America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

833

Ernie Pyle V Norman

Roving Reporter

By Ernie Pyle

Paris, France – (by wireless)
This is the last of these columns from Europe. By the time you read this, the old man will be on his way back to America. After that will come a long, long rest. And after the rest – well, you never can tell.

Undoubtedly this seems to you to be a funny time for a fellow to be quitting the war. It is a funny time. But I’m not leaving because of a whim, or even especially because I’m homesick.

I’m leaving for one reason only – because I have just got to stop. “I’ve had it,” as they say in the Army. I have had all I can take for a while.

I’ve been 29 months overseas since this war started; have written around 700,000 words about it; have totaled nearly a year in the frontlines.

I do hate terribly to leave right now, but I have given out. I’ve been immersed in it too long. My spirit is wobbly and my mind is confused. The hurt has finally become too great.

All of a sudden it seemed to me that if I heard one more shot or saw one more dead man, I would go off my nut. And if I had to write one more column I’d collapse. So, I’m on my way.

It may be that a few months of peace will restore some vim to my spirit, and I can go war-horsing off to the Pacific. We’ll see what a little New Mexico sunshine does along that line.

Couldn’t get around to all the branches

Even after two and a half years of war writing, there still is a lot I would like to tell. I wish right now that I could tell you about our gigantic and staggering supply system that keeps these great armies moving.

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get around to many branches of service that so often are neglected. I would like to have written about the Transportation Corps and the airport engineers and the wire stringers and the chemical mortars and the port battalions. To all of those that I have missed, my apologies. But the Army over here is just too big to cover it all.

I know the first question everyone will ask when I get home is: “When will the war be over?”

So, I’ll answer even before you ask me, and the answer is: “I don’t know.”

We all hope and most of us think it won’t be long now. And yet there’s a possibility of it going on and on, even after we are deep in Germany. The Germans are desperate and their leaders have nothing to quit for.

Every day the war continues is another hideous blackmark against the German nation. They are beaten and yet they haven’t quit. Every life lost from here on is a life lost to no purpose.

If Germany does deliberately drag their war on and on, she will so infuriate the world by her inhuman bullheadedness that she is apt to be committing national suicide.

Germans show their real cruelty

In our other campaigns we felt we were fighting, on the whole, a pretty good people. But we don’t feel that way now. A change has occurred. On the Western Front, the Germans have shown their real cruelty of mind. We didn’t used to hate them, but we do now.

The outstanding figure on this Western Front is Lt. Gen. Omar Nelson Bradley. He is so modest and sincere that he probably will not get his proper credit, except in military textbooks.

But he has proved himself a great general in every sense of the word. And as a human being, he is just as great. Having him in command has been a blessed good fortune for America.

I cannot help but feel bad about leaving. Even hating the whole business as much as I do, you come to be a part of it. And you leave some of yourself here when you depart. Being with the American soldier has been a rich experience.

To the thousands of them that I know personally and the other hundreds of thousands for who I have had the humble privilege of being a sort of mouthpiece, this then is to say goodbye – and good luck.

834

americavotes1944

GOP protests letter given to soldiers

President’s message called political
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
All members of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps serving overseas have been given a letter from President Roosevelt either on shipboard or after arriving on foreign soil, it was disclosed today.

A White House spokesman acknowledged that political capital may be made of the letter, but he insisted it was wholly without political intent. A large percentage of the more than four million troops overseas is expected to vote in the November election.

Asked for letter

The White House explained that the War Department in February 1942 had asked for a letter from Mr. Roosevelt to be given overseas troops, and the spokesman commented that at such an early date in the war Mr. Roosevelt certainly did not know he would be in a presidential campaign in 1944.

The letter is on White House stationery, and bears a facsimile of Mr. Roosevelt’s signature. It emphasizes the importance of the fight Americans are making and concludes with the statement that, “You bear with you the hope, the confidence, the gratitude and the prayers of your family, your fellow citizens and your President.”

Message in 1917

When it was suggested that proponents of Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s candidacy might think that, as a presidential candidate opposing the President, he should also have the right of a personal message to overseas troops, the White House official commented that Mr. Dewey would be able to if he had been elected President a couple years ago. The President, it was pointed out, is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Belief was expressed that President Wilson had written a similar letter to U.S. troops in 1917. But the message, carried by Governor R. L. Beekman of Rhoda Island was delivered on Nov. 13, 1917, after the off-year elections here.

The White House spokesman acknowledged that the letter “and a lot of other things” may be seen as having political intent between now and the election.

Text of letter

Addressed “to members of the United States Army Expeditionary Forces,” the text of the letter follows:

You are a soldier of the United States Army.

