Evening Star Newspaper, May 19, 1940, Page 1

Weather Forecast Cloudy, showers tonight; tomorrow, showers and cooler. Temperatures yes- terday—Highest, 78, at 4’ p.m.; lowest, 53, at 6 am. From the United States Weather Bureau report. The Evening and Sunday Star is delivered in the city and suburbs at 75¢ per month. The Night Final Edition and S8unday Morning Star at Full details or Page A-2. No. 1,835—No. 35,082. Che Assoctated" Bress. 5 WITH DAILY EVENING EDITION g WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY 19, 1940 —132 PAGES. Star * 85¢ per month. TEN CENTS ALLIES STIFFENED RESISTANCE SLOWS NAZIS - German Offensive Swings Westward; | Invaders Advance 12 to 14 Miles; English Bomb Communications s Heavy Fire Heard Off England’s Southern Coast BRITISH CLINGING stubbornly to lines west of Brussels; now in bet- ter position, but fear necessity of further withdrawals. REYNAUD CALLS PETAIN, World War hero, to help tighten defense; Premier takes war office, gives Daladier foreign ministry. Page A-3 BULLETIN. LONDON, May 19 (Sunday) (®).—A general headquarters communique announced today that “the British front was held firmly yesterday in the face of strong enemy pressure.” By the Associated Press. LONDON, May 18.—Waning pow- er of the Nazis’ massive blows was reported tonight to have eased some | of the pressure on the western front, but the allies were still being pushed back and Britain steeled itself for bad news. Action was occurring off Britain’s | southeast coast, where the drone of planes and heavy gunfire was re- ported late tonight. Page A-2 | Air Superiority Main Factor In Reich’s ‘Pocket’ Success Planes, Backed by Armored Units Using Flame-Throwers, Replace Artillery By H. TAYLOR HENRY, Associated Press War Correspondent. | PARIS, May 18.—German superiority in the air, backed by mass attacks of armored divisions of shock troops using flame- | throwers, has been the main factor in carving out the pocket in the French line from Mons to Sedan. During the five days of heavy ™ the northern front, I have learned | ®ach sector. \ how heavily ni‘r superiority counts. } 303 sn:h‘:; a:ntkfig“:zog%p‘w:;: | German tactics have ignored the | from a height of sometimes no more | traditional artillery preparation but | than 100 yards, they turned and have gained the long-sought com- swooped again to machine-gun sol- mined effect of preparation and sur- | diers who remained. | prise by substituting attack avia- After the air attack, as many as | tion for artillery. |10 armored divisions of medium The Germans made the initial and heavy tanks crashed against the opening in the pocket by attacking | narrow front, spewing fire from their on a restricted front and then shift- | flame-throwers. ing the force of attack to a neigh-| Trailing the tanks, light motor- boring sec so quickly that it|ized infantry rushed to take over seemed almBst a simultaneous- ac- | the territory. | fighting which I have just seén on | dived and bombed French nests ln‘ tion. The action opened almost as soon | as the Frenchhad rolled into action The firing continued for about an | in Belgium and dug their hasty hour and was believed to have come | combat trenches behind rocks and from naval units. Coast dwellers under trees. said they saw streaks of tracer | bullets and the play of searchlights. | No air raid alarms were sounded | ashore, although a number of air- craft were heard, apparently not far out to sea. | Meanwhile, British warplanes | made extensive bombing attacks i against road and rail communica- | tions being used by advancing Ger- | man columns west of Namur, Bel- gium, the Air Ministry announced. The communique said in part: *“In the area northwest of Namur, extensive operations were carried out last night on road and rail com- munications used by the enemy’s advancing columns. Bridges and | railway tracks were hit. Airdromes | were bombed and a large supply | convoy damaged by our machine gun fire.” Giraud Commands Armies. | « Possibility that there has been a change in the allied command in | France was raised by the statement | of ‘an authoritative spokesman that | Gen. Henri Honore Giraud is com- manding the “groups of armies” of the allies now fighting in Northern | France. | Until a year ago this 61-year-old veteran was military governor of | Metz, in Alsace, facing the German | border. (Allied advices do not indicate whether Gen. Giraud's assign- ment makes any change in the status of Gen. Maurice Gustave Gamelin, the allied generalissimo. French censorship prevented cor- respondents in Paris from ca- bling information concerning Gen. Giraud.) Gen. Giraud wears two wound stripes as souvenirs of the World War and the Moroccan campaign | egainst the Riff. He knows the present fighting area intimately. As a captain, he