Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 74, Decatur, Adams County, 28 March 1945 — Page 1

/ Mu S tW/nt/»eWar/ II Else Is Chores!

XLIII. No. 74.

ALLIED ARMED TIDE ROARING EASTWARD

|yo Reports Inks Reinforce |rama Troops Bokyo Radio Says• Ravage Battles Are Klnderway On Island H bulletin ■Guam. Mar. 29—(Thursday) Bp)— Tokyo said today that K r and surface vessels” ■re attacking the American HSval task groups which had ■under! the strategic Okina- ■ islands, 380 miles south■st of Japan. Ram. Mar. 28. - (UP) — Tokyo ■ that American carrier planes ■j southern Japan today in ■oit of the reported invasion of ■Kerama islands, 380 miles to ■outhwest. ■ broadcast domei news agency ■t< li said that approximately Harrier planes raided Kyushu, ■hernmost of the Japanese home ■ds, this afternoon (Japanese K The raid was centered on ■ Miyazaki and Kagoshima preKres in the southern part of ■island, domei said. Ki early Tokyo radio broadcast Krted that American reinforceKts had landed in the Kerama Kds, southwest of Kyushu, and ■ “savage battles’" were, under Ke invasion of the Keramas, K of the Okinawa group, is only ■elude to imminent landings on Kiawa island itself, site of an imKnt naval base and several airKs in Japan’s inner defense belt, Ko Tokyo said. ■upporting American warships, ■tiding at least 11 battleships ■ 15 aircraft carriers, shelled and ■bed Okinawa and other islands ■he west and south for'the sixth Kight day today. Tokyo said. Kacific fleet headquarters remain■fileni on the enemy reports of Kings in the Keremas, but conKed that warships and carrier Kes continued to attack “enemy Kes and land defense installaKs” in the Ryukyu chain, of ■h the Okinawa group is part. K delayed dispatch from United ■ss war correspondent Lloyd Kling aboard Vice-Admiral Marc ■Hilscher's flagship off Okinawa K sattleships, cruisers and deKyers pounded the main island ■ the Ryukiis group with more ■ B 1,000 tons of explosives SaturKurfaee forces attached to ■seller’s famed carriers paraded ■ four hours along a 10-mile ■rich of the southeastern coast ■Okinawa, Tupling said. ■he big guns of the battleships, ■feei's and destroyers blasted at ■anese gun emplacements, pill■es and other shore installations. Beadquarters also announced ■t navy search planes, presumB based on Two, damaged three Ball cargo ships around Hachijo 150 miles south of Tokyo, ■May. it was the deepest peno■•ion of Japanese waters yet by ■•' based planes other than Superioresses. fadio Tokyo said 60 to 70 Superfollowed up yesterday’s | (Turn To Page 2. Column 3) I -O— 1 faigville Woman's fa Dies In Italy Sadi « Cotterly, of Craigville, word that her son, larch u ' ry R ' Ootterl yi 42 ’ d4 ed Kni«.= 7. an anny h <®Pital in Karm a V’ He was serving as a IL aSt attach ed to an army ■ivart 1 Col ' pa - No details were reF’M regarding hi s death. ■er ai-To! iD .addition to the moI Pavno Wife and a 80n > Jack, Irin o a Mrß - Frank fa Jnh Cra!gVllle ’ anil bwo broF ’ J «bn °f Payne, 0 „ and Ern|of w ‘chita Falls, Tex. I 2:00 P- 77 I Cl.. LEATHER I ® Xce Pt P incr nißh i t * nd Thur ®day I vaiu *^ 8 c,Out, ln«se In I n °on r nol y Thursday aftertie r / t ’ niflht ar, d a litI tion » * nd * a,t P° r -

