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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1944)
b m 100 Jap Ships, 396 Planes Destroyed; Battle Still Rages CARRIER FORCE Weather Medford RIBUNE rorecisti Cloudy tonight and Saturday. Little chance In temperature. Temp. Highest yesterday 64 Lowest thli morning 8 Precip, past 24 h"lirM , , .2S F United Press Full Leased Wire United Press Full Leased Wire Thirty-ninth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1944 NO. 173 tf Raiders Swing West to Hit Pescadores Islands; Tokio Makes Fantastic Claims. Closest Raid to Japan it Pearl Harbor, T. H., Oct. 13 (U.R) A great air-sea battle wa reported still raging over and round Japan s Island fortress ot Formosa today in the third straight day of a smashing Amer ican carrier strike that already has cost the enemy 100 ships sunk or damaged and 396 planes destroyed. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz' Pa cific fleet headquarters an nounced that warplanes from a fast carrier task force of the U. S. Third fleet probably the famed Task Force 58 bombed and strafed Japanese shipping, airdromes, shore installations and supply dumps on Formosa Wednesday and Thursday, in flicting widespread damage ashore in addition to the enemy s shipping and plane losses. Hit Pescadores In the Thursday attack, the raiders swung out west of For mosa to hit the Pescadores is lands for the first time since the war began. Radio Tokyo broadcast a run ning commentary on the stun ning American assault, adding the still unconfirmed report that giant B-29 Superfortresses from China had joined in the Formosa bombardment. Tokyo broadcast fantastic claims of heavy damage inflict ed on the attacking fleet and said that the American raiders still were hammering at the is land today. A terse navy communique made no mention of American warship losses, but said that 45 carrier planes were lost in the two-day strike. Some of the Yank fliers apparently were rescued. Small groups of Japanese planes struck continually at the American armada all Wednes day night, repeatedly trying to bomb or torpedo the carriers. American night fighters bagged three of the attackers and anti aircraft gunners knocked down at least eight more. 1000 Jap Captives Drown When Ship Torpedoed, Claim By United Press Tokyo Radio said today that more than 1,000 English and American prisoners of war aboard a Japanese ship were missing and presumed drowned after the vessel was attacked by an American submarine off Cape Bataan in the Philippines. The broadcast, recorded by United Press at San Francisco, said the action occurred Sept. 21. "Out of 1.250 enemy captives on board, 172 were rescued by the Japanese, but most of the remaining prisoners are missing and presumed to have drowned," the broadcast said. SIDE GLANCES By TRIBUNE REPORTERS Bill Hulen, former popular sports ed for Ye Tribune, get ting a byline in the Portland Journal. Gov. Bricker Due at 5:45 For Rear Platform Talk Jackson county residents will have their first glimpse tonight of a candidate for a high nation al office in the November elec tion when Gov. John W. Bricker, Republican candidate for vice president, arrives In Medford via private train and pauses here briefly. He will make a platform appearance and speak for a few minutes. The train Is scheduled to ar rive in Medford at 5:45 p. m., according to Southern Pacific officials. Arrangements have been completed for a group of G. O. P. leaders from Jackson county to board the train at Grants Pass and be with Bricker until they disembark at Med ford. Gov. Bricker spoke in Eugene Thursday night and is making appearances at Roseburg and Grants Pass on his trip south. Aboard the special train will be Senator Guy Cordon, candidate to succeed himself as U. S. sen ator. He will appear at the G O. P. headquarters tonight at 8:30 o'clock. Cordon had formerly been scheduled at 8 o'clock. Brieker's western tour follows shortly on the heels of his run ning mate, Gov. Thomas Dewey, whose itincrar included cities IIIIPPW IT I 3s Poa' tV CHICH Wm W Ocean (FORMOSA marcus M Sr ' MARIANAS 1$. r"i'Sv "T JtINIAN jfifl GUAM J 1 'VAJ': ? i.