America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9526
Amending Certain Executive and Public Land Orders Withdrawing Public Lands for Purposes Incident to the National Emergency and the Prosecution of the War

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 28, 1945

WHEREAS by certain Executive and Public Land orders more than 13,000,000 acres of public lands have been withdrawn and reserved for the use of the military and other branches of the Federal Government for purposes incident to the various phases of the national emergency and the prosecution of the war; and

WHEREAS immediately prior to the issuance of such orders various Executive departments and independent agencies of the Federal Government had primary jurisdiction over, interests in, needs and uses for, or administration of, certain portions of such public lands; and

WHEREAS because of the findings of necessity for the emergency use of such lands, the jurisdiction over, interests in, needs and uses for, and administration of those lands by such departments and agencies were subordinated to such emergency use; and

WHEREAS it is and has been the intention, as expressed in most of the orders, that after the termination of the emergency, the public lands should be returned to the jurisdiction, uses, and administration which existed prior to the withdrawal and reservation of such lands for purposes incident to the national emergency and the prosecution of the war; and

WHEREAS it is appropriate that, in future determinations of the public purposes for which such lands shall be used, reserved, or administered after the emergency, those departments and agencies of the Federal Government which had prior jurisdiction over, interests in, or administration of such lands should have restored to them such jurisdiction over, interests in, or administration of the lands as existed prior to the withdrawal and reservation of the lands for purposes incident to the national emergency and the prosecution of the war:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the President of the United States as set forth in the orders hereinafter enumerated, it is ordered as follows:

The Executive orders and Public Land orders hereinafter enumerated, withdrawing and reserving public lands for uses incident to the national emergency and the prosecution of the war, are hereby amended by adding to each of the said orders the following paragraph:

The jurisdiction granted by this order shall cease at the expiration of the six months’ period following the termination of the unlimited national emergency declared by Proclamation No. 2487 of May 27, 1941 (55 Stat. 1647). Thereupon, jurisdiction over the lands hereby reserved shall be vested in the Department of the Interior, and any other department or agency of the Federal Government according to their respective interests then of record. The lands, however, shall remain withdrawn from appropriation as herein provided until otherwise ordered.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBERS: 8101, 8102, 8305, 8325, 8343, 8450, 8507, 8508, 8577, 8578, 8579, 8636, 8651, 8652, 8725, 8755, 8788, 8789, 8792, 8793, 8794, 8830, 8831, 8847, 8865, 8872, 8874, 8877, 8884, 8892, 8915, 8923, 8927, 8932, 8954, 8957, 8992, 8999, 9000, 9014, 9019, 9020, 9026, 9029, 9042, 9053, 9081, 9086, 9104, 9107, 9109, 9114, 9143, 9215.

PUBLIC LAND ORDER NUMBERS: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 72, 74, 75, 76, 80, 81, 83, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93, 94, 97, 98, 105, 109, 110.

Any provision in any of the orders hereinabove enumerated which is in conflict with this order is hereby superseded to the extent of such conflict: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That any provision for the earlier return of jurisdiction over the public lands in any of said orders shall remain operative.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The White House,
February 28, 1945

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9525
Amendment of Executive Order 9356 of June 24, 1943, Prescribing Regulations Governing the Furnishing of Clothing in Kind or Payment of Cash Allowances in Lieu Thereof to Enlisted Personnel of the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Naval Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 28, 1945

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by Section 10 of the Pay Readjustment Act of June 16, 1942 (56 Stat. 359, 363); it is ordered that Executive Order 9356 of June 24, 1943, as amended, prescribing regulations governing the furnishing of clothing in kind or payment of cash allowances in lieu thereof to enlisted personnel of the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Naval Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve, be, and it is hereby, further amended by adding to section A thereof subsection 9 to read as follows:

  1. Enlisted men of the Navy, Naval Reserve, Coast Guard, and Coast Guard Reserve, returned to the United States from overseas (including Alaska) as patients, who, due to the exigencies of the service and through no fault of their own, have become separated from or have lost their clothing and have not been reimbursed therefor:

(a) Chief petty officers, cooks, and stewards; an issue of clothing in kind not to exceed in value-------$100.00

(b) Enlisted men in other ratings; an issue of clothing in kind not to exceed in value----------------------60.00

In the event claim for reimbursement for lost personal property is later presented by an individual receiving issues of clothing under this subsection, the value of such clothing shall be deducted from such claim by the adjudicating authority.

This amendment shall become effective as of January 1, 1945.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The White House,
February 28, 1945

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9527
Relinquishing Possession of the Plants of York Safe and Lock Company, York County, Pennsylvania

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 28, 1945

WHEREAS by Executive Order No. 9416, dated January 21, 1944, the Secretary of the Navy was authorized and directed to take possession of and operate the plants and facilities of York Safe and Lock Co. located in York County, Pennsylvania, in order to produce effectively essential war material required by the United States, and to do all things necessary and incidental to that end; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to the said order, the Secretary of the Navy took possession of the plants and facilities of said company on January 24, 1944, and has retained possession thereof since that date, except that possession under the said order of certain of the said plants and facilities was terminated on June 19, 1944, following the institution by the United States of condemnation proceedings with respect thereto; and

WHEREAS the said order provides that such possession will be terminated by the President within 60 days after he determines that such plants will be operated privately in a manner consistent with the war effort; and

WHEREAS it now appears, and I have determined, that the plants, facilities, and other property of the said company remaining in the possession of the Secretary of the Navy will be operated privately in a manner consistent with the war effort;

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, I hereby direct the Secretary of the Navy to terminate and relinquish, on or before the fifteenth day following the date of this order, any and all possession, use and operation of the plants, facilities and other property of York Safe and Lock Co. held by the Secretary under Executive Order No. 9416, and to do all things necessary and incidental to such termination and relinquishment.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The White House,
February 28, 1945

Völkischer Beobachter (March 1, 1945)

Am Wegkreuz der Weltgeschichte

Wien, 28. Februar – Die Geschichte ist nicht sentimental. Sie merzt mit der Unerbittlichkeit des Naturgesetzes hart und unbeugsam das aus, was nicht mehr lebenswert ist.

Völkerschicksale vollziehen sich, soweit wir nur zurückdenken können, nach eherner Folgerichtigkeit und ohne Erbarmen. Wer nicht stark genug ist, sich selbst kämpferisch durchzusetzen und zu behaupten, kann aus der Geschichte wenig Trost schöpfen. Nur dort, wo physische Stärke sich mit entsprechender moralischer Größe verband, konnten Reiche von Dauer geschaffen werden. In dem Augenblick aber, wo die Lebensenergien die Träger großer Staaten verließen, vollzog sich mit unheimlicher Geschwindigkeit der Prozess des Verfalls und des Zusammenbruchs.

Neue Epochen werden nur von dem gegründet, der über ein reiches Rüstzeug verfügt, der tragende Ideen von mitreißendem Schwung ins Treffen führt, und der entschlossen ist, für die Verwirklichung dieser Ideen alles, und auch das Letzte, zu opfern. Es mag kurze Zwischenzeiten geben, in denen dieses Grundgesetz des menschlichen Lebens nicht so klar in die Erscheinung tritt, aber das ändert an dessen Unabänderlichkeit nichts. Gott ist nun einmal mit den stärkeren Bataillonen, so oft und so gründlich man dieses Wort auch missverstanden hat. Tapferkeit, soldatischer Einsatz und ein reiches Waffenarsenal mögen gute Dinge sein, aber hinter ihnen muss die Hand des Mannes spürbar sein, der die innere Größe aufbringt und den gewaltigen Geistesreichtum, auf viele tausend Fragen eine Antwort endgültig und bestimmend zu geben.

Wir durchleben Tage und Wochen, in denen mit letzter Klarheit zutage tritt, dass die Menschheit wieder einmal an einer Wegkreuzung der Weltgeschichte steht. Mancher mag sich gerade nach den Erscheinungen und Ereignissen der letzten Zeit besorgt fragen, was aus einer Welt würde, die völlig nach dem Gesetz zu leben hätte, das heute der Bolschewismus aufstellt. Näher umschrieben heißt die Kardinalfrage an das Schicksal; Kann man eine Epoche der Geschichte mit dem ruchlosesten Verbrechen beginnen? Kann eine rein negative, zerstörende Kraft ausreichen, die gesamte Menschheit auf die Dauer zu regieren und zu lenken?

Bemühen wir uns, ganz klar das zu kennzeichnen, was man als das Kriegsziel der Bolschewisten und ihrer verbrecherischen Komplicen bezeichnen kann, so ist es von amtlicher sowjetischer Seite mit den Worten ausgesprochen: Deutschland muss restlos vernichtet werden.

Die sich im andern Lager rühmen, ein neues Weltzeitalter heraufzubeschwören, genieren sich keineswegs mehr, an den Anfang ihres Weges die totale Ausmordung eines Achtzig-Millionen-Volkes zu stellen, eines Volkes, dessen ungeheuren Beitrag zur menschlichen Kultur nicht einmal die meisten Gegner ableugnen können.

An der Ernsthaftigkeit dieses Grundsatzes „Germaniam esse delendam“ kann für niemanden ein Zweifel bestehen. Schon die viehische Behandlung, die unsere Volksgenossen im Osten und die bisher von den Sowjets unterworfenen Völker Europas erfahren haben, ist selbst für die weltfremdesten Philister, neutraler Länder Anschauungsunterricht genug, welcher Leistungen auf diesem Gebiet die losgelassenen Horden der Steppe unter Judas Befehl fähig sind.

