Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / May 25, 1944, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
FORECAST A |A| A- ^ ^ ^A -— r*- Humimtfmt USumtutg §>tar Sr —-- -- WILMINGTON, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1944 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867 Ruined Castelforte After Heavy Allied Attack Wisps of smoke still curled up from the shattered town of Castelforte, Italy, when French forces entered on the heels of the retreating Nazis. Before the town was captured it was a link in the Gustav I.i'ir. The effects of the terrific Allied shelling are clearly discernible. This is a 17. S. Signal Corps photo. (International) Churchill Declares Germany May Have Frontiers Reduced - *-. cussing his suggested “world or ganization,” which he said would embody much of the structure of the League of Nations. He spoke with the weight of the entire Bri tish commonwealth behind him, a conference of dominion prime ministers having only a few days ago agreed on such an organiza tion- Japan as well as Germany ■"ere placed by Churchill beyond all hope of negotiation short of utter capitulation. -V--— Harold Bell Wright Dies In California SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 24 Wi—Harold Bell Wright, who left toe pulpit to become one of Amer tea's famed fiction writers, diec today in a Lajolla, Calif., hospi tal He was 72 years old. Wright became ill about tw_( veeks ago and entered the hospi' t=i last week. Death was attributec to bronchial penumonia. His wif< w*s at the bedside when he died Only last month he sold his $71 COO ranch home, known as “Quie BJis Farm,” near Escondidio, 3' miles northeast of here, and mov ®d to San Diego. Will Roge rs Resigns To Enter Army Agaii WASHINGTON, May 24— Iff) - Rep. Will Rogers, Jr., (D.-Calif.) eldest son of the late humoris' | c-'igned from Congress today an lcit to resume active duty wit! the army. 1( Be told a reporter he woul r esumably be sent to a statio overseas.” Moscow Radio Hints Russian Offensive LONDON, Thursday, May 25.—UP)— Possibly signaling a big new offensive on the east ern front, the Moscow radio said in a broadcast to the army today: “Soon you will be call ed on to accomplish the liber ation of Soviet territory and also to liberate other Euro pean nations from the German Fascist oppressor. WAR OF NERVES MORE INT NSE LONDON, May 24.—{^—Broad casts hinting at imminent war developments were transmitted from both Moscow and Berlin to night as Gen. Dwight D. Eisen hower sought to mold Europe’s restless millions into a vast espi onage force to support the inva sion. German editors were ordered ir a DNB statement recorded by the Daily Herald to stand by at 1:30 p.m- (7:30 a.m. Eastern War Time) Sunday for “a possible specia: announcement.” Red army troops, after a five week rest, were advised by the Moscow radio that “soon you wil be called on to accomplish the liberation of Soviet territory anc also to liberate other Europear nations from the German Fascis; oppressor.” | From Eisenhower’s headquarters concise spy instructions were broadcast to the European under i ground. -V Lengthy Legal Debate Slows Sedition Trial WASHINGTON, May 24. — (£>) A maze of legal debate today bog ged down the mass sedition con ! spiracy trial in U. S. Distric I court. Peter Gissibl, 39, German-bori former leader of the Chicago uni ot the German-American bund through whom the proseculior hopes to link pro-Nazi activities ii this country to officials in Germany spent considerable time on the wit ness stand, but answered only : few questions. STEP FORESEEN AS PEACE NEED LONDON. May 24. —(/P)—Prime jfcster Churchill declared today Germany might have her h::: frontiers reduced after Hie r;,:that should seem necessary l:i; ::e peace, and he advocated t postwar "world organization” anted with "overwhelming mili tary power” to keep this peace. h: an exhaustive review of the v, old at war before the House of Genome, s, Churchill specifically i.: ogh diplomatically advised ?po. :. and Turkey that an Allied ilctar,v was coming with or with* i the support of new recruits. ,:;d. declaring that the war has Lee:: growing "less ideological in <.'