Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1940, Page 3

ltalians Expected to Strike Before Declaring War Decisive Action Seen At Cabinet Meeting Next Tuesday British and French Activity in Greece May Set Army Moving By the Associated Press. ROME, May 31.—Italians close to the government said today that any announcement of Italy’s entrance into the European war probably would come only after the Italian forces already had moved and that the world probably would learn of the first actions from points outside Ttaly. Widespread belief that Italian participation was immment came from Premier Mussolini's call for a cabinet meeting next Tuesday to discuss “important matters.” | (Italian journalists are leaving Paris today, a spokesman for the French Ministry of Information said. He added that, although this did not mean “inevitable” war with Ttaly, 1t was possible the Italians would enter the fight within the next 10 days.) Fascist practice has been to di- vulge momentous decisions after they have been taken through the Fascist Grand Council, which in- cludes most of the cabinet. There has been no announcement, how- ever, of a summons for a council meeting. Greece Assured of Protection. Italy assured Greece five days ago that her neutrality would be safe from any Italian attack, a competent source disclosed. THE EVENING STAR, BRIGHTON HASTING N INVADED HERE (1) and guarded its defenses (2) of Italy, still on the verge of entering the war. MARGATE bl RAMSGATE ENGLAND LAST BY NORMANS, 1066 LE TREPORT® DIEPPE® F IN THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME—The bitter retreat (3) from Flanders continued today, with strong German forces closing on the Allies a bag (4) which resembled the geographic shape England arrested more fifth columnists in London in the southeast. Meantime, the paign in Berlin led some observers to guess that the Germans might attempt to move next against Paris (5), around the army of Gen. Weygand entrenched on the Somme. NETHERLAND . OSTEND o i THOUROUT Ve . ¥ ouNKerof g Vo FURNES®,® 2 | 2 % 7N ZZGHEN uU 0. violent anti-French press cam- —A. P. Wirephoto Map. Paris Italy's assurance of her desire to| {GontnuEdiRrOmyRitstibage) keep peace in the Balkans, however, | cy asserted that the Germans had was understood reliably to depend | lost half a million men since they on the success of those states in| pegan their invasion of the Low | maintaining their neutrality against | Countries May 10. the Allies, who have been accused | This figure “finds itself written in of seeking to spread the war there.| authentic German documents.” tie Fascist authorities, keeping their plans secret, closely watched British and French activity in Greece where, they said, an Allied move toward Salonika would bring an immediate Ttalian invasion of the Balkans. One informant said Italy would re- frain from taking the initiative there, however. | Informed Fascists disclaimed | knowledge of the reported visit of German Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels to Adolf Hitler's headquarters which, a Nazi source in Berlin said, might be to prepare for announcement of Italy's entry into the war. Sources close to the government predicted it would come, as in the Ethiopian war, only after Italian forces already had moved. Will Keep Pledges to Hitler. Ttalians assumed that in replying to President Roosevelt two weeks ago Mussolini made plain his in- tention to carry out his pledges to Hitler under the year-old German- Italian military alliance. 11 Duce’s reply still is kept secret, but Fascists said it undoubtedly con- tained a frank statement of Italys position. They recalled that a day after it was sent Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano announceq | that Italy “intends to keep faith with her engagements.” A Fascist close to the government expressed the opinion there was | agency reported, without giving ad- ditional details. Equipment Saved. The Prioux units, a military spokesman said, reached Dunkerque | with war equipment which they | succeeded in saving from the Ger- | mans. (German reports said that Gen. Prioux, his staff and an un- determined number of his men were captured.) { The situation for the French | troops still inside the Nazi pocket, | | with German infiltrations threaten- } ing them, remained “grave but not | desperate,” the spokesman said. | With the “line of mounts” salient, | which the Germans established yes- | terday, fractured, the French apparently held an advantage for | maintaining the breach. The Ger- ! mans, however, still held Mount Cassel. | Nazi