Die Anglo-Amerikaner, die diese Wünsche der Sowjets bedingungslos akzeptieren und mitmachen, verspüren dabei nicht die geringste Regung des von ihnen so oft strapazierten „Weltgewissens.“ Da man in ihren Ländern jedoch noch nicht mit dem Zynismus reden kann wie in dem wohl abgezirkelten Sklavenpferch der Sowjets, so pflegen sie ihre Vernichtungswünsche mit kühnen Hinweisen auf angebliche geschichtliche Beispiele auszuschmücken.

Es ist wahr: der strenge Römer Cato hat mit aller Entschiedenheit einst die Vernichtung Karthagos gefordert und ist so zum Autor des vielzitierten Wortes „Carthaginem esse delendam“ geworden.

Ist Deutschland ein Karthago oder nicht? Die Briten und Nordamerikaner haben allen Anlass, auf den näheren Zustand jenes schmarotzenden Handelsstaates nicht einzugehen, den man geradezu als den Urahnen der verjudeten USA bezeichnen kann. Karthago war ein Regime reichgewordener semitischer Bankiers, die keine anderen Ziele im Auge hatten als die totale Botmäßigkeit des damaligen Weltkrieges von ihrer Börse. Karthago war die ungesunde Schlingpflanze, die mächtige Völker wie die Bäume umschloss und ihnen das Lebensmark aussog. Demgegenüber war Rom wie Deutschland ein Land, das vom eigenen Fleiß, von einer blühenden Landwirtschaft und von der Kraft und Tapferkeit seiner Männer, von der sittlichen Größe seiner Frauen lebte.

Karthago war imstande, seinem gewiss bedeutenden Feldherrn mit den Goldschätzen seiner Tresore ein starkes Söldnerheer zu werben. Hannibal gewann viele Schlachten, ja, er gewann sogar ein Kannä. Warum unterlag er am Ende trotzdem? Es mangelte seinem Staat und seinem Volk die große Idee, und es mangelte an sittlicher Größe in dem Augenblick der Entscheidung, die nicht bei Kannä, sondern bei Zama erfolgte. Kannä war ein furchtbarer Schlag für die Römer, und es bedurfte einer jahrelangen opfervollen Bemühung des ganzen römischen Volkes, um neue Kräfte zu sammeln. In der richtigen Stunde aber standen die römischen Legionen stark und wohlgerüstet am entscheidenden Punkt und in der richtigen Stunde war auch ein Scipio als Feldherr zur Stelle.

Wir stehen am Wegkreuz der Weltgeschichte und wir sagten es bereits: Die Geschichte geht mit großer Härte und eiserner Konsequenz ihren Weg. Völkerschicksale können sich oft mit einer atembeklemmenden Grausamkeit vollziehen, aber sinnlos war die Geschichte noch nie und wird sie nie sein können. Es liegt in der Hand hemmungsloser Nordamerikaner und Briten, etwa das jedem Kulturmenschen heilige Haus eines Goethe und Schiller zu verwüsten; es kann geschehen, dass sich die entfesselte Mord- und Blutgier der Steppenhorden an Unschuldigen austobt, aber es ist noch nicht aller Tage Abend, und am Ende hat gerade die Geschichte den Frevler in einer Weise aufs Haupt geschlagen, die klügere Leute nachdenklich machen müsste.

Wo sind die mordbrennenden Horden eines Spartakus, wo die feilschenden Händler Karthagos, wo die blutgierigen Rotten eines Bar Kochba geblieben? Der Sturm hat sie. Gepackt und ihre Spur ausgelöscht. Wir zweifeln nicht im Mindesten an der hundertprozentigen Zerstörungs- und Vernichtungswut unserer Gegner, die zugleich die Widersacher der gesamten Kulturwelt sind. Wehe, wer ihnen in die Hände fällt, die für das Wort „Mitleid“ nur ein grelles Lachen haben. Aber wir wissen es: unsichtbar steht hinter diesen Kräften schon eine stärkere Gewalt, die das Rudel der Wölfe vernichten wird.

Mit einem Verbrechen ohne Beispiel möchten sie drüben ein neues Weltzeitalter beginnen. Sie ahnen und spüren wohl, dass sie im Grunde doch drei Wölfe sind, die im gemeinsamen Anspringen schon wissen, dass sie in der nächsten Minute über den eigenen Artgenossen herfallen und ihn zerfleischen werden. Schon sprechen sie ganz offen von einem dritten, von einem vierten Weltkrieg. So also ist es mit ihrer „Weltordnung“ bestellt, die auf einem gigantischen Massenmord begründet sein soll. Längst haben sie die tarnende Maske auch gegenüber den sogenannten Neutralen fortgeworfen. Sie haben es aller Welt ins Gesicht geschrien, dass sie mit Weltmonopolen und Weltspionage, mit heimlicher Unterhöhlung und offener Gewalt alles und jedes niederbrechen würden, wenn sie siegen sollten.

So stehen die Dinge und nicht anders. Wir aber wissen, dass es dagegen nur eines gibt: das Alleräußerste an Kräften aufzubieten, um zum Werkzeug des rächenden Schicksals an diesen Frevlern zu werden. Wir wissen, dass es die harte und gigantische Sendung Deutschlands ist, alles zu retten, was es an Wertvollem auf diesem Erdball gibt. Und wir wissen, dass nur wir imstande sind, die Quadern einer kommenden besseren Welt zu legen, indem wir die Wolfsrudel so angehen, wie man Wölfe zu erledigen hat.

Verbissener Widerstand

Berlin, 28. Februar – Die neunzehntägigen Kämpfe zwischen Niederrhein und Maas und die jetzt sechstägigen an der Roer haben die Anglo-Amerikaner bereits sehr hohe Opfer gekostet. An der Roer, aber auch am Niederrhein verbreiterte der Feind seine Angriffsfront und vertiefte seine vortägigen Einbrüche. In beiden Abschnitten traf er jedoch auf verbissenen Widerstand.

Gestützt auf vorbereitete Rückhaltstellungen, gingen unsere Panzer und Sturmgeschütze an den Brennpunkten wiederholt zu Gegenangriffen über. Sie entlasteten unsere zäh aushaltenden Grenadiere und vereitelten unter Abschuss von weit über hundert Panzern den vom Feind mit allen Mitteln erstrebten Durchbruch, wenn sie auch größere Geländegewinne der Nordamerikaner zwischen der Roer und der Erft nicht verhindern konnten.

Zwischen Niederrhein und Maas drängten die Briten und Kanadier vor allem beiderseits des Straßenknotenpunktes Üdem weiter nach Südosten gegen die Bahnlinie Goch–Xanten. Nach etwa drei Kilometer Bodengewinn lief sich der Angriff noch vor dem Westrand des sogenannten Hochwaldes fest. Die Angriffe bei und nördlich Calcar brachten dem Gegner einige unbedeutende Fortschritte in dem sumpfigen Wiesengelände südlich des Niederrheins.

Der Hauptdruck des Feindes erfolgte zwischen Erkelenz und Düren. Die Nordamerikaner griffen hier mit starken Panzerkeilen längs der großen nach Osten und Nordosten führenden Straßen an. Von Erkelenz aus stießen die feindlichen Spitzen in den Raum westlich und südwestlich München-Gladbach vor. Nordöstlich Jülich erreichten sie die Erftsenke auf etwa 8 Kilometer Breite, und auch östlich Düren näherten sich die Kämpfe bei Elsdorf und Sindorf der Erft.

In den Nachmittag- und Abendstunden führten unsere Truppen gegen die vorgeprellten feindlichen Panzerkeile Gegenangriffe und ermöglichten dadurch den Aufbau und die Besetzung neuer Sperrriegel.

In der Eifel haben unsere Gegenmaßnahmen die Bewegungen des Feindes verlangsamt. An der mittleren Prüm hielten östlich Waxweiler unsere Riegel gegen starke feindliche Panzerstöße. Nördlich Bitburg konnte sich der Feind nur wenig weiterentwickeln. Von Süden her drangen dagegen feindliche Kräfte in Bitsburg ein Hier und weiter südlich sind an der Straße Bitburg–Trier harte Kämpfe im Gange. Auch an der unteren Saar blieben die feindlichen Fortschritte gering, östlich Saarburg versuchte der Gegner seinen am Vortage erzielten Einbruch in das Straßental bei Cerff nach den Seiten zu erweitern. In schweren Bunkerkämpfen verhinderten unsere Truppen ins Gewicht fallende Vorteile des Feindes, der vor allen Dingen westlich Cerff am Dreikopf schwere Verluste hinnehmen musste. Die Kämpfe an der mittleren Saar hatten wie an den Vortagen nur örtliche Bedeutung.

Manila eingekreist

Tokio, 28. Februar – Die feindlichen Truppen auf den Philippinen haben die japanischen Truppen in Manila eingekreist, meldet die japanische Nachrichtenagentur Domei am Mittwochmorgen. Die Einschließungstruppen setzen sich aus Teilen der 1. Kavalleriedivision, der 22. Infanteriedivision und der 11. Luftlandedivision der US-Wehrmacht zusammen. Sie sind mit etwa 200 Panzern und schätzungsweise weise 150 Geschützen verschiedener Typen ausgerüstet.

Im Abschnitt der Lingayenbucht hat sich die Lage nicht besonders geändert, heißt es in dem gleichen Bericht weiter. Es habe aber den Anschein, dass die Amerikaner, die hier am Rizalsektor eingesetzte 6. Division abgezogen haben, um ihre Truppen in Manila angesichts der dortigen heftigen japanischen Gegenangriffe zu verstärken.

