Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 71, Decatur, Adams County, 24 March 1945 — Page 1

XLHI. No. 71.

FOUR ALLIED ARMIES SMASH OVER RHINE

:&al Aerial Backs Med Drive T. Ko lo ” 01 ' GroUnd aX Mattle Reported By Blttufning Airmen WHdon. Mar.~4.- (UP) -Amorhack from the pre-ef-|K'. bombardment of the Ruhr that "colossal ground J} "was raging just east of the ffU Wesel on the 21st army ** i K front. (han 200 Liberators dropp- : ,!ias to tile first Allied air[p’(..st of the Rhine in IK.' aerial provisioning of the forces. observers who had ob- • K die trans-channel air trafl)lls;hoiit tlie war said they t had seen such a spectacular BGt" flKEhy of aerial might. Bombers, ‘ gliders and transport NFD "^K 5 by thp thousands swarmed ■SON (1 the Rhine front and back 'LER K of the day's first operations K".,| was an assault by more o|fcw l.njO eighth air force heavies °<t, Myi* German air fields north of cm ™, u!]] . uggg crewmen said the tm east of the Rhine in the udh a were dotted with Allied wsm . . moire German countryside of the Rhine was afire, and see gun hashes in every -G-M - sa i(j M a j j o i ul Millet of K Britain. Conn., "Planes wer* fMEr. where beneath ns, strafing and - K|‘g.” said the Liberators with he flew “came home over H most terrific ground battle 1 hope to see.” Louis Wieser of Hammond, jK a Liberator crewman, said lk of Allied fighters were |Hiig and gunning over a “treb battle.” ( ground surface east of the was covered by planes that like gliders,” said First Lt. Shfnnn of Bartlesville, flB.-s correspondent at Folkestone H gathered on the sea beginning at dawn to watch biggest air armada* of the sweep across the channel. I *■’ have seen so many airplanes over this town on any one set during the last five of war. exaggeration there have been thousands of planes out since dawa over a very stretch of coast," |fl r ' >::t dispatches *aid Allied To Pagie fi, Column 1) JHB 0— County Native Ses Al New Haven I Mrs. Lola Frock Is J Heart Attack Victim .fl?'™ Lola Frock, 44, native of ) count y, died suddenly of rJ r att . aek this morning at ■•K, , hoiUe in New Haven. She —“K' ..“ 111 Sood health and death entirely unexpected. fl u , Wa ® lloln in Adams county «■ H r . a L 20 ' 1944 ’ th « daughter of H-n,i in , Mrs - John Parrish; and Ho uh? 18 u Ounty until 14 y ears Ii ft Haven. the father moVed t 0 are the husband, Bean tW ° children . Robert f B" s ' Mr EUen ’ the par ' f B' near m d Mrs ' John Pa ™sh I Kenneth M °“ r ° e: two brothers, } fln.l tw , and Kermeth Parrish, flnd Mrs n Juanita Parrish - •< ■ 6 «mocrJJ T t u h r b e read| ng II 6:00 a AT Ther mometer «9 > « Isl n: °0 a. m. - a H •-— 59 ® HMvh WEATHE « Il t!,P0 U()h and tT,i,el today -fl M With sca tter*fl a "d Bu« 4 ° W<,r ’ toni oht

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

The Honored Dead

The following G1 persons killed in the service of their c Andress, Floyd J. Baumgartner, Carl D. Baker, Wilbur F. ★Barkley, Beulah I. Beitler, Francis Bebout, Clyde Baumgartner, Dale Baumgartner, Paul Bierly, Thos. Dale Barnthouse, Robert Berning, Arthur Billman, Leroy Christen, James B. Dick, Merle Engle, George Eicher, Solomon Eicher, Howard Ray Eitinq, Richard Friedt, Euqene Fennig, Robert Fields, Euqene Glendenning, Hubert V. Geimer, Jerome Galloqly, Dore Gilbert, Gorman Harden, Fred R. Holloway, Robert L. Hahnert. Calvin C. Ives, William Johnson, Everett Jackson, Carl B.

