North Carolina Newspapers

THE ALAMANCE GLEANER VoL LXIX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1943 No. 26 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS U. S. Capture of Palermo Pockets Axis Army in Sicily's Northeastern Corner; Allied Activity in Pacific Is Intensified; Nation's Employment Reaches 38 Million ?:DITOB'l NOTE: Wkn ut iiumtl la tk*M ivltaia. lk#y ik?u tl aatara Nawapapar Ualaa'a maws aaalyata ao4 nat aaaaaaartly af tkla aavapapar.) ' Rataaaad by WaaSarn Mawapapar Union. -? am ? Mi..i ? ..ui LuaLiiaji? an ? a,i-..na * ? I jj| d ,C4 \T ITl!^ mfl V ,-J^-' / KISKA'. '-" Ti11 .** / \ wU&aJ I ^ %/ \ E/l /\ V 3 / / ?OAT? PACIFIC OCtAH mi ^?7TOKYO ^^P^^^VOKOHAMA JEl American fllen moved closer to the Japanese mainland when they bombed Paramushiro, which lies below the Kamchatka peninsula ot Siberia, 1JN miles from Tokyo. Hits and near misses were reported en Jap ships lytof to the harbor. SICILY: Pocket Axis The second stage of lighting in Sicily found the Axis forces retiring from the western reaches of the island as the Seventh American army of Gen. George S. Patton moved into rapid occupation of the territory. The Yanks' seizure of Palermo sealed off the Axis troops in the northeastern corner of Sicily. As Patton's ? army hemmed the re maining Axis forces of approximate ly 100,000 men in from the west, Gen. Bernard Montgomery's British -Eighth army pounded at the en emy's line on the southern extrem ity of the trap, at Catania. Units of the celebrated Herman Goering division put up a stiff fight on the outskirts of Catania. In this section, the broad Catania plain is criss-crossed by several rivers, mak ing tank and motorized operations difficult; and many shallow creek beds and thick grain fields gave Ger man machine-gunners good cover for defensive fire. While the fight raged in Sicily, British naval and air units bombard _ ed the sole of the Italian boot at Cro . tone. CIVILIAN GOODS: Increase Possible ?The government's effort to get a more effective production for the war might result in a reduction of certain programs and free materials for civilian goods. War Mobilization director James F. Byrnes said. That, however, is a hope and not a prediction, Byrnes cautioned. Oyriic^ 9 L? yanicii k Lame uu uic heels of a revelation that the moni tions program was being cut down in some lines because our growing air power was amply protecting Al lied industries abroad from destruc tion from bombing, and thus reduc ing their demands on U. S. plants for materials According to Byrnes, the various war agencies are studying their pur chasing programs, to confine pro curement to articles most useful in the light of recent combat develop ments. Where cancellations or re ductions in orders may be feasible, the possibility exists that material spared will be used for civilian goods. EMPLOYMENT: 38 Million at Work As 'the labor department an nounced that over 38 million people were currently employed in non agricultural establishments, the war department revealed that it had authorized the release of 4,500 men from the army for work in copper, zinc and molybdenum mines. According to the labor depart ment, current employment was 1,883,000 over that for the same period a year ago. Despite the fact that the manufacturing and public utilities and transportation indus tries put on 182,008 workers recent ly. total employment was only 88,000 more than in May Of this year. Since Hay, the construction industry has laid oS 99,000 men. The war department said failure of the metal mines to secure the necessary amount of workers left only the army as a reservoir of .men with the requisite skills for the Pits. I . i SOUTH PACIFIC: Range to Dutch Indies Ranging 1,200 miles to the west, American heavy bomber formations struck at the Japanese naval base of Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies. Tumbling down on an oil refinery, docks, warehouses and railway in stallations, 500 pound bombs caused heavy damage, Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur's communique said. The action marked the first air raid on Surabaya since that former Dutch base was pounded by the Japanese early in the war. The raid on Surabaya was part of intensive Allied activity in the South Pacific area. As American troops wortced closer through heavy jungle to the Japanese air base of Munda on New Georgia islands in the Solo mons, medium and dive bombers and fighter planes kept up a rain of explosives on the embattled en emy troops guarding that - strong hold. In one day alone, American airmen made 250 raids on the Jap anese positions. ROME: 'Priceless Treasures' Declaring "... Despite the pre cautions that may be taken it is al most impossible to avoid, on this sacred soil of Rome, the destruction of venerated edifices," Pope Pius