The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 31, 1945, Page 1

& e . +7 7~ THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE fii “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME’ i : VOL. LXIV., NO. 9924 JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1945 ~ MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS ANKS SURGING THROUGH GERMANY Soviet Forces Are Ramming German Lines RED ARMY MOVINGON TO VIENNA Advances li;;):)rled Made| Toward lfalian Front- Battle for Berlin LONDON, March 31 — Russian troops moving into Austria fifty two miles south of Vienna, rammed into reinforced German lines, while farther to the northeast theyI stepped up their assault toward Bratislavia Gap, which has alre(adyI carried them within 44 miles of the Austrian capital. Another Soviet offensive menaced" Vienna, from the northeast, rollingi toward the Moravian Gap. | The German High Command de- clared this push in the corner of German Upper Silesia had broken into Ratibor and Katscher, only al few miles from the Czechoslovak border. On the southern and eastern| front, other Soviet battle groups smashed within 134 miles of the Ttalian frontier, while the fall of Danzig has freed perhaps 50 Rus- sian divisions for the coming battle of Berlin. ———— MANY VOTERS REGISTER | FOR (CITY ELECTION With registration for next Tues- day’s municipal election closing at noon today a total of 1365 voters had been registered, 62 more than last year. Right up to the deadline | a steady stream of Juneau residents | came into the City Clerks office to | declare their intention to vote. The Washington Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col. Robert 8. Allen now on sactive service with the Army.) WASHINGTON—It has now been over a year since this column ex- posed Army tardiness in ordering the quick-release parachute, but unfortunately the old - fashioned triple-release Iarness is still drag- ging some victims to death. Latest tragedy was Lieut. Joseph H. Burton Jr. of Los Angeles,| drowned in the * Warwick River, Virginia, after he was unable to unbuckle his parachute. The body, when found last week, showed that Lieutenant Burton had been able to unfasten one buekle, but not the other two. The parachute was wrapped around his legs and had dragged him under the water. The quick-release parachute fea- tures a little metal box worn on the chest, permitting the para- chutist to get out of his harness in ten seconds, instead of laboriously unfastening three buckles under the ‘thighs and over the shoulder. Thoiigh the Army at first denied statéments in this column that quick-releases are necessary, they have now been ordered. But pro- duction has been slow, and men on the home front are not yet sufficiently equipped. s s 0w BRETTON WOODS VETO Despite the overwhelming vote of the people last November for international cooperation, a ma- Jority of the House Banking' and Currency Committee is preparing to report unfavorably on the Bretton Woods Agreement—firgt test the willingness of Congress to par- ticipate in international organiza- tions. There has been overwhelming support of Bretton Woods from church, labor and business groups, but the 12. Republicans on the Committee and two Democrats are ready to vote against the agree- jment as it now stands. The Demo- crats are Barry of New York and Baldwin of Maryland. Lobbying against Bretton Woods has been conducted by the top layer | of the American Bankers Associa-| tion—which wants bankers free to make long and short-term loans abroad without any government (Continued on Page Four) of { WORLD’S it 4 AR SUBS SINK CARRIER IN NEW ACTION Enemy Ves;g Are Dealt Death Blows in Wat- ers of Pacific WASHINGTON, D. C,, March 31 —United States submarines have sunk eleven more enemy vessels in- cluding a large aircraft carrier, two destroyers and two escort vessels in Pacific waters, the Navy has announced. | Non-combatant vessels included in the latest toll are three medium | cargo vessels, a large tanker, a me- | dium cargo transport and a small