The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 15, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. XLIL, NO. 9601. GERMAN FORTRESS TOWN WIPED “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1944 1 PRICE TEN CENT$ MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS OUT 33 Jap Planes Shot Down; Convoy Destroyed In Wake of Hels‘in.ki»_ B’ombvil}g\_ ALLIED AIR FORCEMAKE BIG ATTACK| Sweep Over Jap Targelsin Wide Section in 48- Hour Campaign ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC,| March 15—The Allied Air Force downed 31 enemy planes, destroyed | a three-ship convoy and a num- ber of smaller craft and barges in| 8 widespread attacks on Jap targets from Hollandia, New Guinea, to Rabaul in 48 hours ending Mon-i day, according to the official com- munique. Speedy Navy patrol boats | increased the plane total to 33, headquarters also announces. A heavy attack on Wewak Sun- day by the Fifth Air Force deliv- | ered 110 tons of hombs and down-| ed 18 interceptors against a losal (Continued on Page Two) The Washington| Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col.” Robert 8. Allen mow on active seryice with the Army.) t ! WASHINGTON—A situation has| existed inside North American Aviation plant at Dallas, Texas,| which has caused the Army to| make a careful inspection. The| North American company, in its Newspapers acclaimed a pretty 42- anxiety to push out planes in a year-cld Italian wi hurry, is reported to have relaxed ther its standards at the Dallas plant.\months ago but kept a secret be- As a result, there has been a battle cause she remembered “how crowds between the company and plane in- 'mobbed the Dionne home in Can-| Other spectors, with the latter determined aqa to keep defective planes from reach-v ing the Army. investigators, no defective planes have reached the men flying at ai.o.- the front. i However, one chief inspector em- ployed by the North American com- | pany resigned in disgust after reg- istering vigorous protests. i The inspector is Verne T. Irons of Irving, Texas, who, after ten years' flying experience with TWA and the 4-engine pilot-training school at Albuquerque, joined the ) | Diligenti, So far, according to the Army ,..,cher | Paramushiro Raid ! workers LONDON IS BLASTED BY NAZI BOMBS | Pre-midnidiflflack Mader‘ — Fires Started - Prop- erty Damage large LONDON, March toiled through smoking in search of dead or itself out ruins today injured as London dug ‘lafter a fierce pre-midnight fire fol- | tensity as a big lewing an air raid of unri d in- made and at least 41,000 incendiar- ies and high explosive bombs were | showered on the city. Aboard the flagship of a U. S. Navy task force which bombarded Para- mushiro, Japan’s large naval base in the northern Kuriles, early in February are, left to right: Maj. Gen. Davenport Johnson, Commander, 11th Army Air Force, based in Alaska; Rear Admiral Wilder D. Baker, task force commander, and Brig. Gen. E. D. Post, Chiei of Staff, Army Alaska Department. The two Army officers were observers. (AP Wirephoto) Quints, 3 Girls, 2 Boys, Born fo Prefly lalian Woman; All Healthy N. H. ELECTS BUENOS AIRES, March 15. —| The Society Editor of the English | | Language Buenos Herald | oman as the mo-| % 3 Aiita born eight broke the story. She visited the Aires of quintuplets, | mother and saw the quints, all in }mbust health. reporters rushing to the Diligenti home, were kept out by The mother is the wife of Franco |the father who promised photo- a moderately wealthy |graphs later and then displayed a / | picture of three girls and two boys, shouting: “Look gentlemen, a full house.” Diplomatic Viclory For Allies If Finns The couple have three other The attack was a short one, but concentrated. Fires were touched off in many| ¢ sections and extensive damage was J . 