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ilmittiitcn iHuntitu) iito |’pES,j|
'reft'75-~NO. 256 . ' . . rrpvr n » ouiC! ~—7 ----—- ___ s^t“- -_
~~ " " ---WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1942 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867.
I it lakes America To Do It!
’ -■—.
lh. se 28-ton M-3 tanks, named “General Grants” by. the British who have been
.-ini; many of this type in Libya, roll off the assembly lines in mass production at the
D u it Tank Arsenal operated by the Chrysler Corporation near Detroit. They are
armed with 75mm and 37mm cannon and several machine guns. Finished tanks at the
ieit art undergoing minor adjustments. Tanks in the right foreground have already
lean its ted and will be loaded on flat cars for rail shipment.
British Forces Strengthen Libyan Line
in Effort To Save Vital Tobruk Port
• .m
loadon Admits Nazis Are
Stronger Than
Supposed
LONDON, June 19.— UPt —Britain
raypily sought tonight the rea
:0!i- for her sudden reversal in
Libya, and competent military crit
:: supplied the least palatable an
i-j.er: the German Rommel had
'iigge: and better guns and tanks
aid used them with greater skill.
A week ago Britons were assured
ir the battle was going satisfac
::::ly and only a few subdued
wees uttered reminders of other
reversals in the wild desert fight
of the past two years.
Thus the public was not prepar
i for the abrupt discovery that
ic new positions had become
'■raps from which troops were forc
ed to flee and the public was not
consoled when correspondents re
ported that Rommel lacked suffi
cient gasoline to push his tanks on
too Egypt.
One of the first acid comments
came from the Evening News,
which asked the reason for re
peated "frustrations" in Lybia and
supplied its own answer:
Quite simply and bluntly the
reason is that from the beginning
we have underestimated the
strength, cunning, resources and
recuperative power of the enemy.
“We did not believe he could
have better tanks than ours, but
he did.
"We did not imagine he would
**ve a still deadlier anti - tank
gun.”
The whole story has not come
Jet from the battlefields but from
available information military ex
perts drew these conclusions:
L Lieut. Gen. Neil M. Ritchie,
commander of the British eighth
erray, lacked sufficient numbers of
united States 28-ton tanks.. When
jhe excellent 88-millimeter guns of
™e Germans knocked many of
hem out of action the British had
0 depend too much on light cruis
er tanks whose two-pounder guns
had been relegated to the peashoot
er class.
2. The British still have lessons
!° ,earn about tank tactics, and
bravery cannot be substituted for
the required skill.
Air power over desert battle
telds cannot be made the domin
J»t factor. The RAF started with
lr superiority and still claims it
bmbing and strafing of some sup
W vehicles cannot be decisive
''hen hundreds of others get
through.
A Establishment of a strong, sta
te defense line anywhere in Cire
,aica between Egyp» and Tripoli
. n>a in the vicinity of El Agheila
out of the question because of
■nutations on the number of troops
™ch can be maintained efficient
y >n the desert. 3
-V
HITLER may speak
NEW YORK, June 19.—WV-!The
ockholm correspondent of the
it '' Y,ork Times said tonight that
li ls "strongly rumored” in Ber
pji, that Adolf Hitler will speak
Sn er Sunday or Monday on the
tversary of the German inva
5i°n of Russia.
TALK IS REVIVED
ON BUYING TIRES
Idea Of Getting Rubber
From Non-Essential
Autos Discussed
WASHINGTON, June 19.— —
New talk of buying up tires from
owners of “non-essential” automo.
oiles was heard in the capital to
day, while officials sought to step
up the nation-wide scrap rubber
drive with week - end “treasure
hunts.”
Wendell Lund, director of WPB’s
labor production division, told a
special House committee studying
means of getting workers to war |
plants: ^
“Tires on non-essential private
automobiles must be purchased by
the government and allocated to
war workers who are cooperating
fully in carrying full loads of work
ers.”
