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FORECAST --—~ _ 7—— Served By Leased Wires ' of the Partly cloudy and alightly cooler today ASSOCIATED PRESS with moderate aoutherly winda. and the Teaterday’a temperaturea: j UNITED PRESS i High, »i—Low, eo. mth Complete Coverage of _ — - 8tate and National News VoTtS^NO. 135. WILMINGTON, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1945 -ESTABLISHED" 1867~~ Third Army Takes Kassel, Gotha And Suhl; Miles From Berlin; Resistance Light U. S. Tightens Grip On East Shore Of Isle 15-Mile Line Projects Into Enemy Positions near Capital GUAM. Thursday, April 5—IP)— gtill finding only scattered re sistance, Marines and infantrymen - scored gains on all fronts on stra tegic Okinawa in the Ryukyus yes terday, fourth day of the thus far surprisingly easy campaign, the Navy announced today. Seventh Division Doughboys con solidated their positions along the coast of Nakagusuku Bay, onetime Japanese fleet anchorage on the eastern shore, while the Third Ma rines at the north stablished a line on a narrow isthmus just north of Yontan Hill. Front observers have predicted the 60,000 to 80,000 Japanese on the island, only 325 miles south of Jap an proper, might make a stand on this easiiy-defensible two-mile isth mus. about 15 miles from north to south. The southern end projects into Jap anese pillbox positions only four miles from the capital-city of Naha, largest in the Ryukyus, and its large airdrome adjacent. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said in his communique today the Japa nese still “offered scattered resis tance." The first indications of opposi tion were found along a west coas tal road above Naha. Japanese ar tillery fire and land mines slowed the 77th Infantry advance, but the enemy withdrew under answering Yank field guns. A small force of enemy planes raided American positions yester day. Four were shot down. An American carrier task force attacked aircraft and installations in the Ammi group of the south ern Ryukyus on Tuesday, destroy ing or damaging 56 enemy planes and sinking or damaging 28. small ships. Fuel dumps and buildings were left ablaze. Aerial i :connaissance warned the 77th infantry Division moving down the west coast and the Sev enth on the east coast of a line of enemy tr<- ches and pillboxes pro tecting Naha and the Machinato and Yonabaru airfields. But the scattered and ineffectual Japanese defense since the U. S. 10th Army of Doughboy and Marine divisions landed on Okinawa Sun day has enabled the Americans to exceed their invasion schedule and pile up supplies and ammunition ashore to meet expected stiffening enemy resistance. “The critical period of landing men and supplies is over,” said Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr„ commanding general of the 10th Army. “Army, Navy and Ma rine elements all functioned like clftrlrvunvt ” While the 24th Army Corps units Push southward toward Naha, ele ments of the Third Marine Am phibious Corps on the northern edge of the widening American corridor across the island are thrusting north. "We are out of the woods now,” said Maj. Gen. Roy S. G-eiger, commander of the Marine force. His Leathernecks captured 700-foot high Ycntanzan Hill from Japanese who employed only a small arms fire defense. The Marines cleaned minor groups of Japanese from caves as 'hey progressed to the east coast ucar Ketchin peninsula. The only important Japanese re listance early in the invasion of Okinawa, £25 miles from southern “Span, was staged in the interior ■ a force of about battalion strength, said Vem Haugland, As sociated Press correspondent. Troops of the 24th Army Corps cleaned up this pocket. Warships of the U. S. Fifth Fleet are giving continuing support to ground operations with surface craft gunfire, while carrier planes hammer land targets. . !y three miles separated the American Army units yesterday n-om the Machinato and Yonabaru airfields which form part of Naha’s oeienses. Machinato is on the west , ast' f‘ve utiles north of Naha, ' u i onabaru is six miles east of fh* city on the coast. Tokyo radio admitted the Yank msecied Okinawa but reported only ,!oss ef the village of Awashi, ®n the east eoast. Command Team On Okinawa ucirer 'mmmmmmmmMmi Deyo Lt.-Gen. Buckner Blandy Durrin. Bruce Leaders of the Okinawa-Kera mas invasion shown above are: Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, com mander of American ground forces; Maj.-Gen. Roy S. Geiger, 3rd Marine Amphibious Corps; Rear Adml. M. L. Deyo, supporting battleships; Maj.-Geri. John R. Hodge, 24th Corps; Rear Adml. W. H. P. Blandy, amphibious support; Rear Adml. T. C. Durgin, escort carriers, and Maj.