Frisco-Krise und polnischer Zankapfel
…
US-Landung auf Okinawa
Tokio, 2. April – Die seit Tagen erwartete feindliche Landungsoperation gegen Okinawa, die Hauptinsel der Riukiugruppe, begann am Morgen des 1. April. Wie das Kaiserliche Hauptquartier am gleichen Tage dazu meldet, hat der Feind zunächst am 31. März einige Einheiten auf den benachbarten kleinen Inseln Kamiyama und Majima gelandet, und es gelang ihm dann am Morgen des nächsten Tages, im Südteil Okinawas Fuß zu fassen.
Gleichzeitig meldet das Hauptquartier weitere schwere Schiffsverluste des Feindes, und zwar zusätzlich zu denjenigen, welche bereits am 27., 29. und 31. März bekanntgegeben wurden. Demnach versenkten Einheiten der japanischen Luftwaffe und Flotte einen Flugzeugträger, zwei Kreuzer, zwei Zerstörer, drei Kriegsschiffe unbekannter Klasse, und beschädigten ein Schlachtschiff (oder schweren Kreuzer) so schwer, dass mit seinem Sinken gerechnet wird.
Weiterhin erzielten sie Treffer auf einem Schlachtschiff (oder Kreuzer), zwei Zerstörern, zwei Kriegsschiffen unbekannter Klasse, einem Transporter.
Somit belaufen sich die vom Kaiserlichen Hauptquartier gemeldeten feindlichen Verluste in der seit dem 23. März andauernden Invasionsschlacht in den Gewässern der Riukiugruppe auf 105 Kriegsschiffe und Transporter, von denen insgesamt 59 versenkt wurden.
Führer HQ (April 3, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Die Abwehrschlacht im Südabschnitt der Ostfront geht weiter. Südwestlich des Plattensees konnten die aus dem Raum Nagykanizsa angreifenden Sowjets tiefe Einbrüche erzielen. In der Grenzstellung zwischen der oberen Raab und Güns wehrten unsere Truppen alle Angriffe ab. Westlich des Neusiedlersees drangen feindliche Verbände trotz zähen Widerstandes unserer Divisionen bis in den Raum südlich Baden vor. Angriffe der Bolschewisten gegen den äußeren Verteidigungsring von Preßburg wurden abgeschlagen. Nordwestlich Tyrnau und beiderseits der Waag verstärkte sich der Druck der Sowjets nach Nordwesten.
In Oberschlesien nahm der Gegner seine Durchbruchsversuche zwischen Loslau und Jägerndorf wieder auf. Sie zerbrachen nach geringem Geländegewinn am zähen Widerstand unserer Truppen.
Gegen die Westfront von Breslau setzten die Bolschewisten ihre von Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützten Angriffe fort. Die tapfere Besatzung behauptete ihre Stellungen bis auf einen geringfügigen Einbruch.
Die seit dem 12. Februar eingeschlossene Besatzung der Festung Glogau hat unter Führung ihres Kommandanten Oberst Graf zu Eulenburg in mehr als sechswöchigen Kämpfen die wichtigen Oderübergänge für den Feind gesperrt und starke Kräfte der Sowjets gebunden. Auf engsten Raum zusammengedrängt, wurden die tapferen Verteidiger nach Verschuss der letzten Munition vom Gegner überwältigt.
An der Danziger Bucht hält der Ansturm der Bolschewisten in der Oxhöfter Kämpe und in der westlichen Weichselniederung mit unverminderter Stärke an. Gegen unsere tapfer kämpfende Truppe, die von leichten und schweren Seestreitkräften bei Tag und Nacht wirksam unterstützt wurde, konnte der Feind trotz stärksten Materialeinsatzes nur geringen Geländegewinn erzielen.
In Kurland blieben zahlreiche bataillonsstarke Angriffe der Sowjets nordwestlich Dohlen erfolglos.
Im Niederrhein-Yssel-Dreieck wie zwischen Zutphen und Rheine kam es gestern zu heftigen Abwehrkämpfen gegen starke Kampfgruppen der Engländer, die nach Norden und Nordosten vorstoßen. Feindliche Angriffe am Teutoburgerwald beiderseits Tecklenburg blieben im Abwehrfeuer unserer Höhenstellungen liegen. Südlich Bielefeld ist den Amerikanern ein tieferer Einbruch in Richtung auf Herfort gelungen.
Unsere an der Sieg und am Rothaargebirge kämpfenden Divisionen wehrten eine Reihe feindlicher Angriffe teilweise in Gegenstößen ab und vernichteten nordöstlich Winterberg eine schnelle Abteilung des Gegners. Zahlreiche Panzer, Panzerspähwagen und Motorfahrzeuge wurden vernichtet oder erbeutet.
