America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

1659 
Lot 60–D 224, Box 55: DO/PR/26

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State to the Secretary of State

Washington, September 19, 1944

Subject: PROGRESS REPORT ON DUMBARTON OAKS CONVERSATIONS – TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY

Meeting of the Joint Steering Committee
A meeting of the Joint Steering Committee was held today at Ambassador Gromyko’s request to reach agreement on a number of unsettled items.

a) Voting in the Council
With reference to the section on voting in the Council the Soviet group preferred a general statement rather than an enumeration of the questions requiring unanimous vote. The Soviet group also were agreeable to providing that a permanent member could abstain from voting, but be bound by the decision. The British said emphatically that the voting question was closed at this time and maintained that the matter of voting should be settled as a whole rather than in parts. I suggested the voting question might best be covered by a statement that the matter has been left open.

b) Regional arrangements
The Soviet group withdrew their reservation on regional arrangements, but requested that the clause excepting from the authority of the Security Council action in relation to enemy states be transferred to the chapter on transitional arrangements.

c) Respect for human rights
The British were reluctant to accept our proposal for a provision obligating states to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Soviet group would accept this principle provided it were coupled with a provision that Fascist or fascist-type states could not be members of the organization.

d) Disarmament and regulation of armaments
The British agreed that the general Assembly might consider disarmament, but maintained their view that the military staff committee should not deal with disarmament.

The Soviet group withdrew objection to empowering the Security Council, assisted by the military staff committee, to formulate plans for regulating armaments.

e) Election of non-permanent Council members
The British agreed to eliminate the qualification that the contribution of members to peace and security be a consideration in filling nonpermanent seats.

f) Settlement of disputes
The Soviet group suggested that the obligation of parties to refer an unresolved dispute to the Security Council state that the Council should in each case decide whether the dispute is a threat to peace and whether the Council should deal with it.

g) Bases and transit facilities
The Soviet group agreed to drop the provision, originally proposed by them, that smaller states should provide transit facilities and sites for bases.

h) International air force corps
The American formula regarding national air force contingents was accepted and the British alternative was dropped.

i) Transitional arrangements
Agreement was reached that until the special agreement or agreements to provide armed forces come into force, the states parties to the Moscow Declaration should consult with one another and, as occasion arises, with other members of the Organization with a view to joint action to maintain peace and security.

500.CC/9–1944: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union to the Secretary of State

Moscow, September 19, 1944 — 1 p.m.
[Received September 19 — 9:25 a.m.]
3572

Before receiving this morning your personal message No. 2234, September 18, 10 a.m. [p.m.], I had drafted the first part of a message on this subject. I am now sending you this part of the message as background and will follow shortly with more specific answers to the questions which you have raised. Original message follows:

I submit the following for such value as it may have in your consideration of Marshal Stalin’s reply to the President’s message on the question of voting of the permanent members in the Council of the World Security Organization.

The British Ambassador has informed me of his discussion with Molotov on this subject, report of which I assume you have received. Molotov’s reaction followed precisely the same line as Stalin’s message to the President.

From the evidence we have, it would appear that the underlying reason for the position of the Soviets on voting is their unwillingness to allow the Council to deal with any dispute in which the Soviet Government is a party affecting their relations with at least their neighboring countries. Some of the evidence we have in mind is the following:

  1. You will recall that at the Moscow Conference when the question of European problems was discussed Molotov stated that the Soviet Government was prepared to consult with the British and yourselves [ourselves?] on matters relating to all questions except those between the Soviet Government and its immediate western neighbors. On these matters the Soviet Government was prepared to keep us informed but would take no further commitments.

  2. Light on the Soviet Government’s attitude toward small nations was reflected in an informal conversation Mr. Eden and I had at the British Embassy with Litvinov and Maiski in which Litvinov expounded the concept that it was unreasonable to consider that the interests of 30 million Poles should be given equal weight with those of 180 million Russians. Where the interests of the Russians conflicted with those of the Poles, the Poles would have to give way.

Recently Litvinov expounded the same philosophy to the Norwegian Ambassador when he said “The glory of the small nations is past.”

  1. Throughout the year we have seen evidence of the Soviet Government’s intention to prescribe unilaterally the manner in which the Polish political problem should be settled.

  2. Throughout the period of occupation of Iran, the Soviet Government has shown unwillingness to collaborate to any substantial degree with the British and ourselves and in fact has been unwilling to allow our observers to study conditions in northern Iran.

  3. The Soviet Government’s agreement with the Italian Government for the exchange of representatives was reached without consultation.

  4. As soon as the Soviets decided that Turkey’s entry into the war was no longer vital, they took the first pretext to break away unilaterally from their agreement at Moscow and Tehran to work with the British and ourselves for Turkey’s entry into the war.

  5. The Soviet Government declared war on Bulgaria without consultation with the British and ourselves, giving us thirty minutes notice. It would appear probable that the reasons for failure to consult were political even if the move itself may have been based on military considerations as well.

  6. Molotov’s attitude in the discussions preceding the Rumanian armistice has been cold to say the least toward real collaboration of British and American political representatives in Rumania. It is of course too early to judge the manner in which the Soviets will use their powers under the armistice.

  7. We have seen an unbending and impatient attitude toward Chiang Kai Shek particularly regarding the difficulties in Sinkiang. Our air force as well as China are being penalized by an unwillingness to allow the use of the overland route through the Soviet Union in order to bring political pressure on the Generalissimo.

I do not attempt to appraise whether the Soviets are right or wrong in their objectives in any one of the above cases. I refer to them only as indicative of their attitude and consistent method of unilateral action in accomplishing their objectives. I believe we have thus sufficient evidence to foresee that if the world organization is established requiring agreement of all permanent members for the consideration of any dispute regardless of whether or not one of them is involved the Soviet Government will ruthlessly block consideration by the Council of any question in which it considers its interests affected and will insist that the matter be settled by the Soviet Union within the other country or countries involved particularly any disputes with their neighbors.

I am convinced that Stalin and his principal advisers place the highest importance on the association of the Soviet Union in a major way with the three great powers in world affairs but have expected that their political and military strength would enable them to dictate the conditions. There is no doubt the Russian people crave peace and have been led to believe that the intimate relationship developed during the war with the British and ourselves will continue after the war and will be a guarantee of a lasting peace. I do not believe Stalin can forego the material as well as the psychological value of this association without causing grave concern among the Russian people. On the other hand, it seems evident that there are powerful groups within his immediate circle who are unwilling to give up right of independent action where Russian’s interests are affected and to see Russia depend solely on an untried world organization with associates none of whom do they fully trust. As Stalin traditionally likes to have two strings to his bow, it has not appeared to him inconsistent to pursue these two methods at the same time to obtain security for the Soviet Union and to advance its national interests as he sees them.

HARRIMAN

1660

americavotes1944

Address by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey
September 19, 1944, 10:30 p.m. EWT

Delivered in Portland, Oregon

dewey2

It is with a warm and happy feeling that I come again to the great state of Oregon. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to thank you in person for the friendship your people have shown to me in the past and it is gratifying indeed to have been welcomed so cordially by your friendly and able Governor, Earl Snell.

Four years ago, when I spoke here in Portland, I pointed out the danger which I believe has now become apparent to all – the danger of one-man government in a free country.

At that time Mr. Roosevelt represented himself as indispensable to the peace of America. Now, four years later, he seeks a fourth term, for a total of 16 years as President, upon the claim that he is indispensable to the world. In the carefully supervised words of his own running mate, Mr. Truman, “The very future of the peace and prosperity of the world depends upon his reelection in November.”

Peace and prosperity are, of course, the objectives of both parties. My opponent claims to be indispensable to peace and prosperity. In other words, he claims that the United States and the world cannot get along without him. He has chosen this as the issue of the campaign. I accept the issue, and I challenge it.

