davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1944-08-16
On the Record
By Dorothy THOMPSON

The stand of the mad commander"
Col. Andreas Won Aulock, at St. Malo,
Is microcoSm Of the whole German
situation. Completely surrounded and
cut of from any possible help, Col. Won
Aulock Is slaughtering our men and his
own in totally futile resistance. Fur
thermore, If we are to credit the state
ment Of American prisoners, who were
exchanged by him in return for medical
supplies from our lines, his troops know
this. They also speak Of him as mad"
American officers tapped a telephone
line leading into the citadel, and asked
in a more or less friendly manner, why
hopeless" The Germans in the citadel
agreed, but said, I'VE can't do a thing;
the commander won't let U.S."
In st. Malo there also has been a
total mobilization like that Of Goebbels ,
and even the cooks are fighting when
they know it is suicide.
This little story ought to open our
minds to the truth of truths that all
free men must learn. 1t is this: Once
a people surrenders it liberties, for what
ever reason, it never again can recap
ture them. Only Comdr Aulock can
give his troops liberty from certain
death. Comdr. Aulock, they say, is mad
but madness has become q matter of
viewpoint. II the Nazis think it is not
madness to wreck Germany and destroy
the German people before they 60 down
before our arms, they can do So For
never once, since they relinquished their
liberties to Hitler. have the German
people been able to control an iota of
their fate
Those who still have liberty cannot
believe this. They have said, If the
German people wanted freedom, they
would revolt" They cannot revolt, and
Germany, like every other country
which the Nazis occupy, only can be
liberated by our arms.
Consider the present situation of Ger
many.
The German general staff knows that
the war is irretrievably lost. Some of
them have tried to revolt, in order to
save Germany from further senseless
destruction. We cannot assume that
Field Marshal Erwin Won Witzleben and
other generals have been isolated per-
sonalities. The enmity against the Hit
ler regime was certainly stronger in
many other strata of the German ma
ton than in the officers corps In the
last comparatively free elections, there
were five to six million Communist vot-
Evening star., 1944-08-16

ers, and millions OF them must still be
alive. They cannot like this war.
There were seven to eight million So
cial Democrats, who certainly cannot
like the regime or the war. But whether
or not they liked It at the beginning,
the German people as whole now know
the regime has lost them a war They
are therefore daily committing suicide.
The new mobilization, from a propa-
ganda viewpoint, is terrible Men and
women exempted from military service
for five years, are now called up. The
last vestigial remains of normal civilian
life are being destroyed. Early in July.
I read in German newspaper that
100000 people, fourth of the popu-
lation, are being fed in communal kitch-
ems, since the home preparation of
meals is out of the question.
Ten to twelve million foreigners, who
are certainly against continuing the war,
are working in German factories inside
Germany. German casualties have been
estimated by our authorities at 5000, ,OO0
That may be too high, but it is certain
that they far exceed any losses under
which the German people broke in the
last war.
Furthermore, although the Anglo
American powers have given the Ger
man people no encouragement to revolt,
this is not true of the Russians. Twen-
ty-odd German generals are working
with the Russian propaganda to Ger
many-something hitherto inconceiv-
able, in the history of Germany or any
other nation.
And still the regime holds, and dares
to hang field marshal and men whose
names are as closely associated with
German history as the names Lowell" !"
Cabot" or Adams" are with New Eng
land.
Not only that-neither Norwegians,
nor Czechs, nor Poles revolt until Allied
armies are on their soil. There are
martyrs in all countries, as there have
been in Germany. But the liberation
of France is the work of the Anglo
American armies and not the result of
a general uprising-even when our
armies approach Paris.
So we must learn the lesson. In the
modern world a nation which relin-
quishes popular control over its destiny
takes an action that is irreversible once
the tyrant has established and solidified
his regime. Such is the monstrous power
OF organized terror. arbitrary law and
the state that can liquidate opposition.
(Released by the Bell Syndicate, Incl
Evening star., 1944-08-16
Not the Same Thinq

