The Wilmington morning star. [volume], March 09, 1943, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

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94 ___~ WILMINGTON, N. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1943 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 186L
City Government
Change Measure
Killed By House
extension vetoed
Kermon Bill On Regime
And Wade Limits Pro
posal Deferred
APPEAR SHELVED
Action Taken On Motion
Of Representative After
Meeting Here
The Kermon bill calling for
5 vote on the form of govern
ment for Wilmington and the
(fade bill on extension of the
limits of Wilmington were
tilled in the lower house ot
the North Carolina General
Assembly Monday afternoon
a motion by Rep. R. M.
ferm°Wafle Does Not Act
«0 action was taken by Sen. J.
_ ^ Wade in the Senate Monday
■m ou the Kermon bill on city
\\mits extension, it was learned
from Raleigh.
rhe action of Rep. Kermon in
calling for a deferment on botii
measures in the House postpones
anv action on the bills for an in
definite period of time, which at
this late hour in the closing week
of the state Legislature is tanta
mount to a definite shelving of
the bills for at last another year.
Thus the only measure vitally
affecting the residents of the city
and suburbs now left before the
General Assembly is the Kermon
bill on city extension which has
been tabled by the Senate upon a
request from a delegation of Wil
mingtonians last week. Senator
Wade indicated Sunday night that
be would not attempt to revive
se Kermon bill in the Senate, so
both measures on city extension
ippear to be dead for this year.
The action by Kerm.on in the
House followed a meeting which
was held here Sunday night in
which he agreed to offer a mo
tion for deferment on both bills
Monday.
The meeting, called Sunday aft
(Continued on Page Three; Col. 3)
—17_
LOCAL MAN WILL
BAD CGA GROUP
| Louis Hanson, Prominent
businessman, To Com
mand 6th District
Louis Hanson, president of the
Spirittine Chemical company here
anti head of the Cape Fear divi
sion of the Coast Guard auxiliary
hr the past year, was sworn in
as a lieutenant in the Coast Guard
reserve Monday morning prior to
leaving for Charleston Wednesday
to take over as director of the
Coast Guard auxiliary for the en
tire Sixth Naval district.
The oath of office was admin
istered by Lieut.-Comm. R. W.
Thresher, captain of the port of
Wilmington. As head of the aux
iliary here, Mr. Hanson held a
commission as a lieutenant in the
Coast Guard’s temporary reserve.
Lieut. Hanson succeeds Com
tnander C. a. Anderson, USCG,
as director of the auxiliary for
,he district. Commander Ander
|on is being assigned to new du
lies.
Lieut. Hanson will be in com
™nd of auxiliary units from Jack
sonville, Fla-, to Wilmington.
During his term of office as
a“ of the auxiliary here, the
'usion, composed of the Wrights
e an-d Wilmington flotillas, has
m'vn from a few boats and men
0 *ts present size,
iom Murrell will succeed Mr.
«snson as head of the division
—-V
1 weather
n. 1 OBECAST:
■ tdruhna: Warmer Tuesday. ,
eastern Standard Time)
■ E. S. Weatbar Bureau)
Bidine is?8ical data for the 24 hours
s '-40 p. in,., yesterday.
1?0 Temperature
*.,'4,.'™- 38; 7:30 a. m., 32; 1:30 p.
' 1 30 p. m„ 41 2.
Jin Humidity
89; 7:30 a. m., 75; 1:30 p.
’ 1 :J1 P. m„ 73.
total j Precipitation
000 in-,’le 24 hours ending 7:30 p.
C since the first of the month, 1.13
(From „ Tides For Today
t, s p the Tide Tables published by
'-oast and Geodetic Survey).
Filming. High Low
“"ington - a. 7:00a.
SasnrV, 12:16p. 7 ;17p.
Ol",|wo Inlet _ 10:04a. 3:48a.
Sm„i 10:22p. 4:07p.