Im Raum von Warburg und der Werra nördlich Eisenach hält der Druck des Gegners an. In Kassel konnten die Amerikaner nach heftigen Kämpfen eindringen. An der oberen Werra zerschlugen Eingreifverbände feindliche Panzerspitzen bei Wasungen und Meiningen. Ein ungarisches Panzerjagdkommando hat dabei allein sieben feindliche Panzer mit der Panzerfaust vernichtet. Im Raum von Fulda und an der Kinzig südöstlich davon brachten unsere Truppen Angriffe im wesentlichen an den östlichen Flussufern zum Stehen.
Aus dem Spessart vorstoßend, haben die Amerikaner erneut den Main bei Lohr erreicht, während sie vor unseren Stellungen westlich Würzburg Bad Mergentheim liegen blieben. Zwischen Wimpfen am Neckar und Bruchsal konnte der Feind einige Einbrüche erzwingen, doch wurde der in der Rheinebene südwestlich Germersheim angreifende Gegner abgewiesen und verlor dabei zahlreiche Panzer.
Stärkere Verbände unserer Luftwaffe griffen in die Kämpfe im Westen ein, fügten den feindlichen Truppen- und Nachschubbewegungen empfindliche Verluste zu und schossen in heftigen Luftkämpfen zehn Flugzeuge ab.
In Italien drangen die Briten nach starkem Artilleriefeuer aijf der Landbrücke zwischen der Adria und dem Comacchiosee in unsere Stellungen ein, blieben dann aber im zusammengefassten Abwehrfeuer liegen.
Amerikanische Bomberverbände richteten bei Einflügen in das südostdeutsche Gebiet Schäden besonders in Graz, St. Pölten und Krems an. In der Nacht griffen die Briten die Reichshauptstadt an.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 3, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
031100A April
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. 360
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces north and west of Emmerich continue to make good progress and in some areas have reached points 15 miles north of the Dutch-German border. Farther north, the line of the Twente Canal has been reached. To the east, we captured Enschede and reached the outskirts of Rheine. East of the Dortmund-Ems Canal, our troops are fighting in the Ibbenbüren and Lengerich areas.
North of the Lippe River, our armor reached Lippstadt and made substantial gains to the north and east. Our forces are consolidating their positions and closing in on the sides of the Ruhr Pocket. Our armor cleared Paderborn and infantry units advancing west reached Altenrüthen southwest of Paderborn.
Farther south, our units are clearing the enemy from the vicinity of Winterberg and Langewiese, and from the woods four miles southwest of Bad Berleburg.
We are fighting in Siegen and repulsed a counterattack at Netphen, northeast of Siegen. East of the Ruhr Pocket our units repulsed a tank supported counterattack north of Warburg and reached Peckelsheim and Borgentreich. We are fighting in the outskirts of Kassel and our units have reached the vicinity of Helsungen, 12 miles to the south.
Resistance southeast of Kassel along the east bank of the Fulda River continues to be strong. Our armor crossed the Fulda River and reached the Werra River at a point 17 miles northwest of Eisenach. Other armored elements reached a point three miles northwest of Eisenach. Our infantry entered Fulda and very severe street fighting is in progress.
Armored units which bypassed Fulda on the south, advanced 25 miles eastward to the area of Mittelsdorf and Kaltennordheim. Farther east, our armor reached the Werra River at a point two miles north of the Meiningen. Our units continue to mop up in the area north and northeast of Frankfurt. Groups of the enemy are ambushing supply lines along the autobahn.
Northeast of Aschaffenburg, we drove 12 miles to Bad Orb where some 6,500 Allied personnel were released from an enemy prisoner of war camp. Hard fighting continued in Aschaffenburg which is almost completely destroyed. Substantial advances were made northwest of Würzburg.
To the southeast we are along the Main River almost to Marktbreit. The Giebelstadt airfield south of Wurzburg was captured.
In the drive up the Neckar River, our armor and infantry reached the vicinity of Bad wimpfen, eight miles north of Heilbronn. South of Heidelberg, approximately 100 anti-tank and other artillery pieces were knocked out in heavy fighting. Our advance in this area has reached Unteröwisheim and we are near Bruchsal.
Allied forces in the west captured 12,446 prisoners 1 April.
Fortified buildings and strongpoints at Aschaffenburg; Eppingen, east of Bruchsal; Göttingen, northeast of Ulm, and ammunition dumps east of Heilbronn and near Schwabisch Hall were hit by fighter-bombers. Barracks, supply and motor transport maintenance installations in the Stuttgart area; and at Böblingen and Tübingen, southwest of Stuttgart were attacked by medium bombers.
