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FORECAST NORTH CAROLINA: Friday cloudy with showers and not quite so warm in west portion. Mostly cloudy and continued warm in east portion. . __ . _ - - VOL 77.—NO. 49 __WILMINGTON, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1944 __FINAL EDITION_ESTABLISHED 1867-t 500 Additional Nazi War Prisoners Due At Camp Davis T oday ANNOUNCEMENT made Men Are AH Selected For Good Conduct, Willing ness To Work Five hundred German prisoners 0f war are scheduled to arrive at Camp Davis today, and will be quartered in the recently erected stockade in Maple Hill, Area A, it was announced by Colonel Adam F. Potts, camp commander. The prisoners, all selected for good conduct and willingness to work at a base prison war camp, will be put to work immediately at numerous and varied tasks which do not contribute directly to the prosecution of the war. Two weeks ago yesterday, Felix A Scroggs, manager of the local office of United States Employ ment Service, stated that there was a possibility of getting some additional prisoners of war assign ed to this area, as the War Depart ment seemed very anxious that all prisoners of war be put to work as soon as possible. No Trouble Scroggs also revealed, contrary to many rumors in this vicinity at that time, that there had been no trouble what so ever with the Germans. “There has been no es capes or attempted escapes by the men, and we are certainly proud of this record”, he said. Monday, of this week, law en forcement officers and officials of the prisoner of war camp on the Carolina Beach road joined in a blanket denial of the hundred of rumors to the effect that German ! prisoners are escaping from the heavily fortified camp. “To our knowledge, not a single prisoner has escaped from the place,” Sheriff C. David Jones an nounced, after conferring with the State Highway Patrol, and the Ar my personnel in charge of the camp. Public Aid Asked “We are asking the public to quell all the baseless sports of escapes. These are working a hard ship on the county police, the sher iff’s office, the city police, and the State Highway Patrol, as well as (Continued on Page Five; Col. 1) TAXI OPERATORS WARNED BY ODT Southeastern taxi-cab operators who have defied ODT rules by ex ceeding their daily allotment of gasoline will not be granted sup plemental gasoline to operate their equipment when present quotas ; are exhausted the Wilmington District Office of Defense Trans portation announced Thursday. Present gasoline allotments for taxis do not expire until March 31, but already many taxi firms are running out of gasoline and appealing for additional supplies, George T. Musselman, ODT dis trict manager in Wilmington, said. Every taxi-cab operator inxthe Wilmington district has teen granted gasoline necessary to serve-the emergency needs of the public,” Musselman declared. ‘The ODT, however, has not made available gasoline for taxi cab operators to make trips to roadhouses, places of amusement or long distance jaunts which are in no way essential to the war effort or to the maintenance of essential civilian economy.” The ODT manager said, “if taxi operators continue to seek such business and use their supplies of gasoline to handle it, it is inevit able but that the public will suf i. for when taxi allotments are ex hausted long before a new supply is available.” In conclusion he said, "if, as now seems likely, taxis lie idle for lack of gasoline in many com munities, it is only fair that the public know that such conditions exist because the adequate sup plies which have been allotted have been wasted by many taxi firms.” f ■■ ■ ■ - .. I - Quads Reported BomTooInS.A. BUENOS AIRES, March 16.—(A>) —Quadruplets were born in a hos pital here today to Senora Celio Giachino De Angiulli even while questions persisted as to the au thenticiey of the previously report ed Dligenti quintuplets. The oldest of the quadruplets born to the 38-year-old Senora De Anguilli died tonight. A girl, she had weighed slightly more than two pounds. The others, a girl and two boys, ranged up in weight to two pounds 12 ounces. Meanwhile, a search of vital sta tistics failed to show any regis tration of the birth of quintuplets here, although Argentine law (Contihned on Page Five; Col. 3) GOVERNORS STUDY VOTING MEASURE Broughton Says Election Has The Power To OK Federal Ballot By The Associated Press Governors of three states—Cali fornia, Maryland and Kansas—as sured President Roosevelt yester day that their state’s laws will per mit use of Federal ballots for service voting. At least eight others, an Asso ciated Press survey showed, were ieady to give him qualified as surance that any required changes in state laws will be made. Most of the governors, however, still had the question in the study stage. They were awaiting copies of the soldinr voting bill, or opin ions from state legal authorities, before replying to Mr. Roosevelt’s telegraphed questionnaire. -The President, indicating theit replies would guide his decision whether to approve or veto the service vote measure Congress has passed, asked the governors two question^ yesterday: 1. Whether use of Federal bal lots, as provided in the bill, is authorized by state law, and, 2. If not, whether the governor thought steps would be taken in time to make use of the ballots legal. The survey shewed governors oi these states prepared to say they thought such steps would be tak en: Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Nebraska, Vermont, Indiana, and New Mexico. In addition, Governor J. M. Broughton of North Carolina ad vised that his state’s election board had full authority to author ize the use of the ballots. The im plication was that it would do so, although he did not attempt to commit the board. Governor Simeon Willis said Kentucky would ‘‘do everything possible” to assist soldier voting. Several of the governors reach, ed in the survey indicated they thought the question of Federal bal lots was unimportant, so far as their states were concerned, say ing they considered state absentee ballot laws adequate. -V Liberty Ship Honoring Confederate General To Be Launched Soon — , SAVANNAH, Ga., March 16. —(JP)—A Liberty ship bearing the name of Confederate Gen eral Francis S. Bartow of Sa vannah, is scheduled to be launched by the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation on or near Confederate Memorial Day. Sponsor for the ship will be Virginia Walton Purse, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wal ter B. Purse, her father being a past commander of the Francis S. Bartow camp. Mrs. Lucille Taylor Johnson, a des cendant of Jefferson Davis and wife of Brig. Gen. Leon W. Johnson, bomb wing comman der now in England, will act as matron of honor. Over 70 Nazi Planes Shot » Down In Raid SPECTACULAR FIGHTS Southern Germany Pound ed In Great Strength By Americans LONDON, March 16—(P—Ameri can fliers attacking southern Ger many in great strength fought one of the most spectacular aerial battles of the war today in a smashing seqtel to record RAF night raids on Stuttgart and other targets by more than 1,000 heavy bombers which dropped a stagger, ing 3,360 tons of bombs. The Germans threw up a power ful defense fighter force which for the first time used swift four engined planes and fired rockets in mass, but the American fight ers alone shot down 76 of the Nazis against a loss of 13. The German bag of American bomb ers was 22. Very Great Strength The U. S. Army communique said that the American Flying Fortresses and Liberators flew out in “very great strength,” indicat ting that the force in this latest daylight attack probably was as strong as the armada which at tacked Berlin on March 6. Similar phraseology was used in the war bulletin on that raid and the cor respondents later were permitted to estimate the number of the heavy bombers at roughly 850. The American fighters in their 6-to-l victory were only 7 short of their all-time one-day record of 83 German fighters downed in attacks on Berlin x earlier this month. The Brussels radio left the air late 'tonight, indicating the RAF might be carrying the attack into another night. Targets Given Berlin said the American tar gets, bombed through clouds, were the aircraft city of Augsburg and (Continued on P^e Seven; Col. 1) FDR STEPS INTO FINNISH DISPUTE WASHINGTON, March 16.—(£>)— President Roosevelt, appealing di rectly to the Finnish people to end tne “hateful partnership” with Germany, today threw the weight of his office into eleventh-hour Bri tis’--American efforts to persuade If inland to accept Moscow’s peace terms Although Finnish parliamentary action was construed in Stockholm and other capitals as tantamount to rejection of Soviet armistice proposals, it is understood that this government has received no such official interpretation and still bolds the'hope that Finland will not close the door to a way out of the war . Th.'.s hope was apparent in Mr. Roosevelt’s appeal, made by him in the name of all Americans. “It has always seemed odd to me and to the people of the Uni ted Siates,” he said in a statement, “to find Finland a partner of Nazi Germany, fighting side by side with the sworn enemies of our civiliza tion. “Tne Finnish people now have a chance to withdraw from this hateful partnership. The longer they stay at Germany’s side, the more sorrow and suffering is bound to come to them. I think I can speak for all Americans when I say that we sincerely hope Fin lani will now take the opportunity to disassociate herself from Ger many ' . . The Chief Executive’s statement was broadcast throughout the day in Scandinavian languages and on short wave transmitters beam ed to Finland, Sweden. Norway and Denmark. TROOPS RECALLED STOCKHOLM. March 16. The Bulgarian army command has recalled Bulgarian occupation troops from northeastern Serbia, a Swedish press dispatch from Sofia £5 today. No reason was given. I Civilian Internees Tell Of Nazi Tourtures AsThey L eaveGripsholm 11 _ JERSEY CITY, N. J., March 16. —Ul—From tortured Europe today came bitter, tales of starvation, in quisition, privation and of dogged hope that the day of an avenging invasion was near. The stories were brought back by non-official repatriates on the Swedish diplomatic exchange