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FORECAST Served By Leased Wires --— of the Cloudy and warmer today with moder- ASSOCIATED PRESS ,e northeast to southeast winds. and the Yesterday's temperatures: UNITED PRESS is With Complete Coverage of H'«h ' State and National Newt ISO- !»»•______WILMINGTON, N. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1945.__ ESTABLISHED 186T - ——— 1 Other Soviet Units Strive To Trap Nazis Kolberg, Site Of U. S. Prisoner Camp, Also Under Russian Fire LONDON. Tuesday. March 6-— Russian troops, anchoring the r Pomeranian flank securely on the Baltic coast, yesterday wheeled toward Stettin and cap tured that port's outer bastions of Stargard and Naugard, while other Soviet forces to the northeast cut deeper into two pockets where pos sibly 200.000 Germans were trap ped. Overwhelming Stargard in a vi cious street battle that cost the Germans 4.000 killed, the Russians pushed on toward Altdamm, east bank Oder river crossing town just opposite Stettin and 15 miles west of Stargard. Altdamm and other localities ringing Stettin, Pomera nian capital and Berlin’s main port were reported under Sovier artil lery fire. Naugard. 22 miles north of Star gard, also fell as the Russians fold ed back the Germans into an 1, 800 square-mile pocket in which the enemy was battling with his back to a 45-mile waterline formed by the lower Oder, Stettin Bay, and the Dievenow river. Kolberg, on the Baltic 65 miles northeast of Stettin, also was be ing stormed by Soviet troops "un der cover of a blizzard,’’ Berlin said. The enemy broadcast claim ed that the Russians had been held in the fringes of the town, site oi a large American prisoner of war camp. Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov’s First White Russian Army and the adjoining Second White Russian group under Marshal Rokossovsky captured a total of 230 towns anc villages yesterday in 10-mile gains, Moscow announced. A third major ; stronghold toppled by Zhukov’s men was Polzin, 52 miles north easi of Stargard. It had been by passed earlier in the race to the Baltic coast. Rokossovsky’s troops seized Gross-Tychow, site of a large American prisoner of war camp 18 miles south of captured Koeslin on the Baltic, but the fate of the Americans was not immediately determ ned. It was possible they nad been moved westward before tne twin Russian breakthroughs tc the Baltic, although the American military mission in Moscow believ ed some ol them would be rescued. Fast of Pomerania in the Polish Corridor below Danzig the east (Continue-d on Page Three, Col. 2) ---V-— W BUCHAREST VIOLENCE Pro-t ascist Element Report td Rioting In Romania MOSCOW, March 5.—Iff)— A Tass news dispatch reported today that P‘o-Fascist bands were rioting in . streets of Bucharest and tear , P‘ntures of United Nations Ksders from buildings in the Ro jhanian capital, which has beer fllp0u: a government since tha1 ‘ 1 nmc Minister Radescu resign 'd a week ago. Fne Tass report quoting the Ro ; ““‘an newspaper Momentul said ti nt j ,nds of Legionnaires, pro tu . b.v Radescu’s ministry oi ‘ interior were racing through s -reets in automobiles, shoot lf-fcfioUp tne homes of democratic ^onathand spreadinS Panic . “g the population. Datrh fayed Associated Press dis dav ro,m Budapest, filed Satur 6 .no mention of distur Kir- hx that time. It said younf Mihai had asked Petre Gro Radescu president the fallen new . sovernment, to form £ her fVfrment: Groza is a mem front) tde Nationai Democratic i “als 'c-V'1 ,174 dangerous crimi Saturday aM • Bucharest prison WardenJ h-aSPue the fact that th‘ hours hr-f'd bcen warned three The Vim U!e ibc break occurred big tu Jl", Wcie. said to be try ( anccs - Up anl‘‘Semitic desturb and university students Pottcri .ewisb student was re •lcd ^nously wounded. 2,050 Marines Killed On Iwo; j Forrestal Cites Isle’s Value I Latest Total Compiled Through Saturday; Jap Dead Estimated At 12,864; Enemy Believed to Have Divisions for Combat and Navy Secretary Warns They May Be Able to Raise That Number WASHINGTON, March 5.—(U.R)— Secretary of the Navy James For restal revealed today that there were 2,050 Marine* killed on Iwo Jima as of last Saturday. He did not know the latest fig ure on Marines wounded. The list totals given by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz were 5,732 cas ualties. of which over 60 were dead. Latest totals on enemy dead were 12,864 up to 6 p.m, Saturday on the 13th day of the fight. Forrestal revealed the figures at a press conference soon after his return from a tour of Pacific bat tle fronts including Iwo Jima. He disclosed also that the Japs are estimated to have altogether 70 divisions of combat troops, in addition to maintenance and gar rison troops—estimated in all at about 5,000,000 “And they may be able to raise that total,” he said. He