Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 60, Decatur, Adams County, 12 March 1945 — Page 1

I® DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT U\ 1 ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY '> II

[xuil. No. 60.

MERICANS DRIVE DEEPER

j American >rial Armada pports Reds Inofficial Soviet Reports Indicate Ireak -Through Near ndon, Mar. 12- (UP) —A ig force of American bombattacked the Baltic coast toin direct support of the Red . and unofficial Moscow res' said a decisive breakugh before Berlin was exed soon. iout 650 U. S. heavy bombers ipe d a great weight of explos on military and naval tarou the Baltic coast, Nazi leasts said the raiders were . the stettin-Swinemuende i at the mouth of the Oder, re Soviet forces were trying crumple the north wing of [in's defenses. the Americans hit the Stettintiemuende sector, their bombs in plain view of Russian ps storming the Oder fortifions. The first official anncement did not name the ic objectives. oviet dispatches said Marshal gory K. Zhukov's army was ming the Oder estuary north south of Stettin, and a great le for river crossings was in swing. he German high command said « Russian armies were hamtag the Nazi bridgehead »ss the Oder from Stettin, liter-blows knocked out 28 let tanks, it added. Nazi communique said Zhu's first White Russian army tinned relentless attacks in Oder vallew before Berlin, ere a Soviet bridgehead earlier ehed within 26 miles of the ital. 'nited Press correspondent nry Shapiro reported from scow that the Soviet news tkout on the Berlin front conred, “pending a decisive breakough which is expected in the r future." Ie defined the blacked-out nt as extending from the area Kuestrin. 38 miles east of Berto Goerlitz. on the Neisse er 100 miles south of Kuestrin, southeast of Berlin, and 54 tof Dresden. This suggested it the -whole defense system t and southeast of Berlin was 'at to fall apart. file German broadcasts sugited that the American planes re attacking Stettin and Swineende, 35 miles to the north at ! Baltic entrance to Stettin Che raids came as Soviet front spatches were reporting that ,Red army had driven within tof Sjtettin after breaking rough the city's last belt of (Turn To Page 2, Column 1) ■ 0 ■ wo Posthumous Sons Bom To Widows Os World War Victims sons were born to mothers at the Adams county •honal hospital Sunday, both ' (athers having lost their . „ the service of their coun- " werseas. pJnt *' as born t 0 Mrs. Justine Mler«e imer of cRy eimer ° the late Lt- Jerome eimw nf°n Ot Mr ' and Mrs - Fred l 8 kilka Decaiur route flve - w ho w. 4 act ‘ on in France on aa ! leadin K his company An eitrht* 1 aKainst the enemy. Mrs D X Und boy was born Uen. wu Autnann-Stoppen-MtooM hUßband ' s *- Nordic £ agen ’ died of lym ’ “‘Dec! is*®* 8 in Belgium on ,|Wr ted Ot gettinJ 1 ' 1 B ° ns are babies h“ S al °“ B nicely ' •®ed. bdVe not yet been s XcrIt TURE read, NG 8:oo , * T THER MOMETER K>:00 m - -44 Noon ' —- 44 ’ m ' M ClMe * EATh ER ! "’*hWnhX. Oler W “ h fPeer