The petroleum industry war
council, which has charge of the
scrap rubber collection, said it had
“set Saturday and Sunday, when
most Americans will be at home,
for a nation-wide week-end treas
ure hunt of every attic, cellar, bin,
and shed for unused and scrap par
ticles of rubber.
“Rubber brought to light in the
treasure hunt may be dropped off
at a local service station on the
way to church Sunday morning or
on the way to work Monday,” the
council said.
The Office of Price Administra
tion announced during the day that
under the permanent gasoline ra
tioning system to be set up in the
east on July 15, every automobile
will carry a sticker showing the
kind of rationing book held by its
driver.
By this method of publicity, the
OPA hopes to deter motorists from
obtaining or using cards to which
they are not entitled.
WEATHER
(Meteorological data for the 24 hours
ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday):
(EASTERN STANDARD TIME)
(By V. S. Weather Bureau)
Temperature:
1:30 a. m. 73; 7:30 a. m. 76; 1:30 p. m
80; 7:30 p. m. 71; maximum 06; minimum
71; mean 78; normal 77. ,
Humidity:
1:30 a. m. 85; 7:30 a. m. M; 1:M p. m
48; 7:30 p. m. 88.
Precipitation:
Total for the 24 hourg ending 7:30
p. m., 0.00 inches; total since the first
cf the month, 1.14 inches.
TIDES FOR TODAY:
(From the Tide Tables published by
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey):
High Low
Wilmington _ 2:01a. 9:26a.
2:38p. 9:30p.
Masonboro Inlet _ _a. 6:01a
12:07p. 6:19p.
Sunrise S:00a; sunset 7:26p; moonrise
[ 11:05a; moonset ll:39p.
r .
Rommel Believed To Have
Orders For Egyptian
Attack At Once
By EDWARD KENNEDY
CAIRO, June 19—W)—British mo.
bile forces, fanning out northward
from their new line along the
Egyptian border, jostled German
preparatins for an all-out assault
on Tobruk today and gave that
isolated but vital British seaside
fortress time to perfect its de
fenses.
Tobruk, Libyan port 80 miles
from Egypt, bristled with newly
strung barbed wire, fresh-laid mine
fields and strengthened pillboxes
curving in great arcs around all
its shoreward approaches.
The Germans were hastening to
bring up great 210-millimeter (8.26
inch) cannon to try to reduce the
defenses which defied them for
nearly eight months last year.
(A German communique Friday
claimed that Axis forces had com
pleted encirclement of Tobruk and
had once more laid siege to the
Libyan port.)
The South Africans and British
who withdrew yesterday from the
El Adem and Acroma strongpoints
now are within the port’s fortifi
cations.
These forces are not purely on
the defensive, however, and today
strong raiding parties hampered
German attempts to strengthen
their positions in the El Adem
area, 20 miles to the south of
Tobruk’s outer perimeter of de
fenses.
It was not known whether the
enemy had made contact with the
British positions on the Egyptian
frontier. The action between To
bruk and Salum remained fluid
with British mobile columns seek
ing to prevent the Axis rfom fan
ning out from the coastal belt
along which they were moving.
Already, Tobruk s outer works
were under attack, as indicated by
a British communique which re
ported destruction of three Axis
tanks and damage to four others
in the Tobruk area.
But the hour of decision was
delayed by British armored sorties
from their strengthened frontier
lines. These, said a communique,
have succeeded in confining the
enemy columns to the desolate
coastal strip.
The RAF slowed the Axis pro
gram still further by continued
behind-the-lines strafing and bom
bardment.
(Some informed persons in Lon.
don suggested that Nazi Marshal
Erwin Rommel, driven by urgent
orders from Berlin, might try to
tackle the British border lines
without waiting to storm Tobruk.
(British quarters in both Cairo
and London have said previously,
however, that no real land offen
sive against Egypt can be main
tained from the West unless the
attacker first holds Tobruk with
its deep harbor as a supply base.
(On the other hand, a British
military commentator in London
said that possession of. Tobruk was
“not essential’’ to a successful
British defense of Egypt.)
