The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 23, 1944, Page 1

VOL. XLI.. NO. 9608. HE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” —— JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1944 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS SECOND AIR SMASH GIVEN GERMANY Jap Reinforcements Are Sunk by Bombs DESTROYER, TWO SHIPS SENT DOWN New GainsEfde in South- | west Pacific-Rabaul Is Now Isolated ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, March 23. —One Japanese destroyer and two small merchantmen have been sunk by Allied bombers off Aitape, New Guinea, west of Wewak. There has BRITAININ WARNINGTO RUMANIANS i ‘ Broadeast Tells Embaftled Address M;y“(lear Up?Opening Statements Made Nation of Results of | Help fo Nazis LONDON, March 23.—Maneuver- ing quickly to caulk his Balkan dike | against the Russian flood, Hitler | appeared about to kidnap the Ru- manian government as he already has abducted that of Hungary. There are widespread reports that Churchill Broadcasts On Sunday Many Questions Re- garding War Aims LONDON, March 23. — British Prime Minister Winston Churchill will address the British Nation on Sunday, his first broadcast since his illness of last winter. The address comes amid a rising CHAPLIN ON - TRIAL, MANN - ACT CHARGE JAPS MAKE - BIGPUSH INTO INDIA Threaten Key Road Centerto Manipur NEW DELHI, March 23.—Jap col- umns invading India now threaten Imphal, the key road center to Manipur, from the south and east it was disclosed when Allied head- quarters told that the enemy force had driven more than 80 miles up in Government's Case ~Jury Is Secured LOS ANGELES, March 23.—Gray haired Charles Chapiin’s answer to the government’s charge he violat- ed the Mann Act is that his motives |were “legitimate, above board and honest” when he provided raili tickets for a trip to New York for Advance 80 Miles and Nazi Atfacks ' ThrownBacdk, Stiff Bahle,?o@ever, Con- tinues-Supply Lines in North Bombed NAPLES, March 23—Fifth Army ‘Forces doggedly flung back the Ger- man attacks on Cassino positions while in the air war, Allied bomb- ers struck sharply at enemy supply lines in Northern Italy Cassino Fight ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN FIGHTFOR U.S. FORCES NIKOLAEV HIT GERMANY UNDER WAY SECOND DAY 'Red Army Within 25 Miles Large Formations Swarm of Point Where Ger- | Over Reich Land Follow- ' ing RAF Night Raid BULLETIN — LONDON, March, 23.—It is officially an- nounced that thirteen American bombers and nine Fighters were lost in today's foray carried out by possibly 600 Fortresses and Liberators and at least an equal | MOscow, March 23. — Russian| |troops have fought to within sight lof the Black Sea naval base cf/ | Nikolaev, and drove into the hills of Bassarabia where the land be-| |gins rising gradually to the Car-| |pathian Mountains. The battle for iclamor from both sides of the At- the lower Manipur River Valley 1n the southern section of the number of Fighters. been considerable shipping activity | Premier Antonescu of Rumania has his former protege, Joan Berry. noted in the Aitape sector recently | been summoned into Hitler's pres- indicating efforts to supply the wa- |ence as Admiral Horthy, regent of ;:rx:g ::n.mn_., lid | Hungary had gone before him. There |War aims. raid has been |1 speculation that Antonescu will Anotice, P likely be kicked out because of Ger- man suspicions that he is involved in peace overtures to the Soviet. The British radio has begun broadcasting a warning to the Ru- manians that “Rumanian- leaders have been called to Hitler's head- quarters. If you oppose Germany, Germany will wreak vengeance on you, but if you oppose the Allies an even greater fate is in store. A con- | certed evidence of desire to help the Allies now would be the first| step toward Rumania’s surival.” Germany'’s occupation of Rumania would be largely academic, except as a measure of complete political control for the country ,already little | more than a German camp. A Ger- | man Foreign Office spokesman broadcast and “emphatically denied” that Horthy is being held prisoner, | that Premier Kally escaped to south- | ern Hungary, and sent out an appeal made on isolated Rabaul. The inva- sion of St. Matthias Islands last Monday completed isolated Rabaul. Marines have strengthened their positions at Emirau without en- , countering enemy opposition. Light enemy resistance has been encountered and this was absolute- 1y overcome in the initial landings on the ground front below the Jap-| anese New Guinea base at Madxnz; The Australians in the interior (Continued on Page Two) —oo—— The Washington! Merry - Go- Round| | iantic for claiification of the Amed‘ This is a portion of the reply by Chaplin’s counsel, Jerry Giesler to