__ 1 Dedicated To The Progress Oi Served by Leased Wire of tye WILMIHGTOM associated press And Southeastern North With Complete Coverage of Carolina Slate an(j National News ____ * ESTABLISHED 186ll FRENCHMEN TAKE UP STAND ON RIVER EAST OF CAPITAL; BRITISH A TTA CK AIRDROMES ‘ -- ■ W _ _ . ITALY KEEPS SILENT Geneva Reports Say Italians May Move Against France In The Maritime Alps DUCE TAKES COMMAND ROME, June 12—(Wednesday) — (IP) — This ancient capital experi enced its first air raid alarm early today and was blacked out com pletely. Whether enemy planes actually visited the city was not determined. Italy, so newly joined as Ger many’s active partner in the war against Britain and France, moved secretly in her belligerency. The nation still awaited the first Italian war communique, forecast for 10 p. m. last night, but delayed. (The Italian radio announced it would be issued instead at 10 a. m. (4 a. m. EST) today. Malta Bombed (British reports told of eight Iitalian air raids bn Malta; a Gen eva dispatch said Crown Prince Umberto planned to throw his Italian shock troops against the French in the southern half of the Maritime Alps; and weagre advices from the Swiss telegraphic agency reported attacks on French Tunisia and Corsica. (British planes raided Italian Libya and Eritrea, in East Africa, bombing air bases; and South African planes raided Italian Mcy ale, near Britain’s African Kenya colony.) II Duce assumed supreme com mand of Italy's armed forces “on every front” in the war proclaimed to drive the British and French from their long-held position in the Mediterranean. He took over with the consent of 70-year-old King Vittorio Emanuel who went into the field with the troops and announced his intention of remaining at the front as he did in the World war. Mine Bridges Italian troops moved quickly into valleys and mined bridges on their side of the French frontier last night as soon as the frontier was closed. Countess Edda C-iano, daughter of II Duce and wife of the foreign minister, left to serve as a nurse on the w’estern front. Her de parture indicated Italians might ex I (Continued on Page Three, Col. 6) British Attack Airports In Two Italian Colonies LONDON, June 11.—
—Brit ain’s air force raided the desert airdromes in Italian Libya and East African Eritrea today, back ing up with bombs the Allied declarations of readiness to meet Mussolini. These blows, along with eight Italian raids on the British naval base at Malta, were the first struck in the new theater of wrar—the Mediterranean and Red seas. British announcements said "we caught them napping this time.” A prize claimed by the British was the capture in the Red sea of the 10,000-ton Italian vessel Umbria, loaded with 5,000 tons of bombs intended for the Ital ian East African airforce and thousands of tons of cement. “Great success’’ attended the attacks of long-range Blenheim bombers on Italy’s principal mili tary airfields in Libya, which threatened Egypt and the Suez canal, and near Asmara, in Eri trea, Italian East Africa, where Italy threatened to cut Allied communications through the Red sea. Swooping down in the desert dawn, British bombs made re peated hits on hangars, gasoline (Continued on Page Three, Col. 3) Germany Pounds Against Resistance Along Marne _ + 12 MILES FROM PARIS Nazis Claim 400,000 To 500,000 French Killed Or Captured In Battle BERLIN, June 11—(a1)—The Ger man army was reported pounding against fierce resistance tonight on the M. rne river where the initial decisive battle of the World war was fought in September, 1914, close by Paris. The Allies 26 years ago decisively halted the legions of Imperial Ger many there in the first battle of the Marne, with the augmenting "taxicab army” frcm Paris battering down the Kaiser’s- men into their even tually disastrous trench warfare. Near Paris Although the position of today’s extreme advance was not given, the Marne is only a dozen miles or so from Paris at its confluence with the Seine. In a vast enveloping advance, the Germans claimed today, 400,000 to 500,000 French in two armies were taken prisoners or killed and others were “pocketed,” as in Flanders, with low-skimming