Warum kein Manifest?
…
Führer HQ (February 20, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Unser Angriff gegen den Gran-Brückenkopf machte auch gestern gute Fortschritte. Hartnäckige Durchbruchsversuche der Bolschewisten an der Straße östlich Altsohl scheiterten.
In den Kampfgebieten Schwarzwasser, nördlich Ratibor und südlich Breslau griffen die Sowjets nach unseren Abwehrerfolgen der letzten Tage nur mit schwächeren Kräften an. Sie wurden überall abgewiesen. Die Besatzung von Breslau schlug feindliche Angriffe an der Südwest- und Ostfront zurück. Im Verlauf des harten Ringens im Raum zwischen Lauban, Sorau, Guben konnte der Gegner in einzelnen Abschnitten Raum gewinnen.
Zwischen Pyritz und Kallies in Südpommern wurden die angreifenden Bolschewisten in wechselvollen Kämpfen geworfen und 26 feindliche Panzer vernichtet. Unsere Truppen leisten dem in der Tucheler Heide und westlich der Weichsel nach Norden drängenden Feind erbitterten Widerstand. Die Besatzung von Graudenz schlug heftige Angriffe ab.
In der Abwehrschlacht um Ostpreußen errangen unsere tapferen Divisionen gegen den mit starken Kräften anstürmenden Feind einen erneuten Abwehrerfolg und vernichteten 64 feindliche Panzer. Im Samland sind westlich Königsberg heftige Angriffs- und Abwehrkämpfe entbrannt, in die auch deutsche Seestreitkräfte mit nachhaltiger Wirkung eingriffen.
In Kurland zerbrachen die Durchbruchsversuche der Bolschewisten nordwestlich Doblen trotz Ausdehnung auf weitere Abschnitte auch gestern an der Widerstandskraft unserer Truppen.
Durch den Einsatz starker Jagd- und Schlachtfliegerverbände gegen feindliche Truppen, Panzerkolonnen und Nachschubstützpunkte verloren die Sowjets neben hohen blutigen Verlusten zahlreiche Panzer, Geschütze und Fahrzeuge. In Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie wurden 46 feindliche Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.
Nach fünfstündigem heftigem Artilleriefeuer setzte die 1. kanadische Armee gestern Nachmittag ihre Großangriffe südlich des Niederrheins fort. Sie scheiterten in unserem zusammengefassten Abwehrfeuer. Im Abschnitt von Goch wurden sie in der Tiefe des Hauptkampffeldes um Stehen gebracht.
Der starke Druck der 3. amerikanischen Armee gegen die Flanken unseres Stellungsbogens an der nordluxemburgischen Grenze dauert an. In harter Abwehr hielten unsere Truppen dem feindlichen Ansturm stand und verhinderten nach geringem Geländeverlust in der Tiefe des Kampffeldes die Durchbruchsabsichten des Gegners.
Die seit Wochen im Abschnitt von Remich anhaltenden amerikanischen Angriffe haben gestern an Heftigkeit und Ausdehnung zugenommen.
In Saarlautern zerschlugen unsere Truppen feindliche Vorstöße und brachten Gefangene ein. Im Abschnitt Forsbach wurden Bereitstellungen des Gegners durch unsere Artillerie wirksam bekämpft. Östlich davon stehen die Spicherer Höhen und einzelne Ortschaften nördlich von Saargemünd im Brennpunkt erneuter feindlicher Angriffe.
Die gegen die Nord- und Ostfront von St. Nazaire angreifenden Amerikaner wurden von unserer Besatzung im Nahkampf oder im Gegenstoß abgewiesen. Bei ganz geringen eigenen Ausfällen erlitt der Feind beträchtliche Verluste.
Östlich des Monte Cimons im mittleren etruskischen Apennin führte der Feind den ganzen Tag über zahlreiche örtliche Vorstöße ohne nennenswerten Erfolg.
Anglo-amerikanische Bomberverbände griffen neben mehreren Orten in Westfalen die Stadt Wesel am Niederrhein an. Im südostdeutschen Raum waren vor allem Wien und Graz erneut das Ziel feindlicher Terrorflieger. In der Nacht richteten sich Angriffe britischer Verbände gegen Erfurt und einige Orte im sächsischen Raum.
