l^ed By Leased Wire 01 Th. I Oedlceted To The Progrese 01
“"“V . * WILMINGTON
With Complete Coverage of . , „
..... . .. And Southeastern North
State and National News _
____ Carolina
201—---„-WILMINGTON, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1941 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867
Balloon Barrage
School Planned
At Camp Davis
2 000 WILL ATTEND
Temporary School for Offi
cers and Men to Be
Opened Late in May
experiments STAGED
Value of Balloons Proven
In Defense of Several
European Cities
Selection of Camp Davis as the
temporary location for the United
States Army’s first defense bar
rage balloon school was announced
in Washington last night by the
War Department, and, locally,
Brig-Gen. James B. Crawford,
Davis commander, said that ap
proximately 2,000 men and officers
would attend the training school,
tentatively scheduled to begin late
in May.
According to the Associated
Press, three squadrons will be
trained at Camp Davis as an ad
junct to defense duties of the Coast
Artillery, of which Davis is an
anti-aircraft firing center.
Adopts New Defense
The War Department s announce
ment was the first indication that
;he Army has decided to adopt the
use of barrage balloons as a de
isnse weapon against airplanes
The department’s announcement
said that preliminary experiments
on balloon barrages have been
conducted at Fort Lewis, Wash,
and have demonstrated the pracli
biiity of balloons as defense instru
ments for cities. The instructors
for the balloon school, the Associ
ated Press said, will be drawn
from the experimental station at
Fort Lewis.
The units will be mobile, equip
ped with fast trucks to facilitate
rapid movement into threatened
areas. The Army, it was an
nounced, has a large ' supply of
balloons, many of them leftover
from the World War when they
were used as observation purposes.
Undersecretary of War Patter
son. in designating Camp Davis
as the training center for balloon
work, said that the Army had de
cided to use balloons as aircraft
defenses after lengthy observations
of American military officers along
war centers in Europe .
The balloons, according to the
undersecretary, have proven their
(Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 5)
MILLER IS KILLED
IN ROAD ACCIDENT
Camp Davis Worker Struck
By Automobile Driven
By Raymond Roof
John Richard Miller, 63, of
Beulaville. was fatally injured
when struck by an automobile on
the highway at Camp Davis yes
terdav afternoon at about 5 o’clock.
He died within five minutes after
the accident, camp police officers
said.
The driver of the car was listed
the Highway patrol as Ray
mond Roof, of 409 North Second
street, Wilmington.
. The accident occurred at the
junction of the highway and one of
’he camp streets, where Pat Fear
lnS. State Highway patrolman was
on duty directing traffic,
tv, , *,nesses of the tragedy said
at Miller, who was employed at
e camp as a sheet-metal work
1 ran directly in front of the
ar' which was moving at a mod
era,e rate of speed.
his ? his Iegs were broken and
■ body was badly crushed.
tn rnmons Jones, Onslow county
[h,.ner’ Viewed the body and said
d.,l,,no inquest will be held as the
j Was due to an unavoidable
“hnrdent. j
Boris Sees Stuka
Further Balkan shenanigans are
looked for following visit of Bul
garia’s King Boris to Adolf Hitler.
This picture just arrived in America
shows Boris looking over one of the
German dive bombiijg Stukas that
flooded into nation after he signed
with Axis.
HOUSING GROUPS
ARE NAMED HERE
Committee Urges Contrac
tors, Others to Take Ad
vantage of FHA Plan
..'lUi-.. ■
Membership of three sub-com
mittees of the Community housing
committee were announced yester
day after the group met to outline
its far-reaching program designed
to cope with the accute housing
situation occasioned in and near
Wilmington by the national defense
program
Named to the important fair
rents committee were Storrer
Ware W. M. Hewlett, R. C. Cant
well, local realtors, and Capt.
Frank F. Folk, billeting officer,
Camp Davis staff headquarters.
