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§!■ Mtlmttujtan Mirnmuj 0tar | ™“* VOl-^'^i16__ ___WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, APRIl1Hl943~ ~ FINAL EDITION-ESTABLISHED 186L Violent Sky War Raging In Solomons American Bombers Attack 5 jap Destroyers; Down 16 Enemy Zeroes OVER WIDE TERRITORY Newest Fighting Ranges From Guadalcanal To Kolombangara Area WASHINGTON, April 2.— OP) - A violent upsurge of aerial warfare in the Solo mons with American bomb er* attacking five Japanese destroyers and United States fighter planes shooting down 16' enemv zeroes, was re ported today by the Navy. Both actions occurred with in a few hours on Thursday and spread over a wide area from Guadalcanal to Kolom bangara islands, 190 miles to the northwest. Lone Bomber Attacks It was southwest of Kolomban oara that a lone Catalina bomber sighted and attacked an enemy force of five destroyers and a cargo ship. A flight, of Army Lib erator bombers winged into the same attack. They flew at low altitude, dumping bomb after bomb on the enemy surface force but were unable to observe results of their assault. Only a few hours later, du to 40 Zero fighter.; roared into the vicinity of Guadalcanal. American fighters—Wildcats, Corsairs and Lightnings—sped to the attack and sent 16 of the Japanese planes twisting into the sea. Six United States planes were shot down but two of the pilots were saved. That aerial battle was the first reported from the Solomons since early in March when a flight of Japanese bombers and fighter planes was driven off after one bomber and three fighter escorts had been shot down. “The attack on the enemy sur face force by American bombers was the first report of battle with enemy war ships in the Solomons in recent weeks. Presumably the Japanese force was intent upon reinforcing or providing supplies for one of the many enemy bases scattered through the area. The direction in which the force was moving when attacked indicated it (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) LOCALARRESTS SHOW INCREASE Police Report Rise In Num ber Of Persons Appre hended In March Exclusive of citations for over parking and other minor traffic offenses. 778 persons were arrested by the Wilmington police depart ment during the month of March. 256 more than in the same month last year. Chief of Police Charles H. Cas teen said in releasing the monthly report for the department, that 666 nersor.s alone received traffic citations which require the recipi ei'l to come to headquarters and Pay a small fine. Arrests foi all types of offenses showed an increase, in general, while arrests for drunkenness for toe month totalled 239. an increase of 96 over last March. The increased number of arrests "'as an active factor in the record receipts of recorder’s court here last month The court received 610,000 in fines, costs and fees during the month. According to the department re Pott, 65 automobile accidents oc tContinued oit Page Two; Col. 3) Local Shipyard Stresses Safety F or All Employ es l 0r ;1 concern more interested delivering ships than in spot mg features of its production v if is difficult for the p ‘ 11 Carolina Shipbuilding com nier f , .^we!1 at length on the 11 °f ‘ts design for manpower Sa!f‘y> officials say. . f l:f hie concern’s record for 1,1 1942, a document which is VUS' kcen compiled and which Dre.6 statistical answer to all the h the shipbuilding firm ' t!*ken to assure protection for fi n, Worl'ers- cannot well be hid Public interest. im pa',ef and graphs that make v„ ne shipyard’s complete 1942 one',. “Occidents add up to the tiP ,at': :tl comparison with the ' 'nenuoas activity at the local ; plant—where 54 Liberty vessels were launched during the y e a r and where about 20,000 people are working—the number of accidents experienced was very low. During 12 months, for instance, in an in dustry where hazards are not few, there were less than a half dozen fatalities The rumors of high ia tality and permanent injury rates are untrue, the figures show; they constitute the sort of information subtle enemy agents and thougm less citizens enjoy spreading. The Maritime Commission has wholeheartedly supported the work 1 of the shipbuilding company in its j efforts to minimize accidents on j the job. The company has been 1 (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) 384 Japanese Planes Destroyed By USAAF In Past Three Months WASHINGTON, April 2.—Iff) —The Army Airforces shot down 384 Japanese planes dur ing the last three months, the War Department announced today, while losing 54 of their own planes. The tabulation of enemy air craft was confined to those known to be destroyed, the de partment said, but the Ameri can losses included all planes listed as missing as well as those known to have been de stroyed in combat. “The tabulation does not in clude enemy aircraft probably destroyed, those damaged in combat and which may or may not have been able to re turn to base, those which were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, or those which may have been lost because of mechan ical failure,” said the an nnouncement. The figure of 384, the depart ment added, also omitted the Japanese planes which prob ably were shot down by some of the 54 aricraft lost by the airforces, since these were un able to report on their activi ties. -V KUU5EVLLT KILLS FARM PRICE BILL President Says Check On Wages And Prices Must Be Maintained WASHINGTON. April 2.