Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 79, Decatur, Adams County, 3 April 1945 — Page 1

lustWintheWar Else Is Chores!

■(UH? No. 79

MUENSTER FALLS TO ADVANCING ALLIES

ft Invasion Bees Slice Lwa In Two llpanese Prepare Iftfense On Line fln Narrow Isthmus Apr. i VP)—Army inu., sliced Okinawa wiili six-niile dash to the widened their hold on Nakagusuku bay naval tn nt least three miles ■Krt i.-h! still were advancing. 'tfKS.,- uni's of Maj. Gen. John R. >9 Ka&'-' 24th army corps advanced r ■ft,|iew west coast to with:ii""e than six miles of capital of Okinawa, in the |EK ;lr ,i IVlitini: of the tliree-day ?? ions cirW that the JapanrKl.’.. preparing to defend a tne narrow isthmus just Naha. ißini-s a- 'he northeern end of th ■■gLrniys front broadened the RB coast beachhead to at least with an advance of more mile. • marines cleaned out and seZampa ('ape and sent an HBmI spearhead along the coast- ' to the north. ■gBK.,-,1. i-> ...niiniied astonishingon both sides. One marine ■Hinn counted only 15 bodies and ■Kt three of them were civilians ■■ in the preliminary bombardAnother marine division has |K ];:>• Japanese while suffering only a small percentage '■at number. word that tank-lead army had reached Kakagusuku ■» came from an observation which flashed back a mess■■tliai it was watching American swimming in the nude off SBeast coast beaches. 24th corps’ push to the east gave the Americans a wide from which to attack eithor eontb. and also secured on all vital north-south Moads and telephone lines. L. Thomas, United Press at 24th corps said the first doughi cached the beaches of Awaharbor near Tobn.a at P- m. yesterday. MB'D' had achieved in 36 hours tiie original invasion sell? dSKm: might take more than five Awasida-Tomari harbor lies noriimrii end of Nakagusuku ■M and today the troops were prob- ■ forward out of the Awasida said the troops sliced meager Japanese reais“like a hot knife through gB'" 1 " in their dash to the east Ever-increasing numbers pouting out of the limestone Uy 011111 the eastern beaches, he tst Turn To PaK ’ f ' 2, Column 4) o ®dio Tokyo Admits ■Great Damage Done B Byß-29sMarch 10 Ry United Press aß™' n Tok y° finally has admitted gW the B-29 fire-bomb attack on capita] March 10 caused vast ■™ aße but insisted that “a new ■c, * as rls >ng from the ashes." 5 broadcast, reported by the ■ ° llly a few hours after the fortresses launched their lat|B a tack on industrial targets in !■' area yesterday, conceded that ■ 1 L "‘ 1 1 CS had been burned to the “ ail(i that thousands of resiJ* Were homeless. braadcast said thousands of ■L ?mu been ass >gned to confthtinff !<? burned area « >nto ■ w h ° Wer? h said «crap metlai i eing reClaimed , truck gard■d ba,r°V ’ n the scor ched earth ■tie Col,st mcted near sacW" pe rsonnel ■demSa ATURE rea ding ■ RATTHERM OMETER "• vie: ■ 46 II 2: °o >7: — » ftoiOudv . WEAT HER with T 8!’ 4 and WadnesH and mo t ra ‘ n » tonight Oecidert \k° f Wednesday; no 9 ture. ,n ° e in tempera-

