The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, June 6, 1944, Page 1

4 = L 5 & £ VOL. XLIL, NO. 9671. ATILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” =i ME BER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS = ——— | JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 1944 ALLIES LAND INNORMANDY EARLY TODAY. First Blow Struck for Lib-- eration of People '; of Europe (By Associated Press) The first information of the in-| vasion of Europe came from Ber- lin when the German news agency Transocean, - reported in a broad- cast early today that Allied troops began landing near LeHavre at the mouth of the Seine River in France, and termed the blow the beginning of “invasion operations.” The next Berlin bulletin said Al- lied parachute troops have also dropped “on the northern tip of the Normandy Peninsula (France; but there is no Allied confirmation. LeHavre Shelled Immediately after the first two| Berlin broadcasts, came the third| Scale of Miles 1anos enp. (Continued on Page Two) | The Washington Merry - Go-Round By DREW PEARSON Col. Robert S. Allen now on active service with the Army.) | | @wt. caLAC WASHINGTON — Mrs. Roosevelt's blunt press conference remarks! about Winston Churchill's recent| speech in the House of Commons brought out publicly what lhosel around the White House ‘have; known for some time—that the| Firct Lady never has been too en-| thusiastic about the Prime Min- ister. Last summer, Churchill came to| Washington after Quebec dnd to-; gether with Harry Hopkins, occu—} ‘ pied one section of the White| House. There, military conferences; continued day and night, with the Prime Minister walking up and| down the White House cerridors in | flapping bedroom slippers ‘and a| great gold-and-red silk komono. l At that time, Mrs. Roosevelt is| said to have telephoned from New York to a member of her family in| ESTABLISH BEACHHEAD IN FR.AN{E Glider - borne and Sea- borne Troops Land at Normandy SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF the White House and to have tact- | THE ALLIED EXPED!TIONARY‘ fully inquired: | FORCES, June 6.—The Allies have “Is that man still there?” (She|invaded northwest France, estab- INVASION COAST OF - WESTERN EUROPE SOUTHAMPTON o EXETER PLYMOUTH FALMOUTH A I 1SLE OF WIGHT g IPSWICH o COLCHESTER o BRIGHTO! English Channel o W.Md' n‘:% CHaNNEL ISLANDS. wser 2 & emyond, L8P0 P v, O, s, oW ontnis i S SNy, N0y avouvions SECOND FRONT . 1S LONG TIME IN MAKING (AP Features) “Second front” has been perhaps the biggest phrase of World War II. It was discussed and debated for years, beginning in June, 1941, when Hitler turned against Russia and England, still wounded from Dunkerque and the Nazi aerial blitz, saw her chance to strike again jacross the channel. It became, fi- nally, the symbol of Allied victory. All through 1940 and the spring of 1941, England feared invasion of her own shores. Full-scale prep- arations had been made to defend gy Vo PO valt HILLS OF %, NORMANDY S VI ALENCON. ./ WEST WALL Rooosevelf | IS PROVEN VULNERABLE Observers Note No German Coastal Guns Challenge Allied Landings (By Associated Press) Pighter pilots returning covering the first invasion waves was not referring to the President.) It was not the way the Prime lishing a beachhead in the area de- |the island, even to the ringing of fined by the enemy as Normandy church bells to sound the invasion| “There was a helleva lot of ar- between Caen and Cherbourg. Am- | erican and British battleships shell- ed the coast and an estimated 11,- 1000 planes formed a canopy and other planes carried parachuters who dropped on enemy soil and Minister dressed or made himself at home in the White House that botheredl Mrs. Roosevelt. But, ac- cording to friends, she did feel that Mr. Churchill wore her husband :ll:e;:n:"ot:: ll:)‘;i h:;’;?’ al;?:t O;m;:hundreds of sea craft carried eager . - | American, Britons and Canadians of m, then stays up until about 3|p.nnoyers Command who stormed alarms. But when Hitler turned east, |the jnvasion threat moved away land second front plans took its| |place. The Russians began to call | |for it as their armies reeled back in the face of Hitler’s still invin- cible blitz machine and British | strategy moved toward making the| flier, “I've never seen ships in all my life.” He as well as others said that lots of shooting was going on at the beaches, but the troops got ashore well. Associated Press North Sea ~Chawon SRS (VEVRNE) « Brussets i\l BELGIUM v 3 G ol N\ Al S o e “osbunaix T e gl "y Sunnt’ R wondatun saiss o s gu'rox o e ®ARRAS oamin = ) Ty & TN LAON 0 AISNE BIvER Somions =, o« REIMS 71, e Lane oves =, e uatons . veRsAuLes, CAENAREA CENTER OF BIG BATTLE Germans Admit Penelra- fion of Normandy by Airborne Troops ~ Prayer Be | Broadeast 1 WASHINGTON, June 6.—Closet-| |ed in his bedroom, President Roose- | velt spent the early morning hours \on a prayer for victory which goes fon the air on all networks at 7 |p. m. Pacific time: He will read “me prayer and hopes the nation will join him. | The text reads in part: “With| LONDON, June 6.—The Germans | from | Thy blessing we shall prevail over made no effort to minimize the the unholy forces of the énemy. scope of the onslaughts, but made said things already seemed well or- |Lead us to the saving of our coun- \'thflr expected claims that they |ganized on the beaches. |try and with our sister nations have wiped out many of the air- |into world unity that will spell & borne troops and have scored hits | mored stuff on the beach that look- sure peace, peace that will be in-|¢n numerous warships and trans- |ed like tanks,” said one Canadian vulnerable against the schemings ports at sea, but all these claims so many Of unworthy men. Thy will belare without confirmation. The German radio admitted that |Normandy has been penetrated by initial line of defenses of the irborne troops. “in great depth” TIRBRARIEA Atlentis wall® and said it was a grand style opera- Swedish correspondents reported tion both in area and numbers of |done, Almighty God.” correspondents from Germany that the Allies land- troops.. The channel weather was some- D-Day Starts Wiih Coast Bombardment Tanks and Irniarrflry Landin| Tremendous Strength | for Grand Assault SUPREME Ii‘éfi;xz(IAl{TEHS oFr THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY; FORCE, June 6. Allied _ troops | landed on the Normandy coast in | tremendous strength on a cloudy | day and stormed several miles in-| land with tanks and infantry in a| grand assault. German broadcasts said the Allies | have penetrated several kilometers| between Caen and Isigny, which are | 35 miles apart, and nine miles re- spectively from the sea. Opposition was apparently less effective than expected although fierce in places. The Germans sald they are bringing reinforecements | continuously to the coast where “a battle for life or death is in prog- ress.” In addition to the first landings, the Germans said, subsequent ones | were made west of Cherbourg, in-| dicating the Allies intend to seize | the Normandy Peninsula ports and | airdromes as the first base of the, campaign. Supremé headquarters was silent | 2s to the exact areas of the landings | aside from confirming Normandy as | the general area of the assault. | | Reds Mass Troops i From Moscow came word that the Russian Army is massing in prep- | | aration for another great attack. Allied planes preceded the land- | ings with a steady 96-hour bom- | bardment. The absence of German | aerial opposition was remarked by | nearly all returned fliers and cor-| respondents, as the Germans are | known to have 1,750 fighters and 500 | bombers available. German naval opposition was con- | fined to destroyers and motor tor- Ipedo boats. In a defiant gesture, |some German cross channel guns ! opened a sporadic, fire on Dover. | Hitler Intuition | Unconfirmed reports that Hitler | is rushing to France to try his in-| | tuition against the Allied operations | are belng circulated. The Germans said the American 82nd and 101st parachute divisions, were Janded along with the Amer- ican 28th and 100th airborne divi- sions, the British First and Sixth airborne divisions, all operating in the Seine Bay area. The Nazis complained that at some points dummy parachutists were dropped exploding on touch. Ships Shell Coast ‘Warships of both the British and U. 8. navies, including British and American battleships, hurled shells into the coastal defenses the Ger- | mans have been building for four years, and great flotillas of mine- | Is Ungway fre ONE MILLION MEN STARTED ONINVASION Greatest Overseas Military Operation in Hisfory i Bl AR i BULTLEIN SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF ALLIED EXPEDITION- ARY FORCES, June 6.