Friday, September 30, 2011

Current Events September 30, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 30, 1943:
American fifth army troops were reported battling the nazis in the suburbs of Naples tonight alter shattering the enemy's hill defenses north of Salerno and capturing an Italian naval base IS miles south of Italy's burning and bomb-ravaged southern port.

The Soviet high command-announced today that Red army forces have captured the Dnieper river stronghold of Kremenchug to complete occupation of virtually all of the Dneiper's east bank along a 370- mile front.

A blistering air assault in which allied airmen probably destroyed Japan's main New Guinea depot at Wewak
was announced today in Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communique.
The. mighty aerial blow, executed by four-engincd bombers escorted by swarms of fighters, was the second in as many days leveled against the Japanese base on the north-central coast of New Guinea.



         LONG  BEACH  INDEPENDENT
                                Long Beach, California, Thursday, September 30, 1943

            YANKS    IN    NAPLES
Enemy's Hill Defenses at Salerno
Shattered by Advancing Fifth Army

ALLIED HEADQUAHTEHS IN NORTH AFRICA, Sept. 29.— '
(INS)—
American fifth army troops were reported battling the nazis in the suburbs of Naples tonight alter shattering the enemy's hill defenses north of Salerno and capturing an Italian naval base IS miles south of Italy's burning and bomb-ravaged southern port.
Fall of the great Tyrrhenian seaport was believed only hours away. Lieut. Gen. Mark W. Clark's tanks and infantry, hurling the nazis into full retreat, now occupy all of the Sorrento peninsula separating the gulf of Salerno from the bay of Naples and have plunged in strength onto the Naples plain.
More than 30 towns and villages, including the Castellammaro naval base 15 miles south of nazi-ruined Naples, were seized by the Yanks and Tommies in advances ranging up to six miles, bringing to a victorious conclusion the bitter six-day battle for hill positions dominating Naples from the south.
An American news commentator broadcasting over the Algiers radio said Clark's men penetrated from
Castellammaro directly into the southern suburbs of the nazi-devastated port of Naples.

Dnieper River Stronghold Captured
As Reds Occupy 370 Mile East Bank

MOSCOW, Sept. 30.—(Thursday)—(INS)—
The Soviet high command-announced today that Red army forces have captured the Dnieper river stronghold of Kremenchug to complete occupation of virtually all of the Dneiper's east bank along a 370- mile front.
On the west bank, other Soviet forces stormed across the Dnieper to seize seven centers of nazi resistance, including the rail station of Darnitsa, in the environs of Kiev.
Russian columns driving through White Russia meanwhile seized 290 towns and villages on the routes to
lomcl and Vitebsk, the soviet nidnight communique announced. Among the towns seized were Vetka, eight miles east of Gomel; and Rudnya, 35 miles southeast of Vitebsk. Front reports said Russian shock troops are fighting in the streets of Gomel.

Yanks Destroy
Jap Ammunition
Depot at Wewak

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
THE SOUTHWEST Pacific, Sept.
30.—'(Thursday) —(INS)—
A blistering air assault in which allied airmen probably destroyed Japan's main New Guinea depot at Wewak
was announced today in Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communique.
The. mighty aerial blow, executed by four-engincd bombers escorted by swarms of fighters, was the second in as many days leveled against the Japanese base on the north-central coast of New Guinea.
The allied war birds strewed 145 tons of explosives in the Wewak area, touching off a terrific explosion that was described by combat crews as the biggest ever witnessed by the air force in the southwest Pacific area. Towering tongues of flame followed the shattering blast were visible at a distance of 60 miles.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Current Events September 29, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 29, 1943:
Pushing forward in bitter hand-to-hand fighting, American Fifth Army troops have captured the important mountain town of Nocera and swept onto the plain before blazing Naples, Allied headquarters announced today.

The once beautiful port of Naples is now a ravaged city of horrors . Desperate German troops— ruling the tortured city by terrorism— are spreading destruction, machine-gunning women and children and forcing soldiers and civilians alike into slave labor battalions with death ..for those who refuse.
This is the story brought from Naples by terrified refugees who escaped in fishing boats, risking drowning at sea rather than face the fury of their one-time Allies




Jefferson City Post
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1943

Yanks Break Nazi
Mountain Defense
In Drive on Naples

British Moving
Northward Up
Italian Peninsula
Two Sides of
Hitler's Fortress
Heavily Attacked

By the Associated Press)
Pushing forward in bitter hand-to-hand fighting, American Fifth Army troops have captured the important mountain town of Nocera and swept onto the plain before blazing Naples, Allied headquarters announced today.
The final attack against the Germans' strong mountain positions began at dawn yesterday, and by noon Nocera was in" Allied hands. Today the pursuit of the Nazis was reported to have reached a point only 13 miles down the coast from Naples.

Italy May Get
The Status of
Co-Belligerant

Concessions to Be
Measured By Aid
She Delivers


Once Beautiful
Naples Is How
City of Horror

WITH THE U. S. NAVY IN
THE GULF OF SALERNO, Sept. 26— (Delayed) —(AP) —
The once beautiful port of Naples is now a ravaged city of horrors . Desperate German troops— ruling the tortured city by terrorism— are spreading destruction, machine-gunning women and children and forcing soldiers and civilians alike into slave labor battalions with death ..for those who refuse.
This is the story brought from Naples by terrified refugees who escaped in fishing boats, risking drowning at sea rather than face the fury of their one-time Allies.
Many of the refugees were not so" lucky. The Germans tossed hand grenades into their boats as they attempted to slip away from the harbor or machine-gunned the frail craft.
• The apparent aim of the Germans, infuriated by the Italian Armistice with the United Nations on the eve of
invasion, is to wreak vengeance on the Italian people and to destroy Naples as much as possible so that nothing of value remains when Allied troops take the city."
The port is rapidly becoming a shambles,- refugees say, and harbor facilities are being blasted and burned day and night. Ships are being sunk in an effort to block the harbor entrances and the waters are mined to delay the navy's making use of the harbor as a supply base for invasion armies battling to take the city




Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Current Events September 28, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 28, 1943:
British Troops in a 22 mile advance captured Foggia, the biggest air base and transport center in Southeast Italy, and th« battle of Naples raged toward an imminent crisis today.
Fighting hand to hand and yard.to yard, Lieut. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth army chopped one to two miles through the German hedge hog defenses north of Salerno. Assault - forces reached the hills 'dominating the town of Nocera, five miles from Salerno on the direct road to Naples and 20 miles below the big port itself,

A powerful RAF bombing fleet blasted the German industrial center of Hannover last night for the second time in less than a week, and preliminary reports indicated that more than 60 per cent of the city now lies
in ruins from the cumulative effect of the British aerial attacks

Battered German troops, abandoning their  last toe-hold on the east bank, fled for their lives into the Dnieper river today under a rain of Soviet shells and bombs that killed them by the thousands.
Red air force planes pursued the German survivors all the way to the west bank, where they loosed a thunderous bombardment presaging a series of Soviet landings in force designed to breach the Nazi.winter -line and~sweep'the enemy back to Poland.

Refugees reaching here from Rome said today that the Germans shelled the center of the Eternal City after agreeing to occupy only the outskirts, and then moved into the whole city after fighting with Italians, who suffered considerable casualties.


 
        San Mateo Times
                SAN .MATEO, CALIFORNIA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 1943

BRITISH ARMY TAKES FOGGIA
Nazis Flee Dnieper;
Hannover Wiped Out

Fall of Naples
Thought Near
As Clark Gains

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS,
North Africa, Sept. 28.—(UP)—British Troops in a 22 mile ad vance captured Foggia, the biggest air base and transport center in Southeast Italy, and th« battle of Naples raged toward an imminent crisis today.
Fighting hand to hand and yard.to yard, Lieut. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth army chopped one to two miles through the German hedge hog defenses north of Salerno. Assault - forces reached the hills 'dominating the town of Nocera, five miles from Salerno on the direct road to Naples and 20 miles below the big port itself,
                                                             Panzer Loss-Heavy
A French communique revealed that the Germans had been forced out of Aleria, one of the few ports on the east coast of Corsica, by French forces who were expected to sweep the last resistance from the island within a few days.
Noeera became a no-man's land as the Nazis found it too hot to hold. But they still overlooked the
town, making it difficult for the allies to move in. The ferocity of the Salerno fighting was confirmed by prisoners of the 16th panzer division who said 55 per cent of their effectives were killed, wounded, or
prisoners of the Americans..

