Navy asks enlistment of radio technicians
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Völkischer Beobachter (September 28, 1944)
Ribbentrop, Mussolini und Shigemitsu zum Jahrestag des Dreierpaktes –
Kampf und wieder Kampf unsere Losung
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Führer HQ (September 28, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Im Kampfraum von Westholland wurde ein stärkerer feindlicher Angriff über den Antwerpen-Turnhout-Kanal im Gegenangriff aufgefangen, ein feindlicher Brückenkopf nördlich Turnhout zerschlagen. Alle Versuche des Gegners, seinen Einbruchsraum Eindhoven–Nimwegen nach Westen zu erweitern, schlugen fehl. Auch nordöstlich und südöstlich Nimwegen wurden starke feindliche Angriffe, unterstützt durch eigene Jagdfliegerverbände, abgewiesen, eingebrochener Feind im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen.
Im Abschnitt von Aachen, an der Eifelfront und vor Metz nahm die beiderseitige Artillerietätigkeit zu. Aus dem Raum Nancy nach Norden mit Panzern geführte starke Angriffe des Feindes wurden abgewiesen. Dagegen ist der Angriff unserer Panzerverbände im Raum bei und südlich Château-Salins weiter in gutem Fortschreiten.
In den auch am 27. September im Raum Épinal–Remiremont anhaltenden schweren Kämpfen wurden mehrere mit starker Artillerievorbereitung und Panzerunterstützung geführte Angriffe des Feindes abgewiesen, zunächst verlorenes Gelände im Gegenangriff wieder genommen. Die Kämpfe sind noch im Gange, östlich Lure gingen in schweren wechselvollen Kämpfen mit überlegenem Feind einige Ortschaften verloren.
Das starke Artilleriefeuer und die rollenden Angriffe der feindlichen Luftwaffe auf unsere befestigten Stützpunkte im Westen dauern an. Die tapfere Besatzung von Calais schlug mehrere feindliche Angriffe zurück. Von La Rochelle und Festung Girondemündung werden erfolgreiche eigene Stoßtruppunternehmen gemeldet.
Während der Gegner im Westabschnitt der Italienischen Front nur erfolglose örtliche Vorstöße durchführte, setzte er im Raum Firenzuola seine starken, mit überlegenem Materialeinsatz geführten Angriffe während des ganzen Tages fort. In den schweren Abwehrkämpfen, in denen zahlreiche Angriffe unter hohen Verlusten des Feindes abgewehrt wurden, gelang dem Gegner die Wegnahme einer beherrschenden Höhe. Gegenangriffe sind im Gange. An der Adria scheiterten mehrere starke Angriffe des Feindes an der eigenen Abwehr. Ein örtlicher Einbruch wurde abgeriegelt.
Im Donaubogen herrschte zu beiden Seiten des Eisernen Tores weitere lebhafte Kampftätigkeit. Von Orsova nach Süden vorgedrungene sowjetische Kräfte wurden zurückgeworfen, über die Donau gesetzte feindliche Verbände zerschlagen. An der ungarisch-rumänischen Grenze zwischen Szeged und Großwardein drängten unsere Truppen den weiter angreifenden Feind an mehreren Stellen zurück.
In Siebenbürgen zwischen Torenburg und den Ostkarpaten haben deutsche und ungarische Truppen in der Zeit vom 15. Bis 26. September den Ansturm von über 30 Schützendivisionen und mehreren schnellen Korps der Bolschewisten und Rumänen in harten Kämpfen abgeschlagen und den vom Gegner erstrebten Durchbruch vereitelt. Der Feind erlitt schwere blutige und materielle Verluste und verlor seit dem 1. September 134 Panzer und Sturmgeschütze, 112 Geschütze, 51 Granatwerfer und über 550 Maschinengewehre. Außerdem fielen über 1000 Gefangene in unsere Hand.
An den Nordhängen der Waldkarpaten wurden zahlreiche bolschewistische Angriffe in harten Kämpfen abgewiesen oder aufgefangen.
In Warschau kapitulierten gestern unter der Wirkung unserer Waffen ein weiterer Stadtteil und in dem alten Fort Mokotow zusammengedrängte Reste der Aufstandsbewegung. Es wurden mehrere tausend Gefangene eingebracht und außerdem über 5000 polnische Zivilisten evakuiert. Damit ist ein Erfolg erzielt, der zu der Hoffnung berechtigt, den gesamten Aufstand in nächster Zeit völlig niederzuringen.
Bei Sudauen blieben weitere örtliche Angriffe der Bolschewisten erfolglos. Zwischen der Düna und der Rigaer Bucht scheiterten zahlreiche feindliche Angriffe am zähen Widerstand unserer Truppen. An der Eismeerfront verloren die Sowjets in Luftkämpfen sowie durch Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe 24 Flugzeuge.
