i National Baby Week, April 29-May 5, To Promote Healthier, Happier Babies
WEATHER
Cloudy and mild with rain and
scattered thundershowers Sunday
beginning in west tonight and in
extreme west portion this after
noon. Not so cool tonight.
Tshe Hhelhy Baily thr
- State Theater Today -
CHESTER MORRIS
VICTOR McLAGLEN
‘Rough. Tough and Ready’
CLEVELAND COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1894
TELEPHONES 1100
VOL. XLIII—102
ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWS
SHELBY, N. C.
SATURDAY, APRIL 28,1945
TELEMAT PICTURES
SINGLE COPIES—6c
U. S. FORCES IN ITALY REACH SWISS FRONTIER
********** **************
REDS CRASH INTO BERLIN’S INNER DEFENSE RING
THREE-FOURTHS
• OF CITY IS IN
SOVIET HANDS
German Armies On Elbe
Withdrawn To Relieve
Capital
PUSH TOWARD PORTS
By Richard Kasishke
LONDON, April 28.—(/P)—
The German high command
declared today that Soviet
troops had crashed through
Berlin’s inner defense ring
and were fighting on Alex
anderplatz. site of Gestapo
headquarters. Nazi planes
were flying in reinforcements,
food, and ammunition to the
fanatical garrison, the Ger
man communique said.
German armies facing the
Americans on the Elbe have
been withdrawn in an attempt
to relieve the capital, the war
bulletin said. Earlier the
Germans said a relief army
, was nearing Berlin from a
Russian trap to the south
east.
A First armored division spear
^ head that seized the Ghedi airporl
“ near Bergamo in a 31-mile advance
moved on the field so fast a Ger
man sergeant assigned to blow the
installments was captured before
he could touch off a fuse.
See ITALY Page 2
GENERAL GAINS
I PHILIPPINES
Slight Advances On Three
Luzon Fronts; Rapid
Ones On Mindanao
MANILA. April 28 —t/Pi—Em
battled Yanks inched forward Fri
day on three major Philippine
fronts—Baguio, Balete and Cen
tral Luzon—and raced ahead a
gainst little opposition in a fourtt
sector, the approaches to Davao
on Mindanao island.
They smashed forward slightlj
against the continuing strong re
sistance from the Japanese de
fending Baguio. the Philippint
summer capital.
The Yanks said they could set
hundreds of civilians, who hac
been unable to get through th<
^ lines and out of danger, in th<
Somp of (Jip skirmishes in thni
area were fotight well up in t.h<
mountains, above the clouds, anc
soldiers were -wearing field Jack
ets for the first time in this phast
of the Pacific war.
In another laborious gain, the
25th division attacking Thursdaj
night won a height overlooking
Balete Pass, the bottleneck tc
which the Nipponese have beer
clinging grimly as an avenue ol
escape from Central Luzon to th<
Cagayan valley on the northerr
part of the island.
Overcoming strong resistance
Yanks at Balete captured five
enemy tanks intact and turnec
them on the enemy. They sealec
many cave positions, one contain
ing a 70 mm. gun.
Italian Patriots
Battle Germans
LONDON, April 28—(/P)—A forci
Of German soldiers estimated a
1,500 battled Italian patriots neai
Switzerland’s southern frontlei
throughout the night in an attemp
to cross into that neutral coun
try, the Swiss radio announced to
day.
The Swiss government quicklj
evacuated residents of the bordei
region when the fighting brok<
out near Chiasso, the broadcast
said.
The German troops arrived ii
the frontier area early last nigh'
expecting to cross over and be in
terned, the announcement, said
The Italian patriots, however, am
bmhed them. An all-night battli
•nsued.
YANK AND RUSSIAN HANDS ACROSS THE ELBE—Infantrymen of the U. S. First Army f (left) extend
hands in greeting to Russian troops (right) on a broken bridge over the Elbe river as the soldiers of the
two Allied Nations met at Torgau, Germany. The juncture cut the Reich in two and left Berlin, the capital,
isolated from the Nazis' redoubt area in the Alps of Southern Germany.—(AP Wirephoto via Signal Corps
Radio).
