America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

8924

U.S. Navy Department (February 19, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 263

The U.S. Pacific Fleet achieved a decisive victory over the enemy in attacks on Tokyo on February 16 and 17 (East Longitude Dates).

Approaching the enemy coast under cover of weather so adverse as to handicap enemy air operations complete tactical surprise was accomplished by our forces and the following damage was inflicted on the enemy:

AIRCRAFT:

  • 332 airplanes shot out of the air.
  • 177 airplanes definitely destroyed on the ground.
  • At least 159 airplanes were probably destroyed or damaged on the first day.
  • An unknown number were damaged on the second day.

SHIPPING:

  • One escort carrier was bombed and set on fire. She went down by the bow and was left lying on her side at Yokohama.
  • 9 coastal vessels sunk
  • One destroyer sunk
  • Two destroyer escorts sunk
  • One cargo ship sunk
  • 22 coastal vessels damaged.
  • Numerous picket ships destroyed by aircraft and surface forces In­cluding one which was rammed by one of our destroyers.

GROUND INSTALLATIONS:
Hangars, shops and other installations destroyed at numerous airfields. Ota Aircraft Factory damaged. Musashine Tama and Tachigawa engine plants heavily bombed.

Our forces lost 49 planes in the attack. Between 30 and 40 pilots were lost. All enemy efforts to attack our task force were turned back by our effective combat air patrols before they reached our ships. None of our ships suffered damage from enemy ace fighters who were unaggressive and avoided our fighter aircraft.

Compiling this record of damage done the forces under command of ADM R. A. Spruance, USN, Commander, Fifth Fleet and VADM Marc A. Mitscher, USN, in tactical command of the carrier forces have won a victory as historic as it is decisive in the heart of the enemy’s defenses. The airmanship of our naval aviators was superior to every test the enemy and adverse weather could offer.

The Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, concurs in the following message which was sent to the carrier task force by ADM Spruance:

Congratulations to all hands on a superlatively well‑done job. Only courage, skill and intelligent team work by every member of Task Force 58 could have produced these historic results in spite of opposition by both enemy and weather. I know that our future operations will hurt the enemy even more.

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 264

United States Marines supported by heavy units of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and by shore-based and carrier aircraft have landed on Iwo Island in the Volcano Islands.

The landings were made by the Fifth Amphibious Corps which includes the Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions after heavy bombardment by battleships, cruisers and lighter units of the Pacific Fleet and sustained bombing by substantial forces of Navy carrier aircraft and also by Army bombers of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, which is under the command of Lt. Gen. M. F. Harmon, USA.

VADM Richmond Kelly Turner, U.S. Navy, Commander Amphibious Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, is in overall command of the Amphibious Forces involved in the operation.

Expeditionary troops are under the command of Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, USMC, Commanding General Fleet Marine Force Pacific. Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt, USMC, is Commanding General of the Fifth Amphibious Corps. The Fourth Marine Division is under command of Maj. Gen. Clifton B. Cates, USMC, and the Fifth Marine Division under the command of Maj. Gen. Keller E. Rockey, USMC.

The naval forces which prepared the island for invasion with heavy bombardment included the following old battleships: USS NEW YORK (BB-34), USS TEXAS (BB-35), USS NEVADA (BB-36), USS ARKANSAS (BB-33), USS IDAHO (BB-42) and USS TENNESSEE (BB-43).

More than 800 United States ships are involved in the operation. The carrier forces and amphibious forces are under the command of ADM R. A. Spruance, Commander, Fifth Fleet.

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 265

The Marines who landed on Iwo Island in the Volcanos have established a beachhead along the southeast shoreline extending from the volcano at the southern tip of the island 4,500 yards northward. The operation is proceeding satisfactorily.

The landing was made at 0900 today (East Longitude Date) against resistance which was light initially. Sporadic artillery and mortar fire encountered in the early hours on the beaches increased markedly after the drive inland began. Our casualties are moderate.

By 1000 penetrations from the beaches were generally about 500 yards in depth and at that time advance units of the attackers had reached the southern end of the southern airfield and had penetrated airfield defense east of the airstrip.

