The story of the great naval victory off e Philippines becomes clearer as the hours pass, as the dispat hes pour in. <Jr course, the 8 is still much to be of naval and air full understanding unti clarify the mighty sweep and we i• won't get a Admiral Halsey breaks his radio silence completel, and flashes a full account. But enough has come~ give a huge and thrilling picture. It's a surprising picture - that of Javanes fleet units coming out through narrow channels between islands and engaging the american warships. A mere layman, at least, would have thought that unlikely - the Japs emerging through the channels. But that really was the meaning of the story we had last night - Admiral Nimitz's report of powerful Jap squadrons steaming east, e through Sulu Sea and th~other through Sibuyan Sea. Tonight !e know there was still another Jap force - three in all. The third came down from the north, from Formosa, and it was apparently the most powerful of the The hole thing began with a violent air attack, swarms of land-based planes assailing the American fleet - as a prelude to the entrance of the enemy war · ·hi p s into the fight. This was obvious line of strategy:- try to cripple the enemy warships by air attack and then attack with your own warships The Jap planes were beaten off with heavy loss - a hundred and fifty shot down, and the number may rise to two hundred by the time the count is complete. ~ So Halsey's fleet was not orippl,ed when the Jap warships sallied forth. The enemy force coming through Sulu Sea proceeded right on to the island of Leyte, wbioh MacArthur's forces are invading. The enemy war~hips passed through the channel south of Leyte. This is called Surigao Strait, separating Leyte from the next island to the south. Outside, in the Pacific, was the American Fleet. The Jap force consisted of two battleships, a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and four destroyers. It was promptly assailed by American planes and warships. Early in the engagement, one of the enem battleships was sunk - a giant of the Yamishiro class, twenty-nine thousand three hundred tons. Both cruisers were heavily hit and pro sunk, and so were some of the destroyers. The re nant of t h e ~ squadron turned and fled, limping back through Suriga Strait, south of Leyte, and 1z• pursued by America planes, which kept hitting at the cripples. TLJ!t-4...~ .J ... ~ dl ~ ~ 4- I ~ - y ~ A.f>-i~U:~Our own lo8~ in this part of the battle was exceedingly light - several P.T. boats sunk or 4 and one destroye,4 damaged. The Japanese squadron in Sibuyan sea of four battleships, several cruisers, and a screen of destroyers. This one came up to the island of tJ Leyte and passed through the channel \ 1 to the n rth - an Bernadino St ai t, between Leyte and the nearby island of Samar. It was attacked by an SUB§ll TUI.L - merican force th t included a number of escort carriers - th a t i s , the very smallest type of carrier. The Jape attacked with gunfire, and one of our escort c a rriers was sunk and several others damaged. Carrier planes.., however, h i t ~ r ' a r d , and several cruisers and destroyers were sunk, three battleshi p s and three cruisers were heavily damaged. The Japanese force, beaten up like that, turned and fled - no4 bacl thz ottgh t.be St.Pait. et 8&11 Bernadiu•, i,p•e][sf?P, ettt. ~a t:h-e north, along the coast. The third enemy fleet, coming down from Formosa, was engaged by ■sxf■■%■ our forces off the northern Philippines. The ss■J story of this battle great has yet to come in, but it is known that on~!•••* enemy warship was sunk It had earlier in the day that the Japs had lost i• a big aircraft · d are told that it happened in carrier, an now we the ph'iase of the action north of the Philippines. W e lost one full aircraft carrier, larger than the escort carrie type, a shi p of medium tonnage, / / Tod,ay's ear e r / in hit in One sup osition is that the Jap naval Commanders thought they would take advantage of the fact that Halsey's fleet had been at sea and in action for weeks, and presumably would be short of ammunition and supplies. If that was their caloulat on, they were mistaken, because we now are given an - understanding of how Halsey has been able to operat for so long at sea. In Washington, Rear Admiral Blandy, 1••• former naval Ordnance Chief, stated tha r NAVA.L~!!TLE ---2 for the fi ,· st time in history a fleet is being supplied by ammunition ships - the American supply servi~e in the Pacific being •••ix now that Halsey's vessels get a regular stream of everything they need. how they have been able to stay out for a length of time that has amazed many people and how they have now been on the Japanese the defeat that,!.'