Juncture Armies Temporarily Out
Of Jobs; Hard Fighting Still Ahead
PARIS, April 28.—OP)—The historic junction of Ameri
can and Russian forces in Germany left at least three arm
ies temporarily out of jobs today but there still was much
fighting to be done before the war in Europe could be con
I si tiered over.
Front line commanders believe
Organized warfare may wind up in
a matter of weeks. But supreme
headquarters, officially pessimistic,
: says it can last for several months.
| The fighting in Germany now
has been separated into northern
and southern fronts.
In the north. Berlin is falling,
but several Baltic ports remain to
be overrun, as well as Denmark
and Norway. In the south two ma
jor pockets are shaping up—one
embracing the enemy’s so-calledj
Bavarian redoubt, the second in I
j Czechoslovakia. A meeting of
: American and Russian troops in
Austria, possibly in a few days, will
make these pockets a fact.
Speculation was running through
Allied military circles here as to
whether the armies which met this
week south of Berlin would be
shifted to one of the remaining
fighting areas.
OTHER JUNCTURES
The juncture brought, face to
face the U. S. First army and at
least one army of Marshal Ivan
' S. Konev’s First Ukrainian group.
In the area north of the first
meeting site the U. S. Ninth army
is also at a standstill along the
Elbe, waiting the imminent arri
See JUNCTURE Page 2
WHAT’S DOING
SUNDAY
10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.—U.
S. O. center open to visiting
service folk.
MONDAY
7:30 p.m.—State Guard drill
at the armory.
NATIONAL BABY
WEEK OBSERVED
Twin Editions Of Daily
Star Carry 425 Pictures
Of Babies
This Is "National Baby Week,”
observed throughout the nation to
promote healthier, happier babies
jnd The Daily Star publishes Its
annual "baby edition” today and
Monday.
It is necessary to make a “twin
•ditlon,” approximately half of the
125 baby pictures being published
-'day and the other half Monday,
n two twenty-page papers.
These have been fruitful years
for babies and The Star’s baby
edition grows annually in popu
arity. Last year The Star printed
192 pictures in its "baby edition.”
No solicitation of pictures was
nade and this year the response
las been almost beyond The Star's
facilities to handle.
HAVEN’T SEEN DAD
Sixty-seven of the baby pictures
being published are children of
service men who have never seen
their offspring. There are also
three sets of twins.
Most of the credit for the Baoy
sdition belongs to Miss Sara New
ton, social editor, who handled the
pictures, took the notes of names
tmd parents, sent the pictures to
See NATIONAL Page 2
WPB To Lift Some Of Controls
On Industry Within Few Days
By STERLING F. GREEN
WASHINGTON, April 28. — (£*)—
To clear the decks for increased
out put of civilian goods, the War
Production Board today prepared
to lift about 65 of its 500 controls
on industry within the next week
or 10 days.
. The orders will be revoked at
the rate of perhaps 10 a day, WPB
spokesmen said, to keep up with
armament cutbacks already an
nounced and others expected before
V-E day.
This disclosure followed the na
tion-wide restoration last night of
the “spot" plan for civilian goods
manufacture by orders of WPB
Chairman J. A. Krug.
The “spot” plan—under which
plants may resume civilian
manufacture by proving they
have men and machines not
needed for war—has been sus
pended for months in 187 maj
or industrial centers where la
bor scarcities prevailed.
Krug’s action will enable addi
tional manufacturers to make con
sumer items os soon as materials
and manpower are freed by the
cancellation of Army and Navy
See WPB Page 2
BENITO MUSSOLINI
IL DUCE, OTHER
FASCISTS TAKEN
Minister Of Interior In
Fascist Government
Also Captured
By the Associated Press
Guido Buffarini-Guidi, former
secretary of state and minister of
the interior in the Fascist govern
ment of Benito Mussolini, has been
captured by Italian patriots at For
tezza while attempting to escape
into Switzerland and will be
brought before a people’s court, a
patriot-controlled *radio station in
North Italy said today. The broad
cast was reported by the FCC.
