Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 42, Decatur, Adams County, 19 February 1945 — Page 1

« St Win the War! Ise Is Chores! '

VfIMLHI. No. 42.

30,000 MARINES STORM ONTO IWO ISLAND

ks Mopping bp Troops orregidor hila Bay Fortress jded By American les By Air, Sea I Feb. 19—(UP)—AmerBtroopers and infantry fed today in the arduous leaning out hundreds of [Japanese from the tunI crevices of Corregidor Ides of the rocky fort [rding the entrance to fcy, were secured by the Lean contingents which Korregidor from the air t Their sole task was to I the Japanese —probably Iman—from the recesses le enemy was expected [a last-ditch stand. Japanese communique, | by Tokyo, officially Hged the landings on Lid Corregidor and said h American forces were Inforced. The communi [that heavy fighting was kss at both places.) touglas MacArthur hailed Lion of Corregidor with [to those men of his who staged the historic pt Bataan three years tin struggle of Bataan in Lied the United Nations fr strength to resist the [ in the Pacific and bd the fall of Australia,” Ir said. frison in history has surLat on Bataan in more ly accomplishing its mis 8 general asserted, addio man henceforth speak tother than as of a mag rictory.” [units of the 503rd parafeiment and the 34th inegiment joined in securppper and lower parts of If, observers said the ir the fortress was just &.,panese were lodged [in the American-dug [and were harassing the i troops continuously [non and machine-gun ,t dispatch disclosed that ficse, who weathered the i pre-invasion bombardIre climbing out of their Innels to renew the con•pen terrain. than 250 Japanese were y the paratroopers and pen in the first two days kg, which brought the Os Malinta Hill together > barracks hospital and hidings atop Corregidor. Ist entrance to the famed tunnel was blocked by a ! caused by the naval Inent. But there still Be other entrances open leans for an assault on inese in the inner refantrymen were working S island, clearing the sea(here they made an amshortly t|fter [troops dropped on the brregidor. )e cleaning-out job was ITo Page 2, Column S) Q r Decatur Man i South Bend I services for L. E. Wood--1 former resident of this [died Saturday, will be held pfternoon at his home in Ind. Burial will be there. Sward was formerly a carthis city. [survived by the widow, ke hey marriage was Anna F this city, two daughters sons. The family moved pend more than 16 years ►erature reading Prat thermometer [• rn 16 I- m. 16 / [ 18 ?■ *n 27 WEATHER [and continued cold toruesday increasing cloudpnd slowly rising tomt

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCR AT

Boy Scout Banquet Here Tuesday Night The annual Boy Scout banquet will be held at the K. of P. home Tuesday evening at 6:30 o’clock. 'Members of the Rotary club, Lions club and American Legion, sponsors of the three Boy Scout troops in Decatur, will be in attendance at the banquet. The Rotary club will not meet Thureday evening, the Scout banquet replacing the regular weekly meeting. o B-29s Taking Over Assaults On Tokyo Follow Up Record Carrier Assaults BULLETIN 21st Bomber Command Hq., Guam, Feb. 19 —(UP)— The largest force of superfortresses ever assigned to the Japan run bombed Tokyo and its industrial neighborhood today in a follow-up raid to Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher’s two-day carrier strikes. Washington, Feb. 19. —(UP) —B--29 Superfortresses took over the air offensive against Tokyo .today, dropping hundreds ot tons of bombs on the capital while it still smouldered from a record-two-day carrierbased assault. The Marianas-based raid on Tokyo came simultaneously with an announcement from advance Pacific fleet headquarters that carrier planes had destroyed or damaged at least 36 Japanese ships and 659 aircraft in their raids on the Tokyo area, last Friday and Saturday. A second force of Superfortresses thundered out from bases in India today arid bombed military and communications targets on the Malay peninsula. They may have hit the big naval base at Singapore to prevent Japanese warships from going to the aid of (their homeland and American-invaded Iwo in the Volcano islands. A war department bulletin announced the Marianas-based raid merely as against “industrial targets” on the main enemy home 'island of Honshu. A Japanese communique said 100 B-29s participated, with the main strength attacking Tokyo “and its environs.” At least 10 Superfortresses were shot down the enemy communique said. Damage to Japanese installations was “slight," Tokyo added. Another Tokyo broadcast said (Turn To Page 5, Column 1) . —o-’ Red Cross Workers Named For Decatur Meeting Is Planned Here This Evening James Elbereon, city chairman for the Red Cross war fund drive, which opens March 1, today named h|s organization to conduct the campaign in Decatur. Chairmen were named for the business and residential distiicts, industry and fraternal organizations. John Halterman. Roy Mumma, Phil Sauer and Avon Burk, will head the organization for the retail business district. Felix Maier is the general chairman of the industrial group, with individual captains named in each one of the major industries in the city. Walter Lister w chairman of the fraternal group. The following were named precinct chairmen in the residential districte: Mrs. Ralph Gentis, Mrs. J R Denny, Mis. Dewey Gallogy. Mrs Herman Von Gunten, Mrs. Adrian Baker, Mrs. Richard Bogner, Mrs Elmer Darwachter, Mrs. Wesley Lehman, Mrs. Frank Bohnke, Mrs. N. A. Bixler, Mis. Orval Fisher, Mrs Harve Schroll, Mrs. Edward Deitsch, Mrs. Paul Kirsehenbauer, Mrs. Edward Warren, Mrs. Harry Essex and Miss Vilma Merriman. Clarence Zi.ier, county chairman of the war fund drive, has called a meeting of the county. t£ w , and city organizations for 7:30 this evening a't the city hall. Miss Grace Bites of Delaware, Ohio, area director, will be here to talk to the Red Cross workers and assist in plans for the campaign, which has for its goal the raising of $16,70.0 during the first two weeks «f March,

