‘It was a cinch,’ Yanks say of tough going in Belgium
82nd Airborne Division swings into action, halts German advance along wide front
By W. C. Heinz, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Radio Address by President Roosevelt Summarizing SOTU Address
January 6, 1945, 10:00 p.m. EWT
Broadcast audio:
Ladies and gentlemen:
Today, in pursuance of my Constitutional duty, I sent to the Congress a message on the State of the Union – and this evening I am taking the opportunity to repeat to you some parts of that message.
This war must be waged – it is being waged – with the greatest and most persistent intensity. Everything we are and have is at stake. Everything we are, and have, will be given.
We have no question of the ultimate victory. We have no question of the cost. Our losses will be heavy.
But we and our Allies will go on fighting together to ultimate total victory.
We have seen a year marked, on the whole, by substantial progress toward victory, even though the year ended with a setback for our arms, when the Germans launched a ferocious counterattack into Luxembourg and Belgium with the obvious objective of cutting our line in the center.
Our men have fought with indescribable and unforgettable gallantry under most difficult conditions.
The high tide of this German attack was reached two days after Christmas. Since then, we have reassumed the offensive, rescued the isolated garrison at Bastogne, and forced a German withdrawal along the whole line of the salient.
The speed with which we recovered from this savage attack was possible primarily because we have one Supreme Commander in complete control of all the Allied armies in France. Gen. Eisenhower has faced this period of trial with admirable calm and resolution and with steadily increasing success. He has my complete confidence.
Further desperate attempts may well be made to break our lines, to slow our progress. We must never make the mistake of assuming that the Germans are beaten until the last Nazi has surrendered.
And I would express a most serious warning against the poisonous effects of enemy propaganda.
The wedge that the Germans attempted to drive in Western Europe was less dangerous in terms of winning the war than the wedges which they are continually attempting to drive between ourselves and our Allies.
Every little rumor which is intended to weaken our faith in our Allies is like an actual enemy agent in our midst – seeking to sabotage our war effort. There are, here and there, evil and baseless rumors against the Russians – rumors against the British – rumors against our own American commanders in the field.
When you examine these rumors closely, you will observe that every one of them bears the same trademark – “Made in Germany.”
We must resist this propaganda – we must destroy it – with the same strength and the same determination that our fighting men are displaying as they resist and destroy the panzer divisions.
In all of the far-flung operations of our own Armed Forces on land, and sea, and in the air – the final job, the toughest job, has been performed by the average, easygoing, hard-fighting young American who carries the weight of battle on his own shoulders.
It is to him that we and all future generations of Americans must pay grateful tribute.
But it is of small satisfaction to him to know that monuments will be raised to him in the future. He wants, he needs, and he is entitled to insist upon, our full and active support – now.
Although unprecedented production figures have made possible our victories, we shall have to increase our goals in certain weapons even more.
Our Armed Forces in combat have steadily increased their expenditure of ammunition. As we continue the decisive phases of this war, the munitions that we expend will mount day by day.
I shall not go into the details of war production and the requirements of war materials. They are contained in the message that I sent today, and I hope that many of you will have an opportunity to read that in full.
But there is one very human need that I do want to mention.
We need twenty thousand more trained nurses for our Army and Navy.
Those nurses that we have are rendering gallant service to our sick and wounded men, but they have been called upon to do more than their share. More than a thousand nurses are now hospitalized themselves – and part of this is due to overwork. At Army hospitals in the United States there is only one nurse to twenty-six beds, instead of one to fifteen beds, as there should be.
Since volunteering has not produced the number of nurses required, I asked the Congress in my message to amend the Selective Service Act to provide for the induction of registered nurses into the Armed Forces.
The need is too pressing to await the outcome of further efforts at recruiting. However, I urge registered nurses throughout the country to volunteer immediately for this great service.
The only way to meet our increased needs for more weapons and new weapons is for every American now engaged in war work to stay on his war job – for additional American civilians, men and women not now engaged in essential work, to go out and get a war job. Workers who are released because their war production is cut back should get another job where war production is being increased. This is no time to quit or change to less essential jobs.
