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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1944)
Allied Troops Smash Forward On Appian Way French Capture Peak to Outflank Nazis Crui sers Shell Shore Batteries Allied Headquarters, Algiers, Jan, 21 W) French troops, crossing the Rapldo river in dif ficult mountain fighting, have captured the foot of Mt. II Lago, north of Cassino, and are threat ening to outflank the Germans' "Gustav line" of defense in Italy, allied headquarters an nounced today, y British forces of the fifth 4rmy, supported by the fire of cruisers and destroyers, smash ed forward along the Appian Way, capturing Minturno, 76 miles from Rome, and taking 300 prisoners. They are assault ing the twin nazi defensive vil lages of Castelforte and Centosa on the slopes of 1,000-foot Mt. Santi Cosma E Damiano, six miles inland from the Tyrrhen ian, Adolf Hitler Line ft, In weather which German prisoners described as "worse than Leningrad," American pa trols of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's fifth army slashed across the river below Cassino in probing expeditions and retired. Eight army patrols likewise were ac tive in weather that was awful. The French push from captured Sant' Elia, north of Cassino, if continued would allow them to take Cassino from the rear, Ger- Iman prisoners said there was Vnother German line of forti fications called the "Adolf Hit ler line," six miles behind the Gustav belt which the allies are now attacking. Fleet Shells Germans For the first time in many weeks cruisers and destroyers of the British navy engaged in heavy action against nazi shore defenses along the western end of the line, throwing several hundred rounds of steel ahead of the fifth army attack last Tuesday and Wednesday. The , heaviest shelling was concentra ted on the Appian way where the road runs close to the sea near the village of Garracina. "Opposition from the enemy was slight," a naval communi que said. ;'One ; ship suffered '.minor damage but no casual- ties." " ' -Allied destroyers also were active in the Adriatic the same night, shelling -the harbor of Korcula on the island of the same name off the Yugoslav coast. Airfields Smashed Minturno was taken by the British after "hard fighting," the communique said. The Ger mans already had announced evacuation of the town. Heavy and medium bombers again concentrated their full power on German airfields and communications in central Italy, Flying Fortresses and Liberators striking damaging blows at Ciampino and Centocelle air fields near Rome for the second day in succession, and blasting Guidonia airfield, 14 miles northeast of Rome, as well. Clark Confesses Hatchet Slaying Spokane, Jan. 21 U.R Police Chief Ira Martin said today that Woodrow Wilson Clark, 27-year old former hotel elevator oper ator, had signed a complete con fession as the hatchet-slayer of T P. Dillon, Mrs. Charles Sta- I. pies and Dillion's wife, Mrs. Flora Dillon. Martin related how Clark un der intense grilling which lasted long into the night at first maintained he was "too drunk' to remember details of the crime. But Clark finally broke down when police offered to brine the bodies from the mor gue, place the hatchet in his hand and completely reconstruct -the scene, Martin said. "Don't do that," Clark was quoted as sobbing suddenly, "I'll tell you how I did it. "He then told us the whole story," the chief said "how he picked up the hatchet and hit Dillon when DUllon threatened him because of Clark's atten tions to his wife during the drinking party which preceded the slaying. Then he told how he attacked the others, who ap parently were asleep or in a stupor. Prosecutor Leslie M. Carroll said he would file murder charg es today against Clark. The prosecutor declined to state in what degree the murder charg es would be filed. The Weather Partly cloudy tonight and Satur day, with morning ton. Pa.st 34 hours: max. 91, min. 32. River today .8 ft. aiDital 56th Year, No. 18 tSSfJlSSiSS Salem, Oregon, Friday, January 21, Berlin Blasted by 2300 Invasion Coast Also Pounded By U.S. Bombers London, Jan, 21 U.R A great armada of allied bombers, paced by American Flying Fortresses and Liberators, rocked the French invasion coast with al most 2,000 tons of higii explo sives today after a record fleet of RAF night raiders had