U.S. Navy Department (February 28, 1945)
Communiqué No. 581
The submarines USS ESCOLAR (SS-294) and USS SHARK (SS-174) are overdue from patrol and presumed lost.
Next of kin of officers and crew have been notified.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 282
During the night of February 26‑27 (East Longitude Date), several small-scale enemy attempts to infiltrate through our lines on Iwo Island were repulsed. In one sector a movement of tanks and troops was broken up by our artillery fire. A mortar support unit destroyed two enemy ammunition dumps during the night and gunfire from cruisers and destroyers offshore continued to harass the enemy.
Marines launched an attack on the morning of February 27 after preparation by Marine artillery, naval gunfire and carrier aircraft bombing. By nightfall limited advances had been made by the 3rd Marine Division in the center and the 4th Marine Division on the right flank. Enemy artillery and mortar fire was heavy throughout the day, some of it falling on our rear areas and on the beaches.
Carrier aircraft and naval guns continued to support the ground troops.
Seventh Army Air Force Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed enemy positions on Iwo Island during the afternoon.
Improved beach conditions continued to facilitate unloading of supplies.
The extent of the enemy’s defense preparations on Iwo Island is indicated by the total of 800 pillboxes of various types which have been scouted in the Third Marine Division zone of action.
On February 25, 7th AAF Liberators, operating under StrAirPoa, bombed the airfield on Chichi Jima in the Bonins.
Fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing destroyed a bridge and other installations on Babelthuap in the Palaus and destroyed warehouses on Yap in the western Carolines on February 27.
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 283
The Marines on Iwo Island made an advance of several hundred yards in most sectors of the lines on February 28 (East Longitude Date). Driving through the center of the enemy’s main line of resistance, the 3rd Marine Division moved beyond the village of Motoyama on the island plateau. The 5th Division on the west, led by tanks and the 4th Division on the east, pushed forward several hundred yards against stiff opposition. The attack was supported by naval gunfire, Marine artillery and carrier aircraft. Some mortar fire fell on our northern beaches during the day but facilities for unloading continued to develop.
The attack was made after a night of light activity. The enemy attempted infiltration with small groups which were driven off and our mortar support units and fleet surface units maintained harassing fire and illumination fire throughout the night.
At 1800 on February 26, 4,784 enemy dead had been counted and 10 prisoners of war taken.
On February 27, carrier aircraft attacked the seaplane base on Chichi Jima in the Bonins causing an explosion.
Fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing made bombing and rocket attacks on enemy-held bases in the Palaus on February 27 and 28. Several fires were started, one bridge was destroyed, and a bridge and pier were damaged.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 28, 1945)
YANKS IN SIGHT OF RHINE
German rearguards battle furiously close to Cologne
U.S. tanks push across Erft River line into 3 bridgeheads
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Roosevelt suggests 50-year curb be put on Nazis and Japs
President, back from Big Three conference, will speak in Congress tomorrow
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
WASHINGTON – President Roosevelt returned today from his historic Crimea Conference so inspired by the Big Three’s progress toward a durable peace that he could foresee ultimate armament reduction by the major Allied fighting powers.
But he feels that Germany and Japan must be on trial for perhaps 50 years or more before being readmitted as equals to the society of nations. In the meantime, they must be restrained by force if necessary.
Mr. Roosevelt’s full report will be made to Congress tomorrow.
All major radio stations will broadcast Mr. Roosevelt’s address at 12:30 p.m. EWT Thursday.
The President returned to American soil last night, landing at an east coast port after a 10-day voyage from Algiers aboard a heavy American cruiser which went within a few miles of enemy submarines striking at Allied shipping off Gibraltar.
He then proceeded to Washington by overnight train, arriving back in the White House early today.
Mr. Roosevelt has ready for Congress a lengthy report on the Crimea meeting which he will deliver in person tomorrow.
In his message, Mr. Roosevelt will tell how he, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Marshal Joseph Stalin and their top advisers met in the old Livadia Palace of Czar Nicolas II on the Black Sea and developed plans for a three-way operation to squeeze the last life out of the German military machine.
He also will tell how they also built the foundation of an international organization which can squelch future wars before they start.
In news conference aboard his ship while coming back across the Atlantic, the President was buoyant about the achievements of the meeting at Yalta.
Seeks permanent organization
He looked to the United Nations Conference at San Francisco in April to produce a permanent international organization which will have unprecedented success in keeping the world at peace.
The President plans to attend the San Francisco conference, either at the start or the close of the meeting, to make what he described as a speech of greetings in the role of host. And he expects another meeting with Mr. Churchill after the conference.