— <3 — With the assertion that present checks on wages and prices must be firmly maintained. President Roosevelt today vetoed the Bank head bill and set the stage for a critical battle between Adminis tration supporters in Congress and legislators demanding higher farm prices. Senator Bankhead (D-Ala.', au thor of the measure, which would increase ceiling prices on some farm commodities, said a deter mined effort would be made to override the veto when the ques tion is brought up next Tuesday. Majority Leader Barkley (D.-Ky.) was none too optimistic that the Senate would sustain the Presi dent, but said the House might. He remarked that the "city” vote is much larger in the House. In returning the bill to the Sen ate unsigned, Mr. Roosevelt vig orously declared that no economic group could hope to gain advan tage in wartime. "The time has come,” he said, -when all of us—farmers, work ers. managers and investors—must realize that we cannot improve, our living standards m a period of total war. On the contraiy we must all cut our standards of living for the duration.” For that matter, he said. enacT ! ment of the Bankhead bill would not aid farmers in the long run. but instead would set off an in flationary upward spiral of born wages and prices which would add to the burdens of all and make "the winning of the war rrft>re difficult and gravely imperil our chances of winning the Pfac® . The Bankhead measure would forbid the inclusion of government ,ContinuedinPag^Two; Col. 2) New Officers Named In Local PCD Setup Pranklin W Bell, former assist „?“Sn,»d« of •»* sssar-sas^-rs — “KSEfi S“tor“tte““.l OCDwW Others elevated in rank ar® • J. Riley, formerly in the ottm i of the assistant director of OCD has been named director of the civilian service corps while1 *• “l Hubbard was appointed personnel officer for the organization. D. M Darden was made chair man of’ the recreation committee with E. S. Prevost appointed sen ior gas officer. W. E. Curtis was named passive plant protection officer._j Allies B 2 J.v^fcips Oh Aavieng Enemy Base On New Ire land Raided By Force Of 4 Motored Planes 2 LARGE EXPLOSIONS Probable Hits Indicated On 10,000 Ton Merchant Vessel In Port ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS IN AUSTRALIA, Sat-1 urday, April 3.—(fP) — Two Japanese ships have been bombed by Allied planes off Kavieng, New Zealand, the high command announced to day. Four - motored bombers, raiding at dusk, found a num ber of enemy ships in the vi cinity of Kavieng, which is approximately 5 5 0 miles northeast of the Allied base of Port Moresby, New Gui nea. The ships were scattered in the area south of Steffen strait. Destroyer Recently Sunk This was the same area from j which the Japanese recently sent four destroyers bent on carrying badly needed supplies to troops in New Guinea, only to have one sunk off Finschhafen, New Guinea, and the other three were for?ed to flee. “Two large explosions indicated probable hits on a 10,000 ton mer chant vessel and a 6,000 ton cargo ship was observed settling by the bow after having been straddled by bombs.” the communique re ported concerning the Kavieng raid. “Near misses were obtained on other vessels but darkness prevent ed an adequate assessment of damage. Simultaneously with this attack the airdrome at Kavieng was bombed. “No interception was attempted and all our planes returned.” On New Guinea, where Allied ground troops for many weeks have been facing the Japanese in something of a stalemate in the approaches to Lae and Salamaua, Allied planes bombed the main coastal road above Madang over which the Japanese might try to (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) ___v_ COURT REVENUES MARK NEW PEAK Recorder’s Judgments Net County Income Of $10, 092.05 In March Recorder’s court revenues for March were $10,092.05, largest total in the history of the court, Clerk C. L. Myers said Friday. The March returns were approx- j imately $3,000 above the February | revenues. Three factors played a part in the rise, Clerk Myers said, the increase in court costs made by the last legislature, the high total of arrests by the police de partment, and the heavy fines Re corder H. Winfield Smith has been imposing on speeders. Fines collected during the month, which go into the school fund, totalled $5,005.40. Costs were $3, 110.65 and jail fees $82.95. Collect ed for the emergency pension fund was $655: $952.75 for the state pension fund; $170 for the police pension fund and $115.30 foi turn key’s fees. Comparative figures show that $2,813.60 of February5s returns were fines, $2,526.25 costs, $71.20 jail fees, $522.05 emergency pen sion fund, $516 state pension fund, $145.60 police pension fund and $100.70 turnkey’s fees. WEATHER FORECAST North Caroina—Colder today. (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., 66; 7:30 a. m., 1; 1:30 p. m., 76; 7:30 p. m., 65. Maximum 80; minimum 60; mean 70: normal 58. Humidity 1:30 a. m., 8; 7:30 a. m., 75; 1:30 p. m., 47; 7:30 p. m., 68. Tides For Today (From the Tide Tables published by U. S. Geodetic Survey) High JLcvV Wilmington _ 8:42a 3:18a 9:05p 3:39p Masonboro Inlet - 6:36a 12:19a 6:54p 12:43p Moore’s Inlet - 6:41a 12:24p 6:59p 12:48p New Topsail Inlet - 6:45a 12:29a (Elmore’s) _ 7:04p 12:53p Sunrise, 5:57 a. m.: sunset. 