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HEWS0ANDEFDEATDRES < With Complete Coverage Of Slate And National News '* VOL. 76.—NO. 30a____ WILMINGTON, N. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1944 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867 i " --- - — ■ . . - - Many Issues Are Awaiting New Congress A MOUNTAIN OF WORK 78th May Have Opportu nity Of Laying Peace Foundations WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — (JPI — Fresh from a three-weeks vacation and flush with ideas gleaned from the grass roots, the 78lh Congress starts its second and last regular torsion tomorrow with a moun tain of work awaiting It. Political considerations, always strong, will have a special part jn the deliberations of the law makers this national election year, which Republicans confidently hope and many Democrats secret ly tear may mark the end of 12 years of Democratic administra tion in Washington. President Roosevelt is to de cide tomorrow on whether to de liver his annual “state of the union” message in person; it is expected Tuesday. Home-front issues dominate the immediate program, among them subsidies, taxes, service men’s benefits, the soldiers’ vote, con tract termination and renegotia tion, wages, strikes, industrial re conversion. and post-war planning. Aside from those and other is sues that normally will develop during the next 12 months, more optimistic legislators believe the 78th Congress, in its closing months, will have the history making task of laying the founda Party leaders have pledged the same non-partisan cooperation ojj matters directly affecting the war that has characterized all con gressional sessions since the bomb ing of Pearl Harbor. But the harmony is expected to stop there. All seats in the House and many in the Senate are at stake in this year's elections, and there are few incumbents who won't admit privately that their actions will be guided largely by (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) j -_ WEATHER PLAYING HAVOC IN STATE RALEIGH, Jan. 9 —(J1/— North; Carolina's heaviest snowfall of the 1 year—ranging from two inches at Charlotte to as much as eight inches in Boone and Yadkin coun ties — generally has stopped bus schedules and caused many coun ty schools to be ordered closed because of icy roads. The state highway patrol report ed that the highways are cleared irom Raleigh to the west, but that the roads still are icy in spots and dangerous. Major John Arm strong, highway patrol chief, urg ed that motorists stay off the roads unless their business is urgent. From Williamsion to the coast, and about 30 miles west of Wil liamston, sleet and snow still is falling, he said, and travel in that area was termed as “dangerous.” Nf) ^PHAllc Vi ! rtlniTnir n o m' onlc have been reported. •All bus schedules out of Raleigh have been cancelled. Railroad of fices here reported rail traffic has not been affected. Eastern Air Lines said air traffic is back on ‘is normal schedule after being cancelled from 3 p.m. yesterday until 6 p.m. today. A four-inch snowfall here has caused Wake county schools to be oi'dei-ed closed until further notice. City schools will be open tomorrow, however. Light snow, mixed with rain, was reported falling early tonight at Wilmington, with temperatures falling. Streets there were term ed dangerous for driving, and bus schedules to Raleigh and New bern was cancelled. '“I'dkin county reported seven to ei3ht inches. Some schools will open in Yadkin county tomorrow. winslon-Salem reported 4.4 inch of snow, with some bus sche mes leaving there cancelled last niSht but resumed this morning. A four and one-half 'inch snow all was reported at Durham, fol T°\ved by a heavy freeze last night. . ne snow melted somewhat dur in3 the day, but was reported freez ^ again tonight. City schools ' be closed Monday, and Dur ham county schools Monday and uesday. Durham police reported numerous accidents, all minor, ■ty buses suspended early Sat "-"uunued on Pag* Five; Col. 3) WEATHER v FORECAST vj u CAROLINA: Fair and continu Wcvr° o ^Ionc*a'*'* Temperature 15 to 20 Cao‘! }° 25 central and 25 to 30 n . p0r1'ion Monday night. Tuesday y. cl°udy and warmer. • age of Cape Fear river at Fay *“"■«* U.30 feet. '^nntinued on Page Five; Col. 8) 776 U. S. War Casualties Are Returned From Italy _— One Blinded Man Says The Air Eve^ Better—Many Mental Cas^"(s ^ jf AN EAST COAST PORT, Jan. 9. —(£>)—“I can’t see the good old U. S. A.