The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, April 1, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1944 BIG PACIFIC FLEET LOOKING FOR ENEMY Driving Toward British Base in India {R VOL. XLI., NO. 9615. Japs ENEMY IS STABBING AT IMPHAL American Train_ed'Chinese BY SPENCER MOOSA CHUNGKING, April 1.—The new Russian-Japanese agreements that | | | Russia May Remain NeutralinWar Upon Pacific, Belief Now PUSH IN ITALY ONODESSA U.5. TROOPS MAKE SUDDEN i The Chinese here are increasingly | forced the Japanese to surrender oil and coal concessions on the Sakha- lin Island and renewal of fishing pacts is generally taken here to im- Iply Russia will remain neutral in {the Pacific war after Germany’s defeat. Troops Make Drive in North Burma NEW DELHI, April 1. — Strong Jap forces drove further westward in India today toward the British base at Imphal on the plains of Manipur, the official communique acknowledges. Front line dispatches said enemv | patrols stabbed to within a dozen; miles of the jungle communications center. The Jap advance is reported from the Ukhrul area, 32 miles northeast of Imphal. The British and Indian troops are engaged in a fierce com- bat with another strong Jap column | in the hills east of Kohima, 30 miles north of Imphal. Jap losses are said to be heavy. Jap troops ambushed a small Bri- ti$h detachment in the jungle area. American trained Chinese troops in nerthern Burma continued to drive south from Shaduzup where ‘they are encircling a force -of.at least 1,000 Japs near Laban. Not a single Jap plane is known to have risen to challénge the air supremacy since last Tuesday. The Washington, Merry -gg- Round By DREW PEARSON Col. Robert S. Allen now on active service with the Army.) @t | WASHINGTON —Current de- velopments in Burma illustrate the point made by many Washington insiders that it's best to be frank Developments are also regarded las explaining why Japan found a apprehensive as to the possibility |of an all-out Japanese attempt to {knock China out of the war, parti- cularly if the Japanese' troops now seemingly successful in invading India may disrupt the present air |supply route to China. . much disappointment in Chungking, as it was hoped the war against ’Japan would be shortened on the | Monastery-Two German ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN The agrements were received with NAPLES, April 1. — Allied troops Rumanian resistance in southwest | have made a sudden thrust into the | ruggedly mountainous, long, quiet | central sector of the Italian front, Raiding Parfies Beafen | way to withdraw troops, rumored at 10 divisions, from Manchuria. These troops are for possible action against China elsewhere. NAZI WAR - PRISONERS ON STRIKE Sort of a 'Sfi;wn' Staged when Camp Searched for Stolen Guns TRINIDAD, Colo., April 1. — Lt. Col. Lambert Cain, Commander of the German Prison War Camp, dis- ‘theory Russia would enter the Paci- | fic conflict with her Allies and | greatly hasten Japan's collapse after | the defeat of Germany. | advancing a mile and now occupying Mount Marrone, mile-high peak. Thirteen miles northeast of Cas= sino, troops of an unidentified na< tionality have'smashed forward with powerful artillery support. War Tides Shifting Election Sands; Will Be Surprises Coming i e ooy At Cassino, Allied heavy guns have again shelled the Monastery over- looking the devastated town. Observ- ers saw walls collapse around the German positions and two German ! raiding parties were beaten back in i the vicinity of the railway statiom. | Two American destroyers ham- {mered at German positiohs near | sharp attack. The air forces were {forced by weather to reduce ac- *' tivitles to about 650 sorties. Two planes were lost. { BY JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, April 1—There probably are going to be Mmore sar-"" S oo ng i {prises in the coming elections than L] at any time since the post-Civil Evlden(e Is War period. The reason: shifts in population. | In this space I can't make any detailed report, state by state, but| closes the prisoners went on a strike I can take ‘one which might prove typical—the state of Washington. In 1940, approximately