Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1945, Page 1

Weather Forecast Cloudy this afternoon; clearing tonight. Fair, cold tomorrow. Temperatures today—] noon; lowest, 30, at 7:10 a.m. terday—Highest, 43, at est, 28, at 7:50 a.m. Highest, 33, at Yes- 3:45 pm.; low- 93d YEAR. No. 36,78 Foeni WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION D. C, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1845—T g Star WENTY PAGES. * Guide for Readers Page. -B-8Obituary - A-9-11|Radio -B-7-8|Real Estate. i -A-8|Society Edit] Articles.._A-9|Sports Lost and Found.A-3|Where to Go. An Associated Press Newspaper 3 CENTS. City Home Delivery. Daily ana Sunday 90c & Month. When 5 Sundays. $1.00. hok RUSSIANS DRIVE TO CUT OFF EAST PRUSSIA Roosevelt Pledges Lasting Peace In Brief Inaugural Address at Simple White House Ceremony Declares Americans | 1 €Xt Of Inaugural Address Will Pass Supreme Test of War By J. A. FOX. Franklin Delano Roosevelt to- day renewed his oath of office for a fourth term with a promise that in time to come America will work for a lasting peace with| the same intensity of purpose with which her sons today face the enemy on battlefields. In a brief message climaxing a simple, unpretentious ceremony de- void of all the pageantry of former | inaugurations, the President charted the Nation’s course in crisp, firm| sentences. | “We Americans of today, togcther‘ with our Allies, are passing through a period of supreme test.” he said. “It is a test of our courage—of our resolve—of our wisdom—of our es-! sential decency | “If we meet the test—successfully ‘ and honorably—we shall perform a service of historic importance which | men and women and children will honor throughout all time.” Small Crowd Attends. Mr. Roosevelt took the oath in an unprecedented ceremony on the south portico of the White House. Before him, the smallest inaugural| crowd in years—estimated at ap- proximately 10,000, including those outside the grounds— had scuffed a light snow off the White House lawn. About him on the south portico were gathered the Government's top leaders, including the new Vice President, Harry S. Truman. | The entire ceremony lasted only/| 14 minutes. | “As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in| the presence of my fellow country- | The text of President Roose- velt’s inaugural address follows: Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President—my friends: You will understand and, I be- lieve, agree with my wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief. We Americans of today, to- gether with our Allies, are pass- ing through a period of supréme test. It is a test of our courage— of our resolve—of our wisdom—of our essential decency. If we meet that test—success- fully and honorably—we shall perform a service of historic im- portance which men and women and children will honor through- out all time. “We Shall Not Fail.” As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow coun- trymen—in the presence of our God—T know that it is America’s purpose that we shall not fail. In the days and i the years that are to come, we shall work for a just and durable peace as today we work and fight for total victory in war. We can and we will achieve such a peace. We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immedi- ately—but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes — but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle I remember that my old school- master said, in days that seemed to us then to be secure and un- troubled: “Things in life will not always run smoothly. Some- times we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to re- verse itself and start downward. men—in the presence of our God— | I know that it is America’s purpose | that we shall not fail” the Presi- The great fact to remember is self is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.” Our Constitution-0f 1787 was not a perfect instrument;.it is not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base on which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy. Today in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons— at a fearful cost—and we shall profit by them. Can’t Live As Ostriches. We have learned that we can- not live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations —far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the hu- man community We have learned the simple truth as Emerson said, that “the only way to have a friend is to be one.” We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust—and with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding and con- fidence and courage which flow from conviction. The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our coun- try a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an an- guished world. We pray now to Him for the vision to see our way clearly—to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men—to the achievement of His will