North Carolina Newspapers

tlmuutfmt muxu} &Xm 1 sS~ 27i __WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1944__FINAL EDITION ) Churchill Declares Army Set To Block Greek Communists 5PEAKER interrupted gelations With Russia May ge Involved, He Declares tuN'DON, Dec. 5.—(JP)— L 0 Minister Churchill as 5 today that the British ‘ stood ready to crush arnlUolt aimed at setting up fCmmunist dictatorship ■"St pp°p]e w/n h a fv e a The„ to Choose the form of gov t!ia * thev want—whether mon e:!^’republic, right-wing or left . said. \nse House of Commons heard /Le Minister’s declaration n as a possible keystone •iSn's policy towards liber countries in its military '^e-even as some British left 91 factions accused the govern ment of siding with rightist forces, bio- of Laborite members Led for an immediate f u 11 U debate after the Prime Min “ sat down. The House speaker refused to acceP1 their motion, however, saying, I will be quite frank I regard this matter as com' i„g very close to an operation of " Churchill was interrupted sever a! times and even while he was speaking. Fenner Brockway, politi cal secretary of the radical Inde pendent Labor party, accused the British government of “siding with the right against the left in Greece." ■ The consequences may be seri ns. he warned. “Relations with Russia may be involved.-’ The Communist London Daily (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 6) STATE DEPARTMENT CHOICES OPPOSED BY MANY SENATORS WASHINGTON. Dec. 5.— VPi — Prospects of a Senate fight over President Roosevelt’s four appoint ments to the reorganized State De partment developed rapidly to jiiaht. Earlier. all four were approved by the Senate Forengn Relations Ctmmittee. two with opposition. Senator George (D-Ga). a com mittee member, predicted ulti mate confirmation of the quartet. Bi-partisan objection was voiced ir. the Senate to the appointment ■of Archibald Macleish, librarian of Congress, as an assistant secre tary of State. Oposition also was raised to the appointments of Jo sh C. Grew to be undersecre r*~ Nelson Rockefeller and Will Clayton to be assistants, and the expected appointment of James C. Difr to a prospective new assis tant's post. Macleish’s standing as a poet was called into question in a Sen art discussion of the appointments. Senator Clark i D-Mo't served no that he would move tomor ** 10 return Macleish’s nomina ,0 committee ‘‘for further dearrngs on his qualifications.” e'. he called the appointment re of the worst that could have »en n.ade." v Ssraior Wheeler tD-Mont) in ?-red: Do you mea nthe poet?” I Did you ever see any of his Mms in any anthology?” Clark »>Ked in reply. Chairman Connally <D-Tex; said r.ators Vandenberg (R-Mich), -’.e 1 R'-NIe) and La Follette ‘Og-Wis) joined Clark in the Winittee ,n opposing Macleish. “ ’tidenberg later told report ,?Je 'vas uot sure he would vote !!!2_confirmation. BRITAIN WARNED ON INTERFERENCE U. S. Says European Peo ple Should Choose Own Government WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.—UP)—1The United States today pointedly told Britain — and indirectly Russia— that European peoples should be allowed to work out their own gov ernments without interference. The notice, given in a statement issued by the State Department, was interpreted to mean that this Government is sticking one foot tentatively in the door of Euro pean politics. The declaration applied specifi cally to Italy. It was given the wildest possible application how ever, by the concluding sentence which said that while we oppose "outside” interference in Italy "this policy would apply to an ev en more pronounced degree with regard to governments of the Unit ed Nations in their liberated ter ritories.” It was the first declaration of foreign policy issued since Secre tary Stettinius took charge. Stet tinius told a news conference that he had worked hard on the state ment. Diplomats studied it with a view to its possible application to Greece. Belgium, Poland and oth er countries whose governments recently have been involved in po litical upheavals. There is an in creasing tendency here to interpret these conflicts as a kind of con test for power between Britain and Russia, with these big nations seeking to promote developments in the smaller countries which would favor their own interests. In the case of Italy the situa tion is complicated by the fact that the country is still subject to the controls imposed on a de feated foe though it has attained full diplomatic recognition and the technical status of “co-belliger ency.’’ - One reason behind today’s blunt statement by the State Depart ment is dissatisfaction here over tactics used by the British in making an Issue or an individual and also in acting independently of the United States in an area of joint control. American officials consider that this was not only a violation of Allied procedures, but also that it retarded the very thing which the United States wants in Italy, which is to develop political independence of choice on the part of the Italians themselves. _v BROUGHTON URGES MUTUAL AID PLAN IN TWO CAROLINAS COLUMBIA, S. C., Dec. 5.—(PI— Governor J. M. Broughton of North Carolina told the Columbia Cham ber of Commerce tonight that if the two Carolinas are to preserve their positions of dominance ir certain economic fields after the war “a program of closer coopera tion and mutual assistance must be inaugurated and maintained.” The two states,, he said, “togeth er occupy a dominant position in the textile fields; they share mu tually in the advantage of hydro electric resources, water transpor tation and many other trade and commercial advantages of recipro cal character.” But he added that in the cotton and textile fields “our problems are almost identical As two great cotton-growing states we are con (Continued on Page Three; Col. t| British Tanks Disperse Elas In Hard Fight Greek Liberal Head Saj^j England Vetos Chang^ ^ In Regime a ATHENS, Dec. 5. — Fierce fighting continue in Athens today as the Elas, fighting force of the left wing EAM, national Libera tion Front Party, laid siege to various police barracks and were dispersed by British tanks and Greek mountain brigade troops. Meanwhile, Themistokles Sophou lis, 85-year-old dean of the Greek Liberal party, charged that Prime Minister Churchill, through instruc tions to British diplomats here, had vetoed replacing Premier George Papandreou in a change of government which might have solv ed the -lation’s crisis. He said Churohill had sent word that replacing Papandreou was ‘imnmjcihlp ** Among ELAS prisoners taken in today’s fighting were some Ger mans, but it was not proved wheth er they were political agents or merely deserters from the Nazis. ELAS units reportedly are as sembling in various outlying parts o? the country and preparing to march on the capital. It still seems touch and go wheth er an attempted ELAS coup d’etat will succeed. The British may en force the T,apandreou government’s control of Athens, but the provinces present a formidable problem. Right-wing groups, including Mon archists, which had been lying low until the present crisis, have come out in the open, embarrassingly supporting the government and the British. A communique issued by Maj. Gen. R. M. Scobie, commander of British forces in Greece, today re vealed that British tanks had fired (Continued on Page Three; Col. 5) 25 U. S. CONVICTS IN ATLANTA REBEL AND SEIZE GUARDS ATLANTA, Dec. 5.-1®—Approx imately 25 long - term prisoners were barricaded tonight in the At lanta Federal prison’s segregation building, holdng four officers as hostages and keeping a large num ber of other prisoners under their control. Director of Prisons James V. Bennett of Washington, who was or' the scene, said the rebelling convicts were net armed and that none of the hostages had been in jured. He declined to name either the hostages or any of the ring leaders in the uprising. Bennett said the men seized the building, a large structure, last right. He declined, for the present, to give any details. Earlier, Warden Joseph W. San tord issued a formal statement say ing “It has been impossible so far, 1 o learn exactly the cause of the difficulty, except that some objec tion has been made to the quarter ing of 'Terman saboteurs and spies in the same building. Naturally, they are also protesting their (own) segregation.” “All of the men who apparently are involved arc- long term prison ers who have been difficult cases over a considerable period of time,” the- statement continued.” rr Hillman Hints PAC May Become World Labor Unit Pattern LONDON. Dec. 5.