Scrvico Men; v Oar , beys ef Salem an 41 vicinity are la uniform with Uncle 8am ever the face ef lb globe. Follow them dally ta The Statesman's 'Service Men column, DIxnoui -r Friday : sunset I 7 p.n sVtrday snarhe , fZ-u ?L$ FOX VAIXEY-irr. an. B. A. Comforth and faf2v :, this Week to St - ' - .' X "Tloyed In the ship- Or PCUNDQD JC1 KSISTYiTCOHD YEAH Salem, Oregon. Friday Morning. December 4, 1342 section 1 pagls i to is I. Fia i wo t T "-T1. re: Mew Ji nairnns 450 Japs In Guinea 23 Planes Allies Raid Enemy At Low Level but Losses Slight By VERN HAUGLAND ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Friday, Dec. 4-iflVAlIied troops have wiped out 450 Japanese in the Gona area of New Guinea with only slight fosses themselves, and allied planes are attacking the remaining enemy coastal foot holds at such low levels the Jap anese are using their mortars as anti-aircraft guns, a spokesman said Friday, 7 V'V. - - -.v " The boon communique ac knewledged t h e Japanesfrvwere resisting stubbornly every Inch of ground both in the Gona . and Buna sectors, but said "our ground forces are. receiving artillery and air support The allied airmen also dealt a amashlnr blow In another sec tor, the island of Timor, where 21 Japan Me planes were de stroyed or damaged at Koepang, the communique said. The situation in New Guinea was summed up thus by an allied spokesman: At Gona : two Japanese . ma chinegun - posts were captured during a slight advance and 450 of the enemy were killed. An al lied "patrol inflicted 20 casualties In the same area and artillery fire, leveled several native huts in villages near Gona where the Japanese had entrenched them selves."" ' , i I At Buna the allied advance, also was ' slight a ' matter of a few yards through swamps where' the Japanese resisted every foot of ground in -close-quarter fighting. - Allied A-20 and B-25 bombers and .Airacoba fighter planes con tinued to give the ground troops strong support repeatedly straf ing Japanese , anti-aircraft posts, machinegun nests and barges, . ' ' Oae ; Japanese anti-aircraft rva was blown from its pit and the American attack planes swept in so low the Japanese began, firing on them with their BoorUrs. They missed." ' I There were no further" reports of the Japanese destroyers that attempted to land reinforcements and were beaten off. When last seen the enemy, warships were 40 miles off shore and heading north away from New Guinea. ' Belated reports said that Beau fighter planes in the Gona area (Turn lo Page 2V North Saritiam Road Opened; South Closed: ,l The- North" Santiam highway was opened to traffic late jrnurs day when the bridge over. Sar dine creek was ; repaired and opened to loads of hot more than two ton weight This Information was received from Fox - Valley and confirmed by t the Oregon state pqlice, who xeponea me South Santiam was closed by 1ML oresumably near Soda. . " A bad cavein on the .Crooked Finger road, : southeast of Scotta Mills, was reported to the county -court It was said not to be dan gerous but was to be marked by county workers Thursday nignt, in avniA accidents. - Criticism of the county for al leged delay in repairing the Sar dine creek bridge is unwarranted in the opinion of , County Judge Grant Murphy. v ' ' ; '. . i The f crew, worked all day Thanksgiving in a driving rain and under conditions unfit for a human being to cope with. When fh hole made by the high water la observed, and what the bridge - CTurav to,. Page 2) Steiwer Claims -Kauff man Pledge PORTLAND, Dec. , 3-(-State Sen, W. H. Steiwer Fossil, as pirant to the presidency of tne 1943 UDDer house, claimed Thurs- ; day the pledged vote of Senv H, R. -Kauffman, Toledo. : : Ken. Dorothy McCullough Lee, l.Iultaomah, 4n announcing the j pledged votes of 15 of the senate's SD members Wednesday In sup port of her bid for the presidency, tad included Kauifmans name. Killed Fight; Down Injured ft r--.f 1- t Brig. Gen. HANFORD MacNIDER This picture of Gen. MacNider, wounded by a Jap grenade, ' came out of New Guinea only a few days ago and shows him i resting weary feet on a jangle 'marchw UN Sonndphoto. Grenade Hurts Ex-American Legion Head's Condition Not Serious : SOMEWHERE IN NEW GUIN EA, Nov. 24 -(Delayed)-(P)-Brig, Gen. - Hanford MacNider, former assistant secretary of war, receiv ed eight wounds in the explosion of a Japanese rifle grenade last night during the American - at tack b Buna, strongpoint en the northeastern New Guinea coast The general was in the Ameri can front lines during a mortar barrage when he was wounded. (A spokesman at allied head quarters In Australia announced Friday, Australian time, that General MacNider wasn't .ser iously Injured, however. The . general at present is recovering nicely la an Australian hospital, he said.) , The, Japanese " grenade killed one: American soldier and bowled ever but did not injure General MacNider' aide, MJ. C. M. Beav er of lYankton, SD, -. Gen. MacNider was taken to .a field hospital - and : given a quart of blood plasma despite his' pro tests that.; he wasn't badly hurt Physicians 'said his wounds -were not - criticaL v - -----5.; :"" The former commander of the American Legion, whose home is In Mason City,- la received two wounds in the right arm, one in the' abdomen, two on the right thigh, one on each knee and on the right hand. Around Oregon ' j By Too Associated Proas Two more ships were launched In (Portland-Vancouver Thursday, a subchaser by the Albina Engine & Machine Works, a tank-lander by Kaiser's Vancouver yard . . . Passen f era riding Portland's streetcars i and busses have in creased 10 per cent to . 300,000 daily since gas- rationing- started, the traction company said Thurs day ... Leon Barr of Caldwell, Ida whose stepfather is a prison er of the Japs at Shanghai (he was i marine captured at Wake), joined the marine corps to Port land Thursday . . The job of keeping rolling stock rolling while war makes replacements, and repairing- difficult Will be pondered by the Pacific: northwest advisory board at a : meeting f in Eugene starting Friday, V vfWilliaEor C. Cowgill, 84, whose family lived in the same .neighborhood : as Abra ham Lincoln in Springfield, IlL, back in 1858, ? died Wednesday night at his Corvallis home; the widow, a daughter and two sons survive. - - '' f i. "V Yank bener; Russians Destroy 40 Planes Red Army Captures Enemy Positions In Fierce Fights By EDDY GILMORE MOSCOW, Friday, Dec. 4-(JP) Russian troops have destroyed 40 more riazi transport planes trying to ferry aid to enemy forces pocketed in the Stalin grad area, captured a strategic height on the left bank of the Don river west of that city in a hand-to-hand fight and smash ed another hole in the enemy's lines west of Rzhev on the snow choked central front the Soviets announced early Friday. More than 3100 Germans fell during Thursday's widespread and violent actions to boost the toll of nazi dead and captured to ap proximately 170,000, the Russians said. Field dispatches , said the hard-pressed Germans on the Kzhev-Velikie Luki front north west of Moscow were fighting in summer uniforms and were abandoning f rosea tanks and guns on the blizzard-swept plains. The midnight communique acknowledged strong German re sistance and even counter-attacks, but gave this picture of the situa tion on the various -fronts: Stalingrad Inside the north ern factory belt the Russians dis lodged the enemy from' a number of buildings and wiped ou an enemy company. Fifty planes, in cluding 40 big transports, were de stroyed.' "The Russians two days ago announced the destruction of 50 transport planes trying to sup? ply the Germans between the Don and Volga rivers. ' .' Hundreds of Germans died on the - southern outskirts of Stalin grad after a fierce fight in which the red army captured an enemy strong point which "covered the flank of a German formation." : On theleft bank of the Don northwest of Stalingrad where the Russians are trying to en circle the entire nazi siege army by driving southward to line up. . crura to rage Be Candidate, missioner To the list of prospective can didates for the- Marion county commissionership' which .will be vacated when Ralph' Girod ' is called to active duty with a navy construction . . battalion has been added the name of John; CT Sieg mund, . former county judge. . f That Judge Siegmund had been suggested was revealed