Thursday, August 16, 2012

August 16, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 16, 1944:

 
NAZIS REPORT A  YANK
DRIVE TOWARD PARIS
High Command Declares
Another Swift 60-Mile
Eastward Advance Puts
Doughboys Within 40
Miles of Capital.
London, Aug-. 16.—(AP)—
The German h i g h  c o m m a n d  d e c l a r e d  to day t h a t Americans in  another swift 60-mile eastward advance had s t r u c k within 40 miles of P a r i s,
b a t t l i n g  n e a r  t h e  c i t i e s  of  Dreux a n d  C h a r t r e s d u e  w e s t  of 
t h e  capita l .
T h e official communique said t h i s  d r i v e  s p r a n g from t h e Alencon a r e a  30 m i l e s above L e M a n s , w i th b i t t e r  f i g h t i n g  b e t w e e n  D r e u x a n d C h a r t r e s , 40 a n d 43 miles from  P a r i s.
A n o t h e r Nazi  b r o a d c a s t  i d e n t i f i ed t h e Americans as reinforced, motorized elements of Lieutenant G e n e r a l George S. P a t t o n ' s Third
Army, which h a d seized Le Mans a n d  curved  n o r t h w a r d , closing on
t h e  F a l a i s e  g a p . T h i s  b r o a d c a s t  d e c l a r e d P a t t o n ' s m e n     s t r u c  northeast out of  Le Mans,  t h r o u g h  or  n e a r Nogent-le-Rotrou and La Loupe, 35 and_50 miles away, and t h e n  on  t o  t h e 20-mile C n a r t r e s -
D r e u x sector. B i t t e r  f i g h t i n g proc
e e d s , especially n o r t h of C h a r t r e s, it said.


Germans Showing Confusion at Falaise Gap;
U. S. Seventh Army Is New Invading Force
Victors of Sicilian Campaign, Led by
General Patch, Have Smashed
Mediterranean Coastal Defenses,
Established Firm Beachheads and
Are as Much as Eight Miles Inland
—Enemy Resistance Continues to
Prove Relatively Weak.

By EDWARD KENNEDY.
Rome, Aug. 16.—(AP)—
The U. S. Seventh army, reconstituted after its victorious campaign in Sicily, has smashed through German costal defenses and established itself firmly in southern France, penetrating inland as far as eight miles in some places, Allied headquarters announced
tonight. Casualties in this newest invasion of Hitler's Europe were officially declared to be exceptionally light, this resulting from "perfect co-ordination of all arms and services,"

British Staff Officer Says Von Kluge's
Withdrawal from Normandy Pocket
No Longer Being Conducted According
to Plan—Believe 50,000
Enemy Forces May Yet Be Encircled—
New Entrapment Threatened
Nearer the Paris Area

By GLADWIN HILL.
London, Aug. 16.— (AP)—
The Allies showered steel and surrender leaflets on the German Seventh army's pell-mell retreat near Falaise today and, by Berlin account, hurled an American column within 40 miles of Paris,threatening a new encirclement of fleeing German troops.
Field dispatches declared Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge had pulled most of his armor from the vanishing Normandy front, but his hatch below Falaise had been sliced to eight miles. Possibly 50,000 Nazis still were fighting rear guard actions within the dwindling Normandy' pocket.
Allied planes showered t h e enemy with 2,000,000 safe conduct surrender leaflets.

U. S. RAIDS JAP BASE
IN PESCADORES ISLES
Chungking, Aug. 16. — UP) —
A m e r i c a n  L i b e r a t o r s bombed the J a p a n e s e naval base of  Mako in
t h e Pescadores islands today in t h e first blow at those enemy islands b e t w e e n F o r m o s a a n d  China.
The F o r m o s a  h a r b o r  of  T a k a o  in in  t h e s o u t h w e s t  p o r t i o n  of  t h e  big  J a p a n e s e island was bombed at n i g h t  by  L i b e r a t o r s .  All t h e  a t t a c k  planes were from Major Gene r a l Claire L. C h e n n a u l t ' s U. S. F o u r t e e n t h  air force.
No details were given of the Mako  a t t a c k.

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