You have embarked for distant places where the war is being fought.

Upon the outcome depends the freedom of your lives; the freedom of the lives of those you love – your fellow citizens – your people.

Never were the enemies of freedom more tyrannical, more arrogant, more brutal.

Yours is a God-fearing, proud, courageous people, which, throughout its history, has put its freedom under God before all other purposes.

We who stay at home have our duties to perform – duties owed in many parts to you. You will be supported by the whole force and power of this nation. The victory you win will be a victory of all the people – common to them all.

You bear with you the hope, the confidence, the gratitude and the prayers of your family, your fellow citizens and your President.

The letter recalled the fact that distributions of material alleged to be of political nature to U.S. troops has been the subject of one of Washington’s most heated controversies in recent weeks. Well-known books and magazines were barred by the Army until the law covering this matter was liberalized.

835

americavotes1944

Truman stresses reconversion

Seeks labor’s aid in Michigan speeches

Detroit, Michigan (UP) –
Senator Harry S. Truman, Democratic nominee for Vice President bidding for labor’s support in November, declared tonight that if President Roosevelt is reelected the nation’s armament plants will be converted to post-war goods production, but that if he is defeated they probably will be “junked.”

Completing a Labor Day schedule pf three addresses and a press conference in this industrial area, the Missouri Senator told a gathering of AFL leaders that “if those who fear the competition of these new plants have their way, they will be shut down.”

Shortly after noon yesterday, he went to Pontiac for a brief appearance.

Mr. Truman told the CIO rally:

America is again at the crossroads. we must again decide whether we shall help suffering humanity find the hard road to lasting peace, or revert to selfish isolationism.

You all know that the greatest advances made in the history of labor have been made under the administration of the greatest friend labor ever had – Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Plants built for war work can provide jobs for all if we have the courage and resourcefulness to help industry put them to work on peacetime goods.

These new plants, added to those we had before the war, can produce a wealth of peacetime goods beyond anything we ever dreamed.

836

americavotes1944

First Lady denies urging social equality of races

Mrs. Roosevelt blames political enemies for distorting her views

Evergreen, Alabama (UP) –
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, accusing political enemies of distorting her views, declared in a letter received here today that she did not advocate race social equality.

The First Lady pointed out four fundamental rights which, she wrote, belonged to all U.S. citizens, irrespective of color.

Mrs. Roosevelt aired her racial attitude in a reply to a letter from Mrs. Catherine Stallworth of Evergreen, who had suggested to Mrs. Roosevelt that her ideas about treatment of the Negroes arose “from a lack of complete knowledge of the Negro situation in the South, particularly in the small towns where there are almost as many Negroes as whites.”

Enemies blamed

Mrs. Roosevelt wrote:

Much that is said about my attitude on the Negro situation is distorted and exaggerated by people who are opposed to my husband and me, and by those who have deep-rooted prejudices… I have never advocated social equality.

In a democracy, however, we cannot have 12 million people who are denied rights as citizens.

Those rights, as Mrs. Roosevelt summarized them, were: An equal opportunity for employment according to ability and at equal pay, an equal opportunity for education, for justice before the law, and to participate in government through the ballot.

‘A world question’

This [race] question is not just a Southern question. It is a world question… If we are not fair and just to the colored people, how can we expect other countries to trust us and believe in our good faith?

I know in many places the Negroes outnumber the white people and that is one explanation for not giving them the right to vote. There can be and should be a standard of literary and education required [for voting] and I think you will find that the Negroes will not vote as a group any more than other minority groups do in this country.

Perhaps one of the solutions will be to move the Negroes into places where there are only a few and thus prevent the lack of balance.

Mrs. Roosevelt pointed out that this idea had been suggested, but had been opposed by some Southern states.

She said that, inasmuch as she had lived in both Georgia and Florida, she could understand the South’s problem.

837

americavotes1944

More governors to speak tonight

New York (UP) –
Governors of New Jersey, Michigan and Washington broadcast tonight over a coast-to-coast network in support of Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican nominee for President.

Governor Walter E. Edge will speak from Atlantic City; Governor Harry F. Kelly from Lansing, and Governor Arthur B. Langlie from Olympia.

The 15-minute broadcast will be carried by WCAE at 9:15 p.m. ET.

Governor Dewey, meanwhile, worked on a series of radio addresses which he will broadcast jointly with the governors of 24 GOP states.

Although the exact plans for the addresses were not revealed, it was understood that Governor Dewey and a governor of a Republican state would share radio time several times weekly. The programs will begin after his return from his 6,700-mile coast-to-coast tour, on Sept. 28.