It will be this sub-committee’s du
ty to investigate all abnormal rent
increases, ascertaining the cause
for such increases, and to attempt
to effect equitable adjustments of
dwelling rentals.
Mrs. Glad3rs Proctor, of the Wil
mington district WPA office, and
Mrs. Thomas J. Gause. New Han
over county Welfare board mem
ber, were named to the committee
I (Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 2)
WEATHER
FORECAST
North Carolina, South Carolina ami
Georgia: Mostly cloudy Thursday anc.'
Friday with occasional scattered show
ers, no decided change in temperature.
(By U. S. Weather Bureau)
(Meteorological data for the 24 hours
ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday).
Temperature
1:30 a. m. 57; 7:30 a. m. 57; 1:30 p. tit.
70; 7:30 p. m. 06; maximum 72; mini
mum 55; mean 04: normal 04.
Humidity
1:30 a. m. 67: 7:30 a. m. 78; 1:30 p. m.
71; 7:30 p. m. 92.
Precipitation
Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30
p. m. 0.00 inches. Total since the first
of the month 2.15 inches.
Tides For Today
(From Tide Tables published by U.
S. Coast and Geodetic Survey).
High Low
Wilmington_ 8:22a 3:12a
8:46p 3:26p
Masonboro Inlet_ 6:22a 12:10a
6:38p 12 :22p
Sunrise 5:30a: sunset G:50p; moonrise
4:34a; moonset 5:19p.
Cape Fear river stage at Fayette
ville, on April 23, at 8 a. m., 10.50
feet.
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 6)
20 Uc S. Torpedo Boats
Transferred To Britain
WASHm™RD E’ B0MAE
Trl ,INGT°N, April 23.— UP)—
;q to Great Britain of about
boats * 6 a'minute motor torpedo
fi„L. ’ s°me especially equipped to
dav fubtnarines. was disclosed to
Navv’ Secretary Knox as the
vjrty s latest contribution toward
lan,icy ln the Battle of the At
toARra.notber measure to speed aid
Navv 31n’ Knox reported that the
Can: ,Was negotiating to build in
as r * sucb relatively small craft
U,0a°-ettes designed to combat
tipon their completion, they may
urned over to Britain under
the lend-lease program, the Naval
secretary said. Meantime, their
construction will help Canada fi
nance purchases of war material
in the United States, it was ex
plained, because the money to be
spent on the vessels will provide
the dominion with American dol
lars.
The motor torpedo boats “are
being delivered now,” Knox told
reporters, or at least are ready fo»
shipment to Britain on the decks
of cargo vessels. Though capable
of ranging hundreds of miles with
out refueling, they are considered
(Continued on Page Twelve; CoL 3)
Tripoli Is
Shelled By
BigFleet
British Warships Fire More,
Than 1,000 Tons
plosives Into F
AXIS FORCE #f§
Many Buildings i
And Ships Damaged Dur
ing Record Attack
By LARRY ALLEN
WITH THE BRITISH BATTLE
FLEET BOMBARDING TRIPOLI,
Monday, April 21.—(Delayed)—(B
—Battleships, cruisers and destroy
ers of this fleet fired more than
1,000 tons of high-explosive shells
into Tripoli before dawn today in
a vastly destructive bombardment
which caught the Germans and
Italians so unaware that they first
mistook it for an air raid.
Fleet officers said this was the
heaviest assault of its sort in naval
history, certainly it was among
the most spectacular. They de
scribed as “highly effective,” the
attack on the last strong Italian
base in Africa.
Badly Damaged
Officers declared this base was
so heavily hit and had so many
wrecked ships in harbor that it
would be difficult to use it as a
headquarters from which to send
Axis reinforcements to the Army
pressing against -Egypt.
For 42- minutes the 15-inch, 6
inch and 4.5-inch shells roared over
the old Moorish walls, crushing
buildings like eggshells, striking
seven Axis ships which were se
verely damaged and possibly sunk,
setting fire to the railroad station,
the power plant, underground oil
depots, naval headquarters and
piers. Casualties must have been
heavy ashore. The British suffered
neither damage nor casualties.
