America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

2129

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 30, 1944)

FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
301100A Sept.

TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR (Pass to WND)

TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(2) FIRST US ARMY GP
(3) ADV HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) FWD ECH (MAIN) 12 ARMY GP
(5) AEAF
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) ETOUSA
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM Z APO 871
(18) SHAEF MAIN

(REF NO.)
NONE

(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR

Communiqué No. 175

Enemy resistance in the Cap Gris-Nez area has ceased, and the long-range batteries there have been silenced.

At Calais, a truce has been arranged while the remaining civilians are evacuated from the city.

In the Scheldt Estuary, enemy movements were under attack last night by light bombers.

Our troops are advancing steadily on a six-mile front west of Turnhout in face of stubborn opposition. German counterattacks against our Nijmegen salient were repulsed north of Best and in the vicinity of Nijmegen. Allied forces advancing towards Hertogenbosch from the southeast are within four miles of the town.

Fighters and fighter-bombers closely supported our ground forces and attacked transportation targets in Holland. There was considerable opposition in the air and according to the reports so far received, 31 enemy aircraft were shot down by our fighters, four of which are missing.

Patrol activity continued from the Aachen area to the Luxembourg-German frontier, with enemy artillery fire on a slightly decreased scale.

Troop concentrations and strong points southeast of Aachen were attacked by medium and fighter bombers. Allied units made a local attack near Hürtgen, southeast of Stolberg. Further south, our troops made limited progress southeast of Prüm against enemy fortifications, eight of which were reduced in one attack.

In southeastern Luxembourg, we have liberated Mompach and Wasserbillig. Haute-Kontz, six miles south of Remich, has been freed.

West of Metz, an enemy thrust in the vicinity of Gravelotte was repulsed. Concentrated enemy artillery, mortar and small arms fire were later directed against our troops in this area. Two German counterattacks were repulsed near the Forêt de Gremecey, 14 miles northeast of Nancy.

In the Vosges foothills, the village of St-Gorgon, just south of the communications center of Rambervillers, was taken. Our positions west and northwest of Belfort were improved against intensified enemy resistance.

The offensive against the enemy’s railway system supplying the battle zones was continued. Medium and light bombers struck at railway targets at Geldern, Euskirchen, Prüm, Bitburg and Saarbrücken and rolling stock in the Rhineland was hit by fighte-bombers.

COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S

THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/

Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others

ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section

NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA Ext. 9

AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/
2130

The Pittsburgh Press (September 30, 1944)

200,000 NAZIS FACING TRAP
Yanks advance in two sectors

British menace escape of enemy in Holland; Calais truce ends
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

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2131

Yanks invade more islands in Palau group

12 Jap ships blasted in Philippines, Indies

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2132

U.S. heavies raid three German cities

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B-29 Pacific raid reported by Japs

By the United Press

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2133

americavotes1944

Vice President in city –
Wallace urges ‘cooperation’

Unity for prosperity termed U.S. need

Post-war prosperity will depend on the “utmost coordination and cooperation” between business, labor and industry, Vice President Henry Wallace declared here today.

This cooperation, he said, would include a matching of federal government efforts with those of cities and counties in setting up peacetime projects.

Praising this area as the “backbone of the war effort,” Mr. Wallace said:

The prosperity of Pittsburgh, like that of the rest of the nation in the post-war era, will depend on the utmost coordination and cooperation of all.

Confer with mayors

He made the statement at a press conference in the office of Mayor Cornelius D. Scully, where a few minutes earlier he had concluded a conference with the four mayors of the county’s first-class cities.

Speaking in rapid-fire fashion, Mr. Wallace said the mayors’ conference dealt with “grave” post-war municipal problems. He mentioned specifically Mayor Scully’s pet project, the improvement of the city’s water supply.

The Vice President said:

That’s quite a sizable project and will serve as a case in point, illustrating the necessity of coordinated effort between the county and municipality with the federal government matching their efforts.

Silent on plans

He was smilingly evasive on the question of his plans for his personal future.

“I have no plans for after Nov. 7,” he commented when asked if he expected to remain with the New Deal if President Roosevelt is reelected.

“That’s why he’s so interested in this unemployment question,” interjected Mayor Scully with a smile.