—-but even the air smells better!” This shout came from a soldier who lost his sight in a land mine explosion during the crossing of the Volturno river in Italy. He and other blinded soldiers stood aside while their buddies de scribed the scene as a big float ing hospital that shuttled between Africa and Italy virtually pick ing wounded off the beaches at Salerno and Naples during the Al lied invasion, came back to this port bearing 776 American war cas ualties. It was the U. S. Army Hospital Ship Acadia, a former East Coast liner now operated by the transpor tation corps of the Army service forces. Last June it became the first unit designated as an Army hospital ship under the Hague Convention, and today’s arrival was the first at wjjjppSj f A Vio [ihotographer? ^ <y 4k Despite la 4h..n>for maiion and ' ^C^it held one day’sxti; $ •&of nine miles, the Acs*. ; :;he 14-day crossing under '<n.v, e radio si lence, to avoid confn-. £ with terms of the Hague Convention. It car ried no combatants, mail or arms. As the 7,800-ton vessel was warp ed into the dock here, where a fleet of ambulances and buses anc scores of medical corps men were lined up to receive the patients two military bands ashore struct up a medley of college tunes anc swing music. Every man who was able to walk jammed the rail. “Man, that’s American!” grin ned Pvt. Steve Czekner of Allen town, Pa. “That music is some thing we can understand.” To Czekner, severely burned ir (Continued on Page Five; Col. 8; U. S. Troops In England Reported Favoring Gop CHICAGO, 111., Jan. 9.— (AP) Chairman Harrison E ' Spangler of the Republican .National Committee said to day a survey of some of the American troops in England by four reserve officers friendly to the GOP showed a ma jority of the expeditionary forces favored the Republican ——■— - ■■ i ... — . in tbo 10dd nrocirlontial •nip. TAX BILL TO GET ITS FOURTH TEST Sharply Disputed Measure To Be Called Up In The Senate WASHINGTON, Jan. 9. — (fP) — The $2,275,600,000 tax increase bill will be put to its fourth big test in Congress this week under cir cumstances. which bar its propos ed sharp excise tax boosts from taking effect before March 1. Already approved by the House but later amended by the Senate finance committee, the sharply disputed measure will be called up in the Senate this week, Finance Chairman George (D-Ga) announc ed. However, he disclosed that he would not seek action on the con troversial proposed amendments to the war contracts renegotiation law, written into the tax bill, be fore Jan. 17, in order to accom modate Senator McKellar (D-Tenn) who has been ill. McKellar has frequently praised operation of the present law. Since a minority of the finance committee has filed a report cri ticizing the renegotiation amend ments, debate on that section may be lengthy. The section covering the excise tax increases—estimated to yield an additional $1,011,100,000 a year —provides that the new rates shall take effect on the first day of the first month which begins more than 10 days after enactment of the act. No one in Congress has suggest ed that the bill can be cleared to the White House by Jan. 20. George announced he would ask the Senate to vote first on a com whirh WOllld freeze the Social Security tax for the rest of 1944 at its current level ot 1 per cent each on employers and employes. He said he would call up next the strictly revenue features of the measure, including excise boosts which would send the tax on hard liquor up to $9 a gallon, the rates on furs, jewelry and cosmetics to 20 per cent, and the admissions tax to a penny on ev ery nickel of charge. The bill would hit individual (Continued on Page Three; Col. 8) Solon Declares Ship Launched With Crack In Hull, Full Of Putty ■ SEATTLE, Jan. 9. —UP)— The Liberty ship Chief Washakie, Rep. Warren G. Magnuson (D-Wash) said tonight, was “launched with a crack in her hull that had been daubed full of red lead putty and covered over with paint.” The Chief Washakie arrived in Seattle last week from Alaska and the Congressman then disclosed that it had broken open on the voyage and had split twice more after being repaired. The ship arrived here with a split in the side and heavy chains running fore and aft on the fore deck to relieve the “hogging strain” which threatened to snap off the bow. Disclosure of the crack asserted iy launched with the ship was made (Continued on Page Five; Col. 1) ture, and not the “new deal” ad ministration. as claimed by some Democrats in Congress. Spangler said