Tschungking wird ausgeplündert
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Führer HQ (April 30, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Das heroische Ringen um die Reichshauptstadt hält mit unverminderter Heftigkeit an. In erbittertem Häuser- und Straßenkampf halten Truppen aller Wehrmachtteile, Hitler-Jugend und Volkssturm den Stadtkern. Ein Sinnbild deutschen Heldentums! Der am Anhalter Bahnhof entlang der Potsdamer Straße und in Schöneberg eingebrochene Feind wurde von den tapferen Verteidigern zum Stehen gebracht. Fliegerverbände warfen unter aufopferungsvollem Einsatz der Besatzung erneut Munition über der Stadt ab.
Südlich von Berlin stehen unsere zum Entsatz der Reichshauptstad angetretenen Divisionen im Kampfe mit starken bolschewistischen Verbänden, die unter hohen blutigen Verlusten ab gewiesen wurden.
Zwischen Berlin und der Ostsee hat sich die Front in der Linie Neu-Strelitz-Neubrandenburg-Anklam zusammengeschlossen.
In Nordwestdeutschland brachen alle Anstrengungen des Gegners, seinen Brückenkopf bei Leer zu erweitern, zusammen. Auch westlich Oldenburg und nordwestlich Delmenhorst wurden die Briten abgewiesen.
Südwestlich Hamburg warfen die Engländer weitere Kräfte in den Kampf. Ihre Versuche, aus dem Brückenkopf Lauenburg in Richtung Lübeck vorzustoßen, wurden verhindert.
In Niederbayern konnte der Feind zwischen Isar und Donau weiter nach Süden Raum gewinnen. Panzerspitzen stehen nördlich Landshuts sowie zwischen Weiden und Dachau.
In Oberschwaben gingen Augsburg und Kempten verloren. Um die Gebirgseingänge beiderseits des Gardasees und nordwestlich Verona sowie östlich von Brescia sind schwere Kämpfe im Gang.
Die Besatzung von Fiume vereidigt sich tapfer gegen konzentrierte Angriffe von Land und See her. Im Südabschnitt der Ostfront hat sich die Lage gefestigt.
Im Raume um Brünn stellten die Bolschewisten infolge ihrer schweren Verluste ihre Angriffe ein. Nordwestlich Mährisch-Ostrau scheiterten Durchbruchsversuche der Sowjets nach geringem Geländegewinn in heftigen Kämpfen. Die tapfere Besatzung von Breslau hielt auch gestern dem Ansturm bolschewistischer Verbände gegen ihre Westfront stand.
Im sächsischen Raume wurde westlich Bautzens eine feindliche Kampfgruppe umschlossen und vernichtet. Auf der Frischen Nehrung dauern wechselvolle Kämpfe an.
Am gestrigen Tage beschränkte sich die anglo-amerikanische Fliegertätigkeit auf vereinzelte Bomben- und Bordwaffenangriffe über dem Reich.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 30, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
301100B 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) WOIA 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. 387
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces crossed the Leda River near its junction with the Ems River and occupied most of Leer. Good advances were made in the area northwest of Rotenburg where the enemy salient between Bremen and Zeven is being reduced.
Farther east we are mopping up in Lauenburg after crossing the Elbe River upstream from Hamburg against moderate resistance.
Enemy positions southeast of Hamburg and near Lauenberg, and road and rail transport between Lauenburg and Ludwigslust and east of Schwerin, were attacked by fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters. Thirteen enemy aircraft were shot down over our Elbe bridgehead.
In Czechoslovakia, our forces captured an airfield one mile northeast of Eger (Cheb) which was strongly defended by 1,000 enemy troops. Three hundred and fifty prisoners were taken.
Northeast of Straubing, in Germany, our troops captured Lam.
Southeast of Regensburg, our armor captured Plattling, entered Haader and advanced eight miles southeast of the town.