Good Friday Union Service Is Planned Protestant Churches Plan Union Service Protestant churches of Decatur will join in the annual union Good Friday services next Friday, March 29, from 12 noon to 3 o’clock, at the Zian Evangelical and Reformed church. Practically all business houses and offices in the city will be closed during the observance of the three hours which Christ spent on the cross. Services will also be held at the St. Mary’s Catholic church during the three-hour period. The program for the union service at the Reformed church is as follows: Hymn—“ Near the Cross,” congregation. Word of Intercession “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” First word in song—choir. First word in meditation—Rev. F. H. Willard, First Evangelical church. Word of Pardon “Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” Second word in song—choir. Second word in meditation — Rev. R. R. Wilson, First United Brethren church. Word of Solicitude "Woman, behold thy son: son, behold thy mother.” Third word in song—choir. Third word in meditation —Rev. J. T. Trueax, Church of the Nazarene. Hymn—" When f Survey the Wondreus Cross,” congregation. Word of Loneliness “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me.” Fourth word in song—choir. Fourth word in meditation Rev. Glen E, Marshall. Church of God. Word of Need “I Thirst.” Fifth word in song—choir. Fifth word in meditation—Rev. Charles Glenn, Decatur Missionary church. Word of Victory “It is finished.” Sixth word in song—choir. Sixth word in meditation—Rev. D. H. Pellet, Union Chapel U. B. church. Word of Trust “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Seventh word in song—choir. Seventh word in meditation— Dr. M. O. Lester, First Methodist church. Hymn—“ Beneath the Cross of Jesus," congregation. Benediction —Dr. Lester.

from this county died or were :>untry; Jauregui, Ralph Krick, Herman Krueckeberg, Truman Landis, Leonard Mazelin, Lester Musser, Fred Metzger, Edw. J. Myers, Alva Moser, Robert M. Reber, Roy Railing, Alton Stalter, Miles C. Scheumann, Frederick Schroeder, Walter Shady, Max Euqene Schlagenhauf, John H. Selkinq, Gordon Schamerloh, Carl Sheets, Raymond E. Skiles, James B. Suman, Earl E. Sheets, William Stopoenhaqen, Norwin Soade, Ralph J. Taylor, Willis Teeple, Richard H. Teeple, Richard J. Tricker, Jack Thatcher, Delbert R. Tope, Richard ♦Army nurse.

Temporary Agreement Is Signed In Illinois Springfield llh. March 24—(UP) A temporary 3May (wage-hour agreement between 16,000 progressive mine workers of America and the coal producers’ association of Illionta, was announced here today. John Marchiando, iPIMWA president, said the agreement provides for continuation of the present 7hour 5-day week contract pending negotiation for a new contract to replace noe expiring March 31. _ o Hundreds Os Carrier Planes Raid Okinawa I Jap Naval And Air Base Under Attack Guam, Mar.~24— (UP) —Tokyo reported that hundreds of American carrier planes attacked Okinawa island, enemy naval and aitbase 300 miles southwest of Japan, last evening and today. Some 230 planes opened the assault late yesterday and other formations carried it? into a second day with raids still continuing after eight hours today. Japanese broadcasts said. Miyako island. ISO miles southwest of Okinawa and only 210 miles northeast of Formosa, also was under attack today, Tokyo said. The planes presumably came from the fifth fleet with ViceAdmiral Marc A. Mitscher's force of a dozen or more carriers fresh from wrecking at least 731 Japanese planes and damaging 1 ( warships in attacks on Kyushu and Japan’s inland sea Sunday and Monday in air battles to the south Tuesday and Wednesday. Tokyo, apparently seeking to justify the new raids in the light of earlier claims that Japanese planes had broken up the fleet with the sinking of 11 warships, said Okinawa and Miyako were being attacked by a ‘ new enemy task force.”

All Os Allen County Is Under Quarantine

Fort Wayne, Ind., Mar. 24. —(UP) —As additional persons reported they had been bitten by a possible mad dog, county and city officials today tightened the general rabies quarantine order in all of Allen county, including Fort Wayne. The quarantine of the entire sector became necessary late yesterday when four more attacks by a supposed mad dog were accounted for. Previously, only a small area on the outskirts of Fort Wayne was set off after three cabled anials were found there.

Decatur, Inidana, Saturday, March 24,1945.

