Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, February 11, 1945, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., February 11, 1945, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextWeather Uie The Medford Tribune Mall Tribune Want Ad Way Quick Remit! At Small Cort Forecut: Cloudy with ihoweri. Little change In tempermturt Sunday. Temp. Highest yeiterday 5S Lowest this morning M 37 Precipitation . . trace United Press full Leued Wire United Pteu FuU Leued Wlie Thirty-ninth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 -.1945 NO. 273. m ; JAM DKVO .YOKOHAMA NAVY YARD RAKED BY HUGE AIRMADA Tidal Wave and Bombs Cause. Wide Damage Cabinet Shuffled. Washington, Feb. 11 (U.R The powerful armada of Super fortresses which struck at Japan yesterday blasted the strategic Nakajima aircraft factory at Ota put a record number of 66 en emy planes out of action and lost three of their own number in the target area. Washingten, Feb. 10 (U.R) Superfortresses gave Tokyo probably its heaviest pounding la perfect daylight bombing weather today, less than an hour after an earthquake shook the main Japanese island of Honshu and Hokkaido island to the north- One of the largest forces of the giant B-29s ever to hit the Japanese capital, flew 3,000 miles round trip from the Mari ana islands to blast industrial targets with "good to excellent results." They encountered only light fighter opposition. Reports from Mai. Gen. Cur- tis E. LeMay's 21st bomber com- v mand indicated that this eighth major attack on Tokyo was one of the most successful. One spokesman said the force was as large as any group ever to hit Tokyo and probably was the largest - -- .. ' The earthquake which fortui tously preceded the raid shook the entire eastern and central part of Honshu island, including the cities of Tokyo and Yoko- hama, at 1:50 p. m., according to. - Japanese broadcasts. Seismographs at Fordham uni versity in New York indicated it was "fairly severe" but not as severe as the .tremors which shook the Japanese mainland last December 7, causing tidal waves which admittedly caused heavy damage. Mature Assist! Forty minutes after the quake started, and possibly while it still was in progress, five waves of 'y Superfortresses numbering ap 1 proximately 90 planes, accord ing to Tokyo loosed their ex plosives and incendiaries on Tokyo and Yokohama. Enemy Broadcasts said airplane fac tories were the principal targets. A second raid was reported seven hours later by Tokyo i radio. Superforts this time were over the Yokosuka naval sta tion, south of Tokyo, heading north. Returning crews at 21st bomb er command headquarters were enthusisastic. Observers said the fact that "good to excellent" re sults were reported significant. B 29 headquarters ordinarily does not estimate damage until reconnaissance photographs have been taken. Japan, troubled by increasing air raids against her homeland and by Gen. Douglas MacAr thur's crushing successes in the Philippines, meanwhile announc ed a partial reshuffle of her cab ' inet, ousting two of the three ministers responsible for indus trial manpower and war goods. Mother Asks Army Not Take Last Son Lehighton, Pa., Feb. 10 (U.R) Mrs. Elsie McFarland pinned her last hope to keep her ninth son at her side, on President Roosevelt today after his draft board chairman told her that the 18-year-old boy was "practically in" the army which had claimed all his brothers. Marcus Smith, the son, regis tered today, his 18th birthday Only yesterday his mother was notified by the .War Department that one of his eight brothers overseas. Pfc. Clinton, 20, was missing in action in France. An other son, Lewis, hasn't been heard from in two months, while William is hospitalized with ma laria in the Philippines. IWO JIMA BLASTED (Via navy radio) Army bombers and fighters hit the Japanese bastion of Iwo Jima In the Volcanoes for the 65th and 66th consecutive days Friday L:n i ... 0 I IJ-J German soldiers captured by Fourth Division of General Patten's Third Army line up in snow-covered field for searching and identification before being sent back to prisoner of war camps. The Third Army has al ready breached the West Wall on an eight-mile front before Pruem and won 10 crossings of Sure and Our River lines between Luxembourg and Germany. Photo by Charles Haacker. NEA-Acme photographer for War Picture PooL BIG THREE PLAN OF GERMAN SOIL London, Feb. 10 U.R) Diplomatic quarters believed to- rughtthat . the,"Big .Three". Al lied leaders were reaching deci sions which will be final in re gard to . securing European peace, but will be subject to ap proval of other allied govern ments where