America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

1769

Gegenangriff nördlich Maastricht–Aachen

Berlin, 21. September –
In Mittelholland setzten die deutschen Truppen am Mittwoch im Raum Nimwegen–Arnheim ihre konzentrischen Angriffe gegen die in geringem Umfang noch weiter aus der Luft verstärkten feindlichen Kräfte fort, die erneut schwere Verluste hatten. Die dramatischen Kämpfe um den schmalen Korridor, den britische Panzerkräfte durch ihr Vordringen nach Nordosten zur Hilfeleistung für die bei Nimwegen gelandeten Luftlandeeinheiten zu öffnen versuchten, spitzten sich weiter zu. Immer wieder in den Flanken getroffen, konnte der Panzerkeil zwar Boden gewinnen, aber seine Angriffe zur Verbreiterung der schmalen Schleuse scheiterten.

Auch am Maas-Schelde-Kanal, wo die Briten weiterhin bei Neerpelt nach Westen angriffen, hielt der Eckpfeiler an der Basis der feindlichen Einbruchsstellen den heftigen Stößen stand. Die Lage im mittleren Südholland hat sich somit nur unwesentlich gegenüber dem Vortag verändert. Das gleiche gilt für unseren Brückenkopf südlich der Westerschelde. Auch hier blieben den Kanadiern, die nördlich Gent unter Einsatz sehr schwerer Panzerkräfte seit zwei Tagen unsere Stellungen aufzureißen versuchen, von geringen Vorteilen im Brennpunkt des Angriffs abgesehen, Erfolge versagt.

Die im Wehrmachtbericht angesprochenen Kämpfe nordöstlich Echternach, bei denen der feindliche Brückenkopf an der Sauer zerschlagen wurde, haben eine größere Bedeutung, als es auf den ersten Blick erscheinen mag. Aus den örtlichen Kämpfen der letzten Tage hatte sich das Bestreben des Feindes abgezeichnet, durch gleichzeitige Angriffe in der Eifel aus dem Sauer-Brückenkopf ein Stück unserer befestigten Stellungen westlich der Prüm herauszubrechen. Unsere erfolgreichen Gegenangriffe an der Sauer haben den südlichen Stoßkeil des Feindes bis auf bedeutungslose Reste auf das westliche Flussufer zurückgeworfen. Gegen die nördliche Angriffsgruppe sind ebenfalls Gegenstöße angesetzt.

Das Schwergewicht der Kampfhandlungen an der Westfront lag weiterhin im Raum um Aachen. Im Maastrichter Zipfel konnten die Nordamerikaner durch ununterbrochene, von heftigen Bombardierungen und schweren Feuerüberfällen begleitete Angriffe etwas Boden gewinnen. Wenige Kilometer nördlich der bisherigen Kampflinien bezogen unsere Truppen zum Ausgleich der feindlichen Einbrüche noch auf niederländischem Boden neue Abwehrstellungen und schlugen hier weitere feindliche Vorstöße ab. Durch diese Verlagerung der Front vertiefte sich die Flanke nordwestlich Aachen. Dort griff der Feind ebenfalls mit starken Kräften an, um die Stadt von Norden zu überflügeln. Nördlich Maastricht und Aachen sind eigene Gegenangriffe im Gange. Auch östlich Aachen verstärkten unsere Truppen ihrerseits den Gegendruck. Westlich Stolberg schlugen sie feindliche Angriffe ab und südöstlich der Stadt zwangen sie den Feind zur Aufgabe vorübergehend gewonnenen Geländes.

Bei einem dieser Gegenstöße vernichtete eine ostmärkische Panzerkampfgruppe 22 nordamerikanische Panzer. Über die Hälfte davon wurde von Panzergrenadieren auf Entfernungen zwischen 30 und 100 Meter mit „Panzerfaust“ und „Panzerschreck“ abgeschossen. Im gleichen Kampfabschnitt brachten drei „Tiger“-Panzer innerhalb einer halben Stunde sechs schwere nordamerikanische Panzer zur Strecke und drückten dadurch die ganze feindliche Stoßgruppe auf ihre Ausgangsstellungen zurück. Dem durch unsere Gegenstöße aufgesplitterten feindlichen Angriffskeil gingen starke eigene Stoßtrupps meist bei Nacht zu Leibe. Sie bereinigten in der vorletzten Nacht einen feindlichen Einbruch dadurch, daß sie in erbitterten Nahkämpfen an einer Stelle fünf, an anderer vier verbissen verteidigte Bunker zurückgewannen. Gegenstöße der Nordamerikaner wurden durch unsere Artillerie niedergehalten und blieben ohne Erfolg.

Im südlichen Teil der Westfront blieb der Raum Metz–Lunéville weiterhin hart umkämpft. Die Nordamerikaner verstärkten ihren Druck gegen den Brückenkopf Metz, ohne Vorteile gewinnen zu können. Bei Lunéville setzten sie ihren am Vortage begonnenen Gegenangriff gegen unsere auf breiter Front vorgedrungenen Truppen fort. In Lunéville selbst gingen die erbitterten Kämpfe weiter. Nördlich und südlich der Stadt prallten Angriffe und Gegenstöße in rascher Folge aufeinander. Feindliche Einbrüche wurden durch eigene Bodengewinne aufgewogen. Hier und nördlich Épinal, wo sich der Feind wieder etwas vorschieben konnte, dauern die Kämpfe an. Trotz aller Anstrengungen und Verluste hat der Feind seine durch unsere vorausgegangenen Gegenstöße aufgebrochenen Positionen an der Mosel bisher nicht wieder aufbauen können.