The troops went ashore after intense bombardment by heavy units of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and heavy bombing by carrier air groups.

Two light units of the supporting fleet task force suffered some damage during the pre‑landing attack.

A message has been sent to the units concerned as follows:

The Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, joins the Commander Fifth Fleet and Commander First Carrier Task Force in appreciation of the assistant and cooperation provided by the XXI Bomber Command, the Submarines Pacific, and Fleet Air Wing One in connection with the carrier attack on Tokyo.

8925

The Pittsburgh Press (February 19, 1945)

RECORD B-29 RAID BLASTS TOKYO
Superfortresses stoke fires set by Navy

Big bombers also hit Malay Peninsula

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8926

30,000 Marines battle to dig out Japs on Iwo

Foe fights fiercely from caves despite 4-day bombardment
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

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New Pacific invasion was confirmed today. U.S. Marines stormed ashore on Iwo Island in the Volcanoes. U.S. Superfortresses returned to the attack on Tokyo.

ADM. NIMITZ’S HQ, Guam – Two divisions of U.S. Marines, 30,000 men, stormed Iwo Island from an 800-ship invasion armada today.

In the first two hours of bitter fighting, the Leathernecks established a 4,500-yard-long beachhead, extending inland 500 yards to the edge of Suribachi Yama airfield.

“Our casualties are moderate” and the operation is proceeding satisfactory, Pacific Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said in his fourth communique of the day.

Resistance from the trapped enemy forces was increasing as the veteran Marines pushed inland on the tiny eight-square-mile island 750 miles from Tokyo, the communiqué said.

A pooled dispatch from the invasion flagship said hidden Jap artillery and mortars were pouring a deadly crossfire in the attacking Marines and that American casualties were “considerable.”

The dispatch said, however, that the Marines slowly were rooting out the concealed enemy gunners and that the overall progress of the invasion was satisfactory.

Marine Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith said:

Our men are scattered all over hell’s acre out there. They’re after those hidden Jap guns which are mighty hard to locate. Most of those guns are in caves. They come out and fire five or six rounds and then go back into hiding.

The Marine beachhead extended northward along the southeastern coast from the 546-foot -high volcano that forms the southern tip of the. island.

Radio Tokyo said that the Americans had won footholds on the southwest, south and east coasts.

Troops of the Fourth and Fifth Marines pushed inland in an attempt to knock out the positions from which enemy garrison forces were pouring artillery and mortar fire on the beachhead.

Damage was reported only to two light units of the supporting fleet. These ships were hit during the pre-landing assault.

The enemy’s ability to fight back from his heavily entrenched and defended positions was noted by Adm. Nimitz, who said that resistance “increased markedly after the drive inland began.”

Swarms of carrier and land-based planes and the 14 and 16-inch guns of battleships were pouring thousands of bombs and shells onto the island in support of the invasion troops. But the enemy garrison was putting up a defense reminiscent of Tarawa and Peleliu.

“There is a whale of a scrap going on back there at Iwo,” said a radio correspondent who flew over the embattled island as the invasion got underway.

The invasion of Iwo came on the fourth day of a terrific naval bombardment and the 74th day of an air assault on the tiny patch of land within fighter-plane range of Tokyo.

Jap broadcasts said American warships completely ringed Iwo and fired shells into the island from virtually every point on the compass.

The first tiny assault boats from hundreds of transports hovering out to sea hit the beaches at Iwo at 9 a.m. (8 a.m. Tokyo Time and 7 p.m. Sunday ET) shortly after nearly 8,000 rockets had scorched the coastline.

Webley Edwards, who flew over the island in a Liberator bomber as a representative of the combined radio networks, said he could see the bright flare of flamethrowers as the Marines assaulted inland pillboxes.

Battle on ridge

Another battle was raging on an inland ridge, Mr. Edwards said. Troops were landing “far up and down the coast,” he said. Carrier planes roared over the Marines at treetop levels. strafing enemy strongpoints ahead.

The entire island was covered by clouds of smoke and dust, broken here and there by bursts of flame as shells and bombs found their mark. Hundreds of Japs were believed to have been killed in the preliminary bombardment, but the remainder of the garrison of 10,000 to 15,000 was expected to put up a fanatical do-or-die fight.

