The Wilmington morning star. [volume], February 14, 1945, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

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9—----------WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1945_FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867
Reds Take Budapest; Germans Lose 159,000;
MacArthur’s Jpen Seize Cavite Naval Base;
Yanks Rip Tv/o New Gaps In Siegfried Line
Nichols Field
Also Captured
By Americans
Enemy Losses Total 68,
000 In Five Weeks
Of Luzon Drive
MANILA. Wednesday, Feb. 14.—
Mt—Caplure of the Cavite naval
base and Nichols airfield were an
nounced today by Gen. Douglas
MacArthur, who said the end of
| Japan's trapped Manila garrison
i was "in sight.
MacArthur reported enemy cas
ualties of more than 68.000 for the
! five weeks of the Luzon campaign
?s compared with American cas
ualties of 9,683. including 2,102
killed.
Capture of the Cavite naval base
put the Yanks on the shores of
Manila Bay for the first time.
The 11th Airborne division in
taking Cavite seized ten enemy
seaplanes and a battery of thre
inch guns intact.
First Cavalry ivision units also
reached Manila Bay just below
the embattled downtown sector as
they speared through the Pasay
district from the direction of cap
tured Neilson airfield.
MacArthur said the 37th Infan
try ivision was “closing in’’ on
the Ja* anese holed up in the thick
walled Intramuros district, near
the bay just south of the Pasig
river mouth, and “the end of t h e
enemy's trapped garrison is in
sight.”
Meanwmle, north ol Manna,
troops of the Sixth ivision secur
ed an abandoned airfield at Baler,
on the cast coast of Luzon. Exten
sive mopping up of enemy pockets
in the central Luzon plan was re
ported, and a counterattack south
of Baguio was turned back.
Corregidor fortress was kept un
der American bombsights. Anoth
er 150 tens of explosives fell on
the island bastion in a quick fvl
low-up to the more than 200 tr/is
dropped the previous 48 hours in
company with 700 tons on Bataan.
Hits were scored on four heavy
gun batteries on Corregidor. At
tack bombers raked southern Ba
taan and sank six fuel and am
munition barges.
In air operations in the southern
Philippines, Mitchell bombers de
stroyed or damaged four small
Japanese vessels at the waterfront
of Zamboanga on Mindanao islan
and blew up a fuel tank. The Pa
dao airdrome near Davao on the
same island was cratered.
North of the Philippines at For
mosas. American raiding aircraft
v,recked parked planes at Heito
airdrome, smashed motor trans
port and rolling stock. One ene
my bomber was shot down.
Other planes ranged to the vicin
ity of Amoy. China, heavily dam
aging a 2.000 ton cargo ship. Off
the French Indo-China coast, a
cargo ship of similar size and
three smaller ones were sunk or
damaged. A Japanese floatplane
escorfing this convoy was shot
down off Saigon.
Many fires were set in the town
cl Tondanu on Dutch Celebes.
D. ' .1 T-W • i ■ _
.A-ICW iJI UUUI, tUtUlJ
stronghold long since bypassed,
was dealt a 125-ton bombing blow
by heavy, medium and fighter
bombers over a two-day period.
Within Manila, the Japanese
sutcide garrison appeared bent on
exacting as high a price in lives
and property as possible before
being exterminated.
'Arthur Feldman, Blue Network
correspondent, said Manila for the
time being is "paralyzed'’ by the
heavy destruction wrought. He re
ported the devastation is compar
'd to that around St. Paul’s
Cathedral in London, made familiar
10 Americans through pictures of
scenes there.
'He said the rubble of Manila
p'jb will be remembered by the
1 tPlnos and other peoples as con
radicting all (he professed credoes
Japan of "Asia for the Asiatics,
that’°SPerUy and th‘ngS llkC
Hope of escape across the bay
d‘''' .'ea’wd by the watchfulness and
accuracy of American war
le supporting the land action,
‘ ' wdenced by the sinking off
aiuan of 25 enemy barges carry
lnS around 2.500 troops.
roit Comgidoj., at the entrance
u ."e mv' ar)d Bataan itself shook
lire, i-iln^reasiug bomb loads de
hesdnM by Yank Paries which,
.uarters said, had received no
'Continued on Page Threej CoL 4)
U. S. Is Termed Buffer
Between Reds, British
Byrnes, Back From Conference, Says U. S.