• aracter." he said "there seems t be a great desire among the people of Britain and Russia to be friends.” Opening a foreign policy debate :.. -he House of Commons, Chur chill spoke for an hour and 25 n inutes. running the gamut of Britain's foreign relations. He said fi'avely and simply that the Bri tish commonwealth end empire had non' discussed and solved all their major immediate problems end were ranged in complete unity with the Allies 'to beat the enemy as soon as possible.” He mentioned only once the ■‘western front” as is is commonly defined, and then to observe jocu larly that “all this talk” of inva sion across the Channel was keep ing Hitler frantic. He gave no hint as to when or where the assault would be. Instead the prime minister de voted much of his speech to dis POST TO SPONSOR TRIBUTE TO DEAD Wilmington Post No. 10 of the | American Legion will sponsor cer emonies in observance of National Memorial Day here on Tuesday, May 30, Edgar L. Bell, chairman of the Memorial Day committee announced yesterday. The exercises are scheduled to begin promptly at 11 a.m. at the World War Memorial monument, Thirteenth and Market streets, where a Legionnaire to be named later will make the Memorial Day address. The tribute to the war dead will immediately follow. The nearest of kin and other relatives of each man or woman killed or who has died in World War 11 is requested to be present at the exercises in order to re ceive the Gold Star Citation of the American Legion which will be pre I sented in a continuation of the ser i vices at the New Hanover High School auditorium following the ex ercises at the monument. About 40 Gold Star Citations will j be presented, and Mr. Bell said ! that the post will be unable to notify the recipients personally since the addresses of many are unknown. He therefore urged rela ! tives to attend the exercises and to j notify the Legion of the names of those not already known to post who are entitled to the citations. In order to make the observance impressive and fitting, Mr. Bell j added, the Legion post asks the cooperation and attendance of all city-county officials, church, pa triotic and civic bodies as well as the entire citizenry of the com munity. -V Patton’s Promotion Blocked In Senate WASHINGTON, May 24. — (JP) — In an echo of the soldier-slapping incident which stirred a sharp con troversy six months ago, the Se . nate military affairs committee to day blocked “indefinitely” the pro ! motion of Lt. Gen. George S. Pat ton, Jr., to the permanent rank of i major general. The committee recommended Se • j nate confirmation of promotions : for 13 other high-ranking officers, but pigeon-holed Patton’s advance. Brutal Killer Murders Detroit Church Worker DETROIT, May 24— UP) — Detectives searcheu the cloist ered Twelth Street Evangelical church tonight for clues to the i brutal killer of attractive Mrs. Jean Long, slain as she work ) ed last night at her duties as pastor’s secretary. Experts of the detective force were assigned to the case as the shocked middle class residential community also was combed for evidence 1 in the mystery. Neighbors could offer little help, how ever. , Presumably the slayer , carried the death weapon ^ away, for none was found aft i er hours of search among the neat pews and rooms of the ! church building, i The stabbed and beaten body of Mrs. Long, 40, was found this morning by the Rev. Newell C. Liesemer, 38-year old pastor who lives with his wife next door to the church. The body, with clothing torn and disarrayed, lay in the aisle leading to the altar. Nearby was found a copy of a news bulletin Mrs. Long had been preparing for mailing to members of the church serv ing in the armed forces. Half a dozen stab wounds were in Mrs. Long’s head and chest. Two teeth were knock ed out. There was no apparent attempt at robbery since her purse containing several dol lars and two valuable rings were found in the basement of fice. An autopsy was to determine if there had been an attempt at rape. HEART OF HITLER LINE CRA CKED; AMERICANS RECAPTURE TERRACINA; W ANZIO TROOPS SLASH APPIAN WAY _ Berlin Target Of Big Planes In Night Raid OTHER CAPITALS HIT Paris, Vienna Blasted As Allies Send Out 7,000 Flights LONDON, Thursday, May 25. — (fP) — Berlin experi enced an air raid alert early today as RAF night bombers apparently followed up a rec ord American-led daylight assault of 7,000 sorties against Fortress Europe. A 4-av.maI .J -r-ri . r-i > -- x i vlu6 X' U CBS bombs Wednesday, the German capital was warned by the Nazi radio of the approaching raiders shortly after midnight. It was the eleven American raid on Berlin. From the Atlantic Wall to points deep in the Balkans, more than 5,500 tons of explosives were drop ped by British-based and Italy based squadrons in the daylight attacks. Seventy - seven German fighters were shot down in fierce sky bat tle. a-"-'" ro’-'- 11 Be-Hn, which was attacked by a strong force of Flying Fortresses from above a cloud, while from all Brit ish-based operations by Americans 3." bombers and 16 fighters were missing, the U. S. strategic a-lr forces announced tonight. A Liberator wing pounced on the Paris area, undefended by the overmatched Nazi air force, and hammered enemy airfields at Melun and Orly to the south and Creil to the northeast, making its bomb runs against ligt* to mode rate flak. In a giantic co-ordinated assault, Allied bombers and fighters from bases in Italy flew 2,700 Sorties, striking in the vicinity of Vienna, at rail links in northern Italy and at other targets in Austria and Yugoslavia. Other fighters and fighter bombers in this sixth straight day of aerial invasion ra’ * —"'lyards and airfields behind the Channel fortifications in occupied France and Belgium. These, with fho hit*. ger raids on Berlin and Paris, add ed up to 4,300 Sorties from Britain. The day’s kill was the largest since May 15, when 125 enemy aircraft were destroyed in attacks on Berlin and Brunswi ' and went further into the plane reserves the Germans are hoarding for D-Day. Fortress gunners claimed 48 Nazi planes in combat over Berlin and fighters bagged ” more. The bomber loss was the heaviest since May 12 when 42 were downed smashing synthetic oil plants around Leipzig. -V Housing Group Purchases Coal Contracts for 4,500 tons of coal for heating units of the Wilming. mington Housing Authority were awarded at a special meeting of the commissioners of the Housing Authority yesterday. Three thousand tons of coal, 1,. 500 tons at $8.85 and 1,500 tons at $7.90, will be obtained from the Springer Coal Co., and 1,500 tons at $8.85 from the North Smith Coal Company. The Housing Authority reported that it had received an open bid for the government for the correc. .tion and installation of metal flues in the demountable housing sec. .tion of Lake Forest and Maffitt Village- The lowest of eight bids $22,465, was received from A. L. Henderson of Charlotte. The bid was referred for further study. An invitation for bids was is sued by the Housing Authority foi the purchase and installation oi 96 coal stokers at Maffitt Village. Date to receive these bids will be sel in the near future. ———V TRIAL POSTPONED GREENSBORO, May 24.—(iP)— Trial of William J. Dunheen, 20, charged with the shotgun slaying of his sweetheart, 17-year-old Laura Reiley, near her home at Gibsonville the morning of May 9, was continued to the June 19 term in Guilford superior court today on motion of defense coun sel, which told Judge Hubert E. Olive, Lexington, presiding, that it had not had sufficient time to prepare its case. ;-;--- * The Pendulum Swings Back Hard This scene, once familiar to Warsaw, Rotterdam, Coventry and Leningrad, regularly takes on another locale now. Rescue workers are shown leading an aged woman from bomb ruins after a raid on Berlin. Here Nazi overlords, it must be remembered, started this type of warfare. The photo is from a neutral source. (International). High School Finals Will Begin Sunday ★ Commencement 'exercises for 277 Seniors of New Hanover High School will begin Sunday afternoon with the Baccalaureate Vesper Ser vice at the First Baptist Church at 4:45 o’clock. As the audience assembles, an organ prelude, the Coronation March from “The Prophet,” by Mayeber, will be played by Organist Henri Emmurian, who also will play the processional, "For All Thy Saints,” by Barnaby. The Reverand Sankey Lee Blan ton, pastor or the church, will sound the call to worship, which will be followed by the singing of America by the congregation. After an interlude during which prayer and choral response will be heard, the New Hanover High School Glee Club will sing Arceldt’s “Give Ear Unto My Prayer.” The Reverend William Crowe, Jr., pastor of the First Presby terian Church, will read the ecrip [ ture prior to the second number scheduled for the Glee Cub, Mo zart’s “Emitte Spirituum Tuum.” Rev. Mr. Crowe will then deliver the baccalaureate sermon, after which the congregation will join in singing “The Son of God Goes Forth to War.” The Benediction and choral re sponse will precede the concluding | organ selections, the National an I them and the class recessional, j Wagner’s “Pilgrim Chorus,” play ed by Mr. Emmurian. Class night has been schedul ed for Thursday evening, June 1, to begin at 8:30. Principal feature of the evening will be a play, “Our Capstone Song We Sing” which will include 18 seniors in its cast of characters. The high school or (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) ALLIED PLANES BOMBARD JAPS SOUTHEAST ASIA HEADQUAR TERS, Kandy, Ceylon, May 24.