Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 22, 1944)
A number of enemy counterattacks on both western and eastern sectors of the front have been repulsed with a total of at least 14 enemy tanks knocked out.
A limited number of aerial patrols were operated during the period from midnight to noon today.
U.S. Navy Department (July 22, 1944)
The submarines USS TROUT (SS-202) and USS TULLIBEE (SS-284) are overdue from patrol and must be presumed to be lost.
The next of kin of casualties of the TROUT and TULLIBEE have been so notified.
Our troops are making satisfactory progress in both sectors on Guam. We have captured Mount Alifan in the southern area. In the north the roads from Agana to Piti Town are in our hands.
Our northern beach extending from Asan Point to Adelup Point, was under mortar fire during the night of July 20‑21 (West Longitude Date). Before daylight on July 21 the enemy launched a counter attack on the eastern side of our lines in the northern sector which was thrown back after daylight by our troops supported by air, naval, and artillery bombardment. Cabras Island is under our control and about half of it has been occupied.
At the southern beachhead, extending from Agat Town south to Bangi Point, the enemy attempted a counter attack in the early morning of July 21, which was thrown back. In retreating the enemy left behind five tanks and approximately 270 dead.
Initial beachheads on Guam Island were established immediately above and immediately below Orote Peninsula. Troops of the 3rd Marine Division landed on the northern beach. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade landed in the south. Following the initial assault landings, elements of the 77th Infantry Division, USA, were landed in support of the Marines.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 22, 1944)
Yanks drive to cut off peninsula and airfield; Jap resistance increases
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer
…
Allies wreck 14 German tanks as mud, rain bogs down British offensive near Caen
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Gestapo kills general in France
London, England –
A report reached certain Allied intelligence quarters today that a serious conflict between Nazi SS troops and the German Army over the recent Oradour-sur-Glane massacre resulted in the assassination of a German general. The unidentified general was reported assassinated by the Gestapo. He had gone to investigate the massacre when intercepted by Gestapo agents, the report said.
SHAEF, London, England –
Allied armies knocked out 14 German tanks yesterday in repulsing two futile counterthrusts mounted despite heavy rain which stalled the British push across the Caen plains toward Paris, it was officially announced today.
The limited counterattacks were repulsed south of Saint-André-sur-Orne below Caen and along the Périers–Saint-Lô highway south of Remilly-sur-Lozon.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s shortest communiqué of the French campaign said today that “there is nothing to report,” and late in the day the word at Supreme Headquarters was the same.
A spokesman revealed that Gen. Paul Hausser, old-line Prussian officer, was commanding the German 7th Army facing the Americans in Normandy.
The German Transocean News Agency reported that the British had massed more than 10 divisions east of the Orne River, were moving up still more troops, and a “new major assault seems imminent.” The enemy report, lacking any immediate support in responsible quarters, said artillery fire was already increasing east of Caen but “the expected new attack has not yet started.”
British and Canadian forces waited in foxholes, trenches and ditches half-filled with water on an arc extending nearly five miles beyond Caen for clearing skies to resume their march toward Paris, 112 miles to the east.
Ground fog and low-flying clouds further immobilized operations and front reports told only of occasional artillery and mortar fire and routine limited patrols. Virtually all planes were grounded.
Desultory clashes were reported at Troarn, seven miles east of Caen, with the British vanguards in the outskirts and about 1,000 yards north of the town. South of Caen, the British were established firmly in Saint-André-sur-Orne, four miles down the Orne River, but headquarters retracted a previous announcement that they had taken Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay, a few hundred yards farther south.
A London broadcast said that “half of Troarn” was still in German hands, but the “fighting is going well for us.”
On the western half of the front, the U.S. 1st Army inched to within 4,000 yards north of Périers, made slight gains at several points south of the Périers–Saint-Lô highway and won positions 1,500 yards west of the Vire River four miles northwest of Saint-Lô.
CIO, South, bosses rally behind ticket
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Chicago, Illinois –
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was off today on his fourth-term campaign with running mate No. 3 after a bruising final session of the Democratic National Convention which rejected Vice President Henry A. Wallace and nominated Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO) for his job.
Mr. Roosevelt’s first running mate was John Nance Garner of Texas, who was elected Vice President in 1932 and 1936 and then broke with the President.
