America at war! (1941–) – Part 5

1667

Führer HQ (April 14, 1945)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

Im Süden der Ostfront warf der Feind beiderseits der Obern Raab, südwestlich Märzzuschlag und östlich St. Pölten neue Kräfte in die Schlacht. Heftige Gebirgskämpfe gegen starke sowjetische Kräftegruppen sind im Gange. Die Restbesatzung von Wien kämpft auf dem Westufer der Donau standhaft und tapfer gegen die bolschewistische Übermacht. Im March-Winkel, nordöstlich Wien, führten starke feindliche Angriffe zu Einbrüchen, die abgeriegelt wurden. Zwischen March und dem Quellgebiet der Neutra schlugen unsere Truppen zahlreiche Angriffe des Gegners zurück.

An der Front bis zum Stettiner Haff, an der Danziger Bucht und in Kurland fanden keine besonderen Kampfhandlungen statt. In Samland trat der Feind nach schwerem Trommelfeuer mit über 20 Schützendivisionen, unterstützt durch starke Panzer- und Luftwaffenkräfte, zum Angriff an. Trotz tapferen Widerstandes unserer Truppen erzielten die Sowjets mehrere tiefe Einbrüche, um die erbittert gekämpft wird. Der Gegner verlor bisher 39 Panzer.

Im Nordabschnitt der Westfront kam es bei an-haltend starkem Druck des Feindes an der Ijssel zwischen Ems und Weser und an der unteren Aller zu größeren Kampfhandlungen. An der Eibe gelang es dem Feind, nach heftigem Kampfe mit schwächeren Kräften südöstlich Magdeburg auf dem Ostufer Fuß zu fassen. Gegenangriffe gegen die übergesetzten Nordamerikaner sind im Gange.

Das erbitterte Ringen an Ruhr und Rhein sowie im Bergischen Land dauert mit zunehmender Heftigkeit an. Grenadiere, Fallschirmjäger und Panzer schlugen in dem verengten Kampfraum zahlreiche Angriffe überlegener Kräfte unter beiderseits hohen Verlusten ab und wahrten den Zusammenhang der Front. Um mehrere Einbruchslücken wurde in den Abendstunden noch heftig gekämpft.

In Mitteldeutschland drang der Amerikaner durch Angriffe nach Norden und Südosten weiter ein. Aufklärungsverbände führten gegen die Saale bei Halle und gegen den Raum beiderseits Zeitz vor. Unsere Kampfgruppen im Harz wehrten dem insbesondere von Westen und Süden angreifenden Gegner den Eintritt in das Gebirge. Nach schweren und verlustreichen Kämpfen haben die Amerikaner die Südostausläufer des Thüringer Waldes überwunden und stehen im Kampf um die Saale-Übergänge zwischen Jenau und Hassfeld, dessen Besatzung wiederholte Angriffe abwehrte. Südlich davon drangen schwächer Abteilungen gegen den Frankenwald vor. Zu schweren Kämpfen kam es im Main-Dreieck bei Bamberg, Ivo der Gegner nach mehrmaligem Ansatz den Fluss überschreiten und in die Stadt eindringen konnte. Die von Westen angreifenden Nordamerikaner blieben bei Gerolzhofen an den Hängen des Steirerwaldes liegen. Der Druck gegen unsere Front zwischen Neustadt an der Aisch und Heilbronn hat sich verstärkt. Durch fortgesetzte Angriffe eigener Abteilungen in Rücken und Flanken des dort angreifenden Feindes wurde weiteres Vordringen verhindert. Die Truppen eines hier eingesetzten Armeekorpses vernichteten in der Zeit vom 1. bis 13. April 123 Panzer. Auch im nördlichen Schwarzwald und in der Rheinebene südlich Rastatt setzte der Gegner seine Angriffe fort. In schweren Gebirge- und Ortskämpfen wurden seine Einbrüche nach einigen Kilometer Bodengewinn zum Stehen gebracht. Die tapfere Besatzung von Rastatt ist nach heldenhaftem Kampf der feindlichen Übermacht erlegen.

Im Südteil der Westalpenfront zerschlugen unsere Gebirgstruppen Wiederholte regimentsstarke Angriffe gaullistischer Alpenjäger. Im Ostabschnitt der Italienfront nahm die Abwehrschlacht mit gleichbleibender Heftigkeit Ihren Fortgang. Im Verlauf erbitterter Kämpfe konnten unsere Grenadiere tiefere Einbrüche westlich und nordwestlich Lugo und eine Landung feindlicher Kräfte an der Westseite des Comacchio-Sees nicht verhindern. Die Angriffe des Gegners südlich und südwestlich Imola blieben bis auf örtliche Angriffe erfolglos. An der Ligurischen Küste griff der Feind wieder unter Einsatz stärkerer Kräfte an und erzielte im Zusammenwirken mit Banden, die von rückwärts angriffen, einen tieferen Einbruch.

