Eighth Army gains in Italy near Faenza
Fighting described as ‘very bitter’
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In Thanksgiving message –
U.S. ‘mightiest nation,’ Churchill tells Yanks
Prime Minister makes surprise appearance at celebration of U.S. troops
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Simms: Rhine Valley nearing grasp of Gen. Patton
Rich Saar basin provides the ‘key’
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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Yanks pledge to hit Tokyo in new raids
‘Must bore right in,’ one airman says
Saipan, Mariana Islands (UP) –
The XXI Bomber Command sent its new B-29 Superfortresses off from Saipan for the attack on Tokyo today with the promise that this initial blow will be followed up with ever-increasing force until the Jap Empire has been battered into submission.
Brig. Gen. Haywood S. Hansell Jr., commander of the XXI Bomber Command, and Brig. Gen. Emmett O’Donnell Jr. of Jamaica, New York, the 28-year-old former West Point football coach who led today’s raid, made it clear that the long-promised aerial offensive on the Jap home islands has begun.
In the weeks and months ahead, they declared, air-raid sirens will be echoing again and again and again in Emperor Hirohito’s imperial shelter in the heart of the congested enemy capital.
To bore right in
“We’ll probably get a lot of opposition over Tokyo, but we’ve got to bore right in and we will,” Gen. O’Donnell said just before the takeoff.
Gen. O’Donnell said good weather is expected over the Saipan-Tokyo bombing run in the next three months, particularly over the eastern side of Honshu Island, where the enemy capital is located.
Both officers emphasized that today’s raid, while marking the beginning of the final phase of the war against Japan, does not necessarily foreshadow an early end of the conflict.
Daylight attacks pledged
Gen. Hansell said:
We are not afraid to attack in daylight. We are confident our Superfortresses with their central fire control systems can defend themselves in air combat.
Gen. O’Donnell revealed that the planes that took part in today’s strike had been improved as a result of battle experience obtained by the Superfortresses operating from China and India, particularly the engines.
Even at Gen. O’Donnell’s bombers were roaring into the air from their new fields on Saipan, U.S. Marines and Army troops were combing the jungled cliffs and cave-studded mountains for survivors of the formidable Jap garrison that held the island only five months ago.
Arnold sends word to Roosevelt
Washington (UP) –
Gen. H. H. Arnold, commander of the Army Air Forces, sent President Roosevelt the following special report on today’s B-29 raid on Tokyo:
Our air forces returned to Tokyo today. A task force of B-29 Superfortresses attacked the Japanese capital from bases in the Marianas.
This operation is in no sense a hit-and-run raid. It is a calculated extension of our airpower. Combined operations of the Navy and the Army in the Pacific have won these island bases from which our B-29s now may strike at will into the enemy homeland. No part of the Jap Empire is now out of our range, no war factory too remote to feel our homes. The Battle for Japan has been joined.
The systematic demolition of Japan’s war production, begun six months ago from China bases, henceforth will be carried out with decisive vigor, softening up the Japanese heart for the ultimate invasion of combined United Nations land, sea and air forces. This will not be accomplished in a short time. The battle is just beginning. But today we opened against Tokyo an attack which will be carried on relentlessly from the air until the day of land-sea invasion.
Tokyo is world’s third largest city, seat of empire
Washington (UP) –
Tokyo, bombed today by B-29 Superfortresses, is the heart of Japan’s vast conquered empire and the seat of her imperial government.
It is the world’s third largest city, having a population in 1940 of 6,580,000.
It is also the center of Japan’s most heavily-producing industrial area, and its 40,000 factories of all sizes include huge shipbuilding works, airplane and engine factories, oil refineries, chemical works and plants producing radio and electrical equipment, explosives and precision instruments.
There are no skyscrapers in Tokyo, but many modern steel and concrete buildings were built after the disastrous earthquake in 1923.
This modern business area borders on vast “matchbox” sections of unpainted wooden and bamboo dwellings. More than half the homes are one-story and most are highly inflammable.
Transportation consists of subways, buses, trolleys and bicycles. A network of canal and rivers is crossed by some 5,000 bridges.
Other raids by big B-29s
Washington (UP) –
The B-29 raid on Tokyo was the 18th wartime mission for the big four-engined U.S. bombers.
Here is a list of their raids:
Early June: Struck at Bangkok, Thailand, in a shakedown operation.
June 15: Smashed the steel works at Yawata, Japan’s “Pittsburgh.”
July 7: Again hit Yawata as well as Sasebo and Omura in Japan and Laoyao and Hankow in occupied China.
July 29: Raided Anshan, Manchuria, and Chenghsein and Tangku in occupied China.
August 10: Struck at Palembang, Sumatra, and Nagasaki, Japan.
August 20: Two raids – day and night – on Yawata, Japan.
September 8: Hit Anshan, Manchuria.
September 26: Smashed Anshan, Manchuria, and Dairen and Loyang, occupied China.
October 14: Raided Okayama, Formosa.
October 16: Raided Okayama and Heito, Formosa.
October 17: Hit Einansho, Formosa.
October 25: Struck at Omura aircraft plant, Japan.
November 3: Hit Rangoon, Burma.
November 5: Raided naval base at Singapore, oil refineries on Sumatra.
November 11: Attacked Omura, Japan, and Nanking and Shanghai in occupied China.
November 20: Hit Omura on Japan and Nanking and Shanghai, China.
November 24: Raided Tokyo.
Poll: Public now expects longer war in Europe
Majority give Nazis six month or more
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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National Guard may patrol world
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Labor unity on peace aims urged by CIO
World alliance of workers proposed
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At AFL convention –
OPA heads urges post-war ceilings
Bowles warns of danger of inflation
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Perkins: CIO faces delicate task of criticizing Roosevelt
But it will get around situation by blaming WLB for wartime wage controls
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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