America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

9107

americavotes1944

CIO-PAC leaders boast of vast organization

Real powerhouse of 4th term activity is confident of registering 14 million voters’
By Henry J. Taylor, Scripps-Howard staff writer

New York –
How the CIO Political Action Committee operates its $3-million slush fund and how its chief, Sidney Hillman, kept Henry A. Wallace in the vice-presidential race is the kind of thing you can learn in hotel rooms and Pullman cars when the CIO kingpins are in a mood for talking.

My education began in a talk with Mr. Hillman at his Democratic Convention headquarters just after the convention ended and continued in a Twentieth Century Limited club-car eulogy by Richard Roman, Hillman press chief.

Mr. Roman said:

Political Action is clicking because the PAC boys have the knowhow. After the bloody battles fought for industrial unionization, political organization is a picnic.

Recall fight in organize

Mr. Hillman who pyramided a Lithuanian darning needle into a multi-million-dollar union czarship and a comfortable seat in White House inner circles, recalls as really tough “the fights against fanatics for the ‘open-shop’ and company unions, yellow-dog scabs bought by company money, crooked police as in the Indiana steel riots, and sometimes even against state militia.”

But in the political field, who is to stop the quick-thinking boys with the tried and tested knowhow? As long as nobody in a democracy stops voters from voting, they claim, nobody’s going to stop them from organizing the vote and supporting anyone they please.

Mr. Hillman, the “yes” and “no” man at the convention and already the real powerhouse of fourth-term activity, will tell you to figure it out for yourself. Or you can roll along in club-car comfort and listen to Richard Roman.

Bosses lacked vision

Mr. Roman explains:

In America, political bosses never really saw the picture in terms of mobilizing the masses. They didn’t have any imagination, and they didn’t understand much beyond turkeys at Christmas.

Even earlier setups like the IWW and labor’s Non-Partisan League only nibbled at the edge of mass action. To really get rolling in political action you need dynamic thinking. You’ve got to spread wide, solidify and hit hard. That’s new in American politics. The Democratic Party is 140 years old. We’re only one year old, so what’s the answer? As Mr. Hillman says, it’s the knowhow.

The CIO-PAC, with headquarters in New York operates through union officers in plants in every industrial community. A hundred thousand shop stewards are the hard core of Mr. Hillman’s technique. They are the immediate, hour-by-hour bosses of five million subordinate union members working under them.

No money worries

They receive and distribute political literature in seven languages, get running reports on the votes of Congressmen and on what the dynamic PAC thinkers think of each vote.

They are told whom to go down the line for at each municipal, state and national election. The money flows in with the greatest of ease, collected by the 100,000 stewards and by inter-union contributions. The present money-raising slogan is “A Buck for Roosevelt – Our Friend.”

PAC leaders already have more cash in their treasury than the Republican and Democratic parties combined. “Money doesn’t worry us,” says Mr. Roman.

New registration technique

The clincher for getting out the right kind of vote resulted from another piece of “dynamic thinking.” Mr. Hillman’s study of state election laws revealed that in many states, statutes do not specifically require a citizen to go to the registration place to register. The PAC decided it could legally bring the place to the registrant, and is doing so in a big way.

PAC stewards set up registration outfits inside the factories, opposite the timeclocks. Outgoing workers are checked through the registration booths, one by one.

Mr. Roman explains:

This is in the country’s interest. Mr. Hillman keeps saying it is a patriotic duty to vote. That’s the basis of the Democratic system. Isn’t it? And besides we help the war effort by saving our workers’ time.

Will register 14 million

Spokesman Roman said:

Inside the factories and around the towns this fall, we’ll register 14 million workers, 600,000 in New York City alone. Only last night Senator Pepper agreed publicly that working with us in Florida gave him the biggest turnout he ever had in the industrial centers. Everybody knows what we did in Pennsylvania for Senator Guffey. Wait until you see what we do for FDR.

