America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

8179

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.

8180

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/
8181

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

  1. Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.

  2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.

  3. 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
8182

U.S. Delegation Memorandum

Leningrad, February 6, 1945, 4 p.m.

Voting Procedure

Supplementary Arguments for Use of Secretary

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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
8183

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

  1. Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.

  2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.

  3. 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

  1. Admission of new members;
  2. Suspension of a member;
  3. Expulsion of a member;
  4. 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:

  1. 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;

  2. Whether any other actions on the part of any country constitute a threat to the peace or a breach of the peace;

  3. 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;

  4. 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.

8184

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

8185

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.

8186

Yanks attack rear forts of Siegfried Line

Third Army nears open country

…

8187

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.”

8188

2,100 U.S. planes batter Germany

Hit industries in heart of country

…

8189

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.”

8190

Liquor inquiry curbed by Senate

…

8191

Two men deny they’re Nazi spies

…

8192

I DARE SAY —
What-if-ers

By Florence Fisher Parry

…

8193

NYA’s ex-head denies he’s a Communist

Aubrey Williams quizzed for new job

…

8194

Elliott Roosevelt’s case delayed

…

8195

Perkins: Spielers still ‘at old stand’ in Hyde Park

Speakers have wide variety of themes
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

…

8196

Brothers saved from ice floe

…

8197

Simms43

Simms: Fall of Manila gives America big problem

Filipinos must get food, clothing
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

WASHINGTON – Manila’s fall marks the beginning of probable the most difficult – because it is the most delicate – phase of our 46 years of association with the Philippine Islands.

Before leaving Washington to join Gen. Douglas MacArthur for the grand entree into his capital, President Sergio Osmena told me something of the conditions in the archipelago.

The plight of the Filipinos is pitiful. The invaders treated them harshly. The farmers were systematically robbed of almost everything they raised, leaving next to nothing which could be sold to the city dwellers.

This meant gnawing hunger if not actual starvation in the towns, also the diseases which malnutrition leads to.

Japs live off country

Unlike Americans, the Japs live off the country. They even steal clothing, selling at black market prices such civilian articles as the soldiers could not use themselves. They often destroy quite wantonly what they can’t take away.

As a result, the Filipinos generally are undernourished, plagued with all kinds of sickness, and pretty much in rags. They are in great need of almost everything – food, clothing, drugs.

U.S. faces problem

The United States now faces a tremendous psychological problem in the Philippines. The people have been treated so cruelly by the Japs for so long that the masses are looking to the Americans for immediate assistance every description. Adequate aid, of course, may be difficult, if not impossible, to provide – at least in the immediate future. Yet unless it is forthcoming the effect is bound to be bad.

European experience shows what to expect. As, one by one, Europe’s occupied countries were liberated, the inhabitants seemed to expect things to change for the better and at once. Overnight they hoped the things of which they had been deprived for so long would reappear. When they didn’t, there was disillusionment. The sick and the starving are seldom reasonable, especially when encountered en masse.

Cites Europe

Europe has shown that mere liberation is not enough. The hungry want food. The ragged want clothes. The ailing want medicine. The homeless want houses and the jobless and penniless want work and security. There is feverish impatience and when relief isn’t forthcoming there is national unrest.

The gist of all this is that while there is undoubtedly a limit to what we can do in the Philippines, it is imperative that we do everything we possibly can. The Filipinos are especially our wards. We are in honor bound to do our best by them – not only for their sake but for our own. For, half the population of the globe, all the yellow and brown races scattered throughout Asia, have their eyes on us. Our prestige is still at stake.

8198

Reporter, wife are near, yet far apart for 3 years

Freed from Manila prison, correspondent goes four blocks to find Mrs. Weissblatt
By Frank Weissblatt, United Press staff writer

BILIBID PRISON, Manila – The arrival of the 37th Infantry Division broke down the walls which for three years had separated me from my wife, who was only four blocks away in the heart of Manila.

We were reunited last night. Although we had been interned so near to each other, our only communication during the three seemingly endless years had been an official card every three months, except for occasional messages delivered by the underground.