necessary. There was little- doubt that these decisions call for imme diate and prolonged Allied occu pation of Germany and its ad ministration by Allied troops. Occupation and administration of Germany was understood to be the most important of three major points under discussion. Ranked behind it were the ques tions of political and economic settlement of European squab bles, and the earliest possible establishment of an International peace organization. With Radio Moscow incrcas inelv riublicizine the Soviet- sponsored free German commit tee, there appeared grounds as newspapers here suggested for believing Stalin had put for ward this movement as a possi ble nucleus for postwar German administration. DOG'S TRIP LAID TO WnsViinirtnn. Feb. 104U.R) For his "A" priority transconti nental airplane flight, "Blaze" can thank Col. Ray W. Ireland, assistant chief of staff of the Army's Air Transport command. T T nn i.,B rrnA i f fp an lie aisu van viv-v. w. assist to his master's sister, Mrs. Anna Roosevelt Boettiger. This was revealed today by a Constd Militnrv Affairs subcom mittee investigating ATC priori ties including uiaze s. Thf cuhrnmmittee made nub- lic a report by MaJ. Gen. Harold L. George, commander of the ATC, which identified Ireland as the officer who gave Col. Elliott Rnneavpll'x 115-nnund bull Mas tiff an "unjustified" priority for his Washington-Hollywood nae nurinff thi ride three combat veterans were "dumped" because they had only "C" priorities. Cupid Dart Downs Maj. Bong, Air Ace Superior, Wis., Feb. 10 U.R) Marge Vattendahl, whose pic ture adorned the side of Ma Richard Bong's Lightning fight er plane when he shot down his 40th Jap plane to become Amer ica s ace-of-aces, becsame Mrs Bong tonight. It was a full church wedding at the Concordia Lutheran church, despite the modest 23 year-old major's plea for a sim ple ceremony. Slight Pause for Prisoner Identification i? SS''". ,W"'T,K &tiffi.i- TO MANILA JAP TRAP By United Press The central business district of Manila, including the postof- fice building has been "practic ally" destroyed in the roaring conflagration which has swept the city, Tokyo radio reported Saturday night.- . , Gen. MacArthur's Headquar ters, Sunday, Feb. 11 (U.R) The United States 1st cavalry, tightening the trap around Jap anese holding out in southern Manila, has crossed the Pasig river in a wide outflanking maneuver southeast of the capi tal and is within three miles of Manila bay, it was announced today. Troops of the 37th division, widening their bridgehead across the Pasig in the center of the city, pushed ahead in house to house fighting on a front almost two miles long and within a mile and a half of the southern edge of Manila. As the battle of Manila en tered its second week. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's daily war bulletin announced that the Jap anese had converted houses and public buildings into pillboxes and fortified strongpoints and were using artillery against the steadily advancing Americans. The bulletin disclosed that Maj. Gen. Verne D. Mudge's 1st cavalry, which made the first penetration of Manila last Sat urday, had advanced five miles in its outflanking drive around the eastern side of the 14-square mile city. 2472 JAP PLANES LOST TO U. S. 123 Advanced Pacific Fleet Head quarters, Feb. 10 U.R United States carrier planes downed Japanese aircraft at the ratio of approximately 20 to 1 dur ing a recent five months period when 2,472 enemy planes were lost in aerial combat compared to 123 American aircraft. Vice Admiral George D. Murray, com mander of the Pacific fleet air- fores said today. The period specified was from June 11 to October 30 and in cluded the first and second bat tles of the Philippines, the sea and air assault on the Bonin is lands, the Patau invasion and the Leyte phase of the Philip pines invasion. BLACK DEMOCRATS Pensacola, Fla., Feb. 10 (U.PJ In a Writ of Mandamus grant ing Negroes the right to vote in primary elections in Florida, Cir cuit Court Judge L. L, Febinskl today ordered county registra tion cff:?er Ben Davis to repistcr two Negroes as Democrats. !Sv'f-Sfr: IS!