America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

2408

Führer HQ (October 6, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

An der Westfront setzte der Feind im Raum nördlich Turnhout nach Zuführung neuer Kräfte seine Durchbruchsversuche auf Tilburg fort. Nach geringen Anfangserfolgen wurden seine Angriffsspitzen im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen. Besonders heftige Kämpfe entwickelten sich im Raum von Wageningen, wo unsere Divisionen von Osten und Westen her zur Einengung des feindlichen Brückenkopfes zum Angriff antraten. Der Feind leistet dort erbitterten Widerstand und verstärkte seine Brückenkopfbesetzung durch Abwurf weiterer Fallschirmjäger. Heftige Kämpfe sind im Gange.

Südlich Geilenkirchen trat der Feind aus seinem Einbruchsraum erneut zum Angriff nach Osten und Nordosten an, wurde jedoch durch sofort einsetzende Gegenangriffe zum Stehen gebracht. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden bei diesen Kämpfen 40 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen.

Nördlich Nancy wurde eine feindliche Einbruchsstelle bereinigt, dabei vier Offiziere und 110 Mann gefangengenommen.

Zwischen Épinal und Lure versuchte der Gegner auf breiter Front in unsere Stellungen auf den Vorbergen der Westvogesen einzudringen. Seine starken Angriffe wurden jedoch überall, zum Teil im Gegenangriff, zerschlagen oder aufgefangen.

Der Großraum von London lag wieder unter dem Feuer unserer „V1.“

In Mittelitalien wiederholte der Feind unter starkem Artillerieeinsatz seine Versuche, beiderseits der Straße nach Bologna auf breiter Front unsere Gebirgsstellungen zu durchstoßen, um in die Po-Ebene einzubrechen. In schweren Kämpfen wurden die feindlichen Angriffe, die in verschiedenen Abschnitten mehrmals wiederholt wurden, zerschlagen. Im adriatischen Küstenabschnitt scheiterten ebenfalls alle feindlichen Vorstöße.

Auf dem Balkan dauern die schweren Kämpfe an den bisherigen Brennpunkten südlich des Eisernen Tores und im Raum von Belgrad weiter an.

Im Raum westlich Arad gewannen die Gegenangriffe deutscher und ungarischer Verbände mit Unterstützung unserer Schlachtflieger weiter Boden. An der übrigen Front des ungarisch-rumänischen Grenzgebietes, südwestlich Großwardein und westlich Torenburg wurden feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen.

In den Waldkarpaten haben die sowjetischen Großangriffe gestern an Heftigkeit nachgelassen. Die an zahlreichen Stellen bei starkem Regen und ersten Schneefällen geführten schwächeren Angriffe blieben erfolglos.

Südlich Rozan griffen die Bolschewisten aus ihrem Brückenkopf heraus an. Sie wurden abgewiesen, örtliche Einbruchsstellen im Gegenangriff abgeriegelt. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden bei den Kämpfen am Narew insgesamt 78 feindliche Panzer vernichtet. Südwestlich und nordwestlich Schaulen traten die Sowjets mit starken Kräften unter Einsatz zahlreicher Panzer und Schlachtflieger zum Großangriff an. Harte Kämpfe sind hier im Gange.

Unsere Besatzung von Ösel steht im Nordostteil der Insel in heftigen Kämpfen mit gelandetem Feind.

In der Ägäis versenkten leichte deutsche Seestreitkräfte ein britisches Kanonenboot und nahmen Teile seiner Besatzung gefangen.

Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber griffen gestern Münster und Köln an und richteten weitere Angriffe gegen Wilhelmshaven, Dortmund, Koblenz und Rheine.

In der vergangenen Nacht war das Stadtgebiet von Saarbrücken das Ziel des britischen Bombenterrors. Einzelne Flugzeuge warfen Bomben auf Berlin. Flakartillerie und Luftwaffe schoss 19 Flugzeuge, darunter 14 viermotorige Bomber, ab.