Allies Break Info Fortress Town Os Goch Scottish Riflemen And Tanks Fighting In Center Os Town Paris, Feb. 19—(UP)—Scottish riflemen and flame-throwing tanks broke into the Siegfried line fortress of Goch from tw’o sides today and fought through to the center of the town against fierce German opposition. Far to the south, the American third army advanced a half-mile or more into the German west wall defenses along a 30-mile front between Pruein and Echternach. At the southern end of their assault line. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's third army troops were completely through a seven-mile stretch of the Siegfried fortifications to a depth of two miles and threatened a further breakthrough across the Pruem river. Field dispatches said the entire chain of west wall fortresses on the third army front was rapidly turning into a death trap for their Nazi defenders under the grinding* American attack. More than half the German troops in that stretch of the Siegfried line were reported to have been killed, wounded or captured since Patton’s men launched their drive across the Sure and Our rivers three weeks ago. The Scots opened their attack latfe last night after a raking artillery bombardment that churned the streets into rubble and exposed scores of steel and concrete pillboxes hidden in the cellars of the town. One assault wave charged into the northern factory area of Goch after outflanking the town from the west, while’ a second stormed in from the southwest. Both columns were converging early today on the Niers river, which flows through the center of the town. A third Scottish force moved down from high ground only 1,000 yards northeast of Goch, threatening the Nazi garrison with encirclement. Late reports said the Germans were fighting back savagely from house to house, forcing the Scots to sear them out of their pillboxes with flame throwers or root them out at bayonet point. Other Canadian first army forces cleared a three-mile stretch of the Goch-Calcar highway to the east and drove south of the (Turn To Page 5, Column 3) o—-- —— Mabie Raudebush 1$ Taken By Death Funeral Services Wednesday Morning Funeral services for Mrs. Mabel Magner Raudebush, 57, widow of the late Oliver Raudebush. and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Magner of thiA city, will be held Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock at the-Black funeral home, with Rev. R. R. Wilson, pastor of the First United Brethren church, officiating. The body will be taken do Rome City at noon, where services will be held at 2 o clock at the First Methodist church. Interment will be in Rome City. Mrs. Raudebush died suddenly early Sunday morning of angina pectoris at the home of her son ' Harold Raudebush in Muncie, where she had gone to, recuperate from an illness. Her home has been in Rome City since 1928. • Mrs. Raudebush was born in Adams county on August 23, 1887. She was united in marriage with Oliver Raudebush on December 23, 1908, who died a few years ago. Besides her parents, who live on Winchester street, she is survived by three children, Lloyd of Lansing, Mich., Harold of Muncie and Ralph of the U. S. merchant marines, now stationed in the South Pacific. One sister, Mis. John Gage of Monroe and one brother, Harry Magner of Fort Wayne, also survive. The body may be viewed at the Black funeral home until the funeral hour.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, February 19, 1945.

