The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 1, 1945, Page 1

= 'S ~ i g‘" A & &E £ “4LL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME”® " 'THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE — ] VOL. LXIV., NO. 9898 JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1945 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS — | COLOGNE UNDER SIEGE OF FIRST ARM German REDS CROSS | Marines Land on Iwo Jima DEFENSESON BALTIC LINE Nazi Forces_féll Back in Two Sectors-Move on Berlin Front LONDON, March 1—The Rus- sians have crossed the Thna River defense line east of Stettin in the offensive toward the Baltic, the German command says, and Mos- cow dispatches said the large sec- tion in eastern Pomerania appeared virtually cut off. The Nazi command said Zhukov’s First White Russian Army forced a crossing of the Ihna River, flow- ing in an east-to-west direction, to Stargard, stronghold 19 miles east of Stettin. Further east, the Germans said, Rokossovsky's Second White Rus- | sian Army forced the Germans to | another retreat south of Dublitz, | 22 miles from the coastal railway, | whose capture the Russians an- ! nounced last night. A retreat of the German forces | southeast of Rummelsburg, 15 miles | east of Dublitz, is also announced &*Kangoku | [ | | ‘i Rock | HIRAIWA M. TOBIISHI Suribachi POINT vading Iwo Jima, Japanese base penetrated the airfield’s eastern def Shaded area indicated beachhead won by United States Marines in- 750 miles scuth of Tokyo. The Americans had reached the southern end of an airfield and had enses. (AP Wirephoto map) Fighting Face | by the Nazis. | 12-Mile Plunge Earlier German broadcasts said | Rokossovsky had plunged 12 miles rorth of Dublitz to Pollnow, only i . 16 miles from' the railway, 30 miles § north, and had captured Neustettin. On the Berlin front, Moscow dis- patches said indications are the Russians have finally begun large- scale operations across the Neisse in the thick defense zone between that river and the Spree. This is the “east wall” which the Nazis have prepared for the southeastern defense of Berlin. ! Fighting today continues violent at Breslau, Silesian industrial capi- tal, where the Russians have won about one-fourth of the city and |; virtually all important suburbs. |§ The German broadcasts frankly admit the Nazi forces on the Dan- zig Polish corridor, eastern Pomer- ania, are in immediate danger of being cut off. | % MRS. EMMONS HFRE Mrs. Margaret Emmons, regis-| tering from Fairbanks, is a guest at Hotel Juneau. The Washingion Merry - Go-Round, By DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col. Robert S, Allen now on sctive service with the Army.* WASHINGTON—Though debates of the War Mobilization Board are secret, it has been belying all pre- dictions that it would be a rubber stamp for the Army and Navy. | | THE FIGHTING face of Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., has become famous the world over, but here the Com= mander of the Third Fleet wearing his “working clothes” is shown “getting tough” as his barge took him from his flagship to a Pacific base en route to Washington for his surprise visit, (International) NOME FIRE first time since D-Day, TWO THIRDS OF IWO-JIMA Marines Still Fighting fo Clear Vital Central Plateau U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD- QUARTERS, GUAM, March 1—All but the northern third of rocky little Iwc Jima is in American hands, as Marines, their special supplies parachuted to them from transport planes, fought on to clear the vital central plateau. Front dispatches said the Third Division of 'the Devil Dogs has already crossed the plateau in places, moving downhill for the 11 days ago. The battle for the pillcox-studded central plateau was termed a de- cisive operation by Maj. Gen. Graves B. Erskine, whose Third Division of Marines overran the main village of Motoyama, just beyond the captured central air- field. In a gain of several hundred {yards yesterday, they reached the third airfield, Motoyama No. three, which was under construction when the Americans landed. s Retreat As Russians Drive HOW JAPS PREPARED THEIR IWO LANDING BEACHES Dot $35,000 Fire Burns Garage | At Ketchikan Two Other Recent Blazes| | Brings Losses fo $65,- 000 in Two Weeks KETCHIKAN, Alaska, March 1.