1770

Führer HQ (September 22, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

Im Raum Arnheim wurden die eigenen Angriffe zur Vernichtung der dort eingeschlossenen Reste der 1. englischen Luftlandedivision fortgesetzt. Uber Nimwegen nach Norden angreifender Feind wurde nördlich der Stadt aufgefangen. Südlich Nimwegen gewinnen eigene Gegenangriffe langsam Boden. Jagd- und Schlachtflieger unterstützten die Abwehrkämpfe des Heeres im holländischen Raum und vernichteten 38 feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter 20 schwere, zur Versorgung der feindlichen Luftlandetruppen eingesetzte Transportflugzeuge und 12 viermotorige Bomber. Zehn anglo-amerikanische Bomber wurden außerdem durch Verbände des Heeres abgeschossen.

Im Raum Aachen wurden mehrere mit Panzern geführte Angriffe des Feindes unter Abschuß von neun Panzern abgewiesen. Südöstlich der Stadt verstärkt sich der feindliche Druck.

Bei Pont-à-Mousson und im Raum Nancy–Lunéville wurden mehrere Angriffe des Gegners teilweise im erfolgreichen Gegenstoß unter hohen Verlusten für den Feind abgewiesen, örtliche Einbrüche bereinigt. Im Raum Remiremont trat der Feind mit stärkeren Kräften zum Angriff an. Die schweren Kämpfe um die Stadt halten an.

Die Verteidiger der Festung Boulogne stehen seit Tagen in schwersten Abwehr kämpfen gegen weit überlegenen Feind. Gegen Calais führte der Gegner gestern starke Luftangriffe. Die Besatzung von Saint-Nazaire wies mehrere feindliche Angriffe ab.

Im Raum nördlich Florenz scheiterten zahlreiche mit zusammengefassten Kräften geführte feindliche Angriffe in erbitterten Kämpfen. Ein örtlicher Einbruch wurde abgeriegelt. An der Adria setzte der Feind infolge der in den schweren Kämpfen der letzten Tage erlittenen hohen Verluste seine Durchbruchsangriffe nicht fort. An der. gesamten Front wurden örtliche starke Angriffe abgewiesen. Am 20. September wurden insgesamt 106 Panzer des Gegners vernichtet.

Im südwestlichen Siebenbürgen stehen ungarische Truppen im Kampf mit feindlichen Angriffsspitzen. Unsere Verbände zerschlugen im Szekler Zipfel sämtliche Angriffe der Bolschewisten. In Westrumänien setzten eigene Schlachtflieger 23 Panzer außer Gefecht und zerstörten zahlreiche Fahrzeuge.

In der Abwehrschlacht im Raum von Sanok und Krosno halten die schweren Kämpfe mit neu herangeführten Kräften der Bolschewisten an. Unsere Gegenangriffe beseitigten unter Abschuß zahlreicher Sowjetpanzer örtliche Einbruchsstellen.

Bei Warschau scheiterte ein neuer Übersetzversuch des Gegners bereits auf den Flussinseln. Es wurden über 200 Gefangene- eingebracht.

Unsere gepanzerten Angriffsgruppen gewannen südwestlich Mitau gegen zähen feindlichen Widerstand weiteres Gelände.

In Lettland und Estland haben unsere heldenhaft kämpfenden Truppen erneuten Durchbruchs versuche starker sowjetischer Kräfte auch am achten Tage der Schlacht zerschlagen. In Abwehr und Gegenangriff wurden gestern 103 feindliche Panzer vernichtet oder erbeutet. Im Nordteil Estlands sind die befohlenen Absetzbewegungen aus dem Narwa-Abschnitt planmäßig verlaufen.

Nordamerikanische Bomber griffen am gestrigen Tage mehrere Orte im ungarischen Raum an. Bei Terrorangriffen auf westdeutsches Gebiet entstanden Schäden besonders in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Koblenz und Mainz.

In Siebenbürgen hat sich ein Alarmbataillon unter Führung des Hauptmanns Arnhardt durch besondere Standhaftigkeit hervorgetan.

Am unteren Narew haben sich das Jägerregiment 49 unter Führung von Oberstleutnant von Salisch und die Sturmgeschützbrigade 259 unter Führung von Major Tolckmitt in Angriff und Abwehr hervorragend geschlagen.

In den schweren Abwehrkämpfen an der Adria haben sich die Verbände des 76. Panzerkorps unter Führung des Generals der Panzertruppen Herr, unterstützt durch Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe sowie durch Heeres- und Marineküstenartillerie, besonders ausgezeichnet. In der Zeit vom 26. August bis 20. September wurden allein von diesem Korps 661 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.

Bei Warschau zeichnete sich die niedersächsische 19. Panzerdivision unter Führung des Eichenlaubträgers Generalleutnant Källner durch hervorragende Standfestigkeit und erfolgreiche Gegenangriffe aus.

1771

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 22, 1944)

Communiqué No. 167

The Allied drive northwards through NIJMEGEN continued yesterday against increasing enemy opposition. Our armored forces, having captured the bridge at NIJMEGEN in conjunction with airborne troops, crossed to the north bank of the WAAL and pushed on north. The town of NIJMEGEN has been cleared of the enemy.

