Ohio State wins, 18–14
Harvath twice scores as Buckeyes triumph in dingdong contest
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Hornets defeat St. Louis Flyers, 6–3
Wasps win back lead in rough tilt marked by many penalties
By Joe Huhn
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Howard T. Colvin heads Conciliation Service
Washington (UP) – (Nov. 25)
Howard T. Colvin, assistant director of the U.S. Conciliation Service of the Department of Labor, became acting head of the service today as Dr. John R. Steelman left the post which he had held for 10 years.
Dr. Steelman, who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, expects to leave Washington for a rest before accepting a position in private industry or education.
Associates will tender him a dinner tomorrow night at the Statler Hotel. A formal departmental dinner in his honor is planned for next month, to be presided over by Miss Perkins.
Yanks delay turkey – to busy fighting
With the U.S. 3rd Army, France (UP) – (Nov. 25)
A U.S. unit commander on the 3rd Army front said his troops have been fighting so continuously for the past several days that they had no chance to eat their Thanksgiving dinner until late this afternoon.
Vorarlberger Tagblatt (November 27, 1944)
Schwere Enttäuschung in London
Ankündigungen, die nicht wahr wurden – kontrollierte Atlantikküste
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Die Japaner pausenlos am Feind
Drei Flugzeugträger, ein großer Kreuzer und ein Transporter versenkt
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Unsere Meinung: Er hat genug
Der amerikanische Kriegskorrespondent Ernie Pyle hat bisher 700.000 Worte über den Krieg gekabelt. Das hören wir von der amerikanischen Zeitschrift Life, die über Pyle sagt, er sei derjenige amerikanische Journalist, der die Empfindungen des einfachen Durchschnitts-amerikaners am besten mitfühle und am anschaulichsten wiedergebe.
Jetzt hat sich Pyle von der Kriegsberichterstattung zurückgezogen. An Bord eines Lazarettschiffes fährt er in die Staaten heim.
Was hat ihn bewogen, nicht noch weitere 700.000 Worte über den Krieg zu kabeln?
Pyle gibt eine Erklärung dafür. Er sagt:
Ich bin zu Ende. Meine geistige Ermüdung ist zu groß. Es sind Zuviel verwirrende, nachdenklich machende Eindrücke bei diesem Westfeldzug auf mich eingedrungen. Ich hatte das Gefühl, ich würde zusammenbrechen, wenn ich über diesen Krieg seit Beginn der Invasion noch einen weiteren Artikel schreiben sollte.
Dem Kriegsberichter Pyle scheint allesmögliche, aufgefallen zu sein bei diesem Westfeldzug des Generals Eisenhower. Darum ist er nachdenklich geworden. Er meint, es sei genug, wenn 700.000 Worte über diese Sache geschrieben worden sind.
Es ist eben vieles anders gekommen, als die nordamerikanischen Strategen, sich das gedacht hatten. Sie rechneten mit einem leichten Sieg, nun aber sehen sie sich gegen eine Mauer, die Feuer speit, anrennen.
Führer HQ (November 27, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
In der Schlacht bei Aachen trat bei Fortdauer der starken Angriffstätigkeit keine wesentliche Veränderung der Lage ein. Die Nordamerikaner wurden aus mehreren Orten geworfen. Stärker war der feindliche Druck im Wald von Hürtgen, um dessen Ostausgänge sich schwere Gefechte entwickelten. Unter erheblichen Menschen- und Panzerverlusten konnte der Feind nur einige kleinere Waldstücke gewinnen.
Die Besatzungen mehrerer Befestigungsanlagen im Umkreis von Metz setzen ihren Widerstand fort.
An der lothringischen Nordostgrenze führte die 3. amerikanische Armee auf breiter Front und mit stärkeren Kräften neue Angriffe. Sie tiefen sich im Raum östlich Sierck vor unseren Stellungen fest. Bei Bolchen und westlich Saint-Avold konnte der Gegner geringe Fortschritte erzielen. Unsere Truppen vernichteten in diesen Kämpfen 14 Panzer. Im Raum von Straßburg kam es zu keinen größeren Kampfhandlungen. Um den Markirchpass und den Gebirgskamm südöstlich Gérardmer wird heftig gekämpft.
Im Oberelsass versuchte der Gegner erneut, durch konzentrische Angriffe aus dem Raum nordöstlich Belfort und südwestlich Mülhausen die Burgundische Pforte zu öffnen. Bei Masmünster brachen seine Angriffe verlustreich zusammen. An der Schweizer Grenze gelang ihm unter starkem Panzereinsatz ein erneuter Einbruch entlang der Straße Delle-Basel.
Unser Fernfeuer auf die Räume von London, Antwerpen und Lüttich geht weiter.
