Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 69, Decatur, Adams County, 22 March 1945 — Page 1

I XLIII. No. 69.

AMERICAN ARMY OPENS BATTLE FOR RUHR

nds Striking Joleot Blows Sains! Nazis ■Violent Offensive ■Breaks Defensive ■Front In Hungary IK bulletin UK london. Mar. 22 —(UP) Marshal Ivan S. Konev’s army |Ks broken through south ■ d west of Oppeln in southIHn Silesia, advancing 25 |H|es and trapping at least Germans in a sweeping |Hrw offensive that overran than 400 German towns. ■nndon. Mar. 22—(UP)— Berlin |Hiihl today that a violent offensive had broken up jtjMiit-niili' defensive front in Hungary, opening the io Vienna and the mountain of southeastern GerSoviet, onslaughts be- ■ n Lake Balaton and the Dan- ■ northwest of Budapest shoved ■ Germans back on the apjHarhes to Austria. The Rusraptured Esztergom, on the Tata, 29 miles north■t of Budapest and 94 southof Vienna; and Felsogalla, of Tata. broadcasts said a furious was going on in SzekesfeiHvar, key base between Lake and the Danube. flare-up in Hungary came other .Soviet armies mopped 1 ■ German pockets along the L front and I into line for the push 1 Berlin. German and Rus- * reports indicated that it not be long now. jHioviet reports said reinforcewere moving into position ■ Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov’s It stretches from the BalH through the Oder valley 30 iMes east of Berlin, and into where it links up with |Mit of Marshal Ivan S. Konev’s l krainian army. the northern.end of the eastfront, Russian forces estimby Berlin at 50 divisions ■tnned through the suburbs of Danzig and Gdynia on Baltic and tightened the H° se on the last German toehold Prussia around KoenigsK' A gigantic battle of attrition H raging in the entire area south M !h|l Danube,” Ernst Von HamGerman radio commentator, H 1 ln reporting the new Red push toward Austria. H? e said the offensive between ® a * aton and the Danube H r ' 1W( ' st of Budapest gathered y nslly by the hour. The storm ■ er Was in the area of SzekesBetween that keystone ■’“'t Felsogalla the Germans H ,ach «l themselves and took U m W v PositiGDs in shortened i W - Un Hammer said. ■aZ nt D a t tlaf,ks frora the south H,. "'sardi, io miles southH.. . , Szekes fehervar were reHr! nt M en Off ’ 111 the forpst H Szel 17 mi,ea north west ■row ehervar ’ the Germans Hi! with L SPrvPS anrt were cred■wh, a "’ l « ’>'«■*- 0,1 (he Bouth _urn^To^r a , ff p 4. Column 3) JSWessman From ■ lln ois Is Dead H ( Abington, March 22—(UP)— He'd toLL v - Heidinger, R„ 111., B* s Pital at L the Good Sma ritan ■i e in L enix Ariz ’ ■HeS “ house - . Bering from h °i7 ae 62 ’ had heen BMW , “.bronchial ailment, B W iop R tTT 6, RePH’M hi™ .' L” 1 • w ho accomK Bet M a Ma een a Wtient « H liaval hospital. H q SSL ure Reading I *OO B m TH ERMOMETE7 B N *» •- 38 ■ - - 44 ® — 52 B Fr S. ** Pme '‘ tonight and