10th Oak Leaf Cluster Awarded Sgt. Everett For skillful and courageous performance of duties as pilot on bombing missions ov»“- Germany, Staff Sgt. Richard C. Everett, 20-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Everett of Pleasant IMills, has been awarded the 10th oak leaf cluster to the air medal Sgt Everett Is now home on furlough after participating in 62 missions over Germany and enemyheld territory. Just prior to returning to the United States he took part in the Ibomibing mission in which B-20 (Marauders bombed the one remaining escape route for encircled Nazis at Dasiburg, Germany, resulting in the tie-up of 1,500 vehicles, leaving them easy prey for American bombers. o Yank Troops Drive Inland On Mindanao Second Largest Os Philippine Islands Manila, (March 12—(UP)—U. S. invasion forces neared the heart of Zamboanga on the southwestern tip of IMandanao today after quickly seizing four villages and two airfriends on the island second largest of the Phillippines. Battle-seasoned units of Maj. Gen. Jens A. Doe’s 41st division of the eighth army landed on Mindanao's coral -studded beaches Saturday morning against light opposition. . . A cluster of four villages and and two airstrips, west of ZamBoanga’s administrative center, were rapidly overrun and Gen. Douglas (MacArthur announced that American reconnaissance planes were operating from the island. (A Tokyo broadcast, recorded by FCC, Saij, American forces also had landed Thursday on Basilan island across the 10-mile Basilan strait from Zamboanga. Tokyo claimed that the troops which stormed Mindanao were accompanied 'by tanks.) The landing on Mandanao, 21st Philippines island invaded by American amphibious forces, sealed the entire western side of the 800mile long (Philippines archipelago. It also brought McArthur’s forces within 180 miles of oil-rich Borneo. A heavy air and naval bombardment from heavy and light cruisers preceded the landing from Bas(Turn To Page 2, Column 7) —O — Julius Heideman Is Taken By Death Funeral Services Thursday Morning (Julius Heideman. 82. prominent retired farmer and a descendant of one of the first families to settle in Washington twonship, died early this morning at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Langenhorst, in Toledo, Ohio, of complications and infirmities. Following the death of his brother, Henry Heldemian. last May, the Heideman farm west ol Decatur was sold and Mr. Heideman and his sister, Mrs. (Lucy Colchin, moved to Toledo to make their home with the latter's daughter, and family. Mr. Heideman suffered an infection in his foot, which later necessitated the amputation of his leg. iMr. Heideman was a son of Gerhart and Elizabeth Kohne Heideman, who settled here shortly atter the county was founded in 1836. He was born on May 8,1862. He is survived ( by his slater and several nephews and nieces. IMr. Heideman was a member of St. Mary’s church, the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name society. The body will (be brought to Decatur tomorrow and taken to the Gillig and Doan funeral home, where friends may call during the evening and up to the funeral hour. Funeral services will be held Thursday morning at 9 o’clock at St. Mary’s ’church, Rev. J. J- Sei' mete officiating. Interment will be in the Catholic cemetery. Meimibers of the Holy Name eociety Are requested to meet at the funeral home to recite the rosary at 8 o'clock Wednesday evenfg.

Crushing Last. Jap Defenders Os Iwo Island Complete Conquest Near, Jap Defenders Are Driven Into Sea Guam, March 12. —(UP) — Complete conquest of Iwo appeared at hand today. Weary marines were driving the last Japanese defenders into the sea in a final battle along the north coast. (IA Japanese broadcast reported by the FCC said Japanese troops on Iwo had lost most of their heavy arms and were fighting with small arms, hand grenades, ewords and bayonets. It said the Iwo battle was “growing in ferocity daily.” Pacific fleet headquarters was expected to announce the collapse of organized resistance momentarily as the bldodiest campaign of the Pacific war entered its fourth week on Japan’s front doorstep. A communique this morning said the fifth division had whittled down the enemy’s! last sizeable pocket to half a square mile along the north coast by 6 p. m. yesterday in heavy fighting. The marines were making slow ibut steady progress with support of heavy artillery and the big guns of warships offshore. The Third and Fourth divisions crashed through the last Japanese lines in eastern Iwo over the weekend and captured most of the rockledged east coast, the communique said. One small enemy pocket was by-passed for later annihilation. The advance along the north coast was a slow and tedious business. The last few' thousand Japanese survivors of a garrison originally totalling 20,000 crack troops were fighting to the death from pillboxes, blockhouses and caves. (The Toklo Domei agency said the Japanese commander oh Iwo had telegraphed the Japanese house of representatives that the situation on the island was “(becoming more and more grim and sanguinary,” but added the garrison was “pledged to crush the enemy.” Army fighters bomber Chichi airfield and hartbor installations and strafed targets on Haha in the Bonin islands, just north of Iwo. Army Liberators also bomllred Chichi airfield. o Geneva Pastor Joins U. S. Army Chaplains Rev. R. (S. Miller, pastor of the Geneva United Brethren church, will leave next Sunday for Fort Devens, Mass., for training as a chaplain in the U. S. army. He has been commissioned a first lieutenant. During his absence, Mrs. Miller will serve as pastor of the church. She is an ordained minister. High Court Refuses Ward Case Review Court Os Appeals Must Review Case Washington, March 12—<(1UP)— The supreme court today refused to make an immediate review of lower court decision holding that president Roosevelt was without authority to order army seizure of Montgomery Ward & Co.s plants and facilities. The action meant that the case will have to be heard in regular procedure 'by the circuit court of appeals, before being taken to the supreme court. The justice department asked for immediate review (by the supreme court, stressing the case's interestto the 'war effort. Montgomery Ward joined in the request for a quick review over the legality of the seizure. The government argued that the lower court’s ruling threatened to impair its ability to handle “Future emergencies” growing out of work stoppages. (Montgomery Ward said that it felt that the decision handed down by federal district judge Philip L. Sullivan in Chicago in January (Turn To Page 2, Column 6>

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, March 12, 1945.

