America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (March 12, 1945)

FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
121100A 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. 338

UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces have eliminated the enemy bridgehead west of the Rhine at Wesel. We have extended our Remagen bridgehead to a width of nine miles and a depth of three miles. Two small enemy counterattacks were repulsed. Our units in the bridgehead are fighting in Bad Honnef and have captured the towns of Rheinbreitbach, Bruchhausen, Unkel, Ohlenberg, and Linz. Our anti-aircraft claimed 23 enemy planes destroyed and five probables out of a total of 47 planes over the bridge site. Fighter aircraft patrolled the bridgehead area yesterday.

Farther south, along the Rhine, our armor cleared another six mile stretch of the west bank of the river reaching a point about one mile north of Koblenz. Southwest of Koblenz, we cleared the north bank of the Moselle River from the vicinity of Koblenz to Cochem, capturing nearly a score of towns and villages including Guis, Winnigen, Kobern, Gondorf, Hatzenport, Karden, Pommern, Landkern and Cochem. North of Wittlich, our infantry, mopping up behind our armored units, captured a number of towns including Gillenfeld, Dierfeld, Flussbach, Luxem, and Dorf. In the area northeast of Trier our armor captured Longuich and Longen and cleared Wengerohr. In the Saarbrücken area, our artillery knocked out a small number of enemy armored vehicles. Along the Rhine, south of Strasbourg, enemy patrols were repulsed.

Allied forces in the west captured 4,719 prisoners 10 March.

Yesterday afternoon, escorted heavy bombers in very great strength, struck at Essen. The attack was controlled by a master bomber and a great weight of high explosive bombs was dropped. Other escorted heavy bombers, also in very great strength, attacked submarine building yards at Bremen, Hamburg, and Kiel, and oil refineries at Bremen and Hamburg. The communications centers of Ahaus and Stadtlohn, northwest of Coesfeld and ammunition factories at Wülfen, north of Dorsten and Sythen, northeast of Haltern were attacked by medium and light bombers. Other medium and light bombers struck at communications centers at Hachenburg and Westerburg, east of Remagen; targets at Weyerbusch and Wissen, northeast of Remagen; at Siershahn, northeast of Koblenz; and four enemy airfields in the areas south and southeast of Siegen and east and southeast of Giessen. A rail bridge at Bad Münster, a road bridge northeast of Sarreguemines and rail targets in and near Saarbrücken, Sankt Ingbert, Neunkirchen, Homburg and Zweibrücken were targets for medium and fighter-bombers. Targets in Berlin were bombed by light bombers last night.

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 12, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 296

The 5th Marine Division continued its advance on Iwo Island on March 12 (East Longitude Date) and further reduced the area held by the enemy on the northern end of the island. Remnants of the enemy garrison in this sector continued to offer stiff resistance. Mopping up operations were in progress in the 3rd and 4th Divisions zones of action, but one enemy pocket continued to hold out at 1800 on March 12. Naval gunfire and Army fighters supported the troops in the fighting on the northern end of the island.

Army fighters bombed and strafed targets on Chichi Jima in the Bonins through intense antiaircraft fire on the same date.

Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed installations at Suri­bachi on Paramushiru and Kataoka on Shumushu in the Northern Kurils on March 11. Columns of smoke rising to 15,000 feet were observed after the attacks.

Army Thunderbolts strafed and bombed installations on Maug Island in the Marianas on the same date.

Two buildings were destroyed and fires were started on Babelthuap in the Palaus by Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on March 11.

Neutralizing attacks on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls were continued by Marine aircraft on the same date.

The Pittsburgh Press (March 12, 1945)

23 over-Rhine towns fall

More river crossings reported – Nazi pocket wiped out by Yanks

Yanks bomb path for Reds

Breakthrough near east of Nazi capital, Moscow indicates

U.S. invaders battling for Mindanao city

Meet light opposition in Philippines landing

Final battle rages along Iwo coast

Collapse of Jap resistance imminent

GUAM (UP) – Complete conquest of Iwo appeared at hand today.

Weary Marines were driving the last Jap defenders into the sea in a final battle along the north coast.

Pacific Fleet headquarters was expected to announce the collapse of organized resistance momentarily as the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific war entered its fourth week on Japan’s front doorstep.

Whittles pocket

A communiqué this morning said the 5th Marine Division had whittled down the enemy’s last sizeable pocket to half a square mile along the north coast by 6 p.m. yesterday in heavy fighting. The Marines were making slow but steady progress with support of heavy artillery and the big guns of warships offshore.

The 3rd and 4th Divisions crashed through the last Jap lines in Eastern Iwo over the weekend and captured most of the rock-ledged east coast, the communiqué said. One small enemy pocket was bypassed for later annihilation.

Advance slow

The advance along the north coast was a slow and tedious business. The last few thousand Jap survivors of a garrison originally totaling 20,000 crack troops were fighting to the death from pillboxes, blockhouses and caves.

Army fighters bombed Chichi airfield and harbor installations and strafed targets on Haha in the Bonin Islands, just north of Iwo. Army Liberators also bombed Chichi airfield.

Jap plane center afire after 300-plane B-29 raid

Superfortresses sow 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs through center of Nagoya

Nazis may scrap rules of war

Army officer testifies –
Union ‘resistance and idleness’ blamed for huge production lags

UMW strike vote upheld by U.S.

3 agencies dismiss Southerners’ protest

I DARE SAY —
Poor economy

By Florence Fisher Parry

Family of 17 faces job of finding home

Kelly to wed in Alabama today

Church ceremony scheduled later

Supreme Court refuses early review of Ward case

Appeal must take regular course

Socialite sent to prison farm

Four monkeys put to work cleaning out airducts

They’ve been trained to operate vacuum cleaners and will get $22.65 an hour


U.S. fails to seek more wood pulp

Perkins: CIO to carry wage fight to Roosevelt

Blast starts drive – praise rally tonight
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Floodwaters recede rapidly

Damage estimated at $4,750,000
By the United Press

Navy nurse freed from Japs never heard of Truman


Jap Emperor faces war crime charge

Patrols harass Nazis in Italy