Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / Feb. 27, 1945, edition 1 / Page 1
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forecast ^ ^ „ ^1^ — - _ ^ ^ ^ ^ Served Bv Leased Wires umumtmt iniinmtn s>tar is:, —■—■ __ 4^ State and National News j ^j8:=NO1103:----WILMINGTON, N. C- TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1945. ' " ~ FINAL EDITION ‘ First Army Sh^ps Cologne, 11 Miles Away; Marines Use T/fo Airfield; Gain 400 Yards; Berlin Is Pounded By 2,000 American Planes Vital Height Is Seized By Leathernecks Japs Using Every Type Of Weapon To Stem Amer ican Drive U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD QUARTERS. Guam, ft Tuesday, peb 27—i/P)—I wo Jima's captured southern airfield was put to Amer ican use for the first time Mon ...• while doughty U. S. Marines advancing up to 400 yards cap tured an important hill overlook ing most of the remaining Japa nese positions. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz report ed today that two-seater Marine observation planes were using Mo toyama No. 1 while Third Marine Division elements won most of the second airfield, Motoyama No. 2, in the center of the bitterly-con tested island. Use of Motoyama Airfield No. ] indicated that fighters soon may be lying off that major airdrome. 750 mile3 from Tokyo. Third Division Marines captured Hill 382. east of the central air field. Militarily, the hill is as great a prize as captured Mt. Suribachi. From it artillery observers will be able to direct murderous fire on Japanese positions. Opposition to the accelerated American push increased through out the day.- The deeply-entrench ed enemy threw a heavy rain of artillery shells and rockets at the advancing Yanks in the eighth day of this fiercest fight of the Paci fic war. All but the northeast tip of Mo toyama airfield No. 2, a two-strip fighter field, was in American hands. ine runways uu muiu.yauia 1 were being rushed into condi tion to accommodate American figluers and bombers. Massed Japanese infantrymen, using every type of defense, threw against the advancing Marines probably ihe thickest hail of rifle and machinegun fire of the Iwo campa;gn. Artillery fire and blasts of the huge enemy rockets were heavy, but the high ground of the cen tral plateau finally was won and held by the Third Marines. The Fourth Marine Division cap tured a commanding hill near the east coast. Niiliilz said mopping up w a s progressing on southern Iwo. and ‘ little enemy fire fell on the in ferior of our beachhead during the day." Admiral Nimilz made no further mention of the Fifth Fleet carrier plane strike against the Tokyo area starting Sunday. It was pos sible the task force still was deep in enemy waters. Mopping up continued south of captured Mt. Suribachi on the loathern end of Iwo. By 6 p.m. yesterday, 3.568 Jap anese dead had been counted. Nine enemy prisoners were taken. This was the first mention of prisoners. Meanwhile. Marine observation planes landed on the southern Iwo airstrip, captured Tuesday. These were the first American aircraft to land on the strategic island only miles south of Tokyo. The Japanese capital and the •mire homeland island of Honshu will be well within range of Yank fighters and bombers flying from Iwo, supplies and equipment continu •Q to pour ashore on lwo’s littered "caches. Road conditions were im proved. Liberators bombed Chichi Jima he Eonin Islands, immediately '•he north, hitting oil storage v,eas and shipping. The Palaus, leu ami Pagan werc other tar The central airfield on Iwo (Mo >dr ‘d A'o. 2i ij the first fighter e within reach of Tokyo to The Th ^ the Pacific war. rin» n • ’ Fourth and Fifth Ma c„ , Visions launched an attack the fitut0 complete the capture of mem ? .S;nking after a bombard ier 0l enemy Positions by Amer caa warships and artillery, bupwrted by naval and land_ - aircraft, the Leathernecks ,‘aa the easi-west runway and strip' t"°'tllirds of the north-south it ': 'niy. resistance was stiff, as for hk r i!aSt week in the fiSht fhrouffh J6ld' Heavy fighting raged Phoughout lhe day Adm. Nimitz dav s communique early Mon • ilmday night, u. S. time). U. £>. lakes Verde Isle Off Luzon, Mindo ro Latest Invasion Takes Enemy By Surprise and Secures Western End of Shipping Route from Manila to the United States MANILA, Tuesday, Feb. 27.—OP) Veteran 24th Division troops, tak ing the Japanese completely by surprise, invaded small Verde is land between Luzon and Mindoro Sunday to secure the western end of the vital shipping route through the Philippines from the United States to Manila. The Eighth Army Yanks “went ashore with practically no loss,'’ Gen. Douglas MacArthur sa;d in his communique today. He termed Verde, which hes midway in the narrow Verde is land passage, “the key to the control of the main navigational route through the central Philip pines.’’ With the battle for Manila end ed. MacArthur announced that 3. 056 Japanese dead had been count ed on Corregidor fortress, besides the sealed-off enemy troops who have been blowing themselves up by touching off underground nm I munition stores. Far-ranging American bombers | hit Formosa and north Borneo in their relentless campaign against enemy airdromes and shipping. In the Marakina watershed reser vation, First Cavalry and Sixth Division troops driving southeast of Manila easily repulsed three Japanese counterattacks as they encountered ‘'increasing enemy' re sistance.” Northwest of Manila, 40th Divi sion troops which earlier in the campaign captured Clark air cen ter. went after enemy groups in caves and ravines of the Zamoales mountains. Northeast of Manila across the central Luzon plain, Yanks of the 23th Division, moving toward the Cagayan valley, captured Lum boy on the Balete Pass road. They also took Luna, within three miles of Carranglan. The latter is on a road forking east off the Balete Pass route. The 32nd and 33rd Division, op erating extensively in the sur rounding mountains, raided enemy camp areas along Balete road. Philippines Are Returned I To People By Mac Arthur MANILA, Tuesday, Feb.. 27.—LP>—Gen. Douglas MacArthur, j standing on the steps of war-scarred Malacanan Palace today turned the civil government for liberated areas of the Philippines over to WPB OFFERS PLAN TO SAVE WORKERS Move Would Keep Some In 18-29 Age Group From Draft y .. i ■ - WASHINGTON, Feb. 26.—<U.B)— The War Production Board today outlined a program to save toe most essential young men in war industries from being drafted. : War industries will submit lists | of their occupationally - deferred I men in the 18-29 age group. Then. WPE will decide which ones are so vital that they should be defer red. The rest will be up to local draft boards. ! The idea is to prevent the draft ing of what WPB called the “vital hard core” of war workers. Under the program, WPB hopes to get deferments for 200,000 of the 780, 000 wokers 18 through 29 who now are classified 2-A and 2-B. WPB will weigh tne value ol workers only in industries foi which it is the manpower claimant agency. Such industries include makers of steel, aluminum, tiies and components for important mu nitions. WPB is one of sevcru. draftable men through 29 for de ferments. The program was diumuiitcu two days after Selective Service ordered local draft boards to star inducting a large number of thi 1 500,000 deferred men in the 30-3. age group. Hereafter, these mei wdll be deferred only if they an “necessary to" as well as “regu larly engaged in" essential work Previously, the test was whethe a man was regularly engaged -i an essential activity. To qualify for certification for ; deferment, an employe must: 1 — Be doing work include; within the list of essential activi ties set forth by the War Man power Commission. 2—Be irreplaceable from withii the plant or by recruiting fron without. 3. —Not be considered replace able by a recruit or transferee whi can qualify to perform his worl by three months of intensive train ing- . 4. —Not be engaged in planning research, development or produc tion for postwar purposes. In other moves to alleviate th< manpower shortages, the Kilgori manpower bill was exposed to it; • first day of Senate debate todaj and before the oratory ended, i was both praised as essential ti (Continued on Page Three; Col. 5 t their president, Sergio Osmenal in a ceremony before wildly cheering Filipinos. MacArthur, after bitterly de bouncing the Japanese for wrecking Manila’s churches, monuments and cultural centers, lifted military rule from the freed sectors and said the Commonwealth is ‘at liberty to pursue its destiny in the family of free nations.” Men who fought with him at Cor regidor and Bataan clustered around him and Filipino soldiers formed a guard of honor. Osmena in replying, spoke of MacArthur's military operations as a “crusade,” urged all Filipinos co submerge political differences in quickly reviving theijr common wealth and expressed the hope that the United Slates can accord full freedom to the Archipelago this year. The colorful ceremony, broad cast to the United States and con cluded by the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, look place in a fire and bomb ravaged city where even yet a few Japanese groups (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) Largest