There is an old and true saying that the Lord hates a quitter. And this nation must pay for all those who leave their essential jobs – for all those who lay down on their essential jobs for nonessential reasons. And that payment must be made with the life’s blood of our sons.
Last year, after much consideration, I recommended that the Congress adopt a National Service Act as the most efficient and democratic way of insuring full production for our war requirements. This recommendation was not adopted.
I have again called upon the Congress today to enact this measure for the total mobilization of all our human resources – men and women – for the prosecution of the war. I urge that this be done at the earliest possible moment.
It is not too late in the war. In fact, bitter experience has shown that, in this kind of mechanized warfare where new weapons are constantly being created by our enemies and by ourselves, the closer we come to the end of the war, the more pressing becomes the need for sustained war production with which to deliver the final blow to the enemy.
There are three basic arguments for a National Service Law.
First, it would assure that we have the right numbers of workers in the right places at the right times.
Second, it would provide supreme proof to all our fighting men that we are giving them what they are entitled to, which is nothing less than our total effort.
And, third, it would be the final, unequivocal answer to the hopes of the Nazis and the Japanese that we may become halfhearted about this war, and that they can get from us a negotiated peace.
National service legislation would be used only to the extent absolutely required by military necessities. In fact, experience in Great Britain and in other Nations at war indicates that use of the compulsory powers of national service is necessary only in rare instances.
National service would provide against loss of retirement and seniority rights and benefits. It would not mean reduction in wages.
The contribution of our workers in this war has been beyond measure. We must now build on the foundations that have already been laid, and supplement the measures now in operation, in order to guarantee the production that may be necessary in the critical period that lies ahead.
The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy have written me a letter in which, speaking of present war needs, they said:
In our considered judgment, which is supported by Gen. Marshall and Adm. King, this requires total mobilization of our manpower by the passage of a national war service law. The Armed Forces need this legislation to hasten the day of final victory, and to keep to a minimum the cost in lives.
That is the testimony of those best qualified to know the situation which confronts us.
Pending action by the Congress on the broader aspects of national service, I have recommended that the Congress immediately enact legislation which will be effective in using the services of the four million men now classified as 4-F in whatever capacity is best for the war effort.
In the field of foreign policy, we propose to stand together with the United Nations not for the war alone but for the victory for which the war is fought.
It is not only a common danger which unites us, but a common hope. Ours is an association not of governments but of peoples – and the peoples’ hope is peace. Here, as in England; in England, as in Russia; in Russia, as in China; in France, and through the continent of Europe, and throughout the world; wherever men love freedom, the hope and purpose of the people are for peace- a peace that is durable and secure.
It will not be easy to create this peoples’ peace. We have seen already, in areas liberated from the Nazi and the Fascist tyranny, what problems peace will bring. And we delude ourselves if we attempt to believe wishfully that all these problems can be solved overnight.
The firm foundation can be built – and it will be built. But the continuance and assurance of a living peace must, in the long run, be the work of the people themselves.
We ourselves, like all peoples who have gone through the difficult processes of liberation and adjustment, know of our own experience how great the difficulties can be. We know that they are not difficulties peculiar to any continent or any nation. Our own Revolutionary War left behind it, in the words of one American historian, “an eddy of lawlessness and disregard of human life.” There were separatist movements of one kind or another in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maine. There were insurrections, open or threatened, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We worked out for ourselves these difficulties – as the peoples of the liberated areas of Europe, faced with complex problems of adjustment, will work out their difficulties for themselves.
Peace can be made and kept only by the united determination of free and peace-loving peoples who are willing to work together – willing to help one another – willing to respect and tolerate and try to understand one another’s opinions and feelings.
In the future world the misuse of power, as implied in the term “power politics,” must not be a controlling factor in international relations. That is the heart of the principles to which we have subscribed. In a democratic world, as in a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility, and obliged to defend and justify itself within the framework of the general good.
In our disillusionment after the last war, we gave up the hope of achieving a better peace because we had not the courage to fulfill our responsibilities in an admittedly imperfect world.
We must not let that happen again, or we shall follow the same tragic road again – the road to a third world war.
