Reich split-up urged by Reds, London hears
Russia aims for security of borders
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer
…
Several general officers demoted for inefficiency
Army withholds names because men are given chance to redeem themselves
…
Wider civilian aluminum uses are predicted
Production exceeds war needs in 1944
By L. W. Wilson, Aluminum Company of American vice president
(UP) – The aluminum industry in 1944 went far enough “over the top” in supplying war needs to permit WPB to close down entirely a number of government-owned aluminum plants, releasing thousands of workers to shell plants and other critical industries which need them badly.
Even with substantial reduction in Alcoa’s production, aluminum is still being made in this country at a rate three times that of the peacetime peak.
During 1944, ever-increasing quantities of the metal poured into new military applications. Because of its availability, aluminum was not only returned to these military uses for which other materials had been substituted in many cases for other materials less plentiful in supply.
The new year should see growing amounts of aluminum going into the semi-military and civilian uses which must be expanded as rapidly as manpower may be safely diverted to their development.
Aluminum cars built
Prime examples of semi-military uses are airplane building mats weighing about half as much as the older steel type, and aluminum gasoline drums weighing 21 pounds each, compared with 52 pounds for those of other materials. typical of civilian uses are aluminum boxcar.
Wherever possible, surplus aluminum stock left in military stores, has been utilized. A quantity of aluminum sheet belonging to the Army was recently turned over to the Navy for use as siding and roofing in the construction of Navy warehouses thereby saving other more critical materials.
Aluminum manufacturers during 1944 developed a number of new alloys of military importance and of far-reaching peacetime significance. A new Alcoa alloy, 75S, has a yield strength about twice that of the strong aluminum alloys used only a few years ago, and an ultimate strength exceeding 80,000 pounds per square inch.
To meet urgent civilian demands for aluminum, WPB issued during the latter half of 1944, a series of authorizations for the use of the metal in cases where manpower would not be taken from essential war work and where other more critical materials could be replaced. Whenever the manufacture of a particular item was authorized, permission to use aluminum was granted.
Metal’s use approved
Aluminum truck and trailer bodies are now being built under WPB authorizations. Among such authorized uses of aluminum during the past year were collapsible tubes, metal containers including cans, tank bodies, motorcycles, electrical wiring devices, domestic laundry equipment, automatic phonographs, caskets, burial vaults, furniture and furniture parts, aluminum paint, light power-driven tools, cooking utensils, food processing machinery, engineering instruments and industrial type lighting equipment.
Although military demands for aluminum continue to create a manpower problem in many localities where fabricating plants are located, the facilities for producing the metal in all its forms in this country have stimulated a vast interest in the peacetime prospects for this light, versatile material.
The lowered price of aluminum ingot, now 25 percent below pre-war levels, and the fact that many thousands of additional workers are familiar with the characteristics and advantages of aluminum through its widespread use in the manufacture of war materials, give indication of a greatly enlarged civilian market after the war.
Many new uses for aluminum, as well as the expansion of markets already established, are in the offing.
Radio to bid 1944 farewell
Dancing tonight, football Monday
By Si Steinhauser
If you are inclined to dance the old year out, all you need do is turn on your radio about 11:30 ET tonight and dance until you are so tired you can’t dance any longer.
WJAS will join the CBS dance across the country and sign off at 3:00 a.m.
KQV will string along until 2:00 a.m.
KDKA goes along until 3:00, and WCAE until 4:00 a.m.
There will be prayerful farewells to 1944 on WCAE at 10:30 with Bishop Oxnam, president of the Council of Churches of Christ in America, as speaker.
Tomorrow is “football day” with four games on local stations and a fifth, the Rose Bowl, daddy of them all, avoided by KDKA. Manager Joe Baudino felt last year and still feels that local interest in the Rose Bowl is below par so he won’t broadcast it. But he will give scores at the end of each quarter.
Here’s the lineup:
| 1:45 | WJAS | Orange Bowl, Georgia Tech-Tulsa. Ted Husing at the mike. |
| 2:00 | WCAE | Cotton Bowl, Texas Christian-Oklahoma. Bill Slater at mike. |
| 2:45 | KQV | Sugar Bowl, Duke-Alabama. Harry Wismer at mike. |
| 4:45 | WCAE | East-West, Ernie Smith at mike. |
| 4:45 | NBC (but not KDKA) | Rose Bowl. S. California-Tennessee. Bill Stern working his eight consecutive and NBC’s 18th consecutive description of this game. |
If you have an all-wave set you will find the Rose Bowl game all over the shortwave dial since it will be broadcast around the world to servicemen. On standard dials you may find the game on WTAM Cleveland, or WLW Cincinnati. Key station for the network is WEAF New York.
Rose Bowl broadcasts are taken as a matter of routine by radio-sports fans and probably only those in radio recall that the broadcast of this game on Jan. 1, 1927, was the first broadcast on the Pacific Coast to the Eastern Seaboard. The Rose Bowl game is not sponsored. The other four are, all by one firm, using 1,460 stations during the day. The games will be different, the ad blurbs the same.
Other important events of the New Year’s first day:
| 7:00 | WJAS | Jack Kirkwood launches his own madcap show. Lillian Leigh (Mrs. Kirkwood) will co-star. |
| 8:30 | WJAS | Gracie Allen and George Burns move to Monday night. Charles Boyer will be their guest. |
| 9:00 | WJAS | Cecil B. DeMille presents Laraine Day, John Hodiak and Marsha Hunt in Bride by Mistake. |
| 10:00 | WJAS | Guy Lombardo moves from Saturday to Monday in a new series. |
Andrews Sisters fans will celebrate today when the trio launches their own commercial with Bing Crosby, their first guest. KQV is the station, 4:30 the time. George “Gabby” Hayes will be their permanent foil and Vic Shoen, who has accompanied the girls on all the recordings, will lead the orchestra.
