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VOL. 16.—NO. 61.---- ,A<^° WILMINGTON, N. C., SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1941 FINAL EDITION_ESTABLISHED 1567 _
15-Vessel Contract;
Y ear’s W ork Assured
-— ■¥,_____
Ml m f I ' ' ' 1
Company rians 10 con
tinue On Full-Time Basis I
Through 1945
NEED STILL GREAT
Maritime Commission Head
Urges Workers To
Stay On The Job
The North Carolina Ship
building company has been
awarded contract for an addi
tional 15 C-2 type ships by
the United States Maritime
commission, officials of the
yard announced yesterday.
In making the announcement,
they said that the additional work
would assure operation of the yard
on its present full-time basis
through the coming year. North
Carolina's greatest war-born in
dustrial enterprise, the company is
provideing employment for many
thousands of men and women not
only residing in Wilmington and its
environs, but throughout Southeast
ern North Carolina.
Total of 186
The contract is one of several
awarded shipyards throughout the
country for a total of 186 ships, in
cluding 24 Liberty type, for deliv
erv during the second half of 1945.
According to advices from Wash
ington. heavy American losses of
material in the current German of
fensive in western Europe were <
seen as creating further demands '
for extra shipping.
The need for ships, according to
maritime officials, is as great to
day as at any time in the past.
in a New Year’s message to
shipyard workers throughout the
nation, Vice Admiral Emory S.
Land, chairman of the Maritime '
commission, said: f
"Your accomplishments stand ^
before the world. Yet all of us 1
should today stand humble before t
the vastness of our responsibility 1
to the men overseas. Ships are
their power and their salvation and £
so long as the war lasts there can- i
not be too many. Here is our re- t
sponsibilitv—that through our con- '
tinual efforts there shall be no fail- c
lire or delay for vessels to supply e
our armed forces and our Allies. 1
■'Let us resolve today to stay
(Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) (
DELAY IN ANOTHER;
SHOE STAMP SEEN
___ i;
New Ration Ticket May a
Not Be Validated Until l
Next Summer \
- E
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30.— (/Ft —
The Office of Price Administration 1
said tonight that present indica- r
tions point to a delay in validating
a new shoe ration stamp until c
“sometime next summer.’’ thus b
forecasting a further tightening of f
rationing on the home front. 1
Such action would extend for at e
least two months the period the 1
current ration stamp would have to
last before another is declared val
Id. putting the ration on a basis of
three pairs per person every two
Tears instead of the present rate ,
•f two pairs a year.
When airplane stamp No. 3 was ‘
validated last Nov. 1, it was ex
pected that a new stamp would be £
brought out by May 1. ^
In a joint announcement with the. j
War Production Board, the OPA v
said that cancellation of outstand- ^
lug shoe steamps is not being con- c
sidered. The WPB’s office of civili
an requirements said that while ^
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 4) (
Government Seizes Montgomery Ward |
Lt. Edward Ceaser of the Sixth Service Command tacks up a ,
notice of government seizure of Montgomery Ward in Chicago, while
striking employes laughingly look on. Under orders from President
Roosevelt, similar action was taken in the company’s stores in six
other cities, but Sewell Avery, chairman of the firm’s board, refused
to recognize the action.
Steel Workers Receive
Approval Of Pay Boost
-_
VINSON ACTS
)PA Says Raises Will Not
Necessitate Increase In
Products’ Prices
By WILLIAM T. PEACOCK
WASHINGTON. Dec. 30.—UP)—
teel workers received an okay
rom Stabilization Director Fred
rinson tonight for War Labor
loard-approved wage increases es
imated to average 5 to 7 cents an
our.
Announcing his decision, Vinson
aid the Office of Price Admin
stration had advised that this
oost for the more than 400,000
workers in the iron and steel in
ustry would not necessitate gen
ral increases in prices of steel
roducts.
Increase Overdue
OPA did advise, Vinson said,
lat an increase in price of some
teel products was overdue and,
rould have to be made. In a letter ,
j WLB Chairman Willima H. Dav- *
Vinson said OPA’s conclusion
'as this:
J. lie Sc iUtiCdSCO vv in *-iy- muuv,
•respective of the wage decision,
t is the judgment of the price .
dministrator that after these 1
rice adjustments are made the
roposed wage increases will not
equire any further net rise in the
eneral level of iron and steel
rices.
