Ein furchtbares Erwachen in Belgien und Finnland –
Anglo-amerikanische Hilfe: 20 Gramm Nahrung pro Kopf
…
Ein furchtbares Erwachen in Belgien und Finnland –
Die Anglo-Amerikaner stehen den Bolschewisten nicht nach –
Neu aufgedeckte Bestialitäten in Ostpreußen
…
Führer HQ (October 29, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
In Holland Wurde in unserem Brückenkopf westlich Breskens der Feind aus einer Einbruchsstelle geworfen. Auf Südbeveland stehen unsere Truppen weiter in hartem Kampf gegen den von Süden und Osten verstärkt angreifenden Feind. Zwischen Bergen-op-Zoom und Herzogenbusch setzten Kanadier, Engländer und Amerikaner ihre Großangriffe fort. Trotz hartnäckigsten Widerstandes konnten unsere Truppen gegenüber den überlegenen feindlichen Kräften, die in diesen Kämpfen hohe Ausfälle erlitten, Einbrüche nicht verhindern. Gegenangriffe sind angesetzt. In Bergen-op-Zoom und mehreren anderen Orten sind heftige Straßenkämpfe entbrannt. Bei örtlichen Kämpfen südöstlich Helmond wurden mehrere feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen, 18 Panzer und -2 Panzerspähwagen abgeschossen.
Schnelle Kampf- und Nachtschlachtflugzeuge griffen in der vergangenen Nacht einen feindlichen Nachschubstützpunkt bei Aachen mit guter Wirkung an. In den Westvogesen führten die Nordamerikaner in den Wäldern zwischen Mortagne und Meurthe westlich Saint-Dié starke Angriffe nach Norden und Südosten. Durch unsere Gegenangriffe wurden sie in der Flanke gefasst, bevor sie freies Gelände gewinnen konnten.
London wurde erneut durch unsere „V1“ beschossen.
In Mittelitalien fanden auch gestern keine größeren Kampfhandlungen statt. Bei zahlreichen Stoßtruppunternehmen wurden dem Feind hohe Verluste beigebracht. Überraschende Säuberungsunternehmen unserer Sicherungsverbände fügten den Bänden in Oberitalien schwere Schläge zu. Sie verloren über 3.660 Tote und 8.200 Gefangene und die Masse ihrer schweren Waffen. Ihre Waldlager und Schlupfwinkel wurden zerstört.
Auf dem Balkan wurde der Raum von Larissa befehlsgemäß nach Norden geräumt. Der Druck der Bulgaren auf unsere Stellungen zwischen dem Strumicatal und dem Gebiet westlich Nisch dauert an. Zahlreiche feindliche Angriffe im westlichen Moravatal wurden zerschlagen.
Zwischen Donau und Theiß verbesserten ungarische Truppen im Angriff ihre Stellungen. An den Theißbrückenköpfen nordöstlich SzoInok kam es zu örtlichen Kämpfen. Nördlich und nordwestlich Debrecen schlugen unsere Divisionen starke Angriffe der Bolschewisten ab und fügten den Angreifern hohe Verluste zu. Bei Ungvár versuchte der Feind weiter nach Westen vorzudringen. Durch Gegenangriffe deutscher und ungarischer Truppen wurde er geworfen.
Im ostpreußischen Grenzgebiet hat der Feind auf Grund seiner in den bisherigen Kämpfen erlittenen schweren Verluste den Großangriff zunächst eingestellt. Lediglich südöstlich Gumbinnen griffen die Bolschewisten mit stärkeren Kräften vergeblich an. Im Nordabschnitt geht der Großkampf südöstlich Libau und bei Autz mit verstärkter Wucht weiter. Unsere hervorragend kämpfenden Truppen vereitelten alle Durchbruchsversuche des Feindes. In den ersten beiden Tagen der Schlacht in Kurland wurden 141 Flugzeuge abgeschossen. Damit verloren die Sowjets in den letzten 48 Stunden an der gesamten Ostfront 183 Flugzeuge.
Anglo-amerikanische Terrorflieger griffen Köln, Münster und Hamm an. In der vergangenen Nacht warfen einzelne feindliche Flugzeuge Bomben auf Köln und München. Feindliche Tiefflieger setzten ihre Angriffe gegen die Zivilbevölkerung in West- und Südwestdeutschland fort. 16 feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter 10 viermotorige Bomber, wurden abgeschossen.
In den heftigen Kämpfen im südlichen Ungarn haben sich das Feldersatzbataillon 94 unter Führung von Major Kresse, das III. Bataillon des Gebirgsjägerregiments 91 unter Führung von Hauptmann Überschaar und die III. Abteilung der Sturmgeschützbrigade 239 unter Führung von Oberleutnant Kettel besonders ausgezeichnet.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (October 29, 1944)
FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
291100A 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. 204
In Zuid Beveland, the Allied bridgehead over the Beveland Canal has been extended. Fighters and fighter-bombers bombed and strafed gun positions and troops near Kapelle and supported our ground operations on the peninsula. South of the Scheldt, we have reached the outskirts of Zuidzande. Near Cadzand, our fighter-bombers hit gun positions and fortified buildings housing enemy troops. Escorted heavy bombers attacked gun emplacements on the island of Walcheren. Two bombers are missing. Fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters went for similar targets on the island.
On the east of the Dutch salient, our forces repulsed counterattacks north and west of Meijel. The enemy’s communication system in Holland and the Rhineland was under air attack throughout the day. Medium and light bombers hit the rail bridge over the Ijssel River at Deventer, a bridge carrying the road and railway over the Meuse River at Venlo, and destroyed the central span of a road bridge over the river at Roermond.
