Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / June 22, 1944, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE ALAMANCE GLEANER r? ? ? ? VoL LXX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1944 No. 20. WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS First Phase of Invasion Ended As Initial Foothold is Secured; French Hail "Liberation Troops' ? . Released by Western Newspaper Union. " \ (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eelamas, they are these ef I Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necossarlly ol this newspaper.) This first picture made from French soil shows American doughboys, rifles ready, wading through the surf onto the French beachhead. The photographer who made the picture was In the first group to hit the beach. Note the Invasion craft In the background. Soundphoto. THE INVASION: First Phase Ended The first phase of the Allied in vasion of Europe was completed. To a tense world, supreme head quarters of the allied expeditionary forces announced this phase as the "securing of a foothold and the de feating of local German reserves." Against fierce, last-ditch resist ance of 10 hastily massed Nazi divi sions, totaling nearly 150,000 men, allied forces were plunging inland on a 100-mile front of curving shore line from the Seine Estuary near Le Havre to the Cherbourg area. Allied forces are now in the sec ond phase, which is one of defeating the German "tactical reserves," said headquarters. The third phase, which must be won before the Al lied position is completely secure, is that of defeating the German "strategic reserves." (Tactical reserves are those in or near the combat araa: strategic reserves are lioM held in readiness at a distance.) The Air Umbrella Headquarters announced that 27,006 individual air missions were carried out in the two and one-half days following the dawn of D-day. Great air fleets, probably greater than those of D-day, hammered Nazi strong points, transport and troop concentrations within a 150 mile radius of the beachheads. Nazi fighter opposition was weak. The German high command had not yet thrown its long-hoarded fighter re serves into the battle for Normandy. The battle was joined around Bayeux, first city of France to be freed from Germans, and Caen. A fierce tank battle raged in several wooded areas near Bayeux, where the Nazis were strengthened by parachute troops. Th'e navy supported foot troops with a gigantic bombardment of Caen. Nazi forces were attempt ing to hold the city as a pivot for counterattacks. But on the second day of invasion, the Germans were forced to admit street fighting al ready was being waged inside Caen. Single Front It became increasingly obvious that Allied positions were fast be ing welded together into a single front, stretching from Caen through Bayeuz to just outside Carentan and some distance up the Cherbourg peninsula toward Valognes. It Was disclosed that the first forces ashore on D-day might have pushed ahead more rapidly than they did, but General Eisenhower's supreme command decided it was wiser to slow the advance some what while awaiting more ade quate strength rather than make a risk having the spearheads choked off. OBJECTIVE PARIS: By Bastille Day? Bastille day, French national holi day, falls on July 14 and in the first days of the invasion of western Europe, veterans of the 1940 battle of France forecast that the Allies would be in Paris by that date to help the natives celebrate. In New York the French language weekly, "France-Amerique" carried a column by Ernest R. Bauer, which indicated that French military vet erans familiar with the terrain over which the battles are now being fought predict rapid progress from the beachheads to Paris?120 miles away. Meanwhile in London Winston Churchill urged the house of com mons to guard against "the idea that things are going to be settled hi a rush." LIBERATED BAYEUX: First of Many Eyewitness accounts described great joy in the streets of Bayeux, France, first city to be liberated by Allied troops in the invasion of west ern Europe. On the main rail line linking the big port of Cherbourg to Paris, Bayeux is five miles inland from Seine Bay. "God save the King. We've wait ed for this day. On to Paris. Vive Tommy. Vive Amerique." These were some of the rejoicing cries that greeted the first detachments to march through the narrow streets of the Normandy town. Cheering men and women danced through the same streets as the troops came in. Cafe owners began throwing open their doors with pianists striking up patriotic tunes to add to the festivity of that first day. Europe is to have many towns cleared of the enemy in the weeks to come but Bayeux got its niche in the history books when the French Tricolor was hoisted above it again on the second