The German-Italian error of be
lieving this was an air raid was
understandable, for the naval at
tack was ushered in by a 90-minute
bombing by waves of RAF planes.
Aboard the most powerful bat
tleship in the Mediterranean fleet.
I stood on the signal deck and then
on an emergency conning tower,
watching the heavy anti-aircraft
guns of Tripoli belch flame in try
ing to drive off the bombers
Fire Streaks Sky
Thousands of splinters of fire
seemed to sear the velvety, starlit
skies “Flaming onions” slithered
upward to burst in red, blue,
green and white flame
A single searchlight reached up
to try to spot the British planes
while scores of heavy bombs ex
ploded hoarsely and with white
flashes along the Tripoli harbor
line fires sprang up some of the
ground guns fell silent.
The bombers gave Tripoli one
last dose of explosives, then re
leased countless incendiary bombs
and flares and flew away.
While all this was going on, the
fleet, its units shadowy and mys
terious against the background of
the pre-dawn darkness, maneu
vered quietly through calm seas
and around mine networks until it
reached point-blank range
“We shall open fire at any mo
ment,” the battleship commander
told me.
Open Fire
Suddenly at just 5 a.m. there
was a mighty flash of yellow flame
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 5)
YOUTHCONFESSES
30 BREAK-INS HERE
Calvin Bell, Who Entered
One School 12 Times,
Arrested by Pdice
Assertedly admitting to 30 break
ins and burglaries in Wilmington
during the past several months, Cal
vin Bell, 19, of 723 South 13th street,
was arrested and jailed yesterday by
city police detectives.
Police Chief Joseph Rourk said the
youth’s arrest climaxed a long unt
for a petty thief who had a particu
lar mania for breaking and enteiing
the Forest Hills grammar school,
and was the result of a "tip” re
ceived by detectives several days ago.
Young Bell assertedly confessed to
Detectives Dewey Thompson, J. T.
Rich and H. A. Hayes that he en
tered the Forest Hills school “at least
12 times,” sometimes taking nothing
after ransacking through office files.
The largest "haul” the youth as
sertedly confessed to was the theft
of $85 in cash from a Market street
shooting gallery.
His other burglaries, according to
police, included:
The Weinerburger shop, entered
five times; the Little Grill cafe,
Third at Red Cross streets; the Tiles
ton school, Isaac Bear school, the
Sinclair service station at 17th and
Dock streets, entered twice; Boots’
Cafe, the Municipal Golf course club
house and office, and the Warren
Sanders service station on Wrights
ville Beach road*
Allies Seeking To Halt German Drive
North Of Athens As George II Flees;
# Entire Northwest Greek Force Falls;
Germany Claims Conquest Of Country
Broaching Athens
Italian Report Says Nazis
With 25 Miles of the
Capital of Greece
MATERIEL ABANDONED
Capitulation of 16 Divisions
Ends Resistance North
Of Thermopylae
BERLIN, April 23.— (*—Germa
ny’s military spokesmen an
nounced tonight the virtual con
quest of Greece, claiming the sur
render of Hellenic armies of a quar
ter of a million and the annihil
ation of a British rear guard at
Thermopylae, gateway to Athens.
The Wehrmacht—literally armed
forces—was reported in Berlin to
be approaching Athens after break
ing through the pass where the
Spartans of Leonidas perished to
the last man.
Abandoning Material
(One Italian report said the Ger
mans were within 35 miles of Ath
ens when the British began mass
embarkations, abandoning heaps of
material.)
There were indications here that
the Germans hoped to take the
Greek capital by total capitulation
or armistice, and to spare it from
bombardment. It is being said in
Berlin that much of Athens’ mod
em architectural beauty was due
to the German architect, Schau
bert.