During discussion of the Tydings
bill for an adequate hospital in
Washington, the question was raised
why funds made available by Con-
gress for emergency hospital con-
struction in the District were not
used. Some of them were. But as
Major General Philip B. Fleming,
Federal Works Administrator, so
quickly explained, the restraint on
expenditures resulted from War
Production Board refusal to release
critical materials, not from any dis
inclination by the Federal Works
Administration to provide the beds
authorized by Lanham Act appro-
priations.
AS matter of fact, substantial
additions, in Washington and in the
adjoining counties, of hospital facil-
tiles have been made by Lanham Act
funds. These have helped during
the war emergency and will continue
to serve a highly useful purpose
after the emergency has passed.
But it would be a mistake to confuse
the sort of hospital construction
authorized under Lanham Act funds
with the hospital construction
sought in the Tydings bill. Even if
all the Lanham Act money and more
had been used to build hospitals,
Washington still would be shy of the
type of facilities needed after the
war.
The Tydings bill offers an oppor-
tunity to turn new leaf in hospital
construction and management,
proflting by mistakes of the past
and catering to a future demand
far exceeding anything we have
known in the past. The demand
will not be the result of more illness,
or higher population. 1t will spring
from new conceptions of medical
care, in the provision of which the
hospitals will fill broader role than
IN the past. More physicians will
demand disqualification of patients
previously treated at home and more
people, because of reduced costs, will
be able to afford hospital care.
The hospital of the future, en-
visioned under terms of the Tydings
bill, has little connection with emer-
gency construction to provide more
bed space for war-swollen
population.
Evening star., 1944-08-16
This Changing World
By Constantine Broscn

The next 10 days may prove the mns&
important and most dramatic Of the
entire war No wholesale surrender of
the Nazis Is yet expected, but there Is
. strong possibility that the German
forces will be so badly mauled that even
q purely defensive strategy will become
useless.
Marshal Guenther Won Kluge is des-
perately attempting to save as many
cohesive divisions as possible from the
trap Gen. Eisenhower has laid for him.
He will try to make major stand on
the Seine Oise-Marne line. The major
part of the German forces In southern
France, although expecting an Allied
landing In that area, were withdrawn
to northeastern France weeks ago.
Only token covering force is oppos-
ing the Allies on the landing beaches
The rest Of the troops are already be-
yond Paris.
After the unsuccessful attempt to
stall the American offensive which re-
suited in the joining Of the Canadian
and British Armies south of Caen. Mar
shal Won Kluge ordered a hasty re-
treat eastward Whether his troops will
succeed in escaping will be known this
week.
There is every indication that the
Germans will not defend Paris. The
Notifications which have been thrown
around the capital were intended to
have more of psychological than mill
tary value. The German high COM
mand expected the specter of total
destruction of Paris to prevent mass
uprisings in the rear of the Nazi forces.
Many military observers are convinced
that the city will be liberated before the
end of this month.
If all our plans are as successful as
they have been in the last 2 weeks it
is probable that the battle line will be
established in the same area where 1T
was early in World War l.
OF course, the main interest today is
centered on what is happening in the
Reich itself and how the German people
will take these new defeats on The
western front.
From all available information, Hit
Ter Is more concerned at this time with
the reorganization of the home front
Evening star., 1944-08-16
The Twelfth Army Group

From squads to platoonS to COM
panies to battalions to regiments to
divisions to corps to armies, the
troops which swarmed ashore on
the Normandy beaches June 6 have
grown now, for the first time in our
military history, to groups Of armies.
The chief significance of Lieuten-
ant General Omar Bradley's des-
ignation as commander of a new
army group-the Twelfth-is the
size of the operations which it de-
notes. That size has made imprac-
tical a continuation of the flow of
command from General Eisenhower
to a deputy, General Montgomery,
who co-ordinated command between
the various elements making up the
original forces. General Montgom-
cry, commanding one army group
and General Bradley another, now
work directly under General Eisen-
hover. AS the newly established
beachheads of Southern France ex-
pand in depth, and as more troops
pour in through this gateway, still
another group of armies may be ex-
pected to stem from there.
General Bradley is taking over a
command that originally may have
been intended for General McNair,
whose tragic death at the front re-
quired a change of plans. He has
already made a name for himself
and a reputation that establishes
him as one of the great soldiers of
this war. He has risen rapidly, as
all our top commanders have done,
but each increase in military re-
sponsibility has found him ready for
another distinguished display of
ability. He is expected to go on
to even greater things as we move
forward.
Evening star., 1944-08-16