Road and rail transport in Holland, in the Osnabrück area, and farther to the east between Chemnitz and Dresden were attacked by fighter bombers and rocket-firing fighters. Other rocket-firing fighters hit a gun position and strong points near Arnhem.
Targets in Berlin and Magdeburg as well as enemy communications over a wide area of Holland and Northwest Germany were attacked last night by light bombers.
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 (April 3, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 320
The Marine III Amphibious Corps and the XXIV Army Corps made rapid gains in all sectors of the lines on Okinawa Island on April 3 (East Longitude Date). In the north, the Marines advanced generally from 4,000 to 6,000 yards reaching the East Coast near Katchin Peninsula and cutting it off. Units of the 7th Infantry Division which had reached the eastern shore of Okinawa the previous day moved southward along the shore of Katsurin Bay on the east coast from a point near the town of Takaesu to Kuba Town. Our front lines in the southern sector at nightfall of April 3, approximated a line from Kuba Town in the east to Chiyunna in the west. Resistance throughout the day was negligible. The advancing troops were supported by gunfire from heavy units of the Fleet. Ships’ guns and carrier aircraft shot down 11 enemy planes during the day. Unloading of supplies continues satisfactorily.
Fast carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet attacked targets in the Sakishima Group on April 3.
On March 30-31, Corsair and Hellcat fighters, Helldiver bombers, and Avenger torpedo planes from carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet supporting the Okinawa operation inflicted the following damage on enemy forces in the Ryukyus:
Aircraft:
- Seventeen shot out of the air.
- Five destroyed on the ground.
- Nineteen damaged in the air and on the ground.
Shipping:
SUNK:
- Three motor torpedo boats.
- Two small cargo ships.
- Nine small craft.
PROBABLY SUNK:
- One small cargo ship.
- Four small craft.
DAMAGED:
- One motor torpedo boat.
- Four small cargo ships.
- One lugger.
- Fourteen small craft.
INSTALLATIONS:
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Six submarine pens at Unten Bay, Okinawa, destroyed and another heavily damaged.
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Mills, barracks, bridges, radio stations, pillboxes, buildings, docks, gun positions and covered revetments destroyed or damaged on Okinawa.
Other installations on Tokuno, Amami, Kikai and Minami, Daito Islands, heavily hit.
Installations on Marcus Island were bombed on April 2 by Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force.
Planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked buildings, vehicles and barges in and around the Palau Islands on April 3.
During the week ending March 31, 69 Japanese were killed and 13 taken prisoner by U.S. patrols on Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas.
Navy Search Aircraft of Fleet Air Wing Two made neutralizing attacks on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls on April 2.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 3, 1945)
Allies capture Muenster – Tanks near Weser River
Patton’s Third Army smashes into Gotha, 150 miles from Berlin
…
Japs digging in on Okinawa
Yanks split island, move within 6 miles of its capital city
The Yanks on Okinawa today sliced the Jap island in two, widened their hold on Nakagusuku Bay, secured Zampa Cape and moved within six miles of the capital, Naha. Allied observation planes were already using Yontan and Kadena airfields, and early use of the fields by fighters and bombers was forecast.
GUAM (UP) – Army invasion troops who sliced Okinawa in two with a six-mile dash to the east coast widened their hold on the vital Nakagusuku Bay anchorage to at least three miles today and still were advancing.
Other units of Maj. Gen. John R. Hodges’ XXIV Army Corps advanced south along the west coast to within a little more than six miles of Naha, capital of Okinawa, in the first hard fighting of the three-day-old invasion.
Indications grew that the Japs were preparing to defend a line across the narrow isthmus just above Naha. The Japs were reported “digging in.”
Marines at the northern end of the Tenth Army’s front broadened the west coast beachhead to at least 10 miles with an advance of more than a mile.
The Marines cleaned out and secured Zampa Cape and sent an armored spearhead along the coastal highway to the north.
Casualties continued astonishingly light on both sides.
The XXIV Corps’ push to the east coast gave the Americans a wide corridor from which to attack either north or south. It also secured a foothold on all vital north-south communications.
United Press reporter Edward L. Thomas said the first doughboys reached the beaches of Awasi Harbor near Tobaru Village at 3 a.m. yesterday. They had achieved in 36 hours what the original invasion schedule said might take more than five days. Awasi Harbor lies at the northern end of Nakgusuku Bay and today the troops were probing forward out of the peninsula.
Mr. Thomas said the troops sliced through meager Jap resistance “like a hot knife through butter” in their dash to the east coast.
It was indicated that the troops had seized control of the northern face of the Awasi hill mass dominating the Bisha Gawa Valley and territory to the north. The victory firmly anchored the American beachhead 362 miles southwest of Japan proper.
Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger’s III Marine Amphibious Corps extended the west coast beachhead another 3,000 yards to the north by pushing across the base of Zampa Cape to the approaches of 770-foot Yontan Zan peak.