by CToun- ty! Judge I Grant 'Murphy,' who said th former county executive had himself indicated his interest in the upcoming vacancy. - Other suggestions include Al derman Tom Armstrong of Sa lem; Roy Rice, prominent farm leader of the county and recent candidate for a commissioner ship; Gus Moisan, Gervais "farm operator .and Ed Rogers, county road, foreman Girod, who. announced . his en listment, last week, has already placed in the hands of Judge Mur phy and Commissioner Jim Smith, the . other two members of : the county court his : resignation to become effective when he is call ed. Just when that call may come is a moot question; it may-not be for six months and it may be within .two weeks, Murphy said Friday.-;. :?.', . Berlin Tells Raid Alerts NEW YORK, Dec 3.-F-The German radio announced Thurs day night that air raid alarms had been - sounded during the evening in Bern, Switzerland, and Sofia, Bulgaria. -;;r . -.N Air alarms in Bern - usually indicate that RAF planes are en route to bomb Italy. The alarm Thursday night lasted - 30 min utes. . --.i j :'-;fj;.'y- fi r V Alarms have sounded previous ly in Sofia when allied planes have been active, over the Bal kans. The radio said no planes flew over the Bulgarian capital, during a 45-minute alert . Siegmund May Beef 'Browned' Beyond Repair A phone. eaU, a scurry of men and equipment a shriek of the . siren and city firemen were off to an exciting alarm Thursday afternoon.' Shortly t h e r ea f t e r, very shortly, they returned and dis gusted Chief Barry Hutton re ported, - "No loss somebody's beef roast just burned up." No loss! A beef roast in these times? Better it were the chim ney or the parlor davenport but' not a beef roast! i 4 Allied Invasion Loses 16 Ships Five US Transports Sunk; Casualties Small in Foray LONDON, Dec. 3-;P-Sixteen allied naval vessels, including five United States naval transports, were lost out of an estimated 830 participating in the occupation of north Africa nearly a month -ago, announcements here and in Wash ington disclosed ' Thursday, but casualties were described as "very small." The delayed disclosures of al lied losses came1 almost simulta neously with an admiralty com munique telling of another smash ing blow at axis supply lines to Tunisia the sinking of four axis transports and two destroyers last Tuesday by a British battle force that included three cruisers. Allied warships lost hi the original allied movement oa Morocco and Algeria, the ad miralty said, included the small : ' British aircraft carrier Avenger, -three destroyers, two cutters, a sloop, a minesweeper, an anti aircraft ship, a depot ship and' .the corvette Gardenia. Tha tell '. of - Allied naval vessels iahd? transports in the het firhting . that . occurred at several points .was described In the house of commons as considerably .small er than expected and "far less than the enemy claimed. ' -. The US transports listed as sunk were the-Tasker H; Bliss,' the Hugh L. Scott : and the Edward Rutledge all Jost off Casablanca, where the French put up- their most ' spirited . resistance; the Jo seph Hewes, sunk off Rabat, Mor occo; and the Leedstown, sunk off Algiers. All were sunk, by enemy Submarines.,-: The US navy department added that three other transports, a de stroyer and a tanker were dam aged. , , In his November 30 radio ad dress Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that "for every transport or supply ship we, lost (off Africa) - a U-boat has been sunk or severely damaged." . To day's, atQed announcements thus would place the toll of axis sub marines at 16. .destroyed or crip pled at least in -the month-long engagementV ? The, Bliss was identified as the former liner. President Cleveland, gross .tonnage 11(1; the Leeds town as the former liner -,Santa Lucia,-9f33 tons; the Scott as the former President Pierce, 12,578 (Turn to Page 2) Bay Alerted By Vessels9 SAN FRANCISCO, Dee. S -JP) The reported presence of a "large number of unidentified surface vessels" of the California 'coast brought an unprecedented ' alert here Thursday but the navy an nounced later the report - was" "considered in" error." 