liner Gripsholm, who were being disem i tarked slowly. But while the proc ess dragged, they were patient in the knowledge that soon they I would be free—many to see Amer ica tor the first time. By midafternoon about 400 of the 662 passengers had left the ship, but 310 of them were cleared last night with the official party of diplomatic attaches, Red Cross personnel, newspapermen and wounded servicemen. Navy offi cials said the task of clearance would last well into tomorrow. ■ Those who came ashore gave vivid pictures of Europe downtrod. den by Nazism. One came from 26-year-old Marie Tomczak, of Pittsburgh, Pa., who arrived shab bily dressed in ersatz clothing. She had reached Poland to be married just two weeks before the German campaign which obliter ated the country. Her fiance fell in Daiue, duu oiiv- w— by the gestapo and Nazi soldiery, fled to the countryside, slept in barns, only to be picked up finally and interned at Liebenau for al most two years. She came back with a definite purpose—to get a war job or join the WACs. In Vittel Interment Camp in France, the food was invariably bad, the internees there said—an endless procession of potatoes, parsnips, old carrots and more po tatoes. In Tittmoning Camp, Bav aria, there was one meal a day, (Continued on P»ip Two; Col. t) 410 U.S. Troops And 23 Planes Destroyed By Mistake At Sicily; Allies Mopping Up In Cassino TOWN IS DEMOLISH - Some Rep 40**“ ^ _> ' ' rJjjJ',i%T. pies, March -\fi)—Allied troops had occupied three-fourths of stra tegic Cassino tonight after Fifth Army sappers blew a path through the demolished town, field dis patches said, and were mopping up pockets of Germans. Some groups of Germans appar ently had reentered the wreckage after the. shattering of this town, which lies on the road to Rome, by yesterday’s. 2,500-ton bomb as sault. Foot By Foot Devastation wrought by the air and accompanying artillery bom bardment handicapped the ad vance of Allied infantry and tank units, which were forced to poke their way foot-by-foot through the wreckage. . . In a dispatch datelined “With The Fifth Army at Cassino,w Lynn Heinzerling, Associated Press Cor respondent, said that while Allied soldiers fought surviving Germans in the southern part of the town, other attack units were clawing their way up monastery hill and seemed to be nearing their goal— the Nazi-occupied ruins of its Ben edictine Abbey. Allied gunners poured hundreds of high explosive and smoke shells into the already battered abbey, he said, explaining that the smoke shells were aimed at cutting off German observation of Allied ac tivities in the valley before the town. Germans Cling Though shaken by the deluge of steel from planes and guns, Ger man parachute troops who siuv vived the blasting clung despetf ately to the ghost town, seeking to delay as long as possible their retreat westward along the Via Casilina toward Rome. From the surrounding hills German multi barreled mortars poured a steady fire into the ruins of Cassino. Allied officers doubted the ene my could hold out long in the few steel - and - concrete strongpoints that escaped destruction. With all the «town’s buildings flattened, these emplacements stood out starkly and were exposed to the (Continued on Page Five; Col. 2) _rr_ ITALIAN FIGHTING SAID A SUCCESS WASHINGTON, March 16—W— Allied forces have accomplished their strategic goals in Italy. War Secretary Stimson declared to day, blaming the weather — not German resistance — for slowing the pace of the campaign. He answered recent criticisms of the Italian progress with a news conference summary listing six basic Allied objectives as accom plished facts. He threw in an op timistic report of the fighting on other fronts. As an example of the war against Italian weather, Stimson said Wednesday’s saturation bom bing of Cassino has been on the books for two weeks—held up only by the train- snow and mud ham pering Allied aircraft. Stimson said the Allies have done these things they set out to do ir. Italy: Knocked the Italians out of the war as an Axis weapon, opened the Mediterranean to unhampered Allied shipping, seized southern Italian airports thus giving our .airfleets access to the Balkans, taken over much of the Adriatic, kept 19 German divisions out of the Russian fighting by pinning them to the Italian campaign, in flicted enemy losses substantially heavier than cur own. -V OPEN SALES OF PA GOODS ASKED WASHINGTON, March 16—W— Demanding open market sales of surplus government property, Rep. Cochran (D-Mo) said today a gov ernment employe had purchased two lots of over-age dry cell bat teries from the Army, one for $15 and one for $65, and part of them were resold later for $20,000. Cochran told the house a pre liminary investigation by the Army showed no fraud or collu sion, but that regulations govern ing sale and disposal of salvaged Army property were being tighten ed. The Missourian gave the house this account: The batteries, all over age and (Continued on Page Two; Col. *) r I ON March 17, 1942, Gen. .TTITITI I I l"T tl 1 II I 1 1'T f II I 1 M Douglas MaeArthur ar--land TAKEN'BY JAPAN nved in Australia from the-from OTHER NATIONS Philippines, vowing that he-SINCE PEARL HARBOR would return to recapture_|_12,248,000 sq. mi. _ those islands from the Jap-_i i i i i i i_ anese. This map and chart_ shew how far MaeArthur— I I I I I I 1 1 I I I I I I 11 I I I III l.l and central Pacific land, and Q ~ZZZZ_ sea forces-have gone toward —— 13 55a fiHfiHmant Of that pledge. .A*™ u- S’ .11 I AomU L *** 117,500 sq. mi. 45,000 sq. mi. AP features I Land-Based Bombers Assault Truk As Infantrymen Invade Manus Isle -* - ---- DRAFT OUTLOOK GROWING DARKER War Production Will Be Sacraficed To Get Men For The Army WASHINGTON, March 16.