Frankreich dem Verhungern nahe
…
Die Yankees in Manila
Tokio, 5. Februar – Amerikanische Truppen sind am Sonntag um 17 Uhr aus der Richtung von San Fernando in Manila eingebrochen, meldet die japanische Nachrichtenagentur Domei von einem Stützpunkt auf den Philippinen.
In dem Bericht heißt es, dass die US-Truppen unter dem Schutz starken Artilleriefeuers und Luftabschirmung am Sonntag in die nördlichen Vororte von Manila ein¬drangen und von dort aus am Nachmittag in die Stadt vorstießen. Die japanischen Truppen unternahmen heftige Gegenangriffe. In der Nachbarschaft der Universität Santo Tornas finden Straßenkämpfe statt.
Führer HQ (February 6, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Im südlichen Grenzgebiet der Slowakei und nördlich der Westbeskiden wurden einige Einbruchsstellen, die der Feind erzielen konnte, abgeriegelt. Im Stadtgebiet um die Budapester Burg leistet die Besatzung weiterhin heroischen Widerstand gegen die mit überlegenen Kräften angreifenden Bolschewisten.
An der Oderfront wurden im Verlauf harter Angriffs- und Abwehrkämpfe zwischen Ratlbor und Glogau 71 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen, davon allein 22 durch die Besatzung von Brieg. Südwestlich von Brieg konnte der Feind seinen Brückenkopf trotz zäher Gegenwehr unserer Truppen ausweiten.
Der Pionier Justus Jürgensen des Pionierbauersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillons Crossen an der Oder sprengte unter Aufopferung seines eigenen Lebens die Oderbrücke bei Fürstenberg, er wurde nachträglich mit dem Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes ausgezeichnet.
Feindliche Angriffe gegen unsere Sperrstellungen östlich Frankfurt an der Oder und gegen Küstrin wurden abgewiesen. Den Sowjets gelang es gestern, in das Stadtinnere von Posen einzudringen. Schwere Häuserkämpfe sind dort im Gange.
Im Südteil von Pommern und Westpreußen griff der Feind ohne Erfolg an. 51 Panzer und 71 Geschütze wurden in diesen Kämpfen vernichtet. Die Besatzung der Stadt Elbing verteidigte sich zäh gegen die anstürmenden Bolschewisten.
In Ostpreußen an der gesamten Front dauern die erbitterten Kämpfe an. Gegenangriffe unserer Verbände engten feindliche Einbruchsstellen ein.
In Kurland verlief der Tag ohne wesentliche Kampfhandlungen.
Im Westen setzten die Engländer und Amerikaner entlang der gesamten Roerfront ihre Aufklärungstätigkeit teilweise unter starker Einnebelung fort.
Im Kampfgebiet von Schleiden wiesen unsere Truppen zahlreiche feindliche Angriffe ab, während es südlich der Urftalsperre dem Gegner gelang, örtlich vorzudringen. Aus dem Westwallabschnitt östlich St. Vith werden heftige Orts- und Bunkerkämpfe gemeldet.
Unsere Artillerie bekämpfte feindliche Ansammlungen bei Bischweiler mit zusammengefasstem Feuer.
Die nordwestlich der Ill in den Vogesen stehenden deutschen Verbände kämpften sich befehlsgemäß über den Fluss zurück. Der Feind, der in die Absetzbewegungen hineinzustoßen versuchte, wurde abgewiesen.
Nach starker Artillerievorbereitung geführte Feindangriffe aus Enzisheim scheiterten unter hohen Verlusten für den Gegner.
In Mittelitalien eroberten unsere Truppen im Sergiotal bei Gallicano vorübergehend verlorengegangene Stellungen im Gegenstoß zurück. Aufklärungsvorstöße des Gegners südlich Bolognas blieben ohne Erfolg.
In Ostkroatien wurden Bandenangriffe gegen die Syrmienfront unter hohen Verlusten für den Feind abgewiesen. An der mittleren Drina eroberten unsere Grenadiere nach harten Kämpfen die Stadt Zvornik.
Nordamerikanische Terrorbomber griffen am gestrigen Tag Regensburg und weitere Orte im südlichen Reichsgebiet an. In der Nacht stießen britische Kampfflugzeuge bis zur Reichshauptstadt vor.
