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FORECAST Served By Leased Wires - of the ASSOCIATED PRESS Partly cloudy and warm today. >n(j (),e Yesterday’s temperatures: | UNITED PRESS ) High. 86-Low, w. With Complete Cover.*, of _ _ State and National New* VOL. 78.—NO. 134._ ESTABLISHED 1867 Yank Third Drives Into Suburbs Of Gotha; Canadians Closir^ Trap On 90,000 Nazis; Marines Reach *.4st Shore Of Okinawa Isle _U.-------—-----V_____ Army Forces Moving Down East Coast Rapid Gain* On AH Sectors Meeting Little Jap Resistance GUAM, Wednesday, April 3— _Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps, scoring gains of 4,000 to 6, 000 yards, reached the east coast of Okinawa yesterday while Sev enth Division infantrymen who bisected the vital island on Mon day moved southward along the shores of huge Nakagusuku Bay, the Navy announced today. Ths was the first mention of Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnolds Sev enth Infantry Division 5" action on Okinawa, the strategic Ryukyu is land onlv 325 miles southwest of the Japanese mainland. Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’ communique reported rapid gains on all Okinawa fronts against still negligible resistanre. Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger’s Ma rines at the north end of the line i reached the east coast and put off the Katshin peninsula. Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge’s 24th Corps Doughboys, who hit the east coast the day before, drove eight miles southward along the shores of Katsuren Bay, a small inlet within Nakagusuku harbor, one time anchorage for the Japanese ' fleet. These infantrymen reashed Ku ba town, on the western shore of Nakagusuku. “Resistance throughout the day was negligible,” Admiral Nimitz reported. General Hodge earlier said the invasion was “going far better than our wildest dreams,” declar ing the Japanese had made the Yanks a present of south-central Okinawa and “we are pleased to have it.” •Naval guns and carrier planes gave close support to the ground operations. Supplies flowed onto the beaches in an uninterrupted stream. Meanwhile, Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher’s carrier planes attacked targets in the Sakishima group of the southern Ryukyus yesterday. This area had been pounded only a few days previously by guns and planes of the British Pacific Fleet, now operating as a self contained unit in cooperating with the U. S. Fleet. Admiral Nimitz reported this damage inflicted on the Japanese by American carrier planes sup porting the Okinawa invasion: Aircraft—17 shot out of the air; five destroyed on the ground; 19 damaged in the air and on the ground. Shipping—Sunk; Three motor torpedo boats; two small cargo ships; nine small craft; probably sunk: one small cargo ship; four small craft. Damaged: One motor torpedo boat; four small cargo ships; one lugger; 14 small craft. Installations — Six submarine pens on Unten Bay, Okinawa, de stroyed and another heavily dam aged; mills, barracks, bridges, a radio station, pillboxes, buildings, docks, gun positions and covered revetments destroyed or damaged °n Okinawa. Other installations on Tokuno Amami, Kikai and Minami Daito islands heavily hit. Hus damage was inflicted March 30 and 31, ip the pre-invasion soft emrig of the Ryukyus. Units of Hodges’ corps, part of me Army-Marine 10th Army, thrust swiftly forward from the Okinawa southwest coast beachheads to oc cupy ^ the villages of Tobara and A vashi on the east coast at Naka gusuku Bay yesterday, said Rob ■ Coons, Associated Press war cm respondent with the troops. Hodge said the penetration to me east coast through negligible opposition, meant that objectives i-aci been reached in the three days s.nce the Sunday invasion, which 7aj been expected to take five Qays to achieve. The Yanks’ crossing of the is rand, eight miles wide at this w’!b such light casualties ‘ leans that they have made us ? Present of the center of the is lai'd, Hodge said. Senate Overrides Roosevelt And Rejects Manpower Draft Bill To Freeze War Workers To Jobs Loses By Vote Of 46 To 29; Barkley Calls For Ballot And Helplessly Watches Its De feat; Bailey And Hoey Approve Measure WASHINGTON, April 3— (£>)—'The Senate overrode President Roose velt today with a crushing 46 to 29 rejection of a bill empowering the Administration to freeze work ers to war jobs and apply other sweeping manpower controls. Convinced that further efforts to win votes for the measure were futile, Majority Leader Barkley (Ky) called for a vote unexpect edly this afternoon and sat by help lessly as the margin rolled up against it. (.North Carolina’s Senators Bail ey and Hoey voted in the affirma tive.) It previously was understood that the showdown would be delay ed until tomorrow. While, at the suggestion of Sen ator O’Mahoney (D-Wyo), the Sen ate approved a motion to seek a further conference with the House in an effort at a new compromise, the feeling prevailed that there was no prospect of any