WEATHER
Considerable cloudiness today and
tonight with a few widely scatter
ed showers in west today and east
tonight. Cooler tonight. Sunday
partly cloudy and cooler.
Tslxe Hhelhy Bnily Steu
CLEVELAND COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1894
TELEPHONES 1100
- State Theatre Today -
CHARLES KORVIN
ELLA RAINES
“Enter Arsene Lupin”
VOL. XLIII—78 ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWS SHELBY, N. C. SATURDAY, MAR. 31, 1945
TELEMAT PICTURES
SINGLE COPIES—5c
PATTON EXPLAINS TO FISF.XHOWF.R—Grn Dwight D. Eisenhower
• left> meets three of his top-ranking commanders somewhere in Ger
many, and laughs good naturedly as one of them. Lt. Gen. George S.
Patton. Jr., waves his hand above his head and explains a point. Watch
ing with obvious amusement are Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley isecond
from right'. 12th Army Group commander, and Lt. Gen. Courtney
Hodges (right' of Perry. Ga U. S First Army commander. The impromptu
tu conference took place March 25.
Shelby To Have New
Fertilizer Plant
%
Southern Cotton Oil company Plans For Construction
Of Modern Plant
Development of one of the most modern fertilizer plants
in the south will be started by the Southern Cotton Oil
company as soon as priorities can he obtained. The new
plant will be located at the junction of the Seaboard and
Southern railways in the northwestern part of the city, R. C.
Barnett, general manager-of the company's local branch
said today in announcing plans for the new development.
REICH TARGETS
HIT FROM AIR
Brandenburg, Important
Rail Junction, Oil
Plants Damaged
LONDON, March 31—(/P>— More
than 1,300 Flying Fortresses and
Liberators, escorted by 850 fight
ers, attacked railway and indus
trial targets today in Brunswick
and Brandenburg, freight yards at
Halle, and a synthetic oil plant at
Zeltz.
Brandenburg, 25 miles southwest
of Berlin, is now serving as the
key rail Junction for the bulk ol
military freight the Germans are
no longer able to route through
the capital.
Declaring today’s targets also
Included Bremen and Hamburg,
the German radio flashed repeated
air raid warnings as the U. S.
Eighth Air Force heavies swept
over the Reich.
4,000 TONS BOMBS
The largest fleet of Fortresses
and Liberators dispatched this year
by the Eighth Air Force yesterday
showered 4,000 tons of bombs on
U-boat yards in the Ports of Bre
See REICH Page 2
Wednesday Closing
Starting Next Week
Wednesday afternoon closing of
those stores and offices which de
sire to observe that summer-time
merchandising schedule will start
with' next week, the Merchants di
vision •' the Chamber of Commerce
decided at their annual meeting
last night.
The Wednesday closings will
continue through August.
rnteen acres oi tana is aireaay
under option and will be purchased
shortly, Mr. Barnette said, indi
cating that his company planned
an additional investment of around
$300,000. Tlie old fertilizer plant on
South Morgan street will be dis
continued as soon as the new fac
tory is completed.
Application for priorities for ma
terials necessary for the construc
tion of the new plant will be made
! at once and building will get un
derway as soon as the priorities are
obtained. The plant will be of
brick and concrete construction
and will have the last word in mod
ern equipment.
From the factory to be erected
here Mr. Barnett said that the
company would make deliveries over
the entire western part of North
Carolina. The Southern Cotton Oil
company has 72 operating plants
now in the south and maintains
its headquarters in New Orleans
with division headquarters at Co
lumbia, S. C.
The land on which the new
plant is to be erected will be bought
from B. B. Suttle and is located
near the Carnation milk plant. The
Southern Cotton Oil company will
still maintain all but its fertilizer
plant at the present location near
the Southern railway station.
Yanks Land On Last Major
Jap-Held Philippines Isle
By r KejU HAMfSON
MANILA, March 31— (A>) —Maj.