advance units pushed furi- ously to “Mount des Cats,” near | Godewaersvelde, one of a series of | French-Belgian frontier hills about | 500 feet high. | South of the ridges studding the ' Flanders plain, the rest of the Prioux | army continued to fight. Dunkerque was described as an| “armed camp” held solidly. Protected by Moat. Like an ancient fortress, Dunker- que is protected by a semicircular | “moat” of muddy water severnl] little that America could do to in- |miles wide which rushed in from | fluence Italian policy at this stage ot | the sea when the Allies opened the events. The United States, he said, | canal locks. could only threaten to enter the war | if Italy intervened, and threats, he added, are not likely to influence | Mussolini. Recalling hints more than a year | ago of the possibility of American | help toward a world economic read- Justment, this Fascist said “the sit- uation has gone beyond the possi- bility of such a settlement.” | The Italian press gave prominence | to a statement by Hungarian For- eign Minister Count Stefan Csaky &s “a clear warning to the Balkan states.” The statement, published in a Budapest newspaper, declared that the “‘community of interests” among Germany, Italy and Hungary, along with the Hungarian Army, was the basis for “hope that peace can be maintained in this European zone.” Newspaper posters screamed the theme that English and French re- sistance is doomed and that there- fore it is useless to think Italy might desert Germany for the Allies in the eleventh hour. Citizens of Britain and France pressed for exit visas. Americans Rush Letters. Americans whose duties kept them in Italy hastily wrote letters home | which they believed might be the last to go by boat before this nation | is cut off by sea from the United | States. ‘Word that the United States liner | ‘Washington would not come' to Italy, but would embark Americans at| Bordeaux, France, brought general belief that the United States liners | Manhattan and President Harrison | would be the last boats to America before war breaks here. The entire student body of the| North American College, consisting of 106 student priests, was included in the passenger lists of the Man- hattan and President Harrison. The group will be in charge of Msgr. Allen J. Babcock of Ann Arbor, Mich., vice rector of the college. Its rector, Bishop Ralph Leo Hayes, is remeining to wind up the affairs of the college. Precautions were taken to safe- guard colonial frontiers against counter-attack if and when the na- tion goes to war beside Germany against the British and French in the Mediterranean. Protection against air raids was tested in Gimma, capital of the Ethiopian province of Gallasidama, and the provincial governor, Pietro Gazzera reviewed Italian troops. Iron is being made from sand in a machine just introduced into Italq. —_— C' of Your Children 1\ iy Will Enjoy Delicious 'y Wholesome MELVERN ICE CREAM (Here two words censored) Strips | (three words deleted) connecting the port with the Flanders pocket from which the Allies are with- drawing are reported firmly held by French and British units. Military sources said Germans advancing from the southwest had | ground to a halt at the water's edge. . On the northeast side of the port, they said, the Nazis have not yet reached the water barrier and the Allies are combatting them in the area between it and the Yser Canal. Gen. Prioux’ army, the military reported, is retreataing in a solid square, giving battle on all sides in a gigantic modern version of a classic Napoleon maneuver. Air Barred to Nazis. The air above Dunkerque has been “literally forbidden” to German planes by the hot fire of naval anti-aircraft guns co-operating with British chaser squadrons operating from bases in England only a few minutes away, a military spokesman said. The anti-aircraft batteries’ de- structive fire protected Allied in- trenchments and convoys which were bringing in supplies as well as carrying out withdrawing troops. French and British troops, sup- ported by shell fire from warships, maintained their positions along the eastern and western walls of the corridor protecting Dunkerque. Units in Calais were said still to be fighting, despite violent German attacks. A commentator said the Allied fleets kept a continuous shuttle serv- ice moving in and out of Dunkerque, carrying in supplies to the armies and carrying out tired and wounded soldiers together with auxiliary units whose operations no longer were needed in the battle zone. Nazis Reinforced. The Germans were reported bringing up heavy reinforcements in an attempt to break the solid walls of the corridor through which the Allied forces were withdrawing to the sea. French and British naval guns pounded the Nazi columns from the sea, while Allied planes continued a relentless bombardment of the Ger- man concentrations. tween the Aisne and the Meuse, f1T COSTS G % mi; Add. Hr. 6 P To MiowiTe 25¢€ Phone At Your Nearest Hl%n Dealer. 