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*S Milmingiim Hunting Star |s5 !°i- 17' N°‘ 294’ __WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1944___FINAL EDITION Iiazi Army Punched Back 12 Miles By Yanks; Patton Roars To Reich Border In Luxembourg; Camp Davis Wpfftle Reactivated For New Work Auction Sale1 Of Equipment To Be Stopped Air Force Expected To Use Facilities For Center Camp Davis, giant anti-air craft artillery training center near here, has been ordered re activated and instructions to evacuate and abandon the camp have been rescinded, it was learned from authorita tive sources here last night. Sale of salvaged equipment at iwction was ordered stopped and iailroad cars, loaded with supplies lo be shipped from the camp wer" ordered unloaded and the material restored to the camp's warehouses. li was iccuncva. An advertisement which appear ed in the Star-News Thursday an nouncing an auction sale of equip ment was superceded by another in this morning's edition cancelling the plan. Plans for the firing of a final j sunset gun Sunday afternoon and | the closing of the camp as former- j ly ordered by the Army have been I abandoned. It also was learned that laundry, baking and refrigerating facilities at the camp would be repaired and put into use. All public utili ties will be renovated and civilian employes already granted releases ior other jobs are expected to re turn to their original posts. While no definite announcement has been made as to a future use for the camp, it was learned that the Army Air Forces probably will utilize its facilities as a rehabili tation center. These centers are designed to re-equip the airmen with the proper mental attitude to ward future combat or to render them fit to enter civilian life upon discharge from the service. An influx of many thousand troops is expected soon, it was re vealed. Since casualties have been high following the invasion of Europe and the Philippines, it was rumor (Continutd on Page Three; Col. 4) -V CHAPLIN TERMED A SVENGALl WITH BULLS INSTINCT HOLLYWOOD. Dec. 29.— <UP>— Describing Joan Barry as “an at tractive girl of limited intelli gence und Charlie Chaplin as “a runt of a Svengali with the in suncts of a young bull,'’ Attorney Joseph Scott today wound up his puerility suit against the movie's richest comedian. The 77-year-old, white-haired, Scott, reminding the jury that he had 13 children himself, waved his arms eloquently and, in ringing tunes, summed up his case against Chaplin, nameu by Miss Barry as the lather of ter baby daughter, Carol Ann. "e have before you the ma., "hois responsible for this baby s existence," he said, “and I don’t "ant to let him jet away.” "Joan Barry,” he said, “is an attractive girl, but she is a girl of limited intelligence, and could not «vc invented her story." Dn the other hand, he shouted, Chap];,: — “the great genius” — Das a lousy memory for his own Convenience.” Neither Chaplin, Miss Barry nor too curly-haired baby, now 14 toonthij old, were in the dingy Courtroom as Scott went through most impassioned oratory of With a wave of the hand, he dis ®*ss6d the testimony of three doc ®i5 who ruled that a blood test ‘‘"'•'Hi Chaplin's nnocence. So tar as they were concerned, ~haplij, could not lose, and the could not win. Let us consider,” he demanded, ^ physical facts of the case.” «ott referred to Chaplin's ipsti f,uny that he put Miss Barry to the night of December 23, 1942, *llcl did not see hey again until he Je"t with his butler to get her gun "ext morning. fo hear him talk, you would “!nl that this stoic Chaplin is an lcic,( of a man. had never had lathing to do with girls in his •he.” Churchill Confers With Grecian King On Regency Plans LONDON, Saturday. Dec. 30. — (UP)—King George II of Greece conferred at some length with Prime Minister Churchill last nigh! at 10 Downing street, and presum ably learned directly of the desire of Greek political quarters for 3 regency in his country. Churchill talked with the king after attending 90-minute cabinet meeting which was summoned within an hour after the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary An thony Eden and Churchill’s staff returned from Greece in an RAF transport plane. Eden also attend ed the cabinet meeting. Churchill was believed to have urged him to accept formation of a regency speedily as the first, but not the only step toward a solution of the civil strife in Greece, and responsible quarters here believed the king would accept, although he may make reservations safeguai ing his right to see the future < f his monarchy decided by a free vote in Greece. BRITAIN MAY ASK HELP ON CONTROL Big Three Policy For Rul ing Free Lands Is Sighted LONDON, Dec. 29.