn,”
But not a breath of twelve-cent corn.For twelve long years they’ve been at sea,
And now they come to you and me
And offer us as bait for votes
More three-cent steers and nine-cent oats.For twelve long years they fume and fret,
Hammer and slander the “New Deal set.”
They say to all: “What a cheat!”
But forget to talk of two-bit wheat!They offer, as in days of old
A crown of thorns, a cross of gold,
More gilded promises – can you beat ‘em?
Well, one sure thing, you can’t eat ‘em!My friends, the Democratic Party has proved its worthiness of the people’s continued confidence.
Time and again we have seen the results of the President’s leadership. Time and again our opponents have sought to fill the minds of the people with doubt and confusion, and time and again successes have dispelled the doubts, confounded the confusers, and confused the doubters.
The people have not been – they will not be – misled! They are doing a magnificent job. Men and women, boys and girls of all political parties, of every race and color and religious faith are proving themselves to be America’s greatest generation.
Our enemies, dazed and bewildered, cannot understand the striking power, producing and building power of our military and civilian soldiers.
Between the fall of France and July 1, 1944, American industry and labor produced more than 210,000 military airplanes and are now producing 100,000 per year. They have produced during that period more than five million tons of naval vessels, one-half of which are combat ships; this represents an armada of more than 40,000 ships of all kinds including 35,000 landing craft.
They have produced 77,000 tanks and 1,600,000 trucks, 35 million tons of merchant shipping, equal to almost one-half of all the merchant ships in the world when war was declared in 1939. This vast fleet of merchant ships, manned by our heroic merchant marine, has transported endless cargoes of men, weapons, food and freight to our battle lines on every front.
Our heroic and patriotic farmers have made greater production records each year in spite of increasing shortages of manpower and farm machinery and regardless of periodic gloomy prophecies of national starvation by many, including Herbert Hoover.
All of these and thousands of other things have been accomplished by America’s civilian armies, with American women doing their proud part and more. They march side by side with the men in the Armed Forces. Their strong and faithful hands never stop working, in the homes, on the farms, in the factories and at every job that will speed the day of victory. They long for, work for, and pray for peace. The kind of peace worked for, fought for and died for by the immortal Woodrow Wilson! The kind of peace worked for and fought for now by President Roosevelt.
America and her Allies are winning this war because they have planned their work and are now working their plan. They can and must win an abiding peace; international peace, as we of this generation have had to learn twice, is of vital concern to every American. It cannot be achieved by burying our heads in the sand and leaving white tail feathers waving in the breeze.
Through tragic experience we have learned that it is just as necessary to prepare for peace while waging war as it is to prepare against war while enjoying peace. We must realize that the unsolved problems of peace are the causes of war.
Some of the greatest victories won in this war have been in the field of diplomacy. No military victory can mean more to America and her Allies than the diplomatic advances made in the Atlantic Charter and in the conferences held at Casablanca, Moscow, Tehran and Cairo. These and many other such advances have been wisely conceived by our President, so ably aided by that grand American statesman, the greatest Secretary of State in a hundred years, Cordell Hull.
The President during the next four years must represent our country in many more such conferences. I ask all Americans everywhere: Who can best represent our nation in the future councils of war with our Allies and in the conferences around the peace table? I know America will not regard this question rightly, nor decide it wrongly. Shall it be Thomas E. Dewey or Franklin D. Roosevelt?
Who will represent England at the peace table? An untried man, or her greatest and wisest, Winston Churchill?
Who will represent China? Some man without experience, or Chiang Kai-shek?
Who will represent Russia? One who for the first time will participate in such a meeting and who, no matter how honorable he might be or how able he might sometime become, would thus be greatly handicapped, or will she be represented by her most experienced and strongest, Josef Stalin?
Each of our allies will be represented by the one who has demonstrated the greatest ability for the task.
Who will represent the United States of America? An untried leader who has not even told his own people what his views are? Or the man who has from the start declared his position in clear and certain words, and who has the respect and esteem of all the United Nations as no other living American?
Will it be Dewey – or Roosevelt?
Just suppose for a moment, but no longer, that it were Dewey. What would Churchill and Stalin and the Generalissimo and the other Allied leaders think and do when they learned that he looked on them as just a group of “tired old men?”
When England faced her darkest hour, with her military forces unorganized and poorly armed, in whose leadership did she place her trust? Her least tried or most proven? Can England, can we, can the civilized world ever discharge the debt of gratitude due Winston Churchill?
When he was just about as old as Mr. Dewey is now, he permitted an impetus urge to lead him into the tragedy of Gallipoli. But how differently he acted at 65. After Dunkirk, he stood before the House of Commons. Listen, are these the words of a “tired old man”?
We shall not flag nor fail. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, landing grounds, in the fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender!
Look at Stalingrad! Whose figure looms amid the defenders? Whose spirit sustains them in the most heroic and awful hour in Russia’s history? Who stopped and defeated and now drives Hitler’s once mighty armies, once dreaded air force, back and back and back? Mr. Dewey would have discarded him nearly three years ago, when he was 62, as a “tired old man.” But Russia is smarter than that. She marches irresistibly today under the leadership of her much revered, world respected, 65-year-old Joseph Stalin.
