1 Q_§bb_! ~ Q~~S ~l!]QADCA S T FROK ROME ----------- A J?..!: i l __gL._!2!2 GOO D E V ENI G , Ev e rybody: G en oa fe ll today; Genoa, the home town of Chri s to p he r C olu b s; captured b the erican Arm7. ___.,_ ......... ...... --..;-.::...::.:::..:..J The hono we nt to a task force consisting of the 47.3rd and the 44 2 nd Infantry of the 92nd Division. The 442nd, by the way, i s theoutfit made up of Japaneee-Aaericans, which gave such a good account of itself both in Italy and France. Partisans had already occupied seYeral sec- tions of the city. As for the harbor, no word bas coae throu g ~ a s yet regarding the condition it is in. But the taki n of Genoa gives us the second largest seaport in Italy . Naples being the first. Y e sterday's stories to ~he ffect that Kiln and Turin 1lrl been liberated by the Par t isana, were a bl ·t those citi e if you got p r ema ture. In flying ov er ' down lo enou g h, say in an A-26, you discover that the Germans are still thee -- or were __ this morning. At any rate, the ca pt ured commander of Hitler's 76th Panzer Corp s, Lt. Gen. Count von Schwerin, had it about right when be said: flThe s ituation is hopeless.• As one American headquarters staff officer said to ae \bis evening: Of the 27 Germ n and Fascist div is ions we had against us only a week or so ago, we now have two-thirds of them in the bag, and we are rourd ing up the rest. Their escape routes through the Brenner and other passes have been cut off. They have nowhere to go. Yes, things are moving fas in northern ItalJ, and when the news blackout is lifted you ma7 get a surprise. r. Meanwhile I have a ne• General Patton story. Everybody has a 1'atton story. Papers over here in Italy today printed news that you probably had in the · p tton's promotion to State s yesterday, that Georgie a the rank of full Genera l , with four stars, has been confi rm db the 0. S. Senate. A g roup of us were with Gen . ral Patton just a · eek ago when the word ca . me th t the Pre s ident's nomination h a d been okayed by the Bouse -- but only by the House. However, that morning Patton turned up wearing his ne · star. Shirts, battle jacket, steel helmet -- all had it on. I believe I as the first to notice it, and I pointed it out to General Weyland, the air expert with Patton. a~ congratulated the colorful commander of the Third Army, and then I called to three Army c aaara11en, Leo Lieb, Chris Young and Dick Hamm, and they started • taking pictubes. Whereupon General Patton said: •~y four stars ~re not legal yet! So hold those pictures up a fe days, boys. The Senate may turn me down!• eeing that the photographers were a step lower than he as, and shooting up at him, he sang out: 'G fellows. If you don't, you'll et on a level with me, ake me look like an old turkey gobbler.w atton is full of epigrams and salty language, an d his men s ea r by h1· m. a.a., d · es a river and a dynamo, and he an his men have struck terror into the souls of the Nazis. He also has a poetic and sent imental side as you probably have suspected. Perhaps bis proudest boast so far as the war with - Germany is concerned, is that hes ept across the Rhine at the place most sacred to the Teutonic peoples, the rocks where the Lorelei sang. --o-- The other night, from Paris, when I told about flying to Berlin, and watching the Russio and Nazis fighting in the streets below, I failed to mention one of the lesser reasons why I wanted to get to Berlin in the closing hours of ~he European end of World War Two. Twenty -seve n years ago, at the end of orld War One, Webb aldron, then with Collier's and now one of thee itors of The Readers Digest -- Webb and I were the first from the outside world to get to Berlin aud then stay on a n follow t:.