three- quarters of a million votes were cast in Washington. A little more than 400,000 went to the Demo-| crats; a little less than 350,000 to, the Republicans. It has two Dem-' ocratic senators and a Republican governor, but it can't be considered a state solidly in any political bloc. In the last few years, Washing- ton has become one of the great Finished in (haplin(asel LOS ANGELES, April 1—All the evidence is in, and the rival law- yers are ready to square away for | the final arguments on Mondgy and Tuesday to the jury of sevenl‘ women and five men who will try to decide whether Charlie Chaplin is guilty. g 1 with the American public. Last summer, it was announced from Quebec that the Allies plan- ned a big offensive in Burma. Tt was also announced that Lord Louis Mountbatten, cousin of “King George, was being ‘placed in com- mand of the drive, which was to open up the Burma Road to the Allies and provide a new means of attacking Japan through China. last week Saturday and Sunday, after the camp had been searched for three guns ctolen from the Es- cort Guards' quarters several days previously. The guns are still mis- sing. Cain disclosed a quantity of homemade liquor, fermented rai- sins and other fruit was found in the prisoner’s compound in a search for the missing weapons. war industrial states. Workers have: Taking of testimony was complet- { flocked in by the thousands. A vis- ed yesterday, and Federal Judge iting Washington state politico told J. T. O'Connor announced the clos- | me recently there will be 500,000 ing arguments will be limited to} more qualified voters in Washing- two and one half hours each for ton this year than in 1940. Although they can’t ‘be typed politically, it’s! almost a certainty their vote will, tilt the balance of power in Novem-| ber. | If this figure is only half cor-| the prosecution and defense. KING EMANUELE |into millions of dollars. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS = — =] ED ARMIES CLOSING IN Allied Heavy Guns Shelk/Wild Confusiqn Reign§ in| Black Sea Port - Ru- manians Giving Up | MOSCOW, April 1—German and Russia is beginning to crumble as |masses of Red Army infantry, mo- bile units, tanks, and Stormovik sweep on toward three major objectives, Odessa, Tiraspol, | |and Hishinev. Frontline dispatches said one in-| termediate line after another is cracking and many Rumanians are willingly surrendering as the Rus- |sians drove through the middle of Bessarabia. Wild confusion is reported at, Odessa, as General Malinovsky's Third Ukrainian Army and Marshal Konev's Second Ukrainian Army closed on the Black Sea port from the east and northeast, and other lunits have been rushed to Tiraspol, a railway junction on the lower Dniester, where they could cut the | enemy off. bombers ¥ North Pacific Forces Are On Guard for Possible Attack BY NORMAN BELL Upon Northland | Recent alerts in some island chain |of “good weather” in the Aleuunns,i ON THE NORTH PACIFI(‘«‘bBMS that stretches for one thou- FRONT, April 1—This far north sand miles, is evidence that region is on guard, with the arrivul?nnd sea forces are being closely watched for Jap bombers that last struck just before dusk on October for a possible attack by the Japan- . 13 in the raid on Attu. ese. sky | U. 5. PLANES LOOSE BOMBS, SWITZERLAND Rail City ofihafihausen Mistakenly Raided with Fire Bombs PRICES FOR 'HALIBUT ARE - MADEPUBLIC jAdjusImeni—sw Are Made by APO According to An- nouncement Today ) {can 50 AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ON -~ WATCH NOW :Reports Are Given Qut of | Heavy Atfacks on Truk | and Other Atolls UNITED STATES PACIFIC {FLEET HEADQUARTERS IN |PEARL HARBOR, April I.