Our infantry elements cleared Straubing and reached the vicinity of Fierlbrunn. Other units captured Malmersdorf, entered Schatzhofen and reached the vicinity of Moosburg.
At Moosburg, a POW camp of 27,000 British and American troops was liberated.
Farther west our infantry reached the vicinity of Hirschbach, 22 miles north of Munich.
Our forces captured and cleared the concentration camp near Dachau. Approximately 32,000 persons were liberated. Three hundred SS guards at the camp were quickly overcome.
Our armor entered the outskirts of Munich.
We reached the northern end of the Ammersee. Armored spearheads swung around its southern tip and pushed five miles northward along the eastern shore to Herrsching.
To the south, other armor reached Spatzenhausen. We captured Saulgrub and drove southward into the Bavarian Alps to Oberammergau.
South of Fuessen, we expanded our hold in Austria and advanced to the vicinity of Rossschlaeg.
In the area north of the eastern end of the Constance Lake, our units pushed southeast along a front of nearly 25 miles. Advances of up to 15 miles brought our forces to Leutkirch and Weingarten.
From the Munich area to the Iller Canal, we took 35,890 prisoners, and between the Iller Canal and the Rhine, 3,500, including two generals.
Allied forces in the west captured 74,986 prisoners 28 April.
Several large road convoys mainly moving southward in the area east and south of Pilsen, and a large number of railcars, many of them loaded with motor transport, in the same area were attacked by fighter-bombers, throughout the day more than 900 road vehicles and rail cars were destroyed or damaged.
Enemy strongpoints west of Munich, at Hattenhofen, Mammendorf and Fuerstenfeldbruck, scattered road and rail traffic moving southward from Munich and airfields in the area east and southeast of the city were bombed by other fighter-bombers. Many enemy aircraft were destroyed or damaged on the ground.
Yesterday afternoon, unescorted heavy bombers dropped over 600 tons of food supplies for the Dutch population in enemy-occupied Holland.
In the day’s operations, 17 enemy aircraft were shot down including those destroyed in the Elbe bridgehead area. Nine of our fighters are missing.
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 30, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 348
Machinato Airfield on Okinawa was captured by troops of the 27th Infantry Division on April 29 (East Longitude Date). Behind aerial bombing, Naval gunfire and heavy artillery preparation, troops of the 96th Infantry Division in the center were advancing southward over hill terrain. Seventh Division infantrymen were driving toward the ridges southeast of Kochi Village.
On April 29, several groups of enemy aircraft attacked our forces in the area of Okinawa. A total of 29 planes were shot down by our fighters and by ship and shore anti-aircraft fire. In addition, combat air patrols of the Fast Carrier Task Forces shot down 21 planes near our surface units on April 29 and four more on April 30.
Carrier aircraft from the Pacific Fleet attacked landing craft, a coastal ship, fuel dumps, barracks and airfield installations on Tokuno, Amami and Kikai Islands, in the Ryukyus on April 29 and 30. Five enemy aircraft were burned on the ground.
Search aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One bombed two small cargo ships in the Ryukyus Area on April 29 leaving one in sinking condition and another burning badly. On the same date, planes of the same Wing set three small cargo ships afire in the East China Sea.
Search planes of FlAirWing One on April 30 destroyed a small cargo ship and damaged drydock installations, a coastal vessel, a patrol craft and a number of small craft in the area of Kyushu. Aircraft of the same Wing sank three small cargo ships near Kozu Island south of Tokyo and a number of fishing craft off the south coast of Honshu. On the same date search aircraft of the same Wing sank a number of small craft in Truk Harbor in the Carolines and destroyed six barges at Woleai.
Buildings, gun emplacements and radar installations on Minami Cape, Shumushu in the Northern Kurils, were attacked with rockets and machine gun fire by search aircraft of FlAirWing Four on April 29.
