America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

3306

U.S. Navy Department (October 26, 1944)

Communiqué No. 550

European Theater.
During the Allied operations for the liberation of Northern France, the following U.S. naval vessels were lost as the result of enemy action or the perils of the sea.

  • USS MIANTONOMAH (CM-10)
  • LSTs‑314, 376, 496, 499, 528 and 921
  • LCI(L)s‑85, 91, 92, 98, 219 and 232
  • YMSs‑301, 850 and 878
  • PT‑509

In addition to the above, a number of smaller landing craft were lost.

The next of kin of casualties have been informed.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 166

On October 24 (West Longitude Date), the enemy carrier task force which had been sighted in the Philippine Sea on the previous afternoon approaching from Japanese home waters was attacked by a concentration of aircraft, surface ships and submarines of the Pacific Fleet during the day and the following night. Despite their support by enemy aircraft from Luzon, the following damage was inflicted with no damage to our ships involved in this action:

One large carrier exploded and sunk; one large carrier was severely damaged by bombs and torpedoes and is believed to have sunk; one light carrier was definitely sunk; two battleships were probably sunk; two light cruisers were definitely sunk; and two battleships, three cruisers and a number of destroyers withdrew to the northward in a damaged condition.

On October 24, a carrier task group of the Third Fleet assisted units of the Seventh Fleet in striking a force of enemy battleships, cruisers and destroyers which had sortied through San Bernardino Strait and was attacking escort carriers of the Seventh Fleet off the Leyte Gulf. Fragmentary reports available indicate that in cooperation with the aircraft from the escort car­riers the following damage was inflicted on this enemy force

One heavy cruiser was seen to sink; four battleships were heavily damaged by bombs and left the scene at low speed trailing oil; one destroyer was left dead in the water.

About midnight October 24‑25, this enemy force withdrew through the San Bernardino Strait in a badly damaged condition. During the night, surface ships of the Pacific Fleet sank a cruiser of this enemy force. Pacific Fleet carrier aircraft on October 25 were continuing to attack this force during its retirement through the Sibuyan Sea.

This incomplete report will be amplified as further details become available.

CINCPAC Communiqué N0. 167

Two groups of 11th Air Force Liberators hit gun positions and installations on Onekotan Islands and Paramushiru Island in the Northern Kurils on October 23 (West Longitude Date). Another group of 11th Air Force Mitchells bombed buildings on Paramushiru the same day and was intercepted by five enemy fighters. No damage was done to our aircraft. On October 24, 11th Air Force Mitchells bombed and left burning a 6,000-ton cargo ship south of Paramushiru. Navy search Liberators and Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Four on the same day bombed Paramushiru, Matsuwa, and Shumushu. All our planes returned.

Four grounded enemy planes were destroyed by Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing which bombed and strafed the airfield at Yap Island on October 21. On October 22, 23, and 24 similar attacks were repeated. One of our planes was shot down on October 23 by intense anti-aircraft fire. Liberators of the 7th Air Force also bombed Yap on October 21, 22, 23 and 24, setting fires near the airfield and in Yap Town.

Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing bombed and strafed enemy-held positions in the Northern Palau Islands on October 22, 23, and 24, destroying trucks and barges and setting fuel tanks and storage areas ablaze.

Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands was bombed by a single Liberator of the 7th Air Force on October 22. On October 24, 7th Air Force Liberators hit Iwo Jima again with approximately 58 tons of bombs. Three enemy fighters intercepted our planes but no damage was done.

Pagan Island was bombed by 7th Air Force Liberators on October 22 and strafed by Thunderbolts on October 23 and 24. Rota Island was strafed by Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing on October 22, 23, and 24.

Anti-aircraft gun positions at Nauru were bombed by Mitchells of the 7th Air Force on October 22.

Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing dropped 36 tons of bombs on Jaluit on October 22. Other enemy-held positions in the Marshall Islands were hit by neutralization raids.

