The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, July 27, 1943, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1943 VOL. LXI., NO. 9405. “ MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS — BATTLE OF SICILY RAGES WITH MORE FURY Americans Advance Front Lines On Jap Base * BalkanBottleneck U. 5. FORCES CLOSING IN ‘N MUNDA Ground Forces Supported by Heavy Bombard- ment - Air, Sea | ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN TURKEY SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, July 27 Driving ahead under support of a heavy bombardment from the sea and air, American troops pushed the front line 500 yards closer to the core of the Japanese defenses of the Munda airdrome in the first big ground advance in the battle on New Georgia Island. Officials failed to give details of what is apparently the start of the drive to bring the American troops to grips with the enemy at Munda. American planes rained 600 tons of bombs on enemy positions last week and on Sunday, Allied war- ships heavily bombarded Munda. Navy Dauntless and Avenger bombers, covering Wildcats and Corsairs, joined the bombardment Sunday night and this was followed up on Monday with hits by 82 tons of bombs on gun positions and per- sonnel targets. Liberators escorted by - many fighters, attacked the airdrome at Buin, where the Japs concentrated planes and swept with cannon fire The Washmgioni Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on sctive duty.) WASHINGTON.—Inside fact is that despite Jesse Jones' voiced demands for a Congressional investigation of his row with Vice| President Wallace, his close friends were trying to calm him down and urged that an investigation should be the last thing he wanted. They knew what apparently he| did not know, that there were a lot of documents in the files which wouldn’t look so good if spread on the record before Congress. For instance, on July 5 he issued a blast against the Vice President, contending that Wallace’s Board of Economic Warfare had held up the over-all agreement with Peru. This, he said, had expired in September, 1942, and because of BEW stalling, Jesse asserted, it had not yet been renewed. However, Jesse apparently did not know that his own Assistant Secretary pf Commerce and right hand man, Will Clayton, had writ- ten a letter to the BEW asking that the Peruvian agreement not be renewed. Clayton wrote the let- ter on April 3, 1943, stating that Warren Lee Plerson, another of Jesse Jones’ right hand men, had just come back from Peru with the| latest information and that the matter should be held up. Presumably Jesse did not know what his own chief assistants were doing when he made the charge against the Vice President. This is one of the chief com- plaints against the Secretary of Commerce, who personally is con- sidered one of the most likeable men in Washington. “Uncle Jesse” has a host of friends, but he also has about as many jobs as he has friends, and it is humanly impos- sible for any man to handle so many at one time. If “Uncle Jesse” stuck to his knit- ting as Secretary of Commerce, which Herbert Hoover made one of the most *important cabinet jobs in Washington, he probably would rank with Hoover as one of the best Secretaries of Commerce in recent history. But when he sets up a dozen and one different agen- cies Rubber Reserve, Defense Plants, Metals Reserve, War Dam- age, etc.—then no man, no matter (Continued on Page Pour) | | | { ritory If and when Allied forces in Cyprus and the Middle East move up to strike the Axis in Crete or the Balkans, these are the island corks they must first pop in the Aegean Se: Dodecanese. building have been reported. a bottleneck — the Italian-held Off Turkey’s southwest tip, scenes of hectic Axis fence- Thirteen islands—Ilargely populated by Greeks—are in the group, of which the most important militarily is Leros with a large modern naval base. ICKES TALKS ON ALASKA AVIATION | AFIER WAR OVER Suggest Clvtllan PlanesBe Required fo Carry Emergencies WASHINGTON, July 27.—Secre- tary of Interior Harold L. Ickes said civilian airplanes operating in \Alaska should be required to carry emm"enc) equipment similar that of Army aircraft if the Ter- is to be opened 'safely for| air traffic after the war. The Secretary said this is neces: \ | | | oped areas and extreme winters. Ickes suggests the equipping of all planes with dehydrated vege- tables. LEGIONNAIRES | 'WALCOTT THINKS TURKEY T0 JOIN WITH UN. NATIONS Ex Senator, World Travel- er Talks fo Rotarians Here Today Frederic C. Walcott, from Connecticut and world travel- er, told members of Juneau Rotary Club this noon that he believes 10| Italy will break off its alliance with | Plane Germany soon and with Italy out| of the picture Turkey may throw |its 700,000 crack troops into the war |as the deciding touch of death for| bull- sary because of the vast undevel-|the Axis. t! Walcott, who has been to Italy many times and visited often with |King Victor Emanuel, said the