Browns, Bosox, Yanks fail to ‘make hay’ in spell of opportunities
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Hillman ready to take same criticisms as regular politicians
Labor leaders backing fourth term say they’re prepared ‘for the bricks to fly’
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Stokes: Vice President could move up, so Corcoran wants to pick one
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Normandy, France – (by wireless)
It was about time for me to go – out alone into that empty expanse of 15 feet – as the infantry company I was with began its move into the street that led to what we did not know.
One of the soldiers asked if I didn’t have a rifle. Every time you’re really in the battle lines, they’ll ask you that. I said no, correspondents weren’t allowed to; it was against international law. The soldiers thought that didn’t seem right.
Finally, the sergeant motioned – it was my turn. I ran with bent knees, shoulders hunched, out across the culvert and across the open space. Lord, but you felt lonely out there.
I had to stop right in the middle of the open space, to keep my distance behind the man ahead. I got down behind a little bush, as though that would have stopped anything.
Just before starting I had got into a conversation with a group of soldiers who were to go right behind me. I was just starting to put down the boys’ names when my turn came to go. So, it wasn’t till an hour or more later, during one of our long waits as we sat crouching against some buildings, that I worked my way back along the line and took down their names.
Pittsburgh soldier ‘company mate’
It was pouring rain, and as we squatted down for me to write on my knee, each soldier would have to hold my helmet over my notebook to keep it from being soaked. Here are the names of just a few of my “company mates” in that little escapade that afternoon…
Sgt. Joseph Palajsa of Pittsburgh.
Pvt. Arthur Greene of Auburn, Massachusetts. His New England accent was so broad I had to have him spell out “Arthur” and “Auburn” before I could catch what he said.
Pvt. Dick Medici of Detroit.
Lt. James Giles, a platoon leader from Athens, Tennessee. He was so wet, so worn, so soldier-looking that I was startled when he said “lieutenant,” for I thought he was a G.I.
Pvt. Arthur Slageter of Cincinnati.
Pvt. Robert Edie of New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Edie is 30, he is married, and he used to work in a brewery back home. He is a bazooka man, but his bazooka was broken that day so he was just carrying a rifle.
These boys were 9th Division veterans, most of whom had fought in Tunisia and Sicily too.
Gradually we moved on, a few feet at a time. The soldiers hugged the walls on both sides of the street, crouching all the time. The city around us was still full of sound and fury. You couldn’t tell where anything was coming from or going to.
The houses had not been blown down along this street. But now and then, a wall would have a round hole through it, and the windows had all been knocked out by concussion and shattered glass littered the pavements. Gnarled telephone wire was lying everywhere.
It was a poor district. Most of the people had left the city. Shots, incidentally, always sound louder and distorted in the vacuum-like emptiness of a nearly deserted city. Lonely doors and shutters banged noisily back and forth.
All of a sudden, a bunch of dogs came yowling down the street, chasing each other. Apparently their owners had left without them, and they were running wild. They made such a noise that we shooed them on in the erroneous fear that they would attract the Germans’ attention.
Dog trembling with fear
The street was a winding one and we couldn’t see as far ahead as our forward platoon. But soon we could hear rifle shots not far ahead, and the rat-tat-tat of our machine guns, and the quick blirp-blirp of German machine pistols.
For a long time, we didn’t move at all. While we were waiting, the lieutenant decided to go into the house we were in front of. A middle-aged Frenchman and his wife were in the kitchen. They were poor people.
The woman was holding a terrier dog in her arms, belly up, the way you cuddle a baby, and soothing it by rubbing her cheek against its head. The dog was trembling with fear from the noise.
Pretty soon the word was passed back down the line that the street had been cleared as far as a German hospital about a quarter of a mile ahead. There were lots of our own wounded in that hospital and they were now being liberated.
So, Lt. Shockley and Wertenbaker and Capa and myself got up and went up the street, still keeping close to the walls. I lost the others before I had gone far. For as I would pass doorways, soldiers would call out to me and I would duck in and talk for a moment and put down a name or two.
