The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 23, 1945, Page 1

THE DAILY Al.: “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” SERIAL RECORD SKA EMPIR VOL. LXIV., NO. 9893 jUM AU, ALASKA, FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23, 1945 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS —_——— ] EISENHOWER LAUNCHES NEW OFFENSIVE nd-to-the War Stroke Heralded By Stalin RED FORCES MASSED ON GREAT ARC {1-Mile Smash Through! German Reinforced | Lines Announced BULLETIN — LONDON, Feb. 23—Stalin announced tonight the Red Army's capture of . Poxnan, Poland’s third largest city, after crushing the hold- out Nazi garrison which blocked the main rail route, Warsaw to Berlin. Poznan fell after a siege of 20 d: Stalin says 23,000 Germans, including the mili- tary commander, Maj. Gen. Mattern and his entire staff. The Russians are also re- ported by the Germans as fighting within 32 miles of Danzig, and to have broken into another encircled town, fortress Grudziadz. BULLETIN —WASHINGTON, Feb. 23—President Roosevelt has messaged Stalin: “Far reaching decision taken at Yalta will hasten victory and establishment of a firm foun- dation for lasting peace.” The message is sent on the 2ith anniversary of the Red Army and constitutes the President’s first direct formal published comment on the Crimea Con- ference. With a bit of a smile, Adm. Wil Fleet Commander listens attenti in Washington en a surprise visit Atmiral King,” he said. LONDON, Feb. 23.—Russian troops|{ having almost encircled the fortress! of Guben in an ll-mile smash | through reinforced German lines, are reported massingsalong the arc, 30 to 50 miles east and southeast of Berlin for an end-to-the-war stroke which was triumphantly her- alded by Premier Joseph Stalin. | “A complete victory over the Ger- (Continued on Paye Sew{z) The Washington Merry - Go-Round By DREW PEARSON Col. Robert S. Allen now on active service with the Army. FIREWORKS BY HOUSE (Lt. WASHINGTON —If members of Congress are not careful, they are going to kill the Goose that lays the Golden Egg when it comes to medical attention at the ~Navy’s modern, streamlined Bethesda,! Maryland, hospital. Though it was built for Naval] patients, a steady stream of elderly Congressmen has been going out to| the hospital at a time when hos- | pital rooms are crowded and nurses | Appropriations Bill in scarce, for bargain-counter mcdlcal‘tms morning fanned attention. lembers of bitter feelings A Congressman pays a flat rate!flames. X at Bethesda of $5 a day. This gives| pe cries of “insult” hang from him a private room on the seven- |yt majority and minority mem- teenth floor, where he commands yeyg of the big ten-man Ways and a beautiful view of the Mmylnndlens Committee. Two days ago countryside. Also, it includes all|ypey, the bill was introduced, min- medicines, nurses, doctors, snd ority members shouted ‘“railroad- L ling” and found insult in that they While the bargain rate given t0|.;aq not even seen the bill” while Congressmen is not begrudged in|yoqay when the minority report view of meagre Congressional sal-| . “yend majority members howled aries, their attitude someumes n’:ull:' in return and decried the ety Jnich resgnie: impunging of their alleged “lack The other day Senator Clyde of study.” Reed of Kansas arrived at the g i o hospital. It was a busy day. A lot! A vote to have the minority re- of enlisted men had arrived and had |Port incorperated in the day’s jour- to be taken care of. The Senator Dal was defeated, 18 to 6. Minor- was forced to wait for a moment | lty members of the W. and Means in front of the reception desk, then | Commitice, submitting the report, in charge of Miss Clyde Kelly,|Were, Shattuck, Gill, Linck, and daughter of the late distinguished Walsh. ~Majority — members are GOP Congressman from Pittsburgh, |Chairman Hanford, McCutcheon, Pennsylvania, who bore the same (Peratrovich, Cross, Gill, Diamond name. {and Hoop: Impatient, the Senator from| The minori Kansas finally burst forth: | this morning storm is as follows “I am Senator Reed. What about| “The following members of your some service?” |Committee on Ways and Means who The hospital is short-handed and |Pave been considering general ap- no messengers were present at the Propriations for the biennium 1945- moment to show the Senator to his /1947, submit to the House the fol- room. So Miss Kelly volunteered. lowing minority report: “Will you take the elevator to your! “It is the duty of the Ways and room, Senator?” she suggested. |Means Committee to investigate “Certainly,” he stormed, “you thoroughtly ea ch measure ap- don't think I'm going to walk, do propriating public money and, after you?” hnre(ul consideration and study, to “Would you like me to carry your place its findings before the House. bag?” volunteered Miss Kelly. ‘ “The most important task facing “I certainly would,” shot back the 'this Committec is that of recom- (Continued on Page Four) u Report Hits Thoughtless cu Spending of