America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

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He knew about the invasion –
Super-secret of the war kept by a sergeant major!

Canadian finds vital paper in Citadel after last Roosevelt-Churchill conference

Québec, Canada (UP) –
Military authorities admitted today that a mere sergeant major of the Canadian Army shared with the Allied High Command what was for months the super-secret of the war – the plans for the invasion of Normandy.

The hero of this drama was Sgt. Maj. Émile Couture, a French-Canadian, whose job it was to issue stationery at last year’s Québec Conference of Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt.

Imbued with the French sense of economy, he was making an inspection of the conference quarters at the conclusion of the meeting to collect unused paper. In one of the rooms of the Chateau Frontenac, then as now the working and residential headquarters for the Anglo-American military staffs, Couture found an interesting memorandum.

The moment he read it, he was transported from his prosaic role of a garrison wheelhorse into the inner councils of the high and mighty. Couture gasped. It was in black and white – the alternative dates for the invasion of Normandy, the number of troops to be employed, how they would be transported in so many ships and how they would be supported from the air and sea.

The operational outline for the boldest, most difficult campaign of the war, was in HIS hands – a sergeant major!

Couture jammed the paper into an envelope and made with all haste to Canadian Army District Headquarters at the Citadel. There, an officer examined them. He uttered the French equivalent of “Wow!”

Given British medals

Couture and an officer were taken secretly to Washington. There in the inner sanctum of the top strategists – perhaps the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff – they turned over the paper and took a solemn oath of secrecy.

Couture discovered the memorandum in the conference room of the chiefs of staff. It was said to have belonged to an American general. There was a report that the general had been relieved of his duties but there was no one in authority here who knew anything about it.

For his scrupulous observance of the oath, Sgt. Maj. Couture received the Medal of the British Empire. The officer, Maj. C. E. Gerney, was also decorated.

‘Better not talk!’

L’Action Catholique, one of Canada’s most influential newspapers, first revealed the story of Couture’s secret. The public relations officers of the local military district confirmed it.

Today Sgt. Maj. Couture was not available for interviews. Explained an officer:

If he talks, he’ll be tossed in the guardhouse and the key will be thrown away.

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Hurricane heading toward North Carolina

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1235

Roosevelt reports –
Québec plans tied in with Russia, China

Pacific commander is being debated

Québec, Canada (UP) –
President Roosevelt stressed today that the war plans being worked out in conferences here with Prime Minister Winston Churchill are being coordinated with those of all the Allies, “particularly the Chinese and the Russians.”

From the Citadel, where the President, the Prime Minister and their combined chiefs of staff are in “Victory Conference,” Mr. Roosevelt authorized Stephen T. Early, his secretary, to say in the President’s name:

This is a conference to get the best we can out of the combined British and United States war efforts in the Pacific and in Europe. We are working in consonance with the situation in China, the Pacific and in Europe, coordinating our efforts and those of our Allies, particularly the Chinese and the Russians.

Super-command studied

The statement tied in with the basic Pacific theme of the meeting and discussions on establishment of a new super-command to direct the final assaults on the Jap homeland.

Mr. Roosevelt was believed to be urging the selection of a U.S. naval officer – probably either Adm. Ernest J. King (commander of the U.S. Fleet) or Adm. Chester W. Nimitz (now the top commander in the Central Pacific) to head such a new command.

Mr. Early at a news conference said he had no information on the command situation.

Land is on hand

Also fitting in with the Pacific theme of this meeting was the announcement that RAdm. Emory S. Land, head of the U.S. Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration, would join the meeting in a day or so. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. is also coming here from Washington.

The manner in which the President described the overall purposes of the conference here opened new fields of speculation on the question of whether the Pacific allies expect Russian help in finishing off Japan.

Mr. Roosevelt’s mention of Europe made clear that the talks here are not confined to the Pacific, but involve a broader view of the war. There was, however, no way of telling whether the coordination with Russia to which he referred involved only the climactic phase of the war in Europe, or extended also to the war in the Pacific.

End this weekend

Mr. Early said he expected the Anglo-American war talks to conclude this weekend, but he was not specific as to a day. The “Victory Conference” probably will end with a joint statement by the President and the Prime Minister.

Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill were together until a late hour last night and started their conferences again at 11:30 this morning, sitting down in the broad-windowed “map room” of the President’s overlooking the St. Lawrence and examining the war plans submitted by their staff chiefs.

The question of top command was the leading issue of the conference.

