Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 54, Decatur, Adams County, 5 March 1945 — Page 1

lIXLIIL No. 54.

YANKEES BREAK INTO CITY OF COLOGNE

ley Pomeranian Lil Hob Taken L Red Forces ■Thousands Os Nazi ■Troops Trapped In ■ Baltic Coast Area ■ bulletin 9 London, March 5 — (UP) — Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov ■lasted open the way to Germany's greatest Baltic port of ■tettin today when his shock- ■ rM ps captured by storm the ■crania rail town of Star■uard. 20 miles to the south■ast. Mar. 5 -(UP)—Berlin ■ortert today that Russian ■e forces hail captured Star■d. key Pomeranian rail hub 20 ■es southeast of Stettin, open- ■ the way to that big Baltic ■ which already was within ■tiet artillery range. ■n-.e Nazis also said the Rus■ns opened a new attack on a ■ P scale near the lower Vistual ■er in the area of Grosswollen- ■;, 40 miles south of Danzig ■y. and in the first few hours ■tiered a few penetrations." ■hp Red army's biggest push ■ . its sweep to the approaches ;■ Berlin was grinding up the ■pnses of Pomerania and the ■er Oder valley. The right ■k nt the army poised before ■in was being secured rapidly, ■me sources predicted an early ■ntal onslaught against the ■i capital. ■Nazi broadcasts acknowledged ■ loss of Stargard, biggest an■or hase in the lower Oder de■ses on the road to Stettin, ■rrard fell after violent street ■ting, the enemy radio report- ■ North of Stargard, the Nazis ■id, Soviet mobile forces scored ■rthpr gains in the direction of Maugard, 22 miles northeast of ■ttin and 28 miles from the ■tic. ■ Thus il appeared that Marshal ■gory K. Zhukov’s right wing ■ drawing in line on a broad ■nt east of Stettin for a push ■gainst the Oder estuary. Even ■thout a river crossing, strong ■nssian forces on the lower Oder ■«ld neutralist Stettin with ■infire across the stream. ■Even while Stargard was being ■ormed. other units of Zhukov’s ■st White Russian army swept ■ beyond it to within a dozen ■« southeast of Stettin. Big ■* were being wheeled up to ■ n on th great Baltic port ■Meh is the turntable of all of ■din's defenses on the northern ■ack. ■ Spearheads of two Russian ■>ies already had been planted B* the Baltic, chopping Pomer■ia into pockets for piecemeal ■sposal and trapping many thou■<is of German troops in the ■Mstal area to the northeast. B‘he communist party newspa■r Pravda reported in Moscow nine-tenths of East Prussia ■ “a® cleared. All along the" ' ■” 1 c coas t German resistance I (Turn To Pae» g, Ce|. U mn 4) I " — 0 |hree Graduate As Purses Next Month |^ r “e Adams county student L'. M w * n ,b e graduated from the hospital ec.hool of nurs- ** * las een ann o»need. he . j for she memlbere of graduating class will be held ardt/ P n m ' ' April 9at the Con’colleße .concert hall. Baccaj.,' ~B ervi<* e W ‘H be held at «a»ran P >. ri ' Bat tbe Bethlehem The i , oburcb in Fort Wayne. «11 rad™ MUnt ? numes who ( Decat, e are Elinor Heckman M ‘Marv r * and Jeanette Amstutz terne A ” n Ha,hei S«er. both of reaoing emocrat thermometer Noon - 4® Rat. * EAT H£R **W flurri'“ ht ’ eh,n » in » te , and beoomift ’ toy. flht ant * Tue»ltt( tonl o k? te,y rtron fl wind* 9ht •"<» Tueaday.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Red Cross War Fund Over SI,OOO Mark 'The -Red Cross war fund clim'bed to $1975.20 over the week-end, Mm, Ruth Hollingsworth, secretary of the home service office, reported today. The previous total was $697.70. iThe solicitors are canvassing their territory this week, (with the hope of winding up the campaign iby (March 15. Several of the section leaders in the rural area have already completed their house-to-house canvass. 0 10 Superforts Follow Up Big Raid On Tokyo Destructive Raid Made On Japanese Capital On Sunday Washington, Mar. S.—(UP) —Ten Superforteresses bombed Tokyo today, Japanese broadcasts said, in a follow-up to yesterday's destructive raid by nearly 200 B-295. The giant raiders thundered across the coast of Honshu, Japan’s main home island, near Hamamatsu one at a time and dropped demolition and Are bombs on the capital between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. (Tokyo time), radio Tokyo said. “There was practicaly no damage," the broadcast recorded by the FCC, said. (A London broadcast heard by CBS reported that. American “Flying Fortresses" were over Tokyo again this morning. This was believed an error, however, since Superfortresses are the only landbased plants so far to attack the capital. Tokyo also reported that a single B-29 flew over southern Kyushu, south of Honshu, about 11 o'clock last night. It dropped its bombs in the sea and fled, Tokyo said. The nearly 200 B-29s which blast(Turn To Page 2. Column 4) O 11 Crewmen Die As Flying Fort Crashes Alexandria. La., Mar. 5. —(UP) — All 11 members of the crew of a Flying Fortress from the Alexandria army air field were killed Saturday night when their plane crashed and burned approximately 14 miles southwest of WinSfield, La., it was announced today by Col. Quentin T. Quick, commanding officer. The plane was on a combat training flight when it crashed in a wooded area about 8 p. m. and was demolished. The victims include: Sgt. Harold D. Bush. 23, radio operator, son of Mrs. Esha E. Bush, rural route four, Salem, Ind. o Lehrman Funeral On Tuesday Afternoon • — Union Township Man is Taken By Death Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon for Godfrey Lehrman, 79, retired Union township farmer, who died Saturday evening at his' home seven and one-half miles northeast of Decatur after a 10-days’ illness of heart disease. Services will be held at 1:30 p. m. Tuesday at the home and at 2 o’clock at the Emanuel Lutheran church, with Rev. E. B. Allwardt officiating. Burial will be in, the church cemetery. The body was removed from the Zwick funeral home to the residence this morning. He was born in Switzerland July 28, 1865, the son of Ferdinand and Verena Ehrman-Lehr-man, but had spent most of his life in Adams county. His wife, formerly Anna Schamerloh, died March 12. 1939. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Edwin Bauer, of Decatur: a son, Oscar, of Union township: one sister, Mrs. Sophia Schamerloh, of Allen county; four brothers, Henry of Union township: Albert, Charles and Herman, all of Decatur; and five grandchildren. One daughter and two brothers preceded him in death.

