davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
Vessels End
 Convoy Plan
BY ROBERT DAWSON

London, May 29. (UP)-The end of the Atlantic convoy system was expected today to speed the home ward journeys of thousands of American troops still in the Euro pean threater
 An Anglo American annuonce- ment that ships plying the Atlantic no longer must travel in convoy meant that the homeWard-bound troopships no longer would be re- stricted to the speed of the slowest vessel in convoy. Nor would they be forced to take roundabout, zig tagging routes to avoid U-boats.
 For the GI.'s themselves it also meant an end to the fear which plagued them going eastward that their ship might go down with a torpedo gash in her hull.
 The joint announcement, from the admiralty here and the navy de- partment in Washington, gave mer- chant vessels permission to sail with all their lights on for the first time since September. 1939..
 As grateful shippers ordered the green and red navigation lights turned on and full speed ahead" the admiralty announced figures of mer- chant losses which told the story of the bitter battle of the Atlanic. Tha was the battle on which Ger many staked all her hopes, and the figures were graph of her rise and fall.
 In 1941, when Germany was on crest of victory, one from every 181 British merchant vessels that put to sea went down. The Germans had just perfected their wolfpack attacks then while the Allied con- voys system still was being put to- gether.
 In 1942, the losses went down to one from every 233 ships. The con- voys were sailing regularly by then. Anywhere from 10 to to 100 ships strongly shephered by Corvettes, destroyers, even cruisers depending on the size and value of the cargoes.
 By 1943, when the Dime-store car riers were in action, the sinking ratio had been lowered still farther. More corvettes and more carrier based planes patrolled the convoy lanes. Allied strength at sea crew until in 1944, only one from every 1000 ships fell victim. Many epic and bloody battles were fought at sea before the shipping lanes were cleared. One of the most famous was the German E-boat, U-boat, and plane attack on TThsmalt convoy in August 1942. The con- voy suffered heavily, but battles through with the supplies which saved the island.
 Like Malta, Britain, too, was kept going in the dark days of 1940 and l941 by the supplies that ships brought her. Later the vessels car ried the supplies for the aerial of fensive afiainst Germany. and still later the troops and materials for invasion itself.
 In all, the admiralty announced. 5000 sepearate conveys went in and out of British ports. One, probably the largest had 150 ships in it.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
Your GI Rights
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 ON sERvIcEMEN's PROBLEMS
BY DOUGLAS LARSEN NEA Staff Correspondent

Washington. May 29-The end of the war in Europe and the an- nouncemens of the discharge of more than a million men have raised many questions among GIs and their relatives. A few are an- sWered here:
 Q. Our son has been in Europe about eight months. How can we find out as soon as possible wheth- CT he will be transferred to the Pa cific directly or come back through the United States? If we send his serial number and other informa- tion to the War Department will they tell us?
 A. The first news as to whether your son will come home before be- ing sent to Japan will come from him. If he is to come through the U. s. he will have to write you as soon as the censors permit it or call you when he arrives. If he is sent directly to the Pacific the chances are you won't find out un- til you receive letter from him stating his new address. Writing to the War Department will do no good.
 Q. My wife is expected to have a baby any day. I will then have another dependent, which will give me enough discharge points to gel out of the service. Will be elig
 ble for discharge as soon as the baby Is born?
 A. According to the War Depart. ment your accumulation of dis. 1harg points as of May 12, 1945, i; what determines whether you can get out of the service. Another of- ficial date will be set and the men who will have accumulated enough points for discharge by that date will then be eligible for discharge The same applies to men who need ed only another month to get enough points. They too will have to wait until the next date is set.
 e. My husband is in limited serv- ice. Will he have to serve overseas before the war is over?
 A, No.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
Patton Alone Held Souer River Plans
By ROBERT RICHARDS United Press Staff Correspondent

