Spekulationstaumel in Amerika
…
Führer HQ (February 13, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
In Ungarn stießen eigene Kampfgruppen östlich des Plattensees »gegen hartnäckigen feindlichen Widerstand bis zum Sárvizkanal vor. Im slowakischen Grenzgebiet wurden erneute sowjetische Angriffe abgewiesen, nordwestlich Bielitz ein am Vortag entstandener feindlicher Einbruch abgeriegelt und eingeengt.
In Niederschlesien vereitelten unsere Verbände im Gegenangriff den erneuten Versuch der Bolschewisten, die Festung Breslau von ihren rückwärtigen Verbindungen abzuschneiden. Südwestlich der Stadt verlor der Gegner auf engem Kaum 60 Panzer. Die Schlacht dehnte sich im weiteren Verlauf auf den Raum um Goldberg, den Queis- und den Bober-Abschnitt nördlich Sagan aus.
Im Südteil von Pommern fühlten die Sowjets in Richtung auf Stargard vor, ohne Erfolge gegen unsere verstärkte und gefestigte Abwehrfront erzielen zu können. Zwischen Kamin und Graudenz brachte der anhaltende feindliche Druck nach Norden wieder heftige Kämpfe, besonders in dem unübersichtlichen Waldgelände der Tucheler Heide. Die tapfer kämpfende Besatzung von Posen vernichtete in der Zeit vom 20. Jänner bis 10. Februar 91 Panzer, davon 43 durch „Panzerfaust,“ 144 Geschütze und 81 Lastkraftwagen.
In Ostpreußen griff der Feind bei Frauenburg und beiderseits der Autobahn Elbing–Königsberg mit Unterstützung zahlreicher Panzer an, ohne den erstrebten Durchbruch erzielen zu können. An der übrigen Front scheiterte eine Reihe feindlicher Einzelangriffe in harten örtlichen Kämpfen. Im Samland wurden nunmehr auch die westlich Thierenberg seit mehreren Tagen eingeschlossenen Teile der sowjetischen 91. Gardeschützendivision aufgerieben.
An der kurländischen Front blieben südöstlich Libau von Panzern unterstützte Vorstöße des Gegners erfolglos.
Im Westen traten am gestrigen Kampftag deutsche Panzer und Panzergrenadiere zwischen Niederrhein und Maas zu Gegenangriffen an. In erbitterten Kämpfen warfen sie die Engländer in den Reichswald zurück und zerschlugen mehrfache feindliche Gegenangriffe unter hohen Verlusten für den Feind. Östlich Gennep wird noch erbittert gekämpft. An der Rurfront ließen Hochwasser und Versumpfung die Kampfpause andauern.
Der Druck der Amerikaner zwischen Schleiden und Prüm hat infolge ihrer hohen Verluste nachgelassen. Feindliche Angriffe scheiterten oder wurden durch unsere Gegenangriffe zum Stehen gebracht.
An der Sauer gelang es dem Feind nach erbitterten Kämpfen, seine Brückenköpfe zwischen Wallersdorf und Echternach zu vereinigen. Seine Versuche, weiter nach Norden vorzudringen, wurden vereitelt, Übersetzmittel und Verkehr über den Fluss durch unsere Artillerie schwer getroffen.
In Mittelitalien hat die mit der Masse aus Negern bestehende 92. amerikanische Infanteriedivision nach ihren starken Einbußen den Angriff an der Ligurischen Küste nicht wieder aufgenommen. Ein eigener Stützpunkt behauptete sich dort mehrere Tage bis zum Entsatz gegen starke feindliche Angriffe hinter den feindlichen Linien. Insgesamt verlor der Gegner in den Kämpfen an der Ligurischen Küste 22 Panzer.
In Kroatien ließ die Stärke der feindlichen Angriffe im Raum von Mostar nach. Im Großraum von Virovitica ist das gesamte Drau-Ufer nördlich und östlich der Stadt vom Feind gesäubert.
Britische Terrorflieger warfen in der vergangenen Nacht Bomben auf Stuttgart und wahllos auf einige Landgemeinden in Süd- und Südwestdeutschland sowie im nordwestdeutschen Raum.
London wurde auch gestern durch unsere Vergeltungswaffen beschossen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (February 13, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
131100A 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. 311
Allied forces have reached the line of the railway running north from Kleve to the Rhine. Kleve has been cleared except for a few snipers, and to the south of the town, our forces have reached Hau.
