The Wilmington morning star. [volume], August 14, 1944, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

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VOlTtT—-No7T76 4 WILMINGTON, N. C., MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1944 _ FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1567
Soviet Drive
Gains Power
Below Lomza
FLANK move pushed
Germans Hurled Across
Biebrza River Lines
Close To Border
LONDON, Monday, Aug.
14 _(/P)_Russian troops at
tacking with increased power
vesterdav drove to within 16
miles of the Nazi stronghold
0f Lomza in their broad
flanking movement northeast
of embattled Warsaw, and
hurled the Germans across
the Biebrza river, last big
water obstacle before the
German East Prussian border
15 miles beyond.
A special Moscow announcement
also disclosed that Gen. Andrei I.
Yeremenko's Second Baltic army
had killed or captured nearly 70,
000 Germans in a month, boosting
lo more than 609,526 the number
of enemy casualties suffered
since the big summer offensive be
gan June 23.
YeremenKO s troops, uuw aimusi
half-way across Latvia in a drive
toward the Baltic sea, yesterday
captured the rail and highway cen
ter of Madona 75 miles east of Ri
ga, Latvian capital. Other units are
within 55 miles of Riga on the
southeast in the concerted Russian
drive aimed at smashing 25 weak
ened Nazi divisions of possibly 200,
)00 men trapped in Estonia and
uatvia.
North of \reremenko‘s sector an
other powerful Soviet army, the
Third Baltic, captured the rail and
highway town of Voru, nearly 38
miles inside Estonia and 95 miles
from the Gulf of Riga. Gen. Ivan
Maslennikov's men apparently in
tend to seal off Estonia as part of
the methodical chopping up of the
trapped enemy divisions.
The rail city of Rouge, eight
miles southwest of Voru, also was
captured. Its fall put the Russians
only 32 miles from Valga, junction
of the Tallinn-Riga and Pskov-Riga
railways. The lie running through
Valga is the backbone of Axis de
fenses in the two Baltic states.
Driving northward along the
western shore of Lake Pskov the
Russians • also seized Sakhodi, 10
miles northwest of Petseri.
On the front near the southeastern
corner of East Prussia Gen.' G. F.
Zakharov s Second White Russian
army virtually had cleared the en
emy from a 25 mile-section of the
east bank of the Bierbza river in a
drive toward East Prussia along
both sides of the Bialystok-Lyck
railway.
By capturing Dowary and Goni
adz, the Russians were only three
miles from the point where the
railway crosses the Biebrza. The
fall of Gielczyn, farther south, put
one Soviet column 17 miles east of
Lomza, one of the main communica,
tion centers linking enemy defense
lines between Warsaw and East
Prussia. The seizure of Menzhenin
found other Red army units only 16
miles southeast of Lomza.
A midnight Soviet bulletin said
me Germans still were hurling in
krge forces of counterattacking
teserves. and in one area the of
ten-wrecked Hermann Goering di
wsio nlost 500 killed.
--V--—
WINNABOW MAN
FOUND IN RIVER
The body of Richard Ray Kye, 29,
°f Winnabow, who drowned Fri
“3y evening near Rhone’s Island
between Cape Fear and Black
bvers, was recovered yesterday
afternoon at 5 o’clock by Coast
patrol boats 38514 and 38512,
“teals of the Wilmington Coast
teard station reported last night.
Kye's body, for which the patrol
ad been dragging since the ac
cident, was found close to the
Brunswick county side of Black
riv’er, the Coast Guard authorities
said.
Witnesses who saw the accident,
state that Kye, who was employed
y the McMillian Lumber com
pany, was approaching a lumber
arge in a small boat when his
craft capsized.
Funeral services will be held to
ay at 5 p. m. at New Hope ceme
!er.y with the Rev. G. A. Wilson of
uciating.
Surviving are his father, Lee
-e: two brothers. Lee Kye, Jr.,
and Glenn E. Kye: and one sister,
Bachel M. Kye; all of Winnabow.
Active pallbearers will be Fin
McMillian, Jr., Billy Todd, A.
■ Henry, Jr„ Jack Taylor, Edwin
aylor and John William Savage.
Honorary pallbearers will include
“• M. Todd. R. L. Rabon, J. M.
*vage. Bruce Robinson, J. B. Pot
er- A. p. Henry, Sr., F. McMillian,
H- R. Johnson. John Sowell, Dr.
'Cy Daniels, Dr. D. McEachern,
barlie Reid, J. L. Henry, Lacy
Hawkins, Robert Sullivan, Herbert
Hotter and Gilbert Reid.
