Served by Leased Wire of the S ft|M|||A AVENGE associated PRESS TUp F RaNplW^ PEARL HARBOR "suteC°aedP'NeattairNeews0' I lit --_ _ . O. 1^1 fa ■ W AND BATAAN _ _ ^jlTIKIE IP1® BY eUTVOF AM® IPIUEASMBg V& I___ V0L. lti,—NO. 4._____WILMINGTON, N. C„ SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1943_FINAL EDITION___PRICE FIVE CENTS Laval's Bloc May Collapse Before Petain Chief Of State Determined To Lead France Back To Democracy CENSORSHIP LIFTED Berlin Spokesman Confirms Reports Of New Crisis At Vichy B1 JAMES F. KING LONDON, Nov. 20. — (#) — Belief grew in London tonight that col laborationist Pierre Laval’s bloc might collapse in the face of the reported defiant determination oJ me Vicin' Chief of State Marshal Henri Philippe Petain to lead con. Quered France hack to democratic i government. Lilting a week-long blackout oi all mention of Petain, the Vichy iadio went io elaborate lengths to rn,v-apparently to quiet mounting French home front unrest—to ere S;c the irrmmession that the 87 vear-old marshall still was func UOIUllg* Confirmation ,\ Beilin foreign office spokes nau was quoted in a Swiss dis patch as having given guarded con iirmation o( reports of a crisis at Vichy, The spokesman added, however, tnat "rumors” that Pe tain had resigned, "so far as is known a: die Wilhehnstrasse, are nonsensical. The Morocco radio in a broadcast recorded by the Associated Press said that a woman’s voice an nouncing that “Marsnal Petain has resigned'’ was heard on the Vichy radio just before the 7:30 a. in., news bulletins. Out of the conflicting welter of rumors from unhappy Vichy, the report of an open break between Petain and Lava!, his German supported chief of government, ap peared to be substantiated. Doesn't Like Laval Petain never nas liked Laval. It was recalled that in December, 1940. Petain cailed a meeting at the Parc hotel and when Laval emerged he was placed under ar rest. Laval s release then was brought about through the inter vention of Otto Abetz, Nazy envoy to France. The danger to laval’s position now is believed to lie in the fact that he was in much bet ter standing with the Nazis three years ago than he is today. The Vichy radio during the day sounded a curst of reports on the old marshal The emphasis of every (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) MOSLEY AND WIFE FF ) BY BRITISH Pre - War Fascist Leader Whisked Into Seclusion As Protest Mounts LONDON. Nov. 20—(.P)—^Brit ain's pre-war Fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, and his wife were released secretly from Holloway prison before dawn today and whisked into seclusion as a na tion-wide protest increased in tempo. Lie Mosleys were reported tc if 111 an Oxfordshire hamlet to nLnt. protected from the hue and c!-\ against the government’s de c ,' — The administration’s price control machinery collided with another challenge today—a threat to re move coal and oil from OPA juris diction—as President Roosevelt’s stalwarts waged an apparently los ing battle to save the consumer subsidy program. With the subsidy showdown due Monday in the house, a bloc of lawmakers from coal and oil pro duction states announced that 209 signatures—just nine short of the lequired 218—had . been collected on a petition to force action on their proposal. “We'll collect the rest of them Monday,” asserted Representative ; Calvin Johnson (R-Ill). The peti tion calls for committee discharge of the Disney Bill to turn control of oil prices over to Interior Secretary Ickes. Johnson plans to offer an amendment to include coal. The move — another in a series of rapid fire developments on tne nation's economic front—left the administration confronting this sit uation as it strove desperately to preserve the program it has chosen for holding the line against infla tion: 1. Likelihood that the house, prob ably by an overwhelming margin, will approve legislation containing a prohibition against subsidy pay ments--a device which the adminis tration intends to use to keep down tetail food prices. 2. Refusal of the House Ways and Means Committee to approve more than one-fifth of the $10,500,000,000 in new taxes which the treasury said is necessary to help curve in flation. 3. A new drive for creation of a single food administrator, with control over prices as well as pro duction. which would leave the Office of Price Administraton an empty, executive shell. The propo sal is supported by the House Agri cultural committee and the house republican food study committee. 