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Served By Leased Wire Of The • __ associated press nrMrMnrp NEWS AND FEATURES HLPILMLH With Complete Coverage Of PEARL HARBOR _ AMD BATAAN --—---WILMINGTON, N. C„ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1943 FINAL Emrinv KT«,KUCn Japs Starting New Drive To (msh Chinese Begins Attacks In Sev ' en Widely Separated Sectors SHOW GREAT ACTIVITY Hot Since Last May Have Invaders Revealed Such Movement CHUNGKING, Feb. 18 — (IP) - The Japanese have be gun attacks in seven widely jeparated areas, from the lake :ountry north of Shanghai tc the jungles of Yunan in th< southwest, apparently wit! the hope of ending Chinesf resistance, the Chinese an nounced today. Not since last May whei :he Japanese attempted simul taneously a push up the Bur raa road, a twin-headed driv< in Kiangsi and Chekiang pro vinces on the eastern set board, and made several lodge ments on the Fukien coasl have the invaders shown as great coordinated activity. Xo Indication of Big Drive A Chinese spokesman told a press conference that there was no indication that the current op erations were the “prelude to a general offensive”. He said they probably were motivated by the desire to “dissipate Chinese strength.” (However, a Tokyo broadcast re corded in London said a Japanese army spokesman had announced that Japan now intends “to take all conceivable measures to crush Chungking resistance,” thus sug gesting that the Japanese might be delivering the first blows in an effort to knock out China before the United Nations can bring ef fective assistance to her.) Foreign observers noted that the eports of widespread Japanese action, which were receiving much imminence in the Chinese press, ,'oir.cided with renewal of the cla nor for increased aid, to China and the visit of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the generalissi mo. in Washington where she made an appeal to the United States Congress for immediate aid One of the two biggest Japa nese drives was east of Lungling in Yunnan where the Japanese were said to have brought 10,000 reiriorcements up the Burma load from Lashio and made some progress toward the Salween river barrier. This drive began last Friday, and bloody fighting still was going on five days later, a high com mand communique said. The other was in northern Kiang su province in the lake and swamp area north of Shanghai, where the Japanese were said to have con centrated 20,000 men and begun an eastward march. (A Tokyo broadcast by Domei, recorded by the Associated Press, indicated that crack troops for merly employed in Malaya or the South Seas might be engaged in this theater. It said imperial troops "victorious in jungle warfare are proving themselves equally profi c*ent in swamp warfare” and said one column was advancing east ward from Suchow, junction of the Lunghai and Tientsin-Pukow rail way. while another was moving northward up the Grand canal). Three other areas of activity as announced by the high command, v«e along the Yangtze river val in central China. From west ■° east these were: ■ The Shasi-Ichang area in Hu jeh province, the point of deepest Japanese penetration toward -hungking, where fighting was Slowing in intensity. - Northern Hunan, where there “ere other large concentrations at Yuchow, possibly for a fourth cam continued on Pace Twelve; Col. 3) JMot A Political Plum If municipal ownership and operation of the Tide Water Power company properties is authorized by the legislature, and a board of seven directors set up as contemplated, the Star-News feels that the men choser 4 for membership, in the interest of the public welfar must be business men of proved ability and irrepror ^ able integrity; and that their compensation shop’ on a per diem basis, calculated on actual attend a. ^ at directors meetings and other essential services ren dered—not on a salary basis which could too easily be converted into a political plum. The Star-News has not had time to analyze the measure as it will be presented at Raleigh, and there fore cannot give it either full endorsement or dissent from its provisions. But this newspaper is definitely and unalterably opposed to any provision which could give the politicians control of the properties of the Tide Water Power company. |BROWN RAYS BACK BITING OPA Head Lashes Out At Under-the-Table Talk In Congress i NEW YORK, Feb 18.