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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1944)
ir N mm I 1 I A VI u 0 Weather Forecast: Cloudy with occafloa al rain tonight and Thurtday. Little change In temperature. Temp. Hlfhest yesterday , 42 Lowest this morning 42 Thirty ninth Year B-29 Bombs TARGET IN HEAVY T Clear Skies Permit Visual Sighting; 50 to 70 Planes Engage in Heavy Attack. 21st Bomber Command HQ, Saipan, Dec. 27 (ELT) (Via navy radio) (U.R) A sizeable task force of Superfortresses, striking at Tokyo for the fifth time since Thanksgiving, bomb ed industrial targets in Japan's capital city beginning t 1:30 p. m. (Saipan time) today, Axis reports said the force consisted of 50 to 70 planes. Reports from early elements over the target indicated the huge bombing aircraft were un loading their explosives . with visual sighting, indicating the planes encountered clear weath er. ' Hit On December 3 The Superforts last hit Tokyo on December 3 with a strike on the Musashino plant of the Na kajima aircraft factory in the western suburbs of the capital. (Reports from Washington suggested that the Musashino plant again may. have been toe target today.) The Superfortress task force rolled and roared off the long runways early this morning on the start of the long and hazard ous run to dump bombs on the heart of Japan's industrial em pire. The Japanese Dome! agency said that B-29s dropped explos ive and fire bombs at scattered points in the Tokyo area shortly after noon (Tokyo time) today, but claimed "no effective dam age" had been done. "Details of the war results in flicted against the raiders by our air and ground resistance are now being investigated," Dome! said. Another Tokyo broadcast said downtown Tokyo cheered and applauded when a B-29 broke out of formation amid a cluster of anti-aircraft bursts and "hurt led" toward the ground. Hansen's statement disclosed that the 21st bomber command had dropped an average of 100, 000 pounds 50 tons of bombs a day on the Japanese homeland during the first month of op erations from Saipan, November 24 to December 24. japanesTrush aerial aid for manila defense By United Press Tko .Tnnanese were believed to have rushed air reinforce ments from their homeland to bolster the faltering defenses of Manila in the Philippines, where Navy Minister Matsunasi Yonai told the Japanese diet the "de cisive battle" in the war would be fought. Yonaf- said fierce air battles were continuing in the Philip pines and claimed that the Americans' "persistent opera tions are concentrated in this area." American pilots were meeting Increasing opposition tn their almost daily attacks on targets in and around Manila. Some 50 enemy fighters intercepted an American raid on Clark Field Christmas day, but escorting American fighters shot down at least 39, and possibly 43 of them. A belated dispatch from south east Asia disclosed that carrier planes from a British task force bombed and strafed four Japa nese bases on the east coast of Sumatra on Dec. 20. The attack carried within 40 miles of Singa pore and drew only token oppo sition from the enemy, Medford United Press Lady Shoplifter Gains Knowledge Chinook, Mont., Dec. 27 U.R A woman caught shoplifting in a local store, told the police Judge that she needed "first hand knowledge of what hap pens when a shoplifter is caught with the goods" for a magazine story she was writing. She found out. The judge sen tenced her to 60 days. ' 1 RUSHED TO CITY FOR MEDICAL AID Circuit Judge Herbert K. Han na, seriously ill for the past few days, is being taken to Portland this afternoon in the Conger Morris ambulance where he will be placed under the care of Dr. Laurence Selling of that city. Judge Hanna's Medford physic ian stated that the judge's con-' dition was "poor" and since his illness was not easily diagnosed, it had been thought advisable to take him to Portland. The judge was accompanied north by his brother, Leon Hanna, who came up from San Francisco yesterday, and the judge's wife. A nurse, Mrs. Rara Rucker, was a passer.ger in the ambulance in. order, to caret for. the patient during the trip north. The ambulance left shortly after noon. Judge Hanna had been under the doctor's care for several days. His condition was consid ered worse Sunday and he was removed from his home in Jack sonville to a Medford hospital. RAIN.lCElOVER COLD HITS EAST By United Press The midwest escaped a freez ing rain today when the storm halted its northward course and began moving to the east. The rain