Schließlich meldet Domei eine neue amerikanische Landung auf Luzon in der Gegend von Los Banos an der Südküste der Lagunenbucht. Die Landung erfolgte mit etwa 100 Schiffen und führte zu harten Kämpfen zwischen den Invasionstruppen und den japanischen Verteidigern.

Führer HQ (March 1, 1945)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

Im slowakischen Erzgebirge östlich Altsohl und bei Briesen führten die Bolschewisten zahlreiche Angriffe, ohne wesentliche Erfolge zu erzielen.

Der Kampf in Schlesien beschränkte sich auf die Räume von Goldberg und Lauban. Panzer und Grenadiere vereitelten hier auch gestern den erstrebten Durchbruch der Sowjets gegen die Gebirgseingänge. Die Besatzung der Festung Breslau steht mit dem von Süden eingebrochenen Feind in erbitterten Straßenkämpfen.

Am Stadtrand von Guben brachen erneute Angriffe der Bolschewisten verlustreich zusammen. Nördlich Arnswalde drangen von Panzern unterstützte Angriffsgruppen der Bolschewisten an mehreren Stellen auf das Nordufer der Ihna vor, wo sie in unserem Abwehrfeuer liegenblieben.

In Ostpommern suchte der Feind gestern die Bedrohung seiner Flanken durch Ausweitung seines Einbruchsraumes nach den Seiten auszuschalten. Seine Panzer-, Kavallerie- und Infanterieverbände konnten unsere Abriegelungsfronten südlich Bublitz und südöstlich Rummelsburg jedoch nur geringfügig zurückdrängen.

Die Besatzung von Posen hat unter Führung des Generalmajors Gonell in vierwöchigem heldenhaftem Kampf den für den feindlichen Aufmarsch an der Oderfront besonders wichtigen Verkehrsknotenpunkt bis zum Letzten gehalten, starke Kräfte des Gegners gebunden und dem Feind schwerste Verluste zugefügt. Im Kernwerk der Stadt schließlich auf engstem Raum zusammengedrängt, erlag die tapfere Besatzung nach Verschluss der letzten Munition der feindlichen Übermacht.

Die Schlacht in Ostpreußen ist an der gesamten Südfront unter starkem feindlichem Materialeinsatz erneut entbrannt. Unsere tapferen Divisionen vereitelten überall den Durchbruch bei nur geringen Geländeverlusten und vernichteten 88 feindliche Panzer.

Im Samland haben sich nach Säuberung des gewonnenen Geländes die feindlichen Verluste während der Angriffskämpfe auf 602 Gefangene, 5.630 gezählte Tote, 60 Panzer, 164 Geschütze, 318 Panzerabwehrkanonen und 168 Granatwerfer erhöht.

Unter dem Eindruck des hervorragenden Abwehrerfolges unserer unerschütterlich standhaltenden Truppen während der fünften Schlacht in Kurland stellte der Feind gestern seine vergeblichen Durchbruchsversuche auf Libau ein, in deren Verlauf die Bolschewisten in achttägigen Kämpfen 19.000 Mann, 301 Panzer und zahlreiche Geschütze einbüßten.

Im Westen konnten die Engländer und Kanadier trotz ihres gewaltigen Material- und Menscheineinsatzes zwischen Maas und Niederrhein, der jetzt drei Wochen andauert, auch gestern nur südöstlich Kalkar einige Kilometer Boden gewinnen. Ihre Angriffe südöstlich von Goch scheiterten.

Unter dem starken Druck der unaufhörlich angreifenden 9. amerikanischen Armee, aber unerschüttert in ihrem Abwehrwillen kämpfen unsere Truppen in einer zusammenhängenden Front, die aus dem Raum westlich Dülken zum Erft-Abschnitt zieht und südlich Düren wieder die Roer erreicht. Versuche des Feindes, mit Schwerpunkt beiderseits Rheydts und im Abschnitt von Grevenbroich diese Front zu durchbrechen, wurden vereitelt.

Auch an der übrigen Westfront setzten die Amerikaner in zahlreichen Abschnitten ihre Angriffe fort. Nördlich der Schnee-Eifel und an der Prüm blieben sie nur von örtlicher Bedeutung. Bei und südöstlich Bitburg erzwang der Feind trotz hartnäckiger Gegenwehr unserer Truppen einige Einbrüche in Richtung auf die Kyll.

Mit dem Gegner, der aus seinem Brückenköpf an der unteren Saar in nördlicher Richtung angreift, sind heftige Kämpfe südlich Trier im Gange.

Von der Westfront wird der Abschuss von insgesamt 82 feindlichen Panzern gemeldet.

In erbitterten Luftkämpfen über dem westlichen Kampfraum, vor allem am Oberrhein, wurden zehn feindliche Tiefflieger abgeschossen.

In der Nacht zum 27. Februar führten die feindlichen Einschließungskräfte vor der Festung Gironde–Nord nach starker Artillerievorbereitung zahlreiche Vorstöße gegen unsere Gefechtsvorposten. Sie wurden sämtlich unter hohen Verlusten für den Angreifer zerschlagen.

Kassel, Hagen und weitere Orte in Westfalen sowie im Raum Gelsenkirchen waren am gestrigen Tage die Angriffsziele anglo-amerikanischer Terrorbomber. Die Briten warfen in der vergangenen Nacht Bomben auf die Reichshauptstadt und vereinzelt im süddeutschen Raum.

Im Kampf gegen den feindlichen Nachschub und dessen Sicherung versenkten Kriegsmarine und Luftwaffe im Monat Februar 54 Schiffe mit zusammen 288.480 BRT, 2 Kreuzer, 12 Zerstörer und Geleitzerstörer, 6 Sicherungsfahrzeuge und 1 Schnellboot. Außerdem wurden 16 weitere Schiffe mit 94.900 BRT, sowie 1 Kreuzer und 3 Bewacher torpediert. Mit dem Untergang eines großen Teiles auch dieser Schiffe ist zu rechnen. An den Erfolgen sind vor allem die Unterseeboote beteiligt. Damit verlor der Feind in den letzten beiden Monaten mit Sicherheit insgesamt 83 Schiffe mit zusammen 467.780 BRT, 3 Kreuzer, 20 Zerstörer und 12 weitere Geleitfahrzeuge.

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (March 1, 1945)

FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
011100A March

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. 327

UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces have occupied Calcar which was found to be clear of the enemy. Farther south, there has been heavy fighting in the Hochwald and along the Udem-Xanten Railway. We have occupied a number of villages between Goch and the Maas.

Ferry and barge traffic on the Rhine between Rees and Wesel, troop concentrations at Winnekendonk and Sonsbeck, and strongpoints near Weeze were hit yesterday by fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters. Medium and light bombers attacked targets at Geldern, Kamp and Rheinberg. Other fighter-bombers struck at the railway yards at Wesel.

We have continued our operations across the Roer River against slight to moderate resistance which has stiffened in the area west of Cologne.

Our forces have driven to within seven miles of Cologne and have established three bridgeheads over the Erft River and the Canal west of the city. West of the Erft, we have cleared Esch, and have reached Mödrath to the southeast after crossing the river west of the town.

East and southeast of Düren, we have taken Norvenich, Hochkirchen, Gladbach, and Vettweiss, and our units have driven to the edge of Muldenau, encountering heavy enemy artillery fire.

Fighter-bombers attacked fortified villages at and in the area of München-Gladbach and near Euskirchen.

South of Schleiden, we have cleared Rescheid. Northeast of Prüm, our forces made gains of up to one mile, repulsing a counter-attack four and one-half miles from the town.

Southwest of Prüm, our armored elements crossed the Prüm River, captured Pronsfeld, Lünebach, and Merlscheid, and made penetrations of one mile east of the river. Waxweiler has been taken. Bitburg is now clear of the enemy, and our units have advanced to the Kyll River and have captured Röhl, Sülm, and Idenheim. We have taken Irrel and Helenenberg, seven miles northwest of Trier.

Wasserbillig, at the junction of the Saar and Moselle Rivers, is now in our hands. Armored elements, advancing one mile against enemy strongpoints, anti-tank guns and roadblocks, have entered Pellingen, five and one-half miles southeast of Trier. In the wooded area five and one-half miles east of Saarburg, our infantry gained up to one and one-half miles southward.

Fortified towns and strongpoints in the Prüm area and along the main road from Bitburg south of Trier were attacked by fighter-bombers.

From Saarbrücken to the Rhine and south to the Franco-Swiss border, patrol clashes were the only activity.

Allied forces in the west captured 7,168 prisoners 27 February.

Rail bridges at Colbe and Niedersheld, north and northwest of Giessen, at Mayen, and traffic centers at Siegen and St. Wendel, northeast of Saarbrücken, were targets for medium and light bombers.

Fighter-bombers struck at rail lines in the areas of Sarrelouis, Kaiserslautern, Zweibrücken and Neustadt. Objectives in the industrial area of Emmendingen east of Colmar were bombed by medium bombers.

Railyards at Kassel, Soest, Schwerte, Hagen and Siegen were attacked by escorted heavy bombers in very great strength. Fighters strafed rail transport over a wide area. Other escorted heavy bombers made a concentrated attack on the Nordstern Benzol Plant near Gelsenkirchen. An ordnance depot at Unna, east of Dortmund, was attacked by a strong formation of light bombers.

From the day’s operations, three of our heavy bombers and 20 fighters are missing according to incomplete reports.