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Court House Closes AH Day On Friday Announcement was made today that the Adams county court house will be closed all day Good Friday. Practically all business houses and offices in the city will be closed during the observance of the Three Hours from 12 noon until 3 p. m. o Reds Drive To River Raab In North Hungary Nazis Anticipate Early Red Frontal Assault On Berlin BULLETIN London, Mar. 28 —(UP) — The Red army today broke through the last barrier to the Austrian frontier and tonight was only 12 miles from the border amj 55 miles south of Vienna. London, Mar. 28.— (UP) —The Red army drove within 21 miles of the Austrian frontier and about 65 miles of Vienna today with a lightning thrust to Sarvar on the Raba river, 26 miles west of Papa. Other Soviet columns were pushing toward Csorna, 75 miles southeast of Vienna and were reported already across the Raba river just east of Csorna. Moscow dispatches for the first time spoke of the drive as aimed at an ultimate junction with the forces of Lt. Gen. George S. Patson which already have spearheaded halfway to the Czech border across southern Germany. At the same time major fighting was reported on the Oder line w’here the Nazis claimed they were trying to drive a corridor through to German • elements which they claimed were still resisting inside Kuestrin, 38 miles east of Berlin. German reports admitted the Red army had crossed the Marcal canal lying just east of the Raab and Moscow reports said that it was believed >the Raab also had been crossed. German accounts said the Russians were attacking in great strength, apparently in an effort to by-pass and neutralize the Nazi garrisons at Komarom and Gyor which guard the Lake Balaton approaches to Austria. The Vienna-bound drive coincided with new and extremely heavy Soviet attacks on the Oder river line, centering around Kuestrin, 38 miles east of Berlin. Nazi accounts admitted Soviet penetrations at Kuestrin where they claimed an encircled garrison still was holding out. The Russians were mopping up in Ddynia and Danzig and expected to complete occupation of the Baltic cities today or tomorrow. Russian accounts said that the remaining defenders largely were poorly (Turn To Paxe 2. Column 3)

Martha Bultemeier Dies Tuesday Night Funeral Services Friday Afternoon Mrs. Martha Bultemdier, ,54. of north of Decatur, died at 10:02 o’clock Tuesday night at the Clinic hospital in Bluffton after an extended illness. She had been a patient at the hospital for the past eight weeks. A native of Adams county, she had spent practically her entire life in the community north of Decatur. Surviving are the husband, Charles Bultemeier; two brothers, Carl Wiegman of near Hoagland and August Wiegman of Fort Wayne; and three sisters, Miss Marie Wiegman of Chicago, Mrs. Martin Heckman and Miss Minnie Wiegman, both of Adams county. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p. m. Friday at the Scheumann funeral home in Fort Wayne and at 2:30 o’clock at the Zion Lutheran church at Friedbeim, with the Rev. E. T. Schmidtke officiating. Burial will he in Greenlawn cemetery at Fort Wayne. Friends may call at the funeral home after 4 o’clock Thursday afternoon.

U. S. Signal Corpsmen Follow Up Rhine Crossing &B. z- ■MkB R&b , - y 'Wm- 8 - -w- ' SHOWN ON THE BANK OF THE GREAT Rhine river in Germany are Signal .Corpsmen of the U. S. Ninth Army who are stringing submarine communications cable across, the watery barrier, as they en deavor to keep the communications service up with the fast-advancing troops breaking out into the heart of Germany’s Ruhr area. This is a U. S. Army Signal Corps radiophoto.

Decatur Lions Club In Weekly Meeting IA film on the development of the gas tunbine was shown at the weekly meeting of the Decatur Lions club Tuesday evening. Francis Zimmerman was chairman of the program. A clulb attendance program was announced, with Phil Sauer and John Doan as opposing chairman. The Lions /will hold their annual basketball banquet next Tuesday, with the members of the Yellow Jackets and Commodores basketball teams as guests. o Soft Coal Miners Voting On Strike Overwhelming Vote For Strike Likely • Washington, Mar. 28. — (UP) — The nation’s 400,000 soft coal miners were being polled today on their willingness to strike if their new wage demands are not granted by the time the present contract ends at midnight Saturday. The vote was expected to be overwhelmingly in favor of a strike. But it was virtually certain that the government would step in before the Saturday deadline to prevent a halt in coal production. The polls were scheduled to be open from 6 a. m. to 8 p. m., local time, in all bituminous producing areas. The national labor relations board, which is conducting the balloting, said it hoped to have final results tabulated by 4 a. m. tomorrow. The poll will cost about $300,000, most expensive ever conducted under the Smith-Connally anti-strike law. The official ballot advised the miners that the issues were “questions relating to negotiations of a new contract.” They were asked to vote yes or no on this one question: “Do you wish to permit an interruption of war production in wartime as a result of this dispute?” Officials believed that only a war labor board order requiring the United Mine Workers and coal operators to extend their present contract, or government seizure of the mines, would prevent a work stoppage! his weekend. The government has asked the disputants to extend the present contract for a month. The operators agreed but under conditions (Turn To Page 2, Column 5)

