Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 72, Decatur, Adams County, 26 March 1945 — Page 1

justWintheWar Else Is Chores!

IXLIII. No. 72.

NTIRE ALLIED ASSAULT LINE ON MOVE

Ayo Reports Kk Landing ■Okinawas {Major Leap Toward Proper Told EK Tokyo Reports HH nl . Mar. 26.— <UP) — Tokyo that 2.0H11 American in- "*«■> ll ' ,, T s "' ,n ‘ s,()iming lwo three tiny islands in group in a major amtoward Japan proper, miles to the northeast. air. rate carriers, 11 bat--10 <' rllise, s ' 32 Troyers smaller craft were supthe invasion with a terrific rt|^^K ? i >i ;! val bombardment that &HK Friday, Japanese bioadcasts troops “attempted” to land invasion barges on TokoAka. four and five miles 'ffiHciivdy west of the southern the air-naval base island of Kwa itself at 7:30 a. m. (Tokyo Sunday. Tokyo said. BBL P- in. Monday (Tokyo time) SK) radio said tile Japanese garwer- pining up “fierce re- ' to American “landing op|Kiis'' in the Kerama group, SHh includes Tokoshika and Aka. indicated possible beachhead SMinc and eliminated the word ■ - broadcast, heard by Unitat San Francisco, Tokyo were "f tai' groups of en■l task forces and many other ||B< a.:, ' cruising off the RyukyTokyo had said the Amtask forces disappeared MonM| morning after the Sunday , Baling landing “attempt.” broadcast said invasion also approached Zamami, of Tokoshika. Hgftough not saying specifically Sp the Americans had succeeded on Tokoshika and Aka, |Kyo reported that “our garrison IBs are now intercepting enemy |B f ‘x . . . which attempted a broadcast said the gar|Hns were offering “stiff resiswas no official confirmc|B* of the landings available at i®ific fleet headquarters, but one |B Possibly two task forces of the fleet were known to be in |B Okinawa area. did confirm that other warships and carplanes had bombarded, Kerama — which includes Tokoshika, |B and Zamami—along with Oki--11 an d other islands in the chain stretching down from s southern tip of Japan to Forr 63 0)1 Friday and Saturday. I lauding in the Okinawa group i ■ uld P ut - American ground forces twice as close to the Japanhomeland as the marines on _^B’‘ Jr ’ 1 ' :l !'t , .ired lwo, 695 miles south M Japan. However, lwo lie's only niiles sou, h of Tokyo, whereas is nearly 1,000 miles Way. hc Okinawa group also is less y 400 niiles from the China O d -’ at a point south of Shanghai. Japanese reports of landing op- !■“ “ ns in the Okinawa group fol--1B announcements at Guam, of sin-ingof eight Japanese ships 81, northern Ryukyus Saturday Wrecking of six industries SI ' nperfortrees raid on Nagoya • proper Sunday. ■ s ock Funeral Rites ■ uesday Afternoon -- f ° r Mra - Lo,a Bher t k ’ Who died Saturday ■£ d °® 6 in NSW Hawn ’ wil > Ktn e lna 2 ' Tue6 < Ja y at the ■»» a -- 12:30 °’ clock at the K Hev T . Methodist church, with KA, ,™ a,i D ’ Morrls ■ p*’ " * al ’ wiu toe in the I. O. Body tnav 1 17 at N9W Haven - The B v ‘ewed at the home. ■ D ScrJt T t RE READ,NG H 8:00 a RAT THER MOMETER 3 Noon ” 63 1-- & ~ —— 63 i ciM r i M WEATHER ■ t’ 1 ” 3 a litt,e cooler ■ '“«• Wm e U r.* d ’ y fair and ’

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

David Lloyd George Condition Critical London, 'March 26 — (UP)—The condition off David Lloyd George, Britain's World War I Prime minister, has become critical and there is little hope for his recovery, his physician said today. The physical .weakness against which the 81-year-oid statesman has battled for the past month has increased in the past'24 hours, his physician said. —— o Conferees Approve New Manpower Bill Authorize Freeze Os War Workers In Jobs Washington, Mar. 26.— (UP) —A joint congressional conference today formally completed its work on a “work-or-jail” compromise manpower 'bill despite a last minute attempt by Sen. Joseph C. O’Mahoney, D., Wyo., to remove a “labor freeze” provisions. Eight of the 10 conferees signed the conference report, which will go to the house tomorrow for action and then to the senate. O’Mahoney refused to sign. Rep. Dewey Short, R., Mo., was not present .

