Evening Star Newspaper, January 12, 1942, Page 2

Two Extra Pages In This Edition Late news and sports are covered on Pages 1-X and 3-X of this edition of The Star, supplementing the news of the regular home delivered edition. Cl Markets—Sales, Pa ch WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION ¢ Foening Star An Evening Newspoper’ With the Full Day’s News LOCAL—NATIONAL—FOREIGN Associated Press and (#) Wirephotos, North American Newspaper Alliance, Chicago Daily News Foreign Service and The Star'’s Staff Writers, Reporters and Photographers. UP) Means 90th YEAR. No. 35,685. Dutch Hammering Japs in Indies As British Fall Back in Malaya; Big Artillery Duel in Philippines u.s. Warshi‘ps and Planes Aid Netherlands Defenders; 5 Nipponese By the Associated Press. Japan’s all-out gamble for a quick, sweeping victory before the United Nations can take the offensive carried her troops dangerously closer to preparatory artillery battle along the entire Philippine front and stirred up a hornets’ nest of resistance in the Nether- lands Indies. Dutch fighters by land and air struck at inwasion footholds gained by the Japanese over the week end and claimed that, with Allied aid, they had showered two Japanese cruisers, a destroyer and two transports with bombs. The outcome of the land, sea and air battles for vital outposts | in the Dutch Archipelago was still in the balance; the fighting was mounting in bloody, destructive For assistance, the Dutch American and Australian planes. The Dutch surprisingly found it possible also to help in the defense of Singapore. Dutch fighters were said to have shot down three Japanese raiders attacking the British base this morning. The most that Japan could claim after the first shock of her | attack on the Netherlands Indies was possession of the small city | of Menado, on Northern Celebes, a narrow arm of the Dutch Archi- | pelago, south of the Philippines, coast of Dutch Borneo, to the northwest of Celebes. were naturally difficult to defend. Japs More Than 150 Miles From Singapore. In Malaya the Japanese, despite the succession of British im- perial withdrawals, were still more than 150 miles from Singapore on the western side of Malaya and probably no closer on the eastern side, although there has been little exact word on the location of that front. Nevertheless the Japanese had negotiated an important bar- | rier on their way toward Singapore with the capture of Kuala | Lampur. Loss of Kuala Lumpur, second largest city of British Malaya, | was indicated by the British when they acknowledged an- other retreat on the road to Singapore—withdrawal to new po- sitions before Seremban, 35 miles southeast of Kuala Lumpur. The Japanese followed the imperial forces with heavy assaults. Tokio announced officially that her troops yesterday entered | Kuala Lumpur, one of the greafpst centers for crude rubber in | the world and capital of the Federated Malay States. Lumpur is in Selangor. With British withdrawal to t! Singapore moved into another state of Malaya, Negri Selimban, the last one on the northeast before Johore, which takes up the | southernmost tip of the Malay Pe: The Japanese supplemented their drive toward Singapore from the northwest with fierce air troop train was toppled from the track near Tampin by a bomb hit. Tampin is about 20 miles below Seremban. G The Japanese also added to their claims of far-flung land suc- cesses with an announcement that Army planes sank a 3,000-ton merchant ship and damaged t Malacca Strait, between Malaya and the Dutch island of Sumatra. EBritish on New Line SINGAPORE, Jan. 12 (#).—Loss of | Kuala Lumpur, important rubber | center and capital of the Federated Malay States, was indicated by the British today in a communique an- nouncing their troops had retreated to new positions before Seramban, 35 miles by airline southeast of that | city, under heavy Japanese assaults. (The Tokio radio broadcast an official announcement this morning that Japanese troops had entered Kuala Lumpur yes- terday.) The British withdrawal dropped the battle lines to little more than 150 miles north of Johore Strait, the narrow channel over which a causeway connects Singapore Island | with the Malayan mainland. More than two-thirds of Malaya | thus was left in Japanese hands| and the invaders were reported con- tinuing their attack on the land and in the air. “Our withdrawal was closely fol- lowed up by enemy infantry, with continued attacks from enemy air- craft,” said a tgrse communique announcing the British retreat. Still Fight in Selangor. While intimating the loss of Kaula Lumpur, the communique indicated that Selangor state, in which the