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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1944)
Americans Smash Into Rennes; German Tanks Check British Advance i NAZI RESISTANCE CRUMBLES FAST IE Combourg, Dinan Also Pen etrated; More Prisoners than Invaders Can Handle Supreme Headquarters, AEF, Aug. 3. (U.R) Armored spear heads of American forces plung ing 30 miles into Britttany on a 35-mile arc smashed into Ren nes, Combourg, and Dinan to day, while to the northeast coun terattacking German tanks checked the British break through drive east of Vire. Rennes, in addition to its Im portance as a main junction on the Paris-Brest trunk line, is the center of the Breton waterway system. (The capture of Rennes was announced in Washington by Secretary of War Henry L. Stim son.) United Press Correspondent Robert C. Miller, reporting the penetrations to Rennes, Com bourg, 20 miles to the northwest and Dinan, on the Brest railroad near the coast, said a big part of the Rennes garrison dirty, haggard and bleary eyed de- . cided in advance that they had had enough of the war. Drive Rolls Ahead - 'The drive continues to roll ahead, gathering momentum hourly," Miller's dispatch said. The number of German pris oners now was running into the thousands, with some U. S. units rounding up more than they could handle, and if the Nazis had any resources for the de fense of Brittany there was no evidence of it. United Press Correspondent Richard D. McMillan, in a dis- patch filed from the British front at 6:3 J p. m., said that in one of the most furious German counterblows the Nazis hurled massed tanks across the Noireau river in the area of Conde, 15 miles east of Vire. Nazis Fan Out The German armor fanned out under apparent orders to crash the British lines at all costs. Some penetrations were made. and infantry moved into support them. The rocket-firing Typhoon planes swarmed against the en emy armor, and broke up some of the pockets. "A crisis for the Germans seems to have arrived," United Press War Correspondent Henry T. Gorrell reported from Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley's first army headquarters where the thrust into Rennes was an nounced. The American spearheads probing into Rennes, which com mands most of the highway, railroad, and waterway system of Brittany, encountered virtual ly no German resistance, Gor rell said. All signs indicated that the Nazis were unable or unwil ling to undertake a strong de fense of Brittany, the jutting finger of western France which would be lopped off by a push to the Bay of Biscay. No Slowdown Informed sources here said there was not the' slightest indi cation of a slowdown in the American armored fan-out thru Brittany. The double thrust to Rennes and westward in the coasxai area was regarded as ending the first phase of the con quest of Brittany. Aside from road blocks and antitank screens the Germans might throw up in the rolling Breton countryside dotted with little gray stone villages, there seemed to be nothing on hand or in prospect to delay Bradley's tanks. It was regarded as "likely" that the Germans already were evacuating their U-boats and technical personnel from such big bases as St. Nazaire and Loricnt, where they constructed great concrete pens to protect the submarines from air attack. ELK SCHOLARSHIPS GO T0.22 YOUNG Chicago. Aug. 3. (U.R) The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at their grand lodge meeting today awarded scholar ships totaling $5,200 to ?2 boys and girls of high school age. Winners included: First prize of SfiOO. Marjorie J. Po-veli. Mis soula, Mont., and Francis Birch. Salt Lake City: third prize of S400, Irene Olson, Boulder, Colo., and Mark J. Jacobsen. Missoula, Mont; fifth prize of $200. Glenn D. Brewer, Berke ley. Cal. Honorable mentions of $100 each: Joyce Allen, Laramie, Wyo.; Daily P. Child?. Jr., Lyn wood. Cal., and Don Muchmore, Eagle Rock, CaL Medfoed United Press Thirty-ninth Year Nazis Hammered "Vtbntk Ocean "HEfcjfjoRs JKtfft CHANNEL V Vu- 'VhW9UEN ISLANDS YXsTuir" Cj ) -A NORMANDY " ML M' J BRimw yrHM ojj FRANCE I Tl BoyotvC Mi!e V. eT J 0 25 50 BourgeN (Acmt Teltphoto) American armored columns lash out west and south ot captured Pontor son and sweep through disintegrating German battle lines at a pace tnat may already have earned to within striking distance ot Rennes Rapid progress was made toward Paris after passing Brecey. while British and Canadians joined with Yanks in hammering back Nazis In Caumont area. 1,000 Supermen March Out Of Rennes With White Flag By Robert C. Miller