Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 36, Decatur, Adams County, 12 February 1945 — Page 1

JltfiJstWintheWar! &/ Else Is Chores!

■ XLIH. No. 36.

BRUSH NAZI RESISTANCE IN KLEVE, PRUEM

Kort Breslau ■ircled By Biel Forces SKrlin Soys Russian I lops Break Across I Bber River Today I <■(>” I'- ; >. 1-- < I’!’)—‘Moscow ■BS,! unofficially today that S I'-"' s - Konev had encircl■SSM < '■ : i'i capital of Breslau, I’ ,'M-n s ?id ins troops bad Itrokthe Bober river in a |.mil-ri beyond the Oder, military spokesman - wpre ■ s,o,, ’ ni,i « I . r’ion'of the Bother. GerImhM • linp of defense ! ,nel 'now 'have only two tn the Bober toll J r having been amaehi isßt-a-t of Breslau 1'25 miles. I ■ ■ o'ureil Hielsko. trans f bt the southwest cor|a™.K>,•Bieloko •> 34 miles I ol"’.tv<ka Orttrava and 13 | ; of Krakow. I 'i* mt'i' t'l v.'t- that lie. 'by Nazi was between BunzSprottau, and the Soviet sail smashed into Bunzmiles the f .^■h.ern 111 high command refighting on the Bober I K! -’tB Bmizlau and east of Sagan, > the northwest. It claim'lint counterblows had a junction of Russian of Breslau in the en- ’ mam uver reported by | ißrim communique, skirting ■wsglt n i l battle before Berlin, ' this sector “fight-Itng-Bi' .i importance only took the situation underwent break-through by ■tkiwn Ukrainian army carried llllll ' s of Dresden by Nazi KmhM and set the stage for a push against Berlin from j'.■•luHblus: Marshal Gregory K. frontal onslaught. j T.3K i . i-orrespandent Hen- ! ' iiSfei 1 t eported from Moscow gtha@H» :mpmeant announcement f : progress is expected possible indication that lt%dM> licii command might be r nmiirm reports that the jhad broken across the miles iast of Berlin. t flK ri-iht flank was moving lhe Baltic and tiie Oder g —mjggl port of Stettin on a broad ■; flanks fiuc.ured by !i and Konev's breakBdt«aM|i:i Silt-da. Zhukov was lnthrow everything he f ■■ plunge against Berlin. I reported that the en- | of Breslau was complete I m „, lp a s Konev's forces *"ts^Msmraward in a scythe-like | ■■‘-‘hßit. n f ,| )e capital from the | c®ptured Liegnitz. I Russian reports said the I a 15-niile wide escape J ■ —’Sm westward out of Breslau I Sovie, -held villages of s Kurtsch. | A ®fda dispatch said an early ' ’*■ T " Page 2 ’ Column 7) » Teeple : Brother's Grave Wnewhere In France" ' D. Teeple, 23of Mrs. Leona Tecon Decatur route one. grave of his younger 1 Sli,fr Sgt Richard Teeple in France, he has * s m °D ,er . 'Pie was killed in action ■' on August 9. His ’ not state where the located, except to say ,°^B erp in France.” He was to the grave by s? ! ’B Al’vin o. Carlson. • SS flg ei ‘l |lp has a third son in '■** *®ce, Pvt. Robert M. Tee--25. „IW ERATUR E READING RAT THERM OMETER Z?S W' m 42 i WEATHER V Jy cloudy tonight and Rain * n s °uth and and Haht rain or anew "S mB me n ° rth portion T u es '

