Stokes: Seat of wars
By Thomas L. Stokes
…
Maj. Williams: Ernie could say it
By Maj. Al Williams
The passing of Ernie Pyle recalls many memories of years ago.
When I first met Ernie, he was the aviation editor of The Washington News. Aviation news of those days largely was confined to the progress of feuding between the Army and Navy, with a dash of commercial aviation – such as it was.
Every service airman stationed in Washington knew Ernie. The unassuming little guy with the pleasant smile got around and everybody called him Ernie. He wrote his flying news so that lay folks could understand it. Some of us came to know Ernie mighty well. We were in the thick of a losing fight to awaken the country to what we thought we saw coming in the form of airpower. And to do this we had to attack deeply-entrenched traditional prejudices.
It was Ernie who often dropped a wise word of caution which saved a few lads I know from officially breaking their precious necks. It was Ernie who sat next to me and covered my congressional fight – and I still preserve a copy of what Ernie had to say about that battle for high-speed research so that we would know how to build high-speed fighters when we needed them.
Caught the significance
Ernie quickly caught the technical significance of an aviation story, but, as so highly developed in his later writings, he probed with the delicate touch of a sensitive instinct until he found the deep, underlying stream of warm human-interest factors. And then – Pyle fashion – he told his story as only he could tell it. Furthermore, Ernie never became greater than the men he wrote about, and in this critical angle differed from the usual run of air writers.
There’s been a deepening public nostalgia in this land for reality, for the warm homey fundamentals of old-fashioned Americanism. And nowhere was this nostalgia more evident than in the popular turning of everyday, ordinary people to Ernie’s daily column.
I remember the first time I took Ernie as a passenger in a Navy two-seater fighter, his cool smile as I lashed him up in his parachute and his remark as I passed along a few directions as to what to do with that chute ring – when, as, and if–
Admitted he was scared
This little, frail guy had a great soul deep down inside, and a heart to take whatever came his way. Ernie just sat there, keenly alert, seeing everything, registering everything. Scared – as he told me later. Sure, he came right out with the confession.
With these memories of the Ernie Pyle of other days I have never been surprised at his understanding of our boys’ real thoughts and his ability to tell the story so everyone could understand it.
We are all designed according to the same general plan – the same number of bones, the same aches and the same wants. The big, distinguishing difference is in the intensity of that little light way down deep inside which we call a soul. In some it burns dimly. In others it flares once in a while. In still others it burns very brightly at times. But in some, it is incandescent, burning its owner as well as those nearby with an unquenchable determination to live fully and completely. Such a light illuminated the life of Ernie Pyle, best exemplified to me by his words years ago as I buckled on his parachute:
“Maybe I can’t take it, Al, but fly this flight as if I weren’t with you.”
Drys drop national prohibition, concentrate on local opinion
War years bring only slight increase
By S. Burton Heath
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War situation eases crisis in manpower
Services, Congress take 4 major steps
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The life of Harry Truman –
He is elected to Senate, but wanted another post
Backers say all they got from election was pleasure of seeing job well done
By Frances Burns
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Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
SAN FRANCISCO – Well, here I am in San Francisco where the most brilliant minds of our time are gathered for the world security conference.
I told my editor that I don’t belong here but he said he was sending me to get “color.” That shows how much he knows – it’s so foggy I haven’t got one bit of color.
My goodness, this city simply is teeming with delegates from all over the world. No matter where you turn, you bump into a Russian. It’s just like being in Berlin.
There’s been talk of a food shortage so maybe it’s fortunate the Russians sent that shipload of caviar and vodka. I can just picture all the delegates down on the docks, standing in a caviar-and-vodka line. Probably much nicer than a bread line.
Baseball elects Chandler new czar
Senator is unanimous selection over more than 100 candidates
…
‘Happy’ is the word –
Chandler: ‘Highest honor of my life’
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12 litres of what? Food? Blood?
1 Like
Twelve stretchers. It’s spelled “litters,” not “liters.”
Oh…
I forgot Americans don’t use the metric system.