Nimitz Studies Map of Japan " HHw r - i ■■ ' ■. COMMANDER IN CHIEF of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, looks over a map of the Japanese mainland in his new headquarters at Guam. When the photo was taken, a U. S. Navy task force was blasting the area about Tokyo. U. S. Navy Radiophoto.

Slash Half Million From Flood Measure State Senate Heeds Advice Os Governor Indianapolis, Feb. 19. — (UP) — The Indiana senate heeded Governor Gates’ request to proceed with j caution on appropriation bills to- | day, slashing $500,000 from a flood ! control measure and eliminating completely a $3,800,000 item for construction of a northern Indiana mental hospital. Senators passed a flood control bill appropriating $1,500,000 over a period of IQ years* for topographical map surveys. The original bill called for a $2,000,000 appropriation. A senate committee reported ’ favorably on another measure relating to the mental hospital, but with an amendment which stripped the costly appropriation clause. ' As originally written, the hospital bill created a commission to select a northern Indiana site for the institution and appropriated $3,800,000 for construction of the buildings. As amended, the commission primarily studies the need for such a hospital and selects a site if one is needed. The commission was given a $200,000 appropriation for the study. This would, in effect, delay the construction of the hospital pending a later session of the legislature. Returning after a week-end recess, the upper house dug into a heavy calendar of pressing business and passed several other bills.. The Republican legislative policy committee's codification measure was made a special order of business for his afternoon. Another senate bill passed would appropriate $500,000 for dbnstruc- i tion of a new mental clinic hospital at at the Indiana university medical center and $200,000 annually for its maintenance. The bill also provided for the creation of a state council on mental hcaltji, to supervise all public hospitals .for mental illness and to license private hospitals caring for psychiatric cases. Senators passed a senate bill recreating the state department, of labor and providing for ithe appointment of a commissioner by the governor. o — Youth Confesses To Slaying Mother Detroit, Feb. 19— (UPP-A confession by Elven Kent, 16, that he beat his mother to death with a skillet because she scolded hint * was announced today by Wayne county prosecutor Gerald K. O’Brien. The prosecutor said that he will seek a first-degree murder indict- ; ment against the youth for the slay- i ing of the mother, Mrs. Ida Kent, ♦3, a Sunday school teacher, in their Redford township home Thursday,

Fifth Army Patrols Continue Activity Rome. Felb. 19 —(UP) — Fifth army patrols continued active all along the Italian front despite mist and fog which restricted visibility, headquarters said today, while sev 4 era! sharp clashes were ieported in the eighth army sector. Clashes occurred at several points as Germans engaged American reci onnaissance parties with! small I arms, machine guns, and mortars. Enemy artillery fire was light. Q. 7,000 Are Liberated In Manila Hospital General Hospital Stormed By Yanks Manila, Feb. 19— (UP)— Seven thousand persons were liberated Saturday when American infantry units stormed the Philippines general hospital in the Ermita section of Manila and wiped out fanatical Japanese defenders. 'The liberated included 800 patients, including 12 American civilians. The others were residents of the district who had taken refuge in the hospital during the fighting. The hospital was taken at noon after two days of hard fighting, by units of the 148th infantry of the 37th dibision. commanded by Lt. Col. Herbert W. Radcliffe of KenI ton,. O. The Japanese had pillboxes at the approaches to the hospital and had fortified several buildings surrounding the main building. Tanks knocked out the pillboxes and laid down a smoke screen to cover the infantrymen when they charged the building. More than 200 Japanese were killed. E. J. Brown, formerly of Indianapolis, Ind., said the patients had been unable to sleep for the last several nights because of fighting in the southern section. The patients were told to remain in their beds Saturday night and most of them were not aware they were liberated until yesterday when ■someone shouted “victory” in the front door. The patients were transferred yesterday to hospitals and churches to the rear. o Admits Forgeries Totaling $30,000 Terre Haute. Ind., Feb. 19—(UP) —Harold Brown Routt, 43, Loogootee, a parole from the Indiaha state ■prison, was held by police today after they said he had admitted check forgeries totaling $30,000 in the past two years. Routt said that he was paroled at Michigan City Fob. 16, 1943, and eaid that he used several aliases in cashing worthless checks in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Missouri. He was arrested by City detectives.

