The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 16, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLI., NO. 9602. JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, MARC H 16, 1944 ~ MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRIC[: TEN CENTS 5TH ARMY ENTERS DEVASTATED CASSINO U.S. Bombers Hit South Germany Targets YANKS GIVE ‘HOME TOUCH’ TO FORMER JAP ISLAND !GHOS]‘ (|'|'Y HARD BLOWS ARE STRUCK IN DAYLIGHT Terrific Sme;fidade by Air | Force in Two Days of Aerial Invasion LONDON, March 16. — Bearing dowr on southern Germany in great strength, United States heavy bombers struck another hard blow | in quick sequence to the record night attack of the RAF which hlt‘ Stuttgart, Munich and other tar-| gets with more than 1,000 four-en- gined bombers carrying over 3,360 tons of bombs. It is the strategic Air Force's second aerial invasion of Germany in as many days. The first detailed accounts cf the smash came over the German! radio, which said widespread falls of snow and cloud conditions caused great difficulties in getting the fighters off the ground to meet the onslaught. Nevertheless, German reports said fierce air battles took place along| the bombers’ course over eastern, France and western Germany. | Similar radio accounts yesterdey, however, dwindled off into empha- | sis on the cloudy weather, and 1t developed that only a small defen- sive force was able to meet the challenge when the Americans bombed the aircraft production cen- ter at Brunswick with the lo: three heavy planes. i Today’s sally is officially describ- | ed as in “great strength” in con-| trast to yesterday's medium force | whose fighters downed 36 enemy fighters. The bombers yesterday claimed none. AUGSBURG 1S ONE TARGET HITTODAY LONDON, March 16.—Augsburg, a south German aircraft factory, iny the center of Ulm, was among the targets of today’s American heavy raids, the Berlin radio announced | this afternoon. 1 . STEWART IS COMMANDER, BIG ATTACK } U. 8. BOMBER 'BASE IN BRIT- | AIN, March 16.—Major James Stew- | art is starring in a new role. The | former actor led all the Liberators yesterday in the Brunswick raid. Fellow airmen said that his se- | lection as commander of such a| large force testified to his ability. | — oo SENATE GOPERS ELECT OFFICERS WASHINGTON, March 16.—Re- publican members of the Senate have ratified unanimously the pres- | ent setup of officers organized as a ! steering committee with Sen. Taft at the helm; Senator White retained as Acting Leader in the place of | the late Sen. McNary; Senator Van- derberg, Acting Conferencé Crair-| man; Senator Wherry as Whip, and | Senator Burton, Conference Secre- | tary . All officers are only for the | present session of Congress which\ ends in January. —————————— Passenger traffic on American railroads was almost four times as at the session which is scheduled | great in 1943 as in- 1939, | THE LONG AND SHORT OF THE ARMY PVT. JIM KRUMTINGER of Kewanee, Ill., emphasizes his six-foot, seven- inch height by leaning on a jeep and posing with WAC Pvt. Alice Dash, who stands only four feet, ten inches in her G.I. shoes. Both are sta- tioned at the anti-aircraft school at Camp Davis, N C. (Intermztlanal) Two Speculahons Ofimporfance Now In Politial Whirl $72 500 Kiss BY BIDDING $72,500 at a Chicago ‘War Bond auction, Albert Cassel, cigar dealer, got a kiss from Talia_ Wermuth, above, beautiful night club dancer and sister of Capt. Arthur Wermuth, the *“one-man Army” of Bataan. The auction was held at a dinner which cost a minimum $1,000 to attend, and raised total , subscriptions of 115,383,000, © (International) LAST (ITY COUNCIL MEETING, PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. With Mayor Harry I. Lucas; re- | cently returned from Washington, 'taking over permanent chairman- | By JACK STINNETT . WASHINGTON, March 16. — The | | political wheel is really rolling here ? | now. Almost everything that hap- | pens is being interpreted in terms of its effect on the national elec- | tions. Two important speculations re- cently are: (1) Whether Vice-President Hen- ry A. Wallace has hurt or improved his chances for renomination by his |, { recent speech-making swing around | the country. | (2) Whether House - Minority | Leader Rep. “Joe” Martin will give the nod to those many Republicans who are urging that he accept permanent chairmanship of the Re- publican National Convention at | Chicago in July. Observers here are pretty confused and confusing about Wallace's | chances, but broadly there are two | schools of thought. One holds that ‘second place on the Democratic ticket is unimportant and that no i matter what Wallace says or does, {as long as he continues loyal to the | President and Administration poli- cles. the President won’t dump him, {Some members of this school feel | Wallace would be just as important |a running mate as any one else and {that while President Roosevelt| !makes his appeal to conservatism |and a simple win-the-war-and-the- | peace program, Wallace would hold in line the party’s “liberals” and {left-wing New Dealers. “ The second school feels Wallace already has been tossed overboard ’and that his recent speeches are .merely efforts to keep afloat. | Wallace's statement