and OF the command of the armies
than with the actual battles now in
progress. He Is said to believe that II
the German nation can be strongly
aligned behind him in q suicidal de-.
termination to resist the Allies regard
less Of the consequences, he can still
hope for q stalemate. The reorganiza-
tion now taking place in the Reich can
be described as national communism
rather than national socialism. More
accent Is being placed on the ildoc-
tr1nation OF the troops than OH their
military training. The political leaders
are more powerful than the units COM
manders. Less than SO per cent of the
Wehrmacht has been national socialist
IN the past. The influence of the off,
GERS who were no different from those
OF the old army is strong with the nght-
ing men.
The fact that Marshal Won Paulus,
the commander of the Nazi forces at
Stalingrad, has come out and denounced
Hitler Is considered important in Allied
quarters. Heretofore the Free Ger
many Committee was led by Paulus' Sec
ond in command, 1t. Gen. Walter Won
Seydlitz. Paulus had refused to have
anything to do with this organization.
The execution Of Marshal Won Witzleben
Is said to have been the determining
factor in his change of mind.
However, not many high-ranking Ger
man generals in the future will have a
chance to tell their men that Hitler has
been the cause of the German military
disasters. Heinrich Himmler is taking
good care to dispose of those whose loy-
atty is even vaguely suspected.
Whether the drastic steps taken by
Hitler, which observers describe as a
communication" of the Reich, will re-
suit in the German soldiers fighting
with the same enthusiasm as the Red
soldiers fought in their difficult days of
194l and 1912 is another matter.
Russia then was strongly supported by
the United States and Great Britain
This was no mean argument in the
hands of the Russian commander in
chief to encourage his men to hold on.
No such hope can be furnished to the
German fighting men
Evening star., 1944-08-16

II divisions and borne divisions (not
all Of these landed on D-day, of course,
but that was the size of the force whose
leading elements began to 60 ashore on
that day..
No Allied official statement has been
made about the places we have landed
except that they are between Nice and
Marseille, which covers a good deal Of
ground. The Germans are more pre-
else; they say that we are going ashore
along a stretch of coast between
St. Raphael and Cape Camarat which
would include the Gulf of Frejus and
the Gulf of St. Tropez within our beach,
head area. This statement is partly
borne out by the report of CHS Core
spondent Eric Sevareid, who says that
some of our air-borne troops landed in
the valley of the Argens River, which
reaches the sea in the Gulf Of Frejus.
If this report is true, it might sug-
gest an Allied intention to drive toward
Toulon up the valleys of the Argens and
Allie Rivers, through the comparatively
easy country lying between the wild hill
region Of the Monts des Maures and
the outer foothills of the Maritime Alps.
Certainly the Allies will require serv-
1ceable seaport as soon as they can get
one, just as they did in Normandy.
Toulon would serve their immediate
needs admirably, provided the harbor
is not too badly blocked by the sunken
hulls Of the French feet, Marseille is,
OF course, a much more commodious
seaport, but it is farther away from the
reported Allied landing area and it is
possibly that it may represent the focal
point OF the German defense. If the
Germans are going to make fight in
Southern France at all, it is Marseille
which they would be most loath to give
up-not only because it is a great sea-
port, but also because the liberation of
the second city in France would repre-
sent gain of tremendous moral value
to the Allied cause, and would send a
wave Of hope and perhaps Of sudden
revolt right across the whole of Southern
France.
1t Is, however, entirely possible that
the Germans cannot help themselves.
They no longer have the troops to de-
fend everything they now hold. France
is already seething with excitement.
Gen. de Gaulle has called on all his
countrymen to take up arms against
the invader. The arrival of the Allied
forces In Southern France may well be
the signal which will set Frenchmen
everywhere upon the march.
(copyrisht, 1914. New York Tribune. fnc)
Evening star., 1944-08-16
"A More Detailed Policy
ON the London Daily Herald