Now let’s find out what are the essential elements of that peace and prosperity we all seek.

We know that victory in Europe is close at hand. Soon we shall be able to throw our full strength into the Pacific for the total, crushing defeat of the Japanese. If we in America are to do our share in helping to make secure the peace that will follow victory over both Germany and Japan, we must be a strong and united people.

The first requirements for peace and prosperity are unity in our government and strength and unity among our people. Is a fourth term indispensable to that?

The plain fact is that for 12 straight years, the New Deal has given this country a continuous demonstration of quarreling, dissension and disunity. It has set group against group, race against race, and class against class. Under this administration, business and labor have been set against each other and labor’s own house became divided.

We have listened without surcease to the shrill, abusive tirades of Mr. Ickes. We have heard Vice President Wallace recklessly denouncing unspecified Americans as Fascists. We have been treated daily to blow-by-blow accounts of innumerable feuds within the New Deal itself. You will recall the long quarrel between the Vice President and the Secretary of Commerce in which they publicly called each other “obstructionist” and “liar.”

Then, there was the long series of quarrels within the War Production Board – quarrels we now know to have been promoted by the New Dealers who have at length succeeded in taking it over. This running feud recently culminated in the resignation of several top officials of the WPB, while the head of the Board was shipped off to China by Mr. Roosevelt himself.

I do not believe in that quarreling, bickering kind of government – an administration which cannot unite its own house, even in war, can never unite the nation for the tremendous peace tasks ahead of us.

We must have the strength of unity within our government and among our people if we are to contribute to the building of a lasting peace. As a first step to that end, we must have a government in which the lines of responsibility are clearly laid down.

We must have the kind of an administration that inspires teamwork and devotion to the service of the country. I propose that we install that kind of administration next January 20.

The one dispensable thing to achieving this teamwork and devotion, this unity in government we have so long lacked, is a change from the indispensable man. With that new unity in our government, we will achieve the unity among our people so essential to the peace and prosperity of America and of the world.

Now there is a second thing that is essential to achieving our agreed objective of peace and prosperity. That essential thing is joint, harmonious action between the President and the Congress. Is a fourth term indispensable to that?

Every step we take in these critical years ahead must have the joint support of the Congress and the President. Can any such joint action and harmonious relationship be achieved under this administration?

It is a matter of common knowledge that the New Deal has continuously sought for 12 years to bring the Congress of the United States into popular disrepute. As a result, no bill which this administration can propose to Congress is today received with anything less than suspicion. The nation is now reaping the bitter fruit of executive arrogance toward the elected representatives of the people.

We need only recall the recent episode when Mr. Roosevelt vetoed the tax bill. On Washington’s Birthday, he sent to the Congress a veto message so savage and unjust that even the long-suffering and subservient Senator Barkley, Democratic majority leader, rebelled.

You remember the moving and impassioned speech that Senator Barkley made. You remember how, provoked beyond endurance, he rose in the Senate to denounce the words of the veto message of Mr. Roosevelt as “more clever than honest” and as “a calculated and deliberate assault on the legislative integrity of every member of Congress.”

You remember how the other Senators, regardless of party, rose as one man to cheer this declaration of independence by Senator Barkley. Ard the members of the House, regardless of party, crowded into the Senate chamber to shake Mr. Barkley’s hand.

But this dramatic episode was only an example of a long-continued trend. There exists today a hopeless division amounting to open warfare between the Congress and the President. We cannot enter this critical period ahead with a Chief Executive at war with Congress.

It is a part of the job of a President to work in harmony with Congress, just as it is part of the job of a governor to work in harmony with the Legislature.

I can speak with feeling on that point. I have worked closely with the Legislature of my own state. We have had many difficult problems to work out. But we have never found it impossible to reach agreement when we sat down together to discuss these problems. If we cannot agree at the first meeting, we meet again, and often sit together far into the night talking the whole thing over and eventually reaching a meeting of minds.

If we have learned any lesson from watching the rise of Fascism elsewhere in the world, surely, we should have learned the need for strengthening, not undermining representative government.

My opponent has demonstrated that he cannot work with the present Democratic Congress. How in the name of the future of our country can he be expected to get along with the Republican Congress which will certainly be elected this fall?

We need in this country an administration that wants to work with the elected representatives of the people and that knows how to do it. We can get such an administration only by getting a new Chief Executive.

There is a third thing that is essential to achieving our agreed objective of world peace and prosperity. This absolute essential is a strong and vigorous America with jobs for all. Is a fourth term indispensable to that? Once again let’s look at the record.

When this administration took office in 1933, the depression was already more than three years old. By 1934, that depression had lasted longer than any other in the previous 100 years of American history. Yet, there were then 12 million unemployed in the United States. By 1940, after the New Deal had been in office a full seven years, it had enjoyed unprecedented power, had spent $58 billion, and there were still 10 million unemployed. My opponent had succeeded only in the incredible accomplishment of making a depression last nearly 11 years, twice as long as any depression in the previous century. Under the New Deal, we had to have a war to get jobs.

What is the use of going back to the methods of the New Deal which failed so completely for seven years? We need a whole new approach to the relationship between the government of the United States and its people.

I will introduce this new approach on the radio from San Francisco on Thursday night of this week. I shall present the philosophy by which I believe we can achieve our two great goals for America, freedom and security for all.

Meanwhile, it is entirely clear that we need a new approach to the problem of the operation of our government. We need to revise and radially reduce the unnecessary burdens and handicaps placed by government upon the job-making machinery of our economic system, We need to revise our present tax policies which now deter every kind of business enterprise which makes jobs. We need a drastic change in government policies which ow incite labor disputes and place handicaps upon responsible labor leaders in their work. Some of these changes I outlined at Seattle last night.

We need, above all, a government which believes in the future of the American people.

These, then, are three elements essential to achieving our agreed objective of peace and prosperity in America in the world. If we are to have unity, we obviously need a new administration to bring it about. If we are to have harmony between the President and the Congress, we need a new Chief Executive to work with the Congress. If we are to have a strong and vigorous America with jobs for all, then we need a new administration to bring it about.

Let’s have no more of this pretense about indispensable men. There are no indispensable men. If our Republic after 150 years of self-government is dependent upon the endless continuance of one man in office, then the hopes which animated the men who fought for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have indeed cume to nothing.

The peace and prosperity of America and of the world can never depend on one man.

The American people know that peace will be the work of many, many people all over the world for many years. We must build a structure of peace which our people and all people will support, not merely this year, or the next four years, but for 25, 50, and many more years to come.

It is for these reasons that I have taken unprecedented steps to put the present conferences at Dumbarton Oaks on a nonpartisan basis. It is my hope – my earnest hope – that in this we have laid the sound groundwork for a future American foreign policy which will always be nonpartisan, regardless of the party in or out of power.

Now what will come after these conferences? Tentative agreements will be reached. Then each of the members of the conferences will go back to his own government for discussion of points of agreement and the solution of points of disagreement.

Then, we hope that the other nations of the world will be invited to conferences at the earliest possible moment. For there will be no peace unless it is a just peace in which the small and the weak participate as well as the great and the mighty.

The diplomats of these nations also will work long and hard. Then they, too, will report to their governments. Through that process will come the sound, common understanding on which we move toward a strong, a just and a lasting peace.

That is the way to build a lasting peace. In that method there is no indispensable man. The peace we seek must not hang by the slender thread of personal acquaintance of any two or three men. The pages of history are littered with treaties proclaiming permanent peace made privately by rulers of nations and quickly and publicly broken. This cause is too important to be trusted to discredited methods or to be dependent upon the lifespan and continued friendship of two or three individuals.