Ihepri. ’ h'-30 a. m. Sunset, 0:15 p. m.;
Pan.St ,,43a.; Moonset, 9:49p.
Coe f,far River stage at Fayetteville
ffl by Tuesday noon.
^turned on rage Two; Col. 4)
WMC Against Measure
To Report Absentees
To Local Draft Units
WASHINGTON, March 8—(£>)
—Disclosing that the War Man
power Commission plans a
monthly survey of industrial
absenteeism, a spokesman for
the agency today opposed legis
lation requiring that employ
ers report local draft boards
the names of workers absent
from the job without good
cause.
Lawrence Appley, WMC exec
utive director, told the House
Naval affairs committee he
could see no advantage in the
legislation and expressed be
lief the plan being considered
by the commission would pro
duce results.
Appley was the first official
of a government agency to op
pose the legislation, drafted
by Representative Lyndon B.
Johnson (D-Tex) and appar
ently favored by a majority of
the committee. Spokesmen for
the War and Navy Departments
and the Maritime Commission
have endorsed its principle
17 _
RUML PLAN AGAIN
VETOED BY GROUP
i '"S
Proposal To Skip Income
Tax Year Rejected By
House Committee
WASHINGTON. March 8-— ® —
The Ruml plan to skip an income
tax year was rejected again today
by the House Ways and Means
committee, but Republican propo
nents announced immediately they
would carry the battle to the House
floor.
Nine Republicans supported the
plan, the 15 Democrats and Rep.
Gearhart (R.-Calif.) voting against
it. Speaking for the nine Republi
cans, Rep. Knutson of Minnesota
issued this statement:
“We believe that the country
wants immediate favorable action
on the Ruml proposal and wish
to state that we are prepared to
carry the fight for its adoption to
the House floor. We wish to say
furthermore we are definitely op
posed to any alleged pay-as-you-go
proposal which involves collection
of all or any part of the 1942 lia
bility in addition to current targes.”
Two weeks ago the committee
turned down the Ruml proposal
15 to 10 on a strict party division.
Emerging from the committee
room, Gearhart told newspaper
men, “if the Ruml plan goes
through, war millionaires will
sprout like mushrooms.”
“Since the Ruml plan and all
of its variations would release
(Continued on Page Three: Col. 1)
Solon Says Chinese
May Be Forced From
War Due To Supplies
WASWNU'l’UlM, March 8.—
WP)—A warning that China may
be forced out of the war by a
lack of supplies was voiced
today at the opening of House
Debate on extension of Amer
ica’s lend-lease program for
an additional year.
••The Chinese are being
starve^ out and worn out be
cause of our inability to get
materials to them,” declared
Kep. Mansfield (D.-Mont) in
supporting a foreign affairs
committee request that all
possible aid be given to that
country.
Mansfield took issue with
“the thesis that it is impos
sible to do more than we are
now doing,” asserting that
“this war is going to be won
by doing the impossible.”
Growing Pow/t
^ A
Production of heavy bombs, 1,000
pounds or over, has reached the
amazing total of more than 70,000
a month, enough to maintain daily
raids over Germany of many times
the strength of the present bombings.
Wliile U. S. airplane production
has not reached the goal set by
President Roosevelt shortly after
Pearl Harbor, nevertheless a com
parison of the production figures
of January, 1942, with those of the
past two months gives an encourag
ing picture of America’s growing
strength in the air. Figures given
indicate planes of all categories;
more than 65 per cent are in com
bat class. (International)
EXTRA FUEL OIL
MAY BE SECURED
Householders Can Apply
For Extra Ration To
Finish Season
WASHINGTON, March 8— (S’) —
Person whose dwellings are heated
by oil in the 32 rationed states re
ceived permission today to apply
to their local boards for extra fuel
to finish out the winter if unusual
circumstances warrant it.
The Office of Price Administra
tion warned, however, that there
will be no general letting down of
the bars, and a number of condi
tions will have to be met before
more oil is granted.