6:34 p. m.; moonrise, 5:22 a. m.; moonset, 5:26 p. m. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) ! Wins Air Medal Army Nurse Lieut. Elsie S. Ott, 29, awarded an air medal by Gen. H. H. Arnold at Louisville, N. Y., | is the first woman to win this award. PEACE MEETING SEEN ON TAXES Possibility Of Get Togeth er Between Opponents Gives Hope For Plan WASHINGTON. April 2.— (JP — j The possibility of a "peace meet ing.” to compose bitter Republi-. can-Democratie differences on tax: abatement, held tonight a slender prospect that flip nation will get a pay-as vou-go income tax law by July 1. | Reo. Knutson of Minnesota, who led the Republicans’ unsuccessful! battle for the Ruml skip-a-tax-year plan, said he and Rep. Doughton. | who piloted the Democrats in the j tax battle, may rendezvous in | Dixie. Knutson left today for a week’s rest in Florida. Doughton left a; few hours earlier for his North, Carolina home—after telephoning i Knu’son to inquire where he could : be reached 1ft Fljwida. The Minnesota Republican smil-! ingly told newspapermen: “May be we’ll meet at Fort Sumter.” j That's where the shooting in the War Between the States began. Recalling that Doughtons farm is in a mountainous region, up about 4,000 feet, Knutson comment- j ed that the chairman of the Ways and Means committee “might cool off enough for them to have a meeting of minds on a compro mise pay-as-you-go plan. The chairman yesterday, after a meeting of Democrats on his committee, refused to recall it for immediate reconsideration of cur rent payments legislation. The House has tossed all pay-as-you-go legislation back into the commit tee’s lap. Knutson has indicated a willing ness to compromise on the issue of tax abatement, by cancelling a part and not all of one year's taxes. Many Democrats also are courting various compromise pro posals. Reo. Woodrum of Virginia today joined the list of influential Dem ocrats urging quick action. Wood rum said he will be “greatly dis appointed’’ if the Ways and Means committee does not follow Majority j Leader McCormack’s advice and i bring in such a plan “very soon.” I Walter Lippmann Says: We Must Not Play Alone In Future World Affairs By wlater lippmann While it is reasonably certain that the United States cannot and will not revert to the unarmed isolation of the ’20s and ’30s, we must not assume that the nation will therefore adopt what we may call for short the Wilsonian alter native. This consisted essentially of laying down a set of general rules, then of negotiating a settle ment which roughly conformed to some of them, and then of estab lishing a league of all the nations which had an indefinite obligation to guarantee the settlement and almost no power to revise and amend it. I This system am not wont. Ana it is the fashion to say that it did not work because the United States refused to participate. But this is, I believe, a misreading of what happened, and one which can mislead us now. The heart of the original contro versy was the famous Article X of the covenant, which carried the commitment “to respect and pre serve as against external aggres sion the territorial integrity” of all members of the League. Since this was taken to mean that a state in possession of disputed ter ritory could refuse to negotiate because it was bound to be sup ported. Article X was looked upon as entangling the United States in wars to defend many extremely doubtful frontiers. I think I am right in saving that in the earlier BRITISH FIRST ARMY ROLLS AHEAD IN DRIVE ON TUNIS; REDS KILL 850,000 GERMANS FIGURES REVEALED 343,525 Enemy Troops Captured In Giant Win ter Offensives PRAISE STALINGRAD Russians Claim Victory At Steel City Greatest Of AH Warfare LONDON, Saturday, April 3. — Germany suffered 1, 193,525 casualties — 850,000 dead and 343,525 captured — in the great Red army winter! offensive which swept back the Germans to the west as much as 435 miles and freed 185,328 square miles of Sovi et territory, Russia announc ed early today in a special communique. At Stalingrad on the Volga where the Russian offensive began last November, the Russians “inflicted on the German Fascist troops the biggest defeat in the history of wars,” said the bulletin re-| corded bv the Soviet Monitor. Fighting Greatly Kenuceo Spring thaws and transport prob-j lems have brought greatly reduced j fighting over the vast Russian-Ger-1 I man battlefront, which contain: but few hardsurfaced roads. Red army commanders and