The immediate prize were three airstrips from which Fiving Fortresses, Liberators and even fighter planes could attach Tokyo. One Tokyo broadcast said Marines on the southeast coast already were near the Suribachi airfield.

Futatsune Beach first

Tokyo said the first invaders landed on Futatsune Beach in southwest Iwo from 100 assault craft. Soon afterward, the broadcast said, two other forces landed simultaneously on the eastern and southern coasts. Reinforcements were moving toward the last two beaches from 200 or more landing craft, Tokyo reported.

Included in the bombardment force, Adm. Nimitz’s communiqués revealed, were some of the “ghosts” of Pearl Harbor, including the old battleships USS New York, USS Texas, USS Nevada, USS Arkansas, USS Idaho and USS Tennessee.

Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner had overall command of the amphibious forces, Adm. Nimitz said, with famed Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith commanding the expeditionary groups.

The invading Fifth Amphibious Corps, under command of Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt, comprised the 4th Marine Division under Maj. Gen. Clifton B. Cates and the 5th Marine Division under Maj. Gen. Keller E. Rockey.

Iwo Island is part of the Tokyo administrative district.

Tokyo finally acknowledged that the Americans had gained footholds on Iwo after trumpeting claims that four landing attempts had been smashed Saturday.

During the final stages of the preliminary bombardment, Tokyo said, some major fleet units approached as close as a half mile from the Iwo coast.

Japs claim sinkings

A Jap communiqué claimed that Jap ground batteries and aircraft had sunk or damaged 23 American ships Friday and Saturday off Iwo. Listed as sunk were a battleship, four cruisers, two minesweepers, four landing transports and three unidentified warships.

A number of Jap coastal batteries were smashed in the preliminary bombardment. A Pacific Fleet communiqué early today said three heavily-casemated coastal guns were knocked out and three others damaged by battleships on the third day of the bombardment Sunday.

Blandy heads bombardment

Rear Adm. W. H. P. Blandy, former chief of the Navy Bureau of Ordnance, had tactical command of the bombardment, the communiqué said.

Carrier aircraft of the supporting force damaged 16 small ships and barges at Chichi in the Bonin Islands, just north of Iwo. Four planes on the ground and three aircraft at a seaplane base were also damaged at Chichi.

Occupation of gourd-shaped Iwo would give the Americans three airstrips from which fighters could escort B-29 Superfortresses to Tokyo and other targets on the Jap mainland. The strips also could be enlarged to accommodate Flying Fortresses and Liberators for raids on the Jap homeland.

Built up by volcanoes

The island has been built up by two volcanoes, Suribachi Yama on the southwest and Moto Yama in the northeast. Moto Yama rises 358 feet and has a number of vents, some of which are active. Suribachi Yama, rising 546 feet, is extinct.

Iwo is the largest of the three Volcano Islands, which lie just south of the Bonin chain. They were absorbed into the Jap Empire in 1891 and their inhabitants are almost entirely pure Japanese, though somewhat taller than the inhabitants of the home islands.

The population of Iwo in 1940 was 1,151. The largest village on the island is Higashi, less than a mile inland from the northeast coast. Other principal settlements are Minami. on the east-central coast; Nishi, on the northwest, and Moto, in the north central part of the island.

Tough Iwo fight seen by Halsey

WASHINGTON (UP) – Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., commander of the Third Fleet, predicted today that fighting on Iwo Island would be “very tough.”

He doubted, however, that the Jap Fleet would come out to interfere.

Adm. Halsey came here for conferences after leading his force on a three-month series of engagements in Jap-controlled waters.

“We’re going to have to go in and dig out the Jap Fleet. They’ve got very little to fight with and what they have left 1s not in too good shape,” the Admiral said.

Asked what would bring the enemy fleet out, Adm. Halsey replied: “I can’t get myself into a rat’s frame of mind, so I don’t know.”

The Admiral’s remarks were liberally sprinkled with typical “Halseyisms.” He indicated that the presence of women prevented him from using the kind of language he felt necessary in talking about the enemy.

