The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, August 19, 1943, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXI, NO. 9425. JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1943 SHIPS, PLANES POUND 1 New Naval Victory Is Scored In Solomons | " CORSICA LOOMS AS U.S. AIR RASE REDTROOPS | comica Loows a5 u.s 4 Nom, Ny GER/I!&ANY v (ONVOY IS WIPED OUT | BY PLANES Wewak Atfack Results in 215 of 225 Planes Being Destroyed ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, Aug. 19.—Japan's tragedy at Wew. New Guinea, was completed vy terday when Allied fliers returned and finished off all but 10 of the 225 planes bombed in a surprise attack. It is now estimated that over 1500 airmen and others died in the attack. Many of the airmen perished in their machines asthey planned to take the air as the Al- lied formatlons appreached and then let loose explosive and incen- diary bombs. ' Today's communique reports new devastation of the airfields, along with a naval victory and also third attack on the oil refineries and ships in southeastern Borneo. | The second attack on Wewak was made yesterday as four- and tWwo-engined bombers bagged 28 of 52 remaining planes in the air and churned up the airbases with bombs, spreading fires and explo- sions through- the.-tewn--and har-| bor and setting three ships afire. The second raild wound up the| heaviest blow on the Japs in the| | | & Pacific war and virtually wiped; out the fleet of planes the enemy (Continued 'on Page Two) The Washington Merry - Go - Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty.) WASHINGTON.—When the city of St. Louis lost some of its top- ranking officials in the Army glider crash recently, the only good result was to open up an Army-| Navy hair-pulling contest which ! has been brewing backstage for| months. | What most people don't know is! that (1) the entire U. S. glider| program has been woefully neg-! lected; (2) that the Navy has de- veloped a much better glider than the Army; and (3) when one glider manufacturer last year asked the Navy's permission to m_anurnc- ture the Navy's type glider for the Army, the Navy refused. The entire glider story goes back | long before Pearl Harbor, even before the glider-born invasion of Créte, when one lone Army officer saw the importance of gliders and began to demand that the Army develop them. He is Col. Fred R. Dent, known in the Air Corps as the Billy Mitchell of gliders. At ‘that time, and until the Germans showed what they could do with gliders in Crete, the U, S. Air Corps had turned thumbs down on this “air- toy.” They were considered & nice sporting plaything, but of no mili- tary value. Brass-hats referred to them as those — gliders. And it was Col. Dent, a young West Pointer, who argued, begged and hammered home the impor- tance of the glider in landing troops, carrying freight, hauling extra fuel and doing all the things which gliders are now doing. NOTE: According to Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Swing, the advance in Sicily was hastened one week by the use of gliders. Actually the landing in Sicily began not on Saturday, July 10, but Friday, July 9, when glider-born troops and paratroopers landed in the interior and completely disrupted communi- cations. FUNDS DELAYED Col. Dent, unfortunately, was not able to win over the brass-hats and get appropriations for gliders un- til' every airplane factory in the (Continued on Page Four) PICKET TALIAN MAINLAND e HARD-HIT BY BOMBERS—Few Italian cities have felt the might of Allied air force as much as the Mediterranean seaport city of Genoa, shown here in peacetime days. ¢* Big-Wigs, Smal [ Fry - Are Falling Hard for NEW YORK NEWSPAPER |Labor ProI;sTs Westbrook Pegler Column-Also | Threaten Editor NEW YORK, Aug. 19.—Members of the National Maritime Union picketed the New York World Tele- gram Building today in what they| said was a protest against recent statements in the column written by Westbrook Pegler. The pickets marched in an or- derly fashion around the block. Some were in work uniforms as of- ficers in the merchant marine and others wore ribbons which identi- |fied them as “torpedoed at sea.” A delegation of 10, headed by John Rogan, member of the Na-| tional Port Committee of the union, presented Lee Wood, executive edi- tor of the World Telegram with a letter of protest. Rogan said, “I'm sick and tired, of characters like Pegler being al-| lowed to go around knifing us in the back. You people better watch out. If you don’t remove this guy yowll have more than picket lines around this office. We're giving you warning.” FLEET MOVE IS REPORTED MADRID, Aug. 19.