Love: War service
By Gilbert Love
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Wallace holds inside track for Jones’ job
Roosevelt, however, remains silent
Washington (UP) –
Vice President Henry A. Wallace, turning over his job and title to Harry S. Truman today, became the mystery man of the hour.
With Mr. Truman’s future taken care of for the next four years, what everyone around here wants to know for certain is, what will the ex-Vice President’s next job be?
When John Nance Garner stepped out of the Vice Presidency four years ago, he went home. Mr. Wallace has no such intention. He wants – and there is considerable evidence that he may get – Jesse H. Jones’ job as Secretary of Commerce.
Nothing definite
But thus far, it has been impossible to get anything definite on Mr. Wallace’s fate, either from him or from the man in whose charge it appears to be, President Roosevelt.
Nothing definite, that is, except the assurance given by Mr. Roosevelt at his news conference yesterday that he did not think Mr. Wallace would starve; and subsequent hints that Mr. Wallace would continue to sit in Cabinet meetings.
Not starving, in the lexicon of official Washington, doesn’t mean merely that; it means having a big job in the government – a job, it would seem in this case, of Cabinet rank.
What about Jones?
The way Mr. Jones’ Texas friend have been running around lately would appear to indicate that whatever the President’s intention, Mr. Wallace has definitely drawn a bead on the Commerce post.
If Mr. Wallace bags his game, interest would switch immediately in Mr. Jones’ future. One possibility is that he would be kept in charge of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the other lending and subsidizing agencies over which he now presides.
But friends of Mr. Wallace believe he will succeed Mr. Jones not only as Secretary of Commerce but also as chairman of the RFC.
Mr. Wallace and Mr. Jones sat at the head table – nine seats apart – at a presidential inaugural dinner given last night by members of the Electoral College.
Introduces Truman
Mr. Wallace introduced Mr. Truman in a brief, unrevealing speech during which he continually smiled and chuckled as if something pleased him very much.
Mr. Jones didn’t make a speech. But he was observed to drink a furtive champagne toast of mysterious significance with Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, two seats away.
Miss Perkins is reportedly on her way out, too.
Thousand Club has big day
Washington (UP) –
Some 300 members of the One Thousand Club, each of whom paid $1,000 into Democratic Party coffees in the recent campaign, hied themselves over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue today to see and hear the fellow club member, Franklin D., begin his fourth term as President.
Mr. Roosevelt gave $1,000, too.
In addition to appearing at all the official inaugural sessions, including the inaugural ceremony, buffet luncheon afterward as well as tea and reception later in the afternoon, they planned a gala banquet for the evening at which singer Frank Sinatra, comedian George Jessel and screen star Orson Welles will appear.
At the banquet some 500 additional guests will be dined with part of the nearly $52,000 reportedly remaining in club coffers as the balance of the $252,000 collected in the campaign.
It was reported that a number of $1,000 contributors to other Democratic bodies were irked at the failure to get club membership and the Democratic High Command was said to have suggested the dinner as a means of smoothing their ruffled feelings.
Is he related in some way to Elizabeth holmes? The famous fraudster?
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Völkischer Beobachter (January 21, 1945)
Das Ringen um den deutschen Ostraum
Schulter an Schulter mit den Eingreifverbänden bewährt sich der Deutsche Volkssturm
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Eine Zusammenfassung:
US-Verluste vor Luzon
Tokio, 20. Jänner –
121 feindliche Kriegsschiffe und Transporter wurden innerhalb von zehn Tagen durch japanische Luft- und Seestreitkräfte in der Lingayenbucht und in anderen philippinischen Gewässern bei Luzon versenkt oder beschädigt, wie von japanisch-militärischer Seite bekanntgegeben wird. Diese Versenkungen verteilen sich auf die Zeit vom 3. bis 12. Jänner. Versenkt wurden 8 Flugzeugträger, 1 Schlachtschiff, 12 andere Kriegsschiffe und 77 Transporter, beschädigt und in Brand gesetzt 1 Flugzeugträger, 8 andere Kriegsschiffe und 14 Transporter.
Terrorangriff auf Wien
(vb.) – Amerikanische Bomberverbände führten bei trübem Wetter in den Mittagsstunden des Sonntags einen Terrorangriff auf Wien durch. Zahlreiche Spreng- und Brandbomben wurden abgeworfen. Es entstanden Personenverluste. Wohnhäuser wurden zerstört beziehungsweise beschädigt.
Heftiges Flakfeuer brachte eine Anzahl von Terrorbombern zum Absturz.
Da wiederum Langzeitzünder abgeworfen wurden, wird die Bevölkerung aufgefordert, den Absperrvorschriften unbedingt Folge zu leisten.