day of the Allied land ings in France. SHUTTLE-BOMBING: Russian Bases Used News dispatches began carrying a new dateline that read "From a U. S. Air Base Somewhere in Rus sia" and this spelled historic mili tary significance in cooperation be tween the United States and the Soviet Union. For the first time, U. S. planes had taken off from bases in Italy, bombed German tar gets, and continued flying eastward to land at secret U. S. air bases set up on Russian soil. This new program opened the far thest corners of German territory to bombing attack by Allied planes based in Britain, Italy, North Africa and Russia. American military leaders had long wanted these Rus sian bases but it took diplomatic skill of the first caliber to get the Russians to agree to the strategy. They were finally convinced when it became obvious that the U. S. and England had the necessary planes and the Russians did not. First target was a Rumanian freight yard in which the Nazi had concentrated supplies for troops fighting the Russians. American Flying Fortresses were accompa nied by Russian fighter planes on part of the mission. 1'1'ALI: 'Major Break' in Lines The German high command in Italy was forced to admit a "major break" through their lines north and west of Rome as the Fifth army smashed toward Lake Bracchiano and Civitavecchia, key port of the Tyrrhenian sea. German resistance was described by the allied command as "only light." It amounted to little more than disorganized activities by de laying infantry units and self-pro pelled guns. The Fifth army had taken more than 18,000 prisoners and many more thousands were captured by the British Eighth army, which was meeting heavier resistance north west of Rome, where the hardest fighting is being encountered. The Vatican "Whoever may be the military authorities actually having control of the city of Rome," the Vatican has announced its determination to maintain a policy of neutrality. Ob servers took this to mean that the holy see gave the Germans credit tor correct behaviour with regard I to Rome in its final hours. AIR FIELD: Near Philippines A base within bombing range of the Philippines fell to General Mac Arthur's forces when the Mokmer airdrome on Biak Island was stormed and captured on the 13th day of the invasion of the Schoutens. The beachhead on Biak was estab lished late in May. A frontal stab was repulsed, following which Amer ican forces got in behind enemy po sitions and swept to the air field from the rear. The Mokmer field is within 880 miles of the Philippines to the north west and is within good fighter range of Palau, Japanese western Caro lines naval base guarding the ap proaches of the Philippines. The island also has two other air fields desired by the Sixth army in vaders. The Americans immediately began a push toward the Borokoe airdrome a few hundred yards to the west. INDUSTRY: Must Take Initiative Warning that industry must find its own work when war contracts are no longer available, Donald Nel son, chairman of the War Produc tion board, told the house postwar committee, that: . . it won't be the government's job to find work for each company in its present expanded position. It's impossible to find a postwar market for the 8,900 airplanes we now pro duce monthly." Stating that he was 100 per cent in favoring government's assistance in postwar planning for industry, he said that he was against govern ment "running" small business. He urged that companies now engaged in war production use their own in genuity and initiative in planning their postwar programs. He forecast a postwar "expan sionist" period in which private enterprise rather than the govern ment would provide the necessary "spark." Government pump prim ing would be at a minimum under such conditions. i i Lookout A German sentry pictured as be scanned the skies erir Boulogne, France?looking (or trouble that came unexpectedly. Boulogne was one of the cities hit by sea and air bombings, paving the way (or land ing at Allied (orces. FOOT SOLDIERS: Pay Increase In reply to a request by War Sec retary Stimson, Chairman May of the house military affairs commit tee introduced a bill to increase pay of skilled infantry men $5 to $10 a month. Soldiers holding the expert infan try man's badge would get a $9 in crease and those having the combat infantry man's badge, $10. Cost of the increase would amount to be tween M and 71 million dollars year ly. In asking for the legislation, Stim son said infantry casualties are the highest of any branch of service. In the North African campaign, includ ing Italy, the infantry suffered 70 per cent of the casualties, although comprising only 19.6 per cent of the total forces. FARM MACHINERY: Restrictions Removed Small manufacturer* (employing less than 100 workers) can now en gage in