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ilmingtnn Hunting 5S 'Tni *78 -NO. 85 " " ---—— -— — _______WILMINGTON, N. C., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1945_FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1S67 } MacArthur Pjpclaims Manila’s Liberation; Germans Rer Russians Across Oder River: Pattons Troops Rip Through Siegfried Line Reds Advance lo 32 Miles From Berlin Zhukov’s Troops Win Many Bridgeheads At Vital Stream LONDON, Tuesday. Feb. 6.—(JPi The Red Army in massive strength surged up to the Oder river's east bank on a 73-mile front yesterday, capturing Zeilin, 32 miles northeast 0{ Berlin, while the German radio reported Soviet troops had crossed the strategic water barrier and were fighting on its west bank. Moscow claimed no bridgeheads over the Oder, but Col. Ernst von Hammer, German military com mentator, announced from Berlin: "Northwest of Kustrin. they suc ceeded. after heavy fighting last ing several days, in establishing a bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder which is subjected to continuous artillery fire." Von Hammer did not locate the crossing, but Swedish dispatches from Berlin said it had been made at Kienitz. eight miles northwest of Kustrin and 35 miles from Ber lin. At Zeilin. Marshal Zhukov's First \ hite Russian Army is 15 miles northwest of Kustrin and six miles southwest of Barwalde, captured Sunday. The niphtlv rnmmnnimio hrond cast from Moscow reported that Zhukov’s troops had won positions on the Oder from Zellin south and southeast to Radnitz, 58 miles southeast of Frankfurt. Among the more than 100 towns taken in this push to the river were Goritz, between the bastions of Kustrin and Frankfurt, and 40 miles due east of Berlin; Tirpitz, five miles south of Goritz and five north of Frankfurt; Reipzig, five miles southeast of Frankfurt and less than a mile from the river; Rampitz, three miles from Furs tenberg, a defense point on the west bank, and Radnitz, five miles from the stronghold of Crossen on the opposite bank. Moscow also announced further advances in clearing the enemy from the Samland peninsula in East Prussia and in the Budapest area. Th ecommunique said So viet troops had penetrated Poznan, Poland, where a German garrison estimated at 20.000 has been en circled for 10 days, and captured an armament factory, collecting much booty. One German broadcast said of the fighting northeast of Berlin: The Russians are trying with every means in their power to widen the small bridgeheads they nave set up in the Kustrin sector, ine weather has become colder «nd the ground harder, but recent "arm winds have played havoc "hh ice on the Oder. Russian tanks which tried to cross the ice broke through and lank. Tne Russians have not been >w to make much progress in O^geheads farther north on the Phis disclosure by the Germans it "fSin« fartlle)' north, although not iocate them specifically, mated the Russians might be [P n !ess than 30 miles from Ber Vnh the capture of Goritz and ,1* c?mmuilications centers a fir <-)der' the Russians won hi„L,m griP on all railroads and i; lys eaiil of t],e °der be" her caPlured town, Schaum nnrii,, "S tlllee and one-half miles 8D. est of Kustrin, the closest "ounced'bv thhanCity officially an' the p B tbe Russians, although trin under3?S haVe reported Kus' Ger^f 1 erCe assault. the p. a4n acc°unts of the war on Armv rStefn Front Save the Red Oder _Contro1 of nearly all the the miles e.^’ bank’ winding 350 Port“pf °flhward from the Baltic Czechn l leU? 1o Ratib°r near the The l°,Wak b°«ler. large sc.’n,°SC0'v buRetin ignored that southed i°f lhis front’ notably ania anr,k?asP°f Stetin in Pomer Germar ‘hat in Silesia. where the Konev' . .8 s s e r 1 e d Marshal least vfPij11 n\y bas established at Olson,,ha'd°fn bridgeheads. cated i ,es flom Moscow indi we,e n,botn . Zhukov and Konev across ihfpi'lg t0 move en masse Oder for the second stage Continued „„ Page Xwo. Col. 4) Haims Un Keich Held Prime Topic OfParley Measures Under Consideration Would Ren der Germany Incapable of Waging War; Big Three Conference Accepted LONDON, Feb. 5.—UP)—Claims on German territory by bordering nations which felt the first crush ing blows of the Nazi armies would reduce Germany’s pre-war terri tory by one third, Allied officials said today as it became generally accepted that the Big Three con ference deciding the Reich’s fate was under way. High on the agenda of the confer ence, it was believed, were the questions of border annexations, industrial supervision and the di vision of Germany for occupa tion by the various Allied armies— measures aimed at rendering Ger many incapable of making war in the future. German propagandists still In sisted that the meeting of Roose velt, Churchill and Stalin was be ing held somewhere on the Black Sea, possibly on a warship, and the Berlin radio reported today there was fear in Tokyo that Russia may enter the war against Japan as a result of the meeting. The spheres of Allied military occupation were more or less agreed upon when the Big Three met, with French participation ap parently the only issue left for agreement. The British, it was be lieved, would occupy northwest Germany with the Ruhr Valley and the large seaports; the U. S. Army would occupy