Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 81, Decatur, Adams County, 5 April 1945 — Page 1

LstW/ntheWar. '[lse Is Chores’

ftfclll. No. 81.

IUSSIA DENOUNCES JAP NEUTRALITY ACT

Kreach German Central Lines

hdreds Os Lee Tanks Bach lines »ird Army Tanks [■ding Roughshod ■ver Opposition [R Apr 5. - (1 ' p ) —hundreds third army tanks !■ through a 50-mile breach in |K. r!ll .i ! i central lines 130-odd Mfroin Berlin today, riding over weak opposition K.-.. m jies of the Czechoslovak reports broadcasts Luxembourg radio said othof Lt. Gen. George S. third army farther to the IShad broken into the Harz SKarn- more than 4(1 miles ■past ot captured Kassel and Kites or less west-southwest German capital. ■ u'. hard-driving veterans into (he rear supply ■ of the German armies drawn the eastern front and ■train? an imminent break■gh into Czechoslovakia that cut the reich in two. ■ equally spectacular Allied vic■«:i< shaping up at the norlh■>id of the front where British ■<l army troops raced 36 miles ■of Osnabrueck to link up with ■irau ninth army forces on the ■r river at Minden, 32 miles ■ of Hannover and 174 miles ■ Berlin. ■ sudden German collapse west ■e Weser river pointed up re- ■ brought back by Allied fliers ■the Germans were abandoning ■f Holland and northwestern ■any and falling back for a last ■ behind the Elbe river, which ■ back within 43 miles of Ber■adquarters spokesmen caut- ■ however, that there has as ■een no definite evidence of a ■ evacuation on that scale, be- ■ the aerial reconnaissance re- ■ of a large German transport ■ment eastward from Holland ■ the Bremen area. ■e combined British and Amer- ■ forces at Minden were only 52 Bs south of Bremen and 97 miles ■lnvest of Hamburg, Germany’s I largest ports. They were in Bion to drive across the Weser ■ northward against the seaBs or east for Hannover and ■in. ■her British forces to the, west B advancing rapidly, northward ■both sides of the Ema river Bin 50 miles of the Ems estuary, ■anadian first army troops on the Berne northwestern flank of the Bd line slugged their way deep B central Holland against stiff■B opposition. Late dispatches V the Canadians were across the ■*’ Rhine east and west of Arnf ’* miles or less from the ■Turn To Page 4. Column 7) Igion Honor Roll I To Be Revised )fßclala of Adams poet 43. Am- ,' an Legion, are planning to 8 the honor roll at the Legion ... ttp t 0 rtate - They ask the report the names of men ’omen who have enlisted in Services ’ However, the io hav 38 t ' le names °V all those 0 . . e ® ntere d the armed forces Iv th Se ective sery ice, and asks op?h° Se ;L W^o h &ve volunteered 10 L°? er channete - Officials io have h th6 names Os thoße "or mil ° mitted from the mJ".! residents having J report are asked to teleAUS? 6 name 9 direCtly 8:oo j T THE *MOMETER 10:00,” — 32 Noon 33 5 Ci,„ heavy ... . r,ther cold with 'empor, L toni « ht - Low incr U ,l U a re near 30. Friday and

