Mystery Planes Fly
Over Los Angeles
1 *1
Stimson, Commenting On
Anti-Aircraft Fire, Say*
It I* Better To Be Alert
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28.-W>-An
Army report that as many as 15
planes may have been operated
by "enemy agents” over the Los
Angeles area, where an air raid
alarm early yesterday sent anti
aircraft guns into action, was made
public today by Secretary of War
Stimson.
Coming a day after Secretary
Knox had told reporters that Navy
Department- information indicated
the episode was "a false alarm/’
tiie Army report said the unidenti
fied craft might have been com
mercial planes flown over the area
by enemy agents to spread alarm,
disclose anti-aircraft gun positions,
and test the effectiveness of black
outs.
No bombs were dropped, there
were no casualties among Ameri
can forces, no planes were shot
down, and no American Army or
Navy planes were in action, Stim
son said.
The secretary announced that the
report came to him from General
George C. Marshall, army chief of
staff, and apparently was based on
information relayed by West coast
Army officials.
The conclusion that the planes
might have been obtained from
commercial sources, he said, was
based on the varying speeds of
the planes and the fact that no
bombs were dropped.
“As many as 15 planes may have
been involved,” said the report,
“flyir.g at various speeds, from
what is officially reported as be
ing ‘very slow’ to as much as 20
miles per hour, and at an eleva
tion of from 9,000 to 18,000 feet.”
Elements of the 37th Coast Ar
tillery Brigade, composed of anti
aircraft forces, fired 1,430 rounds
of ammunition between 3:12 and
4:15 a.m., Pacific War Time, dur
ing yesterday's alarm, Stimson
said.
The secretary said the only com
ment he wanted to add to the re
port was that “perhaps it is bet
ter to be too alert than not alert
enough. A any rate, they were
alert there.”
In Los Angeles Wendell Willkie,
arriving for an address tonight,
told interviewers:
“Conflicting statements from the
heads of our armed forces tend to
discount what they may say in
the future. It was this same lack
of coordination and confusion that
' brought the disaster at Pearl Har
bor.”
Willkie applauded the Army’s
quick response to duty, asserting
“whether there were enemy planes
or net, it is always wise to be on
the sid<e of safety.” 2
-V
Commons County Schools,
Closed By Snow, Re-Open
WHITEVILLE, Feb. 26.—Schools
. of WhiteviHe, Fairbluff, Old Dock,
and New Hope, which had been
suspended because of the heavy
snow, resumed operations today af
ter being closed down for one day
only.
WEATHER
(Continued from page one)
■WASHINGTON, Feb. 26.— OP) —
, Weather Bureau report of temperature
and rainfall for the 24 hours ending
8 p. m., in the principal cotton grow
• ing areas and elsewhere:
Station High Low
ABheville _ 30 19
Atlanta - 30 26
Boston _ 3.8 24
Buffalo _ 27 15
Chnriotte_.s_ 4.3 26
Chicago_ 31 25
Cleveland _ 32 27
Denver _ 30 02
Detroit _ 34 26
El Paso_ 55 30
Jacksonville _ 62 34
Kansas City _ 28 23
Little Hock_ 37 31
New Orleans_ 51 40
New York_,. 40 24
Norfolk _ 46 28
Richmond _ 44 18
Savannah__ 60 32
' Washington _ 45 32
Wilmington _ 49 31
(soviets close trap
ON 96,000 GERMANS
(Continued from Faso One)
the surrounded forces promising
them good treatment if they would
surrender.
Army Surrounded
Gen. Brockdorf himself was said
to have admitted in an order of the
day that the 96,000 men were sur
rounded, and also that their posi
tion was "hopeless.”
Admittedly, however, General
Pavel Alexeivich Kurochin, the
man who led the encirclement and
is hourly tightening the ring around
the German army, is directing one
of the most difficult offensives in
recent military history.
The weather is extremely bacV
There are blinding snows, icy
marshes, and high banks in the
wooded lake sector, offering every
kind of operational problem for the
42-year-old successor to Marshal
Klementi Voroshilov.
Besides the weather, Kurochin is
fighting crack units of the German
army which, knowing they are en
circled, are struggling more desper
ately than ever.
In the final hours before closing
the trap, the Russians inflicted a
resounding defeat on reserves
thrown into the German lines, dis
patches said, and elsewhere in this
region further tore apart other sur
viving units of the smashed 16th
German army.
The Staraya Russa battle was a
final disaster to befall this 16th
army since it drove into Russia last
year, the Soviet dispatches recount
ed. They said these German forces
suffered heavily throughout the
Nazi summer and fall offensive and
had to be reinforced repeatedly,
losing "tens of thousands’’ along
the way.