People’s Money A minority report on the General the House smouldering to open s y report which caused (Continued on Page Thiee) iam F. Halsey, Jr., (left) U. S Adm. Ernest J. King at a dinner in Washington, D. C. (AP Wirpehoto) Canol Project May Be - Shuf Down This Spring; Write 0"3134 000 000 TURKEY i MINORITY Halsey Listens as King Talks AIR BLOWS ON RE!CH CONTINUE | AImosIde fhbusand Am- erican Planes Blast at Nazi Railyards | LONDON, Feb. least yards and other rail transportation | targets were blasted by erican planes today | Continuing their gigantic offen- sive to knock out the German |transport system that feeds both the Eastern and Western fronts, a force of more than 1250 Flying Fortresses and Liberators, escorted by 650 fighters, followed the same pattern as yesterday's assault. They ! spread out smash at relatively 12,000 feet There 1,900 Am- wides; low pread targets from altitudes, 6,000 to indication this operation is only part of a free- for-all attack by all seven Allied air commands in this theatre and Italy, which probably put 5,000 pmm\ in the air following yester- blow by 700 bombers and | tighters. is every 5. Third ely to a story being told by Fleet Halsey arrived e “on orders from from in been the ruinous attacks on Germany both the south and the west, which 20,000 planes have wn against the Reich s =dpagt three days. More than 1,100 aircraft Italy joined the attack yesterday, hitting 54 separate rail targets in Germany, Austria and Italy The RAF kept the offensive go- ing last night, Mosquito bombers hifting Berli x\(l n(]\m' objecti from the Pa in from WASHINGTON, Feb. 23—The Army about ready to close down Canadian oil development and to write off much of the $134,000,000 invesiment of a strategic AT eX- | penditure, informed Congressional | sources. said War Department rep- | resentatives reported Unless combined Chiefs of Staff coverrule the move the Canol opera- tion will be shut down after a re- survey of its potentialities this upring. | line in the needs for petrol- eum supplies in Al:l‘ka\ probably wiil be given as the reasen for closing | down. | ‘ The Senate Committee formally nounced the Turkish Assembly ]cmm; d the project as a waste of yoted unanimously to declare | money. Secretary Harold Ickes told | against Germany and Japan. | Congress last year it “ought to be| rhis action was taken as a result Jistod, now.” of the decision at the “Big Three” | Lt Gen. Brehon Somervell "“_“" Conference to qualify as “Associated told Congress the Ganol project Nations” all countries to take up undertaken as a desperate strateg arms against the Axis before move “when our backs were to the \Maroh. wall,” with the threatened p in-} e Turkish Assembly voted un- TODECLARE WAR, AXIS Nation Has to Move to Get Seat at Conference at San Francisco LONDON, Feb. 23.—Ankara an- has war -, —— DUMBARTON QAKS "' | M\mster effect set up a Regional Dumbar-/pe thrown into the Pacific War economic, communications and'japan as well as Gewnany. council to cooperate on a regional stock today is 7%, American Can AT GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL |New York Central 24, Northern vasion of the Aleutian Islan animously to adhere tb the United Nations declaration of unconditional The disclosure that a declaration of war was the price of a seat at SED the San Francisco Conference on plAN IS pRo | World Security to be held in April, ES |was made by the Turkish Foreign MEXI(AN TAlKF The startling Turkish announce- ‘ment pictured Russia as being in MEXICO CITY- F0b< 23 — P”"‘ the front in the war against japan. posals put before the Inter-Am-| The Turkish announcement also erican Conference which would in'hinted the Russian armies might ton Oaks plan, compulsory sanc- as soon as Germany is crushed, tions if the frontier of any Ameri- and implied the Soviet Union is can country were violated. Laligned with the United States and Colombia presented @ proposallBritain in the demand that neu- which provides joint diplomatic, tral countries enter the war against military penalties against any| ———..———— country which threatens or nctually‘ the peace in this hemis-i S‘I’o(K ouo]“"o"s Meanwhile, Bolivia prepared for | : presentation of a plan to set up| NEW YORK, . Feb, 33 —Closing an American social and economic quotation of Alaska-Juneau Mine besis with the Dumbarton Oaks 93%, Anaconda 33%, Beech Air- plan. lcraft 12%, Bethlehem Steel 72'i, |Curtiss Wright 6%, International | Harvester 79 Kenrecdtt 392, {North American Aviation 10'% ; Michael Zuskoff, of the Minfield Pacific 21%, U. S. Steel 82';, Pound Home, and Mrs. Emma Mercer, of $4.04. Hoonah, have been admitted to the Dow, Jones averages today are as Government Hospital for medical follows: Industrials, 158.99; rails attention, 51.49; utilities, 28.07. in small formations to! l‘.l.,“l()NT WAITE AP War Correspondent) U. iS. