The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-07-05
The American Soldier

The battle for Cherbourg is over, but only
now that all the reports from both official
sources and battlefront correspondents are at
hand is it possible to realize what grim
and bitter struggle it was. BY all accounts It
was marked by the fiercest fighting OF the
whole invasion, fiercer even than the first
assault on the Norman beaches. For here there
was neither strategic nor tactical surprise,
nor improvised or still incomplete defenses.
On the contrary, the Germans could fall back
on a super-modern fortress and city which
combined all the defense features OF both the
Magnot Line or any German wall, and
Stalngrad. There were strong forts with elabo-
rate underground tunnels and powerful gun
turrets There were heavy guns hidden and
protected by masses of concrete. There were
rows of pilboxes of the latest design. There
was large-sized city in which many houses
had been fortified and which had to be captur-
ed house by house and street by street. There
was, finally, strong and fanatlcal German
defense force which refused all ultipatums to
surrender and for the most part fought to the
last bullet, some groups even preferring to
immune themselves in the fortress tunnels fo-
a fight to the death.
Despite all that Cherbourg fell within week
it's defenses And this country will take special
pride in the fact that it was an all-American
performance. AS General Bradley says, the
job done by our troops was magnificent"
But it was more than that. Cherbourg con-
firmed what previous performances in Africa,
in Itzly, in the Pacific had already amply
indicated-the American Army has come Of age
and now ranknwith the best in the world in
fighting proves, in battle skill and in general
ship. Gone are the days when the temper OF
our youth caused worries about its fighting mo-
rale Gone are the days of the early cam
paign in Tunisia when it was necessary to
assure the country that, while our troops were
still green and had to overcome their buck
fever, they were on the whole doing we'll
enough Some of the troops that charged up the
beaches of Normandy and into Cherbourg were
also green in tho sense that they had never
been under hostile fire before, but there was
"buck fever" no hesitation, no fumbllng
They fought like veterans, and while part OF
the credit for this must go to the training they
have received, their whole performance is first
of all tribute to the spirit that is in them
It has been the hackneyed theme Of enemy
propaganda that the American soldiers are
homesick jazz-crazed, immature boys who do
not know what they are fighting for and whose
fighting morale could best be undermined by
lullabies of home or an offer OF the joys OF
enemy prison camps In part this enemy theme
has found support in some Of the more lugu-
brious reports from the battlefronts. No doubt
our soldiers have learned to love home and
country more than ever, and in contrast to the
Nazi fanatics they have no love for fighting for
its own sake, or for the heroics with which
our enemies seek to whip up their own courage.
Even in uniform they are still primarily civil
ians and normal human beings, with normal
instincts and desires, and they make no secret
of this. But beneath some of the SUPERFICIAL
ties and some of the inarticulateness about
fundamentals that are part of the conventional
American pattern, there is also something else
something which was always there and which
the war has again brought to fore-and that
is the iron in the American soul. The enemy
is discovering that, and America will have
further proof of it before the fighting ends
New York Times.
-V-
There is still tough fight ahead of us.
The war is not yet won; it will be won the
sooner if everybody in war work sticks to his
Job till complete victory has been attained
General Marshall, Admiral King, General Ar
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