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FORECAST Served By Leased Wire* - of the Fair and slightly warmer today with 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS n-oderate northwest wind*. »«*d the J Yesterday’s temperature*: j UNITED PRESS ? High., 60—Low, 45. With Complete Coverage of [ State and National New* ^js—NO. 12f;-:__ ___WILMINGTON, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1945 ESTABLISHED 1867^ AH Major Resid ence West Of Rhine Ended; New Rhine Crrisings Near, Germans Report; Reds Wipe Out 45,000 Nazis On Czech Front -* ^ _ * _.—— * Foe Reports New Advance Down Danube Pincers Against South eastern Sector Appears Likely LONDON, March 22 —(U.R)— Rus sian troops in twin advances of 25 miles have encircled and wiped out 45.000 Germans on the edge of the Czechoslovak arsenal area, Mos cow reported tonight. Berlin said four Soviet armies had opened an offensive down the Danube toward Vienna and as the southern half of the front burst into flames, it appeared that a vast So viet pincers movement against Germany's “last ditch” fortresses of Czechoslovakia and Austria might be under way. Marshal Josef Stalin announced that two Russian columns had met at the foot of the Sudeten moun • ns after each swept 25 miles across upper Silesia, catching 15, 000 prisoners in the trap. A sub sequent communique reported that 30.000 other Germans were killed in the drive. The brilliant maneuver by Mar shal Ivan S. Konev’s First Ukrain ian Army overran 400 Silesian towns including the large centers of Neustadt. Cosel, Falkenberg, Zu elz, Ober Glogau, Steinau and Krappitz, Stalin revealed in an order of the day. Neustadt lies only three miles from the Czech border. 84 miles northwest of in dustrail Brno and 135 miles from Prague. Stalin's order ended a 33-day si lence on activities along Konev’s Upper Silesian flank. German broadcasts began reporting the present drive six days ago. Berlin admitted today that the Germans had withdrawn to a new front west of Neustadt. Perhaps signifying the opening of a great pincer movement to forestall a final German stand is Czechoslovakia and Austria, the Germans reported that four Rus sian armies were hammering down the Danube from Budapest, strik ing for the Bratislava Gap and Vienna. Under mounting pressure, the Germans abandoned Esztergom.. 22 miles northwest of Budapest; Fel sogalla, 24 miles due west of the Hungarian capital, and Tata; 29 miles northwest of Budapest and 12 miles southeast of Komaron, the key to Bratislava. Tata is 64 miles southeast of Bratislava and only 94 miles from Vienna. The new gain retrieved most of the territory lost by Marshal Fe ordor I. Toibukhin’s Third Ukrain counter-attacks following the fall of Budapest two months ago. The German commentator, Er nest von Hammer, reported that Bussian troops had battered into ihe key junction of Szekesfehervar, 34 miles southwest of Budapest where a German garrison was im periled by the Russian advances across its communications north West and vVPst nf Vienna Stalin revealed that Konev’s col umns had gained 25 miles both west and south of Oppeln, Upper Silesian capital on the Oder, and had converged around a 500-square tmle pocket of Germans. It was indicated that the German losses Would run considerably higher when the mop-up was completed. A great quantity of weapons in cluding 464 guns were seized in the push, for which Stalin saluted troops under 56 generals, indicative °f the huge forces involved. The two First Ukrainian Army columns linked up in the area of Neustadt. 22 miles southwest of Oppeln. The southern column seiz ed Cosel, 24 miles south of Oppeln ai!d the same distance east of Neu stadt, while the northern group reached Neustadt by way of Fal kenburg, n miies west of Oppeln end Stemau, six miles north of Neustadt, Ober Glogau, Zuelz and Kroppitz were with-in the mop UP area. While these new battles develop ed on the southern end of the front, the German stand along the by passed Baltic coast was coming to a disastrius end as the Russians cut apart the garrison around Ko en'gsberg, Danzig and Gdynia. The battered, dazed Germans southwest of Koenigsberg held on gainst the coast of the Frisches Naff (lagoon), in an area at no Point more than three miles deep. Draft Call May Drop 31 Per Cent In July Average Will Be Reduced To About 93000 Men Monthly; Selective Service Act Extended WASHINGTON, March 22.