The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 29, 1943, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLIL, NO. 9535. JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29,1943 . MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN C[:NT S — —— | ORTUNA CAPTURED; ROME ALSO BOMBED Marines AMERICANS ARE MAKING BIGADVANCE | | Nearing Ca:pfle Gloucester Airbase-Target Hill Cap- tured and Now in Use | P% THIRTY-SEVEN JAP | PLANES SHOT DOWN, Aussies Ca;;tu—re Key Point -Also Barge and Supply Base ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD-| QUARTERS IN NEW GUINEA,| Dec. 29.—United States Marines in- vading Cape Gloucester, New Bri- tain, are within one mile and aj half from the big airdrome, Gen.\ Douglas MacArsthur announces. | Thirty seven Jap planes were, downed in heavy enemy raids on! the Sixth Army’s positions at Ar-| awe, 60 miles southeast of Cape, Gloucester. The eremy again attacked the outposts” there but were repulsed. (Continued on Page Two) The Washington: Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty.) ]\avv Yard at Bremerion, Wash., for repairs. arp phul(l from U Navy) WASHINGTON+OQur slow, yard- by-yard progress up the Italian peninsula is an excellent illustration of how bungling at home can yield a tragic harvest one year later at the front. In this case, the bungling was caused by Naval brass-hat jealous: over tank-landing barges. The Nav: insisted on designing its own land- | ing barge, despite the fact that An-“ drew Jackson Higgins had already designed one of the best in the world. As a result, valuable months were wasted in delay, and now the. shortage of barges is one of the greatest bottlenecks of the war. | This is no longer a secret, follow- | ing a navy request to Congress for! more than a billion dollars to build | additional landing barges of an! types to make a total of more v,han‘ 65,000. 1t also is no secret that the best means of invading a long, narrow peninsula is by a series of sea land- | IN MARSHAL[S ings which go around the enemy.| The Japs used these tactics agam:v.‘ the British on the Malay Penmsula and amazed the world by uktng Singapore in a few weeks. They d th tish by sea, 5 3 i e nem, wnite ¢ Raid |5 One of Heaviest Yei' D ] | WASHINGTON, Dec. 29. — Over; awaiting the enemy by land. |at FBL, in the indentification di-| Obviously, the Italian Peninsula Made' on ‘la'p Bases | vision, they're going in for the long- lends itself to the same sort of in Pacific [est work hours in the government. land-sea tactics. Instead, the Allies s o PEARL HARBOR, Dec. 29.—Heavy | Will get over-time for all hours over The reason, in view of the Nayy's bombers of the American Seventh | 40, but so far as I know this is the order for a tremendous number of Air Force dropped more than 50 longest authorized work week for landing barges, now given priority tons of bombs on Wotje Islet in ' non-executive employes in the fed- before everything else, is the short- | bomb off S now being rrp‘.\lred , her captain, Elmer (AP Wirephoto) explosion of a 1,000-pound Germa marked for patchin and ship Cerfa British had their trenches dug participate in a 60-hour week. They on, up the narrow peninsull landing behind them, while the | The boys and girls will voluntarily are advancing the hard way, head the Marshall Islands last Sunday, | eral Jists. Postoffice employes pro- age of barges. Barges crack up eas- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz an-|bably outstripped them during the ily and a large number also must JOUnCes. — | holiday season, but not perman- | be saved up fot the impending | The raid was one of the heaviest ' ently yet made on Japanesg bases in the | The manpower problem in the second front. The barge bottleneck dates ba to the landing-boat rivalry between the Navy's Bureau of Ships and Andrew Higgins, reported in this ck MS‘Sha“‘ |FBI. identification division where" Wotje is one of the enemy’s SiX | thoy have, among other things, some strongest points in the Marshalls, | {80 million fingerprints to check, has has an air base and good anchor- |y o "o o of the most acute. They lages. Six Zeros rose to intercept. | | column more ,than one year ago. gwo heavy bombers were iost. | were the first to employ high school students on a part-time basis. In the spring of 1943, a meeting, y4 j5 also announced that a low was held in the White House at ,)pjtuge attack had been made on | which the Bureau of Ships Was jayit atoll shipping on December, ordered to build a large supply of 26, The raid was made by Ventura tank-landing boats asquickly 'as hombers and Hellcat fighters of Air possible. Even before that, as early| Wing No. 2. All planes returned. as Aug. 4, 1941, the commander of | e the Atlantic Fleet had reported: ' “The importance of the !ollowmgwl (Continued on Page Four) Add to the double-troubles of pol- | itically minded members of the Ad- ministration the upcoming investi- |gations by the House committee on “executive department expenditures. Nearly one-tenth of Holland's Almost every