I want to see a people’s peace come at the end of this war. I want to see a peace which has been worked out in the full light of day before all the world. We all want to see a peace which has been labored over by the trained experts of all the nations who will be involved in it.

We want, most of all, a peace which all the freedom-loving peoples of the world have had a part in creating – a peace they have labored for, and believe in – a peace they will be willing to sacrifice and work for in all the years to come.

1661

Völkischer Beobachter (September 20, 1944)

Deutscher Widerstand durchkreuzt Feindrechnung –
‚Mit unerhörter Tapferkeit‘

Anglo-amerikanische Militärkritiker über die deutschen Erfolgschancen

vb. Berlin, 19. September –
Wenn der General Eisenhower in den letzten Tagen die Front seiner Armeen auf der Karte betrachtete, so sah er zwei von seinen vier amerikanischen Armeen unmittelbar an und bereits über der Reichsgrenze. Weiter im Süden erblickte er noch immer die amerikanischen Divisionen vor den deutschen Sperrriegeln in Französisch-Lothringen, und ganz im Süden schob sich die vom Mittelmeer heranbefohlene Armee langsam an Belfort heran. Am weitesten zurück aber sah er die Engländer.

Die beiden Armeen des Feldmarschalls Montgomery hatten ziemlich schnell Belgien durcheilt, aber in der Gegend des Albertkanals waren sie hängen geblieben. Sie hatten sich redliche Mühe gegeben, die deutschen Linien zu durchbrechen und in die Niederlande einzudringen, sie hatten mehr als einen Gewaltstoß zu diesem Zweck unternommen, aber diese Versuche waren ihnen nicht gelungen. So war nördlich von Hasselt ein scharfer Knick in der Gesamtfront eingetreten. Während sie, von Belfort aus gerechnet, in leidlich gerader Linie von Süden nach Norden ging, sprang sie von da aus in scharfem Knick nach Westen ab. Das bedeutete also, daß der ganze linke Flügel des gegnerischen Westheeres, etwa ein Drittel der Gesamtstärke, weit zurückhing.

Es war deutlich, daß hierin ein Zustand lag, der, je länger er dauerte, um so unerwünschter für das gegnerische Oberkommando wurde. Das mußte umso mehr der Fall sein, als der Heeresgruppe Montgomery von dem General Eisenhower offenbar eine besondere Aufgabe bei dem Generalansturm auf Deutschland zugedacht war. Ohne Zweifel hatte sie, wie sie Belgien durcheilt hatte, auch die Niederlande durcheilen sollen, um hier an der deutschen Grenze den Stoß in die durch keinerlei Gebirge geschützte norddeutsche Tiefebene in Richtung auf das Ruhrgebiet zu tragen. Daß dieser Stoß ausblieb, während die Nordamerikaner an den Hängen der Eifel und der Ardennen in schwerem Kampf standen, mußte die Gesamtkonzeption Eisenhowers auf das empfindlichste stören. Ebenso mußte aber auch das britische Selbstgefühl diesen Zustand auf die Dauer als schwer erträglich empfinden. Es waren Nordamerikaner, die den Durchbruch bei Avranches vollbracht hatten, es waren Nordamerikaner, die als erste ins Reichsgebiet eingedrungen waren, es waren Nordamerikaner, die jetzt den größten Teil der Gesamtfront übernommen hatten – Mancher mochte sich im Stillen fragen, ob der britische Beitrag nicht etwas verdunkelt werde durch die Ereignisse, die sich an die Namen amerikanischer Generale knüpften. Montgomery war noch vor kurzem Oberkommandierender der Bodentruppen in Frankreich gewesen, jetzt war er auf eine von den drei Heeresgruppen beschränkt, in die Eisenhowers sechs Armeen aufgeteilt sind, und gerade seine Gruppe lag am weitesten zurück. Er hat in den letzten vierzehn Tagen Anstrengungen unternommen, diesen Zustand zu ändern, er hat immer wieder Polen, Kanadier, Engländer gegen die deutschen Linien gesandt, aber der Erfolg war ihm versagt geblieben.

Wir möchten nicht behaupten, daß die Erwägungen des britischen Selbstgefühls ausschlaggebend bei dem Entschluss gewesen seien, den bisherigen unbefriedigenden Zustand durch andere Maßnahmen als das frontale Anrennen zu verbessern. Doch mögen sie immerhin in den Kreisen der englischen Kommandostellen die Neigung bestärkt haben, den Entschluss zu gründlicher Wandlung zu fördern. Ausschlaggebend aber sind sicherlich bei Eisenhower rein militärische Beweggründe gewesen. Montgomery mußte mit seiner Front endlich geradeziehen, sie mußte ein Teil der Gesamtfront werden, die nun stracks von Süden nach Norden laufen sollte. Es durfte keinen so weit zurückhängenden Flügel mehr geben. Da dies durch alle Offensivstöße gegen die deutschen Linien auf der Erde nicht zu erreichen war, setzte Eisenhower am Sonntag endlich einen Teil der bisher noch in England stehenden gemeinsamen amerikanisch-britischen Luftlandearmee ein.

Wenn man die Orte, in deren Nähe feindliche Truppen aus der Luft gelandet sind, nämlich Arnheim, Nimwegen und Eindhoven, durch eine Linie miteinander verbindet, bekommt man ungefähr den Frontverlauf heraus, wie ihn sich der General Eisenhower als Ergebnis der Ereignisse vom Sonntag denkt. Diese Linie würde die bisher von den vier amerikanischen Armeen gehaltene Front ziemlich gerade nach Norden verlängern und der Reichsgrenze dicht parallel laufen. In dem Augenblick, in dem die Fallschirmjäger über den mittleren Provinzen der Niederlande niedergingen, hat dann auch die britische zweite Armee aus der Gegend nördlich von Hasselt zum Stoß nach Norden eingesetzt, um die Verbindung mit den Luftlandetruppen aufzunehmen. Sie hat am Montag Eindhoven erreicht, während die Luftlandetruppen dort noch nördlich der Stadt standen. Aber die Aktion in diese Gebiete beschränkte sich keineswegs auf Maßnahmen des Gegners allein. Deutsche Truppen haben sofort zu Gegenmaßnahmen angesetzt und es ist ihnen bereits gelungen, mehrere Verbände der Luftlandetruppen einzuschließen, bei anderen den besetzten Raum einzuengen.

Die Kämpfe in den Niederlanden gehen mit aller Wucht weiter. Währenddessen wird auch weiter im Süden, namentlich auf deutschem Boden, hart an der Reichsgrenze, mit äußerster Erbitterung gelochten. Was hier geschieht, ist eine bittere Enttäuschung für die Amerikaner. Sie sind mit hochgespannten Erwartungen in den Kampf um das deutsche Westverteidigungssystem gegangen. Ihre eigenen Befehlshaber haben durchblicken lassen, daß sie dieses System nicht sehr noch einschätzten. Nun liegen sie bereits im Vorfeld fest. (Es muß festgehalten werden, daß Aachen als eine vorgeschobene Stadt westlich von dem deutschen Hauptverteidigungssystem liegt.) Die Amerikaner können sich nicht nur nicht mehr vorwärtsbewegen, sondern sie haben sogar mehrere besetzte Hügelkuppen den Deutschen wieder überlassen müssen, und vorgeprellte Panzerspitzen sind abgeschnitten und vernichtet worden. Einige Tage lang haben zwar phantasievolle Berichterstatter von dem „Durchbruch“ gesprochen, aber die amtlichen Wehrmachtberichte aus dem Hauptquartier des Generals Eisenhower waren weise genug, das Wort nicht einmal zu erwähnen. Nicht anders ist es noch weiter im Süden in der Gegend von Metz und Nancy und westlich von Belfort, wo die beiden südlichen amerikanischen Armeen überhaupt noch sehr weit von den deutschen Westverteidigungslinien stehen. Selbst da, wo die Amerikaner noch voran konnten, bewegt sich der Geländegewinn in Größenordnungen von mehreren hundert Metern, nicht von Kilometern.