British news agencies put out almost identical reports today that Mr. Roosevelt has decided to visit London this spring or summer. The reports indicated they may have been inspired officially. Marshal Stalin also may accept an invitation to visit England this year, the reports said.
Mr. Roosevelt left Washington the night of January 22. During his 36-day absence, he covered about 14,000 miles which included stops at Malta, in Russia, Egypt and Algiers.
Confers with monarchs
In addition to his eight-day meeting with Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin, he also conferred with King Farouk of Egypt, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. He made most of the trip by cruiser, but flew from Malta to Yalta, and from Yalta to Great Bitter Lake, in the Suez Canal.
As his ship approached the American coast, he spent an hour with three press association correspondents who joined his party at Algiers, going over the accomplishments of the Yalta conference.
Program outlined
He made these specific points:
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He looks forward to a time after the war when armament of all nations, including the United States, England, Russia, China and France, will be decreased,
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Germany snd Japan at some time should be added to the assembly of United Nations members, but only after they have shown a definite trend away from militarism. This possibly will require more than 50 years of concrete proof.
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Until Germany and Japan have made considerable, unmistakable progress toward peace-keeping forms of government, the United Nations should see, by force if necessary, that they are utterly incapable of arming or preparing for war in any manner.
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A plan of American-Russian-English occupation of Germany has been worked out, but will have to be changed according to the degree of French participation in the occupation.
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The Big Three meeting and the later conference between the President and Mr. Churchill at Alexandria, Egypt, were concerned with Europe and not the Pacific. In fact, the President said the Pacific situation just did not come up in his later talk with Mr. Churchill. It did not arise in the tripartite conversations because Russia 1s neutral toward Japan and this country is respecting that neutrality.
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The people of the United States, particularly in face of European successes, too often blow hot and cold about the war in the Pacific. The actual situation is that even after Germany is defeated, we face a long, hard war in the Pacific. This fact, the President said, needs particular industrial emphasis in this country.
Hard fighting faced
Mr. Roosevelt’s forward view toward a time when the five major Allied powers can cut down the size of their war machines was not meant as any prospect for the near future. He stressed repeatedly the fact that we have yet to win the war and that there 1s much work and fighting to be done before final victory.
Asked whether he thought Germany and Japan ever should be permitted to rearm, the President explained that these nations once were peaceful. They became militaristic only after a long period of years. Therefore, he said, it is possible for them to move back in the opposite direction toward peace-loving, law-abiding principles during a similarly length period.
The future of Germany and Japan, he added, depends largely on their post-war leadership and their national objectives.
Must prove selves
Until they move definitely toward a plane of good international behavior, the United Nations should see to it that they do not rearm,
In the Crimean communiqué, the Big Three announced a plan whereby “the forces of the three powers will each occupy a separate zone of Germany,” with France invited to share in the occupation if she desires.
En route home, the President amplified this by saying that the original three-power plan for post-surrender occupation of Germany had provided that:
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Russia would occupy Eastern Germany.
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Great Britain would occupy Western and Northern Germany.
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The American zone of occupation would start at the turn of the Rhine River at Mainz and extend through Southern Germany. It would include a supply corridor to the sea at Bremen and would extend into the provinces of Wurttemberg, Baden and Bavaria.
May change zones
The President added, however, that this was an old plan, and that it was complicated and had not been settled upon because a French zone of occupation would change either the American or British zones. This meant obviously that Russia will occupy eastern Germany regardless of what France does.
Russian participation in the deliberations of the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff was explained by the President this way: The Russians will have a part in anything affecting their own troops, but not in anything pertaining to operations in the Pacific.
Previously the Big Three had announced that “the very close working partnership among the three staffs” attained. at Yalta would “result in shortening the war.”
May speak tomorrow
Mr. Roosevelt’s final plans for appearing in Congress will not be settled until after the funeral today of his military aide and secretary, Maj. Gen. Edwin M, Watson, who died at sea aboard the President’s cruiser. and until after the Chief Executive has had an opportunity to confer with his congressional leaders.
Mr. Roosevelt returned to the White House feeling fine and rested after the arduous meeting in Yalta. The 10-day sea voyage from Algiers gave him an opportunity to catch up in his sleep following the conference which was marked by long, hard hours of almost constant meeting.
Preparing report
En route home the President also devoted a good part of his time to preparation of his report to Congress, working in consultation with his special counsel, Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, who joined the presidential party at Algiers.