1 Like
Oberdonau-Zeitung (April 26, 1945)
Keine feindlichen Hoffnungen auf ‚San Fiasko‘
Sie kapitulieren vor Stalins Forderungen nach drei Stimmen im Betrügerrat
…
Führer HQ (April 26, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
In Nordwestdeutschland wiesen unsere Truppen beiderseits der unteren Ems zahlreiche von Panzer unterstützte Angriffe der Kanadier ab.
Nach mehrstündiger Artillerievorbereitung traten die Engländer zum Angriff auf Bremen an.
Nach schweren, wechselvollen Kämpfen drangen sie Inf die südlichen und südöstlichen Vorstädte ein, wo erbittert gekämpft wird.
Amerikanische Vorstöße aus dem Elbe-Brückenkopf Barby führten trotz zäher Gegenwehr zum Verlust einiger Ortschaften.
Bei dem für die Zukunft des Reiches und für das Leben Europas entscheidenden Kampf um Berlin wurden gestern von beiden Seiten Reserven in die Schlacht geworfen. Im Südteil der Reichshauptstadt toben schwere Straßenkämpfe in Zehlendorf, Steglitz und am Südrand des Tempelhofer-Feldes. Im Osten und Norden leisten unsere Truppen, stärker unterstützt von Einheiten der Hitler-Jugend, der Partei und des Volkssturmes am Schlesischen und Görlitzer Bahnhof sowie zwischen Tegel und Siemensstadt erbitterten Widerstand. Auch in Charlottenburg ist der Kampf entbrannt. Zahlreiche Panzer der Sowjets wurden in diesen Kämpfen vernichtet.
Von Stettin vorgestoßene Sowjets drangen in Brandenburg ein. Auf Rathenow vorgehender Feind wurde durch Gegenangriffe noch vor der Stadt aufgefangen. Bei Fehrbellin geführte Vorstöße blieben für den Gegner erfolglos. Südlich der Stadt wurden einige Ortschaften wieder von unseren Truppen genommen.
An der Oderfront wurden starke Angriffe aus dem Brückenkopf Gartz und Stettin in wechselvollen Kämpfen, in denen der Gegner besonders am Südrand von Stettin hohe Verluste erlitt, nach einigen Kilometern Bodengewinn aufgefangen.
Starke Schlacht- und Jagdfliegerverbände griffen in die Abwehrschlacht ein und vernichteten zahlreiche Panzer, motorisierte Fahrzeuge und Geschütze.
Im Bayrischen Wald entwickelten sich die Kämpfe im Raume Zwiesel. Die Bewegungskämpfe im württembergisch-badischen Raum dauern an. Unsere Kampfgruppen setzten ihre Angriffe gegen die nach Süden durchgebrochenen amerikanischen Panzerverbände und ihre Nachschubverbindungen erfolgreich fort. Nachfolgende feindliche Infanterie wurde von allen südöstlich ’Ulm und im Raum Tuttlingen zum Kampf gestellt und erlitt hohe Verluste.
In Italien führten die Angloamerikaner über den Po nordwestlich Ferrara starke Kräfte aus der Tiefe nach und erzwangen an mehreren Stellen durch verstärkten Artillerie- und Schlachtfliegereinsatz den Flussübergang.
Im Südabschnitt der Ostfront beschränkte sich der Feind auf örtliche Kämpfe. Beiderseits Brünn, das von unseren Truppen gehalten wird, traten starke Kräfte der nach Norden drängenden Bolschewisten zum Gegenangriff an. Heftige Kämpfe sind im Gange.
Nach mehrmaligem Ansatz drangen die Sowjets unter empfindlichen Verlusten in Troppau ein. Ein weiteres Vorgehen scheiterte am zähen Widerstand unserer Truppen.
Angriffe gegen die Westfront von Breslau brachen bis auf geringe örtliche Einbrüche zusammen.
Durch schwungvolle Angriffe vernichteten unsere Verbände die im Raum Weißenberg-Bautzen verbliebenen Bolschewisten und brachten zahlreiche Gefangene und große Beute ein. Die tapfere Besatzung von Bautzen wurde freigekämpft.