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Heavy Frost Forecast For Indiana Tonight ißy United Press (Heavy frost with temperatures ranging from 24 to 28 were predicted for Indiana tonight. The weather bureau reported no frost in the <state last night. Although the Mercury fell to a state law of 29 at (Marion. Indianapolis had a reading of 33; South Bend 30. Fort Wayne 311,‘ Terre Haute 34 and Evansville 35. o Campaign For Philippines Is In Final Stage Jap Stolen Empire Is Now Isolated By American Advances Manila, April 5. — (UP) — Gen. Douglas MacArthur brought the Philippines campaign to its final stage today with the seizure of Masbate island and said Japan’s entire stoleir empire to the south now was isolated. Masbate, a 1,262-square mile island off the southeastern tip of Luzon, was the 35th island in the Philippines invaded by MacArthur’s American forces. Units of the 48th division landed on Masbate Tuesday against little opposition and were rapidly securing the entire island. Maintaining the strict blockade of the southwest Pacific, swarms of heavy and medium bombers and fighters shuttled across the China Seas from the Philippines in widespread assaults from the China coast to French Indo-China. More than 100 Liberators, escorted by fighters, delivered the first heavy attack on the big shipping base of Hong Kong Monday from Philippines bases. The Kowloon and Takoo docks were plastered with 126 tons of bombs which started fires eending smoke more than a mile into the air. Three Japanese planes were shot down and two others probably destroyed over Hong Kong without loss to tile American forces. Mitchell medium bombers again raided Formosa, hitting rail transport targets and an alcohol plant near Tainain which was left burning fiercely, while naval patrol planes sank a destroyer escort, a 10,000-ton tanker and six freighters in strikes from Shanghai to French Indo-China.” The aerial assaults wore indicative of the strength of the blockade which MacArthur said was complet(Turn To Page 2. Column 1) o Mrs. Martin Miller Is Taken By Death Decatur Lady Dies After Long Illness Mrs. Louisa Borne-Miller. 77, widow of the late Martin Miller, died at noon today at her home. 821 West Monroe street, after a year’s illness of complications. A lifelong resident of this community. she was born in Adams county December 22, 1867, the daughter of Jacob and Mary Elizabeth Scherry-Borne. She was married to Martin Miller February 12, 1888. and he preceded her in death in May, 1939. She was a member of the Zion Evangelical and Reformed church and was a gold star mother of the American Legion auxiliary. Surviving are two sons, Edward J. Miller of this city and Elmer, of Fordyce, Ark., one daughter, Mrs. Walter Deitsch, of St. Mary’s, O.; one sister, Mrs. Susie Reppert ot Decatur; four grandchildren and three great-grand-children. Two sons, George and Ralph, and nine brothers and Bisters preceded her in death. The body was removed to the Black funeral home. Funeral arrangements have not been completed, pending word from the (on in Arkansas.

Eisenhower Doubts Military Surrender J General Foresees Guerillas Warfare t Washington, Apr. 5 — (UP) — 1 Gen. Dwight D, Eisenhower, sui preme commander of Allied armies in Europe, has written President Roosevelt that there probably “will never be a clean cut military surrender” of the German armies, the White House disclosed today. Eisenhower said that if the present situation continues, V-E day (victory in Europe) will be signalized only by an Allied proclamation and not by any definite collapse of German resistance. He foresaw “guerilla warfare I which would require for its sup- j pression a very large number of i troops.” The further the European campaign progresses, Eisenhower wrote Mr. Roosevelt, “the more probable Jt appears that there will never be a clean cut military , surrender of the forces on the I western front.” f "Our experience to date is that , even when formations as small as j a division are disrupted,” he said, •‘their fragments continue to fight’ until surrounded. This attitude f if continued will likely mean that , V-E day will come about only by s a proclamation on our part rather j than any definite or decisive collapse or surrender of German I resistance. , “Projecting this idea further, it would mean that eventually all the areas in which fragments of •he German army, particularly 1 the paratrooper, panzer, and SS 1 elements, may be located, will 1 have to be taken by the application of or the threat of force. 1 This would lead into a form of guerilla warfare which would re- ■ quire for its suppression a very L large number of troops.” ’ Eisenhower added that if the 1 German government or any group 1 that could take political control 1 would make a national surrender ‘ “then all armed bodies remaining 1 in the field would, in my opinion, no longer be classed as soldiers : of a recognized government but • would occupy the status of brig- : ands or pirates.” ! (Turn To Page 2, Column 3) Presbyterian Church Pastor Is Selected L ' Call Extended Here To Rev. McPheeters At the congregational meeting of the First Presbyterian church last evening, it was unanimously decided to call Rev. John W. McPheeters of Farmington, 111., to serve as pastor here. He is expected to attend the meeting of the Fort Wayne Presbytery at Elkhart April 17 and to start his pastorate here about May 1. Rev. McPheeters is a graduate of Perk college, Missouri and of McCormick Seminary in Chicago. He served as an assistant in the Second Presbyterian church in Chicago and the South Side church and a small rural church near there before going to Farmington, where he has served the past two years. Mrs. McPheeters is a graduate nurse from the Presbyterian hospital in Chicago. They have two children. At the meeting last evening Paul Sauers, M. A. Frisinger and Fred Smith were elected elders, Mrs. Gladys Chamberlain, Mrs. Charles Langston and Mrs. Lil Burroughs, deaconesses, and Frank Christen a member of the board of trustees. C. D. Teeple and Kenneth Runyon were named a committee to attend the Presbytery and to conclude arrangements with Rev. McPheeters. Rev. Allison of Fort Wayne acted as moderator of the meeting, which was well attended. The new minister will succeed Rev. George O. Walton, who served 12 years and resigned to accept a commission as an army chaplain with the rank of first lieutenant. He is now serving overseas.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, April 5,1945.