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

German Attacks Halt Fifth Army 'Rome. Fell). 12-(tUP)-»3rman counterattacks have forced the fifth army to withdraw at least a half mile in the S rettoia and Flume La Force areas on the west coast sector of the Italian front, headquarters said today. lAn American push, launched four days ago, had reached witihin two and a half miles oif iMassa, one of the key points in remnants of the Gothic line guarding the approaches to L a Spezia, before the German counterattacks halted it. — o Reports Big Three Study Peace Terms Peace Settlement On Nazis Studied London, Feb. 12 — (UP) — Diplomatic observers said today that the Allied big three may be deciding the peace settlement which will be forced on a defeated Germany. London, newspapers already were referring to the Black Sea meeting of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin as a “de facto peace conference.” Though the three statesmen at first were believed fixing only armistice terms for Germany, the theory that they were considering both immediate and longrange future of the Reich was gaining credence. Such action now, it was pointed out, would deprive the Germans of an opportunity to plead for leniency at the peace table. The London Daily Mirror said Italy had sent notes to the big three appealing for status as a full ally. The notes also were said to ask for relaxation of the financial terms of the Italian armistice and increased financial and material aid, including food consignments. At the same time, however. Marshal Tito and Premier Ivan Subasic of Yugoslavia were ‘indignant.” over the alleged Allied coddling of Italy, the Mirror said. "Yugoslav officials allege that thousands are starving in Yugoslavia while the Allies prefer to give their chief attention to insuring plenty of food and clothing for Italy,” the Mirror (Turn To Page 2, Column 5) » o— Andrew Bubb Dies Saturday Afternoon Andrew Bulbb, 63, owner of the general etore and filling station at Nine Mile, died Saturday afternoon at 'hks home after an extended illness of complications. He was a native of Poe. Surviving are the ■Wife, three sons, three daughters, a (brother and four sisters. Funeral services will be held at 9 a. m. Thursday at the residence and at 9:30 o’colck at St. Joseph’s 'Catholic church, Hessen Cassel, with 'burial in tdie church cemetery. —o Two Calls Answered By Fire Department Smoke Does Damage At Douglas Store The fire department answered two calls Sunday, one being to the uptown district and the second in the north residential area. Smoke from smouldering cartons which had been thrown on top of hot clinkers from the furnace, did some damage to stock in the ready-to-wear department of the C. A. Douglas store in the north room of the K. of C. building at 10 o'clock Sunday morning. The smoke rolled out of the west end of the building and traveled upward to the offices located above the Douglas store. Mrs. T. J. Metzler, wife of the store manager, said that her husband was out of town today and that she could not estimate the damage done to stock. There wds no loss from fire. Slight damage was done o electric wiring on the furnace in the Carl M. Striker home, 614 Washington street at 3:15 o’clock in the afternoon. Firemen made an inspection of both places and assisted in eliminating the hazards which caused the alarms.

Corregidor Is Rocked By Big Aerial Attack * Yankees Hunt Down Isolated Japanese in Manila Pockets Manila,'Feb. 12. — (UP) —The Fortress of Corregidor in Manila harbor where Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s Americans made their last stand against the Japanese rocked today under the heaviest saturation bombing attack yet launched in the Pacific. For nearly a W’eek the Japanese antiaircraft guns on the rocky fortresses have been silent, presumably knocked out by American bombs. The terrific air attack, softening up Corregidor for an American landing, came as American tank and infantry columns splintered the Japanese forces in southern Manila. The Japanese were cut into scores of isolated pockets and infantry patrols were sweeping down burning streets to destroy them. In the last 48 hours more than 509 bombing sorties have been flown against Corregidor and southern Bataan. Nine hundred tons of bombs have been dropped, 200 tons on Corregidor alone. In one attack 35 barges laden with Japanese troops were caught off the eastern Bataan coast and destroyed with an estimated 2,500 troops. It was possible these Japanese were fleeing Corregidor for the Bataan coast. Hard-hitting armored units of the U. S. first cavalry division broke open the Japanese defenses Saturday with two quick thrusts across the Pasig river on the east side of Manila. One column drove south towaixl Fort McKinley while the second wheeled westward to link up with doughboys of the 37th infantry division in the Pandacan district. The sudden breakthrpugh promised to close out the bloody street battle for Manila in short order. After eight days of fanatical resistance, the Japanese were breaking up into small suicide squads, most of them cut off from all contact with their commanders and facing most certain death or surrender m a matter of days at moet. Probably the strongest remaining Japanese positions were around Fort McKinley on the southeastern outskirts of the capital and in the old walled city on Manila bay. Elsewhere throughout the southern half of the city, small groups of enemy troops, some of them equipped with mortars and artillery, were holed up behind street barricades and in ruined buildings under heffvy attack from all sides. The first cavalry forced the Pasig river in (Turn To Pagie 2, Column 4) o Civilians Warned Os More Meatless Days Government Buying Will Be Increased Washington. Feb. 112 —(UP)—War food administration officials warned civilians today that more mea'tiless days are ahead. The meat scarcity, they said, will grow progressively worse in the next few months and by August civilians prolbaibly will experience the shortest supplies in 10 years. (More stringent ration of meat appears inevitable. (Major reasons for the meat scarcity are a sharply slackened production and large government purcashes (for war purposes. The bureau of agriciultural economics, a statistical bureau of WFA, said that meat output in 19>45 may not total more than 22.000,000,000 (B) pounds, compared 'with 24/700,000,000 last years. The bureau previously forecast 22,750,000,000 pounds production for this year. The bureau now fears that civilian consumption during 1945 may sink to about 120 pounds per person or 27 pounds less than last year. Earlier estimates placed this year's consumption between 125 and 132 pounds. The revised forecast would bring consumption to the lowest point since 1935 when Americana ate an average of 116 pounds, }

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, February 12,1945.