southwest Germany and Russia would take over east and northeast Germany. Austria and Berlin would be occupied joint ly. Most observers believed the Big Three would consider occupying Germany for at least six years, possibly longer. Some quarters say the occupation must endure for at least a quarter of a century to teach the Germans that war does not pay. Before the three leaders were the claims of France, Poland and Czechoslovakia for border annexa tions and there was also the pos sibility that some German terri tory might go to Holland and Bel gium. Moscow evidently favors Austria as an independent nation. The provisional, Soviet-sponsor ed Polish government now sitting in Warsaw has staked a claim to (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) DeGaulle Shows Resentment Over Rebuff By Big Three PARIS, Feb. 5.— (UP)—Gen. Charles deGaulle ex pressed French resentment that he hadn’t been invited to participate in the Big Three conference and laid down French conditions for postwar Europe in a radio address today. His conditions were: French military occupation of the • - ■■■ 1 ■— - — 1 "■■■ —— ■ ■ — 1 An rrF Vi n-f P TANKER COLLISION IN NEW YORK PORT TAKES TEN LIVES NEW YORK, Feb. 5.—(UP)—At least 10 men were killed in New York harbor today when the col lision of two tankers, one loaded with high octange gas, set three vessels ablaze, threatened a near by Liberty freighter and spread patches of burning oil over the water in which more than 100 crewmen sought to escape. Navy officials said that 10 bodies were recovered, an unknown num ber of men were missing and ap proximately 80 were injured. Police estimated the dead might reach 30. The fire was reported to have started before 9 a.m. when the tanker Springhill was rammed by the Panamanian tanker Pan-Clio, both anchored at the entrance to the narrows between Staten Is land and Brooklyn. Survivors and rescuers describ ed a scene in which fire “seemed to spit” from the decks of the tankers as nearly 100 small craft darted among areas of burning oil 10 pi CK up men. A 27-year-old fireman on the Springhill, Glen Francis Blanton, Atlanta, Ga„ was rescued from the huge ice box on the vessel where he spent two hours after smoke and fire blocked his exit to the deck. * Blanton fell into the arms of fire men who opened the box when they came aboard the charred vessel. He said he had prayed while he shivered and reminded himself that if the ship went down he would too. William Feldhusen, captain of a small rescue craft, told of being forced back by flaming patches of oil after rescuing three men. Darwin G. Pickering. 34, Chicago, 111., quartermaster on the Spring hill who was taken to Marine hos pital for treatment, said the ex plosion could be heard for some distance "but it was not a terrific explosion.” Coast Guard, Navy and other small craft prevented the flaming 011 from reaching the Brooklyn and Staten Island shores. -V herriot reported alive LYON, France, Feb. 3.—(IP)— An investigation by the Inter national Red Cross has shown that the French Leader Edouard Her hlot was in good health in a Ger man detention camp, the mayor’s office reported today. river; separation of the left bank of the Rhine and the Ruhr basin from the “German state or sates,’’ independence of “the Polish, Czech, Austri an and Balkan peoples.’’ "It is a sort of law that nobody is secure when France is down.” He said. "On vanquishing Germany now depends the very life of France. But now three great pow ers are seeking to bring about out side France and without France the means to solve the German problem. “We know that many people in the world think it strange that in the present period of struggle, the chiefs of governments of the three other great powers seem to find and arrange outside and without France plans by which this war must be brought to an end. ‘‘So far as the future peace rules are concerned or any other dispo sition that refers to it, we have told our Allies and we have said publicly that France naturally will not be engaged by anything at all she has not been able to approve on the same terms as others. ‘‘France will only accept such undertakings as will conform to the aims she has defined for her self—that no aggression from Ger many will be possible in the fu ture either against herself or against others with which she is or may be Allied. j.u us more precise, i stress these once more: definite pres ence of French forces from one end of the Rhine to the other; Separation of territory on the left bank of the river and the Rhur basin from what will be the Ger man state or states; independence of the Polish, Czech, Austrian, and Balkan people who have borne the principal weight of maintenance of the peace in Europe.” DeGaulle outlined a French post war policy based first on her ali ance with Russia and a future al liance with Britain; second, on a series of regional alliances with Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland to be followed later by participa tion in a world wide peace security organization. ‘‘This of course will include in the first instance the United States of America and will afford every state a supreme guarantee of its life and development in human so ciety,” he said. His references to Russia and Britain were warm but his mention of the United States appeared a somewhat casual afterthought — possibly reflecting French belief that it was the United States which (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) ' V Germans Lost 220,000 Men In Vain Push U. S. First Army Has Been Put Under Gen. Brad ley Again PARIS, Feb. 5.