Die britischen Annexionsgelüste im Mittelmeer
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Japan regelt die Verwaltung Indochinas
Saigon, 14. März – Nach einer Erklärung des Kommandeurs der japanischen Streitkräfte in Französisch-Indochina wird die japanische Politik in Französisch-Indochina nach dem Zusammenbruch der französischen Verwaltung nicht nur die Regierung der eingesessenen Bewohner unverändert bestehen lassen, sondern auch alle Gesetze respektieren und das politische System, das unter der französischen Verwaltung in Kraft war, aufrechterhalten.
Im Einklang mit dieser Politik wird die Verwaltung weiter in den Händen des Generalgouverneurs liegen, welchen Posten der Kommandeur der japanischen Streitkräfte übernimmt. Chunichi Ma Tsumoto, der japanische Botschafter in Französisch-Indochina, hat den Posten eines Obersten Ratgebers inne und wird alle öffentlichen Angelegenheiten überwachen. Der japanische Minister Masayuki Yokayama wurde zum Obersten Ratgeber bei der Regierung Annams, das seine Unabhängigkeit erklärt hat, ernannt.
Führer HQ (March 15, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Südlich des Plattensees brachen unsere Kampfgruppen gegen zunehmenden Widerstand der Sowjets in das stark verminte feindliche Hauptkampffeld ein. Beiderseits des Sárvizkanals wurden in hartem Kampf weitere stark ausgebaute Stützpunkte der Bolschewisten genommen, unsere Front dadurch begradigt und heftige Gegenangriffe abgewehrt. Schlacht- und Jagdflieger unterstützten die Angriffe und fügten besonders dem sowjetischen Nachschubverkehr schwere Schäden zu. In Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe wurden 36 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
Im slowakischen Erzgebirge blieben vereinzelt weiter vorgedrungene Angriffsgruppen der Sowjets südlich Heiiigenkreuz und bei Altsohl vor unseren rückwärtigen Stützpunkten liegen.
Der gestrige Kampftag brachte bei Schwarzwasser unseren immer wieder zu entschlossenen Gegenstößen antretenden Panzern und Grenadieren einen vollen Abwehrerfolg. Feindliche Stellungen nordöstlich Striegau wurden in kühnem Vorstoß erobert und gegen alle Angriffe der Bolschewisten gehalten.
Die Festung Breslau wird in verbissenen Häuserkämpfen gegen den von Norden und Süden andrängenden Feind erfolgreich verteidigt. Auch die Besatzung von Glogau hält ihre Stellungen in tapferem Abwehrkampf.
An der Oder, vor Stettin und am Brückenkopf Dievenow blieben zusammenhanglose Angriffe der Bolschewisten in der Mehrzahl vor unseren Stellungen liegen. Die Verteidiger von Kolberg hielten unter schwerem Beschuss den anhaltend starken Angriffen des Feindes stand und ließen die zweimalige Aufforderung zur Übergabe unbeantwortet.
Am Frontbogen von Gotenhafen und Danzig, besonders im Raum von Quassendorf, wurden die Durchbruchsversuche der mit starken Panzerkräften angreifenden Bolschewisten wiederum in schwerem Kampf vereitelt.
In der Abwehrschlacht um Ostpreußen zerbrachen die auf breiter Front zwischen Eisenberg und dem Festungsbereich von Königsberg fortgesetzten Angriffe der feindlichen Armeen am hervorragenden Kampfgeist unserer Infanterie. Eingebrochene Sowjetkräfte wurden vor rückwärtigen- Stellungen aufgefangen oder im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen. Die Vernichtung von 88 feindlichen Panzern kennzeichnet die Härte der Schlacht.
Der volle deutsche Abwehrerfolg während der fünften Schlacht in Kurland zwang den Feind, seine Durchbruchsversuche auch im Kampfraum von Frauenburg einzustellen.
Bewegungen und Ansammlungen des Gegners am Niederrhein wurden unter wirksames Artilleriefeuer genommen.
Trotz starken Widerstandes gewannen unsere Truppen im Gegenangriff östlich Remagen Höhen und Ortschaften zurück. Nach erneutem Antreten konnten jedoch die Amerikaner wieder einige Einbrüche erzielen, die abgeriegelt wurden.
