The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, June 20, 1944, Page 1

THE D AILLY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS fiL THE TIME” PRICE TEN CENT JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1944 VOL. XLII, NO. 9683. __ MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS AMERICANS TIGHTEN CHERBOURG TRAP Two Thousand U.S. Pla TERRIFIC POUNDING ON TODAY Rocket Bomb Platforms, 0il Plants, Refineries, Tank Depots Hit SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 20.—More than fif- teen hundred American heavy bombers, possibly the greatest force in history, simultaneously attacked | rocket bomb platforms in the Pas‘ De Calais area with other objectives | in central Germany ranging from cil refineries to airplane plants. The giant armada equalled, if it didn’t surpass, that sent out Wednesday to attack French air- fields, bridges and the Emmeric oil refinery in Germany. With a big fighter escort, the en- tire sky fleet totalled upward of 2,000 planes. It is believed that today's force was over 2,000 planes. Heavy bombers blasted synthetic oil plants and oil refineries around’ Hannever, Hamburg and Magde- burg, the Politz tank depot near Magdeburg and the airplane wing repair plants and part of a plant near Brunswick. According to reports from Stock- holm, 21 heavies made forced land- ings in Sweden. - However, there is no Allied confirmation of this. —— YANKS CARVE AIRSTRIP ON BIAK ISLAND Imporfant Ridge Taken in Battle for Two Remain- ing Airdromes By ROBERT EUNSON ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD-| QUARTERS IN NEW GUINEA, June 20. — Americans fighting for control of all of Dutch New Guinea ' tightened their defenses on the vitally important Mokmer austrip.‘ and have put into operation an- other field only 880 miles from the | Philippines. 1 Headquarters has announced that on Biak, the largest of the Schout-' ens, the Americans have captured | an important ridge north of Mok- mer and have inched closer to the two remaining airfields of Borokoe and Sorido. £ | Gen. MacArthur's communique added, “Since cur occupation of Owi | Island 18 days ago, we have con-! structed an airfield which is in op- eration.” Owi lies just off Biak, where| Mokmer airstrip was captured on| June 7. ‘Borokoe and Sorido have been out of operation for many weeks, but the Japanese are defend- ing them fiercely nonetheless. Yanks Take Ridge Tank supported American in- fantrymen launched the vital attack against the ridge at 11 a. m. Sat- , | urday and two and a half hours| later the enemy was driven. from the position. Headquarters announced that 36 Japanese soldiers, formerly from Netherlands Indies army, have leased from Nipponese im- nt on Biak. One hundred -five Japanese were killed turday, bringing the enemy’s known dead on the island to 1,820. Bard Is Nominaled As Under Secrefary Navy Depariment WASHINGTON, June 20—Ralph Bard, now Assistant Secretary of jimous in _their | date. What War Bonds Mean The Price of Victory and GOV. WARREN SETS THEM 10 TALKING Plays Smarmlitical Pok- er in Releasing Cali- fornia Delegation By JACK STINNETT SAN FRANCISCO, June 20.-— Gov. Earl Warren’s unprecedented pre-convention statement, releasing the California delegation to the Re- publican National Convention from any pledge to him and asking that his name not be submitted to the convention for any office, may have caused some consternation in Re- publican ranks. It shouldn’t have, if the con- clusions of Republican politicians here are even close to correct. They say: Gov. Warren is a good politician. 'As a member of his opposition put lit, “he’s playing just as deep a game as Roosevelt, Dewey or Stas- sen, and looking just as far ahead as the last two.” By releasing the California dele- gation and asking that his name not be submitted for any office, he has ducked the possibility of being “defeated” for any office in behind-the-scenes maneuvers at the convention. He has also fulfilled his cam- paign pledges to California to do his best to see certain reforms en- acted while he is in office. He has placed the responsibility (and the privilege) of voting for whom they please squarely on the shoulders of the delegation. Politicians here are almost unan- opinion that hasn’t eliminated himself as a8 pos- but, has made. it clear to support- ers that he fdsn't esger for, that were drafted under circumstances they would approve. It isn’t so long since Wendell L. Harold E. Stassen. and several others were well up in the Repub- lican nomination -picture. As long |as that condition existed there was a probability that the conventign might select a compromise candi- In that event, a man con- trolling the California delegation would be in a powerful strategic position, either to be nominated