The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 24, 1943, Page 1

HE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LX., NO. 9275. JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1943 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTY ———————== e OMMEL HURLED BACK IN AFRICAN DRIVE ed Army Smashes Deeper Into No. Ukranian HE CAME HE SAW—II'(’ ]21/) Blow Hmm*lf to Bits! BLUDGEON OF SOVIETS NOW AIMED AT KIEV Russian So;lafiiers Race Along Muddy Roads- Peasants Planting MOSCOW, Feb. 24 — The Red army smashed deeper into northern Ukraine northwest of Kharkov where the capture of Sumy, Lebed- in and Akhtyrka fashioned a Sov-| iet bludgeon aimed at Kiev and the important railway junction of Konotop, according to a midday communique. | The more strongly fortified set- tlements were captured as Russian| soldiers, racing along muddy roads and across barren black fields, struck west to Sumy. | Sumy is 100 miles nortlwest of Kharkov, 75 miles southeast of Lon- otop, and 195 miles east of the| Keiv water barrier. | About 600 Germans were Killed| when a number of towns north of Kursk were captured by the Rus- slans. The Reds have driven to| ( Conun\;&; on Page Three) The Washington Merry--Go- Round| By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty.) |ship at the oil dock was also hn‘ WASHINGTON.—If Capt. Eddie| Rickenbacker really has any presi- | dential ambitions, they have al-| 1eady been tarnished by his sup-‘ porters. Huey Long's old protege, rootin’- tootin’ rabble-rouser Gerald K Smith, has now come out for Rick- | enbacker for President, which is| the kiss of death for almost any-| one. | Also some of the Chicago America | First crowd who tried to boom | Lindbergh are now grooming Rick- | Committee, approving the “ enbacker behind the scenes. Rick- enbacker himself was an isolation- | ist, testified against various war bills before Congress, but admitted | his errors immediately after Pearl| Harbor. /5 \ SHIPBUILDING WATE Churdhill 111 with Pneumonia LONDON, Feb. 23—At No 10 Downing Street, it was announced this afternoon that Prime Minister | Winston Churchill, who has been| in bed since last week, is suffering |from pneumonia and not on ac- count of acute catarrh | | “General improvement” in the condition of Churchill is announc- led, but while “pneumonia is clear- ing his temperature is not settled.” - e MESSINA IS BOMBED BY LIBERATORS 'Fires Sta@& in Sicilian| Port by Atfack of U. S. Planes CAIRO, Feb. 24—United States Liberators of the Ninth Air Force | successfully attacked the harbor of | Messina, Sicily, at daylight accord- ing to the official communique is- sued by Headquarters. | Direct hits were scored on the \tnrget and a large column of smoke | 5P spouted up from both the ferry slips and commercial oil tanks. One All Liberators returned safely to base. 'WORK OR FIGHT" PRINCIPLE GETS OFFICIAL STAMP WASHINGTON, Feb. 24. — The House of Representatives Naval 'work or fight” principle, today blamed war plant employees for laying off | work to such extent that “we are| not doing a .good enough job to! |win the war.” The that committee “workers in reported also our war for causes we have not yet ascer- plants, | TURKEY MAY SOON ENGAGE, PRESENT WAR 'President Inonu Issues | Warning Nation Cannot | Stay Out Much Longer NEW YORK, Feb. 24—A Turkish broadcast recorded by the Federal| | Communications Commission said | } bat President Ismet Inonu warned his people in a radio speech that| ,l‘uxkns might not be able to re- |main out of the war much longer. | Inonu is quoted as saying: “My friends know very well that it is impossible to point openly here at | | the possibilities that lie before us. | We will do everything in our pow- ‘r‘x not to be drawn into this misery | land not be infected by it, but we! know that it lies not alone in our !ands to be thus pmtmxrd 2 ‘ BYRNES 5 | - CRITICAL OF GRIPERS WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 ech made by Economic Dire {James - Byrnes before the New. | paper Editors’ Society on February 13 has just been released. Attack- }ing those advocating the slowing ‘up of the military effort to favor n(lw home front, he declared, ° ‘I know the spirit of America, it Iis not only that we must win the ‘wu but we must win it quickly.” | He added, “The coming year is ‘gomg to be the hardest and tough- w(’\l year this generation has had to endure, but we can make it. If we w(io it will be one of the most glori- ous years in our history.” He described “brasshats” as being | | just as good or just as bad as the ! people of the United States and | criticized utterances of all kinds undermining the confidence in the government and armed forces lead- | | A | ership ———————— THIS IS THE STORY of the little Jap who wasn't there. tralian infantryman, seen in pictures, came upon a Jap position in the Papua section of New Guinea, and four Japs swam out to sea Called upon to surrender, to escape. Non-Fiction Books Al About War, BeingRead Now by Washinglonians DIRECT HITS MADE ON JAP CRUISER Alied Heav y Bombers Make Successful At- tack Off Rabaul ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Feb. 24—A Japanese cruiser off Rabaul, New Britain, was bombed and damaged by Al- |lied heavy bombers, the High Com- mand announced today. The planes dmpped 500 pound bombs and scored three direct hits on a cruis- or large destroyer. They also dropped bombs close beside a 7,000 er ton cargo vessel. Other waves of Allied bombers swarmed the approaches of Lae (and Salamaua and blasted the air- were killed. That's the Jap seen in water at Iy An Aus- grenade, center. FURIOUS | * BOMBING | REPORTED Many Air Ralds in Solo-! mons on Enemy Bases- Planes Refurn Safely three of them refused and By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — Just | why, in the midst of the greatest war the world has ever known, this World War II capital should be‘ reading non-fiction books on the; civil War is something of a mys- | | | ! tery. WASHINGTON, F'eb. 24 —Furious Booksellers here tell me that bombing of air bases and ground “Lee's Lieutenants,” by that mas- positions in the south Pacific is ter historian of the OIld South, reported by the Navy in telling of | Douglas Southall Freeman, is al- a Japanese raid on the United| ready a bestseller, although it has States bases at Espiritu on Santo | been on the shelves only a few jIsland, and five American aerial weeks. “Reveille In Washington” gattacks on Jap bases | was at the top of the list so long, American warplanes attacked Jap it probably had something t0 do positions on Munda February 21, with the paper shortage. and started fires there. The planes “The Hidden Oivil War” and fo)lowed up with attacks on Tulgai George Fort Milton’s “Abraham y,, the Nggela group of the Solo-! Lincoln and the Fifth Column” are ... Tslands and Reketa on the climbing into bestseller COMPANY. 1opern shore of Santa Isabel Ts- | And somewhere in the midst is land. | Capt. Cecil Fletcher Holland’s “Mor- On the nights of February 23 and AU And His Reaiders.! February 24, Liberator bombers | I think pmh.;m Captain Hol- bombed enemy positions at Vila land's book more typically explains and Munda in the New Georgia this phenomenon of Washington’s group. All the American planes revived interest in the Civil War returned. | than any of them. It excites a nos- ——————— | tralgia for other days, when fight- i ing men could meet each other "ATURAHZAHON ‘ face to face without gouging each other’s eyes out and slugging at A fourth started to wade in with one hand unopened. opened his hand to reveal a grenade. he tapped it on his head nnd was blown to blta. left. When 10 yards away he Called upon to drop the ALEUTIAN PRISONERS IN JAPAN Twelve Americans Captur- ed, Letter Received in Seattle