8927

Flying reporter sees Iwo ablaze from end to end

By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

ABOARD A NAVY LIBERATOR BOMBER OVER IWO JIMA – Tiny, tough Iwo Jima was ablaze from end to end today as our bomber dropped down into its battle smoke to watch wave after wave of Marines plough ashore from an 800-ship invasion armada for a showdown fight in the enemy’s front yard.

From 1,000 feet above the beachhead, it was obvious that the Marines had a terrific battle on their hands.

Even as the mighty battleships, cruisers and destroyers circled endlessly, sending crushing salvoes into the volcanic slopes of the island, I could see Marines dashing for cover on the rocky southeastern beach. Some were far inland toward the airstrip.

However. the Japs were fighting from their underground defenses. Twice as we swung over Mount Suribachi’s crater at the south end of the island and around the northern wooded section, the Japs gave us bursts of anti-aircraft.

As we approached the island, hundreds of small craft moved toward the beach, unleashing thousands of rockets.

Waves of Marines followed within 45 minutes.

Smoke and dust covered the entire island. Iwo itself looked like a fat pork chop sizzling on the skillet as carrier planes swept in under us, strafing and bombing every installation they could find.

One fighter crashed in flames just inland from where the Marines struggled to consolidate their beachhead. In the calm waters off the island, hundreds of ships maneuvered endlessly while old pre-war battleships – USS New York, USS Texas, USS Nevada, USS Arkansas, USS Idaho and USS Tennessee – belched shells from their squat gun platforms.

There wasn’t a Jap plane in the sky.

Iwo Island was appropriately named “Hot Rock” for the occasion of this attack. Our aircraft personnel chattered furiously over the command radio as they took stations for continuing the fight.

Springs gas leak

Two Navy photographic planes with Webley Edwards of CBS, representing the combined networks, and myself, representing the combined American press, took off from the Marianas early this morning, but Mr. Edwards’ plane was Lucky Louie. It got there first and mine, The Lemon, lived up to its name and sprang a disastrous gas leak three hours out.

After a disheartening return to base, the pilot, Lt. Cmdr. L. R. Gehlback of Beacon, Illinois, grabbed us another bomber and we reached the target about 10 a.m., just as the fight began to get rough.

The co-pilot, Ens. John G. Schell Jr. of Asheville, North Carolina, gave me headphones as we heard the Marines calling for fire support from the fleet. Bursts of orange flames sprang from the muzzles of the battleships and cruisers’ big guns and huge columns of smoke and fire rose skyward from the island seconds later.

Steams from hits

It was a systematic murder and destruction. Suribachi’s crater steamed from successive hits along its ridges overlooking the beach. I could see many formidable pillboxes along the beaches, as well as a few rusty ship hulls, already put out of action.

None of our surface forces had been disturbed by enemy counteraction by midafternoon, although the water literally was alive with Yanks either going ashore or carrying supplies to the beach.

The invasion armada had spread out for scores of miles around the island. There was no mistaking the fact that the Americans arrived to stay on Tokyo’s doorstep, but the fight looked like it would require a week or more before the finish and as if an awful lot of blood would be spilled before it was over.

8928

Navy fliers bag 36 ships, 469 planes in Tokyo raids

Task Force 58 reports loss of 49 aircraft in ‘decisive’ victory at Jap capital

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8929

Yanks rout Japs from Corregidor

Both sides of island in Manila Bay seized

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. paratroopers and infantrymen joined today in the arduous job of cleaning out hundreds of diehard Japs from the tunnels and crevices of Corregidor Fortress.

Both sides of the rocky fortress, guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, were secured by the two American contingents which invaded Corregidor from the air and sea. Their sole task was to dig out the Japs – probably man by man – from the recesses where the enemy was expected to make a last-ditch stand.

A Jap Domei News Agency dispatch said the Japs had launched a “large-scale counteroffensive” north of Manila and “trapped” the Americans fighting inside the capital. There was no confirmation of the enemy report.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur hailed the invasion of Corregidor with a tribute to those men of his command who staged the historic defense of Bataan three years ago.