— UP) —Sidney Hillman, CIO labor leader, took his organization's Political Action Committee into the field of inter national affairs today. He hinted that it might become the pattern and a part of a' similar, world wide labor group to guard the fu ture peace. “We must have an organization j t* express ourselves-’ on world af fairs. he told a press conference. | Here for a preliminary meeting with British trade union officials to arrange the agenda for an in ternational labor conference in February, Hillman declared that American labor was solidly behind the idea of postwar international C'V Tough Work In the same boat as the rest of us, Representative Edwin A. Hall, N. Y., tries rolling his own in Washington as the solution to the current cigarette shortage. (Int.) 91 NAZI PLANES FALL ON BERLIN Yank Pilots, In Big Raid, Get 8-1 Ratio In Losses LONDON, Dec. 5. —UP)— Ameri can fighter pilots, shooting down Nazi planes at the rate of better than 8-1 over Berlin today, sent 91 Nam aircraft hurtling down in flames on the German capital along with 1,500 tons of bombs dropped by more than 500 Flying Fortresses. Twelve bombers out of some 550 which hit the Berlin area as well as the big rail center of Munster, 50 miles north of the Ruhr indus trial region, are missing. Twenty two fighters failed to return to their British bases, but a,. least 11 of them are believed to have land ed in France. Churning through leaden skies, the escorting fighters in 15 min utes dispersed the waves of Nazi planes attacking the bomber spearhead. The sky was cleared of enemy planes when the second for mation of heavy bombers appear ed. rne neavTy overeat iuiccu uuur bardiers to aim by instrument. Most of the at+ack was centered on the capital’s great industrial suburb of Tegol oh the northwest perimeter of the city. Tegel has been transformed into Germany’s most important military depot, jammed with munition works and aircraft engine and tank factories. Flak was reported heavy but no as intense as usual over Berlin. Without encountering fighter op position, another force of 400 Lib erators and escorts attacked the railroad yards at Munster, 50 miles north of the Ruhr industrial region. Munster is the hub of five main lines supplying the battle front. RAF Lancasters, guarded by Mustangs and Spitfires, hammer ed Germany’s largest railway yard aL Hamm, 30 miles south of Mun ster with 3.000 tons of explosive. Only one plane was lost with the supporting fighters claiming at least three of 10C Nazi intercept ors. It was the first heavy British attack on Hamm. Japs Repulsed On Ormoc Road: Destroyer Sunk GEN. MacARTHUR’S HEAD QUARTERS. Philippines, Wednes day, Dec. 6.— UFi —Using powerful bazookas, American ground forces turned back a tank supported Jap anese attack Sunday night on the roadblock established on the Or moc highway a mile and a half south of the Leyte river bridge be low Limon. This futile attempt of the enemy to break out northward from the restricted Ormoc area was an nounced today by Gen. Douglas MacArthur along with the destruc tion of a Japanese destroyer and five small freighters by Leyte bas ed warplanes. The Nipponese destroyer was sunk off Bataan, the communique said. In other thrusts, Yank planes harassed a cluster of enemy air dromes at Manila. Adverse weather continued to re tard the American advance in the Ormoc valley, but local gains on ridges south of Limon were noted. In stabs at Borneo, American air units sank a 3,000-ton tanker and a small freighter. Three of 16 Japa nese intereceptors were shot down. The Japanese are being slowly pushed into the Ormoc area, on the western side of the islatnd. The headquarters reported Nov. 27 that enemy resistance in the corridor was “steadily decreasing.” American ground forces cleared the Japanese from by-passed mountain positions and strong points on Leyte island today await ing the lifting of tropical rains when they can unleash the final phase of their offensive to drive the enemy from the island. -V U. S. MUNITIONS SHIP EXPLODES Mount Hood Lost In Acci dental Blast At Pacific Base WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.— !