NShAeCu T ACoo oSoA SVAA
 London, May 29.-CUP)-Gen. George s. Patton's most spectacular coup of the war the surprise crossing of the Sauer river that led to the Nazi disaster in the Saar- Moselle- e-Rhine triangle last March surprised his own nigh command almost as much as it did the Ger mans.
 With the lifting of military cen- sorship it can now be revealed that the colorful Patton not only had to hide his plans from the Germans but occasionally even ducked his own superiors until it was too late to stop him.
 It was an open joke among his Third Army troops that "Old Blood and Cuts" didn't give a damn if the Germans knew what he was go- ing to do but he worried plenty over what might happen if the high command at Paris got wind of some of his more ambitious plans.
 It wasn't that anyone in the high command wanted to stop him from winning the war, but there were some who felt that sometimes Pat ton tried to do too much with what he had on hand
 Just before the Fifth Infantry Division crossed the Sauer river on the Luxembourg German border in March, one of the Third Army's top ranking generals told this core spondent in worried tone that he was afraid it couldn't be done.
 We just don't have enough stuff" he confided We got or ders that we can conduct a limited offensive if we wish to do so, but we can't expect any additional help because the other fronts are now holding priority.
 We're going to attempt to do the best we can with what we've got"
 Patton himself was little per turbed about that time. It was the closest to being downhearted that I ever saw him in my nine months with the Third Army.
 He told correspondents somewhat gloomily that There's still chance of getting our tanks across and starting to roll again."
 But even the buoyant Patton didn't seem too confident.
 A Russian colonel who came along to watch the jump-of that morning shook his head soberly when he saw the sheer cliffs lining the far bank of the Sauer and heard the Nazi machine guns open up from the Siegfried line.
 We Russians would never even attempt attacking sector like this,' said the Red Army observer
 But Patton took of with what he had and before anyone realized what had happened the famous Fourth Armored Division under Maj. Gen. Hugh Gaffey was piling
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29

before the plains of northern Ger many. Some 5000 Red Devir' troops of the 1st Allied Airborne army had been dropped above Arn- hem but had been cut off and sur- rounded by superior Wehrmacht forces. After an epic 11-day stand in a narrow island of hell," 2,000 survivors struggled out of the pocket.
 American 1st Army: Despite fa- natical enemy resistance, It. Gen. Courtney s. Hodges divisions were forging a great armored arc around the German city of Aachen, 9 miles southwest of Cologne. Hodges troops had made the first Allied pen- etration of the Reich near Trier on Sept. II with a lightning strike from Luxembourg.
 American 7th Army: Marching up from the French Riviera, where they had landed Aug. 15, It. Gen. Alex ander M Patch's French and Amer ican forces were drawing into line to join the attack a he 15-mile- wide Belfort gap in the Vosages mountains, near where the French. German and Swiss boundaries meet.
 On he oher side of Germany, another wall of steel was com- pressing the Nazi fortress inex- orably. Under the hammer blows of the ruthless Red Armies, the Germans were backing into their citadel along line running from the Baltic through the Balkans. Romania, Bulgaria and Finland left the sinking Nazi ship in frantic accession Of Hitler's satellite allies, shaky Hungary alone remained.
 Russians Cross vistula
 Only before embattled Warsaw was the Wehrmacht able to stem
 the tide during August and Sep- tember. But then Marshal Konstan- tin Rokossocsky's armies crossed the all-important Vistula and estab- lished decisive contact with the Pol ish underground forces who had been clinging to the center of the capital through seven bitter weeks. Farther north, the remnants of German armies once totaling 20O,- 900 men were trapped against the Baltic coastline One swift Red ad- vance had captured Tallin, capital and chief port of Estonia, while an- other had reached out to the big Latvian port of Riga, on the escape route for the Nazis to the north.
 III Italy, the battle for the Pc valley was beginning. Rimini, the eastern anchor of the NaA's vanuted | Gothic Line, had fallen to Greek troops of the British 9th Army, creating a flanking slot through which Allied troops were beginning to pour around the mountain barrier into the flat country beyond. In the center of the line. Amer ican 5th Army troops had blasted a six-mile breach north of Florence and occupied dominant mountain heightcs to point within a mile of Futa Pass, high middle point of the line.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
Catholic Thought And Opinion
By REV. JAMES J. SULLIVAN