The base of the Allied salient has been widened on both sides of EINDHOVEN. We have reached SOMEREN on the east and we are fighting in the area of WINTELRE on the west.

Fighters and fighter-bombers supported the operations in HOLLAND. Some enemy aircraft were encountered, principally in the areas of NIJMEGEN and LOCHEM. Twenty enemy aircraft were shot down for the loss of four of our fighters.

In the SCHELDT Estuary, we have captured TERNEUZEN and are steadily mopping-up the southern bank east of the LEOPOLD CANAL.

In the BOULOGNE area, the enemy has been confined to the high ground southwest of the town. An enemy strongpoint in the FORÊT DE LA CRECHE on the outskirts of the town was attacked by medium and light bombers.

Troops crossing into GERMANY from Southern HOLLAND have advanced to within three miles of GEILENKIRCHEN. In the STOLBERG–BÜSBACH area east of AACHEN, mopping-up is in progress and we are engaged in house-to-house fighting in STOLBERG. East of the town, our troops have gained high ground.

Further south, Allied troops are clearing the HÜRTGEN FOREST against moderate artillery fire and are also mopping-up in the area of LAMMERSDORF. Numerous counterattacks have been repulsed near DIEKIRCH and one unit has destroyed 28 enemy tanks.

South of METZ, our forces advanced to within six miles of the city. Along the MEURTHE River, we have cleared LUNÉVILLE and our troops have taken high ground along the west bank five miles to the southeast. Other units are in the vicinity of FLIN on the MEURTHE River, five miles northwest of BACCARAT.

Railway centers at EHRANG, GEROLSTEIN and PRONSFELD in GERMANY were attacked yesterday by medium bombers.

1772

U.S. Navy Department (September 22, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 128

On Peleliu Island, the enemy continued to resist bitterly from heavily fortified defense positions on Umurbrogol Mountain during September 21 (West Longitude Date). Troops of the 1st Marine Division were unable to make any appreciable progress along the western arm of the island. Five heavy caliber enemy guns were captured by our forces during the day. Our front line remains virtually unchanged except for slight northward progress along the west coast. On Angaur, the 81st Infantry Division continues to dig remnants of the enemy from caves in the northwestern section of the island. During the day a heavy cruiser shelled enemy defense installations on Koror Island, and scored several direct hits.

Corsairs of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed Rota in the Mari­anas on September 20. On the same day installations at Pagan were bombed by 7th Army Air Force Liberators. No anti-aircraft fire was encountered in either attack.

Seventh Army Air Force Liberators attacked Marcus Island on September 19 and again on September 20. Gun emplacements were bombed in the latter attack. Meager anti-aircraft fire was encountered. The runway and gun em­placements on Nauru Island were bombed on September 20 by 7th Army Air Force Mitchells. Anti-aircraft fire was moderate.

Jaluit Atoll in the Marshalls was attacked on September 20 by 7th Army Air Force Liberators.

1773

The Pittsburgh Press (September 22, 1944)

AIR ARMY’S PLIGHT CRITICAL
Sky troopers hold out in patch of hell

Secret courage keeps ‘em going, writer says
By Alan Wood, representing combined Allied press

This is one of the first dispatches from the “pocket” in Holland in which British troops of the 1st Allied Airborne Army are surrounded by the Germans.

With airborne troops in Arnhem area (UP) – (9:00 a.m. CET)
It’s a nasty morning – cold and misty – and the Germans are plastering us plentifully with mortars and big guns. Machine guns have just opened up on the right.

In this patch of hell, our men are holding the few civilian houses that still stand.

An old lady in black stumbled out of one of them a few minutes ago, and a British soldier ran out and put his arm around her. She collapsed, and he carried her down to safety in a cellar.

It is now just five days and five nights – sleepless – since we flew out from England. God knows from what secret source of strength these fighting men have drawn the courage which has kept them going.

Only one thing is certain – they will keep going until the British 2nd Army gets here.

Yesterday, the Germans brought up loudspeakers and called on us to surrender. A bunch of glider pilots yelled their heads off swearing abuse at the enemy in reply.

More and more of our secondary guns are coming into action on the other side of the river (north branch of the Rhine toward which the British 2nd Army is advancing). They have just knocked out with a direct hit a German Mark IV tank coming to attack us. We don’t know exactly where the bulk of the 2nd Army is, but we will be here and ready when they come.

Dakota transport planes flying through a flak barrage dropped more supplies this evening, right here where we wanted them.

In a dispatch from the Arnhem “pocket” dated yesterday, Stanley Maxted, writing for the combined Allied press, says:

The troops are being asked to do more than flesh and blood should have to endure, but as their commander said, “They are of good heart. These airborne men are magnificent…” When the 2nd Army arrives they may be told one of the epics of the war.

1774

Yanks beaten back in Reich

First Army mops up inside Stolberg, but falls back in south
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

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Bitter resistance was met by Allied forces on the Western Front. The U.S. 1st Army was forced to retreat above Trier, but was mopping up the Germans in Stolberg, near Aachen. The U.S. 3rd Army was engaged in a fierce tank battle near Château-Salins. The British 2nd Army battled furiously to relieve a British airborne force at Arnhem, in the Netherlands, which was reported in a critical plight. 1st Canadian Army troops mopped up along the Scheldt River estuary, while the Allied 6th Army Group on the south fought off German attacks near the Belfort Gap.