Further progress has been made through the Reichswald Forest and to the southwest we have occupied Hekkens and Gennep.
East of the Belgian-German border the town Prüm has been virtually cleared. Some enemy mortar, artillery and small arms fire is being received in the town. Watzerath, three miles southwest of Prüm, has been captured. Our units have gained one-half mile to a point two miles southeast of Habscheid. Other elements pushed to an area four and one-half miles southwest of Prüm near the Prüm River. Farther southwest, Harspelt has been taken, and we are fighting in Sevenig, four miles east of Weiswampach.
Farther south, our forces have entered Vianden where fighting continues. Bollendorf has been cleared and our units are one-fourth mile west of Ferschweiler. Other elements have reached the vicinity of Ernzen, two miles north of Echternach.
The enemy forced his way into the factory area of Oberhöfen, near the Rhine in northern Alsace. Additional small enemy units which infiltrated other parts of the town were dispersed. Hard fighting has been in progress in Oberhöfen for ten days.
An explosion damaged the superstructure of the Markt Dam across the east channel of the Rhine near the Swiss border. The river flow was not affected.
Allied forces in the west captured 2,536 prisoners 9 February.
Bad weather yesterday restricted air operations.
Stuttgart and targets in western Germany were attacked last night 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. Navy Department (February 13, 1945)
Communiqué No. 576
Pacific Area.
The escort carrier USS OMMANEY BAY (CVE–79) and the minesweeper USS LONG (DMS-12) have been lost in the Philippine Area as the result of enemy action.
The next of kin of casualties have been informed.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 257
Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed airfield installations and anti-aircraft positions on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on February 12 (East Longitude Date).
On the same date, bombers of the same force struck at naval installations on Chichijima and at Meijima in the Hahajima Group in the Bonins. Results were unobserved.
Fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing destroyed one building and damaged another on Babelthuap in the Palaus on February 12. Marine fighters and torpedo bombers struck dock installations on Yap in the Western Carolines on the same date.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 13, 1945)
GERMANS DENOUNCE ‘SATANIC’ PACT
Yalta program catches Nazis by surprise
‘Political murder,’ Goebbels’ boys cry
LONDON, England (UP) – German propagandists today called the Crimean declaration the “Program of the haters of Yalta.”
Germany “will smash this Satanic plan,” DNB promised.
After a lengthy delay in informing the German public of the nature of the Crimean communiqué, an official DNB News Agency dispatch was issued with instructions to German editors that it be headlined: “Germany Has to Be Exterminated.”
Caught off base
The DNB dispatch charged that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin had decided upon “new crimes against humanity.” It charged that the Crimean conferees were imbued “with the Spirit of Old Testament Jewish Hatred” and were attempting the “greatest political murder of all time.”
Apparently, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was caught off base as he had been busily warning the Reich to beware of a Wilsonian peace plea.
Even since the Big Three conference had been rumored, Goebbels had turned loose the full propaganda facilities inside Germany to warn the Reich against a Big Three appeal to the German people.
Expected honeyed plea
The Goebbels line was that the Big Three would issue a honeyed plea to Germany which would make the “unconditional surrender” doctrine sound more palatable. Goebbels warned the Nazis to beware of any such new “Wilsonian” tactics.
But when the Big Three communiqué failed to bear out this buildup, the Nazi propagandists were apparently at a loss how to present the grim news to the Nazi public. For hours after the news had been announced and Allied radios were blaring it into Germany on all available wavelengths the domestic Nazi radio made no mention of the Crimea conference.
The flat Big Three assertion that Germany is doomed appeared to have thrown a monkey-wretch into the usually well-oiled Nazi propaganda machinery.
Give gist of communiqué
For foreign consumption the Nazi propaganda displayed equal uncertainty.
Initial broadcasts merely gave the gist of the Crimea communiqué.
Later, Nazi commentators said the Big Three had confirmed their policy of “hate and destruction” toward Germany. Broadcasts beamed to the United States said that the Big Three had adopted the “Morgenthau plan for enslavement and destruction” of the Reich.
Other comments said the Big Three committed “the greatest political crime of all times.” They said it was “a super-Versailles that surpasses the old Versailles by 100 percent.”
Attack Polish solution
Broadcasts to Europe attacked the Polish solution and made sarcastic references to Allied plans for relief of liberated countries.
Berlin spokesmen railed at the Big Three plan to transfer German territory to Poland and declared jeeringly that “the bear’s skin is being divided before the bear is caught.”