An der ganzen Front von Aachen bis Belfort sehen die amerikanischen Befehlshaber mit Besorgnis, daß der Feldzug manche Formen des Stellungskrieges anzunehmen beginnt. Man darf annehmen, daß auch diese unerwartete und peinliche Stagnation vor den amerikanischen Armeen den General Eisenhower bewogen hat, dem Westfeldzug durch die Luftlandungen im Norden einen neuen Auftrieb und eine neue Auflockerung zu geben.

1662

‚Der Deutsche kämpft als überzeugter Nationalsozialist‘

…

1663

Hinter den Kulissen einer ‚Freundschaft‘ –
Churchill kontra US-Imperialismus

Stockholm, 19. September –
Das Bemühen Churchills, England am pazifischen Krieg mehr zu beteiligen, wird in Washington mit geteilten Gefühlen aufgenommen, wie aus einer Meldung von Nya Dagligt Allehanda zu schließen ist. Danach hatte London Mühe, die USA zu überreden, daß England am Krieg gegen Japan beteiligt sein müsse, aber jetzt verlaute, daß Großbritanniens Rolle am Krieg im Fernen Osten bedeutend sein werde.

Afton Tidningen berichtet, die Briten hätten wenigstens für die Flotte einen größeren Anteil im Stillen Ozean gefordert. Das schwedische Blatt zitiert den US-Journalisten Ernst Lindley, der glaube, es sei besser, wenn die Japaner hauptsächlich von den USA vernichtet würden. Lindley weise darauf hin, daß auch Frankreich, im Hinblick auf Indochina, am Kriege gegen Japan teilnehmen wolle, ebenso Australien, Neuseeland, Kanada und nicht zuletzt die Holländer.

Dieses Kulissenspiel um das stärkere Verhältnis England und der USA ist ein Beispiel für die englisch-amerikanische Rivalität. Indem Churchill dem englischen Volk neue Blutopfer im Femen Osten zumutet, hofft er durch stärkere Beteiligung am Kampf gegen Japan die Verluste an britischen Stützpunkten und an britischem Prestige wettmachen zu können. Daran hat aber der US-Imperialismus kein Interesse. Den USA ist es nur darum zu tun, das Empire von den amerikanischen Interessensphären fernzuhalten. Es bedient sich daher im Kriege mit Japan Lieber der zentrifugalen Kräfte des Empire; Kanada, Neuseeland usw., um auf diese Weise die Position Englands weiter zu schwächen.

1664

Führer HQ (September 20, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

In Mittelholland wurde der aus der Luft gelandete Feind im Raum Arnheim durch konzentrische Angriffe weiter eingeengt. Gut unterstützt durch eigene Jagdverbände fügten unsere Truppen dem Gegner schwere Verluste an Menschen und Material zu. Bisher wurden über 1700 Gefangene eingebracht. Aus dem Raum Eindhoven stieß der Feind mit Panzern nach Nordosten vor. Eigene Truppen traten auch hier zum Gegenangriff an.

Nordwestlich Aachen konnte der Gegner unter starkem Panzereinsatz seinen Einbruch erweitern. Südwestlich der Stadt wurden alle feindlichen Angriffe zum Teil unter hohen Verlusten für den Gegner abgewiesen. Der eigene Gegenangriff gewinnt langsam Boden.

Im Raum Nancy–Lunéville halten die schweren und unübersichtlichen Kämpfe an. Nancy ging verloren. In Lunéville wird erbittert gekämpft. An den übrigen Frontabschnitten nur örtliche Kampfhandlungen.

Die fortgesetzten Angriffe des Feindes auf die Festung Calais, St. Nazaire und Boulogne wurden abgewiesen. Nach der Beendigung des Kampfes im völlig zerstörten Stadt- und Hafenbereich der Festung Brest hielten gestern noch einzelne Kampfgruppen in erbittertem Kampf die letzten Stützpunkte auf der Halbinsel Le Crozon.

Das „V1“-Störfeuer auf London dauert an.

In Italien erreichten im Raum an der Adria die schweren Abwehrschlachten ihren Höhepunkt. Es gelang hier auch gestern den heldenhaft kämpfenden eigenen Truppen, zum Teil in neuen Stellungen, den feindlichen Durchbruch zu verhindern. Nördlich und nordöstlich Florenz wurden feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen, örtliche Einbrüche im Gegenstoß bereinigt.

In Südsiebenbürgen und im Szekler Zipfel scheiterten Angriffe der Bolschewisten. Ebenso wiesen unsere Truppen im Abschnitt Sanok–Krosno heftige Angriffe der Sowjets zurück, riegelten einzelne Einbrüche ab und vernichteten 27 Panzer.

Bei Warschau versuchte der Feind im Schutz künstlichen Nebels die Weichsel an mehreren Stellen zu überschreiten. Die Übersetzversuche wurden vereitelt, einzelne auf das Westufer vorgedrungene Kampfgruppen abgeschnitten. Auch nordöstlich der Stadt blieben wiederholte Angriffe der Bolschewisten in unserem Feuer liegen.

Angriffe südwestlich Mitau brachten nach Abwehr feindlicher Gegenangriffe Stellungsverbesserungen.

In Lettland und Estland wurden die von zahlreichen Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützten Angriffe der Bolschewisten abgewiesen oder aufgefangen und zahlreiche Panzer vernichtet.

In dreitägigen Waldkämpfen zerschlugen unsere Grenadiere im Kandalakscha-Abschnitt in schwungvollen Gegenangriffen zwei feindliche Brückenköpfe.

In den gestrigen Mittagsstunden führten nordamerikanische Bomber Angriffe gegen mehrere Orte in Nord- und Nordwestdeutschland. Im Stadtgebiet von Koblenz entstanden Gebäudeschäden und Personenverluste.

In der vergangenen Nacht richteten sich feindliche Terrorangriffe gegen München-Gladbach und Budapest. Luftverteidigungskräfte schossen 37 feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

Im Kanal und im Indischen Ozean versenkten Unterseeboote vier Schiffe mit 26.000 BRT und zwei Fregatten. Drei weitere Schiffe wurden durch Torpedotreffer schwer beschädigt.

In den Ostkarpaten zeichneten sich das schwäbisch-bayerische 1. Bataillon des Gebirgsjägerregiments 13 unter Führung von Hauptmann Ploder und das schwäbisch-bayerische Feldersatzbataillon 94 unter Führung von Hauptmann Kresse durch hervorragende Tapferkeit aus.

In den schweren Abwehrkämpfen in Lettland haben sich die schwäbische 205. Infanteriedivision unter Führung von Generalleutnant von Mellenthin, die bayerisch-pfälzische 132. Infanteriedivision unter Führung von Generalleutnant Wagner, und die sächsische 24. Infanteriedivision unter Führung von Oberst Schultz durch Angriffsschwung und Standfestigkeit hervorragend bewährt.

Leutnant Sauer in einer Sturmgeschützbrigade schoss mit seinem Sturmgeschütz in zwei Tagen 14 Panzer ab.

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Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 20, 1944)

Communiqué No. 165

The advance of the Allied forces in HOLLAND has continued rapidly. Ground troops made contact yesterday with more airborne formations. EINDHOVEN is in our hands and our armored units have advanced nearly 40 miles to the area of NIJMEGEN. Strong enemy counterattacks were beaten off near BEST and in our bridgehead north of GHEEL.

Fighters and fighter-bombers again supported and covered airborne operations and attacked road and rail transport over a wide area of HOLLAND. According to reports so far received, 26 enemy aircraft were shot down for the loss of nine of our fighters.