at his press ! conference the other day, that his irenomination “is in the lap of the | gods” certainly is an indication that |he hasn't given up hope of again | being on the Democratic ticket. has been taken also as a clue that | he hasn’t been given any hint as to | whether he will be. Probably no decision has been made about a vice-presidential can- didate and won't be until after the | Republican convention. The importance of Martin’s again | D. C., presiding at the City Council ship of the Repubican convention tomorrow night, the last meeting of | Shouldn't be underestimated. A the present administration will |held in the Council Chambers of the City Hall. A ipermanent chairman with a know- |ledge of convention strategy and _parlmmentary rules can throw an ;awful lot of weight into convention Routine business will be discussed | gecisions. Furthermore, the selection to begin at 8 o'clock. (Continued ,on Page Two) It EXTRA = TRUKRAIDED | BY BOMBERS {Airdrome, | Ammunition Storage Areas Are Hit 1 WASHINGTON, March 16.— | Army bombers attacked Truk | shortly before dawn yesterday, hitting airdromes, installations and ammunition storage areas on two islands at the big Jap naval base. The Navy said explosions and fires resulted. The attack was carried out under heavy anti-aircraft fire with only one of our planes be- All planes returned to the base | at the same time the Navy an- | nounced New attacks by Army and Marine planes were made on other Jap bases in the Mid- | Pacific area, including assaults | which brought hits on ammuni- | | tion storage areas and a radio | station on one unidentified en- | emy base in the eastern Marshall Islands. ————— 1 RED TROOPS DRAW NEAR BESSARABIA ‘Two Soviet Dnves Making Speedy Progress fo | | Odessa, Nikolaey | MOSCOW, March 16.—The whole! central sector of the German front| jin southern Russia appeared in a [0 I state of collapse, the Russians said, | |as Marshal Konev's Second Ukraine | | Army drove relentlessly toward Ru- | mania, advance units of his troops reaching positions less than a 'hun-| dred miles from the frontier. | The Rumanian frontier, as defin-| ed by Moscow, is the border set up in 1940 after Russia annexed | | Bessarabia. Actually, according to, [official Russian reports, Soviet ad- | vance Red Army troops are within| 30 miles of the Bassarabian border. { Field dispatches said two great| | Soviet drives are making sp('ed progress toward Nikolaev and Odeb-' sa, and the Germans are falling back in confusion to these poten-, tial evacuation ports. Some Rus- sian units are reported about 100| miles north of Odessa, while Nik- {olaev is virtually cut off from the! Black Sea by Russian big guns cov- ering Bug Lake below the city. The Germans are apparently in | danger of losing the most northers of the two remaining railways in| their hands which run back info| | Bassarabia from Slobodzeya. On the | Odessa-Lwow line, the Soviet re-| ports say, their troops are only | miles north of the junction. 20} VAPNYARKA CAPTURED | LONDON, March 16.—In a spec-| ial order of the day, Stalin tonight! announced the Red Army troops| have captured Vapnyarka, cutunu! the Lwow-Odessa railroad. A vig-| orous attack by tank and mranuy, formations ‘smashed the railroad | junction, 25 miles east of the Bes- sarabian border. This cut the "most | important link” between the Black Sea port of Odessa, leading north- ward through Zhmerinka and carv- ed a new gap n the German's es- Lcape route in the lower Ukraine. OFU.S. ARMY In sl allaiions, ‘ | | ing hit. t g e P FUTURE PILOTS—yudy Medin (left) and Lollic Noon, 19-year-old Minneapolis native look over a ground trainer at Los Angeles as they start pre-flight training to become Army Ferry pilots. This trainer runs only on ground, Zfiéad 1 Hospllalued ’ As Result of Stabbing Affray af Fairbanks FAIRBANKS, Alaska, March 16— soldier. Two victims of last Monday night’s All four were stabbed in th stabbing, aftermath of a drinking abdr,mrn with a hunting knife. party in a cabin, died overnight and | Police Chief George Norton said 49, by farmer, City a the James H. Cox, {been arrested and held charge committed prior to the deaths. The dead are Willard McCann, 47, brother of Mrs. Gertrude of San Francisco, and Ivan, 46, restaurant worker. Two others in the hospital are today and the Grand Jury convenesito violate the wartime esplonage Valley south of Pelle rested him James C.|clothes were mostly has the four intervened in a fight be-| Pohce‘leeen Cox and a native girl who in the Federal jail on rebuffed his attentions | 184,000 bond on an assault The police w called by a na- tive boy and they followed Cox ii a car for several blocks, then ar and the girl, whose torn off, An inquest on the dead convenes! John P. Harth and an unidentified Monday. TERRITORIES ARELEFT OUT “HOLLYWOOD AND VINE” looks a bit out of 'plare on the former an held island <f Namur, but it suits Corp. R. A. Newton, Portland, Ore.. and Ensign H. L Grostkk Gxand Rapids, Mich. (Inltnlalldlll/) ALLIESDOWN ' YANK PLANES - OVER SICILY Tragic Mistake Made - 20 i Transport Destroyed | with 360 Men SAN FRANCISCO, March | Twenty United States Army trans- | port planes were downed by Allied| janti-aircraft fire when they came; | within rdnge immediately after the (;vxmm\ bombing attacks on Siclly, NSut. Jack Felisie, correspondent for| | n ithe Stars and Stripes disclosed |addressing the Commonwealth Club| yesterday. The Army approved the speech. Ik s “as near perfect a campaign could be wished but for the un- | fortunate incident randports with 18 men in each ollowing in the wake of the Ger- man bombers, were knocked down |by Allied gunfire.” CONFIRMED BY STIMSON WASHINGTON, March 16—War 16.