—(^—Pren tiss M. Brown, the nation’s new price administrator, today lashed out at “back-biting, this under-the table” talk in Congress, pleaded for a rebirth of unity, and declared “there must be no strike” in the bituminous coal industry. ' In the strongest words fired by any Washington official in recent months, Brown covered a wide field of administrative problems in one of his first public speeches since becoming head of the OPA. He spoke before the technical as sociation of the pulp and paper in dustry. “There must be no strike and there must be no compromise,” Brown said of the coal situation, adding that there. must be a deter mination in the administration, “we cannot accede to the demands in the bituminous coal situation.” Brown said two bills were now being considered by Congress which would “just about wreck the con trol law of food prices.” He identi fied these as the Pace parity am endment and the Senate bill to eli minate government payments in computing parity prices. The possibility of these agricul tural price changes was the foun dation for pay increase demands which would ruin price control, Brown said. “If we break through the price structure as it is today,” he said, “the wage structure will inevitably be broken through, and we will face in this country the most dan gerous domestic situation that this nation has ever faced. It would be equal to a tremendous defeat on the military front.” He said earlier in an interview that ‘if we break over on prices we’ll provide ammunition for the organized labor groups.” Speaking of Congress, Brown said: ‘‘I have never known a time when there was so much disunity in the Congress of the United States, when there was so much back-biting and fighting between the American people over inconse quential things.” ‘‘We need a rebirth of the spirit of unity. I hope all of us will rea lize that unity in spirit is neces sary, that these great nations who are not united together must stand together.” ‘‘And they won’t if this back-bit ing, this under the table talk, these criticisms of the war effort of our Allies and our friends, are contin ued, if these seeds of disunity which have been sown are permit ted to nurture and grow and live and become powerful elements in our life.” ‘‘We know from the bitter exper ience following 1918,” Brown con tinued, ‘that selfishness, aggran dizement, national selfishness, will only result in a war in which your grandchildren and mine will again be engaged in deathly struggle. ‘‘On the domestic front, in the emergency agencies, one of which I head, we need the support of the American peoples as a whole. In the matter of carrying on of the war, to be specific, in, the matter (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) EXTENSION BILL TO BE PROPOSED Representative Kermon To Introduce Measure In House Today The bill of Representative R. M. Kermon to extend the city limits, dividing the area to be acquired into three zones and providing that none of the three will be respon sible for present bond issues or in debtedness of the city, will be in troduced into the House today (Friday), the New Hanover repre sentative said Thursday afternoon. “I want to get it past the first reading and referred to committee so that both sides can argue it out,” Mr. Kermon said. He said that the proposed bill, which now follows the new boun daries outlined by city officials, might be amended in committee and added that he was still not convinced that the North Carolina Shipbuilding company should be included in the extended limits. Commenting on the representa tive’s bill Thursday morning, city officials said that the zoning amendments would permit resi dents of the areas coming into the city limits for the first time to enjoy all city facilities, the new water supply and filter sys tems, streets, police and fire fa cilities, and the city hall, with out the necessity of helping to pay for them on a proportionate basis. The city council Wednesday aft ernoon expressed themselves against the representative’s meas ure on the grounds that the bill did not fully embody all details of the original proposal and that further consideration of the meas ure should be had before intro duction. Kermon’s bill calls for approval by a general election here not later than March 30 and for the bill to take effect, if approved, not later than April 1. A third (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) Some May Secure Extra Shoes If Work Demands Them, Says Ration Head “It will be possible for indi viduals who. because of the na ture of their jobs must wear out more shoe leather, to ob tain extra pairs of shoes by making special written request to our board,” O. H. Shoemak er, chairman of the New Han over War Price and Rationing board said Thursday. Coupon in War Ration Book No. 1 will be valid for the pur chase of one pair of shoes until June. The person asking for special consideration on shoe needs points in his written request: must answer the following There is no valid No. 17 stamp available for his use; no em ployer or institution is furnish ing him shoes of the requested type; he possesses only one pair usable for the requested pur pose; and the shoes are need ed. Maintenance of personal ap pearance, color, and style are not to be considered. Madame Chiang Declares Jap Defeat Is Of Maior Importance To Allies Washington, Feb. is. — (ffl — Jr®'"iaweled and exquisite in black p,. roidered Chinese silk, Madame in la«" ^ai'Shek brought a cheer S House to its feet today as she Vnr,a>re^ ^ was against United Na ‘ s interests to allow Japan to Unue “as a vital potential ®Sat* to Civilization. arher the petite wife of the ;;’nase generalissimo electrified list t enate by clenching a• small Srn i pionounce the four freedoms claimed by President Roosevelt v.