British favor MacArthur

Officials said the British were inclined to favor Gen. Douglas MacArthur for the post of Supreme Commander and there was some support for him in the American staff, too. But the President was understood to want a Navy man.

The top post is certain to go to an American because most of the power brought against Japan will be American – although Britain will send more ships, men and planes to the Far East when Germany is whipped, and China’s manpower will be armed increasingly.

Underlying the command question is that of whether the main drive against Japan is to be keyed to naval or to land operations. And there again Mr. Roosevelt was believed to side with the Navy view.

Stilwell to be prominent

Obviously, the ultimate destruction of Japanese power at home and in Asia will require great use of land and air as well as naval and amphibious forces. MacArthur is assured of a continuing prominent place. Mr. Roosevelt will be able to fulfill his promise to return to the Philippines. That may occur soon, and MacArthur probably will go on from there.

Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell’s forces in China will play an increasingly important role when more supplies can be delivered to them. And the British, with their special interests in recapturing Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong, will be in there.

But the prospect now is that these operations will be keyed to a massive seaborne assault – probably to the China coast and then northward.

Perhaps bearing significantly on the decisions being made here was the announcement in Washington that Mr. Roosevelt had nominated Adm. Nimitz to be a full admiral in his own right. Adm. Nimitz now holds the rank only by virtue of his command of the Pacific Fleet. Such nominations usually presage a change in command for the man involved.

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Screenshot 2022-06-20 213810

Simms: Stalin absence complicates Québec talks

Our war with Japs hinges on Russia
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

Québec, Canada –
The absence of the Soviet Union from the Roosevelt-Churchill conference here complicates the job tremendously. It is like planning the invasion of France without knowing whether or not we could use Britain as a base of operations.

Of course, this is not Russia’s fault. On the contrary, it would have been folly for her to attack Japan while fighting for her life 5,000 miles away against Germany. and to have permitted us to use her Siberian bases would have been tantamount to a declaration of war against Nippon.

But the war in Europe is now drawing to a close. Russia therefore may soon regain her freedom of action in Asia before the Pacific and Far Eastern plans now being made here can be put into practice.

What bases to use?

In any plan of campaign against Japan, the first problem is how to get at her. We have to decide whether to attack her from aircraft carriers or from land bases. If land bases, the question is, what bases? Outside Siberia, Japan holds all the nearby bases and before we can use them, we must capture them.

Thus, the planning of our invasion of Europe was comparatively simple Britain was at hand as an ideal base.

If we could use the maritime provinces of Siberia similarly in our war against the other end of the Axis, the calculations here at Québec would be immensely simplified. Vladivostok is only 600 miles from Tokyo. Siberia envelops Manchuria, which is vital to the Japanese war efforts, on three sides. With Russia in – if only because we could use Siberian bases – the war in the Pacific would be shortened by months at least and innumerable lives saved.

Situation is anomalous

Another irony of the situation here is that today at Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, Russia, Britain and America are putting the finishing touches on a tentative plan for world security against post-war aggression. The Big Four, including China, have agreed to the use of force, if necessary, to check outlaw states. For Russia to refuse to help stop the Japanese aggression now, once Nazi Germany is knocked out, would just about rob the Dumbarton Oaks formula of its validity.

Thus, while Marshal Stalin is absent from the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting here, Russia cannot be left out of the picture. She will remain the big question mark hovering over the conference.

It is hardly too much to say that were Germany to surrender soon, and allow Russia to change her policy in Asia, most of the military planning here would at once become obsolete. That is, unless two alternate sets of plans are drawn up.

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Allies to south cut German escape paths

Thousands of enemy trapped in south
By Eleanor Packard, United Press staff writer

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Promotion of Bradley approved by Senate

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Belgian King, family carried off to Germany

Trickery of Nazis disclosed by priest
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance

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1239

Allies, Romania sign armistice

Moscow, USSR (UP) –
An armistice agreement was signed by Romania and Russia yesterday. It marked the first time the three major Allies have jointly formulated terms for a defeated mutual enemy.

Unlike the Italian armistice, of which the Russians were informed and consulted at long distance, the Romanian terms were drawn up in face-to-face discussions among Soviet and Anglo-American representatives. They reached a full understanding before the terms were submitted to the Romanians.

Signs for three powers

Another innovation was the fact that Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky, one of the two Soviet conquerors of Romania, signed the agreement on behalf of Russia, the United States and Britain.

The terms were not disclosed and may not be for some time, although there was no reason to believe they were harsh.

The Romanian commission, which left Moscow today, declined to comment, but indicated its satisfaction and intimated the Allies had been generous.