— (/P)—- Allied fighters and fighter - bombers have shifted.the weight of their attacks to direct support of ground troops which have bottled up the 18th Japanese division around its big bases in north Bur ma, it was announced today. Their blows fell on Myitkyina, where besieged Japanese still had a foothold, on Katkyo, on the Ir rawaddy river bend four miles southward, and on the main Jap anese base in the Mogaung valley at Kamaing to the we*?. The trapped Myitkyina garrison and Japanese forces in the Zigyun Katkyo area counter-attacked but were repulsed by Brig. Gen. Frank Verrill’s Chinese combat troops. This wily jungle fighter was us ing his usual tactics around Myit kvina, cutting interior communica tions after throwing road blocks across the road leading west out of Myitkyina to the Mogaung valley 1,500 Japs Killed In Honan Fighting CHUNGKING, Thursday, May 25—IB—The Japanese forces be sieging Loyang in northwestern Honan province attacked the an cient city fiercely form all sides Tuesday, but were repulsed with more than 1,000 of their troops killed, the Chinese command an nounce<j today. .Another 500 Japanese were kill ed in fighting near Sunghgien, 40 miles south of Loyang, field dis patches said. Yanks Take Terracina Cemetery WITH FIFTH ARMY FORCES IN TERRACINA, May 24—UP)—U. S. Infantrymen smashed through deep-dug German defenses in the tombs and Crypts of Cemetery Hill before Terrancina despite heavy mortar and machine gun fire and captured this large coastal highway town today. The victory climaxed a three day battle. “They had to dig into each hole and bayonet each Jerry out to get the cemetery and that’s what they did,’’ was the way Capt. Jim Miller of Colo nial Beach, Fla., described the bloody combat. Mopping up the last few snipers in this town, some 20 miles from the Anzio beach head, was completed with only a half dozen shots. There was practically no fight at all for the town itself after the vicious struggle which shattered tombstones and opened old graves within the walled cemetery. Pvt. Stansel Durant, of Con way, S. C., fired two bullets at a house in which Germans were supposed to be hiding and out popped seven of the enemy with their hands in the air. The appearance of the ceme tery, with mortars embedded in graves, machine-pistol nests behind mausoleums and even a fully eqquiped signal sta tion in the cemetery chapel gave evidence of the desperate effort of the Germans to hold this town at the edge of the Pontine marshes. Just within the front gate, which bore a Latin inscription meaning “Peace in this place,” the Germans had set up three field guns commanding the beaches at the bottom of the hill. The entire town was mined and strung with barbed wire. r^\ Tanks, Planes Aiding Big Allied Offensive German Garrisons Threatened With Entrap ment As Italian Push Gains In Momentum ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Naples, May 24.—(£>)— Canadian tanks broke through the heart of the Hitler line today and swept up the Liri valley to the Melfa river, 13 miles from Vassino; American troops recaptured Terracina on the coast, and a Yank armored avalanche burst from the Anzio beachhead and cut the Appian Way barely 25 miles from Rome. ---* The Canadians, thrown into the Army Orders Big Increase In Artillery PROGRAM STEPPED UP Largest Weapons Given Emphasis In Program Now Under Way WASHINGTON, May 24.— (IP) -- A tremendous increase in the heavy artillery pro gram has been ordered by the army on the eve of the inva sion of Europe, officials dis closed tonight. For weapons of 155 millimeter size and greater, ammunition re quirements have been stepped up an average of 400 to 500 per cent, with the increase for some sizes running as high as 1,000 per cent above current schedules. The production schedules lor the weapons themselves have been advanced correspondingly, with emphasis on the 155, Howitzer, the 155 gun or “Long Tom,” the 8 inch gun and the 240 millimeter weapon. Instituted within the past few Italian fighting as a separate Army corps for the first time, smashed through the Hitler line at its strongest point and raced on five miles beyond Pontecorvo threatening to trap German garri sons there and at Aquino, two of the most powerful fortress—towns in