Current Events December 29, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY DECEMBER 29,1943:

In one of the biggest war maneuvers ever held, thousands of battle-eager young American soldiers are getting practical training day and night for the forthcoming invasion of Western Europe under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.Naval forces and all kinds of Army units—amphibious infantry, artillery, armored and air forces, engineers and supply units—are participating in the gigantic dress rehearsal for the assault.

Doolittle to Head Eighth Air Force;
Devers and Eaker .are Assigned
To Mediterranean, FDR Announces

 A desolate stretch of :he Atlantic Coast is the scene of day and night rehearsals which are fitting U.S. Navy and Army units for the coming invasion of Europe and Japan. Streaming ashore in landing boats and amphibious vehicles, they are subjected to underwater explosions, air attacks and all the other terrors of invasion warfare.

 The official announcement of the capture of Ortona was being awaited tonight following "the announcement early today by Berlin ra'dio of the German evacuation of the vital Adriatic port.
Latest reports of the- situation in the town spoke of fierce fighting, with the Germans using flame-throwers, to hold the Canadians of the Eighth Army. Berlin radio announced Tuesday morning:( "After one week of the heaviest fighting inside any town in Italy, the German army pulled its garrison back to a new line northwest of Ortona on Monday.

 U.S. Marines, moving swiftly through the jungles behind light and medium tanks, today gained several miles of terriory around, their two new bridgeheads at Cape Gloucester, New "Britain, then began shelling runways and installations if two Jap-held airfields nearby, according to Gen. -MacArthur's official communique.

                               New York, N.Y.—London, England Wednesday, Dec. 29,1943

U.S. Army, Navy, Air Forces
Staging Mass Dress Rehearsal
 On English Coast for Invasion
 Thousands Engage
In Combat Tests
Over Vast Area
By.Franklin BankerAssociated Press War Correspondent
WITH U.S. TROOPS IN ENGLAND,
Dec. 28—
In one of the biggest war maneuvers ever held, thousands of battle-eager young American soldiers are getting practical training day and night for the forthcoming invasion of Western Europe under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.Naval forces and all kinds of Army units—amphibious infantry, artillery, armored and air forces, engineers andsupply units—are participating in the gigantic dress rehearsal for the assault.
The vast operations extend over a desolate stretch of coast and for miles inland. The exercises are 'much more advanced than normal war games, and as in actual invasion, troops and. tanks stream ashore in landing craft with naval and air support and seek to establish bridgeheads under live gunfire from defending ground troops and planes—which on invasion day will be those of the, Germans.

 Doolittle to Head Eighth Air Force;
Devers and Eaker .are Assigned
To Mediterranean, FDR Announces
 WASHINGTON, Dec. 28.—-President Roosevelt announced at his press
conference to-day the following appointments to commands in the Allied
invasion forces in Europe, consequent on the changes hi the senior commands
announced in London yesterday:-—
LT. GEN. JACOB L. DEVERS, Commander of the American forces in the
Mediterranean, and Deputy Supreme Commander under Gen. Sir
Henry Maitland Wilson.
MAJ. GEN. JAMESDOOLITTLE, Commander, Eighth U.S. Air Force in
G/eat Britain, in place of Lt. Gen. Ira G. Eaker.
LT. GEN:,IRA C. EAKER, Commander of the Allied Air Forces in the
Mediterranean.
LT. GEN. NATHAN TWINING, Commander of the 15th UjS.^Air Force in
the Mediterranean.
Asked whether Maj. Gen. George Patton was to receive any important command in the second front plans, President Roosevelt replied that Gen. Patton was not on the list from which he had read the previous names.
He suggested that reporters should refrain from guessing.
___________________________________________________________________________________
 Troops in States Hold
Big Invasion Rehearsal
AN AMPHIBIOUS TRAINING
BASE, U.S. East Coast, Dec. 28 (UP)
—A desolate stretch of :he Atlantic Coast is the scene of day and night rehearsals which are fitting U.S. Navy and Army units for the coming invasion of Europe and Japan. Streaming ashore in landing boats and amphibious vehicles, they are subjected to underwater explosions, air attacks and all the other terrors of invasion warfare. They are trained to expect heavy losses. One officer said that an operation could be successfully completed even ' if two men out of three were knocked outof action. ' . . .
Many of the officers have . been through Allied landings at Guadalcanal, North Africa and Sicily
___________________________________________________________________________________

 Germans Admit
Fall of Ortona
Foe Used Flame Throwers
To Stem Canadians'
Final Assault
ALLIED HQ, Italy, Dec. 28
The official announcement of the capture of Ortona was being awaited tonight following "the announcement early today by Berlin ra'dio of the German evacuation of the vital Adriatic port.
Latest reports of the- situation in the town spoke of fierce fighting, with the Germans using flame-throwers, to hold the Canadians of the Eighth Army. Berlin radio announced Tuesday morning:( "After one week of the heaviest fighting inside any town in Italy, the German army pulled its garrison back to a new line northwest of Ortona on Monday.")
Fierce fighting also is in progress north of Venazzi, which is in the Eighth Army's hands at present.
                                                   Fifth Drives For San Vittore
The Fifth Army, in its drive for San Vittore and the key to the Liri valley, Cassino-r consolidated their positions today on every height of the Sammucro mountains, three miles southwest of Venafro.
Further north, Fifth Army troops battled for the lower slopes of the towering 6,800-ft. Mainarde range. They recaptured Mount Marrone, some 5,800 feet high, about two miles southwest of Castel San Vicenzo. A fierce battle for these slopes is still in progress.

 Tanks Lead Way for Marines
Shelling New Britain Airfields
ALLIED HQ, New Guinea, Dec. 28—


U.S. Marines, moving swiftly through the jungles behind light and medium tanks, today gained several miles of terriory around, their two new bridgeheads at Cape Gloucester, New "Britain, then began shelling runways and installations if two Jap-held airfields nearby, according to Gen. -MacArthur's official communique.
About 65 miles along the tricky New Btritain coastline on the Arawo coastline, sixth Army troops held fast against two Jap counter-attacks and then w«n new round in their push toward the center if the island.
In the Gloucester area only weak Jap resistance was met by one Marine force near the airfields.