-Gen. Andrew D. Bruce, 77th Division. SUPPLY OF SUGAR TO DROP IN 1945 Quota For Americans Slightly Under That Of Great Britain « WASHINGTON, April 4 -(/Pi Civilians in the United States, fa mous for their sweet tooth, will find 1945 “the most difficult of the war” from the sugar standpoint. This sour report came today from Lt. Col. R. W. Olmstead of the War Food Administration, who said the comparative supply fig ures are: 7 per cent less than in 1944 and 14 per cent less than the 1935-39 average. The American estimate figures out at 83 pounds per civilian, even a little less than civilians in Great Britain are due to get. Olmstead, who is chairman of WFA’s allocations committee, said that in the United Kingdom, the 1945 sugar estimate is due to go up 23 per< cent over 1944 to 36 pounds per capita. This however is 17 per cent less than the 1934-38 average. , . For Canada, the estimate is 83 pounds, 4 per cent below 1944 and 12 per cent below 1935-39. Olmstead supplied the figures in testimony before senators investi gating food shortages. Other highlights on the continu ing big food topic: . ,. (1) The War Food Administration allotted 323,000,000 pounds of but ter for civilian consumption in the next three months. This compares with estimated consumption of 325, 000,000 to 328,000,000 in the last three months. (2) It said civilians face a SO (Continued on Page Three; Col. 4) T Navy Draft Reduction May Aid Older Group June Quota May Be Reduced By 50 Per Cent, High Officials Declare; Cut Will Af fect 30-33 Age Bracket First WASHINGTON, April 4 —<A>)_ Some reduction in Selective Ser vice calls for older men was fore cast today as a result of a deep slash in the Navy’s draft require ments. High qfficials who requested anonimity disclosed that the Navy will need only about 16,000 draft registrants in May instead of twice that number as had been planned. They said the June quota, originally about the same as May, might be reduced by more than 50 per cent, and when the Navy reach es peak strength in July there prob ably will be a further substantial cut. The reductions for May and June amount to about a 12 per cent cut in the overall draft calls for the Army and Navy. They had been scheduled at approximately 132,000 men each month. The Navy paring results princi pally, It wai stated, from an up trend in the enlistment of 17-year olds. It also indicates that Navy casualties may be fewer than had been anticipated, thus accelerating the ace toward top strength of 3,600,000 men. While it gave no details, the Na vy officially confirmed the cut in its Selective Service call. It said in a statement that monthly re quests "have been and are being gradually rtduced to conform to authorized strength.” Officials said that obviously any such reduction will be felt first in (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 4) MID-U. S. SHIVERS UNDER SNOWSTORM Fruit Crops Threatened By Unseasonable Winter Weather By The Associated Press Heavy snow, bitter cold, high winds and flood waters harassed the mid-continent yesterday. Wintry intrusions on the spring season, well advanced by abnorm ally warm March weather, threat ened fruit crops, blcrcked high ways, closed rural schools and dis rupted travel. Snowfall ranged up to 17 inches in Minnesota, the worst April storm since 1928. Northern and western Iowa had as much as 16 inches. There was a 14 inch cover in Nebraska. Northwestern Wis consin and upper Michigan had at least 8 inches. A Rocky Mountain storm left up to 14 inches in Colo rado and Wyoming, accompanied by 17 below zero weather at La ramie, Wyo., and 14 below at Leadville, Colo. There also was some snow in New Mexico, Texas Missouri and Kansas. Freezing weather extend ed as far south as Texas, where a low of 12 was reported from Pampa. Guymon, Okla., had a low of 17. Chicago Weather Bureau fore casters said the snow was clean ing out for the most part but freez ing weather would continue today in the Midwest, the Plains and the Southwest. Fruit apparently was the most endangered of the crops. E. H. Hoppert, Nebraska Agricultural (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) HARD COAL MINE MEN SEEK RAISE John L Lewis Asks 25 Per Cent Increase For 72,000 Workers NEW YORK, April 4 — m — The United Mine Workers today asked a 25 per cent salary in crease for 72,000 workers in the hard coal field. The miners also demanded a royalty of 10 cents per ton, as they did in the bituminous nego tiations, and asked severance pay for suspensions, dismissals and layoffs. A set of SO demands was pre sented by President John L. Lewis to the representatives of 190 hard coal producers in eastern Pennsyl vania as negotiations opened for a new contract to replace the one expiring April 30. Lewis said before the negotia tions began that the miners had received “only a 15 per cent in crease since 1923” and that they now deserved “a considerable in crease” because “we know indus try is prosperous.” At a press conference following the first negotiations session, UMW Secretary-Treasurer Thom as Kennedy said “we believe there is enough leeway in our demands to keep within the Little Steel Formula.” Kennedy also said there was no way at present to estimate the over-all cost of the demanded in creases to the operators because of varying pay rates among min ers. Ralph E. Taggart, president ot (Continued on. Page Seven; Col. 2) Baruch Assures Veterans Of Ample Peacetime Jobs LONDON, Thursday, April 5.