60 Per Cent of
City in Ruins
After Blitz

LONDON, Sept. 28.—(UP)—
A powerful RAF bombing fleet blasted the German industrial center of Hannover last night for the second time in less than a week, and preliminary reports indicated that more than 60 per cent of the city now lies
in ruins from the cumulative effect of the British aerial attacks.
Returning to the attack in what an air ministry communique describes in "very great strength" after a four-night lull apparently enforced by bad weather, the RAF night raiders dropped thousands of explosives and fire bombs on the battered city, possibly equaling the 2000 tons blockbuster assault on the same target on September 22.
                                                                   City Knocked Out 
The air ministry reported the bombers_ had to battle German night fighters all the way from the coast to Hannover and back, with the enemy pilots marking the flight route with flares on both
sides and attacking them continuously over the city. It was the forty-eighth raid of the war on Hannover and observers believed the city had been added to the growing list of Nazi industrial centers in which less than
two-fifths of the target areas still are functioning.

Thousands Die
In Vain Effort
To Cross River

MOSCOW, Sept. 28.—(U.P)—
Battered German troops, abandoning their  last toe-hold on the east bank, fled for their lives into the Dnieper river today under a rain of Soviet shells and bombs that killed them by the thousands.
Red air force planes pursued the German survivors all the way to the west bank, where they loosed a thunderous bombardment presaging a series of Soviet landings in force designed to breach the Nazi.winter -line and~sweep'the enemy back to Poland.
                                                                   Bodies Fill River
A large proportion of the fleeing Germans fell on the river or died in its turbulent waters. Front dispatches
said - swarms of bodies filled the Dnieper.
(A Russian communique said tonight that Red army troops' advancing nine to 12 miles in the Kremenchug sector of the middle Dnieper captured more than 120 inhabited localities today. (Several large towns on the east bank of the Dnieper were occupied by the Soviet forces.closing against the river opposite "Kiev, the communique said.

LAST DEFENSE
ATTACKED AT
FINSCHHAFEN

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS,
Southwest Pacific. Sept .28.—(AP).
—Australian ground troops and dive bombers hammered at the last Japanese defenses ringing the New Guinea seaport of Finschhafen over the week-end, while supporting American heavy bombers attacked the enemy's rear bases hundreds of miles to the northwest.
                                                               Aussies Advance
A communique from Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters disclosed today that Australian infantrymen
closing in on Finschhafen from the north increased iheir pressure on the network of Japanese pillboxes south of the Bumi river, less than a mile from the port, under cover of a heavy dive bombing attack.
There was no word of the two other converging allied columns moving in on Finschhafen from the south and west, but the communique revealed that a fourth body of air-borne Australian troops that captured Kaiapit, 70 miles inland, little more than a week ago had advanced another eight miles up the Markham valley in a wide sweep that threatened to cut off the entire Huon peninsula.
                                                        Bases Bombed
At the same time, U. S. Liberators' dropped 61 tons of explosives and fire bombs on the Japanese bases at Hansa bay, more than 200 miles above Finschhafen, and Wewak, another 100 miles to the northwest.
Three of 20 intercepting enemy planes were shot down ------

Nazi Shelling
Of Rome Told

BRINDISI, Italy, Sept. 28.—(UP)
—Refugees reaching here from Rome said today that the Germans shelled the center of the Eternal City after agreeing to occupy only the outskirts, and then moved into the whole city after fighting with Italians, who suffered considerable casualties.
The refugees, some of whom held official positions, left Rome immediately after the German occupation
and walked most of the way.




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Current Events September 27, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 21, 1943:
Smashing a 10-mile deep salient into the mountains, Americans of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth army have captured the town of Cassano, 50 miles due east of Naples, Allied Headquarters announced today.
As a, result the Germans began a withdrawal in the Naples sector flanking their positions around, the broad- Bay- arid -.-port, and offered only rearguard opposition

—Japanese defenders of Finschhafen, their hands already more than full in coping: with Australian troops at their very doorstep, today stood the imminent and additional risk of
being swept up from all side

American loses at Salerno numbered 3,497 men killed, wounded or missing
up to the, time Allied forces took the initiative Sept.. 16.
A War department announcement said the period covered, about a week, included the time during which
German forces attacked Allied beachheads in counter thrusts. The announcement pointed out, however, that the losses were far less than claimed by the Germans, who .said Sept. 14 that 8,000 to 10,000 Americans were killed and an equal number captured in the Salerno action.
American casualties in the 38-day Sicilian campaign totaled 7.445 killed, wounded and missing. Total Allied
casualties in Sicily were 31,158----

             The Portsmouth Herald
      PORTSMOUTH, N. H., MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 27,1943
Kiev under Siege by Red Army Guns
FIFTH ARMY TAKES TOWN EAST
OF NAPLES; NAZIS RETREATING

Defenders of Finschhafen Surrounded by Allies
Cassano
Falls to
Yankees

Allied Headquarters in North Africa, Sept 27 (AP)
Smashing a 10-mile deep salient into the mountains, Americans of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth army have captured the town of Cassano, 50 miles due east of Naples, Allied Headquarters announced today.
As a, result the Germans began a withdrawal in the Naples sector flanking their positions around, the broad- Bay- arid -.-port, and offered only rearguard opposition.
Simultaneously, the British Eighth army of Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery drove rapidly up the east coast to within 22 miles of the airport center of Foggia. capturing the Adriatic towns of Cerignola and Margherita di Savoia, the latter a large salt manufacturing center.
The British, after crossing the Ofanto river which empties into the Gulf of Manfredonla, were meeting only the slightest resistance and were seeping along oil straight roads across fiat open country which extends to 30 miles beyond Foggia.
The troops of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark also captured Calabrltto, mountain community 27 miles Inland
northeast of Salerno. Muro, 18 miles northwest of Potenza and 32 miles east of Salerno in the central sector, also fell to British forces.


Japanese
Defenders
Near End

Allied Headquarters in the
Southwest Pacific, Sept. 27 (AP)
—Japanese defenders of Finschhafen, their hands already more than full in coping: with Australian troops at their very doorstep, today stood the imminent and additional risk of
being swept up from all sides.
Hardly more than 20 miles to the rear of their position on the northeastern tip of New Guinea -was another
Allied force pushing steadily eastward along the shore of the Huon gulf from captured Lae.
On their land flank, 10 miles or less distant, was still a third Allied ground element, a section of the
Australian jungle troops who de-------

Yank Losses
At Salerno
Total 3,497

Washington, Sept. 27 (AP) —
American loses at Salerno numbered 3,497 men killed, wounded or missing
up to the, time Allied forces took the initiative Sept.. 16.
A War department announcement said the period covered, about a week, included the time during which
German forces attacked Allied beachheads in counter thrusts. The announcement pointed out, however, that the losses were far less than claimed by the Germans, who .said Sept. 14 that 8,000 to 10,000 Americans were killed and an equal number captured in the Salerno action.
American casualties in the 38-day Sicilian campaign totaled 7.445 killed, wounded and missing. Total Allied
casualties in Sicily were 31,158----

Russian
Cannon
At Kiev


,

( A look ahead:  This was reported, MASON CITY. IOWA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11 1944)ROBOT BARRAGE
HITS LONDON

No Disclosure If New
V-2 Rockets Included

By ROBERT DAWSON
London, (UP.)—
The Germans loosed an Armistice day barrage of robot bombs against London and southern England early Saturday but censorship prevents disclosure whether they included any of the huge new V-2 rockets.
Night fighters, anti-aircraft juns, and even a gunner aboard North Sea trawler destroyed many V-l jet-propelled robots before they could dive to earth, but some got through and crashed in scattered areas.
Coastal watchers reported great, fiery glows and loud explosions from the sea, touching off speculation
that some of the planes from which the Germans have been launching V-I's recently also had been shot down.
Many pieces ot the explosive V-2 rockets which have hurtled down on southern England from an altitude of 60 to 70 miles in the past few weeks have been recovered. From these, experts may be able to piece together a composite rocket and devise counter-measures.
The official German DNB agency said the nazi command still was experimenting with V-2 to get the proper range for London,
                                                                     Paris, and Antwerp.
Eye witness stories of V-2 attacks were pouring in from southern England. Mrs. B. Sturgess, who was in
a house 30 yards from where one rocket fell, said she thought the' "end of the world" had come

Current Events September 26, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 26, 1943:
Soviet columns pounded on past captured Smolensk, the Red army's greatest 1943 victory, in pursuit of the fleeing Germans, Moscow dispatches said today, as some reports said Russian spearheads had cracked the great Dnieper river line at a half dozen, points from Smolensk to loitering Kiev.