manpower leg islation at all. The last hope of passage of the pending bill faded yesterday when Senator Johnson (D-Colo), one of its original sponsors, joined the lineup against it after James F. Byrnes, just before quitting as War Mobilization Director, called for its passage. Johnson said that with Byrnes retiring to civil life “it is a poor time to freeze other people to their jobs.” Senator Hatch (D-NM) sought to save the measure today with a plea for support of the President and military authorities. He said he resented the implica tion that by quitting Byrnes was m rr rUK Decides lo torego Three Votes In Parley WASHINGTON, April 3—(.T)—President Roosevelt, in a surprise turnabout, has decided not to ask for three votes for the United States in the World Assembly to be set up at San Francisco. This reversal of the line which the President agreed upon with Premier Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill at Yalta was announc SECURITY TALKS MAY BE DELAYED VE-Day May Prove Barrier To Parley ; British Alert For Victory LONDON, April 3 —UB— Britain mustered diplomatic representa tives from her dominions today for an exploratory meeting open ing tomorrow to weld empire soli darity — particularly on economic problems—in preparation for the San Francisco Conference. The meeting, with no public dis cussions planned, will begin in an atmosphere of uncertainy over whether possible war developments may delay the April 25 world se curity assembly. Talk that V-E-Day might come before April's end was increased by the presence here of Wide House advisors Bernard Baruch (Continued on Page Two; Col 6) ed today by the State Depart ment. No official explanation was forthcoming, but the development strongly indicated a hope on the President’s pare that Stalin like wise would be content with one vote. In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman said tonight that the United States, in decid ing not to request three votes in the World Security Council to be set up at San Francisco, acted unilaterally and that the decision was not due to any withdrawal of British support) The Russian leader has de manded separate votes for the Uk rainian Soviet and the White Rus sian Soviet in addition to one for the rest of Russia. The assembly in which these votes would be cast would be one part of a world organization to be proposed at San Francisco. Secretary of State Stettinius, an nouncing Mr. Roosevelt’s decision at a news conference rowded by 100 reporters, said that it did not alter the Presdient’s promise of support for Stalin’s laim for three (Continued on Page Two; Col 4) Cooperation Is Stressed In Handling Davis Group Speaking at a dinner meeting arranged by the Junior Chambei of Commerce in order to gain some understanding of how the City ot Wilmington might work in coopera tion with Camp Davis to aid the convalescent soldier, Special Ser vices Officer Maj. Lane last night said that the City’s civic, social and other organizations should work cooperatively and not com petitively with each other. Recounting his work in other towns, Lane said that it had been his experience to have a central committee set up, rfepresentative of the various groups of the town, which would work with the Army camp. He added that in towns he had previously worked the city recreation department acted as the clearing center. The officer said that the prob lem of the treatment of convales cent soldiers will vary, as they will not want the same thing. At Camp Davis, the major said, mo tion pictures will be shown, ser vice clubs and various types of athletics and other recreation or ganized to aid the men. At first, Lane said, the service man will engage in leathercraft, art, or some similar activity. The men will not be litter cases, he added, but will be getting needed rest before reassignment. The men are no different than other servicemen, Lane pointed out. The redistribution men will not have a lot to do, he explained, as their schedule will consume about two hours of their day. It is planned, he said, to develop places on the beach for the offi cers and men, giving them a chance to swim and where ther apy treatment can be carried on. It also has been recommended, he added, that buses be run from Camp Davis to the USO whenever the organization' puts on activities. Whatever is finally decided, he said, will have to pass the com manding-_officer of the camp. Elliot O'Neal, president, presid ed at the gathering, which was held in the assembly room of the Friendly cafeteria. Guests were J. B. Edwards, of the Exchange club, W. E. Yopp, of the Lions club; Pat O’Crowley of the Cham ber of Commerce; Jesse Reynolds, of the City Recreation Department; Harry Wellot, Federal coordinator of recreation; N. A. Avera, man ager of the Social Security field office; Gardner Greer of the Ro tary Club; City Manager A. C. Nichols, Addison Hewlett, Sr., chairman of the County Board of Commissioners; and Adam Smith of the YMCA. Before Maj. Lane’s talk, Lt. Moxhay, Camp Davis public re lations officer, outlined the sys tem of dealing with the returned servicemen. “Men in combat,” Moxhay said, (Continued on Page Two; Col 5) doing something he would deny workers. Byrnes stayed on the job, Hatch said, “longer perhaps than his health and welfare permitted.’’ Senator Lucas (D-Ill) declared that senators using Johnson’s ar gument were “virtually inviting people to quit ' when Germany is defeated. However, the majority seemed to share the view of Senator Donnell (R-Mo), who, making his first ma jor speech to the Senate, declar ed: “On the face of the record of war production and the fact of testimony by both management and labor that voluntary methods will produce more war weapons, I am compelled to vote againt the pend ing bill, and the vast amount of power it would put on one man.” The measure, worked out in a joint committee, would have placed in the Office of War Mobilization the power to enforce ceilings on the number of workers any plant could employ and compel workers to stay in essential jobs. Penalties for violators could have been $10,000 fine and a year’s im prisonment. The measure also would have given the War Mobili (Continued on Page Three; Cel. *) foodUckTrows AS VE-DAY NEARS America Will Have To Eat Less, WFA Official Declares WASHINGTON, April 3— OP) - “Serious shortages” of Allied food are growing larger as the victory road to Berlin grows shorter, a War Food Administration official testified today. American civilians will have to eat still less, if even the minimum Lend-Lease and relief needs are met, Chairman R. W. Olmstead of WFA’s food allocations committee tola the Senate Agriculture Com mittee. Olmstead testified as the War Department told of increasing mil itary needs for food — the Army wants 20 per cent more than last year. Olmstead said “serious short ages are rapidly developing for meats, fats and oils, dairy pro ducts, dry eggs, sugar and rice. He said there is ample wheat, milk and eggs for this country, that supplies of fresh vegetables are expected to be adequate, and supplies of fresh fruit larger than a year ago. “The basic reason for the in creasing shortages in prospect for 1945,” he continued, “may be stat ed very simply: supplies are down and requirements are up.” Bituminous Mine Shutdown Is Expected^ To Cease Today WASHINGTON, April 3.—(A5)— Soft coal mining was shut down today in many parts of the country despite a 30-day contract extension, but a general resump tion is expected tomorrow. The Solid Fuels Administration said production today was only 60 per cent of normal. It forecast that output tomorrow would rise to 80 per cent, with full produc tion Thursday. Mine workers ga.e a variety of reasons for remaining away from the pits. Operators ordered shut downs in some instances. A mem ber of the miners’ negotiating com mittee here blamed slow delivery of John L. Lewis’ back-to-work telegrams of Sunday for much of the idleness. “They will be back to work in the morning,’’ this source said. On the other hand, an operator said the widespread work suspen sions looked “like an inspired move.” This was the first regular work day of the week, since there was widespread delayed observance Reds Capture Noted German Aircraft City Weiner Neustadt, South Of Vienna, Falls Under Soviet Drive LONDON, Wednesday, April 4— (if)—Russian storm forces captured the great Messerschmitt plane cen ter of Wiener Neustadt south of Vienna yesterday and then, in a swift 17-mile break-through of Nazi fortifications, slashed to within six miles of the imperiled Austrian capital. The powerful Russian surge over the Leitha mountain and river bar rier south and southeast of Vienna carried Marshal Feodoro I. Tol bukhin’s Third Ukrainian Army troops inside the limits of greater Vienna’s administrative district. As the Russians surged toward the capital and captured Velm, within the boundaries of greater Vienna decreed by Hitler, the Aus train capital’s radio went off the aii just before midnight last night and did not return. Weiner Neustadt, one of the big gest aircraft production centers in all Europe, is 22 miles south of Vienna. Along with the bomb-torn city, target of scores of American heavy bomber raids, the Russians eantured more than 100 other towns and villages within Vienna’s southern defense system. Tolbukhin’s troops outflanked the famous sulphur spa of Baden. 