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AS AMERICAN FORCES continue to pour across the Rhine, Nazi units west of the river fought to break the trap sprung on them when U. S. Ist and 3rd Army troops effected a junction at Brohl (1). Meanwhile, on the east bank of the Rhine, Lt. Gen. Hodge's forces fanned out from Remagen (2) along a front reported to be 5 miles deep and 10 miles wide. Other Ist Army units completed capture of Bonn (3).

Memorial Mass Held For Sgt. Metzger A solemn requiem high mass in memory of Tech. Sgt. Edward J. Metzger, who was killed in action with the Tenth Armored division in Germany on Feb. 20, was celebrated this morning at St, Mary’s Catholic church. Rev. Joseph J. Seimetz, pastor, wgs celebrant; Rev. Joseph Hennes, pastor of St. Rose’s church, Monroeville, deacon and Rev. Robert Hoevel, assistant to Father Seimetz, sub-deacon. Sgt. Metzger was the son of Mrs. Marie Anderson of this city. Packed Auditorium Greets G. E. Choir Initial Appearance Is Made Here Sunday An attentive and appreciative audience that filled the newly redecorated Catholic high school auditorium Sunday afternoon listened to two hours of splendid song and music, presented by the Aeolian choir of the General Electric cluib, under the directorship of David Embler, conductor. Every one of the reserved seats was occupied and an overflow crowd was accomodated in the balcony. The choir of 60 some voices, grouped in a 20-voice men’s glee cluib, '36-girl’s ensemble, two trios, three soloists, and an octet gave a delightful program of hymns, old favorites and popular songs. (Selections were given by the mixed choir and separate numbers by the men’s and girl's choir, the octet and two girl's trios. Piano duets were given by Mrs. Rebecca Stucky and Mrs. 'Evangeline Embler. Mrs. Edgar Geriber is pianist for the Choir. Announcements were made by Joseph Gloibig, assistant superintendent of the G. E. plant, who introduced H. H. High, chairman o& the Red .Cross blood donor cominit(Turn To Page 2, Column 6) O Sgt. Stotksdale And Brother-In-Law Meet Tech. Sgt. Ezra D. whose wife, Mrs. Telma Nelson Stocksdale, resides at 828 North Second street, recently met his brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hough of Muncie in England, where ithe former was recovering from wounds received last fall near Tirer, France. Sgt. Stocksdale formerly operated the Rhodes grocery in this city. He entered the army as a private. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stocksdale of Union City, route one. At the time he was wounded he was in charge of a platoon of 50 men. A mortar fragment struck him in the bip. He landed in Franc® last July and has been awarded the infantryman’s combat badge and the Purple Heart for wounds received in. action.

Cut Down Excessive Shipments Overseas Agency Established ‘ To Program Exports Washington, March 12. —(UP)— The administration begins today to apply tight controls to some big hearted offcials who had forgotten that Americans must eat, too. That is the simplest explanation of the order announced last night by >war mobilization director James F. Byrnes. Hs order will coordinate shipment of all food and goods —other than ifor military purposes —to foreign countries. It covers everything but was issued to meet a serious over-draft on our food supply. The order, also, is to conserve the American economy for such reconversion of industry as may be possible after Germany quits. Byrnes set up a committee headed by Leo T. Crowley, foreign economic administrator, with powers to impose limits on gifts or sale of food or other materal to' liberated and. other hungry millions throughout the world. The committee will not have authority to interfere with military requisitions. But jhe committee will be advised fully and at all times of what the army and navy require and where they want it sent. 'Byrnes ordered establishment of (Turn To Page 2, Column 3) 0 Ohio Flood Waters Receding Rapidly Great Damage Done To War Production By United Press Flood waters of the Ohio river receded rapidly today and the river was expected to return to its banks within the next four days, ending its worst rampage in eight years. Showers fell throughout some sections of the Ohio valley during last night, but flood officials said the rain was not sufficient to halt the recession of the waters which impeded war production during the past week and caused an estimated $4,750,000 damage. Damage amounting to $2,000,000 was reported at Louisville, New Albany and Jeffersonville, Ind., and $1,000,000 at Cincinnati. Covington, Ky., across the river from Cincinnati, suffered damage estimated at $1,750,000, but downstream damage was comparatively light. Untold damage was caused to war production along the river valley where mines and factories were forced to close by the rising waters. The magazine “Steel” estimated that steel production last week was cut 30% percent at Wheeling and 15 percent at Cincinnati as a result of tbe flood. t Crest of the flood -was at Evansville, Ind., where the river reached (Turn To Pago 5. Column 3).

