The Wilmington morning star. [volume], December 22, 1944, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

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

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FORECAST
~ REMEMBER
j Fair and ruld today with highest
vmperature about 54 degrees. Gentle to MH If KDDAD
. icderate variable winds becoming south- I* II A till ilAtlDUli
westerly.
Yesterday’s temperatures: _ uak a ■■■ a a m
3g-Low- ”■ AND BATAAN
fol ____ ___WILMINGTON, N. C., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1944___ FINAL EDITION \
- *----—-===:--- ^ _
[I. S. Attains
Objective In
lew Invasion
Closing Of Pincers In Or
moc Corridor Is
Announced
GENERAL M’ARTHUR’S
HEADQUARTERS, PHILIP
PINES, FRIDAY, Dec. 22.—
Deadly American fight
er planes are flying against
the Japanese from a newly
constructed airdrome on Min
doro Island, less than 150
miles from Manila Gen. Doug
las MacArthur reported to
day.
The announcement that the new
fieid hacked out on Mindoro’s
southwest coast is in use, marked
attainment of the primary objec
iive in the landing on the island a
week ago today.
Its importance, both to the Amer
icans and the Japanese, was dem
onstrated as the enemy sent 29
planes against installations there
Wednesday. Eleven of the raiders
were downed in fierce aerial com
bat with American Lightnings and
thunderbolts. One American fight
er plane was lost.
Closing of a so-called "pincers”
in the Ormoc corridor, on Leyte
Island's northwest coast, means
that the First American Cavalry
fom the north and the 77th Infan
try Division from the south have
joined their advance units along
the Ormoc road. The Japanese,
particularly o nthe east side of the
road, were striving desperately to
keep a gap open so they could slip
through to the west in the direction
of Palompon. their remaining
escape port.
But the Nipponese were well
scattered. While there still is stiff
fighting ahead by isolated pockets,
;’"-r destruction continues. An ad
dt'tonal 2.032 enemy dead were
counted in the Ormoc corridor
Wednesday.
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
-v_
early respite
FROM COLD WAVE
PROMISED WEST
Bv The Associated Press
respite from the season’s
■ weather was predicted last
’).v the Weather Bureau as a
‘■e t pan of die Nation shivered
c : iaid hast accompanying the
1 :‘>ning of venter’s solstice at
i:,5 p.m.
“c'i5ing earlier temperature
■CTcasis. the bureau said Mid
n thermometers would record
; P readings or about 20 degrees
“Ke zero today and that tonight’s
in the Midwest would be
•aj.nd 12 degrees above. These
teres were from 5 to 10 degrees
’“inter than previously indicated.
However, when the sun set yes
’"rr'py. ending the shortest span
J flight hours for the year,
tf Great Lakes, Ohio River Val
and Atlantic Coast areas still
Woe experiencing ear-nipping cold.
*' no ext -ernes, such as the 25
”t!" reported Wednesday night at
Bemidji Minn., were expected.
Weather Bureau said it
’p-nd warm vn rapidly today in
{**• Minnesota. North and South
j teta, and Wisconsin, and also
■“ hhnois and Indiana, where Nor
ftern residents were given special
^ rings ,,t probable overnight
5 to 10 below.
Gyttle precipitation was expected
! 'or change back to normal win
;f; weather occurs, the Bureau
ar Pounced.
WPB Re-Surveys Production Plans;
War With Nazis May Ran Over Year
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21.—UPh
Germany’s powerful counter-of
fensive led Government officials
tonight to resurvey arms produc
tion plants on the basis that heavy
fighting may continue in Europe
for a year or longer.
Against this dark possibility,
however, Secretary of War Stim
son set another—the possibility
that $re war may be “definitely
shortened’’ il the Nazi effort can
be crushed.
But even if the Stimson-foresen
possibiliy should proveet true, it
appeared certain that the present
rate of arms production must be
stepped up because of the enor
mous losses of material in the cur
rent heavy fighting. This would
mean further delay in increasing
production of civilian goods.
WPB Chairman J. A. Krug told
a news conference that “greatly
increased demands on production”
would result from the Nazi coun
ter-thrust.
“If General Eisenhower had
been able to break through the
West Wall promptly, the equip
ment we had under procurement
would have been sufficient,” he
said.
“He hasn’t been able to, and it
looks as if it may take quite a
long time. We must get ready to
fight the kind of war we’ve been
fighting in the last two months
for the next year or as long as
it takes.”
Stimson, at his news conference,
strongly implied that he expects
the German lunge to fall short.
The Secretary compared it with
the desperate drives of the same
enemy in 1918 which were beaten
and followed quickly by the war’s
end.
