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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1945)
AnciTantrcD.. All o : a ..: : , v1 nan 1 fal. W eat her Data for 24 hours ending nt 7 a.m. . Temperatures: MoKkaam 47 Minimani 23 Vseaipiiatim 30 Forecast: Partly cloudy and warmer tonight and Wednesday". ESTABLISHED 189 s n i Kea 0 J Tot ukhin Ori Vienna When Defenses Crumble ''ILCIDON, April 3 (UP) Red army troops tonight drove towel tho outskirts of Vienna after capturing the chief Ausian industrial centers of Weiner-Neustadt, Neunkirchen ' anloffpmitz. last? reports Red army advance columns were only 11 mf. south of Vienna. ...f iener-Neustdt, 23 miles south of Vienna, is the site of 0 of Germany's biggest Messerschmit plants. Neunkirchen A-li 13 miles to the south and Gloggnitz is eight miles south rest of Neunkirchen. , v a mi: uuvHiice tui iiu ui Vienna s ( urecc sol in warn mi enn- 'if 'pi... ...I. ......... .... ..11 r ir: ; i'nections, forcing the Germans to use a roundabout route through Linz. i The Red army successes were i announced by Maishal Stalin in 1 an order of the day addressed to Marshal Feodor I. Tolbukhin. Eiscnstadt, 13 miles east ol Wiener-Ncustadt also was taken. The Germans reported heavy ( fighting in Baden, only 11 miles i from Vienna and in Bratislava, capital of the puppet Slovakian stale. Moscow dispatches said Mar shal Roriio Y. Malinovsky's sec end Ukrainian army group drove into the outskirts of Bratislava, eastern gateway to Vienna, after capturing Biskupice, two and a half miles to tho southeast. Bratislava lies 30 miles cast of Vienna. Other Russian units were' within -gttn--rmic,e -of the greater Vienna area delineated by Adolf Hitler'in 1938 and less than 20 miles from tho city itself on the southeast, Berlin Drive Imminent To the north, Moscow reported, evidence increased that the zero hour for the Red army's frontal smash'' from the Oder river against Berlin was approaching. Tho Russians plunged into the city limits of Bratislava under a canopy of shells laid down by massed Sdviet artillery. Moscow said the fall of Bratislava would . pull the plug from Vienna's front al defenses for Soviet advances along both sides of the Danube. Vajnary. four miles northeast of Bratislava and 29 miles east of Vienna, also fell as the second army group drove up to the foot hills of the small Carpathian mountains on a 25-mile front. Advances of up to 14 miles were , reported. German broadcasts said the So viets were battling in tho Sem mering pass ' in the Pischbacher 42 miles southwest of Vienna and 132 miles east of Adolf Hitler's hideaway at Bcrchtesgaden, 7th War Loan To Be Parley Topic A number of La Grande peo ple plan to attend a six-county meeting of tho war finance com mittees to be held tomorrow noon in Baker. Payroll savings programs and plans for the seventh war loan drive, opening May 14, will be discussed. Eastern Oregon counties to bs represented at the meeting, which will start with a luncheon I in the Baker hotel dining room, will be Union, Umatilla, Wal lowa, Grant, Malheur and Baker Pits Deserted By Alabama Miners BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 3 up) A majority of Alabama soft coal miners remained away from the pits today, apparently protesting the fad no contract has been negotiated since the April 1 expiration Mate. Only a few mines in the state wore operating wjth crews. skelton William Mitch, president of District il OI inc United Mim-ii , .T : ' ' ,,: H'iKui 10 an miW'M n t-ntnrn In l.rA.l. 1.. said( )ie ejected opoMtionV to DtftCU ' OUISLINC FLEES rcsumcft xh or three 'dys."0 0LONDOM; Ap.'lJ 3 (DP,-, R fwxZZr. f 9 (V Ports rfaehifig here iodaOssiA GENERAL IS PROMOTED ;i,at Arthui Sevss-Ii,(6rtt; reich 'he senate toclav confirmed pro motion of Lt. Cm. Alexander A. Vanriogrift. marine corps com- ndant, to the rank of full e, n- Take Closes i , n , .. VIENNA BOUND Marshal Feodor I. Tolbukhin, above, commands the Third Ukrainian army group, first Red army unit across the Austrian border in the drive toward Vienna. Australians Beat Off Jap Attack On Bougainville By United Press Australian troops have smash ed a serious Japanese counter attack on Bougainville island in the northern Solomons killing the largest number of enemy troops of any campaign, the Melbourne radio said today. The broadcast, recorded by United