From Aachen to the Forêt de Parroy, there were no important changes. Our patrols were active in the Aachen and Monschau areas. Fighter-bombers in strength attacked railways and bridges in the Rhineland from Wesel in the north to Karlsruhe in the south. Over 40 locomotives and a large number of rail trucks were destroyed or damaged and rail tracks west of the Rhine were cut in some 60 places. Medium and light bombers struck at railway bridges at Ahrweiler and Sinzig. One light bomber is missing. During the day, fighter-bombers shot down 13 enemy aircraft.
Köln was attacked in daylight by a strong force of heavy bombers escorted by fighters. Heavy-caliber German artillery shelled the city of Luxembourg early yesterday. Sporadic artillery and small arms fire were encountered by our units in the Moselle River Valley. In the Épinal sector, we made limited gains east of Bruyères. The village of Jussarupt was taken against strong opposition. Enemy artillery fire was strong at several points in this area and also in the Vosges Mountains.
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/U.S. Navy Department (October 29, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 168
Amplifying reports on the second battle of the Philippine Sea, although still subject to revision as more information is received, indicate an overwhelming victory for the Third and Seventh United States Fleets. The Japanese fleet has been decisively defeated and routed. The Second Battle of the Philippine Sea ranks as one of the major sea battles of World War II in the Pacific – together with the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4‑8, 1942), the Battle of Midway (June 3‑6, 1942), the Battle of Guadalcanal (November 12‑15, 1942) and the First Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19, 1944).
Movements of major Japanese fleet units northward from the Singapore area were detected on October 21 and 22 (West Longitude Date). Submarine scouts sighted the enemy force, sank two ATAGO-class heavy cruisers and severely damaged a third. Ships of the Third Fleet were moved into position to the eastward of the Philippines off Surigao Strait, San Bernardino Strait, and the Polillo Islands. On October 23, carrier searches discovered two strong enemy naval forces moving eastward, one through the Sibuyan Sea and the other through the Sulu Sea.
Photographs by carrier aircraft showed that the force moving eastward through the Sibuyan Sea included five battleships, thought to be the YAMATO, MUSASHI, NAGATO, KONGO and HARUNA; eight cruisers, two MOGAMI, two TONE, two NACHI, one ATAGO, one NOSHIRO; and 13 destroyers. The force moving eastward through the Sulu Sea consisted of two battleships of the YAMASHIRO class, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and seven or eight destroyers.
As soon as the presence of the two enemy fleet forces in the Philippine Islands was discovered on October 23, Hellcat fighters, Avenger torpedo planes and Helldiver dive bombers from the Third Fleet carriers were launched to attack both forces. In the Sibuyan Sea, one battleship and one cruiser were severely damaged and set afire and may have sunk. Three other battleships received bombs and torpedoes; three other heavy cruisers received bombs and torpedoes; and one light cruiser was torpedoed, capsized and sank. In the Sulu Sea, bomb hits were made on both battleships. Cruisers and destroyers were strafed with rockets and machine guns.
Meanwhile, to the eastward of the Philippines, enemy shore‑based aircraft were attacking our carriers. In the aerial battle that ensued, more than 150 enemy aircraft were shot down. Our losses, on which exact figures are not yet available, were light. In this attack, the carrier PRINCETON was hit by a bomb which caused a bad fire. Later the PRINCETON’s magazine blew up and the ship was so badly damaged that she had to be sunk by our own forces.
Also on the afternoon of October 23, a land‑based Navy search plane discovered the presence of an enemy carrier force approximately 200 miles off Cape Engaño of Northern Luzon, heading south. This force consisted of 17 warships including a large carrier, believed to be of the ZUIKAKU class; three light carriers of the CHITOSE and ZUIHŌ classes; two battleships of the ISE class with fight decks aft; a heavy cruiser of the MOGAMI class; a light cruiser of the NOSHIRO class; three cruisers of the KISO class; and six destroyers.
To meet this serious threat, the C3F concentrated several of his carrier task groups and started northward at high speed for a dawn attack.
These units of the Third Fleet steamed north at full speed through the night and caught the enemy so completely by surprise on the morning of October 24 that there was no effective air opposition. Later in the forenoon enemy carrier aircraft which had been refueled ashore in the Philippines flew out to join their ships which had already met disaster. The enemy planes arrived too late to get into the fight and 21 were shot down by our combat patrols. In this action, the following destruction was inflicted upon the enemy:
SUNK:
One carrier of the ZUIKAKU class, sunk by carrier aircraft. One light carrier of the ZUIHŌ class, crippled by carrier aircraft and later sunk by the gunfire of cruisers and destroyers. Two light carriers of the CHITOSE class, sunk by carrier aircraft. One light cruiser or large destroyer sunk by gunfire. One destroyer sunk by carrier aircraft. One cruiser was severely damaged by carrier aircraft and was sunk during the night by a submarine.
DAMAGED:
One battleship hit by 2‑4 torpedoes and many bombs. One battleship hit by bombs. Three cruisers damaged by bombs and gunfire. Four destroyers bombed, strafed or hit by gunfire.
None of the Third Fleet ships engaged with the enemy carrier force were damaged. The Third Fleet in this phase of the action lost 10 planes, eight pilots and 10 aircrewmen, all shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Before all the damaged enemy ships could be tracked down and destroyed the engagement was broken off to proceed to the assistance of Seventh Fleet carrier escort groups then under attack off Samar Island.
