May 26, 1945; Hirohito's Palace Reported Razed:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, MAY 26, 1945:

THE RACINE JOURNAL-TIMES

RACINE, WIS., SATURDAY AFTERNOON, M A Y 26, 1945

 

Hirohito's Palace Reported Razed

 

Tokyo in Ruins,

Foes Report;

'Atrocity' Is Cry

GUAM.—(AP) — Super-Fortresses, carrying their fire bomb scourge to the heart of the enemy empire for the second time in.48 hours, by Japanese- account destroyed two palaces and left metropolitan Tokyo "literally scorched to the ground today." The attack was announced by Washington yesterday.

The 500-plane raid "practically laid waste what was once the world's third largest metropolis."the b r o a d c a s t reported.

The outer palace within t h e Imperial Palace compounds, as well as the Omiya Detached Palace were destroyed by fire." it added.

"Inhuman Atrocities."

 Stung by the strike into the very nerve center of the empire, Radio Tokyo diverged from a later recital of damages to declare the " enemy's inhuman atrocities" had increased the Japanese feeling of Hostility and ( they ) are firmly determined to fight to the last Japanese."

 

Enemy Believed Fleeing Naha/

Suicide Planes Attack U.S. Fleet

 

By WILLIAM F. TYREE

GUAM^(U.R) - U. S. Marines captured a sixth of Naha, shell-shattered capital of Okinawa, in a 500-yard advance today.

A front dispatch said t h e Japanese appeared to be abandoning t h e city for a final stand to the death in t h e fortified inland city of Shuri.

Enemy troop movements out of Naha east and northeast toward Shuri have been sighted, United Press. War Correspondent Edward Thomas reported from Okinawa.

Elements of the 6th Marine Division jumped off from t h e south bank of the  Asato River in northern Naha yesterday for the climactic assault on t h e capital. At

last reports, they were 800 yards from both Naha harbor and t he mouth of the Asato

 

 

Tarakan Japs

Counter-Attack

 

By H. D. QUIGG

MANILA.—(U.P) — Savage fighting raged today on Tarakan Island off Borneo as trapped Japanese t r o o p s counter-attacked with spears and rolled artillery shells down hills on the heads of Allied soldiers.

The Japanese, .compressed in t h e central hills of ' t h e island, were fighting their most primitive and desperate sort of battle against Australian and Dutch troops. The conquest of Tarakan virtually complete, with, all the island's major installation in allied hands but mopping up the remaining  was turning  into one of the dirtiest jobs faced yet.

Charge Brandishing Spears.

In counter attacks  one Japanese force charged Allied lines

Brandishing spears spears "like the wariors of centuries ago. In another action, small soldiers struggled to lift heavy .75 millimeter shells, then dropped them like giant grenades down steep hills on Allied troops below.