The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 9, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. XLIL, NO. 5971 “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” —r’ JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1944 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS FIGHT FOR ROME BEACHHEAD FIERCE Nimitz Says We Must Lick Japs Believed Fifth Largest quy GEMMILL - Mrs. MacArthur Sponsors Deslmyer B;Iaan NAVY CHIEF REPORTSON | MARSHALLS Says Occupation of Kwaja- lein Afoll Is Now | Completed PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUART-‘ ERS, PEARL HARBOR, Feb. 9.- Air and naval bombardment of the| . still unconquered Marshall Island: were resumed Sunday and Monday | with vital Jap bases as the target in the combined offensive action, Admiral Chester Nimitz reported at| a press conference upon from an inspection of Kwajalein | atoll. | Admiral Nimitz said all enemjy resistance has ceased on Kwajalein atoll and pations are completed.” Then, in an unusual statement,| Nimitz said: “In the last analysis I do not| believe we can defeat Japan from the sea along this simple strategy line of the Pacific war. | “The Japs can only be defeated from bases in China because the draw the food, iron and other sup: (Continued on Page Two) The "VI:;flin'gion: Merry - Go - Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on sctive duty.) | WASHINGTON—It never leaked: out of the recent Senate Republican | caucus, but Senator Chan Gurney | of South Dakota dropped a boom-| erang idea for corralling Republi- | can votes in the U. S. Army. 1 Fellow Republican Senators didn't | go for Gurney’s brain-storm, part-| ly because they thought it played' down the same alley as the Harri- son Spangler boner when he an- nounced that he had had a poll made by Army officers in England which he claimed showed they were against Roosevelt. | Gurney stood .up in caucus to warn Republicans that Democratic Senators on the Military Affairs Commiitee, among them Kilgore of West Virginia, Wallgren of Wash- ington, and Truman of Missouri, were determined to block the per- manent promotions of General Patton and General Somervell. Both generals have been severe- ly criticized, the first for slapping a sick soldier in a Sicilian hospital, the second for spending millions! of the American taxpayer’s dollars on the controversial pipe line through the' Arctic wastes from Canada to Alaska. Nevertheless, the Army has recommended both men for permanent promotion to the rank of major-general. In view of this, Democrati® mem- bers of the Military Affairs Com- mittee proposed that, because the Army tried to rush through pro- motions, all permanent promotions be held up until the war is over, when they can be scrutinized care- | fully, and those who really deservel reward can be promoted. | Gurney, after telling his Repub- lican coleagues about Democratic opposition to permanent promo- tions, said: “This is a real opportunity for the Republicans to win the sol- diers' vote, if we come out for it.| It calls for united action on thew| part of all Republican Senators. | And if we stick together, we can put through these promotions.” 1 Note — What Senator Gurney| didn't seem to appreciate, however, is that it’s the vote of the enlisted | men that really counts. And poli- tical sharps believe the men’s vote, is generally opposite to that of of-, ficers. | GRACIOUS LEO CROWLEY | One matter which long has wor- ried the British is agitation by’ (Continued on Page Four) return | “its capture and occu»i' [ £ i i A baby boy, weighing 18 ueunds George Esslinger of Knoxville, T 101 ounces, born to Mr - afid Mirs: of the State of Washington. He ) N was admitted to the bar in 1928 enn., was believed to be the fifth largest baby on record. Nurse Nell Hoskil det, holds the child in North Dakota, then moved to Ll ? . - Nurse Nell Hoskins, cadet, holds the chlld. |¢y.;atchee. and ‘began’ practice in (AP Wirephoto) CONFIRMED | * | | BY SENATE " |Will Assume Office of I United States Attorney | | on February 15 | \ { Lynn J. Gemmill has been con-| firmed by the United States Senate! /to be United States Attorney hr: |the First Judicial