Last night, light bombers again attacked targets at 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 (March 1, 1945)

Communiqué No. 582

The USS EXTRACTOR (ARS-15), a small salvage vessel, was sunk in the Central Pacific Area by a U.S. submarine. The sinking, which occurred in the early morning just prior to sunrise, was the result of incorrect identification by the submarine. The survivors were rescued by the attacking submarine, which made a thorough search of the area upon discovering the error made. There were six men reported missing.

The USS SERPENS (AK-97), a cargo ship manned by Coast Guard personnel, has been lost in the South Pacific Area as the result of enemy action.

The LCI (L) 600 has been lost in the Central Pacific Area as the result of enemy action.

The next of kin of casualties of the above-mentioned vessels have been informed.


CINCPOA Communiqué No. 284

U.S. Marines on Iwo Island advanced northward on March 1 (East Longitude Date) occupying the Western end of the Island’s northern airstrip moving our lines in the Western and Central sectors forward and making smaller gains on the Eastern side of the Island. The enemy continues to offer stiff opposition.

The attack was made after intense shelling by Marine artillery and naval guns. Carrier aircraft supported the ground troops during the day.

Seventeen prisoners of war were taken by Marines in the 3rd Division zone of action.

Occasional artillery fire fell on parts of the beaches but unloading proceeded.

During early morning hours of March 1, a small group of enemy aircraft entered the Iwo area and dropped bombs which caused no damage. One bomber was shot down by ships’ anti-aircraft fire.

Harassing attacks were carried out by carrier aircraft on enemy installations on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on the night of February 28‑March 1.

During the week of February 18 to February 24, mopping up operations continued in the Marianas and Palaus. Thirty-seven of the enemy were killed and 52 captured on Saipan. On Guam 35 were killed and 11 taken prisoner. Seven of the enemy were killed and two taken prisoner on Tinian. Two prisoners were taken on Peleliu.

Fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing started fires and destroyed a bridge in the Palaus on March 1.

Corsairs of the 4th MarAirWing bombed and strafed buildings, small craft and airfields at Ponape in the Carolines on February 28.

Marine aircraft continued neutralizing raids on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls on the same date.

Address by President Roosevelt to Congress
March 1, 1945, 12:30 p.m. EWT

roosevelt.1945

Broadcast audio (MBS):

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker and members of the Congress:

I hope that you will pardon me for the unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but I know that you will realize it makes it a lot easier for me in not having to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs and also because of the fact that I have just completed a 14,000-mile trip.

First of all, I want to say that it is good to be home. It has been a long journey and I hope you all will agree that it has been, so far, a fruitful one.

Speaking in all frankness, the question of whether it is entirely fruitful or not lies to a great extent in your hands. For unless you here, in the halls of the American Congress – with the support of the American people – concur in the general conclusions reached in the place called Yalta, and give them your active support, the meeting will not have produced lasting results.

And that is why I have come before you at the earliest hour I could after my return. I want to make a personal report to you, and at the same time to the people of the country. Many months of earnest work are ahead of us all, and I should like to feel that when the last stone is laid on the structure of international peace, it will be an achievement for which all of us in America have worked steadfastly and unselfishly together.

I am returning from this trip, which took me so far, refreshed and inspired. I was well the entire time. I did not-- was not ill for a second until I arrived back in Washington. There I heard all of the rumors which occurred in my absence. Yes, I returned from the trip refreshed and inspired – the Roosevelts are not, as you may suspect, averse to travel; we seem to thrive on it!

And far away as I was, I was kept constantly informed of affairs in the United States. The modern miracle of rapid communications has made this world very small; we must always bear in mind that fact when we speak or think of international relations. I received a steady stream of messages from Washington, I might say not only from the executive branch with all its departments, but also from the legislative branch – its two departments. And, except where radio silence was necessary for security purposes, I could continuously send messages any place in the world. And, of course, in a grave emergency we could even have risked the breaking of the security rule.

I come from the Crimea Conference with a firm belief that we have made a good start on the road to a world of peace.

There were two main purposes in this Crimea Conference. The first was to bring defeat to Germany with the greatest possible speed, and with the smallest possible loss of Allied men. That purpose is now being carried out in great force. The German Army, and the German people, are feeling the ever-increasing might of our fighting men and of the Allied armies and every hour gives us added pride in the heroic advance of our troops in Germany, on German soil, toward a meeting with the gallant Red Army.

The second purpose was to continue to build the foundation for an international accord which would bring order and security after the chaos of the war and would give some assurance of lasting peace among the nations of the world. In that goal, toward that goal, a tremendous stride was made.

After Tehran, a little over a year ago, there were long-range military plans laid by the chiefs of staff of the three most powerful nations. Among the civilian leaders at Tehran, however, at that time, there were only exchanges of views and expressions of opinion. No political arrangements were made and none was attempted.

At the Crimea Conference, however, the time had come for getting down to specific cases in the political field. There was on all sides at this conference an enthusiastic effort to reach an agreement. Since the time of Tehran, a year ago, there had developed among all of us a – what shall I call it – a greater facility in negotiating with each other, that augurs well for the peace of the world. We know each other better.

I have never for an instant wavered in my belief that an agreement to insure world peace and security can be reached. There were a number of things that we did that were concrete – that were definite. For instance, the lapse of time between Tehran and Yalta without conferences of civilian representatives of the three major powers have proved to be too long – fourteen months. During this long period local problems were permitted to become acute in places like Poland and Greece and Italy and Yugoslavia.

Therefore, we decided at Yalta that, even if circumstances made it impossible for the heads of the three governments to do it, to meet more often in the future, and to make that sure by arranging that there would be frequent personal contacts for the exchange of views between the Secretaries of State, the Foreign Ministers of these three powers.

We arranged for periodic meetings, at intervals of three or four months. And I feel very confident that under this arrangement there will be no recurrence of the incidents which this winter disturbed the friends of worldwide cooperation and collaboration.

When we met at Yalta, in addition to laying our strategic and tactical plans for the complete, final military victory over Germany, there were other problems of vital political consequence.

For instance, first, there were the problems of occupation and control of Germany after victory, the complete destruction of her military power, and the assurance that neither the Nazis nor Prussian militarism could again be revived to threaten the peace and the civilization of the world.

Secondly, again for example, there was the settlement of the few differences which remained among us with respect to the International Security Organization after the Dumbarton Oaks Conference. As you remember at that time, I said afterward we had agreed 90 percent. Well, that’s a pretty good percentage. I think the other 10 percent was ironed out at Tehra-- at Yalta.

Thirdly, there were the general political and economic problems common to all of the areas that would be in the future, or which had been, liberated from the Nazi yoke. There are special problems – we over here find it difficult to understand the ramifications of many of these problems in foreign lands. But we are trying to.

Fourth, there were the special problems created by a few instances such as Poland and Yugoslavia.

Days were spent in discussing these momentous matters and we argued freely and frankly across the table. But at the end, on every point, unanimous agreement was reached. And more important even than the agreement of words, I may say we achieved a unity of thought and a way of getting along together.

Of course we know that it was Hitler’s hope – and German warlords’ – that we would not agree, that some slight crack might appear in the solid wall of Allied unity, a crack that would give him and his fellow gangsters one last hope of escaping their just doom. That is the objective for which his propaganda machine has been working for many months.

But Hitler has failed.

Never before have the major Allies been more closely united – not only in their war aims but also in their peace aims. And they are determined to continue to be united – to be united with each other and with all peace-loving nations – so that the ideal of lasting peace will become a reality.

The Soviet, British and United States Chiefs of Staff held daily meetings with each other, they conferred frequently with Marshal Stalin, with Prime Minister Churchill and with me, on the problem of coordinating the strategic and tactical efforts of the Allied powers. They completed their plans for the final knockout blow to Germany.

At the time of the Tehran Conference the Russian front, for instance, was removed so far from the American and British fronts that, while certain long-range strategic cooperation was possible, there could be no tactical, day-by-day coordination. They were too far apart.

But Russian troops have now crossed Poland, they are fighting on the eastern soil of Germany herself; British and American troops are now on German soil close to the Rhine River in the west. It is a different situation today from what it was fourteen months ago. A closer tactical liaison has become possible for the first time in Europe – and, in the Crimean Conference, that was something else that was accomplished.

Provision was made for daily exchange of information between the armies under command of Gen. Eisenhower, on the Western Front, and those armies under the command of the Soviet marshals on that long Eastern Front, and also with our armies in Italy – without the necessity of going through the Chiefs of Staff in Washington or London, as in the past.

You have seen one result of this exchange of information in the recent bombing by American and English aircraft of points which are directly related to the Russian advance on Berlin.

From now on, American and British heavy bombers will be used – in the day-by-day tactics of the war – and we have begun to realize, I think, that there is all the difference in the world between tactics on the one side and strategy on the other – day-by-day tactics of the war, in direct support of Soviet armies, as well as in the support of our own in the Western Front.

They are now engaged in bombing and strafing in order to hamper the movement of German reserves, German materials, to the Eastern and Western Fronts from other parts of Germany or from Italy.

Arrangements have been made for the most effective distribution of all available material and transportation to the places where they can best be used in the combined war effort – American, British and Russian.

Details of these plans and arrangements are military secrets, of course. But they are going to hasten-- this tying of things in together is going to hasten the day of the final collapse of Germany. The Nazis are learning about some of them already, to their sorrow, and I think all three of us at the conference felt that they will learn more about them tomorrow and the next day – and the day after that.

There will be no respite for these attacks. We will not desist for one moment until unconditional surrender.