Fight side by side

Various representatives of the United Nations attended the nearly two weeks of discussions, including U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman.

Signing of the agreement facilitated full coordination of the Soviet and Romanian armies, who have been fighting side-by-side since Aug. 23, when Romania capitulated and King Michael declared war against Germany.

An Ankara broadcast, reported by London newspapers, said the terms included return of Bessarabia and Bucovina to Russia; Romania to furnish transport of Soviet troops through Romania; payment of indemnities to Russia; Soviet control of Romania for the duration of military operations; Russian support to Romanian claims for Transylvania.

Million residents evacuated from Tokyo

By the United Press

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Kirkpatrick: French living cost has risen 190 percent

Problem is headache to new government
By Helen Kirkpatrick

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Hitlerites shamed in Luxembourg

Six fat men marched to jail in capital

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Yanks drive along end of Gothic Line

Gain on west coast of Italian front

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Gorrell: French cheers for Yanks change to German chill

Children Heil Hitlering Americans across border are shooed away by their mothers
By Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer

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Hull urges France be given a voice

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1243

Poll: Governor Dewey retains lead in Midwest

Candidate to confer with party leaders
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

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1244

Doomed miner’s log tells how 65 waited for death

Step-by-step loss of oxygen recorded on scrap of paper found near man’s body

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Nazi ‘baby factories’ found in Belgium

Eupen, Belgium (UP) –
A number of elaborate German “baby factories” – nursing homes for children born out of wedlock to French, Belgian and German women and SS officers and men – have been found evacuated in this area.

The homes were provided by Minister of the Interior Heinrich Himmler and the practice of having children out of wedlock was encouraged, particularly in the case of SS regiments which were considered the finest in the German Army.

After birth, mothers were given a choice of keeping the babies or turning them over as wards of the Third Reich.

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Was Pat patted?
Dorsey, wife to surrender on assault charges today

And long about Christmas the hilarious details of party will be told
By Frederick C. Othman, United Press staff writer

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1246

Army officials disavow questionnaire given G.I.’s

Check on soldiers’ attitudes called ‘amateurish’ and without authority
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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americavotes1944

Perkins: Lewis vs. Roosevelt debate touched off at UMW’s convention

Routine program disrupted as fiery words fly thick and fast and pro and con
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Cincinnati, Ohio –
John Mascaro, a delegate to the United Mine Workers Convention from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, touched off a hot floor debate today on the outstanding issue of whether the union’s rank-and-file should follow John L. Lewis in opposing a fourth term for President Roosevelt.

The Canonsburg delegate objected to repeated criticisms by the leadership of the Roosevelt administration.

Mr. Mascaro said:

We lost President Lewis for his courageous leadership, but we will not turn down the savior of humanity – the man who opened the gates to union organization and allowed us to build this great union.

The boys fighting this war want him, and the rank-and-file of miners want him.

Tom Farmer, Negro delegate from Morgantown, West Virginia, took the opposite side, saying: “We’ll follow Lewis, not Roosevelt.”

‘No bread under GOP’

Another Pennsylvania delegate, George Gernot, from Adah Local 6548, declared:

We are 100 percent behind John L. Lewis, but the people in our state haven’t forgotten how they couldn’t get a piece of bread under the last Republican administration.

Ralph Bartimioli, also from the Adah local, wanted to know, “What is this – a political convention or a United Mine Worker convention?”

Discussions was finally stopped by a motion to resume regular business. Applause for the two points of view seemed about equal.

Officers’ report adopted

A heated debate followed a charge by Frank Hefferly, president of UMW District 13, that the government had exceeded its authority “by permitting the War Manpower Commission to regiment United Mine Workers and the people of this country when Congress refused to give that authority to the President.”

Mr. Hefferly said:

You go to the polls next November and apply the real remedy by voting this administration out of power.

After the debate subsided the delegates unanimously adopted the officers’ report.

Meanwhile, it was learned that the leadership of the United Mine Workers is preparing a blast against President Roosevelt that will be even more startling than the charge of John L. Lewis yesterday that the President is a party to efforts to “dethrone” him.

The new attack, according to men close to Mr. Lewis, will be cut loose during the convention here of 2,500 delegates, before whom Mr. Lewis yesterday demonstrated that he is still an effective orator.

‘Rebels’ assailed

In this speech, the self-called “old man” – he is 63 – used all the stops of his pipe-organ voice in his old-time form. He skillfully placed himself on a par with the man in the mines, drew ovation after ovation, and apparently killed off any chance of success of efforts within his union to challenge his leadership of his policies.

