Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that American armor was believed to have advanced into the last 50-mile zone of defense before Paris. The Germans were now terming the battle to be one for Paris. They had abandoned the Alencon-Le Mans-Tours line of defenses. The next natural line was from Orleans to Chartres, 50 miles from Paris. CBS radio had reported the Americans 60 miles from the capital while another report had reckoned the progress to be within 40 miles. There was no official word yet, however, updating the reports of two days earlier and the previous day that the Americans had captured Le Mans, where the troops had been received with open arms in a town less damaged than they had found Rennes.

The Germans had put up a new anti-tank screen around the wedge driven by the Canadian troops sixteen miles south of Caen, five miles from Falaise, German headquarters in the area. The Canadians had, however, pushed to Vimont along the road to Paris and had moved to the last hillock protecting Falaise, a little over a hundred miles from Paris.

Since Sunday, Rommel was said to have lost 300 tanks to the Allies, about two armored divisions.

After a day of respite from the Nazi V-1 attacks, England saw them renewed shortly after dawn, albeit few in number, over London and to the south.

Up to 500 American bombers attacked oil facilities in the area around Ploesti and in Bucharest.

Striking primarily at oil facilities around Paris and in other parts of France, another group of 500 American bombers flew in combined efforts with RAF bombers, in attempts, ongoing since the beginning of the month, to wipe out all enemy oil storage facilities in France. The Nazis were now having to resort to supplies 200 miles from the front, as 14 refineries and 19 storage depots had been hit since August 1.

Supreme Allied Headquarters announced the formation of a new airborne army, comprised of both Americans and British, under the command of Lt. General Lewis H. Brereton, former commander of the Ninth Air Force. The Army Airborne unit combined parachute, glider, and flying personnel into one force. The purpose of the new outfit was to increase coordination to afford greater mobility of troops by combining the infantry with their air chauffeurs. Maj. General Hoyt Vandenberg, for whom Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is named, replaced General Brereton as commander of the Ninth Air Force.

In Italy, Canadian troops, aided by 250 Italian patriots, were engaged in mopping up operations in the southern portion of Florence. On the Adriatic front, Italian and Polish troops launched a new drive across the Misa River line. The Poles had captured Francavilla, a mile south of the Cesano River, less than 40 miles from Rimini.

Guam had been virtually captured at this point, announced Admiral Nimitz, excepting only a small area at the northeastern tip, opposite Pati Point. Ten thousand enemy troops had already been buried and the trails were strewn with the yet uninterred dead of the enemy. It had taken nineteen days, since July 20, to conquer Guam, the first area retaken by the Americans to have been in American hands prior to Pearl Harbor. Guam had fallen to the Japanese December 9, 1941.

General MacArthur announced that the enemy dead thus far in Aitape in New Guinea had reached 7,007, plus another 1,072 killed in recent action east of the Driniumor River.

The Russians were undertaking new offensives, according to German communiques, to the west of the Upper Narew River, near the south border of East Prussia, potentially entrapping the German forces in East Prussia. The Germans also reported that there was a flanking threat to the south and north of Warsaw by the Russians.

The Russians stated that they predicted it would take until the following summer to defeat Germany. While a little overly pessimistic, they were closer to accuracy than many of the American forecasters who foresaw the end of the war in Europe by perhaps October or the end of the year at the latest.

It was reported that the President had been in Honolulu between July 26 and 29, after arriving from San Diego, from which he had delivered his acceptance speech by radio to the Democratic Convention in Chicago. In Honolulu, he had met for the first time face to face with Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur in a strategy conference on the Pacific war, setting forth new goals and battle plans, included in which was the retaking of the Philippines.

On the editorial page, "New League?" discusses the coming Dumbarton Oaks Conference between the foreign secretaries of the Big Four nations, set to begin August 21 in Washington, to consider the structure of the United Nations organization. The President was the only leader of the Big Four nations to have set forth a statement of purpose as to the desired aspects of the organization and so that outline would likely provide the primary basis for determining its structure.

"Renewal Date" discusses the coming expiration of Lend-Lease and whether it ought be extended into the post-war period. Thus far in the war, it had loaned 17 billion dollars worth of goods and equipment to the Allies, seven billion of which had gone to Britain, with a billion in reverse Lend-Lease from the Allies to America.

