f] THE SBWp Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces?****^ * in the European Theater of Operations Vol. 1 No. 50 New York—London—Rennes Wednesday, Aug. 30. 1944 Yanks Race Toward Germany U.S. Army Gives Aazis Some 'Blitzkrieg' Lessons 96 Mi. From Border; Chal ons, Vitre Fall To Lightning Thrust U.S. Troops Converging On Reims; Chateau-Thierry Is Liberated; Gains Made at Brest Sweeping ahead 100 miles east of Paris, American troops last night were reported within 96 miles of the German border after capturing Chalons sur Marne and Vitry le Francois, while other U. S. columns, which liberated Chateau-Thierry and Soissons yesterday, were con- Stars and Stripes Map by Bert Marsli verging on the cathedraj city of Reims. After liberating Chateau-Thierry, Soissons, Chalons sur Marne and Vitry la Francois, American troops last Meanwhile, Allied military observers estimated that German cas- night were within 96 miles of the German border and 60 miles of Belgium's frontier. A north-east-west ualties in northwestern France since D-Day totalled 330,000 with the assault also was being carried out against the German garrison at Brest. announcement that 92,000 prisoners had been taken from Aug. 10 to 25, including about 42,000 captured in the Falaise-Argentan pocket. Other War Fronts The enemy's dead were estimated at 25,000 for this period. The majority* of the German Seventh Army's tanks, vehicles and 8th Infantry, 4th Armored other equipment was made ineffective in this period, it was said. Three thousand vehicles, 160 tanks, Red Land-Sea and 180 guns were captured by Al- lied soldiers. Took Part in Brittany Drive The swift advance by Lt. Gen George S. Patton's armor and troops 1,250 Heavies Smash Takes Two divisions which took part in the lightning thrust to cut off the brought renewed significance to Gen. Brittany Peninsula—the Eighth Infantry and the Fourth Armored— Dwight D. Eisenhower's broadcast to were taken off the secret list last night. the French in Alsace-Lorraine telling Raid Balkans, ConstanzaPort While the Fourth Armored was described as "the knife that cut off them that they were in the 'rear the peninsula," the Eighth Infantry was identified1 as one of the out- area of military operations" and may fits which followed on the heels of soon be in the theater of war. Central Europe Nazi Observer Admits the armor in the 10-day smash to New York radio, quoting Swiss re- seal off Brest, now being assaulted ports said that "the Germans are Soviet Breakthrough Nazi Retreat from the north, east and south. pulling out of Belfort and are taking Fighter - Bombers Hit Called the "American Elite Fourth up positions on the Siegfried Line." In Rumania Armored Division" in enemy broad- Berlin said that American troops Belgium, France casts, the Fourth jumped off at already • had reached Reims, only In South a Rout 108 miles from Saarbrucken, and ' Soviet forces, in a swift two- Raids, in Normandy, on July 27, and Reich raced through Periers, took Ccu- were driving for Nancy and Metz. pronged thrust by land and sea, have In the renewed Brittany penin- captured the vital Rumanian Black The German retreat in Southern tances and Sartilly, captured Av- More than 1,250 heavy bombers France had become a complete rout ranches after savage fighting, and sula campaign, small but steady Sea port of Constanza, Marshal piunged 140 miles into Brittany. gains were reported against the weil- from Mediterranean bases yesterday Stalin announced last night. last night as American forces organized German opposition at the attacked enemy targets in central harried and smashed what remained Meanwhile, the Eighth Infantry Europe and the Balkans. In an order of the day, Stalin Division, after taking part in the vital Atlantic port of Brest. U. S. told how tanks and motorized forces of the German forces in full flight break through along the Ay River, troops are closing in on the port While 750 bombers struck railway up the Rhone River valley toward from rhe north, east and west. bridges and communications centers of the Third Ukrainian front, with started its 112-mile drive that swept in Hungary and Northern Italy, more landing parties of the Black Sea Lyons. through Coutances, Avranches and Northwest of Paris, on the Seine, The German ■ forces, estimated at calminated with the capture of the American bridgehead at Mantes then 500 other Fortresses and Lib- fleet, stormed and captured the port Gassicourt and Vernon have been erators raided objectives in Czecho- which for three years served as the 15,000. men, were leaving huge Rennes, original capital of Brittany. slovakia. main German naval base on the quantities of supplies and bogged Previously the Eighth had taken linked up to give the Allies a solid