The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 8, 1945, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA “ALL THE NEWS ILL THE TIME” SERIAL RECORD APRG 1945 VOL. LXIV., NO. 9880 “AU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1945 ODER LINE PIERCED: BERLIN IN PANIC Yanks Rip Third Holein Crumbling West Wall PUSH INTO | GERMANY IS CONTINUING Germans Still Saying on Radio Allies Ready- ing for Offensive PARIS, Feb. 8—U. S. troops and tanks ripped a third hole in the buckling West Wall fortifications | in what looked like a start of a break-through to the Rhine, 27 miles beyond. The U. S. forces are nearing a giant dam, whose flood could drown out any Allied smash across the German plain, farther north. German broadcasts said the hour for a major Allied offensive was near. Flurries of enemy air warn- ings indicated the skies over Hol- land were alive with raiding Allied warplanes. Last night's big British: air smash behind the West Wall had the earmarks of a softening-up for the big push. The First Army drilled the new- est hole in the Siegfried Line by capturing the hill-girt stronghold of Schmidt, 15 miles southeast of Aachen as American blows were redoubled on the 70-mile front in- side Germany. More than 30 miles south of Schmidt the Third Army battered to within a mile and a quarter of the besieged fortified road and rail- | way center of Pruem, while farther south, the Third, hacking deeper into the Eifel Mountains of West- ern Germany, against terrific fire and with two armies already on the attack, were aimed at the Rhine or beyond. Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, had three other armies poised for action: The Canadian First, in Holland; the British Second, and the U. S. Ninth on the Roer River, before the Cologne plain. A village in the center of the bloody Hurtgen Forest fell to the First Army's Seventy-Efghth In- fantry Division, which slashed al- most to the bank of the big reser- voir forming the 1,082-foot Sch- wammenauel Dam. Front line reports said Gen. George S. Patton is pouring more troops across the Luxembourg border into Germany at 10 new points, crossing from 16 to nearly 32 miles southwest of Pruem. A T OA e T ROLE | | | FIRE FIENDS ATMANILA AREROUTED :Yanks Clear Jap Demoli- tion Squads from Rav- THIS IS A BRITISH ARTIST'S IMPRESSION of the way German submarines might launch flying bombs against the United States. The U-boats, each of which would carry two to four bombs, could be easily adapted for, la_unch- ing by building a structure on the forecasing. After firing the bombs, the subs could dive. (International) TWO CONVOYS War Scandals Being Prevented in Disposal OF NIPPONS ARE BOMBED Ships Takin?_Supplies fo Jap Bases Are Hit, - Nimitz Reports UNITED STATES PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, FOR- WARD AREA, Feb. 8—Attacking with rocket bombs, Marine Mitchell bombers hit a large Japanese con- voy north of the Volcano Islands on Tuesday, and left another burn- ing north of the Bonins, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz reports. The Marine bombers scored hits and disrupted -the two convoys which were taking supplies to the sorely pressed Bonin and Volcano Island groups on the Mariana based B-29 road to Tokyo. Army Liberators also hit instal- lations at Chichi Jima and Ototo Jima in the Bonins the same di PVT. WEBER WONTHANG ONGALLOWS \Principal in Nationwide, | Case Will Serve Life ‘ CAMP ROBERTS, Calif., Feb. 8.— Pvt. Henry Weber is out of the shadow of the gallows, his death {in disposing of Surp!u_s War Maierials By JACK STINNETT SHINGTON, Feb. 8—If th y benefit at all in fighting two major wars virtually in one genera- tion it is that many mistakes of the first can be avoided in the second That's what the Treasury Pro- curement Division is seeking to do in one of the most drastic directives issued around here recently. Pro- curement already has started dis- posing of millions of dollars worth of surplus materials. As the war nears its end and turns into peace,! these sales will climb into billions. Af the First World War (you may not remember, but many gov- ernment officials do) the scandals surplus property To avoid any- time, John sensational like that this to Treasury Se issued e | trict aged Section of City By C. YATES McDANIEL (AP War Corcespondent) MANILA, Feb. 8-—The fire-rav- |aged business district of Manila 'has been cleared of Japanese de- molition squads by the Yanks who |arq now holding all the area north of the Pasig River, but American |troops are still held up in the Pasay |suburbs, southwest of the edge of the city, by continued bitter re- sistance. | Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who | visited the city yesterday, during |which a Nipponese shell fell within 1100 feet of him, announces slow