Leaning Tower destroyed?
Nazis roll back toward Florence
British beat back counterattacks
By Eleanor Packard, United Press staff writer
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Leaning Tower destroyed?
Secret weapon helps Yanks to pocket Japs on Tinian
U.S. planes already operating from captured Orote Peninsula on Guam
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer
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Reconversion main theme in Dewey’s visit
Peacetime work is vital, he declares
By Kermit McFarland
Dewey parade tonight
Pittsburgh’s second chance to get a look at Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate for the Presidency will come this evening when he leaves the William Penn Hotel at 9:15 p.m. ET for his return trip to the Pennsylvania Station.
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican candidate for President, came here today to trade ideas with local leaders over plans for shifting Pennsylvania industry from wartime production to peacetime operations.
That was the Governor’s summary of his purpose in breaking his journey to a conference with 25 Republican governors so he could spend a 13-hour day in meetings here with representatives of industry, business, labor and war veterans.
Mr. Dewey also sandwiched in a few hours for practical politics, despite the weekend statement of Republican County Chairman James P. Malone that the Governor’s visit was “non-political.”
Opportunities for work
The nominee said:
It may not be long before the most vital thing that faces every American is his opportunity to work, either for himself or for someone else.
I’m entirely satisfied that with competent governmental policies, the opportunities in this country are still unlimited.
Mr. Dewey accused the Roosevelt administration of failing utterly to meet the problem of unemployment before the outbreak of the war and of failing to prepare now to meet the problem at the end of the war.
‘Roosevelt depression’
He said:
We’re making gratifying progress in the fighting of the war, but governmentally, we are making no progress in preparing for what is to follow.
We will elect a President whose term will be in peacetime. As I see it, the United States cannot face another period like the Roosevelt depression which lasted eight years, with more than 10 million men unemployed continuously, from 1933 to 1940, inclusive.
Mr. Dewey declared his purpose in visiting Pittsburgh at a news conference, held in the Forum Room of the William Penn Hotel shortly after his arrival at 8:55 a.m. ET.
Rest before conferences
Following a parade through downtown streets, the Governor and Mrs. Dewey went to their suite on the 16th floor of the hotel for a short rest before the candidate began his whirl of conferences with several hundred persons selected by local and state party leaders.
He began by seeing some 40 labor representatives, mostly AFL men picked for the purpose by David Williams, former AFL official who is now a deputy in the state Labor and Industry Department.
This was followed by a “give-and-take” interview with nearly 100 business leaders from this area, all of them obviously Republican-minded.
Steel and coal cradle
It was at these conferences – all closed sessions – that Mr. Dewey said he hoped to develop a program of governmental policies which will prevent post-war depression and expedite reconversion.
The Governor said:
Pittsburgh produces one fourth of the steel in the whole United States. Pennsylvania produces one-fourth of the coal.
While the physical reconversion of factories will not be as great a problem here as in the arms factories, which must have complete new equipment for the manufacture of autos, refrigerators, and so on, the employment will be perhaps even more acutely affected with the tapering off of production as we come closer to the end of the war.
It was for that reason that I wanted to stop in Pittsburgh to meet first-hand the people closest to the problems, from all its aspects.
Mr. Dewey said many of the answers to the problems of reconverting government to peacetime pursuits had been worked out by the conference of governors – which includes both Democrats and Republicans – but that here the main problem before him is the “too-long delayed preparation for reconversion – which involves, of course, unemployment.”
He said:
We don’t need to surrender our liberties to the totalitarianism of the New Deal and we can’t afford to.
It is my idea that the proper governmental policies can contribute enormously, and I believe successfully, to avoiding the specter of unemployment which so many now regard as inevitable. Governmental policies will make all the difference, in my judgement.
Seeks leaders’ stories
Mr. Dewey indicated his chief purpose in meeting the labor, business, farm and war veteran leaders was to hear what they had to say.