Ein nächtlicher Landungsversuch der Sowjets im Westteil des Frischen Haff wurde vereitelt.
Bei Pillau halten die schweren Kämpfe mit dem in die Stadt vorgedrungenen Feind an.
Sicherungsfahrzeuge eigener Geleite und Jagdschutz schossen über der Ostsee sieben sowjetische Bomber ab.
Nordamerikanische Bomberverbände griffen wiederum Orte im bayrischen Baum und in der Ostmark an.
Im Kampf gegen den feindlichen Nachschub versenkten Unterseeboote vor der englischen Küste fünf beladene Schiffe mit 32.000 BRT und einen Bewacher. Außerdem wurde im Atlantik ein stark gesicherter Flugzeugträger der Illustres-Klasse von einem unserer Unterseeboote torpediert und schwer beschädigt.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 26, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
261100B 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
(21) WCIA OR OWI WASHINGTON FOR RELEASE TO COMBINED U.S. AND CANADIAN PRESS AND RADIO AT 0900 HOURS GMT
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 383
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces have reached the sea near the Dutch-German frontier, isolating a pocket of the enemy in the area of Delfzijl.
We have launched an attack on Bremen from the south and the east and are fighting in the eastern suburbs.
Enemy gun positions, an ammunition dump and several supply dumps in the Bremen area, and infantry entrenched with self-propelled guns at Wehldorf, north of Bremen, were attacked by rocket-firing fighters and fighter-bombers. Medium bombers attacked defended positions in Bremen.
Zeven has been cleared of the enemy and we advanced beyond it to the north and captured Selsingen.
Enemy ships in the Ems and Elbe Estuaries and at Cuxhaven, and road and rail traffic in northern Germany were hit with rockets and bombs. Strongpoints at Leer, oil storage plants at Brake, and a camp and defense works at Oldenburg were attacked by fighter-bombers.
Coastal guns and fortified positions on Wangerooge Island, near the mouth of the Weser River were bombed by escorted heavy bombers.
Our infantry units cleared Eslarn and advanced southeast to the vicinity of Schoenthal. Other elements reached the vicinity of Lambertsneukirchen and entered Wenzenbach in the area northeast of Regensburg.
To the east our armor cleared Regen and entered Zwiesel. Other armor advanced to a point 15 miles southeast of Regen and 18 miles from the Austrian border.
In the area north of Regensburg, our infantry reached the vicinity of Regenstauf and Kareth.
Our forces are along a ten-mile stretch of the Donau River from a point two miles west of Regensburg to Kelheim.
South of Nuremberg we entered Sulzburg and reached the Altmuehl River in the vicinity of Hirschberg and Gungolding. Several crossing of the Altmuehl River were made in the vicinity of Gungolding and one bridge was captured intact.
West of Gungolding we reached the vicinity of Neudorf and captured Rupertsbuch.
South of Rupertsbuch, we reached Hard and Gammersfeld and to the southwest, we are in the vicinity of Donauworth on the Danube River.
East and south of Dillingen we captured Wertingen and Knoeringen, and reached Anhausen.
German aircraft made 25 attempts to bomb a two-lane bridge we captured at Dillingen, but the span was undamaged and ten enemy planes were shot down. Enemy efforts to destroy the bridge with mines also failed.
A number of towns were taken in the collapsing Swabian Pocket south of Stuttgart.
Our units are approaching the Danube north of Guenzburg.
We entered Wiblingen, on the Iller Canal three miles south of Ulm, and farther south we established bridgeheads across the canal at Voehringen and Illertissen.
To the west in the Rhine River Plain, the Swiss border was reached in the vicinity of Basel. We captured Loerrach and advance elements pushed ten miles northeast of the town.
Allied forces in the west captured 43,405 prisoners 24 April.
Rail traffic between Linz and Prague; communications targets in the Prague-Linz-Munich; horse-drawn and motor vehicles moving southward in the Ingolstadt area and in the Donau Valley, and airfields in the Munich, Augsburg and Linz areas, were heavily attacked by fighter-bombers. A very large number of aircraft were destroyed or damaged on the ground.