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD- QUARTERS, GUAM, Feb. —~The }T\M‘U'\-Inull hard-fighting Ul.nrd | States Marines, who have paid the highest price of any battle in the | Pacifie- -hour fight with 5 casualties Iwo Jima, |wrested the 546 foot Maunt Suri- bachi, at the south tip the island, from the Japanese, and the United States flag was raised on the crater’s rim at 10:35 o'clock this mornimg by the Twenty-Eighth tegiment, signalling the end of one phase ol the five-day-old stru Admiral Chester W. Nimitz nounces. The victory was brief communique in which it ve of an- announced in a soon after one | minor advances had been through Thursday © against opposition. Earlier, only Marine p. m. Wednesday, and disclosed 4,168 Marines had been Kkilled wounded, and 56 were missing. Since then several battles have raged. No invasion in the Pacific war, for a comparative period, S0 many American casualties. It was Thur a virtual On Wednesday visions, the Third, Fourth Fifth, inched forward slightly fierce | stalemate base in the center and constricted their lines around Middle. was reported that only | Suribachi. _ I their e o « w Seleive Service Board Membersto SoonBeRewarded SEES BATILE Joe Rosenthal (above), Associated Press phetographer with the war- time still picture pool, who landed on Iwo Jima, said U. Marines were advancing from shell hole to shell hole. (AP “lreplmtu} PLANE IS DOWN WITH 22 ABOARD; WRECKAGE SPOTTED BRISTOL, Va., Feb. 23—Ameri- can Airlines officials said an air- plane pilot has spotted wreckage American Transcontinental Airliner, four miles southwest of a rural retreat in Virginia. An official said the pilot re- ported he flew over the wreckage at a height of 100 feet but saw no signs of the 19 passengers and crew of three who were believed to be aboard the plane, which is down in rough country. — e | MRS. HOPE HERE Mrs. Andrew Hope, wife of Repre- entative Hope, arrived on the Northland from Sitka. { | 1 | coming {and By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. to the thousands of women on Selective boards throughout the country. Rep. Walter G. Andrews (I:'Iug‘\l e from Buffalo, £ervice medals to all uncompensat- ed civilian workers who have Served on local and appeal boards. to_imagine why it unte get commendjng them for one of the won't, the a really great voluntary jobs in this Fourth and the 503rd Paratroop | war, | ev + have For years, S. S. board members of had a tHankless task. When Japanese with liquid fire and ex- they were right in their decisions, ything was fine. When they | Were wrong, and some have been be- | cause instructigns often were con- fusing and obscure, they have had to take it on the chin. On the Hill T'm told there is little possibility - { that Congressman Andrews measure | ' had become obsolete. | the won't come through, There's so much news these days about the wrong disposal of surplus war materials, it's apt to be over- locked that government agencies aren’t doing a bad job. For example, there's that case of the surplus life rafts. These metal gimmicks belonged to the Navy and The Navy de- cided to dispose of them at salvage pnr“ — approximately 50 cents a :} Over mission, through which disposal was (to be made, a sales-minded execu- tive got other ideas. He ordered a drawing $4) of a bathing beauty on one of the rafts. He | had these photostated anll sent out to prospective buyers at beaches and seash The result: Sixty already have been sold for a total of $3,000 just $2,300 more than Navy wanted to scrap them for— (cost e clubs. land there still are more than 1,300 for sale believed to be that of an overdue|9one a This isn't the only instance in which the Maritime Commission has sales job on surplus property. Not long ago they were swamped with a surplus of ship running lights |—port, starboard and taffrail lan- terns. idea One bright lad hit on the of advertising these lights for sale this way: “Wouldn't you like a nautical effect in your den or bar?” That ad disposed of hundreds of lights at the same price the gov- ernment, paid for them. At the Commissi moment, the Maritime on s dx:posm" of muu - " (Continued on Page Seven) WARIN PACIFIC U. 5. Hag Floafs Over iwo Jima Mount After Most Desperale Ballle lUlON MADEr mm‘ln Manila, Yanks Make a2 communique covered casualties through 6| or| | has cost'of reported that gains on in San Bernardino Straits, just off | ay were so slight as to affect | Luzon’s long three Marine Di-|from the maih shipping route from and the United States to Manila. | on! the north toward the enemy fighter Small, of the island miles long and two wide in the | sified as Pirst Cavalry Yanks made !yeady for the grand a |tempting to pound an entrance-way | 23.