REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR! glNft 20. - —I-WILMINGTON, N. C., SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 1942 FINAL EDITION Served by Leased Wire of the ASSOCIATED PRESS With Complete Coverage of State and National News PRICE FIVE CENTS jpB Orders | Per Cent fesoline Cut (| Affect Deliveries To Astern And Pacific Northwest States HflONlNG LOOMS ||000 Stations Must* Confine Operations To 12 Hours Daily flffllX«TP.V Mar. 14— OB - ccnt i' caction in gasoline ti> .pa t„ fji;!. j stations in east Aboard and l aeifir; Northwest ".was ordered hr the War pro board n P step which . ... ... ; i.| was prelimiu U io ration:! L order » ans the average ‘Wr.nioi.- the 10.000,000 auto-' !*owners in the affected areas rnavete rum 1 his use of motor by even n.-'i-e th*n one-fifth stations were directed to , ««, iif • 1 the “minimum, itttW requlf' ments of essential . , .. Essential l sers jufK those claused as essential gg were physicians and nurses-, ■ournent vehicles, school buses, ip-abs and agricultural machinery. ilization would con some time yet.” Swed ish maneuvers in the northern province of Jamtland were the most comprehensive ever held with ski troops, motorized units and tanks cooperating with civil guards. Three things currently troubled the Swedes: (1) The much discussed possibil ity of an Allied offensive through northern Norway to create a new front and knock Finland out of the war; (2) the sharp criticism of the Swedish position by the German press; (3) the reports in the Swed ish press of increased German troop concentrations in Norway, (Continued on Page Two; Cot. 1) PRETTY SNAPPY Copying the outfits of U. S. Army officers, girl ordnance workers are now cutting a snappy figure in uniforms, as photo above shows. Here Miss Patricia Rayport, left, and Miss Lucille Alessandroni display the new uniform coats, army-type overseas caps and turf-colored shoes designed and adopted by girl employes in the Philadelphia Ordnance District headquarters, Philadelphia, Pa. The girls are accompanied by Lieut. Philip .1, Kidds. Uniforms are optional and are paid for by the girls.—(U. S. Army Signal Corps Photo from NEA.) Reds’ Southern Armies Kill 10,000 Nazi Troops —-w STORES CAPTURED Germans Slain At Rate Of 2,000 Daily From Ukraine To Crimea By EDDY GILMORE MOSCOW, March 14.—UP)—Soviet armies of the south and southwest have killed 10,000 Germans and captured or destroyed vast stores of food, clothing and war supplies in five days of savage fighting over battlefields churned into quagmires by thawing snow and ice. the Russians announced to night in a special communique. Nazis were slain at the rate of 2.000 a day in the area extending from the Ukraine to the Crimea between March 5-12. said the an nouncement, .which followed by 24 hours another special communique telling of the annihilation of 14, 000 Germans in 15 days of fighting on the northwestern front. Only 539 Prisoners The ferocity of the fighting was emphasized by the statement that only 539 Germans were taken pris oner. Tonight’s announcement said booty captured by Marshal Semeon Timoshenko’s men includ ed more than 2,000 guns and pis tols, 20,000 shells, nearly 3,000,000 cartridges, 22.500 mines, 4.000 hand grenades, 27 radio stations, 25 caches of tank and infantry mines, 19 ammunition dumps, 12 clothing and 14 food depots. Listed as destroyed were 42 blockhouses, 42 tanks, 686 trucks and wagons loaded with supplies and 260 machine-guns and trench mortars. Front-line dispatches stressed particularly the heavy toll being levied on the invaders northwest of Moscow. An army communique listed 14,000 Nazi dead in 15 days of fighting in this area, which au thoritative sources identified as the Staraya Russa zone where the bat tered’ German 16th army is held in the steadily-tightening jaws of a steel trap. Transport Planes Downed One Soviet detachment alone was credited with destroying 1,500 German troops in the northwest battle within the last few days, (Continued on Page Five; Col. Sacramento Swept By Snow And Hail Storm SACRAMENTO, Calif., Mar. 14.—WP>—Snow, hail and sleet fell on California’s surprised capital city for more than an hour and a half today. It was the first snowfall since January, 1939. Excited children threw snowballs and made uioniuen. The fall totaled two inches. GROUP APPROVES U. S. SALES TAX Majority Of Senate Com mittee Endorse Plan To Raise War Funds WASHINGTON. March 14.