cargo vessel, raising the announced | total of sinkings of 1,083 vessels of the Japanese flag sunk by Ameri- can submarines to date. | In this total are included 122 combat craft, and 961 non-combat- ant vessels, i These reports brought to four; the number of aircraft carriers' definitely sunk by submarines, as well as two others reported prob- | ably sunk. ‘The destroyer toll of sinkings |was raised to 52 such craft. BRITISH TROOPS ' MAKE GAINS IN - CENTRAL BURMA CALCUTTA, March 31. — British Fourteenth Army troops, driving {south in Central Burma, captured Kyaukse and establish contact with forces heading north from the Meiktila area, trapping the Japa- nese hemmed in between that area and Allied position along the Irra- waddy River to the west. ' SUBPORT FIRE CHIEF IS TO ATTEND SCHOOL Subport Fire Chief Bill Neider-/ |hauser will leave Juneau over the| GERMANS, JAPS weekend for San Prancisco to at-| tend the Army Fire School there. He will be gone for several weeks learning all the new fire-fighting techniques. During his absence |George O'Brien, on leave from the !Juneau Fire Department, will take ‘his place. . COOPER HERE | Earl Cooper, of Anchorage, is a guest at the Baranof. | - - | | FROM ANCHORAGE o | Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Walker, of | | Anchorage, are 'staying at the | Gastineau Hotel. e e——— Mrs. Cornelia Baas, of Yakutat, is a guest -at the Baranof Hotel, LARGEST CARRIER SET FOR lAUNCH!NG LARGE PACKING " PLANT IS SHUT ~ DOWNBYSTRIKE }.Elflm emploving, 3500 persops cens gaged largely in filling orders for {the armed forces, shut down yes- | terday. The work stoppage followed a | strike of 10 employees in the power plant. The plant immediately cut in |on municipal power lines and ser- vice was resumed. Pickets are at all gates. e USSR SEEKS POLES FOR CONFERENCE Expects Early Reply to De- mand that Warsaw Gov- ernment Be There LONDON, March 31 — Moscow | has demanded that the Warsaw | | Polish Provisional Government be! |represented at the San Francisco| | World Security Conference. {* Highly authoritative Longo n‘, |sources said Russia has been in-i {formed that Britain could not ac- | cede to such a request. These | sources declared without equivoca- ition that Poland could obtain rep- | | Tesentation only by complying with | (the Crimea Conference agreement | [that the Polish Provisional Govern- | {ment be expanded to include a | wider representation. The prospect of such action be-f fore the April 25 conference open- | |ing appeared slim. The Russian de-{ mand was broadcast over the| |Moscow radio and said the failure| |of the United States and Britain | KANSAS CITY, March 31—The | huge Armor and Company packing | HERE IS A STERN VIEW of the U.S.S. Midway, 45,000-ton aircraft carrier, by far the largest carrier in the world, shown ready for launching at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock_ Compqny. Newport News, Va: It is the third ship to be named after the historic battle of Midway and is a sister ship of the U.S.S. Corgl Sea which is scheduled to be launched this Spring at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. (International) BIGNEGROS IS INVADED, PHILIPPINES Airfield Seized, Yank Col- umns Then Spear Miles nland | MANILA, March 31.—Negros, the !last big Philippine Island in Japan- ese hands was invaded Thursday by | veteran Fortieth U. S. Infantry Di- | vision Yanks, who seized an airfield land speared columns eleven and , fourteen miles inland. Bacolod, the | capital city of Negres, with a popu- lation of 50,000, was quickly menaced. The landing on the west coast of {the central Philippines island, |which has an area of more than 13,000 square miles, was disclosed to- !day by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, iwho said Nipponese defenses | throughout the heart of the archi- | pelago are “rapidly collapsing.” | Brushing aside enemy resistance ‘on the beachhead near Bago, one doughboy column raced fourteen miles northeast, overran the Baco- lod airstrip and neared the outskirts of the capital city. A second Yank column struck uth eleven miles to seize Ponte pushed inland along Babo |River and secured Santa Anciet: 50 Vedra, {nvuxvus | RENEWED SUB MENACE BOMBING KEEPS UP tinue Heavy Bombard- ment for Eighth Day GUAM, March si.