-= · Hllt!XffCld.;: ~ ~ ~ d was In coo pe ration with Halsey's Fleet, as it . . -- ,,_ ~ ~ -Gw-< ~JJ w1nn1n g its triump h , e gimt B-29 Superf'oF res \ ' assail' the J · p s • ~"' lyin g from ~ bases in China, the B - 2 9 ' s hi t J p an p r o p e r, t he i s 1 and of KY us h u • fbe target 1 w.a-e a big aircraft factor'l - ci- blow BM~ designed to cripple air reinforcem e nts for the Japs in the P hilippine• sector as the enemy fleet Nac, ~ i th ha lsey I s warship~ and takini a licking. I t h inv r. sion o f th P ' ili j Am erican .r'orc es Ji.Q.Vill: t •• b a c k to th e foothills o f the ~antral M ount a· n e, v.here they w ill be isol ate d, without supplies, Am ric a n held territory now has a depth of ten miles and a length of about thirty. ihree airfield have been captured, a nd t hese are ra . idly being put into a ape or use by ilmerican land-based planes. -- - · -· ____ __ ___ __.) Bulldozer are hard ht work , fi % in them up. ~nd twenty-ei g ht towns and villages have been seized. lhe Jap garrison at Leyte doe~ not app ar to be a ble to hold MacArthur's torces in any serious way. rtnd tonight's dispa t ch reports wh , t i t calls extensive gains in all sectors of the ~ront. T 'T' U I fil!_ __ .M. - - en a l ~ · c rthur confirms t he s tory that t e isl n o " a ar ha been invade d . A meric · n r oo p have lane on the t · r largest islan d in the Phili ine , Sam r, w h ic h is ju st a cross uri a o Str it, from eyte . ' ' en ral b'1 C'•rt. ur tod y disclosed one o f ihe e . ic aeve l opm nt s o this nar _ 11 ilip p ine xx resist a nce movement that has accomplished so much that the whole thing mi ht seem to be incredible. ~e have known all alon, of course, that the Filipinos had a n underground working against the Japs;tlut none of us could have sur1ised the ma nitude of the patriot resistance and the astonishing extent in which it has been org&nized. Toda , •s "achrthur dispatch calla it - "A human drama with few arallels in ailit.ary history. 11 I imagine that ~ he ~erieral himself wrote the dispatch, he being known to have a fl ir for stately ~n g lis • lhe cabled story speaks of the Filipinos in these words: "A people in one of the most tragif hours of human history, hP.reft of all re f no . 1· hout material support - ason or o e, endeavorin 0 to h old aloft the flamin g torch of liberty~ I a ve this movement", continues acArthur, •l.].l the s irit.u 1 n m a terial support that my limited resourc es w ould pe rmit." He reve~ls that for two years h e has been sanding arma me nt nd ~ upplies to the Philippine Pat r iots. ~ t. first he was only able to d ispatch an occasion 1 sub ma rine - a mere trickle of supplies. But then, as hi~ re ources increased, he put four submarines on the exclusive job of transporting aid to the Fili . inos. ihe Machrthur dispatch states that for long months a vast network of agents in all of the islanas ha ve een working -0n behalf of the United n the words of the MacArthur dispatch:- Philippine r e ci e, a ccurate and detailed information ~lla_t_1_·o_n __ s _ t _h _ r _ o _ u _ g _ o _ u _ t _ t _ h _ e _ ,_.~_ Arc h i ? ela g o." H e say s that every major island has one or more we a ther o b sP.rvatories, which have been fla hin u full · ata to r;, c rthur Head . u a rters weather reports morni , g, noon a nd ni g ht o f every day . , • • The eneral says th f ilippine f triots hav been reportin g on enemy ~a val ov _ ments, a nd have been spottin g J a a ne s h i ?B nd la sh in g th e , ord to merican S ubm a rine - telling them about prospective t.argets. "This i for. ation", says -'acarthur, - "Has contributec. to _ ~ n k i n g o r enemy s hippin g o enormous tonnage.'( urt ermor e , t h e ' i l.ip inc .t:'atriots have procured ~or ~merican mi l itnry use what •acA thur c•lla - "Coun les s e nemy documents of great value." All o f this has been o f invaluable help in the invasion of the .Philippines. /he patriots have been fi nti t 1e Ja s, nd are pre p a red to do a lot 11ore fig ting. " · or the purposes of this campaign", says kacArthur, "We are materially aided by strong battle•tested forces in nearly Pvery Philippine Community. 11 Th 2 y are a. l@rt," ,L adds, "to strike violent blo w s against the e nemy :.:,:_r as our lines of battle move forward." nd here i a 1 other strikin° indic e tion of ho ell t. e organized t-Th ili p in P resi s tance movement is atriots have taken control of ares, where in c e o nee ssity, umerican b a ttle fliers aay land •ith the s urance that they will be safe - protected by the t> triots. 