Death-Defying Mop-Up
Dangers and difficulties of digging out Jap snipers on Saipan are
aptly shown in photo above. U. S. Marines risk a fall to the waters
below to mop up Japs hiding in cliff caves. Note gravity defying Lea
thernecks on cliff’s brink, supported by human chain.
Hatch Says GOP
Controls Senate
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31—(A1)—Substitution of a
‘‘states’ rights” bill for legislation to set up federal stan
dards of postwar unemployment compensation was attrib
uted by Senator Hatch (D-NM) today to “Republican con
trol’’ of the Senate.
I have no hesitation in saying i
the Republican minority, aided by
certain elements of the Democratic
party, actually has been in control
of the Senate for two years,”
Hatch declared.
While others weighed the possi
ble effect of the Senate’s action
on future legislation, Senator
Hawkes (R-N.J.) said he thought
the vote indicated the country
wanted “to stop the concentration
of power in a centralized govern
ment, an idea upon which the New
Deal philosophy has been built.”
Rejecting all attempts to com
promise, a Republican-southern
Democratic coalition Fiiday passed
a reconversion bill sponsored by
Senator George (D-Ga.) after vot
ing down, 49 to 25, the Kilgore
Murray measure under which job
less payments would be set by
Congress.
The House temporarily sidetrack
ed the issue to start work Tues
day on a bill to create machinery
for disposing of an estimated $75,
00,000,000 of surplus government
property after the war, which re
quires “header, more effective
legislation” than the Senate bill,
Hatch told reporters he felt cer
tain the Georgian would have work
ed out a compromise, “had he been
permitted.”
“Supported as he was by the en
tire Republican side, it was im
possible for him to have reached
an agreement, Hatch asserted.
George told newsmen no com
promise was possible on the basis
of the labor-supported Murray
Kilgore bill because “it would up
set veterans’ administration juris
diction over returning soldiers and
upset state unemployment systems
upon whose experience we must
rely.”
GERMAN SPIRITS
FIRED BY HITLER
ROME, Aug. 13.—W—1The Arno
river city of Empoli on Florence’s
west flank fell to the Eighth army
without a fight today as the Ger
mans probed Allied lines with pa
trols whose flagging spirits were
fired by a Hitler proclamation that
soon the Reich’s armies would re
sume the offensive.
The task of bringing help to the
hungry population of historic Flor
ence, abandoned by the contending
armies to spare its treasured art
and monuments, was immeasurably
complicated meanwhile by pati'iots
and fascists battling in the streets.
Emopil. which lies about 15 miles
west of Florence on the south bank
af the Arno, had been stoutly de
fended by the Germans in retreat
toward their Gothic line, but eighth
army tanks and infantry found the
town clear except for snipers as
they moved up to solidify their
hold on the Arno to the sea.
Hitler’s proclamation told the re
treating troops in Italy that the
“defensive phase” of the war would
soon end and the German army
would be on the march again. A
prisoner said the morale was rais
ed ifi his regiment.
-V-w
quarantine lifted
WHITEVILLE, Aug. 13. — Only
one case of polio under quarantine
now exists in Columbus county,
according to Dr. Floyd Johnson,
county health officer. Quarantine
an three previous cases has been
lifted, he said.
Super-Gasoline Readied
For New Giant Bombers
WASHINIGTON, Aug. 13. —
(JP)—A super-gasoline powerful
enough to enable the giant B-29
and B-32 bombers to perform
at their maximum capabilities
in raiding Japan has been dev
eloped by American chemists
and will go into production
when the military give* the
command.
The Petroleum Industry War
Council said today about 80
per cent of the nation’s high
octane gasoline capacity is
primed to switch over to the
new fuel with only minor chan
ges in facilities.
Chemical details were with
held, but the council said the
super-gasoline has a ‘‘vastly -
improved octane rating” over
the iOO-octane fuel now used in
battle planes.
The council called- the “X”
octane “the world’s finest fly
ing fuel” and said it was de
signed to “draw frorii the fu
turistic B-32 bombers. Lethal
B-29 Superfortresses and the
most modern fighter escort
planes their originally intend
ed maximums in sustained
speed, short take-offs, combat
radius; and load-carrying cap
abilities.”
The announcement said that
oil industry scientists predict
that quantity production of the
new gasoline would permit
“possible Allied bombing of the
Japanese mainland on a subur
ban service schedule.”
