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FORECAST + 4 fTfrtfr ^ Stirred By Leased Wir«« Mummrjtmt mnrntnn is’tcu* - State end National News ^3-^0165.______WILMINGTON, N. C., FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1945___ ESTABLISHED 1861! Sixth Marine Engineers Bridge Asa River In New Drivero Take Capital Of Okinawa; " ’ ' s Re-Occupy Channel Islands Soviets Meet Renegades In Berlin Area Second White Russian Front Meets Fanatic Resistance LONDON, May 10.—OP)—British forces today reoccupied the Chan nel islands, only part of Britain captured by Germany during the war as German troops is Czecho slovakia fought on savagely 36 hours after the official end of hos tilities rather than surrender to the Russians. A Moscow communique reported that the Germans also had violated the unconditional surrender agree ment on the Second White Russian Front north of Berlin. Resistance was ineffective, however, and the Russians made sweeping advances across remaining German held ter ritory, capturing 146,000 prisoners for a two-day total of 212,500. The renegade army groups in Czechoslovakia were under the command of Field Marshal Ferdi nand Schoerner, former cemmand er of all German forces on the Southern Front who apparently had no intention of abiding by the capitulation signed by Adm. Karl Doenitz. While this fanatic stand contin ued Allied headquarters announced that a seaborne task force had gone ashore on the Channel Islands, lying off the French coast near Cherbourg, following their uncon ditional surrender Wednesday-. The German U-boat fleet began arriving in British waters under surrender flags and British Naval forces took over the enemy’s sur viving surface fleet, including the cruisers Prinz Eugen and Neeuern burg. The Russian communique an nounced that 68,000 Germans sur rendered in the Latvian pocket, making 113,000 prisoners in that sector in two days. The important towns of Windau and Veritspils were occupied North of Danzig, 30,500 Germans gave up in the Hel Peninsula, marking the complete liquidation of that pocket. More than 20,000 oth ers were captured along the Vistula Estuary to the southeast. While part of Schoerner’s forces fought on, another group of his arnnesw as fleeing westward to ward the American lines was not *ble to outdistance the Russians, who captured 20,000 Germans as they surrendered in disorder. Towns captured in Bohemia in cluded Reicheenberg, the capital of the Sudetenland and Budweis, 70 miles of Prague, the famous beer c*ly and third largest in Bohemia. Three Russian armies were clos ing in the Czechoslovakia pocket, hemming most of the Germans still fighting into a 3,000 square mile pocket northeast, east and •uumeast 01 Prague. Other Russian forces south and •outhwest of Prague were advanc ing on an 80-mile front in pursuit of Oisengaged German troops trying *? re3ch the American lines. In rtStr’a. Sou£n °f Graz, the Third Ukrainian Army linked up with British troops from Italy. Included in the day’s bag of ' ‘soners were 19 German generals, ts. Channel is'ands, famous for e cattle first bred on Jersey and Guernsey’ are closer to France’s uotentm peninsula than to Britain, hn mans invaded in 1940 and fV,avi,y fortified them, particularly ,n ‘sland °t Alderney guarding the PWoaehes of Cherbourg. ; or the fall of Cherbourg last (Continued 0n Page Two; Col. •) WEATHER (Easier,, standard Time) Meteornw S; "cathcr Bureeau) ending 7-VPCa! data £or the 24 hours *■ '-41) p. m. yesterday. 1:30 am- TEMPERATURE Pm; 6"’ 7'30 a“. 62; 1:30 pm; 77; 7:30 Maximum 70* „ ■ ■ Normal 69 ’ 58, Mean 68; HUMIDITY »:3o Pm'V41 7:30 ara 97: 1:30 Pm 61; Total for EREC£PITATION 1 inch, 24 nours ending 7:30 p. m. *•67 inches'06 £irst o£ the month (From ,II1>ES F0R TODAY U-, S. Coast^nri'^r Tfble? Published by Wilmington C Geodedtc Survey) 9:26 am; 4:11 am Masonboro 9:33 pm 4:19 pm - 7:10 am 1:08 am . Sunsire s.i». „ 7:38 pm 1:18 pm t:L8. a; Moonset 7:03: Moonrise 61 SUge at Fayetteville, 10:02. V -I Human Bombs Of Japanese HamperYanks Nimitz Discloses ToH Of Jap Dead On Okinawa At 38,857 GUAM. Friday, May 11—* Sixth Marine Division engineers have drive a bridge across the Asa river just above Naha for a new thrust toward the Okinawa capital city despite suicidal efforts of the enemy to olow up the bridge with humand bombs, it was announced today. All across the island, Marines and soldiers fought forward slow ly in bloody hand to hand combat and Adm. Chester W. Nimitz dis closed that the Japanese air force had launched another desperate suicide assault against U. S. Fleet units off Okinawa and ground in stallations Wednesday night and Thursday Meanwhile, Nimitz announced that the toll of Japanese dead on Okinawa had reached 38,867 and Lt. Gen. Sinrwp Bolivar Buckner, commander of the 10th Army, re vealed that the original Japanese garrison had been “underestimat ed.” He placed Japanese strength originally at 