Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, April 22, 1945, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., April 22, 1945, Page 1, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextMEDFORDifc Weather FORECAST: Sunday Fair and lightly warmer. Tamp. Hliheit Veiterday S Loweit thli Morning SS Use The Mail Tribune Want Ad Way Quick Results At Small Coat ' Tribune U "tted Press Full Leased Wire Unlttd Praia Full Leased Wire Fortieth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 1945, fo) Jfl Nl A o) a feaieiifcBtaaaejajr eafjT L cr No. 26. I CAPITAL ABLAZE AS RADIO VOICE ASM PEACE Mighty Assault, Possibly Under Stalin, Smashes Nazi Lines Chiefs Flee London, Sunday. April 21 U.R The London Newt World carried a banner headline today which read: "Berlin may fall to day." There wa no source given for the dispatch on which the headline was based. London, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) A radio station which iden tified itself as "the voice of free Germany," said tonight in a broadcast heard by the United Press in London "we demand Immediate peace. Only by acting now can chaos be averted." Moscow, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) The three Russian tank spearheads which crashed Into Berlin's northeastern and east ern outskirts today were fight ing toward the German capital's circular boulevard as whole sec tions of the city flamed under intensive aerial bombardment and shelling. London, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) Red Army troops smashed four and. one-half miles inside Berlin yesterday, the German radio said as Moscow triumph antly announced that Soviet forces were at the Nazi capital, climaxing a 990-mile drive west ward In three years from the gates of Moscow. Last-minute refugees reaching Sweden said the German SS gar rison was fleeing Berlin by a narrowing escape corridor to the southwest, leaving its defense to ill-trained peoples' militiamen who were being slaughtered In the Russian avalanche. Soviet shells were whining and crashing into Under Den Linden, the enemy's fading ra dio said, and 18 Russian armies were lunging against the city in a mighty assault. Massed Russian tank force' possibly under the personal di rection of Premier Josef Stalin, smashed the German lines in a vast three-way envelopment and frontal assault on the burning capital covering a front of 200 miles. , . . While three tank wedges stab bed up to or into the city on the northeast and east, other forces were reported by Berlin to have swept 14 miles around south of the city to within 11 miles of Potsdam, the old Imperial gov ernment seat. Another powerful R"flan spearhead had veered north in the envelopment of Berlin and struck almost to the southern edge of the city at Koenlgswus terhausen only 10 miles from Erkner, on the eastern city lim its, which Moscow announced captured. A Junction by the groups con verging on Berlin from the south and east would trap huge Ger man forces holding 2.500 square salient extending east to the Oder at Frankfurt. Churchill Hopeful Bristol, England, April 21 CUR) Prime Minister Churchill said today that allied armies in Europe were nearing the end of "a long Journey" and Indicated that victory against the Nazis might come soon. Although refusing to forecast the exact date of VE-day the prlrr.e minister added, "I do not think it need be long delayed.' Churchill spoke after receiv ing the freedom of Bristol. He also addressed students at Bris tol university. He last visited the city four years ago after a heavy air raid. VE-day will be announced only after all, or almost all. pockets of resistance have been wiped out. he said. "Premature rejoicing must not be followed by the sorrow of further European battles," he said. "We have no Intention of encouraging any festivities of thanksgiving untl) we are as sured from our military com manders that the task is so far completed that everyone may cheer." Germans Forced to View Their Own Atrocities '7'f ' YsP At Camp Buchenwald, Nazi horror prison camp near Weimar, Germany, civilians from the town were brought forcefully to the camp and made to view with their own eyes, the gruesome evidence of Nazi atrocities. Here a corpse dangles from the ecaffold where his fiendish Nazi captors hung him as the civilians stolidly watch his body swing In the wind. Signal Corps radlo-telephoto. FATE OF ALLIED FLIERS HELD BY Nuremberg, April 21 (U.R) The fate of thousands of Ameri can and British airmen listed as "missing" will be known soon. Documents recording all. allied fliers down in German territory during the war were captured today. A master file, containing the histories of more