An den Pässen der Ostbeskiden haben sich Oberleutnant Schupfen Bataillonsführer, und Oberleutnant Möhrle, Kompanieführer in einem Jägerregiment, durch hervorragende Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet.

2409

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (October 6, 1944)

FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
061100A October

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. 181

Allied troops have crossed the Dutch frontier north of Antwerp in the neighborhood of Putte. we have continued to make progress north of Baarlé-Nassau and Poppel. Gains made along the Hilvarenbeek road have brought us within three miles of Tilburg.

Stubborn German resistance from strong points in impeding our forces in the area of Overloon. Two enemy counterattacks southwest of the town were contained.

Fighters and fighter-bombers and a small force of medium bombers, operating in close support of our ground forces in Holland attacked enemy troops and strongpoints and destroyed a number of locomotives, railway trucks and barges in Holland and Germany. According to reports so far received, six enemy aircraft were destroyed in the air.

South of Aachen, patrol activity continues along the front, and considerable enemy artillery fire has been falling in and around Monschau.

Our troops fighting in Fort Driant have been mortared and shelled by the enemy. Fighting has been in progress near Sivry, north of Nancy, where earlier, an enemy counterattack was repulsed.

In support of our troops near Nancy, fighter-bombers attacked troops and fortified buildings. Other fighter bombers hit the railway station at Sarrebourg, destroyed a number of motor vehicles in the same area and struck at barges and canal installations on the Marne-Rhine Canal east of Nancy.

Heavy bombers in very great strength, strongly escorted by fighters, bombed railway yards at Köln and Rheine and German Luftwaffe installations at Handorf, Lippstadt, Paderborn and Münster-Loddenheide. The escorting fighters destroyed 15 enemy aircraft on the ground and one in the air, and strafed locomotives and goods trucks. Thirteen bombers and five fighters are missing.

Wilhelmshaven was attacked by a strong force of heavy bombers, with fighter cover. One bomber is missing.

Nineteen thousand civilians have been evacuated from Dunkerque under a truce arranged for that purpose.

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/
2410

The Pittsburgh Press (October 6, 1944)

BERLIN HIT IN 2,200-PLANE ATTACK
U.S. bombers blast 200-mile strip of Reich

Capital raided during noon hour, Nazis say

…

2411

First Army opens new drive; Yanks gain in forest battle

Americans push mile from deepest wedge in Reich near Stolberg
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

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2412

Germans prepare to flood 46 percent of Holland

Existence of nation at stake, exiled Dutch officials say, if sea covers country
By Edward P. Morgan

…

2413

americavotes1944

Gracie Allen Reporting

By Gracie Allen

Hollywood, California –
Well, that tip I gave you on the World Series was right. St. Louis is winning every game.

Now I’ve decided to figure out other winners for you. So far, I’m not doing so well. I went out and took a poll on a street corner yesterday morning. Ten people wanted Roosevelt, 10 wanted Dewey and 52 wanted butter.

Lots of people have written in asking me what man I’m going to support in November. Well, it’ll be the same man I’ve always supported – the man I’m married to, George Burns.

Of course, I don’t really support George. He works hard and brings him more bacon than I do. we have a lady butcher and it’s easier for him to get it.

2414

americavotes1944

Help of Reds repudiated by Roosevelt

President assails ‘loose talk’ of foes
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
President Roosevelt has repudiated Communist support in his reelection campaign, thereby pointing this country toward more embittered dispute over the political affiliations of many of his left-wing adherents.

In a broadcast directed specifically to thousands of Democratic Party workers gathered in meetings throughout the nation, the President last night defied as Hitleresque and “loose” use of the term Communism by “labor baiters, bigots and some politicians.”

But he also repudiated American Communists, who are among his acute campaign supporters.

