davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1945-04-03
Resistance on Okinuwo

The surprising thing is not that
Okinawa has been invaded, but that
our forces landing there-the Amer
lean Tenth Army, including the
Marine Third Amphibious Corps
have so far encountered virtually no
resistance worthy of the name. For
nine days our planes and warships
had hammered the island with a
devastating preparatory fire, and the
japanese knew, beyond any doubt,
that the invasion was coming, hav-
ing been made completely certain of
that fact on March 26 when our
troops seized the KeramaS just a
few miles offsOkinaWa'S southwest
ern tip.
Yet the opposition to the first
assault waves was so negligible that
within a matter of hours, with re-
markably light casualties, the Tenth
Army had established firm beach,
head and captured three airfields on
this most important of the strategi-
cally vital Ryukyu Islands Unques-
tionably the japanese, who are said
to have at least $4,000 welltrained
troops on Okinawa, will react vio-
lently in the near future, but mean
while they have permitted our forces
to dig in so deeply that that reaction,
whenever it comes, will probably be
much too late.
After the bloody battle of Two
Jima, this relatively unopposed Eas-
ter parade onto Okinawa is hard to
explain. Perhaps the enemy COM
mander expected the landings to be
made on the eastern side of the
narrow island instead of on the
western, or he may have felt it better
to withdraw from the murderouS
bombardment area to save his troops
for door die counterattackS later.
Okinawa is considerably larger than
Two, where geography made both
offensive and defensive maneuvering
impossible, and there may therefore
be some sense in adopting such tao
tics, but the Japanese followed much
the same course at the time of the
Lingayen Gulf invasion of Luzon in
the Philippines and succeeded only
in getting themselves cut up in
piecemeal fashion by our forces.
The initial lack of resistance on
Okinawa is the more mystifying in
view of the unusually high stakes
involved. Once it is completely in our
hands, it will give us effective con-
troll of the entire Ryukyu chain, and
from its airfelds and anchorageS our
planes, submarines and surface war
ships will be in a position to donli-
nate the East China Sea, strike in
the Yellow Sea and the Sea Of Japan,
make strangling the blockade against
Hirotito's empire, accelerate the
air offensive against the japanese
homeland and prepare for the in
vasion of that homeland as well as
of China.
1t seems inconceivable, in the cir
cumStances, that weak japanese re-
sistance will continue much longer.
Evening star., 1945-04-03

Clark's 18th Army group to be given
sufficient supplies.
It is notable that the supreme head
quarters communique of April 2 speaks
of the junction of the 1st and 9th
United States Armies as having encir-
cled the German Army group B. This
group includes the 5th Panzer and the
18th Armies. If these are the armies
within the mentioned encirclement, ac-
cording to official report, then the
suggestion is very strong that most of
the 1st Paratroop Army is outside that
encirclement-thatt this, the best of the
German armies of the west, had largely
withdrawn either north or east before
the British and the United States 9th
Armies broke through.
These, then, would be the troops which
are fighting so desperately in the vicin-
ity of Paderborn to break the newly
forged ring. But some of them may
have pulled back behind the Ijssel to
the north, and may be within the
northern compartment which would be,
closed off by a British advance to
Bremen. The 25th Army, charged with
the defense of the Netherlands, would
certainly be inside the latter compart-
ment
4 \ X
The troops in the northern plain
would seem to be mostly those on the
eastern (Oder) front. Once the lst
Paratroop Army is disposed of, there
cannot be much to stop an Allied ad-
vance from the west directed on Ham,
burg or Berlin or both. A few units
might be brought from Denmark,
trickle might get through the Allied
blockade from Norway, and that is
about all.
The central compartment walled of
by possible east-west functions, as al
ready describedD seems likewise certain
to contain more troops on the east than
on the west, and not very many in either
place. But the southern compartment
is a different case. It will have in the
west the whole Of the German 10th
Army, plus the remnants of two other
escaped across the Rhine from the
angle. It will have in ITALY the veteran,
battle-hardened divisions of the German
10th and 14th Armies. And 1t will have
in the east the German troops from
Yugoslavia, plus that part Of the Ger
man Armies from Hungary which have
been fighting south Of Lake Balaton.
In addition to Ill this, 1t will have the
bulk of the IS divisions which the Ger
mans have probably been withdrawing
to the inner citadel.
It Is obviously in this southern area
that we must look for Germany's last
stand.
= tcopyrisht. is4s,
Evening star., 1945-04-03
This Changing World
By Constantine Broom

