Cave Of Horrors
Found By Marines
Japs Killed Own
Civilians
Caught In Cave
On Saipan
Slew Men, Women
And Babies With Grenades,
Rifle Fire, Then
Disemboweled Themselves
FREDERICK, MD., MONDAY, JULY 17,
1944.
Nazis Caught
Off Balance
By British
Heavy Attack
Hand-To-Hand
Fighting
In Noyers;
Americans
Again Strike At
St. Lo;
Lessay About To
Fall
Supreme
Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, July 17 (UP)—
American patrols
penetrated intoSt. Lo and found it heavily defended,
Supreme
Headquarters announced tonight.
In heavy
lighting southwest of Caen, the British
won and held the eastern half of the village of Noyers and captured Vendes, a mile
and a half to the north.
To the south, a
British column by-passed Evrecy and pushed on to the southeast of the town for about
a mile. The British held some houses on the eastern edge of Evrecy.
In a small
advance north of Periers, American First Army troops captured the village of
Leg Milleries, about two miles north of Pericrs.
Reds Push On
After Taking
Grodno; Nazis
Predict Trap
Russians Ten
Miles
From Kaunas;
Niemen
River Bridgehead
Is
Consolidated
Moscow, July 1 (AP)—
Red Army troops pushed forward
today along a broad front stretching from the Baltics to the Pripyat marshes
after capturing the German-held fortress city of Grodno, described by Premier Stalin
as "covering the approach to East Prussia."
Grodno, which the Germans announced
earlier they had evacuated, is only 45 miles from the East Prussian border.
With its fall the | Germans have no natural barrier between them and their
homeland, to which it appeared the fighting
soon would be carried.
Cave Of Horrors
Found By Marines
Japs Killed Own
Civilians
Caught In Cave
On Saipan
Slew Men, Women
And Babies With Grenades,
Rifle Fire, Then
Disemboweled Themselves
(The following story,
distributed by
the Associated Press, was
written by
Sargt. David Dempsey, New York
city, a Marine Corps combat
correspondent).
• Saipan, Marianas Islands
(Delayed)—
Marines have named it the "cave
of horrors", for of the hundreds of caves on this island, none has produced
a story as grim as this one.
In a secluded spot in a canyon
well behind our own lines two Marines passing by heard Japanese voices. They
listened, decided the voices were coming from a cave,
and crept as close as they could
to the top of the cliff where the cave was located.
One of the Marines peered over the
cliff's edge to find a Japanese soldier staring up at him. He heard the click of
a rifle bolt and pulled his head back quickly. The
Marines went back for help. Second
Lieut. Charles T. Cross, 25, of Minneapolis, returning with 16 men. Second
Lieut. Crosse a Japanese language interpreter who
hoped to talk the Japanese into surrendering.
As the men approached the cave, they could hear the crying of babies and the moaning
of women.
Cried
Far water
By removing a large slab of stone
on top of the cliff the Marines could see down into the cave. Women, children,
old men, and soldiers were huddled together in mixed postures of fear and
defiance.
An old man looked up at them
pitifully. "Mizu," he groaned."Mizu. v . Mizu. . . "(water.
. .water. .')
Cross told him to send a child out
and that water would be supplied. Then some of the Marines went to the mouth of
the cave and waited.
The child did not come. Finally, Cross
approached the entrance.
He shouted to the people in
Japanese, promising them that they would
be given food, water and medical treatment if they came out, one at a time with
their arms
in the air.
The Marines waited, but no one came.
The sound of the old man
groaning "Mizu. . .
Mizu" was all they heard. Cross crawled closer and spoke to
them again. .Suddenly he heard
the sound of hand grenades clicking as the pins were knocked out against the
rocky walls of the cave. Cross jumped back just in time as the grenades began
to explode in the cave.
Jap soldiers were committing suicide,
killing and wounding their own people as they did so.
Screaming
Babies
The Marines waited in awestruck
horror. From inside the cave came a pitiful chorus of wailing ba'bies and the
screams of women and old men. For an hour Cross lay near the mouth of the cave,
pleading with the Japanese to come
out. Occasionally, there would be
be movement inside the dim tunnel, as though someone were struggling to crawl
out. Invariably, it was followed by a rifle shot, and silence.
Japanese soldiers commanded the mouth
of the cave. It opened into a very narrow ledge; not more than three or four
Marines could get near it at once. To attempt to enter the cave would mean
certain death. All the Marines could do was wait—and plead.
They waited four hours—"four
of the longest hours of my life," Cross said. "During that time there
were ! more grenade explosions, more rifle | shots. The groaning and wailing j inside
increased. The old man kept' crying for water."
It was clear that the Jap
soldiers j would never surrender and that ! they did not intend to let the
civilians leave the cave alive.
Finally, there was silence. The ,
explosions, and the screams had stopped. Marines, still wary of going directly
into the cave, crawled back to the top of the cliff and lifted the stone slab.
Four of them were lowered 15 feet
to the floor of the cave. What they saw will go down in their memories as the
most gruesome of all sights in war. The bodies of.
men and women and children were blown
apart and lay splattered against the walls of the tunnel.
Soldiers
Disembowl Selves
The soldiers had disemboweled themselves
with grenades. The bodies of 30 Japanese—ten of them soldiers—had literally
been blown together.
There were four survivors: two girls,
8 and 12. whose throats had '
been sli, a baby whose face had been
cut by grenade fragments, a young boy who had been overcome by the concussion.
STRIKE LONDON
AGAIN
London, July 17 (AP)—-
The Germans struck at London and
the southern counties with their flying bombs again early this morning, adding
to the casualties and damage caused by indiscriminate robot attacks on the same areas yesterday and last
night.
ejt
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