MAM aid Jttxt$ aw) l!ll!PII!lilIJlfll!ll!lll!lfl'Jtllll!liII!!IIIIilltll m One 5-mlnutt, blast on llrini ind whiitln Is the signal foi blackout in Klamath Falls. Another long blit, during black out, U signal lor all-clear. In precau tionary periods, watch your street llghti. March 14 High 48, Low 13 Precipitation at of March I, 1843 Stream yaar to data . ... 13.ST Lait yaar 8.92 Normal ....8.41 ASSOCIATED PRESS IN THE SHASTA-CASCADE WONDERLAND NEA FEATURES PRICE FIVE CENTS KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON, MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1943 Number 9745 n r Blackout Sjanal i 1 o1 an If f I I I 1 I I I f 1 OS Wage Boost Given ml III fffi I IMIllliliiaiiiiiiil By FRANK JENKINS nrllE Corniana In Russlu have turned on inoir pursuers una aro HITTING HARD on cvory one who lino reud the news In I (diligently hna expected them to w do sooner or Inter. . Slnco tho .Germans were stop- lcd at the VoIkii they have inntlo mistakes. They nung on too long before Stalingrad, tlius enabling tho Ruiwlnns to cnelrclo and trap a largo part of their forces. Tlicy evidently mmciil- culatod Ruiuia'i power to strlko back. But In the German retirement luco Stalingrad, thoro hnvo been few signs of rout or panic, AN army thai alia bnck with ah mill A, nnnir IIRIinllv wu w w . ......... baa another good fight left In lta ayatem. The Gormuna aro proving tnni now. . VEEP this In mind: ' - Aa the Russians huve moved Jorwaid, they have lengthened their supply lines, as tho iior J mana hnvo fallen bnck, they . have SHORTENED their aupply lines. fHE fighting In Russia differs from tho fighting In Africa, where ground gnlncd or lost means little and losses Inflicted on the enemy mean everything. Ground In southern Russia Is Important, for It contains min eral wealth and food-producing n 1 , 1 1 1 power. ion., iron, ou mm juuu re war essentials, - But relative strength (which Involves rclntlvo losses In tho fighting thnt hns already taken on,j u iim thf rWIHinir fnptnr. If the Germans have MORE STRENGTH LEFT than the Kus alans, we're due for some bad niifi If the contrary Is true, tho Jnmvs over the long, pull win do good, TjpE outsiders can't know such Important lnsldo facts. Wo can only watch and wait nnd draw conclusions from what happens from day to clay, ; If you will keep this thought in mind, you will be nolo to ioi low more Intelligently tho news of tho fighting In Russia in tho next fow weeks, ASIDE from the weather, . which hns turned bad again, the most Interesting news from Africa todny is a Cnlro dispatch tolling of a new British weapon tank-buster PLANES, which are described as a new typo of Hurricano (Britlsh-bullt) fighter, equipped with CANNON. 'They are aald to have secured ircct hits on 74 Germnn tanks in the African fighting of tho past fow months and to hnvo accounted for 20 Gorman ar mored vehicles In the fighting at the Maroth line during tho past week. TUfANY American nlr mon havo , believed that tho plnno will ultimately mastor tho tank. They point out that an armor piercing bomb launched from a low-flying FAST plnno has al most as much dostrucllvo power as a shell from n gun, Thoro Is no mention of uso of bombs by theso new tank-busting planes, only their cannon being referred to In tho dlspntch. Bill wo era told that squadrons ot them aro being organized in England for tho invasion of Eu rope. ' Anyway, It Is an Interesting development. , rtYE raid Klska again, this tlmo " . dropping 27 tons of bombs on Jap installations thcro and evidently doing quite a lot of damage, Eugene Burns, AP cor respondent, quotes h high-rank- (Continued on Page Two) I ' . Nazis Search Buildings For French Labor BERN, Switzerland, March 15 (AP) German troops sturted a houso-to-houso search In Lyon today for French youths resist ing labor conscription as tho In ternal alluutlon of Franco grew more serious hourly, tho Trlb- uno do Geneve said, An axis ultimatum to several thousand heavily armed young Frenchmen in mountain hide outs along the southern shore of Lnko Gcnova was reported by tho newspaper to huvo expired at noon, but no further definite advices wore received. Swiss frontier residents for tho past three dnys have heard the