King has never been in sympathy with the Facists and from what the | King told him during his last visit there in 1939, the Italians thlnk Amgrica is tops and can’t get alon with the Germans. NAME DELEGATES T0 CONVENTION He said that at that time, a few| | months before the Axis was formed, | |the King told him “if we join with |the Nazis it will be setious. We are {naturally not friendly with them.” HAMBURG IS AIR RAIDED Smokmg German Cify Again Under Terrific Attack by Bombers LONDON, July 27—The smoking | ‘clty of Hamburg was again raided | last night and bombs smashed down ~ NIGHT IIME? in various sections spreading more[ | destruction. Returning some opposition fleet quigkly ltackers. An official pilots but encountered the escorting disposed of the at-| statement says 30 ‘ | enemy planes that attempted inter- | | ception were shot down. DEVELOPING NEWPLANES, | WEST COAST ‘Director of Research Is Io Speed Up Production and Solve Designs | WASHINGTON, July 27. —The ! National Advisory Committee of | Research to the west coast in an| effort to speed up the solution of | |design problems for a new type of | under development. Dr. Seattle today for conferences with aircraft makers and it is indicated that numerous new planes are “in he works.” At the Ames aeronautical plant at Moffet Field, 500 men are work- ing on new designs of planes. Some lof the problems to be solved are| idue to the speed of the new planes which are scheduled to go over 400 | | miles an hour _SHUT DOWN, Delegates elected last night to represent the Alford John Bradford Post No. 4 of the American Legion at the Paper Convention to be held soon were: Joe Thibodeau, Fred Cameron, Edward Keithahn, George Gulluf- son, Bert Lybeck, Homer Nordling, Claude Carnegie ,Waino Hendrick- | son and Alfred Zenger. Alternates named at the meet-| ing were Leo Jewett, James Sou-| foulis, Willis Roff, Les Sturm, John McCormick, Ben Ambenaug, Hnrry\ Stonehouse and Aaron Finberg. | Visitors from posts at Sitka and Petersburg were present at the meeting and a donation to the mess‘ fund by J. I Lee, who is unable to| attend the meetings, was acknow- ledged. i s NEW LANDING GEAR IS DEVELOPED FOR PLANES OF ALL KINDS AKRON, Ohio, July 27.—A cat- erpillar landing gear that will en- able planes to land on rough ground or soft sandy fields, has been de- veloped by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, officials said. The new landing equipment will provide planes with the same type of traction, an endless tread, that is given tanks or half tracks. The new tread #ses aboyt v.he\ same amount of rubber as goes into | the regulation airplane tire but gives the plane four to eight times greater contact area on the ground.| ducted on Wright field and proven most satisfactory, Dictators Il Walcott said that both totalitar- lian dictators were in ill health and | have been for some time—Musso- lini physically and Hitler mentally. He said that information reach-| ing him concerning Hitler's condi- tion during last December when reports were circulated of the Nazi leader’s death came about because Hitler then suffered a serious breakdown and was confined to Berchtesgarden while doctors and| party leaders considered what was |to be done. He said Hitler has not ymade a public appearance since then and that doctors pronounced him a “paranoic.” Mussolini, he said, suffered a stroke in February of 1939 and was flat on his back for six weeks, Iater recovering but cautioned by doc-| tors not to exert himself. He said he was told this by Count Ciano. Visited Germany Walcott went to Germany in 1939 to work out an agreement with Von Ribbentrop on Polish relief. The ex-Senator is President of the American Wildlife Institute and is touring Alaska with Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson, Director of the Fish| and Wildlife Service to help in| problems of conservation of wild- life. Also guests at the Rotary meeting | | were Gabrielson and Frank Du- fresne, Executive Officer of the Al- aska Game Commission, Brig. John| Gillingham of the Salvation Army, visiting from Wrangell, and Capt. Bert Mahin, U. 8. Army veterinar- | arian, —————— The famous hanging gardens of dle, 17, who has signed with the name who doesn’t realize that the Intensive tests have been con-|Babylon were devised by Nebuchad-[m Sox for future delivery, for- Revubhcan national convention in next summer is going to be a “fa- nezzar to please his mountain-bred queen, ] - STEEL MILLS, JOHNSTOWN, Pa., July 27—A threatened to shut down the plant which stretches seven miles industrial center. |gan last night when a workman {“small” strikes in the past fort- |night, was discharged. e English Is Taught Occupied Peoples: LONDON.