Die Heeresunterofflziersschule Jauer hat unter Führung ihres Kommandeurs Oberst Reichardt die Stadt Steinau in heldenhaftem Kampf fünf Tage lang gegen die Angriffe weit übeijegener Infanterie- und Panzerkräfte des Feindes gehalten. Erst als alle Munition verschossen war, hat sich die tapfere Besatzung befehlsgemäß zu den eigenen Linien durchgeschlagen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (February 6, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
061100A February
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) 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) AFHQ for PRO, ROME
(20) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 304
Allied armored elements have taken the towns of Strauch and Steckenborn, in the area six miles northeast of Monschau. Our units have cleared the high ground east of Ruhrberg and are on the Roer River below the Urftalsperre Dam. Other elements have reached the dam and control it.
Our infantry units two miles north of Schleiden have made a 1,500-yard gain to the east. Other units are fighting in Hellenthal, two and one half miles southwest of Schleiden. Farther south, Brandscheid has been cleared of the enemy and we have made gains in the Schneifel Forest, two miles east of Buchet.
The area north of Strasbourg and west of the Rhine was the quietest it has been in recent weeks.
The Colmar sector has been split by juncture of our units from the north and south sides at Rouffach.
Near the Rhine, the road from Neuf-Brisach to the Rhine bridges at Vieux-Breisach was cut and the village of Vogelsheim, just south of the road and one mile east of Neuf-Breisach, was reached.
The west bank of the Ill River has been almost completely cleared of the enemy.
In the high Vosges Mountains, enemy units which were cut off are being pursued through difficult terrain. Mittlach and Muhlbach-sur-Munster in the upper Fecht River Valley were liberated, and Walbach in the lower valley was cleared.
In the south, Guebwiller and a number of nearby towns were liberated.
During the four days ending with the 3 February, Allied forces in the west captured 6,912 prisoners.
Bad weather prevented air operations yesterday.
Last night, Berlin was bombed by a force of light bombers.
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. State Department (February 6, 1945)
U.S. Delegation Memorandum
Leningrad, February 6, 1945, 4 p.m.
Statement on the American Position on Voting in the Council
Review of Status of this Question
It was agreed at Dumbarton Oaks that certain matters would remain under consideration for future settlement. Of these, the principal one was that of voting procedure to be followed in the Security Council.
At Dumbarton Oaks, the three Delegations thoroughly explored the whole question. Since that time the matter has received continuing intensive study by each of the three Governments.
On December 5, 1944, the President sent to Marshal Stalin and to Prime Minister Churchill a proposal that this matter be settled by making Section C, Chapter VI of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals read substantially as follows:
C. Voting
Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.
Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.
Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VIII, Section A and under the second sentence of paragraph 1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, a party to a dispute should abstain from voting.
The text I have just read contains a minor drafting change in accordance with Soviet and British comments on the original text submitted by the President.
Analysis of the American Proposal
(a) It is entirely consonant with the special responsibilities of the great powers for the preservation of the peace of the world. In this respect our proposal calls for unqualified unanimity of the permanent members of the Council on all major decisions relating to the preservation of peace, including all economic and military enforcement measures.
(b) At the same time our proposal recognizes the desirability of the permanent members frankly stating that the peaceful adjustment of any controversy which may arise is a matter of general world interest in which the sovereign member states other than the permanent members have a right to state their case without arbitrary prohibition.
We believe that unless this freedom of discussion in the Council is permitted, the establishment of the World Organization we all desire would be seriously jeopardized, if not made impossible. Without full and free discussion in the Council, the Organization, even if it could be established, would be vastly different from that we have contemplated.
The paper which we have placed before the other two delegations sets forth the text of the provisions which I have read and lists specifically those decisions of the Council which, under our proposals, would require unqualified unanimity and, separately, those matters in the area of discussion and peaceful settlement in which any party to a dispute would abstain from casting a vote.
Reasons for the American Position
From the point of view of the United States Government there are two important elements in the matter of voting procedure.
First, there is the necessity for unanimity among the permanent members for the preservation of the peace of the world to which I have referred.
Second, it is of particular importance to the people of the United States, that there be provision for justice for all members of the organization.
It is our task to reconcile these two major elements. We believe that the proposals submitted by the President to Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill on December 5, 1944, provide a reasonable and just solution and satisfactorily combine these two main considerations.
Yalta, February 6, 1945
U.S. Delegation Memorandum
Leningrad, February 6, 1945, 4 p.m.
Voting Procedure
Supplementary Arguments for Use of Secretary
- Doubt as to acceptability of Organization unless our proposal is adopted. Our main concern is being able to establish the Organization.
American public opinion and the smaller nations, especially the Latin American nations, and – we believe – the British Dominions, may not accept an Organization which they believe fails to accord them a just and reasonable position.
