The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, May 19, 1945, Page 1

v . L3 THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXV., NO. 9966 JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATLR‘DAY, MAY 19, 1945 ME'VIBI:R ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS /400 SUPERFORTS MAKE RAIDS ON JAPAN 'Bloody Encounters Reported On Okinawa TENTHARMY MOVING UP ON BIG FORT Japs Ham;e—r Yanks af| Naha by Barrage Laid Down from Hills By JIM LINDSLEY (AP War Correspondent) GUAM, May 19.—Tank-led Tenth Army Aimericans pressed fiercely and relentlessly today against the ap-: proaches to Shuri Fortress and hills covering the Okinawa capital of Naha. The estimated 34,000 Japa- | nese troops on the Ryukyu Island were resisting with the greatest | tenacity of the entire campaign. Maj. Gen. Lemuel, G. Shepherd's Sixth Marine Division on the west flank cannot cross the Asato River in force into the rubbled center of Naha until the Japanese are cleared from hills east of the capital. The Leathernecks have patrolled as far as 500 yards into the city, but Naha remains untenable as long as the Japanese hold the hills forming the western hinge of their Shuri defense line. i | Bloody Feats Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’ com- munique today gave no reports on operations yesterday. He issued a unidue official account of bloody feats. of such.small units as “G” Company “of the 383rd Regiment of the 96th Division beating off count- erattacking Japanese in an hour- | 1long close-quarter grenade battle on | Conical Hill. i ‘These Japanese were led by an of- fier dressed formally, even to white gloves and polished dress boots. This gave evidence that some Japanese commanders realize their eventual death is certain and characteristical- ly are preparing for a ceremonious exit. | Bloodiest Action | An _indication of the ferocity of | the Japanese was shown in their de- fense of 150-foot .Sugar Loaf Hill | overlooking Naha from the east. | This was one of the bloodiest ac-| tions of the Pacific War. The strategic mound was scaled nine times in seven days by Marimes of the Sixth Division. Eight times the Leathernecks were forced to withdraw. The veterans of Eniwetok | Atoll and Guam reached the top, the ninth time with their lines, thinned by casualties, and managed to hang on. Many of the casualties were suf- fered when Japanese rolled gren- | ades down th eash gray slopes into | American positions. | | The Washingion Merry - Go - Round, By DREW PEARSON (Lt Col. MNH 8. Allen now 90 active ice with the Army.> WASHINGTON—The State De- partment ' has one bucking bronco ambassador on its hands and it doesn't quite know what to do with Kith. He is ebullient, energetic Pat- itk © J. “Hurley, ex-Secretary of War, ex-Major General, now U. S. Ambassador to China. “Hurley holds the No. 2 ambassa- | dorial job in the world. No. 1 is Moscow. Both China and Russia) these days are more important than London, where relations are happy and serene. But in Chungking, the United States has been laboring to get both Chinese factions to fight!{ Japan instead of fighting each other. If they don’t get together, we face another row identical with that in Poland. The State Depart- ment is worried sick that Salin will recognize the Northern Chinese Communists as he did the Lublin Government of Poland, leaving us pburdened with the Chiang Kai- Shek Government which has dwindling support among the Chi- nese people. To sit in this tough trouble-spot, | Roosevelt sent handsome, colorful ex-Oklahoma oil man and Choc- taw Indian Attorney Pat Hurley. It was Pat’s job to try to bring the two Chinese factions together. (Continued on Page Tw0) {first of a large number SOAP FOR EUROPE — A workman in Toronto, Canada, i stacks cartons containing laundry soap ready for shipment through | UNRRA to the needy people of Europe. Canada plans to send large | quanlme; of soap and canned meat, NEW PLANE FOR ALASKA NOW READY Crafi Will Be Be Flown from Atlanta Sunday for Alaska Airlines ATLANTA, Ga., May 19.—The of Army transport planes being reconverted here for commercial flying was com- pleted today by Southern Airways and turned over to Alaska Airlines. The 2l1-passenger plane will be flown to Anchorage, Alaska, to- morrow and added to a fleet oper- ated by the Alaska Airlines. Two other transports are being modified for the same line by the Atlanta firm. One of these was a plane used by Gen. H. H. Arnold of the U. S. Army Air Force. TRUMAN GOES ON AIR NEXT MONDAY WASHINGTON, May 19. — The White House announces that Presi- dent Truman will go on the air on all networks Monday at 1 p. m, Eastern War Time. He will address a joint session of Congress on the occasion of the awarding of the one hundredth Congressional Medal of Honor. This award of the nation’s high- | est honor for bravery will go to Technical Sergeant Jake Lindsey of Lucedale, Mississsippi. \POPE TO SPEAK ON ROME AIR SUNDAY VATICAN CITY, May 19.