-Ameri~ Naval Task Forces, including more than 50 aircraft carriers are 'just disclosed as prowing the sPaci- iluz protected by radio silence which {prevented earlier reports of devas- |tation wrought on Palau. Air blows were struck on Palau 'by some of the prowling fleet which |bypassed Truk and moved 1,175 .miles west to open the attack last | Wednesday, Admiral Chester W, Nimitz announces. Five islands, strong points of ‘Truk atoll, werer heavily pounded |Wednesday night by Army Libera- tors of the Seventh Air Force and Ithen a second raid in as many LONDON, April 1, — American | WASHINGTON, April 1, — The 'days was made on Truk and other The Nazis are said to be hurriedly throwing up a middle defense. Other dispatches said that disorganized ns in - exhausted running down sticky sidergads with- out boots as the Russians: closed in from captured Ochakov, which has been known for the past two years as the “shield of Odessa.” FLOODS RAGE, MISSISSIPPI (By Associated Press) Two Mississippi State Guard troops are standing by ready on an hour’s notice to go to any threatened area in Mississippi for evacuation ers which have already taken nine | lives in the South in the past week. | Army planes have directed res- cuers in the lowland spots. | Rural residents are stranded. | Refugees are housed in USO build- ’ ings. Already the flood damage has run Two thou- sand persons have fled from their homes. s kvoups are work or combatting high flood wat- | | Liberator bombers began the new oOffice of Price Administration said localities in the Central Pacific, month of operations by an attack tnat acting in conjunction with the| The raiders faced moderate anti- ! on southwestern Germany, and si- Canadian government, th a Swiss government said -that American. bombers loosed incendiaries on the railway city of Schaffhausen near the German border, setting numer- ous fires in what was apparently a multaneously | mistake by bombing neutral ter- ritory. The broadcast of the Swiss com- | munique said that about 30 Am- | erican planes loosed fire bombs over the rail city at 10:30 a. m, A later | statement by the director of the Swiss railways said all rail lines | leading there were “suspended” tem- | porarily. Coastal watchers said a consid- | erable force of Allied planes began ! steaking across the Channel shortly after Royal Air Force Mosquitoes returned from night raids, and the German radio system quickly went off the air. - “hatibut landed ut are re- ducing the price of fresh dressed and provided that American im- portets . will from Canada. “The higher price in Seattle will reflect to the producers of halibut the additional cost entalled to bring pay leéss for hnlxbut‘ airerafc opposition, Heavy ' explo~ sotis followed the raid on Truk and started. Uman and Morn atolls were also bembed and fives were started in those two areas, BIG FLEET MOVING the fish to Seattle from the fishing! CHICAGO, 111, April 1-—Secre- grounds,” and the differential tary of Navy Frank Knox said “it should again encourage more land- {5 not violating security to tell you ings at Seattle. |today that more than 50 carriers All halibut landed in Alaska will are plying the Pacific now. We go take the Prince Rupert price minus'where we please uhd dare the en- transportation to Prince Rupert. emy to com 7 As a result, halibut landed at| /price; and at Port Williams it will JURY CONVICTS WAYNELONERGAN . OF WIFE KILLING | NEW YORK, April 1. — Wayne |Lonergan has been convicted of be four and one half cents® below ‘lhe price at Seattle. attle price, Wrangell and P«-mrsbyrg prices will be three and three-fourths NEW ATTACKS SR Ketchikan will now be priced three | and one-half cents below the Se-| { cents lower; Juneau, Sitka and Peli- 3 i {can City prices four cents lower in| ) | {South and Southwest Pa- [ cific Air Forces fo En- ' MAY ABDICATE, ~ OnTonight Despite these optimistic an- |rect, imagine what that will mean | murder, second degree, for the slay- Cain said there was no violence| nouncements, real fact today is that the Japanese, not the Allies, have taken the offensive. As this is written, the Japs are over the In- dian border. The Allies are on the defensive. And this is eight months after the Burma promises of last summer. -All of which illustrates the dan-| ger of inflating the hopes of the American . public, then letting them drop with a thud. The real truth could not be writ- ten last summer, but now the inside story, as told to Senators, can be told*without any danger to military operations. At the Quebec conference ]ut{ July, U. S. military chiefs informed the British that, if there was to be no immediate secorid front in Eur- ope, then the United States must| urge