—(A>)— Draft calls may drop an average of 31 per cent after July 1, the White House disclosed today co incident with a House Military Committee vote to extend the draft law without change. President, Roosevelt, sending up a request to Congress for $54,500, 000 to finance Selective Service another fiscal year, said this con templated an average <Jfaft call of 93,000 a month. This compares with a figure of 135-000 which Maj. Gen. Stephen Henry told the House Committee is the expected average from now until June. The White House spoke of the after-July need as being merely one of replacements. It said that by then “mobilization of the larg est armed force by far in the na tion’s history" will be complete. After hearing only two wit nesses—Army generals who em phasized the necessity of furnish ing fighting replacements until the last enemy has quit—me com mittee sent the bill to the House floor for a vote probably early next week. Without the legislation, the Se lective Service Act, under which millions of men have been induct ed, would become inoperative May 15. The bill approved extends it for another year, or until the end of hostilities, whichever is first. The committee heeded, though reluctantly, the Army’s request that no restriction be placed on the present policy of putting in ductees into combat five months (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) Congress, Probing Food, Hears Of Army Shortage WASHINGTON, March 22.—(U.fi)—The Government today announc ed plans to do something about the meat shortage after Congress was told that the largest cattle population in history is roaming the range, that the Army’s food supply is too low for safety, and that civilians’ oft-hitched belts must be pulled tighter. With the hope of bringing more meat to consumers, the Office of Price Administraton ncreased subsidy payments to cattle slaught -* erers by 50 cents per hundred EDEN SELECTION BRINGS PROTEST Labor Members Attack Churchill Choice For Peace Parley LONDON, March 22.— (U.P.)— Prime Minister Winston Churchill today named Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden chairman of a nine-member delegation to the San Francisco Security Confer ence over the angry protests— which he called “churlish” — of two Labor party members. Emanuel Shinwell and Aneurin Bevan, tireless critics of the gov ernment, charged that in making Maj. Clement Attlee, Laborite deputy prime minister, an ordi nary member of the delegation under Eden, Churchill was trying to grab power for his Conserva tive party with a view to the election to be held after tire Eu ropean war. Churchill made history by nam ing two women to the delegation —Ellen Wilkinson, veteran Labor party member of the House of Commons and parliamentary sec retary to the Ministry of Home Security, and Florence Hors brugh, parliamentary secretary to the Health Ministry. The Earl of Halifax, British am bassador to the United States, who also is a War Cabinet member, will be on the delegation. Other members are: Lord Cran borne, dominions secretary; George Tomlinson, joint parlia mentary secretary to the Ministry of Labor; Dingle Foot, Parliamen tary secretary to the Ministry for Economic Warfare, and William Mabnane, parliamentary secre tary to the Food Ministry. As soon as Churchill had an nounced the makeup of the dele gation to Commons, Shinwell and Bevan objected. Shinwell asked Churchill: “Is it not all auite consistent with his (Churchill’s declaration at the conservative conference that the conservative party, hav ing got all they wanted in the v/y of assistance and guidance in the war, are now going to get ev erything which is useful in their own hands?” This was a reference to the La bor membership in the war time coalition government. “I never said that,” answered Churchill. “There could hardly be anything more unfair, or a more characteristic utterance than that.” (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) pounds. The increase was an nounced before the Senate Banking Committee by Price Administrator Chester Bowles who was answer ing charges that OPA price policy is to blame for the snortage crisis. Bowles said the new subsidy should put meat packers in “a reasonably good position.” But Ar *ur L. Winn of the National In dependent Meat Packers Associa tion, another witness, disagreed. He said the packers would con tinue to lose money. With President Roosevelt plan ning to give the Nation the facts on the food problem at his press conference tomorrow, there were these other food developments: The price of chickens is going up. The Government soon will raise price ceilings on poultry to en courage production. “Meal-easies” are springing up in New Jersey. Joseph Vian, pres ident of the Independent Retail Butchers of New Jersey, told a House committee investigating the food shortage that meat dealers are beginning to operate behind drawn Venetian blinds. Acting Secretary of War Robert Patterson said the Army’s food supply is “below the minimum safety factor.” War Food Administration offic (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) '--y» Yanks Invade Guimaras Off Panay s Coast Liberation of Philippines Becomes Mopping Up Operation MANILA, Friday, March 23.