-AU. ... V Mindanao CAROLINE IS. ... ponIpc , if fALAO 'TRUK 'PSlafl J& Imp '1681 (Acme Tclephato) Hundreds of carrier-borne American planes, ranging within 200 miles of Japan, struck at the Ryukyu Islands In their boldest attack of the Pa cific war, destroyed 89 planes and sank or damaged 68 ships. The attack failed to bring any Immediate response from the Imperial fleet and only feeble resistance from the air. Roosevelt Skirts Questions On World Organization Plan Washington, Oct. 13 (U.R) President Roosevelt said today it was too early for him to commit himself about the power which should be granted to the United States delegate to the projected United Nations security organization. BRITISH EIGHTH Dome. Oct. 13 (U.R) British 8th army forces rolled back the German Adriatic flank on a broad front today as American 5th. army troops, attacking be hind a blazing aerial barrage, fought furiously to break open the. Nazi hill defenses south of Bologna. Breaking the 10-day deadlock that had stalled their advance to the rim of the Po valley, the 8th army veterans swung forward In a general offensive that gained ground everywhere except on the narrow Adriatic coastal strip. Washington, Oct. 13 CU.R) President Roosevelt. told his news conference today that he is talk ing about plans for additional speeches beyond the Oct. 21 date, the president said it depended on what the questioner meant by nlans. but that he was talking I about it. r . - ,'.-. ft. ', vi John W. Bricker on the other route of the South ern Pacific. w AM The president thus skipped an opportunity to answer questions posed by Sen. Joseph H. Ball. R., Minn., leading republican sup porter of the administration's world organization plan. Asked at his news conference what high officials of the big three would meet to thrash out questions left unanswered at the Dumbarton Oaks security con ference, Mr. Roosevelt said he did not know. The tentative outline of the new United Nations organiza tion was revealed on Monday with some unresolved Issues which United States officials said would have to be settled on a "higher level." Just what the "higher level" will turn out to be has not been decided, the president indicated He said, however, that the matter would be Ironed out as rapidly as possible. CALIFORNlORUIT Washington, Oct. 13 (U.R) The Interstate commerce com mission announced today that beginning midnight tomorrow a 36 hour embargo will be Imposed on the loading and shipment of California fruits and vegetables. The ICC said that the prohibi tion would expire at noon Mon day. War food administration offi cials said the embargo was ord ered to relieve a shipping space congestion, particularly at San Francisco, and because of a freight car shortage. They said that while the weekend ban was only tern orary it might be re peated from time to time until the end of the marketing season for fresh produce. 1J591BSENTEES A check by the county clerk's office today shows that 1,159 absentee ballots have been sent to Jackson county residents In the armed services. The major ity of these were mailed to over seas points. ' Two dozen ballot applications were received today, chiefly from soldiers stationed In this county, with a few from Hawaii and other distant points. Final day for mailing GI bal lots is Friday, Oct. 27, ten days beiore the election day, Nov, 7, REQUEST BALLOTS RIGA CAPTURED BY RED FORCES STALINJEPORTS Last Major Stronghold of Germans in Baltic Pocket Falls to Russians. London, Oct. 13. (U.R) The 2nd and 3rd red armies of the Baltic front have stormed and captured Riga, capital of Latvia and last major stronghold of the German forces trapped in the Baltic pocket above East Prussia, Premier Josef Stalin announced tonight. The armies of Gen. Ivan Mas lennikov and Gen. Andrei I. Yeremcnko joined in the final storming of Riga, against which they had been closing from the east an south while other Rus sian forces drove to the Baltic to pin the Germans in that area against tin sea. 324 Gun Salute Stalin ordered the two armies saluted with 24 salvoes of 324 guns, an honor reserved for the greatest red army victories. The fall of Riga broke the main core of German resistance in the Baltics, promising an early cleanup of the pocket and the libciatio.. of big Soviet forces to join In the already developing drive against East Prussia. "Troops of the third Baltic front with the direct cooperation of the troops of the second Baltic front.Mcveloping their successful offensive, today captured by storm the capital of Soviet Lat via, the town of Riga, important naval base and powerful strong hold of German defences in the Baltic, Stalin said. JUNIOR ELEVENS E Medford-Klamath Falls B foot ball teams which were to have played this afternoon on the Medford football field was post poned due to travel conditions, Lester Harris, high school prin cipal, stated today. Harris also said that the entire covered grandstand at the Med ford stadium will be reserved for the Klamath Falls-Mcdford game, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 20. Those desiring reserve scats are asked to contact the