said there have never been more than 12 American divisions facing the enemy at one time and that was in the Philippines. While the casualties on Iwo were severe and costly, the overall re sults were highly successful, he said. “The fact that any American dies is not easily faced, but these casualties are not out of propor tion to the importance ot taking that island,” he added. He said the Japanese defense of Iwo was the most thorough and skillful that the Marines have faced in the Pacific. He described caves 3Q0 feet below the surface with numerous galleries branch ing out. He told of one series of caves which had nine entrances and a main passage 600 yards long. He described the capture of a I water distillation plant in another cave which had a capacity of 300, 000 gallons. Taking of the plant seriously hampered the Japs who are believed critically short of wa ter. Forrestal spent five days in the vicinity of Iwo Jima. He went ashore, visited hospital ships lying off shore and observed the general operations. He traveled 21,000 miles by plane and had a “more uneasy journey’’ in a destroyer, he said. He emphasized that despite the 70 days of bombing and three days of pre-invasion Naval bombard ment, there were still a great many pillboxes and guns left on Iwo. He said that the total shell weight expended in the three days prior to invasion and the follow ing week came to about 10,000 or 12,000. Marines Break Up Jap Counterattack On I wo U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, Guam, Tuesday, March g._(;P)—U. S. Marines grimly pressing Iwo Jima’s strongly-entrench ed Japanese toward the northern and northeastern cliffs made no major attack Monday but broke up a number of enemy attempts to infiltrate American positions. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said in his communique today the battle ___>ines remained substantially un i . n. xi_ __ Jilclllgcu. 03 uic uuvw — Marines, who hold two-thirds or more of Iwo, consolidated their addings elsewhere on the small but irital island where fighting now is n its 16th day. “The enemy made a number of attempts to infiltrate, and subject ed the Marines to heavy small arms and artillery fire,” Nimitz said in his communique. “All ef forts were broken up. There was no appreciable change in the lines on March 5 (Monday).” No mention was made of the positions of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions last report ed pressing the Japanese toward cliffs on the north and northeast edge of Iwo. Improved weather conditions fa cilitated unloading operations in lv o's beaches. Chichi Jima in Ihe Bonin Islands immediately to the north was bombed Sunday by Liberators of the Seventh Army Air Force, while torpedo planes hit the Palau Is lands with the loss of two air craft. Navy fighters swept Ponape in the Carolines. Desperate Japanese infiltrating the American lines even wore American uniforms. Five Japanese, wearing full American Marine battle dress, were killed by 24th Regiment pa (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) FRANCE REFUSES BIG FIVE PART Nation Will Attend Peace Conference As Invited Country Only PARIS, March 5 —(UP)-Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s government sent a note to the United States yesterday cancelling its acceptance of an invitation to attend the World Peace Charter Conference at San Francisco April 25 as a sponsor nation, a Foreign Office spokes man said tonight. The notification, which means that France will attend as an in vited nation instead of as one of the proposed “Big Five sponsors was sent to Washington, London and Moscow after several days ot exchanges of telegrams between the capitals. Invitations at first were to be sent out last Saturday, diplomatic quarers reported. At noon yester day, informants said, the United States said that they would be def initely sent out today and Fiance declined to take part as a spon sor. Last Wednesday, the French Cabinet overruled de Gaulle and decided to accept sponsorship of the conference ana <u me =<m<t time to draw up reservations. | Thes® reservations were submitted l by note to the Big Three. It was understood that they were: (1) That a world Security char ter be modified to permit auto matic action against an aggressor, as provided in the French-Russian alliance. (2) That the charter be mod ified regarding an international po lice force. (3) That there be modifica tions as regards the composition of an international security organi zation. There were reports that Russ.a strongly urged de Gaulle to ac cept sponsorship. WASHINGTON, March 5—(UP— The United States today made pub lic the voting rules to be followed by the proposed World Security Council in handling future inter national disputes. It also announced that 39 nations have been invited to join the Big ' Five at San Francisco next month to organize the new League of Na ■ tions. France decl'ned an offer to join the United States, Britain, Russia and China in sponsoring the (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) BRYAN FUNERAL SERVICE TODAY Former Judge And Promi nent Lawyer To Be Buried In Oakdale Funeral services for Judge Eg bert Kedar Bryan. 