4. Mounting demands on Capitol : Hill for the scrutiny of executive . appropriations, including war ex penditures. (Continued on rage Ten; Col. 3) j, Naval Plane Crashes || In Brazilian Mountains R,IO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 20. —ifP)—a U. S. naval transport plane crashed in the mountains about 30 miles east of here Fri day afternoon, killing all of the 18 occupants, it was announced tonight by the Brazilian gov ernment news agency. The announcement said the plane was bound for Rio and burst into flames after the crash. Cause of the accident was not known, the announcement said. FURTHER^TAXATION OPPOSED BY GROUP Ways And Means Commit tee Tells Administration To Cut Spending WASHINGTON. Nov. 20. — m — The powerful House Ways and Means committee, in bi-partisan chorus, dec'ared today the public can stand no more taxes and told the administration to cut down spending if it wants to block infla tion. The committee said its second war-time revenue measure, calling for $2,140,000,000 in new taxes—is all that “can reasonably be borne by the taxpayers at this time.” The total was only a splash in the bucket to the $10,500 000,000 the ad ministration asked to fight the war and inflation. Although firm in its opposition to further taxes, tr.e full commit tee report hardly went as far as a separate statement by Republi cans on the committee who told the administration it must stop its tax demands. “For too long the over-burdened taxpayer has been the ‘forgotten man,’ ” the Republicans declared. “For too long the watchword has been ‘spend and spend, tax and tax.” “The time has come.” they con tinued. “when nenceforth the ad ministration, instead of insisting upon squeezing more and more (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) WEATHER FORECAST NORTH CAROLINA: Fair and continu ed warm Sunday except slightly coc\ir north portion. Monday partly cloudy wuh little change in temperature. (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., 50, 7 :30 a m„ 46, 1:30 p m„ 72 7'30 p. m, 59. Maximum 74, Mini mum 45, Mean 60, Normal 54. Humidity 1:30 a. m., 96, 7:30 a. m., 97, 1:30 p. m, 27, 7:30 P m, 52. Precipitation Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m., 0 00 inches. Total since the first of the month, O. 62 inches. _ . Tides For Today (From the Tide Tables published by CJ, S. Coast and Geodetic Survey)^^ Wilmington - 11:47a Kasonboro Inlet - f.'f^ n-lOp Sunrise 6:50 a. m., Sunset. p- rn” Moonrise. 12:44p., ■Fayetteville. Cape Fear River stage at Fayetteville, P. 2F feet. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) Allied Forces ApplySqueeze To Jap Bases Foe Knows Present Blows Are Harbingers Of More Powerful Ones OUTPOSTS BLASTED Australians Register New Gains In Advance On Finschhafen Area (By The Associated Press)' From the central Pacific to the Netherlands East Indies, Allied troops, planes and warship are putting the squeeze on the Japa nese. Evidence that the enemy knows the blows already struck are but harbingers of those to come ap peared in a statement from Ad miral Kichisaburo Nomura. The lokyo radio said he had told his people that “hereafter, America’s counter-operations against Japan, with Anglo-American sea power as the root, will be hastened and will steadily swell.” “Now Have Means” Six successive days of air at tacks on Japanese outposts in the Marshal and Gilbert Islands and on Nauru islands without loss of an Allied man or plane, illustrated the recent statement of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander ol the Pacific fleet, that "we now have the means to blast the Jap out of his island stronghold.” Airdromes and shops on Nauru, an important enemy airbase, were hit with 90 tons of bombs Thurs day. Several grounded planes were destroyed and a ship was set afire. Seven Zeros put in a belated ap pearance and two them w'ere shot clown. The attack on Nauru was the second of the day in the central (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) -v LEBANON DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SEEN French Promise Speedy End Of Disagreement Over Issue LONDON, Nov. 20—Iffl—French authorities in Algiers, faced with the possibility the British might have to take control of Lebanon, promised speedy settlement to night of their conflict with the Leb anese over that little republic's independence. The Morocco radio broadcast a communique in which the French committee of liberation said it now was able to define its posi tion with a view to speedily set tling the dispute arising from the arrest last week of Lebanese of ficials after the chamber of depu ties had voted to throw off French control granted through a League of Nations mandate. “A solution must be found with in the framework of the mandate received from the League of Na tions and in accordance with the promise of independence” ’made by the French in 1941 when Vichy control was overthrown, the com munique said. Meanwhile, conflicting views on the gravity of the situation were expressed by British and French representatives at Cairo. “The tension in Lebanon hasn’t relaxed, a serious situation still exists.” said Robert G. Casey, British minister to the Middle East, after a visit to the Lebanese capital of Beirut. On the other hand. General Georges Catroux, French commit tee representative sent