Wolfert: A shell come in the window
General stays calm as shot wounds three in next room
By Ira Wolfert
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Every veteran will have a problem –
A messenger boy becomes a major – what happens to him when war ends?
Civilians owe soldier debt but don’t treat him as spoiled child
By Miriam Ottenberg, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Hitler’s plight desperate –
U.S. assault gives Russians chance to roll
Every blow in France big help to Reds
By Col. Frederick Palmer, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Editorial: How the CIO plans to get out the vote
The CIO Political Action Committee is likely to become the biggest issue in the presidential election.
To some, it is a subversive movement organized by a smart coalition of Communists, labor bosses, intellectuals and leftists in general to gain control of the government and make the state supreme under their dictatorship.
To others, it is a crusade to educate voters to preserve democracy – that’s what the CIO leaders call it.
Without debating what it is, let’s at least look at how it proposes to operate – what makes it tick. For it is a real, concrete movement, smartly led and financed with millions of dollars. And if it is to be a force in American politics, we ought to understand it – and if it is to be kept from becoming the dominating force, then we first have to learn how it operates.
For that reason, The Press today starts publication of a series of five stories telling just what the PAC is, what it proposes to do and how it proposes to do it. The stories are based on publications and statements of its leaders and on the textbooks which it is sending out by hundreds of thousands to train its followers in the details of political organization.
Its basic principle is simple – first get ‘em registered, and then get out the vote. Its textbooks center around that theme.
“A big vote is always a good vote,” says the PAC. So, it proceeds on the job of getting out a big vote of its own people. Obviously the only practical policy of its opponents is to get out a big vote of their own people. In which case we may have a big vote of all the people.
If that happens, then the PAC will have accomplished a worthy purpose, regardless of how you view it.
“Unless you are registered you are as useless as a soldier without a gun,” says the PAC political textbook.
Its immediate job is to work through 14 regional officers and thousands upon thousands of shop stewards and local committees and union headquarters to get its vote registered.
To do this, the PAC proposes a registration committee in each plant; complete file cards for each union member; checking of these cards against registration lists; contact with each non-registered worker and his family to get them registered; assistance in making registration convenient or in helping workers to overcome election red tape, and a huge whoop-it-up campaign to make registration popular through posters, leaflets, buttons, etc.
To accomplish these objectives, political textbooks have been issued by the PAC and by various CIO unions.
“The secret of political success today lies largely in doorbell ringing,” says the Guide to Political Action.
“Talk to friends,” it urges, especially pointing out how shop stewards and members of grievance committees are in a favorable position.
“Make a list of neighbors and friends” and then talk to them to see that they are registered. These neighborhood lists are to form the foundation for block and precinct political clubs.
Each precinct is to have a committee and a captain. The PAC textbook says:
A good captain is eager to help solve the problem of his neighbors… Such captains build precinct organizations which become centers of social as well as political activity in the neighborhood. By such work, the precinct captain and his assistants are able to mobilize the people of their neighborhood when a political campaign is launched.
“Whenever possible, the precinct captains should be neighbors,” it is emphasized, and the particular value of women as neighborhood organizers is pointed out.
All of which is very practical, irrefutable and effective politics.
If the CIO and its left-wing associates are to be kept from taking over the government, then the same sort of grassroots organizing will be required to defeat them.
For it isn’t true that a big vote is always a good vote – not when it is a big vote only of those who organized and carried through the essentials of getting one particular group of voters to the polls.
Perkins: The Hatch laws say
By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent
Washington –
The job of enforcing the laws against undue political activity of federal employees will be greater in this election campaign than in any preceding one, for two reasons: (1) There are many more such employees, under the wartime expansion; (2) a large proportion have not had time to become indoctrinated with the politically-passive etiquette that is supposed to govern public servants, and many regard themselves as only temporarily on the federal payroll, with a consequent lesser fear of the principal penalty, expulsion.
The size of the job is indicated by the fact that the number of federal civilian employees, in and outside the continental United States, is now greater than the total number of employees of all the states, counties, cities, towns and other local units of the entire country.
The latest figure of the Civil Service Commission for the federal service shows 2,862,449 federal employees within the continental United states, plus 415,100 outside, a total of 3,277,549. The latest available figure on the total of state and local government is 3,069,600.
