The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, May 2, 1945, Page 1

THE ALY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALIL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXV., NO. 9951 JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1945 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS - REDS KEEP * MOPPING UP IN BERLIN Condiiionsflfiorted Cha- ofic - Barricaded En- frances Hacked BULLETIN—LONDON, May Premier Stalin announced tonight the fall of Berlin. | The battle for the uerman capital | began April 21. | The announcement of the com-/ plete conquest of Berlin was made | by the Moscow radio, which de-| clared that 70,000 Germans were | captured in the clean-up of the city. Stalin’s order described the capi- tal as the center of German im- perialism, He said the German garrison| defending Berlin had laid down its, arms today and resistance had | ceased at 3 p. m. 1 The capture of Berlin came jnsll § a week after it was encircled by | Marshal Zhukov's First White Rus- | sian Army and Marshal Konev First Ukrainian Army. Mioscow said Berlin's | | | | 2— ¥ {8 Lieut. Gen. Geol rge S. Pa military 1 commander, Artillery Gen. Webling, | was among those captured. | Earlier, Russian troops today captured the Baltic port of Rostock in a drive to within 29 miles of | b The Washington| British forces who sealed off Den-| mark. Southeast of Berlin, other Soviets killed or seized 120,000 troops of 'Merry-Go-Round tton, Thir mander, and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander (left to right), watch liberated occu- pants of the German concentration camp at Ohrdruf, near Gotha, Germany, demonstrate how they were tortured by the Nazis. (AP Wirephoto from Signal Corps) d Army commander; Gen. Omar N. ASKS NATION KEEP GEARED 10 WAR END Truman Plans Production Campaign Unfil Japan Is Finally Crushed (By Associated Press) WASHINGTON, May 2—Presi- dent Truman laid the groundwork today for an intensive Government campaign to keep the country gearr ed for war until Japan is crushed. The President directed Fred M.| Vinson, Director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, | to seek pledges from businessmen and others in Government posts to stay on the job until Japan's defeat and until peacetime production pro- grams can be started. 1 Mr. Truman then authorized Press Secretary Jonathan Daniels to say he is planning a V-E Day radio appeal to the people to observe Germany's unconditional surrender, when it comes, by giving thanks, not by celebrating, but by vows to stay on war jobs. In a third move, the President is- |sucd & statement appealing for con- ! ]gx’{'.snoml extension of Wartime| |Price and Ration Controls. The President, in a letter in Vin- {son, forecast “critical personnel”| | problems in war-time agencies which, ' funder the impact of war, “recruited |many splendid executives from pri- |vate life.” .. U3, . Bradley, 12th Army Group com- ' GRAND ATTACK ON JAPAN 500N BE M PRICE TEN CENTS ADE EXTRA Million Gerfiians in ltaly, Ausirian Areas In Complete Surrender, Three separate White House moves heralded the start of the SRR T o drive, Others are in prospect. GEN.JAHN GIVES UP IN ITALY ROME, May 2 — German Gen. Jahn, Commander of the Lombardy Corps of the Ligurian Army, has surrendered with 2,000 Germans and many Italian Fascist troops, Headquarters of the U. S. Fifth Army announced. today as the Al- fhs\d campaign in Italy drew rapidly toward an end. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, a prisoner of the Allies, ordered last night the unconditional sur- render of his Fascist Ligurian | now the encircled German Ninth Army. | T Marshal Stalin announced the By DREW PEARSCN | (Lt. Col. Robert S. Allen now on sctive victories in two Orders of the Day, service witn the Army." after the German command ac- ST Urges Alaska Airlines knowledged its garrison in Berlin, LOS ANGELES — Several days had been chopped into “separate ago this column dealt with the I groups” in the narrow government freshing atmosphere of San Fran- | quarter. |cisco, the manner in which it had | A dispatch from Twenty-First built itself up from the ashes or‘ Army Group Headquarters an-|earthquake defeat; how its perse- nounced the British capture of verence