America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

Québec-Konferenz beendet

Stockholm, 18. September –
Die Besprechungen in Québec zwischen Roosevelt und Churchill haben ihren Abschluß gefunden. In einer bemerkenswert kurzen amtlichen Verlautbarung heißt es: Der Präsident und der Premierminister und die vereinigten Staatchefs hielten eine Reihe von Konferenzen, in deren Verlauf alle Probleme des Krieges gegen Deutschland und Japan erörtert wurden. Die ernsteste Schwierigkeit, so wird weiter ausgeführt, der sich die Konferenz in Québec gegenübersah, war die Aufgabe, Platz und Möglichkeit der besten Ordnung für jene Streitkräfte zu finden, die alle davon betroffenen Nationen gegen den japanischen Feind einzusetzen begierig sind.

Beim Zusammentritt der Québec-Konferenz haben wir bereits festgestellt, worauf es Roosevelt bei diesem Treffen mit Churchill vor allem ankam: Die Briten auf eine vollgültige Teilnahme am Kampf gegen Japan festzulegen, den bis jetzt die Yankees fast ausschließlich zu bestreiten hatten, und damit angesichts des heranrückenden Wahltermins der populären Meinung entgegenzukommen, daß der Krieg im Pazifik für die USA die Hauptaufgabe sei. Daß sich die Briten in Québec auf diese Linie festlegen ließen, ergibt sich aus der Erklärung Churchills: „Wir werden uns an diesem Krieg im Pazifik mit Streitkräften beteiligen, die im guten Verhältnis zu unserer nationalen Stärke stehen.“ Er stellt also dem englischen Volke vor Augen, daß es außer den hohen Blutopfern, die ihm das Ringen auf dem Kontinent abfordert, auf einen weiteren langfristigen Einsatz in Ostasien gefasst sein muß, wenn es überhaupt in diesem Raum noch eine Mitbestimmung ausüben will.

Was den Gang der Dinge in Europa angeht, so enthält die Verlautbarung von Québec darüber nichts Genaues. Die Haltung der beiden Mächte gegenüber den Völkern des Kontinents beschränkt sich nach wie vor darauf, sie den Bolschewisten ins Netz zu treiben. Diesen Tatbestand konnten die Roosevelt und Churchill nicht in Abrede stellen oder auch nur ansprechen da er für sie alles andere als rühmlich ist und nur ihre Mitschuld an der Ausbreitung des bolschewistischen Machtbereichs beweist Hingegen wird man erwarten dürfen, daß sie dem deutschen Volk mit ähnlichen Einflüsterungen zu nahen versuchen, wie sie bei leichtgläubigen und weniger standfesten Nationen Gehör finden und diese veranlassten, mitten im Strom die Pferde zu wechseln. Das Ergebnis liegt bei Italien und auf dem Balkan offen zutage. Es wiegt schwerer als alle Drohungen und Verheißungen, deren man sich drüben bedienen könnte um die militärische durch eine politisch-propagandistische Offensive zu unterstützen deren Misserfolg von vornherein feststeht, weil starke und stolze Völker nur der Stimme ihres eigenen Gewissens folgen.

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‚Typisches Agitationsbeispiel‘

Tokio, 18. September –
Die Erklärung Roosevelts und Churchills zum Abschluß der Québec-Konferenz über Japan wurde von dem Sprecher der japanischen Regierung als ein typisches Agitationsbeispiel bezeichnet.

Der Sprecher verwies auf die Erklärungen des japanischen Premierministers und des Marineministers vor dem Reichstag, in welcher festgehalten wurde, daß die See- und Landstreitkräfte völlig intakt seien und nur auf eine Großoffensive des Gegners warteten, um ihm dann den entscheidenden Schlag zu versetzen.

Die Kämpfe in den südlichen Niederlanden

Berlin, 18. September –
Seit Tagen sieht sich der Feind im nordbelgischen Raum durch den zähen Widerstand unserer Truppen im Brückenkopf an der Esterschelde und durch energische, am Sonntag fortgesetzte Gegenangriffe am Maas-Schelde-Kanal gefesselt. Auch seine starken Angriffe zwischen Maastricht und Aachen nach Norden brachten ihm nur unbedeutende örtliche Vorteile. Zwischen Aachen und Stolberg wurde der Gegner durch Gegenangriffe unserer Panzer weiter zurückgedrängt und südlich Stolberg blieben die Fortschritte der Nordamerikaner infolge unserer in die feindliche Angriffsfront getriebenen Keile auch am Sonntag minimal. Der starke Ansturm dreier feindlicher Armeen im belgisch-niederländischen Grenzgebiet ist somit seit Tagen ohne greifbare Erfolge geblieben.