3307

The Pittsburgh Press (October 26, 1944)

Main Jap fleet defeat; 30 ships sunk or damaged

10 enemy battleships, three carriers included in toll off Philippines
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

…

3308

Yanks invade Samar Island from Leyte in Philippines

MacArthur: Enemy forces ‘disintegrating’ under U.S. blows below Tacloban
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer

…

3309

50,000 Nazis retreat before British drive

Germans flee along front in Holland
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer

…

3310

Survey at battlefront shows war in Europe may continue into 1945

United Press men make 400-mile tour of frontlines, find Germans still tough
By Hugh Baillie and Virgil Pinkley

…

3311

americavotes1944

$1,000 initiation fee –
Dewey charges Roosevelt is selling favors

Reads letter to prove ‘dishonesty’

Aboard Dewey campaign train (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, charging that President Roosevelt is willing to “sell” a voice in administration policies for contributions to his fourth-term campaign, promised today a Republican victory in November would bring an end to special privileges for any group in national affairs.

The Republican presidential candidate hurled the charge of privilege-selling in a campaign speech last night in which he accused the Roosevelt administration of dishonesty throughout its 12 years in office.

‘Boos’ for New Deal

The charge drew a chorus of resounding “boos” for the New Deal from the audience of some 30,000 which packed Chicago stadium. Following the address, the New York Governor headed back to Albany preparatory to spending the remaining time until Nov. 7 speaking in New York and New England. He will deliver a “farm speech” Saturday in Syracuse, New York.

The Syracuse address will be on KQV at 12:30 p.m. Saturday ET.

Governor Dewey based his charge of privilege-selling on a letter which he said was signed by two Arkansas Democratic leaders, soliciting members at $1000 each for a “one thousand club” and declared that the plan originated in the White House.

Democratic leaders in New York today denied that either President Roosevelt or the Democratic National Committee had anything to do with the “Thousand Club.” They added that instigators of the idea had already been criticized by party leaders.

He said the letter was dated Oct. 16, 1944, was written on the letterhead of the National Democratic Campaign Headquarters at Little Rock and was signed by “H. L. McAlister and Sam J. Watkins, state finance directors.”

Letter quoted

“The letter explains the idea behind this plan of my opponent,” Governor Dewey said, and he quoted:

Members of this organization undoubtedly will be granted special privileges and prestige by party members. These members will be called into conference from time to time to discuss matters of national importance and to assist in the formulation of administration policies.

“To be eligible for membership will require a contribution of $1000 to the National Democratic Campaign Fund."

‘Brazen business’ charged

Governor Dewey denounced the plan as “a brazen piece of business.”

In tracing origin of the plan to the White House, Governor Dewey quoted the letter as saying that it was conceived at a conference between President Roosevelt, Robert E. Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Edwin W. Pauley, treasurer of the committee, and attributed to Mr. Roosevelt these words:

“I think it would be good idea to have a list of one thousand persons banded together from all over the United States to act as a liaison to see that facts relating to the public interest are presented factually to the President and members of Congress.”

Shakedowns charged

Governor Dewey went on to promise that “in the new administration that takes office next Jan. 20, there will be no special privilege for sale to any one at any price.”

Governor Dewey charged that the Roosevelt administration began “by casting aside the platform it adopted in this city 12 years ago.”

He said:

It went on to exploit for its own political ends the plight of millions of American men and women for whom in peacetime it never succeeded in providing jobs.

Men and women on WPA and on relief were shaken down for political contributions to the New Deal.

‘Subterfuge’ alleged

Governor Dewey charged, too, that President Roosevelt resorted to “subterfuge” to accomplish things which he “did not dare to do directly.” He recalled, too, that when President Roosevelt ran for a third term, he declared that “when that term is over there will be another President.”

Shouts from the crowd promised “there will be.”

Dewey gaining, writers believe

Washington (UP) –
Twenty-nine of 50 Washington correspondents polled believe President Roosevelt will be reelected as compared with 33 last August, Newsweek Magazine reported today.

In its “Periscope Preview” the magazine said Governor Thomas E. Dewey had “improved his position” since the last preview, Aug. 14.

Newsweek said:

Then the writers divided 2–1 in predicting FDR’s reelection. This time the division is only 4–3 in Mr. Roosevelt’s favor.

Popular desire for a change and CIO leftist support of the President were the principal reasons given by those predicting Dewey’s election.

3312

americavotes1944

Cities clamor for Roosevelt

But his campaign plans are fluid

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt’s final campaign plans are as fluid as a drink of water and your guess is as good as that of the best-informed Washington politico about where and when he will make additional speeches.

The Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston engagements are officially fixed for tomorrow, Saturday and Nov. 4.

Detroit Democrats report that they are pressing for an appearance there. Cleveland party men have tentative but hopeful reservations on the Municipal Stadium in that city for Nov. 1 and 2.

