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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
IN THE MARIANAS ISLANDS (delayed) – You may wonder why we have American troops at all here in the Marianas Islands, since we are 1,500 miles away from the Philippines, China, or Japan itself.
Well, it’s because in this Pacific war of vast water distances, we have to make gigantic bases of each group of islands we take, in order to build up supplies and preparations for future invasions farther on.
The Marianas happen to be a sort of crossroads in the Western Pacific. Stuff can go either west or north from here. Whoever sits in the Marianas can have his finger on the whole web of the war.
Thus the Marianas are becoming a heart of the Pacific war. Our naval and military leaders make no bones about it, for the Japs know it anyhow, but they’re too far away to do anything about it.
The Marianas are both thrilling and engaging right now. Scores of thousands of troops of all kinds are here. Furious building is going on. Planes arrive on schedule from all directions as though this were Chicago Airport – only they’ve come thousands of miles over water. Convoys unload unbelievable tonnages.
No more placidity
These islands will hum throughout the war and they will never return to their former placid life, for we are building on almost every inch of useable land. Supplies in staggering quantities are being stacked up here for future use. You can take your pick of K-rations or lumber or bombs, and you’d find enough of either to feed a city, build one, or blow it up.
Fleets can base here between engagements. Combat troops train here. Other troops come back to rest. Great hospitals are set up for our future wounded. Pipelines criss-cross the islands. Trucks bumper to bumper dash forward as though they were on the Western Front. Ox-cart trails turn almost overnight into four-lane macadam highways for military traffic.
No blackout
There is no blackout in the islands. If raiders come the lights are turned off, but they seldom come anymore. The Marianas are a pretty safe place now.
Great long macadam airstrips are in operation and others are being laid. The Marianas are the seat of some of our B-29 bomber fleets which will grow and grow and grow.
Thousands of square tents, thousands of curved steel Quonset huts, thousands of huge, permanent warehouses and office buildings dot the islands. Lights burn all night and the roar of planes, the clank of bulldozers, and the clatter of hammers is constant. It is a strange contrast to the stillness that dwelt amidst this greenery for so many centuries.
There are 15 islands in this chain, running due north and south. They string out a total distance of more than 400 miles. We are on the southern end.
Hold three islands
We only hold three islands, but they are the biggest and the only three that count. The other islands are completely “neutralized” by our occupancy of these three.
There are a few Japs living on some of the others, but there’s nothing they can do to harm us. The islands we haven’t bothered with are small and worthless. Most of them have no inhabitants at all.
The islands we took are Guam, Tinian and Saipan. Guam had been ours for many years before Japan took it away from just after Pearl Harbor. Tinian and Saipan had been Japanese since the last war. We took the whole batch last summer.
Guam is the biggest and southernmost. Tinian and Saipan are right together, 120 miles north of Guam. You can fly up there in less than an hour, and our transport planes shuttle back and forth several times daily on regular schedule. They have to make a “dog-leg” around the island of Rota, about halfway up for there are still Japs on it with 50-caliber machine guns, and they’ll shoot at you.
Monotonous paradise
I’ve been on all three of our islands, and I must admit two things – that I like it here, and that you can’t help but be thrilled by what the Americans are doing.
And from all I’ve picked up so far, I think it can be said that most Americans like the Marianas Islands, assuming they have to be away from home at all.
The savage heat and the dread diseases and the awful jungles of the more southern Pacific Islands do not exist here. The climate is good, the islands are pretty, and the native Chamorros are nice people.
Health conditions among our men are excellent. They work in shorts or without shirts and are deeply tanned. The mosquito and fly problem has been licked. There is almost no venereal disease. Food is good. The weather is always warm but not cruelly hot. Almost always a breeze is blowing. Anywhere you look, you have a pretty view.
Yes, the islands are a paradise and life here is fine – except it’s empty and there is no diversion and the monotony eventually gnaws at you.
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Zwei Flugzeugträger versenkt
Tokio, 22. Februar – Zwei Flugzeugträger und ein Kriegsschiff unbekannten Typs versenkt, zwei weitere Kriegsschiffe unbekannten Typs schwer beschädigt und auf Grund gesetzt, lautet der Inhalt des vom Kaiserlichen Hauptquartier am Donnerstag herausgegebenen Kommuniqués, welches weiter meldet, dass diese Erfolge von starken Einheiten der japanischen Marinesonderfliegerwaffe am Nachmittag des 21. Februar in den Gewässern der Iwojima-Inseln gegen dort operierende alliierte Kriegsschiffe erzielt werden konnten.
Das Kommuniqué betont weiter, dass Einheiten der japanischen Luftwaffe am zweiten Tage einen schweren alliierten Kreuzer in der Mindanaosee auf den Philippinen versenken konnten.
Bombenhagel auf Corregidor
Bern, 22. Februar – Während die philippinische Hauptstadt Manila in wochenlangem Kampf immer mehr zerstört wird, versuchen die Amerikaner sich von Westen her die Einfahrt in die Bai von Manila zu erzwingen.
