Saturday, February 12, 2011

Current Events February 12, 1943 JAPANRD FORCE SMASHED / MUNDA, KOLOMBONGA SET AFIRE / EISENHOWER SUPREME CHIEF IN AFRICA / CASSABLANCA OFFENSIVE PLANED:



                       Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1943

BIG JAP FORCE SMASHED, 1000 SLAIN
IN ATTEMPT TO SEIZE ALLIED BASE
Enemy Flees After 12 Day
New Guinea Jungle Battle
Mac Arthur's Losses Light
U. S. Blasts
2 Jap Bases
Munda, Kolombongora
Set Afire By Naval
Fliers in Solomons

       Stars And Stripes
         Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations
                     London, England Friday, Feb. 12, 1943

Eisenhower Is Supreme Chief in Africa
Offensives Planned
At Casablanca Due,
Churchill Declares
Alexander, Tedder, Cunningham to Serve
Under U.S. Leader in North Africa;
FDR Makes Hun Full General
The Allies have completed their plans for their all-out assault on the Axis
and are about to strike, it became apparent yesterday in announcements made
at widely scattered corners of the globe.
Details of the blows were worked out at Casablanca, and the United
Nations have a definite, clear-cut plan for the next nine months, Prime Minister
Churchill told Parliament.
Ll. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower has been appointed supreme commander
of all Allied forces in North Africa, the Prime Minister disclosed. Under the
American general will serve the British commanders in land, sea and air
operations, concentrating a mighty striking power south of the vulnerable
Axis-occupied nations.
Similar offensive plans have been worked out at conferences of high generals
in the Indo-China theater, including American, British and Chinese leaders.
In Washington Secretary of War Stimson said that the Americans now have
joined the major offensive and that casualties are to be expected soon.

Casablanca Conference
Chose Gen. Eisenhower
Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 52-
year-old Kansas-born expert in tank warfare,
today is in command of all the
Allied forces opposing the Axis in North
Africa.
His appointment to the supreme command,
apparently decided upon at the
Casablanca conference, was announced
by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in
his war review delivered to Parliament
yesterday.
" I have great confidence in Gen. Eisenhower,
whom I consider as one of the
finest men I have ever met," Mr. Churchill
said.
Simultaneously it was announced in
Washington that President Roosevelt had
nominated Gen. Eisenhower for promotion
to full General. Confirmation by the
Senate was expected to be automatic.
Red Tanks
Dent Lines
At Rostov
Soviets Concentrate Effort
To Collapse Nazis
In Donetz Basin
MOSCOW, Feb. 11 (UP)—Russian
armies, led by powerful tank units,
are attacking the principal German
defense lines at Rostov and in the
northern Donetz basin in a concentrated
effort to collapse the entire
position of the Germans in the basin.
Armored units have penetrated the
Rostov defense lines between the city
and Novocherkassk, while in the
northern Donetz basin strong tank and
infantry counter-attacks were broken
south of Kramatorskaya, and the Russian
advance continued.
It is at Kramatorskaya and the surrounding
area that the Germans must
hold the Russian advance if the whole of
their armies in the Don pocket are rot
to be trapped in a maneuver that will
out-Stalingrad Stalingrad. Bitter fighting
Jias been going on here for days.
Yanks Relieve
Tunisia French
Allied Bombers Hit Sicily,
SinkTransport; 8th Army
Well Past Border
ALLIED HQ, North Africa, Feb. 11-^
American troops have been taking over
large sections of the line in central and
southern Tunisia held by French forces,
it was officially confirmed today. The
French are being withdrawn for retraining
and re-equipment with American arms.
In the north the British First Army also
has extended its positions to relieve the
poorly-armed French.

Diminishing Sub Menace
Reference Amazes U.S.
NEW YORK, Feb. 11 (UP)—America's
first reaction to Prine Minister Churchill's
speech today was expressed by the New
York Post, which devoted its entire front
page to the headline: " Invasion of
Europe Within Nine Months."
' The biggest surprise in the speech for
Americans was the news that the destructive
power of enemy submarines was
diminishing. As in Britain, in newspapers and in
speeches the American people have been
fold precisely the opposite, and the
gloomiest view of the submarine menace
has been sedulously fostered.

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