WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1944

TH E M I C H!IG AtN D A LY

PAGE THREE

______________________________________________________ U


Yanks Destroy
Fortification s
Well TrairlelT<roops
Made Initial Attack
By The Associated Press
HEADQUARTERS, EUROPEAN
THEATRE OPERATIONS, June 6.-
Some of the bravest soldiers in the
United States Army-it was a job
only for the brave-made the initial
land attack on the fortress of Europe
by knocking out pill boxes and other
fortifications of the Atlantic wall.
Assault tactics, perfected in North
Africa, Sicily and Italy, were drilled
into troops in Great Britain for
months before the actual invasion.
Special training was given infantry
units which were designated for the
spearhead of the attack.
Dangerous Operation Described
The assault on concrete emplace-
ments is one of the most exciting and
dangerous operations of modern war.
It looks impossible, but it isn't, as
American doughboys have proved.
The key to success is plain old-fash-
ioned fortitude spelled with a capital
Originally, the reduction of fortifi-
cations was considered a job for
engineers. However, after some ex-
periences it became apparent that it
would be more effective to train in-
fantry with special engineer weapons
and this was the technique used in
Europe.
The preparation is provided by
artillery, by naval guns, by air bom-
bardmrent and by water-proofer tanks
firing hull-down in the water.
Small Number of Men
There are 30 men in an assault see-
tion-29 enlisted men and One offi-
cer. This is the capacity of the as-
sault boats, and it is also the most
convenient size for attacking a single
pill box.
It is the job of the first men ashore
to locate land mines, and mark safe
lanes with special tracing strips.
As part of this operation, barbed
wire must be cut, and American sol-
diers have a wonderful weapon for
this purpose. It is the Bangalore tor-
pedo, which blows a wide swath
through the wire.
Then the other members of the
team follow through the wire, and
move up the beach.
Bazookas Enter Assault
One of the most dramatic actions
of the assault is carried out by the
rocket gunners, firing .the famous
bazookas. Their mission is to attack
the pillbox apertures to silence enemy
fire, and the accuracy of American
rocket gunners is remarkable.
The climax of the entire operation
is played by the' soldier with the
flame thrower and theman with the
demolition charge.
As soon as one pill box blows the
entire section moves forward for an-
other attack. During a landing oper-
ation these tactics are repeated by
many squads along a considerable
front-there will be at least one divi-
sion in line, and probably more.
D-Day
QulotatiotisL

D-Day Chronology Lists
First Rumors, Attack
ay Tte Associ teI 're'ss
1:00 a. mI. German DNB agency broadcasts i[ llavre being homtbarded
violently and German naval craft fighin; Allied n;mdiu: +raft. Oil coast.
2:31 a. m. Spokesmaxz from Gen. Eisenhower in broadcast from
London warns peonle of European inivasion cast that "A new phase
of the Allied air offensive has begun" and orders them to move 22
miles inland.
3 :29 a. m. Berlin radio says "First center of gravity is Caen.' big city
at base of Normandy peninsula.
3:32 a. m. Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, an-
nounces that Allied armies began landing on northern coast of France.
3:40 a. m. Shaef announces Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery is in
command of assault army comprising Americans, British, Canadians.
4:47 a. m. French patriots warned to evacuate areas 22 miles bordering
coasts to escape aerial bombardment.
6:24 a. m. Prime Minister Churchill says 4,000 ships and several
thousand lesser craft formed probably world's greatest invasion
armada; "Everything is proceeding according to plan."
7:03 a. m. German Destroyers and E-Boats rushing into operational
area and "no doubt are being dealt with," headquarters says. H-Hour
announced as between 6 and 8 a. m. British Time (Midnight and 2 a. m.
Eastern War Time.
7:08 a. m. Allied landing forcesestablish beachheads and are advanc-
ing inland, aerial pictures show. RAF bombers attacked Osnabruck,
Germany, Air Ministry announces.
7:24 a. m. Swedish reporters in Berlin report dozen landings with
main attack toward Caen.
7:32 a. n. Supreme headquarters announces beaiclhad secured and
dug in.
8.01 a. m. Germans announce Allied landings on Channel Islands
of Guernsey and .Jersey; say Allied tanks land at Arrowanches midway
between Cherbourg and Le Havre; Allies incessantly employing assault
boats off Oystreham.
9:20 a. m. Marshal Petain broadcasts to Frenchmen to avoid reprisals.
9:34 a. m. Germans report Nazi counter attacks knock out 35 Allied
tanks in Seine Bay area and making progress east of Cherbourg.
9:40 a. m. Supreme Headquarters receives information beachheads
established in Normandy with troops striking inland.
11:15 a. m. Allies reported several miles inland in Normandy. Germans
report penetration between Caen and Isigny.
U' Professors...