We can fulfill our responsibilities for maintaining the security of our own country only by exercising our power and our influence to achieve the principles in which we believe, and for which we have fought.
It is true that the statement of principles in the Atlantic Charter does not provide rules of easy application to each and every one of the tangled situations in this war-torn world. But it is a good and a useful thing – it is an essential thing – to have principles toward which we can aim.
And we shall not hesitate to use our influence- and to use it now- to secure so far as is humanly possible the fulfillment of the principles of the Atlantic Charter. We have not shrunk from the military responsibilities brought on by this war. We cannot and will not shrink from the political responsibilities which follow in the wake of battle.
To do this we must be on our guard not to exploit and exaggerate the differences between us and our Allies, particularly with reference to the peoples who have been liberated from Fascist tyranny. That is not the way to secure a better settlement of those differences, or to secure international machinery which can rectify mistakes which may be made.
I must admit concern about many situations – the Greek and Polish for example. But those situations are not as easy or as simple to deal with as some spokesmen, whose sincerity I do not question, would have us believe. We have obligations, not necessarily legal, to the exiled governments, to the underground leaders, and to our major Allies who came much nearer the shadows than we did.
We and our Allies have declared that it is our purpose to respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live and to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them. But with internal dissension, with many citizens of liberated countries still prisoners of war or forced to labor in Germany, it is difficult to guess the kind of self-government the people really want.
During the interim period, until conditions permit a genuine expression of the peoples’ will, we and our Allies have a duty, which we cannot ignore, to use our influence to the end that no temporary or provisional authorities in the liberated countries block the eventual exercise of the peoples’ right freely to choose the government and institutions under which, as free men, they are to live.
It is our purpose to help the peace-loving peoples of Europe to live together as good neighbors, to recognize their common interests, and not to nurse their traditional grievances against one another.
But we must not permit the many specific and immediate problems of adjustment connected with the liberation of Europe to delay the establishment of permanent machinery for the maintenance of peace. Under the threat of a common danger, the United Nations joined together in war to preserve their independence and their freedom. They must now join together to make secure the independence and freedom of all peace-loving states, so that never again shall tyranny be able to divide and conquer.
International peace and wellbeing, like national peace and wellbeing, require constant alertness, continuing cooperation, and organized effort.
International peace and wellbeing, like national peace and wellbeing, can be secured only through institutions capable of life and growth.
One of the most heartening events of the year in the international field has been the renaissance of the French people and the return of the French nation to the ranks of the United Nations. Far from having been crushed by the terror of Nazi domination, the French people have emerged with stronger faith than ever in the destiny of their country and in the soundness of the democratic ideals to which the French nation has contributed so greatly.
Today, French armies are again on the German frontier and are again fighting shoulder to shoulder with our sons.
Since our landings in Africa, we have placed in French hands all the arms and material of war which our resources and the military situation permitted. And I am glad to say that we are now about to equip large new French forces with the most modern weapons for combat duty.
I am clear in my own mind that, as an essential factor in the maintenance of world peace in the future, we must have universal military training after this war, and I shall send a special message to the Congress on this subject.
An enduring peace cannot be achieved without a strong America – strong in the social and economic sense as well as in the military sense.
I have already set forth what I consider to be an American Economic Bill of Rights, and the most fundamental of these is the “right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.”
In turn, others of the economic rights of American citizenship such as the right to a decent home, to a good education, to good medical care, to social security, to reasonable farm income, will, if fulfilled, make major contributions to achieving adequate levels of employment.
In the message that I sent to the Congress today, I discussed the general approach to the program that we have in mind for the provision of close to sixty million jobs.
Although we must plan now for our postwar economy, and enact the necessary legislation, and set up the appropriate agencies for reconversion from war to peace, and lay the foundations for that transition period – all of which we are now doing – it is obviously impossible for us to do anything which might possibly hinder the production for war at this time, when our men are fighting on the frontiers of Germany and dropping bombs on the war industries of Japan.
In these days, our thoughts and our hopes and our prayers are with our sons and brothers, our loved ones who are far from home.