Gen. Rapp Brush’s 40th division of
the Eighth army landed Thursday
against light opposition on Negros,
last remaining major Philippine
Island under Japanese control,
seized an airstrip and menaced the
insular capital, Bacolod.
Other Yanks had to fight hard,
Gen. Douglas MacArthur disclosed
today, to take tiny Caballo Island,
which is within rifle range of fam
ed Corregidor on Manila Bay.
With the invasion of Negros,
MacArthur asserted the enemy in
AIRMEN DAMAGE
46 JAP SHIPS,
87 AIRPLANES
U. S. Carrier Plane At
tacks On Okinawa Area 1
Continued
18 DEFINITELY SUNK
GUAM, March 31.—(^P)—
American carrier planes sank
or damaged 46 Japanese ships
and 87 airplanes Thursday
and Friday, Adm. Chester W.1
Nimitz announced today as
warships continued heavily
bombarding Okinawa in the
center of the Ryukyu chain
which Tokyo said was threat
ened by imminent invasion.
Nimitz announced that 18 ene
my ships were definitely sunk, 13
probably sunk and 15 damaged in
strikes ranging over much of the
700 mile long Ryukyu island chain
and Kyushi island, southernmost
of the home Islands of Japan.
Kyushi and Honshu were also hit
today by substantial formations of
Superfortresses flying out of the
Marianas islands.
American carrier pf'Ots and an
tiaircraft gunners on shipboard
shot down 29 Japanese aircraft.
Yank pilots also destroyed 16
Nipponese planes on the ground
and damaged at least 42 others.
Twelve Amercian planes were
shot down and six pilots lost.
The fleet admiral's announce
ment came as the Japanese
Domei news agency was re
See AIRMEN Page 2
KYAUKSE TAKEN
BY BRITISH
Seizure Traps Japanese
Forces Hemmed in
Against Irawaddy
CALCUTTA, March 31. — f^P)—
British 14th Army troops driving
south in Central Burma have cap
tured Kyaukse and established con
tact with forces heading north
from the Meikf'.a area, trapping
Japanese forces hemmed in be
tween that area and allied posi
tions along the ’Irrawaddy river to
the west.
The Japanese were compressed
into an ever-narroWing pocket.
Strong enemy rearguard units bat
tled savagely southeast of Kyaukse
to cover the main body’s withdraw
al from the city, which is 24 miles
south of Mandalay on the main
trunk road and railway, the south
east Asia command communique
announced.
The linkup of the two British
forces was established at a point
ten m”'s northeast of Meiktila.
The town of Mahlaing, 20 miles
northwest of Meiktila, was entered
early yesterday. Several more ene
my gun positions in the Meiktila
area were overrun.
Enemy positions in the hills over
looking the road from Myingyang
to Meiktila at Taungtha. 12 miles
southeast of Myingyang, have been
cleared. The advance here forged
the western jaw of the trap. The
British captured Natogyi, 18 miles
east of Myingyang on the road to
th> main north-south highway.
the Visayan Island group "seems
bewildered and his defense is rap
idly collapsing." Negros is a part
of the Visayas. Masbate and Bo
hol are the only remaining large
islands of the group that have
not been invaded by U. S. forces.
Brush’s Doughboys crossed Gul
maras straight eastward from
Guimaras island, between Amer
ican-controlled Panay and Negros,
and went ashore near the mouth
of the Bago river. One column
pushed northward along the coast
See YANKS Page 3
Moscow Demands Polish
Provisional Government i
Be Represented At Meet
;-:V i
LONDON, March 31.—(/P)—Moscow demanded today
that the Warsaw Polish Provisional Government be repre
sented at the San Francisco world security conference and
highly authoritative London sources said Russia had been in
formed that Britain could not accede to such a request.
These London sources declared i
without equivocation that the'
British position was that Poland!
could obtain representation only by
complying with the Crimean con
ference agreement that the Polish
provisional government te ex
panded to include wider represen
tation.
Prospect of such action before the I
April 25 conference opening date |
appeared slim.
