THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW AS American forces, staggering through the mud of Western Europe, sought this week to deliver a decisive blow to the crumbling but still stubborn defenses of Nazi Germany, other...
...The Germans have massed their real strength in the north and central sectors of the line...
...Across the world in the muck and mud of Western Europe, the powerful Alljed Winter offensive tore savagely at the solid Westwall of the German defense in an effort to achieve a breakthrough...
...Official acknowledgement that this was the enemy strategy came from Maj...
...It is a calculated extension of our air power...
...Asserting that the attack had not yet reached its full peak, the Germans frankly admitted that they saw no hope of checking the Allies with their vast physical superiority...
...Wilson will come to Washington to replace the late Sir John Dill as Prime Minister Churchill's military representative in this country...
...The systematic demolition of Japan's war production begun six months ago from China bases, henceforth will be carried out with decisive vigor, softening up the Japanese heart for the ultimate invasion by,combined United Nations land, sea, and air forces...
...Sir Harold Alexander became a full field marshal and succeeded Gen...
...The London Daily Mail reported that the refusal of the United States to join Britain in guaranteeing future frontiers of Poland precipitated the crisis resulting in Mikolajczck's resignation...
...There was no denying that the Polish Prime Minister's resignation would prove to be a serious blow to Allied hopes for a negotiated settlement between the rival Polish groups, since Kwapinski's socialist tendencies are not favorably regarded by the Kremlin...
...This week these people faced the sober fact that America, transformed in three years to the mightiest military power in the world,# stood ready to bring the Pacific war right to the heart of the Japanese Empire...
...Thunderbolts and War-hawks, operating from carriers in the Philippine waters, delivered a terrific wallop to an enemy convoy attempting to reinforce badly-harassed garrisons on Ley-te Island...
...The most spectacular gain of the week was made by the French, who drove through . to capture the fortified city of Strasbourg...
...These gains were made against the comparatively light opposition in the south...
...Sir Henry Maitland Wilson as commander of all forces in the Mediterranean...
...The German High Command proclaimed the offensive as an effort to "unhinge the whole of the German defense system in the west...
...Meanwhile, here in the United States Pres...
...THE WAR IN REVIEW AS American forces, staggering through the mud of Western Europe, sought this week to deliver a decisive blow to the crumbling but still stubborn defenses of Nazi Germany, other American forces, high in the skies over Tokyo, were marking the third anniversary of Pearl Harbor...
...Three years ago, on Dec...
...Japan Tightens Grip On China Japan felt the sting of America's powerful air arm en her defense periphery too...
...Italy's political pot came to a boil, too, this week, with the resignation of Premier Ivanoe Bonomi's coalition government...
...American and British armies were unable to mark up any notable gains although they continued to deepen and widen the wedges they have driven into the enemy defenses...
...Reporting on the spectacular raid, Gen...
...H. H. Arnold, chief of Army Air Forces, declared "this operation is in no sense a hit-and-run raid...
...Arnold's prediction came a few days later when two fleets of B-29 Super Fortresses struck again—this time from bases in India and Sai-pan...
...Joseph Stilwell as commander of U. S. Army forces in China...
...The High Command predicted powerful attacks designed to "achieve a breakthrough decision" and to "finish off this war absolutely , regardless of cost...
...Polish, Italian Cabinets Quit Meanwhile, Europe's troubled political situation became no better...
...Alexander...
...Eisenhower had planned the campaign as a final blow was conceded by Allied and German experts alike...
...All three troop transports and a destroyer escort were sunk with an estimated loss of life of 3,500 troops...
...Flying from recently completed bases in Sai-pan—bases which Tokyo had declared would be impossible to build—the Super Fortresses covered the 1,500 miles to drop tons of devastation into the industrial vitals of Nippon's empire and then flew 1,500 miles back to their base...
...7, 1941, the citizens of Tokyo were celebrating the surprise attack that all but annihilated American air and seapower in the Pacific...
...Bonomi was unable to gain the support of the Communists and Socialists who h.ave formed a united front...
...He was replaced by Jan Kwapinski, Deputy Prime Minister and a member of Poland's pre-war Socialist movement...
...This was the second sensational advance of the French since the offensive got underway more than a fortnight ago...
...George Patton's 3rd Army seemed to be setting the pace and at mid-week had driven to within siege gun distance of the Saarbrucken, large German industrial center...
...The accounts, vouched for by eye-witnesses, staggered America...
...Harbinger of what was to come, America's sky giants, the B-29s, appeared over Tokyo in the first full-fledged air-raid the Japanese capital has known...
...His resignation was reported to have come as a result of his inability to find support in his Cabinet for his compromise proposals with the Soviet-backed Polish Committee for National Liberation...
...Wedemeyer, who recently replaced Gen...
...The report set forth in detail a story of hideous mass slaughter by gas of millions of innocents, and detailed the methods used to cremate their bodies...
...That Gen...
...The rejection is said to have been delivered to the Polish leader in the form of a letter from President Roosevelt by W. Averill Har-riman, U. S. Ambassador to Russia...
...Charging that the censorship policy was far more stringent than any of the other American armies in the field, correspondents declared that honest news was being denied the American people and that the men in the field were beginning to present the fact that accounts of their action were not appearing in any of the papers...
...Censorship Draws Protest It was apparent, however, that the costly yards hung up by the Allied forces were won only against the most determined resistance...
...There were reports that he might be succeeded by Italy's well-known liberal Carlo Sforza, who is known to get along well with left wing elements...
...Reports from Chungking told of a steady stream of fresh Japanese troops being poured onto the mainland, indicating anew Tokyo's intention to make the continent the scene of the big showdown...
...Industrial sites in Tokyo and railroad yards and repair facilities in Bangkok were the targets...
...These cheering reports were offset, however, by the growing realization that the decisive campaign of the Pacific war may yet have to be fought out on the Asiatic mainland...
...There was also a military shakeup involving Italy...
...Roosevelt's war refugee board, consisting of Secretary of State Hull, Secretary of the Treasury Morgen-thau, and Secretary of War Stimson, issued a shocking report of Nazi atrocities against Jews and Christians alike...
...There the enemy, having successfully cut China in two, continued its relentless drive to smash Chinese resistance...
...The American 9th Army, newest on the front, made ^|he news when impatient correspondents filed stories strongly protesting the striet news censorship exercised over dispatches from the front...
...Reaching the most critical state of its turbulent development, the Polish-Russian dispute broke into headlines again when Stanyslaw Mikolajczyk, Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-exite* resigned his office...
...Mark Clark, commander of America's 5th Army, became commander of all Allied forces in Italy, succeeding Gen...
...Confirmation of Gen...
...On Leyte itself, Gen...
...Striking for the fifth time in one month at enemy shipping around Luzon, American carrier planes destroyed 16 enemy ships, including a heavy cruiser and a destroyer, and smashed 72 planes...
...MacArthur's veteran troops slashed ahead against the fanatical resistance of the cornered Nipponese...
Vol. 8 • December 1944 • No. 49