Die Angriffstätigkeit aus der Luft beschränkte sich am Tage vorwiegend auf Bombenabwürfe schwächerer amerikanischer Kampfverbände auf norddeutsches Gebiet. In den Wohnvierteln von Neumünster entstanden stärkere Schäden. Nachts wurden durch britische Terrorverbände erneut einige norddeutsche Städte angegriffen. Nach bisherigen Meldungen wurden 16 anglo-amerikanische Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

In Fortführung ihres harten Kampfes gegen den feindlichen Nachschub versenkten unsere Unterseeboote aus stark gesicherten, nach England gehenden Geleitrügen sechs vollbeladene Schiffe mit zusammen 36.000 Bruttoregistertonnen.

1668

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 14, 1945)

FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
141100B 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 MAIN
(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) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP 

(REF NO.)
NONE

(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR

Communiqué No. 371

UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces made a second crossing of the Ijssel River and are fighting in Arnhem. We expanded our bridgehead south of Deventer and captured Teuge.

Between the Ijssel River and the Ems River we captured Dalfsen and Assen.

In the area north of Osnabrück we reached Friesoythe and Cloppenburg and occupied Vechta.

In the Rethen area we expanded our bridgeheads over the Aller River.

Northeast of Hanover we made another crossing of the Aller at Celle, from which our forces advanced ten miles and captured Eschede and Eldingen. Other units pushing from the south have reached the vicinity of Celle.

Braunschweig has been cleared, and our infantry gained 15 miles to reach Meine to the north. Infantry units pushed east of Braunschweig and reached the vicinity of Calvörde. Other elements reached Hasselburg.

Our armor advanced more than 50 airline miles to the Elbe River at a point southeast of Stendal. Infantry units reached the Elbe near Barby. We now control ten miles of the west bank of the river in the vicinity of Magdeburg. We crossed the Rlbe and are meeting enemy small arms and artillery fire. The crossing was made in assault boats.

On the edges of the Harz Forest our armor has cleared Osterode, Hersberg and Sangerhausen and pushed five miles northeast of Sangerhausen.

Infantry following the armor has reached the vicinity of Schwenda and Wolfsberg in the forest, and is fighting against fanatical resistance.

Our armor advancing 25 miles from Weissenfels reached a point seven miles from Leipzig. Infantry is mopping up in Weissenfels. Armored units entered Pegau, 11 miles south of Leipzig. Zeitz, southeast of Weissenfels, has been entered.

Erfurt has been cleared and our forces are fighting in Jena. Our armor reached a point 11 miles east of Jena. South of Jena we are along the Saale River on a 40-mile front. We have entered Rudolstadt and reached a point three miles southeast of Saalfeld. We entered Gräfenthal. Northeast of Coburg we cleared Steinach and Sonneberg. East of Coburg our armor has cleared Kronach, and other elements are four miles south of the town.

Our infantry and armor closed about Bamberg after advances of more than 15 miles. Fighting is in progress in the vicinity of Hallstadt two miles north of Bamberg.

To the west our troops south of the Main River have cleared most of the area between Schweinfurt and Bamberg. In clearing Schweinfurt, the number of prisoners taken there was increased to approximately 2,500.

Northeast of Heilbronn our bridgehead across the Kocher River was expanded and we captured many more towns. North and south of Heilbronn enemy resistance weakened. The east bank of the Neckar River was cleared to Horkheim, three miles south of Heilbronn.

Some 2,000 prisoners were taken in the capture of Rastatt and Baden Baden.

Allied forces in the west captured 50,177 prisoners 12 April.

In the northwest edge of the Ruhr Pocket, our infantry is meeting stiff resistance north of the Ruhr River. Farther east we reached the southeastern outskirts of Dortmund. On the eastern side, infantry reached Neuenrade and Lüdenscheid. Farther southwest we captured Wipperfürth. On the western edge tanks gained five miles east of Köln. Enemy armor and troops in the pocket were attacked by fighter-bombers.

Railyards at Neumünster, north of Hamburg, were attacked yesterday by escorted heavy bombers. The escorting fighters strafed enemy airfields at Neumünster and destroyed enemy aircraft on the ground.