Application should be made to
the local ration board. The board
will study the case and make a re
commendation to the nearest dis
trict OPA office, which will be ex
pected to make a decision witliir
five days.
Conditions for granting more oil
follow:
Not enough oil or oil coupons
remain to finish the heating year
ending September 30; reasonable
steps have been taken to g'et maxi
mum efficiency in heating; no coal
or wood stove is available for sup
plemental heatings; the furnace is
not convertible to coal (this waived
if no one in household is physical
ly able to tend coal.)
OPA also gave examples of other
cases in which applications for more
oil might be necessary. Many house
holders were given only enough oil
to heat part of their residences. In
such cases, if the number of resi
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 5)
Last Waacs To Quit
Posts HereSho rt ly
Still 250 volunteers short of the
requisite number of persons to op
erate on a 24-hour-a-day basis, the
Wilmington Army information-fil
ter center is facing a serious emer
gency because the last contingents
of the Women’s Army ..Auxiliary
corps, now on duty at the center,
have been ordered to report to
duty elsewhere “within a very few
days.”
Shifts yet to be filled by volun
teers include the early morning
hours, Saturdays and Sundays and,
in issuing a formal statement to
the citizens of Wilmington Monday
night, Lieut.-Col. Oscar C. Tigner,
commander of the Wilmington Air
Defense region, pointed out that
these shifts include the most vital
hours of center operation.
“It seer *s that they, the enemy,
are fully c.ignizant of the custom
ary relaxation practiced by our
people on Saturdays, Sunda- and
holidays,” he commented.
“Men are especially nee' a to
fill these shifts.”
His statement, in full:
“To the citizens of Wilmington:
“On February 6, in accordance
with a War department ruling, this
headquarters issued an appeal for
volunteer workers to staff the Wii
mington Information and Filter
Center, and by doing so, relieve
the personnel of the Women s
Army Auxiliary Corps who have
been doing this work.
“This move on the part of the
(Continued on Page ^
ALLIES WREST INITIATIVE FROM FOE
IN TUNISIA AS ROMMEL RUNS AGAIN;
RED JUGGERNAUT DRIVES ON VYAZMA
FORGE STEEL RING
Russians Announce Cap
ture Of Sychevka Near
Vital Section
BOOTY DECLARED BIG
Advances By 2 Columns
Swinging Down From
North Reported
LONDON, March 8—(IP)—
Forging a ring of encircle
ment around the German base
of Vyazma, the Russians to
night announced the capture
of the rail town of Sychevka
after a stubborn battle of two
days in which 8,000 of the
enemy fell dead before a fur
ious Red army onslaught.
Latest reports to London
indicated the Red army had
pushed to within 20 miles of
Vyazma from the direction of
captured Gzhatsk, which is 35
miles to the northwest. Mili
tary observers said the Rus
sians appeared to have already
sealed the fate of Vyazma.
Lies North of Vyazma
The town of Sychevka lies 35
miles north of Vyazma and the
same distance south of recaptured
Rzhev on a railway linking those
two cities which for many months
had been strongpoints in the Ger
man positions before Moscow, now
crumbling away.
The booty was impressive and
the list belied an earlier German
assertion that Sychevka had been
COMPLETE STORY UNTOLD
MOSCOW, March 8—(/P)—Ad
miral William H. Standley, U.
S. Ambassador to Russia, told
a press conference today he did
no* think the Russian people
were being told the complete
story of United States aid to
Russia.
evacuated without opposition in ac
cordance with German plans for
shortening their lines.
A special communique, broad
cast by the Moscow radio and re
corded here by the Soviet moni
tor, said the material captured in
cluded 310 tanks, 22 railway loco
motives, 40 guns, eight planes, 250
machineguns and 216 railway cars
and fuel cars.
Advances by two columns swing
ing down upon Vyazma were re
ported in the midnight communi
que, hourly increasing the peril to
Vyazma.