We can and we will give them all the support of which this great nation is capable. But – no matter how well they may be equipped with weapons and munitions – their magnificent fight will have been in vain if this war should end in the breaking of the unity of the United Nations.
We need the continuing friendship of our Allies in this war. Indeed, that need is a matter of life and death. And we shall need that friendship in the peace.
I quote from an editorial in the Stars and Stripes, our soldiers’ own newspaper in Europe:
For the holy love of God let’s listen to the dead. Let’s learn from the living. Let’s join ranks against the foe. The bugles of battle are heard again above the bickering.
That is the demand of our fighting men. We cannot fail to heed it.
This new year of 1945 can be the greatest year of achievement in human history.
1945 can see the final ending of the Nazi-Fascist reign of terror in Europe.
1945 can see the closing in of the forces of retribution about the center of the malignant power of imperialistic Japan.
Most important of all, 1945 can, and must, see the substantial beginning of the organization of world peace- for we all know what such an organization means in terms of security, and human rights, and religious freedom.
We Americans of today, together with our Allies, are making history – and I hope it will be better history than ever has been made before.
We pray that we may be worthy of the unlimited opportunities that God has given us.
Völkischer Beobachter (January 7, 1945)
Hintergründe anglo-amerikanischer Nachkriegsplanungen –
Britische Kartenhäuser und die USA
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Rosenberg: Wofür die Feinde kämpfen
Von Alfred Rosenberg
Mit dem Rückschlag im Westen sind plötzlich bei unseren englischen und nordamerikanischen Feinden die Fragen nach dem „Wofür?“ dieses nun doch weitergehenden Kampfes aufgetreten. Bisher hatte man sich in einen uferlosen Optimismus hineingeredet und fühlte sich namentlich in den USA gleichsam unangreifbar, um in aller Ruhe die ungeheuren technischen Mittel für den kommenden „Siegesmarsch“ herzustellen. Nun sind diese Illusionen verflogen, und der ganze Ernst der Auseinandersetzung beginnt auch in vielen stumpfen Hirnen lebendig zu werden. Es sind auf diese Fragen schon etliche Antworten erfolgt, die zwar nicht neu sind, aber mit geradezu verzweifelter Anstrengung immer wiederholt werden.
Herr Churchill, der kranke Mann an der Themse, verkündete, das Ziel des Krieges im Allgemeinen und im Besonderen sei die Verwirklichung der Demokratie. Mit diesem Wort hat er die Menschen chloroformiert und mit Erfolg vielfach denkunfähig gemacht. Was immer die Demokratie auch gewesen sein mag, heute beginnt selbst eine Anzahl der schlichtesten Soldaten dieser beiden Staaten einzusehen, dass Demokratie zunächst einmal das große Geschäft derjenigen ist, die in den großen Kriegsproduktionsstätten sitzen. Nach dem Rückschlag im Westen sind die Papiere der Wall Street mit einem Ruck gestiegen, das heißt im ganzen Klüngel um Roosevelt und Genossen herum war die Aussicht auf eine Verlängerung des Krieges zugleich mit der Aussicht auf dauernde und weitere Kriegsgewinne verbunden. Zehntausend Amerikaner, die in Europa ins Gras beißen, bringen hundert Wall-Street-Hyänen doppelte Dividenden. Das ist ungefähr, nüchtern gesehen, der Sinn der amerikanischen demokratischen Tatsächlichkeit.
Für bestimmte Bezirke des englischen Lebens gilt das gleiche, wobei in England der Begriff der Demokratie jahrzehntelang noch viele Schattierungen hatte. Vor allem bedeutete die Demokratie die Vorherrschaft Großbritanniens über die anderen Völker, das künstliche Weitererhalten des Sklavendaseins von 400 Millionen Indern, während man zu gleicher Zeit den Sklavenhandel bei anderen Völkern als unmoralisch bekämpfte. Demokratie, das bedeutet nicht nur die Erhaltung der großen Bank- und anderer Ausbeuterzentralen, sondern auch die Erhaltung aller jener „wissenschaftlichen“ Institute, deren Professoren berufen sind, die Herrschaft dieses Profites über die Völker als die einzig mögliche und herrlichste Lebensordnung darzustellen.