Um diesen starken Riegel aufzubrechen und seine Bewegungsfreiheit zurückzugewinnen, begann der Feind in den frühen Nachmittagsstunden des Sonntags, im niederländischen Raum Luftlandetruppen abzusetzen. Das Unternehmen hatte sich durch heftige Luftangriffe auf Flugplätze und Verkehrsanlagen in den Absprunggebieten angekündigt. Ab 14,30 Uhr erschienen mehrere hundert Lastensegler und Transportflugzeuge.

Sie klinkten über den südlichen Niederlanden und dem Rheindelta aus. Noch während der Feind seine Landungen durchführte, gingen bereits eigene starke Kräfte zum Gegenangriff über. Zahlreiche Lastensegler wurden von der Flak abgeschossen, andere durch das Abwehrfeuer zu Notlandungen in den Überschwemmungsgebieten gezwungen. Zur Abwehr der feindlichen Fallschirmspringer und Luftlandetruppen riegelten unsere Truppen die verstreut auseinanderliegenden Landeplätze ab und verhinderten zunächst die Bildung großer geschlossener Kampfgruppen. Weitere Gegenmaßnahmen sind angelaufen.

Um die Verbindung mit seinen im Raum Eindhoven abgesetzten Kräften herzustellen, griff der Gegner gegen Abend am Maas­Schelde-Kanal aus Neerpelt heraus nach Norden an. Die auch an dieser Stelle sofort einsetzenden Gegenangriffe unserer Truppen führten zu harten, die ganze Nacht über anhaltenden Kämpfen, die auch in den heutigen Morgenstunden noch im Gange sind.

Im mittelbelgischen, luxemburgischen und lothringischen Grenzgebiet waren die Kämpfe vom Sonntag örtlich begrenzt, erfolgreiche Gegenangriffe drückten den Feind im Prümabschnitt und in seinem Brückenkopf am Sauer zurück. Im Raum Pont-à-Mousson–Nancy–Lunéville gingen die wechselvollen Kämpfe weiter. Hierbei drang der Gegner mit starken Kräften von Süden in Lunéville ein, doch wurde er wieder hinausgeworfen und musste südlich davon auch die Stadt Châtel-sur-Moselle vor deutschen Gegenangriffen wieder aufgeben. Am Sperrriegel vor der Burgundischen Pforte blieb die Lage unverändert. An einigen Stellen verbesserten unsere Truppen ihre Frontlinie, an anderen schlugen sie angreifende feindliche Kräfte blutig zurück.


Unsere Soldaten kapitulieren nicht

Reuters Sonderkorrespondent Louis Wulf gibt folgenden Bericht über die heldenmütigen Verteidiger von Brest, der in ausdrucksvoller Weise den nicht zu brechenden Widerstandsgeist deutscher Soldaten offenbart.

Ein US-Oberst ging am Donnerstag in die deutschen Linien, um General Ramcke, den Kommandanten der deutschen Besatzung, die jetzt bereits drei Wochen lang belagert wird, zur Übergabe aufzufordern. Der Oberst befand sich in Begleitung eines anderen Obersten und eines Leutnants als Dolmetsch. Sein kleiner Wagen führte eine weiße Flagge an der Seite.

Er wurde von einem deutschen Posten angehalten, gerade in dem Augenblick, wo er in die deutschen Linien fuhr, worauf die drei Offiziere ausstiegen und zu Fuß gingen. Als sie den Zweck ihres Besuches auseinandergesetzt hatten, wurden ihnen die Augen verbunden. So mußten sie dann einen Weg von mehreren hundert Yards zurücklegen, bis ein deutscher Major sie empfing. Sie mußten warten, bis ihr Auftrag an General Ramcke übermittelt und von diesem beantwortet worden war. Die Antwort bestand in einer unzweideutigen Weigerung. Die Offiziere konnten dann nicht in ihre eigenen Linien zurückkehren, da die amerikanische Artillerie, die ihr Feuer eingestellt hatte, nunmehr wiederum die Stadt heftig beschoss. Sie blieben mehrere Stunden bei den Deutschen und mußten sich vor dem Feuer ihrer eigenen Geschütze so gut wie möglich schützen.

Führer HQ (September 19, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

In Mittel-Holland verstärkte der Gegner seine im rückwärtigen Frontgebiet abgesetzten Kräfte durch neue Luftlandungen. Eigene Angriffe gegen die Absetzstellungen gewinnen gegen zähen Feindwiderstand langsam Boden. Aus dem Brückenkopf von Neerpelt griff der Feind mit starken Panzerkräften nach Norden an und drang in Eindhoven ein. In erbitterten Nahkämpfen wurden 43 Panzer vernichtet Nordwestlich Aachen konnte der Gegner trotz starken Einsatzes von Artillerie und Panzern nur geringen Bodengewinn erzielen. Westlich und südlich der Stadt wurden alle Angriffe abgewiesen. Im Raum von Lunéville verlaufen die eigenen Gegenangriffe weiterhin erfolgreich.