was wounded and captured in the 1914 battle of Guise and interned in | Germany. Guise today is the scene of furious fighting. Giraud escaped from Germany and returned to France in time to take part in the attack on Malmais- son in 1917. Admits Allies Shoved Back. A calm military spokesman ad- mitted that the allied armies in “the battle of the bulge” in Northern France were being shoved back ever closer to the gates of Paris. The British spokesman made no effort to minimize the “very serious” situation but declared it was “cer- tainly no worse and possibly a little better” than Friday. German progress, he said, “has very much slackened, perhaps only temporarily, but exhaustion of Ger- man units taking part in the opera- tions is apparent.” The situation in France necessi- tated the British and Belgian with- drawal in Belgium, he asserted, and (See LONDON, Page A-3.) Italian Liner, Due to Sail, Stays at New York Pier By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, May 19 (Sunday).— The Italian liner Roma, scheduled to sail last midnight for Italy, re- mained at its Hudson River pier early today. Italo Verrando, general manager of the Italian Line, said the delay was caused by loading of cargo and denied emphatically that the 30,816- ton liner’s sailing had been held up because of the possibility of Italian entrance into the European war. Line officials said the Roma would tepart later in the morning, but gave no specific time. Aboard the ship were 150 passengers and 4,000 tons of cargo. Bullitt Sees Reynaud PARIS, May 18. (#).—Premier Paul Reynaud tonight. received United States Ambassador William C. Bul- litt, Y Fleets of 300 to 400 German plnes As soon as the crack “Blitz” divi- | sions had smashed into one sector, they suddenly were shifted in an effort to strike a demoralizing blow against another. The best defense the French " (See HENRY, Page A-5) Nazi Drive Sweeping Toward Vital Pors On English Channel 800,000 Troops Expected To Be Released by Zeeland Cleanup By the Associated Press. BERLIN, May 18—The city hall of Antwerp, fortified Nortn Sea anchor of the whole allied line, | and swept west and south toward the heart of France and the English Channel ports needed for frontal assault on the British Isles. Antwerp fell to the German motor columns in nine days, 57 days ahead of World War schedule. of imperial Germany entered the city on October 9, after shelling it for 11 days. They invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914. The German plunge through Bel- | glum and through the Netherlands; to the north, is so swiftly fluid that it is difficult to pick out its im- mediate objectives. But the thrust through the French fortifications of the Meuse and over Maubeuge and the Sambre, further northwest, seems aided at Paris. Authoritative sources said German troops are within 60 miles of the French capital, but they declined to state just where. Holland Being “Pacified.” What the authorities call complete “pacification” of the Netherlands is proceeding speedily, with Dutch re- sistance ended on Walcheren Island and more than 2000 Dutch and French troops reported captured on the islands of Schouwen and South Beveland, all in Zeeland above Antwerp. When Zeeland’s cleanup is com- plete this will release 800,000 men for a drive on the Belgian and French channel ports. With these ports occupied, it is believed in some circles that the British will be given a chance to capitulate or deal with swarms of German bombing planes. The spectacle of the German Armies of the left lancing straight toward Paris seems to justify the conjecture among military observers here that Hitler has changed the classic Graf von Schliefferr plan for a flanking move on Paris. Instead it looks like the German “bullet troops” are taking a short cut to the heart of France without waiting for envelopment of retiring allied troops by the right wing of the army. The right flank, indeed, seems to be employed in seeking to cut off British forces from seaports and make their return to England im- possible. The German entry into Antwerp, which is one of the world’s 10 busi- est seaports in normal times, was (See BERLIN, Page A-5.) Nazi Gunning Refugees Is Reported Shot Down By the Associated Press. LONDON, May 18.—Passengers on a Belgian refugee ship which reached an English port tonight related that a German plane had been shot down while attacking steamers in Ostend Harbor and refugees ashore. The Nazi craft dropped two bombs which fell wide, they said, then turned its machine-guns on gees on the quay, but was shot down |n.