America at war! (1941–) – Part 5

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

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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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2743

Frenchman outlasts Nazi tortures

Correspondent packed in car with 119 others, survives starvation in notorious Buchenwald
By Marcel Conversy

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2744

Dutch go wild as food arrives

Rations had ended Thursday in Utrecht

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2745

Aussies reach Tarakan City off Borneo

Yanks enter Davao on Mindanao

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2746

Hitler’s mistress with him, dead or alive, gossip says

Were very much in love, declares woman who watched Fuehrer’s trysts with blond
By Jack Fleischer, United Press staff writer

MUNICH, Germany – Dead or alive, Adolf Hitler’s sweetheart, Eva Braun, is with him, according to a gray-haired gossip who watched their comings and goings here since their affair began.

“They were obviously very much in love,” said Frau Marie Schiffler. She gave details of the love life of Hitler and the blond, brown-skinned Fraulein who persuaded him to wear striped pajamas and silk underwear.

“Wherever Hitler is – dead or alive – you can be sure Eva is at his side,” Frau Schiffler said. She added that Eva left for Berlin a month ago, apparently at Hitler’s orders. She was taken away at night in a big black auto, guarded heavy by SS troopers.

Works in building

Frau Schiffler had worked 20 years in the Munich building where Hitler had an apartment for 16 years and held his trysts with Eva.

With relish, she told how Eva used to spend the night in Hitler’s apartment in the morning. Hitler would leave first. Half an hour later, Eva would slip out and hurry to her car, parked a couple of blocks away.

When Hitler first moved into Prinzregenten Strasse 16, he shared an apartment with a married couple because he couldn’t afford his own. But after his rise to power, he had a remodeled, luxurious, 10-room apartment. Many a night he spent there with chunky Eva, Frau Schiffler said.

Knew housekeeper

Much of her information came straight from Hitler’s housekeeper, Frau Annie Winter, and her husband George.

Frau Schiffler said:

Hitler used to spend much of the time at his apartment. But during the war, his visits became less and less frequent especially after the air raids began on a large scale in 1942. So far as I know, he only slipped in here once in the last seven months.

Whenever he was here, Eva almost always came over from her villa and stayed with Der Fuehrer until he left. Or often he spent part of his visit at her villa.

Occasionally before the war, Hitler took Eva to the theater, but otherwise they never were seen in public together.

Nevertheless, the details of Hitler’s love life were well known among German gossips. Just before the war began, Hitler was reported ready to marry Eva. He was even said to have bought a wedding ring and ordered her wedding present, a custom-built Mercedes touring car.

Eva sometimes shopped in Munich for Hitler’s birthday and Christmas presents. On one occasion, she bought him blue and white-striped pajamas, the national colors of Bavaria. She was said to be the one who persuaded him to wear silk underwear, and to be more careful in his dress generally.

Virtual prisoner

Lately, according to Frau Schiffler, Eva was a virtual prisoner in her villa on the Wasserburger Strasse. The SS guard from Hitler’s apartment building also guarded her house day and night.

Frau Schiffler said so far as she knew Eva was the only woman in Hitler’s life. However, it was reported from Germany when the details about Eva first leaked out that she twice made unconvincing cuts on her wrist when she was piqued with jealousy. Apparently, she wanted to arouse Hitler’s sympathy with suicide attempts.

The air raid shelter here was stacked with thousands of letters to Hitler, most of them from women.

2747

Rangoon cleared by Allied troops

Malaya, Indochina, Thailand next on list

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2748

Tough fight ahead yet on Okinawa

Japs must be killed to last man
By William McGaffin

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2749

After reaching Elbe, Berlin was five days away from Ninth Army

U.S. officers disappointed, but capture of capital would have cost 20,000 casualties
By Victor O. Jones, North American Newspaper Alliance

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