Buffarini-Guidi also served for
a time as home minister in the Fas
cist Republican government in
See IL DUCE Page 2
Hitler Said Near
Death In Berlin
STOCKHOLM, April 28—(JP)—
The newspaper Svenska Dagbladet,
quoting ‘‘reliable circles,” said to
day that Hitler had suffered a
cerebral hemorrhage and was
near death inside Berlin.
“It is believed that an imme
diate announcement of Hitler’s
death would mean the mass capi
tulation of a great number of
troops,” the newspaper added
NAZI SOLDIERS
REVOLT TODAY
IN MUNICH
Rebel Forces Win Control
Of City's Radio Station
For Time
QUICKLY PUT DOWN
LONDON, April 28.—(fl5)—
German soldiers revolted to
day in Munich, birthplace of I
nazism and scene of another i
revolt in 1923—the Hitler j
beer cellar putsch.
Anti-nazi troops, attempt- j
ing to seize the Bavarian gov
ernment in the waning hours j
of Hitler’s power actually won I
control of the city’s radio j
station long enough to broad-!
cast a call to German troops
to lay down their arms.
Leaders of the attempted coup
declared in their broadcast that
Gen. Ritter von Epp, lon^ a
staunch Nazi and governor of Ba
varia, had decided to break off
the fight against the Allies as
senseless.
Paul Giesler, Gauleiter of Mu
nich broadcasting personally after
the revolt apparently was almost
stifled, declared “a party of de
serters who are still calling them
selves soldiers, I am sorry to say,
tried to arrest me and use me for
their dirty business.”
This ‘‘traitorous element” under
a captain Wernecke “has been
made harmless,” Giesler said.
But indicating that the Nazi
still had not fully regained
control, Giesler exhorted Ger
mans to “not let yourselves be
disturbed during the next hours,
days and weeks by misuse of
broadcasts.”
The insurrectionists broadcast
their appeal earlier under the name
of the “free Bavarian move
ment.”
American troops driving on the
Bavarian capital heard the anti
See NAZI Page 2
W. R. RUCKER
KILLED TODAY
x' •
W. R. Rucker was killed this
morning shortly before noon in
Rutherford county when he fell
from a scaffold at a church near
Avondale where he had gone to do
some work for the C. and S. Con
struction Co., of Shelby.
Mr. Rucker is a surveyor by pro
fession but it is understood he was
called in on this job to hurry it
through and went to Avondale this
morning. Details of the accident
were not learned.
Mr. Rucker is about 48 years of
age and lived with his family in
an apartment at the Grover Beam
home on West Sumter street. He is
a native of Rutherford county and
is survived by his father, his wife
and four children: Mrs. Edwin
Spangler, Phillip Rucker of Shel
by, Sgt. Ralph Rucker, jr., who is
stationed in the South Pacific and
Miss Christine Rucker, a student
at Western Carolina Teachers Col
lege, Cullowhee.
A brother, Jim Rucker, manager
of the Cleveland Lumber Co., Shel
by, also survives.
Mr. Rucker was a popular man
with a host of friends, and mem
ber of the First Baptist church and
Newton Bible Class.
The news of his sudden death
was a shock to the family and host
of friends.
Himmler Reported To
Have Offered Surrender
To Britain And U. S.
LONDON, April 28.—(/P)—Heinrich Himmler was re
ported today to have offered unconditional surrender to Great j
Britain and the United States, but Prime Minister Churchill
in a special statement declared that only unconditional sur
render to all three Big Powers would be accepted by the
./Allies.
The Prime Minister neither eon- j
firmed nor denied reports that!
surrender had been offered to the,
two western Allies, but not to
Russia.
