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FORECAST ^ i ^ _ f ■ ■ - 1 -■ ■ n -- ^ /JtJT + Lt' v Served By Leased Wires ~ gtmt JRnnutm sta I 5^' ' j State and National News WILMINGTON, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1945._FINAL EDITION_ESTABLISHED 1867 Marines Hurl Third Division Into Iwo Jima; Third Drives Into Saarburg; Canadians Gain; Yanks Clear Last Jap Soldier From Bataan Enemy Driven FromMoyland Forest Sector Yank Seventh Army Fights Through Streets Of Forbach pi HIS, Feb. 21—M—The U. S Third Army fought into Saarburg and closed up to the Saar river or an eight-mile front today, virtual ly eliminating all enemy resistance in the triangle formed by the Saar and Moselle rivers in cli maxing an attack that in two day: has gained ten miles and overrur nearly 40 German towns. Between the Maas and Rhine riv ers on the northern end of the front the Canadian First Army’s drive toward Calcar and- the Ruhi gained momentum with the help of hundreds of British warplanes Canadian troops, using flame throwers, cleaned the enemy oui of the small Moyland forest and there were signs the German de fense line—built up to ten divisions there _ finally was beginning to Far to the south, Doughboys o! the American Seventh Army fought through the streets of Forbach, overlooking the important German steel city of Sarbrucken which now is only three miles ahead of Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch's for ward elements. The troops moving forward in all three of these sectors were giv en tremendous air support. More than 5,000 Allied warplanes roared through clearing skies and battered transportat'on and military targets backing up the German lines. Armored units drove into Saar burg on the western bank of the Saar river after establishing con tact with the 94th Infantry Divi sion, which had paved the way for the swift new plunge into enemy territory by crossing the Moselle river in a two-day attack to the south. Today the Doughboys drove on a mile and a half beyond Ons dorf. which is three and a half m les northwest of Saarburg. Between them, Patton’s armored and infantry forces already had seized more than two-thirds of the Saar-Moselle triangle and had gam ed control of an eight-mile stretch of the Saar river below Saarburg. Waves of American fighters and fighter-bombers tore at the broken enemy defenses in the sector and dispirited Nazi troops surrendered by the hundreds. Most of 500 sor ties flown by the Tactical Air For ces were in close support of ground troops, pilots reporting de struction or damage to 238 enemy motor transports, 13 tanks and 15 gun ernDlarpmpnic The Third Army also registered smaller gains elsewhere along its vWIU e Ront, biting into both shoul aers of an enemy salient between ne two American wedges driven °u§h the Siegfried Line in the and6? aild Echternach areas, Sev Li' ,Gen' Alexander Patch’s iiitn Ph iAl'Ty farther south fouSht mto Forbaeb and pushed to withjn t miles of Saarbrucken. Initiative empii6 f°rces Sained S’ ® the 5-mile northern repeiiir„l0fnt aIte'h™ days spent attar'- ° hpree German counter arks and drove forward up to Scl° the vital Ruhr re,5islan.ups crushed the last Nazi tre s H,lside the rubbled for of hi ]y °t after two days ,-dy house-to-house fighting, o. h sunshine flooding the bat erv-, nf’ Eleld Marshal Montgom bark 1C7S dl'ove the Germans mad dt P0Ints two miles from the Gorh tm ter °t.Udem and cut the vanee d^n laifway in a mile ad D' ahrd °n lhe west Rank Scots ac nn?re than a half-mile ..‘,J " flat' open country south P v raptured Hommersum. at p“*dlans pounded and jabbed land0 !man defenses outside Moy hold’ fey p°,the adjacent strong ivonid i Lalcar. whose capture of™ 'ay "Pen a big stretch west —rr.- ,, ne. Fifty Nazi battalions beriJS-1 elj.te troops—now 'had their ldenlified on this front, but to L,C?untei'-assaults had failed Th ihe Allied drive, all n- R°e* river, behind which Allied P3rt ol at least three great t0 , a,niies await the signal Bed 7, 011 into the Reich, drop ■u h7'° moi'e inches in the past evn-enn ?''d 1he speed of it! in three ’^''"rreased 25 ner cent r I U* S. Marines Charge Ahead on Iwo Jima Island Leathernecks of the 4th U. S. Marine Division charge over a rise along the beach on Iwo Jima at the start of their invasion of that island just 750 miles south of Tokyo. Planning Board Chairman Impressed By Local Port Capus M. Waymck, of High Point, acting cnairman or tne state Planning Board group charged by Gov. R. Gregg Cherry with in vestigating Wilmington’s request for State aid for port improvement, said yesterday afternoon, after a water-borne survey of the City's _4’rivprfrnnt that hp haH “an Pnt.irc* SENATE RESTORES WORK BILL TEETH Military Committee Action Surprising; Held Obscure WASHINGTON, Feb. 21.