— (UP) —The German gamble In the Ardennes counter-offensive cost the enemy 220,000 men, vast stocks of equip ment and the misplacement of his strategic troops, Allied Headquar ters announced tonight. It was dis closed at the same time that the U. S. First Army had been placed back under the control of Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley. The announcement said that half of the 220,000 enemy casualties were prisoners and that the Ger man losses also included 800 ene my tanks and assault guns de troyed during December and 650 more in January. Thousands of mechanized vehicles of all types also were destroyed. “The vaunted Ardennes offen sive resulted in complete defeat for the enemy,” the announcement said. “Furthermore, to make the attempt, Hitler had to use his on ly strategic reserve and practical ly every offensive division in the west at a time when he should have kept the strategic reserve in Germany to meet the Russian, of iensive which he. should hatfeMt>een expecting.” The headquarters statement said only that the U. S. First Army, now attacking the second belt of Siegfried defenses in the Mon schau sector, had been switched back to the 12th Army group which is headed by Gen. Bradley and which included the First, Third and Ninth Armies until Field Mar shal Montgomery was given com mand of the First and Ninth Ar mies December 22 when they were cut off from the Third during the German counter-offensive. However, a front dispatch re vealed that the First Army had reverted to the 12th Army group and Bradley's command January 18 after the Ardennes push had been definitely stopped and the First and Third Armies were link ed solidly along the front. This dispatch said that the Ninth Army remains under the over-all com mand of Montgomery who also heads the British Second and the Canadian First Armies. Another front dispatch disclosed that the transfer of commands had been planned before the Decem ber counter-offensive and hinted at the establishment of a new Amer ican army on the Western Front, pointing out that the British field marshal now has three armies un der his command while Bradly has two. “Since Eisenhower holds Brad ley and Montgomery in equal es (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) Many Bunkers Abandoned By German Army Strong West Wall Dented In Three Other Spots By Yanks PARIS, Tuesday. Feb. 6.—(UP) —Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army Doughboys crashed through the concrete Siegfried Line forti fications northwest of Prum yes terday, finding numerous pillbox es abandoned. Companion attacks deeply dented the vaunted West Wall in at least three other places along a 35-mile front. The abandoned pillboxes gave increasing evidence that the Ger mans' stunning losses in the east and in the battle of the Ardennes bulge may force them to withdraw to the far side of the flooded Rhine in the face of the increas ingly savage Allied assault. Patton’s sudden thrust carried through the West Wall in an area four and one-half miles north west of Prum, where it narrows into a mile-and-a-quarter belt of concrete fortifications along the topmost slopes of the snow-cover ed Eifel mountain range. Allied headquarters disclosed yesterday that the combined as sault of the First and Third Armies, which at its deepest point of pene tration is nearly 14 miles inside Germany, was launched under the command of Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley who resumed top control of the First Army at midnight January 18. -4- i « v, 41-4 Patton’s lunge through the Eife! peaks may outflank the major Ger man stronghold of Prum on the north and cut the vital Euskirchen Prurn highway that supplies the entire Eifel mountain defenses. Front dispatches gave strong hints that a new American Army soon would join the growing offen sive under Bradley's command to replace Lt. Gen. William H. Simp son’s Ninth Army, which remains attached to Field Marshal Mont gomery’s 21st Army Group in the north. Patton’s breakthrough was made in one of the narrowest portions of the Siegfried Line, where the terrain is so rough that the Ger mans were unable to build ex tensively and relied mainly upon the natural features of the moun tains and forest for defense. Front dispatches said only a few scat tered pillboxes remained to be cleaned up. Expanding their grip on the West Wall defenses, other Third Army troops overran important high ground twro miles east of Buchet and captured the road hub of Brandscheid. five miles northwest of Prum. Thirty-four Germans were captured as the Infantry (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) McNaughton Is Defeated For Canada’s Parliament OWEN SOUND, Ont., Feb. 5.