Enemy troops, transport and armored vehicles in the area formed by Emden, Cuxhaven, Wismar and Salzwedel were bombed and strafed by fighters and fighter bombers.

Coastal guns at Den Helder; troops, strongpoints and gun positions in the Apeldoorn area; railyards at Zeitz, Hainichen, Neustädtel, Wildstein and in the Gera area; an oil dump at Zerbst and airfields at Wittenberg and Bayreuth were attacked by fighter bombers. In the attacks on the airfields enemy aircraft were destroyed and damaged on the ground.

Last night, heavy bombers were out in great strength with Kiel as the main objective.

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/
1669

U.S. Navy Department (April 14, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 332

Elements of the Marine III Amphibious Corps on Okinawa Island on April 14 advanced northward to the vicinity of Momubaru Town on the west coast and Arakawa Town on the east coast. Resistance was negligible. The Marines on Motobu Peninsula are now in possession of most of that area and are attacking small concentrations of enemy troops which continue to resist.

In the southern sector during the early morning hours of April 14, the enemy mounted a small counterattack which was immediately beaten off by troops of the 96th Infantry Division. Enemy positions were brought under fire of field artillery, ships’ guns, and carrier and land-based aircraft.

A few enemy aircraft appeared in the area off Okinawa during the day and nine were shot down by our combat air patrols.

Aircraft from carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet bombed airfields on Ishigaki and Miyako Islands in the Sakishima group on April 14, destroying seven aircraft on the ground and damaging twenty-five more.

Without opposition, carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet struck airfields and installations at Matsuyama and Shinchiku on Formosa on April 13. A number of aircraft were damaged on the ground and hangars, barracks, buildings, a railway bridge, a train and other targets were heavily hit. Several small groups of enemy planes attempted to attack surface units of the British force and three of these were shot down. The task force suffered no damage.

Fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed enemy islands in the Palaus on April 14.

1671

Funeral of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
April 14, 1945

fdr.funeral.carridge

Broadcast audio (NBC):

1672

The Pittsburgh Press (April 14, 1945)

Berlin escape roads cut

First Army advances 30 miles in morning close to Elbe River

…

1673

Hushed throngs in Washington pay last tribute to Roosevelt

Truman heads crowd as body is returned – Eden flies to funeral

fdr.funeral.wam

WASHINGTON (UP) – President Roosevelt’s body was borne through the hushed streets of the nation’s capital today to receive the people’s tribute.

The special train drew into Washington’s Union Station just before 10 a.m. and came to a slow halt where President Truman and the leaders of the government who worked with Mr. Roosevelt in peace and war were waiting. Mr. Roosevelt died Thursday at Warm Springs, Georgia.

In the plaza outside and along the troop-lined avenue leading to the White House, silent crowds stood in silence in the sultry April sunshine.

It was a wartime ceremony in keeping with an America whose forces were fighting toward victory in Europe and in the Pacific.

Simple funeral services were set for 4 p.m. at the White House.

British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden flew here to represent Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Battalions of soldiers, sailors and Marines marched slowly ahead of the shrouded caisson that bore Mr. Roosevelt’s body from the station to the White House.

G.I. troops in olive drab with fixed bayonets and their dusty working leggings and G.I. shoes stood every three paces along the cortege route.

Only one son present

Only one of the President’s four sons – Brig. Gen. Elliott Roosevelt – reached Washington for the ceremony. The others were with the Navy and the Marines at their war posts in the Pacific.

Elliott, the four Roosevelt daughters-in-law and Mrs. John Boettiger were the first to board the funeral train where Mrs. Roosevelt waited. They were followed by Mr. Truman, Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace, and former War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes.

A moment later, enlisted soldiers and sailors gently lifted the flag-draped casket from the train and passed it to the body-bearers – noncommissioned men representing each of the four service arms.

Marine Band plays

As the casket was placed on the black-draped military caisson, the U.S. Marine Band played “The Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by “The Old Rugged Cross” and “Rock of Ages.”

Battalions of the armed services led the procession through the crowd-packed streets with the Marine Band leading and marching at funereal pace.

The crowds were so quiet that the clumping tread of the marching men down Constitution Avenue sounded like distant surf.

Mrs. Roosevelt composed

Mrs. Roosevelt, outwardly composed as she has been since the tragedy struck, was clad entirely in black. She wore a heavy dotted black veil and rode with her son Elliott and her daughter Anna immediately behind the horse-drawn caisson.

In the next car were the President’s daughters-in-law, and in the third, Mr. Truman, Mr. Wallace and War Mobilization Director Fred M. Vinson.