- Importance of the Organization starting off with good will of all members and of world public opinion.
In the Tehran Declaration, the three powers stated:
We recognize fully the supreme responsibility resting upon us and all the nations to make a peace which will command good will from the overwhelming masses of the peoples of the world…
Without this good will on the part of all members of the Organization – even if it could be established – its future would be uncertain.
To insure this good will so necessary to the effective operation of the Organization, we must avoid the charge of great power domination.
- Unity of the great powers is one of our major aims and is promoted rather than impaired by our proposal.
If there should unfortunately be any differences between the great powers, the fact would become fully known to the world, whatever voting procedure is adopted.
Discussion of differences cannot be prevented in the Assembly in any event.
To permit full and free discussion in the Council will in no sense promote disunity, but will, on the contrary, demonstrate the confidence the great powers have in each other and in the justice of their own policies.
Yalta, February 6, 1945
U.S. Delegation Memorandum
Leningrad, February 6, 1945, 4 p.m.
Proposed Formula for Voting Procedure in the Security Council of the United Nations Organization and Analysis of the Effects of That Formula
The provisions of Section C. of Chapter VI of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals would read as follows:
C. Voting
Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.
Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.
Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that in decisions under Chapter VIII, Section A and under the second sentence of paragraph 1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, a party to a dispute should abstain from voting.
II. Analysis of effect of above formula on principal substantive decisions on which the Security Council would have to vote.
Under the above formula the following decisions would require the affirmative votes of seven members of the Security Council including the votes of all the permanent members:
I. Recommendations to the General Assembly on
- Admission of new members;
- Suspension of a member;
- Expulsion of a member;
- Election of the Secretary General.
II. Restoration of the rights and privileges of a suspended member.
III. Removal of threats to the peace and suppression of breaches of the peace, including the following questions:
-
Whether failure on the part of the parties to a dispute to settle it by means of their own choice or in accordance with the recommendations of the Security Council in fact constitutes a threat to the peace;
-
Whether any other actions on the part of any country constitute a threat to the peace or a breach of the peace;
-
What measures should be taken by the Council to maintain or restore the peace and the manner in which such measures should be carried out;
-
Whether a regional agency should be authorized to take measures of enforcement.
IV. Approval of special agreement or agreements for the provision of armed forces and facilities.
V. Formulation of plans for a general system of regulation of armaments and submission of such plans to the member states.
VI. Determination of whether the nature and the activities of a regional agency or arrangement for the maintenance of peace and security are consistent with the purposes and principles of the general organization.
The following decisions relating to peaceful settlement of disputes would also require the affirmative votes of seven members of the Security Council including the votes of all the permanent members, except that a member of the Council would not cast its vote in any such decisions that concern disputes to which it is a party:
I. Whether a dispute or a situation brought to the Council’s attention is of such a nature that its continuation is likely to threaten the peace;
II. Whether the Council should call on the parties to settle or adjust the dispute or situation by means of their own choice;
III. Whether the Council should make a recommendation to the parties as to methods and procedures of settlement;
IV. Whether the legal aspects of the matter before it should be referred by the Council for advice to the international court of justice;
V. Whether, if there exists a regional agency for peaceful settlement of local disputes, such an agency should be asked to concern itself with the controversy.
The President’s Special Assistant to the President
Yalta, February 6, 1945
Mr. President: Why not let this wind up today when Stalin is thru – and say we will talk it over again tomorrow. It is 7.15
HARRY
The Pittsburgh Press (February 6, 1945)
JAPS IN MANILA CUT OFF
City’s fall proclaimed – ‘On to Tokyo!’ slogan of MacArthur now
Bataan Peninsula sealed – Americans prepare for assault on Corregidor
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Three U.S. divisions today encircled fanatically resisting Jap remnants in Manila.
The action virtually completed the liberation of the Philippines and setting the stage for the next phase of the march on Tokyo.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur officially proclaimed the fall of Manila, capital of the Philippines and largest city yet liberated in the Pacific war, and said the motto of his command now was: “On to Tokyo!”
He said the “complete destruction” of the doomed enemy garrison of Manila was imminent and revealed that another 1,350 U.S. and Allied war prisoners and civilian internees had been freed yesterday with the capture of ancient Bilibid Prison.
Other U.S. forces avenging the bitter defeats of 1942 sealed off Bataan Peninsula and were believed preparing for an early assault on Fort Corregidor in Manila Bay.
Gen. MacArthur said in a statement accompanying his daily communiqué:
The fall of Manila marks the end of one great phase of the Pacific struggle and set the stage for another.