—OF)— To build a young man’s army, the high command has decided to sac rifice war production if necessary, the steel industry was informed to day by Chairman Donald M. Nel son of the War Producton Board. Military requirements call for the combat use of virtually every available able-bodied man in the country under 26, Nelson was quot ed—by highly reliable sources—as telling a olosed meeting of the Steel Industry Advisory Committee. An official account of Nelson’s message, released later, gave a rephrased version but quoted Nel son as declaring that the Army and Navy need men and “they must get the men, even if it means losing production.” The steelmen were informed, it was officially revealed that they must expect “severe manpower losses” in the next few months be cause of the draft. Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey, who also addressed (Continued on Page Five; Col. 2) TT CHURCHILL READY FOR CHARTER ROW LONDON, March 16.—(fl—Prime Minister Churchill today dared critics of the Atlantic Charter pol icy to test the governments strength with a vote of confidence in Commons. Churchill declared confidently that if they wished to call for a censure vote, he was ready to take up the challenge at any time. . The issue was originally raised in a motion signed by 70 mem 1 bers of Commons, asking debate to determine whether recent state ments of Churchill and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden suggest ing Polish territorial adjustments ; to meet Russian demands reflect ed abandonment of the principles of the Atlantic Charter. Although this motion is not . sponsored by any organized polit 1 ical party,” said Churchill, taking up the issue quickly, *neverthe [ less it is couched in hostile terms, is signed by 70 members and wears the aspect of a vote of cen , sure.” Experienced parliamentary ob i servers doubted that the motion’s backers would carry their move ► J to a censure vote. MacArthur Is Reported In Good Military Position On 2nd Aniiversary By LEONAItD MILLIMAN Ass°ciated Press War Editor American amphibious forces in vaded Manus island, largest of the Admiralty group in the Southwest Pacific, Wednesday, while land based Liberators made their first raid on Truk presaging frequent bombings of Japan’s greatest Cen tral Pacific stronghold. Infantrymen splashed ashore on Manus under the cover of a heavy barrage from warships, planes and artillery, the latter firing from nearby islands. Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur reported today. The invad ers suffered only minor losses as they pushed to within half a mile of Lorengau airdrome, the only one in the Admiralty group that (Continued on Page Five; Col. 3) -V Joan’s Paternity Suit Must Be Tired, Court Of Appeals Declares LOS ANGELES, March 16.-(#) — Joan Berry’s paternity suit against Film Producer - Actor Charles Chaplin must go to trial despite defense objections, the Dis trict Court of Appeals held today. The appellate court denied ChaD lin’s petition for a writ of man date to compel superior court to dismiss the civil^suit, brought by his former protege, who claims he is the father of her five months old child, Carol Ann. Defense attorneys held that Su perior Judge Stanley Mosk should have dismissed the suit in accord ance with a previous stipulation sn which all parties agreed that if blood tests indicated the actor was not the child’s father, the suit would be dropped. REDS SEAL OFF BLACK SEA PORT Rail Line Serving Disaster Ridden Nazis In South ern Russia Cut LONDON, March* 16.— UP) —The Red army has cut the Odessa Zhmerinka trunk railway serving hundreds of thousands of disaster ridden Germans in southern Rus sia, sealed off the big Black Sea port of Bikolaev on three sides, and wiped out three encircled Ger man divisions originally estimated at 45,000 men, -Moscow announced tonight. Nikolaev’s capture was believed to be imminent. Vapnyarka, 25 miles from the Dniester River frontier of Ruma nia’s Bessarabian territory, fell on Wednesday to Marshal Ivan S. Ko nev’s victorious Second Ukraine ar my, said an order of the day is sued by Premier-Marshal Stalin. Whole trainloads of equipment were seized and the Russians push ed on to envelop 32 more localities in the drive toward Rumania, a later communique said. The seizure left the Germans to the east only two slender rail es cape routes into Rumania, and the Russians now drawing within artillery range of pre-war Ruma nia apparantly were seeking to crash into that country and head off the retreat of huge German forces falling back in confusion on Odessa. A total of 176 towns and villages were taken during the day by two Soviet armies, Moscow said, while in the Proskurov sector near the old Polish border the Russians still were beating down fierce German counterattacks. Tarnopol, inside (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3) LONG KEPT SECRET Sergeant Breaks Military Censorship To Tell 01 , Incident At Gela WASHINGTON, March 16.