Let us examine the record!
Shall we discard as a “tired old man,” the 59-year-old Adm. Nimitz?
Shall we discard as a “tired old man,” the lion of the Pacific, 62-year-old Adm. Halsey?
Shall we stop his onward sweep to redeem the Philippine Islands and discard as a “tired old man,” 64-year-old Gen. Douglas MacArthur?
Should we discard as a “tired old man” the chief of all our naval forces, 66-year-old Adm. King? Shall we discard as a “tired old man,” the greatest military leader of our nation, 64-year-old Gen. George C. Marshall?
No, Mr. Dewey, we know we are winning this war with these “tired old men,” including the 62-year-old Roosevelt as their Commander-in-Chief. What diplomatic or military experience have you had that justifies you or us in believing that you can handle the most difficult and important responsibilities and duties ever placed upon the shoulders of any American?
When the life and liberty of every American hang in the balance; when the safety and welfare of unborn generations in this fair land are at stake, what assurance do you have for yourself and for your own loved ones or can you give our 130,000,000 Americans that you and we may know that you can do this tremendous job?
Suppose we broke up this team that every American knows is a winning one, which you have openly approved and in an effort to gain votes promised to keep, that is, all but the Commander-in-Chief, which position you seem to regard as a minor detail.
And suppose we named you Commander-in-Chief. What assurance could our fighting men, their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters have that we could thereby win the war one day sooner, or as soon, and with as few casualties, as we can under our present leadership? What experience have you had or what deeds have you performed to indicate that you could do as well, to say nothing of doing better?
Imagine, if you can, what we would have suffered and where we would be if Dewey had succeeded in his efforts to defeat Lend-Lease when it was proposed by President Roosevelt, who was neither too old to originate that great program nor too tired to put it in operation.
Roosevelt was not too old to see the terrible danger to America from Germany and Japan, nor too tired to move with speed and courage to get munitions of war to the democracies who were fighting them and thus keeping them away from our shores.
Lend-Lease, in spite of Dewey’s opposition, in spite of opposition from the vast majority of Republican leaders in Congress, went into effect nine months before Pearl Harbor. Now, three years and four months later, all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, can thank God for it and for Roosevelt who did so much to accomplish it.
In his efforts now to appear something other than the isolationist that he is, Thomas E. Dewey has gathered a few posies from the declared foreign policy of Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Hull, until he has most of the form of a Willkie bouquet without any of the substance.
The forces of isolationism crucified the great-hearted Woodrow Wilson. The same forces now strive with equal fury and frenzy to inflict the same fate on Roosevelt. But where they succeeded then, they will fail now.
The people, patriotic Democrats and Republicans alike, will not again be misled and betrayed by the same false doctrine and propaganda, no matter how disguised or camouflaged it may be.
In 1920, Mr. Harding and the Republican Party promised to lead America back to normalcy.
Mr. Hoover reiterated that thought from this platform last month when he said, "And may I say this to the youth, you can lead our nation back to unity of purpose again.
Our answer to that is: “This nation is not going back again.”
When this war is won a grateful nation will not go back on the farmers of America who have produced so heroically and so abundantly in our great war effort, nor will nation go back to a Republican administration that did back on American farmers.
When this war is won a grateful nation will not go back on labor, the workers who have produced the munitions and equipment of war so patriotically in this great struggle, nor will this nation go back to a Republican administration that did go back on the workers of America.
When this war is won a grateful nation will not go back on the home owners, businessmen and the great masses of our citizens who have served so faithfully in this war effort, nor will this nation go back to a Republican administration that did go back on these, our citizens.
When this war is won a grateful nation will not forget nor go back on its returning service men and women, nor will this nation go back to a Republican administration that did go back on the returning service men of World War I.
Our President has already made comprehensive plans for America to go forward now and in the post-war period. He has submitted them to the Congress. Part of them are now law. Others soon will be. It is his proposal and our program that wartime America can and will become a prosperous peacetime America with opportunity for profitable employment for all.
I say to you, to the Democrats of America, to our fighting forces around the globe and to all men and women of this nation who have dreamed of a better world and who are willing to work and sacrifice to realize that dream, victory is within our grasp. We have stormed the beaches of poverty and discouragement and fear and seen the hearts of the people filled with new life, lifted with new hope and buoyant with superb confidence. We have overrun the ramparts of special privilege and reaction and planted the banner of democratic liberalism high on the hill of human progress.
Let our opponents, who have grown fat in a prosperity they could not build for themselves, do their worst. We will not now retreat! We will not falter in mid-passage! We will win!
Völkischer Beobachter (July 20, 1944)
Im Feuer der Normandieschlacht –
Der deutsche Grenadier hält stand
Lissabon, 19. Juli –
Der dem alliierten Hauptquartier zugeteilte Kriegskorrespondent Morelly kabelt der New York Times seine Eindrücke von der Schlacht um Saint-Lô. Die Terrainschwierigkeiten seien fast unüberwindlich und erlaubten den deutschen Truppen eine vorzügliche Tarnung. Die deutschen Truppen verteidigten verbissen ihre gut angelegten Stellungen, die von der nordamerikanischen Artillerie vergeblich beschossen würden.