With Australia safe, the Philippines liberated, and the ultimate redemption of the East Indies and Malaya thereby made a certainty, our motto becomes, “On to Tokyo!”
Writing off the eventual loss of Manila, Jap propagandists said that the coming of the Americans to Manila was “exactly what our side waited for, and our bleeding tactics will now enter the positive stage.”
Drive from south
The 11th Airborne Division completed the stranglehold on the battered Jap garrison in Manila by smashing into the city from the south yesterday after an overnight dash of 35 miles.
The 37th Infantry Division, pouring into the capital from the north, and the 1st Cavalry Division, from the east, linked up in the heart of Manila and cleared all of the city north of the Pasig River with the exception of scattered groups of snipers.
The Japs blew up the Quezon and Ayala Bridges across the broad Pasig as they fell back into the southern half of Manila for a last stand. Two other bridges remained intact, however, and may have been captured by the Americans.
Explosions shake ground
Jap demolition squads continued their destructive work in southern Manila, working feverishly against their own imminent destruction. Numerous fires cast a heavy pall of smoke over the city and explosions shook the ground at frequent intervals.
With the 11th Airborne Division’s thrust into southern Manila however, the enemy garrison could be considered “hopelessly trapped,” Gen. MacArthur said.
The 37th Infantry Division captured Bilibid Prison in the northern half of Manila yesterday, releasing more than 800 war prisoners and about 550 additional civilian internees, including women and children.
5,500 prisoners rescued
That brought to more than 5,500 the number of Allied prisoners rescued in the past week, including those at the Santo Tomas University concentration camp in Manila and the Cabanatuan prison camp in Central Luzon.
Most were Americans, but the number also included a scattering of British, Australians, Dutch and other Allied nationals. Gen. MacArthur said the names of those rescued at Santo Tomas and Bilibid would be released as soon as they have been tabulated, probably a matter of several days.
“Every facility of the Armed Forces is being devoted to the care and attention of those who have been rescued,” Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué said.
Hospital move in
Food trucks were revealed to have reached Santo Tomas only a few hours after 1st Cavalry Division spearheads freed the camp. Huge mobile hospitals rolled into Manila today to care for medical cases.
Bataan Peninsula, where the Americans made a bloody stand in 1942 before retiring to Corregidor, was sealed off by a junction of the Eighth Army’s 11th corps and the Sixth Army’s 14th Corps at Dinalupihan, 37 miles northwest of Manila.
With U.S. forces in control of all roads leading into Bataan, the way was blocked for any prolonged Jap stand on the peninsula.
Corregidor bombed
Continuing to prepare the way for an attack on Corregidor, the largest force of Liberators yet struck the island in two raids Saturday. Corregidor must be captured before Manila Bay can be opened to American shipping.
To the north, the First Corps seized most of San Jose, 80 miles above Manila and only 37 miles from the east coast of Luzon, in a drive that cut the main road to the Balete Pass and Cagayan Valley.
More dead on Leyte
Fierce fighting continued in the Munoz sector, seven miles southwest of San Jose, where 25 enemy tanks, many trucks, pillboxes and artillery pieces have been destroyed. Units north of San Jose engaged the Japs in Pupao and advance five miles along the Villa Verde Trail into the Caraballo Mountains.
On Leyte in the central Philippines, U.S. troops counted an additional 733 enemy dead or prisoners.
U.S. patrol planes in the China Sea sank two small freighters off Amoy on the China coast, bombed and strafed parked aircraft at Swatow Airdrome, started fires at Takao, Formosa, and sank a fuel-laden vessel northwest of Formosa.
Bilibid prisoners saved from fire
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – A caravan of U.S. jeeps and trucks roared through the sniper-infested streets of Manila last night to rescue 1,003 prisoners and internees from Bilibid Prison when Jap fires raging on three sides, threatened to engulf the former federal penitentiary.
Every man in the 37th Infantry Division was turned out to evacuate the men, women and children of Bilibid.
Military authorities said the evacuation was completed just in time. Jap mortar fire had been dropping in the civilian and prisoner of war compounds all day. Shortly after the prison was cleared, Jap machine-gun fire started to rake the prison yard.
Those evacuated were 639 U.S. prisoners of war and 465 civilian internees. The civilian group included approximately 392 Americans, 71 British, one Mexican and one Chinese. There were 214 women, 169 men and 82 children, a dozen of whom had been born at the Baguio Prison Camp.