—neavy War- ships of the U. S. Pacific Fleet and carrier planes continued their heavy | bombardment of the Ryukyus Fri-| day, carrying the assault into the ighth straight day. | i A Japanes® counter-assault Admiral Raymond Spruance’s migh- ty fleet lying off the Ryukyus, with-| | | o L | % | | | on| in 400 miles of Japan itself, was re-| pulsed by ship’s guns and carrier | planes. Seventeen enemy air-| craft were downed and four torpe- do boats destroyed, Admiral Chester | W. Nimitz announced in today's gommunique. | There is still no confirmation of | the Japanese Imperial communique | BACK AGAIN—This submarine, under attack by Allied planes, is typical of the bitter sea warfare again developing under the cloak of reporting American landings on strict war secrecy. Note the crewman manning a gun on the conning Aka Jima and Tokashiko, tiny, tower, the fragment of the depth bomb and the whole bomb- dropping |islands in Kerama Rhetto, a few \ toward the sub. [mfles off the southwestern tip of | Okinawa. ALLIESIN BIG SWEEP " FORBERLIN 'Armored Forces Punch to | Within 175 Miles of | Reich Capital i PARIS, March 31.—United States |armored troops punched within 175 | miles of Berlin at two points today, |wlth the vanguard of an avalanche of 3,000 Allied tanks surging swiftly )lhrough Germany, closing a poten- | tial trap on up to 40,000 Nazis in the | wrecked Ruhr. | A security silence masked the ex- | tent of gains made by the five Allled | armies, though a front line dispatch | disclosed the Sixth Armored Division of the U. S. Third Army had bat- ‘tered within ten miles of industrial | Kassel, 165 miles from the Reich ‘capltnl. ‘The fall of Kassel today.is | considered likely. | 'The Sixth Armored Division sped 145 miles since yesterday, while 30 !miles to the southeast the U. S. ! Fourth Armored ‘breakthrough” Di- | vision drové to a point four miles e Neither was there any further ! ‘P()I’l-. HA.L!.'Y iword of activities of British naval! WASHINGTON, March 31.—While units operating with the American|CGerman submaries are no longer fleet off the Ryukyus. Admiral the serious problem they were in Nimhitz was also silent as to whether‘;h:lad‘:“ K"d?ysl';;h:t:l;a:;le ‘:L the |attacking Nipponese damaged any Atlantic,” in b, they. ALe. by B Admiral Spruance's ships, or*any {Cats u Tiegligiile facror I the of Vice, Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's | War" carriers, which have been wh,hin" German U-boat operations, iking distance of the Japanese Allied countermeasures still {homeland for two weeks, and which‘near the top of “top secret.” Such have raided southern Honshu andinformation as is given the public lother enemy islands to the south'comes only from the highest level, and ¥ rank | and Prime southeast of Herzfels. Minister Churchill. { Tanks Dash Northward Conclusions Cited, | Also spearing within 175 miles of Analysis of sueh disclgsures as Berlin, the U. S. First Army tanks have been made recently, however, dashed northward through™ “Pader. stifles, the . conglusian. hat ... | ham. yearing s with Am- ’\I;J‘Gex:;an U-boats are more ip ! Erican Ninth 3 % e evidence than they were, say a' obstacle Friday night, a 1,“,. ago. race over wrecked bridges and past 2. In recent months, an undeter- ';‘;:‘25’“:; r::led];‘"t ‘M‘N:':’ mined but probably small number i apparently less than fifty miles have managed to approach closer wide, t0 bottle 1 30,000 to 40,- President Roosevelt to American shores and convoy \rendezvous points. After 1942 and 000 Germans fighting In the ruined daily for the past twelve days. 1zssucd jointly in the names of cities and mining areas of the Ruhr. CONFERENCE SCHEDULED, ~ WMCOFFICE ! war Manpower Commissien offi- | cials are gathering here for a con-| ference scheduled for next week| {on Alaska manpower problems (ori |the coming session. | Fay W. Hunter, Regional Director ' of the War Manpowér Commission, | from San Francisco, is due tomor-| row or { Monday and office man-| agers and supervisors from Alaskan | AGREEMENT Operators Willing fo Ex-| tuminous early in 1943, when countermeas- | ures were organized and strength-' ened, the roving “wolf-packs” were |driven back closer to their bases. 