The Democratic nominees plan a late campaign, conforming to Mr. Roosevelt’s standard and effective practice. Neither is expected to begin major speeches until late September or October.
Senator Truman appears to have been the handpicked choice of the President, whose wishes were carried out here by a strategy board consisting of half a dozen men. Top honors for beating down the effort of left-wingers and others to keep Mr. Wallace on the ticket goes to National Committee Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, a 40-year-old from St. Louis who was chosen by Mr. Roosevelt to administer party affairs.
Senator Truman, nominated yesterday for Vice President about 24 hours after Mr. Roosevelt was named for a fourth term, is a second term member of the Senate who is chairman of the committee investigating munitions production and contracts. He is reckoned to have saved for the taxpayers a great many millions of dollars which might have been spent to no purpose.
Mr. Wallace was ahead on the first ballot, 429½ to 319½.
Stampede gets started
The remainder of the votes were scattered among other candidates, most of whom had been nominated to provide various state delegations with safe places to cast their votes pending some indication who might be the winner.
The Wallace drive began collapsing on the second ballot when little Delaware switched to give its full eight votes to Senator Truman. When Maryland was reached on the roll call, the delegation abandoned favorite-son Governor Herbert R. O’Conor to give Senator Truman 18 more votes.
Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr then withdrew from the race and the state’s 22 votes went to Senator Truman. Virginia switched her 24 from Senator John R. Bankhead (D-AL) to the Missourian. By that time, the stampede was on and states were clamoring for a chance to change their votes.
A close contest
But even with the changes effected during the roll call, Senator Truman and Mr. Wallace were only three and a half votes apart when the last delegate was polled and before changes began being made for the record. Senator Truman had 477½ votes at the end of the roll call and Mr. Wallace had 473. Eleven other candidates were still in the contest at that time, but not for long.
By the time all the changes had been announced, the score, subject to minor correction, was:
| Truman | 1074 |
| Wallace | 66 |
| Cooper | 26 |
| Douglas | 4 |
| Absent | 6 |
Only 589 votes were required for a bare nominating majority.
Behind those figures is a story of angry disputes which foretells trouble for the New Deal-Democratic coalition. The strain of conflicting interests was evidenced in bitter language and boos in the convention yesterday.
Goes back four years
The story goes back to four years ago in the same stadium when Mr. Roosevelt compelled the sullenly reluctant 1940 Democratic Convention to accept Mr. Wallace as its vice-presidential nominee. That compulsion angered the south but was made effective with the support of the big northern Democratic organizations controlled by Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly, Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, Pennsylvania’s David Lawrence, and others.
This year, the big organization leaders balked. On the advice of his associates or under their pressure, Mr. Roosevelt failed this time to insist on Mr. Wallace.
He said he would vote for him if he were a delegate. But he also advised National Committee Chairman Robert E. Hannegan that he would welcome either Mr. Truman or Mr. Douglas on the ticket, explaining that he thought either would add strength.
A bitter session
It was a bitter session beginning at noon and ending at 8:21 p.m. CT. The moment the results were announced most of the principals began to move again toward unity, especially Sidney Hillman of the CIO. Mr. Wallace and Mr. Hillman both sent congratulatory messages to Senator Truman.
The rebellious South will go along with Senator Truman – a factor which makes persuasive the argument that the Missouri Senator was the man Mr. Roosevelt wanted from the first, despite his letter saying he would vote for Mr. Wallace. Much of the South was bitterly opposed to Mr. Wallace. Party members from that region expressed fears here that organized labor, notably the CIO, might take over the party if Mr. Wallace were renominated. They wanted a Southerner for Vice President but compromised on Senator Truman because he could lick the Vice President here with Mr. Roosevelt’s support.
So, it will be President Roosevelt and Senator Truman against Tom Dewey and John Bricker this November. Mr. Roosevelt is 62 and Mr. Truman is 60. Governor Dewey is 42 and Governor Bricker is 50.
Oh yeah, I forgot today was when the Soviets liberated the first extermination camp.
I’ll transcribe that article soon 
Senator managers to keep state from riding front seat on Truman bandwagon
By Kermit McFarland, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
Chicago, Illinois –
The CIO took a licking, politically, in the Democratic Convention which ended here last night, but it and Senator Joseph F. Guffey managed to hold off the Pennsylvania delegation long enough to keep their intramural rivals from riding a front seat in the Truman bandwagon.
