This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
This newspaper page contains 20 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Aug 23, 1944
Page
1
Weather outlook notes partly cloudy skies with scattered thundershowers. Reports list local servicemen in training and overseas, hospital admissions and discharges, Red Cross dressings drive progress, and several births and legal notices from Decatur area in August 1943.
Soviet forces push 150 miles along a front from Iasi toward Bucharest and Ploesti. Malinovsky Tolbukhin led advances across Bessarabia toward Galati, trapping Chisinau and threatening the Danube mouth as German and Romanian losses mount.
Allied air forces led by MacArthur blasted Halmahera, 300 miles south of the Philippines, with a 135-ton bombing raid aimed at airfields, dumps and defenses. Liberators and Mitchells destroyed planes and a freighter as part of a broader Pacific air offensive across Marcus, Truk and other targets.
Senator Hill of Alabama says the Liberation of Paris will give a tremendous impetus to liberation forces across all German-occupied Europe. He spoke on August 23 in Washington.
Reporter describes approaching a wrecked British plane on the Western Front. A British pilot lies in the cockpit, shirt open, smoking a cigarette, and greets with casual steadiness as the narrator asks if he is all right and notes the dim passage of time.
British airman lay trapped eight days after a burst wounded leg and gasoline burns left him unable to move or eat. He remained calm, apologized for wasting time, and spoke in an Oxford accent as American rescuers fought to free him.
President Roosevelt urged continuation of lend-lease until unconditional surrender of Japan and Germany. The quarterly report shows aid through June 30 totaling 28.2 billion dollars with reverse lend-lease valued at over 3 billion. The document highlights Britain’s waterproofing of armor and ships for the invasion, and notes the program’s role in Allied offensives toward Berlin and Tokyo while stressing battles won and lives saved.
London papers report plans for Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to attend the Paris Allied parade under the Arc de Triomphe if practical with General De Gaulle likely to have the honor. The march would await the German army destruction campaign and include newsreel operators recording the event.
Reports from the Spanish frontier said a third French invasion landed near Bordeaux after a night bombardment with Berlin radio later claiming a small force ashore near St. Jean De Luz. Hendaye officials said the operation coordinated with American and French ground forces forming a junction at Bordeaux outskirts.
Allied forces pound German positions from the Seine to Paris, claiming 600 enemy tanks locomotives and vehicles destroyed in 24 hours. Germans reportedly flee across the Seine in 30 places while Allied Mediterranean air units fly 1 400 sorties despite earlier weather disruptions.
Delano park recreation center director Mrs Earle Calvin reports 46 250 people used the facilities from July 16 to August 19. Among them 4 900 were service men 3 950 service men wives and children 3 890 defense workers and 3 050 wives and children of defense workers. Spectators at league softball games totaled 13 500.
American Seventh Army forces strike through German defenses and capture Grenoble, a major industrial city in the French Alps, with French Forces of the Interior in support. The rapid advance brings Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Patch’s spearhead within 240 miles of southern targets as towns along the route fall to advancing troops.
Mr and Mrs W L Burgess of Danville receive a telegram from the War Department confirming their son Pfc John Burgess was killed in action in France on August 6. He served in the infantry.
Between 40 000 and 50 000 prisoners taken from the Argentan trap in Normandy as Allied forces push forward. German casualties not yet tallied.
South England endured its heaviest dawn barrage as Allied troops pressed toward Pas de Calais. Robots bombed fast, anti aircraft roared along the coast, and bombs struck residential areas with casualties reported. An American officer was killed awaiting a bus. Red Cross and Women's Voluntary Service aid relief efforts.
Rome reports harsher actions against partisans as General von Hoeman orders immediate shooting of any assisting partisans and threatens concentration camps for civilians. The eighth army cites this as a directive from Nazi rear areas while activity on the Italian front remains limited.
A wartime editorial proclaims Paris as the turning point of Allied victory, arguing Hitler loses control of his regime as French resistance and Allied invasions unfold. It credits Allied air power and the French Forces of the Interior for sustaining independence and hastening Germany’s downfall across Western Europe.
Allied columns press the rout as German forces retreat toward the Seine with 40 000 to 50 000 Germans captured in the Falaise pocket. U S units push toward Evreux and Vernon while De Gaulle proclaims Paris liberation by French forces.
Switzerland announces a break in diplomatic ties with the Petain Laval government after Petain declares he was forced from Vichy and no longer claims the chief of state title. The Swiss radio statement says the federal council noted his position and ended representation with Vichy.
German dispatches claim fighting south of Paris with the 20th American Army Corps advancing toward Nemours and Montereau about 40 miles southeast of the capital. Supreme Headquarters had no confirmation of De Gaulle’s Paris liberation claim as Allied air and ground actions tighten the Seine bridgehead and German retreat gathers along the river.
We want people to find what they are looking for at NewspaperArchive. We are confident that we have the newspapers that will increase the value of your family history or other historical research. With our 7-day free trial, you can view the documents you find for free.
People find the most success using advanced search. Try plugging in keywords, names, dates, and locations, and get matched with results from the entire collection of newspapers at NewspaperArchive!
You can also successfully find newspapers by these browse options. Explore our archives on your own!
Browse by location and discover newspapers from all across the world.
Browse by date and find publications for a specific day or era.
Browse old newspaper publications to find specific newspapers.