#)—The 3.733 ton naval ammunition ship Mount Hood was lost when it ac cidentally blew up at an advanced base in the Central Pacific, the Navy reported today. A communique also disclosed the sinking of three small naval ves sels and a motor torpedo boat as a result of enemy action in the Pacific._ Commander Harold Agnew Tur manding officer of the Mount Hood, ner, 56, of Palm City, Calif., com was reported missing. No other details of loss of life on the Mount Hood were given, and no estimate of the ship's comple ment was available. The vessels lost to enemy action were the motor mine sweepers YMS 19 and YMS 385, with a nor mal complement of about 20 men each, the Landing Craft Infantry (gunboat) 459, with a normal com plement of about 30, and the motor torpedo boat PT 363. with a nor mal complement of about 12. There was no loss of life on the LCI 459, the Navy said. Commanding officers of all the vessels except the Mount Hood sur vived. The Navy made public an inter view with Lt. John Keys Mahaffey of Pittsburgh, commander of the YMS 19, who said three men were killed outright and five others and an officer were lost in the sinking of his vessel. The craft struck a submerged Japanese mine Septem ber 24 while engaged in sweeping operations off Angaur islands. “It looked like an explosion in a lumber yard,’’ Mahaffey said. urydock Firm Receives Navy Merit Certificate (V }fewatei' Construction Co., t, .0>r,oH;' yos erday was award 4,*"*vy certificate of commen 'tFf tV ^aPtain Kirby Smith, irj 1 bSNR, Eureau of Yards Lh,^ks, Navy Department, c; ij,'ln°ton' dl the commissioning eighth and last drydock to ^ e(t by Tidewater, the •l'»ee!f 101 Vice Admiral Ben tinajj ' bureau chief, who was Cant* 10 attend the ceremonies, ca;e •. rrilto Presented the certifi Wln rec°goition by the Navy siteat ment. of this ^company’s fort.-’ eon’r'bution to the war ef ,:,«i?heany petals last night said titbij,6 yard v'ill be discontinued thai an! !! 0111,1 or six weeks and till hni °™ing 10 Present plans, 11 k(ji,r°ng to the Navy and will it? sed of by them, it. j, ev,dencn of an outstanding dirks ,,e!e.in these excellent dry Jl j -nieh you have completed fioverr,!!'’ reas°oable cost to the he j, ent a‘'d in approximately Sttcth flrno.as originally set kg c, e handicap caused by tak 1 the work when it was seriously bogged down and com pleting the construction with facil ities that you had little or no pari in erecting,” Capt. Smith contn The certificate, signed by Ad miral Moreell. was accepted by John S. Gregory, executive vice president of Tidewatei. Prior the presentation cere monies, the ARDC -12 was christ ened by Mrs. L- U- Noland, Jr., of Baltimore, daughter-in-law oi Tidewater Board Chairman L. U, Noland of Newport News. Mrs. Jessie S’ocker, daughter of Tide water President, H. D. Hinman, oi Newport News, was matron-of * Commander H. B. Buse (CEC), UCNR representative of Admira. Jules James, was introduced bj Tidewater Project Manager J. A Norris and accepted the drydock as a “job well done”, and placed the dock in the service of the Na vy. with Lt. Comdr. J. T. Pan r;sh as officer in charge. ' chief Machinist’s Mate Allen W. Owens set the watch on the dock (Conti.med on Page Three; Col. J) Bishop Darst Appeals For Purchase Of Bonds In an appeal for increased con tributions to the war effort, the Right Rev. Thomas C. Darst. bish op of the East Carolina diocese, declared last night that “we not only have to buy bonds but we’ve got to keep bonds, and God pity us if we aren't big enough to do anything and everything within our power to keen this war from going on one minute longer than is absolutely necessary.” Rishop Darst, speaking at the war bond movie premier at the Bailey theater, assailed the cash ing in of bonds soon after their pur chase. (The audience represented over 336,381 in bonds, according to an announcement at the gathering). Long lines of people cashing bonds are a disgrace to America, Bishop Darst continued, saying that the war had never impressed him so tremendously until he talk ed to returning soldiers. (During the first few days of the Sixth War Loan Drive, there were more bonds cashed in than were bought in the City of Wilmington. J. G. Thornton, co-chairman of the New Hanover County War Bond Committee, said in a talk to thp Rotary club yesterday) We are now faced with one of the most important things that has ever faced our civilization, Bishop Darst declared. He told of a conversation he had yesterday with two Marines who had returned from overseas. When he asked the boys what he should say in his speech last night, one of them said, ‘‘tell ’em that our boys are still fighting and dying over there and that this isn’t going to be a short war. They’ve got to keep on fighting and dying.” Our sons are fighting for the same ideals that our fathers fought for, the Bishop continued, saying ‘‘you and I want to keep the Amer ica they fought for a reality — want it to stand