First Plane Lands On Two Jima Air Strip r"" ■ " * ” ' . ■ r r * ’ >I v • • ■ 1 ssafSa*- k * T ; k F-v. .... < <- A ’ 'v«z THIS TINY MARINE CORPS PLANE was the first Yank plane to land on the Motoyama airfield No. 1 on Iwo Jima, where bloody fighting still is going on. Official marine corps photo.

Gov. Gales Speaks To Stale Assembly State Legislature Will Close Tonight Indianapolis, Mar. S—(VP5 —(VP) — Gov. Ralph F. Gates said today that the 1945 Indiana general assembly, in the first two months of his Republican administration, had fulfilled his “personal pledges to the people of this state." Addressing a joint session of the legislature, Gates thanked Hoosier lawmakers of both parties for carrying out a major, 11point program which, he said, “is certain to leave a firm and lasting imprint upon the lives and welfare of our citizens for many years to come.” Gates appeared before the legislators on the last day of the 61-day session, in which the Republicans took complete control for the first time since 1932 of the Indiana state government from the Democrats. ■ “Lacking in only a few details, which can be clarified without great effort in the remaining hours of the session, the legislation I have outlined is complete and soon will become the law of the state," Gates said. “The legislation means fulfillment of the majority party platform fledges to the people," the governor said. The governor concluded his address by inviting the senators and representatives to his capitol offices at 5 p. in. “for an hour's relaxation.” Legislators then returned to the windup of the 1945 assembly session, facing the longest day of business in the past two months. Hoosier legislative history was made before adjournment late Saturday, and odds and ends business was all that remained for the last day. Notwithstanding completion of (Turn To Page 2. Column 3) o Pound German Oil Transport Centers 1,000 U. S. Planes Smash At Germany London. Mar. S—(UP5 —(UP) —A 1.000plane fleet of American bombers and fighters dealt a double blow today at German transport and oil in attacks on refineries at Harburg near Hamburg and rail yards at Chemnitz, battered Saxony stronghold lying before the Red army. Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle’s flying fortresses and liberators rounded out three weeks of daily attacks on Germany. More than 400 heavy bombers and 600 fighters were thrown into the two-pronged attacks on northwest and southeast Germany. The heavy escort of mustangs and thunderbolts was sent along as a precaution against German fighter opposition, which has flared violently at times recently. The big rail yards at Chemnitz, (Turn To rage 2, Column i)