Press in San Francisco, said the Japs launched the at tack on four Australian positions near Hiru Hiru last week. After several days of fighting, Australian tanks appeared, the broadcast reported, and the ' Japs are now breaking off the engage ment." It was the second time that Matilda tanks have been used in support of Australian operations in the south Pacific area. Dozen Scouts Pass Merit Badge Tests I Awards to 12 boy scouts, to be I presented at the court of honor j in Union, April 20, were approved I by the board of review, meeting last night in the Presbyterian church. Life rank was approved for Ice land Johnson of troop 112, who also passed his firemanship-safety tests and seven fellow members of his troop passed ih-:ir tests as follows: Roderick French, bird study; Billtom Roberta, personal health; Glenn Steele and Rciberl Madsen, safety; Garth Sanderson, cycling, and Dean Bay and Dale Cyr, pioneering. Bob Quinn of troop 111 was i pproved for a music - bugling award, and Donald Blacker of troop 113, also pa.'istd the bug ling test. From troop 114. Max Ing rson pa."std the public ipeak- . I- n.,,,.t..j cuilitled far the saBt.DadM.Ov . governor tor Huland whosiQcr cm;e,ppres.kc6dx'd tiCft tiny ........ ' ohhhv.um, uaii iiua ed toj, (S6 Austria with. 9,000 guilders 120,000) limted irnm ine Am.-tor-(iatjrgji.ink. . i. LA GftANPE, Austrian Industry Yanks Strengthen Hold on Good Supply Of Irrigation Water Looms Much improved water supplies for 1945 throughout northeastern Oregon compared with the out look n VOnr nun were fr,vnnnei in. dav bv officials nf il'I'inntinn I triets, power companies and the I agricultural extension service wiiu iuuk pari in me annual wa ter forecast meeting here. The meeting was held by W. T. Frost of Medford, representing the cooperative snow survey and irrigation water forecasts con ducted by the soil conservation service and the 'OSC Experiment station. Local officials pointed out that I no extreme shortage foreseen a year ago was averted only by exceptionally heavy June rains that came in time to save most crops. Snow supplies in the mountains feeding the various streams are such now, however, as Ujl insure near normal stream flow throughout the Inea with out regard to uncertain late spring or summer rain. Late Snow Beneficial Men attending the meeting from Wallowa and Baker coun ties said the unseasonable snow fall that blanketed the Grande Ronde valley this morning with from three to six inches of new snow was general throughout the territory and probably much heavier in the high mountains, thus adding to the already im proved snow storage on the wa tersheds. K. W. bchaad, Union county agent, and George T. Cochran. local attorney long interested in water supply, said soil moisture conditions throughout the valley are good compared with : last year, indicating need for less ir rigation. Good Run-off Forseen Stream flow prospects for the April-September period, based on mountain snow reports and con ditions of watershed soils, a re fer 79 per cent and 78 per cent See IRRIGATION . . . Page 5 German Navy Base Is Bomber Target LONDON, April 3 (UP) Amer ican eighth air force bombers attacked the big German naval base and Baltic ports of Kiel to day in a ronewal of the campaign against the shipping facilities he hind the threatened defenders nf northwest Germany. About 750 Flying Fortresses and Liberators, escorted by 650 fightors, bombed Kiel, one of the main harbon of Schleswig-Hol-stein, toward which the allied jisi army group was p'essing. British Mosquito bombers lust night attacked Berlin and the synthetic oil center of Magde burg. Manpower Bill Is Killed By Senate WASHINGTON, April 3 (UP) The senate today rejected the compromise manpuwer bill. The vote was 40 to 29. The decision had been expected ever since the hill came to the floor last Wednesday. ' --The house previously had adopted the Mil by a small mar aiti H?eiirrO nirain by wilfflii I iedW''H'rit y tteerth,r,n. iduce an accept- consequence. the measure passed appeared unlikely tttie'tlH ference could produce an accept able bill of much consequence the senate yoW uhSBtmoiKiv. ltd' i W Off '4, OmPrJiHC U f !otav.teml Madrid r. ports that the house, with tsameVt' '''P-:6f5 ,-t, d Gen. Dwight D. EisW cSfiferees. as WfofeO O A QP- $T- "'AV"i f'1 j hower through the medium of rmMMmnmm Union and