INTO GERMANY

Two More Crossings Os Rhine River Reported; Nazi Pocket Wiped Out

Speculate Germans May Use Poison Gas Hitler Threatens New Blood Purge London, Mar. 12 — (UP) —Desperate new Nazi measures to avert Germany’s defeat were expected today in the wake of fight talks by Adolf Hitler and propaganda minister Paul Joseph Goebbels. The speeches, broadcast by Berlin radio, pointed to a swift purge of German defeatists and the further scrapping of the rules of war at the front, possibly including the use of poison gas. Hitler himself hinted at the new blood purge. In a proclamation to the German army commemorating the 10th anniversary of conscription in Germany, he called upon all Germans to “do with dogged determination everything we can ... to bring about the turn of the tide.” “We must be no less fanatical in annihilating all those who are trying to oppose this command,” he said. “We are already witnessing today in large areas of the east and in many parts of the west what our whole people might have to go through. “It is quite clear to everybody what we have to do —namely, to offer resistance and to hit our enemies until in the end they grow tired and break up . . . There will be no repetition of 1918. “Even if fate seems now to conspire against us, there can be no doubt that our fanaticism, steadfastness and determination will overcome all these setbacks as it has so often done in the past,” The Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that travelers from Berlin said Hitler had set up headquarters near (Turn To Page 2. Column 3) 0 / Reject Petition To Call Off Strike Vote Coal Owners' Plea Denied By Agencies Washington, Mar. 12 —(UP) — Three government labor agencies today jointly rejected a petition by the southern coal producers association to dismiss the United Mine Workers’ request for a Strike ballot on March 28. The decision was made by the labor department, the national labor relations board and the war labor board. The notification was mailed today to Edward R Burke, president of the southern producers. A labor department spokesman said the decision probably would have been the same even if all the producers had joined Burke in requesting dismissal of the strike vote request filed Feb. 26 by UMW president John L. Lewis. He said Burke’s petition was the first of its kind ever received under the Smith-Connally antistrike law. It contended that no valid dispute existed at the’time Lewis filed the notice. Rejection was accompanied' by a letter explaining that the decision was consistent with the law and precedent. Meanwhile, soft coal mine operators and the UMW cancelled today’s session of their joint wage negotiating conference to permit the producers to prepare an answer to all 18 union contract demands. Ezra Van Horn, conference chairman, announced that UMW president John L. Lewis had agreed to cancel the session. The next meeting will be held tomorrow. Van Horn said the operators would hold an all-day meeting to "give consideration to the var(Tirrn To Page 4, Column 1).

