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68
IMW^WIIIIIII II III I li i il 'll li'1 ill—l—MlllHWililillllHW—■IIIMII—BillMi ——■■Wlil—HI—I—IIl—l—HH—HIIIM'WIHIMii—lHIHHMII
WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1943 FINAL EDITION
REMEMBER
PEARL HARBOR
AND BATAAN
ESTABLISHED 18C
:6 AXIS PLANES DESTORYED
ST AMERICAN AIRMEN OVER
WNISIA AS ACTIVITY LAGS
LOSE 10JF OWN
British 8th Army Probes
Rommel’s Defenses
Along Frontier
U. S. LEAVES ONE AREA
Little Change In Ground
Situation; Aerial Work
Outstanding
ALLIED HEADQUAR
TERS IN NORTH AFRICA,
peb 5—(/Pi—A brilliant aer
ial victory in which American
airmen destroyed 26 Axis
planes and damaged 26 others,
with a loss of ten Allied craft,
was announced today while
land action remained minor
and the British Eighth Army
probed Field Marshal Rom
mel’s defenses along _ the
southern Tunisian frontier.
V S. Leaves Seneu Area
X headquarters spokesman an
nouneed that V. S. armored forces
had withdrawn from the Sened rail
way station in central Tunisia. Co
miles northwest of the Axis-held
port of Gabes, after “accomplish
ing the purpose of their mission.”
Tile Allied communique itself did
not mention this action, simply re
I porting:
"There was no change in the
ground situation.”
It was the air on which atten
tion was focussed.
Twenty-four of the 26 Axis planes
shot down — this was yesterday
SOLDIERS THANKED
CAIRO, Saturday, Feb. 6—
(fl>) — Prime Minister Winston
Churchill flew to Tripoli on
Wednesday and thanked the
British Eighth Army for its
achievements, it was announc
early today.
in fights resulting from American
raids on German airdromes and
auxiliary fields in the Gabes area—
were torn apart by two formations
of Flying Fortresses in a 50-mile
runniny combat which cost but a
single Fortress. The 25th Axis plane
was downed by American Light
ning- fighters; the 26th was de
stroyed in attempting to sweep over
the Allied forward area.
In the great combat over the
Gabes area four Lightnings were
lost, aside from the single Fortress.
Five other Allied fighters were lost
in other operations.
1ATT RANSOM’
TO BE LAUNCHED
65th Liberty Freighter To
Be Christened Here
Today
Hie North Carolina Shipbuilding
company will send its 65th Liberty
s^i'P down the ways Saturday afler
noon at 12:30 o’clock as it launch
65 the S. S. Matt W. Ransom,
samed for a former North Carolina
senator.
The ship will be sponsored by
Mrs. J. k Fenimore, wife of the
-oreman of the yard’s steam En
gineers department. Her matrons
of honor will be Mrs. T. F. Hardin,
South Jacksonville, Fla., and
-Mrs. H, B. Patrick, of 811 Chest
nut street.
Matt Whitaker Ransom was born
!:i Warren county in 1826 and d.ed
m 1904.
yle was graduated at the Univer
'!l>' of North Carolina in 1847 and
*as admitted to the bar the same
JJar. He was presidential elector
ln the Whig ticket in 1852. For the
'Contmued on Page Two; Col. 6)
I 7--: ------ ."
U. S. Forces In Europ
Commanded By Airman
LONDON, Feb. 5—(/P)—Gen.
Frank M. Andrews, advocate of
repeated iuse of the heavy bomb
er, succeeded Lieut.-Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower today as com
mander of U. S. Forces in the
European theater and pledged
ah immediate intensification of
the aerial onslaught on Ger
many.
“We intend to go all out in
intensifying the air warfare,”
the 60-year-old flying Tennes
sean declared. “My first job is
to increase and intensify the
bombing of the enemy.”
Gen. Eisenhower now is Allied
commander in North Africa.
Only yesterday, U. S. Flying
Fortresses bombed German soil
for the second time in this war
and the elevation of Andrews
to the European command was
interpreted as meaning a sharp
upturn in the fight against Hit
ler from above.