pound ed Berlin with more than 2300 tons of bombs. A five-mile parade of allied daylight raiders that included almost every type of bomber in the Anglo-American arsenal, streamed across the Dove straits to rip up the network of Ger man steel and concrete gun em placements in the Pas Del Ca lais sector. Fourth Major Raid Swarms of American Thun derbolts and Lightnings and RAF Spitfires covered the great bombing formation, and the luftwaffe again stayed out of their range. It was the fourth major day light blow at the invasion coast since the 3000-plane Christmas eve attack. Varying cloud for mations obscured the bombing results of some formations, but returning airmen reported that the target area was con culsed by violent explosions. The bomb tonnage dropped on .Berlin (more xnan ,o(u American tons) about equalled that of the Nov. 22 raid, for which an identical figure of more than 2300 British tons was announced. More British bombers than ever struck at .Berlin Deiore were understood to have carried the knockout offensive back to the nazi capital last night. The bomb tonnage, however, was believed to have been short of record 2576 tons delivered last Nov. 22. 900 Bombers Used The size of the previous rec ord fleet attacking Berlin never had been announced. But in a double-header attack on Beriln and Ludwigshafen on Nov. 18, the British estimated that near ly 1000 bombers were used. On that basis last night's force was believed to have numbered around 900. The Royal Canadian air force announced that its units partici pating in the Berlin raid drop ped their heaviest bombload of the war. Other alied air formations put the assault on Adolf Hitler's European fortress back on an around-the-clock basis with day light raids on the French inva sion coast today. Formations swept over one southeast Eng land town in an almost contin uous procession for nearly an hour. Boilermaker Case In Supreme Court The dispute over appointment of a receiver for the Portland local of the International AFL Boilermakers reached the state supreme court today. In arguments before the court, Wilber Henderson, attorney for the union, asked the court to compel Circuit Judge Alfred P, Dobson to fix the amount of a stay bond, pending appeal to the high court. The action would halt activities of Receiver Oscar Furuset, who was appointed by Judge Dobson. YMCA Burns $21,000 Mortgage And Receives Gift of $15,000 The Salem YMCA celebrated its freedom from debt Friday noon with a mortgage burning ceremony, participated in by members of the board, presided over by Paul B. Wallace. The group also cheered the presenta- tion of a check for $15,000, the gift of an eastern friend of the association, which will be held in reserve in connection with a proposed betterment program. A few weeks ago the Centen nial committee, headed by Loyal Warner, initiated a movement to liquidate a $21,000 mortgage against the association. This committee was successful in its efforts and during a victory luncheon Warner applied a match to the paper. Immediate ly thereafter Fred Lamport, chairman of the endowment committee, presented the $15, 000 check which was promised should tbe mortgage be cleared. Beth Siewert, secretary to C. A. Kells, chief of the Y staff, sang American Indians Fight Japs U. S. infantry, who have played fenses in New Guinea, pose in jungle grass in regaua mey it - .". which to celebrate their traditional Christmas dances. (Left to right) Pfc. Dale Winney, Gallup, New Mexico; Pvt. Joe Tapaha, Gallup, N. M.; Pfc. Joe Gishi, Holbrook, Ariz., and Pvt. Perry Toncy, Holbrook, Ariz. (AP wirephoto from signal corps.) Film Stars, War Heroes Feature War Bond Show Steadily mounting enthusiasm was evidenced rnaay uy aunuuincure... .... " . quarters that the total of bonds sold by Friday morning had mounted to $372,000 with still a number of agencies to hear from and indications that the first half million is well in sight. Hope Strikers Return Monday Seattle. Jan. 21 '"() Dr. George Bernard Noble, regional war labor board chairman, ex pressed belief the 6,000 Oregon and Washington striking foun drymen would go back to work Monday, as the AFL unionists began balloting on a "back to work" proposition. They strucK this week in protest against an adverse regional WLB decision their demand for an eight-cents- an-hour increase in