to peace on earth. dent said that the trend of civilization it- “In the days and in the years that and durable ‘peacet a; t‘ga:&' we work 2 for a total victory i Normal serv'ce as Streefs Are Cleared “We can and we will achieve such a peace.” The President spoke just a few All-Night Snowfall | | Creates Dangerous | Traffic Conditions moments after he had stood beside Chief ‘:suc&flarlan Fiske Stone, | Main District streets were rap-| |idly being cleared of the sleet| placed¥his “hand on an old family Bmls"afid pledged anew to discharge faithfully the duties of leadership for which the people again have chesen him. | Nearby stood Mr. Truman, former | Senator from Missouri, who had| just taken the oath from his prede- Som. Maapy A Wilinoe. |and snow which earlier today| |snarled traffic and caused many Surrounding them were their fam- |persons to be late for work. | ilies, the judiciary, the cabinet, the | The light all-night snow, packed | heads of the armed service, the by vehicles and pedestrians, caused | Speaker of the House and the Am- |conditions this morning which a| bassador of Mexico, dean of the Capital Transit Co. official had| diplomatic corps. There, too, was|termed “the worst of the winter.” the Right Rev. Angus Dun, Episco-| The company reported conditions| pal Bishop of Washington, who in- lon bus iines much.improved although | voked the divine blessing as the some trouble was still being en- Presicent prepared to take over countered because of ice on hills,| On the lawn below stood the particularly on Connecticut avenue yother invited guests—members of near the District Line, and on a few | ‘CnngrPs<. State Governors, mem- |hilly cross-town routes. Officials| bers of the Electoral College, Demo- |said that with the help of sanders, cratic committeemen, national and|they believed conditions would again State, and representatives of the va- |be normal by early afternoon “pro- rious groups which took part in the|vided there was no break in the Bishop Dun Invokes Blessing. November campaign, when Presi- | dent Roosevelt, now nearing 63, de- feated Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of | New York and took from the people a mandate to press the war to vic- tory and join with the other leaders of the United Nations to work for an enduring peace. Yards away beyond the White House fence stood the general pub- lic. Loudspeakers carried the pro- ceedings to them. Today'’s crowd, and the simple ceremony, reflective of wartime, were in vivid contrast toj the throngs and panoply of peace- time inaugurations. Official guests numbered 5913, where in peacetime it would have been five times that. The spec- tators on the outside, who were| better able to hear than to see, were few in comparison to the thou-| sands who ordinarily would be con- | gregated at the Capitol and along| the route over which the President. would move to the White House on this day. Hours before the ceremony scores of blue-clad White House policemen and an equal number of military police in khaki overcoats were lined up on the various drives over which ticket holders were guided. Of the approximately 5,000 cards issued, only about 1,500 entitled their holders to the White House lawn immediately below the portico. ©On the outskirts of the reserved areas the public gathered early to get a long-range glimpse of the quadren- nial show. Speech Shortwaved < ‘The President’s speech, carried on the four networks and short-waved in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, was in full keeping with the simplicity of the rest of the ceremony. As he spoke of the peace it is his hope to fashion and warned that America cannot live alone, the Pres- ident said solemnly, “We shall strive for perfection,” but that this would not be achieved immediately. Mis- takes will be made, he said, but they must not be those which come from “faintness of heart or abandonment of the moral principal.” The war, the. President continued, has taught us lessons—at fearful cost. “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace,” he said, “that our own well-being is de- pendent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned weather.” Other bus companies re- ported conditions were again return- ing to normai along their routes. Only one automobile accident was | attributed to the snow fall. The District government was somewhat handicapped in clearing and sanding the streets because many crews were dispatched to the White House and immediate vicinity to clear that area of snow for the inauguration. This left fewer sand- ers and men for work elsewhere. Snow Follows Sleet. The snow, which began at 8 o'clock last night, after about two hours of sleet and rain, ended of- ficially at 9:13 this morning, the Weather Bureau reported. Tem- peratures this afternoon will be slightly above freezing, with a maxi- mum of 36 degrees expected. The slipptry streets stalled bus and automobile traffic for a short time during the rush