than 45,000 British and American airmen, was found in the nearby town of Buchenbuhl. Officers consider it one of the most important finds in Germany to date. The last entry, dated April 7, was of an American pilot who. it said, was found dead. The rec ords revealed that more than $1,000,000 in various kinds of currency, had been taken from captive airmen. Of this amount, only $4,000 was recovered. Bushels of rings, watches, Jew elry, flying orders, love letters, photographs and other items taken from fallen 'airmen whether alive or dead were on file. Some 400 displaced per sons, including Russians, Dutch men, Yugoslavs, Poles, French men and Italians, worked In the center. When German authori ties fled they took many valu ables. Slave clerks 350 men and 50 women lived in the same camp. Most of the women either had .borne children or were pregnant. When Lt. Col. D. T. Fuller of North Tarrytown, N. Y., heard that women slave workers were wearing American fraternity pins, he assigned Capt. Carl Luetke of San Antonio, Tex., to investigate. HOI AIR BASES OF JAPS BOMBED Guam, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) A large force of American B-29s roared back over Kyushu this morning for the second time in 24 hours to blast five Jap anese airfields as reports of yes terday's strike indicated that three airfields have been at least temporarily knocked out. Between 100 and 150 big bombers hit Izumi, Kushlra, Ko noza, Tomitaka and Miyazaki airfields today in continued oper ations to neutralize Japan's home island airfields, from which the enemy can harass American forces at Okinawa. It was the seventh Superfort raid on Kyushu since March 27 and included two new targets Tomitaka and Miyazaki. STAR UNDER KNIFE Hollywood, April 21 (U.R) Hurd Hatfield, the star of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray," tonight was reported in good condition following an emergency appen dectomy at St. Vincent's hospital. E DUE TODAY WITH REDS UPON ELBE Ike Credited With Master Stroke in Ruhr Bavaria Drive Opens. Paris, April 21 U.R) The U. S. army was alerted tonight for a Junction, perhaps only hours away, with the onrushing red army charging towards the American's Elbe river bridge head southwest of Berlin. (The Paris radio said the Junc tion would be made Sunday.) Enemy reports said the Rus sians were at Treuenbrietzen, 23 miles so .thwest of Berlin, and 38 miles from the 9th army's Elbe bridgehead at Barby. The red army at that point was only 31 miles from the American 1st army fighting In Dessau, on the west bank of the Elbe. Headquarters announced to night that a reconnaissance plane in contact with the 9th army's 83d division in the Barby bridge head reported sighting Russian tanks rolling westward toward the Elbe late Saturday after noon. As the gap between the west ern and eastern allies that only three and one-half years ago measured 2,000 miles from the Caucasus to the Englisn channel narrowed to insignificant size, one French and two American armies exploded a powerful new assault against the nazis' Ba varian redoubt on a 225-mile front. With the Germans falling apart on the road to Berlin, Lt. Gen. W. Bedell Smith, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff, said the double envelop ment of the Ruhr which opened the way for the sweep to the nazl capital was planned entire ly by Eisenhower and was one of the great military feats in his tory. Smith disclosed that Elsen hower went ahead with the plan despite the opposition of many of his advisers. lEPlDllON NCREASE VOTED Washington, April 21 (U.R) The War Production Board to night announced a new goal -of 11,763,000 tires for second quar ter production,' 2.802,000 more than previous schedules called for. WPB said increased supplies of essential tire-producing ma terials made the new schedules possible. The new schedules call for an Increase of 1,035,000 In passen ger and motorcycle tire produc tion, 689,000 truck and bus. 7.500 airplane and 70,000 tractor-implement. Also scheduled was an Increase in camelback produc tion for recapping from 72,000, 000 to 90,000,000 pounds. (Acme RaJio-Tetephoto) BY HEAVY BOAT Ti San Diego, April 21 (U.R) When U. S. navy doctors at the naval hospital here read the med' leal history chart of Earl A. Baer, boatswains mate . 