August 31, 1944; U. S. CASUALTIES MOUNT:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 31, 1944:

 

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY, AUG. 31, 1944

 American Has Same

Rank as Montgomery;

Both Given Praise

Eisenhower Reveals

Heavy Punishment

Inflicted Upon Foe

 

DIXON, ILLINOIS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 31,1944

Allies' Lightning

Drive Finds Nazis

Fleeing for Reich

Americans Stab North

Along Last 30 Miles

to Belgian Border

Supreme .Headquarters Allied

Expeditionary Force. Aug. 31—(AP)—

British tanks captured Amiens and smashed across the Somme river today in a lightning 60-mile drive in -48 hours that found the Germans in full flight

back to the Reich before four onrushlng allied armies.

Thc British raced with American columns which overran Laon and stabbed on north along the last 30 miles to Belgium with such bewildering- speed that they overwhelmed three trainloads of German soldiers trying to escape.

Army's Casualties

Mount to Total of

284,838 August 13th

Figures Reflect Period of

Heaviest Fighting

in Normandy

Washington. Aug. 31—(AP)

Reflecting the period of heaviest fighting- in northern France, total Army casualties jumped to 281838 on August 13, an increase of 23.219 over those

ported just a week earlier.

Coupled with Navy casualties of 58.353. the latest "overall figures for the armed services is  318,791. compared with 317,816 a week ago. All figures are on the basis of those officially reported to next of kin and represent a lag of three weeks or more behind action in the field. Undersecretary of War Patterson,

who reported the latest Army casualty figures to his news conference, said they reflected the heaviest period of fighting in northern France toward the end of July—the time of the brcakthrough against fixed German positions. He added,.

August 29, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 30, 1944:

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA: WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1944.

American Armored Units

Sweep Through Reims and

Storm Across Vesle River

Whirlwind Advance Carried Several Miles

Beyond Cathedral City While Another Unit

of Patton's Army Crosses Marne at Epernay

By George Tucker.

ROME,' (AP)—

American 7th army troops and German forces fleeing up the Rhone valley from southern France were locked in heavy battle Wednesday near the Drome

river a dozen miles north of captured Montelimar.

The Americans struck Tuesday night while the enemy was making a desperate effort to cross the Drome, which runs into the Rhone from the east midway between Montelimar and Valence. The heaviest fighting centered around Loriol, south of the Drome along highway seven. The Germans threw pontoons across the stream, but whether they succeeded in getting any sizeable group across was unknown.

Meanwhile, due east near the Italian frontier, American troops were forced back to the outskirts of Briancon, a city on a 4,330-foot elevation in the Hautes-Alps, 90 miles north of Nice, by an enemy force which was reported here to have crossed into French territory from Italy.

Nazis Facing

Full Collaose

in the Balkans

Expected Bulgarian

Withdrawal to Place

Germany in Bad Spot

LONDON (AP)

Russian troops have captured Ploesti, Premier- Marshal Stalin announced Wednesday

night.

The whole Ploesti oil region is in the hands of the red army, Stalin declared in an order of the day.

Free French to

Join Allies in

Japanese War

Will Enter Conflict

After Nazi Legions

Have Been Whipped

By Leonard Millman.

(Associated Press War Editor.)

The Free French and the American navy joined Wednesday in threatening Japan with new power blows, leading Rear Adm. Alfred E. Montgomery to "look with confidence to the future and early extermination of the Japanese."

These predictions were underscored by daily air blows reaching into Nippon's inner defenses and Japanese losses in China, Burma and New Guinea.

Radio France said Free French forces would join the Pacific war after Hitler's defeat. Their .eyes will be on French Indo-China, whose doors were thrown open to Japan by the Vichy government, but the radio -promised the French would fight "until the final crushing of our "enemy in Asia."

Naval Striking Power Grows.

August 29, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 29, 1944:

 

Carroll, Iowa, Tuesday, August 29, 1944 —Six Pages

American Troops Now Within

100 Miles of German Border

BY JAMES M. LONG

Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (AP)

—Swiftly advancing American troops captured historic Chateau-Thierry and Soissons today in whirlwind advances which carried them over French soil hallowed by their fathers'

blood to within 55 miles of Belgium and a scant 100 from blood to within 55 miles of the German frontier.

F i g h t i n g on ground where  t h e men of 1918 routed the G e r m a n s in t h e second b u t t le of the Marne, the GIs of 1944 s w e p t t h r o u g h C h a t e a u - T h i e r r y and raced n o r t h w a r d 25 m i l e s into Soissons in a t h r u s t which was rapidly f l a n k i n g the whole P a s - d e –

C a l a i s  d e p a r t m e n t where the G e r m a n s launch their robot b o m b s . A  n e w  a n d  m o r e d e a d ly t r a p might be forming a r o u n d the

r e m n a n t s of the G e r m a n S e v e n t h  a r m y , broken in N o r m a n d y , a n d t h e 15^th a r m y , In P a s - d e - C a l a i s.

Chateau-Thierry

Marked Defeat of

Germans in 1918

Nazis Driven

From Rhone

Valley Area

Yanks Locked in Battle

With Fleeing Remnants

Near Montelimar

Rome, Italy (AP)—

American troops have driven into Montelimar on the Rhone 100 miles above Marseille. "Except for isolated p o c k e t s of res i s t a n c e the enemy now has been cleared- from the Rhone v a l l e y south of Montelimar," –the  Allied headquarters announced tonight.

United States troops and t a n k s of the American Seventh army are locked in b a t t l e ; w i t h fleeing nazis In the area of Sauzet, four miles northeast of Montelimar. The latter town is being mopped up.

An American column had reached the Rhone north of Montelimar in a surprise thrust last week.

Jap Shipping

Toll in Pacific

Rises Higher

G e n e r a l H e a d q u a r t e r s , Southw

e s t Pacific (AP) —

A m e r i c an  b o m b e r s hit at Celebes, s u p p o r t in g  a r c h  of J a p a n ' s  n e w l y - c u r v ed s o u t h e r n sea r o u t e s , a n d c o n t i n u ed

t h e i r five-a-day r e c o r d for ship i n g hits in aerial s t r i k e s  an o u n c e d  t o  d a y  by h e a d q u a r t e r s.

E l e v e n J a p a n e s e vessels w e r e  d e s t r o y e d  or  d a m a g ed Sunday, i n c l u d i n g four f r e i g h t e r s and three small c r a f t  at Manado,

n o r t h e rn  C e l e b e s . The A u g u s t toll of J a p a n e s e  s h i p p i n g  in the s o u t h w e s t  P a c i f i c  101 vessels s u n k or p r o b a b l y sunk, or

d a m u g e d .