Von den übrigen Frontabschnitten werden nur örtliche Kampfhandlungen gemeldet.

Unter starkem Einsatz von Artillerie und Fliegern griff der Feind auch gestern Boulogne und Brest an. In Boulogne konnte er nach schweren Kämpfen in die Stadt eindringen, wurde aber aus mehreren Batteriestellungen wieder geworfen. Stadt und Hafen von Brest sind nur noch rauchende Trümmer. Die überlebende Besatzung hat sich auf die Halbinsel Le Crozon zurückgezogen und kämpft dort weiter. Feindliche Vorstöße gegen Lorient und Saint-Nazaire scheiterten. Aus einem Stützpunkt an der Gironde-Mündung führte ein Bataillon einen Ausfall auf die Stadt Sanjon und vernichtete dort große Kraftstoff- und Munitionslager des Feindes.

In Italien halten die schweren Abwehrschlachten im Raum nördlich Florenz und an der Adria in unverminderter Stärke an. Im Verlaufe der Kämpfe konnte der Gegner Einbrüche in unsere Stellungen erzielen, die abgeriegelt wurden. Der beabsichtigte Durchbruch wurde auch gestern verhindert. Die harten, beiderseits verlustreichen Kämpfe dauern weiter an.

An der Nordwestgrenze Rumäniens warfen Gegenangriffe ungarischer und deutscher Verbände den Feind bis in den Raum von Temeschburg, östlich Arad und südöstlich Großwardein, zurück.

Bei Torenburg und lm Nordteil des Szekler Zipfels scheiterten alle Angriffe mehrerer sowjetischer Schützendivisionen.

Auch bei Sanok und Krosno wurde der erneut angreifende Feind im Gegenangriff abgewiesen. An einer Stelle wurden 24 durchgebrochene sowjetische Panzer vernichtet.

Nordöstlich Warschau blieben sowjetische Angriffe erfolglos.

Südwestlich Mitau schossen unsere Truppen bei der Abwehr feindlicher Gegenangriffe 29 Panzer ab. In Lettland und Estland verhinderten unsere zäh kämpfenden Divisionen auch gestern feindliche Durchbrüche und vernichteten in den beiden letzten Tagen 149 Panzer.

Feindliche Bomber führten Terrorangriffe gegen Wesermünde und Budapest sowie andere Orte im ungarischen und serbischen Raum. Jäger und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe schossen 19 feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 19, 1944)

Communiqué No. 164

The landing of Allied airborne troops in Holland continued yesterday. Supplies were also landed and positions were consolidated and strengthened. Operations are proceeding, and in one area our ground forces have already linked with the airborne troops.

In advance of the airborne operations, fighters and fighter-bombers attacked flak boats and positions, troops and transport. Other fighters maintained patrols and provided escort and cover for the transport aircraft and gliders. More than 70 flak boats and positions were put out of action. Many motor and horse-drawn vehicles were destroyed and an ammunition dump was blown up.

Opposition to the advance of our ground troops was stubborn. In the area west of ANTWERP, Allied troops, now fighting on Dutch soil, are advancing in spite of stiff opposition.

Fighting continues in BOULOGNE where we have made further progress into the town.

In Southern HOLLAND, our troops have advanced northeast of MAASTRICHT against stiff resistance from enemy infantry, artillery and dug-in tanks.

Elements further east have reached UBAGSBERG and SIMPELVELD against moderate resistance. In AACHEN, hard fighting continues. Southeast of the city, we have cleared the town of BÜSBACH and units to the northeast have met strong opposition.

Mopping-up of German elements is in progress east of ROETGEN, across the border from EUPEN, and we have captured HÖFEN. East of ST. VITH, our troops in Germany are meeting stiffening resistance and increasing artillery fire. BRANDSCHEID has been taken and we have advanced to HONTHEIM, six miles east of the border.

Armored units moving across the LUXEMBOURG-GERMAN frontier have taken the town of HÜTTINGEN.

In the MOSELLE Valley, we have further reinforced our troops to the east of the river.

West of BELFORT GAP, our troops, in an advance of more than five miles eastward from SAINT-LOUP-SUR-SEMOUSE, have entered the town of FOUGEROLLES. An enemy attack near PONT-DE-ROIDE was repulsed.

According to reports so far received, 32 enemy aircraft were destroyed in yesterday’s overall air operation. Thirty-three of our fighters are missing.

U.S. Navy Department (September 19, 1944)

Communiqué No. 543

Central Pacific.
The USS PERRY (DMS‑17) was sunk as the result of enemy action during the present operation in the Palau Islands.

The next of kin of casualties (which were small) have been informed.


Communiqué No. 544

Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the sinking of 29 vessels, including three combatant ships, as a result of operations against the enemy in these waters as follows:

  • 2 destroyers
  • 1 large cargo transport
  • 11 medium cargo vessels
  • 9 small cargo vessels
  • 2 medium cargo transports
  • 1 escort vessel
  • 3 medium tankers

These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.