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, March 5,1945.

Churches Ask Return Os Present Pastors iMehodist churches at Monroe and the Pleasant Mills Salem charge, meeting in fourth quarterly conferences Sunday, asked for return of the present pastors for another year. Rev. E. O. Kegerreis is pastor • at Monroe and Rev. Seth Painter ' is pastor of the Pleasant Mills-Sa-I lem charge. Both have served two • years in their present charges. An- > nouncement of the requests was - made Dy Dr. W. W. Robinson, superintendent of the Fort Wayne [ Methodist district. [ o Vinson Nominated Loan Administrator Stabilization Head To Succeed Jones Washington, Mar. 5 — (UP) — President Roosivelt today nominated economic stabilization director Fred M. Vinson to be federal loan administrator. The former Kentucky congressman and federal judge thus will get the other half of the job left vacant when Mr. Roosevelt summarily fired Jesse H. Jones as secretary of commerce. Before confirming former vice president Henry A. Wallace for the cabinet post, congress passed legislation divorcing the multi-billion loan agency from the commerce department. White house secretary Jonathan Daniels said the president had decided on Vinson’s successor in the office of economic stabilization. He said that would (Turn To Page 2, Column 6)

Sgrf. Bud Metzger Is Killed In Action With Army In Germany

iSgt. (Edward J. ('Bud) Metzger, 23, son of 'Mrs. Marie Anderson, 317 North Ninth street, was killed in action in Germany on Feb. 21, In General Patton’s drive to the (Rhine, the (war department has notified the mother. iSg*t. Metzger served with the mechanized cavalry. He was atteached to the lOtst company of the 38th armored tank division. Third army, which in the past three weeks has (blazed its way across Belgium and part oif Germany to the Rhine ri.ver. Entering the army on April 4, 1342, took (baste training at Fort Benning, Ga., Fort Knox, Ky.. Camp Attenbury and for a time was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Accompanying picture was taken at Fort Riley when he was being trained for the cavalry later switching to the mechanized and armored outfits. H» went overseas last 'August, landing in France and moved northeastward (with the Third army. ISgt. 'Metzger attended the Decatur 'Catholic school and was employed at the General Electric plant prior to joining the armed ■forces. IHe was born in Decatur, July 08, 19112. (Besides his mother, he Is surviv-

Pelilion Surfacing Os County Highway Petition Is Filed With Commissioners A petition for hard surfaced treatment of county road No. 31 in Root township, beginning at the Dent school house and extending north for five miles to the Adams county line, was filed witll the county commissioners today by Chalmer C. Schafer and 24 other farm owners along the route. The road leads to Shroyer lake, north of Decatur. The petitioners asked that it be improved with hard surfaced material. thus eliminating dust from the road in the summer time. The commissioners signed the contract with the state livestock sanitary board, providing for the tuberculosis eradication tests of cattle in the county during the coming. summer. The county has appropriated S7OO for the TB tests of a percentage of the daii4 herds in the county, the federal government defraying the balance ot the expenses. Adams county's listing as a modified accredited TB free area expires August 1. The ?2,000 bond of Ernest J. Stengel as justice of the peace in Monroe township was filed with the board and approved. The commissioners have received another inspection report from Fred R. Farnum, state inspector of county institutions, covering the couny infirmary. Mr. Farnum recommends that the kitchen floor of brick be covered with a smooth, fireproof material. He also recommends that a soundproof ceiling be placed in (Turn To Pagie 4, Column 6)

• Itsi 11 ® ed by three 'brothers, Sgt. John Anderson of the army air corps, stationed in Italy; Pfc. Robert Anderson stationed in France, and Thomas, at home. An aunt, Mrs. William Kruse of Decatur route two, also survives.