Bill Goodwin is off the Burns and Allen shows for keeps. Harry von Zell will replace him. Goodwin becomes the comedy star of Frank Sinatra broadcasts.
Pittsburgh’s Dr. Fritz Reiner will conduct the Cleveland Orchestra broadcast of Brahm’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major over WCAE at 7:00 tonight.
Quentin Reynolds takes over as air editor of Radio Digest on WJAS at 9 o’clock.
At 6:00, Paul Whiteman will present an hour-long version of Show Boat with Charles Winninger in his original stage role of “Cap’n Andy.” Helen Forrest will sing the late Helen Morgan’s role of “Julie” and Kathryn Grayson will be “Magnolia.” Allan Jones will be “Gaylord Ravenal.”
As a special feature for music lovers, the Telephone Hour will present Fritz Kreisler in his third broadcast Monday night at 9:00 via KDKA.
The year had its high-spot laughs and its tragic moments on the air. Funniest laugh, we think was provided by Charlie “Finnegan” Cantor of Duffy’s Tavern when he kissed Dorothy Lamour then mumbled, “I wasn’t impressed” and on second trial commentated. “Just confirmed my opinion in the first place.”
A lot of people said a lot of words on the air, millions and millions of them. Bob Hope touched the hearts of everyone who heard him on D-Day Plus One and for those who didn’t hear him, we had his words copied from a recording. Bob adlibbed on that fateful Tuesday night as American boys scrambled up the shores of France:
What’s happened during these last few hours not one of us will ever forget – how could we forget. We sat up all night by the radio and heard the bulletins, the flashes, and voices coming across from England, the commentators, the pilots returning from their greatest of all missions, newsboys yelling in the streets and it seemed that one world was wending and a new world beginning – that history was closing one book and opening a new one, and somehow, we knew it had to be a better one.
You sat there and dawn began to sneak in and you thought of the hundreds of thousands of kids you’d seen at camps in the past two or three years. The kids who screamed and whistled when they heard a gag and a song, and now you could see all of them in 4,000 ships on the English Channel, tumbling out of thousands of planes over Normandy and the occupied coast in countless landing barges crashing the Nazi gate and going on through to do the job that’s the job of all of us.
The sun came up and you sat there looking at that huge black headline: that one great black word with the exclamation point, INVASION! The one word that the whole world has waited for – that all of us have worked for. We knew we would wake up one morning and have to meet it face to face, the word in which America has invested everything these 30 long months, the efforts of millions of Americans building planes and weapons, the shipyards and the men who took the stuff across, little kids buying war stamps and housewives straining bacon grease, farmers working around the clock, millions of young men sweating it out in camps and fighting the battles that paved the way for that headline that morning.
Now the investment must pay for this generation and all generations to come. And folks, what a wonderful thing it is that no matter the price, the reward will be greater than the sacrifice. We hope that thought can go along with a prayer tonight – the prayer of a whole nation – “GOD BLESS THOSE KIDS ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.”
Now to steal from Fibber McGee: “May your ’45 really be loaded.”
Dear Ruth reminds him of 4 other plays
Nevertheless, it is very funny, so Jack Gaver gives it his approval
By Jack Gaver, United Press drama editor
…
A film star is born, and here’s how!
Lanky, Pouty, Lauren Bacall is good example of the procedure
By Maxine Garrison
…
1944, a year of violence
January
January 1:
- Year begins with Eisenhower in England as commander of Allied invasion forces as gigantic air raids pound Hitler’s Europe.
- Allies in Pacific fighting on newly-invaded Gilberts and New Britain.
- Allied troops in Italy approaching Mount Cassino in drive toward Rome.
- Soviets poised on Polish border.
- U.S. Congress debating soldier vote law.
- 3,000,000 U.S. fighting men overseas.
- U.S. shipbuilding at rate of 25,000,000 tons a year.
- U.S. plane production at rate of 9,000 planes a month.
- U.S. war casualties total 139,752.
January 4: Soviets cross Polish border.
January 13: Allied planes bomb Bangkok.
January 18: Fourth War Loan opens with $14 billion quota.
January 19: 100,000 planes set for year’s production goal.
January 20: Russians retake Novgorod.
January 22: Allies land at Anzio.
January 27: Leningrad breaks Nazi siege; Liberia declares war on Axis.
January 29:
- USS Missouri, most powerful warship, launched.
- William Allen White dies.
January 30: Army releases 70 colleges from air force training.
January 31: Allies land on Roi and Kwajalein in Marshall, Jap territory.
February
February 4: U.S. warships shell Paramushiru.
February 8: Russians clear last Germans from Dnieper east bank.
February 9: Senate rejects food subsidy plan.
February 14: Nation’s farm income for 1943 rose to $19,009,000,000.
February 15: Allies bomb German-fortified Mount Cassino abbey.
February 16:
- Allied fleet attacks Truk, downing 16 ships and 201 planes.
- Roosevelt puts War Relocation Authority under Ickes.
February 22: President vetoes tax bill.
February 24:
- MacArthur announces Allied control of Bismarck Archipelago.
- House overrides tax veto.
February 25:
- Senate overrides tax veto.
- Senator Charles L. McNary dies.
February 27: Announce ship loss slashed to 1% on way to Russia.
February 29: Yanks land on Admiralty Island.
March
March 8: 2,000 U.S. planes attack Berlin in greatest daylight raid.
March 12: U.S. paratroops drop behind Jap lines in Burma to hold Ledo Road.
March 13: Russians take Kherson.
March 15: Congress adopts states’ rights soldier vote bill.
March 17: G.I. “Bill of Rights” voted by Senate group.
March 18: War chiefs agree to defer 40,000 key men under 26.
March 19:
- Russians cross Dniester River.