10 miles south of Vienna, taking Tra iskirchen ~and Moellersdorf, two and three miles northeast, and within nine miles south of the pre war limits of the capital. The Soviet communique revealed that Russian armies in Austria, Hungary and southern Slovakia yesterday captured more than 23, 000 enemy troops for a three-day total of 75,150. “Vienna now is in the fighting zone,” the Nazi Transocean agency said, as SS troops under Col. Gen. Sepp Dietrich, former chief of Hit ler’s bodyguard, forcibly mobiliz ed the Vinnese to the barricades. Simultaneously, troops of the Sec ond Ukrainian army under Mar shal Rodion Y. Malinovsky push ed toward Vienna from the east and southeast and Berlin admitted fighting in the “outer defense belt” before the Slovak capital of Bratis lava from which the Russians were two and a half miles away Bratis lava is 24 miles east of Vienna. Malinovsky’s troops, advancing along the south bank of the Danube, captured Magyarovar, 19 miles southeast of Bratislava and 36 miles southeast of Vienna as they thrust toward the Bratislava gap, menaced by a Russian pincer on both banks of the Danube. . Premier Stalin, announcing the victories by his two armies, dis closed also that Mal'novsky’s troops had captured Kremnica in central Slovakia, 10 miles west of (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 8) yesterdaf of ‘‘John Mitchell Day,” a miners’ holiday which fell on Sunday. Lewis, who instructed the 400, 000 members of his United Mine Workers to continue work through April under the contract which ex pired Saturday night with the stipulation that pay changes would be retroactive, negotiated briefly again today with the operators. Lewis would not comment on to day’s shutdowns. The negotiating committees art to report progress by Saturday to the War Labor Board, which ordered the 30-day extension. At Pittsburgh, some steel com panies reported the effects of a shutdown would be felt at the mills in a week or so. Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. said eight blast fur naces would be forced to close tomorrow unless the coke situa tion improved before then. Widespread shutdowns were re ported in Pennsylvania, West Vir ginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Indi ana, Virginia, Washington, Ore (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) ' I * ■ American 10th Army troops have divided the island of Okinawa and are entrenched firmly on Nakagusuku Bay (opposite the words ‘Pacific Ocean’ on the map). Marines have moved up the slopes of Yontan slightly south of the center of the island. YANKS INVADE TAWITAWI ISLE Latest Landing Puts U. S. Within 30 miles of Borneo MANILA, Wednesday, April 4— (01—Veteran infantrymen of Maj. Gen. Jens A. Doe’s 41st Division invaded Tawitawi at the south end of the Sulu archipelago—within 30 miles of oil-rich Eorneo—Monday in a 200-mile leap southwestward from captured Zamboanga on Min danao. The Eighth Army Yanks seized the vast Tawitawi harbor, former Japanese naval base, and two small islands at the southwestern end of Tawitawi, Sangasanga and Bongao, along with two airfields within easy striking range of Bor neo. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, an nouncing the important strike in a communique today, said “it places us within 30 miles of Borneo and the great oil and rubber resources of the area.” He said the enemy port and air base at Jolo, in the middle of the archipelago, is seriously jeopardiz ed by the leapfrog landing. The Sulu chain stretches between Mindanao, southernmost large is land of the Philippines, and oil-rich northern Borneo. Tile landing was preceded by a heavy aerial saturation bombing the past two weeks and was made under cover of naval guns and planes. Guerrilla forces aided in the land ing, which was made at a little cost to the Americans. The islands of Sanga Sanga and Bongao and the neighboring air fields were seized. This bold strike placed Ameri can forces within 30 miles of Borneo. (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 5) WEREWOLF CLAIMS AMG AIDE KILLED Allies Fail To Confirm Re port On Ambush Of Yank Troops LONDON, April 3.— W) —Nazi “Werewolf” terrorist were declar ed in a German broadcast tonight to have kidnapped and slain an American military government of ficial and ambushed and killed American soldiers in Aachen and other occupied towns. The reports were without Allied substantiation. During the day, however, Allied transmitters repeatedly broadcast Gen. Isenhower’s warning that any German attacking Allied per sonnel behind the lines would be “arrested, tried and shot” under international laijz. The self-styled “Werewolf sta tion,” which recently broadcast a threat against the life of Bernard Baruch, advisor to President Pioosevelt, said: "During an ambush of a con voy of American civilians yester day, our comrades took prisoner the. secretary of the American Liquidation Commission for oc cupied German territory (appar ently a reference to the American Military Government.) “He was to organize the anni. relation of all Germans. Before we1 finished him off he declared the seat of the commission is to be transferred to Coblenz. So. Were wolves of Coblenz, be ready to strike.” The underground radio said “American soldiers are ambushed daily” at Aachen. Swiss reports said the Nazis had executed 6,000 persons in the Vien na area for defeatism, sabotage and demonstrations as the high command struggled to keep re sistance alive in the last phases of the war. Reds, Freed By Yanks, Eat Raw Floury Scraps BY WES GALLAGHER TUETOBURGER WALD, Ger many, April 3—<JP)—Freed from one of Germany’s largest prisoner