XII deemed it ". . . our duty once more to raise our voice in defense of the priceless treasures that con stitute the ornament of Christian and human endeavor," following the Al lied bombing of the Eternal City. In citing the historical, cultural and religious importance of Rome, the pope said "... Ail that we put before competent authorities on sev eral occasions in clear terms, rec ommending to them in the name of human dignity and of Christian civ ilization the inviolability of Rome." Then stating that he had hoped the papal authority would have proved sufficient in addressing a plea for the immunity of Rome, the pope said "... But alas, this so reason able hope of ours has been disap pointed." RUSSIA: Reds Whittle Bulge Throwing the full weight of their might into the drive, the Russians bore down on Orel from three sides, while embattled German troops fought desperately to prevent being cut from the rear. While the battle of Orel raged, the "Anti-Nazi German National Com mittee" in Moscow appealed to the German high command to overthrow Hitler and negotiate a peace with the Russian government. Although presumably composed of former German army officers, the "nation al committee" bears a liberal sprin kling of former leaders of the Com munist party of the old reichstag. At Orel, the Nazis were holding a big bulge eastward, from which they could strike out against the rear of the Reds' northern or southern armies. Russian troops made nota ble progress cutting across much of the bulge in the north, but the Ger mans were offering stiff resistance on the southern fringe. For their part, the Germans made no effort to minimize the power of the Russian drive. They contended their strategy called for a continu ation at the struggle so as to wear down the Reds' strength. FARMS: 13 Per Cent Idle A total ot 76,704 farms with an acreage of 6,484,292 lay idle in the United States when the decennial census was taken in 1940. The num ber represented 1.3 per cent of all farms in the country. New England and the Middle Atlantic states showed the greatest percentage of abandonments, with one out of every 20 farms idle. This compared with Iowa's report of one out of every 2,000. Abandoned farms - averaged 89 acres against the 174 acres for op erating tracts. Depleted soil and crop failures accounted for one-third of the vacancies, and there were many departures for employment in industry. Almost 57 million acres of land lay idle on producing farms, census figures also showed. CASUALTIES: Light, So Far War and navy department casual ty lists issued for the first year and half of the war totaled 16,556 men killed in action or from wounds, and 31,343 missing. The missing, it was 'explained, may either be dead or prisoners, but final tabulation must await the war's end. Casualties were almost equally di vided between the services. Of the known dead, 8,412 are navy, marine and coastguardsmen, while 8,144 are army men. However, the army's record of 21,076 missing doubled the navy, marine and coast guard's fig ure of 10,267. As the services' casualties were announced, word was received of the death of Maj. Gen. William P. Upshur of the marines and Capt. Charles Paddock in the crash of a naval plane near Sitka, Alaska. Gen eral Upshur was commanding gen eral of the marines for the depart ment of the Pacific, while Paddock, who had served on General Persh- i ing's staff in the First World war I at the age of 18, was world famous as a sprinter, having set 94 records from 1920 to 1929. POULTRY: Army Takes Over Under the second war powers act, the Office of Price Administration ordered the detention of poultry truckers on eastern highways and the requisitioning of their stock for , the army. OPA took the action, it said, after black market operations had inter fered with the army's purchase of poultry in the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia area, largest fowl pro ducing section in the East. Accord ing to OPA, much of this meat was being sold to dealers over the price ceiling. Dealers from whom the poultry was requisitioned, were paid the pre vailing ceiling price. MINERS: Seek Contract Approval - With the War Labor board rested the task of determining the fate of the new wage contract entered into between Illinois' United Mine Work ers and bituminous coal operators, providing for a daily payment of $1.23 for time spent traveling under ground. Differences over such com pensation was the chief cause of three walkouts, leading to govern ment seizure of the pits. In addition to providing portal-to portal pay,.the new two-year con tract outlaws strikes and lengthens the 33-hour week to 48 hours. Under present conditions, the miners now receive $7 daily for a seven-hour shift, but the new pact would award them time-and-a-half for the eighth hour