‘Support not welcome’

He said:

I have never sought and I do not welcome the support of any person or group committed to Communism, or Fascism, or any other foreign ideology which would undermine the American system of government or the American system of free competitive enterprise and private property.

That repudiation came within a week of an address in New York City in which Earl Browder, president of the Communist Political Association, said:

American Communists, even as our great Communist forebears in 1860 and 1864 supported Abraham Lincoln, will in 1944 support Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President of the United States.

GOP charges answered

Just where the Communists stand as a result of the President’s repudiation was not immediately evident.

Mr. Roosevelt’s repudiation of Browder’s support was in reply to Republican charges which he interpreted as “being that the Roosevelt administration is part of a gigantic plot to sell our democracy out to the Communists.”

He linked his repudiation of the American Reds with a tribute to “our Russian allies” and a pledge that his administration would participate with them after the war in a strong organization to maintain peace – “if necessary, by force.”

Foes challenged

In spurning the Communists of this country, the President challenged those who apply the term Communism or Communist to “every progressive social measure and to the views of every foreign-born citizen with whom they disagree.”

Sidney Hillman, head of the CIO’s Political Action Committee, has been the most frequently assailed on that score among Mr. Roosevelt’s 1944 supporters and the firing is likely to continue against him and his associates.

Mr. Roosevelt emphasized that his repudiation of American Communists “does not in the least interfere with the firm and friendly relationship which this nation has in this war, and will I hope, continue to have with the Soviet Union.”

He continued:

The kind of economy that suits the Russian people is their own affair. The American people are glad and proud to be allied with the gallant people of Russia, not only in winning the war but in laying the foundation for the world peace which will follow – and in keeping that peace.

Raps Republicans

Mr. Roosevelt assailed Republicans for having distributed, under Congressional frank, more than three million copies of a speech made by Rep. Fred E. Busbey (R-IL) attacking the PAC.

Without mentioning Mr. Busbey or PAC, he called on his audience to examine the document which was mailed out by “one Senator and twelve Representatives – all of them Republicans… at the taxpayers’ expense.”

He said:

Well, this document says that the “red specter of Communism is stalking our country from East to West, from North to South” – the charge being that the Roosevelt administration is part of a gigantic plot to sell democracy out to the Communists.

‘Fear propaganda’

He called the document a “form of fear propaganda [which] is not new among rabble-rousers and fomenters of class hatred – who seek to destroy democracy itself.”

He said:

It was used by Mussolini’s Black Shirts and by Hitler’s Brown Shirts. It has been used before in this country by the Silver Shirts and others on the lunatic fringe.

The President ended his speech on that note, saying:

We must and we will continue to be united with our allies in a powerful world organization which is ready and able to keep the peace – if necessary, by force.

To provide that assurance of international security is the policy, the effort and the obligation of this administration.

Vote plea made

Although the broadcast from the White House was especially for Democratic Party workers, the President made an urgent plea to all qualified persons to register and vote, reminding that it is not only a right and duty but a sacred obligation.

Win or lose, Mr. Roosevelt said, he would prefer the outcome to be revealed in a flood tide of ballots rather than with more than half the electorate failing to vote as in 1920 or with one-third being remiss as in 1940.

Soldier vote discussed

Turning then to the political infighting he enjoys, Mr. Roosevelt implied that the Republicans had conspired to make it difficult or impossible for servicemen and women and other absentee voters to participate in this year’s election.

Mr. Roosevelt remarked that there are many undemocratic defects in our ordinary voting laws and made a powerful one-paragraph appeal for Negro support by declaring:

The right to vote must be open to our citizens irrespective of race, color or creed – without tax or artificial restriction of any kind. The sooner we get to that basis of political equality, the better it will be for the country as a whole.

War still to be won

He warned that the war is not yet won, but that German and Japanese resistance remains as “determined and fanatical as ever.”