American Tank Columns Break Into Steeets Os Big Rhineland Fortress

Revenue Collector Lists Office Hours Jewell Rule, deputy internal revenue collector, today announced that he will be in his office on second ifloor of the court house from B’3o a. m. until 4:30 p. m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays, to assist taxpayers in filing federal returns. The final date for filig returns and making payments is Thursday March 16. 'No charge is made to taxpayers for this service. o— —_ Pincers Clamped On Japs In North Luzon Squeeze On Japanese Paced By Guerillas Manila, Mar. 5. —(UP)—American troops and Filipino guerillas clamped a huge pincers on Japanese forces in northern Luzon today and seized bases within 225 miles of Formosa. ' The squeeze on the Japanese in the northern mountains was paced by American-led guerilla, forces who cleared the 2,000-square mile Ilicos Norte province in the northwestern center of Luzon. Thousands of Japanese were killed by the guerillas as they drove the last of the invaders from the province, commanding the South China Sea, the China coast and the enemy's Formosa stronghold. The guerillas, armed with modern weapons and aided by U. S. planes, were led by Col. R. W. Volckman, South Clinton, la. He was a member of Gen. Douglas McArthur's forces before the war and went over to the guerillas after the fall of Bataan. “In 'this irregular type of fighting which the enemy has been unable to fathom he sustained extraordinary heavy losses running into the thousands," MacArthur said. “Our own were minor." By clearing Ilicos Norte, which is 68 miles long and 28 miles wide, the guerrillas were only 44 miles (Turn To Page 5. Column 2) O Coal Conservation Appeal Is Issued Nation's Stockpile Os Coal Dwindling Washington, March 5 —(UP)— The government, concerned at the possibility df a 'crippling coal strike, warned today that the nation’s soft coal stockpile is dwindling and appealed for greater conservation by all users. The gloomy report was issued by fuel administrator Harold L. Ickes as the United Aline workers and No Coal Washington, March S—(UP)5 —(UP) ‘The soft coal wage negotiating committee was delayed in starting its session today because the meeting room was too cold. 'Fra n k! Ref fe rly, Den veri Colo., a United Mine Workers represenative on the committee, paced in the lobby of the conference hotel to 'get warm. He said a complaint had been made to the management and the committee was I old; “No coal.” bituminous operators began closed door discussions for a new wage icontract to replace the one expiring 'March 31. The outcome will determine whether peace or strife is in store for the soft coal fields. •Ickes said soft coal stockpiles on Feb. 1 ere about 47,740,000 tons, a 26 day supply. This compared with 7,204,000 tons or about a 32 day supply on Jan. 1. Severe weather and heavy industrial needs pushed January consumption up to (Turn To Paga 5, Column 3).