The speech is scheduled Sunday ¢ne opening statement of the Gov= (1 pm. PWT) and is awaited here gpents case by Charles Carr, as a possible key to the position ¢ya¢ the movie comedian engaged Britain may take on the multidle j, yiimacies with Miss Berry at problems expected to come uUp fOr .. New York hotel in 1942. Gies- from Tiddin in the Chin Hills area. The headquarters said that the column was 30 miles from Imphal on the west side of Logstak Lake, Nikolaev has begun, and the Ger-| town of Cassino, the New Zealand- ers are still engaging the enemy at| close quarters. mans appear to be doomed. Marshal Konev's mobile troops have reached points 25 miles from Allied artillery has knocked out a German tank emplacement in one wrecked building raising to five the south of the city. Imphal is the southeérn terminus of an all weather road which winds |the Prut River, where the Ruman- jans and Germans launched their invasion of Russia, and 18 miles 175 miles north through the Nga total destroyed in the one week of from the Bessarablan communica-! discussions at conferences in Lon- ler told the jury of seven womem|pjs country junction of the India- fighting for nossession of the town. Westward along the lower slopes don between American Under Se€c- a,4 five men that he would not retary of State Stettinius and the o qeavor to excuse the spropriety British Foreign office. of any intimacy prior thereto.” (The There is also much speculation alleged intimacy in New York): Assam and China supply line, the Allied juglar vein in the Burma theatre. This report of the second invasion of Monastery Hill, Allied Forces kept up attacks. The Germans counter-attacked against Hill 193, 'tions center of Balti. | Fighting At | The German Command said that fighting ‘< going on inside Kovel and northwest of Kovel and below Kovel The German Air Force of- fered virtually no opposition as the Americans swept over Ber- lin but antiaireraft fire was in- tense. g The RAF announces 33 air- craft are missing following last night's operations, the 48th at- tack on Frankfurt, SECOND DAY STRIKE LONDON, March 23 —Striking for that these conferences might be followed by another meeting be- tween Churchill and Roosevelt. -, —— Then Giesler added: of India within 24 hours by the Japs key height just northwest of the the Pripet Marshes in the eastern the second day in a row and in the “We will prove to you that any time Mr. Chaplin desired, the young 'lady gave her consent willingly.” Carr said that Miss Berry, while under contract to Chaplin's studio, 3 C.P.R. OFFICERS, KNOWN IN NORTH, ARE DECORATED Three Canadian Pacific Steam- mission to make the trip to New York and Chaplin persistently re- fused. AMERICAN SUB | | repeatedly asked the aector for. ner—.l. ran counter with previous reports on activity in the Tiddin area, where earlier announcements indicated the enemy was confined within the Bur- ma borders. Yesterday's report from Allied force dispatches said that they had to “deal with the Japs who were outflanking units north of | Tiddin,” but gave no hint that the enemy had slammed 80 miles into India from the south as well as from the east in the vicinity of Thaungdut at the upper part of the Chindwin River, by the eastern- Jap invasion town early yesterday but were part of cld Polaud, which is approx-'wake of a 1,000 plane RAF night thrown back leaving 30 prisoners imately 50 miles beyond the an- raid aimed chiefly at Frankfurt, in Allied hands. Inounced positions of the Red Army Lapproxlm:\tely 1500 American The Germans also lunged forward! A new Russian offensive south- in two strong attacks in a new sec-|east of Vitebsk on the other side Lor near “Monteo. Castellone, three|of the marshes is also téported by miles northwest of Cassino but the Germans. Two Rumanian divi- French troops broke up and re-|sions under German commanders pulsed the formations with artiilery as well as storm troops offered fire. |sharp resistance in the rolling hills, Nazi aircraft made attacks on|but failed to arrest the tremendous Allied shipping off Anzio beachhead |tempo of the Red Army. but it is announced no damage was | Commanding Roads done. | bombers and fighters bombarded the German Air Pe its home | The American raiding force in- cluded upwards of 500 Fortresses and Liberators and bombed the Brunswick district, the aircraft park at Werl, 40 miles east of Es- |een, the Achmer Air Force station lat Oldenberg, to the south of the By DREW PEARSON | Col. Robert S. Allen now on active for help fi " service with the Army.) r help from abroad, and that Yugoslav Marshall Tito has estab- lished contact with the Hungarian forces. @wt. WASHINGTON — The controver- sial question of giving one-third of | the Italian fleet to Russia has an| interesting background — especially | H to this columnist. It dates back to H'GHWAY HNK IS % last summer, when the Washinglon! Merry-Go-Round reported that] “ow SOUGHT BY { Stalin was irate because Secretary | Hull had not consulted him regard- | ! ing preliminary Italian armistice, REP M AG"USON‘ terms. ! . } When a nation surrenders, it is — i the victors who are on hand for, WASHINGTON, March 23.