The defeat of Vice President Henry A. Wallace was a serious blow to Senator Guffey’s political self-respect, as well as it was to the political potency of the CIO.
But the fact that the Pennsylvania delegation failed to time its conversion to Senator Harry S. Truman’s nomination served to diminish somewhat the prestige accumulated by Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence by his long and arduous efforts on behalf of the Missouri Senator.
On the second ballot for the vice-presidential nomination, which Senator Truman carried, the original Pennsylvania vote stood 46 for Mr. Wallace to 24 for Mr. Truman – two of the 72 delegates being absent.
On this original count, Senator Truman only had 477½ votes, while Mr. Wallace polled 475, the rest being scattered among sundry favorite sons. Then the favorite-son delegations began to switch to the Missouri Senator.
But Pennsylvania remained silent. Among the delegates and in the press row, they began to think of the 1940 Republican Convention, when the Pennsylvania delegation missed the Willkie bandwagon.
It was West Virginia which really sank the final shot for Mr. Truman. When the Mountaineer State’s delegation changed its second ballot vote by switching 13 votes for Mr. Wallace and Senator John H. Bankhead to Senator Truman, the nomination was clinched.
Twelve other states had changed over before Senator Guffey himself, usurping the floor microphone from the delegation’s chairman, former Judge John H. Wilson of Butler, arose to move that the nomination be made unanimous. He was ruled out of order. Eight more states shifted and Mr. Guffey got up again, this time to record 72 Pennsylvania votes for Mr. Truman.
By that time, Senator Truman had 350½ votes – only 589 were needed for the nomination.
Massachusetts saves them
On the first ballot, Pennsylvania voted 48½ to 23½ for Mr. Wallace against Senator Truman. This resulted from a closed caucus taken just after the nominating speeches were completed.
Right there, in fact, Pennsylvania almost missed the boat, as per the Republicans in 1940. The roll call was well underway while the Pennsylvanians were in caucus. But a poll of the Massachusetts delegation took so long that the Pennsylvania delegation managed to untangle its caucus confusion and scramble back to the auditorium in time to register the vote.
Scully switches
On this first ballot, delegates voting for Mr. Wallace included Senator Guffey, his sister Mrs. Emma Guffey Miller, CIO President Philip Murray, Attorney General Francis Biddle, Clerk of Courts John J. McLean, McKeesport Mayor Frank Buchanan, Register of Wills John M. Huston, Coroner William B. McClelland, Record of Deeds Anthony J. Gerard (an alternate voting for delegate Marguerite McNaughton, who was absent), Irwin D. Wolf, and Mayor Cornelius D. Scully.
Voting for Mr. Truman were County Commissioner John J. Kane, Postmaster General Frank C. Walker, Mr. Lawrence, County Commissioner George Rankin, chief clerk of the City Public Safety Department Edward D. Johnson, and City Treasurer James P. Kirk.
On the second ballot, Mr. Scully switched to Senator Truman, while Matthew H. McCloskey, Philadelphia contractor and a delegate-at-large, changed his half-vote from Mr. Truman to Mr. Wallace. This made a net change of a half-vote in the Pennsylvania delegation.
Kane seconds Truman
Prior to the first caucus, Mr. Kane had made a seconding speech for Senator Truman and Mrs. Miller had seconded the nomination of Mr. Wallace.
In his speech, delivered extemporaneously, Commissioner Kane declared:
We didn’t have to come to Chicago to learn about the greatness of Senator Truman. We learned about him by following his record.
We had a wholesome respect for the splendid contribution he made to the protection of our sons and daughters in the fighting forces all over the world.
Mr. Kane referred to the senatorial committee investigating the war effort, which Senator Truman heads.
The commissioner said the Missouri Senator had “made the greatest contribution toward the protection of the Armed Forces of any man in the United States.”
Mrs. Miller, in her praise of Mr. Wallace, said:
As a thoroughgoing Democrat, I never have been one to accept the advice of the reactionary Republicans when it comes to nominating Democratic candidates. Neither have I been an advocate of appeasement. No party nor government ever gained thereby.
This was a crack at the chief Truman backers whom the Wallace forces called “reactionaries.”