By now the boys along the line were feeling cheerier, for no word of casualties had been passed back. And up here, the city was built up enough so that the waiting riflemen had the protection of doorways. It took me half an hour to work my way up to the hospital – and then the excitement began.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 15, 1944)
Der Großverschwender im Weißen Haus –
Was kostet USA der Roosevelt-Krieg?
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Schiffssterben an der Calvadosküste –
Im Kampfflugzeug über dem Brückenkopf
pk. Die dringlichste Aufgabe der Kampfgeschwader im Westen – das haben die ersten Wochen der Invasion gezeigt ist der unentwegte Angriff auf die feindliche Flotte, angefangen vom kleinsten Mannschaftslandungsboot bis zu den großen Fahrgastschiffen, Transportern, Tankern und Kriegsschiffen der verschiedensten Klassen.
Über dem Wasser der weiten Seinebucht, über der von Leuchttrauben erhellten Strandlinie von Calvados, in der Orne- und Viremündung erlebten wir wiederholt diesen zähen Kampf unserer schweren Kampfflugzeuge gegen den anlandenden Feind. Wohl bot das Dunkel der Nacht wesentlichen Schutz gegen die feindliche Jagdabwehr, erschwerte aber zugleich das Auffinden der Schiffsansammlungen, die den Nachschub an Truppen, Munition, Treibstoff und Verpflegung zum Brückenkopf gewährleisten. Mit allen Mitteln der Täuschung versuchte und versucht der Gegner, seine wertvollen Ladungen zu verbergen. Sobald Angriffe unserer Bomber gemeldet werden, bemüht er sich, durch künstliche Nebelschwaden seine Schiffseinheiten der Vertikalsicht zu entziehen. Der Bodenwind aber ist ein unzuverlässiger Bundesgenosse, und zuweilen lenken die in falsche Richtung abgeblasenen Nebelfahnen erst recht die Aufmerksamkeit der Besatzungen auf lohnende Ziele.
Hilft den Anglo-Amerikanern das Versteckspiel nicht mehr, merken sie am anschwellenden Dröhnen der deutschen Motoren, die sich im Sturzflug den Schiffen nähern, an der Wirkung der ersten gefallenen Bomben, daß ihre Schiffspulks erkannt sind, dann löst der Feuerbefehl für die Flakgeschütze schlagartig einen Hagel von aufwärtssteigenden Granaten aus. Von Land und von See her schlängeln sich die „roten Mäuse“ der leichten Flak zu den verräterischen Leuchtbomben, von denen einige mit grünlichen Flammen verlöschen. In den Ständen unserer Kampfflugzeuge beobachten wir nun das gewaltige Schauspiel der Farben, wenn die feurige Abwehr sich zu roten Riesenkegeln und Sperrwänden steigert, wenn schwere Batterien und Flakkreuzer ihre stahlsprühenden Blitze neben uns setzen. Die tödliche Sprache der Geschütze wird verschlungen von der Lautstärke der Motoren.
Pausenlose Einsätze
Unsere Kampfflieger haben in den vergangenen Wochen gewetteifert, ihre an allen Fronten, erworbenen fliegerischen Erfahrungen hier an der normannischen Küste zu verwerten. Die Hauptlast der nächtlichen Angriffe lag naturgemäß bei den altbewährten Geschwadern, die das Wasser des Kanals und das englische Festland von zahllosen Flügen her kennen. Nacht für Nacht saßen die Männer in ihren Flugzeugen, die Bombenlast in den Schächten und an den Rümpfen. Der Einsatz der einzelnen Besatzung stand mehr denn je im Vordergrund, wenn es darum ging, im Schein der Magnesiumleuchten die Ausladungen am Strand mit Spreng- und Splitterbomben zu stören, Frachter und Kriegsschiffe herauszupicken, um sie mit schwersten Kalibern im Gleit- und Sturzflug anzugreifen. Unvergesslich bleiben die Eindrücke im Gedächtnis haften, und noch in den nüchternen Gefechtsberichten klingt die Spannung dieser Minuten nach. So berichtet Oberleutnant B., wie er einen gesichteten Kreuzer in Brand setzte:
Als zur Erhellung des Zielraumes Leuchtbomben gesetzt wurden, erhielten wir von den Kriegsschiffen gutliegendes, schweres Flakfeuer. Ich flog eine Rechtskurve und griff aus neuer Richtung den Kreuzer an. Die Abkomm-Marke des Bombenzielgeräts lag ruhig auf Schiffsmitte, als ich die Bomben-auslöste. Kurz vorher hatte leichtes und mittleres Flakfeuer eingesetzt. Mehrere Splitter gingen ins linke Höhenruder. Unsere schwerste Bombe fiel als Volltreffer mittschiffs backbord, die andere ins Wasser. Mit der Detonation hörte das Flakfeuer schlagartig auf. Dreißig Sekunden später beobachteten wir auf dem schweren Kreuzer einen heftigen Zündschlag mit hohem Rauchpilz. Das Schiff blieb brennend hinter uns liegen.
