THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW THE greatest amphibious operation in all history— the invasion of the European fortress—was launched this week across the English Channel. American, British, and Canadian troops...
...No thanks are due to them if Rome was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on Naples and other Italian cities," he declared...
...These forces, Berlin admitted, had made penetrations of substantial depth...
...Meanwhile, the Allied powers heard a plea from Pope Pius XII for an early end to the war and a just peace...
...In the Pacific war the position of the Chinese had grown increasingly serious as the Japanese drive at Changsha rolled steadily ahead...
...Reports of the reaction of people of Germany and the occupied countries were not immediately available...
...In the Burma and India theaters the heavy monsoons had created a stalemate on almost all fronts, but bitter fighting continued...
...Acknowledging that German losses had been heavy, he nevertheless warned that she "has not yet been driven to surrender...
...Emphasizing that it was an important political and psychological victory, he called attention to the desperate struggle Germany has waged in the past few months to hold it...
...The Allied generals maneuvered so skillfully that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to damage Rome at the risk of losing their armies...
...Meanwhile, reconnaissance reports declared that the massive enemy fortifications along the invasion coast under attack had been silenced by heavy naval and air bombardment...
...All overt activity, it was believed, on the part of anti-Nazi elements had been discouraged in sections where fighting was not in progress...
...Mark Clark entered Rome...
...Clark declared, "It is the immediate task of the Fifth Army to pursue the retreating enemy and destroy him...
...Sir Bernard Montgomery, brilliant British tactician who led the famed British Eighth Army in its successful North African campaign against the Germans...
...Other enemy columns driving into Hunan province have poised a grave threat to the vital rice bowl city of Changteh...
...Transported across the Channel by a mighty naval armada consisting of thousands of Allied ships under a canopy of 11,000 war planes which held unchallenged possession of the skies ¦ over the operation zone, the invasion forces slashed ; inland to strike the first blows aimed at liberating the 1 peoples of Europe from the hold of their Nazis conquerors...
...Early reports indicated that the Allied forces were achieving initial success at all points of landing...
...The enemy bastion of Truk in the Central Pacific was also hit in several devastating raids...
...Warning that demands for total victory might prolong the war unnecessarily, the leader of world Catholicism appealed for peace terms that would be fair...
...Victory is certain, he said, but "it will be tough and it will be costly...
...Landings were achieved on a stretch of coast more than 100 miles long between Cherbourg and Le Havre against surprisingly little opposition from the vaunted Nazi de- • fense wall...
...After more than 270 days of bitter fighting in what was to have been a campaign aimed at the "soft underbelly" of Europe, the immediate major objective in the battle for the world's first fascist state had been achieved...
...Although Prime Minister Churchill reported to the House of Commons that the invasion was "proceeding according to plan," it was generally believed, as this issue of The Progressive goes to press, that the Germans had yet to reveal their defensive strategy...
...Dwight D. Eisenhower, struck at the French coast in the early morning hours of June 6 to open an invasion blow for which the whole world has been tensely waiting for many months...
...Broadcasting from London, King Haakon of Norway warned his people against premature uprisings...
...Anything the Axis radio puts out, is in their own interest," he declared...
...There was little mention of underground activity...
...Obviously delivering his address with the knowledge that the invasion forces were already on their way across the Channel, the President stressed the hard fighting still to be encountered...
...The President's Warning In a special order of the day to his men pursuing the Germans north of the city, Lt...
...Rome yesterday that had before her eyes the specter of war and terrible destruction, today has new hope and confidence in her safety...
...Berlin claimed that Germans were indifferent, although the German radio continued a constant stream of excited and confused broadcasts...
...Proceeding According To Plan' Air-borne invasion forces in unprecedented numbers were landed behind the Nazis lines to disrupt enemy communications and destroy vital installations...
...He ordered French workers to remain at their posts to serve the Germans...
...The Paris radio broadcast an appeal from Marshal Petain to the French people to refrain from any action "which would call down upon you tragic reprisals...
...Charged by their supreme commander to bring back "total victory," the attackers apparently aimed at the seizure of the Cherbourg peninsula from whose ports and air fields the campaign could be continued...
...Action in the island warfare was highlighted by a series of air attacks on the Kurile Islands on the northern approaches to the Japanese homeland...
...The Fall Of Rome The long-awaited D-Day came just one, day after it was announced that the first of the three great Axis capitals fell to the Allies this week, when American 5th Army forces under Lt...
...Meanwhile, Americans were warned by director Elmer Davis of the Office of War Information to be wary of Axis reports on the progress of invasion fighting...
...Fear has risen with many,".he said, "that there would be for the nations and their peoples no other alternative but full victory or complete annihilation...
...American, British, and Canadian troops under the command of a Kansas-born American, Gen...
...The assaulting troops were under the direct command of Gen...
...Pope Pleads For Peace Speaking to a large crowd in Rome, among whom were many American doughboys, Pope Pius XII expressed his thanks that Rome had been spared...
...Challenged only by sporadic rear guard resistance from the retreating Germans, the tough American veterans of the Anzio beachhead, who blasted their way through stubborn enemy defenses south of the city, rolled into the Italian capital to be received by throngs of half-starved Romans hysterical with joy...
...In a broadcast to the nation concerning the fall of the Italian capital, President Roosevelt warned that the victory should not be overrated as a military contribution to ultimate victory in Europe...
...Once this dreadful dilemma has penetrated the minds of the people, it works as a stimulant for prolongation of the war, even with those who by an inner impulse or for realistic considerations would be inclined to a reasonable peace...
...Rome yesterday," he said, "was still fearful for the life of her sons and daughters and her incomparable treasures of both religion and art...
...After five consecutive days of bombing of the Kuriles there was considerable speculation about the possibility of an invasion attempt in that area...
...Later in a speech to his corps commanders Clark asserted, "We have destroyed parts of two German armies, the 10th and 14th, and I doubt if the 14th is any longer capable of fighting...
Vol. 8 • June 1944 • No. 24