— CP) —Allied diplomatic difficulties stemming! from Europe's ideological strug gles raised the likelihood today that Britain soon would attempt to establish a united “Big Three” policy for preventing violence in liberated lands. Amid sharp criticism of Britain’s intervention in Greece, the report circulated in London s diplomatic colony that the joint policy effort would be based on proposal to establish a temporary inter-Allied control over newly-freed govern ments if trouble threatened. There were reliable reports that this "suggestion” had been cir culated among some of the exiled governments in London. The possible attempt to extend the Allied control commission plan —originally intended only for ene my territory — was hinted at in Churchill’s declaration that some kind of “international trust” may have to be set up in Greece if a compromise among fighting fac tions cannot be reached. Significantly, in mentioning this possibility at an Athens press con ference, the Prime Minister did not confine it to Greece. He said that he, Premier Stalin and President Roosevelt would review the situa tion “in not a very long time,” and added that “we cannot afford to see whole peoples drifting into anarchy.” Yank History Was Made With One Word-Huts’ By EDWARD D. BALL BASTOGNE, Dec. 29.— W —The commander of Bastogne s valor ous 20,000 who made history with a single word—"Nuts,” was 46 year-old Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, one of America’s young est generals. He was acting commander of the 101st Airborne Divison and odds and ends of the U. S. Third Army’s Ninth and Tenth Armored Divi sions, which had been thrown in hurriedly to stem the German rush toward Sedan. This soldier from Washington. D. C., and his troops had been in tough spots before, for they were in the Normandy landings and the airborne penetration of Holland. And so when the commander of the German forces drawn up in a siege ring around Bastogne sent in an ultimatum to surrender, McAu liffe sent back this now-famour re ply which deserves to rank with John Paul Jones’ “We have just begun to fight!” It was simply this one word: “Nuts!” Then the young general told his tough fighters what he had done and this typical bit of American repartee became a rallying call for the garrison of 10,000. Besides the 101st (“Screaming Eagle") Airborne and the Ninth and Tenth Armored Divisions, j these other Third Army divisions took relief roles in the Bastogne drama: the Fourth Armored, the SOth ("Blue Ridge”) Infantry and! the 26th ("Yankee”) Infantry. Two other units, the Fourth ("Ivy”) and Fifth ("Red Dia mond”) Infantry divisions, were named today as having aided in the Third Army’s great offensive against the south of the German bulge, operating in northeast Lux embourg. The answer of "nuts” went back to the German lines on December 22. Four days later, when the 80th Infantry and Fourth Armored Di visions broke through to their re lief, the fields before the American lines around Bastogne were litter ed with the debris of 200 German tanks which had butted in vain against the Doughboy positions. They had been attacked by five German divisions. Units of the 26th Infantry Divi sion also had helpted to smash the encirclement of Bastogne. Next day. the lOlst’s regular com mander, Major Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, arrived after a trip by plane and jeep from Washington. (Continued on Page Three; Col. 1) -; A- —-* ^ Rioters Wreck Ward Store ————————— , ' 1 -|. ... i ■ —— — i nnmi ii rmiirT nriui" tititiiiti——^ -i Merchandise clutters the aisles of the Dearborn, Mich., Montgomery Ward store after 75 people led by two rioters went on a 15-minute rampage. Labor leaders charge that the violence was instigated by “imported strike breakers,” two of whom were a rested for malicious destruction of property. Ward’s Head Assails Roosevelt^ On Seizure CHICAGO, Dec. 29. — (UP) — Montgomery Ward & Co.’s, dispute with the Army over Government seizure of its facilities in seven cities, headed for the courts today as Sewell Avery, militant chairman of the board of directors, charged that President Roosevelt was invoking seizure --————* SHORTAGE OF FOOD EXPECTED TO GROW WORSE DURING ’45 WASHINGTON, Dec. 29—(UP)— In a forecast emphasizing the Of fice of Price Administration’s dras tic ration action, the Department of Agriculture said tonight that there will be shorter supplies of nearly all major foods in the first three months of 1945. A survey showed that civilians must expect reduced supplies of meat, poultry', butter, potatoes, canned and fresh vegetables, and probably lard. There will be in creases in fruit, milk, cheese, eggs, fish and special cereal products but not enough to compensate for the prospective shortages. There will be no overall food shortage and supplies availalle will keep consumption "at least as high as the pre-war level, although different in composition,” the de partment