You know, I’ve always felt that common sense prevails in the long run, quiet overnight thinking. I think that’s true in Germany, just as much as it is here.

The German people, as well as the German soldier, must realize the sooner they give up and surrender, surrender by groups or by individuals, the sooner their present agony will be over. They must realize that only with complete surrender can they begin to reestablish themselves as people whom the world might accept as decent neighbors.

We made it clear again at Yalta, and I now repeat that unconditional surrender does not mean the destruction or the enslavement of the German people. The Nazi leaders have deliberately withheld that part of the Yalta declaration from the German press and radio. They seek to convince the people of Germany that the Yalta declaration does mean slavery and destruction for them – they are working at it day and night, for that is how the Nazis hope to save their own skins, how to deceive their people into continued and useless resistance.

We did, however, make it clear at the Conference just what unconditional surrender does mean to Germany.

It means the temporary control of Germany by Great Britain, Russia, France and the United States. Each of these nations will occupy and control a separate zone of Germany – and the administration of the four zones will be coordinated – coordinated in Berlin by a control council composed of representatives of the four nations.

Unconditional surrender means something else. It means the end of Nazism. It means the end of the Nazi Party – and of all its barbaric laws and institutions.

It means the termination of all militaristic influence in public, private and cultural life of Germany.

It means for the Nazi war criminals a punishment that is speedy and just – and severe.

It means the complete disarmament of Germany; the destruction of its militarism and its military equipment; the end of its production of armament; the dispersal of all its armed forces; the permanent dismemberment of the German General Staff which has so often shattered the peace of the world.

It means that Germany will have to make reparations – reparations in kind for the damage which has been done to the innocent victims of its aggression.

By compelling reparations in kind-- in plants, in machinery, in rolling stock, and in raw materials – we shall avoid the mistake that we and other people-- other nations made after the last war, the demanding of reparations in the form of money, which Germany could never pay.

We do not want the German people to starve, or to become a burden on the rest of the world.

Our objective in handling Germany is simple – it is to secure the peace of the rest of the world, now and in the future. Too much experience has shown that that objective is impossible if Germany is allowed to retain any ability to wage aggressive warfare.

Now these objectives will not hurt the German people. On the contrary, they will protect them from a repetition of the fate which the General Staff and Kaiserism imposed on them before and which Hitlerism is now imposing upon them again a hundredfold. It will be removing a cancer from the German body politic, which for generations has produced only misery and only pain for the whole world.

During my stay in Yalta, I saw the kind of reckless, senseless fury, the terrible destruction, that comes out of German militarism. Yalta, on the Black Sea, had no military significance of any kind. It had no defenses.

Before the last war it had been a resort, a resort for people like czars and princes and aristocracy, and their hangers-on. However, after the war, after the Red Revolution, until the attack on the Soviet Union by Hitler a few years ago, the palaces, the villas of Yalta had been used as a rest and recreation center by the Russian people.

The Nazi officers took these former palaces and villas, took them over for their own use. They are the only reasons that the so-called former palace of the Czar was still habitable when we got there. It had been given, or had thought to have been given, to a German general for his own property and his own use. And when Yalta was so destroyed, he kept soldiers there to protect what he thought would become his own nice villa.

It was a useful rest and recreation center for hundreds of thousands of Russian workers, farmers and their families, up to the time it was taken again by the Germans.

The Nazi officers took these places for their own use, and when the Red Army forced the Nazis out of the Crimea, just almost a year ago – last April, I think it was – all the villas were looted by the Nazis, and then nearly all of them were destroyed by bombs placed on the inside. And even the humblest of the homes of Yalta were not spared.

There was little left of it except blank walls, ruins, destruction.

Sevastopol – that was a fortified port, about forty or fifty miles away – there again was a scene of utter destruction – a large city with great navy yards and fortifications, I think less than a dozen buildings were left intact in the entire city.

I had read about Warsaw and Lidice and Rotterdam and Coventry – but I saw Sevastopol and Yalta! And I know that there is not room enough on earth for both German militarism and Christian decency.

Of equal importance with the military arrangements at the Crimean Conference were the agreements reached with respect to a general international organization for lasting world peace.

The foundations were laid at Dumbarton Oaks. There was one point, however, on which agreement was not reached. It involved the procedure of voting, of voting in the Security Council. I want to try to make it clear by making it simple. It took me hours and hours to get the thing straight in my own mind – and many conferences. At the Crimea Conference the Americans made a proposal on this subject which, after full discussion, I am glad to say, was unanimously adopted by the other two nations.

It is not yet possible to announce the terms of it publicly, but it will be in a short time.

When the conclusions reached with respect to voting are made known, I think and I hope that you will find them a fair solution of this complicated and difficult problem. You might almost say it’s a legislative problem. They are founded in justice, and will go far to assure international cooperation in the maintenance of peace.

There is going to be held – and you know – after we have straightened that voting matter out, there is going to be held in San Francisco a meeting of all United Nations of the world, on the 25th of April – next month. There, we all hope, and confidently expect, to execute a definite charter of organization upon which the peace of the world will be preserved and the forces of aggression permanently outlawed.

This time we are not making the mistake of waiting until the end of the war to set up the machinery of peace. This time, as we fight together to win the war finally, we work together to keep it from happening again.

I-- As you know, I have always been a believer in the document called the Constitution of the United States. And I spent a good deal of time in educating two other nations of the world in regard to the Constitution of the United States.

The charter has to be, and should be, approved by the Senate of the United States under the Constitution. I think the other nations all know it now. I am aware of that fact, and now all the other nations are, and we hope that the Senate will approve of what is set forth as the Charter of the United Nations when they all come together in San Francisco next month.

The Senate of the United States, through its appropriate representatives, has been kept continuously advised of the program of this government in the creation of the International Security Organization.

The Senate and the House will both be represented at the San Francisco Conference. The Congressional delegates will consist of an equal number – and the Senatorial – of an equal number of Republicans and Democratic members. The American delegation is, in every sense of the word, bipartisan.

But I think that world peace is not exactly a party question. I think that Republicans want peace just as much as Democrats. It is not a party question any more than is military victory – the winning of the war.

When the Republic was threatened, first by the Nazi clutch for world conquest back in 1940 – ’39 – and then by the Japanese treachery in ‘41, partisanship and politics were laid aside by nearly every American; and every resource was dedicated to our common safety. The same consecration to the cause of peace will be expected, I think, by every patriotic American, by every human soul overseas, too.

The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation. It cannot be just an American peace, or a British peace, or a Russian, or a French or a Chinese peace. It cannot be a peace of large nations – or of small nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.

It must be a structure of complete-- cannot be what some people think a structure of complete perfection at first. But it can be a peace, and it will be a peace, based on the sound and just principles of the Atlantic Charter – on the concept of the dignity of the human being, and on the guarantees of tolerance and freedom of religious worship.

As the Allied Armies have marched to military victory, they have liberated peoples whose liberties had been crushed by the Nazis for four long years, whose economy had been reduced to ruin by Nazi despoilers.

There have been instances of political confusion and unrest in these liberated areas – that is not unexpected – as in Greece or in Poland or in Yugoslavia, and there may be more. Worse than that, there actually began to grow in some of these places queer ideas of, for instance, “spheres of influence” which were incompatible with the basic principles of international collaboration. If allowed to go on unchecked, these developments might have had tragic results in time.

It is fruitless to try to place the blame for this situation on one particular nation or another. It is the kind of development which is almost inevitable unless the major powers of the world continue without interruption to work together and assume joint responsibility for the solution of problems which may arise to endanger the peace of the world.

We met in the Crimea determined to settle this matter of liberated areas. Things that might happen that we can’t foresee at this moment might happen suddenly, unexpectedly, next week or next month. And I am happy to confirm to the Congress that we did arrive at a settlement – and incidentally, a unanimous settlement.

The three most powerful nations have agreed that the political and economic problems of any area liberated from Nazi conquest, or any former Axis satellite, are a joint responsibility of all three governments. They will join together during the temporary period of instability, after hostilities, to help the people of any liberated area, or of any former satellite state, to solve their own problems through firmly established democratic processes.

They will endeavor to see – to see to it that interim governing, and the people who carry on the interim government between occupation by Germany and true independence – that such an interim government will be as representative as possible of all democratic elements in the population, and that free elections are held as soon as possible thereafter.

Responsibility for political conditions thousands of miles away can no longer be avoided, I think, by this great nation. Certainly, I don’t want to live to see another war. As I have said, the world is smaller – smaller every year. The United States now exerts a tremendous influence in the cause of peace.

What we people over here are thinking and talking about is in the interest of peace, because it’s known all over the world. The slightest remark in either house of the Congress is known all over the world the following day. We will continue to exert that influence only if we are willing to continue to share in the responsibility for keeping the peace. It would be our own tragic loss, I think, if we were to shirk that responsibility.

Final decisions in these areas are going to be made jointly, therefore, and therefore they will often be a result of give-and-take compromise.

The United States will not always have its way a hundred percent, nor will Russia, nor Great Britain. We shall not always have ideal answers, solutions to complicated international problems, even though we are determined continuously to strive toward that ideal. But I am sure that under the agreements reached at Yalta there will be a more stable political Europe than ever before.

Of course, once there has been a true expression of the people’s will in any country, our immediate responsibility ends, with the exception only of such action as may be agreed on by the International Security Organization that we hope to set up…

The United Nations must also begin to help these liberated areas adequately to reconstruct their economy – I don’t want them starving to death – so that they are ready to resume their places in the world. The Nazi war machine has stripped them of raw materials and machine tools, and trucks and locomotives and things like that. They have left the industry of these places stagnant, and much of the agricultural areas are unproductive – the Nazis have left a complete ruin, or a partial ruin, in their wake.