journey men's pay. Neil V. Pardo, secretary of the Seattle Foundrymen's Union which voted so heavily for the srtiko ns to overbalance anti- strike majorities at Portland and Tacoma, declined to forecast re sults of today's mass meeting elections, but said pickets would be withdrawn immediately if the back to work vote was af firmative. I. A. Sandvigen, business agent for the Machinists' union, said "think there is a very strong probability that the out come of today's voting will be favorable." John Kucher, plant superin tendent for a Seattle foundry, also expressed belief strikers would return. So did Denzil Harley, secretary of the Wash ington Metal Trades, Inc., the employers' association. British Lose Destroyer London, Jan. 21 (U.R) The loss of the British destroyer Tyne dale was announced by the ad miralty Thursday. The Tyne dale, one of the hunt class des troyers completed in 1040, dis placed 904 tons and mounted four four-inch guns. Wishing" during the luncheon. Her accompanist was Yvonne Mozee. The present association build ing was occupied in 1926. It's construction followed a cam paign to raise funds. Many of those who subscribed failed to fill their obligations and as a result a $41,000 mortgage was placed against the building. The property, together with the lot, building and equipment, is valued at $175,000. In addition to caring for the usual activities of the YMCA, the building is the rendezvous should tbe mortgage be cleared, present its dormitory rooms are occupied by navy trainees from Willamette university. in Jungle W American Navajo Indians, members of the 158th a prominent part in breaking through the main Japanese de in the Fourth War Loan drive All tnougnis 01 me cumum- tecmen were directed toward the big war bond show being sponsored by the American Le gion for the armory Saturday night when it was revealed that movie star Edgar .Kennedx and movie starlet Ramsay Ames' will be on hand with five wounded war heroes, along with numer ous other features being ar ranged by the legionnaires. Cherrians under Frank Chatas, King Bing, have been delegated to the pleasant task of acting as escorts for the movie stars and war heroes. Edgar Kennedy, the movie star, is being currently featured with Olsen and Johnson in their new comedy, "Crazy House," and has appeared for years on the screen. Ramsay Ames, movie starlet, advertised as a "blonde charmer" is widely heralded as one of the most promising of the crop of new screen possibil ities and she also is featured with Kennedy in the Olsen and Johnson show. Wounded war heroes who will be here to tell their actual ex periences on the far flung fronts of the great global war will be Capt. John S. Young, U. S. army; Sgt. Lloyd B. Sweeney, U. S. army; Boatswain's Mate lc J. P. Nixon, U. S. navy; Sgt. Edward J. Burmab, U. S. marine corps and Seaman's Mate lc (Concluded on page 9, column 5) Shipyard Also Repair Center Portland, Jan. 21 W) A Port land shipyard, which ostensibly has been concentrating on building new vessels, disclosed today that it is a major repair center as well. Until now, waterfront restric tions have obliged Albina En gine & Machine Works to keep a public silence on the 432 ships its tinhatters have repaired since Pearl Harbor, Crews working 12-hour shifts and on call seven days a week, have put 161 damaged Russian, British and Greek merchant ves sels back into seaworthy condi tion. With high-pressure work which sometimes runs 16 hours without a break, tinhatters have made additions to 249 Liberty freighters, repaired tankers, tugs, mine planters. Repair gangs have worked on 15 ships at a time, berthed here and at Oregon coastal ports. " Albina, which has been oper ating since 1904 and is the old est ship repair company in Portland, plans to concentrate on repair jobs in post-war years. "When new ship construction is finished," L. A. Hussa, vice president, said, "we will con tinue ship repair operations with more and better equipment and with personnel that has many more years war years of ex perience." Jouaraal 1944 Tons of U. S. Subs Sink 12 Jap Ships Washington, Jan. 21 (U.R) U. -S. submarines, whittling tena ciously away at Japanese sup ply lines, have sunk 12 more enemy vessels nine freighters, two transports and a large tank er the navy announced totiay. . The sinkings bring to a to tal of 408 the