city is situated, had not been en- tirely surrendered to the Japanese. “Severe fighting continues in the Allies Join Dutch BATAVIA, Netherlands Jan. 12 (#) —Hard-hitting forces of the Netherlands Indies’ allies (pre- sumably bomber and fighter squad- rons from the United States and Australia) were declared officially Indies, | today to be taking part in vigorous | counteraction in which the fighting | Dutch battled strong Japanese in- vasions of Borneo and Celebes. Reporting the joint bombing of | two Japanese cruisers, a destroyer and two transports yesterday and today, an official Dutch announce- ment declared that “our allles are energetically taking part in the | fighting against the invaders.” (The War Department at Wash- ington said in its communique yesterday that American planes “attacked an enemy cruiser and two large transports in the Cele- bes Sea with undetermined re- sults The Batavia report specifi- cally mentioned Australian planes | in action also in that area.) Stubborn Fight Continues. Japanese parachutists and sea-| borne forces were battling doggedly | in an effort to improve the positions they won early yesterday at the | oil center Island of Tarakan, off| Northeastern Borneo and on the northern arm of Celebes. “The fight at both invasion points continues stubbornly,” a special In- dies armed forces statement de-| clared. Of the Dutch and Allied aerial| blows at the shipping which camed‘ and supported the invasion, the| special statement said: “Our Allies are energetically | taking part in the fight against the invaders. “Allied planes yesterday shot down | four Japanese planes over Minahassa (Northern Celebes) while they fur- | | | Selangor area.” the bulletin said. Ships Bombed Singapore today, touched off a fury. had United States warships and and the island of Tarakan, off the Both points Kuala | | he Seremban line, the battle for ninsula. attacks. They said a packed wo submarines on Saturday in Seremban, on the main railway leading southward to Singapore, is in Negri Sembilan state, which bor- ders Selangor state on the south. The British bulletin also an- nounced that the Japanese had landed a party of nine men dressed as Malayans from fishing boats yes- terday in the Bunkitchurang area Chief of Nazi Subs WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 1942. Tokio’s Claims Laun:hing of Drive on Indies Described By the Associ ted Press. TOKIO, /an. 12 (Ofcial Broad- cast) —Donei broadcast the follow- ing roundip today of Japanese claims in the war of the south Pacific and southeastern Asia: “Striking ; swift. sure retaliation for repeateily hostile acts on the part of Net:erlands forces, Japanese forces land«d at Tarakan off Dutch Borneo and Menado on Celebes Sun- day at daw, capturing Menado and Tarakan th: following day. “Imperial headquarters explained these ‘blitz landings as moves to ‘eliminate exemy air bases obstruct- ing the Jajanese campaign in the Philippines and British Borneo." “Virtuallr sfmultaneous with the launching cof operations against the Dutch forcus came the news of Jap- anese force. thundering into Kuala Lumpur, cipital of the Federated Malay Statss. The vanguard stormed ((See CLAIMS, Page A-3) - And Acmiral Raeder Reported at Odds Gen. Keitel Taken lll, Londor Paper Quotes Red Redio as Saying BY the Associ.ted Press. LONDOR Jan. 12—Growing dis- | sension in rhe Nazi high command | ‘was reliabl; reported to have spread | to the navy today with a sharp dis- agreement between Grand Admlrnll Erich Rae’er and his submarine | chief, Vice Admiral Karl Doenitz. Earlier tie London Star quoted a Moscow breadcast that Field Mar- shal Gen. Wilhelm Keitel, chief o(} the Nazi 1igh command, suddenly | had been taken ill A foreigr, source, whose informsa- tion about 3ermany almost invari- ably has p,oved accurate, said Ad- miral Doeritz had accused his su- | perior of msleading him about suc- | cesses of submarine raiders and the “peing resvonsible for the miscar- riage of swumarine warfare.” This scirce said the Doenitz phrase, whch he described as a di- rect quotat.on, “bears out indications that thing. are not going so well for the Germ;ns in the battle of the Atlantic.” Frirnd of Brauchitsch. Admiral Doenitz, this source said, is ar admirer and friend of | Field Mashal Gen. Walther von Brauchitsca, whose retirement from his comm.nd in Russia has been reported t+ have resulted from his | insistence ~hat Hitler break off the campaign efore winter set in and retire to lines behind Kholm, Smolensk ind Kharkov. The submarine chief has been responsible for the main activities of Germaiy’'s Navy in raiding com- merce anc transports. He was said | to have ociupied a high place in the regard of raval experts. This source said Admiral Doenitz | (See GERMANY, Page A-7) {Plans ?