America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

Führer HQ (November 5, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

In erbitterten Kämpfen erwehren sich unsere Grenadiere auf der Insel Walcheren des von Westen, Süden und Osten vordringenden Feindes. An der unteren Maas verhinderten die eigenen Brückenkopfbesatzungen den beabsichtigten Durchbruch der Engländer und Kanadier auf die großen Maasbrücken bei Moerdijk.

Schnelle Kampf- und Nachtschlachtflugzeuge griffen in der vergangenen Nacht wiederholt einen feindlichen Nachschubstützpunkt bei Aachen an. Es entstanden Brände und Explosionen. Durch unsere Gegenangriffe südöstlich des Waldes von Hürtgen wurden mehrere vorübergehend verlorene Ortschaften zurückerobert. Die entschlossene Gegenwehr unserer Grenadiere brachte auch gestern wieder westlich St. Diö den beabsichtigten Durchstoß feindlicher Verbände ins Meurthetal zum Scheitern.

Stärkeres Feuer unserer „V1“ lag auf dem Großraum von London.

In Mittelitalien kam es zu keinen größeren Kampfhandlungen. Im dalmatinischen Küstengebiet griffen zwei zur Geleitsicherung eingesetzte U-Boot-Jäger und ein Torpedoboot in den Abendstunden, des 1. November einen überlegenen Verband britischer Seestreitkräfte an. In aufopferndem Kampf erzwangen sie die freie Fahrt des Geleits in seinen Bestimmungshafen. In Erfüllung dieser Aufgabe gingen die drei Fahrzeuge verloren.

In Mazedonien hat sich die Lage wenig verändert. Nordöstlich Skopje wurde durch unsere Gegenangriffe eine bulgarische Kräftegruppe abgeschnitten. Der feindliche Druck im Raum nordöstlich Pristina dauert an. Vorübergehend im Tal der westlichen Morava eingedrungene bolschewistische Kräfte wurden wieder geworfen.

Im Donaubrückenkopf Dunaföldvár wehrten deutsche und ungarische Verbände bolschewistische Angriffe ab. In der Panzerschlacht südöstlich Budapest scheiterten erneute sowjetische Durchbruchsversuche. Szolnok fiel nach heftigen Kämpfen in Feindeshand. Im Raum von Ungvár schränkten Hochwasser und Verschlammung des Geländes die Kampftätigkeit ein.

Bei Goldap wurden die Bolschewisten in schwungvollen Angriffen aus ihren Stellungen geworfen, feindliche Kräfte in der Stadt selbst abgeschnitten. Ihre Ausbruchsversuche und Entlastungsangriffe von Osten her scheiterten. In Kurland griffen die Sowjets in den bisherigen Schwerpunktabschnitten während des ganzen Tages erfolglos an. In den harten Abwehrkämpfen wurden 36 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.

Feindliche Terrorflieger warfen im Laufe des gestrigen Tages und in den ersten Nachtstunden im nordwestlichen, westlichen und südlichen Reichsgebiet Spreng- und Brandbomben, durch die in mehreren Städten Personenverluste und Gebäudeschäden verursacht wurden. Jäger und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe schossen am Tage 29, in der Nacht 34 feindliche Flugzeuge ab, darunter Insgesamt 54 viermotorige Bomber.


Im ostungarischen Raum hat die ostmärkische 3. Gebirgsdivision unter Führung von Generalmajor Klatt einen großangelegten Umfassungsversuch des Feindes zunichte gemacht und sich durch vorbildliche Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet. Im westungarischen Raum hat sich die „Tiger“-Abteilung 503 unter Führung von Hauptmann Fromme hervorragend geschlagen.

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (November 5, 1944)

FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
051100A November

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. 211

Flushing is now clear of the enemy, and Allied forces have made some gains north of the town. Our units which landed on the east side of the Walcheren Island have now joined with our troops at the west end of the causeway. On the Dutch mainland, Steinbergen, Nieuw, Vossemeer and Kladde have been freed. Our bridgehead over the Mark River north of Oudenbosch has been enlarged and we are within a mile of Klundert. Enemy troop movements in this area were attacked by fighters and fighter-bombers. Rocket-firing fighters destroyed enemy observation posts at Dinteloord and strafed defense positions.