Die enge Durchfahrtsstraße wird aber von der stärksten befestigten Felseninsel Corregidor gesperrt, auf der sich auch die Amerikaner nach ihrer Vertreibung von der Bataan-Halbinsel noch längere Zeit halten konnten. Zur Niederringung Corregidors setzen die Amerikaner die ganze geballte Übermacht ihrer Flotten- und Luftstreitkräfte ein.
Nachdem die Flottenbasis Cavite von der Landseite herangegangen worden war, wird sie noch immer solange unbenutzbar bleiben, als Corregidor die Einfahrt sperrt. Ein Versuch der Amerikaner, mit schnellen Kampfeinheiten an der Insel vorbeizustoßen, wurde von der japanischen Festungsartillerie vereitelt. Daraufhin mussten sich auch die zur Landung angesetzten Truppentransporter wieder zurückziehen.
Führer HQ (February 23, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Unser Angriff gegen den Rest-Brückenkopf der Bolschewisten am Gran machte trotz zähen feindlichen Widerstandes weitere Fortschritte.
An der schlesischen Front zwischen Zobten und Lauban drängt der Feind scharf nach Süden. Westlich Zobten und beiderseits Goldberg konnte er örtliche Einbrüche erzwingen. Bei Lauban schlugen unsere Truppen starke feindliche Panzerangriffe zurück. Der Versuch der Sowjets, unsere Front an der Neiße nach Westen zu durchbrechen, scheiterte unter hohen blutigen Verlusten für den Feind. Vorübergehend westlich der Neiße verlorenes Gelände wurde in Gegenangriffen zurückgewonnen.
Mit besonderem Nachdruck setzte der Feind seine Angriffe im Abschnitt zwischen Könitz und der Weichsel bei Mewe fort. Trotz vereinzelter Einbrüche wahrten unsere Truppen in erbitterten Kämpfen den Zusammenhalt der Front.
Im Kampf um die Ostfestungen fesseln unsere tapferen Besatzungen starke feindliche Kräfte. In die Südfront von Breslau konnte der Gegner geringfügig eindringen. Im Kernwerk von Posen und im Südteil von Graudenz toben schwere Kämpfe.
In Ostpreußen verhinderten unsere Divisionen nördlich Mehlsack und im Raum von Zinten weiterhin alle Durchbruchsversuche der Sowjets.
Auch südlich Libau und südlich Tuckum zerschlugen unsere bewährten Kurlandverbände gestern zusammengefasste starke Angriffe der Bolschewisten, vernichteten zahlreiche feindliche Panzer und entrissen dem Gegner in schwungvollen Gegenstößen vorübergehend verlorenes Gelände.
Niederländische Freiwillige der Waffen-SS hoben in überraschendem Vorstoß in Mittelholland einen feindlichen Stützpunkt aus und brachten zahlreiche Gefangene der 49. englischen Infanteriedivision ein.
Im Kampfraum von Goch zwangen unsere Gegenangriffe den erneut mit zusammengefassten Kräften angreifenden Feind zu Boden.
Nach schwerstem Artilleriefeuer sind in den heutigen Morgenstunden die 9. und Teile der 1. amerikanischen Armee an der Rur auf breiter Front zu dem erwarteten Großangriff angetreten.
An den Flanken unseres zur Oure vorspringenden Stellungsbogens dauern die heftigen Orts- und Bunkerkämpfe südwestlich Prüm und östlich Vianden an. In einzelnen Abschnitten konnten die auf breiter Front angreifenden Amerikaner unsere Truppen zurückdrücken. In mehreren Stützpunkten leisten eigene Kampfgruppen gegen den von allen Seiten anstürmenden Feind erbitterten Widerstand.
Die Straßenkämpfe in Forbach dauern an. Auf den Spicherer Höhen und im Vorfeld des Westwalls östlich davon wird um einzelne Bunkergruppen gekämpft.
Schnellboote griffen in der Nacht zum 22. Februar vor der englischen Ostküste einen stark gesicherten feindlichen Geleitzug an und versenkten aus ihm sieben Schiffe mit zusammen 21.500 BRT. Vier weitere Dampfer mit 11.000 BRT wurden torpediert. Mit ihrem Sinken kann ebenfalls gerechnet werden. Während harter Artilleriegefechte wurden außerdem zwei Frachter mit 4.000 BRT beschädigt. Die eigenen Boote kehrten vollzählig in ihren Stützpunkt zurück.
In Mittelitalien blieb der Erfolg der amerikanischen Verbände, die erneut den ganzen Tag über unsere Bergstellungen nordwestlich Poretta angriffen, auf einige kleine Einbrüche beschränkt.
In heftigen Luftkämpfen wurden über dem westlichen Reichsgebiet achtzehn anglo-amerikanische Tiefflieger abgeschossen.