-Associated Press Photo
FOUR JEEPS MAKE A LOAD--Scores of jceps similar to these have been flown to the invasion coast with men and equipment. Shown
above is the Avro York, Britain's biggest transport plane, waiting at aru airport in Englandl to take on four jeeps, which can be carried in one
load. With a 102-foot wingspan, the York is 78 feet long, carried 10 tons.

Battle FatalitiesAreGreatlyByReduced
By Ei'acuations, Medical Treatmentf

NEW YORK (AP)-If your boy is
wounded during the invasion, he has
97 out of 100 chances that the injury
will not be fatal.
The chances' of amputation and
permanent disability are only five
per cent as opposed to 75 per cent
in the last war.
If he gets to an evacuation hospi-
tal hehhas four times the chance,
that the World War I soldier had
of returning to a useful civilian life.
And the odds of his getting to
an evacuation hospital arevery
good, indeed. These hospitals are
only 30 to 100 miles from the
front. There are today in Hall-
oran General Hospital on Staten
Island-4,000 miles from the front
--boys who fell in Italy only seven
days ago.
The new "life insurances" of this
war can be traced to two things;
medical treatments which according
to the Army's Surgical General
"Were considered hopeless only two
decades ago," and a new "chain of
evacuation from the battlefield.
Sulfa drugs, penicillin, the use of
blood plasma and tetanus toxoid were
unknown in the last war. So was
the "assembly line" technique of
evacuation. Wounded often lay on
the battlefield for several days.
Front line surgery, air ambulances
and collecting stations are innova-
tions in the new evacuation chain.
There are four other steps in the
chain: station, surgical, convalescent
and finally general hospitals, such as
Walter Reed and Halloran.
Air T roop aShips
T hikas Flie'
A U. S. FIGHTER BASE IN
BRITAIN, June 6-(AP)-In the
dawn dozens of American transport
planes and gliders carrying para-
chute and air-borne troops flew from
British bases towards the French
coast. It was about 5 a. m. (11 p. m.
Monday, Eastern War Time.)
"They're going over as thick as
flies," said an American fighter pilot
just before he, too, flew off on a
different assignment-patrolling the
French coast to protect Allied land,
sea, and air operations.
"The sky was black with them as
they headed for France above scat-
tered clouds," reported Lt. Ralph
Santasiero, 9501 239th St., Bellerose,
N. Y., a Thunderbolt pilot.
"Big red flares and flashes" were
spotted in the distance by Lt. Duane
Bunce, 219 East Hennepin Ave., Min-
neapolis, Minn., who figured they
came from shellings on the French
coast.
Squadrons of fighter pilots patrol-
led the French coast in endless relays
to "run interference" for the big
bombers-RAF Halifaxes and Whit-
neys and U. S. Liberators-which
were searching for Nazi submarines
off shore to keep the channel open
for Allied naval craft.
"We were acting as a buffer," said
Lt. Thomas Hamilton, 1800 south-
west 11th St., Miami, Fla, a fighter
pilot. "But we didn't see a thing
except bad weather. I don't think
the Huns could get off the ground.
If they had there would have been
a general rat-race through the
clouds for there was a thick over-
cast up to 7,000 feet."