Communiqué No. 545

The submarine USS FLIER (SS-250) was lost in recent operations against the enemy.

The next of kin of officers and crew have been informed.


Press Release

For Immediate Release
September 19, 1944

USS NOA lost in Pacific

The USS NOA (DD-343) was recently sunk in the Pacific as the result of a collision with a U.S. destroyer. There were no casualties to personnel.


CINCPAC Communiqué No. 123

First Marine Division troops on Peleliu Island scored further gains in a northeasterly direction during September 18 (West Longitude Date), securing Ngardololok Town and bringing most of the eastern coastal area under control. There was no significant change in our positions in the center and along the west coast. The enemy, fighting from pillboxes, trenches and other pre­pared fortifications, supported by mortars and artillery, continues to offer stubborn resistance. Found in badly damaged condition on the Peleliu Airfield were 77 single‑engine fighter aircraft, 28 medium bombers, eight light bombers, and four transport planes.

On Angaur Island, further southward advances have been made and two thirds of the island is in the hands of the 81st Infantry Division. The enemy now occupies only two isolated pockets of the island. During September 1, Saipan Town and Middle Village were occupied.

A landing craft equipped as a gunboat (LCI‑459) struck a mine while firing rockets in close support of our troops on Peleliu on September 17, and sank in about 20 minutes. Two of the crew were wounded, but all are safe.

Shumushu Island in the Kurils was bombed by 11th Army Air Force Liberators during the night of September 16. Anti-aircraft fire was inaccurate and all our planes returned to their base. Shumushu and Paramushiru were attacked on September 17 by search Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Four. Buildings were set afire. A small boat, loaded with enemy personnel, and a warship, thought to be a destroyer, were strafed off the east coast of Paramushiru. Several enemy fighter planes intercepted and one was shot down. One of our planes was damaged.

Iwo Jima was attacked on the night of September 16 (West Longitude Date) by a single plane. There was no anti-aircraft fire.

Seventh Army Air Force Liberators bombed Marcus Island on September 17. Anti-aircraft fire varied from meager to intense. On the same day,7th Army Air Force Mitchells flew through moderate anti-aircraft fire to bomb runways, bivouac areas, and gun emplacements on Nauru Island.

Further neutralization raids were carried out against Wotje in the Mar­shalls on September 16 and 17. Both attacks were directed at storage areas and encountered meager anti-aircraft fire. On September 16, 7th Army Air Force Liberators bombed Jaluit.

The Pittsburgh Press (September 19, 1944)

Air army over Rhine; Dutch city captured

Brereton’s men turn Siegfried Line; Brest reported in U.S. hands
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Bulletin

With U.S. 1st Army on German-Luxembourg frontier –
U.S. armored units knocked out 26 German tanks in repulsing two counterattacks northwest of Trier today, boosting their bag in one sector to 50 in 36 hours.

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map.091944.up
Gaining in Holland, the 1st Allied Airborne Army was reported in position across the Rhine River at Arnhem to turn the German Siegfried Line and drive to Berlin. Meanwhile, the U.S. 1st Army crossed the German border at new points above and below Aachen. The British 2nd Army drove into Holland to join the 1st Airborne Army, the U.S. 3rd Army advanced from Nancy, and the 7th Army closed on the Belfort Gap. Far to the northwest, the 1st Canadian Army battled to clean up the Channel and North Sea coasts.

SHAEF, London, England –
Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton’s airborne army turned the northern end of the Siegfried Line today in the Arnhem area of eastern Holland beyond the Rhine while other Allied forces captured the Dutch transport hub of Eindhoven.

Elated spokesmen said the aerial invasion of Holland was going exactly as planned on its third day and the commanders were highly pleased with its progress.

Front dispatches said the paratroopers and the British 2nd Army were wheeling through Holland at a lively clip, and the entire Nazi defense system for the country appeared to be falling apart.

Again today, an armada of Allied planes flew a supply mission to Holland, reinforcing the army which landed in the areas of Arnhem, Nijmegen and Eindhoven as well as other unspecified localities.

**The concerted onrush of the British 2nd Army and the airborne forces which brought them together in the Eindhoven area toppled the defenses of that big industrial city, and Lt. Gen. Miles C. Dempsey’s armor raced on in a fanout through a number of towns to the north and east.

Besides Eindhoven, the Allied seized Veghel (15 miles to the north), Esp (four miles to the north), Geldrop (four miles to the east), Wilreit and Luyksgestel (four miles north of Lommel) and Broek (one miles north of the Escaut Canal) where the British forced a new crossing in the Lille–Saint-Hubert area.