Fliers Meet Liberator Again w ■ fsBMFI wsk joF Mr brl - UNDERGROUND HEROINE Mme. Jaques Tartiers, an American woman married to a Frenchman, greets five Allied fliers whom she aided in escapes after they had been downed in Nazi-occupied territory near Barbizon, France. Pictured during the reunion in New York they are . (1. to r., front): Cadet W. Spellman, Jeffersonville. Ind.. Flying Officer D. Steepe, Sudbry, Ontario. In back, Flying Officer L. Frame, Ottawa, Canada; Mme. Tartiers; Lt. A. Richter. Chicago, Ill.; and Flying Officer B. Watson, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

Assembly In Final Third 01 Session Heavy Work Ahead For State Solons Indianapolis. Feb. 12 — (UP) — Two-thirds of its session gone, the Indiana general assembly launched the final third, today with a bulky sheaf of work facing the lawmakers between now and March 5. Emphasizing the task ahead, the records showed that less than four percent of 775 bills and resolutions introduced since the assembly opened Jan. 4 had been passed by both houses and sent to Governor Gates who had signed 13 of them. The remainder, nearly 70 percent of which were Republicansponsored measures and another 15 percent co-authored by one Republican and one Democrat, were being ground slowly through the legislative mills. Representatives returned to their desks to find that the Republican majority’s liquor control bill had blossomed from a “skeleton" reorganization measure to a comprehensive instrument. It was no surprise, but while the legislators were at home for the weekend, attorney general James A. Emmert completed a series of amendments to present to the house public morals committee, at the request of the GOP legislative policy committee. The house committee was expected to report the bill favorably to the floor today or tomorrow. Besides reorganizing the state alcoholic beverage board, the completed bill would give the GOP specific control over wholesale beer and liquor permits, increase excise taxes on liqqpr by an estimated $3,500,000 to $4,000,000 annually, ban tavern dancing, hours and bar minors from places set unifoiin midnight closing where Zy-tjie-drink sales were (Turn T<J Page 2, Column 3) j o Carl A. Venis Dies At Garrett Hospital Carl A. Venis, 67, of Fort Wayne, and a former employe of the Decatur Daily Democrat, died Saturday night at the Sacred Heart hospital in Garrett after a six months illness. Surviving are the wife, one son, one duaghter; an uncle, Sylvester Venis of this city, and two ibrothers, Roy, of Bluffton and Raymond of Muncie. iFuneral services ‘will be held at 2 p. m. Tuesday at the Thoma chapel in Bluffton, with burial in Fairview cemetery at Bluffton.

■ .... 1 BULLETIN Washington. Feb. 12— (UP) —The big three have agreed on plans for enforcing unconditional surrender terms on Germany, the calling of a United Nation’s conference on world security organization problems, and future quarterly meetings of their foreign secretaries. This was announced in a communique issued by the White House. It said the meeting lasted eight days and was held in the Russian Crimea. The meeting has now been concluded. ■ O ; Greek Civil War Is Ended With Treaty Compromise Treaty Ends Bloody Warfare Athens, Feb. 12 —(UP) —A compromise peace treaty ended the bloody Greek civil war today. Representatives of the Greek government and the rebellious leftwing EAM-ELAS signed the preliminary protocols to the treaty at 4:30 a. m. after an all-night 10-hour meeting. The final treaty will be signed at 2:30 p. in. The treaty grants EAM-ELAS demands that general elections and a plebiscite "on the question of King George’s return to Greece be held this year, but excludes the EAM-ELAS from the government at least until after the elections. Before the outbreak of the civil war Dec. 3, EAM (National Liberation front) held seven cabinet posts. The treaty also provides for the disarmament of the ELAS, military arm of the EAM. by March 15 and distinguishes between common crimes and political offenses in any trials of EAM-ELAS followers. Government employes who participated in the recent fighting or collaborated with the Germans during the years of Nazi occupation will be discharged under another provision of the treaty. The preliminary protocols were signed at a seaside villa at Varkiza, near Athens, where peace negotiations had been under way since Feb. 2 under a truce arranged by the British commander in Greece, Lt. Gen. Ronald Scobie. Harold MacMillan, British cabinet minister resident in the Mediterranean area, and Reginal Leeper, British ambassador to Greece, were summoned to the (Turn Ta Pago 2, Column 21 >