SHAEF, London, England –
A heavy German counterattack has forced back U.S. 1st Army troops northwest of Trier, it was announced officially today, and British airborne troops fighting against heavy odds in the Arnhem area of Holland are in a “critical” plight.

A dispatch from Stolberg, 612 miles east of Aachen, said U.S. forces were mopping up the northern section of the city as the Germans tried to move out an aircraft parts factory.

Latest reports to Headquarters said German artillery was pounding the Arnhem “island” of British troops dug in on the north bank of the north branch of the Rhine while a relief column of British 2nd Army tanks struggled vainly to puncture the constricting Nazi noose.

A dispatch from the Arnhem pocket at 9:00 a.m. reflected the desperation of the situation there, the correspondent marveling at what has kept the British going since Sunday and saying that “only one thing is certain – they will keep going until the 2nd Army gets here.”

A German dispatch broadcast by the Berlin radio described most violent fighting in Arnhem, key stronghold commanding the approaches to northwestern Germany, which had been raging since Sunday, indicating that the British had captured the town but were unable to consolidate their victory.

Headquarters sources said that on the right wing of Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ 1st Army front near the center of the Luxembourg-German frontier the Americans had been forced to pull back an undisclosed distance.

The setback came in the sector east of Diekirch, 23 miles northwest of Trier and 12 miles northwest of Echternach. The significance of the strong counterassault by the Nazis on their home soil was not apparent immediately.

The British airborne force which dropped down in the Arnhem area Sunday was disclosed to hold a sector stretching westward from the city along the north bank of the river.

The exact depth and width of the island was not disclosed.

A battle of extreme violence was going on in the wet, hazy reach of pastureland between Arnhem and Nijmegen, 10 miles to the south, where the Allies forced the Rhine and struck up toward Arnhem.

Hopes raised by unofficial reports that the 2nd Army had established a tenuous link with the Arnhem pocket were dashed by the dispatch from the Arnhem area and the subsequent lack of any report at headquarters on a junction.

The relief column ran into heavy resistance two miles north of Nijmegen – eight miles short of Arnhem – and up to the noon hours today had not been able to break the stalemate there, headquarters sources reported.

The plight of the Arnhem forces was intensified by a bad turn in the weather which cut down the reinforcement missions flown by Allied planes. Yesterday the air forces carried in a substantial number of troops.

The Germans were revealed to have been counterattacking the U.S. 1st and 3rd Armies all along the front from north of Aachen to south of Lunéville.

The 1st Army withdrawal east of Diekirch was in sector where one of the deepest penetrations of the Reich had been made. It was not clear whether the spearhead was still inside Germany.

North of Aachen, a counterattack near Geilenkirchen was repulsed without loss of ground. Southeast of Aachen, slow progress was reported in the drive through the Hürtgen Forest against green camouflaged pillboxes and roadblocks. The battle was centered about five miles southeast of Stolberg.

Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s veteran U.S. 3rd Army was locked in a swaying tank battle east of the Moselle River that outmatched in fury anything yet seen in the western campaign.

After five days of reckless counterattacks that failed to halt the eastward progress of Gen. Patton’s spearheads, the Nazis hurled fresh panzer divisions into the fight this morning and wheeled up strong artillery forces to support the counterblow. The Yanks destroyed 246 German tanks in the five days.

Guns move up

Pooled dispatches filed late yesterday from the Arnhem sector said British artillery had reached the area just south of the Rhine estuary and was shelling German assault positions around the beleaguered sky troops.

Radio Berlin continued to trumpet obviously exaggerated claims of losses inflicted on the Arnhem pocket. After admitting the juncture, Berlin said the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem had been “completely liquidated” and then announced that the “liquidation” was still in progress.

United Press writer Ronald Clark reported from the 2nd Army front that increasing numbers of British tanks, with U.S. paratroops and British infantrymen riding their turrets, were moving across the Nijmegen bridge to join in the battle to the north.

Batter lifeline

German tanks, troops and artillery battered at the narrow lifeline stretching up 55 miles from the Belgian border to Arnhem, and Mr. Clark reported that the enemy attacks were mounting in force.

A headquarters communiqué said British and U.S. troops were steadily widening the base of their salient jutting across the Belgian-Dutch border, pushing 16 miles beyond Eindhoven to Someren on the east, and six miles westward to Wintelre.

On the 3rd Army front, Gen. Patton sent his armored divisions lunging eastward within 25 miles of the Siegfried Line and ran head-on into a great concentration of German panzers massed on the open plains between Château-Salins and Dieuze.

Gain near Metz

North of the Château-Salins–Dieuze battle, 3rd Army infantrymen hacked out small advances in the thickly-defended arca around Sillegny, six miles south of Metz. To the south, other tank and infantry forces cleared the Germans from Lunéville and pushed out along the Meurthe River 15 miles southeast of that town to the Baccarat area. Flin, five miles northwest of Baccarat, was captured yesterday.

On the U.S. 1st Army front, machine-gun squads fought the Germans step by step through the ruins of Stolberg. Aachen was still under siege, although unconfirmed reports said the Germans were beginning to evacuate the city through a narrow gap in the American lines to the northeast.

Canadians take port

First Canadian Army forces in the Schelde Estuary sector along the northwestern border of Belgium and the southwestern Dutch frontier captured the Dutch port of Terneuzen and mopped up German pockets along the south bank of the Schelde.