Yugoslavs patriot armies have hurled back several more German attncks- on the strategic Adriatic port ot Split, still hold the groatei pait ot Siif-ck in the north, and  h a v e  killed hundreds of the enemy. and destroyed an armored train, tanks and other equipment, a communique said tonight.

The Japanese navy has pulled in Its horns during recent weeks of the Allied offensive in New Guinea and the
Solomons
Enemy warships, which once dominated the area. have become so scarce that no mention of the sinking of any of them has been made in the communiques of Gun. Douglas MacArthur since Aug. 7.
.

            SUNDAY REGISTER
  BECKLEY, WliST VIRGINIA . SUNDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 26, 1943

   SMOLENSK CAPTURED BY NIGHTY RED ARMY
    Allies Reach Mountain Tops Guarding Naples Plain

Kiev Base Tottering;
Soviets Are Pouring
Across Dnieper River

(Greatest German Defense Base On Eastern
Front Falls To Frontal, Flanking Assault

 By Tlir Associated Press LONDON-

Airmen Take Growing
Toll Of Nazis Trying
To Evacuate Corsica

British Eighth Army Within 60 Miles Of Foggia;
Fifth Army Meeting Tough Resistance








   Aussies Battle Toward Japanese Supply and Air Base
          The Helena Independent
                       HELENA, MONTANA, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1943

       Reds Take Smolensk, Lash Ahead
Germans Flee
Triumphant
Soviet Force

Russians' Next Great Goal, Kiev, Is
About to Fall; Spearheads
Cross Dnieper; Stalin Hails Victory

By JAMES M. LONG
London, Sunday, Sept. 25.— (AP)—
Soviet columns pounded on past captured Smolensk, Ihe Red army's greatest 1943 victory, in pursuit of the fleeing Germans, Moscow dispatches said today, as sonic reports said Russian spearheads had cracked the great Dnieper river line at a half dozen, points from Smolensk to loitering Kiev.
An Associated Press dispatch from Moscow said Gen. A'assily Sokolo>sky's troops which haltered down the last (irrinan defenses of Smolensk and Roslavl, 66 miles to the south, pressed on immediately along; the Moscow-Minsk highway which Napoleon travelled in and out of Russia.

Yougoslavs Repulse
Nazi Attacks
On Strategic Port
Enemy Loss Increases
Steadily; Unrest
Continues Spreading

London, Sept. 25.—(AP)—Yugoslavs patriot armies have hurled back several more German attncks-
on the strategic Adriatic port ot Split, still hold the groatei pait ot Siif-ck in the north, and  h a v e  killed hundreds of the enemy. and destroyed an armored train, tanks and other equipment, a communique said tonight.

Allies Make Way
To Strategic
Italian Position

Ground Forces Take Mountain Tops; Flierc
Rake Fleeing Nazis With Explosives;
Prisoner Toll Surpasses 2,000 Fighters



Japanese Appear to Be
Afraid of Losing
Warships in Pacific

Allied Headquarteis in the
Southwest Pacific, Scpl. 26.—
(Sunday)—(AP)—
The Japanese navy has pulled in Its horns during recent weeks of the Allied offensive in New Guinea and the
Solomons
Enemy warships, which once dominated the aiea. have become so scarce that no mention of the sinking of any of them has been made in the communiques of Gun. Douglas MacArthur since Aug. 7.
During September bomb hits have been reported on two Japanese destroyers but both were well hack of protecting bases In New Guinea and NewBrltain.
This contrasts sharply with thenumerous n a v a l engagements during the first month of the twin-pronged American and Australian drive which started last June 30.
American warships and airplanes sank five or six enemy cruisers and 13 or 14 destroyers during July at a cost of one cruiser and two destroyers. During the first week of August another Nipponese cruiser and two
destroyers were sent to tho bottom.





Monday, September 26, 2011

Current Events September 25, 1943

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 25, 1943:
American and British troops of the Fifth Army, meeting some of the toughest opposition so far in the battle for Italy, yesterday launched a full-scale offensive and drove back German forces blocking their way into
the strategic port of Naples. At the same time, the Eighth Army sped northward all along the MO-mile front across Italy hindered by nothing more serious than road blocks and minefields.

Swift and powerful attacks brought Allied troops to the edge of Finschafen airfield yesterday —less than 24 hours after their landing six miles north of the  strategic New Guinea port. Jap resistance rapidly is crumbling under the strong U.S. and Australian attacks. Already fierce Allied artillery tire is raking the Jap headquarters and installations in tlic harbor area. Fall of  the base is imminent.

American and British bombers rounded out 48 hours of continuous hammering of enemy targets in northwestern Europe yesterday, with no indication of a let-up in the round the-clock offensive.



                 THE STARS AND STRIPES
                 Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations
Vol. 3 No. 279                                          New York, N.Y.—London, England Saturday, Sept. 25, 1943

         Fifth Launches Full-Scale Offensive

Nazis Pushed Back
After Stubborn Fight
In Hills Near Naple
s
Eighth Speeds North on 140-Mile Front;
Germans Battle Fiercely to Hold
Clark's Army At Naples

American and British troops of ihe Fifth Army, meeting some of the toughest opposition so far in the battle for Italy, yesterday launched a full-scale offensive and drove back German forces blocking their way into
the strategic port of Naples. At the same time, the Eighth Army sped northward all along the MO-mile front across Italy hindered by nothing more serious than road blocks and minefields.
Enemy forces were fighting with rising savagery, apparently in an attempt to hold the F i f t h Army's offensive as long as possible, but they were being hurled back steadily by Lt. Gen. Mark \V. Clark's forces which last night were eight miles up the Sele river from Contursi. The Nazis earlier admitted an Allied  break-through in this sector.
The Germans, evidently realizing that  they will be forced to fight it out for the area very soon, have assembled strong alrtilery concentrations in the hills between Naples and Salerno and intend to fight hard before they allow the great Port to fall into Allied' hands.
Another Fifth Army thrust is being made further to the east. Olivetro Citra, 20 miles east of Salerno. has been capturcd. The object in this area is to capture the railway joining Naples with Foggia. objective of British troops advancing on the eastern side of the mainland.
                                                     Eighth Advances Swiftly
With enemy pressure concentrated almost entirely against Gen. Clark's troops, the Eighth Army advanced swiftly practically without enemy opposition and captured Altamura and Matera. Altamura. an important railway junction. is 30 miles west of Bari, while Matera. at an altitude of 1.200 feet, is an excellent observation point overlooking all enemy positions to the northwest. Foggia, with its airfield. is the big objective of the Eighth Army troops moving nonh along the eastern side of the I t a l i a n boot.
Allies On Edge
Of Jap Airfield

Fall of Finschafen Near;
Yanks, Aussies Raking
Base With Artillery

ALLIED HQ. Southwest Pacific. Sept. 24--
Swift and powerful attacks brought Allied troops to the edge of Finschafen airfield yesterday —less than 24 hours after their landing six miles north of th  strategic New Guinea port. Jap resistance rapidly is crumbling under the strong U.S. and Australian attacks. Already fierce Allied artillery tire is raking the Jap headquarters and installations in tlic harbor area. Fall of  ihe base is imminent.
Planes of the Tenth Air Force which covered ihe Finschafen landings on Wednesday returned today to give ground forces strong support by a i wide spread s t r a f i n g and bombing a t t a c k .
Meanwhile. Allied naval "units — mostly U.S.—shot down 40 Jap planes which tried to intercept them in Houn Gulf. The battle lasted for 25 minuies and only three U.S. planes were lost. No ship in the Allied fleet was even damaged.
Back at Salamaua. about 60  miles south of Finschafen. Allied occupation troops revealed the count of Japanese dead had soared to a figure nearly reaching 7.000.
Total enemy casualties were set at 12.000 or more.

