Patton leads prayer
WITH THE U.S. THIRD ARMY, Germany – Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, in the absence of his chaplain, today led a one-minute silent prayer for the late President Roosevelt during a staff conference.
Raise in pay refused, Cooper brothers quit Cards ‘never to return’
…
Misleading sign leads to rumor Dempsey dead
NEW YORK (UP) – A sign in the Broadway restaurant bearing his name apparently led to the circulation of rumors late yesterday that Lt. Cmdr. Jack Dempsey of the Coast Guard had been killed on Okinawa.
The sign said: “Closed on account of the death of our beloved President. – Jack Dempsey.”
Some persons apparently took that to mean that Dempsey had died.
Dempsey, former heavyweight boxing champion, recently left his Coast Guard base here for a tour of the Pacific and was last reported at Okinawa, where he witnessed the invasion of that island off Japan.
A couple dozen telephone calls were received at The Press yesterday asking about the “death” of Dempsey, so the rumor apparently spread throughout the country in a short time.
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
OKINAWA (by Navy radio) – The bulk of the battle of Okinawa is being fought by the Army – my old friend, the doughfoots. This time the Marine had it easy, and by the turn of circumstance the Army is the one that has the job to do.
But my self-assignment on the Okinawa blitz was to write about the Marines and that’s what I continue to do. I landed with the Marines, crossed the island with them, and have been living with them amidst fleas, mosquitoes, goats and a few Japs, hiding under bushes. So naturally I want to tell you about them.
Marine Corps blitzes out here have all been so bitter and the Marines have performed so magnificently that I had conjured in a mental picture of a Marine that bore a close resemblance to a man from Mars. I was almost afraid of them myself.
I did find the Marines confident, but neither cocky nor smart-alecky. I found they have fears, and qualms, and hatred for war the same as anybody else. They want to go home just as badly as any soldiers I’ve ever met. I found them good, human Americans.
They are proud to be Marmes. They wouldn’t be in any other branch of the service. Yet they are not arrogant about it. And I found they have a healthy respect for the infantry.
One day we were sitting on a hillside talking about the infantry. One Marine spoke of a certain Army division – a division they had fought beside – and was singing 15 praises.
In peacetime, when the Marine Corps was a small outfit, with its campaigns highlighted, and everybody was a volunteer you could understand why Marines felt so superior.
But since the war the Marine Corps has grown into hundreds of thousands of men. It has been diluted, so to speak. Today it is an outfit of ordinary people – some big, some little, some even draftees. It has changed, in fact, until Marines look exactly like a company of soldiers in Europe.
Yet that Marine Corps spirit still remains. I never did find out what perpetuates it. They’re not necessarily better trained. They’re no better equipped and often not as well supplied as other troops. But a Marine still considers himself a better soldier than anybody else, even though nine-tenths of them don’t want to be soldiers at all.
The Marines are very cognizant of the terrible casualties they’ve taken in this Pacific War. They’re even proud of that too, in a way. Any argument among Marine units is settled by which has had the greatest casualties.
Many of them even envisioned the end of the Marine Corps at Okinawa. If the Marine divisions had been beaten up here as they were on Iwo Jima, the boys felt it would have been difficult to find enough men of Marine Corps caliber to reconstitute all the divisions.
They even had a sadly sardonic song about their approach to Okinawa, the theme of which was “Goodbye, Marines!”
So, you see, Marines don’t thirst for battles.
I’ve read and heard enough about Marines to have no doubts whatever about the things they can do when they have to. No Marine need ever apologize for anything.
The Marines are O.K. for my money, in battle or out.
Report from inside Germany –
People lose their interest in Hitler
But Fuehrer is still most active
By Curt Riess
…
Nazis tell of hope of winning peace
Hitler is fighting for time, they say
…
Dutch hate for Nazis most intense
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance
…
The U.S. delegates –
Woman insists on world group to keep peace
By Ruth Finney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Poll: Public wants to visit Britain and France
Two-third prefer European nations
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
…
Österreichische Zeitung (April 15, 1945)
An die Legation der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika
Mit tiefstem Schmerz haben wir Österreicher in Schweden von dem großen, unersetzlichen Verlust Kenntnis genommen, den das amerikanische Volk und die freigesinnte Menschheit der ganzen Welt durch den Abgang des Präsidenten Franklin D. Roosevelt erlitten hat. Wir Freien Österreicher in Schweden fühlen ein inniges Bedürfnis, unserer Trauer über den Tod des großen Freundes und Förderers aller kleinen Nationen Ausdruck zu verleihen. Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt, der regesten Anteil bei der Wiederherstellung der nationalen Freiheit Österreichs genommen hat, wird stets einen Denkstein im Herzen aller freien Österreicher haben.
Wir bitten Sie, auf diesem Wege unsere Trauergefühle dem amerikanischen Volke zu übermitteln.