Division of Al-{ aska with his headquarters in Ju- | neau, according to an Associated! | Press dispatch received by the Em- | |pire. Gemmill will assume his new idu(irs February 15, next Tuvsdn\',} following his resignation, as Attor—( Iney for the OPA in Alaska. | Mr. Gemmill first came to Ju-| eau on June 27, 1940, as Assistant| {United States Attorney succeeding: George W. Folta resigned, joiningi the staff of William A. Holzheimer, ! "| igned, and whom he now suc-| {ceeds. Gemmill remained in Juneau inearly three years, then rcsigned’ and went south, returning again to! Juneau to become attorney for the OPA in Alaska. » | Gemmill was Prosecuting At- {torney of Chelan County, Wen-| atchee, Wash,, which pffice he re-E4IH destroyer “Bataan,” in a New Sout on her way (o the launc of sailor: signed when he came 'to Junedu m 1940. He had served as Deputy un- !der Samuel M. Dever, now Asso- ‘ciate Justice of the Supreme Court 1929, serving later as deputy prose- Battle of Ballofs For Batflers Just Political Football CONTRADICTS cutor of Chelan County, then Pros- ‘ecuting Attorney. | | SR S | | U.S.FLATTOP | Reporters Ask Pointed Question, then Roose- velt Gives His Reply WASHINGTON, Feb. 9. Presi- dent Roosevelt left the political door sufficiently ajar today for the fourth { term draft to blow through. ‘Miss Cheesecake’ - v #CHEESECAKE,” a newspaper term applying to a photo of the femqle form divine, finally wins :)mcl?l recognition. The American Soci- ety for Appreciation of Cheesecake, composed of camera fans, has se= lected Carmen Clifford as 1944 standard-bearer. ,(International) WALTER JONES HONORED Elks of Anchorage recently hon- ored Walter Jones, retired Alaska railroad resident engineer, by elect- ing him to an honorary life mem- bership. i In . |distribution and collection of bal- despite the fact she operated well TR | Answering straight to the point iat the opening of the conference | with the newsmen to the question as U. S. S. Ranger Reported fourtn serm nominacion.* the Fresi- Sunk But Sends Nazi BY JACK STINNETT | WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.—If ever a political football got a booting | around, it's the Soldiers’ Vote Act. |dent said he had no news on that Capitol Hill observers here still| | subject at this time think that Congress will do some- | Ships D0wn The reply was a stock answer used { thing about it. When the House repeatedly. elections committee recently repu-| — He said it was an old killer of | diated its committee chairman| wASHINGTON, Feb, 9, — The |Stories, but, politicians already are | (House s] sor of ti W versior fairly well agreed the ief Ex- ouse sponsor of the new version|ynjteq States Aircraft Carrier U. S hig! b | ecutive will run again. wered fictitious AXIS|™y¢ 4o 150ad by the newsmen that that it was torpedoed and | pe gig not rule out the possibility fsurtk by making & daring raid into| jice e did regarding the third term enemy waters off Norway to de-|when Roosevelt awarded the dunce j i oesting. I["l“oL i’_te'_’ th‘at 2 troy more than 40,000 tons of Ger-|caps to the reporte king the committee openly kicks its chair-iman shipping, the Navy disclosed | question if he would accept a third {of the Green-Lucas bill, providing|g ganger ans ‘nnliunu] machinery for participa-| i imc Ition in the service vote), it was an | &md)culmn of how bitter the row lots (by the Army, Navy and Mer- | Wwithin the range of German bomb- chant Marine) that would stand up]ers. lost only three of her own under the Constitution. And that planes. | the result would be a chaotic con-| Commander of the Ranger at {test of elections which it might|that time was Capt. Gordon Rowe |take the U. S. Supreme Court of Seattle. |man in the teeth. | today. e |clear picture of the situation Un-|guty in escorting convoys carrying|ness to receive pol questions. |less you dip into political spel;“lfi‘lplanes and pilots to the fighting| —_———.ee | tions. I doubt if you can find one|ronts during the invasion of Africa, | |deny that the men and women ‘“\emy-dominazed waters last Octo- | I 3 Nlppo" {our armed forces have a right 0|per six months after Hitler had| !"0“' {announced the troublesome carrier| |is publicly perfect agreement. Somel‘m'dndcl‘, for this feat. | | State’s Rights Congressmen, most-| Planes from the American flat- |ly from the South, see in the pro- top knocked off at least six enemy SENT DOWN |threat to state control of elections|men, a tanker and oil barge; dam- | provided by the Constitution. Oth- aged other shipping and shot down H H ers sincerely believe that it is im-“lwu enemy planes. Seventh Ame”(a" Rald IS |tee voting law, providing for federal tish task force at this time Made on Rabam—LUkam | ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWE PACIFIC, Feb. 9.