In Mittelitalien hat der Abwehrerfolg unserer Truppen im Raum von Faenza die 8. britische Armee gestern zu einer Kampfpause gezwungen. Erst in den Nachmittagsstunden trat der Feind beiderseits der Stadt zu erneuten Angriffen an, die erfolglos blieben. Am Monte Belvedere südwestlich Vergato gehen die Kämpfe weiter.
Gegen den Straßenknotenpunkt Knin nordöstlich Sibenik in Dalmatien richten sich seit einiger Zeit heftige Angriffe gemischter feindlicher Verbände. Sie wurden abgewiesen.
Im Raum westlich Apatin und Batina stehen unsere Divisionen weiter in harten Abwehrkämpfen gegen starke bolschewistische Kräfte.
Zwischen Budapest und Tokaj ließ die Wucht der sowjetischen Angriffe gestern nach.
Bei Teilangriffen, die sämtlich zerschlagen wurden, verloren die Bolschewisten durch die wirksame Abwehr eines unserer Armeekorps 22 Panzer.
Schlachtflieger bekämpften in der Nacht mit gutem Erfolg den feindlichen Nachschub im Kampfraum von Budapest sowie Truppenansammlungen und Bereitstellungen bei Mohäcs. Eine Donaubrücke wurde zerstört.
In Kurland setzte der Feind seine Großangriffe infolge dpr erlittenen schweren Verluste an Menschen und Material gestern nicht fort.
Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber, die am Tage mit starkem Jagdschutz nach Nordwest- und Mitteldeutschland einflogen, warfen Bomben vornehmlich auf Wohngebiete verschiedener Städte und auf zahlreiche Landgemeinden.
Dabei entstanden besonders umfangreiche Schäden im Stadtgebiet von Hannover, das in letzter Zeit wiederholt das Ziel feindlicher Luftangriffe war, und in Hamm. 88 feindliche Flugzeuge wurden abgeschossen, darunter 61 viermotorige Bomber. In der Nacht griffen feindliche Flugzeuge München an.
Unterseeboote versenkten in harten Kämpfen aus dem feindlichen Geleitverkehr 6 Schiffe mit 33.500 BRT und 3 Zerstörer.
Im Raum östlich Budapest haben Verbände des Heeres und der Waffen-SS, unterstützt durchfliegende Verbände und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe unter Führung des Generals der Panzertruppe Kirchner in dreizehn Tage währenden Kämpfen alle Durchbruchsversuche zahlenmäßig überlegenen Feindes vereitelt und 272 Panzer vernichtet. Die Luftwaffe schoss in der gleichen Zeit in diesem Abschnitt weitere 63 Panzer sowie 73 Flugzeuge ab.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (November 27, 1944)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
271100A November
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR
(2) NAVY DEPARTMENT
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(3) TAC HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) MAIN 12 ARMY GP
(5) SHAEF AIR STAFF
(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) UNITED KINGDOM BASE
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM ZONE
(18) SHAEF REAR
(19) NEWS DIV. MINIFORM, LONDON
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 233
Allied forces, continuing to clear the Maas Pocket, have reached the river between Blitterswijck and Broekhuizen, north of the Venlo defenses, only scattered pockets of enemy remain west of the Maas.
Fighters and fighter-bombers, supporting our ground forces in Holland, hit gun positions, strong points and fortified buildings. Medium and fighter-bombers struck at communications, transport, airfields, and military barracks in northern and eastern Holland and over the German frontier.
In the Geilenkirchen area, enemy troop concentrations and armored units were attacked by fighter-bombers.
In the area west of Jülich, we contained counterattacks by infantry and tanks. Farther south, Weisweiler has been cleared after stubborn house-to-house fighting and we have advanced to the east. Fighting continues for high ground south of Langerwehe and our forces continue to make slow progress in the forest south of Hürtgen.
South of Jülich, fighter-bombers broke up a counterattack by enemy armor. Other fighter-bombers bombed Düren and Langerwehe and troops and gun positions in the area.
Communications and transport behind the enemy line in Germany were attacked by fighter-bombers which hit rolling stock in the Köln, Koblenz and Giessen areas. Railway yards at Rheydt were the targets for escorted medium bombers.
Fortified towns along the Saar River were bombed by fighter-bombers.
Southwest of Merzig in the Saar Valley our forces have reached Oberesch.
General gains were made in the area east of Metz despite enemy counterattacks. Fort Sommy and Fort Saint-Blaise were captured, and Fort Marival was abandoned by the enemy. Allied units made gains of one and one-half miles to take Ricrange, 17 miles northeast of Metz, and other elements are in Zimming, northwest of Saint-Avold.
The Gutenbrunner Forest north of Fénétrange is being cleared and we have advanced up to three miles to reach Honskirch.