He was asked:

What about what you weren’t able to do for Henry Wallace in the convention? Some say Hillman’s support even hurt him.

Mr. Roman laughed. He said:

The day before Mr. Wallace came to Chicago, he telephoned Mr. Hillman there and said he couldn’t figure where he had more than 205 votes on the first ballot. Henry Wallace was ready to withdraw. He had prepared a statement and read it to Mr. Hillman. He planned to have it read from the platform, thank his helpers, release his delegates and kiss the boys goodbye.

Now, Mr. Hillman didn’t like this idea at all. He showed Wallace where we had an additional 200 delegates from him controlled by our men, although Mr. Hillman didn’t want to show his hand so early. He told Wallace he could guarantee him over 400 votes at the kickoff. Charlie Michaelson is working with us and he confirmed this to Wallace.

Wallace agreed to come to Chicago and try to pick up the rest himself. How badly did we hurt him? Sidney Hillman is the man who kept Wallace in the race.

9108

americavotes1944

Perkins: Democrat-CIO tie-up to help GOP strategy

AFL resentment may split labor vote
By Fred W. Perkins, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
Republican plans to drive a wedge in the organized labor vote and to produce an approximate balance which might swing the November election got a shot in the arm from the events in the Democratic conventions.

The obvious plan is to encourage belief among leaders and members of the American Federation of Labor that if President Roosevelt is elected again, the CIO will be more firmly anchored as a political partner of the administration, and thus in position to expect more of the governmental favors about which the AFL has already complained publicly.

The factor on which the Republicans are counting is the tie-up of the CIO with the Democratic ticket, making it apparent that a Dewey victory would leave the AFL in more favorable position than if Mr. Roosevelt goes in again.

AFL suspicious of CIO

Although some AFL leaders and a number of local organizations are backing Mr. Roosevelt, the existence of a Republican chance for votes among the 6,500,000 claimed members of the AFL was shown by the watchful eye which AFL leaders kept on CIO activities in Chicago.

What some AFL leaders think of their politically active rivals is indicated by an article in the AFL News Service. Answering the question, “How much weight will the CIO Political Action Committee swing in the November elections?”, Philip Pearl, AFL publicist, wrote:

It’s hard for the public to tell because the PAC is a rather tricky outfit. Already it has gone underground and left a new organization to front for it, called the National Citizens’ Political Action Committee.

This is in accordance with the typical Communist technique. 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.

The AFL article continued:

But a more practical reasons 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 enough to give any outfit a black eye.

This article also asserted:

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.

UMW attacks

Republicans believe that such ideas, if accepted widely among the rank-and-file AFL membership, would produce a real split.

The CIO and its political views and works are under steady attack in the publications of the United Mine Workers, whose president, John L. Lewis, will make an effort in a September convention to convince the half-million coalminers that their interests do not lie with the political leader they have followed in three elections.

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9109

americavotes1944

Stokes: Democrats try to please all but nobody’s quite happy

Concessions made to various groups intended to keep party from falling apart
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
The Democratic Party goes into the campaign tossing “asides” to Right and Left – spelled with capital letters – like a character in an old-fashioned melodrama.

In its ticket, its platform and otherwise, it made compromises to try to hold together, for another election, a party vehicle that is beginning to fall apart.

Party leaders, operating under orders from President Roosevelt, threw concessions here and there, like fading bouquets. Everybody got something, but nobody is quite happy.

The South was gratified at the dropping of Vice President Henry Wallace, which was relished the more because they were permitted to kill him off in the public arena. Pleasing to the South, too, was the omission in the platform of a specific indictment of the poll tax and a declaration for granting the vote to the Negroes in the South, although they protested mildly at even the generalized form of the plank.

Texas still raging

Mississippi and South Carolina seem to be back in the fold. But Texas is still out, rampant and raging. And there is talk of promoting a third party in the South to rally about Senator Byrd of Virginia if he will permit it – which is doubtful.

