Poland claims eastern Reich
Warsaw wants area up to Oder
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Perkins: CIO, Russian group battle to dominate labor meeting
As World Congress shapes up, British will be in position to swing decisions
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Yanks reach Manila in 26-day drive
City first occupied by U.S. in 1898
By the United Press
The Japanese and American campaigns for Manila were of almost exactly the same duration.
On December 9, 1941, two days after Pearl Harbor, the Japs made their initial landing on the city’s home island of Luzon. On December 27, they bombed undefended Manila and on January 2, 1942, their land forces occupied the “open city” and the Cavite Naval Base.
The American Philippines campaign began October 20, 1944, with the landing on Leyte. It moved onto Luzon January 9, 1945, with the landing at Lingayen Gulf and into Manila itself yesterday, February 4.
Jap 24, U.S. 26 days
Thus on Luzon Island, the Jap campaign took 24 days and the American 26.
The first campaign ended with the imprisonment of about 4,000 Americans, Britons and other Allied nationals, many of whom have since been rescued. All U.S. ships and Navy personnel were removed prior to occupation. Jap casualties, while not officially known, were believed comparatively small.
In the American campaign, U.S. casualties from October 20 through January 29 have been 16,806. This is approximately one-tenth of the Jap toll of 164,000 casualties.
Known once as the trade center of the Pacific, Manila is an important prize and one for which America has fought twice – both times with the MacArthur name at the fore.
First occupied in 1898
Manila was first occupied by U.S. forces August 13, 1898, after the Spanish-American War. Spain had ruled the Philippines for 370 years. Although the islands were not officially ceded to the United States until December 10 that year by the Treaty of Paris, the Manila port was reopened to commerce within a week after American occupancy.
Following an insurrection February 4, 1899, President McKinley, on July 4, 1901, appointed William H. Taft as civil governor of the Philippines to succeed the military governorship of Maj. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, father of the present general.
Thereafter began a long-range program of co-benefit aimed at the building up of American trade in the East and the eventual political independence of the Philippines. Until 1936, 65 percent of Manila’s commerce was with America. Manila developed into a modern healthful city with free education and improved living standards.
Landlocked harbor
Manila is the capital and most important city of the Philippines Archipelago with one of the largest landlocked harbors in the world. It is built over an area of 14 square miles around the mouth of the Pasig River on the east and inner shore of Manila Bay, a crescent-shaped bay about 100 miles in diameter.
At the head of the bay stands Corregidor. It was to this fortified island, known to some as the “Gibraltar of the Pacific,” that U.S. forces retreated after their epic 98-day stand on Bataan Peninsula against overwhelming odds. On Corregidor, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright surrendered May 6, 1942.
The modern half of Manila on the north side of the Pasig is known as the Escolta or “Broadway of Manila.” It contains the wholesale and retail districts as well as the homes of native workmen and leads out into the northeastern suburb of Santa Mesa, the exclusive residential section of Americans and Europeans.
Walled city in south
On the shore line south of the Pasig, now known as the port area, is Pier Seven, one of the largest and most modern in the world. The southern half of the city is known as Intramuros because it contains the ancient walled city built by the Spanish.
The Philippines were discovered by Magellan, the famous Portuguese navigator and soldier.
In the early 16th century, Portuguese trade routes were established to the east around the Cape of Good Hope and Spain, seeking a new one, sent an expedition under Magellan to the Philippines Archipelago, then known as San Lazaro Islands. A later expedition found the trading center of Manila, a crudely fortified town on the south bank of the Pasig. In 1571, a Spanish officer took over the town and laid it out as a city.
The earliest history of the Philippines goes back to the period when it was a dependency of a succession of Hindu-Malayan empires in Indochina, Sumatra and Borneo. From 1325 to 1405, it was under the Javanese empire of Majapahit and later was a dependency of China during the Ming Dynasty.
For over 100 years preceding 1565, the island of Luzon was often held by Jap seafaring adventurers while the island was dominated by Mohammedan Borneo.
65 Jap soldiers traded for 221 American internees
Yanks escort enemy to safety in return for leaving prisoners in building unharmed
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer
GEN. MACARTHUR’S ADVANCE HQ, LUZON, Philippines – At dawn today, 65 Jap soldiers were traded for 221 American internees held as hostages in the education building of the Santo Tomas campus.
First Cavalry Division troopers surrounded the building and for six hours exchanged fire with the Japs but none of the prisoners was injured.
Armistice negotiations opened yesterday between Brig. Gen. William B. Chase and Jap Lt. Col. Hayashi, resulting in suspension of firing. Hayashi insisted that his men be permitted to leave the building with packs and weapons and escorted to safety in return for leaving the Americans in the building unharmed.