The Russian demand, broad
cast by the Moscow radio, said
failure of the United States and
Britain to recognize the War
saw &roup was no excuse for
withholding an -'nvitation, and
that an “early reply” was ex
pected to the Soviet request.
Bernard M. Baruch, special re
presentative of President Roosevelt,
and U. S. Ambassador John G.
Winant conferred today with Prime
Minister Churchill.
Although the nature of their
discussions remained unannounced.
it appeared inevitable the question
would be raised concerning Russia's
demand on Polish representation.
ECONOMIC FUTURE
Another subject probably on the
agenda was the control and econo
mic future of Germany.
For the third successive day,
there was an abnormal flow of
government communications be
tween Washington and London,
most of them from. Washington.
A statement by the Russian news
agency Tass said that if reorganiza
tion of the Polish government was
not effected or completed in the
nearest future, “representatives of
the provisional government in
Warsaw should be invited to the
San Francisco conference.” Both
the Warsaw regime and the Polish
government in exile here have bid
for seats at San Francisco.
The broadcast made no reference
See MOSCOW Page 2
C Of C Hears Hoey,
Honors Wilkins
Senator Calls For Courageous Meeting Of Problems
Of Reconversion
The greatest membership Shelby’s Chamber of Com
merce and Merchants Association has ever known assembled
in annual meeting Friday night to pay tribute to John S.
Wilkins, retiring farm agent, and hear Senator Clyde R.
Hoey warn of the dangers ahead, unless the nation meets
the challenge of reconversion and guaranteeing peace.
Mr. Wilkins, who next week
takes up new duties in directing
the development of Turkish to
bacco growing in western North
Carolina, was warmly praised for
his effective contribution to the
agricultural advancement of Cleve
land county during his 10 years as
county agent; O. M. Mull, who
made the citation, termed him
head of the biggest business and
the most successful business—one
in which 25,000 engaged now are
producing more than 40,000 pro
duced 10 years ago—as he pre
sented him a scroll expressing ap
preciation of the community for
his service and voicing the affec
tion of those he leaves as he goes
to new work.
WILKINS PRAISEFUL
Responding, Mr. Wilkins
praised the spirit and accom
plishment of Cleveland’s agri
cultural community and said
there could be no happier place
or people with which to work.
A number of guests joined the
membership in the occasion, a
mong those presented by Mayor
Harry Woodson being James E.
Gaither and Miss Helen Ander
son, of the Hickory Chamber of
Commerce, Glee A. Bridges of
See C OF C Page 2
Star Gives Vets
Free Advertising
Free classified advertising for
any honorably discharged serv
ice man or woman seeking em
ployment here will be given by
The Shelby Daily Star, it was
announced today by the man
agement.
Recognizing the vital neces
sity for furthering the inter
ests of returning veterans of
this war, the new policy will
allow ex-service personnel to
publish classified advertise
ments for jobs without cost to
them.
Miss Barbara Elam, manager
of the classified department, or
any member of the organiza
tion will gladly assist any ve
teran in such.
SUPERFORTS HIT
JAP HOMELAND
Attack On Kyushu Second
In Four Days; Nagoya
Also Blasted
21ST BOMBER COMMAND
HEADQUARTERS, Guam, March
31. — (IP)— A large force of Super
forts attacked Kyushu, western
most of the Japanese main islands
today in the second daylight pre
cision bombing mission in four
days while other B-29s hit Hon
shu itself.
A small force of B-29s flying
from bases in the Marianas return
ed to blast the industrial target
of Nagoya, Japanese aircraft cen
ter on Honshu which already has
been subjected to the torch raids
of the big bombers.
Radio Tokya said the multiply
ing Superforts’ blows at southern
Japan "were concentrated mainly
on airfields and airfield facilities”
; support of “landing attempts on
Okinawa” in the Ryukyu chain.
Military and industrial targets
picked out by the larger formation
including the Tachiarai machine
shops and the Ooita airfield on the
eastern coast.
RESULTS UNOBSERVED
Results were not observed in the
Nagoya strike by 1 a.m. today, Guam
time.
