La Grande evening observer., April 27, 1945, Image 1

c
mm
- . .
ESTABLISHED 1896
Defenses of Berlin Totter
Citadels
Fall to
Russians
LONDON, Apr. 27 (UP)
Russian troops in Berlin have
cnpturcd the Tempclhof air
drome. LONDON, Apr. 27 (UP)
Marshal Stalin announced to
night that the second White
Russian army had captured
Prenzlau and Angermuendc,
German strongholds in west
ern Pomerania north of Ber
lin. Other Russian armies cap
tured the Berlin anchor posts
of Potsdam and Spandau to
day, reached the Elbe at Wit
tenberg, and neared it due
west of the capital within a
dozen miles of the U. S. ninth
army.
The fall of Potsdam and Span
dau unhinged the western de
fenses of Berlin, and a nazi
broadcast said the situation in
tho capital had become "still
more critical" after Soviet for
ces drove to its heart.
Marshal Ivan S. Koncv's first
Ukrainian army caplued Wit
tenberg, on-the-Elbe 41 miles
southwest of Berlin and 25 miles
north of the now historic junc
tion town or Torgau.
Soviet troops sweeping west
ward beyond Berlin captured
Fathenow, big rail hub 13 miles
from the Elbe where the German
high command reported an Amer
ican ninth army crossing.
Tonight a .German broadcast
raid Russian 'shock units driving
into Berlin from the south had
reached tho heart of the city.
See BERLIN . . . Page 5
crnie
Pyle
Indian Marines
Put on Ceremony
To Sof ten Japs
(Editor's Nole: in addition to
' tho story which appears here to
day, we will print several others
which we have just received from
Ernie on Okinawa. We believed
he would have wanted us to. As
a great reporter, a great news
paperman and a great person, he
would have wanted his stories to
go through, despito his tragic
deaih.)
By ERNIE PYLE
OKINAWA (By Navy Radio)
Back nearly two years ago when
I was with Oklahoma's 45th divi
sion in Sicily and later in Italv.
I learned they had a number of
Navajo Indians in communica
tions. When secret orders had to be
given over the phone these boy.
gave them to one another in Nav
ajo. Practically nobody in the
world understands Navajo except
another Navajo.
Well, my regiment of First
division marines has the same
thing. There are about eight
Indians who do this special
work. They are good marinas
and very proud of being so.
There are two brothers among
them, both named Joe. Their las!
names are the ones that are dif
ferent. I guess that's a Navajr
custom, though I never knew of
it before. ,
One brother, l'fc. J.c Gar
wood, went to the Indian sclfiji'l
in Albuquerque. In fact our
hou is on the very same street
and Joe said it suftf'was good to
see somebody from home.
Joe has been out here three
years. He is 34 and has five chil
dren back home whom he would
like to see. Hl- was wounded
several months ago and got tin
See INDIAN Page ... 3
LA GRANDE,
CURTAIN RISES IN SAN FRANCISCO This is the stage and here are some of the actors in
the great drama of peace. The picture was taken as Secretary of State Edward R. Slettinius, center,
opened the world security conference. At the extreme right is Mayor Roger Lapham of San Fran
cisco. Governor Earl Warren of California' sits beside Slettinius and at the far left is Alger Hiss,
acting secretary of the conference. In the background are representative men and women of the
United Slates' armed services and ihe massed flags of the United Nations.
Stettinius Gets
Key Positions At
Security Parley
SAN FRANCISCO, April 27
(UP) Soviet Russia, victorious
in its first two major demands
on the United Nations security
conference, agreed today to a
compromise on its third where
by Secretary of Stale Edward R.
Stettinius, jr., gets the confer
ence's two most important jobs.
He will be chairman of
the conference's executive and
steering committees.
The formula provided that the
four sponsoring nations the
United Slates, Great Britain,
Russia und China would dele
gate their powers to Stettinius
to allow him to preside at the
sessions nf the two key confor
e lice committees.
The conference will have four
I presidents but their powers will
be welded by Stettinius "to con
j fhiet the business of the confer
ence," Michael McDcrmott, chief
press officer, announced.
The decision was reached in
a three hour-plus closed meet
ing of the steering committee.
Soviet Foreign Commissor V. M.
Mololov in yesterday's stormy
session of the same group had
vigorously opposed granlini! the
key powers to Stettinius. But u
united Anglo-American-Chinese
front apparently had forced Mol
ctov to retreat.
