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Served By Leased Wire Oi The ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWS AND FEATURES With Complete Coverage Of State And National News Mmuutfmt Uternttg i>tar REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR ANB BATAAN WILMINGTON, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 8,1943 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867. How ro Shrink An Air Force file wrecked hanger in the background, at Caste! Benito airfield, Tripoli, is crowded with smashed Axis jilirifs. The wrecked Italian fighter planes in the foreground tell their own story of Allied Bombers’ accur afv, vml it is also the story of why Mussolini’s air force isn’t as big as it used to be. (NEA Telephoto) Wilmingtonians Urged To Support Bond Drive Wilmingtonians were urged Wednesday night to put “19ft per cent support” behind the Treasury department’s 1513,900,000,000 Second War Loan drive- which opens next Mondav, by Mayor Edgar L. Yow. “The citizens of the city and of-New Hanover county achieved notable success in the motion picture industry (sponsored War bond sales last Sep-' iember.” the mayor declared. •‘We must surpass that effort (his month "This war loan drive is the greatest financial undertaking the world lias ever seen. To do our part to finance the war effort, we must make it the greatest finan cial undertaking Wilmington has ever seen. "It calls for us to purchase War bonds and government securities above and beyond the amounts we ! are now regularly subscribing through the payroll deduction plan and other methods of systematic j bond purchase. "It means, in fact, that every j man. woman and child must pur chase bonds, stamps and securi- j ties to tne very limit of their abil I ity in ordej to bring this war to a speedy and successful conclu sion.'’ Plans to speed the sale of bonds here during the Second War Loan drive are still maturing. They will, however, ;nclude the sponsorship of a War bond sales booth in the postoffice, to be managed by mem bers of the Wilmington Army in formation filter center’s volunteer personnel, and special bond pro motion or. the parts of merchandis ing centers and civic organizations here. BROUGHTON’S STATEMENT RALEIGH, April 7.—Gover iwi' Broughton called on the peo ple of North Carolina today to do uicir part to make the U. S. Treas ' Second War Loan drive a •uccess. He said: "The secretary of the Treasury has an„ounced ^ the v „ j t e £ launch Ire?cUry wil1 on April 12th which yii ?econd War Loan drive, raisin^'1 be the greyest money histo-y C^npaigl? in the world’s ^ goal set for this cam fa ls 1 billion dollars, and the (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 4) WEATHER vorth „ FORECAST: da, 1 Carolina: Rising temperature to 1 Eastern Standard Time) I-tcor'i S" Weather Bureau) endira 7 7nglCal da,a for the 24 hours •fa <-'*0 p. m., yesterday. i ,Q<1 Temperature rn v, a; *n- 46; ?:30 a. m., 44; 1:30 p. _ Oo . (• 30 P. m. 53. !C?59? 561 Minimum 42 * Mean 44; Humidity m 70: 7i,3° a- m- «! 1=30 p. ’ < :30 p. m., 72. T Precipitation nJn{or the^^^hours ending 7:30 p. fJ-00 inches. 5 on0t.a since the first of the month, 0J inches. Tides For Today , High Low nmmgton _ 12:07a 7:24a \uen . 12:30p 7:33p asonboro Inlet _ 10:17a 4:07a Kt« . 10:32p 4:17p 01 e s Inlet _ 10:22a 4:1» Kev. T . 10:37p 4:22^ ip,!* r°Psail Inlet_ 10:27a 4:17a ^more’s. - 10:42p 4:27p nnifs Eastern Standard) ll'T**' 5:50 a. m. Sunset. 6:38 p. m.: 1,1Se» 3:31a.;: Moonset, 10:30p. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 4) k PORT HEADS TALK LEND LEASE PLAN Local Group Confer* With Governor On Possible Use Of Terminal Two members of the Wilmington Port Commission, J. T. Hires and Cyrus D. Hogue, conferred Wednesday with Governor Brough ton in Raleigh on plans for secur ing shipments of lend-lease sup plies through North Carolina ports, it was learned here Wednesday night. According to Mr. Hogue, details of the conference will be released later in a statement from the gov ernor's The e Wilmington Port Commission to se cure the privilege of shipping lend lease supplies through this por has extended over a period ot three years, during whicn tim commission officials have made numerous contacts with lend-lease authorities in Washington. The lo cal Chamber of Commerce has assisted the commission in 1 ts fight to make Wilmington a lend lease shipping point. At the present time both cnai leston, S. C.. and Norfolk. Va.. are recognized ports for lend - lease ships. No port in North Carolina has been designated to handle the shipments It is the contention of those in the city who favor the naming of Wilmington as a lend-lease port that the city has thousands of feet of storage and terminal space and excellent port facilities which could be used to advantage. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 8) BA CLEARINGS CH NEW HIGH Money Handled In First Quarter Of Year Near Entire 1938 Figure Bank clearings for the first quar ter of 1943 in Wilmington were $31,998,489.96 in excess of clearings made in the first three months of 1942. and were not far short of the amount of1 money handled by local banks during the entire year of 1938, D. M. Darden, secretary of the Wilmington clearing house association, announced Wednesday. During the year 1938. Wilming ton banks cleared $124,000,000; dur ing January, February, and March of this year they handled $113, 024,025.77, Mr. Darden revealed. For the first three-months pe riod of 1942, the clearing house association reported $71,025,535.81. According to Mr. Darden, Feb ruary clearings were “the largest for a single month in at least ten years.” He described bank activ ity during February as “abnor mal”, but assigned no reason for the large upswing in bank busi ness. Clearings during that month totalled $47,734,686.34. Clearings for the same month in 1942 were (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 1) New Interviewer Added To Employment Service Office In Wilmington The local office of the I1. S. Employment Service has added to its staff Peter Rcavis. a su pervising interviewer. Felix A. Scroggs, manager,, announced Wednesday. Mr. Reavis has been with the Employment Service since last July stationed in the Burling ton office. Prior to that time he was engaged in the insurance business in Chapel Hill. In the capacity of supervising interviewer, Mr. Reavis will have charge of commercial, cler ical and civil service divisions of the local employment office. U. S. Raid On Vegesack Damages 7 German Subs LONDON, April 7.—UP)—1The RAF disclosed through a commentator today that American heavy bomb ers in their daylight attack March 18 at Vegesack had inflicted se vere damage on seven of 15 U boats building there and subma rine experts believe the yards’ pro duction will be impaired for many months The consensus after examination of reconnaissance photographs was that the Americans had s t r u c k what may have been the heaviest single blow of the war against U-boat production. Detailed study of the pictures showed that one U-boat almost ready for launching was capsized in her berth: hits were scored on two being readied for mid-May launching, two which would reach full growth in mid-June and two in the embryonic stage. The full reconnaissance study is not yet ready on the American attack last Sunday on the Renault works outside Paris, but the RAF commentator said it w*as without doubt “exlremely successful and scarcely a single building in the entire plant, area escaped some damage ” Other American attacks especi ally praised by the RAF were those on Hamm’s railway station in which 250 casualties resulted; Rennes, where a naval stores sta tion was badly damaged, and Wil helmshaven, where nearly all the harbor fixtures were damaged. Of the RAF night bombing fore runner of European invasion, the commentatoi said that the num ber of t aids was increasing ap preciably and that the large num 1 (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) 'it' Americans And British Join Forces In Southern Tunisia ITALIAN SHIPS LOST Axis Stand In Africa Be coming Death Trap For II Duce’s Navy 40 SHIPS ATTACKED Large Number Of Enemy Vessels Either Sunk Or Damaged In Week LONDON, April .7—(/P)— The Axis’ Tunisian stand is fast becoming a death trap for Italy’s hard-hit shipping, with British submarine at tacks on a light cruiser, two tankers and a supply ship boosting to 40 or more the number of Italian ships sunk or badly damaged in a single week of the Allied naval aerial onslaught. .. A cruiser of the new Re golo class, which the Admir alty announced had been at tacked with an explosion but otherwise unobserved results in the strait of Messinia, was the first of Italy’s warships larger than destroyer size known to have been caught within Allied aerial, surface, or undersea striking range since last December. Many snips uniiiHgeu The Admiralty announced that besides a torpedo hit on the cruis er, one tanker was torpedoed and believed sunk off Sicily, anothr damaged and possibly sunk off Cape Spartivento at the southern tip of Italy, and a medium-sized supply ship torpedoed in a convoy near Marittimo. The Regolo class cruisers were laid down in 1938, and scheduled for completion in 1941. Their ar mor is extremely light, and their firepower consists of eight 5.3-inch guns and a, like number of 21-inch torpedo tubes. They can lay mines. Despite the pressing needs of the Nortn African front and re peated attacks on convoys, Mus solini’s fleet has been wary of any mid - Mediterranean meeting with Allied sea or air power for months, and the last blows at ma jor Italian warships were reported last December. Even then the attack had to be carried into an Italian port, where U. S. Liberators hit a battleship and two cruisers in a dusk attack on Naples December 4. A Middle East communique re ported that six ships