United Press War Correspondent With the American Spearhead Near Rennes, Brittany, Aug. 2 (U.R) More than 1,000 members of the German garrison of Rennes marched out four abreast from that communications hub today with their own officers and with white flags flutter ing from sticks, surrendered to American advanced patrols. PILOT IS KILLED E Fred Frank, 28, of Walla Walla, Wash., co-owner of the S and M Flying Service located at Dallas Port, Wash., was burn ed to death when the seven- passenger Fairchild plane he was piloting crashed and burst into flame shortly after taking off from the Illinois Valley air port near Cave Junction In Jose phine county at 2:55 p. m. Wed nesday. Frank, according to reports from Grants Pass, had taken off on a test flight and was between 200 and 300 feet from the ground when the motor conked out. causing the plane to sideslip and plunge to earth, where it Im mediately caught fire. The plane was one being leased to the Siskiyou National Forest Service for carrying para firefighters to conflagrations in the area. Frank, a short time before the fatal accident, had taken his plane up with four firefighters, but at an altitude of about 50 feet the motor went out. How ever, he was able to land the plane safely. Then followed the test flight, with no passengers, which ended in tragedy. The remains were shipped north for burial. EX-CAPONE PAL IS ii " Chicago, Aug. 3 (U.R) Law rence Dago Mangano, 54-ycar-old member of the old Al Capone gang, was killed early today and his bodyguard, Michael Pon- tillo, 34, was fatally wound ed in a new flareup of gang war fare over gambling. The shooting occurred when three gunmen in a black sedan drew alongside the car In which Mango, Pontillo, and Miss Rita Reyes were riding, and opened fire with shotguns and .45 cali ber pistols. Mangano died shortly after wards at Bridewell hospital but Pontillo survived the shooting by seven hours. Miss Reyes, who escaped injury, was held by police for questioning. Police were agreed that gamb- ling was the motive, pointing out Mangano apparently had succeeded to the syndicate gambling throne vacatea oy the suicide of Frank (The Enforcer) Nitti. The only other possible successor to Nitti would have been Jack Guzik, also a Capone era mobster. Guzik was abduct ed a few months ago but was released unharmed after several days. Full Leased Wire Back in France Rennes has not fallen as this dispatch is written (on Wednes day) and it is not possible to say what proportion of the Rennes garrison was represented In the tatterdemalion procession that came straggling down the high way toward our prison pens. Had Enough It is obvious that this part of the garrison, at leasts decided it had had enough of war. The men were -dirty, bleary-eyed from continuous shelling and forced marches, and a far cry from the "supermen" who were supposed to rule Hitler's world. They had thrown down their guns and stripped off their am munition. Their officers tried to keep a semblance of military bearing in the line but it was hopeless. The soldiers no longer cared. They asked our patrols for transport to the rear but all available transport was being used to move American troops across Brittany. An officer scrib bled a map on a piece of paper and directed the Germans to march themselves to a rear prison camp. White With Dutt Whenever they encountered an American unit moving up they would wave their white flags frantically so we wouldn't shoot. The sun beat down on the procession and their uniforms, boots, and faces were white with powdered dust. When they fin ally arrived at the enclosure they threw themselves down along side thousands of other prison ers rounded up in our rapid ad vance. All along the road they passed dozens of burned out tanks and trucks, overturned wagons and dead horses marking the line along which they had retreated before they decided to toss in the sponge at Rennes. The prison pens were filling ; rapidly as the doughboys clean- ed up bypassed pockets behind nut 1ntUn ..nil., C 41 MA4 vu. i.i iim, uiii. & .lie mum part these were giving up with out a fight, like the men of the Rennes garrison, when con vinced that the jig was up. SALT LAKE LION Chicago, Aug. 3 (U.R) D. A. Skeen, Salt Lake City, Utah, was elected president of the International Association of Lions Clubs at the, close of the annual convention today. Fred W. Smith, Ventura, Cal., was chosen third vice-president. Donald D. Laing, Abilene, Kan., was elected chairman of the board of governors. New International directors include Dr. Eugene S. Briggs, Enid, Okla., and