himself or to have an important part in naming the candidate. With the apparently overwhelming swing to Dewey, the strategic importance of controlling the California dele- gation has diminished considerably. The importance of merely “run- ning” for Vice President is some- thing else again and something, incidentally, that the Californians don’t consider much of anything. The claim here now is that Cali- fornia is the third largest state in |the Union; that by adding more {than a million population in the }lasc few years, it has nosed out Ilinois, to rank next to New York land Pennsylvania. ‘[ Pacific coasters (and maybe even |Gov. Warren) consider the Gover- ‘}norship more important than that frequently last refuge of anonymity and political impotence—the Vice Presidency. On the other hand, one point on which Gov. Warren has hammer- ed has been the lack of western Bomb-Free Niglfi By ROBERT BUNNELLE (This is the third of six stories by Associated Press correspond- ents who have seen war at first hand and tell the vital part the equipment bought by war bonds has played in Allied victories and defeats. Bunnelle, chief of AP’s London Bureau was assign- ed to London three months be- fore the war began. He went through the Nazi blitz that de- stroyed the AP Building in De- cember, 1940, and has covered every phase of England’s war effort since that time.) approaching Neither Nazi words nor weapons can affect it. And every Londoner who has lived next door to death in the last four and two-thirds years is thinking gratefully of the time when he can walk streets boldly, sleep nights soundly without the haunting, ever- present threat of the Luftwaffe over his head. This purely, personal reaction is just one of the fundamentals in- herent in the victory envisaged in the Atlantic Charter—freedom from LONDON—War's grarid climax is | with swift certainty. | 300 NIPPON PLANES ARE SHOT DOWN Terrific Baftle Fought in Pacific-U. §. Carrier Force Aftacked By LEIF ERICKSON UNITED STATES PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS IN | PEARL HARBOR, June 20.—United States Marines .and Army troops have captured Aslito airdrome and driven eastward all the way across Saipan Island to the shore of Magic- ienne Bay, while an estimated 300 Japanese planes, attacking the off- shore American Carrier Task Force were destroyed in the greatest Pa- |cific air battle since Midway, ac- ;cording to an official spokesman of | Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Seabees are already at work put- ting the Aslito airstrip in condition for operations of the American | planes. The ccmmunique says it is belicv= ed that a part of the Jap planes making the attack that extended several hours on the aircraft car- I | fear—but it is a sound basis for the | riers were flying from nearby Japa- conviction that victory must be |nese tarriers using shuttle bases for complete. Anyone who spends his shuttle landings. nights and days within easy com- Attack Repulsed muting distance of Hitler will read- | The Japanese attack was suc- ily agree with this: - * % ‘| cessully' repulséd N the Targe scate| Nobedy has to convinc me that |aerial battle by carrier-based fight- | Germans and Japanese are danger- |er planes and antiaircraft fire. | ous people and must be defeated, at | “Information available at the no matter what cost in blood, sweat, ‘prvsem time indicates that only cne toil and tears and money. I've seen of our surface. units was damaged too much of the results of the ruth- |and this damage was minor,” Ad- less pursuit of conquest. ‘n\lral Nimitz says, and added that Maybe this is the emotional ap- | there is no estimate available as to proach. But you are inclined to iAmerican aircraft losses in the first become emotional when you've not |indicated engagement of planes fly- only had your own home blasted ing from the Japanese fleet's car- from over your head, but have seen Iriers since the big gerial battle of your next-door neighbors and their | Santa Cruz in 1942. children killed and maimed: when | Shuttle Fields Cut you've seen torn bodies of old andi The official communique said, young buried in pathetic rubble of | “Our systematic bombing and straf- brick and plaster: or long lines of |ing of airfields on Guam and near- bereaved waiting outside of morgues |by Rota sharply limited the ef- ,and hospitals, or fumbling pitifully | fectiveness of the Japs to use shut- | through piles of clothing taken from | tle shore fields and forced them to Ithe dead in hopeless attemPts at use carriers . | identification. “Probably the enemy ~arriers are | And there are more than the }operaunz a considerable distance {bombs and shells of Hitler’s channel | from the Marianas and aré reiuct- |fedted the 18th and 10th Finnish job, and woulda't have