covered highways with ice in northern Texas through Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, while the north central states had snow and rising temperatures. The Chicago weather bureau forecast that the snow would continue early tonight and that the minimum temperature in the midwest would be about 20 de grees above zero. Sub-zero temperatures hit the east today as the severest cold wave of the season arrived there from the midwest. Lowest read ing was at Tylertown, Pa., where the mercury sank to 18 belo. It was five below at Cleveland. New York reported 18 above, Boston 12 above. SURPRISE ATTACK Rome, Dec. 27. U.R) The Germans have launched a sur prise attack in the western sec tor of the Fifth Army front, striking in strength in the Ser chio valley area, 15 miles inland from the Ligurian coast, head quarters announced today. The attack, made in one oi me few Italian front areas not blanketed by snow, was aimed at the town of Gallicano, a half mils (mm the Serchio river. A communique said Americans were forced to withdraw from outposts to prepared positions. The Germans also increased artillery fire in the central see- (n. onrl nlnnpa rirnnnerl anti personnel bombs behind Fifth Army lines below Bologna. Eighth army troops, supported by artillery, ' continued to mop up German rear guards east of the Navlglio canal between eagoacavauo and taenia, Full Leased Wire MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBT ffi, 1944 Smash REDS IN EFFORT TO S P L IT NAZIS' Germans Blowing Up Am munition Dumps, Setting Fire to Railway Yards. Moscow, Dec. 27. (U.R) Rus sian tanks and infantry stabbed into the heart of flaming Buda, western half of Budapest, today in an attempt to reach the Dan ube and split the encircled enemy garrison. . A front dispatch to the govern ment newspaper Izvestia said the Germans were blowing up ammunition dumps and dyna miting and setting fire to rail way yards, public buildings and private dwellings as they slowly gave ground under the powerful Soviet assault. Great columns of smoke were rising over the apparently doom ed Hungarian capital, Izvestia said. Red army forces were said to have captured a trainload of German officials attempting to flee to the reich. - The bloody battle inside Buda, that part of the capital lying on the west bank of the Danube, ap peared to be developing on the Stalingrad pattern.. .All govern-, men t. buildings ere in Buda. - German regiments believed to be among the best in the wehr macht were entrenching them selves in the ruins of the city's stone houses and the process of cleaning up Buda may be diffi cult and protracted unelss a sud den collapse comes. A Soviet breakthrough to the Danube, however, would split tne garrison and conceivably hasten its annihilation. Field reports said the Rus sians were stepping up the in tensity and height of their at tacks in Buda almost hourly. Siege guns were being brought up in a solid ring around the city, ready to pound it to pieces unless the enemy surrenders. Red air force planes maintain ed a constant air umbrella over Budapest and pilots reported the squares appeared deserted ex cept for occasional Germans scurrying from building to building. German gun batteries were said to have been mounted in the city's parks. FIRING SQUADS KILL GESTAPO RINGLEADERS Paris, Dec. 27. (U.R) Three firing squads today executed eight ringleaders of the notori ous French gestapo, which en gaged in wholesale treason, tor ture, murder, and embezzlement during the German occupation of France. ' The bloody machinations of the Gestapo were bared early this month in a trial of its lead ers. Buffalo, Dec. 27 (U.R) The navy department today notified the Fairview Athletic club that Gus Lesnevich, light-heavy weight champion now a coast guardsman, had been forbidden to fight his scheduled 10-round non-title bout with Phil Muscato here tonight. Doctor Doubtful Charlie Chaplin Father of Joan Barry's Baby Girl Hollywood, Dec. 27 (U.R) One of three doctors who tested a drop of blood from the arm of Charlie Chaplin and a like sam ple from Joan Barry's baby Carol Ann, today testified he believed the British comedian could not possibly be the little girl's father. After droning on for nearly an hour about red cells and such, Dr. Newton Evans woke up the court with the point of his testimony "I reached the conclusion," he said, that the test showed it was impossible that Mr. Chaplin be the father of the child, as suming that Miss Barry was the mother." . Nobody was arguing the lat Tokyo GREEK