—Wl— A majority of the senate finance committee expressed qualified ap proval today of »a sales tax as a means of raising part of the $7, 000,000,000 additional revenue be ing sought to aid in financing the war effort. While most members said much would depend on prior House ac tion, an informal canvass by the Associated Press showed 14 sena tors were willing under certain conditions to impose general sales levies. Six of these made it plain, however, they were prepared to follow such a course only if they became convinced that present methods of taxation would not yield sufficient revenues. Against this, only Senator LaFol lette (Prog-Wis) among the 21 members flatly opposed a sales tax under any circumstances. Sen ators Johnson (D-Colo) Guffey (D Pa), Gerry (D-RI) and Bailey (D NC) declined to commit them selves and Senators Lodge (R Mass) anu Walsh (D-Mass) could not be reached. There have been indications re cently that members of the house (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) WEATHER FFORKCAST: NORTH CAROLINA — Continued warm, possibly scattered showers in the mountains Sunday. Cape Fear river stage at Fayette- > vllle at a a. in. Starch 14, 20.22 feet. (Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday): (By C. S. Weather Bureau) Temperature: 1:30 a. m 62; 7:30 a. m. 58; 1:30 p. m. 75; 7:30 p. m. 60; maximum U, minimum 57; mean 67; normal 53. Humidity: 1:30 a. m. 90: 7:30 a. m. 99; 1:30 p. m. 60; 7:30 p. m. 76. . . , , Precipitation: Total for the 24 hours ending < p m. 1.05 inches; total since the first of the month, 4.1t inches. Tides For Today: (From Tide Tables published by U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey): High JLow Wilmington _- 8:44a. 3:13a. 9 ;03p. 3:3Sp Masonboro Inlet - 6:38a. 12:17a. 6:53p. 12:4op. Sunrise 6:22a; sunset 6:20p; moourlse 5:34a; moonset 5:13p. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) Seven More Allied Ships Sunk By Suhs Rome Radio Says Queen Mary, Laden With Troops, Badly Damaged MANY MEN RESCUED Seven Of Crew Of One American Freighter Are Landed At Norfolk (By The Associated Press) Seven new sinkings of Allied merchantmen were reported along the North American Atlantic coast and the Caribbean yesterday by* the Navy. In addition, the Rome radio quot ed “Argentine maritime circles” as saying the 81,235-ton British liner Queen Mary, laden with 10,000 “North American” troops, was tor pedoed and badly damaged several days ago after leaving Rio Do Janeiro. The huge ship was report ed {attempting to reach the British base in the Falkland Islands. Re ports of this nature are frequently contained in Axis broadcasts in an attempt to gain information on movements of ships or troops.” Seamen Laud Nearer home, the Navy revealed that a small American merchantman was sent to the bottom early Wed nesday and that seven ot her crew had been landed at Norfolk. They expressed little hope for their 21 shipmates and related how a sub marine sank their ship in two min utes with two torpedoes. From Canada came word that 299 men, exhausted and frost-bitten, had reached an East Coast port after their ship, “an Allied merchant man,” had gone down in the North Atlantic. They drifted for 80 hours before being rescued. Heath Fort Survivors of an American and a Norwegian ship reached Puerto Ri can, Haitian and Cuban ports, dis closing that Axis submarines haci sunk them in the Caribbean. The American vessel was not iden tified other than as a small ship, which was torpedoed on March 6. Fifty-six out of a probable 67 pas sengers and crew were saved. The Norwegian vessel was a tanker. Thirty-four of her 41 com plement were rescued. A sinking in Bahama waters was revealed with the announcement in Nassau of the arrival there of the entire crew of 30 of a vessel of unidentified nationality which was sunk on Wednesday. Another Norwegian loss was re ported at Progreso, Mexico, where 12 survivors of the freighter Gunny were landed by a Swedish vessei (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) frenchrmTers CAPTURE UOLOU Troops Sweep 200 Miles Westward In Fezzan Des ert Of South Libya LONDON, March 14.—UP) —Free French raiders have swept 200 miles westward in the great Fez zan desert of South Libya, captur ing the Italian outpost of Uolou, 375 miles southwest of El Agheila, where Nazi Marshal Erwin Rom mel started his latest offensive. “The garrison has been taken prisoner and important material has been seized,” Free French headquarters announced today. “Our troops destroyed defense works protecting the outpost and made the airdrome unusuable. Mu nitions and gasoline dumps were fired. “In a raid on the airdrome at Oum El Araneb a Free French plane destroyed three Italian craft on the ground.” The Free French, striking hun dreds of miles across tractless des erts from Lake Chad, started their raids in the Fezzan more than a week ago. Ten Nazi Planes Downed In Fights Over Channel LONDON, March 14.