Reports that strong Red Bulgarian
force Is being concentrated on the Turk
tsh border In Thrace were received re-
Gently in Washington. Should the news
be confirmed, it would add complications
to the already disturbing problems which
beset the Big Three.
The question of Russo Turkish rela-
tions and the future status of the Dar-
danelles is said to have been fully dis
cussed at Yalta What decisions were
taken have not been revealed
But within few days after the Black
Sea conference was ended, the Russian
broadcasting station and its Yugoslav
subsidiaries began series of attacks
against Turkey which was accused of
still harboring pro-Nazis and Fasc-
lists. These verbal blasts at the Ankara
government eliminated in a direct ac-
ton when Moscow decided to repounce
the Turkish Russian non-aggression
pact because 1t no longer suited the
international situation.
Turkey declared war on Germany and
Japan just In time to'receive an invita-
ton to the San Francisco conference
where it was expected that the difficult
ties between herself and the U. s. S. r..
would be ironef out by Russias OBJ
tanning a complete freedom of move
ment from the Black Sea to the Medi-
terranean through the Dardanelles.
The Turks are reported to be agreeable
to make the largest imaginable con-
cessions regarding the transit of war
ships and merchant ships through the
straits and are willing to demilitarize
the Dardanelles. But they hope to be
able to maintain their full sovereignty
over that vital waterway.
The remuneration of the non-aggres-
sion pact was considered in the capi-
tails Of the western allies and at An
kara as a disturbing omen. 1t was
hoped that Moscow would not take any
unilateral action in this matter and
would await the result of behind the
scenes talks at San Francisco. The
allies are willing to meet the Russian
demands fully but wish to give any
settlement the character of an in
ternational agreement freely entered
into by all concerned.
Neither the American nor the British
government knows much of what is 60
ing on in the Balkans. We have q diplo-
matte military mission in Sofia and
Bucharest. But its members, while cour-
teously treated by the respective gov
ernments and the Soviet military au-
thorities which have complete control
of these countries, are not allowed to
move freely. They are being confined
Evening star., 1945-04-03

to the respective capitals and cannot
travel without special permits which
under the pretext of security are seldom
granted The Bulgarian and Romanian
officials are not in position to dis
close what is going on. The Russian
sponsored governments of these two
countries are directly responsible to the
Soviet authorities and have learned
from recent experience that it is not
wise to look any other way than toward
Moscow.
Hence the official information re-
ceived in Washington and London is
only what the Red army officers are
willing to give out. And that is very
little.
Military and diplomatic missions re-
siding in countries which we have
helped conquer expect to have their
own representatives travel about and
report. This is not possible in areas
where the Red armies are in control.
Any American or British civilian or
military official who ventures outside
the area to which he is confined is ar
rested and expelled. Two such incidents
occurred last fall in Bulgaria when the
American and British military missions
first arrived.
Il
The third incident, most painful for
Americas prestige, came last Decem-
Der when the American minister, May
nard Barnes, and the chief of the mill
tary mission, Gen. Crane, attempted to
leave Sofia to lunch with the Bulgarian
minister of war some IL miles outside
the city. Their automobile, flying the
American flag, was stopped by Rus
sian patrol and the two Americans, who
showed their credentials, were politely
but firmly invited to return to the
capital.
This treatment of our officials makes
deep impression on the natives.
The result is that none of them dares
get in touch with the American and
British officials and the only news of
what is actually going on in either of
these countries is obtained through
grapevine channels.
1t is from such sources that the re-
port that a strong Russian-Bulgarian
force has been recently concentrated on
the Turkish Bulgarian border. although
it may be that these troops have been
sent to that area in order to give them
a rest. Diplomatic circles here which
have been aware for some time of the
strained situation between Turkey and
Russia expect that Moscow, which has
been questioned about these rumors, will
give satisfactory explanation.
Evening star., 1945-04-03
Allied Strategy in Germany
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot

The Allied plan for the final destruc-
ton of the Wehrmacht is based on cut
ting the remaining German-held terri
tory into a series of isolated compart-
ments, each containing a fragment OF
the German armies; each fragment can
then be destroyed separately, or COM
pelled to surrender.
The first of these compartments is
that within the steel ring which the
sweep of the United States 1st Army TO
the east and north has created as the
1st Army comes into touch with the ad-
vanced units of the United States 9Th
Army east of the Ruhr district. Within
this compartment Is the Ruhr itself and
a good deal of the surrounding territory.
Now we find the British I'd Army
gaining ground to the northeast toward
the seaport of Bremen.
We see the Germans frantically try
ing to evacuate the northwestern part
of the Netherlands. Obviously If the
British reach the sea. we shall have an
other compartment including the Ger
man-held part of the Netherlands and
some of Northwestern Germany.
Again we find the United States Sd
Army switching east toward Eisenach.
Supply permitting, this might indicate
an eventual advance through Weimar
to a junction with Marshal Konev's Rus
sian forces somewhere in the vicinity OF
Leipzig. We would then have third
compartment, the North German plain
between the Oder on the east and the
British line up to Bremen on the west,
with the Patton -Konev line Of junction
forming its southern boundary.
Yet again, the United States 7th Army
is reported pushing east Of Wuerzburg,
possibly toward the Upper Danube.
Here we may envisage an eventual
junction, through the valley Of the
Danube, between 1t. Gen. Patchs S
American divisions and the Russian
forces of Marshal Tolbukhin. coming
down the Danube from Vienna. This
would create yet another compartment
between the Patton n-Konev lines on the
north and the Patch -Tolbukhip lines on
the south, including within 1t most OF
Saxony, Bohemia, Northern Bavaria,
Thuringia and part of Austria. These
are substantial portions OF the So
called inner citadel" where Hitler Is
said to be planning Nazidom's last
stand.
Finally, to the south of the Patch
Toibukhin line there remains most OF
Austria, Southern Bavaria, Wurttem-
berg, Baden and the German holdings
in North Italy and Northwestern Yugo-
slavia. This area Is being attacked on
the west by the French 1st Army and
may face q renewal Of the Allied onen-
sive in Italy If conditions permit Gen.
Evening star., 1945-04-03
The Buckners

The fastest news from the South
west Pacific brought to the front
the name of Lieutenant General
Simon Bolivar Buckner, junior-and
it was music in the ears OF many
residents of Washington who know
the man himself and at least a few
who likewise remember his distin-
guished father. A farm near Mum
fordville in Hart County, Kentucky,
is the family home; but the Nations
Capital has been familiar territory
to all the Buckner clan for nigh unto
a century.
General Buckner Number One was
born just hundred and twenty-five
years ago yesterday. He was ap-
pointed to West Point at seventeen,
earned captaincy the hard way in
the Mexican War, left the Army to
gain business experience in Nash
vile and Chicago, avoided politics,
but was concerned in the develop
ment of a plan for the defense of
the neutrality of his native State
and was entrusted with that re-
sponsibility by the Kentucky Legis-
lature in 1860. Both North and
South bid for him, but he stood his
independent ground until events
forced him to choose the latter.
Grant received his unconditional
surrender at Fort Donelson in 1862.
After being exchanged, he con-
structed Notifications at Mobile and
was in command in the eastern half
of Tennessee. In later life he was
editor of the Louisville Courier, Gov
ernor of Kentucky and was nomi-
mated for the vice presidency by
the sound money wing of the Demo-
cratic party. He was a lifelong
friend of Grant and a pallbearer at
his funeral.
The Number Two General Buckner
now is fifty-nine. Sent to West Point
in 1908, he was in the aviation sec
tion of the Signal Corps during the
First World War, then taught at
West Point and at the Army War
College. President Roosevelt put
him in charge of the defense of
Alaska in the summer of 1940 A
writer in This Week described him
In ls43 as being hard as a hunk
Evening star., 1945-04-03
Nuzidom After the War