Negro organization leaders resented the appeasement of the Southerners by failure to condemn various restrictions and discriminations by name, as had the Republicans, and in the ousting of the Vice President, whom they recognize as a champion. The chief hope of the Democrats to hold a substantial part of the Negro vote is that the proven interest of President and Mrs. Roosevelt in their welfare may outweigh the clear-cut commitments by the Republicans.

CIO discouraged

Staunch New Dealers and labor lost Henry Wallace, but in Senator Harry S. Truman they got a much more acceptable second man than they might have if the Southerners and conservatives had gotten their full head.

But CIO leaders and the rank and file were discouraged over the outcome of the convention, more so, perhaps, than the facts warranted. For at this, the first convention since creation of their political agency – the CIO Political Action Committee – they did very well, all in all.

They still have much to learn about politics, although they are progressing fast. They lost their best trading point when they came out for President Roosevelt well ahead of the convention and upon this the President capitalized in his calculations.

Gesture of appeasement

The easing out of Vice President Wallace was a gesture of appeasement to businessmen and middle-class folks from whom Democrats expect to attract votes this year on account of the war, but who were represented as likely to refuse to vote for the President if Mr. Wallace were kept in the line of succession to the White House.

There’s a lot of talk about this group and its hostility to the Vice President. How large it is no one seems to know. It is just possible, of course – and this is one of the risks of political compromise – that it might be offset by workers who might stay away from the polls due to the rejection of Mr. Wallace, either through indifference or because of the failure of CIO political organizers to be as zealous as they would if he were on the ticket.

9110

americavotes1944

Dewey aides plan session in city

Pawling, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, returns to Albany today after a weekend at his farm to complete the program he will place before the GOP Governors’ Conference at St. Louis Aug. 2 and 3.

He devoted most of the weekend to preparing an agenda for the conference. It included post-war reconversion, unemployment insurance, taxation and relief for returning soldiers.

Mr. Dewey and his running mate, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, will put the finishing touches to the program at a conference in Albany Wednesday. Governor and Mrs. Bricker will be overnight guests at the Executive Mansion.

En route to St. Louis, Mr. Dewey will stop at Pittsburgh to meet with Pennsylvania Congressmen and experts on labor, business and agriculture. He declined to say whether John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine workers, would attend the Pittsburgh meeting.

Mr. Dewey said Hamilton Gaddis, his assistant secretary, and Douglas Mode, attached to the Republican National Committee, are already in Pittsburgh making arrangements for the meeting.

9111

Pearson: Germany will quit in ‘few weeks’

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Tragedy blocks little girl’s visit to zoo

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9112

Völkischer Beobachter (July 25, 1944)

Schwere Enttäuschung im Feindlager –
Normandie-Offensive zusammengebrochen

Verlegenes Ausredegeschwätz der Anglo-Amerikaner

ka. Stockholm, 24. Juli –
Die zu Anfang der vergangenen Woche mit einem ungeheuren Aufwand an Material begonnene Offensive Montgomerys in der Normandie, die zu einem entscheidenden Durchbruch durch die deutschen Stellungen führen und den Engländern und Amerikanern endlich den Weg nach Paris öffnen sollte, ist restlos zusammengebrochen. Dies ist das Fazit über die Kämpfe der letzten Tage, das man heute in London zu ziehen gezwungen ist.