Japs Stiffen Resistance On Okinawa Island Americans Control Sixth Os Isle Near Japanese Homeland Guam, Apr. s.—(UP)—Front dispatches eaid today that the 10th army was coming up against the main Japanese forces on Okinawa in a mounting battle only a little more than four miles north of Naha, the island’s capital. Several enemy lines of resistance i were overrun in advances of 500 to ' 1.500 yards down the isthmus separating south-central and southern Okinawa yesterday, but the growing opposition indicated that major defense positions lay just head. For the first time since the invasion Sunday, heavy Japanese artillery and mortar -fire was screaming into the American front lines. The enemy appeared determined to hold Machinato and Yonabaru airfields, both within a mile and a half to two miles of the advancing Americans. The veteran 32nd regiment of the seventh division on the eastern end of the line above Naha smashed the first organized resistance of the campaign yesterday with the capture of a ridge above Ishado on Nakagusuku bay naval anchorage. The ridge was described as a strong outpost defended by mortars, machine-guns and some artillery. The 184th regiment, meantime, was attacking a Japanese pocket estimated at company strength — possibly 200 men —on the west coast. Flame-throwing tanks were spearheading the attack. The army advances on the southern front, coupled with a marine push to the north deep into the narrow isthmus between southern and central Okinawa, gave the Americans control of 80 square miles —one -sixth —of the island only 330 miles southwest of Japan. The campaign already was 12 days ahead of schedule, with the invasion forces controlling 17 miles of the west coast and 12 miles of the east coast, including half the shoreline of the vital Nakagusuku bay naval anchorage. The 24th army corps’ line in the south, as of yesterday, ran from Uchi Tomari on the west coast, four and a half miles north of (Turn To Page 2, Column 4) O z Sgt. Robert Miller Is Killed In Action Geneva Soldier Is Killed In Germany Sgt. Robert Miller, 30. son of Mr. and Mrs. M. M. Miller and husband of Mrs. Betty Jo Blocher-Miller of Geneva, died of wounds received in action in Germany on March 19, the war department notified the family yesterday. Sgt. Miller was an infantryman with the First army, which crossed the Rhine and marched into Germany. The Geneva soldier entered the service on Dec. 14, 1913. He was trained at Fort McClellan and Fort Meade, >Md.. going overseas last year. In October he was wounded in action by shrapnel and had heen awarded the Purple Heart and good conduct medal. He saw action in France. Belgium and Holland, before going to Germany. Sgt. Miller was born in Geneva on Dec. 12. 1914. He was graduated from the Geneva high school in 191311 and was married to Miss Blocher on June 9. 1940. Prior to his induction into the army, he was employed at the Geneva Milling Company and at one time operated a newspaper at Lagro. He also had written several magazine articles. (Besides his parents, and wife, he is survived by -a 21 month old daughter, Jacqueline, and three brothers.

American Ninth Army Reverts To Bradley Paris. April 5—(UP)—Th? American ninth army has reverted to the operational command of Gen. Omar N. Bradley, commander of the American 12 army group, supreme headquarters announced today. The change followed the army's completion of its mission with the 21st army group under Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery. 0 Soviet Forces Lay Siege To City Os Vienna Vanguards Fighting In City Outskirts; Early Fall Is Seen London. Apr. S.—(UP) —Russian troops and tanks laid siege to Vienna along a 50-mile arc today. Vanguards were fighting through the southeastern outskirts of the Austrian capital. Massed Russian artillery and Red. air force bombers pumped ton after ton of explosives into the burning city, which Adolf Hitler has ordered defended to the death to protect the back door to Germany. A Moscow dispatch said assaplt forces fighting in the suburbs of Vienna had been joined by the vanguard of other army units racing westward from captured Bratislava, and the junction of the {wo armies was expected to result in the speedy fall of the capital. Vienna's last big outer fortress, the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, 25 miles o the east, was toppled yesterday by Marshal Rodion V. Malinovsky's second Ukrainian army group. Malinovsky’s forces rushed on through the Bratislava gap between the Danube and Lake Neusiedler for a frontal smash at Vienna while Marshal Feodor I. Tolbukhin’s third Ukrainian army group closed in on the city from the southwest, south and southeast. The third army group broke into the outskirts of Vienna after capturing Zwoelfaxing. only two miles southeast, yesterday. The advance (Turn To Page 2, Column 6/ — o Incubator Donated To County Hospital Officials of the Adams county memorial hospital announced today that an incubator has been donated to the institution by the WLiS Prairie Farmer Christmas neighbor club. The officials also said Easter favors for the hospital patients were made by Mrs. Nellie Price and her pupils of the Winchester school. o Filling Station Is Looted Last Night Cash, Gas Coupons Taken By Thieves Approximately S4O in cash was obtained by thieves who broke into the Tutewiler & Badders Standard Oil filling station ,at Thirteenth and Mon|oe streets late Wednesday night or early this morning. Entrance was gained to the station hy hurling a chunk of coal through a wjindow in the grease room at the station. City police, who investigated, reported that the cash loot was all in change, ranging from nickels to half-dollars. In addition to the cash, the intruders took an undetermined quantity of gasoline ration coupons. Included in this loot were stamps made out to the Citizens Telephone company and good for 200 gallons of gasoline. The robbery occurred sometime between 9 o’clock last night, when the station was closed, and 7 o’clock this morning, when the place was opened for the day’s business.