IL is not surprising JndC lQe SJdCe
Department has come into possess
sion of volumes of evidence showing
that the Nazis are already plotting
to perpetuate their doctrines and to
promote the military resurgence of
Germany. Rumors of such a con-
spiracy have long been current, and
the whole idea is in keeping not
merely with the diehard mentality
of Hitlerism but with the philosophy
of pant n-Germanism-a philosophy of
conquest dating back to the days of
the Kaisers long before the First
World War.
Pan-Germanism has been a wide
spread movement for more than so
years. Before 1914 it envisioned
program of psychological, political,
economic and military aggression
calculated to make Germany the
master of vast domain stretching
eastward deep into Russia and
southeastward as far as the Persian
Gulf, looking forward beyond that
in it's more extreme form-to moth
ing less than eventual world domi-
nation. Far from being killed off by
the defeat of 1918. it was kept alive
in the postwar years until Hitler
picked it up and refrigerated it with
his own peculiar virulence. In many
respects, actually, Naziism, though
expressing itself with greater vio-
lence and uglineSS, has been nothing
but pan-Germanism operating under
an assumed name.
Germany today is mostly rubble,
the Wehrmacht is shattered, and
Hitler knows he has lost the war.
Nevertheless. like the German con-
SpiratorS after 1918, the NaziS appar-
emily do not intend to stay defeated
if they can help it. Many of them
hope to escape punishment, particu-
larly the obscurer ones who may be
able to dissolve into the mass of the
people to form an underground. Ac-
cording to the State Department,
they are even now actively planning
to renew overseas commercial con-
facts and to revive their preWar
cartel agreements Moreover, after
the shooting ends. they will probably
act through agents to sue for the
return of industrial properties seized
by the Allies, and they will try
to repurchase-through dummies
much of what they once controlled
abroad. Their postwar program also
includes propaganda drive to
soften peace controls by crying to
the world for fair treatment" and
they have a project worked out
under which they would send techni-
clans, cultural experts and under
cover agents-a new fifth column
to foreign lands to win friends and
influence people.
All this is consistent with every
thing the Nazis have done in the
past and follows quite faithfully
the old pattern of pan-Germanism.
Though beaten to his knees and
totally crushed, this enemy-whose
doctrines probably still impress mil
lions of Germans-is not likely to
consider his defeat final, and unless
the victors remain on guard against
him long after the war ends, he will
again try his hand at world aggres-
sion. The State Department does
we'll to forewarn us on this score;
the danger is one to be watched
with special care.
Evening star., 1945-04-03
A Mouthful
By David Laurence
From the St. Louis star-Times.

From the st, LOUIS Star- 1fntS y
In denouncing gamblers who operate
numbers" games in New York Mayor
La Guardia uttered mouth-f1lling de-
nunciation which might we'll be applied
to the gentry who run our East Sides
dice dens Said the Little Flower: "All
decent, law-abiding, clean, honorable,
God-loving people are against the thiev-
ing, chiseling. tinhorn, bread-snatching.
racketeering gamblers-the sons of null
titudinous paternity"
Evening star., 1945-04-03

embittered German-Polish relations.
The fateful climax came when Hitler
attempted to cut the Gordian knot
with the sword by attacking Poland
and Incorporating Danzig with the
Reich. Hitler thus tried to undo
the Versailles creation by force. The
result of this rash gamble will prob
ably be the loss to Germany of East
Prussia and most of its territory east
of the River Oder The price OF
aggression will thus be staggering
one.
Evening star., 1945-04-03
How Rudio Defects itself
ON tn. clayton watchman-Advocate.