hour this morning along Massachusetts ave- nue N.W. between Thirty-fourth street and Wisconsin avenue. Forty- one sanders of the District Refuse Department and the Capital Transit Co. were assigned to sand the thor- oughfare and other main arteries. Sixteenth street between Walter Reed Hospital and Montague street N.W. and along hilly Pennsylvania |avenue S.E. Two Bus Lines Stalled. Just as the morning rush hour started, between 15 and 20 buses, southbound on Connecticut avenue N.W., were halted one behind the other near Nebraska avenue, with drivers unable to proceed until sanders arrived. A Capital Transit official said the Connecticut avenue and the street bus lines were the two routes ;n?lst severely affected by the snow- all. He added, however, that with one exception streetcar lines experienced little delay. The one lengthy break in schedule occurred during the rush hour, he said, when shortly after 8 am. a truck stalled on the tracks on Wisconsin avenue near Chesa- peake street N.W. and held up streetcars for about half an hour. In the one accident attributed to the storm, Wallace R. Hutchins, 34, of 1321 Euclid street N.W., received a_severe laceration of the cheek (See INAUGURATION, Page A-3.) (See TRAFFIC, Page A-T) Buses also were stalled on upper | : Yank Fires Quickly As Luzon Haystack Gets Up and Walks By the Associated Press. WITH THE UNITED STATES 6th ARMY, LUZON, Jan, 20—When haystacks start walking, it’s time for your rifle. Sergt. Richard Adams, Schenectady, N. Y., acted ac- cordingly when he saw a per- ambulating mound of hay on the Luzon front. It turned out to be a camouflaged Japanese. Sergt. Adams later messaged his company commander: “Spotted Jap. Send shovels.” Draft Board Processes 153 After Ohio Strike By the Associated Press. PORT CLINTON, Ohio, Jan. 20.— Leslie E. Meyer, chairman of the Ottawa County Selective Service Board, said today 153 men between 26 and 29, some of whom partici- pated in a strike last week at the Standard Products Co., were proc- essed for Army induction and “a few reclassified into 1-A.” Mr. Meyer asserted “the entire group is being readied for Army in- duction but not for immediate call. After a physical examination, the board will consider individual cases. Participation in any strike will cer- tainly be considered at that time.”| The board chairman declined to say how many of the reclassified were strike participants. Fire Destroys Portion Of Embassy in Chungking By the Associated Press. CHUNGKING. Jan. 20.—The chancery of the United States Em- bassy in Chungking was destroyed by fire early today, FOURTH TERM BEGINS—President Roosevelt is administered the oath of office for his fourth term by Chief Justice Stone (obscured by flag) as his son, Col. James Roosevelt, U. S. M. C., stands by on the south portico of the White House. “_ i —Star Staff Photo. As AWOL When Unit Departs Overseas 6;300, Still Missing, Face Classification As Army Deserters By the Associated Press OTTAWA, Jan. 20.—Half of a |contingent of 15,600 Canadian home defense soldiers drafted for overseas service went absent |without leave before embarka- |tion, and 6.300 still are at large, Canada Lists 7,800 |Yanks Smash Jap Tanks, Guns In First Real Fig 600 of Foe Killed in Three-Day Battle on Left Flank; Artillery Duels Continue By the Associated Press. GEN. MacARTHUR'S HEAD- iQUAR'I'ERS, Luzon, Jan. 20.— {Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger's 6th |Army is smashing Japanese !tanks, silencing artillery con- cealed in caves and going after enemy soldiers in 10-foot-deep { holes with flame-throwers on the left flank of the Lingayen Gulf beachhead. It is the first real The Americans are linking up a solid Defense Minister A. G. L. Mec- 0ght since the Yanks landed on Naughton disclosed today. About 1,500 of these 7,800 returned voluntarily er were apprehended, he added, and about 500 of them sailed for Britain along with the others who did not take unauthorized leaves. He said this total of 8300 con- scripted men sent overseas was ac- companied by “the full normal quota of reinforcements”—presumably men who had volunteered for service abroad. The 6,300 still absent will be return within 21 days. Gen. Mc- Naughton said the troop movement began Christmas week. But the ma- jority of men has not been classed as deserters yet, he added. The 15,600 troops in home defense units were drafted for overseas duty under a policy of partial conscrip- tion adopted by Canada in Novem- ber despite vigorous protests, prin- cipally from the French-speaking | population of Quebec. Previously, |Canada has sent only volunteers abroad. Army authorities anticipated late |arrivals and absentees, the an- nouncement said, and moved enough troops to ports to “insure embarka- tion of the full complement of rein- forcements.” | “The arrival of these troops has| brought the department’s normal re- (See CANADIANS, Page A-7.) |Musical Comedy Actor | {Hangs Self in Theater By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, Jan. 20.