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

City Purchase Os Tractor Approved The WPB has .given approval of the city for the purchase of a .1. I. Case industrial (tractor jwith a heavy high|way-type mower attached, to be delivered to the street department. Previously the city council received proposals on furnishing the tractor and mower, subject to WPfB approval. The total price for the outfit te $11’16.2, including tractor mower and tires. The mower will be used in cutting the grass in the city parks and other places under the city’s supervision, Phil Sauer, street commissioner, stated. 0 Last Organized Jap Resistance Ends On Panay Capital Os Island Captured; Planes Step Up Offensive Manila, Mar. 22.— (UP) —American 'troops and Filipino guerrillas tracked down scattered Japanese remnants on Panay today after crushing the last organized resistance with the capture of Iloilo, capital of the island. Virtual completion of the Panay campaign came as American bombers from the Philippines stepped up their aerial offensive to severely pound the Japanese shipping resources from the eastern Philippines to the coast of China. Thirteen Japanese vessels, including five small warships, were destroyed or damaged in the widespread attacks carried out by almost every type of aircraft, from fighters to heavy Liberator bombers. The rapid campaign on Panay, sixth largest of the Philippine islands, overwhelmed the main Japanese forces in 52 hours and left only small scattered pockets to be mopped up by the American troops and the Philipino guerrillas. The last organized resistance was broken when Maj. Gen. Rapp Brush’s veteran 40th division forces stormed into Iloilo under a cover of low-flying JWitchell medium bombers. Approximately 70 percent of the capital city was burned or blasted by the Japanese, although the docks and fine anchorage facilities were found undamaged. Iloilo’s harbor, fronting on the Iloilo river and the strait, is one of the best in the central Philippines. The river, which bisects the city, can accomodate ocean going vessels two miles inland. Brush’s troops also joined with fierce guerrilla bands to seize the Santa Barbara airfield, 25 miles inland. It was the second airstrip captured on Panay and will provide additional bases ‘for the rapidly developing aerial offensive from the Philippiet*. (Turn To Page 5, Column fi)

Kathleen McConnell Wins Essay Contest Legion Auxiliary Sponsors Contest (Miss Kathleen McConnell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard iMc Connell, and a senior at the Decatur junior-senior high school, has been declared winner in the essay contest, sponsored by the women s auxiliary of Adams post 43, American (Legion. * (Miss Marian Song, daughter of S. G. iSorg, and a junior at the Decatur Catholic high school, was awarded second place. Miss McConnell was awarded $3 as finst place winner and Miss Sorg $2. (English students Os both Decatur high schools participated in the contest on the subject, “Thomas Jefferson, his contributions to American democracy.” These two winning essays will <be entered in the fourth district contest, and the district winners will compete in the state contest. Judges of the local contest were Mrs. (Hugh Andrews and Mrs. Lamoille Fogle. Mrs. Frank Liniger is chairman of 'the essay contest toy rhe local auxiliary.

Honor Bataan, Luzon Heroes In Mass Ceremony wi■?RlPVWI |.|i ii '■ I ■ "■ ■’ » life * KHB* I W ■ - y p I ; L -.- ...... .?.- J 8 l ,n-iWriiiiiMlii 1 BRIG. GEN. CHARLES C. HILLMAN pins the Silver Star and the Purple Heart on Corp. Russell Villiers of Bridgeport. Conn., who lost his right leg in the Luzon fighting, in a mass ceremony held at Letterman hospital in San Francisco. More than 300 survivors of the Bataan march of death were honored at the ceremonies.

Red Cross Fund h $20,955.40 The local Red Cross War Fur ’ stood at $2(1,955.40 today. Not all of the reports are in from the rural and town sections. Today’s report appears on page four., Planes Pound Nazi Command Stations Attack Designed To Demoralize Commands London, Mar. 22 —(UP) —More than 1,300 American heavy bombers dropped knockout quantities of bombs upon nine German command stations in the Ruhr valley and five Rhine river airfields today in an attack designed to demoralize the German command already jittery over an Allied Ruhr offensive. The attack was aimed squarely at the nerve centers of the German army at the north end of the front and came after days of repeated bombing attacks which already had the Nazi command groggy. The daylight attack, protected by more than 700 Mustange fighters, sent the day and night total of attacking Allied warplanes on the west front over the 3.000 mark. It appeared that the Allied air forces were out to match or top yesterday’s figure of 10,000 sorties. Targets today included some of the erack German jel-plane fields just back of the Ruhr-Rhine front. Among the points struck were German army encampment and military centers near Bottrop, Gladbeck. Barmingholte, Dorsten, Westerholt, Mulheim, Hinsbeck, Hattingen, and Geresheim—all in the Ruhr. These points are in the heart of the area where the Nazis most fear attack. There already they are prevented from observing Allied preparations by what was described as the world’s greatest smoke-screen. Airfields attacked included those at Kitzengen, Gielbelstadt, Rhein-Main, Schwabish-Hall. and Ahihorn. The heaviest sustained air offensive of the war against the Reich roared through the night with two mosquito attacks on Ber(Turn To Paso 2. Column 8) ■ — —O —~ City Truck And Auto Collide Wednesday An auto driven (by Rolbert Repjfent of route tiwo collided with a truck driven (by Pete Loshe at the Eleventh and (Monroe street crossing yesterday. Mr. Loshe was making a left hand turn onto Eleventh street, when Mr. Re<ppert, who also was driving west, ran into the truck. Damage to the city truck was estimated at SIOO and S2OO to the ißeppert car. The drivers were not injured.