- Allied troops in Italy see Vesuvius in its most violent eruption in 38 years.
March 27: Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of price control, portal pay for miners.
March 29: U.S. participation in UNRRA authorized.
March 30: Russians enter Romania.
March 31: Wayne Lonergan judged guilty of second-degree murder of his wife.
April
April 5: Willkie leaves presidential race after defeat in Wisconsin primaries.
April 10: Russians win Odessa.
April 16: Tornado kills 40, injures 500 in Georgia, South Carolina.
April 17: Sedition trial of 30 opens.
April 18: House group drafts proposal to draft 4-Fs for war jobs.
April 19:
- Tommy Hitchcock killed in plane crash in England.
- House extends Lend-Lease Act for a year.
April 20: Allied carrier force attacks Sumatra.
April 22: Yanks land in northern New Guinea.
April 26: U.S. troops seize Ward’s after Avery defies Roosevelt order.
April 28: Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox dies.
May
May 2: U.S. ships sink 17 Jap ships, down 126 planes off Truk.
May 3: Synthetic quinine is produced, ending century search.
May 5: Tax simplification bill voted by House.
May 8:
- Russians win Sevastopol.
- Senate voted Lend-Lease year’s extension.
May 10: Public debt increase from $210 billion to $240 billion voted by House.
May 18:
- Allies take Cassino
- Yanks take Wadke Island.
May 19: James V. Forrestal takes oath as Secretary of the Navy.
May 20: Senate passes tax simplification bill.
May 22: Suspension power of OPA is upheld by Supreme Court.
May 27: Yanks invade Biak Island, in the Schoutens.
June
June 2:
- U.S. bombers land in Russia, in first “shuttle” raid.
- Nazis announce six American fliers lynched by German mob.
June 4: Rome falls to Allies.
June 6: ALLIES INVADE EUROPE.
June 12: Fifth War Loan opens, with goal of $16 billion.
June 13: House passes compromise version of “G.I. Bill of Rights.”
June 14: Yanks land on Saipan.
June 15:
- First B-29 raid on Japan.
- Nazis launch robot bombs on England.
June 19:
- U.S. Task Force 58 defeats Jap fleet between Marianas and Philippines.
- Allies occupy Elba.
- Ralph A. Bard becomes Under Secretary of the Navy.
June 22: President signs “G.I. Bill of Rights.”
June 26: Reds take Vitebsk, Zlobin.
June 27: Allies take Cherbourg.
June 28: Republicans nominate Dewey, Bricker.
June 30: AAF terminates aircrew-training programs in 81 colleges.
July
July 1: World monetary conference opens.
July 3:
- Russians retake Minsk.
- U.S. women Marines reach 19,000 quota.
July 6:
- Circus fire in Hartford, Connecticut, cost 146 lives.
- 66 miners die in Ohio pit fire.
July 8: Caen, Saipan fall to Allies.
July 11: Roosevelt announces fourth-term candidacy.**
July 16: Russian take Grodno.
July 18:
- Allies take Saint-Lô, Leghorn.
- 350 die in West Coast munitions ship’s explosion.
July 19: Allies take Livorno.
July 20:
- YANKS LAND ON GUAM.
- Tojo cabinet ousted.
- Hitler escapes bomb, “purges” German Army.
July 21: Truman named Democratic vice-presidential candidate.
July 22: 44 nations approve fund, bank pacts as world monetary parley ends.
July 23:
- Soviets open summer offensive, take Pskov.
- Allies land on Tinian Island.
July 24:
- Soviets take Lublin.
- Basil O’Connor new Red Cross head.
July 26-29: Roosevelt, MacArthur, Nimitz confer in Hawaii.
July 28: Soviets take Brest-Litovsk.
July 29:
- Allies take Coutances.
- B-29s bomb Jap industries in Manchuria.
- Soviets take Kaunas.
July 30: Allies invade Sansapor, 600 miles from the Philippines.
July 31: Allies begin aerial blitz on Nazi supply routes and transport lines in France and Germany.
August
August 1:
- Allies capture: Brécey, France – Pisa, Italy.
- Philippine President Quezon dies.
August 2: Turkey breaks with Germany.
August 4: Allies take: Rennes, France – Florence, Italy – Myitkyina, Burma.
August 6:
- Soviets take Drohobycz, Poland.
- U.S., Britain agree on international oil body.
August 6-8: B-29s hit Davao, in the first attack on the Philippines since Corregidor.
August 8:
- Soviets take Krustpils, Latvia.
- Japs take Hengyang.
August 10:
- Allies take Guam.
- B-29s bomb Nagasaki, Japan.
- B-29s destroy huge refinery on Sumatra.
August 15:
- Allies land in southern France.
- WPB releases hundreds of articles for civilian output.
August 17:
- Allies take Orleans, Saint-Malo.
- Soviets reach East Prussia.
August 21: U.S., Britain, Russia open peace talks at Dumbarton Oaks.
August 22:
- Soviets take Iasi, Romania.
- House votes war property surplus bill.
August 23:
- Allies invade southern France near Bordeaux.
- Allies take Grenoble, Marseilles.
- Romania breaks with Axis.
August 24: Allies take Bordeaux.
August 25:
- Allies take Paris, Cannes, Lyon.
- Nazis flee robot bomb coast.
- Bulgaria surrenders to Allies.
- Romania declares war on Germany.
- Senate votes war surplus property bill.
August 27: Allies take Toulon.
August 28:
- Allies take Château-Thierry.
- Soviets drive into Transylvania.
August 30: Soviets take Ploesti oil fields.
September
September 1:
- Allies take Verdun, Argonne.
- Soviets take Bucharest.
- Bodies of 51 beheaded by Japs on Guam are found.