RAF Pounds
Vital Plants
In Germany

Marauders Repeat Long
Mission Against Nazi
Fields in France

American and British bombers rounded out 48 hours of continuous hammering of enemy targets in northwestern Europe yesterday, with no indication of a let-up in the round the-clock offensive.
Following a heavy RAF night attack on important Nazi engineering and chemical works at Mannheim- Ludwigshafen. USAAF Marauders yesterday morning repealed their deepest penetration of Europe to bomb for a second time in three days the Nazi airfields at Evreux-Fauville, 45 miles west of
Paris. Spitfires escorted them.
The RAF raid on the twin cities of Mannheim-Ludwigshafcn — across the Rhine from each other 130 miles north of the Swiss frontier—was aimed at the huge electrical and general engineering plants, the big chemical works of the I. G. Farbenindustrie. and the river docks and railways which handle traffic on the way
to southern Germany and Italy.
                                                        32 Bombers Missing
Fierce fires were burning soon a f i c r the beginning of the attack, 60th o! the war on Mannheim. There was heavy a n t i -aircraft and fighter opposition, and 32 RAF bombers were reported last night to be missing.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Current Events September 24, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 24, 1943:
The allies struck by land, sea and air today, advancing upwards of thirty miles in southern Italy, shooting down seven air transports attempting to evacuate German troops from Corsica and sinking a munition ship in a daring torpedo boat foray into an Albanian harbor.

Military sources said today that Russian assault troops had virtually invested Smolensk and its
fall was imminent, while to the south soviet armies were massing on the east bank of the Dnieper river at several points. (A Berlin dispatch to Stockholm said Smolensk and Vitebsk were "directly
threatened" and indicated that the Germans might have ^begun evacuating both places.)


A big force of British -four-engincd bombers sent a new non-stop allied aerial offensive into its second day with a heavy block-buster assault last night, on Mannheim-Ludwigshafen.  Germany's second largest inland
port and a vital arms center. Marauder medium bombers of the 8th United States air force carried on the offensive by daylight.

Allied artillery, only two miles away, pounded the bomb and shell-torn Japanese base at Finschhafen today
to pave the way for the capture of the enemy stronghold.
                         Altoona Mirror
   GERMANS FACE DISASTER IN EAST
                          ALTOONA, PA., FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 24, 1943.

 Allies Strike by Land, Sea and Air In Advances In Southern Italy

 5TH ARMY'S
DRIVE AIMED
AT NAPLES

Germans Evacuating i
Corsica Under Hail

of Bombs and Bullets
By RICHARD D. McMILLAN Staff Correspondent
A L L I E D HEADQUARTERS, NORTH AFRICA, Sept. 24.—
The allies struck by land, sea and air today, advancing upwards of thirty miles in southern Italy, shooting down seven air transports attempting to evacuate German troops from Corsica and sinking a munition ship in a daring torpedo boat foray into an Albanian harbor.
The 5th army launched an offensive aimed squarely at blazing Naples and captured Oliveto Citra' in the initial
seven-mile advance, while the 8th army to the southeast pushed ahead thirty miles in some sectors, enveloping Matera. eleven miles north of Ginosa.
                                                            Taste of Dunkirk.
The German evacuation of Corsica by air and sea was in full swing under a gauntlet of allied bombs and bullets. British Beaufighters intercepted three formations of German air transports trying to sneak across at dusk and shot down all three planes in the first, two of six in the second and two of five in the third Aerial reconnaissance

RED CAPTURE
OF SMOLMENSK
IS IMMINENT

Napoleonic "Gateway
to Moscow" About
to Be Retaken by
Soviets.

 By HENRY SHAPIRO
Staff Correspondent
MOSCOW, Sept. 24.—
Military sources said today that Russian assault troops had virtually invested Smolensk and its
fall was imminent, while to the south soviet armies were massing on the east bank of the Dnieper river at several points. (A Berlin dispatch to Stockholm said Smolensk and Vitebsk were "directly
threatened" and indicated that the Germans might have ^begun evacuating both places.)
                                                                   Base Outflanked.
Smolensk, greatest German base on the central front if not in all of Russia, was outflanked on both the north and south in a rapidly maturing- squeeze, play by which the red army has driven the Germans from most of the big towns captured this summer.


HEAVY ASSAULT IS
MADE BY RAF ON
NAZI INLAND PORT

By WALTER CRONKITE
Staff Correspondent

LONDON, Sept. 24.—
A big force of British -four-engincd bombers sent a new non-stop allied aerial offensive into its second day with a heavy block-buster assault last night, on Mannheim-Ludwigshafen.  Germany's second largest inland
port and a vital arms center. Marauder medium bombers of the 8th United States air force carried on the offensive by daylight.
Escorted and supported by Spitfire fighters, the Marauders attacked air field targets In the Evereux-Fauville area.
An air ministry communique announced that thirty-two bombes were lost in the raid and subsidiary attacks on the railroad junction of Aachen, in western Germany near the Dutch and Belgian borders, and Darmstadt, twenty miles south of Frankfurt.
Striking in the wake of American Flying Fortresses and other allied bombers that raided Nantes
F ran c e  a n d  more other targets in naval base in than a dozen western Europe .yesterday, the British
night raiders dropped a torrent of explosives on ihe twin cities that span the Rhine southwest of Frankfurt:.
Huge fires wore left burning more than sixty miles beyond Lae, was followed by a twenty-five-minutc
air battle in which American fighters shot down forty to forty five planes of an enemy fleet of fifty to severity attacking the convoy

Allied Big Guns
Pound Jap Base

United Press
A L L I E D HEADQUARTERS,
Southwest Pacific, Sept. 24.—
Allied artillery, only two miles away, pounded the bomb and shell-torn Japanese base at Finschhafen today
to pave the way for the capture of the enemy stronghold.
Australian troops, landed under cover of a naval and air bombardment Wednesday, ha'd advanced four mile.s toward the base, a communique announced, and hauled up guns to the north end of the adjacent
airfield, two miles from the town itself.
The communique revealed the thrust, up the New Guinea coast. Huge fires wore left burning more than sixty miles beyond Lae, was followed by a twenty-five-minutc air battle in which American fighters shot down forty to forty five planes of an enemy fleet of  fifty to severity attacking the convoy.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Current Events September 23, 1943

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 23, 1943:
A l l i e d headquarters announced advances of 10 to 15 miles in central and southern sectors of Italy today in a forward sweep which was gradually forcing Field Marshal Gen. Albert Kesselring to uncover the inland approaches to smoke - smothered, dynamite- shattered Naples.

The Moscow radio said today that Soviet troops are storming into White Russia in the Gomel sector, shortly after a German announcement that Nazi forces have abandoned Poltava, gateway to the heart of the Ukraine.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today the seaborne landing of Australian troops above Finschhafen,
enemy base 60 miles northeast of Lae on the New Guinea coast, and the destruction of remnants of a Japanese garrison on Arundel island in the Solomons


           THE DAILY TIMES-NEWS
                                 Burlington, N. C.    Thursday September 23, 1943
ALLIES ADVANCE 15 MILES IN ATTACK
           RED TROOPS STORM INTO WHITE RUSSIA

Germans Are Forced
To Uncover Stands;
Escape Route Is Cut

Effective Blockade
Is Established
About Corsica

BY WES GALLAGHER
A l l i e d Headquarters in
North Africa, Sept. 23—(AP)—
A l l i e d headquarters announced advances of 10 to 15 miles in central and southern sectors of Italy today in a forward sweep which was gradually forcing Field Marshal Gen. Albert Kesselring to uncover the inland approaches to smoke - smothered, dynamite- shattered Naples.
Victorious French soldiers and American rangers pressed the Germansback farther into the northeastern corner of Corsica while Allied Air Forces bombed and machineBunned Nazi ships seeking to remove escaping Nazis from the evacuation port of Bastia.
The French high command said today that Allied navies and air forces "are maintaining a very effective blockade of the eastern coast" of Corsica, making; it difficult for the Germans to remove
men and supplies by either sea or air.
                                                                 Up East Coast
The French and American forces on the island had advanced about one-third of the way up the east coast, the communique indicated in telling of an attack carried out in the region of Solenzara. Heavy losses for the enemy resulted, it said. Tile Germans continued thefr retreat toward the northeast.

Big Gateway
Of Poltava
In Disorder

Gomel Sector Hit
Terrific Blows
By Russians

BY JAMBS M. LONG
London, Sept. 23—(AP) —
The Moscow radio said today that Soviet troops are storming into White Russia in the Gomel sector, shortly after a German announcement that Nazi forces have abandoned Poltava, gateway to the heart of the Ukraine.
The Moscow announcement, which quoted the newspaper Izvestia, official organ of the Prae-
BiJlum of the supreme council, was recorded by Reuters. Gomel, In the area where the Hew break-through was announced, Is a rail center about midway between Kiev and Smolensk, within a bare 15 miles of the Dnieper river and within 150 miles'of the old Polish border. Poltava, a city of 90,000, lies on the Vorskla fiver. In the fertile                                   BULLETIN
                                                LONDON
, Sept. 23—(AP)—
Premier Joseph Stalin announced today that Poltava, in the heart of the Ukraine, has fallen before a smashing
Russian offensive that carried also to the Gomel area of White Russia.

