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I FORECAST ^ ^ - ,fiP^ Mnntttuj ste ™S 0l” 77'---; ___WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1944 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867 Red Iroops Round Up Many Nazis 2,000 ENEMY TAKEN Reds Within 60 Miles Of East Prussia; Near Latvia LONDON. July 11.—(/P)_ Moscow announced tonight that the methodical round-up of German remnants trapped east of Minsk had been com pleted while other Soviet for ces continued their battle of annihilation against Nazi troops encircled in Wilno. -1 t: 4-^n ~-C /-*. man casualties resulting from the Nazis headlong flight from Minsk mere not disclosed, but the board cart Russian communique said that more than 2,000 prisoners were taken in the final day of the mop ping' up operations east of the White Russian capital, raising the unoffical day-to-day tabulation of German killed and wounded in the area to approximately 55,000. Steady progress in the westward offensive was indicated all along the 350 - mile central front, with 400 populated places being taken during the day, although no start ling new Soviet gains were report ed. Already within 60 miles of East Prussia and little more than 100 miles from the Baltic seaport of Riga, capital of Latvia, the Rus sian armies threatened hourly to 1 brea'- through the Nazis’ crumb | ling defenses and the German ra di admitted “the supreme test has come.” Lt. Gen. Kurt Dittmar. Nazi prop agandist, predicted still other re treats on the central front and in- j timated that the German high com mander had been guilty of mis- ' calculations, saying “for obvious 1 reasons it cannot be discussed at ^ the moment how a situation could , arise enabling the Russians to ad vance to quite unexpected., depth.” Of Wilno. where fighting has ' been in progress for four days with the Nazis using its narrow, wind ing streets to the fullest defensive advantage, the Moscow communi que said. “Our troops continued ' the annihilation of isolated enemy groups in the center of Wilno.” The city, disputed for centuries, was entirely encircled and the cost to the Germans of holding it to the bitter end was expected to be tremendous. ! With the Germans already hav ing suffered tremendous losses in er.trapments at Vitebsk, Bobruisk and Minsk, the toll at Wilno might well increase the total of German killed and captured for the sum mer campaign, only 19 days old, to a quarter of a million. In the closing day of the Minsk . round - up, Soviet forces captured another German general, the 23rd killed or taken by the Russians. He was Gen. Volker. Moscow said, commander of the 27th army corps who surrendered along with his headquarters staff. South of Wilno the Russians cap- 1 tured more than 100 localities, in cluding the district center of Wor onow, an important station on the railway to Lida. To the north the Soviet drive c ntinued in full force, engulfing more than 150 places in the direc tion of Daugavpils and more than 30 northwest of Polotsk, including the railway station of Boraovichi °n the railway from Polotsk to Daugavpils. A Reuters dispatch from Mos C"w said Russian troops had crossed the border into Latvia. In the area around Lida and Baranowicze, more than 110 addi tional places were taken and far ther southward gains were made •Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) ■-V 6 Dead In Plane Crash In Maine SOUTH PORTLAND, Me., July 11-—(#>)— Police Chief Horace S. Jose said at least six persons were "■Usd and more than a score in jured late today when an airplane crashed in the midst ri 100 trailers in. the Westbrook Trailer camp near the Portland Municipal air port. The Maine General hospital an nounced approximately 25 persons, eight of them children, had been admitted to their accident ward AH had been badly burned. Portland airport officials tenta ,;vely identified the plane as an Army craft of the bomber type Which ordinarily carried five to eight men. Dozens of trailers were demo lished and set afire as the plane landed in their midst. _ AH that was left standing of one ^'as its red brick chimney. Theodore Hailey, meat cutter in nearby Redbank village, a govern ment project, said he observed the plane swoop in low with the mo l°r sounding as though it were in trouble Rescued After Drifting 12 Hours In Life Rafts These members of a torpedo-bomber squadron which exhausted Its fuel supply on returning from a successful mission against the Jap fleet northwest of Saipan Island, landed in the water and remained in life rafts for 12 hours before being rescued by a U. S. destroyer. They are, kneeling, (1. to r.): Lts. Perry Huntsman, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Arthur D. Jones, East Orange, N. J.; Robert A. Horn, Pottsville, Pa.; Lester D. Scheff, Huntington, West Va.; Alfred F. Mooty, Winter Haven, Fla. and Ken A. Holmes, Garvey, Calif. Standing (1. to r.) are ARM2-C James O’Brien, Springfield, Mass.; ARM1-C James R. Langiotti, Orlando, Fla., ARM2-C Leffel A. Turner, Magnolia, ,N. C.: Lt. Comdr. James D. Arbes, DBF squadron leader of New Ulm, Minn.; ARM1-C Walter Oliver, King City, Calif., and ARM2-C Ray mond B. Bailey, Columbus, Ga. (International). SKY FLEETS HIT MUNICH Big Planes Strike Hard At Toulon; Rocket Coast Also Hit LONDON, July 11.