75. former North Carolina Superior court judge and a prominent attorney in the State since 1891, who died Sunday . at his home, 11 South Fifth street, will be conducted from the residence at 3:30 p. m. today. The Rev. William Crowe, Jr., pastor of the First Presbyterian church, will officiate. Interment will be in Oakdale cemetary. Active pallbearers will be Thom as W. Davis, P. R. Smith, Major Harry Stovall, T. E. Brown, C. B. (Continued on Page Five; Col. 1) Fred Vinson Nominated As Federal Loan Chief WASHINGTON, March 5—(UP) —President Roosevelt today nomi lated Stabilization Director Fred M. Vinson to succeed Jesse Jones is Federal loan administrator in i move that won swift approval of Congress and rang down the cur tain on the long-standing fued be tween Jones and Henry A. Wal lace. Labor was pleased that Vinson will be removed from the realm of wage control. It withheld direct :omment temporarily but he ha^ ilocked all attempts of the War Labor Board to grant wage in meases requiring price hikes. Whether his successor—and one las been chosen—change that pol icy, remains to be seen. White House Secretary Johathan Daniels said that Mr. Roosevelt las decided who will get Vinson's post, but there will be no announce ment until the Senate confirms Vinson. His nomination was refer red to the Senate Banking Com mittee. r Vinson, 5ii, former Kentucky Con gressman and Federal appeals court judge, was named to the other halt of the job left vacant when the President fired Jones so Wallace could be given the appoint ment as Secretary of Commerce. The Senate confirmed Wallace for the post but Congress first separat ed Federal loan operations from the Commerce Department. Early Senate confirmation of Vinson is expected. He was a member of the House for 14 years rand is well liked in Congress, es pecially among the Republicans and Southern Democrats who op posed Wallace. Jones and Wallace, at logger heads on most issues, concurred in hailing Vinson’s selection. “It was an excellent appoint ment*” Jones said. “He is a man of sound judgment and will make a good administrator. He knows a good deal about the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.” (Continued on Page Five; Col 6) - * Enemy Force Declared In Bad Position Approximately 215,000 Nipponese Troops Kill ed In Islands MANILA, Tuesday, March 6.— (API—Six Japanese divisions— perhaps 90,000 troops—of the ten divisions defending Luzon have been destroyed together with con siderable war materials, and the remaining forces bottled up in the mountains are under continuous at tack by ground and air. Gen. Douglas MacArthur today announced that Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita’s forces still on this largest island of the Philippines were “split into a number of di vergent groups.’’ and “their posi tion is critical.’’ Only yesterday, MacArthur an nounced that thousands of Japa nese had been cleaned out of Ilo cos Norte province, on Luzon's northwest corner, by guerrillas op erating under an American Army officer, Col. R. W. Volckman. On bloody Leyte Island, south of Luzon, more than 125,000 Japanese nave been killed. This makes a otal for these two islands alone nf more than 215,000 Japanese .l oops killed, including some of the empire's best. MacArthur announced: “The remaining enemy forces are split up into a number of di vergent groups which are bottled np in the mountains where supply is difficult, movements restricted and control and communications present insuperable obstacles.” “These forces are being subject ed to continuous attack by our air force while the pressure of aur ground forces compresses ;hem into a smaller and smaller maneuver space.” “Our guerrilla forces constantly tarrass their lines of supply with iur naval and air forces blocking ;heir route of evacuation. “Their position is critical.” Luzon was invaded January 9. The largest single engagement in .vhich the enemy sustained heavy osses was in the three-week-old aattle for Manila. Slow enveloping movements against Japanese mountain posi ions north and east of Manila and progress of other Yanks moving oward the Cagayan Valley were •eported today. North of Manila, the 38th and 13rd Divisions closed on Nipponese n the Zambales mountains. East of Manila, troops of the 14th corps enveloped enemy posi ,ions along the Antipolo-Wawa line. Ihis line, in the Marakina water shed. has been well-prepared de fensively by the enemy and con siderable resistance has been en