hgh school office prior to game time as this will do away with con siderable confusion the night of the game. Jinx Day Brings Good News F or Soldier's Mother This Friday the 13th brought good news instead of bad to Mrs. R. A. Bolts of 312 South Central avenue for this morn ing a wire from thn army adju tant general said that her son, Sgt. Herbert R. Botts, is alive and a prisoner of war of the German government. The ser geant was declared missing in action as of "D" day, June 6. and since then Mrs. Botts had had no word of him until this morning. Sgt. Botts is a paratrooper and had been stationed in Eng land from November of last full until the Invasion date. He went Into the army In March of 1942. The wire from the adjutant eeneral stated the news of Sgt. Botts came through the interna tional Red, Cross. Aachen better known to most person In pre-war .days as Alx-La-Chapelle faces eomplete ru'n following Oermw dIiance of American surrender ultimatum. Famous as headquarters of Charlemagne, the htatorto city contains a 1148-year-old cathedral and a Uth Century Town Hall. Hundreds of American guns have al ready begun the systematic destruction of the city Aachen, Battered, Blazing Ghost City Seen From Air Editor's Note: Bert Brandt, Acme News picture! cameraman. made two flights over besieged Aachen In the artillery observ er plane. In the following dispatch he describes the doomed city.) By Bert Brandt Written for The United Press Aboard Observation Plane over Aachen, Oct. 12 (U.R) Charlemagne's capital once called Aix-La-Chapelle Is a dead city, its fires blazing un attended and unhampered, but it is far from destroyed. I flew over the city twice once shortly afternoon and now as dusk Is setting in without seeing a single person or ve hicle in the cily's streets. There was only one fire burn ing at noon. Now there are 12, one sending up black smoke and the other 11 white. Destruction Everywhere Everywhere there are signs of destruction, many of them dating back to heavy bomber raids which preceded the Amer ican drive across western Eur ope. It would take a lot more than the artillery pounding and dive-bombing the Americans have given Aachen in the last two days to destroy a city this size. Lt. Don Piatt of Portland, Ore., who is flying me, slipped down to an altitude of 300 feet above the city to allow me to photograph the bomb damage. No shots were fired at our slow moving Cub. Once we saw four puffs of German Flak behind us but they were firing apparently at a flight of Lightnings above us. No One Seen We flew along the railroad track which divides tho American-held suburb of Forst from the city proper but I saw no one below. To the northeast as dusk settled, Gorman tanks and In fantry could be seen trying to form a counter-attack. They were taking a pounding from American artillery. From an altitude of 50 feet over another section of the front around the city I photo graphed doughboys climbing on tanks, ready for a new advance. Aachen was considerably damaged but not as much (i I expected. It is an eerie feeling to tea a city which held 160,000 in peace time without a soul moving any where. Aachen U ghost city, Allies' Big Guns Razing Aachen AIMER DEATH DUE TO DRUG, IS FOUND IN TESTS Oakland, Cal Oct. 13. (U.R) A formal pathologists' report to the Alameda county coroner's Jury said today Aimee Scmple McPherson, famous Los Angeles evangelist, died of shock and re spiratory failure "due to an over dose of a barbatol compound" sedative. "Contributing to the ahock was the terminal hemorrhage in the adrenal gland ov r the right kidney," the report added. It was presented to the coroner's Jury at an Inquest called after a half filled bottle of sedative t.'iblcts was found in the hotel room here she died here Sept. 27, Verdict Today . . The verdict of tho coroner's jury was to be announced later today. Dr. May Ruth Holdt of West- eri. Laboratories company pre sented the findings of laboratory tests on Mrs. McPherson's vital organs and stomach contents. She said 1.05 grams of barbatol were found in the .body. This was enough to have a serious effect on a well person as well as on a person in her . ..i dition," Dr. Holdt said. She. said Mrs. McPherson ap peared to have been suffering some time from a liver disor-c Barbatol, uhe testified, is a "respiratory and mental depres sive" which causes forgetful r.ess. She saU it was p ilblc that a person taking it "might forget' how much ho had consumed and continue taking it beyond the danger stage. Radio Highlights Today Claire Booth Luce from Chicago, 7:00-7:30 p. m. (PWT) NRC; Orson Welles in behalf of President Roosevelt at e.55 f. ro. irwiJ kbc, Acmn Telephnio ATHENS WRESTED FROM NAZ BY GREEK FORCE Cairo, Oct. 13 (U.R) A re surgent army of patriots has lib erated Athens, It was announced officially today, ending a 42 month Nazi occupation of the ancient Greek capital and fore shadowing the imminent allied occupation of all Greece and the eastern Mediterranean Islands German troops who marched triumphantly Into Athens on April 27, 1041, after crushing a tiny Greek army and an out numbered British expeditionary force in 21 days, abandoned the city and Its neighboring seaport of Piraeus. They fled northward under savage attack by planes of a Brit-ih carrier force standing offshore In the western Aegan. 