Das Vergeltungsfeuer auf London dauert mit nur geringen Unterbrechungen an.
Bei den schweren Kämpfen um Elbing hat sich der mit den Schwertern zum Eichenlaub des Ritterkreuzes ausgezeichnete Kommandeur der 7. Panzerdivision, Generalleutnant Mauß, durch hohe persönliche Tapferkeit und Entschlusskraft besonders hervorgetan. Bei einem Vorstoß aus Elbing nach Westen feuerte er, an der Spitze seiner Division selbst mit dem Maschinengewehr kämpfend, seine Soldaten durch sein Vorbild zu hervorragenden Taten an.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (February 20, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
201100A 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. 318
UNCLASSIFIED: Between the Rhine and the Meuse Rivers, heavy fighting continues in the Moyland area where allied forces made slight advances toward Kalkar. Goch has been entered and most of the town has been cleared despite strong enemy opposition.
The communications center of Wesel again was attacked by heavy bombers.
Southwest of Prüm, our forces pushed more than a mile and captured the towns of Üttfeld and Masthorn. Farther west, other elements captured Leidenborn.
Northwest of Echternach, we have cleared Nusbaum and Niedersgegen and have entered Stöckigt. North of Echternach, we have pushed to a point one and a fourth miles north of Schankweiler, and to the Prüm River overlooking Holsthum.
Northwest of Bollendorf, we have repulsed counterattacks.
East of Echternach, our elements pushed to within a miles of Minden.
Gains of up to one mile have been made by our units southeast of Remich in the vicinity of Munzingen. In this operation we took 207 prisoners and 14 pillboxes.
Objectives from Prüm south to Saarburg, in the battle zone southeast of Saarbrücken, and in the Karlsruhe area, were attacked by fighter-bombers.
In the vicinity of Forbach, our forces have occupied Oetingen and Etzlingen. Heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy. We are now on high ground overlooking Forbach.
North of Sarreguemines, the enemy was driven from the German town of Auersmacher, where our units crossed the Sauer River.
Farther east, we have occupied Frauenberg and Foplersviller.
Barracks and supply dumps at Lahr, southeast of Strasbourg, were hit by waves of escorted medium bombers.
Twelve rail centers, including Rheine, Münster, Osnabrück, and Siegen, and industrial targets mainly in the Ruhr, were attacked by heavy bombers in very great strength. Rail and road traffic over an area of central Germany was heavily hit by many of the escorting fighters.
A motor depot at Mechernich, southwest of Bonn, an ordnance depot at Wiesbaden, and rail bridges at Neuwied-Irlich and other areas east of the Rhine River, were attacked by medium and light bombers. Fighter-bomber targets were railyards east of Koblenz, north of Saarbrücken and in the region of the upper Rhine.
During the day eight enemy aircraft were shot down. One of our heavy bombers, one medium bomber, and nine fighters are missing according to reports so far received.
Last night, light bombers attacked targets at Erfurt in Saxony.
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 20, 1945)
Communiqué No. 578
Pacific Area.
The YMS-48 has been lost in the Philippine Area as a result of enemy action.
The next of kin of casualties have been informed.
Communiqué No. 579
Pacific Theater.
The PT-73 and PT-338 have been lost in the Philippine Area as the result of grounding. There were no casualties.
The USS PC-1129 has been lost in the Philippine Area as the result of enemy action. The next of kin of casualties have been notified.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 266
United States Marines attacking Iwo Island drove across the southern end of the island by 1800 on February 19 (East Longitude Date) cutting off the enemy strongpoint in Suribachi Volcano from his forces in the north. Resistance in this area was moderate and our forces occupied about 104 yards of the western beach of the island.
During the afternoon of the first day, advance elements of the attacking units expanded their hold on the island’s southern airfield slightly but were meeting stiff opposition there and on the northern flank of the beachhead. Our forces advancing from the east toward the northern end of the field were engaged in heavy fighting.
