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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1944)
Weather Forecast: Fair today and Monday. Little change In tem perature. Temp. Highest yesterday . 81 Lowest this morning 51 Precipitation past 24 lira, 0 Use The MAIL TRIBUNE Want Ad Way Quick Rasults At Small Cost MEDFORD Trie jne United Prut Full Leasad Wii United Prow ,tnied Wire Thirty-ninth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, JULY 9, 1944 NO. 91. A X2P BUSH TROOPS TAKE KEY FORTS, Berlin Hints Withdrawal Montgomery Masters Foe In Vital Action. . London, July 8 (U.R The Berlin Transocean news agency front line correspondent, Guen ther Weber, reported today from Field Marshal Guenther Von Kluge's headquarters that it' is "not improbable the Germans may shorten their lines by with drawing them beyond Caen." A late United Press front dis patch said heavy German traf fic was observed on several roads leading out of Caen and that Allied field guns and war ships were bombarding the high ways. An official commentator here meanwhile warned against the danger of heavy German armored counterattacks. Allied Supreme Headquarters, London, Sunday, July 9 (U.R) British troops smashed into Caen Saturday, sweeping through 12 suburban forts in a juggernaut offensive to within half a mile of the center of the ciyt .and Berlin hinted that the Germans were abandoning the burning and battered bastion on the road to Paris. Patrols may already have penetrated the inner city, and H appeared that Gen. Sir B. L. Montgomery's British Second ar my had met and mastered the main German force facing the French beachhead in a battle that may go down as one of the decisive actions of the war. Yankee! Gain American troops at their end of the 120-mile offensive front swept Into La Hay Du Puits for the fourth time and on their east flank captured St. Jean De Daye, drilling a deep hole near the center of the German front. Hundreds of German prison ers were taken as the British hacked through stone villages in Caen's western, northern and northeastern outskirts where German resistance, fierce when the attack started before dawn, wilted late in the day under the overpowering assaults. There were signs that German heavy guns and tanks were with drawing to a new line below Caen and the Berlin radio, pes simistic throughout the day on the battle for the city, said last night that "it is not improbable we may shorten our lines by withdrawing them beyond Caen." Caen, with a population of 50, 000, is as big as Cherbourg, and ranks as France's seventh port It lies nine miles from the sea but has a large floating basin and huge docking space with outlets to the coast through the Orne river and canal, making it a val uable addition to the Allies' con quests in France. The 11:30 p. m. Allied com munique reported steady gains were made Saturday on all rc tive portions of the front, with the Americans back in La Have and holding all high ground in the area. Paris In Sight After capturing St. Jean sev en miles southeast of Carcntan, the Yanks linked two spearheads in the central sector and plunged on south toward Important Pont Hebert through a hail of fire from 88-m:llimeter and nebel werfer rocketsholls. leaving the enrmv's main' forts behind. But the flaming focal point of the entire battle area was Caen. where the British were slashing away at the buckle of the Ger man front in fighting which an official commentator said might change the course of the war. Paris itself lies only 120 miles bevond Caen and if Field Mar shal Erwin Rommel's main arm ored force can be smashed in the present battle the distance to the French capital may be covered far more swiftly than has been anticipated, it was said. BULLETIN Seattle 0 5 3 Portland 1 ? 0 Elliot and Sucmc; Helser and Adams War Bulletins Chungking, July 8 (U.R) Reinforced Chinese troops are pressing their four-day-old sur prise counter-offensive suc cessfully from three sides of Hengyang, a Chinese commun ique said today, and a supply line has been reopened through the city's west gate, captured when the xing of en circlement was broken Tues day morning. Japanese planes have drop ped new loads of incendiaries on the center of Hengyang, front dispatches acknowl edged, but added that this constitutes no threat to Chin ese possession of the key Hunan province city. Southeast Asia Command, Kandy, Ceylon, July 8 (U.R) Triumphant British imperials have dislodged Japanese inva sion remnants from positions northeast, southeast and south west of liberated Imphal in In dia's Manipur state, an Allied communique said today, bring ing to 11,000 the number of Japanese killed since their abortive invasion began March 