Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, December 17, 1944, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., December 17, 1944, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextWeather . Um The ' MAIL TRIBUHS Want Ad Way - Quick Results At SmaU Cod Forecast! Sunday, Clear wit visibility reduced by imokH Temp. Hlrheit yeeterda ,, 4s Lowest this inorninf... 28 Precip. past 24 bouriWHWWnoae FORD RIBUNE United Press Full LMiad Wli United Press Full LmwI Wire 7 ; Thirty ninth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1944 NO. 227. g m 1 I Med MA Nim1 TOWS IN IN SWIFT DRIVE, TAKEJCITY, BASE Jap ' Opposition Weak, Air Losses Heavy From Car rier Attack. : Allied Headquarters, Leyte, Philippines, Sunday, Dec. 17. (U.R) American Invasion trooos. sweeping seven to nine miles in land on Mindoro island, captured the town of San Jose and its air field Saturday and engineers al ready are at work constructing air bases at excellent sites, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today. The veteran American in fantrymen smashed five miles in land from three beachheads against negligible Japanese op position to take the town, largest in southwestern Mindoro, on the Bugsanga river. "Construction of bases on ex cellent sites with favorable ter rain Is already under way," Mac Arthur's war bulletin reported. - San Jose is also situated at a railroad junction along the Mag bando river north of Mangarin bay. San Jose fell within 24 hours after the first troops went ashore to move MacArthur's lines within ISO miles of Ma nila. ' Transports continued to pour men and supplies into the Mindoro beachheads under en emy air attack. Twenty-four enemy planes, over the beachhead area and al lied shiDoinc. were shot down during the fighting while naval units destroyed a crippled enemy destroyer seeking refuge in Pan darochan bay to the south. . (Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, com mander in chief of the U. S. Pa cific fleet, announced in Pearl Harbor that American carrier planes destroyed or damaged a total of 373 Japanese planes in three days of night and day at tacks over. Luzon in support of the Mindoro invasion. The at tacks, carried out Wednesday through Friday, blasted air dromes and installations and raked shipping caught in adja cent waters.) Meanwhile, on Leyte island, the 77th division pushed north from Ormoc in closinw i.i from the rear against Japanese troops holding the shattered "Yama shita" defense line and seized the town of Cogon and its road junc tion. The Seventh division in the mountainous area to the north west of Mahmnag is completing the destruction of isolated rem nants of the trapped 26th Jap anese division. Suicidal resistance is being put up by Jap forces who are unable to withdraw from the Ormoc corridor. The 32nd and First cavalry divisions closing in on the enemy from the north made -substantial gains in diffi cult terrain against heavy resist- nnra Hanu-to-hand fighting was re ported as the Americans stormed enemy strongpoints. NAZI IDEAXGEI E London, Dec. 16 (U.R) All educational institutions except boarding schools and orphanages will be closed in conquered Ger many until Nazi ideolgoy and militaristic teaching have been removed, the German people were told today in the thirteenth and last Allied proclamation broadcast to the Reich. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's nrnplnmntlnn pynlnined that Vir tually all educational institutions will be closed until this extirpa tinn nf N97I militarism. German schools will remain under the supervision of the Allied mili tary government during the per iod of occupation. Jackson County tales to date In the Sixth War Loan are "E" Bonds $496,721 "E" Quota $600,000 Total Sales 32,876,695 Keeping the t . 1 LSj - Winging Its way into the air, this B - keep Japan's home fires burning. If the blazes RUSSIANS SHIFT London, Dec, 16 (U.R) The Red army, chifting the weight of its offensive in southeastern Europe to Czechoslovakia, yes terday converged on , the big Hungarian-annexed rail center of Kassa (Kosice) from three direc tions, driving to within 20 and 22 miles of the city on the south east and southwest. -. " While Moscow reported gains of up to five miles through for est and mountain country below the strategic 10-way road and rail junction, ' Berlin reported that other forces of Gen. Ivan I. Petrov's 4th Ukrainian army were smashing toward the city from the east, where they were last reported 15 miles away. The Soviet high , command meanwhile was silent