O’Mahoney told reporters after the session that the measure is “a terribly dangerous bill” because it vests virtually unlimited authority in mobilization director James F. Byrnee. O’Mahoney was expected to take the lead in a fight, to get. the senate to reject the compromise. There was considerable belief that it might be successful. O’Mahoney said that the bill “started out to be a work or fight bill directed at slackers, and it has turned out to be a measure directed at the patriotic men, women and children who have outproduced the world.” Chairman Elbert D. Thomas, D., Utah, of the senate military affairs committee, itold reporters that the bill “is a very strong bill, which delegates great power.” "Everything will depend upon how it is administered by the director of war mobilization,” he said. Thomas refused to predict how the senate would receive the measure. Rep. R. Ewing Thomason, D„ Tex., a house conferee, predicted that the house will accept it over ‘ some strong opposition.” In brief, the new bill would: Empower war mobilizer James F. Byrnes to freeze workers in essen(Turn To Pago 5, Column 3) Schafer Company To Open Eastern Office Postwar Expansion Planned By Company An eastern office in the Empire State building, New York City, is being opened by the Schafer company of this city, which will introduce the company’s line of leather gloves to be manufactured for civilian use after the war, Ralph O. Gentis, sales-manager, announced. Earl Fuhrman, general manager of the company is in New York conferring with Howard S. Hammond, the company’s representative, who will present the sample line of gloves to the trade. The company is now engaged in manufacturing a leather glove for the army and is one of the few manufacturers producing such a product. Huhdreds of ■ thousands of these gloves have been turned out for the military services and new models and styles for the civilian user have also been proposed for the postwar period, Mr. Gentis said. The company will manufacture an all-leather and a leather palm glove, designed for heavy duty by industrial users and these styles, although only sparsely placed on the market, have been favorably received by the trade. The glove factory, which employs more than 125 persons, is located |n the Schafer buildings on First and Madison streets and after-the-war plans call for an expansion of the plant, consideration being given to the erection of a new building on the site recently purchased by the company on West Adams street, officials stated.

Smoke Screen Covers A Hied Crossing Os Rhine i V . 1 ... . 1 ‘ 1 ■ AMERICAN AND BRITISH ASSAULT FORCES stormed across the Rhine on a broad smoke-shrouded front north of the Ruhr for the "last battle of the European war” with veteran amphibious assault teams of the United States Navy carrying them to the east bank of the great river. Pictured above are Allied vehicles crossing the Rhine on a pontoon bridge, protected by an enveloping smoke screen, seen in background. The man with the glasses on the anti-aircraft gun in the foreground scans the sky for any sign of Luftwaffe activities. U. S. Army Signal Corps radiophoto.

Jap Electric Plant On Formosa Smashed / Liberator Bombers ‘ Wreck Formosa Plant Manila, Mar. 26.—(UP)—Liberator bombers were believed today to have paralyzed all enemy war production in two-thirds of Formpsa by shattering the island’s big Jitsugetsu hydro-electric plant. More than 50 Liberators and escorting Lightnings from4he fifth airforce hit the hydro-electric installations Friday with 145 tons of explosives which wrecked the power plant and transformers. A communique said the raid left “water pouring from the penetocks” and a spokesman estimated the attack knocked out 75 percent of Formosa’s hydro-electric generating capacity. “The whole southern two-thirds of Formosa and its war industries will be very seriously hampered and perhaps even cut off,” a fifth airforce staff member said following a study of reconnaissance photographs. “All southern Formosa will suffer an enforced blackout and its industry an enforced layoff,” he said. “The probability of repair is out of the question because all transformer stations were destroyed and generator stages in the plants received a number of direct hits by 2,000-pound bombs.” The plant, which was divided into two sections and powered by water from Jitsugetsu lake, had a total capacity of 170,000 kilowatts. Among the main war factories to feel the power lose will be ‘the two large aluminum plants at Takao and Karenko. They have an estimated 40,000-ton capacity each and are believed to have provided 15 percent of Japan’s aluminum supply. One Liberator was lost to anti(Turn To Psge 2. Column 3) — o — William C. Mcßride Dies This Morning