the survey wa: made at his request by some cap tains and lieutenants known b; him and formerly identified wit! the Republican organization. He would not name them, but said the poll, taken in a casual way if the course of their regular activi ty, covered about four “scatterec battalions.” A battalion of infan try is about 900 men. The GOP chairman receivec newsmen -at a press conference preliminary to tomorrow’s opening session of national committeemer and state leaders to plan for the coming campaign and pick a, con vention city and date. Spangler said all indication; pointed to the convention being held at Chicago the latter part o June. The last convention, in Phil adelphia. began June 24. The tijne and place will be selected Tuesday with tomorrow’s executive ses sion of national and state chief; given over to “family” campaigr discussions and an address b; Spangler in the afternoon. Tomorrow night. Rep. Charle: A. Halleck of Indiana, new chair man of the House Republicat Campaign Committee, w-ill addres: a dinner at the Stevens hotel. Spangler said an arrangement; committee to recommend a key noter and permanent chairman anc plan the mechanical end of th< convention would be set up Tues day and meet informally Wednes day morning. “I don’t think the soldier vot< is more Democratic than Republi can,” the GOP chairman told re porters as presidential candidacies continued to highlight the hote lobby talk among the party lead ers from the 48 states. “We have surveyed that and the conclusion is that it will vote about the same as the people ir civil life. Our latest figures sbov (Continued on Page Three; Col. " Worst Disaster Of War Threatens 700,000 Nazis In Southern Russia; Allies Puncture Cassino Defenses - *___ j. _ BLOWS THROWN BACK Germans Hurl In Reserves To Halt Advance On 10 Mile Line ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Al giers, Jan. 9.—CP)—American and British infantry have punched one third of the way through the pow erful six-mile Nazi defense belt guarding Cassino, it was announc ed toda»r hurling back strong Ger man counter-blows in advances which resulted in the capture of the hamlet of Giusto and took the Allies to a mountainside a mile below Cervaro. Terrific mountain battles, unlike any seen in this war since the Italians and Greeks fought in the ravines of Albania three years ago. developed as the Germans hurled reserves into the struggle to halt the Allied advance on a 10 mile front toward Cassino. the stronghold 70 miles south of Rome. Despite heavy losses, the Fifth Army pried the Nazis out of deep trenches and log-lined dugouts, and field reports placed the most advanced Allied elements about four miles from Cassino itself. Allied airplanes surging out yi the greatest waves in weeks pounded home a double blow on an aircraft plant at Reggio Emilia German forces in Yugoslavia, and nipped targets in southern France in intruder forays. American infantrymen pushing on from San Vittore seized the village of Giusto half a mile far ' ther on after a short house-to house battle, and reached Montt Lc Chiaia, 1,500-fdot peak just south of Cervaro. four miles south | east of Cassino. Other Allied for ces closed in on Cervaro from Mt. ! Maio to the northeast. : To the southwest. Fifth Army men worked up 900-foot Mt. Por | chia, two miles southwest of fal 1 len San Vittore, and its sister peak Mt. Cedro less than a mile away. Despite the German counterat : tacks. Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark’s ‘ offensive had not slackened in the last 100 hours. But only direct hits by heavy ; bombs and shells could penetrate the enemy dugouts and defenses 1 strung across the mountains and ' into the plains around Cassino and the infantrymen had to fight 1 through machinegun fire and i ' minefields to win the strongpoints one-by-pne at heavy cost. 1 The Germans brought up parts 1 of the Hermann Goering division, held in reserve, to support their counterattacks. The Germans were shoved back 1 in one fierce assault they staged against Mt. Maio. On the Eighth Army front, there I was only patrol activity and artil lery fire as snow began to thaw in the coastal area. New Zealand Maoris wiped out one enemy pa i trol. Headquarters announced that ' Belgian, Polish, and British com (Continued on Page Five; Col. 3) Today and Tomorrow - By WALTER LIPPMANN - It would have been better, no doubt, if the remarks, about strikes prolonging the war had first been made directly to the labor leaders face to face