-JSM 1 tP v "i Mei Hi FIGHT OVER PAY HIKE FOR STATE OFFICIALS NEXT Salem, Ore., Feb. 10 (U.R) A long-awaited fight over the proposed salary raises ior hiRh' elected officials of the state was being anticipated for Monday by the Oregon legislature today as it adjourned for the - week-end after a brief and quiet session. The House ground out five bills and the Senate four In short order at the last meeting of the fifth week of the 1945 session. Two salary bills (HB's 262 and 263) are due for the third read ing and final passage in the House Monday. They would raise the governor's salary from $7, 500 to $9,000, the Secretary of State and State Treasurer from $5400 to $6000, the Attorney General from $5000 to $5750. and the Justices of the Supremp Court from $7500 to $8000. Today's adjournment came af ter the House Friday brought back to life a memorial which petitions congress for an inves tigation of the farm labor situa tion in Oregon, and takes a slap at the Selective Service system. YAMASHITA SAYS IS . By United Press Japan's Gen. Tomoyukl Yama shita, commander of enemy for ces in the Philippines, is in the position of the man who grabbed the tiger by the tail and couldn't let go but tried to make the best of it. "At long last Douglas MacAr thur is in my iron trap," Yama shita was quoted as saying In a broadcast by Tokyo radio. "I have been chasing the en emy's commander all over the southern seas area and each time he has slipped away from me. This time it will be different and my pleasure of a face to face meeting wil' be realized." The broadcast, heard by Uni ted Press at San Francisco, did not explain why Yamashlta's pursuit of General MacArthur resulted in the loss of almost the entire Philippines archipelago. COST NAZIS ARMY Sixth Army Group Headquar ters, Feb. 10 (U.R) The German 19th army has been eliminated as an effective fighting force with the destruction of six in fantry divisions and one armor ed brigade in the three-week Colmnr campaign, it was an nounced officially today. T Prussia Nearly Conquered; Last Reserves Used On Berlin Defense Line. . London, Sunday, Feb. 11 (U.R) Red army troops surged toward Stettin and the Baltic coast of German Pomerania on a 11-mile front yesterday and Berlin admitted they had plung ed 24 miles beyond the Oder river northwest of Breslau, and advanced to within 90 miles of Dresden. In encircled East Prussia, Red army soldiers captured the fortress cities of Elbing and Preussisch Eylau, eastern and western ends of a 900-squore mile pocket of German resistance in the almost-conquered Junker province. Thirty-five miles west north west of two-thirds encircled Breslau, Soviet tanks smashed into the heart of the Important lower Silesian industrial city of Liegnitz, Nazi broadcasts ack nowledged. Along a 220-mile stretch of the Oder river, battles for Ger many's "last ditch" defense line reached new heights of perocity. Moscow dispatches said the Ger mans were believed throwing in their last available reserves to gain time to bolster the defenses of Berlin. Before the Nazi canital itself. bitter tank and artillery battles continued as the Red army laid siege to Berlin's outer defense fortresses of Kuestrln, Frank-furt-on-the-Oder and Fuersten berg along a 40-mile arc 31 to 43 miles from the city. Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's 1st White Russian army swept toward the Baltic coast on an 11-mile line extending from Zaeckerick, on the Oder's east bank 31 miles northeast of Ber lin, to the -village of Knacksee, 10 miles south of the Pomeran ain rail center of Neu-Stettin. BLACOlADO . STOPSJOAWIATH Medford's Black Tornado swamped Klamath Falls Pelicans 45 to 28 in a southern Oregon conference game played here last night. Jerry Ross collected the first basket and from there on out the Pelicans were snowed under. Medford ran the count to 5-0 before Bud Biehn hit the hemp for Klamath's first score of the game. First quarter end ed 11 to 5 for Medford with the board reading 21 to 11 when the teams went to the showers at the halfway mark. Third quar ter saw Medford on top of a 31 to 16 bulge. The Tornado didn't play their usual fast and accurate type of game but still had too much on the ball for the outclassed boys from Klamath county. Ross was the big gun for Medford with 17 counters, nine of them gain ed in the first half. Jim Palmer collected eight for the Pelicans to lead in that department. The Pelicans lost the services of Jim Noreen and Palmer via the foul route, both leaving the game in the fourth quarter. Larry Hayes, bespectacled Tornado forward, was hurt In a clash with Larry White and Dean Mason when the three went up after a ball. He was carried from the floor to the dressing room by Coach A. Simpson and Trainer Ed Kirt ley but was found not to be seri ously injured. Simpson made a last minute shift in his lineup when he started Jim Cave and Karl Reich In place of Dick Fawcett and Bob Watson, who saw ac tion in some of the third canto and all of the fourth period. Ed Kirtley's juniors turned back Central Point high 41 to 34 in the preliminary. - Seattle. Feb. 10 (U.R) King County Sheriff Harlan S. Callahan declared