August 7, 1944; Counter attack in France:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 7, 1944:

 

Kingsport, Tenn., Monday, August 7, 1944

Enemy Launches Largest

Counterattack In France

Since Beginning Of Invasion

By Gladwin Hill

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force —AP —

American troops, wheeling toward the east from overwhelmed B r i t t a n y ,

pressed on a 50-mile front today toward Paris, 135 miles away, and the Germans were reported moving some of their administrative offices from the threatened

French capital.

To the north, the British thrust a new Paris-pointed spearhead across the Orne on a two-mile front which threatened to sweep away the enemy hinge below Caen where the Germans' weeks-long stand already was mocked by the American

run around their dangling southern flank.

 * * *

With the U. S. First Army in France — (AP)—

The Germans today launched their largest counterattack since the landings in France, using at least four armored divisions between Mortain and Sourdeval in a drive aimed at splitting the Normandy and Brittany

forces.

The attack, launched this morning, made penetrations up to a depth of three miles in the area of Cherencs la Rousse, but was being held and pounded by artillery and air forces.

Reds Pound

Nazi Wall

At Krakow

Moscow —/P—

Russian Army troops hammered with artillery and bombers today at the steel foundations of Germany's east wall based Krakow, Warsaw and the forested

border of East Prussia, encountering the toughest opposition in the 46-day summer offensive.

Toward the southern extremity of the 1,200-mile meandering front, the Russians captured the oil and communications center of Drohobycz, chasing the Germans in a bloody rout deep into the Carpathian Mountain approaches to the Czech-Slovak border. Red planes hounded the fleeing enemy remorselessly, after destroying six troop and oil trains at the Drohobycz station.

Resistance Stiffens

U. S. Carriers Strike Close

To Tokyo, Sink 11 Jap Ships

U. S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Pearl Harbor—AP—Striking within

600 miles of Tokyo, a fast American carrier task force has shelled the!

Bonin Islands for the first time in this war and, in a two-day attack

sank 11 Japanese vessels—Including five warships—and damaged

other surface craft.

The shelling leveled Omura, Japanese town on northwestern Chichi, key Island of the Bonin group. Carrier planes bombed Chichi, Haha Muko and Anne Islands In the Bonins, and Iwo in the Kazan group, 150 miles south.

Chinese Battle

Inside Japanese

Tengchunti Lines

Chungking –AP-

Chines troops were reported battling inside the defenses of the Japanese  stronghold of Tengchung in western Yunnan Province today after pouring

through breaches blasted in the city's ancient walls by U. S. Fourteenth

Air Force bombers.

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August 6, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 6, 1944:

 

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, AUG. 6, 1944

Yanks Race Into Brest;

Drive 27 Mi. on Paris

American Troops Gain 75

Miles in Sensational 1-Day

Advance to Vital Port City

By AUSTIN BEALMEAR

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY

FORCE. Aug. 6.—(Sunday)—(/P)—

Hard-driving American armor, sweeping 75 miles in one day to the end of the

Brittany Peninsula, entered the great port of Brest yesterday while other units reached the Loire River sealing off the peninsula at its base. At the same time, in a wheeling movement aimed at Paris, other American a r m o r e d forces drove eastward 27 miles from their previous positions.

It was not immediately known at Supreme Headquarters which of several columns moving southward had reached the Loire or where. Field dispatches had reported American units racing toward both Nantes. French port 15 miles in from the mouth of the river, and St. Nazaire. another big port 30 miles to the west. Still another

column had captured Pontivy 15 miles from Lorient—the peninsula's fourth great port.

Eighth Army

In Florence

New Battle Hinted

By Nazis in Spite of

'Open City' Pledge .

By GEORGE BRIA

ROME. Aug. 5 — (AP)

Eighth Army only exacting great toll but army troops occupied all the southern suburbs of Florence today and brought up their forces along a 25-mile front for an assault across the Arno amid indications the Germans even yet might put up a fight for this cradle of Italian art and culture. Gen. Sir Harold Alexander's command

declared that the Germans were using Florence for military traffic despite their proclamation it was an open city, and had posted parachute troopers along the north bank of the Arno River inside the city limits. A message from (he Florence National Committee of Liberation said the- Germans had evacuated Florentines

all along the north bank. From commanding heights around Fiseole, less than three miles north of Florence, the Germans watched the Eighth Army complete the occupation of the southern suburbs.