Also Aims To Forestall Outbreaks of
Violence In Liberated Countries
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13.—UP)—
In a dramatic first-hand account
of the Crimean conference, James
F. Byrnes declared tonight that
American participation in the af
fairs of Europe is designed to pre
vent Russian-British rivalry for
spheres of influence.
Byrnes, just back from the Roose
velt-Churchill-Stalin conie rence
gave the account to newsmen as the
White House announced a pipar
tisan slate of American delegates
chosen to attend the United Na
tions parley at San Francisco April
25 to draft a plan for enforcing
world peace.
Byrnes, war mobilization direc
tor, said another aim of American
participation in European affairs,
is to deter outbreaks of violence in
liberated countries.
President Roosevelt himself,
Byrnes disclosed, wrote the de
claration on liberated areas by
which this country agrees to share
with the other two powers responsi
bility for restoring order and inde
pendence to the war-ravaged small
nations.
The mobilization chief expressed
his conviction that the Crimean
agreements had gone along way
toward guaranteeing in Atlantic
Charter settlement for the small
countries of Europe and a lasting
peace for the world.
The military decisions of the
conference, he said, mean that our
military leaders are planning foi^
a war involving ‘'more men than
ever before in this conflict.”
‘‘They do not miminize the possi
bility of civilian collapse in Ger
many, but we cannot count on
that,” he added, explaining his be
lief that the decisions reached in
the Crimea assure eventual victory
though not an immediate one.
In describing the role played by
the President with “great skill,
tact, patience and humor,” Byrnes
said that he served by informal
agreement as chairman of the con
(Continued on Page Three, Col. 2)
Poles-In-Exile Denounce
Big Three, Refuse Accord
LONDON, Feb. 13.—(IP)—The Polish government in London, bit
terly denouncing the Big Three, announced tonight that it was refusing
to accept the decisions regarding Poland made at the Crimean Con
ference and accused President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill
_3 TV X I 1 „C ~ 4-U «
24 PERSONS DIE
IN PLANE CRASH
Six Bodies Removed From
Navy Transport In
California
SAN FRANCISCO. Feb. 3.—(UP)
Salvage crews tonight had recov
ered the bodies of six of 24 per
sons killed when an eastbound Na
val Air Transport plane crashed in
San Francisco Bay a few minutes
after taking off from Oakland air
port.
Although the scene of the crash
was only about three-quarters of
a mile offshore in water five to
six feet deep, most of the plane
including the cabin, was buried
deep in mud. The tail and one
wing broke off when it hit the
water.
The 12th Naval District said the
bodies recovered were those of
two Navy officers and three en
listed men and an Army corporal.
The names of the 21 passengeis
and three crewmen on the twin
engined transport w'ill not be made
public until next of kin have oeen
notified.
Cause of the crash was not
known. Alameda residents heard
the plane fly l°w ove” thee clty
at approximately 7 a. m. Some
told police the engines suddenly
faded out and then there was a
terrific crash.
The first body recovered by
crash boats dispatched from the
Alameda Naval Air Station was
that of a sailor who had 40-day
leave papers in his pockets. It was
believed that most of the men on
the Plane were returning to then
homes in the Midwest and East
after duty in the^Pacific.
Four Dead, Seven Missing
After Blast On Oiler In
River Near Norfolk Base
NORFOLK, Va., Feb. 13.—tUP'
_Four seamen were killed today
and seven others are missing and
believed dead in an explosion and
flash fire aboard a Navy oiler op
erating from the Norfolk naval
base. , .