number of Jap anese ships sunk by U. S. sub marines. In addition, 36 have been probably sunk and 114 damaged for a total of 558,': Ui't " News of the latest American submarine successes followed closely a London announcement that a British submarine had penetrated to within a few hundred miles of Singapore and sunk a 5,100-ton Japanese crui ser in the northern approaches to the Malacca straits. The Bri tish communique was interpre ted as proclaiming that coun try's full partnership in the Pa cific sea war. The latest victories of the U. S. submarines, together with the British success, brought to at least 1,012 the total number of Japanese ships sent to the bottom by allied forces since Pearl Harbor. These include at least 247 warships. RefuseloOK Tax Reserve Washington, Jan. 21 WV-The senate today rejected a proposed amendment to the $2,275,600,- 000 added tax bill which would have permitted corporations and individuals to lay aside up to 20 percent of their taxes as a post-war reserve. The amendment, offered by Senators Truman (D., Mo.) and Hatch (D., N.M.) was defeated by a standing vote. Under the plan, the taxpayer beneficiary would have been re quired to invest the reserved monys in non-negotiable, non-interest- bearing government bonds, redeemable after the war, and taxable as income at that time. Finance Committee Chairman George (D., Ga.) and Senators Taft (R., Ohio) and Danaher (R., Conn.) expressed sympathy for the motive of the amend ment but declared it would cause actual lax collections in war years to drop too sharply. George commented that pres ent lax rates will have to be re duced materially after the war or "the country will be busted." Bowles Wants Violators Jailed Chicago, Jan. 21 (ura Price Administrator Chester Bowles called upon United States may ors today to sponsor ordinances providing fines or jail sentences for price and rationing viola tors. In an address to the annual conference of mayors, read for him by Mayor F. H. La Guar dia of New York, Bowles dis closed that 18 cities already have ordinances providing fines up to $100 and jail sentences up to 90 days for such violations. Price Five Cents Bo n xjBjqn ogress as Russians Advance in Twin Drives to wmo J AiA.un. r Capture 300,000 Germans Japs Lose 49 Zeros, 10,000 Tons Shipping Advanced Allied Headquar ters, New Guinea, Jan.l (U.R) Japan was reported rushing strong aerial reinforcements to her threatened Southwest Pa clfic strongholds today as ai allied communique announced the sinking of 10,000 tons of enemy shipping and the destruc tion or damaging of 49 aircraft In new raids on Wcwak and Rabaul. A warning that Japan con stantly was reinforcing her air strength over New Britain and New Ireland was issued by Ma rine Gen. Ralph J. Mitchell, air craft commander in the Solo mons, after new allied successes were disclosed in the daily com munique from Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters. Japs Strengthened "There is every indication that Japan considers Rabaul and Kavieng very important and that she is going to do every thing to hold them," Mitchell, speaking at an advanced air base, said. Mitchell revealed that since Nov. 20 Japan has lost 350 planes defending Rabaul's air dromes and shipping, but added that enemy interception failed to decrease. He said that each time Amer ican planes venture toward the big New Britain base, they meet from 70 to 100 intercepting fighters despite the fact that the allied airmen often knocked down as many as 31 of the planes. 8 Ships Blasted - Feeling the strength of the latest allied attacks, the com munique said, were the Boram air field of the Wewak area, 375 miles above Madang, chief ob jective of allied ground forces advancing up the New Guinea coast, and Rabaul, where eight cargo ships were hit by allied planes Monday. Fighter - escorted medium bombers from Solomons bases carried out the third attack on Rabaul in four days Tuesday, and shot down 21 enemy fight ers and probably one other. On New Guinea One Japanese plane was de stroyed on the ground, and 12 others were damaged as the bombers rained explosives on the Tobera airdrome from low altitude. On New Guinea, Liberator bombers, escorted by fighters, ran into more than 50 Japanese fighters Wednesday when they dropped 133 tons of bombs on the Boram airfield and do. stroved many planes