— iff)—Looking confidently into the future, Bernard Baruch, adviser to President Roosevelt, asserted in an interview published today that American servicemen would not have anything to worry about when they got home, that “there will be more work in the United States than there will be hands with which to do it.” This wave of prosperity, he told a reporter for the Army newspa per Stars and Stripes, would carry over for five to seven years af ter the war “no matter what is done or not done.” The 75-year-old financier, who has held several conferences with Prime Minister Churchill, was re luctant to talk about the exact na ture of his mission to London. But he spoke freely in expressing con fidence in the immediate future, and added: . “What1 happens after those five or seven years depends on tke peace the big boys are preparing for us now." Baruch’s interview was given to A. Victor Lasky, Stars and Stripes staff writer. As originally prepar ed for publication it quoted Baruch as saying at this point: 'And one reason I am over here is to hold the big stick over the big boys to make damn’ sure they’re not going to foul up the peace. “We’ve got to so de-industrialize Germany and Japan—at least for a generation—so they won’t go to war again. Also we’ve got to see that those subsidized slave labor countries do not again flood the world with their cheap products, lowering the standards of living of the United Nations.” After Lasky’s version of the sto ry had been put into type and an abstract had been transmitted by the Associated Press to the United States, where it was widely pub lished, Baruch’s secretary asked that it be withheld from publica tion. However, after deletion of the two fore-going paragraphs, it was published by Stars and Stripes. Lasky said that during the in terview, in Baruch’s suite in tie Claridge, the telephone rang and Baruch’s secretary told him the Prime Minister was calling. Bar uch, Lasky said, gave Churchill a mild brushoff to continue his talk with the soldier-reporter. "Hello, Winston, this is Bernie,” Baruch said into the phone, ac (Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3) Reds Finish Last Germans In Hungary Bratislava Falls ; Reds Drive Inton Vienna’s Southern Suburbs LONDON, Thuusday, April 5—. — The Russians captured Bratis lava, cleared the last Germans out of Hungary and fought into Vien na’s southern suburbs yesterday in a day of sensational successes all along the southeastern front. The combined blow of the Sec ond, Third and Fourth Ukrainian Army groups also hurled the Nazis back in northwest Yugoslavia in the Mura river valley and over came the enemy foothold in the little Carpathian mountains north of Bratislava, pressaging the early clearance of all Slovakia. Premier Stalin announced the storming of Bratislava, capital of the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia and a key Danubian stronghold of 160,000 population, less than 24 hours after Marshal Rodion Y. Ma linovsky’s Second Ukrainian Group had laid siege to the city. The subsequent Moscow broad cast communique announced that Marshal Feodor I. Tolbukhin’s Third Ukrainian forces seized more than 30 communities south and southwest of Vienna, one of them— Zwoelfazing—only a mile and a half from the southern city lim its and seven and a half from the very center of the Austrian capital. Almost due south of Vienna, the Russians announced they had hurl ed the last of the Germans off Hun garian territory and were pressing their liberating invasion of Yugo slavia. This drive, which took ten Yugo slav towns during the day, was aided by Bulgarian troops. Similarly, Czechoslovak army forces aided in the southwestward thrust of the Fourth Ukrainian Ar my in northwest Slovakia, which captured more than 60 populated places. The resumed offensive by Col. Gen. Ivan Petrov’s Fourth Ukrain ians was apparently the long-ex pected push to team up with Ma linovsky’s northern units and put the squeeze on the German held remainder of Slovakia. Another more significant linkup was indicated in Malinovsky’s cap ture of Bratislava. This laid open the traditional invasion gate to Austria and promised early union with the Tolbukhin forces that al ready were in Vienna’s southern suburbs. The stage was set for another Malinovsky-Tolbukhin joint opera tion, similar to that which captur ed Budapest. Berlin, taking cognizance of the imminent consolidation of Red fo* ces, said that advances by the So viets made it necessary to move back the German front in Slovakia to a shortened line. The victory was celebrated in Moscow with 20 salvoes from 224 guns. The swift capture upset German plans to hold the strongpoint as a shield against encirclement of Vi enna. Moscow reported ships and units of the Red Banner Danube fortilla participated in the victory. Bratislava, a large river port 22 miles east of Vienna on the Danube, is* a big manufacturing center that has supplied the Ger mans with important ammunition and chemicals._ 1.000 Forts Hit Kiel, Hamburg^ Sub^ Pens 3.000 Planes Hurled Against Northwestern Reich; Stiff Opposition Offered By Nazi Jet Planes LONDON, April 4.