The Key West Citizen Newspaper, May 4, 1954, Page 5

-VIETMINH SEIZE NEW | FRENCH STRONGPOINT By LARRY ALLEN HANOI, Indochina (?—Renewing their massive infantry assault on Dien Bien Phu, the Communist- led ‘Vietminh. captured a new French strongpoint today on the western side of the besieged north- west Indochina fortress. A French high command an- nouncement here said the battered French Union defenders inside the crumbling defenses immediately launched a strong counterattack. “Bitter combat now is under way,” the French communique said. But the French high command communique today indicated the rebel renewal, at least in its initial stage, might be of less magnitude than the all-out attack which be- gan Saturday night and was sus- pended the next day. The communique said Commu- nist Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap had launched his black-clad troops at a key position on the western side of the French Union garrison’s hedgehog defenses. The last attack had come from all sides of the hemmed-in fortress, now ‘reduced to less than a mile across, Before the rebels halted their wild charges Sunday, they overran French strongpoints guarding the western, eastern and northeastern approaches to the command headquarters of Brig. Gen. Christian de Castries. Today’s communique made no mention of any attack other than from the: west, one of the areas in which the rebels scored Saturday night and Sunday. The French said the Vietminh legions returned to the attack shortly after midnight, charging in full force against the western sec- tor of the hard-pressed garrison. Savage hand-to-hand fighting raged throughout the night. As dawn broke over the muddy plain, the battle still was in progress. The Vietminh followed their usu- al tactic of battering the crum- bling defenses with human tidal waves. The advancing columns pressed so closely together that any gaps in the ranks were quickly ed. The attackers hurled plastic con- tainers of nitroglycerine at the barbed wire defenses. The French fought back desper- ately. Wave after wave of rebel attackers were raked by murder- ous machine-gun and artillery fire, but still they came on. The French met the rebels at the barricades with savage bayonet thrusts. Tt was clos rter action. The rebels had but a short distance to ington, race over the rain-soaked battle- field to come to grips with the defenders, The latest attack was preceded last night by the usual stepup in the constant rain of rebel mortar and artillery fire on the shrunken fortress defenses, The rebels also kept up a constant digging of trenches in the areas from which they had driven the French Union forces. g oe sides had rushed in rein- reements and supplies during the lull in the fighting. American - supplied transports roared in to parachute more men and tons of war materiel as soon as the Vietminh charges suspend- ed. The new troops included nearly 150 men who had volunteered to aid their battle-weary comrades. French pilots spotted hundreds of Russian-made Molotov trucks moving into the rebel encamp- ments in the hills encircling Dien Bien Phu, bringing fresh troops and Chinese-supplied food and am- munition for the besieging legions. Heavy rainstorms late yesterday grounded the French warplanes, halting their desperate bombing and strafing attacks on the Viet- minh concentrations and supply convoys. A French spokesman earlier had credited the suspension in the Viet- minh assault to the “extremely heavy losses” he said the rebels had suffered. Though the French gave no estimate in figures, the rebel dead and wounded were be- lieved to run into the thousands. Of their own losses in the Satur- day-Sunday assault, the French said only that they had been heavy. The flow of U. S. supplies to the French Union forces continued. The 14,000-ton aircraft carrier Bois Belleau—the Belleau Wood until she was loaned to the French last September—brought new squad- rons of replacement fighters and bombers to Haiphong. (The New York Times in a dis- patch from Washington said the United States had agreed to fly more French Union paratroop re- inforcements to Indochina. The Times said the second airlift in U. S. Air Force C124 Globemasters would start within the next week or 10 days. The first American air- liftyfrom Frahce, completed April 24, hauled an estimated 1,000 men. (Another dispatch from Wash- in the New York Herald Tribune, said the United: States had turned down a French request for B29 bombers for Indochina. The Americans rejected the request, the Herald Tribune said, on the ground the French do not have the bases from which to operate the big planes, the pilots ready to fly them or the targets against which they would be most effective.) Second Professor Dies Suddenly At Cambridge U. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. 