Sees Republican plot
Mrs. Miller said:
The knees of the Old Gray Mare of Pennsylvania [meaning herself] may have grown stiff from a quarter century of service, but she still knows which road to take to victory. And that road is the road of positive and active liberalism from which the standpat and machine Republicans are not attempting to drive the Democratic candidate for the Vice Presidency [Mr. Wallace].
When the opposition saw how successful he was [as Secretary of Agriculture], they immediately set about through Republican-controlled farm organizations and papers to thwart and ruin his plans. We Pennsylvania Democrats know this to be a fact, for Joe Pew, the high priest of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, has spent millions toward this end.
Its eight votes switched to Senator only drop in bucket, but nobody stuck finger in dike
How they climbed on Truman bandwagon
Before changes After changes Truman 477½ 1032 Wallace 473 104 Cooper 26 26 Barkley 40 6 Douglas 1 4 McNutt 28 1 Lucas 38 0 Broughton 30 0 Bankhead 23½ 0 O’Mahoney 8 0 Pepper 3 0 Kerr 1 0 Absent 7 3 — — — TOTAL 1176 1176
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Nobody knew it then, but the trickle that became the flood was tiny Delaware’s eight votes.
On the first ballot, Delaware cast its then-not-particularly-precious eight votes for Vice President Henry A. Wallace. In that first ballot, the Democratic Convention gave Wallace 429½ votes for renomination – far short of the 589 required, but still a handsome testament.
Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO), the man who seemed to be a great many delegates’ second choice, got 319½ votes, and the dope was that – if certain states did what was expected – he might win, if the Wallace people weakened, on maybe the third or fourth ballot.
Senator Truman himself said, “No,” as loudly as Senator Truman ever says “No,” when somebody asked him if he had a chance to win on the second ballot.
Breach is widened
So, the second ballot started at 6:49 p.m. CT, and the history of the first ballot was repeated until undersized Delaware came along. Here and there an eyebrow went up when Delaware’s chairman announced, “Delaware casts eight votes for Truman.” But eight votes are only a drop in the bucket at political conventions.
At any rate, nobody stuck his finger in the dike, and 11 states later the breach widened when Maryland, switching from Governor Herbert R. O’Conor, its first-ballot favorite, cast 18 votes for Truman.
Still nobody knew it, but the damage was done. Oklahoma followed Maryland’s suit and, dropping her man, Governor Robert S. Kerr, tossed 22 hefty second-ballot voted to the Missourian.
No candidate has majority
With the end of the poll a long way off, somewhere between Oklahoma and Vermont, Senator Truman edged into a precarious, indecisive lead over Wallace. After Vermont, the count stood at 365 for Wallace and 367 for Truman.
Even then, the Wallace people didn’t guess what was happening to them. nor did the Truman forces know that they were in. True, Virginia switched her 24 votes from Senator John H. Bankhead (D-AL) to Truman. But 24 plus 367 was still far from the 589 votes required for nomination.
The balloting went on to the end with the Virgin Islands, last on the list, casting its two votes for Wallace. No candidate had a majority, and the bulletin went out that the second ballot, like the first, had ended without a decision.
Mississippi tipoff
But before the count reached the Virgin Islands, something had happened which had a profound effect upon the jury. On the roll call of the states, Mississippi had passed. Later, while the count was still proceeding, Mississippi swiped a second or two over the loudspeaker to announce that it now wanted to throw all of its 20 votes, previously cast for Bankhead, to Truman.
The chairman said Mississippi was out of order and would have to wait until the roll call was finished to announce its stand. But the other states, particularly the other Southern states, had got the idea.
Alabama switches
Hardly had the word gone out that the second ballot had failed to produce a candidate – the count standing at 477½ for Truman and 473 for Wallace – when Alabama changed its vote to 22 for Truman and two for Wallace.
At almost the same time, the Indiana delegation withdrew the name of Paul V. McNutt from the contest. Two minutes later, Maine upped its Truman count, and the flood was on.
In a space of three minutes, 11 states revised their vote in favor of Truman. Eleven minutes after Alabama started the bandwagon rush, a bulletin cleared announcing that the Democratic National Convention had nominated Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri for Vice President.
Claims ‘victory’ in liberalism’s advance
Wallace wires his congratulations
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Vice President Henry Wallace sent a telegram of congratulations last to Senator Harry S. Truman, the man the Democratic Convention selected to succeed him as Mr. Roosevelt’s political partner.Text of the telegram:
Congratulations upon your enlarged opportunity to help the President and the people. Both of us will do our maximum for Roosevelt and for what Roosevelt stands.