With little to lose, he said, the
Nazi High Command chose to
gamble some of its troops "rather
than await the inevitable end of
a slow defensive.” The possibility
exists, he conceded, that the coun
teroffensive might develop so as
to gain for the Germans “a few
months extension of time” before
they are called “to an accounting
for the misery they have inflict
ed upon the world.’*
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 5)
BOY, 15, KILLS
SISTER’S CHILD
Youth Flees Leaving Note
Saying ‘I Am Kill
Crazy’
PRINCETON, 111., Dec. 21.—W
—Norman Burton, 15, who cared
for his sister’s four small children
while the parents worked in a
shell-loading plant, hammered and
slashed to death one of Rife tots,
five-year-old Sara Jane Tyne,
Sheriff Frank Grisell said today.
The sheriff said that after the
slaying the youth locked the vic
tim’s sister, Mary Lou Tyne, 7,
in the basement and pedaled away
on a bicycle. He added that the
bey spent the night in a park and
appeared this morning at the
home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Burton of Princeton, who
turned the boy over to the sheriff.
Grisell said the boy confessed
the killing, which occured yester
day in the Tyne farm home near
Ohio, 111., but when pressed for a
motive ‘he just gave me a silly
grin and said ’I don’t know.’ ”
Sheriff L. E. Bates of nearby
Lee county, in which the slaying
took place, said he found a note
near the child’s body which said:
“I am kill crazy. Don’t try to
catch me for you’ll never take me
alive.”
A coroner’s jury at Dixon rec
ommended the youth be held on
a charge of murder.
Sheriffs Grisell and Bates of
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 3)
France Expects To Help
Form WorldPeace Group
PARIS, Dec. 21.—(/P)—France is determined to help
form a world peace organization in which she expects the
United States to take the leading role, Gen. Charles de
Gaulle told the consultative assembly today at the conclu
-.----?
NEW YORK PHONE
OPERATORS PLAN
STRIKE BALLOT
NEW YORK. Dec. 21. — (A>) —
A strike vote among 12,000 New
York telephone company employes
in the New York area was ordered
today by their union’s general ex
ecutive committee.
The union, the Traffic Employes
Association of the New York Tele
phone Co., (Ind.i has been involved
in a wage dispute with the com
pany for nearly a year.
Mrs. Marion L. Horn, commit
tee chairman raid no date for .he
strike vote *.Tas set. The commit
tee said it would “observe the
Smith-Connally act,” providing for
a 30-day “cooling off period,” if
the vote tavored a strike.
Today’s action followed an
nouncement last night that more
than half of ,ihe city’s 6.000 long
distance operators had voted to
strike in 30 days unless the Wax
Labor Board approved a $5 general
wage increase, the same increase
sought by the traffic employes.
ioiuii ueuctie uu tue ucvv ficucu'
Soviet alliance.
Following a statement from dc
Gaulle, chief of the provisional gov
ernment, on the recent negotiations
leading to the signing of the 20
year alliance, the assembly approv
ed the pact which now is ready foi
rativication by the French cabinet
“France cannot conceive a vic
tory without a world security or
anization who could be first ir
rank if not the United States, whose
efforts in the Western theater anc
in the Pacific are enormous?” he
added.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Geor
ges Bidault said France intends tc
help mount guard on Rhine after
the war to keep the Rhineland and
Ruhr industries out of Germar
hands. He also declared the French
nation intends to help Poland ex
pand westward into Silesia and
East Prussia.
The minister, who signed the pact
for France, asserted that the ac
cord would be a means of mutual
defense and added that the Rus
sians and French had agreed tc
territorial revisions in both the east
and the west.
“We agreed to the acquisition by
Poland of East Prussia and Silesia,’
he said. “This concession corres
ponds in our way of thinking to ter
ritories in which Poland would be
persuaded to abandon.”
This apparently was a reference
to Russia’s proposed acquisition of
former Polish territo~y up to the
Curzon Line. During the confer
ences at Moscow, the French, tra
ditional protagonists of the Poles,
promised to support the Russian
case for the old Curzon line, ac
cording to reports received here.
Bidault said the Rhineland ques
tion was for all the Allies to work
out within the European Advisory
Commission, but "it is certain that
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 5)
-r
Enemy Boasts
Of New Units
Waiting Call
German Command Confi
dent Of Success,
Radio Says
LONDON, Dec. 21.—{&)—
German broadcasts declared
tonight that Field Marshal
von Rundstedt’s “steamroller
offensive” had cut the vital
Liege-Bastogne highway “on
a broad front” and was driv
ing the “enemy to the Meuse
valley” — some 35 miles far
ther west.
