The big news of the day is General Montgomery's statement: "The Germans have been definitely, completely and decisively beaten.... The End of the European war is in sight.... Let us finish off the business in record time."

After spending P10,000 to build an air raid shelter inside his beautiful concrete house on Taft Extension, the Japanese stepped in and took the house from a hapless Panayotti. One scared Chinese gent, being just happy to get out of the clutches of the Japanese, asked only P100 a month rent for his lot. The Japanese promptly signed him up to a 90-year contract.

One B-24 bombed the Santa Ana docks and warehouses in Davao. Two 500-pound bombs just missed the stern of a 1,000-ton Japanese ship — enough to sink it. Elsewhere, bombings extended from the Kuriles to Halmahera and even down to Rabaul.

Evacuation Committee