Congress has recognized the larger job of enforcing the political activities laws through adding $40,000 to the usual annual $50,000 of the Civil Service Commission for this purpose. That money will not be used for organization of a corps of official watchers of the behavior of federal employees. There is no such corps, and none is planned.
This is the law
The theory is that a federal employee cannot become active in party politics without making himself conspicuous and obnoxious, subject to being reported on or complained against by persons who are on the other side of the question.
Big, black “WARNING” signs have been posted in hundreds of thousands of places where they will reach the attention of the persons most concerned. They cite first, THE LAW:
It shall be unlawful for any person employed in the executive branch of the federal government, or any agency or department thereof, to use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the result thereof. No officer or employee in the executive branch of the federal government, or any agency or department thereof, shall take any active part in political management or in political campaigns. All such persons shall retain the right to vote as they may choose and to express their opinions on all political subjects and candidates.
Other legislation applies the same restrictions to employees of the District of Columbia, and to state or local employees “whose principal activity is in connection with any activity which is financed in whole or in part by loans or grants made by the United States or by any federal agency.”
Depends on degree
Terms of the law indicate one of its main difficulties – that the propriety of political activity frequently depends on its degree. For instance, while the federal employee retains the right to express his opinions, if he does so in a public speech, he would be stepping over the line.
He may display a political picture in his home if he so desires, and the Commission apparently sees nothing improper about that. And he may wear a political
They may not–
The following are some of the forms of prohibited political activity:
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Serving on or for any political committee, party or other similar organization.
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Soliciting or handling political contributions.
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Serving as officer of a political club, as member or officer of any of its committees, addressing such a club or being active in organizing it.
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Serving in connection with, preparation for, organizing or conducting a political meeting or rally, addressing such a meeting, or taking any other active part therein except as a spectator.
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Engaging in political conferences while on duty, or canvassing a district or soliciting political support for a party, faction or candidate.
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Manifesting offensive activity at the polls, at primary or regular elections, soliciting votes, assisting voters to mark ballots, or helping to get out the voters on registration or election days.
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Acting as recorder, checker, watcher or challenger of any party or faction.
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Publishing or being connected editorially or managerially with any newspaper generally known as partisan from a political standpoint; or writing for publication any letter or article, signed or unsigned, in favor of or against any political party or candidate.
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Becoming a candidate for nomination or election to office, federal, state or local, which is to be filled in an election in which party candidates are involved.
1 Like
Welles advises United Nations to form world council for peace
Says Nazis plan another war
By John D. Paulus
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War tales quite factual
Pacific battle stories thrill
By Harry Hansen
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I DARE SAY —
More young stars with experience is greatest current need in movies
By Florence Fisher Parry
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Radio tube inventor takes his genius to Mexican capital
DeForest gets government backing in setting up television research
By Si Steinhauser
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Völkischer Beobachter (July 31, 1944)
Mit Billigung Churchills und Roosevelts –
Moskaus Griff nach Polen
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US-Flugplätze in China ausgeräuchert
Tokio, 30. Juli –
Das Kaiserliche Hauptquartier gibt bekannt:
Japanische Luftwaffenverbände führten am 27. Juli nachts Überraschungsangriffe auf Liutschau in der Provinz Kwangsi sowie Sutschang in der Provinz Hunan und am 28. Juli nachts auf Kweilin durch und zerstörten die auf den Flugplätzen stehenden Maschinen der in China stationierten amerikanischen Luftwaffe.
Das Gesamtergebnis der an beiden Tagen erzielten Erfolge stellt sich wie folgt dar: 48 große und 35 kleinere Flugzeuge und ein weiteres unbekannter Bauart gingen in Flammen auf, 15 große und 20 kleinere sonstige Apparate wurden zerstört, 19 Flugplatzeinrichtungen wurden in Brand geworfen oder zerstört. Der Gegner verlor somit durch diese Angriffe insgesamt 119 Flugzeuge.