Our separation was occasioned, by my status as a war correspondent. The Japs considered me a war prisoner and confined me to Bilibid Prison instead of Santo Tomas where other civilians and their wives were confined. After the 37th Infantry brought about our rescue I went to Santo Tomas where I found my wife.

Keeps prisoner records

In the darkened university halls last night and today I told wives, friends and relatives of prisoners held by the Japs the news of their loved ones at Bilibid, Formosa, Japan and Manchuria which I had compiled while at Bilibid.

Bilibid was a focal point for prisoner movement and I talked to men passing through in the daytime and wrote my record secretly at night, hiding the papers.

We kept our hopes alive on the news of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s island-to-island progress back to Luzon.

The most difficult time of all was during the last few weeks when we knew Gen. MacArthur was on Luzon but had only wild rumors on his progress down the plain.

Hear rifle butts

The food shortage was growing acute, but strength came back to us all when the sound of soldiers’ rifle butts against the wooden shutters on our barred windows gave us the first sign that Americans were in Manila.

One rifle butt knocked a small rectangle of wood from a window. A hand and an unwashed, unmistakably American face appeared in the opening.

The hand held a rifle and nervously fingered the trigger. Just in time its owner recognized us as fellow-Americans.

“How in hell do you get in there?” he shouted.

‘Glad to see you’

“How do you get out of here?” replied a prisoner, jokingly. “We’ve been trying to find that out for three years.”

Hardly a minute later, the soldiers were inside the wall and we were free. We told them the Japs, had pulled out Sunday afternoon.

There were tears of gratitude in our eyes, but the only words we could find to say were: “Glad to see you!”

Stanley and Livingstone –
‘Weissblatt, United Press,’ interned reporter says

Liberated newsman’s leg knit at 30-degree angle after being broken by Jap bullet
By H. D. Quigg, United Press staff writer

**BILIBID PRISON, Manila (Feb. 5, delayed) – Our names aren’t Stanley and Dr. Livingstone, but for a while it seemed as though they should have been.

It happened in Bilibid Prison, that ancient jail in which the Japs have confined 800 Allied war prisoners and 550 civilians for nearly three years.

I was just bedding down for the night on the concrete floor of the prison with an assault battalion of the 37th Infantry Division when someone said there were some American prisoners who just had been freed on the other side of the wall.

‘Weissblatt, United Press’

The night was pitch black. but I felt my way around the wall and along a corridor toward a hum of excited voices.

Suddenly I sensed rather than felt or saw someone beside me. I stuck out my hand, even as did Stanley in darkest Africa those many years ago.

“I’m Quigg, United Press”

The Dr. Livingstone of Bilibid Prison grasped my hand fervently.

“Weissblatt, United Press,” he replied.

And thus I met Franz Weissblatt, 46, who covered the Jap invasion and American retreat from Lingayen Gulf to Bataan for United Press readers three years ago.

He was captured January 7, 1942, the sole survivor of a unit of 15 men from the famed 26th Cavalry Division. The other Americans had been killed when the unit was ambushed by the Japs.

Mr. Weissblatt was sitting in a scout car when a Jap rifle bullet hit him in the leg, breaking the bone. He was knocked to the bottom of the car. Then a mortar burst directly over the car, leaving him unconscious.

Pulled to ground

When he regained consciousness at daybreak, he saw Jap troops crawling forward. He raised his head over the side of the car.

The Japs gave a whoop and pulled him onto the ground, impacting the leg fracture. They forced him to strip and crawl 50 yards to a Jap command post.

After 35 days of traveling around to various Jap headquarters, Mr. Weissblatt was taken to a Jap naval hospital in Manila, where his leg knit at a 30-degree angle without being reset.

He went to various camps on crutches and finally arrived at this former federal prison, where he has been more than 2½ years.

That was “Weissblatt, United Press.”

Mr. Weissblatt’s wife was found doing nurse’s duty at the Santo Tomas internment camp. She had been at Bataan and Corregidor and for over two years has handled the diet for internment camps, feeding several hundred small children and trying to keep them nourished out of a small variety of available foods.