The northern part of the beachhead was under intense mortar and artillery fire during a large part of the day but it was expanded inland about 250 yards. Unloading of equipment and supplies began on the southern beaches.
Casualties in the south were light but on the open slopes east of the airfield, our forces were being resisted bitterly and casualties were more numerous.
Enemy positions on the island were under heavy naval gunfire, aircraft bombing, strafing and rocket attacks throughout the day.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 267
The United States Marines on Iwo Island moved forward on February 20 (East Longitude Date) against enemy defenses as fanatically defended as any yet encountered in the war in the Pacific.
By 1200 on the second day of the assault, the Marines had taken an area which includes the southern airfield and the ground from the northern slope of Suribachi Volcano to a curving east and west line which crosses the northern ends of the runways and extends from the western beach to the northern anchor of the beachhead on the east side of the island.
At 0230 on February 20, the enemy sent a night counterattack of about battalion strength down the runway of the southern airfield but the 27th Regiment of Marines met it staunchly, broke it up and beat off the remnants. Sporadic artillery and mortar fire fell on the beaches throughout the night but our forces continued to unload supplies.
Fleet units supported the troops throughout the night with illumination and heavy gunfire. Our night fighters drove off several small attempted air raids by enemy aircraft which failed to reach the island.
On the morning of February 20, with strong air and gunfire support, the Marines began the attack which has given us control of the southern airfield.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 268
The Marine Divisions on Iwo Island made slight gains north of the southern airfield on the afternoon of February 20 (East Longitude Date) and by 1800 local time on that date were positions in the face of heavy mortar and artillery fire and some rocket fire.
In the south, Marines attacking Mount Suribachi met stiff opposition.
A large proportion of our artillery is now ashore and in position to support both flanks of the beachhead.
The guns of the Pacific Fleet continued to shell enemy defenses on the island with close‑in fire support concentrated on numerous caves and strongpoints from which the enemy was bringing the northern end of the beachhead under heavy artillery and mortar fire. More than 8,000 tons of ammunition have been expended by naval gunfire thus far in the bombardment.
Carrier aircraft continued their intensive attack on the island throughout the afternoon although their operations were handicapped by rain, low clouds and poor visibility.
Supplies are being placed ashore satisfactorily.
No estimate of casualties is yet available.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 20, 1945)
MAIN IWO AIRFIELD SEIZED
Marines occupy third of island
U.S. invaders open attack led by tanks and flamethrowers
By William Tyree, United Press staff writer
Wednesday, February 21, 1945 (JST)
What Iwo means
Iwo Jima – literally Sulphur Island – is pronounced Ee-Woh-Jee-Mah.
Driving across Iwo to the west coast, Marine invaders cut off Japs in the Mt. Suribachi area and seized the island’s largest airfield.
ADM. NIMITZ HQ, Guam (UP) – U.S. Marines have occupied approximately one-third of Iwo and captured the main airfield on the island.
The U.S. invaders have also opened a powerful attack led by tanks and flamethrowers against fanatically resisting Japs, it was disclosed today.
In bloody fighting, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions established a straight east-west line across the island north of the airfield. Then, with a spearhead of tanks estimated by Tokyo to number 300, the Leathernecks charged forward against the entrenched enemy, aerial observers reported.
Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced capture of the airfield, the richest single prize on the eight-square-mile island 750 miles south of Tokyo.
A headquarters spokesman later said the fighting continued as bitter as that in any of the battles across the Pacific – from Guadalcanal, to Tarawa, to Saipan.
After capturing the airfield, the Marines drove across the narrow neck of Iwo and reached the western shore. Consolidating their lines, the Marines pivoted on their right flank for the offensive. Automatic riflemen moved ahead with the tanks and flamethrowers in the vanguard of the attack against the enemy’s interlocking pillboxes and concrete bunkers.
Japs split in two
The Jap defenders have been split into two pockets by the drive which slashed across the southern end of the island. Marines stormed the forbidding flank of towering Suribachi Volcano, from the crater of which the enemy was raining shells on the Americans.