('
NAZIS’ LAST ROUTE TO PARIS CUT
AS AMERICANS CAPTURE ARGENTAN;
AIRMEN SMASH RETREATING ENEMY
.- ★
DISORDERED ROI
BOMBED FROM R
Fortresses and Liberators
Pound Road Junctions
To Support Armies
* LONDON, Monday, Aug.
14.—(TP)— In the biggest aer
ial day since D-Day Allied air
might inflicted terible pun
ishment yesterday on Field
Marshal Guenther Von
Kluge’s retreating Norman
dy army, blasting vehicles
and troops and churning the
crowded roads and bridges all
the way from the battlefront
to Paris and the Seine.
Every type of aircraft, including
more than 1,250 American heavy
bombers concentrated on the ene
my’s retreat route between Falaise
and Argentan in an area bordered
roughly by Liseux and Rouen to
the northeast, Laigle to the south,
and Eastward to Paris.
Flying Fortresses and Liberat
ors bombed roads and road junc
tions on a large scale for the first
time, as did RAF Lancasters and
Halifaxes. The heavies attacked in
threes and bombardiers picked
their own taraets.
Marauders and havocs of the
Ninth Air Force, Mitchells, Bos
tons and Mosquitos of the Second
Tactical Air Force, and fighter
bombers of the Eighth Air Force
joined in the mauling assault, at
tacking everything that moved
along the roads.
Returning crews told of terrific
punishment meted out to German
armor and troops rushing eastward
to escape the AJlied trap. Field re
ports related that the enemy was
jamming the roads with as many
as 80 vehicles to the mile, with ev
erything headed eastward. These
packed roads were targets for the
Allied airmen, who left behind mas
ses of wreckage.
From dawn until midnight there
wasn’t a moment when some for
mation wasn’t in the sky.
Marauders and Havocs late in the
day bombed rail bridges at Cerisy.
Peronne and Doullens and a fuel
transfer point at Corviel, with a
loss of two Marauders.
After dark Lancasters, keeping
up the incessant campaign against
the enfeebled submarine menace,
blasted oil storage depots at Bor
deaux after having blasted subma
rine pens at Brest with 6-ton bombs
in the second attack in two days.
Indicating Allied planes were
over Germany early today the Ber
lin radio broadcast that “nuisance
raiders” were flying toward the
Brandenburg-Berlin area. r
The Eighth’s fighter bombers had
a field day. destroying or damaging
2,110 railway cars, 221 locomotives,
217 military trucks and 79 other ve
hicles, in addition to plastering 23
freight yards, 14 bridges and three
tunnels. They lost eight planes.
Twelve heavy bombers were lost
during the day.
-V
SECURITY PLAN
WINS APPROVAL
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.—(A>)—Sir
Alexander Cadogan, British dele
gate to the world security talks
opening next week, virtually en
dorsed today the broad outlines for
an international peace organiza
tion already laid down by Presi
dent Roosevelt as the basis for the
American security plan.
That statement, coupled with his
disclosure that there already has
been an exchange of ideas among
the British, Americans and Rus
sians on how peace should be orga
nized, gave rise to hope among of
ficials here for a greater degree of
success than had been predicted
heretofore for the Washington con
versations.
Cadogan talked to reporters at a
news conference held by the British
ambassador, the Earl of Halifax,
who has just returned from Lon
don.
-V
Dr. Dow Declares WPB
Should Remove Controls
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13. —(/P)—
In an open letter to Production
Chief Donald M. Nelson, Dr- Wil
lard H. Dow, president of the Dow
Chemical Company, asserted to
night that it was “the plain duty
of the War Production Board to
remove at once all controls” from
the magnesium industry.
Continuance of present WPB or
ders carries the threat of unem
ployment and “the possible de
struction of a vast potential indus
try,” Dr. Dow said.
-----t---*
As Fire Swept Hoboken, New Jersey, Pier
Here is a view of the disastrous fire that destroyed Pier Four at Hoboken, New Jersey, burning up
a great quantity of vital war supplies and injuring one hundred coast guardsmen and firemen who
were fighting gthe blaze. The fire started with a series of explosions. New York firemen joined in the
fight to chech what is considered the biggest wartime fire in New York harbor. Damage is estimated
at fcom $2,£00,000 to $4,000,000 (International)
LABOR SHORTAGE
STILL CRITICAL
Wilmington still is in the War
Manpower Commission’s Group 1
critical labor shortage area on the
basis of the WMC’s August classifi
cation of labor market areas, ac
cording to word received here yes
terday from Dr. J- S. Dorton, state
WMC director.