countered. Other Yanks advanced along the Villa Verde trail and the Ambiay abang river in the eastern ex ;remity of Pangasinan province to ward the Cagayan valley. This is at the northeast end of the central L,uzon plain and due east of the Liingayen Bay sector where the Luzon invasion opened. Further detailing accomplish ments against Yamashita’s army, (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3) -V TOKYO ADMITS RAID Japs Say Yanks Bomb Home land And Amoy WASHINGTON, March 5—(U.R)— rokyo radio announced today that 10 American Superfortresses Dombed the Japanese homeland ;arly this morning and “several sens of bombers, fighters and B 29s” raided the Chinese coastal city )f Amoy for three hours Sunday. The broadcast said the planes nachinegunned the Japanese occu Jied city of Amoy and dropped lombs at several points. The 3lanes over Japan dropped bombs ind incendiaries south of Tokyo, he radio said. Another B-29 hit southern Kyushu last night. Tokyo claimed the raiders, which vere overhead for two hours short y after midnight, did “practically io damage.” Their raid followed t heavy one Sunday by possibly 200 Saipan-based Superfortresses. The Japanese Domei agency dis posed that a special students fire irigade had been formed in Tokyo. Fhe students will operate in three shifts. __ * Dog Hero Dies in Iwo Fighting With his Marine pals he gave his life on bloody Iwo beach—a U. S. war dog, killed when a Jap shell exploded near him. One of dogdom's many war casualties, this stout-hearted fighter was charging up the beach with U. S. forces during the invasion. (International). British Armor Threatens Entire Jap Hold In Burma CALCUTTA, March 5.—CP)—British armored units, cutting across the Irrawaddy river valley in an 85-tnile dash, have severed the main Japanese land, air and water links between Mandalay and Rangoon and have seriously threatened the entire enemy position in Burm, Al lied Headquarters said today. With the aid of British airborne infantry, flown in at the climax -^—-*3f the operation, the armored col imn seized eight airdromes intact., killed more than 1,600 Japanese, captured 40 guns and destroyed enough enemy supplies to feed a Japanese division for 10 days. The important communications center of Meiktila, 70 miles south of Mandalay, was captured. In a long sweep through central Burma American fighter pilots gave the ground units support from the air and the column, which was partially self-sustaining, re ceived some supplies from cargo planes. The main Japanese forces de fending Burma now are virtually cut off from the south. Their only clear escape roads run generally southeast through mountainous country into Thailand (Siam). It is believed, however, that the Japa nese will put up a desperate fight for Mandalay before beginning a retreat. The drive across the valley be gan February 23 when the power ful British armored column broke out of the Padokku bridgehead, on the east bank of the Irrawaddy near the Eurma oil fields, and drove directly east on a farily good road. Pakokku is 70 miles south west of Mandalay. In its first clash at Taungtha, 23 miles east of Pakokku, the col umn killed eight of the enemy. With its armor pushing on two abreast to save time the column smashed southeast to Mahlaing, where 70 more Japanese were kill ed. Four - hundred Japanese were killed when the column drove through an enemy supply dump near Mahlaing and destroyed thou sands of artillery shells. (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 6) EISENHOWER ASKS GERMANS TO QUIT General Points To Hope less Position In Message To Nazi Officers Bv The Associated Press An appeal from General Eisen hower’s headquarters, addressed to German army officers Monday via the American Broadcasting Station in Europe, urged that they “reconsider the situation of Ger many. the situation of their men and their personal situation" and surrender to the Allies. “Germany has lost the West Wall, her most powerful defense in the west. The Allies have reach ed the Rhine and the Ruhr,” said the broadcast as reported by the OWI. “In the east the Red Army is standing before Berlin. The in dustrial areas of Upper Silesia, East Prussia, Ppsen (Poznan! and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg and Pomerania are in Russian hands. The end is merely a question oi time. “The responsibility for the out come of the war no longer rests with the German officer. But the responsibility for his men remains —and this responsibility will in dubitably be taken into account by postwar Germany. Germany’s fu ture will be hard, but there will be a possibility for reconstruction. The Allies do not intend to de stroy Germany—only the politi (Continued on Page Five; Col 3) Nazi Dream Shattered For Cologne Residents By DON WHITEHEAD NEIDERAUSSEN, Germany, March 5.