—| \ Foisie said the Sicilian lnvaslon‘ when 20 C-47| IN HANDS OF ALLIES NOW Resistance Continues Until ! Adillery Hammers Germans in Hills ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NAPLES, Maich 16.—Covered by a thunderous artillery barrage, the Fifth Army infantry and tanks plunged into the ghost city of Cas- sino but Allied Headquarters said this edvance by continuing German resistance from the ruins left by | yesterday’s record aerial bombard- {ment and enormous destruction | wrought by the weight of some 2,500 tons of bombe, actually delayed the Allied armored forces. Frcm the surrounding hills the Germans started laying down a heavy mortar fire to hinder the sappers struggling to clear the de- bris. Late this afternoon progress is reported however, both in the de- vastated city and in the hills to the northwest as troops drove over piles of wildly churned rubble left in history’s most concentrated air attack. | Several hundred British and Am- erican artillery pieces are pounding the enemy in the Cassino sector and | ather targets.are also under bomb- |ardment. | Allied Air forces took a crack last [night and early today at railway and other targets in Sofia, Capital {of Bulgaria. Heavy and medium bombers at- |tacked successfully on the beach- |head below Rome. Allled ground | | | | forces are also on the move, taking two German defense points and {holding them aBainst forceful en- |emy counter-attacks. Lt. Gen. Eaker, Commander of |the Mediterranean Allied Atr Forces [called the Cassino bombardment a | “fumigation” and expressed belief |a few enemy defenses are left in- tact. - - LARGE FIRES STARTED BY . WEWAKRAID |Base Supplm Madang Is Secretary Henry L. Stimson ack- i Rfl H nowledged instances in the war of| Heavfly 'ded-hgm American forces mistaking their own planes and shooting them Jap Planes Downed down. He said they occurred “in the fury and confusion of night op-| eration; and commented he didn't lewmi/v the figures mentioned by | Fosie. - 'DETROIT DOCTOR IS STENTENCED T0 16 YEARS, PRISON { DETROIT, March 16. — |Judge Edward Moinet tenced Dr. Fred Thomas, Detroit | obstetrician, convicted of conspiracy |act, to 16 years in a Federal Prison. Dr. Thomas is one of eight persons | distribution and collection of ballots | |indicted on charges of espionage [if the Territories established ab- |And conspiracy, convicted two weeks sentee voting ems for election of their of{umls IN VOTE BILL Past Noble Grands WASHINGTON, March 16. soldeirs’ vote bill as finally passed by the House and sent to the Presi- dent does not contain any provisions for extension of the Federal ballot to the Territories. Delegate Dimond said he under- stood Army and Navy officials have offered their help, however, in the — The | Club Meets Fnday The Past the Rebekah Lodge will meet at the Methodist Church parsonage on Fri- day everming at 8 o'clock. Mrs. Katherine Hooker and Mrs. occasion, and all members are urged | to attend. !\ubll. Granda Club 01‘ Edna | Polley will be the hostesses for the |ago by a Federal jury. The six who | | pleaded guilty are awaiting sen- tencing. Charges against the eighth, | Bertrend Stuart Hoffman, Merchant lMarlnc seaman, were dismissed on grounds that he was mentally “ncapab]e of understanding the charge. & PUUFEHNE Lot JOHN POWERS DIES John B. Powers, T4, resident of [ Alaska for 44 years, died recently at Fairbanks as the result of heart complications. Powers was U. S. Commissioner at Eagle and at one time was Territorial Senator from | the Fourth Division, * Federal | today sen-| | ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN }éobTHWmT PACIFIC, March 16. ’ —For the fourth consecutive Liberators, Mitchells and Bos roared over® Wewak, New Guinea, on Tuesday, dropping 174 tons of bombs and downing eight enemy | planes. | The tonnage brought the four- =d4y total to an excess of 600, and |the number of planes shot out of |action to more than 70. | Wewak is the big air supply basc |for Japan's crumbling ground po- sitions in the vicinity of Madang 200 miles to the southeast. The reports also announced that the Australians in the Mintjim H Madang have reach- |ed a fine road leading to Bogadjim, Madang’s main defense outpost. Smoke after the Wewak raid from the blazing fuel dumps rose 3,000 feet and heavy damage was inflicted and many gun positions were silenced, the communique said. Bougainville and other Northern Solomons pesitions from which the Japanese recently launched heavy assaults on the American airbase at Empress Augusta Bay, were blasted Monday with 123 tons of {bombs, and the raiders also poured eight tons of explosives on stead- {ily crumbling Rabaul R g —iress In pre-war days, the ratio f dentists to population was about one to 1,850 in the United States.