Thomas H. Fowler, Seattle, Wash. TO BERLIN By United Press The shortest distances to Berlin from advanced allied lines today: Russia 328 miles. Italy 607 miles. France 623 miles. MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, AUGUST, 1944. First On CIO-AFL DISPUTE THREATENS TIE-UP 16,000 Vote to Quit Jobs; Philadelphia Transporta tion Still Stalled. By United Press A jurisdictional dispute be tween rival CIO and AFL unions today threatened to tie up all industries at Aluncie, Ind., adding to the widespread strikes that plagued the United States and Canada, tying up transportation in Philadelphia and Montreal and hampering war production. ' Sixteen thousand CIO work ers at Muncie voted to quit their jobs in sympathy, a spokesman sMd, after 250 members of an AFL union agreed to post an iron clad" picket line around the glass house at the Ball Brd- thers plant. Philadelphia Idle At Philadelphia, where a strike of 5,800 transportation workers entered its third day, trucks were pressed into service to transport workers to their jobs in war factories and the city awaited an expected order from President Roosevelt for the federal government to seize control of the paralyzed trans portation system. Within the city, heavy police guards were maintained to pre vent any recurrence of sporadic outbreaks between negroes and whites which occurred yester day. The unauthorized strike be gan when the company began training eight negro "workers as tram and subway operators. The regional war manpower commission placed navy produc tion losses at 70 per cent with army contracts suffering a 50 per cent deficit. Production losses, the army said, affected radar, planes, heavy artillery, and flame throwers. Transportation also was paralyzed at Montreal where employes began taking cars to the barns shortly after midnight. but personnel managers predict ed no serious stoppage in war production as they had made arrangements to transport em ployes to and from work in trucks. The executive board of the United Automobile Workers (CIO) called upon 7,000 strikers at the gear and axle division of the General Motors Corp. at De troit to return to work today after suspending President Nes tor Dessy and all other officers of Local 235. HEAVY FIGHTING Washington, Aug. 3 (U.R) Announced casualties of U. S. army personnel Jumped 11.190 during the week from July 6 to July 13, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson revealed today. That figure, apparently reflecting the bitter fighting In Normandy and Italy, was more than twice the usual number of army casualties announced during a seven-day period, which normally has been about 5000 in recent months. Figures announced by Stimson during his news conference, to gether with totals released today by the navy, indicated that over all casualties among the U. S. armed forces during this war now are well over 300,000. Stimson said army casualties announced In Washington through July 13, totaled 218.473, while a navy casualty list re leased today showed 51,871 cas ualties among navy, marine corps and coast guard personnel. In addition, reports from the Pa cific said 734 casualties have been reported thus far from Guam and Tinian, making a to tal of 277,078, Russian German 'Sacred SoiP GOVERNORS CLAIM RETURNING VETS Only Private Enterprise Can Assure Peace-time Jobs, Is Conference Warning. St. Louis. Mo., Aug. 3 (U.R) Ihe Republican Governors con ference under leadership of Gov. 1 nomas h. Dewey today charged the Roosevelt administration with blocking the returning vet erans' path to postwar employ ment and warned that only pri vate enterprise can assure peace time jobs. The conference made public reports on six of the 14 domes tic problems it undertook to dis cuss here under leadership of the republican presidential can didate and his running mnte. Gov. John W. Brickcr, of Ohio. Say Disaster Invited The 26 republican governors approved the reports last night. They charged the administra tion with listlcssness, negligence and a lack of leadership "which invites national disaster." "The national administration" said the report on reconversion and postwar jobs, "is now stand ing squarely in the path of the future employment of our re turning veterans and millions of displaced war workers." Reporting on the national guard and organized reserves, the governors said "the New Deal is seeking to undermine and abandon the traditional state national guard system." lhey said federal absorption of public and private lands inreatencd many local political subdivisions with destruction. States