The enemy force of battleships, cruisers and destroyers which had been attacked in the Sibuyan Sea had sortied through the San Bernardino Strait in spite of damage inflicted by our carrier aircraft, and had attacked units of the Seventh Fleet off Samar Island during the morning of October 24. In the ensuing battle, most of the enemy’s heavy ships were badly damaged by Seventh Fleet units assisted by carrier aircraft from the Third Fleet. One cruiser of the MOGAMI class was seen to sink and one destroyer was left dead in the water. The enemy force ran northwest from the scene of the action and during the early hours of darkness passed westward through the San Bernardino Strait. About 2:00 a.m., a straggling cruiser was sunk by gunfire of the Third Fleet.
Meanwhile the southern enemy force had crossed the Sulu Sea, the Mindanao Sea, had attempted to pass through the Surigao Strait, and met the Seventh Fleet in a night action October 24‑25. As announced by CINCSWPA, all units of this enemy force were sunk or decisively defeated.
On October 25, carrier aircraft of the Third Fleet were launched against the crippled and damaged enemy fleeing westward through the Sibuyan Sea. Damage done to the enemy during the retirement of the enemy forces from San Bernardino Strait by the combined efforts of the Third and Seventh Fleets and shore‑based aircraft of the Southwest Pacific Area included one MOGAMI-class cruiser sunk off Mindoro Island, one NOSHIRO-class cruiser sunk south of Mindoro Island, one battleship possibly sunk, and three other battleships and three other cruisers further damaged.
The total damage inflicted on the Japanese fleet during the period October 22‑27, 1844, included:
SUNK:
- Two battleships
- Four carriers
- Six heavy cruisers
- Three light cruisers
- Three small cruisers or large destroyers
- Six destroyers
SEVERELY DAMAGED AND MAY HAVE SUNK:
- One battleship
- Three heavy cruisers
- Two light cruisers
- Seven destroyers
ESCAPED IN A DAMAGED CONDITION:
- Six battleships
- Four heavy cruisers
- One light cruiser
- Ten destroyers
During the same actions, the losses sustained by U.S. naval forces were one light carrier (PRINCETON), two escort carriers, two destroyers, one destroyer escort and a few lesser craft.
The following battleships seriously damaged at Pearl Harbor took part in these actions: WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, TENNESSEE, CALIFORNIA, and PENNSYLVANIA. The new carriers LEXINGTON, WASP and HORNET also participated.
In all these actions, U.S. submarines played a highly important part and are credited with sinking and damaging several enemy warships – both before and after the air and sea battles on October 23, 24 and 25.
Much of the credit for the destruction inflicted on the Japanese fleet goes to the naval airmen who gallantly and relentlessly pressed their attacks home with telling effect.
Remarks by President Roosevelt
October 29, 1944
Delivered at Clarksburg, West Virginia
My friends:
This being Sunday, the Governor, cooperating with me in keeping politics out of it, says that he is not even going to introduce me.
I have been here before, and it is a great comfort to come on a Sunday in a campaign year, because on Sundays my life is made much more comfortable by not having to think about politics. Unfortunately, I do have to think about the war, because every day, including Sundays, dispatches come to me, on the train even, to tell me of the progress of our boys in Europe and in the Pacific and in the Philippines. I cannot get rid of that.
Coming up through the state today, I have been looking out of the window, and I think there is a subject that is a good subject for Sunday, because I remember the line in the poem, “Only God can make a tree.” And one of the things that people have to realize all over the United States, and I think especially in West Virginia – I don’t see the trees I ought to see. That is something that we in this country have fallen down on. We have been using up natural resources that we ought to have replaced. I know we can’t replace coal – it will be a long time before all the coal is gone – but trees constitute something that we can replace.
We have to think not just of an annual crop, not just something that we can eat the next year. We have to think of a longer crop, something that takes years to grow, but which in the long run is going to do more good for our children and for our grandchildren than if we leave the hills bare.
I remember a story, and it is taken out of Germany. There was a town there – I don’t know what has happened in the last twenty years – but this is back when I used to be in grade school in Germany – and I used to bicycle. And we came to a town, and outside of it there was a great forest. And the interesting thing to me, as a boy even, was that the people in that town didn’t have to pay taxes. They were supported by their own forest.
Way back in the time of Louis something of France – the French king was approaching this town with a large army. And the prince of the time asked the townspeople to come out to defend their principality, and he promised them that if they would keep the invader out of the town, out of the principality, he would give them the forest.
The burghers turned out. They repulsed the French king. And very soon the prince made good. He gave the forest to the town. And for over two hundred years that town in Germany had to pay no taxes. Everybody made money, because they had no taxes. In other words, it was a forest on an annual-yield basis. They cut down perhaps seventy percent of what they could get out of that year’s mature crop. And every year they planted new trees. And every year the proceeds from that forest paid the equivalent of taxes.
Now that is true more and more in this country. There are more and more municipalities that are reforesting their watersheds, putting trees on the top of their hills, preventing the erosion of soil. They are not on a self-sustaining basis because it has only been started within the last ten or fifteen years. And yet while only God can make a tree, we have to do a little bit to help ourselves.
I think that all of us sort of look at our lives in terms of ourselves, and yet your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, your great-great-grandchildren – some of them will be living right around here, right around where the population is today. Perhaps the old house – perhaps a better, new house. And more and more we are going to think about those grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It doesn’t amount to very much, this cost of planting trees, and yet the hillsides of West Virginia of our grandparents’ day were much more wonderful than they are now. It’s largely a deforested state. And I believe that from the point of view of the beauties of nature, from the point of view of all that trees can be, and from the point of view of your own grandchildren’s pocketbooks, the small number of cents, the small number of dollars that go into reforestation are going to come back a thousandfold.
Up where I live, in the country on the Hudson River, my family had – when I was a boy – five or six hundred acres. It wasn’t valuable land. And my own father, in the old days, would go in every year and cut the family needs in the way of timber.