12. MILITARY HEADS Ti Current Lag In War Produc tion Held Detrimental To All-Out War. Washington, July 8 OI.R) The Joint chiefs of staff the na tion's military high command tonight joined the opposition to War Production Chairman Don ald M. Nelson's program for starting reconversion now with the warning that if the current lag in war output continued, it "may necessitate revision in strategic plans which could pro long the war." "In view of the major offen sive operations under way on every front," the chiefs of staff said in a letter to Nelson, "it is essential at this time that there be no relaxation in war produc tion and that deficits in deliv eries be made up at the earliest possible date." The letter was signed for the joint chiefs of staff by Admiral William D Leahy, chief of staff to President Roosevelt. Nelson's plan, outlined before the senate Truman war inves tigating committee on June 19, proposed a gradual reconversion to civilian manufacture by plants in which war work has definitely ceased and in areas where man power is not needed for war production. The WPB chairman, who is convalescing from pneu monia, had informed the Tru man committee he would issue orders effectuating the plan on July 1, but he has not yet done so. The Joint chiefs of staff wrote him that "the issuance of orders at this time which will affect our ability to produce war ma terials is not consistent with the all-out prosecution of the war." Santa Cruz. Cal., July 8 U.R) Ed Hart was arrested Friday and booked on charges of camera theft In San Jose. But today police here learned that "Hart's" true identity was Earl Harrison, former Oakland tavern manager wanted In the San Francisco East Bay region on charges he collected $15,000 from saloonkeepers on unful filled promises to deliver whisky. Police found $7500 In sealed envelopes Harrison had left for safekeeping with Santa' Cruz es tablishments. He was returned to Oakland by police th' aft ernoon. EEAPS TO SAFETY Santa Rosa. Cal., July 8 U.R) 2nd Lt. George F. Stephens, of Huntington, Indiana, parachut ed to safety when his twin-engine fighter plane crashed this afternoon near Potati, CaL LIQUOR E Vice President Choice Is Thorn; Word From Wal lace Awaited. - Washington, July 8 (U.R) Democratic circles, in the throes of fresh speculation over vice presidential prospects at the party's national convention, cir culated a report tonight that Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley, Ky., would make the speech nominating President Roosevelt for a fourth term. There were some who be lieved that the president would insist on the rcnomination of Vice President Henry A. Wal lace. But there were others who felt that Mr. Roosevelt would not remain adamant if opposition threatened to destroy convention unity. All, however, eagerly awaited Wallace's radio address from Seattle tomorrow in the hope that he might drop some hint as to his own future plans Meanwhile, new names were listed as added starters in the vice presidential speculative sweepstakes a game that was being played by democrats and republicans alike. These were War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes and Supreme Court Justice William O. Doug las. Others previously mention ed include House Speaker Sam Rayburn, Tex., Sen. Harry S. Truman, Mo., and Barkley, Barkley was at his home In Paducah, Ky., and was not read ily available for comment in the report that he would take the convention lead in calling for a fourth term. Democratic national committee officials here pro fessed to have no knowledge of Barkley's plans, but at least one of them said he "wouldn't be surprised" if the report were true that the Kcntuckian would placa Mr. Roosevelt in nomina tion. Such an act by Barkley would be final proof of his full recon ciliation with the president fol lowing the majority leader's angry reaction to the tax bill veto. DEGAULLE ENDS BUSINESS TALKS, Washington, July 8 flJ.R) Gen. Charles De Gaulle today concluded business talks with President Roosevelt and other American officials, convinced that "the flame of France burns more brightly" than ever. De Gaulle spent one hour with the president today, and at the conclusion of the talks, the sec ond since yesterday both French and American officials were hopeful that the upshot would be speedy U. S anproval of the ten tative British-French agreements for the civil administration of France. Diplomats and officials of all categories were pleased and a little amazed by the harmony which has prevailed ever since De Gaulle's arrival on Thursday. The head of the French commit tee of national liberation had been painted In this capital as a stiff-necked, stubborn man who would never give up a