To start the wheels running again is not a mere matter of relief. It is to the national interest that all of us see to it that these liberated areas are again made self-supporting and productive, so that they do not need continuous relief from us. I should say that was an argument based on plain common sense.

One outstanding example of joint action by the three major Allied powers was the solution reached on Poland. The whole Polish question was a potential source of trouble in post-war Europe, as it had been sometimes before, and we came to the conference determined to find a common ground for its solution, and we did – even though everybody does not agree with us, obviously.

Our objective was to help create a strong, independent and prosperous nation. That’s the thing we must always remember, those words, agreed to by Russia, by Britain and by me, the objective of making Poland a strong, independent and prosperous nation, with a government ultimately to be selected by the Polish people themselves.

To achieve that objective, it is necessary to provide for the formation of a new government, much more representative than had been possible while Poland was enslaved. There were, as you know, two governments – one in London, one in Lublin – practically in Russia. Accordingly, steps were taken at Yalta to reorganize the existing provisional government in Poland on a broader democratic basis, so as to include democratic leaders now in Poland and those abroad. This new reorganized government will be recognized by all of us as the temporary government of Poland. Poland needs a temporary government in the worst way – an ad interim government, I think is another way of putting it.

However, the new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity will be pledged to hold a free election as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and a secret ballot.

Throughout history, Poland has been the corridor through which attacks on Russia have been made. Twice in this generation, Germany has struck Russia through this corridor. To insure European security and world peace, a strong and independent Poland is necessary to prevent that from happening again.

The decision with respect to the boundaries of Poland was, frankly, a compromise. I didn’t agree with all of it, by any means, but we didn’t go as far as Britain wanted in certain areas, go as far as Russia wanted in certain areas and we didn’t go as far as I wanted in certain areas. It was a compromise. The decision is-- not only a compromise-- it’s one, however, under which the Poles will receive compensation in territory in the north and west in exchange for what they lose by the Curzon Line in the east.

The limits of the western border will be permanently fixed in the final peace conference. We know roughly that it will include in the new strong Poland quite a large slice of what is now called Germany. And it was agreed also that the new Poland will have a large and long coastline and many a new harbor. Also that East Prussia, most of it, will go to Poland and a corner of it will go to Russia. Also – what shall I call it – that the anomaly of the Free State of Danzig, I think Danzig would be a lot better if it were Polish.

It is well known that the people east of the Curzon Line – just for example, here is why I compromised – the people east of the Curzon Line are predominantly White Russian and Ukrainian. They are not Polish, to a very great majority. And the people west of the line are predominantly Polish, except in that part of East Prussia and eastern Germany, which will go to new Poland. As far back as 1919, representatives of the Allies agreed that the Curzon Line represented a fair boundary between the two peoples. You must remember also that there was no Poland, there hadn’t been any Polish government, before 1919, for a great many generations.

I am convinced that this agreement on Poland, under the circumstances, is the most hopeful agreement possible for a free, independent and prosperous Polish state.

Now the Crimea conference was a meeting of the three major military powers on whose shoulders rest the chief responsibility and burden of the war. Although, for this reason, another nation was not included – France was not a participant in the conference – no one should detract from the recognition that was accorded there to her role in the future of Europe and the future of the world.

France has been invited to accept a zone of control in Germany, and to participate as a fourth member of the Allied Control Council of Germany.

She has been invited to join as a sponsor of the international conference at San Francisco next month.

She will be a permanent member of the International Security Council together with the other four major powers.

And, finally, we have asked France that she be associated with us in our joint responsibility over the liberated areas of Europe.

Of course, there are a number of smaller things that I haven’t got time to go into – on which agreement was had, and we hope that things will straighten out.

Agreement was reached on Yugoslavia, as announced in the communiqué, and we hope that it is in process of fulfillment. But it is not only that, but in some other places we have to remember there are a great number of prima donnas in the world, all of them wish to be heard before anything becomes final, so we may have a little delay while we listen to more prima donnas.

Quite naturally, this conference concerned itself only with the European war and with the political problems of Europe, and not with the Pacific war.

In Malta, however, our combined British and American staffs made their plans to increase the attack against Japan.

The Japanese warlords know that they are not being overlooked. They have felt the force of our B-29s, and our carrier planes.; they have felt the naval might of the United States, and do not appear very anxious to come out and try it again.

The Japs know what it means to hear that “The United States Marines have landed.” And I think I can add, having Iwo Jima in mind, that “The situation is well in hand.”

They also know what is in store for the homeland of Japan now that Gen. MacArthur has completed his magnificent march back to Manila, and that Adm. Nimitz is establishing his air bases right in their own backyard.

But, lest somebody else lay off work in the United States, I can repeat what I have said, a short sentence, even in my sleep, “We haven’t won the wars yet,” with an “s” on “wars.”

It’s a long tough road to Tokyo. It is longer to go to Tokyo than it is to Berlin, in every sense of the word.

The defeat of Germany will not mean the end of the war against Japan. On the contrary, we must be prepared for a long and costly struggle in the Pacific. But the unconditional surrender of Japan is as essential as the defeat of Germany. I say that advisedly, with the thought in mind that that is especially true if our plans for world peace are to succeed. For Japanese militarism must be wiped out as thoroughly as German militarism.

On the way back from the Crimea, I made arrangements to meet personally King Farouk of Egypt, Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. Our conversations had to do with matters of common interest. They will be of great mutual advantage because they gave me, and a good many of us, an opportunity of meeting and talking face to face, and of exchanging views in personal conversation instead of formal correspondence.

For instance, on the problems of Arabia, I learned more about that whole problem – the Moslem problem, the Jewish problem – by talking with Ibn Saud for five minutes than I could have learned in exchange of two or three dozen letters.

On my voyage, I had the benefit of seeing the Army and Navy and the Air Force at work.

All Americans, I think, would feel proud, as proud of our Armed Forces as I am, if they could see and hear what I did.

Against the most efficient professional leaders and sailors and airmen of all history, our men stood and fought and won.

I think that this is our chance to see to it that the sons and grandsons of these gallant fighting men do not have to do it all over again in a few years.

The conference in the Crimea was a turning point, I hope, in our history, and therefore in the history of the world. There will soon be presented to the Senate and the American people, a great decision which will determine the fate of the United States, and I think therefore the fate of the world, for generations to come.

There can be no middle ground here. We shall have to take the responsibility for world collaboration, or we shall have to bear the responsibility for another world conflict.

I know that the word “planning” is not looked upon with favor in some circles. In domestic affairs, tragic mistakes have been made by reason of lack of planning, and, on the other hand, many great improvements in living, and many benefits to the human race, have been accomplished as a result of adequate, intelligent planning – reclamations of desert areas, developments of whole river valleys, provision for adequate housing and-- a dozen different topics.

The same will be true in relations between nations. For the second time in the lives of most of us, this generation is face to face with the objective of preventing wars. To meet that objective, the nations of the world will either have a plan or they will not. The groundwork of a plan has now been furnished, and has been submitted to humanity for discussion and decision. No plan is perfect. Whatever is adopted at San Francisco will doubtless have to be amended time and again over the years, just as our own Constitution has been.

No one can say exactly how long any plan will last. Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists upon it, and is willing to work for it, and sacrifice for it.

Twenty-five years ago, American fighting men looked to the statesmen of the world to finish the work of peace for which they fought and suffered. We failed them then. We cannot fail them again, and expect the world to survive again.

I think the Crimea Conference was a successful effort by the three leading nations to find a common ground of peace. It spells, it ought to spell, the end of the system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for centuries, and have always failed.

We propose to substitute for all these a universal organization in which all peace-loving nations will finally have a chance to join.

And I am confident that the Congress and the American people will accept the results of this conference as the beginnings of a permanent structure of peace upon which we can begin to build, under God, that better world in which our children and grandchildren, yours and mine, the children and grandchildren of the whole world, must live and can live.

And that, my friends, is the only message I can give you, but I feel it very deeply, and I know that all of you are feeling it today and are going to feel it in the future.

The Pittsburgh Press (March 1, 1945)

Roosevelt appeals to Congress and nation to back Yalta pact

Join in Europe’s task or face another war, President warns U.S.
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Highlights of Roosevelt’s report on Big Three meeting

Germany

  • “The German people… must realize that the sooner they give up and surrender. by groups or as individuals, the sooner their present agony will be over.”

  • “Only with complete surrender can they begin to reestablish themselves as people whom the world might accept as decent neighbors.”

  • “There is not enough room on earth for both German militarism and Christian decency.”

  • Unconditional surrender of Germany does not mean the destruction or enslavement of the German people. It means temporary control by the Allies, the end of Nazism and the militaristic influence in the life of Germany, complete disarmament, punishment of war criminals and reparations for Germany’s victims.

  • “That objective… will remove a cancer from the German body which for generations has produced only misery and pain for the whole world.”

World organization

  • The compromise voting procedure agreed upon and to be announced shortly is “a fair solution of this complicated and difficult problem… founded in justice and will go far to assure… the maintenance of peace.”

  • “Whatever is adopted at San Francisco will doubtless have to be amended time and again over the years… [but] it can be a peace based on the sound and just principles of the Atlantic Charter – on the conception of the dignity of the human being…”

Liberated peoples

  • “The political and economic problems of any area liberated from Nazi conquest… are a joint responsibility of all three governments. They will join together… to help the people of any liberated area… solve their own problems through… democratic processes.”