Not a wave length is silent, but commentator rushes to com- ment; not square inch of news paper is blank but a columnist's black rash breaks out. And all, for the most part, are explaining the logistics of war; the subleties and essential virtue of Russian diplomacy; the dire condition of America, wherein race is pitted against race in a bitter civil war.
 Through this furry of words, written and spoken, emerges the tact that the American people have, once again, given proof of their basic morality, their great common sense, and their patience. Few were ever quite sure that they Knew the meaning of "logistics";; but a hard-working people have turned out more planes and shells and ships than had been dreamed possible. Few are schooled in the Wlles of diplomacy, but every one mas come to have mild suspicion that peace was not uppermost in the mind of every delegate to San Francisco. There are not many Americans walking around maimed because they are Chris tan, or. Negroes or atheists.
 Basic Morality
 This basic morality and com- mon sense is the secret of the American way of life. It has en- dured under tremendous strain. Into the twenty-five years be- tween the wars there is packed the fantastic story of capitalism on the loose: wild schemes for quick wealth, organizing in in- dustry, and ruthless manipulating 1n the stock market. The panic engendered panic, and the struc- ture came tumbling down. Homes were snatched from worker and farmer; unemployment became general. The sense of insecurity, always haunting the workingman mounted to terror. When a con- fused government tried to remedy iAhVbCloJ tilC WOI hCl WdS CIlluSu for his shiftlessness and asked why he didn't save. Was he going to spend his life leaning on that shovel? In hoarse whisper off, stage the reds and pinks told him to take the shovel and hit people over the head with it. Now was the time for the revolution.
 Came the war, and the old im- positions ceased. Some were scut- tied because the lunatic fringe IS always trimmed short when there is work to be done. Others were healthy to go on insulting the curtailed because it was a bit un- common sense and fundamental morality of the people at time of national crisis We don't believe in hitting people over the heads with shovels. So the radical rags were washed and pressed, and be- came very patriotic. The half pHee ads urging people to plan pnrenthood' suddenly ceased, as of Pearl Harbor. American moth
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29

through the Fifth Inftnarys bridge head and on it's way to the Kyl river.
 Even then, Patton was still taking no chances on anyone at headquar- ters, stopping him. When corre- spondents tried to catch up with the rolling fourth's tankers and asked exactly where they were they drew a blank at Patton's press camp. ...
 Of course,' chuckled one high ranking officer, You can't say right now where we are or where we're going, because frankly we're worried about more people than the Ger mans finding out"
 It was then that Patton made his famous crack: we are now fighting this war by ear"
 By that he meant that he was developing his plan of attack as he drove along and as enemy opposi- ton, or lack of its, showed up.
 Apparently it was not until after his tankers crossed the Kyl and Moselle rivers and struck out for the Rhine that Patton won the okay of the high command and got the supplies and endorsements he needed to complete the roundup Of more than 100000 Germans in the r-Moselle-Rhin triangle.
 But the Germans still didn't un- derstand Patton. They were so cer- tain he couldn't get across the Rhine that they moved their gold reserve to a salt mine northeast of Frankfurt and made definite plans to shift their government offices to Kassel, Weimar, Jena and Gotha.
 The only thing which probably saved most of the German govern ment from capture at that time was the very speed with which Patton slipped across the Rhine and started racing eastward.
 His veteran tank teams the Fourth and Sixth Armored Divisions reached all those towns before the German government members, with their eyes on the approaching Rus sians, could pack their bags.
 Nazi Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt probably expressed the whole German army's opinion when he told correspondents after his capture in Bavaria:
 That Patton just moved too fast for us."
 To which Allied Supreme Head quarters might have added; Amen"
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29