the enemy defense belt. Supported' by tanks American troops fought thei: way back into Terracina after an hour and a half battle early today, in which they crashed German defenses in a hillside cemettery before the coastal town. American patrols first entered Terracina last Sun day, only to retire when Nazi re serves were rushed against them. Reoccupation of the town brought the Americans in the coastal sector to the south ern tip of the Pontine plain, less than 30 miles down the Appain Way from where bitter fighting raged for Cislema, enemy bastion at the north of the Anzio beach head. Tonight doughboys swarmed in upon Cisterna after having cut a mile stretch of the Appain life line southeast of the town and severed its railway connection with Rome to the northwest. The Yanks literally were blasting their way through the Nazis’ intricate defenses within a half-mile of Cis terna’s town square. In a late dispatch from the beachhead Daniel de Luce of the Associated Press said the armor ed chaige still was going forward unchecked at 8 p.m. and that hun dreds of German orisoneers .till were streaming to the rear at sunset. Late today flights of American Invader dive - bombers caught many Nazis convoys racing along the escape road from Terracivia and destroyed nearly 100 vehicles. Scores of others were damaged and a road block was created at one point. In the 13th day of their great of fensive to destroy the enemy in Italy the Allied armies had shat tered both the iron ring the Ger mans forged around the beach head and the line of ste^ and con crete they installed across the Liri valley. -V Palmetto Negroes Demand Delegates At Party Meeting COLUMBIA, S. C., May 24.— (/Pi —A shouting, stamping and ap plauding Progressive (Negro) De mocratic party convention de manded today that its 18 dele gates to the national Democratic convention at Chicago be seated in place of delegates elected by the white South Carolina Demo cratic convention last week. To shouts of “You tell ’em broth er’' and “Now you’re talking,” .1 M. Hinton, secretary of the Negro Citizens Committee of South Caro lina as sprtpH “thp Mp.jt*.. alone represents a dollar-volume increase of approximately $750, 000,000 for the balance of 1944 and 1945. Some phases of the program al ready are underway, and by mid summer it will require the re opening of some of the TNT pro duction lines, the powder plants and the bag-loading plants pre viously closed by the army or placed on a standby basis. The program will place a new strain on the nylon industry to provide the bags for powder charges for the big guns, and the alcohol required for the stepped up powder demands pressages a continuance of the whiskey drought. Already the revised program has sent army iproduction officials scouring the country for additional forging, machine and heat-treat ing capacity in industry to make the shells and the various com ponent parts, such as fuses. -V Waterway Bill Passed By Senate Committee WASHINGTON, May 24— UPi — Legislation authorizing postwar waterway and flood control work to cost $1,300,000,000 will be ready for consideration on the Senate floor within a few days. The Senate commerce com mittee approved a $500,000,000 riv ers and harbors authorization to day and Chairman Bailey (D-NC) ordered further hearings today on an $800,000,000 flood control bill. Both measures have passed the House. j peace and happiness if he can get it, but if it takes shed ding of blood like Long (State Re presentative John Long of Union) said it would, he’s not the only red blooded American in South Carolina.” Long was author of a house re solution which told the “damned northern agitators” to leave the south alone with its problems. Long said he was willing to shed his blood to save white supremacy in the south.) War Plant Seizure Defended By Biddle WASHINGTON, May 24—(£!— At torney General Biddle declared to. day that President Roosevelt wou ld have “risked disaster” if he had not ordered the Montgomery Ward plant in Chicago seized, and added that the use of troops to do it probably avoided violence. Unless the action was taken to end a labor dispute, Biddle told a House committee, the govern ment might as well have told all labor and industry that it did not intend to back up its own War Labor Board. This might have led to widespread strikes which would have menaced the war effort, he contended i*’ A
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 25, 1944, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75