Führer HQ (January 21, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
In Ungarn gewannen unsere Angriffe zwischen dem Velenczesee und der Donau gegen zähen feindlichen Widerstand in nordöstlicher Richtung Boden. Eine starke feindliche Kräftegruppe, die unsere Angriffsspitzen abzuschneiden versuchte, wurde geschlagen und im Angriff durchstoßen. An der Donau versenkten unsere Panzer fünf Schlepper und Leichter. Beiderseits des Vértes- und am Pilisgebirge sowie westlich der Gran-Mündung wurden mehrfache bolschewistische Angriffe abgewiesen. Die Besatzung von Budapest hielt in harten Kämpfen allen feindlichen Angriffen stand.
Zwischen der Nordgrenze der Slowakei und dem Raum von Krakau gelangen den Sowjets trotz unserer hartnäckigen Gegenwehr tiefere Einbrüche. Im oberschlesischen Grenzraum versteifte sich der Widerstand unserer Truppen und erschwerte dem Gegner das weitere Vordringen nach Westen. Aus den im Abschnitt Loben-Kempen vorgehenden feindlichen Angriffsgruppen schossen Eingreifverbände 70 feindliche Panzer ab, davon 40 allein im Raum von Loben. Auch südwestlich Litzmannstadt erlitt der Feind in einer schweren Panzerschlacht hohe Verluste. Während sich zwischen der Warthe und der Weichsel bolschewistische Angriffsverbände weiter vorschieben konnten, wurde nördlich der Weichsel durch unsere zäh kämpfenden Divisionen eine wesentliche Ausweitung des feindlichen Einbruchsraumes verhindert.
Starke Verbände deutscher Schlacht- und Jagdflieger, die die sowjetischen Panzer den ganzen Tag über angriffen, schossen im Zusammenwirken mit der im Erdkampf eingesetzten Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe in den letzten 48 Stunden 111 feindliche Panzer und 700 Fahrzeuge ab.
Im östlichen Grenzgebiet Ostpreußens scheiterten erneute Durchbruchsversuche der Bolschewisten südlich Gumbinnen. In den Straßen der Stadt selbst wird erbittert gekämpft. Zwischen Insterburg und Memel wechselten starke feindliche Angriffe mit unseren Gegenangriffen. Nach erbitterten Kämpfen konnte der Feind in Tilsit eindringen. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden in den Grenzgebieten Ostpreußens 180 sowjetische Panzer vernichtet.
Im Weiten lind südlich Maeseyck heftige Gefechte um einzelne Ortschaften im Gange, im Abschnitt von Malmedy scheiterten alle Angriffe der Amerikaner oder wurden in der Tiefe des Kampfliedes aufgefangen. Der Gegner hält an der Sauer bei Diekirch seinen Druck nach Norden aufrecht. Eine Teilgruppe der bei Reipertsweiler in den Unteren Vogesen eingeschlossenen Amerikaner ergab sich unseren Truppen. Die hartnäckigen feindlichen Angriffe auf Rittershofen blieben auch gestern vergeblich. Nördlich Straßburg ist unser Angriff in gutem Fortschreiten. Zwischen Thann und Mülhausen im Elsass trat der Feind gestern nach starker Feuervorbereitung zum Angriff an. Er wurde bei Thann blutig abgewiesen. Westlich Mülhausen wird in einzelnen Einbruchsstellen heftig gekämpft. Die feindlichen Nachschubstützpunkte Antwerpen und Lüttich liegen unter anhaltendem Fernbeschuss.
In Italien blieb die Kampftätigkeit gering.
Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber griffen am gestrigen Tage West-, Südwest- und Süddeutschland an. Es entstanden vor allem in den Wohngebieten von Mannheim und Heilbronn zum Teil starke Schäden. Feindliche Tiefflieger griffen mit Bomben und. Bordwaffen wahllos kleinere Orte im gleichen Gebiet an. Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe schoss 33 Flugzeuge, in der Mehrzahl viermotorige Bomber, ab.
Das Vergeltungsfeuer auf London wird fortgesetzt.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (January 21, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
211100A January
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) SHAEF 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) NEWS DIV. MINIFORM, LONDON
(20) AFHQ FOR PRO, ROME
(21) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 288
The Zetten area, northwest of Nijmegen, is quiet and Allied forward elements have reoccupied their positions following recent enemy attacks.
North of Echt, our units have occupied the town of Stevensweert without opposition.
In the area between Stevensweet and Sittard, we continued to make gains to the eastward and have occupied more villages, including Peij, two miles east of Echt. Breberen, two miles east of Höngen, also is in our hands. The area west of the line Echt-Breberen is clear of the enemy except for small pockets of resistance which are being mopped-up.
Fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters attacked enemy gun positions in the Sittard battle area. Fighter-bombers also bombed a road bridge near Körrenzig, north of Linnich.
Southeast of Malmedy, our forces have cleared Schoppen and have made slight gains south of the town. Deidenberg, four miles north of St. Vith, has been taken by our armored units. Northwest of St. Vith, we have made small gains against light resistance in the wooded area one and one-half miles east of Poteau.
Farther to the southwest, Courtil, one-half mile south of Bovigny, is in our hands, and a small enemy pocket one mile southeast of the town has been mopped up.
In the area east of Bastogne, our units gained 1,200 yards east and north of Oberwampach.
North and northeast of Diekirch, we have reached the edge of Bastendorf and are in the vicinity of Longsdorf.
Southeast of Remich, a number of enemy pillboxes south of Nennig have been reduced, while farther to the east our units are in the vicinity of Orscholz, after an advance of half a mile.
Enemy artillery was active against our forces in the Saarlautern bridgehead area.
In the Bitche Salient, our forces and hostile elements were active. There were infantry engagements and patrol clashes northeast of Reipertswiller which the enemy shelled.
Heavy fighting ceased in the Hatten-Rittershoffen section of the Maginot Line but Allied and enemy patrolling was aggressive.
Enemy pressure in his Rhine River bridgehead continued to be heavy. Our forces still hold a major portion of Drusenheim.
A strong Allied attack, supported by artillery, was launched between the Rhine and Saint-Amarin in the Vosges, and we have made gains up to three miles in some sectors.
Fighter-bombers, flying in weather which restricted their operations in all areas yesterday, attacked transportation targets in Holland, the Rhineland and elsewhere. They cut railway lines at many places in the Utrecht and Amersfoort areas, struck at railway transport across the frontier beyond Münster, hit enemy materiel moving by road and rail mainly around Euskirchen, bombed trains near Koblenz and Trier and struck at railway yards at Aalen, some 30 miles east of Stuttgart.
Railway traffic centers at Rheine, north of Münster, and at Heilbronn, north of Stuttgart, and a rail and highway bridge across the Rhine at Mannheim were attacked by more than 750 escorted heavy bombers. Some of the fighter escort also strafed transportation targets near Osnabrück.
During the day, seven enemy aircraft were shot down.
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 FA2409
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/U.S. Navy Department (January 21, 1945)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 239
Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on January 18 (West Longitude Date). Three enemy fighters rose to intercept our aircraft and one was shot down.
On the same date, Army Liberators bombed harbor installations at Chichijima in the Bonins starting fires in barracks and warehouse areas.
On January 19, carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet shot down 16 enemy planes which were attempting to fly from Formosa to Luzon.
Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed and strafed barracks areas and a radio station on Wake Island on January 19. Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered.
Single Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed Matsuwa and Onekotan Islands south of Paramushiru in the Kurils on January 20.
Neutralizing raids on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls were continued by planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on January 19.
The Pittsburgh Press (January 21, 1945)
Takes fourth term oath –
Roosevelt warns fear and mistrust can upset lasting peace program
Simple inauguration lasts 13 minutes – Truman is sworn in by Wallace
Washington (UP) – (Jan. 20)
President Roosevelt began his fourth term today in a semi-private, 13-minute inauguration marked by his warning that this nation cannot expect a lasting peace if suspicion, mistrust and fear color our approach to post-war international commitments.
The inaugural ceremony – usually an occasion for colorful splendor – was so brief and simple, and was witnessed by so comparatively few people, that it seemed almost an incident in the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt rather than the unprecedented beginning of his fourth term in the White House.
The President had decreed that it be short and simple so as to be in keeping with the times.
Chief Justice Stone gives oath
Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone administered the oath to Mr. Roosevelt on the South Portico of the White House at 12:03 p.m. EWT. A minute earlier, retiring Vice President Henry A. Wallace had sworn in his successor, Harry S. Truman.
The President followed his oath with a simple, prayerful five-minute speech. Two minutes later – time for the benediction and the “Star-Spangled Banner” by the Marine Band – one of the nation’s most historic occasions was over.
War lesson stressed
Obviously mindful of his meeting soon with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin and of isolationist feeling in this country, Mr. Roosevelt made a forceful point of this nation’s role in a world community in his 540-word inaugural speech.
The war, he said, has taught us the lesson that we must “live as men, not as ostriches, nor dogs in the manger.”
‘Citizens of world’
He said:
We have learned that we cannot live alive, at peace; that our own wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of other nations, far away.
We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.
As he spoke amid his generals and admirals, his Congressional leaders and his political aides, there stretched before him four years more promising of trouble and burdens than any other phase of Mr. Roosevelt’s career.
