* FORECAST ^ ^ A r —1 .— ■ ei?55 umuujtmt Uumtuuj J$>tar Sr 1OL. 77. — NO. no.-WILMINGTON, N. C., MAY 29, 1944 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867 m I - " -----— — Hoey, Cherry Swell Leads In Late Count ballentine victor present State Officers Again Are Nominated In Light Voting CHARLOTTE, May 28— _Former Governor Clyde R. Hoey and Gregg Cherry in creased their winning major ities in late returns today from yesterday’s Democra tic primary in which they captured the party nomina tions for U. S. Senate and Governor, respectively. The nomination is equivalent t. election His one-sided triumph made no difference in tne ordinary routine of Hoey. The tall and affable Shel by lawyer taught his Methodist gur day school class as usual, just us he has dene for 40 years or more, while his primary lead over Kep. Cameron Morrison and three other aspirants neared the 100,000 mark. The class gave him an ova tion. Returns from 1,605 of the state’s 1,921 precincts showed Hoey trail ing his veteran rival for the nom inal ion, Morrison, 74-year old tenth district congressman, m only three of North Carolina’s counties. No reports had neen received from Alexander, Hoke, Harnett and iViUlio'-iUiCi J a l uic nine. The vote stood: Hoey 174,620, Morrison 67,674, Marvin L. Ritch, Charlotte, 6,133, Arthur Simmons, Burlington, 3,565, and Gile, New ton, Gibson, 1,915. Along with Cherry, other state officers nominated on the lace of incomplete unofficial returns were: L. Y. Ballentine of Fuquay Springs for lieutenant governor; Thad Eure secretary of state; George Ross Pou, auditor; and Charles M. John son, treasurer, all incumbents Cherry Gets 174,595 Votes With 1,627 precincts accounted for, Cherry, 52, Gastonia lawyer, long-time legislator and leader in American Legion affairs, polled 174.595 votes against 120,621 for Dr- Ralph W. McDonald, Winston Salem and Chapel Hill educator. The 41-year-old McDonald, who had made a strenuous campaign featuring a militant demand for repeal of the sales tax as he did when he unsuccessfully opposed Hoey for governor eight years ago, conceded defeat early in the day. And. going in person to Cherry’s Raleigh headquarters, he congrat ualted the winner. Olla Ray Boyd, Pinetown hog breeder, inventor and landscape artist who introduced to North Carolina the hill billy band tech nique of campaigning, received 1, 708 votes. The only race itl which a second primary seemed possible was for 'orison's place as tenth district representative. Joe W. Ervin, Charlotte attorney and native of Burke county, was out in front of two opponents but lacked major ity on nearly complete returns. Resorts from 170 to 175 precincts save jurvm lb,did votes, namuiuu C. Jones, Charlotte lawyer who has i. td unsuccessfully before for a congressional seat, 10,529 and John C. Stroupe. Hickory lawyer, 4,178 Kerr, Folger Win In two districts where incum bents had opposition, the present representatives appeared safely re nominated. Rep- John H. Kerr had 11.257 votes in 99 of the second 1 .'cl's 122 precincts, against 7, 030 for Cameron S. Weeks, blind | arboro lawyer. In the fifth, Rep. John H. Folger had 11,315 as com pared with 4,172 for N. J. Free man of Winston.Salem, with votes' tabulated from 101 of 141 precincts. On tie lace of available returns State Treasurer Johnson seemed to have scored the most one-sided (Continued on Page Five; Col- 5) AlliesBeat Off Jap Night Lunge SOUTHEAST ASIA HEAHQUAR TERS, Kandy, Ceylon, May 28.— (•T.i—A desperate Japanese night binge against Naga village, north °* Kohirr.a and on the road to the 'ftal Dimapur railhead in India, has been beaten off with heavy enemy losses. Allied headquarters announced today. The surprise assault, supported hy artillery and mortar fire, crum ped at dawn Thursday after the Japanese ran into a withering fire E°m the Allied defenses. It ap parently was a desperation attack by enemy forces whose strength ->as been steadily whittled down noce their Indan offensive failed, ar,(i whose supply lines are now endangered by Allied thrusts and bm steadily-increasing monsoon rains. The headquarters announcement faded to mention the American J'inese forces attacking the Jap “::e-e north Burma base of Myit ‘'."'■la. for the first omission since Cm enemy airdrome north of the edy w-as captured on May 18. ONE MORE JAP FOR DAVEY JONES "■ ___________ Emerging from a cloudbank, a Navy Coronado Flying Boat sur prised a Jap two-engined bomber over the central Pacific and pour ed shells into it in a hurry. Framed in the window of the U. S. plane (top), the enemy craft bursts into roaring flames. Seconds later the Nipponese plane hit the water., sending up a huge cloud of smoke and fire before it plunged to the bottom. U. S. Navy photos. American Bombers Slash At Germany LONDON, May 28.