1 k| done to two of the Capital's best known business and residential sec- tions. Bombs . also dropped on scattered points east of Anglica and in south west England causing both casual- Ities and heavy property damage. The total raiding force is estimat- ed at from 150 to 200 German planes but how many of these reached London is not anounced. At least 13 raiders weré shot down heavy ‘bombs” were unloaded. e CONVENTION DELEGATES Incomplete Returns Indi- cate Battle Between Willkie and FDR MANCHESTER, N. H.,, March 15. —New Hampshire voters, the first in the nation to select their national cenvention delegates, chose a Re- publican slate including a four to three leaning toward Wendell 15. — Rescue|" | German attack was It is believed that some ‘‘super- L.} .Willkie, and an unopposed Demo- | | cratic slate pledged to a fourth term | CASSINO 1S " BYBOMBERS ' Most Terrific, Concentrated Air Attack of War Levels Town BULLETIN—ALLIED HEAD- IN NAPLES, | | 3 J ‘ 3 B8 Lo . 5 | QUARTERS . e | March 15—Tanks and Dough- | boys moved tonight into the | heart of the rubbled torn town ‘ of Cassino and found a pile of | smoking ruins. It is impossible “ to see how there could be a | living thing left there, so ter- | rific was the bombing from the | air and the three hour artillery | shower of shells. B ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN |NAPLES, March 15.—The Allled air |power ‘ has devastated Cassino in the greatest concentrated bombing attack in history and ground forces immediately charged in on a drive on Germany’s rubble fortress town. More than 1,400 tons of bombs were hurled on the target area, less than one square mile, by every type of Allied plane, during 3,000 sorties. The first reconnaissance photo- graphs showed Cassino levelled, a goal of destruction. ... Cassina 15 where the have been blocking the main Fifth |Army advance since early in Jan- uary. The town is on the main {highway to Rome, 75 miles south- cast of the Itallan Capital city and |60 miles east of the Anzio beach- | head. it shows the “ruined Technical AP Wirephoto from Stockholm) STEEL RING | el T TRAPS NAZIS L U N | IN UKRAINE |4 : Sl B | Ten Thousand Germans & Killed Attempting fo Escape South Russia The caption accompanying this photo supplied by a Swedish agency s ! Universtiy” at Helsinki, Finland, after a recent Sun day Russian air raid. ( " Young Hero Asks Ma | Heavy Artillery Barrage | British and American artillery | smashed out a heavy barrage after the morning long bombing stopped. Lt. Gen, Eaker flew every plane {in his Mediterranean Allied Air |Force in the gigantic blow to smash |the German grip. The planes start- ed in shortly after daylight and continued pounding the town until noon. Allied troops, who had been hold- | | | | MOSCOW, March 15—Red Army, | troops are liquidating several trap- i { # e 1g about one third of the city ped Nazi divisions in the wumem‘wnhdrew quietly during the night Ukraine, - dispatches said, in the! i 4 ; | smash, nlong the Black Sea const, © &Y€ the, bombers & free DADS 1 s 1 +# in the great and terrific bomb blow. | g 7 ® and closed the harbor of Nikolaev, Giras Boshat Wincd: Out | { lleaving Odessa the only large port| 0 "5 oy ead oors < aits | e i ! ‘L:: l?;“g:_:i;flg:'“‘“ S sualienie wiped out a German pocket of re- Ten thousand Germans have been | *1o 1% g:frm:fl“";:e:m:’:“m killed and 4,000 captured already, Raina . Aherk Ehb . Diariami ST “Germans North American plant af Dallas in August, 1942. In December, 1942, for President Roosevelt. {the Soviet communique said, in month launched some of their fier- he was given the title of superin- Withdraw from War Incomplete returns indicated, with about 70 percent of the returns tabu- Captain Donald F. de Camp, decorated veteran of 25 bombing mis- ;nymg to break out of the trap Malinovsky’s cest attacks against the Allied lines. ‘Third sions, is only 20 and had to take his mother with him when he applicd | sprung by | The attack was launched by British lated, what is considered a test of | for a license to marry Betty Vil x Smith, shown with him here at | Ukrainiah Army. troops and last reports they were tendent of B flight tests and chiet test pilot. | In the early part of 1943, the first B-24s produced at Dallas began to come off the assembly line. In a land’s sworn affidavit, Irons has stated Would be a that the first plane was produced lomatic victory in fast time and efficiently. But,|Would mean: he continued, “the records will re-; 1. The 70,000 