As the cortege made its slow progress through the streets, squadrons of Flying Fortresses and Liberator bombers – symbols of American aerial might – roared overhead.

Crowds stand five deep

The crowds which stood five deep along Constitution Avenue where the procession passed down the broad avenue of government buildings – most of them erected in the early days of Mr. Roosevelt’s administration – watched quietly.

Here and there in the crowd a woman fainted in the unseasonable sticky heat. Some stood on chairs or boxes to get a better view and many shielded their faces from the hot sun with newspapers.

The procession was about a mile long and it required 35 minutes to pass a given point.

Guard of honor there

At 11:14 a.m., the caisson entered the White House grounds where a combined Guard of Honor – Army, Marine Corps and Navy – was drawn up before the white columns of the center White House portico. Between the guard and the White House was the Navy Band and over the Executive Mansion flew the flag at half-staff.

As the casket was borne into the White House, the Marine Band softly played “Lead, Kindly Light.” Walking behind the casket was Mrs. Roosevelt and, at her side, Vice Adm. Wilson Brown, Mr. Roosevelt’s aide.

Behind them were Elliott. Col. and Mrs. John Boettiger, and, walking together, the four daughters-in-law. Mr. Truman quietly separated himself from the party, leaving the White House to Mr. Roosevelt’s family.

Turning to the executive offices he walked in, hat in hand, and sat down at his desk for his first caller of the day, the New Orleans shipbuilder Andrew J. Higgins.

Burial tomorrow

The cortege leaves tonight for Hyde Park and the burial tomorrow.

The train rolled northward at a deliberate, funereal pace – north from the rolling countryside and red clay roads of the President’s “other home,” in Warm Springs.

At every town and city, mute crowds lined the trackside to watch the cortege pass. Some women cried and men bared their heads.

Each time the train paused – at Atlanta; at Greenville, South Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Salisbury, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia – masses of flowers were put aboard the car where the casket rested.

Flag drapes casket

The casket, draped by an American flag, was placed on a small platform toward the rear of what had been the lounge car of the Presidential Special. Overhead lights illuminated the car brilliantly and through the three wide windows the crowds could see the casket, the increasing mound of flowers and four guards posted at each corner.

Every two hours, the guards – each representing a branch of the Armed Forces – were changed.

Aboard the train there was quiet – and grief. The impact of their loss was beginning to be felt upon the President’s staff. Mrs. Roosevelt bore the strain. Stephen T. Early said, “with great courage and heroism.”

In keeping with a nation critically engaged in war, the funeral arrangements were simple.

Horses draw caisson

The caisson, drawn by six grey horses with a seventh to lead, awaited the presidential casket. Eight pallbearers were selected – two non-commissioned officers from each branch of the Armed Forces, the Army. the Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard.

The Army Air Forces Band was summoned to play funeral airs while the casket was being placed upon the caisson.

The route of the funeral procession was not the familiar, well-traveled route of Pennsylvania Avenue. and the Presidential inaugurations. Instead, the cortege was routed by way of Delaware Avenue down Constitution Avenue – the broad plaza lined with great Government office buildings, largely erected in the early days of the President’s New Deal.

Police lead procession

From Constitution Avenue, the route swung over to 15th Street, past the Commerce and Treasury Buildings to Pennsylvania and into the northwest gate of the White House.

A detail of Washington police was assigned to lead the procession, followed by the escort commander and the commander of the military district of Washington.

Next came the U.S. Marine Band, a squadron of scout cars, a battalion of Field Artillery. a battalion of Army Air Forces and Army Service Forces personnel, a battalion of Marines, a battalion of bluejackets and a battalion of women members of the Armed Forces.

Elliott arrives

The clergy preceded the caisson, followed immediately by Mrs. Roosevelt, members of the Roosevelt family, including the four wives of the Roosevelt sons and Gen. Roosevelt who arrived in Washington early today by plane from Britain.

Attendance at the simple Episcopal services was limited to the Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps, representatives of the Army, the Navy, the judiciary, Congress, the President’s personal staff and family friends.

The ceremonies were in charge of the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, assisted by Rev. Howard S. Wilkinson, pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. It was there on the morning of his inaugural March 4, 1933, that the President prayed as have all Presidents since the time of James Madison.

Wesley Steele, organist and choirmaster of St. Johns, will play the President’s favorite hymns, probably “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” – the Navy hymn dear to Mr. Roosevelt’s heart – “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and “America.”