position once taken. There had been fearj that the discussions would break down on the rock of De Gaulle's In sistence that his committee be recognized as the provisional government of France. President Roosevelt, however, made It clear at the outset that he would not discuss this question on the crounds that only the people of France can pick a government and De Gaulle gracefully acqui esced. SCOUT LEADER PASSES Los Angelas. July 8 (U.R) Raymond O. Hanson, 57, execu tive of the 12th region. Boy Scouts of America, died today after a lengthy Illness. Once Too Often Portland, Ore., July 8 (U.R) Alfred L. Overton's favorite Joke resulted in his death today. The 42-year-old isolation hos pital guard was in the habit of putting his pistol into his mouth and pretending to pull the trig ger. This time the gun dis charged. Harry R. Gauman, a friend, who was with Overton at the time of the accident, told Deputy Sheriff George Larson that Overton apparently believed the gun unloaded or that the cart ridges were not in a position to fire when he pulled the trigger. BLOODIEST FRAY OF ITALY DRIVE TAKES HIGH TOLL Main Outposts of "Gothic Line" Stormed Savage Resistance Encountered. Rome, July f) (U.R) Amer ican and French troops closed on Livorno (Leghorn) and Flor ence today after storming through three of the four main outposts of the German "Gothic line" in one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian campaign. A wide-open tank and infantry fight raged all along the 40-odd-mlle 5th army front from the Tyrrhenian seacoast to the roll ing hills above Siena in western Italy as Allied armored spear heads knifed forward to within 11 miles or less of Livorno and about 23 miles of Florence. Headqaurters spokesmen said the Nazis were waring a savage withdrawal, and that casualties were running high on both sides. (A BBC broadcast recorded by CBS said street fighting was re ported to have broken out in side livorno. presumably be tween Italian partisans and Nazi troops, and that the city's Fas cist chiefs had fled to escape the advancing Allies.) Roslgnano, keystone of the Germans' coastal defenses 12 miles below Livorno, and Cas tellina, five miles to the east, were taken by Americans yes terday while French colonial troops bombed and bayoneted the Nazis from Colle Di Val D'Elsa, 35 miles inland on the road to Florence. Volterra, the fourth and last enemy stronghold on this line, was still in German hands last night but front dispatches said American tanks and riflemen had launched a powerful assault on the city, which lies about midway between Roslgnano and Colle Di Val. BOMBERS BATTER Allied Supreme Headquarters, London, Sunday. July 9 (U.R) More than 4,000 Allied war planes roared over the flaming Norman battlrfronts yesterday and laid a shattering barrage across the German front lines around Caen, while a mighty sky fleet of well over 1,000 Italian based raiders bombed Nazia oil refineries and airfields in Aus tria and Hungary. Headquarters announced that the overall number of sorties would total more than 4,000, in cluding 1,200 flown from Nor mandy airfields In close support of American and British ground attacks. Headquarters announced that Normandy-based fighters shot down two German planes against a loss of one. Spitfires of the air defense of Great Britain mean while set fire to a wireless sta tion at Combourg, 20 miles southeast of St. Malo, and straf ed various targets from Brittany to Laon. FUMES STRIKE GIRLS Pomona, Cal., .July 8 (U.R) Ten school girls, whose vaca tion trip became a near tragedy when an exhaust line in a bus loaded with 40 children came loose and poured fumes Inside, recovered tonight after they were overcome by carbon mo noxide gas. GOEBBELS TELLS IN GRAVE PERIL 1 People Warned If Nation Loses, Chance to Renew Struggle Lost. London, July 8 (U.R) Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels told the German peo ple today that the Reich is in "grave danger" and that if it is destroyed Germany "will not have a chance to repeat this struggle for another 10, 20 or 50 years," the DNB news agency re ported. Goebbels' warning, coming al most immediately after Adolf Hitler's admission to German in dustrialists that the Reich's in dustries were being far out stripped by the Allies, was directed to a mass meeting of 200,000 Germans at an unidenti fied town "in the cast" and broadcast for German consump tion. In an apparent attempt to frighten the German people into working and fighting with the energy of desperation, Goeb bels said: "Our enemies have made lt cynically clear what fate awaits the nation in the event of the defeat they hope and strain for. "Our enemies will not be satisfied with destroy ing'our