“Accordingly, the wage increases j.
equired by your directive order a
ray become effective.” ^
In talking of required prices in
reases (Vinson referred to the re- j
uirement of the price stabilization
ct that price increases be author- 0
jed in “hardship” cases determin- f
d on the basis of present earnings
ecoreds compared with pre-war s
arnings.) s
The WLB decided the steel
;age case on Nov. 25, but said r
he pay changes it approved should j
ot become effective unless OPA j.
sund they would not necessitate c
n increase in steel prices or Vin- a
on ordered them into effect. r
Although 400,000 workers in 116 ^
ompanies are the only ones af- g
scted directly, the decision m a y f
nally affect some 500.000 other
.■orkers in 600 companies where r
he CIO United Steel Workers have
ollective bargaining agreements.
OPA after cost studies wound up
nth an estimate that the boost
Continued on Page Three; Col. 5)
Instructions For Robot ?
Bomb Raids Issued Here :
A- set of instructions to New ;
Hanover citizens regarding their .
induct in the event of robot or i
rocket bomb attacks was released
3'esterday by Sheriff C. Dsfvid <
Jones, commander of the county
Clv'lian defense organization. \
The protective measures, for- j
Warded here by R. L. McMillan, 1
s,-aie Office of Civilian Defense ,
director, explain that instructions t
Previously issued by OCD were
oajecl on the assumption that the j
*he;ny might launch massed air ,
®'tackf, in which cas advance ]
'Earning would be given.
W;th the development of the ro
*r>d docket bombs, however,
or no warning .is possible,
md “therefore the public should
•ealize the danger and be con- e
tantly on the alert, particularly 7
long the coastal areas.”
Sheriff Jones explained that the
he purpose of alarming civilians 7
he purpose of alarming civiilans
‘but for their protection in the 0.
went we should have a robot at
ack.”
In case attacks are made'upon
he United States and some bombs u
should land in this community V
lere is what you “should do- ^
1. Air raid signals may not
sound. If the air raid signals do
Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3) (
Reno Establishes New
Record For Divorces
RENO, Nev., —(iP)— Dec. 30.
—(fP\—Reno’s second year of
wartime divorces hung up a
record breaking all-time high
when its two district courts
granted 7030 decrees.
Elwood H. Beemer, Washoe
county clerk, today closed the
divorce books for 1944 with the
total which bettered by more
than a thousand the previous
5,910 record of 1943.
Beemer said the year pro
duced its share of the country’s
top flight divorce trade but
the greatest number of cou
ples seeking single status re
presentedfhe wartime indus
trial class, the professions and
military, A new trend was
seen in divorces granted for
eign couples representing
about three per cent of the
total.
__v_
!,000 BOMBERS
POUND GERMANY:
Hast Rail Yards, Bridges
At Mannheim And Two
Other Cities
LONDON, Dec. 30.—(UP)—Near
r 2,000 American heavy bombers
nd fighters dropped thousands of
ms of high explosives on rail
ards and bridges at Mannheim,
Laiserslautern and Kassel today in
ie eighth straight day of attacks
n communications of German ar
lies in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Murky weather hampered the
ctivity of lighter Allied planes
long the western front.
Striking through heavy clouds,
lore than 1,300 U. S. 8th Air Force
'lying Fortress and Liberator
ombers unloaded nearly 3,000 tons
f high explosives on six bridges
nd six rail yards in western Ger
lany between noon and 1 p. m.
'hey were escorted by more than
50 M u s t a n g and Thunderbolt
ghters.
No enemy fighter opposition was
eported. All the bombing was
Continued on Page Two; Col. 2)
_\T_
WEATHER
FORECAST
North Carolina: Cloudy with consider
ate fog and drizzle Sunday forenoon,
scorning partly cloudy and warmer
l afternoon, showers west portion Sun
ay night and east portions Monday
orning, followed by clearing and cooler
onday.
(Eastern Standard Time)
(By U. S. Weather Bureau)
Meteorological data for the 24 hours
iding 7:30 p.m., yesterday.
Temperature ]
1:30 am, 37; 7:30 am, 37; 1:30 pm, 41; 1
30 pm, 42.