planes bombing and strafing columns on the move and blasting bridges from the Marne and lower Oise to cut off retreat. In the German view, Paris is “im mediately threatened" . . . the fate jf France is sealed . . . enemy power j{ resistance is visibly waning . . . No uniform French line of defense is left.” As for President Roosevelt’s ad Iress of yesterday condemning Italy's sntry with Germany, the Nazis as serted it was Italy’s place to reply, not Germany’s. While the scene of battle on the Marne coincides with the 1914 Ger man setback, Nazis placed confidence in a 1940 reversal at the Marne on die strength of modern tactics. Battle Of Segments The battle now has changed from me of lines to one of segments spearing from the inside of a half continued on Page Three, Col. 7) 1 Dr Lancaster Named Surgical Section Head NEW YORK, June 11—(/P)— Dr. W. J. Lancaster of Wil mington, N. C., superintendent and medical director of the At lantic Coast Line Railroad’s re lief department, was elected chairman today of the medical and surgical section of the As sociation of American Railroads. JAPANESE TROOPS MOVE INTO ICHANG Is Japan’s Most Important War Success Since Cam paign In Kwangsi HONGKONG, June 11—(fll—Jap anese dispatches reported today that Japanese troops entered Ic hang, most important port on the middle Yangtze between Hankow and Chungking, late today, scoring JKapan’s most important military success in China since last Au tumn’s campaign in Kwangsi. Two Japanese columns which have been moving in from the north and northeast reached Ic hang, in western Hupeh province, almost simultaneously, the dispat ches said. Ichang has been the objective of the largest Japanese military ef fort of 1940. It may provide a base for a further drive to#ward Chung king, China’s provisional capital, about 300 miles farther up the Yangtze. The Japanese infantry was re (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) BURGAWFESTIVAL SCHEDULED TODAY Commissioner Scott To De liver Main Address; Pa rade, Dance Planned BURGAW, June 11—The annual Burgaw Bean Festival will be staged here tomorrow with a parade at 3:30 o'clock highlighting the fes tivities of the afternoon. Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott will deliver the prin cipal address at the courthouse at 3 o’clock. The parade will be headed by the Queen of the Bean festival, who will be selected by popular vote, the ballots to be counted in the morning. Floats sponsored by var ious merchants and organizations in the town will be in the parade. The festival will come to a close tomorrow night with the Queen’s Ball at the Burgaw High school gymnasium from 9 until 12 o’clock Music will be provided by Hal Thurston and his orche^ra. LINES ARE STILL OPEN Many Persons Leave City As Its Outskirts Bombed By German Planes \ men defend Divers PARIS, June 12— (Wednesday M£l —The creeping battlw of France edged to within the sight and hear ing of suburband Parisians today as Frenchmen, for the second time in a generation, took up their stand along the historic Marne east of the city. Residents in the outer parts of the city reported Rearing the roar of the night battle and seeing the gun flashes on the northwestern horizon. Communications Open Although the Germans were try ing to encircle the city, communi cation by highway and wire still was open to the nerve center where the government had moved | in central France. ' Most people had been transporta tion already had left the one-time capital of the republic of France. As many as 50 persons crowded about available taxicabs and it was almost impossible to board one of the infrequent subway trains. Automobiles still were leaving the city, but many were without gasoline. Others here expected train service to be restored that would enable them to leave. The city was ominously quiet as the battle rolled closer. The outskirts of the city were bombed several times yesterday, but the center of the city went untouched. Many Rumors Without newspapers, Paris was filled with fantastic rumors about Soviet Russia and America. Only one newspaper was printed in Paris today and it was Ameri can—the Paris edition of the