each day and for the full eight hours on the sixth day. Besides WLB approval, the agree ment is dependent upon the Office of Price Administration's authorization of an increase in coal prices to off set the wage settlements. LABOR: Demands Roll-Back Meeting In the White House, or ganized labor served notice on Pres ident Roosevelt that it would not continue support of his anti-inflation program unless prices were rolled back to the September 13, 1M2, level. Charging Price Administrator Prentiss Brown with having failed to execute the government's roll back program, labor representatives declared they would open a pres sure campaign for his removal from office unless plans were set In mo tion to push current prices back. The labor leaders said further dal liance on roll-backs would lead-them to repudiate the wage stabiHzation program, in which wage increases have been limited to 13 per cent ever the January, 1M1, levels. Liv ing costs have jumped approximate ly 21 per cent since that time, they said, outstripping income by at least I per cent. Historic Rainbow Division Is Born Anew By ELMO SCOTT WATSON RtltaMd by Western Newspaper Union. THE other day veterans the 42nd Division of World War I held their reunion in Tul sa, Okla. Then they went to Camp Gruber near Muskogee, there to see the reactivation of their tradition-rich outfit, to pass on to the new'42nd Division of World War II their honored bat tle flags and to gaze proudly up on the shoulder patch adorning the uniform of each man in it? the red, yellow and blue striped quarter-circle which was the sign and symbol of a "first class flghtin' man," a member of the "Rainbow" Division. The reactivation took place at midnight?the "Champagne hour," so called because it was the hour when the last great German push of World War I, the Champagne offensive, began. That offensive, which started on July 14, 1918, broke to pieces against the stubborn resist ance of those fighting Yanks of the Rainbow division and from that day the might of the kaiser's armies ebbed until it reached low tide in a railroad car in Compeigne forest (our months later. Twe Messages. Before the veterans of the Rainbow division of a quarter century ago ad journed their 1943 meeting, they sent two messages to widely separated parts of the world. One was flashed to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "some where in the Southwest Pacific," be cause it was he who had given their division its nickname. The other was the traditional reunion greet ings to one-armed Gen. Henri Joseph Eugene Gouraud, who commanded the Fourth French army, which in cluded the American division, at the historic battle in the Champagne sector July 14 and IS, 1918. The message was sent to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in the European theater of war, to be transmitted to General Gouraud "somewhere in Oc cupied France." In the early summer of 1917 a young colonel named Douglas Mac Arthur was serving as "censor" for news coming out of the war depart ment in Washington. Visited by newspaper men one day, he told them of the forthcoming organiza tion of a new division to be com posed of units from 27 states and the District of Columbia. As the journalists were leaving, MacArthur remarked that the assembling of so many units from so many states into one division was somewhat like making up a rainbow. Struck by the aptness of the expression, the newspaper men used it in their sto ries and the nickname stuck to the division when it was organized on August 1, 1917, and concentrated at Camp Mills on Long Island in New York. While the division was still at Camp Mills, many different kinds of rainbow designs were used as divi sional insignia. They were irregular in size but nearly all were a half circle with the three colors of red, yellow and blue in them. It was not until the division was engaged in a major action in the Meuse Argonne that the final, official de sign was conceived and adopted. Col. William N. Hughes Jr., who had succeeded Col. Douglas MacAr thur as chief of staff of the division, determined the measurements, re duced the original design to a quar ter circle and telegraphed the de scription, with the approval of Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher, then divi sion commander, to corps headquar ters. It is one of the cherished traditions of the 42nd that Gen eral Menoher, acting on an omen of a rainbow in the sky, sent the division Into action in the Champagne operation. From am. CHARLES T. MENOHER ... h? in ? hMw ? tfc* m ?t battl* THE RAINBOW . . . became the insignia ef the 42nd division the time that he told of seeing the rainbow In the sky from hia bivouac In the Baccarat sector, rainbows kept showing up at de cisive hours In the division's his tory, as if to Justify its selection