Maximum 44; Minimum 35; Mean 40; ]
ormal 47. ]
Humidity
1:30 am, 100; 7:30 am, 96; 1:30 pm, 91;
30 pm. 100. (
Precipitation
Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 pm, 1
12 inches. •
Total since the first of the month,
97 inches. f j
Tides For Today 1
(From the Tide Tables published by j
. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). -i
Bigh Low J
ilmington _11:08a 5:44a ]
ll:26p 6:22p 3
asonboro Inlet _ 8:53a 2:31a ■
9:14p 3:10p ]
Sunrise, 7:18 a.m.; Sunset, 5:13 p.m.; j
oonrise, 7:23 p.m.; Moonset, 8:56 a.m. j
Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) <
Soviets Enter
East Suburb
Of Budapest
German Garrison Rejects
Red Army Ultimatum
To Surrender
WIDEN BURMA HOLD
Enemy Enlarges Forces In
Effort To Halt Drive
On Austria
LONDON, Dec. 31.—(Sunday)—
-(UP)—Red army tanks and in
antry smashed into the streets of
ndustriai Pest, eastern suburb of
3udapest, yesterday for the first
ime, after the Nazis rejected a
3ed army ultimatum by killing
wo Soviet emissaries carrying sur
•ender terms under flags of truce.
Simultaneously, Soviet assault
roops extended their hold on
3uda, western part of t h e city,
•eached the southernmost of s i x
jridges across the Danube, seized
0 industrial plants and killed more
han 3,600 enemy troops to boost
o 35,408 the total of enemy killed
>r captured in the Budapest area
linpp Dprv 51
Emissaries Murdered
The Russiam emissaries, bearing
iemands for a surrender yester
iay, were murdered in German
leld Budapest after presenting
heir ultimaturms. One was shot in
he back as he was returning to
soviet lines, Moscow said.
The two Russian armies besieg
ng Budapest, who had held their
lire, immediately resumed their
*rim battle to wipe out thousands
nf beleaguered and fanatical Nazi
iefenders and the struggle for the
Hungarian capital flared as violent
is that experienced at Stalingrad.
A Moscow radio front report late
last night said that the Soviets had
overrun six blocks of streets in Bu
ia in a few hours befve midnight
ind reported that the Germans
nad blown up the Vasuti railroad
nridge linking Buda and Pest after
t was reached by the Soviets.
While crack Nazi elite guard
roops in Budapest faced almost
certain death at the hands of the
Russians, Berlin reported that far
:o the north, the Red army’s long
nactive front in East Prussia had
“returned to life’’ and Moscow an
nounced that Soviet troops were
vithin seven miles of the big
Czechoslovak rail city of Losonc
(Lucenec).
After one emissary was killed in
Kispest, southeaster suburb of
Budapest, despite the white flag he
carried, Marshal Rodion Y. Mali
novsky sent troops of his 2nd Uk
rainian army crashing through an
nner line of fortifications on the
nutskirts of Pest. Moscow’s mid
light communique described the
electrically - charged line as the
fTfintilllHwl nn Do rrn
ROOSEVELT DRA S
ANNUAL MESSAGES
Chief Expected To Confer
With Congressional
Aides Tuesday
WASHINGTON. Dec. 30.—(UP)
—President Roosevelt today buck
led down to the task of finishing up
his annual state of the union and
budget messages for presentation
to the new 79th congress which
:onvenes Wednesday.
He is expected to confere with
his congressional advisors on Tues
iay. assuming that they return to
the capital in time. Definite dates
Eor the congressional program will
oe settled at that meeting but best
guesses are that he will send up
ris annual message on Thursday
ind his budget message either on
Friday or the following Monday.
Congress will devote Saturday to
;ounting electoral ballots and de
Continued on Page Three; Col. 1)
Germans Launch Offensive I
Against Bastogne Corridor;
Command Shakeup Hinted;
LONDON PAPERS
STRESS REPORTS
Statement Covering R e -
grouping Of Allied Ar
mies Expected Soon
BY E. V. W. JONES
LONDON, Dec. 30—(^P)—
Reports that a shakeup of the
Allied command on the west
ern front was imminent were
displayed prominently today
by the London afternoon
press;
One military commentator
declared that an official state
ment covering some aspects
of the regrouping of the Al
lied commands and armies was
expected shortly.
