Monday, May 31, 2010

Current Events 'MEMORIAL DAY' May 31, 1942: KARKOV LOSSES HEAVY ON BOTH SIDES:


The Charleston Gazette
Charleston, West Virginia, Sunday Morning, May 31, 1942.

British Check Rommel, Take
Initiative in Some Sectors
Nazis' Kharkov Loss 90,000
Drive Thwarts
Rostov Attack
Timoshenko's Push Hailed
As Brilliant Success
In Averting Blow
By Germans
Soviets Lose 75,000,
Say Battle End Near
Hitler Legions Continue
Assaults Below City,
Are Repulsed
MOSCOW, Sunday, May 31.—
(AP)—Marshal Timoshenko's Soviet
armies in the Ukraine have
scored a brilliant success in
thwarting a Nazi-planned drive
upon Rostov, gateway to the
Caucasus, the Russians announced.
in a special communique
today declaring that the
battle of Kharkov is drawing to
a close after 19 days of violent
fighting in which the Germans
have lost more than 90,000 killed
or captured.

U.S. Weapons
Play Big Role
Main Struggle of Tanks
Southwest of Tobruk
Continues Raging,
Cairo Reports
No Decisive Turn
Noted by English
American Planes, Deadly
New Spitfires Thrown
Into Wide Fight
CAIRO, May 30.—(INS)—The
British defenders of east Libya,
hurling more and more American-
made tanks and planes into
a series of mighty counter-offensive
actions, were hitting
back hard tonight at the Axis
drive toward Egypt.
Inflicting heavy losses on German-
Italian mechanized and motorized
forces by land and air, the
British appeared to have checked
the enemy push, then to have wrested
the initiative from the Axis in
some important sectors.

Tributes Paid
To War Dead
Great Plants Hum Busily
As Veterans Parade For
Memorial

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Current Events May 30. 1942: SOVIETS AND GERMANS CLAIM VICTORY AT KHARKOV:



                      Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1942

Soviet and Nazis
Claim Victories
Berlin Says 240,000 Prisoners Taken
On Kharkov Front; Moscow Reports
2000 Germans Killed, 54 Tanks Smashed
Russian and German claims of victory in the battle for
Kharkov are again contradictory today. Berlin says 1249
tanks and 240,000 prisoners have' been taken, while three
Russian armies were "annihilated." Moscow asserts 2000
Germans were killed, other thousands wounded and 54 Axis
tanks smashed in the llth day of the epic battle, with Soviet
forces pressing forward everywhere.
Germany
BERLIN (From German Broadcasts),
May 30.—(AP)—Germany officially
announced today the great
battle of Kharkov has ended in the
"annihilation" of several enemy armies
and declared t h a t Russian
forces encircled on the C e n t r a l
Front (West of Moscow) are being crushed.
Russia
MOSCOW, May 30.—(AP)—The Russians
announced today Soviet forces
had knocked out 54 German tanks
and slain about 2000 German in
new engagements still apparently
dominated by the Izyum-Barvenkova
sector fighting below Kharkova.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Current Events May 29, 1942: HEAVY LOSSES CONTINUE ON COASTAL SHIPPING:


THE RACINE JOURNAL-TIMES
RACINE, WIS., FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MAY 29, 1942.

Brazilians Man U. S. Planes
To Swoop Down on Axis Subs;
Strong Reprisals Expected

Brazil Fighting Without Formal War Declaration
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29—(U.P)
Brazilian pilots, flying United
States-made planes, stalked- German
and Italian submarines far out
at sea today.
Brazil was virtually at war with
the axis, and diplomatic quarters
believed that the axis would not
be long in attempting to make
stronger reprisals than sinking unarmed
Brazilian ships.
U. S. Gaining
In Atlantic
WASHINGTON, May 29.—(AP)
Despite heavy losses inflicted on
American coastal shipping by nazi
submarines, naval experts said today
that the United States was
slowly winning the main campaign
in the battle of the Atlantic. They
emphasized, however, that only
steadily increasing production of
both war and merchant ships could
clinch the ultimate victory.
The greatest present need, it
was said, is for more defensive
craft—subchasers, blimps and patrol
bombers—manned by experienced
personnel.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Current Events May 29, 1942: BRAZIL ENTERS FRAY



THE RACINE JOURNAL-TIMES
RACINE, WIS., FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MAY 29, 1942.