West of Gzhatsk Red army
troops fought ahead into 11 popu
lated places, said the late war bul
letin as recorded by the Soviet
monitor, and south of Olenino So
viet troops swept into several pop
ulated places.
The Germans launched counter
attacks in this latter area, but
all were declared repulsed with
600 Germans killed.
As to Timoshenko’s northwestern
front, the midnight communique
reported that a Soviet guard unit
captured strongly fortified enemy
positions, wiping out a battalion j
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 5)
Winter Camouflages A Submarine
Many tons of ice already had been chopped from this U. S. submarine when, as shown above, it reach
ed its base at New Haven, Conn., after a cruise in North Atlantic waters. The craft’s officers said the ice
load caused a starboard list and a 20-incli increase in draft.
ALLIED VESSEL
SU1 BY JAPS
Strong Force Of Enemy
Bombers Attack And De
stroy Merchantman
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
AUSTRALIA. Tuesday, March 9—
!£>)—A strong force > of Japanese
bombers sank a small Allied mer
chantman at Orobay on New Gui
nea yesterday, emphasizing official
warnings that Japanese airpower is
growing in the Southwest Pacific,
while in land fighting 92 survivors
of the enemy convoy smashed in
the Bismarck sea have been killed
or captured on New Guiean and
Goodenough islands, the Allied high
command reported today.
Nine bombers escorted by 13 Zeros
swept over the little village south
of Buna on the New Guiean coast
in broad daylight to send the cargo
vessel to the bottom.
A spokesman for General Mac
Arthur, commenting on published re
ports from the United States hail
ing the heavy superiority of Allied
airmen in this area as a result of
the Bismarck Sea battle, warned
that the enemy airforce should not
be underestimated.
Japanese airpower In this area
at least certainly isn’t on the wane,
quite the contrary,” he said. ‘‘It is
well-known maxim that the loser
always looks bad even though the
margin that brings victory—some
times overwhelming victory—may be
hardly more than an eyelash.
“Japanese air forces are increas
ing in strength here notwithstanding
past losses and defeast. His planes
are good and so are his fliepg. Any
disparaging discounts of his air po
tential is not only incorrect but dan
gerous.”
Fifty-five Japanese survivors of
the disaster in the Bismarck Sea
drifted ashore between Longani and
Wanigela_ two small native villages
south of Buna, New Guinea.
New Red Cross Hospital
Is Requested By County
County commissioners Monday
afternoon voted unanimously to
forward a resolution to represent
atives in Congress asking for
their efforts to obtain a federal
appropriation for a new Red Cross
sanitorium here.
The action followed reading of
a letter from F. D. Weaver, form
er patient at the local tuberculos
is hospital, who asked that the in
stitution be retained and “its ef
fective work be allowed to go on.”
During the course of the dis
cussion, the commissioners ex
plained that they felt the govern
ment owed the county certain
damages, in that the property on
which the present sanitorium is
located has been ruined, so far
as a hospital is concerned, by the
presence nearby of the Army-op
erated airport. An airport runway,
within 1500 feet of the hospital’s
main building, has necessitated
removal of all trees on the land,
leaving the spot devoid of shade,
it was pointed out.
The board went on record as
believing that the sanitorium is
sue is sufficiently important to
push during the present emer
gency; that action should be
forthcoming immediately.
Sheriff C. David Jones sounded
out the commissioners on the idea
of raising the pay of jurymen
from $2 to $3 a day, but the group
indicated no interest in making
the change.
Attorney David Sinclair asked
the commission to consider equip
ping a room in the courthouse
for use, as a comfortable study,
for resident and visiting judges in
this district. “We are the only
county in North Carolina that I
know of where the resident judge
does not have a private office,”
he said. A motion by Commission
er George Trask that feasibility
of equipping the office be investi
gated was seconded by Louis
Coleman and passed by the board.
Sheriff Jones also asked for
county sanction to appoint a new
deputy sheriff to fill the vacancy
now existing at Kure’s Beach. The
request was granted, but the sug
gestion that a relief deputy also
be provided was rejected.