LEFTISTS BREAK TRUCE AS ELAS Fire on Warships and Naval Installations at Piraeus; Churchill Warns. Athens, Dec. 27 (U.R) The second session of a Greek peace conference broke up late today with representatives of Premier George Papandraou's government professing indig nation at settlement terms pro posed by the leftist ELAS del egates. Athens, Dec. 27 (U.R) Greek factional leaders today resumed their peace conference called by Prime Minister Winston Church ill under a semi'truce which ELAS armed forces broke by firing on warships and naval in stallations at Piraeus. Exhorted by Churchill to cease their civil war and estab lish a coalition government, the Greek delegates met for the sec-, ond session of the conference after an order to cease fire for 45 minutes along certain streets permitted ELAS representatives to enter central Athens. T 7 Alternative' Told" Churchill warned that If the rebels fail to come to terms, Britain ' will feel bound to aid Premier George Papandreou's government in "rescuing Athens from anarchy and the miserable conditions now prevailing." Authorities announced that 10 minutes after the beginning of the semi-truce incident to the conference yesterday, ELAS guns hurled two 75-Millimeter shells into Piraeus. One landed near the navy House and the second in the harbor between the house and a warship. The British had agreed to re frain from air attacks to enable ELAS delegates to go safely to the conference site. (Where the conferees were meeting was not disclosed, but it appeared to be in the Great Britain hotel, head quarters of the British and Greek government.) REVEAL NAME OF LOST DESTROYER Washington, Dec. 27 (U.R) The navy today identified as the 2,200-ton Cooper a destroyer re cently anounced as lost off Or moc, Leyte, and also announced the loss of a landing craft the LSM-20 In the same waters. Both skippers, Cmdr. Mell A. Peterson of the Cooper, and Lt. John R. Bradley of the LSM-20 survived, but Bradley was wounded, the navy said. Casualties were not announc ed. Normal complement of the Cooper is about 275 men and of the landing craft, 52 These losses raised to 238 the total of U. S. naval craft lost in this war. ter point. Lapsing into technical talk, he said Chaplin was in blood group "P". Miss Barry was in group "A", and the baby was in "BE." Gist of the rest of his learned discourse was that an "A" and a "P" never make a "B." Neith er "A" nor "B" cells can occur in a child whose parents lacked such cells, he said. Therefore, the babys father must have been a "B." Opposing attorneys had ar gued for several minutes with the jury out of the room over admissibility of the medical tes timony before Superior Judge Henry M. Willis ruled that it could be beard. '. , . vv . v ' : 1 (Acmm Radio-TeUphotoi In this photo taken from a roll of captured German film, Nazi troops advance during heavy fighting In bit terly contested break-through Into Beliium. German drive that threatened entire left flank of Allied western front, ha s been stopped. Sale of American Gas and Cigarettes Stamped Out In Paris Black Markets Paris, Dec. 27 (U.R) A "wave of black market operations which threatened to disrupt American army economy early this month has been brought "definitely under control" by the army, the judge advocate general's office said today. As a result, black market of fenses tiave comprised the small est percentage of all crimes brought before the four courts martial in Paris during the past week. ' Flourished For Tim A spokesman acknowledged Jackson county has over-sub scribed its quota for the Sixth War Loan by nearly 59 per cent, according to an announcement today by Eugene Thorndike, chairman for the drive here. Although final figures are not yet available it appears now that this sum is not too optimistic. Thorndike said. A special tribute to out-of- town organizations with local representation for their gener ous support of the recently com pleted drive was voiced by the chairman. Among the concerns cited were: Tide Water Associ ated Oil company , Pittsburgh Plate Glass, American Fruit Growers, Inc., Standard Oil Company of California, Mont gomery Ward tt Company, The Oliver Corporation, Karl's Shoe Stores, Ltd., -Medford Corpora tion, Southern Pacific company Pacific Portland Cement com pany, M. E. Newton, Gilmore Oil company and the Texas company. Further commendation was paid to F. W. Woolworth, J. W Copeland, Trowbridge & Flynn, Pacific Gamble Robinson, Paci fic Greyhound Lines, Shell Oil company, W. P. Fuller company. General Petroleum