~ German revolution. So, on Monday, while flying over Berlin, I asked Colonel Kraft to waggle the wings of our Mustang fighter, in a sort of salute to Webb. For the benefit of my family, I also intended, and forgot, to adA,that broadcast that there was nothing d angel'JUs about flying to Berlin. No wonder Goering has asked Bitler to allow him to resign, for Fat Hermann hasn't any Luftwaffe any more. As for the Germans down below shooting at us, they were ••J busy. The Russians were taking care of that. --o-- G e neral Mark Clark, here in Italy, has just sent a message of congratulations to all our troops who took part in the crossing of th e Po. And he singled out for special praise, high praise, the 10th ountain Division, which w as the spearhead of the drive that sent the Germ a ns reeling. The 1 0 th Mountain Division, . d th troops who trained in as many of you know , inclu es e Colorado, at Camp Hale -- v ol unteers from Dart11outh, ,: illi ams , Amherst , 1 iddlebury, and other colleges in the snow country, brought in by "Minnie• Dole and • the Nati o nal Ski Patrol. Also, many crack men of Scandinavian and Austrian backgr~und. Picked •~n, all. I am on my w ay to join them now, as I say so long, and turn you b a ck to Bugh Gibson in Bew York. --o-- SOB -- ;r s events ~ the San Franc iaco Conference to ay brought abo t a defeat d an a Tictor7 --- for Soviet Rus i -- and a co promise. Tbe efeat ca e when oviet deleg lotov demanded that the Conference admit the Soviet-sponsored provisional ov er nment of Poland. To this Aaerican Secret a ry of St te Stettinius replied with an im ■ed iate no, polite but firm. And others of tbe .._ 0nited Nati ns rallied to his support. This occurred in a meeting of the Stef!rin& CommitteeJtbia 1ftePaeo•• with Molotov arguing that ~ Poland, which bas been so brave. and suffered so ,.. aucb in this war, deserved to be represented as one of repl, to this • as that it was the Onited ti i ns. ' hl• ~ indeed unf air t e exclude ~oland, ~that the Soviet- sponsored provisional government bas not bean ~ Y l ta and Mala••~ reorganized as promised by Stalin a . ! - be considered a epresentative regim · So the decision Of Pol and must be decided, not was that the que s tion by the San F anc i sc o onference, but by the Big Three. I ;r events e-f the an Francisco onferen o e today brought aboat a defeat d · t an a v1c or7 for S ovi et us s ia -- and a compromise. Th e defeat ca e when oviet deleg lotov de anded that the Conference admit the Soviet-sponsored provisional g ov er nment of Poland. To this American Secretary f St a te Stettinius replied with an im11ed iate no, polite but firm. An~ others of the ..._ 0nited ati ns rallied to his support • ..___ .... This occurred in a meeting of the Steering ~ommittee)\bia 1ftaPa11•• with Molotov arguing that ~ Poland, which has been so br a ve. and suffered so ,.. much in this war, deserved to be represented as one of - the Onited ati ns. · he reply to this was that it was indeed unfair te exclude Poland,~that the Soviet- sponsored provisional government has not been (!AA ~ reorganized as promised by Stalin a !!!.ta and ••11la ae+, be considered a representative regime. So the decision was that the que s tion of Poland must be decided, not by the Sa n Fran c isco Conference, but by the Big Three. h re as earnes ork for a ~o promis with British For i n ecr ry Anthony Eden s the chief n he it was who devised the formula - ado ted today - olotov a reein to the Eden proposal. ~~~- tbio Ga bctso\ hr shall, as a matt r of form, be four -- Chairmen, e c h a dele ate of one of he four big powers. - These f o ur Chairmen will b entirely whai ie eallei •pr+ormAL• • o, uU01 ::;--£5,i(, •i:;,Th:;- wil). a legate their pow , their right to preside, to Stettinius. So he, in effect, will be he Ch a irman who ill conduct the del i ber atio ns of the United Rations. So • ha 's the com romi e which now enab es the conf r nc to a uire a Chairm a n - tha mot necessary officer ' w thout whom a conference cannot l r.Gibson: 1 In just a mo ent we will hear Lowell Thomas speaking from Rome, but first, a message f o n Standard of Ca lifornia. e n A 11 i e r> it b the us 1 a n i noun ed ith f o r mal pre . ·s , ion ins t men t s is u d simultan ously in laaa 8 h i n t v n Lon d on A nd o co,: . I n London ,. t y p i e a 1 lJ , the even s hai ed by the British