(Continued on P»*e Two; Col. 4)
Heavy Wind
Strikes
At Nightfall
Many Telephone, Power
And Telegraph Lines
Knocked Out
NO INJURIES REPORTED
Police Hear of No Persons
Hurt During 35 Mile
Per Hour Wind
A 35-mile-an-hour wind, bring
ing with it nearly one inch of
rainfall in 20 minutes last night
about 7:30 o’clock, disrupted tele
phones, telegraph and power lines
throughout the southeastern sec
tion of North Carolina.
Striking with heavy force, the
wind blew down trees in some
sections of the city and county
and in the area near the Gordon
road a number of Tide Water
Power company poles were blown
over, it was learned from C. H.
McAllister, chief engineer.
The Associated Press wire serv
ice, furnished to the Star-News,
was interrupted about 6:45 o’clock
p. m. as the storm was moving
eastward from the mountains, and
no news service was available
until nearly midnight.
Clinton reported only one tele
graph wire open and many small
villages were isolated for hours.
Within the city limits here, fal
ling trees brough down power
and telephone lines.
The power company reported
many transformers burned out due
to short circuits, when the branch
es crossed them. The entire
Wrightsville Beach area was black
out for several hours, but power
was restored about 11 o’colck.
Telephone service to Carolina
Beach was broken as the storm
reached its peak, when a tree
fell across the lines. At midnight,
(Continued on Pafe Two; Col. i)
ALUEDFUERS
BLAST RABOUL
Smash 10,000-Ton Jap
Transport; Other Craft
Damaged
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
AUSTRALIA, Saturday, June 20.—
(iP)—Allied fliers, blasting at Japan
ese forces and installations at Ra
baul, New Britain, destroyed an un
determined number of Japanese
bombers, fighters, and seaplanes and
scored direct hits on a large trans
port and other vessels, Gen. Douglas
Mac Arthur’s headquar ters an
nounced today.
One 10,000-ton transport received
three direct hits, a communique said
and “other vessels were probably
damaged.’’
Seven Japanese naval planes and
two seaplanes rose to intercept the
Allied attackers but their efforts to
stave off the raid were unsuccessful,
the communique declared. At least
one Japanese plane was shot down.
There were no Allied losses.
TRANSPORT SMASHED
SAN FRANCISCO, June 19—(AO
Allied fliers smashed a 10,000-ton
Japanese transport in Rabaul har
bor on New Britain, scoring three
hits on the craft, the Allied head
quarters in Australia announced to
night.
The communique, broadcast over
the Melbourne radio and heard by
the CBS listening station, said also
that three bombs landed in the mid
dle of a group of Japanese bombers
on the Rabaul airdrome, and on
other ships in the harbor.
Other planes rose to intercept the
attackers. One Japanese plane was
shot down and another was believed
destroyed.
Heads Bombers
Col. Caleb V. Haynes, a native
of Mount Airy, N. C., has been ap
pointed chief of the United States
army bomber command in China.
The big, 46-year-old southern
mountaineer personally directed
the harrowing aerial evacuation
of Allied forces in Burma recently.
He was decorated with the Dis
tinguished Flying Cross in 1939
for his mercy flight to Chile with
medical supplies for earthquake
victims.
Today Is Last Chance
To Register For Bond
Election Here July 1
This is the last day to regis
ter for the bond election to be
held in Wilmington on July 1.
The general election registra
tion books will be used. Per
sons already listed thereon
need not re-register, but all
eligibles whose names are not
upon this register must be list
ed to participate in the forth
coming election.
Registration books witl be
open at all polling places all
day.
NAZIS STILL POUNDING
HARD A T SEVASTOPOL;
RED DEFENSES FIRM
--— *
Berlin Radio Reports
U.S. Planes Over Turkey
NEW YORK, June 19.—(£>)—
The Berlin radio broadcast an
Ankara report today that 13 or
14 United States warplanes flew
over Turkey again last night on
their way to the Black Sea
coast and that they were fired
on by Turkish anti-aircraft bat
teries.