Helldiver bombers of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing made neutralizing raids on enemy bases in the Marshalls on April 29. Aircraft of the same Wing attacked targets in the Palaus on the following day.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 30, 1945)
HIMMLER’S SECOND PEACE BID DUE
Nazis to bow to demands, British believe
Reply to Allied terms reported en route
LONDON, England (UP) – A neutral intermediary was reported en route back to Stockholm today with Heinrich Himmler’s reply to Allied demands that Germany surrender to Russia as well as to the United States and Britain.
Most sources believed that if Himmler has sent a reply, it will be a decision to surrender Germany unconditionally to all three countries.
They contended that he would not have made the surrender offer to the United States and Britain alone if he had not been convinced of the utter hopelessness of Germany’s position.
Churchill returns
The Evening News political correspondent said Prime Minister Churchill was understood to have returned to London from the country early today.
Prime Minister Churchill and his colleagues were closeted in a regular meeting of the cabinet late today and the authoritative British Press Association said the “peace position was fully discussed.” Military leaders attended the meeting as usual.
Stockholm dispatches said the intermediary, Count Folke Bernadotte, director of the Swedish Red Cross, met Himmler Sunday in Denmark. He was expected to leave Copenhagen for Stockholm today.
With Germany tottering on the brink of total collapse, rumors of developments within the shaken country came thick and fast from continental sources.
Conflicting rumors
All unconfirmed and many of them conflicting, they included:
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Adolf Hitler is mad, dying or already dead.
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German anti-Nazi partisans kidnapped Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
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German sailors mutinied at the Baltic port of Rostock and are engaged in fierce fighting with SS troops.
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A representative of Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Himmler’s deputy for Bavaria and Austria, is meeting with Swiss officials at Vaduz, capital of neutral Liechtenstein. The negotiations may involve the surrender of further portions of Germany or Austria.
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German Army and Nazi leaders in Denmark are ready to capitulate and withdraw their troops
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The Quisling government in Norway resigned.
Early end predicted
London newspapers predicted the end of the European war was only days away The London Daily Mail said it may end at any hour.
Much of the situation was expected to be clarified by Mr. Churchill in Commons this week, perhaps Tuesday, He met with his cabinet as usual yesterday.
Count Bernadotte presumably gave Himmler – Gestapo chief, Interior Minister and possible acting Fuehrer of Germany – the Anglo-American refusal to make a separate peace with Germany at their purported meeting in Denmark Sunday.
The diplomatic correspondent of the London Times said that British official quarters believed Himmler’s reply would not pe long delayed. He predicted that it would be a reiteration of Germany’s willingness to surrender, this time to Russia as well as to the United States and Britain.
A Stockholm dispatch to the London Daily Express said Himmler’s original offer made last Tuesday, called for the surrender of Hitler – dead or alive – along with himself and other high Nazis to the Western Allies.
Under other provisions of the offer, the Express said, German troops on the Western Front would way down their arms, those on the Eastern Front would “come to a standstill” and others in Norway and Denmark would retire five miles from the coast and surrender to patriot authorities.
No immunity for Himmler
All London newspapers emphasized that capitulation should not earn immunity for Himmler, possibly the most wanted of all Nazi war criminals next to Hitler, as he was probably hoping.
Suggestions that Hitler may already be dead were bolstered somewhat by two developments. One was the report that Himmler had offered to surrender him “dead or alive” and the other, that the German radio ceased its repetitious claims that the Fuehrer was directing the defense of Berlin.
Only William “Lord Haw Haw” Joyce, the English traitor who broadcasts over the North German radio, still referred to Hitler as being in Berlin.
Death Sunday reported
Some Stockholm dispatches said Hitler died at noon Sunday in his underground headquarters in the Tiergarten with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at his side.
The clandestine Radio Atlantic said an announcement of Hitler’s death while “defending Berlin” had been drawn up by the Nazi Party propaganda department, though it was not known when it would be released.
Another Stockholm report said Hitler died “as result of a stroke” last Tuesday. From Switzerland came word that he had been shot dead last week in Berlin.