One Berlin commentator said the
U. S. Third Army had rushed
north into southern Luxembourg
in an attempt to stem a second
drive pointed toward Sedan, but
said “none of these movements
carried out by the enemy have
thus far led to any noteworthy
success.”
An analyst for DN3 said the
“offensive rolls on tonight” and
“all our assault divisions have not
yet been thrown in.”
“The German command,” he
added, “awaits the expected cli
max of the battle with quiet con
fidence.”
This broadcaster, Dr. Max
Krull, claimed five Allied divisions
“already are completely smashed”
and seven others were in “hurried
retreat.”
The attack, he said, was back
ed by “rested replenished infan
try divisions which are equipped
with tanks of the most modern
tpye, with special antitank guns
and motorized artillery which de
velops extremely mobile firepow
er.
(Continued on Page Two; Col 2)
_
Federal Workers Respond
To Army Call For Blood
Needed On Western Front
WASHINGTON. Dec. 21. — (A5) -
Government employes were re
sponding by the hundreds today
to an urgent appeal for donations
of whole blood to be flown to
France.
Treasury Secretary Morgenthau
broadcast over a loud-speaker sys
tem an appeal for all healthy
Treasury employes to report for
blood tests because of an “emer
gency” and said he was taking
one.
But National Red Cross Head
quarters said no special appeal
had been received from Army
Headquarters in Europe. It ex
plained Christmas shopping ap
parently had caused Washington
and some other East Coast cities
to fall behind in their quotas of
whole blood flown to France each
night.
U. S.-Red Aid In Greece
May Be Asked By British
LONDON. Dec. 21.— (J) —The
chance that Britain may ask Amer
ican-Russian aid in settling Greek
political woes arose today along
with a demand in Commons that
the British government “invite”
King George of Greece to remain
here until his erstwhile subjects
decide whether or not to take him
back into the fold.
Lord Samuel told the House of
Lords Britain probably would have
to resort to some sort of ‘ intei
Allied action” to settle the Greek
situation. He contended “there is
no reason why Great Britain
should be called upon to bear this
burden alone.”
The liberal leader’s assertion
came after a member of his par
ty, Lord Faringdon, sharply as
sailing Britain’s armed interven
tion cautioned that “mutiny” may
arise among British Tommies de
tailed to quell civil strife in
Greece. .
The Eton-educated Lord Faring
don’s contention, plus his claim
that the British terms for peace
in Greece were conditions of “sur
render” rather than of armistice,
drew a stern rebuke from Lord
Sameul and cries of “monstrous
from his colleagues in the usually
sedate and placid chamber.
But the Greek monarch remain
ed op the pan in both Houses of
Parliament.
In Commons, Tom Driberg (In
dependent) unsuccessfully sought
government assurances that King
George be asked "to state public
ly that he has no intention of re
turning to Greece until after t h e
question of monarchy has been
settled by a free plebiscite.” He
contended that such a plebiscite
“might be prejudiced" by the
King’s “premature” return.
Deputy Prime Minister Clement
R. Attlee refused however, to go
beyond Eden’s statement yes
terday in which the Foreign Sec
retary said that he and Churchill
had advised the King to stay in
London on the grounds that re
turn now might cause political dis
turbance.
In Commons, the suggestion al
so was advanced that the British
arrange a week’s Christmas truce
in the Greek fighting, drawing
from Eden a quick quip: “Our
object is not to stop it for a week
but to obtain a final solution of
this buiness.”
Meanwhile, creation of a United
Nations commission to supervise
elections in liberated lands was
advocated by another member of
Parliament on behalf of the gov
ernment. Attlee said he could see
“no advantage of a general com
mission,” but that Britain would
be willing to give some assistance
to countries other than Greece “if
asked.”
Debate in the House of Lords
was sharp. Lord Faringdon sug
gested that “the King of Greece
did not deserve and was in fact
an unsuitable recipient of the re
spect and authority with which the
British government has invested
him.”
“I think there can be no pos
sibility.” he added, “that the King
has hardly any personal support
in Greece. The Greek people in
evitably hold against him that it
was he who brought in dictator
ship in Greece ana w'ho maintain
ed the dictator Metaxas in pow
er I
Idea Of More Allied
Cooperation Is Studied
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 —<2P)—
Growing demands on both sides of
the Atlantic today for closer Allied
political cooperation set American
officials studying possibilities for
improved consultation machinery.
Linked to a plea from British
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
for more regular meetings of top
Allied statesmen was a feeling that
steps should be taken now to fill
the gap between the end of Euro
pean fighting and establishment of
a world peace agency.