In those four years, his ultimate role in history probably will be determined – by when and how the war ends and the justice and durability of the peace that follows. And mindful of this, the 62-year-old, graying Chief Executive started what no other man has ever started – a fourth term in the White House.
Stand in snow
White House officials counted 7,806 persons admitted to the mansion’s grounds. They stood in two inches of snow on the south lawn. Several hundred yards away from the portico, an estimated 6,000 spectators stood outside the fence. They heard the President’s address over a loudspeaker system.
There were no seats, no stands – just the snow-covered lawn for most. A tarpaulin was spread over part of the grounds for a select 2,000. An even more select few – most members of the Roosevelt and Treuman families, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court and the Armed Forces chiefs of staff – were on the portico.
The weather was on the miserable side – not very cold, but mushy, drippy. About noon, a pale sun started the snow melting and guests under the trees got wet. The Secret Service allowed no umbrellas in the White House grounds.
Prayer service held
The President’s day began early as members of his family filed into his large bedroom for brief visits. At 10:00 a.m., he went to the red-draped East Room to follow his inaugural custom of praying for strength and Divine guidance before taking the oath of office. With him were his family and leaders of his government – some 300 in all.
At noon, he went out on the portico. The Marine Band broke out a ruffle of drums and a flourish of trumpets, then burst forth – as only it can – with the inspiring “Hail to the Chief.”
A hush settled over the crowd while the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun, Episcopal Bishop of Washington. prayed that this nation would not be “content with any peace save that of a world at unity with itself…”
Truman smiles
Mr. Wallace, whom the President rejected at the last Democratic National Convention in favor of Mr. Truman, stepped up to the battery of microphones in the center or the portico and Mr. Truman faced him. Mr. Wallace seemed serious and Mr. Truman’s face was one big smile. It took only a moment to switch Vice Presidents.
Justice Stone stepped up, and the President faced him. Charles Elmore Cropley, dignified clerk of the Supreme Court, held Mr. Roosevelt’s old Dutch family Bible between them. The President placed his large hand on the thrice-used “Faith, hope and charity” verse of I Corinthians and repeated, after the Chief Justice, the historic oath.
Promising to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” to the best of his ability, the President intoned the oath in a strong, vibrant voice.
Applause muffled
There was no shouting or cheering from the crowd when Mr. Roosevelt had become President again – just a brief burst of muffled applause. The spectators acted as though they were in church, so solemn was the general tone of the entire ceremony.
The President shook hands with the Chief Justice, then faced the crowd and began his brief speech – a lesson on the advantages of open-minded international cooperation and an assurance that America would work as hard for a just peace as it is working now toward sure, total victory.
A brief applause as he ended sounded almost sacrilegious, coming as it did just after he had besought God for vision and strength to meet the nation’s present period of “supreme test… of our courage, of our resolve, of our wisdom, of our essential democracy.”
Stands with son
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. John A. Ryan, director of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, pronounced the benediction and the President stood gravely, bowed and with his hand on the arm of his tall Marine colonel son, James.
The Marine Band began the heavy, strident strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Mr. Roosevelt placed his right hand over his heart and stared out over the heads of the crowd near him to the snow-covered ellipse, and at the Washington Monument whose peak disappeared in the low-hanging clouds.
Waves to crowd
And when the music ended, so did the inauguration. The President waved to the crowd of Congressmen, diplomats, government agency heads, wounded war veterans and bigshots in the Democratic Party, then went back into the White House while the band signaled his departure with “Hail to the Chief.”
Fifteen minutes later, the President joined more than 1,500 carefully-sifted guests for a buffet luncheon of chicken salad, small sandwiches, rolls, cake and coffee. The menu was drastically simple to stay within the $2,000 limit which Mr. Roosevelt set as his goal for the overall cost of the inauguration.
Reception held
In the late afternoon, he and Mrs. Roosevelt held a reception for members of the Electoral College and their wives and other guests who could not be invited to the luncheon.
At each social event the President spent only a short while.
The celebration continued on into the night, but not at the White House. While Mr. Roosevelt studied the latest war dispatches and visited with his family in his study, members of the One Thousand Club – a contribution of $1,000 or more to Mr. Roosevelt’s campaign fund was necessary for membership – held a large dinner party, but the President was not there. They had his best wishes and thanks, however.
French open big attack on Alsatian front
British stab 3 miles into Rhineland
By James F. McGlincy, United Press staff writer
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Jap defenders of Luzon ‘practically’ split by Yanks
MacArthur’s men drive 7 miles beyond Baguio – 23 enemy tanks in counterattacks destroyed
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Steel men ask early coal pact
Needs for steady output stressed
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Army bars pets from planes, plans priority inquiry
Transport Command wants to determine how subordinates issue permits
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