—(/1*'—The greatest American Air Force ever sent on a single mission—a fleet of about 2,200 bombers and fighters—smashed at synthetic oil plants and other installations in central and western Germany today in the major blow of the heaviest single day in the western European air war. i ill du, imuc mail u,vuu ui' bombs were hurled on Europe, from the channel coast to Leipzig, by more than 6,000 British-based planes. American losses were 3 heavy bombers and 13 of the fighter es cort, while the German intercep tors lost 93 planes, 61 of them to the American fighters and 3 to bomber gunners, a U. S. communi que announced. Anti-aircraft fire ranged from moderate to intense, with one bomb er division encountering strong fighter opposition. The Flying Fortresses and Lib erators, 1,000 strong, were escort ed by more than 1,200 Lightnings, Mustangs and Thunderbolts, while RAF and dominion fighters pro vided withdrawal cover. While the big bombers were hit ting the synthetic oil plants at Mer seburg, Zeitz and Lutzkendorf, the tank ordnance depot at Conigs born and other unspecified targets in central Germany and the Co logne area, the fighter shot up Ger man locomotives, river barges, gun emplacements and airfields. Of the total tremendous bomb weight, some 4,500 tons were un loaded during darkness Sunday morning by British forces of well over 1.000 bombers that struck the (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) DECISION DUE ON SUBSIDIES WASHINGTON, May 28. —(/P)— A decision on subsidies by degree confronts the Senate banking com mittee tomorrow when it attempts to complete a bill extending price control another year beyond next July 1. An amendment by Senator Taft (.R-Ohio) would forbid the payment of any subsidies after next April 1 except where Congress had made specific appropriations for them The proposal was discussed at In tervals last weex without defini tive action. The committee also must dis pose of another amendment in structing OPA to give special con sideration to hardship cases in volving rent control, and there was talk that administration forces might try to upset the vote by which the committee adopted the sc-called “Cotton Escalator” am endment of Senator Bankhead )— Fighting was at such close quarters that some planes came home after today’s big raid on Germany with blood an the outside of their -windshields. Nazis Might Spare RomeFrom Battle BY JOHN M. HIGHTOWER WASHINGTON, May 28.—The fate of historic Rome seemed certain tonight to be decided in the next week or ten days of the battle of Italy. T.^ 4 Vi /-v . ■■■ ■■ - - 1 ■ ■ —— may retire from the Eternal City without a fight, and thus spare it the devastating ravages of a great siege, are being studied avidly in military and diplomatic quarters here, and there is some hope among informed officials that devolpments here, and there is some hope among informed officials that develop ments will prove favorable. The American attitude, as an nounced by President Roosevelt,, is that the safety of Rome rests | with the Germans in whose power it has been since the fall of the Mussolini government. To the ex tent that the enemy made use of the city for military purposes, the President has argued, the Allies have been comnelled to attack it. Whether the Chief Executive will restate this position to fix public attention anew on the responsibi lity of the German high command in the critical days now at hand remains to be seen. His decision on this point may be influenced by military events. The main fact of these events to date now threatens to envelope the Nazi divisions South of Rome in a flanking movement by the Anzio beachhead forces. To military men. it now appears that the only way the Germans can extricate a part of their forces is to flee with ail possible speed into the hills north of Rome and make no attempt to defend the city. That such a withdrawal actually has been considered by the Ger mans is shown in Nazi propaganda broadcasts attempting to minimize the importance to the Allies of cap turing Rome and at the same time discussing creation of a new' de fense line north of the city. BILL PROPOSES JOINT COMMAND WASHINGTON, May 28. —UP)— Postwar consolidation of the army, Navy and air services under a single “secretary of the armed for ces” was proposed tonight by Se nator Hill of Alabama, the De mocratic whip, in a bill he will introduce in the Senate tomorrow. Patterned after suggestions by; Lieut. Gen- Joseph T. McNarey,1 deputy army chief of staff, in tes timony before a House special committee, the Hill measure also conforms with the ideas presented before the same committee by Harold D. Smith, director of the budget. While Hill told a reporter he was acting entirely on his own respon sibility as a member of the Se-| nate military committee, it seem ed evident the measure has the tacit approval of the War depart ment and other agencies, if not the Navy Secretary of the Navy Forrestal recently opposed immediate con-: solidation of the military services j in an appearance before the House1 group, adding that he was not pre pared to say whether he thought a postwar merger was desirable. The Hill measure proposes crea tion of a new “department of armed forces” headed by a secre tary chosen from civil life by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The president also would be authorized to appoint civilian' undersecretaries for the Army, ' Navy and for air at $10,000 annual . salaries. Each would be given two assistants paid $8,000 yearly. Hot Dogs Serve As Feast For Air Force Sergeant GENESEO, N- Y., May 28.