to 100,000 Russian veal it was several weeks before soldiers now believed tied down airplane No. 2 was completed for along the Finnish border could be flight. Succeeding planes grew added to the Soviet troops battling worse, due to poof workmanship, the Nazis in Poland and the Baltic incompetent supervision and lack |states. If Hitler chose to make of inspection.” |Finland a battleground as he did Italy he would likely be forced to WRONG RIVETS USED |sena additional ~ troops into the “On airplane No. 4,” Irons stated, country and weaken his forces useveral thousand Tivets of the elsewhere. » wrong type were used in the main! 2. Pressure would be taken off center section of the airplane_iRussm‘s Arctic port of Murmansk through lack of competent inspec-‘and the Nazis might lose air bases tion. This was not discovered until from which they have pounded at the center section was prnclically!lend—lease shipments going to the complete. These rivets were re- Soviet. The threat to Leningrad moved and replaced. In this opera- | from the north would also end. tion, the center section was twisted; 3. The Russian Baltic fleet could several inches out of alignment. range into the Guif of Finland and Every time this condition was men-[the Baltic sea to hit Nazi installa- tioned to the top supervisory and tions in-Estonia, Latvia and Lith- management officials, they would‘uama, without danger of attack immediately inform me to shut up|from bases on the Finnish shores. and say nothing. | 4. Hitler would lose raw mater- “In my position as chief test jgjs he vitally needs. Finland pro- pilot, I was forced to fly this ah‘-’[duces about five percent of the plane against my better judgment.|yorld’s nickel —used for armor — Immediately upon taking off, the and has a large output of copper airplane started a vicious roll, and|ywhich has been a boon to German only hwi'.h the help of the co-pilot electrical industries. on the controls did we avert dis- v i = 5. Pinland’s quitting would open aster. The airplane was returned ;. nelq Nazi garrisons in nor- to the field, end I immediately ipery Norway to Russian attack. contacted Mr. D. M. Smeton, Gen- p 5 3 . Don’! e e He e oot Wi SR abmmlmmnher blow at Hitler's falling (Continued on Page Four) metlge, WASHINGTON, March 15—Fin- withdrawal from the war great military and dip- for the Allies. It STORMY VOTE 'BILL PASSED About 46 miles northeast of Nik- jlaev in the Bereznegovati Sniger- evka area, coiumns are driving in from the north and south, and have forged a ring of steel around the Nazis. | Other Red Army troops pushed |18 miles beyond captured Kherson| jand cut the German's escape line | through Nikolaev harbor into the Black Sea, and captured Shirokaya ' the Des Moines, Iowa, license bureau. (AP Wirephoto) OPA’s Black Mark Blues Being Sung; the convention strergth betwr(-nj i Willkie and Gov. Thomas A. Dewey. | | Voters at yesterday's primary ap- | | parently elected a seven-man slate |of delegates-at-large, four of whom | | favored Willkie. One of the four,| | National Committeeman Robert | Burroughs, said in his statement that Willkie has scored a “notable victory.” He explained that under ef o delegates to any given candidate still mopping up in the enemy area. ‘The Allled offensive south of Carroceto came as bright sunshine replaced the raw weather but the ground is still soggy. — e — — JOE EASTMAN i BY (o“GRESSfNew Hampshire's primary law, the { | | {Compromise Measure Is: ' Now Up fo President | | A | - -May Not Sign | | WASHINGTON, March 15.—Con- | | gress completed action on the stormy i | service vote issue when the House | voted 273 to 111 and adopted the' {bill which compromised the differ- | | ences between the House and Senate, | and relayed it to the President. ! President Roosevelt has not said | whether he will sign thle legislation | which places emphasis on State | control over balloting by the armed forces in the general election. i I — i | Harbor at Anchorage 'May Be Surveyedi WASHINGTON, March 15.