“The arrogant authors of the communiqué must have realized themselves that the German answer to these songs of hate cannot be anything but fight,” one broadcaster said.
Allied transmitters in London, Moscow and elsewhere in and around the continent told Germany the story of the Big Three meeting in the official words of the communiqué, without elaborating on that announcement.
Japs give news
At intervals of an hour or less, German-speaking announcers broadcast the official statement by shortwave to Germany and Austria, interspersed by similar transmissions to other parts of the continent.
FCC monitors in New York said the Tokyo radio broadcast a factual summary of the communiqué late last night to Japs living in the Americas, but there was no indication that the Jap home public had yet been informed of the meeting.
Stockholm dispatches, meanwhile, said a flood of fantastic rumors had come out of Germany in the wake of the Big Three proclamation, most of them from dubious anti-Nazi sources.
Explosion in Berlin
Among the most lurid of these were reports that Adolf Hitler had resigned as Reich Chancellor in favor of Baron Franz von Papen; that Hitler and von Papen had received a peace delegate from the Vatican; that Gestapo agents were searching Berlin’s graveyards for secret arms caches after a series of mysterious explosions in the capital, and that the Fuehrer was preparing to launch gas warfare with a new “wonder gas."
More reliable reports circulating in Zurich said the Swiss minister to Berlin had left the German capital and that other neutral delegations were expected to follow very shortly, presumably because of the Red Army advance from the east. The Papal Nuncio in Berlin was also said to have left the city for an undisclosed destination.
Sweden’s legation was reported to have been ordered to remain in Berlin as long as possible to assist the fairly large number of Swedes remaining in Germany.
Congress backs Big Three unity
United Nations to draft world security treaty in San Francisco April 25
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
WASHINGTON – The Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill conference report got an enthusiastic cheer from Congress today on its proposal that the United States, Russia and Great Britain be bound in post-war unity as a “sacred obligation” to the peoples of the world.
President Roosevelt, Marshal Joseph V. Stalin and Prime Minister Winston Churchill made that post-war compact the foundation of their “report and statement” on the Crimean conversations.
To achieve it they announced they had summoned the United Nations to conference in San Francisco April 25 to draft a world security treaty. It will be in the Dumbarton Oaks pattern.
The Black Sea conferees announced they had reached final agreement on treaty framework, including voting methods.
Announcement yesterday of completion of the Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill conversations and of the April conference call opens the administration campaign to present the security treaty to the Senate before hot weather begins to swelter this capital. Final Senate action is sought by midsummer.
The conferees held their eight-day meeting in Yalta, a Crimean resort.
German people assured
They said they had agreed on war and post-war plans for Germany. ‘They passed on her a grim cleansing sentence, but assured the German people that they would survive and be fit to live within the “comity of nations.”
They announced agreement on objectives and methods of dealing with most of Europe’s political and economic problems – boundaries, forms of government and such. They promised aid to distressed populations and revealed they would intervene jointly almost anywhere to aid or prod liberated peoples toward desired objectives.
The report revealed a specific Polish settlement based on compromise but in very substantial measure granting all basic Russian demands, including territory. There were instant rumblings of objections to that.
But overall political and economic plans for Europe were tied firmly to the ideal of free elections and universal suffrage.
April 25 fateful date
This latter plan was regarded as a reassurance to Americans, and especially to the Senate, where Mr. Roosevelt soon must stand sponsor of a security treaty guaranteeing world peace backed in part by our armed forces.
Some saw an inference in the statement that Russia is maneuvering to swing at least its moral strength into the Pacific war against Japan. It was no more than an inference.
But it was observed that April 25, when the United Nations conference begins at the Golden Gate, is the last date upon which Japan or Russia can denounce their mutual non-aggression pact.
At table with Chinese
Furthermore, unlimited Russian participation in a United Nations discussion will put them at the same table with the Chinese, whom Russians have avoided because their enemies have not been the same. China fights Japan. Russia fights Germany.
The Crimean report ended on a note of “unity for peace as for war.”
The three most powerful men in the world said:
Our meeting here in the Crimea has reaffirmed our common determination to maintain and strengthen in the peace to come that unity of purpose and of action which has made victory possible and certain. We believe that this is a sacred obligation…
France recognized
The conferees significantly beckoned France to first rank political status in post-war peace machinery and promised her participation in the occupation of the beaten enemy. China was also granted first-class power by promise of a permanent seat, along with France and the Big Three, on the World Security Treaty Council.
The bid for American and senatorial support was in the form of a vigorously enthusiastic conference endorsement of the Atlantic Charter.