Das Vorgehen der nordamerikanischen Truppen werde durch heftiges, anhaltendes Artilleriefeuer der Deutschen außerordentlich erschwert. Das Vorfeld von Saint-Lô sei mit verbrannten Fahrzeugen und gefallenen Soldaten übersät.
Die deutschen Gegenangriffe würden mit großer Überlegenheit geführt, so daß im Kampf um die Stadt von alliierter Seite noch viele Blutopfer gebracht werden müßten.
Unter der Überschrift „Amerikaner mußten den Preis zahlen“ berichtet der östlich von Saint-Lô stehende Daily-Express-Kriegskorrespondent Paul Holt. Warum, so fragt er, seien diese Kämpfe so schwer und langwierig? Es sei ein „Dschungelkrieg im Garten Eden.“ Hier koste es die Amerikaner einen Tag und mehr heftigster Kämpfe, um nur einen Obstgarten zu besetzen. Der Grund liege darin, daß die Deutschen nicht nur mit großer Geschicklichkeit, sondern auch mit hervorragendem Mut kämpften. Sie hätten überall die Höhen besetzt und hielten mit ihren Geschützen die Amerikaner nieder. In den Obstgärten und den die Landstraßen säumenden Knicks säßen deutsche Fallschirmjäger in schwer einzunehmenden „Fuchslöchern.“ Nur mit wahrem Todesmut könne man an sie heran. Tanks spielten überhaupt keine Rolle. Holt berichtet abschließend, er habe mit einem amerikanischen General gesprochen, der seine Feststellungen in dem Satz zusammenfasste: „Wir haben tatsächlich den von den Deutschen geforderten Preis bisher immer bezahlen müssen.“
Feind bewundert HJ-Freiwillige
Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung
ka. Stockholm, 19. Juli –
Der Kriegskorrespondent der Zeitung Star kommt nicht darum herum, den Freiwilligen der Hitler-Jugend, die an der normannischen Front kämpfen, ein hohes Lob zu zollen. Diese Jungen, so heißt es in seinem Bericht, den die schwedische Zeitung Dagens Nyheter wiedergibt, seien keineswegs zu verachtende Gegner. Sie seien in dem Glauben an Hitler und sein Regiment erzogen und bereit, dafür zu sterben, wenn es notwendig sei. Sie würden lieber mit dem Gewehr oder mit dem Maschinengewehr in den Händen sterben, als sich von den Engländern gefangen nehmen lassen.
Der englische Kriegskorrespondent unterlässt freilich nicht den Versuch, die heroische Haltung der jungen deutschen Soldaten herabzusetzen, indem er sie dadurch zu erklären sucht, daß man ihnen von Kindheit an beigebracht habe, die Engländer quälten und erschossen ihre Gefangenen. Man möchte also gerne wenigstens dem englischen Volk gegenüber an die Stelle der äußersten Hingabe und Kampfbereitschaft den Mut der Verzweiflung gesetzt sehen. Dem widersprechen jedoch die immer neuen Feststellungen über die Kampfkraft dieser jungen Freiwilligen. Sie seien alle Fanatiker, erklärte ein kanadischer Unteroffizier, sie schlügen sich mit fanatischer Verachtung ihres Lebens und wenn sie in Gefangenschaft gerieten, seien sie trotzig oder todunglücklich über ihr Missgeschick.
Die Genfer Zeitung La Suisse würdigt die Leistungen der deutschen Kriegsberichter. Ihre Arbeit falle besonders durch ihren „wuchtigen Realismus“ auf. Die deutschen Kriegsberichter brauchten vom Kriege kein „frischfröhliches Bild“ zu geben und auch nicht die Gegner zu verachten. Sich an die deutschen Soldaten selbst wendend, scheuten sie sich nicht, die Wahrheit zu sagen, was auch den unbestreitbaren Erfolg ihrer Berichte in der neutralen Presse erkläre. Die PK-Männer würden überall an den Brennpunkten der Kämpfe eingesetzt und mehrere in der ganzen Welt bekannte Journalisten des Reiches seien, die Waffe in der Hand, gefallen.
Invasion verschlechtert britische Versorgungslage
Genf, 19. Juli –
Neutrale Korrespondenten berichten, daß die Invasion die Versorgungslage der englischen Zivilbevölkerung auf die Dauer stark beeinflussen und ernste Rückwirkungen in Großbritannien haben müsse. Weitere Konsumeinschränkungen und eine Verschärfung der englischen Rationierung würden zwangsläufig folgen. Auch die für die Produktion notwendige Wareneinfuhr werde durch den Ausfall der riesigen Tonnagemengen, die für die Invasionsfront benötigt würden, bedeutend zurückgehen. Desgleichen habe das Transportwesen erheblich gesteigerten Ansprüchen zu genügen. Die britische Kohlenproduktion, die um 4 bis 5 Millionen Tonnen gesteigert werden müsse, wenn die Bedürfnisse der Wehrmacht, der Rüstungsindustrie und des notwendigsten zivilen Bedarfs einigermaßen gedeckt werden sollen, sei aber nach wie vor rückläufig. Infolgedessen sei mit neuen, sehr einschneidenden Rationierungsmaßnahmen bei der Versorgung der Zivilbevölkerung zu rechnen.
