Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 June 1944 — Page 1

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. : WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 194

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Machine Guns Cut Down First Assault Troops on French Coast

By JAMES C. McGLINCY United Press Staff Correspondent LONDON, June 7.—Some of the first assault troops who stormed the French beaches were mowed down by German crossfire but succeeding waves climbed over their bodies until a foothold was established, an eyewitness who returned from one beachhead reported today. Bert Brandt, 28, an Acme news photographer, spent a half hour on the beach yesterday and several hours more

He said the Germans laid down intensive fire on the beaches with well-emplaced machine-guns. American casualties were spotty, heavy on some beaches and light on others. On one beach, Brandt reported, the German machine-

gunners waited until the landing craft lowered their ramps and then poured deadly fire into the barges. The opposition met by the first wave delayed the landing of demoli-

cruising within gunshot of the landing scene.

“It was hotter than hell over there,” Brandt said.

“1

was at Anzio but Anzio was nothing like this.”

tion parties scheduled to follow with heavy equipment. The German defenses finally crumbled under the

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After Landing,

By HOWARD WHITMAN Representing the Combined American Press

AN INVASION PORT, England, June 7.—Assault troops of the first invasion wave which hit the beach near Cherbourg did.not see a single German during their first hour of demolition work, one of the first wounded evacuees said upon reaching this port early today. The story of that beachhead was told by Cpl. Johnny Lacognata, 22, son of Mr, and Mrs. Emanuel Lacognata of Brooklyn, N. Y., who suffered only a slight fracture of the right wrist and will be all right in a few days. Johnny hit the beach with the first wave as part of

‘Didn’t See One Nazi First Hour

a demolition team of 22 combat engineers carrying explosives to destroy a concrete tank barricade so that an allied tank column could charge through. They had been carefully briefed in advance as to the precise location of

the barricade and how they could breach it.

“We crossed the channel in an assault transport and were put overside in a Higgins boat for a 10-mile run to the beach,” Johnny said. “] was scared as hell on the transport, but once we got into the little landing craft and started chugging (Continued on Page 5—Column 5)

First Ground Picture of Invasion Shows Landing on Coast

vin A

In the first ground picture of, the invasion, viewed from a transport, jeeps and men are beach in the background.

Acme Telephoto

shown landing on a French

YOUTH HELD IN PROWLER SCARE

17-Year-0ld Arrested After New Incidents on North Side.

An intruder roamed the North side again last night, climbing to second floor windows by ladder and lattice work, threatening women as they slept, and then running as their screams warned the neighborhood of the danger. ° Detectives found tennis shoe footprints on ‘the ground beneath | windows he entered, and early today | a 17-year-old youth wearing tennis shoes, was arrested in the vicinity of the prowler’s hunting ground. An apartment custodian today found a butcher knife under the window which the man entered last

Girl Is Terrorized

Police started on the man's trail at 2:42 a. m. when they were called to the home of Mrs. Gladys Glenn, 2815 N. Kenwood ave. There Mrs. Glenn's daughter, Beverly, said she was awakened in her second floor bedroom by a man holding a knife at her throat. He threatened to kill her if she screamed, she said. Her screams aroused her mother in a downstairs bedroom, and the prowler left by the second floor bedroom window. Investigation showed that he had entered the room by propping a ladder, taken from the yard next door, against the porch. He climbed to the porch roof, siid out

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TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

Ruth Millett... 12

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Vast Rise in Blood Donors Follows Landing in France

Indianapolis rallied behind the boys on the invasion beaches toEager Hoosiers swamped the Red Cross blood bank with telephone calls requesting appointments, and war bond booths reported a

day.

marked increase in sales.

Blood bank officials reported a 300 per cent increase in telephone calls and a 50 per cent rise in the number of donors who came in with-

out appointments. The center's four telephone lines were jammed yesterday as donors requested appointments as soon as possible.

Expect 250 a Day

For the next few weeks officials expect to take care of a capacity of 250 donors a day, in contrast to the normal flow of 150. Yesterday’'s donations totaled 153, and so far today, 225 appointments have been scheduled. Many of the persons who are Somine in without appointments are parents of men stationed in England, Red Cross workers said. Figures were not available on the actual increases in bond sales. William H. Trimble, county war finance committee chairman explained that bonds purchased now would be “counted toward the county’s $79,000,000 quota in the fifth war loan drive.

MILLIONS JOIN WITH

PRESIDENT IN PRAYER

Ask Divine Guidance for

‘Our Sons.’

By R. H. SHACKFORD United Press Staff Correspondent

MERCURY TO HOVER AROUND 50 TONIGHT

‘Warmer Weather Predicted

Here Tomorrow.

Indianapolis shivered even with its coat on last night but the weatherman today predicted only one more night of chilly weather before the mercury bubbles up into the 70s again. The forecast is fair tonight and fair and warmer tomorrow with the mercury expected to slide into the 50s tonight. The lowest today was 48 at 4 a. m. The cold spell this week hasn't set any all-time low record in the city for only last June 30 it was 47. The lowest June 7 here was 41 in 1894 with a 39 temperature recorded June 6 of that year. Yesterday's high was 66 at noon and today’s low at the airport was 43.

LOCAL TEMPERATURES 6am..... 49 10am... 61 Tam... 52 1lam..... 64 Sa. m..... 56 12 (Noom).. 65 Sam.....5 1pm . 68

FETE T0 LAUNCH BOND CAMPAIGN

Stout Field Ceremony, Concert Among Events Due To Start Friday.