— (A>)—In deep brown mud along the roads outside Cologne trudged straggling lines of men, women and children today, bear ing their little bundles of food and clothing—and the misery of de feat. They were returning to their homes—or in most cases to piles of rubble and debris that once had been home. They could not get on the roads, for roads were jammed with tanks, trucks, jeeps and guns moving forward. So they walked in fields and ditches soaked by a cold dismal rain. These were the people who such a little while ago listened to and believed in tales of world power which the Nazis told them. Now they were told of defeat. Their bubble had burst. Now they mere ly were trying to exist until some order came out of chaos. Looking into faces, it was diffi cult to tell what these people were thinking. There was no fear ap parent. In most stolid counte nances there seemed to be wor ried resignation and acceptance of catastrophe which had come so swiftly. Along the road, too, were horses wandering aimlessly or running frantically from the thunder of many motors. Cows with milk | (Continued on Page Five; Col 4) ■ Fall Of City Appears Near As Foe Flees Germans Destroy Huge Bridge; Fate Of Many Troops Sealed PARIS, March 5.—(A>)—1The U. S. First Army sent tanks plunging more than a mile into Cologne to day, seized more than one-fifth of the city in assaults from the north, south and west, and the fall of the largest German metropolis ever stormed by the Allies seemed near at hand. The Germans apparently wrote off the fourth largest city in the Reich, for they blew the big Ho henzollern bridge and began shell ing it from the east bank. Field dispatches said the Ger mans were fleeing across the Rhine by boats, and one staff of ficer estimated that only 1.000 en emy soldiers remained to garrison thp pi tv. Prisoners said these forces were falling back into the old part of the city, which represents only one fourth of Cologne’s area of 25 square miles. The Third Armored Division, now within two miles or less of the heart of the city, was the first to enter at 7:10 and the 104th In fantry Division came in from the west at 9:23 a.m. The Eighth Infantry Division, hard on the 104th’ right flank, pushed into the city from the south. Cologne was shrouded in a pall of smoke from the fire of massed artillery laying down a ter rific drum fire. All three divisions were meet ing half-hearted resistance, indica ting the German army had no in tention of obeying Hitler’s orders to make a Stalingrad-like stand inside Cologne. Cologne is <jie largest city in Rhenish Prussia with a normal population of 786.000 and is loaded with factoiies which once turned out weapons for the German war machine. Now the civilians cower ed in cellars while the battle swirl ed about them, or they streamed back to the American lines carry ing their household possessions. Besides blowing the bridge at Dueseldorf, the Germans destroy ed three bridges at Duisberg be fore the charge of the U. S. Ninth Army, which overran the coal and synthetic oil city of Homberg and smashed into Rheinberg in gains of as much as six miles. By blowing all the serviceable bridges between Bonn and the Dutch border except the road vid rail bridges at Wesel and a make shift structure at Rheinberg, the Germans sealed the fate of many of the more than 50.000 troops still on the Rhine’s west bank. The Canadian First Army cap tured one ferry crossing at Rees, 11 miles northwest of the western Runr city of Wesel, and the Nintn captured another at Orsoy, five miles north of Homberg. The Canadian First and the V. S. Ninth pressed the Germans back into an area 10 miles long and six miles wide, and with the U. S. First Army held sway over 70 of the 90 miles of the Rhine s west bank between Cologne and the Dutch border Supreme Headquarters estimat (Continued on Page Three, Col. J) NAZI RIOT REPORTED Sweden Tells Of Battle Be tween SS And Sailors LONDON, March 5. —(UP)-Riot ing in the north German city of Stralsund, including a street gun battle between sailors and mili tary police, was reported from Sweden today, and other source* told of growing sabotage and un rest throughout the occupied Bal. tic region, particularly in Den mark. The Stockholm newspaper Afton tidningen said in an undated dis patch that the riots had broken out yesterday in Stralsund, during which gunfire was exchanged by German sailors and SS (Elit* Guardi troops. The lighting started when the SS guards led a number of sailor* who had deserted, through the city streets in shackles. The crowd, including many sailors, attacked the guards, freed the Navy men and forced the SS guards to with draw, the dispatch said.
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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March 6, 1945, edition 1
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