— <A’>—Guimaras island, just a mile and a half southeast of captured Iloilo on Panay, was invaded by American Doughboys Wednesday as heavy bombers on three suc cessive days poured 214 tons of bombs on Cebu island to the east. Gen. Douglas MacArthur re ported this 27th island invasion of the Philippines in his communique today, announcing only that “in a shore-to-shore operation our troops seized Guimaras island, southeast of Panay.” The heavy bombing of Cebu is land, across the Camotes Sea from Leyte, was concentrated on Japa nese bivouac and supply areas in the vicinity of Cebu City, midway along the island's east coast. “Many explosions and fires were observed,” the communique said. Meanwhile naval P-T boats patrolling the Cebu coast by night sank several enemy small craft and navy rocket-firing planes sank a midget submarine off Cebu Ci ty. Patrol bombers ranging the blockaded China Sea sank or dam aged 12 small freight vessels and four landing craft. \jrenci.cii auveuiccs vn an giiruiiu fronts on Luzon were reported. Forward elements of the 33rd Di vision, probing closer to Baguio from the west, reached the Na guilian river and an airfield at the outskirts of the Philippine summer capital. In southern Luzon, the 158th regimental combat team drove in to the environs of Cuenca, south east of Lake Taal, and cut the main road east of the town. Liberation of the Philippines be came generally a big mopping up job as American troops and Fili pino guerrillas pursued broken Japanese forces on Panay, Min danao, Leyte and most of Luzon today. Only in northern Luzon, where Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamas hita is supposed to have estab lished headquarters at Baguio, were there reports of extensive, organized resistance. Gen. MacArthur announced Thursday the collapse of the Jap anese Antipolo-Wawa line in the Sierra Madres east of Manila. He reported the capture of much equipment by 33rd and Sixth Di vision troops and said enemy losses in men were “extraordinar ily heavy.’’ Thursday’s communique also announced that south of Manila. Luzon's Cavite province had been “cleared of the enemy except for scattered remnants now in flight.” It added that “all organized en emy resistance on Panay has been ^crushed” except for minor pock ets. Fortieth Division Doughboys (Continued on Page Five; Col. 2) Treasury To Investigate Free Spending At Resorts WASHINGTON, March 22.—(A>)| —The Treasury disclosed today that its famous “T Men” are checking up on freewheeling spenders in big-time pleasure re sorts to determine whether they have paid their income taxes. Officials said that Elmer Irey, chief coordinator of Treasury en forcement activities (that’s the T men), picked up $50,000 of de linquent taxes in a few days in Miami, Fla. His contributors, they said, were persons who hastened to pay ‘‘forgotten taxes”. Irey is the man whose Sleuthing brought Scarface A1 Capone to grief back in the roaring days Of gangsterism.—for gettinghis taxes, taxes. Now he and his agents are after other people suspected of having income they haven’t bothered to report—some of them, perhaps, because it came from such frown ed-on practices as black market ing. Secretary of the Treasury Mor genthau told a news conference to day the department is not after .i; V small fry—“I am interested in the fellow with the suite of big rooms and the lush boys.” Irey investigated free spending ir the Florida resort and brought back lists of some of the visitors there with unusually 1 a r g d amounts of money to spend. These names have been sent to home districts of the persons in volved so that their income tax returns could be checked. This, taken in connection with Morgenthau’s rather cryptic dis closure today at a news confer ence, indicated that one of the major approaches to the problem will be through the money tossed around in pleasure spots. Morgenthau also linked his #1 vestigation with a trip he made i to New York this week. He refused to say whether a definite program ■ of cracking down has been formu lated, but said he is spending i “quite a little time” on the prob- i lem and is going into it “very seriously.” The discussion began when a re- i (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) 8,000 Allied Planes Batter Nazi Targets In Eastern Rhine Sector Extensive Attacks Believed Prelude To New Crossings; Berlin I Pounded For 31st Consecutive Night By RAF LONDON, March 22—OJ.R)—The Allies unleashed terrific air as saults on German ground defenses east of the Rhine today, sending some 8,000 planes against the Reich in the second day of all out attacks precluding mass cross ings of the historic river barrier. Every type of aircraft, . from