CTS and fathers had not exactly planned" the sacrifices that were now to be asked of them. Their children were called to war.
 Scrub Population"
 And so the awful interim ended, with neither bang nor whimper. The people rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The armies marched of under practically the same slogans they marched under twenty-five years before. They would purge out the evil and strive for better world. The American people had not been disillusioned after all. The scrub population" which the eugenists and birth preventers had not suc- ceeded in eradicating, gave their overwhelming quota in labor and in men. The "Babbitts", who had been scorned during the previous two decades, were in the fore with their "know-how' and experience. American genius - Nelson, Stet- tinius, Kaiser, Ford-planned and devised the magnificent home army without which the army in the field would have been helpless. The task before America is, cer- tainly, to see that this basic mor- ality is preserved, this common sense not outraged. The nation. founded under God and sustained by Him, is strong and healthy. This morality and this strength have their roots in the Christian tradition. The scoffers and the winners, who make it a profession to tear down and destroy, must take pause and ask whatever makes them tick-since they know not God-what they are doing. The new liberals, who have tried to tear our morality to shreds, may well remember that even American patience is not in- finite. America considers her homes sacred. And this sanctity is based, not on an extra bath room or a two-car garage or FM, but on the sanctity of the mar riage VOWS. Americans find it irk- some that the only reason a state can find for holding marriage valid is that the husband lived in an auto-court instead of a dwell ing when he went west for a di- vorce, The great body of Ameri- cans hold that a pledge solemnly given in Maine is binding in Yer mont.
 Spiritually Strong
 Probably no greater proof for the existence of this basic mor- ality in America is the present conviction that there is an inter national morality. The last thing in the world America wanted was war, not because we are weak or afraid, but because we were spir- itually strong. We know that it is the widest folly to talk of the sanctity of the good neighbor" and forget that these came, not from the electioneering politician nor the smoke-filled room, but from the lips of Christ,
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
SOPRANOS

Sullivan, Ellen Unwin, Margaret Withey.
 SECOND SOPRANOS
 Joan Anderson, Mary Bergen, Mary Bobbin, Patricia Crean, Elaine D'Amour, Margaret Dunn, Mary Louise Dwyer, Margaret Egan, Louise Finn, Theresa Guilbert, Marie Hajjar, Eleanor Karvelis, Mary Kelly, Catherine Larusso, Rachel To- ranger, Rosemary Moran, Phyllis Natale, Dorothy Sharkey, Josephine Smith. Rosemary Smith, June St. Hilaire
 First Altos-Martha Bowes Marie Coffey, Ruth Conlon, Clara D'An- gelo, Dorothy Flanagan, Charlotte Kyle, Dolores Markus. Claire MaSsi- cote, Theresa Mathieu, Nancy Murphy. Jane Nardella, Elaine Rug giero, Helen R. Zollo.
 Second Altos-Irene Balfe, Shir- ley Belanger, Anne Clark, Madeline Della Bella, Rosemary Flanagan, Mary Foody, Roma Gagner, Ann Elizabeth Joy, Mary Louise Lalor, Dorothy Madden, Marie McHugh, Joan Monaean, Bernice Riley. Accompanists-Carolyn Filippone, Katherine Panalitis.
 Orchestra-Elaine Ruggiero, pres ident; Rosemary Moran, secretary; Mary Barrett, treasurer; Carolyn Filippone, Bernice Siemiathoski, li- brarians; members-Elaine Ruggi- ero, Rosemary Moran, Maureen Healey, Ann Slavin, Genevieve Sir ica, Barbara Dressell, Mary Jane French, Margaret Mulhall, Theresa Rayel, Mary Jane Panalitis, Eileen McHugh, Claire La Vigne, Rather inc Panalitis, Carolyn Filippone, Anne Clark, Dorothy Flanagan, Theresa Hebert, Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Patricia Real, Georgette Chevre, Jeanne Pagan, Patricia Feeley, Joan Lawlor, Patricia Wal lace, June St. Hilaire, Patricia Stril- eckis, Joan Alseph, Barbara Cos tello, Amelia Walsh, Ruth Conlon, Janet c. Bowen, Mary Scully, Vir- ginia Coss, Joan Blakeslee; con- ductor, Peter Loro.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
The Democrats Inquiring
 Reporter Asks:
Do You Think There Will Be an Increase in Crime After This War;" (-And He Will Give You a $25.OO War Bond and Movie
 Tickets for the Best AnswersD