— (f)—Thirty-seven year old Sgt Arthur Hasler lounged beneath a sugar maple tree today and had his fill of hot dogs as he and 73 relatives belatedly cele brated his father’s 100th birth day at a picnic. The sergeant, an air crew chief, was granted permission to return from an Italian bat tlefront after his 76-year-old mother appealed to President Roosevelt. Hasler had requested hot dogs be on the menu “because I haven’t had one in over two years.” Twelve of Mr. and Mrs. Ja cob Hasler’s 13 children, 18 grand children and 24 great | grandchildren were present. ( They ranged in age from over 100 years—Jacob’s birthday was j May 18—to two months, and were descended from nine na tionalities, American, Irish, German, Scotch, English, Swiss Sylvanian, Dutch and Polish. Centenarian Jacob said he ( was proud of his family. j “I’m glad,” he added, “no death in 21 years has marred ] their efforts to provide a fight- j i ing force for both home and battle fronts.” ' i Only one daughter, Mrs. ] Sophie Smith of Hudson, Iowa !; and five grand children, thr'e , < j of whom are serving overseas, j 1 were unable to attend. 1; BIG GUNS SHELL MAIN HIGHWAYS Germans Rush New Troops Into Desperate Battle On Italian Front ALLIED HEADQUART ERS. Naples. May 28—— Allied troops smashed towards Rome along coastal routes i from the Anzio beachhead' ^ area tonight in a new offen sive against weakening oppo sition, while the main Fifth and Eighth armies heighten ed the prospects of disaster for at least eight German divisions by capturing Artena, Ceprano and Belmonte, and blanketing the Via Casilina with heavy artillery fire. ! This afternoon American tanks and infantrv nushprl hpvnnd i towards Valmonlone and the Via Casilina, which is the only practi cable German escape route- En emy artillery fire was heavy The Germans, acutely aware of their peril and with 17 divisions already committed to the fighting ^oath and southeast of Rome, flung an 18th division into the desperate struggle to keep the Via Casilina open. This was the battle-wearied Her man Goering division, which Al lied headquarters said had been reorganizing in a rest area near Florence and originally had been destined to go to France. It was rushed into the line near Valmon tone, 21 miles southeast of Rome —a tacit admission of the bitter necessity confronting the Nazi com mand. The new.beachhead offensive, en hancing the threat of envelopment of the Germas, curled out from the Allied left flank towards Lake Al bano. It began Friday but was dis closed only today. 1,200 Shells Fired Exact locations of the advances in that area were not made known, but Daniel De Luce, Associated Press correspondent on the scene, said that at noon he saw 1,200 Am erican artillery shells poured into Lanuvio, just south of Lake Ai bano and four miles west of em battled Vellelri. (.The Germans acknowledged they had “shortened .lines” in the old beachhead area.i De Luce said the Germans with drew Saturday night to the Rome side of the Anzio-Albano road, where brush-filled ravines gave them better defensive terrain. The entire battlefront was in the shape of a long arm extending up from newiy.captured Belmonte, six ; miles north of Cassino, through the American fingers reaching norlhward on both sides nf the Alban hills towards Valmontone ou the east and Albano on the west. These American thrust, DeLuce said, put the Germans in obvious danger of having their defensive ring around the rugged Colli Lia ...an ainasned apart, leaving Vel letri and Valmontone dangling disconnected. The Germans were making their toughest defense at Velletri and around Valmontone, but American artillery fire plunged into their re serve positions while waves of doughboys advanced behind Sher man tanks toward Vaimontone. Th* Amerians already were within striking distance of the town and were shelling across the Via Casi iina (Highway 6> as far as Cave, Eour miles north of Valmontone Farther down the road, the Bri (Continued on Page Five; Coi- 3)j -V Russian Front R e m a ins Quiet LONDON, May 28. —iff)— Con inuance of the lull on the Russian :ront was reported tonight by both he Soviet and German communi ques. The brief Russian announce ment said there were “no im jortant changes at the frmt” but hat 14 German planes were shot iown Saturday and that recently i Soviet Baltic fleet force sank a Herman submarine in the Gulf of Finland. The Germans reported local ighting on the Carpathian sector ind said they had dispersed strong Soviet bands in “the rear area of he central front,” with 2,500 pris* mers taken. This apparently refer* ed to Russian guerrlila forces. The Germans also said they icmbed Rovno and Sarny Saturday light (The Finnish communique as re :orded by the U. S. Office of War nformation said Soviet forces had ittacked fiercely at several point* m the long-quiet Finnish front, but lad been repulsed with "consider* ible” losses-t