Her ald Tribune. The official govern ment newspaper, now printed in the south, was expected to be dis tributed here, however, to relieve the anxiety for news. Not a light burned in the streets, but the scarcity of automobiles and pedestrians made light unneces sary. Electricty water and gas still were available, however. A turn in the weather, which up to now has favored the Naxi blitzkrieg of planes and tanks, may aid the defenders of Paris. It was noticeable cooler and more cloudy this morning. Major Hopes The French lines on the Seine to the west, where the Nazis were attempting to cross by boats where the Germans were turned back in 1914 and 1918, were the major hopes of the city’s defenders. But to protect Paris, the French line would have to bulge northward from these two streams to a line on both sides of the Oise, as the Seine passes through the city. On the west flank, other French forces fought bitterly to throw back the Nazjs, who were trying to cross the Seine between Rouen and Vernon, u""» — es for troops and puiva^ie boaTs for their tanks. On the east flank, as part of what the high command called a gener al battle of the “greatest vio lence’’ of the whole struggle for Franch, a heavy tank attack by the Germans in the valleys of the Vesle and Ardre, thundered on. It is designed to cut off Reims from the east and southwest. Fresh Troops Arrive Fresh German divisions were brought into the battle in the re gion of Champagne, on the east. Bitter fighting raged on the whole course of the River Retourne, south of the Aisne and of Rethel, and the French reported the Nazi crossings there had been “dearly disputed.” South of Attigny French counter attacks were said to have inflicted “serious losses,” and all German assaults between the Aisne and Meuse Rivers were pronounced r» pulsed. - ■ f t-H ’ pushes Defense General Sir Robert Gordon-Fin Ja.vson has been appointed general ii/fieer commanding the western de lete area of the British Isles. De ,tnses are hurriedly being strength 'll as Britain prepares for any German invasion.__ discipline urged By DR. FREEMAN Richmond Editor, Biogra pher Speaks Before U. N, C. Graduates CHAPEL HILL, June 1 — Dr. Douglas S. Freeman, Rich rand, Va., editor and biographer, told a record graduating class ox M tonight at the university that America paradoxically could nev »r hope to avert war except by adjusting itself to a discipline it jas never displayed except in war. Such discipline, he said, mani festly must be born of an ideal shich can be found only in the churches and colleges. America must find “the moral equivalent c; the force that has given Ger many such superb discipline,” he said. “There is not among these graduates today,” he explained, “Me who has not sacrificed some pat of his pleasure to the attain ment of his end. not one who has cot hung onto his task when his mu!cles craved rest and his nerves twitched for relaxation and his eyes drooped: not one who con sciously or otherwise has not re peated; 'Let me deny myself.’ 'Ho • like body is there in America capable of seeking, o8f shaping, and of ex-emplifying that national discipline without which, as surely as Rome, we shall fall.” Discipline and peace and order, he asserted, can come only through religion and education. Without advocating the kind of discipline Germany has, Dr. Free said that Hitler nevertheless had taught the world a great les (Cnntinued on Page Three, Col. 5) [WEATHER Y forecast tir.i ! faro,ina: I’JU’tly cloudy, scat rsdav°^ers9owers Wednesday and (Meteorological data for the 24 hours "lnS 7:30 p. yesterday). Temperature » 75; 7:30 a. m. 77; 1:30 p. Bi-i'*' P. m. 79; maximum 85; ""“™ 73; mean 79; normal 76. .... Humidity 91: 7:30 a. m. 8S; 1:30 p. '-30 p. in. 73. Tfitoi f . Pr<*< ipitation non,. a'f.0r“4. hours ending 7:30 p. m. ‘"^inches Smce °* ^le month Tides For Todav -.ui‘Z ^ I«et _S *o:42a .Sunrise -no. 1 :04p 7:09p >'«U.4-,,'J'JUa■ sunset 7:24p; moon ,ila; moonset,_. June u- - <*> - *»4 rainf-.li * ,'‘'corils of temperature f- 111. i,,' 1 for 'Im 24 hours ending 8 ulsewhereF91 cotton-«rowlne „i, , High Low Clos, pilan>»- el udv5’ — 84 84 °-5f! Slr"iinghnm t -92 ,iS 1-22 cloudy °U