— | Fire destroyed the Ketchikan Garage | Building and the loss is estimated by Fire Marshal Joe Diamond at | $35,000. : The blaze started around an oil stove upstairs in the Servicemen'’s Club. i The building was a Ketchikan landmark and was once, known as| the Hippodrome Dance Hall. Only charred walls remain and ! | Diamond said he will ask that they | | be condemned. { There was no wind prevailing at | the time, otherwise adjoining build-~ |ings would probabiy have been de- | | stroyed. | The blaze brings to $65000 the | fire loss in two weeks. The City | warehouse and skating rink were | | virtually destroyed with a $20,000 | |1oss two weeks ago and a few days' —._ !later the Butterhorn Bakery fire !caused damage to the extent of $10,000. Lack of wind saved the | adjoining Stedman Hotel. artillery emplacements had been s 'THEROCK' IS ENDED gCorregidorfien by Yank_ | Forces=Ships Sail Into Manila Harbor | By C. YATES McDANIEL (AP War Correspondent) MANILA, March 1—Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today the entrance of American shipping into Manila Bay and the end of the| Corregidor campaign, just 14 days after paratroopers and infantry- men landed on the fortress island to engage the well-armed enemy, | double the size of the Yank in-| vading force. | The Americans took “The Rock"| iat the entrance of Manila Bay, in |just half the time required by the |Japanese to defeat the gallant de- |fenders early in 1942. | A force of 3,038 Americans, land- ling under fire on February 16, ‘avenged that surrender of 1942 by | smashing approximately 6,000 Japs. 1" Gen. MacArthur said “the forti- WHEN PHOTOGRAPHERS on a pre-invasion photo mission zoomed down over this Iwo Jima landing beach they not only recorded the arrangement of pillboxes and artillery emplacements prepared by the Japs, but 1heir air visit sent the Nips scurrying to their underground shelters, The air shot gave evidence that the Japs knew that Marine landings were not far off and had been busy placing supplies along the beach. Many JAP SCRAMFEST ON IWO AS U.S. PLANE ARRIVES: MEMBERS OF A JAP GARRISON on Iwo Jima can be seen here scrambling for safety as an American plane swoops down on the little island where the Marines are engaged in a bitter battle. The Nips were riding along on the truck shown in center of the picture when the cameraman on the Yank plane caught them in this embarrassing situation where safety seemed better than dying for the Emperor. The photo was taken during softening-up operations just before the invasion, U. S. Navy photo. - e NI t0) built on"the high ground. U. S. Navy photo. (International Soundp'oa (International Soundphoto) Ahead TROOPS ARE FIVE MILES OF COLOGNE Peril to Ricmhr Increas- ed-Encirclement Move- ments Are Reported BULLETIN—PARIS, March —The United States Ninth Army has captured the German citadel of Muenchen Gladbach as other American forces broke into ancient Trier and plunged through the outer defenses of Cologne. PARIS, March 1—Powerful First 'Army forces today poured through the breached defenses of the Ger- mans to within five miles of Co- logne, placing the great Rhineland metropolis under siege to the north. The American Ninth Army burst closer to the Rhine banks and in- creased the peril to the fabulously rich Ruhr Valley in gains still marked by security silence. The German communique broad- cast said the Ninth Army was at Grevenbroich, 11% miles south of Dusseldorf, and on both sides of Rheydt, a city of 80,000 population, which adjoins Menchuen Gladbach, 15 miles west of Dusseldorf, both five mil d the last-reported it ALy P+ T The Enemy said officially the breakthrough attempts on both sides of Rheydt and Grevenbroich, the latter on the Erft River, have been foiled by the Germans “on the coherent line running west of Duelken, five miles northwest of Muenchen Gladbach to the Erft, and