Der Pott passte nicht mehr ins Visier
Von einem anderen nächtlichen Unternehmen, bei dem vermutlich ein Schlachtschiff getroffen wurde, erzählte uns wenige Stunden nach seinem Angriff Feldwebel D., ein Hamburger Junge, der die Schiffstonnage auch aus seinem Hafen her kennt. Ein 6.000-Tonner Wurde bereits vor Neapel von ihm „unter Wasser getreten,“ ein weiterer vor dem Landekopf von Nettuno. Er suchte sich in der Seinebucht ein Kriegsschiff heraus, das nach Land und See durch Zerstörer und Kreuzer abgeschirmt war. Er berichtet:
Ich nahm das Feindschiff ins Visier und drückte leicht an. Während es immer steiler dem Wasserspiegel zuging, in dem sich die Bomben spiegelten, verbesserte ich den Kurs. Nur noch im Unterbewusstsein nahm ich das immer heftiger werdende Flakfeuer wahr. Fadenkreuz auf Schiffsmitte. Der Pott passte kaum noch ins Visier. Mit leichtem Erschrecken warf ich einen Blick auf das Armaturenbrett: Der Geschwindigkeitsmesser zeigt erhebliche Stundenkilometer und dabei hatte ich nur Wenige hundert Meter Höhe. Ein letztes Zielen und das schwere Kaliber stürzten allein weiter. Durch starkes Ziehen versuchte ich dem Gefahrenbereich der unausbleiblichen Explosion zu entgehen. Aber der Druck war so gewaltig, daß ich wie von Riesenkräften in den Sitz gepresst wurde und mir Blut aus der Nase stürzte. Wieder den Steuerknüppel nach vorn – Linkskurve, um die Wirkung zu beobachten. Ein gewaltiger Sprengschlag in Schiffsmitte mit heller Stichflamme und dicker Qualmwolke. Während ich mir das Blut vom Gesicht wischte und mit Abwehrbewegungen aus dem Feuerbereich der Flak strebte, sah ich weitere Zündschläge und Brände auf See. Ich bin überzeugt, daß wir Maßarbeit geleistet haben und daß nach dieser Nacht der Feind wieder einige Schiffe weniger hat.
Blick von der Steilküste
Soweit die Beobachtungen unserer Kampfflieger von ihren Erfolgen. Sie werden bestätigt durch Meldungen der Kriegsmarine und von Land her. Es bedeutet in diesen Tagen ein besonderes Erleben, die Materialschlacht in der Normandie von jener Steilküste, die im Osten die weite Seinebucht begrenzt, mit Aug und Ohr aufzunehmen. Die Stützpunkte hier liegen zurzeit wohl etwas am Rand der großen Auseinandersetzung. Aber Tausende von Bombentrichtern, Zerstörungen und Flugzeugtrümmern künden von vielen feindlichen Bomberangriffen und abgeschlagenen Landungsversuchen auch in diesem Abschnitt.