Feindliche Fliegerverbände führten Terrorangriffe gegen Kassel, Köln, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen und Mainz sowie mehrere Orte im rheinisch-westfälischen Gebiet. In erbitterten Luftkämpfen schossen unsere Jäger 72 Flugzeuge, darunter 65 viermotorige Bomber, ab. Drei Flugzeuge wurden durch Flakartillerie zum Absturz gebracht, über dem holländischen Kampfraum wurden weitere 18 anglo-amerikanische Flugzeuge vernichtet.
In der vergangenen Nacht warf der Feind zahlreiche Sprengbomben auf Kaiserslautern.
Bei den harten Gebirgskämpfen in den Karpaten hat sich die schwäbisch-bayrische 4. Gebirgsdivision unter Führung von Generalleutnant Breith durch hervorragenden Angriffsgeist und Zähigkeit bewährt.
In den Kämpfen im baltischen Raum hat sich die ostpreußische 21. Infanteriedivision unter Führung des Generalmajors Götz in Angriff und Abwehr besonders ausgezeichnet.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (September 28, 1944)
FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
281100A Sept.
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR (Pass to WND)
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(2) FIRST US ARMY GP
(3) ADV HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) FWD ECH (MAIN) 12 ARMY GP
(5) AEAF
(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) ETOUSA
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM Z APO 871
(18) SHAEF MAIN
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 173
The withdrawal of our forces from the north of the Lower Rhine has been completed.
Fighting continued throughout yesterday in the area north of Nijmegen where Allied troops made some progress to the northeast against stiff opposition. On the west of the salient, an advance was made south of Oss and the villages of Heesch and Nistelrode were freed.
Fighters and fighter-bombers attacked strong points and gun positions in the Arnhem–Nijmegen area and strafed road and rail transport behind the enemy lines in Holland. There were many combats and, according to reports so far received, 41 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Ten of ours are missing. To the east of the Allied salient, an attack was made by medium bombers on communications at Goch near the German frontier.
Last night, intruders attacked road and rail transport over a wide area in Holland and western Germany.
In northern Belgium, our ground forces have further extended the bridgehead over the canal west of Turnhout.
Active patrolling by both sides continues from north of Aachen to the Lunéville area.
Our troops are meeting stiff opposition from German pillboxes and strongpoints near Hürtgen, southeast of Stolberg.
West of Metz, an enemy counterattack was contained in the vicinity of Gravelotte. Other counterattacks were dispersed near Coincourt and Bezange, northeast of Lunéville, with heavy losses to the enemy.
In the Calais area, our troops closing in on the town across the flooded ground to the west, were given close support by fighter-bombers. A concentrated attack on fortified positions in the town was made by heavy bombers, one of which is missing.
Over 1,100 heavy bombers with a strong fighter escort attacked industrial targets and railway yards at Koln, a synthetic oil plant and railway yards at Ludwigshafen, a tank factory at Kassel, an ordnance factory and railway yards at Mainz. Strong fighter opposition and intense flak were encountered. Thirty-six enemy aircraft were destroyed in combat and five more on the ground. Forty-two bombers and seven fighters are missing.
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 FA Ext. 9
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/U.S. Navy Department (September 28, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 134
Carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet struck hard at enemy shipping and defense installations in the Visayas Group of the Philippine Islands on September 23 (West Longitude Date) attacking airfields on the Islands of Cebu, Leyte, Negros, Luzon and Mactan and all shipping found in adjacent waters.
A particularly heavy strike was delivered at Coron Bay between Busuanga Island and Culion Island in the Western Philippines, where a number of the enemy’s ships including two of his valuable fleet tankers were sunk.
Only seven enemy aircraft were shot down. Twenty‑nine enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground at the several fields which were thoroughly bombed and strafed.
The following damage was inflicted upon enemy shipping (including the two tankers at Coron Bay):
DAMAGED (including more than one probably sunk):
- One destroyer
- One troop transport
- Two large oil tankers
- Three large cargo ships
- One large cargo ship
- Three large oil tankers
- One medium oil tanker
- Six medium cargo ships
- Fifteen medium cargo ships
- Five small cargo ships
- One small transport
- Three destroyer‑escort type vessels
- Twenty‑one small cargo ships
- Two destroyer‑escort type vessels
In addition, between 20 and 30 small craft were sunk or damaged.
The following damage was inflicted upon enemy shore installations:
At Iloilo in Southern Panay, a warehouse and a Marine railway were set afire.
At Bacolod in the Northern part of Negros Island piers and barracks were bombed and strafed.
At Cebu Island warehouses and piers were heavily damaged.
At Mactan Island, East of Cebu Island, oil refining facilities and the airfield were bombed.
At Saravis in the Northern part of Negros Island, buildings and the airfield were hit.
At Legaspi in Southern Luzon a number of partially concealed aircraft were bombed and strafed on the airfield, but the number destroyed and damaged was not observed.