Observation planes were operating from Yontan and Kadena airfields captured in the first hours of the invasion. Engineers were rushing repairs to the fields to permit their use by fighters and bombers.
Reinforcements pour in
The 1,400-ship invasion fleet continued to pour reinforcements of men, tanks, guns and supplies across the invasion beaches unmolested while 1,500 carrier planes shuttled protectively overhead.
Warships in the armada joined carrier planes in supporting the ground forces, hurling everything from 16-inch shells to flaming rockets into already-burning Naha and other enemy strongpoints.
Jap planes made a feeble attack on the invasion armada Sunday night and five were shot down. A Jap communiqué claimed that 13 more U.S. warships had been sunk and 17 damaged.
A CBS correspondent broadcasting from the fleet and Tokyo claims that 150 ships had been sunk since the start of the invasion operations were just about 99.44 percent wrong.
Though the Jap communiqué obviously was exaggerated, there was no inclination at Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’s Pacific Fleet headquarters here to write off Okinawa as already won. On the contrary, hard fighting was anticipated as the invaders come to grips with the enemy garrison totaling 60,000 to 80,000 troops.
The Jap commander was expected to fight desperately to gain time while Japan itself rushes construction of anti-invasion defenses. Next on the American invasion schedule may be Japan itself.
Big fight ahead, Navy warns
WASHINGTON (UP) – A Navy spokesman voiced surprise today at the “amazingly light” U.S. casualties on Okinawa. But he warned that when the Japs come out of hiding, they will fight as fanatically as on Saipan and Iwo Jima.
The official said the bulk of the Jap defenders probably would be encountered as U.S. forces drove southward.
Finished as a nation –
Bombs, shells ruin Germany for decades
‘Supermen’ are sick mentally, physically
By Jack Fleischer, United Press staff writer
…
Germans trigger-happy –
U.S. general shot as he surrenders
Aide tells of death of hero Maurice Rose
…
Much friendlier than expected –
Okinawa civilians prove docile, most respectful to Americans
By William McGaffin
WITH THE U.S. TENTH ARMY ON OKINAWA (April 2, delayed) – The civilians of Okinawa are friendly.
That has been our experience to date with the hundreds who are coming into our lines, bowing respectfully, with grave faces that break into smiles when we smile at them.
It is my guess that the docile attitude of the 1,200 or more whom I saw this afternoon will be typical of the entire civilian population here. There are approximately 450,000 of them.
Through an interpreter I talked with a group of civilians. They were Yakusho Imi Yakusho – farmers – from villages we have overrun in our sensational two-day advance. Among them were a 35-year-old man with his wife, three children and 81-year-old father.
The husband, barefoot and dressed in a blue kimono and American style snap-brim felt hat, said Okinawa was “overjoyed” because the Americans had come, although they were very frightened at first of “bakugeki imi bakugeki” – which was their words for “bombing by planes.”
Few had been injured, however. They had taken refuge in caves, heeding our pamphlet warning three days before the landing.
Three and a half million pamphlets were dropped, instructing the natives in Japanese to clear out of the towns and stay away from the airfields because we were going to bomb and shell them. On the reverse side was conveyed in picture language – a huge fleet of U.S. planes and ships of all types converging on Okinawa.
Many civilians came in with pamphlets clutched in their hands. Their eyes still were wide with astonishment. They said they never had seen so many ships and planes before.
Provost Marshal Lt. Col. Floyd Stephenson of Washington, D.C., said:
They are coming in much faster than we expected. We thought they’d be hostile or at least critical and distrustful of us. After all their only word about us has come from the Japanese.
The colonel said:
But they are not real Japanese. They have a heavy Chinese strain. The Jap overlords made them very conscious of their “inferior” position. All they have known has been years of oppression. It is possible they resent this more than we expected.
The Jap military went off leaving these people without food or water. They said until we came, they had had none for 10 days.
Fed by Americans
I watched a long line of them getting some of the K-rations that our troops are eating. Most of them were barefoot and in kimonos. Invariably each one, whether a two-year-old, or a gray-bearded elder, would bow politely to the Marine as the package of K-ration was doled out.
And each time the Marine solemnly bowed back.
The Marines say that “they are very simple and amiable and always think of the old folks first.”
Many civilians are still hiding fearfully in caves, but they come out without making trouble when our men go up to the entrances and talk to them. There have been no acts of sabotage.
Perkins: CIO opposes super priority for veterans
Murray cites peril in island of security
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
…
Jap in a cave
WITH XXIV CORPS, Okinawa Island – One American patrol found their first Okinawa civilian today – behind a cedar chest in a cave. The civilian was not over four feet tall, barefooted and dressed only in a dark blue kimono.