davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1944-10-21
East Prussiun Boston

hlIIlOuBIl MOSCOW preserves lLS
customary silence at the beginning
of new military operations, Berlin
reports leave little doubt that
major Russian offensive has started
for the conquest of East Prussia.
Such a move would be the logical
follow-up of the recent Soviet cam
paign to clear the Germans out Of
the Baltic States to the northward.
1t would likewise eliminate the
thanking threat to a Russian drive
through Central Poland toward the
very heart of the Reich.
East Prussia Is the historic bastion
Of Germanism in Eastern Europe.
Homeland of the Junkers and their
militaristic feudal estates, this bor-
der province, one and onehalf times
the size of Maryland, has for gen.
erations been intensively fortified
and constitutes great entrenched
camp capable of stubborn resistance
to attacks from any side. Natural
obstacles are strongest to north and
south. The northern border is pro-
tected by the deep, swift flowing
Niemen River, while the southern
border Is maze Of lakes and
swamps wherein big Russian army
was enmeshed and annihilated In
the First World War at the memo
rable Battle Of Tannenberg. That
disaster has been intensively studied
by Russian strategists ever since,
and the lessons learned will doubt
less be applied in the present opera
tions. 1t is significant that the main
Russian attack, as reported from
Berlin, is aimed at the eastern bor-
der of the province. This sector of
about so miles, which lies between
the Niemen and the southern lake
country, is known to military stu
dents as the Insterburg Gap, where
natural obstacles are at minimum,
though doubtless supplemented by
powerful Notifications. A drive
straight eastward through this belt
of relatively open and level country
would carry clear to Koenigsberg,
the provincial capital, and the Baltic
coast, thereby outfianking both the
Niemen line on the north and the
lake country to the south.
AS Berlin portrays it, the Russian
invasion is a mighty operation with
innumerable infantry, massed artil-
lery, fleets of tanks and a dense
umbrella of planes. Yet they may
all be needed, for the Germans can
be counted on to put up a desperate
defense. The loss of East Prussia
would not only expose the German
position in Poland but would also
be a psychological blow to German
morale which could hardly be over
estimated. The whole population Of
the province, mostly tough peasants,
has been modified to aid the regu-
lar troops and will demonstrate the
efficiency Of that peoples army"
which is being formed under the
special leadership of Himmler and
the Nazi party. 1t will thus be
supreme test of Germanys will to
resist to the uttermost.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
The StutIer Retreat

The second round in the Battle of
the Statler, which was to have been
refereed by the Senate Committee
on Campaign Expenditures, has been
called of. The committee has de-
clared the incident closed, and the
full story of what happened in the
Statler lobby after President Roose-
velt's address to the teamsters prob
ably will never be known.
This, so far as the committee Is
concerned, is what has come to be
known in this war as "disengaging
maneuver," but which used to be
called hasty retreat. After reports
had come out of the fight between
two naval officers and a group of
the teamsters, following an attempt
by the teamsters to ascertain the
voting intentions of the officers,
Committee Chairman Green, a loyal
White House supporter, ordered an
investigation by members of the
committee staff. The legitimate in
terest of the committee in the affair,
II any, was not disclosed. Yet the
investigation was made, affldavits
were received, and the attorney for
the two officers demanded a public
hearing.
But that is not to be. The COM
mittee, belatedly discovering that it
had no Jurisdiction to investigate
the fight, and that, in any event,
there were more important" mat
ters awaiting its attention, has de-
cided, with one Republican member
dissenting, to drop the whole matter.
It will be readily agreed that the
incident did not concern the COM
mittee, and that it had no business
going into it in the first place. But
it is difficult to accept this as being
the full explanation of its final deci-
sion. The fair assumption is that
the majority members of the COM
mittee finally came to realize that in
public airing Of the Statler episode
some ones fingers would be burned,
and that they would not be the
fingers OF the naval officers.
Evening star., 1944-10-21