‘ade fo Complete Central Public Library W. E. Feynolds, commissioner of public biildings, today advised Chairman Randolph of the House District Committee that arrange- ments are being made to complete the new Central Public Library Building ¢a the north side of Penn- sylvania svenue near Sixth street N.W. witl the view to providing temporary space for defense agen- cies durin; the war. Work o the new building has been temporarily halted because of ©O. P. M. priorities on construction | materials. Mr. Reynolds said the building is about 20 per cent completed, and it will be possible to complete it before November 8, the original scheduled date of occupancy, if a satisfactory preference rating is ob- tained. “It is uiderstood,” he told Repre- sentative andolph, “every effort is being made to expedite completion (See MALAYA, Page A-6) ther scored two direct hits on a Japanese cruiser and a near miss on | a destroyer. “This morning two Australian planes near Menado (where the Jap- anese landed on Celebes) were shot down in flames by the Japanese. “Our bombers this morning scored a direct hit on a Japanese cruiser (See INDIES, Page A-3.) Martin Talks Tonight In Radio Forum Representative Martin of Massachusetts, minority lead- er of the House of Represent- atives and chairman of the Republican National Commit- tee, will discuss “National Unity and the Two-Party Sys- tem of Government” at 9 o'clock tonight during the National Radio Forum. The program is arranged by The Star and broadcast by Station WMAL and the coast-to-coast Blue Network. sufficient for occupancy.” In the face of the House vote to turn control of the Office of Civilian Defense over to the Army, Mrs. Roosevelt declared today that civil- ian defense was not entirely a sub- ject in which the Army has ex- perience. She cited the maintenance of civilian morale as one function she did not believe “can possibly be ful- filled by the Army.” At the same time, she disclosed to her press conference that Dean James M. Landis of Harvard law school, named executive of the O. C. D. last Friday, had reported for work this morning. She indicated that the details of the proposed reorganization of the O. C. D had not been completed, including the matter of whether she would serve under Dean Landis as assistant director of the O. C. D. Mrs. Roosevelt said she understeod /Army Civilian Defense Control :Opposed by Mrs. Roosevelt Dean Laniis, under O. C. D. Director La Guarca, would attend to organi- zational details, explaining that Mayor La Guardia had found it dif- ficult to do day-by-day organiza- tion work Asked » comment on the remark made dwing the House debate on the O. C. D. bill last Thursday that she was ‘too busy” to handle her 0. C. D. pb, Mrs. Roosevelt retorted by inquirag how many hours a day should o1e give to a job. She esti- mated thit she averaged 12 hours a day or. O. C. D. work, including her time :t the Dupont Circle Apart- ment offi:e, her outside conferences and the time she spends at the White Hoase answering O. C. D. mail at night. She sad she believed she spent more tim: at the office than Mayor La Guarria did. Mrs. Roosevelt had told her press s tly char:ed Admiral Raeder with Enemy Renews Air Raids; Moves Up Fresh Men {Map on Page A-4.) By the Associated Press. A heavy artillery battle along the entire front in the Philip- pines was reported today by the War Department, with ground activity increasing as fresh Japa- nese troops moved up. Corregidor, the island fortress guarding the entrance of Manila | Bay, as well as front-line defenses | of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's troops, | were subjected to new assaults from ; the air, the department said, as | the fresh enemy solsiers increased pressure on the defending forces. The communique was based on reports received here up to 9:3 lm.! It said Gen. MacArthur had in- formed the War Department that Japanese troops occupying Manila | are attempting to cut off radio| broadcasts from the United States and England to prevent civilians | from receiving news from the out- side. | i Hunt for Jap Ships. Meanwhile American and Dutch flyers teamed up in their hunt for more Japanese ships. The targets they sought repre- sented the vulnerable spot in Nip- pon’s grandiose campaign of con- quest. The huge quantities of troops and supplies which Tokio needs in the South Pacific must be water- borne, and resource-poor Japan is | not in a position to replace shipping | losses indefinitely. 