The commission agreed to car
ry the salaries of employes at the
Woodrow Wilson hut here for
another week, during which time
a meeting with city officials will
be held to discuss future pay ar
rangements.
Key Nazi Railway Centers
Smashed By Allied Bombs
LONDON, March 8—(fP)—American Fortress and Lib
erator bombers renewed the offensive against Germany’s
U-boat menace by daylight today by hammering the key
French railway point of Rennes and Rouen and shooting
down more than a score of enemy fighter planes in the
first concentrated operations by Allied air units since Sat
urday.
RAF. and Allied fighters escorted the big bombers and
brought down five additional enemy planes in numerous
combats, a communique said tonight. Four bombers and
two fighters were reported missing in the dual attack, the
fifth daylight raid on tne contin-'
ent by the U. S. Army air force
in 11 days.
The German version of the U. S.
raids as broadcast by the Berlin
radio was that the raiders were
over France for an hour and a
half and that six of them, includ
ing “four-engined bombers,” were
shot down.
Danish radio stations went off
the air shortly before 10 p.m. sug.
gesting that RAF night bombers
had taken up the aerial offensive
where the U. S. daylight raiders
left off.
Rennes, which the Fortresses
took as their target, is an impor
tant submarine supply center and
junction on the railroad lines run
ning to Hitler’s Uboat bases at
Lorient, St. Nazaire and Brest, as
well as to the port of Cherbourg.
Rouen, attacked by the Liberators,
is located 150 miles northeast of
Rennes and is on the main line
between Paris and Le Havre.
A communique issued jointly by
U. S. Army air force headquarters
and the British Air Ministery said
the Fortresses bombed Rennes
“succe'ssfuliy” despite strong en
emy opposition and the Liberators
overcame “very strong” fighter
opposition to bomb their objec
tives at Rouen.
Weather conditions were describ
ed as “very good” over both tar
gets, but the communique* said the
enemy opposition was "heavy and
persistent.”
One member of a Fortress crew
returning from Rennes said the
Americans “battled Goering’s yel
low noses for a full 45 minutes—
from about three minutes before
they reached the target to halfway
back across the channel.”
“It was beautiful shooting,” said
one Fortress pilot, Maj. H. O.
Wangeman of Moorpark, Calif.
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 7)
FRENCH FIGHTING
NAZIS IN PARIS
23 German Officers Killed
At Lille By Insurgent
Patriots
LONDON, March 8—<fP)—A Hat
tie In the streets of Paris between
German sentries and French pat
riots, the killing of 23 German of
ficers by guerrillas at Lille and
four attacks on Nazi-occupied build
ings during the past three days were
reported tonight by the Fighting
French.
A wave of heightening unrest
was reported sweeping Franch as
the Gestapo and Vichy police at
tempted to round up 400,000 French
workers to fullfill chief of govern
ment Pierre Laval's promises to Hit
ler.
The street fighting was saia to
have occurred in the Rue de Laborde
when Guerrillas, overpowered corner
sentries and seized a German gar
age in which they destroyed all
vehicles and set the building afire.
The report said the garage was
held for more than an hour before
the fire despite a determined at
tack.
(Two hundred French citizens,
many of them women, have been
arrested after serious riots in the
Lyon and Marseille regions when
they tried to stop trains that were
taking French workers to Germany,
the Dlakar radio reported today.
(The Gestapo and Army had to
scatter the demonstrators, said the
broadcast, recorded by CBS in New
York. The radio said French men
who escaped into Switzerland pro
vided the -information.
Plan To Share Cars
Laid BeforePublic
“We must save now while we
have something to save,” region
al and state authorities on the
emergency transportation prob
lem told a group of representa
tive Wilmington leaders Monday
night, in presenting a system for
car-sharing to the city.