1t is less than 100 miles by water from
the northern tip of Leyte to the south
eastern tip of Luzon. 1t is about 200
Air miles from the southern tip of Leyte
to Davao, but the southern tip of Leyte
Is separated only by a comparatively
narrow channel from the northeastern
tip of Mindanao. The japanese can
move across short water gaps in barges
and small craft at night; probably they
cannot be wholly prevented from doing
So. So If they want to reinforce their
garrison on Leyte. they can-at the
expense of weakening themselves
elsewhere.
But they can do so only as long as
they continue to hold out on Leyte, to
hold coastal positions where their REIN
forcements can come in. Therefore it
is of great Importance for our troops
to clean up Leyte as rapidly as pos
sible, to wipe out the 18th Japanese
division or drive its remnants away
from the coast back into the hills. One
early report has said that the Ameri-
can landing force on Leyte would num-
Der 250,000 men by the close of the
first day.
This figure appears to be based on
a correspondents estimate that the
number to be landed on Leyte the first
day Is as great as the number of men
landed In Normandy on D day. But
the estimate should be accepted with
some reserve until ofncially confirmed.
We are not sure that the correspondent
meant the total number on d day: he
might have meant only the first assault
echelons; and he might have been re-
ferring only to American, and not to
Allied forces.
1t Is, however, clear that the total
numbers are very large, and the reason
is very clear: It is necessary to make a
quick, clean job Of Leyte and establish
ourselves firmly in the center of the
Philippine Archipelago before the
enemy can make any countermoyes
BY so doing we retain the strategic
initiative and the next move is up to
US and not the enemy.
= tcopyrisht 1e44.)
Evening star., 1944-10-21
Second Round Trip

Bernard M. Baruch was not" in
dulglng in empty phrase-making
when he told the New York Herald
Tribune forum that he is now COM
pleting his second round trip into
war, peace and the aftermath"
Few men have had the opportunity
that has been given him as a mem
Der OF the inner council in both
conflicts to observe the tragic proc
esses by which we win wars but
lose the peace. Hence, America can
we'll afford to listen when Mr..
Baruch says he can hear echoing
across more than twenty-five years
the same cries about good and bad
Germans and their satellites, about
reparationS and boundaries and the
rights of little nations-the "be-
ginning of destructive suspicion"
among the United Nations.
If the world Is to escape another
destructive war, in Mr.. Baruch's
judgment, it must avoid a repeti-
ton of the costly errors made In
the peace that was set up after the
First World War. To his mind, the
essential things are that peace must
be Justly made and then actively
maintained. AS one condition of a
just peace, he believes that we must
create a world in which mankind
will be we'll fed and clothed and
housed-in which there will be jobs
for all who want to work He is not
willing to brush aside as wholly
visionary and impractical the phi
losophy that has come to be SYM
bolized by the concept of a quart
Of milk day for the Hottentots.
Given these economic advances,
MIR. Baruch believes that men will
be less inclined to. 6espoil their
neighbors, but he does not propose
to rely on the capacity or the will
ingness of men to restrain them
selves. Whatever the economic ad-
justments to be made, they must be
backed up by cooperative deter
mination to use force to keep the
peace. This time" he told the
forum, I'VE must be prepared to
enforce the peace with arms and
men. with an international author
Evening star., 1944-10-21
This Changing World
By Consfanfins Broscn

BY Christmas the Stars and Stripes
again will fly over all the territories
It f1ew over before Pearl Harbor and over
many other places which up to Decem-
ber Z, 1941, were important Japanese
aggression bastions.
A complete victory against Japan is
now assured. It will come within the
next 6, II or IS months.
No one In Washington or on the
fghting fronts is foolish enough to
predict" the date when the, japanese
Will strike nag before the victorious
American forces. But that the victory
Will be completed Is certain. And the
meaning Of the word victory goes
beyond military successes.
For the time being there is no political
wire-pulling and jockeying for power
and zones of influence in the Pacific
as there Is In Europe. So far We have
been fortunate enough to handle the
Japanese without assistance from any
OF our Allies. This Is not being said
IN derogatory manner. The men at
the head OF our lighting forces realize
the tremendous Job our war associates
are having in the other theaters of
operations and are glad that we are
on the way to complete victory without
having to draw on their already over
taxed resources.
But at the same time, the fair play
which We intend to establish in the
Pacific is not handicapped In any shape
or form by any particular economic or
political interests Of any Of our Allies.
The fighting men are not handicapped
either by the various plans" of how to
deal with Japan after her surrender:
thus eventually they may expect less
fanaticism from the Jap than the Ger
man when he realizes that he is hope
lessly defeated. Beyond the announce
ment that Japan's surrender must be
unconditional and that she must yield
all her ill-gotten gains, there is no indi-
cation that We will chop up the home
land and divide it among the many
nations which have heavy score to
settle with the Tokyo rulers.
Our success in the Pacific has been
described by many as little short of a
miracle. From the beginning OF the war
the Pacific area was considered as
secondary front where its defenders had
to defend as best as they could with
mere trickle Of the huge American
production.
Because of this the morale was not
always of the best. For instance, after
the loss Of the Philippines and soon
after Gen. MacArthurs arrival In
Australia, there were frictions which
Evening star., 1944-10-21
Landings on Leyte
By Maj. George Fiejdins Eliot