86,000 and said half of them—42,500—haa Deen Kinea or-wounded. Nlmitz’ communique «aid the Sixth Marines, now in operation with the Third Amphibious Corps bridged and crossed the estuary of the Asa river Thursday. Construe* tion was delayed temporarily be cause of two human bombs which caused some damage in the early morning hours, he said. There were no details on the "human bombs.” The last Marine Division opera* ting further inland ,the 77th Army Division in the center and the Sev* enth Army Division on the east coast, covered by a heavy naval and artillery bombardment, made limited gains and in some cases hand fighting was in progress, with troops closing slowly in on Naha, Shuri and Yonabaru. Guns of the Pacific fleet and carrier and Marine planes, opera ting from captured Okinawa air fields, broke up a number of troop concentrations in the enemy’s rear areas and destroyed pillboxes and gun emplacements in the heavily defended line, Nimitz said. The enemy <Segan air attacks Wednesday afternoon, damaging two auxiliaries and bombing Yon tain airfield without success. Early the following morning an other attack was made on ships and ground installations, but the enemy lost six planes without inflicting damage. The battle for Okinawa, whose five airfields will transform the 70-mile long island into a major air base for the all-out aerial of fensive against Japan, was still far from over. Only limited gains were made along the 8,C/)0 yard southern front Thursday. Hand-to-hand fighting was necessary in soma sectors and Marines and Infan trymen wiped out Japanese pill boxes and strong points one by one. Flame-throwing tanks aided the slow advance. Meanwhile, the U. S. Military Government assumed control of the area from the central sector of Okinawa near the Hagushl beaches northward to the extrem ity of the island May 4. About 135.000 civilians are under juris diction of the USMC, command ed on Okinawa by Maj. Gen. T. G. Wallace. Navy patrol bombers still (Continued on Page Nine; Col. 1) -V U. S. Eighth Air Force Drops 4,628,687 Bomht On European Continent LONDON, May 10.—(JP)—1The U. S. Eighth Air Force dropped 4,. 628,687 bombs on the European con tinent and destroyed 15,439 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground in the great air war against Ger many, a final tabulation showed today. The final blow by the Eighth Air Force was struck April 25 in a raid on the Skoda munitions works at Pilsen, Szechoslovakia, with Lt. Early Fisher, Jr., (1946 Harvard avenue, Seattle. Wash., a fortress bombardier, touching off the last bomb blast at 11:16 a. m. ■ •> Chinese, Aided By U. S., Smash New Jap Advance Victory May Mean The Turning Point Of Ousting Japanese From Interior Of China CHUNGKING, Friday, May 11— (iP)—Chinese troops aided by pow erful air support have smashed a major Japanese drive against the American air base at Chih kiang, 250 miles southeast of Chungking, in a victory that may be the turning point in ousting the Japanese from the Chinese interi or. The Chinese high command an nounced last night that the entire Japanese line in Western Hunan province had crumbled at 4 a.m. Wednesday in the fact of a gen eral Chinese counter offensive launched the day before with well equipped Chinese ground forces augmented by new airborne units'. Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, commander of the U. S. 14th Air Force, declared in Kunming that aerial warfare coupled with the action of a “determined and well equipped Chinese army’’ could de feat the Japanese forces now in China’s interior provinces. The battle for Chihkiang, more than any other in almost eight years of the Sino-Japanese war apart from the Salween offensive, represented on the Allied side a (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) Veto Power Limitations Agreed_ To By Big Four SAN FRANCISCO, May 10—(U.R)—The Big Four, it was revealed tonight, have agreed to a limitation on their veto power within the proposed World Security Council which will permit the council to recommend action against any big power threatening the security of the "world. The agreement was revealed by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden at what may be his final press conference before hastening TAX CUT GIVEN I HOUSE MEMBERS Legislatures Vote Them selves A $2,500 Tax Exemption WASHINGTON, May 10. —(U.R)— House members moved to solve their own problem of high wartime costs today by voting themselves a $2,500 tax-exempt expense allow ance. The allowance is provided in a $50,000,000 congressional appropria tion approved by a standing vote of 179 to 83 after opponents of the expense fund failed to knock it out or reduce it. The House also ap proved an amendment to raise the pay of pages from $4 to $5 a day. The Senate still must act on the bill, but both houses traditionally do nothing to overturn decisions relating to the financial operation of the other. The expense fund would cost the taxpayers a minimum of $1,642,500 annually. Its supporters said they needed additional money to bolster their salaries of $10,000 a year They said they believed their con stituents would back them up in demanding it. The measure was approved after six hours of heated debate. Oppo (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) -V THE HITLER GANG KITZBUHEL, Austria, May 10.