Try To Escape
mow tne trapped uermans were
pictured as trying desperately to
break out, but meeting disaster.
One of the units meeting such a
fate was identified as the 56th regi
ment of the German Fifth division.
Attempts of German transport
planes to get supplies into the trap
to sustain the invaders were said
to have failed as Russian fliers and
anti-aircraft units combined to
shoot them down. ,
In recent fighting the Russians
said they had reconquered 147 set
tlements in the Staraya Russa area.
A war correspondent for the com
munist party newspaper Pravda re
ported that Russian forces sur
rounding a large German-occupied
town in an undesignated sectori and
had offered the Germans an oppor
tunity to surrender. The Germans
refused, the writer said, and added
that '‘now our troops are annihilat
ing the enemy.”
It was not made clear whether
this concerned the Staraya Russa
front. It might have been on the
southwestern front, where the Rus
sians reported smashing the first
Rumanian division killing more
than 2,250 and taking 200 prisoners.
The Russian accounts said that the
Rumanians were placed at the head
of a counterattack, with German
troops on the flanks and at the
rear. This attack was declared to
have failed upon running into a
heavy Soviet artillery fire.
A Russian unit commanded by
one Gordov on the southwestern
front was reported to have killed
about 3,000 men and officers in ten
days of fighting, and to have de
stroyed ten German tanks, 79 guns
of various sizes, and much other
material.
-V
Freighter Is Lost
Off Carolina Coast
SOUTHPORT, Feb. 26. — The
freighter Raritan ran aground dur
ing a storm on Frying Pan shoals,
about 20 miles from here, early
Wednesday morning and, accord
ing to reports from boatmen, later
broke up and sank.
Twenty-nine officers and men,
the full crew of the freighter, were
taken off the ship and brought
here by the Coast Guard last night.
No one was injured but three
were treated at Dosiier Memorial
hospital here for exposure.
Members of the crew left this
morning by bus for their homes in
the north.
COLE AND GUION
GET CONTRACTS
TO ERECT TANKS
(Continued from Page One)
signia on the shirts and stripes, or
braid, on the legs of the pants.
After deciding to eliminate the
erection of traffic lights at Second
and Walnut and Third and Wright
streets, council on motion of Coun
cilman Brand awarded the contract
to Westinghouse Electric company
on the basis of the bid submitted
subject to approval on erection of
six lights and controls at approxi
mately $2,400. The city is to buy
the equipment and do the installa
tion of the lights, City Manager Wal
lace said.
Opened In Morning
The bids were opened at the
morning ses.'ion, after which they
were turned over to City Engineer
J. A. Loughlin and William C. "Ol
sen, of Raleigh, consulting engineer
for the city, for study before the
afterno'on session.
Councilman Edgar L. Yow pre
sided over the special session in
the absence of Mayor Hargrove Bel
lamy, Present for the meeting were
Councilmen J. N. Brand, Jr., Rob
ert LeGwin, and Ronald Lane and
City Attorney W. B. Campbell.
According to the specifications for
division one of the waterworks im
provement program, all work on the
jobs must be completed within 320
calendar days after work is com
menced on the projects.
However, City Engineer Loughlin
estimated that they should be fin
ished in considerably less time than
specified.
They will be used to maintain a
pressure reserve in the city water
system to be used should the pumps
have to be halted or should an
emergency occur.
u. s. wIllevacuate
ALL SAN DIEGO JAPS
(Continued from PaKe One)
aliens or American-born, from the
state of California has been ex
pressed by such groups as the
Calfornia county supervisors. Such
expressions increased after the re
cent oil field shelling by a Japa
nese submarine off the coast in the
vicinity of Santa Barbara and this
week’s anti-aircraft barrage in the
Los Angeles area directed at un
identified planes.
Demands for more stringent
alien regulations also followed the
discovery that among Japanese
seized in recent raids upon colonies
bordering military establishments
were some who identified them
selves as reserve officers in the
Japanese army and navy.
A self-described Japanese army
reservist was among three Japa
nese seized today in raids in the
Stockton area, near an army air
corps advanced training base.
Search of another’s house dis
closed photographs of Japanese
planes and water materials and
a picture of the arrested Japa
nese wearing a Japanese army
uniform, federal agents said.
Some of the information on which
the arrest warrants were based
cam- from records and correspon
dence of Japanese secret societies
seized in a coast-wide roundup last
week during which more than 500
aliens, mostly Japanese, were ar
rested.