Dr. Dorton said that 7,109 work
ers were needed for essential in
dustry in North Carolina on the
basis of employer orders on hand
July 31.
For the first time, he said, or
ders for essential labor are being
classified according to the man
power ratings of the firms placing
the orders
Firms holding AA manpower pri
orities rating have placed orders
for 1,020 workers, many of them
for saw mills and lumber plants,
include cotton textile plants produc
ing highly critical items, shipbuild
ing, munitions, machine and other
plants.
The U. S. Employment Service, a
division of the WMC. handled a
list of 14,949 orders for essential
workers during July, Dr. Dorton
said, adding that approximately
that number would be needed to
fill orders this month.
Meanwhile, the WMC director
said- that the i ugust classification
of labor market areas on the basis
of available . workers heaves all
North Carolina areas in the same
class they occupied last- month.
New Bern _nd Wilmington areas
retriain in Group 1. areas with acute
labor shortages-that wiE endanger
essential production. AsheviEe,
Charlotte, Elizabeth City and Win
ston-Salem-Greensborp areas are
classified as Group 2 areas in
which labor shortages exist that
may endanger essential proluction. .
Group 3 areas include Burling-.
ton and Durham-Raleigh. in which
the labor supply substantiaEy bal
ance's the demand for essential pro
duction or a moderate labor sur
plus exists or is expected.
Only one area is listed in group
4—Rocky Mount-Wilspn. This clas
sification lists a substantial sur
plus, or one is expected to develop,
\ ■ ---V-r
Sunset Park Chicken
Produces Giant Egg
A six . and three-quarter ounce
egg, measuring two inches in di
ameter and three inches in length,
was brought to the Star-News of
fice yesterday by E. M. Lee of Sun
set Park, one of whose New Hamp
shire hens produced the egg which
is about three tiroes the size of a
normal one.
Lee, who has 300 chickens and
raises them as a hobby, said two
of his other hens laid eggs' with
three yokes e«eh -the same day,
:: ■
Civilian Goods Order
Awaited By Industry
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31.—(/P)—The War Production
Board’s long awaited order permitting limited civilian
goods manufacture, due to be issued tomorrow and effective
Tuesday, will be followed shortly by an OPA ceiling on
prices.
Manufacturers probably will be
required to apply for an individual
ceiling on each item they are per
mitted to make, price officials said,
with the ceilings to be determined
mainly by the costs of production.
Price Administrator Chester
Bowles is scheduled to disclose
OPA’s policy at a news conference
later in the week, probably Thurs
day.
Since only a comparative hand
ful of firms is expected to qualify
for civilian goods production in
the next few months because of
strict curbs on non-essential use
Df manpower, OPA sources said
little attempt will be made to set
industry-wide ceilings or pricing
formulas.
In most cases the ceilings will be
set by OPA field offices rather than
by headquarters in Washington.
This will speed the process, OPA
sources said, and give field offi
cials training for the flood of pric
ing activity expected when large
scale reconversion begins.
Where a large part of an industry
is reconverting simultaneously—as
in the case of piano manufacturers,
the decision will be made in Wash
ington.
When demobilization of industry
starts in earnest, officials said, an
"automatic” pricing system is
ikely. A formula will be provid
’d under which firms will compute
:heir own prices, subject to review.
ACME MAN SHOT
AFTER ARGUMENT
Grover Cleveland Jones of Route
1, Acme, allegedly was shot in the
back five times by Buck Watson,
17, last night at his home, accord
ing to J. L. Flowers, State High
way patrolman.
Jones, now in James Walker Me
morial hospital was quoted by
Flowers as saying that he and Wat
son had had an argument over
some lumber. Flowers said Jones
told him that Watson drove up to
his home with a mule and wagon
and called him to inquire about a
watermelon. When Jones reached
the wagon, Watson told him that he
was going to shoot him, and Jones
ran toward his home and Watson
fired five times with a 12 gauge
shot gun, according to Flowers.
Hospital authorities said Jones’
condition was “very serious.” He
is paralyzed in the hips and legs.
Watson has not yet been ap
prended. The Columbus county
sheriff's department announced
that they were searching for him.
-V---_ '
AWARDS PRESENTED
ROME, Aug. 13.—UP)—Adm. H.
K. Hewitt today awarded the Le
gion of Merit to two members of
his staff and Bronze Stars to sev
en others aboard his flagship in
a Mediterranean port
Five Enemy Ships Sunk
Off Coast Of Brittany
LONDON, Aug. 13. — m —
Prowling Allied warships main
taining a blockade in the Bay
of Biscay and along the Chan
nel coast, around Brittany, sank
five enemy ships and possibly a
sixth in a series of skirmishes
Saturday, the Admiralty an
nounced today.