— (IP) — Drastic penalties were restored to the work-or-jail bill today, a com plete flip-flop of the Senate Mili tary Affairs Committee’s previous attitude. The committee action was sur prising, and not immediately clear, either. It w’as brought about by an un usual coalition of friends and op ponents of limited National Serv ice, those who want to force men 18 to 45 into war work and those favoring voluntary controls. Members of the committee were unable to agree even whether the penalties would apply to both em ployers and employes. The bill was in so jumbled a state that its ap proval in its present form (was doubtful, to say the lea:t. Written in was an amendment making violators of the act sub ject to a year’s imprisonment or a $10,000 fine. It was offered by Senator Austin (R-Vt), an advo cate of full National Service legis lation. Its effect was obscure. Chairman Thomas (D-XJtah) told reporters he interpreted it as ap plying to both employers and em ployes. So did Senators Chandlei (D-Ky) and Revercomb (R-W Va). Senator Kilgore (D-W Va) declar ed it would affect only employers. Austin declined to interpret his own amendment. Thomas said the amendment car ried by a “substantial” majority, without a record vote. Others re ported the vote was 7 to 5. Chandler said frankly that he voted for the Austin Amendment so he could justify voting against the enure un*. tie ~ proxy vote for Senator Murray (D Mont). The final vote on the amended substitute bill was put off until to morrow. There were strong indi cations that an effort would be made at that time to reconsider the Austin amendment, and also one adopted earlier in the day re affirming Congress’ previous ex pressed directive against drafting farm workers for whom no suit able replacements are available. The sudden reversal of senti ment on the work-or-jail principle was a complete surpr se The com mittee had all but perfected a substitute for the House-approved (Continued on Page Six; Col. 1) ly different picture” of local har bor possibilities from that whicl he had brought with him from Ra leigh. No official decision, however could be voiced by the Boarc members last night, since theii mission here was to prepare i direct report to the Governor. They had gone from a welcomi luncheon at the Governor ud ley restaurant to an hour-long cru in a U. S. District Engineer’s mo tor launch, from which they in spected possible sites for future shipping terminals from the Nortl East Cape Fear River Bridge tc the north yards limit of the Nortl Carolina Shipbuilding Co. Accom panying them were six of the Pori Commission members and local proponents of harbor improvement who had arranged the luncheon and who feted them subsequent!} at an oyster-roast. Felix A. Grisette. managing di rector of the Planning Board, pre dicted that he would present tc Gov. Cherry Friday morning a sy (Continued on Page Three; Col. 5) CHURCHILL FACES DEBATE ON POLES Many House Members Critical Of Big Three* Decision LONDON, Feb. 11.—tU.R)—Sharp dissatisfaction with the “Big Three” decision on Poland was voiced in the House of Commons today in a series of questions di rected by both Conservative and Laborite members to Prime Min ister Winston Churchill and For 1 eign Secretary Anthony Eden. Inasmuch as the Crimean con ference will be debated at length next Tuesday and Wednesday, Eden gave his questioners very brief answers today and Churchill contented himself with defining the Atlantic Charter as “a guide, not a rule” when critics pressed him. The preliminary skirmish to next week’s debate indicated that a considerable number of members may be dissatisfied with some phase of the Yalta decisions and that they will not be backward in voicing their criticism. One mem ber charged today that Churchill had surrendered to “power poli tics” in agreeing to the decision on Poland. (Continued on Page Three; Col. 7) Conference To Ignore Argentine At Present MEXICO CITY, Feb. 21. -(/*>) A determination to prevent any move towards recognition of *he present government V Argentina materialized as the InterAmeri can Conference got underway to day. Mexican' Foreign Minister Eze quiel Padilla, chairman of the con ference told the Associated Press that if any of the delegates wish ed to fight on Argentina's behalf, the “conference is prepared” to go into a detailed exposition of what the Argentine government has done. The Argentine issue was launch ed almost immediately after the preliminary meeting this morning opened. Paraguay demanded an important position on the Agenda for the Argentine case. The chiefs of delegation, sitting as a steering committee, turnpd this down and relegated the Ar gentine question to the end of the meeting. Padilla said he was looking for this solution of the Argentine is sue: “A resolution expressing our friendship towards the Argentine people and separating the questions of the people there and of the gov ernment.” It was clear that he expected no compromise with the government of President Edelmiro Farrell so long as it refrains from full co