—A dispatch from Lilinea this afternoon says three Allied airplane carriers and six gunboats left Gibraltar for the Mediterranean this morning while | 25 merchantmeil, under convoy, left in the direction of the Atiantic. - DR. GEORGE DALE TO MAKE INSPECTION TRIP | Dr. George A. Dale, Associate | Supervisor of Education for the Of- fice of Indian Affairs, is leaving today on an inspection trip to Hyda- | burg and Klawock. The latter town | has the only mursery school for| native children in Alaska. | Dr. Dale is expected to be absent from his office for about three weeks. I | Europeans Are Games qI Night (During Jack Stinnett's vaca- tion, his column is being con- ducted by members of the Wash- ington staff of The Associated Press. Today's columns is by Pat O’Brien.) By PAT O’BRIEN WASHINGTON, Aug. 19. — Big- wigs and government small fry by the thousands are turning to night baseball for entertainment since the Washington club set a major league precedent with a policy of playing all weekday games under lights. Celebrities are as common at Grif- fith Stadium these nights as stars at a Hollywood premiere. Generals |and doughboys, admirals and gobs, dollar-a-year experts and clerks swell the crowds to give the capital | its biggest wave of baseball pros- perity in a decade. . The reason for the impetus in interest is three-fold: (1) Thousands of the Washington army of war workers have been fans for years | but couldn't léave their jobs to see | afternoon games; (2) Washington's ball club this season is better than DEPORT BRIDGES, - DEMAND |California Armerican Le- | gionnaires Want Ac- | tion Speeded Up SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 19. —The delegates attending the con- vention of the American Legion of California have asked a speed-up in the deportation action of Harry Bridges, West Coast CIO leader. The resolution, passed unanimous- ly, orders the National Americaniza- tion Committee to find out why Bridges has not been deported and also criticized Attorney General ! Francis Biddle and the Department of Justice for the so-called delay. Biddle ordered Bridges deported last year as a Communist. Bridges | lost his action in the Federal Court | to upset the deportation order, then appealed, and there has been no action sing BADOGLIO usual; (3) What with the pleasure | driving ban and gasoline rationing, there aren't many places to go eve- | nings. If President Clark Griffith’s ex- | periment with all night games con- tinues as successful as it has been‘[ in the first few weeks, other major league clubs probably will fall in line with the idea before long. Many of the clubs have suffered | Italian Prem from attendance drops this season; Washingtn’s gate has gone up about | The |, 35 per cent over a year ago. average night game attendance here ; few seasons, the Senators and their opponents performed in comparative | privacy on weekday afternoons. i Vice - President Wallace; Harry Hopkins, the President’s adviser; | has been around 14,000. In the past ’ Paul McNutt, Chairman of the War | abandon Sicily” but he pledged the| Manpower Commission; Jesse Jones, | Secretary of Commerce; Admiral | mory S. Land of the War Ship- | ping Administration, and Senators | Chandler, LaFollette, Barkley and | MecNary are among the ore ardent | g whole, it was directed particularly|SWiss came from all parts of this baseball enthusiasts. Gen. George C. (Continued on Page Two) ————— Warned; Gef Ready For an Invasion LONDON, Aug. 19.