Warned But the reports cautioned the states, also, that they must be ready to accept their own re sponsibilities and not seek fed eral funds for public works when their own resources wore ade quate. The governors endorsed continued federal contributions under certain conditions to holp pay for public works, the nation al guard, and highway construc tion but said public works grants-in-aid should be made to the states or through them "with out conditions which invade the authority of state or local gov ernment." The reports were in the form of agreements on principle. The agreements on principles announced today covered: re conversion and post-war Jobs, public works, highways, national guard and organized reserves, veterans and public lands. Some of the eight remaining questions present more difficult problems. They are: agriculture, insurance, labor, public expendi tures, social welfare and public health, taxation, unemployment compensation and services, and water resources. Ti COMMITTEE POST Washington, Aug. 3. (U.R) Sen. Harry S. Truman, D., Mo., Democratic vice presidential nominee, resigned today as chairman of the senate war In vestigating committee. Truman refused pleas by com mittee members that he remain as chairman, saying that "I am of the opinion that any state ment, hearing or report for which I would be responsible would be considered by many to have been motivated by political considerations." Truman sent his resignation to Vice-President Henry A. Wal lace, president of the senate. Hugh Fulton, who has been chief committee counsel under appointment from Truman, also submitted his resignation. But Truman said the committee would meet again tomorrow and probably would request Fulton to remain. RIBUNE United Press Dewey Starts m yv Gov. Thomas E. Dewey waves to Pittsburgh crowds as he rides with Got. Edward Mnrtln of Pennsylvania on first stop of a three-day swing Into Pcnnsyvanla, Illinois and Missouri, whose aggregate ot 80 electoral vote) are believed by his managers to be necessary lor RcoubUcaa victory. ALL INVITED TO E All residents of the Medford area are invited to attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting this evening at 7:30 p. m., at which time Senator Guy Cordon of Roseburg will be the main speaker. It is strcised that this Is a non-polillcal gathering and that discussion will be on prob lems and projects of a general nature and of interest to all. Lumbermen, merchants and all business men are especially invited to meet with the United States senator. The meeting will be nt the Chamber of Commerce building. RATION COUNTERFEITERS UNDER U. S. INDICTMENT Los Angeles, Aug. 3 (U.R) Two service station operators and a chemist today were under federal grand Jury indictment on charges of conspiring to violate counterfeit laws by print ing 25,000,000 gallons worth of gasoline ration coupons. U. S. Attorney Charles II . Carr said Joseph Mays and Charlos Landis and Chemist John W. Chancy evolved a pro cess to duplicate the gas tickets but were arrested before they had a chance to use it. Pistol -Packin' Preacher Rounds Up Slot Machines By William C. Payette United Press Correspondent Santa Ana, Cal., Aug. 3 (U.R) The Rev. Wesley G. Edwards was packing a shooting iron to day while the district attorney's office was deciding what to do about the Free Methodist pas tor's haul of 16 slot machines from an impromptu swoop around Orange County. The Rev. Mr. Edwards said he needed the gun to protect him self from reprisals. The police department issued him a permit about the snme time Sheriff Jesse L. Elliott was lifting his special deputy badge. The crusading pastor hadn't Informed the sheriff's office In advance about the raid, the sheriff said, and therefore wasn't to be trusted with badge. He undertook the raid, the pastor said, only after he was unable to get any cooperation from county authorities. Out of 11 places visited last Thursday night, the Rev. Mr. Edwards and his helpers found eight sporting the gambling contraptions. They loaded the equipment in Full Leased Wire Shells St. Louis Trip (Acmt Telephoto) T BARRAGE E London, Aug. 3 (U.R) A murderous barrage of Nazi ro bot bombs rocked London and parts of southern England throughout last night and the early morning hours today, striking seven hospitals, among other targets, and piling up a heavy toll of killed and wound ed civilians. Apparently trying to swamp the British defenses, the Ger mans pushed off big salvoes of their deadly flying bombs at frequent intervals, using an un usually largo proportion of 'glider" robots