Russians Storm Nazi Defenses East Os Berlin German Broadcasts Hint At Climactic Battle For Capital London, Mar. 24. —-(UP) — Nazi broadcasts said at least 90,000 Red army troops, already six miles beyond the Oder river, were storming German offenses 32 miles east of Berlin 'today in what may be the first stages of the climactic battle for the capital. Six Soviet rifle divisions, supported by 100 or more tanks, cracked through the Order river line opposite Kuestrin and smashed down the shortest road .to Berlin as far as Golzow, 32 miles from the capital, before being halted yesterday, German broadcasts admitted. The Germans said a “ding-dong” battle was raging in the outskirts of Golzow. Other German broadcasts said Soviet pressure was increasing all along the Oder front between Kuestrin and Frankfurt, 1G miles to the south. The Russians have been attacking Klessin, miles east of Berlin and nine miles south of Kuestrin, fiercely “from all sides” for nine days, the Germans said. The reference to “all sides” indicated the fortress town two miles west of »he Oder may have been surrounded. While Moscow did not immediately confirm the thrust, both Russian and Nazi dispatches for the past few weeks have reported preparations for a resumption of the Soviet match on Berlin almost complete. Allied observers that the Russians would strike toward Berlin simultaneously with an Allied smash across the Rhine in the west in coordinated win-the-war offensive. Berlin said crack units of Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov’s first White Russian army launched their attack yesterday from Oder bridgeheads at Manechnow, three miles southwest of Kuestrin, and near Genschmar, seven miles northwest, and linked up at Golzow.

Japs Machine-Gunned Carrier Survivors 100 Strafed, Killed By Merciless Enemy Guam, March 24 —(UPX — Survivors of the U. S. escort carrier Bismarck Sea Sunk hy enemy aerial attack off Iwo Jiina Feb. 21, staid today that Japanese machine gunners straffed and killed 190 of their shipmates as they struggled helplessly in icy, mountainous seas. (The JJapanese Dome! agency said today that two American aircraft carriers which it identifed as the “Randolph" and the “Coupens” had been “serously damaged” at Ulithi in the 'western Carolines in a surprise rai diby Japanese navy planes the night of March 13. The dispatch was reported by the FCC). IDobs of the 10,200 ton Bismarck Sea with more than 300 casualties, including those shot in the water, was announce dtoday by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. alhiSo’JJe IThe Commander, Capt. John Lockwood Pratt of Milford, Del., and Coronado Cal., and about threefurths of the ship’s personnel were rescued hy a destroyer and destroyer escorts. ,_o Movie Strike Break Anticipated Today Hollywood March 24. —(UP) I —4A break in the 12-day movie strike dead lock was anticipated today after a meetnig of studio nd union yeadere. 'President E. J. Mannix of the association of natation picture producers conferred late yesterday with President Heitbert Sorrell of the striking conference of studio unions and 'President Richard Walsh of the rival international alliance of theatrical stage employes which seeks to brek the CSU walkout. They refused to discuss the session.

Nazi Civilians Seek Out AMG EWJFT-r j / ■ i / I ' ■BB , t €..8 F HMi rWj UNDER THE FLAG of their American conquerors, German civilians line up outside the military government building in Homburg, Germany, seeking information. Homburg was captured by the Li. b. seventh army troops in their offensive to clean the west bank ot the Rhine, and is now under Allied military government rule.. 1 his is a U. S. Army Signal Corps radiophoto.

