WASHINGTON, April 18 (AP) —
Ernie
Pyle is dead.
The famous little war
correspondent, beloved alike of Doughboys and five-star generals, was killed Tuesday
on Le Jima, a small island lying off Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa. His death was announced by Secretary
of the Navy Forrestal and President Truman issued a statement of condolence.
"The nation is quickly
saddened again by the death of Ernie Pyle,' Mr. Truman said. "No man in this war has so
well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted
It told, x x x he deserves-the gratitude of all his countrymen."
Forrestal said Pyle was killed Instantly
by Japanese machine gun fire while standing beside a regimental commanding
officer.The secretary's statement said: "With
deep regret the navy announces
the death on Le Shima (Jima) of
Ernie Pyle whose reporting of this war endeared him to the -men of the armed
forces throughout the world and to their families at home.
"He
was killed instantly by Japanese machine gun fire while standing: beside the
regimental commanding: officer of headquarters troop 77th division U. S.
army.
At the time of his death, he was with the foot soldiers, the men for whom he
had the greatest admiration.
Reds Within Sight Of
Berlin
Lines
Breached
18
Miles From
German
Capital
By
RICHARD KASISCHKE
LONDON, April 18 (AP)
German broadcasts declared today
the battle for the eastern approaches to Berlin had "reached its
climax," with Russians breaching defense lines only 18 or 20 miles from
the capital, and that the Soviets had launched a third offensive south of
Stettin aimed at linking with the Allies on the north German plain.
Front
dispatches to Moscow asserted the Russians could see Berlin burning, but did
not yet specify that any offensive was underway.
Nine Russians armies are smashing
toward Berlin, the Germans said, conceding Red army gains through the strong
hedgehog positions in the blazing arc east and
northeast of the bomb-shattered city.
The
enemy declared Stalin had thrown in a third offensive on a 17-mile Oder river
front south of Stettin, intending to slice in between that Baltic port and
Berlin, and join the western Allies north and west of Berlin. This drive has
assumed great dimensions, the broadcasts said.
Patton's
Swift
Move
Cuts Nazi
Forces
In Half
By WILLIAM L.
RYAN
Associated Press
War Editor
Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's Third
army entered Czechoslovakia today, slicing Germany in half, as the 90th
division invaded Czechoslovakia northwest of Asch in the northwestern tip of
the country. The Americans had dashed eight miles from the area of Hof, which
is about 10 miles south of captured Plauen.
American First army troops cut to
within 4,000 yards of the heart of Leipzig and
U. S. Seventh army men cleared
half the Nazi shrine city of Nuernberg, while behind. the advances the German
debacle in the Ruhr approached Stalingrad proportions. More than 309,000
prisoners have been taken from the pocket thus far by the Americans, with prospects
for 50,000 more before the day was out
As Germany was halved
geographically, although not yet strategically, and Allied armies pressed'
relentlessly from the west, a Moscow dispatch 'said the Russians
could see burning Berlin.
The Germans said the Red army had
exploded a new offensive on a 17-mile front south of Stettin in a drive to
outflank Berlin and join, with the Allies on the north German plain.
Yanks Drive Into
Japs'
Philippine
Headquarters
Tribesmen Liberate
7,000 Civilians;
Forts Hit Japan
By
LEONARD MILLIMAN
Associated
Press War Editor
Mud - spattered American Infantrymen
drove into the outskirts of Baguio, Japaneseheadquarters from which Igorote
tribesmen rescued 7,000 civilians, today while Superfortresses ripped up six
airdromes in southern Japan for the second consecutive day.
No Japanese interceptors took off
yesterday from the six air fields on Kyushu Island, bases for many of the 2,280
Japanese planes which Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced have been destroyed in the
last month during Okinawa
invasion operations, 325 miles south
of Japan.
Wednesday communiques reported
American planes on all Pacific fronts destroyed or damaged 29 more Japanese
ships, hundreds of small craft, 15 locomotives
and
killed hundreds of Nipponese soldiers.
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