Pyle,
GI Joe of Correspondents,
Honored
for His Soldier Stories
Gets
Pulitzer Prize, But
Regards
Infantryman's
Praise
Equal Tribute
The furious Allied aerial
offensive which is slowly raising the curtain for the greatest drama of the war
was carried through its 18th straight day yesterday as fleets of heavies, mediums
and fighter-bombers hit targets, mainly railway centers, in. France and
Belgium
Two lone Flying Fortress crews'
yesterday reported between them the destruction
of 16 of the 72 German fighters
shot down in furious battles over Berlin Saturday
by raiding B17s and B24s. The
crews of both the Barbara B, piloted by 1/Lt. William B. Clark, of Beach Creek,
Ky., and an unnamed Fort piloted by 1/Lt. John M. Gibbons, of Jefferson City,
Mo., claimed their guns bagged eight Nazi aircraft.
Soviet mass bombing of the
important junction of Brest Litovsk, following
attacks on Lwow and German supply
points behind the central front,
increased speculation yesterday
that the Russians have begun a systematic
softening-up campaign in
preparation for a full-scale assault on the shortest
route to Berlin—straight across
Poland.
New York, N.Y.—London,
England Wednesday, May 3, 1944
Pyle,
GI Joe of Correspondents,
Honored
for His Soldier Stories
Gets
Pulitzer Prize, But
Regards
Infantryman's
Praise
Equal Tribute
By Charles F.
Kiley
Stars and
Stripes Staff Writer
Ernie Pyle, Scripps-Howard
columnist for more than 300 newspapers, who recently arrived in London from
Italy, yesterday received two messages.
One told the diminutive
gray-haired newsman he had been awarded a Pulitzer
Prize for "distinguished
correspondence during the year." The other, contained
in a letter written by an
American infantryman at Anzio to a friend in the U.S. and forwarded to Pyle. Described
the GI Joe of war correspondents as "the best reporter in the whole damn
world" and wondered "how a dried-up, little guy
like that gets around so
much." Pyle wasn't sure which of the tributes he appreciated most
18th Day of Blitz Sees
New Blows at
Calais
And Nazi
Transport
Without-Loss U. S.
Raids Come After
RAF Assaults
The furious Allied aerial
offensive which is slowly raising the curtain for the greatest drama of the war
was carried through its 18th straight day yesterday as fleets of heavies, mediums
and fighter-bombers hit targets, mainly railway centers, in. France and
Belgium.
Some 200 Liberators pummeled objectives
in the Pas de Calais; an equal number of Marauders and Havocs attacked three
railway centers, and fighterbombers of the Ninth struck at other railway targets.
Not one of the bombers or the fighters which escorted them in large numbers was
lost.
In 24 hours the Nazi
transportation system serving the Channel ports had suffered 27 individual
blows, including widespread attacks at night by the RAF.
Not one enemy plane rose to
oppose theLiberator force as, shepherded by Eighth
Air Force Thunderbolts and
Mustangs, it cascaded its load of explosives on coastal installations.
Both the American and British air
forces yesterday released the official figures for their operations in April—the
biggest month of aerial warfare in history.
USSTAF:
43.000 Tons
The USSTAF dropped more than 43,500
tons, almost all on Luftwaffe installations. Twenty-nine German aircraft factories
were hit, as were numerous airdromes and aircraft parks. Destruction of 450
enemy aircraft on the ground was
confirmed by gun cameras; at
least 1,282 were destroyed in aerial battles. U.S.
losses in 36,000 sorties were 537
bombers, less than three per cent, and 191 fighters, just over one per cent.
Two Forts Claim
16 of 72 Nazis
Shot Down in
Last Berlin Raid
Two lone Flying Fortress crews'
yesterday reported between them the destruction
of 16 of the 72 German fighters
shot down in furious battles over Berlin Saturday
by raiding B17s and B24s. The
crews of both the Barbara B, piloted by 1/Lt. William B. Clark, of Beach Creek,
Ky., and an unnamed Fort piloted by 1/Lt. John M. Gibbons, of Jefferson City,
Mo., claimed their guns bagged eight Nazi aircraft.
Three gunners each claimed two
planes apiece. They were S/Sgt. Albert V. Bauman, Barbara B bombardier from Fremont,
Ohio, and T/Sgt. John Urdia, of Mansfield, Ohio, and S/Sgt. W. C. Micholas, of
Clallam Bay, Wash., respectively
top turret gunner and right waist
gunner on the other Fort.
Barbara B's crewmen took their
toll of the Luftwaffe in '-40 minutes of hell over
Berlin." According to Clark,
125 to 150 "crazy Nazi fighters" swept in, knocking
out the number four engine.
Later, number three engine went, too.
Brest
Litovsk Bombing Swells
Speculation
on Poland Drive
Soviet mass bombing of the
important junction of Brest Litovsk, following
attacks on Lwow and German supply
points behind the central front,
increased speculation yesterday
that the Russians have begun a systematic
softening-up campaign in
preparation for a full-scale assault on the shortest
route to Berlin—straight across
Poland.
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