London Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1942, London, Middlesex                                Daily newspaper of . Armed forces in the european theater of operations no. 44 quot London England tuesday dec. 22, 1942 eds drive oth Edge f Ukraine glows fail to halt my nearing Rich Industrial area Moscow dec. 21 apr the be Don offensive rolled on to the of the Ukraine and the vast Coal and Hydro electric Power Region v without slackening. At one t russian troops were reported in seven Miles of the Ukraine Wuerful counter attacks by the s Southwest and Northwest of Narad and on the Central front parried. On the Central front More ments were captured my erasures below Zero prevailed on whole front. N Golikov s forces swept Down the Ukraine in the Region parallel e Moscow Rostov railway and add to about 25 Miles North of the int railway Junction of Millerov. J Miles in five Days n Vatu in s Middle Don offensive one of its impetus advancing from 18 Miles in the last 24 hours and lies in five Days. Fiet forces in the Middle Don Offen have now captured More than 300 cents including 14 towns and three centres. Dispatches reported that nazis had been killed up to Mideast night in this offensive least 11 Axis divisions have been beaten by Gen. Vatu in a drive. Re Are no signs yet that the German Anders have been Able to Stem the l break through Long enough to in any Large number of reserves. Nazis managed to counter attack at Rous places but the momentum of Viet drive generally carried the rus into their Depths or around them reinforcements could be rushed to ene Over the sorely tried lines of uni cations. Train Load of tanks tiers tank losses have swelled alarm. After losing 89 captured in the first of the Middle Don offensive the s suffered another Shock when the ians captured a train Laden with at 20 tanks. Numbers of tanks also been destroyed. Pravda dispatch from the Southern front said that the offensive began id. Cloudy weather which held up a scale air activity. It a Clouds floated Over the vast Steppe Field. Columns of infantry their merits muffled by snowy shrouds d along like ghosts. The dispatch ated the weight of the soviet offensive lying quot along the roads moved regi after regiment division after on hauling on sledges trenches machine guns and anti tank temperature plunges army guard5 led the first charges be nazi fines along a narrow sector was shortly widened three or four r. Shortly after this blow in the main Llyn. The other drive started which pjs Patch said bewildered the enemy did not allow him to Man Euver. T a a Herr Chanse l abruptly on the Don front. From overcast and pm line to. Bright Sunshine with Pesature going to 25 degrees below 0aq�,. The Bright weather prevailed the air 9nnfnt i11.0 action. Soviet Stormo a a t a Large numbers Over the to a Jers also began to hang for a ans no red army lines and Mitt lighters came into play As n. ,t5mf>erature froze the roads Norha Many Uve ability of the that Rue e Rushing Forward. Pravda t As ape Allons were just As Lively by it a a icy winds have added Saranin voices to the strange is Aci Oss the Steppe. A to get ration books 1 Intima tax forms scans in a a Al up a s with to a. Air Pant a rations Cir income tax demands x,,f0n dec. 21 5 will the t  Umu Siua order that or department next month e to them War brought Era in Nice definitely. Such Anh i the second to s to be v c a ver meat and other of rationed in 1943. .?uh"ch0f-the .l50 000 000 books. Wol nearing completion. A serious for the Axis Berlin begins to admit Stockholm dec. 21 up a the situation is serious for the Axis in the Don sector said a message put out today by the s.t.b., the German controlled scandinavian news Agency in Stockholm from its Berlin correspondent. The German and italian lines said this report were the object of unprecedented and still increasing pressure and the German front line had withdrawn to the West in several sectors to shorten the defense the report said. There was no question of any catastrophe for the defense at the present time said the s.t.b., but on the other hand the russians seemed to have great reserves. Tunisia stand now believed aim of Rommel pictured ready to give up Libya Tripoli Tania without fight1 by the associated press reports from Allied and Neutral sources indicated last night that the Axis May give up Tripoli and the rest of Libya and throw Rommel a forces along with reinforcements into the tunisian struggle in an attempt to retain the Bizerte Tunis foothold and control the Waist of the Mediterranean. A Reuter dispatch from North Africa said that Allied patrols captured italians from Tripoli trying to link up with Gen. Nehring in Tunisia and added that apparently the italian Garrison at Tripoli was moving into Tunisia by sea. The London daily mail in a Madrid dispatch quoted Vichy reports that the germans were planning a Large scale attempt to reinforce troops in North Africa from Europe with 150 French ships reported massed and ready to make the risky crossing of the Mediterranean to Tunis and Bizerte. Long hard fight 01 ?1?