He said:

We shall have to fight our way across the Rhine – we may have to fight every inch of the way to Berlin. But we Americans and our British and Russian and French and Polish allies – all the massed forces of the United Nations – will not stop short of our final goal.

But the controversial campaign subjects with which Mr. Roosevelt dealt in most detail were Communism and the Republican charge that the administration contemplates keeping men in the armed services until there are jobs for them outside.

Promising that servicemen “will come home and be returned to civilian life at the earliest possible moment consistent with our national safety,” the President accused Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, with use of “reckless words” in implying to the contrary.

2415

americavotes1944

Poll: Roosevelt and Dewey neck and neck in poll of civilians

President leads with 51 percent; service vote may determine result of election
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Gallup Poll has surveyed civilian opinion on the election only. The law prohibits a poll of the Armed Forces. In many states, especially Pennsylvania, thousands of servicemen will vote. The service vote, in a close election, may easily determine the final result. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that this is a civilian poll only.

As the presidential race enters the homestretch, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas E. Dewey are running virtually neck-and-neck in popular votes among civilians, with the President holding a slight advantage.

Latest returns in the Institute’s continuous nationwide polling show that, on the basis of an estimated turnout of 39,500,000 civilian voters in November, the present standing of the candidates is:
Roosevelt 51%
Dewey 49%

Translated into millions of votes, using 39,500,000 as a preliminary estimate of turnout, the above percentages, excluding minor parties, would give Mr. Roosevelt approximately 20,100,000 votes at this time, to 19,400,000 for Mr. Dewey – which would be one of the closest presidential elections in history.

Balloting in the survey began at the time Governor Dewey started his Western tour early in September, and continued up to the first part of this week.

**Most of the returns were in, however, before President Roosevelt’s address to the teamsters Union or Governor Dewey’s reply at Oklahoma City. Hence, today’s figure reflect only in party that colorful exchange of campaign blows between the two candidates.

Future reports based on balloting now in progress will show the full effect of the two speeches.

Today’s survey figures must be interpreted in the light of a three to four percent normal error to which all polling operations are subject. In any election race as close as this may be, the normal error in the poll means that either candidate could win, with the odds at the moment slightly in favor of Mr. Roosevelt.

A second factor to be taken into account is that the present poll results do not include any soldier votes.

The size of the vote in the Armed Forces cannot be estimated with any degree of reliability at this stage of the campaign, nor is the percentage division of political sentiment among the servicemen known.

The present Democratic figure of 51 percent means a net defection from Mr. Roosevelt of four percentage points since the 1940 election. At that time, he polled 55 percent against Wendell Willkie.

Other elections recalled

The trend of sentiment in the past three presidential elections follows:

Roosevelt Republicans
1932 59% 41%
1936 62.5% 37.5%
1940 55% 45%
TOTAL 51% 49%

The four-point defection since 1940 is not as large as the loss between 1936 and 1940, which was 7.5. But the vulnerability of the President’s position lies in the fact that defections since 1940 bring him perilously close to the 50-50 line.

In previous elections, it has usually been necessary for the Democratic candidate to poll around 52 percent of the popular vote in order to have enough electoral votes to win.

In 1940, for example, the Democrats would probably not have won in the Electoral College if they had polled the same percentage of popular votes as they have today – 51 percent.

But with present patterns of political sentiment and redistribution of electoral votes after the 1940 census, the Democrats can come much closer to the 50-50 line and still win.

2416

americavotes1944

Deals in Philly endanger Dewey

Machine’s concern is for city jobs
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

NOTE: Robert Taylor, Washington correspondent for the Press and an experienced observer of Pennsylvania politics, is on a trip through the state sounding out political sentiment. This is the second of the series he is writing.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania –
Philadelphia has a full-time, professional Republican political organization, able to muster 25,000 workers in elections, and its habit of making political “deals” may cost Governor Thomas E. Dewey a chance to get Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes.