today that parents of juvenile lawbreakers will be called to account when any youngster Is arrested. AMERICANS TAKE RIVER DAMS, Germans Blast Gate, Flood Loosed Patton's Army Near Key Bastion. Paris, Feb. 10 (U.R) Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' American 1st army won the bitter week old battle for the Roer river dams today by capturing Sen wammenauel while the Cana dian 1st army, gaining three miles, reached the Rhine river at Milligen and drove double spearheads to within two miles of Kleve. American patrols marked the victory of the dams by stabbing for the main Roer river in the" area of Hasenfeld under an in tense artillery barrage. The German radio said crossings were being attempted all along the river. The Canadians were advanc ing steadily to the north. They captured three vital towns and assaulted a fourth, widened their front to 17 miles and smashed through the Germans' first line of Siegfried defenses guarding the west wall anchor fortresses of Kleve and Goch. A fourth vital Siegfried bas tion appeared about to fall as Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd army drove within a half mile of Pruem In a double envelop ment and spread the allies' wid est breach in the west wall to a 10-mile gap. The battle of the dams was won with a thunderous artillery barrage that drove the defend ers of Schwammenauel into re treat, but the roar of the guns was accompanied by the din of German demolitions. In the last minutes of their hold on Schwammanauel, the Germans blew the gates of the giant dam loosing a flood that raised the level of the Roer three feet within 24 hours and inundated a 375-foot wide area on the Roer valley north of Duren. The rise may delay slightly any allied plans for a full-scale assault along the Roer river north to Roermond, but it can not long hold the impending blow. The allies now know the problem they face and can plan to meet it without the threat of a tidal wave hanging over their movements. MOSTSTOl TO BE OPEN MONDAY Downtown stores and business es will stay open on Lincoln's birthday Monday, as on any other day, they anonunced today. City and County offices and banks will be closed all day Monday, however, in keeping with past tradition. Grocery stores plan to remain open Mon day also. All federal offices will trans act business as usual on Monday In keeping with the president'? proclamation that Christmas day be the only legal holiday for such workers for the duration. .These offices include both selec tive Service Draft boards, the OPA Ration board, and U. S. Employment Service. Brundage Predicts Lumber Prosperity Portland, Feb. 10 (U.R) Fred H. Brundage, WPB western log and lumber administrator, today predicted there would be no let-up in production or em ployment in the lumber Indus tries of the northwest "with the end of the European war, nor even when the war with Japan is over." COOS MINE TO START Coos Bay, Ore., Feb. 10 (U.R) Full production of coal from Iho Coast Fuel Corporation's op eration in Coos county, near Southport, Is e x p e c t e d to be reached within a few weeks, T. O. Toon, president of tho con cern, announced tonight. WAR BULLETINS By United Press The first tralnloads of food have arrived in Warsaw for those starving civilians still left in the devastated Polish capital, the London radio, re corded by the United Press in New York, disclosed Saturday. The food was brought from Moscow, the broadcast said. FAILS TO HINDER NAZI FUEL RAIDS Downtown Berlin Wrecked, and Gestapo Headquar ters Blasted. London, Feb. 10 (U.R) Fortresses of the U. S. Eighth air force braved "vicious" weath er today to bomb a motor fuel depot at Duelmen In northwest Germany where main highway and railroads lead to German forces facing Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's offensive on the northern end of the Siegfried line. More than ISO Britain-based heavies carried the current round-the-clock aerial offensive into its third day. Part of them hit Duclman by instrument and the remainder struck submarine pens on the Dutch coast at Ijmul den through a heavy overcast. The Fortresses were screened by more than 130 Mustang tight ers. But the extreme weather eliminated German fighter planes in contrast to yesterday s fierce opposition to the 1,300 bombers which hit western Ger many. ( Two American bombers were Lreported missing from the day's operations. Reconnaissance photographs taken over Berlin on Thursday showed the downtown section had been wrecked by last Satur day's massive assault. Some sections were still burn ing, five days after the 1,000 bomber raid. Government and residential buildings were gut