—Recog- Thirty-Seventh nition of services rendered is finally men men Hall, Service bitter hand-to-hand fight in which GOP bpuilding four times in the face of N. Y, has withering machine-gun fire, | introduc ed a bill to give Selective going in to stay. If the continued in the luxurious Manila proposal becomes law, and it's hard Hotel. vol- first floor, T Selective Service offigjals will ing stubbornly lapel medal and certificate second floor, in the Mavitime Com-| |Tes feet in a complete run of 1,800 feet. 1 | erican TANKS, WITH INFANTRY, IN INVASION OF Underway —‘Panon s Forces Advance BULLETIN, PARIS, Feb. 23 =G erman broadoasts tonight said Gen. ' Dwight Eisenhower has started his “grand scale of- fensive” toward the Ruhr, and has bridged over the stream in several places and advanced two miles east of the river in a shattering power-drive, with tanks, artillery and infantry. The Germans said the big push was preceded by a three- hour artillery barrage of “thousands of guhs,” and the attack was on a 35-mile front from Roermund to Duren, mounted by the American Ninth and First Armies. It commands the straits. PARIS, Feb. 23—German reports through which the' Japanese. sent asserted today that Gen. Dwight fleet to’ harass the Am- Eisenhower has launched a great of Leyte last Oc- offensive toward the Ruhr and the v ,Rhlne crossing the Roer River with tanks and infaniry on both sides of Linnich, a river bastion 28 miles west of Cologne. The tanks, they declared, were striking down 15 miles toward Duren and striving to roll up the east bank lines which have held the Alliés in check since December. Supreme Headquarters gave ho confirmation to the report. North of the Hoer section, the !American Third and the Canadian First Armies made gains, and still farther south, the American ‘Seventh Army moved to within a mile and a half of ‘the Saar capital of Saarbrucken and won two-thirds of Forbach. Patton's Army Advances Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army advanced up to twd and a half miles in the Moselle Valley and is now within four and a half miles of Trier, keystone of the Nazi defenses before the middle Rhine. The Third Army forced a third crossing of the Saar River north- west of Saarburg and started fight- ing in the Siegfried Line, which lies Jjust east of the Saar River. In the Pruem sector, columns squeezing the German salient east of Luxumbourg moved to within eight miles of a junction with the town after the place had fallen. Canadians Make Gains Canadian First Army gains on the north flank of the Roer River front were up to a mile and a half of the fortified road bastion |of Calcar, which was slowly being ‘mveswd Scottish vanguards pushed BIG SEIZURE half a mile down the Gotch-Weeze I |road, the Canadians fanning out to ITAlY FRONT the north and moving half a mile toward the subsiding Rhine. The weather worsened, slowing the pace of the aerial onslaught Fughi Way Through Fierce: Resistance from Dug-in Germans Ready for Grand As- sault on Inframuros By (. YATES McDANIEL | (AP War Correspondent) | MANILA, eb. 23—Veteran Yanks | the Thirty-Seventh Infantry | Division invaded tiny Capul Island | Wednes- | the Japs outhern tip, day in a move to clear the | five | light which Opposition oval was island, on is war invasion [nh(-l’. Attack On Intramuros Meantime, in Manila, point-blank {shelling of the thick east wall of | the Intramuros section was inten- sault to clean up the Japanese Garrison there. Howitzers and cannon were at-| through the tanks which assault. Front thick walls for will spearhead the the reports said® part of the Division Infantry- three-story City Intramuros, after a seized the near the from the Yanks withd before Room-To-Room Fight Bitter room-to-room fighting The Americans captured the but the enemy is fight- on and ,above the On Corregidor, the Twenty- Division continued exterminating the the grim task remaining plosives, | Which yesterday gave the Germans |the most widespread aerial bom- bardment of the war. AR A O FISHERMEN DRAFTED IN WAR CAUSE Industry Is Threatened De- clares Magnuson- Bill Infroduced WASHINGTQN, Feb. 23 —A lack the m,m of unity in the policy of drafting flank of the Americans captured | wmmuu.\l fishermen is “seriously Mount Castello and dug in on the|endangering” the industry, Senator peak under heavy enemy mortar Warren G. Magnuson of Washing- fire. |ton declared. He has introduced a |bill to put these workers on a par with farm labor in the essential pro- duction of food One serious trouble, Magnuson said, is that draft boards are taking fish boat captdins and chief engin- with the result that the whole crew is taken out of production, ROME, Feb. 23—American troops, exploiting their capture of Mount Belvedere, west of the Pistoia-Bo- logna Highway, stormed through the elaborate German trench sys-| tem and seized 3,500-foot Mount Torraccia in a two-mile advance The Yanks launched their at- tack from both sides of dominating | Mount Belvedere, and fought their | way forward in the face of fierce! stance from dug-in Germans. The terrain is so difficult that some casualties were evacuated by a cable tramway which makes a| virtually vertical descent of 1,350 Brazilian troops on - TO SITKA Mrs. S8arah Calvin, who has been south for several weeks, arrived in Juneau for a brief visit; then left vesterday, via Coastal Airlines, for |eer her home in Sitka ACK