Andrews said lie would build
up U. S. Air Forces in Brit
ain in order to increase the aer
ial offensive against Germain-.
He said there would be no im
mediate night bombing of Ger
many by his forces, since big
Flying Fortresses and Libera
tors are better adapted to pre
cision daylight attack*.
This is his third and most
important command since the
left the U. S. Army’s General
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 8)
ABATEMENT SEEN
ON SOME ’42 TAX
House Ways And Means
Group Appear Agreed
On Proposal
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—IA*!—
Members of the House Ways and
Means committee appeared agreed
tonight after four days’ discussion
of a pay-as-you-go tax plan that
some portion of 1942 income taxes
would be abated but many of them
looked with disfavor on the Ruml
plan.
Supporters of the proposal ad
vocated by Beardsley Ruml, New
York banker, to wipe out all 1942
income tax assessments conceded
that they could not muster a maj
ority in the committee but still
hoped to win new followers.
Rep. Crawford (R-Mich) appear
ing as a witness today,\expressed
the view that any tax cancellation,
in view of the government’s war
time needs, “is almost economic
plasphemy.”
He proposed that the 1942 taxes
be collected in full, through amor
tization over several years if nec
essary, in attaining a current pay
ment basis. He aligned himself
with the Treasury Department
and Chairman Doughton (D-NC)
in emphatic opposition to cancel
lation.
Ruml argued the merits of his
proposal for five hours yesterday,
contending his plan would improve
the well-being of the Treasury.
Thus far he has been the only
witness to advocate all-out abate
ment of the 1942 obligations. The
commtitee will hear 16 or more
witnesses next week, among them
representatives of the CIO and
farm organizations. It probably
will end the hearings by next Fri
day.
i • • ”-i
$4,000,000,000 Asked
For Navy By Roosevelt
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5—UP)—
Mounting costs of the war at
sea brought a request from
President Roosevelt today for
an additional §4,000,000,000 in
cash and §210,000,000 in con
tract authorizations for the
Navy.
In submitting the request
To Congress, the budget bureau
tersely explained that the funds
were necessary to “provide for
additional requirements for
the prosecution of the war”
and ‘“for contingencies which
have arisen since the trans
mission of the budget for the
fiscal year 1943.”
The “contingencies” were
unexplained but it was believed
that a substantial part of the
money would be used for Naval
vessels commissioned earlier
than anticipated and for train
ing and equipping the expand
ing personnel.
Enforcement Of Dimout
Regulations Is S Parted
Enforcement of dim-out regula
rs in the Wilmington area be
r Friday night, according to
' "ef C, H. Casteen, of the Wil
-rton police department. All
'"twists are urged to drive with
tm-out lights on their cars, or
r must have the top of (he
cudlighls painted black.
Failure to abide by the new
^illations will result in arrest,
r^t Casteen declared.
Tlicse regulations require that all
‘otur vehicles in the eight-mile
zone may proceed after dark
, lt)1 four-watt parking lights only
must not exceed 15 miles per
hour. Within the 25-mile zone they
must have the upper half of head
lights blacked out and may travel
no more than 35 miles per hour.
Sheriff C. David Jones sgid Fri
day morning that all smudge pots
would be lighted at signs on high
ways, which are being repainted,
and that the order will be carried
out to the letter.
The mayors of Wrightsville
Beach and Carolina Beach, con
stables in. small communities,
the State Highway Patrol and
sheriff’s deputies have started to
(Continued on Page Two; Col. •>)
LUST OF HITLER
EXPENSIVE PLAN
Nazi Leader’s Conquest Al
ready Cost World
400 Billions
WASHINGTON, Feb. S— <.T> —
Adolf Hitler’s dust for conquest lias
already cost the world more than
$40,000,000,000. the Commerce de
partment estimated today, and the
cost may exceed $500,000,000,000 if
the fuehrer is not brought to his
knees for another year.
The department based its estimate
of the staggering financial toll of
Hitlerism on known and estimated
military expenditures to date of Ger
many and her victims and the na
tions allied against her, and the loss
in national income to the Axis-con
quered lands.
