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Yanks Fight Way Down Fairy-Like Moselle Valley Patton's Troops Push Along Old Roman Path ways in Land of Forest, Lake and Ancient Turreted Castles. By BAUKHAGE ' limm M? WND Service, Colon Tnut hMk|, Washington. D. C. American history, I belie**, has begun Is repeat itself as the Allies start to write the last chapter of the European war. By the time this is in print I hope Genera] Patton's boys (the Thirfl army), pushing down the winding valley of the Moselle river, have cap tured or at least invested Trier, key city of the defanaes of the Eifel. As they progress across those ancient highways or down the deep valley of the twisting Moselle river where R*-, man legions, equally as bomesicl, once marched in the opposite di rection, they will be retraining the steps of the victorious American army which moved eastward to the Rhine in the last war. Then as now, it was ths American Third army which occupied the ancient city of Trier at the close of 1018. It left In 1W3. v.- o, i I may be wrong ha my premoni tion, but I believe that this approach to the Rhine, which only an Amer ican army evar used to enter Ger many as victors, will be the thor oughfare of the victors of IMS. This country of the "Eifel," north of the Moselle and west at the Rhine, is of particular interest to pie for I have invaded it twice, peacefully to be sure; both timet before World War I. ? Secluded Village* Sprinkla Countryude The Eifel is a stretch of terrain of volcanic origin, of soma bare and bleak hills and some tiny, secluded villages. It is also a country of towns on beautiful lakes and rivers, in valleys with the terraced "morn ing tide" (where the tun touches lint) On which vineyards havs growp since the Romans first plant ed tbem in the early centuries be for* Christ. Part of the Eifel waa "remote" even when I visited it. On the mod ern highways, many of which follow ? the Old Roman routes, there were re sorts favored by tourists. But there were lonely villages which breathed an age forgotten by the "modern" Germany of 1013 when I first saw them. There were tall crags crowned by the ruins of medieval monasteries and castles, thers were quaint and comfortable Inns, there were meandering mountain paths, walled bp thick fir trees beneath which I slept in my "lodenfabrik" cape, resting on a thousand ysar old mattress of pine-needles, dream ing of goblins and kobolds. In a moment I'll take you up to aee an enchanted castle that might have coma straight out of a Maxfleld Parrish painting ear an illustration from Grimm or Anderson. But now, latfa get back to March, 1MB. As this is written the lighting has bean along the western rim of the Eifel, which is really the western rim of the German frontier from south of the River Roer to the dty . of War. Trier is IB miles from Cebleni on the Rhine. The lighting has consisted of the parallel advance of columns along a 90-mile wide front Patrols first move into the hills overlooking the valley villages. They secure the hl?h points ao their artillery can domi nate valleys, up which tha infantry advances on toe villages which are its objectives, protected by the artil lery in the hills. It mart be remembered that all along the German frontier stretches the Siegfried line. Therefore, the Americans have to advance against its fortifications and will have to do so pariwps halfway to the Rhine. This means that pUlboaes and other fortifications have to ba taken aa tha Americana advance. Tanks cannot ba used In this rough country. It is tha old-fashioned, catcb-aa-catcb-can fighting, with ri fles, gronadss, dynamite, flams throwers and hand grenades. ffaggW Terrain Calls Tor Claaa-Up Battl, In these early stages of tha Amer ican push the fighting has been in sharp contrast to tha first army's move along too Roer rtvar toward and into tha Cologne plain. Once tha Roar eras bridged and tanks could cross, armor could come to the aid af the doughboys who wars scrapping it out in tha villages and towns where anch house was a puHMmnMaMnamnmnaamnmaaaanaanam fort. On the flat plain the nee at armor is an advantage, but in billy country ~<mct poMtssloo of tbo height* 'is gained, artillery can dom inate the bhjecttVad below toward whUhMhe foot-eoldiera are moving. There are plain* In the Elf el, too, but It would aeem that the chief ar teries of advance would be along the tpifcys and toe roads the Romans enop taped Ja (heir advance in the opp^Jtp direction. ? it Was westward, the course of Caesar*. mo*M< when he conquered the Tr#*eri;'i*he tribe from which gteiani (Treves in French) gets its same IThi Roman legions marched in MB. C. By Id B. C. they were fortifying Trier. -Today the famous, blackened height of the Porta Negri, the city's Roman gateway, haa been bastloned with modern fortifications. The ancient brick basilica In the town and the .renaissance fountain (Peterabrunnep) will be remem btrddBy thousands of American vet erans "of the last war. Trier, seat of thd electorate, became a center of monastic learning in the Middle age*. Let us hops soma of thejandmarks will be preserved ana when our bombers smash the bridge