Gegen unsere Front westlich des Rheins ist der Feind an der Mosel, an der Saar und im Unterelsass zum Großangriff angetreten. Unter starkem Einsatz von künstlichem Nebel gelang es Ihm, nordöstlich Kochem und bei Ürzig auf dem Ostufer der Mosel Fuß zu fassen. Zwischen dem Osburger und dem Schwarzwälder Hochwald dauern schwere Abwehrkampfe an. Auch um unsere Stellungen zwischen Forbach und Hagenau sind schwere Kämpfe entbrannt.
In Italien vernichtete ein Stoßtrupp von Fallschirmjägern südlich Imola einen feindlichen Stützpunkt, brachte zahlreiche Italiener als Gefangene ein und fügte dem Feind hohe blutige Verluste zu.
Durch Angriffe feindlicher Bomber gegen Nordwest- und Westdeutschland entstanden Schäden besonders in den Wohngebieten von Hannover, Hildesheim, Gütersloh und Hattingen an der Ruhr. Amerikanische Verbände warfen Bomben auf Orte ln Südostdeutschland. In der Nacht richtete sich der feindliche Bombenterror gegen mitteldeutsches Gebiet. Nach bisherigen Meldungen wurden durch Luftverteidigungskräfte 23 viermotorige Bomber zum Absturz gebracht.
In den letzten Tagen haben zahlreiche „Sturm-Wikinge“ und Kleinst-Unterseeboote Ziele im Schelderaum angegriffen. Nach bisherigen Meldungen wurden vier Schiffe mit 12.000 BRT versenkt. Weitere Erfolge nicht zurückgekehrter „Sturm-Wikinge“ sind mit Sicherheit anzunehmen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (March 15, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
151100A March
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
(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) PRO, ROME
(21) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 341
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces have increased the depth of the bridgehead over the Rhine River at Remagen to more than five miles. In the northern portion of the bridgehead, our infantry advanced 1,500 yards northward to reach a point one and one-half miles northeast of Bad Honnef. Other elements drove to a point one and one-fourth miles from the Autobahn in the area three miles east of Bad Honnef.
Northeast of Linz our units are in the outskirts of Kalenborn and Notscheid. Our infantry pushed into the wooded area three and one-half miles due east of Linz against stiff resistance.
Mopping-up operations continue along the north side of the Moselle River. South of Cochem, we have captured Ediger-Eller, Bremm, and Sankt Aldegund. Three more bends in the river northeast of Trier have been cleared with the taking of Kues, Minheim and Trittenheim.
Southeast of Trier, our infantry made gains of one and one-half miles eastward, capturing Morscheid, Holzerath, Hentern and Frommersbach. Enemy nebelwerfer and artillery fire against our forces increased in the area southeast of Trier.
West of Saarbrücken, our forces advanced up to three miles on a five-mile front. The Franco-German border was crossed and the Saar River reached at several points. Towns occupied include Schaffhausen, Wehrden, Geislautern, Fürstenhausen, Klarenthal and Schönecken.
Farther east, at Haguenau, an armor-supported enemy attack failed to dislodge our units from newly-won positions on the north side of the Moder River.
Allied forces in the west captured 2,413 prisoners 13 March.
Enemy communications in Holland, western Germany and along the entire length of the battle area and eastward, were under heavy attack from the air yesterday.
Railyards at Gütersloh, Holzwickede, Löhne, southwest of Osnabrück, Seelze and Giessen; rail bridges at Bad Oeynhausen and Vlotho; armored vehicle plants at Hannover; oil refineries at Misburg and Nienhagen, and a casting plant at Hildesheim; benzol plants near Bochum and Recklinghausen, and a viaduct at Arnsberg were attacked by escorted heavy bombers in very great strength.
The rail viaduct at Bielefeld was attacked with 22,000-pound bombs by other escorted heavy bombers.
Railyards at Haltern and Bocholt; rail bridges at Niedermarsberg, Pracht, Cölbe, Niederscheld and Bad Münster; communications centers at Haiger, Bad Kreuznach and Wallhausen; and enemy airfields at Babenhausen and Grossostheim were the targets for medium and light bombers.
Enemy transport on roads leading to Remagen, and an airfield at Lippe were attacked by fighter-bombers. Fifty-eight enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground and many others were damaged.
Rail targets in Holland; fortified towns, strongpoints and transport in the Trier sector; supply centers at Frankfurt and Montabaur; rail yards at Donaueschingen; communications at Kaiserslautern, and ammunition dumps at Neunkirchen and near Landau also were attacked by fighter-bombers.