—~The Wednesday communique re- | 1It's almost impossible to get a| pe Ranger, famous for Atlantic, The President displayed a wiliing- | member of Congress Wwho would | made its killing in the Norway en-| {had been sunk and had decorated | principle, therefore, there|Lieut. Otto Von Bulow, sub com- iposed federal government-ballot alvessels, including four merchant- possible to write a national absen-! She was operating with a Bri- Base Is Also Hit Hard ports 13 more Jap planes have been tors from Bougainville. | Adverse weather was encounter- An arrival here, S. J. Swanson is €d on the raid and this atmospheric air IS ARRIVAL HERE uniform. | The real ruckus three-way scrap between though is a Republi- ___at the Baranof. He is from Sp_‘mudiuon also limtied other attle, |actions in the southwest Pacific (Continued on Page Two) HONORING THE HEROES OF BATA, .. from Hoonah, are at the Gastir h Wales shipyard. Mrs hing. ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, Feb. 9.--The possibility that Major Raiph Cheli, one of this sector’s first re- cipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, is alive and a prisoner of s at Rabaul is seen in a Jap broadeast heard in Aus- tralia, which said he and two com- panions were held after their Mit- chell bomber was shot down over Wewak. Cheli, 24, a squadron leader, who was last seen going down in flames off Wewak, won the Congressional Medal for continuing to lead the planes over Wewalk although his plane was hit and afire. He could have parachuted to safety, but the plane was seen to ash into the sea. FRANCEIS BEINGHI, DAY TIME jU. S. Maralidéfs Pounding | Aflantic Wall-Other ! Aftacks Reported | LONDON, Feb. 9.—United States { Marauders roared back over North- lern France today and pounded the | installati | German wall Atlantic han 24 hours. At the Royal Air bomb- swung same time Force medium light fighter ers, in daylight formations, out on their raids | Last night RAF bombers struck objectives in Germany and France including the Rhone Aircraft en- |gine factory at Limoges without a !loss. |months or years to straighten out.[ The Ranger’s most crushing blow downed and 10 probably destroyed Nineteen German ‘Ill's\lles were | But from there on the fight over probably was delivered during the I the seventh American raid on downed in yesterday's Fortresses the soldiers vote is purely and|North Africa invasion when as the Rabaul, New Britain, in the past gumk on Frankfurt, the third raid | simply . political. Some of the more | flagship for Rear Admiral E. D, Wine days in eleven days. Allied lo: yester- flagrant opportunists, for example, McWhether, her flyers dropped The Jap's principal fighter base day were 12 heavy bombers are willing to sponsor or vote for more than 48 tons of bombs during 8¢ Lukunai was again the main The Paris radio went off the air |anything, so long as it appears that |60 missions, target hit with 124 tons of bombs this afternoon indicating an ate they are fronting for the boys in| - S — dropped by Mitchells and lec-l‘a«ll“i'k 1s being made on that area. e FROM HOONAH James Harvey, here au | Hotel, Ifor the third time in a little more t —the epic stand made by American and Filipino troops in the Philippines—Mrs. Douglas MacArthur, wife of General MacArthur, recently christened the new Australidn MacArthur is pictured walking through a lane TERM (Cong.Medal RUSSTROOPS TALK PUT Winner May ' CLOSING ON UPDIRECT Be Prisoner KRIVOI ROG Manganesé Center Nex Objective After Dniep- er Bend Victory MOSCOW, Feb. 9.