Australians
Land Above
Finschhafen
North Of Lae

Remnants Of Jap
Garrison Are
Destroyed

BY WILLIAM I-. BUM
A l l i e d Headquarters in the Southwest Pacific, Sept. 23—(AP)
Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today the seaborne landing of Australian troops above Finschhafen,
enemy base 60 miles northeast of Lae on the New Guinea coast, and the destruction of remnants of a Japanese garrison on Arundel island in the Solomons.
Under protection of warships anc planes, the Australians went ashore agftlnst enemy opposition at dawn
Wednesday six mtles above Peacetime Mission headquarters nnd just below the Sony; River. At dusk on
the previous day, Japanese bombers and fighters sought to attack ships involved in the operations but were
intercepted between Lae and Finschhafen by P-40s which shot down four bombers and five fighters at a cost of one interceptor.
                                                            Ground Action Possible
Capture of Finschhafen on the Huon peninsula, which is more suitable for ground action than any other territory previously attacked on New Guinea, would, give Mac- Arthur control of a gulf within easy over-water striking distance of 11 Japanese-held New Britain and its stronghold at Rabaul.


(This was reported in 1941)
Held Threat
To Britain

London, May 15.—Warning that
the coming of Rudolf Hess. No. 3
German leader, is a threat to the
defence of the British Isles was:
made today by a highly-placed
American in London.
Interviewed by the Associated
Press, the American declared that
Hess may be, wittingly or unwittingly,
the harbinger of new offences.




Thursday, September 22, 2011

Current Events September 22, 1943;


THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 22, 1943:
The French high command said today an American unit is helping French forces drive the Germans toward the northeastern corner of Corsica, and already more than 1,000 of the enemy have
been slain.

Nomination of General George Catlett Marshall the job of commanding all Anglo-American forces of land, sea and air lends a supreme touch of irony to the description given of him as a young man when he entered
Virginia. Military Institute.
                       -------------------------------------------------------------------
(The story of the defection of Rudolh Hess, as reported in the Fairbanks Daily - Miner)
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1941
Flight Proves Breach In Nazi Party
Hitler Deserted In Hour Of Triumph
 
Farmer Tells Of Parachute Landing
Scotch Rural Resident Describes
Cultured Conduct of
Night .Visitor from Sky

GLASGOW, Scotland, May 13.—(1941)
The farm worker who first saw the escaping No. 3 Nazi. Rudolf Hess, when he parachuted last night from his plane near Glasgow told of how the mysterious airman had declined a cup of tea.
Taken to the home of the farm worker, Hess waited in good spirits for a doctor to attend to his broken ankle. The Nazi leader chatted amicably with the farm worker's mother and appeared to be normal in every respect.
LONDON, May 13.—German propaganda today described the melodramatic 800-mile escape flight
of Rudolph Hess to Scotland as the act of a man "mentally deranged because of physical illness," while
.kev /here there- was speculation -wvhether the Nazi deputy party leader might devulged information that
.might strike a serious blow at Hitler's war plans.
British foreign office experts have questioned Hess in Scotland, in the hospital where he is a patient receiving
treatment for a broken ankle.
                                ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The full story of Rudolf Hess' flight to Britain disclosed years ago, when Britain still was near its lowest depths in this war, the third in command of the Nazis declared Adolf Hitler wanted to call off the fight without making any "oppressive demands" on Britain


                    IRONWOOD DAILY GLOBE
    IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22,1943.

       HOUR OF INVASION NEARING

YANKS AIDING
FRENCH DRIVE
More Than 1,000 Germans
Already Killed in Corsica
Fightin
g.
NAZIS TERROR IN NAPLES
Allied headquarters in North Africa—(AP)—
The French high command said today an American unit is helping French forces drive the Germans toward the northeastern corner of Corsica, and already more than 1,000 of the enemy have
been slain.
Several hundred German prisoners have been seized, said the communique, which read: "In Corsica . regular French troops and patriot detachments are continuing to harass the enemy, who is withdrawing from the Bonifacio-Porto Vecchio region toward the northeastern corner of the island.
"In the course of the past few days the Germans left more than
1,000 dead on the battlefield. Several hundreds of prisoners fell into
our hands. In the Levie sector the Germans were obliged to withdraw with heavy losses after violent
fighting.
"An American commando unit is fighting by the side of patriots and regular French troops."
The Germans meanwhile were throwing a defensive ring around Naples, to retard Allied armies pressing onward from the Salerno bridgehead. Huge fires and demolitions scarred the port city.
The great metropolis of nearly a million persons in southern Italy was described officially as overhung
with, smoke.,
A military spokesman .said the enemy was establishing a strong defense line on the approaches to
Naples from, the south ,and east, but the extent of their demolitions in and near the city appeared evidence
that the Germans hoped to hold back Allied attack toward the city from the Salerno area.
                                                            Take Two Towns
.The fifth army meanwhile fougt its way steatiily east and northeast from Salerno with American troops capturing the towns of Campagna and Montecorvino-Rovella while the British chased fleeing Germans from the town of San Cipriano.

(The following was on page 2)

General Marshall Called
Greatest Military Genius

As Young Military Student,,
He Was Called a 'Clumsy
Recruit.'

By FRANK CAREY
Washington—(AP)—
Nomination of General George Catlett Marshall the job of commanding all Anglo-American forces of land, sea and air lends a supreme touch of irony to the description given of him as a young man when he entered
Virginia. Military Institute.
In his early days as a plebe at V. M. I., the "West Point of theSouth" where his great ideal, Stonewall Jackson, once was teacher, Marshall was classed as "a clumsy, unpromising recruit, ill-looked upon by the exacting faculty of the ancient institute."
                                                         Critics Ate Words
Early critics were destined to eat their -,vordo quickly, however. Marshall graduated from V. M. I. in 1901 with the highest military rank in the cadet corps—and a. few years later, a high ranking American officer in the Philippines said of the then young lieutenant: "Keep your eyes on George Marshall; he is the greatest military genius of America since Stonewall Jackson."
This bouquet was the result of Marshall's efforts in working out a practice plan for the defense of Manila. Marshall's commanding officer even recommended that he be promoted to brigadier general in one jump, but the recommendation was not acted upon. ,
Although he was described by General Pershing as "the finest officer
o£ the First World War"— principally because he organized a secret movement of more than 800,-
000 men in 14 days in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne offensive—it wasn't until 1939 that Marshall
won the rank of general. It wis then that he. was appointedto the nation's military "hot spot"—army chief of staff in a country where the rumble of Europe's guns already were being heard, 
Not for long was the nation left in doubt as to what the rangy, lean six-footer thought about America's military condition.
                                                               Not Ready for War'
"We are not ready for war. We are not even ready for defense," announced the blue-eyed field soldier
with th,e short, pugnacious nose.


 M'ARTHUR TROOPS
ADVANCE 60 MILES
 Australians Seize Village 60
Miles Northwest of Lae.

By BOB EUNSON
Allied headquarters In the southwest Pacific—(AP)—
Only two days after i.he fall of Lae, New Guinea airborne troops of Gen. Dougla MacArthur seized a village 60 mile to the northwest while waves of American bombers wrecked air dromes, bridges,. trucks and roads
along a path of future conquest for 350 miles north.
The seizure of Kaiapit by trans port-flown Australians last. Saturday was diclosed in a communiqui today.
Thts new stroke, which the Japanese futilely tried to erase by counterattacks, and the latest air strikes with 97 tons of bombs and 123,000 rounds of ammunition all the way from south of Madang up to Wewak, clearly indicated the determination of MacArthur that his victories at Lae and Salamaua shall yield quick dividends.
The Japanese airforce, obviously concerned by the upsurge of Mac-Arthur on the New Guinea ground
front and the hammering dealt by Adm. William F. Halsey's growing air might in the Solomons, struck back on both arms of the 750-mile battle arc.

EDEN RELATES 
STORY OF HESS
 Hitler Didn't Want Britain
Defeated, Hess Told
English Duke.

