Current Events February 18, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY FEBRUARY 18, 1944:

German armor and infantry, reinforced by a great artillery barrage and the strongest Luftwaffe support since the Anzio landing, flung itself yesterday at the Allied bridgehead south of Rome for the second day in assaults which Berlin radio said rivaled the heaviest fighting in France in the last year of World War I.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18—

Powerful US. Navy task forces of the Pacific fleet, with several hundred airplanes participating, opened an attack on Japan's great central Pacific base at Truk early yesterday morning, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced at Pearl Harbor last night.

WASHINGTON Feb. 18 (Reuter)—

The War Department announced last night that an Allied troopship with American soldiers on board has been sunk in European waters. One thousand men were rescued and another 1,000 were reported missing.

SAN SEBASTIAN. Spain, Feb. 18 (AP)—

German police have taken over the whole of the Bordeaux area which the few remaining representatives of the Vichy government and arrested hundreds as the result of discovery of an underground plot to dynamite the great steel Bordeaux railway bridge across the lower Garonne.

 
 

New York, N.Y.-Belfast, Northern Ireland^ _Friday, Feb. 18, 1944.

Tank Battle

On In Anzio

Bridgehead

British Weather Enemy's

Heaviest Assault, Then

Open Counter-Attack

German armor and infantry, reinforced by a great artillery barrage and the strongest Luftwaffe support since the Anzio landing, flung itself yesterday at the Allied bridgehead south of Rome for the second day in assaults which Berlin radio said rivaled the heaviest fighting in France in the last year of World War I.

The German High Command, far from claiming any sweeping victory, admitted that the Fifth Army toeswere holding under the strong Nazi offensive. in the British-defended sector of Carroceto. ten miles north of Anzio.

Allied and German tanks were locked in a bitter struggle as Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's British forces, after holding violent enemy thrusts, launched a counter-attack.

Hope To "Narrow* Bridgehead

Substantiating Secretary of War Henry L. Stenson's report in Washington yesterday that the Allied hold on the bridgehead was firm although fierce fighting lay ahead, German sources declared last night that Kesselring's new drive was not designed to smash the bridgehead, but to narrow it

Preceding the enemy's concerted tank and infantry attacks in the northern part of the bridgehead was an artillery barrage described by the Germans as the greatest of the Italian campaign.

The Luftwaffe, making its biggest effort of the Anzio battle, flew 130 sorties to bomb and -strafe Allied troops German aerial activity, however, was dwarfed by the Allied mark—3,800 sorties in three: days.

Rome Is Bombed

Besides providing cover for the Fifth Army. Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker;s Air Fences bombed the German supply lines North and South of Rome, hitting 15 of the roost important railroad targets in Italy, includingtwo in Rome itself. The assault was the second- raid on Rome in two days.

Big Naval Task Force

Launches Assault On

Japs' Pearl Harbor

Huge Base Key

To Central

Central

 Pacific

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18—

Powerful US. Navy task forces of the Pacific fleet, with several hundred airplanes participating, opened an attack on Japan's great central Pacific base at Truk early yesterday morning, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced at Pearl Harbor last night.

The Pacific commander in chiefs communique, announced by the Navy department here, said the attack began at daylight, and that no further details were available.

Truk, reported to be. one of the strongest Naval bases in the world.in the Carolines, about 1,000 miles west of the nearest Allied occupied territory—the islands of Kwajalein atoll, in the Marshalls

. The Pacific commander in chiefs communique, announced by the Navy department here, said the attack began at daylight, and that no further details were available.

Truk, reported to be. one of the strongest Naval bases in the world., in the Carolines, about 1,000 miles west of the nearest Allied occupied

territory—the islands of Kwajalein atoll, in the Marshalls.

The attack coincided with a heavy blasting" of Ponane, in the" eastern Carolines, less than 380 miles East of Truk by U.S- Seventh Air Force Libs. At the same time. Southwest Pacific reports said Kavieng. New Ireland was a "mass of flames" after another heavy air assault

First Smash At Base

The Navy's assault on Truk was the first reported attack by Allied warsnips on Japan's central Pacific "Pearl Harbor," in the heart of the mandated Carolines.

Radio silence enforced deep secrecy concerning the progress of the operation, but if the raid was tuned to catch Japanese warships in Truk lagoon, and was a surprise, it was conceivable that torpedo planes and bombers could have sunk or damaged many vessels. There was no hint as to the numbers of ships actually in the lagoon.

Troopship Is Sunk In ETO

Waters; 1,000 Men Missing

WASHINGTON Feb. 18 (Reuter)—

The War Department announced last night that an Allied troopship with American soldiers on board has been sunk in European waters. One thousand men were rescued and another 1,000 were reported missing.

The text of the War Department announcement said: "Military security now permits the disclosure that an Allied ship was sunk on an undisclosed date in European waters. The sinking was caused by enemy action at night time.

"U S. soldiers were aboard the ship in large numbers. "It is believed that the enemy does not know the results of this action, for which reason the date has been withheld."

Heavy seas were running at the time. The Department also announced, that the next-of-km of casualties in the sinking had been informed.

Bordeaux Plot

Excites Nazis

SAN SEBASTIAN. Spain, Feb. 18 (AP)—

German police have taken over the whole of the Bordeaux area which the few remaining representatives of the Vichy government and arrested hundreds as the result of discovery of an underground plot to dynamite the great steel Bordeaux railway bridge across the lower Garonne.

German troops were rushed to all strategic points of Bordeaux while police began a roundup of Frenchmen suspected of anti-Nazi activities.

Barbed-wire road blocks were placed in streets leading to the port area, and French supply authorities required to make deliveries only at certain hours on certain roads. The entire area around. Teynac and other airdromes in the region has been evacuated. .

Thousands have been evacuated from towns north of Bordeaux