838

americavotes1944

Women Democrats map vote drive

Democratic women in Pennsylvania are planning the “most intensive drive on registration and getting out the vote since women won suffrage,” Mrs. Emma Guffey Miller, Democratic National Committeewoman, announced today.

Women Democrats opened their campaign today with a regional conference here and in Oil City, the first of six similar feelings.

‘Democratic Women’s Day’

At these conferences plans will be made for “National Democratic Women’s Day,” Sept. 27, when Democratic women’s groups will meet in every precinct in the state.

Mrs. Miller said:

In the hundreds of thousands of homes where a son or sons are in the Armed Forces, the last thought of every woman at night is: “How soon will my boy get home?” And the mothers, wives and sisters of our fighting Pennsylvania boys realize only too well the war will be ended and the boys brought home sooner if President Roosevelt is kept in command, rather than turn the conduct of this great conflict over to the thoroughly inexperienced Governor Dewey.

There is an unprecedented activity on the part of Pennsylvania women in this election and they will have a great deal to do with putting it in the Democratic column. Until Oct. 7 [the last day to register for the Nov. 7 election], an intensive drive to get voters registered will be carried on, reaching through every precinct.

839

americavotes1944

Communists join registration spat

Communists today joined the Republican-Democratic dispute over the field registration schedules set up by the County Elections Department and the Pittsburgh Registration Commission.

Democrats had accused the Republican Registration Commission of juggling the enrollment sites to Republican advantage. Republicans filed similar charges against the Democratic Elections Department.

Maximum registration

Both allegations, said Max Weiss, president of the Communist Political Association for Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are beside the point which concerns the “greatest possible registration.”

He said:

If there are any who object to such a maximum registration and maximum vote, on the ground that it surely will result in the reelection of President Roosevelt, then they admit that President Roosevelt is already the people’s choice.

Offices for every district

Mr. Weiss said Anthony J. Federoff, CIO regional director and a leader of the CIO Political Action Committee, had given a “direct and forceful lead to the development of a nonpartisan approach to voter registration” when he said recently that “the people will vote liberal if they only get out and vote.”

Mr. Weiss advocated opening registration offices “in every single one of the election districts in Allegheny County [there are 1,020 districts].”

840

Love: Stay in school

By Gilbert Love

…

841

Maj. de Seversky: German retreat

By Maj. Alexander P. de Seversky

…

842

Here are Americans –
U.S. air evacuation program keeps morale soaring among wounded soldier

By Frederick Woltman, Scripps-Howard staff writer

…

843

Screenshot 2022-06-20 213810

Why we lost the peace –
Simms: Allies lacked statesmen to enforce pact they made in World War I

By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

Last of two articles.

Washington –
Gen. Pershing did his utmost in 1918 to persuade the Allies to occupy Berlin. But to their bitter regret, later on, he was overruled.

Some – especially in Britain and France – still hold President Wilson largely to blame for ending the war at Compiègne instead of at Berlin. But these are hindsight critics, as “Tiger” Clemenceau, the French Premier, called them. not only did he and Marshal Foch both agree with Wilson that the war should not be prolonged a single day beyond military requirements, but, he wrote, David Lloyd George and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig led “all others” in opposing harsh measures.

“When he sent us the American Army,” Clemenceau related, “Mr. Wilson had asked if we were prepared to cease fighting on the day the Germans accepted his 14 Points.” And Clemenceau answered yes.

Clemenceau related that Lloyd George once threatened to withdraw from the peace conference “if I did not consent to the occupation of the Rhineland for only two years instead of 15.” Angrily the French Premier replied that if Lloyd George withdrew, he [Clemenceau] would lay his resignation before the Chamber of Deputies and tell the world why he did so, Even them, he added, “without the stalwart support of Mr. Wilson the treaty that day would have been a mangled corpse.”

The chief trouble with the Allies, the “Tiger” never ceased to growl, was not that they failed to make a harsh peace, but that they lacked statesmen with the will to enforce the peace they made.

When the French entered the Ruhr to enforce the peace terms, the outcry in the United States and England was deafening. France, it was said, was “militaristic.” When Poincaré made his famous series of speeches, warning against German perfidy, the same thing happened. The British and French evacuated the Rhineland long before the date fixed by the treaty and Allied opinion forced France to follow suit.

When Hitler denounced the military clauses of the treaty and openly began to rearm, France did not like it but Anglo-American opinion remained indifferent. When the Nazis reoccupied the Rhineland and France wanted to throw them out – even at the price of a “preventive war” – Britain warned France she could not count on Britain being at her side.