—The the armistice “kill” who get the Alaska International Highway Com- conquered fleet and the spoils of mission wil} ask Congress to extend ! war. That was why Stalin Wasits life, and to enact legislation per- blazing mad when, at first, he Was|mitting American participation in not consulted. He was sore at sOme | the construction of a highway link- other things too, but especially OVeT ing the Pacific Northwest with the | the Italian matter, for Russia h“s’Army's Naska Hlahiay Raotesn | long wanted to build herself up 8| tative Warren G. Magnuson said, a naval power and long ago saw [ Macriin: Adfsd L 2 dbAnkat: Italian fleet as a sc’epplng st_cma vttt Aol i i ‘When . this colm}xnlst revealed _"'“‘B. 0. 1o ithe Whitehdris’ aven wouid State Department’s cold shoulder w‘permn Wttt e Sl Russia, it was promptly denied.| ifi 3 ‘ i | Cific Northwest to Alaska at a cost Later, when the President didn’ of about $12,000,000, of which $6,- | | ship officers, wellknown to travelers on the Southeast Alaska run, have recently been decorated for war |services. They are William Nielson, now chief engineer of the Princess | Elizabeth, on the night run between Victeria and Vancouver, and years |ago on the Alaska route, awarded the Order of British Empire, for two years' service in dangerous wa- ters; Edward E. Stewart, now on the Princess Elaine, operating be- tween Nanaimo and Vancouver, awarded the MBE, and William B Harris, now engineer on the Prin- cess Norah, awarded the MBE, both honored for their action when former Victoria steamer was tor- pedoed and sunk in the Mediter- ranean. Stewart and Harns tell an exci'- ing story of the last hours of their ship which was battered and rav- aged by a torpedo explosion, burned with tremendous clouds of smoke and flame which could be seen for many miles, and belched a murder- ous hail of antiaircraft and small u.Jap-Americans force. It was also reported that about 30 miles away from Imphal, a Jap break-through onto the plairs {around Imphal was dependent on | their gathering reinforcements larg- er than they presently observed from Jap forces in southeast Asia, the command spokesman said. - Germans Announcing Withdrawal Milifary Inslallaligns in Rome Ger- SCORPION LOST WASHINGTON, March 23.—The loss of the American submarine Scorpion, the fourth submersible listed as overdue, is presumed to be lost after eight days, the Navy an- nounces. The Scorpion was presumably in war patrol in Jap controlled waters. (The vessel carried a crew of ap- proximately 75 officers and men. ricans Are * Placed in Sfockade On Re(us_al fo Train | LONDON, March 23.—The nounces the Germans will withdraw all military installations from Rome man controlled Rome radio an-' ih command German bomber base at Handorf. The Germans pumped artillery|of the roads to the west through| The U. 8, Air Force Command fire into the Allied lines near the|the bare country which is “not so said the German Air Force avoided The Russians are village of Apdiglione. {boggy as the southern Ukraine,” battle when 600 or more Fortresses | - { military advices said. land Liberators blasted Berlin in German planes in great numbers daylight yesterday but portions w AR ( ASU AllIIES |sought to destroy bridges and roads went up today in an attempt to {behind the Russians, but the bridges crash the bold attack. | over the Dniester and the southern; The German radio said “violent” l OF u. S. REPORTED Bug River were too numerous and’ah' combats were fought with an the Red Army 100 strong |extraordinary = iarge number of [ 4 i - - — (fighters accompanied by bombers. ! WASHINGTON, March 32—Cas- | | Fires were still burning in Berlin | ualties of the American armed forces 'I' "'I"( H IER today as the result of yesterday's .'sh:ce the outbreak of the war now | A l_A ( R {attack, Last night fires were visible ito al 1(_i5.osl, the Office of War In-| 1200 miles away. Telephone com- ormation reports on the basis of | w’ll BE IAKE" up | munications in Berlin, according to figures recently made available! iStockholm, advices, have b | through the War and Navy depart- | for 24 hi P AYe N mert ‘ - BY ALLIED NATIONS “ ** "= ... The dead number 38,846, wounded | £ e 56,964, missing 35,521, prisoners 0(‘ : il war 31,730, Among the prison | LONDON, March 23—Prime Min- "0 I"DUSTR'M |ister Churchill told the House of | war, 1,894 have died in FORT McCLELLAN, Alabama, March 23.