sounds of sporadic firing. Lyon lies In tho Rhone river valley southwest of tho parti sans' rendezvous, the Haute Savolo region. (Tho Algiers radio broadcast a report that French guerrillas (Continued on Page Two) KISKA JAPS HIT BIHS. Bombings May Herald Mighty Spring Offensive By EUGENE BURNS AN ADVANCED BASE IN ALASKA, March 10 ((De layed) Army light and heavy bombers, accompanied by man made Lightnings, today released tho heaviest load of explosives of tho year on Japanese installa tions and barracks at Klska. One high-ranking army offi cer said this bombing heralded tho opening of a mighty spring offcnslvo against Klska, weather conditions permitting. Onco more planes, ammuni tion and pilots are ready. Today's pny load was 53,500 pounds of demolition and frag mentation bombs and boosted tho nlno months' total dropped on tho Japanese occupied Island to 1,437,000 pounds, quoting army figures. This weight docs not Include thousands - upon thousands of machlncgun shells, and 20 mil limeter and 37 millimeter can non' shells. Many of the enemy's anti-aircraft guns failed before today's five mlnuto reception was over. (Tho navy department, report ing on this action in a commun ique March 12, said tho attack was mado by Liberator and Mitchell bombers and that bomb hits wcro scored on both anti aircraft batteries and buildings In tho camp area without loss to tho raiders). Many buildings took fire, but this Is not tho worst of tho bomb ing. If our 50,000 pounds of dynamite shook the ground at Kiska today as much as the (Continued on Pogo Two) Federal Income Taxpayers Rush to File Returns Before Midnight Tonight By The Associated Press Incomo taxpayers by tho un counted thousands many ot them first-timers stood In ov-cr-longthcnlng lines throughout tho country today waiting to file their returns bctoro tho mid night deadline, Even greater crowds woro avoided by tho elimination for tho first time ot tho require ment for notarization of returns, thus pormlttlng all who wished simply to mall checks, money orders or even cash, But many cities reported re cord numbers at internal rove- nuo collection offices end post- office money order windows throughout the morning, Pollco aided in handling some of the crowds, Dcsplto scattered reports of WAGE BOOST; AWAITS ONLY OPA APPROVAL Pine Scale Increased To 87V2-Cent Mini mum in Klamath PORTLAND, Ore., March 15 (IP) A wago increase averaging 74 cents hourly was promised tentatively todny to 27,000 pine lumber workers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, northern Cal ifornia and western Montana. The proposed increase Is up for decision before the olllce ot price administration, which will decide whether it would necessi tate price ceiling adjustments for plno products. The increose, calling for pay ment in war bonds and stamps of approximately $2,000,000 in back wages, was ordered by the West Coast Lumber commission and approved by the war labor board. Uniform Plan Lotas - Benjamin H. Klzer, commis sion chairman, said a union de mand, for a -uniform minimum wage was denied, but that the proposed increase would estab lish these regional scales: An 87i-cent minimum In cen (Continucd on Page Two) Chinese Claim Jap Offensive In Collapse CHUNGKING, Morch 15 (IP) The Chinese high command de clared today that the big Japan ese offensive which began March 8 along a 100-mile stretch- of tho Yangtze river from the Japanese base at Yo chow near tho border of Hunan and Hupch provinces had col lapsed and that most of 20,000 enemy troops were under har assing retreat. One body of Japanese troops has been surrounded, a com munique said, whllo another column is being encircled. Chln cso forces on tho northern bank ot the Yangtze were reported to havo launched an "extensive" counter attack. Tho Chinese said the collapse ot tho Japanese offensive, which had been designed to protect tho enemy's communications along tho Yangtze, had greatly lessened the danger of another Japanese drive on Changsha, which has withstood three pre vious attacks. Observers said It was too early to predict whether the Japanese would try to hold their key points on the south bank of the Yangtze. These points in Chinese possession would cxposo