The 300-foot vessel was loading
oil at the Gulf Oil Corp.. in the
Elizabeth river when the explosion
occured. The craft carried a crew
of 16. J .
Identification of the dead and
missing was withheld pending
notification of next of kin. Navy of
ficials were unable to determine
cause of the explosion immediately.
Atlantic charter.
A 50u-word statement from Pre
mier Tomas Z. Arciszewski of the
London government, issued exact
ly 24 hours after the British For
eign Office had released the text
of the Big Three Polish agree
ment. said the big powers’ inten
tion to create a provisional gov
ernment of national unity for Po
land “can only legalize Soviet in
terfrence in Polish internal af
fairs.”
“As long as the territory of Po
land will remain under the sole oc
cupation of Soviet troops, a gov
ernment of that kind will not safe
guard the Polish nation, even in
the presence of British and Ameri
can diplomats, the unfettered right
of free expression,” the statement
declard.
It reiterated its claim as the
“sole legal and generally recog
nized government of Poland” and
said it was ready to cooperate in
creation of a government of Po
land truly representative of the
will of the Polish people.”
The London Poles complained
that the Big Three conference
reached its decision not only with
out participation and authorization
of the London governmenl, but al
so without its knowledge.
“The method adopted in the case
of Poland was a contradiction of
(Continued on Page Three, Col. 11
K - J
Canada Units
Break Out Of
Reich Forest
___
Allied Drive Toward The
Rhine Gains Ground
At Both Ends
PARIS. Feb. 13.—(UP)—Amer
ican troops riped two new gaps
in the Siegfried Line today and
the Canadian First Army broke
out of the Reich Forest eastward
as the Allied drive toward the
Rhine gained ground at both ends
of a 140-mile front despite five
German counterattacks.
The new American breaches in
the West Wall were made by
the Fifth and 80th Divisions
of Lt. Gen. Patton's Third Army
as they drove two miles deep into
Germany within a consolidated
10-mile bridgehead across the Our
and Sure (Sauer) rivers.
Field Marshall Montgomery’s
troops hurled back three German
counter-assaults as they fought
within four miles of Goch against
elements of seven crack German
divisions, including two Panzer
units, rushed in to guard the in
dustrial Ruhr.
mieuiy resistance was sxiiien
ed everywhere in the Kleve area
as the Nazis fought to check the
advance of Montgomery's 15-mile
wide tank-led forces sweeping
through the northern bend of the
Rhine from its pivot on newly
won Gennep.
The extent of British gains
around Kleve, where 5,000 pris
oners have been taken in five
days, was temporarily cloaked
for security reasons, but front
reports said that the battle of
the Reich Forest definitely was
over.
Scottish, Welsh, British and
Canadian fighters are gathered
in the eastern fringes of the for
est and beginning to break out
into open country before Calcar,
one of the main road networks
of German defense only 15 miles
northwest of the ancient Ruhr
fortress of Wesel, thesf reports
said.
An array of German guns
threw a mounting barrage against
Montgomery's men, pounding
them from Klevev to Gennep as
advance spearheads drove into
a second line of Siegfried defenses
east of Kleve. Front dispatches
said there was also a third line
of anti-tank ditches, pillboxes and
minefields two to three miles east
of the second.
Ground forces called on the
Second Tactical Air Force to
silence the guns, and these planes
flew more than 1,000 sorties dur
ing the day In addition to blast
ing the guns, the planes attacked
rail traffic between Essen and
Hannover, destroying 70 locomo
tives and 126 rail cars.
Along the southern end of the
15-mile front, the British forced
the Niers river, establishing a
bridgehead one mile east of Gen-'
(Continued on Page Txtfo. Col. 6)
Byrnes Sees Big Increase
In Labor Requirements
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13.— <*') _
War Mobilization Director Byrnes
today reiterated support of the
work-or-jail manpower bill, assert
ing ‘'more men will be in combat
in March than ever before.”
Just back from the Crimea Big
Three conference, Byrnes told a
news conference he knew “nothing
that has occurred to cause me to
change my view in support of the
May bill.”