During the day, a large number of rail cars, locomotives and motor vehicles were destroyed and rail lines were cut in many places.
E-boat pens at Ijmuiden were attacked by heavy bombers.
Twenty-seven enemy aircraft were shot down during these operations. According to reports so far received, 14 of our bombers and 20 fighters are missing.
Last night, a synthetic oil plant at Lützkendorf and objectives in Zweibrücken and Homburg were heavily attacked by heavy bombers. Targets in Berlin 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 (March 15, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 299
The 5th Marine Division on March 15 (East Longitude Date) continued to reduce further the area held by the enemy at the northern tip of Iwo Island. Our forces encountered intense small arms and mortar fire in that sector throughout the day. Mopping-up operations were continued in the 3rd and 4th Marine Division zones of action. Planes of the VII Army Fighter Command bombed airfields and other installations on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on the same date.
On March 14, Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force, operating under the Strategic Air Force, bombed Chichi Jima airfield.
Navy search Privateers of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed Wake Island through meager anti-aircraft fire on March 14.
On the same date, Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing continued neutralizing attacks on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls.
CINCPOA Press Release No. 34
For Immediate Release
March 15, 1945
IWO JIMA, Volcano Islands (March 14, delayed) – With the rattle of musketry to the north, where the remnants of the Japanese garrison force were being exterminated by Marines, faintly audible, the United States government today officially took possession of this desolate but strategic island on the road to Tokyo.
It did so in a proclamation issued by FADM Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas and military governor of the Volcano Islands. After the proclamation had been read, the American flag was officially raised over the island.
The ceremony, held in the shadow of Suribachi, extinct volcano at the southern tip of Iwo, and attended by high-ranking officers of the Marine Corps, Navy and Army, was marked by simplicity.
Deep-throated roars of nearby Marine field pieces drowned the voice of Marine Col D. A. Stafford, of Spokane, Washington, V Amphibious Corps personnel officer, as he read the words suspending all powers of government of the Japanese Empire on the island.
The Stars and Stripes were run up on a staff atop a strongly reinforced Japanese bunker with an anti-aircraft gun emplacement above it. The military notables formed in rank on one side of the staff. On the other, an honor guard composed of eight military policemen from each of the three divisions that participated in the seizure of the island, was drawn up.
Among the military and naval leaders who planned and executed the invasion were: VADM Richmond Kelly Turner, USN, Commander, Amphibious Forces, Pacific; RADM Harry Hill, USN, of Oakland, California, deputy commander of the attack force; LtGen Holland M. Smith, Commanding General of the Fleet Marine Force of the Pacific; MajGen Harry F. Schmidt, V Amphibious Corps Commander; MajGen Graves B. Erskine, of La Jolla, California, 3rd Marine Division commander, and his chief of staff, Col Robert E. Hogaboom, of Vicksburg, Mississippi; MajGen Clifton B. Cates, 4th Marine Division Commander, and his chief of stag, Col M. J. Batchelder; and MajGen Keller Rockey, 5th Marine Division Commander, and his chief of staff, Col Ray A. Robinson. The Army was represented at the ceremony by MajGen James E. Chaney.
While Marine PFC John E. Glynn (309599), 21, of 2319 Humanity Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, veteran of Guadalcanal, sounded “Colors,” Old Glory was sent fluttering in the breeze to the top of the flagstaff by Marine PFC Thomas J. Casale (411750), 20, of (no street address) Herkimer, New York, and Albert B. Bush (437298), 24, of 16712 Woodbury Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. Marine Sgt Anthony C. Yusi (285607), 25, of 68 Grove Street, Port Chester, New York, was in charge of the color detail.
The bugler and the color detail were chosen from the V Amphibious Corps Military Police Company. Their commanding officer, 1Lt Nathan R. Smith, of Whitehaven, Pennsylvania, said the men had been selected for general efficiency and military bearing. Both Yusi and Bush took part in the seizure of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas. Moreover, Yusi was serving aboard the USS WASP (CV-7) when she was sunk by the Japs September 15, 1943.
The proclamation was the first issued by FADM Nimitz as military governor of the Volcano Islands. It was addressed, in Japanese as well as English, to the people of the islands. It read:
I, Chester William Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, United States Navy, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, do hereby proclaim as follows:
United States Forces under my command have occupied this and other of the Volcano Islands.