NO URBAN' FIGHTING

There were no reports of fighting inside Florence, but the headquarters statement said, "it is clear the enemy intends to oppose the crossing of the Arno on both sides of the city

Japs' Guinea

Army Routed

441 More Killed in

Destruction by Yanks

Of Isle Defenders

By WILLIAM DICKINSON

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC. Aug. 6.—

(Sunday) — (UP> —

American Army troops in northern New Guinea pressed their attack against trapped remnants of the 18th Japanese Army Friday, driving southward and eastward from the Dnniumor River line. Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced

today,

An additional 441 Japanese dead were counted in the new advance from the Dnniumor. making a total of 4311 known enemy killed since July 12, when 45,000 isolated Japanese massed in the area for an attempt to break the Allied encirclement.

PICTURE OF DISASTER

Japanese staging bivouac areas from Dagua to But. Malapan, Maiubian

and Yakamul are "at present a picture of  a t t r i t i o n and disaster"

in the enemy's rear sector, MacArthur's communique said, describing a grim situation in which the starving enemy forces find themselves.

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August 5, 1944; Lightning Advance to Brittany:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 5, 1944:

 

LIGHTNING ADVANCE TO

BRITTANY PORT TOLD;

NANTES, LORIENT NEXT

Doughboys Begin Race for

Paris as British Break Nazi

Lines at Caen

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, AEF,

Aug. 5..— (UP) —

Advance elements of an American armored column crashed into the city limits of the great French Atlantic naval base of Brest tonight as another force, racing for St. Nazaire, was reported at a point 18 miles northeast of that city.

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, AEF, Aug. 5.—(UP)—

American armor ranged the approaches to St. Nazaire and Nantes today and may have reached one or both to cut off the Breton peninsula, while another column raced toward Brest as British bombers plastered that prize port with six-ton super-blockbusters to prevent the escape of any U-boats sheltered there.

Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley's whirlwind sweep through Brittany picked up momentum steadily, inspiring confident predictions at supreme headquarters

that it would carry into St; Nazaire, Nantes, Lorient, or Brest today, if it had not already done so, and the capture of one or more of the strategic cities would be announced tomorrow.

Yankees Moving Fast

The lightning fanout had outrun reports from the front, and how far the vanguard was from its prime objectives this evening was anybody's guess. Outdated accounts put it less than 80 miles from Brest, 31 of Nantes, and 36 of St. Nazaire.

Soviets Break

Lines Before

East Prussia

Poles lighting Brilliant

Battle in Warsaw,

Winning City

LONDON, Aug. 5.-(U. P.) —

Berlin reported today that German forses

« German line north of Vbrbalii, Lithuanian village only three miles from the Bait Pnu:

Bian frontier, indicating that' they may have carried the battie across the border onto the

"holy soil" of Germany proper.

While a Nazi military spokesman did not mention a border crossing in reporting the break-through, observers pointed out that Red army flying wedges dishing through

German positions scored gains of more than three miles.

In Easy Distance

Gen. Ivan D. Chernwvsky's army was massed on a 100-mile front within easy striking, distance of East Prussia, and,his on surge heretofore have packed momentum enough to drive forward several miles at a single lunge. Virbalis is a Lithuanian

Jap Army of

30,000 Flees

On New Guinea

: ' ALLIED HEADQUARTERS,

Southwest Pacific, Aug. 5.—(AP)—

Japanese forces estimated that 30, 000 men were in full retreat today throughout the Vogelkop penin sula and Gen. Douglas MacArthar described it as an attempt to evacuate all of Western Dutch New Guinea,

Usefulness Over

The effectiveness of the Second Japanese army commanded by Gen. Fusataro Teshim was "approaching its end," he said. "There is mounting evidence of the Japanese decision to abandon .their last positions in Dutch New Guinea," the London radio said today in a broadcast recorded by CBS. Enemy transport barges are moving westward and troops are withdrawing south and west as best they can over the rugged country," the broadcast said, quoting a cabled dispatch from John Hing on .the Australian broadcasting commission.)