Im Zeichen tiefster Hochachtung zeichnet für die FREIE ÖSTERREICHISCHE BEWEGUNG
A. MOSER
DR. K. BITTNER
F. SCHLEIFER
Führer HQ (April 15, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Zwischen Drau und Donau halten die schweren wehrkämpfe an. Bei schwungvollen Gegenangriffen nordöstlich St. Pölten vernichteten unsere Truppen 20 Panzer. Westlich der March wurden starke feindliche Angriffe abgeschlagen, zum Teil auch nach anfänglichem Geländeverlust aufgefangen. Der in Manharts Brunn eingedrungene Gegner wurde durch ein Volkssturmbataillon der Hitler-Jugend wieder geworfen. Wiederholte bolschewistische Angriffe zwischen March und dem Quellgebiet der Neutra scheiterten. In Gegenangriffen gelang es, verschiedene Einbruchsstellen einzuengen. Die tapferen Verteidiger von Breslau wehrten auch gestern starke Angriffe des Feindes gegen die Westfront der Festung ab. Zwischen Neiße-Mündung und Oderbruch führte der Gegner zahlreiche Angriffe, die besonders westlich Küstrin von starkem Panzereinsatz unterstützt waren. Unsere Divisionen wehrten die Bolschewisten ab und vernichteten in harten Kämpfen 98 Panzer. Artillerie belegte Bereitstellungen und Aufmarschräume des Feindes wirkungsvoll mit schwerem Feuer. Aus der westlichen Weichselniederung werden wechselvolle Kämpfe bei Gottwalde gemeldet. An der Samlandfront wurden die Bolschewisten mehrere Kilometer nach Osten zurückgeworfen. Unseren Nordflügel dagegen konnte der Feind nach schweren Kämpfen geringfügig zurückdrängen.
In Holland kamen bei Arnheim und Deventer geführte Angriffe der Kanadier trotz starker Artillerie- und Fliegerunterstützung nicht über örtliche Erfolge hinaus. Nach Norden sind Aufklärungskräfte bis in den Raum von Groningen vorgestoßen. Zwischen Ems und unterer Elbe blieb die Lage im Wesentlichen unverändert Starke Angriffe gegen Aller und Aufklärungsvorstöße gegen Olsen wurden unter Abschuß zahlreicher Panzer zurückgeschlagen. Südöstlich Magdeburg warfen die Verteidiger über die Elbe vorgedrungene Amerikaner auf: ihre Übersetzstellen zurück und brachten zahlreiche Gefangene ein. Südlich davon sind Gegenangriffe gegen weitere örtliche Brückenköpfe im Gange.
An der Ruhr und im Bergischen Land setzte der Feind seine Durchbruchsversuche auch gestern unter starkem Materialeinsatz fort. Trotz tapferer Gegenwehr unserer Truppen konnten die Amerikaner ihren Einbruchsraum nordwestlich Lüdenscheid erweitern.
Im West- und Süd-Harz drängte der Gegner in schweren Wald-und Gebirgskämpfen unsere Sperrtruppen zurück. Die Abwehrschlacht in Mitteldeutschland nahm gestern an Ausdehnung und Heftigkeit zu. Südlich Bernburg erzwang eine starke amerikanische Kräftegruppe den Saale-Übergang und stieß nach Osten vor. Jagdkommandos griffen den Feind in den Flanken an und fügten ihm empfindliche Verluste zu, Die auf Leipzig und Chemnitz vordringenden Angriffsgruppen wurden durch Eingreifreserven und Flakkampftruppen im Vorfeld der Städte zum Stehen gebracht. Im Rücken des Feindes leisten noch zahlreiche Stützpunkte zähen Widerstand und binden starke Kräfte des Gegners. Im Verlauf der erbitterten Kämpfe wurde eine feindliche Panzerabteilung im Gegenangriff zersprengt. Der Gerner verlor 22 Panzerwagen. In der Fränkischen Schweiz entwickelten sich heftige Bewegungsgefechte mit überlegenen amerikanischen Panzerkräften. Durchgestoßene Panzerrudel drangen in Bayreuth ein Am linken Flügel der Westfront erzwang der Gegner unter hohen Menschen- und Materialverlusten erneut mehrere Einbrüche südwestlich Baden-Badens. Nach den bisherigen Meldungen verloren die Anglo-Amerikaner gestern an der Westfront 94 Panzer.
In Italien haben sich die Kämpfe südwestlich des Comacchio-Sees an den Sillaro verlagert. An einigen Stellen auf das Westufer des Flusses übergesetzte Kräfte wurden durch sofort angesetzte Gegenstöße wieder geworfen. Im Mittelabschnitt der Südfront nahm der Feind nach starker Artillerievorbereitung gestern seine Angriffe gegen unsere Bergstellungen südwestlich Vergato wieder auf. Er wurde bis auf geringfügige Einbrüche verlustreich abgeschlagen. Auch an der Ligurischen Küste gehen die Kämpfe mit gleicher Heftigkeit weiter. Während der Gerner beiderseits der Küstenstraße im Wesentlichen abgewiesen wurde, konnte er nördlich Carrara in unser Hauptkampffeld eindringen. In Syrmien haben unsere Truppen in tagelangen schweren Kämpfen mit scharf nachdrängenden Bandenkräften neue Stellungen bezogen und zahlreiche Umfassungs- und Durchbruchsversuche des Gegners abgeschlagen.