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

92 Japanese Planes Smashed At Shanghai (Chungking, April 3—(UP) —U. R. 14lh air force planes, striking at the iShankhai airdrome 500 miles from Okinawa, destroyed 92 Jap planes and damaged 1(1 in surprise raids Sunday and Monday, it was announced today. _o Soviet Troops Continue Drive Toward Vienna Russian Forces Are Only 11 Miles From Capital Os Austria BULLETIN London, April 3. —(UP) —Red army troops tonight drove toward the outskirts of Vienna after capturing the chief Austrian industrial centers of WeinerNeustadt, Neunkirchen and Gloggnitz. London, Apr. 3 — (UP) —Soviet columns drove into Baden, only 11 miles south of Vienna, and advanced on the Austrian capital today. Fighting also raged in Wiener-Neustadt and Bratislava, capital of the puppet state of Slovakia. The Nazi Transocean agency reported that violent street fighting was in progress in Baden, Bratislava and Wiener-Neustadt. At the present rate of advance it appeared the entry of the Red army into the Tustrian capital could not be long delayed despite frantic Nazj efforts to organize the city for a last ditch stand. The Germans claimed that the attacks on Wiener-Neustadt were repulsed but the Soviet advance had already cut Vienna from its connections with the industrial south. The same advance had begun to snap German communications with their forces still fighting in northern Yugoslavia. The breakthrough into WienerNeustadt, 23 miles south of Vienna and site of one of Germany's biggest Messerschmit aircraft factories, was revealed by Ernst Von Hammer, German DNB agency military commentator, in a Berlin broadcast. “Heavy" street fighting was underway, Von Hammer said. Marshal Feodor. I. Tolbukhin’s third Ukrainian army group, by Soviet account, was only eight .miles southeast of Wiener-Neu-(Turn To Page 6, Column 5) 0 Many Coal Miners Slay Out 01 Pits Pennsylvania And Alabama Mines Hit Birmingham, Ala., Apr. 3. (UP) —A majority of Alabama soft coal miners remained away from the pits today, apparently protesting the fact no contract has been negotiated since the April 1 expiration date. Only a few mines -in the state were operating with skeleton crews. William Mitch, president of district 20 of the United Mine Workers, issued an appeal to all miners to return to work. He said he expected operations to resume in two or three days.” No estimate of the number of miners involved was available. The union, however, claimed approximately 22,500 of Alabama's 25,000 coal miners were out. Mitch said no complaint had been presented and that he presumed the miners remained away from their jobs because no contract had been negotiated. Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, Apr. 3.—(UP)—Coal production in the Pennsylvania bituminous fields dropped to a fraction or normal today. The decline in production was ■attributed to two factors: failuie of operators and the United Mine Workers to agree on a new contract in negotiations now underway in Washington, and an unofficial extension of yesterday’s mine holiday. (Turn To Page 6, Column 3)

Invading Yanks Take This Airstrip On Okinawa F ""7 : ”"1 » ' ' < a *5 SUPPORTED BY GUNS and aircraft of the veteran U. S. Fifth Fleet, elements of the I S. U'lh Army, which includes the 24th Army corps and the Marine Third Amphibious corps, invaded the west coast of the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu group and captured’’ Katena airfield, above, four hours after landing. A mile from the shoreline, over flat plain, the airfield stretches out its full 4.900 feet of coral landing strip just three miles from the Nip mainland. U. S. Navy photo.

Less Food This Year For Civilian Market Director Os Supply Reports To Senate Washington, Apr. 3 —(UP) — Lt. Col. Ralph W. Olmstead, director of supply for the war food administration, told senate investigators today that American 1 and Canadian civilians will have ' to with even less to eat this year. Olmstead was called before the senate food investigation committee to explain this nation's food shortage. He said the basic reason is “very simple—supplies are down and requirements are up.” Olmstead said “various shortages are rapidly developing” not only in meats, but in fats and oils, dairy products, dried eggs, sugar and rice. World production of these items is expected to be smaller than in 1944, he said. “Indications are that requirements for relief feeding in 1945 will reach such magnitude that they cannot be met from available world supplies without substantial cuts in present, allocations to other claimants,” Olmstead said. United States and British emnire stocks of scarce commodities, he added, “will be reduced to the working minimum.” Olmstead said consumption cuts would be necessary if minimum lend-lease and liberated area requirements are to be met in the face of increasing military needs. United States military requirements, he continued, are 10 percent above 1944. Olmstead supplied this picture of the food situation: 1. Meat—the world meat supply deficit will be about G. 2 billion pounds. Even excluding liberated area requirements, there will be , a 3.7 billion pound deficit. The shortage is “particularly serious” in canned meats for the 1 military. The United States is not sending American military forces enough meat to fill their stated requirements. The deficit is about 10 percent for the second quarter of 1945. 2. Butter—the shortage will be “doubly serious" because the overall shortage /of fats precludes at) “adequate supply” of substitutes. 3. Fats and oils (excluding butter) — estimates indicate a united nations deficit of 3,469.000 pounds. 4. Evaporated milk — the sup(Turn To Page 5. Column 2) O— Says Adolf Hitler Notified To Retire By United Press The often unreliable Paris radio oaid today that German high command was reported to have notified Adolf Hitler and Nazi leaders to retire within 48 hours or the Ger- < man army would stop all resistance. The broadcast was recorded by CBS.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, April 3, 1945.