—Twenty-eight Japanese- Americans who refused to take mili- tary training in this replacement ! center, have been placed in the . camp stockade to await courtmartial, !arms shells when fire reached the Brig. Gen. Philoon, Commander, think Hull’s denial effective enough, ! he hurled some brief, ugly, chronlc‘ words of his own straight in this; direction. All of which, in retrospect, may be more amusing than important, 1000,000 could be authorized for the {nection between the military high- U. S. share of the cost. Magnuson said that another con- way in the United States and Can- gun positions and munitions stores. | Said. All other members. of the | Through all this they did their ;1"0;19 have accepted training will- | ingly. and will divert all military traffic from the city in an effort to place responsibility for bombings entirely on the Allies. ; e Fairbanks to Ge Airway Chief Now NEW YORK, March 32—William y prison camps, mostly in Japanese occupied | Commons there will be a “renewed territory. |consultation between the principal < Allies” on the application of the | Atlantic Charter under the chang-| S AlASKA" pl NEE ling phases of the war. ’ ! Churchill did not elaborate as to whether these consultations might |take the form of a new meeting |of the Allied “Big Three” as has been rumored. IS ON LAST TRAIL SEATTLE, Mareh 23.—Charles E.! Claypool, 83, veteran Justice of the |comment after Laborite no ' DEFERMENTS FOR MEN UNDER 26 WASHINGTON, . March 23.—The War Production Board and the Army and Navy, does not plan to recommend men under 26 for in- dustrial deferments unless the items ada is being improved by a troad but it leads up to a question which from Prince George to connect with never ceases to puzzle news men, no matter how many years grown the Peace River country, and would grey at the typewriter—namely, why give a route farther south than the distinguished statesman issue dip-j{one proposed by the Commission. lomatic denials which they know|He stated that despite opposition are certain to be disproved later. |[of the War Department to con- struction on the proposed new link STIMSON DENIES now, he could see no reason ‘why Many years ago, when Henry L.|the preliminary work should not Stimson was Secretary of State in|go ahead. the Hoover Administration, I had ————e—— A T e G ROM M this question. I had reported, during our crisis with Japan over Manchukuo,” that the governments of Chile and Mex- | ico had offered us naval cooperation} in case of war. Stimson stood up| in his press conference a few hours| later and denied the story categor- ically. ] That evening, however, he called me to his home, sat down in front of an open fire, and explained that | he had to deny the story because he feared Chile and Mexico would be indignant over the leak. Chile and Mexico are progressive and forward-looking countries, probably not as sensitive as Mr. Stimson thought, but I could understand the| denial. Perhaps he was right. : But I never could understand the| denial, after Pearl Harbor, of our losses there. Even three months VESUVIUS IS GREAT POMPEII, Italy, March 23.—Mount | Vesuvius continued to spew volcanic ash cinders over the surrounding area, although the rain of ashes is| less intense in Pompeii. | Further reports indicated the crop of damage is greater than first sur- mised by the eruption. The climax is expected today, according to! authorities, who pointed out that Vesuvius’ rampages usually last but five or six days. — e PARAMOUNT OFFICIAL LEAVES FOR SEATTLE Dwight Spracher, representative later, after the Japs had circulated (Continued on Page Four) of Paramount Pictures, left today }tor Seattle aboard a PAA plane. when at 3 p.m. about three hours after leaving Port Said, they “took a tin fish.” The explosion threw them on their hands and knees in their engine room, which quickly filled with smoke and steam. The lights went out. All communication with the bridge was disrupted, even the whistle steampipe bursting n the boiler room They groped their way to the emergency throttle. “I put my hand on the emergency throttle,” Stewart said. “I found Bill Harris already there.” They stopped the ship and prevented it from running down survivors and spreading fire among the mehoats,[ This was their “good service” which | was rewarded. In the confusion, neither was sure the other had reached the deck and! each made several trips back to the engine room to look for the other. Finally, together on deck, they formed an able ream helping launch | lifeboats and liferafts. As flames be- came too hot, both divede.overboard and finally swam to a destroyer, about a mile and a half away, through bullets from the burning ship splashing all around them, and were taken abcard. Neilson, is an old shipmate of Harry Godson, Juneau agent for the CPR. Neilson was aboard the Prin- cess May in 1914, old days when Godson was freight clerk. | H. Bowen, Senior Control Officer of the Civil Aercnautics Administra- tion at LaGuardia Field, has left for . ’Silka W;i;rSu_wly Mander [they are working on are rated as Peace, who pioneered in the dEVEIOP-J‘usked “Will you make it perfectly “critical” and that they are urgent- ‘ment of the State of Washington !clear that we shall not have to go|ly required to meet immediate war Both were on watch on a bright,’ ' Is Now Profected; warm afternoon in the fall of 1942, | - FDR Signs Measure | WASHINGTON, March 23.