- Many Trapped

 Some 15,000 Japanese at Manokwari, and other forces at N bite, on Geelvink bay along the east coast, as well as 15,000 troops at' Sorong, base on the western coast of the peninsula, were by- passed when Americans landed 'July 30, at Sansapor, 65 miles above vii Sorong.

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August 4, 1944

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 4, 1944:

 

RACINE, WIS., FRIDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST 4, 1944.

Trapped Nazis

Fight Fiercely

Inside Rennes

S U P R E M E HEADQUARTERS.

AEF— (U.P.) —

American mechanized columns slashed across Brittany in great sweeps that appeared to have cut the German defenses to ribbons today, and nazi broadcasts

said advanced U. S. elements had driven two-thirds of the

way across the base of the peninsula into Chaleaubriant, 34 miles northeast of Nantes.

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS.

Allied Expeditionary Force.—(AP)

U. S armor and infantry, spreading in a widening and lengthening tide over Brittany, reached within 43 miles of the two big ports of Nantes and St. Nazaire on the Loure today and cut off most of the peninsula. While bursting through country

20 miles south of Rennes the American forces also spread 27 miles west of that rail and highway hub in the center of Brittany coming within 108 miles east of Brest.

Vital Burma Base

Captured by Allies

Br J. B. KRUEGER

Associated Press War Editor.

Myitkyina has fallen, conquered by hard-bitten Allied troops who in ten weeks overcame monsoon jungle and and 3,000 Japanese defending this north Burma base vital to reopening the Ledo road back to China.

Southeast Asia headquarters announced Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's triumph today, saying that remnants of the 18th Japanese division were wiped out with bazookas,

flame throwers, heavy artillery and mortars in the final hours of the long siege.

 Clears 200 Miles

Stilwell. nominated to be a four star general, had by this victory cleared more than 200 miles for miles south of Rennes for3

his now-building Ledo road out of

India, which he plans to link up1 193,000 population up the Loire

the with the Burma highway into sup- ( river.

ply-hungry China. His Chinese. They also were within five

American and Imperial troops ' miles of Pipriac. 20 mites southhave

in six months swept down , w c s t of Rennes and 43 miles from

the Hukawng valley to capture SL Nazaire. the U-boat base and

Kamaing. Mogaung and now My- U. S. troop port in the first World

itkyina. moot important enemy w≫'*-

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August 3, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 3, 1944:

 

Charleston, West Virginia. Thursday Morning, August 3, 1944

Fast U. S. Armor

Menacing Entire

Breton Peninsula

Dempsey's Men Extend

Salient in Assault

Headed to Paris \

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS,

AEF, Aug. 3.—(Thursday)—(AP)—

An American tidal wave pouring across Brittany today threatened to lop off the entire Breton peninsula as Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley's armor raced toward Rennes, communications hub almost halfway across. All along the British-American front out flanked German defenses were crumbling in withdrawals ranging from retreat to near rout.

Soviet Armies

Set to Plunge

On Reich Soil

Four Columns Liquidating

Nazis in Baltic Trap;

Vistula Spanned

LONDON, Aug. 3.—(Thursday)_AP _

The 3d White Russian army thrust within eight miles of East Prussia's pre-1939 border yesterday in the foremost of twin drives aimed at the heart of the Junkers homeland.

 Other Soviet armies on the long thundering front tightened their violent siege of Warsaw. pushed a quadruple annihilation drive against possibly 300.000 Germans isolated in Estonia and Latvia, and launched a new offensive in the south towards

Krakow. Poland's second city.

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August 2, 1944;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 2, 1944:

American tanks fanned out south of Avranches across the Selune River

yesterday^and enveloped Pontaubault and Ducey in an operation that

possibly might develop into a drive to cut off the Brest peninsula and-.herald

the beginning of the conquest of central France.