it unless he | Willkie, Gen. MacArthur, Lt. Com., ithe interminable daily waiting in unending queques. You queque for everything—to catch the bus, to buy ! your weekly quarter’s worth of none | too edible meat, to buy a week’s but- ter ration which is just about enough foy one good helping of hot- | | cakes—if there were any hotcakes— | or to buy grayish unappetizing bread. And there’s the seemingly cternal necessity for doing without some- thing you want and taking nothing or some/most unsatisfactory sub- stitute instead. Then there’s the long hours of work, and fire-watch- | ing and home guard duties in addi- tion. Or a walk miles long if you take a rare night out and miss the busses and subways which starc quitting at 10 P, M. No, nobody has to convince me of the need for complete victory, or of the absolute necessity for buying war bonds to win, for evidence is all too plain on every hand in this fronttine city. LONGEST DAY OF Tomorrow the summer solstice begins, bringing the longest day of the year, with the sun rising at 3:51 and setting at 10:08 p: m. {This will allow for a possible 18 hours and 17 minutes of sunshine. |For two or three days there will be no change in the length of the days, and for some time longer the variation of daylight will be so small as to be unnoticed. VEAR TOMORROW| representation in Washington ad-| To take advantage of the long ministrative circles. He has found 9ay, many individuals plan hikes it a sympathetic subject throughout UP the adjacent mountains, and to the state. It will be difficult for Many other points of interest. him, in view of that, to turn down Summer homes will be occupied out la Vice Presidentisl nomination or Glacier Highway, maybe to watch the Navy has been nominated bY)y cabinet post should the Republi- the sun rise. the President to be Under Secre- tary. —— e BUY WAR BONDS (Continued on Page Two) sible Vice Presidential nominee,|o.;s o bring war home. There's ant to close within range of the | United States carrier bombers.” ‘The American assault troops drove on a fairly wide front completely across the island for three and one- | half miles from the western land- | ings on the beach. U.S. SUB GRAYBACK IS LOST IN ACTION IN FAR PACIFIC Sixty - five—Ofli(ers an Men of Submarine Are Listed as Missing i WASHINGTON, June 20. — The | loss of the U. S. submarine Gray- | back,” presumably 'in operations | against the Japs in the Far Pacific, | has been announced. .The 1457- | tonner carriedan estimated per- | sonnel of 65 officers and men, in-| cluding Commander John Anderson Moore, all listed as missing in action. The loss of the Grayback brings | to 24 the number of American subs missing since Pearl Harbor. These subs built up a record of | 568 Jap ships sunk and damaged. ' ‘The Grayback was built by the | Electric Boat Company and com- missioned in 1941. Comdr. Moore was 34 and a native of Brownwood, Texas. He has taken sub warfare deep into enemy ter- ritory and is officially credited with the sinking of an auxiliary cruiser. He took command in July, 1943. e LEAVE ON BUSINESS TRIP Jacques Shurre, attorney for the OPA, left for Fairbanks today to consult with the Field Manager| there. He was accompanied byl Irma Nowell also with the OPA in Juneau. | | | {gun positions and buildings on SOVIET GUNS BOMBARDING FINNISH PORT fied Armi;0nly_“Nine Miles Away from Viipuri -Remarkable Speed BULLETIN —STOCKHOLM, ! June 20.—Reports reaching re- liable Swedish sources said the {Finns have yielded Viipuri to the Russian Army. MOSCOW, June 20. — The big guns of the Red Army, only nine miles away and within sight of the Pinnish seaport of Viipuri, poured Wallace Is Arrival in (h}lpgking Vice-President, Represen- tative of FDR Gives Out Statement CHUNGKING, June 20. — V President Henry A. Wallace, who [ | | SWIFT MOVE ENGINEERED - BY YANKEES 'Road from Cherbourg Re- sembles Tunisia After Break in Resistance By DON WHITEHEAD * WITH AMERICAN TROOPS’ is visiting China as a personal rep: ADVANCING TOWARD CHER: resentative of President Roosevelt,' BOURG, June 20.--Swiftly seizing arrived here today and immediate- the advantage, American troops ly urged closer relations between late yesterday drove. northward to China and Siberia. iwithin elght miles of Cherbourg The Vice President, in a state- and begsn shelling the port with ment issued at the airport after big guns. his arrival from Siberian ternwry.l There was hardly a pause from salvo after salvo into the oui-|quoted Dr. Hu Shih, former Ch!nesefthe time the doughboys smashed skirts. Tzvestia's Ossipov, s of the Red Army,” and the speed of the remarkable offensive is in- ereasing Major Nikolai Star correspondent, correspondent, Ivan Red the Shlankov, declared lof Ambassador to the United States, their way across the neck of