“Dealing” in Philadelphia results from the fact that, despite a preponderance of Republicans in the city’s total registration of more than a million, the organization can’t hold voters in line to translate its registration strength into ballot majorities.

Accordingly, the GOP division leaders, seeking to hold the most important offices for the organization – the city offices controlling 20,000 political jobs – make bargains with the voters.

City jobs chief issue

The bargain runs something like this: “Vote for us for city offices and you can vote for whoever you want for President.” Or, “Vote for whoever you want for President, but go along with us for the other offices.”

There are indications that this year’s elections here are being held in the shadow of last year’s deals, when the Republicans, holding a majority of 226,000 in registrations, elected Mayor Bernard Samuel over Democrat William C. Bullitt by a majority of less than 65,000.

The Philadelphia Republican organization’s last line of defense against the New Deal is the city hall payroll and its firm policy is to hold on to that payroll at all costs, even if it means sacrificing party nominees for other jobs.

Made deal to win

Many voters and some division leaders last year were told that if they brought in their votes and districts for Mayor Samuel, they could have a free hand in voting for President. Republican leaders would have been satisfied with a 20,000-vote victory and were jubilant over their majority of nearly 65,000.

By contrast, in the 1942 election for Governor, when Republicans had registration majority of 204,000, Governor Martin carried the city by 157 votes – 317,962 for Mr. Martin to 317,805 for his Democratic opponent, F. Clair Ross.

Philadelphia gave President Roosevelt a majority of 209,876 in 1936, and a lead of 177,271 in 1940. Sample polls and other estimates of voting sentiment indicate that his majority this year will range upward from 140,000. These are based on the situation as of today.

The Gallup Poll’s estimate of 51 percent of Pennsylvania voters favoring President Roosevelt indicates that the largest part of Mr. Roosevelt’s majority will have to be obtained from Philadelphia, which, with Allegheny County, produced his 1940 state majority.

Thus, any large-scale releasing of voters, on the supposition that Pennsylvania is bound to go for President Roosevelt, can sacrifice Mr. Dewey’s chances to local political advantage.

Some Democratic district workers have reported that Republican organization workers now are asking voters to support Republican nominees for Congressional and legislative posts and offering, in return, not to complain if a registered Republican votes for Mr. Roosevelt.

Republican city leaders, however, maintain that the pressure is on in this election, and none of the 1,335 division leaders will be excused from his responsibility for carrying his district for every party nominee.

2417

I DARE SAY —
Al Smith is dead

By Florence Fisher Parry

…

2418

Socialite denies killing young farm boy-protégé

California matron also says no ‘improper relations’ existed between them

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2419

Rich and poor honor Al Smith

Body is taken to cathedral

…

2420

americavotes1944

Teamsters involved –
Navy promises to help probe hotel fight

Secretary’s aide meets probers

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2421

Gen. Merrill back in Asiatic theater

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2422

In Washington –
‘Vast things’ foreseen for future radio

FM and television possibilities cited

…

Rationing in offing?
Cigarette shortage expected to become even more acute

After demands of servicemen are met, leftovers go to civilians and allies

…

2423

americavotes1944

Predicts victory

Fairmont, West Virginia –
William S. Livengood Jr., Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Internal Affairs, told a Fairmont audience last night that he was “positive West Virginia will be in the Republican column in the election of Nov. 7” and that on the same day, Pennsylvania, his native state, “will go Republican by a 250,000 majority.”

2424

$14.5 million paid in Army relief

Servicemen and dependents aided

…

2425

Yanks closing on key city in Po Valley

Capture town 14 miles south of Bologna
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

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2426

Simms: Britain won’t let America fight war against Japan unaided

By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

…

Nazis pin hopes on fresh troops

Hitler hopes to hold out through winter
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

…

2427

americavotes1944

Yanks start voting

Sydney, Australia –
U.S. servicemen in Australia, voting in special booths established in their barracks, today began casting their ballots in the American presidential election.