progress in his communique, which |listed enemy casualties in the Luzon {campaign at about 48,000, and Am- erican casualties in the correspond- ing four-week period at 7,076, in- icluding a known 1,609 killed. Fred Hampson, Assoc d Press |War Correspondent, in delay field report, states there are la few enemy pockets—small ones— |in the north sector of Manila |which, the communique reported {tosny, had been cleared. | Hampson said Japanese troops {the center of the city, south of the | Pasig River, began burning part of that section Wednesday. This dis- contains the Manila Hotel, Army and Navy Club, High Com- \missioner’s residence and other historic structures. | The First Cavalry of the Thirty- Seventh {Division has won = the |northern section of Manila, adja- cent to Quezon City, and the Eleventh Airborne Division is still mopping up in the vicinity of Nichols Field, on the southern fringes. All bridges across the wide and deep Pasig River, dividing Manila, have been blown up by the enemy, Gen. MacArthur announces, .- a ADVANCE al Three enemy fighters were seen Sentence changed to life imprison- over the target, but tiey failed to ment but his wife is continuing the ping order to take any outside A influence whatever off procurement | livision officials. | front dispatch said the Germans didn’t appear to have many troops on the line opposing Patton, but had plenty of ammunition. e EDMUNDS HERE and Mrs. M. C. Edmunds,’ are registered at the, make interceptions. Far to the north, in the Kuriles, the Eleventh Air Force Liberator: |oko, on Shimushu Tuesday. ———————— SUCCESS ON LUZONCAME VERY FAST Mr. Anchorage, Baranof. The Washington, Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col. Robert S. Allen now on active service with the Army.) | merrY Go—moore weto T T1T ' A5 Resulf, Says Gen.Wede- | WASHINGTON—The inside story | of how certain U. S. agencies were blocked in the efforts to build up an Anti-Hitler Committee | of Germans to help defeat the China Defenses Nazis can now be told. It is especi- | ally significant in view of the| CHUNGKING, Feb. 8Lt Gen. Committee of 10,000 Germans ‘Wedemeyer said the American suc- meyer, Nips Prepare which the Russians have organized ©€sS on Luzon .camg more swiftly | inside Russia, and whose broad- than the Japanees expected and has casts to the German people from caused the enemy to accelerate prep- Russia speeded the amazing ad-| arations to meet an American land- vance of the Red Army across ing in China. The Japanese hope | to establish a deep belt to meet this Poland. | The German Committee mslde‘conungency, the commander of the Russia is headed by Field MarshaI,U- S. Army Forces in China told a Friedrich von Paulus, former com- |Press conference. mander at Stalingrad, and by his! Everything they do in China is bombed the enemy base at Kata- | |fight for her soldier mate, 27, | shipyard foreman in a Vancouver, | Wash., plant, before drafted | Weber was sentenced by a court- | martial to hang because he refused | to carry arms and refusing to drill |attention. | Yesterday, by direction of | commanding General of Camp R |erts, the court-martial reconvened | ’and revoked the death sentence, and sentencedt Weber to life imprison- Iment at hard labor, gave him a| the | ob- | aj |dishonorable discharge and ordered | {his pay forfeited. | | | | WIFE STANDS BY GI | PORTLAND Oregon, Feb. 8.—Mrs. Grace Weber, wife of Pvt. Weber, | today conferred with American Civil | | Liberties officials. She declared life {imprisonment of her husband was ill outrageous.” As their young son, Wayne, 34, [ climbed on her lap, she told of her | 'husband’s objections to bearing arms. | “That is something Henry has be- i |lieved since I've known him, 1said. “The army has known “He told them when he registered | that he did not believe in killing his fellow men. When he went up for his physical examination he told them again. | “When he reported for induction, he told the officers there about it, | His case has attracted nationwide | | surfa The orders are that no employee may acespt any gratuity of kind, either “directly or indirectly” And Mr. Pehle defines gratuities as gifts, jobs for relatives, tips on events or the stock accomodations at clubs or hotels, or any kind of free trans- portation. All procurement busir has to be conducted on the premises except | in special instances where supervis- approve. The employees are asked not to go to dinners, luncheons or any oth- er social functions where the per- sons with whom they are dealing are their hosts. In addition, all employees of the division whose salaries are $2,000 or more have to file a report of their personal or financial relationships with any firm which is now or even might be interested in the purchase of surplus war goods. Violation of the order wili