Far to the west, the battered German garrison of Brest, big French port famous for its role in World War I, had withdrawn to the Le Crozon Peninsula, Berlin said. The Nazi command said the city had been reduced to “smoking ruins” before it fell to the Americans who raced across Brittany early in August.

U.S. tanks and armor of Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ 1st Army resumed their advance east of Aachen, breaking a stalemate brought about by brisk German counterattacks, and reached the outskirts of Stolberg, industrial city which had been bypassed in the drive which breached the Siegfried Line.

United Press writer Henry T. Gorrell reported from the region of Stolberg that the Germans had not counterattacked for 24 hours. Allied bombers were plastering the Nazi positions along a wide arc curving deep into Germany east of Aachen.

Can open path into Reich

With the Siegfried Line turned, if the airborne forces dropped in the Arnhem and Nijmegen areas can link up with the armored spearheads advancing north from Eindhoven, they will open a path for a fast dash into Northwest Germany.

The northern end of the Siegfried Line is at Kleve, 18 miles southeast of Arnhem. Arnhem is on the north bank of the Rhine branch which flows to the North Sea through Rotterdam. The landing forces were operating north of Arnhem and thus established north of almost all the main water barriers standing between the British 2nd Army and Northwest Germany.

The force in the Nijmegen area 12 miles south of Arnhem comprised an intermediary link between the Eindhoven and Arnhem forces. A quick junction will erect a great barrier behind an unofficially estimated 70,000 Germans in western Holland.

Make excellent headway

All available reports indicated that the Allied forces were making excellent headway and firmly holding the key positions they had seized.

United Press writer Ronald Clark reported from the 2nd Army front:

It appears that the German hope of fighting successfully for Holland or evacuating all troops from the Rotterdam and Amsterdam coastal areas is fading fast. Already the possibility appears of another gigantic bag closing around a big section of the Wehrmacht.

Strong British forces were moving swiftly northward across the first series of water crossings where the Germans hoped to defend the approaches to the Lower Rhine, Mr. Clark reported.

Claim some captured

The DNB News Agency said attempts by the airborne forces who landed in the Nijmegen area to gain a foothold in the town itself or the bridges which lead across the Waal River into it were frustrated.

The agency said single paratroop units landed in German territory next to the frontier, but claimed they were encircled and forced to surrender after a short fight.

A Brussels broadcast said the British 2nd Army was two miles from Nijmegen and crossed the Wilhelmina Canal at 5:30 a.m. CET.

Headquarters revealed that the airborne forces had already captured several hundred prisoners, most of them second-rate troops.

Mr. Clark revealed that the third wing of the 1st Allied Airborne Army had joined forces with armored spearheads of the British 2nd Army around Veghel.

The British 2nd Army was across the Belgian frontier into the Netherlands in great strength at three points above the Escaut Canal – north of Gheel, Lommel and Hechtel.

Front dispatches said the hard-hitting paratroops were spreading panic and confusion through the enemy rear, raising the possibility of a British march into the Ruhr similar to Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s whirlwind drive across eastern France.

Battle for month

There was no immediate confirmation of the capture of Brest, where one of the bloodiest battles of the French campaign has been raging for more than a month.

About 20,000 Germans, including landlocked U-boat sailors and other naval personnel, dug into the city when the Americans broke into the Breton Peninsula and held out stubbornly under heavy attack from land, sea and air to prevent the Allies from obtaining the use of the first-rate port facilities.

Gen. Patton’s U.S. 3rd Army broke the stalemate on the Moselle River with a powerful eastward thrust toward the German frontier that carried at least 20 miles beyond Nancy and tightened the ring around Metz.

Close in Belfort

Simultaneously, the U.S. 7th Army squeezed in closer to the Belfort Gap against stiffening opposition, and 1st Canadian Army troops on the French Channel coast fought into the streets of Boulogne at bayonet point.

The U.S. 1st Army drove across the Dutch border into Germany east of Simpelveld, seven miles north of Aachen, a second spearhead striking beyond captured Maastricht neared the border in the area of Sittard, 17 miles northwest of Aachen.

Aachen itself was closely enveloped and official reports indicated some doughboys had fought into the streets of the city.

Beat off attacks

Southeast of Aachen, Gen. Hodges’ men beat off desperate counterblows by German tanks and shock troops, losing some ground under the enemy assault and then coming back to capture several towns well inside the border, including Höfen and Büsbach.

Farther south, the Americans also expanded their salient inside Germany above Prüm and made a new penetration of the Reich at Hüttingen, 20 miles below that town.

United Press writer Robert Richards reported from the 3rd Army front that Gen. Patton’s men were on the move toward Germany again after a long stalemate imposed by supply difficulties.

30 miles from border

One armored spearhead pushed beyond Nancy to within about 30 miles of the German border, apparently aiming at Strasbourg, while other units crossed the Moselle River in force below Metz, threatening to outflank that fortress.