—Pope Pius will speak over the Vatican | radio tomorrow at 10:30 a. m., Rome time. That's 4:30 a. m., Eastern War Time. The Pope’s broadcast will be made during a special aud- ience for members of sport and gymnastic clubs in Rome. - - CHARLES JACKSON HERE Charles E. Jackson, of the Fish and Wildlife Service- has returned to. Juneau and is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. - SKAGWAY MEN HERE Harry G. Ask, Robert Hutchins and H. C. Hardesty, all of Skagway, Island, are guests at the Baranof |lot of territory that my forebear | combined business are guests at the Baranof. HUGE NATI - SUB GIVES ~ UP TODAY U-Boat Arrives in Amer- ican Port with German ‘Admiral Aboard bearing a German General and the | | bodies of two Japanese who com- | 'mmcd hara kiri, glided gingerly | was anchored to a mooring buoy |under heavy guns of | vessels. 4 was identified yesterday by the | Luftwaffe General Lieutenant. The vessel also carried German air plans. | The under-sea craft radioed its | surrender a week ago while enroute |to Japan from a point 500 miles ‘east of Greenland in the North® \Allanuc G. C. BETTLES PASSES AWAY | Early Trader of Yukon, Resident of Alaska 54 | HELP! HELP! YELL CITIES; e FOOD SHORT = 2=7F | Bettles, 86, one of the early traders (By The As:uellted Press) jof the Yukon and resident of Alaska Americans, hungry for meat and for 54 years, died yesterday. He lo- some other foods, looked to Wash- cated the towns of Bettles, in the ington for help today and had as- 4Arctlc Circle, and Tanana, on the (surance that the Federal Govern- Yukon River. (ment would do its best. In 1886 he operated the first mill The pleas came frora many di- of the Treadwell Company in rections—from New York, meatless |Juneau, and at one time handled al- and poultryless, short of butter and |most half the output of furs from the eggs; from Chicago, whére a truck | Territory. More recently he was FAMILIAR GROUND FORT LEWIS’ Wash.—T/4 Rich- {ard S. Lewis of Staunton, Virginia, |a direct descendant of Capt. Meri- wether Lewis, famed explorer for whom this military installation was driver strike hampered food de- |employed by the U. S. Government liveries a third day; from Camden, 'in conservation of Alaskan reindeer. New Jersey, whose mayor. George [He and Mrs. Bettles, who survives asked President Tru- man for action. | 0 AR o R War Mobilization Director Fred | M. Vinson announced a program‘phlladelphia Is of increased subsidies to boost the meat supply but warned it would | proposed as Home the program to be felt.” i The House Food Committee was ! o' p ( I reported ready to blame OPA, the! ea(e oun(l War Food Administration and other agencies for a_growing sugar short- | SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 — A age, and possibly to demand cur- |drive to have Philadelphia made the Philadelphia’s meat shortage was Nations World Security Organiza- called the worst since the Civil tlon has been started here by an War. official delegation from that city. The Agriculture Department | TR e s ol forecasting that the number calories available to civilians would|G'ANI pRo(ESS urged people. to eat more grain | " AREATO SPEED SAYS JAPAN ON FRIEND[Y IERMS PARIS, May 19 — A gigantic taging area capable of processing | up to 15,000 Pacific-bound Ameri- wITH RUSSIANS can soldiers daily for the Marseille {port of embarkation is being pre- |pared in southern France. severing all diplomatic , ties with :c“y' N. J., staging area commander, Germany, Radio Commentator 4 said facilities for processing and {Ichiro Baba said today, Japan m\equlppmg' 90,000 soldiers {now on “completely friendly tem‘s‘tanecusly Dt e domvile- with the Soviet Union and on Bnluon P! | Anglo-Americans.” The radio commentator, heard hy the Federal Communications Com- mission, branded as “propaganda” any talk of Japanese peace nego- tiations. VIRGINIA STOW HERE Virginia M. Stow, of Whitehorse, has arrived in Juneau and is a named, has been stationed here |guest at the Baranof. with a medical detachment. ———————— | Said Lewis: “I feel as though I H STERNS, WIFE VISIT have a personal interest here, but E. Brunner, |h1m