However, the air force late to
day was pounding Piraeus, Athens’
port, to halt British withdrawals
by sea. v
A correspondent asked author
ities this evening: ’Has Athens
fallen?” The answer was: "At this
moment we do not know. Military
developments are faster than the
information service coming to Ber
lin.”
Lose Value
But, the spokesman added, both
Athens and Piraeus now have lost
virtually all military value for the
Allies.
Soon after German sources had
announced the surrender of from
sixteen to eighteen divisions of the
armies of Epirus and Macedonia,
one military spokesman said:
“It is the last act; the conquest
of all Greece is practically effect
ed.” ■
The capitulation, said to have
been accepted by joint German
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 7)
BRITISH AID UNIT
IS PLANNED HERE
Admiral Foote Meet* With
Group of Prominent Wil
mington Citizen*
With P. W. Foote, rear admiral,
USN, retired, present as principal
speaker ,a group of prominent
Wilmingtonians met last night at
the Cape Fear hotel to discuss or
ganization of a Wilmington chap
ter .of the British Aid committee
of North Carolina, itself affiliated
with a nation-wide organization.
Present and sharing the speak
ing program with Admiral Foote,
a resident of Chapel Hill, was
James Clark, state British Aid
chairman, also a Chapel Hill resi
dent.
The speakers outlined briefly the
methods by which some. 20 other
North Carolina cities have organiz
ed aid to Britain chapters, and the
(Continued on Page Five; Coi. 3)
Iraq and Iran have a lot in common: their names are alike, they both produce oil, both are kingdoms,
and both are likely targets of a German drive into the Near East. Map shows oil fields and strategic
location of these two countries at gateway to the Orient. _
Greeks Crushed By German Victory;
London Ready To Criticize Campaign
FATE INTERVENES
r _
Little Nation Was Pushing
Plans to Finish Off Ital
ians This Spring
(Editor’s Note; The following
dispatch is from Daniel Deluce,
Associated Press correspondent
who left Greece in a fisherman's
boat last week-end and sent
from Turkey the first indications
of the extent of the British dis
aster In Greece.)
By DANIEL DELUCE
IZMIR (SMYRNA), Turkey, April
23.—UP)—To eight million Greeks the
German victory in Greece is as
tragic as any ever conceived by their
great playwrights of classical days,
Euripedes, Aeschylus and Sophocles.
To the modern Greeks, the entry
of Germany into Balkan conflict was
the intervention of fates as inexo
rable as those depicted in “The Ores
teia.’’
It was intervention which, the
Greeks felt, snatched away at the
last moment a victory won by blood
and pain over the Italian legions
who swept in from the north last
fall.
Planned Spring Drive
Every regimental headquarters on
the Albanian front from Chimara to
Pogradetz had planned the spring
offensive which was to shove the
Italian back out of Albania.
"We will throw everything into it,
all our men up to 40, all our guns,”
Greek commanders told me before
Germany marched.
Thousands of wounded in base hos
pitals pt Corizza, Ioannina and Arta
prayed for speedy recovery so they
could fight in the “last battle.”
Twelve ■ divisions of the finest'
Greek fighters—hardy mountaineers
of Epirus and Peloponnesus and
tough Crete Islanders—were ranged
along the crescent shaped front for
an all-out attack expected to sweep
the Italians from Tepeleni, Berati
and Elbasani.
They looked forward to the zero
hour as eagerly as a champion foot
(Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 4)
Construction Of Marine
Base Will Start Today
JACKSONVILLE, April 23.—This
is the night before the start of con
struction of the new $14,575,000 Ma
rine Corps base a few miles south
of this little community — and the
town is filled to overflowing with
strangers.
By the hundreds they have been
arriving all day and intO. the night.
They are laborers, they are carpen
ters, they are office workers, and all
of them expect to go to worjc to
morrow.