Churchill declared:
“It has been reported by Reu- j
ters that unconditional surrender'
was offered by Himmler to Britain r
and the United States only. Fur-1
ther that Britain and the United
States have replied saying, they
will not accept any surrender ex- |
cept to all the Allies including I
Russia.
“No doubt at a time like this
all kinds of reports of proposals
for German surrender from va
rious parts of the German Reich |
are rife, as these are in harmony ]
with the enemy's desperate situa-1
tion.
“His majesty's government have ■
no information to give about any j
of them at this moment. But it:
must be emphasized that only un- j
conditional surrender to the threej
major powers will be entertained,!
and that the closest accord pre- '
vails between the three powers.”
PRESS PROMINENCE
Unofficial reports of a German
unconditional surrender offer to
Britain and the United States were
published prominently in the Brit
ish press today.
(The Allied-controlled Luxem
bourg radio, as heard by the
FCC, said Heinrich Himmler had
offered surrender.
“Here is a special message,” the
See HIMMLER Page 2
CONFERENCE NOTES:
Little Nations Seek
To Shift Balance
Executive Committee Expanded To 14 Members As
Result Of "Underdog" Pressure
Bv The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO, April 28.—(/P)—More closeknit
themselves, the big four managing this United Nations con
ference today ran into a small nation challenge of a world
organization by major allied war victors.
Spokesmen for Australia,, Bel
gium and Bolivia urged more re
sponsible roles for the world's
smaller states. Their action sig
naled the long expected effort to
shift the balance between the
great and the small.
One immediate success of this
pressure was expansion of the
conference executive committee
from 11 to 14 members. Now the
small state group aims at increas
ing the membership on the world
security council beyond the 11
proposed at Dumbarton Oaks.
As constituted by the 4fi
nation conference, the execu
tive committee includes the
Big-Three, China and France,
which are to have permanent
security council seats, and
these other countries: Aus
tralia, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Czechoslovakia, Iran, Mexico,
Holland and Yugoslavia.
Restoration of harmony among
the big powers brought the con
ference into its fourth day with
prospects for success brightened by
Russia’s demonstrated willingness
to compromise.
POLISH ISSUE
Some delegates even hoped for
a reorganization of the Polish
Warsaw government along lines
acceptable to Britain and the
United States. Whether it could
be achieved in time for an invita
tion to be represented here was
doubtful.
A session of the conference
steering committee, which
started out roughly enough,
ended in a round of hand
Sec LITTLE Page 2
Capture Of
Airfields On
Okinawa Near
GUAM, April 28—(TP)—Pursuing a
retreating enemy in Southern Oki
nawa, Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge’s
24th Corps Yanks today closed ;n
on two airfields—Machinato and
Yonabaru—whose capture appears
imminent.
Abandoned stores in caves and
on horses found with pack saddles
indicate the Japanese are falling
back to their second defense line
in disorder.
A small force of Japanese
planes attacked Okinawa forces,
i Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nim
itz announced in today's com
munique. One minesweeper
knocked down three.
However the Japanese airforce
has made no sizeable strike against
U. S. forces at Okinawa for sev
eral days, their mainland staging
bases in Southern Kyushu having
been under steady bombing by Ma
rianas-based Superforts, carrier
planes and Two Jima-based fight
ers.
STRIKE AGAIN
Hitting in good weather, at me
dium altitude, from 100 to 150
Superforts again struck at Kyu
shu's main airfields today. It was
the third raid in 48 hours and the
See OKINAWA Page 2
GERMANS IN
NORTHWESTERN
ITALY CUT OFF
Other Units Drive Close
To Bergamo; Almost At
Tip Of Como
AMERICANS IN GENOA
ROME, April 28.—UP)—
American troops, striking
across the Po Valley and in
to the Alps, reached the Swiss
border today and cut off all
northwestern Italy from exits
to Germany, the Milan Na
tional liberation radio report
ed today.
The Americans earlier had
speared close to Gergamo,
125 miles southwest of the
Brenner Pass and 30 miles
from the border in a swift
dash to outflank Milan, 26
miles to the southwest. This
placed the Fifth Army al
most at the southern tip of
Lake Como.