Twenty-eight Japanese were ar
rested today in the San Diego
area, bringing to about 150 the
number taken in that sector.
Agents also arrested two Japa
nese in the Fresno area and
another in San Francisco. The
raids were continuing.
---V
JVIggflnp Set
Tonight At Acme-Delco
All families in Ransom township
have been requested to attend or be
represented at a national defense
meeting to be held Friday night at
S o'clock in the auditorium of the
Acme-Delco school.
In the interest of defense and pro
duction for defense, the leaders of
the defense committee will meet
at 3 o’clock Friday afternoon in the
agricultural building with John J.
Barnhardt, vice-chairman, to com
plete listing of farmers in their
communities.
Charles Raper, assistant county
agent, will explain the agricultural
phases of the program.
90 PROOP
k
The straight whiskies in
this product are 4 years
or more old. 51% straight
bourbon whisky, 49%
other straight whiskies.
62%% straight whiskies
4 years old, 25% straight
whisky 5 years old, 12%%
. straight whisky 6 years old.
City Briefs
MEET TUESDAY
A. E. Jones, Chamber of
Commerce president, announced
Thursday that the organiza
tion’s new post war planning
committee will meet In the
chamber offices at 4 o’clock
Tuesday afternoon.
' ANOTHER PERSON
Berry Williams, ice plant
worker, 723 North Fifth street,
is not the Berry Williams ar
rested this week on charges of
violating the hotel registration
law.
38 ALIENS REGISTER
The enemy registration office
in the postoffice building has
registered 38 persons of German.
Italian and Austrian nationality,
L. A. Beck, officer in charge,
said Thursday. No Japanese
have signed here.
DEFENSE GROUP
A civilian defense for Myrtle
Grove Sound will be organized
when residents of the commun
ity meet at the Loop Road school
at 8 o’clock Friday night.
DIVIDED INTO GROUPS
Members of the Bradley Creek
4-H club were divided into
groups and received knitting in
structions at a meeting this
week, County Home Demonstra
tion Agent Ann Mason said
Thursday. The girls plan to
knit scarfs for the Red Cross at
each meeting.
MINISTERS TO MEET
The Ministerial association of
Wilmington and New Hanover
county will hold Its monthly
meeting at the Y. M. C. A., Mon
day, March 2, at 11 o’clock, it
was announced Thursday.
CANTEEN CLASS
Eighteen women attended the
organizational meeting of the
Red Cross Canteen class in
room No. 132 at the custom
house Thursday morning. Miss
Anne Mason, home demonstra
tion agent, was instructor of
the class, which* will meet at
regular intervals.
TIRE CUT
Paul Allen, Nesbitt Courts,
reported to police about 11
o’clock Thursday that someone
had cut a tire from an auto
mobile parked in the parking
area at the housing project
during Wednesday night.
SPOTLIGHT STOLEN
Two nickel plated spotlights
were stolen from a city street
roller while it was parked at
11th and Market streets about
11 o’clock Thursday morning,
police revealed. The lights were
in new condition and were val
ued at $8, F. D. Cline, the
driver, told police.
SILVER DOLLARS STOLEN
Rofield Harris, of 719 Red
Cross street, told police Thurs
day night that someone had
taken 31 silver dollars from a
trunk in his room sometime
Wednesday. Harris said he did
not miss the money until Thurs
day morning and that the trunk
apparently was opened with a
key.
TWO MORE JAP SHIPS
TORPEDOED BY ALLIES
(Continued from Page One)
point just across the Strait of Sunda
—only 15 miles at its narrowest
point.
Heavy Air Action
Air action proceeded in an ordered
violence from both directions—the
enemy beating doggedly at Javanese
airdromes and Allied planes ranging
out north against the bases seized by
the invader.
Telling of two successive days of
raids against Palembang, the great
and now ruined Dutch oil center in
southern Sumatra, the Dutch re
ported that Allied bombs had added
great fires to those still raging there
since the defenders first put the
torch to $500,000,000 worth of prop
erty.
Even the initial blazes, it was de
clared, were observed to be still out
of control nine days after they had
be£n set.
Enemy raids on Java were thus
summed up:
Two airdromes in west Java: Two
enemy planes shot down, two Dutch
fighter craft lost, no damage men
tioned to first field; no damage of
consequence reported to the second.
Gasoline Dumps Blaze
Tandjong- Dark: Two gasoline
dumps set aflame by “a great num
ber” of enemy bombers; some enemy
planes believed hit by strong anti
aircraft fire.
Soerabaja, the great Dutch naval
base in eastern Java: Although the
attack was in heavy force, no dam
age save to a shed and a house;
seven civilians killed, 21 wounded;
at least two enemy planes shot
down, probably two more.