Die Offensive, so meldet der Kriegskorrespondent des Daily Express, begann am Dienstag, wurde am Mittwoch und Donnerstag immer matter und wurde am Freitag völlig gestoppt. Es sei ein peinlicher Überraschungsschluss für eine spannende Woche gewesen. Welches Gewicht man dabei auf die Offensive gelegt hatte, geht daraus hervor, daß sie, wie Stockholms Tidningen berichtet, mit dem furchtbarsten Luftbombardement eingeleitet wurde, das die Militärgeschichte je gesehen hat, und daß zu ihrem Beginn ein Sonderkommuniqué andeutete, daß es jetzt den großen Schlag gegen Rommel gelte. In dem erwähnten Bericht des Daily Express wird betont, daß niemals eine Offensive mit einer vollkommeneren Zusammenarbeit zwischen Luftwaffe, Artillerie, Panzern und Infanterie eingeleitet worden sei. Innerhalb der ersten zehn Kilometer sei alles mustergültig verlaufen, aber dann sei die Offensive ins Stocken geraten. Das Überraschungsmoment sei verbraucht gewesen, Rommel habe seine Kräfte umgruppiert und man habe kein Dorf mehr erobert, während die Deutschen sich in neuen Stellungen eingegraben hätten.

Der Kriegskorrespondent des Daily Express hat nach diesem offensichtlichen Fiasko das begreifliche Bedürfnis gehabt, eine Erklärung für den Zusammenbruch der Offensive zu bekommen, und sich an einen höheren Offizier gewandt. Der gab ihm auf seine Frage die verblüffende Antwort, das Ziel dieser Offensive sei nicht gewesen, Gelände zu gewinnen, sondern Deutsche zu töten. Wenn einmal die deutschen Armeen in der Normandie vernichtet seien, sei es verhältnismäßig leicht, Frankreich zu erobern – So sieht also die Trostpille aus, die man jetzt den Unzufriedenen im Lande reicht, nachdem der Misserfolg nicht mehr zu verheimlichen ist. Es bleibt nur die Frage, ob man nicht durch die Folge von blutigen und vergeblichen Offensiven die eigenen Armeen vernichtet, statt diejenigen der Deutschen.

Auch auf amerikanischer Seite hat man das Bedürfnis, das immer deutlicher zutage tretende Fiasko vor der Öffentlichkeit zu entschuldigen, wobei man aber gleichzeitig eingestehen muß, daß die festgesetzte Zeittabelle längst über den Haufen geworfen ist. Höhere amerikanische Offiziere sind in Äußerungen gegenüber dem Reuters-Korrespondenten deutlich von der in England und Amerika herrschenden Einstellung abgerückt, daß das offenherzige Eingeständnis der Alliierten, hinter der ursprünglichen Zeittabelle zurück zu sein, ein Zeichen für unzufriedenstellende Fortschritte in Frankreich sei. Sie gäben zwar zu, daß die amerikanischen Truppen keineswegs so weit gekommen sind, wie es nach den Invasionsplänen der Fall sein müsste, erklären aber diese Pläne nachträglich für reine Theorie. Man habe eben nicht wissen können, was die Deutschen alles täten, um der Invasion zu begegnen. Wenn sich die Deutschen dazu entschlossen hätten, sich zurückzuziehen und weiter innen im Lande zu kämpfen, dann wäre auch das Vorrücken der Amerikaner schneller vor sich gegangen.

Diese strategische Weisheit verdient wirklich festgehalten zu werden. Sie umfasst ein solches Eingeständnis der eigenen Unfähigkeit und der Abhängigkeit von den Maßnahmen der deutschen Heeresführung, daß es darüber hinaus keines Wortes mehr bedarf, um darzulegen, wer Herr der Lage in der Normandie geblieben ist.

9113

Rundfunkansprache General Koisos –
Japans neuer Weg wird zum Endsieg führen

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9114

Dank vom Hause Roosevelt

Wie zu erwarten war, ist Henry Agard Wallace von der demokratischen Wahlkonvention nicht wieder als Kandidat für die Vizepräsidentschaft aufgestellt worden. Roosevelt mußte seinen Gegnern in den Südstaaten der Union ein Zugeständnis machen, und er hat sich leichten Herzens von einem Mann getrennt, in dem er einen unbequemen Wettbewerber im Kampf um die Palme der Demagogie witterte – gewissermaßen einen zweiten Franklin Delano. Denn die Sonntagspredigten des hemmungslos salbadernden Schweinezüchters aus Iowa, der unter dem New Deal als Roosevelts Landwirtschaftsminister die Farmer ruinierte, stammten aus dem gleichen eisernen Bestand, auf den der Herr „Weltpräsident“ selbst immer wieder zurückgreift.

