'•■SF] ©tlmttujiiut iOonutu) Star HSIr VOL^Tti—NO-260-- WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1943 ~~~~~~~~~ FINAL EDITION . ESTABLISHED 1867 Fathers Call May Be Made Last On List Congressmen Agree On In ductions On Nation Wide Basis SAID strong RULING Order Of War Labor Board On ‘Non-Essentials* Threatened WASHINGTON, Nov. 16. _(/P) __ The Congressional padlock over legislation to ea?e the draft impact on fathers was broken today ?hen a Senate-House com mittee agreed on a compro mise embodying the princi ple that no father anywhere jn the nation should be call ed while a non-father is available. . This was the main point of a measure passed by the House October 26 but re iected by the Senate which earlier had approved a bill to tighten regulations for deferment of non-fathers. Sn&ject to Ratification Chairman May iD.-Ky.) of the House Military Committee called toe compromise worked out with representatives of the Senate Mili tary Committee "an even stronger H! than the House passed.” lie conferees’ agreement is sub ject to Senate and House ratifica t.on. It is to be submitted to the House first on Thursday. The measure would direct that fathers with children born before September 15, 1942, be placed at the bottom of the draft list and none be inducted if a non-father is available for all by any local draft board anywhere. Non-fathers deferred because of employment oi ' ital war work would not, how ever, be classed as available. One effect of the bill would be to nullify the order of the War Manpower Commission that bar tenders. race track employes and other workers listed by WMC as "non-essential,” be inducted with out regard to whether or not they have dependents This would mean, the Senate House conferees said, no more new “work or fight” orders. The measure also w-ould direct ( ire president to withdraw all pow ws over Selective Service now iitid by Manpower Chairman Paul V McNutt, but if he wished the president could re-delegate them (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) -V RULING IS NEAR ON ACL REQUEST Utilities Commission May Pass On Petition For Change . ide State Utilities Commission i exP®cte|i to rule shortly on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad com ?a„ny's Pe.di'on to allow “mixed ,!‘ain service” on its line between ilmmgton and Fayetteville, the railroad presented argu . .wit’ in favor of allowing com , da‘™ through passenger and j _“h|, service at a hearing Mon I rL "1 r comrni®si°n in Ra wgh. If tae company’s request - bianted this will eliminate one train’ which would be _ ’ vd to the run between Wil 5ton anc Rocky Mount. vnn'vf13! weeks ago the commis thp a','ded down a ruling denying , d's request that it be pp,, , ,to discontinue all passen in „5vlCe oetween the two towns bp, derT„to increase its service ana U ^'mington, Rocky Mount a”d points north. spoksmen for the railroad said ^ontinued on page Two; Col. 4) Camp Davis Officer Candidate Schools Quota Is Increased CAMP DAVIS, Nov. 16.—An increase in the December quota of incoming officer candidates at the Anti-Aircraft Artillery School here, over the quotas for October and No vember, was announced Tues day by Brig. Gen. Bryan B. D. Milburn, commandant of the school. Gen. Milburn pointed out that this increase is not to be taken as indicative of a re turn of the large monthly vol ume received earlier in the year as the quotas in nearly all officer candidate schools have bten reduced. The Camp Davis school ranks second highest among all Army in struction centers. The school at Camp Davis was the first unit to begin the 17 weeks instruction period which is now prevalent at all OCS groups. CHEST UNITS END DRIVE OVER GOAL Other Reports Say That Campaign Progress ing Rapidly Several units in the Community War Chest Campaign of Wilming ton and New Hanover have com pleted their individual drives and gone “over the top.” To the L. A. Raney Chevrolet company goes the honor of being the first firm to complete its campaign and report over goal. 110 per cent of its objective was reported by campaign workers. The Victory Restaurant has reach ed 101 per cent of its objective. Roth are in the commercial divi sion. The first firm in the individual division to go over its goal was Robert R. Bellamy and Son which reached 1Q8 per cent of its quota early Tuesday. In the public employes division the New Hanover County Home and the New