— (/P)—Defense Minister General A. G. L. McNaughton was defeated tonight in the eagerly-watched Grey North Parliament by-election in which Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King’s compromise conscription policy had been made the main issue. With all Canada studying the balloting for its bearing on Cana da’s immediate political future, the voters of this largely rural community along the shore of re mote Georgian Bay elected to the House of Commons Garfield Case, former mayor of Owen Sound and candidate of the officical opposi tion, the Progressive Conservative party. The candidate of the Socialistic C. C. F. (Cooperative Common wealth Federation), Air Vice Mar shal A. Earl Godfrey, ran a ppoor third. At 8:30 p. m., returns from 123 of the constituency's 127 polls showed: Case, 7,177, McNaughton, 5,994, and Godfrey, 3,068. The Canadian Press had declared on the basis of earlier returns that Case was the winner. McNaughton’s defeat was re garded as a rebuff to the Domin ion goverment’s conscription poli cy, which drafted limited numbers of Canada’s conscripted home army for overseas duty. This policy .vas a compromise between the desires of anti-conscriptionist French-speaking Canada, opposed to any form of conscription, and those of a large section of the rest of the country favoring all-out conscription. As a result of the by-election, Prime Minister King is expected to dissolve Parliament shortly with out another session, in which event Case will have been elected to a seat he can never take. As another result of the voting, King is expected to delay the date of the general election, which he may set at his discretion, until events abroad or at home promise a more favorable showing for his Liberal party. The showing of the C. C. F., aided by Canada’s political action committee, counterpart of the PAC , in the United States, was weaker than had been generally expected. In the 1943 provincial elections ^ they polled 3,777 votes in this con stituency, against the Liberals’ 5,400 and the Conservatives 5,158. TTie Canadian PAC was making (Continued on Page Two; Col. 31. Rescuer and Rescued Lt. Col. Henry S. Mucci, (left) leader of the Ranger raid on a Japanese prisoner camp at Cabanatuan in which 513 American and British soldiers were freed. Among them was Major Paul Wing (right), father of former screen actrees Toby Wing. (International). 1,350 More Jap Captives Released By U. S. Troops SANTO TOMAS PRISON CAMP, MANILA, Tuesday, Feb. 6.— (AP)—Liberating American troops freed some 1, 350 American and Allied nationals from Bilibid prison in BRITISH CARRIERS STRIKE OIL PLANTS IN SOUTH SUMATRA KANDY, Ceylon, Feb. 5.—(A>)—A powerful British East Indies naval force which included the carriers Illustrious, Victorious, Indomitable and Indefatigable has struck “the most damaging blow’’ at Japanese oil supplies with attacks on south ern Sumatra, Southeast Asia head quarters announced today. The first attack by carrier-borne planes was against the refinery at Palembang January 25, a special communique said. The second attack against anoth er Palembang refinery was four days late, January 29. The Japanese heavily defended the installations with fighter air craft from several ail fields, an in ner and an outer ring of anti-air craft batteries and a balloon bar rage, and in the widespread fights of the first day 13 enemy fighters were shot down and 34 more de stroyed on nearby, airfields, the communique said. Eight more were shot down on the second day and four others destroyed on the ground. Six more enemy planes were shot down in the course of attacks on the battlefleet, bringing the total in two days to 64. “Our total losses of aircraft in these operations involving one of the largest forces yet used by the East Indies Fleet were 15,’’ the announcement added. In addition to the aircraft car riers, some of which were veter ans of the war in the European and Mediterranean theaters, it was disclosed that the battleship King George V., and the warships Argonaut, Black Prince, Euryalus, Grenville, Kempenfelt and Ursa are now in the East Indies Fleet and participated in the action. None of the ships was damaged in the operations, it was stated. Numerous direct hits were scor (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) 1 manna sanaay alter releasing 3,700 from this former uni versity internment camp. This brought the total released since the troops entered Manila Saturday to more than 5,000. Of those freed at Bilibid, 800 were prisoners of war and 500 were civilian internes. Most of those released at the two places were Americans. The next largest group were British and Australians. They all were half-starved, in cluding women and children, after three years of Japanese captivity. Troopers of the motorized First Cavalry, who entered the Santo Tomas gates Saturday night be hind a tank that knocked down the barrier, quickly emptied their packs to give the prisoners food, tobacco and candy. The cavalrym**!, hardened as they were by sights and sounds of war, were shocked at the ema ciated condition of some of the prisoners. All were thin and weak from malnutrition. Packs were turned over immed iately, with rations, cigarets and candy. These served as emergency relief until the arrival of a cara van of supplies, already rolling down the highway to Manila, for the released internees. The work of evacuating them to other quarters was started almost at once. Most of the prisoners were free the instant the tank smashed the gate, after the commander had shoued: “Open the Goddam thing or I'm coming in anyway.” Japanese guards still in the camp retreated into the education building of the former Santo Tom as University, taking more than 200 internees with them as hos tages. These were released 34 hours later in a truce exchange. In order to save the internees. Brig. Gen. William C. Chase of Providence, R. I., commanding the First Cavalry Brigade which made The rescue, allowed the 65 Japanese guards to leave. They were escorted to the edge of Man ila and released. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) All Nurses From Bataan Were Rescued By Yanks By FRANK HEWLETT SANTO TOMAS PRISON CAMP, Manila, Feb. 4.—(Correct)—(UP) — rhe long ordeal of the “Angels of Bataan and Corregidor/’ the Amer can Army nurses who cared for \merican and Filipino wounded in he black days of Japanese inva ;ion, is ended at last and all are recounted for. American troops who liberated his civilian internment camp found Rem. For all their reasons to cel rbrate, they would not pause in heir newly found work of caring or the wounded in the fight to ree Manila. By way of rejoicing, they revel ed in again having clean bandages and an abundance of drugs, brought to them by cavalry units. Imprisoned in these islands since early 1942, they knew nothing of penicillin. They thought soldiers were joking when they promised that a large American hospital unit would arrive within a few hours, : and their work would be needed. Two of those happily working to night survived Japanese bombings on Bataan. They were Rosemary Hogan and Rita Palmer. Some of the nurses freed at San (Continued on Page Two, Col, S) Three Forces Are Driving Through City General Says Complete De* struction Of Enemy Is Imminent MANILA, Tuesday, Feb. 6.—(fl5)-. Manila, America’s bright jewel ol the Orient, was reconquered today. Gen. Douglas MacArthur official ly proclaimed its liberation as three Yank columns from North, south and east struck for the kill againsl any Japanese left in the city. He said “complete destruction’’ of tha enemy is imminent. Freedom came to 800 prisoners of war and 550 civilian internees at filthy, torture - chambered Bili bid penitentiary. Released from the vermin-infested prison by 37th, Division Yanks, they made a total of about 5,500 when added to others liberated earlier at Santo Tomas by the First Cavalry Division. “Japan is our final goal,” Gen. eral MacArthur said in his state ment officially announcing the re. conquest of the city which the Japanese occupied January 2, 1942 one week after it was proclaimed an “open city.” The doom of any lingering Nip ponese was sealed when the lltlj Airborne Division of the Eighth Army, which earlier seized Tagay. tay ridge by paratroop action, roll ed 35 miles to enter Manila from the south. lhe f irst Lavalry made the orig. inal entry Saturday night from the east, followed by the 37th from the north. Both are elements of the Sixth Army. “The fall of Manila was the end of one great phase and set the stage for another,” MacArthur said. “We shall not rest until our enemy is completely overthrown. We do not count anything done as as long as anything remains to be done . . . Our motto becomes “On to Tokyo.’ ” The wording of MacArthur’S statement could be interpreted as a bid for continuing command in the campaigns against Japan prop, er and a move to spike rumors that the Philippines would be the end of the road for the general. The official proclamation made it clear a lightning cleanup could be expected. Johnny Doughboy won the city back 28 days after the landing a) Lingayen Gulf and 80 days after the original Philippines landing at Leyte. The three - way push left the Japanese no avenue of escape oth* er than in the direction of Manila Bay. an area under the constant bombsights of American planes. (Absie, American broadcasting station in Europe, riUoted an NBC broadcast as sayingthe Japanese are withdrawing to Corregidor; Bataan peninsula, where Ameri cans and Filipinos made their hero ic stand in 1942. Today's communi que announced Eighth and Sixth Army columns have junctured at the base of the peninsula and con trol all roads leading into it. The First Cavalrymen who held the cordon around Santo Tomas were joined yesterday by reinforc ing columns, thus easing the situa tion and assuring complete libera tion of the internees there. Troops pouring into the city wera hampered in their movements by throngs of returning civilians, many carrying their belongings. Bridges still were being rebuilt at the outskirts and crossing* there had to be denied to thou sands of civilians to permit mili tary use of temporary bridges and 'erries. The damming up of crowds be lind the rivers gave the military lolice a 24 - hour headache as they ried to keep essential traffic flow ng. American Liberators began the spadework on the next job, recap ure of Cavite naval base on the south shore of Manila Bay and dorregidor Island at the bay’* nouth. by raiding both in great orce Sunday. Two of the main bridges span ling the Pasig river through the center of Manila were blown up by he enemy. Tnese were the beauti ’ul Quezon bridge and a structure lamed the Ayala to the south. (Continued on Fage Two; Col. t
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