The Berlin broadcast, heard
here by CBS, said:
“According to information
from Ankara, American planes
have again flown over Turkish
territory on their way to the
northern coast of the Black sea.
“There were 13 or 14 ma
chines, which were fired at by
Turkish anti-aircraft batteries.
According to the latest reports
the shooting took place in the
coast district during the eve
ning of Thursday.
“An official Turkish com
munique has not yet been re
ceived.”
United States bombers visit
ed the Black sea region a week
ago today and were reported
to have bombed the Rumanian
oil fields at Ploesti and the Ger
man-occupied Russian ports of
Nikolaev and Odessa. Four of
the raiding craft made forced
landings in Turkey.
CHINESE REPORT
LOCAL SUCCESSES
News Slightly Offsets The
Gains Made By Japs
In Fukien
CHUNGKING, China, June 19—
UO—The Chinese reported local suc
cesses tonight in operations against
Japanese bases in Kiangsi and
Hupeh provinces, offsetting some
what new enemy gains in a threat
ening backdoor drive upon coastal
Fukien province and an additional
seaborne invasion of neighboring
Chekiang.
Nanchang, Japanese Kiangsi
base, was said to be under mount
ing pressure by Chinese forces
which have had the city under at
tack for more than a week, and
the high command announced re
capture of Kinki, 80 miles to the
south.
Repossession of Kinki checked
one thrust of the hydra - headed
Japanese overland drive against
Fukien, but the Chinese acknowl
edged that the enemy had made
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 7)
SINKING PORTED
BEFORE 1' APPENS
Berlin Radio Tells of At
tack 2 Days In Advance;
Five Missing
AN EAST COAST PORT, June
19.— (TP) —A Berlin propaganda
broadcast boasted sinking their big
ship two days before the actual
attack came, crewmen from a large
American-owned merchantman fly
ing the Panamanian flag said on
reaching this port.
Those aboard the ship said cir
cumstances caused them to believe
that it was the definitely-sought
target of a submarine which re
ceived orders from Berlin. Five
of the 60 persons aboard the vessel
are missing.
Six seamen were lost when an
other ship, a medium-sized Ameri
can vessel, was sunk on June 10,
five days after the attack on the
merchantman. News of the sink
ings was released today by the
Navy.
The undersea marauder that at
tacked the merchantman was de
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 8)
Churchill-Roosevelt Conference
Shrouded In Military Secrecy
-?
Charleston Navy Yard
To Launch 2 Destroyers
CHARLESTON, S. C., June
19.—(A5)—Two new destroyers
for the United States’ far-flung
battle lines will slide down the
ways next Wednesday at the
Charleston Navy yard.
The ships are the U. S. S.
Bell and the U. S. S. Stevens.
They take the names of two
destroyers scrapped. by this
country under the London naval
treaty after the first World
War.
The U. S. S. Bell is named
for the late Rear Admiral
Henry Bell, born in North
Caroliin 1808. It will be
Christened by Mrs. Cleao Cooke
Hulse, of Kansas City, Mo.,
great niece of the admiral.
The U. S. S. Stevens is
named in honor of the late
Commodore Thomas Holdup
Stevens, USN, a native of
Charleston, and his son, the
late Rear Admiral Thomas
Holdup Stevens, 2nd.
Sponsors for the Stevens will
be Mrs. Roland Curtin of Car
val Hall, Annapolis Md., great
granddaughter of Commodore
Stevens and Mrs. Frederick
Stevens Hicks of Englewood,
N. J., whose husband is a great
grandson of the Commodore.
220 Trailers Ordered
For Shipyard Project
With eight new trailers here,
17 more will be in within the
next few days for installation
at Camp Number Two, of the
shipyard worker trailer project,
it was announced yesterday by
Henry C. King, project man
ager.
Following the arrival of these
units, an additional 195 trailers
will be sent here within the
next 60 days.
The order for the new units ,
was placed with the Farm Se
curity administration after
housing accommodations in
this area became depleted.
Ground is being prepared for
the new group of portable
houses and all utilities and
highways will be ready upon
their arrival, Mr. King said.
