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Served By Leased Wire Of The . - • ■— ■■■ associated press w 4 REMEMBER j WiihS^ageOf tlUttltllT Htt \WHttt it T Jt PEAE “ARBOR _Slate and National News ++++ * ** Mk^+4-1 * | 'III* * V** AND BATAAN 3^-" °' 2~°---TEN PAGES_ ; WILMINGTON, N. C„ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1942 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867. Rommel’s Axis Forces Caught In British Trap —.»if—wm rmwm. ...Z_ Cairo dispatches indicate that German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s armored Axis forces, which had swept around Bir Hacheim in Libya, have be*en trapped in a triangle bordered by Ain El Gazala, Tobruk, and Bir Hacheim. Rommel apparently is trying to retreat westward through the triangle but must cut his way through mine fields laid by the British along the west side of the triangle. Maxwell Resigns Revenue Post; Gill Is Named As His Successor Action Comes As Climax To Exchange With Auditor RALEIGH, June 2.—GP)—The resignation of Allen J. Maxwell as commissioner of revenue and the appointment of aroles Commissioner Edwin Gill to head the storm-tossed Revenue Department was announced today by Governor Stoughton. The governor s announcements followed close on the heels of one of the bitterest exchanges in state's history between Maxwell and the office of state audi to r George Foss Pou over the respon sibility for the detection of recent shortages of former revenue de partment employes. A report prepared by the au ditor’s office asserted that revenue department records had been kept so badly that in recent years most of the time available for auditing the department had been consum ed in getting the records in shape for audit, and Maxwell replied bitterly that the auditor’s office > was trying to shift the entire re sponsibility to him. Maxwell, who has been directly connected with state government since 1899 as journal clerk for the State Senate, chief senate clerk, secretary of the old Corporation Commission, member of the Cor poration Commission, and revenue commissioner, will head a new department of lax research after his resignation becomes effective on June 30, the governor sad. In announcing that Gill would succed to the difficult r e v e nue Post, the governor said that as sistant paroles commissioner Hath away Cross would succeed Gill and that the paroles commission’s chief investigator, William Dunn ■h-, would succeed Cross. Given Free Hand The governor said that Gill 'vould be given an “absolutely free hand in the Revenue department and that any personnel changes in ‘he department would be entirely at Gill’s discretion. Maxwell’s resignation had been widely predicted since a recent in vestigation of mishandling of pub lc ‘ unds in the Revenue depart ment and the indictment and con '■cuon in Wake Superior court of several former Revenue employes mi‘embezzlement charges. However, Governor Broughton reiterated today that while the department “has undergone some JitorUmate experiences” recently nothing in thse experiences or exposures reflected in the slightest egree on the integrity or the rec 01p Commissioner Maxwell.” n fact, the governor added, “the ,5 experience and recognized “l lty °- Mr. Maxwell in the field , taxati°n and his eminent knowl °f econ°mic conditions in' ‘ h,r h Carolina qualify him admir n.,;j as director of the new de no Ijent tax research.” The tho" fQepar,rnent was authorized by s i general assembly, and "eiv d months ag° Maxwell was rea en.tlle alternative of accepting revo °mtment as commissioner of of tt,nUe 01 taking over the duties e ne'‘'ly-created department” G ' apable Official w|to has been paroles com as ~10ner since 1933, is recognized jja a caPable administrator, and fr' ,'von nation-wide recognition av , ”e North Carolina p a r o 1 es 51 em. A native of Laurinburg, the represenled Scotland county in 193igueial assembly in 1929 and ‘ , served as private secre G.'7 |Q former Governor O. Max 1933 nM ?rom until January ann Vl?rnor J‘ C- B. EXringhaus Pointed him to the newly-created ih 0 , ' commission, successor to ‘ , °‘d pxecutive council, in 1933, . was reappointed by Gov 01 Clyde R. Hoey and by Gov nor Broughton. He started work 1 n a single office and two as ants and has expanded the ^ 'Continued on P«je Six; Col. S> GO SIGNAL GIVEN FOR WAR HOUSING PWB Authorizes Construc tion Of 100,000 Units Of Most Essential Projects WASHINGTON, June 2— UP — More than 100,000 of the most “es sential” war housing units now under construction—involving 7 6 publicly-financed units in 20 states —were give the official go ahead signal by WPB today. Work on virtually all would other wise have been stopped be cause of the ‘freeze” of supplies of construction lumber, John B. Blandford, Jr., National Housing administrator, reported. Under the special relief order, WPB will issue an overall author ization permitting contractors on these specific projects to obtain enough lumber to complete them, it was understood. Officials said that only about half of the publicly financed work already started was included in the approved list and the fate of the others already un der construction remained uncer tain. In making the list of approved projects public, WPB emphasized that present demand for lumber “greatly exceeds the supply” and that even contractors who receive authorizations to purchase lumber could not expect prompt delivery in every instance. -V Jap Solomon Island Bases Are Attacked ADLIED HEADQUARTERS, Aus tralia, Wednesday, June 3.