Two Keystone Bastions O£ Siegfried Lines Are Cleared By Allied Army

V-Bombs Kill 585 During January London, Feb. 12 —(UP) —(German V-!bomlbs killed 585 persons and injured 1,629 in Britain during January, the minister of home security announced today. The 'totals were nearl double those in December and were the highest, with the exception of November, since August. Q Berlin Is Reported In State Os Siege City Is Converted Into An Armed Camp London, Feb. 12 —(UP)—Berlin was reported under a state of siege today and swarming with handpicked Nazi elite guards ordered by Adolf Hitler to defend the capita! block by block against the Red army. A Moscow broadcast, partially Iborne out by Swiss press dispatches and German propaganda statements said Berlin had been converted into an armed camp, jammed with troops and refugees from the east and ruled by wh»t amoun’ed to martial laiw. Quoting advices from Stockholm, (Moscow said Hitler had convoked a council of war at his headquar-, ters and ordered Berlin defended to the death, even if it meant the complete destruction of the city. Fifteen SIS elite guards divisions were reported massed in the city, and Moscow said the Nazis, were evacuating civilians from the eastern suburbs iby force, mining the roads and transforming hundreds of homes into riillboxes. Guarding against a possible uprising in the city, the Nazis were said to have imposed a rigid 8 p. m. to 5 a. m. curfew on the city and to have started a roundup of suspected traitors. IMoscow also asserted that thfi 'Spree river bridges inside Berlin were being mined and that hundreds of thousands of (Berliners were working on fortifications on the city's eastern approaches. The capital's population, which (Turn To Page 2. Column 5) 0 Auto Accident North Os Decatur Saturday Two Wreck Victims Still In Hospital Two of the 'victims of an auto accident which occurred Saturday noon on U. S. highway 27, two miles north of the Adams county line, are still confined to the Memorial hospital in this city. They are, iMrs. Ira Sprunger, wife of Ira Sprunger, Berne linotype operator, who was driving one of the automobiles, and Mi ss Hanna (Sprunger, 66, a sister of the latter. (Miss 'Aline Sprunger. also a sister of Mr. Sprunger, was dismissed from the hospital after receiving first aid. Mr, 'Sprunger was driving north, when his car slid on the slush covered pavement and was struck iby the General Electric station wagon, driven by 'Mrs. Helen Kirsch, wife of Leo Kirsch, Decatur postmaster, who was driving south. The G. E. car had two occupants, B. J. (Hoffman and <C. H. Cutehall of Fort Wayne, wbo were on their way to the local plant on their periodic inspection trip. Although the station wagon was demolished, Mrs. Kinsch and the two G. E. Employes were not seriously injured. They were treated at the plant's dispensary in this city. ■Mrs. Sprunger suffered cuts and (bruises and her sister-in-law had two ribs fractured. Mr. Sprunger was not seriously hurt. He was able to continue his work at Berne today. , IMrs. Sprunger is the correspotident for the Daily (Democrat in Berne. |