Near Ormoc on Leyte Island, oil storage facilities and barracks were set afire.
Our losses in these operations were 10 aircraft but only five pilots and three flight personnel are missing.
The Pittsburgh Press (September 28, 1944)
ALLIES OPEN DRIVE BELOW ARNHEM
British seek to blast path into Reich from forks of Rhine River
200,000 Germans face trap in western Holland; Canadians take Calais citadel
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
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Churchill doubts 1944 victory
Help of more U.S. troops may be needed, Prime Minister says
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer
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I DARE SAY —
Fortune’s favorites
By Florence Fisher Parry
Our Commando Kelly sent me a copy of his book, One Man’s War. It certainly deserves our reading, for what he did adds one more incredible legend to the lore which our G.I.’s are providing history and literature.
From the news we hear today of the battlefronts all over the world, we know now that these G.I.’s will indeed be “Government Issue” for a long, long time to come. Their winter uniforms and equipment have just got to them at the Siegfried Line! With what mingled feelings will they receive them there!
Thinking of them, we can well blush with shame at our own facile assumption that the war was over all but for the shouting. And now I hope that we will be spared a word in the combat reports that has become so overused lately! The word “fanatical.” The Nazis are offering “fanatical” resistance, the Japs are displaying “fanatical” valor. It is an overworked word. The lost British paratroops at Arnhem could be said by the Germans to have offered fanatical resistance. Let’s at least try to be realistic and not claim for ourselves alone the virtues of valor, self-sacrifice and faith in our cause, however mistaken that of our enemy may be.
Now that we are recovering, if shamefully from our delusion that Germany would be a pushover once we reached her borders, we can, I hope with better grace, set ourselves to our war tasks at home.
We can give our blood to the Red Cross Blood Bank.
We can give our time to the last moment of it we can spare in some definite war work. There are literally millions of Christmas boxes to be filled and sent overseas within the next two weeks.
The hospitals are crying for nurses’ aides. This service is one of the most needed of all.
Work!
We are in midst of a very vital presidential campaign. What is done in the next six weeks by the citizen workers of both parties can well determine the fate of this country for years and years to come.
It is not enough for those who need to register to do so; it is not enough for each to cast his vote. Every citizen must make of himself a voluntary field worker.
There are other home-front musts. It is evident that there has been a serious letdown in gas conservation. Heavier and heavier becomes the traffic on our highways, more and more pleasure drives are indulged. The occupants of the autos traveling into town each morning on our two boulevards average about one and a half to a car. The other morning, I kept count. To every car with two or three occupants, there were seven being driven into town with only the driver – no passengers. A year ago, there was some evidence of car sharing. Not now. The buses and streetcars are bulging with standees while motorists in empty cars race by them.
The black market has become a problem. I hear presumably responsible citizens talk unconcernedly and with no effort at concealment of where and how they procure all the gas they want.
Service
Meantime, God knows it is time for us to face ourselves, for we have had an easy time of it compared with any home-front human being the world over. We have suffered the hardship of separation and suspense. Some of us have suffered that ultimate agony of separation by death, but our ordeal is nothing, nothing, compared with that which has been endured by the people of the rest of the world.
After nearly three years we are still living a peacetime life. We are looked upon as the darlings of the gods. Why we should be so specially singled out for fortune’s favor, I don’t know; but the solemn suspicion assails me: Can it be that we are being saved for what’s to come?
The world will be impoverished, but we, not have suffered impoverishment, will be called upon to give of our bounty. We will be called upon to bind up, not the nation’s, but the world’s wounds: “to care for him who has borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; and to do all that shall achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Can it be that this is the solemn task we are being saved for?
This being so, we must be ready.
Ickes to resign Cabinet post if Dewey wins
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes notified Governor Thomas E. Dewey today that he would resign his Cabinet post “effective if, as and when the incredible comes to pass and you become the President.”
In a letter to Mr. Dewey, Mr. Ickes said it became apparent that he had annoyed the Republican nominee.
Mr. Ickes said Mr. Dewey should have known “the primary school fact that the cabinet of an outgoing President automatically retires with its chief.”
He added:
But your campaign utterances indicate that if there is one thing you dislike more than Harold Ickes, it is facts.
Mr. Ickes concluded:
Now that [my resignation] is off your mind, Mr. Dewey, please throw away the red herrings that you have been using and get down to honest issues.
WAVE bill signed
Washington –
President Roosevelt has signed the bill permitting WAVES, SPARS and Women Marines to serve in Hawaii, Alaska and in all Americans bases in this hemisphere, the White House announced today. Under the new law, they can serve in the specified territories if they volunteer.
U.S. to study evidence on Mrs. Browder
Will take whatever action is ‘justified’
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Many efforts made to aid paratroopers
But Nazis covered river with fire
By Richard D. McMillan, United Press staff writer
…