The visiting officials brought
word that neither the picture on
rubber nor that on gasoline war
rants optimism on the part of au
tomobile drivers. In addition, the
cars that are transporting the na
tion’s war workers are fast wear
ing out. The only partial solu
tion, to a situation which can only
promise to grow increasingly
worse, is through conservation by
ride sharing, they declared.
f
James S. Burch, chairman of
the state emergency transporta
tion committee told the group that
synthetic rubber will not reach the
average consumer within 12
months, that the low point in the
rubber situation will likely begin
next October and last until March
1944. He also emphasized that un
due and dangerous optimism on
the lifting of the gasoline ban is
evident.
Pointing out where improve
ments in the war worker trans
portation problem are needed to
be made in Wilmington, Mr.
Burch stated that a car occupan
cy check issuing from the ship
(Coatinued on P»«e Two: Col. 2)
( \
NAZIS LOSE TANKS
33 Enemy Armored Unit|
Destroyed Without Sin
gle British Loss
CENTRAL AREA QUIETj
Heavy Allied Air Action
Continues With 15 Axis
Planes Downed
A|L LIED HEADQUAR*.
TERS IN NORTH AFRICA,
March 8—(/P)—The defeat by
the British Eighth Army of a
series of six assaults by Mar
shal Rommel in southern Tu
nisia and the recapture by the
Allies of the initiative in the
northern sector, where sever
al local gains were made, were
announced today.
Rommel’s first serious at
tacks against General Sir Ber
nard L. Montgomery’s veter
ans in front of the Axis-held
Mareth line had been broken
with considerable losses for
him—the Allied communique
announced that in actions of
Saturday 33 enemy tanks
were destroyed without loss
of a single British tank—and
by yesterday afternoon both
his tanks and infantry had
been forced to retreat to the
north and northwest of Me
denine.
Round One Is Over
"Round one is over,” said an
Allied military informant, "and
round one has been won by the
Eighth Army.”
The small advance? made by
the Allies in the north were not
described in detail by the Allied
command.
In the central sector only patrol
activity was reported. It was learn
ed that in this area American pa
trols in two sorties had captured
95 Italians, about 20 miles west
of Gafsa. At Pichon, however, oth
er American patrols withdrew to
DEPUTY COMMANDER
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS
IN NORTH AFRICA, March 8
—(JP)—Bri.g-Gen. Everett S.
Hughes, a native South Dako
tan, was named by Gen. Dwgiht
D. Eisenhower today to he
deputy American theater com
mander in North Africa in
charge of administrative work
of American forces.
the west to avoid heavy Axis fire
from the hills north and south of
the town.
Heavy Allied air action contin
ued. Aside from participating
strongly in the attacks that drove
Rommel back in the south, Allied
airmen reported the destruction of
an aggregate of 15 Axis planes.
No American plane was lost.
The Axis-held port of Sousse wa*
heavily raided, bombers hitting •
big ship and casting explosives
down upon the quays, warehouses
and railroad yards, while in the
Mediterranean eight other Axis
vessels were hit.
In the first attack on the enemy
convoy, which was strongly es
corted by warships and planes,
one ship was sunk, another was
left sinking and three more were
set aflame. Five escorting enemy
planes were shot down. Three and
a half hours later, heavy Allied
bombers returned to the assault,
hitting three more vessels. Of these
one blew up and sank on the spot;
the two others were left afire. This
time, one enemy fighter was shot
down.
Nine enemy planes were destroy
ed by Allied pilots pounding at
Rommel’s retreat and Cairo re
ports told of an additional 20 that
were probably destroyed.
Telling of Rommel’s defeat in
his initial attacks against the Brit
ish in the area of the Mareth line,
a military informant disclosed that
the German marshal’s last bitter
lunge were made with 35 tank!
and a thousand infantrymen.
NOTICE! *
If your carrier fails to
leave your copy of the Wil
mington Morning Star,
Phone 3311 before 9:00 a.
m. and one will be sent to
you by special messenger.