forever.” He related a story of a wounded Marine who had returned 'home and was unhappy because he did not find the homefolks behind the war effort as he had expected. The Bishop said the disillusioned Marine said that to him it seemed that business was going along as usual and that he had seen people who seemed glad that the war was on because they were making more money than ever before. The Marine added, Bishop Darst con tinued, that he had been told that churches were filled with people praying for the fighting men but (Continued on Page Three; Col. 6) Americans Force New Crossing Of Saar River Line 4. _ i GI St. Nick In Germany The Christmas spirit is evident in this picture taken in Eschweiler, Germany. Pfc. Nathan Teasta, Los Angeles, Calif., found a Santa Claus costume in the town after its capture by our forces and immedi ately put it to use. (International). Russians Are SO Miles From Border Of Austria LONDON, Dec. 5.—<£>)—■’The Red army drove within 50 miles of Austria today with the capture of Marcali, eight miles below the southwest corner of Lake Balaton in Hun gary. . , „ Against sagging German opposition, the Russians es tablished themselves on a front at least 30 miles long on the ALLIES DESTROY UNLIGHTED NAZI HOSPITAL VESSEL ROME, Dec. 5.—(A*—The sinking of the unilluminated German hos pital ship Tuebingen by planes of the Allied coastal patrol shortly be fore sunrise November 18 was an nounced today by Allied headquar ters. Regrets over the incident have been conveyed to the Germans, the communique saia. Headquarters said, “A full in quiry into this unfortunate incident :s in progress,” adding that it was understood casualties among the crew were very light. The ship at the time of the sinking was in the Adriatic sea enroute to Trieste and was not carrying any wounded. The Allied communique did not iaentify the nationality of the planes which attacked the German vessel but indicated they were Brit ish. The communique said that the British navy under the Second Hague Convention intercepted the hospital ships Tuebingen and Gra aisca, which were evacuating Ger man sick and wounded from Sa lonika, and the casualties were made prisoners of war. ---V - First Yank Aircraft Lands On Newly-Won Air Strio At Bhamo NEW DELHI, Dec. 5.—(UP)—The f rst plane of the Tenth U. S. Army Air Force landed today on the new ly#von Bhamo air strip in Burma only 500 yards behind the Chinese S8tb Division troops who are spear heading +he drive southward. A Southeast Asia command com munique said that British East African troops had crossed the Cliindwin river from Kalewa and advanced about a mile against Jap anese opposition, while British 36th Division patrols thrust southward more than two miles along the railway sou‘h oi Pinwe without en orimtering the enemy. I “It’s just >uur lniaginat'on—an’ besides the STAR-NEWS Want Ad said it was a kitten:” ‘SUUUl snure Ul lUC lcin.c, Uiua oai-t ly buttressing their flanks for con tinuing drives either northwes into Austria or northeast on Buda pest. In addition, they captured th: strategic rail junction of Szige'.vai ir. southwest Hungary 90 mile: northeast of Zagreb, in a southwes lunge toward Yugoslavia acros: lines of communication needed bi an estimated 100,000 Germans try ing to retreat from western Yugo slavia. A broadcast Moscow commu nique skid the Russians capturet more than 120 populated places be tween Lake Balaton and the Drav< river frontier of Yugaslovia. A Swiss radio report heard it London declared Russian tank: had reached the Austrian frontiei but did not specify at what point The information was attributed ti “reports from Moscow given by ; British correspondent.” In Yugoslavia a drive by Rus sian and Yugoslav Partisan for ces netted them Ilok on the Dan ube 60 miles northwest of Bel grade and 12 miles in the sami direction from captured Mitrovica The German agency DNB sai< these forces now were attemptini to win the strategic communica tions' center of Vinkovci, 28 mile; northwest of Ilok. A Nazi militar; commentator added that the Rus sians won a bridgehead near Dalj across the Danube 15 miles abovi Vinkovci. DNB viewed these operations a “the first attempt to push inti Serbia and Croatia and threate: the rear communications” of Ger man forces retreating northwari in Yugoslavia. PATTON HOLDING ' 40-MILE FRONT Five Yank Armies On Nazi, Soil Six Months After D-Day NEW YORK. I»ec. 5.