Under one of these policies, now under attack, the district officers in more than half of the mine worker empire are appointed by Mr. Lewis and are not voted upon by the rank-and-file.

Ray Edmundson, former president of the Illinois District (there is a disagreement as to whether he resigned or was ousted) is the spearhead of the home-rule forces here.

And it was obvious to Mr. Edmundson, sitting in the back of the crowded hall, that Mr. Lewis was speaking of him when he said “no lace-pantied gigolo is going to dethrone John L., in his own organization.”

Nobody seems to know why Mr. Lewis chose this way of referring to Mr. Edmundson, who is a big, handsome fellow, fairly young, whose he-man belligerency doesn’t check with that description.

Just before that, Mr. Lewis had confided to the delegates in a tone that taxed the loudspeaker system:

Browder, Hillman and Roosevelt hired a man to come down here and throw out the old man. They gave him some money and he put out some pamphlets and he had himself interviewed by the newspapers.

Mr. Lewis referred to Sidney Hillman, head of the CIO Political Action Committee, as “a Russian pants maker,” and included him and Mr. Roosevelt among the owners of “smug faces” he would like to confound with a recital of the coal miners’ production and military performances in this war.

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americavotes1944

Foes of no-strike pledge boo Murray’s plea to UAW

‘Antis’ stage demonstration after CIO chief warns war workers against complacency
By Ray de Crane, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Grand Rapids, Michigan –
Continued adherence to the “no strike” pledge by the biggest labor union in the world was still in doubt here today as the CIO United Auto Workers convention entered its third day.

In what is believed to be the first time since he became president of the CIO, Philip Murray was booed as he spoke from the convention platform. The boos, outweighed by the applause, came as Mr. Murray made his first reference to the pledge, given President Roosevelt 10 days after Pearl Harbor.

‘Still lives to be lost’

Mr. Murray made an impassioned plea for continuation of the pledge. “Let’s not be overly complacent about the war,” he warned as he pointed out that “had the war been lost, you would have had no union today.”

“There is still blood to be spilled; still some lives to be lost,” he reminded delegates, many of whom wore the slogan “smash the pledge” on the backs of their shirts.

Nevertheless, as soon as Mr. Murray sat down, a demonstration was set off and advocates of rescinding the promise waved placards and started marching.

Apparently fearing the effect of Mr. Murray’s remarks, the “antis” deferred debate on the question until today.

PAC defended

Devoting much of his address to the Political Action Committee, Mr. Murray asserted the unionists had been “castigated and scandalized in the public prints” since establishment of the committee.

He declared:

It’s all right for Hearst and Scripps-Howard to convert their papers into veritable scandal sheets disseminating vicious lies. There’s not a group in the country that doesn’t have its own PAC. There never has been a time when your organization has been subject to more malicious deviltry, more diabolical abuse. There are some intrenched interests in the United States hellbent on your destruction.

Unveiling for the first time the CIO’s post-war program “to provide work for millions for generations to come,” Mr. Murray called for:

An expanded aircraft industry, greater development of the auto industry, thorough modernization of the railroad systems and elimination of all grade crossings, a network of superhighways to be supported by federal assistance, reinstitution of a slum clearance program to eliminate all slums within 10 years after the war, replacement of obsolete industrial plants with modern buildings, an integrated system of dams and hydroelectric power plants to provide cheap electric rates and to control floods, and extension of foreign trade so that standards of living both at home and abroad can be raised.

Seniority for servicemen

Earlier, the convention ordered incorporated into all its future UAW-CIO contracts seniority guarantees for returning servicemen.

The program provides that persons employed before entering military service not only retain seniority but accumulate seniority while in service.

A resolution endorsing the Roosevelt-Truman candidacy was passed unanimously.

Ickes likens Dewey to Goebbels

Grand Rapids, Michigan (UP) –
Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, ripping into recent Republican campaign utterances, said last night that Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s charge that the administration plans to keep soldiers in the Army longer than necessary “is as false as any ever promulgated by Goebbels.”

He accused the GOP presidential nominee of “deceitful doubletalk indulged in recklessly in the hope of deceiving the voters.”

Addressing the convention of the International Union of United Auto, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (CIO), Mr. Ickes also assailed the Republican attitude on campaign contributions by organized labor.

He said:

The right to contribute seems to be regarded by the Deweyites as the exclusive right of the rich.

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Editorial: No field for boondoggling

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Editorial: Eisenhower closes in

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Editorial: An employer to labor

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Ferguson: Agitators

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

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