—Pres- {ident Roosevelt has signed the bill authorizing a reservation of 3,235 |acres in Alaska, particularly within the Tongass National Forest, for {protection of the Sitka water sup-| ply. An amendment stipulates the| measure will aot apply to lands| currently used for muutary purpos-| Fairbanks to take the new post as | Chief Airway Traffic Control Of- ficer. REBUILT FRENCH | WARSHIPS SINK 5 GERMAN CRAFT PHILADELPHIA, March 23. — 'NEW PROCEDURE her prewar boundaries?” STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, March 23.—Closing | quotation stock today is 5%, American Can 86, Anaconda 26, 87, Bethlehem Steel 59%, Curtiss Wright 5%, International Harvester 70%, Kennecott 31%, North Ameri- FOR .LEND-LEASE | man's consent for any alteration of | of Alaska Juneau mine; Beech Aircraft| and Alaska, is dead. He went to|down on our knees to ask the Ger-|objectives, it was lea Alaska in 1890 and was United States gy s, s o Commissioner and also Probate | Judge at Circle City where he served | four years. ‘He also helped establish the city of Fairbanks, | This is an.extremely tough policy, especially as they are laying heavy |emphasls on regquirements of linvasion weapons, it was indicated. | A letter, has heen tentatively drawn by C. E, Wilson, chairman ot the Production Executive tom- |mittee, which will bg sent all man- |ufacturers telling them exactly |what to do if their young men are {in critical programs and whom they «lieve to be irreplaceable. |es until relinquished. | ber Company, left yesterday for | (Seattle via Pan American Airways. |French warships, either rebuilt or O B ol R PR refitted in Philadelphia, sank five JIM FOX RETURNS EOf six German ships in a convoy Jim Fox was a returning passenger |\ the Adriatic Sea recently, Admir- by PAA plane from Whitehorse,|*! Raymond A. Fernard, head of a jafter a visit with relatives in the |French naval mission in the Unit- Interior, - LUMBERMEN LEAVE Tom Morgan and Howard Blanch- ard, officials of the Columbia Lum- | |ed States reported. He said the |sixth was probably sunk in action |within the last few days. HOSPITAL NOTES . ————— : Anton Straul entered St. Ann's FLYS TO SEATTLE | Ben Benecke, official of the Al-| » aska Coastal Airlines, was a pas- /Mrs. David Wise gave birth to a senger to Seattle on the PAA plane. daughter at 4:20 a. m. today at St. R — Ann's Hospital, The infant weighed FROM KETCHIKAN seven pounds and two ounces. The From Ketchikan, A. G. Rolie is a New father is employed by the U. guest at the Baranof Hotel, S. Weather Bureau. Hospital yesterday for surgery. can Aviation 8%, New York Cen-, ————————— % Now_pROPOSED:“’M 197%, Northern Pacific 16%, | United States Steel 53%. WASHINGTON, March 23—The| Dow, Jones averages today are {House Foreign Affairs Committee|as follows: industrials 138.95, rails has voted to give Congress, rather 40.02, utilities 23.40. than the President, final say so on — e e settlement of Lend-Lease contracts.| :"mflmc?d::-:ml to this eftect was, Save Now for ritten in the legislation e’lwnd}ng}r ifth War Loan lend-lease for another year beyond Next June June 30. The amendment was of- WASHINGTON, March 23.— fered by Representative Wadsworth {and adopted unanimeusly before the A sixteen billion dollar goal has been fixed for the Fifth War entire bill was reported out for ac- Loan, Secretary of Treasury tion. . Morgenthau discloses “because Representative Mundt said all lend-lease settlements should be we need it for war and because we are assured we can get it.” {subject to consideration of the Sen- late which passes on treaties, or by GOV, GRUENING - RENOMINATED; IS CONFIRMED WASHINGTON, March 23-—The Senate has confirmed the renom- ination of Ernest Gruening of New York as Governor of the Territory {of Alaska. Gruening arrived in Juneau on the night of December 5, 1939, and took the oath of office as Governor the same evening. His renomination the entire House when two-thirds majority voted to go into it. The drive is expected to open early in June, and confirmation is for another four-year term.