Frankreich vor einem Winter ohne kohle
Hunger und Not im Erfolge der Anglo-Amerikaner – Ausplünderung statt Hilfeleistung
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Führer HQ (October 9, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Die feindlichen Angriffe an der Westfront haben gestern auf weitere Abschnitte übergegriffen. Bei fortdauernder örtlicher Kampftätigkeit an der belgisch-holländischen Grenze und in Mittelholland geht die Schlacht im Raum Geilenkirchen–Stolberg mit steigender Erbitterung weiter. Zäher Widerstand und heftige Gegenangriffe unserer Divisionen brachten nach schwersten Kämpfen die zur beiderseitigen Umfassung von Aachen angesetzten feindlichen Panzerverbände zum Stehen. Um einen Frontvorsprung nordöstlich Nancy, den der Feind seit gestern früh stark angreift, sind heftige Kämpfe entbrannt, während sie beiderseits Remiremont mit amerikanischen und französischen Infanterie- und Panzerkräften unvermindert anhalten.
Starkes feindliches Feuer lag wieder auf Dünkirchen. Angriffe des Gegners vor Saint-Nazaire, Lorient und im Vorfeld von La Rochelle scheiterten.
Sicherungsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine versenkten vor der niederländischen Küste ein britisches Schnellboot. Im Verlaufe weiterer Gefechte ging ein eigenes Fahrzeug verloren.
Das „V1“-Störungsfeuer auf London geht weiter.
In Mittelitalien erzielten unsere Truppen, die seit vielen Tagen südlich Bologna in schwerstem Kampf stehen, erneut einen großen Abwehrerfolg. Der Feind konnte zwar unter hohen Verlusten an einigen Stellen in unsere vordere Linie einbrechen, wurde dann jedoch durch sofort einsetzende Gegenangriffe geworfen oder zum Stehen gebracht. Auch im adriatischen Küstenabschnitt gehen die schweren Kämpfe weiter und verlagerten sich mehr in das Berggelände westlich der adriatischen Küste.
Im Banat und in Serbien südlich der Donau haben der zähe Widerstand unserer Truppen und die Gegenangriffe neu herangeführter Reserven den feindlichen Vormarsch zum Stehen gebracht. Im Kampfraum westlich Zajecar rieben Gebirgsjäger zwei in ihre Stellungen eingedrungene sowjetische Bataillone auf. Gegen den in Südungarn auf breiter Front angreifenden Feind halten deutsche und ungarische Truppen ihre Brückenkopfstellungen an der Theiß. Im Angriff nach Norden sind Sowjettruppen über die Schnelle Kreisch bis in den Raum von Debrecen vorgedrungen. Eigene Gegenangriffe sind in gutem Fortschreiten. Bisher wurden 25 Panzer abgeschossen.
Deutsche Schlacht- und Kampfflieger bekämpften mit gutem Erfolg die feindlichen Angriffsspitzen und den Nachschubverkehr der Bolschewisten. An den Passstraßen der Waldkarpaten wiesen deutsche und ungarische Truppen bolschewistische Angriffe teilweise im Gegenangriff ab.
Aus ihren Weichselbrückenköpfen südöstlich Warka und nördlich Seroe griffen die Sowjets erfolglos an. In der Schlacht zwischen der Memel und der Windau stehen unsere Truppen in zähem Ringen mit starkem Feind. In vergeblichen Angriffen gegen den Rigaer Brückenkopf nördlich der Düna verlor der Feind 25 Panzer.
Auf Ösel wurde die Halbinsel Sworbe gegen starken feindlichen Druck gehalten.
In Finnland haben sich unsere Truppen aus dem Raum von Tornio nach Norden abgesetzt. In der Stützpunktlinie an der finnisch-sowjetischen Grenze südwestlich von Murmansk wurden die gestern gemeldeten starken feindlichen Angriffe zum Stehen gebracht.
Schlachtflieger griffen trotz schwieriger Wetterlage in die Erdkämpfe ein. Die begleitenden Jäger schossen ohne eigene Verluste 14 sowjetische Flugzeuge ab.
Die Anglo-Amerikaner setzten den Terror gegen die Zivilbevölkerung im west- und südwestdeutschen Raum durch Tiefangriffe fort. Mit Bomben und Bordwaffen wurden vor allem Ortschaften und Personenzüge angegriffen. 12 Jagdbomber wurden abgeschossen.
Bei den Kämpfen in Siebenbürgen hat sich die vorwiegend aus Deutschen des Südostraumes zusammengesetzte 8. SS-Kavalleriedivision unter Führung des Ritterkreuzträgers SS-Standartenführer Joachim Rumohr hervorragend geschlagen.