1320 N. Y. AVE. Ig the Argonne Forest region be- c artillery batteries on both sides|@ shelled each other’s positions. A|S —_— French By the Associated Press. PARIS, May 31.—The French high command communique to- day sawd: In the north operations continued Wwith the same intensity around the intrenched port of Dunkerque. On the Somme and Aisne (Rivers) some local infantry actions on both sides. Between the Aisne and the Meuse a fairly violent artillery duel. Between the Meuse and Moselle an enemy raid was repulsed. German BERLIN, May 31 (#)—The text of today's high command com- munique: While the main force of French troops in the Northeastern | France either is dispersed or cap- | tured, some detachments encircled or scattered are still resisting locally. Resistance. however, will be broken in the shortest time. The attack | against the remainder of the Eng- {lish Army in the flat country only a few kilometers deep protected by the rising waters of canals along the coast between Furnes-Bergues and west of Dunquerque is in prog- ress. The opponent here is stoutly resisting in order to rescue as many soldiers as possible on ships if neces- sary, even without equipment. English forces encircled around Cassel were crushed during the at- tempt to break through northward. The main force of the German divisions in Artois and Flanders now is released for new tasks. The number of prisoners and amount of booty could not yet be established, even approximately. Air force operations in the course of May 30 were considerably ham- pered by weather conditions. Nevertheless, however, harbor fa- cilities of Dunkerque again were raided. The navy, all along the Dutcn War Communiques coast and the coastal regions of Belgium and France in German hands, took over the coastal defense. | German speedboats succeeded in | sinking by torpedo an enemy de- stroyer off the Belgian coast. In the course of the night of May | 5-31 British airplanes again at- | tacked non-military targets in | Northern Germany. | | Not much damage done anywhere. | One enemy airplane was shot| down by a night chaser over South- | ern Holstein, In Northern France the enemy | lost three French and at Stavanger (Norway) one British fighting plane in air fights. Two of our own planes are missing. | | lisaas | British LONDON, May 31 (#) —The | Admiralty’s communique follows: The secretary of the Admiralty regrets to announce the loss of | H. M. 8. Curlew (Capt. B. C. B.| Brooke), sunk as a result of a bomb- | ing attack some days ago off the north coast of Norway. During recent successful opera- itions in the Narvik area his ma- | jesty’s ships have been heavily | | engaged in bombarding enemy posi- tions on land and in protecting | | occupied coastal areas and convoys. | They have been exposed to inces- sant bombing attacks, in the course of which many enemy aircraft have WASHINGTON, ‘, burg, Germany, |the Paris office of the service; D. C, Liner Washingfon Sails for Europe To Return Refugees Cargo of Supplies For Red Cross and 77 Persons Aboard By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, May 31.—Bound for Southern Europe to carry Americans out of the war zones, the United States Lines’ 24,269-ton Washington, largest passenger liner in America, sailed yesterday with a cargo of first aid supplies destined for Red Cross units ‘The ship, its sides and detks em- blazoned with its name and 15-foot- high American flags, also carried 11 men heading for the war fronts to act as ambulapce drivers for the American Volunteer ~Ambulance Corps and the American Field Service in France. There were 77 passengers in all, 27 of them Amer- icans. In addition, she carried 2,693 sacks of mail. The ship was diverted from her normal run to Genoa and Naples to pick up Americans at Lisbon and Bordeaux, in addition to Genoa. Mussolini’'s Physician Abeard. Her capacity of 1,081 passengers has been expanded to 1962 by in- stallation of 100 special berths and 781 cots. Prof. Giuseppe Bastianelli, per- sonal physician to Benito Mussolini, returned to Italy aboard the ship, cutting short his stay in the United States “because they stopped the Italian ships from running.” The TItalian line has