Decatur, Indiana, Thu rsday, March 22,1945.

Slate Liquor Board Appointed By Gates Entirely New Board Named By Governor Indianapolis, Mar. 22. —(UP) —A new bi-partisan Indiana alcoholic beverage board was appointed today by Governor Gates, a few! hours after the Hoosier chief executive reorganized the state highway commission. The newly created liquor board, set up by the 1945 legislature to replace the old four-member commission, will be composed of Dr. Burrell E. Diffendorf, Mitchell, chairman, and Lefler Anderson, LaPorte, both Repubiicans; James Doss, Jr., Indianapolis, and Elmer B. Lohman, Fort Wayne, Democrats. Previously, Gates announced the elevation of John H. Lauer of Williamsport, former Republican state chairman, to the chairmanship of the highway commission. He also announced the appointment to the commission of Herman D. .Hartman, Wabash, a Republican; Norman F. Schafer, Indianapolis, and Keller Thompson, Winslow, Democrats. The appointments to two of the major state commissions represented a complete turnover of membership since Gates took office Jan. 7. The new ABC members succeed Bernard Doyle, Hebron; William Storen, and Lowell 11. Patterson, Indianapolis, and Neil D. McCallum, Boonville. Members of the retiring highway commission are Samuel C. Hadden, Indianapolis; Jasper (Jap) Jones, Fort Wayne, and Albert Wedeking, (Turn To P»ge 2. Column 3) 1

Impending Allied Offensive Aimed To End War Quickly

(Editor's note: Boyd Lewis, European news manager, has just returned to supreme Allied headquarters after a quick inspection of the fighting fronts from Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery’s 21st army group to Lt. Gen. George S. Pattdn’s rampaging third American army. In the following dispatch he reports that the new Allied offensive now being mounted will exceed in fury anything ever thrown at the Germans and that it is designed to end the war—quickly.) By BOYD LEWIS ShaeJ, Paris, Mar. 22. — (UP) — The fury of the American assault on the Saar merely is a foretaste of impending operations and the campaign now being mounted, I believe, is one which will end the war. It is no secret to the Germans that this attack, is coming. (The London Daily Express today bannered: “Rhine: any hour now,” It quoted German reports that the Allied all-out offensive Is about to start.) Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower already has warned the workers the

Local Man's Brother Is Killed On Luzon (S/iSgt. Roger E. (Higgins, 25, of Wells county, (brother of Garth Higgins o fthis city, was killed in action on Luzon in the Philippines Felhruary 12. He was a graduate of the Bluffton high school and entered service in April, 1941. (Surviving are the parents, the 'wife, and three brothers. 0 Selective Service Extension Approved . Approval Voted By House Committee Washington, Mar. 22. — (UP) — The house military affairs committee today unanimously approved extension of the selective service act for another year from May 15, tlie date of expiration. Committee members said the measure probably would go before the house before Easter. The extension would be for one year or to termination of hostilities if they should end before May 15. 1946. Committee members questioned Maj. Gen. Idwal Edwards, assistant chief of staff in charge of training. on war department policy about sending IS-year-old soldiers into combat. In reply to a question by Rep. John J. Sparkman, D„ Ala., Edwards said any limitation on the use of IS-year-olds would “very definitely” be harmful 4o the war effort. Some members said they under1 (Turn To Pag* 2. Column 4)

only thing the Germans don't know is when the attack will start. For several days the Germans have been fishing for information on the jump-qff date with rumors of impending operations by Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery’s twenty-first army group. Usually tlie closer one gets to the front the more conservative one becomas about the warjp end. On a 10-iday front tour from Montgomery's headquarters to Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's meat-chop-per operation in the Saar the dominating feeling was one of optimism. The general had it. So did the infantrymen watching the big tank carriers moving equipment up to the Rhine. One of them patted the butt of his carbine against a tank carrier and said: “Brother, I wish we could just climb aboard that thing right now and start getting it over with.” The man with throe stars on his helmet whose tanks are eating up German divisions —General Patton —can’t be quoted for reasons of censorship — also because this is .(Turn Ta Pagia 4, Column 6)