Congress welcomed the report which was read in the Senate and circulated among members of the recessed House. The reaction was not unanimous, but it was far from partisan. Republican Senators rose with Democrats to say to the Big Three: “Well done.”
Lauded by Hoover
Former President Herbert C. Hoover called the Crimea agreement a “strong formation on which to rebuild the world.”
“It is fitting,” he told a New York audience, “that it should have been issued on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.”
The Polish exile government in London evidently intends to repudiate the Big Three agreements as to its own fate, which is early extinction. There was some complaint here, too, against boundary and other plans for the Poles. But few of Mr. Roosevelt’s recent state papers have been better received at first glance on Capitol Hill.
‘Stimulating message’
“A very stimulating message,” said Sen. Alexander Wiley (R-Wisconsin), who has been listed by some persons as an isolationist. “It shows an apparent unity of purpose which the world has been looking forward to, and we hope it will ultimate in a real instrument for international collaboration.”
Referring to the report as “this momentous document,” Senate Democratic leader Alben W. Barkley, D-Kentucky, said:
If we can accomplish the objectives set forth in this Crimean conference, we will go a long way toward justifying the terrible sacrifices we are making in treasure and blood.
‘Great work done’
Senate Republican leader Wallace H. White Jr. (R-Maine) immediately rose from his seat across the aisle.
“A great work has been done,” he told the Senate.
Everyone wanted to know what Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-Michigan) thought of the Big Three job. Mr. Vandenberg proposed and Republicans generally have adopted a foreign policy based on immediate treaties for the permanent demilitarization of Germany and agreements for post-war examination of all political adjustments made or being made in Europe.
‘Best so far’
“The report is far the best that has issued from any major conference,” said Mr. Vandenberg, although reserving the right to seek more detailed information, especially about Polish political and boundary agreements.
He continued:
It reaffirmed basic principles of justice to which we are deeply attached. And it undertakes for the first time to implement these principles by direct action. The total demilitarization of Germany and the pledge to proceed among our Allied friends on the basis of the Atlantic Charter are greatly encouraging.
The Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin report bore down hard on the Atlantic Charter, which Mr. Roosevelt has been accused of forgetting.
‘Joint’ action stressed
The three men repeatedly emphasized the “joint” nature of their plans and intentions in all respects. They reported, without disclosing the solution, that they had agreed upon a plan for voting in the council of the proposed security organization.
Voting procedure stymied the Dumbarton Oaks conference here: It adjourned without decision whether all council members should have a vote even though one of them be a party to the aggression they were seeking to suppress or to prevent.
Russia insisted that all should vote and that one negative ballot should have veto power.
Details withheld
The Crimean conference report said that the solution of this problem would be revealed after China and France have been advised of the agreed upon procedure. If China and France go along and the Crimean conferees explored all parts of the security problem in amity, it would seem that the United Nations conferees in San Francisco next April will not be long in session.
Mr. Roosevelt and his foreign policy advisers are convinced that agreement and ratification of a world security treaty must be obtained at once to avoid the delays and defeats encountered after World War I.
To that end they have laid out a program not unlike Woodrow Wilson’s famous 14 points. This time, however, there is a report from leaders of the three nations most immediately concerned, undertaking to follow stipulated procedure in making desired post-war conditions come true.
Procedure listed
The stipulated procedure is embodied in a “Declaration on Liberated Europe.” It is an agreement among the three men on several points:
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The United States, Britain and Russia will act in concert to assist the liberated peoples to solve by democratic means their immediate political and economic problems. They expect that to be necessary during a “temporary period” only.
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This requires destruction of the last vestige of Nazism and adherence to the Atlantic Charter principle that all peoples have the right to choose the form of government under which they shall live.
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To foster conditions in which the liberated peoples may enjoy that right, the conferees agreed that when necessary, they jointly would assist the people of any liberated state or former Axis satellite to achieve four specific objectives:
(a) Establish conditions on internal peace.
(b) Effect emergency measures for relief of distressed peoples.
(c) Form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements of the population.
(d) Facilitate the holding of free elections.
Where the three powers intervened to form interim governmental authorities, it would be with the understanding, the report explained, that it would be only for the purpose of “the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people.”
The United States, Britain and Russia promised to consult other governments when matters of direct interest to them were involved in such cases. Prior to any action to make good on the foregoing pledges, the representatives of the three governments would consult among themselves.