The reports, the publication of
which coincided with a definite im
provement of the Allied position on
the Western Front, were without
any official confirmation.
The T.nndnn F.venine News declar
ed flatly that “important changes
in the organization of the Allied
supreme command on the Western
Front are imminent.” It listed the
present commanders without specu
lating what the changes might be.
“Poker Stage”
The Evening Standard reported,
“the big re-group is on,” and quot
ed a Reuters military correspond
ent as saying, “the second phase of
Marshal Karl von Rundstedt’s of
fensive has reached the poker
stage.”
The report of changes in the com
mand appeared on the front page
of the Star under the caption, "Al
lied Command: Statement Soon.”
The London Aess also carried
reports from Washington that an
American major general had been
recalled from France and demot
ed, but not because of the German
counteroffensive.
Despite the set-back suffered by
the Allies in Belgium. there ap
peared to be no disposition here to
question the ability of General
Eisenhower to control the situation.
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 1)
-V—
CHURCHILL VOICES
’45 VICTORY HOPE
Says ‘Evil Gang’ That Has
Dominated Europe Will
Be Wiped Out
LONDON, Dec. 30.— (tf!—At the
end of a year which had brought
the United Nations far along the
road to their goal, Prime Minister
Churchill expressed hope today
that at least half their task would
be completed in the new year—
that victory in Europe would be
achieved in 1945.
Observing that the Allies were
entering upon a year “that should
bring us victory in Europe,” he
said in a new year’s message to
the Primrose league, a conserva
tive organization of which he is
grand master:
“Before many months have pass
ed the evil gang that has long
dominated that unhappy continent
will be wiped out.
“Until that end has been achiev
ed, there can be no return to our
iormal habits.
“It would be tragic folly to pro
long by any slackening in the last
ehase the agony that megaloman
iac ambition has loosed on the
world.”
Already that agony had been re
ieved to some extent. All over
Europe the lights were going on
igain. Paris, Rome, Brussels and
(Continued on Page Three; Col. 3)
Wide Support Of Limits
Extension Bill Expected
General support of the proposed
egislation to extend the limits of
he City of Wilmington may be ex- !
jected, if the cross-section of pub- i
ic opinion acquired by the ans- i
vers of members of various civic ;
dubs to the City Planning boards :
[uestionnaires is to be considered ]
is general approval. ,
In first place and far ahead of 1
he other seven questionnaires
terns was extension of t h e city ,
imits, which received 51 first j
dace votes and 71 marks in the ,
irst, second or third places. Rank
ng number two was sentiment for j
i city auditorium, with 14 first ,
dace marks and 52 in first, second
ir third position.
Distributed in connection with
alks on city planning made by J.
rred Rippy, Jr., secretary to the
lity Planning board, the question
laires represent an effort on the
>art of the board to determine the
•elative importance of planning
iroblems in the eyes of the people
>f Wilmington for present and fu
ure growth. ■
More than 130 questionnaires j
[athe^d in by planning officials
n the past few months were tab
dated yesterday by Rippy.
Eight specific points were s e t i
orth to be classified by each per- ]
on as to their importance to him <
Continued on Page Five; Col. 4)
Japs’ Losses On Leyte
Boosted To 116,770 Men
BY SPENCER DAVIS
GEN. MacARTHUR’S HEAD
QUARTERS, Philippines, Sun
day, Dec. 31—(/P)—Gen. Doug
las MacArthur disclosed today,
while a new Mindoro-bound
convoy pressed on under Japa
nese attack to reinforce his
conquering forces, that the en
emy had drawn troops from
Manchuria in an effort to stop
him on Leyte island.
The American commander’s
communique said Gen. Tomo
yuki Yamashita had lost in the
futile defense of Leyte four
army divisions and the ele
ments of two more, besides a
naval brigade and other spe
cial forces.
Total Japanese losses, includ
ing 601 killed in recent mop
ping up operations, reached
116,770, the communique said.
In a “historical resume” of
the Japanese forces of Yama
shita’s 35th army, destroyed on
Leyte, MacArthur said one di
vision, the 16th, had partici
pated in the battle of Bataan
against him early in the war.
The opposing forces on Leyte
were declared about equal in
number.
MacArthur declared the cam
paign ended Christmas day
when his troops captured Pal
ompon, the last enemy port of
escape.