Tag und Nacht wummern in westlicher Richtung die Salven der Langrohrgeschütze. Nahgefechte der Schnellboote wechseln ab mit Feuerüberfällen der eigenen Artillerie auf Schiffsansammlungen in der Ornemündung. Mit hereinbrechender Nacht meldet der Nachrichtenapparat den Anflug eigener Kampfverbände. Für die Männer an den Geschützen und Geräten beginnt damit das sich fast allnächtlich wiederholende Schauspiel, dem sie von ihrem erhöhten Standort aus mit Spannung folgen. Achtzig bis hundert Meter steigt der Sandstein senkrecht vom Strand empor. Den wachsamen Augen entgeht von diesem Plateau aus kaum ein bedeutendes kriegerisches Ereignis in ihrem Sichtbereich.
Die Nacht wird erhellt durch zahllose Scheinwerfer, die den Himmel abtasten. Flak streut mit roten Perlschnüren und grellen Blitzen ihre Granaten in den Luftraum. Über den Stellungen, über dem Brückenkopf und über dem Wasser der Seinebucht ist das Dröhnen der Kampfflugzeuge, die dem Lichtzauber der Leuchtbomben zustreben. Im Nordwesten glüht noch ein Widerschein des versunkenen Tagesgestirns. Aus dem Dunkel des Wassers, dort, wo wie funkelnde Trauben die Magnesiumleuchten hängen, schießen Stichflammen hoch, grellweiß und rot verglühend. Sekunden später trifft die Schallwelle des Sprengschlages das Ohr. Stundenlang währt der Kampf der Kampfflugzeuge gegen die Schiffe.
Strandgut als Erfolgsmeldung
Wenn ein fahler Morgen dämmert und das Geschehen der Nacht als unwirkliches Schauspiel in übermüdeten Gehirnen nachwirkt, bedarf es vielleicht einer handgreiflichen Bestätigung des Erfolges. Die Männer der Stützpunkte an der Steilküste haben ihre Erfahrung. „Acht Stunden etwa nach solchen Angriffen“ – so erklären sie – „können wir feststellen, was diesmal dran glauben mußte.“ Ein langes Seil, oben befestigt, pendelt an der steilen Wand hinunter bis zum Strand. Wie geübte Hochalpinisten seilen sich dienstfreie Kanoniere ab, laufen den Strand entlang. Vergnügt bringen sie einiges Strandgut nach oben: Aus wasser- und luftdichten Verpackungen holen sie Zwiebäcke, Zigaretten, Kaffee; Kisten von Granaten, Kartuschen, Verbandmaterial, Kanister treiben an. Eine Schicht von Öl am Strand – die qualmende Fackel in der letzten Nacht war ein ausbrennender Tanker. Wer zählt die Leichen der Verbrannten und Ertrunkenen, die das Meer noch nicht behalten wollte…
Im guten Fernglas erscheint die Küste von Calvados und die Ornemündung. Das sind keine Felsen, die aus den Wellen herausragen – dort liegen große Frachter auf Grund. Ein Schlachtschiff, einstmals der französischen Kriegsmarine zugehörig, liegt gekentert in der Nähe des Strandes. Aus dem flachen Wasser ragen hie und da Mastspitzen, Schornsteine. Gemeinsam haben hier Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine und Küstenbatterien mit Bomben, Minen und Granaten ihre Opfer gesucht. Viel liegt im Schoße des Wassersverborgen…
Die Ladung eines Frachters
Der Landser, der in seinem Loch liegt oder an seinem Geschütz den anstürmenden Feind abwehrt, vermag sich vielleicht nicht recht vorzustellen, welche Hilfe die ständige Versenkung oder Beschädigung der feindlichen Schiffstonnage auch für ihn bedeutet. Ein Beispiel sei hier für viele genannt. Von Torpedofliegern wurde bei einem schweren Angriff ein Dampfer von 6.300 BRT versenkt. Die Ladungsliste dieses Frachters wurde aus dem Wasser geborgen. Sie verzeichnete als geladen – und damit zu den Fischen geschickt: 193 Panzerspähwagen, 30 Panzer, 13 Jagdeinsitzer in Kisten verpackt und 2 Millionen Schuss schwere Flakmunition.