3. Increased activity of the raiders is, in a sense, confirmed by official disclosure that anti-submarine forces succeeded in destroying more {of them in February than in Janu- |ary. Further evidence is that Al- (o A l (ASE;lied ship losses in January were of- |ficially described as “very small” jand in February as “moderate.” | 4. While estimates of Germany's pre-war submarine fleet varied so widely as to mean nothing, and no figures have been released on the {number sunk, official disclosures Ihave described the still availaple force as “large.” On the Ninth Army’s flank, the armored divisions, sweeping deeper across the North German plain, 50 miles beyond the Rhine. A German radio report said the British Second Army had crossed the Dortmund-Ems Canal, the 175- mile waterway connecting Dortmund and the industrial Ruhr with the River Ems. % MOTHER SHOT WHILE BABY fend Present Wage « Scale fo May 1 WASHINGTON, March 31.—Bi-| coal operators told the Bases Restricted Developments in the European war in the past year, particularly British Second Army paced three. ] . | War Labor Board they would agree and Seattle offices expect to be h)‘w extending the present wage con- attendance. p |traft which expires tonight, until Allnong those 11\0 g 3‘“” t"“" r"e‘gMuy 1, and make any wage adjust- Earl 6N, Ares rector 101 pents retroactive to that date. | since the invasion, have materially affected the submarine situation, Iboth directly and indirectly. Some operating bases have been lost to the enemy, and others have been SON WATCHES ‘Evening Quarrel Ends in | Westward Alaska, headquartered at| where they contacted guerrilla for-|Anchorage; William Maitland, An-| producers’ hearing called by the,rende Cherles O'Neill, speaking at the { Tragedy as Another red materially less usable. ces. (lam Canning Under Way af | Hoonah Plant Clam canning at Hoonah aboard [chorage office manager; Charles yurn o avert a possible shutdown| LS |Hood and Roy Himes, Aleutian oo dvnlared.‘ n’uzm_v'(-ompunim;‘"‘”“" s has intensified the German | representatives; T/Sgt. Joseph T |uyiii be' forced to close down after,fuél problem, and observers here |Flanke, under the Army’s Director pr.. 1 if the liability for wage in- SPeculate that in a tug-of-war be-; ior Civilian Personnel for the ‘Al-| .cococ on a retroactive basis is car-|tween the Wehrmacht for short laskan Department; Roy Stewart, ried beyond that da supplies, the hard-pressed land {placement specialist to join the ————e—- army would be likely to come out Juneau office; Virginia Carter, | victor, | Seattle representative for Alaska; E The “hushhush” manner in which - ENTER IN HOLY Cordova office head; Milton Ward, held by Admiral Sir James Somer- of the rich Balkan oil re- Emory Vincent, Manager of lhc'MEN oF Alll[s the subject of submarines is ap- Ketchikan office; Nan Holt, Ko-| proached hereabouts was best illus- | diak office manager; F. M. Tyvoll, trated in a recent news conference Boy Goes for Help SEATTLE, Wash. March 31 — Odas Lee Young, 49, last night shot and killed his wife Winifred, 38, as she held her baby daughter to 'her breast, then killed himself when Deputy Sheriffs sought en- |trance, The killing was the climax of an |evening-long quarrel and occurred |while a son Bobby, six, looked on and another son was on his way |to neighbors for help. |to recognize the Warsaw group | B |was no excuse for withholding an | the Western Fisheries floater there Jinvitation. An “early reply” is ex- | i Proceeding normally, according oA Ipec'.ed to the request. Ge:leraI_S\{perlnLendent Jim Parks PR R A { who is visiting Juneau. . IN CONFERENCE ! LONDON, March 31.