to inter vene in the troubled Arab str/e, told correspondents in an inter view: “You can see it is calm now. There has been much inexact news sent out of here about the revolt.” GAIN FIVE MILES Pierce Nazi Positions In First Real Fighting In Italy Recently NEAR SANGRO BRIDGE Heavy Rains, Deep Mud And Swirling Floods Impede Operations BY NOLAND NORGAARD ALLIED HEADQUAR TERS, ALGIERS, Nov. 20— (/P)—Breaking through Ger man forward positions in the first heavy fighting on the Italian front in recent days, the British Eighth army lunged forward five miles to capture Perano, it was an nounced today, thereby threatening an important in land sector of the Nazis’ heavily fortified line behind the Sangro river. Against heavy artillery fire, wretched weather and difficult ter rain, the Fifth Army also made some gains above Venafro along the northern sector of its front. The capture of the village of Perano put the troops of General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery within less than a mile of the only bridge crossing the Sangro river between the coastal road and a point ten miles from the Adriatic. Near vital Koaa ! From their new vantage points i’l and near the village Eighth Ar my units could... look across the river at a short section of an ex tremely important lateral road up cn which the Germans are depend ent for supplying large forces en trenched in the hills overlooking ine Sangro. This road extends from Sanvito Chietno on the Adriatic coast along a winding course inland through Castelfrentano, Casoli and Palena to Roccaraso. Along most of its distance it is well behind, the river and screened from the British, but opposite Perano it loops down into a valley to within less than half a mile from the stream itself. All gains were made against sharp opposition. Big guns on both ! (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) YUGOSLAVSFIGHT FOR TWO ISLANDS Seek To Force Germans From Isles Commanding Approaches To Fiume LONDON, Nov. 20.—<-¥>—Yugo slav partisans under Gen. Josip Broz (Tito) grappled desperately with the Germans tonight for the islands of Krk and Crew, which command the approaches to Fiume through which Hitler has been pouring reinforcements in^the long, costly effort to beat down the ever increasing menace to his south eastern Europe flank. Nazi sea-borne troops gained ini tial lodgements on both islands and heavy but as yet indecisive fighting erupted. This was the most important of half a dozen Yugoslav fighting fronts. In central Bosnia the Par tisans were pushed back slightly, but in the Croatian coastal area they threw back all Nazi attacks. The Germans’ fear of an allied (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 7) RED FORCES CRUMPLE NAZI A TTA CK EAST OF ZHITOMIR; PERANO SEIZED BY BRITISH Swift Red Drive Keeps Hitler, Staff On Jump ; By EDWIN SHANKE STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 20.——The swift Russian of fensive has kept Hitler and his headquarters staff on the jump forcing them to move seven times within the last seven months, a reliable informant from Germany who has con tacts with Hitler’s bodyguard said today. This informant said that just before Hitler went to Munich earlier this month to address veteran Nazi party members he had moved his headquar ters to within a few miles northeast of the old Polish bor der. At no time has Hitler’s head quarters been closer than 10 miles behind the last line of German defense. He travels by armored train when Grman re treats force him farther west ward, the informant related. He said the entire civil popu lation is moved from the vicin ity of each new base, usually organized in a forest region distant from any likely bomb ing objectives such as railways and airfields. The exact loca tion is kept such a secret even most men in the fuehrer’s bodyguard are unable to pin point it. “The perfect camouflage of Hitler’s headquarters is most astonishing,’’ the informant continued. “Aviators flying over the spot even at low altitudes are (Continued on Page Eight; Col. 4) Report Of F. R., Stalin, Churchill Meet Expected _ + _ NO CONFIRMATION i - May Draft Psychological Drive Aimed To Attract Nazis’ Surrender LONDON, Sunday, Nov. 21.