on- the progress of battles around two thirds encircled Budapest. There also was no news of Red army forces 36 miles northwest of the Hungarian capital who Friday uncorked a two-mile mountain gap marking the entrance to the Bratislava plains leading west ward 116 miles to Vienna. Southeast of Kassa, key stronghold of enemy defenses protecting the eastern areas of the puppet state of Slovakia, the combined forces of Petrov's 4th Ukrainians and Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian army drove to within 20 miles of the transit city by capturing Vilany, Moscow announced. While a lull set in over fight ing at Budapest, German broad casts reported a series of jabs and probes elsewhere on the eastern front, and London ob servers believed that there were incerasing indications from the Baltic states to southern Poland that the Red army was on the threshhold of its winter offen sive. The Soviet high command re ported that a heavy raid on the Baltic port of Liepaja (Libau) was made by planes of the Red Banner Baltic fleet Thursday. Six German transports totaling 24,000 tons were sunk and an other 5,000-ton transport was damaged, Moscow said. . , AIR RAIDS KEEP TOKYO ON ALERT Simarfnrfrp Rasp. Sainan Dee. 17. (ELT) via Navy Radio (U.PJ central rionsnu tsiana nt th .TnnAnpce homeland, par ticularly the Tokyo bay area, Js fast becoming a land 01 constant aii.-i.aM nWt. with American Superfortresses overhead day and night Usually traveling singly, the 21st bomber command's Saipan based B-29's combine harassing and nuisance raid tactics with re connaissance and photo - recon naissance, besides securing wea ther information. More than 10 million acres of forest land burned in Florida last year. Home Fires Burningin Japan 29 Super-Portress takes off from Salpan airstrip, heads for Tokyo to any of the tires iued stoking, the B-29's bomb loads will help rekindle In heart of world s fourth largest city. . JACKSONVILLE IS. Washington, Dec. 16 (U.R) The War Shipping Administra tion revealed tonight that a big modern tanker, the S. S. Jack sonville, was sunk in the Atlantic several weeks ago presum able the victim of a nazi tor pedowith all but two of the approximately 75 personsjiboard being" lost! ' ."- i Details of the disaster were withheld, the' WSA saying mere ly that the ship went down fol lowing a terrific explosion,-believed to- have been caused by torpedoing." The Jacksonville, a 16,765-ton vessel commissioned 23 months ago, was carrying war supplies to the European theater at the time it was lost. The WSA did not reveal its complement, but it was believed to' have been carrying a crew of about 50 and a navy gun crew of 26 to 28 of ficers and men. The Jacksonville , was de livered at Henry Kaiser's Swan Island shipyard, Portland, Ore., January 13, 1943, and was oper ated for WSA by -the Deconhill Shipping Co., San Francisco. E SHOOTING AFFAIR REFUSE COMMENT Eugene, Ore.,' Dec. 16 (U.R) Police tonight investigated the shooting of Miss Pauline Conradt by her closest friend and companion, Miss Gladys Turley, Eugene newspaperwom an. .' The shooting took place, in a Eugene home where Miss Con radt had gone as ah overnight guest. Her, friend came to the house and asked to see Miss Conradt, who took her upstairs. Below, the family heard sev eral shots and rushed upstairs to find Miss Conradt on the floor. She was given a good chance to recover at the hos pital where she was taken. The two women, both gradu ates of the University of Ore gon, lived together in a small farmhouse, about II miles south of Eugene. Neither woman would com ment on the shooting, police reported. Miss Turley has been turned over to the district at torney's office for qnestioning and the possible filing of charges. , . . London, Sunday, Dec. 17. (U.R) The Sunday Times said to day that the Whitechapel bell foundry, which cast the Ameri can Liberty Bell in 1752, had of fered to recast the cracked sym bol of American independence free of charge as a gesture of Anglo-American friendship. The bell, which hung in. Inde pendence hall in Philadelphia, cracked In 1835 while tolling a knell for Chief Justice John Marshall. BY 44-27 COUNT Paced by Darrell Riggs, who collected 10. points, the fast- breaking Medford high Black Tornado won thh opening bas ketball game of the season last night when they downed Coos Bay 44 to 27 on the local court. Medford scored the first bas ket;. in"the opening seconds ,'of tne game ana trom tnere on out held the lead, running up a 16 to 4 edge at the end of the first quarter and .built it to 28 to 9 at halftlme; End of the third quarter showed' Medford enjoy ing a 38 to 22 margin '.; - Coach Al Simpson used almost three full teams in an effort to give them experience for the coming conference season-. ' - There Was never a doubt of the outcome of the game after the first few minutes as Med ford's fast break and tight de fense held the Pirates to but seven field goals, six of them in the second half. Medford col lected 21 field goals and made two out of six free throws. Coos Bay was given 17 gift tosses and made 13 of them. Medford second team beat Coos Bay seconds 36-33 In an overtime ' in the preliminary game. nil in S ON FEDERAL JOB Washington, Dec. 16 (U.R) Last Bummer when the deaths of her husband and only son were announced less than two weeks apart, Mrs. Lesley J. Mc Nair said, "I'll carry on." Tonight it was learned from her friends that Mrs. McNair, left with a pension of only $50 a month, has gone to work. She is employed afternoons in the research and publications office of the state department. Lt. Gen. McNair, who. as com manding officer of the army ground forces devised the train ing system which turned flabby recruits into tough soldiers was killed July 25 while observing from an advanced infantry post the aerial bombardment prelim inary to the St. Lo offensive in Normandy. The smokeline used by the American planes as - a guide drifted back over U. S. positions, and McNair whose eagerness for duty at the front had won him an undisclosed troop com mand post was fatally wound ed. BONOMI TO TALK Br United Press Italian Premier Ivanoe Bon oml will speak on the "program of his new government" over all stations in liberated Italy at 12 p. m. (PWT) Sunday, the Rome radio announced Saturday fn a broadcast heard by the FCC. T THEATERNIPPED Army, ' Flying, Red Cross Personnel Involved In Huge Graft. New Delhi, Dec 16 (U.R) An undisclosed number of U. S. army men are serving stiff sen tences at Leavenworth, Kan., for having participated in a huge "black market" smuggling ring which at one time threatened to hinder military operations in the China - Burma - India theater, it was learned today. The gang was understood to have amassed $4,000,000 from il licit, trade over the fabulous "hump" between India and China in the past two and one half years. American military police, aid ed by British, Indian and Chin ese operatives, now are conclud ing investigations which began in the middle of 1942 at the direction of Gen. Joseph W. Stil well, then CBI commander. Former members of the famed "Flying Tiger" group, personnel of the U. S. army, the China Na tional Aviation corporation, the American Red Cross, technical aircraft representatives, and Chinese, British and Indian civilians were reported involved in the investigation of smuggling into and selling on China's black markets n-i 1 i t a r y equipment, arms, ammunition, -drugs, opium cosmetics, currency, gold bul lion, gems and cigarets. China's utter scarcity of nunv erous luxury items for civilians created a fantastic market for -anyone who could deliver the goods to Kunming and other cities. It was learned that In the sum mer of 1942 the ring, which in cluded some of the world's steal- thiest crooks from all. nations, undertook operations on such a scale that they threatened to break down currency controls, upset the Indian government's rationing of scarce drugs and commodities, and hinder mili tary operations in this theater. PORTLAiHOTEL, NOTED LANDMARK OF 54 YEARS, SOLD 1 . Portland, Ore., Dec. 16 (U.R) A Portland landmark for six decades, the historic Portland Hotel, has been sold to the Meier & Frank department store at an unannounced price, lt was disclosed tonight. The property will be oper ated for the time being for hotel and restaurant purposes, but Aaron M. Frank, president of the purchasing firm, said that ultimately it would be used as part of a postwar expansion program of the store, which oc cupies an adjoining block. , The sprawling hotel features a fireplace in every room, many chimneys, massive furniture, wide halls, large rooms and a courtyard and carriage entrance fronting on the pioneer post office park. President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated a second dining room built in the hotel.' Other presi dents who have stopped at the historic hostelry included Wil liam Howard Taft, - Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolldge, Her bert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. . The hotel has 280 rooms and cost $750,000 when opened in 