mean severe disciplinary action or out- right dismissal. If that order stands and isn't winked at, the public need have little fear of recurrence of the post- war scandals of 25 years ago. 1t probably won't appear on the , but one of the ind-the- scenes battles on the work-or-jail deputy commander, Gen. Wilhelm based on strategic defensive ¢onsid- |and they checked back with his draft | bill will be over which agency will von Seydlitz. Their broadcasts have erations but this doesn't preclude told the Germans and especially the possibility of limited offensives. the German Generals, that the! RV Saiton S B Russians did not seek to destroy EIGHT PASSENGERS their factories or their country,’ ~ LEAVE VIA PAN AM but only to throw off the yoke of Abeavmg today by Pan American the Hitlerites. They have also con-|Alrways plane for Seattle were tacted many German Generals and the following passengers: Charles won over thousands of prisoners Sellers, Gustaf Gustafson, Howard withoiit firing a shot. | Phillips, C. William Cady. More than two years ago, Gen.| Leaving for Fairbanks Mrs. William Donovan's Office of Stra-!Grace Butrovich, Christian Roust, 'Mrs. Belva Roust, and Christian Roust, Jr. (Continued on Page Four) board. Then an officer advised him: | | “‘Well, there doesn’t seem to be | ,much we can do. If I were you, I'd | | object every place you can ... When | they order you to carry a gun,! object.” | “Here he’s only following orders ' and they're going to shoot him.” Henry’s objection to carrying, |arms, Mrs. Weber said, does not | stem from religious convictions. He ! is a member of the American So-| administer it. The bill, introduced by House Military Affairs Committee Chair- man May, provides that Selective Service shall administer the act This would mean almost the appearance of the War Manpowe Commission. e — FROM GULL COVE Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Graham of Gull Cove, Alaska, are staying at the Gastineau Hotel, any | STALLED Limied Offensive of Yank | Fifth Army Stopped ‘ in Mountains | ROME, Feb. 8 |fensive by the American Fiith Army troops in the mountains |southeast of Bologna has been |stalled against strongly-fortified {enemy positions, the Allied Com- (mand said today. | The Doughboys were halted after forcing their way forward up to 600 yards in two days of bitter fighting in severe weather. The sudden thaw in the Appen- | nines hindered the advance, but |the attacking Yanks gained the |crest of one ridge, where they were forced to dig in against counter-| attacking Nazi troops. | the Eighth Army| still confined to limited he limited of- patrolling. Morefilies for Postmasters in Alaska Territory WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — The House Post Office Committee has approved the bill of former Al- aska Delegate, Anthony J. Dimond, authorizing and directing Alaska postmasters to perform the duties jof notaries of public within the |territory. B Gene Smith, of Skagway,.is stay- ing at the Gastineau. Puge! Sound, Yancouver RED FORCES Sections Threatened by HAMMERING Severe Flood Conditions ALONGRIVER Weds Chrysler Heir i couver, 1 years. : miles south . undated trapped ; last night, but the weather bureau DODGING-a society wedding, Wal- ter P. Chrysler Jr., heir to the mo- tor fortune, was married quietly and quickly in Norfolk, Va., to love- ly Jean Outland, daughter of an in= surance man, Miss Outland had re- cently been a gym teacher at a branch of William and Mary Col- lege in Virginia. (International) NIPPONS DEMAND ACTION Ask Premi(;r‘ Io Call Diet Session — Mobilize All Manpower (By Associated Press) The Tokyo radio says more than 250 influential members of the Jap- anese House of Representatives are concerned over the “critical war sit- uation” and have demanded Premicr Koiso convene a special session of the Diet to create a “production army.” i The broadcast is Domei and was recorded United States by the FCC. The broadcast quoted the House members as saying “they are mo- tivated to the belief that production is the key to victory and mobiliza- tion of the nation's manpower and resources and total utilization of all industrial resources are essential if the nation’s fighting strength is to be augmented.” D reported in the 4500Persons V-WEAPON Rescuedfrom | ATTACKS, Death Camp Feb. 8—The Russian reached 4,500 per- sons held by the Na: in the death camp at Brtescze, 35 miles south of Krakov, the Moscow radio said in a broadcast tonight. In the camp were four gas cham- bers and 12 incenerators. Thousands are believed to have been put to death in the camp. The few found bayoneted to death. e CAA MAN HERE LONDON Red Army Fred D. Newburn of the CAA [s'24 hours, a guest at Hotel Juneau. by ed teday. Nazi attendants were caused heavy damage and many - PAST WEEK [ | SEATTLE, Feb. 8—Flood danger, particularly in the Puged Sound area and British Columbia, in the wake of a heavy rainstorm in the Pacific Northwest and the Van- B. C. sections is reported, in the worst flood conditions in 10 One Bridgehead Reported Established 30 Miles from Reich Capital LONDON, Feb. 8.