 American troops have seized the coastal area of Sansapor and the nearby-by islands of Amsterdam and Middleburg in an amphibious operation at the western tip of Dutch New Guinea." 600 miles southeast of the Philippines. Allied headquarters announced yesterday.

 

New York, N.Y.—London, England—France Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1944

British Punch On

In Caumont Area;

New Caen Attack

American tanks fanned out south of Avranches across the Selune River

yesterday^and enveloped Pontaubault and Ducey in an operation that

possibiy might develop into a drive to cut off the Brest peninsula and-.herald

the beginning of the conquest of central France.

American infantry meanwhile captured Bretney and pushed ten miles southeast of Avranches to take two key dams on the Selune River.

Allied forces drove the Germans back in two other main areas of the 80-mi!e

German front, already shattered in half a dozen places. British troops swarmed

forward through Le Beny Bocage. About10 ½  miles south of Caumont, and Canadians launched a new attack to recapture Tilly la Campagne, about five miles south of Caen.

Hundreds of German prisoners were being rounded up in the 18-mile; stretch between Avranches and Granville, both towns now held by the Yanks. Some

Germans surrendered to French civilians and war correspondents, asserting that

their communications and transport systems had collapsed.

Front "Untraceable"

"The whole front in this region has at present become so confused as to be untraceable in detail." said the German Overseas News Agency.

Heavies Range

France, Paste

Nazi Airfields

RAF Pounds Robot Sites;

9th AF Planes Batter

Enemy Transport

Eighth Air Force bombers in force ranged central France and the Paris area

yesterday in heavy assaults upon enemy airdromes at Chateaudun, Orleans Bricy,

Melun. Chartres and Tours, while RAF heavies continued their day-and-night

campaign against robot supply depots and launching sites near Rheims and in

the Pas de Calais.

The heavily-escorted Fortresses and Liberators also attacked flying-bomb sites;

and a few bridges behind 'the Normandy front. There was no enemy fighter opposition and 'little flak was encountered except in the Tours area.

Destroy 38 Tanks

Thunderbolt fighter-bombers of the Ninth Air Force, in support of U.S. forces south of Avranches. destroyed 38 more German tanks and armored vehicles and bombed enemy fuel dumps at Flers, Tours. Rennes and Laval, while Lightnings

wrought heavy damage upon railway targets between Le Mans and Tours. Four enemy fighters were destroyed and five Allied fighters were missing from the

operations.

Allies Land

600 Mi. Off

Philippines

Isolate 15,000 More Japs

By Seizing West Tip of

Dutch New Guinea

American troops have seized the coastal area of Sansapor and the nearby-by islands of Amsterdam and Middleburg in an amphibious operation at the western tip of Dutch New Guinea." 600 miles southeast of the Philippines. Allied headquarters announced yesterday.

The new landings were made 60 miles northeast of Sorong and by-passed the Jap base of Manokwari, isolating 15.000 Japanese. American and Australian cruisers and destroyers and Australian Kitty hawks covered the operations.

A spokesman at Allied advanced headquarters said. "This is the last operation

of-the New Guinea campaign. We now control the entire north coast. Tt is not

necessary to take Sorong—we have no need for it."

Allied air bases now extend from Milne Bay along the entire coast of New Guinea,

eliminating Japanese activity in this area either by air or by sea. The communique

said that should the Halmahera-Philippine line, which runs northwest from the

Moluccas to the Philippines and is the main defense cover for the Japs' Southwest Pacific empire, go. "all his conquests south of China will be imperiled and .in

grave danger of envelopment."

The U.S. Navy announced that American troops on Guam had established a line from Agana Bay on the west coast to Pago on the eastern side. The Japs have been pushed into the southern half of the island. More than 6.000 Japanese dead have been counted and ,755 civilians interned.  Adm. Chester W. Nimitz revealed that

the American attack on the final Japanese defenses on Tinian Island had begun

under bombing and naval gunfire. Another bombing of Truk was also announced.

