America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

U.S. Navy Department (December 4, 1944)

Communiqué No. 557

Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the sinking of 20 vessels, including two combatant vessels – a light cruiser and a destroyer – as a result of operations against the enemy in these waters, as follows:

  • 1 light cruiser
  • 1 destroyer
  • 10 medium cargo vessels
  • 1 medium tanker
  • 4 medium cargo transports
  • 3 small cargo vessels

These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.


CINCPAC Communiqué No. 196

Seventh Army Air Force bombers struck at airstrips on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on December 1 (West Longitude Date).

On the following day, Navy search planes of Fleet Air Wing One joined with 7th Air Force bombers to attack installations on Hahajima and Iwo Jima. On the same date a force of Army Liberators bombed the airstrip on Iwo Jima. Light fighter opposition was encountered but we suffered no losses.

Attacking through intense anti-aircraft fire, fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing hit and destroyed an ammunition dump on Babelthuap in the Palaus on December 1. One Corsair plane was destroyed but the pilot was rescued.

On December 2, bivouac and storage areas were bombed by Marine aircraft in the Palaus and buildings were destroyed on Babelthuap. The airstrip on Yap was bombed by Marine fighters on the same day.

Second Marine Aircraft Wing fighters bombed installations on Rota in the Marianas and hit the airstrip on Pagan on December 2.

Strafing and bombing attacks were made by Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Two on Wake Island on December 1. The enemy sent up moderate anti-aircraft fire.

The Pittsburgh Press (December 4, 1944)

Yanks hammer gates to Ruhr

U.S. troops battling through strongholds on Roer, Saar rivers
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer

Tokyo plane plant razed in second Superfortress raid

One B-29 lost in fourth attack on Jap capital; 12 enemy fighters blasted

Military situation ‘difficult’ in China, Chiang admits

Generalissimo calls on nation to rally to annihilate Japs now 200 miles from capital

Mistake bombing by Fortresses kills 1,200

Rome, Italy (UP) –
Flying Fortresses accidentally bombed the center of Belgrade April 16, killing between 1,200 and 2,000 civilians, it was revealed officially today.

The target of the raid was the Ikarus aircraft factory, three miles from the heart of Belgrade. The group leader was shot down before the Fortresses reached the target area, and they inaccurately dropped 348 bombs of 500 pounds each over a wide area.

Photographs showed that 130 bombs were scattered across the heart of the Yugoslav capital, and no hits were scored on the factory. A Swiss Red Cross representative reported 1,200 civilians were killed, but residents of Belgrade said the figure was closer to 2,000.

Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker, Allied air commander in the Mediterranean, ordered complete reports.

Correspondents said the incident caused considerable resentment among the inhabitants, but two days later Marshal Tito sent Gen. Eaker a message thanking him for his air support generally.

Gen. Eaker said at a press conference:

It is inevitable that civilians who live in the vicinity of vital industries serving the enemy are likely to suffer from the bombing of industrial targets.

The losses have not been entirely on one side. The 15th Air Force lost 480 heavy bombers and 155 fighters over the Balkans. We suffered these casualties willingly because we knew they were bringing nearer the day when the Balkans would be free.

Tractor loaded with TNT blows up 300 Nazis in fort

Diehard Germans believed wiped out by terrific blast near Strasbourg

20 more Jap ships sunk by U.S. subs

Washington (UP) –
U.S. submarines, maintaining an unending offensive against Jap shipping, have sunk an enemy light cruiser, a destroyer and 18 more merchant vessels, the Navy announced today.

In addition to the two warships, a communiqué said, the undersea craft destroyed 13 cargo vessels, four cargo transports and a tanker.

Including today’s bag, U.S. submarines have sunk 874 Jap vessels, probably sunk at least 37 and damaged 119, for a total of at least 1,030 Jap vessels hit during this war.

Enemy combatant ship losses from U.S. submarines include 82 sunk, 11 probably sunk and 16 damaged, for an overall total of 109 warships hit by U.S. subs.


Donald Nelson leaves China

Chungking, China (UP) –
Donald Nelson, President Roosevelt’s personal representative, has left China after a 19-day stay during which he aided in the establishment of the new Chinese War Production Board.

