America at war! (1941–) – Part 5

2723

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (May 4, 1945)

FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
041100B May

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 FOR OWI WASHINGTON FOR RELEASE TO COMBINED US AND CANADIAN PRESS AND RADIO AT 0900 HOURS GMT
(22) AFHQ, ROME FOR PWB

(REF NO.)
NONE

(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR

Communiqué No. 391

UNCLASSIFIED: Oldenburg surrendered to Allied forces after fighting had taken place in the outskirts of the town.

Hamburg surrendered and we have occupied the city.

In the Luebeck area, we captured Bad Segeberg and Travemuende on the Baltic.

Our units have effected their junctions with forces of the Second White Russian Army Group near Wismar and Grabow.

Large- and medium-sized enemy vessels and smaller craft off Flensburg, Eckernfoerde, Kiel and Luebeck and in the Kiel Bay as well as the Luebeck Bay were attacked by rocket-firing fighters and fighter-bombers. Nine ships were sunk and over 100 others were left in a damaged condition, some of them in flames.

Enemy road transport heading towards Denmark between Flensburg, Kiel, Neumunster and Luebeck was hit by fighter-bombers. Some 1,200 vehicles were destroyed or damaged. Many enemy aircraft were destroyed or damaged on the ground in attacks on airfields by other fighter-bombers. Eleven enemy aircraft were shot down.

Our forces crossed the Czechoslovakian border and reached a point one and one-half miles south of Taus. Southeast of Taus, other elements crossed the border and reached the area ten miles south of Wallern.

Farther south, in Austria, we reached the vicinity of Haslach and our armor advanced to a point seven miles northwest of Linz.

Our infantry elements captured Passau, in Germany, and to the east, in Austria, our armor crossed the Muehl River in the vicinity of Neufelden.

Infantry, south of Passau, reached the Inn River in the vicinity of Schaerding and Obernberg.

Our armor captured Braunau and crossed the Inn River in that vicinity. Infantry elements crossed the Inn River at points northeast and east of Braunau. East of the Inn River, we captured Hauserding and reached a point 15 miles east of Braunau.

Farther west, we advanced to the vicinity of Neuoetting and reached the Inn River southwest of Muehldorf.

Our infantry advanced rapidly to the southeast and captured Wasserburg, 26 miles east of Munich.

Thirty-five miles east and southeast of Munich, our units were disposed along the Inn River over a front of 30 miles where crossings were effected at several points.

From the vicinity of Rosenheim we drove eastward along the autobahn to reach a point south of the Chiemsee, 25 miles west of Salzburg and 28 miles northwest of Berchtesgaden.

In the Austrian Alps, our forces approaching Innsbruck from the west met stubborn resistance after negotiations for the surrender of the city failed.

Forty miles to the west of Innsbruck, our units were slowed in their southeastward drive along the Lech River by difficult terrain and snow up to four feet deep.

Russian Gen. Vishnievsky and Gen. Tonkogonov were liberated.

Allied forces in the west captured 85,283 prisoners 2 May.

The large ammunition plant near Stod, southwest of Pilsen, was attacked by strong formations of light bombers. Fighter-bombers bombed road transport near the Chiemsee.

From the day’s operations, ten of our fighters are missing.

Approximately 800 heavy bombers dropped over 1,500 long tons of food supplies for the Dutch population in enemy-occupied Holland.

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/
2724

U.S. Navy Department (May 4, 1945)

Communiqué No. 595

The submarine USS SWORDFISH (SS-193) is overdue from patrol and presumed lost. Next of kin of officers and crew have been informed.

2725

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 352

During the night of May 3‑4 (East Longitude Dates), about 600 Japanese soldiers using landing craft attempted to attack behind our lines at three points along the West Coast and at one point on the East Coast of Okinawa. By daylight the landing effort on the East Coast had been repulsed and enemy groups on the West Coast were pocketed and being destroyed. During early morning darkness a number of enemy aircraft attacked Yontan Airstrip, causing some damage. In the same period, ships offshore destroyed 15 suicide boats one of which caused minor damage to a light surface unit.

There was virtually no change in the position of the lines of the Tenth Army in Southern Okinawa on May 4.

Between the hours of 0745 and 0915, on May 4, a substantial number of enemy aircraft attacked our forces afloat in the area of Okinawa, sinking five surface units and damaging a number of others. Preliminary reports indicate that 54 enemy planes were shot down over our forces by ships’ guns and combat air patrols. One of our destroyers shot down a Baka bomb during the attack.

Aircraft from fast carrier task forces of the U.S. Pacific Fleet sweeping the Islands of the Northern Ryukyus shot down one plane, destroyed one and damaged 19 others on the ground at Tokuno, Kikai and Tanega Islands on May 3. On the following day, aircraft from fast carriers shot 96 aircraft out of the air over Okinawa and the Amami Group.