reaching the Roer south of ! Dueren.” Trier Defenses Cracked The American Third Army, as- tride the Moselle Valley, crashed well past the outer defenses of Trier, reaching the vicinity of Irsch, 2'2 miles from Trier, em- minently threatened with encircle- ment, then fanned around® the battlements on the southeast and southwest. The Canadians and Britons fought a strongly-armored enemy’s last ditch stand at three places in the Hochwald Gap, between Weeze and Kervenheim, within 22 miles of the great Rhine port of Duis- burg, Canadian and American Ninth Armies are within 25 miles or so of a junction and might trap thousands of Nazis across the Rhine, FDR REPORTS YALTA MEET HEAVY RAID Men, Women Vets of | 'ONAKINAWA | Present War fo Form The Marines had artillery, naval | gunfire, and close air support as|fied fortress was defended to the they drove ahead more than 500 |point of annihilation by a well- yards, all along the two-mile babtle[equipped fanatical enemy practical- | line against the toughest and|ly double the size of our force.” - TAKESTOLL Those who have sat on the inside say it sometimes asks Gen. Lucius Clay to leave so it can discuss war| problems without Army domination. Its backstage debates on the ‘Work-or-Fight Bill were especially significant. Much-loved ex-Justice Jimmy Byrnes requested the War Mobilization Board to endorse the May Bill. But there was immediate rebellion. “I'm sorry I can’t go along with you on that, Mr. Justice,” observed forthright Eric Johnston, President ) of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. It hasn’t worked out in England and I don't believe that compulsory labor will work out here.” ; Johnston then proceeded to give a comprehensive picture of his ob- jections to the Work-or-Fight Bill. “I am against it for the follow- ing reasons,” he said. “One, the Army has continued to dump its war contracts into No. 1 areas. It has dumped plane contract in San Diego, the tightest labor area in the United States. It will have to hire 8,000 labor | its newest | OF ONELIFE NOME, Alaska, March 1.—Fire at midnight destroyed the home of Nels Lersen. The body of a woman, found in} the home, has been identified as {that of Lydia Barr Norton of Una- lakleet. | The other occupant, Al Reeder, is| in the hospital suffering from super- ficial burns. | Jack Jefford, CAA Pilot, was hum-: led trying to extricate the body of | |the woman. | | i i >—oo— (PREMIER RADESCU, RUMANIA, RESIGNS (By Associated Press) Premier Radescue of Rumania has resigned, the Bucharest radio § % |announces, in a crisis'in which his mope men £ Sar Riege;; TRty new'government had been under heavy Bostiract, meass DU AL more’pressure from the Leftist National Democratic front. The broadcast sewage, more housing and there| are plenty of other areas not over-| loaded with war work. P {WASTEFUL LABOR HOARDING “Second,” continued Johnston, “the Army has made no real effort IR R L AR (Continued on Page Fowr), T was recorded by the Federal Com- | munications Commission. Premier Radescue’s ."resignation cleverest defenses encountered any- where in the Pacific. Associated Press Correspondent Jim Lindsley suburb.” By 6 o'clock Monday evening, 4,784 enemy dead had been counted but the toll is far from being com- plete. Many hundreds of dead are in pillboxes and other fortifications. Only 10 prisoners were captured. e GIVE HINT OFLANDING IN ORIENT CHUNGKING, March 1.—The Chungking radio today began a ser- ies of broadcasts calling on Chinese inhabifants of Jap occupied coastal regions to be prepared to support followed by only a few hours the disclosure that Andrei Vi.shnlnsky,' Soviet Vice-Commissar of Foreign! Affairs, had arrived in Bucharest. Allied landing operations. The broadcasts will be made daily for 15 days and will be delivered in different dialects. called the terrain “hell’s principnl’ American shipping, using the: harbor, sailed past the onoe-lm--f midable “Rock” at the bay’s en-! trance. Gen. MacArthur said 4215 Jap own |bodies have been counted on Cor-| regidor and many hundreds have By JACK STINNETT |been sealed up