America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

9509

U.S. Navy Department (August 2, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 102

Marine and Army troops on Guam, fighting through dense underbrush and against mounting enemy resistance, advanced more than a mile to the north during August 1 (West Longitude Date). The towns of Saucio, Toto, and Timoneng and the airfield at Tyan were occupied in the advance. On the west coast, our line is anchored on the southern shore of Tumon Bay, and on the east coast it is anchored approximately three miles south of Sassayan Point. Our casualties through August 1 were 1,022 killed in action, 4,946 wounded in action and 305 missing in action. Our troops have counted 7,419 enemy dead.

Carrier aircraft from a fast carrier task group attacked enemy installations on Guam on August 1 with bombs and rockets. Additional bombs and strafing attacks were delivered against troop concentrations.

Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, USMC, Commanding General, Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific, has sent the following dispatch to Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, USA, Commanding General, 77th Infantry Division:

The 77th Infantry Division has shown commendable ability of high order in operation against the enemy on Guam. Its complete cooperation with other fighting elements has been noted with much pleasure. It has shown marked tactical ability in moving its forces into position over unfavorable terrain and in the face of great difficulties.

Late reports indicate that during the ground action on July 27, Mount Tenjo was occupied by the 77th Infantry Division.

On Tinian Island, mopping-up operations are in progress. Ravines and caves at the southern tip of the island were partially cleaned out during August 1. Our troops have buried 2,075 enemy dead, and have interned many civilians. Large numbers of the enemy have yet to be buried. Our casualties as of August 1 were 208 killed in action, 1,121 wounded in action and 32 missing in action.

On July 30 and 31, 7th Army Air Force Liberators dropped 60 tons of bombs on an airfield and installations at Truk. Six to eight Japanese fighters attempted to intercept. Three of the fighters were shot down and three more damaged. Five of our Liberators were damaged but all returned to base.

Mitchell bombers of the 7th Army Air Force attacked Nauru Island on July 30 with more than 12 tons of bombs, scoring hits on the airfield and on gun positions.

On July 30 and 31, aircraft of the Central Pacific shore‑based air force harassed enemy positions in the Marshall Islands.

9510

The Pittsburgh Press (August 2, 1944)

Yanks sweep on in France

U.S. tanks close on big road, rail hub of Rennes in Brittany
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

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9511

Churchill: Victory may be near

Prime Minister says robots cause million to evacuate London
By Joseph W. Grigg, United Press staff writer

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9512

McNair killed by U.S. bomb that fell short

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9513

Marines mop up Japs on Tinian

By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

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9514

americavotes1944

In primaries –
Clark trailing; Fish renominated

Missouri Senator appears defeated
By the United Press

Senator Bennett Champ Clark, ardent isolationist before Pearl Harbor, was apparently defeated yesterday in his race for renomination in the Missouri Democratic primary, unofficial returns showed today.

Mr. Clark was trailing State Attorney General Roy McKittrick by more than 21,000 votes, the unofficial returns from 3,785 of Missouri’s 4,516 precincts giving McKittrick 147,229 and Clark 125,828 votes.

Clark was beaten in the rural sections. St. Louis and Kansas City practically cancelled each other, the former backing McKittrick and Kansas City going for Clark.

In the New York primary, the renomination of Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr., another pre-war isolationist, in New York’s reapportioned 29th district, was assured.

In another contest in a newly-aligned district in New York, Rep. Vito Marcantonio, seeking renomination for a fifth term, won both the Democratic and Republican nomination, leading Democratic Rep. Martin J. Kennedy of the old district, 10,100 to 7,759, and Republican Robert C. Palmer, 2,949 to 2,720.

Fish’s opponent concedes

Mr. Fish’s opponent, Newburgh attorney Augustus W. Bennet, conceded the nomination early today when unofficial returns from 252 of 278 precincts showed 13,975 votes for Fish and 10,891 for Bennet.

Mr. Bennet, however, was unopposed for the nomination for the Democratic and American Labor parties, and will oppose Mr. Fish in the November election.

Bennet to fight on

Mr. Bennet said later today that he was starting immediately to circulate a petition to have his name placed on the ballot on November as Independent Republican candidate – “independent of the dictates of the Hamilton Fish clique.”

He said:

The primary was but one phase of the crusade to crush those things Hamilton Fish stands for in the Republican Party and in American life.

The margin of victory was the smallest ever piled up by Mr. Fish, who battled for renomination in a reapportioned district in which voters of three counties were strangers.

In addition to the handicap of winning votes in new counties, Mr. Fish was also opposed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican presidential nominee, and Wendell L. Willkie, the GOP’s 1940 candidate, who attempted to purge him for allegedly injecting racial and religious prejudices into the campaign.