Search Aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One shot down two enemy planes and damaged two others on May 4.

Escort carrier aircraft of the U.S. Pacific Fleet continued neutralizing raids on airfields in the Sakishima Group on May 3.

Liberators of the Seventh Army Air Force bombed air and harbor Installa­tions at Truk on May 3, leaving a small cargo ship burning and another listing after being hit by bombs. A single Navy search Plane exploded an ammuni­tion dump at Truk on the following day. On May 4, 7th AAF planes bombed runways and dispersal areas on Marcus Island.

Planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed targets in the Palaus and Marshalls on May 4.

Mopping-up operations on Iwo Island and the Islands of the Marianas continued during April 22 and 28 inclusive. A total of 108 of the enemy were killed and 156 were taken prisoner.

2726
Report by Chester Wilmot (BBC):

BBC European Service interval signal ID:

lueneburg

Broadcast audio (BBC):

Instrument of Surrender of All German armed forces in HOLLAND, in northwest Germany including all islands, and in DENMARK

  1. The German Command agrees to the surrender of all German armed forces in HOLLAND, in northwest GERMANY including the FRISIAN ISLANDS and HELIGOLAND and all other islands. In SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN and in DENMARK, to the C-in-C. 21 Army Group.

    This is to include all naval ships in the areas.

    These forces to lay down their arms and to surrender unconditionally.

  2. All hostilities on land, on sea, or in the air by German forces in the above areas to cease at 0800 hrs. British Double Summer Time on Saturday 5 May 1945.

  3. The German command to carry out at once, and without argument or comment, all further orders that will be issued by the Allied Powers on any subject.

  4. Disobedience of orders, or failure to comply with them, will be regarded as a breach of these surrender terms and will be dealt with by the Allied Powers in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war.

  5. This instrument of surrender is independent of, without prejudice to, and will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by or on behalf of the Allied Powers and applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.

  6. This instrument of surrender is written in English and in German.

    The English version is the authentic text.

  7. The decision of the Allied Powers will be final if any doubt or dispute arises as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms.

B. L. MONTGOMERY
Field Marshal

V. FRIEDEBURG
KINZEL
G. WAGNER
POLECK
FREIDEL

4 May 1945
1830 hrs

2727

Reading Eagle (May 4, 1945)

Dorothy Thompson1

ON THE RECORD —
The death of Hitler

By Dorothy Thompson

JERUSALEM – Perhaps we will never know how Hitler died or when he really died, but it is clear just what a myth this is intended to create around his name.

With the Red flag flying over the Reichstag and American and British troops unfortunately not in Berlin, with the Soviets taking unilateral action in Poland and Austria, with France registering an unprecedented Communist vote in municipal elections, it is the intention of German leaders to dramatize in Hitler’s death the role of Germany as a last bulwark against radical Bolshevism sweeping over all Europe.

This undoubtedly is also the reason for launching the story that Himmler was willing to surrender to the British and Americans. While not confirmed, it bolsters the myth that Germany fought for Western civilization against military Bolshevism. This, therefore, will recall clearly how Hitler set about saving Europe from Bolshevism.

He, first, in his own country, destroyed all historic and traditional institutions of Western civilization, representative government, impartial courts, orderly processes and based regime on a naked force. He then made a pact with the Soviet Union, encouraged the Soviet entrance into Finland and partitioned Poland with the Soviets along the Molotov-Ribbentrop line. He then attacked the west, destroyed entire defense systems and broke down again Western civilization’s most cherished institutions, creating everywhere moral and political chaos.

Then, because he feared the Soviet Union on the rear and thought he could play on British conservatism, he attacked the Soviet Union.

Finally, by insisting that Germany fight on for months after the war was definitely lost, he brought about the utter ruin of Germany herself, leaving the country a wilderness of rubble without government, communications or food.

He who in death is proclaimed the protector of Europe is the destroyer of Europe. He and his spokesman, Goebbels, repeatedly said that either Nazism would conquer or would pull civilization down with it into chaos. That promise and that promise alone Hitler kept, but the evil that he did lives after him. That is why, here in their national home, among his worst victims, the Jews, there is no wild rejoicing.

Jewry’s worst enemy has been defeated and his country literally brought to dust, but the seeds of hatred he sowed throughout the world flourish still. Reports received here from all parts of Europe, including France and Yugoslavia, reveal great hostility over returning to European Jews property expropriated from them and resold to non-Jews under the Nazi regime.