In den Kämpfen ostwärts Riga zeichnete sich die rheinisch-fränkische 389. Infanteriedivision unter Führung des Ritterkreuzträgers Generalleutnant Hahm durch Standhaftigkeit und Tapferkeit aus.
U.S. Navy Department (October 9, 1944)
Press Release
For Immediate Release
October 9, 1944
Joint Statement
The following joint Anglo‑American statement on submarine and antisubmarine operations is issued under the authority of the President and the Prime Minister:
During September there has been a lull in U-boat activity, which is possibly seasonal. This year, as last, the enemy may hope to renew his offensive in the autumn and may rely on new types of U‑boats to counter our present ascendancy. Shipping losses have been almost as low as in May 1944, the best month of the war. The rate of destruction of U‑boats in proportion to shipping losses remains satisfactory.
The U‑boat war, however, demands unceasing attention. Only the zeal and vigor of the Allied air and surface forces have procured the comparative safety of our shipping and the enemy’s scant success.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 144
Units of the Pacific Fleet attacked Marcus Island on October 8 (West Longitude Date) and throughout the day subjected enemy installations and shore defenses to deliberate and destructive gunfire in good visibility. Considerable damage was inflicted and the greater part of the coast defense batteries were silenced. Buildings were hit and fires were started.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 145
Elements of the 81st Infantry Division landed on Garakayo Island in the Southern Palau Islands on October 8 (West Longitude Date). A beachhead has been secured and patrols are advancing inland against light opposition. On Peleliu Island, Marines continued mopping-up operations in the vicinity of Bloody Nose Ridge. Elements of the 81st Infantry Division are continuing to clean up on Angaur. Corsair fighters of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing bombed Umurbrogol Mountain on October 8, strafed small craft in Ngatpang Bay and bombed fuel dumps and warehouses on Babelthuap Island. All of our aircraft returned.
Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands was attacked on October 8 by 7th Air Force Liberators which bombed the airfield and adjacent installations. Six to eight enemy fighters intercepted our force and two of the fighters were shot down and two were damaged. Anti-aircraft fire was moderate.
On October 8, a single Navy search plane of Fleet Air Wing One shot down an enemy bomber while on routine patrol. On the same day, another Navy search plane bombed and damaged an enemy picket boat.
A lone Catalina search plane of Fleet Air Wing One sighted four small enemy ships near Iwo Jima on October 8. The largest of the four was bombed and strafed. A direct hit was scored seriously damaging the vessel.
During October 6, 7th Air Force Liberators bombed two small enemy cargo vessels northeast of Marcus Island and attacked targets on the enemy-held island on both October 6 and 7. The Liberators encountered meager antiaircraft fire. Other Liberators raided Wake Island on the night of October 6 and on October 8.
On October 7, the airstrip, radio station, buildings, beach defenses and other military installations on Pagan Island in the Marianas were bombed and rocketed. No anti-aircraft fire was met. One of our planes was shot down by antiaircraft fire over Rota Island on the same date.
Enemy‑held positions in the Marshall Islands were bombed on October 7.
The Pittsburgh Press (October 9, 1944)
‘BIG FOUR’ NATIONS REVEAL PLAN FOR LEAGUE TO ENSURE PEACE
Question of veto power over ‘aggressor’ still must be solved
Organization to be called ‘the United Nations;’ Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin may meet soon
Washington (UP) –
The Big Four nations, determined that “the sacrifices of this war shall not be in vain,” today unveiled a still-to-be-completed charter for a world peace organization backed by the armed might of its members and empowered to call on special air force units for “urgent military measures.”
The proposed organization would be called “the United Nations.” Briefly, it would consist of a policymaking General Assembly of all peace-loving nations, an economic and social council of 18 nations to deal with “humanitarian” aspects of international relations, a World Court of Justice and a Security Council of 11 nations – including the United States, Great Britain, Russia, China, and “in due course” France as permanent members – whose primary responsibility would be maintenance of peace through pacific, economic or military means.
The recommendations did not go into the vital matter of just how the Security Council would order “the United Nations’” military power into action in the event of a threat to peace.
Still to be resolved, presumably at “higher levels,” is the all-important issue of voting procedure in the Security Council if one of the permanent members should become a party to a dispute. The question to be answered is: Could such a member veto the decisions of the others?
“The United Nations” would not be merely an emergency organization to function only when world peace was jeopardizes by overt aggression. It would concern itself with fundamental economic, social and other “humanitarian” stresses and strains.
Control of armaments
It would also concern itself – through the Security Council – with plans for regulation of armaments so that international peace and security could be promoted “with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources for armaments.”