Other Missouri races

In another Missouri primary contest, Governor Forrest C. Donnell won an easy victory for the Republican senatorial nomination with 65,055 votes on the basis of returns from 2,210 precincts. His nearest opponent was St. Louis shoe manufacturer Howard V. Stephens, who received 26,602 votes. It was a seven-man race.

A nip-and-tuck race developed in the Republican gubernatorial race. Returns from 2,220 precincts gave Charles Ferguson, former state Republican chairman, 59,203 to 58,578 for Lebanon lawyer Jean Paul Bradshaw. State Health Commissioner Dr. James Stewart had 17.156 votes in the three-man race.

State Senator Phil M. Donnelly had a 30,000-vote margin for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination on the basis of returns from 2,237 precincts.

All incumbent Congressmen who had opposition in the primary were leading their opponents.

Kansas results

Returns from 733 of the state’s precincts gave Senator Clyde M. Reed a total of 21,553 votes, compared to 16,757 for Carl Friend.

In Virginia, Democratic Rep. Patrick H. Drewry win renomination on the basis of nearly complete but unofficial returns. But in the only other contest in that state, State Senator Ralph Daughton, backed by the political machine of Senator Harry F. Byrd, held a slim lead over his nearest rival in a three-war race for the party nomination to succeed Rep. Winder R. Harris, who withdrew to enter private business.

In another New York City contest, the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Negro, defeated Mrs. Sara Pelham Speaks, Negro, for both the Republican and Democratic nomination in the new 22nd Congressional district which comprises Harlem.

9515

Fighting flares!
Strikers defy union, U.S. in Philadelphia

Transit walkout sent to White House

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9516

I DARE SAY —
The rooftops of Manhattan

By Florence Fisher Parry

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9517

Effective Aug. 13 –
Utility beef cuts to be point free

Pork loins and hams will return to list

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9518

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Somewhere in Normandy, France – (by wireless)
An ordnance tank repair company gets some freakish jobs, indeed.

The other day the company I was with had a tank destroyer roll in. There was nothing wrong whatever with it except – the end of the gun barrel was corked tight with 2½ feet of wood.

What happened was they had been running along a hedgerow and as the turret operator swung his gun in a forward arc, they ran the end of the barrel smack into a big tree.

You would think the vehicle had to be going 100 miles an hour to plug the end of the barrel for 2½ feet simply by running into a tree. But it doesn’t. This one was going 20 miles an hour.

It took the ordnance boys four hours to dig the wood out with chisels and reamers. The inside of the barrel wasn’t hurt a bit and it went right back into action.

A three-inch anti-tank gun was brought in with a hole in the barrel about six inches back from the muzzle. The hole came from the inside! What happened was this: A German bazooka gunner fired a rocket at the anti-tank gun. It made one of those freakish hole-in-one hits – went right smack into the muzzle of the big gun.

About six inches inside it went off and burned its way clear through the barrel. Nobody got hurt but the barrel was unrepairable, and was sent back to England for salvage.

Another freak hit

A tank was brought in that had been hit twice on the same side within a few seconds. The entrance holes were about two feet apart. But on opposite side of the tank where the shells came out, there was only one hole. The angle of fire had been such that the second shell went right through the hole made by the first one.

In another case an 88 shell struck the thick steel apron that shields the breech of one of a tank’s guns. The shell didn’t go through. It hit at an angle and just scooped out a big chunk of steel about a foot long and six inches wide.

It’s very improbable that in the whole war this same shield would get hit again in the same place. Yet they can’t afford to take that chance, so the weakened armor had to be made strong again.

They took acetylene torches and cut out a plug around the weakened part with slanting sides the same as you’d plug a watermelon. Then they fashioned a steel plate the same size and shape as the hole, and welded it in.

The result is that the plug fits into the hole like a wedge and it would be impossible for a shell to drive it in. It’s really stronger now than it used to be.

One of the most surprising things I ran onto touring around scores of outdoor ordnance shops in Normandy was a mobile tire repair unit.

There already are half a dozen of these units here and more coming in. They fix anything from a motorcycle to truck tires. They don’t bother with ordinary holes such as nail holes. Practically all their work is on tires damaged by shrapnel or bullets.

Men especially trained

Each repair outfit consists of one officer and 15 men. They’ve been especially trained and their leaders usually were tiremen back in civil life.

They move in three trucks. When they set up, the three are backed to each other to form a T, thus making a shop with three wings, you get up to it on a portable staircase.

Outside on the ground tires are stacked all around. One set of soldiers works all day with knives carving out the rubber around the damaged places. Then they take the tire inside, and a machine roughens the edges of the holes so the filling will stick.

Then they mold in fresh rubber and put the tire in one of three baking machines. It’s hotter than blazes in there. It takes an hour and 45 minutes to bake each patch so you see they can’t turn them out very fast.