These steps are more than blue-
prints. They are being carried out.
Thesetcasualties are mor suthan
statistics. They are men suffer-
ing and suffered for. Their own
stories mean something.
Lt. Clair Carpenter, from Plain-
view, Neb., was hit at Salerno, five
hours after landing. A machine gun
bullet entered under his jaw, emerged
below his right eye.
Within an hour a small Navy boat
carried him from the beach-head to
a hospital ship where an emergency
operation laid the foundation for his
recovery at Halloran.
Private Joseph Rosenstein is a
cheerful blue-eyed fellow who was
wounded just a year ago in Tuni-
Two Airmen
Havei$ngside
Seat at InvaSiOn
LONDON, June 6-(AP)-From a
ringside seat only 500 feet above
the burning, smoking rim of the
continent, two airmen watched
the Allies strike the first blow.
One is Lt. Col. C. A. Shoop, 122
No. Oakhurst drive, Beverly Hills,
Calif., a former Army test pilot who
arrived in this theater six weeks ago
and became commander of this group
only yesterday and flew his first mis-
sion today.
The other is Maj. Norris Hartwell,
Jr., 306 East 20th St., Cheyenne,
Wyo., formerly acting commander of
this unit.
"They've established some good
beachheads," Shoop said.
"There were lots of burning
buildings and bomb craters," Hart-
well declared. "Towns were burn-
ing all over the area."
"Shoop said the channel was "full
of our warships" but that no German
naval vessels were around.
"I don't know whether the enemy
was surprised or not, but we didn't
see any opposition to our ground
forces.
"At each location along the
beaches our warships were standing
off throwing in shells. There were
groups of ships both coming and go-
ing across the channel. Some of
them were big ones and they were as
close to the shore as they could pos-
sibly get.
Shoop added that "We coifd see
our troops advancinig across the
ground at one place. At one local-
ity we saw a group of gliders on the
ground. We didn't run into any
air opposition, but we got down to
500 feet and the ground fire was
pretty heavy."
Hartwell said the only opposition
to naval forces was furnished by
ground batteries and their fire "ap-
parently was almost as heavy as
ours," Hartwell said.
"You could see the guns hitting
buildings and every now and then
you'd see a building explode.
"The air was filled with our planes
-all kinds. Visibility was good when
we arrived but smoke began cover-
ing the area and it was pretty thick
by the time we left,"
Both pilots said they saw not a
single person in the streets of the
towns even before the bombardment
got well under way, indicating the
civilian population was complying
with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's
request to get out of the way.

By The Associated Press
Petain Appeals to French
LONDON, June 6.-The Paris radio
today broadcast an appeal by Mar-
shal Petain to Frenchmen to refrain
from actions "which would call down
upon you tragic reprisals."
"France has become a battlefield,"
said the aged Vichy chief. "The cir-
cumstances of battle may compel the
German Army to take special meas-
ures in the battle area. Accept this
necessity"
He called on officials, railwaymen
and workers to remain at their posts
--where they would serve the Ger-
man military machine-"in order
to keep the life of the nation and in
order to carry out your tasks."
"Do not listen to otuside voices
calling on you not to listen to our
decrees," he said.
Davis Warns Aiericans
WASHINGTON, June 6.-Director
Elmer Davis of the Office of War
Information advised Americans today
to be wary of Axis reports on the
progress of invasion fighting.
"Anything the Axis radio puts out
is in their own interest," Davis told a
handful of correspondents gathered
in his office in early morning hours.
* * *
* * *
Admiral King Optimistic
WASHINGTON, June 6.-Admral
Ernest J. King told reporters at one
p.m. (EWT) today that the invasion
is "doing all right so far."
King, Commander-in-Chief of the
fleet, made the remark as he, General
George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff,
and Gen. H. H. Arnold, Chief of the
Air Forces, left the White House after
an hour and a half conference with
President Roosevelt.
Clean-Up Drive
Slated To Begmin