When I was a small boy, I realized that there was waste going on; and when I went to the State Senate as a young man, somebody appointed me to the Conservation Committee. Some parts of Upstate New York were being eroded, a lot of topsoil was running away, we were getting more floods than we had ever had in the old days.
And just as an experiment, I started planting a few acres each year on rundown land. I tried to pasture some skinny cows on it. And at the same time, I went into the old woods and cleaned out no-account trees, trees that were under grown or would never amount to anything, crooked trees, rotten trees.
Well, the answer was this. When the last war came on, the old woods had some perfectly splendid trees, because I had cleaned them out, cleaned out the poor stuff.
And during that war, I made $4,000, just by cutting out the mature trees. And I kept on every year. And in the winter time, when the men weren’t doing much, they cleaned them out. And the trees grew.
And a quarter of a century later, there came this war. I think I cooperated with the Almighty, because I think trees were made to grow. Oh yes, they are useful as mine timbers. I know that. But there are a lot of places in this state where there isn’t any mine timber being cut out.
And in this war, back home, I cut last year – and this is not very Christian – over $4,000 worth net of oak trees, to make into submarine chasers and landing craft and other implements of war. And I am doing it again this year.
And I hope that this use of wood is growing, for all kinds of modern inventions, plastics, and so forth. I hope that when I am able to cut some more trees, twenty or twenty-five years from now – it may not be I, it may be one of the boys – we will be able to use them at a profit, not for building mine chasers or landing craft, but for turning them into some humane use.
And I believe that in this country – not in this state only, but in a great many more – we in the next few years, when peace comes, will be able to devote more thought to making our country more useful – every acre of it.
I remember eight years ago, out in the West, we knew that there were great floods and a dry belt in there. We knew, also, that trees bring water and avoid floods. And so, we started one of those “crackpot” things, for which I have been criticized, a thing called the shelter belt, to keep the high winds away, to hold the moisture in the soil. And the result is that a great success has been made of that shelter belt. Not much ran downhill and the farmers are getting more crops and better crops out there on the prairies in the lea of these rows of trees.
Forestry pays from the practical point of view. I have proved that. And so, I hope to live long enough to see West Virginia with more trees in it. I hope to live to see the day when this generation will be thinking not just of themselves but also of the children and the grandchildren.
I had a happy day this morning in looking out at this wonderful scenery, but I couldn’t take my eyes off those bare hilltops. I couldn’t take my thoughts off the fact that this generation, and especially the previous generation, have been thinking of themselves and not of the future.
Someday I hope to come back, and I hope to see a great forestry program for the whole of the state. Nearly all of it needs it. I hope to come back and be able to say:
I stopped, once upon a time, in Clarksburg, on a Sunday morning, and just avoided politics and talked to the people in Clarksburg, and they must have heard me all over the state, because they started planting trees.
And so, I think my Sunday sermon is just about over. It has been good to see you, and I really do hope that I will come back here, one of these days soon.
Thanks.
The Pittsburgh Press (October 29, 1944)
JAP WARSHIP LOSSES RISE TO 48
Entire force of 4 carriers is wiped out
Scope of American victory widens
By Mac R. Johnson, United Press staff writer
…
Yanks advance to Luzon Strait
Americans reach last water barrier to main island of Philippines
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer
…
Bong bags No. 31 in first 5 hours in Philippines
Sharpshooting flier now leading ace
…
Escape route shelled –
8 Nazi divisions face entrapment
German flank broken in the Netherlands
By James F. McGlincy, United Press staff writer
…
110,000 attend Chicago rally –
Roosevelt advocates reduced taxes, hits his imitators in GOP
New Deal actions to aid U.S. businessmen, farmers and workers cited and extolled
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
Chicago, Illinois – (Oct. 28)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in one of the most spectacular appearances of his political career, before a crowd of 110,000 in Soldier Field tonight heaped sarcastic scorn upon his Republican opponents for attempting to embrace New Deal policies and made a strong bid for business support by advocating reduced taxes to help private enterprise provide 60 million post-war jobs.
House before the President arrived at the huge arena, long lines of Chicagoans pushed and shoved their way into the massive stands which were swept by a cold wind.
Tonight’s crowd was probably the largest ever addressed in person by Mr. Roosevelt, rivaled only by his 1936 crowd in the Hollywood Bowl in California.
Lists post-war plans
The President made a sweeping review of what the administration had done since 1933 to aid the workers, the farmers and the businessmen of the nation. Then he listed a number of things he wants done after the war to keep our economy up to present levels or higher.
-
“I propose that the government do its part in helping private enterprise to finance expansion of our private industrial plant through normal investment channels.”
-
Encourage large and small plant expansion and replacement of obsolete equipment by acceleration of the rate of depreciation for tax purposes on the new plants and facilities built in the war.
-
“An adequate program” to assure “full realization of the right to a useful and remunerative employment” must “provide America with close to 60 million productive jobs.”
-
Continuance of local, low-cost housing authorities.
-
Congressional creation of the Fair Employment Practice Committee as a permanent agency of the government.
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A “genuine” crop insurance program for farmers.
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The lifting of wage, production, and price controls and soon as possible.
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“Every facility” for small business in the purchase of government owned plants and inventories.
Opens with sarcasm
The President opened up with a sarcastic, scornful mimicry of Republican charges against his administration, saying that while he had “a certain amount of previous experience in political campaigning,” this was “the strangest campaign I have ever seen.”
He said various Republican orators were saying in effect that “those incompetent bunglers in Washington have passed a lot of excellent laws about social security and labor and farm relief and soil conservation” and if elected the Republicans promise “not to change any of them.”
