Bombs Rained
On Smaller
War Industries
By Associated
Press
GUAM, June 18.—A "very
large" force of B-29s returned to Honshu and Kyushu to make a double
strike at Japanese industrial targets, the 20th Airforce said Monday.
The B-29s rained incendiary bombs
on four Japanese cities of less than 200,000 population each—Omuta and Kagoshima
on Kyushu and Hamamalsu and Yokkaichi on Honshu—in blistering low-level raids
before dawn Monday. Approximately 450 Superfortresses participated.
Two
Large Formations
Twenty-first Bomber Command headquarters
said two large formations sent against the two Japanese mainland
islands split again to strike at the four targets— all centers of small shop
war industries.
Light raidss previously had been
made on Hamamatsu and Kagoshima but these were the first attacks on Omuta and
Yokkaichi.
JAPS
SEE INVASION,
GREATER
AIR RAIDS
Tokyo
Radio Warns People U.S. Capture
Of
Okinawa to Open Greater Air Offensive
By Associated
Press
SAN FRANCISCO, June 17. Radio
Tokyo told the Japanese people Sunday that loss of Okinawa, now falling to
hardhitting American doughboys and marines, will mean the launching. of a.
"great aerial offensive" against Japan proper and an early invasion
of the Nippon homeland in China.
Tokyo also reported, in a series
of broadcasts monitored by the F.CC., that Allied warships bombarded the
Balikpapan region of Borneo; that American planes struck just south of Kyushu
Island, that warships shelled Matsuwa Jima, in the Northern Kuriles, on two
consecutive days early last week, and that a Russian ship was
sunk, probably by a Yank
submarine.
Many
Airfields
Soon after Tokyo aired its pessimistic
views about the impending aerial blows Japan can expect, American
Superfortresses struck two of Japan's home islands, unloading fire bombs on
four secondary industrial centers.
EXCLUSIVE
Inside Story of Axis
Told in Ciano's Diary
Dramatic Events That
Led to War Bared in
intimate Documents of
Mussolini's Son-in-Law
San
Antonio Express begins publication today of the Intimate and revealing diaiiea
of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and Fascist Italy's foreign
minister from 1938 to 1943. Ciano was one of the builders of the Axis.
The diaries begin Ian. 1, 1939. and continue until shortly before Ciano's
execution
at Mussolini's orders on a charge' of treason.
(Copyrlght, 1945, by The Chicago
Daily News, Inc. All rights reserved forall countries. includtng rights{
translation.)
As he was about to die Count
Galeazzo Ciano wrote a bitter charge that Germany deliberately provoked war in
Europe in 1939 and dragged Italy to disaster. Nineteen days before Ciano was
shot to death for high treason, he wrote a final 10-page entry in his diary. It
is an amazing document. Italy's fateful alliance with Germany was born in a moment
of rage on Mussolini's part, Ciano wrote. He recounted Nazi Foreign Minister
Von Ribbentrop's casual assertion that the Germans wanted war, and told of a cynical
bet of an Italian painting against a collection of antique, arms that Great Britain
and France would remain neutral. The Germans treated the Italians as
"slaves, not partners," Ciano wrote, who were informed only of the
Nazi attack on the Soviet Union half an hour after the borders
had been crossed.
Accuses Mussolini
of 'Shameful Cowardice'
Ciano was writing from Cell 27 of
the Verona jail on Dec.. 23, 1943. The special tribunal before which he was tried
did not meet until Jan. 8, 1944, but Ciano said that judgment already had been
passed by his father-in-law, Mussolini, whom he accused of
"shameful cowardice" in his relations with the Germans. Ciano and
four others were executed Jan. 11.
The revealing closing entry in
Ciano's own handwriting and bearing his signature follow-------
What Material for a
Book!
"If the Lord had granted me
a quiet old age, what excellent material for an autobiography! The' notes are not,
therefore, part of a book, but the raw .material from which a book could have
been composed. "Perhaps the real merit of these diaries is to be found j in
this skeleton form and in the absolute lack of the superfluous.
Events are photographed without
retouching, and the impressions reported are the' first ones, the most genuine,
without influence of criticism or the wisdom of
Future fears. I was accustomed to
jot down the salient happenings day by day, hour by hour. Perhaps at times repetitious
or contradictions may be found, just as very often life repeats and
contradicts itself.
"If the opportunity for
expanding these notes had not been taken away suddenly, I should have wished
from other documents and personal recollections to amplify the chro-
COUNT CIANO'S
SENSATIONAL INSIDE STORY
OF AXIS INTRIGUE AND
DOUBLE-CROSSING
Continued From Page 1
nicle of certain days which have
had unique and dramatic
influence on the history of the
world.
Beginning of
the Italian Tragedy
"With greater detail, I
should have like to have fixed responsibility, both of men and governments, but
this unfortunately was impossible, even though there come to mind in these last
hours so many details I should not want ignored 'by those who tomorrow will
analyze and assess the events that have occurred.
Ponders His
'Cruel Fate'
"It is cruel to think that I
shall not again be able to look into the eyes of my three children, or to press
my mother to my heart, or my wife who has revealed herselfa sure and faithful companion in
my hours of sorrow. But I must bow to the will of God. A great calm is coming
to my soul. I am preparing myself for the Supreme Judgment. "In this state
of mind, precluding any lying, I declare that not a single word I have written
in my diaries is false, exaggerated, or the result of selfish resentment. It is
just as I saw it and heard it. If I think of possible publication of these comments as I prepare for
this great departure, it is |not because an honest testimonial in this sad
world still may I be useful in bringing relief to the innocent, and striking at
those who are guilty."
Dec. 23, 1943, Cell 27, Verona
Jail.
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