Für die Demokratien kämpfen bedeutet aber, namentlich in diesem Krieg für die USA, die ganze Pleite dieser Demokratien verschleiern. Man war nämlich mit dieser Wall-Street-Demokratie am Ende. Die Natur wehrte sich gegen die Vergewaltigung ihrer Lebensgebote. Die Häufung des nationalen Vermögens in wenigen Händen verringerte naturgemäß das Einkommen bei den Millionen unten, und die dauernde Krise und Arbeitslosigkeit waren eine unmittelbare Folge dieses demokratischen Prinzips. Man war praktisch hilflos geworden. Die 25 Milliarden Dollar, die Roosevelt hinausgeworfen hatte, um einige Wunden zu überkleistern, hatten, unproduktiv angelegt, keinen Erfolg. Die 10 Millionen Arbeitslosen pochten vor der Tür. Da wurde Roosevelt als der große Amerikaner vorgeschoben und von seinen jüdischen Genossen als Verteidiger aller „Pflichten und Rechte der Menschheit“ hochgelobt. Ehe der Krieg in Europa ausbrach, war Roosevelt mit seinen Juden schon drauf und dran, diesen Krieg durch seine Botschafter zu propagieren und Frankreich und England gegen Deutschland zu hetzen.
Deutschland hat von Amerika nichts gewollt und trotz verschiedener Lebensauffassungen dem amerikanischen Volk seine Art ungehindert gegönnt. Aber die bankrotten Politiker in Washington und Neuyork, die sich einem herannahenden Ungewitter gegenübersahen, wählten den Ausweg in den Krieg, um die amerikanischen Männer als Soldaten in die ganze Welt zu schicken, sie zu Hause loszuwerden, die übrigen in eine ungeheure Rüstungsindustrie einzuspannen und den paar hunderttausend Kriegsgewinnlern zu neuen Geschäften zu verhelfen. Es wiederholt sich hier, was sich auch in manchen anderen Demokratien schon zeigte und was Eduard Drumont in dem klassischen Satz zusammenfasste: „Der Patriotismus ist die letzte Zuflucht der großen Gauner.“
Mit dem panamerikanischen Gedanken hat Roosevelt sein Volk aufgepeitscht, mit dem Ruf des „amerikanischen Jahrhunderts“ diese Leute hinausgejagt nach Europa, Ostasien und nach Afrika. Der amerikanische Patriotismus sollte plötzlich ein Weltpatriotismus sein, und die Gauner der Wall Street und die Großjuden mimten die große Liebe zu Amerika, was Roosevelt einmal dahin ausdrückte, dass von Hollywood aus den Gedanken der amerikanischen Freiheit in die ganze Welt hinausgegangen seien, im Vollbewusstsein natürlich, dass das Geschäft von Hollywood überhaupt nicht amerikanisch, sondern 100prozentig jüdisch gemacht wird. Für dieses große internationale Schiebergeschäft bluten die amerikanischen Soldaten eben in den Ardennen, vollständig sinnlos vom Standpunkt des amerikanischen Volkes, aber sinnvoll im Sinne eines bankrotten Großdemokraten, im Sinne eines internationalen jüdischen Weltmachtgedankens, für den gerade die Zerstörung der besten kämpferischen Kraft aller Völker die Voraussetzung für eben diese Herrschaft abgibt.
Die Amerikaner nun, die von Roosevelt eifrig vorgeschickt wurden, um gleichsam allein die Lorbeeren zu pflücken, sehen sich nun plötzlich in der Lage, im Westen die größten Blutopfer tragen zu müssen. Mit einem Ruck ist die alte herrliche Stimmung dahin, und man beginnt ernsthaft nachzurechnen, dass hier die Engländer sich wie immer zurückgehalten haben, und wenn auch in Holland so mancher Brite gefallen ist, so wird der Hauptkampf eben doch von den Amerikanern bestritten. Man fragte sich, wo die britischen Millionenarmeen steckten und stellte fest, dass die Engländer vorsichtshalber in Indien große Kontingente haben. Einige wirklich amerikanische Stimmen finden, dass diese Kraftverteilung ungerecht sei und denken darüber nach, dass Amerika, immerhin viele Tausende von Kilometern entfernt, gar nicht ein so lebendiges Interesse an der europäischen Zukunft nehmen kann, wie es naturgemäß Englands Absicht ist und fragen sich, ob hier nicht eine neue Verteilung des Krafteinsatzes eine dringende Notwendigkeit wäre.
