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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1945)
M M JVL LiUXI mi mm m rv is n Weather Forecast: Cloudy tonight Partly cloudy Thursday. Slightly warmer Thursday Afternoon. Temp. Highest yeiterday ,, 51 Lowest this morning 32 Precipitation put 24 hri nona Thirty ninth Year Wholesale Nazi Surrenders Reported Along Patton Front as Line Collapses T ARMY E5 ON BROAD FRONT A Armor, Infantry Swinging Out in Quickening Tempo; 7,000 - Prisoners Taken. Paris, Feb. 21 (U.R) Reports of wholesale German surrenders poured in from Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's U. S. Third army front today as the Americans collapsed another big section of the Siegfried line and advanced as much as 5V4 miles on a broad front. Patton's armored and infantry columns were swinging out in front of the Allied western of fensive at a quickening pace along a 50-mile attack line ex tending down from the Pruem cector to the Moselle-Saar tri angle. Resistance Spotty ' German resistance was strangely spotty all across the Third army front. At some points the Nazis fought savagely and skillfully for every yard of ground. At others, sullen en emy troopers were surrendering by the hundreds, quitting strong defense positions without a fight. ', . Field dispatches said the Third army had rounded up al most 7,000 prisoners in the past four days, equivalent to more than the full combat strength of one of the Wehrmacht's thinned divisions. The mass surrenders were made more puzzling by the fact that mud and slush were hinder ing Patton's advance sufficient ly to permit most of the Ger mans to escape eastward if they wished. Far to the north, tough Ger man paratroopers were putting up a different kind of battle .against the Canadian First army in the 17-mile wide Maas-Rhine corridor leading to the Ruhr valley. - v Bolstered by fresh reinforce ments that put elements of nine German divisions across the path of the attacking Canadian army, the Nazis were throwing strong tank and infantry forces into a series of counterattacks that slowed and at some points reversed the Allied advance. Hardest fighting raged along the left flank of the Canadian drive in the Calcar area, where the Nazis were holding fast to 'Calcar and the road network leading down the Rhine to the Ruhr, 24 miles away. House In Favor Vets Department Salem, Ore., Feb. 21 (U.R) The Oregon house of represen tatives passed house bill 271 to set up a veterans department and sped through the nine bill calendar in high gear today as Democratic slowdown tactics crumpled under astute Republi can maneuvering. The senate narrowly defeated the Pearson bill (Sub) to estab lish a temporary psychiatric hospital in Multnomah county. SIDE" GLANCES Br TRIBUNE REPORTERS The Weatherman wanting all and sundry to know that he's not "Weatherman" but "nine Weathermen" and they're on the Job with those forecasts 24 hours a day. Jerry Jerome wending his way through city hall with those country fresh eggs for his usual Wednesday customers, who are virtually all-out egg eaters, ae- tnrding to the size of. the de liveries. City Milk Inspector Charlie Austin cocking a critical eye at flagon of gift milk being toted up Sixth street by citizen. Medford United Press Full Leased Wire FDR Greets Haile Selassie (Acmt Telephoia) Aboard a warship anchored In Great Bitter Lake near Cairo, President Roosevelt (right) meets Emperor Halle Selassie of Ethiopia. Conversing In French, the President expressed hope that with Improvement of com munications, particularly by air, the United States and Ethiopia would come to know each better. The Emperor "enthusiastically Indorsed the president's hone." atonal Coros ohoto. DENY EARLY PLAN TO DIVERT RIVER Yreka, Calif., Feb. 21 (U.R) The army engineers have no plans for Immediate dam con struction which would divert the Klamath or Trinity rivers into the Sacramerto, Col. K. M. Moore of the San Francisco of fice told a packed public hear ing here today. Moore told protesting citizens of the Klamath river region who Jammed the superior courtroom that the army engineers are merely making a study of how the Klamath, which he called an Important waterway, can be put to its best use. He added that the army is not considering any construction which would destroy fish and wild life in any area. Another Engineer, Otto von Seggern, explained by use of maps three suggested division schemes under consideration by the engineers, which have arous ed heavy opposition in the area One would divert the Klam ath to the Sacramento by way of the Pit river, while a second would divert the Klamath at Keno, Ore., by a route skirting the Shasta valley. A third would divert the Trinity river into the Sacramento. (See Map on Page 6) Vets Educational ' Aid Bill Favored Salem, Ore., Feb. 21 (U.R) The bill to provide state educa tional aid for veterans of World War II (HB347) was reported out "do pass" by the House Mil itary Affairs Committee today. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Harvey Wells and Sen. Lee Pat terson, is a result of the Novem ber election when the voters approved a similar measure. Main changes in the bill include a provision for a straight $39 monthly benefit, instead of a sliding scale. MRS. MOSER STRICKEN Salem. Ore., Feb. 21 (U.R) Mrs. Walter Moser, wife of the state senator from Josephine county, suffered a partial stroke in Salem last night and was taken to Grants Pas by her husband today. MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY frXYf KAISER DOING OK WAR CONTRACTS Washington, Feb. 21 (U.R) Rep. Roy O. Woodruff, (R Mich.) said today that although Pacific coast industrialist, Henry J. Kaiser has done a "magnifi cent Job," his ef forts "have not gone entirely unrewarded." Woodruff told the house that two of. Kaiser's companies, the California Shipbuilding Corp. and the Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., were allowed profits to taling $27,274,487.24 after rene gotiation. U. S. Comptroller General Lindsay C. Warren, supplied the figures to Woodruff in a report covering all the Kaiser holdings which include 15 . corporations Capital stock of the companies averaged about $300,000. "It is shown that the govern ment has spent the sum of $216, 647,734.00 in providing facili ties for the companies," Wood ruff said. 'The stockholders in the Kaiser companies are limit ed in number and appear to be a 'closed corporation'." Woodruff said his report show ed that Kaiser's original invest ment was $100,000. "It seems," he added, "that when the reports on the other companies are finally In, it will be found that the original in vestment was a decidedly pro fitable one." Berchtesgaden Blasted By U. S. Fliers For First Time Rome, Feb. 21 (U.R) Ameri can fliers raked Adolf Hitler's fortress town of Berchtesgaden with a barrage of bombs and rocket shells for the first time yesterday and they may have blasted the fuehrer's secret mountain retreat, a communi que revealed today. In a daring attack on one of the most heavily-defended tar gets in all Europe, a group of eight American Thunderbolt pilots roared in over Hitler's rock fortress, almost at eye level, to bomb and strafe the en tire area. First official reports on the incident indicated the Yank E CHINA EAST COAST 30,000 Americans and 90 Chinese Divisions Ready According to Axis Source London, Feb. 21 (U.R) Axis broadcasts said today that aa army of 30,000 American troops and 00 Chinese divisions has been massed in southwest ern China to support an Amer ican landing on the east coast of China. , The German Transocean News agency, quoting dispatches from Tokyo, said the allied expedi tionary force awaited a signal to start an overland offensive in coordination with the amphibi ous assault on the coast. The Chinese were said to be concentrated in Yunnan pro vince, including troops trans ferred from the Burma front. Location Not Told The location of the reported American army was not speci fied, but Transocean said, the! xanks were equipped with tanks and heavy artillery. In western nJlltary terms, the BO Chinese divisions would rep resent well over 1.000,000 men but Transocean Indicated the di visions were believed to be con slderably smaller than those used In European or American arm ies. . (Japanese spokesmen repeat edly have speculated on the pos sibility of en early American attack on the China coast, which Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, U. S. commander-in-chief in the cen tral Pacific, has named as one of his major objectives.) 25 Washington, Feb. 21 (U.R) American submarines have sent a Japanese escort carrier, a large converted cruiser, a de stroyer, and 22 merchant ves sels to the bottom in new opera tions the navy announced today. The cruiser was believed to be an 18,000-ton converted mer chant ship. This latest submarine haul In cluded two transports, three cargo transports, and 17 cargo vessels, the communique said. Total slnki.igs by American submarines since the beginning of the war now total 1,025 ves sels. These include 100 warships. URUGUAYAN HOUSE FOR DECLARATION OF WAR Montevideo, Feb. 21 (U.R) The Uruguayan House today ap proved, 62-19, a declaration of war against the Axis. were shooting for the Berchtes gaden railway yards. But there was a strong possibility that the fuehrer s towering palace over looking the town also came un der attack. The raiders reported meeting a terrific storm of gunfire from the palace itself and the sur rounding areas, suggesting they had turned their fire on that Nazi citadel. Hundreds of antiaircraft bat teries opened up on the Yank fliers as they dived in for the attack and Nazi death s head elite guards blazed away with rifles and machine guns in a futile effort to turn the bomb- era away from Hitler's palace, ADDED POWER FOR LIQUOR IS Committee Indefinitely Post pones Series of Bills Mutual Insurance Tabled. Salem, Feb. 21 (U.R) A series of bills to give the State Liquor Control commission greater power was on the Ore gon house of representatives al coholic control committee table today, indefinitely postponed. The bills (SB's 116, 117, 118, 144, 145) were put aside after the committee had heard com mission representatives argue that additional laws were neces sary for adequate enforcement. Opponents contend