enemy river traf fic to tho danger of mines and artillery fire. , an "I won't pay; let 'cm come after me" attitude, treasury of ficials in Washington expressed confidence that nearly all would pay. At Cleveland, whence camo first reports of a possible tax strike, Collector Frank F. Gentsch reported that week-end returns woro mora than twlco the number for tho first two months of the year. Ho added that those who had threatened not to pay "evidently havo been jolted out of the defiant atti tude and are beginning to real ize that all these plans of 'pay-as-you-go' don't mean a thing now." Collection offices in some ci ties opened branches to handle tho overflow, and at Boston specially assigned paternal revs :f r te A ? , r l r,- , LL-Ufc.-JJ LJjjUljjMillilJ IITl I'll - Pretty Klamath Union high in 8alem end vice yersa. Back Don Bigger. Front row. Dean Hamilton, Roberta. Tucker, Carol the state title-holders with banquets, service club appearances, etc. beat Baker, 52 to 28 Saturday U. S. BOMBERS HIT E Aerial Assault Tends To Soften Rommel Positions By DANIEL de LUCE ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, March 15 (IP) U. S. Mitchell bombere raided Marshal Erwln Rommel s posl tlons yesterday in a continuation of the aerial assault intended to soften the Mareth line for the British eighth army's coming push although bad weather al most paralyzed the air war else where in Tunisia. Spitfires and Warhawks of the western desert air force escorted tho Mitchell formations on their missions of destruction and made numerous sweeps Independently without interception, military sources said. Rommel holds ground in a semi-circle before Gen. Sir. Ber nard Montgomery's forward ele- (Contlnued on Page Two) Snell Approves Ten House Bills SALEM, March 15 (P) Gov ernor Earl Snell today approved and signed 10 house bills of the recently-adjourned legislature. Included were two appropria tions measures, two providing deductions in incomo tax compu tations, an amendment to the ac cident report law, a measure to permit political subdivisions to acquire and operate airports, one providing veteran relief ond an other setting asido rncinir com- mission moneys for postwar uso. nue bureau mon y,oro endeav oring to divert tho traffic to a nowly-opcncd branch in another building. Bccauso of new high rates and lower exemptions, many persons wcro forced to borrow money to pay their taxes, and one group men in tho 18 to 38 ago bracket found difficulty in most sections. Loan agencies felt the draft made many of them a poor risk. In New York tho second col lection district at custom house reported tho office banked $40, 000,000 this morning from yes terday's mail which swamped workers. Copt. William J. Ped rick, tho collector, said ho thought another $35,000,000 to $40,000,000 remained to be counted from the one-day take, They're Champ: -And Do T7 school girls are hare admiring row, left to right. Al Bellotti, night, will be found on today'a sports page. Gen. Giraud Offers To Meet De i&aulle Hatfway By WES GALLAGHER ' ALGIERS, March 15 (IF) Gen. Henri Giraud, after offer. ing to meet Gen. Charles de Gaulle half-way in a union that must be effected among all anti-axis Frenchmen fighting for a rebirth of the French republic, today drafted a series of decrees repudiating the last vestiges of Vichy influence In North and West Africa. In a Casablanca conference aftermath, the civil and military commander-in-chief also dis closed that he was welding a striking force of 300,000 men equipped with American weap ons and solemnly promised the people of his conquered home land that "their sacred rights to Two Army Planes Down in M' Cloud River Country REDDING, Calif., March 15 (IP) Searching parties went into the rugged-McCloud river coun try north of here today in an attempt to locate two - large planes one known to be an army craft believed down In the area. Sgt. ' M. P. Howard of the state highway patrol said an army, lieutenant parachuted from one of the planes Satur day after the craft's controls iced up on a flight from Sac ramento to Portland. The lieu tenant, who walked to Salt Creek lodge 30 miles north of here Saturday night, said he be lieved the other five men aboard