as the 42nd's talisman. Before long veterans of our regu lar army as well as veteran French and British troops were joining in proclaiming the Rainbow division as one of the hardest lighting outfits in France. Here is its record, as given in a series of articles on "AEF Divi sional Insignia," written several years ago by Sergt. Herbert E. Smith for the United States Recruit ing News: First Taste ef War. It trained under veteran French soldiers in Lorraine, and elements of tjie Rainbow division entered the front line trenches for the first time February 21, 1918. This was along the Luneville sector, at a point north of Celles-sur-Plaine, through Neu viller, Ancerviller, the eastern edge GEN. HENRI GOURAUD ... to him, eaeh year, a greeting of the Boil Banal, to the eaatern and northern edges of the Foret de Parroy. Elements of the 42nd's ar tillery brigade entered the Dom basle sector, also on the night of the 21st, to receive their first taste of combat warfare affiliated with the French 41st division. From March 31 to June 21 the division occupied the Baccarat sec tor in Lorraine, moving from there to Chatel-sur-Moselle in the Vosges. Then came July, with its heavy fighting in the Champagne and Champagne-Marne areas. The high light of the 42nd division's activities at this time would seem to be the battle of La Croix Rouge Farm. This farm was a low, widespread group of stone buildings connected by walls and ditches. The Germans had made an enormous machine gun nest of this natural stronghold, and had defied several earlier deter mined efforts of Allied troops to dis lodge them from this key position. The 187th and the 168th infantry regiments, old Alabama and Iowa troops respectively, struggled all day, July 28, against this nest of horrors. It was practically impos sible to rush this enemy stronghold across the open; endeavors to work around the edges were thrown back by Banking fire; an accurate punish ing shell fire from the German artil lery ripped through the wet under brush; gas, made doubly dangerous by the moisture, swirled about in terrible gusts. At last, two platoons of assembled casuals?volunteers, all, from the 167th and 168th?led by two lieu tenants, squirmed their amy for ward, Indian fashion, and closed upon the farm buildings with gre nades and bayonet The raid, staged at dusk, was successful. The 42nd possessed La Croix Rouge farm at nightfall, but at a fearful cost in dead and wounded. Less than a week later these same regiments, with their sister outfits of the Rainbow, wars pressing for ward toward the Ourcq river. Upon the 42nd fell the chief burden of the main attack. It was ordered to storm the heights on both sides of Sergy and, in conjunction wifl) She French on the left, to take Hill 184 northwest of Fere-en-Tardenois. A Deadly Hall at Fire. The 188th infantry crossed the stream under a deadly hail of lire, to climb by slow stages to the crest of Hill 212, between Sergy and Cierges. The 187th meanwhile, had made its way down the Rue de la Taveme, crossed the Ourcq, and swept on up the northern slope of the hilly country. New York's "lighting Irish" of the 185th infantry emerged from Villers and secured a precarious lodgment on the slopes on either side of Mer cury Farm. Subjected to the same raking lire that had made this push so costly, this fine regiment still car ried on, plunging forward to the sunken road north and west of Sergy. By midafternoon the weary dough boys of the 42nd division were bat tling in mortal, hand-to-hand combat ! with the Germans in the streets of Sergy. The enemy troops were of the 4th Prussian Guard, grim and spirited fighters embittered by -re cent German setbacks, veterans all and determined men. Twice the Americans were lushed out of Sergy, but thrice the Yanks returned, and the third time the Americans captured the entire vil- I lage. Again the men of the Rain bow division had proved to be of heroic mould. In the St. Mihiel drive, launched in mid-September, the 42nd, with the 1st and 2nd, formed the spear head of the attack which penetrated deepest into the enemy positions. In the main attack, the 2nd division captured Thiaucourt, the 1st took Nonsard, and the 42nd division drove through to Pannes. Through the thick of the heaviest action of the Meuse-Argonne opera tion, the Rainbow carried on. It penetrated the Kriemhilde line, swooped up the fire-swept slopes about Romange and Cote Dame Ma rie; it seized Cote de Chatillon by skillful infiltration behind its protec tive wire, and early in November. , on the extreme left flank of the American attack, it began to fight through Bulson, Thelonne and Ba zeilles, on the Meuse, to gain the cherished final objective?Sedan. The taking of Sedan, for senti mental and historic reasons, how ever, was left to the French 9th corps, on the