—UR— A Reuters dispatch from Wash ington eariy today said an an nouncement was expected soon in Washington on a meeting of Presi dent Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin. There, has been no Allied con firmation ot any meeting at pres ent of the tri-power leaders, but Axis sources for several days have hinted a meeting between the three was imminent, suggesting Cairo as the conference spot. Speculation in London has sug gested that, one result of such a meeting would oe a psychological offensive aimed to attract bomb shaken Germany's surrender when the Allied armies strike in the spring. An Allied declaration of princi ples for treatment of defeated Ger many was 3 Jggested as a possible means of hastening the end of the fighting. A similar appeal was made to Italy before her capitula tion by Roosevelt and Churchill, backed up by dire threats of de struction. There hrve been fresh rumors of German peace feeler seeking a definition of what “unconditional surrender” would mean. One such rumor said German resistance on the home front was being bolster ed by the uncertainty as to the country’s probable fate. Another rumor said German mil itary leaders had Turkish foreign Minister Nurman Menemencioglu sound out British Foreign Secre tary Anthony Eden on the probable (Continued on Page Eight; Col. 5) _\r_ JAPS OPEN NEW DRIVE IN CHINA Launch Offensive Along 100-Mile Front West Of Tungting Lake CHUNKING. Nov. 20— tf) —Re inforced Japanese columns, sup ported by wai planes, have launch ed a new drive along a 100-mile zig-zag front westward from Tung ting lake and advanced in some sectors 10 o 20 miles, a Chinese communique announced today. The Chinese high command ac knowledged the invaders had ac cupied Tzali, a highway town 90 miles south of the Yangtze river port of Ichang, but said more than 2,000 Japanese had been slain in the fighting in that area. A counter-offensive by the Chi nese from the mountains west of Tzali on the Japanese flank was said by the Chinese to be develop ing favorably The communique also said Chinese “troops attack ing the environs of Ichang scored further successes.” The Chinese central news agency, reported that Chinese planes had strafed Japanese columns in the Tungting lake area and that 20 small boats loaded with troops and supplies on the Li river had been sunk and 50 others left burn ’ng At the same time American fighter planes, supporting Chinese (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 6) Nazis Stage Nuisance Raids Against London ————— r • 11 LONDON, Nov. 20 —(ff>)— A small number of German planes struck at Britain tonight find a few reached London in nuisance raids which caused slight damage and cost tne German air force two piahes. A few casualties were report ed. The Nazi planes dropped high explosive bombs in one London district, in two other places in the home counties and in southeast England. Later it was learned that several houses were damaged in the London area and it was feared there might be a num ber of casualties as some peo ple may be trapped in the de molished buildings. BRITISHBO RS HIT LEV JSEN; Strike At Source Of Vast Quantities Of German War Chemicals i -—— LONDON. Nov. 20—(iD—British heavy bombers, striking for the third time in three nights at the sources of vast quantities of Ger many's war chemicals and poison gases, last night pounded Lever kusen, an industrial suburb of Cologne, and today lighter Allied planes followed up with a day light foray against other targets. The principal goal for the RAF last night was a group of plants belonging to the great I. G. Far benindustrie Chemical Trust, known to produce ingredients used in the production of poison gas although not the gas itself. The town's importance as a source of explosive chemicals is rated alongside Ludwigshafen, which the RAF had blasted heavily on both the preceding nights. In peacetime it is the center of a great dye works employing as many as 10.000 workers. It had been bombed four times before by the RAF (md presumably was1 just recovering from a blow de livered Aug. 22 when the fleet of four-engined bombers swept over again. It was estimated unofficially, that as much as 1.000 tons of I (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 1!) I KILL 1,000 NAZIS Soviet Army Gains In Pufii Toward Manganese Center Of Nikopol SCORE OTHER GAINS Germans Use Fresh Forces In Counter-Attacks In Rechitsa Section BY JAMES M. LONG LONDON, Sunday, Nov. 21—(/P)—Red army troops crumpled a massed German tank and infantry attack in bitter fighting east of Zhito mir yesterday, slaughtering 1,000 Nazis, overran German defense positions to widen their newly-won bridgehead at Cherkasi, and gained in their drive toward the man ganese center of Nikopol, Moscow announced early to day. The Russian midnight bul letin said a total of 4,000 Germans were killed in fight ing which saw Soviet troops beat bgck German counter attacks at two other main points and gain ground in the lower Pripet river area west of Chernigov, and to the north in the Rechitsa region west of almost-encircled Go mel. In the Rechitsa area alone 1,200 Germans were killed as the Russians went over to the attack after blasting nine consecutive Nazi counter-attacks. Launches Assault Hoping to capitalize to the full est on the German capture Friday of the strategic rail and highway junction of Zhitomir, Marshal Fritz von Mannstein launched an assault in the area of Korostyshev, 15 miles to the east. Soviet forces, fighting near the scene of the greatest Russian set back of the 1943 campaign, met a thrust of 6,000 German infantry men and 60 tanks in