Reorganization Plan For State Police Decatur Man Named As First Sergeant Indianapolis, Mar. 24. — (UP) — The Indiana state police board approved today a reorganization plan for the department’s nine police post areas. Twenty-one enforcement personnel members received promotions and most of them also were given transfers. The reorganization plan, announced by Surat. Austin R. Killian, becomes effective April 1. Each of the nine post areas will be in charge of a commanding officer with the rank of lieutenant, Killian said. At present, field supervision is provided by four district lieutenants, each responsible for two or more post areas. The announcement said that the reorganization would provide "more effective executive control” of department operations, and “improved administration and better service to Hoosier citizene.” Promotions included five subordinate commanding officers elevated to the newly-created rank of post lieutenant, and the appointment of others to higher ranks to fill vacancies created by the lieutenancy promotions. Scheduled to become new post lieutenants are Sgt. David L. Laughlin, Lafayette, to Indianapolis post; First Sgt. St. John, Martinsville, to Putnamville post; Sgt. Blain B. Schang, Columbia City, to Seymour and Charlestown posts (transferred from Connersville); Cpl. John R. Fisher, Lafayette, to West Lafayette post; Cpl. Forrest E. Waggoner, Loopootee, to Jasper post; First Sgt. Walter J. Ln Hayne, Chesterton, to Connersville poet (transferred from Pendleton); Field Lt. Rex R. Risher, South Bend, to Dunes Park post; Field Lt. Ray G. Fisher, LaGrange, to Ligonier post; Field Lt. Leo J. Moore, Shelbyville, to Pendleton post (transferred from Conners-ville-Seymour-Charlestewn post). New first sergeants are Richard Y. Sutton, Decatur promoted from trooper at Indianapolis post; Richard A. Raub, Auburn, promoted from corporal at Connereville to Putnamville post; Charles D. Love, Akron, promoted from corporal at Pendleton post. Sergeants—‘Gale Kassen, Greenfield, from corporal at Indianapolis post; Cecil L. Melvin, Richmond, from trooper at Connersville post; Fred Neal, Brazil, from trooper at Seymour to sergeant at Putnamville.

Corporals — Elmer C. Paul, Indianiapolis, from trooper at Indianapolis post; Donald Phipps, Shelbyville, from trooper at Seymour to Connersville; Harold R. Ash, Peru, from trooper at Pendleton; Ervin J. Rhoda, Lafayette, from trooper at West Lafayette; Herschel W. Mow," Rochester, from trooper at Jasper.

Observe Palm Sunday At Catholic Church Palm Sunday will be observed in St. Mary's Catholic church Sunday. Palms will be blessed and distributed after the 10:15 o’clock high in ass. The Holy Wedk schedule, which will include the observance of Tre Ore, or the Three Hours on which Christ hung and died on the cross, will be announced at the morning masses. 0 Japs Fleeing Into West Luzon Hills Americans Advance On Jap Stronghold Manila, Mar. 24 —(Up) —Japanese troops were reported fleeing into the western Luzon hills today before American 33rd division forces which overran Naguilian and its airfield and thrust to less than 10 miles from the enemy stronghold of Baguio. Naguilian, which had a prewar population of 15,000, was taken against only minor resistance. Its airfield provided another base for Gen. Douglas MacArthur's bombers which sank or damaged 11 more Japanese ships, including two destroyers and a minesweeper, in new attacks through the China Sea. The Japanese had blown up the 250-yard bridge across the Naguilian river and the American troops were forced to wade across river to reach the town. A rolling artillery barrage blasted a path for the advancing troops and they met little opposition in pushing into Naguilian Wednesday. One heavy artillery shell scored a direct hit on a Japanese ammunition dump, causing an explosion that rocked the earth for several miles. A front report said the Japanese aroifnd Naguilian were fleeing into the hills before riflemen under the command of Lt. Col. Arthur Collins, Boston, Mass. The thrust carried the 33rd division to less than 10 miles from Baguio, former Philippines summer capital and headquarters for Japanese forces in the Philippines. There were no further reports of another American column which last was revealed only six miles south of the city. 0 _ Active Patrolling On Italian Front Rome. March 24—(UP)— Active patrolling was reported today along the entire Italian front. Clashes were reported on the Fifth army's central and right sectors south and southeast of Bologna. The Germans continues a light harassing artillery and mortar fire on Forward positions. t

Assault Hailed As Final Drive Against Nazis Allied Armies Open Final Battle Os Western Front, Smashing Across Rhine On Broad Front On Road Leading To Berlin Paris, Mar. 24 — (UP) — Four Allied armies, three ground and one airborne, broke across the Rhine today on a broad front north of the Ruhr, beat down the first line 6f enemy resistance and drove two to three miles east in a bid to knock Germany out of the war. Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's American ninth, British second, and Canadian first armies started the “final assault on Germany” and fought under the greatest air umbrella of the war to link up with paratroops and glider infantrymen of the Allied first airborne army. The air soldiers glided down behind the German lines beyond the ground forces’ bridgehead. The whole operation started before dawn.