~Del-| gineers to survey Anchorage harbor to determine the adequacy of - har- bor facilities. | ) must continue to vote for him as |long as the candidate’s name is kept | before the convention. For that reason, Burroughs said, Willkie has agreed not to put the formally pledged slate in the field, but would rather his supporters would run unpledged. S gt £ VOLCANO IN WESTALASKA IS ERUPTING KODIAK, Alaska, March 15— Eruption of Veniaminoff, rumbling out fire that lighted the surround- ing countryside, is reported on the By JACK NNETT WASHINGTON, March 15.—The Office of Price Administration has the black market miseries. Fear of the spread of tnis kind of wartime racketeering colors almost every de- | cision OPA makes. Few realize it, but not since the days of bootlegging has racketeer- ing been so widespread as it is today |for this is none other than FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Although careful to point out that {actually were fewer crimes reported | {in the United States last year than | previously, Hoover emphasizes that the types of crime are ghanging. Gangs are on the upswing for the |first time since repeal, and the ordinarily law-abiding public is co- operating with them. Both Hoover in the black markets. The authority | there | Investigations Made vestigators—not even an average of one a ceunty—it investigated 650,000 cases of alleged viclations last year. The No. 1 black market headache is, of course, gasoline. Last year almost half .of the black market | convictions were for illegal dealings in gasoline or gas ration coupons. OPA estimates that almost 2,500,000 gallons a day are being moved by black marketeers and that if the racket could be stopped, every driv- er in the United States would have enough gas to travel 45 additional | miles a month. | But Hoover warns that the liquor | black market may surpass all others unless the trend can be curbed. The lold gang methods of highjacking | liquor stores by the truckload; rob- | bing warehouses; and selling cut and | bootleg liguor at exorbitant prices, arrival of a boat here from Chignik ,nd QPA Director Chester Bowles | are with us again. . Even speakeasies village, 12 miles from the volcano and 275 miles from Kodiak. by the boat from Chignik had con- tinued for three days, ashes falling steadily. | point out that black markets couldn’t |exist without cooperation of the egate Dimond has introduced a re- | The eruption is the first since|public. solution authorizing the Army En- 1939 and according to reports made; | Bowles’ report on the black market activities last year is revealing. Al- though OPA has less than 3,000 in- are back in some sections, but now |they are called “cheat joints.” | Authorities believe that only the ra- tioning of sugar and the difficulty in obtaining metals for stills has pre- | (Continued on Page Two) . |Balka, 28 miles southeast of Nik-| |olaev. and less than 10 miles from | {the mouth of the southern Bug | River. | Soviet guns now control the exit from Nikolaev, and the Red Army also closed Nikolaev from the north, capturing Kiselevka, which is 21 miles east. PASSES AWAY Director of Defense Trans- -y for 25 Years, Is Dead MAYOR DEle WASHINGTON, March 15.—Jos- fense Transportation and a member - lof the Interstate Commerce Com- pital today after a month’s illness. Attending physicians said Eastman's SEATTLE, March 15 Maym-}co,«m.,—y occlusion. William F. Devin, 45, attorney, was| Temporarily, his deputy. Brig. at yesterda) municipal election. | charge of running the nation's war- He defeated James Scavotto. | time transportation system. backing of Dave Beck, Seattle’s, man to the ICC when he was 36. powerful teamster Union leader. | N P and Alfred Rochester were elected Ray Peterman, Sitka contractor, to the city council. is a guest at the Gastineau Hotel. i R | JOHNSTON HERE Here from Sitka, P. J. Johnston portation, ICC Member eph Eastman, 61, Director of De- 5 mission for 35 years, died in a hos- 1 'death was sudden, resulting from reelected Mayor for a second term|Gen. Charles Young, will be in Scavotto anounced he had the| Woodrow Wilson appointed East- Mrs. F. F. Powell, John Carroll PETERMAN FROM SITKA B — - eee Arriving from Wrangells Charles is at the Gastineau Hotel. S. Jenkins and Raymond Lewis are at the Baranof,