Only continuous channel for ex
change of views outside of normal
diplomacy at present is the Euro
pean Advisory Commission. The
EAC, however, deals almost exclu
sively with plans for Germany and
has not authority of its own. It
only can make recommendations.
Expansion of the EAC or forma
tion of some new group to take its
place when Germany collapses is
expected to come up for discussion
at the next Roosevelt-Churchill-Sta
lin meeting. Some officials think,
nowever, that steps to tighten Al
lied political lines must be made
before the Big Three get together
late next month or early in Feb
ruary.
One possibility is that Secretary
of State Stettinius may go to Eng
land to talk over Anglo-American
policy and confer on closer coor
dination.
Actually, postwar problems al
ready are confronting the Allies in
liberated countries. British difficul
ties in Greece have called the at
tention of diplomats here to the
need for regular high policy talks.
In the House of Lords, Lord Sam
uel said today the British might
have to resort to some sort of "in
terallied action’ to settle the Greek
crisis. He said there was "no reas
on why Great Britain should be
called upon to bear this burden
alone.”
The official American attitude
has been to keep hands off the in
ternal political quarrel, but to at
tempt to eliminate some causes of
the strife by rushinc in relief sup
plies. Unofficially, it was learned,
the American ambassador in Ath
ens, Lincoln Macveagh, has been
trying to help the British and
Greeks find a solution
Those Jalopy - Days Were Helpful
American kids’ “know-how” about things mechanical, learned by
tampering with the family jalopy and washing machine, comes in
mighty handy for the Yanks. Above, doughboys of the U. S. 9th Army
do their own repair job on the track of a Sherman medium tank which
broke down in Baesweiler, Germany, while en route to the front lines.
MUKDEN PLANE
PLANT BOMBED
B-29’s Hit Air Opposition
In Attack On Jap
Industry
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21.— Ufl —
B-29 Superfortresses. fighting
through “moderate to strong” air
opposition, today bombed a Japa
nese aircraft plant at Mukden,
Manchuria—the third enemy air
plane factory to be blasted this
week.
In the air battle, two of the
force of about 60 B^’s were lost
and 33 enemy fighters were hit.
B-29 crewmen reported on their
return to China bases that 15 ene
my planes certainly were destroy
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 3)
-V
Yank Fliers Range
From Iwo Jima To
Palaus In Attacks
U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD
QUARTERS, Pearl Harbor, Dec.
21.—(iP)—Japanese bases from the
Palaus to Iwo Jima, 750 miles
south of Tokyo, were hit by Ameri
can bombs Tuesday. Adm. Chester
W. Nimitz announced today.
For the 13th consecutive day,
Liberators of the strategic air force
made the Marianas-to-Volcano Is
lands run to blast the airstrip and
installations at Iwo Jima.
Marine Corps Avenger torpedo
planes attacked Yap, 322 miles
northeast of American - occupied
Peleliu island in the Palaus. Ma
rine fighters destroyed a number
of enemy small craft at Sonsorol
islands, southwest of the Palaus,
and bombed and strafed storage
areas on bypassed Babelthuap is
land.
Isolated Rota Island, north of
Guam, and Japanese holdings in
the Marshall islands received
aerial poundings Tuesday, Nimitz’
communique said.
BERLIN REPORTS 1
NEW RED DRIVE
Powerful Push Launched
Along 40 Mile Front
In South
LONDON, Dec. 21—(^i—The Ger
mans announced today that the Red
Army, after nearly two weeks of
intense preparation, had launched
a powerful offensive along a 40
mile front southwest of Budapest
aimed at strangling the long-be
sieged Hungarian capital and
breaking open the most direct in
vasion highway to Vienna.
Soviet shock troops broke through
German lines at several unidenti
fied points, Berlin admitted.
Marshal Feodor I. Tolbukhin hurl
ed ten rifle divisions of his Third
Ukraine Army into the attack,
mounted between Lake Balaton and
the Danube and immediately
threatening the big junction city of
Szekesfehervar, the Berlin radio
disclosed. In this area, Tolbukhm’s
troops are six and seven miles east
and southeast of Szekesfehervar,
and are linked with elements of
Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky’s
Second Ukraine Army, which two
weeks ago smashed across the Dan
ube just southwest of Budapest’s
outskirts.
Only a 35-mile arc remains to be
closed on the western side of two
thirds encircled Budapest.
The German High Command
communique said the resumed of
fensive was supported by “many
bombers,” adding that “bitter fight
ing is in progress.”