}e the sea by ground machine-gun iron | | legions of Adolph Hitler hoisted the | | German battle flag today on the| The troops | 'Wallace Asks Marts 'To Peg Prices on Grain Futures Action Is Taken to Halt Sensational Break in Wheat Quotations By the Associated Press. Taking emergency action to halt modern history’s mosi sensational | Agriculture Wallace asked the Na- tion’s grain futures markets to peg prices at not less than yesterdays closing quotations. The request was telegraphed to reflecting uncertainty over the Euro- pean war, tumbled 10 cents a bushel —the limit permitted in any single day by market rules—for the third time last week. The net loss for the week was about 30 cents. Secretary Wallace’s request, if ac- ceded to by the markets, would es- tablish minimum prices of 79 cents a bushel for May wheat futures and 59% cents for May corn futures at Chicago, the Nation's principal grain market. (Officials of the Chicago Board of Trade were not prepared to say immediately what steps would be taken to comply with the secretary’s wishes, but Secretary Fred H. Clutton announced that directors of the exchange will meet in special session this morn- ing at 10 o'clock to consider what steps can be taken.) Secretary Wallace’s action came shortly after Canadian authorities had pegged prices at Winnipeg at Friday's closing figures. ‘While Agriculture Department of- (See GRAIN, Page A-4) break in wheat prices, Secretary of | market officials after wheat prices, | ° Oise Valley, Path To Paris, Seen Immedliute Goal By the Associated Press. PARIS, May 18.—Speeding Ger- | man columns swung west Aacross | France tonight toward the Oise Val- | ley—the road to Paris—meeting | stiffened resistance from Frenchmen | fighting under a new government | headed by Premier Paul Reynaud and Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, World War “Victor of Verdun.' The French high command’s night | communique said the Germans were “attacking in a westerly direction with powerful resources, despite con- siderable losses.” This was at the end of nine days | of the battle in Belgium and North- | ern France, which fighters and war | | correspondents say is like nothing ever witnessed in history. | One French officer told H. Taylor | Henry, Associated Press war cor- respondent: “Two hours of this is worse than two days of the Battle of Verdun.” | 85 Miles From Channel. Today the Germans advanced to | Guise, about 14 miles west of Ver-| | vins, and to Landrecies, about 12 | miles west of Avesnes and some 85 | miles east of the English Channei. | Avesnes heretofore had been the | western edge of the salient into | the northern French plains, its lower edges well within 100 miles of Paris. Far ahead of the main German | | forces, advance units struck in all| directions. 8ix German motorcycle | soldiers who reached Laon, 25 miles south of Guise, were captured, Other light units were reported to | have reached Saint Quentin, 15 miles west of Guise. (It was in this vicin- ity, in & railroad car in the forest of Complegne, that the World WIt[ armistice was agreed upon.) German parachute soldiers roamed | behind the French lines, but “these can have no effect on the general | development of operations,” declared | a French War Ministry spokesman. German Objective. The German objective in turning | to the west appeared to be: First, to try to cut off the main Frencn Armies from the allied forces in Bel- | gium; and, second, to reach the Oise Valley. The sectors of Guise and Landre- | cies lie about 20 miles within France | from the Belgian border, near the | headwaters of the Oise River and | roughly 100 miles northeast of Paris. | Midway between the Germans and | (See PARIS, Page A-4) President on Brief Cruise Down Potomac River By the Associated Press. After a busy week which kept him at his desk for many overtime hours, President Roosevelt left the White House last night for a brief outing. | He took an overnight cruise down | the Potomac River aboard the Gov- ernment yacht Potomac. The Pres- ident had planned to spend the week end at Hyde Park but decided to remain close to the Capital in view of developments abroad. ‘The White House did not disclose who, if any one, accompanied the President on the excursion—infor- mation which customarily has been made public in the past. The War at a By the Associated Press, Germany’s wartide of men and machines engulfed Antwerp and was reported by the Nazis to be within 60 miles of Paris last night. The British and French pro- fessed, however, to see some slackening of the unprecedented assault in its ninth day. The indicated German position, widening and deepening simul- taneously toward the west and south, puts the invaders roughly midway between Paris, one ap- parent objective, and the channel ports, ideal bases for direct as- saults on England. The French said the main fighting was in the vicinity of Guise and Landrecies, about 90 miles from Paris. They admitted a widening of the