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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1945)
WETS w )fi)o) Mm Mmm IB M 1 .11111 j ma Weather. Forecast: Partly cloudy with few light (howers tonight and Friday. Slightly cooler. Temp. Highest yesterday 64 Lowest this morning 35 Precipitation to f p. m., none Fortieth Year Patton's Forces, Soviet Troops Near Juncture )fi . hmiu! ''' I PRUSSIA . o2L,' rOMERAN.A h.JJ NETH. fig MICKUNIUM JWS-- .,.. JL POLAND i CIIcmV V? 6..., Ji,dii)HI.ST.TSAX0N Jrl -V, Win! FRANCE WURTTM"RLX AVAWA-OK-' ' "rV7 I 5L0VAKIA " rvv S I v """r"'"" ' t The U. S. Third Army runa loos southwest of Berlin, while other Russian troops battle In outskirts River appears likely. To north, AUSTRALIANS WIN FIGHT WITH JAPS ON BOUGAINVILLE B7 United Press Australian troops, In savage fighting won a fierce and bloody battle against the fanatical hold out Japanese garrison on by passed Bougainville In the Solo mons Easter week-end, front dispatcher reported Wednesday. The Aussies, attacked repeat edly by banzal-charging Japa nese, were In a desperate plight and facing possible defeat when Australian-built Matilda tanks arrived and broke up the enemy offensive. An account of the battle was sent from the scene by carrier pigeon. It was written by Arthur Mathers, correspondent for the Australian broadcasting network, broadcast by Mel bourne radio, and recorded by United Press, San Francisco. Fiercest Battle' Mathers described the Easter battle as the fiercest ever fought on Bougainville, which original ly was invaded by U. S. ma rines In November, 19 4 3. Leathernecks went ashore at Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay, on the western shoreline. Australian forces In the south ern part of the island "had been cut off and decimated by the Japanese, who for days had been making one large scale banzai charge after another," Mathers reported. He said the Australians had been without food for two days and their am munition was almost exhausted. TO BERLIN , By United Press The nearest distances to Berlin from advanced Allied lines today: Eastern front 31 miles (from Zaeckerick). West ern front 130 miles (from Erfurt area). Itclian front 918 miles (from near Com machio). SIDE GLANCES BT TRIBUNE REPORTERS Ruth Esther Meeker deciding that her education had been neglected as far as the making of fancy sandwiches was con Cerned. Pauline Bush carrying on an enthusiastic conversation about her favorite tuberous begonias Esther Kirby feeling bit tired after having been a guesl at two social functions and host ess at another all in one day. Heny Zacharisen reluctantly agreeing to match coins for morning coffee, he being sure of losing in advance. M U -ited Press Full Leased Wtr again, sweeping through central Germany towards Erfurt, 130 mllei American units slashed within 65 miles ot the old Chechoslovakian border. of Vienna. A Juncture of Patton's forces and Soviet troops now on Odef British and Canadian forces race for North Sea to close trap on Nazis In Holland, seize ports ot Bremen and Emden. B-29s Light Fires On Honshu Island Guam, April S (U.R) Big fleets of B-29 Superfortresses left fires burning in five target areas after yesterday's pre-dawn attack on Honshu Island,- 21st Bomber Command Headquar'ers announced today. Three of the targets were bombed for the first time by the big raiders an aircraft engine plant at S h i z u o k a, 89 miles southwest of Tokyo, and the Tachikawa and Nakajima air craft plants in the Tokyo sub urbs. STUDIO UNIONS ARE TERMINATED Hollywood, April 5 (U.R) The Motion Picture Producers Association today announced termination of collective bar gaining contracts now in force between nine film studios and the striking conference of studio unions. The action followed notifica tion of 10.000 striking employes yesterday that they were fired for refusing to end the 25-day, AFL Jurisdictional strike of craftsmen In the film industry The major producers said such action was taken because of the striking unions' "failure of its members to perform their serv ices in accord with contracts with the producers." The Producers Association sent wires to the painters, In terior decorators, mechinists, electricians, and set decorators unions, all out on strike. U.S. Casualties Now Over 900, Washington, April 8. (U.R) U. S. combat casualties officially compiled and announced here reached 892,909 today. This means that the actual total. Including