^onS of freedom to the United . 10ns and the death-knell to j*1’ aggressors.” W/ ad^ress to the Senate was and extemporaneous, pref aced by an apology that she had not known she was to make one there and prepared only one foi the House. The House speech was read and broadcast. Escorted by House party leaders to Speaker Sam Rayburn’s ros trum, the fragile figure in the long slim Chinese gown waited while the speaker first requested, thei: ordered glaring floodlights turned off. During her speech, however, Mme. Chiang neither faltered noi flinched at flash bulbs. Her cultured voice ranged from vehemence over “Japan’s sadistic fury,” to strong pride in China’s five-and-a-half-year fight and dropped to low urgent tones ir speaking of hopes for a better fu ture world. Mme. Chiang told a chamber jammed with officials, diplomats and Chinese that the fighting American people have every right to be proud of their fighting men, particularly those whose duty was “the monotony of waiting.” The* American-educated Chinese leader also asserted she felt at home here and believed Americans “are building and carrying out a true pattern of the nation con ceived by your forebears, strength ened and confirmed.” Congress, she said, would have (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) Russians Cut #>'r Nazi y*fpe Route gjlptail Line Taken With V Capture of District Center ENEMY MAY BE CAUGHT Latest Red Maneuver Im perils Large Units of Axis Troops LONDON, Friday, Feb. 19 — (/P) —Advancing with a speed indicating little effec tive opposition, the Red army in pursuit of beaten Nazi troops in the area west of Rostov has cut the only es cape railway on this front, the Russians announced in the midnight communique record ed here by the Soviet monitor. The rail line was cut with the capture of the district center of Matveev-Kurgan, 25 miles north of the Azov port of Taganrog, and although it was not immediately clear from which direction the vic torious Russians came, it was entirely possible that large forces of Germans were trap ped by the stroke. The Russians have been operat ing both north and east of Mat veev-Kurgan, and the town could have been taken from either di rection. If the Soviet forces came down from the north, the trapped Germans might be counted in great numbers — probably less if the Russians advanced from the east. Even in the latter case, however, observers believed sizable Nazi groups might well be caught in the Taganrog area. The bulk of the midnight com munique dealt with Red successes in the areas north and northwest of Rostov, indicating the Soviet armies were quickly cutting into the Germans retreating from this great area. Elsewhere the Russians were moving in still closer to the Nazi strong point of Orel, at the north end of the now active front. The communique reported the capture of the railway town and district center of Zalesoshch, only 30 miles east of Orel, Verkhnaya Sosna, 45 miles southeast of Orel, and Po kovskoye, 40 miles southeast of the strong point. The Russians already have re ported progress toward Orel along the railway from the south—from the direction of Kursk. The midnight communique, how ever, dealt mainly with the battle against the German armies left behind in the region of Rostov and to the north in the Donets basin area. West of Novo - Shakhtinsk, the communique said, the Soviet troops took 60 populated places as they “continued their successful offensive.” Heavy losses fell to the enemy, and one Russian mo torized formation alone killed 1,000 and captured 1,500 German offi cers and men, the communique said. Particularly heavy losses were said to have been inflicted on the 79th German infantry division, which, according to the Soviet bul letin, “consisted mostly of wound ed officers and men released from the hospital ahead of time, and also squads from Taganrog and other airdromes.” “Southwest of Voroshilovgrad our troops continued their success ful advance and captured several populated places,” the communi que continued. One formation “aft er heavy engagements” disabled ten enemy tanks and two armored cars. Other war material was cap tured, including 37 trucks. The Russians reported continu ing offensively also in the Kram (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) WEATHER Forecast: Warmer Friday. (Eastern Standard Time) (By 17. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours , ending 7:30 p. m. yesterrday. Temperature 1:30 a. m., 40; 7:30 a. m., 34; 1:30 p. m., 47; 7:30 p. m., 41. Maximum, 50; Minimum 33; Mean, 43; Normal, 48. Humidity 1:30 a. m., 70; 7:30 a. m., 50; 1:30 p. m., 37; 7:30 p. m., 63. Precipitation Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m.. 0.00 inches. Total since the first of the month, 0.47 Inches. I Tides For Today I High Low Wilmington _ 9:24a 4:06a | 9:24p 4:38p Masonboro Inlet _-_7:14a 1:02a 7:34p l:32p Moore’s Inlet _ 7:19a 1:07a 7:39p 1:37p New Topsail Inlet_ 7:24a 1:12a I (Elmore’s) _ 7:44p 1:42p (All times Eastern Standard) Sunrise, 6:52 a. m.; Sunset. 6:00 p. m. Moonrise, 5:39 p. m.; Moonset, 6:32 a. m. Cape Fear river stage at 8 A. M. Thurs day, 12.35 feet. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) ROMMEL'S TANKfORMATIONS STAND ALMOST ON ALGERIAN BORDER AFTER RAPID DRIVE Stinson Says Fairly Heavy Losses Suffered By Americans In Tunisia <4 - _ Physicians Worried About Condition Of Gandhi During Fast POONA, India, Feb. 18.—UP) Physicians who made an ex haustive examination today of Mohandas K. Gandhi, now in the second week of his pro jected 21-day fast, looked more worried than at any time be fore as they left the palace of the Aga Khan where Gandhi is being detained. It was understood that the frail little Indian nationalist leader had showed no inclina tion to talk or see visitors since this morning. This was the ninth day of his fast in protest against his con finement in the palace prison. A government communique issued at Bombay said there was deepening anxiety over his condition. “Although Mr. Gandhi had a total of nine hours sleep, he is not refreshed nor mentally alert," it stated. “His heart action is feebler." DRIVEONJAPS MAY BE COMING New American Field Army Organized In Aus tralian Area W iSHINCxTON, Feb. 18.— W — The possibility of a major offen sive against the Japanese in the southwest Pacific was raised to day as Secretary of War Stimson announced the organization of a new field army in Australia under the command of Lieutenant Gen eral Walter Krueger, one of the Army’s masters of tactics. Despite a caution from the sec retary at his press conference not to infer that a "march to Tokyo” was about to start, the two facts —formation of a field army and Krueger’s designation to command it—seemed to point to the exist ence of plans for a new Allied drive. Just wherr such a cam paign would start remained a ques tion, however. The decision to organize Amer ican troops ’in Australia and New Guinea as the Sixth Army, served to emphasize the growth of Allied strength in the southwest Pacific during the last year, and suggest ed that reinforcements may have arrived i ecently. (An army or "field army” is made up of two or more arihy corps, and its strength normally varies between 200,000 and 400,000 men). Krueger is regarded by his fel low officers as one of the Army’s most learned students of strategy and military history and as a tac tician of first rank. Ruthless in matters of discipline, he is none the less admired and respected as "a soldier’s soldier.” His as signment to Australia was the re sult of a specific request from General Douglas MacArthur, com mander-in chief fln the southwest Pacific. A native of Germany, who came to this country as a child, Krueger enlisted in the Army during the war with Spain and rose from the ranks. Despite his graying hair, tie looks much younger than his 32 years. One officer said recently that every American division now in combat areas has learned much from rueger, either because it served under his command in the Fhird Army, or learned a bitter tesson when it opposed him in ma leuvers. Next to Lieutenant Gen eral Lesley J. McNair, command ng general of the Army Ground Forces, said this officer, Krueger probably has had more influence m the training of the present trmy than any other one man. To succeed him in command of ;he Third Army, with headquar ;ers at San Antonio, Texas., the iVar department designated Major General Courtney H. Hodges, 56, if Perry, Pa., former chief of in 'antry, and more recently com mander of the Tenth Army Corps. NOTICE! If your carrier ‘fails to leave your copy of the Wil mington Morning Star, Phone 3311 before 9:00 a. m. and one will be sent to you by special messenger. NO MAJOR DISASTER Secretary Declares Defeat Amounts To Serious Local Setback WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 — 15") — Fairly heavy losses In both per sonnel and equipment are being in flicted on American forces by the German thrust in Tunisia, Secretary of War Stimson acknowledged to day, but he said there has been no major disaster. The American defeat amounted, he told a press conference, to a “serious local setback” but one which should neither be exaggerat ed nor minimized. The development was not alto gether unanticipated, he said, and constituted “one of those reverses which must be expected from time to time in an operation of the size of the Tunisian campaign.” In a general discussion of the war, Stimson also said: It appears that the Germans, hav ing lost Kharkov, must abandon all hope of holding their last winter’s line in Russia and fall back all the way to the Dnieper river. Despite the heavy losses in men and supplies, it is much too soon to expect a German collapse; the Nazis still have a powerful army and airforce. This country has no confirmation of reported changes in the German high command, including replace men of Adolf Hitler as the active head of the army. Peace feelers, already rumored, may be expected "sooner or later” from Germany and Italy but they already have their answer—the Casa blanca demand for "unconditional surrender.” Explaining what had happened in Tunisia, the war secretary said it was indicated the Germans threw two armored divisions against infer ior American forces in central Tu nisia at a time when the British Eighth Army in Tripolitania was reorganizing, after the long pur suit of Rommel’s legions, and the British First Army was “mud bound” in northern Tunisia. With support of fighter and dive bombing planes, the Nazis quickly overran advanced American posi tions and cut off some artillery and infantry units. American counterattacks delayed the advance while the Gafsa oasis, three air fields and other vulner able positions were evacuated, but arrival of German reinforcements forced our troops to fall back. It was indicated, he said, that the Axis was not the beginning of a large scale offensive but only an (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) i---1 RAF Fighters Assault Railway Installations In France, Belgium LONDON, Feb, 18. — W>) _ RAF fighters attacked railway lines and other ground targets in France and Belgium today while Mosquito bombers bat tered communication lines at Tours, an authoritative source said tonight. Overnight the big bombers raided targets in western Ger many and all returned home without loss. Navy planes operating with the fighter command attacked small enemy ships off the French coast, sinking one. A south coast town was hit by a German bomb after noon today. One person was killed and others were injured. Goebbels Tells Nazis *Cruel Truth* About New Russian Success BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON, Feb. 18. — Propa ganda Minister Panl Joseph Goebbels told what he called the “cruel truth” to the Ger man people today—that “mo torized robot divisions” o{ the Red army had “broken loose with % power eclipsing all im agination,” and that “we must act quickly and thoroughly or it might be too late.” “Danger is imminent,” he was quoted as saying by the Berlin radio. “It is not the mo ment for asking questions how it happened. We must act, and this immediately and thor oughly.” The Nazi propagandist com plained that other nations, in cluding the United States and Britain, failed to realize the “Bolshevist - Jewish peril,” again promised death to sabo teurs, said German’s living standard probably would fall lower, and many businesses would be closed to raise men both against Russia and against an Allied invasion dan ger to the west. He again attempted to ex plain why Germany, who had a non-aggression pact with Russia, ever attacked that na tion, explaining that “in view of the big camouflaging and bluffing maneuvers of Moscow we did not correctly estimate the war potential of the Soviet Union.” “Only now,” he added, “it is revealed to us in its wild great ness.” FUELRAfiiNG MUST CONTINUE Ickes Says Present System Will Go On For Dura tion of War WASHINGTON, Feb. 18.— (£>) Petroleum Administrator Ickes said tonight that the end of oil rationing is not yet in sight and that "gasoline, fuel oil and kero sene conservation must continue for the duration.” "There is little or no hope that additional amounts of gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene can be made available in the near future,” he said in a (March of Time) radio broadcast. "If it were possible for me to tell you just how much oil will be needed to carry out the tre mendous Allied offensive planned for 1943, you would readily under stand my failure to be optimistic as to the future as far as con cerns civilian supplies. "However, 1 can tell you that doubling or trebling the amount of oil shipped across the seas will result in a great deficiency in ci vilian oil stocks. And this gloomy picture of the oil supply situation holds as true for the West Coast as it does for the East Coast and the Midwest.” Ickes said completion of the 24 inch pipeline from Longview, Tex., to Norris City, 