Earlier Japanese claims to exten
sive damage to an airdrome at Ban
doeng, Java, Indies army headquar
ters, were dismissed semi-officially
as “wildly exaggerated; Japanese
claims to have destroyed 68 planes
in attacks on the airdrome last Fri
day and Saturday were branded as
"fantastic.”
-V
White till e Cafe Robbed
During Tuesday’s Snow
WHITEVILE, Feb. 26.—Farm
ers cafe here was broken into Tues
day night and five dollars stolen
from the cash register.
H. L. SHaw, of the local police
department, said entrance to the
building was gained through a rear
window.
The guilty parties presumably
working urider cover of a blinding
snowstorm to elude the notice of
the local police 3
VOLUNTEERS ASKED'
FOR CONTROL ROOM
Commander Jones Issues
Call For Persons To
Serve On Staff
Call for men and women to vol
unteer their services to staff the
has been set up at the expense ot
the city and county, was issued
Thursday night by Sheriff C. D.
Jones, commander of civilian de
fense activites.
Sheriff Jones asked that persons
willing to volunteer their services
telephone 3123 or go by the New
Hanover defense council in room
412 of the Tide Water building and
register.
Under the plans for operating
the control room, women will work
in three-hour shifts from 8 o’clock
in the morning until 8 o’clock at
night while the men will wrk in
six-hour shifts during the night
hours.
Women working on Sunday,
Sheriff Jones said, will work only
one day a week while others will
work two three-hour shifts during
a week. The men will give their
services for a six-hour shift one
night each week.
Sheriff Jones said no technical
work was involved as the duties
would consist of answering tele
phones.
M’ARTHUR’S ARMY
TAKES OFFENSIVE
(Continued from Page One)
the enemy which Tokyo has not
disclosed.
Presumably the tribesmen of
Mindanao mean to harass the Jap
anese forces there with guerrilla
warfare, a type of fighting at
which they are adept. Stimson not
ed that they offered strong resis
tance to American occupation forty
and more years ago.
The assurances that they would
battle the Japs to the end were
contained in messages to Stimson
and to General MacArthur signed
by Captain Datu Gumbay Piang,
their leader. The latter identified
himself as the son of Datu Piang,
a friend of Stimson’s when he was
Governor General of the Philip
pines some fifteen years ago. The
message said:
‘‘Ain son of your friend the late
Datu Piang of Mindanao and as
war leader of the Moros I wish to
reiterate to the great American
President, through you, my peo
ple’s pledge of loyalty to the gov
ernment of the United States. The
20,000 Moros enlisted as Bolomen
of the United States Army whom
I command will fight to the last
and die for America and. their
country.”
The captain’s message to Gener
al MacArthur said that- a saber
which once belonged to the Gener
al’s father, Lieutenant General
Arthur MacArthur, was now being
used against the Japanese.
The Army communique said that
Japanese forces on Mindanao had
been reinforced by a detachment
of Japanese Marines. “Desultory
fighting,’’ it added, was in progress
there.
Guerrilla fighting was also re
ported from central and northern
Luzon where “small bodies of
American and Philippine troops’’
werp “continuing to harass the
Japanese with continued success.”
—-V
A 40-ton railroad car, hauling
a full load daily, would take 1500
years to transport the concrete in
Grand Coulee dam.
Soldier Who ThrZ^
fort ^
“"-Pvt. Chester a VFeb-2«.
24, of Emporia Va
orablydisehar,,,,^^
Sta.es Army toda\ ' ^
t0 five In
cour‘ mortal conv °n
threatening hi" 1
a knife and refusiJL0®5'* J
mands. gtoobeyt^
-■ ___ ’
KINGOFFS
C// (jmJjySme 24 2/
Msiness
Thousands who have made iheir jewelry purchases at Kingoff's continue to
come back month after month because of the pleasant relationship which
exists between us. We try to conduct our business so that your sons will do
business with ours. Even today you will find most complete selections of
all the fine jewelry you want al
Kingott's at prices and terms that
make doing business here a
pleasure.
DIGNIFIED BUDGET
PAYMENTS
REMINGTON
"Foursome"
■S' «195#i
*
DIAMOND ILLUSTRATIONS
ENLARGED TO SHOW DETAIL
Prices include
Federal Tax
A
ZIPPER KIT
*2* $39S
- -
1847 ROGERS BROS'
Service ior 8. fp
"ETERNALLY YOURS"
$1.00 WeeklJ
Sheaffers
BnyU.S.
Bonds and
Stamps