sia. He answered what was the
matter with him with a big grin
and "I gt the business."
'The business was a horrible chest
wound that ripped his lung when
he "laid on a land mine."
"My Lieutenant wanted to carry
me back," but he didn't have to. The
medics were right there. That was
at seven in the morning. I don't
remember the trip, but I came to
at twilight and my lung had been
sewed up."
Butdeath from violence is not the
only concern of the armed service's
50,000 doctors-one third of the na-
tion's supply. They also must fight
disease and forestall epidemics.
In World War I-As indevery other
war-more men died of disease than
were killed in action. The disease
death rate of this war is only one
twentieth as high.
Your boy's chances of incurring
tuberculosis is only one tenth what
it was in the last war.
Natonals Arrve
COrn ripshiolrn
Exchange Ship Brings
U.S. Troops, Citizens
JERSEY CITY, N. 'J., June 6-
(AP)-Fifty-one ill or wounded
American soldiers, who were prison-
ers of war in Germany, come home
today on the Swedish liner Grip-
sholm.
The ship, which left here May 2
with 700 German prisoners and
civilians and carried out an exchange
at Barcelona for American, British
and Canadian repatriates, is due
late today.
More than 600 Britains left the
ship at Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Among the 131 passengers making
the Atlantic crossing were 37 Cana-
dian soldiers, who will go directly to
Canada, and 43 civilians, including
eight United States citizens. The
other civilians are citizens of South
and Central American countries,
The U. S. soldiers will be taken
to Halloran General Hospital, Staten
Island. Interviews with them will
be permitted later, the Army said,
Aboard the ship is Larry Allen,
Associated Press War Correspondent,
who'was a prisoner of the Italians
and Germans for 20 months. He was
captured Sept. 13, 1942 when the
British destroyer to which le was
assigned was sunk during a Com-
mando raid on Tobruk in North
Africa
Fi oure Fitness
Fashion Show
All coeds are invited to attend the
Figure Fitness Fashion Show to be
presented by the WAA Board at 4:30
p. m. today in Kellogg Auditorium.
Central theme of the show will be
posture and exercises designed to im-
prove the stance of the women. Ex-
ercises will be demonstrated by the
Dance Group under the direction of
Jean Parsons.
A posture contest, with entrants
from every dormitory, sorrity, and
league house will be another feature
of the program. The coeds in this
'scene' will wear date dresses and
heels and the winner will be chosen
from among them.
Presentation and distribution of
the Physical Fitness Booklet will
be still another highlight of the
show.

Navy P repares
Way for Allied
Warshiips Shell Coast
As Troops Go Ashore
WITH ALLIED NAVAL FORCES,
June 6-(AP)-The United States
Navy struck the beaches of Western
Europe today with torrents of shells
in shepherding the Army's invasion
troops onto the hostile coast, seared
and pitted by thousands of aerial
bombs.
Warship guns fired an ear-trying
prelude before the swarms of homely
hybrid landing craft broke away
from the shelter of the convoys to
begin the first critical showdown on
the beaches.
This bombardment was a combined
chorus from the cannon of several
navies, but British warships spoke
the loudest because there were morej
of them.
Hundreds of Craftsj
The untold hundreds of strange
and wonderful craft would have
causedthe eyes of John Paul Jones
to pop wide open.
In an amazingly ordered confusion
came the whole fiat-bottomed "Elsie"
family laden with fighting men, guns,
tanks, shells, field rations, hypoder-
mics, radio sets, bandages, trucks and
the other bewildering baggage of
combat.
Craft's Purposes Reported
Thirty-six-foot LCVP's (landing
craft, vehicle personnel) made of ply-
wood, the baby of the family and
perhaps its most important member;
LCM's (landing craft, mechanized),
steel 50-footers most valuable for the
first supply phase; LCI's (landing
-craft, infantry) around 200 feet in
length and almost proper looking
ships; LCT's (landing craft, tanks),'
ungainly 200-footers, and LST's
(landing ships, tanks) queens of the
family able to disgorge anything'
from jeeps to monster road build-
ing machines-all these plus amphi-
bious "ducks" and other weird craft
were there.

(continued from Page 1)
"For the past two years most of
us have been expecting the invasion
to come in May or June of this year,
and we expected it to begin in
France. The time and place of the
invasion is therefore triumphantly
expected", stated Prof. Preston W.
Slosson of the history depar.tment.
"Everything seems to be working
according to schedule. The only sur-
prise seems to be that the beachhead
was seized with so much less resist-
ance than was expected,he said.
"The fact that the invasion has
met with complete and comparatively
easy success, shouldn't blind us to
the effect that the big test will come
in the German offensive. The Ger-
mans have reserves to attack us
with and to drive us to the sea as
at Dunkerque. If that fails they
may try to hold us where we are as
they did at the Anzio beachhead," he
continued.
If the counter attack fails the
second front will be a success and
we will have many more land-
ings. It is impossible for the Al-
lies to use a full force at the pres-
ent beachhead, he said.
"In about a weeks time Russia will
launch a big offensive in the East.
That would probably account for
the fact that the Eastern front has
been inactive of late," he concluded.
John F. Shepherd, professor of
psychology, stated that he, person-
ally, did not think that the war
would last much longer now. "The
Germans today have as many troops