A program of gala events to launch Indiana's fifth war loan drive was announced today by war finance committee officials. The festivities, which will start Hoosiers on their way toward their $281,000,000 state goal and $79,000,000 Marion county quota, will include many features: 1. Indianapolis school pupils will represent the millions of American school children in ceremonies at Stout field Friday when they will present to the President fighting equipment equal to the amount

they have purchased through war bond and stamp sales. 2. A huge army barrage balloon will be sent aloft over the world war memorial this week-end to float as a symbol of the county's determination to back the invasion. 3. Downtown decorations will go up Sunday night, to greet workers

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STALIN HAILS ROME

LONDON, June 7 (U. P.).—Prime Minister Churchill yesterday announced receipt of a message of congratulations from Premier Josef Stalin of Russia on “the great victory of allied Anglo-American

forces” in the taking of Rome

Sgt. Potter

AN INDIANAPOLIS corporal has been killed in a troop transport sinking and a local airman is missing in action over Germany. KILLED Opl Charles W, Buls, 308 B. 13th st. z : = MISSING 8. Sgt. Arthur Potter Jr, 2125

Cpl. Buis Killed in Sinking,

Missing in Raid

Report Gen. Rommel Racing to Meet

1 tanks and infantrymen are driving

: Mae| units swung out to the west over Dobbs, both of 303 E. 19th st. : reported 1044,

BATTLING

Invaders; Hundreds of Gliders

Reinforce Our Armies.

BULLETINS ZURICH, Switzerland, June 7 (U. P.).—Unconfirmed reports from German-occupied Milan said today that a large allied fleet has been sighted off Genoa and a landing on the Ligurian coast of northwestern Italy is expected hourly.

LONDON, June 7 (U. P.).—D. N. B.,, German news agency, said today 100 allied tanks were attacking near the important city of Caen. The Berlin radio also said that the allies had landed between two and five more divi-

ALLIED TROOPS BEAT OFF NAZI COUNTER-ATTACKS;

WAY INLAND

General Revealing D-Day Secret at Party Demoted

LONDON, June 7. (U. P.).—A major general in the U, 8. army air forces has been demoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and sent to the United States for revealing the approximate date of the western European invasion to a group of guests at a cocktail party two months ago, it was disclosed today. The general, whose name was withheld, is said to have remarked in the presence of several people: “On my honor, the invasion will take place before June 13.” A woman who heard the remark reported the incident to security police and Gen. Dwight D.. Eisenhower immediately ordered him reduced in rank and sent home.

The story was held up by censorship authorities because of the possibility that enemy agents, realizing the significance of a high-ranking officer being demoted, might try to learn exactly what he said.

sions in France yesterday and last night. The National Broadcasting Co. quoted the Berlin radio ‘as saying the Germans had lost Bayeux, 16 miles north-

By VIRGIL PINKLEY United Press Staff Oorrespondent

their beachheads in France and today were battering their way inland in stiff fighting after beating off the first heavy German counter-attacks in the Caen area. The American, British and Canadian assault forces

forced constantly by hundreds of United States gliders shut-

by surface craft sailing in to the coast from which the Germans had been driven. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters announced late today that heavy fighting was raging inshore on the

at sea. Dotted With Fires Airmen said the Cherbourg peninsula was dotted with fires, indicating that the Germans might be scorching the earth preparatory to withdrawing to avoid the threat of being isolated by the cutting of their communications at the base of the stubby finger of northwestern France. However, Marshal Erwin Rommel was reported in front dispatches to be speeding armored and infantry divisions of two armies under his personal command to the invasion zone for a full-scale counter-onslaught. Late reports at allied supreme headquarters, covering

5TH THREATENS CITY 40 MILES PAST ROME,

‘Nazis in Disorderly Retreat On Broad Front.

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Naples, June 7 (U. P.).~Allied

Weymouth

the Germans in disorderly retreat along a broad front north of Rome and are closing in on CivitaVecchia, 40 miles northwest of the capital, it was announced today.

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Na-| = ples, June 7 (U. P.).—Allied 5th] ; army columns drove more than 10 miles north and 12 miles west of Rome today, beating down disorganized Nazi rear guards in their path, and Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander confidently declared that the strength of the German armies in central Italy has been broken. British and American armored forces raced northward along highway 2 toward Lake Bracciano, 15 miles above Rome, while infantry |

west of Caen on the railway and highway to Cherbourg. |

ALLIED SUPREME COMMAND, London, June 7.—, Allied invasion forces have cleared the enemy from all of!

which stormed the beaches of Normandy were being rein-|

tling thousands of troops into the Cherbourg peninsula and

expanding perimeter of the beachheads, but the Germans] were putting up very little resistance in the air and none

ENGLAND

Seu Mamptan

operations to dawn today, indicated that the situation had \improved considerably overnight. The invaders beat off sharp German armored counter|attacks in the area of Caen, 28 miles southwest of Le Havre -|and 91% miles inland, where Prime Minister Winston Churchill reported fighting yesterday. By today they had cleared all their beaches and linked some of them, strengthening their overall position considerably.

|

Sober Satisfaction

Spokesmen emphasized that the fighting so far, although the Nazis had thrown taetical reserves into it, could | not be regarded as decisive. The allies were steadily reinforcing every beachhead with men and supplies, and Rommel ‘now was bringing in more troops for the showdown. That probably will come when both sides have caught their second wind—perhaps tomorrow, possibly 48 hours hence. When the German strategic—as distinct from the tactical—reserve can be thrown into the battle depends on when the Nazis decide on the weight and direction of the main allied thrust, perhaps in a week or two. Paratroopers who spearheaded the attack by all aecounts were involved in some of the fiercest fighting. The air-borne forces were revealed to have carried out all their allotted tasks, including the capture intact of several highe way bridges which the Nazis had been expected to blow up. The success of the biggest air-borne assault ever launched was regarded as one of the most satisfactory aspects of the invasion, which as a whole was considered in SHAEF quarters to warrant “sober satisfaction.” Overnight reports from the battle zone indicated the

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