A Jap Domei News Agency dispatch broadcast by Tokyo radio said 300 American tanks have been landed at the Marine beachhead. Tokyo reported that in one sector alone, held by 10,000 Marines, there were 150 tanks. The enemy claimed 30 had been “blasted.”
Storm into heavy fire
From their girdle across the southern tip of Iwo, units of the two invasion divisions stormed into heavy Jap gunfire from the northern rim of the key airfield this morning.
Adm. Nimitz’s communiqué some hours later reported that the Marine gains overran the air base within fighter range of Tokyo and scaled a flank of Suribachi.
The Japs counterattacked down the main runway of the southern airfield at 2:30 a.m. The 27th Regiment of Marines broke up the thrust, and the invasion push continued.
Shells rain on beaches
All night bursts of artillery and mortar fire fell on the invasion beaches. But the American grip was secure and broad enough to permit the unloading of supplies.
U.S. battleships, cruisers and destroyers hurled shells into the Jap positions all night.
U.S. night raiders drove off several Jap planes which tried to raid the island. So firm was the aerial screen over the invasion forces that the enemy never reached Iwo.
Radio Tokyo said a second American assault group stormed ashore at an unspecified point on the rocky coast north of the 2½-mile-long original beachhead.
The troops went ashore at a point where the cliffs were 30 to 45 feet high and very bad for landing operations, Tokyo said. Jap garrison forces intercepted the invaders at the water’s edge and “furious fighting is at present in progress,” the broadcast said.
Adm. Nimitz’s communiqué reported that the northern sector of the original beachhead was extended 250 yards inland yesterday despite intense mortar and artillery fire.
Heavy enemy fire
Observers who flew over Iwo today reported that the Japs were pouring heavy artillery and mortar fire into the Marines.
They said the fanatical Japs fought from protective positions along the ridges of the volcanic island and from a maze of foxholes.
The defenders of the northern end of the main airfield were solidly entrenched, and the Americans paid for every inch they gained.
Battleships, cruisers and destroyers blasted the Jap strongholds incessantly, while carrier planes swarmed over the island in gunning and rocket attacks.
Predictions borne out
It was evident that predictions of bitter and bloody fighting were being borne out.
On the north flank, the resistance was especially bitter.
Although Suribachi was cut off by the plunge across the island, the Japs on the crater were still able to lay down a deadly fire on the Americans.
Casualties in the south were light. But on the open slopes east of the airfield, bitter fighting was underway and casualties were “more numerous,” Adm. Nimitz’s early communiqué said.
The Marines were fighting from seven invasion beaches with flamethrowers, tommy-guns, grenades and bayonets, in what front dispatches said was one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific war.
Artillery has been brought ashore and will be thrown into the battle today to aid the Marine invaders, a dispatch from Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner’s flagship said.
Yanks reinforced
Radio Tokyo claimed that 1,500 of the invaders had been “wiped out,” another 2,000 wounded and 30 tanks “blasted.” But the same broadcast conceded that 20,000 Marines already had landed and noted that there were 150 tanks ashore in one sector alone.
The enemy broadcast said:
Despite heavy damages, the enemy is constantly bringing up reinforcements. Our garrison units are violently intercepting them from both sides, the east and the west, as well as on the direct front.
The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions reached Motoyama Airfield No. 1 – also called Suribachi Airfield – after fighting up steep terraces onto a mountain plateau against steadily-increasing Jap resistance. The airfield has three airstrips, the longest totaling 5,025 feet.
Jap artillery, mortars and machine guns were emplaced in the crater of 546-foot-high Mt. Suribachi.
Murderous crossfire
The Jap garrison of perhaps 15,000 was sweeping the invasion beaches and beachhead area with murderous crossfire from caves, pillboxes and other long-prepared defenses.
Adm. Turner, commander of the amphibious assault, told United Press writer Mac R. Johnson on the invasion flagship that Iwo was “as well a defended fixed position as exists in the world today.”
Roosevelt receives 3 rulers amid Arabian Nights splendor
Two kings, emperor go aboard warship
WASHINGTON (UP) – President Roosevelt has received two kings and an emperor on a tour of the Middle East in which royalty came to him in trappings of Oriental splendor.