1 c - of Salis bury, Mo. they. Instinctively shuddered but went ahead. Injured on his carrier in the south Pacific when a 6000-pound boat crashed to the deck pinning him beneath its ponderous weight, the 11th naval district tonight revealed how Baer was rushed to a near-by island hos pital and given emergency blood plasma, penicillin and sulfa drugs in preparation for his journey to the states for much needed surgery. X-rays had showed that Baer had contracted compound frac tures of the leg, several fractured vertebraes, a ruptured dia phragm, and inverted (upside down) stomach which had been shoved high into his chest, and several other organs out of po sition. Among these was the heart, which had been moved more than an inch to the right, and a left lung which had col lapsed. Navy doctors said Baer show ed no symptoms of the changes which had taken place Inside his body except that he had a slight shortness of breath, mild discom fort and a feeling of fullness whenever he ate or drank small amounts. A major operation at the naval hospital here forced the sailor's organs back . into position and again inflated the collapsed lung. An eight-inch tear in the dia phragm also was repaired. At last word, Baer was report ed on the road to recovery with all organs "ship-shape." BULLETIN Night Games R. H. E. Hollywood 18 0 Portland 2 8 1 Marshal, Rager and Hall; Co hen and Adams. Seattle, April 21 (U.R) Oak land's Carl Monzo kept the Se attle Ralnlers handcuffed for five Innings in a Pacific Coast league baseball game tonight, but the Ralnlers unleashed their batting power in the sixth to coast to a 6-2 victory over the Acorns. R. H. E. Oakland 2 7 1 Seattle 6 9 2 Munzo and Fenech; Speece and Finlcy. Day Oamts San Diego 3 13 4 Los Angeles . S 8 1 Valenzuela, Bailey (5), Eaves (8) and Ballinger, 'Osborn and Kreltner. Sacramento - 6 11 ' 1 San Francisco ............ 3 11 2 Fletcher, Plllette (9) and Mar cuccl; Barthelson, Buzolich (8) Flowers (8) and Ogrodowskl, Sprinz (8). TO HORROR 'VICTIMS Gen. Eisenhower Orders De cent Burial by Germans Nearest Death Camps (By United Press) Gen. Dwight Eisenhower has ordered that each victim of tor ture and starvation in German horror camps must be given a decent burial by German civil ians. Burial parties will be re cruited from towns closest to the camps. Gardelegen, Germany, April 2 (U.R) American soldiers who have learned to hate stood guard today while fat, prosperous nazl civilians disinterred with shovels and their bare hands 500 corpses hastily buried after a wanton massacre Friday. More than 1,100 antl-nazi French, Belgians, Russians, Poles and Dutch were foully killed. SS troops, aided by volk strumers packed them Into a stone barn on the outskirts of Gardelegan, sorinkled gasoline on the straw flooring and set it afire with grenades. American troops arrived last Saturday, the following. A few hours before, the nazis had -dug a trench 60 yards long and three feet deep behind the barn and dumped 500 charred corpses In it. An Investigation began in Gardelteri. More than 90 per cent of the townsfolk were touna tn be nazl party members, with husbands, sons or fathers in SS troops of among Hitler's mur derers In the lugend. For six days the Americans rounded up groups of civilian men. women and children and marched them to the scene of the massacre. A German speaking American officer told them: "You supported and encouraged the regime responsible for this hideous scene." The civilians protested that they hadn't known about the death barn. Only 300 yards from the barn were rows of houses. Officers said it was Impossible that their occupants hadn't heard the screams of 1,100 mur dered. TO ATTEND OPENING OF PEACE PARLEY Washington, April 21 U.R) Former Secretary of State Cor dell Hull, told the Allies tonight that the San Francisco World Se curity Conference will be "an acid test of whether mankind has suffered enough and learned enough." The 73-year-old statesman an nounced In a letter to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettlnius, Jr., that he would be unable to take his place as senior adviser to the United States delegation when President Truman starts the conference with a broadcast of welcome from the White House next Wednesday. Hull told Stettlnius and "all participating nations" that there are "no differences or difficul ties" between them that cannot be overcome within the United Nations Security organization. "I have profound faith that whatever the difficulties, the la bors of the conference will be crowned with success," he said. "I shall follow Its work from afar with absorbing Interest." Hull's confident prediction the eve of Imnortant dis cussions of those "differences and difficulties" among big five dip lomats gathering here. , The talks will begin soon af ter Russian Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov arrives here from Moscow lata tonight or tomor- , San Francisco, April 21 U.R) Two German prisoners of war escaped last night from a work camp Just north of Santa Bar bara, Cel., tha Federal Bureau of Investigation