—The Moscow radio today said the “Oder line has been pierced and Berlin is in a panic, witnessing the crumbling last obstacle of its forefield.” A prior broadcast by an American radio chain commentator sgid Stal- in’s Capital City was hourly ex- pecting an official announcement that the First White Russian Army had smashed across the Oder River in force ‘“signifying a cemplete breakdown of the Oder Line.” Seven Bridgcheads Berlin accounts said the Russians have hammered out seven bridge- heads on the Berlin front, one of them 30 miles northeast of the Capital City and many smaller ones along the 185-mile river from Lati- bor, Silesia, to Gruenberg, 50 miles southeast of Frankfurt. The Moscow radio says Himmler has massed S8 troops. Highways Jammed The roads leading from Berlin, south and west, are jammed with traffic and refugees in flight. While Stalin has not confirmed the breaking of the Oder Line on the Berlin front, Soviet advances said Marshal Zhukov's massed artil- lery is pounding at the weakest link in the capital's defenses on the low western bank of the Oder between Kustrin and Stettin where it runs northeast of Berlin, Berlin accounts said one bridge- head is at Goeritz, 5% miles south of Kustrin and 4] miles east of Berlin. 3 Goebbels Ships Out A broadcast from Moscow says Himmler has entrusted the defensc of Berlin to the Defense Council, Goebbels, who was entrusted with the city’s defenses, has fled to south- ern Germany. ‘The Moscow radio yesterday de- nied that Goebbels had fled. A fierce battle is in progress on the west side of the Oder and only liquidation of additional enemy pockets remain on the east side: S ee——— TEN KILLED WHEN PLANE - GOES (RASH Six Members of Briish For- eign Office Victims of Accident Cloverdale district, 25| of Vancouver, 23,- arming land are in- In_ the 000 acres of Heavy damage by wind and rain is reported throughout the lower mainland, and farm lands are flooded from a depth of 18 inches to three feet. Many farmers left in boats and several people been rescued from drowning The number of cars and trucks by the rising waters is now over 385. | Vancouver was drenched in a continuous 29-hour downpour. The heavy rain, however, ceased late their homes have today says the let-up is-only tem- porary. High winds in other sections of the Northwest constituted an ad- ditional problem, but they also abated during the night. | Although the weather bureau re- | duced storm warnings over the straits and inland waters of Wash- ington, ‘sthdll boat owners along the coast of Washington and Oregon, where high winds prevailed yester- day, have been warned to remain in port. The Navy weather bureau ob- server at Astoria, Oregon, yester- day reported winds of gale velo- city, ranging to 80 miles an hour. At Hoquiam, a 70-mile-an-hour gale prevailed for hours, blocking highways with fallen trees and debris and smashing store win- dows. PRSI SRR OVER 25,000 CASUALTIES, Newest Figures Are Re- leased Today by Both Army and Navy WASHINGTON, Feb. 8-—Ameri- can combate casualties since the be- ginning of the war have reached 7€4,584, the Army and Navy disclos- rotary of War Henry L. Stim- son placed the Army's losses at 676,7966. The Navy listed a total of 87788. This represents an overall increase of 27,242 since last week’s report. ! Stimson said 865,000 German pris- | oners had been taken on the West- | ern front since the invasion began.| LONDON, Feb. 8—Six members The Army dead is 130,000; Navy ©f the British Foreign Office are 33,000. among 10 passengers killed when |a plane carrying aides to Prime |Minister Winston Churchill crashed lenroute to the “Big Three” con- |ference. PFive other passengers plane were injured. It is not revealed where the crash occurred. ——————— on the e STOCK QUOTATIONS | D NEW YORK, Feb. 8 — Closing {quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 7%, American Can 190%, Anaconda 31%, Beech Air- craft 12%, Curtiss-Wright 6, Inter- national Harvester 77%, Kennecott 38, North American Aviation 10, New York Central 23%, Northern Pacific 19%, U. S. Steel 60', Pound $4.04. Dow, Jones averages today are as ‘Jollaws: Industrials, 155.54; rails, 49.85; utilities, 27.52. JEELDIe L A Heavy Property Damage, Many Casualties in 24 Hours LONDON, Feb. pon attacks on 8—Nazi V-wea- southern England.- casualties, the Air nounces. FROM SPOKANE The attacks, which continued for’ Virginia Delgrove, of Spokane, ended at dawn this Washington, is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. Ministry an- morning.