— (.¥) —Three Allied sky fleets totaling some 3, )00 planes attacked the Munich irea, the French Mediterranean sort of Toulon and German rocket >omb nests today in a whipsaw of ensive mounted from both Britain tnd Italy. As bad weather again limited air ictivity over Normandy, more than ,100 American Fortresses and lib erators thundered to southern Ger many from British bases under es :ort of about 750 fighters and lumped well over 3,000 tons of explosives on unannour^ed targets n the vicinity of the Nazi party’s >hrine city of Munich: Miserable veather forced the bomariers to ise instruments for aiming. Flak vas heavy and 20 bombers and wo fighters failed to return from he mission. A Swiss communique said five American bombers landed at Du oendorf Tuesday and two at Alten rhein. in Switzerland near the Ger man border. At the same time the Mediter ranean air force sent fighter-ex lorted Liberators—a force of prob ibly more than 500 planes—from Italian bases to make the sixth ittack on harbor installations at Ooulon, last bombed July 5. The ittack was through a heavy anti lircraft barrage but no enemy ilanes were seen and crewmen •eported a good pattern of bomb lits. British home-based Lancasters ■vith a fighter escort making up another striking force of perhaps 500 planes gave the flying bomb sites of northern France another pasting after a 48-hour respite and returned without loss. Last night RAF Mosquitos at tacked Berlin, giving the enemy capital its ninth bombing since D Day. Seven of the previous blows were at night by the Mosquitos and the eighth was by American heavies in daylight. The Mosquitos in last night’s at tack ranged over northeast France from the Paris area to the Bel gian border, bombing and strafing trains and Seine river ferries car rying German reinforcements to the front. Robot raiders continued to ex plode on London and on other sec tors today after a comparatively quiet night in the capital, although many of them were shot down by (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) Saipan Conquest Pays Dividends U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, PEARL HARBOR, July 11.—(/P)—Smashing new blows by Ameri can forces ripping up Japan’s inner island defenses in the far Western Pacific were reported today, with indications that fighter plane sweeps from newly conquered Saipan Island have added their weight to the attack. A Navy communique today, re-,*_ purling acuuns on me lar-nung battlefront, said “shore - based fighters’’ attacked Pagan Island in the Marianas last Friday. Anti aircraft fire was intense but there was no interception. Pagan is about 200 miles north of Saipan. Its major airfield As lito but renamed Isley, was cap tured at the outset of the Saipan invasion. It is within easy fighter range of Pagan. Today’s mention of the shore based sweeps indicated that Is ley field is in operation. Earlier, the Tokyo radio broadcast a Domei news agency dispatch say ing “several large planes and more than 50 small planes’’ were observed using the field. Futile attacks by small enemy units were reported Sunday on Saipan, where American ground forces are mopping up. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said the enemy remnants were killed or driven into hiding to be hunted down lat er. Many survivors had been rout ed froA hulks of ships off shore. [They, too, were killed, or captur ed. Light American warships con tinued their shelling of Guam through Sunday, Nimitz reported. There were no details. Raids by Navy planes Monday on Paramushiro and Shumushu Islands in the far Northern Kuriles were reported, the first since June 29. Bombers of the Seventh Army air force struck at Truk atoll Mon day and at isolated enemy bases in the Marshalls on Sunday. There was no reported loss in any of the aerial operations. The continued action against the islands south of conquered Saipan, where American ground forces are mopping up, led to speculation on the possibility of other landings in the Marianas group. There has been no official indication, of course. The almost daily pounding may be intended merely to neutralize enemy bases, as in the Marshall and Caroline islands. A delayed dispatch from Rem bert James, Associated Press war correspondent, reported that superior American fire power was responsible for heavy Japanese casualties on Saipan, despite the (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) COUNTIES AID POLIO RELIEF _ 'i RALEIGH. July 11.—(>P)— State Representative C- H. Crabtree of the National Foundation for In fantile Paralysis said today the foundation’s local chapters in North Carolina, one in each county, had already contributed $37,721.58 to ward combating the state's infan tile paralysis outbreak, confined mainly to the Piedmont and upper Piedmont areas, and that the foun dation was guaranteeing payment for all anti-polio activities. There was 264 cases in the state today. Two representatives of the Na tional foundation, George Engle hardt and Miss Meredith Moody who began a survey of infantile paralysis conditions in the state to day. said this was considered an opportunity to do research as well as restorative work. Foundation grants have been made to six epi demiologists now working in North Carolina: Drs. Joseph Melnick, Robert