announced today. SIX-POINT PLAN Executive and City Council Draft Program to Meet Growth Need Million Presenting a comprehensive picture of needed improvements and expansion of city facilities. Mayor Clarence A. Meeker Sat urday explained plans which the council and department heads have drawn for submission to citizens in the near future. Many of Medford's facilities have been outgrown, the mayor pointed out, and added that the city must provide for an even greater pop ulation In the next few years. The mayor Itemized the six point program as follows: Trunk line sewer. Park improvement. Jackson Street Bridge. City Library addition. Storm sewers, drainage. Sewage disposal plant enlarge ment. $1,000,000 Needed The nroiect will require float ing of bond issue of approxi mately $1,000,000, the mayor said, but the plan will be pre sented at an election, probably about June 5, in such a manner that citizens may vote upon the Items separately. "The city was never in better financial condition," Mr. Meeker pointed out, "and at the present rato of Interest the city could carrv four times as much obllga- tlon as a few years ago, at the same cost." He quoted an official of Blyth and Co., bond dealers, as saying Medford could marnet up to. a million dollars worth of bonds at IVi per cent interest, or less. At present the city owes around $600,000, the mayor sam, "with only $35,000 of this sum not self-liquidating. There is a cash reserve of su.uuu. Noeds Lona Studied "The city administration has drawn the program alter long study 'and much consultation," the mnvot said, "and the plans are intended to meet the needs of the city as generally agreed. niMisinir the Dronosed items the executive gave the following hrlpf resume: Th nrcsent trunk line to the sewage disposal plant is Inade quate even to serve me west aiuc nf the citv. Much sewage from the east side, except in the driest months, has to be released Into Bear creek at the Jackson street bridge. A $75,000 Installation Is needed to remcd this situation Public spirited citizens have presented the city with a 15-acre (Continued on Paga Ten) SEN. VAlENBERG ARRIVES ON BAY San Francisco, April 21 (U.R) Sen. Arthur rl. vanaen berg, R., Mich., and Dean Vir olnln nilrieraleeve. Barnard col lege, the first members of the TTnltprf States delegation to the United Nations conference on International organization to ar rive here, landed at Municipal Airport aboard a C-54 army Irani nnt-t tnniffht. With them were John Foster n,,llr.. nrfvlwr to the U. S. dele gallon, and several Hides and secretaries. Armv Fliers Found Alive After Jump MrChord Field. Wash.. April 21 UR Eight army air- me'i, who were missing after they balled out from a B-24 Lib erator bomber In the Etonvllle- F.ntimrlaw area this afternoon werm fniinrl alive and safe to night. The men Jumped after the bomber developed engine trouble, McChord Field officials said. The pilot remained with the plane and reiurnea h sareiy to McChord Field. MOSQUITOES HIT KIEL London, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) RAF mosqultos last night attacked the big German U-boat bare and port of Kiel. WAR BULLETINS London, Sunday, April 22 German broadcasts said to night that Nail Propaganda Minister Paul Josef Goebbels had called upon Berliners to fight for their city as if they were guarding all Germany, but radio listeners in Britain reported that the voice of Goebbels himself was not heard. Manila, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) American troops on Min danao have captured tha Pal-du-Pulanga road terminus, 32 miles inland from tha south west coast. In a swift amphib ious advance up the Mindanao river, and are driving a Jap anese force opposing them Into marshy country around Lomo pog, it was announced today. BITTER STRUGGLE FOR HILL 178 ON Fleet Barrage Softens Foe Doughboys Register Small Gains. Guam, Sunday, April 22 (1I.P1 Amirlnnn Tnfonlnman rn southern Okinawa were locked in a bitter struggle for Hill 178 guarding approaches to Yona baru airfield Saturday and made small gains along the entire line, it was announced today, as the United States flag was raised on Iegusugu peak on Ie island. . , Several times the Infantrymen were thrown off the high ground around the strategic hill. But each time they came back and pressed their assault throughout Saturday. For the third day the thunder ing barrage thrown Into the southern Okinawa sector by Dime nf PaHflp Fleet hflttleshlDS. cruisers and destroyers and mass ed army and marine artillery continued to support the advanc ing Seventh, 27th and 96th Divi sions. Carrier aircraft made constant nln-nnint attacks aeainst the nu merous strong