said. However, a return to pre-war consumption levels means a 7 per cent drop from the record high reached this year ai der an eased rationing program. powers woen anu wnere ne pleased. Federal Judge Philip Sullivan set January 8 for a hearing on the Government’s petition for an in junction restraining the company from interfering with the Army’s operation of the plant. Government and company attorneys apparently had agreed to make the suit a test case to determine the validity of the Smith-Connally Act and to de cide if the Executive Department of the Government has any juris diction in labor disputes. Company attorneys said that the firm would not comply with any mandatory orders for turning over the books to the Army but added that they were accessible if Gov ernment representatives wanted to look at them. “If the President, can. as he please, choose among those who reject the mere advice of the Gov ernment and seize the property of some but not others, the Nation no longer has a government of law,’ Avery said in a statement handed out by an assistant. He referred specifically to the President's failure to act against the American Federation of Musi cians. which defied the War Labor Board, and against the unions which recently called a strike against two Chicago suburban rail road. Placards proclaiming that the Chicago plant and those in six other cities were under U. S. oper ation were posted yesterday morn ing as the Army followed out the orders of the President. The White House action was taken after Wards refused to comply with WLB directives. Weather In Wilmington More Mean Than Normal Despite The Forecaster Wilmington's mean and normal temperature coincided yesterday for the first time in more than a month, but the weather in general was conceded to be much more mean than normal. Paul Hess, me teorologist in charge of the U. S. Weather Bureau, stated that the precipitation of the last days, scheduled to continue througn to morrow, did not amount to much statistically. However, he admitted that it was dispersed as nastily as possible. Today may be warmer, following a likely low temperature last night of 40 degrees, which may spare Wilming'tonians the snow which has been falling as near as Raleigh and the freezing which has com plicated the drizzle in the northern and western parts of the State, Caustic comment was wide spread yesterday on a recent New York Timer feature article which described Wilmington as the only year-around “sunshine spot’’ north of Florida UNGAYEN GULF HIT BY PLANES 7,000 Ton Jap Freighter Damaged By Yank Bombers GEN. MACARTHUR’S HEAD QUARTERS, PHILIPPINES, Sat urday, Dec. 30.— WPI —Mitchell bombers hit Japanese shipping in Ling'ayen gulf, off the western coast of Luzon Island in the Phil ippines and heavily damaged a 7,000-ton freighter, Gen. Douglas MacArthur today. Nipponese planes again attack ed American positions on Mindoro the night of December 27.' Eight of the 23 attacking aircraft were brought down. Another 268 dead Japanese were couted December 27 in the mop ping up of isolated enemy units on Leyte island. American heavy bombers drop ped 72 tons of explosives on San Jose airdrome on Panay Island, between Leyte and Mindoro, and knocked out, six grounded planes. They also cratered an enemy run way. General MacArthur acknowled ed that the December 27 raid on the Yank airfields and shipping at Mindoro caused “some dam age.’’ Ack-Ack got some of the attacking aircraft and night fight ers brought down the remainder. This raid came about 2,4 hours after a Japanese naval force had shelled the area and fled after los ing three destroyers. Navy Liberators helped in the Lingayen area raid, shooting down two Japaese planes and damaging a small surface craft. An enemy airfield at Davao, en Mindanao, major island of the southern Philippines, also was hit by heavy U. S. bombers. Fires and explosions were observed there afterward. Six small enemy freighters were bombed, strafed and left sinking by U. S. patrol planes off Borneo. Iwo Jima Pounded By Liberators For 21st Straight Day PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUAR TERS, Pearl Harbor, Dec. 29. — (UP) — Liberators of the Pacific Strategic Air Force have bombed Iwo Jima for the 21st consecutive day of a sustained campaign to knock out Japan’s sole airblock on the route from Saipan to Tokyo, a Pacific Fleet Headquarters an nouncement reported today. The B-24s under Lt. Gen. Millard F. Harmon lashed out at Iwo Jima’s airstrip December 27, en countering intense anti-aircraft fire over the bleak, rocky island 750 miles southeast of Tokyo. Today’s brief communique re ported further Marine fighter at tacks on Babelthuap in the Palaus and the bombing and strafing of long-isolated Marshal Islands ene my bases. ft S. Protests Nazi Murder^ Of Soldiers Strongest