on the ground. - Escorting fighters shot down 12 and probably 14 enemy planes, and three allied fighters were lost. All the allied DomD ers returned. Other allied aircraft blew up a 5000-ton enemy ammunition shio and sunk a 2000-ton freighter in the Admiralty is lands sector, 270 miles north west of Wewak. New Courthouse Placed as Part of Post-war Program The Marion county court Friday morning adopted a resolution leading up to a plan for erection of a new county courthouse as a probable postwar project and set March 6 at 10 a.m., as time for a public hearing on the pro The resolution calls for a tax levy of $75,000 a year, starting with the 1944 county levy and running for 10 years, or as long as may be necessary prior thereto. Construction of the courthouse may start at any time funds are available so that if additional funds are secured at any time by government "rant, gift, or otherwise it will be possible to start erection of the new structure at once. The resolution was made extremely clastic to meet any contingency and it was indicated by the meeting the probability of hav ing to wait until 1954 when the last of the 10-year levies has run, is extremely remote. The court met with Ray Glatt of Woodburn and Leo N. Childs of Salem, as members of this year's county budget commit tee. The third member, M. G. Gunderson of Silverton, was un able to attend. Red Armies Roll on Inflicting Staggering Casualties on Nazis Trapped in Lake llmen Area Greatest Battle of Extermination Since Stalingrad Moscow, Jan. 21 UR) Red armies fanned out through tremen dous gaps in the outflanked Leningrad and Lake llmen today, massacring tens 01 thousands of panicky Germans in the greatest battle of extermination since Stalingrad. The strongest German defenses in Europe appeared to bt crumbling away as the Russians advanced with irresistible mo. mentum south of Leningrad and west of Novgorod in twin drives to kill or capture 300,000 nazi troops on the northwestern front.' Thousands of Germans, cut off from their main forces in the snow-covered forests by the speed of the soviet thrusts, surren dered rather than face certain death. More than 3000 submitted to captured around Novgorod, which fell yesterday. The toll of enemy dead on the two fronts already was approach ing 45,000. More than 40,000 were slaiiyn the first six days of the coordinated offensives, all but f- 15,000 of them south and south west of Leningrad Red Bombers Active Swarms of red air force bombers, fighters and attack planes joined in the campaign of annihilation, blasting and straf ing strong points, transport and columns of reinforcements ahead of the advancing Siberian, Ural, VolBa and central Russian divisions. Gen. Leonid A. Govorov's two Leningrad columns joined forces south of Krasnoye Selo, doom ing enemy troops remaining in the Gulf of Finland beachhead west of Leningrad, and smashed southward in a drive that threat ened momentarily to enguu Krasnogvardeisk, five-way rail way junction controlling all lines running into Russia's sec ond city from the southwest. Many Towns Captured The two columns presumably met at Mikhailovka, nine miles south of Leningrad, and also captured the railroad junction of Uritsk, three miles west of Leningrad; Strelna, seven miles southwest, and Nikkorovo, a miles west southwest. Front dispatches said the Rus sians had cleared the entire Gulf of Finland coast from Oranien baum, 15 miles west of Lenin grad, to a point only a couple of miles from the larger city. (Radio Berlin said the Ger mans also had evacuated a 17- milc salient teaching east oi Leningrad from Kolpind, com pleting the lifting of the siege that began August 21, 1941.) Liquidating Germans "Disrupted and isolated groups of Germans are being liquidated," the soviet high command said in its midnight communique. "Many ucrman soldiers and officers have lam down their arms and surrender ed. Enormous quantities of various equipment and war ma terials were captured." Gen. Kyril A. Meretskov's army, ripping into the German eastern flank, swept six miles beyond Novgorod, 100 miles south of Leningrad, and captur ed Naschi on the railroad west to Batetsk. Dolgovo, 13 miles northwest of Leningrad, also was captured. Booty Seized Prodigious booty was being seized by the Russians In the wake of the demoralized enemy. The Leningrad and Novgorod