Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 August 1944 — Page 1
es
FORECAST: Partly dloudy and continued warm and humid tonight and tomorrow with seatered afternoon and evening thundershowers.
samo) VOLUME 55 NUMBER 134
TUESDAY, AUGUST
15, 1944
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice Indianapolis 9, Ind. Issued daily except Bunday :
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By ROBERT C. MILLER United Press Staff Correspondent OUTSIDE ARGENTAY, Aug. 44. (Delayed) — Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge’s 7th German army, trapped between Argentan and Falais, was being * _ slaughtered relentlessly today in what one ‘American general de-
and British, from the north, and Americans, from the sou men and machines take cover, :
Canadian
Battle of Annihilation
scribed as the “greatest infantry
Powdery columns of smoke billow skyward marking the points
‘Greatest infantry | Victory’ Grinds Germans to Pieces
where bombers were working on concentrations of German tanks which tried unsuccessfully to
break out of the death trap into which they have been jammed for {he last 24 hours. It blends with dozens of other great fires, each
(Continued on Page 3—Column 7)
ENSES OVER-RUN
the first six weeks in the Normandy peninsulsd is in prospect. ~The German 1st and 19th armies, which garrison southeastern and southwestern France, are far from being the caliber of the powerful 7th and 15th which held the northwestern coast from Britfany to Belgium. Reinforcement ‘is not possible from the northwest, nor can it come from Italy. Even if the Germans had any reserves in the Reich not needed to keep off the Russians, they scarcely would be sent to
.jsouthern France instead of to the
A
Acme Telephoto
Sillowing from blasted German positions along the Camdialaise Toad where. Grmad
Opens for 100,000 Hit-
lerites as Lifeline to ParisBecomes a
Burning Charnel House.
By VIRGIL PINKLEY United Press Staff Correspondent SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, A. E. F., Aug. 15.—
Allied planes, tanks and infantrymen opened the battle of annihilation on some 100,000 cornered, fighting Germans in
th, are closing upon a possible 100,000 trapped and beleaguered Nazis, Here
the Normandy pocket today as veteran Canadian troopers] 3
and the “blood and guts” armor of Lt. Gen George S. Pattons American 3d army virtually slammed shut the enemy's
. last escape route to the East. Patton's slashing tank colunihs pounded up from Argentan to within eight miles or less of Falaise while the Canadian 1st army stormed southward to within about two miles of that town and cut across one of the two main highways eastward to Lisieux. Front reports suggested that the escape corridor mighit have been cut to less than 10 miles, and the flaming guns of the Canadian and American forces already had made that narrow life line impassable.
Turned Into Charnel House
Wave upon wave of allied warplanes shuttled incessantly over the doomed Nazi army, bombing and "strafing ery moving target and turning the entire area into a charnel house, Headquarters reports indicated that Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge had abandoned all hope of extricating the remnants of his 12 divisions from the pocket and was reforming his battle-wearied troops for a death fight against the allied armies pressing in from all sides. ~The Germans appeared to be wheeling their remaining tanks into a stockade-type defense line similar to the covered cordons once used by American pioneers, and massing their riflemen, machinegunners and artillery behind that barrier, + The bulk of the Nazi forces was concentrated near the southern rim of the pocket, however, and there was a possibility that the desperate enemy might hurl his entire weight
(Continued on Page 3—Column 3)
"TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES
PATTON HEADS ARMOR THRUST
old Blood and Guts: ‘More of a Rat Race Than A Battle.
By PHIL AULT United Press Staff Correspondent SUPREME HEADUARTERS, A E PF, Aug. 15~“0Old Blood and Guts” is on the road back. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower announced at his advanced command post today that Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, the blustery, rough-rid-ing tank specialist with a gift for getting himself in the dog-house, is leading the American motorized spearheads in their race to trip the German army in Western France, The appointment, kept secret by the allled command until Patton's
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (U, P.). ~The senate miitary affairs committee today unanimously approved the promotion of Lt. Gen. George 8. Patton Jr. to the permanent rank of major general.