their men are working laboriously to keep j open supply lines to the front and ' are generally succeeding, hut the I extreme maneuverability which has j featured Soviet offensives is denied i the troops in many sectors. Gone temporarily are the days of swift-flying ski detachments, motor I cycles and infantrymen who could ! make long night marches to fall up 1 on the enemy’s flanks and rear at dawn. It can’t be done in mud and slush. j How long present conditions will : prevail is a sheer guess. Already I there is a bright sun over the Don and certain sectors of the Kugan, I but it has not yet had time to dry i the ground. The northwestern front, the western front, the northern Do nets and the Kuban are flooded. All | rivers should he free of ice any day; now. A brief review of the battlefronts:j Leningrad: There was no specific information on where fighting was in progress, but recent dispatches told of guns booming beyond Kolpi no, IS miles south of Leningrad. The Russians still were striving to remove any possibility of the Ger mans renerving their blockade of the city. Northwestern: At last specific ac counts the Russians were battling their way across three rivers east of the German-held stronghold of Staraya Russa — the Polista, the Lovat and the Poia. Velikie Luki: The Red army still holds the city and positions to the (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) stages of the Senate debate, Wil son could certainly have obtained ratification if he had been willing to eliminate or amend this obli gation. For extreme isolationism did not develop until much later. This extreme isolation was, I believe, the result of a mistaken effort to carry the United States too far and too deeply into the in terior affairs of the European Con tinent. Wilson’s insistence upon the obligation of Article X forced the nation to a very bad choice: either to involve itself in every disputed European question or to withdraw from the organization of the general peace of the world. It was quite unnecessary to con front the nation with this choice. The issues which are primarily European could have been left to the European states immediately concerned, and there would have remained an immensely useful field for continuing American col laboration. We shall be well advised to learn this lesson. It is necessary to say this because there are ominous signs in the State Department and in certain journalitic quarters that the lessons of the Wilsonian error have not been well studied. Yet we cannot afford to make a sim ilar error again, and as sure as shooting we shall make it if ihe attitude expressed by Mr. William C. Bullitt, and reflected by others. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) Air Commanders in Tunisia Air Vice Marshal Tedder Lieut.-Gen. Spaatz BsaasgT' y 'm, 4fr Vice Marshal Coningham Maj.-Gen. James Doolittle These are four of the generals directing the United Nations’ air of fensive in Tunisia. British Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder is com mander in chief of the Mediterranean air theater with U. S. Lie,ut.-Gan. Spaatz as his executive. Air Vice Marshal Sir Arthur ( oningham com mands a. tactical air force supporting troops in the field and Maj.-Gen. Doolittle directs bomber attacks. Americans Using Mules For Transport In Tunisia WITH UNITED STATES FORCES EAST OF EL GUE TAR, TUNISIA, April 1 — (Delayed) — (/P) — In hills where even jeeps can’t navigate, a mule pack train is being used to supply an advanced United States infantry group along the Gabes road from which area the doughboys have flushed many prisoners since opening their drive on March! 17. “Our boys spent three years practicing amphibious! landings but we learned how to be mountaineers in less than three weeks,” said one headquar-* I ters officer of the first lnianiry division. “These boys are so far in the hills and the terrain is so rough we can not follow them with any- j thing on wheels. Even the jeeps can not get over those rocks—but mules can. So we are packing them in supplies, rations, water and ammunition by mule back. “We already have cleaned out most of the heights bordering the Gabes road, but there still are some groups of infantry and ob servers hiding in caves and ra vines and reporting our move ments by radio, thus tipping our hand to the enemy’s armor and artillery. Our boys are wiping [them out as quickly as they can 'find them, but it is almost a needle |in the hack stack job to comb them from mountains as rugged as these.” Also slowing tne arive in me valley zone were the wadis—dry river beds—which offered perfect entrenchment for German artillery and armored forces. The battle toward the sea now rages from wadi to wadi with the enemy backing up only when forced out by concentrated artillery shelling against which the German mobile 88-millimeter guns duel all the “Each enemy position we take we find has been well wired and dug in—in some cases they ex cavated full - size underground chambers to give them more pro tection,” said an infantry officer. “We are sending in our infantry (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) NOTICE The Star-News Circula tion Department is open Sundays from 7 to 10 a. m. If you fail to receive your paper, phone 2-3311 before 10 and one will be sent to you by special messenger. After'10 o'clock, the de partment is closed. I Enemy Strengthening ‘Soft Underbelly<’ Of Europe For 2nd Front L O N D O N, April 2.