part in the battie near La Haye du bridgehead of 18 miles at the oase. In their first high-level bombing Black Sea, and which is a terminus down transport in their desperate The two other Allied bridgeheads mission in the Mediterranean thea- of the Ploesti oil pipeline. effort to escape American blows Puits. Maj. Gen. John S. Wood, Ar- across the Seine from Paris to the ter, Lightning fighter-bombers at- Meanwhile, Col. Von Olberg, Nazi from the rear and the flank. sea were also extended. tacked Trieste yesterday. military commentator, admitted in kansas-born West Pointer, com- One report last night said the mands the Fourth Armored, while Canadian troops were reported to 'Meanwhile, Eighth Air Force fight- his broadcast last night that the be meeting, increasingly heavy op- Russians, had accomplished a Yanks now have command of all Brig. Gen. Donald A. Stroh, of er-bombers were over Belgium, complete breakthrough in Rumania. the mountain passes through the Washington, D. C„ leads the Eighth position as they came to within France and Western Germany yes- He explained the Russian successes Alps between southeastern France Infantry. three miles of Rouen, which prob- terday, bombing and strafing enemy on the basis of the Rumanian swing ancf Italy. The Fourth Armored was credit- ably will be bitterly contested by the communications without opposition, from fighting the Reds to aiding The Maquis continued its activity ed with capturing more than 8,000 Nazis. USSTAF announced. them. in southern France yesterday, and Germans during its Brittany Penins- German troops still are crossing Essen was raided by Mosquito the river • barges, but Allied planes At the same time, fighting was re- a communique from Gen. Koenig's ula drive, and cutting off thousands bombers Monday night and oth^r ported last night on the Hungarian headquarters said the FFI have of enemy naval personnel in the continued to bomb and strafe them, RAF planes attacked 12 flying bomb border and at the oil refinery center liberated 45 towns, cleared 15 depart- major U-boat base of Lorient. forcing the Nazis to abandon much sites. of Ploesti between Rumanian and ments of the enemy, killed 3,000 Ger- Prisoners who had heard of the of their equipment. German forces. mans arid taken another 9,000 pri- division before their capture called soner. it the "Fourth Panzers." CHURCHILL HOME Silver Stars have been awarded LONDON, Aug. 29—Prime Minister Sees Vets As Gothic Line Reached to 37 members of the division, in- Winston Churchill returned to Eng- By Italy Forces Nazi Tank Shell Continued on Page 4 land from Italy late this afternoon. National Unit Advance units of the Eighth Army, Hits U.S. Medium, driving forward along the whole Paris Sees Liberation Parade; SEATTLE, Aug. 29—The certain front between Florence and the emergence of this war's veterans as Adriatic, last night were reported to But That's All one of four major groups affecting have reached the outer defenses of American economy was forecast here the German Gothic Line in Italy. By Ray Lee t'sOnly a Breather for Yanks last night in a speech by Chester Allied guns yesterday began to shell Stars and Stripes Staff Writer • Bowles, chief of the Office of Price the Gothic Line. WITH A U. S. ARMORED BAT- By Jules B. Grad Arc de Triomphe. It was a simple Administration. This marked the end of the Ger- TALION, Aug. 29—Lt. Col. Lindsey Stars and Stripes Staff Writer ceremony. There were no formal Returning soldiers and sailors will man withdrawal to their last line of Herkness, of Philadelphia, already PARIS, Aug. 29—For two hours speeches, but as the French people join farmers, labor and management defense in Northern Italy. has the Purple Heart, but expresses 15,000 American doughboys passed in stood silently watching, the elo- as a major factor in American life Polish troops have been combined the belief that he and his tank crew review before high-ranking U. S. and quence of the moment seemed a and must work with them to "insure are living a charmed life. thousand times more impressive than a stable full-employment economy" with the British forces assaulting French officers today while many ail the fancy addresses of the mo- after the war, Bowles urged. the line. Just outside Caudebec-les-Elbeul, more thousands lined the broad ave- Herkness' tank, although receiving a ment. Failure of veterans and others to Meanwhile, planes of the Mediter- nue of the Champs d'Elysees and When the officers had once again work together might lead to "the ranean Air Forces yesterday attack- direct hit from a Mark V, was not put out of action. wildly cheered the newly-arrived lib- climbed to the flag-bedecked review- eventual collapse of our democracy," ed bridges on the sole German trans- erators.