losses yet to be recorded in Wash ington, has surpassed 900.000. Today's official figure was 20.047 greater than that announced a week ago. It included 798,383 army and 94,528 navy, marine corps, and coast guard casualties. The figures: Army Navy Totals Killed Wounded , , Missing Prisoners Totals Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said at his news conference today that 187,799 dead Japanese have been counted in the Philip pines. He estimated total enemy casualties In the Philippines at more than 311.000. U. S. casualties in the Philippines now total 8,138 killed, 28,356 wounded, and 487 missing, he said, pointing out that the ratio of Japanese counted dead to Americans killed is 23 to 1. When units of the 77th division landed in the Kerama Islands In the Ryukus. Stimson said, the U. S. losses were 24 killed and 61 wounded. The Japanese lost 308 killed, 140 sealed in caves and 99 captured. EDFORD MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, I Armm Ttnhnlnl ICKES IN FAVOR MINES AT ONCE Washington, April S U.R Fuel Administrator Harold L. Ickes said today he belived the government should take over the soft coal mines at once "I don't think we ought to wait." Ickes told a press con ference," In view of continued wild-cat strikes that have cut soft coal production to 65 per cent this week. "Witn the demand what it is today and the prospects in Eu rope, we seem to be running into trouble. "I don't think any miners have the right to lay down their tools at a time like this when all we need is to continue what we are doing to win through to victory In Europe. It Is unsupportable and inexcusable." Ickes' call for seizure of the mines came as an open revolt against United Mine Workers' leadership In Pennsylvania cut production again today. Wage contract negotiations here con tinued with the same futile ap pearance which has marked them for more than a month. Roving pickets in Pennsylvania discouraged back-to-work move ments at many mines. Three Dog Owners Assessed $1 Fines Sam Gilbert, Ted Sidwell and James Bishop paid $1 fines to city police today for permitting doas to run loose during the gar- denlns season. Police warned citizens again that dogs found running loose will be picked up and their owners arrested. ism7l 38.649 193,120 n?Q 42,988 529,917 88,755 10.623 99.378 66,228 4,268 70,494 798.383 94,526 892,909 o 2 Ya f .c To Finish 150,000 Trapped Nazis TANK SPEARHEAD RACES EASTWARD TOWARD BERLIN Western Front Ablaze as 7 Allied Armies Surge For ward; Defenses Erased. With American Ninth Ar my, April 5 (U.R) The 9th .army today crossed the Weser river, last major barrier on the highway to Berlin short of the Elbe. Paris, April 5 (U.R) T w o American armies stormed into the Ruhr valley to finish off an estimated 150,000 trapped Ger mans today. Other American tank forces were reported rac ing eastward into the Harz mountains, 120 miles from Berlin. The Western Front from the North Sea to the Black Forest blazed with seven Allied armies surging forward in a coordin tted onslaught that sent the Ger mans reeling back. Cut Off Escape . British and. Canadian -armies at the top of the assault Jlne drove across the flat coastal plains toward Bremen and the Dutch Zulder Zee to cut off the last escape routes for the Ger mans. In the western Holland. American Ninth Army troops stormed up to the Weser river. Germany's last bl natural bar rier short -f the Elbe river and Berlin, and teamed un with the U. S. First Army to destroy the enemy divisions In the Ruhr. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's. American Third Army troops were renorted sweeping agnlnt weak opposition through a 100 mlle breach In the German cen tral defenses warding the cen tral roads to Berlin. To the south. French First Army forces struck for Stutt eart, and Berlin reported that the U. S. Seventh Armv was swing ing southeastward from captured V'uerzburg in a bid to outflank the Nazi shrine city of Nuern berg. Defenses Whatever defenses the Ger mans had left In front of Berlin anoeared to have been sweot awav by the Allied drive, on the northern and central fronts at least. Aerial reconnaissance renorts said that the roads east of the Weser river as far back as Hann over, 136 miles from Berlin, were jammed with flceln Ger man transoort, suggesting a wholesale Nazi flight behind the Elbe rler. which Joons back to within 43 miles of the capital. American Ninth Army troops cleared