Brazilians Man U. S. Planes
To Swoop Down on Axis Subs;
Strong Reprisals Expected

Brazil Fighting Without Formal War Declaration
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29—(U.P)
Brazilian pilots, flying United
States-made planes, stalked- German
and Italian submarines far out
at sea today.
Brazil was virtually at war with
the axis, and diplomatic quarters
believed that the axis would not
be long in attempting to make
stronger reprisals than sinking unarmed
Brazilian ships.
U. S. Gaining
In Atlantic
WASHINGTON, May 29.—(AP)
Despite heavy losses inflicted on
American coastal shipping by nazi
submarines, naval experts said today
that the United States was
slowly winning the main campaign
in the battle of the Atlantic. They
emphasized, however, that only
steadily increasing production of
both war and merchant ships could
clinch the ultimate victory.
The greatest present need, it
was said, is for more defensive
craft—subchasers, blimps and patrol
bombers—manned by experienced
personnel.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Current Events May 28, 1942: ROMMEL OPENS HEAVY OFFENSIVE IN IRAQ;



              The Charleston Gazette
                      Charleston, West Virginia, Thursday Morning, May 28,1942

Rommel Opens Heavy Offensive, Which
May Portend Iraq Drive;
Timoshenko Bests Foe in North
Armored Units
Clash in Libya
Strong Axis Tank Columns i
Unleashed Toward Suez; 1
Fierce Battle Rages j
In Desert Heat i
U. S.-Made Weapons i
Help British Troops
Allied Position Generally
Better Than It Was
Last Fall
CAIRO,.Egypt, May 27 (AP)-.
Strong Axis tank columns
thrown forward in an effort to
flank the southernmost point of
the British Libyan triangle
based on Tobruk and Ain el
Gazala were engaged tonight by
British armored forces in action
so heavy as to indicate that
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
may have opened a major offensive.

China Troops
Decimate Jap
Coastal Sally
Enemy Army of 100,000,
Driving Off Seaboard,
Suffers 15,300
Casualties
CHUNGKING. May 27.—(AP)-The
Japanese- army of 100,000 which
launched the offensive in seaboard
Chekiang province has been decimated,
having lost 15,300 in casualties,
at least 10,000 of them dead,
and still has not been able to take
Kinhwa, the provincial capital, the
Chinese reported tonight.

current Events May 27 1942: BRITISH CLAIM ADVANCES IN LIBYA


                Evening Capital
ANNAPOLIS, MD., WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1942.

Report Russian Break Through
Nazi Wedge In Flanking Move


BRITISH TANKS COUNTER NAZIS
WHO DRIVE FORWARD IN LIBYA
London Dispatch Declares Russians Break Into
German Wedge On Flank Below Kharkov—
Attempt Made On Life Of Reinhard Heydrich, No.
2 German Gestapo Leader—Chinese Announced
4,500 Japanese Killed At Kinwha—General
Somervell In London—British Bomb Messina-
Italians Claim U. S. Cruiser Torpedoed
Soviet front-line dispatches reported today that Marshal Semeon
Timoshenko's armies had smothered part of the German offensive 80
miles below Kharkov, while the German high command asserted
That the resistance of Russian troops "encircled" in the same sector
has been broken."
A Reuters news dispatch to London reported the Russians have
broken through the flank of the German wedge into the Izyum-Bar-
vencova front, were advancing in an important sector" and that the
counter-attack had stopped the main German offensive.
Berlin said that the Russians, which the Nazis claim are encircled
n the Izyum-Barvenkova sector, had been broken "after fresh and
fruitless attempts to break out."

The Chinese high command announced renewed Japanese assaults
oh Kinwha, provisional capital of Chekiang province, had been thrown
back and that 4,500 Japanese soldiers had died in a single day's fighting
for the strategic city. The Chinese position along the Burma road
was reported greatly Improved as American Flying Tigers blasted
Japanese bases repeatedly without meeting opposition and the Chinese
troops continued to push the Invaders back from the Salween river.

Current Events, May 26. 1942: VICHY SQUEEZE TO ACQUIRE FRENCH FLFLEET



                              The Charleston Daily Mail
                C H A R L E S TO N , WEST V I R G I N I A , MONDAY E V E N I N G , MAY 26, 1942
300,000 Italians Threaten Vichy in Axis Squeeze;
Mighty U. S. Air Armada Poised to Leap From Britain