1 The United States Army and Neth- erlands bombers got in some heavy | blows yesterday. as the Japanese battled to establish & major new in- vasion front in the East Indies. ‘The Americans paid a return visit to the waters off Davao, the south- ern port in the Philippines which the Japanese have been utilizing as a naval base for their East Indies thrust. The heavy bombers scored a smashing direct hit on enemy battleship and left it in flames. An anti-aircraft installation ashore also was hit. Attack Enmemy Vessels. Commuting back to secret bases in the Indies or Australia, the bombers spotted and swooped down on an enemy cruiser and two large transports in the Celebes Sea, south of Davao. These were attacked, but | the results were undetermined, pre- | | sumably due to the poor visibility | | which handicapped the assault on Davao earlier. Units of the United States Asiatic Fleet were co-operating with Dutch naval forces in invasion counter- moves, but the Navy Department | here was silent on the nature and results of their activities. | The communique last night lim- ited itself to a report of a Japanese hit-run attack on the naval station at Tutuila, in American Samoa, some 2,200 miles southwest of Ha-| wail. A small enemy warship | pumped 14 shells of light caliber in | the direction of the naval station | there. No damage and only three | slight easualties resulted. | The foray fitted into the general | pattern of the hit-and-run cam- paign which the enemy has been waging against American outposts in an effort to weaken the United States Pacific Fleet by decoying war- ;hips away for protective patrol uty. Daring Risks Are Seen. Some informed observers here be- Lieve that Japan has been com- pelled to commit & goodly portion of the imperial fleet to the South China Sea to support the heavy op- erations in that theater, and there- fore will take daring risks in an effort to divert United States naval attention as much as possible. One brake on the enemy's land, ses and air forces was the continued stubborn resistance of the durable defenders of the Philippines. ‘Gen. MacArthur, the War Depart- ment disclosed yesterday, hurled back a fresh attack during the day by “heavily reinforced Japanese troops.” The enemy struck with “tremendous force” at Gen. Mac- Arthur’s right flank northwest of Manila, but was repulsed with heavy losses by American and Filipino troops holding previously prepared (See FAR EAST, Page A-6.) British Destroyer Sunk In Atlantic, Nazis Say B) the Associated Press. BERLIN, Jan. 12 (Official Broad- cast)—The German high command announced today that Nazi subma- rines had sunk one British destroyer in the Atlantic and damaged an- other. The damaged destroyer, the com- munique added, was struck by a torpedo in the Mediterranean. Air-Raid Alarm The Office of Civilian Defense the information of the public these air raid signals for the entire region, including near- by Virginia and Maryland: Alarm—Five blasts of half- second intervals, sounded three eonsecutive times; a total of 15 blasts. All clear—Three long blasts of :m and one-half seconds each. 'In Orient, Knox Warns | slack. He estimated the first appro- | il e = muu 5‘ CLOSE JquG-‘:" °".‘r%" NOT GOING T0 BE MET Associated Press. THREE CENTS. That OId Russian Story Again U. S. Need Not Expecl1 Quick Naval Victory Cities Must Receive Federal Defense Cash, La Guardia Tells Mayors Secretary of the Navy Knox, speaking before the United States Conference of Mayors, today re-| viewed the progress of our war on two oceans, referring to “successful | operations in the Atlantic and warn- ing that the Nation could not ex- | pect to hear soon of “triumphant | American full-scale naval engage- | ments in the Pacific.” Secretary Knox broke a personal silence of several weeks regarding | the activities of the Navy in his speech to the Mayors. To speak of the Navy's full record in the At- lantic, Secretary Knox said, “would be to give Hitler details of success- ful operations he would gladly lose another Bismarck to know.” His statement regarding the Pa- cific situation does not mean that the Navy is idle in that theater of war, he warned, but said that the outlook for the immediate future in the Far East is black. The Conference of Mayors this| morning opened in three-day ses- | sion at the Mayflower Hotel. Secre- tary Knox addressed today’s lunch- eon meeting. Civilian Defense Funds Asked. Earlier, Mayor La Guardia told the conference the Federal Govern- ment must give cities emergency ap- propriation aid because of the extra municipal burden carried by the de- fense program. In addition, he de- | clared financial assistance will have | to be provided to take up a post-war | priation would have to be at least $100,000,000 for relief work. | He declared there should be a re- | vision of the priorities regulations | to help municipalities get vital mate- rials to maintain adequate operation of cities. “We beg on bended knees.” he ap- pealed to the Priorities Board, add- ing that cities don’t want their re- quests “referred to some semi- lawyer.” Mayor La Guardia said city heads | did not want material diversions from defense, but do want their just share to fill vital needs. He cited such things as fire and police de- partment equipment, sewage pipes and other public health and safet_v‘ items. He told the more than 250 Mayors that cities must pool all their resources, especially for hos- pitals, so there will not be a major health problem. Sees Slump at War’s End. Mayor La Guardia said the war's end will bring dislocation of busi- ness, employment and industry. While the Army works in peace- time on war plans, he said, “we peacetime employes of municipali- ties should work during war on our peace plans.” A large-scale pro- gram of public works is being de- veloped, he said. - He suggested that both the Senate and House establish special com- mittees on the subject of post-war reservoirs of work to take up the slack. In saying the Federal Government should help financially to pay for extra burdens on the cities, Mayor La Guardia declared that it should “abolish useless agencies to help pay the bill.” It was announced today that Wendell L. Willkie will address the mayors at their banquet tomorrow night. The address, described as a “major” one by conference officials, will be carried by the Blue Network from 7:30 to 8 pm. To Strike When Ready. The Navy has taken some hard blows, Mr. Knox admitted in his ad- dress—blows, he said, that were struck “before the referee’s bell had rung.” There probably will be other reverses in the future, he admitted, but, he pledged, “under Roosevelt we have kept our heads and we will make our own plans in our own way and we will strike where and when we are ready, not before.” In his first public defense of what some critics have termed slow ac- tion of the Navy since the Pearl Harbor attack, Secretary Knox called attention to the world-wide scope of the present war. Not only is there fighting to be done, he said, but there are long coasts and far- (S8ee MAYORS, Page A-7) s | assaults. | turned from the attack. lNQVIdl, today agreed to postpone- Nazi Navy Base at Brest Raided Again by British By the Associated Press. LONDON, Jan. 12 —British bomb- | ers, carrying on a sustained cam- paign against the German naval base at Brest, Occupied France, raided that Nazi stronghold again last night, the Air Ministry an- nounced today. The German battleships Gneise- nau and Sharnhorst and the cruiser | Prinz Eugen have been reported tied up at Brest for months and have been the target of the British The British said all planes re- | President Will See Chairmen Tomorrow O Agency Removals McCarran Resolution To Bar Decentralization - Is Held Up Meanwhile Senator McCarran, Democrat, of ment of Senate action on his resolu- tion against removal of 12 Govern- ment bureaus from Washington | after receiving word President | Roosevelt will confer with the chair- | men of the House and Senate Dis- trict Committees on the subject to- morrow. After the regular Monday confer- ence of congressiongl leaders at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Barkley indicated the President would see spokesmen for the two District Committees, which have been holding joint hearings on the decentralization proposal. A few minutes later, when the Senate convened, Majoriey Leader Barkley asked Senator McCarran to let the pending resolution go over and Senator McCarran agreed. This leaves the resolution on the Vice President’s desk, however, where it can be called up later on. Introduced Saturday, the resolu- tion would express the sense of the Senate that no agency be moved away without the consent of Con- gress, and would direct Budget Di- rector Smith to submit to the Senate a detailed report on the reasons for the removal order, the authority of law on which it was based and all other information connected with the order. The budget director last Friday re- fused to submit the records dealing with the decentralization plan to the Senate District Committee, sending instead a note in which he said he | had some hesitancy in complying | because he had acted in the matter at the direction of the President and that some of the papers were con- fidential. Senator McCarran promptly drew up the resolution to put the question before the Senate. Having already concluded that the additional hous- ing space needed to