fighters to four-engined bombers, lashed German army camps, com mand posts, supply centers, air fields and railroads in the Ruhr Valley, dropping an estimated 10, 000 tons of bombs. It was one of the greatest aerial slaughters of the war. Some 7,300 1 sorties were flown by heavy bomb ers and fighters from British bases and tactical planes over the front lines. Italy-based warplanes join ed the massive assaults, penetrat ing southern Germany to within 75 miles of Berlin. Tonight British Mosquitos hit the German capital for the 31st con secutive night. Skies were clear and,crew mem bers saw their bombs strike di rectly on enemy barracks, head quarters posts, bridges and other objectives across the river from where Allied armies stood poised behind a smokescreen for the big push. Lieut. Gen. James H. Dootlittle's Eighth Air Force sent more than 1,300 Fortresses and Liberators against nine German army posts in the Ruhr Valley and five air fields, including jet-plane bases, in northwestern and southern Germa ny. The more than 700 escorting Mustangs ranged far to the east, past Berlin, engaging the Luftwaffe and hitting ground objectives in the center of the Reich. The American four-motored bombers scored direct hits and left (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) V-BOMB DESTROYS BR1 H FACTORY Interior Turned Into Infer no; Many Persons Killed, Hurt LONDON, March 22—OP!—A Ger man V-bomb scored a direct hit on a southern England factory re cently, exploding inside and turn ing the building into a blazing in ferno, it was announced tonight. Rescue workers, including American soldiers, toiled four hours amid the smoke and debris in an effort to save those trapped in the wreckage as a crowd, many of whom had relatives killed, gathered anxiously around the main gate. Watchers collapsed when they learned relatives had been killed or injured. The first sent huge smoke clouds rolling through an adjoining street and the U. S. troops and firemen were handicapped by a gas main that blazed for six hours in one dogs were used to help locate those buried in the debris. Another V-bomb exploded in the gardens behind a row of cottages in a southern England community, killing six persons, demolishing three houses and strewing wreck age over a wide area. Dazed sur vivors were pulled from those ruins too. Thirteen other persons were kill ed and six injured when two V bombs struck other localities, in cluding the grounds of a hospital. Part of th hospital was so badly damaged that 120 patients had to be evacuated. Two children escaped virtually unhurt when a V-bomb explosion sent th roofs of their homes crash ing down. Roof beans shunted heavy pieces of concrete that fell toward six-year-old Peter Mosely, and Mrs. Dorothy Weber’s 10 months-old daughter was tossed across a room- but uninjured. ROAD TO RHINE PAYED BY AIR | Japs Claim Fifth Fleet Still Prowling Pacific U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD< 23—UP)—Vice Adm. Marc A. Mits( Eumably still was on the prowl it might scourge the Rukyus or Fi -1 JUARTERS, GUAM, Friday, March her’s potent carrier task force pre today, with Tokyo radio hinting irmosa while withdrawing from the mauling given apanese warships Monday in Japan’s inland sea. There has been no official word on the whereabouts of the force, a part of the Fifth Fleet, since it moved close to Japan to permit its planes to search out enemy fleet units at their bases. In the nine days that have elapsed since that strike, Admiral Mitscher has had time to move his ships into the Formosa area about 900 miles from the scene of Mon Continued on Page Three; Col. 5) MASS EVACUATION OF TOKYO HINTED Diet Hears of Plans To Combat American In vasion Believed Near SAN FRANCISCO, March 22— iP)—The evacuation of nearly 3, 100,000 air raid victims from To tyo-one of the greatest mass civi lian evacuations of the war—is in progress in the bomb-torn Nippon jse capita], the Japanese radio in iicated Thursday. A Domei, Japanese news agen cy, broadcast recorded by the SCC, said Home Minister Shigeo Ddachi iold a Diet committee hat Tokyo probably had less than 1,000,000 inhabitants now, with nore to leave. The city’s prewar topulation before the war was iround 7,000,000, making it the bird largest in the world. The prospect of population cen ;ers of Japan being isolated by an American invasion was raised as he government speeded steps to >rganize a civilian national, or ‘special-attack,” corps. Gen. Kaneshiro Shibayam, vice ninister of war, was quoted by [Continued on Face Five) Col. 3) Recalcitrant Nazis Find Wilmington Wind Too Cool More than 100 German prison ers of war in the Wilmington con finement center who displayed re calcitrance yesterday over the setting of a “work task” for fer tilizer-plant