In dustries, paralyzing our eco nomic life, transporting our sol diers and workers to Siberia and slashing our country to pieces. "No, they wish on their own testimony to destroy the Ger man nation in Its national sub stance." Goebbels said that while for mer wars were fought for terri tory, strategic frontiers or com mercial interests, "today the ex istence of whole nations is at stake." TRAPPED JAPS ON Pearl Harbor, July 8 (U.R) Desperate Japanese troops cor nered on the northwestern rim of Salpan counter-attacked U.S. forces before dawn Thursday morning and gained three fourths of a mile in several hours of bloody fighting in which 1500 of the enemy were killed and numerous American casualties were Incurred, lt was announced today. American marines and sol diers fell back 2,000 yards be fore the vicious counter-offensive but rallied their forces be fore noon and smashed forward again to regain 800 of the lost yards. The Japanese drive was concentrated against the Amer ican left flank, and at one point It moved to the edge of Tana pag town. The Japanese opened a short lived artillery attack on Iscly airfield from Tinian island and air-raided American positions Ineffectually simultaneous with the ground counter-offensive In the north. Admiral Chester W. Nlmitz' Pacific fleet headquarters com munique disclosed a total of 66 Japanese planes were destroyed and 06 damaged In the previously-announced carrier attacks on Chichi and Hah islands In the Bonlns group 650 miles from Tokyo. It was obvious now that the Japanese, trapped on a narrow strand by the inexorable ad vance of leathernecks and sol diers, will try to sell Saipan as fanatically and dearly as possi ble. The right flank of the United Slates forces continued to ad vance and reached a point slightly more than a mile from the uncompleted airfield at Mnrpl Point at the extreme northern end of the 15 mile long island. Vi Nuys, Calif., July 8 flJ.R) An unldentifjed hen was the sole casualty when a P-38 fight er plane crashed into Van Nuys street today. Russ Near Baltic Frontiers .eallie So WARSAW POLAND MILES RT LALV- A h f v )1 v Memel . . . IE f EAST ' f m Smolensk PRUSSIA Jy'1 . p,ip" M" i? I $ frest-Lilovil -n- j l L-L u : (Acmt Trlephoto) Powerful Russian Armies pound on toward Latvia and Lithuania at pace that may reach both of Baltic republics In days Berlin, in communique that admitted "Germans fought their way further bock, wards." acknowledged loss of Kowcl. last strong point cast of Its Bui River defense line. WOMAN PILOT OF IN TRAIL CRASH MJss Paula R. Lopp, 26, of Manchester, Okla., a women's auxiliary service pilot, was killed late Friday afternoon wheri the single-engine BT-13-B army training plane she was piloting crashed in the moun tains near the Umpqua Divide about 30 miles north of Medford and four miles off the Tiller Trail highway In the Railroad Gap district. The crash started a fire In the forest which was discovered at 3:30 p. m. by Lowell Ash, fire guard stationed at Trail. Ash nut out the fire and notified the Rogue River National Forest Service. Army and forest service men went to the scene at 7:30 and removed Miss Loop's body to Camp White. According to Capt. G. E. Moul trie, commanding officer of the Medford army air field, said that Miss Loop was on a ferry ing flight from the south to Seattle, and had landed here. Cause of the crash will be in vestigated by an army board, Capt. Moultrie said. Miss Loop had been a mem ber of the WASPs since June of 1043. Next of kin is her mother, Nattic A. Loop, who has been notified. FIFTH WAR LOAN Washington. July 8 U.R) The $16 000.000,000 goal of the Fifth War Loan was surpnssed todny by more than $050,000, 000. Secretary of Treasury Hen ry Morgenthau, Jr., announced, although sales to individuals were $1.750 000.000 short of their goal of $6,000,000,000 at the last accounting. It was Indicated, however, that by the end of July with all sales from payroll deduction re ported, the individual goal will be reached and overall sales will be In the neighborhood of $20,000,000,000. The Fifth War Loan drive was the largest single financing ever undertaken by the United States or any other country. It exceed ed by $500,000,000 the goal of the Fourth War Loan. CIGARETTE STARTS FIRE The fire department was called to extinguish a minor fire In the basement of the Casino club on South Front at 1015 p. m. Saturday. A carelessly tossed cigarette was probably the cause of the fire, according to Fire Chief Roy Elliott. U.S.S.R. IRD RULE, WALLACE FLAYED Roanoke, Va., July 8 U.R) Sen. Harry F. Byrd, D Va to day called upon the Democratic party to return to "the greatest Democratic declaration in exist ence" the party's 1932 plat' form