The landings on the island of Leyte
are stroke at the center of the enemy
positions in the Philippine Archipelago.
Not unnaturally, the japanese ap-
pear to have concentrated their major
forces toward the fianks - the two
principal islands of Luzon and Min
danao. OF recent weeks Gen. Mac
Arthur's air forces have been hammer
ing at Davao, the principal japanese
base in Mindanao, and the Japanese
have been reinforcing their units in
that area. Gen. Macarthur, in a press
statement, tells us that the Japanese
force on Leyte consists of only one di-
vision, the notorious 18th which organ
lied the terrible death march after the
fall of Bataan
The Japanese problem in defending
the Philippines against an attacker with
sea and air superiority is probably in
soluble. save for the desperate last
ditch resistance which their various
garrisons will put up in ground fighting
This resistance will not be easily or
quickly overcome. We shall have
long. tough and bloody campaign before
We can say that the Philippines are
fully liberated once again.
But the first reports fully bear out
the views previously expressed in tt sse
articles as to the fundamental nature
of the Japanese diflculties. For ex-
ample. Gen. Macarthur estimates the
total japanese strength in the islands
as 225, 1000 men. This may be some Is
divisions, as the Japanese do not have
the great numbers of corps and army
troops which are included in the Amer
lean organization.
Leyte is one of nine major islands
(other than the two big oneS) which
make up the Philippine group-the
total number Of islands is no less than
7,0S3, but Of course it is impossible for
the japanese to occupy every one Of
these, and probably there are hundreds
on which no japanese soldier has set
foot. Their object will be to hold the
more important ones
1t is almost $50 air. miles from the
northern tip Of Leyte to Manila, but
Evening star., 1944-10-21

were seldom disclosed. There was the
usual Army-Navy rivalry enhanced by
the personal dislike OF some or the Navy
men for Gen. Macarthur. BY many he
had been dubbed, most unjustly. as
"Dugout Dug" and had been described
as publicity seeker because his ofYicial
communicates always were labeled Gen.
MacArthur's headquarters.
These frictions ended as soon as the
Navy's hard-hitting Bull" Halsey took
over. Admiral Halsey never had met
Gen. Macarthur before he went to
Australia. His command in the Pacific
covered an area apart from that of Gen.
Macarthur. The two fighting men sat
together for several hours when they
first met and the result was that
Admiral Halsey became loud in his
praise of Gen. Macarthur
The enthusiastic reaction Of the
Admiral toward his military colleague
had an immediate repercussior on the
f1ghting forces In the whole area, and
since that time there have been no
"Dugout Dug" ditties from the Navy
and the Marine Corps.
The meeting between Admiral Nimitz
and Gen. Macarthur was equally sue
cessful. After several hours of ex-
changing Of views regarding the Pacific
strategy the two top commanders found
themselves In full agreement on nearly
every phase Of the future operations. 1t
was at that meeting several months ago
that the foundations for the present
strategy. Endorsed later by President
Roosevelt at Pearl Harbor were laid.
All the personal pinprickings had
been eliminated long before President
Roosevelt met Gen. Macarthur and
Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii. The plan the
two men submitted to Mr.. Roosevelt and
to his chief Of staff, Admiral William
Leahy. Is said to have been so f1awless
that it was approved Immediately
The American forces fighting against
Japan are the Smootnest military ma
chine operating in this war 1t is no
exaggerated optimism to say that the
war against our Oriental enemies may
be drawing to an early end. The Amer
ican military leaders realize that there
will be plenty of blood and tears before
the Tokyo clique Is brought to its knees.
The Japanese trapped in the Philip
pines and elsewhere will fight desper-
ately.
We must expect very heavy casualty
lists in the near future But already
there are indications that the fanati-
cism OF Hirohito's men Is not what 1t
used to be and suicide attacks are be-
coming more rare every day.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
Letters to The Star