A morning session of an Amer
ican delegation subcommittee
broke up after more than four
he tirs. The group had virtually
completed its line-by-line consid
eration of the Dumbarton Oaks
plan and expected to present its
fipdings to the full delegation
at a meeting tonight.
Benito Mussolini
Arrest Rumored
ROME, April 27 (UP) The
Free Milan radio reported with
out immediate confirmation to
day that custom guards had ar
rested Benito Mussolini and two
of his leading henchmen in the
fascist regime that once rulcl
Italy.
The broadcast said guards ar
rested Mussolini at Lecco on
Lake Como in the border area
near Switzerland. Taken with
him, it said, were Alessandro
I'avolini and Roberto Farinacri.
Povalini onto was Mussolini's
propaganda minister and Fari
nacui the tecrc'.ry of the fascist
parly.
REPARATIONS AIOE NAMED
WASHINGTON. April 27 (UP)
Edwin W. Pauley. 42-year-old
treasurer of the Democratic na
tional committee, was named by
President Tiuman today to ser
ve as the American member on
the allied reparations commission
which meets in Minw next
month.
Unioi and Wallowa Counfiei
OREGON FRIDAY EVENING,
War Loan Quota of Employees
Of Union Lumber Firm Passed
As Teams Vie for Sales Honors
One of the first quotas to be achieved in the seventh war loan
campaign in Union county was announced today by W. C. Perkins-,
county chairman, with the revelation that employees of the Oregon
Trail lumber company at Union have oversubscribed a $10,285 quota.
Payoff Near For
Yanks at Baguio
And on Okinawa
By .United Press
American ground forces moved
toward the pay-off today in bat
tles for southern Okinawa and
foi Baguio on nolhern Luzon and
Mindanao in the Philippines.
I Japanese resistance was re
ported cracking on southern Oki
nawa. Troops of the 24th army
coips captured Sawtooth ridge,
highest point on the island, and
moved into position for a down
hill battlo to the south coast.
Radio Tokyo reported the
Americans also had landed men
and material behind a Japanese
pocket still holding out on Molo
bu peninsula, which juts from
Okinawa's northwest coast.
Some 400 miles to the north
east, superfortresses blasted for
the second time in 24 hours at
seven Japanese suicieic plane
I bases on Kyushu, southernmost
of the enemy's home islands.
1 American doughboys of the
33rd division today battled
toward the center of Bagnio,
rummer capital of the Philip
pines, against fierce Japanese re
sistance. Front dispatches said the fall
of the mountain city was immi
nent despite a last-ditch fight by
its Japanese defenders.
On Mindanao, 24th division
troops racing across the island to
split the Japanese forces in two
were less than 20 miles from Da
vao gulf.
Removal of OPA
Officials Threatened
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UP)
Chairman Elmer Thomas, D.,
Okla., of the senate food investi
gating committee today threat
ened to force the office of price
administration to save meat pack
ers from going broke.
Senator will seek to amend Ihe
pi ice-control extension bill un
less OPA provides relief inline
oiately. he said. If that fails.
Thomas added, Jhev will demand
i'i placement of OPA meat execu
tives, o
Weathef
Data for 21 hours to 7 a. m.,
Temperature:
Maximum 64
Minimum 40
Forecast: Cloudy, showers lo-
I night and Saturday.
APRIL 27, 1945
In a contest arranged by G. I.
Hess, manager of the company,
and war finance chairman for
'he city of Union, the company's
58 employees purchased an aver
age of $17!!. 50, or a total of .$10,
411 purchase price, and tho con
test is continuing, Hess reported.
The company offerd a $25
bond as a prize to the team cap
tain who sold the most bonds,
and six $25 cere's aril .SIM!
bond as prizes to bond purchas
ers. Three teams of two men .-sch
were formed to solicit the em
ployees, the members being Guy
Goble and Cliff Rhodes, Dave
Jnhnnsun and .Lawrence Hibhlin,
and Ike Gibbs and Earl Bowell.
Due to the fact that the con
test is continuing and tho teams
expect to sell larger amounts of
bonds, the contest awards have
not been made, Hess told Per
kins. The contest is the outgrowth
if a movement by the county
war finance committee to solicit
bond purchasers at their places
nf employment apart from any
oilier phase of the seventh loan
campaign, Perkins announced.
He said arrangements arc being
made for similar solicitations in
other industrial and business
concerns throughout the county
in advance of the opening of the
train phase of the campaign on
May 14.