Fighter-bombers also attacked an ammunition dump at Zevenbergen. In the Oosterhout sector, our bridgehead has expanded to the north where we are within a mile of Geertruidenberg. Wagenberg has been freed and good gains have been made further west. Fighter-bombers, striking deeper into Holland, bombed and strafed an ordnance factory at Utrecht. Other fighter-bombers and fighters, operating over a wide area of Holland and the Ruhr, went for rail and water transport and cut rail communications in some 40 places. Medium and light bombers, with fighter cover, attacked a road and rail bridge over the Meuse River at Venlo. To the west of Venlo, our ground forces continued to advances eastward along the Noorder Canal and some progress has been made farther to the north.

An enemy counterattack in the vicinity of Schmidt, from which we had been forced to withdraw, was repulsed yesterday afternoon, and our troops are again making progress towards Schmidt. Pillboxes are being mopped-up in the area west and northwest of the town, which was dive-bombed and strafed by our fighter-bombers yesterday. In the area of Hürtgen, we continued to make slow progress against mines, infantry and artillery. Less than half a mile to the southeast our advance is meeting strong resistance from tanks and infantry. East of Aachen, medium and light bombers, attacking in waves, bombed enemy strong points at Eschweiler. Fighters and fighter-bombers went for railway yards at Düren, Hamm and Brühl; an airfield west of Neuss, and an ammunition dump at Lechenich, southwest of Köln.

Other targets for fighter-bombers were rail bridges at Baal (Hückelhoven), northeast of Aachen, and at Bergheim, west of Köln. Yesterday afternoon, heavy bombers with fighter escort, attacked the industrial town of Solingen, a few miles south of the Ruhr. In the evening, heavy bombers in very great strength, went again to Germany with Bochum in the Ruhr as the main target. Medium and light bombers attacked ordnance supply depots near Trier. In France, in the Lunéville sector, slight gains were made northeast of Manonviller. Our troops are mopping-up resistance pockets in the Baccarat area and in the Vosges heights southwest of Gérardmer.

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 (November 5, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 175

Liberators of the 7th Air Force attacked enemy shipping in Chichijima Harbor in the Bonin Islands on November 2 (West Longitude Date). Targets included two destroyers, one large transport, four medium transports and four small transports. Other 7th Air Force Liberators bombed a large enemy transport at Hahajima on November 2. Land objectives at Hahajima were attacked by Liberators the next day.

A Navy search Liberator attacked Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands on November 2. Seventh Air Force Liberators bombed the airstrip on Iwo Jima on November 3. Two grounded enemy planes were destroyed and one probably destroyed. Six to eight Japanese fighters were seen in the air but did not attack our planes. Five Liberators were damaged by intense anti-aircraft fire.

Koror Island in the Northern Palaus was heavily attacked by 7th Air Force Liberators on November 2. Large fires were started and explosions were observed.

Thunderbolts and Liberators of the 7th Air Force damaged the airfield on Pagan Island in the Marianas on November 2 and 3. Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing strafed enemy installations on Rota Island on November 3.

Yap was hit by Seventh Air Force Liberators on November 2.

The Pittsburgh Press (November 5, 1944)

americavotes1944

DEWEY CHARGES ‘WAR MEDDLING’
Morgenthau Plan cited as aid to Nazis

Governor promises end of incompetence

New York (UP) – (Nov. 4)
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, returning to scenes of past triumphs as the nation’s No. 1 rackets prosecutor, charged tonight that President Roosevelt by “confused incompetence,” has prolonged the war in Europe at the expense of “the lives of American men.”

Climaxing in his home city a fighting campaign for the Presidency, the Republican candidate addressed a cheering crowd in Madison Square Garden estimated by Chief Inspector John J. O’Connell of the New York police at 25,000.

To prolonged cheers, Governor Dewey promised if elected on Tuesday to “put a stop to the incompetence in Washington which is costing the lives of American men and delaying the day of final victory.”

Governor Dewey asserted the war was being prolonged by the “improvised meddling which is so much a part and parcel of the Roosevelt administration,” he also declared:

At the very moment when his own confused incompetence has thus prolonged the war in Europe, Franklin Roosevelt goes on the radio and claims for himself the credit for everything our engineers, our war workers, our industry, our farmers and our fighting sons have done.

Long way to go

Mr. Dewey said that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower last Sept. 1 reiterated an early prediction that Germany could be beaten in 1944 “if everyone at home would do his part.”