Corporation of California, Union Oil Com pany of California, Zellcrbach Paper Corporation, Equitable Savings & Loan association. Richfield Oil company, United Air Lines, Trust Investment Co., Pacific Telephone & Telegraph company, American Telephone & Telegraph company, Foster & Kleiscr, Firestone company and Western Auto Supply company. Portions of War Bond invest ments of these companies were allocated to their representatives In the county and were credited to the quota here. Chairman Thorndike also laud ed the Junior Chamber of Com merce here, the granges and a host of volunteer workers for their local efforts during the Sixth War Loan. Tribute was also paid to merchants of this community for their generous assistance In advertising the driva. WAR BOND QUOTA Tribune United Press Full Nazis Jam Roads in Break-Through .-'A ff J . jNfc . that illicit sales of American gasoline and cigarettes were flourishing in Paris early in De cember, but he credited stiff life sentences imposed on convicted offenders with successfully curb ing the abuses. "We are only picking up two or three suspects daily now com pared with- -many-Himes- that number three weeks ago," the spokesman sald. Deputy Judge Advocate Gen eral Lt. Col. K. G. Avery said the surest proof that the Paris black market wave.was subsid ing was the fact that army un dercover operatives report mar ket prices of Illicit goods were ballooning. "The price naturally goes up when there are less such gooas on the market," he said, "and in the past week the price of cigarettes jumped from 60 francs a pack to 150, ($3), while gasoline which a few weeks ago brought 500 francs per five-gal lon can now costs 850. French Cooperate In view of the fact hundreds of French civilians were involv ed behind the scenes, the French police cooperated with the army in gaining control of tne situa tion. The stiffest sentences included life terms for gasoline theft and BIG JAP CARRIER, 26 OTHER SHIPS .S. Washington, Dec. 27. U.R A lorfTa .lannnitip ntrprnft car rier and 26 other enemy vessels have been sunk by u. a. sud marines in their mounting offen sive against enemy sea power, secretary oi avy jamcs mr riwfnl announced todav. These latest sinkings included vpn enemv combat shlDS in all. This latest haul raised to 1000 the total of Japanese ships sunk, probably sunk, and damaged by the U. S. underscas fleet. Forrestal said that the total nt TT S ftiihmnrtnpV anrnpRKeH In iVta nnHflp mwri tha nlnkinff of more than 3,500,000 tons of Jap anese shipping. Beside the aircraft carrier, the other enemy combat ships sent to the bottoni recently were a converted light cruiser, a de stroyer, two destroyer trans ports, and two escort vessels. The rest of the ships included two large transports, 1U medium vnnl three small carao ships, a small transport, two me- dium cargo transports Bna two medium tanners. NO PAPER MONDAY Following long-established custom the Mail Tribune will not publish on Monday, New Year's day, In order to permit employes to enjoy the holiday in their homes. Leased Wire NO. 235. 10 years for large-scale cigarette vending. The judge advocate's office also acknowledged that there had been widespread reports of a black market in currency with the French paying Ameri cans to send their money to the U. S. for safekeeping, but an of ficer said thls-was virtually im possible in view of army mail censorship and the $100-limit on GI money orders. UNIONISTS STAGE WARD CO. STORE Detroit. Dec. 27. (U.R) A crowd of alleged store workers' union members smashed show cases, overturned counters and trampled merchandise displays at Montgomery Ward and Com pany's Dearborn store today in a.i outbreak of violence which a labor leader charged was insti gated by "Imported strike break ers." Two persons who, Dearborn police said, led an estimated 75 union members into the store and during a 15-mlnute rampage through Its first floor aisles were arrested on charges of malicious destruction of property. Police Identified the arrested ring-leaders as Stanley Bukow sky, 45, Detroit, and William E. Smith, 32, Dearborn. Police said that neither had been a Ward employe, but that they were members of either the striking union or the United Automobile Workers' Union (CIO), which has been actively supporting the Ward walkout. The store management said that no estimate of damage would be available until an in ventory is taken. Roy Scoggins, Michigan di rector of the striking United Re tail, Warehouse and Department Store Employes (CIO) union, de clared that