could serve as an example Luebeck and Wismar in a l‘lrivejv.o peace-striving, war-weary na-; cutting off Denmark and Schles- | tions. wig-Holstein. | This is now vigorously denied by | ST g [the folks in Los Angeles. Their LONDON, May 2—Soviet shock |city, say my friends of the Angels, troops closed in on Hitler's Reichs- has accomp] hed much more in- Chancellery and other final nests | spiring miracles. If the United Na- of resistarite in Berlin today, and tions had held their Conference in a Paris broadcast said without con- ‘Lus Angeles instead of San Fran- firmation that the Red Army flag cisco, I am now informed, they already flew from the Chancellery— |would have wrapped up the peace by Nazi account the death place of jof the world in a neat bundle the Fuehrer. 5 I decorated with Hollywood stars and A Pravda war correspondent de- ‘been ready to go home long ago. | Such conflicting views, with ar- |dent arguments on both sides, con- |stituted a tough dilemma for a columnist. Anyway, this much is! | definite: 1t did pour rain in San Francisco the day the Conference; opened. (Continued on Page Five) — e WARATA GLANCE (By Associated Press) CORRECTION—Last month this icolumn stated that the Army was | supplying quick-release parachutes to pilots flying in active combat, |though it had not been able to THE WESTERN FRONT, May 2. supply them for training purposes _Three Allied Armies are driving|in the U. S. A. This statement was| into the Alpine Redoubt, advancing |based on the official assurance of up to 25 miles against only negligible | the War Department in Washing- German resistance. The U. S. Third | ton. | Army. trocps are within 40 miles or| However, a letter received from less of the Russians, west of Vienna.|the pilot of a B-29, whose job it The British have broken the Ger-iis to bomb Tokyo, states: “I did man lines northeast of the Elbe and not know that there were quick- are advancing on Luebeck. |release types being issued. Ours Fly Se | CONFERENCE GETSDOWN, HARD WORK Revision, Complefion o Dumbarton Oaks Plan Is to Be First Step SAN FRANCISCO, May 2—Fol- lowing an extraordinary night ses- ! sion last night, chief delegates of the 46 nations sought to wind up organization of the week-old con-| ference quickly. The idea is to let! the four big commissions and 12 committees buckle down by the weekend to their real work of re- vising and completing the Dum- | barton Oaks plan. Secretary of State Stettinius told a news conference yesterday that Russian Foreign Commissar Molo- tov may leave the conference soon | for Moscow to take care of war| problems. Stettinius said there was | no indication Molotov might come | back to $an Francisco later on. | While reporters applauded, the! alIIe-Westard? | WASHINGTON, May 2.— ?ubhc‘ counsel today recommended that the | Civil Aeronautics Board authorize | Transcontinental and Western Air,| Inc., (TWA) to provide air service between Chicago and the Orient. | | Attorney Merle P. Lyon said in ai brief filed with Examiners Ross IL.| Newmann and Lawrence J. Kosters that the North Atlantic aid route| should originate in Chicago and end | in Manila with intermediate stops Anchor- at St. Paul-Minneapolis, H age, Alaska; Paramushira, Kurile Island Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong or Canton. | Appointed to the CAB to repre-, cent the public at the extensive rings in the case, Lyon qualified ! his recommendations to the extent| that if TWA is granted a route across the North Atlantic, then the| North Pacific carrier should be Northwest Airlines. | He recommended also that Pan American be permitted to extend its, Central Pacific route from Honolulu| to Wake Island, by-passing Midway | Island; from Midway to Tokyo; from | Tokyo to Shanghai, and from Shang- hai to either Hong Kong or Canton. He suggested further that Pan American be allowed to extend its South Pacific route from Noumea, New Caledonia, to Sydney, Australia, and that Alaska Airlines be permit- ted to fly a route from Seattle to Anchorage, “subject however, to the restriction that it shall serve no lo- cal traffic between Anchorage and THE RUSSIAN FRONT: — ’I?IE'§5 a triple-release type and unsafe Secretary of State said he plannedl‘mmau. v Tbalvieen. Ketohikan and Second