"LANDINGS ON OKINAWA" -Ed Herlihy-
The Admiral of the Fleet's Five Stars flying above the
Pacific Naval Headquarters at Guam are ready to follow Admiral Nimitz (left)
about to set out for the conquest of Okinawa.
Coming aboard the flagship of Task Force 58 is
Admiral Mitscher, scourge of the enemy in waters about Japan.
Fourteen hundred ships get underway, and the invasion forces aboard
cast worry aside for the moment and beat a tune out on the old squeeze-box
while Ernie Pyle, left, watches a fast-stepping jitterbug run up
a little hot-rug cutting for the biggest invasion fleet ever assembled
in the Pacific.
And if you're going to visit a foreign country, you've got to have native gold.
Strategic airfields are the objectives as the great fleets guns open up.
[Multiple explosions]
Terrific rocket barrages level shore defenses.
Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine cameramen combine to photograph
these stirring scenes of the landing nearest to Japan's main island.
Kyushu is only 360-odd miles away.
Little resistance was encountered by the first troops ashore,
but sporadic sniper fire was met.
Pill-boxes cleaned out with grenades.
While little Jap resistance was met at first, enemy defense grew stronger
near Naha, the capitol.
Forts similar to this met our troops.
Thousands of civilians willingly gave up to the Yanks.
Miserable and under-nourished, they had at first wondered
at the treatment they would receive from the Yanks.
But fear soon vanished.
With the latest defeat of the Jap Fleet and Air Force, Okinawa's fate is sealed.
"MANDALAY RECAPTURED" -Ben Grauer-
The RAF dropped 30,000 pounds of bombs on Mandalay during the final assault
which drove the Japs from that storied city.
[Explosions]
The City of Pagodas was subjected to a 12-day siege
which blasted the Japs from their defenses.
[Artillery firing]
The Japs used temples as strong points.
In the taking of Mandalay, British and Indian troops
cut the Burma peninsula in two, isolating Japs to the south.
Another captured Jap Flag: another symbol of the setting sun.
It took concentrated shelling to crash the walled city on Dufferin Hill.
The Japs held out here for days before
the first stunned and blind-folded prisoners were removed.
"So sorry, please." You bet they are!
The Union Jack rises over Mandalay after almost three years of Jap occupation.
Another step for the crushing of Japan.
"ALLIED NET TIGHTENS ON GERMANY" -Ed Herlihy-
The American Third Army pushes farther into the crumbling German citadel,
racing other Allied Armies to Berlin.
Tanks blaze the way!
[Artillery fire]
German prisoners, hunched over to avoid fire from their own troops,
are rushed to safer areas in the rear.
Bag after bag of prisoners have been taken -- 1500 in this group alone.
Prisoner of war camps on German soil -- one for Germans only.
There is no pause for the Third Army as it overruns the Reich.
Burning and wrecked Nazi equipment, as well as their dead litter the road,
as the Armor Divisions speed on to engulf a demoralized enemy.
For the first time, Signal Corps cameras picture
actual rocket attacks on the European front.
Multi-banked firing units have given valuable support to our artillery.
Highly mobile, they're quickly set up and sighted.
The weapons are fired from a remote control box, safe from the blasts.
[Rocket fire]
Many of the rocket banks are mounted on trucks and
can be deployed so fast the enemy doesn't know what hit him!
[Rocket fire]
"FINAL PLANS FOR SECURITY CONFERENCE" -Ben Grauer-
As the San Francisco Security Conference nears, Secretary Stettinius confers with
Big Four delegates including: Soviet Ambassador Gromyko,
Lord Halifax from Great Britain, and Dr. Wei, Chinese Ambassador.
The group engaged in informal preliminary discussions.
Assistant Secretary Archibald MacLeish tells why America not only wants peace,
but must have peace. "Peace has always been the policy of
the American people. Peace is now the necessity of the American people.
"If there is another war -- there is another aggressor --
"The United States will be the first target of that aggressor's action.
"We need peace to continue to be ourselves. We need peace to
construct the world we Americans have always wanted to construct."
"GOLFERS ENTERTAIN WOUNDED" -Ed Herlihy-
When the wounded vets down in Georgia received golf instruction from
Lord Byron Nelson, everything is copacetic until they try it themselves.
Joe Kirkwood, famous trick-shot specialist steps into the spotlight -- and how!
For something extra fancy, Joe tees up the ball this way,
grabs his war club, but it's a bitter pill to swallow.
Things are different in the second round as Joe whacks it --
and he'll take no lip from Mr. In-Between.
But for the grand slam, Joe winds up the shenanigans.
It may not be golf -- but it's very far from it!
VOL. 18 NO. 338