Washington waits surrender news
WASHINGTON (UP) – The capital awaited further news on the reported German surrender bid today.
Since Saturday night’s premature peace celebration, there had been no sign that any big developments were imminent.
White House Press Secretary Jonathan Daniels said today: “When anything can be said with authority, it will be properly released.”
Proclamation prepared
He said, too, that when there is confirmed official news of a German surrender, “the President will take proper notice of it.” This was in reference to a proclamation which President Truman has prepared and which he will read on the air if and when there is an actual surrender.
Routine activity was reported Sunday at the State War and Navy Departments. There was a mild flurry of excitement when President Truman visited the White House after attending services at Foundry Methodist Church.
Truman at White House
However, the President spent only 25 minutes at the White House, and it has not been made known whether there was any significance in his visit.
There has been no word of any kind here on Stockholm reports that a Swedish Red Cross official, Count Folke Bernadotte, was in contact with Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler for the second time in connection with Nazi attempts to negotiate surrender.
Reports from many quarters, including the official Soviet news agency, TASS, indicated that negotiations were taking place between the Allies and someone in Germany.
Mussolini’s body strung up in Milan, kicked, spat upon by hysterical Italians
Duce, mistress, 16 aides slain
By James E. Roper, United Press staff writer
The last of Mussolini is displayed in a Milan square after execution of the Italian dictator. Armed Partisans try to restrain the crowds. Mussolini’s body lies in a center foreground, with that of his mistress, Clara Petacci, who was also shot, just to the left. The Duce was later hung up feet first at a gas station.
MILAN, Italy – The broken body of Benito Mussolini lay unclaimed beside his slain mistress in the Milan morgue today, dishonored in death by the people he led to empire and ruin.
The fallen Duce died badly in the sight of the Partisan executioners who killed him and his mistress, Clara Petacci, in their hideout on Lake Como last Saturday.
And the people he ruled for two decades paid him their last tribute by hanging his remains head down from the rafters of a gasoline station in Milan’s Loreto Square.
Shot in back
There, for a night and day, they spat upon their fallen leader, shot his body in the back, and kicked his face into a toothless, pulpy mass.
For hours after the body of the executed dictator was brought to Milan with that of his mistress and 16 other slain Fascist leaders. Mussolini lay in a filthy pile of dirt in the center of the square. Then the mob tied wire about the ankles of Il Duce and Clara Petacci and suspended them upside down from the roof of the gasoline station.
Hysterical men and women closed in screaming about the dangling corpses and beat and kicked the dictator’s face into an unrecognizable pulp. His teeth were knocked out and the famed jutting jaw fell over his upper lip.
Dumped into trunk
His mistress skirt was torn off and people spat upon both bodies.
When the mob tired of its ghastly sport, the bodies were taken down and dumped into an open truck. They were carted to the city morgue and the pair were placed on a metal slab in the morgue courtyard.
Someone tilted the death slab upward so the bodies were visible to hundreds of persons still milling about the morgue, peering over the stone and plaster wall.
In contrast to Mussolini’s disfigured features, his mistress’ face remained youthful and beautiful even in death. Her even, white teeth, now splotched with blood, were visible through her parted lips and her dark-brown, curly hair still hung in tidy ringlets.
16 others executed
Her slim torso was covered with an old pair of men’s trousers tossed carelessly over her body. A pink silk garter belt and frilly blue underclothes were exposed.
By the time Mussolini’s body reached the morgue, his jacket had been torn away, revealing his barrel chest encased in a short-sleeved undershirt.
Sharing the morgue with Il Duce and Clara were the bodies of 16 of his henchmen, executed like them by Italian patriots after a “people’s trial.”
Ironically, it was revealed by the Partisan prefect of Milan Province that an order staying Mussolini’s execution pending a more formal trial and forbidding the execution of his mistress was en route to Como at the moment they faced the firing squad.
The prefect said he believed Clara Petacci’s shooting was illegal unless it could be proved she was carrying arms.