that we proceed with a drive in Burma. Whereupon it was agreed that Admiral Lord Louis Mountbat- ten should command in Burma, but that this would be a military secret. Accordingly, General Marshall phoned the Chinese military at- tache in Washington to come to Quebec. And according to informa- tion that has been relayed to Sen- ators, General Marshall informed the Chinese military attache about the new Burma commander but cautioned him that it was most secret and that he must not radio Chiang Kai-shek for fear the mes- sage might be decoded by the Jap- anese. Instead, he must send a messenger by special airplane to Chungking to inform the General- i8simo personally that Lord Mount- mn was to command the Burm: (Continued on Page M) and he induced them to return to return to their work, stating food would pe withheld until they did. He described the strike in the na- ture of a “sitdown.” MNUTT SAYS LABORDRAFT BE "TRAGIC' WASHINGTON, April 1. — War Manpower Commissioner Paul V. McNutt advised Congfess against in a state that never has swung during the strike of the prisoners! more than a hundred thousand FAVOR or so" votes either way. | ! Washington also has its particu-| | lar political problems. There's a! NAPLES, April 1.—Unconfirmed rumor here that Sen. Homer T.'rumors that King Vittorio Eman- Bone may duck running again to|uele is about to abdicate in favor eccept a federal judgeship. If he, of Crown Prince Umberto are be- does, his logical Democratic suc-|ing widely circulated in southern cessor would be Rep. Warren G.|Italy, as the Prince was absent {Magnuson, one of the brightest from the Villa and visited his fa- young meén in the house. {ther yesterday. The aide to the Prince said that he knew nothing tending to confirm the rumor and his close associate, |Prem1er Badoglio said that the gov- ernment had heard nothing from the King to indicate any change of his intention to remain on the ithrone at least until the Allies reach Rome. | The King’s abdication, however, \‘would remove virtually the only ob- istacle in “democratizing” the Ba- | | There’s also the story that Re- { publicans in Washington may draft Eric A. Johnston, brilliant young | president of the U. S. Chamber of | Commerce, to run for senator if not |something more. Johnston has said emphatically that he’d “rather live on Main street than at either end of Pennsylvania avenue,” but there lare times when personal wishes don't count too much. enacting of national service legisla- | tion and wartime control recom- mended by the President just 11 weeks ago. The Indianian, who has held a series of high posts under Roosevelt, told a House Military Affairs Sub- committee it would be “little less than tragic” to displace voluntary cooperation with “militgry or bu- reaucrapic processes,” and con- tinued, : “There may come a time” when a {labor draft law ‘is needed, but he said the time has not yet arrived. Meanwhile Selective Service Di- rector Hershey told a Rhode Island Rotary Club that he himself is ready |to recommend that the armed serv- ices droft 4-F's who are capable of ! worklng but won’t. Hershey suggested that they be put in labor battalions. A race between Johnston and; Magnuson or Bone would be some-| |thing to watch, but the chances are| doglio government for which the Soviet government hewspaper, Iz- vestoia, which called the sixteen parties who refused to collaborate !the determining factor would ke, the worker vote which has come linto the state in the last” two orj three years. ‘This doesn’t apply only to Wash- ington. Oregon and California on| the West coast; Texas, Oklahoma,| Missouri, Michigan and Illinois in the middle west; and almost all of| the eastern seaboard states from, Massachusetts to Florida, have ex- unless the King is out. SENATOR BONE 10 HiGH COURT WASHINGTON, April 1. — The Senate waived the rules today to VOTE B | 10 BE CHANGED BY CONGRESSMEN bound Congress read with im,erest,i President Roosevelt's suggestion| changing the Service Vote Law, but; there were no indications they would do anything. Senator Barkley said that while he fully endorsed the proposal for a PFederal War ballot being made available to service men in this country as well as overseas and 1ts use facilitated, he declined to pre- dict that Congress would act. Senator Taft said, “He won't get| any changes.” e GUSTAVUSTRIPIS MADE TODAY BY | ALASKA COASTAL ‘foday the Alaska Coastal Airlines made a trip to Sitka with Chis Balley, Maj. Lister, C. £ ! and Henry Moy. Flying were E. M. Blandan, E and W. L. Seeley. vote immediate confirmation of Roosevelt’s appointment of Senator Homer C. Bone, Democrat of Ta- perienced tremendous shifts in pop- ulation. LR K T HERE ' FEOM SANAK Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He Here from Sanak, Alaska, G. K.