5 It came from a naval patrol at dusk Wednesday night and led to a " radio broadcast - ordering all fleet personnel to report to- their ships immediately. f . ; - t - - ? The force - was 1 reported : 450 miles " offshore proceeding east ward. The resultant alert affect ed only service- personnel and po lice, who were ordered to their posts. ' V.1 "'" - ; A statement by Vice Adm. John W. : Greenslade shortly before noon said a thorough search of the area did not - confirm toe presence " of ' any unidentified craft. The broadcast to fleet per sonnel was discontinued. Aerial Ace Blissmg WASHINGTON, t Dec. - 3.--The i war i department still was without word Thursday night of Lt CoL Boyd li "Buzz" Wagner, ace of aerial warfare in the Pa cific who has been missing since he took off November 30 , on a routine flight from Florida to Al abama, - - US Sinks 9Ships, Mound 3 Reinforcement Try at r Guadalcanal Pails; -Many Japs Drown By The Associated Vnm 5 , -WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 The Japanese came out for round three Monday night In the bat tle of Guadalcanal, the navy announced Thursday, but Were beaten back again with nine of their ships sunk and thousands of their soldiers drowned . ? The night engagement cost the United States I one cruiser sunk rand other US. vessels damaged," a communique reported,, but none of the Japanese soldiers being brought in by transport, set foot orr shore except possibly as be draggled prisoners. " " - " - ' Two Japanese troop transports and one cargo ship were sunk and six ether escorting warships' were sent to the bottom ef the sea, These included four de stroyers and twe ether vessels which were either cruisers or large destroyers. - Before the navy issued its com munique, imperial headquarters in Tokyo had trumpeted the ac tion not as an unsuccessful at tempt to put reinforcements ashore at Guadalcanal but as "a fierce attack" by a Japanese "torpedo at tack flotilla." Tokyo claimed the sinking of one American battle ship, one cruiser of the Augusta type and two destroyers, to the loss of only one of their own de stroyers. ' ', ;.-'."-., Meanwhile American forces as'jore on Guadalcanal hacked way1 a-to Japaneseleft strand ed there"' without reinforcements of men or fresh' supplies, "killing more' than 100 of them in patrol skirmishes Tuesday ' and Wednes day (Guadalcanal date). In the " smashing naval victory of November 14-15, 28 Japanese ships were sunk and 10 . damaged. Despite the crushing setback to the Japanese fleet Secretary of the Navy Knox described the en gagement as . "round two" and j (Turn to Page 2) House Passes tabor-Costs Farm Parity WASHINGTON, Dec. 3-JP)-In a surprise move, the house revived and passed unanimously Thurs day a farm parity price bill which administration forces successfully opposed -last September on the ground that it would add billions Of dollars to the cost of living. , f " Offered by Rep. Pace (D-Ga.), the bQl would force the govern ment to Include farm labor costs in the parity; formula for the first time, and thus raise the parity, or "fair exchange," -price of agricul tural products. Some- government economists have estimated that the revision would raise the par ity level by 10 per cent. Senator .Thomas (D-Okla.), sen ate agriculture ! committee mem ber, announced he would attempt to i obtain prompt passage of the bill by the senate. Private predic tions were heard that it' would have sufficient strength in both chambers to override a presiden tial veto, if the president disap proved."! ' .;-'"!, - President Roosevelt has ex pressed "unalterable opposition" to altering the formula for parity, which is a price designed to give farm products the same purchas ing power they had in a past per iod, usually 1909-14. i The Pace bill embraced the pro visions of the 7 so-caned : Brown amendment ' (by Rep.- Brown, Georgia democrat) to the anti-inflation measure. Oregon Leads Big Year in Lumber .'i i- - .-' ;. v -- - - . . , i WASHINGTON, - Dec 3.