1890 after an interrupted build ing period since 1884. It occu pies a full block in what Is now the center of the downtown dis trict. . Chicago, Dec. 16. (U.R) A half Interest in the $2,000,000 es tate of William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, three-time mayor of Chicago, was asked today by Ethabelle Green, who said she served 13 years as "secretary, companion, nurse and as a daughter" to Thompson. CHURCHILL REPLY TO CRITICS DUE OVER AIR TONITE Premier Wjll Urge Early Meet With FR and Stalin On Problems. London, Dec. 16 (U.R) Prime Minister Winston Churchill, un der the fire of his career as Britain's war time leader, to night was reported contemplat- nig a world broadcast, probably Sunday night, in defense of his policies which influential critics charged threatened the whole fabric of postwar security. A definite decision on the Churchill broadcast had not yet been made but No. 10 Downing street indicated Churchill was favorably Inclined to the pro ject. . A mass demonstration against Churchill's policy in Greece Will be held Sunday afternoon in Trafalgar Square. If he speaks the prime minis ter is expected to issue a strong appeal for a Greek armistice and for the quickest possible meet ing of the "Big Three" Presi dent Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and himself in order that the widening rifts between the prin cipal . Allies may ' be healed without delay. 1 ' : . Criticism of the prime minis ter was led by a portentous edi torial- in the liberal Manchester Guardian which declared Brit ain faced a terrible dilemma which may force her to choose between Russia and the United States, thus smashing the tri- power concept and laying the possible foundations of third world war, The Yorkshire Observer sug gested that Stalin has 'refused to , meet with . Churchill "and Roosevelt again until the Polish question , is settled in . Russia's lavor. , -1 ., -,, SHY BOND QUOTA Jackson county is still about $100,000 short of the $600,000 quota on "E" bonds set for the current war loan drive, commit tee workers stated yesterday. With but a few days remaining in which "E" purchases may be made to count on the drive. everyone was urged to buy addi tional "E" bonds this week if possible. , War Bulletins Rome. Dec. 16 (U.R) Ger man troops, battling to retain their eastern Po valley posi tions, savagely counterat - tackad Eighth army troops holding a bridgehead over the Canal Naviglio, west of Ra venna, while to the south west other Eighth army units "made appreciable gains" be low Faensa, allied headquar ters announced today, Paris, Dec. 16 (U.R) Gen. Charles D Gaulle arrived today by airplane and said that the text of the Franco Soviet government, which he signed in Moscow and which is expected to be discussed ai a cabinet meeting tomorrow morning, would be published at 7 p. m., Paris time tomor row evening. A Superfortress Base, Sal pan, Dee. 17 (Via navy radio) (U.R) A single B-29 Super fortress, unable to reach Nag oya with Us formation during the December 13 raid on the Mitsubishi plan works, sought out a target of opportunity and bombed and probably de stroyed an important enemy war plant in Hamamaisu, about- 55 miles southeast of Nagoya and located in Hikl. sahoso bay on Honshu island, it was. revealed today. A baseball field abandoned 20 years ago is now densely forest ed although no seeds were planted, so liberally do trees spread seeds, s COUNTY $100,000 New Rhine Push DUSSHDQRF s pCOLOONE fcERMANYj . VV MAINZ Y0"Tn SAAmtUCKIN Jt f 1 METZ v lUiuniHf .TRAStOUaO FRANCE 'COi MAS MUIHOUSI '- ' (Acmm TtUphoto)- C. S. Seventh Army (lower arrow) smasaes Into Germany's Rhenish Palatinate after taking Wlssembourg In war's third Invasion of Reich by U. s. forces. To north, fierce bat tles rage In 8aar Basin and Duren areas, with only small progress re Dortxa. SOCIAL SECURITY FREEZE APPROVED IN FACE OF VETO 'Washington, bee." 16 (U.R) President Roosevelt today "re luctantly" approved legislation freezing the social security pay roll tax at one per cent for an other year, and announced he would submit to congress soon a plan "for broadening and im proving the social security sys tem." ,' , w' . : v . Had Mr. Roosevelt refused to sign, the measure, congress al most certainly' would have over ridden his veto. It is the fourth time congress has enacted legis lation to maintain the one per cent rate. The president said in a state ment that postponement of the automatic doubling of the payroll-tax on January 1, as pro vided in the social security law, "merely defers until next year the necessary fiscal receipts to pay the benefits.". 