White Russian Army, win- if it becomes necessary to release to see the cnn(ere_nce through to_ 2! Juneau, Alaska, and that it may stop ning the Baltic Port Stralsund.joneseli quickly.” The pilot added successful conclusion As for Brit-Jo ono’ of said points only to pick pushes within 65 miles Of the Brit-|that he wanted to get some of ai Foreign Secretary, Anthony up or discharge passengers origin- ish forces on the Lower Elbe; furth- the quick-release parachute harness Eden, Stettinius reported he has|,iino ot or hound for Seattle.” er Berlin strongholds are tallmg‘,"described in this column. no plans to leave the Golden G:\te} He recommended that all other S eee STATEMENT IS ISSUED BY EISENHOWE PARIS, May 2—Gen. Eisenhower autherized a statement today that Heinrich Himmler had told Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte at a meet- ing at Luebeck, April 24, that Ger- many was finished, and “Hitler was so ill he might already be dead.” The Supreme Headquarters state- ment added that at that time, more than a week before Hitler's purport- ed death was announced by the Hamburg radio, Himmler had said Hitler “could not be expected to live more than two days longer.” German_General Schillenberger, who was present at the meeti Hitler was suffering from a brain ' hemorrhage, the statement said. {tria rolled on and mopping-up of | Tesistance | continued, the Allied command an- | 160,000 | | prisoners had been counted thus | 'At the same time Brazilian forces | | ing said the All | Army, telling his troops in a broad- |cast that “the time has arrived | when further resistance would be |useless and inhuman, and, as far as I am concerned, criminal.” As the Allied drive toward Aus- TItalian last northern nounced that more than far in the final offensive. The American Thirty-Fourth Di- vision, stabbing west from the Milan area, crossed the Ticino River and captured Novara, 27 miles from - Milan, and pushed on to Santhia, 48 miles west of Milan. pushed west from Piacenza, over- ran Voghera and Tortona, and linked up with other Fifth Army units in the important rail and highway center of Alessandria. German planes, probably in a parting gesture, bombed and strafed the Dongo area near Como for several hours yesterday in what jied command said probably was a “reprisal for the slaying of Mussolini.” i Kibifzers Ge i Buiy OverSudden Changes Made in W_as_lflglon WASHINGTON, May 2—Let there be any shift of key personnel in Washington and immediately the kibitzers cut loose with speculations. Although they often are wrong In their conclusions, about four times out of five they are right' in that it does mean something. Clay has long been "chating from desk work and a desire to get closer two Soviet armies are converging to-| Note—It has now been two years ward Olmuetz (Olomouc), the Mo- ! minus two months since Brig. Gen. | ravian rail center. | Newton Longfellow of the Eighth THE ITALIAN FRONT:— The Air Force in London first asked the German Commander of the Lom-‘IWnr Department to supply the pardy Corps of the Lij rian Armquuick-release parachute. The War surrendered with 2,000 Cermans and Department waited three months many Italian Fascist troops; Amer- before ordering even one, and nine jean troops have pushed up to San- months before ordering any quan- thia, 48 miles West of Milan; the|tity. Apparently it is still moving, British Armor is drivipg toward thelat a snail's pace. The old triple- | Austrian frontier. |release harness unbuckles with THE PACIFIC FRONTS:—Allied|cumbersome slowness, making it forces have landed on the Burmavery difficult for a man in the| Coast on both sides of Rangoon;|water, in a tree, or being dragged American troops moved to the out- over the ground by a high wind skirts of Davao, Mindanao Island |t get loose from his parachute. hemp port and the last big Philip- WATCHING pine city in Japanese hands; Amer-| WASHINGTON FROM WEST jcan forces are also fighting within| The two key spots to keep your rifle range of Southern Okinawa's . three main cities. | i | ‘ontinued on Page Four) ! at the moment. i At an afternoon plenary session of all delegates, South Africa’s] gray-bearded Jan Christian Smuts admonished little powers that the’ big nations must have rights