the as having said that the boundlry;penmsula‘ beating back the frantic aid *Viipuri is “just aheuad|petween Siberia and China “should |German effort {o escape the trap be like the frontier between the of steel. until they wheeled and United States and Canada; not one swept toward Cherbourg. separation, but one jclumgi Sunday night alone they captur- friends together.” |ed 700 prisoners, whose units were Wallace said he wanted to see disorganized by the American coastal defenses of the Finns along|the land and talk to the farmers break-through. In three campalgns the Gulf of Viipuri have collapsed, land Soviet sailors are threatening ! soldiers. to cut off large numbers of the|talk to Chiang Kai Shek about break-through as the enemy in the little peninsulas south of the city.* Oufside Viipuri the Russians de- |concern.” |put out a report saying Wallace infantry brigades, and a fresh c2v-ijs now on the way to Mpscow. enemy a chance to recaver from | the Chlneae-American;I have never seen an army take so Above all, he wants to swift and decisive advantage of a Americans “matters of mutual interest and have done. For the past two days, |Sunday and Monday, they have been exploiting the break-through “w the hilt and are not giving the and visit The DNB, German news agency, affy” unit”of the crack “Finnisi “Yellow Regiment.” { There are no indications in Mcs-! cow that the Finns are seeking to reopen peace negotiations, anc the general view of the man in the street is that the Red Army will| soen be at the 1940 Russo-Fi 1| treaty frontier, 16 miles beyond Viipuri. | > 1 NAVY CANCELS CONTRACTWITH PAN AMERICAN SEATTLE, June 20—The Thir- teenth Naval District has an- nodnced that the Navy contract with Pdn American ‘Airways for! air transport service between Seat-! tle and Alaska, in operation since| September 1, 1942, is ordered can- celled on July 31. { The . cancellation displaces 900 Airways. employees and brings to an end a service in which the Air+ ways has flown equipment more than seven million ppiles, Capt O, 4. Sfudeman, Manager | of the ‘Aldska sector, said personnel’ | | lof thé Naval Air Transport Service1‘c,w, of .a Tokyo dispatch. will supplant civilign operators on, the Navy owned planes. | Studeman said the air line, which | seriousness of the situation. |will_continue to -operate on com- ! erican |meretal flights to Territorial points, |will retain about 500 of the 900 |affected by the cancellation, and | |others will be absorbed into other divisions of the system. Meanwhile further information as to future services is unavailable. TRUK ATOLL ISLES ARE HIT SUNDAY WASHINGTON, June 20.—Army bombers pounded Jap airfields on Moen Island in Truk atoll on Sun- day night with only meager op- position from the once strong enemy base. The Navy reported no fighter opposition and only light antiair- craft fire was encountered in the southwest Pacific Caroline Islands. Other bombers, flying through intense but inaccurate antiaircraft fire, shelled and bombed antiairerft { Nauru. — e SEATTLE MAN HERE John Hermann, of the P. E. Harris Company is registered at the Baranof from Seattle. German politiéal *Sources™ “belteve the “blows™ the "Germans sufféréd that there is a connection between when the doughboys knifed their his visit to Moscow and the United way across the peninsula. States desire to obtain from the; A stream of prisoners slogged Soviet Union cértain naval bases along the roads, the doughboys for the battle against Japan." iccverlng them with tommy guns. ——————— {The prisoners’ faces showed their bewilderment. The roads are lit- tered with wreckage of German vehicles and equipment and in some jApAN EASY‘the ranks of von Rommel's armies. FROMSAIPAN g1 papT Bl 6 PORT Japs Fearful of Shuttle At- tacks by Superfors. HAMMERED n! broke suddenly and confusion swept | | Arnim's and i (erican pilots will have the advan-| Based Near Home (By Associated Press) Jap fears that Saipan Island, where American <nvasion forces are now engaging the enemy, will be used as a base for shuttle bombing‘ missions over Tokyo by Superforts| flying to the Island from chlnn.; was expressed in a Berlin broad- | The report sald, “Competent Jap, sources are fully consclous of the/ Am- heavy bombers, especially those of the B-20 type, operating from Saipan ait bases, will have no difficulty in launching system- atic attacks on Tokyo, only 1,550 miles away. “Contrary to former attacks on! Japan from Chinese bases, the Am-| | i i < 1 { | tage of having to fly over grou.nd,' and only - while actually dropping the bombs, the approach, and the return flights will be made across| the sea, with no danger frcm Jap- anese interceptors.” A special communique issued by Jap headquarters said the Ameri- can forces which won the bridge- head on Saipan