the unlimited production of farm machinery, equipment, and repair parts made entirely from sur plus materials or mite rials with an AA-4 preference rating. This new arrangement, announced by the War Production board, is lim ited to firms employing not more than 90 workers in group 1 labor areas, or on the West coast. Else where plants employing fewer than 100 workers may participate. Manufacturers meeting these regulations can use surplus mate rials and component parts from in ventories together with AA-4 prefer ence rating materials in such pro duction. America Through a Train Window: The train clean its mechanical throat, rolls out of the depot, and the moving picture of passing scenery Is framed in Pullman win dows. . . . Fragments of smoke cruising over sprawling war plants that dot the outskirts of the city. A peaceful industrial scene where weapons are born that wind up in the hell of war. . . . Neat suburban homes on their best architectural behavior. . . . Church steeples point ing at the sky like hands in prayer. . . . Telephone poles whizzing by in Indian flle. Birds perched on their wires?like notes on a musical scale. . . . The countryside knee-deep in Spring. A tapestry of greenery stretching toward the horizon. . . . Long lines of trees planted with Rockette precision?be jeweled with ripening fruits. . . . Attractive lady train conductors. . . . Weary travel ers slumped in their seats ma rooned on an island of their thoughts. Tree-lined small town streets, each house ornamented with mani cured hedges. . . . Ribbons of roads wrapped around the landscape. They used to be covered with traffic, but now you can see miles of nude high ways. . . . The eager anticipation in the orbs of servicemen on their way home to enjoy a furloaf. . . . The train gobbling up miles of space as it roars through State lines. No pass ports are needed to cross them. One of the miracles too many Americans take for granted. . . . The haze that Boats over the grass at sunrise when Nature is still drowzy with morning. . . . Old, unpalnted houses on the wTong side ef the tracks mak ing their poverty public. . . . Miles of undeveloped land blanketed with forests between big cities. Places where Nature has room to stretch. The train whining by small, dusty stations surrounded by loneliness. You go by so fast you can't even read the station's name. . . . Cows grazing in Ohio's pastures?their tails continually swinging like a baton. ... A feather of a breeze tickling a lake?causing it to dimple with a million ripples. . . . Piercing train whistles punctuating the night with exclamation points of sound. . . . Cross country trucks moving across the roads with the slow dig nity of glaciers. . . . The increased tempo of traffic that heralds the ap proach to a city. A stretch of flat land broken by the wide open mouth of a valley.... The lights of a lonely farmhouse twinkling in the dark night. . . . The train pulling into a station with the dignity of a dowager entering a tea party. . . . The eternal peacefulness of forests filled with a million leafy fingers reaching for the warmth of the sun/ . . . Fields of wildflowers curtsying to the balmy winds. . . . Large signs announcing that yoa're about to enter this-or-thst town. A sight as American as a borne run. Tremendous ranches monopolizing giant slices of territory. Some are ! almost as large as a small European nation. . . . Skeletons of ghost towns slowly being turned into dust by wind and rain, remnants of the wild West. .. . Modern cowboys who now spend more time riding in station wagons than on hosses. . . . The brilliance of a Western night?a dark-faced sky freckled with stars. Much poetry and many songs have been written in tribute to its over powering beauty. But nothing can match the first-hand view of this shimmering phenomenon. . . . The many peaceful sights that make you think the war is very far away. But a plane drilling its way through the sky reminds you nothing is beyond j the war's reach. . . . Peaceful In- | diani now selling souvenirs at rail road stations. . . . Cattle herds in the sunset making a plctuto postcard to be filed in your memory. ??? Desert debts tiled with romantic mysteries. . . . When you see the gigantic natural obstacles that still exist in the West you are filled with renewed respect and pride (or the pioneers who built a civilization on the foundation of blood, sweat and tears. . . . Tiny villa ges with lest population than in a Big Town apart' ment house. . . . Headwaiter smiles ; of train porters. . . . The Deisel engine entering a tunnel with a loud cry, dragging the serpent of cars behind It. . . . The sage brush coun try, with an occasional motorist pro viding the only sign of life. ... Tired tourists chewing the fingernails of their patience, eager to arrive at