rather than broadcast anonymously. I was present when the remarks were made, and I have no doubt myself that if the leaders had had a chance to hear not only the broad conclusion but had been able to ask questions and have the matter thoroughly explained to them, they would see the point. For it is evident from what the labor leaders have said in reply that they honestly do not under stand how strikes and the threat of strikes may prolong the war. When they do understand it, they will not quibble over whether the effect has been to prolong the war six months, six weeks or even six days. * * * While the speaker was making his remarks, I recalled an incident which after twenty-five years is still a terrible reminder of how tragic can be the effect of the thoughtlessness of a civilian upon the lives of soldiers. I was then an intelligence officer attached to Colonel House’s mission in Paris which was arranging the armistice of 1918. The Germans were ready to surrender but there had to be formal agreement by the Allies be fore the terms could be submitted to the Germans. On the front tremendous battles were raging, * and each day of battle was costing thousands of casualties. One of the principal delegates, not British or French, had to postpone his de parture for Paris by twenty-four hours. I forget the exact reason if I ever knew it; whatever the reason, it had to do with domestic affairs in his country. As a result the armistice came one day later than it might have come. Not long after the armistice my duty took me away from Paris to what had been the American sector of the western front. One day I stopped at an American cemetery out there, and on some twenty or thirty graves there were markers showing that the soldiers who were buried there had fallen on the very morning of the de layed armistice. That is what time costs in war, and that is why it is the sacred duty of every civil ian to do nothing, however impor tant or righteous he may feel about it, which does actually or could possibly distract, delay, overburden the leaders and com manders charged with the re sponsibility of pushing the war to its conclusion. * * * Tijg man who made the remarks on Jtw year’s Eve knows more ab«* the awful reality of war, ani Cf this war, than any living American. Why is he so profoundly convinced that these evidences (Continued on Page Five; Col. 1) WESTERN REICH IS RAIDED ANEW = T T Berlin Radio Says Ancient City Of Aachen Among Nazi Targets LONDON, Jan. 9.—(.T) — RAF Mosquito bombers, maintaining the Allied pace that has sent war planes over Germany every night of the new year, roamed the west ern Reich fur their eighth consec utive night last night and the Ber lin radio said the ancient western city of Aachen was among their targets. The Vichy radio network cover ing several stations in southern France went off the air tonight. Morning channel watchers re ported limited activity over the misty Dover Straits today, but the bomb-weary munitions workers of Germany and the occupied coun tries apparently were unmolested oy neavy Amea aayngm Domoers for the second straight day. There have been no American heavy bomber operations since Fri day’s strong attack on a southwest ern German target which neutral reports described as a “death blow” to the poison gas compo nents plants at Ludwigshafen. The RAF’s heavy bombers have not been out in force since Nazi shipping and the harbor at Stettin, Baltic port, were dealt a crippling blow Wednesday night—to make respite from concentrated attacks one of the longest the Germans have enjoyed since the round-the clock offensive began three weeks ago with thousands of bombers and fighters shuttling across the channel. Aachen, highly-industrial city of 160,000 population lying within a few miles of the common bounda ry of Germany. Belgium and the Netherlands, has been raided nu IContinued on Page Five; Col. 2) I Officer Who Flew It Sings The Praises Of New,Rocket Plane WASHINGTON, Jan. 9— (A>) — The Army Air Forces indicated today that one of the chief handi caps in the use of any new weapon against an enemy—the need for long training of personnel — has been avoided in the revolutionary jet-propelled combat plane. Brig. Gen. B. W. Chidlaw, chief of the Army Air Forces materitl division, suggested this in a dis cussion of some of the flying chan acteristics of the new propeller less plane which the AAF and Britain’s RAF announced last Thursday. In a brief address dur ing the Army hour broadcast over NBC