Sincerely,
HENRY A. WALLACE
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Henry A. Wallace today proclaimed himself a happy loser in his unsuccessful fight for renomination as vice President because, he said, the cause for which he really was fighting – liberalism – was advanced.
And most observers believed he was sincere in the statement.
Mr. Wallace will give up his job as Vice President Jan. 20. What he plans to do after Jan. 20 is problematical. Guesses are that he will go back to Iowa and resume his career, interrupted 12 years ago when he went to Washington to become Secretary of Agriculture, as editor of a farm paper.
He still has his adoring faith in President Roosevelt, whom he regards as the Western world’s mainstay of liberalism, despite some charges that Mr. Roosevelt scuttled him during the convention.
Will support ticket
He declared:
Of course, I’ll support Roosevelt and Truman in the campaign. Mr. Roosevelt is the symbol of liberalism in the Western world; he must be supported in the war, and in the emergencies that come with the peace.
His own defeat in the convention? That’s not important, he said, recalling that when he first reached Chicago last Tuesday he said, what happens to me, personally, is unimportant.”
No loss to cause
Smiling broadly and brushing aside a graying lock and hair that fell toward one eye, Mr. Wallace said:
My own defeat is not a loss to the cause of liberalism. That is obvious in what happened here at the convention – in all that happened at the convention.
He remembered the throngs of younger people who filed into his Sherman Hotel headquarters, the thousands who almost stampeded the convention Thursday night with the chant of “We Want Wallace.”
Demonstration his victory
Mr. Wallace told those youngsters who he said were liberals:
The ovations you give me are not for me personally. I know that. I know that in me you find a concentration of the liberalism for which you fight, the liberalism that’s now on the march like a fresh new wind blowing across the nation.
The “demonstration for liberalism” that swept the stadium was Wallace’s victory in his convention fight, he believes. He was so satisfied with that “victory” that he stayed in his hotel rooms throughout yesterday’s balloting for the Vice Presidency.
Sleeps during oratory
He even fell asleep during the height of the pre-voting oratory and slept through the first half of the balloting itself which a group of personal friends heard on a radio in his adjoining sitting room. Eventually he joined those friends and listened for a short time to the roll call. He was leading Truman then, and he went back to his bedroom and lay on his bed again.
Finally, the radio reports indicated Senator Truman had won. Without waiting for the official announcement, Mr. Wallace called in newspapermen who had “covered” him here and told them that he was “very happy about it.”
His immediate plans call for a trip to his Iowa home. He leaves Chicago today. After a brief rest in Iowa, he will return to his Washington office to get back to work as Vice President.
Fifth Army also closes on Florence
By James E. Roper, United Press staff writer
…
Washington trying to avoid wishful thinking, but believe reports are good omen
By Reuel S. Moore, United Press staff writer
…
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The removal of Col. Egbert White as director of the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, in the Mediterranean area, may bring to a head the issue of what political news should be presented to overseas soldiers. It is reported from Algiers that he was relieved of command “because of differences with higher officials over political censorship,” and the dispatch refers to a New York Herald-Tribune news article on coverage of the Republican National Convention by service papers.
Col. White was trying to get more facts about political events into the Stars and Stripes. He lost his post for a cause that should have the support of every American who believes in a free press.
The Herald-Tribune correspondent in Rome pointed out that the Stars and Stripes report of Governor Dewey’s speech contained very little about his criticism of domestic policies, for the Psychological Warfare Service, one of the news sources, deleted all comment by the Republican candidate on the administration’s conduct of home affairs. The Army News Service, another source, carried a curtailed report on these points in the Dewey speech, and this was included “to get the idea across that the Republicans disapproved of the way the country was being run.”
Such political censorship is, of course, intolerable. Every American at home hears both sides of the campaign arguments, and surely the millions of men overseas are entitled to the same privilege. It is true that some of this electioneering, by both sides, will be biased, but surely men in foreign service can be trusted to exercise as much discrimination about accepting it as civilians or men in military camps at home.
The overseas men are legal voters. Why should they be denied the full information, for both sides of the political fence, that is required for casting an intelligent vote?