Possible Complaint On Malmedy Massacre Is Filed Through Swiss Author ities By State Department WASHINGTON, Dec. 29. —(UP) —The United States, in its strong est protest oi the war to Ger many, tonight called the Reich to book for the mass murder by Nazi forces in Belgium “of all but 15 of a group of about 130 Aj’erican soldiers and officers” captured in the recent enemy counter-off ensiv s. The action was announced by the State Department which said “the strongest possible protest” was being lispatched through neu tral Swiss authorities. It said: “The Department of State is forwarding the strongest possible protest to the German government through the Swiss authorities with regard to the killing by German forces near Malmedy, Belgium, of all but 15 of a group of about 130 American soldiers and officers who have been taken prisoners by a German tank corps and strip ped of their equipment.” As reported in press dispatchos by American war correspondents who interviewed the handful of survivors, the Americans were lin (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) REDS SLAUGHTER FOE IN BUDAPEST Berlin Admits Russians Already In Heart Of City LONDON, Saturday, Dec. 30.— (JP) — Russian shock battalions smashed into new sections of en circled Budapest from the west yesterday and began slaughtering a trapped Axis garrison in hand to-hand fighting raging through streets clogged with enemy dead and wrecked guns and tanks, the Soviet high command announced at midnight. Berlin said the Russians already were in the “heart” of the burn ing Hungarian capital, locked in a struggle unrivalled in ferocity since Stalingrad where another German army met disaster in the snow. As the great churning struggle raged on the western side of the Danube, in the Buda section of the tottering capital, other Soviet units tightened their death trap on Ger man-Hungarian units caught in the Pilis hills north of the city, kill ing 2,500 of them during the day and capturing 2,200 the previous day. Still other Russian units forced the Hron river, one of the last big water barriers to the Bratislava plain leading to Vienna, Austrian capital, and sped two miles be yond, capturing Nana and Parkany near the Hron's confluence with the Danube. This last stroke put the Rus sians within 76 miles southeast of Bratislava and 105 miles from Vi enna. Other sections of the same army arrayed on a 35-mile front along' the east bank of the Hron to the north were only 64 miles from Bratislava, and they killed or captured 11,000 Germans in two days, the bulletin said. South of the Danube, meanwhile, other mobile Russian units were attacking on the approaches to Komarom, only 5, miles southeast of Bratislava and 81 miles from Vienna. The phalanx of the two armies moving westward, even without awaiting the fall of Buda pest. was 100 miles wide. 1 1,500 WARPLANES RAKE NAZI RAILS Germans Are Lashed With 14,750 Tons Of Bombs In Week LONDON, Dec. 29.— UP) —More than 1,500 U. S. bombers and fight ers from Britain raked the German transportation web from the Vest srn Front back to the Rhine today with thousands of tons of explo sives for the seventh straight day. A great fleet of RAF heavy bombers and a limited number of continent-based dive-bombers also participated in attacks which in a week have lashed the Germans with 14,750 tons of explosive.. Despite poor flying weather, heavy bombers of the U. S. 15th Air Force in Italy hit rail targets at Innsbruch and Salzburg in old Aus tria and unannounced objectives in Germany. The Brenner Pass into northern Italy also Was at tacked for the. fourth day. Eight hundred U. S. Fighter Air Force Fortresses and Liberators from Britain, escorted by 700 Mustangs and Lightnings, blasted five rail and road junctions in a 15-mile arc behind the German of fensive bulge in Belgium. The main weight of the attack struck glutted freight yards at Bingen, Aschaffenburg and Frankfurt, which are on the southern rail route, now over-burdened since the northern lines have been all but immobilized by previous bomb ings. The Trier-Euskirchen area also was hit. Solid cloud layers obscured the results near the battle area, but the main loads were spread visual ly over the three main rail centers, and returning crewmen were elat ed with the effectiveness. One pilot said a 10-square-mile area was set afire with incendiaries at Bingen. The German air force again was grounded and anti-aircraft fire was reported intense only over Frank furt, which was hit by the Ameri cans for the time. Escorting Mustangs and Thunderbolts strafed targets. 