investigation that population has been displaced as a happens in Washington these days result of the war, l)uu a potitical background and this | Ready to Storm Big Ja 'Umled Slales Desiroyer Makes Porl Minus SIern'IH REE NAZI | Her stern blewn off by a mine in the North Pacific, this unidentified destroyer made it to the Puget Sound Note the bulkheads which enabled the ship to remain afloat. Shlps FIoaIsWnIh 250 Holes These white spots on hull of Liberty ship Samuel Parker mark some of the 250 holes caused by nearby 50-Hour Week; Work Beauty Queen Gefs Honor 1 | | NAVALCRAFT SENT DOWN |British Sea Fleet, Air Force | ' in Engagement on Bay of Biscay LONDON, Dec. 29. — A brilliant |new victory in the British Navy's| | campaign to destroy the last effec-| ;tiye strength of the German fleet,| |is” the sinking in a combined war- {ship and air action of three Ger n\an‘ 'dtsllo}cls in the Bay of Biscay| and the crippling of other naval | craft of the enemy. ( This is announced in a commun- | ique only a few hours after the| publication of the full story of the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst. Full details of the Bay of Bmuv action is yet to be told but it is plainly a large scale enterprise and one which perhaps is still cuntinu-L ing. “Other details are awaited,” (day's communique says. It is assumed the German nawl‘ vessels may have been escorting an enemy convoy through the Bay of Biscay which lies west of France nud due north of Spain. . e o m a ' NEW DEAL JUNKED BY PRESIDENT Roosevelt Calls Fourth to- ' Resemary La Planche (above), who was Miss America in 1941, had- the new distinction to add to her laurels. A detachment of soldiers at a jungle outpost on the New Guinea front wrote they had picked her as “Miss Mosquito Junetion of 1943, claiming they were experts on both mosquitos and beauties. Miss La Planche is a Hollywood movie star- let. (AP Wirephoto) Led by Man, '(OMMANDERS Term Question Puer- | Alaska BormOF INVASION ile, Picayune | WASHINGTON, Dec. 20—Presi-' |, (ol. Webefw3551 Fronfl dent Roosevelt, hame. brushed aside as “picayune” the airect ques-| i (apture of Great Jap Position tion of whether he will run for fourth term, went on record yester- WITH U. S. MARINES ON CAPE GLOUCESTER, Dec. 20 The! LONDON, Dec. 20.—The overall day as favoring an expanded econ- Marines who stormed and captured |Allied High Command for the ap-| |Only One Appointment s Left o Complete New High Command </aup] J. Stull, said. The holes were omy and as against economic an® he told newsmen that he favored marget Hill, important Jdpdnegp proaching invasion of western Eur- Deal” cured the country’s internal Seattle, whose men met the first tons to commands in naval flnd Deal has had to call on his partner, > — Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, 69, external wounds from the bad ac- Mediterranean invasions, was named military isolationism after the war. In allegorical alliterative terms scrapping the term “New Deal,” be- | pesition, soon after the landing was lope was virtually completed tuduv cause he said “Old Doctor New led by Lt. Col. John E. Weber, of |with the appointments of two Bn- ills and the patient is all right now opposition but won out. Weber was | air forces which will operate undel internally, but that Old Doctor New, born in Valdez, Alaska, 33 years ago. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. !an orthopedic surgeon known as who planned the naval phase of the “Doctor Win The War” to heal the R E DS RETAKE linvasion of North Africa and other cident suffered at Pearl Harbor. ‘ as naval commander for the launch- The President said he thought it ing of the real second front. 2 H rather puerile politics to bring the Chief Air Marshal Trafford Leigh| In y I es matter up at all, but enumerated | Mallory, 51, head of the Royal Afr| |about 30 New Deal laws and policies | ‘For ce’s fighter command, was e and challenged critics to say which| ‘Immc'd to lead the aerial forces. is one that may be long and bitter- of them they would ignore if the| IN KIEv AREA These appointments followed those of Air Chief Marshal Sir Ar- ‘H\ux Tedder as Gen. Eisenhower's | patient got internal sickness again.| ! Then New York Herald Tribune| | writer Bert Andrews afiked “does |deputy commander-in-chief, and |gave Britain three top positions i ed in Fil’S' Week Of Still to be appointed is the com- : N d Laughter swept the President’s Conservative Washington obser- office and the chief executive red- {mander of the American ground Winter Offensive |rerc | ly fought. Social Security, the Federal Trade Commission and several other exe- cutive agencies already are on the list. vers are positive that one of the gdeped, then replied: most unXO_l'\unuW 'hmHS U?.at hu:s; “Oh, now that we are both talk- The President announced in happened in this war is the Patton!ing like that. Now you are getting Washington yesterday that Maj. episode.” The in which former|picayune, That's a grand word to | Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, leader of the attack on Tokyo, will command the LONDON, Dec. 29— Six days after| his troops regained the offensive, General Vatutin’s forces are storm-| tae\{::?th Arm{ men nt;wdhi)bptl;““:m,use. another word beginning with; in this area, have rushed to the de-'p__picayune. I know you won't |Eighth Air Force in Britain, and fense of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, min, ‘ : ing the outer defenses of Zhitomir| s » e SR Fia d my saying that, but I have to land Korosten,” strategic J""‘“o"ilr:::l:h: ml I:: E;gc«;.