—UP—Terri fic air battles raged over the Eng lish Channel today and when the skies had cleared ten German planes had fallen and every Brit ish fighter had returned unscratch ed to its base. The dogfights followed by a few hours a heavy night bombing of Cologne, munitions center and communications hub of the German Rhineland. The Air Ministry told of one en counter in which eight out of ten Messerschmitts, flying low over the channel, were destroyed. ■ “Terrific dogfights in and out of the clouds were fought at heights between 4,000 and 7,000 feet,” the Ministry said. ‘‘While this fight was in progress one section of the protecting squad ron had a scrap of its own with eight Messerschmitt-109s and one Focke-Wulf-109. One Messerschmitt was shot down into the sea. When our aircraft landed it was found that not one pilot had been as much as scratched by a single German bullet.”, The tenth plane was destroyed in an RAF channel sweep. Last night in the light of “hun dreds of flares,” the British bomb (Continued on Fa^e Two; Col. 1) , NA VY DISCLOSES 12 ALLIED WARSHIPS SUNK OFF JA VA; JAPAN LOSES EIGHT CRAFT JAPS BOMB ISLANDS* Warplanes Carry Attack To Within 31 Miles Of Australian Mainland GAIN NEW FOOTHOLDS Australians Strike At Jap Springboards In Coun try’s Outer Defenses By VERN HAUGLAND MELBOURNE, March 14. (A3)—Japanese bombers raid ed islands only 30 miles off the northeastern tip of Aus tralia today in a possible softening-up prelude to an in vasion attempt against the commonwealth mainland from newly-won bases in New Guinea. The attack, on a small scale, was aimed at islands in the vicinity of Thursday island which lie like stepping stones across the 100-mile wide Tor res strait between Australia and New Guinea. The raided islands lie op posite Port Moresby, on the southwest New Guinea coast, which has been the target of repeated Japanese air at tacks. It is some 270 miles across the Coral sea from Cape York, northeasternmost tip of Australia. Gain Footholds The Japanese have gained foot htjlds at Salamaua and Ale, on the southeastern New Guinea coast, about 400 miles from the Australian mainland and today’s raiders may have come from those bases. The Australians, keeping sleep less vigil along her threatened shores, themselves struck back at Japanese springboard positions in the commonwealth’s outer de fenses. Bombers inflicted heavy damage on grounded aircraft in an attack on the Japanese-held airdrome at Rabaul in New Britain, destroy ing probably three planes and damaging ten others with a heavy er ' ' -« in their tightly packed concentration. Port Moresby Attacked Port Moresby on the southeast coast of New Guinea was attacked by Japanese fliers using cannon and machine-gun fire yesterday but the only casualties cited in the RAAF communique was a leg wound suffered by an Aussie flier. The sparsely settled continent looked more and more to the United States for a decisive tip of the scales against Japan. (Official Washington and Aus tralian reports of the preliminary battle for Australia have disclosed that United States bombers are in the forefront of the aerial coun ter-attacks on the enemy. There also has been unmistakable evi dence of a general and even pic torial nature that other U. S. ef fectives, both military and naval, have arrived since mid-February in various parts of Australia and that the U. S. Pacific fleet is hard at work establishing and holding the long sea communica tions between the continents.) Prime Minister John Curtin spoke last night, of the United Statss, instead of Great Britain, as the “paramount factor” for the democ racies as far as this country is concerned. Sharp Reminder His address was interpreted as a sharp reminder of the growing importance of the United States war effort in this critical theater. (Continued on Fatre Seven; Col. 5) - i Ides Of March May Bring Maj or War Developments (By The Associated Press) The Ides of March are come. As in Julius Caesar’s day, March 15 is laden with portents of doom. The Ides of March this v~-r mean imminent death on battlefields for hundreds of thousands of Axis and United Nations troops in the swiftly approaching spring offensives. March has been a favorite month for the arch foe of the United Nations—Adolf Hitler— to initiate his most spectacular coups. In March, 1936 he remilitar ized the