Der Feind hat vor der normannischen Küste schwere Verluste einstecken müssen, nicht anders als in den harten Kämpfen im Brückenkopf. Große Ansammlungen der Invasionsflotte liegen nach wie vor an mehreren Landungsstellen. Der Gegner wehrt sich mit allen ihm zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln – seit kurzem auch mit zahlreichen Sperrballonen – gegen die Bedrohung seines Nachschubs aus der Luft. Mit Härte und Verbissenheit kehren die Besatzungen unserer Kampf- und Torpedoflugzeuge immer wieder zu diesen Schwerpunkten zurück. Sie wissen um den Einsatz. Den Feind, den sie sonst nach langem Anflug auf seiner Insel und in seinen Häfen zu treffen wussten, finden sie jetzt vor den Toren der europäischen Festung. Ihr Leben war und ist unstet, von Kampf erfüllt. Jeder Verlust in ihren Staffeln und Gruppen bedeutet verstärkten Einsatz, ohne Kompromiss – bis zur Entscheidung.
Kriegsberichter HELMUT JACOBSEN
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 15, 1944)
Communiqué No. 79
More ground was gained by the Allies in the base of the CHERBOURG Peninsula. West of LESSAY, our patrols have advanced through SAINT-GERMAIN-SUR-AY against light opposition to LES MÉZIÈRES. We have approached more closely to LESSAY by taking BEAUVAIS and LA JOURDAINERIE. A few miles further east, we have taken LA LONDE and have reached the flooded basin of the AY river.
Driving south through GORGES and SAINT-GERMAIN, our units reached LES GRANGES and linked up south of LE HOMMET with troops advancing around the east of the GORGES marshes.
Between SAINTENY and the VIRE river, and in the area east of SAINT-LÔ, a number of local advances were made.
There is nothing to report from the remainder of the front.
Yesterday afternoon heavy bombers attacked targets in the AMIENS area and medium bombers attacked bridges at BOURTH and MEREY.
Fighters and fighter-bombers continued their attacks on transportation targets. Rail lines were cut in the ARGENTAN, LE MANS and ALENÇON areas and LA FERTÉ was attacked. Other targets included motor transport south of CAEN, enemy positions in the SAINT-LÔ area and a radio installation near LE HAVRE.
During yesterday 25 enemy aircraft were shot down. Seven of ours are missing.
Last night, the railway center of VILLENEUVE-SAINT-GEORGES was attacked by heavy bombers, while light bombers attacked barracks northeast of POITIERS.
Two enemy aircraft were destroyed last night, one by intruders over BELGIUM and the other over the battle area.
Communiqué No. 80
Allied troops, continuing their progress on the right of our front, have pushed forward to the immediate outskirts of LESSAY and reached the line of inundations of the River AY on a front of several miles.
The enemy was cleared from the villages of SAINTE-OPPORTUNE, PISSOT and SAINT-PATRICE-DE-CLAIDS. Further east we have advanced through GONFREVILLE and NAY to the banks of the River SEVES.
Enemy artillery fire was heavier yesterday and during the night.
Fighter bombers at minimum altitude bombed and strafed enemy troops and artillery positions in the SAINT-LÔ area early this morning. Others, on reconnaissance patrols near CAEN, met a force of over thirty enemy aircraft and destroyed two of them without loss.
During the increased enemy air activity yesterday, anti-aircraft gunners in the eastern sector shot down five enemy aircraft and damaged others.
Early this morning, enemy E-boats were intercepted in the SEINE Bay while attempting to break out to the westward from LE HAVRE. The enemy force was driven off and pursued. During the chase, one E-boat was set on fire. Patrol craft were later engaged off the harbor entrance and damage was inflicted on them.
Contact was also made with enemy E-boats off CAP DE LA HAGUE, and a short engagement took place before our force withdrew under fire from the shore batteries.