„Warum schuf Gott Amerika?“ So nannte Wallace einst einen Vortrag, in dem er die wildesten Eiertänze aufführte, um das Recht der USA auf Weltherrschaft nachzuweisen. Mit dem alten billigen Puritanerdünkel, den Leuten seines Schlages eigen ist, machte er sich eine Afterphilosophie zurecht, deren Unlogik selbst einen Sextaner erröten lassen müsste, die aber drüben genügt, um den Bastler solcher verworrenen Thesen als Denker von hohen Graden erscheinen zu lassen. Als Minister wusste er sich keinen anderen Rat als die angebliche „Überproduktion“ der nordamerikanischen Landwirtschaft – bei 45 Millionen Unterernährten! – durch Prämien für Brachliegen von Anbauflächen zu stoppen. Das hat ihm namentlich in den baumwollerzeugenden Südstaaten einen üblen Ruf eingetragen.

Roosevelt hat also Ballast abgegeben, und Wallace ging über Bord. Er war der Sonntagsprediger einer Prosperität, die sich aus einer wirtschaftlichen Monopolstellung der USA auf dem ganzen Erdball ergeben soll. Bald pries er eine Ausbeutung Südamerikas in kolonialem Stil als „gute Nachbarschaft“ an, bald redete er von Indien und Südostasien und schließlich von China und den Anrainern des nördlichen Pazifiks, überall sah er nur nach neuen Objekten für den Zwangsabsatz amerikanischer Waren aus. Hier stellte ihm Roosevelt ein Bein: Er schickte ihn nach Tschungking, wo man vergeblich nach Hilfe rief – und Wallace, überzeugt von seiner Unwiderstehlichkeit und Redegabe, griff willig in dieses Wespennest.

Es wurde ein schmerzliches Erlebnis. In Tschungking dürfte ihm aufgedämmert sein, daß man ihn absichtlich mit einer aussichtslosen Aufgabe belastet hatte. Infolge der letzten Siege der Japaner in Mittelchina hatte sich die Lage Tschiangkaischeks weiter verschlechtert. Wallace aber brachte nichts mit als einen Sack Saatgut und große Worte, für die man in Tschungking nichts mehr übrighat. Ein farbloses Kommuniqué schloss den Besuch ab. Umso lauter schwatzte Wallace über seinen weit längeren Aufenthalt in Sibirien, wo ihn die Sowjets mit bestem Erfolg herumgereicht und eingeseift hatten.

Er ist also in der Versenkung verschwunden, und an seine Stelle tritt der knochenharte Geschäftsmann Truman aus Missouri als Kandidat des Südens. Daß Wallace weich fällt, dafür wird schon Sorge getragen werden. Schon vor Jahresfrist war die Rede davon, es solle ein Südamerikaamt geschaffen werden, dass Wallace zugedacht sei. Vielleicht schiebt man ihn auf diesen Posten ab. An der Spitze des Staates aber kann Roosevelt ihn nicht mehr brauchen. Schließlich hat der Dauermieter im Weißen Haus auch den Ruf zu verteidigen, der erste Demagoge und Schönschwätzer der USA zu sein, und so erfuhr Wallace den üblichen Dank vom Haus Roosevelt wie so viele alter Mitglieder dieses Gangs, die der launenhafte Boss in die Wüste geschickt hat, wenn er sich selbst Luft machen musste.

Kp.