keep the Gov- ernment intact can be provided here as economically as the agencies can be moved to six or seven cities, the Senate District Committee also has on the calendar another resolution to authorize a $40,000,000 appropria- tion to erect 5,000,000 square feet of temporary office space in or near the District. Senator McCarran and Chairman Randolph of the House Committee Jjoined in asking for an opportunity to outline to the President the testi- mony they have developed in oppo- sition to moving the 12 agencies. Japs Try to Picture Hitler as Moslem, Ankara Radio Says BY the Associated Press. NEW YORK, Jan. 12—The Ankara radio said yesterday that Japanese short - wave transmitters are trying to prop- agate “the absurb allegation that Hitler is a Moslem, a direct descendent of Mohammed.” Presumably the Japanese broadcasts are being directed to Moslem listeners in the British Empire. C. B. S. heard the Ankara broadcast. There was similar propaganda on Hitler's behalf when the British fought their ‘“vest pocket” war with the pro-Nazi forces of Rashid Ali Al Gailani Viereck Withholds Answers, Tesifying In Fish Aide’s Case Refuses Replies, Fearing Incrimination; Linked to Hill by Lundeen Clerk George Sylvester Viereck, regis- tered German agent, termed by Government prosecutors the “high priest” of German propaganda in { the United States, went on the wit- ness stand in District Court today in the trial of George Hill, second secretary to Representative Fish, Republican, of New York, but re- fused to answer many of the first questions put to him on the grounds that the answers might incriminate him. The same grand jury that in- dicted Mr. Hill on a perjury charge for allegedly falsely declaring be- fore it that he did not know Viereck, also indicted Viereck for failing to reveal all of his Nazi activities to| the State Department. His trial | will Jollow that of Mr. Hill. Viereck admitted on the stand that he was born in Munich, Ger- many, but stood on his constitu- tional rights when asked his occu- pation and how long he had pursued | it. | He examined a photostat of his| registration before the State De- | partment as a foreign agent, and | said the signature appeared to be his. He refused to say whether he | was an employe of the German gov- ernment during the first World War, | but admitted authorship of a book | called “Spreading the Germs of | Hate.” Viereck Appears at Ease. Appealing once again to the pro- | tection of the Constitution, Viereck | refused to answer the question: “Do you know George Hill?" 3 Viereck also was asked whether | he ever paid money to Mr. Hill or to some one on his behalf. Again; the answer came: “I refuse to answer on constitu- tional grounds.” Viereck appeared to be at perfect ease during his questioning by Wil- liam Power Maloney, special assist- ant to the Attorney General, and from time to time smiled at Justice F. Dickinson Letts and at the jury. Defense Attorney O'Connor de- manded that Justice Letts declare a | mistrial immediately after the direct examination, contending it was highly prejudicial to Mr. Hill's rights. Mistrial Motion Denied. When this motion was overruled, the defendant’s counsel finished his | interrogation with a sweeping ques- tion. He demanded, on behalf of the defendant, that Viereck tell every- thing he knew about his relations with Mr. Hill and about any money he may have paid Representative Fish’s secretary. Viereck again refused tq answer. ‘The same response had come when Prosecutor Maloney asked whether Viereck had written or edited “Who's ‘Who Among the Warmongers,” by former Senator Rush D. Holt, pub- lished by Flanders Hall. Mr. Viereck would not say whether he was in Germany when the pres- ent war broke out or whether he had agreed to act as a German repre- sentative in the United States. He gave one definite answer—that he does not know Defense Attorney Trapping of Two Nazi Regiments Claimed by Reds Tank Group Caught South of Moscow, Russians Say BY the Associated Press. The Russians today claimed the trapping of two German regiments and a tank group in a large city encircled south of Moscow as they pressed to close pincers about a Nazi stronghold at Mozhaisk, 57 miles west of | Moscow. The entrapment claim appeared in a dispuatch to the Soviet Army newspaper Red Star, which did not name the city, but said the tempo of the Russian offensive was rising on all sectors of the Moscow frant and that 157 settlements had been taken in the last three days. Bryansk and Orel are two large :ities which have been menaced with encirclement by recent Soviet thrusts. Nazi Line Declared Breached. Russian soldiers smashing forward against