postponed its west- ward sailings. Also aboard were Archer Wood- ford, United States Consul at Ham- | and H. Freeman | Matthews, first. secretary of the American Embassy at Paris. Frank Brutto, formerly of the Chicago Bureau of the Associated Press, sailed to assume a post in the | Rome Bureau of the Associated | Press. | ‘Washington Man Sails. Members of the American Field | Service in France who sailed were | Russell Perkins, Pomfret, Conn., and Ralph S. Richards, Milton, Mass., who expect to be assigned to| Francis Blum of New York, Ken-| neth Parsons, Weston, Mass., and | Francis Arthur Foster, 19, of Detroit | Lakes, Minn., whose father, Arthur | P. Foster, had served as an ambu- | lance driver for the same organiza- tion in the World War. The six AVAC men were John D. Wellborn of Washington, D. C., son | of a former governor of the Federal | Reserve Bank at Atlanta, Ga.; James J. Gardner of New Rochelle, N. Y.; Herbert M. Witcombe, son of H. A. Witcombe, Glenbrook, Conn.; William M. Throop, son of Mrs. W. O. Throop of Mount Vernon, N. Y.; Winslow Meadows, ex-marine, for- merly of Buffalo, N. Y, and Carl Berthold of New York. Politics | been destroyed. | The confined and dangerous waters | off these coasts restrict the freedom | of movement so greatly that occa- | sionally losses are inevitable. | It was while engaged in these most arduous operations that H. M. | S. Curlew was struck by bombs and subsequently sunk. Difficulty ex- | perienced in ascertaining the names | of survivors has prevented this an- nouncement from being made be- fore. It is now established that | four officers and five ratings | (sailors) lost their lives and the, ! next of kin have been informed. German raid was repulsed between the Meuse and the Moselle. British and French troops fought off German attacks east and west of Dunkerque. The sea front was slightly reduced, running approxi- mately west of Dunkerque to Nieu- port. The eastern wall of the escape corridor was held by part of the British Army and one French di- vision along the Yser Canal line. The defense line runs approxi- mately from Lambartzyde through Nieuport, passes eastward to the vicinity of Dixmude and then de- scends in the direction of Ypres. The western wall where the Brit- ish have been reinforced by several French formations and parts of the French mechanized units runs from the coast west of Dunkerque clear to the western end of the line of mounts near Cassel. It descends to the west of Bergues, but veers off around Cassel, where the Germans yesterday took the mount of the same name. The army -under Gen. Prioux ap- parently was operating in two sec- tions. One broke through the thin German line from Cassel to Poper- inghe, which the Nazis established temporarily yesterday. The other units were drawing back in their area. A second British expeditionary force has arrived in France, it was announced yesterday, to take over the Somme salient. No Whole Formations Taken. Charles Morice, military com- mentator of the newspaper Le Petit Parisien, said the retiring move- ments of the French and British troops “have been executed without halt and despite fierce combats. It may be the Germans have taken prisoner several thousand tired and sick men who could no longer fol: GARDEN FURNITUR We Offer This Made FROM THE LARGEST Value_______ 21 inches wide, 27 inches high. A beau- tiful work—built to endure for years. Louis De Franceschi & Sons 25th and K N.W. * !low. Up to here they have not taken a single entire formation.” Overhead, warplanes of the R. A. | F. and the French air arm flew on never-ending missions, bombing the concentrated efforts of 40 German infantry divisions and eight Nazi armored car divisions to close in from both sides on the pocketed Allies. At either side of the harried Allies were lowland areas flooded to a depth of several yards to stave off German thrusts at the embarkation point. Added to the protection of opened locks calculated to bog down Ger- man mechanized divisions were French sailors and marines en- trenched around Dunkerque. Vast stretches behind the high- duned seacoast north and squth of Dunkerque were gashed by drainage canals that at low tide carry to the Channel the Flemish streams which are too sluggish to make their own way. {uid hea Sold, Serviced and Guaranteed by . L. P. Steuart & Bro. INCORPORATED 139 12th St. NE. Lincoln 4300 AR 2 LECTION OF E IN WASHINGTON Unusual Special 83.98 of reinforced limestone composition. REp. 0392 Established 1904 (Continued From Pirst Page.) my sincere hope that he will accept | renomination for the presidency. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1940. Wheeler should join Mr. McNutt in urging that the President accept re- nomination ihe picture would be materially changed. Mr. Garner and his friends have insisted that the Vice President would be a can- didate for the presidential nomina- tion even if the name of President Roosevelt were presented to the convention. Mr. Farley has also declared himself an unconditional candidate, and only recently it was clearly indicated that his name also would be presented to the national convention. If the President is to run, the entrance of Vice President Garner, Postmasier General Farley and Sen- ator Wheeler in the convention bal- loting would not halt or prevent the renomination of Mr. Roosevelt, be- cause the vast majority of the dele- gates would flock to the President at the drop of the hat. The re- nomination of the President, how- ever, under those circumstances would miss the quality of unanimity which would be had if they all withdrew before the balloting in favor of Mr. Roosevelt. Friends of Mr. Garner today em- phatically declared the Vice Pres- ident would not withdraw. The recent Texas State Democratic Con- vention was controlled by the Gar- nerites, and the Texas delegation will be prepared to vote for Mr. Garner, The McNutt statement was de- signed to bring pressure to bear on Democratic opponents of a, third- term nomination and to start an even more intensive bandwagon movement. Anti-third-term Democrats today, however, pointed out that the Pres- ident still has seven more months of his present term to get the na- tional preparedness program well under way. If that cannot be ac- complished in seven months, they sald, the American people will; be " % A3 THIS VACATION .. . The vacation sesson with gay outdoor parties and dences is almost here. This summer will find the Rumba, Conga and other new steps all the rage. You'll be amazed how quickly, and easily, you can learn all these new steps at the Arthur Murray Studio. You'll have more fun this summer if you start taking lessons. Call for a trial lesson today. Ethel M. Fistere’s ARTHUR MURRAY STUDIO 1101 Connecticut Ave. District 2460 Avoid War Risks Goodness knows what the spread of war in Europe may do to coal prices. Today you can get Marlow’s Famous Reading Anthracite that low ash, “laundered” hard coal—at LOW SPRING PRICES. Play safe. Stock up for your fall needs NOW at prices that you may not see again this year. Marlow Coal Co. 811 E Street N.W. National 0311 In Business 82 Years r Our Coal and Service Must Be Good greatly disappointed. Senator Wheeler, who like Mr. McNutt had said he was only an *if” candidate, made this comment of Mr. McNutt's statement: “I don't think Mr. McNutt or any body else has to worry about the President accepting renomination. Everything that has been done re- cently has shown very definitely that he will.” Senator Pepper, Democrat, of Florida, a third termer, sald he| hoped that Mr. McNutt's action was the “beginning of a procession which would leave the field totally void of any opposition to President Roose- velt. Mr. McNutt’s patriotic action will deserve and receive the com- mendation of the whole country.” Senator Chandler, Democrat, of Kentucky, an administration sup- porter, expressed the belief that “any fellow who believes he is quali- fied to serve as President and wants to advance his candidacy ought to feel free to do so unless the Presi- dent indicates he will run, in which event he will be renominated and | re-elected.” RICHARD PRINCE “The matter of precedent becomes insignificant in view of the danger to our security, and the hopes or DRAPE TROPICALS WASHING SERVICE If your shades are not washable, they can be turned very satisfactorily. For service call RE. 6262. THE SHADE SHoOP W.STOKES SAMMONS 830 13th St. N. W. RE. 6262 \. desires of any individual must be subordinated to the national inter- ests. It is true that there are able | | men in both parties who are capable | of directing the affairs of the Nation | under ordinary circumstances. But | the emergency which faces us is so} | critical that it requires the strong | leadership and wealtn of experience {in world affairs that the President alone can provide. “At every cost, America must maintain a unity and solidarity which will enable us to throw our entire strength into the task of pre- paring to face 8 hostile world. The country is behind the President and his foreign policy. It believes that in his leadership lies the best hope of peace. 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