But he had several political events crowded into his busy schedule.
He had lunch and a conference with the 33 Republican candidates for Congress from Pennsylvania, State Senator G. Harold Watkins (candidate for Auditor General), City Treasurer Edgar W. Baird of Philadelphia (nominee for State Treasurer), and state and local party leaders.
Sessions with Congressmen
He held a short session with Walter Hallanan, Republican National Committeeman from West Virginia, and Congressman Charles A. Halleck (R-IN), chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, met the Governor at the train and stayed through the day.
Reports that the Governor would see John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers president, were met with doubtful answers on all hands.
“Not that I know of,” Mr. Dewey said in reply to a question on that subject.
However, the Governor was scheduled to meet a delegation of 15 UMW officials tonight. John P. Busarello, District 5 president of the union, arranged the guest list.
One poke at Democrats
In his press conference, Mr. Dewey took one poke at Democratic politics.
When a reporter asked him if he thought the “don’t-change-your-horses-in-the-middle-of-the-stream” issue would play an important part in the campaign, the Republican challenger said: “That was demolished at Chicago. They changed half the horse.”
Mr. Dewey referred, of course, to the switch in vice-presidential candidates from Vice President Henry A. Wallace to Senator Harry S. Truman.
Governor Edward Martin of Pennsylvania, who was the first to greet Mr. Dewey when he stepped off the train at the Pennsylvania Station, accompanied the New Yorker to the press conference, but excused himself after the photographers finished flashing their bulbs.
Faces 50 reporters
Mr. Dewey sat on a slightly raised platform facing the corps of 50 reporters – many of whom traveled on the same train with him.
The Governor sat quietly while pictures were snapped from all angles, then quietly “dismissed” the photographers and volunteered the statement of his purpose in visiting Pittsburgh.
While he talked, he drew light puffs from a cigarette stuck in the end of a long silver holder – not as long, however, as Mr. Roosevelt’s famous cigarette stem.
Leaves at 9:44 p.m.
At a reception this afternoon he is to meet all comers, spending two hours in handshaking. This affair was planned mainly for Republican Party workers, but was open to the public.
Mr. Dewey will leave here at 9:44 p.m. on the special nine-car train scheduled as a second section on a regular Pennsylvania express train. His trip from the William Penn states at 9:15 p.m.
He goes first in Springfield, Illinois – Illinois being another “pivotal” state in this year’s election – for other similar conferences tomorrow.
Governors’ conference Wednesday
On Wednesday, he and 25 other Republican governors of the country will begin a two-day session of conferences at which Mr. Dewey hopes to develop a clear-cut program drawing a line of demarcation between state and federal functions in government.
Governor Martin will leave here tomorrow to attend that conference.
Crowds line parade route to see Dewey
Throngs applaud, but few break into cheers
By Gilbert Love
Governor Thomas E. Dewey entered the Democratic stronghold of Pittsburgh today.
At Pennsylvania Station, where the Republican candidate and his party arrived shortly before 9:00 a.m. ET, the welcome was tumultuous. A crowd waving “Welcome Governor Dewey” placards cheered wildly as the official party walked through the station to its autos for a parade through the Golden Triangle.
The sidewalks were lined with pedestrians and persons who rushed from buildings along the parade route. They applauded and waved as the Governor, near in a gray suit and figured tie, went by in an open car.
Crowd at hotel
There was little cheering along the route of the parade.
A large crowd had gathered in front of William Penn Hotel, where the parade ended. Governor Dewey waved, then went immediately into the hotel, where he was to spend the day in a number of conferences.
He will make no other street appearance until a motorcade returns him to the station by way of Fifth and Liberty Avenues at 9:15 p.m. tonight.
Although he is scheduled to make no speeches here, Governor Dewey’s visit might be called his first campaign appearance. Tomorrow he is to make an appearance for similar conferences in Springfield, Illinois, then go to St. Louis to confer with 25 Republican governors Wednesday.