An engine cannot work without mo-
tive power, and no inter-Allied consul
tative body can progress far toward
the solution of European problems un-
less the Governments have agreed upon
the line along which solutions should
be sought. 1t may be said that the
Atlantic Charter gives the line. and SO
1t does-but in terms so general that
they can be, and are, easily misread
or distorted when they are applied to
particular problems. Some of us think
that our own Prime Minister is in con-
siderable danger of misinterpreting the
charter under pressure of expediency.
The one way to avoid fatal errors, to
ease and expedite the process of CO.
ordinating Allied political strategy, is
for the Governments to evolve a far
more detailed policy based on the decla-
rations which they have made and
which their peoples have warmly in
dOrSed.
Evening star., 1944-08-16

probably also had In mind the uni
versal japanese belief that theirs Is
the "land Of the gods," whose divine
favor has shielded Japan from for
eign invasion throughout her entire
history. Nothing but q postwar
occupation Of at least certain key
points by the victors would presum-
ably sufiice to destroy the deep
rooted popular belief in Japan's
inviolability and invincibility. That
is another way of saying that the
defeat Of Japan must be more than
physical. 1t must be psychological
aS well.
Evening star., 1944-08-16
Second Invasion of France

Inc Allied landings on the French
Mediterranean coast are highly i'm
portant and form an integral part
of the United Nations master plan
for the reduction of Hitler's Euro
pean Fortress. This operation
should, however, be seen in its due
perspective II 1t is to be correctly
evaluated.
To begin with, it should be obvious
that landings on the French Riviera
have only remote strategic con-
nection with the crucial campaign
in Northwestern France. It is
nearly 500 airline miles from the
Riviera to the Falaise -Argentan
bottleneck through which the Ger
man Seventh Army is trying to
squeeze itself. and most OF the
intervening terrain is rugged,
mountainous country with difficult
communications. The logical de-
duction is that this is a true second
invasion, with distinct strategic aims.
Those aims may be roughly fore
shadowed by the point of attack.
The landings were made east of
Toulon, the great French Mediter-
ranean naval base which is itself
only forty miles east of the port
metropolis of Marseilles. The pri-
mary objective is clearly to obtain
those vital bases, the only good har-
bors on the French Mediterranean
coast. Unless the Germans have so
stripped their forces in this area
that they are merely a thin screen,
we may anticipate some hard fight
ing before Toulon and Marseilles are
captured, because both are strongly
fortified from the land as we'll as
from the sea side. We may likewise
anticipate the destruction of their
harbor installations by the Germans
on the Cherbourg pattern, which
implies some delay in restoring them
to usefulness as ports of entry for
our invading armies.
However, since it is unlikely that
the overextended Wehrmacht can
have as strong forces in Southern
France as In the north, we may
safely assume that, even before the
taking OF Toulon and MarSeilles, our
troops will begin to work toward
their second objectives. These can
be either an advance eastward
toward the Italian border or west
ward up the valley of the Rhone.
And, offhand, the Italian operation
would seem to be the more imme-
diately practicable. 1t is less than
100 miles from the French border
to Genoa, the port-metropolis of
Northern Italy, though the way
thither is along a narrow littoral
of mountain-backed coast. The
Rhone Valley, starting with a wide,
marshy delta, soon narrows between
mountain ranges into corridor
dominated at every point by long
range artillery. 1t is not an easy
road into the heart of France.
These are the outstanding basic
factors in the military situation
created by the Allied invasion of
the Riviera. Subsequent develop
ments will depend upon the relative
strength of the contestants and the
repercussions of the campaigns in
both Northwestern France and
North-Central Italy. More cannot
profitably be forecast at this ini-
tial stage>~
Evening star., 1944-08-16
Blacklist Threats