operation with the other countries for hemisphere security. I? y • Padilla refused to go into de tails on the record that would be brought out on Argentina if some delegations wished to drive for a resolution favorable to the Argen tine government. However, it is known that sev eral governments represented he*« have prepared extensive dossiers on the activities of Nazi agents in Argentina and the position of ’.he Argentine government during the war.. Taking up the Argentine question at the start would have meant giv ing' it precedence over security, economic and political issues on the agenda. Today’s session was a prelimi nary gathering of the heads of delegations to fix the agenda, elect a president and establish rules for the meeting. Mexican Foreign Minister Padil la was named president of the conference, his nomination having been placed by Bolivia and second ed by U. S. Secretary of State Stettinius. Mexican Foreign Minister Pa dilla was named president of the conference, his nomination having been placed by Bolivia and second ed by U. S. Secretary of State Stettinius. Padilla observed that leaving the Argentine question for discussion at the end of the meeting would contribute to the success of the gathering. r -- *r Last Of Japs On Rock Near Annihilation Foe Resorts To Extreme Savagery In Small In tramuros Pocket MANILA, Thursday, Feb. 22—UP) Not a living Japanese soldier is left on Bataan and the enemy gar rison on Corregidor fortress has been “practically destroyed,” Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced day. He said the enemy garrison in south Manila was compressed into an area measuring about 700 yards by 500 within the ancient Intra muros, and the destruction of this force has been slow only because of the American desire to save the lives of civilians inside the walled ***0,7 . The Japanese t>n Bataan were es timated several thousand strong when the Americans invaded the southern shore just a week ago to form a death vise in conjunction with a strong Yank force moving down from the north. On corregidor, invaded last Fri day, MacArthur said more than 1, 700 Japanese dead already had been buried and the count was only partially complete. Toe main tunnel has been blocked at both finds by explosives. MacArthur described the Japa nese within south Manila’s medie val Intramuros as resisting with “savage barbarism .... seldom displayed in a more repulsive form.” Howitzers and cannon are at tempting to breach the outer wall of this medieval citadel to make an entrance way for tanks and in fantrymen seeking to clean up this final enemy strongpoint in the Phil ippine capital and liberate an esti mated 7,000 civilians held as vir Lucti nuatagca. MacArthur said final destruction of the Japanese garrison “has been slow due to the desire to limit civilian casualties as far as pos sible.” He went on: “It is in no sense a measure of the speical skill or tenacity of the enemy, whose savage barbarism has seldom been displayed in a more repulsive form.” Japanese marines and naval de fense forces make up the bulk of the Intramuros garrison. MacArthur announced the enemy on Corregidor fortress “has been practically destroyed, with more than 1,700 dead already having been buried with the count only partially completed.” He said only isolated Japanese holed up in caves remain to be mopped up there. On Bataan, the gener.- l declared, not a living Japanese soldier can be found. He said the Americans had oc cupied the city of Bagac and had finished “combing” the area. Heavy bombers dropped 50 tons of explosives on airdrome and bar rack installations on southwestern Formosa and sank a small freight er off the east coast. Another freighter was damaged. A 1,000-ton freighter was sunk near Hong Kong as reco.inais sance planes swept the China coast. A 144-ton bombing of northern Borneo was concentrated in the Miri and Jesselton airdromes on the northern end. Runways were severely cratered and many fires - were observed. Fabuan airdrome : at Bruei Bay, Borneo, also was ; bombed. 1 KOBO CABINET MEMBER OUSTED Defeats Hint Of Profound Effect On Japanese Politics WASHINGTON, Feb. 21.—(U.R)— Hisatada Hirose, Japanese minis ter without portfolio and chief cabinet secretary, was dropped from Premier Kuniaki Koiso's cab inet today in the second cabinet shakeup within 11 days, and there were indications that military and laval defeats were profoundly af Eecting Japanese politics. Tokyo broadcasts did not imme liately comment on the signifi cance of Hirose’s removal. In dis cussing the reshuffle 11 days ago, Hirose’s appointment as chief cabi let secretary was described by the snemy radio as the only change bf political importance. Tokyo broadcasts termed him Koiso’s “right hand man” and said he vould bring "new prestige and in fluence” to the post. A later Tokyo broadcast said Hi rose had resigned for "personal reasons.” Hirohito today attended a plen jry