— (JP)—Reichsmarshal Hermann Goer ing today told Maj- Gen. John E. Dahlquist, commanding the U. S. 36th Division, that Adolf Hitler was narrow and ignorant, that former Foreign Minister Joachim Von Rib bentrop was a scoundrel and that Rudolf Hess was eccentric but had tremendous energy. home to London. The limitation of the big power veto, it was noted, does not neces sary mean that the security coun cil automatically will act in dis putes involving big powers. It is accompanied by a provision that action can be recommended only if the great powers which are not involved in the dispute are unani mous. , Eden’s press conference explana tion of the decision led to some confusion as to the actual nature of the restriction upon the veto pow er. The British press office then is sued an explanatory statement say ing: “The effect of this new draft is that the security council now un (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) ALUESANNOUNCE BANS ON GERMANS All Foreign Publications, Films And Businesses Barred WASHINGTON, May 10.— (IP) — All publications, films and busi ness enterprises from the United States and other countries will be barred from Germany indefinitely during military occupation, OWI Director Elmer Davis said today. Allied armies of occupation will control all newspapers, other pub lications, films and radio enter prises which are permitted, he told a news conference. Information sections of each oc cupying military govemment-U. S., British, Russian and French will publish a few newspapers, perhaps magazines and books, and will operate what remains of the German radio system. In reply" to a question, Davis (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) Resolution Introduced To Scrap Wage Control WASHINGTON, May 10.— W) — I Sen. Robert A. Taft, (R.-O.) today introduced a resolution to scrap all wage controls and most price con trols after next January 1. War Labor Board Chairman George W. Taylor meanwhile sounded the keynote of the admin istration’s reconversion wa^e pro gram when he announced that the WLB will try as hard to prevent drastic wage reductions as it has to block inflationary increases. He said WLB is relying on collective bargaining to lay the groundwork for peacetime rates. Taft’s resolution clashed with the administration's determination to control wages and prices rigidly until the end of the war against Japan. War Mobilization Director Fred M. Vinson said Wednesday that wages will be pegged to allow civilian goods to come back on the market at the same prices at which they went off. .Taking issue with this, Taft charged that present price con trol is too strict even in wartime and that it is rapidly becoming a system of controlling profits rather than prices. “The policy proposed by Mr. Vin son will be destructive to recon version and employment,” he saicr. “Costs have risen 30 per cent and it is idiotic to suppose that men will rush into production in large business or in small busness, or expand ther prewar activities, if the government is going to under take to control profits.” (Continued on Page Three; Col, 5) Last Orgy Of Nazism By HAL BOYLE PRAGUE, May 9— (Delayed)— UP)—A spokesman for the Czech national committee told today of the last ordeal of Prague, of patri ots who bare-handed fought the Nazis in the capital and hastened the hour of liberation. It was a story of one last orgy of SS brutality, of civilians drag ged from their homes and shot in the streets, of women and chil dren made to run before German tanks to force patriots to hold their fire. But, added the spokesman, Vac lav Capek, “we ourselves were able to seize a number of prominent Gestapo leaders and they will be tried.” This is the story as Capek told it through Interpreter Zdeneck Eller, a former civil service work er in the Czech foreign office. “Rioting began spontaneously in Prague about mid-day Saturday. Our men tore down German in scriptions in all offices and streets. The rioting was premature, but it grew rapidly and some promi nent Czech leaders assumed lead ership. “The biggest question was arms. We didn't have any weapons and we had to get them by disarming Germans. Czech police joined us, and with our pistols and rifles we attacked and captured some German tanks, but were unable to use them.” From noon to 5 p.m. the Patriots battled for the Prague radio sta (Contlnned on Page Nine; Col, 4) —-V WILMINGTON MEN AID LIBERATION Red Cross Believes Six Local Fliers Aid Prison Break The Wilmington