B-29s Attack Stepping Stone Island Oflwo Strategic Air Base On Tokyo's Bombing Route Is Attacked Washington, Feb. 12. —(UP) —B--29 Superfortresses followed up week-end raids on Japan and Burma with a heavy attack on the stepping stone island of Iwo, 759 miles south of Tokyo, today. The daylight strike at Iwo, site of a strategic air base on the bombing route to Tokyo, was the fifth by Superfortresses of Maj. Gen. Curtie Le May’s 21st bomber command from Marianas bases. Army Liberators hit Iwo for the 64th straight day last Thursday. On three of the previous four B--29 attacks, surface warships and Liberators joined in the bombardment of Iwo. There was no immediate word whether these units also participated in today's raid. The Japanese Domei agency said a lone Superfortress flew over the Tokyo area at 10 a. m. (Tokyo time) on reconnaissance today, but was ehot down by a Japanese fighter plane. The 21st bomber command opened the week-end B-29 offensive Saturday with an assault on the important Nikajima aircraft plant 40 miles northwest of Tokyo that probably disrupted production tor months to come. The largest force of Superfortresses ever to hit Japan demolished one main assembly building, damaged another, badly damaged a sub-assembly building, damaged one third of the roof area of a fourth building and set fire to a fifth, a Guam dispatch said. Photographs showed at least five additional bomb bursts in the eastern and southern portions of the plant, and many others probably were obscured by smoke. Twenty intercepting Japanese planes were shot down, 19 possibly destroyed and 27 damaged. Two Superfortresses collided over the target area while taking evasive action. Both exploded and broke in two. A third B-29 was lost (Turn To Page 2, Column 2) 0 Mary Smith Wins Oratorical Contest Decatur Girl Wins In Legion Contest Miss Mary Smith. Decatur high School senior and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Smith of Nuttman avenue, was declared the winner in the county contest of the American Legion oratorical contest, held this morning ifi the junior-senior high school auditorium. Miss Smith will represent this county in the district Legion contest, which will be held in Fort Wayne in the near future. Two other counties, Allen and Whitley, have entered representatives in the contest. Miss Mary Ann Baker, of Decatur Gatholic high school, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Baker, won second place in today’s contest. James Vinson' of Monmouth high school, placed third. The contest was in charge of Ed Jaberg, chairman, and five judges scored the young orators. They were. Mrs. Leonard Saylors, Mrs. R. D. Myers, Nathan Nelson, James Elberson and G. Remy Bierly. The winner was awarded a $25 war bond, and the other two contestants were given war savings stamps. The district winners will compete in the state contest, which will be held next mouth, Mr. Jaberg said.

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Allied Offensives Aimed At Industry In Ruhr Valley Go Forward Steadily Paris, Feb. 12 —(UP) —Allied armies crushed the last organized German resistance in Kleve and Pruem today, virtually completing the conquest of the keystone bases of the Siegfried line. Front dispatches reported the clearing of Kleve, northern anchor of the Nazi westwall, except, for isolated snipers, and the breakup of the last pocket of opposition in Pruem, transport hub on the approaches to the Rhineland. » Lt. Gen. George S. U. S. third army fought all the way through Pruem. and Lt. Gen. H. D. G Crearar’s Canadian first army chopped up the lasi German toehold in Kleve. Both armies were pushing on beyond their secured objectives. The Canadians reached Hau, a mile and a half southeast of Kleve on the road to Goch. The Americans seized a commanding ridge bej’ond Pruem. After clearing Kleve in a 36hour battle, the Canadians pushed on under heavy clouds dripping occasional rain. On the south edge of the Reichswald they captured the town of Hekken, six miles southwest of Kleve. North of the town they reached the Griethausen railway. Between the besieged bases, patrols of the American first army probed the German defenses on the east bank of the Roer river south of Dueren. They found the east bank heavily defended. As the battle of Kleve moved toward its climax, the Canadians captured _ the neighboring town of Gennep in the offensive aimed at the industrial Ruhr. Fighting under low rain clouds that grounded their air support, veteran Canadian, English anH Scottish infantrymen were slugging through a 12-mile breach in the toughest German defenses covering the industrial Ruhr valley. Field dispatches said British shock troops had broken through the dense Reich forest between Gennep and Kleve and were driving down on the Siegfried line stronghold of Goch against stead-ily-stiffening German resistance. Weather grounded most of the tactical air force planes today, but observers reported they gave the German rail network in the Rhin,')Dortmund - Bielefelr - Paderbron quadilaeral one of the war's worst poundings yesterday. The planes flew almost 1,900 sorties and reported knocking out 53 locomotives and 99 freight cars. Another 107 locomotives and 454 freight cars were damaged. The trains were part of a twoday traffic movement —troops and supplies coming up to bolster the west front and vital war materials leaving the Ruhr for the east front. More than 100 miles to the (Turn To Pace 2. Column 2) ————<> Local Lady Recalls Seeing Abe Lincoln At Political Rally Today, the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Americas great Civil War president, holds special significance to one Decatur resident. For Mrs. Minerva Shoemaker, 94. who resides with her daughter. Mrs. Albert Harlow. 232 North Thirteenth street, distinctly remembers seeing Lincoln during a political rally at Bluffton, where she was born July 28, 1850. Mrs. Shoemaker, then 10 years of age. was standing across tho street from the court house in Bluffton when a wagon came along with a log on it, also an axe in plain view, and Abe Lincoln, on the wagon, being advertised as the rail-splitting candidate for president. Asked if she remembered Lincoln’s features, Mrs. Shoemaker replied 'that sho remembered little about them except she recalled he was distinctly a hotnely-looking man.