The lessons of Clemenceau and of events are clear. Whether or not we occupy Berlin this time, Germany will find a way to stage a third world war unless we remain permanently vigilant. The second World War was due, not to any lack of firmness in the peace of Paris, but to a lack of firmness in ourselves afterwards. We got “soft” and Germany came within an ace of destroying us. Next time – if we get “soft” – she may succeed.

844

American League normal again: McCarthy’s Yanks are in first place

By Glen Perkins, United Press staff writer

…

845

Soldier’s ex-employer gets discharge notice

…

Batcheller again called to Washington

Will help solve problems of WPB
By Dale McFeatters, Press business editor

…

846

Going to New York? Be sure ‘Joe sent me’

Knowing somebody helps a lot
By Si Steinhauser

…

847

‘Railroading’ charge denied –
Kennedy tells how spy exposed secret U.S.-British notes

Roosevelt-Churchill messages given to Berlin by code clerk who saw all of them
By Henry J. Taylor, Scripps-Howard staff writer

…

848

Völkischer Beobachter (September 6, 1944)

Rosenberg: Gesetze politischer Entwicklungen

Von Alfred Rosenberg

…

849

Schwere Abwehr in Nordfrankreich und Belgien

dnb. Berlin, 5. September –
Der Druck des Feindes war am 4. September im nordfranzösisch-belgischen Raum stark. Hier griff er mit erheblichen Kräften in Chouche und Lys nach Norden an. Er verlagerte dann seinen Schwerpunkt nach Osten. Die 2. Britische Armee-schlug bei Tournay eine Bresche und strömte mit starken Kräften in den Raum zwischen Deyle und Schelde, über Brüssel hinaus, ein, wo den ganzen Tag über erbittert gekämpft wurde.

Weiter südlich ergab sich ein ähnliches Bild. Hier drangen nordamerikanische Truppen in breiter Front zwischen den Industrierevieren und Mons und Charleville in nordöstlicher Richtung vor. Starke Teilkräfte sollten über Maubeuge den Anschluss an die weiter nördlich operierende 2. britische Armee gewinnen und durch eine Umfassung unsere Verteidigungslinien zwischen Sambre und Maas ausschalten. Die Angriffe bei Maubeuge wurden nach anfänglichem Bodengewinn blutig abgeschlagen. Unter fortgesetzten weiteren Vorstößen etwa auf der Linie Maubeuge–Dinant verlagerte der Feind seinen Druck immer mehr nach Osten. Als er keine Möglichkeit zum Einbruch fand, trieb er südlich Dinant an mehreren Stellen Panzergruppen über die Maas vor. Aus den Ardennen heraus griffen unsere „Truppen diese Kräfte energisch an. Nördlich Charleville warfen sie den Gegner auf den Fluss zurück, und weiter nördlich pressten sie ihn auf einem schmalen Uferstreifen zusammen oder verhinderten durch zusammengefasstes Feuer seine Übersetzversuche.

In den Argonnen versuchten die Nordamerikaner, unsere Widerstandslinien an der Maas durch Angriffe zwischen Fluss und Lothringer Becken zu überflügeln und einzudrücken. Diese Angriffe blieben unter hohen blutigen Verlusten liegen.

Im Rücken des Feindes kämpfen unsere Truppen in den Küstenstützpunkten der Normandie und Bretagne. Seit zwei Tagen wächst der Druck britischer und kanadischer Kräfte auf Le Havre. Um schwere Verluste, wie vor den bretonischen Küstenplätzen, zu vermeiden, forderte der Feind unsere Besatzung zur Übergabe auf. Selbstverständlich war ein glattes „Nein“ auch hier die einzige Antwort. Um die noch in der Stadt befindlichen etwa 50.000 französischen Zivilisten vor den zu erwartenden schweren Kämpfen zu schützen, bot der Festungskommandant die Evakuierung der Zivilbevölkerung an. Der Gegner lehnte dieses Angebot ab, worauf der Kampf von neuem entbrannte.

Der jetzt bei Le Havre beginnende Kampf ist bei Brest seit Tagen in vollem Gange. Unter den pausenlosen Bombardierungen sind Stadt und Hafen in Trümmer gesunken.

Im Saônetal ist die Lage unserer Truppen günstiger geworden. Sie haben ein Gebiet erreicht, das durch unsere Stützpunkte stärker gesichert ist als das durchschrittene Verhältnismäßig schmale Rhonetal. Von Überflügelungsversuchen in größerem Stil hat der Gegner in diesem Raum bisher abgesehen. Einen besonderen Erfolg errang wieder die im Wehrmachtbericht vom 4. September erwähnte 11 Panzerdivision, die an der Südwestschwelle des Französischen Jura starke feindliche Kräfte zerschlug.