Other services planned

At the Washington Cathedral and at other churches in Washington, memorial services were arranged at 4 p.m. for those unable to attend the White House ceremony. And at that hour throughout America the nation will pause in respect to Mr. Roosevelt.

The Armed Forces around the world wherever they are not actively engaged in combat will observe five minutes of silent prayer at 4 p.m. and at that moment in thousands of factories, offices and homes all work will cease for a moment of tribute to the late President.

Burial will be in flower garden

HYDE PARK, New York (UP) – A secluded flower-bordered garden on the bank of the Hudson River was prepared today for the sad ceremony which will make it a historic national shrine.

The peaceful grassy plot, set apart from the rest of the Roosevelt estate was abloom with spring flowers as if nature had prepared its own funeral garlands for Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Mr. Roosevelt will be buried in his favorite retreat, within sight of the home he loved so well, at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Rev. W. George Anthony, pastor of St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, where Mr. Roosevelt was senior warden, will officiate at the service.

1674

New Jap premier extends ‘profound sympathy’ to U.S.

Suzuki says ‘Roosevelt’s leadership is responsible’ for ‘advantageous position’
By the United Press

Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki has extended his “profound sympathy” to the American people on the death of President Roosevelt, the Jap Domei Agency said today.

An English-language dispatch reported by the FCC quoted Suzuki as telling a Domei correspondent:

I must admit Roosevelt’s leadership has been very effective and has been responsible for the Americans’ advantageous position today. For that reason, I can easily understand the great loss his passing means to the American people and my profound sympathy goes to them.

Domei reported that Suzuki “candidly” said, however, that he did not expect America’s war efforts against Japan to change because of the President’s death.

The dispatch said the correspondent was “almost taken aback” by Suzuki’s reaction to news of the death, “but he quickly realized it was not strange coming from s man of large caliber as the new premier is.”

1675

Hirohito’s palace set afire in heavy B-29 Tokyo raid

Five-square-mile area in city blasted – Emperor, family unharmed, Japs say
By Lisle Shoemaker, United Press staff writer

…

1676

10,000 prisoners found dead, dying

By Ann Stringer, United Press staff writer

WITH U.S. THIRD ARMY, NORDHAUSEN, Germany (April 11, delayed) – An estimated 10,000 German political prisoners – about half of them dead and the rest dying – were found today in some dozen bomb-wrecked buildings at the outskirts of Nordhausen.

Bodies littered the dirt floors. It was hard to distinguish between the dead and the dying except that sometimes the dying moved a hand and tried to whisper a plea for food.

Hundreds of shrunken bodies, stripped naked by Nazi guards, had been stacked neatly like cordwood.

All of the prisoners had been sentenced for “crimes against the Reich.” They had resisted the Nazis, had spoken out, perhaps against the Gestapo and had declined to follow Hitler fanatically.

I was led into a stench-laden building by Pvt. Sol Laxman of New York.

Near the doorway of the great barracks-like building was the portion of a naked body. Nearby were others. A live prisoner inside told us later those had been executed by German guards when they tried to flee the building during Allied air raids a week ago Tuesday.

Four half-clothed, starved prisoners lay near the door. They were more dead than alive.

“American. American. Food. Food,” they cried in German, holding out skeleton hands and weeping.

Inside the building was the worst horror conceivable.

All over the floors were the bodies of the dead and dying. Some of those still breathing had dead lying across them but they were too weak to move from the corpses.

On a floor above were three-bunked “beds.” There also, the dead and the dying were lying atop each other.

Some of the prisoners had been in the building for 18 months. There were no sanitary facilities of any kind. Prisoners had been worked up to 12 hours a day in war factories but some of them had not been allowed out of the building even for that.

The prisoners received about three ounces of bread and a bowl of grass soup daily. Since the bombing they had been fed nothing, although German guards remained over them until the Americans arrived this morning.

Within two hours after the horror plant was discovered, Brig. Gen. Trumane Boudinot, of Beverly Hills, California, commander of the armored spearhead, arranged for billets, medical treatment and food.

Red Cross Director Maj. Erin Prigot of New York sent a half dozen ambulances converted trucks and jeeps and began the evacuation.

1677

End-of-war hint stirs England

Churchill cancels proposed trip to U.S.

LONDON (UP) – Britain was torn today between mourning the death of President Roosevelt and a mounting tension led by persistent and thinly-veiled hints in the press that the formal end of the war in Europe might come at any time.

Prime Minister Churchill was described as persuaded by the possible imminence of great events to cancel the preparation of a plane and specially-picked crew to take him to the United States for Mr. Roosevelt’s funeral.

Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was commissioned instead to represent the British government.

Wilson Broadbent, The Daily Mail’s diplomatic correspondent, said the news of Mr. Roosevelt’s death apparently was one of the greatest shocks Mr. Churchill ever suffered. The secretary who broke the news withdrew for five minutes. When he returned, he found Mr. Churchill’s eyes wet, a half-smoked cigar cast aside, and dispatches scattered open before him.

Mr. Roosevelt’s death was recorded in the court circular last night. For the first time it referred to the death of the head of a foreign state not related to the British Royal Family. It said:

The King has received with profound regret the news of the death of Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America. His Majesty mourns the loss of a staunch ally and a great personal friend.

Memorial services for Mr. Roosevelt will be held Tuesday at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1678

U.S. heavies pound Bordeaux area

Germans blasted along French coast

…

1679

Nazi surgeon-general captured by Yanks

PARIS (UP) – U.S. Third Army troops have captured a high-raking Nazi officer identified as the surgeon-general of the German Army, it was disclosed today.

1680

I’m assuming this is in relation to a nazi concentration camp?

1 Like
1681

parry3

I DARE SAY —
The old, old fashion – death

By Florence Fisher Parry

If I should die before I wake
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.

Death is so simple and quiet and ordinary. It comes to many while they sleep. They sigh, they let go, they are dead. And the pulse of life goes on, losing only the infinitesimal beat of one heart, now through with its labor.

Such a death without pain or struggle came to our President. It is a boon which God grants to the great, it would seem. He makes the going easy. Wilson died so. Lincoln. Wendell Willkie. A slipping away, a soft silent merging, as a river slips its water into the sea…

And in contemplation of this ancient miracle the mind of the world stands hushed today, the solemn shock of the President’s death eased by reminder of the mercy and pity of God that He should have lifted the burden of life so gently from our wearying leader.

And the comfort comes; if death is so simple a transfer; if the veil is so thin between this world and that. Other that one can slip through so gently – surely then, there can be little difference between them; they are borne on the same current, there is no break in the flow… the banks merely grow wider, wider, until they disappear and one is embarked on the sea…

I think of what Charles Dickens called it – The Old, Old Fashion. The old, old fashion – Death. So very old, so common.

The waste

And it is curious. Death being the certitude it is, that it should be regarded as such a convulsion, such unnatural tragedy. Surely, we knew our President was failing in health. By slow reluctant inches he had been dying this long time now. Do we not believe our eyes?

But no, we are gamblers, we in America. We risked his life, thinking it could be charmed into some kind of extension. Our shock that we lost the gamble should give us pause, provide reminder never again to trifle with the fate of nations and peoples.

Such shock came at Lincoln’s death – but it was violent, a dislocation, something unnatural. In his case, too, there had been made no provision. Who remembers (ask the man on the street) who succeeded him?

And we paid for that improvidence.

We cannot afford to keep on pacing such price…

Now the nation is bowed in grief and panic sweeps through the souls of those too long used to dependence on one man. This is a penalty deserved; who shall say we husbanded what alternates were offered us to keep in reserve? We have been wasteful of strong men, we know that now.

But there are some who remain. Give them growing room. This is the greatest land on earth to grow big men in. There need not be “a lonely place against the sky” if other lordly cedars are given room to spread their branches, too.

I am thinking of these men, and the hurried emergency call upon their greatness now! Let them arise from the mourning bench, when the day of mourning is over, and stand erect each one, and proffer their unpurchasable souls to their country never so much in need of them as now!

We are America

They are in our Congress. They are in our Cabinet. They are in places of power in Industry. They are – yes – they are in our political bodies, some of them still honest, wanting to strain loose from the toils of political corruption. They are in labor, trying to match their decent strategy against the gangster rackets of the czars. They are on our Main Streets, that last stronghold of small Enterprise. They are on the farms and in the pulpits and in our science laboratories. Call them the Unpurchasables.

If they arise and serve, there is nothing to fear. But we need them, every one, a solid front of good Americans to face the Questioners who, from all countries, are ever now converging upon us with the uneasy query: Now that you have lost your leader, WHAT?

We mourn, but we dare not despair. We are America, invincible even in our sorrow.

1682

Luzon Yanks near Jap headquarters

Drive within three miles of Baguio

…

1683

Guffey confident of new President

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Joseph F. Guffey (D-Pennsylvania), who organized Pennsylvania Democrats in support of President Roosevelt’s first presidential nomination in 1932 and took rank as “Pennsylvania’s No. 1 New Dealer,” said today President Harry S. Truman will “carry forward the Roosevelt policy, both domestic and foreign.”