across the Moselle, the ancient buttresses remain intact as they have these two thousand years. Perhaps they won't have to be bombed, but rather the destruction of buttresses than one American Ufa. Remember what Bismarck (of all people) once said of a piece of foreign soil? A square foot of it arms not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian Grenadier. In the hope that our men can march the rest of the valley unmo lested ea their fathers did, let's turq up the valley where the Eltx river pours into the Moselle, not far fromi the Rhine. (1 quote from my diary, April 2, 1912.) "We started out on foot, the only means of locomotion ... the old vil lage with its plaster bouses, the crooked, cobbled street, the old trees and the church, older than the trees . . , along the meadows, past the mill and across the stream and the huddle of houses which cluster about it, up the enchanting valley wooded with beech and birth, the hurrying Eltx below, and the green meadows, underfoot ths brown! leavas that fell last fall and wUl lie] like thoaa beneath them undisturbedj until the onei (till green cover them. I Down a dip In the path and scrdbs a ftream until the aotnber ruins of "Trots Elti' appear. (Trots meant against) It Is the relic of a fruitless effort to destroy the real castle of Elts below. Moat tower and but tress were built with the sole pur pose of destroying a rival, (just as the modem artillerist seeks to take the height to destroy those below). "Then up the path until suddenly, as if the ascent were planned by the architect who built the poem in stone below, the fairy castle of Burg Elts, turret and tower, pinnacle, portal and drawbridge appear." That is the end of the quote, as we say an the radio. May It be the beginning of new dreams of a more glorious world, of which some day the valley of the Moselle will be a part. a ? ? The deaths of many semi-promi nent Nazis, notices of which are ap pearing in the German papers (cm man died at two different places sn two different dates) are taken to mean that the alleged late and un lamented gentlemen have either es caped to neutral countries with a new Identity or have become some one else at home. Howmr. lt is also painted out by Dcrsons familiar with conditions in Germ any that H is highly probable that a number of real deaths which are unreported are likewise taking place. - In the Irst place, the con centrated Allied bombing on locali ties where high officials oongregats (n^htssffsden^Md NusmburgMs In addition, various "inside jobs'* ere probably getting rid of a num ber of peraeao. see Negroes constituted almost one tenth of eO the employees on the federal payroj aa of March 1, 1M4. However, they were disproportion atMy ^ concentrated hi the lower j BARBS., ? by Bmmhhmgt A broartraet (toat Tokyo Mid that 111 Toiiimi ftrrt -nrim'iT "i rntj Inn glad to' grapple with tha American aavy. - Sotrnda like (tappie eauce to """ ... bejgiad to jaara^that^a Explosive Ben Marsh, secretary of the radical People's lobby, calls the Yalta conference "a compromise with intelligence" and says that "Italy ignoramuses oI the Maw Deal and the Old Deal can sea much tart a threat of Worid War m la Ms en cyclical." Conservative Dasld Last This Sign Proves No Idle Jest Since men of the Black Watch regiment of Canada heard of the speed of the Bed advance into Germany, they are cautioning their comrade* with aigns, aa above. Meanwhile, the "Ladle* From Bell" are putting on a good show themselves and have mopped np much of the strategic Sieg fried defense hnb of Goch. Twin Powered Hockey Players ' Pete Loaf, left, aad his twin brother, Freak, who provide the pewer oa the Pssedeas Feathers' Bearcat line, come to crips with Connie Hill of the Hollywood Wolves, rifht, la a recent leV hockey clash. They are said to be the trat twin powered hockey players in this coantry. They have peeves a U( factor in the Panthers' scoriae record. Indication of What Is to Come ^^?OCHOW : ^a<yK3S-ls.7....\ /%....^JZ3i^yiflflt# 1 .|^J ?MTONMI?fe ^ MWUOP \p= ~^-? vi|~-"? ^ J ^ As malt? wtye eat Jay slrfteMs withla 7M Miles at Takja am Ive, the sleartay at Hub bay tar Imrieu shire eeettaaes sad pattern at twa-way thrash ea Ntyyon ptei steadily clearer. Bene observers cos sider Ike tnrt ay frees let tebe the ydek way. bat ethers insist the servers "seeL'tTtttsfcttat*su'tnai^tiens'trT thaf the* Japanese"finds wtH be iiayasul bafere stteaiyttBd direct cessbit la Asia. \ -.11 * Dragon^ Teeth Prove No Barrier ?Km * ? *ml , March of Death G.I. Survivor of the harrowing "March of Death" on Luxon, M/S Cheater A. Konka works out hia M-day furlough in Detroit aviation plant. He says, "Take it from one that knows, FU stand by the Red Cross, it's a really great organisation. It did a lot for us on the islands." Not 'Destructible' Lt. Alexander Vraeiu, East Chi cago, Ind., shown aboard a carrier as he had Just retained after being shot down over Luzon. He was picked np, after his forced landing, by guerrilla bands who aided him in returning to ship. Admiral of Texas Admiral at the Nary Chester W. Nitidis, la tktrfe at present opera Usos in the Paellc, in his college days was described as "a man at eheerfal yesterdays and eenMent to rn ormrs." Be Is a hie tarorHe with the navy enlisted pe rescue 1. Premier Assassinated liked the *ewseW?Wd*. i HOW HALSEY BOMBED FILIPINOS Adm. William F. "Bull" Halsey tells this dramatic story about th? invasion oi Luzon. "Just befora we went into Lu zon, I called all the Filipino stew ards and messboys on my flagship to gether. 