—(JP)—The Al lies hurled 3,000 planes against the dwindling targets of shrunken Ger many today, including 1,000 Flying Fortresses and Liberators which blasted submarine building yards at Kiel and Hamburg and airfields throughout the northwestern Reich. The American attacks were driv en home despite stiff opposition from formations of jet propolled ME-262. Nine bombers and four fighters were missing, but the Swedish radio said one of the bombers landed safely at Malmoe airport in Sweden. Returning crewmen reported good results at Kiel. At least 11 of the twin-jet inter ceptors and four other enemy fight ers were shot down by Mustangs which made up part of the 850 plang escort. But the ME-262, clos ing- to short range in formations of four and eight planes, knocked down several American bombers in attacks concentrated chiefly on a force of Liberators assigned to targets at Hamburg. Many of the American fighters carried out -widespread strafing raids against German airfields which are becoming more congest ed jfaily as the enemy is forced to evacuate his fields in the west, 70 of which already have been lost. In these sweeps at least eight planes were destroyed on the ground. One group of about 45 Mustangs encountered 12 jet planes. One was shot down; the other 11 were damaged. Fighter-bombers of the U. S. Ninth Air Force, some operating from former enemy airfields east of the Rhine, boosted the day’s to tal of German aircraft destroyed by American pilots to at least 42. They brought down 16 in combat and caught three bombers on the ground. Some 3,000 Allied planes in all assaulted German targets from the west. While the American heavies were continuing their port-busting campaign—it was the second straight raid on Kiel, and the third on naval installations and U boat yards in six days—the RAF sent some 750 Lancasters with Mustangs and Spitfires to attack troop* concentrations at Nordhaus en, 60 miles northeast of Kassel. The existence of America’s “droop • snoot’’ bomber, a P-36 (Continaed on Page Seven; Col. t) YANKS INVADE MASBATE ISLE Blockade of Jap Shipping Declared To Be In Complete Operation MANILA, Thursday, April 5.—UP) —Masbate island in the central Philippines was invaded by Maj. Gen. Rapp Brush’s veterans 40th Infantry Division Tuesday, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced to day in a communique which pro claimed the American blockade of Japanese shipping ‘‘in complete operation.” MacArthur also reported that escorted heavy bombers scored their first concerted strike on the great shipping base at Hong kong, hitting the Kowloon and Taikoo dock areas with 126 tons of bombs innumerable fires and explosions dotted the target. Not a plane was lost. Twenty-eight Japanese vessels, including a destroyer-escort, were sunk or damaged in the China Sea and waters to the south. MacArthur said the Eighth Army Yanks invading Masbate, fairly large sugar island just west of Samar, on the main shipping lane through the central Philippines, were aided by guerrilla forces, and added: "We are rapidly securing the en tire island.” Masbate is the 36th Philippine island invaded. MacArthur, in a lengthy sum mary of operations in his theater, said that Monday’s seizure of Tawitawi harbor at the southern end of the Sulu archipelago "severs (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) FOE SAYS ALLIES STRETCHING LINES Werewolf Group Claims Wiping Out Of Ameri can Army Force LONDON, April 4,—(JP)—German military commentators contended tonight that the Allies were over reaching themselves, while the Nazi radio boasted that the “Were wolf” terrorist organization had wiped out an American headquar ters and slain a number of Ameri cans at various points behind the lines. Radio speakers suggested that the speed and scope of the Allied advance “might have the effect of a giant sponge, soaking up the war potential of the enemy and paralyzing his offensive strength,” and opined “the temptation to at tempt too much is great.” The Germans acknowledged, how ever that “the situation is by no means stabilized.” Commentator Max Krull assert ed: “The Wehrmacht has not been brought to its knees. The encircled Ruhr army resumed active de fense yesterday in full strength.” He described the Allied strategy as a “spiderweb” system “sending out tentacles over Germany,” but contended the objectives still were sufficiently distant that “the war cannot be concluded either in a fortnight or by the date of the San Francisco Conference,” April 25. A German radio station filling it self the “Werewolf Sender” mean while appealed to German women to join the organization. One Werewolf broadcast claimed (Continued on Page Three; Col. S) Stettinius Seeks Trade Conference Of World Powers To Further Peace CHICAGO, April 4—<£>>—Secre tary of State Stettinius said tonight “we shall do all in our power” to convene a conference of the world’s principal trading nations within the next year to consider commerce problems. Stettinius emphasized Govern ment plans for the “removal of the political, economic and social causes of war” in a speech be fore the Council on Foreign Re lations. The proposed trade conference, he said, “would also prepare the way for establishment of a per manent trade organization within the framework of the world