— UP) — Allied planes bombed Japanese in stallations at Tulagi in the Solomon island group and started large fii*s, General MaeArthur’s headquarters announced today. Other offensive units bombed and strafed the Japanese airdrome at Rabaul, New Britain island, the com muniqce said. In the attack on Japanese-held Dutch Timor, the Allied airmen chose a new target, the town of Atamboea on Timor’s north coast near the island’s center. Barracks were demolished and ex tensive fires left raging. Ten miles south of Atamboea another barracks and road transport were taken under fire, the communique said. One Allied raider failed to return from that operation. _ BITTER FIGHTING RAGES IN CHINA Desperate Battles Report ed In Progress On Three Fronts CHUNGKING, June 2.— UP) — Fierce fighting raged on three fronts in China today as the Jap anese started two new offensives and continued to make progress in the third through the coastal prov ince of Chekiang. Suddenly assuming the nature of a real threat, a Japanese thrust from Nanchang in Kiangsi prov ince, which adjoins Chekiang rail way and at a possible junction with the columns coming from the east. With two claws the Japanese thus were attempting to pinch off a large piece of eastern China. Also menacing was the north ward Japanese drive from the Canton area in the south China province of Kwangtung. This was following the Canton-Hakow rail way, with another column driving through the mountains country east of the railway. (Domei re ported the latter column had cap tured Tsungfa, 50 miles northeast of Canton, and had continued to advance to the north and north east.) Along the railway the invaders were reported approaching Heng kong. Chinese troops resisted stubborn ly and inflicted heavy casualties everywhere, but scored their chief successes in the Chekiang theater as they closed in on the elongated flanks of the Japanese and recap tured five towns. The Chinese communique said these were Showchang, 25 miles northwest of Kinhwa, the provin cial captial which they have lost, Yupgkang, 35 miles southeast of Kinhwa, and Paishapu and Keng louchen, points south of Show chang. A spokesman listed Shak ichen, north of Showchang, also as having been retaken. 3 ..-V U. S., China Sign Lend-Lease Accord WASHINGTON, June 2.— UP)—1The United States and China signed a lend-lease agreement today provid ing for continued reciprocal aid in the war against the Axis and lay ing down the broad principles of a final settlement of lease-lend ac counts. ■The agreement, which Foreign Minister T. V. Soong signed for China and Secretary of State Hull for the United States, is the same in all substantial respects as the lend - lease agreement concluded with Great Britain last February. Roosevelt Calls For War Against Balkan Countries WASHINGTON, June 2— W — President Roosevelt asked Con gress to make the list of America s enemies officially complete today by declaring war on the Axis sat ellite nations Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania. _ As ‘instruments of Hitler, he said in a special message to Con gress, these countries had declar ed war on the United States. Fur ther, he said, they were engaged in military activities against _ the United Nations, activities which were abou+ to be broadened. Therefore, he urged that Con gress recognize the existence of a stat of war between them. Th acquiescence of Congress in the President’s request was re garded as a mere formality. Ar rangements were made to bring up a war resolution in the House tomorrow, and in the Senate later. Several senators said the war declaration might be of aid to Rus sia, and would tend to encourage Turkey to resist any Axis incur sion. Senator Austin (R-VT) said: “Of itself it is an act of political warfare, and will be of benefit to the United Nations.” (Continued on Fof^Tiireei Col. 1) mET OF 1,036 BRITISH PLANES RAIN f BOMBS ON ESSEN MUNITIONS PLANTS; VIOLENT TANK BATTLE RAGES IN LIBYA Dwindling Nazi Column Attempts To Split British Fortified Positions FORCE CUT IN HALF British Also Suffer Severe Losses In Bitter Battle In Torrid Desert By EDWARD KENNEDY CAIRO, June 2.