All powers of government of the Japanese Empire in the islands so occupied are hereby suspended.
All powers of government are vested in me as Military Governor and will be exercised by subordinate commanders under my direction.
All persons will obey promptly all orders given under my authority. Offenses against the Forces of Occupation will be severely punished.
Given under my hand at Iwo Jima this fourteenth day of March, 1945.
The ceremony took place as the battle for Iwo Jima entered its 24th day. The stubborn Japanese defenders had been driven northward to the end of the island.
The enemy was still defending his caves and bunkers to the death.
As the official flag was raised, the one that had flown over Suribachi since the fifth day of the battle was lowered. The Stars and Strips had been planted on the volcano by the Marines who wrested it from the Japs.
The place selected for the official flag is just off the beach in the southwestern section of the island. Selection of the site was prompted by convenience and the height of the ground.
Several hundred dirty, bearded and weary Marines working and bivouacked in the vicinity gathered to witness the brief ceremony, which required less than 10 minutes. They, as well as the participants, came smartly to attention and saluted while the bugler was sounding colors.
The Pittsburgh Press (March 15, 1945)
Five U.S. armies storm 200-mile front, Nazis say
New U.S. 15th Army reported over Rhine in bridgehead sector
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Tears fill Marine general’s eyes at official flag-raising on Iwo
Banner signifies victory on island
By William McGaffin
BULLETIN
GUAM – U.S. Marines have lost under 4,000 dead in the 25-day campaign on Iwo, Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner indicated today.
“Their [Marine] death casualties are less than one-fifth of those of the defenders,” Adm. Turner said.
Jap deaths on Iwo officially were announced as 20,000, indicating American fatalities were under 4,000.
V AMPHIBIOUS CORPS HQ, Iwo Jima (March 14, delayed) – High up on Mt. Suribachi where the Stars and Stripes were raised on February 23, after capture of the 500-foot volcano, the flag came down today.
Instead, another flag went up – the official Stars and Stripes, signifying that Iwo Jima was ours after 23 days of the hardest fighting in Marine Corps history.
There were tears in the eyes of Lt. Gen. Holland Smith, commander of the Marine group, as a bugler blew the Colors and Old Glory went up on an abandoned Jap pillbox.
‘Worst battle yet’
“This is the worst battle we’ve had yet,” Gen. Smith said. Obviously, he was thinking of his boys who had fallen on this foreign shore.
The doughty 63-year-old general himself came within a few inches of stopping a Jap bullet yesterday while watching an intense firefight on the north end of the island.
His voice echoed with emotion when he said today:
It is a victory that was not accomplished by any one service but by a brotherhood of all services, formed in the holocaust of battle… Let us bow our heads in commemoration of their gallantry… Well done.
Sounds Attention
The ceremony began when John E. Glenn of New Orleans, a 21-year-old sandy-mustached bugler, sounded Attention.
As the group stood at attention the corps personnel officer, Col. D. A. Stafford of Spokane, Washington, read the proclamation from Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz “to the people of the Volcano Islands.”
U.S. forces under my command have occupied this and others of the Volcano Islands. All the powers of the government of the Japanese Empire in the islands so occupied are hereby suspended. All the powers of government are vested in me as military governor and will be exercised by subordinate commanders under my direction.
All persons will obey promptly all orders given under my authority. Offenses against the forces of occupation will be severely punished.
After the proclamation, printed in both English and Japanese, was read, the bugler sounded the Colors and Pvt. Thomas J. Casale of Herkimer, New York, sent the flag up the pole.
After the colors were hoisted, the bugler sounded “Carry On” and the men broke up to walk back along the dusty road to their various tasks.
Although Iwo is ours, enemy resistance has not ended. In the extreme northern end, there are small Jap pockets, including a strongpoint on a 900-yard ridge running south from Kitano Point. It probably will take several days before the island finally is declared “secured.”
A United Press dispatch from Guam quoted Pacific Fleet headquarters as estimating the number of Jap dead on Iwo at 20,000 through Wednesday.
There has been no announcement of U.S. casualties since March 3, when 2,050 Americans were listed as dead. An NBC broadcast from Guam said unofficial information indicated U.S. losses would be “very high.” An NBC commentator in Washington predicted they would total 17,000, including 3,000 dead.