organi zation, to deal with these prob lems on a continuing basis.” „ The Secretary expressed "full confidence that we shall be able to resolve” the “temporary diffi culties of a political nature that have arisen in connection with the San Francisco Conference” on world organization opening April 25. Saying he was unable to discuss the subject in detail “because the United States Government is at this moment engaged in very ac tive efforts to resolve these dif ficulties,” he added: , “We are going right ahead with our plans for the San Francisco Conference and we are resolved to make it the success that it must be. I ask you to remember: first that the United Nations have repeatedly overcome other diffi culties far more serious in the past three years; second that the vital national interests of the national interests of the United States and of each of our Allies are bound up in maintaining and cementing in the peace of our wartime partership; third that the extent of our agreement is far wider and more fundamental than the extent of our differences.” He spoke with obvious references to recent Russian moves that have cast a shadow over the forthcom ing San Francisco Conference—a demand for representation for the Soviet-recognized Polish provision al government, a demand for three votes in the assembly of the world organization, and Choice of Am bassador to the U. S. Andrei Gro myko instead of Foreign Commis sar V. M. Molotov to head the (Ontinned «•» Page Three; Col. t) British Race Across Weser And Ems Line c •_v_i_i_ • - **was%. nut MIlV | Allies Threatening Stuttgart In South PARIS, Thursday, April I.—(JFj— U. S. Third Army tank forces, breaking into the open Thuringian plain, captured Kassel, Gotha and Suhl yesterday and closed in on Erfurt, 130 miles southwest of Berlin, in their swift race to split the dying Reich. In the north, British armored forces hurdled two major river barriers, the lower Weser and Ems rivers, and plunged on to ward the great German North Sea ports of Bremen and Emden. One force pushing into Lingen, 55 miles south of Emden, and sweeping onward, was only 45 miles from cutting the last Nazi escape route out of all Holland, and Canadian troops on the west ern flank were overrunning V bomb sites. Karlsruhe, capital of Baden on the upper Rhine, fell to the French First Army at the extreme south ern end of the front, a French communique announced. The ad joining U. S. Seventh Army push ed to Uffenheim, 34 miles north west or riuernoerg, nazi conven tion city and key road city con trolling the Berlin-Brenner Pass routes into Italy. The Americans and French also were threatening Stuttgart, big south German ci ty. All Allied armies were pounding ahead in a swelling tide that ov erran underground Nazi factories, vital airfields, and other war plants. The Nazis were losing more than two divisions daily in prisoners alone. Field Marshal Montgomery’s British 11th Armored Division swept around Osnabrueck, where the last bitter German resisters were being slain, and crossed the Weser river, one of the last twc water barriers before Berlin, in an apparent double strike aimed at Hannover and Bremen. Although the exact point of the crossing was not divulged In a late front dispatch, it apparently occurred above Minden, which is 53 miles south of Bremen and 32 miles west of Hannover. The Etritish “plunged beyond against light opposition,'* said a dispatch from Associated Press Correspondent William Frye. The American Third Army, pac ing the Allied drive in the center, ran through surrendered Gotha and moved on toward Erfurt, 11 miles beyond, astride the Frank furt-Dresden military superhigh way. The Germans said 40 Allied gliders set down troops, fuel, and munitions to aid the capture oi ancient Gotha. The American Ninth Army charged up to the 240-foot Weser river, next to last barrier on the high road to Berlin, 170 miles away. Reaching the river at Bad Oeynhausen, the Americans men aced the large Prussian commun ications center of Hannover, 38 miles from the Ninth Army tank The naval base of Bremen lay 57 miles to the north. The Ninth pressed down from the north on the shrinking Ruhr trap where up to 50,000 Germans fac ed surrender or annihilation. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, su preme Nazi commander in the west, was in the doomed pocket, a dispatch from the Ninth Army front said. Advancing infantry moved within five miles of Dort muna on iwo siaes. Street fighting erupted through the rubbled streets of Wuerzburg, Heilbronn, Hamm and Zutphen, all of which were falling on a curving 400-mile front as the Al lies ripped through hastily erect ed resistance nests. The Canadians moved up to Arnhem and were less than 20 miles from the Zuikder Zee in Holland. Once they reach that great body of water they will have cut off part of the 90,000 Germans originally anchored in western Holland. Gotha fell without a shot being fired. Germans broke out white flags a half-hour before the U. S. Third Army’s Fourth Armored Di vision commander, Brig. G#n. (ConMimed an Page Three; I’M. g)
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