To the west, the enemy is still resisting stubbornly south of the SCHELDT, but our troops made progress in the area of the AXEL-HULST CANAL. On the coast we have captured the CITADEL and MONT LAMBERT in BOULOGNE.

In southern HOLLAND, our troops have liberated SITTARD and AMSTENRADE, northeast of MAASTRICHT, meeting moderate opposition.

East of AACHEN, fighting is in progress in the factory area of STOLBERG, and enemy pressure is being met near BÜSBACH. Operating in advance of our ground forces, medium and light bombers hit railway yards at ESCHWEILER, DÜREN and MERZENICH in the AACHEN–COLOGNE Line.

Mopping-up of enemy pillboxes and pockets of resistance continues east of ROETGEN and in the HÖFEN and ALZEN areas, south of MONSCHAU. Enemy counterattacks in this area were unsuccessful.

Heavy and determined resistance has been encountered east of the GERMAN-LUXEMBOURG border. East of BLEIALF, an enemy pocket was wiped out.

In the MOSELLE Valley, we have made gains south of METZ against stubborn resistance. Mopping-up is in progress six miles northeast of PONT-À-MOUSSON. Further south, our forces have liberated GERBÉVILLER, 14 miles northeast of CHARMES.

In BRITTANY, all organized resistance has ceased in BREST and RECOUVRANCE, and our troops have cleared the enemy from the CROZON Peninsula.

1666

U.S. Navy Department (September 20, 1944)

Press Release

For Immediate Release
September 20, 1944

USS YMS‑409 presumed lost in hurricane

The minesweeper USS YMS‑409, which was at sea during the hurricane last week, has not been heard from and is presumed to be lost. The area through which this vessel was passing has been under constant search since the day of the storm, and the search is still continuing. The next of kin of those aboard are being notified.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 124

During the afternoon of September 19 (West Longitude Date), organized enemy resistance ceased on Angaur Island. The 81st Infantry Division is proceeding with mopping‑up operations.

Shore installations and bivouac areas at Chichijima in the Bonin Islands were bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on September 18. A direct hit and two near misses were obtained in attacking a medium cargo vessel at anchor in Futami Harbor, and numerous barges were bombed. The cargo ship was left burning and eight to 10 barges were destroyed. Anti-aircraft fire was meager.

Pagan Island in the Marianas was bombed and strafed by Thunderbolts of the 7th Army Air Force on September 18. Anti-aircraft emplacements and storage facilities were the principal targets, and several fires were started.

Marcus Island was attacked by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on the same day, and 7th Army Air Force Mitchells bombed Ponape Island, hitting gun positions and the airstrip in the latter attack.

Corsair fighters and Dauntless dive bombers of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed Wotje Atoll in the Marshalls on September 18, dropping 27 tons on barracks areas.

All of our aircraft returned from the foregoing missions.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 125

During September 19 (West Longitude Date), the 1st Marine Division continued to apply heavy pressure on the left flank of our front on Peleliu Island, seeking to dislodge the enemy from strong defensive positions in the rough terrain which parallels the western shore. The enemy resistance is bitter, but slow progress is being made, and in one sector 11 field guns, 70 machine guns, and 23 mortars have been captured by our forces. Small local advances were made on the left during September 19, but there was no ap­preciable change in our line. On the right flank, along the eastern shore, ad­ditional gains were scored and virtually all enemy resistance has been mopped up. The small unnamed island below Ngabad Island was occupied by our forces during the day.

Mopping up on Angaur Island by troops of the 81st Infantry Division continues. Our forces have killed an estimated 7,045 enemy troops on Peleliu and 600 on Angaur. Enemy aircraft dropped two bombs near positions occupied by our forces during the night of September 18‑19, but caused no damage.

1667

The Pittsburgh Press (September 20, 1944)

Hitler in command at front; British drive 40 miles to Rhine

Allied invasion thrust into Germany from Netherlands indicated
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Bulletin

SHAEF, London, England –
U.S. and German tanks were locked in battle on 1st Army and 3rd Army fronts in France and Germany today. At least 71 German tanks were knocked out in two sectors alone, first reports said.

A dispatch from the 3rd Army said tanks were slugging it out 16 miles northeast of Nancy and that Gen. Patton’s armor knocked out 40 German Tiger tanks near Athienville yesterday. Artillery bagged three more. A First Army dispatch said 28 of 41 attacking German tanks were knocked southwest of Bitburg, German town 16 miles north of Trier.

Violent fighting of the “Cassino” type was raging in Stolberg, industrial city five miles east of Aachen, with the Americans advancing from house-to-house. Some counterattacking Nazis were using flamethrowers.

map.0920441.up
map.092044.up
Turning the Siegfried Line, British 2nd Army troops and Allied air-borne forces drove into Nijmegen, on the south bank of the Rhine three miles from the German border, while airborne troops to the north were at Arnhem. The U.S. 1st Army smashed beyond Aachen to the Duren area and strengthened its positions across the German border north and south of Aachen. The U.S. 3rd Army closed on Metz and advanced from the Nancy area to within 45 miles of Strasbourg. French troops of the Allied 6th Army Group closed on Belfort and captured Fougerolles, 25 miles to the north.

SHAEF, London, England –
Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey’s patrols. were believed to have scored the first British thrust into Germany east of the embattled Dutch stronghold of Nijmegen today, coincident with disclosure that Adolf Hitler had taken direct command of the defense of the Reich.

Gen. Dempsey’s British 2nd Army troops fought a violent battle through the streets of Nijmegen after a 40-mile dash across the Netherlands to that ancient Dutch city perched on the high south bank of the Rhine River. Meanwhile, his advanced elements and troops of the 1st Allied Airborne Army were swinging around the northern end of the Siegfried Line.

Airborne headquarters in Britain reported authorities well satisfied with the progress of the aerial invasion of Holland which had already opened the way for a drive into northwestern Germany and on to Berlin.

Lt. Gen. Frederick A. M. Browning’s sky troopers were supplied again, today for the fourth straight day by aerial trains which sped across the North Sea despite rain and mist.

While the street battle went on in Nijmegen, British forces were believed to have struck the three miles eastward to the German frontier. Any such limited operation was regarded at headquarters, however, as of little tactical significance for the moment.

Germans hurl suicidal attacks

Hitler’s generalship was already in evidence all along the blazing battlefront from northern Holland to the edge of the Saar Valley. Front dispatches said crack German troops and panzer units were being hurled into reckless counterattacks that slowed the Allied advance in some sectors at a frightful cost in Nazi lives. In others, they resulted only in a slaughter of Germans without stemming the Berlin-bound Allies.

The Führer’s hand was also seen in the appearance of Nazi robot bombs on the fighting front for the first time. Field dispatches said two flying bombs crashed into U.S. positions along the Meuse River, exploding with terrific force but apparently causing few casualties among the well-dispersed troops.

First official word of the Führer’s new role, similar to that which he assumed with disastrous results on the Russian front, came from Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery at his forward command in Belgium.

Marshal Montgomery told officers and men of a Scottish division:

** The Allies have a lot to be thankful for in that Hitler has taken charge of operations. It means the enemy is commanded by a lunatic. In that respect, I’m glad the German generals failed in their bomb attempt against the Führer.**

Hitler’s decision to lead the defense of the Reich, he added, strengthened his (Marshal Montgomery’s) belief that the war in Europe would end before the close of 1944.

One major triumph was confirmed by Allied headquarters today – the capture of the great Atlantic port of Brest and the elimination of the Germans from the neighboring Crozon Peninsula, ending a month-old siege that virtually wrecked the harbor.

Troops hold path across Rhine

A second and greater victory was in the making in northern Holland where the armored might of the British 2nd Army reached the Rhine Line and threatened to break across the barrier momentarily into the open country before Berlin.