Totalitarian Chiefs Seek Soil or Navy,
Mussolini Note To Laval Asks Corsica, Nice
By The United Press
An Axis plot to squeeze the
utmost war co-operation out of
Vichy France and to block any
threat that the French fleet
might go over to the United
Nations was reported today in
private advices to the United
Press.
Italian Premier Benito Mussolini
took the leading active role in the
Axis strategy, reportedly massing
300,000 Fascist troops on the
French frontier and sending a second
note to Vichy demanding Corsica
and Nice and calling for greater
Italian privileges at Tunisia.
Army, Navy Flight Staffs Visit London
Air Blow Seen
Merely Paving
Way for Yanks
By Edward W. Beattie
LONDON, May 26 (UP).—A
mighty air armada born on the
| assembly lines of America is
ready to strike directly at the
Axis, Great Britain was assured
today as two ranking United
States aerial commanders joined
British strategists in framing
plans for an offensive in western
Europe.
Mexico Set For Combat
Mexican War Declaration
Expected on Thursday
Brazil Reaction Eyed
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 26
Chile Action Urged
SANTIAGO, Chile, May 26 (AP).—

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Current Events May 25, 1942; 10 CORREGIDOR NURSES SAVED:


London Hears Position Of Soviet Army Around Kharkov Is Critical
The Port Arthur News
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS, MONDAY, MAY 25. 1942.
WPA BUDGET NEEDS CUT 187 MILLION


SHORTAGE OF LABOR IS CITED BY PRESIDENT
Organized Migration Looms
In Some War Work
Still Are Many Unable To
Get Private Jobs
WASHINGTON, May 25' .
(AP) Slashing approximately
$185,000,000 from the total
Because war conditions permit
, President Roosevelt asked
congress to appropriate $280,000,000
for work relief in the year starting
July 1 plus $2,767,000 for administrative
expenses.

JAP AIR LOSSES ESTIMATED
Nipponese Production Is Set
At 80p Per: Month
LONDON, May 25 (INS).—Japanese
aerial losses since the sneak
-attack on Pearl Harbor last Dec
7 have reached the high figure of
5400 planes, high British circles
said today.
This figure b based on a study
of United Nations communiques
which placed Jap losses at 1350.
Authoritative quarters say twice
that figure would be a conservative
total.

10 CORREGIDOR
NURSES SAVED
Flown Out By Navy Prior To Fort's Fall
By Frank Hewlett
. MELBOURNE, May 25 (UP).—
Ten. American army nurses, rescued
by plane from Corregidor, at a
formidable dinner here today,
had their hair done and went to see
Walt Disney's movie, "Fantasia."
They were offered "Dive Bomber"
alternative entertainment but
declined unanimously.
Flee 5OOO Miles
Rescued by daring American
navy aviators seven days before
the fall of the island fortress In
Manila bay, the nurses came 5000
miles through Japanese infested
territory in a crowded navy patrol
bomber to join Gen. Douglas Mac-
Arthur's forces.

Current Events May 24, 1942; ALL CRIMEA FALLS TO GERMANS;



THE CAPITAL TIMES
MADISON, WIS., SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1942

All of Crimea, Except
Sevastopol Garrison.,
Now in German Hands
Reds Claim Troops and Equipment Are
Withdrawn; Nazis Say 169,198 Prisoners
and War Booty Seized
By RICHARD McMCRRAT
(Associated Press War Editor)
RUSSIAN troops have withdrawn from the Kerch peninsula
in the Eastern Crimea after fighting bravely for days
against the crushing weight of the Germans, Moscow announced
Saturday, and on the Kharkov front a million men
continued a bloody battle for the initiative, the Germans
throwing strong tank forces into the fray.
A Russian communique said the withdrawal had been accomplished
"in full order" and that both troops and equip-
ment were evacuated. With their occupation of the peninsula,
the Germans were separated from the Caucasian lands
which they covet only by the narrow straits of Kerch

Japs force
A Landing on
Chuanshih Is.
Once Repulsed, Enemy
Now Threatens China's
Eastern Seaboard
BY SPENCER MOOSA
CHUNGKING—(AP>— The Japanese
have occupied Chuanshih island at
the mouth of the Min river below
Foochow, in Fukien province, after
the Chinese once chased them tack
to their ships and wiped out more
than half their landing force, the
Chinese-announced Saturday night.
''The Japanese thus increased their
threat to all China's eastern seaboard
contending armies were locked
in a bloody struggle along a 45-mile
front In Chekiang province, adjoining
Fukien in the north,

Current Events may 23, 1942; MEXICO JOINS ALLIES AGAINST AXIS


61 LOST AS 3 SHIPS ATTACKED IN GULF

The Portsmouth Herald
PORTSMOUTH, N. H., SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1942.