are being gradual-| ly reinforced, but asserted that Jap fliers have sunk one battle- ship two cruisers, one destroyer and one submarine, in addition to damaging 17 other ships and down- ing more than 300 planes. There; has been no confirmation of such| losses from U. 8. Pacific Fleet| headquarters. FROM LAND No Evidence of Mass Evac- udtion Nor of Large Counferatfack By NED NORDNESS SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 20—The swift Am- erlzgn ground advance toward Cher- bourg's back door should disclose within the next few hours whether the port, converted into one of the mightiest naval strongholds on the French coast, has been prepared with more improvised defenses against land attack. The port's concrete emplaced long range guns| would make Allied naval shelling a 1isky undertaking, and the Allies would have to use the heavy bat- teries of their capital ships and run a large risk. Fate Sealed The Americans are gaining ground so fast they have kept fully 12 hours ahead of the official re- ports clearing through headquar- ters, and the fate of Cherbourg appears to be sealed. The shelling of the prize port shows the strength of the Allied support “backing the assault. Al- though %5 mm. howitzers are able to pound the two main and two| secondary roads, the German with- drawal en Cherbourg and its ap- proaches at ranges of 8,000 to 12,000 lyards, it is obvious the Americans! NEW COMMAND IS GIVEN ADM. HALSEY WASHINGTON, June 20. — Ad- miral Willilam Halsey has been as- signed to command the Third Pa- cific Fleet, the Navy announces. must have 155 mm. “Long Tom" rifles and other heavy guns in order to reach Cherbourg from a point eight or more miles away. Large Force Trapped It is known that remnants of (Continued on Page Two) nes Smash at Enemy U. 5. FORCES WITHINFOUR MILES, PORT Offensive Max;ning in Fury -Germans Are Told fo Surrender NEW YORK, June 20.—Ger- man troops, cut off at Cher- bourg by the American ad- vance, have been warned over the BBC facilities their position is hopeless and “surrender will be the wisest move and any attempt to evacuate through the coastal waters of Cherbourg Peninsulg will be sure suicide.” The Germans were told the warning was made by a Brit- ish officer, and that the Ger- man treops under command of Col. Gen. Huergen von Armin have been trapped by the Am- erican Ninth Division, and they will not. gegret the decision to surrender. SUPREME HEADQUARTERS OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, June 20.—~American troops plunged to within four miles of Cherbourg late today in an all-out offensive that is mounting in fury, and also feized Valognes, 10 miles southenst of Cherbourg. ‘The.: | Division spearheaded the deepest drive directly south of Cherbourg and has made a death packet for perhaps up to 50,000 Nazis. * The Doughhboys seized Valognes and pushed a mile beyond and cleaned out the Germans, . The Gg are falling ‘buck upon the inner ‘perimeter of Cherbourg defenses. Associated Press Correspondent Roger Greene said the Germans fell back at Valognes without attempt- ing a major stand. The power drive directly south of Cherbourg has carried the Ninth Division's battering ram nearly six miles north of captured Bricquebec on the eastern coast. The trap is quickly tightening on Cherbourg. ‘Two miles southwest of Tilly Sur Seulles, the British are battling against a wall of Nazi armor. The Germans are attempting counter- attacks. American forces on the west coast have also made progress north of Barneville, where the first break- through was made sealing off the top of Cherbourg Peninsula, Op- position in this sector is reported light. Reconnalssance flights late this afternoon disclosed the Germans are demolishing the port of Cherbourg and it is now in bad shape, indi- cating they have given up hope of holding it very long. FINNISH MINISTER GETS PASSPORT; SENATOR SORR WASHINGTON, June 20.—For- eign policy was discussed by both houses of Congress today as Sec of State Cordell Hull declined discuss specific matters that him to hand Finnish Minister cope his passport last week. Sen. Arthur H. Vande: Lerg brought up the Finnish actiou in the Senate, expressing deep regret at the State Department’s action and voicing hope that an eleventh hour intervention by this country might bring about a Russian-Fin- nish armistice. Across the Capital, Rep. John M. Coffee proposed a resolution recommending that the United States sever diplomatic relations with Spain and extend aid to the Spanish guerilla armies to permit them to overthethrow the Franco regime. | el . SHINGLE FIRE The Juneau Fire Department was called out this noon to answer an alarm at Third and Franklin Streets, where a shingle fire was quickly extinguished. There was very slight damage reported.