also bailed out. The fliers' names were not dis closed. Officers at McClellan field, Sacramento, said tho plane took off from the Sacramento air de pot at 11:32 a. m. Saturday, landed at Red Bluff at 12:45 and resumed its flight. Another' plane was reported missing in tho same area by McClellan field but there were no details as to tho flight nor the number of men aboard since it was not from the Sacramento air depot. . Share-the-Ride Horn Tooters Get Official Frown PORTLAND, March 15 (IP) Share-the-rido drivers who per sist in tooting horns in the wee hours and disturbing the sleep of day workers will be arrested for violating tho antl-nolse ordi nance, tho Portland police de partment announced today. Police said complaints have been numerous and lusty. the Girls Like Champs! "7? the state basketball champs freshly Jim Cox, Rex Young, Wilbur Welch, Captain Jim Boccht and Tiller, and Baldy Foster. Plans Full details of the state title choose a provisional government themselves will be fully safe guarded." Giraud did not mention De Gaulle by name, but he implied in a speech last night that he and De Gaulle could work out a form of mutual trusteeship pend ing the day of victory when their freed peoples could choose their own leaders by lot "according-to the rules of the French republic." Giraud embraced the princi ples of the Atlantic charter, and promised to abolish all Vichy legislation particularly the anti-Jewish decrees, to restore democratic functions in North Africa including the election of municipal assemblies and con suls general, and to eliminate all axis influences whether "meas ures or men." The first formal decrees are expected to be published within the next few days. "I wish with all my heart the union of all of us," said the hero of two world wars. "The union must be effected. That union is indispensable. I should like to cooperate with all those who ac cept the traditional principles (of the French republic)." , Giraud's promise to eliminate "measures or men" deemed in jurious to the allied war effort was interpreted by some to mean that Gen,, Jean Marie Bergeret and Gen. ' Auguste Nogues, two members of Giraud's war com mittee, would be jettisoned. ' These two men were not pres ent at the opera house where Gi raud addressed a rally protest ing the German annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. The fight ing French hove pronounced them pro-Vichy and demanded that they be ousted. ' A fighting French delegation headed by Gen. Georges Catroux is expected in Algiers shortly, and some, observers believe this (Continued on page two) Postal Employees Voted Pay Raise WASHINGTON, March 15 (IP) The house voted today to in crease tho ; pay of postal em ployes to meet added living costs. The 383 to 4 vote sent the legislation to tho senate. Tho increases are applicable Jo all employes of the field ser vice and will be in effect until six months after the war. For all officers and employes, except fourth class-postmasters and those working on an hourly basis, the increase would be $300 annually. Fourth-class postmast ers, third-class clerks, special de livery messengers, and workers paid by the day or hour would receive a fifteen per cent in crease, .not to exceed $300 an nually. . . ... U LTUUULULTU fprnqMTTiE back from the tournament held were on foot Monday to fete game, in which the Klamatha Grow I n g Concentra tion of Jap Vessels - Noted ALLIED ' HEADQUART E R S IN AUSTRALIA, March 15 OP) Growing concentrations of Jap anese shipping at island bases in the Banda sea area within 500 miles of ' Darwin, ' Australia, were reported today as General MacArthur s ' headquarters an nounced that allied airmen had blasted two more ships in an enemy convoy off Wewak, Nsw Guinea. A communique said the Jap anese are massing both- trans ports and supply ships in the Amboina (Ambon)-Dobo area northwest of New Guinea and declared that . enemy ground forces there - are - being rein forced. New- airfields also are being constructed in that sector by the Japanese, the , bulletin said. The Island of Amboina, for mer Dutch possession and once the site of one of the most im portant naval ' bases ' In the Netherlands East Indies, is about 600 miles