chapter of the American Red Cross yesterday an nounced that it believes six Wil mington fliers are among 9,000 Al lied Air Force officers who recently seized Stalag Luft One prison camp from the Germans. According to information receiv ed here, the imprisoned aviators took advantage of the German evacuation of the camp before the Russian drive. Acting on carefully laid plans, the airmen captured the prison camp, three towns, an important airbase and flak school and large quantities of fuel and equipment to say nothing of making a junction with the advancing Russians. All this took place within 12 hours, the Red Cross reported. A total of 2,000 Nazis also were taken prisoner by their former, captives. The Wilmington men believed to have been in the prison break and following action are Lt. W. T. Weaks, Jr., Lt. Ed Johnson, Lt. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) -1 Army Pattern For Discharge Is Announced U. S. Bases Plan On Length And Toughness of Service * Score card for computing eli gibility for discharge may be found on page seven. WASHINGTON, May 10.— W - Soldiers who have rolled up a point score of 85—based on length and toughness of service and fath erhood — are eligible for release, the War Department disclosed to day. Approximately 1,300,000 men, in cluding 650,000 in Europe and 433, <500 in the Pacific area, will be released during the next 12 months under the plan. This number may be stepped higher by maintaining draft calls above actual replacement needs. Another 700,000 men also are scheduled to be released from service because of physical dis ability, age, or other factors. “Critical” scores for the various forces — air, ground, service and WACs—have not yet been set but to avoid any delay in demobiliza tion, the Army has fixed the inter im score of 85' (44 for WACs) as the minimum for discharge. These may be lowered later. Those who have built up the re quired score are eligible for re lease now and some of them will move to separation centers within a week. However, some men with the required score may be retain ed because the rmy needs their special skills and no replacement is immediately available. Officials said every possible step would be taken to obtain replacements for such men. In the case of enlisted men who are retained because they are deemed necessary it was empha sized that ‘‘military necessity” does not mean ‘‘military conveni ence.” The decision of a company or unit commander to retain a man will be subject to higher re view. However, in the case of of ficers, the rating score will be sec ondary to needs of the Army and even those officers declared sur plus overseas may still be kept on duty by commanders of the Army ground, air or service forces. Secretary of War Stimson, in an nouncing the plan, said that it probably would not please every one, but that the Army considered it to be the fairest and best sys tem that could be devised to meet the views of soldiers themselves. The plan was adopted only after a poll showed that 90 per cent of the men interviewed favored such a plan, the Army reported. Ninety-eight per cent of those (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) Guns Jammed — Jap Rammed Quick Action Scores One OKINAWA, May 10.—(£>)—U- S. Marine Lt. Robert R. Klingman, of Binger, Okla., deliberately ram med his Corsair fighting plane into the rear of a Japanese fighter three times today to send it spin ning to destruction. The daring action, at 45,000 feet altitude, was acclaimed by Brig. Gen. William Wallace, commander of the Okinawa-based fighter com mand, as “one of the most re markable achievements of the war.” Klingman then glided back most of the way to Okinawa. He had dumped his reserve gasoline in or der to reach the Japanese plane at the great altitude. His guns had jammed. Another Corsair pilot, Capt. Ken neth L. Reusser, 25, of Portland, Ore., flew alongside the Japanese plane, his ammunition exhausted, and watched the kill. From a distance of only 25 feet, he saw the despairing expressions of the Japanese pilot and rear gun ner as Klingman rammed their plane apart. Reusser said: “Our formation of Corsairs was at 10,000 feet at 8:30 a.m, today when we saw vapor trails whpre a Jap reconnaissance plane was leisurely photographing Okinawa, probably in preparation for another big raid tonight. “The Corsairs Klingman and I were flying proved unusually pow erful and we were able to get up where he was but had to jettison our gas tanks to do it. We were almost at his level and a mile away when he, having completed two wide circles, saw us and streaked north. , “It was a “Nick”—their newest and swiftest two-engine fight. “We were making over 400 miles an hour at an altitude of about 45,000. We chased him 125 or 150 miles. “I fired all my wing ammuni tion into space in order to gain speed and finally closed. I set his engine afire and shot up his wing with the rest