  • “Under the agreements reached at Yalta, there will be a more stable political Europe than ever before.”

Poland
“The decision… was a compromise… the most hopeful agreement possible for a free, independent and prosperous Polish state. To secure European security and world peace, a strong and independent Poland 1s necessary.”

France
France was not invited to Yalta because she is not a major military power sharing chief responsibility of the war. “No one should detract from the recognition there accorded her role in the future of Europe.” France has been invited to share in the control of Germany, to join in sponsoring the San Francisco conference, to be a permanent member of the five-power security council and to share responsibility over the liberated areas of Europe.

Pacific
“Japanese militarism must be wiped out as thoroughly as German militarism.”

WASHINGTON – President Roosevelt explained the Crimea Conference to Congress and the people today in an appeal for our acceptance of responsibility for political conditions in Europe.

He said any other course would lead to another war.

Mr. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress from the well of the House. It was his first personal appearance before Congress in more than two years.

Frankly acknowledging that some of the Crimea decisions were based on compromise, he said all decisions were unanimous.

“And more important even than the agreement of words,” he continued. “I may say we achieved a unity of thought and a way of getting along together.”

Mr. Roosevelt departed from his prepared text in defending the compromise Polish settlement by which Russia will get eastern Polish territory, and Poland will get German territory.

“I didn’t agree with all of it by any means,” the President said.

All yield

He explained that in some areas the agreement did not go so far as the British wanted; in some not so far as the Russians wanted, and in others not so far as he wanted. Under it, he said, most of East Prussia will go to Poland, with a small bit going to Russia. He added that he believed Danzig would be “a lot better off” as part of Poland.

His address was both an explanation of his conference with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph V. Stalin, and an appeal for Senate ratification of the international security organization to be set up by the San Francisco conference next month.

He said the objective in handling Germany is simple – “to secure the peace of the future world” – but that experience had shown this would be an impossible objective “if Germany is allowed to retain any ability to wage aggressive war.”

Can’t blame one nation

In speaking of the political problems inherent in the liberation of nations occupied by the Nazis, the President said there had been instances which were “incompatible with the basic principles of international collaboration” and that it was “fruitless” to try to place the blame on one nation.

The Crimea meeting produced a unanimous settlement in which the three nations agreed “that the political and economic problems of any area liberated from the Nazi conquest, or of any former Axis satellite. are a joint responsibility of all three governments.”

To aid freed countries

Great Britain, Russia and the United States “will join together during the temporary period of instability after hostilities, to help the people of any liberated area, or of any former satellite state, to solve their own problems through firmly established democratic processes,” he said.

Must sacrifice for peace

The President said:

Responsibility for political conditions thousands of miles overseas can no longer be avoided by this great nation.

It is a smaller world. The United States now exerts a vast influence in the cause of peace throughout all the world. It will continue to exert that influence, only if it is willing to continue to share the responsibility for keeping the peace.

Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists on it, and is willing to work for it – and sacrifice for it.

The President’s appeal came just 30 hours after his return from a 14,000-mile Journey to Yalta.

Legislators were eager to see and hear him, partly because still and movie shots of the Black Sea meeting had seemed to depict Mr. Roosevelt as a more tired and older man than most here would rate him.

The voyage home aboard a heavy cruiser evidently had given the President the sun and rest that he needed.

Nonpartisan question

He pleaded that peace, like war, is a non-partisan responsibility of all of us. And he told the Congress that he had kept in mind that our Constitution would require Senate ratification not only of the forthcoming San Francisco agreement but of some decisions taken in the Crimea as well.

He said the American delegation to San Francisco “is, in every sense of the word, bipartisan.”

“World peace is not a party question any more than military victory,” he said.

Mr. Roosevelt pleaded for acceptance of compromise in the achievement of peace and a realization that perfection is unattainable – that we must simply do the best we can.

Discusses Poland

Of Crimea decisions and San Francisco objectives, there was little new in his report to the nation. He dealt in turn with Poland and France, emphasizing inquiry of Poland’s proposed new boundaries, while acknowledging that compromise had been necessary in finding agreement at all.

The President said the Crimea conference had accomplished desired objectives:

  • A desirable compromise settlement of the Polish problem.

  • Agreement on close political coordination among the Allied armies fighting on three European fronts.

  • Agreement on voting methods in the proposed international security organization.

  • Agreement on post-war occupation and control of Germany.

  • Agreement on substitution of overall cooperative action now and after the war to avoid “balance of power” and “spheres of influence” politics in Europe.

  • Agreement on methods by which liberated countries shall be restored to economic security and political freedom.

‘Hitler has failed’

On these questions, he said the Nazis had hoped the Allies would divide and so weaken themselves that the doomed leaders of Germany could escape their fate.

“But,” he added, “Hitler has failed.”

For the Axis, he promised fire and the sword. But to the German people, he promised that unconditional surrender would not mean for them destruction and enslavement.

The President explained:

The decision, with respect to the boundaries of Poland, was a compromise, under which the Poles will receive compensation in territory in the north and west in exchange for what they lose by the Curzon Line.

The limits of the western border will be permanently fixed in the final peace conference. the final peace conference. It was agreed that a large (Baltic) coastline should be included.

It is well known that the people east of the Curzon Line are predominantly White Russian and Ukrainian; and that the people west of the line are predominantly Polish. As far back as 1919, the representatives of the Allies agreed that the Curzon Line represented a fair boundary between the two peoples.

I am convinced that the agreement on Poland, under the circumstances, is the most hopeful agreement possible for a free, independent and prosperous Polish State.

Silent on De Gaulle

He said Poland had been the corridor through which Russia was attacked – twice within our recent memory.

Mr. Roosevelt called the roll of responsibilities and recognition accorded France at the Crimea meeting and said no word that would reveal his resentment at Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s abrupt refusal to come to a French city in North Africa to talk with him.

To avoid misunderstandings and future dislocations of peace and political plans, the President reminded that arrangements had been made for frequent meetings of the Foreign Ministers of the three great powers.

Lag in meetings blamed

Too long a time between the two Churchill-Stalin-Roosevelt conferences had been responsible, he said, for the difficult situations which developed in Poland, Yugoslavia and Greece.

Mr. Roosevelt emphasized that “quite naturally” the Crimean Conference did not deal with the Pacific War but that the combined British and American Staffs at Malta “made their pians to increase the attack against Japan.”

In this connection, he said, the “unconditional surrender of Japan is as essential as the defeat of Germany if our plans for world peace are to succeed.”

He said:

The defeat of Germany will not mean the end of the war against Japan. On the contrary, America must be prepared for a long and costly struggle in the Pacific.

Voting plan withheld

He said it was not yet possible to announce the procedure of voting in the United Nations Security Council, but that Britain and Russia had unanimously adopted a proposal made at Yalta by the American delegation.

It will be possible to disclose this plan “in a very short time.” The President said he believed Congress would find it “a fair solution of this complicated and difficult problem.”

Looking to the San Francisco meeting as a keystone of future world peace, Mr. Roosevelt said, “this time we shall not make the mistake of waiting until the end of the war to set up the machinery of peace. This time, as we fight, together to get the war over quickly, we must work together to keep it from happening again.”

To inform Congress

He was “well aware of the constitutional fact” that the charter developed at San Francisco, as well as “some of the other arrangements made at Yalta,” will require Senate ratification. He assured the House and Senate that they would be kept constantly informed of this government’s program and reminded them that the Congressional delegates to the San Francisco Conference included equal Republican and Democratic representation.

He said:

World peace is not a party question any more than is military victory. The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man. or one party, or one nati0n. It cannot be a peace of large nations or of small nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.

Unity stressed

The President repeatedly spotlighted the present unity between “the major allies,” saying they never had been more closely united “not only in their war aims but in their peace aims.”

He said one of the accomplishments at Yalta was closer tactical liaison between Russian, U.S. and British forces fighting in Europe.

He gave the first details of this new close cooperation, saying provision was made for daily exchange of information between the Allied forces on the Western Front, the armies in Italy and the Soviet armies on the Eastern Front “without the necessity of going through the Chiefs of Staffs in Washington and London as in the past.”

Distribution perfected

He said arrangements also had been made for most effective distribution of all available material and transportation to places “where they can best be used in the combined war effort – American, British and Russian.”

He elaborated at length on the meaning of unconditional surrender of Germany. The German people, must realize the necessity of accepting it as the primary requisite of their reestablishment as a people “whom the world might accept as decent neighbors.”

He said this did not mean the destruction or enslavement of the German people, but it did mean “temporary control of Germany” by Britain, Russia, France and the United States.

Nazism doomed

It also means the ending of Nazism, the Nazi Party, and all militaristic influence; it means punishment for war criminals, Germany’s complete disarmament and the permanent dismemberment of the German General Staff “which has so often shattered the peace of the world.”

By compelling reparations in kind – in plants, in machinery and rolling stock and war materials – we shall avoid the mistake made alter the last war of demanding reparations in the form of money which Germany could never pay.

They will endeavor to see to it that interim governing authorities are as representative as possible of all democratic elements in the population. and that free elections are held as soon as possible.

Compromises likely

He went on to explain that “final decisions” in the liberated areas are going to be made jointly and therefore will often be “a result of give-and-take compromise.”

The President said:

The United States will not always have its way 100 percent – nor will Russia or Great Britain… but I am sure that under the agreements reached at Yalta there will be a more stable political Europe than ever before.