German-held portion of Prance, and Premier Paul Rey- naud told the nation that the situation was “grave.” M. Reynaud himself took over the ministry of war and national defense, named former Premier Edouard Daladier foreign minis- ter, and chose Marshal Henri Petain, 83-year-old World War hero, as vice premier in a general cabinet revision. German planes bombed rail- way stations and highways in the Paris region, but were driven away from the city itself, with one-fourth of their 16 raiders reported shot down. ‘The British Royal Air Force an- nounced bombing of German cil supplies with heavy damage in Bergen, Norway; Bremen and The angered Germans said the A % Glance British killed 20 civilians in Hamburg and 11 in Bremen in raids on non-military objectives. DNB, official German news agency, hinted that these deaths ‘would not go unavenged. The British reported success also in aerial bombing of Ger- jman columns west of Namur, Belgium, including destruction of bridges, railways and flying fields. The French claimed sim- ilar successes in the unremitting war of the air. The still-fighting Belgians said the forts at Namur and Liege were holding out, even though the Germans already had passed them and captured Brussels and Antwerp. Although the French told of still violent German assaults all day yesterday, they theorized that some of.the great flame- throwing German tanks which lead the charge had dropped back for refueling. Some inkling that perhaps the Germans were preparing to draw on their second wind was given in a German report that “paci- fication” of the Netherlands, nearing completion, would re- lease another 800,000 Nazi troops for the surge intp France. ‘The British military spokes- man, who contended the Satur- day ‘sityation certainly was no worse than Friday, while ac- knowledging that the allies still were falling back, said the British and Belgian withdrawal in Bel- glum was taken to conform to | street the German advance in France. Scores Are Injured, At Least 5 Killed, in California Quake Imperial Valley Damage Heavy, Fires Rage in Two Border Cities By the Associated Press. EL CENTRO, Calif., May 18.—At least five persons were Kkilled, scores were injured and widespread prop- erty damage was caused by a.series of earthquakes which shook the Imperial Valley tonight. | In the city of Imperial, apparently the epicenter of the quake, four| persons were killed in the collapse | | of a grocery store on the principal | business street, and another was| killed at El Centro when a wall of the El Centro Hotel fell’ across the | | street. ‘The known dead in Imperial were: | Juanita Blevens, 18; Mrs. Ben Mul- | lens, 25; Rudine Mullens, 3, her daughter, and a second daughter, 5. The El Centro victim was an un- identified man. | City Hall Collapses. Walls of the Imperial City Hall,| which houses the Fire and Police | Departments, collapsed, but no one was injured. The walls of the old | Imperial Theater, vacant at the | time, also collapsed. Many other buildings were damaged. Heavy after shocks were continu- | ing in the valley late tonight. At Brawley, the shock buckled | pavements, wrecked two bridges over the New River and| broke glass in downtown store| buildings. No one was reporteg in- Jured there. Telephone lines throughout the Imperial Valley were disrupted and | police and sheriff's officers were | hampered in making an accurate | survey of the damage. Fires In Border Cities. More than $100,600 damage was caused by demolition of buildings in the border cities of Mexicali and Calexico, said reports to police here. Fires raged in these two cities. Bridges collapsed in some sections of the valley, the largest vegetable- producing area in the West. Fis- sures were opened in some sections of highways. The Southern California Tele- phone Co. said its El Centro office reported that “all the windows be- tween Fifth and Sixth streets” in the business section of El Centro were broken by the force of the quake, but that the buildings them- selves did not collapse. The two principal motion picture theaters were filled with the Sat- urday night crowds, the telephone company source said, but all the spectators were evacuated without injuries. Many women on the streets faint- ed with fright at the first heavy shock, it reported. The shock was felt in Long Beach, San Bernardino, Pasadena and other communities near Los Angeles, but was slight at those points. The earth shocks were felt also in Blythe, Indio, Needles and in Yuma and Phoenix, Ariz. The Southern California Tele- phone Co. was advised by its Yuma office that walls of several buildings there were cracked by the quake and numerous windows were broken. It declared no one was injured there, however. More War Pictures! Two full pages of pic- tures from the war