Below Nancy, another U.S. infantry column, spearheaded by French armor, advanced 15 miles northeast of Charmes.

At one point, fanatical Nazi SS troops launched a wild bayonet charge against the American vanguards, only to be slaughtered by Yank machine-gunners and riflemen, Mr. Richards said.


Nazis surrendering to Dutch civilians

By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer

With U.S. Airborne Army in Holland –
German soldiers, no longer supermen but just strangers in a foreign country who want to get home, are giving themselves up to unarmed Dutch civilians and waiting for American paratroopers to come to take them to prisoner of war pens.

The prisoners, for the most part poor specimens of soldiers, are dribbling in in crowds of 10 to 20. Their standard answer to the question of age is – 18 years.

Dutch men, women and children are holding them prisoner for the Americans and the biggest job now is getting around to all the houses where there are three or four Nazis under guard by irate Dutch housewives.

The Dutch, too, were greeting the Americans with a welcome which some veterans who saw the liberation of Paris said was even more hysterical than the celebration by the French.

Marines slay half of Japs on Palau Isle

Americans expand invasion of area
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

Bulletin

Aboard expeditionary flagship, Palau –
The 1st Marine Regiment today captured “Bloody Nose” Ridge after a vicious fight and tonight the battle for Peleliu appeared to have passed the crisis point.

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
The bloody battle for Peleliu in the Southern Palaus was believed near its culmination today as U.S. forces wiped out more than half of the garrison, seized nearly half of nearby Angaur Island and occupied tiny Ngarmoked Island off Peleliu.

A Tokyo broadcast said approximately 50 U.S. planes, including Liberators and Lightnings, raided Davao, in Southwest Mindanao, yesterday, while some 100 carrier-planes attacked Koror Island in the Palaus north of Peleliu.

The intensified strikes in the Palaus came simultaneously with the opening of a new phase of the Southwest Pacific campaign by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who will lead victorious Allied armies back to the Philippines.

Announced by Nimitz

For the first time of the war, Gen. MacArthur sent carrier-based planes against Halmahera’s airdromes Saturday to prevent attacks on American-held Morotai Island at the north end of the Halmahera group and 250 miles south of the Philippines.

Selection of Gen. MacArthur to command the campaign to reconquer the Philippines was announced last night by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, in a radio broadcast to the American Legion convention in Chicago.

The invasion of the Palaus, 560 miles east of the Philippines, by his own Pacific forces will provide a base “from which to cover and support Gen. MacArthur’s Philippines campaign,” Adm. Nimitz said.

5,495 killed

It was the first official confirmation that Gen. MacArthur will have full command of the reconquest of the Philippines, which he left more than two years ago resolutely pledging himself to return.

Despite severe losses which totaled 5,495 men killed by American count, the Japs fought fiercely on Peleliu’s difficult terrain and even attempted counterattacks which slowed the Marine drive northward from their southern beachhead.

Adm. Nimitz’s communiqué disclosed that the town of Asias, about a half mile north of captured Peleliu, fell to the 1st Marine Division, which also seized tiny Ngarmoked Island off the southern tip of the island to remove a potential threat from the rear.

Army troops of the 81st Infantry Division turned back several Jap counterattacks on Angaur, south of Peleliu, and continued their advance to gain control of the northern half of the island except for several strong pockets on the western shore. A total of 48 Jap bodies was counted on Angaur.

Battle from caves

Front dispatches said the Japs on Peleliu were fighting bitterly from caves and concrete pillboxes built in the sheer coral cliffs.

United Press writer Richard W. Johnston said they were dying by the hundreds in these escape-proof holes. The Marines were also suffering casualties, though not comparable with those at Tarawa or Saipan.

Mr. Johnston disclosed that the heaviest fighting was taking place on “Bloody Nose” Ridge, which overlooks the island. The Marines silenced Jap artillery which rained shells on the newly-captured airstrip.

A front dispatch from Leif Erickson, representing the combined Allied press, revealed that while the bitter ridge battle raged, U.S. planes were using the Peleliu Airdrome, less than a mile to the south.

Japs shackled to posts

Mr. Erickson reported that desperate Jap commanders shackled their soldiers’ hand and foot to their observation posts inside small caves, and made booby traps of the bodies of dead officers.

Warships and planes continued the unrelenting bombardment of the remaining Jap positions on Peleliu and Mr. Johnston said the combined forces have hurled “thousands of tons” of shells and bombs into the enemy defenses.

He said:

It appears likely that better than one half of the garrison has been wiped out or made ineffective. The stench of decaying bodies is already heavy on the beachhead.

Victory near

Although the Japs probably will fight to the end, observers believed that because of Peleliu’s small area – six by two miles – the Marines soon would be in full control.

Peleliu is the main eastern anchor of the Allied line around the Southern Philippines.

Gen. MacArthur’s troops were consolidating their positions and rapidly completing an airfield on Morotai Island, the southern anchor.