�?o8 192�?Tstamps, is is now a is panting jobs reports that the Axis was prepared to use weapons and men needed on the russian front to hold on in Tunisia were coupled by observers in London with a statement by an Allied spokesman in North Africa that a a we have Long and hard fighting ahead of  Gen. Eisenhower a Headquarters reported that British and american troops were now consolidating positions skirting the Axis defense zone around Bizerte and Tunis. The communique said patrol clashes were frequent but gave no other hint of an Early offensive which German sources again said were imminent. Rommel s columns were streaming West in an uninterrupted Retreat and had reached a Point five Miles West of Sultan. There was Lively skirmishing every foot of the Way but the main bodies of the two armies still were not in Contact. Death in fruit Trees As the two armies rolled toward Tripoli Bleak stories of the nazis minefield and Booby trap technique began Drifting Back from the front. It was reported that six Field companies were employed night and Day Clearing the Way for advancing troops. No Stone was left unturned by the nazis in their attempt to conceal mines on dead bodies clusters of fruit on Trees in gasoline and water tins on doorknobs and behind pictures curtains and window shades. One patrol consisting of five men was caught at night in the open by an enemy continued on Page 4 toll of enemy fighters rises As . Bomber Crews Cheek tally of wars fiercest raid Back from the raid on Romilly German air depot is shattered by forts Libs stars and stripes photo american bomber Crews brought Back stories from sundays raid of skies filled with fwd of bursting flak and seemingly endless dog fights. In their quarters at a bomber a drome in England three men who went to Romilly sur Seine describe the flight to 1st it. Arch j. Mcguire Back to camera. Left to right 2nd it. Walter e. Dooley capt. William Calhoun and 1st it. Edwin k. Lumpkin. Pilots crash landed fort after ordering Crew to jump by Andrew a. Rooney stars and stripes staff writer a . Bomber station England dec. 21�?some of them came Home on two engines with gaping holes in their wings and fuselage some of them flopped Down to Pancake landings because their controls had been shot up in the fiercest fighting of the air War Over Europe some of them slithered into Home base on their bellies. Six of them did no to come Back at All. But the flying fortresses and libera 6 sur be sch nozzle 9 is bomber s report a . Bomber station England dec. 21�?the English language took almost As bad a beating in the intelligence reports Here As did the nazi fighters who went up to meet the flying fortresses and liberators which smashed the enemy air Park at Romilly sur Seine. In the first place the planes All have names such As a a Wahoo a a a eight Ball a a a flaming Mamie a a a dry Martini jr.,�?� and the like. And in the second place the terminology of the fortress Crews Back from the wars bitterest Aerial Battle said what they had to say Pun gently. Best phrase of the lot perhaps came from the Crew of the a a dry Martini jr.,�?� a fort piloted by capt. Allen v. Martini san Francisco Cal. Describing their run and the result of the bombing the a a cocktail kids a As the Crew is called by the other airmen Here reported a direct hit a a sur be  Gen. Stuart tanks help drive its from new Guinea position Jap Gen. Mac Arthur s he Australia dec. 21 up a tanks Are being used for the first time in the Southwest Pacific area today in a general offensive launched by the australians and americans against the Southeastern end of the japanese beachhead at Buna. The tanks Light general stuarts Are being used to break through the steel and Concrete pillboxes and gun emplacements and log barricades which have withstood the assaults of the infantry since nov. 19. Since the australians broke through the japanese fortifications at this end of the front by a fierce Bayonet and grenade charge on Friday to occupy Cape Enda Zadere the beachhead has been reduced to a strip about a mile Long. The allies have drawn a Horseshoe round the Buna Airstrip and now occupy a Coconut Plantation on the left Between the Airstrip and the swamps. Backed up by australian and american infantry and artillery As Well As air support the tanks went in behind a barrage their 37-mm. Guns blasting the Concrete and steel gun pits burying the japs beneath them while infantry which followed cleaned up the remnants of the enemy and dealt with snipers. Many of the australians taking part in the fighting had seen service in the Middle East. They complained that the tanks which were moving for a distance of about half a mile every hour were travelling too slowly. The japanese commander in the new Guinea area it. Gen. Tomotaro Horii continued on Page 4 tors and their Crews who fought their Way to Romilly sur Seine bombed the nazi air Park there to Smithereens and then fought their Way Home again had some of the War s Best stories of sky combat to Tell. The forts told their yarns with mute scars in their bodies with dead engines and shattered props and with empty bomb Racks and empty ammunition belts. Trounced the Luftwaffe the Crews told their yarns with Good natured kidding and Yankee wisecracks that took a Little of the sting