|gycceeds the late Bert Haney. The Gundersen is registered at the Bar-|gistrict includes the West Coast anof., States and Alaska. Yesterday Mrs. Ray H: Oja and M. Samberg wer Graham and J, Harris. ll IS “o‘ |ing of his heiress wife Patricia last | October 24 because she refused him permission to see their baby. The verdict carries a term of 20 years to life and sentence will be fixed on April 17. Lonergan, former cadet of the Canadian Royal Air Force, had a WASHINGTON, April 1.—Holiday[cold and stolid poise since the trial | started, and this remained when the decision of the jury was read. He only bit his lips and blinked when the verdict was announced. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, April 1. — Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 6%, Anaconda 26%, Beech Aircraft 9, Bethlehem Steel 59, Curtiss Wright 5%, International | Harvester 71, Kennecott 31'4, North American Aviation 8%, New York Central 18%, Northern Pacific 16, United States Steel 52, Pound | $4.04. Dow, Jones averages today are as follows: Industrials, 138.84; rails, 39.61; utilities, 23.08. e il o LR JAPANESE NOT T0 FISH IN WATERS OFF KAMCHATKA MOSCOW, April 1. — It is dis- 0 BU%. ciosed that in the Japanese-Rus-| coma, Wash., as a member of the|the plane returning wit! CHIford| o ¢ioning agreements, Russia in- duced the Japanese to cease ex-) A charter trip was made 0 w"’"“nlmuna certain fishing grounds off Springs Bay with Serens Conior and John Fee. [ Ramchatka, nearest point in the! Pacific to Alaska. The monthly formdl dance of the| USO will be held tonight In the Scottish Rite Temple. Dancing will begin at 9 o'clock. i e 'PAA PLANE ARRIVES FRIDAY AFTERNOON Passengers arriving via PAA Morgan, Samuel Oser, Gladys Over- by, all from Seattle; T. J. Brignole from Fairbanks; and Clifford Rog- ers, president of the White Pass and Yukon Route, R. N. Cook, and W. H. Claussen, all from Whitehorse. Rainbow Girls Hold Breakfast T_omorrow ! A breakfast at the Scottish Rite (plane yesterday afternoon were Tom | Temple tomorrow will mark Palm, Rainbow for Girls. The affair is public and will Le held between 12 o'clock noon any 2 o'clock in the afternoon. e TIDES TOMORROW Low tide— 3:44 a. m., 6.7 feet. High tide— 9:43 a. m., 124 feet. Low tide— 4:25 p. m., 30 feet. High tide—11:04 p. m., 12.7 feet. TIDES MONDAY Low tide— 4:556 a. m., 5.7 feet. High tide—10:54 2, m., 13.2 feet. Low tide— 5:19 p. m., 23 fect. High tide—11:49 p, m., 13.8 feet. ' gage’in Central Pacific ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, April 1—~Fresh raids on' the Japanese bases at Truk, Woleal Islands in the Carolines by Navy Liberators and Catalina bombers of the Seuth and Southwest Pacilic, reported in Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communigue, indicated the strongholds of the |Japanese may take a regular spot in MacArthur's bombing schedule. The Truk operations are in the nature of harassing raids. South Pacific based Liberator | heavy bombers hit. Woleai yester- {day and Catalina bombers followed up the attack. New gains are reported by the |Allied land forces in the Admiralty |and New Guinea Islands. | Dismounted Cavalry troopers ‘landed Thursday on the Pityi |land " chain guarding the 'to Seadler Harbor. B e i 1o Sunday activities by the Order o:‘i PAA CAPTA'N KNOX WEDS ILEENE JONES SEATTLE, April 1 liam D. Knox of Pan ! ways and Ileene J {merly of Fairbank {married here last ni |ding took pldce in the |of Mr. and ‘Mrs. Alf Juneau Attending the coup) E lor- ware weds uite sen of rclm‘ke Bassett The newlyweds in Vancouver, B. C and will