Wallowa Co OREGON TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 3, 19 13 JAP MIDGET SUB P-T BOAT BASE Hidden away in one of many sheltered covss of Okinawa is this Jap midget submarine a. id torpedo boat base. Anchored in cove is Jap "Sea Truck," which has just narrowly missed bomb from attacking American naval plar.'j.. Thousands of these small craft shuttle back and forth from Jap homeland to nearby island possessions carrying small quantities of military cargo. Midget sub is see.i foreground, scoral torpedo boats, covered with palm leaf camouflage, are tied up at right anqle to sub. Yaiks invading Koramo Retto discovered and destroyed 290 Jap "suicide" boats of secret fleet which apparently planned to attack invading American forces. U. S. Navy photo. Approaches to Singapore are Under Fire of British Fleet By United Press The Chungking radio report ed Tuesday that "formidable fleets" of British destroyers were attacking Japanese coast al installations on Sumatra, the long Netherlands East Indies island which guards the ap proaches to Singapore. The Chungking b r o a d cast said the British surface fleet has inflicted considerable damage" on Japanese shipping in th-3 waters around Sumatra. In addition, Chungking snicl. Biitish surface units were bom barding installations on the Andaman islands, Japanese held group in the Bay of Ben gal west of the Malayan penin sula. Three hundred American air craft raided Formosa Tuesday, presumably to protect the south flank of the Okinawa invasion operations, Tokyo radio report- Luzon Japs Are Pushed Into Trao MANILA, April 3 (UP) U. S. assault troops squeezed the Jap anese into a hopeless trap on southeastern Luzon todav after an amphibious landing that over ran the purl of Legaspi and its ;n: -field. Seasoned veterans of Bug Gen. Hanford McNider's 15th regimental combat team complet er! the encirclement of the J;ip ane' in southern Luzon Sunday v.-ith a surprise landing ne;ir Lr gio.pi, 200 miles southeast of Manila. Fire from heavy coastal hat- cms met the mvion efalt, but i pti'isitli.ti fade when tl. K-oops h.t .the beaches under .oVer of ?s 0t-n iCitizenshipflUol 'Mp '.1 ;' -u- lJ ; 'Wl'd. 'pA''athe ,UIT, n.l. V J.S-' oK'fhrffte l!.(3)Gr; T,. smll(., said it was nnt aWi m. tMr.-nw. the custom of the Vatican to act M-(g) Smith i.! ivr fi.'.s an int'inierliaiy in purely Canaoa. I nnhtai v matters. 3vnfi . rml ..ft V, CL $J Jll vs.- it cd in a broadcast recorded by United Press in San Francisco. Tokyo also reported U. S. air strikes against the south 'China coastal cities of Hong Kong and Canton. Fightor planes of the U. S. China air force, attacking the Shanghai airdrome in blows coordinated with the Okinawa invasion, shot down six enemy planes and blasted the remain der on the ground. Other P-51s, swooping down on Japanese troops at Sinsiang ninth of the Yollow river, kill ed 1200 of the enemy, a com munique said. In Flinch Indo-China, B-25s b o m b e d Japanese positions south of Hanoi in support of Flench troops resisting Jap anese occupation of the coun try white other A m e r i c a n planes slruek at enemy ship ping, railroad yards and refin eries. Even Nazi (leneral (letn Lout in Rush On Western Front l.OKIiOK, Apii! 3 (UP) -F.ven German generals get lost in Ihe;-.' luetic days on the western trout. i Maj. On. Hans Boehlsen, a divisional commander, piled in to his Volkswagen and started along a highway. Visibility v. u; not too good. Aft'-r :i time Ilui'hlson discov ered itere was an American tank in tiont of him. Looking back in al'-o found one behind him. He couldn't go iiOeither diiieti-n and was taken pri sonr ri.vhr-n the colutata stopped. $i'2&nn 1 PcllC ,l()e V U) !(Vafean Denied apjh ui)-.wce3 'iJT) ciose touch (g)th the Vatican FIVE CENTS Hub s Okinawa Jap Defense Is Expected On Isthmus WASHINGTON. April 3 (UP) A "very large" force of Superfortresses struck today at industrial targets in three Jap anese cities in the Tokyo area. GUAM, April 3 (UP) Front dispatches said today tho Japan ese defenders of Okinawa appear to be making preparations for their first major defensive effort against American, soldiers and marines who thus far have been virtually unopposed. The enemy sti;nd, it was be lieved, will be made across the narrow, bottleneck "M s t h m u s guarding the approaches to the capital city of Naha and its huge, nearby