On the U.S. 7th Army front at the southern end of the battle line, U.S. troops pushed into the western end of the Belfort Gap against steadily stiffening resistance.

At last reports, the doughboys were barely 12 miles west of Belfort after capturing the village of Palante in a 3½-mile advance from Lure. French troops moving up from the south, however, were forced to withdraw slightly in the Vermondans area, 17 miles below Belfort.

1775

Japs report more Manila raids

Martial law decreed in Philippines; Yanks blast ships, planes

…

1776

‘Long live Italy’ –
Ex-police chief of Rome executed for Fascist crimes

Pietro Caruso shot in back as he sits astride chair fumbling with rosary

…

Greek soldiers capture Rimini

Push into Po Valley of North Italy

…

1777

americavotes1944

‘Dog-eat-dog days gone’ –
Dewey promises security for all

Personal and political freedom also pledged

Los Angeles, California (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey winds up his Pacific Coast campaign tonight with an address from this city’s huge Memorial Coliseum where he will outline the Republican program for expansion of unemployment compensation of unemployment compensation, old-age pensions and minimum wage laws.

Governor Dewey arrived here shortly before noon.

En route to a hotel, crowds were sparse. One spectator shouted “What kind of breadlines are you going to have?” and received only a glare from Mr. Dewey.

Tonight’s speech will be a follow-up to last night’s speech from San Francisco when he promised, if elected, to find a middle road between “New Deal regimentation” and “a reactionary philosophy of dog-eat-dog” to post-war jobs and security for all without loss of personal or political freedom.

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

Governor Dewey and his party were accompanied here by Governor and Mrs. Earl Warren of California.

Governor Dewey made his initial bid for California’s 25 electoral votes last night before an overflow crowd of 15,000 persons who heard the GOP nominee charge that the Roosevelt Administration has “failed utterly” to solve the problem of political freedom and economic security.

He charged:

Saturated as it is with the defeatist theory that America is past its prime, the New Deal can see only two possibilities for America – ever increasing regimentation as one alternative, and reaction as the other. It believes that economic security can only be purchased at the price of freedom.

That argument is false. Our people do not want to see this country dragged further and further toward complete government control over every aspect of our lives. Neither do we want to go back to the reactionary philosophy of dog-eat-dog.

Middle ground urged

There is a middle ground, Governor Dewey insisted, which involves a limited amount of government intervention into the daily lives of business, industry and agriculture.

For example, Governor Dewey said there should be limited government control of money and credit to keep interest rates stable, a government work program to take up the slack in employment which private enterprise cannot absorb, and support prices on basic agricultural products.

He promised that the days when men and women “had to work for whatever they could get” are gone forever.

Governor Dewey proposed three principles of government action which he described as “the exact opposite of the New Deal.” He listed:

  • “Its objective must be not to restrict individual economic opportunity but to widen it.”

  • “[It] Must be administered by men and women who believe in and understand American workers, American businessmen and American farmers.”

  • “The role of government cannot be the purely negative one of correcting abuse, of telling people what they may or may not do.”

Governor Dewey charged that the New Deal “has sought to buy the favor of one group and then of another, has pretended to be the generous uncle for each group, meanwhile playing one against the other for political profit.”

1778

Poll: 32-state poll shows Dewey gains in 10, Roosevelt in 17

Sentiment in five is unchanged, one on line; 16 still to be reported
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

…

1779

Fast war reporting lauded by Roosevelt

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt said today that American news reporting of this war is so good and fast that more often than not he gets his war news from the newspapers before he receives the official dispatches from the Army and Navy.

He made this point when asked to comment at his news conference on the general progress of the war. He said the situation had reached such a fine point now that the newspapers were just about as up to date as the government.

1780

americavotes1944

parry3

I DARE SAY —
The overworked word

By Florence Fisher Parry

There are certain things which we should learn by heart; and, once learning them, repeat over and over, so that they become a part of our very being. Prayers learned in our childhood; even certain songs and hymns; our oath of allegiance to our flag: passages of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution; poems that have come to be deeply familiar to us and especially loved; even the words of the oath that is administered in Court: “I hereby swear by the Searcher of all hearts…” There is a strength that can be drawn from the mere repeating of such words, a kind of reaffirmation.

Now it has been coming to mind lately, oh often, the need to repeat the words which were fashioned to hold this republic together and make it the envy and haven of the world: the words found in our Constitution… in our Declaration of Independence… in the oath our President takes when he assumes his office. They are grave and noble words. Millions of lives have been given up early, to keep them true and hive. So, they are words which must be safeguarded.

The slogan is coined

I have been reading these great pronouncements lately, the better to reassure my troubled mind, the better to strengthen me for what I truly and fearfully believe is to be a kind of internal struggle, here in America, to preserve the American way of life.

And in them all – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights – the word democracy or democratic does not appear.

Now the other night while I was watching Wilson, the great motion picture, I kept waiting to hear the word republic. 1 did not hear it.

I never hear the word from Democrats.

I heard instead, democratic processes, democratic ways, democratic way of life, make the world safe for democracy. I did not count how many times the word democracy appeared in the text. I would have been cheered if I had heard only once that grand old (and for so long discarded!) word Republic!

For this IS a republic; it was always spoken of as a republic before President Wilson introduced to his party and the world the magical, golden slogan, de-MOC-ra-cy!

