Völkischer Beobachter (February 24, 1945)
Fünfundzwanzig Jahre Parteiprogramm
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Führer HQ (February 24, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Im Süden der Ostfront blieb die Kampftätigkeit gestern gering. Unsere Grenadiere brachten in der Hohen Tatra und nördlich Ratibor Gefangene ein und verbesserten ihre Stellungen.
Beiderseits Zobten wurden zahlreiche von starker Artillerie unterstützte Angriffe der Bolschewisten in hartem Kampf abgewehrt.
Im Abschnitt Goldberg–Lauban und an der Lausitzer Neiße setzten die Bolschewisten ihre Durchbruchsversuche fort. Bei Goldberg wurden sie nach Norden zurückgeworfen. Beiderseits Lauban zerschlugen unsere Divisionen in Abwehr und Gegenangriff die feindlichen Panzerverbände. An der Lausitzer Neiße scheiterten die Versuche der Sowjets, auf dem Westufer des Flusses Brückenköpfe zu bilden.
Bei Fortsetzung seiner schweren Angriffe in dem unübersichtlichen Waldgelände der Tucheler Helde konnte der Feind an mehreren Stellen Boden gewinnen. Seine Angriffe östlich Großwollental brachen im Abwehrfeuer zusammen. In Ostpreußen zerschellten erneut die vor allem nördlich Mehlsack und bei Zinten fortgesetzten feindlichen Durchbruchsversuche. Im Samland warfen eigene Angriffe, unterstützt durch unsere Seestreitkräfte, den Feind nach Osten zurück und zerschlugen seine Gegenangriffe.
In der fünften Schlacht in Kurland blieben den Sowjets trotz stärkstem Materialeinsatzes auch gestern entscheidende Erfolge versagt. 62 feindliche Panzer und 26 Flugzeuge wurden abgeschossen.
Torpedoflugzeuge versenkten im Nordmeer ein einzeln fahrendes voll beladenes Handelsschiff mit 7.000 BRT.
Im Westen beschränkte sich die erste kanadische Armee gestern auf einen stärkeren Angriff östlich Goch. Der Feind wurde nach geringfügigem Bodengewinn zum Stehen gebracht.
An der gesamten Front zwischen Roermond und Düren ist die Abwehrschlacht in vollem Gange. Beiderseits Heinsbergs wurde die Masse der feindlichen Angriffe durch das zusammengefasste Feuer aller Waffen schon vor unseren Gefechtsvorposten zerschlagen. Bei Linnich, Jülich und Düren sind auf dem Ostufer der Rur erbitterte Kämpfe entbrannt, doch konnte der Feind nirgends tiefer in unser Hauptkampffeld eindringen.
Die konzentrischen Angriffe der dritten amerikanischen Armee gegen den Großraum von Neuenburg in der Eifel brachten dem Feind nach schweren Kämpfen örtliche Erfolge. An der Oure behaupten sich eigene Stützpunkte weiterhin im Rücken des Feindes. Im Raume von Saarburg wurden die Brückenköpfe der Amerikaner auf dem rechten Ufer der Saar durch schwungvoll geführte Gegenangriffe eingeengt.
Bei Saarlautern und gegen den Nordostteil von Forbach geführte feindliche Angriffe wurden abgewiesen, durch eigene Angriffe im Abschnitt der Spicherer Höhen verlorenes Gelände zurückgewonnen.
Zusammengefasstes Artilleriefeuer zwang vor Dünkirchen vorfühlende feindliche Panzer zum Abdrehen.
Schnellboote, die auch in der Nacht zum 23. Februar vor der englischen Küste operierten, beschädigten ohne eigene Verluste mehrere britische Artillerieschnellboote.
Unsere Kleinst-Unterseeboote torpedierten in der Themsemündung einen feindlichen Zerstörer.
Aus Mittelitalien werden ergebnislose amerikanische Vorstöße am Monte Belvedere im Etruskischen Apennin gemeldet. Im Raum nördlich Faenza lebte die örtliche Kampftätigkeit wieder auf.
Der Bombenterror der Anglo-Amerikaner richtete sich am gestrigen Tage gegen zahlreiche Orte im westlichen, südlichen und mittleren Reichsgebiet. In Essen sowie in den Wohngebieten weiterer Städte in Sachsen, Thüringen und Franken entstanden Verluste unter der Zivilbevölkerung und zum Teil erhebliche Gebäudeschäden. In den frühen Abendstunden richtete sich ein schwerer britischer Angriff gegen Pforzheim. Auch auf die Reichshauptstadt wurden Bomben geworfen.
Über dem westlichen Reichsgebiet wurden gestern nach bisher vorliegenden Meldungen 27 anglo-amerikanische Flugzeuge, darunter 18 viermotorige Bomber, abgeschossen.