that dropped si lently from the skies to bury their victims with scarcely a moment's warning. Official sources revealed that the new "glider" bombs have a larger wing span. In the new types, the robot's engine shuts off while still a considerable distance from the objective and the bomb glides in almost soundlessly, with only the whis tling scream of Its slipstream to warn of Its approach. It also was revealed that the Germans have developed a two-ln-ono "pickaback" plane. nicknamed the "supcr-doodlo-bug by RAF fighters. to their automobiles and drove off with It. By the time the count had reached 16, the automobiles were full and the raid was halted. Driving up to the sheriff's office with his load, the pastor was told there was no place to put them. The pastor stored the $15,000 worth of equipment himself.. The sheriff agreed to take it over yesterday. He would, the sheriff said, call on the district attorney to see If ho thought there was any evidence of gambling before issuing complaints against the places listed in the pastor's little book. The Rev. Mr. Edwards said he thought $15,000 worth of slot machines was quite a bit of evidence and asked State At torney General Robert Kenny to see what lt looked like to him. Kenny was in Mexico City, but asked his chief special dep uty. J. II. McClelland, to have a look. "He will find," said the pas tor, "that they look Just like slot machines." Weather Forecast: Fair and Warmer tonight and Friday Temp, fllghftt yesterday .. 81 l.owert thH morning S3 Precipitation past 24 tan, . 0 NO. 113. Fall AT GATES OF HITLER Germany's Fatal Hour Ap proaching, Says Pravda; Baltic Area Roads Cut. . Moscow, Aug. 3 (U.R) Rus sian artillery shelled the Ger man soil of East Prussia today from a range of eight miles "or less, and the newspaper Pravda proclaimed that the Red army "is crashing the gates of Hitler's Inner fortress, and Germany's fatal hour is approaching." Gen. Ivan D. Cherniakhov sky's army was smashing to ward the east Prussian border on a broad arc at a pace whici, if maintained, well might carry it into the German fatherland today. Front line dispatches said the tattered German units were reeling back in confusion be fore Cherniakovsky's drive through strong points eight to 11 miles from east Prussia, and some had lost contact with their command and were struggling to escape in the German forests. Naiis Ease News (The Transocean news agan cy said reinforced Russian as sault units were exerting them selves to the utmost to reach, the cast Prussia frontier. The broadcast perhaps was designed to ease the impact on the Ger man home front that the Soviets now were on Reich soil.) (The German High Command claimed that 3,908 Russian tanks were knocked out in July by Nazi land forces and another 250 by air attacks. The Soviets lost 1,329 planes in the same period, a Berlin communique said.) Soviet newspapers published, an operational map depicting the results of the first 40 days of the Red army offensive. It showed that the Russians had. reached the Baltic west of Riga, entered the Warsaw area, and were battling along a 200-mile Vistula front south of Warsaw, In an editorial accompanying the map, Pravda said: "The Red army has cut all roads from the Baltic Sea to cast Prussia, and is within touch of the cast Prussian border, "It Is crashing the gates of Hitler's Inner fortress and ready to smash its steel locks. Today the Germans in east Prussia hear the menacing thunder of our artillery. With the roar of; our guns, fate knacks at Ger man's door. Her fatal hour Is approaching." (An Atlantic radio broadcast reported by the Stockholm , n c w s p a per Morgontidningen said the Russians had crossed the border into east Prussia at Eydtkuhnen and Lyck in an ad vance along the Kaunas-Konlgs-berg railway. Atlantic said the crossings had been confirmed by the Moscow radio.) COMMERCIAL BUILDING RENT CONTROL SOUGHT Washington, Aug. 3 (U.R) Rep. Samuel Dickstcin, D., N. Y., today Introduced a bill to extend the rent control power of the Office of Price Administra tion to commercial buildings. At present OPA has power only over presidential rents. HOSPITAL EXPANSION Washington, Aug. 3 (U.R) The office of Sen. Sheridan Downey, D., Cal., said today that the navy has authorized the expenditure of $1,495,000 for a 500-bed expansion pro gram nt the naval hospital at Long Beach, Cal. BASEBALL National Chicago 6 8 1 Brooklyn - 2 8 1 Chipman, Derringer and Krelt ner; Davis, Fuchs and Bragan. American R, H. E. Cleveland 3 6 0 Chicago 3 6 0 Smith and Schlucttcr; Diet rich and Trcsh. REDS KNOCK