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August 1, 1944; STRIKE TOWARD PARIS:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 1, 1944:

AEF— (U.P.) —

American armored forces struck eastward toward Paris today from their salient of

the lower Norman coast, capturing the big transport center of Brecey, 10 miles east of Avranches, in a drive that threatened to turn the entire German line in France.

LONDON—(U.P.)—

The Russia government organ Izvestia reported today that Warsaw was enveloped in a great pall of smoke and the Germans apparently were burning the city preparatory to abandoning it to Soviet assault forces battling through the eastern

suburbs.

(By United Press

A successful American landing on Sansapor on the north Dutch New Guinea coast put Gen. Douglas MacArthur 200 miles closer to he Philippines today and a Japanese communique said that American invasion forces have attempted landings

on Rota island, presumably to complete the conquest of the southern Marianas in preparation for new thrusts toward Japan and the Philippines. Rota  is 1,500 miles away from both.

 

MADISON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 1,1944

Capture Brecey,

Imperil Nazis'

Lines in France

Yanks Cross River,

Drive Into Brittany;

'Erase' 7 Divisions

By VERGIL PINKLEY

(United Press War Correspondent) '

SUPREME  HEADQUARTERS,

AEF— (U.P.) —

American armored forces struck eastward toward Paris today from their salient of

the lower Norman coast, capturing the big transport center of Brecey, 10 miles east of Avranches, in a drive that threatened to turn the entire German line in France.

Another spearhead of the armored forces struck southward 4 1/2 miles from Avranches to cross the Selune river at two points and drive into Brittany, while to the northeast the Germans were withdrawing from Tessy.-sur-Vire and fighting was reported in the area of Villedieu.

18,589 Prisoners in Week

United Press Correspondent James McGlincy said it had been revealed that Lieut. Gen. Omar N. Bradley's First army had "destroyed" seven German divisions in the great break-through drive—the 709th. -77th, 91st, 352nd, 243rd, the Panzer Lehr, and the Fifth' parachute 'divisions.

The Americans took 7,812 prisonersin the 24'hours ending Monday

midnight, McGlincy reported,-----

Reds Storm

Across Vistula,

Berlin Admits

Only Nazi Gestapo,

Troops Stay in Capita

As Liberators Near

BULLETIN

LONDON —(U.P.)—

Premier Josef Stalin today announced that the Red army had captured

Kaunas, pre-war capital of Lithuania.

The German high command acknowledged loss of Kaunas Monday.

BULLETIN

STOCKHOLM —(U.P.)—

Reliable private sources reported today that Pres. Rlsto Kyti of Finland has resigned or else will do so within the next 24 "hours.

LONDON—(U.P.)—

The Russia government organ Izvestia reported today that Warsaw was enveloped in a great pall of smoke and the Germans apparently were burning the city preparatory to abandoning it to Soviet assault forces battling through the eastern

suburbs.

Berlin said the Red army had stormed across the Vistula river 55 miles to the southeast, and Moscow gave tacit support to the enemy report that the last big water barrier east of German Silesia had been forced. The United press dispatch from Moscow quoting the Izvestia account said earlier reports reaching the Russian capital had told of the evacuation of Nazi officials and German civilians from the

capital.

Yanks Leap-Frog in Guinea;

Japs Report Rota 'Invasion'

(By United Press

A successful American landing on Sansapor on the north Dutch New Guinea coast put Gen. Douglas MacArthur 200 miles closer to he Philippines today and a Japanese communique said that American invasion forces have attempted landings

on Rota island, presumably to complete the conquest of the southern Marianas in preparation for new thrusts toward Japan and the Philippines. Rota  is 1,500 miles away from both.

On Guam, marine and army troops have cut completely across the island and are driving against the northern half where the Japanese defenders are believed to

have withdrawn. Marines now controlling nine tenths of Tinian, have compressed

remnants of the Japanese into a small pocket on the southern tip.

Difficult terrain is impeding the final mop-up.

British to Shift Fleet

Meanwhile, in London, predictions were made that Britain soon will send a large proportion of her naval strength to the Pacific for the gathering battle with Japan.

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