Schweres „V1“-Feuer auf Groß-London –
Feindangriffe in der Normandie blutig abgewiesen
Neuer Vorstoß auf Florenz zerschlagen – Heftige bolschewistische Angriffe abgewehrt – Gegenstöße deutscher Panzerverbände im Raum von Kauen
dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 30. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Die Durchbruchsversuche der Nordamerikaner hielten gestern beiderseits der Vire bei Moyon und im Abschnitt Beaucoudray–Percy den ganzen Tag über an. Sie wurden in erbitterten Kämpfen überall blutig abgewiesen. 28 Panzer und 7 Flugzeuge wurden dabei durch Einheiten des Heeres abgeschossen. Auf dem Westflügel durchbrachen unsere von den Hauptkräften vorübergehend abgedrängten Divisionen von Coutances her die feindlichen Linien nach Süden und bezogen neue Stellungen im Raum Gavray–Trelly. An der übrigen Front des Landekopfes führte der Feind nur südlich Juvigny einen erfolglosen örtlichen Angriff.
Jagd- und Schlachtfliegerverbände schossen in Luftkämpfen sechs feindliche Flugzeuge ab. In der Nacht führten starke Verbände schwerer Kampfflugzeuge wirksame Angriffe gegen Bereitstellungen des Feindes südöstlich Caen und im Raum südwestlich Saint-Lô.
Im französischen Hinterland wurden 27 Terroristen erschossen.
Schweres „V1“-Vergeltungsfeuer liegt weiter auf London und seinen Außenbezirken.
In Italien zerschlugen unsere Truppen auch gestern wieder alle Angriffe, die der Feind mit indischen, südafrikanischen, neuseeländischen und englischen Divisionen zum Durchbruch auf Florenz führte. Südwestlich der Stadt in unsere Stellungen eingebrochener Gegner wurde nach heftigem Kampf im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen.
Bei Säuberungsunternehmen im italienischen rückwärtigen Gebiet verloren die Terroristen in der Zeit vom 12. Mai bis 24. Juli 8.300 Tote und 7.500 Gefangene.
An der Ostfront wurden im Karpatenvorland sowie südlich und nördlich von Reichshof feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen oder im Gegenstoß zum Stehen gebracht. Im großen Weichselbogen warfen unsere Truppen den über den Fluss übergesetzten Feind in Gegenangriffen zurück.
Zwischen Warschau und Siedlce stehen Truppen des Heeres und der Waffen-SS weiter in schweren Kämpfen mit vordringenden sowjetischen Kräften. Die vorübergehend abgeschnittene Besatzung von Brest Litowsk schlug sich unter Mitnahme der Verwundeten zu unseren Linien durch.
Zwischen mittlerem Bug und Olita fingen unsere Truppen heftige Angriffe der Bolschewisten bei Bialystok und nordöstlich Augustow auf. Im Raum von Kauen trat der Feind zum erwarteten Großangriff an. In erbitterten Kämpfen wurden mehrere Einbrüche durch Gegenstöße unserer Panzerverbände abgeriegelt.
In Lettland blieben Angriffe der Sowjets gegen die Stadt Mitau und nordöstlich Ponewisch erfolglos. Zwischen der Düna und dem Peipussee behaupteten unsere Grenadiere ihre Stellungen gegen starke von Panzern unterstützte sowjetische Angriffe.
An der Landenge von Narwa rannte der Feind mit starken Kräften gegen unsere Stellungen an. Verbände des Heeres und germanische Freiwillige der Waffen-SS errangen hier einen vollen Abwehrerfolg, brachten dem Feind schwere Verluste bei und schossen 58 feindliche Panzer ab.
Schlachtfliegerverbände versenkten auf der Weichsel mehrere vollbeladene Fähren und Landungsboote des Feindes.
In der Nacht griffen schwere Kampfflugzeuge feindliche Truppenansammlungen und Bereitstellungen östlich des großen Weichselbogens an.
Nordamerikanische Bomber führten Terrorangriffe in Mitteldeutschland und gegen die Stadt Bremen. Die Bevölkerung hatte Verluste. Durch Luftverteidigungskräfte wurden 34 feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter 31 viermotorige Bomber zum Abschuß gebracht.
In der Nacht warfen britische Störflugzeuge Bomben auf Orte in Westdeutschland.
Zum gestrigen OKW-Bericht wird ergänzend mitgeteilt:
In den schweren Kämpfen im Raum Saint-Lô–Lessay haben sich in den letzten Wochen in Abwehr- und Gegenangriffen besonders ausgezeichnet:
Die 17. SS-Panzer-Grenadierdivision „Götz von Berlichingen“ unter Führung ihres schwer verwundeten Kommandeurs Brigadeführer Ostendorf und seines Vertreters, Standartenführer Baum.