"Rumblings" reviews the depressing state of the news for the German people. Even should things have been rosy on the Western fronts, the Russian front alone would be enough to stimulate internal collapse of morale in Germany as the Russian Army piled ever closer to the German border, in Silesia and in East Prussia, now with Warsaw under internal and external siege in Poland. Added to it was the increscent speed with which the Americans were now moving onward in France toward Paris, the internal struggles in the wake of the July 20 assassination plot on Hitler and its consequent sham trials and executions of high officers, reports of Rommel's concussion and being sidelined from battle, rumors of the death of Himmler and the wounding of Goering, all combining to create inevitable distraction on the part of the German people and mounting pressure toward surrender.

"Protest" memorializes the charges of Textile Bulletin publisher Dave Clark, a la his political progeny, Jesse Helms, that the University of North Carolina was Communistic for sponsoring a six-day, four-class seminar for members of the Textile Workers Union of America so that they might obtain training in how to handle member grievances and better understand union contracts, the history of TWUA, and labor's position generally with respect to the war economy.

Organizing for better working conditions in North Carolina was just downright un-American, according to Dave. Probably British inspired. Or by Negroes.

Drew Pearson discusses the Kilgore-Murray demobilization bill pending before the Senate, just passed along partisan lines by the Senate Military Affairs Committee. The bill was designed to provide, on the one hand, for disposition post-war of war plant assets held by the Government and on the other to provide unemployment compensation at the rate of $35 per week to unemployed workers laid off by the closure of war plants. Business supported the first part of the bill, but not the second, while labor favored the second part.

Marquis Childs addresses the resignation with which many Americans appeared to be facing the November election, clinging to nothing more substantial in aid of their decision than the ephemeral notion of continuity at the head of State during such a perilous and pivotal time in history.

Most, finds Mr. Childs in his informal sampling of opinions, abhorred the prospect of a Roosevelt fourth term, simply on the basis of its violating the American tradition. But also because, to many, the President had become an aloof figure, far different from the warm and friendly radio personality who had spoken to them at frequent intervals during the thirties and through the beginning of America's involvement in the war. Now, he only emerged occasionally to speak of grand visions for America, seemingly an oracle in some distant "Delphic cave".

Many were dismayed by his practical views, without much idealism evidenced, on the form of the post-war world. And many liberals did not appreciate the way he had brushed aside Vice-President Wallace at the convention, allowing the delegates to nominate his expressly stated second choice, Harry Truman.

But, likewise, Thomas Dewey had failed to capture the American imagination. Voters were suspicious of the wobbly and indefinite Republican platform, as well Mr. Dewey's insistent remoteness and high platitudes, void of too much commitment on any issue. They were also wary of many of the men around the New York Governor as policy advisers.

Thus, the fence sitters in the election, suggests Mr. Childs, would likely continue to straddle the rail right up to election day. Wendell Willkie, actively courted for endorsement by each of the candidates and their backers, still had endorsed neither candidate and was thus the prime fence sitter.

Of course, in the case of the President, no one quite realized the extent to which his health was deteriorating, undoubtedly contributing to his perceived aloofness and lack of energy, energy once displayed with such infectious spirit. His publicly dour, strained facial expressions for the most part during the previous year were not so heartening any longer to the public. He was tired, and they were tired of him. But there was no alternative which provided so much security as did the President and his trusted hand at the tiller. Clearly, FDR genuinely did not wish to be President any longer and, in accepting the nomination, was only responding to the demands of his party and his country, as a "good soldier" not wishing to abandon his post in war time.

A special piece to The News, appearing to be either from Chattanooga or Charleston, was unfortunately wiped from the page. We shall endeavor to bring it to you at some future time. Unfortunately, we are experiencing occasional technical difficulties with our microfilm reproductions from August and September, 1944. It will all smooth out, however, by the time we get to October, if not earlier. So, be patient—if we and thou still, that is, have the benefit of vision by then.

Hal Boyle, before he also fades out into white this day, tells of one outfit in France which piped music, news, and the funny papers to the soldiers via telephone lines. The music was often live, provided by a hillbilly band consisting of a guitar player, fiddler, and four vocalists, the members of the sextet hailing from West Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Illinois.

Unfortunately, we are unable to see right now whether he names any of the songs they crooned and fiddled.