and to reinstate the two thirds vote In national conven tions. In a surprise address before the Virginia state Democratic convention, Byrd said that dis unity is threatening the Demo cratic party as never before, and that a "return to sound princi ples of government" would do much to reassure the American people. The delegates, later In the day, adopted an unanimous resolu tion to oppose a renomlnatlon of Henry A. Wallace as vice president at the forthcoming na tional convention in Chicago. The resolution asserted that Wallace "has become a convert to doctrines and Ideologies for eign to the faith and traditions of Virginia." E ROBOT BOMBINGS London, Sunday, July 9 (U.R) Robot bombs thumped down in to the southern counties and the London area during the night, causing damage and casualties and ending one of the longest resnites since the launching of Hitler's ersatz blitz. It was stilled authoritatively that there was nothing to report during the greater part of Sat-: urday's daylight hours but thei nomoarnmcni rcsumea during the evening. The London Dally Herald said observers of last night's attack reported that the Germans ap parently had switched to new launching sites on the Belgian coast following yesterday's In tense pounding of coastal France. Grass Fire In Gold Hill Area Quelled A stale forest patrol crew was last night mopping up a grass and brush fire that burned over approximately 120 acres Just north of Gold Hill. The blaze, which started about 10:45 a. m. Saturday Just Inside the city lim its, was brought under control , the middle of the afternoon by volunteer Gold Hill residents, cement plant workers and the forest patrol crew. The fire, of undetermined origin, swept up Kuggct Butte almost to the bea con over dry grass and brush. E, WILNO FALL DUE Red Army Within 95 Miles of East Prussia, Imperial Nazi Bastion. London, Sunday, July 9 (U.R) Soviet tanks and infantry broke into the streets of Wilno, capital of Soviet Lithuania, yesterday In a headlong 27-mile advance over the Lithuanian borders, while to the south other Russian troops captured Baranowicze, clearing the way for a mighty , three pronged Red army assault on the fortress city of Brest Litovsk. Gen. Cherniakhovsky's 3rd White Russian army, plunging to within 95 miles of East Prus sia after driving 225 miles in 18 days, drove the Nazis from house to house In Wilno, an ancient city of 20,000 pre-war popula tion. London observers expected the city to fall within the next 24 hours. Gen. Cherniakhovsky's forces severed its communications with Daugavpils, in Latvia, cutting the Leningrad Warsaw rail trunk line and thus depriving the German Gen. Llndemann's Baltic divisions totaling pos sibly 30 off their main escape route, through Poland. Far to the south of the blaz ing 350-mile front in Lithuania and Poland, Russian troops drove to within 24 miles of Plnsk, and in a three-way drive on the rail Junction of LunineU smashed forward to within 17 miles of that town. The Imminent fall of Wilno and the capture of Baranowicze collapsed the whole German in termediate defense line protect ing the central Polish plains, the Baltio states and East Prussia. More than 800 towns and set tlements were swept up as the Red army surged forward on all fronts in a giant offensive to ward Warsaw and Berlin. As the German hold on Wilno was being shaken loose by the onrushlng 3rd White Russian army, Baranowicze fell to the troops of Marshal Konstantin K. Rokossovsky's 1st White Russian army and cleared the way for a great Soviet push against Brest Litovsk, 120 miles southwest, and Bailystok, 117 miles west. Brest Litovsk Is historically one of the bastions of the Reich itself and London observers re garded the battle for the city now as underway, with a three pronged offensive from Kowel, Baranowicze and Stolin, south of Lunlncts and 34 miles south east of Pinsk, Eugene, Ore., July 8 (U.R) After visiting here with his mother, Mrs. Eva C. Ellsworth, Harris Ellsworth, Rep., Ore., to day was on the way to his home In Roscburg. He will be In Oregon two months, traveling around the Fourth District which he rep resents In congress and hand ling matters which could not be taken care of by correspondence from Washington, Washington, July 8 (U.R) Yugoslav Ambassador Constanln Fotitch tonight created another major dlplomollc problem for the United Nations by refusing to recognize the new Yugoslav government which excludes all representatives of Gen. Draja Mikhailovitch and Includes two of Marshall Tito's men as un representative of the great ma jority of Yugoslav people. Salts to data In the Fifth War Loan Drive $2,588,232 "E" Salei Ouota .....$488,362 lanoooa Total Quota for County .S2.262.000