The new units will be much
larger than the present type at
the camps. Measuring 26 and
one-half feet long by eight feet
wide, the trailers will have a
double bed divan at each end
with a small dinette in the cen
ter of the coach.
The trailer camp office now
has a total of 391 certified ap
plications from shipyard work
ers on file and receives from
10 to 25 more each day, it was
learned.
A total of 310 government
owned trailers and 36 private
owned vehicles are now parked
in the large court opposite the
shipyard.
The arrival of 220 new trail
ers should do much toward al
leviating the critical shortage
of dwellings here, Mr. King
pointed out.
i J
| WASHINGTON, June 19 — UP) —
The surprise Roosevelt-Churchill
conferences today keyed this capital
to anticipation of momentous deci
sions bringing some new and drama
tic turn in the war.
In congress and elsewhere, spec
ulation revolved for the most part
about the possibilities of a British
American invasion of the European
coast and of dispatch of a large
American expeditionary force to the
Middle East. None professed, how
ever, to have any information other
than that released by the White
House.
The progress of the talks between
the President and the British prime
minister—where they were meeting
and what aides they had called in—
was hidden in the deepest military
secrecy.
Stephen F. Early, presidential sec
retary, advised reporters at that
time that no further statement
should be expected this week. From
this, it was generally inferred that
there would be a statement later,
but not before Sunday.
In the belief that the conferences
were concerned with the highest
strategy, most expected that any
statement would have little to say
on the nature of decisions reached
—that this would be left for time
and action to disclose.
Meeting here only seven months
ago, the heads of the two Allied gov
ernments agreed on overall strategy.
In the intervening months, it has
become clear that they anticipated
the most of the war’s developments
up to now.
In expectation that Malaya and
the Dutch East Indies could not be
held, the United States concentrated
on strengthening Australia and its
own Pacific outposts while, mean
time, sending such supplies as it
could to Russia.
Recent events, however, have
greatly altered the strategic picture.
Japanese naval power has suffer
ed damaging losses in the battles
of the Coral sea and off Midway —
damages so great that Secretary of
War Stimson has spoken of a dimin
ished threat to the American west
coast.
Meantime, the British situation in
the Mediterranean apparently has
deteriorated. There are indications
that the Germans have succeeded in
putting into Libya much stronger
forces than British strategists had
anticipated.
• These developments, what Allied
action they required, and their rel;
tion to the question of the secon'
front repeatedly urged by Russia i
L
were generally believed to be the
major matters for resolution by the
President and Prime Minister.
Still another possible prime sub
ject was the situation of China,
largely cut off from outside aid and
confronted with an apparent Japan
ese drive to knock her out of the
war.
LONDON SPECULATES
LONDON, June 19.—(IP)—Prime
Minister Churchill was portrayed
by competent informants tonight
as urgently asking for United
States reinforcements to stabilize
the Mediterranean front, even
though this means that the open
ing of a full-scale “second front”
on the European continent must
wait until next spring.
Axis successes in the Libyan des
ert, these persons said, had thrust
the middleast to a position of the
highest priority in United Nations
strategy. Hence Churchill, now con
ferring with President Roosevelt
in the United Sattes, is said to
be convinced that the Mediterran
ean basin must b eheld from west,
center and east as a necessary pre
lude to a European victory offen
sive.
In the meantime there are ex
pected to be larger - scale com
mando attacks on the west coast
of the German-occupied continent
and very heavy air raids in which
American flying forces will take
part.
It was pointed out in London
that there always is the possibility
that if some commando sortie
should result in a good continental
foothold, then actual Allied inva
sion might be a reality sooner than
is expected.
The London informants said that
the Russians fully appreciated the
necessity of holding the middle
east and were confident they could
bar the southern German armies
of General Fedor Von Bock from
the Caucasus if the British and
the Americans can keep the Ger
mans out of Egypt, Syria and Iraq
and meantime maintain an ade
quate flow of supplies direct to Rus
sia.