He threw back at Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate. without mentioning his name, Mr. Dewey’s oft-repeated phrase “it is time for a change,” by saying that he would give the Republican campaign orators some more opportunities to say “me too.”
‘Cater to isolationists’
The President said of Republican orators:
They also say in effect: “Those inefficient and worn-out crackpots have really begun to lay the foundations of a lasting world peace. If you elect us, we will not change any of that either.”
“But,” they whisper, “‘we’ll do it in such a way that we won’t lose the support even of Gerald Nye or Gerald Smith – and this is very important – we won’t lose the support of any isolationist campaign contributor. We will even be able to satisfy the Chicago Tribune.”
Mr. Roosevelt based his discussion of the United States of the future on his “economic bill of rights” taking this from his State of the Union Message to Congress last January when he set forth an eight-point plan for economic security and freedom.
60 million jobs
After the war, he said, “an adequate program” to assure “full realization of the right to a useful and remunerative employment” must provide this country with close to 60 million “productive jobs.”
He foresaw a vast expansion of our peacetime productive capacity, proposing that “the government do its part in helping private enterprises to finance expansion of our private industrial plant through normal investment channels.”
As an example of what he had in mind, the President said large and small business “must be encouraged by the government to expand their plants and to replace their obsolete or worn-out equipment with new equipment.”
Future foreign trade
He said:
And to that end, the rate of depreciation on these new plants and facilities for tax purposes should be accelerated.
The President then turned to future foreign trade, saying “never again must we in the United States attempt to isolate ourselves from the rest of humanity.”
He added:
I am confident that, with Congressional approval, the foreign trade of the United States can be trebled after the war – providing millions of more jobs.
Such cooperative measures provide the soundest economic foundation for a lasting peace, and, after this war, we do not intend to settle for anything less than lasting peace.
Bids for labor support
Mr. Roosevelt made a forthright bid for labor and farm support in this, his first major appearance in the Midwest during his fourth-term campaign, demanding that America remain “the land of high wages and efficient production.”
“Every full-time job in America must provide enough for a decent living,” he said, promising an end after the war to wage and salary restrictions.
After the war we shall, of course. remove the control of wages and leave their determination to free collective bargaining between trade unions and employers.”
Saying that it was “common sense to see to it that the working man is paid enough, and that the farmers earn enough,” the President struck at the Republican administrations preceding his first term.
Hits ‘moguls of 1929’
He said:
Certainly, the American farmer does not want to go back to a government owned by the moguls of 1929 – and let us bear it constantly in mind that those same moguls still control the destinies of the Republican Party.
Promising continuance of the policy to help as many farmers as possible to own their own farms, the President said this meant something to the veterans who left their farms to fight.
He said:
This time they can grow apples on their own farms instead of having to sell apples on street corners.
Mr. Roosevelt said the war proved that the American businessman, worker and farmer could work together as “an unbeatable team.”
We know that – our allies know that – and so do our enemies.
That winning team must be kept together after the war and it will win many more historic victories of peace for our country, and for the cause of security and decent standards of living throughout the world.
Speaks at Fort Wayne
At Fort Wayne, Indiana, the President accused the Republicans of continuing campaign “misrepresentations,” and told a railroad station audience that between now and Election Day he will press his policy of citing them.
The President’s train made a five-miles-an-hour run through Lima, Ohio, where a sizable crowd gathered along the railroad tracks to wave at him as he passed through.
‘Don’t seem to like it’
In a rear platform appearance at Fort Wayne, the President piled more scorn on the Republicans, saying he had heard “some rather irritated comment by Republican campaign orators about my taking this campaign trip.”
He said:
They don’t seem to like it. They seem to believe that I promised them that I was not going to campaign under any circumstances and that therefore they could say anything they wanted to about my policies and my administration.
However, they conveniently overlook what I actually said in my speech of acceptance last July. I am going to quote from that speech – and I am sure you will pardon me if I quote correctly.
‘Free to report’
He continued:
I shall, however, feel free to report to the people the facts about matters of concern to them, and especially to correct any misrepresentations.
I believe that the American people know what those misrepresentations have been – and just who have made them. I think the American people know that in my speeches in this campaign I have pointed out and corrected many of those misrepresentations. I expect between now and Election Day to points out and correct more of them.
This seemed to point to several more presidential campaign appearances before Nov. 7. The only ones announced thus far, after Chicago, are a rear platform talk at Clarksburg, West Virginia, tomorrow, Boston Nov. 4 and a radio address on Election Eve.
Philadelphia key in Roosevelt bid
Big majority needed to carry state
By Kermit McFarland, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – (Oct. 28)
President Roosevelt’s arduous campaign here yesterday was based on the general beef among both active political leaders and local political writers that he will need an imposing majority in this city if he is to carry Pennsylvania again.
His personal appearance here, featured by a four-hour, 45-mile tour in an open car despite bitterly cold and wet weather, was designed to stir up the vote the Democrats believe is pro-Roosevelt.
The tour took the President through districts of the city which have generally backed him in previous elections. This strategy was in line with the now prevailing belief that to defeat Governor Thomas E. Dewey in Pennsylvania, every potential Roosevelt vote must be turned out to the polls.
Estimates on majority vary
Estimates on what will happen in Philadelphia, which four years ago gave Mr. Roosevelt a majority of 177,000, vary all the way from some wild-eyed Republican guesses of 30.000 for the President to some similarly extreme Democratic guesses of a 200,000 majority for him.
Democratic money is being bet on a Roosevelt majority of 135,000 and some conservative Democratic leaders are forecasting as much as 150,000. The real Republican figure, from the less rambunctious viewers of the situation, is a 75,000 Roosevelt majority.