session of the Privy Council at ;he imperial palace, conferring vith council President Kantaro Su :uki and Premier Koiso. The Jap tnese broadcasts did not mention he subject of their discussions. .. ' -3f Hitler s Berchtesgaden Raked By Yank Bombs Rocket Firing Thunderbolts smash At Moun tain Retreat; Rail Cars and Locomotives Blasted; No Data On Leader’s Home ROME, Feb. 21—(JP)—Hitler’s Ba varian mountain retreat, Berchtes gaden, well within the Reich’s “In ner fortress,” has been subjected to its first air attack of the war, it was announced today as heavy bombers of the U. S. 15th Air Force completed their ninth con secutive day of attacks on Nazi communications in southern Eu rope. The raid on Hitler’s private stronghold yesterday was followed up today with an extensive bomb ing of the Vienna railyards which were reported handling a great volume of military traffic destined for the Eastern Front. Rocket-firing Thunderbolts of the U. • S. 12th Air Force made the smash at Brechtesgaden, the Fueh rer’s hideout in the Bavarian Alps. Sweeping in from their Italina bases, they pumped their rockets from low levels at rail tracks, cars and locomotives and other targets in and near the town of Berchtes gaden after they found impossible flying conditions over their pri mary assigned target. The original target, although it was not announced, might have been the main Udine-Tarvisio-Salz burg railroad, which passes about five miles east of Berchtesgaden. The town itself would be of real importance as an air target only if it were being used by the Nazis in building up the inner Bavarian citadel for prolonging the war. It has been among the spots mention ed in foreign reports as a possible last-ditch refuge for topflight Nazis after Berlin falls. Hitler’s strongly guarded resi dence is at the edge of Berchtes gaden on Obersalzberg (upper Salt Mountain) and other high Nazis have homes in the neighborhood. There was no official comment on the raid, but one Air Force of ficer observed that since Berchtes gaden was known as Hitler’s re treat, “one guess is as good as an other’’ as to what the railroad cars hit by the raiders might have contained. The announcement of the raid gave no indication that Hitler’s home itself was hit and there is no information available as to wheth er he was there at the time of the American attack. Returning pilots reported they ran into heavy anti-aircraft and small arms fire approaching Bre chtesgaden, which perhaps is one of the most strongly fortified spots in Germany, but not a single shot was fired at them when they were over the town itself. Soviets Reach Junction Of Oder, Niesse Rivers LONDON, Feb. 21.—(U.R)—Russian troops reached the confluence of the Oder and Neisse rivers 49 miles southeast of Berlin today, drove to within 17 miles of Cottbus, an outer bastion of the Nazi capital, and --frin swift advances hammered to I the Neisse 54 miles from Dresden Advancing along the west bank of the Oder river, Marshal Konev's First Ukrainian Army reached the confluence at a point only five miles from a bridgehead on the Oder’s west bank reportedly held by Marshal Zhukov’s First White Russian Army. Making gains of up to nine miles through forest defenses, Konev’s troops captured more than 50 towns and villages along a 60-mile front in the German provinces of Bran denburg and Silesia, Moscow’s operational communique announc ed tonight. Konev’s troops were only seven miles south of the Oder fortress of Fuerstenberg, on the shortest road to Berlin. Russian troops, plunging toward strategic Danzig, seized the big Polish Corridor rail and road cen ter of Czersk while Nazi broad casts reported that Soviet shock troops had expanded bridgeheads on the west bank of the Oder river 33 miles northeast of Berlin. Sixty miles southeast of Berlin, Konev’s troops captured the big communications town of Pfoerten, in a nine-mile advance from last reported positions. The drive to Pfoerten carried Russian tanks and infantry „7 miles due east of the American bombed industrial city of Cottbus, 47 miles southeast of Berlin. Cap ture of Pfoerten flanked 10 miles on the south the twin bastion of Guben, key guardian of the 23 mile gap to Berlin between ihe Oder and Spree rivers. --- Yanks Halted In Tracks By Fanatical Foe U. S. Casualties In First 49j Hours Figured At Over 3,600 U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD. QUARTERS, Guam, Thursday, Feb. 22.