—The peo- ple of occupied Europe were told in an Algiers broadcast last night te begin prepara- tions for an Allied invasion, the time and palce to be an- nounced later by the Allied Command. The Algiers radio is under Allied control. RADIOES TO SICILIANS i;r Hands Out Soft Words, then Makes Pledge (By Associated Press) Premier Pietro Badoglio told his | | | people last nignt in a radio address {from Rome that a “numerical and superiority enemy forced to us Sicilians they will be returned to Italy. ‘The radio speech lasted less (han three minutes. While the talk was addressed to the Italian people as [to Sicilians. ‘The Premier -said: “Sicilians, | don’t despair. People cannot perish if they keep the faith. You keep your place in the affectons of the Italians. The Italians salute heroie Sicilians. Axis iofim ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Aug. 19. The Axis lost nearly 2,000 airplanes in a futile attempt to defend Sicily, the Northwest African air forces discloses as the campaign ended. Planes in Sicily - (LOSING IN ‘Shrinking Escape Corridors Only 30'Miles Wide- | Railroad Lines Cut | MOSCOW, Aug. 19—Red Army {troops, slogging their way ahead through dogged German - resistance mth of Kharkov, are appr ing the two remaining rallway ec. cape jlines supplying the city A Soyist communique last night announced the capture of Amyev, [20 m south of Knarkov in “a decistve assault,” smashed the enemy strongpoint and killed 1,200 of Hitler's shock troopers. Amyev 15 less than 10 miles from Kharkov on the Lozlvaya Railway, main cuemy supply line, a few miles beycnd which lies Kharkov. Kras- nograd Sput also must be severed before the Russians can close the Kha v eseape corridor, now less than 30 miles wide | The Kharkov Poltava Railroad | was cut earlier in the Red Offen- sive i A British radio report received in New York says the Russian forces have moved up to within nine miles of Khaxkov, R | Necklace of | Bombs Over EnemyPlanes Raid, Southern France, | ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN| NORTH AFRICA, Aug. 19.—Flying| Fortresses strung necklaces of| heavy bombs across a park of 190 | German warplanes on the French! airfields near Marseille in the first attack on Southern France Tues-| day, it is officially announced. | Two Fortresses were lost out of /the big African based force that hit the enemy at Estres le Tube and ' Solon. | | Crews of the returning Fortresses| said they saw only two German fighters over Marseille but encoun- 'tered mists hanging low over the| targets. 20 Stranded - U.5. Airmen | . Are Honored Crews of Two Flying Forf-| resses, Forced Down, | Fefed by Swiss ‘ BERN, Aug. 19. — Hundreds of |tiny country of Switzerland to see |the two American Fortresses forced 'down on a recent raiding trip, on ,the shores of Lake Constance. The young American airmen were |treated like distinguished guests. | ¢The Neue Zuercher Zeitung de-| scribed the twenty airmen s | young, fine appearing men.” | One crew of the Fortresses was| virtually guest of honor of the town and were first taken, before intern-! ment, for a swim, a ball game and tour of a factory. e FINED $25 Frederick Kirkpatrick was fined| $25 in City Police Court Lhix? morning. He was charged with| being drunk. o Pl <" SWITZERLAND & 3 SALZBURG, 9 ) [BRENNER miss L A7 e 2 S ’\5~'\~4 % THE ISLAND OF CORSICA taken from the French by the Axis, will make an excellent base for Allied air operations against northern Italy should the Germans set up a defense line along the River Po. Sardinia would have to be taken before Corsica could be occupied and used for that purpose, but Allied bombers taking off there (1) would fly only 200 miles to Turin (2), Milan and the Po. Brenner Pass (3) is only 320 heavy bomb loads. miles northeast from Corsica and planes heading there could carry (International) WILL SPEED INVASION OF EUROPE Believe Thrifi 6bjedive of Roosevelt - Chur- chill Talks QUEBEC, Aug. 19 of Allied plans for an invasion of Europe to take full advantage of the Russian offensive on Ger- many's eastern flank appeared like- ly as a result of the Roosevelt- Churchill, British-American con- ferences here as officials went into the second day of the meetings. The sustained Russian campaign is winning success equal to the most optimistic hopes, and Allied observers shaped this up as greatest single war development be- fore the conferees. SHIP SHORTAGE FACES NIPPONS 19, A speedup WASHINGTON, Aug. X acute shipping shortage resultiug largely from Allied torpedoes, shells and bombs, is making it dif- ficult for Japan to get at the new- ly won East Indian riches, The Netherlands Information Bu- reau estimates, on the basis of ‘Tokyo broadeasts, there has been a loss of between 500,000 to 750,000 tons of Japane merchant ship- ping since the r began The Japs have said on several occasions they needed twenty mil- lion tons or more shipping to ex- ploit the conguered @ s, yet Ja- pan had only 6,000,000 tons at the end of 1941, - > CITY COUNCIL ME The City Council will meet at 8 o'clock tomorrow night in the City Hall. Routine business will be dis- cussed, Mayor Harry I, Lucas said R - DR. HOLBROOK IN of Seattle Hotel, Dr. Paul Holbrook is registered at the Baranof GERMANS GET REAL JITTERS OVER ATTACKS jView Assaults on French i Airfields as Leading i to Heart of Reich STOCKHOLM, Aug. 19.