Les entretiens préalables à la Conférence des « Trais » se poursuivent
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Youngstown Vindicator (May 31, 1945)
BRITAIN WARNS FRANCE ON SYRIA
U.S. sends Paris note on situation – Churchill asks de Gaulle to withdraw troops to barracks
Large fires burning in capital – 300 lives already lost
By the Associated Press
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YANKS HOLD OKINAWA FORTRESS
Old Glory flies above Shuri Castle
Marines plow through mud and rain, try to encircle town
GUAM (AP) – Old Glory, rippling from the shattered ramparts of ancient Shuri Castle, today signalized capture of that centuries-old fortress and recent headquarters of the Japanese commander of Okinawa.
Marines of Maj. Gen. Pedro A. del Valle’s 1st Division hoisted the colors at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday while marines and infantrymen, slogging through mud and Tain, threatened to encircle Shuri town.
Advance units of Maj. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepheard’s 6th Marine Division on the west flank and Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold’s 7th Infantry Division on the east were, at last reports, less than two miles apart. Their expected juncture about a mile south of Shuri will ting the second city of Okinawa and halt apparent Japanese efforts to withdraw troops.
Reinforcements reach castle
Associated Press correspondent Vern Haugland reported the 5th Marine Regiment sent patrols 100 to 200 yards east of Shuri Castle without encountering material opposition. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’s communiqué said marine reinforcements reached the castle.
Frontline dispatches said the Marines were mopping-up scattered Japanese pockets within Shuri Castle, stone-walled 16th-century home of the Ryukyu kings. The medieval fortress was first reached Tuesday in a swift dash by Company A of the 5th Regiment, led by Capt. Julius Dusenberry of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Shuri’s defenders, apparently a stand-and-die garrison, fought fiercely northeast of the town. The stiffest resistance was encountered by Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce’s 77th Infantry Division. Japanese efforts to slow the Yank advance through deep mud was described not only as strong but fanatical.
Naha in American hands
Naha, the Okinawa capital on the west coast, was wholly in American hands except for isolated groups of Japanese.
Sixth Division units advanced eastward from Naha 100 to 300 yards toward the Kobakura hills where mortar and machine-gun fire was encountered from an estimated 350 troops, mostly Koreans. The Marines neared the Kokuba River, which empties into Naha Harbor.
On the east flank, 7th Infantry doughboys expanded their holdings by moving onto high ground near Yonawa town, adjacent to captured Yonabaru, and sent patrols far to the west toward an imminent juncture with the 6th Division Marines south of Shuri.
Rain and mud, sometimes knee-deep, slowed ground operations and posed further supply problems for advance troops.
Two more U.S. light vessels were damaged in small Japanese air attacks carried out on the Okinawa area Tuesday despite bad weather. Eight Japanese planes were shot down.
U.S. casualties reach 1,002,887, four times War I
WASHINGTON (UP) – U.S. combat casualties in this war passed 1,000,000 today.
Military losses as announced officially here reached 1,002,887, an increase of 6,798 over a week ago.
The total included 890,019 Army and 112,868 Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard casualties.
The overall total, including only those casualties which have bee tabulated and announced in Washington, was nearly our times the First World War total of 259,735 for all services.
The week’s increase was almost evenly divided between the two major branches. The Army’s total rose 3,494 while the Navy, reflecting heavy losses off Okinawa, climbed 3,304.
The casualty total for all services includes 227,097 dead, 607,468 wounded, 63,455 missing and 104,867 taken prisoner.
Of the prisoners, about 90,000 were in Europe and have been liberated.
The missing total includes about 44,000 Army missing in Europe. Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson told a press conference that there was little hope that many of these would turn up alive.
Patterson disclosed that five infantry divisions – the 3rd, 4th, 9th, 45th and 36th – suffered among them a total of 133,394 casualties.
Each, he said, suffered losses greater than its total strength at any one time. An infantry division’s strength is about 15,000.
With the exception of the 4th Division, which landed in Normandy on D-Day, all saw service in North Africa, Sicily or Italy before combat extended to France and Germany.
Navy reveals ship repairs lag at home
Says workers quit as battle in Pacific grows stiffer
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Yanks round the world pause, renew pledge of debt to dead
By the United Press
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Paris press blames British colonial staff for disorder
Says outsiders cause trouble in Lebanon, Syria
By Richard Mowrer
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French honor Eisenhower
LONDON, England (LNS) – A French radio announcement said today that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had been appointed a companion of the Order of Liberation according to a decree published in the French official Gazette.
First Lady swings nine times – dents nose of one plane
WASHINGTON (AP) – Official forgetfulness plagued Mrs. Harry S. Truman’s initial public appearance as First Lady. But her troubles in christening two hospital planes Wednesday failed to disturb her.
In fact, she, too, began to laugh when nine valiant swings of a champagne bottle failed to do more than dent the aluminum nose of the Army ship at an Army-Navy ceremony.
A military aide did no better. He bounced the bottle against the plane four times. Mrs. Truman then moved to the Navy plane.
On her second try, the bottle splintered from the blow of an ax swung from below by a naval officer. Champagne splattered all over the First Lady’s black faille suit.
Undaunted, Mrs. Truman returned to the Army plane. Officers scurried for a fire ax too, but someone ordered the attempt abandoned.
Afterwards it was learned that no one had thought to tell Mrs. Truman to swing the bottles against the sharp-edged open wheel wells, nor had the thick bottles been properly “scored” to ensure breakage.
Crew members of the Army plane said they would fly their ship proudly with the dent made by Mrs. Truman’s repeated efforts to christen it U.S. Capitol.
Tokyo says Navy shakeup allows ‘special tactics’
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Says balloon bombs come from Japan
Forestry chief reveals weapon’s mechanism, how it travels
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Eliot: Pitfalls in crime trials
Urges against long delay, ill-considered acts – says Reds eye West
By Maj. George F. Eliot
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