U.S. and Allied airborne troops joined the British around Eindhoven, 32 miles southwest of Nijmegen, and formed up in their rear as infantrymen, while others held open a path ahead of the Tommies as far as Arnhem, on the north bank of the Rhine 11 miles beyond Nijmegen.

First reports indicated the vital bridge across the Rhine on the road to Arnhem still was standing when the Allies broke into Nijmegen. An unconfirmed Radio Paris broadcast said British armored forces drove five miles beyond Nijmegen and effected a juncture with airborne troops moving down from Arnhem.

United Press writer Walter Cronkite, with the sky troops in Holland, said the airborne army, now equipped with light tanks and big field guns, could beat off anything the Germans might try to throw against them.

He reported that the Germans were counterattacking desperately but ineffectually with shock troops and heavy artillery, and the fighting was within sound of the German border.

At Nijmegen, the Allies were about 12 miles north-northwest of Kleve, where the Nazi West Wall reputedly ends. At Arnhem, they were less than 10 miles from the Reich, and, if the British armor can be brought up in force, in position for a smash across excellent tank country all the way to Berlin, some 260 miles to the east.

The Germans appeared to have rallied somewhat from the initial shock of the Allied airborne invasion and were fighting fanatically even when bypassed by the British armor.

They hit back with particular ferocity around Best, on the Wilhelmina Canal, six miles northwest of Eindhoven, and won back the town, but were stopped before they could cut dangerously into the Allied flank. Other Nazi units counterattacked repeatedly against the base of the Allied spearhead along the Belgian-Dutch border, but without success. Troops, tanks and guns were still pouring across the frontier to join in the big push for the Reich.

Some 80 miles southeast of Nijmegen, the U.S. 1st Army completed the encirclement of Aachen and sent armored spearheads eastward toward Cologne in a bitterly-opposed drive that had already forced the evacuation of German civilians from the Rhineland.

American 155mm Long Toms shelled Duren, 16 miles east of Aachen and 19 miles from Cologne.

Southwest of Cologne, U.S. and German troops locked in savage street battles for Stolberg and the nearby village of Büsbach. Still farther south, 1st Army troops and tanks widened their salients inside Germany in the Monschau, Prüm, Echternach and Trier areas, knocking out pillboxes on each side of their spearheads but making only yard-by-yard progress forward.

Capture many Nazis

Despite the stubbornness of the German resistance on the 1st Army front, United Press writer Henry T. Gorrell reported that prisoners were still coming in at the rate of 2,000 a day and that the 1st Army bag now totaled 180,000 men.

On Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s U.S. 3rd Army front to the south, United Press writer Robert Richards said French Forces of the Interior had joined the Americans in a two-pronged drive for the Saar Valley that made good progress in the face of heavy opposition.

One column advanced 23 miles northeast of Épinal to the Baccarat area, while a second moved 20 miles northeast of Nancy, to the vicinity of Marsal and Dieuze.

Use tanks, minefields

German panzer grenadiers, many of them veterans of the Italian and North African campaigns, opposed the 3rd Army drive and Mr. Richards reported they were using tanks, minefields and roadblocks in a stubborn fighting retreat through the forests east of the Moselle River.

At least 14 enemy tanks were destroyed in the Dieuze sector yesterday, Mr. Richards said.

Battle hard for Metz

Fighting in the Metz area to the north was still “very stiff,” with the Americans gaining ground slowly and painfully, he added.

Far to the west, all organized resistance was ended in Brest and U.S. infantrymen probed through the wreckage of the port mopping up isolated Nazi snipers. The battle for the Channel port of Boulogne was also about ended, despite bitter resistance met by Canadian troops in some parts of the town. Almost 3,000 Germans, it was disclosed, have been captured in Boulogne.

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Marines mop up on Palau Islands

Half of Peleliu held after heavy fighting
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
Marines holding almost the entire east side of Peleliu Island in the Palau group began the final phase of their campaign today by digging out stubborn Japs from ridge pillboxes while Army troops nearly completed the occupation of nearby Angaur Island.

A Tokyo broadcast said about 200 U.S. bomber and fighter planes “fiercely” raided Koror Island in the Central Palaus for the second successive day yesterday. The broadcast said 30 Liberator bombers attacked Chichijima in the Bonin Islands.

Front dispatches said 1st Division Marines, veterans of Guadalcanal, had battered through viciously-defended Jap positions to seize all primary objectives, including Peleliu Airdrome and the town of Ngardololok.

On Angaur, Army forces swept through the town of Saipan, site of a phosphate works and Middle Village to take control of four-fifths of the island. The Japs offered little resistance and their remaining forces were hopelessly trapped on the northwest and southeast corners.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz disclosed that 117 damaged enemy aircraft were found at Peleliu Airfield which U.S. planes will use to neutralize the northern Palau Islands, such as Koror and Babelthuap. The Japs are believed to have approximately 30,000 troops on those islands.

The damaged planes included 77 single-engine fighters, 28 medium bombers, eight light bombers and four transports. They raised to 703, the toll of enemy aircraft destroyed or damaged in Palau and Philippines attacks.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, collaborating with Adm. Nimitz in the Philippines offensive, announced that Mitchell medium bombers again hit southern Mindanao Sunday. concentrating on Buayan Airdrome and harbor installations in Sarangani Bay.

Battle from pillboxes

The Southwest Pacific commander for the second successive day failed to report on operations of ground forces which occupied Morotai Island, in the Halmaheras, 250 miles south of the Philippines.

On Peleliu, the Japs, despite the loss of more than half their forces, continued fighting bitterly from pillboxes, trenches and other prepared defenses, from where they hurled intermittent artillery and mortar fire in the Marine ranks.

The Leathernecks, who cleared “Bloody Nose” Ridge in one of the most vicious battles of the Pacific, continued their advance about one mile northeastward, to gain almost full control of the eastern side of Peleliu. There was little chance, however, in their positions on the west coast or in the center.

Adm. Nimitz, meanwhile, disclosed new aerial attacks on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos last Saturday; Marcus Island on Sunday, and, Shumushu and Paramushiru in the Kurils on Saturday and Tuesday.

Gen. MacArthur’s bombers carried out new strikes in the Dutch East Indies, centering the raids with a 145-ton assault on Celebes, just west of Halmahera.

1669

‘Do we get a fair deal, Harold?’
Lewis and Ickes trade tongue lashes in row over coal production

‘You’ve grown fat in office… while our men die in pits,’ UMW head charges

…

1670

americavotes1944

Dewey: ‘Indispensable man’ a myth

GOP leader demands a ‘peoples’ peace’

Portland, Oregon (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey turned south to California today for more campaign speeches following last night’s appeal to voters in the November election to reject the theory of an indispensable man” and the argument that future peace and prosperity depend upon the reelection of President Roosevelt.

The Republican presidential nominee made his challenge of the “indispensable man” issue before an overflow audience of more than 7,000 persons in the Portland Ice Coliseum and over a nationwide radio hookup.

‘No indispensable men’

Governor Dewey opened his blast by declaring flatly that: “There are no indispensable men.”

He said:

If our republic, after 150 years of self-government, is dependent up the endless continuance of one man in office, then the hopes which animated the men who fought for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have indeed come to nothing.

“The peace and prosperity of America and of the world can never depend on one man,” the GOP candidate added.

Threefold requirements

The essential requirements for peace and prosperity, he countered, are threefold:

  • “Unity in our government and strength and unity among our people.”
  • “Harmonious action between the President and Congress.”
  • “A strong and vigorous America with jobs for all.”

None of them, he added, have been evidence in 12 years of the Roosevelt administration. All of them can be realized, he promised, by a change in administrations next January.

‘A people’s peace’

Governor Dewey argued that President Roosevelt will not be indispensable to writing or preserving of the peace terms either.