Tiny Island 750 Miles From Tokyo Is Invaded; Report Bitter Fighting

1,600 U. S. Bombers Pound Nazi Targets London, Feb. 19 —(UP) — More than 1.600 American heavy bombers and fighters pounded a dozen railroad and industrial centers in western Germany today, including the Osnabnuck, Muenster, Rheine, and Siegen freight, yards. Upwards of 1.100 Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the U. S. Bth air force spearheaded the big raiding force, covered 'by about 500 Mustang and Thunderbolt fighters. o Relates Slaughter By Japs In Manila Bayonetted Priest Relates Slaughter (Manila, Feb. 19—(UP)—'A thricebayonetited priest, wno feigned death to escape, told from a hospital cot today how Japanese soldiers slaughtered civilians at La Salle university Feb. 12 and tried to violate wounded women in the group. The story of Father Francis Cosgrave, superior df the Redemptorist order in Manila, was one of many reported instances of .mass slayings of civilians caught in Manila noman’s land in the last 10 days. Father Cosgrave, several members of his order, and a number of prominent Spanish residents of Manila had sought refuge at the university when they suddenly were, visited by a Japanese officer and 20 soldiers. He said the soldiers wantonly began bayonetting the group. He survived despite three wounds, including one made by a bayonet plunged into the left side of his chest and out his back. More than 70 persons in the room, including several Christian Fathers. ni< ;, t a worse fate, he said. “The Japanese soldiers returned later in the afternoon. ” Father Cosgrave said. "They laughed at the sight of bodies in a heap and kicked them. They tried to violate the (Turn To Page 5, Column 2) 0 Reports On Salvage Drive In Schools First Monthly Drive Is Held Last Week Good results were reported today by Lyman L. Hann. Adams county school superintendent, from the first monthly salvage .campaign in the rural schools, which was held last Friday. These salvage drives are to be held the third Friday of each month during the school year, with the next campaign scheduled for Friday, March 16. Felix Maier, of the Maier Hide & Fur Co., reported the following salvage totals brought, in by county trucks Friday and Saturday, all of which salvage was collected by the students of the rural schools: Paper, 8.249 pounds; rags. 261 pounds; rubber. 462 pounds; iron, 320 pounds; grease, 18 pounds. No report was available on the amount of prepared tin cans collected, as these were dumped on the scrap pile at the county garage. Mr. Hann also reported today that 900 pounds of scrap were collected in three rural schools during the month of December, although no drive was held that month. Additional committees of students named in the rural schools to conduct the salvage drive, are as follows: Jefferson: High school girls, Sarah Lou Sink, chairman: Naomi Dailey and Margaret Weaver; boys, Harold Miller, chairman; Norbert Huffman and Brice Christy; third and fourth grades, Earl Johnson, Richard Stuber, Donald .(Turn To Page 2, Column 6)

