The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945

by The New York Times

  In this war of liberation we shall not be alone.

  In this great war we shall have loyal allies in the peoples of Europe and America, including German people who are enslaved by Hitlerite despots.

  Our war for the freedom of our country will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic liberties. It will be a united front of peoples standing for freedom and against enslavement and threats of enslavement by Hitler’s Fascist Armies.

  In this connection the historic utterance of British Prime Minister Churchill regarding aid to the Soviet Union and the declaration of the U.S.A. Government signifying readiness to render aid to our country, which can only evoke a feeling of gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are fully comprehensible and symptomatic.

  Comrades, our forces are numberless. The overwhelming enemy will soon learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army and Navy thousands of workers, collective farmers and intellectuals are rising to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up in their millions.

  In order to insure a rapid mobilization of all forces of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., and to repulse the enemy who treacherously attacked our country, a State Committee of Defense has been formed in whose hands the entire power of the State has been vested.

  The State Committee of Defense has entered into its functions and calls upon all our people to rally around the party of Lenin-Stalin and around the Soviet Government so as self-denyingly to support the Red Army and Navy, demolish the enemy and secure victory.

  All our forces for the support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious Red Navy!

  All the forces of the people—for the demolition of the enemy!

  Forward, to our victory!

  JULY 7, 1941

  ETHIOPIAN MOP-UP NETS TEN GENERALS

  Special Cable to The New York Times.

  CAIRO, Egypt, July 6—General Pietro Gazzera, General de Simone, who commanded the Italian forces that took British Somaliland last August, and eight other Italian generals have surrendered in accordance with the agreement for the capitulation of the Galla Sidamo area of Ethiopia, the British announced today. This raises the number of Italian generals captured by the British to forty-one, not including brigadiers.

  JULY 9, 1941

  LITVINOFF EXHORTS BRITAIN TO INVADE

  Former Commissar In a Radio Plea from Moscow Advises Quick Drive on Reich

  By The United Press.

  LONDON, July 8—In a radio appeal by Maxim Litvinoff, Russia tonight urged Great Britain to hurl her full weight against Germany in the West while the Red Army withstood the shock of the Nazi war machine in the East and thus force Adolf Hitler to wage war on two fronts.

  The former Soviet Foreign Commissar and longtime foe of the fascist dictators, implying that the moment was ripe for a British invasion of the Continent, said that the battle of Russia was forcing Herr Hitler to “withdraw more and more forces from the West to the East.”

  Broadcasting in English over the Moscow radio, Mr. Litvinoff promised that, whatever the sacrifices, Russia would “fight to the bitter end.”

  “Firm in our determination, we will fight until the Fascist barbarity is erased from the earth,” Mr. Litvinoff said in concluding his speech.

  HOLDS TIME OF ESSENCE

  He told Britain that there was no time to be lost in striking mighty blows at Germany in the West, even though the British themselves had gained “some respite” from Herr Hitler’s mammoth undertaking against Russia.

  “It is important that Hitler should have no moment’s rest,” he said. “While his strategy was to strike at each of his adversaries at different times, ours is to strike simultaneously. Each blow now is ten times more effective and less costly than later, when each of us might be weaker.”

  Mr. Litvinoff, who was removed as Russian Foreign Commissar in May of 1939, about three months before the signing of the Russian-German pact of non-aggression, appealed to all countries to support Russia and Britain against “Hitler and his clique of murderers.” No country, no matter how small, is secure so long as Hitlerism—he called it “the most shameful phenomenon of our age”—exists, Mr. Litvinoff warned.

  He made no statement as to the course of the titanic battle of Russia but asserted bluntly that “there is no doubt that we will strain in our effort to fulfill our historic mission” alongside Britain, whatever the privations. His whole speech carried a note of caution that the war to crush Germany would be long and difficult.

  JULY 12, 1941

  DONOVAN IS NAMED INFORMATION HEAD

  Roosevelt Puts Him in Charge Of New Agency to Digest Intelligence Reports

  Special to The New York Times.

  WASHINGTON, July 11—William J. Donovan, commander of the Sixty-ninth Division in the World War, was appointed today by President Roosevelt to head a new intelligence agency with the title of Coordinator of Defense Information.

  He will act in a civilian status, supervising reports received by the agencies of the government and digesting them for the information of President Roosevelt and the departments concerned.

  The White House described Mr. Donovan’s duties in a brief statement, thus:

  “The President today, as Commander in Chief of the armed forces, appointed William J. Donovan Coordinator of Information.

  Commander William J. Donovan

  “In his capacity as coordinator, Mr. Donovan will collect and assemble information and data bearing on national security from the various departments and agencies of the government and will analyze and collate such materials for the use of the President and such other officials as the President may designate.

  “Mr. Donovan’s task will be to coordinate and correlate defense information, but his work is not intended to supersede or to duplicate, or to involve any direction of or interference with the activities of the General Staff, the regular intelligence services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or of other existing departments and agencies.”