British Destroyers Attacking Sumatra By United Press The Chungking radio reported today that “formidable fleets” of British destroyers were attacking Japanese coastal installations on Sumatra, which guards the approches to Singapore. The Chungking (broadcast was recorded iby blue network monitors in San Francisco. It said the British surface fleet has inflicted “consideralble damage” on Japanese shipping in the waters around Sumatra. 0 Buy Equipment For Highway Department Contracts Awarded For Truck, Grader The county commissioners have purchased equipment for the high ■way department totaling more than $11,500, contracts 'being awarded for a new truck and dump bed of approximately three ton capacity and a power grader, with loader attachment. The power grader, fully equipped with bulldozer, scarifier, loader, cab and other equipment cost $9,060, with a deduction of $l5O for an old snow plow which the commissioners traded on the deal. The grader was of the AustinAVestern •make and was the only unit which met the commissioners specifications. Other proposals received for graders, exclusive of the loader attachment, were, the Adams, $6,68'5; Caterpillar, $7,010; Warco, $6,387.50; Galion. $6,7'10. Only one bid was received on the truck. The contract was awarded (Turn To Page 6, Column 6)

Pfc. Joseph L. Poffenberger Killed In Action In Germany

Pfc. Joseph J. Poffenberger. 27 husband of Mrs. Joanna Daily Pot fenberger, Sal Dierkes street, an infantryman with the First Army was killed in action in Germany on March 14, the war department notified his wife last evening. Mrs. Poffenberger, a daughter oi Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Daily of Walnut street, had a letter from her husband dated March 10. It was wr.t ten from the battlefront. The Decatur infantryman enter ed the army on June 25, 1943 and received his training at Camp Wheeler, Ga. He went overseas last May. In August he was in jured in action, but resumed his place in .front line duty shortly thereafter. He had been awarded the good conduct medal and the expert infantryman’s badge. He was a member of the 39th infantry company. Pfc. Poffenberger was a eon of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Poffenberger of Bluffton. He was born in Bluffton on Dec. 2, 1917 and attended the high school in that city. At the time of joining the army he was employed by the Canteen com-

Japs Squeezed In South Luzon Trap Legaspi Overrun By Amphibious Landing Manila, Apr. 3.—(UP)—U. S. assault troops squeezed the Japanese into a hopeless trap on southeastern Luzon today after an amphibious landing that overran the port of Legaspi and its airfield. Seasoned veterans of Brig. Gen. Hanford McNider’s 158th regimental combat team completed the encirclement of the Japanse in southern Luzon Sunday with a surprise landing near Legaspi, 200 miles southeast of Manila. Fire from heavy coastal batteries met the invasion craft, but opposition faded when the troops hi r the beaches under cover of a naval and air bombardment. Within three and a half hours, the Americans had secured Legaspi, largest port in southeastern Luzon, its nearby airfield and started a drive to the north. Gen. Douglas MacArthur said the landing and capture of Legaspi, which had a pre-war population of 15,780, was effected with “little loss.” A 10-day pre-invasion aerial bombardment, in which more than 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Legaspi area, had shattered the Japanese defenses and forced them to withdraw inland. The Japanese coastal fire failed to damage seriously any of the landing ships or vessels in the naval supporting force commanded by Capt. IT. F. McGree. In pushing northwest from Legaspi, southern terminus of the Manila railroad. MacNider’s troops advanced through a pass onto Bicol plain and were moving rap(Turn To Page 2. Column 6,

'v-?-'--' • Tt WS y%O||»B " A d WW—- " HF*™' . ' y V * A ' «« «> jjEt 1 'lk x ' f pany of Indianapolis, working out r of the Fort Wayne branch. He was [- married on June 30, 1940 in this d city. t Besides his widow and parents, e he is survived by one sister, Mrs. i- Elmer Schwartz of Fort Wayne.