—(/P)—The Libyan battle of destruction raged on with great violence today around two thin gaps in the desert Ain El Gazala-Bir Hacheim line, with the dwind ling ranks of the Axis’ African corps lashing out in a supreme effort to split the British fortified positions. Already having lost some 260 tanks, or half their original strik ing strength, the sizeable German armored forces still remaining east of the semi-fornfied line, has been reorganized and were trying to drive out the British forces sta tioned between them and the nar row lanes of escape, which are 15 miles apart. Another body of the Nazi mech anized forces, which for the last 72 hours has moved westward— and rearward — through the two gaps, was reported to have push ed to a position 20 miles west of the line, where it was regrouping with the Axis forces previously there. The eighth army of General Sir Claude Auchinleck, composed of Britons, South Africans, Indians and Free French, had suffered se vere losses, too. But it had given more than it had taken in punish ment from the three armored and two motorized divisions which Ger man Marshal Erwin Rommel used in his vaip attempt to seize To bruk. Claim 3000 Prisoners (The Germans claimed annihila tion of a British unit and the cap ture of 3,000 prisoners, including a brigadier, the Italians spoke vaguely of a “pincers movement” near El Ualeb, in the vicinity of the German gaps, where, they said, British resistance was broken and 2,000 prisoners token.) The British said the American “General Grant” tank, armed with a 75-mm. gun firing high explo sive and anti-personnel shells, plus a 37-mm. anti-tank weapon and a machine-gun, was being used with great success. This is the U. S. Army’s M-3 medium tank, a 28-ton land cruiser now getting its first battle-field test. It has what it takes in the des ert, the British say — fire power capable of knocking out the other fellow’s tanks. “The enemy succeeded in with drawing many of his tanks and much transport” through two gaps he blasted in British mine fields laid out for 50 miles between coast al Ain El Ga7cla and the odorous waterhole of Bir Hacheim at the southern extremity of the main British positions, Auchinleck said in a communique. “A large number of his tanks and many motor transport vehicles however, remain on the wrong side of this barrier. These are still be ing ceaselessly harried and de stroyed by our troops vigorously aided by our airforce.” The British commander wired a lengthy review of the battle—the wildest and fiercest ever fought in Africa—to Prime Minister Church ill, who read it to the House of Commons. Attempted Landing The communique disclosed tor the first time that the Germans on the opening night of their offen sive May 26 attempted to land a sea borne cooperating force north of Acroma, some 15 miles from Tobruk, but the Royal Navy drove off the flotilla. Auchinleck’s control over the battlefield, the capture of two of Rommel’s largest repair units, and the splendid performance of new British heavy anti-tank guns and the 28-ton U. S. tanks all were factors of great cheer to the Brit ons. Control of the battlefield enabled the Eighth army to salvage a large proportion of the damaged vehicles using perhaps the United States service troops who are in Egypt for just such a purpose. The German repair units which were seized were reported unoffi cially to have restored at least 300 tanks which otherwise would have fallen to the British. One thing appeared certain:the Axis force composed of the Ger man 15th and 21st and the Italian 132nd Ariete armored divisions and a German and an Italian motoriz ed division, perhaps 75,000 season ed veterans in all, had failed to capture Tobruk as Adolf Hitler had ordered, and were paying an enor (Continued on F»ce Two; CoL 4) Writing An End To Historic Defense Of Corregidor Japanese sources say this picture, radioed from Japan to Buenos Aires, and thence to New York, was taken as Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, left, with papers before him, discussed terms of surrender of U. S. forces on Corregidor with Japanese general, Masahru Momma, right center, leaning on sword. Homma was reported to have com mitted hara-kiri previously due to failure of his forces on Bataan. (Passed by censor.) —(NEA Radiophoto) 100 More Warships Will Join U. S. Combat Forces This Year Congress Is Well Pleased With Construction Program WASHINGTON, June 2.— (A5) —The Navy informed congress today that approximately 100 more fighting ships would be put into commission this year, ready to take battle stations on the far flung sea-fronts and to guard the vital shipping lanes between this nation and its troops and Allies. The progress report on construe.