Traveling through balmy, spring-like weather most of the way across the Atlantic, the President got a good bit of sun and acquired a noticeable tan. En route to Yalta, however, he ran into several days of heavy weather in the Atlantic.
The Chief Executive’s meeting with Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin was, by all estimates of his close associates, the most successful conference of its type since the war began.
The President, in his role of chairman and moderator, was successful in bringing agreement out of several pronounced differences among the principals.
Among these were certainly the Polish territorial and governmental Situation and the voting and veto procedure for the United Nations, but the President did not discuss these points at his news conferences. An announcement on the voting procedure worked out at Yalta is expected shortly.
One thing detracted from the trip – the failure of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, head of the French Provisional Government, to meet the President at Algiers when Mr. Roosevelt was en route home.
President disappointed
The President invited him. Gen. de Gaulle declined and the President expressed disappointment because “questions of mutual interest and importance to France and the United States are pending.”
Later, when questioned about reports that he still would see Gen. de Gaulle soon, Mr. Roosevelt said he would be glad to see the French leader at any time, but had no present plans for such a meeting.
Yards measure U.S. gains on Iwo
Marines straighten lines across island
GUAM (UP) – U.S. Marines straightened their lines across Iwo’s central plateau in no-quarter battles today preparatory to a general assault toward the mountainous north coast.
A Tokyo broadcast heard by the Australian Information Department listening post said the Americans “at last are showing signs of victory on Iwo.”
Gains were measured in feet and yards at high cost. A front dispatch said the Marines were coming up against such heavy defenses as two-story cement blockhouses sunk so deep that they protrude only a couple of feet above the ground.
“There are no apparent exits to these mammoth vaults,” United Press writer Lisle Shoemaker reported from Iwo. “There may be underground tunnels, but it would not be surprising if the Japs had sealed themselves in for a death stand.”
The 3rd Marine Division alone has counted 800 pillboxes of all sizes and shapes in its zone of operations at the center of the American line. Mr. Shoemaker said Iwo was the most heavily defended spot “per square inch” ever assaulted in warfare,
“Even the most optimistic won’t surmise that this assault may be concluded in under 10 days,” Mr. Shoemaker said.
Make ‘limited gains’
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced in a communique that the Marines made “limited gains” in an attack yesterday after repulsing several small-scale enemy attempts to infiltrate the American lines the previous night.
Marine artillery, naval guns and carrier aircraft supported the attack. Best gains, though still measured only in yards, were made by 3rd Division veterans of Guam and Saipan on the central plateau and by the 4th Division on the east flank.
The 5th Division on the west flank made little progress.
Unloading speeded
Enemy artillery and mortar fire continued heavy throughout yesterday, some falling on rear areas and on the beaches. The newly-captured central plateau airfield was under particularly severe fire.
Beach conditions further improved, speeding the unloading of supplies.
Army Liberators bombed enemy positions on Iwo yesterday. The four-engined bombers went at 3,500 feet and even lower for pinpoint destruction on enemy installations with 6,500-pound bombs.
240 blocks inside Tokyo burned out by B-29 raid
Photos show trail of destruction extending from palace to waterfront
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Yanks in drive for Rhine don’t even stop for water
Razzle-dazzle advance sweeps by burning villages before Germans can hide in cellars
By Ann Stringer, United Press staff writer
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Jet fighter, fastest in sky, now being built for Army
Gen. Arnold discloses facts about Shooting Star, rated best ever
By Henry Ward, Press aviation editor
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Confirmed as envoy
WASHINGTON – The Senate yesterday confirmed the nomination of George R. Merrell of Missouri as Minister to India.
Poll: Public opposes post-war drill for women
Men stronger in opposition
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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U.S. attack gains ground east of Manila
Japs’ Kobayashi Line breached in drive
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Jap forces fell back along a 10-mile front in the Marakina watershed east of Manila today under the impact of two divisions of U.S. troops and swarms of bombers and fighters.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s mounting offensive also brought the complete destruction of Jap remnants on Verde Island, off the southern tip of Luzon; elimination of all but several hundred enemy stragglers on Corregidor, and heavy aerial blows on the Japs from Formosa to French Indochina.
A Jap Domei Agency dispatch said U.S. bombers had been taken to Clark Ficid on Luzon from Leyte, and apparently were operating from the big airdrome.
Capture peak
Units of the 6th Infantry Division paced the drive toward Luzon’s east coast and captured Mt. Mataba, 13 miles northeast of Manila, to knock a hole in the enemy’s Kobayashi Line.