“Yet,” he added, “last Thursday, Mr. Roosevelt decided to tell us the war had still a long way to go.”

Governor Dewey said Mr. Roosevelt took to his Québec Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill “that master of military strategy and foreign affairs,” Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., “with his private plan for disposing of the German people after the war.”

Claims plan aids Nazis

Mr. Dewey said:

The plan was so clumsy that Mr. Roosevelt himself finally dropped it – but the damage was done.

The publishing of this plan while everything else was kept secret was just what the Nazi propagandists needed. That was as good as 10 fresh German divisions. It put fight back into the German Army; it stiffened the will of the German nation to resist. Almost overnight, the headlong retreat of the Germans stopped. They stood and fought fanatically.

Mr. Dewey asked “What does this mean?” and answered:

It means that the blood of our fighting men is paying for this improvised meddling which is so much part and parcel of the Roosevelt administration.

Dedicated to 3 propositions

He summed up the campaign situation this way:

All over the world tonight, Americans are fighting for the tight of free men to govern themselves. Here at home, we are waging a political campaign to make secure the liberties for which they fight.

He said he and Governor John Bricker, GOP vice-presidential candidate, were dedicated to these propositions:

  • “To speed total victory and the prompt return of our fighting men.”

  • “To provide American leadership in the world for an effective organization among all nations to prevent future wars.”

  • “To achieve jobs and opportunity for every American.”

To accomplish these ends, he added:

We shall put an end to one-man rule; we shall unite our people in teamwork and harmony behind a President and a Congress that can and will work together to realize the limitless promise of America.

These objectives, Mr. Dewey said, “can never be attained under the tired and quarrelsome administration that has been in office for 12 long years. They can only be attained under a new, vigorous administration that comes fresh from the people.”

In blaming the New Deal for prolonging the war, Mr. Dewey asked what had happened “in two months to cancel Gen. Eisenhower’s prediction.”

Left behind Hull, Stimson

“Mr. Roosevelt,” he said, “has not told us the whole story.”

He criticized the President for leaving behind, when he went to Québec, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and taking “in their stead” Secretary Morgenthau.

Mr. Dewey did not say what Mr. Morgenthau’s plan for Germany was, but a high Treasury official in Washington recently described it as a proposal to eliminate heavy industry from the Reich, leaving Germans a light industry and agricultural state. In addition to being completely disarmed and deprived of the power to make war, Germany would be required to give up the Saar area to France and submit to international control of the Ruhr industrial valley, according to this explanation of the Morgenthau Plan.

Fanatical resistance cited

The Republican candidate buttressed his argument that the Morgenthau Plan stiffened German resistance by quoting an article in Newsweek Magazine as saying “this necromancy ruins Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s campaign.”

He also quoted a United Press front dispatch as saying that:

The home front talk about stern treatment for a defeated Germany has inspired bitter and fanatical resistance among German troops, in this sector at least, and the G.I.’s are a little bitter about it.

Mr. Dewey will make one more speech before next Tuesday’s voting when he broadcasts over all the major networks from Albany Monday night. He will return to New York to cast his ballot Nov. 7.

Assurance from associates

Mr. Dewey entered the last phase of his campaign with the assurance of his political associates that he will win New York’s 47 and Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes. In both states, he has been told, the big city Roosevelt pluralities of past election years will be whittled, down to the point where Republican pluralities in rural and smaller city areas will be decisive.

Republicans also say they believe they will capture Massachusetts, Minnesota and enough border states to swell the electoral total from so-called “sure” Dewey states.

20 major addresses

Mr. Dewey brought his campaign to a New York finish after a coast-to-coast stumping tour on which he traveled 15,000 to 20,000 miles and made 20 major addresses and numerous brief ones.

Since his nomination last June, he has campaigned in every section of the country except the Deep South and has promised, if elected, to bring about “the greatest housecleaning in the history of Washington.”

americavotes1944

ROOSEVELT RIPS GOP CANDIDATES
President asks nation to cast a record vote

Lays contradictions to Dewey, Bricker

Boston, Massachusetts (UP) – (Nov. 4)
President Roosevelt tonight climaxed a tour of New England by accusing his opponent, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, of “a shocking lack of trust in America” and charging that the GOP was working “both sides of the street” in an attempt to win the election by embracing New Deal reforms of the last 12 years.