Will Hold Funeral Services Wednesday William Clarence Mcßride, 65, former railroader, died suddenly at 5:30 o’clock this morning at his home on the Adams-Wells county line. Death was attributed to a heart attack. Surviving are the wife, formerly Tessie Gilbert; a son, Roy, of Wells county; a foster son, Wilford of near Ossian; one sister, Mrs. Homer Clay of Monroeville; five brothers, Ira and Guy McBride, both of Decatur; Ora of Convoy, 0., Earl of Coldwater, Mich, and Edward of Fort Wayne; and one grandson. Funeral services will be held at 12;30 p. m. -Wednesday at the Roy Mcßride residence, and at 2 o’clock at the Monroeville Methodist church, with the Rev. Homer Studebaker officiating. Burial (Turn To Page 3, Column-6)

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, March 26, 1945.

Red Cross War Fund Is Now $21,669.20 The county’s Red Cross war fund climbed to $21,669,20 over the weekend, today's report revealed. .'The quota of $16,700 was reached last Monday and each day has seen a ibig increase in the contributions. Red Cross officials estimated that the 'fund (Would exceed $23,000 i>y the time the final returns are in. The section and district chairmen are asked to make their report at the Red Cross home service office as rapidly as possible, so that the campaign can be closed, Clarence Ziner, county drive chairman, requested. 0 Local Pilot Escapes Injury In Accident Dr. Joe Morris Is Uninjured Saturday Dr. Joe Morris, civilian air pilot of. this city, escaped injury Saturday afternoon on the Ivitich field, west of Thirteenth street, when the Aeroca plane in which he was landing tipped over to the left side, damaging a wing of the plane. Dr. Morris had completed a short flight and was in the act of landing, when the accident occurred. Rather than crash into the nearby buildings, Dr. Morris is said to have dipped his plane, which stopped it and prevented possible injury to others in the proximity of the field. The field has been used by Robert McComb, former civilian army trainer pilot. Local fliers say it is too small and has too many hazards around the place and a group of enthusiasts are making an effort to locate a more adequate field adjoining the city. One backer of the airfield proposition cited the minor accident that befell Dr. Morris, because of (Turn To Page 6, Column 1)

No Objections Filed To Proposed Drain No alujections were filed against the proposed drain in Union township, as petitioned for by Amos 'Thieme and others, and the court referred the matter to John W. Tyndall, county surveyor, and Otis Shifferly and Herman Steele as viewers. They were ordered to meet on March '29 and view the proposed drain and to report back to the court not later than May 15. o McKenzie Funeral Held This Morning Funeral services were held this morning at St. Jude'o Catholic church. Fort Wayne, for Aloysius F. McKenzie, brother-in-law'of Mrs. Fred Fullenkamp of this city. IMr. McKenzie died suddenly Friday evening of a heart attack at his home. His wife is the former Lucil Corbett, daughter, of IMr. and Mrs. Timothy Coibett, former residents of this city.

Flying Fortresses Raid Nazi Targets British, Russian Planes Hit Berlin London, Mar. 26—(UP)—More than 300 fortresses of the eighth U.S. air force attacked a synthetic oil plant and refinery at Zeitz and a self-propelled gun and armored vehicle plant at Plauen today. An escort of more than 450 mustang fighjter planes accompanied the bombers. The attack on Plauen was the second in less than a week on that area. Eighth air force headquarters announced that nine planes were lost in previous week-end raids. American liberators and fortresses also bombed communication points in Austria and Hungary in the path of the Russian drive along the Danube. Mustang fighter planes strafed the area around Vienna, destroying 31 locomotives and shooting down five enemy planes. British mosquitoes raided Berlin during the night. Russian planes also attacked Berlin today, the Berlin radio said. o Two Autos Collide At Street Crossing Autos driven by Mrs. Max Keeps and Marion Jackson were badly damaged at 10 o’clock this morning in a collision at the intersection of Eleventh and Madison streets. No one was injured. Mrs. Kreps was driving west and Jackson north at the time of the collision, city police reported. 0 Mrs. Mary Butcher Dies At Hospital Funeral Services Tuesday Afternoon