Japs neatly dressed
The exchanged Japs, more neatly dressed than our soldiers because they had not been in the field, lined up in front of the education building with American soldiers on either side.
Hayashi led his men and officers, carrying their own packs, sabers or pistols. Two Japs limped from battle wounds, while a third casualty was hauled on a two-wheeled cart.
Lt. Col. Charles E. Brady of West Orange, New Jersey, led the American unit. Before departing, this seasoned veteran who led the 5th Infantry Regiment on Leyte, told his men:
The Japs have given us the alternative of freeing them or having all the Americans in there killed. We march down the road with them between us and at a given point we halt and they go on. I don’t want any of you fellows to be trigger happy, but if they fire, give them hell.
Japs nervous
Several blocks from Santo Tomas, our forces halted and the Japs marched off alone. They were nervous, however.
Filipinos jeered and one Jap yelled: “Down with Gen. MacArthur. Down with America.”
The fate of the Japs remained unknown. The city is full of Americans and guerrillas who would love to tangle with Hayashi.
Much credit for saving the hostages goes to British missionary Ernest Stanley, who handled the negotiations and agreed to walk unarmed in front of Hayashi where the colonel could shoot him if things went wrong.
Japs to fight harder than ever, Grew warns
WASHINGTON (UP) – Acting Secretary of State Joseph C. Grew today hailed the recapture of Manila as the harbinger of speedy liberation of all the Philippine Islands, but warned that it will inspire the Japs to fight harder than ever.
Mr. Grew, who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan for 10 years prior to Pearl Harbor, voiced the warning and widespread acclamation for Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s triumphal return to the Philippines capital.
In Congress, the American return to Manila was viewed as a pointed “lesson in freedom” for the United Nations because of this country’s plans to give the Philippines full independence. The House adopted a resolution by Rep. John E. Rankin (D-Mississippi) instructing Speaker Sam Rayburn to send a congratulatory message to Gen. MacArthur.
Roosevelt hails freeing of Manila
Action held warning to Axis’ treachery
WASHINGTON (UP) – President Roosevelt last night hailed the liberation of Manila as a warning to the Axis that “their world of treachery, aggression and enslavement cannot survive in the struggle against our world of freedom and peace.”
In a message to President Sergio Osmena of the Philippines, released by the White House, the President said that the “magnificent strides” of U.S. forces in the Philippines will “strengthen our determination to drive the Jap invaders from your islands.”
“The American people rejoice with me in the liberation of your capital,” he said.
He promised that the United States would join with the Filipinos – a “loyal and valiant people who in the darkest days have not ceased to fight for their independence” – as rapidly and as fully as possible.
With God’s help we will complete the fulfillment of the pledge we renewed when our men returned to Leyte.
Yanks toast their arrival inside Manila brewery
By H. D. Quigg, United Press staff writer
WITH 37TH INFANTRY DIVISION, MANILA, Philippines (Feb. 4, delayed) – One of the first large buildings reached by advanced elements entering Manila was the Balintawak Brewery and the Doughboys lost no time in toasting their arrival.
The brewery was undamaged, although flames were cracking in a warehouse next door where the Japs apparently had stored supplies.
In the cool interior of the brewery, the Doughboys quickly pulled plugs from a large tank of beer and began filling their helmets and any other available containers.
They naturally had a tough job keeping the floor from becoming flooded. In an effort to help, I filled two canteens, two-quart bottles and my helmet. The cool beverage seemed the finest I ever tasted.
One of the first Doughboys into the brewery was Pvt. Timothy J. Moriarity of Lowell, Massachusetts, who, after sampling a helmet of the cold beer, declared it was even better than the beverage dispensed at Donhue’s “best beer in lower Massachusetts.”
But, he agreed, 33 months of jungle fighting may have biased his judgment.
Simms: Manila victory to alter role of U.S. in war
Fight against Japan becomes moral issue
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
WASHINGTON – The entry into Manila is hailed here as the most important, most significant and most puzzling Pacific development since Pearl Harbor. It alters the whole aspect of our war against Japan.
It is vitally important because our honor and prestige were at stake there. when the Japs hauled down our flag, we were humiliated before every man, woman and child in the Orient.
The loss of Manila will be a corresponding blow to Japan. Half the population of the globe lives in Asia and the Pacific. It was in this area that Japan carved out her new empire – her “co-prosperity sphere.” Here her bandy-legged warriors boasted of their superiority over the Occidentals.
When Gen. Douglas MacArthur enters Manila, the Japs will lose more “face” than they had gained by its capture. Today, their prestige is dragging in the dust from one end of Asia to the other.
Loss of face to be fatal
It is puzzling because nobody knows this better than the Japs. To lose “face” among the hundreds of millions of Orientals whom they have sought to dominate eventually will prove fatal. Why, then, did they not put up a better fight before the Philippine capital? Until recently, they resisted to the last man in defense of every tiny atoll. Why their strange behavior on Luzon?