Since then mopping up opera
tions have continued against
remnants of the Japanese
force.
The communique said Japa
nese planes attacked a Min
doro bound American convoy
Continued on Page Two; Col. 1)
DamaskinosNamed Greek
Regent In Peace Effort
- ■¥-—-—
FIGHT CONTINUES
Scobie Charges ELAS With
Mistreatment Of Brit
ish Prisoners
ATHENS, Dec. 30.—(UP)—An
end to the Greek civil war was
hoped for tonight with appointment
of Archbishop Damaskinos as re
gent, but British ahd Greek
troops continued their all-out of
fensive to clear Athens of left
wing ELAS forces.
The British commander of Al
lied troops in Greece, Lt. Gen.
Ronald M. Scobie, meanwhile,
charged the ELAS with maltreat
ing British prisoners in violation
of the Geneva convention.
Prospects of halting the three
week-old war brightened with Da
maskinos’ appointment and re
ceipt of a moderately worded note
from the ELAS armed wing of the |
EAM (national liberation front)
for delivery to Prime Minister
Churchill, who personally inter
vened to settle the crisis.
Note Published
The EAM newspaper, Free i
Greece, published what it called
the text of the note.
“There is nothing to justify a
continuation of the fight inasmuch
as the left has accepted the basic
points of General Scobie’s memo
randum (calling for the ELAS and
other forces to disband and sur- '
render their arms) and, with Its '
moderate suggestions in the po- ;
litical field, help: to a great ex
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3) '
-v- :
LAW TO BACK WAR
LABOR CODE ASKED
Ball Says It Should Apply \
To Petrillo The Same 1
As Sewell Avery ■
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30— OP) — i
Senator Ball (R-Minn) declared to- ;
day that there should be a law ■
to back the government’s war
time labor policy and that it should 1
apply to James C. Petrillo the ,
same as Sewell Avery. i
The senator supported President
Roosevelt’s s'atement in seizing ]
Montgomery Ward stores Thurs- 1
day that what the President called
the firm’s “consistent and willful
defiance” of War Labor Board de
jisions had threatened employer
worker confidence in the agency’s
machinery for settling labor dis
putes. Avery is board chairman
jf W’ard.
But James C .Petrillo and the
American Federation of Musicians,
which he heads, also have defied
:he board and jeopardized con
fidence in it, Ball said in a state
ment.
Proposing establishment of a t
'legal basis for action against un- ,
on defiance,” he added:
‘‘A fundamental principle of de- ■
nocracy is that its rules and laws 1
ipply equally to all. I do not be- 1
ieve that is true at present as re
tards enforement of WLB direc- 1
ives.” '
Petrillo and the Federation of !
Musicians defied WLB in a record
ng ban case and in a st’-ike of thp 1
Minneapolis un’on against radio
taiion KSTP. the senator said. I ^
Continued on Page Two; Col. S) I £
Many Enemy Agents
Captured In Paris
PARIS, Dec. 31.—(Sunday) —
(UP)—French police and Am
erican military authorities
scouring Paris in a two-weeks’
hunt for German spies aiding
the enemy’s counter offensive
in the west have rounded up
30 enemy agents in one band
and captured a “considerable
number’’ of others, many of
them in American uniforms, it
was disclosed today.
Each of the spies, whether in
civilian clothes or Allied uni
forms, faces the firing squad
under international law for
their attempts to obtain mili
tary information and carry
out sabotage that would aid
German Field Marshal Gen.
Karl von Rundstedt’s forces
now fighting in Luxembourg
and Belgium.
XT
GERMANS PROMISE
TRIUMPH IN 1945
[Goebbels Declares He
Planted Rumors That
Hitler Was 111
LONDON, Dec. 30. —(#) —Nazi
dg-wigs filled German air waves
oday with promises of victory in
view Year’s proclamations.
Rotund, long-silent Hermann G#
;ring remained silent, but a pro
damation purporting to come from
lis declared that “it is our duty
md our task in the coming year
0 carry war again into the ene
ny’s country.”
Rechsminister Paul Goebbels
he No. 1 Nazi propagandist, had
1 brand new story to tell in ex
donation of why the equally gar
■ulous Adolf Hitler h«s not been
leard from lately.