Action Is Believed To * Foreshadow Ultimate Entry In Pacific Wfar

Japanese Cabinet, Powerless To Halt Americans, Quits; Says Plight Grave London, Apr. 5 — (UP) —Premier Gen. Kuniaki Koiso and the entire Japanese cabinet, powerless to halt the American advance on their homeland, resigned today with a frank admission that Japan's plight had become grave. The Japanese radio said that Admiral Baron Kantaro Suzuki, 77, president of the privy council, had been recommended as Koison’s successor. Choice of Suzuki was recommended to Emperor Hirohito by Koichiro Kido, lord keeper of the privy seal, after the conference of elder statesmen. He was ordered by Hirohito to form a new cabinet. Suzkui became president of the privy council last August when the incumbent, Yoshimichi Hara, died. He is a younger brother of Gen. Takao Suzuki, chief priest of the Hasukini shrine. An 1888 graduate of the naval academy, he was vice minister of . the navy in 1914. At various times he had been commandant of the Kure naval station, commander in chief of the Japanese combined fleet, and war councillor. Japan’s second wartime cabinet fell only four days after Ameri- ’ can invasion forces stormed ' ashore on Okinawa island, 350 miles southwest of the enemy's home islands, against almost, non-existent opposition. The Japanese board of information announced that the resignations were decided upon “in view of the gravity of the war situation and in order to bring a more powerful • cabinet” into office. The decision was taken at an emergency cabinet session at 9:50 a. m. Tokyo time, the Tokyo radio said. Koiso proceeded to the imperial palace and presented the resignation “en bloc” to Emperor Hirohito at 10:30 a. m. The Koiso cabinet went into (Turn To Page 5, Column 4) Harold Ickes Calls For Mines Seizure Says Government Should Not Wait Washington, April 5 — OUP) — Fuel administrator Harold L. Ickes said today he believed the government should take over the soft coal mines at once. “I don’t think we ought to wait,” Ickes told a press conference,” in view of continued wild-cat strikes that have cut soft coal production to 65 per cent this week. “With the demand what it is today and the prospects in Europe, we seem to be running into trouble. “I don’t think any miners have the right to lay down their tools at a time like this when ail we need is to continue what we are doing to win through to victory in Europe It is uneupportaible and inexcusable.” Ickes’ call for seizure of the mines came as an open revolt against united mine workers' leadership in Pennsylvania cwt production again today. Wage contract negotiations here continued with the same futile appearance which has marked them for more than a month. Roving pickets in Pennsylvania discouraged back-to-work movements at many mines. UMW president John L. Lewis’ agreement to extend for a month the old contract which expired at midnight last Saturday has heen expected to pSrevent any widespread shut-downs of mines. But the res<ponse to his call for continued mining has not been as satisfactory as had been hoped for. Anthracite Problem New York, April 4—(UP)—?Anthracite mine operators conferred (Turn To Page 2, Column 5).