Raid In Daylight; RAF Attacks Railway Stations Blasted; Opposition Termed Very Light LONDON, Tuesday, Feb. 27—(JP) —Refugee-choked Berlin was the target yesterday for the greatest daylight raid ever made on any city, with nearly 2,000 American heavy bombers and fighters drop ping 3.000 tons of explosives, and last night British Mosquito bomb ers followed up with two-ton block busters. Three of Berlin’s downtown rail way stations were the primary ob jectives in the great American raid, in which 16 bombers and sev en fighters were lost. Crews of the RAF Mosquitos said huge fires still were burning in the city when they swept across. The mighty American armada smashed at Berlin without interfer ence from a single enemy plane. Flak was described as only mod erate. ‘‘I never thought I would see the clay when we could attack Ber lin with so little trouble,” com mented Capt. Joy Smith of Weep ing Water, Neb., pilot of a Libera tor. Maj. Eugene Roverson. Temple, Texas, group air commander, said “it was one of the easiest missions I've flown. The Germans put up no fight and we just breez ed over and dropped our bombs. It was as simple as that.” Col. Anthony Mustoe of Bellevue, Pa., who led the first division ol bombers spearheading the assault, said “we met some flak, but it was nothing compared to the pre vious attack (February 3) on the capital. We didn't see an enemy fighter all day.” Mosquitos also bombed Nuenberg during the night. The German “Achtung” air raid warning service also tracked other formations of bombers over west ern Germany early in the night and radio stations at Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt-on-the main suspended broadcasting. The long-wave Deutschlandsender sta tion which supplies news to most German cities also blacked out. | More than 1.250 Flying I ortre? ses and Liberators escorted by 700 fighters streamed in a straight line, which frantic German air raid warnings said stretched for 150 miles across northern Germany and made a bee-line for the Reich capital whose population has per (Continued on Page Three; Col. 7) County Commission Backs Campbell Fo r U. S. Bench The Board of New Hanover County Commissioners opened its session yesterday afternoon by endorsing City Attorney W. B. Campbell as candidate for ap pointment to the Eastern North | Carolina Federal District judge ship to be vacated by the resigna , tion of Judge Isaac M. Meekins. In a telegram prepared for im mediate dispatch to U. S. Attor ney General Francis Biddle and ' to North Carolina Senators Josiah ( Bailey and Clyde R. Hoey, Mr. Campbell, nominated for the Fed eral bench by the local bar asso ciation February 20, was describ . ed as “eminently fitted for the said position by reason of his legal learning and judicial tem perament” and “a man of the highest character and standing in 1 !the community.” 1 Asked by Rep. J. Q. Legrand for clarification of their stand on ' the abatement of back taxes on 1 the new American Legion home : at Fourth and Dock streets, the • Board passed a motion combining refusal to endorse tax-forgi-eness , with a request for legislative au • thority to make a contribution to the Legion from County funds. Explaining the group’s opinion, : Commissioner Louis J. Coleman ; said, “I would do anything in my power for the American Legion, t but abatement of taxes lies out , side our authority.” Chairman Addison Hewlett, Sr., asking in sertion of donation-authority into 1. the motion, said the County's gift to the Legion, if approved, would be made on a “basis of the ser vice they render to returning veterans.” The Board approved the ap pointment by County Solicitor James C. King of Cicero P. Yow as assistant solicitor, and them selves reappointed Mrs. Tom Gause as their representative on the New Hanover Welfare Board. This was preceded by receipt of notice from the State Welfare Board that it had selected R. B. Roebuck as its member. Mrs. Gause and Mr. Roebuck will de cide on the third member. A notice from the State High way and Public Works Commis sion that the 200 block of Park avenue, in the Oleander area, had been approved as a neighborhood ( road and would be machined prob ably within the week. In the same letter the Commission described Brandon Road, in Princess Place, as not being part of their system . and hence not subject to state improvement. The Board fram- , ed a reply requesting that the classification of the street be , changed to permit its being vyork- , ed by State employes. Adjustments were outlined in . answer to a number of tax-as- , sessment complaints and juries , were chosen for a civil session of State Superior