Although he had not asked for a special train, nine cars were required to bring the Governor’s official party – newspapermen, Secret Service agents and others – to Pittsburgh, and the cars ran as a second section of The Pittsburgher.
As the train stopped, Governor Edward Martin and Mrs. Martin entered Governor Dewey’s car to welcome him and Mrs. Dewey to Pennsylvania. The four posed for pictures on the rear platform, then walked through the trainshed to the station.
Railroad workers applauded and waved. A group of women car cleaners had grandstand seats at the windows of an empty coach. A begrimed woman worker in slacks stood beside a woman wearing orchids, and both were applauding.
Band plays ‘Hail to the Chief’
Passing the train gates, Governor Dewey and Governor Martin walked through an aisle formed by police in the close-packed crowd. As soon as they had passed, the crowd broke and milled through the station after them, to join other cheering men and women under the outside rotunda.
A red-coated band played “Hail to the Chief” as the official party entered the autos for the parade through the Triangle.
The Democratic city administration had gone all-out to make it a good parade and keep order. Sixteen mounted policemen led the procession, and 24 motorcycle officers rode single file beside the official cars. Four to six traffic officers were on every corner and a group of city detectives rode directly behind the open car occupied by the two governors.
Governor Dewey was hatless and looked fit and confident. “Isn’t he handsome!” exclaimed a girl spectator.
On Liberty Avenue, a soldier stepped to the curb and shouted, “Remember us, Dewey!” The candidate nodded and waved.
Someone shouted “Good luck” from an office building. “Thank you,” Governor Dewey called back.
Confetti and torn paper floated down from some buildings where office workers crowded the open windows.
Men with bundles of the “Welcome Governor Dewey” placards – pennant-shaped cardboard on sticks – preceded the parade, handing them to all persons who wanted them.
Mrs. Dewey in closed car
Except for the cheers and applause, it was a silent parade, for the band did not accompany it. The musicians took a shortcut to the hotel and welcomed Governor Dewey there with another rendition of “Hail to the Chief.”
Mrs. Dewey, who has said she wants to “stay out of the show” as much as possible, rode in a closed car with Mrs. Martin.
U.S. Senator James J. Davis, a member of the official party, estimated that 25,000 persons had turned out, despite the early hour, to see the candidate.
Republican Party workers and as much of the general public as could be accommodated were to have a chance to shake hands with Governor Dewey at a reception from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Mrs. Dewey, quiet, poised, won’t be making speeches
She never has and doesn’t intend to, she says – and she’s not campaigning
By Betty Jo Daniels
Mrs. Thomas E. Dewey is not campaigning for “First Lady of the White House.”
Making her first appearance in Pittsburgh today, the wife of the Republican presidential nominee told newspaper reporters for the record: “The Governor’s opinions are mine, but if they differ, I tell him about it only in private.”
She added that she intends to make no speeches. “I never have and never intend to,” she said.
Keeps upper hand
For a woman who has been described as “shy” and “retiring,” Mrs. Dewey is surprisingly poised and has the upper hand at all times in her conversation with a group of reporters.
She speaks slowly, obviously weighing what she says before committing herself.
In keeping with her simple, direct manner she wore a two-piece black dressmaker suit with a powder blue blouse. A feathery blue pompom carried out the color scheme of blue and black on a small forward-tilted hat. She wore Cuban heeled patent leather shoes and a black patent leather handbag. Her gloves were also black.
Careful of comment
When Mrs. Dewey entered her press conference, she shook hands with each newspaperwoman. Her hands are small but she explained that their size did not interfere with her piano playing, which, she added, is not a hobby with her but for a long time was a “way of living.”
Each time she was questioned about current events and opinions, she smiled graciously and replied quietly, “I prefer not to comment on that.”
She did say that she thought voting would be very important this year, especially for women.