The Philadelphia Bulletin, a conservative newspaper supporting Mr. Dewey editorially, published a poll, completed 10 days before Mr. Roosevelt’s visit, which shows 59 percent of the vote for the President and 39 percent for Mr. Dewey.
The Bulletin said one percent of those interviewed declined to say how they will vote and another one percent indicated preferences for minor party candidates.
All registered voters
The polltakers said they limited their results to persons who said they are registered and intend to vote. The survey was done with secret ballots.
This poll would indicate a Roosevelt majority of about 175,000, assuming that the total voter turnout equals that of four years ago. The poll did not take into account the vote of men and women in the armed forces, who have been sent 123,000 military ballots.
The President carried Pennsylvania four years ago by 281,000, which was almost precisely the sum of his majorities in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, the total vote in the other 65 counties of the state being a virtual deadlock.
City’s vote important
In the face of evidence that the 1940 Roosevelt majorities elsewhere in the state are being pared down this year, the Philadelphia result becomes of major importance in the President’s bid for another term.
Estimates of the crowd which lined the streets to get a glimpse of the President as his motorcade toured the city ran all the way from 600,000 to two million. But no accurate guess was possible because the crowds were stretched out over 45 miles of streets.
In some sections, they were sparse, in others the congestion nearly blocked the progress of the President’s car.
Crowds friendly, smiling
There was nothing like the President’s visit in 1936, the last time he made a campaign here “in the usual sense,” when it took nearly two hours to go five miles along Market Street and into Camden.
The crowds yesterday were friendly, smiling and for the most part in a gay mood, despite the drenching thousands of them endured. But they did not show the hysteria which characterized the demonstration in 1936.
In some sections, there was little more than applause and smiles, with a few shouts of encouragement mixed in. But at the Navy Yard, where 30,000 civilians are employed, at Cramp’s Shipyards where there are 14,000 employees, and in Camden, New Jersey, where Mr. Roosevelt spoke briefly, the crowds were hilarious.
In Camden they had stayed in the rain upwards of an hour awaiting the President’s arrival. His short talk there was unscheduled. The cold rain was at its worst during the Camden visit.
Democratic leaders were well pleased with the crowds which appeared to greet the President. They said they believed the turnout particularly impressing in view of the weather, the fact that Mr. Roosevelt, before he finished the tour, was running almost an hour late and that thousands who are engaged in war work were unable to leave their plants.
Didn’t expect converts
They did not expect the President’s visit to convert many Dewey voters, but they did lay great stress on the value of the trip in stirring up enthusiasm among potential Roosevelt voters.
They are in the position of trying to show high confidence over the outcome of the election and at the game time impressing on the pro-Roosevelt voters the extreme necessity of going to the polls Nov. 7 if the President is to win.
In other words, while saying they are confident of a big Roosevelt majority here, they are endeavoring to break down any idea that it is a “sure thing.”
Campaign expenses thus far –
GOP has spent $1,688,368; Democrats pay $1,052,589
Group and individual contributions to both parties listed by clerk of House
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 28)
The Republican National Committee has spent $635,779.57 more thus far in the presidential campaign than the Democratic National Committee and has received $1,335,143.50 more in contributions, reports filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives disclosed today.
The Republican Committee spent $1,688,368.79 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 23 as compared with $1,052,589.22 spent by the Democratic Committee through Oct. 24.
The Republicans listed contributions of $2,428,321.52 and the Democrats $1,093,178.02.
The CIO Political Action Committee spent $378,730.90 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 25 and listed contributions through Sept. 10 at $101,606 05.
The National Citizens PAC said it had spent $165,018 and received $271,531 through Ort. 22.
Contributors to the NCPAC included Singer Frank Sinatra, $5,000, and Mrs. Marshall Field, wife of the publisher of the newspapers, PM and the Chicago Sun, $2,500.
The Pennsylvania State Republican Finance Committee reported expenditures of $609,477.17 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 25 and receipts of $912,713.18 for the same period.
Contributors to the Pennsylvania group included Mr. and Mrs. J. Howard Pew of Ardmore, Mrs. Margaret R. Grundy of Bristol, Eugene C. Grace of Bethlehem and Howard S. Vanderbilt of New York, with $3,000 each.
The International Ladies Garment Workers Union campaign committee for Roosevelt and Truman spent $68,165.24 and received $85,237.05 through Oct. 23. The largest contribution was $27,500, from the New York Joint Board of Coat Makers Union Campaign Committee.
The Democratic National Committee, listed President Roosevelt as contributing $1,000, and Mrs. Roosevelt, $100. Other Democratic contributors included:
Movie magnates Albert Warner, Jack Warner and Harry M. Warner, $5,000 each; Floyd B. Odlum, financier, $5,000; William L. Clayton, surplus property administrator, and Mrs. Clayton, $5,000 each: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Goldwyn, $5,000 each; A, J. Drexel Biddle Jr., former Ambassador to Allied governments-in-exile, $2,500; RAdm. Frederick R. Harris, $2,500; Laurence A. Steinhardt. former Ambassador to Turkey, $2,000; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr., $2,000; and Mrs. Emma Guffey Miller of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, $2,000.
Guffey sisters give $2,000
Daniel J. Tobin, president of the International Teamsters Union (AFL), $1,000; songwriter Irving Berlin, $1,000; Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman, wife of the Director General of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, $1,000; Senator Theodore F. Green (D-RI), $1,000.
Ida V. Guffey and Pauletta Guffey of Washington, DC, $1,000 each; Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State, $1,000; Homer Cummings, former Attorney General, $1,000; Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of the mint, $500; Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, $300: Attorney General Francis E. Biddle and Mrs. Biddle, $250 each; Secretary of State Cordell Hull, $250; Leon Henderson, former Price Administrator, $200; and Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Hopkins, $100.