Court, scheduled , for March 12 and a criminal session scheduled for March 19. -'-—-— ■ —— ■■ --— -- * Marines Hoist Flag Atop Volcano on Iwo Jima j U. S. Marines of the 28th Hegiment. Fifth Division, hoist the American flag atop Suribachi volcano on Iwo Jima island after battling the Japs to the crest of the extinct crater. (AP Wirephoto). Sees Iwo Landings — _I Secretary of the Navy James V. Forres tal. his eyes glued to the binoculars, watches Marine assault noops hit the beach at Iwo Jima. Marine Corps photo. U. S. PRESENTS ECONOMIC PLAN Delegation Confident Of Support On Hemis phere Stability Move MEXICO CITY, Feb, 26,— UP! — j The United tates laid before the Inter-American Conference today i broad economic and social pro gram aimed at promoting free rade and private enterprise in the Americas. The U. S. delegation expressed :onfidence that support will be forthcoming quickly from the oth ;r 18 nations represented here. At the same time, Ecuador pre pared to introduce a resolution ivhich would enable Argentina to ' adhere to all the acts of the con- . 'erence in the event the Argen ;ine problem remains unsolved • when the session ends. (In Buenos Aires, Col. Juan Per >n, vice president of Arguentina, 1 leclared today he desired full res- i oration cf cordial relations with j he United States and Russia but f said the possibility was unlikely ■ hat his country would find tot- > ering Germany’s behavior suffi- , :ient cause to declare war against i he N.aizs.) : The cure of the economic pro 'ram came in a resolution entitl- ( id “An Economic Charter For The ( Americas” which was described , tuthoritatively as a fundamental j ixpression of United States for- ^ ugn policy throughout the world. Tied to the economic charter vere several specific resolutions (Continued on Page Three; Col. 4) t Foe Announces New Battle Along Oder, Neisse Fronts LONDON, Tuesday, Feb. 27.—(.T)—German broadcasts said last night that heavy battles had erupted on a 100-mile front along the Oder and Neisse rivers facing Berlin and Dresden and declared that COMMONS MAY r BIG THREE FACTS Churchill Expected To Di vulge Results In Con fidence Debate LONDON. Feb. 26— OJ.R1—Prime Minister Winston Churchill, open ,ng a three day debate in Oom nons tomorrow. Is expected to jive the world the first full ac count of the Big Three Crimea conference by one of the princi pals. The debate will be based on Churchill’s motion: “That this louse approves the declaration of joint policy agreed to by the three powers at the Crimea Conference and 'in particular welcomes their ietermination to maintain unity of action not only in achieving the j ’inal defeat of the common enemy mt thereafter in peace as in war.” | i (Continued on Page Three; Co!x6) Red Army flanking forces to the north had speared to within 23 miles of Stettin, Pomeranian capital and Baltic port at the mouth of the Oder. Moscow did not confirm the Nazi Transocean agency’s report of spreading tank and infantry actions on the main front—possibly a pre lude to an all-out Soviet offensive by upwards of 1,000000 Russians veterans in the crack First Russian and First Ukraine Armies. Transocean said the First Ukraine Army now had reached the Neisse “everywhere’’ along a 60 mile front south of the Oder con fluence, 50 miles southeast of Ber lin, and that German and Russian armored forces were locked in a “Merry-go-round of death” as the Soviets attempted to force the river. A brief Soviet communique, an nouncing capture of five localities in East Prussia during slow one mile gains, and the seizure of 15 more blocks in besieged Breslau, did not mention any fighting on the main front inside Germany. Dis patches from the Soviet capital, however, told of heavy reconnais sance and the usual activities pre ceding a major offensive. (Continued on Page Three; Col. 5) Lewis Hints Of New Strike By United Mine Labor WASHINGTON, Feb. 26. — :JP, — rohn L. Lewis opened his 1945 oam jaign for more pay for coal miners oday by serving formal notice tha* i strike of nearly 400,000 miners nay be just around the corner. Lewis acted under the Smith lonnally Act, which requires 30 lays’ notice and a Government toll of workers prior to a strike 'he act, which Lewis denounced oday as “a grotesque slave slat le,” was passed over Presidential 'eto in July, 1943, amid a wave of eaction to United Mine Workers trikes that year. Hurling charges that government ifficials and operators are engag 'd in a “conspiracy” against the IMW. Lewis and his policy com nittee served the formal notice hat a labor dispute exists and a trike may occur in 30 days. A National Labor Relations 5oard# spokesman