Hanover County Reg ister of Deeds office hit 101 per cent of their goals. The New Han over County Defense Council re ported 100 per cent of its quota pledged. Early reports from other sources indicate that the campaign is pro ceeding at a fast clip. But with a goal of $145,399 facing the city of Wilmington -and New Hanover County officials declare the road ahead will call for generous giving on the part of every individual. Careful organization has been the keynote of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway campaign which is now getting under way. Robert Scott, chairman, said Monday night that every employe in his unit would have an opportunity The North Carolina Shipbuilding company campaign is entering its important stage and leaders at the yards hope to complete their immense task within the schedul ed time. Catherine Crowe, secretary of the 8A1* class at Tileston school, has notified the Community War Chest that her class has pledged fourteen dollars to the fund and will expect to pay two dollars on the 15th of every month. “I am sure,” she writes, “each pledge has been offered freely, and we consider it a privilege to be able to contribute to the vital work your organization is doing, both in the nation and in many parts of the world.” Complete reports are scheduled for Friday of this week and N. E. Drexler, general chairman of the Community War Chest Drive, urged all leaders and commit teemen to do a thorough soliciting job and make reports promptly. They have been instructed to re port Friday and Saturday of this week and Monday and Tuesday of next week. The drive is sche duled to close November 24. Volunteer workers in the Men’s and Women s divisions of the Com munity War Chest campaign will open their active solicitation follow ing a “Reveille Round-Up Break fast” Wednesday at 8 a. m. Work ers in these divisions will receive their final instructions and work kits and will be charged with the responsibility of visiting every busi (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 5) t ood Price Rise Sighted If Subsidies Are Killed Price aINGT0N’ Nov 16 — lfs' „™m‘aistrator Chester Bow aboli^h t°night that if Congress riSe ah ood subsides milk will t(nt,,cent a quart, cheese three half a P°und, butter four and one cents !nts’ and meats two to six a Pound. the ^?.ric® administrator went on strong n? (®lue Network) with a after w 3 for continued subsides aubsidyTas LT,iderati°n °f anti and the n! et for next Thursday "as asJi eH6 ,ro11 back Program the Senate? by Wltnesses before In orderinAgl:lCulture Committee. denng two days of general • < debate on the anti-subsidy meas ure, beginning Thursday, the House Rules Committee refused to grant special procedure which those favoring subsidies had sought In hopes of securing some compro mise allowing limited continuation of the subsidy program. Besides the items he enumerated. Bowles said canned goods and other items of food would increase in cost if subsidies are discontinu ed, and he predicted the War La bor Board would be unable to re sist pressure for higher wages. (Continued on Page Ten; Col, 2) Yugoslavians Falling Back AIR SUPPORT HEAVY Balkan Campaign Increas ing In Intensity As Winter Opens LONDON, Nov. 16.—(JP) —Gen. Josip Broz’ (Tito’s) Partisans were falling back slowly in Yugoslavia tonight before the weight of heavy German assaults, but to the east, in the battle for the Bal kans, the Allies strengthened their toe-hold on the bitterly contested Aegean island of Leros. Allied air squadrons, based in the Middle East, were striking hard in support of the ground forces in a cam paign which is increasing in fury as winter sets in along Hitler’s Balkan flank. Airmen Ranged Aegean Aside from heavy attacks on German positions on Leros—where Allied forces also are under vio lent air assault—Allied airmen ranged the Aegean against ene my shipping. U. S. bombers dis abled a German destroyer while British Spitfires and Hurricanes raked the islands of Rhodes and Crete. American bombers also smashed at two airdromes near Athens. Tito, whose Yugoslav army of Liberation for weeks has been con fronting Hitler with an ever sharp ening menace, acknowledged in a communique today that his Parti san forces had to withdraw from positions on the Peljesac peninsu la on the lower Dalmatian coast and in Dalmatia his forces gener ally were fighting a defensive struggle. The Germans, in an