Reports Milk Weed Collection In State (Lyman L. Hann, chairman of the Adams county milkweed pod drive, today received a letter of appreciation from Oliver C. Lee, state chairman. for this county’e part in the collection of the pods a few weeks ago. Mr. Lee stated that 160.000 bags were collected in Indiana, eufficient to produce 90,000 lifejackets. The pods have been sent to a processing plant at Petoskey, Mich.

Decatur, Indiana, Wed nesday, March 28, 1945.

F.D.R, Asks Senate Pass Manpower Bill Compromise Bill Is Approved By House Washington, Mar. 28 —(UP) — President Roosevelt today asked the senate to pass the houseapproved compromise manpower bill. Its failure to do so, he said, would hamper “successful conduct of the war.” The president said in a letter to chairman Elbert D. Thomas, D., Utah, of the senate military affairs committee that the manpower situation “is still serious." In an apparent allusion to what might be expected to happen after defeat of Germany, Mr. Roosevelt added: “In the days ahead of us there will be great temptation for workers to leave war plants.” The bill, written by housesenate conferees, wpuld apply stiff penalties to both workers and employers who violate its terms. It would authorize the administration to freeze war workers in their jobs and to impose manpower ceilings on employers. Passage of the measure, Mr. Roosevelt said, would place responsibility for and (Turn To Pagie 2. Column 4)

Plan Memorial Service For Truman Krueckeherg April 8

Memorial services for Technician Fifth grade Truman F. Krueckeberg, of Union township, who was killed in action in Manila, Philippine islands on Feb. 15, will be held Sunday, April 8, at the Immanuel Lutheran church at 2:30 in the afternoon, with the Rev. E. B. Allwardt, pastor, in charge. In addition to a letter received from Capt. James C. Clem, commanding officer of the 271 Field Artillery Battalion, in which Tech. Krueckeherg served, the parents received a personally signed otter from Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Under the date of March 5, Gen. MacArthur wrote: “In the death of your son, Tech nician Fifth Grade Truman F. Krueckeherg, you have my heartfelt 1 sympathy. “His service was characterized by his devotion to our beloved country, and in his death we have lost a gallant crusader in arms.” Captain Clem paid tribute to Cpl. Krueckeherg and related how the soldier met his death. “On the morning of Feb. 15, he was operating the radio in an artillery forward observer party during the fierce street fighting in Manila, and had carried his radio to the most forward point of advance in order to relay the fire commands of the artillery officer to his battalion. In this exposed position Truman was hit by a sniper's bullet, was pulled to a sheltered position by one of his companions, and died five minutes later,

BULLETIN Detroit, March 28 — (UP) — Approximately 2,300 employes of the Packard Motor Car Co., a folac point of senate investigation into war production, struck today. The company announced that the walkout woul dhalt its output of aircraft and marine engines by tonight. , —o U. S. Planes Attack German Arms Plants t Blows Calculated To Hasten End Os War London, Mar. 28. — (UP) —More than 1,300 American bombers and fighters attacked German arms plants in Berlin and Hannover today in twin blows calculated to hasten the end of the war in Euroope. Well over 950 Flying Fortresses rained nearly 3,000 tons of demolition and fire bombs on the two cities between 10 and 11:15 a. m. BST, an American communique announced. The bombers were escorted by more than 350 Mustang fighters. The raids were designed to cripple two of Germany’s main sources of arms outside the great Ruhr valley, already threatened by ad(Turn To Pagie 2, Column 4)