said a poll on he question of striking probably : would be held in 30 days. It would be the largest such poll the board has undertaken. The UMW contract with the bitu minous operators expires March 31, and negotiations between Lewis and the operators begin Thursday. A month later the anthracite con tract will come up. Lewis has not divulged what wage demands he will make, rut it is generally believed he is con sidering something like a 25 cent general increase in the present Da sic rate of $1 an hour, plus other concessions. Lewis voiced his criticism of the Smith-Connally Act in a lette: to Secretary of Labor Perkins, to whom the strike notice was sent, ffe quoted President Roosev-!t with whom he fell out aftei the steel strike of 1937. as saying the ict would “provoke strikes in /ital war plants which otherwise would tot occur.” I German Lines Seem Broken At Ruhr Basin Von Rundstedt Seeks To Rally Disorganized Forces PARIS, Tuesday, Feb. 27. —</P)— The U. S. First Army drove with in 10 1-2 miles of Cologne last night and pounded it with heavy guns while the Ninth Army on the north achieved gains which a field officer said appeared to be a breakthrough six miles from the Ruhr Basin. With four Allied armies on the offensive on a 200-mile front, Ger man Field Marshal von Rund stedt sought to rally his disor ganized forces in an order of the day calling on them to defend the Ruhr's approaches to the last man. saying that otherwise all was rost. Front'dispatches said the ll. S. Third Army appeared to have achieved a second breakthrough 60 miles south of the First Army, where in a seven-mile surge, tanks and troops broke across both the Pruem and Nims river and were swiftly enveloping the enemy’s Ei fol mountain sfrnntrhnlH of Ait burg. The Canadian First Army resum ed its offensive on the north flank and behind a mighty barrage fought three and a half miles south eastward within a dozen miles of the Ruhr and cracked into the bitterly-defended town of Calcar Gen. Eisenhower’s big push f om the west was shifting into high gear. Four armies were threaten ing to overrun all Germany west of the Rhine and north of the Mo selle river, an area 200 miles long and as much as 80 miles wide. Flowing 30 miles into the Reich, the First Army drove two spear heads nearly 10 miles east of the Roer river, and a front dispatch said a battaliwi of self-propelled Long Toms had opened fire on Cologne. The Ninth Army on the north toppled the key road and railway town of Erkelenz and sent a col umn on two miles northeast tQ within six miles of the western Ruhr foundries at Muenchen-G’ad bach, and 18 miles from Duessel dorf. Both armies were driving to ward the Rhine and at four points were one to four miles from the Erft river, last natural line of defense before the Rhine, which is seven to 13 miles farther east. The Ninth Army sped on beyond the last minefields, seized one divi sion headquarters so swift was it* rush, and was overrunning even anti-aircraft positions, rarely cap tured in battle. Field reports from both armies said the German positions were deteriorating rapidly, American casualties were surprisingly light, and a Ninth Army officer declar ed: “There is no organized line in lium ui us auu n. "Ft'caio have a breakthrough.” The front now was 40 miles v/'de beyond the Roer. At least 38 Ger man towns fell during the clay. The Americans were hurdling the anti-tank ditches, the zig-zag ‘ten ches of the type used in the F rst World War and other fortifica tions which civilians had dug nat tily in hope of stopping the Ameri cans before the Rhine. Pilots spotted heavy road and rail movement speeding westward beyond the Rhine toward Cologne, which could be used for a Rand like that at Stalingrad. Fighting with rising speed through the fortified towns and industrial slag heaps, American troops and tanks were fanning out from V *r en and one column lanced bey nd Drove, five miles southeast of Dueren. cutting in behind thf tough Roer defenses south of that fallen citadel. Lt. Gen. William H. Simps in’* Ninth Army had a Cologne-bound column nine miles north of hat of the First Army, and these for ces were only three miles from the Erft river after seizing Ober embt. seven miles northeast of Juelich. ai ieasi lour divisions naa pcen identified in this northernmost push which not only was rolling toward the Rhine but was vyi hln artillery range of tha western Ruhr’s factories. One force captured, the comrr.u (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3J.
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Feb. 27, 1945, edition 1
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