And tomorrow, a lot of them are
going to be disappointed; disappoint
ed not because there isn’t work, but
because it will be early next week
befot^ '^ork on the Marine base will
i react,; Sint of construction where
any appreciable number of men will
be needed.
First ground for the new base
where the United States plans, by
end of summer, to be training be
tween 12,000 and 14,000 Leathernecks
on a 100,000-plus acre reservation
sUrrbundlng the mouth of the <New
river, will be broken tomorrow, Roy
A. Goode, one of the three Charlotte
contractors awarded the contract,
said tonight. Probably 150 men,
mostly carpenters, will be put to
work tomorrow, building quarters for
the contractor?, the engineering and
architectual offices, for Navy depart
ment officials, and other structures
(Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 4)
New British Warship
Put Into Commission
_'*g_• - _
i LONDON, April 24—.(Thurs
day)—UP)—Britain’s second new
battleship, the 35,000-ton
Prince of Wales, sister ship
of the King George V which
took Lord Halifax to the Unit
ed States, is now in commis
sion, the Press Association re
ported early today.
Three other battleships were
laid down with the King
George V and the Prince of
Wales. They were named the
Anson, Beatty and Jellicoe.
The British have 14 other
battleships and battle cruisers
in service, or a total of 16 capi
tal ships.
LOFTIS’ NUMEROUS
DEALS A URED
Revealed in Superior Court
During His Action to Re
cover Damages
CHARLOTTE, April 23.— (#)—Nu
merous financial transactions exe
cuted by V. P. Loftis during his
tenure as executive secretary of
the Carolinas branch, Associated
General Contractors of America,
Inc., were aired today in superior
court in Loftis’ civil action to re
cover $200,000 damages.
In addition to the Carolinas
branch or'the A.G.C., the defen
dants are Raymond A. Bryan, John
C. Heslep, C. P. Street, Edwin E.
Boyle, Harry W. Loving, Edwin L.
Jones, F. L. Shackelford, Fred N.
Thompson, Earle Whitton, Charles
W. Angle and William Muirhead,
individual contractors.
After Loftis resigned as execu
tive secretary of the Carolinas
branch, he entered the general
contracting business for himself.
In the action being tried he alleges
that the defendants, the individuals
mentioned being members of the
Carolinas branch and also having
served as directors, conspired to
prevent him from successfully en
gaging in the business of general
contractor. He asks $100,000 actual
and $100,000 punitive damages.
In another suit Loftis is asking
$100,000 as damages he said he
suffered by his expulsion from
membership in the association.
Under direct examination today
he testified that F. L. Shackelford
asked him not to place “a serious
bid” for construction of a new hos
pital in Lancaster, S. C., and that
it was intimated that if the sug
gestion went unheeded, the income
tax returns of Loftis might be in
vesigated. He also testified that
Charles W. Angle had requested
him to refrain from making “a
serious bid” on construction of two
dormitories at Woman’s college in
Greensboro, referring at the same
time to possibility of an income
tax investigation 5
WORD IS AWAITED
Even Worst News Would
Hardly Come as Surprise
To Homeland Public
LONDON, April 23.— UP)—Britain
awaited almost with resignation to
night for some definite word from
her army in Greece.
Even the worst news would hard
ly come as a surprise, but there
were indications that both press
and public were likely to be in a
highly critical mood when the
whole picture should become avail
able.
The only official announcement
about the current situation today
was the lone sentence in a Cairo
general headquarters communi
que:
“Empire forces are consolidat
ing their new defensive positions.”
Uncertainty Shown
The ominous uncertainty sur
velopments was reflected in the
velopmens was reflected in the
declaration by authoritative
sources commenting on the report
ed surrender of a portion of the
Greek army that to the “best of
our knowledge this does not mean
our defense line has been broken.”
The same sources, however, con
tributed nothing cheerful to the
news with the added comment that
“As far as we know some Greek
troops are still fighting and our
forces also. There has been no
word of our evacuating Greece.”