*-— tion of Naval vessels was furnish ed, in executive session, by Rear Admiral A. H. Van Keuren, chief of the Navy bureau of Ships, to the House Naval committee, and was made public by Chairman Vin son (D-Ga) with the Admiral’s permission. Vinson described the committee as “well satisfied” with the report. Simultaneously, he announced committee approval of a $1,100, 000,000 measure authorizing addi tional construction of 500,000 tons of auxiliary vessels, such as ten ders and supply ships. He served notice, too, that he would introduce tomorrow another big measure for a major increase in the number of aircraft carriers, thus carrying out, he said, the Navy’s plan to “build and build” that type of ship and obtain an “overwhelming” aerial punch. The Georgian emphasized that the approximately 100 ships to be commissioned during the next sev en months did not include those which had been put through their trial runs and accepted by the Navy through May 31. The new ships will provide a major increase in this nation’s sea strength. In the last official dis closure of its strength on Oct. 27 of last year, the Navy reported 346 fighting ships in service with 347 building. That type would include battle ships, cruisers, carriers, destroy ers and submarines. Since then, it has reported the loss of 38 naval vessels of which 20 were of the auxiliary type and the other 18 fighting ships. However, the reported launch ings in the last seven months have (Continued on rage Two; Col. 4) WEATHER FORECAST North Carolina:: Continued rather warm Wednesday with a few scattered thundershowers in the interior. South Carolina: Continued . rather warm Wednesday, possibly a few scat tered showers. (EASTERN STANDARD TIME) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) (Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday). Temperature 1:30 a. m. 71; 7:30 a. m. 75; 1:30 p. m. 80; 7:30 p. m. 75; maximum 81; mini mum 66; mean 74; normal 75. Humidity 1:30 a. m. 83; 7:30 a. m. 67; 1:30 p. m. 44; 7:30 p. m. 60. Precipitation Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m. 0.00 inches. Total since the first of the month 0.00 inches. Tides For Today (From Tide Tables published by U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). High Low Wilmington _ 1:00a 8:11a l:2*p 8:28p Masonboro Inlet _11:19a 5:10a 1X:«9P 3:20p Sunrise 5:01a; sunset 7:19p; moonrise ll:33p; moonset 9:46a. Cape Fear river stage at Fayette ville on Tuesday at 8 a. m. 9.35 feet. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) AUSTRALIA DARES JAPS TO INVADE Curtin’s Confidence Rises With Increased Allied Manpower MELBOURNE, Australia, June 2 —(J*!—Heartened by the growing strength of the United N a t i ons forces on Australian soil, Prime Minister John Curtin today shed his characteristic caution and dared the Japanese to try an in vasion of the commonwealth. “I defy the enemy to land large forces in Australia,” he said in a speech which launched Austra lia’s second Liberty loan. The goal is $113,400,000; the first was $157, 140,000. The enemy is being desperately driven to shortages in essential supplies which show themselves more directly in the forces of the Axis powers than is the case with the forces of the United Nations. “And thus time runs against the Axis in every theater. . . Curtin spoke in the face of good news; Allied airmen had over night executed three raids on Jap anese bases without the loss of a plane and destroyed or damaged nine of 30 aircraft which raided Port Moresby yesterday. It was also announced that the wrecks of two of the three Jap anese midget submarines destroy, ed in an attack on Sydney har bor Sunday had been located in side the harbor and its approxi mate position is known. Coastal waters were still being searched for the mother ship. Curtin spoke of the Japanese thrusts against Australia and de (Continued on Page Three; Col. 4) 39 CREWMEN LOST IN GULF SINKING Cargo Vessel Is Cut In Two By Blasts From Two Submarines A GULF PORT, June 2.— l/fl— The sinking of a medium sized United States cargo vessel in the Gulf of Mexico was confirmed to day with disclosure the ship was torpedoed by two Axis submarines May 20 and went down like a rock causing death of 39 of its 42-man crew. Two semi-conscious, temporarily blinded survivors gave enough de tail in a Port Arthur, Tex., hospital where they were taken, told of the ship’s fate and their own miracu lous rescue after lying helpless, blinded and without food or v/ater on a tiny raft in the Gulf for V week. Three other survivors were pick ed up as well, and taken to a Mexican port where two died. The survivors were John G. Traubal of Gibbsboro,,N. J., and Rolf Helland and second assistant engineer Jo seph Shackelford of Severen, Va., taken to a Mexican port. Only a few of the crew got clear, the survivors said, when the ship, cut in two by torpedoes frorh op posite sides, folded up “like an accordion,” and plunged to the bot tom in seconds spewing oil into the water, a heavy fuel oil that dragged the men down like quick sand. Weighted with the congealing oil that rendered them virtually help less Traubal and Helland reached a small raft with one other man, who was so oil coated they never found out who he was. He left later, when the raft was threaten ed with submersion, to seek an other haven. What happened to him, Traubal and Helland didn’t know. When the sun arose the next morning it began baking the oil into the hair, eyes, ears and bodies of the two men, and they soon lost consciousness, sealed in an almost cast-like crusting. They were pick-* (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) Six Vessels Of Russia Bound Convoy Are Sunk ■ 1 w___ LONDON, June 2—(fl)—Battered for five days and nights in the strange, unending light of the Arc tic’s midnight sun by U - boats and at least 100 German planes, a big U. S.