In State Department –
Grew appointed Stettinius aide

Clayton, Rockefeller, MacLeish also named

To start in Boston –
Men who quit job must take war position

U.S. agency to direct all hiring

parry3

I DARE SAY —
The new breed

By Florence Fisher Parry

Look at the uniform of any man in the armed services, never mind the color, the cut, the insignia, the rank. That uniform designates a man who is being trained or who has been trained to kill.

Regardless of his work, however indirectly it bears upon actual combat, he is contributing to that one end – killing.

That is war. War means killing or being killed. And until we get that firmly planted in our minds, until we tear away all the pretty heroics and sentiment and other window-dressing, we are party to the most gigantic conspiracy that ever plagued the world – the conspiracy of making killing seem like something else.

The awful thing, the hopeless thing, is that the only persons who actually realize this are those who have come through combat, who have been through the fire and the hell, who have brushed close to death and seen their comrades die, smelt the stench, looked upon the obscenity as well as the terrible pity of death.

And never mind how many millions of these men there are, their number is still not enough to impress the civilian populations they later return to.

‘Safety’

Have you a son or husband whose job has been killing and who has done that job so well that he has somehow managed not to be killed thus far? Then you know that he has ceased to be one of you. He belongs to that other world. He is patient, attentive, polite, very kind. He answers you “Yes” and “No” and then suddenly without warning there is that wall between you – that line drawn, that divide, and he is on one side and you are on the other. There is nothing that you can do about it. You are a stranger to his world and he to yours.

You say to him:

Why did you refuse that nice assignment? Why did you turn your back to safety and certain reward? Don’t you know when your luck is spent? Can’t you see that you’ve earned the right to safety?

Then it is that he answers you: “Safety! Safety! Can’t you see that what you call safety is the most dangerous attitude in the world? You’re tired of this war, aren’t you?” he asks you. “You’re tired of being brave and sacrificial. You’re tired of the suspense of knowing your own to be in danger. You are ready for peace. You crave safety.”

He will say to you:

Don’t you know, don’t you know that it’s just that – that very thing that you are saying, feeling, wanting now, that is going to bring about another war? Can’t you see that the enemy’s only hope lies in your growing tired and fed up and willing to barter in order to secure your own son’s safety?

Yes, that’s what he’ll say.

For they have learned something not given any mortal man save him who has confronted death head-on and sidestepped him for the nonce. They have learned to accept the likelihood of death.

Acceptance

Let me tell it to you this way: I said to a fortress pilot who had survived those early suicidal missions over Germany: “What makes a man crackup – mentally, I mean? What makes him break? Fear? Too complex a nervous system? Strain? What?”

And he answered:

None of these, really. It is quite simple. For I have found that the men in the Air Force who break in combat flying are those men who have not been able to accept the fact of death; and those who do not break are those who have been able to accept it.

He said:

It’s as simple as that. Some men cannot give up the desperate dearness of life; so, when they face the prospect of losing it, the fact becomes intolerable. There is no out for them. So, they crack. Then there are these others. On some day, at some hour or moment, it suddenly comes over them that they cannot expect to live, and they are able to accept this probability, this certainty. And in the instant of their accepting it, they find themselves at peace – nerveless, strong, unbreakable.

So, I guess we civilian-minded, earthbound home-fronter had better just be quiet; not waste our breath when one of these men of this new, strange breed tells us or writes us that he’s going on into fresh danger.

Will there be enough of these, I wonder, to make the world safe, to ensure its safety? Or shall we lesser, baser, craven creatures, by our fears, our tears and war-weariness, cheat them again of the future they are so readily now dying for?

Witness says Mrs. Dorsey cut Hall’s nose

Tottler and gambler are also blamed

U.S. heavies rip western Germany

RAF Lancasters also attack in daylight

In Washington –
1946 budget may fall below $100 billion

79th Congress will get it next month

Walkouts end in 2 Detroit war plants

Settlement in third strike is promised

A Nazi asks: Is this in vain?
Nerve of German soldier dries up as Yanks crawl on over bodies

By Jack Frankish, United Press staff writer

Benny goes on air as dispute fizzles

Simms: Treaty ratification procedure based on early sectional fears

Requirement for two-thirds vote of Senate aimed at protecting rights of minority
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

Filipinos take towns on Samar

Action on Leyte bogged down by rain


Adm. King hints of secret weapons

U.S. to stay armed, Gen. Marshall says

World aviation plan approved at conference

Air freedom pacts to come later

Minor Nazis slated to toil for Russians

U.S. expected to agree to Soviet plan