Making his last major campaign stand, the President told a nationwide radio audience and a crowd in Boston’s Fenway Park that he wanted a turnout at the polls next Tuesday of at least 50 million votes to prove the democratic process of this country and “to tell our boys overseas that the country they are fighting for is still going strong.”

Accuses GOP of fear campaign

Earlier, the President spoke at Bridgeport and Hartford, Connecticut, and in Springfield, Massachusetts, accusing the Republicans of attempting to win the election by a “campaign of fear” and promising that this country will remain prepared for any eventuality after this war.

A crowd estimated by police at 40,000 greeted Mr. Roosevelt with wild cheers and a rousing chorus of “We Want Roosevelt” when he drove into the park. The start of his speech was delayed four minutes by the tremendous ovation.

The President spoke from the back seat of his limousine, parked at the pitchers’ box in this baseball park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Hatless and wearing a gray topcoat over a brown sweater, he spoke to an audience which interrupted him frequently with thundering applause.

In a fighting mood rivaled in this campaign only by his September speech to the Teamsters Union in Washington, the President – without calling names – pictured Governor Dewey and his Republican running mate, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, as conducting contradictory campaigns.

He said:

The American people are quite competent to judge a political party which works both sides of the street – a party which has one candidate making campaign promises of all kinds of added government expenditures in the West, while a running mate demands less government expenditures in the East.

Dewey speech taken up

Calling on the nation to return his administration to office, instead of choosing the “fearful men” of the Republican Party, the President developed his charge that Governor Dewey was “talking out of both sides of the mouth” by taking up the Republican candidate’s speech here last Wednesday.

Apologizing for quoting Mr. Dewey “correctly,” the President said his opponent said:

“The Communists are seizing control of the New Deal, through which they aim to control the government of the United States.”

The President then pointed out that on the same day the Republican candidate told a Worcester, Massachusetts, audience that with a Republican victory:

“We can end one-man government; we can forever remove the threat of a monarchy in the United States.”

We want our Constitution

Then the President asked:

Now, really – which is it – Communism or monarchy? I do not think we could have both in this country, even if we wanted either – which we do not. We want neither Communism nor monarchy. We want to live under our Constitution…

He said:

When my political candidate stands up and says solemnly that there is danger that the government of the United States – your government – could be sold out to the Communists, then I say that that candidate reveals a shocking lack of trust in America.

He threw back at Governor Dewey the oft-repeated charge by the Republicans that “it is time for a change.”

Wants to see biggest vote

After saying that the Republicans wanted a chance to continue the accomplishment of his administration, Mr. Roosevelt said:

Well, if it is time for a change, the way to get it in this democracy is by means of votes. Whether I win or lose, I want to see a turnout next Tuesday of the biggest vote in our American history and that means at least 50 million votes.

While his appearance in Boston was regarded as his campaign windup, the President will take his usual day-before-election tour of the Hudson valley near his Hyde Park, New York, home, making several impromptu speeches and a radio speech Monday night urging a big vote.

Charges ‘wild, weird future’

At Bridgeport earlier today, the President said he could not talk about his opponent as he would like to because he was “a Christian and would like to go to Heaven someday.” He did charge, however, that the Republicans were offering the electorate a kind of “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t… wild, weird, future.”

In Hartford, the President took the Republican Party to task for attempting to panic the American people by repeating a charge of four and eight years ago that “if that man Roosevelt is reelected, the insurance companies will go broke.”

On the contrary, he pointed out to a crowd estimated at between 25,000 and 35,000 that the insurance companies in Hartford and elsewhere “are better off than they have ever been before.”

Party of ‘sound money’

He punched away at Republicans for opposing price control and favoring “skyrocketing” prices instead.

He said:

The Democratic Party in this war has been the party of sound money. The Republican Party has been the party of unsound money.

The President saw large crowds in virtually every town in the two states through which his train passed.

“FDR” signs were in plentiful evidence along his route, and at Thompsonville, near Hartford, a bridal party, complete with white satin gowns, large bouquets and priest, dashed from a house near the railroad tracks to wave.

For Luce opponent

At Bridgeport, in the district of one of his most bitter critics, Rep. Clare Booth Luce (R-CT), the President plumped particularly for Mrs. Luce’s Democratic opponent, Miss Margaret E. Connors, who was on the platform with him, waving and smiling at the large crowd.