  Assisting Mr. Donovan will be a relatively small staff, of whatever size is found to be necessary to carry out his assignment.

  Heretofore, each department has handled its own intelligence service, in the usual manner of government bureaus, with relatively little interchange of information.

  The President has told associates that the scattered reports which came to his desk often were hopelessly confusing.

  Mr. Donovan’s salary is not specified and there is no indication when his bureau will be ready to function.

  JULY 13, 1941

  NAZIS DRIVE AHEAD

  High Command Declares Troops Made Big Gain On Moscow Road

  By C. BROOKS PETERS

  By Telephone to The New York Times.

  BERLIN, July 12—The German High Command announced in a special communiqué late tonight that the Stalin Line had been broken at “all decisive points.” The bulletin came after days in which the High Command had maintained complete reticence about operations on the Eastern Front, and just three weeks after the invasion of Russia began.

  In the northern sector, it was reported, German tank units operating in the region east of Lake Peipus, which is near the Estonian border, are advancing toward Leningrad. [According to The United Press, German forces were reported to be about 125 miles from Leningrad.]

  The High Command said that strongly fortified Russian positions on the Dnieper River, in the central sector north of the Pripet Marshes, had been captured and that German troops now stood approximately 125 miles east of Minsk, on the route to Moscow. Vitebsk, in this zone, has been in German hands since yesterday, it was stated.

  Farther south, the special bulletin declared, the German forces that took Lwow and advanced eastward are now “close before” Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine.

  PUSH TO DNIESTER CLAIMED

  The allied German and Rumanian forces, operating from Moldavia, were said to have thrown the Russians back to and across the Dniester Rive
r on a wide front. Slovak, Hungarian and German forces, according to the communiqué, are pursuing the Russians out of Galicia.

  The Germans asserted that along the entire front numerous Russian formations already showed signs of disintegrating. Any hopes the Russians may have entertained of engaging in counter-operations on a large scale, it was stated, have already been destroyed by the actions of the German Air Force, which reportedly has ruined the Russian railway system.

  On the other hand, the reinforcements and supplies necessary for the continued advance of the vanguard of German motorized and tank units have been assured, the Germans declared. According to tonight’s communiqué, supply bases already have been advanced and established “close to the former Stalin Line.”

  Yesterday German infantry units fought their way into the “wet zone” of the Stalin Line in the northern sector, according to reports received before the special bulletin was issued. An attack was launched on the Russian positions in the swampy terrain south of Lake Peipus, somewhere between Pskov and Ostrov.

  RUSSIAN POSITIONS STORMED

  Since dawn today German shock troop formations had been reported storming the Russian fortifications that lie behind the “wet zone.” There were few details, however—today’s regular High Command communiqué said merely that “operations of the allies forces on the Eastern Front are proceeding according to plan.”

  The German forces engaged in this new offensive in the northern sector were reported to have marched 355 miles in the last sixteen days. These marches, it was asserted, were particularly difficult because the Russians had placed all sorts of obstacles along the line of advance and these had to be removed by sappers. Roads were destroyed, bridges permitted to fall into disrepair and wells destroyed or poisoned, the Germans said.

  Dispersed remnants of the Russian forces that had been caught in a pocket between Bialystok and Minsk were reported today to have been completely wiped out. All lines of retreat had been cut off, the Germans declared, and the Russians’ position was hopeless.

  In the middle of the extensive front, in the territory around Vitebsk, Russian units attempted to counter-attack the German vanguard on Thursday, according to the Germans. Before the attack could be set in motion, it was asserted, German motorized units slashed into the center of the Russian concentrations and dispersed them, destroying 109 Russian tanks.

  According to information received in Berlin tonight, a new pocket has been closed about Russian forces in the Vitebsk sector. The Germans declared that trapped Russian units had endeavored to escape yesterday. Twenty-one Russian tanks, eight of them fifty-two-ton machines, were reported to have been destroyed in twenty minutes by German units with anti-aircraft guns.

  It was said that in the southern sector heavy rains had made the German advance more difficult. Nonetheless, according to the official news agency, the Reich forces were able yesterday to throw back Russian tank and infantry units that endeavored to halt their drive.

  Stalin Line Reported Broken in Key Zones: The Germans declared that their tanks had cracked defenses of the line (shown by shading) east of Lake Peipus (1), only 125 miles from Leningrad, and that they had captured Vitebsk (2), but Moscow reported the first drive checked at Pskov and the second at Vitebsk. The Nazis claimed to be 125 miles east of Minsk (3). The Russians told of guerilla successes around Pinsk (4) and said they had halted the foe’s Ukrainian drive at Novograd Volynk (5), but Berlin asserted its forces near Kiev. Axis advances from Galicia (6) and beyond the Dniester (7) were announced. Russian bombers raided Ploesti, Constanta and Sulina (8).

  JULY 16, 1941

  SYRIA AND LEBANON OCCUPIED BY ALLIES

  British and Free French Get Use of Airports and Harbors, Heading Off Germans

  By HAROLD DENNY

  Special Cable to The New York Times.