September 2:
- Allies race through Alsace-Lorraine, cross Belgian frontier, take Compiègne Forest, Dieppe, Abbeville, Saint-Mihiel.
- Allies in Italy break Gothic Line.
September 4:
- Allies take Antwerp, Brussels.
- Finns, Russians cease fight.
- Dumbarton Oaks parley backs international use of force to keep peace.
September 5:
- Russia declares war on Bulgaria.
- Allies enter Luxembourg, Holland.
September 6:
- Bulgaria, Russian sign armistice.
- Soviets take Ostroleka, Poland.
September 7:
- Soviets cross Danube into Yugoslavia.
- Allies take Ghent, Armentières.
- Bulgaria declares war on Germany.
September 8:
- Soviets drive through Bulgaria to Greek frontier.
- Allies take Liège, Metz.
- Soviets take Varna.
September 9-12: Huge Allied task force shells Mindanao, the Philippines.
September 10: Allies shell German soil, take Luxembourg.
September 11:
- ALLIES ENTER GERMANY.
- Soviets take Krosno.
- Roosevelt, Churchill in Quebec for 10th meeting.
- Allies land on Halmahera Island and Palau.
September 17:
- Allied airborne troops land behind German lines in Holland.
- Hull pledges support to international news freedom.
September 19:
- Allies take Eindhoven, Holland.
- Soviets take Valga.
September 20: Allies take Boulogne, Brest.
September 20-21: U.S. Third Fleet smashes 103 Jap ships, 405 planes, in Manila assault.
September 22:
- Allies take Rimini, Italy, sweep into Po Valley.
- Allies enter Arnhem, Holland.
- Soviets take Tallinn, cross Vistula.
September 24: Survey shows 6,500,000 women took jobs since Pearl Harbor.
September 25:
- Soviets enter Hungary, Slovakia.
- Allies win Gothic Line.
September 27: Allies invade Albania, islands of Yugoslavia.
September 29: China enters Dumbarton Oaks talks as Russian phase ends.
October
October 1: Allies take Calais.
October 2: Allies start offensive drive through Siegfried Line.
October 3:
- Polish patriots give up battle inside Warsaw.
- Germans abandon southern Greece.
October 4:
- Soviets join Partisans in Yugoslavia.
- World Series opens in St. Louis.
- Al Smith dies.
October 7: Japs take Foochow.
October 8:
- U.S. fleet shells Marcus Island.
- Wendell Willkie dies.
October 9: St. Louis Cardinals win World Series.
October 10:
- Allies take Corinth.
- U.S. fleet shells Ryukyu Island.
October 12-13: Allied carrier force strikes Formosa.
October 13:
- Greeks liberate Athens, Piraeus.
- Soviets take Riga.
October 14: New “super-fuel” is developed for carrier-based planes.
October 15:
- Soviets take Petsamo.
- Rommel’s death announced.
October 18: Soviets drive into Czechoslovakia.
October 19:
- MACARTHUR LANDS IN THE PHILIPPINES.
- Soviets drive into East Prussia.
October 20:
- Allies take Aachen.
- Soviets take Belgrade.
- 200 die in Cleveland gas tank explosion.
- British Eighth Army takes Cesena.
October 22-27: Allies sink 24 Jap ships, damage 33, down 150 Jap planes in air-sea battle off the Philippines.
October 25: Soviets drive into Norway.
October 28:
- Bulgaria signs armistice.
- Stilwell relieved of command.
- Allies in the Philippines take Samar.
November
November 2:
- Luftwaffe loses 288 planes in air battle over Merseburg.
- Allies take Vossenack, Germeter.
November 4: Last German forces driven from Greece.
November 4-5: Allies destroy 440 Jap planes, sink or damage 30 Jap ships in Manila-Southern Luzon area.
November 5: B-29s raid Singapore.
November 7:
- Roosevelt, Truman elected. Democrats gain in Senate and House.
- Employees’ right to uniform vacation basis upheld by WLB.
November 9: U.S. battle casualties pass 500,000 mark.
November 11: Allies sink Jap convoy of 8,000 troops.
November 12:
- Allies sink Nazi battleship Tirpitz.
- Sixth War Loan drive opens with $14 billion goal.
November 15: Allies land on Mapia Island, above New Guinea.
November 16: Byrnes named Reconversion Director.
November 17: Lt. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler succeeds Gen. Stilwell as deputy commander in Southeast Asia.
November 19: Allies enter Saar Basin.
November 20:
- Allies cross Rhine, pierce Maginot forts.
- Allies take Metz, Belfort.
November 21: President names Nelson “personal representative” to China.
November 22: Allies drive to Roer River.
November 24: B-29s attack Tokyo for the first time.
November 27: Stettinius named Secretary of State as Hull resigns.
December
December 2: Allies take Antwerp.
December 5:
- Stettinius criticizes British policy in Italy and other liberated countries.
- Allies take Ravenna, Italy.
December 7: Mass sedition trial ends in mistrial after the death of Judge Eicher.
December 10: Allies take Ormoc.
December 11: Allies seize Sarreguemines, Haguenau.
December 12: Cold wave grips nation.
December 14: U.S. casualties for World War II rise to 562,468.
December 15: Seventh Army invades Reich. Patch’s troops cross border from Alsace.
December 16:
- MacArthur’s forces invade Mindoro Island, 130 miles from Manila.
- NAZIS OPEN COUNTEROFFENSIVE along 70-mile front, drive into Belgium and Luxembourg.
December 20:
- German sweep continues.
- Churchill admits Big Three discord in liberated Europe.
December 26:
- Churchill, in Athens to settle civil war, escapes death plot.
- Germans smash 11 miles with renewed force, threaten Meuse line.
December 27:
- B-29s hammer Tokyo in fifth big-scale raid.
- Yanks halt Meuse drive.
December 28: Army seizes Montgomery Ward & Company stores in seven cities.