a 40-mile strotch of the Weser river's west bank, cap- turine Mlnden, Bad Oyenhausen and Hamlin, and deployed for a crossing into the open plains stretching back to Berlin. Simultaneously, the British Second Army sent a half-dozen mile-Ions columns of troops tanks, and Buns speeding 26 miles northward Into the rail way center of Diepholz, 37 miles southwes't of Bremen and Bi miles southwest of Hamburg. Bombers Rake Ports Both great ports were raked for the first time by low-flying Allied tactical bombers swarnv Ing out In front of the advancing ground trooos. In the Ruhr pocket battle the First Army struck on a broad front west and northwest from the BerleburK area, at the soutn- eastern corner of the pocket 69 miles southeast of Duesseldori American Ninth Army troops on the northern flank of the trap hroke across the Llppe river southwest of H a m m and ad vanced l.ito the outlying factory towns less than three miles from the big Industrial city of Dort- mund. The Egyptian lotus, or blue Illy, Is the characteristic flower of the Nile river. 5, 1945 Armies Eisenhower Expects Nazi Forces To Continue Guerrilla Operation; No Clean Cut Surrender of Arms Washington, April 5. (U.R) Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, su preme commander of allied arm ies in Europe, has written Presi dent Roosevelt that there prob ably "will never be a clean cut military surrender" of the Ger man armies, the White House disclosed today. Eisenhower said that if the .present situation continues, V-E Day (victory in Europe) will be signalized only by an allied pro clamation and not by any defin ite collapse of German resist ance.. Many Troops Needed He foresaw "guerrilla warfare which would require for its sup pression a very large number of CITIZENS HONOR WAR HEROES ON Tnrfav I. hnm.i,rtmlha Ir, Medford ana Jackson county for the heroes of Bataan and Corre gidor recently released from Philippine prison camps and for other veterans home after long months of service overseas. School children, civic and lodge groups and bands paraded through flag-lined streets with the soldiers and navy men, and a program of honor and memor iam was scheduled at the city park immediately following. State Senator Earl Newbry of Ashland was to deliver the ad dress of welcome, and a program of patriotic music, prayer and meditation was to precede the introduction of the honored vet erans. Upon conclusion of the park service, the honored serv icemen and their families were to be entertained at Riverside USO. A specially decorated large cake from Fluhrer's bakery and Ice cream from Snlders', Dairy were to be served. Heading the citizens' commit tee on arrangements was Larry Neeley. BOGUSlfPOINT UP New York, April 5. (U.R) Daniel P. Woolley, OPA region al administrator, disclosed today that "a gang of mobsters" from New York's East Side had been rounded up for peddling coun terfeit red ration points "on a laree scale" in New York and Boston. Woolley made his announce ment after Sen. Burton K Wheeler. D.. Mont., had charged In Washington that red points "nhtnlned from the OPA" were being sold at 6 a thousand in Npw York. Woolley denied that any red uolnts were trickling from OPA offices, and said that 'what has apparently reached the senator Is a garbled version of the drive the OPA has made ana is con tinuing" against red point coun terfeitlng. Youngest Slayers Due For' Hearing Glendale, Calif., April 8. (U.R! Two tousled-haired brothers 11 and 14 years old, described by police as the ' youngest slay era In California history," ap pear today at a predetentlon hearing to determine If they should face murder charges In an adult court. The youths, Lee McKay, 14. and his brother, William, Jr., II confessed the fatal shooting of Donald Keikle, 28, when he sur prised them burglarizing his borne Feb. 16. Tribune United Pint Storm Into Ruhr troops." The further the European campaign progresses, Eisenhow er wrote Mr. Hoosevelt, 'the more probable lt appears that there will never be a clean cut military surrender of the forces on the western front." "Our experience to date Is that even when formations as small as a division are disrupt ed," he said, "their, fragments continue to fight until surround ed. This attitude if continued will likely mean that a V-E-Day will come about only by a pro clamation on our part rather than any definite or decisive col lapse or surrender of German resistance. "Projecting this Idea further