From the Clayton Watchman-Advocate.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch is waging
q campaign for uninterrupted news pro-
grams that should be supported by the
public and the radio alike. There Is an
other source of help, too-the advertiser
whose product is damaged by the middle
of-the program plug.
If few people would address postal
card or letter to the manufacturer Of
Bogo's Little Burp Pills and tell him
just how offensive those burps are, the
whole business Of radio advertising
might be cleaned up at the source OF
the trouble.
Evening star., 1945-04-03

OF pig iron and built like stone.
lighthouse" There is legend that
he once killed an enormous Kodiak
bear by just believing at 1.-THE
dang thing died of fright"
Evening star., 1945-04-03
Letters to The Star
Sees Potomac River Dams
Destroying a Great Asset

To the Editor Of The star:
AS a resident of Northern Virginia, /
wish to thank you for the excellent
articles you have published on the pro-
posed project to build IA dams along
the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.
The plans had been surrounded by so
much secrecy that the accounts In The
Star gave many of us our first knowledge
of the whole matter.
Although the recommendation now
pending Is made in compliance with
lowing the flood on the Potomac
in 1886, directing that the Secre-
tary Of War report to Congress on
means and methods to control floods
on the Shenandoah and Potomac
Rivers, the report of the division engi-
neer admits that the building of the
IA dams at an estimated remember
the Pentagon Building) cost of 235
million dollars will eliminate only 20
per cent of the estimated annual flood
damage In the Potomac Basin. The re-
port also admits the generation of power
to be more than 90 per cent Of the
alleged benefits Of the total expendi-
lures. Presumably per. cent will bring
us "recreational facilities
Virginia dor many people besides Vir-
ginians) is the pattern of America: the
land where our forefathers found free
dom, fardships, happiness and home.
In this particular section, Northern
iyio ho CT &c
spoiled. The forests in winter are bright
ened by red-berried hollies, in spring
by dogwoods and Towering Judas trees.
Broad meadows filled with grazing cat
tie, sheep and horses delight the eye
just as they did in George Washing
tons day. In the creeks and rivers the
fishing is excellent; the children need
no swimming pools; picnic grounds are
not lacking. Nature supplies "recrea-
tional facilities" to rich and poor alike.
Those who came from other States to
settle in Virginia in numberless cases
have felt that it was "the return Of
the native" Those who have purchased
historic houses, in restoring them, have
tried to follow the plans of the original
owners. Must these people be deprived
of their homes?
Many Virginians, whose families have
lived in Virginia since Colony days, now
find that the graves of their ancestors
must be removed, their churches,
schools. stores and roads rebuilt. They
hear that their land permanently will be
destroyed, If the proposed IA dams are
built along the Potomac and Shenan-
doah Rivers
SUSA STANTON SNIDER.
LeeSbure Va
Evening star., 1945-04-03
Rebukes Yalta Critics


To the Editor OF The Star:
There is much loose talk concerning
the decisions reached at Yalta. Regard
less of whether the talk is well in
tentioned or deliberately preverse, the
ultimate result is to create doubt in
the wisdom or the motives of our Presi-
dent, Prime Minister Churchill, Premier
Stain and of the staffs that assisted
them in their deliberations. Every
word that spreads suspicion and causes
dissension among the Big Three Is
blow at our hopes of world peace.
Those who sincerely desire a world
where strong United Nations will pre-
vent future wars and are unable to un-
derstand the Yalta pact or lack faith
in those who drafted the Yalta pact
should go back to several years ago Then
the nations that were opposed to fas-
cism were divided-there were no United
Nations. The world trembled at every
word that the Axis breathed and every
nation feared that it would be the VIC
tim of the next fascist attack. 1t looked
as though civilization were to be de-
stroyed and the world descend into the
dark ages of new barbariaflism
The League of Nations proved little
better than a debating society and the
little nations who now howl most about
justice and equal rights in the councils
of the United Nations were not averse
to doing business with the Axis or above
taking portions of their neighbors' lands
when permitted by the Axis. They
were the first to fall to the Axis when
it no longer served the Axis that they
should be free and thus they endang-
cred the Big Three, whom they now
criticize for not rescuing them from
their plight quickly enough.
The self-appointed critics of Yalta
would serve their countries and world
peace more effectively If they measured
the part they played in making VIC
tory possible. What previous experience
gives them the right to assume that
their information and understanding
of world politics are better than our
Presidents, Prime Minister Churchills,
or Premier Stalin's?
RICHARD STEIN.