Gauleiter Grohe Reichskommissar in Belgien und Nordfrankreich
General Grase Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich
Berlin, 19. Juli –
Durch Erlass des Führers vom 13. Juli 1944 ist die bisherige Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich durch eine Zivilverwaltung ersetzt worden, an deren Spitze der Reichskommissar für die besetzten Gebiete von Belgien und Nordfrankreich steht. Zum Reichskommissar für die besetzten Gebiete von Belgien und Nordfrankreich hat der Führer den Gauleiter Grohe ernannt.
Für den zu Nordfrankreich gehörigen Teil des Gebietes wird ein besonderer, dem Reichskommissar für die besetzten Gebiete von Belgien und Nordfrankreich unmittelbar unterstehender Zivilkommissar bestellt werden.
Mit dieser Neuregelung ist die Dienststelle des Militärbefehlshabers in Belgien und Nordfrankreich in Fortfall gekommen. Dem Militärbefehlshaber oblag außer der Verwaltung des ihm unterstehenden Gebietes auch die Ausübung der militärischen Hoheitsrechte in ihm. Die Ausübung dieser Rechte wird künftig durch den Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich erfolgen. Zum Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich hat der Führer den General der Infanterie Grase ernannt.
Am 18. Juli hat der bisherige Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich, Generaloberst von Falkenhausen, in Brüssel die Geschäfte des zivilen Bereichs dem neuen Reichskommissar, Gauleiter Grohe, und die Geschäfte des militärischen Bereichs dem General der Infanterie Grase übergeben.
Herzen und Maschinen
pk. Normandiefront, im Juli –
Auf einer Anhöhe über dem Marktflecken Évrecy, 12 Kilometer südwestlich von Caen, steht an einer Weggabel im Schatten uralter Bäume eine der zahlreichen religiösen Statuen, die ebenso zum Landschaftsbild der Normandie gehören wie ihre sanften Täler, ihre geschwungenen Wiesen, ihre Obstgärten und breitgelagerten Bauernhöfe. Man spürt auch aus diesen Denkmälern, so arm sie sein mögen an künstlerischem Wert und Ausdrucksvermögen, daß in dieser ländlichen Provinz die Kräfte des Herkommens und der bäuerlichen Beharrlichkeit sich zähe behaupteten So mögen noch vor vier Wochen als das Gewitter des Krieges sich über ihren Häuptern zusammenzog, die Einwohner von Évrecy ihre Gebete zu der „Schwarzen Madonna“ gelenkt haben, die von ihrem Hügel über Felder und Häuser blickte. Aber die zerstörende Macht des Krieges ließ ihre Furien so grausam wie nur möglich über dieses friedliche Stück Erde rasen. Heute schaut das verlassene Standbild über ein Feld von Tod und Verwüstung.
Hier tobte vor wenigen Tagen, in der letzten Woche des Junis, als die Briten mit aller Gewalt zum Durchbruch an Caen vorbei ansetzten, die Hölle der Materialschlacht. Das Dorf selbst sank unter einem Schauer von Bomben und Granaten in Schutt. Die Äcker wurden in weitem Umkreis aufgewühlt. Auf den Wiesen liegen, aufgedunsen in der sommerlichen Glut, die Kadaver der rotbraun gescheckten Kühe, die sonst den Reichtum und Stolz des Landes bildeten. Alles ging unter in dem tödlichen Regen von Feuer und Eisen, und die wenigen, die verschont blieben, eilten davon, um das nackte Dasein zu retten. Und doch triumphierten auch in dieser Landschaft der entfesselten mechanisierten Vernichtung Geist und Seele von Menschen über die Drohungen und den Schrecken mörderischer Maschinen. Die deutschen Soldaten, die am 29. Juni der britischen Angriffswalze nördlich von Évrecy entgegentraten, durchmaßen stürmend den Feuervorhang des Feindes. Sie warfen ihn aus dem Dorf Gavrus, mußten dort eine Sturmflut schwerer und schwerster Artilleriekaliber über sich ergehen lassen, wie sie selbst die am härtesten geprüften Kämpfer des Ostens noch nirgends erlebt hatten. Es blieb ihnen keine Wahl, als dieser Lawine von Stahl vorübergehend auszuweichen. Aber als die britische Infanterie von neuem den Weg betrat, den ihre Artillerie gebahnt hatte, wurde sie vom deutschen Schwung abermals, und nun endgültig, aus den Ruinen des Ortes hinausgeschlagen.