Funeral Sunday ■F j® sml 11 - '•*' ■di Funeral services will he held Sunday afternoon for Elmer C. i Getting, aviation edaet, who was killed in an airplane accident in Texas Monday. Cadet Getting Rites Sunday Afternoon t Military Honors To Cadet Elmer Getting * Full military honors will be ’ paid to Aviation Cadet Elmer C. Getting, killed in an aircraft mishap at Corpus Christi, Texas last ■ Monday, in connection with the ’ funeral rites which will be held at 2:30 o’clock Sunday afternoon at the St. John's Lutheran church, north of this city, on U. S. highway 27. Rev. H. W. Bouman, pastor, will be in charge of the church service and members of Adams Post 43, American Legion, will conduct the military rit.es. Interment will be in the church cemetery. The body of the young naval aviator, who had only two weeks more of training before he received his wings and commission when he met death, will arrive in Fort Wayne Saturday morning and will be taken to the parental home, where a short service will be held Sunday afternoon prior to the funeral at the church. Aviation Cadet John H. Mamara will accompany the body as a military escort from the Corpus Christi field, the family was advised last evening. Cadet Getting was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Getting of Decatur route one. They have a second son in the service, Sgt. Paul H. Getting, stationed at Hereford, Texas. o Blood Donors Go To Portland April 17 Registration At Red Cross Office Blood donors who wish to go to Portland on April 17. may register at the Red Cross home service office, 127 Madison street, H. H. High, county chairman of the blood division, announced today. The Root township school bus which will transport the blood volunteers to Portland, will leave at 9:15 in the morning from the Red Cross headquarters. Mrs. Oscar Lankenau. local nurse, will accompany the group. Already 60 employes of the General Electric plant have signed as donors and will make the trip to to Portland in a Preble township school bus at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Mrs. Dallas Goldner is chairman of this group. A bus will leave from Berne at 9 o’clock and 9:30 from Geneva. A bus will leave the Kirkland high school with another group of volunteers and will stop at Monroe. (Turn To Page 5, Column 5)

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Price Four Cents.

Five-Year Pact With Japan Is Denounced; Action Announced Today By Molotov London, Apr. 5—(UP)—-Russia today denounced her neutrality pact with Japan in an action believed to foreshadow her ultimate entry into the Pacific war. Announcement of the action came a few hours after the fall of the Japanese government of Premier Gen. Kuniaki Koiso, presumably upon the receipt of word from Moscow of the Russian action. Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov announced the Soviet action to Japanese Ambassador Naotaki Sato in Moscow. As a result of the Soviet action, the Russo-Japanese five-year neutrality pact automatically expires at midnight April 24, 1946. The Soviet action immediately opened grounds for speculation 1 upon Soviet Russia entering the 1 Pacific war and moving into action her powerful far eastern Red banner army which has stood guard at the frontiers of Siberia and Manchuria since long before the outbreak of the European war. Molotov’s action was announced by radio Moscow. The foreign minister advised Sato, the account said, that since the pact was signed on April 13, 1941 the world situation had changed considerably. ' Germany, he noted, had attacked the Soviet Union and Japan ’ has aided Germany in the war • against the Soviet Union. ' In addition, he said. Japan is ■ at war against Great Britain and 1 the United States who are the • Allies of the Soviet Union. Therefore, he told Sato, the pact of neutrality "has lost its sense" and it is impossible for it to be continued. Tlie Russian action had been preceded by a number of indications that the pact would not be continued. Speculation at the point was raised immediately when the Yalta conference announced the meeting of the United Nations at San Francisco, strategically located on the Pacific, on April 25, the day following the due date of the RussoJapanese pact. The Soviet press, taking an increasingly stern line with the Japanese, had provided another clue as had the action of Marshal Stalin in denouncing the Japanese as aggressors in his October revolution address last November. Hail Denunciation Washington. Apr. S—(UP) — Russia's denunciation of her neutrality pact with Japan was hailed by observers here as meaning that she will ultimately join the Allies in war against the island empire. The prospective Russian participation might shorten the Pacific war. When the Russian participation will begin remains to bo seen. Under terms of the pact, it will remain in force until April 25, 1946. Cornered Japan, might, however, provoke hostilities before that date. This possibility was bases on these facts: 1. Japan’s home islands are now directly threatened and are highly vulnerable. 2. She may be expected to make a last stand fight from northern China and Manchuria. 3. To secure these areas, she (Turn To Page 5. Column 2) _ _-oSolid Fuels Forms Received By Board The Adams county war price and rationing board today notified solid ' fuels dealers of the county that the ' board has received the new solid fuels administration form for consumers declarations (Form SEA 360) and dealers may obtain these iby calling at the board's office. Consumers will Obtain these forms, from their dealers and are asked not to call at the ration board as none will be issued by the board directly to consumers.