The Pittsburgh Press (April 12, 1945)
Yanks storm over Elbe on last lap to Berlin
Patton gains 46 miles reaching supply area for Nazis’ east front
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Patton’s in the open again – speed surprises even G.I.’s
By Robert Richards, United Press staff writer
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Nazis surrender historic Weimar
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Jap artillery slows Yanks on Okinawa
Drenching rains also handicap campaign
In the Far Pacific today:
(1) Some 400 Superfortresses and escorting fighters pounded Tokyo and Koriyama. A German dispatch said carrier planes raided Formosa.\(2) U.S. forces moving towards Naha, capital of Okinawa, were checked by Jap artillery and mortars.
(3) U.S. Marines made small gains on Ishikawa Peninsula of Okinawa.
GUAM (UP) – The stalemated battle on southern Okinawa went into the fourth day today with heavy enemy mortar and artillery fire still checking the American drive on the capital city of Naha.
A Domei dispatch reported that about 80 U.S. carrier planes raided northern Formosa for two hours today. Formosa lies off the southwestern tip of the Ryukyus, of which Okinawa is the principal island.
Front reports from Okinawa said the American drive was also hampered by drenching rains, which stalled motorized equipment and bogged down foot troops of the XXIV Army Corps.
Marines gain in north
Marines made some advances on Ishikawa Peninsula in the north.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, meanwhile, disclosed that Army troops completed the occupation yesterday of Tsugen Island, off the east coast of Okinawa and dominating Okinawa’s Nakagusuku Bay.
Yanks lose 432 killed
Adm. Nimitz also revealed that U.S. casualties in the first nine days of the campaign totaled 2,695, of which 432 were killed, 2,103 wounded and 160 missing. The count of Jap dead on Okinawa totaled 5,009 through Sunday.
U.S. carrier planes, naval gunfire and Marine and Army artillery were steadily supporting the ground forces on Okinawa, where front reports described the battle as approaching the level of the bloody Iwo campaign. U.S. troops were encountering heavily-mined roads and fields and hundreds of deep caves in ridges, which have to be cleared out one by one. Some of the caves are two stories deep.
Casualties near 900,000 mark
WASHINGTON (UP) – Total U.S. combat casualties rose to within 610 of an even 900,000 today.
The total announced by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, includes only those casualties thus far officially compiled and announced here. It was 899,390, an increase of 6,481 over a week ago.
This was the smallest seven-day increase in many weeks.
The overall figure included 802,685 Army and 96,705 Navy casualties.
The casualty figures:
| Army | Navy | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killed | 159,267 | 37,402 | 196,669 |
| Wounded | 489,256 | 44,444 | 533,700 |
| Missing | 86,648 | 10,605 | 97,253 |
| Prisoners | 67,514 | 4,254 | 71,768 |
| TOTALS | 802,685 | 96,705 | 899,390 |
Of the Army wounded, 250,192 have returned to duty.
U.S. submarine lost with 65 aboard
WASHINGTON (UP) – The Navy today announced loss of the submarine USS Scamp on patrol in the Pacific. A crew of about 65 men was aboard.
1,900 killed or hurt in arms ship blast
ROME, Italy (UP) – Almost 1,900 Italian civilians and an undetermined number of Allied service personnel were killed or injured today when a munitions ship exploded in Bari Harbor.
First accounts indicated the disaster was greater than that which occurred December 2, 1943, when German bombers blew up five munitions-laden American ships at Bari, causing about 1,000 fatalities.
At least 267 Italians were believed killed in the blast today. There was no immediate explanation for the explosion which set fire to a number of Allied supply ships.
Perkins: Lewis drives ‘net’ of miners to new high
Take-home-pay hiked within present base
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Hannover produces arms few days before its fall
War factories continue to operate despite raids which ruined 80 percent of homes
By Clinton B. Conger, United Press staff writer
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West front gains called Nazi trick
Reds say foe hopes to create Allied rift
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MacArthur staff moves with him
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Yanks reach eastern Luzon at new point
Jap forces sealed off in peninsula
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