He insisted:

The peace we seek must not hang by the slender thread of personal acquaintance of any two or three men. The pages of history are littered with treaties proclaiming permanent peace made privately by rulers of nations and quickly and publicly broken…

I want to see a people’s peace come at the end of this war. I want to see a peace which has been worked out in the full light of day before all the world.

To speak in California

Governor Dewey will speak tomorrow night at San Francisco, and at Los Angeles the following night.

Governor Dewey’s address tomorrow night will be broadcast at 11:00 p.m. ET, over KDKA.

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americavotes1944

House members aim of Browder

Communists now in other organizations

Washington (UP) –
Earl Browder, president of the Communist Political Association, told Congress yesterday that his organization has members not only in the AFL and CIO but also in the Republican, Democratic and the Farmer-Labor parties, the Elks, Kiwanis and local chambers of commerce, and even in ministerial societies.

“And some day,” he added, “we hope to have members in Congress.”

His statement was made before the House Committee investigating campaign expenditures when Republican members questioned him closely about the part played by Communists in the CIO Political Action Committee’s campaign for President Roosevelt’s reelection.

Favors socialistic system

Mr. Browder doubted if the Communists would ever try to reestablish their party, dissolved last May, but said they instead would “try to show that America would strengthen itself through a socialistic system.”

Association members are supporting the President for reelection on a “nonpartisan basis,” he said. “If we wanted the quickest turn to communism in this country, we would support reactionary candidates who would leads us quickly back to the days of apple-selling and revolution.”

Doesn’t speak for others

Rep. Clarence Brown (R-OH) asked Mr. Browder if he “could” give the names of Communists active in the PAC.

Asked whether Joseph Curran, president of the CIO’s National Maritime Union is a Communist, MR. Browder replied:

Why don’t you ask him? Every citizen of the United States has a right to stand on his own feet in political life. No man should speak for another man’s politics.

Recalling that the Communists ceased direct participation in political elections when the party was dissolved last May, Browder said that the association this year, instead of running its own presidential; candidate, is supporting the one "endorsed by the broad labor movement.” It is generally known, he added, that Mr. Roosevelt has its support.

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americavotes1944

‘Freedom of opportunity’ demanded by Bricker

Republicans convinced that U.S. must stay a republic, Syria Mosque audience told
By Kermit McFarland

Beginning a 40,000-mile campaign tour which will crisscross the country, Governor John W. Bricker, opened up here last night with a plea for “freedom of opportunity” in the American industrial system.

Speaking to an audience of 3,000 in Syria Mosque, Governor Bricker demanded a post-war America in which “creative genius has its reward, in which the inventive ability of our people is utilized and fully protected, where there will be work and the security of productive jobs.”

He said:

But America cannot be that kind of a land if selfish interest and the exercise of great power, be it the power of wealth or of government, is to replace the public interest. It cannot be that kind of America if we are to proceed on the New Deal theory that our nation is fully built and that government alone has the wisdom to plan.

Deviating momentarily from his main theme, the vice-presidential nominee lashed out anew at Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee. He said:

It was a great disservice to the American people, to the Democratic Party and especially to free labor when the New Deal sold out to Sidney Hillman.

Mr. Bricker said the issues of the campaign “may be fairly summed up” in one question: “Shall America continue to be a republic?”

He said:

This party of ours [of the Republicans] is convinced that America shall continue as a republic.

‘Miracle despite meddling’

He asked:

Why is it that the United States, with only 10 percent of the population of the Allied nations, has performed this miracle [of war production] in spite of governmental opposition and bureaucratic meddling almost beyond belief?

It is because the American industrial system developed within an atmosphere of freedom which encouraged inventive and administrative genius. It is because the American workingman also has been free to work in an atmosphere of freedom, to own his own home, to start his own business if he wished.

There is more to freedom than security. It does mean that, of course. But freedom also means the opportunity to risk – to win or to lose.

New Deal ‘fallacy’ hit

He said the country must turn its back on what he called the New Deal theory that the nation is “fully built and that government also has the wisdom to plan.”

He said:

The New Deal idea of economic maturity the idea that there are no more frontiers to conquer – is an utter fallacy.

There is no reason for defeatism in the thinking of business, of labor or of government as they look forward toward production and employment after Germany and Japan shall have been defeated. There is no reason to fear that which shall come.

If we will use common sense, if we will have that faith, the stage is set for a great future… War has tremendously increased our capacity to make things. Jobs come from production. The larger our capacity to make useful things, the more jobs there will be.

Mr. Bricker said the government must restore the incentives that “bring public and business confidence.”

He said:

It can’t be done by more planned economy, or more collectivism, or more government control. It can’t be done by appeals to class consciousness and racial prejudices, or by favoritism to noisy minorities. It can’t be done by bigger debts and high taxes, and deficit financing after the war.

The fallacy of any idea that it can be done by such a course is demonstrated by the utter failure of the New Deal to break a decade of depression and unemployment. Under the New Deal, it took a war to put men back to work again.

New Deal ‘failure’ charged

Considering the background of New Deal failure, the American people have a right to ask these questions.

Is the New Deal planning to meet the post-war employment problem by keeping our boys in the Army and Navy?

Is it planning to meet the post-war employment problem by employing our workers in government-owned plants at the taxpayers’ expense?

Is it planning to meet the post-war employment problem on the basis of a worldwide WPA, for which the American people would supply the goods, the money and some of the men?

‘Let’s talk of jobs’

The New Deal talks of giving and unemployment. Let us for once talk of jobs and employment.

We can’t buy the goodwill of other countries, but we can gain it if we deserve it.

Governor Bricker came here after appearances at Erie and Meadville and left last night for his speech from the steps of the State Capitol in Harrisburg today. Tonight, he speaks in Wilkes-Barre.

Governor Bricker’s address tonight will be broadcast at 10:00 over WCAE.

Introduced by Martin

He was introduced to the Syria Mosque audience last night by Governor Edward Martin, who is accompanying the Ohio Governor on his Pennsylvania tour.

Governor Martin said:

We don’t want anything in Pennsylvania again like the four years of the Earle administration.

Governor Martin, introduced by Republican County Chairman James F. Malone, made a stage entrance at the close of the introduction and the band, missing a cue, played “Beautiful Ohio.” When Governor Bricker made a similar entrance, the musicians, unperturbed, played the Ohio song over again.

Others speak also

Mr. Malone said Governor Bricker and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, are running against Sidney Hillman of the CIO’s Political Action Committee, and Earl Browder, head of the Communist organization.

Mr. Malone said:

Mr. Hillman is the No. 1 lieutenant of the New Deal and Mr. Browder is No. 2. We don’t want anything to do with Communism in any form.

Governor Bricker was preceded by two other speakers, County Court Judge Blair F. Gunther and Hobson R. Reynolds (Philadelphia Negro police magistrate, ward leader and former legislator).

‘Roosevelt vs. Stalin?’

Mr. Reynolds charged that the Democrats “won’t give Negro troops a chance to fight.”

He said:

If they will turn the black troops loose in France and Germany for 30 days, we’ll have all the troops home in a short time.

Judge Gunther charged President Roosevelt “doesn’t have the moral courage to say ‘no’ to Joseph Stalin” in the dispute over the division of post-war Poland.

He said:

In spite of all the beautiful words, the Atlantic Charter is at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The administration is improvising our foreign policy.

He alleged that Mr. Roosevelt is “hanging on to the coattails of Mr. Browder and Mr. Sidney Hillman.”

Adams presides

District Attorney Russell H. Adams, presiding at the rally, said the nation still faces the “same problems” it faced when the Roosevelt administration took office in 1933.