By E. C. DANIEL
London—(AP)—
The full story of Rudolf Hess' flight to Britain disclosed years ago, when Britain still was near its lowest depths in this war, the third in command of the Nazis declared Adolf Hitler wanted to call off the fight without making any "oppressive demands" on Britain.
The story of the No. 3 Nazi's fantastic flight "on a mission of humanity" to Scotland was told in an official government statement after two years of silence, during which Hitler was allowed to worry over what' his deputy might be telling the British. The official account, made available to commons today by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, revealed very few facts that had not leaked out at least in outline to the public.
                                                                     Listed Terms
It did, however, contain a specific list of six peace terms, one of which stipulated Hitler's refusal to negotiate' with Prime Minister Churchill, who was accused of planning the war since 1936.
What Germany wanted from Britain, Hess said, was a free hand in Europe and especially with Russia, but the forebodings of a long war, for which Germany was ill-prepared, were seen .in Hess" statement,
Upon his arrival in Scotland In May, 1941, Hess told the Duke of Hamilton that "the Fuehrer does
not want to defeat England and wants to stop fighting." He said he made the flight without the knowledge
of Hitler, a fact that had been suggested by the confusion of German propagandists in dealing with the situation when Hess' arrival was announced.by the British.
                                                               Prisoner of.War
The official statement said nothing about Hess' present whereabouts or his state of health, but it concluded: "Hess has been dealt with as a prisoner of war since his arrival in this country and will 50 continue to be treated until the end of the war."

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Current Events September 21, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 21, 1943:
The battle-tempered fifth army fashioned a siege arc today astride the sea and land approaches to Naples after capturing the entire chain of hills along the Sorrento peninsula. American "long torn" and other heavy guns commanded the whole bay of Naples, including Italy's chief port itself. German forces on the inland flank were in full fledged retreat under merciless allied air punishment.

Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio called on all Italians in a proclamation released today to fight by the side of the allies in the struggle to oust the Germans from Italy.



       YANK SIEGE ARC
                        BEARS ON NAPLES


         LONG BEACH INDEPENDENT
                            Long Beach, California, Tuesday, September 21, 1943

Yankee Heavy Guns Command Bay at
Naples, Nazis Run Under Air Attack

Yankee Heavy Guns Command Bay at
Naples, Nazis Run Under Air Attac
k
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Sept. 20.—(INS)—
The battle-tempered fifth army fashioned a siege arc today astride the sea and land approaches to Naples after capturing the entire chain of hills along the Sorrento peninsula. American "long torn" and other heavy guns commanded the whole bay of Naples, including Italy's chief port itself. German forces on the inland flank were in full fledged retreat under merciless allied air punishment.
While the left wing of Lieut. Gen. Marie \V. Clark's fifth army raced 15 miles west from Salerno  to the tip of Sorrento peninsula forming the lower arm of the  Nnplcs bay. the right wing also gained fresh ground Sunday.

Badoglio Calls on
People to Fight

ALGIERS, Sept. 20.—(INS) —
Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio called on all Italians in a proclamation released today to fightby the side of the allies in the struggle to oust the Germans from Italy.
The Italian prime minister, who had escaped from Home to allied held territory, bitterly denounced the nazis for their creation of a ''puppet government" designed to rule Italy in the name of the German - abducted Benito Mussolini. 'In a statement bordering on a declaration of war .on Germany, Badoglio condemned the Recich for hiaving turned the Italian mainland into a battleground for the sake of keeping the war away from the nazis' homeland.
Therefore," lie declared, "there is but one watchword for us allone order alone: 'Out with theGermans!'

French Commandos
Aid Underground

in Corsica Landing
LONDON, Sept. 20.—(INS)—
Reuter's declared in a dispatch from allied North African headquarters late tonight t h a t French
c o m m a n d o s h a v e landed on the island ol Corsica. The commandos, it was announced, were landing on the island immediately after the armistice between the allies and Italy was concluded.
They went promptly into the battle which already had been launched by underground French patriot forces in Corsica against the German troops of occupation.
The amphibious French forces that landed on Corsica, only 106 miles southeast of the French mainland coast at Nice, are part of the army commanded by Gen Henri Honore Giraud.
Giraud declared that the fight ing on Corsica, within 54 miles of the north Italian coast, has "taken a favorable turn.

Portugal Interns
Yank Air Crew

LISBON, Sept. 20.-(INS)—
An American bomber was reported to have made a forced landing today at Cape Sagres in southern
Portugal. The crew of five was said to have surrendered to Portuguese authorities for internment.
.





Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Current Events September 20, 1043;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 20, 1943:
 The Allied Fifth and Eighth armies, joined together as a single striking force, swept northward yesterday with the port of Naples as their next objective in the battle for Italy.
All along the 120-mile front reaching across the mainland from Salerno on the Tyrrheanian Sea to Bari on the Adriatic, troops of the Allied armies pushed forward after retreating German forces, which, the Nazi communique admitted, "have taken up a shorter line of resistance."

The Italian garrison at Sardinia has chased out the Germans and informed Gen. Eisenhower that the island is now in its possession. Thus the Allies are presented with an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the center of the eastern half of the Mediterranean and within easy flying distance of the entire Axis occupied coast from Salerno northward to the Gulf of Genoa, and westward through the Riviera to the Spanish border.

American forces today mopped up scattered elements of the Japanese army at Lae, big New Guinea base,
which was captured yesterday. The Allies blockaded jungle paths as American paratroops from the Markham Valley area were reported to be in contact with the fleeing Japs at Donna, northwest of Lae. 
Gen. MacArthur's communique said the destruction of the Japanese troops was certain.
       
             THE STARS AND STRIPES
                  Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations
                             New York, N.Y.—London, England Monday, Sept. 20, 1943

      Allies Race for Naples; Sardinia Ours

Nazis Speed Retreat;
Islands Within Range
Of Naples Occupied

 5th and 8th Armies Driving On Together;
Seizure of Islands Provides Air Bases
For Offensive on Vital Port

 The Allied Fifth and Eighth armies, joined together as a single striking force, swept northward yesterday with the port of Naples as their next objective in the battle for Italy.
All along the 120-mile front reaching across the mainland from Salerno on the Tyrrheanian Sea to Bari on the Adriatic, troops of the Allied armies pushed forward after retreating German forces, which, the Nazi communique admitted, "have taken up a shorter line of resistance."
Allied troops also have landed on Ischia, largest island in the Gulf of Naples and only 20 miles from the city itself. The islands of Procida and Ponza earlier surrendered to the guns of Allied warships. With the capture
of these islands important flank positions have been secured for the drive on Naples.
Procida, only four miles from the mainland and 12 miles from Naples itself, also could be used as a base for heavy artillery.
Sardinia, 140 miles from the Italian mainland, has been seized by the Italian garrison, and German forces there have retreated to Corsica, seven .and half miles to the north across the Straits of Bonifacio. Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army, being increased steadily by tanks, reinforcements and supplies, continue to
move ahead across the hills back of the Salerno bridgehead. They now have occupied Battipaglia, the railway junction 11 miles southeast of Salerno, and Altavilta, another 10 miles to the southeast.
                                                           No Time for Burials
One report from the Fifth Army said the Germans are retreating so fast they are not taking time to bury their dead, indicating that the withdrawal is no longer organized.

Italian Troops
Seize Sardinia
For the Allies

Germans Ejected; Island
Offers Airfields Close
To Vital Targets



ALLIED HQ, Sept. 19 (UP)—
The Italian garrison at Sardinia has chased out the Germans and informed Gen. Eisenhower that the island is now in its possession. Thus the Allies are presented with an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the center of the eastern half of the Mediterranean and within easy flying distance of the entire Axis occupied coast from Salerno northward to the Gulf of Genoa, and westward through the Riviera to the Spanish border.
Possession of Sardinia will give the Allies airfields within 150 miles of Rome, 250 miles of Genoa and 250 miles of Marseilles. Equally important, it will permit fighter protection for bombers when they raid southern France and northern Italy.
It also will provide a jumping-off place .for any attack that might be launched against Corsica.
What the Germans in Corsica will do now is uncertain. Realizing their position, they may evacuate.
By this single stroke the Allies have jumped forward 300 miles nearer France, a lessening of distance of outstanding importance to our air and sea forces.