Genoa Captured
By U.S. Fifth Army
ROME, April 27 (UP) Amer
ican Fifth army troops captured
li'.e big Italian port of Genoa to
day while to the north other
units ef the Fifth race-el 40 mile's
in 24 hours te take Piae-onza, 35
miles from Milan.
Italian partisans lad taken
over most of Geneia before the
Americans entered.
The U. S. Fifth and the Brit
ish Eighth ,emies meanwhile
were crossing the Adige river at
many poinls bringing them in
front of the enemy Venetian or
Adige line, a 15th army group
comnmni(iic said.
Fifth army lioe-iis continued t"
consolidate their peisitiems in the
Mantua area and maintained rein
fect with the fast-retreating Ger
mans. (V)With the German defense's col
lapsed completely and Italian
patriots claiming control of much
of northern Italy, the Fifth and
Eighth armies were advancing at
will.
FIVE CENTS
North Powder
Man's Murder
Laid to Son
State police announc. today
that Albert Forrest Bowman, 27,
confessed he 'killed his father,
Albert F. Bowman, 58, wealthy
cattle and she-op man of the
North Powder district last Sun
day evening and threw his body
in an abandoned well.
District Attorney C. R. Eber
hard anounccd a murder charge
will b-3 filed today.
Captain A. E. Dunn of Baker,
and Capt. W. H. Howard of Port
land, state police officers, an
nounced the confession was ob
tained early today after they had
questioned Bowman for several
hours. ."'
Claims Self Defense
They said the slayer said he
struck the fatal blow in self de
fense after his father attacked
him with a milk stool while they
were quarreling in a corral. He
said he pjeked up a large rock
and struck his father on the head
and thin put tha body in nn
abandoned well in a corral.
The quarrel occurred in a spot
remote from the house where it
could not be, hoard by. an elderly
Woman vVho was the only other
person present on the ranch at
the time, the officers said.
The elder Beiwman's absence
from the ranch Sunday night led
to a search but it was not until
the following morning that an
employee found the body.
The police said they questioned
tho younge-r Bowman only brief
ly in the early stages of their
investigation, but obtained state
ments from others which led
them to suspect him. They took
him into custody yesterday and
brought him to La Grnnele for
queslioning.
Surviving the rancher tire his
widow, two daughters and three
other sons, 1,1. Eugene Bowman
of Baker, and Staff Sgt. Quenlin
and Pvt. Howard Bowman, berth
of whom are serving in the south
Pacific.
Funeral services will he lii-lel
tomorrow in Baker. Burial will
be in the North Powder ceme
tery. Selective Service
Revision Approved
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UP)
The house today unanimously
adopted a draft extension bill
carrying a provision banning fu
ture use of 18-year-old draftees
in combat until they have had
six months training.
The legislation, which now
goes tb President Truman, cx-te-nds
the selective .service act to
May 15, 11)40. or to the end of
Ihe war, whichever comes first.
The provision on training of
18-year-olds was placed in the
bill by the senate. The house
military affairs committee ap
proved the amendment unani
mously in a closed session ye-s-terday
and it was offered to the
house under unanimous consent.
The amendment contains no
it-strictions on the use in com
tat of 17-year-old navy and ma
line corps volunteers, nor dries
it say anything abeiut the train
ing of iniluetees 19 anel older.
Hitler in Berlin,
Says Nazi General
WITH U. S. NINTH ARMY IN
GERMANY, April 27 (UP)
Lieut. -Cirn. Kurt Dillmar, mili
tary spokesman for the German
f igh command who (aiii're-ndor(.-el
lo ther Am'fr-icans loelav, said
Adolf Hitler anil Paul Josel
Gocbbels are in Berlin anil woiilil
stay 'there;, dead or alive-. Q
The man whose veeice once
trumpeted German military vic
tories over the Berlin radio gave
up, convinced Germany had lost
the war.
Diltmiir said Berlin would fall
in 0 matter of hours, or, at the
most in a few days.
Dpnrirlnnl-
ncoiuciii
Is Near as Allies Join Forces
Near Torgau, Heart of Germany
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UP) President Truman today announced tho juncture of
United Stales and Russian forces in the heart of Germany and proclaimed the near.aj.
proach of the victory over nazidom for which allied peoples "have toiled and prayed so .
long." :''.
The historic juncture, which the world hm been eagerly awaiting- for days, was accom-
plished in force at 2 p.m. EWT, yesterday, at Torgau, 75 miles due south of doomed Berlin: t
Torgau is at tho apex of a triangle, tho other points of which are formed by Leipsig to
the southwest and Dresden to the southeast. '
Hie coming together or Hie allied armies, itcskiciu iruman occiarea, means tnai me.
last faint, desperate hope of Hitler and his gangster government has been extinguished."