—(fl— The loss of 410 American airborne infantrymen in 23 transport planes shot down by antiaircraft fire from their own ground and naval forces during the invasion of Sicily was disclosed today by the army after a sergeant broke the military censorship which kept the incident secret eight months. Without explanation of the se crecy previously Imposed, an of ficial memorandum was issued de scribing the mistake which occur red as airborne reinforcements were being flown into the Gela sector the night of July 10-11, 1943. ‘‘Some 20 Planes” Sergeant Jack Foisie, a corre spondent of the army’s overseas newspaper Stars and Stripes, made the first public announcement of the affair in a speech yesterday to San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club. Foisie said “some 20 of our planes went down” from Allied an ti-aircraft fire. Asked about the sergeant’s state, ment at his press conference to day, Secretary of War Stimson re plied that incidents of that nature had occurred during the war, but that he was unable to give details of the particular case and “did not recognize the figures” used by Foi. sie. Reports of the Sicilian incident had been current for several months, although official confirma tion could not be obtained, and the War Department, after re quests were made for a more defi nite reply than the secretary’s, made public several hours later the details of the action. Reinforcements jLne upcxctuuii WAS imcuucu, uic Army said, to land 2,500 troops of the 82nd Airborne Division as re inforcements within the Allied lines in the Gela area. “This force, consisting of 170 air. craft, received anti-aircraft fire from enemy ground forces and from friendly naval and ground forces with losses of 23 aircraft and 410 personnel,” the memoran dum said. “The flight arrived in the battle area immediately following an ene my bombng attack and while their flares were still in the air. “The combination of circum* I (Continued on Page Five; Col. 2) T7 ACTION IS SEEN IN LEAF STRIKE DURHAM, March 16. — (ff*) — Major developments are expected to occur at a meeting of Durham’s 2,400 striking employes of the Am erican tobacco company when they gather tomorrow night at a session which likely will mar^ tha turning point in the long-drawn out dispute. The exact nature of these devel opments cannot be revealed prior to tomorrow night’s session, but it is expected that they will be such that Durham’s strike of tobacco workers will end by the early part of next week. Conferences between leaders of the local units of the Internation al Tobacco Workers Union of Am erica and other American Fed eration of Labor officials have been going on virtually continu ously for the past week. Though the precise contents of the information which will be giv en to the union membership to morrow night cannot be disclosed at this time, it is believed by most informed sources here that the workers will return to their Jobs —on the basis of Friday night’s developments—and that the case will go to the National War La bor Eoard for ultimate settlement. Welfare Group Says County Silent On Recommendations F or Local Home Although the Welfare division of the Council of Social Agencies commended the county govern ment for the improvements now in progress at the juvenile deten tion home and the county home, ' they wanted to know why the ' Board of Commissioners had not filed the answer to the list of recommendations for improve ments made after the gUoup s meeting February 10, and they demanded “more action” as they , met in the Sorosis club-room Thursday morning. ‘Since these recomendations, the welfare body maintains that no answer has been received from the county govern ment. Welfare workers also requested the county government to show cause why the two WPA-construct ed buildings at the county home, now being used for store-houses, can’t be used for the detention of juveniles. The group also has ask ed why the infirmary on the pro perty, discovered only Thursday morning by an investigating group, cannot be used, especially since there is a shortage of hos pital and infirmary space in the city. | Addison Hewlett, Sr., chairman ' 1 I of the Board of Commissioners, explained Thursday afternoon that no answer had been requested by the Welfare division but the mat ter would probably be taken up by the board at the next regular meeting Monday, Mr. Hewlett reveaeld that only recently has a heating plant been installed in the infirmary and it has been impossible to secure other equipment for use in the building. Hospital beds have been ordered for the institution, but have not arrived, said Mr. Hew (Continued on Page Two; Col^
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