The carrier planes which attacked Halmahera airdromes also made sweeps over Wasile Bay. Thirteen barges were wrecked, three planes shot down and “many” planes destroyed on the ground. The assault came only a week after naval task force units made a three-raid attack on the Philippines.

Gen. MacArthur’s land-based bombers, meanwhile, hit nearby Celebes Island with 146 tons of bombs, concentrated on Kendari Airdrome. Two of eight Jap interceptors were shot down.

Submarines sink 29 Jap vessels


Germans capture UP writer Beattie

americavotes1944

Speaks again tonight –
Dewey blames Roosevelt for strikes

Governor Dewey delayed after train wreck

Seattle, Washington (UP) –
Governor Tom E. Dewey’s special campaign train left Seattle several hours behind schedule today because of a freight train wreck near Castle Rock, Washington, but railroad crews were expected to have the roadway repaired in time to get the Dewey train into Portland, Oregon, by early afternoon.

Aboard Dewey campaign train (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey makes his second campaign speech from the West Coast tonight with a direct attack on President Roosevelt’s fourth-term bid, a follow-up to last night’s address at Seattle when he appealed to American labor to desert the present administration.

Governor Dewey’s theme tonight in Portland, Oregon, will be: “Is There An Indispensable Man?”

Governor Dewey’s speech will be broadcast over KDKA at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The Republican presidential nominee told a nationwide radio audience last night that the Roosevelt administration was responsible for wartime strikes and said it seeks to make labor a political pawn.

Five-point program

Before an overflow crowd of some 6,000 persons in Seattle’s Civic Auditorium, Governor Dewey outlined a five-point program he would inaugurate if his White House bid is successful. He called for:

  • An able Secretary of Labor from the ranks of labor;
  • Return to the Labor Department all the functions of each a department;
  • Abolition of “wasteful, competing bureaus filled with men quarreling for jurisdiction;
  • Establishment of a Fair Employment Practice Committee as a permanent government function;
  • Abolition of “privilege for one group over any other.”

Governor Dewey defended the right to strike as “one of the fundamental rights of free men,” but he charged that it has been abused and laid blame for such abuse directly with the Roosevelt administration. He said:

The chief blame goes directly into the White House and to its agency created at the top of all this chaos of agencies – the War Labor Board.

That board has supreme power over the vital matters of wages and conditions of employment. Whether by design or sheer incompetence, its practice has been to stall – weeks, months, sometimes years – before issuing decisions.

He charged:

This policy of delay, delay and more delay serves only the New Deal and its political ends. It makes the leaders of labor come hat in hand to the White House. It makes political loyalty the test of a man getting his rights…

Governor Dewey summed up his estimation of the Roosevelt administration’s labor policy as one of “delays, bungling and incompetence,” which has bred class division, hate and insecurity, placed obstacles in the way of labor’s efforts to avoid wartime strikes, and fostered strife among labor groups as well as between labor and business.

‘Peace footing’ –
Roosevelt plans war agencies’ end

Federal payroll cut also considered

‘Tell Helen I’ve found God’ –
Dying Navy airman writes to mom on wallet fly leaves

Sweetheart, parents and home cooking last thoughts of a fighting man

I DARE SAY —
Fala and his friends

By Florence Fisher Parry

MacArthur to lead Philippine invasion, Nimitz tells Legion

Admiral hints of other impending blows; Marshall: Crucial stage reached

Nazis order civilians to flee Cologne area


Raid on Sumatra reported by Japs

By the United Press

War hero dies

Santa Fe, New Mexico –
The body of Col. Hugh Benton Moore, 75, credited with having stopped Ludendorff’s push in France in 1918 by blowing up the bridges needed by the German general in his drive, was sent today to Texas City, Texas, for burial. Col. Moore, who died here Sunday, was the transportation officer on Gen. Pershing’s staff in World War I.

americavotes1944

Bricker to set pace tonight for GOP here

Dewey’s running mate to speak at Mosque
By Kermit McFarland

Republicans will throw one of the biggest shows of the fall political season here tonight when Governor John W. Bricker, candidate for Vice President, comes here to deliver one of the principal addresses of his campaign.

Mr. Bricker, accompanied by Governor Edward Martin, was scheduled to arrive here about 6:00 p.m. ET from Erie, where he delivered a noonday talk.

The Ohio Governor has delivered several speeches here on previous occasions, but this is the first at a meeting open to the public.

Will speak at Mosque

He will speak in Syria Mosque at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Mr. Bricker’s half-hour address will be broadcast over WCAE and the Mutual Network.

Preceding Mr. Bricker’s appearance, the Republican rally, scheduled to start at 8:30, will be addressed by U.S. Senator James J. Davis (candidate for reelection) and County Court Judge Blair E. Gunther.