Mellons give GOP $5,000
The contribution list of the Republican National Committee during the period in question showed two $50.000 donations and one for $40,000 by the United Republican Finance Committee for Metropolitan New York.
Other large donations were $50,000 and $25,000 by the Republican Finance Committee of Pennsylvania.
Other gifts to the GOP National Committee follow:
Max C. Fleischmann of Santa Barbara, California, $5,000; M. T. Grant of Madison, Connecticut, $4,000; J. Howard Pew, J. N. Pew Jr., Miss Mary Ethel Pew and Mrs. Mabel Pew Myrin of Philadelphia, $3,000 each; Mrs. Sarah Mellon Scaife, and W. L. Mellon, both $3,000, and aul Mellon, $2,000.
Other GOP contributors:
Page F. Stranahan, Marie C. Stranahan and R. A. Stranahan, all of Perrysburg, Ohio, $3,000 each; Mrs. Oliver G. Jennings and L. K. Jennings of New York, $3,000 each; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Blossom of Cleveland, Ohio, $3,000; Russell H. Bennett of Minneapolis, $1,000, and Mrs. Helen H. Bennett, $3,000; Edward S. Hutton of Westbury, New York, $3,000; Sterling Morton of Chicago, $3,000; Ralph M. Shaw of Chicago, $3,000; Charles G. Dawes of Chicago, $2,500; Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Morrison of San Antonio, Texas, $2590 each; Mr. and Mrs. John J. Sheerin of San Antonio, $2,500; also M. E. Coyle of Detroit, $2,500; C. E. Wilson of Detroit. $2,500; Thomas Morrison, Helen B. Morrison of Spring Lake, New Jersey, $2,000 each; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr. of New York, $1,000; Lammont DuPont of Wilmington, Delaware, $2,000.
Senator Davis spends $4,154
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Senate disclosed that the highest campaign expenditures report filed by a Senate candidate up to tonight was submitted by Richard J. Lyons, Illinois Republican, who is opposing Democratic Senator Scott W. Lucas.
Mr. Lyons said in a preliminary report that he has spent $22,484 and received $10,930 in contributions.
Republican Homer E. Capehart, opposing Democratic Governor Henry Schricker of Indiana for the Senate, reported expenditures of $5,630; Senator Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), $8,321; Senator James J. Davis (R-PA), $4,154. Senator George D. Aiken (R-VT), his Democratic opponent, Harry W. Witters, and Senator Lister Hill (D-AL), all reported no expenditures.
Simms: Protectorate is envisioned for Poland
‘Atlantic Charter’ appears dead
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
…
‘Uncle Joe’ Stilwell believes in direct words and action
General walked out of Burma with his men, returned with them after jungle victories
…
Army engineer takes over in India-Burma theater
Ex-Marshall aide gets China post
…
A 1,000-mile trek –
Chinese fleeing advancing Japs
Miserable refugees take to the road
By Albert Ravenholt, United Press staff writer
…
‘Get Willkie’ plan revealed by Mead
Buffalo, New York (UP) – (Oct. 28)
Senator James M. Mead (D-NY) charged tonight that former President Hoover and Governor Thomas E. Dewey initiated an undercover campaign some few months ago to drive the late Wendell Willkie out of the Republican Party.
Senator Mead said here before his departure for New York, where he will make several campaign speeches:
I am in a position to prove that Mr. Hoover, following conferences with Mr. Dewey, advised nationally known Republican leaders that “Tom and I are agreed that the sooner we remove the corn Willkie from the Republican toe, the better it will be for the Republican Party.”
Senator Mead’s statement said:
Mr. Willkie, with his irresistible charm, his wealth of wisdom and the purity of his motives, was well on his way to his second nomination for the Presidency when Hoover and Dewey set out… to stop him and obtain the green light for the New York Governor.
One of the first men to take the cue from Hoover and Dewey was Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, a pre-war isolationist of the first order and the man who later was to participate with Mr. Dewey and Mr. Hoover in the presidential primary contest of that state, which proved the political death knell of the able and revered Mr. Willkie.
Mr. Dewey and Mr. Hoover did not forget the generous contribution Senator Wiley made to Mr. Willkie’s defeat and his reward came on last Wednesday when Mr. Dewey, en route to Chicago, chose to stop in Wisconsin to give not only his unqualified endorsement to Wisconsin’s leading isolationist, who is seeking a second term, but to make a speech for him.
How Mr. Dewey can tell the people that his party no longer stands for isolation, and go out and embrace and endorse full-fledged isolationists like Mr. Wiley, is one of the mysteries of the Dewey campaign.
If you have swoons –
Sinatra, speaking for common man, introduces Vice President
Don’t look, Dewey, sings Ethel Merman
If you have swoons, prepare to swoon them now. Frank Sinatra reached the pinnacle of his career last Thursday night when he was chosen to introduce the Vice President, Henry A. Wallace, over a national network.
For the benefit of the Sinatra audience – some of whom may have been put to bed by their parents before the rather late broadcasting hour, and others of whom may have swooned before the climax – we have secured from the Blue Network the text of his oration. It is the story of the “average citizen” and the “little man” – of whom The Voice said he is one.
Sinatra shared the program with Ethel Merman of musical comedy fame (Anything Goes, Du Barry Was a Lady, Something for the Boys, and others). Ethel finished off the program with a campaign song, “Don’t Look, Mr. Dewey, Your Record Is Showing.”