The report said it was the hope of the three conferees that the provisional government of France “may be associated with them in the procedure suggested” – evidently as an equal partner.
The report said:
By this declaration, we reaffirm our faith in the principles of the Atlantic Charter, our pledge in the Declaration by the United Nations, and our determination to build in cooperation with other peace-loving nations world order under law, dedicated to the peace, security, freedom and general well-being of mankind.
To further the foregoing program and to maintain a political and diplomatic continuity of thought and action, the conference agreed that the foreign secretaries of the United States, Russia and Britain would meet hereafter about every four months. The first meeting is scheduled for London after the April United Nations conference here. Other meetings would rotate among the three capitals.
Major decisions of Big Three
German militarism to be destroyed
WASHINGTON (UP) – The major decisions reached by the Big Three at Yalta:
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GERMANY
Will be subjected to “new and even more powerful blows… to bring her to unconditional surrender.”Terms were agreed upon for occupation and control of Germany.
German militarism and Nazism will be destroyed; the German General Staff will be “broken up for all time,” all of Germany’s capacity for waging war or producing war materials will be eliminated or controlled.
The criminals will be punished. A commission will be established to study reparations.
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UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
An agreement was reached on voting procedure in the Council of the contemplated world security organization, a question left unsettled at Dumbarton Oaks.To prepare the charter for a world security organization along the lines of that contemplated at Dumbarton Oaks, a full United Nations conference will meet in San Francisco April 25.
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LIBERATED EUROPE
The three countries will jointly assist liberated European territories and former Nazi satellites to establish internal peace, carry out emergency relief measures, form interim governments and hold free elections of permanent governments “responsive to the will of the people.” The three countries will confer whenever the necessity arises in connection with these problems.The principles of the Atlantic Charter, including free determination of governments, are reaffirmed.
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POLAND
Russia gets roughly the eastern one-third of pre-war Poland, on the basis of a Polish border roughly following the old Curzon Line. In return, Poland will get “substantial” territory from Germany in the West.The so-called Lublin Government, now recognized by Russia, will be “reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and from Poles abroad.” The broadened government will be recognized by Britain and the United States.
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YUGOSLAVIA
The Big Three recommended acceptance of the compromise calling for creation of a regency and broadening of the Yugoslav Cabinet. -
FOREIGN SECRETARIES
The Big Three foreign secretaries will meet every three months, with the first session in London after the San Francisco conference. -
FRANCE
France was invited to participate in control and occupation of Germany, and in settling problems of Liberated Europe, she will be given a preview of the world security organization voting plan agreed upon at Yalta.
Poles in exile defy Big Three
But former premier may join cabinet
BULLETIN
LONDON, England (UP) – The London Polish government tonight flatly rejected the Big Three decision on Poland.
LONDON, England (UP) – The Polish Exile Cabinet was expected to defy the Allied Big Three today and reject its invitation to join the provisional government in liberated Poland.
The Exile Cabinet probably will make known its stand following a special meeting today, but its repeated anti-Russian declarations made rejection of the Crimean conference’s formula for Poland a foregone conclusion.
It was likely, however, that Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, who resigned as exile premier last November after failing to bring about a rapprochement with the Russians, would hasten to Poland to join a coalition government.
Unity demanded
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill doomed the exile government by promising at Yalta to recognize the Soviet-supported Polish Provisional Government once it has been reorganized on a “broader democratic basis with inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and from the Poles abroad.”
Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Premier Stalin also gave their blessing to a coalition government already in the process of formation in Yugoslavia under an agreement negotiated by Marshal Tito and Premier Ivan Subasic of the Royal Yugoslav exile government.
Other Balkan question
The Big Three recognized the objections of King Peter to a one-party (Communist) Parliament, however, by recommending that the anti-Fascist assembly be extended to include members of the last pre-occupation Parliament who had not collaborated with the Nazis.
The Big Three also made a “general review of other Balkan questions,” presumably including the Greek crisis, which was already well on the way to solution following the signing of a peace treaty by the Greek Government and the rebellious left-wing EAM-ELAS at Athens yesterday.
The formula for Poland represented a compromise between the Soviet and Anglo-American positions, though Moscow asserted that the Soviets had won “hands down.”
The Crimean declaration said Soviet Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov, U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman and British Ambassador Sir Archibald Clark Kerr would sit as a commission in Moscow with Polish leaders in reorganizing the provisional government, which would be known as the “Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.”