“On the contrary more men will
be in combat in March than ever
before. They ought to have and
use their ammunition on supplies
without fear of the men behind
the lines.”
The Senate Military Committe
now is holding hearings on the
measure which passed the House
with Administration backing. One
farm organization spokesman gave
it qualified approval today, while
two others denounced it.
W. R. Ogg, director of the Amer
ican Farm Bureau Federation's
Washington office, endorsed the la
bor draft principle, asking, how
ever, for safeguards to keep essen
tial agricultural workers on the
farm.
James G. Patton, president of
the National Farmers Union, and
Fred Brenckman, representative
of the National Grange, criticized
the bill which is now in its third
week before the Senate Commit
te.
Meanwhile, Senator Kilgore (D
W.Vai said he was perfecting a
substitute which he plans to intro
duce when and if the work-jail
measure reaches the Senate floor.
He described his proposal as “a
streamlined version of the Voorhis
bill, with teeth.” The Voohis bill,
rejected by the House, would place
statutory authority behind the
War Manpower Commission’s vol
untary recruitment system.
Several members of the commit -
te are known to favor some such
plan.
Brenckman testified that so far
as agriculture is concerned, ‘‘there
is no need for this kind of. legisla
tion because the workers on our
farms are already producing to
the limit of their capacity.” He
declared the Grange does "not
consider it proper to draft men
to work in industry for the profit
of someone else.”
-—_____*
Roosevelt and Churchill Meet Again
Fingering his glasses, President Roosevelt confers at the luncheon table with Prime Minister Chur
chill in the former palace of the Czars at Yalta, Crimes, Russia. (AP Wirephoto from U. S. Army.)
Soviet Press Hails Parley
As Great Political Event
By EDDY GILMORE
MOSCOW, Feb. 13.—(IP)—The Soviet Union’s official press describ
ed the Crimea conference today in glowing terms, and the impressing
in Moscow was that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and
Premier Stalin all were highly pleased with its results.
Pravda, the official Communisi party organ, set the keynote of
FRANCE PLANNING
NEW DAKAR BASES
De Gaulle Cabinet Orders
Building Of Huge Air,
Navy Base
PARIS, Feb. 13.— (#)—Construc
tion of a huge naval and air base
at Dakar in West Africa was
voted by the cabinet of the
de Gaulle government today, a
move which it announced would
eventually contribute to “collec
tive security.’’
The Dakar project was adopted
on reports of the war, navy, air
and colonial ministers shortly
after Gen de. Gaulle announced
he had been informed last night
by the American, British and
Russian ambassadors of the de
cisions reached at the Big Three
Crimean conference.
There was no specific comment
from the government on the re
sults of the meeting of President
Roosevelt. Prime Minister Church
ill and Premier Marshal Stalirf,
but an official spokesman ob
served that it was a forward
step for France to be given a
share in the occupation of Ger
many and a place at the United
Nations conference to open April
25 at San Francisco.
We are confronted with a fait
accompli,” he added, "on a sub
ject in which we are most essen
tial interested—the settlement of
the future of Germany.”
The governmental announce
ment of the plan for Dakar said
the naval aid base was aimed at
guaranteeing communications of
the empire as well as contributing
to collective security. The em
phasis it placed on the latter led
to speculation that France in
tends to make Dakar an inter
national base and perhaps put it
at the disposal of the United Na
tions Security Council.
Dakar, at the westermost point
of Africa, now has a large Amer
ican naval base, established as
a result of the agreement between
Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark and
Admiral Darlan after the North
African invasion. In the hands
of an aggressor nation it would
be a threat to both North and
South America.
The French press made clear
France was disappointed that the
decisions of the Big Three were
made without French representa
tion.