in tunnels and| WASHINGTON, March 1—The caves where they were buried alive gther day at one of Mrs. Roosevelt's or blown to bits as they touched chatty, rambling press conferences off underground ammunition| for ladies of the press enly, but dumps. i | Edith Gaylord, a most competent re- Only 18 Japs were taken prisoners porter for The Associated Press, was on the tatipole-shaped island, and kind enough to let me read her these were taken for the purpose!copious notes) the First Lady ex- of securing certain information. | pressed the opinion that sooner or American losses totaled 136 later service men and women of this killed, 531 wounded and eight miss- {war will form their own veteran's STOCK QUOTATIONS ‘This pronouncement came on the very same day that the American | Legion announced its plans for keep- NEW YORK, March 1—Closing (ing postwar employment up to @ quotation of Alaska-Juneau Mine jevel of at least 55,000,000. stock today is 7%, American Can| 94%, Anaconda 34, Beech Aircraft| The Legion's exhaustive report of 13, Bethlehem Steel 74%, Curtiss-|a survey and future employment |Wright 6%, International Harvester program is just part of the rejuven- 81, Kennecott 39%, North American ation plan by which it hopes to at. Aviation 11%, New York Central tract millions of veterans of this 25%, Northern Pacific 22%, U. S. war to membership. M has much Steel 65. |on its side. With approximately Dow, Jones averages today are as 20,000 posts in this country, it al- follows: Industrials, 160.72; rails,|ready has an organization set up 52,51; utilities, 25.58. that can do a whale of a job in soli- TOKYO SAYS | Legion Is Belef Six Hundred Ameritan% Carrier-based Planes in Reported Atfack citing new members. It can “point with pride” to its effectiveness in| getting beneficial legislation through Congress. It can draw on paternal | feelings for those veterans of this, war who want to wear the same | lapel buttons their dads do. | There's no doubt either that some| | youngsters alveady feel they should | (By Associated Press) ‘cnncenu'ule on their own organiza-| Tokyo today said approximately | |tions. The American Veterans of 600 American carrier borne plaves| | World War 1T (AMVETS) is already |attacked Okinawa and other Ryu- !a going and growing concern. kyu islands for six and one-half | As Mrs, Roosevelt pointed out,!hours today. | there may be others when the boys| and girls get back from overseas. jap home islands and Formosa. { What trend the veterans organiza- Doemi said the “enemy task force| i tions will take is a matter that very jg pelieved to-be the same one which| | well could, for some years, shape the | withdrew, southward after a raid | destiny of America. If the ten or{py carrier-based planes on the east-| twelve million service folk of this|ern part of the Japanese mainland| | war ever could agree on something, |on Pebruary 25. ~ | they probably would be able to cast| Domei claimed 1 lor control (through families and|planes were downed. |friends) between forty and fifty i M o NS, | The archipelago lies between thei 54 American T0 CONGRESS Puts It Squarely Up fo Leg- islative Body fo Rati- fy Ptfi Ads WASHINGTON, March 1—Presi- dent Franklin D. Roosevelt put /squarely up to Congress today the |choice of underwriting world col- laboration in the future peace or bearing “the responsibility of an- other world conflict.” “There can be no middle ground here,” Roosevelt said in his per- |somal report on the “Big Three” italks in the Crimea, which marked “the turning point history.” Speaking “in all frankness” at a joint session of the Senate and House, the President said whether the momentous parleys with Chur- chill and Stalin would be “entirely fruitful or not lies, to a great ex- tent, in your hands.” Roosevelt linked “the fate of the United States and world, for gen=- erations to come” on Dumbarton in American | million votes. | FROM FAIRBA} Fred Conroy, Fairbanks, is a guets ,at the Gastineau Hotel. In view of this, the conversation (Continued on Page Thiee) Oaks and other agreements soon (Continued on Page Three)