Mrs. Mary Alma Butcher, widow of the late Adam Clark Butcher, died yesterday afternoon at the Adams county Memorial hospital, following a ■week’s illness from a fractured hip, and complications which developed during the past week. Mrs. Butcher, who made her home with her step-daughter, Mrs. Lawrence Roop of Ninth street, fell a week ago today and fractured her hip. Her husband died last Dec. 9. The deceased was born in Atlanta. Ga., on May 29, 1894. She was a member of the Eastern Star and the United Brethren church. Surviving are the step-children, Mrs. Roop, Mrs. Frank Baker, Mrs. Hubert Gilpen, Louise and Robert Butcher, all of this city; Morris Butcher of Wapakoneta, Ohio; Raymond Butcher of Denver, Col. Twenty grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. also (Turn To Page 3, Column 7)

Sensational 80-Mile Tank Drive Is Pacing Western Front Advance

Senate Committee Opens Food Probe One Testifies On Meat Black Market Washington, Marcfli 26 —-(UP) — The first witness in a special senate food inquiry today quoted an unidentified meat packer as saying that more than half of the meat sold in western Pennsylvania is from the black market. The senate committee hearing marked the opening of the first of a series of efforts to determine what is happening to the nation’s food supplies and why they have fallen to such low levels. The house may act today on a resolution to set up its own investigating committee. The witness who offered the black market testimony was Wilibur La Roe, Jr., general counsel for the national independent meat parkers association. He gave the source df t'he charge as “a responsible packer from western Pennsylvania.” 'La Roe told the committee it would >be better to “stop the evil at i’s source” than to investigate. To cut out black Ibarkets, he said, the office of price administration should adjust its meat price ceilings to permit packers “a fair and equitable margin.” IThe hearing opened with committee members stressing the need for destroying 'black markets and for determining how much meat America sends abroad. 'Chairman Elmer Thomas, D., Okla., of the special food investigating committee opened the hearings with the declaration that it will, if necessar, compel production of records which will “expose black market operations in meat, chickens, Ibutter, sugar and other food products.” Sen. Burton K. Wheeler, D., 'Mont., demanded that the committee find out why lend-lease and 'UNRIRIA are dipping into our “depleted” meat supply when Canada (Turn To Page 5. Column 5)

Observance Os Holy Week Opened Sunday St. Mary's Church Opens Observance Holy Week opened with the observance of Palm Sunday in St. Mary's Catholic church yesterday. The Passion of Jesus Christ, according to the gospel by St. Matthew, was read during the morning masses, and palms significant of the branches and flowers that strewed the way along Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem were blessed and distributed after the last mass. On Holy Thursday, the church will commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the 7:30 high mass, including procession with the Blessed Sacrament. The church will be open for private devotions and prayers before the Blessed Sacrament during the day. A prayer hour will be held from 7 to 8 o’clock in the evening. The Three Hours will be observed on Good Friday from 12 to 3 o’clock. Congregational Way of the Cross will be held at 12:45 and 1:45 p. m. during the service. Blessing with a relic of the True Cross will be given after the mass of the pre-eanctified at 7:30 in the morning, at 2:30 in the afternoon and again following the Good Friday sermon at 7:30 in the evening. On Holy Saturday, the services will begin at 6 o’clock, with the blessing of the Easter fire, the pascal candle and holy water, concluding with a high mass at 7:30 o’clock. Confessions will be heard from Wednesday to Saturday evening. On Easter Sunday, the first mass will be at 5:30 and three low masses at 7:30, 9 and 10:15 o’clock in the morning. ;

Reds Drive To 35 Miles Os Austria Border Third Army Group Hurled Into Push Bound For Vienna BULLETIN London, Mar. 26—(UP) — Red army troops have captured the Czechoslovak city of Banska Bystrica, on the west bank of the Hron river 120 miles east of Vienna, Premier Stalin announced in an order of the day today. London, Mar. 24 —(UP) —Berlin said today that the Russians have thrown a third artnyi group into their Vienna-bound offensive, already within 35 miles of the Austrian border. Ernest Von Hammer, German DNB commentator, said the new force seized a bridgehead across the Hron river near the Slovak-ian-Hungarian border some 96 miles east, of Vienna in an attack that began at 4 a. m. Sunday. The army group went over to the attack north of the Danube river while two other Red army groups — the second and third Ukrainian —were driving the Germans back toward Austria in disorder along a 90-mile front south of the river. Vanguards of the third Ukrainian army already had outflanked the western Hungarian fortress city of Gyoer and were less than 78 miles southeast of Vienna. The new assault widened the offensive front to at least 130 miles and put well over 1.000.000 Russian troops on the march in a determined bid to thwart Nazi plans for a last in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps beyond Vienna. Von Hammer acknowledged that the Russians had forced the Hron on a wide front in the new attack north of the Danube river, but asserted that apart from a “narrow bridgehead” southwest of Leva, they had been unable to obtain a “firm foothold” on the west bank. "The small bridgehead is exposed to heavy German artillery fire and attacks,” Von Hammer (Turn To Page 6, Column 5) o Hiller Calls Leaders For Meeting Tonight Report Meeting In Mountain Rereat