—The Germans view the heavy assaults on the French airfields of several days ago but the tightening circle of heavy American dttacks against the heart of Germany itself, the Berlin correspondent of the Sven- ska Dagbladet says. | The Germans know the air blows against the airfields in the vicinity of Marseille Tuesday and the north coast of France the previous day ‘must be connected with higher military strategy dealing ‘with the start of another European front.” TOTS KILLED AS FIGHTER GOES DOWN \P-385 Collide in Air - One Crashes on Three | Children | SAN DIEGO, Calif., Aug.- 19.—A midair collision, between two P-38 Lightning interceptors, sent one plane plunging into the Linda Vis- ta housing project here, bringing death to three children and an Army pilot. The second pilot bailed out. The dead are Nicholas cher, 5; Margaret Schumacher, 3 both children of Dr. and Mrs. W A. Schumacher, and Kathleen May Long, 5, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Long. The pilot who wa killed was Lieut. John O. Damron, 23, of Wil- liamson, W. V. Schuma- PRICE TEN CENT3 PRIC CENTS —_— Area THREE TOWNS ARE BLASTED BY WARSHIPS Planes Bomb Communica- tions, Hamper Re- freat of Enemy ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN |NORTH AFRICA, Aug. 19.—Am- erican warships shelled the Italian mainland yesterday for the first | time, developing violent explosions at Giloia, Tauro and Palmi. At the same time, Allied air fleets deprived the beaten Axis troops of a vrespite by pounding communications throughout south- ern Italy - Specific targets were bridges and power installations. Gioia, Tauro and Palmi are on the Gulf of Giola, 20 miles north of Messina Light bombers and fighter bomb- ers carried out attacks on roads and railroads which might be em- ployed by the remnants of the Ger- man and Ttallan forces wifich es- caped from Sicily. Ground activity, meanwhile, was limited to “oecasional exchanges of artillery fire across the Strgit of Messina,"” As the Allies held complete oc- cupation of Sicily, a message was sent” to theé vietorlous forces from President Roosevelt at Quebec, say- ing: “All of us are thrilled over the Sicilian campaign now success- (fully concluded in accordance with ‘v.lmlng and planning - set by the Allies.” R NAZIS MOVE MORE TROOPS INTO ITALY 3Several Di\fisgns Shifted- Hint Invasion Is Imminent, LONDON, Aug. 19. — The Ger- mans are moving troops to Italy in considerable strength, apparent- ly intending to make a fight for at least the northern end. A competent British military in- formant said “several divisions” have been moved into TItaly from France and Germany in the past week or sp, but an exact estimate of the Nazi strength in Italy is not possible now. From other sources, meanwhile, came indications that the Germans |not only are moving troops to Italy, but their troops from west- lern and northern France have taken over the French coastal stretch from the Italian border to Toulon, previously garrisoned by Ttalian troops. A radio broadcast in the name of the Allied High Command told patriots in occupied Europe last night to prepare for an invasion of the continent, saying the time “might be near.” - -e o NEW COMMANDER AT ANNETTE ISLAND NOW Col. Samuel H. Gibson is the new commanding officer at Annette Islind. He relieves Col. Clark, who has been at Annette since February and has now been transferred to another post. Col. Gibson was at Fort Richardson for 23 months. e o o 2 0 0 0 s s ) ow . DIMOUT TIMES . . — . /e Dimout begins tonight e e at sunset at 8:35 o'clock, . e Dimout ends tomorrow e e at sunrise at 5:29 am. . e Dimout begins Friday at e ® sunset at 8:32 pm .