zone and a map of the af- | hemisphere defense system which President Roosevelt first brought | forcibly to public attention when the clouds of totalitarian war -| present war cannot be ignored. fected areas on pages A-6 and A-7, Allied Defeat Would Change Entire U. S. Defense Concept Policy Has Been Based on Franco-British Fleet Aid, and That Now Is in Question The following article is the result of a survey by members of The Star staff‘of expert military opinion in Washington. See Editorial—'A Menaced America’ By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. The outcome of the next few days of fighting in Europe may alter basically the whole American concept of national defense. From the standpoint of safety of the Americas the next few weeks may prove to be the most momentous in American military history. For the American defense policy has been based on a belief that because of a British-French-American community of interests in the Atlantic and in the Caribbean, this Nation possessed security | in the east so long as the British or British and French fleets| remained as powers afloat. On the basis of this concept the United States has built a “one- | ocean” fleet, with the Panama Canal as a national lifeline in case it | should become necessary at any time to transfer the fleet from one ocean to the other. On the basis of this concept the United States | air force also has been patterned. The types of airplanes and the | bases which are being constructed for them are designed to provide | long-range protection for the North American coastline and, more | particularly, to prevent an enemy obtaining a foothold within air range of vital centers in the temporary absence of the fleet or in co- operation with the fleet. On the basis of this concept, the Panama Canal becomes the keystone of the national defense system and of the equally vital began to rise over Europe. Military leaders of both services are in complete agreement that the canal must be made as impregnable as it can be made by exercise of human skill, foresight and courage. E British and French Aid Depended on Hitherto. The British and French both have colonies and military strong- holds of the utmost importance to them in the Caribbean area. Their interest in keeping these outposts inviolable differs only in degree from American concern in protecting the approaches to the Panama Canal and the seaboard. The existence of British and French fleets, ‘therefore, always has been to a very great extent a guarantee of protection of American interests in the Caribbean as it has of British and French interests. Destruction or neutralizing of the British and French fleets would at one blow rob the United States of & very great and, from all practical standpoints, a very real protection in the Atlantic. Actually, the amount of potential protection to the United States afforded by the existence of the British fleet has been materially increased by the British interests in Canada and Newfoundland which are, to a great measure from a military standpoint, the interests of the United States. 8 Should Germany or Germany and Italy defeat the British and French and demand surrender or destruction of the Franco- British fleets, with destruction of the British Isles as the alternative, the United States and its sister republics of Central and South America ‘might awaken overnight to find themselves with no pro- tection in the Atlantic. In the light of what has happened during recent weeks, the possibility of such a shocking outcome of the It is to be kept in mind that this possibility has not been ignored by American Army and Navy general staffs. With the weapons which have been placed at their disposal, the Army and Navy have, it is well known, worked out plans for a defense of the Americas against attack by a-German-Italian-Japanese coalition. This plan, as with other plans contemplating attack by other possible combi- nations of powers, has been developed in accordance with the dictates of common prudence. 3 Has Been Tested in Maneuvers. The plan has been tested in maneuvers held during the past two years by the Army and by the Army in co-operation with the Atlantic squadron. The North Carolina “blackout” exercises of October, 1938, the somewhat earlier Long Island blackout and the New England exercises of last year were the working out of military problems based upon attacks against the Atlantic. Coast by a coali- tion of powers which also had heavily engaged our fleet in the Pacific. The Atlantic coastal defense became an air defense problem in these exercises. Rut; although the general staffs have envisioned the possibility that the United States might have to come to grips with 4 coalition of triumphant totalitarian powers, the fact remains that our de- fense system itself has not been made large enough or powerful enough to handle such a situation with the guarantee of an outcome successful to American interests. The major upset of American defense plans which would result (Continued on Page A-4, Column 3.) 