one sector, the war bulletin, recorded here by the Soviet monitor, said. In the “fierce engagement” that followed the Russians burned out 32 enemy tanks, killed 800 Ger mans and “forced the Hitlerties to retreat,” the communique said, indicating that the initiative in the area had passed again to the Red army troops. Trap Lnit A local German tactical error also was reported in another sec tor in this area when Soviet mor tarmen caught a German infan try unit massed in a gully and killed 200 of them. In the drive toward Nikopol, on the south side of the Dnieper bend, a Red army guard unit car ried off a night attack and threw the surprised Germans from a strategic height southwest of Dnepropetrovsk which dominated the surrounding countryside, the war bulletin said. The Germans counter-attacked three times with out success in an attempt to re gain their positions and left 700 dead on the battlefield. The Russians were reported within 22 miles of Nikopol. Three hundred Germans were killed in the fighting at Cherkasi, German middle Dnieper tank di vision headquarters which has been transformed into “a heavily fortified strong point.” German troops were buried On (Continued on Page Eight; Col. 5) iBritish Battery Returns Here After Lengthy Tour .v 1 aveling in two motor convoys, same 350 Tommies that left ,Jd'v'iS last August for a coast *, .Cjd't tour of military installa Passed through Wilmington fo-'.1. - en mute to Fort Fisher i f T; Cnal demonstrations of American stay. Britilf'rst section of the First hi .£*. Composite Demonstration oU] 1 Included the light ack-ack their crews. Later the seareM-mov*n® heavy guns and s(' ■-‘ghts rumbled through the s.°n the last leg of their ofterflom Camp Stewart, Ga., ff;id ,a southern sweep that i» sa ' t(>Ps at camps near El Pa tous ton, Texas. The unit went first to New York from Camp Davis and then moved to Camp Edwards, Mass.; Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; San Francisco, Los Angeles and Texas. Only the trips from New York to Camp Edwards and from Camp Stewart here were made over the highways. The remainder of the lour, which totaled more than 13,00C miles was made by train with short hops for some personnel in cluding travel in jeeps, trucks and airplanes. The stay at Fort Fisher will be brief—on Wednesday after two days of demonstrations the unit will (Continued on Page Ten;. Col. 4) Mysterious Blast Wrecks Large Building In London By E. C. DANIEL LONDON, Nov. 20—(#)—A mys terious explosion wrecked a five story building in London’s night club belt of Soho last night and for a while had Londoners dis cussing the possibility that the Germans had employed one of their oft-threatened “secret wea pons.” During the day enough evidence was accumulated to dispel the supposition that a noiseless invi sible projectile might have caus ed the blast, or that it was due to any kind of enemy action, but the exact cause nevertheless still was obscure tonight, and seem ed likely to remain so at least until Monday. A Authorities made an investiga tion of the blast soon after it oc curred, but did not announce their findings and today everybody con cerned with the incident apparent ly had gone week-ending. The explosion — London’s third mysterious blast in a week—knock ed out the walls of a building on a narrow street where the sales rooms of most major film com panies are situated and shattered windows for a quarter of a mile around. One report was that film had caught fire in the cutting room of a company which makes docu mentary movies for the ministry (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 3) Germans Leros, Zhitomir Wins Prove F. D. R. Right BY LEWIS HAWKINS, LONDON, Nov. 20.—(fl—1The Ger man armies proven Allied leaders were correct this week by retaking Zhitomir in Russia ana the island of Leros in the Aegean sea, fighting the Americans and British to a standstill in Italy and tightening their grip on the Yugoslav coast. President Roosevelt. Prime Miji ister Churchill and other responsi ble Allied spokesmen repeatedly have warned that the German army is still a tough, smart un broken force, but this series of vic tories probably had killed more over-optimism than 1,000 speeches. To Allied military men, however, the German gajns are nothing more than a counterswirl on the tide of battle wh'ch is running against the Hitlerites. The most significant blow was the counter attack climaxed by the recapture ot Zhitomir in the first real set back given the Rus sians since the Soviet offensive began more than four months ago. The significance lay, not so much in retaking the city less than a week after its capture by the Russians, as in the proof that after months of retreat the Germans still were able to mount a fierce coun terattack, involving two or three armored divisions and perhaps 150,000 men. Coming iiead-on fiom the west, (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1);