7th Capital Lost First official accounts of the liberation of Athens, the seventh allied capital wrested from the German grip since tho start of the Anglo-American and Soviet summer campaigns, gave no de tails of tho nnrtisnn attack. It was Indicated, however, that the main German garrison had been withdrawn from Athens and Piraeus several days ago. sparking a patriot uprising that swiftly overwhelmed the weak enemy rear guard left to cover the retreat. An allied communique Issued In Rome several hours earlier revealed that low-flying British warplanes. launched from escort carriers bombed and strafed two large concentrations of German shipping concentrated near the Port of Khalkls. Destroy Small Boats The British destroyed many small boats, which apparently were trving to make a run alnng the coast to Salonika with troops and equipment evacuated from Athens. News of the capital's libera tlon touched off wild demonstra tions among the large Greek colonies In the Middle East. In Alexandria, 50,000 Greeks swarmed Into the streets for a juhulant victory parade. Thousands of Greek flags ap peared on balconies and roofs throughout the city and Greek restaurant owners throw open their doori to the celebrant. ENJOY FIELD DAY BLASTINGJANKS Estimate 64 Detroyed In Concentration Northeast of City; Mopup Advances. Supreme Headquarters, AEF, Paris, Oct. 13 (U.R) American troops swarmed in from north and east toward the heart ot Aachen against soft and spotty resistance today while to tho northeast U. S. artillery and rocket-firing planes had a field day blasting German tanks massed for an expected attempt to relieve the city. "The Aachen picture looks pretty bright," a 1st army head quarters spokesman said lata to day. Weather Aids The drive to clean up Aachen began in crisp, perfect weather when shock troops struck across the railroad into Aachen proper from the Forst-Aachen district. Later another force moved In from the north, and tonight front dispatches said the "mopup" of the city was proceeding satis factorily. The shell-swept corridor be tween the American positions northeast of Aachen was nar rowed to half a mile today as the doughboys moved In from both sides, and the battle to close lt and put the final seal of doom on tho Aachen garrison still was going on this evening. Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' headquarters announced that American guns and planes de stroyed an estimated 64 German tanks concentrated northeast of Aachen yesterday and was hav ing another field day today. Counter Hindered The mauling evidently blocked or delayed the expected counter attack In force by the massed German armor, but a 1st army headquarters spokesman said it still was anticipated "at any time now." Of one battalion of 43 Tiger tanks attacked yesterday, only eight were left, while another group of 35 tanks had only six In action after yesterday's air artillery pounding. Dispatches from the British 2d army front said a new attack in Holland toward the Meuse rived had been broadened to four miles and had carried for ward nearly a mile west of Vcn lo and southeast of Overloon. British Near Venraln ' The advance put the British forces within two miles of the strategic communications hub of Venraln. Opposition was de scribed as "not too heavy," but the advance was slowed by for est tangles, soggy marshes and mlno fields. A front report said the Ger mans apparently had given up any thought of cutting off the tip ot the Nijmegen salient and there was evidence of a move ment southward toward Aachen. The Canadian 1st army ad vanced more than a mile south of the Schclde estuary and reached Savoyaardspaat, TO BERLIN By United Press The shortest distances to Berlin from advanced allied lines today: Western front 298 miles (from point near Nijmegen. Unchanged In week.) Russia 315 miles (from Warsaw. Unchanged in week.) Italy 540 m 1 1 e t (from point south of Bologna. Gain of iive miles In weskj m