Schwache amerikanische Kampfverbände bombardierten einige Orte in der Ostmark. Potsdam, die historische Residenz Friedrichs des Großen, war das Ziel eines nächtlichen britischen Terrorangriffs. Erhebliche Teile der Altstadt mit ihren zahlreichen historischen Bauten, darunter die Garnisonskirche, wurden vernichtet. Die Personenverluste sind erheblich. Außerdem wurden Bomben auf die Reichshauptstadt und das norddeutsche Küstengebiet geworfen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 15, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
151100B 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. 372
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces are clearing the last pockets of enemy resistance in Arnhem. Farther north, we reached the outskirts of Apeldoorn. Good advances were made between the Ijssel River and the Ems River and we reached the outskirts of Zwolle, Groningen and Winschoten. To the east, Friesoythe and Cloppenburg have been cleared of the enemy. Several counterattacks launched against our bridgehead over the Aller River near Rethen, were repulsed. We advanced 30 miles beyond Celle and are fighting in Uelzen. Our armor reached the Elbe River near Werben, north of Magdeburg. Iinfantry units following the armor reached Wittingen and Gladdenstedt, 30 miles north of Braunschweig, and the vicinity of Bismark, northwest of Stendal. We also have reached the Elbe near Tangermünde and are fighting in the town.
North of Magdeburg, we have taken Wolmirstedt and Barleben and we are on the river northeast of Barleben. We have made two crossings of the Elbe. Our forces on the east bank repulsed several counterattacks and we are receiving artillery fire. We reached Altenau and Breitenstein in the Harz Forest. Our armor, advancing up to 30 miles, is at a point three miles southwest of Dessau. Infantry units following the armor reached areas three miles north and four miles south of Halle. Zeitz has been cleared and our armor is 16 miles east of the town. Southeast of Zeitz we are meeting heavy artillery, small-arms and bazooka fire.
Armored elements crossed the Mulde River and reached the vicinity of Meinsdorf and Hohenstein-Ernstthal, west of Chemnitz. We cleared the enemy from Jena and are fighting in Gera. Our infantry is mopping-up in the area south of Jena. Rudolstadt has been cleared, with the exception of a fortified castle, and we are in the area 16 miles east of Saalfeld. Our armor is fighting in Bayreuth and infantry is ten miles north of the city. Bamberg has been completely cleared of the enemy. Some 1,850 prisoners were captured there. Our armor advanced 15 miles northeast and east of the city. To the southwest we are within six miles of Rothenberg. In the Heilbronn area our units advanced eight miles east of the city and six miles southward toward Stuttgart.
Near the Rhine River, we gained more than ten miles southwest of Baden Baden. Steinbach and Bühl were captured.
Allied forces in the west captured 57,187 prisoners 13 April.
In the Ruhr Pocket, we have cleared Dortmund and the enemy controls only five square miles north of the Ruhr River. Hagen has been entered by our forces, and we captured Eisborn and Asbeck. Lüdenscheid has been cleared and we took 3,600 prisoners from the town. Enemy gun positions, strongpoints, and other installations in the Department of the Gironde area in France, near Royan, and an ammunition storage area north of Ulm in Germany, were attacked by medium bombers.
Rail and road traffic in the large triangular area formed by Dessau, Dresden and Nürnberg; railyards at Schwabach, Schorndorf, Herbrechtingen, northeast of Ulm, and at Nördlingen; rail communications near Plzen, Rokycany, Beroun and Praha; objectives at Leitzkau, southeast of Magdeburg; airfields at Brandis, east of Leipzig; near Bayreuth and Nördlingen; fortified positions and strongpoints at Barßel Harkebrügge, and Kampe, west of Oldenburg; Stuttgart and Ingolstadt were attacked by fighter-bombers.
The communications center of Potsdam was heavily attacked last night by heavy bombers. Objectives in Berlin also were bombed.
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 15, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 333
Three enemy counterattacks in the southern sector of Okinawa were broken up by Marine and Army artillery on the night of April 14-15 (East Longitude Date). At noon on April 15, the XXIV Army Corps lines were unchanged.
In the north, Marines of the III Amphibious Corps continued to mop up small units of the enemy. In the Western area of Motobu Peninsula one isolated group of the enemy was offering stiff resistance.
Ground forces continued to receive effective support from naval guns, carrier and land-based aircraft, and field artillery.
Keufu Island in the Kerama Group was occupied by our troops on April 14.
Privateers of Fleet Air Wing One damaged a small cargo ship near Tanega Island in the northern Ryukyus and bombed and strafed buildings and radio towers on the Island on April 15.
A Marine Mitchell scored rocket hits on a small ship in the area of the Bonins on the night of April 14-15. On the same date, Army night fighters attacked targets on Haha Jima, Chichi Jima and Muko Jima in the Bonins.
Corsair and Hellcat fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing damaged bridge and pier installations in the Palaus on April 15.
CINCPOA Advance Headquarters, Guam
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 14 April, 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 13 April. 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 14 April.
C. W. NIMITZ,
Fleet Admiral, USN,
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet,
and Pacific Ocean Areas.