North of Saarburg, we have repulsed counterattacks and regained lost ground.
Our forces, advancing from the Saint-Dié region, have pushed through the Saales Pass in the Vosges Mountains and reached the Alsace Plain west of Strasbourg. Our grip on Strasbourg was tightened with the capture of a dozen forts near the city. Prisoners included two generals.
In the southern Vosges, further progress was made toward clearing the enemy from mountain passes and narrowing his salient in the Belfort Gap.
Ammunition and fuel dumps at Homburg, Giessen and Bergzabern were attacked without loss by medium and light bombers.
Escorted heavy bombers without loss attacked objectives in western Germany.
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 FA2409
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/U.S. Navy Department (November 27, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 191
Revised estimates of damage done by carrier-based aircraft of the Third Fleet in strikes on enemy shipping around Luzon in the Philippines on November 24 (West Longitude Date) are as follows:
This is primarily a revision as to types rather than an appreciable increase in number of ships sunk. The number of ships damaged is increased.
SUNK
- One heavy cruiser at Santa Cruz, on the west coast of Luzon (Communiqué No. 190).
- One destroyer at Santa Cruz.
- Two old destroyers at Marinduque Island.
- Three medium landing ships, 10 miles west of Santa Cruz.
- One destroyer escort 10 miles west of Santa Cruz.
- One cargo ship north of San Fernando.
- One small cargo ship off Subic Bay.
- Four oilers near Lubang Islands.
- Four small coastal cargo ships at Banton Island.
- Two luggers west of Bataan.
DAMAGED:
- Two cargo ships, hit in previous raids, near San Fernando, torpedoed, beached and wrecked.
- One cargo ship, previously damaged, bombed and set ablaze, 30 miles south of San Fernando.
- Three landing craft beached near Santa Cruz.
- Two medium cargo ships bombed and believed sunk off Hermana Mayor Island.
- One small oiler bombed and wrecked on beach near Del Monte northwest Mindoro.
- Two destroyers or small transports, bombed at Marinduque.
- One oiler, three large cargo ships, two medium cargo ships, one small coastal cargo ship and one small cargo ship, hit in Manila Harbor.
- Three luggers hit near the South shore entrance to Manila Bay. Six luggers hit on West coast of Bataan.
A total of 58 enemy planes were shot down by our fighters and ships’ anti-aircraft fire and 29 more were destroyed on the ground with probable damage to an additional 32 on the ground.
Six enemy fighters were shot down by our fighter planes over Saipan and Pagan in the Marianas on November 26 and seven more were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire.
Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force on November 24, bombed shore installations at Chichijima in the Bonins and Iwo Jima in the Volcanos. An enemy radio station was hit at Chichijima and bombs were dropped on installations at an airfield on Iwo Jima.
Mitchell bombers of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing struck harbor installations and shipping at Chichijima on November 25.
Fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing on November 24, strafed and set afire an ammunition dump, power installations and a lumber mill and struck other targets on Babelthuap in the Palaus. Enemy-held bases throughout the Northern Palaus were attacked by Marine Hellcat fighters. On the same date Marine Avengers and Corsairs bombed the airstrips on Yap.
Fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing scored a direct hit on radio installations on Rota in the Marianas on November 25.
On November 25, planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing continued attacks neutralizing enemy-held islands in the Marshalls.
The Pittsburgh Press (November 27, 1944)
B-29s ROCK TOKYO, BANGKOK
Japan, Thailand hit in first east-west raid
Superfortresses take off from Saipan, India
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YANKS SLUG ON TOWARD COLOGNE
Paratroop stab behind Rhine hinted
First Army closing arc against Düren
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer
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Stettinius appointed Secretary of State as Hull’s successor
Cabinet member quits because of health
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
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Hurley nominated as envoy to China
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‘The Twilight of the Gods’ –
Reich civilians drag half alive through days, nights of terror
Bombs raze their homes, but they struggle on, spurred by Himmler’s sadistic cutthroats
By Nat A. Barrows
Stockholm, Sweden –
Inside the besieged and doomed fortress of Germany, some 80 million Herrenvolk brace themselves dismally, but fanatically, for ever greater sacrifices.
Against them, from the west, east and south, presses the mightiest coordinated assault in history. Their Damocles’ sword stirs ominously in the repercussions of “earthquake bombs,” infantry penetrations, home front shortages and increasing Nazi demands for more manpower, more production, more sacrifices.
What is going on there behind the West Wall? What is the picture inside Germany today as the twilight of its approaching sixth war winter foreshadows a new version of “the twilight of the gods”? What are the Germans doing and thinking and experiencing while their day of retribution draws inevitably closer?
Part of the story of life inside Germany can be told from Stockholm – gathered from neutral travelers, deserters, escaped prisoners, Swedish correspondents, and the Nazi press.