Reveals SEATTLE, Feb. 24. — Mrs. George J. Gagnon today re- vealed the receipt of a letter from her brother, Pharmacists Mate Rolland Coffield, written from a Japanese prison camp at Ventsuji, Japan, in which he said that 11 men with him were taken prisoner on the outer Aleutians. According to the letter they “are being well treated and well fed.” The family was notified June 30 that Coffield was missing. > PASS WPB MEMORIAL IN HOUSE AXIS FORCES POUNDED BY TANKS, BOMBS | German Chieftain Refrea- | ing-Italians Reported to Be Trapped BULLETIN — ALLIED HEADUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 24—Rommel's army, badly mauled in a major defeat at the hands of battle toughened American and Brit- ish troops, is withdrawing his shattered armored columns and moving toward Feriana in southern Tunisia under a hail of shell fire and bombardment from hundreds of Allied planes. At the same time, Montgom- ery's Eighth Army is surging against the Axis defenses in southern Tunisia. ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRJCA, Feb. 24.—Ameri- can and British forces after a bit- ter three-day battle, have hurled Marshal Erwin Rommel's floodtide of armored forces back to the mountains through the Kasserine Gap in central Tunisia. Under a hail-of bursting bombs from hun- dreds of planes, the German chief- . tain is in full retreat, field l’!.'pofll sald, After his tanks had surged to within three miles of Thala, key road of the junction to the upper plains of Kremansa, Rommel's bat- tered armored forces are reported ittempting to make a stand only three miles from the mouth of the wisting gap from which he sallied n his attempts to crack the Al- iied front. Drops Back 14 Miles Rommel was thus forced to drop back at least 14 miles from the nigh water mark of his advance toward Thala, 25 miles north of Kasserine. Kasserine Pass is five or six miles long and northwest f Kasserine. Rommel is still 53 or 4 miles west of the starting point of his offensive from Faid Pass, however, Italians Trapped A Reuters dispatch from Allied headquarters said that a battalion of about 1,000 Italians was trapped in another pass leading toward Si-- liana about 70 miles northeast of XSI:Z:;::‘E o?azfip:‘:;mx‘lst :)n 3:: tained, are not on the job long| i Russ Advan(e \drome <5 oepa.n.(, i ’”“:fi ord‘;.TIi ::u;:s FRIPR™ B the ll:: S:;;";‘{ulflrl().:‘c::n:drort;?‘;:‘as:m::: col ul y enough, steady enough, or relia- base skull. ——— b Maritime Commission and taken over 'ply enough.” . s FM‘ore nmpnrlgxxtly.. ‘pelhdp:-“ it HERE ToMoRRow The House this morning suspénd- “:;l'ndg;;fk;g v:::eleo:hsfmfih reg: by the Navy. The ships are origi-| Describing such absenteeism as | X I( en ac e’ offers modern strateglsts, both arm- | ed the rules and passed a memorial i nally designed for merchant uses,|“a very ugly situation,” the com- chir/ sud ‘uchive, "an’ insight Intoj urging that the War Production Hanyy. Fighiing but are taken over when complet- |mittee recommended transfer of | . | the tegipnings of modern 'warfare.. At 10 Od"“k 1OmOrIaN ""’““““‘Board relax its mine shut-down| The: backwanlz of fommel's (DG ed, or nearly completed, for com- |ahsentee workers to the armed: . | 163 '1(!”;:”“ h;:“x‘\l{\;u: l”l;ll:r;:f;t;m v "M‘l;rn;iucxn l}"”:“‘” for ll'l“’;“‘urder to allow the employment of| 530 €arly yesterday, according to bat use by the Navy. A | or a(r' I(es gUerTiis B 2 zkrieg, or ready for their final papers will be ‘men who are either because of age The Navy has different require- fzz::; £ oSO P M i war of movement that John Hunt held in the United States District |or training not qualmei{ to wzrk ?n 1Conunued s P“e Three) ments, -and demands installation ; — e ! Morgan didn’'t employ. Court. All those now ready to|strategic mineral operations. b of different equipment, and the AR I | [ His cavalry were the “para- appear for hearings for