Speaking to a rear-platform crowd at Springfield — his first stop in doubtful Massachusetts – the President voiced pride in the manner in which America has come “greatly through a dark and dangerous time.”

He said:

The ship of state is sturdy and safe, and with continued courage and wisdom, we can bring it into a harbor where it will not be whipped by the storms of another war within any foreseeable period.

But we are going to remain prepared. This time, we are not going to scuttle our strength.

americavotes1944

Because it will be close –
Election in Pennsylvania still very much a tossup

Trend found definitely Republican, but how much remains to be seen
By Kermit McFarland

Pennsylvania, according to all gauges of public opinion, is a doubtful state in Tuesday’s election.

The outcome, as nearly as it can be measured, is uncertain mainly because it promises to be close.

The trend is definitely is Republican, as it has been the last six years.

Whether or not the trend is strong enough to swing the state’s 35 electoral votes to Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate for President, is a question on which no unbiased, competent authority will do more than merely guess.

‘Take your choice’

As it looks, it is even money and take your choice.

As a result, the state in the last two weeks has come to be regarded as the key to the result of the national election.

Most observers believe Mr. Dewey must carry it to win. A majority believe President Roosevelt, because of the running start he will get from the Solid South, could lose Pennsylvania and still win, providing he carried some of the other large industrial states of the North.

1940 recalled

In 1940, against the late Wendell L. Willkie, Mr. Roosevelt carried 25 of the 67 counties. This time, he faces a loss of six to eight of the smaller counties in this group and pared-down majorities in most of them.

His vote, however, may be increased in normally Republican counties because of wartime industrial expansion which has added thousands of new voters to these counties.

The President won the state in 1940 by 281,000. He carried Allegheny County by 104,000 and Philadelphia by 177,000, the two together being almost precisely the total of his statewide plurality.

Here it is generally expected his majority will be reduced, possibly to 75,000 which is a commonly accepted figure. However, private polls and other measuring devices in some cases have indicated an even greater decline in the President’s popularity here.

GOP is hopeful

Republicans are hoping to hold the Roosevelt lead in this county to 50,000.

Philadelphia appears to be the principal question mark. If the President holds his majority there, as indicated by the polls, the probability of his carrying the state will be greatly enhanced. Republicans there think they can hold him to a lead of less than 100,000.

Both the soft and hard coal fields still appear to be in the Roosevelt column, although by sliced majorities, according to most opinion.

In other counties, frequently or usually Democratic, Mr. Roosevelt is in more trouble, judging by the standard signs of measuring voter sentiment.

GOP active

Mr. Dewey’s prospects in this state have been helped by the aggressiveness and the intensive operations of the Republican state organization, pepped up by the scent of a kill. Meanwhile, the once potent Democratic organization has slipped, badly in some sections, leaving Mr. Roosevelt to pull his own weight.

Democrats, aided by the CIO Political Action Committee, are basing their main hope of carrying the state on turning out the “labor” vote on Election Day. All along they have been fearful that war plant workers, who are in the money and therefore not “mad at anybody,” might not come out in full force.

Stirring them up was the main purpose of Mr. Roosevelt’s sole visit to the state, his tour and speech in Philadelphia on Oct. 27.

If the election in Pennsylvania is as close as all the dopesters believe, the disposition of the state’s 35 votes in the Electoral College may not be determined until about Dec. 1, when the count of military ballots will be completed.

Military vote important

More than 650,000 military ballots have been mailed to members of the Armed Forces, both in this country and overseas, and latest reports showed a return of more than 225,000. Military ballots marked not later than Tuesday will be accepted up to 10:00 a.m. EWT Nov. 22, when the official military ballot count begins.

If either candidate for President manages to carry the civilian vote by less than 100,000, the military vote is sure to be the deciding factor. It undoubtedly will be the deciding factor in some of the legislative contests and perhaps even in Congressional contests.

Surveys throughout the state indicate that while there has been less public demonstration over the presidential campaign than in previous years, there is a high degree of voter interest in the election, indicating a possible record turnout of voters. Registration is high despite the absence of hundreds of thousands in the armed forces and the major shifts in population brought about by war industry.

Both sides optimistic

Rival political leaders here yesterday issued optimistic statements concerning the Tuesday prospects.

Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence predicted the President would carry Pennsylvania by a bigger majority than he received in 1940.