Das sind jedoch Sorgen, die die beiden Partner angehen und uns nur am Rande berühren. Tatsächlich sehen wir zwei starke Mächte vor uns im Einsatz eines ungeheuren Materials und größter Menschenmassen und fragen naturgemäß auch uns, wofür denn diese Menschen anrennen gegen ein Europa, das, vom Deutschen Reich heute allein verteidigt, weder dem einen noch dem anderen Weltreich seine Lebensformen neidete, geschweige denn ihre staatliche Führung stören wollte. Und das ist die entscheidende Frage, die sich die Tommies und die Amerikaner aus dem Mittleren Westen und Kalifornien (von Gangstern aus Chicago und Neuyork braucht hier nicht die Rede zu sein) irgendwie stellen müssen: aus welchem wahnsinnigen Grunde man die Amerikaner Tausende von Kilometern in die Fremde geschickt habe, während man den eigenen Raum noch nicht ausgeschöpft und noch nicht gestaltet hat, das Problem des Zusammengehens der beiden amerikanischen Kontinente vollkommen ungelöst war und, vor allem, am Ende auch eines großen Krieges nur eine riesige Staatsverschuldung und hundert andere, doppelt ungelöste Probleme übrig bleiben.
Der sagenhafte Zeitungsjunge, der einmal Milliardär wird, ist eben eine Ausnahmeerscheinung im amerikanischen Leben. Die reale Tatsache war schon nach dem ersten Weltkrieg die Verelendung der Massen, der Kriegsveteranen, die schließlich auf ihrem Hungermarsch nach Washington vom General MacArthur auseinanderkartätscht wurden. Das große Geschäft der Wall Street, die jüdischen Weltmachtpläne, die Ausweglosigkeit einer größenwahnsinnigen Demokratie, die Arbeitslosigkeit von zehn Millionen Amerikanern: dafür kämpft der amerikanische Soldat in den Ardennen, im Elsass und in Lothringen, und er muss sich fragen, ob ein solcher ,Sinn“ ausreicht, oder ob diese Demokratie als Ganzes nicht ebenso ein Schwindel ist wie die sogenannte. Atlantik-Charta, das unverschämteste Betrugsstück, das in den letzten Jahrzehnten ausgedacht wurde.
Der Welt wurden alle Freiheiten versprochen, monatelang wurde diese Absprache, gefolgt von kirchlichen Gesängen, als Sinn des ganzen Krieges proklamiert, und nun erklärte man, eine solche Atlantik-Charta habe es als Dokument überhaupt nicht gegeben, geschweige denn, dass eine solche Urkunde unterzeichnet worden sei! Genauso verschwimmt das Wort Demokratie wie eine Qualle zwischen den Fingern. Es ist ein Mittel, Völker einzulullen, ihnen ein gesundes Denken zu rauben, um sie dann in einer hysterischen Auspeitschung für Dinge einzusetzen, bluten und sterben zu lassen, die mit ihren wirklichen Interessen überhaupt nichts mehr zu tun haben.