that the commission has plenty of au thority at present, and that the bills would grant unconstitu tional powers. . Insurance Tabled After debating until a late hour yesterday, the senate voted to postpone Indefinitely a bill to permit mutual benefit Insur ance companies to operate in Oregon., The showdown vote was 16 to 13 for a minority com mittee report against the bill. Charges were made that the old line ' insurance companies opposed the bill because it threatened cheap competition but opponents of the measure answered that such mutual com panies lacked legal reserves and were unsound, particularly after 25 or 30 years of operation when the bulk of policyholders would reach higher age brackets. Kill Optician Bill The upper house also killed a bill which would set up an optician's licensing board. Sen. Coe McKenna, Portland, sought to overthrow a "do not pass" committee report on the grounds that he was given in adequate hearing and the public needed protection from unscru pulous opticians using mislead ing advertising. Opponents said a new board was not needed and that the in dustry was against the bill. Important bills on jobless ben efits were set for hearing today in tne benate Labor and Indus tries committee. AT EASTERN PIER Jersey City, Feb. 21 (U.R) The exchange ship Gripsholm arrived todav from MrlUa France, carrying l,2u6 soldiers and civilians, among whom were a large number of seriously ill and wounded American and Ca nadian prisoners of war. The Dasseneers Included 4flS American anldfpm. 7ft PnnnHlnn soldiers and 665 civilians Americans and Nationals of Mexico, Venezuela, and Peru. The white shin flvinff the neu tral Swedish flag, pulled in at pier after a 13-day voyage. SPECIALlENIRE FOR COURT TERM The names of nine additional jurors were r'rawn on a special venire in the office of the coun ty clerk this morning to serve on the next term of circuit court Court opens next Monday at 10 a. m. Listed were A. Z. Dean, Wini fred B. Carpenter and Henry Ellsworth Conger, Medford; Vic tor . Bursell, Glenn Darby and Cyrus Scott Hamilton, Central Point; Robert E. Dodge, Mildred L. Haines and Anna G. Delsman Ashland. Tribune Unltid Pin Full Lud Wit o'Ki'mw ft.. VX Xjg'SMritjihl.Xi Km lw Swell Aft M.riM. tMf&g M??-. (Acm Telephoto) The vital Motoyama airfield on Iwo J una has been captured by tne U. S. Marines, who have pushed to the west coast of the Island, only 750 miles from Tokyo, The japs report a new American lanaing far up the east coast of the isuuid. - Japanese Hard to Root Out; Steel Shields Iwo Foxholes By Mac R. Johnson United Press War Correspondent Aboard Adm. Turner's Flag ship Off Iwo Jlma, Feb. 21 (U.R) (Via Navy Radio) Waging a relentless war on two fronts, marines of the 5th amphibious corps bloodily hammered out new gains measured in a few hundred yards during their third day on the Jap stronghold of Iwo Jima. Hostile fire from machine guns, rifles and mortars, the na tural obstacles of the brushy out croppings and soft lava and sand plus the well-planned, well-placed enemy fortifications are slow ing our advance but are not checking it. The Japs are fighting from reinforced foxholes camouflaged with foliage. The enemy can duck behind a steel shield to avoid marine bullets but is still able- to see through a narrow slit Our troops are killing more Japanese, and a larger number of bodies are being found as the marines advance, although no E London, Feb. 21. (U.R) Mar shal Konstantln K. Rokossovs- ky's northward sweep In the old Polish corridor today overran Czersk, big rail junction on the Berlin trunk line 47 miles south west of Danzig. Marshal Stalin Issued a special order of the day announcing the capture of Czersk, in the center of the corridor 46 miles north of Bydgoszcz. Offensive Hinted Other Moscow reports said Marshal Ivan S. Konev had re newed his two-way drive toward Berlin and Dresden, and his forces were storming the suburb of Guben, fortified city 51 miles southeast of the German capital. Berlin reported flareups in several sectors between the Dan ube and the Latvian coast, indi cating that a frontwlde soviet of fensive might be shaping up. Nazi broadcasts said five Rus sian divisions and one tank bri gade opened a new offensive northeast of Ratibor on the Pol lsh-Silesian frontier, 17 miles north of Moravska Ostrava, the gateway to the Czechoslovak passes to central Germany, New Chaplin Film Before Lens Soon Hollywood, Feb. 21 (U.R) Charles Chaplin's first new pic ture since 1940, "Monsieur Blue beard," will go before the cam eras "for sure" in mid-April, his studio announced today. Chaplin will be the star of the picture and will also., be pro ducer and director. No Paper Thursday In order to conserve newsprint The Mall Tribune will not publish on Wash ington' birthday, Thurs day. Feb. 22. NO. 282. IWO JIMA ft. Rod Tokyt Claim Second Assault Grow Stoma Asttart figures are yet available on enemy casualties. Equipment which the Jap anese left behind them before yielding the No. 1 airfield to the Americans was discovered to be thoroughly booby-trapped. Booby-traps were placed in fox holes, shells and other locations where the Americans might