Mexico Ready To Join Allies

Congress Assent Certain; Acts Against Aliens
Nation
Prohibits
Export Of
U.S. Money
Mexico City, May 23 (AP)
Mexico, lacked only the formality
of apparently certain
congressional approval today
to become a full-fledged ally
in the war against the Axis.
Mexico's decision was
made rapidly last night as a
wave of public fury swept the
country over the news that
Axis submarines had sunk
the second Mexican merchant
ship within eight days.
Even while awaiting President
Manuel Avila Camacho's formal
proclamation of war, the first in
Mexico's history, the republic put
precautionary measures against Axis
aliens quietly into force and took
its first military steps.
Nazis Halt Reds By Counter-Attack In Kharkov Area
(By The Associated Press)
German Field Marshal Fedor von Bock was reported
throwing masses of air-borne troops into the bloody 12-day
battle of Kharkov today, and for the first time the Russians
acknowledged reverses on the southern flank despite a toll
of 15,000 Germans killed there in three days.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Current Events May 31, 1942: MEXICO JOINS ALLYS AGAINST THE AXIS;


    The Portsmouth Herald
PORTSMOUTH, N. H., SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1942.

Mexico Ready To Join Allies

Congress Assent Certain; Acts Against Aliens
Nation
Prohibits
Export Of
U.S. Money
Mexico City, May 23 (AP)
Mexico, lacked only the formality
of apparently certain
congressional approval today
to become a full-fledged ally
in the war against the Axis.
Mexico's decision was
made rapidly last night as a
wave of public fury swept the
country over the news that
Axis submarines had sunk
the second Mexican merchant
ship within eight days.
Even while awaiting President
Manuel Avila Camacho's formal
proclamation of war, the first in
Mexico's history, the republic put
precautionary measures against Axis
aliens quietly into force and took
its first military steps.
Nazis Halt Reds By Counter-Attack In Kharkov Area
(By The Associated Press)
German Field Marshal Fedor von Bock was reported
throwing masses of air-borne troops into the bloody 12-day
battle of Kharkov today, and for the first time the Russians
acknowledged reverses on the southern flank despite a toll
of 15,000 Germans killed there in three days.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Current Events May 22, 1942; GERMAN FORTIFICATIONS SHATTERED OUTSIDE KHARKOV:


      THE GETTYSBURG TIMES
GETTYSBURG, PA_ FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1942

Reds Repulse New Nazi Thrusts
GERMAN LOSSES
HEAVY IN MEN AND MATERIAL
Moscow, May 22 (AP) — The Ger-
mans once more have hurled strong
tank forces into counter-attacks in
the raging battle for Kharkov.
The Charleston Gazette
Charleston, West Virginia Friday Morning, May 22, 1942.

40-Minute Soviet Onslaught
Shatters Kharkov Stronghold;
Nazis' Flank Thrust Repelled
Russians Still
Fight at Kerch
German Troops Deserting
In Increasing Numbers,
Captured Order
Reveals
Reds Are Said Astride
Vital Crimean Railway
Tempo of Muscovy Hordes
Accelerated as Air
Control Holds
MOSCOW, May 21.—(INS)—
The main German defense fortifications
outside Kharkov left
shattered behind them, the Soviet
armies of Marshal Semyon
Timoshenko tonight fought their
way into the heart of the Nazi
lines guarding the p i v o t a l
Ukrainian metropolis.

Jap Unleashes
Menacing Push
From Foochow
80,000 Men Launch Blow
On Chekiang Advancing
80 Miles—Stilwell
Smashes Enemy
New Campaign Would
Shut China From Sea
Full-Scale Offense Seen;
Invaders Thrown Back
In Yunnan Province
CHUNGKING, May 21.—
Chinese troops under command of
U. S. Lt Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell
pushed back the Japanese invaders
of western Yunnan province tonight,
but the Japs appeared to have
launched a full-scale offensive
against Chekiang province, south of
Shanghai.

Hull Reaffirms U. S. to Return French Islands
Couples Pledge With News
Further Progress Being
Made in Negotiations
At Martinique
WASHINGTON, May 21.—(INS)—
Secretary of State Hull today renewed
American pledges for the
post-war return to France of all
territories, whose occupation has been
or may become necessary to
speed a United Nations' victory over
Germany, Italy and Japan.
Hull coupled his words of reassurance
to the French people with
a press conference announcement
that negotiations between American
emissaries and Martinique's High
Commissioner Georges Robert, directed
toward the peaceful wartime
"freezing" of France's Caribbean
sea possessions, have made further
satisfactory progress.
Warship Talks Over Soon

Land Sees Gulf
As Sub Target
FDR Limits Ship Sailings;
Promotion of Admiral
Halted in Senate
WASHINGTON. May 21.—(INS) —
Admiral Emory S. Land, war shipping
administrator, disclosed today
that Axis submarines are now concentrating
their attacks on American
shipping in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean sea.
He told members of the senate
commerce committee that these are
the most dangerous areas for merchant
ships.