Died badly
“Mussolini died badly,” said Edouardo, leader of the 10-man firing squad which sent the dictator to his death.
When he was sentenced to death, the man who had ruined his career through illusions of empire ironically cried, “let me save my life, and I will give you an empire.”
“No, no,” were the last words from Il Duce, who had said “yes, yes” so many times to his Axis partner, Adolf Hitler, He cried his “no’s” as the men of the firing squad raised their rifles to their shoulders.
The execution took place at 4:20 p.m. Saturday near the town of Dongo, on Lake Como. Mussolini was killed at the villa where he had been living since his arrest last Friday with Clara, the Rome doctor’s daughter who wanted to be a movie star.
Tried to escape
Mussolini, the “jackal” to the last, was caught as he attempted to flee to Switzerland in a 30-car convoy, his bulky frame cloaked in a German military overcoat to escape detection.
Edouardo, who commands all the Partisan forces south of the Po, said:
I heard Mussolini was arrested and taken to a villa near Dongo.
None of us wanted Mussolini to be freed or escape to Switzerland so I sent 10 men with an officer to Dongo.
Mussolini was in the cottage on the hill with Signorina Petacci. When he saw Italian officers coming to him, he thought they had come to free him and he embraced his sweetheart.
When he understood he was going to be tried he was shocked. But our men gave them both a trial and condemned them to death.
Offers empire
Then it was that Mussolini, who had dealt death to so many others, offered the empire he didn’t have in exchange for his life. But the firing squad – men from the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade – went ahead with the execution, there at the villa on the hill.
Mussolini did not wear a blindfold. As the squad raised their rifles, he cried “No, no.” A second later he fell from a bullet that entered his left forehead and passed entirely through his head, tearing out part of the skull behind his right ear.
Bodies piled
Edouardo said the 16 others were examined later and shot in the town square at Dongo. They included the brother of Signorina Petacci, who tried to escape. He was shot down as he ran.
“These men died well,” said Edouardo. “Mussolini died badly.”
The others, whose bodies were piled here with Mussolini’s, included:
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Alessandro Pavolini, former propaganda minister and secretary of state in Mussolini’s Fascist puppet government.
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Francesco Maria Barracu, undersecretary to the premier.
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Dr. Paolo Zerbino, minister of the interior.
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Fernando Messazoma, minister of popular culture.
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Ruggero Romano, minister of public works.
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Augusto Liverani, undersecretary of state for communications.
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Goffredo Coppola, rector of the University of Bologna.
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Paolo Porta, a Fascist Party inspector.
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Luigi Gatti, a prefect.
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Ernesto Daquanno, editor of Stefani News Agency.
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Mario Nudi, president of the Fascist Agricultural Association.
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Nicola Bombacci, former Communist.
Rome dispatches said the following were also killed: former Fascist Party secretary Roberto Farinacci, Achile Starace (another former party secretary), movie stars Osvaldo Valenti and Louisa Feriza, former Minister of Interior Guido Buffarini Guidi.
Vito Casalnuova, a colonel in the National Republican Guard, and Pietro Salustri, Mussolini’s personal pilot.
‘Do not hit the medal’
Barracu wore Italy’s highest decoration, the gold medal, and asked the firing squad, “Do not hit the medal.”
Pavolini’s last words were “Viva Italia.”
Edouardo said all the bodies were thrown into a big, closed truck like a moving van and brought to Milan late Saturday. On the way Partisan guards repeatedly stopped the truck and demanded identification papers from the drivers. At one point, overcautious Partisans made the men from Milan get out and stand against a wall. They were going to shoot them before an hour’s argument convinced the suspicious sentries that all was in order.
Duce’s family under guard
By Paul Ghali
COMO, Italy (April 29, delayed) – Mussolini’s wife, Donna Rachele, and his two daughters are under police guard, but have been allowed by Partisans to stay with friends here.