it would mean that eventually all the areas in which fragments of the German army, particular ly, the paratrooper, panzer, and SS elements, may be located, will have to be taken by the ap plication of or the threat of force. This would lead into a form of guerrilla warfare which would require for Its suppres sion a very large number of troops." REDSTAYlGE TO FIFTY-MILE ARC London, April 8. (U.R) Rus sian troops and tanks laid siege to Vienna along a 50-mile arc today. Vanguards were fighting through the southeastern out skirts of the Austrian capital. Massed Russian artillery and red air force bombers pumped ton after ton of explosives into the burning city, which Adolf Hitler has ordered defended to the death to protect the back door to Germany. A Moscow dispatch said as sault forces fighting In the sub urbs of Vienna had been joined by the vanguards of other army units racing westward from cap tured Bratislava, and the junc tion of the two armies was ex pectcd to result in the speedy fall of the capital Vienna's last big outer fort ress, the Slovaklan. capital of Bratislava, 25 miles to the east was toppled yesterday by Mar shal Rodion Y. Mallnovsky's second Ukrainian army group. Legion and Leaders Discuss Jobs For All At War's End Washington, April 8. (U.R) Leaders in government, indus try, labor, agriculture and veter ans affairs meet here as guests of the American Legion today to discuss postwar jobs for all. Lawrence J. Fen Ion of Chi cago, chairman of the Legion's national employment committee said the emphasis would be on Jobs for returning veterans but not confined to that. "We should do them (veterans) no favor If we found Jobs for them and left other millions un employed," he said. "That way iis economic collapse. And so we must find Jobs for all TURKEYS FOR CIVILIANS PLACED UNDER EMBARGO Washington. April 8 (U.R) Civilians may as well add tur key to the growing list of foods they probably can't buy. The War Food Administration today announced its annual em bargo on sale to civilians of tur keys grown In major producing areas Including Oregon. All birds produced in 21 states and nine counties of two other states must be offered to the army be fore April 8 until military, re quirements are met, probably shortly before Thanksgiving. Full Leased Wlr NO. 12. HITLER APPEALS TO SOLDIERS FO! CLIMAX EFFORT First Public Utterance Since Allied Breakthrough Says New Offensive Coming. London, April 8 (U.R) A Nazi broadcast said today that Adolf Hitler, in his first public utterance since the Allied break through in the west, appealed to German soldiers to hold until a new German offensive Is launched soon. Hitler made the appeal a few days ago while addressing an army unit which had distin guished itself on the eastern front, a brief broadcast by the German Westphalian station said. Offensive Promised tie told the soldiers lt was necessary for the German army to hold firm against the enemy until the new offensive could be launched in the near future, the station said In a broadcast re. corded by the BBC. European reports said Hitler was believed to" have moved every prominent Allied person age in German hands Into "last-stand zone" around Berch- tesgaden where they will be used as hostages to bargain for the lives of Nazi war criminals. Among those shifted to hide outs in the Bavarian Alps, the London Daily Herald said, were reported to be King Leopold of Belgium, former French Pre mier Paul Reynaud, Jakob Sta Un, son of Premier Stalin, and Kurt von Schuschnlgg, former Premier of Austria. The Herald suggested that Hitler was planning to threaten to kill these hostages unless he and members ot the Nazi gang were granted amnesty. A Zurich dispatch to the Lon don Dally Mall said Hitler alter nates between long spells of si lence and violent, screaming at tacks of rage. He sleeps rarely and his face Is lined with worry, the dispatch said. It added that Hitler was be lieved scared of British para- chutists. Another Dally Mall dispatch this one from Stockholm, said Nazi Propaganda Minister Paul Goebbels was injured when the automobile In which he was rid ing last Saturday near Berlin crashed Into the rear of another In which assassins killed two Gestapo guards and their chauf feur. Worried Japs Seek Peace'With China, Says Adviser Koo Hamilton, N. Y., April 8 (U.R) T. Z. Koo, adviser to the Chi nese delegation to the San Fran cisco conference, said today that Japan has been trying