The feeling of democracy and Sovietism based on freedom proved weak, inefficient and widespread. Though the root of Nazism is unabridged in nationalism which elevates a nation into a god, there is no sign that such nationalism is not extirpated with Hitler’s fall. Our civilization therefore confronts in victory an undiminished crisis.

1 Like
2728

The Pittsburgh Press (May 4, 1945)

Germans surrender on northern fronts

Capitulation tomorrow includes Holland, Denmark and Reich

LONDON, England (UP) – The German armies of Northwestern Germany, Denmark and Holland have surrendered unconditionally to British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery.

The surrender leaves major Nazi resistance isolated in the two doomed pockets of Norway and Czechoslovakia.

The surrender is effective at 8 a.m. British Time tomorrow (2 a.m. ET).

The Nazi capitulation was announced at the close of a dramatic conference between Marshal Montgomery and a high-ranking but unnamed representative of Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, the new German Fuehrer.

Marshal Montgomery informed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Paris that the surrender would also apply to the pocketed German divisions in Heligoland and on the Frisian Islands off the Dutch Coast.

More than 250,000 German troops, representing the last effective German fighting force on the European continent outside Norway and Czechoslovakia, were involved in the mass surrender. Well over 500,000 Nazis laid down their arms on the British front in the last two days.

There were still many minor pockets of resistance on the continent, including areas around a few French ports.

A brief announcement of the northern capitulation, issued at Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters, emphasized that this was a “battlefield surrender” to Montgomery’s 21st Army Group and not to the Allied governments.

The announcement said:

Field Marshal Montgomery has reported to the Supreme Allied Commander that all enemy forces in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark, including Heligoland and the Frisian Islands, have surrendered to the 21st Army Group effective at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning, Double British Summer Time.

This is a battlefield surrender involving the forces now facing the 21st Army Group on the northern and the western flanks.

Serious resistance to the British forces had begun melting away before the announcement of the surrender. United Press war writer Richard D. McMillan reported that German troops were throwing away their weapons by the hundreds of thousands, refusing flatly to fight, and their staff officers, wandering freely through the Allied ranks, admitted it was all over.

The Czechoslovak pocket in the south was rapidly being enveloped and neutralized by U.S. and Russian forces converging on the Austrian city of Linz.

The Nazis said the ceasefire order had sounded in Holland and that British troops were sweeping unopposed through Denmark.

Swedish reports told of spreading mutiny in the German Army barracks at Copenhagen, and the Nazis’ own radio at Wilhelmshaven said the “last hour of the war” had arrived.

Mr. McMillan reported that the entire German High Command had assembled opposite the British forces in the north.

Stockholm said that Doenitz, self-styled Nazi Fuehrer, and his patched-up government were in Denmark – probably somewhere in South Jutland.

The German-controlled Wilhelmshaven radio called on the people for unity “in the last hour of the war.” It said that “to spare further bloodshed and destruction, the high command has taken appropriate measures which can only be carried out in accordance with responsible authorities.” Further orders were on an hour-to-hour basis, it added.

Stockholm and Paris reports told without official confirmation of a dramatic meeting of Marshal Montgomery with Doenitz and other Nazi leaders. Paris said the so-called “peace conference” was at Aabenraa Castle just over the Danish frontier.

The Swedes said Col. Gen. Georg Lindemann, German commander in Denmark, and possibly Dr. Werner Best, German governor in Denmark; Josef Terboven, Reich Commissar in Norway, and Adm. Fritz Boehm, German commander in Norway, attended the reported conference.

Allied transports with food for civilians were going through the German “lines” under some sort of an agreement, the Oslo radio said, and Stockholm reported flatly from Copenhagen that the Germans “no longer control the Danish border.”

A Stockholm dispatch reported the organization of a new Danish cabinet under Premier Wilhelm Buhl.

Malmo reports relayed through Stockholm aid German troops mutinied at Copenhagen barracks yesterday, but the uprising was suppressed. They added that 400 German sailors mutinied in Aabenraa Harbor yesterday and all were jailed.

An Exchange Telegraph dispatch Zurich said Count Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk, the new German foreign minister, had ousted Dr. Karl Frank, Nazi extremist as governor of Bohemia-Moravia in a move to please the Allies.

The Doenitz government yesterday declared Prague, capital of Bohemia and pre-war Czechoslovakia, a hospital city, an indication that the protectorate may soon capitulate.

2729

Troops yield by hundreds of thousands

High enemy officers admit collapse
By Richard McMillan, United Press staff writer

…

2730

Hitler mystery grows as Reds hunt for body

Berliners believe he shot himself

LONDON, England (UP) – Radio Moscow said today that inhabitants of Berlin believe Adolf Hitler shot himself and Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels swallowed poison.