One OF the by-products of the
Philadelphia transportation strike
has been surprising amount of
loose talk to the effect that partici-
pants in the strike were faced with
the prospect of being "blacklisted"
and barred from industrial employ
ment for the duration of the war.
On August 5 Major General Philip
Hayes, assigned to take over the
strlke-bound transit lines, issued a
formal statement which appeared to
lay a foundation for blacklisting
strikers who refused to return to
work. More recently, it was reported
apparently without factual basis
that one of the strikers had been
discharged and would be barred
from any other industrial job while
the war lasts.
In an effort to clarity this SEEM
1ngly arbitrary and illegal proce-
dure, The Star communicated with
all OF the officials involved. Their
explanations make it clear that the
blacklist threat is bogeyman. 1t
may be used to discourage strikes.
but 1t is not being used to drive any
one into economic exile.
When a strike occurs, the War
Manpower Commission, on the
theory that strikers retain their
status as employees, will refuse to
refer them to other jobs. But if a
man quits his job, he cannot be kept
in enforced idleness for more than
sixty days under VINO regulations.
And If he is discharged, he becomes
eligible for other employment at
once so far as VINO is concerned.
The August. S statement was a
carefully and rather trickily worded
document. 1t said that the VINO
will not refer to any other job any
worker who refuses to return to his
regular work" with the Philadelphia
Transportation Company within the
deadline set by General Hayes. The
statement added that "this will con-
tinue for the duration of the war"
Perhaps that was intended to i'm
press the strikers with the belief
that they were to be blacklisted for
the duration. But it should be noted
that the statement refers to workers,
and General Hayes served notice
that any strikers who failed to re-
turn within the deadline would be
dismissed. This means that they
would no longer be workers. and
therefore the VINO threat would not
apply to them.
The most that can be said of this
IS that the VINO, through it's re-
gional office, stretched a point in the
use of implied threats in an effort to
get the strikers back to work. That
Evening star., 1944-08-16
New German Problem
By Maj. Georqe Fiefdinq Eliot

The long expected Allied landing In
Southern France has taken place, and
presents the German high command
with a new set of difficulties which will
not easily be solved.
First accounts suggest that the Allied
landings were in considerable strength,
and that the initial German resistance
was light or in some instances nom
existent. We should not draw hasty
conclusions from this fact, because at
best the German commander in South
ern France does not possess a large
force, and he could not possibly hope to
defend every mile Of coast line.
The bulk of the German forces in
this area is probably provided by the
German 18th Army, which Is variously
reported as having from four to ten
divisions at its disposal. Certainly two
of its original divisions arrived in Nor
mandy not very long ago, and others
have been previously withdrawn from
the area. A good guess at the present
strength of the 18th Army would be
six or seven divisions. To defend 400
miles of coast line with a force of this
strength Is impossible.
The best its commander could do,
6Ad1ICA tLlot AlC was OlOClCu W uldhC
a stand, would be to hold back the bulk
of his forces for counterattack, COW
ering the coast line with only the light
est sort of screen-a mere scattering
of patrols with few machine-gun posi-
tions covering the main roads. Hence
it may be several days before we shall
be able to say with any certainty
whether the Germans mean to make
any sort of serious defense of Southern
France, or whether, as Is altogether pos
sible, they have given up this part of
France and are withdrawing their troops
northward to cover the robot bomb coast
and the roads into Germany.
There is no information at present as
to the Allied invasion strength, but Ger
tainly a considerable number of French
troops are taking part, and the French
Army B" under Gen. de Lattre de
Tassigny, recently reported in Corsica,
is said to have strength of some six
divisions. American and British troops
are also ofiicially stated to be among
the invading forces. It would be rea-
sonable to assume that the total Allied
strength Is not less than 10 divisions
plus sizable air-borne force. It may be
greater.
Some correspondents hint that the
initial Allied landing strength is greater
than that of D-day in Normandy. where
the initial Allied aeployment included
Evening star., 1944-08-16

objective, certainly, Is a worthy one.
But the wisdom of threats, or i'm
piled threats, which cannot be car
ried into effect, is open to question.
The fable of the boy who cried
wolf" too often serves to illustrate
the point.
Evening star., 1944-08-16

1t is to be hoped that Congress
will modify the stringent ban on CT
reading matter before some one
makes the mistake of asking the
boys If they know there's a war on.
Evening star., 1944-08-16
LAURA K POLLOCK.
Sharp Question About Tour

oHIUI p NUSStIOfH AOOUN OUI
To the Editor of The Star:
1t recently has been rumored in the
press that the Commander in Chief has
made campaign tour Of the front-line
trenches in behalf of Candidate Roose-
welt at the cost of considerable time and
expense when, at much less expense, to
say nothing of the inconvenience, he
could have stayed home and kissed q
few babies. Now, what we want to
know is-will the cost of this stumping
tour be betrayed by the American tax
payer or charged to Candidate Roose-
velt's campaign fund?
A DEMOCRAT.