details among them by Lt. R. H. Hazel, camp com mander, changed their minds af ter two hours’ segregation in a chilly corner of the stockade, it was announced last night. The war-prisoners will be back at work today, Lt. Hazel said, adding that he plans to have the group at fault work Sunday to make up for the hours they miss ed last- night. All labor contingents of the 504 Germans in the camp except the fertilizer-plant group, worked without interruption yes terday. The difficulty arose after the discovery that the night-shift of Germans employed at the Swift Fertilizer Co. were accomplishing far less than the day-shift. Ac cordingly Lt. Hazel set a definite tonnage of phosphates for handling : during their next shift. Their fail ure to comply resulted in the whole groups’ being penned in the north end of the stockade and told they would be kept there, without food nor additional clothing, for 24 ; hours or until they agreed to per (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) Ludwigshafen kd Mainz Are Cleared Of Foe Imminent Drive On Ruhf Valley Preceded By .. Air Assault ^ PARIS, March 22—VP)—'Two U. S. jrmies crushed all major resis ;ance west of the Rhine today in he last pha;;e of a battle that cost he Germans 100,000 captives alone ind the enemy said the river bar rier was about to be stormed Doth from the Palatinate and op posite the Ruhr, which was blast id by thousands of warplanes. One German report said Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third. Army lad massed 300 regular and am phibious tanks and strong engine :ring and motorized units for a smash into the mountainous inner :ore of the Reich. Another declared that Field Mar shal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery pad opened a thunderous artillery barrage to screen a Rhine crossing west of Wesel, adding to destruc tion wrought by the thousands of warplanes which throughout the day sowed ruin through the Ruhr Valley. Third Army strategists now wer« free to plan the crossing of the Rhine, for possibly no more than 1,000 German effectives remained in action west of the stream after one of the worst disaster* ever visited on German arms. Written off were the great Rhine cities of Mainz and Ludwigshafen, where resistance folded during the day and the few defender* were chased into corners from which there was no retreat, with the Rhine bridges blown. Third Army banners floated over 100 miles of the Rhine’s west bank: from Ludwigshafen to Coblenz, and acing armor was five miles from Speyer and 19 from Karlsruhe, the main roads back for the batter ed German band--all that remains of two German armies once more than 100,000 strong. The U» C. First Army moved up into position to outflank the Ruhr from the south, widening its Re magen bridgehead to 29 miles and deepening it to nine against light to moderate opposition. The First Army now held nine miles of the south bank of the Sieg rivei northeast of Bonn within dozen miles of the Ruhr’s south rim. Southward its bridgehead reached within seven and a half miles of Coblenz, on the west bank, where the Third Army sits in firm control. The German defense lines crum pled early today in Mainz, which fanatic SS troops had tried to turn into an island of resistance in a sea of almost unsurpassed destruc tion. They had impressed police and firemen and unlimbered anti-tank and self-propelled guns and held out for two days, but the 90th di vision shattered their lines with an early morning barrage of great ferocity and then broke through. By mid-afternoon, Mainz was more than 75 per cent cleared and the Germans had been dirven back into the old town, which cover* only ?. small area in the hart of the city. The 94th Division to the south battled to rout the last sniper* frorn the great chemical center at Ludw.'gshafen. The battle west of the Rhin*; which will carry oul Gen. Eisen hower’s orders to destroy every German short of the big river bar irer, was being carried to a swift conclusion by the U. S. Third and seventh Armies. The Tenth Armored Division of the Third Army was fanning out; me column spearing six mile* southeast to near Gommersheim, »even miles west of Speyer and }niy 19 miles northwest of Karls ruhe. The pincers was being clamped en Speyer. The Tenth, after cap ering the steel city of Neustadt; pushed on into Bohl, six mile* lorthwest of Speyer, whose bridgo ;he German radio was calling to ;he beaten troops to escape be 'ore it was too late. Patton’s mystery tank division which first penetrated Ludwigsha :en left the mop-up of that city to he 94th Infantry Division and ipeared on south to within five niles of Speyer on the no6rth. Simultaneously, the Tenth senf [Continued on Page Two} Col.
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