armies together in the past six days have seized 447 guns, in cluding 85 super-siege artillery that have been shelling Lenin grad; 270 mortars and 30 tanks, while the Novgorod forces alone destroyed 178 guns, 16 tanks and 350 trucks. The only activity reported In the soviet communique from the Ukraine was the slaying of 1 Rnn Germans and the wrecking of 32 tanks in the repulse of counter-attacks north of the Khristinovka railroad junctions. - Harold Tomlinson, deputy district attorney, explained the terms of the resolution to the mooting after County Judge Grant Murphy had stated that the object of calling the budget committee members in was to discuss with them the project they had set under way last year when they recommended that the court set up a reserve or lake some necessary action leading to the construction of a courthouse. He gave assurance that the resolution doesn't mean it will take 10 years to build a courthouse but it merely set up a vehicle for getting the levy under way and to accept other funds at any time if they become available. Tomlinson stated that levy ing of the $75,000 a year could be done without exceeding the 6 percent constitutional limita tion and that the resolution was drawn under terms of the stat (Concluded on pate 9, column 2) 110-mile nazi defense line between Russia's Baltic Fleet Freed Moscow, Jan. 21 VP) The red army's great surge to th south from Leningrad has vir tually freed Russia's Baltic fleet. . Locked in port for twe years or more, the Baltic fleel is now free to operate in the Bay of Kronstadt and possibly beyond. To the south of the Baltic shore the Russians are driving deep into German positions, capturing thousands of nazis cut off from their commands and communication lines, and arc speedily closing in on the rail way and highway junctions thatl are the key to tne entire uamc front. , Large isolated groups of Ger mans, either already surrounded or about to be cut off, are re ported in sectors west of cap tured Novgorod, belweet Oranienbaum and Leningrad and east of the Moscow-Leningrad railway. A huge system of railway! and highways is located withir. a radius of 25 miles south, south, west and southeast of Leningrad and through this web the red army was driving steadily for ward. The task of clearing thi area already is half accomplish ed. These great successes . are coming to Leningrad on the 20th anniversary of Lenin's death. Liberation of the city which bears the beloved leader's name gave the Russians a big emotion al uplift, especially as they read again today the details of hi! long and ardent labors on behali of the country. The army newspaper Red Stai declared that the Germans sack ed Peterhof the brilliant and elaborate summer residence ol the czars where two centuries of architectural tastes are re flected. Tito Recaptures TownofJajce London, Jan. 21 VP) Marshal Josip Broz (Tito) announced today that his Yugoslav partisan troops had recaptured the town of Jajcc, headquarters of the patriot army in the mountain! of western Bosnia, which the Germans said fell on January 12. Smashing on to the west, the partisans cleared the area be tween Mrkonjicgrad and Gla moc, 30 miles southwest of Jajce, of German troops, in cluding units of the first Ger man Alpine division and a mo torized division, and drove them back toward the Dalmatian coast. - Jajce occupies a strategic po sition at the confluence of the Vrbas and Pliva rivers, 32 miles south of Bnnja Luka, and is a chemical center. Tito's head quarters are on the summit of a conical hill overlooking the Vrbas valley, 100 feet below. Tito's war bulletin, broadcast by the free Yugoslav radio, said the partisans had gone over to the offensive on several other sectors of the widely-scattered front. Partisans smashed back at strong force of Germans who had penetrated the town of Prozar in the Rama sector and threw them out with a loss of more than 300 killed. 2 Jap Ships Sunk Off Coast of China Chungking, Jan. 21 (U.R) Ll bertaors of the 14th United States army air force sank a 1,700 -ton passenger - freighter and a 1.500-ton tanker in a sea sweep off the southeast coast of China yesterday, Lt. Gen. Jo seph W. Stilwcll's communique announced tonight. Both vessels were set afire before then sank as their crews abandoned them, the communU que said. All aircraft returned.