troops had jammed the enemy into his present dilemma, showed Eisenhower’s confidence that Old Blood and Guts is an inspired leader of motorized troops. Patton had been in obscurity after two mistakes which caused him to be denounced ‘in congress. First was when he reprimanded a patient in ‘a military hospital in Sicily as a coward and slapped his face. . | Patton did not know the man was a
ke: —— 12) Movies ,....., 13 Comics. ...... 17| Music ...\... 13 Crossword ,.. 17|Obituaries:... 7 Editorials .... 10| Pegler ....... 10
Patios 10. 12] Pred Perkins. ; 10 Financial
Financial .,.. 6! Ernie Pyle... 9 Forum ....... 10{Radio ...... «Yr a Given. 13 Raion, Duies 8 12 Mrs. Roosevelt 9
ra 3, Sports . .. au M4] | State Deaths. 17
Whe While arvow. shows the potable invasion route to be followed by the allies up the Hionue siver framince beachhead landings made today in southern France between Marseille and Nice. Their objective is to join forces with the Sruics Sghiing fawang Pusis in the north.
BRADFORD ANSWERS DEMOCRATIC CRITICS
Says “Election Will Be Fair To All Concerned.
Current control of the Marion county election machinery “by Republicans George K. Johnson and Carroll Kramer “will assure fair voter registration and an honest
election,” 11th district G. 0, P.|'
Chairman James L. Bradford asserted today in a formal statement. His statement obviously was in rebuttal to recent newspaper advertisements sponsored by the Democratic Central committee, demanding an explanation of “we won the election” remarks proffered by Bradford last week during a round of Republican spéech-making at the Columbia club. At that time the 11th district
. {chairman said, “When we made
George Johnson election supervisor
. |and Carroll Kramer vote registration : Jirector. We wom the Jou slestion in} Sgt. | Marion eounty.” .
Hoosier Heroes—
2 Families Have Second Sons on Casualty Lists
Two Indignapolis families, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Pratt and Mr. and Mrs. James West, have been notified that their second soldier sons are war casualties. Thirteen * other soldiers also are on today’s Hoosier
hero list. « ©» « KILLED Lt. Wiliam C. Ewbank, 6419 Park ave, in France. First Sgt. John J. McHugh, 978
Ellenberger . Pkwy, West dr, in France.
MISSING
Quartermaster 3-¢ Julian J.’ Commons, 751 N. Tremont dve, in Atlantic area.” Second Lt. James E. Pratt, 1110 N. Olney st., in France, Pvt. Floyd R. West, R. R. 0, Box 421-F, in France.
“Jbeleaguered armies in the north-
west, s0 much closer to: the homeland. Moreover, French patriots and the organized French forces of the interior are scheduled to play a much more important part than in the northwest, where assistance * was non-existent in Normandy and only limited in Brittany. Gen. Maitland
WAR FRONTS
Wilson's message to the French peo-
(Continued on “Page 3—Column 2) | around East Prussia,
SOVIETS WIDENING
One Salient Less Than 13 Miles From Nazi Soil.
By M. 8. HANDLER United Press Staff Correspondent MOSCOW, Aug. 15—~Two pow= erful Soviet armies forged a huge arc around East Prussia from the Niemen river to the southern approaches of the Masurian lakes today with one salient’ within less than 15 miles of German soil. Driving rapidly northward through the Biebrza marshlands in a move to by-pass the Masurians, Gen. Georgi Zakharov brought his 2d White Russian army into the fortress city of Osovets in the
ening Ivan D. Cherniakhovsky's 3d Russian army was battling”
E. PRUSSIA FRONT
. |Halmahera, stepping-stone to the
(Aug. 15, 1944) SOUTHERN FRANCE—Allles con-
solidate beachheads in new landings between Marseille and Nice.
AIR WAR-—Three thousand allied war planes attack aircraft nests in Germany, low countries and
Paris area.
PACIFIC—-Halmahera, stepping stone to Philippines, neutralized.
ITALY—Polish troops capture Monte Vecchio.
NORTHWESTERN FRANC E— Yanks slash through Nazi 7th army in Normandy.
