Pacific News-Review

Notes And Comment On

The Progress Of The War

From March 15 To April 15

Mar. 15: Americans, continuing their occupation of Philippines, after the cap ture of Manila, have occupied two islets, Romblon and Simara, eastwards of Mindoro.

Mar, 15: There is another lull pn both Western and Eastern Fronts in Europe.

Two American armies have begun a push south of the Moselle; Russian activity is confined mostly to clearing the Germans out of East Prussia.

Mar. 16: Japanese report an American invasion fleet north of Iwo Jima, appar ently preparing for an invasion of the Bonin Group, 520 miles from Japan.

Mar. 18: A battle is proceeding for the port of Stettin, at the mouth of the River Oder, Eastern Front.

Mar. 18: American tank columns are pushing south along the west bank of the Rhine and threaten to cut off the whole of the great Saar basin. The Allied bridgehead opposite Remagen, cap tured on March 7, is 14 miles long and over 7 miles deep, but the bridge, over which the Americans first crossed, has collapsed, and US troops in the bridge head are using pontoon bridges.

Mar. 18: Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima has collapsed. There have been almost 20,000 US casualties on the island of whom 4,000 have been killed and 441 missing. Possession of Iwo Jima brings the US air forces within effective range of Japan (750 miles).

Mar. 19: At dawn 300 Marianas-based Super-Fortresses released 2,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the Japanese city of Nagoya.

Mar. 20: The Germans’ western front is collapsing. Tens of thousands of Ger man troops are fleeing from their last pocket west of the Rhine. Mainz has been outflanked and the Germans have blown the four-track bridge there. Allied planes are blasting the retreating columns. Ger mans reported that the lower Rhine area is shrouded in artificial fog and that Montgomery’s armies are preparing to storm the river.

Mar. 20: American troops have landed on Philippines island of Panay (SW of Mindoro) with little resistance.

Mar. 21: The Germans have lost 40,000 men in the Saar in the last six days.

This is no longer an orderly retreat but a mad scramble to get away from the closing pincers of the American Third and Seventh Armies.

Mar. 21: American carrier - based planes on 19th attacked the principal units of the Japanese Fleet, sheltering in the Inland Sea. A crippling blow was inflicted on principal units and 477 enemy planes were destroyed. A 45,000 tons battleship was damaged.

Mar. 22: British and Indian troops have joined forces south of Mandalay, while the city itself has been formally taken over by the British Commander of the 14th Army.

Mar. 24: After unprecedentedly heavy air attacks on Germany, Field-Marshal Montgomery’s 21st Army Group began crossing the Lower Rhine in the Wesel area last night. British, Canadian, American and French armies are repre sented. They have established a bridge head 30 x 7 miles. Ferries shuttling back and forward across the Rhine are bring ing- masses of equipment and innumer able infantry divisions to the bridgehead.

Engineers have already completed three bridges. What has been described as the largest air-borne invasion in history accompanied the crossing. Allied casual ties have so far been light and 20,000 German prisoners have been captured.

Mr. Churchill and General Eisenhower

both watched the launching of the attack from Montgomery’s headquarters inside Germany. If the Allied troops can break out of the bridgehead they will be into the Ruhr and the plains of Northern Germany with little in the way of natural obstacles between them and the heart of the Reich.

Mar. 26: Russian armies have made two great breaches in the German line in Hungary and are now driving towards the border of Austria, 35 miles away. The drive menaces Hitler’s “fortress area” of Central Europe—the Nazis’ last hope of a refuge.

Mar. 27: Commander-in-Chief Eisen hower said to-day that the main German defence line in the West has been broken.

The whole German defence line in the West is collapsing as the Allies motor on into Germany. In Southern Germany, the armoured columns of General Pat ton’s Third US Army are running wild, and are threatening to drive through to the Czecho-Slovakia border, only 70 miles away. The US First Army, from the Remagen bridgehead, is driving through to Frankfurt. All correspondents agree that disaster for the German armies on the Western Front is imminent.

Mar. 28: Tokio radio continually refers to American “landings” in the Ryukyu Group, a chain which extends from south-west Japan to Formosa.

Mar. 30: It was announced to-day that General Eisenhower will be Supreme Commander in Occupied Germany.

Mar. 30: A British naval force made a carrier-based plane and warship attack on the southern Ryukyu Islands on March 26 and 27. This task force is a completely self-contained unit, and, in this instance, has operated separately from the US naval units.

Apl. 1: American troops have landed on Okinawa, main central island of tjie Ryukyu Group, 320 miles from Japan.

The landing followed a 10-days’ assault by American and British naval forces.- Apl. 2: The Allies, crossing the Rhine, have closed the Ruhr trap, and 40,000 German troops have been cut off. The Allies are sweeping on. British spear heads are 37 miles beyond Munster. Gen eral Patton’s Third Army has advanced to within 160 miles of Berlin, and has entered Cassel. North of Montgomery’s main thrust, Canadian forces have launched an offensive to liberate North ern Holland.

Apl. 2: The Russians, from the Austro- Hungarian border, have begun an all-out drive on Vienna, and have reached to within 28 miles south of the city.