the disturbance be gan when "company imported strikebreakers attempted to in terfere with our members who went into the store for a peace ful demonstration." VICTOR LEHMAN HOME FOR THIRTY DAY LEAVE A survivor of the "Ellhu Thompson," merchant ship which sank in the South Pacific last fall after striking a mine, Victor Lehman, GM 3c, is in Medford to spend a 30-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Lehman, route 4. Lehman will report to Treasure Island upon expiration of his leave. Lehman has been in the serv ice two and one-half years and was last home In March of 1944 Newell, Cal., Dec.27 (U.R) Seventy Japanese men from Tule Lake segregation center were transferred today to the repartment of justice center for enemy aliens at Santa Fe, N. M., fnllnwintf thair rpniinpiniinn r9 ' American citizenship. I) f YANKS RECAPTURE TOWN OF CELLES; AIR FORCE HELPS Clear Skies Enables Heavy Toll of German Transport and Armored Eqquipment London, Dae. 27 (U.R) Tha Brussels radio reported today without immediate confirma tion in an authoritative source that an American relief col. umn has broken through tha German ring around Baitogne and linked up with the dough boy defenders of the Belgian road center. Paris, Dec. 27. (U.R) Ameri can forces today jabbed tha Nazis to a halt four miles east of the Meuse, recapturing the town of Celles, and front report said the American drive into the southern flank of the German -salient was "making excellent headway." No notable changes of position were reported but the Germans were still probing and punching along the north flank of their salient from Stavelot to Marche, . apparently hunting a soft spot where they could renew their northwestward thrusts toward Liege and Namur. Weather Aids The weather was again bright and clear, allowing the Ameri can air power to turn out in force, and take a deadly toll of German armor and transport. The first allied airborne army announced that hundreds of ton of supplies, mostly ammunition, have been dropped to the power ful American force holding out at Bastogne, a Belgian highway center, which has been under German attacks for a week. Paratroops were landed first In the area to mark out landing zones, then the supplies rained down. Three Towns Taken No specific report was : re; - leased on the progress of the strong American relief column which has narrowed the gap that separates them from Bastogne to less than five miles. However, John McDermott, United Press war correspondent with the American first army reported that, "at least three towns have been taken by the Americans" in this vicinity. In the northern first army area, he reports, at least one town was recaptured from the Germans. Two night armored engage ments were fought In the vicin ity of Celles, which lies four miles east of the Meuse and due east of Dlnant. In one of these battles the Americans knocked out 12 Ger man tanks and two self-propelled guns and at another seven Mar-5's, one Mar-4, three half tracks, three armored cars, ten trucks and two antitank guns. Transport Trouble Evidence of German supply difficulties In the Celles area, their point of deepest penetra tion about 50 miles from the Belgian frontier, was uncovered. About a dozen tanks and self propelled guns were found aban doned by the Germans because they had run out of gasoline. Five more, also out of gasoline, were found elsewhere on the front, an indication that the American air assaults were bit ing into Field Marshal Karl von Rundstcdt's supply lines. By noon today the American ninth air force had flown more than 30 sorties, blasting 40 tanks and armored vehicles and 158 motor transports. Five' German planes were shot down and flv damaged with a loss of three U. S. planes. While the whole picture was . regarded as measurably brighter today, military observers cau tioned that there was every Indi cation that Von Rundstedt was preparing to hurl powerful new blows at our lines. The Americans were fighting in really bitter cold. TRENCH FOOT LICKED Washington, Dec. 27 (U.R) The army announced today that after a vigorous campaign of educational and preventive measures it had brought under control "one of war's most dreaded crlpplers of men trench foot." Radio Highlights A special program by the Shrine's Islam temple band. Chanters and children in the Shrine's hospital for crippled children at San Francisco, will be broadcast tonight from 9:45 to 10:45 o'clock over KMED. A special Red Cross program will be given from 6 to 6:30 p. m, Dec 33, ever CBS station. V
