Current Events March 20, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY MARCH 20, 1944:

 American bombers hammered home another blow in the massive, two-way pincer attack from the air against Germany yesterday, when fierce aerial combat was reported over southern Germany between strong forces of Nazi interceptors and a fleet of Italian-based Fortresses, Liberators and escorting fighters of the'15th Air Force.

USAAF A1R COMMANDO UNIT HQ, Eastern India, Mar. 19—

American engineers and British infantrymen, carried in American gliders and transports, staged the greatest airborne operation of the war when they dropped into an open1 area 150 miles behind the Japanese lines in Burma and split communications between the enemy's northern and southern armies.

NEW YORK. Mar. 19—

Lt. Gen. Alexander Vandegrift. Marine Corps commandant, warned here that though the enemy at present faced "a perplexing dilemma" in defending Pacific islands, "sooner or later the Japanese will suddenly straighten up and lash out."'

New York, N.Y.—London, England Monday, March 20, 1944

Assaults by 15th AF

Follow Great RAF,

U.S. Day-Night Raids

Multiple Targets Hit

In Saturday's Big

In Series of Attacks

 American bombers hammered home another blow in the massive, two-way pincer attack from the air against Germany yesterday, when fierce aerial combat was reported over southern Germany between strong forces of Nazi interceptors and a fleet of Italian-based Fortresses, Liberators and escorting fighters of the'15th Air Force.

Berlin Radio reported the bombers and their long-range escorts penetrated from the south over the Alps and were in enormous combat with German fighters for more than an hour.

Giant GUderThrust Puts Allies

150 Miles Behind Japs in Burma

USAAF A1\R COMMANDO UNIT HQ, Eastern India, Mar. 19—

American engineers and British infantrymen, carried in American gliders and transports, staged the greatest airborne operation of the war when they dropped into an open1 area 150 miles behind the Japanese lines in Burma and split communications between the enemy's northern and southern armies.

The gliders were piloted by men of Col. Philip Cochran's "Our Gang'' Air Commando Unit, which is composed largely of brothers and long-time pals, and the first man to land was the former child movie star, Jackie Coogan.

Less than 24 hours after the first gliders landed on a field covered with elephant grass four feet high, engineers completed an airstrip 4,400 feet long and 400 feet wide for use by heavy transport planes.

4 War Fronts

Flare in Burma

Allies Attacking in Three

Sectors; Japs Seeking to

Smash Airborne Units

ALLIED HQ, India, Mar. 19—

American, British, Chinese and Indian troops today are engaged in a "real, war" for Burma for the first time since the-Japs overran that country in 1942. \

Today's official communique from Lord Louis Mountbatten's headquarters said the Allies were attacking on three fronts, while the Japs had launched a "major offensive" in the Chindwin area

only a few miles from where British and American airborne troops landed last week and quickly established firm positions 150 miles behind the lines of the enemy armies to the north.

Where the Allies Are Attacking

Localities where the Allies were attacking yesterday in Burma were described in the communique:

1—Near Maungdaw, small village and port at the foot of the Arakan hills along the western coast of Burma facing the Bay of Bengal. Here. British and Indians were slowly pushing back the Japs in face of strong resistance.

2—In the extreme north, Chinese and Americans under the field command of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell were attacking Jap positions dominating a pass leading from Hukawng Valley, into Mogaung Valley, in which lies the important northern terminus of a railway which might offer an opportunity of supplying China from India by land.

3—In the Chin Hills, wild jungle country in central Burma, British and Indians were making progress against Jap columns outside Tiddim. a village 30 miles from the Indian border and 100

miles due south of the Allied supply depot of Imphal. in central Assam.

Big Jap Blow Will Come,

Gen. Vandegrift Warns

NEW YORK. Mar. 19—

Lt. Gen. Alexander Vandegrift. Marine Corps commandant, warned here that though the enemy at present faced "a perplexing dilemma" in defending Pacific islands, "sooner or later the Japanese will suddenly straighten up and lash out."'

"He will throw every ounce of his strength into a knockout punch or a series of knockout punches," Vandegrift said.