To what stunning use the Democratic Party has followed up this advantage, can well disturb the Republican Party now. For the grand old American word republic has been so studiously avowed by those who would have the uninformed accept the Democratic Party and democracy as synonymous, that the rank and file are no longer aware of the deception, and honestly have come to believe that all of our allies are democracies.

Indeed, the only time the forgotten word republic figures is when mention is made of “the 21 republics.” How the word survived in this connection alone, I am at loss to know, but am grateful for even this slight concession that the United States of America is a republic, so designated by our Constitution, Section 4, Article 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.”

What’s in a name?

How it was possible for the Republican Party to fail in vigilance and permit the word democracy to be appropriated by the opposing party as its own exclusive synonymous slogan, is beyond me! Now the thing seems to have got past control. In the furthest outposts of the world the assumption prevails that it is the Democratic Party only which stands for democracy.

WHY is it not more vigorously challenged by the Republican Party, which also claims its guardianship of the republic for which it stands?

What’s in a name? A name can sweep the world! A word can change the course of all mankind! Democracy is a wonderful word, among the mightiest! When used in its strict and absolute sense it stands among the greatest words that ever have animated the souls of men.

That it should be employed as a political catchword to snare the honest votes of the unpurchasables; that it should be accepted by the peoples of other nations as a synonym for the Democratic Party (as opposed to the Republican Party) – all this but adds up to a total misconception of our government appalling in its implications.

1781

americavotes1944

Pearl Harbor data sought by Roosevelt

Attack knowledge denied by envoy

Washington (UP) –
Anyone who has information that this government knew 72 hours in advance of the Pearl Harbor attack that a Jap task force was steaming toward the Hawaiian Islands should submit that information to the military boards now investigating the Pearl Harbor case, President Roosevelt said today.

He told a news conference that there would be lots of things like that – referring to Republican charges that information about the Jap naval activity had been submitted to this government in advance of the attack – circulating from now until Nov. 7.

Reports awaited

Asked if he intended to order court-martial trials at any time soon for Army and Navy leaders at Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack, Mr. Roosevelt replied that there are two committees or boards working on that now and it would be just as well to wait to hear from them, He referred to the Army and Navy boards which are investigating all circumstances surrounding the attack.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hull revealed that Australian Minister Sir Owen Dixon had denied to the State Department that he had any advance information the Japs planned to attack American territory.

Sir Owen, who is departing to take a seat on the Australian High Court, was drawn into the running Pearl Harbor debate between Republicans and Democrats when Rep. Ralph E. Church (R-IL) read to the House yesterday an affidavit quoting Sir Owen as saying he had advance information of the Jap plans.

Two messages reported

In the last 72 hours before the Dec. 7, 1941, attack, Mr. Church said, Naval Intelligence sent the White House two messages based on the Australian information.

The officer who delivered the second warning, Mr. Church declared, told the White House: “This looks like a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and a midnight attack on the Philippines.”

The Roberts Commission which investigated the Pearl arbor disaster said that a last-minute warning had been flashed to Hawaii but did not arrive in time to prevent the attack.

Ex-West Pointer quoted

Mr. Church read the House what he said was a notarized statement by Sidney C. Graves, Washington insurance man and West Point graduate, saying that at a dinner on Dec. 7, 1943, Sir Owen told him and others in substance:

About 72 hours before Pearl Harbor, I received a flash warning from my Naval Intelligence that a Japanese task force was at sea and Australia should prepare for an attack; 24 hours later this was confirmed with a later opinion of Intelligence that the task force was apparently not aimed at Australian waters and perhaps was directed against some American possessions.

Finally on Dec. 7, 1941, my Intelligence stated, “We are saved. America is in the war. Pearl Harbor has been bombed.”

This Australian Minister was questioned by one of the guests as to whether this information was available to American authority and he stated in substance that it was if requested.

Some quarters here said there was “general knowledge,” before the Dec. 7 attack, that an enemy task force was roaming the Pacific, but that there was no expectation that it was headed for Pearl Harbor where a major part of the Pacific Fleet was at anchor.

1782

West Virginia pastor admits unlawfully marrying couple

Plea made hour after indictment; ‘license bureau’ proprietor is also accused

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Butter supplies to remain ‘tight’

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americavotes1944

Bricker: Faith broken by New Deal

Virtual dictatorship claimed established

Baltimore, Maryland (UP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, charging that Sidney Hillman, Earl Browder and “their Communist comrades” control the Democratic Party, said last night that the New Deal has broken every American tradition in its 12-year program of establishing a “virtual dictatorship.”

Speaking before a Republican rally on a 3,250-mile Eastern campaign swing, the GOP vice-presidential nominee declared that: “The New Deal has failed to keep its promises.”

It has broken the tradition of “limited tenure” in the Presidency.

It has discarded the “relationship of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government” as fixed by the Constitution.

‘Cause for change’

The New Deal, although failing to “pack” the Supreme Court directly, has succeeded through its long tenure in doing so and has appointed a majority of the judges of appellate courts and district courts who conform to their “philosophy.”

“That alone,” Governor Bricker said, “is cause for a change.”

The danger of the long tenure of the President is “reflected in the judgment of the Supreme Court in many cases,” Governor Bricker said.

The nominee added:

A minority of the court has pointed out that the majority opinions have broken so many precedents, upset so many decisions that the law is in utter confusion and the lower courts are not given guidance for their judgments.