in a convoy were sunk, and an ammunition ship blown up in the Straits of Sicily by medium and fighter bomber attacks yesterday. Many (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 8) [ Walter Lippmann Says: FDR’s Remark On Eden May Have Meant A Lot By WALTER LIPPMANN At the end of Mr. Edens visit the President said that the United Nations, including Russia and Chi na, were about 95 per cent togeth er on war and post-war problems. There have been many who won dered whether the remark meant much or meant little. Judging by past performances, there is reason to think it meant much. For we must remember that at the high est level of diplomacy and strat egy the chief of a Democratic state is often in a position where the safety of the country and the success of the negotiations require secrecy; yet at the same time he must continue to communicate with the people who have the right to know his purposes. The President’s method of deal ing with this problem is to drop a hint, or to make a gesture, which, while it discloses nothing that could jeopardize practical action, is carefully calculated according to the rule that a word to the wise is sufficient. At the height of the popular agitation as summer for “a second front,” the President dropped what looked like an in significant casual remark — that agreement had been reached on our military plans. When he made that remark, the convoys were be ing assembled and loaded for the African expedition. He could not have said more at the time with out endangering the whole enter prise; he said quite enough to cause responsible men to know that the die was cast. Likewise, at Casablance it was impossible to make a public re port on the military decisions which covered, as we were told, not only the assault on Europe but the strategical offensive against Japan But Field Marshal Sir John Dill and General Arnold were sent f r om Casablanca to confer with General Wavell in In dia and with General Chiang Kai shek in Chungking. Measures were also taken at Casablanca to revolutionize for the better the po litical situation in North Africa and among the French. The con clusive hint that told the story was the President’s emphasis on “un conditional surrender.” This ruled o -t American collaboration with the Quislirig-Petainist-Vichy ele ments of France and in other Eu ropean countries; the telling ges ture was the President’s pointed references to Dakar, which nailed down, so to speak, our vital in terest in dealing only with en tirely reliable French authority in the French Empire. Later developments have shown that the hints and gestures were not casual but were genuinely sig nificant of a fundamental change, and we need have little doubt that there will be other developments. To be sure, it would be simpler if these great matters did not have to be handled so subtly. But we must never forget that we are at war with crafty and dangerous enemies wTho will outwit us if we do not outwit them. We may suppose, then, that the President’s remark about 95 per cent .agreement with Britain, Rus sia and China meant quite a lot. In this connection the address of (Continued on Page Six; Col. 2) MontgomeryMayHaveOutfoxed Rommel In Latest Desert Drive WITH THE BRITISH 8TH ARMY’ NORTH OF GABES. Tunisia, April 6.—(Delayed)—</B —The Eighth Army is lashing out once again toward Tunis, and General Montgomery ap Rommel by surprise in his sud omtnel by surprise in his sud den thrust. The attack was under way this morning as the stars were being washed away by the first cold light of dawn and as this is written the British have gained virtually all their objectives in the opening phase. Indications are that Rommel did not expect the British to move so soon after the break through and the flanking of the Mareth line with a bril liant desert maneuver. Today the British moved for ward to wipe out the enemy defenses along the wadi Akarit, 18 miles north of Gabes and to push the enemy deeper into the Tunisian pocket. The wadi Akarit was Rom mel’s best natural defensive po sition between Gabes and Sous se. In some features it was sim ilar to the Mareth position as the enemy right flank was pro tected by mountains, the left by the sea, and with the wadi and anti-tank ditches shielding the more vulnerable sectors. The thunder of the guns’ op ening barrage at 4:15 A. M. trumpeted the attack. i„ lhe last hour before dawn the flash es of many guns stabbed the night like a giant fireworks display and the earth shudder ed with the steady roll of can nonading and the explosion of enemy and British shells. Red. white and green signal flashes streaked lace-like in bright colors across the sky. The Eighth Army was on the move again in its historic drive across Africa. The British main thrust cen tered on driving two bridge (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 1) Red Steamroller Moves Steadily On Smolensk LONDON, Thursday^ April 8.