pillboxes, block houses ana cave posmons through which the tank-led in fantrymen slowly pushed their way. On the approaches to Hill 178, overlooking Shurl, a city of 60, 000 population In the center of the line, American and Japanese forces were locked in the bitter est type of warfare, Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nlmltz said. The rugged terrain around the hill changed hands several times during Saturday's action, he reported. Nlmltz gave no indication of the distance gained through Saturday on the western coast. American troops had last pushed to within a mllo and a half of Machlnato airfield, two miles above Naha. On the east, they were last re ported only 214 miles from Yon abaru town. The Vonabaru air field Is less than a mile from the most advanced Infantry forces in that sector. Small gains were cut out over the ravine-cross terrain, how ever, and the heavy bombard ment plastering Japaneso troop concentrations and emplace ments wag expected to greatly soften up the enemy defense line. Cnrtiallix WidoW 1 8 Oregon Mother, 1945 Portland, Ore., April 21 (U.R) Mn n r. HvsIod. Corvallls widow and tho mother of six children, is Oregon mother lor 1945 and candidate tor me uue of American mother, Mrs. George R. K. Moorhead, selec tion committee chairman, an nounced today. Mrs. Hyslop was nominated by the Corvallis Women's club, of u,hlrh h la nresident. She is active In Red Cross, USO, and numerous other patriotic ana civic Improvement organizations. NAMED STASSEN AIDE Palo Alto, Calif., April 21 (U.R) Professor Harold Fisher of Stanford university will assist Cmdr. Harold Stassen, Rcpuun can member of the U. S. delega tion to the United Nations con ference, it was announced looay ALLIES CAPTURE BOLOGNA TO END Nazis Flee in Disorder Poles and 91st Infantry First to Enter. Rome, April 21 (U.R) Al lied troops captured the forl ress city of Bologna today and spread out over the Po valley in swift pursuit of the disorgan ized German army. Their vic tory was described by Gen. Mark Clark as "the beginning of tha end In Italy." Field Marshal Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, Mediterranean commander-in-chief, bailed tha fall of Bologna with r special an nouncement as the American 5th, and British 8th armies, after months of stalemate fighting in bitter weather, swept nine milea north of the city. Polish troops of the Eighth army and elements of the U. S. 34th and 91st infantry divisions were the first inside Bologna. Opposition was neglible. All ot the city came into Allied hands speedily. Fifth army armor, raced through the ancient university city and capital of Emilia prov ince, without pause and fanned out over tha Po plain beyond in hot pursuit of the disorganized and fleeing German army. ' Bologna had a peacetime popu lation of 246,280. It Is in a fer tile" plalrr at tha foot of tha bristling Apennines mountains where groups of Lt. Gen. Trus cott's Fifth army broke through formidable defenses yesterday to clear resistance on the south and southwest and make way for Ui capture. Capture of Bologna gave the Allies control of the entire south ern portion of the Po valley and ends a four-month stalemate dur ing which the 15th Army group battled not only a fanatical en emy but bitter cold and tortuous mountain terrain. The break through to the Po plain will en able tha Allies to us tanks and heavy armor in a large scale offensive to destroy the German army In Italy. NOTED MUSICIAN New York, Sunday, April 22 (U.R) Heiress Gloria Vander bilt and Conductor Leopold StokowskI were married Satur day in Mexico, a day after she re ceived a divorce from Pat Dl Clcco, Hollywood actors' agent. It was disclosed early today. The marriage of the 58-year-old musician, who gained fame as conductor of the Philadelphia Philharmonic orchestra, and the youthful Miss Vanderbilt waa announced here by Otto E. Koe gel, attorney for Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt, Gloria's mother. BRITISllPORT Calcutta, April 21 (U.R) Brit ish 14th army infantry and tanks, continuing to exploit their spectacular breakthrough to south-central Burma, made good progress south along tha Mnndalay-Rangoon railway, an allied communique announced today. Other 14th army treops ex tended their lateral drive across the central Burma plain and oc cupied the town of Scikpyu, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy opposite the communications city of Chauk. Selkpyu li 32 miles southwest ot Pakokku. NAME PEAR BOARD Sacramento, April 21. (U.R Tha state agriculture department today announced the producer and handler members of tha fresh fall and winter pear ad visory board for tha 1945-46 marketing season.