Ward, and Dorothy Horts man of Yale, Dr. Thomas Francis of the University of Michigan; and Drs. Kenneth Maxcy and Howard Howe of Johns Hopkins. jangienarui saiu anangciucnis had been made with the Bowman Gray Medical school of Winston Salem for the “study of little fin derstood clinical symptoms in sev ere types of cases.” He and Crab tree said the foundation had sent six physical therapists and approxi mately 10 nurses to the polio cen ters at Hickory. Charlotte, and Gastonia. Both officials were high in their praise of cooperation between na tional organizations, state and lo cal governments, and particularly private citizens. They called atten tion to efforts of workmen who l ad the Hickory emergency hospi tal ready for occupation within thre days, convicts who ® helped with the sewerage system, fire de partments who laid a three-inch water main; and townspeople who sent prepared food to the hospi eied tanks this morning, destroying seven and perhaps damaging oth ers. Front reports said other German tanks were knocked out, but none is counted as destroyed ! unless U. S. engineers or ordnance men blow them up or tow them back to salvage dumps. The frontline late this afternoon found the doughboys three miles from Lessay, four fromPeriers, and two from St. Lo. This was ! (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) -V Ceiling Prices Set On Peaches RALEIGH, July 11 — Iff) — D. S. Matheson, fruit and vegetable marketing specialist with the state department of agriculture, said today effective July 15 the OPA ceiling for peaches would be $4.00 per bushel, with the half-bushel ceiling $2.16. Matheson said these ceilings would remain in effect until Aug. 15, when they wou'd be reduced to $3.66 per bushel and $1.99 per half-bushel FOURTH TERM CANDIDA CY IS FORMALLY ANNOUNCED BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVEL T ALLIES ADVANCE ON ERA RIVER Americans Strike N o rt h Beyond Strongpoint Of Jajatico ROME, July ll.-{/P)—Am erican troops were striking northward tonight down the Era river valley beyond the by-passed German strongpoint of Jajatico in a bold flanking threat to Livorno and Pisa. The enemy, fully ai^used to the danger of the United States maneuver, was offer ing violent opposition. American armored spearheads were reported within a dozen miles of the broad Arno valley at the point where the Era joins the Arno to flow westward through Pisa to the sea. Should Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's forces succeed in plung ing through the Arno valley they would be in position to wheel west ward and entrap the Nazi divi sions which have stalled the Allies some 10 miles below Livorno. An Allied spokesman said the Amarinnnx 1T7’__n_ _ advancing against elaborate forti fications. the enemy evidently hav ing anticipated such an attempt to pierce their “Gothic line” outposts. “The Germans’ sensitivity in this sector is evidenced by the manj machine-guns in position, with al ternate prepared emplacements.’ he said- “They also are using i number of self-propelled guns anc considerable light artillery.” The Era valley battlefield is ap proximately 21 miles inland from the Tyrrhenian coast, almost due east of Livorno, the immediate ■prize of the Allied campaign in Ita ly. For the past two days there has been no report of progress by U. S. infantry forces directly below Lfv orno on the coast. They ran into fresh Nazi units bolstered by in tense fire from artillery and mor tars. Allied gains clear across the pen insula continued to be measured almost by the yard, with the en emy fightng hard for every hill and ciump of ruined houses. British forces still probed at the elaborate defenses of Arezzo. 36 miles south east of Florence, without making appreciable progress. French and American units of the Fifth army were reported fighting in the out skirts of Poggizonsi, 22 miles south and slightly west of Florence. Frequently positions changed hands several times in a day as the Nazis threw in repeated savage counter-attacks. -V FIRST LADY VOICES NOMINATION VIEWS YELLOW SPRINGS, Oi, July 11. -Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt said to day she would not want a fourth term for her husband “unless' the majority of people felt it was nec essary.” She added she had felt that way about the third term. Mrs. Roosevelt, here to speak before the Antioch College Insti tute on conditions for enduring peace, said in an interview that she had no personal feelings about the president’s announcement that he would accept a fourth term. “Both the president and myself,” she remarked, “want what the peo ple want, since we feel we are their servants;” that if the major, ity of people wanted a fourth term for Mr. Roosevelt, she also wanted it; if it was not their desire, then it could be not hers. Mrs. Roosevelt said the president had not discussed his decision with her. __ Clare Boothe Luce Lauds Governor Dewey ALBANY, N. Y., July 11—(A>)— Governor Thomas E. Dewey emerged from his second round of conferences with congressional leaders tonight, hailed by Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-Conn) as “the inevitable man for the U.S.A.” Mrs. Luce was one of six Con necticut members of Congress who held a lengthy luncheon con ference with Dewey a few hours after