1 ) Powerof Blo ws Is Waning, British Say IT AINT WHAT IT USED TOBE. Roosevelt Backs Efforts fo Speed Planes to Allies Industrial Leaders To Attend Parley Here Tomorrow By the Associated Press. President Roosevelt was said au- | thoritatively yesterday to have des cided to put the administration's force behind efforts to speed de= liveries of American-made war- planes to the hard-pressed allies. Informed airmen said means to hasten completion of more than 4000 planes which Britain and France had ordered since the war started would figure prominently in a conference of industrial leaders with Government officials tomorrow. The feasibility of turning over to the allies new planes manufac- tured for the Army probably would be considered also, it was predicted, though officials said no fortal re- quests that this be done had been received thus far. Mr. Roosevelt’s extraordinary pro- gram to strengthen defenses at home made swift progress in Con- gress during the day, and word spread that the Chief Executive might ask still more millions for armament later if he deemed them necessary. Supply Bill Approved. Working with unusual speed. a Senate Appropriations Subcommit- tee approved a $1827.491724 Army | supply bill carrying the Army's share of the special defense fund proposed by the President earlier | last week. The subcommittee provided that the morey should be available the moment the law is signed, instead | of next July 1 as most appropria= tion measures specify, and sent the bill to the full Appropriations Com- mittee for consideration tomorrow. Many members of the Senate pre- dicted that that chamber would ap- prove the huge fund, and send it back to the House for acceptance of the éxtraordinary additions, by mid- week. As Senator Hill, Democrat, of Ala- bama told reporters after a White House visit that the defense pro- gram would involve “speed, more speed and still more speed,” the House Naval Affairs Committee | tackled the question of relaxing legislative restrictions on shipbuild- ers to hasten naval construction. Tentatively, the committee ap- proved legislation giving the Presi- dent broad powers to ignore wage and hour regulations, profit limita- tions and other Federal laws in order to hurry construction of fight= ing ships and planes for the Navy. Baruch Sees President. Bernard M. Baruch, financier and chairman of she War Industries Board during the World War, lunched with Mr. Roosevelt but told newsmen afterward he had heard of no plan to establish a-board like the one which he formerly headed. In a statement issued here, Frank Gannett, New York publisher and candidate for the Republican presi- dential nomination, called upon the President to reconvene the War Re« sources Board—composed of busi- nessmen assembled last. year to study American preparedness—and to make public a report on the board’s studies. Declaring New Dealers had suc- ceeded in having this report sup=- pressed, Mr. Gannett said: “That report outlined a plan for insuring the most efficient and saf- est co-ordination of industrial re- sources with the least wastage of money and material and with no politics. I understand that it rec- ommended industrial mobMization directed by a board of citizens, of men experienced in industrial af- fairs and not under political control and supervision by various departe ments and bureaus which have pro- duced so much chaos in Washing~ ton. It is understood also that the special powers granted to this board would extend only through wartime or war emergency. The present powers of the President and his as- soclates would not be increased. Sees Nation Protected. “Thus the country would be pro- tected against still further accumu- lation of power being retained in governmentai hands after a war emergency would be over; it wouid not find itself -in the hands of a domestic dictator after peace had been won.” Edward R. Stettinius, jr., chair- man of the board of the United (See PLANES, Page A-20.) 2 Washington St;;ions To Carry Churchill Talk Bs the Associated Press. LONDON, May 18.—Prime Minis- ter Winston Churchill will broad- cast a message to the British people at 9 pm. (3 pm. Eastern Standard time) tomorrow. Mr. Churchill's speech will be Reard over two of the four local broadcasting outlets and possibly & third, it was learned last night. ‘WJSV and WRC announced they would transmit the talk, while WOL officials had not formulated plans at a late hour. WMAL will not broadcast the address. Radio Programs, P:g_e F-5 Complete Index, Page A-2 A