The answer, some of the experts here believe, may be found in Berlin. The Nazis, like the Japs, at first raced all over the map against less prepared forces only to lose everything largely because they had taken in too much territory. It may be that the Japs know they have lost the war as they originally planned it and are now hoping to avoid complete annihilation by pulling in their lines.
New angle in war
Manila’s fall is significant because from here on out – barring major reverses – the United States can face the war in the Pacific from an altogether new angle. And this is tremendously important.
Territorially, our chief stake in the Far East is the Philippines. Once these are redeemed, our fight with Japan will assume a totally different character, taking its place on the same plane as our fight with Germany. That is to say, our war aim – in the Pacific no less than in the Atlantic – will be to help destroy international outlawry and make the world safe for the peace-loving nations.
As long as the flag of Japan floated above Manila, we were in honor bound to keep plugging away if it took the last drop of American blood and the last American dollar. We had to keep on regardless of whether our Allies helped us a little, a lot, or none at all. It was “our” war.
Moral stake
Once we give the Philippines back to the Filipinos, our stakes in the struggle against Japan are the same as in the struggle against Hittler – no more and no less. As in Europe, our obligation becomes largely moral.
This gives the United States a stupendous advantage at future Allied council tables. Britain, France, Holland, China and Russia will all be more deeply committed in the Pacific than we. Britain must go to bat for Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, her East Indian colonies, Hong Kong, Burma and India. France has Indochina to think of and the Dutch Indies will still bind Holland.
Vladivostok menaced
As for Russia, she must reexamine her entire Far Eastern position. Japan shares frontiers with Siberia. Vladivostok is still directly menaced. Russia’s outlet on the Pacific will remain bottled up as long as Japan remains a first-class power, and Japan aspires to nothing less than the whole of eastern Siberia up to Lake Baikal.
Of course, America’s Pacific war aim will remain unaltered. It is to see Japan destroyed as a great power. But if and when the United States asks her allies for help, compliance will be at least as much to their advantage as ours.
Monahan: Keys of the Kingdom an inspiring film
Gregory Peck as Father Chisholm heads excellent cast at Fulton
By Kaspar Monahan
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Going My Way nominated for seven coveted Oscars
Crosby, Fitzgerald named for top acting awards – other films proposed
HOLLYWOOD (UP) – The heartwarming motion picture, Going My Way, whose star, crooner Bing Crosby, pulled the highest box office returns of any actor in 1944, today won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ nominations for seven coveted Oscar awards.
For his performance in the picture, Barry Fitzgerald became the first actor in Academy history to be nominated for awards for both the best performance by an actor and the best performance by a supporting actor.
Fitzgerald and Crosby, who was also nominated for the Oscar for best actor, played the roles of two Catholic priests in Going My Way.
Cited for seven others
The picture was also nominated as best movie of the year, the best written screenplay and the best original motion picture story. Its director, Leo McCarey, was nominated for achievement in directing and the tune “Swinging on a Star” was nominated best original song.
Nine thousand members of the film industry will participate in final balloting February 10 to select the winners, to be announced March 15.
‘Gaslight’ honored
The psychological chiller Gaslight was also nominated as best picture of the year, and its stars, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury, were named as best actress, best actor and best supporting actress, respectively.
Swedish Miss Bergman was nudged out of the award last year by newcomer Jennifer Jones, who was mentioned this year as a candidate for supporting honors for her role in Since You Went Away, nominated as one of the best pictures of the year.
Claudette Colbert, one-time Oscar winner, was nominated for a second for her starring role in the same film. Monty Wooller was nominated for supporting honors.
Others nominated
Other contestants for picture of the year was Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyck as a cold-blooded murderess, who was nominated for what would be her first award as top actress, and Wilson, whose star, Alexander Knox, was nominated as top actor.
Two-time Oscar winner Bette Davis was nominated for her starring role in Mr. Skeffington and Greer Garson, for her role in Mrs. Parkington.
Cary Grant, who has never won an Oscar, was cited for his work in None But the Lonely Heartand Ethel Barrymore was nominated for her supporting role in the same picture.
Also named for supporting honors were Hume Cronyn for The Seventh Cross, Clifton Webb in Laura, Aline MacMahon in Dragon Seed and Agnes Moorehead in Mrs. Parkington.
Nominations for directing achievement went to McCarey, Billy Wilder for Double Indemnity, Otto Preminger for Laura, Alfred Hitchcock for Lifeboat, Henry King for Wilson.
“The Trolley Song” from the film Meet Me in St. Louis and “Long Ago and Far Away” from Cover Girl were among 12 nominees for best original song of the year.