effort to se cure their Balkan battle lines for the winter, were reported to have hurled thousands of first-rate troops into the struggle with the Yugoslav Partisan forces and were said to be paying heavily in men and material for their gains. A Middle East communique from Cairo said that British troops in (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) -V County Requests Funds For Building T. B. j Sanitarium In Section i Request has been made to the U. S. Public Health service for sufficient Federal funds to be used for the construction of a new Red Cross sanitarium here. The request wasm made by Addison Hewlett, chairman of the board of county commissioners, at a conference with the State Helth department in Raleigh, Tuesday. He was ac companied by Dr. A. H. Elliot, city and county health officer. County commissioners previously appealed to FHA and were ad vised that the project appeared to be a specal kind of hospital and that FHA was not prepared to appropriate funds for a special hos pital or an institution for conta gious diseases. Hewlett was advised by FHA to submit the proposal to the State Board of Health and that if it was considered a necessity to the City of Wilmington and vicinity, the plan would be taken up by the U. S. Public Health service. At the conference Tuesday plans were completed to submit this pro posal to the federal health authori ties. -V WEATHER FORECAST NORTH CAROLINA: Colder in east portion today. (Eastern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Beteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m., yesterday. Temperature 1:30 am, 61; 7:30 am, 61; 1:30 pm, 65; 7:30 pm, 59. Maximum, 68; minimum, 59; mean, 64; normal, 55. Humidity 1:30 am, 89; 7:30 am, 85; 1:30 pm, 51; 7:30 pm, 76. Precipitation Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 pm, 0.00 inches. • Total since the first of the month, 012 inches. _ _ a Tides For Today (From the Tide Tables published by CJ. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). High Low Wilmington Masonboro Inlet —— 11:40p 5:37p 1 Allied Planes Bomb 2 Big Jap Vessels; Down 20 Fighters SOUTHWEST PACIFIC HEADQUARTERS, Wednes day, Nov. 17 —tm— General MacArthur announced today that Allied planes had bomb ed two large cargo ships, sink ing one and forcing the other to be beached. One, of 8,000 tons was sunk at Rabaul. Another large merchantman was damaged by bomb hits at that New Britian stronghold. The 9,000 ton marchantman which had to be beached was attacked off New Ireland. On northeastern New Guinea, Japanese planes raided Allied airfields in the Ramu valley and 20 were shot down. General MacArthur’s head quarters said Avengar torpedo planes had attacked Japanese positions in support of the Americans hoi ding Empress Augusta bay on Bougainville.. (From the South Pacific headquarters of Adm. William F. Halsey came advices that the Americans scored brief advances Saturday but ran into opposition and called on the air support which was given with success the following day.) MEAT MERCHANTS WILL BE HEARD OPA Announces Several Penalties On Local Grocery Firms Five meat sellers are scheduled to appear before Acting Hearing Commissioner T, Nelson Parker here Wednesday to answer OPA charges of price violation at the City Market, Frank P. Spruill, Jr., OPA attorney, said late Tuesday. Meanwhile Spruill said that con sent agreements had been reached on two cases involving alleged price violations. They are with L. B. Borneman, Live Oak Service station and grocery, who has agreed to a consent “suspended suspension” for a 30-day period on alleged charges of making over charges on grapefruit and failure to properly post point values on processed foods and meals: and with W. M. Abrams, Abrams Meat Market. Armanis, Spruill said, had consented to an order which pro hibits the sale of goods under Ra tion Order No. 16—which includes fresh meats, tats, oils—ior a two week period beginning November 22. The remaining two weeks of the 30-day period will be suspend ed on probation that no further violations occur. In public hearings before Parker Tuesday the following cases were disposed of: N. A. Merritt and E. E. Erb, doing business as Open Air Curb Market, 401 Chestnut street, were ordered to suspend sales of fresh meats for a 30-day period, sus pended for 27 days. During the three active suspension days the firm cannot buy, sell, or acquire rationed meats