  CAIRO, Egypt, July 15—British troops at noon today began full occupation of Syria and Lebanon under the terms of the agreement signed yesterday at Acre, Palestine, by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson for the British and General Joseph de Verdillac for the Vichy military authorities. Thus Great Britain has at last forestalled the Germans in one important theatre of the war.

  The terms of the truce, as announced by the British Embassy in Cairo, follow faithfully those offered to General Henri Fernand Dentz, Vichy’s High Commissioner, last Thursday, by General Wilson and General Georges Catroux on behalf of the Free French through the United States Consul General in Beirut.

  General Dentz then demurred at having any dealings with the Free French. The British insisted, however, and General Dentz assented to General Catroux’s participating in all the negotiations.

  PRINCIPAL TERMS OF TRUCE

  In addition to full occupation of the mandated areas, the agreement called for the surrender of all except personal weapons and of planes and aeronautical equipment, ships and port installations, other materiel, munitions and fuel stocks. The British are to have the use of all air fields in Syria and Lebanon.

  Prisoners on both sides are to be freed and the British agree not to impose sanctions on Vichy soldiers or officials. The British reserve the right to enlist in their forces “special troops” (native levies) as these are released from Vichy’s military service. French soldiers and civilians are to have the choice of repatriation, joining the British and Free French forces or remaining in the mandated regions as civilians.

  A commission of three persons to be named by the British and two by the Vichy authorities will supervise execution of the truce terms.

  The convention, which is purely military, does not mention independence for Syria and Lebanon. However, this was an essential point in original terms and is implicit in the new accord. The next step is expected to be a meeting of General Catroux with Syrian leaders to work out arrangements.

  TERMS DEEMED GENEROUS

  Satisfaction is expressed here at the outcome of the negotiations, and it is made clear they are considered generous.

  As a result of the signing of the agreement, the use of bases in Syria is now denied to the Germans and direct land communication is established between the British–Free French allies and Turkey.

  It is stated that the British sought not to humiliate their former allies and showed only respect for men who conceived it their duty to obey orders. A heavy responsibility, however, is held to rest on those who gave the orders. Vichy’s resistance is described here as a hopeless struggle that could only help Germany and Frenchmen fight for Reichsfuehrer Hitler without spending a drop of German blood.

  JULY 22, 1941

  ‘V’ CREDITED TO BELGIAN

  Key-Sign in Flemish and French to Worry Nazis In His Country

  LONDON, July 21 (UP)—The V symbol was revealed today as the conception of Victor de Laveleye, 46-year-old Belgian broadcaster with the BBC. He said the idea came to him last January as he sat with a Flemish refugee in the lobby of a London hotel. They were discussing means of uniting their compatriots.

  “We were searching for a sign the Belgians could put up everywhere to worry the Nazis,” he said. “Finally we agreed it had to be one with the same meaning in French, Flemish and English. We went through the alphabet.

  “I hit on the letter V because it is the key in the French ‘victoire,’ the Flemish ‘vrijheid’ and the English ‘victory.’ I first mentioned it in my Belgian broadcast on Jan. 14, saying it was the perfect symbol for the Anglo-Belgian entente.”

  JULY 27, 1941

  TOKYO IS SHOCKED BY ECONOMIC WAR

  Silk Exchange Closes—Stocks Fall To 10-Year Low In Excited Trading

  By OTTO D. TOLISCHUS

  Wireless to The New York Times.

  TOKYO, July 26—Within a few hours after President Roosevelt’s order freezing Japanese assets and credits in the United States was announced, the Japanese Government retaliated by freezing the assets and credits of American and Philippine nationals and corporations within the Japanese Empire. The government was in consultation with the Manchukuoan and Nanking regim
es to extend the freezing operations in their territories as well.

  The freezing order, which takes the form of putting transactions of the affected nationals under the foreign exchange control law, will be promulgated on Monday and become effective immediately. Inasmuch as the British Government has likewise frozen Japanese funds throughout the British Empire and in addition has abrogated all commercial treaties with Japan, the same regulations will be applied to British Empire subjects as soon as official notification of the British action has been received.

  Therewith, in the view of Japanese official quarters, business circles and the press, has begun an open economic war between the United States and the British Empire on the one hand and the Japanese Empire and the areas it controls on the other hand. It is expected to wither whatever international trade remains and in the words of the ultranationalist Nichi Nichi is but “one step from armed warfare.” The announcement of Mr. Roosevelt’s action and Japan’s counter-action came simultaneously with the announcement here of Japan’s agreement with Vichy for the “joint defense of French Indo-China.” It trailed Vichy’s announcement of the agreement by some forty-eight hours, but that made the inter-relation between the various actions all the more impressive.

  It was obvious that not only to the un-informed Japanese public but even to otherwise well-informed business quarters the various developments of the day came as a profound shock. The Stock Exchange average, which had ranged between 150 and 170 during the last two years, dropped more than six points touching 94.8 or the lowest point since 1931.