December 30: Germans thrown back by Gen. Patton’s Third Army.
Author analyzes Japan’s post-war position
Willis Lamont taught natives – Limitations may hinder peace plans
…
Bowl games launch new sports year
Tulsa vs. Tech shapes hottest of six holiday grid battles carded
…
WACs provide color –
Bowl contagion grips G.I.’s in tests near battlefronts
…
‘DiMag’s’ heart set on return to game
…
Coddle city editors –
Williams: Fearing 1945 blackout, sports writers lower their scholarly noses
By Joe Williams
…
U.S. Navy Department (December 31, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 707
For Immediate Release
December 31, 1944
The naval war in the Pacific during 1944
(Distances are in nautical miles)
The year 1944 saw a great amphibious offensive unfold in the Pacific. The forces of the United Nations, spearheaded and sustained by the United States Pacific Fleet, drove in massive lunges through Japan’s ill-gotten conquests, moving 1,830 miles westward from Tarawa and Makin to anchor their armed might securely in the Marianas. From there, systematic bombarding of Tokyo and other Japanese industrial centers has begun.
From the jungles of New Britain, the front was pushed 1,600 miles north and west to the Philippines. As of today, the enemy’s defensive arc from Paramushiru in the northern Kurils to Manila, 2,780 miles in extent, is within effective range of our fleet and shore-based aircraft. To U.S. offensive forces in the Marianas and Philippines, as elsewhere in the Pacific, a constant procession of cargo vessels is carrying thousands of tons of supplies. These two points are 4,938 miles and 6,056 miles, respectively, from San Francisco. No military operation has ever embraced such dimensions.
There is evidence that the enemy counted on slow and painful forward steps by our forces, instead of swift advances. Radio Tokyo told its listeners recently that speed is an “outstanding trait” of the American people. “The enemy has come pressing upon us,” Tokyo explained, “skipping three or four steps in one jump, for the step‑by‑step method was not speedy enough for him.”
In seizing positions in the pivotal Philippines, a strategic victory has been consummated. A string of island bases along the southern perimeter of Japan’s inner sea has been established. From them can be launched drives against the home Empire. At the same time, Japan is being cut off from the rich military resources of the Indies – the empire she coveted, won and planned to exploit without hindrance.
Japan’s leaders are well aware of the strategic import of the battle of the Philippines. It is a battle which, according to their own propaganda, they know they must not lose. This was indicated when the Japanese Imperial Fleet, long in hiding, steamed forth in a supreme effort to destroy the forces covering the beachhead won on Leyte. The U.S. Navy then came to grips with, and thoroughly defeated, a major force of the Japanese Navy in the three actions of Surigao Straits, Samar and of Cape Engano.
These three actions constituted the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, the culminating sea engagement of the year, which was symbolic of the destruction wrought upon the Japanese military machine throughout the Pacific.
During the year, U.S. surface ships and aircraft sank two of the enemy’s battleships, five of his aircraft carriers, seven of his heavy cruisers, well over 300 cargo ships and transports, and about 200 other vessels, with the grand total reaching 550 ships, according to tentative figures now available. These figures do not include any ships probably sunk or damaged, or any ships destroyed by our submarines. They do not include any of the hundreds of barges, luggers and other small cargo craft sunk. And they refer only to activity in the Pacific Ocean Areas exclusive of the Southwest Pacific Command.
U.S. submarines sank 468 Japanese ships during the first 11 months of 1944, according to Navy Department communiqués. This total includes four light cruisers and 17 destroyers. Forty‑three tankers, 377 cargo ships and transports were sent to the bottom. In December, an enemy aircraft carrier was sunk by a submarine. The tonnage of Japanese ships sunk during 1944 by U.S. submarines alone is in excess of 2,500,000 tons. The number of ships damaged by submarines has not been announced.
During 1944, 6,650 enemy aircraft were destroyed in the Pacific Ocean Areas. Of these approximately 5,450 were destroyed by carrier aircraft, and 1,200 by land‑based airplanes. Of the year’s total, approximately 3,975 enemy aircraft were destroyed in the air, and 2,675 on the ground. These figures also do not include reports from the Southwest Pacific command.
No review of the year would be complete without mention of our land-based air forces. As we have moved the battlefront steadily across the Pacific, we have drawn after us a net of air and surface blockade, entangling, pinning down, choking the bypassed Japanese holdings. An estimated 225,000 enemy troops, and strong enemy bastions such as Truk, Kavieng and Rabaul, have been reduced to impotence or to ashes.
In addition to ceaseless patrolling by surface units, many hundreds of land‑based air strikes have been necessary to enforce this blockade. Many of these strikes were in force, with heavy bombloads dropped on important targets. Others were small. When practicable, they were closely coordinated with carrier‑based attacks and amphibious landings. Together with our surface patrolling, these airstrikes destroyed enemy strength in bypassed zones and made possible our rapid advance.
The year 1944 has brought success and added momentum to our advancing forces. But the Pacific is an ocean of fantastic distances. The road to Tokyo is rough and long. The enemy has just begun to defend his Home Empire. We have just begun to meet the tremendous problems of logistics, of supplying our forces – problems that grow greater with every forward step.
The vast quantity of material required to prepare the way for our advancing troops can be measured in terms of ammunition. Our naval forces alone used 36,260 tons of it in the Marianas campaign for air and surface bombardment. This does not include any ammunition used by troops ashore. At Peleliu, surface and air bombardment consumed 9,000 tons. A myriad of other commodities are required to supply and sustain our advancing forces.