Four-Fifths Os Iwo Seized By U. S. Marines Remainder Os Jap Garrison Reported Fighting To Death Guam, Mar. 5— (UP)—U. S. marines completed the capture of four-fifths of Iwo today as the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war went into its third week on a raising note of fury. More than 15.000 of the original enemy garrison of 20,000 troops already have been knocked out, but the remainder were fighting to the death for the shrinking strip of the north and east coasts still in their hands. Stiffened enemy resistance reduced marine gains to five to 100 yards yesterday. Hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets, grenades and even knives swirled through clouds of sulpurous steam rising from crevices in the volcanic terrain as the battle entered its final stage. The Japanese appeared to have chose to fight from cave to cave, and pillbox ,to pillbox until they finally have been thrown over the high cliffs of northern Iwo into the Pacific. But a last “banzai" suicide charge such as has marked the collapse of organized resistance on other islands still is a possibility. Even as marine continued their yard-by-yard advance to the north, Seabees repaired captured Motoyama airfield No. 1 in southern Iwo —first of three captured airfields—sufficiently for hospital planes to land and evacuate the wounded. A Superfortress made an emergency landing for refueling on the airstrip yesterday after bombing Tokyo and took off four hours later. Eventually, Iwo’s airfields will be used regularly for refuelling the B-29s and as a base for escorting fighters. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific fleet, announced in a communique that 12,846 Japanese dead had been counted by 6 p. m. Saturday, an increase of more than 5.700 over the toll announced only 24 hours earlier. Hundreds, perhaps thousands more, enemy dead were believed behind the Japanese lines. Eighty-one prisoners had been taken by 6 p. ra. Saturday, comprising 45 Koreans and 36 Japanese, Nimitz said. o ___ Yalta Agreement On Voting Is Announced 'Big Five' Has Veto Power Over Actions Washington, Mar. 5. — (UP) —The Yalta agreement on voting power in the international security organization would permit any one of the “big five" permanent members to veto any direct action proposed to enforce peace, it was announced today. However, any nation —big or lit-tle-involved in a dispute W’ould be barred from taking part in council deliberations on such preliminary steps as whether to brand a country as an aggressor or whether further investigations should be conducted into an internat’onal dispute. President Roosevelt said at the conclusion of the big three Crimea meeting that the agreement represented a compromise between the Anglo-American and Russian views on voting procedure as expressed last year at Dunbarton Oaks. At. that time, the United States and Great Britain did not want any one nation to have veto power over any proposed action. Russia wanted any one of the big five perman(Turn To Page 2, Column 6),

Price Four Cents.

Infantry Divisions Also Storming Into City; Bridges Are Blown Up By Nazis Paris, Mar. 5 — (UP) — Two American tank columns broke into the streets of Cologne from the north today and front dispatches said they were driving unopposed toward the center of the great Rhineland fortress. Vanguards of the IT. S. first army's third armored division rumbled through the northern section of Germany's fourth largest city shortly after daybreak ■ this morning after an advance of more than two miles along the west bank of the Rhine. At the same time, two American infantry divisions stormed in from the west and southwest and at last reports were at or across rhe city limits. First accounts of the storming of Cologne were somewhat confused. But it appeared that the Nazis had withdrawn the bulk of their garrison across the Rhine and were fighting a delaying ac- < tion at most. United Press war correspondent C. R. Cunningham, riding witlt the third armored division, said there was no opposition in the first sweep into the city streets. The Germans, he said, have pulled most of their troops back to the east bank of the river in barges. "We are within the city limits ' and thus far there is no resistance," Cunningham reported in a dispatch filed at 9 a. m. (3 a. nt. CWT.) Other dispatches from U. S. first army headquarters, appar- ' ently well behind Cttnningham-s account, told of furious opposition encountered by the American 104th and eighth infantry divisions on the western edge ot Cologne. There (he Germans still were putting up fanatical opposition shortly before the third armored breakthrough on (heir northern flank. Massed field guns and selfpropelled artillery were pouring salvo after salvo into the city at point-blank range to blast a path for the charging doughboys, the headquarters account said. Smoke and flame was reported blanketing the entire city, but there was no immediate word on the fate of the famous Cologna cathedral. The sudden break-through into Cologne came as American ninth army forces to the north crashed through Homberg to the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. The Americans fought their way to the western end of both the road and railway bridges linking Homberg to the Ruhr valley arsenal of Duisburg. German demolition squads blew up both bridges in the faces of the attacking doughboys to prevent a. crossing, abandoning thousands of Nazi troops on the west bank of the Rhino. Only the Wesel bridge remained standing north of Duisburg, for the evacuation of the German rear guards facing the Canadian first army. The Cologne bridges were believed to have been (Turn Tn Paco 2. Column 3) O — i—Peterson Officially Listed As Prisoner Opl. Ralph 'C. Peterson, son ot •Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peterson, 521 Penn street and huslband of IMrs. 'Lucinda Borne Peterson of 14,20 iSouth Anthony Blvd., Fort 'Wayne, is officially listed as a prisoner oif war in Germany, the war department notified his wife yesterday. ICpl. Peterson ;was taken a prisoner by the Germans in Germany on December 17. He was first listed as missing in action and 10 days ago hie wife received a letter from Captain Leuty. commanding officer of Cpl. iPeterson-’s company, in which he informed 'Mrs. Peterson that her husband was a prisoner. The war department) confirmed that he was a prisoner ot war.