Westphalian Capital Os Muenster Is Captured After Hard Fighting

Group Ordered For Induction April 11 Report Received On Last Week's Groups Sixteen Adams county men have been ordered to report for active induction into the nation’s armed services on Friday. April 27, the local selective service board announced today. The men will be given final examinations before being assign ed to the various branches of service. Those ordered to report. April 27 are as follows: Earl George Fuhrman, Richard Earl Sheets, George Washington Hawkins, Robert Lee Derrickson. Hugh Kedric Engle, Fred Ansil Scheiderer, Thorval Lee Mattax, Weldon Loris Sprunger. Francis Paul Moser, John Smitley, Jr., Robert Paul Briede, Alfred Martin Bultemeier, Robert Louis Reppert, Howard Earl Schwartz, Lester Koenemann, Ernest Hubert Querin. The board has also received official notification on the contingents sent from here last week. Six men were accepted for service from the group sent for preinduction physical examinations March 30. Those accepted are: Francis William Dayton Stult.s, John William Suman. Carl Christian Brunni, Dan Franklin Durbin, Robert Samuel Workinger, John Paul ’ Kelley, Kelley had volunteered for immediate induction and has been assigned to army service. The others have been returned home to await call to active duty. The board also has been notified of-the assignments of the contingent sent for active induction on March 29. Two were accepted for the marine corps, Arthur James Hurst and Lewis Edwin Beery. Four accepted for navy service were Fredrick Ray, Merle Affolder, George Edward Kahn and Earl Norman Williamson. Eleven accepted by the army were Richard D. Graber, Walter Ray Haines, Roy Junior Taylor, Richard Schroeder, Loren Vaughn Nussbaum, DeWayne Steiner, Donald Edward Myers. Lawrence Leroy Jones, Walter Allen Smith, Richard Mahlon Bryan and Robert Gerald Brewster. 0 Seek Improvement Os County Highway Waqe Scale Boosted To Highway Workers John Kintz and 32 other farmers and land owners tiled a petition with the county commissioners seeking the improvement of a county highway in Washington and Kirkland townships, known as the old Bluffton road, and extending west from the Erie railroad crossing on Monroe street to the Preble-Peterson highway. The petitioners asked that the road be improved with black top. The length of the proposed improvement is about three and one-half miles. The petition was placed on file, the commissioners informing the petitioners that lack of material would probably prevent, making the improvement this year. Wage Scale Boosted, The commissioners allowed an increase in the wage scale for county highway workers, including the supervisors. The scale adopted is as follows: Supervisors from 75 cents to 85 cents an hour; truck drivers, 70 to 80 cents an hour; laborers, 70 to 80 cents per hour; mechanics, 85 cents to 90 cents per hour. Temporary laborers, 65 cents per hour. 1 The increase was necessary, the commissioners were inform(Turn To Page 5, Column 3).