The decisive battles, the greatest battles, the hardest battles of the war in the Pacific are still to come. They must be fought with supreme effort on the part of all of us; in factories throughout our country, across the long sea lanes, and in the forward areas where the men of all our armed services, and those of our Allies, are fighting – for the enemy, like ourselves, has just begun to fight.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC FOR THE YEAR 1944
(All dates are West Longitude)
For the months January to July (inclusive), revised figures are used in showing our own and enemy losses. By “revised” is meant the figures arrived at as result of assembling, analyzing and tabulating all the final returns – a process which takes many weeks after the action concerned. These revised figures often differ, to a minor degree, from the figures originally announced in communiqués.
For the months August to December (inclusive), revised figures are not available; that is, the figures used in this portion of the chronology are drawn entirely and only from communiqués issued in that period.
The purpose of this chronology is primarily to list events occurring in the Pacific Ocean Areas. However, the campaigns of the Southwest Pacific Area are strategically speaking, an inseparable part of the Pacific offensive, and repeatedly during the year the activities of the two commands had a direct and important tactical relationship. For these reasons, the major events occurring in the Southwest Pacific Area are included in this chronology.
January 1944
All dates are West Longitude
31 December 1943 and 3 January 1944
A carrier force commanded by RADM F. C. Sherman, USN, made bombing, strafing and torpedo attacks on enemy cruisers, destroyers and other shipping near Kavieng, New Ireland.
1 January
Under cover of heavy air and naval bombardment, elements of the 6th Army under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Southwest Pacific Area (SACSWPA), landed at Saidor on the north coast of New Guinea. The landings were unopposed and control of the Saidor area and airstrip was soon gained.
3‑25 January
Enemy troop and supply concentrations and staging points in the northern Solomons were subjected to six surface bombardments. Four were in broad daylight. There was no air or surface opposition, and negligible reply from shore batteries. Two strikes on Southern Empress Augusta Bay, two on northeastern Bougainville and one on Choiseul Bay were conducted by destroyers. One on the Shortland area was by cruisers and destroyers.
29‑30 January
During the night, the USS BURNS (DD-588), a destroyer operating with our naval forces in the Marshall Islands, encountered and sank an enemy convoy of four vessels including a 6,000‑ton oiler, a 4,500‑ton cargo ship and two smaller vessels.
U.S. carrier and heavy surface forces heavily attacked Jap bases in the Marshall Islands. Airfields and other installations on Wotje, Maloelap and Kwajalein atolls, previously softened up by our land‑based airpower, were bombed and strafed by our carrier aircraft and bombarded by our battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The enemy’s air strength in the Marshalls was paralyzed. On the 30th, our carrier forces began air attacks on Eniwetok Atoll which continued daily until 6 February.
31 January
U.S. landings began in the Marshall Islands with unopposed occupation of Majuro Atoll by Amphibious Reconnaissance Company of 5th Amphibious Corps (now Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific). Majuro was the first pre‑war Japanese territory to be taken by United States forces.
In preparation for main assault on Roi and Namur Islands in Kwajalein Atoll, Marines landed on five smaller islets flanking Roi, meeting with little opposition. In preparation for assault on Kwajalein Island at the southern tip of the atoll, by the 7th Infantry Division, U.S. Army troops landed on islands flanking Kwajalein Island. Opposition was slight.
February 1944
1 February
4th Marine Division landed on Roi and Namur Islands, about 45 miles north of Kwajalein Island, in Kwajalein Atoll. 7th Infantry Division landed on Kwajalein Island.
1‑6 February
Powerful force of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, carriers and land‑based aircraft supported Kwajalein landings. Fleet air attacks were carried out also on other atolls of the Marshalls and on Wake Island. Roi. Namur, Kwajalein, Ebeye, Lot, Gugegwe, Bigej and Eller Islands, all in Kwajalein Atoll, were captured. (Kwajalein is the world’s largest atoll, 66 miles long, 18 miles wide and including more than 30 islets.)
4 February
Cruisers and destroyers commanded by RADM W. D. Baker, USN, bombarded Japanese installations on Paramushiru in the Kuril Islands – the first surface bombardment of this Japanese base by our forces.
8 February
Organized resistance ceased on Kwajalein Atoll. Japanese killed 8,112, prisoners 437. Our casualties: 286 killed, 1,148 wounded, 82 missing.
10‑12 February
Eniwetok bombarded by our carrier aircraft.
12 February
Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands occupied. No opposition.
14 February
First heavy land‑based air attack on Ponape, base in the Carolines. U.S. and New Zealand troops under Gen. MacArthur landed on Green Islands off southern New Ireland. Naval attack force was commanded by RADM T. S. Wilkinson, USN. Resistance was light. This thrust flanked Rabaul.
16‑17 February
Enemy positions and installations on Eniwetok Atoll were bombed and strafed by carrier aircraft and shelled by heavy surface units.
Covering the Eniwetok landings, a U.S. carrier and battleship force struck a heavy surprise blow at Truk. On the 16th, our aircraft strafed and bombed airfields and enemy aircraft; and strafed, bombed and torpedoed shipping in Truk lagoon. Enemy airpower was paralyzed: 129 enemy aircraft were shot down, 82 were destroyed on the ground, 70 were damaged on the ground according to photographic evidence. (No Jap aircraft were airborne the second day of the attack.) Meantime, a force including battleships and cruisers made sweep around the atoll attacking Japanese merchant and naval vessels in the vicinity of Truk. There were few targets left by the 17th, and on that day our force retired. Sunk by our air and surface action were 2 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 2 patrol craft, 1 ammunition ship, 8 freighters, 7 oilers, 2 barges. Damaged were 16 other vessels (only 14 out of a total of 55 vessels at Truk escaped undamaged). This anti‑shipping assault was the heaviest yet delivered by our fleet air arm in terms of bomb tonnage, sorties flown, and targets available. Our losses: 25 aircraft lost, 1 ship moderately damaged.
17 February
Eniwetok landings began with establishment of artillery positions on islands flanking Engebi Island.