—(/P)—Russian troops cap tured two more localities on the Smolensk front, and de stroyed nine German guns and three blockhouses and dis persed an infantry concentration on the Donets defense line in the Ukraie, Moscow announced early today in its midnight communique. Dispatches from Moscow also reported sharp local fight ing in the Kuban delta near Novorossisk, but there was no essential change in battle positions on the long Russian front. The communique, recorded by the Soviet monitor, said the Ger mans had suffered heavily in the last few days trying to crack Rus sian lines near Izyum, 70 miles southeast of Kharkov. No enemy activity was displayed however in that sector yesterday. Near Belgorod, SO miles above Kharkov, a German artillery bat tery of nine guns was reported |destroyed and 20 gunners wpied out. The capture of the two popu lated localities south of Bely on the Smolensk front resulted in the killing of 200 Germans, the com munique said, and several dozen enemy troops also w er e killed when a German reconnaissance party tried to scan Russian de fense positions. The German communique said that the Nazi offensive on the cen tral Donets reached ’’planned goals” and that only lively local fighting was reported from a few sectors. The Caucasian battlelines are close to the Black Sea naval base of Novorossisk, the only large town held by the Germans. Should the Germans lose the city, they would have to start all over again in the Caucasus to win back ter ritory they overran last summer after paying great sacrifices. The Germans are dug in firmly (Continned on Page Two; Col. 2) SURPRISE NOTED ON PARLEY DELAY General Eisenhower Ex presses Wonder At French Statement ALGIERS, April 7.—W—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower today ex pressed “surprise” over a French national committee statement that he had asked Gen. Charles de Gaulle to postpone his visit to North Africa, thus indicating that a new misunderstanding had arisen to plague the delicate negotiations for union of Giraudists and de Gaullists. The headquarters statement did not flatly deny that Eisenhower had asked de Gaulle to delay his trip, but said cryptically that since the communique was issued in London, Eisenhower “has no doubt that a full statement of the cir cumstances will be made in Lon don.” The national committee state ment in London Monday said in Continued on Pag'e Ten: Col. 5) ,-—-1 Bolivia Declares War On Axis Governments LA PAZ, Bolivia, April 7.— (A“>—Tire Bolivian government tonight published a decree de claring Bolivia at war with the Axis powers and ordering gen eral mobilization. The decree was formulated by the cabinet at a meeting Tues day night and must be referred to the Bolivian congress for confirmation. No date has been announced for congress’ meet ing. Tlie move — beginning with the national defense council urg ing President Enrique Penaran da to sign such a decree — co incided with the visit of U. S. Vice President Henry A. Wal lace, who conferred with Pena randa and cabinet members yes terday. JAPANESE SHIPS BOMBED BY D. S. 3 Vessel Convoy Strafed By Flying Fortress At Kavieng ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Thursday, April 8. —W)— Flying Fortress strafed a three-ship Japanese convoy at Ka vieng, New Ireland, the high com mand announced today. The Fortress returned to an area where on April 2, 3, and 4 Allied planes sank or probably sank sev en Japanese warships and five merchantmen. Kavieng, where concentratons of enemy shipping have been report ed recently by fliers on reconnais sance, is approximately 550 miles northeast of allied base of Port Moresby, New Guinea. ‘‘One of our heavy reconnais sance units strafed a small enemy convoy, consisting of a destroyer and two cargo vessels northwest of Kavieng,” reported the noon communique from General Doug las MacArthur’s headquarters. ‘‘An escorting float plane at tempting interception was driven off and damaged.” In the northern Solomons, a Jap anese 'destroyer was sighted off the coast of Bougainville by a me dium Allied bomber which scored near misses — blows which fre quently seriously damage the tar get. Babo, on MacCluer gulf in Dutch New Guinea, was raided by Alliied four-motored bombers which start ed explosions and fires on the air drome and in the town. In the same area, a heavy bomber at tacked the town of Fak Fak. New Britain and New Guinea bases of the Japanese drew more of the daily series of bombings. Enemy planes on the ground were strafed on the airdrome at Cape Gloucester, New Britain. In New Guinea, a heavy bomber made a midday raid on the har bor of Wewak; a medium bomber bombed and strafed the villages of Mur, Savei, Fungair, Wilwilan ana Yamai in the Saidor sector, starting many fires; heavy bomb ers bombed and strafed Finsch hafen in two attacks; a heavy bomber attacked the airdrome at Lae; and a heavy bomber attacked the town sector of Salamaua. In the area to the northwest