The Britsh feeling is said to be
that the middle east still can be
saved if the Axis African corps
can be held throughout the torrid
season in the desert on the pro
mise that the Yanks will be com
ing with dive bombers; bigger
guns and tanks to reinforce all
lines by he time the weather
cools
Berlin Claims Troops Art
At Outer Gates of ,,
Crimean Port 4$*
RUSSIANS HOLD FIRMLY
Moscow Says Two Enemy
Spring Drives Have
Brought No Change
MOSCOW, June 19.—(/P)—
Masses of Germans hammer
ed steadily at the gates of
Sevastopol tonight, but Soviet
dispatches said the Nazis
were repulsed despite the tre
mendous weight of tanks,
bombers, heavy artillery and
infantry hurled against the
Black sea naval bastion, now
in its third flaming week of
all-out assault.
A companion attack 400
miles north on the blood
soaked steppes below Khar
kov was declared continuing on a
much reduced scale. On the Kalinin
front northwest of Moscow, the
Soviet 0011-01 unique declared that
“the enemy was driven out of sev
eral positions” and that prisoners
and booty were seized.
(The Germans claimed deci
sive success” at Sevastopol with
Gen. Erich Von Mainstein’s troops
piercing “the last defense lines”
and reaching Sewernaja Bight op
posite the city. The high command
said the entire northern part of
the defenses had fallen and the
“capture of the last fort is imi
“capture of the last fort is immi
7,585. The Germans claimed also
that the Arctic ports of Murmansk
and Jokonga were bombed.)
Several thousand bombs were
loosed on the deep defenses of
Sevastopol two days ago, dispatch,
es said, and mass attacks of tank
supported infantry tried vainly to
crack the southern positions. Artil
lery was said to have dispersed
the foe.
Tonight a great artillery battle
was thundering on the northern
approaches to the Crimean while
the Russians presisted with counter
attacks in some sectors.
The Russian high command ig
nored the Sevastopol seige and de.
dared “no significant changes took
place at the front.” The communi
que said seven Red fl'ers attack
planes, shooting down ten and los
planees, shooting down ten and los
ing but one in a 45-minute dog
fighth.
Heavy thunderstorms around
Kharkov turned the terrain to bog
where 1.000 Germans died in the
last three days. The fighting there
was limited to a 15 mile sector.
In their main onslaught the Ger
mans used 1,000 planes to soften
the defenses of Marshal Semeon
Timoshenko before the Donets riv
er, Major Gen. Nikolaj Zhuravlev
wrote in the Moscow news. Skill
full maneuvering of Soviet forces
which dealt powerful counter-at
tacks prevented any breach in the
lines, he added. He said the very
narrowness of the front indicated
the Germans lacked the manpower
for an all-out assault.
in tne urei sector midway be
tween Moscow and Kharkov, the
Germans were reported by Red
Star to have sent the sixth and
seventh Hungarian infantry divi
sions on a punitive expedition
against Guerrillas. The Army news
paper said one of the mercenary
battalions mutinied after a futile
week of attacks in which 3,000
Hungarians were killed.
While the Russians claimed their
forces held firm against all major
assaults, the military press point
ed out the Germany’s two major
spring efforts appeared to have
brought no important changes in
positions but had cost the Nazis
heavily in reserves, desperately
needed for the summer campaign.
Strain On Relations
MOSCOW, June 13.—W—The of
ficial Soviet news agency Tass to
night declared the conviction by
an Ankara court of two Russians
on charges of complicity in a bomb
plot against Franz Von Papen,
German ambassador to Turkey,
was the result of a Gestapo plot.
Tass asserted the conviction put
a strain on Russian-Turkish re
lations.
Moscow newspapers printed Tass’
resume of the trial, completed
two days ago, under such head
lines as: “Disgusting verdict of
Ankara court in provocational.case
of ‘attempt’ on Papen.”
Von Papen and his wife escaped
serious injury when the bomb ex
ploded some distance from them
mi an Ankara street last Feb.
J4, but it was testified that Von
Papen’s hearing in one ear was
impaired