Flames Raging Through Nagoya After B-29 Raid Japan's Greatest Aircraft Center Is Hit By Superforts Guam. Mar. 12 — (UP) — Fires visible nearly 100 miles at sea raced uncontrolled today through Nagoya, Japan's greatest aircraft manufacturing center, after 300 superfortresses sowed 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs through the center of the city. One of the giant U, S. planes was lost in the raid, 21st bomber command headquarters reported. Swinging 165 miles west from still-burning Tokyo, the giant armada unloaded death and destruction on five square miles of war plants, business blocks, government buildings and flimsy dwellings in the tinder-box center of Nagoya for two hours under cover of darkness early today. Returning pilots said the rain of bombs, more concentrated even than the 2,300 tons which burned out 15 square miles of Tokyo Saturday, kindled “hellish fires” that threatened to spread far beyond the original target area. A Japanese communique indicated that a number of fires still were out of control at 4:30 p. m. (Tokyo time), more than 16 hours after the start of the raid. It said a fire had been started In the “precincts" of the Atsuta shrine, one of 10 large shinlo or religious shrines in Japan, but added that the main and detached shrines were safe.” Maj. Gen. Curtis Le May, commander of the 21st bomber command in the Marianas, reserved judgment until al! reports were in, but said “so far the attack appears very successful." From Washington came word that B-29s of the 20th bomber command in India also were in action today. A medium force — probably 50 strong—bombed industrial targets in the Singapore area for the sixth time. The 20th (Turn To Page 5, Column 4) 0 Seeking To Scuttle Woi k-Or-Else Bill Opponents In House Mapping Strategy Washington, March 12 —(UP) — House (Republicans and pro-labor democrats mapped strategy today for a'battle aimed frankly at scuttling the ‘“work-or-else” manpower bill. Their objective was to get the house, which already has passed the whitehouse endorsed measure, to accept instead the senate’s manpower (bill. That iwas designed to cure manpower (bills by giving statutory authority to war manpower commission directives.. The house ‘bill is the tougher of the trwo. providing jail terms or fines for men who refuse to accept draft board assignments to essential jobs. The coalition of Republicans and pro-lalbor Democrats, an unusual although informal alliance, feared that if the tiwo bills were sent to conference between house and senate representatives, the work-or-else measure would win out. To block such a possibility, they were reported ready to object when chairman Andrew J. May, D., Ky., of the house military affairs committee asks unanimous house consent to disagree to the senate bill and to send the two measures to conferences. A single objection would force .(Turn To Page 6, Column 2).

Price Four Cents.

Americans, Led By Tanks, Supported By Planes, Drive Into Inner Germany (Paris, March 12 —(UP)— Tank led and air supported American troops drove steadily deeper into Germany's inner fortress from the Remagen bridgehead today, and Berlin said the frist army had made two more crossings of the Rhine nearby. Joint blows of the U. S. First and third armies wiped out a German pocket northwest of Coblenz. Meager reports did not make clear whether the destroyed, pocket was the big one formed by the American junction on the Rhine, in which some 23.000 Germans were trapped. Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle’s eighth air force laid a carpet of bombs on six key rail hubs east of the Rhine through which the Germans could move against the first army (bridgehead opposite Remagen. Fighter-Bombers of the U. S, ninth air force raked the German lines before the swelling bridgehead,, and maintained a constant patrol over the Ludendorff bridge. Nazi (broadcasts acknowledged that the Americans were pouring reinforcements into the Rhine foothold. They said shock troops pushed across the Rhine north of the Remagen bridge in assault boats for two new clossings. The Nazis estimated that upwards of 50.006 men were massed in the bridghead ready for a big push against the southern flank of the Ruhr. Supreme headquarters said Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ troops firmly held the initiative in the Remagen bridgehead. The Germans still were shelling it, despite the acquisition of high ground on which some enemy observaton posts were situated. Because of the nature of the operations and the precarious plight of the enemy, Shaef reports were purposely vague. For security reasons a time lag was imposed in many sectors. A bald announment of Sheaf said the German pocket around Laacher See, 13 miles northwest of Coblenz had been cleared. The units fighting their were not "identified, and there was no indication of the size of the prisoner bag. Laacher See is a resort lake near Aldernach. Headquarters sources reported patrol activity and counterattacks on the long dorment seventh army front in the French-German border area west of the Rhine. Other enemy reports forecast big scale fighting in the Nipmegen"Emmerich sector, where the Nazis had been expecting a new push against the Ruhr. The first army's reported power drive into the Remagen breach came as the Canadian first and U. S. ninth armies to the north finished off the last German salient west of the Rhine in the wesel area and moved into position for an assault on the river line. To the south, Lt. Gen. George S. Button’s lAinerican third army closed. to within a mile of Coblenz from the north and southwest and and cleared all except a 15-mile stretch Mosel river’s north bank between (Turn To Page 2, Column 2) Rev. John Schenck Dies In Minnesota Rev. John Schenck, 81, died at his home in Deer River, Mrtin., Sunday, according to a telegram received by his brother, Charles Schenck, of Decatur route three. Rev. Schenck taught school in this locality at one time, going to Deer River when-he was about 25 years of age, where he taught school, later becoming a minister. , The survivors besides the brother in this city include the wife, two sons in the army, two daughters, two sisters, Mrs. Ida Fishbaugh of Mendon, Ohio, and Mrs. Maggie Campbell of Nebraska. Two brothers and two sisters preceded him in death. Funeral arrangements have not been completed,