Prime inister ith a ch r cteri t ic bit of Chur hil·an p rose. It go es s f o 11 o : " A ft r 1 on J our n e y s , t o i 1 s a n v i ct or i es - a cros lands n d ocean , ac ro s so many ba tlefields - the armi s o f t h re a t Allies h ave travers d Germany and h av e Joine hands to gether ," &iid liaoteft 8ba1chlll. - The headline ·unct(lfll th at as annou nce today wa , n reall he first - the o fficial re orts telling us th tan Americ n a rol h d made contact i ha ussian unit o. iwt t b 1 s MDQffic?el. I rut t t e ta hol d ·n , its h ea t. d e R l D • ,,.. en th e . o o rces a ly 1 a n d at the ri ht p lac Ho the • n m i un i th e n a ls ' wrong . A p a rol w a .. u g r,ead , as s e tha out fit. The or d er d a ' ept goi g. Tlj.ey ent -three m·les he po i nt at hich they wer ordere to stop a d in th a y hey s tumb al official meetin of the forces occurred 0.\ l'tlllt,w" a h o · n a· or eve i too , town of Tor a u bein captured, not by the Americ a n s ~ -... by th u sins - but by an Irishman. Th a t is - an Irish serge a nt ·n the British / army, ho a a prisoner.cf~• Ne a r Torg u, Allied prisoners w@re held at a c a mp, "h·ch n on e a by its Germ a n guards, a n d th.e pri oner oo ov r . ha happen dis told by n Amer·can erge n vid Co11·n o S L · • OUlS. " e pri on e rs had t a en over control , h n this Irishman ot hold of some co n a c so m h r , and d e c id e d to go t o to n and b uy h ia wife r n • s weaving and rchin do n the s r et, an hen h Ge man civilians sa his British unif orm , h y fi ured the Allie had ar ived an d began putting out hi e flags." So hat's h o w Torgau surrendered to an Iri s hman ho h found o~e cognac, and hortly thereafte r an Amer·c a n jeep appeared - the lead jeep of the Ame rica n force that a coming to meet the Russian• at Torgau. lh.j Th I r l d by e r of th joinin g of end a g ener a l. i an, presided - BE !,,!1!_ --- The late s t i s that the '1 1 a ovie Army now h a bout nine-tenth s of Berlin, t h e a zi defen ers back to an area in the center 6f the city -- the secti n of t h e Tiergarten. Desperate Nazis have concent a t e in that on c e agnificent park, and today the Russians threw a new ring around them, the joining of Soviet forces co m pleting an encirclement of the Tierga ten area'JF;nd the Russians ha captured Tempelhof, the great Berlin airport. ~-~ Th¼! . ft99a)•- gives the pee se as ion of the last flying field from which Bitler and Goebbels might escape by air - - assuming they are still in the doomed city. They are -- • ■ z • acco~ding to a pro inent German General captured today. ~~~ feneral Iurt Ditt~ars, well-known d ring this ar as a military radio com entator, a spokesman for the Ge an a my. He today surrendered himself' to t h e A er· ans at ~ ag eburg, and is quoted a saying Bitler and Goebbels are still ·n Berlin and expect to tay tMre · until the bitter end. They wii well 11ay have BERL! _ _g -- And the · Russian captured another fa•iliar place today - · - Potsdam. Soviet troops pushing 0 of Berlin seized the own, which Frederick the ureat made the seat of the dyn~sty of the Bobenzollerns. illW----g __ _ Th e ic n b e a 0 Ji t4"""f;; .. i n ~ a ad al o t wit OU e n C • p ' on s a , co 1n thro h the . flat countr of Boh mi , rolled acros the rontier in o u r i a . ma e their r a pid C)...- ,ould b i j o inin the Danub e n h r ly a shot wa fired, the v nee. The ost obvious objective u i h th v ri le · of uss iPns in t b &rltt ~' ft • ~ of Vienna ~ ~H--+-t1••-e~,...~,-.,1~..,ill.M. th.e Nazi roo1.10t i iD &t»9asaala i11 iell/f!tria, A •••li•8 •I • 0 0 ' t e e n ha the J panese e se e in in to brea a ener&l r - the H o'& e, C an e , s at es: ,. 11 The J is e ll T hi ol 0 capture of doain iDg hil s, of two ey fly iDI • ( A f"e deep bulge has been drive n into t e power ful Ct fort·fi ca . on s ac ross 0 enrmy ina a - the i terly fig ng Je. un a b e 0 tea the surge of erican mechan · z. , e d 0 er . Th e ate .st ne s tells of a general American advan eon Okinawa our troops no in the near vicinity of th important Machinate air base. ,..,/