While most of the financial bur
den has fallen on the nations oppos
ed to the Axis, “the cost of Hitler
has been shared by the Germans
themselves and, more particularly,
by the Italians,” the department re
ported in its weekly publication,
Foreign Commerce Weekly.
uerman mimary expenditures
since Hitler came to power were
estimated in excess o£ $19,000,000,
000, while Italy was said to have
spent about $8,000,000,000 “since the
date, June 1940, of her deluded en
try on the side of the Nazis.”
While a late entrant into the
war against Naziism, the United
States has already spent more than
any other power fighting Ger
many, the article continued.
Taking only expenditures already
used or appropriated for military
purposes during the last three years,
the cost of Hitlerism to the United
States so far was placed at $112,
300.000. 000.
Expenditures by the United King
dom since the rise of Hitlerism
were estimated at $58,200,000,000
and of Russia at $96,000,000,000.
Estimates of expenditures by other
nations due to Hitler’s rise to pow
er included:
France (since 1932) $10,100,000,
000; Canada (since 1939) $4,814,000,
000; Australia (since 1939) $1,760,
000.000; New Zealand (since 1939)
$319,000,000; South Africa (since
1939) $514,000,000; Poland (1933-39)
$2,660,000,000; the Netherlanc(p (1933
40) $889,000,000; Belgium (1933-40)
$3,400,000,000; Norway (1936-40)
$93,000,000; Yugoslavia (1938-40)
$220,000,000; Greece (1987-41) $165,
000,000; Czechoslovakia (1933-39) $1,
500.000. 000.
In addition, the article estimat
ed the loss in national income in
Axis conquered lands at more than
$100,000,000,000.
-V
AGAINST SALARY ORDER
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 — (iP) —
Republican members of the House
Ways and Means committee or
ganized formally today to knock
out by congressional action the
$25,000 (after taxes) wartime sal
ary limitation set by executive or
der.
WEATHER
FORECAST;
For North Carolina: Continued warm
with showers.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5—(£>)—Weather
bureau report of temperature and rain
fall for the 24 hours ending 8 p. nv in
the principal cotton growing areas and
elsewhere:
Station High Low K’fali
Asheville - 53 49 0.47
Atlantic City - 55 43 0.00
Boston- 48 4] 0.00
Burlington- 38 30 0.00
Cincinnati - 56 26 0.00
Denver _ 37 28 0.00
Duluth _ 24 6 0.00
Fort Worth_ 74 43 0.00
Jacksonville - 82 62 0.00
Key West —- 81 62 0.00
Memphis - 64 50 0.00
Miami - 81 71 0.00
Mobile _ 74 62 0.93
New York_ 52 33 0.00
Pittsburgh - 50 33 0.00
Richmond - 54 49 0.11
San Antonio- 81 75 0.00
Tampa_ 77 64 0.00
Washington_ 52 40 0.00
New Advance
y/4omons
-£&es and Ship* Slug
^ * t Out Over Wide
Pacific Area
MANY JAP SHIPS SEEN
Between 30 and 40 Ves
sels Sighted in Short
land Sector
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 —
(^P) — American troops on
Guadalcanal made another im
portant advance into enemy
held territory, the Navy re
ported today, as warplanes
and ships slugged at each
other over a wide area in the
eighth day of a crucial strug
gle for control of the Solo
mon islands.
The Navy maintained its
silence about developments in
the sea-air fighting and its
communique said only that
“sporadic encounters” were
continuing. This was said to
mean that American and
Japanese naval task forces,
strongly supported by land
based planes, were still strik
ing at each other in a num
ber of separate actions.
Large Forces Involved
Large forces were involved. Dis
natches from Guadalcanal said
aerial reconnaissance had shown
between 30 and 40 Jap ships, in
cluding many warships, in harbor
at Shortland island Monday.
Another dispatch described a
new type of night attack by two
waves of twelve Mitsubishi twin
engine torpedo planes against a
United States task force 35 miles
south of Guadalcanal last Friday.
The enemy dropped float lights
on the water and then marker
flares which hung suspended in the
air for several minutes. Gunners
on the ships had difficulty in pick
ing out the torpedo planes as they
came in low, although the planes’
exhausts helped locate them and at
least 17 were destroyed. Our loss
es, if any were not reported.