In a press conference preceding the rally, Governor Bricker said President Roosevelt’s order to the Budget Bureau to start planning for reduction of wartime government agencies was “necessary” but had come “very late.”

He said:

It should have been started long ago. Many of these bureaus should never have been treated. Many, even those that are essential, are entirely overstaffed.

Candidates introduced

U.S. Senator James J. Davis, a scheduled speaker, sat on the platform but did not address the rally. Mr. Malone said he had asked to be “excused.” Superior Court Judge Arthur H. James, Mr. Malone said, was unable to appear because of court work.

Supreme Court Justice Howard W. Hughes (candidate for a 21-year term), Judge J. Frank Graff (candidate for the Superior Court), State Senator G. Harold Watkins (candidate for Auditor General) and Philadelphia City Treasurer Edgar W. Baird (candidate for State Treasurer) were introduced.

Mr. Malone also introduced three CIO representatives from McKeesport unions. He said they were “evidence that Sidney Hillman doesn’t boss all the CIO members.”

Bricker charges ‘broken promises’

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (UP) –
President Roosevelt has left in his three administrations a trail of “broken promises” of abundant life, economy, security and unhampered private enterprise which prove the New Deal “cannot be trusted,” Ohio Governor John W. Bricker charged here today.

The Republican vice-presidential nominee charged that Mr. Roosevelt had “broken up” the London International Economic Conference of 1933 which “aggravated the worldwide economic maladjustments which led to a second great world war.”

Under the New Deal’s promise of an “abundant life,” Governor Bricker said, the nation faced long before the war “restrictions, orders and taboos.”

Security, he said, brought the “CWA, the FERA, or the WPA with their doles and made-work.” The “economy” which President Roosevelt promised increased the national debt “by 100 percent” during the first seven years of his administration, he added.

Charging that the New Deal was not prepared when war broke out, Governor Bricker said that the President “frantically appealed” to capital and labor and agriculture, which pitched in and “are saving America in spite of the New Deal.”

1673

Pat Dane knifed him, Hall charges

…

1674

parry3

I DARE SAY —
Recorded in blood

By Florence Fisher Parry

I saw a newsreel of the liberation of Paris. I heard on the radio the actual record of it. Shots upon Gen. de Gaulle at Notre-Dame; the hysteria of the people. And from day to day, I read small scattered inside-page items of how the Maquis of France, the French Forces of the Interior, are taking their own way of settling their score with the trapped Germans.

I read the lists of books that are published, dozens, hundreds of books about this war, first-hand reports, magnificent fiction, diaries, poems.

Suddenly there is a flood of newsreels at last released by the United States Army to the motion picture exhibitors who, all through this war, were not able to procure the news films that had been made and were still being held back. The Army and our government offered the excuse that it would be bad om the morale of trainees in the audience.

Now that the invasion of France is nearly over, now that the landings at Tarawa, Saipan are old stories, now with the end of the war imminent in Europe, suddenly we are seeing what we had a right to see months ago.

How much promotion money has been spent on our various War Bond drives? Millions, millions; and at the very time when the showing of realistic and timely newsreels of our boys as they fought in the Southwest Pacific, as they fought in Africa and Sicily and Italy and last Normandy, would have done more to storm our hearts and open our purses and crack our savings banks than all the Mardi Gras stunts and stump speeches and bands and movie appearances and lunches and banquets and benefits could ever have done!

The great performance

But what the newsreel failed to do; our reporters certainly made up for. Never have there been such magnificent dispatches from the combat areas.

As for the book publishers working under similar paper restrictions, they have put forth a produce of war literate that is simply magnificent. This is all the more remarkable because no one, so well as publishers, knows how quickly the reading public is through with war literature when war ends.

Yet on the very eve of Germany’s collapse, every major publisher in America is putting forth war books and still more war books! It is of some of these that I should like to speak now, for unless they are read now, they are likely to be missed and join the innumerable host of war books which came too late and missed their earned immortality.

Already World War II has given us a few really distinctive books: Limit of Darkness by Howard Hunt – just a story of one day in the lives of a group of American fliers at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal is one. Another is A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown. It, too, is a report, in fiction form, of a torturous landing of a leaderless platoon and its making its way six miles inshore to a farmhouse. Both of these are small books. Each can be read in an hour. They have in them the elements of lasting literature. Others are A Bell for Adano, by John Hersey, and The Moon Is Down, by John Steinbeck.

The moving finger writes

Too, there have been some of the columns of Ernie Pyle which have in them the sudden impact of reality that makes you know, as you read them, that you cannot forget, not ever, what they have written.

But really great novel about this war has not been written.

Kay Boyle has written some good short stories about this war. Rebecca West, too, has managed to set down a very live record of a dangerous day, and even Katherine Anne Porter, in her new collection of stories The Leaning Tower, tells a story about Germany that will keep haunting the reader years after it is read.

I have just read a book, Still Time to Die, by Jack Belden – horrific, burning, alive with death and menace.

I want to live long enough to read what some of these survivors, now 20, 22, will write at 40, at 50, about World War II, unless, of course, they are too busy writing letters to their sons in World War III.

1675

In Washington –
Allies may ban all Nazi, Jap air activities

Control suggested of Axis airports

…

1676

Government takes over 44 West Virginia mines

SFA moves swiftly to halt stoppages
By the United Press

…

1677

Fascist policeman on trial in Rome

Rome, Italy (UP) –
Pietro Caruso, chief of police in Rome during the last few months of the German occupation, who was sought by a mob which lynched a prison official last Monday, was brought peaceably to trial as a Fascist criminal today.

The trial was opened in Lincei Academy in a tense atmosphere as hundreds of armed police and mounted carabinieri guarded all approaches for blocks around. It had been kept fairly secret, however, and there was no public demonstration such as that which ended in the lynching of Donato Caretta, a chief prosecution witness.

The Academy was chosen because it is near the Regina Coeli Prison, making it easier to transport Caruso to the courtroom from his cell.

Caruso and his secretary, Roberto Occhetto, who is being tried with him, were impassive when they were brought into the courtroom. They are the first of the alleged Fascist criminals to be brought to trial.

1678

americavotes1944

Mrs. Bricker: Women’s political interest growing

GOP leader’s wife urges all to vote
By Betty Jo Daniels

After traveling more than 40,000 miles with her husband during his pre-convention tour, and with thousands of miles more ahead of her during his campaign tour, Mrs. Harriet Bricker, wife of the Republican candidate for Vice President, said last night she is convinced that women are more interested than ever before in politics.

Addressing members of the press, Mrs. Bricker said:

Everywhere, I think, women really are extremely interested in politics this year and are finding it quite challenge to become active in this campaign.

‘Important to vote’

She added:

I’m sure they will realize the significance and importance of voting now, during wartime.

Affirming her comment made during her husband’s first tour that she would make few public appearances “and no speeches,” Mrs. Bricker said her only comment is voiced in her hope that every American woman qualified to vote will do so in the coming election.

She likes people

She was attired in a two-piece black crepe suit, and a small, veiled black hat. She wore gold earrings and bracelet, which matched the buttons on her dress, and an orchid was pinned to her black faille purse.

She likes traveling with her husband, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, but finds it quite tiring sometimes when their schedule is particularly full and allows her little time for relaxation. But she likes people and receptions, she said.

Has several hobbies

Mrs. Bricker has several hobbies, among which are collecting glassware, victory gardening, and playing the piano. She has a light tan and a sprinkling of freckles on her nose from working in her garden.

Mrs. Bricker, accompanied by Mrs. Edward Martin, wide of the Pennsylvania Governor and Mrs. Margery Scranton, Republican National Committeewoman, attended the Republican rally in Syria Mosque.

She sat on the platform between Governor and Mrs. Martin while her husband delivered his address and at the conclusion of the speech was introduced to the audience by James F. Malone, Republican County chairman.