Great Aerial Barrage By Over 2,000 Yank Planes In Full Swing On Front

Small Meat Packers Lash Price Policies OPA Held To Blame • For Meat Shortage BULLETIN Washington, Mar. 22 — (UP) —The government today sought to alleviate the meat shortage by increasing the subsidy to cattle slaughterers. The increase will be up to 50 cents a hundred pounds. Washington, Mar. 22. — (UP) — Small meat packers charged today that federal price policies have kept beef off the nation’s dinner tables. Arthur L. Winn of the national independent meat packers association told the senate banking committee that the office of price administration helped bring about maldistribution of the county’s meat supply. “We are convinced that the be-low-cost price policy of OPA on beef is denying the country a large increase in beef supply,” Winn added. Nearby sat price administrator Chester Bowles, who in the same room yesterday accused meat packers of crying “famine” without cause. Bowles in turn was accused of violating the price control act and constitution. Winn said the 700 slaughterers and small meat packers he represents face “a critical situation.” The examination of the meat price situation was merely one phase of the congressional inquiry into the over-all food supply. The senate already has authorized an agriculture subcommittee to doncut a $5,000 investigation of the food problem in general. The house rules committee has sent to the floor a resolution for a SIO,OOO inquiry by the house. Bowles told the senate committee yesterday that the American meat packers institute was causing “newspaper headlines of famine” and that the facts did not justify them. He said the civilian meat supply “certainly” will be shorter than at any time during the war, but only because of “the extraordinary needs” of the war effort. Supply To Drop Washington, Mar. 22. — (UP) — The amount of food available to (Turn To Page 2. Column 4) 0 New York Back On Midnight Curfew Military Crackdown Leads To Decision

New York, Mar. 22 — (UP) — New York’s night entertainment spots rejoined the rest of the nation today in observance of the , federal midnight curfew as Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia prepared a , post-mortem over his short-lived i one-hour curfew extension. LaGuardia said he would explain in a nationwide radio broad- ( cast (Blue Network) at 7 p. m. (EWT) today why the curfew was unfair to New York, center of the nation’s night life industry. LaGuardia said his address would be designed for those outside New York and would contain little news for citizens of his own city. He scheduled the broadcast, however, before entertainment leaders decided at a meet- ' ing last night to respect the midnight. curfew set by war mobilization director James F. Byrnes rather than the 1 a. m. closing set by LaGuardia. The nightclub, theater, case and saloon owners did not desert LaGuardia, however. They said they would ask for a hearing in Washington on the wisdom of a ’ midnight curfew for the city, i The decision to ignore the one(Turn To Page 4, Column