airfields. At last report, units of Maj. Gen. John R. Hod ges 4th army corps were a lit tle more than six miles from the city. The doughboys who severed Japanese defenses on Okinawa by dashir.g six miles to tho east coast In less than 30 hours wid-' ened their hold on the vital Na kagusuku bay naval anchorage to at least three miles and still were pushing forward behind tank companies. United Press Correspondent Edward Thomas reported that if tho Japanese attempt to mass troops along this front they will be exposed to American battle ship and cruiser fire, plus straf ing and bombing attacks by car rier planes. Marines at the northern end of the 10th army's front broadened tho west coast beachhead to at least 10 miles with an advance See JAPS PREPARE . . . Page . U. S. Drops Plan to Seek Extra Votes In World Assembly WASHINGTON, April 3 (UP) President Roosevelt has decided the United States will not ask for edditional voles for this country in the proposed world assembly. The announcement was made , by Secretary of State Edward R. : Sletlinius, jr., at a record-break ing press conference attended by marly I U0 correspondents. It was disclosed last week that during the Crimea conference, Russia asked for thiee voles in th? assembly. The While House said then that Britain and the U. S. agreed to support this re quest in the San Francisco con ference. The While House added in last week's announcement: "But the American representatives stated that, if the United Nations organ ization agreed to let the Soviet republics havi' three voles, the United Stales would ask for three otes also." todays announcement meant that the U. S. apparently will continue to support the Russian request for three votes, fulfilling the promise made at Yalta, but will not follow this up by asking the .-three votes for this country Stettinius also announced that plans for the April 25 San Fran cisco conference ar-j proceeding with no thousji? of postponement. On the contrary, because of the iail ttstipo of military and poli- (tl'.al events, it is increasingly necessary that the plans for clout ing g)orld organization be car ried on promptly. Chamber Directors To Meet Thursday The April meeting of the di rectors or the La Grande Cham ber of Commerce will be held Thursday noon in the Stein Cof fee shop banquet room. President Raymond L. Gray will make an announcement re garding future forum meetings. PattoiVs Forces Race Across Germany For Junction LONDON, April 3 (UP) The Paris radio said to- ' , jiight that American forces had captured -Wuerzburg, big transport center 60 miles southeast of Frankfurt. PARIS, April 3 (UP) Lt. today roarecTinto Gotha, only 150 miles from Berlin and a scant 185 miles from junction vit)i the Red army. Gotha is less than 25 miles west of Wiemqr, birthplace of the German republic, on the important highway leading to Liepzig, 75 miles east of Gotha. Other third army units captured Kassel, big mil and highway center 58 miles northwest of Gotha and 165 miles front Berlin. A dispatch from the city said it fell to the 80th division after a three-day battle, and a mopup "J of isolated nests of resistance was going on. The 80th division captured historic Kassel after three days of tho bloodiest fighting by third army forces since the cross Eisenhower Says Ruhr Nazis "Ripe For Annihilation" PARIS. April 3 (UP) Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said in a special order of the day to hie armies today that German troops encircled In the Ruhr were "ripo for annihilation." One whole German army group and pari of another were caught in the Ruhr trap, he raid, and their "fate is sealed." "A most vital war Industrial area is denied to the German war potential," he continuod. "This magnificent feat of arms will bring the war more rapid ly to a close. , "It will long be remembered in history as an outstanding battle the battle of the Ruhr." Heroic U. S. Slain After Surrendering dm. on, was shot to death by Nasi tankmen while taking off his Pistol to hand over to his German captors, it was announced today. Roses aide, Maj Robert Ballinger, White Plains, N. Y., said Rose already had surrendered to the crew of a German Tiger ank when tankmen with a "burp" gun shot him. , . wnen ttosc was riding south of Pad-i erborn last Saturday when he was captured. He was trying to reach a portion of the