4Pappy ’ Really Worried About The ‘Kraut’Supply By ANN HICKS WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—(UP) — When Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Tay lor left Washington Christmas Eve to join his 101st Airborne Division trapped at bloody Bastogne, he '"as more worried about the ‘Kraut” supply than the safety of his boys, a future General Taylor reported today. “Pappy had no doubts about their winning,” the future General Taylor, named Jack and aged 14, explained. “But he wanted to be there. “Just before he left I said: ‘Pap py, are you worried about the 101st?’ and he said, ‘I am not. I just hope there’ll be some Krauts left when I get over.’ “Pappy is always saying his boys are the best outfit in the Army. When they jumped into Nor mandy on D-Day they’d never been in combat before—and they won a Presidential Unit citation.” Overseas dispatches told today how the boys of the 101st already had knocked out 150 German tanks and were holding off as many as four Nazi divisions when their gen eral arrived to take over. The general’s family knew he would be leaving soon but they had hoped he would be at their nearby Arlington, Va. home for Christmas. Only two weeks before he had come home, for the first time in a year and a half, for special busi ness at the War Department. The day before Christmas, Jack, his brother, Tom, and Mrs. Taylor came to Washington, where the general had his picture taken. In the afternoon Jack trimmed the tree while “Pappy just sat in an armchair and watched.’ (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) Foe May Plan Defense Stand Inside Bulge Withdrawal In Ardennes Salient Reported To Be In Rout PARIS, Saturday, Dec. 30. —(/P)—Powerful blows by the U. S. First and Third armies have knocked back the Ger mans 12 miles at the western end of their thrust into Bel gium and compressed the ene my’s corridor from the Reich to 13 miles. There were indications that the Germans, their initiative lost, were preparing for a defensive stand as long as possible on the lines of their bulge. Observers re ported intensive movements in side the enemy salient and at ma ny places along the perimeter Nazi soldiers were feverishly throwing up fortifications and planting mines. The First Army, punching for ward a mile and a half, reached the edge of Rochefort—12 miles from the point where the German advance once was within three miles of the Meuse river. At the same time Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army pounded to the Reich border at three points in northeast Luxembourg, broke the enemy’s Sure river line and cemented positions four miles north of Bastogne—only 13 miles from the point where the first is fighting down from the north. In a disptach covering develop ments up to yesterday morning, Associated Press Correspondent Lewis Hawkins said the corridor into Bastogne was strengthened against stout resistance from the west, but lesser opposition from the east. In this period, at least 15 more towns had been overrun by the two American armies and Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s steel spearheads had been shattered with fearful slaughter. Some of the best news was that clear weather returned today to the Third Army front. The sky was laced wiin condensation trails as everythnig from heavy bom bers to fighterbumbers blasted the Germans who for two days had moved under the cover of fog (Reuters Correspondent William Steen with J. S. forces in Belgium said the German withdrawal from (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) -V SEVERAL GENERALS ARE RECALLED FROM FRONT AND DEMOTED WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—fjP)— The War Department has recall ed several general officers from overseas commands within recent months, demoting some of them, it was learned tonight. The recalls have been individual cases, not involving any single situation, but are manifestation* of a firm policy adopted by the Department. The most recent case is that of a major general ordered back from France and reduced to the rank of colonel. This case pre dates the present German offen sive. Explaining that it prefers to avoid publi" discussion out of re gard for the individual officers and because of possible morale effect, the Army declined com ment. No names were given. Those familier with the situa t:on say the department’s policy is predicated upon its insistence that there be efficiency in com mand and that recall of comman ders is not necessarily a puni tive measure. It is pointed out that frequently a general officer is given an as signment for which he prove* unsuited, but later gives an ex cellent account of himself in an other battle command. In '-ecalling earlier instance*, the case of Major General Terry Allen was cicted. Allen went ov erseas in 1942 for the North Afri can campaign, commanding the First Division there and in Sicily. He was returned to the United States in the midst of the Sicilian campaign, but retained his rank and recently reappeared as com mander of the 104th infantry division in France.