of war camps by a Second Armored Division column, some 33,000 star ving Russians used their first hours of liberty in a wild hunt for food. While hardened Americans look ed in horror at conditions that brought death to an estimated 30, 000 other Russians during the past three years, the emaciated survi vors rushed to almost empty store houses, crammed their mouths with raw flour, scraped food bits off the floors and dug with bony hands for potatoes in nearby fields. “These men must have ricn food for a Jong time if they are to live,” commented a Russian doctor who had keen he'd at the camp for more Than three years. When one of the German guards was asked if he would be content to be kept prisoner under the same conditions the Germans kept these Russians, he almost turned white with fright and refused to answer. The camp, on the outskirts of Tuetoburger Wald, south of Biele feld was liberated by the 82nd Reconnaissance Group of the Sec ond Armored Division under com. mand of Lt. Col. Wheeler H. Mer (Con tinned on Page Three; Col. S) Pattons Army Is 160 Miles From Soviets Other Third Army Units Battling Inside Kassel Fortress PARIS, Wednesday, April 4.—'ffi —Powerful U. S. Third Army tank columns smashed into th* out skirts of Gotha yesterday in a 19 mile sweep within 104 miles of Berlin, while Canadian troops were only 20 miles from closing a trap on the bulk of 90,000 Nazi troops in western Holland. Striking across wooded Thurin gia province, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's flying columns drove within 65 miles of Czechoslovakia and were three-fourths across the “waist” of central Germany. His men were reported within 160 miles of the Russian lines—less than the airline distance between New York and Baltimore. Sixty miles northeast of Gotha, other Third army units battled vi olently deep inside the great ar senal city of Kassel, which one German broadcast said had fallen in a mass of flaming ruins. Fifty miles southwest of Gotha. Third Army troops captured the Catholic shrine city of Fulda. In the south, a monocled Ger man major named von Lambert, surrendered Ashaffenburg after publicly hanging two of his offic ers who first had suggested that he give up when the Americans turned their big guns on the blast ed city six days. Lt. Gen. Alexande- M. Patch's Seventh Army troops also fought their way into Wuerzburg, swept around that city.' and were less than 40 miles from Nuernberg, Nazi convention city covering the northern approaches to Munih. Other units fought their way into Heibronn, an important commun ications hub, and also reached Bruchsal, only 10 miles from the Rhine river stronghold of Karls ruhe. In the north, Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ First Army beat down Nazi break-out attempts from the Ruhr pocket as Allied planes show ered surrender leaflets on the troops, estimated to number 110, 000. ijen. jsisenno'ver saiu ms en circlement of the Ruhr was a “magnificent feat of arms” that would “bring the war more rapid ly to a close”, and called on the trapped Germans to surrender or be annihilated. U. S. Ninth Army forces oper ating northeast of the Ruhr burst through the Teutoburger Wald, a hilly forested area, and raced around both sides of Bielefeld with in 175 miles of Berlin. These troops were closing up to the Wes er river, one of two major water barriers before Berlin. North of the Ninth Army, the British drove into the great in dustrial center of Osnabrueck on the road to Bremen, and to the west were striking beyond eapt'ir- ' ed Norohorn, 60 miles south of the German North Sea coast. The Canadians on the left had crossed the Twenthe canal be tween Zutphen and Hengelo, and appare*ly by nightfall had cut, tlje main Hannover-Holland rail way which is the major enemy es cape route out of the area south of the Zuider Zee, now only about 20 miles beyond the Canadian*. The Canadian - British moves threatened to seal off the big Dutch cities of the Hague, Ams terdam, Haarlem and Rotterdam. At Gotha, the famous Fourth Armored Division had carried within 75 miles of the big Saxony city of Leipzig and within 26 miles of Weimar, birthplace of the Ger man republic. A dispatch from Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s 12th Ar my Group headquarters said still other Third Army troops were a bare 160 miles from Russian siege lines bdHow Berlin. The Germans said Third Army troops were storming Suhl, 63 miles from Czechoslovakia and 86 from the big Saxony city of Leip zig, putting the Americans within 168 miles of Prague, Czechoslovak capital. The street fighting In the an cient Hesse-Nassau capital of Kas sel, 165 miles southwest of Ber lin. was the bitterest yet for Gen. Patton’s shock troops in Ger many. The enemy kept his air craft and tank plants working in (Continued on Page Two; Col Z)
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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April 4, 1945, edition 1
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