—The body of Paul Keller, 28, an actor, was found hanged in the rear of the stage of the Forty-Fourth Street Theater last night. Police listed the death of Mr. Keller, who appeared in the mu- sical comedy “Follow the Girls” under the stage name of Bobby Tower, as an apparent suicide. EARL W MORNING INAUGURAL SCENE—Where several thou- sand” persons were to stand three hours later to witness the fourth inaugural of President Roosevelt, sledding was the order of the ‘day this morning. Bill Crawford, 4-year-old son of Mrs, Faye Emerson Roosevelt, and frolic in the snow. 8-year-old Elliott Roosevelt, jr., —Star Staff Photo. classed as deserters if they do mnot| |January 9. Twenty Japanese tanks have been | knocked out and 600 Japanese killed |—some of them 23d Division troops |from Manchuria—in a three-day period along the left flank of the beachhead. This flank action is aimed at iso- lating Japanese forces on the north | capital, from other enemy forces on the south defending Manila. There has been scarcely any offi- cial word of a further push south- ward by Yank columns last reported approaching Tarlac, 65 airline miles from Manila, s The battle of the left flank is a scattered series of small clashes. around Baguio, Philippines summer | | | ht on Luzon | line along the Manila-Baguio road in a 30-mile stretch from near Ro- |sario on the north to the Agno| |River on the south near Villasis. | Today’s communique and Associa- |ted Press field dispatches reported: The Japanese threw night counter- attacks at Yanks in the outskirts of Rosario after a push east from| coastal Damortis. The Japanese were repulsed but artillery duels are |continuing. | Four miles southeast Yank columns |{moving north on the Manila-Baguio |highway which leads in behind |Rosario captured Sison. way past Pozorrubio, where one stiff |engagement of the left flank battle |was fought, the Japanese tried an uiush at Binalonan. Yank 105- |mm, guns destroyed 10 camouflaged Germans Hurl Back Yanks' Defense Line North of Strasbourg Reds Gain 20 Miles In Their Smash at Silesian Border British Units Cross Meuse; 1st and 3d Armies Near St. Vith BULLETIN. LONDON (#).—Marshal Pe- trov’s Russian forces in the Polish Carpathians have cap- tured Nowy Sacz, 10 miles from the old Czechoslovak border, and Presov in Slovakia, Pre- mier Stalin announced in an order of the day. (Map on Page A-7.) | By the Associated Press. | PARIS, Jan. 20.—Three succes- sive attacks by German troops from the center of their cross- Rhine corridor have smashed the | United States 7th Army’s defense |line in the Strasbourg area back |almost 5 miles into the village of | Weyersheim, 8'> miles above the {menaced Alsatian capital. " | Earlier reports said the Americans LONDON, Jan. 20.—The Rus- i e b 000 sians, driving to cut off East egh e NoRcR N today) atiupitof 10 Prussia, have penetrated within‘Germans linked in the bridgehead. (Map on Page A-7.) By the Associated Press. |62 miles of the Gulf of Danzig|Strasbourg is a political asset the in the Junkers province and have|Allied supreme command is ad= smashed to within 204 miles of 'mittedlv anxious to retain. Berlin in the southwest, the Ger-| The Germans hold a solid corri= man communique disclosed to-{dor on the Rhine’s west bank to day. within 7 miles of Strasbourg and The Germans told of fierce bat-|a'¢ 10 miles from the city on the tling against a rolling Red Army|South. tide of 3,000,000 men everywhere| On the northern section of the along a blazing 800-mile front as|front British troops jumped the Moscow broadcasts indicated a|Meuse River below Roermond un- fresh series of victory announce- JPposed last night, widening the 2d ments might be forthcoming tonight | Army’s push in the Dutch pan- from the Kremlin. handle which is forcing the Germans | | Marshal Ivan Konev’s 1st Ukrain- | ian armor reached the area of Kep-} no (Kemper) in a 20-mile advance | from Wieiun northwest of captured | Krakow. German home guard bat- talions, the Volkssturm, were bat- tling to stop the smash along the Upper Silesian border, Berlin said. Kepno is only 9 miles from the fron- |lau, the chief industrial center of German Silesia. Only 204 miles lie |between Kepno and Berlin. Five Miles From Tannenberg. tier and 38 miles northeast of Bres- | back on the Roer River line 38 miles west of Dusseldorf. Just below the Pritish operations, United Statds 1st and 3d Army troops drove in on St. Vith, high- way stronghold in the diminishing Belgian bulge, and advanced north of captured Diekirch, 30 miles to the south in Luxembourg. British Meet No Opposition. British assault troops crossing the Meuse by boat seized Stevensweert, 7 miles southwest of Roermond, without opposition. The crossing added about 2 miles to the 7-mile Northwest of Warsaw Marshal | , Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 2nd White [assault arc of white-camouflaged |Russian Army reached or crossed |tanks and