London Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1945, London, Middlesex                                Biggest Blitz hits nazis London edition York London i the stars a Paris newspaper of armed forces 5 in the european theater of operations 1943 3rd makes new Saar crossing patterns men capture 23 More towns still another sector of hitlers 1 cracking Siegfried line faced assault yesterday As doughboy of the 3rd Annys 94th division established a jew Bridgehead Over the Cross i eng in assault boats against slight oppo t Jitian South of River spanning f town whose Western districts have now been cleared by George patrons drive in the Saa Moselle Triangle below while the 94th was building up its Riverside positions preparatory to assault ing the main enemy defense belts in this other units of patrons army cleared 23 towns As they scored advances up to three Miles at Points along a 55mile the Bridgehead was the second american position on the East Bank of the the other having been established months ago at to the in the Saa Moselle Triangle patrons troops were Only a mile from where the two Rivers a dispatch from sheaf said armoured units had cleared up Western but were slowed in crossing the River there because the germans had blown the salient further threatened the German salient Between patrons Prum and echternach Bridgehead in the sector North of the Saarm Selje area was threatened further by another crossing the our Between these two now Only about nine Miles the echternach Bridgehead has been deepened to seven Miles and widened to dispatches cavalry units completed the capture of a Border town sprawling on both sides of the by Clearing out the Section on the Rivers East on the 7th army front american troops pushed through the first Belt of Siegfried defences in the area Southwest of the steel town of Cap Turing a Village outside which has been surrounded and where the americans were Clearing out the germans in hard Street into the fight for bastion guarding the germans threw Volks Sterrn Many of them without dispatches on the Northern sector of the Western continued on Back Page 800 pm sunk on Jap ship than 800 captives were lost 15 when attacking what appeared to be an Ordinary enemy cargo bombed and Sank off the West coast of Luzon a Jap prison ship loaded Itji who were kept in die hold by their guards one of the George Karl told a press conference Here the Navy department said it was the first account of the this was the third reported instance of Jap prison Craft having been sunk with the toss of in one Case Only five of prisoners were saved and Only 83 of the Petritz said some of the prisoners were bed in the air but opined that to per cent of the captives would have if the ship had not been Only two prisoners were recaptured by the he adding that Many Jap Jpn fians were on Board the vessel when was they Lay the plans that slay the foe army air Force photo this was the moment of decision on yesterdays great air blow against the Reich As 8th air Force strategists gathered to discuss the Orvil Deputy commander for Ope rubbing his Chin listens As Ramsey bombing discusses one aspect of the Anderson considers details of enemy defences and the in the group Are intelligence and fighter and bomber operations 3 divisions fight for iwo Jima Battle bloodier than Tarawa marines fighting for control of iwo Jima were reinforced yesterday by the 3rd a total of three the but Savage japanese resistance slowed and the toll of dead and wounded Rose higher than in the bloody Battle for american casualties increased by 900 men in nine hours to a revealed Nimitz communique from in Guam of compared to the Tarawa toll of we will capture iwo no matter what the said Holland commanding the Marine he said casualties were no greater than we and declared because it was almost to Man Euver ground forces on the frontal attacks against strongly fortified japanese positions were the marines have won a third of the fortress Miles South of Tokyo have captured their main a bomber but their drive North toward the second of three airfields on the Island was they weakened the defences of the second Airfield by knocking out numerous enemy gun then threw Back several heavy Nimitz communique marines in the Southern sector used flamethrowers and tanks against Pillbox entrenched who previously had weathered a terrific bombardment by Fleet heavy naval gunfire continued against enemy positions in the Northern and Fleet flying through sup ported the marines with heavy strafing and Tokyo Esti mated the size of the naval North and South of the As 500 japanese bombers and fighters attacked surface units wednesday in the iwo Nimitz and seven planes were shot red Light not just dim 22 went Story from Paris that France was tended for Puri panic Winting out As draws in the wind tile governments Tali alcohol Poison closing of Paris clubs and the Ion of Legal prostitution in was apart today Maury Mayer vice chair of the War action Maverick recently made a tour of Texas leading exponent of Plain thinks Gay Paree will be just As Gay As Ever after the War and says that a letdown is the natural thing when people Are cold and people Are to get milk for their babies right now and letting other things he the Only reason for closing Paris night clubs was because they didst have electricity or he and the red lights have been doused partly because medical inspection and other controls broke Down after liberation and partly because the girls aroused Public ire by consorting with the in a stroke apparently aimed at putting the worlds fun lovers at ease Maverick concluded when France gets organized i think you can confidently expect a Little Sulphur Nishi Hir iwo Cope a Minami Kama Rock Suribachi Tobi Ishi Cape Kimono Cope a Cope Miles iwo Jima Landing was just Plain hell iwo eight Square Miles of hell that is iwo Jima was painted As a scene of indescribable wreck of it an eyewitness account yesterday by a Marine combat David Dempsey for two Miles extending North from mount Suribachi at the Southern tip of the Island thick layers of debris and wrecked hulls of scores of boats testify to the Price we paid to get our troops for two continuous Days and nights japanese artillery rockets and heavy mortars Laid a curtain of fire along the their weapons had been aimed at the Beach Long before we they  miss and they volcanic Sand on the Beach was that Many of our vehicles were mired Down before they had gone ten in a Terrace a few Yards from the water hampered movements so they became easy prey for Jap Only a few trucks got a Sciore and for two Days practically All supplies moved by hand to the even the unconquerable jeep got one can see amphibian tractors turned upside Down like pancakes on a derricks brought ashore to unload cargo on Back Page first