First, let us examine German civilians in the west.
Overstrained by excessive factory labors, trench-digging, Volkssturm (People’s Army) drills, and unending dashes to air-raid shelters, civilians immediately behind the West Wall shamble through their rubble like zombies, only half alive. Terror haunts them every minute – terror of bombs, terror of what the Nazis tell them will follow Allied victory, terror of what cruelties Heinrich Himmler’s sadistic cutthroats will inflict for the slightest deviation from Nazi policies.
Goebbels rants: We want revenge
Into their bomb-deafened ears, Propaganda Minister Goebbels’ frenzied propaganda line rants unceasingly:
Never cry for mercy… never bend the proud German neck under the foot of the Mongol or Jew… We want revenge, revenge… We have but one will: To use the cruelest means ever invented by German brains.
They have been mesmerized by their leaders into amazing feats of endurance and their outlook remains utterly fanatical.
But the strain is terrific. One informant now in Sweden reports a growing undercurrent among civilians in the Ruhr, Saar and Wurm districts for relief from their nightmares. Their heads swirl and their backs ache and they drag themselves wearily from one regimented task to another. But any mass desires for capitulation perish quickly before Gestapo and SS firing squads.
They are caught in the trap they long ago permitted the Nazis to build around them and so they carry on now, ready to fight to the death, ready for any sacrifice.
Health problems grow worse daily. Sewage backs up; unboiled water has become deadlier than bomb blasts; defective gas mains cause explosions in streets and homes.
The Nazis do not release any trustworthy figures on the number of casualties after bombing raids. Some idea, however, can be obtained by frequent notices in the papers that local crematories cannot receive any more bodies for so many days, in some cases as long as a week.
Transportation in target cities approaches chaos. After a heavy raid, only the main streets are cleared. Rescue squads have specific instructions not to bother with wrecked buildings until approachable cellars have been searched.
One notice reads:
It is too dangerous to crawl amid debris and it takes too much time. Besides, people in such wreckage probably are dead, anyway.
The housing shortage is nearly as serious as the problem of bringing in food for target cities. Special food trains are “everywhere” after air raids, each capable of supplying 8,000 meals daily in three shifts, but the shelter problem grows more acute with each new ton of Allied bombs.
Hospital trains rumble day and night
In Duisburg, for instance, the authorities will permit repairs only to the kitchen and one room due to the shortage of labor and materials. Civilians of all cities must share their homes with shelterless persons – the minimum of two to each room. Two children under 14 count as one person.
The Nazis admit:
Hospital trains rumble day and night from bombed areas, every kind of store and shop is being closed if it is anyway possible. Textile trains bring in clothes for victims but the need for clothing is desperate.
Provincial newspapers bear out travelers’ reports of the utmost confusion near shelters and bunkers during air raids. It has reached the stage where arrests are being made for “unnecessary complaints” about inadequate shelter space. Dozens of small-town papers this week carry warnings that civilians must accept the fact that not everybody is able to find safety inside shelters and, therefore, must conduct themselves properly at entrances.
Factory workers must return to their jobs immediately the all-clear sounds, “regardless of whether their own homes have been hit.” The frequency of alarms is helping the Allies greatly in reducing manufacturing output.
Now that our armies drive against the Rhine, the Germans have less prewarning of air raids than ever before. The new Nazi warning system – the Akute Luftgefahr – sounds more frequently than any other. The Akute Luftgefahr alarm means that all work must halt immediately and workers take shelter.
The earlier alert – the Vollalarm – gives some 10- or 12-minutes’ warning but workers cannot leave their benches until the Akute Luftgefahr sounds.
“The new arrangement was made because we cannot possibly stand up under constant alarm,” says the Nazi explanation. It adds significantly: “But in the front cities, the raids come too quickly for us.”
Some cities no longer have electricity for their air alert system and are now forced to resort to buglers deployed on rooftops, sounding three blasts when they actually see incoming bombers.
By then, it is usually too late to attain outside shelters.
Hour by hour, the echoes of the Luftwaffe bomber planes over Rotterdam, Warsaw, Stalingrad, London, return to the Fatherland in thundering retribution.
Prospective Dorsey jurors asked about home security
Hollywood courtroom is packed as tootler, his wife and gambler go on trial
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White House short, but HE still gets ‘em
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Mrs. Gimbel, 81, dies
New York (UP) –
Mrs. Rachel Feustmann Gimbel, 81, widow of Isaac Gimbel, died at her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, today. Her husband was one of the founders of Gimbel Brothers department stores. Mrs. Gimbel is survived by two sons, Bernard F. Gimbel (president of Gimbel Bros., Inc.) and Frederic A. Gimbel (managing director of the firm), and Mrs. Edward C. Goldstein of Baltimore.