their final| Al Anderson, Secretary of the| N, Feb. 2¢—The Russians - s g 't g e ¥ . | discarding of equipment already | LONDON, A rls ocra‘ £ papers should appear in Court at|Alaska Miner's Association, spoke| an 'on installad.g For instance, two Alco E"-ER "ANSE". SUPT. ;flrel C;:"f’_mg ll)l"d‘”h“ Pren';eé‘ ;’0'1 FCsatRe0s o p‘gc ne) the hour ‘specified imn the memorial at the request u(‘ 4 | seph Stalin called “ a massed drive” | Al h 5 et tak the Legislatur S a ships bullt at the Moore shipyards ’ s B | Anyone who has not yet taken|the Legislature and said that the OF PIONEERS HOMEI to expel the German invader, it was | ALBANY, N. Y., Feb. 24. — War- S w‘RBuRIo" jR the preliminary examination for War Production Board has allowed | at Oakland, Calif., were equipped with automatic motors to work davits for life-boat hoisting, even tnough 'the Maritime Commission knew the Navy would immediately 1ip ‘them out and install life raft. and 'landing boats. , The waste comes from failure to anticipate these changes before the ship is completed on merchant de- signs. In fact, it often happens that a ship which the Maritime Commission knows is to be taken by the Navy will be completed along the original lines, then de- ilvered to the Navy, only t6 have ereat quantities of equipment torn cut, new bulkheads built in, sea- men’s quarters rebuilt, and so on. Explanation for Maritime's ac- tion is that if they allow the Navy tu come into the yard and take over the conversion, “we never get the ship out.” In other words, they dorf't want the yard cluttered up with a ship which the Navy, in its elaborate and procrastinating manner, is trying to convert. NAVY DELAYS In one case, the Navy took over two ships before they had moved out of a Maritime Commission |as follows: ARRIVES FROM SITKA Eiler Hansen, Superintendent of the Pioneers’ Home in Sitka, ar- rived in Juneau this afternoon with | Alaska Coastal Airways. Mr. Hansen expects to be in Ju- neau only a few days and is stay- ing at the Baranof Hotel while here. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Feb. 24. — Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 4, American Can 1%, Anaconda 28, Bechlehem Steel $1%, Commonwealth and Southern %, Curtiss Wright 8, General Mo- | tors 47's, International Harvester 62%, Kennecott 32'4, New York, | Central 13%, Northern Pacific 10%, United States Steel 52 7/8, Pound $4.04. DOW, JONES AVERAGES Dow, Jones averages today are 3124, utilities 17.10. - The first United States postage ‘Continued op Page Pour) stamps were issued on March 3, 1847, declared by the Soviet High Com-‘ mand in a communique recorded here. | The Soviets are thrusting deep in the Ukraine toward the provin-/ Icial capitol of Sumy. The advance | is slowly rolling up the distant ap-| proaches of the Moscow-Kiev trunk railway and has announced the recapture of several towns along\ the Kharkov-Sumy railway in an} area only about 30 miles short of the latter city. Sumy is especially impottant in that it commands the | lateral communications between the Moscow-Kiev and the Kharkov- | Crimea lines. | T \ \INCOME TAX T0 BE 3 EXPLAINED BY WES | OVERBY AT (C MEH‘ At the Chamber of Commerce luncheon and business session to- morrow noon, Wes Overby will be !the principal speaker and he will * give the latest information on the| industrials 129.58, rails income tax, according to Secletnry" Wilbur Westel ‘ ! > Vanilla is the cured pod of one| Jnf the orchid family of plants, time sacrifices cannot be demand- |ed of “the common folk if the aris- |tocracy and labor unionism is Ithinking only of a fourth term, declared Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker here. Capt. Rickepbacker, hero of World iWar I and who recently returned from the South Pacific where he and his flight companions were rescued after drifting three weeks in rubber life rafts, delivered be- fore the