troops bulging into Ger- |the southwestern border of East |Prussia on a 35-mile front and stabbed to Gilgenburg, 62 miles from |the Gulf of Danzig. - | Further southeast down the high-| Gilgenburg is only 5 miles from Tannenburg, where the memorial to Von Hindenburg’s victory of the |Masurian Lakes in the first World | War was erected. |Japanese tanks and bazookas knocked out the other 2. On down the highway past Ur- daneta Japanese resistance disap- peared as a motorized unit of Yanks| sped through Villasis to the Agno| River and there seized a 2,800-foot bridge, partially wrecked. | " (See PHILIPPINES, Page A-4.) Pacific Ship Convoys (Alerted for Subs Affer Merchantman Is Sunk Survivors Tell of Jap Strafing of Lifeboats In November Torpedoing | ™5 the Associated Press. SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20.— Tacit admission that convoys!| sailing out of Pacific Coast ports| |have been alerted against roving | Japanese submarines came today | after the Navy disclosed the loss of the Liberty Ship John A. Johnson and 10 of its crew in a torpedoing and lifeboat strafing attack. The sinking and machine-gun at- tack came last November between the mainland and Honolulu, about 400 miles east of Hawaii. Of the 10 American seamen killed most died under sprays of bullets fired, survivors said, by frenzied Jap- anese who danced on the sub- marine’s deck while shouting curses at the “Yankee The survivorg, told how they spent two terrifying hours submerging themselves and hiding behind wreck- age to keep out of the range of the enemy craft. Boat Strafed, Raft Rammed. They said the submarine in its surface hide-and-seek hunt strafed a lifeboat with machine-gun bullets and rammed a life raft. Lt. Peter Chelemedos, San Fran- cisco, experiencing his eighth torpedoing, said all of the 10 who perished died after abandoning the Johnson. One was crushed between a lifeboat and the sub, another was sucked into the sub’s propeller. Five men were seriously wounded, in the machine 3 The surviving Americans watched the sub shell the sinking Johnson then circle the~ wreckage-strewn i | water in attempts to ram rafts and boalts. Lt. (j.8) Wynn Del Yates of Salf Lake City counted 18 Japanese on deck gleefully and cursing survivorg. The submarine desappeared short- overhead; the survivors were picked up by dawn. Lifeboat Cut in Two. ‘The Johnson’s skipper, Capt. A. H. Beeken, Tacoma, Wash., was rescued after several hours in the water; he had escaped after his lifeboat was cut in two by the raider. (Tokyo and -Berlin radios had announced Nov. 6 “Japanese sub- marines operating on the Amer- ican coast sank several transport (See SINKING, Page A-1) s ¥} House Group Delays New Work Law, Sets Job-Jumping Penalty Strong Bloc Maps Fight Against Reviewing Of Farm Deferments By J. A. OLEARY. The House Military Affairs Committee has put off until next week a final decision on compul- sory manpower legislation, after voting late yesterday to impose civil penalties on men between 18 and 45 who leave essential jobs, instead of inducting them into Army work battalions. Meanwhile, a powerful House farm bloc announced plans to wage a separate fight against the admin- istration’s recent order to draft boards to review agricultural defer- ments. Expressing fear that if any more able-bodied men are taken from the farms the food supply of this country and its Allies will be endangered, the farm group made public a resolution it will offer in the Hguse on Monday. The resolution seeks to require selective service to clarify the recent farm directive by listing agriculture as a critical war industry, and by advising local boards to follow the deferment standards in the Tydings amendment of three years ago. Labor Hoarding Probe Asked. ‘While the Military Committee still is struggling with the subject, the farm bloc resolution would open up the whole manpower problem in an- other committee by proposing that|— War Mobilization Director Byrnes investigate at once “the availability of manpower among the 83,300,783 Federal employes, and especially to make a thorough investigation of labor hoarding in industry, particu- larly in the cost-plus war indus- tries.” By a vote of 15 to 2, the Military Committee late yesterday adopted the motion of Representative Kilday, Democrat, of Texas to provide fines up to $10,000 or five years’ imprison- 1y before an American plane came|draf non-essential to war work. There ar> many other changes L) = { The Russian also reached Neiden- iburg, 8 miles inside East Prussia, |and Chorzelle on the East Prussian- |Polish border, the Germans an- | |nounced. In the center of the blazing front |Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's 1st |White Russian Army was pouring Southwest of Urdaneta, American |toWard the Polish corridor between | the Vistula and Warta (Warthe) in new breakthroughs, and the Ger- mans said fighting was raging against the onrushing line of Red Army tanks. Near Vistula