network, Chidlaw told of his impressions while flying the plane. “I found,” he said, “it acted as most conventional planes do. (Continued on Page Five; Col. 8) 4 Tin Tube Ruling Relaxed By WPB WASHINGTON, Jail. 9. —iJP) — Purchasers of tooth paste, shaving cream and other goods packed in collapsible metal tubes will not be required to turn in a used tube before receiving a full one after March 1, the War Production Board announced today. Used tubes were chiefly im portant for their tin salvage value, the WPB said. Since the tin content was reduced last year, the tubes now being turn ed in yield less tin. . The production agency urged that consumers continue to turn in used tubes on a volun tary basis after March 1, es pecially old tubes purchased a a year or more ago, which have a high salvage value. MID-PACIFIC JAP BASE IS POUNDED • PEARL HARBOR, Jan. 9—TS*)— Seventh Army Air Force Sve bombers raided Mili Atoll in the. Marshall islands Friday ana the Japanese immediately retaliated by attacking Tarawa in the Amer ican held Gilberts, Admiral Ches ter W. Nimitz announced today. The Japanese caused no damage on Tarawa. The attack was made at night, as usual. Nimitz did not disclose the damage caused at Mili, where the Japanese airbase presumably was the target of the | Uive i/uarucia. Navy fighter planes escorted the dive bombers but the Japanese offered no aerial opposition. Heavy interception has never been en countered in any of the 18 raids on Mili, closest airbase in the Marshalls to the Gilberts. The announcement: “Dive bombers of the 7th AAF, accompanied by Navy fighters, at tacked Mili atoll in the Marshall islands on January 7 (West Longi tude date). No fighter interception was encountered. In the evening of January 7 enemy planes drop ped bombs at Tarawa without damage to our installations.” ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD QUARTERS, New Guinea, Mon day, Jan. 10—(/R—American Ma rines are pressing the ground at tack against the Japanese in the Borgen Bay area of Cape Glou cester, New Britain, while ctRer Marines south of the airdrome have met the enemy in patrol clashes. The attack at Borgen Bay was conducted by Leathernecks after a reorganization of their forces, a spokesman at Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters satff to day. Patrol clashes south of the air drome occurred in an area where the Marines had advanced subse quent to capture of this important field Dec. 30. Liberator bombers of the South (Continued on Pagte Five; Col. 3) GERMAN RETREAT CALLED CHAOTIC Nazi High Commander's Plans For Withdrawal Went Awry STOCKHOLM, Jan. 9—W—The German army’s westward flight across the Russian Ukraine “could be described as chaotic today,” because the high command's plans for a methodical retreat went awrv when the Red aimy struck suddenly and swiftly in numerous offensives. Berlin correspondents said. A slow and organized retreat had been prepared, but the swift Russian smashes tangled German communications and caught them with insufficient air support and a shortage of fuel nil. the news paper Svenska Dagbladet’s Berlin correspondent, wrote German military spokesmen gravely aamiuea to oweaisn news papers today that their armies are fleeing during “one of the decisive hours of the war,” in a desperate battle upon which “the outcome of the whole war de pends.” “Such a tone has never been used before by a German spokes man,” observed Svenska Dagbla det’s correspondent. From a source in a position to obtain accurate information con cerning the German war machine, and whose observations have been corroborated from other sources, came this “inside picture” of the eastern front: “The German general staff was completely astounded at the in creasing strength of the Russians, particularly by their persistent massing of tanks and infantry. “The general staff was partially prepared for a retreat, but their (Continued on Fage Five: Col. ) REDS NEAR RUMANIA Powerful Annies Sweep Through 110 More Towns LONDON, Monday, May 10—(fl —The Red army struck to within 33 miles of the main German es cape railway between Odessa and Warsaw yesterday with the cap- * ture of Zhornishche, threatening to inflict the war’s worst disaster on 700,000 Germans in southern Russia. Two powerful armies under Gen. erals Nikolai F. Vatutin and Ivan S. Konev swept through 110 more towns and hamlets, killed 2,300 Germans in two actions alone, beat off scattered enemy counter attacks, and captured immense booty, said a Moscow-broadcast