desper ately to make peace with China before the defeat of Germany. Koo said that Japan's atti tude toward China changed markedly a year ago "when Japanese leader whose name known to most Americans came to me as emissary and opened the conference with an admis sion that the war had reached a most critical stage for Japan When thoy could reach no basis for an agreement, Koo said, he was asked what advice he had for Japan. Koo said he advised Japanese army leaders that their cruel ties would one day react against their country. Since then, Koo said, the Japanese army has been less cruel In its treatment of the Chinese. SCIENTIST DIES Berkeley, Cat., April 8. U.R) Dr. Harry Edmund, 83. Inter nationally known mathematician and expert on the magnetic com pass, died at his home her yes terday after short illness. BLOW FALLS SOON AFTER RESIGNING OF Soviets' Action Is Believed Forerunner of Entry In Pacifio War With Allies. T.nnHnn. Anrll Rjfll ftRim. sla today renounced her neutral, ity pact with Japan in an action, believed to foreshadow her ultl mate entry Into the Pacific war. Announcement of the action came a few hours after the fall of the Japanese government of Premier Gen. Kuniaki Koiso. presumably upon the receipt of word from Moscow of the Rus sian action. (After a conference of elder statesmen, it was announced that Admiral Baron Kantaro Suzuki, 77-year-old president of the Privy Council, has been ordered by the emperor to form a new cabinet.) Ambassador Told . Foreign Minister V. M. Mnlrv tov nnnnnnrwl th Rnvlpt artlmi to Japanese Ambassador Naotakl Sato In Moscow. As a result of the Soviet action, Russo-Japanese five-year neutrality nact nutnmntiraUv expires at midnight April 24, 1U40. The Soviet action lmmediata- ly opened grounds for specula tion upon Soviet entering the Pacific war and moving Into action her powerful far eastern red banner army which has stood guard at the frontiers of Siberia and Manchuria since long before the outbreak of tha European war. Situation Changed Molotov'a action vri annonnA. ed by Radio Moscow. The foreign minister advised Sato, the account said, that since the pact was signed on April 13, 1941 the world nitimtlnn h1 changed considerably. liermany, he noted had at tacked the Soviet Union rnrl Japan has aided Germany in the war against the Soviet Unidn. In addition, ha unlrt Jar, an I. at war against Great Britain and the United States who are tha allies of the Soviet union. Therefore, he told Sato, th pact of neutralitv 'hn lnt it. sense" and it is Impossible for It to do continued. Japan's second wartime cab inet fell onlv four rinv. nft. American Invasion forces storm ed ashore on Okinawa Island, 330 miles southwest of the en emy's home islands, against al most non-existent opposition. Japs nee Gravity The Janjnese hnnrH nf Infnn. matlon announced that tha r... nations were decided upon "in view of the gravity of the war situation and In order to bring more powerful cabinet" Into office. The KoflO CflhlriAt wan. InlA office elsht and a hair ago after the overthrow of the extremist government of Gen. Hldeki Tojo In a political crisis touched off by the loss of Saipan In the Marianas. Kol.io's ministers, mostly con servative elder army, navy and business leaders, had been ex pected to rally the Japanese peopie ana armed forces for new exertions to stem the allied march toward Japan. Wo Follows Wo But Instead disaster followed disaster. The cabinet weathered the furore caused by the Super fortress offensive against Jr.pan, the Invasion of the Philippines and even the loss of Iwn KinnH only 750 miles south of Tokyo; io nmencan marines last month. The successful Invasion ot Oki nawa was the final straw, how ever. Who will succeed Kolso was problematical. Kolso, like Tojo, was a product of the ruthless Kwangtung army In Manchuria, through perhaps slightly more moderate than his predecessor. Should another army or navy mon be chosen to succeed Kolso, far eastern observers looked for a final frantic effort to prepare Japan to. repel the ultimate al lied Invasion of the homeland itself. ' An all-civilian cabinet, how ever, might be tha first step toward peace. CHAPULTEPEC FINAL ACT SIGNED BY ARGENTINA Mexico City, April 4 (U.R) Argentina signed the final act of the Chapultepec conference today. Signing was done in tha big ornate reception room of the foreign ministry by Argentine envoy extraordinary and Minis ter Plenipotentiary Adolfo N. Calvo.