Mr. Guffey added:

In the death of President Roosevelt, mankind has lost its truest friend. The nation and the world are eternally enriched by the life of Franklin Roosevelt.

He died on the eve of his greatest triumph, for it is unthinkable that the San Francisco conference will end in anything but success. That should be his greatest and lasting monument.

It is a great satisfaction to know that our new President, Harry Truman, is so fully equipped for the heavy duties that have so suddenly come upon him, and it is reassurance for the world that he will carry forward the Roosevelt policy, both domestic and foreign.

“I am confident President Truman will have the support of every loyal American,” Sen. Guffey concluded.

1684

Oilman denies ‘affair’ with Joan

…

1685

Many ‘firsts’ chalked up by Roosevelt

Vast powers gained by federal government

WASHINGTON (UP) – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 31st President of the United Sates, guided American destiny through 12 of the most momentous years in history.

Years that made the federal government a vastly more powerful instrument affecting the welfare of everyone.

Years that carried the nation into its greatest wars and close to victory in Europe.

First President to fly

Mr. Roosevelt held the nation’s highest office longer than any man and was first to be elected to third and fourth terms.

He was the first President to fly.

He visited more foreign countries on the business of his office than any President before him.

He was the first President to leave the country in wartime.

His administration spent more money, taxed higher than any in history.

Loved and hated

But above all, he made of the federal government the most potent force of the American people. Some like this, some didn’t, to some, he was the champion of the “forgotten man.” To others, he was the hated man whose policies they regarded as destroying free enterprise.

Each of his terms was filled with drama. They began with dark depression and the first two were marked by major domestic reforms.

The last two found him an active war leader, making dangerous trips across ocean and continents to map strategy first-hand with leaders of the United Nations.

New Deal is born

Hardly had he taken his first oath when he called Congress into special session for what proved to be the famous “100 days” birth of the New Deal.

He took the United States off the gold standard, devalued the dollar to approximately 60 percent of its former worth.

Then, under his sponsorship, reform legislation flowed out of the halls of Congress in a steady stream. From these came the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, with power to curtail crops; the National Recovery Administration, which placed unprecedented controls on business, big and little; the Public Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, designed to care for the needy and to “prime” the pump of the nation’s depressed economic machinery.

Under fire, too

As new agency after agency piled up on the governmental pyramid, the New Deal of President Roosevelt began to find itself under fire. Its critics charged the government was seeking to regiment the people and the economic life of the country. Court tests of the constitutionality of some New Deal measures were instituted.

The Supreme Court held the NRA unconstitutional. It held the same for the crop control provisions of the AAA.

Undaunted, the President went on with his reform, program.

In 1937 came the “court-packing” incident which caused the most bitter intraparty strife of the President’s administration up to that time. He asked Congress for authority to add six justices to the Supreme Court if the Court’s members over 70 did not resign.

The President lost out on this one. Congress rebound. But he accomplished his purpose when the older conservative justices resigned one by one and he named their successors.

Sought to avert war

Few if any Presidents were more keenly alert to world developments than Mr. Roosevelt. During the series of international crises which preceded the present war, he resorted to every diplomatic device to head off the almost inevitable world conflict.

When Germany marched into Poland, and Britain and France declared war, he reconvened Congress. After six weeks of wild debate, Congress approved Mr. Roosevelt’s first national defense program.

He lifted the arms embargo, permitting Britain and France to place large orders for armaments here. He proclaimed a limited state of national emergency, instituted a neutrality patrol of coastal waters, and added to the manpower of the Armed Forces.

Lend-Lease follows

Later came the Lend-Lease Act, which permitted large-scale material aid to the Allies even before the United States was itself at war. In August 1941, he met at sea with Prime Minister Churchill and framed the Atlantic Charter.

Finally, the Japs tipped the scales at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The United States found itself at war not only with Japan but with Germany and its satellites.

After this, he met with the wartime leaders of the United Nations here and abroad. He went to Canada, to North Africa, to Egypt and to the Crimea to confer with Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.

He died at 63, just as victory over Germany appeared near at hand and as American fighting men were knocking at Japan’s front gates.

1686

Cabinet to regain powers under Truman leadership

Roosevelt’s group merely carried out policies which ere decreed by President
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

WASHINGTON – A reemergence of the President’s cabinet as a stronger, more influential part of the government is one of the first changes forecast for President Truman’s administration.