-AV Lumber production in , the United States last year was the highest since 1929, the census bureau re ported Thursday. . . The 1941 production was 33, 13,043,000 feet In 1S23, the cut was 38,886,032,000 feet . The bureau said Oregon contin ued as the leading lumber pro ducing state, supplying with its neighborhood f ate Washington, 34.6 per cent of the total output Ships Burn at Casablanca ? I - 1 Lit;i This US navy aerial reconnaissance photo, taken the morning after the first attack by US forces on CasabUnea, shows tbe Frencn merchant ship Forthos oA Its side and another ship burning at the ead of the largo pier (circle at top), and four ether ships (circles) . oa f Ire La the area outside the breakwater AP photo -from US avy.--: . - ' -v 'Play Ball9 For Assault on Africa; Story of SinkinjrTold US Ships'-Guns .-...':. Cover Landing ,, PHILADELPHIA, D e c S-) Flay ball! - That good old American base ball cry was the signal for the all-out attack on North Africa by allied forces in the early morning darkness of November 8, a sur vivor of the transport Tasker H. Bliss," sunk off French Morocco, related Thursday. , "The ' words w e r e . hardly spoken," said Lt John Knight Hanrahan, former University of Pennsylvania law student, "when the guns of battleships and cruis ers cut loose behind us. E. ' "The navy had a 'Job to do and did it We went there to put the army's troops ; and equip ment ashore, and we did. And : before we left Fedala was hi American hands, and se was CaoabUnea." ' The -young - navigation officer said the "daily work sheet" from the task force commander . for Sunday, November 8, read as fol lows; "0000 to 2400, , condition four ('condition four means - continu ous battle stations. The figures mean from 12 midnight to 12 mid night) J-'.r-:.p :f,r-5-'?i. - "AU nandr win work continu ously debarking cargo, and sup plies '.'. -' . ' '' . " ml. The words batter up" trans mitted on the radio by a. subordi nate command signifies that the French have taken hostile action. ; "2. The words: play ball trans mitted by the;, task force com mander signifies that an forces are to take vigoroua and offensive ac tion against the 'enemy. . ' 0 ; "AU forces will be governed ac cordingly." Congress Warned Of Degradation To Reichstag' WASHINGTON, Dec. -PA protest that congress might be re duced to the same state of , im potence as Hitler's-reichstag was voiced Thursday l.bf JpvGear nart (R-Calif) as the-house ways and means committee bogaa bear ings en President Roosevelt's re quest for authority to suspend tariff laws to aid -the war effort - Bluntly asserting that powers already granted have been "abas ed and misused," Gearhart declar ed that "it is .time for congress to check up before it finds itself in the low and lonely position of the German reichstag." - "Millions in the United. States," he said, ."feel that we are filing down the same pathway as Ger many" in yielding legislative powers to the executive. "Step byj step," he added, "it can only lead to moral degradation." Yank Signal lftYcar-Old Gob ; SaysCrew Calm BALTIMORE. Dec. 3.-(iqP)-An 18 - year - old Baltimore seaman who was aboard one of the five US navy transports ; which . the navy department announced Thursday had been sunk in the North African campaign, said his ship was torpedoed -twice after it had landed American troops at Fedala, French Morocco. - i Hubert Kirchner, a seamaa seeead class, said friendly Mor occans had helped to unload the ship. After they had. taken food aad supplies off, the vessel an chored three miles offshore. A torpedo struck the ship - at (Turn to Page 2) Liberia Lets . US Establish Ait Stations : WASHINGTON, .Dec. ; J-ff)-A stronger 'American grip on north Africa, and; increased domination of the south Atlantic narrows was indicated Thursday by a. state de partment announcement that Li beria had consented to the estab lishment' of American air - bases there. - v :..:v " Troops of the United States, largely negro detachments, . have already moved into the famous negro republic, and are already at work hacking new airports out of the jungles. - . ' . .