0 r;u?_Q~ N,MHI. - ~ 0... ~ ~ ' 5 " ~ . L J T - ~ - , ~ ~ , , ~ -1Z.eL ~ -e.__,_ ~ ~~ f~A1 ~~- USTERN_fROlfL The British are rolling on in Holland, and German resistance there is described as collapsing. hat key city of Hertogenbosh was captured today, completely occupied, and the British drove on. Their advance in Holland is on a hundred aile front, and today scored gains up to eight ailes. The Germans in western Holland, threatened with ■■z encirclement, are trying to get out - making desperate efforts to escape before the trap clo•es. 0 SIA -- osco· a nnounces that the Hungarian of Transylv nia h as been completely occu ied. h od north ard 1·n Poland, ov1·et h roops ave resuaed the ir of fen 1ve north of ,a rsaw. In 1 ast P russia, violent ~erman counterattacks are reported - f our crack arizer ~ivisions trying to d ~ ~ c k the sp arbead the •ed "rmy bas thrust into th~l"rovince of the Junkers. ~t'l8'1aaC"\t,1P&t.eaqM One report is that the ~azis are••••• evacuating loenigsberg, the great 6ast P r u s s i a ~ An d, continuing north, to the farthest north of the ~ uropean ~ontinent, ~ussian Troops have pushed froa tinland into aorwa7, and the U ermans have evacuated the l orwe g ian Artie P ort of Iirkenes. °1bis is the first llied push into Norway. gERMA The or ~a ni z ati r o th t · · ~ a 1az1 H o me army doesn't s eem to be · oi n any t o o 1 ell _ the ~torm U nits that we heard about the othe . r day . i 1, ler proclaimed a fi gh t to the death inside of Germany , . a itter- ~ eri- battle by 11 m a lf)S bet een si teen and sixty. But then the 1 uestio came up o f a rming the storm Units ano that led to a itter ar g ument. I P ro a nda inister uoebbels insi ted th a t weapons be diw ri ► ute a ri ht way, so that the Home Army, from sixteen-to-sixty , could learn to use them by the time the bllies broke into yermany . B ut · immler , the arch- k ill r of .. ,., he ueata~o , said no - nein . · im mle r agued that it would be oangerous to distribute a rm to virtually the entire male popula tio .• uome \.1 rm ns mi g ht be tempted to use them against t 1e , az i Of course , if t ere is to be a . - - bitter-end fight, t. 1e last ditch battlers have ot to 1ave we ap o i t -rfie Ge sta p o l-hief admit s that . ll ut ..£..t... ~ a· t · uted p romiscuously conte~d s t a t a rms should A be 1s r i - ~ lli s have · lr ea dy ~ L e l a t moment - after the E ~£._ g_:_ _ _ _ i !. Y. - ~ t I ~ I broke~l O e r an y/\. no h r w or ' s , p ut of f until the l a st mi 1 u t t, e d n er o erm n eo le . ivin g uns to the l ' e hol e thi ng i s in a s tate of 140lent wran 6 le, a n d ord f r o m inside ermany woul d seem to indicate t h at t,h e f orm tion o f a home army has more _ . . p olitic al t n milit 1 ry im p ortance. /he mobilization o f wtorm Units under ue s tapo supervision is re g aro.ed as wa y to keep th e sixteen-to- s ixties under ~ · azi Control - and forestall an a nti- N azi Jr- Revolt, as the k•llies thunder a t the gates. 0 GOOD EVENING E V E RY B ODY: Here's the latest. Just in from Pearl Barbor:- Admiral Nimitz sent the following to the President: "The Japaneae Ravy in the Philippines has been defeated, seriously damaged and routed by the United States Navy in that area•. And that's the bulletin we havt all been hoping for, a nd expecting, word of a great victor7 in the naval battle that has been raging off the Philippines. Previously we had a dispatch flashed to ua f■ by the british, who picked it up from a United States A rmy Signal Corps broad~ast from the Philippines. This broadcast from the Philippines quoted General llacArtliur as stating · : •The Japanese Havy has suffered its most crushing defeat of the war. Its future efforts can be only on a dwindling scale." W e have as yet no details of the naval victory, which might turn out to be the decisive event in the war in the Pacific, 62id to give what understanding we can, we aust revert tc,'.n earlier alza stream of dispatches quring the day. From Pearl Harbor, Admiral Nimitz reported that the Japanese fleet had, in his••• words -- "been brought to action". That Ravy expression, "brought to action" - usually means a fight between ships, a battle of cannon fire, and not merely one fleet •• ■Ix sending its planes against the other. In Washington, a Navy spokeaaan said that was what he understood, a ship to ship battle. Later, however, Admiral King said he didn't khOW whether the giants of the sea had been battling it out with their guns,or •• whether it was a matter of planes against ships. The way fleets preserve radio silence while in action, left our own navy department _ ___ in the dark about the actual character of the !AVAL BA'l'TL~ - 3 engagement. However, Admiral King did say that the Japanese navy was out, virtually the entire fleet of the Far Eastern Enemy. Tonight we have an elucidation of the brief bulletin flashed to us last night by Admiral Nimitz - an elucidation of the geographical factors. And these are mighty interesting. Admiral Nimitz stated that Japanese naval f ■• forces steaming eastward, had come into the Sulu Sea and the Sibuyan Sea. The Sulu Sea, a great area of water west of the southern Philippines, while the Sibuyan is an inland sea - aituated in the maze of islands between Luzon and Mindanao. Today's word indicates that there were two Japanese naval forces, one in the Sulu Sea and the other in the S ibuyan sea - both proceeding eastward, toward the island of iJ Leyte, which General lacarthur has invaded. It is••• none too clear what they were trying to do. The supposition was that they were trying UYAL-...llAIIlJt - 4 to reinforce the Jape on Leyte. But Admiral [ing said today that he was frankly puzzled about why the Japs should drive naval squadrons into the maze of inland waters of the hilippines. h~ nought - ma.)be they were just trying to mystify the American aval Coamanders. Or maybe their idea was to diverw the attention of our forces fro ■ still another naval force - number three. 'his one was co ■ ing down southwjrd from Formosa, and was heading straight for Admiral Halsey's fleet, which was in waters east of the Philippines. Halsey's fleet was separated from the first two Jap 1quadrons by a line of islands, with only narrow channels between them. It would be difficult for the American warships to get at those two Jap outfits, but in the case of enemy force number three - a great naval battle could be easily fought, if the Japs were willing. And, indeed are told that the engagement which Admiral Nimitz announced was between Halsey's fleet and the Japanese naval power that came down sout from Formosa. Today in Washington, the proposed American- British Treaty dealing with oil was criticized scathingly - the statement being made that the treaty, as it is now worded, would permit the establishment of a world wide oil cartel, a strangliag monopoly, a global oil thrust. The charge was made by J. Howard Pew, President of the Sun Oil Company, in an address before the petroleum Industry War Council. Be said the verbiage of the proposed treaty is so vague that the whole thing amounts to what he called - "A blank check". And the whole thing would result in what he called - "the embroiling of our domestic petroleum industry in a vicious cartel system". s for the character of such a cartel, J. Boward Pew said: "Such arrangements in international trade are exactly what we at home call monopolistic practices or combinations in restraint of trade". And he added that an oil cartel would only be the be g innin g . " 'l' he first", said he, "of a long s eries of ~ - 2 similar cartels which the economic planners are ~~ ..... prepared to ram down the throats of the American people". - 5 the ten thousand ton carrier Princeton. It is not clear from the dispatches where the Princeton••• was sent to the bottom, but it may have been in the phase of the battle north of the Philippines. The Princeton was sevei·ely damaged by explosions and apparently was sunk by our own forces. •ost of the crew was taken safely off the vessel. 0 ~ sumaary of the enemy losses cannot yet - be made accurately, but word up to this moment lists - one battleship sunk, one battleship knocked out of action and probably sunk, three battleships damaged severely, several cruisers and destroyers suhk, several cruisers and destroyers damaged. ________ ....;,_...;..... :;.. C, The Jap attempt against Halsey's fleet off the eastern coast of the Philippines resulted in a major disaster, and the American Navy won one of the greatest sea battles in history. The ••i whole thing is sum m arized in those ~dispatches•• have fl as hed jubil ntly all over t hi s nati o n! ~B S TI T ll .J!-Y. ~ B 1' 'I ' TL E _,:._~_ T h e o n e from dmiral Nimitz station:- •The J a p a n e se navy in the Philippines has been defeated, seri u ly damaied and routed by the United States Navy in that area". The other from Gener a l ~ acArthur, w ho sent th i s flash: "The Japanese Navy has suffered its most crushing defeat of the war. Its future efforts oan be only on a dwindling scale".