THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW "THE hour and the day have been set. From now on the hour glass is running out minute by minute." Those are the words of British Labor Minister Ernest Bevin. spoken this week to a...
...A communique issued by Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, commander of the Southeast Asia theater, proclaimed the enemy drive a failure...
...In a plea to the people of the German satellite nations to throw off the German yoke, he asserted that the "bloc of Fascist states is cracking and crumbling under the blows of the Red Army...
...All Europe waited for the announcement that would break the tension...
...There can be no doubt," he said in an order of the day marking the traditional Soviet observance of May Day, "that only a combined blow can crush Hitlerite Germany completely...
...By the skillful use of gliders American and Chinese troops were being dropped behind Japanese lines and were achieving remarkable success in cutting enemy supply lines...
...Adding to the already high tension came a statement from Premier Josef Stalin emphasizing the necessity of the invasion...
...An announcement declared vaguely that the consultations "have been of great assistance in the task of coordinating policies...
...MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz discussed the major aspects of Pacific strategy at a recent conference which was their first meeting since the war began...
...Joseph W. Stilwell appeared to be making steady progress...
...He was talking of the most discussed subject in Europe and in great parts of the rest of the world—the Allied invasion of western Europe...
...Meanwhile, reports on the Japanese thrust into India were more confused than ever...
...On The Road To Tokyo Meanwhile, Allied air forces from the west and south were pulverizing German industrial centers and the French invasion coast with new record-shattering raids...
...The Japanese were advancing with unexpected strength in the westward drive against the Peiping-Hankow railway and American planes were being rushed into the area in an effort to check the new drive...
...A subsequent dispatch from his headquarters, however, declared that the invasion forces were massing for an all-out attack on Imphal, vital Allied base on the plain of Manipur...
...spoken this week to a labor gathering in Bristol, England...
...Combined, they will constitute one of the strongest amphibious aggregations in the world and should make possible the early realization of the aims of both men: Nimitz to drive through to the Chinese coast and MacArthur to return to the Philippines...
...Britain, according to Minister of Reconstruction Lord Woolton, "is standing almost breathless with expectancy but firm in its confidence...
...Confusion In India The way is now open for a merger of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz' naval forces and MacArthur's land and air forces...
...Germany, her satellites, and the conquered countries were jittery...
...Gen...
...Across the world in the Pacific, Gen...
...The American-Chinese offensive into Burma under Lt...
...While there was little doubt that the Luftwaffe has been greatly depleted in recent months, most experts still expect furious German resistance in the sky as well as on land when the final showdown comes on "D" Day...
...They issued a statement announcing that they have "completely integrated their war planning so that a maximum of cooperative effort might be executed against the enemy...
...As the Allies stepped-up the pre-invasion air assault, Undersecretary of State Edward R. Stettinius was leaving England after a three week conference, believed to be a prelude to the cross-Channel blow...
...Stalin asserted that deliverance of the Poles, Czechoslovaks, and others whom he described as brothers in bondage, "can be accomplished only by the joint efforts of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States of America by joint blows from the east dealt by our troops and from the west by troops of our allies...
...Douglas Mac-Arthur's Americans and Australians, who last week electrified the world with sensational landings on the northwest coast of New Guinea, were consolidating their new footholds on the long road to Tokyo...
...Stalin Praises Allied Aid Acknowledging the contributions made by America and Britain to the sensational Winter victories of the Red Army, he declared that American and British troops "are holding the front against the Germans in Italy and are diverting a considerable part of the German forces from us...
...Obviously," the Red leader said, the latter task "is more difficult than expulsion of German troops from the Soviet Union...
...With the Pacific fleet sweeping all before it in the outer waters of the Japanese Pacific fortress, and with approximately 140,000 enemy troops cut off from reinforcements or supplies, the campaign in the Southwest Pacific, which only two years ago was menacing Australia itself, can generally be considered to have been just about triumphantly concluded...
...See map...
...The picture on the Asiatic continent was nowhere near so encouraging...
...Climaxing the greatest month of operations in the war—a month which saw 100,000 tons of bombs hurled on the continent—the sky armadas were hammering at German vitals on a 24-hour schedule...
...At mid-week it was reported that the main enemy base at Myitkyima was being imperiled with Stilwell's principal attacking force less than 100 miles from the town...
...They supply us with very valuable strategic raw materials and armaments and subject to systematic bombing military objectives in-Germany, thus undermining the military power of the latter...
...This new surprise move, biting off a gain of 400 miles, was hailed by military strategists as the first step in the reconquest of the Japanese Empire...
...Returning fliers brought varied and sometimes conflicting reports of the strength of Nazi air defenses...
...The pattern of the combined land and sea drive, they agreed, had been delineated by MacArthur's bold stroke...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 19