There was no question but what the Soviet views prevailed on the question of Poland’s eastern boundary. The Crimean declaration said the United States, Britain and Russia were agreed that the Curzon Line, which gives some 50,000 square miles of pre-war eastern Poland to Russia, should be adopted.
Poland would be recompensed by taking over German territory to the north and west, presumably including large portions of East Prussia, Silesia, Brandenburg and Pomerania, with the final boundaries being set at the Peace Conference.
By adoption of the Curzon Line as its western boundary, Russia would take over the former Polish cities of Lwow, Pinsk, Luck, Brest-Litovsk and Grodno, though Poland might retain the last two under the Crimean declaration’s provision for digressions in some regions of three to five miles “in favor of Poland.”
WASHINGTON (UP) – Allied abandonment of the London Polish exile government and acceptance of the Curzon Line as the eastern Polish boundary brought loud protests today from many Polish-American circles.
But the long-awaited decision appears to be final, with the Big Three ready to make it stick.
The London Polish government is not likely to find a court of appeal.
The key to the plan apparently is for Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, former premier of the London Poles, to join the Lublin government.
Reaction in Moscow –
Reds cheered by victory on all debatable issues
Russians particularly satisfied by decision which means end of exile Polish government
MOSCOW, USSR (UP) – Russia won “hands down” on all debatable questions in the Crimea Conference, it was felt in Soviet circles today, “as a party of the conferees including U.S. Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius Jr. arrived here from Yalta.
High satisfaction was expressed over results of the parley, particularly the agreement on Poland which spelled the end of the Polish exile government in London, and the fact that President Roosevelt had visited Soviet soil – regarded as a token of Soviet strength and prestige.
The Big Three decisions were hailed by the Soviet press with superlatives never before employed.
Izvestia, the government organ, called the Crimean Conference “the greatest modern political event.
Unprecedented mass meetings were called in cities and towns all over Russia at which the Big Three decisions were announced, cheered and discussed.
Mr. Stettinius flew here from the Crimea at the invitation of Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav M. Molotov for a one-day visit after which he will proceed to Mexico.
Three divisions joined in Manila
Fighting deadliest of Pacific war
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Three U.S. divisions linked up inside Southern Manila today.
The Yanks blasted the Jap garrison back into the burning waterfront in the deadliest, close-in fighting of the entire Pacific war.
The decisive juncture, sealing off the last avenue of escape for the trapped Japs in Manila, came as Bataan and Corregidor across Manila Bay were rocking under a tremendous bombardment by hundreds of U.S. planes.
More than 200 tons of high explosives were showered down on Corregidor Saturday and Sunday, while a big fleet of Army and Marine planes ripped up the southern corner of Bataan with another 500 tons.
Guns knocked out
It was the greatest land-based aerial blow ever struck in the Pacific, and apparently was intended to clear the way for an amphibious assault on Corregidor. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s communiqué reported that the giant guns on “the Rock” appeared to have been knocked out of action.
At the same time, a force of U.S. Thunderbolt fighters caught 35 troop-laden Jap barges off the east coast of Bataan in daylight Saturday and blew them out of the water, killing an estimated 2,500 enemy troops.
Herded toward bay
There was no indication whether the barges were evacuating troops from Bataan, Corregidor or Manila. There was even a remote possibility they may have been trying to sneak reinforcements into the capital to aid the Jap garrison in its finish fight.
Inside Manila, meanwhile, the survivors of several thousand enemy troops compressed into a narrow pocket south of the Pasig River were fighting with redoubled ferocity as the Americans herded them slowly back to the bay.
Gen. MacArthur revealed that virtually every street in the capital had been sown with mines and booby traps and that his troops were moving slowly to hold down casualties and spare the city from destruction insofar as possible.
The communiqué said units of the 1st Cavalry and 37th Infantry Divisions joined forces near the Paco railway station while other cavalry spearheads linked up with the 11th Airborne Division on the southwestern end of the capital near the Polo Club.
Planes hold off
The Japs now were compressed into a pocket measuring about three square miles.
The Americans were using artillery only against pinpointed targets and their overwhelming airpower was holding off because of the danger to Filipino civilians inside the Jap pocket.
Observers who had served in the European theater described the fighting as fiercer than any of the western battles, excepting possibly Stalingrad. Almost to a man, the Japs were fighting to the death for every street barricade and pillbox.
North of the capital, units of the U.S. 6th Armored Division cut Luzon in two with a lightning thrust to the island’s east coast at Dingalen Bay. Large quantities of ammunition were captured in the advance. Field reports said the Japs in that sector had retreated northward.