—The Ger- man Ambassador conferred yester- Parks, of the H. M. Parks and | Company family which is now oper- ating under the Western Fisheries (corporate title, said the cannery be- gan operations this spring about mid-February and will can to the May 15 closing date. Approximately thirty people are employed in the plant, which is a |and -Assistant Director E. E. Lin- coln, . | It is expected the col last for five days. | | R e COASTAL AIRLINES OFF TO KILLISNOO Fairbanks office manager; Jack ville, head of the British Admiralty 'c;u'vel, Juneau office Manager; | I.A"D SERVI(ES idclegulion. Arthur Hedges, Alaska Director of | | No Comment the War Manpower Commission, 0 i Asked to comment about the sub- JERUSALEM, Palestine, March 31 —American nference will|diers will'be among the thousands who tomorrow |ing homage before the Holy Sep-|prime Minister might be able to! hulchre, Imarine situation in the Atlantic, |he said: “Whenever it comes to a| |question of submarines or sub- |marine losses, the President or the | PAN AMERICAN BRINGS TWELVE FROM SEATTLE ltalk about it. I might be Prime| A Pan American Airways plane With at least part of the world,|yinister one day, but I'm not at| brought the following passengers to and other Allied sol- pay Easter morn- for the first time in years, on nhresent. Sorry, I shall have to say the threshhold of peace, many sol- . » diers walked in the historic Proces- | wyoy will admit they have some Inlet yesterday an Alaska Coastalsion Via DOIOfsa 1p‘rocesslon “"‘?g‘submarines?“ a reported pressed. Airlines plane took John B. Hamm oined in Gocd Friday services.| «1 pelieve you are quite right,” there and returned with Hamm and |Among them was Rep. Evereuu‘!slr James x'e[;ned amid laughter, George W. Pequisse. Dirksen, who is on tour checking | SITKA YESTERAY | | In a charter flight to Excursion I day with the Japanese Foreign Min- |One line semi-hand packing ar- Juneau to Killisnoo—C. O. Bebbe. ister on “important matters’, the Tokyo radio said, but gave no de- tails. R BRONZE STAR AWARD The Office of Indian Affairs re- portes that the Yakutat soldier who |was awarded the Bronze Star for| Ebravery in Holland is Pfc. Herbert | Bremner, rather than Harold, as lnrlginauy reported, rangement, and about twice as many { persons are digging clams for the | cannery. | The cannery puts up both clams {and crabs, and last season put up ;Bpproximntel} 5,000 cases, the bulk of it in clams. Crab canning opera- | tions are scheduled to begin again in August, Parks said. Parks is a guest at the Baranof Hotel and expetes to return to Hoonah tonight, Juneau to Sitka—Mrs. Dale Stew- art. Sitka to Juneau—Nick Peters, W. ic, Cassell, J. W. Gucker. ———————— Major Carl F. Scheibner, of the Alaska Territorial Guard, has re- Government bureau operations, ' and Roy C. from Seattle, are at the Baranof his wife will spend a short vaca- Hotel. SPEND VACATION HERE e Mr. and Mrs. John Gellatly ar- FROM SEATTLE rived in Juneau yesterday from Andrew J. Julian, E. LaRuche“Seatue. Gellatly is a co-pilot for Simes, all registered Pan American Airways and he and tion in Juneau. They are guests at the Baranof Hotel. e e i e d - | Juneau from Seattle late yesterday | afternoon: Kenneth Jordon, Norma | Jordon, Ernest Jordon, Larry Jor- don, Ralph Walker, Joan Walker, Wayne Graham, Emalyne LaRoche, John Gellatly, Maxine Gellatly, Lil- | lian Lien, Mallys Koroch. Passengers from Whitehorse to Juneau were Mrs. Dorothy Irving, { Thomas Dooley, Joseph Webb, Har- + old Starr, Miss Audrey Berrea, Helen Williams, Irene Stanley, Beulah Woitek, Lt. Burke Riley,” Cornelia Baas. S e FROM HAINES BLYBERG HERE | Dale Blyberg, of Pelican City, is' visiting in Juneau and while here! is a guest at the Baranof Hotel, turned to his headquarters in Ju- neau, following an inspection trip to Fairbanks and Anchorage and J. C. Paddock and C. M. Pad- Coast Guard ice breakers plow dock, of Haines, are staying at the through ice by breaking it with the weigth of specially designed hulls intermediate points, Hotel Juneau. ’ e