Large ammunition dumps south of Ulm and northwest of Munich, and an ordnance depot northwest of Salzburg were bombed by medium and light bombers.
The Skoda armament works and an airfield at Pilsen; railyards and facilities in the Berchtesgaden region at Traunstein, Salzburg, Hallein and Bad Reichenhall were attacked by escorted heavy bombers in strength. Twelve-thousand-pound and other high explosive bombs were dropped on the German Fuehrer’s chalet near Berchtesgaden, the SS barracks in the grounds and his mountain refuge at the top of the Kehlstein five miles from the chalet, by other escorted heavy bombers.
Eleven enemy aircraft were shot down during the day. Eighteen of our heavy bombers and 14 fighters are missing according to incomplete reports.
The oil storage depot at Vallo, in the Oslo Fjord, was attacked last night by heavy bombers. The transformer station at Pasing near Munich and the naval base of Kiel were bombed 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 26, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 344
On April 26 (East Longitude Date), the troops of the XXIV Army Corps moved forward and secured positions on the high ground East of Urasoe Mura. Battleships and cruisers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet continued to give close gunfire support to the troops. A number of batteries, emplacements, structures and caves were destroyed by ships’ guns. Aircraft from carriers and planes of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing attacked enemy installations in the southern sector of the island. During the early hours of April 26, a few enemy aircraft approached our forces in the area around Okinawa and one was shot down.
Carrier aircraft of the U.S. Pacific Fleet continued neutralizing attacks on airfield installations in the Sakishima Group on April 25.
Search aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One strafed and sank a number of fishing craft, a small picket boat and a torpedo boat and damaged a number of other small craft in the waters east of Kyushu on April 26.
Helldiver bombers of the 4th MarAirWing struck the airfield on Yap on April 26. On the same date, fighters of the same Wing bombed targets in the Palaus. On the previous day dive bombers of the same Wing continued neutralizing raids on the Marshalls.
Search Privateers of FlAirWing Two bombed fuel and ammunition storage areas on Wake Island on April 25.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 26, 1945)
BREMEN SEIZED – STETTIN OVERRUN
Patton nears Hitler hideout in Bavaria
Third Army closes on Austrian border
…
Southern Okinawa Jap line smashed
Yanks 3½ miles from capital city
GUAM (UP) – U.S. Army troops today had smashed the first major Jap defense line on southern Okinawa.
All key terrain on which the line was anchored was captured by the Americans as they pushed more than half a mile through the strong Jap defenses to less than three and a half miles from Naha, the island capital.
Superfortresses hit Japan
The developing Okinawa campaign brought a force of 200 to 250 Superfortresses ranging over Japan again today in new neutralization raids on airfields in Kyushu and Shikoku, two enemy home islands.
While the Japs staggered under the weight of the American land, naval and aerial blows, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced that 21,269 enemy troops were killed on Okinawa and the surrounding islands up to yesterday.
Most of the Japs were killed on Okinawa and it was estimated the enemy had lost one-third of its original garrison in the bloody fighting on the island, 325 miles from Japan. Only 399 Japs were taken prisoner.
U.S. casualties listed
American casualties in the campaign as of April 22, were: Army: 889 dead, 4,879 wounded and 289 missing; Marines: 257 dead, 1,103 wounded and seven missing.
Adm. Nimitz also disclosed that the town of Kakuzu, in the center of the island, had been retaken by Army troops in the renewed drive through the Jap defense belt stretched across Okinawa above Naha.
Thousands of Japs were killed and wounded in the coordinated naval and artillery bombardment. The big guns of Americans warships and the greatest artillery concentration of the Pacific War have been pounding the strongly dug-in Japs continuously since last Thursday.
The Americans were forced to burn and blast the Japs from pillboxes, blockhouses and caves with flamethrowers and explosive shells.
The new Superfortress attack on southern Japan was concentrated on 11 airfields spread through Kyushu and Shikoku. It was the first time the big American bombers hit Shikoku, just south of the main home island of Honshu.
Tokyo radio reported that Superfortresses raided Borneo for the first time Monday when two of the big bombers struck the oil center of Balikpapan.