9115

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 25, 1944)

Beginn des erwarteten Feindangriffes in der Normandie

Die Nordamerikaner in erbittertem Ringen abgewiesen – Hohe Verluste des Gegners – Große Abwehrschlacht im Osten dauert an

dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 25. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

In der Normandie traten die Nordamerikaner gestern nordwestlich Saint-Lô und südwestlich Carentan nach heftiger Feuervorbereitung und rollenden Luftangriffen mit starken Kräften zum Angriff an. In erbittertem Ringen wurde der Feind unter hohen blutigen Verlusten abgewiesen. In den frühen Morgenstunden des heutigen Tages begannen englische Divisionen im Raum von Caen nach stärkster Artillerie- und Luftwaffenvorbereitung ihren dort erwarteten Angriff. Es entwickelten sich schwere Kämpfe, die laufend an Heftigkeit zunehmen.

In der Nacht griffen schwere Kampfflugzeuge vom Feind belegte Ortschaften im Landekopf, feindliche Bereitstellungen und den Nachschubverkehr mit guter Wirkung an. Im Seegebiet westlich Brest wurde ein feindlicher Zerstörer beschädigt.

Über dem Landekopf und den besetzten Westgebieten verlor der Feind 21 Flugzeuge.

Im französischen Raum wurden bei Säuberungsunternehmen 75 Terroristen Im Kampf niedergemacht.

Das schwere Vergeltungsfeuer auf London hält an.

In Italien führte der Gegner gestern zahlreiche örtliche Angriffe im Raum von Pisa, östlich Pontedera und mit stärkeren Kräften östlich und nordöstlich Poggibonsi sowie nördlich Citta dl Castello. Er wurde überall verlustreich abgewiesen. Nördlich Citta di Castello in unsere Stellungen eingebrochener Feind wurde im Gegenangriff wieder zurückgeworfen.

Deutsche Schnellboote beschädigten vor der dalmatinischen Küste ein britisches Torpedoschnellboot schwer.

Im Osten geht die große Abwehrschlacht zwischen dem oberen Dnjestr und dem Finnischen Meerbusen mit zunehmender Heftigkeit weiter.

In Galizien scheiterten zahlreiche von Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützte Angriffe der Sowjets am zähen Widerstand unserer tapferen Grenadiere. In beweglich geführten Kämpfen warfen Panzerverbände feindliche Angriffsgruppen an mehreren Stellen unter Abschuß zahlreicher Panzer zurück. Im Stadtgebiet von Lemberg wird weiter erbittert gekämpft.

Zwischen Bug und Weichsel dauert der starke feindliche Druck an. Die Besatzung von Lublin leistete dem mit überlegenen Kräften von allen Seiten anstürmenden Feind verbissenen Widerstand. Nordwestlich Brest-Litowsk wurden mehrere Brückenköpfe der Bolschewisten auf dem Westufer des Bug im Gegenangriff beseitigt. Zwischen Bialystok und Grodno sowie nordöstlich Kauen scheiterten alle Durchbruchsversuche der Sowjets in harten Kämpfen.

An der Front von Dünaburg bis zum Finnischen Meerbusen brachen zahlreiche von Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützte Angriffe des Feindes verlustreich zusammen. 56 feindliche Panzer wurden abgeschossen. In einigen Einbruchsstellen sind die Kämpfe noch im Gange.

Die Luftwaffe führte auch gestern mit starken Schlachtfliegerverbänden laufend Tiefangriffe zur Unterstützung der Erdtruppen und vernichtete dabei weitere 59 sowjetische Panzer.

In Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie verlor der Feind 54 Flugzeuge.

In der Nacht waren feindliche Truppenansammlungen und Bereitstellungen im Raum von Lublin das Angriffsziel schwerer Kampfflugzeuge.

Nach Tagesvorstößen feindlicher Jagdflieger in den südwestdeutschen Raum führte ein britischer Bomberverband in der Nacht einen Terrorangriff gegen Stuttgart. Einige feindliche Flugzeuge warfen außerdem Bomben auf Berlin und auf Orte in Ostpreußen. 15 feindliche Flugzeuge wurden abgeschossen.