The law forbids the sending of biased news to soldier newspapers, but it makes clear that this does not apply to the statements of political personages. If overzealous officials at home are trying to blue-pencil unfavorable comments about the administration, it is up to Army editors to protest vigorously. The home front, Democrats as well as Republicans, will support them if they do.
By E. C. Shepherd
London, England –
The effectiveness of close support by intense heavy bombing gives fresh significance to Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s dictum that the air battle must be won before the land battle can begin.
Close support of heavy bombers helped to admit the Allied forces into Caen and, intensified, has helped the Allies to break out of Caen to the open ground to the south. The 1,000 heavy RAF bombers that opened the bombardment at dawn on July 18 encountered no fighter opposition, nor did most of the bombers during the morning.
The Germans had 500 or 600 fighters within range of the fighting. They have of late sent them out on patrol in packs of 40 and 50 but have generally avoided combat. If they still refuse battle, the Germans must expect to see their troops driven from one defensive position after another by such a bombardment as no artillery concentration has yet been able to produce.
If the Luftwaffe accepts the challenge and seeks to protect its troops from the heavy bombers next time, it can heave no guarantee that its fighter force will not be reduced to impotence. The Americans have learned in brilliant operations over Germany how to guard heavy bombers from fighter attacks and the RAF has been taking tips from them on the best method of employing fighter escorts for heavy bombers.
The Germans seem to have underestimated the possible power of close support by heavy bombers. Apparently, they expected the main close support to be given the Allied troops by their fighter-bombers.
Planes pave way for troops
The Allied air arm has been brought in to pry the German troops from their prepared positions and open the way from the Allies’ mobile land forces. This weighty form of close support came, not from local bases, but from stations in Britain against which the German Army can do nothing.
Apart from anti-aircraft fire, air defense of the orthodox kind is the only answer to this massive development in close support. The Germans, lacking adequate fighter defense, must expect it to continue.
We are entitled even at this early stage to doubt their ability to defeat or seriously, modify it. We can expect the big bomber radically to change the nature of battles, being justified in regarding it as suitable for use in close support of troops wherever air superiority has been established. It is usable with such a devastating effect in breaking defensive positions that it is likely to become an essential part of the barrage which usually opens an attack.
Two of the chief purposes which heavy bombers have thus far served far exceed the original idea of making troops “keep their heads down” while tanks and infantry go forward. Already the close support of heavy bombers has been scientifically directed to breaking the enemy’s strongest points and obstructing roads along which help might be brought to his forward positions.
New bombing technique
By bringing the whole technique of precision night bombing to this task Britain’s heavy bombers have made heavy and close support possible. They have been able to take on targets on the battlefield without endangering the lives of the adjacent British troops.
They have introduced a bombing method whereby an enormous weight of explosives can be put down on prescribed objectives in a short time without having to send over bombers in close formations which give flak its best chance. They have armed themselves by using bright-burning ground flares as target indicators with a means of identifying targets through smoke and dust.
In the dawn attack which opened the battle south of Caen, Britain’s heavy bombers sent down 5,000 tons of bombs in 40 minutes on targets nominated by the Army. No other means could have accomplished this.
Tired troops win tough battle
By James McGlincy, United Press staff writer
U.S. 1st Army HQ, Normandy, France –
The U.S. 29th Division, one of the first combat units to go overseas, was in the forefront of the Allied invasion of Normandy, and it was that former National Guard outfit which captured Saint-Lô after days of almost continuous fighting, it may now be revealed.
All the accolades that can be given troops should be given the 29th Division which fought until its men were exhausted, until it seemed impossible that men could stand on their feet any longer, until it seemed they finally must give in and withdraw from the lines.
But they didn’t give in, and they didn’t withdraw in spite of the losses they took. They fought until there was nothing except their stout hearts to keep them driving. Their bodies were tired, but still they had that spark left which makes men fight when they no longer know why they are fighting.
The 29th Division arrived in England in October 1942. A National Guard outfit, the division was composed originally of men from Maryland and Virginia, with a sprinkling of boys from Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, but eventually they got all kinds of replacements until now the outfit includes men from all parts of the nation.
After rigorous training in Britain for 20 months, they finally got the assignment for which they were prepared.
And in carrying out that assignment, they wrote a battle epic which, when the full story can be told, will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time.