the GOP presidential nomi nee announced a meeting of the 26 Republican governors would be held at St. Louis Aug. 2 and 3. -V TRAPS PLACED RALEIGH, July 11 — m — C. H. Barannon, chief of the en tomology division of the North Carolina Department of Agricul ture, said today 8.000 yellow buc ket traps for determining the spread of the Japanese beetle in the state had been placed in 80 towns from Wilmington to Ashe ville. -----Jl London Chapel Ruined By Robot Salvage workers clear the wreckage from the famous Guards Chapel, between Buckingham Palace and the Parliament Buildings in London, after it was struck by a Nazi robot bomb. The 106-year-old chapel was hit during services and casualties are reported to be heavy. Note that only one end of the chanel is left standing. Nazi Flank Menaced By American Thrust SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDI TIONARY FORCE, Wednesday, July 12.—(TP)—American troops in a powerful new offensive supported by hundreds of big guns and dive-bombers smashed to within two miles of St. Lo yesterday, conquering heights dominating that mid-Normandy communications center and imperilling the entire German western flank. West of St. Lo the Americans* sieauay pusnea the enemy back onto Lessay, German coastal an chor five miles south of captured La Haye Du Puits, an Allied com munique said. Front dispatches said the Americans were only three miles from Lessay and within four miles of Periers, another important junction of the Lessay-St. Lo road. On the eastern end of the blaz ing Normandy front British and Canadian troops gave up some ground southwest of Caen near the Orne river, while northeast of fallen Caen the British hammered out new gains. “Crucifix hill,” five miles southwest of Caen, had changed hands several times but at last reports still was in British hands and a number of German tanks had been knocked out. “Local Allied gains” also were made near Hottot-Les-Bagues, a few miles south of Tilly and 13 miles west of Caen, a communique said. The Americans, ripping through crack German troops on a 40-mile front, gained up to three and one half miles and overran approxi mately 10 villages and strongpoints from the St. Lo area to the coast. An artillery barrage, beginning Monday night and rolling on throughout the day, supported them. Thunderbolt dive-bombers opera ting from Normandy bases also had destroyed 21 German tanks and damaged another 10. a field dispatch said. The tanks were part of the elite Lijhr division. Four miles iiorth of St. Lo in the La Meauffe area the Ameri cans had surrounded 300 Germans who were trying unsuccessfully to break out of the trap. “If they still resist the doughboys will move in and wipe them out,” a staff of ficer at the front said. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) U. S. ADVANCE MENACES NAZIS By DON WHITEHEAD WITH AMERICAN TROOPS NORTH OF ST. LO., July 11.—Cff*)— Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s fight ing doughboys, battering forward on a 40 - mile front, advanced to day to within about two miles of St. I.o, the Germans central Norman dy bastion, and struck within three miles of Lessay on the West coast. The offensive against St. Lo jumped off at 6 a.m. after a ter rific artillery barrage which still was crashing late today. In almost two years of war I have never heard such a steady blasting of guns. Hitting toward the road hub town from the northeast, dough beys advanced more than a mile, capturing hill 192, four miles away. These heights are the controlling feature of the terrain in this area. A little farther west, advance units were two miles from the outskirts of the city of 15,000 population. The German command threw in parachute troops and the famed Lehr armored division—used as a model demonstration outfit in training—in determined attempts to halt the American surge along the front winding inland from the sea to St. Lo. Fifteen Nazi tanks rumbled into our advance lines last night near Pont - Hebert, four miles r orth of •St. Lo, and captured orders dis closed they were assigned to “'drive through the American lines to Isigny and cut the bridgehead in two.” Twenty other tanks at tempted to join them. Dive bombers smashed the pock (Continued on Page Three; Col. 6) CHIEF TREMBLES WITH EMOTION Nonchalant Smile Lights Face As He Tells Newsmen WASHINGTON, July 11.— (A3) — President Roosevelt, with a nonchalant smile on his face but his hands a-trem ble with emotion, announced today that he would accept a fourth term nomination and, if elected, would serve reluc tantly, but as a good soldier.” The announcement, which sur prised newsmen and politicians on ly as to its timing, was made at a White House news conference. The President read a letter from Chairman Robert E. Hannegan of the Democratic national commit tee informing him that more than a majority of convention delegates are already “legally bound” 1o support his renomination and ask ing that he “again respond to the call of the party and the people.” Then he read his reply: “If the convention should carry this out, and nominate me for the presidency, I shall accept. If the people elect me, I will serve.” At one point in his reading, he threw down the correspondence, and remarked that he had to have a cigarette. When his hands