of Australia, a two - motored plane bombed and strafed the town of Saumlaki on the Tanimbar islands. Dobo, on the Aroe islands, also was raided. ----- -- - British Indian Forces Leaving May u Peninsula CALCUTTA, April 7. — UP)— Japa nese infiltrations and the approach of the monsoon forced the British Indian army to start pulling out of the Mayu peninsula above the Burma port of Akyab to more ten able positions in the Kyau Apan du, three miles northwest, Mar shal Archibald P. Wavell's com mand said today. The communique said: “The enemy dug in at Taung maw and then proceeded during the past several days to develop a move against our exposed north ern flank on the Mayu peninsula. Infiltrating across the Mayu river south of Kwazoc, the enemy suc ceeded' over the week-end in mounting a direct threat to our communications in the narrow strips between the hills and the sea north of Donbaik. To meet this outflanking movement, neces il sary readjustments have been made in our positions on the Mayu peninsula.” The communique broke a 12-day silence on the Arakan front land activities which was maintained, according to a supplementary statement, because “it is not de sirable to give the enemy any in dication of our reaction to his in filtration movement across the Mayu river.” The communique was the first indication that the British had started withdrawing from the Mayu peninsula and it disclosed also that the Japanese were mak ing every effort to take full ad vantage of the situation. “The enemy has committed con siderable air and land forces to regain, before the onset of the Continued on Pagw Ten: Col. 5) 1 _. . / ' • ROMMEL PURSUED Africa Corps’ Ranks Rip ped By Low Flying U. S. Attack Planes 6,000 PRISONERS HELD Enemy Positions At El Ak arit Completely Smashed By Eighth Army ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS IN NORTH AFRICA. April 7.—VP)—The British Eighth Army has smashed completely Marshal Rommel’s wadi Akarit defenses 20 miles north of Gabes, and today joined forces with American troops under Lieut. Gen. George S. Patton, .Jr., in re lentless pursuit of the fleeing Africa Corps, whose ranks were ripped by low-flying Al lied airmen. Prime Minister Churchill told the House of Commons in London that more than 6,000 prisoners already had been taken in this new victory, which led to a quick union be tween the British and Amer ican armies on the Gafsa Gabes road. Enjoying Common Targets The long anticipated junction of the British and Americans also merged the air forces which were declared in a special communique to be “now enjoying common tar gets.” Advanced troops of the Second American corps fought through the flank of the withdrawing enemy forces and united with the British on the ridge of Chemsi, 15 miles east of el Guetar on the road to the coast. As the Americans and the Brit ish met triumphantly on the hill where elite German troops had fought bitterly only a few hours earlier, heavy forces of American Billy Mitchell bombers with a Spitfire escort were bombing the enemy transports fleeing north ward from the area. It now can be disclosed officially that an American infantry division which for more than two weeks has been trying to batter through to the coast has performed the vital role of containing most of Rommel’s armor in this sector, thereby weakening his defenses, first at the Mareth line and then on the new line along the wadi el Akarit which the Eighth Army cracked in two hours yesterday. When the British infantrymen scaled two hills commanding the wadi Akarit line early yesterday, smashed a counterattack and be gan mopping up, Rommel’s gamble to hold his triangular flank against the Americans was lost. In this triangle between the sea, el Guetar and^ Maknassy, the Americans had waged day after day the bitterest kind of struggle to gain a few hundred yards across a rugged terrain pocketed (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 6) Largest Appropriation For Navy Is Requested For Coming Fiscal Year WASHINGTON, April 7.—UP)—A $24,551,070,000 appropriation for the Navy for the fiscal year of 1944 -- the largest amount ever sought for the nation’s sea-fight ing forces in one year—has been requested of Congress by Presi dent Roosevelt, it was learned to night. Included are $3,476,800,000 for the Bureau of Ordnance, $4,286,211,000 for the Bureau of Supplies and Docks, $1,887,000,000 to finance the ship-building program, $1,640,000, 000 for the Bureau of Aeronautics, and $9,024,000,000 for increase and replacement of naval vessels. The total compares with $23, 630,000,000 appropriated last year for the Navy, but that figure cov ered supplemental, deficiency and emergency appropriations as well as the regular 1943 allotment of approximately $14,000,000,000. NOTICE! If your carrier fails to leave your copy of the Wil mington Morning Star, Phone 2-3311 before 9:00 a. m. and one will be sent to you by special messenger. - - r