Republican County Chairman James F. Malone forecast the biggest Republican vote in Allegheny County in the last 12 years.

Lawrence cites reasons

Mr. Lawrence gave six reasons for his forecast.

He said the people trust Commander-in-Chief Roosevelt’s direction of the war, that they do not trust “the ‘deathbed’ conversion of the predominantly isolationist Republican Party, including Dewey, to international cooperation,” that labor is more militant than in 1940, that Mr. Dewey is “no Willkie,” that the Dewey campaign “hasn’t clicked” because of “fouling, too much vituperation, too much bigotry, too much pure malice and hate, hope for a light yote is out the window.”

Full turnout urged

Mr. Malone said he believed the vote in Allegheny County could decide the national election “on the simple basis that a big enough Republican vote here can carry the state and the state can carry the nation.” He urged a full turnout of voters, saying:

Undoubtedly the stay-at-homes who avoid their duty could decide the result of the election if they threw aside their lethargy and cast Republican votes Tuesday.

Mr. Malone said the Dewey-Bricker ticket has “aroused more Public enthusiasm, more hard work on the part of party workers and more support from political independents than any campaign in the experience of local politicians since the 1920s.”

Yanks driven from town near Aachen

U.S.-British forces advance three miles

MacArthur’s army storms road junction on Leyte

Fresh Japs advance for showdown at last major Japanese base
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer

americavotes1944

Editorial: Don’t fail to vote as a FREE American

When you enter the voting booth you are a free American citizen – free to vote as you choose.

Regardless of whether you are registered Democratic or Republican you can vote for any candidates you favor.

Nobody has a right to dictate your vote. Nobody can watch you vote or determine how you mark your ballot. Nobody can punish you for voting as you please.

Your employer hasn’t any right to tell you how to vote. Neither has your union.

Voting is a matter of personal choice – of your own conscience. It is the highest duty and privilege of citizenship; treat it as such.

Guard and dignify your privilege of voting as a free American by refusing to let any individual or organization dictate to you. It is one of the sacred rights for which we are waging this war.

Not so many years ago some employers tried to tell their workers how to vote.

The workers resented it – and properly so.

Largely through the educational activities of labor unions, workers were taught to resist such efforts.

But now certain union bosses are trying to reverse the process – are trying to do the very thing they denounced so bitterly when attempted by employers.

It is just as wrong now as it was then – and we believe free-American workers will be as quick to resent the political dictation of union-bosses as of employer-bosses.

Allegheny County has rolled up a record registration, despite the absence of so many men and women in the Armed Forces.

But how many will actually go to the polls?

Four years ago, the turnout was 85.9 percent of the registration. Which meant that 105,000 registered citizens did not go to the polls.

That 15 percent stay-at-home vote might have changed the county result. In the 1940 election, a change of only four percent would have thrown Pennsylvania to the other side. In this election, Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes may determine the national outcome.

In this close contest YOUR vote is vital. Don’t let weather or engagements or anything else keep you from the polls. Every vote may be more important this year than ever before.

Remember that the worst elements in politics always get out their vote. The controlled vote, the machine vote, the racket vote, the Communist vote, the intimidated vote – these are always cast in full.

Don’t help them by negligence and lack of patriotism. Cast YOUR vote at all costs.

Polis are open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Vote as early as possible to avoid the last-minute rush. And, above all, VOTE!

22 die in crash of airliner, 2 bodies sought

Servicemen and women among dead

8 Toledo plants seized by U.S.

Effort made to end strike of MESA


CIO machinists end strike in shipyards

Men will return to work tomorrow

Heavier resistance due in Philippines


Record war output

americavotes1944

Walsh walks out on Roosevelt

Boston, Massachusetts (UP) – (Nov. 4)
U.S. Senator David I. Walsh, greatest Democratic vote-getter in Massachusetts’ modern political history, “walked out” on President Roosevelt in apparent resentment at being called an “isolationist” by vice-presidential candidate Harry S. Truman.

At the personal request of Mr. Roosevelt, the 71-year-old senior Senator from Massachusetts, boarded the President’s campaign train at Worcester today but left it at Boston and did not appear on the platform at Fenway Park where the President gave the final speech of his campaign for a fourth term.

When the campaign train reached the Allston siding at Boston, bystanders could see Senator Walsh in a parlor car window talking with Mayor Maurice J. Tobin of Boston, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and RAdm. Ross McIntire, the President’s personal physician.