One small convoy of three
armed trawlers and a supply
ship was caught off Pointe de
Penmarche - Finisterre, below
the besieged Breton port of
Brest, and was wiped out by a
force of British and Canadian
destroyers.
Whether the convoy was try
ing to evacuate personnel from
Brittany was not made clear.
Another force led by the Bri
tish cruiser Diadem and includ
ing at least one Polish warship
torpedoed afid sank a medium
armed merchant vessel west of
La Rochelle in the Bay of Bis
cay.
Earlier,. British motor torpe
do boats on patrol in the Chan
nel intercepted an auxiliary
vessel under escort of eight R
boats off Le Havre and pressed
home a torpedo attack on the
larger ship despite heavy en
emy fire. Two large explosions
were heard and it was consid
ered likely t>«r auxiliary vessel
was hit. ^
The Allied warship* suffered
no casualties in all these skir
mishes-..
ALLIED ARMIES
MENACE FALAISE
Every Type Vehicle Used
By Fleeing Germans;
Corridor Narrowed
supreme Headquar
ters ALLIED EXPEDI
TIONARY FORCE, Aug. 13..
(/P)—U.S. armored columns
n a scythe-like sweep north
ward behind the enemy line,
have stormed into Argentan,
cutting the last direct escape
highway towards Paris for
the bulk of the German Sev
enth army retreating in bomb
rent columns through an es
cape hatch now narrowed to
18 miles.
One good road, leading northeast
from Falaise to Lisieux and in
directly to Paris, remained in Nazi
control, but was made hazardous
by Canadian artillery fire. (The
Brazzaville radio, heard by C3Sj
said the Allies were only one and
one-quarter miles from Falaise.)
Lifting five days of secrecy, 1
preme Allied Headquarters dis
closed that the U. S. drive in
France beyond Le Mans had
pounded 55 miles north to Argen
tan, within some 18 miles of the
British and Canadians pinching in
from the north of the Germans i
the 30-mile-deep “coffin corner’’
of Normandy.
Frontlipe dispatches said the
German Seventh army was in full
retreat all the way to Paris through
the narrowing corridor. Thou
sands of Allied bombers and fight
ers ripped, with frightful toll, at
the congested columns of tanks,
trucks and troops falling back all
along the road to Paris.
There was no indication of how
many of up to 200,000 Germans en
gaged in that sector were getting
out
The whole escape corridor was
within artillery range of the Am
ericans on the south and the Can
adians and British to the north.
The Allied northern flank was clos
ing in on Falaise, key road hub
only 15 miles above Argentan.
Coupled with these blows from
north and south to spring the Nor
mandy trap shut, the U. S. First
army at the western end of the
bulge opened a general offensive
at dawn Sunday, advancing some
miles on a front between Vire and
Mortain- The Germans fled before
them in every conceivable type of
vehicle, a front dispatch said, and
these enemy columns too were be
ing cut to pieces from the air.
The American armor forming the
southern jaw of the trap—carrying
a threat of Stalingrad proportions
to the Germans—had plunged more
than 100 miles through Nazi lines
since it slashed eastward from the
Breton" peninsula. Then one col- ■
umn hammered northward, from
Le Mans, seized Alencon 30 miles
away, and punched another 25 miles
to Argentan, Argentain perhaps al
ready had been passed.
■For five days, while this Le
Mans-to-Argentan drive covered 55
miles, supreme headquarters had
cloaked the operation in strictest
secrecy. There still was no an
nouncement on whether other col
umns had fanned out east closer
toward Paris or in other directions
from Le Mans. Le Mans is 110
miles southwest of Paris.
Even as the U. S. push was
smashing up from the south, Can
adian and British troops pressed
deeper into the German corridor
from the North.
-y
Two Navy Planes Crash
8 Wiles From New Bern
NEW BERN, Aug. 13. — (IP) —
Two Navy planes collided today
eight miles east of New Bern,
causing the death of the aviator*
aboard and setting fires to th*
woods where they crashed.
Details of the accident or th*
number and names of the victim*
were not released by the author!*
ties pending notification of th*
next of kin.
-V
ALLIED LEADERS MEET
LONDON, Aug. 13—UP)— Prim*
Minister Churchill, Marshal Tito
and other Allied and Yugoslav per
sonalities have met in Rome, th*
United Nations radio at Algier*
said tonight.
A