Mr. Wallace warned labor representatives at the Mayors’ conference that labor faces its biggest struggle – the problems of conquering unemployment and increasing labor’s purchasing power.

Mr. Wallace said:

As labor comes of age, and it is coming of age, it must concern itself with more things than just its fair slice out of the national pie.

He expressed the thought that labor, whose earning “represent more than two-thirds of the national income,” must inject itself more deeply into national problems.

‘Welfare of people’

Asked if it were true that “various interests” were seeking to control the New Deal, a thinly-veiled reference to the CIO’s Political Action Committee, Mr. Wallace retorted:

Various interests are always seeking to take over control of both parties. The main concern for the future should be the welfare of the people. It should not be a political concern.

The mayors’ conference was attended by Mayor Scully, McKeesport Mayor Frank Buchanan, Duquesne Mayor Elmer J. Maloy, Clairton Mayor John J. Mullen, County Commissioner John J. Kane, and representatives of the Independent Citizens Committee. Representatives of the United Mine Workers, the AFL, the CIO, the Railway Brotherhoods and Arthur Starr Brown (one of the two Negro electors from Pennsylvania) also attended.

Goes to Clairton

Bareheaded, Mr. Wallace strode from his room at the William Penn Hotel to the conference in the City-County Building so fast that his police escort almost had to run to keep up with him. He was apparently unrecognized on the street.

After the press conference, Mr. Wallace left for Clairton, where he spoke at an honor roll dedication at 11:45 a.m. A luncheon in McKeesport was followed by a visit to Duquesne.

He was to attend commissioning ceremonies of an LST at Dravo’s Shipyards, Neville Island, at 3:00 p.m., and will deliver a major speech at Carnegie Music Hall tonight at 8:30 p.m.

Speaking to a street audience of an estimated 3,500 persons in New Kensington late yesterday, Mr. Wallace said that his purpose in coming to Western Pennsylvania for a two-day speaking tour was plain: to urge the reelection of the President, and a great outpouring of voters.

He spoke in Johnstown, New Kensington and McKeesport yesterday.

He is jovial

If the Vice President bore any resentment over the party shuffle in which Senator Harry Truman replaced him as President Roosevelt’s running mate, it was not apparent yesterday.

His talk was jovial throughout, even when he referred to the refusal of the New Kensington School Board to permit him to speak in the High School Auditorium because he was to make a political address.

He said with a smile:

I’m glad it’s a nice day for the educational process can go on in the open air occasionally. Pennsylvania is truly a great state. One can find the most reactionary of reactionaries, and also the most liberals of liberals.

Record reviewed

In pleading for support for the President, and for “other party candidates,” Mr. Wallace reviewed Mr. Roosevelt’s record in both peace and war eras.

The Vice President contended:

He has done an outstanding job of a great which history will record. There may be some now who try to take credit for his work, but they will recover from that strange malady on Nov. 8.

Yet there isn’t so much actual difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, he said, for both are concerned with “men and dollars.” But he added:

Of course, the Republicans are concerned with the dollars first and the men second, and the Democrats usually put the men first and the dollars second.

‘Unions grow’

Mr. Wallace declared that as a result of the policies of the Roosevelt administration “there are five times as many, maybe seven times as many, dues paying members in unions as there were back in 1932.”

He continued:

When labor unions, with their own engineers, meet on equal terms with management in the formation of industrial policies there will be real democracy in the United States.

Immediately after the speaking program, Mr. Wallace left for Uniontown for a similar address.

Others to address tonight’s meeting in Carnegie Hall include CIO President Philip Murray, James L. McDevitt (president of the AFL, State Federation of Labor) and Congressman Francis J. Myers of Philadelphia (Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate).

2134

Punitive plan demanded for Germany

Long-range program is also considered

Washington (UP) –
The State Department’s tentative plan for the treatment of Germany which the United States is likely to sponsor in Allied councils calls for punitive measures immediately after the war plus a long-range program for keeping German industry keyed to peacetime pursuits.

That is the broad outline of the State Department plan which have been in the process of formulation since the war started. President Roosevelt has now made plain that the policy for the control of Germany’s war-making power will be made “under the guidance of the Department of State.”