Rhineland. in Marcn, 1938 he seized Austria. In March, 1939, on this very date, he occupied Bohemia and Moravia, dismembering Czech oslovakia. He also seized Me mel. In March, 1940 he was busy preparing for an invasion of Scandinavia, the Lowlands and France and the following March he was strengthening his grip on the Balkans with a war of nerves that preceded the overrunning of that terri tory. And March, 1942? It may be Turkey, Sweden, Iceland, Suez, Gibraltar, Da kar or the Azores; certainly a drive against Russia. His Japa nese partner perils Australia and India, and may be pre paring for a thrust against Si beria and the vast Russian forces based on Vladivostok. Hitler Urging Japanese To Enter Conquest Plan —- *_:_ PROMISES REWARD Some Jap Leaders Believe Time Has Arrived To Consolidate Gains By ROBERT BUNNELLE LONDON, March 14.—(A*)— Adolf Hitler is insistently pressing upon his Japanese allies a grandiose scheme of world conquest and promising as reward for their col laboration that their empire may be so far extended as to include part of Africa, a foreign diplomatic source said today. As in Germany, where one sec tion of military and industrial opin ion thinks German conquests have gone far enough, there is a divi sion of opinion in Japan, however, and some influential leaders there believe the time has almost ar rived to concentrate on holding what has been gained. The foreign source, who said his information was gleaned from dip lomatic listening posts and confi dential agents throughout Europe and the Far East, said Hitler’s plan involves two huge nutcracker attacks on Russia and the India area and a series of subsidiary maneuvers. He said all reporters of the plan felt that this proposal was behind Japan’s “strangely Kurusu-like ap pointment of Naotake Sato to as sure Russia of her peaceful inten tions.” Sato, the new ambassador to Russia, has a role similar to that of Kurusu, who was sent to Wash ington to negotiate while Japan was planning her treacherous at tack on Pearl Harbor, he declared. The same plan also is back of the dispatch of a Japanese mili tary mission to Madagascar, the big French island in the Indian ocean 250 miles off the East Afri can coast. Mission Arrives Despite the denials of Vichy, the informant said he had absolute verification that the Japanese mis sion had arrived in Madagascar, presumably to high-pressure the (Continued on Page Five; Col. 4) -V USO CLUBS STAGE OPEN HOUSE TODAY A11 Wilmingtonians In vited To Visit Five Clubs During The Day All Wilmingtonians are invited to visit the five USO buildings in the Wilmington area today when “open house” will be observed from 1 to 6 p. m. Completing several months of service to defense workers and their families and service men, the clubs want everyone to see the facilities and programs offered there. Clubs have arranged individual programs of special interest but there will be an overall plan for all the clubs. Mayor Hargrove Bellamy; the Rev. Walter B. Freed, chairman of USO Council; Harry Wellott, FSA representative; and Saunders McMahon of the N. C. Shipbuilding company will visit each of the five clubs beginning at Harbor Island at 3:30 p. m. Visit to the other clubs will be made al the following hours: Fifth and Or ance, 4 p. m.; Fourth and Ann, (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) Honolulu Conducts Another Raid Alarm HONOLULU, Mar. 14.—r/P)— Friendly airplanes approaching the Hawaiian islands today precipitated the fourth air raid alarm in Honolulu since the war began. The alarm came abruptly at 9:46 a. m. (3:16 p. m. Eastern War Time). About an hour later tiie all »lear signal was sounded when the approaching aircraft were identified as friendly. It was the third alarm in three weeksv WHEAT PENALTY IS HELD INVALID Court Says It Amounts To Taking Property Without Due Process Of Law DAYTON, 0., March 14.-A special three-judge federal court today held invalid a 49-cent penalty imposed by the government last summer on wheat marketed in ex cess of AAA quotas on the ground it amounted to taking farmers’ property without due process ot law. The majority decision, from which Judge Florence Allen of the Sixth U. S. Circuit Court of Ap peals dissented, did not touch on constitutionality of the wheat con trol act itself, which farmers ap proved in a national referendum a year ago. Judge Allen contended the impost was valid. District judges Robert Neven and John H. Druffel in their decision enjoining collection of the penalty pointed out it was increased by Congress from 15 to 49 cents after last summer’s