The report came as Red Army troops searched the ruins of Central Berlin for the third straight day for the bodies of Hitler, Goebbels and others of the Nazi hierarchy.

Some Nazi bigwigs may also be found among German prisoners taken in Berlin, at last count more than 134,000. One neutral report last week said Hitler and other Nazis were fighting as army privates in an attempt to escape detection when surrender came.

Tokyo pipes up

Not until Hitler’s body has been found can the Allies be certain that he is dead. The suicide version was first advanced for both Hitler and Goebbels by Hans Fritzsche, Goebbels’ deputy propaganda chief, who was captured by the Russians.

Tokyo Radio sought to bolster the illusion that Hitler died a hero by quoting a Domei dispatch which it said had been sent from Hamburg just before that city fell to the British.

The broadcast said Hitler was descending a flight of stairs in his official residence when a Soviet shell exploded “right in front of him and took his life.” Domei attributed the report to a “trusted bodyguard” of Hitler.

Capture 134,000

A Soviet announcement that the number of prisoners captured in Berlin had risen to 134,000 boosted total German casualties in the 12-day battle for and in the city to roughly 450,000.

Radio Moscow said some buildings were still standing in the outskirts of Berlin, but the center of the city, including Hitler’s Reich Chancellery, had been flattened by aerial bombs and Soviet shells.

Reich Marshal Hermann Goering’s air ministry was levelled by bombs, the broadcast said. Gestapo headquarters burned down.

The broadcast said German civilians had begun to emerge from cellars and were lining up at food depots for bread.

Radio Berlin was heard yesterday broadcasting in Russian for the first time.

2731

7th Army drives into Italy, joins 5th Army below Brenner

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2732

Marines smash line on Okinawa

Reach within mile of capital city

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2733

Japs to win war alone, people told

Premier says they’ll avenge ‘fallen heroes’
By the United Press

The collapse of her Axis partners will not affect Japan’s determination to fight on to victory and world rule, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki has informed the Japanese people.

In a speech to the nation, broadcast by the Tokyo radio, Suzuki expressed sympathy for Germany’s loss of Hitler.

Responsibility increased

He admitted the “unexpected development” in Europe would add to Japan’s war difficulties and would increase Japan’s “weight of responsibility to win the war for the Axis alone.”

“We are fully prepared,” he declared, “to avenge the fallen heroes, Hitler and Mussolini.”

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s cabinet was criticized by the Jap press for “lack of vigor” and failure “to recognize the spirit of the people,” the Jap Domei Agency said.

“Many officials rant on without knowing what is behind the thoughts of the people… who do not realize how strong the fighting spirit of the people is,” an editorial in the Tokyo newspaper Mainichi was quoted.

Kurusu lauds Hitler

The “great achievements” of Adolf Hitler were extolled today by Saburo Kurusu, Jap “peace envoy” in Washington when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Radio Tokyo said. A broadcast quoted him as saying:

The late Fuehrer’s love of the Fatherland and his idea of true world peace will be kept intact in the minds of the German nation and the task bequeathed by Hitler will no doubt be accomplished by the Germans.

2734

Hard coal mines seized by U.S.

Return Monday, Ickes tells UMW

…

2735

UP writer Beattie freed from Germans

WITH THE U.S. NINTH ARMY, Germany (UP) – Edward W. Beattie Jr., United Press writer who was captured by the Germans last September, arrived here today from the Luckenwalde concentration camp south of Berlin.

2736

I DARE SAY —
Manhattan diary

By Florence Fisher Parry

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2737

Russia seeks settlement of Polish dispute

Argentine issue becomes factor

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2738

House group denies Sister Kenny hearing

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2739

Group seeks blood donors in honor of Ernie

Friday, May 4, 1945

In honor of Ernie Pyle, who was killed in action on Ie Shima, off the coast of Okinawa, the B’nai B’rith Council of Pittsburgh is seeking 400 blood donors.

The 15th blood donor day is scheduled Wednesday, May 23, at the Red Cross Station, Wabash Building. I. H. Kantrowitz is general chairman of the drives aided by Myer M. Cohen.

Members of the Bakery Drivers Union, Local 485 (AFL), are conducting a drive to enroll donors in honor of 438 members of the union serving in the Armed Forces and in memory of seven members who have been killed. The donors are to meet at the Red Cross Center Tuesday, May 22. On the committee are F. H. Hofbauer, Fred Martin and William H. Tappe.

2740

Tito protests Allied seizure of Trieste

Yugoslavs claim Italian port

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2741

Krupp and all little Krupps want to start over again

Manager of plant says they didn’t make arms, only some armor plate, artillery, bombs, etc.
By Henry J. Taylor

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2742

Ford to abandon bomber plant

Factory lacking peacetime virtue

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