third arm oied task force which had bion cut off. Rose, one of the outstanding tankmen of the war, led the third armored division spearhead through northern France into Eolgium and his unit was the first to breach the Siegfried line. It was the first to e liter Cologne and now is one of the first on the road to Berlin. Runs Into Trap Ballinger said the general's peep, followed by a command halftrack, ran into a German tank column. They pulled off the road and started through a field trying to escape the nazi tanks when I hey ran into a German Tiger lank on the edge of the woods. The general and his aide got out of ll.o peep and stood with their hands over heads in sur render. As Rose was unbuckling his pistol holster, he was shot, Ballinger said. Hallinger and the peep- driver jumped into the ditch us did the crewmen from the halftrack. All woiked their way back to the lines. Later, armored units returned to the spot and found the gen i nil's buily and the command halftrack. The car was uni'ifled, indicating the nazis either were See GKN. HOSE . . . Page 5 Captured General Says Hitler Plans to Die Leading Guard LONDON, April 3 (Ul'f A captured German general toll I liont correspondents today that Adolf Hitler plans to die in battle at the head of SS elite guard troops especially picked for the honoAif dying with th, fuehrer. SS units alre.tily were being designated for the sacrifice, German Maj. Gen. Hans Boehl sen said in an interview with a London News-Chronicle corres pondent on the third army front. O O Another captured German, Prince Engelbert Charles Aren berg, first German prince to fall into allied hands, said he re ceived private word that Iteichsmarshal Hermann Goer ing is dead. Other high nazi chiefs still arc alive and making their escape to some hideout, pre sumably in the Bavarian Alps, he told a London Daily Tele With Reds Gen. Com-vp S. Pnt.tnn'. tnnl ing of the Rhine. ranona iresh sweep came, as Field Marshal Sir, Bernard Montgomery's forces captured the Woitphalian capital of Mu eniter, 227 miles west of Ber lin, and swept north along the Dutch German frontier ip a drive that threatened to trap possibly 50,000 naiis within Holland. The U., S. ninth army fought its way into the groat Ruhr citv of Humm and its armored spear- ncatm were pushing within 37 miles of Hannover on the Ruhr- Berlin super-highway. Armor Enters Gotha Gotha was entered by fourth armor-ad division spearheads which thrust forward 10 miles east of Eisenach. The fourth division was barely 75 miles from the old Czech fron tier at Gotha and about 185 miles from the closest Russian army units, A 12th army group spokes See KASSEL . . . PaPge 5 . Tank Leader Northern States Are Swept By New Frigid Wave CHICAGO, April 3 (UP) Residents in the northern half of the nation hung their spring. suns uacn in uie closet today and settled down to another cold wavo. The weatherman had nothing but had news, as temperatures fell rapidly in a broad area from the Great Lakes region as far southwest as Arizona and New Mexico. The mercury dropped 40 degrees in 12 hours in the north central states. In the west, the mercury hov ered between the five and ten degree mark, with a reading of eight above zero registered at Cheyenne, Wyo. during the night. Almost continuous. heavy rains fell in southern Illinois and lower Michigan. Light rain was report ed in the northern New England states. Intermittent snowfall continued in Wyoming and CoMrado and the west portions of South Dakotu and Nebraska with 12 inches of snow blanketing the ground at Cheyenne. Elsewhere temperatures were only slightly below the unsea sonable balmy March records. graph correspondent on the American ninth army front. The prince, along with his princess, Valerie Marie, who claimed to be a great grand daughter of Queen Victoria and n d island cousin of King George VI, were found in their 300-room palace at Norkirchen near Ludinhausen in Westpha lia. A dispatch frointhe Swiss border said Gestapo Chief Ileinrich Himmler spent Easter at the Bavarian town of Breg enz with other members of the nazi inner gang planning a last stand in the Bavarian moun tains. The Identity of three men, identified by the German radio as a chauffeur and two passen gers, who were slain in a big hli:5 limousine on -the Avus speedway between Berlin and Potsdam yesterday remains a mystery. r