*' ’ while under a doctor’s care. Burial took place in Manila.” Truman Krueckeherg was born in Union township, October 22, 1919. He was graduated from the Monmouth high school. He ent ered the army on Jan. 19, 1942, went overseas in July, 1943, and served in Australia, New Guinea, Admiralty islands and the Philippines. Besides his parents he is survived by two brothers, Morris Krueckeherg, seaman, second class, U. S. navy, San Diego, Cal., and Melvin at home; four sisters, Mrs. Dorwin Dressier and Norma Krueckeherg of Fort Wayne; Gertrude and Irene at home.

Seven Annies Smashing Headlong For Berlin, Only 230 Miles Away

U. S. And Britain Study Food Supply Officials Studying Critical Situation Washington, Mar. 28 —(UP) — The United States and Great Britain announced jointly today that they were reappraising the entire food supply and requirements problem in the light of an “increasingly critical” situation. The announcement by the state department and the British embassy was made in connection with the visit here of Oliver Lyttelton, British minister of production, and J. J. Liewellin, min ister of food It revealed that the two Britishers were sent here by Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the invitation of President Roosevelt to work out the difficult food problem with high American officials. The announcement came as the food supply problem held the full attention of congress, with separate house and senate investiga tions already projected. Civilians meanwhile received conflicting reports from government agencies on the amount of food they could expect this year. A spokesman for the “big four” meat packing concerns predicted that the government will have to “take over” the meat industry if the war should last three or four more years and OPA regulations are not changed. Thomas E. Wilson, Chicago, chairman of the. board of Wilson & Co., told the senate food investigating committee that the meat industry could not “continue to borrow money and assume the losses that will con tinue unless this program is changed.” The British-American statement said that, all relevant factors will be discussed, including the levels of consumption and the reserves necessary to support the war effort in the countries con cerned. The conflicting reports on the food supply came from the war (Turn To Page 5. Column 2)

Gen. Eisenhower To Announce War's End Formal Statement To Come From General By United Press The end of the war in Europe probably vzill become known through a formal announcement by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower that German resistance on the western front has been broken. In response to a question by Boyd Lewis, United, Press European news manager, Eisenhower •said in Paris yesterday that he planned to make such an announcement when the proper time arrived. The plans of the Allied supreme commander were made known yesterday while erroneous reports that the Germans had surrendered or were about to surrender spread through the United States. One report was started by a misinterpretation of what Eisenhower himself said in his press conference in Paris. Some of the west coast clients of International News receive received a report reading: “Eisenhower says Germans quit.” Executives of the INS in New York said an error was made in the San Francisco relay where the words /‘Eisenhower says Germans are whipped” were changed to “Eisenhower says Germans quit,” before the correction could be made the erroneous version had been broadcast on the west coast. Earlier in the day an INS dispatch from Washington started the false rumors that the end of the European war was imminent. Jon(Turn To Page 6, Column 51

Yankee Forces Are Sweeping Across Cebu Capital Os Central Philippines Island Set Afire By Japs Manila, Mar. 28—(UP)—American invasion forces swept over Cebu today to within two and a half miles of burning Cebu city, capital of the central Philippines island. Elements of the Amercian division, which landed on the minestrewn beach at Talissay on the east coast Monday, were battling the Japanese garrison at Pardo just south of the capital. Cebu city is the second largest port in the Philippines. Huge fires were reported out of control in Cebu city and the Japanese apparently were following their theme of destruction, which devastated Manila anH other island capitals in the Archipelago. A naval bombardment from cruisers and destroyers covered the landing by Maj. Gen. W H. Arnold's veterans of Guadalcanal and Bougainville. Although the Japanese were caught off guard by the invasion, the shallow beaches were mined and the assault troops ran into mortar fire from the Talisay area, five miles south of Cebu city. Bombers and fighters of the 13th air force joined the drive and blasted a path for the ground forces as they cut across the narrow guage rail line and moved onto the hard-surface road paralleling the coast. Five small villages were swept up and a stubborn Japanese pock et was knocked out nearly two miles north of Talisay in the drive which carried to the town of Pardo, two and a half miles south of Cebu city. The capital, with its three large piers and airfields, was a prime target for Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces. The city, which had a pre war population of 150,000 has a harbor second only to Manila in the entire Philippines. Cebu city is just across a nar row strait from historic Mactan island, where Magellan died in (Turn To Page 2, Column 2) o