1 showed them a map at Luzon and pointed out the Japanese positions that MacArthur had told me not to shell for (ear of hurting some Filipino civilians. "I told them that the only way to get the Japa out would be to shell these key points. ' < "One of the messboys stepped for ward and said that the marked-out positions included his home. I asked him if he thought we should shell it. " 'Is that the only way to get the Japs out?' hfe asked me. I replied that it was. " Then if you don't mind, sir,' the messboy told me, 'shoot the so an-so's out to hell.' "We shelled those defenses, we killed a few Filipinos, but we got all the Japs." i? ,? - ? e e * " ARMY SPEED DP Senator* studying the military pic ture have, learned that the army ground forces command has been quietly cutting dowtfon the training given to infantrymen before going into front-line action. Infantrymen ate now seme times being ? shipped overseas without any advanced training. Some now flad themselves in the front line only six months after having donned uniform. It is still longer than the average in the last war, however. Mean while, men are being yanked out of the air corps and services ef supply and transferred to the in fantry. Already supposed to be well-seasoned, tbey get an addi tional seven weeks' training and are then moved outside the coun try as replacements. One new departure from practice In the last war is that few divi sions have been withdrawn from action in their entirety for a thor ough rest. Instead, once a division is in the line, it receives replace ments, but no real vacation, for months. Congressmen returning from the war front have criticized this policy to army higher-ups. General Bradley has tried to move green divisions into relative ly quiet sectors for seasoning, but his intelligence hasn't always been able to gauge what the enemy con siders a quiet sector. ? ? ? LABOR MANAGEMENT The scene Is the lobby of Wash ington's fashionable Mayflower hotel. A modest, businesslike, (ray-haired man walks over to the house phone, picks it up. "Room 633," he says, and then after a brief panse. "Erie, this is Bill, shall I come up?" The conversation is between the representatives of two one time bitter foes, AFL Bill Green and the O. 8. Chamber of Com merce Eric Johnston, preparin( to spend an evening together dis cussing the mutual problems of labor and management. When Johnston first became president of the D. 8. chamber, he imme diately called on Green and Phil Murray, suggesting closer co operation in the public interesi. They have been good friends ever since. ? ? ? FRANCE AND THE BIG THREE Those who sat at Roosevelt's elbow during the Yalta conference give a new slant to the reasons why sensitive General De Gaulle was not Invited to join the big three. They say that neither the President nor Prime Minister CfcurchiH had any objection to De Gaulle's presence, but felt rather neutral about it. Stalin was the man who opposed it. Stalin, according to those return ing from Yalta, pointed out that this was to be primarily a military con ference and France was only play ing a minor role in the war. Since the Big Three were bearing the main blunt of the war, Stalin said he saw no point in having De Gaulle sit in on a conference concerned largely with military strategy. The Russian war chief was quite | definite and repeated the point that if the Yalta conference were con cerned primarily with political and economic postwar problems, it would be different. But when mili tary matters were being discussed, he just didn't want De Gaulle around. Then to clinch his views, Stalin recalled that France surrendered to Germany early in the war, and re fused to turn over the French fleet to the British as per treaty. CAPITAL CHAFF ft Inflation hit the elections last year. Contributions to senatorial cam paigns in 1940 were only $787,000, compared with $1,495,000 in 1944. Ex penditures were $1,139,000 in 1940 compared with $1,701,000 in 1944. ft DC Will Rogers Jr., former con gressman, and son of the late great humorist, is writing to friends with a German typewriter. His unit cap tured a typewriter factory in St Vrth which was turning out ma- | chines for the Germans. With Us sum portable last, Rogers adopted a German machine. CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT CITRUS FRUIT frM Ripened fruit, cootauum both oruJp^STnip!? fruii boothifinua aiaiihippe^toyw^l^g^^ Trotyl Shoulder ? Gun? JL Or the Co?t of One Ts it it BUY WAR BONDS m a. a. (CWT); ?:??.?. (CWT) QLS SUHOAY . C:1Si.lR. 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The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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March 15, 1945, edition 1
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