-; , -; 1 T The state department said ; that action was .taken at the request of Liberia, which felt that because of its geographical situation it was in danger of attack and wanted to "safeguard the independence and security of the republie.V . ;.v I Tk Under the agreement which fol- lowed, the department added, Li beria retains Its sovereignty un impaired, .but the United States is to have Jurisdiction over aU American military and .' civilian personneL ! . - . : V ' Further to . emphasize its close cooperation with the U n 1 1 e d States,' ,tlie Zibcrian government recently expelled the German 'con sul and his. staff. TheJ American minister, Lester 7alton, Is to return-, to Jlonrovia the country's capital, toc.;i'x'r : '-" A j dispatch from Monrovia Thursday -said the Liberian gov. ernment' has decided "on a policy of full coUaboration with the Unit ed Nations during the f existing hostilities."';".".? VV--s:-.?.'S Liberia is situated ori the 'west ward bulge of Africa a. little be low Dakar. Airports there, some observers thought would be of great value'as way stations on the route of the army transport com mand, over jwhieh supplies of all sorts have been flown to north Africa,, and the near east' - . ' ' 48-Honir Losses Eq ua Djedeida Site of Big Battle; Air Forces f Blast at Germans 1. i , By WES GALLAGHER ALLIED FORCE HEAD QUARTERS IN NORTH AFRI CA, Dec. S-jW-A Hied tanir forces prepared for "another smash at strong German posi tions 12 miles west of Tunis Thursday after a 48-hour bat tle whlc h resulted in about equal -losses on both sides." , The action was; fought near Djedeida, 12 miles west of Tunis, and "the battlefield was dotted with wrecked tanks," a headquar ters spokesman said. , '.. Djedeida has changed hands several times, he said, but the allies now are holdlnr the west ern part of the village while American and British, airmen continue to blast both Tunis and ' Bixerte oa he northern coast A communique earlier said an other big action was fought Tues day at Tebourba, 20 miles west of Tunis and 33 miles south of Bizer te, when allied tanks repulsed nazi armored forces "with considerable destruction of enemy equipment" The fighting still is going on In the Tebourba area. , j .t , t The, spokesman said: ' ."The Germans made an all-out attempt to recapture Mateur, Djedeida, and Tebourba with a panzer attack for it is obvious that who holds ; this' triangle eventual ly win win the battle1 for Tunis and . Bizerte. ' v -tg "" - hyfaed, but tis losse tm benjieavy on both, sides the battlefield was dotted with wreck ed tanks. , ' - "We I hold the western part of Djedeida which . has changed hands several times in the battle." Allied airmen and the British navy were sTrius all possible aid to the . attacking ground forces, sprinkling the "bomb alley" area between Tunisia and Sicily with burning and. sunken ships and blastingf huge craters : In axis-held airfields still being ased in (he constricted Bixerte . Tunis' areas. . ..' "7 ' Tho British navy striking under the cover of. darkness Tuesday night caught an axis convoy in the Mediterranean narrows which was trying, to ferry supplies and prob ably troop reinforcements to Tu nisian Big British naval guns sanlz or left on fire four merchant ships and three Italian destroyers in this first surface blow at axis sea com munications. Two of the axis merchant jihips Were believed to be troopships. . ' The , allied- cosnmuniquot said ; that "much damage ; h 11 been done" , to axis airdromes, especiaW ly at Tunis, and a spokesman her fUled in the details. : f v i Flyrng". Fortresses - with" al-.P- ? fighter escort bombed the hangarp- at Sidi Ahmed airfield near Bizer to and also the docks and 'naval port, scoring hits on ships and in stallations. ' - American medium bombers at tacked anti-aircraft concentrations at 1 Gabes, on j t h e southeastern Tunisian - coast while the RAIT used Its light and medium bomb ers to blast Tunis and Bizerte in both a day and night offensive. The communique said six axis' -planes were 'destroyed Wednes day,, but a spokesman -l of the 12th air force said a recapitula- tlon of US airmen's activities showed that eight axis planes were destroyed, five In combat and three on the ground. - Twenty -one more planes were damaged,! he - said, six in com bat and 15 on the ground, in the stubborn fight for aerial suprem acy so vital to the success of the campaign. ' The allied spokesman said the ground battle was a furious two (Turn'-td Pasa-2)- V r; -1 r v