from the fact that some of their number weren to there to share the glory of taking on the Best the Luftwaffe could offer and pin Ping its ears Back so soundly that last night�?30 hours after the sunday raid the eighth air Force intelligence Section still was Labouring to Check off the ultimate number of German planes shot Down. For instance there is the Story of the a a eight Ball a a flying fortress. The battered old a a eight Ball a is no More but her fliers Are Safe and ready to fight and possibly jump again in a new fortress of the same name. The Pilot and the co Pilot of the a a eight Ball a told Here yesterday How they brought their flak riddled fort Back to a crash Landing after the rest of the Crew had been required to jump for their lives. Capt. William r. Calhoun Pilot and maj. Eugene a. Romig Squadron Leader and co Pilot for capt. Calhoun a ship the a a eight Ball a a escaped serious injury in the Landing and Are waiting to see the others who parachuted to English Earth and will return to duty soon. Other dramatic fight stories from the raid came from 1st it. A a Bob a Riordan twice before badly mauled and this time Lucky again and from fliers who got their continued on Page 4 Berlin Gas precautions seen As sign of plans the eighth air Force last night was still computing the devastating total of German planes shot Down by american flying fortresses and liberators in sundays fierce air Duel Over France. Unofficial reports from Crews of the bombers which smashed a nazi air Park and repair Center at Romilly sur Seine 75 Miles Southeast of Paris sunday placed the total of enemy fighters destroyed near 40. Eighth air Force admitted the loss of six bombers. While intelligence officers were studying the reports of the Crews and ground Crews were Patching and repairing the battered bombers it became evident that sundays raid deep into France had brought about the most bitter fighting of the european air War. For the loss of six american planes the Luftwaffe had been Given a brutal beating. Allied fighter support Over 300 Allied fighters supported the huge american bomber Force and meanwhile twin engined mosquitoes of bomber command made a telling diversionary sweep Over Western Germany. A heavy British night bomber assault followed Over Duisburg important Northwest German port. Loss of 11 Raf bombers was admitted. The air War Over Europe reached climatic fierceness in raiding that continued through afternoon and night sunday. It was unofficially estimated that Between 500 and 600 fighters and bombers took part in the sunday afternoon operation believed one of the largest of the War and certainly the deepest . Bombing thrust into Europe so far. Bombers fought their Way through veritable Clouds of enemy fighters to make the round trip. Crewmen yesterday said they encountered Luftwaffe fighters shortly after reaching the French coast and fought them All the Way to the target and Back to the Channel. Weather was Clear. Hangars shattered bombing from 20.000 feet Crews said they saw huge columns of smoke and debris flying in All directions from hangars repair shops and the Airfield just outside Romilly. Enemy fighters Gau Dily decorated with Blue and red War paint attacked some a a forts a simultaneously from All sides coming in head on with guns blazing. A a our Tail gunner counted 106 germans around us in about two hours a said 2nd it. James c. Brown navigator of Minneapolis Minn. A a for a while we were attacked every 50 seconds. A a i must say those blankets Blanks got plenty of guts. They would come right on through our formation head on. Some of them showed off by doing Low Rolls As they came  4 right on the nose a a a from 20 to 30 germans were on us nearly All the time a chimed in 2nd it. Gustaves Holmstrom co Pilot from Brooklyn. A a we were in the second group to get Over Romilly. We went in at 20,000 feet and hit the target right on the nose. Our Sticks of bombs made a swell pattern on the target. One hit this hangar another hit a nearby building. The sky was filled with bombs. We continued on Page 4 Toronto dec. 21 up a More support for the theory that Garmany intends to use Gas in this War is Given by Ernesto Piaggio attache at the Argentine consulate who reported that when he left Berlin last july after being there for two years every House was being fitted with Gas proof Chambers. It was unlikely he said that the germans would use Man Power and materials for such a Large program if they did not intend to use Gas themselves and feared Allied reprisals. Red Cross opens club for americans in Cairo Cairo dec. 21�?the first red Cross club for americans will be opened Here tomorrow in one of the newest of Cairo a hotels. Intended primarily for enlisted men it will sleep 250 and feed 500 and provide a Reading room game room waiting rooms and such luxuries As doughnuts and Coffee ice Cream pies Peanut butter and just about everything else he wants to eat or drink except liquor and Beer. Five Hundred Christmas dinners beginning with fruit cocktail and including Turkey will be served Friday. No paper on Christmas the stars and stripes will not be published on Christmas Day nor on boxing Day dec. 26