Donna Rachele was carrying $200,000 worth of jewels when the family was captured.
Mussolini’s son, Vittorio, is believed to have fled with the Germans.
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Yanks, Reds widen linkup – Nazi redoubt crumbling
Seventh Army clearing Munich, closes in on exit of Brenner Pass
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Suicide plane hits U.S. hospital ship
Revenge bombers blast Jap homeland
GUAM (UP) – Avenging Superfortresses today blasted the Kyushu bases of Japan’s suicide planes, one of which crashed into and badly damaged the Navy hospital ship USS Comfort Saturday night.
Twenty-nine persons were killed, 33 wounded seriously and one was missing after the enemy plane hit the helpless and brilliantly-lighted hospital ship south of Okinawa, a communiqué announced.
A dispatch from Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner’s flagship off Okinawa said there was no doubt the attack was deliberate.
Some 200 B-29s participated in today’s raids on Japan. Though the majority concentrated on the suicide-plane bases on Kyushu for the fifth straight day, some bombed the Tachikawa army arsenal, 24 miles west of Tokyo.
Despite the consistent American raids in Kyushu, the Japs managed to hurl 200 planes against the U.S. forces around Okinawa Saturday night and Sunday, causing some damage to light fleet units. One hundred and four of the Jap planes were shot down.
United Press writer Edward L. Thomas reported from Adm. Turner’s flagship that the enemy plane which hit the Comfort made several “runs” aver the white hospital ship in the moonlight before going into its suicide dive.
Hit 60 miles from island
At the time, the Comfort was about 60 miles south of Okinawa, steaming unescorted toward the Marianas with several hundred American troops seriously wounded in the Okinawa campaign.
The suicide plane very likely hit the operating room in the fantail region, a spokesman said, as the Comfort put out an immediate call for doctors and surgical equipment.
Operations usually are performed almost around-the-clock on hospital ships, the spokesman added, and it was likely some wounded American serviceman was undergoing surgery when the Jap plane hit.
Ship painted white
The ship, painted a white with red crosses on the sides and stacks, has about 350 beds but normally carries more casualties by using emergency quarters.
Parts of the wrecked Jap plane were still on the ship’s deck as she was being steered to port by the alt emergency controls. A brief radio report said the rudder had been knocked out.
Authorities here said the Comfort was complying with all international requirements, had no combatants aboard and was unable to defend itself against the suicide attack. A report of the incident will be sent to Adm. Ernest J. King at Washington.
Gain on Okinawa
A spokesman aboard Adm. Turner’s flagship said “other enemy planes in the area were probably involved in the attacks.”
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, meanwhile, disclosed that U.S. troops in Southern Okinawa were moving steadily ahead toward Naha under the support of an unprecedented land, air and naval bombardment.
Elements of the 27th Infantry Division were driving through Machinato airfield and had already captured half of the airdrome, two miles north of Naha. Units of the 7th Division seized new high ground positions near Kochi village to the cast.
In the first 27 days of the campaign, Nimitz announced that 1,527 soldiers and 320 Marines had been killed in action, while 7,826 soldiers and 1,322 Marines were wounded, and 413 soldiers and five Marines missing.
War trend speeds Frisco sessions
V-E Day may be followed by recess
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
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Red prisoners maltreated by U.S., Britain, Russia says
Repatriation official alleges delay in return of freed captives, removal to America
By M. S. Handler, United Press staff writer
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Treatment by U.S. ‘attracts’ Nazis
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Horror toll grows –
Don’t touch bodies, Jews tell Germans
Nuremberg civilians forced to see victims
By Robert Richards, United Press staff writer
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Nazi camps range from bad to unspeakable horrors
15,000 buried by Allies in one place, with 10,000 more expected to die
By Henry J. Taylor
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Nazi ‘institute’ at Kiev kills 140,000 ‘unworthy to live’
Captured director admits he murdered about 21,000 – shows no feeling of guilt
By Jack Fleischer, United Press staff writer
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