Jetzt liegt – wer weiß auf wie lange – über dem Schlachtfeld von ehegestern Ruhe oder wenigstens das, was nach dem Höllenzauber der vorausgegangenen Tage als Ruhe empfunden wurde. Das Trommelfeuer, das manche Abschnitte zeitweilig mit 30 Einschlägen in der Minute überschüttet hatte, ist verstummt. Nur dann und wann, in unregelmäßigen Abständen, unberechenbar nach Zeit und Ziel, kommt überfallartig der Segen der Granaten von drüben herniedergerauscht, oder ein Schwarm feindlicher Jagdbomber lädt dort, wo er einen wichtigen Punkt im Gefüge unserer Stellungen erkannt zu haben glaubt, seine Last ab oder schießt aus seinen niederträchtig kläffenden Kanonen. Aber inzwischen haben unsere Männer Zeit gehabt, sich einzugraben. In der Deckung ihrer Erdlöcher sehen sie einem neuen Angriff des Briten voller Selbstbewusstsein entgegen.
Wir haben den Feind auch an den Küsten des Kanals so wiedergesehen, wie wir ihn bereits von früheren Begegnungen kannten. Zeit und Ort seiner Landung, seine Taktik und seine Methode der Kriegführung – in allem befolgte er die Regeln, von denen er sich seit je leiten ließ: nirgends anzutreten, ohne vorher eine gewaltige Übermacht an Material bereitgestellt zu haben, nicht auf seine Kämpfer zu bauen, sondern auf seine Maschinen. Es ist die deutlich sichtbare Absicht unserer Feinde, den Krieg im Westen nach den gleichen Gesetzen weiterzutreiben, nach denen sie ihn begonnen haben. Nur dort holen sie zu größeren Unternehmungen aus, wo nach ihren Berechnungen die kämpferischen Tugenden des deutschen Frontsoldaten dem toten Gewicht ihrer materiellen Stärke nicht die Waage zu halten vermögen. Freilich erleben sie es immer wieder, daß sie in ihren Kalkulationen jene magische Größe des deutschen Herzens zu gering veranschlagen.
Jeder Angriff der Briten und Amerikaner läuft nach dem gleichen Schema ab. Zunächst rollt über unsere Stellungen ein wildes Bombardement aus der Luft. Dann fällt das Geheul der Artillerie ablösend in den infernalischen Chor der Detonationen ein. Stundenlang kann das Trommelfeuer währen, in dessen kaum entwirrbaren Stimmen schwere Schiffskaliber – bis zu 40,6 Zentimeter – den Grundakkord angeben. In die letzten Einschläge mischt sich, nicht mehr mit dem Ohr, sondern nur mit dem Auge zu erfassen, die Explosion von Nebelgranaten, deren milchiger Auswurf das Gelände in dichten Schwaden überzieht. Aus ihrem undurchdringlichen Schleier brechen dann die Panzer hervor. Das Brüllen ihres Motors kündigt sie an, ehe ihre Umrisse auftauchen oder die begleitenden Infanteristen sichtbar werden.
Aber wie schon so oft, nicht nur auf den Schlachtfeldern unserer Väter, sondern auch in diesem Kriege, in den Wäldern und Sümpfen des nördlichen Sowjetrusslands, in den deckungslosen Feldern der Ukraine, in den Wüsten Afrikas und in den Felsenschluchten Italiens, schlagt dann die Stunde des deutschen Einzelkämpfers. Die Zahl von 1.059 Panzern, die in den ersten 30 Tagen seit Beginn der Invasion zur Strecke gebracht wurden, spricht mit der Kraft eines Hammerschlages, was unsere Soldaten an der Kanalfront geleistet haben. In ihr liegt beschlossen, daß wir keinen Augenblick das Gefühl hatten, diesem Gegner unterlegen zu sein, weder im Wert unserer Waffen, und vollends nicht im Kampfe Mann gegen Mann. Wo unsere „Tiger“ und „Panther“ auf die besten Panzer des Feindes stießen, da fiel kein deutscher Kampfwagen aus, der nicht zuvor eine Mehrzahl des Gegners außer Gefecht gesetzt hätte. Wo unsere Werfer sprechen und das gefürchtete deutsche Maschinengewehr seinen pausenlosen tödlichen Gesang anhebt, da liegt auf den Gesichtern der Gefangenen die Verstörung lähmenden Schreckens.
Gerade unter diesem Maßstab, in der Haltung gegenüber den hochgezüchteten Maschinen der Vernichtung, offenbart sich am deutlichsten, um wieviel der deutsche Soldat als Kämpfer und Mann über seinem anglo-amerikanischen Gegner steht. Läge der Feind uns heute gegenüber, ohne den Schirm seiner Luftwaffe, ohne den Panzer seines Artilleriefeuers – keiner unter uns zweifelt, daß sie schneller in den Kanal zurückfluten würden, als sie kamen, und darin liegt zugleich eine der Quellen unseres festen Zukunftsglaubens.