One dispatch dated Monday said
that “aerial observers reported to
night that a large force of Jap war
ships was headed for Guadalcanal
apparently to deliver reinforce
ments to the weakening enemy
forces on the island.
. —— 1 ■■ ■ —,
Mussolini Takes Over
Foreign Ministry Post
Displacing Son-in-Law
(By the Associated Press)
(By the Associated Press)
Premier Mussolini of Italy
in a shakeup of his cabinet
has taken over the foreign
ministry, displacing his son
in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano,
who had held the ‘office since
1936, a Rome broadcast record
ed by the Associated Press
said tonight.
Giuseppe Bastianini, govern
or of Dalmatia and former
ambassador to Britain, was
appointed under-secretary of
foreign affairs, the broadcast
said.
Count Ciano was appointed
a member of the Fascist grand
council for three years, appar
ently his only post in the new
setup.
Premier Mussolini already
holds the war, navy, air and
interior portfolios.
NEGRO SENTENCED
TO GAS CHAMBER
Columbus County Man To
Die For Shooting An
other Recently
WHITE VILLE, Feb. 5.—-A Co
lumbus county jury deliberated
forty-five minutes Frida;.' afternoon
to find Wayman Grainger, Chad
bourn Negro, guilty of murder in
the first degree for the slaying of
Harry Lee Fipps, 26 year old white
farmer, on the streets of Chad
bourn three weeks ago.
Judge Luther Hamilton, who pre
sides at the term of court in White
ville this week, immediately sen
tenced Grainger to death in the le
thal gas chamber at State’s prison
on April 23.
Attorneys for the Negro filed no
tice of appeal to the supreme
court of North Carolina.
The jury began its deliberations
at 2 p. m. Friday. Judge Hamilton
had finished his charge to the jury
at 1 p. m. and the jurors, who held
the fate of the Negro in their hands
were then taken out to dinner. The
verdict of the jury came at 2:45
p. m. The Negro took the sentence
calmly and showed no visible traces
of emotion when Judge Hamilton
was reading tlie sentence of death.
The state had contended in the
trial which started Wednesday af
ternoon that Grainger shot Fipps
in the heart on the night of Jan
uary 13 after the white man joking
ly threatened to tell the Negro’s
wife that he was "running around
with other women.”
The shooting happened in the
heart of Chadbourn’s business dis
trict and had attracted wide atten
tion in this section. The Negro, be
fore going to work at the North
Carolina Shipbuilding company in
Wilmington last September, had for
a number of years served as jani
tor and handyman around numer
ous places of business in Chad
bourn.
Many Chadbourn people took the
stand Thursday to testify to the
Negro’s good character.
WMC Draft Order Strikes
Opposition Of Lawmakers
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—(IP—The
War Manpower Commission’s plan
to draft fathers of families unless
they switch from “non-essential”
jobs to more essential occupations
encountered strenuous opposition
today in the House, where mem
bers of the Military committee
moved to block the program.
Chairman May (D.-Ky.) announ
ced that hearings are scheduled
for next week on a bill by Rep.
Kilday (D.-Tex.) to give deferment
priorities to men with dependents
and to pm draft quotas on a state
basis. Under his procedure, all
eligible men in a state who are
without dependents would have.to
be drafted before heads of fam
ilies could be called.
Simultaneously, Chairman Ful
mer, (D-SC) of the Agriculture
committee drafted a bill to com
pel the deferment of bona fide
farm workers and to make men
in uniform available for agricul
ture work in regions where there
are shortages of labor.
Kilday’s bill is similar to legis
lation written by the House into
the teen-age draft bill last year
but stricken out in conference.
I would set up four categories
and make it mandatory for draft
boards to follow them in filling
quotas. In the first category would
be men without dependents; in the
second, men with collateral de
pendents, such as mothers, fathers,
sisters or brothers; in the third,
married men without children but
maintaining a bona fide family re
lationship in tlieir homes; in the
fourth, men wth children and
maintainig a bona fide family re
lationship in the home.