Once there has been a free expression of the peoples’ will in any country our immediate responsibility ends – with the exception only of such action as may be agreed upon in the international security organization.

Poland called example

Mr. Roosevelt described the Polish solution as “one outstanding example” of joint action by the three major Alles toward the objective of helping to create “a strong, independent and prosperous nation, with a government ultimately to be selected by the Polish people themselves.”

He said to achieve this:

It was necessary to provide for the formation of a new Polish government much more representative than had been possible while Poland was enslaved. However, the new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity will be pledged to holding a free election as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and a secret ballot.

Winding up his review of the conference, the President said he thought it spelled the end “of the system of unilateral action and exclusive alliances and spheres of influence and balances of power and all the other expedients which have been tried for centuries – and have failed.”


Roosevelt invites Frisco delegates

WASHINGTON (UP) – President Roosevelt has sent formal invitations to his eight choices as members of the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference at San Francisco.

One of the proposed delegates, Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-Michigan), has refused to say whether he would serve as a delegate on grounds he had not been invited. Other choices have indicated their willingness to serve.

Other delegates are to be Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, former Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Chairman Tom Connally (D-Texas) of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Chairman Sol Bloom (D.-New York) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Charles A. Eaton (R-New Jersey), a member of Mr. Bloom’s committee; Cmdr. Harold E, Stassen, former Governor of Minnesota, and Dean Virginia Gildersleeve of Barnard College.

Roosevelt sits during speech to ‘make it easier’ for him

President apologizes, saying he has 10 pounds of steel around legs and has made long trip

WASHINGTON (UP) – President Roosevelt, contrary to his practice in the past, addressed Congress sitting down today. He apologized and explained why.

In one of his rare allusions to the physical disability – the result of infantile paralysis – which makes it impossible for him to walk like other men, the President said Congress would realize that talking while seated “makes it easier for me.”

It was easier, he said, not only because he carried “10 pounds of steel around the bottom of my legs” but also because he had “just completed a 14,000-mile round trip” to and from Yalta.

The President digressed from his prepared address at the outset to explain why he was sitting down this time instead of standing on the rostrum. He also took note of the rumors that he had been ill.

“From the time I left I was not ill a second until I arrived back,” the President said, “And then I heard all the rumors that had been current.”

The President rolled into the House chamber in his wheel chair and transferred to a red plush seat in the well of the Chamber – the space on the floor just in front of the rostrum.

Directly before him were his Cabinet members, including Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins in the same style of three-cornered hat she has worn for more than a decade. Next to Madam Secretary sat the old curmudgeon, Harold L. Ickes, looking glum.

Back of the Cabinet were the Senators, and in the rear the 400-odd Representatives, with a scattering of Ambassadors and Ministers on the edges.


‘I saw Sevastopol!’ grim Roosevelt says

WASHINGTON (UP) – It was a grim President Roosevelt who told Congress today what the Nazis left behind them in the Crimea.

He said:

I had read about Warsaw and Lidice and Rotterdam and Coventry, but I saw Sevastopol and Yalta.

And I know there is not enough room on earth for both German militarism and Christian decency.


Roosevelt chides traveling family

WASHINGTON (UP) – The President poked fun at the traveling Roosevelts in his message to Congress today.

“I return from the trip – which took me as far as 7,000 miles from the White House – refreshed and inspired,” he said.

“The Roosevelts are not, as you may suspect, averse to travel. We thrive on it.”

Since his first inauguration 12 years ago, Mr. Roosevelt has traveled an estimated 300,000 miles.

In the same 12 years, Mrs. Roosevelt has traveled around 320,000 miles, beating her husband by about four-fifths of the distance around the earth.


‘Iwo situation well in hand,’ President says

WASHINGTON (UP) – U. S. Marines om Iwo Jima, as they invariably do sooner or later, “have the situation well in hand.”

So said President Roosevelt today in his speech to Congress.

He said the combined British and American chiefs of staff at Malta made plans to step up the attack on Japan. Japanese warlords have already felt the force of American B-29s and carrier planes, and, he added, they have felt our naval might and “do not appear very anxious to come out and try it again.”

He added:

The Japs know what it means to hear that “the United States Marines have landed.” And we can add, having Iwo Jima in mind: “The situation is well in hand.”

Tanks pierce Cologne Line

1st Army drives wedge more than mile into last-ditch defenses

Japs drive back into northern Iwo

U.S. Marines encircle largest town on isle

GUAM (UP) – Marines of the 3rd Division shoved desperately-resisting Japs back into rocky northern Iwo today in a fighting advance to within a mile and a quarter of the north coast.

The German Transocean Agency reported from Tokyo that the Marines had launched an all-out attack on Iwo and that shells from U.S. warships off shore were hitting the island at the rate of 500 an hour.

Encircle Motoyama

The Marines already had encircled and perhaps captured the village of Motoyama, Iwo’s administrative center and largest town. The Yanks were within a few yards of an uncompleted third airfield on the tiny island only 750 miles south of Tokyo.

Radio Tokyo said Jap planes made “violent attacks” today on a concentration of U.S. warships in the vicinity of Ivo and the Bonin Islands, immediately north of Iwo.

The 3rd Marine Division gained 700 to 800 yards – the biggest day’s advance since the start of the invasion 10 days ago – at the center of the American line yesterday in the initial phases of a general assault.

Airfield cleared

While the 3rd Division was wedging deeply into the center of the enemy line, the tank-led 5th Division on the western flank drove ahead several hundred yards against stiff opposition.

The 4th Division, on the eastern flank, also went over to the attack, but made only “limited gains” against Japs firmly entrenched in sharp ridges rising from the east coast.

The 3rd division’s advance removed the enemy threat to newly-captured Motoyama Airfield No. 2 – the central airfield – as well as threatrnerd Motoyama Airfield No. 3, the uncompleted northern airtstrip, Motoyama Airfield No. 1, in Southern Iwo, was already beinfg used by artillery observation planes.

Face pillboxes

Still ahead of the Marines were hundreds more concrete pillboxes, blockhouses and gun positions in the rocky ridges at the northern end of the island. Each one must be captured or neutralized in inevitably bloody fighting.

Marine casualties have not been announced beyond 5,372 for the first 58 hours of the invasion, but Adm. Chester W. Nimitz reported in a communiqué that 4,784 Jap bodies had been recovered by 6 p.m. Monday.

One additional Jap soldier has been captured, he said, bringing the number of prisoners for the bitter campaign to 10.

Radio Tokyo claimed that U.S. casualties had reached 13,500, but acknowledged that fighting had reached the “decisive stage with the launching of a major assault by the Marines.”

Carrier aircraft also attacked a seaplane base on Chichi in the adjacent Bonin Islands Tuesday, touching off an explosion.

2,000 heavies rip western Germany

Yanks, RAF blast rail, war centers

Big raid reported on Ryukyu Isles

Pittsburgher and 60 men start across Iwo, 3 make it

Lieutenant crosses island in 90 minutes through maze of pillboxes, gun emplacements
By Sgt. Keyes Beech, USMC combat correspondent

IWO ISLAND (UP, delayed) – Out of countless tales of heroism there came today the story of a Marine lieutenant and two enlisted men who fought their way through pillboxes, bunkers, blockhouses and machine-gun nests to cross to the western shore of this island only 90 minutes after they landed on the east.

When he hit the beach at H-Hour, February 19, 2nd Lt. Frank J. Wright, 25, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had a platoon of 60 men.

By the time he had crossed the island an hour and a half later, two of the 60 remained with him and instead of being a platoon leader, Lt. Wright was a company commander.

Four of his company’s officers, including the company commander, were killed or wounded as they attempted to follow him across.

The company was part of a 5th Marine Division assault battalion which was assigned to cut directly across the island to the western shore and then pivot toward Mortar Mountain, as it is now called, to the left.

The two men with whom Lt. Wright blazed a death-strewn trail for 800 yards from shore to shore were Pvt. Lee H. Zuck, 22, of Scranton, Arkansas, and Pvt. Remo A. Bechelli, 26, of Detroit.

Lt. Wright is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wright of 2324 Primrose Street. He formerly attended Duquesne University where he played football. He was a certified accountant when he joined the Marines more than three years ago. He was commissioned in November 1943.

Lt. Wright said:

We weren’t trying to run a foot race. But our orders were to get across the island as fast as possible, and that’s what we did.

The going was almost too easy at the beach. It was still easy coming up those terraces. But when we hit the crest of the ridge, everything changed.

What happened was that the Japs had withdrawn from the beach and the terraces and taken their positions on the ridge. Some of them had gone all the way down to Suribachi [Mortar Mountain].

I would move along ahead while Bechelli and Zuck kept me covered with their BARs [Browning automatic rifles]. As soon as I could see where we were going next I’d motion to them to come on up.

That way we made pretty good time. but we never would have gotten across as soon as we did if it hadn’t been for the help the tanks gave us. We blew up some pillboxes but it was the men behind us who had to do most of the fighting.

We were leading the way.

We saw some Japs, seven or eight of them, running along a hill. I guess they must have been a mortar crew, because they didn’t seem to be armed. I think we got all of them.

At one point the three men came to an enemy 20-mm gun emplacement. There didn’t seem to be a way around it, so Pvt. Zuck leaped to the top of the emplacement and sprayed its occupants with his BAR, killing or wounding all of them.

Later in those 90 dramatic minutes, Pvt. Bechelli did virtually the same thing.

It was the first time any of the three men had been in combat.

OPA raises and lowers beef and pork point values

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