Confusion admitted

Mr. Roosevelt noted yesterday that there has been a lot of confusion between the long and short-range plans for Germany, and a high policy-making official emphasized there was a great difference between punishment of Germany and a long-range peace settlement.

The officials of all departments were said to be in general agreement on what to do with Germany immediately after she surrenders. Their short-range program is designed to drive home to the German people (1) that they have been decisively beaten on the field of battle and (2) that they must never again start another war.

Four major points

It includes four major points to be taken immediately after Germany collapses:

  • Complete destruction of the German military machine. This will be taken care of by the unconditional surrender terms of the armistice.

  • Eradication of all vestiges of Nazism – its institutions, laws, racial discrimination orders, leaders, and even its uniforms and symbols such as the Swastika.

  • Elimination of strictly war industries such as those which manufacture large guns and can serve no civilian purpose.

  • Prohibition of civilian as well as military aviation, and possibly the denial of any German to fly even a private plane for many years.

Program ‘harsh’

An official who has participated in most of the conferences on studies of Germany’s post-war treatment said there was virtually no opposition to the program’s general outline. It is considered “harsh” but no responsible government official has proposed that it should be other than that.

The long-range program for Germany, however, takes into account the fact that before the war she was the greatest industrial nation of Western Europe – a nation whose economy was closely intertwined with not only the rest of the continental nations but also with that of Great Britain.

Key industries involved

It will call for selective supervision or control of key industries which are needed to maintain German economy but which have also made it possible for Germany to wage war on a grand scale.

This program is closely related with the third point of the short-range program but involves industries that it is felt cannot be destroyed without disrupting the economy of a great part of Europe.

Details of the long-range plan have not been worked out. Many of them will depend upon what is left of German industry when the war ends.

But industries over which it is believed successful supervision or control could be maintained with a minimum of effort on the part of the Allies include the iron and steel industry, the aluminum and magnesium industries, the machine tool industry, the oil and chemical industries including manufacturers of hydrogen and nitrogen, and the railroad and electric power industries.

Control of the electric power industry in Germany offers the most intriguing possibilities, one official said. If control or strict supervision of the bulk of it could be maintained, it would be possible to control potential munitions makers by the flick of a switch.

It was emphasized that the details of the plans in the long-range program still remain to be worked out. Mr. Roosevelt urged the Foreign Economic Administration yesterday to accelerate the job.

2135

Japs face retreat, Russian asserts

Reds ‘prepared’ public for ‘events’ in Pacific
By M. S. Handler, United Press staff writer

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2136

German traveler reports –
Astrologer saves Hitler from poisoned coffee

Visitor to Spain says Führer amuses self by tossing darts at Roosevelt, Churchill pictures

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2137

Donald Nelson quits WLB post

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2138

I DARE SAY —
Forbid them not

By Florence Fisher Parry

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2139

Jackie Cooper denies planning for ‘girl party’

Former film star and three codefendants accused in juvenile delinquency case

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2140

China urges force to keep world peace

Delegate opposes last-minute debates
By Hal O’Flaherty

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2141

americavotes1944

Mrs. Luce warns of U.S. ‘disunity’

Roosevelt ‘secrecy’ assailed in talk

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT) last night accused President Roosevelt of a “plain desire to monopolize not only the conduct of foreign affairs, but the creation of a world organization” and said such a attitude would create a “wholly unnecessary mood of national disunity.”

Speaking before the Pennsylvania Council of Republican Women, Mrs. Luce lashed at government secrecy surrounding the Dumbarton Oaks world security conference, citing it as an example of the public’s being kept so much in the dark about foreign policy that “we have been forced to adopt a new system in the conduct of foreign affairs – the Braille system.”

Wilson’s deeds recalled

Mrs. Luce warned against putting faith in the “miraculous powers” of any one man to make peace and said that Woodrow Wilson’s attempt to make the League of Nations his personal dream without confiding in the American people was responsible in part for World War II.

The cooperation needed to write a lasting, democratic peace is not the “undercover cooperation” of Mr. Roosevelt, Mrs. Luce said, but the “open-and-above board cooperation” of the American people, the U.S. Senate and the Chief Executive.