—~Russian troops closed in on the iron center of Krivoi Rog from three sides, and also advanced in the direction of the Black Sea ports of Kherson and Nikolaev, after breaking the long tenacious German defense in the Dnieper bend at Nikopol. Hitler at Krivoi Rog may have r peated the most characteristic mis- take the Germans have made in reating. They lost 15,000 men dead and enormous stores of booty at Nikopol, which is a major source of manganese, essential to the hard- (ening of German steel. The Nazis have large numbers of infantry, tanks and artillery at Krivol Rog, but there is no sign of withdrawal despite the threat of almost certain encir¢lement, the Red Star said. Ten encircled German divisions near Cherkasy are being exterm- inated. Spring has arrived in the | Dnieper bend after one of the most ! phenomenally short and mild win- !ters in a generation, The roads are | quagmires of sticky mud. ! et Chinese Exclusion Is Now Ended; FDR Signs Proclamation WASHINGTON, Feb. 9-Presi- dent Roosevelt has signed the pro- clamation ending the Chinese Ex-! clusion Act and fixing the Chinese quota at 105 per year AXIS DEFEATED BY YUGOSLAVS LONDON, Feb. 9. Yugoslav Partisans inflicted a “devastating defeal “on the Axis troops near the town of Gacko, 45 miles south of Sarajevo, according ique broadecast by the Yugoslay Army of Liberation -re - HERE FROM SITKA Registered from Sitka, Louis ¢ Tokyo, and 5 am Schagenberg is at the Baranof. to a commun-! From China U. S. PLANES KEY BASTION vlondon ReTm?fs Violent Allied Offensive af * Ca;sino | By Associated Press United States planes poured tons of bombs yesterday on Cisterna, ,main strongpoint of the Nazi line jaround the invasion bridgehead be- low Rome as Allied troops struck out in “aggressive patrol activity” and consolidated positions. .| German patrols were also active in this vital sector, and German artillery continued the heavy shell- ing of the American beachhead. Mitchell bombers carried out both morning and afternoon raids, pound- ing the buildings of Cisterna where the enemy has concealed tanks, guns and other equipment, Returning fliers said the bombs leveled a large part of the town, which is 15 miles northeast of Anzio. | Meanwhile, today's Nazi com- munique said the Nazis have ad- vanced several miles in the bridge- head area, capturing 700 prisoners and repulsing “strong enemy count- erattacks, supported by tanks and naval artillery.” At the same time, a dispatch to Stockholm from Berlin said the ' HIT GERMAN ship graveyard.” The Americans are battling into Cassino on the main front and have captured about one-fourth of the city, the doughboys at one time fighting within 75 yards of Bene- (dictine Abbey on-Mt. Gassino. ! From London came a report that the Fifth Army is attacking vio- lently on the Cassino front, hurling 130,000 men and 400 tanks strongly supported by artillery fire in an | effort to relieve the pressure on the JAP PLANE " PRODUCTION NOW LARGE i A ‘Estimated 1200 or More | Constructed Monthly- i Defensive Type WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.—An esti- mate that Jap factories are turning out aircraft at the rate of 1200 or more a month came today from high quarters, coupled with reports that the Japs, like the Germans, are concentrating significantly on , defensive types. ‘This report of Nipponese produc- tlon is about 100 per cent higher | than most guesses made since Pearl | Harbor and goes far to explain the enemy's apparent ability to keep re~ iplncmg the heavy losses and indi- | cates the reserve planes have not been lessened appreciably. In a little more than a month, (January 1 to February 6, the Japs |have lost more than 700 planes in {the Pacific zone and more than \ 200 destroyed on the ground. ;Time in Marshalls | IsOne Day Ahead By Associated Press American soldiers and marines fighting in the Marshall islands are on the other side of the inter- national date line, so they're a day ahead of the Calendar for the United States. When it’s noon, Pacific war time, Wednesday on the Pacific coast (the (standard) time is 8 am. Thursday in the Marshalls, 7 a.m. |at Sydney, Australia; 6 am. in in Manila and China. S