It proves, he added in an allusion to the United Nations conference at San Francisco,,
Hint: ' ' .
"Nations which can plan and fight together shoulder to shoulder in the face of such
ousiacies 01 aisuince ana oi language aim oi cumniiiiiicouuiis us we nuve uvcieunio ceui iivi-
together and can work together in the common-labor of tho organization of the world
for peace." V
"Hour of Final Victory Draws Near" 'V-
Presidont Truman, hailing tho fact that "the enemy has been cut in two," warned the'.:
American people:
"This is not the hour of final victory in Europe, but the hour draws near, the hour fori
which all the American people,
loiled and prayed so long. , r 1 -.
According- to White House Press Secretary Jonathan Daniels, tho juncture took place
in force on April 2b" yesterday at 2 p.m., EWT, when largo units of the American"'
(9th division joined with substantial Soviet forces. v
The point of juncture was 75 1
miles due south of Berlin,
Patrols of the two armies con
sisting of small groups of soldiers
met at 2:40 p.m., EWT, April 25,
but the juncture was not a large,
practical fact until yesterday af-
l ternoon.
News of the juncture was re
leased simultaneously at noon
(EWT) in Washington, London
and Moscow through simultane
ous, although no identical state
ments. President Truman said "the
Anglo - American armies under
the command of Gen. Eisen
hower" in joining the Soviet
armies in the heart of Germany
meant:
"The- last faint, desperate
hope of Hitler and his gangster
government has been extinguish
ed." The successes of the common
allied front against the German
tyranny and inhumanity, the
president said, made certain that
untiling would divide or wraken
Ihe common pur-pore of "final
allie-d triumph in Germany."
The president, mindful of the
importance of the United Na
lions meeting in San Francisco,
said the juncture "signalizes to
ourselves and to the world that
the collaboration of our nations
in the cause eif peace and free
dom is tin effective collabora
tion which can surmount the
greatest difficulties of the mii.il
i-Klcnsivc campaign in military
history and succeed "
Post-War Road
Building Program
Planned in State
SALEM, Ore., April 27 (UP)
A detailed program of postwar
highway construction 'in Ore-gun
was announced lorlay by the.
sli.le highway commissiein.
The program, which is tenta
tive, and to be financed by ap
proximately $.'1(1,0110,000 of feder
al and matching state funds, calls
j for construction work on the pri
mary leoerai am system ol nigh
ways, the secondary system, and
work on urban area federal aid
routes.
An additieinal S.'i.-IOO.OOO will
be available yearly for forest
highways, the commission stated,
I to be expended by the public
' mads administration. This will
be added lo the $2,000,000 of
picviously authorized forest
highway funds.
Division of the financing pro
gram is on the basis of 00 per
cent coming from the forlorn
Coveinmenl and 40 per cent from
state matching funds, or for each
year, $7,100,000 federal money,
end $I.!IOO.OOI) state moni-y, mak
ing a total or $12,000,000 yearly.
The yearly total will be diviel-e-d
between the three construc
tion type-s on the folleiwing for
mula: $0.:! 15,000 on the primary
system, $4,310,000 on the second -i
iy system, anil $I,:175.000 on the
urban federal aid route's.
Anllnacil Miners
Vole lo Strike
IIA.l.fcT)N. Pa., April 27 (UP)
The result of a strike vote in
tl".- Pennsylvania! anthracite re
gion leve.-ali-d today that hard
coal mini-is favored, fl to I, n
walkout lo support demands of
John L. Lewis, United Mine
Workers preside-nl, in his con
tract negotiations with operators.
T
iiuiuaii jayo viului
all tho British peoples and
Early End to Germarv
Resistance Foreseerr
In Allied Meeting
PARIS, April 27 (UP) American and Russian armies:'
have joined forces on the Elbe river below Berlin in a hjs-"'
toric juncture that cut Germany into three broken fragments;
and sealed the doom of Hitler's nazi regime.