U.S. Navy Department (July 15, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 474
For Immediate Release
July 15, 1944
Guam and Rota Islands were attacked by carrier aircraft of a fast carrier task group on July 13 (West Longitude Date). Bombs and rockets set fire to buildings and ammunition dumps, and damaged storage facilities, gun positions, and other defense installations. We lost no aircraft. One of our destroyers sank a small enemy coastal transport near Guam during the night of July 10‑11.
Liberator bombers of the 7th Army Air Force attacked Truk Atoll on July 12. Defense installations at Eten and Dublon Islands were the principal targets. Sixteen to 19 enemy fighters attempted to intercept our force. Four fighters were shot down, four were probably shot down, and five were damaged. Four of our aircraft received minor damage. Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed and strafed enemy positions in the Marshall Islands on July 11 and 12.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 475
For Immediate Release
July 15, 1944
Guam Island was shelled by units of the Pacific Fleet and bombed by carrier aircraft on July 14 (West Longitude Date). Gun emplacements and the airfield at Orote were principal targets. Four enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered.
Mitchell medium bombers of the 7th Army Air Force and Liberator search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two, bombed Nauru Island on July 13. Orro Town was hit and several fires started. Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered. Truk Atoll was bombed on July 13 by 7th Army Air Force Liberators. Anti-aircraft positions on Dublon and Moen Islands were hit. Several enemy fighters were in the air but failed to press home their attacks. On the same day, 7th Army Air Force Liberators bombed Ponape Island, and remaining enemy positions in the Marshalls were attacked by Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 15, 1944)
YANKS STORM HINGE OF NAZI LINE
U.S. capture of three bastions in France near
Americans reach outskirts of Lessay
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Americans force ahead on the western end of the Normandy front, closing in on the Nazi bastions of Saint-Lô, Périers and Lessay, while on the eastern flank of the front, the British abandoned Maltot, below Caen.
SHAEF, London, England –
U.S. troops stormed today into the outskirts of Lessay, western anchor of a 40-mile German defense line in Normandy, closed against its central hinge at Périers, and gained nearly half a mile in a new drive against Saint-Lô at its eastern end.
The frontal assaults on the three key bastions of the German fortifications facing the Americans posed a direct threat to all of them, and official reports indicated they were “almost in the bag.”
Supreme Headquarters reported the capture of nine major German strongpoints on the approaches to Lessay and Périers, while field dispatches said the renewed assault on Saint-Lô had carried to Martinsville, a village a mile from the rubble-strewn citadel.
Bend back coastal end
U.S. assault units bending back the coastal end of the German line advanced about a mile on a four-mile front, overran five outlying villages, seized the entire north bank of the Ay River from the sea inland beyond Lessay, and hit the edge of the town itself.
At the center of the American front, other assault forces moved forward up to two and a half miles on a four-mile line, seizing four fortified villages and stabbing within two miles of Périers.
A headquarters spokesman said a fierce battle was raging for Saint-Lô. The latest dispatches from that sector said the Americans were battering in from the east, northeast and northwest.
British prepare drive
A “very large-scale German attack” was reported officially pending at the now-quiet British end of the French front, in which Sir Bernard L. Montgomery hoped to inflict another telling defeat on the enemy. Details were lacking.
The weather over Normandy was described officially as probably the worst since D-Day, with intermittent drizzles and dense fog virtually stopping air operations.
An estimated 100,000 German troops and tankmen were arrayed along the American front. They were giving ground slowly but steadily, and faced the threat of precipitate withdrawal to more solid defenses if their three keystone bases topple under the 1st Army onslaught.
Drive along river bank
Lacking details of the new drive against Saint-Lô as reported from the front, headquarters said, however, that “strong action” had been started to capture the town.
The American left wing reached Lessay along the north bank of the Ay River and captured the neighboring villages of Fererville (one mile to the west-northwest), Saint-Opportune (just north of the town) and Renneville, Laquerie and Pissot in a cluster on its approaches.
Overrun in the approach to Périers were Haut Perray, La Commune and Nay, along the road from Saint-Jores, as well as Saint-Patrice-de-Claids, two miles north of the Saint-Lô–Lessay highway.