Appeals to Democrats, too

He charged:

At one time, this New Deal court even spoke of the President as a ruler rather than the servant of the people.

Governor Bricker appealed to the Democrats “to take back their party by voting Republican this year.”

He said:

Look at the history of the leaders of the New Deal – Rex Tugwell, Felix Frankfurter, Harry Hopkins. Now Sidney Hillman has come into the inner circle and taken the seat at the head of the table.

It would seem incredible that such a group could take control of the Democratic Party, but it has done so through alliances with nefarious political groups headed by big city bosses such as Kelly of Chicago, Hague of New Jersey and temporarily-inactive Pendergast of Missouri.

‘Shame battle’ charged

Governor Bricker said:

The true Democrats – the Farleys, the Al Smiths, the Byrds, the Garners – have been cast aside as being out of step.

The New Deal put on a “sham battle” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in order “to deceive the people” in the fight for the Vice Presidency, he said.

He added that Senator Alben Barkley’s defiance of the President over the veto of the Tax Bill soon subsided and he became “the willing worker for the White House clique.”

Governor Bricker asserted:

That short revolt may be the reason that Sidney Hillman vetoed Senator Barkley as a candidate for Vice President.

Says Congress ‘abused’

To bring about the “servile” position of Congress, Governor Bricker added, the New Deal “belittled, abused and smeared” Congress. The New Deal “power grabbers,” he said, have been very “careful” in recent months.

He said:

Be not deceived, people of America. The intent is still there, the habits have not been changed and it is their hope that once the election is by and should the New Deal be successful, that that the program of destroying the very foundation of free government and our constitutional concepts under which we have built so mightily will be revived.

Earlier, at a press conference, Governor Bricker pursued a theme advanced in his speech at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wednesday night that the administration should now “disclose the facts” about the Pearl Harbor attack.

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americavotes1944

Wallace: ‘Hoover panic’ will come with Dewey

20,000 in New York hear Vice President stress ‘experience’ of Roosevelt

New York (UP) –
A cheering crowd of about 20,000 persons packed into Madison Square Garden last night heard Vice President Henry A. Wallace forecast the reelection of President Roosevelt and warn that a Republican victory may return the country to “a normalcy of a Harding and a 10-year decay into the panic of a Hoover.”

Mr. Wallace, who was supplanted as Mr. Roosevelt’s fourth term running mate in favor of Senator Harry S. Truman, addressed a rally, sponsored by the Independent Voters’ Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt.

The crowd also cheered as a galaxy of Hollywood stars, including Better Davis, Frederic March and Orson Welles, who introduced the Vice President, appeared on the program.

‘Two problems’

Mr. Wallace, making his first speech on behalf of the Roosevelt-Truman ticket, said that the problem of the current White House campaign is not one of indispensability. The only issue, he asserted, is which of the two candidates – Franklin D. Roosevelt or Thomas E. Dewey – is more capable of handling these two problems:

  • Who can better cooperate with Churchill, Stalin and the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek], in writing a lasting, liberal, democratic peace which will preserve American interests without being unfair to any nation, big or small?

  • Who can best make sure that there will be jobs for everybody and therefore good incomes for farmers, white-collar workers, business and professional men?

He said that it would be absurd to attack the motives of any man seeking national leadership: that both Governor Dewey and Mr. Roosevelt will do their best if called to serve.

‘Equipment and experience’

He said:

The first question to decide is one of equipment and experience. Who can better provide for permanent peace and full employment – Dewey or Roosevelt?

Despite all Governor Dewey’s assertions, he continued, the isolationists are going to vote Republican in November.

He said:

Just as Harding placated the isolationists in 1921, so Dewey would be under the necessity of placating them in 1945. The Republican Party in spite of the millions of its members who think clearly about international affairs, has been, is now, and will be the channel through which the isolationists, the cartelists and the international freebooters work best.

‘Jobs for all’

The heart of the liberal program for post-war America, he said, is “jobs for all.” Next, he said, is the willingness of all men to work – “there can be no sit-down strike of idle seeking the dole.” He listed as a third point job priority to veterans and men and women who toiled in war plants at home.

Mr. Wallace conceded that a readjustment period would be needed before jobs for all could be provided. But he was confident the job could be done.

He said the post-war battle on the home front will be an exciting one and held that “there can be no slackers as we fight for the common man in the pursuit of the richer life.” He disapproved of the $1-a-year man plan but insisted that the government had the first call of services of the nation’s leaders.

If a wartime President may draft the brains of this country to fight, certainly a peacetime President may draft the brains of the country to work full-time in the most exciting battle of modern times – the battle against depression; against panic; against defeatism; the battle for full employment, national health, and a permanent peace.

He concluded with the declaration that “there shall never be a return to the normalcy of yesteryear – to normalcy for the few and sub-normalcy for the many.”

He said:

We welcome – yes, we shall fight for something we never have had – the normalcy of the good life for everybody.

1785

WLB relaxes pay rules on new employees

Boosts in hiring rates approved
By Dale McFeatters, Press business editor

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1786

In Washington –
Cutback data to be given by two agencies

Byrnes announces new procedures

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Gangster faces surplus probe

Chiseling charged by La Guardia

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americavotes1944

GOP charge answered –
Tobin denies his union has ‘inside track’

Labor leader hits delays by WLB
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
President Daniel J. Tobin, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, said today that his greatest wartime worry in union affairs has been the War Labor Board delays.

