THE WAR IN REVIEW

THE WAR IN REVIEW THE rapidly growing conviction among the people of the Allied nations that the war in Europe is on the verge of an imminent and successful conclusion, was jarred this week by Gen....

...At mid-week the Russian offensive was pounding ahead toward the borders of East Prussia...
...German broadcasts picked up in London were frankly stating that "terror grips the hearts of many of our people" and warning that Germany is now faced with a "life or death" fight...
...On the western front Allied invasion forces continued to grind out new gains, but at a much slower pace...
...All is now at stake," one commentator declared...
...The drive to take Hengyang, an important city on the Hankow-Canton railroad, had been renewed...
...He warned that fighting would become increasingly fierce as the struggle moved closer to the German homeland...
...Under the agreement, which will be signed later by the United States, de Gaulle, and Great Britain, the French Committee will obtain working authority for civilian administration in the liberated areas...
...Meanwhile, Gen...
...Difficult terrain and weather conditions that made full use of airpower impossible handicapped the Anglo-American advance...
...The broadcasts acknowledged the desperate character of the German military position...
...Stressing the strenuous character of present fighting, he declared that we face heavy losses for every foot gained, both locally and in general strategic position...
...Although he did not completely discount the possibility of a crack-up in German home morale, he indicated that the completeness of Gestapo control obviates the prospect of an early internal collapse...
...The Russian flood is surging against our eastern frontier and threatens to spill over our holy German land.....Before the peril can reach the heart of our beloved country, we will turn this continent into a maelstrom of destruction where only one cry is heard—the cry for blood...
...Chungking admitted that heavy pressure was being applied to break the resistance of the Chinese defenders, who threw the enemy back with heavy losses last week...
...In Europe's tangled political affairs, one problem seemed to have been partially and temporarily solved this week...
...Whether the German situation was as desperate as Berlin proclaimed it, was a subject of speculation among military commentators in this country and Britain...
...Only on the Chinese mainland was the enemy on the offensive...
...Warning against the super-optimism, which has been spreading throughout the world at an alarming rate in the past three weeks, Eisenhower predicted that long and bitter fighting lay ahead before final victory would be achieved...
...Unconfirmed reports from neutral countries told of an increase in important conferences of the German High command...
...While some insisted that the broadcasts accurately reflected the concern of Nazi officials, others cautiously searched them for some indication that the Germans were pulling another propaganda trick out of the bag...
...Following the successful conclusion of the Saipan campaign, American task forces were turning their attentions to Guam, second only to Saipan as an important Marianas military base...
...Tokyo also admitted that "the war situation does not allow a moment of optimism...
...Adding to the general bad news for Japan, Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia announced that large and powerful British forces would be thrown into the Pacific fighting "this year" to enforce a defeat on Japan as decisive as that awaiting Germany...
...Some observers believed this to be the principal factor in the Red Army's incredible rate of advance...
...Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied invasion forces in the West...
...Advances In The Pacific In the Pacific, American forces under Admiral Chester Nimitz continued their drive toward Japan...
...The Japanese radio announced that Admiral Shigetaro Shimada, Japanese naval minister since a month before Pearl Harbor, had resigned his post...
...Although the agreement will give de Galdle governmental powers, the President emphasized that it is not a formal agreement and did not make the French Committee a provisional government...
...His next big move, it was thought, would be a drive either on the Japanese base at Palau or directly to the Philippines...
...Douglas MacAr-thur's drive across New Guinea appeared to be nearing a conclusion...
...He was within 300 miles of the western tip of the long mountain and jungle infested island and had neutralized all the remaining points of major resistance...
...Croakings From Berlin Eisenhower's sobering words came in a week when the Berlin radio was filling the air with grave reviews of Germany's perilous situation...
...President Roosevelt announced that an agreement had been reached in his recent talks with Gen...
...These meetings, some observers believed, had resulted in a decision to withdraw on the eastern front, abandon the Baltic states and East Prussia, to shorten their defense line, thus permitting the release of several divisions to be used on the Western front...
...Charles de Gaulle concerning the status of de Gaulle's French Liberation Committee in the French lands freed from Nazi domination...
...Reverberations of the Saipan campaign were being felt in Tokyo...

Vol. 8 • July 1944 • No. 30


 
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