They said they knew the east
end of the Allied defense lines
were somewhere south of Lamia
but could not disclose whence the
lines extended from there.
There was some comfort for the
British in reports that the terrific
impact of Nazi Panzer forces was
slackening somewhat, possibly as
a result of the aerial bombard
ment of their communication lines
and also heavy losses suffered dur
ing the prolonged and unrelenting
drive.
Consolidate Positions
Reuters, British news agency,
said in a Cairo dispatch that the
temporary easing of German pres
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 6)
KING GOES TO CRETE
Berlin Says Troops Have
Moved Through Famous
Pass of Thermopylae
REAR GUARD ROUTED
Athens Has Alarm After
Alarm as Bombers Attack
Points Near Capital
ATHENS, April 23.—(AW—British
and Greek troops fought desper
ately and unequally against the
German steamroller north of Ath
ens tonight, after the entire north
west Greek armies collapsed and
King George II and his govern
ment hastily abandoned Athens for
the island of Crete.
British and Greek headquarters
reported intact their vastly out
numbered troops who had' been
holding Thermopylae pass and the
Lokris mountains 100 miles to the
north, but their exact disposition
was not revealed. These soldiers
apparently had these choices:
The Choices
To fight and die on the spot;
withdraw slowly to southern em
barkation ports, or retreat into
southwestern Greece, the Pelopon
nesus area.
(Berlin said German forces had
broken through Thermopylae pass
after annihilating a British rear
guard, and Rome news reports said
advance Nazi units were only 35
miles from Athens.
(German sources said British
troops were embarking, or trying
to, at southern ports in "another
Dunkerque.” At least 250,000
Greeks, they said, had surrendered
in the north.)
The capital had alarm after
alarm as German bombers at
tacked targets near the capital,
but despite this and the huge
clouds of smoke rolling over the
area of the Acropolis and the news
of the government’s departure, the
public remained calm.
They went about their little holi
day plans—St. George’s day—and
gathered in small groups in coffee
shops to discuss the sad events.
All civil government functions
were carried out in a normal man
ner, but the absence of definite
news from the battlefields to the
north was ominous.
Piraeus Attacked
Swarms of German planes at
tacked Piraeus and nearby areas,
and the ministry of home security
(Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 3)
BRITISH PUSHING
DRIVE IN LIBYA
Are Taking Offensive and
Take 447 Italians in
Sortie from Tobruk
CAIRO, April 23.—(A>)— The Em
pire forces in Libya "generally
speaking” now are taking the of
fensive against the Germans and
Italians, authorities here said to
day as British General Headquar
ters announced the capture of 447
Italians in a sortie by Australians
from the besieged port of Tobruk.
Military authorities said that the
captured Italians were bombed by
their own aircraft as they were
being escorted into Tobruk.
A considerable small-s c a 1 •
Brtish offensive also is in progres*
around Sallum, furtherest point
of the Axis advance just inside
Egypt, it was revealed. Meantime,
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 4)
Southern Operators Bolt
Coal Wage Parley Again
NEW YORK, April 23.—Wi
Southem Appalachian coal oper
ators decided tonight to bolt again
the bituminous wage conference
and return to Washington, thus
further delaying the reopening of
the nation’s soft coal mines closed
since April 1 when a two-year con
tract with the United Mine Work
ers of America (CIO) expired.
The decision came several hours
after northern operators and the
union had accepted President
Roosevelt’s proposal to reopen the
mines provided the southerners
would agree to do likewise and
make retroactive the provisions of
any contract later negotiated.
Dr. John R. Steelman, director
of the Federal Conciliation Serv
ice, told newsmen the southerners
“had taken upon themselves «
grave responsibility” in failing to
comply with the President’s re
quest.
A spokesman for the southern
operators said a statement explain
ing the decision would be made
before they departed.
Northern operators and union of
ficials, in announcing their acqui
escence to the President’s proposal
early in the evening, had said they
(Continued on Page Five; CoL 4). i