crop was planted, said: ‘‘Under the- circumstances, we are obliged to hold that the amend ment of May 26, 1941, insofar as 't increased the penalty for the farm marketing excess over the 15 cents per bushel and subjected the entire crop to a lien for the payment thereof, operated retroactively and that it amounts to a taking of plaintiff’s property without due process.” The suit was filed last summer by Roscoe G. Filburn on behalf of a group of Montgomery county farmers, and named as defendant Carl R. Helke, county AAA chair man, and Secretary of Agriculture Wickard. It was the first suit of its kind in the nation, #and followed (Continued on Pajfe Two; Col. t) U. S. Soldiers Receiving Hard Training In Ireland By KICE YAHNER WITH THE AEF IN NORTH ERN IRELAND, March 14.—MV United States troops are undergo ing intense training for the grim war tasks that lie ahead. A two-day tour wnich ended to night carried this correspondent to various headquarters tucked away in communities, woods and glens of Ulster. There modern soldiers with the latest weapons and ma chinery were deployed among buildings that were old when the Pilgrims set out for America. Th^ men slowly are getting in ured to mud. They spend the day light hours preparing trenches and obstacles at vantage points to guard against possible parachute troop attacks, bombings and ma chinegunning from the air. In regular schedules on the rifle ranges, artillerymen are checking. Their weapons and ammunition and plotting movements to cover every eventuality in the event of invasion by mechanized forces. Practice against moving targets will start soon. At one base, engineers had em barked on. an extensive project of building war installations which kept the men busy from the misty night. Most recreation is out for the (Continued on Page Five; Col. i) 13TH BELIEVED LOST] Two U. S. Ships—Cruiser Houston, Destroyer Pope —Among Those Lost THREE-PART FIGHT Japs Gain Command Of Sea, Air And Trap United Nations’ Fleet ,o\ WASHINGTON, March 14. (/P) — The Navy today an nounced the sinking of 12 Al lied warships, with a thir teenth believed lost, some in the battle to keep the Japa nese out of Java and the oth ers in boldly trying to escape from a tightly closed enemy trap in which they later found themselves. Two American ships, the cruiser Houston and the de stroyer John D. Pope were among those lost. The rest were Australian, British and Dutch. These punishing re verses were offset in part by the destruction of or severe damage to eight Japanese warships. The battle divided itself into three parts. Jupiter Disabled •‘Half an hour after this Allied force had turned to westward along the Java coast, H.M.S. Jupi ter was disabled by an underwater explosion. She sank four hours later. H.M.S. Jupiter was not far from the mainland of Java, and a number of survivors have al ready reached Australia. A U. S. submarine assisted in the rescue of the survivors.” Supplementing this description, a naval spokesman here said the Jupiter was unquestionably sunk by a submarine. As the night wore on, the coastal sweep continued. At 11:30, when the fleet was 12 miles off Rem bang, two Japanese cruisers were sighted between it and the shore; firing began immediately, a num ber of hits were scored. Mean* while: “The Deruyter was hit by one shell. Afterwards, the Deruyter made a large change of course pre sumably in order to avoid torpe does fired by the enemy. The other Allied cruisers were following the Deruyter when underwater explo sions occurred simultaneously in the cruisers Deruyter and Java. Both these Dutch cruisers blew up and sank at once.” The Navy said it was impossible to estimate with accuracy the damage inflicted upon the enemy during these actions, but added: “Observers in the perth consider ed that one Japanese eighl-i n c h gun cruiser was sunk, a second eight-inch gun cruiser damaged and a destroyer sunk. It also has been reported that a cruiser of the Mogami class was set on fire and thrpe destroyers seriously dam aged and left on fire or sinking. “H.M.S. Perth and the U.S.S. Houston, which had received some damage in this action, reached Tanjong Priok at seven o’clock in the morning of Feb. 28. Five U. S. destroyers reached Sourabaya (Soerabaja) after the action. “With the enemy in command of sea and air north of Java in over whelming force, the Allied com mand was faced with the problem of extricating the remaining Allied ships from a very dangerous sit uation.” The announcement went on to say that the route to Australia was (Continued on 1’asre Seven; Col. i)