The German army bulletin also
reported that Russian “pressure is
mounting” northwest of Budapest
between the big Danube bend and
the southern frontier of invaded
Western Slovakia—another avenue
of invasion toward Vienna, Austrian
capital.
Below Budapest, the Russians
were reaching for the vital supply
lines behind the Hungarian capital.
The big immediate objective, Szek
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
British Strafe ELAS Units
After Ultimatum Ignored
ATHENS, Dec. 21.—(£>)—British
tanks and rocket-firing fighter
planes shelled and strafed ELAS
concentrations north of Athens to
day upon expiration of the 9 a. m.
ultimatum in which Lt. Gen.
hcnald M. Scobie waned the Greek
Leftists he would use every avail
able weapon in an effort to restore
order.
Sherman tanks climbed the high,
monastary-topped Likabettus
mountain, their 75-mm guns shell
ing and scattering ELAS goups
around Averof prison and the mili
tary academy.
RAF fighters pin-pointed other
troublesome positions, and at
Omonia square tank-supported
parachute troops patrols made a
series of sorties.
A billet of the U. S. AAF Trans
port Command rocked with the
concussion of shell blasts as the
troops demolished a snipers’ nest
in the square, whose buildings are
just behind the Comopolite hotel
quarters of the American airmen.
It was not immediately clear
how much effect Scobie’s warning
had on the ELAS forces. Nor was
there any further word of political
developments toward a truce.
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 6)
Battle Termed
Greatest Met
By Americans
Germans Retain Initiative
Except On Two
Flanks *
PARIS, Dec. 21.—Tha
unchecked German winter of
fensive rolled 32 miles
through Belgium and slashed
a vital Allied highway 18
miles south of the Belgian
fortress of Liege in what was
described today as the great
est battle involving American
or British troops in this war.
A second and equally menacing
drive swung southwestward and
rumbled three-fourths of the way
across the tiny Duchy of Luxem
bourg to a point 48 miles from
Sedan at the French frontier. Van
guards were 10 miles from the Bel
gian road center of Bastogne.
Only on the flanks m Luxem
bourg on the south and In the
Malmedy-Stavelot sector on the
north had the German advance
been halted. One enemy armored
spearhead, the bulk of a Panzer
division, was being ground to bits
in a trap of steel near Stavelot.
The initiative remained definite
ly in the hands of the enemy. Su
preme Headquarters reporting Ger
man advanced positions as of noon
Tuesday, gave no hint that the
drives had spent their momentum.
Many American formations have
been badly mauled, supplies have
been consumed and lost, and the
doughboys in the trenches see in
the German drive a reverse which
may prolong the war many
months.
One American counterblow on
the north narrowed by nine miles
the 55-mile wide neck of the Ger
man bulge into Belgium and Lux
embourg.
The valiant fight of the Dough
boys, a U. S. First Army staff
officer declared, had bought time
in which countermeasures to check
the German rush could be pre
pared.
Field Marshal von Rundstedt had
hurled up to 15 divisions—probably
more than 150 000 men—including
five or six armored divisions, into
this desperate offensive which was
badly upsetting the Allied time
table for th£ conquest of Germany.
V-bombs rained down on Allied
positions and rear base areas, a
slackening of the main drives was
interpreted in late dispatches as
only pauses for regrouping and
fresh blows, and uneasiness had
spread among civilians all the way
back to the Belgian capital.
(Continued on Page Two; Colt 2)
RAF BOMBERS
STRIKE BONN
AND COLOGNE
LONDON, Friday, Dec. 21.— (iP)—
RAF heavy bombers struck into
Germany last night in a twin blow
against freight yards at Cologne
and Bonn, on the Rhine 20 miles
south, after other British Lancas
ters had made a daylight attack
on the German railway town of
Trier.
Weather continued bad and even
the daylight raiders, which drop
ped an estimated 1,800 tons of
bombs, were forced to use night
bombing instruments to reach their
targets through the heavy fog.
U. S. Ninth Air Force fighters
rose from their bases on the Con
tinent to accompany the 200 Bri
tish heavyweights to Trier, 26
miles northeast of Luxembourg
City. The Lancasters, essentially
night attackers, returned home
without loss.
U. S. Eighth Air Force Fortress
es and Liberators—equipped for
day bombing only — again were
grounded as the British heavies
took advantage cf their night-raid
ing apparatus to brave the murky
weather that has stopped almost
all air support for Allied troops
attempting to stem the German
drive.
Meanwhile, Italian-based U. S.
15th Air Force heavy bombers
hammered rail targets at Rosen
heim, 35 miles southeast of Munich,
rounding out seven straight days
af blows at southern German com
munications