18 February
22nd Marines and 106th Infantry seized Engebi Island. Opposition was light.
19‑21 February
Eniwetok Island was invaded and seized by the 106th Infantry Regiment and the 104th Artillery Battalion.
22-23 February
Parry Island, Eniwetok Atoll, was invaded and seized by the 22nd Marines and the 4th Tank Battalion. This completed our control of Eniwetok Atoll. Japanese killed, 2,665; prisoners, 66. Our casualties: 169 killed, 521 wounded, 26 missing.
17‑29 February
U.S. destroyers bombarded Kavieng, New Ireland and Rabaul, New Britain and conducted anti‑shipping sweeps in the Bismarck area. These were our first surface bombardment of these enemy bases. There was no air nor surface opposition and only slight resistance from shore batteries.
19 February
On or about this date, the Japs evacuated their air force from Rabaul and virtually stopped defending the Bismarck with aircraft. Interception of our aircraft over Rabaul virtually ceased after 19 February.
20 February
Aircraft from our carriers strafed and bombed enemy installations on Jaluit atoll, Marshall Islands.
21‑22 February
A carrier force under command of Rear (now Vice) ADM Marc A. Mitscher, USN, bombed and strafed enemy installations on Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam in the Marianas. Air battles were fought with enemy aircraft. Virtually all of the enemy’s aircraft in the Marianas were destroyed or damaged (total about 135). Of the few enemy ships located, 2 were destroyed and 9 damaged. Our losses were 6 aircraft.
28 February
Troops under Gen. MacArthur landed at Los Negros, in the Admiralty Islands, from a Naval force commanded by RADM W. M. Fechteler, USN. This advance into the Admiralties was the first step toward development of strategic airfields and a major fleet anchorage in these islands. It further flanked Rabaul. Resistance was light and the Momote Airstrip was quickly seized.
March 1944
4 March
Mindiri, 30 miles west of Saidor on New Guinea coast, was invaded by troops under Gen. MacArthur.
7 March
Jap ground forces attacked our positions in Tororina area on Bougainville. Fighting continued until 23 March when the Japs abandoned their effort and retired.
Troops under SACSWPA landed on Willaumez Peninsula, near Talasea, on northern coast of New Britain, 160 miles from Rabaul. Opposition was quickly overcome.
9 March
Wotho Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
11 March
Ujae Atoll and Lib Island, in the Marshall Islands were secured.
13 March
Lae atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
14 March
Manus Island, Admiralty group, invaded by troops under Gen. MacArthur. Ships of the 7th Fleet supported with shore bombardment; aircraft of the Southwest Pacific air forces gave air cover. Lorengao Air Base was captured in 72 hours. (Occupation of the Admiralty Islands was virtually completed by the end of April.)
15 March
B‑24s of the Central Pacific air force made first land-based air attack on Truk. The island was not blacked out. Installations were bombed; fires were started.
16 March
Gasmata, on the south shore of New Britain, opposite Willaumez Peninsula, was invaded by troops under Gen. MacArthur. No opposition was encountered.
17‑18 March
U.S. destroyers bombarded Wewak, New Guinea. (This base and shipping in that area were subjected to heavy, continued shore‑based attacks from 11‑27 March.)
18 March
Mille Island, Mille Atoll, Marshall Islands, was bombed by carrier aircraft and shelled by heavy surface units.
19 March
Fourth Marines landed unopposed on Emirau Islands, St. Matthias group (75 miles northwest of Kavieng), thus completing the encirclement of Rabaul, Kavieng, and other enemy positions in the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands. Diversionary bombardment of Kavieng was conducted by heavy surface ships, which poured in more than 1,000 tons of shells. Operation was under general direction of ADM William F. Halsey, Jr., USN, Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force of the U.S. Fleet.
22 March
U.S. Pacific Fleet destroyers bombarded Mussau island, largest of St. Matthias Group, 15 miles northwest of Emirau. Ailinglapalap Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
23 March
Namu Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
24 March
Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
26 March
Namorik Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
27 March
Kill Island, Marshall Islands, was secured. U.S. Pacific Fleet destroyers bombarded Kapingamarangi (Greenwich) Atoll, north of New Ireland.
29‑31 March
In the deepest penetration yet made of enemy defenses, carrier forces under tactical command of ADM Raymond A. Spruance, USN, heavily attacked the Palau Islands with additional strikes at Yap, MIMI and Woleai in the western Carolines. The approaching force was detected, and many enemy ships, including heavy units, fled from Palau anchorages. However, on 20‑30 March, 29 Japanese ships were sunk at Palau: 3 destroyers; 2 large, 6 medium and 9 small freighters: 3 large, 1 medium and 1 small tanker; and 4 smaller vessels. 4 18 other vessels were severely damaged, some of them fired or beached, 114 Jap aircraft were shot down; 46 destroyed on the ground. Yap and Ulithi were hit on the 30th. At Yap, 1 small craft was sunk; at Ulithi, 1 sunk, 1 damaged. At Woleai on the 31st, 7 aircraft were destroyed on the ground, 3 barges destroyed. Installations at all four locations suffered heavy damage. Our losses were 25 aircraft lost in combat.
30 March
Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
April 1944
1 April
Ailuk Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured.
2 April
Mejit Atoll and Jemo Island (uninhabited), Marshall Islands, was secured.
3 April
Rongelap, Likiep, Ailinginae and Rongerik atolls (latter two uninhabited), Marshall Islands, were secured.
5 April
U.S. troops land on Ram Buyto in the Admiralty Islands, without opposition. Utirik, Bikar and Taka atolls (latter uninhabited), Marshall Islands, secured.
11 April
“Major portion” of New Britain is ours, according to announcement from Gen. MacArthur’s headquarters. Formerly strong enemy positions at Cape Hoskins and Gasmata have been abandoned and the Japanese have fled for a last stand at Rabaul.