The southern and western slopes of Mt. Pawagan were also secured by the 6th Division troops who drove to within two miles of the east-west Montalban-Wawa highway.
First Cavalry Division forces, however, encountered fierce enemy resistance at Antipolo, eight miles south of Mt. Mataba and 11 miles east of Manila.
Swarms of U.S. planes from fighters to heavy Liberator bombers supported the ground drive through the Marakina watershed.
Raid airfield
On the Northern Luzon front, 25th Division troops continue their drive northward toward the Cagayan Valley and captured Carranglan, 13 miles northeast of San Jose. Marine dive-bombers raided Echague Airfield in the valley.
Additional explosions rocked the Malinta tunnel on Corregidor and heavy smoke poured from the western entrance indicating the Japs were continuing their policy of self-extermination.
Liberator bombers dropped 60 tons of bombs on a chemical plant and fuel dumps at Takao, Formosa. Fighter-bombers raked the south coast of the island. Three coastal vessels were damaged in the nearby Pescadores Islands.
Raid Borneo
Four other coastal craft were destroyed or damaged between Haman and Amoy, on the China coast. Four seaplanes were destroyed and two enemy fighters shot down at Cam Ranh, French Indochina.
The big Liberators also raided Borneo, in the Dutch East Indies, dropping 100 tons of bombs on airfield installations near the oil center of Balikpapan.
Jap artillery looks down throats of Marines on Iwo
Airfield technically ours, but foe on cliff makes life hell on ‘Hollywood battlefield’
By Lisle Shoemaker, United Press staff writer
ON THE EDGE OF MOTOYAMA AIRFIELD NO. 2, Iwo (Feb. 27, delayed) – The Jap mortars and artillery guns are looking right down our throats.
They are up on a cliff beyond the field, with perfect observation and firing positions. And they are making life a hell on this field.
There is no cover for the Marines – just shell holes and American-dug foxholes – from the steady blast of mortar and flat trajectory shells which scream onto this edge.
Technically ours
Technically, the airfield is ours. We have troops on the far side to the north, but it lies directly under the Jap high ground.
The 3rd Division Marines raced through a hail of mortar and artillery to reach the north side several days ago. But they have been unable to get any farther since because of the Jap guns on the cliff.
The field was one from which the Japs staged their medium bomber raids on B-29 bases in the Marianas. Now it was a desolate no-man’s-land, almost beyond imagination. It looks like a Hollywood battlefield.
We climbed up the slope to the southern edge this morning, but a young captain asked us not to go any farther.
Warning unnecessary
“It’s too hot now,” he said.
Mortar and big artillery shells crashed into the field and the warning wasn’t necessary.
Marines were carrying back their dead buddies, tiptoeing through minefields and winding through the shambles of wrecked equipment – ours and the enemy’s.
The 3rd Marines are veteran fighters, but all agree they never saw anything like this fierce and bloody struggle.
French to attend ‘Frisco sessions
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Three U.S. generals receive Soviet medals
PARIS, France (UP) – Soviet Ambassador Alexander Bogomolov today dedicated Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Lt. Gen. Leonard T. Gerow and Maj. Gen. Joseph Collins for the assault on Normandy.
Gen. Bradley received the Order of Kutuzov, Gens. Gerow and Collins, who commanded the V and VII Corps respectively of Gen. Bradley’s U.S. First Army, received the Order of Suvorov, Second Class.
Marines protest Hearst editorial
Delegation calls at San Francisco paper
SAN FRANCISCO – The 12th Naval District reported today that the shore patrol was called last night to the San Francisco Examiner, a Hearst newspaper, to disperse 75 to 100 Marines who had gathered in protest against a front-page editorial yesterday.
The editorial, which was printed in the various Hearst papers, claimed that the high casualties on Iwo Jima were due to poor leadership and that Gen. Douglas MacArthur should have commanded the assault.
The shore patrol found the Marines were “peaceable,” the naval district reported. They had appointed two representatives to discuss the editorial with the editor. The Marines dispersed and left “quietly,” the district reported.
The editorial was headed “MacArthur Is Our Best Strategist.” It said in part that “American casualties (on Iwo) apparently run more than 10 percent of the original invading force… There is awesome evidence… that American forces are paying heavily for the island, perhaps too heavily.”
“Fortunately,” the editorial said, “it is not the sort of thing that occurs everywhere in the Pacific.” In MacArthur’s operations, it added, “there has been neither decimation nor exhaustion of American forces.”
The San Francisco Chronicle attacked the editorial Wednesday without mentioning the Examiner.