THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW THE almost terrifying nature of the fight American forces face as our troops approach the Japanese homeland continued this week to be dramatized in the savage fighting on Okinawa....
...For several weeks military spokesmen have expected the momentary fall of the island...
...Phil, who participated in the liberation of the Philippine Islands as a member of Gen...
...An ultimatum from the American commander, Lt...
...Moreover, there still seemed to be serious disagreement as to the boundaries of the zones to be occupied...
...The United States occupies a unique position in the Orient because of our policy of cooperation with and understanding of the Philippines...
...The boundary of the claimed Red zone, which encompasses almost half o£ the Reich, is only 150 miles from France...
...There, clinging fanatically to a narrow strip of land on the southern tip of the island, the Japanese fought with a suicidal fury, taking a heavy toll of American troops as they inched through a steady torrent of flaming steel...
...Douglas MacArthur...
...That these raids were having deep-going effects within Japan could be seen from the Tokyo announcement that Emperor Hirohito asked the Japanese Diet to hand over its power to the war cabinet, which will rule by decree in an effort to cope with what Premier Suzuki called the "most critical situation in the history of our nation...
...The Russians refused to hold any further meetings to put the Allied Control Council into operation until Britain and America took steps to remedy the "muddle" which, they charged, had been the result of the Western Powers' failure to come to a decision on the French zone and to withdraw their troops from areas of the claimed Russian zone...
...MacArthur himself went ashore under enemy fire shortly after Allied troops established their first bridgehead...
...Meanwhile, difficulties in determining the zone to be occupied by the French were delaying a final decision...
...Britain and Russia were carrying on a heated exchange over the treatment being accorded to liberated nationals...
...Meanwhile, the Russians were gaining an important advantage because of British and American failure to establish a definite policy toward the German people under their administration...
...The Filipinos want and will get their independence, but they do not want a complete 'divorce' from us...
...Moscow printed a map showing the Russian zone extended over into some of the area now occupied by American and British troops...
...Final authorization, however, must come from the War Department...
...Replying, Clement Attlee, leader of the Labor Party, declared that the Labor Party believed that in "peace, as in war" the future must be planned if the public interest is to come first...
...Prime Minister Churchill, who once uttered high praise of Hitler, lead off the current British political campaign with a charge that the program of the Labor Party would impose Nazism on England...
...Headaches and heartaches lay ahead, especially for British and American authorities...
...The Soviets have accused British and American troops of treating liberated Russians harshly...
...La Follette revealed that he has applied for inactive status and that his application has been approved by Gen...
...Dispute Over Prisoners Occupation was not the only subject in dispute among the Allies...
...MacArthur...
...Col...
...Occupation Headaches As the Allied powers got down to the actual problem of administering the occupation of Germany, it became more obvious than ever that some of the biggest problems were yet to be faced...
...On the brighter side of the picture, however, was the continued success of our bombing missions over the homeland...
...The situation was made even more critical for Japan this week when Australian troops invaded northwest Borneo under the personal supervision of the Gen...
...THE greatest weakness of the Japanese from a military point of view "is their failure to devise alternative plans if their first plan for a campaign doesn't succeed," Col...
...The successful landing, achieved as always under MacArthur's command with small loss of life, put Allied troops 600 miles southeast of French Indo-China and 800 miles northeast of Singapore...
...On the sea American surface units were still being harrassed and subjected to heavy damage by enemy suicide planes, despite the fact that the bases from which these attacks are launched are under heavy assault from carrier based aircraft...
...Simon Bolivar Buck-ner, Jr., calling on the Japanese to surrender was spurned by the enemy...
...Philip F. La Follette, back this week after 3 years of combat service in the Pacific theater, told newsmen at a press conference...
...London rapped back that British and American troops liberated by the Russians have been "living in totally inadequate conditions" in the Russian zone...
...Meanwhile, Phil is home on leave awaiting final determination of his status...
...The Americans and British were unwilling to start troop movements until they could definitely ascertain the boundaries of their zones...
...Douglas MacArthur's staff, warmly praised the magnificent contribution of Filipino guerillas in the Leyte, Luzon, and Mindanao landings...
...Marshal Gregory Zhukov, chief of Russian occupation forces, announced a broad program under which Germans will be allowed to form their own anti-Nazi political parties and trade unions...
...But the Japanese defenders, dug into the ground and the hillsides and cut off from supplies and reinforcements, have miraculously held out and continued their desperate struggle...
...Phil Back Home...
...The understanding between us represents a new approach between the Occident and the Orient...
...These countries seemed not to have yet devised a plan to guide their occupation officials...
Vol. 9 • June 1945 • No. 25