their destination. ,.. Hot dog stands planted in the middle of nowhere. s ? .? . i " Entertainers Travel Rough and Perilous Circuit Taking USO-Camp Shows to Remote Fighting Fronts One Hundred Troupes Play to Soldiers in Open-Air Theaters That familiar truism of the trouper?"the show must go on" ?has taken on a new and vastly different meaning since the ad vent of USO-camp shows?those traveling troupes that follow our troops all over the world. True to tradition, the show, of course, does go on?from the back of an army truck mired in the jungles of New Guinea, to the accompaniment of grinding winches on a dock alongside a troop transport, amid the icy glaciers of the Arctic, at base hospitals behind firing lines, in the shadow of smouldering Ve suvius, or on newly won terri tory in Europe. No longer, however, does the audi ence go to the show; the (how is taken to the audience?an audience, by the way, that now numbers more than 11,000,000 men and wom en of our armed forces to whom, by orders of the War department, the show goes on in combat zones in every area where our fighting forces are located. It's something new for both the show business and the army to in clude traveling troupes in the army's special services. That is, it was new until Pearl Harbor. Now they're as much a part of the army fare as GI chow, and equally as essential. One is a physical neces sity, the other a psychological stimulant. in tne last two and a half year*, USO-Camp ahowa have grown from a mere experiment to a far-flung activity that would atagger the moat traveled old trouper to contemplate. Today, USO-Camp ahowa operate approximately 100 unita in com bat zones in every sector of the fighting fronts. For obvious reasons of military expedience no estimate of the "house count" at these per formances has been made public, but it's a safe guess that the "SRO" sign was out at every one. In the western hemisphere another 100 USO-Camp shows are appearing at army camps and naval biases, with an estimated monthly attendance of 2,000,000 men and women of the armed forces who are kept laugh ing by professional entertainers of stage, screen and radio. USO-Camp shows are operated as an activity of USO (United Service organizations) and are financed by the National War fund, of which USO is a member agency. Stage Stars Voloateer. From headquarters occupying half a dozen floors in a building at 8 West Fortieth street. New York City, USO-Camp shows plan, pre pare and direct the assembling of both talent and programs for the various units. Paid entertainers, recruited from theatres, night clubs and vaudeville booking egen cies, constitute the permanent or ganization of the world-wide cir cuits. Augmenting the regular staff are stars of Broadway and Holly wood, together with well-known radio personalities, who volunteer their service for a limited period. In obtaining volunteers from the screen colony, USO-Camp shows has the cooperation of the Hollywood Victory committee which has en listed many of the foremost stars of motion pictures. Among notables of the cinema who have been mem bers of USO-Camp shows to enter tain our boys in combat zones were: Joe E. Brown, William Gargan, Marlene Deitrich, Adolph Menjou, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Una Merkel, George Raft, Phyllis Brooks, Frederic March, Louise AH britton, Andy Arcari, jean Clyde, Bob Hope, Keenan Wjrnn, A1 Jolaon and John Garfield. j Although the screen luminaries volunteer for a minimum of 12 weeks, some of them trouped the various circuits for as long as 10 weeks, enduring all kinds of incon veniences and hardships, but taking them in stride and actually enjoying the experience. Many of the leaser known paid entertainers on "sleep er-Jumping" tours of 50,000 and 100,000 miles have been out for as long as 11 months, visiting little out posts in remote regions, isolated camps in Central and East Africa, army transport command stops in the Arabian wilderness, or lonely road camps in the snow-covered mountains of Iran. The business of obtaining the tal ent and putting together a show unit is the function of USO-Csmp shows, a function usually conducted on spe cific orders from the army special services division which requisitions entertainment by much the same method as GI supplies are ordered. In typical army terseness, a direc tive will be issued to camp ahows for a certain type of entertainment to be provided by a specified number of performers for a designated area and time. USO-Camp shows follows instructions. At the designated time and place, the show is turned over to the army, and thereafter it is practically aa much a part of the army as the GI Joes. Where the show goes, when it goes, how long it stays and when it "does its stuff" are all prescribed by the army. Transportation, food, sleeping