Reconnaissance photographs of
the March 28 mission against Ta
chiarai and Ooita airfields and the
Omura aircraft factory showed
wldespre: ' damage to installations.
At Tachiarai eight of nine han
gars were damaged or destroyed in
addition to numerous buildings in
the shop area. Forty-one enemy
aircraft were destroyed on the
ground and five more were damag
ed.
Four of the Oita hangars and
four general type buildings were
damaged and three reveted build
ings were wiped out. Ten aircraft
were damaged. Eighty-four bomb
hit, were visible on the flying field.
PVT. HAL V. BUFF
l
PVT. HAL BUFF
REPORTED DEAD
Son Of Mr. And Mrs. Bry
an C. Buff Killed On
Iwo Jima
Fvt. Hal V. Buff, USMCR. son of
Mr. and Mrs. Bryap C. Buff of
Lawndale, died March 19 at Iwo
Jima Volcano Island of wounds re
ceived in action, according to a
telegram received today by his par
ents from the w'ar department.
Pvt. Buff entered the Marines
June 16, 1944 and received his
training at Parris Island and Camp
LeJeune before going overseas in
November, 1944. He had been serv
ing in the South Pacific for the
past 15 months. Prior to entering
service Pvt. Buff was employed bv
the Cleveland Mill and Power Com
pany in Lawndale.
Surviving Pvt. Buff are his par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. B. C. Buff and
two brothers. Edward and Cecil
Buff of Lawndale.
Germans Cling To
Bologna Defenses
ROME, March 31. —Iff')— Ger
man forces clung stubbornly to
their defense arc below Bologna
yesterday in the fade of numerous
Fifth army patrol stabs. Allied
headquarters announced today.
On the Eighth army front, most
of the activity was along the Senio
river where there were a number
of grenade duels. On one occasion
Eighth army guns opened up on
enemy movements near the Bag
nacavallo-Lugo railway. There
were a number of stiff patrol
clashes in the mountains south of
Highway 9.
French First Army
Crosses Rhine
PARIS, March 31—(/P)—The
French First army crossed
the Rhine today on a 10-mile
front, a French military com
munique announced.
The operatioij is progress
ing, the bulletin added. It
did not disclose the location
of the crossing.
(A Brussels broadcast yes
terday, apparently premature
or transmitted to confuse the
enemy, said the French First
army had occupied Badpn, 10
miles east of the Rhine and
16 miles southwest of Karls
ruhe.)
Evidence Of Anti-Trust
Violations Are Found
Affidavit tending to show that
the government has found evidence
of violation of the anti-trust laws
in the operation of the Asheville
1 ...a company, the Richmond Mica
companies and other mica mining
and processing companies was filed
this morning with Judge E. Yates
Webb by Otto L. Englehardt, spe
cial assistant to the attorney gen
eral of the United States.
On this showing Judge Webb
granted the government the right
to inspect further documents and
records for operations prior to the
four years operations, right to ex
amine which he had previously
Armored Columns
Closing Trap On
40,000 Germans
PARIS, March 31.—(TP)—U. S. armor punched to within
175 miles of Berlin at two points today in the vanguard of
an avalanche of 3,000 allied tanks surging swiftly through
Germany and closing a potential trap on up to 40,000 Nazis
in the wrecked Ruhr.
Security silence largely masked the extent of the gains
of five Allied armies, but a front dispatch disclosed the 6th
Armored Division of the U. S. Third Army had battered to
within 10 miles of industrial Kassel (pop. 220,000), 165 miles
from the Reich capital. The fall of Kassel today was consid
ered likely. The Sixth Armored division had sped 45 miles
since yesterday.
Thirty miles farther southeast, the U. S. 4th Armored
“breakthrough" division drove to a point four miles south
east of Herzfels, also spearing to within 175 miles of Berlin.
U. S. Fifth Army tanks had dashed northward through
Paderborn, and were nearing a junction with American Ninth
Army tanks which ran on through Friday night by moon
light in an obstacle race over wrecked bridges and past road
blocks.