Eine unerschütterliche Ruhe strahlte von dem General aus, dessen Fallschirmjägerdivision in der ersten Woche der Schlacht in der Normandie einem höchst kritischen Angriff des Feindes entgegentreten mußte. Aus dem Marsch heraus wurden ihre vordersten Teile den Amerikanern entgegengeworfen, die an dieser Stelle eine Lücke gefunden hatten und mit aller Kraft hineingestoßen waren. Teile zweier deutscher Regimenter, die sich erst allmählich auf ihre volle Stärke ergänzen konnten, unter ihnen viele blutjunge Freiwillige, die hier zum erstenmal ins Feuer kamen, hatten den Anprall zweier Divisionen auszuhalten. Auf dem Gefechtsstand des Generals liefen zuerst ungünstige Meldungen ein. Feindliche Panzer waren durchgebrochen, der eigene linke Flügel hing vorübergehend in der Luft, die schweren Waffen kamen nicht rasch genug heran, es stand nicht zum Besten. In dieser Lage siegte die Nervenstärke der Führung und das Vertrauen auf die Truppe.
Die Schlachtfelder der Normandie haben manch eine Szene von gleicher Einsatzbereitschaft gesehen. Jede von ihnen spiegelt im Kleinen, was an der Front der Invasion im Ganzen vorgeht: es ist der unerbittliche Kampf, den Menschen gegen das Material bestehen müssen. Sie wissen, daß ihnen auf die Dauer der Erfolg versagt bleiben müsste, wenn das Verhältnis der Massen und Waffen, die hüben und drüben zu Geboten stehen, eine unveränderliche Größe wäre. Aber sie halten aus in dem Vertrauen, daß die Erfindungskraft des deutschen Geistes bereits die Mittel geboren hat, die in absehbarer Zeit dem Gegner die Vorteile aus der Hand schlagen sollen, auf die er sich heute stützt. Sie hoffen auf den Tag, an dem sie dem Feind unter gleichen Bedingungen entgegentreten können. In Erwartung dieser Stunde wachsen der Front selbst im Unwetter der Materialschlacht immer von neuem die Kräfte zu, um die Not des Augenblicks zu überwinden.
FRITZ ZIERKE
Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 20, 1944)
Vergebliche Durchbruchsversuche in der Normandie
Die Trümmer von Saint-Lô aufgegeben – Vergeltungsfeuer auf London – Erbitterte Kämpfe in Italien und an der Ostfront
dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 20. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
In der Normandie setzte der Feind seine Angriffe im Raum östlich und südöstlich Caen mit starker Panzerartillerie und Fliegerunterstützung während des ganzen Tages fort, ohne daß ihm der erstrebte Durchbruch gelang. Nach erbitterten Kämpfen, die den ganzen Tag hindurch in Saint-Lô tobten, wurden die Trümmer der Stadt aufgegeben. Feindliche Vorstöße aus der Stadt heraus nach Süden sowie starke örtliche Angriffe der Nordamerikaner weiter nordwestlich brachen verlustreich zusammen.
Schlachtflieger unterstützten die Abwehrkämpfe der Erdtruppen in wirksamen Tiefangriffen und vernichteten 10 feindliche Panzer. In Luftkämpfen wurden 16 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
In der Nacht griffen Kampf- und Nachtschlachtflugzeuge feindliche Bereitstellungen nördlich Caen mit guter Wirkung an. In Munitions- und Betriebsstofflagern entstanden Brände und Explosionen. In der Nacht vom 18. auf 19. Juli schossen Nachtjäger über Nordfrankreich 30 viermotorige britische Bomber ab.
Batterien der Kanalinsel Alderney schossen einen feindlichen Geleitzerstörer in Brand, der nach heftigen Explosionen sank.
Im französischen Raum wurden erneut 151 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.
Das Vergeltungsfeuer auf London dauerte die ganze Nacht über an.
In Italien drang der Feind in erbitterten, für ihn besonders verlustreichen Kämpfen in den Südteil von Livorno und in die völlig zerstörten Hafenanlagen ein, wo heftige Straßenkämpfe entbrannten. In den Abendstunden wurden unsere Truppen auf Stellungen nördlich der Stadt zurückgenommen. Nordwestlich Poggibonsi scheiterten zahlreiche Angriffe des Gegners. Westlich Ancona gelang es dem Feind, nach erbitterten Kämpfen auf dem Nordufer des Esinoflusses mit schwächeren Kräften Fuß zu fassen. Seine mit besonderer Wucht entlang der Küstenstraße geführten Angriffe brachen dagegen sämtlich zusammen.
An der Ostfront stehen unsere Divisionen im Raum östlich Lemberg in schweren Abwehrkämpfen. Feindliche Durchbruchsversuche in Richtung auf die Stadt selbst wurden aufgefangen. Von Kowel hervordringende starke sowjetische Kräfte wurden am Bug zum Stehen gebracht.
Auch im Mittelabschnitt dauern nördlich Brest heftige Kämpfe an. Im Raum von Grodno auf das Westufer des Njemen übergesetzte sowjetische Kampfgruppen wurden in Gegenangriffen zurückgeworfen. Im Seengebiet nordwestlich und nördlich Wilna sowie zwischen der Düna und Ostrow wurden starke Angriffe der Sowjets in wechselvollen Kämpfen zerschlagen und einige Einbrüche abgeriegelt. Allein im Abschnitt eines Korps wurden hier in den letzten sieben Tagen 215 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.