under the order. The hearing set for A. Living ston, 201 Castle street, was con tinued until Thursday. Martin Von Oesen. Home Gro cery company, 401 North Front street, W'as given a suspended sus pension by Hearing Commissioner Parker for a 30-day period upon condition that no further violations occur. H. M. Sellers, Sellers’ Fish Mar ket, 605 Castle street, was given a suspension of 30 days with all but three days suspended. During the three active suspension days the market cannot buy sell, or acquire processed foods under Ra tion Order No. 13. The remaining 27 days are suspended upon con dition that no further violations oc cur. W. W. Guyton, Economy Gro cery, 523 South Third street, was found guilty on four counts of over (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 3) ] U. S. Knocked From Heights NearVenafro Bitter Fighting Awaits Al lies In Drive Toward City Of Rome WEATHER IS WORSE Cold And Mud Slowing Ad vance As Germans Dig Trenches • ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS, Algiers, Nov. 16.—(A*) —German troops, counter attacking from their power ful rock-hewn winter line, have knocked American for ces back from hard-won heights north of Venafro, the Allied command acknowledg ed today, and direct word from the cold, rainy Italian front made plain that bitter fighting awaits the Allies on the road to Rome. “Neither Tunisia nor Sici ly presented the difficulties which the Allied troops must overcome before they drive the enemy into northern Ita ly, and it is becoming obvious that neither of those cam paigns cost the blood this drive will cost,” wrote Don Whitehead of the Associated Press from the Fifth Army front. For the time being, both the Allies and Germans were digging into the mud for shel ter from the inclement wea ther and from shellfire, and comparatively small forces were battling for a few yards of rocky hilltop, valuable on ly because they overlook a further goal. Nazis Counterattack The Nazis counterattacked twice yesterday with strong, fresh troops to shove Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark’s American infantry off positions they had won on Monte Santa Croce, north of Venafro. This key peak dominates the entrance to a plain northwest of Mignano, which in turn gives access to the stra tegic city of Cassino on the main inland highway to Rome. The British Eighth Army, defy ing the weather and consequent absence of air support, won some new high ground north of Atessa, 14 miles in from the Adriatic, and its patrols ranged across the San gro river to feel out the enemy’s strength. German resistance was stiff along the length of the front. With the usual swarms of Allied fighters and fighter - bombers grounded by rain, fog and low hanging clouds, heavy Liberator bombers of the 15th U. S. Air Force were joined by Lend-Lease Liberators of the reorganized Yu goslav air force in a smash at Elevsis airdrome at Athens, while American mediums pounded anoth er Nazi field in the Athens area. The relatively static position of the front for the past week is giv ing the Germans ample time to strengthen their mountain fortifi cations in depth. Even a break through of the present Nazi line would leave the Allies onlv in po sition to continue the hard foot by-foot fighting. In his dispatch today, Whitehead drew a dreary picture: •The roads to the front are slimy brown strips of mud. Rains have turned the countryside into (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 3) Kirke Simpson Says: Winter Holds No Hope For Nazi Army Relief (By The Associated Press) Wintery weather in Italy has cut the Allied advance on Rome to a snail’s pace, temporarily neutralizing Anglo-American air superiority which has been the dominant factor in the campaign in Russia, however, the oncoming winter holds small prospect of even momentary relief for batter ed Nazi armies trom the Baltic to the Black Sea. On the contrary, the hour has all but struck for a dual new Rus sian coup. The long dormant northern front is about to flame into a full-scale Red army winter attack to match the half score other major offensives Berlin noted as making progress farther south, Only the scope and direction of the attack remains in doubt, and the exact moment for its launching. The start of the Nazi rout in Russia began just a year ago at Stalingrad. By November 22 the pincers attack had been driven 30 miles or more into Nazi