The long struggle on Bataan in 1942 enabled the United Nations to gather strength to resist the Japs in the Pacific and “prevented the fall of Australia,” Gen. MacArthur said.

No garrison in history has surpassed that on Bataan in more thoroughly accomplishing its mission, the General asserted. adding: “Let no man henceforth speak of it as other than a magnificent victory.”

While units of the 503rd Parachute Regiment and the 34th Infantry Regiment joined in securing the upper and lower parts of Corregidor, observers said the battle for the fortress was just beginning.

Lodged in tunnels

The Japs were lodged strongly in the American-dug tunnels and were harassing the American troops continuously with cannon and machine-gun fire.

A front dispatch disclosed that the Japs, who weathered the terrific pre-invasion bombardment, were climbing out of their secret tunnels to renew the contest on open terrain.

More than 250 Japs were killed by the paratroopers and infantrymen in the first two days of fighting. which brought the capture of Malinta Hill together with the barracks hospital and other buildings atop Corregidor.

Blocked by landslides

The east entrance to the famed Malinta tunnel was blocked by a landslide caused by the naval bombardment. But there were still three other entrances open to Americans for an assault on the Japs in the inner recesses.

A front dispatch disclosed that units of the American fleet entered Manila Harbor for the first time in three years. The mission was carried out by four PT boats two nights before the invasion of Corregidor. They swept within three miles of the breakwater off Manila’s pliers to knock out three small enemy craft.

The mopping up of Manila continued slowly, with the 37th Division steadily closing a steel ring on the Jap garrison in the Walled City and Ermita Districts.

Shell gates

The drive against the trapped enemy remnants was augmented by big American guns which relentlessly shelled the gates of the thick walls and Jap strongpoints inside the area.

In pushing to edge of the Walled City, the 37th Division captured the Philippines General Hospital and liberated 7,000 persons, including 100 Americans.

East of Manila, U.S. forces destroyed a Jap convoy of 21 troop-laden trucks Saturday. The encounter indicated the Japs were attempting to send small demolition patrols through the American lines leading to Manila.

U.S. bombers and naval patrols carried out widespread attacks from the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea to the China coast. Nineteen Jap vessels were destroyed in the raids.

8930

Allies storm Goch, bastion in West Wall

Scottish troops close on nearby Calcar

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8931

Naval officer, wife battle for custody of 2 children

Husband tells of woman’s ‘friends’

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Gas again banned for movies, cars

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8932

Churchill returns from Crimean session

LONDON, England (UP) – Prime Minister Churchill returned to England today, eight days after the end of the Crimean Conference, prepared to make the first major statement by any of the principals of the results of the meeting.

Mr. Churchill probably will appear in Commons tomorrow, but probably will postpone a full-dress speech expected as the prelude to Commons debate on foreign affairs.

Mr. Churchill visited in Cairo for three days after leaving Athens on the way home from the Crimea.

8933

I DARE SAY —
Sentimentalists, beware!

By Florence Fisher Parry

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8934

Gould’s wife denies dealing with Nazis

Family’s holding seized by France

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8935

Pleasure-as-usual crowd in Miami OPA’s big pain

Wounded veterans and free spenders, jeeps, limousines, khaki, furs in curious mixture
By Ned Brooks, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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8936

Williams defends religious action

‘Between me and God,’ ex-NYA head says

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Meat and sugar coupons faked

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8937

Despite Stimson plea –
Less stringent work-or-else bill pushed

Senate committee may act this week

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8938

Stalin does about-face on fate of Nazis

New views cause left-wing dispute
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

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8939

A Bible-like tale from the battlefield –
Preacher’s son given up for dead saves his own life with prayers

Wounded and blinded soldier on Leyte regains strength to run to aid station
By Lee G. Miller, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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8940

Perkins: CIO plays big part in newest world group

Hillman calls plans great achievement
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

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8941

U.S. seizes textile plant closed 10 days by strike

Tire output cut 5,000 daily as result of walkout in North Carolina factory

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8942

Reds reported in Army key jobs

War Department refuses to comment

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8943

U.S. heavies hit dozen rail centers

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