the Germans from the Arc- tic to the Black Sea were reported earlier to have breached a new Ger- man winter defense line on the central front. The Russians said officially that they had captured the steel-produc- ing city of Lyudinovo, 40 miles south of Bryansk and directly on the Bry- ansk-Vyazma defense line, which British reports have said Adolf Hit- ler told his men to hold at all costs. The Russians also said they had reoccupied the railway junction of Tikhonova Pustyn. a few miles north | of Kaluga, which is about half-way | between Moscow and Bryansk. Fleet Shells Nazi Troops. Reports reaching London said | Russia’s Black Sea fleet, operating (from the great Sevastopol base | which the Nazis failed to destroy or capture, was shelling retreating {German columns in the Eastern | Crimea today. { One object of the Nazi drive into | the Crimea was to restrict the Black | Sea fleet. Failure of that aim was | apparent when the Red Navy took | a large and successful part in Soviet {landings on the Kerch Peninsula December 26. | _On the central front, where the Red Army continued to press the | scene of battle away from the gates of Moscow, reports told of German activity apparently prompted by desperation as the situation grew | steadily worse. Soviet war dispatches said cap- tured documents of the 289th infane try division revealed that the divi- sion had been reinforced in the past two months by men with wounds in the first stages of healing. Soviet troops have captured many locomotives and railway cars in the Crimea and workers rapidly e putting the lines in order for traffic, a Tass broadcast said. In Position to Crose Pincers. A military commentator in Lon- don said the capture of Lyudinova placed the Red Army “in a good position” for closing a pincers on German forces in the Mozhaisk sector. The Russians have driven salients westward both below and above Mozhaisk, which represents the closest point to the Russian capital at which the Germans still remain. The British radio quoted a spokes- man in Kuibyshev, alternate Rus- sian capital, as saying the Russians were within 80 miles of Smolensk, the ruined Russian city, 220 miles west of Moscow, in which, Stock- holm reports to London have said, Hitler set up headquarters on tak- ing personal command of the Ger- man Army. A Vichy (France) news agency dispatch said the Russians had captured the famous city of Bala- klava, in the Crimea, a gain which if confirmed would give the So- viets dominance of the southern ex- tremity of the Crimean Peninsula. The German high command re- ported that sharp fighting was con- tinuing on the central sector of the eastern front before Moscow and in the Valdai region between the Soviet capital and Leningrad. “On other sectors of the front there were no considerable opera- tions,” said the Berlin communique, The Germans said that in the Russian landing at Yevpatoriya, on the Crimean Peninsula, the Rus- sians left 600 men and 1300 “par- tisans” on the battlefield after stub- born house to house and street fight- (See RUSSIAN, Page A-6.) You and An Air Raid The series of articles which ran in The Star, describing precautions for the safety of your home and family in an emergency, is being reprinted in pamphlet form. Decision to print the pamphlet was in response to many requests (See HILL TRIAL,‘PME; A-T) Crifics of War Policy . Assured Right fo Talk By the Associated Press. Wendell Berge, Assistant Attor- ney General, asgured the Nation in an address last night that there would be no “witch hunts” aimed at locking up critics of the war 1] “If law enforcement officers were to start jailing people merely for what they think, say or write, such officers would experience terrific dificulty in devising standards by which to determine what kind of criticism shall be permitted and what kind of criticism shall not be permitted,” he said. Mr. Berge, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, spoke over Radio Station WWDC in Iraq. on the subject of ‘Freedom of Speech in Time of War.” J A from air-raid wardens, build- ing wardens and others in the civilian defense organization as well as from readers. The pamphlet bears official indorsement from Mayor La Guardia, director of civilian defense, and from Col. Lemuel Bolles, executive director of District civilian/defense. Copies, singly or in quantity, can be obtained after Tuesday at the first-floor counter of The Star Building at 2 cents a copy, slightly less than the cost of printing. Malil orders for copies should be addressed to “You and an Air Raid” Editor, in care of The Star. Five cents should be inclosed for each copy, to cover the cost of postage and handling. \