medic pcs to be repatriated 22 first noncombatant troops repatriated in this medical department officers and enlisted men released by the germans arrive Home next it was announced planes swoop Down to pinpoint canal system the greatest mass air assault since the Normandy invasion was loosed by More than Allied aircraft yesterday against the entire system of Ger Man rail communications in Western Europe As planes from seven different heavy bombers from the 8th air the 15th air and Raf bomber a tremendous weight of bombs almost simultaneously on hundreds of targets throughout Western Germany and Northern in weather so Clear that airmen could see for 50 the Allied air forces thundered through the skies to carry out the Lon planned opera Tion of smashing All and canals connected with Central the 8th air Force led the Gigantic flying Arsenal with More than liberators and fortresses escorted by 800 Mustangs and Thunder blasted More than 24 marshalling Yards Over a area through the very heart of the a sensational new technique was used for the first time known by the heavy swooping Down from their Koniaev drives flank against Berlin defense swooping Down from usual bombing level of about they smashed their targets from medium bombers from the 9th air Force and the Raf 2nd tactical air Force also took part in the mass together with fighter bombers from the 1st tactical air Force and Raf fighter marshalling Yards pounded marshalling Yards pounded by the 3th a wide area bounded on the West by Hamburg and and on the East by Berlin and at Ludwig and other vital Lancaster and As Well As liberators and for the first time broke into groups of three or four aircraft and flew at to feet to pinpoint railway Small junctions and dispersed the huge Campaign extended All the Way to the danish where night flying Mosquito hit the danish German Border town of confusion reigned throughout Ger Many German Achung broadcasts reported Small groups of every Type of Allied aircraft penetrating Over Germany at the same the South and All along the West front they blanketed the Western part of the then frantic reports began trickling through the German communications network of hundreds of cuts in railway lines from Denmark to Italy tenth straight Day heavy bombers of the 15th air Force flew on their tenth straight Day to Pound rail targets in Austria and Northern including railway lines radiating from the paralysing assault was unrivalled in Aerial history except for the opening of the Normandy when Allied planes carried out sorties Over a 25hour the Stohs objectives were scattered through the Center of Germany in a rectangular fortresses of Howard Turners 1st division pounded targets in the Northern third liberators of William Kepner 2nd division struck at the Central third and fortresses of partridges 3rd division attacked targets in the Southern Hook Hooks Rankin Hooks Hook democratic members came to grips in the House today when Frank called John a dirty Rankin shouted i dont take that from anyone and wrapped his arms round Hooks they struggled for almost a minute before fellow congressmen separated Hooks remark was removed from the Forst and important German defense Points guard ing the approaches to Berlin and Dresden directly threatened by the russians last night As marshal Konies troops began operations to Cross the Neisse River at several Points along a 50mile Konies pressure against the Oder River tributary along which the nazis hoped to halt the flanking attack against hitlers appeared to be strongest at two 65 Miles Southeast of and above 50 Miles Northeast of soviet forces had reached the Barrier in several other reports from Moscow indicated that several Bridgehead had been thrust across the Neisse but there was no official word that the River had been crossed at any the first attempt to establish a Bridge according to German commentator von was vainly made South of fierce Handt hand clashes were reported taking place in the Guben soviet tanks leading sallies into the Eastern outskirts of the which has eight main roads and four trunk rail ways running into must capture Gorlitz at the Southern end of Konies River line stands the second City of which Koniaev must capture or bypass to continue drive toward Dresden and reports both from Berlin and Moscow said there was comparatively Little activity on Zhukov front East of North of Zhukov Central front the germans claimed to have halted marshal to Kossovsky drive after he had Cap tured Czerski and brought his armoured Vanguard within 40 Miles of on to Kossovsky right the trapped germans appeared to be trying to evacuate East striking Westward from besieged Konigsberg toward the port of one red army commentator said a violent Battle was raging Between Konigsberg and the the ring around the nazis was being with soviet attacks concentrated around 17 Miles Southwest of the germans admitted Szinten had been other russian forces struck at the thin corridor connecting the East prussian capital with big guns of the German pocket battleships Admiral Scheer and Lutzow and of the heavy cruisers Prince Eugen and hipper were shelling russian land forces in East one nazi commentator behind the the garrisons inside Posen and Breslau still held a russian said the Posen Bathe was drawing to a it was estimated that germans still were in the Marlin ordered Home higher inquiry demanded 22 Walter former co of the 716th railway Over 100 of whose men were convicted for Black Market was acquitted yesterday on a charge of neglect of duty after the prosecution had declared that it should have been obvious to the people who commissioned Marlin that he was hopelessly incompetent and urged an inquiry on a higher the court martial re has been ordered said in his own behalf that his main idea was to keep the trains he said that he went around warning men against Pil Fering and inspected their never seeing any evidence of admitting that he told his men not to go hungry but to take what they needed from the but nothing Marlin said he was amazed when the raid uncovered Black marketing in my i thought they were the finest Bunch in the who is 54 with an eighth Grade said he had tried to resign last year primarily because of my wife ill but also because 1 Felt confused handling marlins counsel argued he was not a professional Garrison Soldier but an experienced railway Man who forgot the niceties of Garrison life to keep the trains the Cannon said that this Case has shown neglect of duty from the battalions organization at Camp to its operation at it is not alone the inefficiency and neglect of it is the in efficiency and neglect of Are not Here and cannot be reached because they have been lost and become unknown in the Maze of red i suggest the army needs a cleanup and this is a Good place to Harris