850

Die anglo-amerikanischen Materiallieferungen –
Das Geheimnis der bolschewistischen Offensive

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

…

851

Führer HQ (September 6, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

Im Raum von Antwerpen wurden unsere Divisionen auf den Albertkanal zurückgenommen. In der Stadt selbst wird noch erbittert gekämpft. Gegen die Linie Löwen–Namur–Sedan griff der Feind auf breiter Front an, konnte jedoch nur unwesentlichen Geländegewinn erzielen. Feindliche übersetzversuche über die Mosel nördlich Nancy wurden zerschlagen. Die Besatzung von Le Havre wies einen von Panzern unterstützten Vorstoß des Gegners blutig ab.

In das Festungsvorfeld von Brest eingedrungene feindliche Kräfte wurden Im Gegenstoß geworfen, erneute Infanterie- und Panzerbereitstellungen der Nordamerikaner durch zusammengefasstes Artilleriefeuer zerschlagen. Unsere aus Süd- und Südwestfrankreich zurückgenommenen Truppen haben befehlsgemäß den Raum um Dijon und das Plateau von Langres erreicht.

Auf den Passstraßen westlich der französisch-italienischen Grenze schlugen unsere Sicherungen starke feindliche Angriffe blutig ab.

Im adriatischen Küstenabschnitt vereitelten unsere Truppen auch gestern die Durchbruchsversuche des Gegners, der unter stärkstem Materialeinsatz immer wieder gegen unsere Stellungen anrannte. Seit 31. August wurden bei diesen Kämpfen 259 Panzer abgeschossen.

Bei einem Unternehmen gegen Banden in der Ägäis wurden durch Einheiten der Kriegsmarine 88 feindliche Motorsegler vernichtet oder aufgebracht.

Im Südteil von Siebenbürgen warfen ungarische Truppen, unterstützt von deutschen Sturmgeschützen, vordringende rumänische Verbände im Gegenangriff zurück. Hierbei wurden sechs feindliche Batterien und zwei mit Kriegsgerät beladene Eisenbahnzüge erbeutet.

Schlachtflieger vernichteten bei Tiefangriffen im rumänischen Gebiet 60 Lokomotiven und einen voll beladenen Betriebsstoffzug.

In den Ostkarpaten wurden wiederum zahlreiche Angriffe Bolschewisten an den Passstraßen in harten abgewiesen.

Nördlich des Bugs werden die von starken Panzer- und Schlachtfliegerkräften unterstützten Angriffe der Sowjets durch Gegenangriffe am unteren Narew zum Stehen gebracht. In dem erbitterten Ringen vernichteten Truppen des Heeres und Flakartillerie in der Zeit vom 3. bis 5. September 240 feindliche Panzer und Sturmgeschütze.

Von der übrigen Ostfront werden nur aus dem Raum von Dorpat örtliche Kämpfe gemeldet.

In den letzten beiden Tagen verloren die Sowjets an der Ostfront 73 Flugzeuge.

Bei Angriffen feindlicher Bomber auf West- und Südwestdeutschland wurden besonders die Städte Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart und Karlsruhe getroffen.

In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben auf Hannover.

Über dem Reichsgebiet und dem Kampfraum im Westen wurden 31 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

852

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 6, 1944)

Communiqué No. 151

In the BRUSSELS–ANTWERP sector, Allied forces were engaged yesterday in mopping-up operations.

Further west, forward elements of our armor have reached the southern outskirts of GHENT.

Allied troops continued to make good progress north of the SOMME, reaching the line AIRE–SAINT-OMER yesterday evening. Other forces bypassing BOLOGNE have reached the area FORET DE GUINES.

Further south our troops advancing into BELGIUM have freed CHARLEROI and NAMUR. Crossings of the MEUSE River have been made at DINANT and GIVET, where enemy opposition was light.

Mopping-up continues in the area southwest of MONS where more< enemy troops are surrounded.

Fighters and fighter-bombers strafed and dive-bombed enemy airfields, road convoys and railway trains in HOLLAND and Western Germany yesterday. One hundred and forty-three enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground and 28 were shot down in combat.

Enemy shipping off the Dutch Islands was attacked by rocket-firing fighters. One medium sized vessel was sunk, another left on fire and three smaller craft were damaged.

During the night railway targets in HOLLAND and GERMANY were attacked by light bombers.

Aerial bombardment of the fortified area of BREST was continued during the day by heavy, medium and light bombers.

Troop concentrations at LE HAVRE were attacked by heavy bombers which dropped more than 1,000 tons of high explosives.