In harten Kämpfen gegen den feindlichen Nachschubverkehr versenkten unsere Unterseeboote in küstennahen Gewässern erneut acht Schiffe mit 50.000 BRT, drei Zerstörer und zwei Sicherungsfahrzeuge. Ein weiterer Dampfer mit 5.500 BRT wurde torpediert.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (February 24, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
241100A 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) SHAEF MAIN
(20) PRO, ROME
(21) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 322
UNCLASSIFIED: Between the Rhine and the Meuse, Allied forces have occupied Moyland while other units have made further progress south of the Goch-Udem railway.
We have resumed the offensive across the Roer River and have captured Rurich, Glimbach, Gevenich and Boslar in the Linnich area. Our elements have cleared Jülich except for the citadel and northern part of the town and have occupied Selgersdorf.
North of Düren, we have cleared Huchem-Stammeln, and are fighting in Birkesdorf and Düren against increasing resistance.
The attack was preceded by a heavy artillery preparation. River crossings were made in assault boats, storm boats, and by ferry. Opposition to the crossing was in the form of small arms and mortar fire.
Mersch and Stetternich, fortified towns at junctions on the main roads leading to the northeast and east of Jülich were attacked several times by fighter-bombers. Many other targets west of the Rhine between Krefeld and Andernach were bombed by other fighter-bombers.
Our elements, in gains of a mile and one-half on a six-mile front southwest of Prüm, have captured Kopscheid, Lauperath, Hölzchen, Krautscheid, Heilbach and Ammeldingen.
Enemy armored vehicles, principally in the area between Prüm and Bitburg, were attacked by fighter-bombers. More than 170 vehicles were destroyed and many others were damaged.
Armored elements have captured the town of Jucken, four miles east of Dasburg on the Luxembourg-German border and have pushed three-fourths of a mile beyond the town. Our armor also has made gains of up to two and one-half miles on a four-mile front, capturing the towns of Preischeid and Affler, in the area south of Dasburg.
We have reached the wooded area two and a half miles northeast of Vianden. Farther northeast, our units captured Obergeckler and Sinspelt.
There is house-to-house fighting in Ockfen, on the east bank of the Saar River, north of Saarburg. In this area we have crossed the river, and an enemy counterattack by tanks and infantry has been repulsed. Serrig, on the east bank of the Saar River, south of Saarburg, has been cleared with the exception of four houses.
The communications center and industrial town of Essen and the Alma-Pluto benzol plant at Gelsenkirchen were attacked by escorted heavy bombers.
West of the Rhine, bridges near Krefeld and Münchengladbach were targets for medium bombers. Road facilities in several towns ranging from Erkelenz and Grevenbroich in the north to Zülpich and Meckenheim in the south, were heavily bombed by medium and light bombers. Rail targets, principally on the Köln plain and along the Rhine Valley from Krefeld to Andernach, were successfully attacked by fighter-bombers in great strength. In the course of these attacks nearly 1,500 railcars as well as a number of locomotives, were destroyed and rail lines were cut in many places. Road transport in the same general area also was bombed and strafed.
Our forces clearing Forbach made further progress in hard fighting. The remaining enemy troops have been pushed into the eastern section of the town.
Four enemy attacks, two of which were supported by armor, were repulsed farther east. We have occupied Schönbach on the west bank of the Saar River. On the east bank, three miles south of Saarbrücken, stiff fighting continued in the southern outskirts of Bübingen.
Allied forces in the west captured 2,700 prisoners 21 February.
Bridges, locomotives, rail cars and other communications targets were attacked by fighter bombers in the Kaiserslautern area.
Escorted heavy bombers in very great strength carried out widespread attacks on railyards and other communications targets in south, central and southeast Germany, while many of the escorting fighters strafed transportation targets and airfields, destroying 14 enemy aircraft on the ground.
Last night, heavy bombers attacked the communications and industrial center of Pforzheim in the upper Rhineland. Light bombers attacked Berlin.
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 FA4655
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/
U.S. Navy Department (February 24, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 276
The battle for the airfield in the central area of Iwo Island continued on February 24 (East Longitude Date) with no marked changes in the lines at noon. The Marines holding a line on the Southwestern end of the airdrome and south of the center of the field launched an attack supported by tanks in the morning after our artillery aircraft and fleet surface units had subjected the enemy to heavy bombardment. By noon, our forces were reported to be gaining ground slowly. Enemy resistance is heavy.
Marine patrols entered Suribachi Crater during the day and continued to mop up remnants of the garrison of that strongpoint.
Two enemy aircraft approached the island on February 23 but retired without attacking.