The First and Ninth rapidly were closing a gap, now ap
parently less than 50 miles wide, to bottle Up from 30,000
to 40,000 Germans still fighting in the ruined cities and min
ing areas of the Ruhr, Germany's last and greatest arsenal.
RUSSIANS STEP
UP ASSAULTS
LONDON, March 31—i/Pj—Rus
sian troops moving into Austria
52 miles south of Vienna rammed
into reinforced German lines to
day and farther northeast stepped
up an assault toward the Bratis
lava gate which already had car
ried to within 44 miles of the Aus
trian capital.
Another Soviet offensive men
aced Vienna from the northeast,
rolling toward the Moravian Gap.
The German high command de
clared this push in the corner of
German Upper Silesia had broken
the Ratibor and Katscher, only a
few miles from the Czechosloxak
See RUSSIANS Page 2
WHAT’S DOING
SUNDAY
6:50 a.m. — Sunrise Easter
service at LaFayette Street
Methodist church.
7:30 a.m. — Sunrise Easter
service at Bethel Baptist
church.
9:30 a.m. — Special Easter
service at Episcopal church of
the Redeemer.
11:00 a.m.—Special Easter ser
vices at other Protestant chur
ches in the city.
8:00 p.m.—Opening service
in Revival meeting to be held
next week at First Baptist
church.
10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.—U.S.O.
center open to service folk vis
iting in the city.
MONDAY
7:30 p.m. — City Council
meet at council chamber at
city hall.
7:30 p.m.—Boy Scout court
of honor at the courthouse.
granted.
The mica companies represented
by J. H. Lewin, of Washington, D.
C Kester Walton and George
Shuford, o- Asheville. sought to
compel the government 15 show
how the defendant companies had
violated the anti-trust law. Judge
Webb indicated however, that a
simple affidavit by government at
torneys saying that they had ex
amined the records for the four
years prior to 1945 and that they
had found evidence of infractions
of the laws together with an as
i
See EVIDENCE Page 2
British Second Army, paced bv
three armored divisions, was sweep
ing deeper across the north Ger
man plain, and was 50 miles be
yond the Rhine.
With such a depth beyond the
Rhine. British armor might be in
or near Muenster, or midway ber
tween Muenster and Hamm.
The German radio said that
British Second army troops
have crossed the Dortmund
Ems Canal, a 170-mile water
way which connects Dortmund
and the industrial Ruhr with
the river Ems, and had estab
lished a bridgehead on the east
bank.
Presumably such a crossing would
be in the area where the British
are driving from Dulmen toward
Muenster. The RAF mined the
canal last August and on Nov. 21
placed hits upon its banks whicn
drained it for a distance of 16
miles.
The U. S. Ninth army's break
through along the northern rim
of the Ruhr valley progressed
Sec ARMORED Page X
i STORMSW
DEEPSOUTH
By the Associated Press
Considerable property damage
but only one slight injury were re
ported today in the wake of heavy
winds and rainstorms which swept
parts of Louiciana and Mississippi
yesterday.
Houses were destroyed or dam
aged, communications and power
lines were disrupted and trees were
uprooted by the winds tVhich reach
ed a reported velocity of 80 miles
; per hour in some communities.
Several cities, including Jack
son. Miss., were without electricity
and cut off from communications
for several hours because of felled
wires.
HEAVY RAINFALL
In New Orleans the rainfall was
measured at 1.05 inches in one
I hour and several streets were
flooded because of the strain on
j drainage facilities.
I In western Louisiana heavy rains
! along the Red River basin present*
j ed a grave threat. A 24-hour down
i pour ending Friday reached a total
J of 10.9U inches at Whitecliffs. Ark..
' on the Little River and weather
bureau predictions were that the
river would crest at 32 feet com
! pared with a flood stage of 15 feet,
j In Shreveport, La., Caddo Parish
(county' levee crews were prepar
d for a Red River stege of 32.5. two
: feet, over the early March level
when considerable damage was
I done at Dixie Bend by bank cave
ins Flood stage at Shreveport is 39
feet,
i