-British supply convoy was disclosed today to have reach, ed a Russian port with an indicat ed loss of but half a dozen ships. The result was announced by the Admiralty in a communique which gave a graphic picture of the perils of the Arctic convoy route to Murmansk and Archangel, where there never, at this time of year, is any protecting dark-:, ness and where the breaking of th Arctic ice restricts maneuver ability of ships to a minimum. German claims to the sinking of 17 or 18 ships were termed “an exaggeration of over 175 per cent.” German dive bombers, torpedo planes and level-flying bombers as saulted the convoy almost without pause from the evening of May 25 until May 30. Three of the at tacking planes were reported shot down for sure, two others prob_ ably were destroyed and two oth ers damaged. (Continued on Page Thre&^ Col. 3) Thousands Of Tons Of Ex plosives Dropped On Krupp, Rhein Works OUTPUT IS CRIPPLED RAF Planes Swarm Back To Attack In Massive Day light Raid On Continent By E. C. DANIEL LONDON, June 2.—(/P)—A mighty aerial corps of British bombers and fighter planes, 1,036 of them, cast down fire and explosive with terrible ef fect upon the German Krupp munitions center of Essen and its war plant environs last night in a second great raid on Germany in 48 hours — an assault that was proclaimed as only a token of what is yet to come from the combined air forces of Britain and the United States. Thousands of tons of bombs were dropped upon the Krupp and Rhein metal Btorsig plants, and if, as would seem obvious from the weight of the attack, the damage caused at Essen were as great as in Saturday night’s 1,000-plane raid on Cologne, persons familiar with German production believed that a good sized percentage of the Reich’s war industry could now be marked down as crippled. Again today the RAF sprang back to the assault, going over the channel in great force in one of the biggest daylight aerial offen sives of the war. During the morning there were large-scale sweeps over the Grave lines and Hardelote areas of north ern France. One German plane was shot down and several dam aged. Attack Troops German troops and gun posts were attacked from low levels. It was the raid on Essen, how ever, that overshadowed all else and brought cheer to all England. Giving the House of Commons a preliminary report today on this tremendous attack, Prime Minister Churchill declared that many fires were left, at a total cost of only 35 British bombers, and went on to predict what lies ahead for the Germans. “I do not wish it to he sup posed,” he said, “that all our raids in the immediate future will be above this four-figure scale. “The methods of attack will be continually varied, according to circumstances. “On the other hand, these two great night bombing raids (the first was during Saturday night and early Sunday morning over Cologne) mark the introduction of a new phase in the British air of fensive against Germany, and they will increase markedly in scale when we are joined, as we soon shall be, by the air force of the United States. “As the year advances all Ger man cities, harbors and centers of war production will be subjected (Continued on Pafe Two; Col. 1) REDSANDNAZIS ARE STALEMATED Russians Apply 'Kharkov Tactics’ In North western Areas By HENRY C. CASSIDY MOSCOW, June 2—UP)—1The Rus sian armies, applying “Kharkov tactics” to the deep northwestern areas, attacked sharply today in several sectors with the object of upsetting German offensive plans from this direction. Vigorous although localized ac tions in two sectors of the Kalinin front which runs west from Kalinin to the Valdai hills in the direction of the German garrisons of Rzhev and Veliki Luki, were reported to have resulted in at leastj,850 Ger man dead and 1,500 woumed. The midnight Soviet commun ique told of “battles of local im* portance” in some sectors of the front but said on the whole there were no significant changes in po sitions. On what is known here as the “northwestern front,” extending from the Valdai hills north around Lake Ilmen to the Leningrad front, the Russians were said to have maintained pressure which fore stalled any “adventurous plans” of the Germans. With the .Russians thus improv ing their positions and drawing the (Continued on Fafe Three) Col. ^
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