Only one-quarter of the flaming,
crumbling city remained in Nazi
hands. Soviet troops were boring
in block by block, and other divi
sions sped westward in a push to
isolate the last Nazi Baltic ports.
Russian correspondents in Ber
lin declared trapped Germans were
trying to escape in wholesale fash
ion. German ofiicers could not halt
the suicidal resistance because ot
Nazi SS overlords, the correspon
uciu.^ uuucu.
These front dispatches said
many Nazis were discarding
uniforms for civilian clothes.
Tlie broadcast German commu
nique said the Russians had made
new penetrations from the north in
Charlottenburg, and from the soutri
across Templehof airdrome, with
“fighting for the center of the city
begun on Alexanderplatz and at
Halesches Tor.''
The Alexanderplatz runs through
the heart of Berlin, and was a
principal commercial center of the
Reich capital.
ATTACK EASTWARD
Germans withdrawn from tna
Elbe front are attacking eastward
toward surrounded Berlin, the bul
letin added.
The enemy communique also de
clared Germans were "attacking
toward the north" in the Elbe re
See THREE-FOURTHS Ease 2
British Sweeping
South In Burma
CALCUTTA, April 28
j British armor, sweeping southward
! in Burma a distance of 56 miles in
! 24 hours, has reached a point only
162 miles from Rangoon, the
I Southeast, Asia command announ
ced today.
Advancing along the Mandalay
Rangoon railway, the armored
spearheads were closely followed
by British and Indian infantry.
“Guerrilla forces^ operating on
the flank and ahea'd of our troops
are materially assisting the ad
vance,” a communique said.
Other forces driving along the
east side of the Irrawaddy river
are five miles from Allanmyo,
four miles northeast of Thavet
myo.
In the Taungup area along the
west coast the lath Indian corps
| captured two important features
I from the Japanese after an air
I strike.
Seventh Reaches Austria, Nears Munich
By AUSTIN BEALMEAR
PARIS, April 28. — (IP) — The
American Seventh army closed to
day within 25 miles of Munich and
broadcasts from that Nazi citadel
said a revolt was seething in the
city.
Augsburg, third city of Bavaria,
fell to Lt. Gen. Alexander M.
Patch’s troops. The Seventh army
reached the Austrian frontier at
Fuessen, 55 miles over the towering
Alps from the Brenner Pass after
charging 45 miles into the western
end of the German national re-1
doubt.
Three armies were advancing on I
»'. >
Munich and threatening to encircle
the city, third largest in Germany.
Gen. Patton sent U. S. Third army
infantry 31 miles north of the city
while his tank divisions moved
down the Danube valley toward
an imminent junction with the
Russians west of Vienna to seal
off Czechoslovakia and carve bi
sected Germany into three death
traps.
The French First army was 40
miles southwest of Munich and
deep in the Nazi redoubt. The
closest approach in Munich was
from the west beyond Landsberg.
Third army troops were chatter
ing back and forth by radio wit
Russians in Austria. At last re
ports, the Americans were barel
23 miles from Linz, one of Hitler
favorite cities and on the last in
tact route into the redoubt froi
the Pilsen-Prague munitions are*
Germany was cut in two in th
center and the Russians reporte
new junctions with America
forces on the Elbe Thp iron ban
between the southern and norther
German pockets was perhaps 5
j miles wide
Gent Patton's tanks beat
| down the Danube valley toward
an imminent new meeting with
J
11 the Russians west of Vienna in
a drive that will eneircle Czech
y oslovakia andtrisect Germany,
s The armies were in radio con
tact.
1 j Patton’s 83th division drove with
. in 31 miles of Munich from the
p j north, entering Rohrback. The
1 Seventh army captured Augsburg,
i i 32 miles northwest, and moved
I within 26 miles of Munich In the
II area beyond Landsberg to the south
6 j of Augsburg.
j The Ttger noth armored) divi
sion of the Seventh army reached
See SEVENTH Page I