Der Stabsgefreite Unger in einer Panzerjägerabteilung schoss gestern mit seinem Geschütz elf schwere sowjetische Panzer ab.
Die Luftwaffe führte zahlreiche Tiefangriffe gegen feindliche Bereitstellungen und Kolonnen und vernichtete wiederum zahlreiche Panzer und über 230 motorisierte und bespannte Fahrzeuge. In Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie wurden 56 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen. Starke Verbände deutscher Kampfflugzeuge richteten schwere Angriffe gegen die sowjetischen Nachschubstützpunkte Molodeczno, Nowosokolniki und Welikijes Luki.
Nordamerikanische Bomberverbände führten von Westen und Süden Terrorangriffe gegen West-, Südwest- und Süddeutschland. Vor allem in den Wohnbezirken der Städte München, Koblenz, Schweinfurt und Saarbrücken entstanden Schäden. Die Bevölkerung hatte Verluste. Durch Luftverteidigungskräfte wurden 61 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht. In der Nacht griffen britische Störflugzeuge das Stadtgebiet von Bremen an.
U.S. Navy Department (July 20, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 480
For Immediate Release
July 20, 1944
More complete reports of the carrier aircraft attack on Guam Island on July 18 (West Longitude Date) raise the tonnage of bombs dropped to 401 from the previous total of 148 announced in Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas Press Release No. 479. Widespread and heavy damage has been done to military objectives on Guam as a result of coordinated aerial bombing and shelling by surface ships.
Pagan Island in the Northern Marianas was bombed twice on July 17.
Chichijima and Hahajima in the Bonin Islands were attacked by Liberator search planes of Group One, Fleet Air Wing Two, on July 18. The attacks were made from low level. Eleven seaplanes were damaged and four coastal vessels were set afire by strafing. At Hahajima a small cargo ship was sunk. Several fires were started among buildings on the seaplane base. Anti-aircraft fire was moderate. All of our aircraft returned.
On Saipan Island, shore‑based artillery and aircraft are being used to neutralize enemy defenses on Tinian Island. Selected targets are being shelled from the sea by our light surface units. As of July 17, our forces have buried 19,793 enemy dead.
The naval base at Dublon Island in Truk Atoll was bombed on July 18 by 7th Army Air Force Liberators. Two of eight airborne enemy fighters were damaged by our planes. Seven of our planes received some damage, but all returned. Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force, Catalina search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two, and Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing continued neutralization raids against enemy positions in the Marshalls on July 18.
Amphibious operations for the assault and capture of Saipan Island were directed by VAdm. Richmond K. Turner, U.S. Navy Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet. All assault troops engaged in the seizure of Saipan were under command of Lt. Gen. Holland McT. Smith, USMC, Commanding General Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific. Maj. Gen. Sanderford Jarman, USA, has resumed command of Saipan as Island Commander.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 20, 1944)
Hitler, 13 aides injured by assassination bomb
Adolf burned, bruised in headquarters blast; believed ‘inside job’
Adolf Hitler, escapes assassin’s blast
Bulletin
London, England –
A German broadcast at 7:00 p.m. CET repeated the announcement of the attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life and followed through with martial music in place of a previously scheduled discourse on “The Extermination of Rats.”
London, England (UP) –
The official German news agency DNB announced that Adolf Hitler and 13 of his top military and naval collaborators were injured today in an attempt on the Führer’s life when a bomb exploded during a conference at the Führer’s headquarters.
DNB listed Hitler’s injuries as slight burns, bruises and a light concussion of the brain.
The weight of the blast fell upon a cluster of gold-braided Nazis around him. They included seven generals and two admirals. Three were seriously wounded and 10 others, among them Gen. Alfred Jodl, chief of Hitler’s personal military staff and an ardent Nazi, escaped with minor injuries.
Radio Berlin subsequently charged the Allies with the attempt on Hitler’s life, asserting:
Fate protected the Führer’s life from an attempt by the enemy, who has so often worked with murderous methods and who once again tried to achieve with murder what he couldn’t achieve by fair methods.
Benito Mussolini, “Premier” of the Republican Fascist state in northern Italy, appeared to have escaped the bombing by a few minutes.
DNB said Hitler was about to confer with Mussolini when the explosion occurred and that after the debris had been cleared and the wounded cared for, the Führer “resumed his work and conferred with Mussolini as intended.”
Göring, Goebbels nearby
The Nazi propagandists also recorded that Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring – whom Hitler had picked at the outset of the war as the heir to his leadership – arrived shortly after the explosion and conferred with Hitler. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels also arrived afterwards.
One of the four seriously injured was Lt. Gen. Schmundt, chief adjutant of the German Army since 1938 and described by the German Transocean News Agency as “belonging to the closest following of Hitler.”
The DNB dispatch indicated that the blast in Hitler’s headquarters – one of the most closely guarded places in the world – was intended to include Mussolini among the victims, as well as Hitler and his top commanders.