Her reluctance to discuss world affairs was offset by her willingness to discuss her home life. She said she would not care to outline any special way of living for anyone, but that for herself she wants to make her home for the Governor “restful.”
She’s not a clubwoman
She belongs to no social or woman’s clubs because she feels that she could not “participate actively,” but she is a member of the board of the Hamilton Nursery School in New York and a member of the Mother’s Club at Albany Academy where her two sons, John and Tom, go to school.
Mrs. Dewey gestured when she described the children’s garden at the farm, and laughed when she said that they presented her a bill for their produce recently marked “hangover.” She pays them market prices for their vegetables and they send her a statement each month. Last month, she didn’t make the payment in full – so they billed her for the balance with the “hangover” sheet.
No Southern accent
Though Mrs. Frances Hutt Dewey was born in Sherman, Texas, and spent most of her girlhood in the South, she has no trace of a Southern accent except for a soft “r” in a few words. Voice training did that for her, she said.
She appeared flustered only once, and then only slightly. That was at the comment of a woman reporter to the effect that it was strange that Mrs. Dewey had so little of the “exhibitionist” in her makeup, since she had been trained for the concert and stage.
Mrs. Dewey replied quickly with a little impatience, that she was not trained for the stage, and that she didn’t see what singing a song had to do with writing a column or making a speech.
Rommel death rumors grow in Normandy
Marshal reported hit by strafing planes
By James McGlincy, United Press staff writer
With U.S. forces in Normandy, France –
New and still-unconfirmed reports circulating in Normandy today said that Marshal Erwin Rommel, field commander of German forces in Normandy, died in a hospital at Bernay near the west coast of Normandy from injuries suffered when his auto was strafed by Allied planes.
The German Transocean News Agency said today that a German High Command official, asked by telephone about the health of Rommel, replied: “He is shaving.” Transocean added that, “This reply speaks for itself.”
Reports of the death of the “Desert Fox,” whose forces are falling back before the Americans thrust down the western shore of the Normandy Peninsula, were relayed hazily by French civilians and German prisoners. They contributed more detail to those rumors which first began to circulate yesterday.
Reported hit in lungs
These details said the bullets of strafing Allied planes wounded Rommel several times in the lungs, and that he struck his head as he was thrown from the car.
London said that BBC correspondent Howard Marshall reported from Normandy that a German senior staff officer told his captors Rommel “may be dead by now” as a result of his wounds.
Stockholm said an unusually cautious attitude by authoritative German sources toward rumors might be correct. A Berlin dispatch to the Stockholm Aftonbladet said rumors of Rommel’s injuries during a motorcar “accident” were “not confirmed” in Berlin.
It appears that a story given out here Saturday quoting a German prisoner of war that Rommel held a staff meeting at Percy as recently as last Wednesday, was untrue.
Nurse story fictitious
There have been rumors that a woman at Canisy nursed Rommel up to the time he died, but the woman appeared today to be an entirely fictitious character.
Although there is some information at Canisy to support the rumor that Rommel may be dead, Monsieur Lejeune, mayor of the town, said he had no knowledge of Rommel having been treated in the German military hospital there before Canisy was captured.
Eugene Morel, a gendarme, said the only information he had was the story started by German soldiers in Canisy about 10 days ago, but Yves Lauzach, an employee in the Saint-Lô post office who had taken refuge in Canisy, reported that a German lieutenant had told him July 26 that Rommel died at Livarot (Calvados) as the result of wounds sustained six days previous when his vehicle was strafed.
Success in Normandy –
Supply problem solution stuns Hitler and aides
Allies’ ‘secret weapon’ landed 14 divisions and supplies on beach in few weeks
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance
Somewhere in France –
The Allied invasion of Normandy succeeded because Hitler and the German General Staff honestly and sincerely believed it impossible. They had sound military reasons for believing it could never succeed.
The French coast along the narrow part of the channel, from Dunkerque to Dieppe, was too well fortified and too powerfully manned for an amphibious force to seize a lodgment area. So were the port areas of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Saint-Nazaire and Bordeaux.