A6uSS INT oShs AASA SHSy ~
"An Authoritative Person"
To the Editor of The Star:
There is no doubt that Gen. Hershey,
head of selective service, said Gas Gov.
Dewey quoted him): "It would be as
cheap to keep men in the service as
to set up another agency to take care
of them"
Gen. Hershey in letter to the
President now states that his remark
of last August is personal opinion in
a field over which I have no respon-
sibility"
Further In his letter to the President,
Gen. Hershey contradicts himself on
his responsibility in this field when he
states: THE interest of the director
of selective service (Gen. Hershey in
demobilization stems from his (Gen.
Hersheys) legal responsibility for re-
placing veterans in their former po-
sitions or for aiding them in finding
new ones"
From his own conception of his re-
sponsibilities and the law itself, Gen.
Hershey Is an authoritative person as
to how demobilization shall be ham
died and particularly is concerned with
the speed of rehabilitation, the Presi-
dent to the contrary Notwithstanding.
There is the danger of men being
released from the services faster than
Gen. Hershey can place them and that
he will be faced with the necessity Of
either setting up an agency to take
care OF them or asking the co-opera-
tion of the Army and the Navy to slow
discharges, or of doing both.
The services may or may not set
the pace of discharges to meet Gen.
Hershey's job placements, but the Com
mander in Chief could order the Army
and the Navy to do so.
Are we to understand that no CO.
operation between the Army and the
Navy and the man charged with putting
the soldiers back in peacetime jobs is
to be expected?
If Gen. Hershey Is not an authorita-
tive person In the rehabilitation pro-
gram, then Justice Frankfurter is in
deed right, the words of laws cannot
be taken to mean what they say, as
that would be "over simplification"
Maybe the President, to use his own
words, would not recognize the selec-
tive service law If he met it on the
street.
Gen. Hershey admits that it is his
opinion, and he still is director OF
selective service. and by his own ad-
mission is in an authoritative position.
A REPUBLICAN.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
The Auchen Example

EXCEPT IOr some mOpplng-up Oper-
ations still to be completed in the
outskirts, Aachen today is entirely
in American hands. 1t is largely a
place of ruins, but it did not have
to be. When it's position became
hopeless, the commander of its de-
Tending garrison received an ulti-
matum from our First Army to sur
render Internationally or suffer the
consequences of having the city
blasted into rubble. On October II,
on orders from Hitler, this was
rejected, with the result that Ger
many has now experienced a taste
OF Stalingrad on its own soil.
Unlike that great Russian battle,
however, battle which lasted for
months and which was of immense
strategical Importance, the Battle OF
Aachen lasted only ten days after
the ultimatum and netted the Nazis
little or nothing in a strictly mill
tary sense, beyond causing-at most
"a slight additional delay in the
First Army's progress toward Co
logne and the Ruhr. Accordingly,
there seems good reason to believe
that in sacrificing the city Hitler was
seeking primarily to achieve a psy-
Geological objective, setting up
Aachen as an example of resistance
to-the-death calculated to inspire
the people to fight on to the end
elsewhere throughout the Reich.
But though hard core of Nazis
battled fanatically in Aachen, it is
a question whether this little Ger
man Stalingrad will prove as in
spirational as the Fuehrer would
like it to be. At the time of the
ultimatum many of the city's non
combatant residents quickly hung
white flags from the windows of
their homes, and more than a few
: of the regular garrison troops dis
played a marked eagerness to sur
render by deserting to our lines. It
is perhaps not without significance,
moreover, that some of the populace
especially women-wondered bit
terly why Hitler insisted on holding
the place even though everybody
knew it was doomed. With winter
near such bitterness is understand
able; it is not pleasant to live in
wrecked and roofless towns in any
season of the year, least of all when
the cold winds blow and the snow
flies.
The fanatical Nazis, of course, will
continue as they are until they are
finally liquidated, but the example
set at Aachen, instead of stiffening
the resistance of the German people
as a whole, may further depress
them. In any event, the American
First Army has demonstrated the
price that must be paid by any city
of the Reich refusing to surrender.
1t remains to be seen, in the circum-
stances, how much of the country
will be futilely converted into a
Stalingrad before the masses-de-
spite the Gestapo-refuse to follow
Hitler's criminal and disastrous
leadership any longer.
Evening star., 1944-10-21