Rev. Cornell E. Talley, pastor of the Central Baptist Church, was scheduled to speak at this meeting, but is ill. If he is unable to appear tonight, his place will be taken by Hobson R. Reynolds of Philadelphia, former Negro Legislator.

Mr. Reynolds is the sponsor of the so-called “equal rights” law enacted by the 1935 session of the Legislature.

Other speeches scheduled

From here, Mr. Bricker will go to Harrisburg, for a noon address tomorrow from the Capitol steps and thence to Wilkes-Barre for a night rally.

His appearance tonight is expected to be a prelude to the No. 1 Republican rally of the campaign next month when local and state leaders hope to bring Governor Thomas E. Dewey, presidential candidate, here for an address at Forbes Field.

Mr. Dewey visited Pittsburgh in July, but delivered no speech, confining his activities to a series of conferences with regional business, political, labor and agricultural leaders.

Truman may speak here

Governor Bricker’s Democratic rival for the Vice Presidency is also expected to speak here later in the campaign, although no dates have been set. But President Roosevelt’s running mate, Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri, is a favorite with local Democratic leaders who played an important part in bringing about his nomination at the Chicago convention.

He was scheduled to deliver the Jefferson Day speech at the annual Democratic banquet last May, but at the last minute, U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey, a champion of Vice President Henry A. Wallace’s nomination, arranged to bring Senator Samuel D. Jackson (D-IN) instead.

The Democrats have no inkling of President Roosevelt’s campaign plans, other than two scheduled radio speeches from Washington and do not expect him to visit Pittsburgh before Election Day, although he has been here in each of his three previous campaigns. If he comes into Pennsylvania at all, he will appear in Philadelphia.

americavotes1944

Bricker attacks Hillman and PAC

Erie, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Labor has the right to enter political campaigns with “arguments and peaceful persuasion,” but no organization should use “intimidation, threats and ulterior purposes” to influence the vote, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker said today in a sharp criticism of Sidney Hillman and the CIO Political Action Committee.

Mr. Bricker said that President Roosevelt’s alleged remark for aides at the Democratic National Convention to “clear everything with Sidney” was “too well authenticated and documented” for a denial by Robert Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Mr. Hillman “took over control of the Democratic Convention,” Governor Bricker said, and the “results provide the truth of the statement because everything was cleared through Sidney.”

Asked if organized labor should stay out of politics as a group, Governor Bricker replied that labor “always has been nonpartisan.”

He said:

We have political parties for the purpose of conducting elections. I have no opposition to any organization going into campaigns with arguments and peaceful persuasion, but to get people and members of an organization created for one purpose and then through power they have over them by intimidation, threats and ulterior purposes to try to force them to vote one way or to try to influence them by contributing money to one party against their will is very dangerous.

In a speech later, Governor Bricker said that a planned program for a rehabilitation of business and reemployment of war veterans has been laid down by the Republican Party while the New Deal “only looks forward to unemployment,” and measures to alleviate those conditions.

americavotes1944

‘Phantom voters’ probe requested

Washington (UP) –
Rep. Francis J. Myers (D-PA) today asked the Special House Committee Investigating Campaign Expenditures to check the list of registered voters in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, for “phantom voters.”

Mr. Myers said he requested that the county’s entire voting list be checked following reports that Delaware County commissioners planned to investigate lists of 14,000 newly registered voters in Chester and 2,500 in Upper Darby, both in Delaware County. Charges have been made, he said, that this investigation of only a small part of the voting list is “wholly political” with the intention of “aiding or influencing the election of certain candidates.” Mr. Myers is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, opposing Republican Senator James J. Davis.


‘Cotton Ed’ Smith to fight 4th term

Columbia, South Carolina (UP) –
Senator Ellison D. “Cotton Ed” Smith, who was recently defeated in the state Democratic primary when he sought a seventh term in the Senate, disclosed today he had called a meeting of anti-New Deal Democrats in Washington on Friday and Saturday to plan a campaign to defeat President Roosevelt.

Purpose of the meeting, he said, will be to recapture the Democratic Party from Sidney Hillman, the CIO, and the New Deal, and to defeat the fourth term.

americavotes1944

Dewey asked to kill ‘incorrect statement’

Washington (UP) –
House Democratic Leader John W. McCormack (D-MA) called on Governor Thomas E. Dewey today to delete for rebroadcasting purposes that part of his Philadelphia speech in which, Mr. McCormack said, he made “an incorrect statement which creates a false impression about the demobilization plan for the Army.”

Governor Dewey charged in Philadelphia that the administration planned to keep men in the Army until they could get jobs. Mr. McCormack said:

This statement already has created confusion and uncertainty among our soldiers. In all decency, Governor Dewey should publicly withdraw it.

Screams of Yank wounded unnerve German gunner

Nazi stops firing long enough to let Americans evacuate comrades
By Robert Richards, United Press staff writer