Bases Guarding
Smolensk Fall

Reds Capture Two Vital
Outppsts; Advance on
Kiev Continues

MOSCOW. Sept. 19 —
Smashing through to capture two of the most vital "hedgehog" .cities guarding Smolensk, Soviet armies tonight, in the words of Marshal Stalin himself, had broken the "defense line which blocks the gates" to
the greatest German base in Russia.
In one of three orders of the day, Stalin announced the fall of Dukhovschina, 30 miles northeast of Smolensk, and the town and key railway station of Yartsevo. 33 miles northeast of the German
bastion, which has been Hitler's headquarters in Russia.
Meanwhile, new and smashing successes farther south against the fastcrumbling German front were revealed in Stalin's other two orders of the day. One announced the capture of Krasnpgrad and Pavlograd by Red Army units driving forward southwest of Kharkov, the other reported the capture of Drubchev. after Russian forces had stormed the River Desna near that point, south of Bryansk.

U.S.-Australian
TroopsCapture
Lae Air Base

Fleeing Japs are Trapped
In Blockaded Paths;
'Chutists in Action

ALLIED HQ. Southwest Pacific, Sept. 19—
American forces today mopped up scattered elements of the Japanese army at Lae, big New Guinea base,
which was captured yesterday. The Allies blockaded jungle paths as American paratroops from the Markham Valley area were reported to be in contact with the fleeing Japs at Donna, northwest of Lae.
Gen. MacArthur's communique said the destruction of the Japanese troops was certain.
Lae, main Japanese base on.the coast of New Guinea since it was seized early in 1942, was taken by the Americans and Australians in a 14-day campaign. Preceding the final ground assault was an intense aerial bombardment. Heavy and medium bombers dropped 43 tons of explosives on the Jap's inner defenses
and strafed enemy troops with more than 30,000 rounds of machine-gun bullets. Infantry then stormed the Japanese positions-and overwhelmed all resistance.
Disorganized Jap units attempted to flee to the north through trails blocked by the Allies.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Current Events September 19, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 19, 1943:
Soviet troops smashed to within 37 miles of Dnleperopetrovsk, Boulder Dam of the Dnieper river bend. with the capture of the railway Junction 'of PavloRrad, and swept closer to imperiled Kiev with gains on the
north and east, Moscow announced tonight.

Nazi Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, realizing he has lost, the battle of Salerno, today began 'pulling back his troops from the southern end of the front to escape the danger of a trap posed by the Juncture of the 5th and 8th armies. Supporting by swarms of fighters and fighter-bombers now usin captured airfields in Italy.
              The Charleston Gazette
                  Charleston. Wcsi Virginia. Sunday Morning, September 19, 1943.

Nazi Retreat to Poland Hinted as Reds
Sweep Closer to Kiev, Dnieper Bend;
Germans Recoil to Escape Trap Threat

Enemy Admits
Plans to Yield

Area in Russia

Sertorious, Radio Expert,
Doesn't Know 'Where'
Withdrawal Halts

LONDON. Sept. 18.—(AP)_
Soviet troops smashed to within 37 mltcs of Dnleperopetrovsk, Boulder Dam of the Dnieper river bend. with the capture of the railway Junction 'of PavloRrad, and swept closer to imperiled Kiev with gains on the
north and east, Moscow announced tonight.
A total of 733 towns and villages were captured, said Ihe Moscow communique recorded by the Soviet monitor, in an unchecked advance in almost every sector of the 600 mile front—toward Smolensk, Roslavl. Gomel, Chernigov, Poltava, Zaporozhe, Melitopol and In the Caucasus.
The communique told of the triumphs amid a chorus of pessimistic German admissions relayed
from Stockholm, Madrid and even Berlin Itself.
                                                 622-Mlle Retreat Hinted
Stockholm reports said Germany was withdrawing elite troops from Ihe Russian front to reinforce Italy
and retreating to save its men for fighting on other fronts. Madrid suggested the. Germans might abandon
their Russian campaign and fallback 620 miles to the Polish frontier.




Line Now Being
Formed For Big
Naples Battle

Allies Continue Pulling
Reinforcements Ashore
At Salerno

By Pierre J. IIus*
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NORTH AFRICA. Sept. 18.— (INS)—
Nazi Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, realizing he has lost, the battle of Salerno, today began 'pulling back his troops from the southern end of the front to escape the danger of a trap posed by the Juncture of the 5th and 8th armies. Supporting by swarms of fighters and fighter-bombers now usin captured arfields in Italy.
Lt. Gen Mark; W. Clark's troops plunged  five miles through the Salerno hills 1 to seize Rocca D'Aspide. and thrust spearheads 12 miles inland from the reinforcement-choked beaches,
The Nazis, expecting a powerful flank assault from Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery's 8th army, fell back before the power of the greatly-strengthened 5th army in what appeared to be a planned
maneuver to curl their left flank to the north.
                                                       Naples Line Being Formed
Slackening enemy resistancr at the lower end of the battlefield ; indicated Kesselring, conceding failure
at Salerno bay, is preparing for the battle of Naples by establishing a west-to-east line and abandoning the north to south line that once pinned the 5th army to the beaches.

Nazis in Italy
Fear Sabotage

Death Edict Proclaimed
To Crush Resistance

BERN. Switzerland. Sept. 18.—(AP)
—The German secret police went into full speed operation in Italy today with an order Imposing death
on all Italians caught hiding arms or molesting or stealing military equipment.
The death decree was published throughout occupied Italy---






Sunday, September 18, 2011

Current Events September 18, 1943: Salerno falls; Allied victory paid for with American blood:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1943:
Germany's Wehrmacht, which had gambled desperately for a Dunkirk at Salerno, last night had a Stalingrad, bought and paid for with American blood. Definitely smashing the probability of loss of the United States Fifth Army's bridgehead on the west coast of Italy, patrols of the British Eighth Army and Gen. Mark W. Clark's heroic Fifth established contact yesterday in the vicinity of Vallo di Luciana, approximately 16 miles south of American positions. Allied Headquarters announced officially
The surrender of the Italian fleet was one of the great turning points of the war at sea. First Lord of the Admiralty A. V. Alexander said Thursday in a radio review of the Mediterranean naval campaign.
Algiers radio reported the number of I t a l i a n ships in Allied hands had risen to 108, including at least five battleships, nine cruisers, 27 destroyers and 19 submarines.

The capture of Bryansk by the Russians was announced in a special order of the day from Stalin, broadcast from Moscow last night, four days after the Germans declared they had evacuated the city.

Italians in German-occupied Italy increased their opposition to German rule and the reorganized Fascist party as news of the Fifth Army's stand against the Germans filtered back to them, according
to reports from Rome yesterday. Spurring the Italians on was a Naziimposed starvation diet. German looting
of churches and a martial law proclamation.

American and Australian Troops tightened their grip around Lae yesterday as bombers of the U.S.
Fifth Air Force blasted airfields in the Wewak area and destroyed 48 enemy planes.
The situation around the great Japanese base at Lae has not changed appreciably in the last 24 hours, and Allied troops, converging from the east and west, are still! hammering at the city's outer defenses

            THE STARS AND STRIPES
           Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations
                      New York, N.Y.—London, England Saturday, Sept. 18, 1943
         8th Army Reaches Yank Forces

Fifth 12 Miles Inland
After Smashing 3 Big

Assaults by Germans
Important Airfield Site Seized by Clark's
Heroes; More Reinforcements Land
As Nazi Shelling~ Lessens

Germany's Wehrmacht, which had gambled desperately for a Dunkirk at Salerno, last night had a Stalingrad, bought and paid for with American blood. Definitely smashing the probability of loss of the United States Fifth Army's bridgehead on the west coast of Italy, patrols of the British Eighth Army and Gen. Mark W. Clark's heroic Fifth established contact yesterday in the vicinity of Vallo di Luciana, approximately 16 miles south of American positions. Allied Headquarters announced officially.
Coupled with this news, feverishly avvaiied in tense Allied' capitals for days, came word that the Fifth Army, after smashing back three frantic counter-attacks Thursday, had swung to the offensive, recaptured Albanella, and then reached out and seized Montecorvino, 12 miles northeast of Salerno.
                                                       Ring of Steel Broken
Thus the Allies had broken the enemy's ring of steel about the Salerno bridgehead and forged at least the first link in acontinuous front facing the Germans. In addition to word of the Allied contact
south of Salerno, other Eighth Army patrols linked up with advance units of forces which had struck narth and west after landing in the Taranto area -of  I t a l y ' s heel.