northwest of Darwin. Dobo, southeast of Amboina, is about 100 miles nearer Dar win. Spokesmen at allied headquar ters declined to comment on the possible significance of this Jap anese activity, but the - bare statement . in the communique added emphasis to recent offi cial warnings that the ' enemy must not be under-rated in this theater. The Japanese, meanwhile, were paying a heavy price for (Continued on Page Two) AMERICANS BUST lininirnf niiinninm Mhmt onimiYb Hull, Eden Warn Public About Possible Long War By WADE WERNER WASHINGTON, March 15 (IP) Secretary of State Hull, after an hour conference today with Anthony Eden, said he was en tirely in accord with the Brit ish foreign secretary's warning of last Saturday that the Ameri can and British public must not reach hasty conclusions about the duration of the war. The conflict will be more long-drawn-out according to all reasonable calculations than one might expect on the basis of a hasty Judgment, Hull told a press conference. Eden and Lord Halifax, British ambassa dor, stood , beside Hull as he spoke. Hull emphasized that the first of his series of conferences with illLUU Ull I ILL . AGAINST ODDS TO HOLD CITYi Steel City Eyed as Spot for Great Offensive By CARL C. CRANMER Associated Press War Editor The possession of Kharkov, possible Jumplng-off place for a third great German summer of fensive In a last desperate effort to crush Russia, was in doubt to day as the nazis announced iti recapture and Russian dispatch es indicated the red army was waging a battle against great odds to hold that bastion of the Ukraine. . Not conceding the loss of the big steel city which they cap tured February 16, or even ad mitting fighting within the city itself, the Russians nevertheless admitted today that their lines had been progressively forced back in the "Kharkov area" ' in the face of hundreds- of tanks and overwhelmingly superior German numbers. : . ; : "It looks as though Kharkov is gone," ' military sources ; in London admitted, while the Ger mans in today's-communique de-: dared their, offensive, spreading northward, had resulted in a ' J bloody collapse of Russian coun terattacks west- of Belgorod. . : "During file day and night red army men of one unit repulsed incessant Hitlerite attacks," the mid-day communique from Mos cow announced. It reported the destruction of 14 enemy tanks and 600 enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting in one small sector.-" ; .X- Claiming a sort of vindication for Adolf Hitler's- Waffen SS , combat units of the nazl party's elite guard the,. German high j command in a special: commun ique last night announced the . recapture of the city held by the Germans from October, 1941, un- -til last February and gave -the entire credit for the immediate (Continued on Page Two) . Joe Gordon Wis Power Line at Local Airport : Joe Gordon, famed second baseman of the New York Yan- I kees.i narrowly escaped Injury Saturday afternoon when an airplane he was riding struck a power line when coming Into the Klamath Falls airport. John Shaeffer of Eugene was .; flying the plane, with Gordon , as passenger.. The plane came down on the east-west runway, ; and skidded some distance, dam aging the propeller and landing gear. Neither Shaeffer nor Gor- ' don were hurt. . , It is understood Gordon, part owner of the plane, had come . here to take it to Bend for possi- '" ble sale. Copco officials said the line is a 4000-volter, and that there has been discussion for several months- regarding its removal. The line, was repaired Saturday afternoon. Eden had made a very satisfac tory beginning of the task ahead of them. He invited Eden to say something too. . The . British leader smilingly replied that 'he had really come to the state de partment for "a little instruc tion" and already had learned quite a bit. He and Hull had begun their work today, he said, and will have other talks later. As for himself, he added, he already felt bettor as a result of. today's exchange of views, and looked forward hopefully to further conversations. Hull was asked if he cared to emphasize andy particular points which he thought , should be borne in mind in connection (Continued on Figk Two) '