trem bles, apparently from scarcely suppressed nervous emotion, he quipped that it was too bad the cigarette was not a Murad—tradi tionally associated with nonchal ance in the advertising columns. He asserted that he will not “run” for either nomination or election “in the usual partisan, po. litical sense” but would take 01 ders from a “superior officer—the people of the United States.” His personal choice, the Presi dent said, would be to retire to his home on the Hudson and leave pub. lie responsibilities and the pub licity attendant upon the office of chief executive. out we or ims generanon cnance to live in a day and hour when cur nation has been attacked, and when the future existence of our chosen method of government is at stake,” Mr. Roosevelt went on. “To win this war wholeheartedly, unequivocally and as quickly as we can is our task of the first im portance. To win this war in such a way that there be no future world wars in the foreseeable future il our second objective. To provide occupations and to provide a de cent standard of living for our men in the armed forces after the war. and for all Americans, are the final objectives. “Therefore, reluctantly, but as a good soldier, I repeat that I will accept and serve in this office, if I am so ordered by the command er-in-chief of all of us—the sover. eign people of the United States.” The 99 newsmen who attended today’s interview were unprepared for such an announcement. They had expected the man who shatter, ed the two-term presidential tradi tion in 1940 would wait until the convention, starting a week from, tomorrow in Chicago, actually nom inated him. That was the course he followed four years ago. Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, the Re publican nominee, refused to com. ment on the president’s announce ment. So did James A. Farley who helped elect the President to two White House terms as National De mocratic chairman only to balk at a third term and now at a fourth. Wendell L. Willkie. the 1940 Re publican presidential nominee, ask ed: "Is that news?” when inform ed of the Roosevelt-Hannegan let ters. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) Lumber Company Pays For Treble Damages In OPA Settlement RALEIGH, July 11—The Greene Brothers Lumber company, inc.. of Elizabethtown, has settled the OPA administrator’s claim for treble damages for overcharges on lum ber with the payment of $7,500.00. Theodore S. Johnson, Raleigh district OPA director, revealed to day that a check made payable to the Treasurer of the United States had been received in settlement. The Green Brothers Lumber company was found to have sold southern pine lumber and southern hardwood lumber at prices in ex cess of OPA ceilings. The sales were at the wholesale level, John son said. At the same time, a permanent restraining order has been signed by U. S. District Judge I. M. Meek ins, of Elizabeth City, restraining the concern from further violations of the OPA price ceilings on lum ber Airline Service Here To Materialize In Fall Passenger and cargo service will be inaugurated by National Airlines this fall between Jack sonville, Fla., and New York City, with stops at Wilmington, Savannah, Charleston Philadel phia and Norfolk, according to a statement received yesterday from G. T. Baker, of Jackson ville, president of the airlines. “Early this fall will see the inauguration of the fastest yet passenger and cargo service between Jacksonville and New York City,” Baker said, "Wash ington’s notification that “the first two of several additions to our fleet of record breaking Lodestars have just been made available means the conversion of these planes for passenger service will commence just as soon as we can get these planes to Jacksonville. They will be converted at our main han gar.” Continuing, he said that ‘‘four hours and 51 minutes is our an ticipated flying time between Jacksonville and New York. This allows for time on the ground at Savannah. Charles ton. Wilmington and Norfolk. Ten minutes additional will be required for the stop at Phila delphia.” This news will be hailed by (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) F.D.R. Unaffected As Revelation Made Bv WILLIAM T. PEACOCK WASHINGTON, July 11—(0 —President Roosevelt was cool as a cucumber in seersucker trousers, white shirt and black bow tie—no coat—when he be gan his fourth term statement today. As a preliminary, he order ed the doors of his office lock ed, picked up some papers ly ing on his desk beside a vase of red roses, reared back in his chair, and exchanged quips with reporters standing five deep in a big semi-circle in front of him. But before he was well into [ reading the exchange of letters I between him and Democratic) I National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, the nervous ten sion rippling through the ranks of the reporters proved contag ious. The president laid down the letters, his hands shaking a bit, and said he had to have a cigarette. It was too bad, he remarked, that it was not a Murad—the cigarette that advertises “be nonchalant.” That got a laugh which broke the tension all around and Mr. Roosevelt read swiftly on (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2 <
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