9116

Europa und die Invasion

Von Hans Watermann

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9117

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 25, 1944)

Communiqué No. 99

An Allied attack began early this morning astride the FALAISE road south of CAEN. First reports indicate that some progress already has been made.

Rail bridges and other communications facilities north of the river LOIRE and west of TOURS were successfully attacked yesterday by our medium and light bombers.

Ammunition and fuel dumps southeast of CAEN and rail targets in the ARRAS and LE MANS areas were attacked by low-flying fighter-bombers.

An enemy cargo ship was damaged by coastal aircraft last evening off the ISLE of GUERNSEY.

Last night, an oil storage depot at DONGES, near SAINT-NAZAIRE, was attacked by our heavy bombers, two of which are missing.

Communiqué No. 100

Heavy fighting has followed our attack south of CAEN this morning. In spite of stubborn enemy resistance with armor and infantry, the advance has been maintained and fighting is in progress in the area of MAY-SUR-ORNE and TILLY-LA-COMPAGNE.

In the western sector, an attack was launched at noon west of SAINT-LÔ.

A great weight of Allied airpower was employed in conjunction with our ground troops.

Very large forces of heavy, medium, light and fighter-bombers joined in a concentrated attack preceding the ground operations near SAINT-LÔ, dropping very great numbers of fragmentation and high explosive bombs.

More medium and fighter-bombers attacked targets in the zone beyond CAEN. Fighters provided escort and carried out offensive sweeps.

At least 12 enemy aircraft were shot down in these operations. According to reports so far received, six of our bombers and three fighters are missing.

Coastal aircraft this morning attacked enemy surface craft in the Channel.

9118

U.S. Navy Department (July 25, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 89

On July 24 (West Longitude Date), contact was established between patrols from the northern and southern assault forces on Guam Island, along the eastern shore of Apra Harbor. In the northern sector, good progress has been made and pockets of resistance near Adelup Point have been wiped out. In the north, our lines now extend from Adelup Point in a general southwesterly direction to the mouth of the Aguada River. In the southern sector, our lines extend across the base of the Orote Peninsula to a point opposite Anae Island. Carrier aircraft and naval surface units continue to bomb and shell selected targets and are interfering with troop movements in the rear of the enemy lines. Our casualties through July 24 were 443 killed in action, 2,366 wounded in action, and 209 missing in action. Our forces have counted 2,400 enemy dead.

The Tinian beachhead was broadened and deepened during July 24. An enemy counterattack before dawn on July 24 was broken up by our troops, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and destroying five tanks. At midmorning, our forces began an attack, preceded by heavy artillery and naval fire support, which advanced our lines halfway across the northern end of the island and widened the coastal area under our control to a distance of 3½ miles. Our casualties through July 24 were 15 killed in action and 225 wounded. Our troops have counted 1,324 enemy dead.

Paramushiru in the Kuril Islands was attacked by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four on July 23. An airfield was bombed and fires started. Several fishing vessels offshore were strafed. Enemy fighters intercepted our force and damaged one of our planes. One enemy fighter was probably shot down and another damaged.

Sixty-seven tons of bombs were dropped on Truk Atoll by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on July 23.

9119

The Pittsburgh Press (July 25, 1944)

3,000 planes aid U.S. attack

Record airmada hits Nazis as Allies open new Normandy drive
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

map.072544.up
Striking south toward heart of Normandy, Allied forces have opened a new offensive. The British on the west (1) gained up to a mile and smashed into several villages as they advanced along both sides of the Caen–Falaise highway. The Americans started their attack several hours later either above Périers or below Saint-Lô (2), or in both sectors, and their gains were not announced immediately.

SHAEF, London, England –
The British 2nd Army drove forward more than a mile through two towns in a new offensive below Caen today, and to the west, the U.S. 1st Army launched an attack supported by 3,000 planes, including more than 1,500 U.S. heavy bombers – the biggest force ever dispatched on a single mission.