Tokyo Reports American Fleel Near Okinawas Japanese Fear New Powerful Blows By Fifth Fleet Force Guam, March 22. —(UP) — The fifth fleet today was reported approaching the Okinawa islands, 300 miles southwest of Japan, possibly for new blows at Japan’s waning sea and air power. OA Tokyo broadcast said 120 (American superfortresses, Liberator Ibom’bere and 1 lightning fighters raided Japanese-held Hainan island off the south China coast yesterday. The broadcast, recorded by the FOC, said the Japanese garrison caused “considerable damage" to the planes.) Pacific fleet headquarters has screened the fleet’s activities with a security blackout since its planes crippled 17 enemy warships and wrecked 600 aircraft in Japan’s inland sea Sunday and Monday. But radio Tokyo said the task force with its dozen or more carriers last night was “fleeing at full speed” southward toward waters east of the Okinawa islands, site of an important naval base and several airfields midiway between Japan and Formosa. With Japan’s inland sea naval ’bases still smouldering from Sunday and Monday's attacks, Okinawa might offer a tempting target to vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's fast carriers and their escort of battleships and other warships under Admiral Raymond a Sprnanee. The naval base is situated on Okinawa, largest island in the group of the same name, about midway in the Ryukyu chain running soutliiwest. from Kyushu, “southern(Turn To Page 2. Column 5) O Coal Dispute Near Breakdown Stage Operators Doubtful Os New Agreement Washington, Mar. 22—(UP)— Negotiations for a new soft coal wage contract tottered today on the verge of a breakdown. Operators were ready to make one more attempt to get president John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers to agree to terms for a new contract to replace the one which expires March 31 — nine days hence. Most of them were pessimistic, however, about the prospects for further progress unless Lewis changes his tactics of the past few days. The UMW chief and two of the operators were closeted in secret sessions for several hours late yesterday but it was reported “no conclusions were reached.” They attempted to find some basis on which to continue the wage talks without government intervention. The labor department, meanwhile, watched closely but in the belief the government should keep hands off the case as long as the two parties continued to meet and discuss the issues involved. The department’s conciliation service was reluctant to enter the dispute “prematurely” in the hopes that an agreement would be signed. It regarded today's session, however, as the probable turning point. A spokesman said he expected there would be either real progress or a breakdown. In the case of a collapse, secretary of labor Frances Perkins was expected to appeal for a .contract extension to avoid a work stoppage when the present (Turn To Page 2, Column 6).

Price Four Cents.

Great I. G. Farben Chemical Factory Falls To Americans In Bitter Fighting Paris, Mar. 22 — (UP) — The U. S. first army drove from its Rhine bridgehead today against the southern flank of the Ruhr under an aerial barrage laid down by more than 2.000 American, warplanes. One of the war’s biggest, tactical air offensives was in full swing along the Rhine front from the Swiss border to the North Sea. German and Allied military commentators indicated that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's “win-the-war” offensive might already have begun. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s rampaging third army ran into a Stalingrad-like defense at Ludwigshafen but swept inito the town in bitter fighting and captured the I. G. Farben works, the largest chemical plant in Germany. Field dispatches said a 66-mile •pall of artificial smoke blanketed the entire northern end of the battlefront southward from Nijmegen. Behind that smoke screen Field Marshal Sir Bernard L, Montgomery was deploying the massive armored and infantry forces of his British second, Canadian first, and American ninth armies for what both sides agreed would be the decisive assault on the Rhine barrier. Lt. Gen. Courtney IL Hodges’ U.S. first army already was on the move northward from its salient east of the Rhine. It battered with tanks and infantry against the narrow Sieg river barely 10 miles from the southern flank of the Ruhr. The offensive was coordinated with a crippling air strike by more than 1,300 American heavy bombers and 700 fighters against a chain of German military encampments and air fields in and behind the imperiled Ruhr basin. Simultaneously, the American third and seventh armies to the south clinched their most decisive victory of the war with the destruction of all but a handful of an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Germans in the SaarPalatinate. The two armies merged into a solid front west of the Rhine and closed against the river with a rush that threatened to eliminate the few thousand surviving Germans before the week's end. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s third army troops were mopping up isolated German pockets inside the great Rhine chemical center of Ludwigshafen, Other third army forces stabbed to the Rhine north of Ludwigshafen and struck southward toward the last enemy escape port opposite Karlsruhe. Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch’s U.S. seventh army troops, meanwhile, burst out of the center of the Siegfried line from the south and wheeled eastward to join in the drive for the Rhine between Ludwigshafen and Karlsruhe. Hundreds of fighter-bombers of the U.S. first and ninth tactical (Turn To Page 5, Column 4) o— Jap Leader Admits Policy Inadequate By United Press Premier Gen. Kuniaki Koiso told the Japanese diet today that the policies of his government “admittedly have been inadequate,” with the nation not able to plan and produce “as much as we desire.” Koiso’s surprising admission came "as the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Hochi warned that the fall of Iwo Jima and increasingly heavy American air raids on the homeland have confronted Japan with its “gravest crisis since the beginning of our history.” The premier’s statement and the newspaper article were disseminated by the Japanese Dornei agency and recorded by FCC monitore.

Palatinate.