Santa didn’t forget Jap prison – Billy got a whole piece of candy
By Richard G. Harris, United Press staff writer
WITH THE 1ST CAVALRY DIVISION AT BILIBID PRISON, Philippines (Feb. 5, delayed) – The explosion of Jap demolitions, the rattle of machine-gun fire and the sharp bursts of mortar and artillery shells rattled the walls but Billy and Jamie didn’t seem to hear them.
Billy is 9 and Jamie is 5. They are the children of Dr. and Mrs. Bruce Mathers, of Princeton, New Jersey, and they were telling how Santa Claus didn’t forget them, even last Christmas behind the grim walls of Bilibid Prison.
Billy said he got a whole piece of candy and Jamie got three bananas.
“And I got a cardboard auto from mother and some beautiful pictures, too,” Jamie boasted.
Billy said that was well enough but tomorrow was his birthday and he was going to have a wonderful party.
“You know what I’m going to have for a birthday present?” Billy asked. “We’re going to open a can the Red Cross sent us and I don’t even know what’s in it yet.”
“Shucks,” said Jamie, “you had that before the Americans came. I bet you get more than that old can.”
Tomorrow is going to be a great day not only for Billy but for all the internees. A notice was posted on their bulletin board that tomorrow they will have cornmeal mush and coffee with both sugar and cream. And the children are going to have milk instead of rice water.
The youngsters tagged the American soldiers everywhere, asking their parents why they were so big and husky. Most of the young children had never seen any American soldiers who were not emaciated from life in Jap prisons.
The American combat troops, fighting their way forward on short rations, took one look at the children and handed out all the food they had.
The youngsters scrambled over the American equipment despite the still-falling mortar fragments.
Clarence Mount of Henderson, Tennessee, former regular army man in Manila, apologized for the curiosity of his three-year-old daughter, Patricia Jean.
“You see she was born in prison,” he said, “and she never knew anything else.”
Howard Hick of Easton, Pennsylvania, kitchen supervisor at the Santo Tomas Camp, revealed that the Japs had tried to force him to serve dog meat to the interned children just before Christmas.
Only his flat refusal and the threat that both he and Earl Carrol of Palo Alto, California, vice chairman of the Internee Administration Committee, would resign, caused the Japs to withdraw the order.
The Japs had called two men in one day and ordered them to kill all the dogs in camp, numbering about 100, and use the meat on the chow line.
“Dog meat is much like monkey meat,” said the Jap officer, “and people eat monkey meat.”
When the Americans objected that the dogs were diseased, the Jap said: “But there are many good dogs. The children need chow. You kill the dogs and feed the children.”
Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill meet
European policy statement likely
LONDON, England (UP) – The “Big Three” conference was underway today and observers here expected it to conclude with a broad statement of European policy, supplementing and perhaps expanding the Atlantic Charter.
High U.S. conferees favored a detailed announcement of the conclusions reached. But it was questionable whether the conference statement would reveal many of the decision by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin.
Observers believed they would issue a statement charting the general course of their policy, but leaving many key questions unanswered publicly.
There were strong reasons to believe they would disclose little if anything of their plans for the future of Germany beyond a broad statement of intent. Russia’s intention toward Japan was believed almost certainly not to be revealed at this time.
That the conference was underway was confirmed for the first time by Sir Walter Citrine, general secretary of the British Trades Union Congress
He made the disclosure at the opening session of the World Trade Union Conference in explaining why Mr. Churchill could not address the meeting.
Mr. Churchill had promised to speak at the conference, but instead sent a message of greetings to the delegates.
Speculation continued over the whereabouts of the “Big Three” meeting, with most sources suggesting the Black Sea area or possibly Stalingrad. One theory was that some sessions at least were being held aboard a warship, perhaps American, with Mr. Roosevelt as host.*
Gen. Charles de Gaulle expressed French resentment that he hadn’t been invited to participate in the conference and laid down French conditions for post-war Europe in a radio address yesterday.
His conditions were: French military occupation of the whole length of the Rhine River; separation of the left bank of the Rhine and the Ruhr Basin from the “German state or states,” and independence of “the Polish, Czech, Austrian and Balkan peoples.”
Japs show concern
The Japanese betrayed increasing concern that Marshal Stalin would align Russia with the United States and Britain against Japan at the conference.
They obviously feared that Marshal Stalin, flushed by victories over the German Army. will give Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill a definite promise to throw at least part of the Red Army against the Japs after Germany has surrendered.
The influential Tokyo newspaper Asahi, as quoted by the German Transocean Agency, said the question of Soviet participation would “most certainly be raised,” since the Pacific war situation was “nearing the decisive stage.”