Conditions on the beaches are generally improved and the unloading of general cargo is proceeding.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 277
Elements of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions made substantial advances along the whole northern sector on Iwo Island on February 24 (East Longitude Date). Their attack was made in the face of intense fire from heavy weapons and rockets but it carried northward generally about 308 to 500 yards through a maze of interlocking, or mutually supporting concrete pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified caves. All areas crossed were heavily mined. By 1800, our units had reached the middle area of the central Iwo airfield, had pushed forward several hundred yards on the west and had begun a drive which expanded our beachhead northward along the east coast about 600 yards.
In every zone of the fighting, the enemy resisted our advance to the full extent of his armament. Weapons of the “bazooka” type were employed against our tanks and the use of rocket bombs, weighing about 500 kilograms, continued. Enemy positions in the area through which our units advanced were generally reinforced blockhouses and pillboxes with four‑foot bulkheads. In a single area of about 400 by 600 yards on the east coast, our forces neutralized about 100 caves between thirty and forty feet deep.
An immediate result of the advance was apparent in a marked decrease of enemy artillery fire into the interior of the area under our control.
The attack was supported by marine artillery and by fire from heavy units of the fleet standing off Iwo Island. Carrier aircraft continued their close support of the troops and also made an attack on Chichi Jima in the Bonins.
In the south, Marines continued their mop-up of enemy strongpoints in and around Mount Suribachi. Incomplete reports indicate that 115 enemy emplacements have been destroyed in that sector.
A total of 2,799 enemy dead have been counted on Iwo Island.
The condition of the beaches showed marked improvement and unloading of supplies was accelerated.
Seventh Army Air Force bombers of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Oceans Areas, bombed the airfield and Omura town on Chichi Jima and Okimura town on Haha Jima in the Bonins on February 22.
On February 23, Marine fighters attacked targets in the Palaus.
Army Thunderbolts strafed enemy positions on Pagan in the Marianas on the same date.
Fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing set a fuel dump afire and struck motor transport equipment in the Palaus on February 24.
Navy search Venturas of Fleet Air Wing One bombed the enemy airstrip on Puluwat in the Carolines on February 24.
Neutralizing raids were continued by search aircraft of FlAirWing Two on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on February 23.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 278
Carrier aircraft of the Fifth Fleet are attacking military, naval and air installations in and around Tokyo. ADM R. A. Spruance, USN, is present in command of the Fifth Fleet and VADM Marc A. Mitscher, USN, is in tactical command of the fast carrier task force, making the attack.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 24, 1945)
YANKS 19 MILES FROM COLOGNE
Offensive aims at juncture with Red Army, Ike asserts
Germans reeling back beyond Roer – 1st, 9th Armies take 12 towns
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Marines led by tanks renew attack against central Iwo airfield
Drive launched after artillery, warships, planes plaster Japanese positions
Closeness to heart of Jap homeland of the U.S. Pacific offensive since the invasion of Iwo is graphically shown by these maps.
GUAM (UP) – Tank-led U.S. Marines renewed the assault on Iwo’s central airfield from a springboard on its lower edge today and at noon were hammering out slow gains against violent resistance.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced that the Marines charged Jap positions on the Iwo airfield from a line on the southwestern rim of the base and south of its center.
With tank support the Marines struck this morning after U.S. planes, artillery and warships had plastered the field with a great weight of explosives.
“By noon our forces were reported to be gaining ground slowly,” Adm. Nimitz said in a communiqué. “Enemy resistance is heavy.”
On the southern tip of Iwo, patrols entered the crater of the extinct Suribachi volcano, atop which the Stars and Stripes flew, and were mopping-up remnants of the Jap forces defending the natural fortress.
“Conditions on the beaches are generally improved, and the unloading of general cargo is proceeding,” the communiqué reported.
A BBC broadcast quoted Radio Tokyo as saying that the Americans have established two new beachheads on the southeast coast of Iwo.
Casualties mount
Casualties mounted steadily on both sides in the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific war. While American losses have not been announced beyond 5,372 casualties for the first 58 hours of the six-day battle, the finding of another 717 Jap bodies jumped the number of enemy dead to at least 1,939.
A Jap broadcast claimed that American losses on Iwo were “well over 17,000” up to Friday night. Eight more U.S. warships, including two battleships, have been sunk or damaged off the island, Tokyo said.
Elements of the 3rd Marine Division fought onto the 300-foot-high central plateau yesterday and had advanced 50 yards along the southern tip of the southwest-northeast runway of Motoyama Airfield No. 2 by dusk.
Japs fire rockets
The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were still attempting to clamber up the slopes of the plateau from the east and west under almost point-blank artillery, machine-gun and rocket fire from an intricate system of pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified caves.
The 5th Marine Division on the western slopes had made virtually no progress for 66 hours through noon Friday, but the 4th Marine Division on the east pushed ahead 300 yards to within 350 yards of the east-west runway of the central airfield.