Die 353. Infanteriedivision unter Führung ihres Divisionskommandeurs Generalleutnant Maul mann, das Fallschirmjägerregiment 5 unter seinem. Kommandeur Major Karl-Heinz Becker, das Fallschirmjägerregiment 9 unter seinem Kommandeur Major Kurt Stephani und das Fallschirmjägerregiment 15 unter seinem Kommandeur Oberstleutnant Gröschke.
In den schweren Abwehrkämpfen südlich Florenz hat sich die Hessisch-Thüringsche 29. Panzergrenadierdivision unter Führung von Generalleutnant Fries erneut hervorragend ausgezeichnet und bewährt.
Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 31, 1944)
Zunehmende Erbitterung der Kämpfe
Weitere Ausdehnung der normannischen Schlacht – Sowjetischer Durchbruchsversuch bei Warschau verhindert – Unsere U-Boote versenkten 22.000 BRT
dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 31. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Der Feind dehnte in der Normandie seinen mit großem Materialeinsatz geführten Großangriff gestern auf die gesamte Front von südwestlich Caen bis zur Westküste der Halbinsel Cotentin aus. Die Kämpfe werden auf beiden Seiten mit immer zunehmender Erbitterung geführt. Südlich Hottot wurden alle feindlichen Angriffe zerschlagen. Beiderseits Caumont konnte der Feind einen tieferen Einbruch in unsere Front erzielen. Eigene Gegenangriffe sind dort im Gange. Nordwestlich und westlich Torigni-sur-Vire scheiterten starke Durchbruchsversuche der Amerikaner. Mit besonderer Härte tobten die Kämpfe südlich Sourdeval und südlich Cerences. Gegen den tief eingebrochenen Feind sind Panzerverbände zum Angriff angesetzt. Aus dem Raum nördlich Sourdeval schlug sich eine vorübergehend von ihren Verbindungen abgeschnittene Panzerkampfgruppe der Waffen-SS zu unseren Hauptkräften durch.
In der Nacht griffen Kampfverbände feindliche Schiffsansammlungen vor der Orne- und Seinemündung an. Der Feind verlor elf Flugzeuge.
Im französischen Saum wurden 97 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.
Deutsche Schnellboote griffen in der vergangenen Nacht einen feindlichen Geleitzug unter der englischen Küste östlich Eastbume an und torpedierten drei große Schiffe.
Schweres Vergeltungsfeuerliegt fast ununterbrochen auf London.
In Italien hat der Feind seinen Großangriff auf Florenz infolge der erlittenen Verluste gestern nicht fortgesetzt. Er führte nur starke örtliche Angriffe südlich und südöstlich der Stadt, die unter hohen Verlusten zusammenbrachen.
Im Osten wird zwischen den Karpaten und dem Finnischen Meerbusen weiter mit äußerster Härte gekämpft.
Im Karpatenvorland scheiterten zahlreiche feindliche Angriffe. Bei Sambor schoss eine Panzerdivision von 30 angreifenden Panzern 20 ab. In verschiedenen Abschnitten warten unsere Truppen den Feind im Gegenangriff zurück.
Im Raum von Warschau wurde in schweren Kämpfen ein Einbruch starker feindlicher Kräfte auf die Stadt verhindert. Nach Abwehr wiederholter sowjetischer Angriffe auf Siedlce setzten sich unsere Truppen dort auf neue Stellungen weiter nördlich ab.
Zwischen dem mittleren Bug und Olita wurde die Front gehalten. Bei Kauen setzten die Bolschewisten ihre Angriffe fort und konnten sich trotz zähen Widerstandes unserer Truppen der Stadt bemächtigen.
In Lettland sind um Mitau und bei Birsen heftige Kämpfe im Gange. Westlich Ostrow wurden bolschewistische Angriffe im Wesentlichen abgewiesen.
In der Landenge von Nariva schlugen unsere Divisionen zusammen mit Einheiten der Kriegsmarine auch gestern alle Durchbruchsversuche starker sowjetischer Kräfte in harten Kämpfen ab. Der Feind hatte besonders hohe Verluste an Menschen und Material.