‘Thrilled and excited’
Sinatra didn’t sing – just talked. Mr. Wallace was sandwiched in between Frank’s oration and Ethel’s song. The Ladies Garment Workers Union paid for the broadcast.
Sinatra began:
This is a new experience for me, and I am thrilled and excited and eager about it, because it is the first time in my life that I am going to make a political speech.
I imagine most people associate me with the world of entertainment, but tonight I want to step out of this world for just a few minutes to tell you how I feel about something that is as important to me and my children as it is to you and your children and your loved ones on the far-flung battlefields of the world.
I want to tell you why I am for the reelection of Franklin D. Roosevelt. I am speaking as an average citizen, as a father and an American.
For the younger generation
It seems to me that never in the history of this great nation of ours have you and I and, above all, the younger generation, had so much at stake.
And I believe that the great problems of the post-war world, the military problems at this very moment, can be worked out and will be worked out under the leadership of the man in the White House – our Commander-in-Chief.
I cannot help thinking back for a moment to those apple-selling days when thousands of kids roamed the countryside because there wasn’t enough for them to eat at home – the days of the long lines of men and women seeking jobs that weren’t there. Gone are those days – gone, let us hope, forever – and don’t let us forget it was our great President who worked out with his advisers the program of social security, unemployment insurance, CCC camps for boys, NYA, better housing, all of which made up a pattern for a better life.
Can there be a question in anyone’s mind that Franklin D. Roosevelt is qualified by such experience and background to work with the statesmen of our allies so that our children and our grandchildren, and even we, can live in a world of peace and security?
I have yet to read a single sentence or hear a word spoken that logically denies the achievements of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the past, and his ability and astuteness to cope with the problems of the future.
Those who have spoken against him, it seems to me, have indulged in carping and unfair criticism and have failed to make even a dent in the intellectual armor of the President.
One of the common people
And let me say just one word, or perhaps repeat what I have said once before, and that is – what I like most about the President is, he is pretty fond of the little man. In that respect I guess he is just like Abraham Lincoln, who once said that God liked the common people because he made so many of them. Well, I am one of them – even with all my good fortune. Don’t let the common man down – keep Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House.
Then came the supreme moment of this spokesman for the common man – his introduction of the Vice President.
He said:
Now it is my privilege, my great honor, to present the symbol of the common man – the symbol of an American to the rest of the world – the Vice President of the United States, Henry A. Wallace.
Mr. Wallace delivered a prediction that Roosevelt would win by over three million votes, and then Sinatra returned to the radio to introduce Ethel Merman’s song.
‘Don’t Look, Dewey’
Sinatra said:
Once to every woman, my wife included, comes that embarrassing moment when a friend whispers kindly, “Don’t look now, but your slip is showing.” “Well, there’s no whispering when this girl’s step up to the microphone to sing… and what she has to sing about can be shouted from the housetops. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Ethel Merman with E. Y. Harburg’s new song – “Don’t Look Now, Mr. Dewey! (But Your Record Is Showing).”
Because of the newsprint shortage, we can’t risk our paper quota by printing all of Ethel’s song, but here are some high spots that carry the idea of campaigning 1944 style:
…the ship of state, oh the ship of state
Is not the Albany night boat,
And when the people turn out to vote,
Somebody is going to miss that boat.Chorus—
Don’t look now, Mr. Dewey,
But your record is showing…
Your new-deal trousers are smart, no doubt.
But the old-deal short tails are sticking out.
Don’t look now, Mr. Dewey,
But your record is fooey;
The soldier vote you jumbled,
On Russia you jumbled,
On lend-lease you brumbled,
On world peace you mumbled,
The dumb’lls you’ve assembled
Will be stumble-bumbled–
So, Dewey,
Don’t look now.
3 Mississippi electors bolt Roosevelt-Truman
Say they’ll vote for Harry Byrd because of convention’s race planks
By James Perry, United Press staff writer
Jackson, Mississippi – (Oct. 28)
Three of Mississippi’s nine Democratic presidential electors announced today that they will not vote for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and vice-presidential candidate Harry S. Truman in the Electoral College.
Frank E. Everett of Indianola, Clarence E. Morgan of Kosciusko, and W. G. McLain of McComb issued a statement here in which they said they would vote for Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) for President.
The statement, addressed to the Democratic voters of Mississippi, said that the Mississippi Democratic Convention in June had freed all electors from the obligation of voting for party nominees if the National Convention failed to restore the two-third rule or if it adopted race platforms obnoxious to the South.
Race planks hit
On the basis of these instructions, the statement said, Mississippi electors have the right to vote for any Democrat holding similar views to those expressed by the state convention.
The statement contended that the National Democratic Convention did pass obnoxious race planks and failed even to consider restoration of the two-thirds rule.
The action of the three electors today was expected to cause a furor in Mississippi political circles as voters must vote for all nine electors or ballots will not be counted. A possibility that a second pro-Roosevelt slate of electors might be placed on the ballot was ruled out because the deadline set for qualification of electors was Sept. 7.
Signed a statement
Soon after the state Democratic convention in June, the Executive Committee in Mississippi had requested that all party electors support Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Truman at that time eight electors signed a statement pledging their support unless something happened to make the election of President Roosevelt inimical to the best interest of the South and Mississippi. The ninth pledged unqualified support.
Later, when Roosevelt backers threatened to put a second slate of electors on the ballot, Governor Thomas L. Bailey issued a statement in which he said he had been assured by all electors that they would support party nominees.
Factors are given
The three electors named the following factors which make it impossible for them to support the Democratic ticket:
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Appeals by nominees for the Negro vote in the South.
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Promises to do away with race segregation in the South.
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Open acceptance of support by candidates of Communists and Sidney Hillman, chairman of the Political Action Committee.