Mop up at Suribachi
Some 2½ miles to the southwest, other Marine units were exterminating the Japs in bypassed caves and pillboxes on the slopes of captured Mt. Suribachi, an extinct 554-foot volcano.
Similar defenses have been reported inside the crater and must also be reduced. A total of 717 enemy dead have been counted in the Suribachi sector, Adm. Nimitz reported.
Tough as the present fighting has been, even more difficult tasks appeared to lie ahead before Iwo and its airfields 750 miles south of Tokyo are securely in American hands.
Has active volcano
Beyond the central airfield and an uncompleted northern airstrip lie flat-topped, dome-shaped, 360-foot Mt. Yama, an active volcano, and a cluster of satellite peaks.
This devil’s playground is honeycombed with long-prepared cave and tunnel defenses, while the peaks themselves are dotted with vents and fissures which emit steam and sulfurous fumes.
Navy pounds Japs
Carrier aircraft and the big guns of the Fifth Fleet continued to support the ground forces. A destroyer moved close in shore yesterday and knocked out an enemy mortar position on Kangoku Rock a mile northwest of Iwo. Several landing craft on the rock were also destroyed.
The northern perimeter of the American line ran from a point about halfway up the west coast inland 1,500 yards to a slight northern bulge, then diagonally southeast across the central airfield to the northern end of the invasion beach on the east coast.
Carrier aircraft made an offensive sweep over Chichi in the neighboring Bonin Islands yesterday.
2,146 rescued from Jap camp by paratroops and guerrillas
Americans slay all of guards in blow 34 miles southeast of Manila
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Oil, rail targets blasted by Fortresses
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Young actor weds
HOLLYWOOD – Tom Drake, young screen actor, has married actress Christopher Curtis, 23, his studio announced today.
RECORD SUPERFORT RAID BATTERS SINGAPORE
Tokyo reports 130 B-29s over Malaya base
Hundreds of bombs rained on harbor
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U.S. prepares to release mines
Move to precede contract sessions
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WAC’s friend jailed
BUFFALO, New York – Jake Williams, 43, Buffalo taxicab driver, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison today for giving refuge to WAC Pvt. Irene Way, 30, formerly of Zanesville, Ohio, while she was a deserter.
PULVERIZING BARRAGE OPENS 9TH ARMY OFFENSIVE
Yanks utilize rockets taken from enemy
Even machine guns join in bombardment
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
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Battle for Manila virtually ended
Only three buildings still held by Japs
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – The battle for Manila virtually ended today as U.S. troops captured all but three of the enemy-held buildings in the devastated ancient wall city.
U.S. troops were attacking the last Jap positions in a church and small sections on the west and south sides of the Intramuros area.
The final assault on the Japs in Manila followed a combined land and amphibious attack by the 37th Infantry Division which breached the ancient wall around Intramuros.
Cross Pasig River
Following in the wake of a thunderous artillery barrage, which virtually flattened the old Intramuros section, the American troops stormed through and over the medieval wall from the east and across the wide Pasig River on the north.
The double attack, which was joined inside the walled city, was expected to end organized Jap resistance in Manila quickly, although it may be several days before the last fanatical enemy is mopped up.
Seize another island
Gen. Douglas MacArthur also announced that U.S. forces had seized Biri Island at the eastern end of San Bernardino Strait to complete U.S. domination of the water passageway at the southeastern end of Luzon. The Americans first opened up the strait with the occupation of Capul Island at the western end of the waterway.
Reports of Jap brutality in Manila reached a new mark with the disclosure that more than 3,000 American civilian internees at Santo Tomas were subjected to several days of heavy artillery fire.
The enemy deliberately shelled the face of the main building at Santo Tomas and the front entrance.
Casualties light
Although the number of dead and wounded among the civilians was not announced, the communiqué said the casualties “fortunately were very light.” The shelling occurred several days after Santo Tomas was occupied by the 1st Cavalry Division.
Units of the 1st Cavalry and 6th Infantry Divisions further secured the eastern side of the capital with the capture of San Mateo and Taytay in the foothills of the Marikina watershed.
Entrance of the 6th Infantry Division into the Manila campaign brought to a total of five divisions now operating under Maj. Gen. O. W. Griswold’s XIV Corps.
Visits front lines
Gen. MacArthur visited the front lines again today and entered newly-captured Manila Hotel while the 1st Cavalry Division raised the Stars and Stripes over the high commissioner’s building.
Mopping-up of Corregidor continued steadily and it was announced the entire western part of the fortress had been cleared.
The Japs set off an ammunition dump inside big Malinta tunnel inside the rocky fort, blowing themselves to bits rather than fight it out with the Americans.