Officers clustered around Hitler apparently received the full strength of the blast, shielding Hitler himself. The Führer’s wounds were described as slight. Those listed as seriously injured were: Lt. Gen. Schmundt, Col. Brandt, Lt. Col. Borgmann, and Borgmann’s aide Berger.
The following were listed as receiving minor injuries: Gen. Alfred Jodl (chief of Hitler’s personal staff), Maj. Gen. Günther Korten (Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe), Gen. Buhle, Gen. Karl Bodenschatz (liaison officer between Hitler and the Air Marshal’s office), Gen. Heusinger, Gen. Scherff, Adm. von Puttkamer, Adm. Voss.
Details not given
DNB did not specify whether the explosion was caused by a bomb planted inside the room in which Hitler and his commanders were conferring or whether the explosion might have been from a bomb launched from an Allied plane and pinpointed as in recent attacks on German headquarters in Holland and France. The second possibility was regarded as unlikely.
The fact that the attempt evidently occurred inside Hitler’s personal headquarters – as difficult to penetrate as the White House or No. 10 Downing Street – raised speculation in London that it might have been an “inside job” by Germans disgruntled with the conduct of the war and hopeful for a negotiated peace if the leader of Nazism were removed.
This is the first assassination attempt, so far as is known, in which Hitler was injured. The only previous publicized attempt was Nov. 8, 1939, when a bomb exploded in a Munich beer hall shortly after the Führer appeared at a Nazi Party meeting there. This was regarded at the time as a Gestapo trick to strengthen the German home front.
It was considered possible that Hitler’s injuries were more serious than was broadcast to the world by DNB and that the agency’s careful statement that the Führer resumed his work and received Mussolini and Göring was a coverup.
Observers believed the attempt on Hitler’s life was in some way connected with a 14-hour interruption of communications between Germany and neutral countries yesterday and today.
Blast probably yesterday
Although DNB said the explosion occurred “today,” it was considered possible that it occurred yesterday and that communications with Sweden and Switzerland were cut to permit the German propagandists to get their stories in order.
London observers believed there was at least an outside chance that the explosion was the work of the European underground, which has been growing increasingly bold and adept at sabotage and killing. Some analysts also expressed interest in a possible connection with the recent reported estrangement between the conservative Prussian generals and the Nazi hierarchy.
Recalling “the Reichstag fire” plant which enabled the Nazis to seize power by blaming the Communists, they believed some Nazi, possibly Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler, might have concocted this as a plot which could be blamed on the anti-Nazi generals, who now recognize that the war is lost.
Lean to ‘inside job’
Most authorities familiar with the Nazis leaned to the theory that it was an “inside job.”
Allied psychological warfare experts were surprised only that the attempt had not occurred earlier. They said that all the conditions prerequisite for some such drastic occurrence in Germany had long been bubbling beneath the surface. The sequence included the dismissal of the old and trusted Field Marshal Karl Gerd von Rundstedt from command of the defenses in France, the sacrifice of more than 500,000 men in an effort to hold untenable positions in Russia, failure to write off the Baltic States which now imperil defense of the Reich itself, the growing army of discontented slave labor which is frightening the German home front, and inability to halt or even ameliorate the Allied bombings.
Hitler once escaped by only 11 minutes
By the United Press
Adolf Hitler escaped assassination Nov. 8, 1939, when a bomb exploded in the historic Bürgerbräu Hall in Munich only 11 minutes after the German dictator had left the building. The explosion killed eight persons and injured more than 60.
The hall was ringing with the cheers of Hitler’s 500 “Old Veterans” celebrating the anniversary of their unsuccessful “March on Berlin” with the Führer in 1923, when an explosion from an attic room showered the ceiling upon the Nazis below.
Goebbels blamed British
Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels blamed the British for “an obvious attempt on Hitler’s life,” and by Nov. 22, the Gestapo had arrested two British agents: Sigismund Payne Best, 54, and Capt. Richard Henry Stevens, 46.
The agents were kidnapped from Venlo, Holland, where they had gone to investigate a fake German peace proposal. British authorities believed that Best and Stevens were later killed by the Gestapo.
Georg Elser, 36, a mild-mannered Munich workman, was charged with placing the bomb in the attic and allegedly confessed, linking Otto Strasser, leader of the “Black Front” in Paris, with the plan. Elser, it was said, intended that the bomb explode while Hitler was speaking.
Many rumored attempts
There have been other rumored attempts on Hitler’s life but not verified by Nazi sources. They included:
A plot to kill Hitler while he was touring the Polish battlefront in 1939; a foiled shooting at the Kroll Opera House in the same year; a shooting in Vienna in 1938 in which a Stormtrooper was killed by mistake, and another in which Hitler’s chauffeur was reported killed when he exchanged places with the dictator.
Many persons were arrested in Copenhagen in March 1935, when a widespread plot to assassinate Hitler and other Nazi leaders was reported uncovered; and Jan. 10, Ernst Niekisch, a German writer, was sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting with 20 others in another attempt to kill Hitler.