came to Seattle in 1938. “take some time for the effects of tailment of shipments abroad. ‘pelmanem home of the United be 300 per day less than last year, | - PACIFIC MOVES | 1 SAN FRANCISCO, May. 18—By| ", ;5 motten Miesages of Jersey | all-out nghung basis with me PSP E. A. Sterns and wife, of Canyor |it seems that I have hiked over a! Hotel. overlooked.” | PORTSMOUTH, N. H, May 19— The huge Nazi Submarine U-234, into this surrender port today and| escorting | The high-ranking enemy officer | Navy as Maj. Gen. Ulrich Kessler, | simul- | [ { A AVIERICAN AEB.IAL CAMERA CAPTURES A CLASSIC! Tn |this. hitwes -of, @rassasio Dletheds o Alesst | Oneofthe War's Greatest Piclures hn. is shown (4¢p) being.scored on a Japances escort vessel off the China coast near Amoy, above Hong ong. The ship was attempting to dodge bombers-of the Fifth Air Force when the spectacular hit was ) scored are nnown clmglng desperately to IPO DAM IS RECAPTURED ATMANILA Guerrilla Force, Dough- | boys Finally End Cam- paign Raging 2 Months (Associated Press War Correspondent) MANILA, May 19—Attacking be- hind record front-line fire bomb- ings, Filipino Guerrillas and Dough- boys of the Forty-Third Division | recaptured Ipo Dam, cource of a third of Manila’s water supply, in- | brightly | tact at the climax of a two-months’ mountain campaign. Today the Yanks began the ar- duous task of cleaning out several | thousand encircled Japanese ~who still hold part of the aqueduct to Manila, part of the same force that mysteriously failed to blow up the‘ dam. Capture of Ipo Dam was the biggest stride yet in the Central Luzon campaign, during which the ! powerful Shimbun Line was shat- | tered. anti-aircraft searchlights as “arti- ficial moonlight.” Because of per- sistent night-time Japanese infil- trations, sometimes in strength and penetrating to the outskirts of Manila, Americans hegan playing lights on low clouds at night. The Guerrilla force, under Col. Marcus Augustin, reached the dam first. The Forty-Third, approaching | from the south, met harder going More than 375 Thunderbolts and Lightnings of the Fifth Airforce paved the way for the final as- sault. Inasmuch as the Jaapnese still nold part of the aqueduct rdute, capture of the dam does not assure immediate use of the water. To the south, the U. S. Thirty- Eighth Division moved toward the | Wawa Dam against heavy resist- ance. % - MARY BEAN HERE Mrs. Mary Bean, granddaughter of Mrs. Harriet Pullen and man- ager of the Pullen House, in Skag- way, has arrived in Juneau on a and pleasure trip, The campaign marked the first important use in this theatre of | the side of their doomed escort vessel. ‘MRS ROOSEVELT NOT CANDIDATE, MAYOR OF N. Y. NEW YORK, May 19.—The New York Daily Mirror said today thatE Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt had been | | approached by Democratic leaders | +and asked whether she would accept nomination as candidate for Mayor |of New York. Her answer was ‘ “No,” the Mirror said. | The newspaper said the former First Lady had been contacted by | Postmaster General Robert E. Han- | negan and Bronx Democratic Lead- | er Edward Flynn, i Mrs. Roosevelt told a reporter last night, “I will absolutely not run for Maym of New York, the newspaper said. | e — — NNIPS ON SEARCH | FOR EASIER WAR | END CONDITIONS Japs in Neutral Nations, Probe for Way to"Avoid | Complete Surrender | WASHINGTON, May 19—Japa-| |nese diplomats and business men in | |neutral capitals are stepping up their ! | Allied formula of unconditional sur-| render. | Diplomatic quarters, emphasizing the unofficial nature of these ac-! !tivities, reported today that the number of individual and purely prl-l {edly since the fall of Manila and the | invasion of Okinawa. The usual technique. is for Japanese to inquire around nmnng |American!for their “reak ideas” peace terms. There is nething def-| inite about these anufrie; except |the suggestion that Japan might | ‘cummm almost anything except un- ‘Londumn(xl surrender. Not a word has been heard| \Lhn,ugh official channels about spe- cific terms, it is learned. Current reports that a definite offer had |been received by the Office of Stra- tegic Services were discounted here reports that the Germans massa- | by high officials conversant Vll!hl |Japanese affairs. | - AIKEN HERE | Claude Aiken, of Ketchikan, is a Iguest at the Gastineau Hotel, vate peace feelers has grown mark-' . (Lower) Japanese heads can be seen bobbing about in the sea and other members of the crew CONFERENCE AFFAIRS IN NEW CRISIS Undercurrent of Small