ted, deroofed and leveled in al most continuous smudges along an area of 15 to 20 blocks. STATERS UPSETS OREGON 55 TO 51, GAME TIED OFTEN Eugene, Ore., Feb. 10 (U.R) Oregon State's rangy Beavers halted the University of Oregon's rush for the northern division Pacific Coast Conference Basket ball championship Saturday night by handing the Webfoots a surprising 55 to 51 lefeat. A huge crowd 7,000 specta tors who packed McArthur Court saw the Beavers take a commanding 35 to 24 lead at the half and never relinquish the lead, although Oregon closed the gap to the final four points with two minutes remaining but lacked another spurt to draw closer. Dick Wilklns, Oregon forward, faced the polntmakers with 19 nine baskets and one free throw, while Red Rocha, Beaver center, accounted for 18. Both high scorers were ejected from the game on personal fouls in the closing minutes. Jim Bartclt opened the scoring for Oregon with a basket in the first 15 seconds, but Rocha quick ly tied it up and the two squads battled from one tie to another 7-7, 13-13, 14-14, and 16-16 before the Beavers forged ahead with a free throw to make the score 17-16. After that, Oregon State was out in front all the way. GEN. RILEA IN HOSPITAL Vancouver, Wash., Feb. 10 (U.R) Brigadier General Thomas Rilca, former deputy comman der of the famous 41st "Sunset division, is hospitalized at Bar ncs General Hospital here for observation, after he suffered ano.thcr series of attacks of tropi cal diseases. BATTLE GESTAPO Berlin Panicky with Food Low Swiss Report Riot ing at Kassel. London. Feb. 10 (11 PI Tha Moscow radio reported tonight that German naval narennn! had revolted at the Port of Bremen, the site of Communist inspired uprisings which pre ceded conclusion of the First world war. A Germfln.lnncnififfA kmrnlniiaf bv the Soviet rarlin rlnlmoH (hat sailors who had been "dragged" from snips for army duty had barricaded themselves in bar racks and refused tn an in tho front. German SS CFMt RimrHi troODS were dlsnntrhuH tn en, Moscow said, and their at tempts to quell the revolt re sulted in a pitched battle with a number of casualties on both sides. Durlnff th nnllttftfil anA .n. cial upheaval in Germany In the last days of World War I. there were desertions by Ger man sailors and streeUfightlng. The Moscow radio also quot ed Stockholm dispatches that Benin was growing increasing ly panicky and that a three weeks' supply of food was avail able. All activity in the capi tal was repqrted limited to in dispensable jobs and other workers and civil servants mo bilized in the Volkssturm, The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm Sv.n.ka . T- bladet asserted that the suburbs oi eastern Berlin had been de clared zones of "military prep aration" With the fnhnhltont. evacuated and houses fortified. Oloomy Broadcast A Nazi radio commentator, In one of the fflnnmlpat Krnnna.i. in recent weeks, admitted that uermany was "by no means keen" to cnntlnun thA w.. Swiss dispatches reported riot ing in tne industrial city of Kas sel, west of Berlin. Indicating the chaos sweep, ing Nazi offlcaldom, the Swiss newspaper Basel Arbeiter Zei tung reported that a number of German industrialists and high ranking Nazis arrived in north ern Italy recently in an effort to obtain falsified Italian papers for a possible flight to Switzer land. The Exchange Telegraph agency reported from Zurich that Kassel, 175 miles west of Berlin, had been under martial law since WeHnnriov nnrf a majority of the city's adminis trative oincials and police had abandoned their posts. Indicatinff the oi plete breakdown of law and or der in one of the Reich's largest cities, the report said police and Civil officials fnrpH thA nrntl. of the Gestapo and SS (Elite uuaraj troops rather than take action aeainst strikom ntnni. clashes were reported in the wongang Power factory where war workers refused to work overtime without iiinni.m..i. - "I'l"--"-" . ary rations. GOV. SNELL DUCKS JAP ISSUE, CLAIM Portland, Feb. 10 (U.R) Do claring that the Japanese prob lem in the nnrlhwpat 1 for fmn being solved, Former Governor vvaiier m. pierce last night told over 1000 persons attending Gresham meeting that the solu tion lies with uov. Earl Snell and the Oregon state legislature. The former governor and con gressional representative accus ed Gov. Snell of evading th Issue and cited Gov. Mon C. . Wallgren's statement on the Jap-' anese problem recently. 1945 WATER ASSURED Sacramento, Feb. 10 (U.R) With a "normal" snow pack In the mountains, California appar ently Is assured of an ample sup ply of water during the 1949 summer months, the division o water resources said today.