Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 101, Decatur, Adams County, 28 April 1945 — Page 1

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ExLIII. No. 101.

EVOLUTION FLAMES IN CITY OF MUNICH REPORT HIMMLER OFFERS TO SURRENDER

fclapo Chief ■Reported In Lender Offer ■Capitulation Offer ■Excludes Reds; Blunt ■Rejection Reported lion, .w ■ernmriii :o<iay took official ■jian,,.. gitiiou . ,>f ll " 1 ' Heihl'ich Mu/Ycl uibi. il to guarantee ■ ammonal surrender. ot !<' i* ll ' l Britain 11 ’ Rii.-siit '""I Uad rea blunt .• No. I't Downwritten by ■■,. yini-ici Churchill. hinted ■ efl'"!' of < apitlllutloll i.i received iroui the Nazis |Kiiy time. {■p. exceptional procedure of ■k. such coupled ■ its assertion that the gov-b-ad "" imormation on subject “at this moment/ that <'hiinliiil might by tor any proposal, report on «■ it ill" official was b.e. ’i said that ■■X (b rn "tior ininis- ■ ami resiap.i < ■a:.:", tiie unconditional surtil and Britain. ■a the vmids of the Downing report ad|Hi tb.d the western Allies ■•• lhat they will not mu .edition,d surrender SHttpt ci a..nait m all the Aines. Russia.’' '.-..-lull ui ;iie report aS by il. Allied-! omrolled and recorded by the BBC said: following message has ' foreign mino’the Vnio-.l States, Great Hjihin and Russia: h Himmler has sent a ■r* l " in v.’llidl unconditional surrender of io the United States ■ Gm: Britain. The governot dm t’nited States and Britain liw replied that suit, nder will only ■ J ""l'b-d it Hie offer is address- ■ to all the Allies,'' otb’f tiie Luxembourg No. 10 Downing St., resilience of the prime issued Hi,, formal stateon the report. did the statement say ■*' the report was false. The appeared to he that it SB” 1 true. The statement-, “iny that the government i|t information to give ■* concludes with a reiteration ■ '“ e "ii'tApresc..,! Allied policy: ■*' ; !::st 1'- emphasized that ■■• 'Hional surrender to ■L^ ee ma - inr Powers will be Pa "e 2 - Column 3) ■° Confirmation Os ■ r Crash Report 'l<- a p Tent ite roun< te today ■llwl l ' a,ur ai ‘ my cffif '“t' was ■y. airplan '' erasll ye&ter■"iilb , < ’"." lmati,)l ’ of the story ■ through any chan■not 6ta « ” Census Wae that the ■tch (hat d , W ‘ th th '“ press dis - ■ ‘ : 'f Fla a , P ane frMn Mac Dill |Crash ' ed ’ 'killing Sk or f ri Occ ' u l>anta. No rela■Wh , dOt the s:i » oc- ■ today 601 ''' 1 a !,les6a Se up K.‘; 36 - - <• £ 43 We ather

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Elkhart Mother And Son Burned To Death Elkhart, Ind., Apr. 28. —(UP) —A young mother was burned to death ' with a three-year-old son she attempted to rescue from their bin ning home yesterday. Mrs. Almira Torrence, 25, mother of four children, was burned fatally when she ran into the naming house after she had thrown two j children—Jeannie, 4, and Raymond. G —-from a window to safety. Firemen found the bodies of Mrs. Torrence and her son, Victor, in the ruins of the house. o Super Council Is Named To Direct Confab Big Four Foreign Ministers To Lead Peace Conference San Francisco. Apr. 28.— I UP) — The United Nations conference finally is ready for business today under the direction of a surprise and super-duper council of big four for- i eign ministers voted into existence j at a plenary session. But it appears to lie confronted with another potential United States-Russian dispute. The United States, it was learned, will present to the conference! an amendment providing for postwar review of treaties and such wartime political decisions as the | one on Poland—if they involve in i justices to the peoples involved. I: is a hot potato and is expected to draw vigorous Russian opposition. The amendment is based on one proposed by Sen. Arthur IL Vandenberg. R.. Mich., and has been unanimously approved by the American delegation. Vandenberg was understood to prefer the new language—not yet revealed—over I'm wording of his original proposal. The conference has ditched th" Polish question, agreed to Russia's j demands for three votes in the a.-,-1 sembly and now is beginning to look seriously into the idea o! mviting Argentina, to join in these deliberations. Delegates are beginning to whoop it up for speed. The Britisn 1 suggested a one month limit on the deliberations. Field Marshal Jan C. Smuts of South Africa urged the. steering committee to fix a three-. week limit. Soviet Foreign Com-. missar V. M. Molotov jumped up to aek: Why not two weeks or 10 j days? But there are others who figure four to five weeks as a minimum. Molotov evidently was pleased j that the Soviet Union had obtainI ed entry for White Russia and th" Ukrane —-who will cast the two extra Russian votes in the assembly —to this conference. Henri Gris, of the United Press conference staff, encountered Molotov in the war memorial opera house. “Shall we be able to greet theRepublics of White Russia and the i Ukraine here?” Gris asked in Russian. “Postaraayemsya,” republied lotov, disposing of the question with a word and a smile. ~The translation is: “We shall try. Molotov may not have to try very hard. There was a report among conferees that delegates from both Soviet republics have been here under cover since the arrival of the first Russian giotip. (Turn To Page 4, Column 8) o Waste Paper Drive Is Underway Today The monthly waste paper drive was underway today, in charge of Phil Sauer, city street commissioner, and the Boy Scouts assisting. The trucks started out at St-D a. m. and a complete canvass of the town will be made. This month's drive is sponsored hy the American Legion. Dinner will be served to the Boy Scouts at Ehler's restaurant.