In a vivid story of his travels since the Crimean Conference ended February 11, the White House also revealed today that Mr. Roosevelt conferred again with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
From Mr. Churchill, he got a promise that Great Britain would '“throw everything it had at the Japs” after Germany is whipped.
Others received
Mr. Roosevelt also received a large assortment of princes, ministers of state and ambassadors. He looked on snow-covered mountains and later in the same day gazed on the tropical scenery of the Nile Delta.
But it was the President’s reception, aboard a U.S. man-of-war, of the Kings of Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the Emperor of Ethiopia which turned the White House announcement into a modern Arabian Nights tale.
The President employed three vehicles in his travels, including a modern flying horse. He rode in an auto from the Livadia Palace at Yalta in the Crimea to Sevastopol, spending the night there aboard a U.S Navy ship anchored in the Black Sea.
Flies from there
He saw what “horrorful, wanton Nazi vengeance” had done to the once-great Russian port. From Sevastopol, he went to an airfield where Soviet Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov and an honor guard bade him farewell.
A flight of 5½ hours carried him from the “snow-capped mountains of the Crimea” to the “desert sands and the tropical scenery of the fertile Nile Delta,” the White House said.
An American warship anchored in Great Bitter Lake, through which runs the Suez Canal, was the scene of Mr. Roosevelt’s receptions of royalty.
Monarchs board ship
To him on the warship’s deck went King Farouk of Egypt and, that same day, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia. On the following day, he received King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Roosevelt chatted about such things as long-staple cotton with King Farouk, communications with Haile Selassie and friendly international relations with Ibn Saud.
Mr. Roosevelt’s meeting with Mr. Churchill, the third since he left the United States, was at Alexandria, Egypt. They previously had met at Malta before the Crimean Conference and again at Yalta.
To strengthen forces
The announcement said Mr. Churchill also promised to strengthen British forces already fighting the Japs.
Although the White House did not amplify this point, it is known that powerful British naval units are now operating against the Japs. In addition, troops under Lord Louis Mountbatten are fighting strongly in Burma.
The Alexandria conference permitted “new and important discussions” of a subject which could not be taken up at Yalta because Soviet Russia is neutral in the Pacific War.
The White House disclosed that Mr. Roosevelt toured North Africa after the Crimean Conference.
De Gaulle invited
In addition to meeting Mr. Churchill, it said, the President:
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Invited Gen. Charles de Gaulle, provisional president of France, to confer with him at Algiers. This was “the last stopping place on the road to Washington.” The announcement indirectly confirmed reports that de Gaulle had turned down the President’s invitation.
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Conferred with the Kings of Egypt, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia aboard a U.S. warship in the Suez Ganal.
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Met the U.S. ambassadors to Britain, Italy and France for further talks at Algiers.
Time too short
The President’s invitation to Gen. de Gaulle was sent from the Big Three meeting place at Yalta six days in advance of Mr. Roosevelt’s arrival in Algiers. The President told Gen. de Gaulle he had “hoped very much to meet him in Continental France” but “time pressure” prevented his going to Paris.
The invitation concluded with “an expression of real hope that the alternative proposal for a meeting in Algiers would be satisfactory to the French leader.”
He was disappointed, the White House added, when advised that “official business” did not permit Gen. de Gaulle to go to Algiers.
Drives to Sevastopol
After the Big Three parley ended February 11, Mr. Roosevelt and his immediate party drove to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
From there, U.S. Army Air Transport Command took the President and his party to Egypt in a 5½-hour water flight. He was received aboard a U.S. Navy auxiliary ship in Great Bitter Lake, a part of the Suez Canal, and it was there that he received the royalty.
De Gaulle’s snub threatens unity
PARIS (UP) – Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s refusal to meet President Roosevelt in Algiers after the recent Big Three conference threatened to raise further problems relating to Allied unity today.
Informed quarters hinted the French may pass up the forthcoming United Nations Conference in San Francisco next April.
Despite frantic efforts by French and American authorities to keep the matter hushed up, the full story of Gen. de Gaulle’s snub to Mr. Roosevelt broke into print here today, creating something of a sensation.