Schlachtgeschwader setzten bei Tiefangriffen zahlreiche feindliche Panzer und Geschütze außer Gefecht und zerstörten mehrere hundert Fahrzeuge.
Ein nordamerikanischer Bomberverband griff gestern das Gebiet von Budapest sowie einige andere Orte in Ungarn und Kroatien an. Deutsche und ungarische Luftverteidigungskräfte vernichteten 15 feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter 11 viermotorige Bomber.
Unterseeboote versenkten drei Handelsschiffe mit 22.000 BRT, zwei Bewacher und ein Minenräumboot.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 31, 1944)
Communiqué No. 111
An Allied armored column has entered AVRANCHES after an advance of more than 12 miles.
Another column moving south from BRÉHAL is within three miles of GRANVILLE.
Heavy fighting continues in the area of GAVRAY, PERCY and TESSY-SUR-VIRE.
In the CAUMONT sector, the Allied advance has made further progress and we have captured the high ground east of SAINT-MARTIN-DES-BESACES.
An enemy attack in the NOYERS area was beaten off yesterday evening after hard fighting.
Medium bombers attacked tactical targets in the CAUMONT area and fuel dumps near ARGENTAN and CHÂTEAUDUN.
Fighter-bombers and fighters attacked targets in close support of the ground forces, road transport behind the battle zone and rail targets in the region of BLOIS and ORLÉANS.
Six enemy aircraft were destroyed during the day. Eight of ours are missing.
Four enemy aircraft were shot down over FRANCE during the night.
Communiqué No. 112
Allied troops in the western sectors have entered the town of GRANVILLE and are mopping up the whole area between ARVANCHES, GRANVILLE and BRÉHAL. Other pockets of resistance are being cleared and heavy fighting continues northwest of TESSY and in the PERCY area.
The enemy has been driven from the ground immediately south of GAVRAY and Allied troops have also advanced on each side of TORIGNI-SUR-VIRE.
In the CAUMONT area, Allied progress continues and we have taken SAINT-GERMAIN-D’ECTOT, CAHAGNES and SAINT-MARTIN-DES-BESACES. Hill 309, east of SAINT-MARTIN, remains in our hands in spite of several enemy counterattacks.
Rail targets south of the battle area were attacked by escorted medium and light bombers. Rail bridges at FORGES, CHARTRES, south of DOMFRONT, and across the LOIRE, south of TOURS, were bombed with good results. Elsewhere, poor visibility prevented immediate assessment of results.
Fighter-bombers were active in close support of our ground troops.
Two airfields in northern FRANCE were attacked by small formations of heavy bombers shortly after noon.
U.S. Navy Department (July 31, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 98
Marine and Army troops on Guam swept completely across the island during July 30 (West Longitude Date) and established a line from Agana Bay on the west coast to Pago Point on the east coast. Patrols sent out to reconnoiter the southern half of the island have encountered only sporadic resistance. Through July 30, our troops have counted 6,205 enemy dead and have interned 775 civilians. Close support is being given our advance troops by surface ships which are now firing from both sides of the island.
Troops of the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions continued their advance on Tinian Island during July 30 (West Longitude Date) and have forced the enemy into a small pocket near Lalo Point at the southern tip of the island. Difficult terrain in this area impeded progress during the day. Our attack on the last enemy defenses began in the early morning, and was preceded by more than two hours of bombing and naval gunfire.
On July 29, Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force dropped nearly 75 tons of bombs on Japanese installations and an airfield at Truk. Several enemy fighters attempted to intercept our bombers. One enemy fighter was destroyed, another probably destroyed and two more damaged. Four of our planes were damaged but all returned.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 31, 1944)
Six German divisions decimated by Yanks
First Army enters Avranches, seizes port of Granville
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Allies capture more towns in France in the surge through the Nazi lines. In the western sector, U.S. troops (1) captured Granville, drove into Avranches and occupied Torigni-sur-Vire, while the British (2), who advanced some five miles below Caumont, seized Saint-Martin-des-Besaces.
Bulletin
SHAEF, London, England –
A Normandy broadcast for the British radio said today that 1st Army headquarters announced that U.S. troops had captured Avranches.