They’ll repair a tire that has up to six holes, but if it has more than that they send it back to England. A six-hole tire takes 10½ hours of baking. One unit can run off a maximum of about 65 tires daily. The unit I saw was set up in a former orchard and was so thoroughly camouflaged with nets you could hardly see it. The officer in charge was Lt. George Schuchardt, who has “The Hawkinson Tread Service” in Nashville, Tennessee. His partner is running it while he’s away.

His first sergeant is Stephen Hudak of Akron, of all places. He used to work for Firestone. I’ve been finding more damned square pegs in square holes in this Army lately. Something must be wrong.

9519

americavotes1944

Perkins: Steel pay case unique factor in election

President’s decision due before balloting
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Washington –
The 1944 election campaign includes a factor never before in political history: The President running for reelection will be called on, probably two or three weeks before the balloting, to decide whether a large group of his supporters shall get an increase in pay.

This was the picture presented today at the War Labor Board through statements that the factfinding panel in the “Big Steel” wage case is working to present its report before Aug. 31. That would give the board two months before the November election to prepare a recommendation that the “Little Steel” revised upward to meet the demands of the United Steelworkers and other CIO unions.

Final decision Roosevelt’s

Only President Roosevelt can make the final decision, because under his orders defining the duties and jurisdiction of the WLB, that agency must have White House approval before it changes the wartime wage standard. WLB states:

In a number of wage dispute cases pending before the War Labor Board and its agencies, including the dispute in the Steel case, unions have presented demands for general wage increases admittedly beyond the limits of the existing wage stabilization policy. The Board is, of course, without power to approve such demands.

Treasury will pay

The steel union, headed by CIO President Philip Murray, is leading the attack on the administration wage policy. This union is also the keystone of the CIO Political Action Committee, which has announced its intention of spending large sums in its efforts to reelect Mr. Roosevelt and to elect a Congress in sympathy with his policies.

If the steel workers and other CIO unionists get the wage boosts they have been battling for, the costs will be paid first by the steel and other companies concerned, but eventually will come out of the U.S. Treasury, because all the companies concerned are working on war contracts.

Leaders of the unions involved are the source from which the PAC, headed by Sidney Hillman, expects to collect several million dollars for use in the Roosevelt campaign.

From two factors

This wage-decision situation is an outgrowth of two factors:

  • The President’s insistence on keeping all the strings of the labor situation in his own hands.
  • The drive begun last December by the Steelworkers to break the “Little Steel” formula.

If Mr. Roosevelt ups the formula for the steel union, it will go up simultaneously for all the other unions, AFL and CIO, that have wage demands on ice. It may mean a major operation on the administration’s anti-inflation policies.

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9520

Simms: Allies believe Germans face bigger revolts

Anti-Hitler plot viewed as genuine
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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9521

Nazi mystery base falls to Americans near Lessay

Flying field dug up, apparently for use as rocket platform – or something
By B. J. McQuaid

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9522

Eisenhower’s caution saves Allied lives

And it brings Nazi collapse closer
By Col. Frederick Palmer, North American Newspaper Alliance

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9523

‘Bravest guy’ kills best pal, now he fights war for two

Kid with the grey eyes doing swell job as wingman although he’s downed no Nazis
By Robert Richards, United Press staff writer

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9524

Bitter fighting rages in Italy

Small gains made below Florence
By Clinton B. Conger, United Press staff writer

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9525

‘Living on borrowed time,’ says modest Mike O’Shea

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9526

Poll: The Solid South is still that way for Roosevelt

Eight states show only slight defection from stand taken in 1940 election
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

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9527

The CIO in politics –
PAC enlists army of women for 4th term drive

Housewives, as canvassers, will serve as backbone of assault on GOP
By Blair Moody, North American Newspaper Alliance

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9528

americavotes1944

America Firsters replace Bricker

Special caucus names ex-Coughlin aide

Detroit, Michigan (UP) –
Gerald L. K. Smith, leader of the America First Party, announced today that his party, in a special caucus, had selected another candidate for Vice President, replacing Ohio’s Governor John Bricker, who indignantly repudiated the nomination yesterday.

The new candidate, Smith said, is Harry Romer, former Ohio leader for Father Charles Coughlin’s Social Justice group.

Smith said of Governor Bricker that “in repudiating the nomination, he has displayed the same weakness as at Chicago when he capitulated to Dewey.”

Answering Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s sharp attack on him, Smith said that:

Dewey has endorsed for Congress against Hamilton Fish the same candidate who is supported by Earl Browder… Dewey’s attack on Hamilton Fish established beyond doubt that Roosevelt, Dewey, Willkie and Browder are in the same bed together.

“I’m not afraid to take them all on at once,” Smith said.