The morning newspaper Combat gave the French public its first detailed account of the incident, publishing lengthy excerpts from foreign press reports.
Semi-official French sources defended De Gaulle’s action, asserting that Mr. Roosevelt’s invitation to the French provisional president had been couched in “unfortunate” terms which made it appear like a summons.
King sleeps in tent on deck, takes food on hoof with him
Rich Oriental rugs and glided chairs used by royal guest on trip to see Roosevelt
By Sam Souki, United Press staff writer
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Senators spurn work-or-else bill
Roosevelt’s plea is turned down
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House gets bill to draft unmarried nurses, 20-45
First proposal to conscript women approved by committee – deferments provided
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Army facing showdown on Communists
Data on Communism requested in House
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
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Lend-Lease total rises to $35 billion
Sending of ‘short’ supplies defended
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Gloria Vanderbilt 21 today, so $4,436,000 is hers
Heiress to celebrate event quietly
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Manila wall battered by U.S. artillery
Final assault opens on Jap pocket
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – American big guns were pulverizing Manila’s 400-year-old wall today for a final assault on a one-square-mile pocket of stubborn Jap defenders south of the Pasig River.
With the heavy artillery blasting a path through the thick wall around the original Spanish city, the end of the 17-day-old battle of Manila was in sight.
Units of the 37th Infantry Division were firmly entrenched around the dwindling Jap pocket and 11th Airborne troops rapidly were cleaning up Fort McKinley on the southeast outskirts of the city.
Mop up on Corregidor
The final phase of the Manila campaign came as paratroops and infantry slowly dug out fanatical Jap holdouts from the caves and tunnels of newly-invaded Corregidor, Other U.S. forces also were cleaning up enemy remnants on Bataan Peninsula.
Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, Jap commander in the Philippines, announced blandly that his defense of Luzon was “progressing without a hitch” and that the fighting so far was “a mere preliminary operation.”
Yamashita’s statement claimed the American invaders already had suffered 60,000 casualties in the Philippines.
Japs fight bitterly
Despite the impact of the heavy artillery fire, the Japs were fighting back bitterly from their last positions inside Manila. The pocket, now shrunk to one-fourteenth of the Charter City area, comprised Northern Ermita, the walled city of Intramuros and the port district.
Heaviest fighting was reported from the bay front, where the 37th Infantrymen pushed three blocks west from the Philippines General Hospital and began attacking enemy positions on the university grounds.
Blast pillboxes
Jap pillboxes at the university were being destroyed systematically by artillery and mortars. But the Americans were meeting considerable fire from Jap guns around the high commissioner’s home, which was already in ruins.
The assault on the 16th century wall was concentrated on the east side of Intramuros. Front reports said the big guns were tearing a hole in the masonry and no signs of life appeared within the walled city.
Most of the buildings were believed to have been destroyed or badly damaged by the barrage. Observers described the Japs inside Intramuros as in desperate flight.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur again went to the front lines and visited the sector where infantrymen were pushing northward against the Jap pocket.
A front dispatch quoted a 37th Infantry Division colonel as saying that the Japs had used a screen of Filipinos around them when they attempted to push a large gun onto Wallace Field just south of Intramuros.
A survey of the recaptured section of Manila in the meantime revealed that the entire business and commercial area was destroyed by Jap demolitions, fires and street fighting. The section comprised approximately one-fifth of Manila proper – an area comparable in size to Manhattan.
PT boats blast Japs
Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué disclosed that U.S. troops seized the towns of Hagonoy and Tagig on the northwest shore of Laguna de Bay, approximately four miles southeast of Fort McKinley.
U.S. planes and PT boats continued steady attacks on Jap shipping throughout the Philippines and in the China Sea. PT boats sank four barges in Manila Bay and destroyed a small cruiser off Cebu. Heavy bombers again raided Formosa, dropping 175 tons of explosives on Takao, where an aluminum plant and railyards were damaged. Three small freighters were damaged off shore. A 3,000-ton freighter was bombed off the China coast.