—The German radio tonight claimed recapture of the city of Saar lautern. The broadcast was heard by the Blue Network. SUPREME HEADQUAR TERS ALLIED EXPEDI TIONARY FORCE, PARIS, Dec. 5.—(/P)—1The American Third Army forced a new crossing of the Saar south of Saarlautern today and other Yanks pressed eastward be yond that arsenal city as the Allies wound up their first six months of the Western in vasion with five armies fight ing on German soil. Two oth ers are hammering at the Recih’s Rhine river boundary. Battlefront dispatches said the 95th Division of Lt. Gen. George S. Pat'.on’s Third Army sent troops across the Saar south of Saarlaut ern and into the outposts of the Siegfried Line. Other units of the same division stabbed beyond Saarlautern and expanded their or iginal bridgehead, which now is at least 2 1-2 miles wide at its base. Special details continued mopping up operations in Saarlautern itself. The wheeling operation all along the Third Army front south of Saarlautern continued. Associated Press Correspondent Lewis Haw kins said the doughboys advanced up to three miles, pressing with in six miles of the great industrial (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 2) -V CANADIANS SEIZE RAVENNA AND FOE RUNS TO LAMONE ROME, Dec. 5.—h®—Hard - strik ing Canadian forces have smashed through the center of German Ari | riatic defenses and captured Ra . venna, the Allied high command . announced today, forcing the Nazis to flee to the west bank of the ( Lamone river, six miles west. A brilliant encircling movement . yesterday enabled the Canadians to capture the one-time capital of the | ancient Ostrogoths without a fight , and thus preserve its ancient treas ures undamaged. The bulk of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring’s forces which held the Ravenna area were believed al ready well behind the Lamone, which is expected to be the Ger : mans’ next important defense line. Such a line would have its left ' flank on the shores of a big lagoon '• called Valli di Comacchio into which the Lamone flows. The Eighth now is in a position where a breakthrough across the Lamone, if exploited swiftly, would outflank the enemy’s whole defense system around Faenza, southeast of Ravenna. > The announcement of the fall of > Ravenna was the first official dis i closure that Canadian forces were • spearheading the punch through, i the German defenses in the Adri atic. Jaycees Announce Plans For Waste Paper Drive An all-out drive to clear Wilmmg tcn homes of all waste paper was announced last night by the Wil mington Junior Chamber of Com merce. The Jaycees have secured the use of 16. large trucks and will be jgm a complete coverage of the city and suburban communities 'early Sunday morning. The public is urged to place all scrap paper in bundles at the front of their homes and a crew will arrive some time during the day to accept it. Proceeds from the sale of the paper will be donated to the New Hanover county Tuberculosis Asso ciation, the Jaycees said. A general hetdquarters will be organized to expedite the collec tions and a dispatcher will route the trucks through the city and suburbs. All paper must be placed within sight of the truck crews as the size of the area involved will prohibit a house-to-house canvass. Members of the campaign com mittee stressed the importance of waste paper to the war effort and urged the cooperation of the pub lic in this civic project. Late risers were asked to place their waste paper on the street Saturday night as the trucks are expected to be gin their rounds at an early hour. The truck crews will consist of Jaycee members with the excep tion of a few volunteer drivers. Due to the gas shortage, it will be impossible to make more than one trip to a specific locality this week-end but the drive will con tinue with another collection day to be announced later. Results of the day’s collection will be announced in the Wilming. ton Morning Star of Monday. The campaign was planned to supplement the sale of Health Bonds for Tuberculosis education, and prevention and to aid in th» Nation’s war effort. The suburban areas to be cov ered inclfide the following: ' Maf fit Village, Princess Place, Win ter Park, Forest Hills. Kenwood, Chestnut Heights, Greenbrook, Erookwood. Glen Arden. Oleander, Colonial Village, Sunset Park, Sum mer Hill. Piney Woods, Audubon. Fake Side Park and Highwood Fark. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 1)