—WP)— Keeping one eye on the prog ress of Allied armies in Tuni sia, the Germans and Italians are reported continually strengthening the coastal de fenses of Europe, particularly those of the “underbelly” In Italy and Southern France, in preparation to meet invasion. Dispatches to London news papers this afternoon reported that persons living along the coasts have been warned to move inland. The fashionable Riviera resorts have been con verted into fortresses or razed to clear the way for guns. The Germans have put thou sands of French workers to the job of constructing block houses and gun emplacements with commandeered French materials. Meat Supplies Again Fair In Most Areas Of Nation WASHINGTON, April 2.— UP) _ Meat supplies are again fair to adequate in most sections of the United States, a survey indicated tonight, but prospects for the first week-end of point-ration buying were cicuded by housewives re luctance to part with points until they found just how many they needed to purchase Sunday dinner. “People are hoarding their red coupons iust like they hoarded meat up to last Saturday.” an Omaha dealer commented, sum ming up the reaction in many other parts of the country as dis closed in a canvass by the Asso ciated Press. The situation was like this: A typical housewife hud 48 points to spend this week. Monday, per haps, she spent eight for butter, 10 for pork chops and three for canned fish--total 21. Not knowing exactly what she could get for the week-end, nor how much it would weigh she put off buying any more meat until Saturday, feeding her family in mid-week with such unrationed goods as poul try, eggs and fresh oysters — or beans, which are rationed, but on blue coupons. Tomorrow, if she finds Sunday dinner takes only 20 points, she'll have seven left for a pound of bacon, or for carrying over into next week. OPA officials expressed belief that cases like this would smooth themselves out in due course. They (Continued on Page Two; Col. 'K OTHER UNITS SET Montgomery’s Force In South Gathering Strength For New Attack — SEDJENANE IS PASSED Anderson’s Men Plunge Through El Aouana To Take Ridge ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS IN NORTH AFRICA, April 2.—(/P)—British First Army troops in the north fought their way toward the Axis strongholds of Tunis and Bizerte today while Gen. Montgomery’s Eighth Army gathered force in the south for more smashing blows coupled with the continuing massive air assaults on Mar shal Rommel’s divisions re treating up the Tunisian east coast. Axis forces in the north were reported offering little resistance and leaving rich booty behind as the British pushed through el Aouana station, six miles east of Sed jenane, and moved to occupy strategic heights between there and Mateur. (The Algiers radio said British and French forces in the north had “left Sedjenane well behind” and were slash ing at the retreating Ger maps “in the vicinity of Ma teur,” which is only about 18 miles south of Bizerte. They thus would have regained al most all the ground lost when Col. Gen. Jurgen von Arnim’s Axis forces sprang an offen sive a month ago.) Axis Punished From Air An Allied communique described the Tunisian fighting as “genral ly quieter yesterday," but told of terrific punishment being dealt the Axis from the air. In one raid i>n el Maou air field at Sfax on the coast 100 light and medium Al lied bombers plastered the itrate gic base with a r.hower of bombs that must have destroyed or dam aged virtually everything within the target area. As in the Wednesday raid by nearly 100 American Flying For tresses on the Sardinian port of Cagliari, not a single Allied bomb er or escort was lost in the dam aging assault. The Axis was un able even to get a fighter plane in the air to defend the Sfax air base. Montgomery s forces were be lieved ready to resume their bat tering of Rommel’s rear guard in the new positions taken up by the Germans and Italians about 24 miles north of Gabes. A report from the Eighth Army said “win kling out” was proceeding, which was translated here freely to in dicate that remaining enemy poc kets of resistance north and wesl of oudref, itself 12 miles north of Gabes, were being wiped out and the British were preparing to con tinue their hounding of Rommel's stubbornly withdrawing troops. (The German radio said Rom mel's present defense line was 15 miles north of Gabes and said it represented “the achievement of final union between Rommel’s forces and those of von Arnim— the original aim of a long pre pared plan of operation.” The sug gestion was that von Arnim’s (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
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