1 He added, however, that he feld certain congress "does not intend to jeopardize in any way the benefit rights" of persons covered by the law. The freeze, he said, in no way modifies the benefits provided by the present law" but makes it essential that the next congress review thor oughly "the methods of financing them." "At an early date," he said, "I plan to submit to the congress a comprehensive plan for broaden ing and Improving the social se curity system. "At that time,.! hope that a clear understanding of the. gov ernment's financial responsibili ties for social security will emerge and that a long-term plan for allocating the costs of social security will be developed. FORTloTCASE T Seattle, Dec. 16. (U.R) The court martial into the Fort Law- ton Aug. 14 riot has gone into closed sessions to ballot on the guilt or Innocence of 41 mem bers of a negro port company charged with rioting during which 30 members of an Italian service unit were Injured, and one hanged. Three of the negro defendants also faced murder charges. BULLETIN Eugene, Ore., Dec. 16 (U.R) The University of Oregon made it two in a row over the Klam ath Falls Marines, defeating the visitors 70 to 57, in their bas ketball game here tonight. Ore gon won last night, 68 to 65. Oregon led 34 to 27 at the half in tonight's game, and was never seriously threatened. KEY TOJBAVARIA Germans Hurl Reserves In Counters; Rheinish Battle Shapes. Paris, Sunday, Dec. 17. 1U.O U. S. Seventh army troops cap tured the historic Bavarian city city of Wlssembourg Saturday and crossed the Reich frontier at a third point, but the Germans, launching a series of diversion ary counter-attacks to the north, drove back into Belgium at a point 50 miles below Aachen. The German command also hurled crack reserves, including a panzer division from another front, against "Lt. Gen. Alexan der M. Patch's Seventh army spearheads,, which had invaded Bavaria to a depth of two miles in their crossing of the frontier between Wlssembourg and the Rhine on a 12-mile front Breasting stiff fire from tha Siegfried line, the Seventh army captured the French border town of Lauterbourg. nine miles east of Karlsrhue, denying tha hard-pressed enemy a potential Rhine valley anchor at that point. The battle on the Rhenish plain before the great Industrial centers of Mannheim and Lud wigshafen apparently Jiad not yet been fully joined because Patch's spearheads were operat ing under security wraps on the grounds they had not yet en-" gaged major German defense forces. In the northern Rhineland tha new American 78th division, only two months out of tha United States, and the veteran second division 1 jointly blasted another First army breach in tha Siegfried line 12 mile below tha original Aachen gap. . . Beset on both the upper and) lower Rhine and with tha Third army pounding relentlessly against the Saar river section of the Siegfried line, German tanks and infantry lashed out in a rash of small-scale attacks against the long-dormant hinge between tha First and Third army fronts. . These thrusts extended along a 75-mile front from Duren to below Trier. Enemy forces cross ed back into Belgium at Peters- kirche, 10 miles south of Belgian St. Vith and 50 miles below Aachen, where the American line had extended just over the German frontier near its con vergence with the Belgian and Luxembourg borders. This represented a First army setback of about two miles from the forthest advanced position of last Autumn although modifica tions of the line may have been made since then. F, F (By United Press) Benito Mussolini, father- of fascism and head of the puppet government in north Italy, Sat urday urged his followers to re gain their fanaticism and ease the "unbelievable and ever-increasing difficulties" facing his reflme." The speech, broadcast by the Nazi-controlled Fascist domestic radio and reported by OWI, was made at Milan on the anniver sary of the assassination of Aldo Resega, Fascist commissioner of Milan province. Monitors said that Mussolini appeared to be in "good voice." Mussolini admitted that his regime was endangered as a re sult of Allied military advances, underground activities and a "moral inertia which events have produced in many classes of peoples." In a bid for greater recogni tion from his axis partners, Mussolini declared that the sup port given by bis regime to the axis since Italy's capitulation in September, 1943, was 'far great er than is commonly believed."