left of the Rainbow. On the night of November 10 the 42nd division was relieved, and as sembled in the area of Artaise-le Vivier and Les Petites-Armoises. The Full Tide of Victory. The 42nd thru shared in the full tide of victory, on the morning of November 11, 1918. The American Second army was even then prepar ing for a general assault in the di rection of Metz, in an offensive with the famous Mangin and 20 French divisions. The Meuse had been crossed, French troops in Sedan in retaliation for the terrible French defeat there in 1870; the Germans were on the run, almost in utter rout. Naturally, the Rainbow was one of the crack divisions of the AEF chosen to be a part of the American Army of Occupation. Concentrating near Stenay, it began the long hike into the Rhineland on November 20. On December 14 it took its station in Germany in the Kreis of Ahrweiler. Training continued there, on the steep hill of the Rhineland. through the winter and spring of 1918-1919, until April S, when the division be gan entraining for Brest. On April 9 the first element to sail for the United States, the 117th Trench Mor tar Battery, boarded a transport for an American port. By May 12, demobilization had been completely effected at Camps Upton, Dix, Grant and Dodge. "After the storm, the rainbow!" GEN. DOB6UA HieAKTRCl I ll'llilii** *M,? H *** "B*taWw" Who's News This Week *9 Deloa Wheeler Lovelace Cmeelldittd roaturoo.?WMU Xtkul. XTEW YORK.?Our newest battle ships mount such firepower of such diverse calibers, that they can pound a mountain to nibble or plunk No Longer Rait bird"st "fifty Sitting Duck*, bat feet. Rear Screaming Eagi*s Admiral Wil liam H. P. Blandy puts it another way. He says they have finally caught up with the parade; meaning they are no long er, as was Britain's Repulse, a sit ting duck for any dozen dive bomb ers Of all ear admirals Blandy should know. He is chief et the been lath mis deep h gm design and maaafactare, fire control, Smarter cestuij. At Annapolis be was top man at his class and even then tops in ord nance. He has the Class of 1871 Sword to prove it. He was barely graduated when he wanted to mar ry. She was Roberts Ames, just about Washington's prettiest hi 1913. However, be was sent en a cruise and the wedding waited lor almost a year. JM* present pest, at fifty, is ST' eemmmdiWmi "tm1 hT nestdng flrn accuracy at fire at Se*New lleriw^Ihe msTpnT and cape, everythtsg to sight. He has been ordnance chief since 1941. About then world events made it plain that this cuuuliy was going to need a man who could fix its battleships so they could pound mountains to rubble and phmk hum ming birds at fifty feet. ONE national leader who is not writing a peace plan at this early date is the Junoesqoe presi | dent of the General Federation at ... ? W o m e n's Stick t* War Now, n.lt, 9, Better Peace Later, counsels crwc H-i w. ter treatment in the years ahead if her followers limit themselves these days to understanding the wax ef fort and helping it along. She is Mrs. Ms L. White harst of Baltimore. Sara to Maryland's ctmk won em. Ire feet eleven Inches at executive vaessBi cleaner, bat a seedel wife also who woeMet he coaxed est at domesticity stD she had phesed her haihaad and he had said it was all right with Ma. Mrs. Whitehurst has been Men tion president since '41. She was headed for medicine, with special no tions about psychiatry, until she met John L. eighteen years ago. Snce then she has dug into national and international affairs and, when she counsels her followers, she does as* need to read from a book. She is that rare bird, a wesaas thing sensibly dark and Is Hoc ad far the street, sesslMht lght and lacy for evening earns as peari^earrtngsV "Ttority ^ee) dressed n I the at them." Pearl earrings and all she is a good cook. Waffles, spaghetti sad what lobster newburg! She is a good musician, too, piano and pipe organ and likes Beethoven and Twhaiknw ski. Sinatra? Hardly! She can aleo knit and crochet a blue streak, and serves on a raft of boards to boot. rVER since the present var be " jan H. Freeman Matthews has been in the thick of thinjs on the diplomatic front in Europe. Now Horn* to Gm'sfe Us J* Through Highly toward a cli Dramatic Day$ max on that beleajuered continent, he's cominj home to bead the European division of the state department With him he's brinj inf plenty of knowledje jained first hand both in France and England. Far a time after As fan at Prases, as charge d' affaires he raa the American embassy hi Vlehy. That was after Amhaa sader Ballitt left and before Admiral Leahy cheeked ia. Alt er the naval man's arrival, Matthews sat In en all Ae tafts with Fetaia and the late Admiral Dariaa, ssi iht as inter pistes ibe Leahy. Late In 'dl he was shifted to Leaden and he was than when As eat heme ar rived.