Nazis Stiffen Resistance On Russian Front Red Army Advances Within Artillery Range Os Goerlitz London, Feb. 19 —(I’Pl- The Red army today pushed to within artillery range of Goerlitz. Silesian gateway to Dresden and Prague, but Moscow dispatches said German resistance was stiffening all along the eastern front. Despifee the general slowdown in the tempo of the fighting. Nazi broadcasts reported that Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's first White Russian army was rushing preparations for an imminent knockout blow against Berlin. Soviet tanks crossed the Oder river into brideheads on the west ■ bank only :|1 to 43 miles east of Berlin yesterday, the Nazis said. Another broadcast said Russian guns massed 400 to the mile along the Oder between Kuestrin, 38 miles east of Beilin, and Fuerstenberg. 43 miles southeast, where pouring a heavy barrage of shells in the German lines before the capital. RAF mosquito bombers raided Berlin last night. A Moscow broadcast said the enemy capital was stocking up dugouts and strongholds for a ■prolonged siege." Marshal Ivan S. Konev’s first j Ukrainian army drove to within artillery range of Goerlitz. main defense outpost of Dresden, after capturing Naumburg, 16 miles to the east. The advance carried to within 72 miles of Dresden. 19 miles of tile Saxony border and 84 miles northeast of Prague, capital of Czechoslovakia. To the northwest, the Red army unofficially has been reported 45 miles from Dresden. Goerlitz. second most important industrial city in Silesia, controls 15 railways and highways.. Elsewhere along the 600 mile eastern front, the Russians surrounded the Vistula river fortress of Grudziedz, virtually completed the mopup of encircled Poznan and tightened their ring around the remaining enemy pocket in East Prussia, where Gen. Ivan 1). Cherniakhovsky, youthful commander of the third White Russian army was killed in battle. Cherniakhovsky. 37 - year -old (Turn To Page .1. Column 4) »_Q Ed Ashbaucher Is Injured Saturday Car Driver Fails To Stop After Accident Ed A. Ashbaucher. former county treasurer, was struck down by an unidentified driver of an automobile at the intersection of Oak and Winchester streets at about midnight Saturday, as he was walking toward his home on Line street. Mr. Ashbaucher received a bruise on his right arm and hand. Both- of his ankles were severely bruised. He was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment and dismissed yesterday. Police are investigating the identity of the driver of the car, which had been parked along Oak street, alongside of Legion Memorial park. With the “brownout" of certain street lights, the intersection is darkened and the driver presumably did not see Mr. Ashbaucher. The police reported that the driver did not stop his car with the impact or report the accident to headquarters.

Hny War Snvinqs Bonds And Stamps

Price Four Cents.

Carrier, Land-Based Planes Pour Bombs And Shells Into Iwo As Troop Aid BULLETIN Washington. Feb. 19—(UP) —Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., commander of the third fleet, predicted today that fighting on Iwo Jima would be “very tough.” He doubted, however, that the Japanese I fleet would come out to inter- | sere. The hard-boiled admiral came here for conferences after leading his force on a three-month series of engagements in Japanese-controlled waters. Admiral Nimitz's Headquarters. Guam, Feb. 19 —(UP)—Two divisions of U S. marines — 39,000 men —stormed Iwo island from an SOO-ship armada today and within the first two hours of bitter lighting had established a 4,500yard long beachhead, extending inland 500 yards to the edge of Suribachi Yflnia airfield. Casualties are moderate and the operation is proceeding satis- . factorily. fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said in his fourth communique of the day. Resistance from the trapped enemy forces was increasing as the veteran marines pushed inland on the tiny eight-square-mile island 750 miles from Tokyo, the communique said. ■ A pooled dispatch from the in--1 vasion flagship said hidden Japanese artillery and mortars went pouring a deadly crossfire in the attacking marines and that American casualties were “considerI able." The dispatch said, however, that the marines slowly were rooting out the concealed enemy gunners and that the overall progress of the invasion was satisfactory. “Our men are scattered all over hell’s acre out there,''Marine Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith said. "They're after those hidden Jap guns which are mighty hard to locate. Most of those guns are in caves. They came out and fire five or six rounds and then go back into biding. ' Two hours after the initial landing, the marine veterans had pushed inland an average of 500 yards. The defenses of Suribachi Yania airstrip were penetrated east of the field, the communique added. The marine beachhead extended northward along the southeastern coast from the 546-foot high volcano that forms the southern tip of the island. Radio Tokyq conceded that the Americans had won the southern tip of the island. Radio Tokyo conceded that the Americans had won footholds on the southwest, south and east coasts. Swarms of carrier and landbased planes and the 14 and 16inch guns << battleships wore pouring thousands of bombs and shells into the eight-square-mile island in support of the invasion troops, but the i neniy garrison was pulling up a defense reminiscent of Tarawa and Peleliu. “There is a whale of a scrap going on back there at Iwo." said a radio correspondent who flew over the embattled island as the invasion got under way. The invasion —an amphibious jump half way from American bases in the Marianas to Japan —was announced in the second of two jubilant “On to Tokyo" communiques issued only an hour apart by Admiral Chester \V. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific fleet. The first communique had proclaimed an “historic and decisive” victory in the precedent-shatter-ing carrier assault on Tokyo itself last “Friday and Saturday. Plames from task force 58. the world's greatest concentration of aircraft carriers, destroyed or damaged at least 36 ships and 65J) enemy planes in the two-day strike at the invasion jittery Jap(Turn To Pag« 5, Column 4)