—The British Broad- casting Corporation has begun |broadcasting English lessons to list- | |eners in occupied Europe, with the {object of preparing Europeans for| |the Anglo-American invasion, and| for the post-war reconstruction era | Two series are being broadcast by the B.B.C. One is called “How Good Is Your English?” while the other, “What's The News?”, | | lerop up in BB.C. news bulletins | ————— STARRED FOR BARONS BIRMINGHAM, Ala.ZChase Rid- merly starred for the Barons the Southern Association, THREATENED strike of the open hearth workers | |of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation | long | and employs many thousands of‘ workers in this southwestern state | | i | ex-Senator | Aeronautics has sent a Director of | George W. Lewis is due in| Manager Ralph Hough said the walkout of approximately 1,500 be- | accused of fomenting two previous| [GOP § Whlle House i €X-labout how much political plains words and phrases likely t0|feeling the Democratic members of Rome Rail A pait of heavy smoke hangs ov planes staged from Alzi('n to Washington by the a devastating raid on military objectives in the Italian capital, Yards Blasted | by Bombers ds in Rome aiter 500 American This picture was radioed U. 5. Signal| Corny! | Barly gave no hint of the Bombs from a Fiying Fortress of the Northwest African Air Force fall toward raflway yards in Rome. rect hits were scored. Arrow at left marks the Roman coliseum. This NWAAF photo was transmitted from Algiers to Washington by the U. . Signal Corps radiophoto. ! gmighz win with, | “But the ‘favofite son’ prospects now indicate there is a strong prob- |ability of a convention deadlock and the opponents of Mr. Wendell| vwmkne will have to be very alert to find enough tavorite-son park- ing spaces if they are going to pre- | vent Mr. Willkie from capturing the | nomination.” Feelers Swinging On Blg (mle Now That is an inte observation for ing long-range several reasons, but| know that such conventions are the mainly because it’s an “opposition” | ones filled with dynamite party conclusion that if Dewey is Let me quote a former chairman as reluctant to run as he insists he of the national Democratic com- Is, the Republican. “Old Guard”| mittee, who no longer is a front and middle-of-the-roaders may man In the 'political arena but have to concentrate on MacArthur still must remain nameles if they have any serious intentions “Dewey and MacArthur of defeating Willkie in convention WASHINOI()'\' July 27.—There has been a lot of talk around here pulse— Congress are going to do on their vacations, but it's my guess the Re- publican members will do a lot more. (that's Bttt New '¥ork and capturing the seat in the White “that man” in the Pacific war the- atre). seem to be the logical Repub- lican possibilities. They are men vorite son” convention—and doesn't 'the Republicans should think they of and There isn't a politician worth the House in November, 1944 MacArthur not only hasn't given | the slightest nod to any of his back- | (Continued on PuK:E”’l"l’rfl-vll i AMERICANS MOVEAHEAD, NORTH COAST ForcesAdvavncér to Aid Brit- ish in Atfack on Mes- sina, Cafania ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN ;NORTH AFRICA, July 27.—Thé battle on Sicily continued relent- | lessly with fury as American forees | keep advancing along the northern |coast, meeting little opposition, |toward the. east coast for the final | battles of Messina and Catania The British Eighth Army is slow= |1y closing around Catania where a | terrific battle is raging. Bridge- |beads are being defended by the | Ttalians, forced to this defensive by the German commanders. There is unconfirmed reports the | | ’! | \ | Germans are preparing to evacuate strategic positions and cross the { Messina Straits to the Italian mainland where they may be used | In case Italy sues for peace against | German pressure. | Rurgors, all unconfirmed, con- | tinue to seep in regarding the next steps to be taken by Italy. | Whereabouts of ousted Mussolini |are also announced, reports being that he is either captured on the German frontier or held as a pri- | oner ln a villa neax Rome. PRESIDENT WILL TALK TOMORROW Speech 'WirB_e of Major Importance, White House Says WASHINGTON, July 27. — The President will go on the air at 5:30 | o'clock Juneau time tomorrow even- ing to dellver a half-hour address |which the White House describes |as of “major importance.” Presidential ~Secretary Stephen subject; matter of the talk. It will be the President’s first speech to the Am- erican people since the downfall of Mussolini, > KISKA GETS RAIDED AT NIGHT TIME ‘Flrs! Afiack of Kind Deliv- ered on Any North Pacific Quipost WASHINGTON, July 27.—Army fighters and bombers, pounding Kiska with preinvasion thorough- ness, made ten more raids on the Jap installations, the Navy re- | ported. This was a series of attacks that followed Sunday night attacks by an unusual single plane assault, the first assault by night ever delivered against North Pacific outposts. Bombs were dropped on Gertrude {Cove and also the main base where fires were alarted DIMOUT TIMES e Dimout begins tonight e at sunset at 9:30 o'clock. . Dimout ends tomorrow at sunrise at 4:39 am. . Dimout begins Wednesday at e ® sunset at 9:28 p.m. . LR I R