Feindliche Terrorflieger warfen am gestrigen Tag Bomben auf zahlreiche Orte in West- und Nordwestdeutschland sowie Südbayern, Tirol und Vorarlberg. Britische Bomber griffen in der vergangenen Nacht die Reichshauptstadt an. Luftverteidigungskräfte brachten hierbei weitere 38 anglo-amerikanische Flugzeuge zum Absturz.
Im Kampf um Lauban hat sich eine Kompanie des Grenadierersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillons 318 unter Führung von Leutnant Gielnig durch besondere Standhaftigkeit ausgezeichnet. Sie vernichtete in zwei Tagen acht feindliche Panzer durch Nahkampfwaffen, wobei der Kompanieführer trotz Armprothese allein vier sowjetische Panzer durch „Panzerfaust“ abschoss.
Bei dem im heutigen Wehrmachtbericht gemeldeten erfolgreichen Angriff auf den feindlichen Geleitzug vor der englischen Küste zeichnete sich eine unter der Führung von Kapitänleutnant Holzapfel stehende Schnellbootgruppe besonders aus.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (February 23, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
231100A February
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. 321
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces have entered Moyland, southeast of Kleve. Our troops astride the Goch-Uedem railway have maintained their positions against strong enemy reactions.
Strongpoints, mortar and gun positions south of Kalkar and in the areas of Weeze, Kevelaer and Sonsbeck, and rail lines between Emmerich and Wesel were struck at by fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters.
An attempt by a large enemy patrol to cross the Roer River in the area east of Schmidt was broken up by our artillery.
East of the intersection of the Belgian-Luxembourg-German border we have cleared Binscheid. We have captured Lichtenborn, two miles to the east, and northeast of the town we have made gains eastward to within three-quarters of a mile of the Prüm River. To the south and southwest, Arzfeld, Irrhausen, Daleiden, and Dasburg have been taken. Forty more enemy pillboxes were knocked out by our forces in the area northeast of Dasburg.
We have taken Vianden and thus cleared the enemy entirely from Luxembourg. In the area east of Vianden we have captured Geichlingen and Obergeckler where we met very stiff resistance from enemy forces which employed tanks. In the Mettendorf area, a small enemy counterattack was repulsed.
Our elements have now cleared the enemy from the Saar-Moselle triangle, have taken the towns of Fellerich and Tawern and occupied the part of Saarburg west of the Saar River. Our units have made two crossings of the Saar in the area south of Saarburg. Serrig on the east side of the river, has been entered, and house-to-house fighting is in progress. Our troops east of the river in the vicinity of Taben are encountering enemy small arms and mortar fire.
Our troops made steady progress against stubborn resistance toward clearing Forbach. The two-thirds of the town is in our hands. In the vicinity of Stiring-Wendel, we cut the main Forbach-Saarbrücken highway.
To the east, gains up to 1,000 yards were made north of Spichern. Woods in the area were cleared and we took heights which give us observation of Saarbrücken.
An enemy railway gun, estimated to be firing from a distance of 25 miles shelled Saverne.
The enemy’s communications system was under very heavy and widespread air attack throughout yesterday, during which some 8,000 sorties were flown.
Medium, light and fighter-bombers struck at marshalling yards, rail junctions and other communications targets in northern Holland and from north to south over western Germany.
Escorted heavy bombers attacked communications over a wide area of central Germany and in southern Germany, Austria and northern Italy. Targets included viaducts at Bielefeld and Altenbeken near Badeborn and Benzol plants at Schloven and Osterfeld in the Ruhr.
Last night, Berlin was bombed by light bombers.
During the day, 39 enemy aircraft were shot down and 24 others were destroyed on the ground. Eight of our heavy bombers, five medium bombers, 21 light bombers and 40 fighters are missing according to reports so far received.
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 (February 23, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 273
The 28th Regiment of United States Marines was observed raising the United States Flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Island at 1035 today (East Longitude Date).
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CINCPOA Communiqué No. 274
The 28th Regiment of Marines on Iwo Island achieved the rim of Mount Suribachi on the Northern, Eastern and Western sides of the crater by 1200 today (East Longitude Date). Below on the steep slopes of the Volcano assault teams equipped with flamethrowers were still attacking numerous enemy strongpoints which had been bypassed. The drive which carried our forces to the summit was supported effectively by Marine artillery.
After a night in which their lines remained stable the troops in the northern sector made a frontal attack on enemy strongpoints and moved slowly toward the Central Iwo airfield. The enemy employing heavy artillery and mortar fire was offering stiff resistance.
By 1200 small gains had been made in the center of the lines south of the field.
Naval gunfire supported the troops throughout the night and morning. Heavy carrier aircraft attacks were made on enemy defenses during the morning. Meanwhile, carrier aircraft destroyed three planes and damaged three others on Chichi Jima in the Bonins.
Unloading continued on the beaches throughout the day. Several roads have now been constructed over the volcanic ash terraces and the movement of supplies to the front lines is improved.
Part of the northern beaches were subjected to mortar and sniper fire during the day.
During the night of February 22‑23, a group of enemy swimmers landed on the western coast of the island to attack in the rear of our lines. The Marines mopped them up after dawn.