Na- tion Revolt Against 'Col- lective Dictatorship’ By John M. Hightower | (Associated Presf Diplomatic News Editor) SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 — A whole series of developments spot- lighted the new crisis in United | Nations Conference affairs as dele- |gates headed for their first public | session in more than a week to |hear a formal report from com- mm.ees planning a new world court. | 'The developments included: 1—Francisco Aguirre of Cuba, speaking in a closed meeting, hotly accused the powers of wanting to create a ‘“col- |lective dictatorship” of the world, other delegates reported. Senator Vandmb(-xu, (Republican, Michi- | igan), replied with a plea for [“confidence and faith” in the big | nations, in peace as in war. 2—A group of Latin American leaders banded together to stall any further action on major con- ference issues until Russia has clarified her position on regional | company |efforts to find some loophole in the | defense treaties, 3—The United States delegation | decided not to try to force the issue on regional defense wllhuut giving Russia a few more days to| answer, 4—The possibility arose that un- (C{mlmued on Paye Five) 1 : CHANNEL ISLET REPORTED SITE OF MASSACRES LONDON, May 19—Another grim chapter in the black book of Nazi war crimes is being investigated. British authorities are checklng cred Jews and Russians by the wholesale on the Channel Island of | Alderney. The victims supposedly were shipped to Alderney from the other Channel Islands for dispo- sition, committee | big | BOMBS ARE DROPPED ON TOKYO TODAY 1 Hamamat_sMustrial Tar- | gefs Are Hit - Vital Waterways Mined By Leif Erickson | (Assoclated Press War Correspandent) | GUAM, May 19.—More than 400 Superforts were reported over Japan today, bombing Tokyo and Hamam- atsu industrial targets and laying mines in two vital waterways. Some 300 B-29s raided Hamam- atsu about noon in the heaviest strike and the only one announced by the 21st Bomber Command here. They dropped more than 2000 tons of demolition bombs in the greatest raid ever made on the industrial cen- ter. The Twentieth Bomber Command in Washington and Japanese broad- casts both reported the strike on Tokyo by perhaps 150 Superfortress- es. Japanese propagandists, who have taken to belittling the size of bomber strikes, said 80 B-29s were in the formation. The Japanese Domei News Agency also reported two mine-laying ex- peditions. The enemy dispatch said about 30 Superforts mined Wakasa Bay, western - Honshu . port on the Japan Sea, during the morning and another formation was “believed to have dropped mines in . Bungo “Strait,” southwestern entrance to the inland sea. Hamamatsu, an important pre- war textile manufacturing center, had converted to diversified war production, including manufacture of airplane propellers. The city, 60 miles southeast of Nagoya, has about 166,000 inhabitants. About thte time the B-29s were leaving for Hamamatsu, Maj. Gen. Curtis Lemay, Commander of the 21st Bomber Command, said four raids on Nagoya's industrial plants and small home factories had des- troyed 11.3 miles of that third larg- est Japanese city. This is 22 per cent of Nagoya's area. Lemay also said 59.58 square miles of six of Japan's largest cities, in- cluding some 17 square miles of | Tokyo, have been bombed out or |damaged by B-29 attacks. — e — |MRS. HERMANN IS BACK IN JUNEAU; | VISITED ILL SON Mrs. Mtldred Hermann returned yesterday from a trip to Spokane where she visited her son, Opl. Russell “Chee” Hermenn, who is | receiving medical care there at ,Baxcer General Hospital. “Chee is getting dlong splendidly,” 1Mra. Hermann reported, “and ‘he Ils looking forward to a 30-day furlough in about six weeks.” Cpl. Hermann has received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and ‘a citation for exceptional conduct under fire. While Mrs. Hermann was in the 'w.ishingwn city she also visited | Kenneth Allen, son of Mr, and Mrs. |Glenn Allen, who was wounded (at Leyte and who is also looking forward to a furlough and a visit {to Juneau in About two or three | weeks. - Forces in Burma Now Linking Up { | CALCUTTA, May 19—Troops of the 33rd Indian Corps moving south |and east along the axis of the Prome-Rangoon railway, have linked |up with the 26th Indian Division at a point six miles north’ of Rangoon, a Southeast Asia command com- munique suid today. e CHASE JOINS WIFE Archie Chase, of Gustavus, has |arrived in Juneau to be with his wife, who is a patient at St. Ann's Hospital. He is a guest at the Gastineau Hotel.