RUSSIA—Russians close huge arc
Halmahera, Jap Philippines Link, Reduced to Ruins
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Southwest Pacific, Aug. 15 (U. P.). --Japan’s once strong bastion of
Philippines, was virtually neutralized today by a sustained. allied aerial assault threatening the main defense of her stolen empire in the
3% the Horinern end of the tighteln: oa ‘138-mile « semi-circle, a
enemy resistance a 3
{them failed to see a single enemy ]
AS ALLIES LAND IN S. FRANCE; BEACHHEADS ARE HELD FIRMLY
Unvasion Timed to Coincide]
[With End of Nazi 7th Army |
By LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press War Editor The invasion of southern France was precisely timed to coincide with the smashing of the German 7th army west of Paris, which ‘means that the newly landed. allied forces should have had no great "difficulty in liberating all of the lower half of France once the beachheads have been expanded and a port or ports secured. It is extremely unlikely that anything like the bitter struggle of
Report Invaders Moving Inland From
100-Mile Coastline Between Marseille and Nice.
By UNITED PRESS (C. B. S. Correspondent Eric Sevareid said in a broad: cast from the new invasion front that advanced press headquarters already had been established “several miles inland,” indicating that the advance was progressing swiftly. He reported that the units in his’ sector; were: “predominantly American.”)
By ELEANOR PACKARD United Press Staff Correspondent
ROME, Aug. 15.—A mighty allied invasion force struck into Southern France from sea and sky today and within a matter of hours over-ran the Germans’ feeble shore defenses and established firm beachheads along a 100-mile strip of the Mediterranean coast between Nice and Marseille,
* A miles-long sky train of gliders and transport planes swept in over the coast before dawn to shower thousands of American and British paratroopers across the rolling hills behind the Nazi coastal defenses, and the main assault force splashed ashore from landing craft at 8 a. m. (1 a. m. Indianapolis time). Between the two forces, the stunned Germans were rendered almost helpless and their once-formidable fortifications were breached almost without a struggle.
Proceed on Schedule “By mid-morning all the landings were proceeding successfully according to schedule, against only light ground opposition and no air opposition,” a headquarters communique announced. “The supporting air-borne operation was also successfully executed.” “Pirst reports said-Ameriean-and French infantrymen, the pick of the veteran armies massing in the Mediterranean theater for months, made up the bulk of the assault force put ashore by an armada of some 800 warships and transport craft. American and British paratroops and air-borne infantry spearheaded the attack, but it was indicated that the initial British army participation was limited to this phase of the invasion. (The landing forces were commanded by Lt. Gen. Jacob Loucks Devers, who is rated as one of the U. S. army's most aggressive leaders, it was announced today in Washington.)
Strike Swiftly Inland Reports trickling back from the thousands of allied fiiers who swept unchallenged over the beaches said the invading army was striking swiftly inland, in a drive aimed to the northwest at the Rhone valley, less than 30 miles west of Marseille. . One observation plane flew 60 miles inland without sighting any large German troop concentrations, but later reports said American Thunderbolts were dive-bombing Nazi tanks attempting to reach the coast. Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, supreme allied commander in the Mediterranean, declared that his forces would sweep the Germans from their path, march northward through the heart of France and join up with the allied armies closing in on Paris from Normandy. “Victory is certain,” he proclaimed in a ringing message to the people of France. “Remember 1918.”
Broadcast Call to Arms Even as Wilson’s armies stromed ashore, Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s French committee of national liberation broad cast a call to arms to all of France, ordering patriots throughout the country fo rise against the Nazi occupation armies. “The last blow is about to be struck,” the committee declared. The first special allied communique anonuncing the success of the landing carefully masked the principal assault points in an obvious attempt to spread further confusion among the German coastal garrisons. Berlin broadcasts, however, said the main weight of the invasion fell upon a rocky 16-mile stretch of coast extend~
4
‘
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3000 Allied Planes Attack Germany's Aircraft Nests
Meanwhile, a fleet or nearly 1000 American heavy bombers, accoms= panied by upward of 750 fighters, struck seven enemy air force bases
LONDON, Aug. 15 (U. P.) —Allied bomber and fighter forces totaling more than 3000 planes attacked a score of German aircraft nests m the Reich, Low Countries and Paris area today as the U. 8. A. A. F. and R. A. F. continued their aerial campaign to neutralize the Luftwaffe over the twin invasion areas of
France. The raiders lost 18 bombers—16 of them Americans—and the bulk dot,