1) — Har- vard University Prof. Earnest A. Hooton, 67, an_ internationally prominent anthropologist, died of a heart attack yesterday at his home. The controversial scientist was stricken within a few hours of the death of another outstanding Har- vard faculty member, Dr. Ira T. Nathanson, 49, a cancer specialist, ; who also suffered a heart attack. Both died shortly after delivering lectures to students in classrooms. Hooton, who had headed the Har- vard anthropology department since the early 1930s, was noted for his salty observations on the human race—known as “Hooton: isms” to other scientists. His remarks once led to a de- mand for a Massachusetts legisla- tive probe of “this teaching cf in- human doctrines, contrary to the spirit of American institutions.” He often contended that man was on the road back to the jungle unless he changed his ways “Gadgets and machines are zet- ting better while man is getting worse and worse,” he said. His best known writings were “Up From the Apes,” “Apes. Men and Morons,” and “Why Men Be- have Like Apes and Vice Versa.” IKE SLATES SPEECH WASHINGTON (® —’ President Eisenhower will speak informaily at a May 12 meeting of the -So- ciety of Personnel Administration at the Statler Hotel here. J -..someone else is interested in your family, too! IT’S GREAT being head of your family, ise’t it Dad... having them look up to you know the problems that go alon; i You can talk things over with him, and with the job. Yuesday, May 4, 1954 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Page S$ Today's DETROIT (#—You won’t have to wait till Memorial Day at In- dianapolis for the big auto race this year. It’s on here right now. What people are wondering to- day: how many casualties, if any? Will there be some price plums for car buyers later on? It’s the big topic in Detroit now— stimulating more conversations than the recession. What will the big auto companies do to each other — and to the little fellows? Out in front and roaring fast ore Ford and General Motors’ Chevro- let, each vowing to sell the most cars in the lowest price field. Just leaving the pit afte inventory overhauling is Chrysler’s Plymouth, talking confidentiy of < spurt later on — perhaps (some have guessed) with an early and striking model change. Scattered along the way almost back to the starting line are the independents — some of them spluttering about “reckless over- production” by the bigger boys. | Equally loud are the cries of SAVE WHEN YOU DRIVE Business Mirror By Sam Dawson some of the dealers, who say they are being overstuffed With new cars. Both General Motors and Ford are out to increase sales volume this year. If they do, it'll be at the expense of the other com- payment terms and similar induce- ments. Now and then it takes the form of “bootlegging” — passing along new cars to used car dealers who ; then sell them at less than listed {retail prices. This practice draws the wrath of both the manufactur- ers and other dealers. The big race for a larger per- centage of car sales has concen- trated in the lowest price field. Production so far this year has included about 498,000 Fords, 499,- 000 Chevrolets: and 139,000 Plym- ouths. Out in a try for third place for the year, the middle-price- range Buick has so far turned out around 187,000 cars. But these busy production lines give a distorted view of the auto industry in general. There have been so many shut- downs and slowdowns by Chrysler panies. For all predict total car}/and the independents — who to sales will slide below 1953. date look like the fall guys in the Hanging over all heads is ajFord-General Motors competition large inventory of unsold new —that total first-quarter deliveries cars — at least 50 per cent higher of new cars this year are 5 per than a year ago, cent lower than last year, the Auto- While auto manufacturers deny|mobile Manufacturers Assn. re- any intention of cutting prices, | ports. some in the auto capital think it} The race may be taking a new |might happen, if spring and sum-}turn’ now too. Ford earlier was mer sales fall below expectations. | producing at near capacity. Chev- | Most, however, are betting official |rolet was not, but now is stepping price cuts, if any, would come at|up output and has higher capa- the time of model change-overs, | city to shoot at. when new styling would obscure} Both, of course, are betting on them. their dealers’ - ability to sell the Dealers, meanwhile, have been| public. And the public is the dark cutting prices, in effect, for some|horse in this race. time. Usually this takes the form} Chrysler insists it has tailored of heftier allowances for turn-ins, or concessions on extras, or easier output to dealers’ actual sales. Studebaker’s chairman, Paul &. Greece Demands Isle Of Cyprus ATHENS, Greece — Premier Field Marshal Alexander Papagos says unless Britain yields the Isle} of Cyprus to Greece by Aug. 22, he will ask the United Nations to me- diate the dispute, Declaring that more than 80 per cent of the strategic island’s 450,000 Population are Greeks who “want common destinies with the mother country,” Papagos warned in a statement yesterday that Greece would abandon her attempts at a “friendly settlement” of the long Hoffman, calls the ‘race a matter of overproduction by the big boys that forces “‘all dealers into price cutting and other unsound prac- tices.” It adds up, he says, to “a tough year.” For A Quick Loan $25 TO $300 See “MAC” 703 Duval Street TELEPHONE 2-8555 Dr. A.M. Morgan Chiropractor 1430 REYNOLDS STREET standing dispute if Britain contim ued to turn a deaf ear. 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