That’s the way it is less than 24 hours before Mr. Roosevelt leaves for Philadelphia with way stops in Wilmington, Delaware; Camden, New Jersey, and Germantown, Pennsylvania.

The question before the house – the White House – probably is this: Whether it would be good politics to make a consecutive series of three or four speeches or better politics to make a couple in Philadelphia and Chicago and then to return home before a second western sortie to Cleveland or Detroit.

3313

U.S. casualties reach 472,779

Washington (UP) –
Officially announced U.S. combat casualties in this war reached 472,779 today.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said Army casualties through Oct. 14 totaled 403,074. As of today, Navy casualties, including the Marine Corps and Coast Guard, totaled 69,705.

The casualty figures include:

Army Navy
Dead 78,522 27,831
Wounded 220,529 27,857
Missing 51,009 9,537
Prisoners 53,014 4,480
TOTAL 403,074 69,705

Of the Army wounded, Mr. Stimson said 103,504 had been returned to duty.

He also reported that Army ground forces casualties in Italy to Oct. 16 totaled 91,063. Of these, 16,978 were killed, 62,184 wounded and 11,901 missing.

3314

Army to guarantee safety for ‘last surviving sons’

Relief from combat or discharge ordered if two or more in family have given lives

…

americavotes1944

Stimson silent on Presidency

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson today declined to take a stand in the presidential contest on the grounds the Army should be “absolutely free from any suspicion” of political influence.

Mr. Stimson, a Republican, told his press conference he saw no reason to change his policy of refraining from disclosing how he would vote.

3315

I DARE SAY —
Where charity begins

By Florence Fisher Parry

…

3316

1,200 U.S. planes hit Ruhr targets

London, England (UP) –
More than 1,200 U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators, escorted by 650 Mustang and Thunderbolt fighters, assailed industrial targets at Bielefeld, Münster and Hannover today, blasting new gaps in the Ruhr industrial area which lies on the direct route between the northern end of the Western Front and Berlin.

3317

americavotes1944

More worries for New Deal –
Perkins: Two labor agencies draw fire of Roosevelt backers

‘Wishy-washy’ action of WLB on wage issue and NLRB ‘favoritism’ both assailed
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Washington –
Two federal labor agencies are under outspoken criticism today from union leaders, some of whom are in the front of the fourth-term drive for President Roosevelt.

The War Labor Board is in the line of fire because of the amount of time taken by its public members in completing a report of the relationship between prices and wages – leading up to a decision by President Roosevelt on whether the Little Steel wage formula should be broken.

The National Labor Relations Board is criticized by American Federation of Labor spokesmen for a decision announced Tuesday which apparently ignored precedents and favored the CIO in the question of how employees of the merged Western Union and Postal Telegraph systems should be organized.

Roosevelt ‘on spot’

The WLB’s partial report on the wage-price situation, already hit by the CIO, was described by George Meany, secretary-treasurer of the AFL, as “wishy-washy, lacking any recommendations whatever, put up in such a way that the President will be able to find support in it for anything he wants to do – whether to turn down the wage demand or change the formula in any one of several different ways.”

And who put the President on the spot in this matter? It was the War Labor Board, with the labor members dissenting. It was the Board’s plain duty to make some kind of a recommendation, either for or against. Instead, and after more than 10 months of involved procedure, the public members plan to do something that could be accomplished just as well by one of the panel reports already available.

Complain of delays

Chairman William H. Davis of WLB admitted that his qualified plans to get the wage case out of his agency and to the White House by Nov. 1 had been abandoned.

R. J. Thomas, president of the CIO United Auto Workers and like Mr. Meany a labor member of WLB, showed disappointment at the way things were going, and it was learned that Mr. Davis had received two telegrams from Philip Murray, president of the CIO, complaining in vigorous language against the Board’s delays.

The Murray telegrams were of such a nature that Mr. Davis declined to make them public. And it was learned that after the telegrams were dispatched CIO leaders telephoned Mr. Davis, asking that the messages not be given to the press.

Political maneuver?

This latter procedure was regarded as part of the political maneuverings in the wage case.

The CIO leaders worked strenuously until a week ago to get the wage case on the President’s desk in time for a decision before election, but they are reported to have been advised that these activities were likely to cost Mr. Roosevelt votes.