111., would make “additional thousands of barrels of precious oil available for ship ment to the East Coast and trans shipment to North Africa and oth er fighting fronts,” but would not enable relaxation of rationing. TAKE LARGE AREA Germans Capture About 4,000 Square Miles of Land From U. S. INFLICT SEVERE LOSSES Pressure On Americans Appears To Be Slacken ing From First Push ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 18—(7P)—German tank formations stood almost on the Algerian border after cap turing 4,000 square miles of central Tunisia in four days from American forces who have withdrawn into the mountains below Tebessa, an Algerian town 12 miles west of the border. However, word "that the British Eighth Army, driving from the south to relieve the situation, had reached Meden ine after a 45-mile advance, promised an early lessening of Marshal Rommel’s pressure on the Americans. Straggling units which fought their way back from behind the German lines reached American outposts in the heights east of Tebessa, bringing accounts that tend ed to scale down early reports of Allied losses. (Gallagher’s dispatches did not say whether the Ameri can outposts were east or west of the border. The moun tains below Tebessa sprawl on both sides of the line.) Advance About 60 Mile* The Axis veterans had advanced some 60 miles since Sunday and the Allied communique today an nounced that they had taken Sbeit. la, Kasserine and Feriana, the last only 12 miles from the Algerian border. Kommei apparently was using two tank divisions in two columns The northern wing had driven from Faid pass about 55 miles to Kasserine and the southern column had swept up through the Gafsa oasis some 60 miles to Feriana. Rommel’s veterans of the Egyp tian and Libyan campaigns inflict ed a severe defeat on American armored forces in their first im portant clash, but the pressure ap peared to be slackening. “Fighting in southern Tunisia yesterday was on a reduced scale, Gen. Eisenhower’s communique said. The less experienced troops were in stronger positions west of the three abandoned towns on the east ern slopes of a mountain range which is 4,500 feet high at its peak. It appeared that Rommel had in flicted such losses that an Allied attack on his flank was virtually impossible. Thus he was ready to turn south to meet the British Eighth Army which now is 65 miles inside southern Tunisia at the outposts of the Mareth line. These positions of dugouts, barbed wire entanglements and gun em placements had been held princi pally by infantry since Rommel employed virtually all the tanks he could scrape together for his assault against the lightly held American line. (The German communique said “an attacking operation under way for some days was successfully continued.” Considerable losses were reported inflicted by Nazi planes on heavy weapons and md* (Continued on Page Twelve; Col 2) House Committee Approves Bill To Draft All Single Men First WASHINGTON, Feb. 18—(/P)—A House committee approved a bill today requiring that all eligible single men in each state be draft ed before fathers are called to uniform, while a Senate group vot ed to investigate why an armed force of 11,200,000 is needed. “We are going to find out who fixed this figure as the amount the Army, Navy and Maritime Com mission will have to have,” said Chairman Smith (D-SC) 6l the Sen ate Agriculture committee. “If we keep going at the present rate the people will.be going hungry, bare foot and naked.” At the same time a group of gome 30 farm senators lined up be hind legislation by Senator Bank head (D-Ala) providing for the de ferment of farm hands and the fur loughing of those now in service. The House Military committee, in approving 23 to 2 the bill by Rep Kilday (D-Tex) for manda tory deferment of fathers over the Selective Service Bureau’s objec tions, also adopted a proviso by Rep. Elston (R-Ohio) forbidding the induction of men by occupa tional groups. This was to make sure that fathers in the occupations recently ruled non-essential by the War Manpower Commission would not be drafted ahead of single men. The bill places Selective Service on a state rather than a local bas is. It divides each state’s man power into four categories and pro vides that no one in a higher cate gory shall be drafted while eligible men in a lower category are still in civilian life. The categories are: singe men, single men with :ollateral dependents, married men without children, and married men with children. Chairman May (D-Ky) of the :ommittee said he would ask the -ules committee to clear the bill 'or floor action next week. Oppos ng it in committe, were Repre sentatives Andrews (R-NY) and Sheridan CD-Pa).
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1943, edition 1
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