8,108 Casualties Announced Today Largest Single List Since Start Os War 'Washington, March 28 —’(UP) — The official casualty list for publication today contained 8,108 names the largest number announced at one time since the war’s start. (The list, released by the office of war information, included 8.007 army and 101 navy, marine corps, and coast guard names. It was learned at the war department that the army list reflected casualties actually suffered in late January and February, and did not present any great jump in losses. Before the OWI took over the compilation of Daily casualty lists on March 14. it had been the war department’s practice to issue separate lists of killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners. The OWI. however, combines them. Moreover, today's list represents an effort to whittle dofwn a back log of unpublished names. The 8,007 army total included 1,586 killed, 4,050 wounded, and 2;371 prisoners. The navy list included 73 killed, 27 wounded, and one missing.

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Entire Ruhr Basin Outflanked; Nazi Opposition Melts Before Allied Tide BULLETIN London, Mar. 28 — (UP) — Radio Berlin reported tonight that American tanks have reached Hammelburg, 204 miles from Berlin and 22 miles north of Wuerzburg. Paris, Mar. 28— (UP) —Seven Allied armies drove headlong through a 200-mile belt of Germany's western battle screen today in a series of spectacular armored break throughs that outflanked the entire Ruhr basin and carried to within 230 miles of Berlin. American fliers who sw’armed out by the thousands to bomb and strafe the fleeing enemy reported that the Allied tide was sweeping eastward with tremendous speed and power. Except for a few stubborn pockets of resistance in the bypassed Ruhr valley, German opposition was melting everywhere from the Karlsruhe corner to the Dutch border. Berlin said British tanks had advanced 33 miles beyond the Rhine crossing at Wesel to tha Dortmund-Ems canal, almost 26 miles past their kick off point this morning. There the Tommies were past the main arsenal centers of the Ruhr and only 245 miles due west of Berlin. Returning pilots said the battle lines were moving ahead so rapidly that new bombing zones had to be established every 20 minutes. At some points the pursuing British were completely out of contact with the fleeing enemy. Troops of the American ninth army on their right flank charged into the Ruhr itself and cut the Duisffurg Hamm military highway. Radio Luxembourg said they captured the factory city of Sterkrade. nine miles northwest of Duisburg. The Germans were in the midst of a general retreat that had broken into a disorderly rout at many points, with hundreds of Allied tanks riding hard on their heels. The Allied tank armies, shaken loose for the first time on a major scale, were hurdling their own infantry lines and racing almost unopposed across the burning Reich anywhere from 30 to 90 miles beyond the Rhine. To the south, the American third and seventh armies linked up on the Main river 35 miles east of the Rhine and about the same distance southeast of embattled Frankfurt. The juncture brought the American first, third, and seventh armies abreast along a front of almost 100 miles between the Lahn and Neckar river valleys. Into a few blazing hours that threatened Germany with her greatest military disaster of the (Turn To Paae 6, Column 3) O Request Retailers To Attend Meeting Decatur retailers are requested to attend a meeting at the armory building in Fort Wayne Friday evening at 7:30 o’clock. The meeting has been called ot dtecues the new price regulations for retailers of clothing „ apparel, house hold furnishings, etc. o •— Three Minor Youths Confess To Crimes iEd Graden. Wells county sheriff, announced Tuesday that the arrest of three minors, two from Wells county and one from Adams county has cleared up a number of recent rdbiberiee in Berne, Bryant, Kirkland township, Vera Cruz, Poneto and Willshire, O. Sheriff Graden announced that the three youths had confessed to the series of crimes. Because ot their age, their cases will be handled by juvenile authorities.