15 April
Alaska and Aleutians separated from 13th Naval District and made the 17th Naval District.
Rear (now Vice) ADM John H. Hoover, USN, was designated Commander Forward Area, Central Pacific, by ADM C. W. Nimitz, USN, with command over all forces assigned to the Forward Area, including land-based air forces.
18 April
Saipan, Tinian and Aguijan Islands in the Marianas were bombed in daylight by PB4Ys of Fleet Air Wing 2 and B‑24s of 7th AAF.
19 April
Sabang, enemy base off the northern tip of Sumatra, was bombarded by an Allied task force of carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Among the capital ships was the USS SARATOGA (CV-3). ADM Sir James Somerville, Royal Navy, commanded the force. This was the first time in World War II that ships of the Pacific Fleet had operated with British units on an offensive mission in the Indian Ocean.
20‑23 April
Forces of the 5th Fleet provided air and surface support for landings of Southwest Pacific forces at Aitape and Hollandia on the northern coast of New Guinea. 5th Fleet carrier aircraft bombed and strafed Japanese airfields at Wakde, Sawar and in the Hollandia area, 5th Fleet cruisers and destroyers bombarded Japanese airfields at Wakde and Sawar at night. Ground installations, fuel and ammunition dumps were destroyed in these strikes. It is estimated that 5th Fleet aircraft whose operations were coordinated with those of the Southwest Pacific Air Forces – destroyed 88 Japanese aircraft on the ground, 34 in the air; and 1 small cargo vessel and 6 small craft. 5th Fleet losses: 10 aircraft in combat.
21 April
Under cover furnished by ships of the 5th and 7th Fleets, and shore‑based aircraft of the Southwest Pacific forces, troops under command of Gen. MacArthur went ashore at Humboldt Bay and Tanahmerah Bay to secure Hollandia, and also at Aitape. Opposition was light. Beachheads were quickly secured and by the 28th, all airfields and airdromes at both areas were in hand.
This move effectively isolated at least 60,000 Japs of the Japanese 18th Army between Aitape and Madang, and made it possible to blockade them as enemy troops in the Solomons, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Marshalls were being blockaded.
In this operation the 5th Fleet units were under tactical command of VADM Marc A. Mitscher, USN, and the 7th Fleet units were under RADM D. E. Barbey, USN.
Erikub and Aur Atolls, Marshall Islands, were secured.
23 April
Ujelang Atoll, Marshall Islands, was secured without opposition. This completed the Marshalls operation. In period of about 12 weeks, our forces had captured about 90% of the enemy possessions in the Marshalls, and completely dominated the 330,000 square miles of sea and air in their environs. So effective had been our air and surface covering operations that of the 24 atolls and 3 islands taken, only Kwajalein and Eniwetok had been heavily defended. Enemy casualties: 10,902 killed and 523 prisoners of war. Our casualties: 566 killed and missing, 1683 wounded. Japanese bases on the following four atolls, completely bypassed, blockaded and pounded by daily air attacks, were left to “wither on the vine:” Jaluit, Mille, Wotje, Maloelap.
24 April
Madang on the coast of Northeast New Guinea occupied by Australian and United States troops. On the 26th, these troops occupied Alexishafen in the same area. This seizure gave Allied forces control of Vitiaz Strait off Northeast New Guinea, and major base and port facilities.
29‑30 April
Returning from the Hollandia operation, 5th Fleet units under VADM Mitscher attacked Truk. Carrier aircraft heavily bombed and strafed ground installations, doing extensive damage. Other enemy losses 63 aircraft shot down, 60 destroyed on the ground; 4 small craft sunk. We lost 27 aircraft.
30 April
Pacific Fleet cruisers and destroyers bombarded Satawan, in the Nomoi Group, Caroline Islands. The target area, which the Japanese had been developing as an air base, was thoroughly covered with heavy projectiles. RADM J. B. Oldendorf, USN, commanded the forces.
May 1944
1 May
Battleships of the 5th Fleet, supported by carrier aircraft, bombarded Ponape in the Carolines. Numerous buildings in Ponape town, the seaplane base, and the wharf area were destroyed. (Ponape and other Japanese bases in the Carolines had suffered increasingly heavy shore‑based air attacks during the months of March and April. Such attacks were further stepped up during May.)
13‑14 May
Land‑based bombers heavily attack Jaluit, Marshall Islands.
16‑19 May
Wakde Islands, 115 miles west of Hollandia along the New Guinea coast, seized by U.S. Army units under SACSWPA.
17 May
Soerabaja, Java attacked by carrier aircraft of the Allied naval force which had attacked Sabang on 19 April. This raid coincided with landings at Wakde. Damage inflicted: At least 10 enemy ships damaged, some heavily. 26 aircraft destroyed. Ground installations damaged. Our losses: 1 aircraft. Destroyers bombarded Maloelap.
19‑20 May
Pacific Fleet carriers bombed and strafed enemy installations on Marcus Island in two‑day air attack.
20 May
Cruisers and destroyers bombarded enemy positions in the Shortland Islands, just south of Bougainville.
21 May
Land‑based aircraft heavily bombed Wotje, Marshall Islands.
22 May
Destroyers bombarded Wotje.
23 May
Carrier aircraft bombed Wake Island.
26 May
Destroyers bombarded Mille, Marshall Islands.
27 May
Biak Island, 180 miles west of Wakde off New Guinea coast, was invaded by U.S. Army units under command of Gen. MacArthur. They were supported by bombing and naval bombardment by ships of the 7th Fleet. From Biak, Davao, in the Philippines is less than 80 miles and the Palau Islands are slightly over 500 miles.
29 May
Medina, on northern coast of New Ireland, was bombarded by Pacific Fleet destroyers.