Goebbels on the German radio
laid he purposely planted rumors
hat Hitler was ill as part of a
leep and far-flung scheme to lull
he Allies into complacency and
iet them up for Field Marshal Karl
on Rundstedt’s winter offensive.
Goering’s proclamation promised
he German people “that we will
ichieve victory and with it peace
mder leadership of Adolf Hitler.”
The Nazi agency DNB carried a
>roclamation from Dr. Robert Ley,
he labor front leader, saying:
'The party is the soul of German
Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
FAIL TO CHECK
PATTON’S PUSH
Americans Are Storming
Rocheforte At Apex Of
The Enemy’s Bulge
BY JAMES F. MoGLINCY
United Press War Correspondent
PARIS, Sunday, Dec. 31—
(UP)—A critical new battle
is raging around Bastogne
where German forces have
launched .a two-way attack
against the U. S. Third army’s
corridor through the city but
thus far have failed to stem
Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s
troops in their drive to cut
off the enemy salient into
Belgium, dispatches said to
day.
(The Luxembourg radio, heard
in London, said that the U. S.
First and Third armies had taken
between 16.000 and 20,000 German
prisoners since the start of the
German offensive on Dec. 16.)
Patton’s men were reported in
censored field dispatches to have
smashed five miles northwest of
Bastogne, narrowing to 12 miles
the waist of the enemy salient, al
though a contradictory announce
ment from supreme headquarters
said the width of the gap was
16 miles.
Storming Rochefort
American tanks and the dough
boys at the same time were re
ported storming the road center
of Rochefort, at the apex of the
bulge, street by street in an effort
to throw the Germans into com
plete reverse after knocking back j
Panzer spearheads 11 miles from
the high-water mark of their drive.
The German attacks from east
and west against the Bastogne
salient were reported mounted in
strong force but Patton’s armor
and infantry and previously widen
ed the corridor to nearly eight
miles just south of Bastogne.
Late reports said that the Third
army had entered La Vaselle and
Chenogne, adjoining villages five
miles west and slightly south of
Bastogne. These gains not only
bulwarked the corridor but drove
a wedge across the communica
tions of German troops still trying
to hold their advance penetration
to St. Hubert, 15 miles west of
Bastogne.
hold on the Arlon-Baslogne high
way leading into the city from the
south but Patton from the incep
tion of his drive had employed a
parallel secondary road and at
last reports here, 36 hours old at
last midnight, the corridor was
still firmly held.
Whether measured from 12 or
16 miles across, the waist of the
German salient could be interdict
ed by two-way artillery fire from
Third army troops on the south and
the First army on the north. Such
shelling of roads within the salient
already has “most likely” been
undertaken, it was said in author
itative quarter!.
Capture Nothum
Late dispatches said that the
Third army had captured Nothum,
2 1-2 miles southwest of the Lux
embourg center of Wiltz, in line
straightening operations on the
center of its 40-mile front.
(German broadcasts assorted
that the Allies had thrown in 25
divisions, with the bulk of their
armor concentrated against the
base of the salient where the First
and Third army, in simultaneous
assaults, were reported trying to
slice off the German bulge.
(Since mid-December, the enemy
broadcasts asserted, the Americans
have lost more than 100,000 men,
fifteen of their divisions, including
(Continued on Page Two, Col. 3)
1944 Disappointing Year
To Many U. S. Officials
x>y jun^ in. muniuwriii
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30.— (/P) —
American officialdom is winding
ip 1944 acutely conscious that for
he United States this has been in
nany respects the most disappoint
ng and disillusioning year of the
/ar.
Unjustified optimism about mili
ary progress led them to believe
■hen this 12 months starts that by
onight the war in Europe would
e won and the shift of forces to
be Pacific well started.
Now estimates of the date for
ictory in Europe run into the fall
r winter of 1945. Optimism has
iven way to the conviction that
tne bermans really mean to fight
all the way to Berlin.
Perhaps the basic error in mili
tary thinking, Allied as well a’s
American, has been to underesti
mate the enemy’s determination.
It was believed that when he was
surrounded and battered by land
and air he would surrender. A
tremendous series of victories east,
south and west, tightened the ring
around Hitler’s fortress Europe
but fell so short of breaking Ger
many that the enemy was able to
wind up the year with a western
front offensive which probably
added months to the war.
(Continued on Page Five; Col. 6)