Es kommt, so hoffen wir, einmal eine Zeit, da die noch gesunden Amerikaner sich auf sich selbst und ihre eigenen Aufgaben besinnen, einmal die gehätschelten Neger aus ihren Arbeitsplätzen wieder nach Hause schicken, die sie ihnen jetzt zu rauben begonnen haben, die jüdischen Parasiten aus ihren Wechselstuben verjagen, wo sie mit dem Blute des weißen Menschen ihre Milliardengeschäfte erschießen, und schließlich größenwahnsinnige „Politiker“ nicht mehr wählen, die sie am Ende ihrer „Politik“ in alle Welt jagen, weil sie unfähig gewesen sind, selbst größte und reichste Räume zum Besten ihres Volkes schöpferisch zu gestalten. Für diese in den Patriotismus geflüchteten großen Gauner müssen jetzt die Soldaten der Vereinigten Staaten im Westen bluten und kämpfen. Die deutsche Nation aber, sie weiß, dass sie um ihre ureigenste Geschichte, um ihren ureigenen. Heimatboden, um die Erhaltung ihrer eigensten Freiheit und Lebensgüter kämpft, und sie wird gegen den sinnlosen Wahnsinn den tiefen Sinn ihrer völkischen Selbsterhaltung setzen; unerschüttert und unbezwungen wird am Ende nicht nur das Deutsche Reich aus diesem Ringen hervorgehen, sondern ein ganzes, geeintes und geordnetes Europa.
Aufteilungsplan für Deutschland
Wir werden dieses britische Machwerk auf dem Schlachtfeld zerreißen
…
Führer HQ (January 7, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Bei Wanssum in Ostholland haben unsere Truppen in den letzten Tagen einen Brückenkopf über die Maas gebildet und alle Gegenangriffe der 3. englischen Division unter hohen feindlichen Verlusten zerschlagen. In den nördlichen Ardennen ließen gestern die Angriffe der Amerikaner unter dem Eindruck ihrer schweren Verluste an den Vortagen nach. Im Raum von Bastogne gelang es unseren Verbänden trotz zäher feindlicher Gegenwehr weitere Stützpunkte aus dem feindlichen Frontbogen im Umkreis der Stadt herauszubrechen. Die Kämpfe in Lothringen und im Elsass brachten unseren Truppen neue Erfolge.
Gegenangriffe der inzwischen herangeführten amerikanischen Verbände scheiterten nordwestlich Rohrbach ebenso wie an den Talausgängen der Unteren Vogesen. Bei Philippsburg kapitulierte ein Werk der Maginot-Linie mit der gesamten amerikanischen Besatzung.
In der Rheinebene nördlich des Hagenauer Forstes befreiten unsere Truppen zahlreiche Ortschaften und befestigten ihren Brückenkopf nördlich Straßburg trotz feindlicher Gegenangriffe. Im Westen wurden gestern 73 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen, zahlreiche Geschütze und Panzerabwehrwaffen erbeutet.
Lüttich und Antwerpen liegen unter unserem Fernfeuer.
In Mittelitalien führten die Briten gestern einzelne vergebliche Vorstöße in der Romagna. Zwischen dem Comacchiosee und der adriatischen Küste halten schwere Kämpfe an.
In Ungarn schlug die tapfere Besatzung von Budapest heftige Angriffe der Bolschewisten ab. Nördlich der Donau ist der Feind an der Granfront mit starken Kräften zum Angriff angetreten. Die Mehrzahl der Angriffe blieb in unserem Feuer liegen. Bei den erbitterten Kämpfen um die Abriegelung eines tieferen Einbruchs hart nördlich der Donau wurden nach den bisherigen Meldungen 23 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen. Im südlichen Grenzgebiet der Slowakei setzten die Bolschewisten ihre Angriffe mit örtlich zusammengefassten Kräften, vor allem bei Pukanec, Blauenstein und Lucenes, fort. Sie brachten ihnen keine nennenswerten Erfolge.
In Kurland brachen unsere Truppen nördlich Doblen tief in das feindliche Hauptkampffeld ein. Die Kämpfe dort sind in vollem Gange.
Nordamerikanische Kampfflugzeuge, die am gestrigen Tage ihre Terrorangriffe gegen Westdeutschland und das Rhein-Main-Gebiet fortsetzten, warfen Bomben besonders in die Innenstadt von Mannheim und Worms. In den Abendstunden trafen die Briten vorwiegend Wohnviertel von Hanau und Neuss. Durch Luftverteidigungskräfte wurden 25 anglo-amerikanische Flugzeuge, in der Masse viermotorige Bomber, abgeschossen.
Der Großraum von London liegt dauernd unter unserem Vergeltungsfeuer.