River Fortress. The Russians had reached the area of Plock, Vistula River fortress 125 miles from Pomerania. The Russians were 238 miles from Berlin in this sector. The communique did not confirm earlier Berlin broadcasts indicating that Russian spearheads had crossed the Silesian border. But the high command said heavy fighting was raging in the border area against wedges attacking westward, a clear indication that the tide of war had crept to the immediate vicinity of German towns and villages. Already the Russians were holding more than 1,000 German towns in East Prussia, now caught in a pin- cers from southwest and northeast. Closing on Tilsit. In the northeastern sector of East Prussia from 350,000 to 500,000 men of Gen. Ivan Cherniakhovsky's 3d ‘White Russian Army in a newly de- veloped offensive were closing on Tilsit from Ragnit, 5 miles to the southeast. The Germans spoke of “wild fight- ing” at the eastern fringes of Gum- Binnen, 15 miles east of Insterburg, and north and northeast of Inster- burg. Insterburg, important railway center, was in danger of being cut off from Tilsit to the north. 3 Russian forces, leaving captured Krakow, were smashing across the vital communications of Silesia and endangering the value of that coal producing and industrial region to the Germans. By reaching the area of Kepno, the Russians extended to 65 miles a front which was only 4 to 9 miles at the most from the Silesian bor- der. A Russian flank 50 miles long now "Big 3’ Sign Mmisiice . With Hungarian Regime By the Associated Press. LONDON, Jan. 20.—Soviet Russia, the United States and Britain have signed an armistice with Hungary’s provisional government, the Moscow radio announced today. Moscow said the terms would be published later. The Hungarian regime is headed by Col. Gen. Bela Miklos, and is seated at Debrecen in Russian-won territory. The armistice was arranged after three days’ negotiations. For Commissar Vyacheslay Molotov headed Russia’s delegation. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, Maj. Gen. John R. Deane, and George F. Kennan, a United States representative on the European. Ad- visory Commission, represented the United States. ‘The British Charge d Affaires, John Balfour, headed Britain’s group. » man lines within 8 to 10 miles of {the Roer River. | Although Stevensweert had been | abandoned, it was still too early to tell whether the enerny was begin- ning a general withdrawal from the tip of his salient between Roermond and Geilenkirchen in Germany, a front dispatch said. British troops advanced up to 1,500 yards in mop- up operations, and pushed beyond Hongen, a mile from the German- Dutch frontier. Farther north German parachute troops in a sudden assault seized Zetten, 6 miles north of Nijmegen and 4 miles below Arnhem, but Al- lied counterattacks drove them back in night street fighting. In the Strasbourg area the Ger- mans apparently were strengthen- ing armored forces poured into the Rhine bridgehead. At least six pon- toon bridges have been thrown over the river. Nazis Pulling Back Tanks. Field Marshal Karl von Rundstedt had pulled virtually his whole tank force out of the wester# front bat- tleline except for this northeastern corner of France. Snowstorms screened the movement. Whether he was pulling the tanks back for repair or racing to hurl them into a battle for Strasbourg was a ques- tion. German attempts to edge closer to Strasbourg’s northern outskirts were broken up, although patrols had advanced to within 6 miles of the city. German forces below Strasbourg are but 10 miles away. An American counterattack smashed a German bridgehead flung over the Zorn River, 9 miles north of Strasbourg. But the Germans re- pulsed American infantrymen at- tempting to slash back into Sessen- heim, in the Nazis’ Rhine bridge- head 17 miles northeast of Stras- bourg. The United States 1st Army had compressed an arc within 4 miles of St. Vith and taken all command- ing heights on the north and west. Five more towns fell northwest and southwest of that bastion. Other Units Advance. The 30th Division won Eivetingen, 7 miles southeast of Malmedy, and Iveldingen, 1500 yards southwest of Eivetingen. The 1st Division oc= | | | | | | | Two additional men from the District area have been re- ported killed in this war. See “On the Honor Roll,” Page A-2. (See WESTERN FRONT, Page A-7) prmtdnmtion bt el S, U. S. Flyers Attack Bridges on Rhine By the Associated Press. LONDON, Jan. 20.—More than 750 Flying , With 600 Mustang escorts, today hammered rail net- works and Rhine bridges supplying the German forces in Alsace after a one-day lapse in heavy bomber air assaults. The targets were freight yards at Heflbronn, north of Stuttgirt, and at Rheine, north of Munster, and a helmm highway-rail bridge at Mann< Poor weather limited tactical mis- fsions of continent-based 9th Air Force planes yesterday to 199 fight- er-bomber sorties and 28 reconnais- mmflmhu. from which four planes were lost.