faced, Is double -inouthed." There
are countless other quotations that
might, be cited to prove the antiquity
Of the charge against duplicity.
Hundreds Of authors have made
free of 1t in many different connec-
tions. But always the thought has
been identic. H. L. Mencken in his
New Dictionary" reproduces an
English rhyme whose sponsor is
unknown but who, even anony-
mously, should be appreciated for
the lines:
May the man be damned and never
grow fat
Who wears two faces under one hat.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
"Old" Soldiers Unhappy

To the Editor of The Star:
May one more plaintive voice be lifted
In behalf of the Armys forgotten
legion"-the men over 80? Now that
selective service has decreed that civil
annoyance has been added to our woe
full lot.
If they'll let us fight, we'll and good.
II they won't, why can't they turn us
loose? Most of us are stationed at
overhead" installations, already so
overmanned that not only the double
deck hunks but the barracks aisles are
filled with GIs in assorted stages of
decrepitude. Many of us are perform
ing tasks that can't even be justified
as eyewash
Omcers over 38 may return to civilian
life upon request. Many of us elderly
dogfaces have obligations as heavy as
they have-responsibilities as hus-
bands and fathers, mortgages, insurance
premiums and the like. The draft of
young men admittedly is filling the
Army's replacement needs. The WACS
admittedly are superior to us as clerks,
typists, telephone operators, and in
other chair warming jobs.
The British rehabilitation plan takes
age into account. Why are We who
are pushing 40 ignored under the United
States Army's plan? If we can't go
overseas, why are we kept in servitude,
cluttering up hospitals, chow lines, and
USOs? We were willing to fight. 1t
wasn't of our asking that we were kept
here. Men are still needed, aren't they,
in essential work on the outside? Why
don't the brass hats give us a chance?
We've sweated it out long enough.
We've been snarled at by downy faced
second lieutenants long enough, too. If
they need us as cannon fodder-fine.
But If they don't need us at all. any
more than they need the over SO Of
ficers, why can't we go home?
PVT. j. T. WHITMAN.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
Would Leave Germany to Stair


To the Editor of The Star:
Aren't some of our peace planners
trying to bite of more than they can
chew over what is to be done with or
to defeated Germany?
Realist Stain has said there would
be Germany and German army,
but no Nazis. BY that he doubtless
meant there would be no Junkers and
big industrialists to avail themselves
of another German frenzy as a front
for world conquest and, as events are
shaping up, Russia, with the rest Of
Slav Europe and the German contin-
gent in Moscow, will just about have
the call on what is to happen to
Germany and her industries.
But Kidding Germany of her indus
trial pirates and completing destruc-
ton of her industries as a means of
keeping her disarmed are not in the
same category. Could Stain be ex-
pected to fall in with any plan that
would tend to deprive him of German
machinery and other products on his
own terms, as replacements and rep
arations for Nazi destruction, and leave
him without alternative to terms our
industrialists would set out for supply
ing Russia's needs?
We now are idealizing over another
league to neutralize human perversity
in its national and other aspects. That
may be well for the future, but for a
way out of the present mess. realism
might suggest to us the more discreet
and much less costly course of offering
the least hindrance to the plans of
Stain and his following for convincing
Germany of the error of her ways.
They know the ground better, have
much more at stake, and much longer
and bloodier account to settle, while
we are likely to have our hands full
for some time to come in disposing of
the Junkers of Japan.
WALTER N. CAMPBELL.
Evening star., 1944-10-21
Praise for a Candidate

To the Editor of The Star:
Gov. Bricker's speech rang true.
The Republicans and Dewey Democrats
should keep hammering this Hillman-
Browder bunch and by so doing bring
home to the people the dangers which
confront this country.
EDMUND K. GOLDSBOROUGH.