SHAEF, London, England –
The U.S. 1st Army stormed across the See River into the western Normandy anchor base of Avranches after a 12-mile advance today and engaged the German garrison in a violent street fight, and 14 miles to the northwest captured the big port of Granville.
Supreme Headquarters announced that the foremost spearhead of the 1st Army, striking down the west coast, had established itself firmly in Avranches at the base of the Normandy Peninsula, and a field dispatch revealed the capture of Granville, which was already under German artillery fire.
The collapse of the German left wing became a debacle under the triphammer blows of the 1st Army breakthrough drive which headquarters said had decimated six Nazi divisions and laid open the way to interior France.
United Press staff writer Henry T. Gorrell reported the capture of Granville, and with it Torigni-sur-Vire, transport junction seven miles southwest of Saint-Lô. At the same time, the British 2nd Army’s new offensive on the Caumont front overran Saint-Martin-des-Besaces, four and a half miles southwest of Caumont.
A headquarters spokesman said the German 77th, 91st, 352nd, 243rd and 353rd Infantry Divisions and the 5th Parachute Division had been torn to shreds in less than a week of the showdown battle in western Normandy, and most of them were now probably no more than a number on the German Army list.
Allied air fleets, taking advantage of improving but still hazy weather, swarmed to the attack on the retreating Germans. They concentrated their fire on bridges and railyards behind the enemy lines, and hammered heavily at the scattered sectors where the Nazis attempted to mount rearguard counterthrusts.
Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s 1st Army and Lt. Gen. Miles C. Dempsey’s 2nd Army were pumping heavy blows into the entire western half of the Normandy front, breaking the German grip on strongpoints and battering the enemy back to new sectors.
Almost as significant as the American landslide was the British advance in the Caumont sector, where a new attack had overrun Hill 309, its 1,000 feet the greatest elevation thus far achieved by the Allies in Normandy, and drove some miles farther into Galet, six miles below Caumont.
The easternmost U.S. troops and westernmost British forces swung toward each other from Torigni-sur-Vire and Saint-Martin-des-Besaces and were nearing a junction which would carve out a pocket of Germans to be mopped up at will.
The Avranches bridgehead across the See River was regarded at headquarters as extremely important. Its establishment in force was believed to have shattered any chance the groggy German left wing had of seizing a foothold anywhere near the present coastal positions at the base of the Norman Peninsula.
Gen. Bradley, whose ready initiative has sparkled throughout the breakthrough drive which wrecked the German positions in western Normandy, could be expected to exploit his new advantage quickly, moving up infantry and artillery to strengthen the spearhead while tanks fanned out south and southeast.
To the east, other U.S. forces bypassed Torigny–Caumont highway down the railroad to the southeast. They took two hamlets within a couple of miles of the British right flank. While the Anglo-American junction was reported prospective, some sources believed it had already been effected.
The effect of the moves was first to eliminate one German salient and second to create another, in which the Nazis between Torigny and Tessy-sur-Vire faced a growing threat of envelopment.
Tessy had been one of the most stubborn points in the German defenses, with the 2nd Panzer Division, which moved across from Caumont, counterattacking savagely in an attempt to block the American drive aimed at the key road hub of Vire.
The German were also fighting back hard around Villedieu today in an effort to block the advance down the main road to the See River. It appeared that the armored column which drove into Avranches was the only American force so far to reach the river.
Substantial pockets of resistance remained considerably north of Villedieu, and two miles above the town the Germans were doggedly defending a roadblock.
Front dispatches said the U.S. 1st Army’s multipronged offensive – involving at least six divisions and 600 tanks – had cracked the western half of the Normandy front wide open and the Germans were in headlong flight, abandoning tanks and guns in their frantic efforts to shake off their pursuers.
Germany’s toughest troops – the 2nd SS Division Das Reich, the special favorite of Adolf Hitler – “threw the sponge” yesterday and began surrendering by the hundreds as U.S. tanks slashed across their roads of escape, dispatches revealed.
More than 10,000 prisoners have already been taken in the first six days of the offensive, which has carried 44 miles through the enemy lines, and the total was mounting hourly.
Gen. Bradley’s tanks and mobile infantry were advancing so rapidly their only communication with headquarters was by radio. The Germans were not even pausing to plant mines to cover their retreat, and town after town was captured intact.