The bill provides that marriages,
to be taken into consideration in
determining deferment status,
must have occurred prior to De
cember 8, 1941, the day of the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, or prior
to the time when induction was
imminent.
To protect men whose marriages
took place while they were beyond
the then existing maximum draft
age, the bill declares such mar
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
STALIN FORECASTS VICTORY
FOR ALLIES AS RED ARMIES
0 VERRUN ENEMY HELD AREAi
Nest Of Trouble For Nazis
. Guns and gun crews like these on Russia’s northern front helped to smash Nazi forces and relieve the
siege of Leningrad. The snow-covered dugojut, invisible from the air, protects men and guns from bitter
cold as well as enemy eyes. Telephone connection with artillery headquarters enable these batteries to go
into action in any part of their sector within a fe w minutes.
Turin And Spezia Fired
By RAF’s ‘Blockbusters’
LONDON, Feb. 5—(JP)—The RAF bombed the Turin
royal arsenals and the Spezia naval base in Italy, German
industries in the Ruhr and Nazi submarine pens at Lorient
on the French coast last night and bombers and fighter
squadrons roared across the channel again today to keep
the continent under aerial assault ’round the clock.
The new target of night attack was Spezia, below bat
tered Genoa on the Ligurian seashore.
All the others have been hard hit before but it was
Turin’s first bombing since last December 11, when the first
two-month phase of British attack
on Italian industries ended.
Pilots reported the Turin de
fenses had been reinforced but had
proved no more effective than on
their previous forays across the
Alps.
“The Turin defenses were badly
handled,” a pilot said. “There was
little method in them when the
attack once started.”
Four-ton super-blockbusters were
dropped on Turin the heaviest of
the night operations and with two
tonners and incendiaries also
showered down it was the greatest
of all the British attacks made
there.
The docks of Lorient were set
afire by pilots braving concentra
tions of searchlighted anti-aircraft
fire around the U-boat base. The
Germans apparently had rushed
up new defenses.
By official account, the RAF
lost only three planes out of the
many spreading wide over the con
tinent in the four separate night
forays, most of them made by
Britain’s biggest bombers.
The Ita.ians said the raid on
Turin had caused destruction and
as yet uncounted casualties. They
minimized the effects of Spezia’s
first bombing.
The Ruhr raid was made dur
ing reconnaissance. The targets
were not identified, but it was as
sumed that they were the begin
nings of U-boat production. Both
British and Allied bombers, in
cluding the big American fortress
es and Liberators have concen
trated recently on all phases of
U-boat production, from the in
land engine and battery factories
to the harbors where the under
sea raiders are fitted and launch
ed into che North Atlantic.
The Lorient raid was another
of a systematic series aimed at
the concrete-sheltered pens which
are the active operational bases
for attacks on Allied shipping.
During the day, the Germans
said that yesterday s American big
bomber attack on northwestern
Germany — their second on the
Reich proper—was a failure and
that eight U. S. planes were shot
down, as against the American ad
mission of the loss of five.
i---1
NOTICE
The Star-News Circula
tion Department is open
Sundays from 7 to 10 a.m.
If you fail to receive your
| paper, phone 3311 before
10 and one will be sent to
you by special messenger.
After 10 o’clock, the de
partment is closed.
AFRICAN PROBLEM
APPEARS CLEARER
Hull Expresses Belief That
Political Outlook
Is Brighter
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—VP)—
Belief that the North African po
litical problems are clearing up
was expressed by Secretary Hull
today, and it was also made known
that. a. relief program for civilians
there is well underway with 50.000
tons of food and other supplies al-1
ready delivered.
The secretary of state told a j
press conference there had been a |
decided improvement in the gener- ■
a’ political situation since the Casa- i
blanca conference of President \
[Roosevelt and Prime Minister Chur-j
chill. He called the announced re- j
lease of 27 French Communist dep
uties, who bad been under arrest
since 1940, an example of how the |
situation is being clarified.
Asked about 5,500 Spanish Re
publicans held in concentration
camps, he intimated he might have
something to announce soon con
cerning them. The Spanish govern
ment would naturally be consulted,
he said, on any move affecting
Spanish citizens. He replied that
he had nothing to report when
asked if they might be sent to
Mexico.