legislature of the Presi- dent’s home state a speech. which drew criticism of the Senate’s min- ority leader. The noted flier declared: “Any | administration that demands unity must begin by setting an exampie of unity. Any administration that talks of equality of sacrifice must honestly mean sacrifice by all and not the sacriiice by the common mm for the financial and politi- cal advanlage of a few. > ® & 0 0 0o 0 0 0 o . WEATHER REPORT . (U. 8. Bureau) L4 Temp. Tuesday, Feb. 23 - ¢ Maximum 41, minimum 3. e Snow, trace. . ® 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | ‘ final citizenship papers before the! United States Attorney will now 's lEAV|"G JUNEAU rhave to walt for the next naturali- | FoR PE[I(A" soo“ zation class which will be on June| 3, according to Clerk of the U. 8. | District Caurt Robut E. Coughlin, | MAKES FLIGHTS | TO SITKA TODAY . ested in other enterprises in Pelican, who arrived in Juneau several days ago from Tacoma, Washington, plans to leave tonight or tomcrrow for Pelican where he will remain for at least a month. | During Mr. Warburton’s stay in’ Pelican, Bob DeArmond, account- Alaska Coastal Airlines planes ant for the firm, will leave for the made two flights to Sitka today south for a month’s vacation. (with passengers, airmail and ex- An excellent season is expected'Press. this year in Pelican, Mr. Warburton' Leaving here for Sitka were Wil- said today. The Cape Cross Can- liam Peters, William E. Peck, Amy nery, located there, is planning to Hill, W. A. Petrie, Mrs. Phil Bai- | operate and a good season for the ley, Ernie Whitehead and Junrl‘, cold storage company is also looked Nelson. for. | Arrivals from Sitka were While he is in Juneau, Mr. War- Hansen, Mike Karl, Clifford B | burton has conferred with Attorney Anderson and Henry A, Peel | General Henry Roden, who is also LI | interested in the Pelican Cold Stor- pHILADELPHIA, Pa. Feb. 24 age Company. He is staying at the stapley Harris, the “Boy Manager” Baranof Hotel while in the city. 7 R | they beat the New York Giants The first United States mint was in the 1924 series, hag been named established on April 2, 1792, | maftager®of the Phillies. | Eiler ‘ men over 50 to the shutdown order siderable hardship. | The House Committee which in-| vestigated conditfons at the Alas-| |ka Pioneers’ Home reported that | the bedbugs have taken over most of the rooms and shortly after Pearl Harbor, occu- pants of the Home have been re-| 1e|vmg only two meals a day ns| The Commmee reported that “morale is very low” at the home land recommended that a steam box be installed to rid the matresses of bedbugs and also urged that oc- cupants be given three meals a day. One member of the Committee, Mrs, in the report. Superintendent Eiler Hansen, by plane today. e e CHICAGO, Feb. 24—Polling only more than three-fourths of the of the arrived from Sitka respective vote of the two parties, | the lightest primary in years, Dem- | ocratic Mayor Edwin J. Kelly and of the Washington Senators when Republican George McKibbin were nominated yesterday. Chicago’s mayoralty election will be on April 6. continue placer ‘ |operations in some instances where | created con-| said that since| Alaska Linck, did not concur Home, Fifteenth Day of Fast BOMBAY, Feb. 24—The general |condition of Mahatma Gandhi, ons the fifteenth day of his fast, showed |very slight improvement. This is the official statement as |veceived here from Poona. UP TO GANDHI | LONDON, Feb. 24.—Prime Min- ister Winston Churchill, in a mes- |sage today to Sir Tej Bahadur Sparu, Indian :Nationalist leader, said the responsibility of Gandhi's |fast must rest entirely with Gandhi himself, ® 0 0 00 0 0 00 000 . DIMOUT TIMES Ll . — N ® Dimout begins tonight e ® at sunset at 6:15 o'clock . ® Dimout ends tomorrow e ® at sunrise at 8:06 am. ® Dimout begins Thursday at e ® sunstt at 6:17 p.m. . o000 000000000