Im Kampf gegen den feindlichen Nachschubverkehr versenkten unsere U-Boote in den ersten Tagen des Jänner fünf Schiffe mit zusammen 36.400 BRT sowie fünf Zerstörer und Geleitfahrzeuge. Ein weiterer Dampfer wurde torpediert. Unter den versenkten Schiffen befand sich ein 11.000 BRT großer Truppentransporter. Er ist vor Cherbourg gesunken.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (January 7, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
071100A January
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. 274
Allied forces continued to maintain pressure on the northern flank of the Ardennes Salient southwest of Stavelot. An attack across the Amblève River by our units achieved an initial gain of 3,000 yards. Further west, the villages of Odeigne and Lierneux, have been taken.
We have made small gains north of the Saint-Hubert–Bastogne road two miles east of Saint-Hubert and have reached Tillet. Two miles southeast of Tillet, our artillery broke up counterattack by enemy infantry.
Northeast of Bastogne, an enemy counterattack with eight tanks and an estimated battalion of infantry was broken up by fire from our tanks and artillery just north of Mageret. Probing activity by enemy tanks and infantry continues along the east side of the Bastogne Bulge, particularly in the Mageret area.
South of Wiltz, our troops have crossed the Sure River one and one-half miles northeast of Eschdorf and have cleared Goesdorf and Dahl.
Our units have made progress toward reducing the enemy salient southeast of Bitsch against strong resistance. We made gains of more than 1,000 yards in an attack north of Reipertswiller near the southernmost point of the salient. The remaining elements of the enemy force which infiltrated Wingen are surrounded.
On the west bank of the Rhine River, enemy units which crossed the river Thursday were mopped up at all points of penetration except at Gambsheim, where stubborn opposition was still being met.
Heavy bombers in great strength with a strong fighter escort attacked bridges across the Rhine at Köln and Bonn, railway marshalling yards at Köln, Koblenz and Ludwigshafen and other railway yards and junctions behind the battle areas. Some of the escorting fighters strafed railway transport between Stuttgart and Würzburg and an airfield near Giebelstadt. Thirteen enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground.
Weather restricted air operations over the battle zones yesterday.
Railway transport in the Zutphen area and between Arnhem and Roermond, were attacked by rocket-firing fighters and fighter-bombers which also struck at enemy troop quarters at Vianen, south of Utrecht. Other fighter bombers hit a radio station at Kalverdijk, south of Den Helder.
Medium bombers struck at a highway bridge crossing the Prüm River at Prüm.
From these operations, seven heavy bombers and 11 fighters are missing.
Early last night, heavy bombers again in great strength, were over Germany with the important railway and industrial center of Hanau as the main objective.
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 (January 7, 1945)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 226
Carrier‑based aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet attacked aircraft, shipping and installations in and around Luzon in the Philippines on January 5 (West Longitude Date). Preliminary and incomplete reports show that eight enemy aircraft were shot down, 19 were destroyed on the ground, and 14 were damaged on the ground. Details of damage to shipping and ground targets are not yet available.
Surface units of the Pacific Fleet bombarded installations at Suribachi on Paramushiru in the Kurils on January 5 starting a number of fires. The enemy returned our fire but our forces suffered no damage.
Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanoes on January 5.
A supply dump and other material were destroyed on Babelthuap in the Palaus by strafing fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on the same date.
The Pittsburgh Press (January 7, 1945)
LUZON INVASION AT HAND, JAPS SAY
3 U.S. convoys reported near Philippine isle
One at Lingayen Gulf, Tokyo claims
…
Two drives cut Nazi north flank
First Army launches new thrust – tanks also gain two miles
By James McGlincy, United Press staff writer
…
SHAEF: German losses 100,000 – American ‘not near as high’
First indication of Ardennes casualty ‘ceiling’ – there’ll be no scapegoats for setback
By James McGlincy, United Press staff writer
…
In State of the Union message –
Roosevelt demands draft of manpower, induction of nurses
Placing of 4-Fs in war jobs also asked – victory in Europe this year foreseen
…
New peace move by Hitler indicated
Nazi offensive called part of plan
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
…