Mr. Roosevelt could not be seen but some persons who had been inside the car said that he took part in the conversation.

Senator Walsh, chairman of the powerful Senate Naval Affairs Committee, soon stepped from the car with Mayor Tobin and said he had an engagement to dine with friends.


Election weather in West to be wet

Los Angeles, California (UP) – (Nov. 4)
If Pacific Coast voters don’t turn out at the polls next Tuesday it won’t be the weatherman’s fault, Weather Bureau officials said tonight in forecasting generally fair weather except for light rains in Western Oregon and Western Washington on Election Day.

Voters in the rest of the country, except for local areas in the Midwest, were expected to benefit by fair, dry weather.

americavotes1944

Perkins: Leader hopes to give Dewey 25% UMW vote

Hard coal area still strong for Roosevelt
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Scranton, Pennsylvania – (Nov. 4)
The maximum hope of United Mine Workers leaders in the Pennsylvania hard coal area is to pull to the Dewey camp one-fourth of the 90 percent of miners who, they believe, voted for President Roosevelt in 1940.

The prediction that the 25 percent will be pulled came from a District UMW official who is a Dewey man.

His open Dewey sympathy is not met throughout the mine worker organization of district officials. Some of them are lukewarm and others are reported privately supporting Mr. Roosevelt.

This, despite the general belief that even if John L. Lewis could not divorce his union followers from Roosevelt allegiance, he at least could count on unanimous support from the field and district officers and organizers. most of whom are dependent upon Lewis’ favor for their jobs.

Lewis stays away

Mr. Lewis hasn’t appeared in the anthracite region during this campaign. He seldom does. Thomas Kennedy, International secretary-treasurer, and formerly Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, lives at Hazleton, near here, but has not appeared in the campaign.

The Democrats have capitalized on Mr. Kennedy’s silence by digging out a fairly old speech, castigating the Republican Party in general. The Republicans appear to have overlooked a piece of ammunition that could be used on their side. It consisted of some remarks about a month ago by Mr. Kennedy in criticism of “government by decree or fiat” with apparent direct reference to the Roosevelt administration’s handling of last year’s coal wage controversy.

Speech emphasized

The newspapers in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, most of them Dewey supporters, gave much attention to a speech in the huge Wilkes-Barre Dewey rally by John Kmetz, a district representative of the miners’ union and also president of UMW District 50. Mr. Kmetz devoted much of his talk to an effort to demonstrate that Communists and their support of the Democratic presidential nominee constitute a real menace to the United Mine Workers.

Mr. Kmetz is credited with real influence among the large groups of Slovaks, Poles, and other nationality groups in this section.

Conclusions by this writer from visits to miming sections of West Virginia and Pennsylvania indicate that considerable swings of miner strength from President Roosevelt to Mr. Dewey are indicated only in the southern section of West Virginia and the eastern or anthracite section of Pennsylvania. The symptoms of a swing seemed to fade out in Northern West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania.

The results will be easy to check because of the concentration of miners in certain voting precincts.

Ex-British Chief of Staff Field Marshal Dill, dies

He rebuilt army after Dunkerque; for two years has been in Washington


Japs driving on major U.S. Air Force base

Enemy 53 miles from airfield at Linchow

americavotes1944

Candidates denied use of union funds

Los Angeles, California (UP) – (Nov. 4)
Seven political candidates today were enjoined from receiving or using funds of the CIO Shipbuilding Workers Union.

Senator Sheridan Downey (D-CA), Congressional candidates Helen Gahagan Douglas. Hal Styles, Elis Patterson and Clyde Doyle, Assembly candidate Vincent Thomas and incumbent Superior Court Judge Stanley Mosk were named in the preliminary order.

Roy T. Trent, union member, brought suit, saying the union had spent $6,000 before the primary and $30,000 since, for the CIO Political Action Committee in violation of union bylaws and the Smith-Connally Act.

Jackie Cooper is ‘washed out’ of officer class

British bombers obliterate Ruhr Valley city of Bochum

RAF attack follows 2,000-plane U.S. attack on German railyards and oil plants

Simms: Power politics roars head despite Dumbarton Oaks

Russian pressures Iran for oil concessions; move begun for ouster of premier
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

425,000 casualties flown back to U.S.