—i/O—A Third Marine di« vision, increasing the invasion force to possibly 45,000 men, has been thrown into the furious battle for Iwo to fill gaps caused by cas« ualties already exceeding 8,600. Disclosing the fresh commit ments in a communique today, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz acknow ledged that Japanese resistance rose to such a high pitch Wednes day afternoon, third day of the in. vasion, that the hard-fighting Dev ildogs virtually were stopped in their tracks. The reinforced Leathernecks, holding a wedge across the south third of the island, stormed the slopes of a volcano on the south tip with flamethrowers and tanks. Although unable to advance appre eiably, they hurled back a counter attack in the vicinity. On the north end of the wedge, Nipponese mine fields and intense mortar and artillery fire tem porarily halted a drive toward an airfield in the center of the is land. The Third Marine Division, un der Maj. Gen. Graves B. Erskine, reinforced the Fourth Division un der Maj. Gen. Clifton B. Cates and the Fifth under Maj. Gen. Kel ler E. Rockey. Thus approximately 45,000 Leathernecks may have been com mitted to an operation against Japanese estimated in a Navy communique to have totaled 20, 000 when the island was invaded Monday. The Marines, having captured their main objective, the big Mo toyama bomber airfield No. 1 Tuesday, were checked during an enveloping drive toward the is land’s other airfield to the north. “Intense mortar, artillery and small arms fire is being encoun tered by our troops and in gome areas extensive mine fields are slowing the advance.,” Nimitz said. “During the afternoon (Wednes day) there was no appreciable change in our lines,” he reported. “On the south, flamethrowers and tanks are being used against well entrenched enemy troops in the Mt. Suribachi area,” Nimitz added. "A counterattack launched by the enemy east of Mt. Suribachi shortly after noon was thrown back. Numerous land mines have been encountered in this vicinity. Four of our tanks were knocked The five-star Fleet Admiral, who earlier disclosed that Marine casualties up to 8 a.m. Wednesday —embracing 48 hours of invasion activities—exceeded 3,600, said in today’s communique that more than 850 Nipponese dead had been counted. He made it clear this was an incomplete count, made during the heat of the most bitter battle yet fought on a Pacific island. All during Wednesday, battle ships, cruisers and destroyers poured their shells into enemy strongpoints, thus building up a bombardment total which in the first six days exceeded 8,000 tons. The all-important battle of sup ply was being won. As new sup. plies hit the beaches, the admiral was able to report that mortar fire on the beach area was diminish ing. He added however, that loose volcanic ash was impeding the movement of equipment. In some alaces it prevents the passage of aarticularly heavy stuff. Iwo’s No 1 airdrome was eap ;ured the second day of the flam ng battle. The Marines are head ed presently toward the second one ;ome 700 yards to the north. The Fifth Marine Division on he southwest coast is on one flank if the two-runway field. The fourth Division is making a fron al assault after its capture of the hree-runway bomber field. Meanwhile there was no attempt ly Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz* ieadquarters to play down the oughness of the fight. The ad nirai’s communique did not divide he casualties, but his report that ,063 wounded have been evacuat d indicated the dead totaled some 00. Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) lar Heel Ufticer Describes Rescue From Nazi Prison Camp By Russians BY LT. JOHN N. DIMLING, JR. (U. S. Army officer of Wins ton-Salem, N. C„ captured a year ago on the Anzio beach head in Italy and freed by the$ Red Army drive through Po land, where he was held with other Americans in a Nazi pris on camp.) MOSCOW, Feb. 20— (Delayed)— .f)—One year ago I was in no-man’s land outside of Anzio beachhead when a German counterattack cut me off and I was taken prisoner, ft was a mighty tough moment. But last month sitting in a black :d-out Polish farmhouse behind h I what was the enemy’s line, I had the thrill of my thirty-year life. Off inthe distance a bunch of us American officers who had eluded German guards that morning could hear the rumble of tanks. “Lord, they can’t be Jerry tanks,” I told my side-kick. “They sould like M-4—Shermans.’’ The rumble came nearer, then right past on the road a hundred yards from the farmhouse. It blen ded in with people’s voices shout ing and screaming with joy in Po lish. A Polish farmer burst into the room where we were lying low. "Russky, Russky,” he yelled, I don’t know when news like that could ever sound better. Then and there Marshal Zhukov became our . favorite army commander. , The Poles, men, women and chil- ; dren, crowded in and embraced 1 us. They sang one of their hymns i “I sang, “God Bless America,” and how we meant it! ] Soon a Russian tanker poked his 1 head in briefly just for a few sec- | onds’ chat with our senior officer, 1 a colonel who used to be with the t armored force himself. ; The Russian through our inter- e preter said he was very pleased 6 (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) ( fl «. f
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Feb. 22, 1945, edition 1
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