Both Allied armies bucked fierce German opposition in the synchronized assault toward the heart of Normandy, and the Nazi Air Force swarmed out in the greatest strength since D-Day to join in the defense of the ring around the Normandy beachhead.

Neither Allied headquarters nor limited field dispatches revealed where Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s troops made the new offensive, as on the British sector, they ran into desperate opposition, and early reports did not specify their gains.

The German DNB News Agency said the Americans were attacking below Carentan and were trying to drive across the Saint-Lô–Le Mesnil-Vigot highway. Le Mesnil-Vigot is 10 miles northwest of Saint-Lô.

Charge along highway

Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery sent his infantry and tanks charging down southeast of Caen on a three-mile front astride the Falaise highway. In the first few hours, they overran Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay and Verrières, four to five miles below Caen, and were last reported fighting in nearby Tilly-la-Campagne.

Gen. Montgomery’s headquarters said the 2nd Army attack had limited objectives, and was not designed to smash entirely through the enemy fortifications blocking the way to the interior.

Street fighting in Tilly-la-Campagne and May-sur-Orne was going on when the last reports from the Normandy front reached headquarters late in the day. The British and Canadian assault forces were driving the Germans out house-by-house in bloody struggles.

Nazis bring up tanks

The Germans had thrown some tanks into the fighting, and may have a considerable number ready for a counterattack.

One unit reported it had knocked out at least four German tanks, and the total accounted for during the day was certain to be many more.

The British were supported heavily by the home-based Royal Air Force as well as Normandy-based fighters and fighter-bombers.

But that air effort paled in comparison with the all-American air assault on Bradley’s front. Spearheaded by more than 1,500 Flying Fortresses and Liberators, the U.S. armada included at a rough estimate 500 medium and light bombers and as many more fighter-bombers. Five hundred fighters escorted the heavies, power-diving to treetop level to rake the Nazi positions.

Drop 5,500 tons of bombs

U.S. planes laid an estimated 5,500 tons of explosives on the Germans immediately ahead of U.S. troops in an assault outweighing the bombardment of the Cassino fortifications in Italy.

The U.S. 8th and 9th Air Forces set out to “anaesthetize” the ground defenses at 10:00 a.m. (local time) with a torrent of fragmentation and lightweight explosives, used instead of heavier bombs in order to avoid plowing up the battlefield and making the infantry advance difficult.

The all-American air assault continued until 12:30 p.m. By then, the assault troops were battling forward.

One of biggest days

With the weather good, despite a slightly lower ceiling this afternoon, it seemed certain that the overall operations by the combined Allied air fleet would make this one of the biggest days aloft since the invasion of Normandy.

The day’s fighting was apparently confined to the two announced attacks. A headquarters spokesman had no evidence to support reports that fighting had flared up again in the area of Troarn, seven miles east of Caen.

The British attacked two hours before dawn and ran into tough opposition, which the Germans had had time to prepare after the fighting last week.

Terrain favors defenders

They had two and a half miles to fight uphill, and the country favored the defenders with small fields divided by walls and hedges.

United Press writer Richard D. McMillan said the German gunners and infantry were putting up most desperate resistance to the local attack. Some armored troops told him they had never known the enemy to fight so stubbornly.

The troops crept through cornfields wreathed in early morning mist and through rolling wheatfields. They took their first objectives when the tanks rolled in at dawn.

Into smoking villages

Mr. McMillan reported:

I watched the battle all morning, and saw batteries of self-propelled guns battering down enemy resistance while the tanks crept forward into smoking villages ahead.

A special announcement from U.S. Army headquarters in France said the 1st Army was “advancing against heavy resistance,” but gave no clue as to the scene of the attack. At last reports, the Americans had been massing for an advance across the Vire River below Saint-Lô and the Sèves River two miles north of Périers.

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