in all of Europe as they had in Rus-
sia alone last year, and therefore
they can't hold out much longer."
"The lesson we should learn now
is to be calm about the whole
thing. Unfortunately the Ameri-
can people get excited too quickly.
Dispatches from London this
morning stated that the people
went to work as usual and were
very calm. That should go for us
too, he concluded.
"The movement into France by the
Allies marks a definite step toward
victory, but there will be no cessa-
tion of activity until victory is comn-
plete. We should now look to fur-
ther landings at different points
along the coast," Prof. Everett S.
Brown, acting chairman of the Poli-
tical Science department stated.
"The parts of the coast already
taken can only permit the landing of
a small supply of goods for the
liberation of Europe. Supplies are
more serious when they are to be
used to feed and cloth the ~needy
people in the liberated sections, he
continued.
"The Allies have been preparing
a stock pile for relief purposes for
the needy for a long time. To give
you an idea of the supplies needed,
some figures cited show that 13 mil-
lion pairs of shoes and 3 million
metric toes of food are needed for
six months alone. To import these
supplies, more ports for landing are
needed, he concluded.
"The psychological effect of D-
Day should be one of greatly in-
creasing the unity of the people of
the Allied nations," Norman R,. F.
Maier, associate professor of psy-
chology, stated.,
"The invasion of the coast of
France was demanded by Russia, and
every American must now concede
that the landing in France means
the beginning of real (psychological)
participation. Apologies and excuses
need no longer be made," he contin-
ued.
"Guilt feelings may have made us
critical of Russia, and of each other.
That is all changed now. The psy--
chologically united peoples of the
Allied Nations will from this day
participate in the disintegration of
the unity of the enemy," he con-
cluded".
Morris Greenhut, instructor of
English, said "I approve of the in-
vasion. Some people seem to think
that the European campaign will
end quickly, but others do not. No
doubt the truth lies somewhere in
between."
TYPEWRITERS
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D-DA V I/N MICHIGAN:-
Solemnity, Prayer Markc
News of ivasion Here *

vy 'rhe Associated Press
Invasion's fateful hour found Mich-
igan's five and one-half million peo-
ple in supplication and at the work
bench.
The great arsenal state with so
vital a task in the war sent up prayers
for the safety of its fighting men but
paused not in its own momentous
assignment of welding American
arms.
Allies Challenge hitler's Fortress
Word of the Allies' challenge to
Hitler's fortress Europe spread swiftly
through hamlet and city in Michigan,
awakening the populace to one of
history's grimmest moments.
Church bells called the people to
prayer. Factory whistles shrieked the
news. To schoolroom, home and pub-
lic building "D-Day" brought a sol-
emnity such as never before had been
experienced.
But in the course of all this the
forges of the war plants hammered
and men and women applied them-
selves to a still unfinished job.
The Same All over State
From the mammoth Willow Run
bomber factory to the tiniest machine
shop the story was the same.
Governor Kelly, proclaiming a one-
minute prayer period at 10 a.m.,
asked the citizens to "dedicate them-
selves to continued prayer in all the
days preceding victory and to greater

effort in the home front production
of weapons, equfpment and supplies."
"This is a solemn occasion," the
Governor said, "No degree of light-
ness, no sense of celebration must
touch it."
Kelly called for prayers to "create
a spiritual blanket of reassurance and
protection" for Michigan's sons in
battle and for work to "provide in
increasing volume the weapons and
supplies without which our sons are
helpless."
German Prisoners Optimistic
A spokesman for the 20 German
prisoners of war employed at the
Michigan F'ertilizer Company in Lan-
sing was quoted by a company offi-
cial as saying, "The invasion attempt
will last four days before we'll throw
them out. A first invasion can't suc-
ceed, but a second one might."
Sixty thousand war workers in
Flint's five large industrial plants
paused in the job of building war
weapons for one minute at 10 a.m.
today. Factory whistles and air raid
sirens sounded to signal the moment
of silence.
Churches announced special ser-
vices and opened their doors to hun-
dreds who knelt in prayer before the
altars.

(Continued from Page 1) --


most until dawn when the initial
fever of excitement set the pattern
for the day.
Army men in the East Quad didn't
ohiect to before-reveille rising when

with the news fresh in their minds
from a loud speaker in the dining
hall.
Commenting on church attend-
ance, Dr. William P. Lemon of the

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