Gaining of Italy's
Fleet  Big Victory;
Five Battle Ships ln

The surrender of the Italian fleet was one of the great turning points of the war at sea. First Lord of the Admiralty A. V. Alexander said Thursday in a radio review of the Mediterranean naval campaign.
Algiers radio reported the number of I t a l i a n ships in Allied hands had risen to 108, including at least five battleships, nine cruisers, 27 destroyers and 19 submarines.
Complete Allied control of the Mediterranean has been assured by these additions to Allied naval power.
All of the seven battleships of the world's fifth largest fleet have been accounted for. The Italia, the Vittorio
Veneta, the Caio Duilio, the Andrea Doria and the Guilio are in Allied possession. The Imnerio is unseaworthy and the Germans sank the Roma when it tried to surrender to the British.

Reds Announce
Bryansk Taken

6 Nazi Divisions Routed;
Russians 55 Miles
From Kiev

The capture of Bryansk by the Russians was announced in a special order of the day from Stalin, broadcast from Moscow last night, four days after the Germans declared they had evacuated the city.
Simultaneous blows from the north and south broke enemy resistance and resulted in the capture of the large industrial centers of Bryansk and Berzhitsa. the order said. Six German infantry divisions were routed, it added..
Russian forces last night were only 55 miles from Kiev, the Russian communique said. It reported the capture of Nosovka, 20 miles southwest of Nezhin and only. 55 miles northeast of Kiev. The Russian advance towards Kiev now forms a broad wedge nearly 40 miles from north to south, and has cut all direct
railway communications between the Germans in the south and those on the central and northern fronts.

Italians Revolt
As U.S. Troops
With Stand Nazis

Germans Declare Martial
Law; Rush Fresh
Troops to Area

Italians in German-occupied Italy increased their opposition to German rule and the reorganized Fascist party as news of the Fifth Army's stand against the Germans filtered back to them, according
to reports from Rome yesterday. Spurring the Italians on was a Naziimposed starvation diet. German looting
of churches and a martial law proclamation.
Workers in the Transtevere district of Rome barricaded themselves in and overcame
German troops sent to arrest them. In other quarters. Italians fought the Germans from their housetops.
Fresh German troops have been ordered to northern Italy to quell the in the'Rome area, has ordered martial
law^ enforced, according to the German controlled Rome radio. All demonstrations of any kind have been prohibited and the death penally has been proclaimed for sabotage. No food has entered Rome for a week,
and people are trying to live on a daily ration of one pound of carrots. Nazi troops have fired upon crowds storming stores for food.


Allies Tighten Grip on Lae;
Attack City's Outer Defenses

American Fifth Air Force Destroys 48 Japanese
Planes in Raid on Wewak Area; 66 Tons
Of Bombs Dropped

ALLIED HQ. Southwest Pacific. Sept. 17—
American and Australian Troops tightened their grip around Lae yesterday as bombers of the U.S.
Fifth Air Force blasted airfields in the Wewak area and destroyed 48 enemy planes.
The situation around the great Japanese base at Lae has not changed appreciably in the last 24 hours, and Allied troops, converging from the east and west, are stil! hammering ai the city's ouier defenses.
The Allies now have seized Malahang Anchorage, less than two miles from the center of the big Japanese air base in New Guinea.
During the attack on Wewak, according to the official communique issued by Gen. MacArthur's headquarters. Allied bombers concentrated 66 tons of bombs in the target area in less than 15 minutes.
Hits were scored on runways and dispersal areas, where between 20 and 40 planes were standing. Two large fuel dumps were set on fire.
Between 60 and 70 fighters intercepted the force of bombers and a fierce running battle, lasting 50 minutes, was fought after the Liberators turned away from the target. No bombers were lost, and only one fighter was reported missing.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Current Events September 17, 1943; Victory at Salerno is won:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY SEPTEMBER 17, 1943:
—Detachments of the British 8th army were reported tonight by-the United Nations radio at Algiers to be only 18 1/2 miles from the 5th army bridgehead In the Salerno area.
The American 5th army uncorked a surprise offensive today, blasted a gap In the Nazi lines and stabbed deep Into enemy hill defenses overlooking the securely-held Salerno bridgehead.
The 8th army's commander, Lt Gen. Mark W. Clark, announced that the Initial objective has been achieved—"our beachhead is secure"— and he promised that side by side with the rapidly-approaching
British 5th army his men would' occupy Naples, Rome and other northern Italian cities.

The French underground was notified by Radio France at Algiers today that the "zero hour" for the liberation of their nation Is near. "The supreme struggle for the liberation of France is about to begin," the broadcast
declared.

Forty-elght Japanese fighter planes have been shot down In an air battle at Wewak. New Guinea. Gen. MacArthur's headquarters announced today. Wewark Is 325 miles northwest of Lae where nearly 400 planes have been destroyed there during the past six weeks.


             The Charleston Gazette
               Charleston, West Virginia. Friday Morning. September 17, 1943.
    5th Army Counter-Blow Sends Nazis Into Retreat;
               Patriot Guerrillas Seize Chief Yugoslav Seaport


Clark Declares
Victory Is Won

At Beachhead
Now Awaits 8th' Army
For Drive to dear
Italy of Foe

NEW YORK, Sept. 1—(INS)
—Detachments of the British 8th army were reported tonight by-the United Nations radio at Algiers to be only 18 1/2 miles from the 5th army bridgehead In the Salerno area.
By Pierre J. Huss
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NORTH AFRICA, Sept. 16.— (INS)—
The American 5th army uncorked a surprise offensive today, blasted a gap In the Nazi lines and stabbed deep Into enemy hill defenses overlooking the securely-held Salerno bridgehead.
The 8th army's commander, Lt Gen. Mark W. Clark, announced that the Initial objective has been achieved—"our beachhead is secure"— and he promised that side by side with the rapidly-approaching
British 5th army his men would' occupy Naples, Rome and other northern Italian cities.
                                            Pour Through Breach
Declaring that "In a matter of hours" the 8th army would Join the battle, Clark pledged that the American and British forces would free Italy from German domination."
French Warned
To Be WatchingFor 'Zero Hour
LONDON, Sept 16.—(INS)—
The French underground was notified by Radio France at Algiers today that the "zero hour" for the liberation of their nation Is near. "The supreme struggle for the liberation of France is about to begin," the broadcast
declared.
Pierre Laval, the broadcast warned, is preparing to hand over "whole sections of the French population" to the Germans. Go Into hiding:," underground patriots were warned. "Be ready for the zero hour."

Allies Capture
Three Islands
In Aegean Sea
Italian Division Revolts
As Menace to Nazi
Flank Grows

LONDON, Sept. 18 (AP)
Split, Yugoslavia's mo.it Important seaport, has fallen to guerrilla patriot armies after two days siege, a Yugoslav communique said tonight.
The communique, Issued In the name of the Yugoslav army of liberation, said the Axis garrison of the Adriatic seaport was believed to have surrendered in the last 4 hours.
The guerrillas were reported attacking Ogulin. 30 miles Inland from the Adriatic in northern Yugoslavia. Guerrillas already hold a large part of the Susak-Zagrob railway in that region cast of Fiumo(??)..
German motorized divisions attempting
to pierce the Yugoslav lines near Klin were reported driven off with 300 killed and 500 wounded.
                                              Bergamo Division Joins Allies
The Italian Bergamo division was said to have surrendered and the Italians, wishing to fight alongside the partisan patriots against the Germans, were reported mustered into a -Garibaldi division."
The Allied menace to the German's Balkan flank apparently was still a distant threat, although the day brought word that Allied forces had thrust Into the Aegean sea to occupy three Islands off Turkey
and Greece—Samos, Co.s and Lero. Croat Guerrillas Cut Kail  Madrid dispatches said concurrently that Croat Guerrlllas under the command of Allied officers had cut four principal German-held railway* running out from northern Yugoslavia to Hungary, Rumania and Italy.

Allied Airmen
Down 48 Japs
New Guinea Nipponese
Lose More Ground

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, (Friday), Sept. 17.—(AP)—
Forty-elght Japanese fighter planes have been shot down In an air battle at Wewak. New Guinea. Gen. MacArthur's headquarters announced today.
Wewark Is 325 miles northwest of Lae where nearly 400 planes have been destroyed there during the
past six weeks.
At Lac, Allied forces have seized Malahang anchorage less than two miles from the center of that big
enemy air. base.  The anchorage Is near the prized airdrome of the same name. Australians have been driving steadily along the coast toward Malanang since they landed cast of Lae early this month.
American and Australian troops, moving toward Lae from the west, overcame strong enemy resistance on the Markham road and Inflicted heavy losses.