Individual members of “the United Nations” would contribute their air, naval and military strength according to criteria and procedures yet to be agreed upon.
The Security Council would direct the use of these forces through an international high command – “a military staff committee” – composed of staff representatives of the Council’s five permanent members.
Plan incomplete
The recommendations unveiled today were the fruit of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference attended here by representatives of the Big Four. Admittedly incomplete, they are proposals only. The governments represented at Dumbarton Oaks have agreed, however, to take steps “as soon as possible” to prepare “complete proposals” to serve “as a basis of discussion at a full United Nations conference.”
The next move may well be consideration of the proposals, and the resolution of problems left hanging at Dumbarton Oaks, by President Roosevelt, Premier Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Winston Churchill at a meeting in the reasonably near future. The full United Nations conference would follow.
Diplomatic observers believe the three will meet after the Nov. 7 election – if Mr. Roosevelt wins the fourth-term race. If he is defeated, other plans would have to be made.
BRITISH LAND BEHIND NAZI LINE
Allies drive to clear path to Antwerp
Yanks closing trap around Aachen
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
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Third Fleet cripples Jap base on Marcus, 1,100 miles from Tokyo
All-day bombardment by Halsey’s warships spreads fire and ruin on island
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Nation stunned by Willkie’s sudden death
Heart attack fatal to 1940 candidate
New York (UP) –
The body of Wendell L. Willkie, the small-town Indiana boy who became a nationally-known corporation executive, a presidential candidate and, later, America’s most influential private citizen, lay in state at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church today.
Thousands of his friends and political followers filed into the church to pay their final respects.
Mr. Willkie’s death of coronary thrombosis early yesterday came with a suddenness that stunned a nation which always had regarded the tousle-haired husky-voiced Hoosier as the epitome of health and vigor.
The reaction was spontaneous and swelled all day yesterday and today as thousands of telegrams of sympathy poured in from friends, supporters, political opponents and admirers in all walks of life.
Mrs. Willkie at bedside
Only 52, the former Republican standard-bearer entered the Lenox Hill Hospital for routine treatment of a stomach disorder Sept. 6, but had been seriously ill only since last Tuesday, when a streptococcic throat infection and a lung congestion developed.
His temperature soared to 104 degrees and then subsided, but his heart weakened under the strain. The last of three violent heart attacks was fatal at 2:20 a.m. yesterday. Mr. Willkie left her own sickbed and arrived at her husband’s side five minutes before his death.
Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow but the time of Mr. Willkie’s burial will be determined by the return of hid only son, Lt. (jg.) Philip Willkie, USNR, who is on convoy duty in the Atlantic. Mr. Willkie will be buried at Rushville, Indiana, only a few miles from the little frame house at Elwood, where he was born Feb. 18, 1892.
Lamented by Roosevelt, Dewey
Mr. Willkie’s death came less than a week after that of another great American political figure and presidential candidate, Alfred E. Smith, who deserted the Democratic standard in 1940 to support the Hoosier’s Republican bid for the Presidency.
President Roosevelt and Governor Thomas E. Dewey both lamented his passing.
In reading of those days, I realized the some of the American citizens truly believed the UNIONS were Communistic and their leadership anti-Constitution. I can remember my Father and Uncles (mid-60’s) sitting in the living room after Sunday dinners, talking of Communist trying to takeover. Uncle Ken was sure FDR was one of them and electing JFK was the next step. BY the 70’s I saw UNIONS helped us not hindered us. I feel Ike saved our Republic just by being there. The good-old days! Thanks for some great research on Dewey, that I never knew.
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You’re welcome 
It was pretty frustrating, however, with the lack of audio recordings (I’ve only found Frankie’s recordings) and having to sift through newspaper issue after newspaper issue to even get the full text of Dewey’s speeches, while Frankie’s speeches are easily available online.
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Many soldier votes may be challenged
Contests indicated in close races
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania –
Wherever the civilian vote is close in the November elections in Pennsylvania, there is likelihood of a wholesale challenge of soldier votes, based on technicalities of the state soldier vote and election laws.
State election officials estimate that as many as 21,000 soldier votes – enough to decide some of the contests involved in the November election – will be invalidated because of irregularities in the preparation of the ballots by the fighting men who cast them.
The challenges are expected to occur chiefly in Congressional and legislative districts where the civilian vote is close and the soldier vote can decide the elections, but it could be intensified if the statewide vote is close.
Contested cases to courts
The decisions will be made by county election boards and, in contested cases, by the local courts. Thus far, the Attorney General and State Elections Bureau have given only informal, advisory opinions, leaving formal rulings to county officials.