communique recorded by the So viet monitor. The Russians were disclosed to have crossed into the last pro vince short of the Rumanian hor der, 65 miles beyond their spear heads; they had hammered back the Germans on a 40-mile front in old Poland where their deep est penetration was 30 miles, and had tightened the trap already being fashioned for a huge seg ment of German forces pinned into the Smela-Kanev sector of the Dnieper bend. The rail junctions of Sarny, Shepetovka, Vinnitsa, Khristinov ka, Smela and lesser points all were threatened with early seiz ure by the advancing Russians, •vho were folding back the Ger mans toward the Carpathian mountains, and thus splitting the enemy's southern units from his armies in central Russia. Moscow reports said fresh Hun. garian troops had reached the front in an attempt to bolster the I lattered troops under German Field Marshal Gen. Fritz Erich Von Mannstein. A total of 105 German tanks, however, was declared destroyed in two days by the Russians, and 78 enemy planes were knocked down in the same period. Soviet airmen were aiding the | Russian ground surge toward the | vital Warsaw-Odessa line, de airport at Vinnitsa, 20 miles above Zhmerinka, a junction on the trunk railway. Buki, a district center in the Kiev region only 12 miles north of the Smela-Khristinovka-Vapny. arka railway, was among the towns seized by General Vatutin’s forces. The Russians also were threatening to cut that subsidiary German escape route near Khris* tinovka far to the southwest. Inside old Poland the Russians were reported within five miles of Sarny, a junction on the Wilno Rovno line, whose seizure would force the Germans to rely for north-south communications on railways meeting at Brest-Litovsk, 130 miles farther west. In their spreading drive across Poland’s pre-war frontier, the Russians also seized Bereznya, 22 miles southeast of Sarny, and 23 miles inside Poland. Attacking along a 450-mile front from near Sarny, key rail junc iiL.ii oj inues msiae old woiand, to the Kirovograd sector in the Dnieper Bend to the southeast, the Russians not only were within striking distance of the Warsaw Odessa trunk railway, but also were nearing the several feeder rail lines leading to it out of the Dnieper Bend. Moscow dispatches said the col lapse of all German forces in the Dnieper Bend, estimated to num ber from 500,000 to 750.000 men, ' (Continued on Page Five; Col. 5) Two North Carolina Boys Ready For Japs—Seven Shot Down Manned and ready on a 40mm anti-aircraft gun of a Marine defense battalion in the southwest Pa cific, this pair of North Carolina Marines, Corn. Richard S. Ruth of Charlotte, (left) (624 Marsh Road), and Pfc. John H, Dillard of Hays, near North Wilkesboro, await a visit from the Japs. The white squares on the gun indicate seven planes shot down. Jap flags will be painted in later. (AP photo). Present War With Japan Is Only, At Its B est, A Limited Offensive By HAROLD STREETER Associated Press War Writer The war with Japan among the Pacific's islands is, even in its present stages, a limited offen sive. That is a most important fact to bear in mind white studying re ports well sprinkled with referen ces to “invasion forces,” “amphib ious operations,” “aerial assaults” and “fierce jungle battles.” It helps one keep his balance. The references are correctly used. Since Dec. 15, invasion for ces of the United States Sixth £r my in amphibious operations have landed at two points on New Brit ain island and at one point on northeastern New Guinea; there have been telling aerial assaults in support of these; and there have been fierce jungle battles during which more than 2,000 Japanese were slain and several thousand more wounded as against compar atively light American casualties. It likewise is true that the in vasion of New Britain opens the most important phase of opera tions to date in the Southwest Pa cific, because that island bars the sea approaches to the Philippines and the Carolines. But the landings at Arawe and Cape Gloucester, New Britain, and at Saidor, New Guinea, are mere shadows of things to come. Japan has betrayed knowledge of this (1) by hesitance in hitting back with anything like the power of which she is capable and (2) by her increased resort to radio “feelers.” A few days ago, Tokyo broad casts made much of a purported massing of American forces in the Aleutians, supposedly for an inva (Continued on Page Three; Col. 4)
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