Swarms of U.S. bombers, fighter-bombers and fighters further harassed the enemy retreat, blasting, strafing and shelling rear roads clogged with fleeing German columns. More than 500 vehicles, including upwards of 70 tanks and scores of self-propelled guns were reduced to blistered, twisted, smoldering steel in the Roncey–Gavray area alone.
The Americans broken into Avranches, at the hinge of the Norman and Brittany Peninsulas, after a wide swing advance from the Bréhal–Gavray–Percy area to the north that had earlier bypassed the port of Granville, 14 miles to the northwest, and dozens of other towns and villages, dooming heir garrisons to death or capture.
Avranches lies on the south bank of the See River estuary – previously considered a possible enemy defense line – and the Americans presumably swept across the river to engage the defenders in a street battle.
In their smash into Avranches, the Americans drove down the main inland highway some eight miles east of Granville and passed through the junction town of La Haye-Pesnel. Another column moving along the coast from Bréhal was only three miles northeast of Granville.
From Avranches, the Americans could punch south or southwest into Brittany, splitting the German forces in western France in two; southeast into the heart of France; east toward Paris, 155 miles away, or northeast in an attempt to encircle German armies still clustered on an arc around Caen.
Elements of the British 2nd Army, which moved into positions on the American left flank around Caumont, were also gaining momentum on the second day of their coordinated offensive.
A front dispatch from United Press staff writer Richard D. McMillan, dated “with an advanced British infantry patrol” at 11:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. ET), said British tanks had made “further fresh important gains” during the morning and had reached one high point above five miles from their starting line.
Advancing along a seven-mile front in the wake of a heavy aerial bombardment, the British captured or bypassed scores of towns and villages on an arc stretching from Saint-Jean-des-Essartiers, three and a half miles southwest of Caumont, to Saint-Germain-d’Ectot, four and a half miles northeast of Caumont.
The Tommies seized high ground east of Saint-Martin-des-Besaces, five and a half miles south of Caumont, but extensive minefields and difficult terrain were slowing their advance east and northeast of Caumont.
A dispatch from an advanced command post disclosed that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had expressed extreme gratification over the results of the fighting in Normandy in the last week and was viewing the immediate future of the campaign with high optimism.
He conferred briefly Saturday with both Gen. Bradley and Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of all Allied troops in France, and found them “obviously pleased” with the Allied progress, the dispatch said.
U.S. divisions participating in the offensive down the western half of the Norman Peninsula were disclosed to be the battle-tested 1st, 4th, 9th and 30th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, comprising the U.S. XIX Corps.
The divisions put to rout elements of at least 10 German divisions and “practically destroyed” two of them, the veteran 2nd SS Das Reich and the Panzer Lehr Divisions. The 2nd SS Division Das Reich was estimated to have lost at least 70 of its 100 tanks in the last 48 hours, while the Panzer Lehr Division were also deprived of most of its vehicles. Personnel of both divisions was said to have been “decimated.”
Several enemy pockets were still holding out behind the front, and Gen. Eisenhower’s communiqué at 11:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. ET) reported “heavy fighting” in the Gavray, Percy and Tessy-sur-Vire areas, 15 to 23 miles above Avranches. Their plight was hopeless, however, and it was only a matter of time before all were captured or killed.
In most cases, the Germans surrendering in batches as soon as surrounded, or cut off from the rest of the front. More than 1,500 were captured yesterday alone in the triangle formed by Saint-Denis-le-Gast, Roncey and Notre-Dame-le-Cenilly, including 500 from the touted 2nd SS Division Das Reich.
Many appeared voluntarily at prison cages. Seventeen surrendered to Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer, and several other correspondents near Roncey.
Three Yanks invent hedgerow cutter
SHAEF, London, England (UP) –
Two G.I.’s and a lieutenant who saw that the Normandy hedgerows were impeding the Allied advance and invented a device to reduce their effectiveness as German defenses are going to be rewarded by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a frontline dispatch said today.
While details of the invasion were kept secret, it was revealed that the Supreme Commander had asked for a full report so the inventors could be “suitably rewarded.”
It was said the men made their first devices from salvaged pieces of German equipment and showed them to their superior officers who reported to headquarters.
A large order for the manufacturer of the device has been placed in England.