There was only one other area pertinent to an invasion threat from Britain and this was the sandy strength of beach along the Seine Bay between the Orne River and the Carentan Peninsula. This was not so well fortified and rather indifferently manned, but – of course – a successful landing here was out of the question. This area contained no port even of minor importance.
‘Military fantasy’
Nothing more than a raid could be staged on this treacherous beach, the suggestion that many modern divisions with their immense impedimenta could be landed and supplied over this beach was a military fantasy. The venture would be suicidal.
Thus thought Hitler and his professional staff as represented by keen-minded Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt when they set about insulating Europe from Britain late in 1940.
Their thinking was valid – in 1940. In that year, any British staff officer seriously suggesting a full-scale invasion of the then-completely-unfortified Seine Bay beach would have been retired or committed to an asylum.
Large force landed
Yet in June 1944, the Allies landed a great assault force over the bare breaches of the Seine Bay. before the month’s end, 14 full divisions and their ancillary troops were landed and supplied – so completely that they were able to advance behind a weight of shells and tanks unprecedented in Western European warfare.
And all this was done without the use of a single port of substantial size. An overwhelming proportion of the millions of shells and food boxes and the thousands of tanks and guns were hauled over sandy beaches.
The solution of the supply problem – this was the sober and undramatic secret weapon of the second front, the great surprise by which the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington and London confounded Hitler and his generals.
Crux of problem solved
Supply – the most plebeian of all military duties – turned out to be the most pulsating factor in the great assault; more exciting than grease-painted Commandos, more essential than naval guns and crushing airpower.
Supply was the crux of the problem, the foundation stone on which was built the whole fabulous plan to storm at the heart of Hitler’s Fortress Europe.
Supply over beaches, the insoluble problem of 1940, had become entirely feasible in 1944. The Germans didn’t realize it. They persisted in their 1940 estimate of the problem and were caught victims of a stunning tactical surprise in 1944. This error cost Hitler his last lingering hope of victory or stalemate.
Three other factors
There were three other cardinal factors in the construction of our victory in Normandy. The first was the technical and numerical superiority of Allied weapons, many of them especially designed for carving a bridgehead out of an enemy-held coast.
The second was Gen. Montgomery’s brilliantly-conceived plan for the battle of the beaches and the prompt exploitation of D-Day success.
The third was the poor quality of the German coastal divisions which, combined with the sluggish reaction of Rommel’s command, provided us with unexpected opportunity for quick consolidation and subsequent advance.
Nazis to shoot parachuting fliers
Fear Allied help for slave workers
By Nat A. Barrows
Stockholm, Sweden –
Home front German soldiers, the police, the SS (Elite Guard), and other armed persons have received orders to shoot parachuting Allied airmen on sight, either as they float down to earth or when they reach ground.
This latest edict supplements an earlier order, given shortly after D-Day, when the Germans were afraid that Allied parachutists might be bringing weapons and uprising orders to the two million foreign slave workers inside the Third Reich. This fear of the Nazis of a “Trojan Horse,” which is reportedly causing wholesale massacres on Heinrich Himmler’s orders, is coupled with the growing campaign of hatred against the British and Americans, with emphasis on the Americans (Himmler is now commander-in-chief of the German Army of the Interior).
A French refugee now safely in Sweden tells this correspondent how soldiers and other military guards in Hamburg boast that they are carrying out the nationwide order by shooting everything that drops from Allied planes.
“I got one American today as easy as picking off a balloon,” a German soldier had told this refugee.
All of which means that we cannot underestimate the fanatical hatred which still permeates the average German. As defeat becomes more apparent, the Germans’ diabolical lust for revenge becomes more primitive.