and! responsibilities in a world organiza-! tion. Allowing them to veto use of force against aggressors, he argued, wasn't “too heavy a price to pay.” REPRIEVE OKLAHOMA CITY—The reason motorists in Oklahoma City haven’t been cited for overtime parking since last Thursday is not because the police have become careless. The city is out of red citation tickets. ivent at $65, applications be denied. e o S | In spite of the great number of | changes taking place here recently, |one of the little publicized has caus- led a great deal of inner circle com- | ment. That is the appointment ot‘ |Maj. Gen. Lucius D. Clay, lately Permanent Houses . Au'ho"led by “HA | chief adviser on production to for- ags | Mer War Mobilizar james F. Byrnes. | A' 3 Alaska (“'es Among civilians, the appointment | kil | came as something of a surprise.| Leon Henderson and Undersecretary WASHINGTON, May 2 — The|of War Robert Patterson had been | National Housing Agency u)dm"mnst prominently mentioned. War| authorized privately financed con-|Department officers just grinned. | !struction of permanent houses at' Gen. Clay is an old friend and| these Alaska communities: ’lona-tlme associate of Gen. Dwu;ht' Anchorage—100 houses; 24 to sell| Eisenhower, who now is presumed to| at $8,000 each, and 7 5to rent at represent us on the three or four| 1$65 monthly (ceiling). nation council that will provide the Fairbanks—60 to sell at $8,000 or [interim government for defeated | Germany. It's no secret that Gen. ' |to the heart of action. He has two |sons in combat service, while Dad Xhus been fighting ‘the battle of the | Potomac. Best guess here now is | that Gen. Eisenhower himself pick- ed Clay. But that isn't the real point. Gen. Clay is one of the best, but also one of the “toughest” engineers in the army. Not since he moved in as Byrnes' aide has he relaxed his insistence on all-out production for the military forces, giving whatever was left to the home front. Just when the opposition was gaining sentiment for conversion to civilian production, the Germans started their big counter-offensive. Gen. Clay could have said “I told you so.” He didn’t, but that ended the argument. ‘With the end almost in sight, may- be reconversion experts will get back in the saddle and the “tough guys” (Continued on Page Thvee) BULLETIN—LONDON, May 2.~The - Luxembourg radio said tonight that a German capitu- lation in Holland was imminent. The radio, which is Allied-con- trolled, said reports from the Canadian front indicated arm- istice negotiations had been in progress more than 24 hours. By NOLAND NORGAARD (Associated Press War Correspondent) ROME, May 2.—All German land, sea and air forces in Italy and southern and western Austria—esti- mated at nearly 1,000,000 troops— were surrendered unchnditionally to the Allies today by their com- mander, with hostilities ordered to cease at noon, GMT., (5 am., PWT). The capitulation, signed in the presence of Allied officers including Russians, ended more than one and one-half years of the bloody Italian | campaign, and permits the Allies to advance unopposed to within 10 miles of Adolf Hitler's retreat at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The surrender document was sign- ed Sunday afternoon at Caserta by representatives of Col. Gen. Hein- rich von Vietinghoff-Scheel, Ger- man Commander-in-Chief in the Southwest, and of Ober Gruppen Fuehrer Karl Wolff, Supreme Com- mander of the S. S. and police in Italy. 3 Field Marshal Sir Harold L. Alex- ander, Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean, announced the mass surrender, and in an order of the day to his troops declared, “You have won a victory which has ended in the complete and utter |route of the German armed forces |in the Mediterranean,” and freed Ttaly. The surrender exposed the flank of Col. Gen. von Lehr, German Commander in the Trieste area. British and Yugoslav forces already have linked at the head of the Adriatic, northwest of Trieste. At least 24 Allied divisions in Italy are freed for other duties. Von Vietinghoff's command in- cludes all northern Italy to the Isonzo River in the northeast, and the Austrian provinces of Vonarl- berg, Tyrol, Salsburg, and portions of Corinthia and Styria. “The enemy’s total force including combat and rear echelon troops surrendered to the Allies are esti- mated to number nearly 1,000,000 men,” Alexander announced. .