The eastern half of the front remained static except for heavy artillery fire, especially around Maltot and the Canadian salient southwest of Caen. Headquarters disclosed last night that the British had pulled back from both Maltot and Hill 112 and that both now were in “no man’s land.”
Gen. Bradley ordered his troops forward in the Saint-Lô, Périers and Lessay sectors shortly before noon yesterday and by early evening they had advanced everywhere despite increased enemy artillery and mortar fire and heavy terrain obstacles.
Gain to northeast
“Very substantial gains” were reported easy and northeast of Saint-Lô, with the Americans gaining positions from which to mount the final assault on the city. La Creterie, three miles north-northwest of Saint-Lô, was also seized, with other forces consolidated their hold on newly-won terrain northwest and southeast of the city.
Halfway between Saint-Lô and Périers, the Americans drove a mile south from Les Champs-de-Losque to within a mile of the Saint-Lô–Lessay highway, backbone of the enemy’s defense line.
Effect junction
Two U.S. columns advancing around the eastern and western rim of the Marais de Gorges inundations due north of Périers effected a junction in advances of up to 3½ miles to within two miles of Périers itself.
The linkup of the two forces cleared the Germans from six square miles of marshland and put the Americans on more maneuverable terrain that should speed their advance southward.
Drive down road
Thrusting down the La Haye-du-Puits–Lessay road in frontal attacks, the Americans were less than a mile north of Lessay after capturing Beauvais. Coastal patrols west of Lessay advanced through Saint-Germain-sur-Ay against light opposition to Les Mézières.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s communiqué said:
A few miles further east, we have taken Lalonde and have reached the flooded basin of the Ay River.
Japs execute B-29 fliers
Tokyo warns airmen that death awaits all captured in raids
By the United Press
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Guam pounded for 10th day
Softening-up drive pushed by Yanks
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer
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U.S. planes rip Ploești oil fields
750 heavy bombers hit five refineries
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
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Clark’s army advances six miles from Livorno
Yanks drive ahead on port along coastal road; more towns are liberated
By James E. Roper, United Press staff writer
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Many union demands expected –
Backpay decisions due shortly before election
Roosevelt will get retroactive wage cases as well as pay increase appeals
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Tank work halts over racial issue
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Allies repulse starving Japs
Counterattack made in New Guinea
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
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Men died so they could celebrate –
Frenchmen dance and sing first time in five years
Yank band plays, Allied soldiers join Cherbourg in Bastille Day events
By William R. Higginbotham, United Press staff writer
Cherbourg, France –
For the first time in five long years, people danced in the streets of Cherbourg last night.
It was Bastille Day – the French day of independence – and was held in the Place de la Republique, next to the harbor where, less than three weeks ago, men died in battle so that these people could dance and sing.
U.S. soldiers, nurses and officers, British troops and French sailors who helped to liberate this historic city danced along with the French people.
While a band played, first serious tones and then American jazz, the French people looked on in almost disbelief. It had been a long time since they had witnessed such a scene.
The crowd was hushed as the band, led by Pvt. Lou Saunders of Butler, Pennsylvania, began playing. After a few serious numbers, Pvt. Saunders broke the band down to nine pieces and opened up with their theme “Time on My Hands.”
Serious faces among the crowd began to melt a little and there was scattered laughter when Frenchmen asked people to dance. Finally, the tension broke and the crowd formed a little circle as an American captain, Perry Miller, who used to teach English literature at Harvard, pushed back his helmet liner and started dancing with a tall Normandy blond.
Then the band broke into “I Go for You.” A French sailor with kinky hair and a bronze face danced alone; two Negro G.I.’s swung together; young French girls wearing the tricolor in their hair tried to step to the unfamiliar swing.
Guitarist Sgt. James R. Wilson of Lafayette, Indiana, brought the people stomping and cheering, and he stepped to the microphone and in the best hillbilly style sang of the “Hills of West Virginia.”
As the festivities ended, the band reformed in full and played “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the “Marseillaise.” A hush fell over the crowd. Men in battledress came to attention. The people stood and listened.
Goebbels warns Allies of chaos
Makes implicit appeal for softer terms
By the United Press
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