Criticism of the NLRB’s decision in the Western Union case was augmented by Mr. Meany and Joseph A. Padway, counsel for the AFL. The latter alleged “undue CIO influence in the National Labor Relations Board,” resulting in a decision favoring the CIO on the same set of facts that had previously produced a different decision.

3318

Chrysler fires 2 and suspends 15

Union men accused on riot charges

…

3319

americavotes1944

Truman denies ever being Klan member

Report called ‘lie out of whole cloth’

Peoria, Illinois –
Senator Harry S. Truman, Democratic vice-presidential nominee, today described as “a lie out of the whole cloth” a charge that he was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.

At a news conference shortly after his arrival here, Mr. Truman was told by a reporter for The Chicago Herald-American that there was a report that he was once a member of the Klan.

“I am not a member of the Klan and never was,” he said.

‘Helped beat’ him

The reporter asked Mr. Truman if he knew a man named Harry Hoffman, and Mr. Truman replied that he knew the man and that he “helped beat” him when Hoffman was a candidate for Jackson County (Missouri) marshal in 1922.

The reporter then said Hoffman had signed an affidavit that as Grand Kleagle of the Klan he had sworn Mr. Truman in as a member in 1922.

“That’s a lie out of the whole cloth,” Mr. Truman said. He said the report “started in the campaign of 1922 and was nailed as a lie then.”

Candidate for judge

Mr. Truman said he was a candidate then for county judge in the Eastern District of Jackson County.

In Kansas City, Missouri, Lee M. Allen, one-time Klan Cyclops, charged that Mr. Truman joined the Klan in 1922 and spoke at a big rally of the organization. He alleged that Mr. Truman’s initiation fee check “bounced” and said another member paid it for him.

“He didn’t stay in the organization long – dropped out a short time after the election as I recall it.”

3320

americavotes1944

Roosevelt policies praised by Hull

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, in a statement praising President Roosevelt’s leadership in foreign affairs, said today that he was a statesman “equipped by nature and by experience” as few statesmen have been equipped in the nation’s history.

The statement did not mention directly the forthcoming presidential election, but it was obviously an endorsement of Mr. Roosevelt’s bid for a fourth term.

The statement was issued through the State Department. Mr. Hull is in the Naval Hospital at nearby Bethesda, Maryland, for a physical checkup following a cold which kept him home more than two weeks.

Mr. Hull’s statement reviewed the foreign policy steps taken by the President in the last four years and emphasized the importance of international problems now confronting the United States and the world.

3321

British troops gaining along Bologna front

Ferni is menaced by new advance

…

Full recognition given to Italy

Kirk to be named U.S. Ambassador

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3322

Stiffer Jap resistance predicted by Stimson

Secretary of War says enemy is tough and long and bitter fight is expected

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3323

Jap airplane factories hit in B-29 raid

Damage is admitted in Tokyo broadcast

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Navy praised by Roosevelt

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3324

Ernie Pyle gets doctor’s degree

Albuquerque, New Mexico (UP) –
The servicemen’s “representative to the folks back home” – war correspondent Ernie Pyle – was awarded an honorary degree of doctor of letters at the University of New Mexico’s fall commencement exercises yesterday.

Pyle, recently returned from Europe, was presented for the degree by Dean George Hammond of the university’s graduate school, who said:

Peoples of the United States – in fact, the whole world – have come to know Ernie Pyle as a roving reporter during the present World War, writer of keen observation, tireless energy and a faithful and sympathetic nature.

He followed the soldiers around, wherever they were and, in his writings, became their representative to the folks back home.

The veteran Scripps-Howard correspondent received the degree with his usual modesty. He had said in advance of the ceremony that he didn’t think he deserved to be awarded the honorary degree.

3325

Gracie Allen Reporting

By Gracie Allen

Hollywood, California –
Goodness, I wish those radio commentators would be a little more careful about their pronunciations.

Our cook was upset enough when Crosby stayed in England so long, but last night she really had a fit. She heard a commentator say that the British were going to take Sinatra. It wasn’t until this morning that George explained that it wasn’t Sinatra but an island called Sumatra.

It’s a blessing the Allies chased the Nazis out of France so quickly too. The only French town most commentators could pronounce was Paris. And heaven help them now that they’ve got to pronounce cities like Düsseldorf, Kassel, Kissen and Essen. That will really make them sound like they’ve got upper-plate wobble.