—Tre- mendous forces of Allied tanks and infantry have smashed through the first defenses of the German Atlantic wall along the Normandy coast of France and have driven several miles inland through surprisingly weak enemy resistance. The assault is aimed directly at Paris. “The forces were ferried across a white-capped Channel. The great armada of 4000 ships and thousands of light craft were screened from above by a thun- dering fleet of 11,000 Allied warplanes. The American, British and Canadian troops hit the beaches along a front roughly estimated at 100 miles, between Cher- bourg and LeHavre. Airborne troops captured several strateg- ic bridges inside France before the enemy could destroy them. “There is even fighting in the small town of Caen, mine miles inland near the base of the Cherbourg Peninsula, west and slightly south of LeHavre.” SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 6.—American, Brit- ish and. Canadian troops landed in northern France this morning, launching the greatest overseas military operation in history. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower told them before taking off: “We will accept nothing except full victory” over the Germans. The first communique sald: “Under the command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies this imorning on the northern coast of { France.” e | British Gen. Sir Bernard L. Mont- :gamery. hero of the African desert, |15 in charge of the assault, and the location of the landing was not at first announced, but three hours previous to the Allied com- |munique the German radio poured forth a series of flashes reporting |the Allies were landing between Le- iHavre and Cherbourg, on the south side of the Bay of Seine and the north coast of Nermandy, almost straight across the channel and |south of the British ports of Has- a.m. Meanwhile, the President had ;g5re petween midnight and 2:25 to face his regular routine all day , n (Eastern Standard Time) and long.) { were soon smashing their way in- lcries a reality. Commandos made WhO flew over the scene in a B-26'ed at 12 points between tn |small and isolated raids along me*bomber reported they §aw hundreds and Vire Rivers with the o« Also, Mrs. Roosevelt, to her in-ijang or digging in. |Nazi-held coast, destroying vital of pa(x;nchutes and gliders on m"[asemult directed at Caen, timates, has made no secret of her| Several divisions of plane and |installations and probing for weak‘g""A"nN' S AT inland at the base of t! belief that Mr. Churchill is Wving | glider borne troops landed behind SPOUS- ol reporter Who hourg Peninsula. ' in the political past as far as the the German lines and more thous- | Germany’s declaration of Wflfi:l:‘:' ‘:,Zf;nfij’,g'"‘;:fd‘." .f,';f,ts“;“ ;:‘;fi‘ Mrs. Bess Paden, clerk empire is concerned. She has en-|ands established offensive pockets. |against the United States gave g o r i gun was firing in Indian Affairs School a ther liberal views on i |impetus to second front talk, and tertained ra The German broadcast said four al 4\ the entire_invasion zone.” Moustitn nnd wite af Gy sweepers led the the way to the ! tings, Brighton and Portsmouth. beaches. P 2 Prime Minister Winston Churehill | gputie o g domes m"‘: - or- began. | sajq 4,000 ships and thou Duiimies Dropped | smaller craft took the lan :‘::d:h‘;';d'::nb*n engaged by Allied sources said that para-|jn, The Allies have about 11,000 the chutists were dropped through low first line aircraft which they cun Great Crusade White clouds,” while the Germans com-|draw upon as needed. Chorehill Gen. Eisenhower told the troops they were “embarking on a great ] d ot itish possessions, British divisis d d less than two months after Am: rrinels iplained that in some places dum-|said, and called the operatinn “un- Apdia st ety A o3 S fyad By als 404, el | 'NBC said this indieated thot “we Pal, 1s in Juneau enroutc (o ihe| | (Continued on Page Two) (Continued on Page Stx) * | what unsettled but the sun broke s through occasionally and the wind 1~ Moderated as the invasion 5 \Cununued' on Page Six) (Continued on Page Six) Xhuve completely ¥nocked out the States. E , (Continued on Page Two) (Continued on Page Four)