Lend-lease administrator E. R.
Stettinius, Jr., disclosed that the
civilian relief and rehabilitation
program calls for delivery of about
30,000 tons of food and other sup
plies monthly from the United
States and additional quantities
from Great Britain. He said it was
being carried out almost entirely
under lend-lease but in cooperation
with the Office of Foreign Relief
headed by Herbert H. Lehman.
NOTE SENT TO FI
Soviet Premier Replies
Roosevelt Message
Of Praise
NEARING KEY CENTS
Russians Driving Down
Nazis From All Sides
In Caucasus
LONDON, Saturday,
6—(/P)—Premier Joseph
lin has sent a message
President Roosevelt expi
ing his conviction that “j
military operations of
armed forces of the Ur
States of America, G
Britain, and the U. S. S
in the near future will b
about victory over our (
mon enemy,” a Moscow
patch said early today.
This message, whi^h
plied to Roosevelt’s con
filiations on the Russian
tory at Stalingrad, was
closed as two Russian <
muniques recorded by
Soviet monitor here con'
ed to tell of sweeping
army gains all along the
German defense line in
sia.
22 Miles From Kursk
The Red army was reported
in 22 miles of Kursk, 45 miles
Belgorod, and only 50 miles
Kharkov. These are the three
German positions in southern
sia aside from Rostov, Cauc
gateway city which already is
aced directly by Soviet troopi
cracked the first line of Gt
defenses about 30 miles to
southeast.
The midnight bulletin said
Russians south of Rostov still
advancing, and a Reuters 1
NAZI GENERAL KILLE
(By The Associated Pres
Lieut.-Gen. Arno Jahr, c
mander of a German infai
division, has been killed on
middle Don front, the Be
radio said last Friday nig]
holm report said that Batais
miles south of the key city,
fallen.
A special Russian commu
earlier had announced the ca
of Ptary Oskol, an important
way town 75 miles soulhea
Kursk and Tzyum, another
way point in the Ukraine 70
southeast of Kharkov.
But the midnight bulletin
said that southwest of Slary
whose Axis garison was wipe(
or taken prisoner, the Red
had swept on to take Skoroc
only 45 miles northeast of 1
rod. This town is about mi
between Kursk and Kharkov.
In the Ukraine the Russians
said to have captured Olkho\
a district center 68 miles
Kharkov, and Veliki-Burluk, i
er district center only 60
from Kharkov.
Veliki-Burluk is 35 miles
captured Kupyansk on the ra
runing northwest to Belgorod
is still another step in the m
ical Russian slashing of the
Nazi-held network of railway
southern Russia upon which
tov’s supplies and reinforce:
depend.
Tama, in the Ukraine, a«
railway point on the Khark(
roshilovgrad line, was seized t
advancing Russians. This to1
15 miles southeast of Krasn
man.
Recaptured Izyum Is 25
northwest of Krasny Liman,
the taking of ail three of
points further endangered V
ilovgrad, Donets basin indi
center.
MacArthur Hurls Powe
Of Airmen At Japane
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
AUSTRIALA, (Saturday), Feb. 6
—\B—General Douglas Mac Arthur
hurled his aerial might against
Japenese shipping over a wide area
of the South Pacific today. In one
attack on Ambon, west of Dutch
New Guinea, four-motored Libera
tors bombed 20,000 tons of ships,
destroying or seriously damaging
the three vessels.
B-24s (Liberators and B-17s (Fly
ing Fortresses), both heavy bomb
ers, raided in an arc sweeping from
Ambon through Lorengau in the
Admiralty islands to Talasea, New
Britain.
The planes also sank a
boat and damaged a secar
Lorengau and sank a 1,00
merchantman in three minut
Talasea.
Meanwhile our ground troc
New Guinea also dealt puni
blows to the Japs, killing 1
actions on the Kumusi river a
the Wau area, below Salamj
Ambon, Lorengau, the
islands south of Dutch Gi
Rabaul (New Britain base i
for the seventh straight n
Talasea, Gasmata, also in
(Continued on Page Two; C