Late Bulletins By United Press A Blue network broadcaster reported from Paris today that almost 40,000 American and British paratroopers were landed in the Rhine bridgehead today. With British Second Army in Germany, Mar. 24—(Up) — Hundreds of thoroughly.beaten German paratroops and infantrymen surrendered to British troops on the east bank of the Rhine today. With British Second Army in Germany ,Mar. 24 —(UP) —The German garrison commander at Wesel was captured by British troops today and a Major General Deetsch, commander of Nazi antiaircraft forces in the area, was killed. Rome, Mar. 24 — (UP) — Italy based American heavy bombers today bombed Berlin for the first time. Mar. 24—(UP) — A German military commentator reported today that Nazi troops have evacuated Szekesfeherar, 34 miles southwest of Budapest and key to the Lake Balaton defenses of Austria. Q — Man Arrested After Accident Last Night

John Ortiz Taken Into Custody Here John Ortiz, 74-year-old Mexican of near Berne, is confined to the Adams county jail today, following his arrest by city police Friday night after an auto accident on Mercer avenue. Ortix probably will be arraigned before Mayor John B. Stults in city court Monday on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, police chief Ed Miller indicated this morning. Ortiz is alleged to have driven his auto into a ear owned by Thomas C. Emshwiller, which was parked in front of the Emshwiller residence at 413 Mercer avenue about 8 o’clock Friday evening. The rear of the Emshwiller auto was badly damaged. According to the version of the accident given tb police, Ortiz, after his car struck the parked vehicle, drove south on Mercer avenue. However, the railroad crossing was blocked by a freight train and Ortiz turned east, finally stopping his auto at First and Oak streets. City police, called immediately after the investigation, traced the driver to the car on Oak street and took Ortiz into custody. — o : Noblesville Youth Is Killed By Auto ! ■Nolblesville, Ind., March 24 — (UP);—Billy Lee 'Moore, 12 was killed instantly last night when struck by an automobile as he crossed a street. He was the Son of Mr, and Mrs. Russell Moore.

Price Four Cents.

Hundreds of beaten Germans were reported surrendering to the Allied infantrymen along the east bank of the Rhine as the advance swept' inland in the first few hours against spotty opposition. By mid-morning, however, the Nazis appeared to be rallying and returning airmen said a "colossal” battle was raging on the burning Westphalian plain north of the Ruhr. The Allies were established solidly on a 12-mile stretch of the Rhine’s east bank between Wesel and Rees and apparently had other footholds in the 30<mile area southward from Wesel to the Ruhr city of Duesseldorf. Bislich, almost mid-way between Wesel and Rees, was captured by British shock troops in the first wild rush across the Rhine. Scottish riflemen were mopping up a few die-hard Nazis in the streets of the two flanking towns. Montgomery sent his men into battle with a stirring order of the day hailing the Rhine crossing as the “final assault" of the western war. His headquarters said the attack was going “extremely well” in the opening hours and United Press front correspondents reported that all initial objectives had been taken with amazingly light casualties.

Between 5,900 and 6,000 Allied warplanes participated in the airborne strike behind the German lines. It was the greatest airborne operation in history and field dispatches said miles-long sky trains were shuttling over the battlefront to unload their cargoes of men. tanks and guns in the enemy’s rear. At Wesel, the Allied ground troops were 255 miles west of Berlin and astride the great northern German plain extending all the way to the enemy capital. Facing them were an estimated 15 to 20 thinned-out German divisions, numbering perhaps 150,000 to 200,000 men. (Berlin’s DNB news agency broadcast an urgent appeal to the German people to stand fast in the face of the Allied breakthrough and declared that “everything is at stake” in the battle of the Rhine.) Ten thousand square miles of Germany’s Ruhr valley and Westphalian plains, stretching back 150-odd miles beyond the Rhine, were littered with flaming wreckage from Allied air fleet raids. Throughout the area thousands of American and British sky (Turn To Page 6, Column 4) 0 Lad Slightly Hurt When Hit By Auto Jimmy McDonald, aged four, of Tekomah. Mich., escaped with scratches and bruises at 10 o'clock this morning when he was struck by a car driven by Kenneth Schnepp on Winchester street near the Kraft Cheese plant. The lad darted from behind a parked car directly into the, path of the Schnepp auto, police were informed. He was taken to the Adams county mrtnorial hospital and was released after treatment. The lad and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold McDonald, are visiting friensd and relatives here.