quarters are furnished by the army. Many performers give their service; others are paid nomi nal aalaries. Troupers Endure Heat, Cold. Although details of the tours are handled by the army with charac teristic military precision, putting on the show many times isn't exactly a cinch. In fact, it is often attended by difficulties, hazards or interruptions. Even the army Isn't able to provide transportable the atres, stage "props" and equipment. "Tramping the boards," a familiar expression of the trouper, is exactly that with Camp show entertainers, for the show is usually given from a crude, improvised stage of boards thrown up wherever the audience is stationed. The locale of a show may be in a Jungle where the temperature climbs to as high as 130 degrees; it may be at a lonely mountain aide outpost, or in the midst of desert wastes. One USO-Camp show unit, landing unexpectedly between bombings on the Island of Pantel leria, gave a performance in an underground airplane hangar. Another camp show troupe actually, gave a show in a submarine. Returning from an 11-month tour, members of one camp show unit an nounced that they had become authorities on the sands at the world. They had played in yellow sandstorms in Egypt; in red sand storms in Tunisia that had dyed their hair, face and clothea a bright red; and in white sandstorms in Iran that made brunettes look like platinum blondes. WhOa up tat snow covered mountains, they suffered sub-zero cold; down In the valleys, they had to wrap themselves tat wet sheets in order to deep tat the 14S-degree heat. Travel Through Mine Fields. ' Another troupe that spent mootha wifh fliers at advanced air-fields never took a trip to a nearby encampment when they didn't have to pick their way through mine fields. Once they puked their trailer truck two feet from a live land mine. It was the heartbreaking ex perience of this troupe of getting to know soma of the boys who were destined not to return from their missions. Once the troupe went miles in their truck to give an un scheduled show when they learned that a certain squadron's com manding officer had been shot down that day. Another camp show unit that started a North African show with an audience of 1,500 soldiers, had the disconcerting experience of see ing ten men leave, then ten more, then another ten, until finally they were playing to a mere handful at restless soldiers. Afterward, they learned that a landing by enemy commandoes had been reported and their audience had been called out to track them down. Camp show performances are often attended by hazards and perils as well as discomforts and inconveniences. One troupe played seven weeks at road camps in the Iran mountains that were main tained to keep open the route over which supplies and arms were go ing to Russia. Bandits were in the neighborhood, and the troupers couldn't leave the camps' without armed guards. ?->?? m *"? Air Raid Haiti Show. Sometime* sudden enemy action makes it necessary to halt a per formance in the middle of its moat dramatic or interesting moment, la Italy where the players are fre quently close behind the front lines, such interruptions ate not in frequent. In one instance when enemy planes roared over during a performance, the audience and the troupers sat in darkness for hours until the alarm passed and the show could continue. One troupe touring the Iran valley outposts had to travel 140 miles, through mountains, in a caboose. There were 136 tunnels, and every time the train went through a tun nel it was like going into an oven. At a mountain stop in Iran, the players learned that the boys sta tioned there hadn't had fresh meat in weeks. They organized a hunt ing expedition and, armed with army pistols, shot 11 wild boars. Sir show was a great hit that it "We gave them ham, and fed them ham, too," they said. Thus, day in and day out the show goes on?making every stop on the "Icicle Circuit" along the Al can highway in Alaska; the "Fox hole Circuit" in the South Pacific; the "Desert Circuit" in Egypt, Africa, Iran, Lybja and Arabia. And as rapidly as our fighters advance. USO-camp shows are ordered up t* entertain the battle-weary combat troops and provide an antidote lor operational fatigue. > : . ^ act. Mat Bank's poise and respiration went op several potato when this band of entertainers dropped into this hospital teat In the Aleutians. Players left to rlfht are Naomi Stevens, Mary Lee, Grace and Harry Masters, and George Cerutti. Comedlaa 1m E. Brain leered the eoeth Peeile area far many Mania' Bert?he*b 'sfanra nUf' talnimr aeUfara at aa opea ab thea ter hi Aaetralla.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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June 22, 1944, edition 1
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