of my ammunition. It was enough to slow him. “Then Klingman, whose guns had frozen, closed and told me over the radio he didn’t think he had gas enough to. get back to Okinawa, anyway. He said: ‘We can’t let that—get away after that long chase. I’m going to hit him with my plane-” k X Allied Troops In Trieste A New Zealand infantryman offers a light to a Yugoslav soldier in Trieste, Italy, shortly after forces of both armies had arrived in the city. It is believed that Yugoslavia will try to gain possession of Trieste in coming territorial parleys. Official OWI Eadiophoto. __ (International) Jap Fuel Oil Centers Hit In Superfort Raid ' • GUAM, May lb—(tfcfi)—Japan’s major fuel storage and synthetic oil production centers were a mass of flames today after the greatest Superfortress raid of the Pacific war, 21st Bomber Command head quarters announced. A 20th Airforce communique said more than 400 Superfortresses took part in the raid and that none was lost. Only a few enemy JAPS BL( KADED ' BY YANK FORCES Enemy Shipping Off Asia Nearly Destroyed, Mac Arthur Says MANILA, Friday, May 11—(U.R)— Allied blockade planes prowling the South Seas sank or severely damaged 1,892,082 tons of Japa nese shipping during the first four months of 1945 and have practical ly destroyed enemy commerce off the east coast of Asia, Gen. Doug las MacArthur announced today. “Enemy organized commerce in these lanes has practically disap peared and only scattered and sporadic traffic is now attempted,” MacArthur’s communique stated. The Allied air blockade covers more than 2,500 miles of Asiatic coastline between Shanghai and Sumatra. Heavy and light bomb ers and even swift fighter bomb ers strike daily in favorable weath er against shipping in the China Sea and adjacent waters of the Southwest Pacific area. The communique also announced the following ground developments: Mindanao—Infantrymen of the (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) -V-»— PROPERTY TRANSFER ROME, May 10.—W—The Allies today turned back a new slice of territory to the Italian government —a transfer which brings three fifths of the nation and 24,000,000 people under Italian jurisdiction. fighters were encountered. The 400 B-29’s, flying through intense flak from an enemy naval force in the inland sea, hit the vital fuel supply factories on Hon shu, Kyushu and Shikoku yester day as the great bombers opened their campaign to halt the flow of gas and oil to Japanese ships, planes and armored columns. Because the three highly impor tant fuel centers grouped around the inland sea and the plant off the coast of Kyushu were their (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) QUISUNGTRIAL TO BEGIN TODAY Predictions Say Trials Will Be Short, Ending In Death OSLO, May 10—(U.R)—The trials of Vidkun Quisling, premier of Nor way under the Nazis, his ministers and other high-ranking figures of the Norwegian Nazi regime will be gin tomorrow, it was learned to day. Norwegians predicted the trials will be suort and will end in death sentences. Nearly all of the prominent Quis lingites have been rounded up. Three are still uncaptured. They are three of the nation’s leading war criminals: Police Minister Jonas Lie, Justice Minister Riis naes and Police Chief Rogstad, all Nazis. These three reportedly have bar. ricaded themselves at Skallum (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) European War Criminals Sought By Four Nations LONDON, May 10 — (U.R) —One of the most relentless searches in his tory was swiftly turning all Europe inside out today as the best man hunters of four nations tracked down thousands of still uncaptured Nazi war criminals responsible for six years of horror on the conti nent. The hunt goes on for the dead as well as the living. Names listed in the records of the United Nations war crimes commission and in the lists of separate countries must be accounted for, dead or alive. The arch-fiend of them all, Adolf Hitler, is occupying the exclusive attention of hundreds of Soviet Se curity troops who have combed the ruins of Berlin for more than a * week to establish the truth of Ger man claims that he is dead. Only today did some hint of Hit ler’s fate come out of the levelled German capital. United Press Cor respondent Joseph W. Grigg, Jr., in a dispatch from Berlin disclosed that four bodies which bear some resemblance to Hitler, have been found in the underground fortress where Hitler and his fanatics made their last ditch stand. All are burned beyond positive identification by Soviet flamethrow ers which seared their way step by step through the fortress. So viet authorities are beginning to believe that no body may ever be found which can be positively iden tified as that of Hitler, but it is (Coatiaaed on Page Three; Col. *) 4
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May 11, 1945, edition 1
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