For the best answer received, THE DEMOCRATS I1quiring Re porter and the Strand theater will award a $500 War Bond. The next ten best replies submitted, the runners-up, will each receive a pair of guest tickets to see Crime, Inc" during it's local engagement at the Strand.
 The contest closes Sunday, June 3. Letters postmarked after that date will not be eligible All re- plies should be addressed to: "The Irquiring Reporter" care of the WATERBURY DEMOCRAT, Waterbury.
 Martin Mooney, the author of Crime, Inc" is also it's producer. The role of Mooney is played by Tom Neal.
 It is Mooney's own experiences as an ace New York newspaper reporter and crime investigator that constitute the background of the story of Crime, Inc" which is an expose of big business in crime.
 Mooney served 90 days in prison for refusing to divulge the source of his information of his stories of the underworld that created a sensation in New York and caused repercussions that catapulted many a politician out of his posi- tion of power.
 Of course" said Mooney, I'm not as handsome as Tom Neal who portrays me in the film, but then Neal never spent thirty days in jail, so figure that makes it even"
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29


 The biggest developing threat now was from the west, where American and British armies had begun the battle of Germany along a 450-mile front stretching from Holland to the Swiss border. Five Allied armies had wheeled into line for a smashing frontal assault on the belt of mountains, rivers, steel and concrete walls, and guns that girdled the Reich's western border. This was their situation at the be- ginning of October:
 First Strike Into Germany
 Canadian 1st Army: It. Gen. H. D. G. Crerer's forces had been as- signed to mopping up the English channel coastline more than 100 mics behind the other Allied armies. It had nullified the Nazi rocket in- stallations and close drings around the chief ports, occupying Calais and Boulogne and threatening Dun- kerque. Now it was approaching the Leopold Canal in Belgium.
 British 2nd Army: Sweeping into Holland, It. Gen. Miles c. Demp- sey's troops were crashing through the north end of the German line after sustaining a tactical setback at Arnhem, on the north bank of the Neder branch of the lower Rhine, the last major water barrier
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
SHIPS TOPS IN COMFORT

London (UP)-"Best ship in the British Merchant Navy" is way the Kingfisher, a 541 ton cargo ship was described by her captain, Charles Gaade. Besides having a superb kitchen, she has a cabin for each mai, with spring mattress. folding bed, and gay rush mating on the floor. There are shower baths, and drying rooms for sea- sprayed clothes. This is only part of "a sailors dream come true" designed for the comfort of its crew. Two of her lifeboats have motors, and all are launched from mechanical davitS. She rode the winter gales like a cork.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
WORLD WAR II A YEAR AGO
By UNITED PRESS

In the biggest daylight bomber operation of the war, three Amer ican aerial task forces, including 2,200 bombers. blast nine aircraft plants in Poland, Germany and Austria.
 In Italy, the American 5th Army tanks and infantry, now only 16h miles from Rome at one point begin systematic smashing of Velletri and snap the highway leading to Valmontone to the northeast.
 U. s. troops on Biak Island ad. vance half a mile closer to Mok- mer airfield.
 Australian troops, driving to- ward Wewak, capture Bunabun HarbOr.
 In Ecuador, President Carlos Arroyo del Rio and his Cabinet re- sign after revolutionary junta had taken power in Guayaquil.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
LABOR PROBLEM
 STILL SERIOUS
War Productions New Regulations No Boom to
 C. L. &P. Company

The Connecticut Light and Power Company in an advertisement pub lished in newspapers throughout the company's territory, points out that recent changes in the War Pro- duction Boards regulations govern ing the building of new electric line extensions do not remove the exist ing labor and material shortages which prohibit extensive line con- struction.
 The company is faced at the pres ent time with a serious labor prob lem. There are at present more than 200 c. L. & P. Go. employees serving in the armed forces. The labor problem vii lnot be easily overcome even if more help should become available as result of cut backs and layoffs in war plants. New employees must be given extensive instruction over a long period of time before they can assume the duties of linemen without risk to their lives
 All restrictions on the amounts of material the utility can keep on hand and the limitations on the ordering of material remain in ef- feet without change. Certain essen- tial line materials are very scarce There is, for instance, serious shortage of wooden poles and cross- arms and lengthy delays in delivery of these scarce materials are experi- enced regularly.
 The company has expressed its desire to proceed as rapidly as possible with the construction of all the electric extensions that have been requested since wartime re- strictions were imposed. However as long as manpower and material shortages persist, the utility must necessarily build new electric ex- tensions in the order of their inn portance to the war effort.