The juncture split the reich into three crumbling islands
of resistance centering around the North Sea ports, Berlin!
and tho Bavarian redoubt in the mountains of southern
Germany and Austria,, rt x-tr'.' . V' - - '
Still another American-Russian linkup appeared imminent
in the Bavarian foothills bordering Hitlers Berchtesgaden
retreat, where Gen. George S. Patton's third army cstal
lished radio contact with a Red army force apparently only
JunctureTof
Allied Armies
Is Accidental
WITH THE UNITED STATES
FIRST ARMY IN GERMANY,
Apiil 27 (UP) The first junc
ture between the American and
Russian forces actually took place
Wednesday and by uccident!
A 20-man American patrol,
which failed lo receive orders to
hull Its advance, walked into the
Russian lines. The formal juns
ture at Torgau did not take place
until tin next day.
Mossago Miccarries
Tile- surprise- meeting occurred
at the- little town of Rie-sa ein the
Kibe live-r. A radio message had
he-em sent to the little American
task force, ordering it lo hall
alter it ieaelie-d five mills beyeind
the Mulde rive:r. Bui the Ameri
cans never got the message.
On anel on tin y went, mile id
ler mile, until they were 211 miles
beyond the point where their or
eie i s had told them to hall.
There Ihey met the Russians.
None of the Americans spoke
Russian, but il didn't mailer.
Lii ut. Albert Kreveterew of the
American patrol, his uniform
covered with dust, walked to
ward ttie Russians anel stuck out
See FIRST JUNCTUetE . . . Pg. 7
Swiss Report Says
(Joering a Suicide
LONDON, April 27 (UP)--A
Zurich elispateh of the: Exchange
Tele-graph said loday that ri-ichs-marshal
Hermann Goe-ring shot
I is five daughters anel then liini
telf when the Nazis sentenced
him lo death and ordered him
to execute his own death sent
ence. "
(The British Who's Who s.'iq:
Gocring has only tvyei daughters.)
The Exchange Telegraph dis
patch s.-iiel the commanelant of
geslapo Chief lli-iiuii-li Hiinm
ler's bodyguard reael a Nazi
oe-alh sentenced) Goering, newly
re-placed (5); hc-nel of the Ge-rman
air force, anel orelered him to car
ry it out.
The death sentence is rumored
lo have been the outgrowth eif a
le tter sent Hitler by Goering in
which the Fuehrer was urged to
accept consequences of n lost war
and spare further bloodshed.
all the Soviet people have,.'
30 to 40 miles away.
ma location of tne advanced
Russian spearheads was not
cieur, uul il was iiiuicuiuu nut
,...,:. 1 I! 4 1 4U
they were part of Marshal Fco
Cior Tolbukhin's Secohd Ukrain
ian army, last reported 85 milcj
KnuthnnKt nf the Ampripeins in thfl
i-euiiuuc vaue;y west ol viennu.
. Mov on Berchtesgaden -
Patton's men were across tho
Austrian frontier just south of
the Auslro-German-Czechoslovak
borders little more than 80 miles
norlh-northcast of Bcrchtesgadr
en. They were in position to
v.-heel down with the Russian
from the last assault on Hitler's
mountain hideaway. ,
Word of the impending junc
tion on the Third army fronjf .
came as the American Seventh
army crashed into tho Bavarian
redoubt from tho west in a spec
tacular break-through that car
ried within 25 miles of Munich
birthplace of the Nazi party. .
Germans Flee From Reds
Doughboys of the U. S. First
army's 60th infantry division
pushed out from the Mulde riv1
er, 30 miles from the Elbe, (o
join up with the 173rd Russian
guards regiment in Torgau, on
the west bank of the Elbe. .
As Ihey went forward, hund
reds of war-wearied German
prisoners lined the roadsides to
Sec END . . . Page 5 ,:.'
Lumber Workers ""
Win Pay Increase
PORTLAND, April 27 (UP) V
Approximately 35,000 fir lumber
workers in the Pacific northwest.,
today had won commission in- -eluding
pay increases for sOmc-7
as result of a directive from the
west coast lumber commission of
the national war labeer board.' ,
Concessions included two
weeks vacation with pay, check
off of union due's and an increase
in pay for power saw operators
In $1.73 an hour.
Baseball Results '
National League ' J ;
Pittsburgh 000 030 0003 . 8 I'
Chicago -100 210 OOx 7 7 I '
Sewel, Cuccuiullo, Rescigt'
and Lopez; Dcrringrr and fyU
illusion. -New
York 000 102 1015 12 ,0.
Brooklyn 000 000 0000 8 -3
Voitelle and Lombard); DaviJ
Pfund. and Owen.
Philadelphia ot Boston post
poned, rain. ; N
American League
Detroit at Cleveland postponed,
coid. ., : -