Maj.-Gen. Henry S. Aurand New USF CT SOS Commander
Maj.-Gen. Henry S. Aurand, formerly commanding general of the Normandy Base Section in the European Theater, has been
named commanding general of the Services of Supply for the United States Forces in the China Theater.
HENRY S. AURAND
|
He succeeds Maj.-Gen. G. X. Cheves who has returned to the United States.
One time commander of the Sixth Area Service Command with headquarters in Chicago,
Gen. Aurand was active in mobilizing and training in the huge industrial center.
COMMANDED INVASION PORTS IN FRANCE
In his last assignment, Gen. Aurand commanded the great invasion ports of Cherbourg, LeHavre and Rouen, through which poured more
than 2,000,000 tons of supplies and 1,500,000 men in a few months.
In announcing Gen. Aurand's appointment, Lt.-Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, commanding general USF CT, said, "This theater has been fortunate
in obtaining the services of Maj.-Gen. Aurand. His wide experience in supply in the recent European operations makes him doubly valuable in the
China Theater. Gen. Aurand will have the best wishes and whole-hearted co-operation of all officers and men in the China Theater as he assumes
his new task.
WEST POINT GRADUATE
Gen. Aurand is from Pennsylvania and was graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in June, 1915. He served as a Coastal
Artillery officer during the first World War but transferred to Ordnance in July 1920.
During the critical days of 1940 - 42, when the vast American supply program for the global war was being built, Gen. Aurand was
on the General Staff in Washington in the G-4 section. In that capacity he secured intimate knowledge of the routing of Lend-Lease equipment
and supplies to China via Rangoon, and the development of the original air freight transport over the "Hump."
Upon assuming his present command, Gen. Aurand warmly commended his predecessor, Gen. Cheves, who organized the SOS headquarters
for the China Theater last November.
|
|
|
|
|
150 Locomotives, 175 Trucks, 15 Planes Lashed By 14th AF
HQ., 14th AIR FORCE (Special to The China Lantern) - Devastating strikes by Fourteenth Air Force bombers
and fighters destroyed withdrawing Japanese troops, equipment and communications systems from north of the Yellow river into French
Indo-China during the ten-day period ending May 29 to match the general trend in China, highlighted by the Chinese re-occupation of Nanning,
key point of control in Japan's China-French Indo-China corridor.
4 PLANES DESTROYED, 11 DAMAGED
Throughout the period, no enemy air opposition was encountered and, to further reduce dwindling Jap air power, Fourteenth Air Force
strafing missions destroyed one Lily bomber, one Oscar fighter, one Zero fighter and one unidentified plane, and damaged 11 more aircraft in
sweeps which carried as far southward as Ichang in the Lung valley. Operations in this sector also destroyed enemy troops withdrawing from the Lung
valley. On May 28, Mitchells and Mustangs hit Japanese troops and positions near Kweilin, and south into French Indo-China and in the vicinity
of Nanning.
150 JAP LOCOMOTIVES BLASTED
While, in some sectors of the Honan and Hunan fronts, the enemy withdrawal continued, low-level sorties pounded sorely-needed material
and equipment on the Lung Hai, Tung Pu, Cheng Tai and Ping Han railroads, destroying or damaging out of operation more than 150 Jap-operated
locomotives. Earlier, almost 75 trucks were destroyed and approximately 100 others were damaged in missions against supply lines on the shrinking
Chihkiang front, west of Paoching.
Fighter and medium bomber strikes also blasted railroad and highway bridges throughout the Yellow river area and in the locality
of Changsha, Hongyang and Paoching on the Hunan front.
YANGTZE, SIANG SHIPPING PARALYZED
A single mission of Mustangs strafed a building area in Liuchow, causing explosions which indicated stores of fuel or ammunition
had been destroyed.
Enemy shipping on the Yangtze and Siang rivers took a paralyzing pummeling when unopposed fighters destroyed or damaged numerous junks and sampans
as well as river barges, tug boats and freighters.
Although the weather was not-operational on the Hunan front for protracted periods the Fourteenth continued to support Chinese ground forces
pursuing and pocketing Jap forces retreating from the collapsing Chihkiang front.
|
|
|
|