defenses and the trap in which substantial ly half a million German and sat ellite troops died or were taken prisoner was beginning to take shape. The anniversary of that smash ing Russian victory would be an appropriate date for a new Rus sian blow, and history seems to be repeating itself. Berlin has dis closed grim new threats to Nazi forces still in the Dnieper bend, telling of Russian penetrations north and west of Krivoi Rog, of which Moscow has made no men tion yet. The fate of a greater German army than that lost be fore Stalingrad seefns at stake, and with it the last slim hope of escape for the Nazi garrison in the Crimea. If the Dnieper bend noose is as wide and deep as Berlin suggests, reaching almost to the left flank of the greater end even more (Continued on Page Six; Col. 5) RED UKRAINE ARMY THUNDERING AHEAD TO KOROSTEN AREA ■_,____k Not An Optical Illusion Looking like something done with mirrors, this formation of Kingfisher Navy scout nianes demonstrates how well our fliers are trained in the intricacies of aerial maneuvers. These nine planes al most appear to be actuated by one set of controls. Navy photo. Norwegian Metal Mines Hard Hit By Fortresses LONDON, Nov. 16.—(/P)—Large formations of Amer ican heavy bombers fought their way 700 miles across the North Sea through heavy snow storms today to strike at Germany’s essential metol supply, bombing a molybdenum mine at Knaben, on the west coast of Norway and a power station at Rjukan, approximately 80 miles west of Oslo. The Flying Fortress and Liberator attack on the north ern side of Germany’s European fortress followed up a U. S. 15th Air Force raid yesterday on two Nazi air bases near Atnens, on tne soutnern Hank of Europe. The Britain-based heavy bomb ers were unescorted and encount ered only slight resistance. They shot down six Nazi planes with a loss of only two bombers — one more than on the Norway raid July 24 when the Trondheim naval base and Heroya aluminium works were attacked. Molybdenum, used in hardening steel, is vital in the manufacture of munitions. The Knaben mine, located 50 miles northwest of .Kristiansund, was attacked last February 3 by RAF Mosquitos. At tnat time it was estimated that the raid cut off three quarters of Germany’s supply of Molybden num, and a Swedish newspaper said the mine’s production was stopped for months. The German-controlled Oslo ra dio was recorded by the Ministry of Information as saying that sev eral places in southern Norway were attacked at noon “by strong American formations.” The broad cast acknowledged, however, only 'damage to some buildings.” The raid continued a series of major American blows at the Ger man’s metal supply. Fortresses bombed Dueren, near Cologne, site of an important iight-metal precessing plant for airplane parts, on October 20 and Novem ber 7. The aerial campaign against German war facilities across the English channel was continued during the day, meanwhile, but swift RAF formations of light bombers and fighters which attack ed a seaplane base near Brest, an alcohol plant near St. Nazaire and shipping and communications throughout northern France. There wqre also indications to night that the Allied attacks were continuing. The Vichy radio's five station network went off the air (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 5 RAF HITS BURMA RAILROAD BASES Pegu Heavily Pounded By Heavy And Medium Bombing Units NEW DELHI. Nov. 16.— UP) — RAF heavy and medium bombers teamed up for a strong smash at the Japanese railway junction at Pegu, 46 miles northeast of Ran goon, in Burma last night, a com munique said today, while more sharp patrol actions were reported on land in the Chin hills area. (A Reuters dispatch from Cal cutta said an official announce ment termed the blow on Pegu “early today the heaviest and most concentrated on Burma since the war in the east began.” (Successes in China were an nounced by the Chinese High Command which declared that Chinese troops had broken through Japanese lines av many points south of the Yangtze river, and to the north had cut to the out skirts of Ichang and Tangyang, some 30 miles northeast of Ichang. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 6) Community War Chest Facts This smallest of all United Nations has its proportionate place in the National War Fund picture. The people of Luxembourg are fighting. It is not easy to give them aid in their struggle, but many of their people have escaped the Nazi yoke and need assistance now in the refuges which they have found in this and other countries. Funds to the Friends of Lux embourg, Inc., are used for evacuation, rehabilitation and relief of refuges in England, Spain, Portugal, North Africa, Switzerland, Cuba and Latin America. Friends of Luxembourg, Inc., is just one of the 27 agencies included inthe Community War Chest. < UNDERJGUN SIGHTS Germans Hurled From Obi khodi In Plunge To ward Goal TURCHENKA CAPTURED 60 Towns And Villages Gobbled Up By Pre mier Stalin’s Hordes _ LONDON, Nov. 16.—{#) —The Russian Ukranian ar my drove for the railway junction of Korosten from the south and northeast to day, pounding to within 13 miles of the important com munications line now under its artillery sights, a com munique disclosed tonight. Capturing 60 towns and villages in the swift advance, the Russians flung the Ger mans from Obikhodi (Obu kody), 13 miles east of the railroad and 16 miles from Korosten to the southwest. Another Russian column, surging up the railway from Zhitomir to the south, cap tured the town of Turchen ka, 14 miles south of Koros ten. Korosten, 55 miles from the pre-war Polish border, is one of the main Nazi east west lines of supply, the Odessa - Leningrad line and is also on the Kiev-Warsaw line. Anotner Line Attacked The next German east-west line to the north was under Russian attack in the Rechitsa region, where the Russians were push ing for the key town of Kalin kovichi. The Moscow communique, rec orded by the Soviet monitor from a broadcast, said the Red army, which yesterday cut the railway leading from Gomel west to Ka linkovichi, captured ten more Ger man strongpoints and the ene my “sustained tremendous losses in manpoyer and equipment.” Mentioning the sector north of Gomel for the first time, the bul letin said hte army had captured a number of Nazi strongholds and considerably improved its position as it engaged the Germans to ex tend Soviet bridgeheads on the west bank of the Sozh river. The river, in this area, comes down to an eastward bulge before flow ing to the eastern edge of Gomel. Although the major Russian gains of the day were made in the Korosten area, there was no Sov iet mention of Russians pushing west from nearby Zhitomir to ward the pre-1941 Polish border. The extent of Russian penetra tation west of Zhitomir remained in doubt A Moscow dispatch yes terday said swift Red army me chanized and motorized columns had driven from Kiev through Zhitomir to Baranovka, thrusting a dangerous salient into the Ger man positions to a depth of 112 miles west of Kiev and 165 miles from the Polish border of 1941. This would place the head of the salient some 40 miles west of Zhitomir and about 35 miles east of the pre-war Polish-Russian frontier. Large scale maps show a town named Baranovka at that point. However, maps also show a town of the same name some 50 miles north northeast of Zhito mir. Soviet sources here were without definite information as to which Banarocka had been taken and a recheck from Moscow was not immediately available. The Berlin radio commentator Capt. Ludwig Sertorious said the (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) Hull Highly Commended By Official Red Press MOSCOW, Nov. 16.—{fft—Izvestia, the official Soviet government newspaper, paid a striking tribute to U. S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull in a front page editorial today and declared that the Russian peo ple “highly appreciate” the aid given them by the United States and Britain in the war against Germany. The newspaper, stressing the im portance of decismns reached at the recent Moscow conference, said Hull had played “a particu larly big role in the collaboration between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A” The editorial marked the 10th anniversary of the establish* ment of diplomatic relations be tween the two countries. “Soviet-American relations have had to pass through many experi ences,” the article continued, ‘but now it has become obvious that they have become more solidified and have become not only more significant for both countries, but for all the peoples of the world as well. ‘‘The recent Moscow conference proved that cooperation between ,the U.S.S.R., which was consoli (Continued on Page Two; Col. a*

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