London, Mar. 26. —(UP) —A Zurich dispatch said today that Adolf Hitler has called an emergency meeting of hie ministers and gauleiters (district leaders) for tonight at Berchtesgaden. Subject matter of the conference was not disclosed, the dispatch said, but it quoted a German war office spokesman as saying that Germany “must be prepared for unfortunate news.” The dispatch, distributed by the exchange telegraph agency, said the plans for the meeting were disclosed by an “unquestionable source.” Ministers and gauleiters will be transported to Hitler’s Bavarian retreat by plane, it said. Reports reaching Sweden from Berlin said the Nazi capital was more jittery and tense than at any time since the invasion of Normandy. Travelers arriving at Malmoe from Germany said the nightly air raids were driving Berliners “to dementia.” Germans expect further surprise air-borne landings still deeper behind the German lines, Swedish dispatches said.

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Third Army's Tank Columns Storming In On Wuerzburg; Nazis Collapsing Paris, Mar. 26 — (UP) —Tank columns of the American third army were reported storming in on the ancient Bavarian stronghold of Wuerzburg today in a sensational 80-mi’e drive through the collapsing German defenses on the Upper Rhine. Word of the third army's slashing break-through into the Bavarian hills came as five other Allied armies to the north were breaking open the German battle screen on a 200-mile front east of the Rhine. The whole Allied assault line ■was on the move into Germany’s last-ditch defenses beyond the great Rhine barrier, advancing with gathering speed and power against an enemy apparently stunned by the greatest aerial bombardment in history. Armored task forces of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s U. S. third army were far out in front of the Allied offensive and rolling ahead at breakneck speed. Reliable military sources in London said Patton's tanks and armored infantry carriers had advanced 80 road miles east of their Rhine bridgehead near Mainz to the Wuerzburg area today. That represented an advance of 37 miles southeast from their last reported positions on the east bank of the Main river at Aschaffenburg, and 60 miles from besieged Frankfurt, whose fall was expected imminently. At Wuerzburg, the Yanks would be less than 60 miles northwest of the Nazi shrine city of Nuernberg and 228 miles southwest of Berlin. Headquarters spokesmen expressed confidence that the German army finally was being beaten to its knees in the great Rhine assault. Prime Minister Churchill and Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery went across the Rhine again today, and Montgomery said that “the battle is going extremely well.” Frankfurt. Germany’s ninth city, was under siege from three sides. Heavily-censored field dispatches indicated the Germans were abandoning it and fleeing southeastward into the Bavarian mountains. The United States first army to the north swung down from its Remagen bridgehead against' the flank of the Frankfurt defenders, racing down the Rhine-Ruhr-Bcrlin superhighway to within 40 miles or less of Frankfurt. Vanguards of the first army along the Rhine’s east bank were less than eight miles from a juncture with third army troops south of Coblenz. First army troops storming directly eastward from the bridgehead were 19 miles beyond the Rhine in the Altenkirchen area and making rapid progress against weakening resistance. At the top of the western front, foqr Allied armies were striking through a 30-mile belt of the German defenses along the northern flank of the burning Ruhr. Opposition at some points was fanatical and almost non-existent at others. U. S. ninth army forces drove 12 miles beyond the Rhine on the southern wing of the four-army assault line to capture Gahlen, 3% miles west of Dorsten and less than 15 miles due north of the Ruhr city of Essen. Germany’s largest war production center. Front dispatches said the Americans had lost all contact with the fleeing enemy in that sector. Forward elements southwest of Gahlen were entering the suburbs of Duisburg and the fall of that great Ruhr city appeared imminent. Farther north, however, shock troops of the British second, Canadian first, and Allied first airborne armies were battling for every foot of ground on Hie flat (Turn To Page 5, Column 2)