Dewey praised

Mrs. Luce said:

The Roosevelt peace is to be a one-man personal peace. But a one-man personal peace will be no peace at all. For today’s children it means tomorrow’s war.

Describing Governor Thomas E. Dewey as the “inevitable man,” Mrs. Luce said he would wage a “people’s peace” and “articulate the mood of America, which is that the foreign policy of America is not a partisan matter.”

Rep. Richard M. Simpson (R-PA) of Huntington County, charged that the Supreme Court no longer represented the majority and minority opinion of the nation, but is “an appendage of the New Deal.”

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americavotes1944

Ball refuses to back Dewey

St. Paul, Minnesota (UP) –
Senator Joe H. Ball (R-MN) said today that he would not campaign for Governor Thomas E. Dewey for President.

Declaring that he believed the issue of U.S. foreign policy more important than the success or failure of any person or political party, Mr. Ball said:

I have read or listened to all of Governor Dewey’s speeches and statements to date, and he has not yet convinced me that his own convictions on this issue are so strong that he would fight vigorously for a foreign policy which will offer real hope.

I would violate my own deepest convictions if I were at this time to try to campaign for Governor Dewey.

2143

americavotes1944

Perkins: ‘Little Steel’ ruling demanded at once, but delay indicated

Politics or not, action is asked
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Washington –
What Robert J. Watt, AFL member of the War Labor Board, wants to know is: “How are you going to keep this wage question out of politics?”

He put the question, in those words, to a CIO unionist who had protested against union wage demands being made a “football of politics,” but who almost simultaneously had requested that the Board act on the case immediately, and thus place it on the desk of President Roosevelt well before the November voting.

Through the workings of the stabilization program, the matter of giving a pay raise to millions of American citizens becomes a question to be decided only by Mr. Roosevelt.

The War Labor Board has become merely an advisory body to the President in the matter of changing the basic policies of stabilization, including the freeze on wages and salaries.

Speed urged

The witness before the Board was W. T. Lewis, representing the CIO Federation of Glass, Ceramics and Silica Sand Workers. He made the “football of politics” statement, whereupon Mr. Watt asked, “Do you think this case should be held up until after the election?”

The answer of Mr. Lewis was “No,” that “the case should be decided on its merits” – but quickly. This witness was in accord with Philip Murray, president of the CIO, who has demanded that political considerations be eliminated, but that the Board put its recommendations before the President by Oct. 15.

This was one incident in current Washington proceedings which lead up to the question of whether President Roosevelt will use his power over wages to please his supporters in the CIO and other labor groups, thus risking an inflationary movement; will turn them down before election, thus taking the chance of losing labor votes; or will delay the decision until after Nov. 7.

No commitment

The third course appeared most probable after a White House conference between the President and members of his “Labor Victory Committee” – William Green, Daniel J. Tobin and George Meany, for the AFL; Philip Murray, R. J. Thomas and Julus Emspak for the CIO.

Messrs. Green and Murray, acting as spokesmen, agreed that the President had listened to their arguments in favor of breaking the “Little Steel” formula, had asked a number of questions, but had made no commitment.

Mr. Green said:

We didn’t ask for any commitment, but got the impression that the President will not act until the wage cases (AFL as well as CIO) are sent to him by the War Labor Board.

The AFL president, in response to questions, said he hadn’t seen “even a gleam” in the President’s eve, to indicate which way he might be thinking.

Optimism expressed

Mr. Murray also said he had no idea of what the President will do, and explained that his recent statements before the United Auto Workers (CIO) – that he was sure the wage formula would be revised upwards – had no basis in any pledge from any government official.

“But I still feel,” Mr. Murray said, “that the formula will be broken.”

Mr. Green, questioned on this point. was not so sure – “I think it should be,” he said.

2144

British retreat in eastern Italy

Nazis push Allies over Fiumicino River

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2145

Japs now admit loss of Guam

By the United Press

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Honolulu has alert

Honolulu, Hawaii –
An air-raid alarm sounded at 2:15 a.m. HWT and an alert continued until 3:05 a.m. today when unidentified planes in this area proved friendly.

2146

Editorial: There’ll be no V-Day joy – for men in the Pacific

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2147

americavotes1944

Editorial: No rough stuff needed

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2148

Editorial: China retreats

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