[;m.:m (,k:nh ! « a > the most skeptical. Mrs. Patton, too, | points on the Leningrad-Odessa 3 OF: 100 ARRRM RS- Sher in her brave statement that the! s ope: g general had made s mistake and| Dispatches from the front placed “'I‘l" Aidel’] S '(',“ Maditerpan- one spearhead of Vatutin’s First MH‘"““(‘:”WI‘;‘ ]“ ’:1". Sir Henry H ; S . 4 son, supreme com-, won lots of sympathizers. Some ob-| NEW YORK, D“ 20.—Closing | Ukrainian Army within 10 miles of ¥ com servers are convinced that oppon- quotation of Alaska Juneau mine Lieut. Gen, Devers, 4 “ { = G S i e evers, ('()mnmnd('l ents of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower stock today is 5%, American Can |Korostishev and Smolovka. Heavy 18 Bate ¢ of all U. S. forces in Britain, ha |field guns planted less than 20 miles 4 B ava f ot ihatie tha. clow's ‘dbs been named by the President to idea of embarrassing the general if monwealth and Southern 11 16, Cur- |aWay are softening Ui ¥ he was considered as successor to, tiss Wright 5%, International Har- fense works. th 3 ’ e Mediterranean as deputy Gen, George ©. Marshall as chief|vester 71%, Kennecott 30%, New| Other advance units smashed the| & (U FHFREAn 5 Geptiy M: Gen, T cam- Nevertheless, the incident mayl14%, United States Steel 58, Pound |tured Ziobichi, five miles southeast Al - Qen. Twining, wha - éugy have cost us ohe of our most efféc- VDR lof Korosten and Bakhi, an equal| | tive field generals. Unofficially, ‘tl Dow, Jones averages today are as |distance northeast. {chief of the Fifteenth Air in the Mediterranean area. Force Jr, has about convinced some of gay wmething like that.” SI” fi ouor‘rlo“s Railway, 80 miles west of Kiev. (named to command all Allied .m L \ undoubtedly was suffering for it ¢ | Zhitomir, after sweeping through mAnder in that theater now. pounced on the incident with the!83%, Bethlehem Steel 55'%, Com- command all American forces in of staff. York Central 15%; Northern Pacific | weakening enemy lines and cap- {manded U. 8. aircraft in the Sol- follows: Industrials, 134.64: rails, — lomons campaign, has been 3203; utilities, 21.50, “(Continued on Page Three) (Continued on F”lm‘ “Three) to, made’ p Airdrome CANADIANS WIN EIGHT DAY BATILE Orfona TakeTA—fler Violent { House-fo-House Fight- ing - Smash On ARFIELDS NEAR ROME ARE REPORTED BOMBED Fifth Armmgages Ger- mans in Full Scale At- tack, Eastern Coast A LLIED HEADQUARTERS IN ALGIERS, Dec. 29. — Canadian troops have captured Ortona after the most violent house to house battle in the Mediterranean cam- paign and have smashed along the coast in snow and sleet toward Rome's Adriatic port of Pescara. The Allled communique says the eight day “bitter struggle for Or- tona” is_over. Medium = bombers bombed the “airfields near Rome ‘and have pounded buildings and hangars in the dispersal areas Ciampion, south ogm Fome and accurately blast- ing Centocelle, west of Rome.” ! The German broadcast said Rome was bombed at noon yesterday and the Nazi controlled Paris radio as- serted “Allied bombs” fell near St. Peters basilica but there is no Al- lied confirmation from Rome itself that it was attacked. ” On the Fifth Army front, the Germans have launched a full scaie attack down the eastern coast from the town of Ponte di Garigliano near the mouth of the Garigliano River where the battle is still in progress. Farther inland, French Moroccan troops have captured the 3,000 foot mountain in heavy fighting. American troops have closed in on San Vittore on the vital road to Rome. | b AIRHEI.D - NEAR ROME PEPPERED W ild-Ey efles;ripiions Broadcast by Enemy Radio Stations LONDON, Dec. 29.—Allied dium bombers peppered the |fields near Rome yesterday and | Nazi propagandists sought to pie- ture the operation as an attack on the Capital City itself. The communique from the Allied Headquarters in Algiers confirmed the bombings earlier. Enemy radio stations went on the air with wild-eyed descriptions as to how “heavy bombs” shattered the outskirts of Rome causing dam- age and casualties in the residential quarters. The Paris radio broadcast the re- port that bombs fell on Garbatelln about one and one quarter miles east of Vatican City and close enough for the Pupe- to see the raid. PRESIDENT HAS - HEAD COLD TODAY; 15 IN QUARTERS WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—Presi- !dent Roosevelt has a head cold, Inucordmg to his personal physician Rear Admiral McIntyre, who suge gested he remain in the White House quarters. The President had |no appointments scheduled. me- air-