The reasons for this flow from the vast differences in personality and characteristics between Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Mr. Roosevelt came to Washington a dominant, powerful figure, full of ideas for his New Deal in American social progress. He himself and the little group of brain-trusters about him developed the policies and his cabinet took a secondary role.

Cabinet members didn’t formulate such policy, they were instead administrators of departments which carried out policies Mr. Roosevelt himself decreed. The President was always regarded as being pretty much his own Secretary of State, even when Cordell Hull held that office, and in considerable degree this held for the other cabinet departments.

But with President Truman, those who know him believe, the story will be different.

Good record

Mr. Truman comes into the presidency with a record as the capable and courageous head of a Senate War Investigating Committee. which has done a superior job. But, say his friends, he realizes well that there are many areas in the vast field of government in which he has had little experience, and here he will rely heavily on men who know these subjects.

Hence Cabinet members and agency heads will have greater influence in their own right than in the last 12 years, it is reasoned, and so some personnel changes are being predicted.

James F. Byrnes flew in from South Carolina to meet the President yesterday and he said afterward that, as private citizen James F. Byrnes he had offered his help to Mr. Truman. Already the signs point to his being Secretary of State to succeed Edward R. Stettinius.

Hannegan for Walker?

President Truman, in the first hour after Mr. Roosevelt’s death had become known here, asked the present Cabinet to remain. But changes are considered pretty certain. At this stage, it is hardly more than speculation, but the names of fervent New Dealers like Secretary of Labor Perkins, Secretary of the Interior Ickes and Attorney General Biddle are always at the top in this speculation.

Another shift frequently mentioned as possible would put Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan into Postmaster General Frank Walker’s place.

Wallace’s position

Henry Wallace is expected to stay as Secretary of Commerce. But for a long time, the liberal group in the Roosevelt camp has talked up Mr. Wallace as the man they want to support for the presidency in 1948. If this move ripens into something approaching an obvious candidacy, it probably would be difficult for Mr. Wallace to remain in the Truman Cabinet.

Mr. Roosevelt always had a little group of close-in advisers between him and the Cabinet – Tommy Corcoran, Ben Cohen, Ray Moley and others in the early days, and Harry Hopkins and Judge Sam Rosenman in later days. Often Cabinet members resented it, but couldn’t do much about it. The odds are now that many of the old FDR advisers will fade from the scene.

On his first day as President, Mr. Truman went back to Capitol Hill to have lunch with his Senate colleagues, and that, too, betokens a new trend – closer relations between the White House and the Congress.

1687

Truman friend of small business

Convinced of menace of ‘monopolies’
By John W. Love, Scripps-Howard staff writer

WASHINGTON – If President Truman has developed his ideas in the economic field, they include the belief the government ought to do all it can to foster small business. In particular, government ought to make sure the war-built plants in the Midwest are kept in operation after reconversion.

Mr. Truman as a Senator was convinced of the menace of “big business.” Monopoly appears to be primarily a regional concept in his mind. Monopoly to him is also bigness and power, but so far as he has expressed his ideas of what should be done about it, they run to regional solutions. He has also favored such things as competitive bidding for railroad securities.

Good experience

Certainly, few men have had a better opportunity to obtain a vast insight in the detail of American production. His Senate Investigating Committee examined the record of steel, rubber, aircraft, light metals, oil, ships and building construction, and paraded a great quantity of facts.

If an intimate examination of industry can produce a man sympathetic with the problems of production, then this country never had a man of the same preparation in the presidency.

Or if Hugh Fulton, who directed the inquiry, is the one who acquired the broader knowledge in that realm, then Mr. Fulton’s association with Mr. Truman would amount to the same thing. But Mr. Truman was ever the investigator of war production, never its organizer or leader, and the country will not know for some time what climate he will seek for American enterprise.

Inflation fight true test

Probably the greatest test of his resolution in domestic problems will be found in the degree to which he guides the fight on inflation. Pressures for higher prices and wages are tremendous. A new man in office, no matter how capable, will find the struggle harder than did his predecessor The end of the war in Europe will intensify it.

How far will Mr. Truman be able to resist the inevitable clamor for removal of controls on materials and price as soon as Germany collapses? Will he make sure that goods again flow in full measure before he lifts the restraints?

Trumans to live in Blair House

WASHINGTON (UP) – President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman will move within a few days to Blair House, the official government menage for visitors of state, and will remain there until the Roosevelt family has had time to move from the White House to Hyde Park.

Blair House is a famous, century-old mansion across the street from the White House. It has served as guest house for visiting foreign dignitaries since 1942.