pick them up. MANPOWER BILL ENDED TO F . Washington, Fab. 21 (U.R) The Senate Military Affairs Committee, reversing itself, today adopted a stringent "work-or-Jail" amendment to the substitute "voluntary" Manpower Bill. Washington, Feb. 21 (U.R) The senate military affairs com mittee today wrote Into its new manpower bill a provision de signed to stop the drafting of essential farm workers. The committee approveda new Tydlngs farm labor defer ment amendment. Offered by Sen. Millard E. Tydlngs, (D.. Md.) lt would forbid local draft boards to consider the armed forces' manpower needs in gaug ing the essentiality of a farm worker. CIRCUS OFFICIALS GET PRISON JOLTS Hartford, Conn., Feb. 21 (U.R) Six men charged with respon sibillty for the circus fire which claimed 168 lives, last July were sentenced to prison and Jail terms today by Superior Courl Judge William J. Shea. The defendants, officers and employes of Rlngling Brothers Barnum Sc Bailey Combined Shows, Inc., had pleaded nolo contendere, along with the cor poration itself, to 10 counts of manslaughter. ; The corporation was fined $10,000. Jap War Lords Embarrassed By Question Posed in Diet By United Prest I Japan's war loards must have been embarrassed today by a question posed in the Imperial Diet. A legislator, who once served In the Iwo garrison, asked why "since Guadalcanal, our strong holds have fallen Into the hands of the enemy one after another, and the enemy has finally ad vanced to Salpan and Luzon is lands." The legislator, a representa tive Hamada, was quoted by a Tokyo broadrast recorded by the FCC. Only last week Gen, Tomoy- uki Yamashita,' commander ' in ,Uu"J Ul LISTED SO FAR IN WO ill BATTLE Two Divisions Slug Forward Yard by Yard; U.S. War ships Bomb Implacements Admiral Nimltz'a Hon. ftunm Feb. 21 (U.R) American ma rlnes stormed Iwo's second air field today, by-passing the south era tip and driving towards its heart from the south in a gen eral advance averaging half a mile along the blazing island front. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz announced on the third day of the invasion of the island springboard to Japan that the two marine divisions had suf fered 3,650 casualties killed. wounded, or missing up to 8 a. m. today. One hundred fifty of the casualties were officers. Yard By Yard A communique on the Iwo battle, the toughest in the long history of the marine corps, said the two divisions were slugging forward yard by yard against heavy machine gun, mortar, small arms, and rocket fire. Ma. Gen. Keller E. Rockey'a Fifth division hammered up the west coast of Iwo beyond the lower end of the runways of the last air field remaining In Jap anese hands. The first and main base was firmly in American hands. At the same time Ma. Gen. Clifton B. Cates' Fourth divi sion launched a frontal assault against the field from the south and by noon was "pushing to ward the center of the field," Nimltz's communique said. The Fifth amphibious corps, having secured the southern Iwo air field, made a general advance toward the island's central airdrome today,", the 'Communique said. Gains All Along Line '"Gains were made along the whole line, and generally were about 500 to 1,000 yards in ex tent." At the south end of Iwo, where part of the Japanese gar rison was cut off by the marina drive across the island, Ameri can forces were driving slowly up the slopes of Mt. Surlbacbi, from which the enemy was plastering the marines. This morning the forces push ing up Mt. Suribachi gained more than 100 yards in the face of a murderous fire sweeping the slopes. Nimitz said that of the 3,650 casualties by 8 a. m. today, 3,063 of the wounded had been evacuated. In the dry language of the communique, "the numerous strong points which confront our forces in all areas thus far penetrated are being reduced by individual troop action." That meant that the marines were charging the Japanese strong points and dugouts with flame throwers, small arms, and bayonets, in bloody hand-to-hand struggles. The Japanese were relatively quiet last night, A local coun terattack on the American left flank, supported by several tanks and artillery fire, was beaten off, and attempts at in filtration were thwarted. U, S. warships and guns sup ported the marines throughout the night, rocking the Japanese held part of Iwo with a cease less barrage which continued this morning. Carrier-borne planes swarmed back into the battle of Iwo to day, carrying out heavy bomb ing and strafing attacks. Making it plain that the ma rines had come to stay, the un loading of supplies and rations on the beaches went on all last night. chief of Japanese forces in the I hillppines, said he had "chased Gen. Douglas MacArthur all over the South Pacific and now had the Americans where he wanted them. Hamada told the Imperial Diet that If Iwo was lost "our homeland will be covered by enemy fighter planes." Domei News Agency disclosed that Sotaro Ishtwata had been relieved of his post as finance minister in the Japanese cabi net and named minister of state without portfolio. Julchl Tsush ima, vice president of the Bank of Japan, was appointed finance minister. v