United States Not Io Seek Added Votes Roosevelt Decides No Additional Votes In World Assembly Washington, Apr. 3 — (UP) — President Roosevelt has decided that the United States will not ask for additional votes for this country in the proposed world assembly, it was announced today. It was disclosed last week that during the Crimea conference, Russia asked for three votes in the assembly. The White House said then that Britain and the U. S. agreed to support this request. in the San Francisco conference. The White House added in last week's announcement: "but the American representatives stated that, if the United Nations organization agreed to let the Soviet republics have three votes, the United States would ask for three votes also.” Today's announcement meant • that the U. S. apparently will . continue to support the Russian request for three votes, fulfilling the promise made at Yalta, but will not follow this up by asking the three votes for this country. The announcement was made by secretary of state Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. at a recordbreaking press conference attend.ed by nearly 100 correspondents. Stettinius also announced that plans for the April 25 San Francisco conference are proceeding with no thought of postponement. On the contrary, because of the rapid tempo of military and political events, it is increasingly necessary that the plans for creating a world organization be carried on promptly. Stettinius declined to reveal when President Roosevelt decided to drop the plans for this country to request, additional ’ votes. His formal statement ' (Turn To Page 5. Column 4) o General Rose Slain By German Captors American General Killed By Tankmen With First U. S. Army in Germany. April 3. (UP) Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose. Denover, Colo., com- ■ mander of the third armored division, was shot, to death by Nazi tankmen while taking off his pist >1 to hand over to his German captors, it was announced today. Rose’s aide, Maj. Robert Ballinger. White Plains. N. Y.. said Rose already had surrendered to the crew of a German Tiger tank when tankmen with a “burp" gun shot him. Rose was riding south of Paderborn last Saturday when ho was captured. He was trying to reach a portion of the third armored task force which had been cut off. Rose, one of the outstanding tankmen of the war, led the third armored division spearhead through northern France into Belgium ami hie unit was the first to breach the Siegfried line. It was the first to enter Cologne and now is one of the first on the road to Berlin. Only a few days ago Rose was cut off from his men and took up a machine gun himself and helped to hold off the Germans until help arrived. The 45-year-old officer had assumed command of the third armored division as a brigadier general Aug. 7 and was promoted to major general on Sept. 5.

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Price Four Cents*.

Tank Columns Race To Envelop Holland And Force The Weser Line On Highway BULLETIN Paris, Apr. 3.—(UP)—Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's tanks today roared into Gotha, only 150 miles from Berlin and a scant 185 miles from junction with the Red army. Paris, Apr. 3- (UP) —American and British troops captured the Westphalian capital of Muenster today while tank columns raced 50 miles and more beyond the city in twin drives to envelop Holland and force the Weser river lino on the main superhighway to Berlin. Muenster, 227 miles due west of Berlin, fell to the Allies after more than three days of savage street lighting and a raking artillery bombardment that reduced the city to a blackened rubble. Twenty miles to the southeast, soldiers of the American ninth army fought their way into Hamm, the biggest railway cen- ' ter in western Germany, and began a house to house mop-up ’ of its by-passed Nazi garrison. Armored spearheads of the ■ ninth army already were more ‘ than 50 miles east of the Muen-ster-Hamm line, splitting through t the hinge of the German defenses I to the Weser river on the Ruhrt Berlin superhighway 178 miles from Berlin and onl-y 37 miles east, of Hannover. Another ninth army column was reported racing for the Pied Piper ■ town of Hamlin, on the Weser 158 miles due west of the German • capital. Far to the south. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's American third army appeared to have broken loose on another armored run through central Germany. Official spokesmen said Patton's men were only l<>o miles from a juncture with the west-bound Red army at an undisclosed point. Berlin said Patton's men had captured Kassel, pivot of the German defenses on the Fulda river line 16’> miles southwest of Berlin. and another third army force 1 was only 152 miles from the enemy capital at Eisenach. Southeast of Eisenach, third army forces were almost threequarters of the way across central Germany in the Meiningen area 77 miles from the old border of Czechoslovakia and 180 miles inside the Reich. Between the Berlin-bound third ami ninth armies, the American first army began chopping through the eastern wall of the great Ruhr pocket to finish off a trapped force of perhaps 150,000 Germans. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower hailed the Ruhr trap as one of the biggest Allied victories of the war and predicted that the certain destruction of the pocketed Germans would speed the enemy’s final collapse. Censored field dispatches from the bla< ked out ninth army front, said American tank columns en- , veloped the German stronghold (Turn To Page fi, Column 5) 0 Retailers Urged To Attend OPA Meeting i Local retail* rs and store proprietors are urged to attend an OPA ; meeting at the Chamber of ComI merce building in Fort Wayne at t 7:45 o'clock Thursday ev ning. I when a repreeentati.ve of the state ‘ office will explain regulations covered under 580, it was explained t today. ‘ A similar meeting was held last week, but due to the Holy Week obt servance. many m -rchantfi were tutt able to attend. A second meeting > was planned for this week. Women's and men’s clothing, ftfrniture and household articles and • equipment are covered in the 580 • order. The ceiling price compliance • will be explained by the state repi resentative and merchants are invited to attend.