In some cases, the state has already advised that soldier votes are invalid and should not be counted; in others, it has left the questions to the county officials to solve.
Throwing out ballots because of technical irregularities, in the absence of fraud, however, runs counter to a long line of federal and state court decisions which have held that where they voter indicates his intent, his right to vote is paramount.
Types of irregularities
According to estimates of state election officials, the invalidation of 21,000 soldier ballots would reduce the countable soldier vote in Pennsylvania to 150,000 – less than 20 percent of the state’s 800,000 men and women in the Armed Forces.
There are the types of irregularities already tabulated, or expected to be found:
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Execution of the soldier-voter’s oath by a noncommissioned officer, instead of a commissioned officer, as required by the Military Ballot Law.
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Failure of the officer to sign the jurat, or oath to the soldier-voter.
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Failure of the officer signing the jurat to state his rank.
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Evidence that military ballots have been opened and resealed by censors. Some countries plan to throw out such ballots on the ground secrecy of the ballot has been violated; others may accept them.
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Voting by a checkmark, instead of the required “X.”
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Excellent topic … Even today that specter looms over us in elections. Do soldiers vote count, or even our civilian mail-in votes? It is a worthwhile thought for research. WE want the results before going to bed, not tomorrow or the next day.
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It’s a question close to home, actually. My grandfather was in charge of ballot counting for servicemen who voted in Paris.
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Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Hollywood, California –
The biggest mystery of this war to me is the Jap admirals. First, they lose face, and now the rest of their bodies seem to be disappearing. Almost every day a report comes that five or six or 10 more Jap admirals have been killed in action.
For goodness’ sake, who’s killing them? The American Navy can’t even find them, let alone fight them.
I’ll bet the same question puzzles Hirohito when the head of his navy reports:
Oh, Illustrious Emperor, we have won another retreat victory. The American Navy lies at the bottom of the ocean. Their guns did not even touch our ships.
To which Hirohito replied: “Then keep an eye on those sharks, because somebody is knocking off all my top men.”
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Browns lead in sixth game
Chet Laabs triples, McQuinn scores him
Sportsman’s Park, St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
The American League Browns, battling hard to keep their World Series chances alive, led the National League Cardinals, 1 –0, in the third inning of the sixth game this afternoon. A triple by Chet Laabs with George McQuinn’s single, produced the only run of the game thus far in the second inning.
Lefty Max Lanier was on the mound for the Cards, who needed only one more victory to win the championship. Opposing him was Browns’ star righthander, Nels Potter.
Lanier and Potter had met before, in the second game of the series, but neither finished. Lanier went out in the eighth and Potter in the seventh. Blix Donnelly was the eventual winner for the National Leaguers with Bob Muncrief, the loser, in an 11-inning battle.
Sanders raced over to the temporary boxes behind first base to reach for Don Gutteridge’s foul as the Browns came to bat in the opening inning, and Lanier took care of the next two batters – striking out Mike Kreevich and Gene Moore, the latter taking the third strike with his bat on his shoulder.
Litwhiler fans
Potter fanned Litwhiler, the first Cardinal to come to the plate. Johnny Hopp then popped to Gutteridge and Stan Musial was thrown out by Gutteridge.
The Browns opened the scoring in the top half of the second when, after Stephens had struck out, Chet Laabs tripled to the wall in right center and raced home when George McQuinn followed with a single over second. Christman sent a high fly to Hopp in center and Hayworth went out the same way to end the inning and send the American Leaguers away to a 1–0 lead.
Walker Cooper’s bid for a hit in the Cards’ second was turned into a putout by Stephens’ leaping one-hand catch. Sanders popped to Gutteridge. Kurowski bashed a single off Christman’s glove, but was trapped off first on Potter’s snap throw with Marion batting and was retired. Potter to McQuinn to Gutteridge to Potter.
Potter fans
Lanier had fanned Potter and forced Guttridge to foul to Musial in the rightfield bullpen in the Browns’ third before Kreevich lined a sharp two-bagger to left center, the second extra*-base hit off the Cards’ lefthander. Lanier pitched cautiously to Moore and walked him, then Stephens nipped the rally by forcing Moore, Marty Marion to Verban.
In the Cardinal half, Emil Verban singled after Christman had tossed out Marion. Lasnier came through with a hit to short center, Verban stopping at second.
Potter then struck out Litwhiler and Hopp to retire the side.
GAME INCOMPLETE AT EDITION TIME.
Perkins: Pittsburgher offers plan to guarantee annual wage
Government must be kept out of it to ensure system of free enterprise, he declares
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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