Apl. 2: American troops landed on Okinawa Island (Ryukyu) without a shot being fired and by nightfall yesterday were three miles inland and in occupa tion of 11 villages and three airfields.

The Japs are reported to have 80,000 troops on the island, but they have not been encountered. Twelve hundred planes were attacking enemy positions on the island yesterday.

Apl. 3: The Germans are throwing every available man into the defence of Vienna. The Russians are 15 miles south.

Other Red units, advancing into Austria, have reached the Semmering Pass, thus cutting important road and rail links between Vienfia and Italy.

Apl. 4: Russian forces have entered the outer suburbs of Vienna and the suburbs of Bratislava (Czecho-Slovakia), 35 miles distant.

Apl. 4: American forces of General MacArthur’s command have landed in the Tawi Tawi Group (Sula Archipelago), only 30 miles from British North Borneo.

This base can now be used for operations north and south, and east Into the occupied Netherlands Indies. The land ings were made on Sanga Sango and Mongao, both of which are now com pletely in American hands.

Apl. 4: British 14th Army has now com pletely broken the Jap armies in Central Burma, south of Mandalay. Our planes are bombing the Jap railway from East Burma into Siam.

Apl. 5: British and American forces on the Western Front advanced 35 miles in 24 hours and are now across the Weser River, where it was thought the Ger mans might make a stand. British units are in Minden, 180 miles from Berlin.

Apl. 5: The Japanese Cabinet, led by General Koiso, resigned en bloc after a short session. It is believed in some quarters that this may be a preliminary to peace manoeuvres.

Apl. 5: Russia has formally denounced the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, made in April, 1941. This does not necessarily mean that Russia will declare war on Japan. According to the terms of the Pact, either party, should it wish to terminate the Pact, at the end of the first five-years period, must give one year’s notice.

Apl. 8: Allied air-borne troops, drop ped over a wide area east of the Zuider Zee, have helped to shut a trap on 100,000 Nazi troops in Holland. Others of Mont gomery’s forces are nearing Bremen and Hanover.

Apl. 8: The Japanese lost their re maining 45,000-tons battleship, “Yamato.” two cruisers, three destroyers and 391 planes, in an action off the Ryukyu Islands on April 6. The Jap squadron and air fleets came south to attack, and were destroyed by American air-power.

Apl. 9: Fires are blazing all over north west Germany as the Germans destroy stores that they cannot move. Hanover, Brunswick, Hamburg and Lubeck are in flames. The British Seventh Armoured Division (the Desert Rats) are reported to have entered the outskirts of Bremen.

The American Ninth, Seventh and First Armies, and the French, in the South, are now deep into Germany.

Apl. 9: A full-scale battle now has developed on Okinawa Island, where American troops are advancing on Naha, the capital. The US Commander de scribes the Japanese opposition as similar to that of Iwo Jima; strong fortifications are being met.

Apl. 10: The battle for Vienna is near its end—total Russian occupation is only a matter of hours. Konigsberg, capital of East Prussia, has fallen to the Red Army after a three-months’ siege.

Apl. 10: Picked SS units are defending Bremen fanatically, but British tanks and infantry are closing in for the kill.

They are still about 15 miles away but have encircled the city from all sides.

Apl. 11; American armoured columns have captured Hanover and British and Americans are now 20 miles north-east of the city and threatening to by-pass Bremen, where SS troops' are still put ting up fanatical resistance. Montgom ery’s troops are making a bid for the German North Sea ports.

Apl. 11: A large-scale Allied offensive has begun on the Italian front and the Eighth Army on the Adriatic sector has gone forward three miles. US troops have occupied Massa, on the west coast road.

Apl, 11: On Okinawa Island 320 miles from Japan, Americans are engaged in

one of the most savage battles of the Pacific war, Apl. 12: President Roosevelt died sud denly from cerebral haemorrhage at 3.45 p.m. This tragic news, which comes on the eve of the defeat of Germany, has stunned the people of the free world who looked to Roosevelt to play an important role in the forthcoming peace. It has now been revealed that he has been ill for six months, but this was kept secret for security reasons. He was resting at his country home when he died. Vice- President Senator Harry Truman becomes President.

Apl. 13; It is reported that Allied air borne troops have landed outside Berlin.

Our Armies are now covering 40 miles a day. It is expected in Washington that organised resistance in Germany will cease in a few days. Mr. Churchill, instead of flying to USA to the late Pre sident’s funeral, is standing by in Lon don.

Apl. 15: The American Ninth Army, which previously had crossed the River Elbe. 60 miles from Berlin, at two points, Jias been forced to withdraw from one of its bridgeheads in the face of increas ing German resistance. In Central Ger many, forces of the US Ninth Army are only 13 miles from Czecho-Slovakia. The Canadians have reached the North Sea in Northern Holland, 14 miles north-east of Leeuwarden. Von Papen, former Reich Chancellor and later. Ambassador to Turkey, has been captured by Ameri can forces in the Ruhr pocket.

Apl. 15: In a massed US air-raid on Tokio yesterday, the Imperial Palace, the Omiya Palace and the Grand Meiji Shrine were set on fire.

Dr. J. C. Lopdell, of the Medical Depart ment, Western Samoa, recentlv arrived in Apia with his family to take up duty.