Western Front losses fewer in February
Total U.S. casualties rise to 839,589
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Churchill expects summer victory
Then Britain will aid in Pacific, he asserts
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Martin against New York type of race law
Equality can’t be legislated, he says
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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1,700 of 19,000 film strikers decide to go back to work
Technicians say ‘wildcat’ walkout has nothing to do with ‘any union case’
HOLLYWOOD (UP) – A 19,000-man movie strike went into its fourth day with the makers of celluloid drama hoping it wouldn’t spoil tonight’s star-studded Academy Award presentations.
Whether the Conference of Studio Unions would carry its AFL, jurisdictional feud to the annual blowout was almost as big a headache as was moviemaking without set crews. Nobody knew whether the Gaudy Chinese Theater would be picketed.
Most studios were struggling along with workers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, rivals of the Painters’ Union in their bitter feud over representation of 78 set dressers.
The working force increased last night when 1,700 Alliance technicians, who had respected the picket lines for three days, decided to go back to work.
The technicians, who develop the film, called the Painters’ Union walkout a “wildcat strike” that had “nothing to do with wages, hours, or any logical union cause.”
Eight thousand stars and bit players will vote tomorrow on whether they will respect the picket lines. The results will be announced late next week.
Meanwhile, rival union leaders fumed and threatened.
IATSE President Richard Walsh dumped his battle with the Conference of Studio Unions, to which the painters belong, in the producers’ laps yesterday.
If, he threatened, the studios recognized the painters as bargaining agents for the set dressers, the IATSE would go on a bigger strike than the Conference of Studio Unions ever dreamed of.
“And what’s more,” he said, “we’ll take every movie theater in the country with us.”
Walsh said his men were stepping in to fill holes left by the strikers because they “wanted to see pictures produced.”
Producers warned
“But,” he warned, “if the producers recognize our rivals, we’ll go on strike all over. And when our projectionists go with us that means every movie house showing West Coast films will close down.”
President Herbert Sorrell of the Conference of Studio Unions dared him to try it.
“He’d smash his IATSE into kingdom come,” he declared. “It would be a typical Willie Bioff-George Browne tactic.”
Bioff and Browne, former IATSE leaders, served penitentiary sentences for extortion.
Walsh said if everybody else was going on strike, the IATSE also would have to do it for “self-protection.” He said he was getting tired of the “gangster” methods of the painters’ local.
May appeal for help
Meanwhile, the unhappy producers who were caught between the disputants considered calling for help from Washington as their studios got emptier and emptier. Only the IATSE workers, executives, actors, directors, writers, technicians and cameramen were left.
Out on strike with the set crews were secretaries, stenographers, guides, cooks, waitresses and dishwashers. Million-dollar executives were answering their own telephones and stars brought their lunches in paper bags.
Strike holds key to Oscar party
HOLLYWOOD (UP) – Three words – Going My Way – were the keynote today as the Motion Picture Academy prepared to hand out awards tonight, strike conditions permitting, for the top movie work of 1944.
Paramount’s famous movie, starring Bing Crosby, had four nominations and was certain to be on the receiving end of at least one of the Oscars.
Two of the Going My Wayers – Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald – have been nominated for Oscars for the year’s best performance by an actor. Fitzgerald was also in the running as the best supporting actor, while the picture’s director, Leo McCarey, was also in the lineup.
Bob Hope will be master of ceremonies. Previous winners will hand the guilded Oscars to the new selectees.
Also nominated for top picture honors were Paramount’s Double Indemnity, MGM’s Gaslight, Selznick International’s Since You Went Away and 20th Century-Fox’s Wilson.
Crosby and Fitzgerald were opposed by Charles Boyer of Gaslight, Cary Grant of None but the Lonely Heart and Alexander Knox of Wilson for the actor’s award.
Actresses nominated as best in their field were Ingrid Bergman of Gaslight, Claudette Colbert of Since You Went Away, Bette Davis of Mr. Skeffington, Greer Garson of Mrs. Parkington and Barbara Stanwyck of Double Indemnity.
Operators warned of U.S. control
Negotiate contract, UMW journal says
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7 killed, 16 injured in transport crash
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Most of it goes into black market –
Army frees citizens, BUT poor Pittsburgh gets none
1,200,000 pounds of fowl released in area where city usually buys, but it goes East
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Sen. McKellar, 76, suffers fainting spell
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In Washington –
Work-or-else compromise move begun
Conference committee gets legislation
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May 20 designated ‘I Am an American Day’
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