+ “PFighting troops include remnants of 22 German and six Italian Fascist divisions.” The surrender ended one and one-half years of the battle of Italy. CONGRATULATION WASHINGTON, May 2.-—Presi- dent Truman today announced the unconditional surrender of German forces in Italy and said: “Only folly and chaos can now idelay the general capitulation ev- erywhere of the German armies.” Fall Of Berlin Announced By Stalin Tonight ~ GeneralsSee "Torfure” Demonsiration | INVASION OF NIP LAND I§ NEARING NOW Stalement Made by High Ranking General-Mac- Arthur to Be Chief By Leonard Milliman (Associated Press War Correspondent) Japan itself will be invaded soon a ranking American General indi~ cated today, as British paratroopers and sea-borne assault waves trap- ped the Japanese garrison at Ran- goon in the second Allied invasion in two days. Lt. Gen. Robert C. Richardsan, Jr., Commanding General of Army forces in Pacific Ocean areas, said ,the Pacific war is entering a new phase in which a major assault will soon be launched on the Japa- nese Empire. His unamplified re- mark had special significance, since it was made at his Honolulu head- quarters immedjately on return from a conference in Manila with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, under whose Army direction Japan will be invaded. Simultaneously, other American commanders disclosed half the original ' 'Japdnese * "garrison on Okinawa, estirnated at 60,000 men, has been killed or wounded, and land-based Naval planes are dally patrolling waters up to the gates of Tokyo. Battle Of Davao Yanks closed in for the battle of Davao in the Philippines as Allied forces took the headlines with double invasions and sustained Naval bombardments along the southern fringes of Nippon's crumbling war-won empire. British paratroopers landed along the banks of the Rangoon River yesterday and amphibious assault troops followed early this morning, cutting off the sea escape route from Rangoen. British armored columns are about 35 miles north of Rangoon, potential staging base for reconquest of Singapore. Island Bombarded To the south on the seaway to Singapore, the East Indies fleet, including the French battleship ‘Hichclleu, bombarded Car Nicobar Island and Port Blair, in the Ada- man Group yesterday, for the sec- ond consecutive day. Official silence cloaked progress of yesterday's invasion of Borneo by 5,000 tank-led Australians. On the nearest major Philippine Island, the U. 8. Twenty-Fourth Division rolled 11 miles up a Min- danao coastal highway to within six miles of the Japanese Davso stronghold, On Northern Luzon, the Twenty - Fifth Division drove a salient through the enemy's Caraballo Mountain defenses, endangering the flanks and rear of Japanese guard- ing the Balete Pass, gateway to fertile Cagayan Valley. Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., commanding the Tenth Army, reported well,over 21,000 Japanese have been K in the Okinawa campaign. Plus tHe wounded, he estimated this accounted for half of the Nippongse force. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz an- nounced a medium sized ship was damaged by Nipponése suicide air attacks off Okinawa Monday. Civilian Defense In a statement announcing he had sent congratulatory ‘messages to the Allied commanders, the President added: “Let Japan as well as Germany undertsand the meaning of these events.” Congratulatory messages were ad- dressed to Gen. Mark W. Clark and British Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander. —_— e — INNOCULATION CLINIC A whooping cough innoculation clinic for infants and pre-school- age children will be held tomorrow afternoon from 1 to 3 o'clock at the Government School, With Dr. James Smith in charge. Office Abolished Todayby Truman WASHINGTON, May 2—Presi- dent Truman today abolished the Office of Civilian Defense. The home front organization is to be liquidated between now and June 30. In a letter to Congress, the Presis dent said recent developments in the European war and the efficient op- eration of volunteer forces made further Federal supervision of Civ= ilian Defense unnecessary.