The newspapers Le Monde,
France Soir and Paris Presse de
clared they were unable to un
derstand how the decisions, par
ticularly 'those regarding the fu
ture of the Rhineland, could be
made without France participa
tion.
ovj vici icctcuuii tu me xjig mice
conference with the declaration
that the parley “has proved that
the alliance of the three big pow
ers possesses not only in historic
yesterday and a victorious today,
but also a great tomorrow.”
The government newspaper Iz
vestia hailed the conference as
“the biggest political event of cur
rent times—an event which will
enter in history as a new example
of coordinated solutions of compli
cated questions in the interest of
peace and democracy.”
Russians will expect a consider
able increase in the blows against
Germany from the west, south and
north as a result of the parley.
This is the thing they have been
clamoring for since the start of
their winter offensive a month
ago.
The Russian people remember
that Marshal Stalin came back
from the Tehran conference with
assurance that there would be
blows on Germany from the east,
west and south—and there were.
Of considerable interest to the
Russians is the fact that the Cri
mea announcement added the
north to the earlier three direc
tions.
The conference again proved
“the stability of the Allies’ mili
tary alliance,” Izvestia declared,
and added:
“Hitlerite Germany is doomed.
The hour of its collapse has arriv
ed. Its resistance is hopeless. Such
was the first and happiest conclu
ion of the conference.”
A deep and firm impression pre
vails in Moscow that Roosevelt,
Churchill and Stalin left better
friends this time than ever before,
and that although much was left
to the future, they accomplished
great things at Yalta and are
(Continued on Page Seven, Col. 4)
GERMANY FACING
BLOWS IN NORTH
Big Three Stress New
Direction For Future
Assaults
LONDON, Feb. 13. — UP) — The
German nation, pounded from the
east, west and south, had a new
psychological weapon aimed at its
heart tonight—the first officially
uttered threat of new Allied blows
from the north.
Experienced London observers
held no doubt whatever that the
threat would be carried out- Proof
enough seemed to rest in the fact
that the Big' Three Crimean com
munique — obviously a carefully
worded document — included the
word “north,” whereas the state
ment issued after the Tehran con
ference spoke only of the other
points of the compass.
The only questions were which
of six possible avenues would be
followed and when. The consensus,
however, was the blow would come
5UUIJ.
The Nazis tried their best to keep
the new threat from the German
people. Neither press dispatches
nor the German home radio serv
ice mentioned this section of the
Crimean communique issued by
President Roosevelt, Prime Minis
ter Churchill and Premier Marshal
Stalin.
But it was pounded home by doz
ens of Allied broadcasts beamed
directly into the Reich.
The most obvious avenue of at
tack from the north would be by
air and the Big Three left room for
this interpretation. Almost equal
ly obvious would be a continued
sweep by the Red Army along the
Baltic coast perhaps accompanied
by sea attacks by the sizeable So
viet Baltic fleet.
Also in the list could be a drive
by Field Marshal Sir Bernard L.
Montgomery’s 21st Army Group
northward through the Nether
lands, perhaps looking to the right
toward Bremen, on the Weser riv
er. or farther north toward vital
Wilhelm shaven.
Germans Brand Big Three
As Great Murder Plotters
LONDON, Feb. 13.— (UP) —
German propaganda agencies
seethed today over the Big Three
Crimea conference decisions and
called the agreements on Ger
many the greatest “murder” con
spiracy of all time.
Seeking to* link the fate of the
whole German people with their
own, the Nazis tried te whip up
public anger and resistance in
savage denunciatory articles
broadcast to German newspapers
—complete with headlines—by of
ficial news agencies.
As they did so Allied official
radio stations dinned Into the
ears of those German radio lis
teners who dared to listen, the
portentious program the Big
Three agreed • on.
An important part of this was
the Big Three promise that the
German people would not be de
stroyed and the warning that not
until Nazism and German mili
tarism had been wiped out could
Germans hope for a decent life
and a place among the nations.