Leatherneck officer loses track of time in Guam drive
Lt. Paul C. Smith, former newspaperman, turned down Navy post to enlist as private
By Charles P. Arnot, United Press staff writer
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Asiatic ‘Pittsburgh’ left battered
B-29s set huge fires at Anshan, Manchuria
By Walter Rundle, United Press staff writer
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Success in Pacific to cut U.S. submarine building
Men and women released from that job will get other shipbuilding work
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Yanks attack trapped Japs
Troops supported by fleet of planes
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer
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Chinese repel Japs’ attack
Flamethrowers used against enemy
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Simms: Overoptimism could delay Nazis’ defeat
Allies have early victory within sight
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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Pro-Roosevelt Democrats on top in Texas
Foes promise battle in state convention
Dallas, Texas (UP) –
Pro-Roosevelt Democrats today retained control in a majority of Texas counties in which conventions were held last Saturday, but anti-fourth term forces apparently remained strong enough to put up a battle at the state convention here Sept. 12 when presidential electors are chosen.
At least 93 counties reporting elected pro-fourth-term delegates to the state convention, but 34 named anti-Roosevelt delegates and 41 voted to send uninstructed delegations to the Dallas meeting. Twenty-four counties did not hold conventions.
Fisticuffs, verbal battles and rump conventions marked the meetings in many counties, presaging a stormy session at the state meeting.
Conventions bolted
Several county conventions were bolted either by pro-Roosevelt or anti-Roosevelt Democrats and an anti-fourth-term group’s rump convention in Dallas was upset by Roosevelt-Truman followers. However, the anti-Roosevelt group obtained control of the Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston conventions.
The first open rupture occurred at the state convention in May when the anti-Roosevelt group succeeded in passing a resolution releasing the state’s electors from voting for the party candidate unless the two-thirds rule of nominating the President and Vice President was abolished, and the convention adopted a platform plank giving the states power to say who should vote in primary elections.
Fifth largest bloc
Neither of these demands was met at the national convention, and the anti-Roosevelt forces are attempting to get control of the state convention to carry out their threats.
Texas has 23 electoral votes, the fifth largest bloc in the country, and if the anti-fourth-term Democrats succeeded in naming the presidential electors, it would mean the loss of the state for Mr. Roosevelt, despite the fact that a majority voted for him. In a close election, this might prove catastrophic.
In Washington –
Both parties act for quick reconversion
War news better, Congressmen agree
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They want Truman
Washington (UP) –
Several members of the Senate War Investigating Committee, both Republicans and Democrats, have expressed the hope that Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO), the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, continue as chairman until after the elections, it was learned today. Senator Truman has announced he will resign his post tomorrow.
Fortune: The Eve of St. Mark’s is great love story of heroic soldier
Maxwell Anderson play adapted faithfully; Eythe, Anne Baxter
By Dick Fortune
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Editorial: Greetings, Mr. Dewey
Western Pennsylvania has long been a political progressive region.
The voters here were the first to turn against the highhanded methods of the Republican Old Guard. They were among the first in Pennsylvania to vote against Prohibition candidates and they led the parade to the New Deal when it first took office.
Throughout recent years, voters of this region have shown an increasing discrimination and independent in marking their ballots. More and more, they have demanded that their candidates for public office “show them something.”
This quite accurately could be called the region of the political pendulum.
Today, Western Pennsylvania welcomes, for the first time since his renomination, the Republican candidate for President, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York.
In choosing Pittsburgh for his first campaign appearance, Mr. Dewey, we think, picked a strategically sound place to begin. If he can convince local labor, business, agricultural and other leaders of his earnestness and abilities, he will have made an important start on his campaign for the White House.
Whether or not the Republican nominee can carry Allegheny and other Western counties in the November election will depend, to a great extent, on the campaign developments yet to come.
In any case, Pittsburgh is glad to see Mr. Dewey, Mrs. Dewey and the Governor’s political and official associates. Regardless of politics, the people here will hope that the New York Governor will find it possible to pay another visit to the city later in the campaign, when he is ready for addresses on the major issues of the election.