Mr. Tobin is here to preside at a meeting of his union, with President Roosevelt scheduled to be a banquet guest and make his first “political speech” of the campaign tomorrow night.

Mr. Roosevelt’s address will be broadcast at 9:30 p.m. ET tomorrow over KDKA and WJAS.

The labor leader talked today of WLB delays with as much ire as did Governor Dewey in his labor speech at Seattle.

But, nevertheless, Mr. Tobin and his union are on record for a fourth term and Mr. Tobin will manage the Democratic Party’s labor division for a fourth time.

His comment about WLB was in refutation of a charge by Rep. H. Carl Andersen (R-MN) that Mr. Tobin has an inside track for pay raises for his truckmen “through the back door of the White House.”

What is charged

Here is what Mr. Andersen said:

Through the back door of the White House Mr. Tobin has been able to set up a little War Labor Board of his own, known as the trucking commission, which he has put in charge of one Frank Tobin, thus keeping it in the family.

By this device Tobin has kept his union out from under the stabilization program and apparently immune to the Wage Stabilization Act. For the past three years this commission has granted huge wage increases to members of Tobin’s union in direct violation of the stabilization act and over the head of the War Labor Board itself.”

Tobin’s answer

After reading the Anderson statement, Mr. Tobin declared that it is “full of lies and full of holes.”

He explained that no wage increase has been approved without WLB authorization and that all were within the 15 percent of the “Little Steel” formula. However, like other union leaders, he wants to see the “Little Steel” formula scrapped.

Mr. Tobin declared:

My union has more cases pending before WLB than any other. There were 2,000 cases pending there when the panel was set up with my son Frank as the labor member. The union pays him, although the government pays the panel members representing the public and employers. They would pay him, of course, but we didn’t want it that way. He is 41, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and well equipped for his position.

Delay is big complaint

However, nothing which the panel approves can be effective until final WLB approval is given and increases passed upon by Stabilization Director Vinson. To say this is any “inside track” is nonsense. All WLB cases are handled in the same manner. My only complaint is the delay. Now the panel has 2,000 cases pending.

We have 700,000 union members and right now, there are no strikes anywhere. But because it takes months to get a decision on wages, I have had great difficulty in holding the membership in line and there have been strikes in the past because of the great delay.

Mr. Tobin, who is a vice president of the AFL, continued:

I told an AFL convention over a year ago that unless WLB congestion was cleared up we were headed for trouble in keeping the no-strike pledge.

Bricker hits PAC in talk in Maine

Portland, Maine (UP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, Republican vice-presidential nominee, attacked Sidney Hillman and his CIO Political Action Committee again today, charging that the New Deal has relinquished its leadership to the “Browder-Hillman Axis.”

He said:

In so doing, it has struck a blow to free and unintimidated voting by the American people. They have turned over to this group that feeds on class hatred the conduct of the campaign because the PAC has its hands on millions of dollars.”

Speaking at a rally at City Hall, Governor Bricker said Mr. Hillman’s influence is “alien” and has its “roots in communism.”

The Bricker train was to make short stops at Lewiston, Winthrop, Waterville and Pittsville during the day. Governor Bricker speaks in Bangor tonight.

Brownell: Labor swings toward Dewey

Albany, New York (UP) –
Herbert Brownell Jr., National Republican campaign manager, asserted yesterday that evidence was increasing that “organized labor is swinging to the Dewey-Bricker ticket.”

“We have had a fine and enthusiastic response from organized labor leaders as a result of Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s Seattle speech,” Mr. Brownell declared at a press conference prior to a meeting of 21 eastern Upstate New York Republican county leaders.

He added that certain labor leaders resent bitterly the Hillman-Browder group’s attempts to take over organized labor as well as the New Deal party.

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Dewey backed by Chicago Daily News

Late Frank Knox’s paper hits 4th term

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
The Chicago Daily News today announced it will support Governor Thomas E. Dewey for President.

The News, formerly published by the late Frank Knox who, before his death, served in President Roosevelt’s Cabinet as Secretary of the Navy, said in an editorial prepared for Friday editions that it opposes a fourth term.

The editorial said, in part:

In 1940, despite the courage Mr. Roosevelt had shown in seeking to arm the nation against the perils that surrounded it, despite the fact that Col. Frank Knox, our publisher, had been called to the cabinet, in the emergency, to serve as Secretary of the Navy, this newspaper was opposed to a third term. We supported Mr. Willkie, the Republican candidate. And we have not changed our mind. We were not for a third term. We are not for a fourth. Nor do we believe the American people desire a perpetual President.

…In short, no fourth term is necessary, for in Governor Dewey there has arisen among us a young, new, vigorous leader, with faith in the future…

Governor Dewey belittles activity of ‘bosses’

San Francisco, California (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey predicted yesterday that letters by Mayor Edward J. Kelly or Chicago to soldiers overseas advocating reelection of President Roosevelt would benefit the Republican Party in the November election.

The Republican presidential candidate offered his prediction when published accounts of the Chicago mayor’s activities were called to his attention.

He commented:

I should think that any letters Mayor Kelly writes to soldiers would greatly assist the Republican cause.

He did not elaborate, but the Republican Party has previously attacked the “bossism” leadership of Kelly at Chicago, Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey, and National Committeeman Ed Flynn in New York.