Phrases from headlines and ar
ticles broadcast to German news
papers for compulsory publication
included:
“Program of Haters of Yalta;”
“News Crimes Against Human
ity;” “Germany Will Smash Sa
tanic Plan;” “Annihilation Mania
of Europe’s Enemies Has Now
Assumed Character of Final Pro
gram;” “Communique Clearly in
Spirit of Old Testament Jewish
Hatred.”
“Its devilish intentions imply
the extinction of the European
(Continued on Page Ten; Col. 4)
r - i
Bober River
Defense Line
Is Breached
Russians Drive On Prison
Camp Center Of Sagan,
Dresden /
VT
LONDON, Feb. 13.— (UP) —The
Red Army today completed the
conquest of Budapest, the capital
of Hungary, ending a 50-day siege
in which more than 159,000 ene
my troops were killed or captur
ed. In Germany, Russian forces
converged on the prison camp
center of Sagan and advanced
nine and one-half miles on the
road to Dresden.
Russian infantry and tank forces
forced the Bober river defense line,
the first of four remaining river
barriers before Dresden, and
reached the east bank of the Queis
river at Lorenzdorf, 71 miles
northeast of the capital of Saxony,
Moscow revealed.
Russian troops in Upper Silesia
euiiicicu. uit; luwu ua \jri«JiaU|
supply base of an enemy bride
head on the Oder river’s east bank
mid-way between besieged Breslau
and the approaches to Berlin, the
Soiet High Command announced.
More than 150 towns and settle
ments were captured north and
northwest of the captured Silesian
city of Liegnitz in a drive toward
Sagan and along the Breslau-Ber
lin highway, Moscow revealed.
The capture of Budapest releas
ed two Soviet armies and troops
under 73 generals for a drive to
ward the Austrian capital of Vien
na, guarding the approaches to the
Alps region where Adolf Hitler and
his henchmen may attempt to
make their last stand after the
fall of Berlin.
It cleared the way for Soviet
offensives to the puppet Slovak
capital of Bratislava and the rich
industrial regions of Bohemia.
Marshal Josef Stalin announced
the final conquest which all but
leveled one of the world’s most
beautiful capitals and cost the
Germans and Hungarians more
than 110,000 prisoners and 49,000
eaded. Among the captives was the
commander of the garrison, Col.
Gen. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch and his
Moscow tonight echoed to 24 sal
vos from 324 victory guns marking
the capture of the last big satel
lite capital, the eighth capital tak
en by he Red Army and the 17lh
liberated by the Allies.
Budapest, however, was an au
gury of the grim battle that lies
ahead for the Allies in Berlin. It
took the Russians 14 weeks to take
it, fighting from street to street,
and smash the last resistance.
Marshal Malinovsky’s Second
Ukrainian Army drove to within
four and one-half miles —ovember
12. Seven weeks later, after Mar
shal Tolbukhin’s Third Ukrainian
Army joined the battle, the city
was encircled December 26.
Block by block the two armies
tightened the encirclement, and
threw back massive enemy at
tempts to break through to lb*
relief of the city from the west.
Adolf Hitler called on the defend
ers to make Budapest Hungary’*
“Stalingrad.”
The bag of enemy killed and
captured was the largest in a sin
gle action since the Red Army
took a toll of 330,000 in the siege
of Stalingrad little more than two
years ago.
How many of the city’s pre-war
'population of 1,116,000 persons sur
vived street battles and starvation
Meanwhile, Marshal Konev's
First Ukrainian Army south of
Berlin — which a German High
Command spokesman tonight de
scribed as the “most dangerous”
sector of the Eastern Front—con
tinued its apparently irresistible
advance.
According to the Germans, Ko
nev’s troops surged west from the
Bober river and reached the
Queiss river, six miles beyond and
68 miles northeast of Dresden.
At the same time, the Germans
reported bitter fighting south and
north of the big rail and road hub
of Sagan, on the Bober river 86
miles southeast of Berlin.
There were three American and
British prisoner of war camps in
the Sagan area and London ob
servers doubted, in view of the
swift Soviet advance from th
Oder river, that the Germans had
been able to move the prisoners.