Russians Break Into Berlin's Last Citadel Moscow Says Siege Os German Capital Rapidly Nears End London. Apr. 28 — (UP)—Russian shock troops today broke into the Tiergarten, heart of Adolf Hitler's last-ditch defense citadel in encircled Berlin. Moscow said the siege of the Nazi capital swiftly was approaching its end. Reports reaching London also said fighting was raging “very near" Adolf Hitler's reichschancellery on the VVilhelmstrasse, the reichstag on tiie northeast corner of the Tiergarten, the state opera house and other buildings in the center of Berlin. A Moscow dispatch said Soviet cossack divisions swept, nearly 50 miles west of Berlin and reached the Elbe river opposite the American ninth army. The Russians, were awaiting an “imminent junction” with the ninth army, Moscow said. South of Berlin, the Russian army organ Red Star said, two more Soviet divisions had linked up with the Americans following tiie original junction at Torgau, 60 miles below the capital. Red Star said only that the two divisions met the Americans elsewhere than Torgau and added: "The link-up of our armies on a broad front became a fact.” At least nine-tenths of Berlin already was under Russian control following a new junction of the first White Russian and first Ukrainian armies in the Charlot(Turn To Page 4, Column 5) -J. All IB Association Officers Reelected W. Guy Brown Aqain Named As President All officers of the Adame county tulberculosip association were rPe ] e cted at the annual meeting of the organization, held Friday evening at the Decatur junior-senior high school. W. Guy Brown, principal of the Decatur high school, was retained as president. Other re-elected officers are: Mrs. E. M. Webb, of Berne, vice president: Dr. Roy Archbold, of Decatur, treasurer: Miss Virginia Venis, of Decatur, secretary. Directors of the association, also elected last night, are as follows: Mrs. .1 Ward Calland. Mrs. Adolph AVeidler. H. L. Foley. Mrs. Nellie Coppess. T>. L. Hann, Helen Kenney, M M. Griffiths. Alice Michaels. Ella Scherry. Dale Ross. Xariffa Walters. Tressie Glendenning, John B Stults. Rev. Robert Hoevel. Walter J. Krick. Dr, James Burk and Mrs. Ernest Reicheldeffer. Plans for the coming year were discussed at last, night's annual meeting, and reports were presented on the activities of the Past year. The association conducts clinics throughout the year and also promotes health education. The local group cooperates closely with officials of the Irene Byron sanitorium and with local and state health agencies. The next regular clinic will be held in Decatur Thursday, May 10. Work of the association is supported by the sale of Christmas seals, conducted annually throughout the city and county. o CYO To Attend Mass Here Sunday Morning .Members of the OYO will attend the 7:30 o’clock mass at St. Mary’s church Sunday morning and receive Holy Communion. A breakfast will be served in the Catholic schoiol following the mass. Rev. Faiber of Fort Wayne will adaVess the assembly during the breakfast.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday, April 28, 1945.

As Yanks-Reds Linked Up In Historic Meeting r’ - -1 ' A' alB O i -Wil Rm W - B Bf » I Hw life w wO Bl' Mjjir Ofly x nF HH wH YANK INFANTRYMEN and Russian troops of the Ukrainian army shake hands on a bridge at Torgau as the historic junction between the two Allies was made. Signal Corps photo.

Former Leaders Are Returning To France Three Ex Premiers Freed From Nazis Paris, Apr. 28. (UPi -Three former French premiers and the former commander-in-chief of the Allied armies in the west were reported on their way back to France today from imprisonment in Germany. Edouard Herriot. three-time premier of France, already had returned to this country, the French press agency reported. Paul Reynaud, Edouard Daladier. and Gen. Maurice Gustave Gamelin reportedly had arrived in Switzerland from Germany. Gamelin was in command of Allied' armies on i tlm western front at. tlm time of the German breakthrough in May, 1940. King Leopold of Belgium also was reported on his way homo ami was said to be near Hoechst near the Swiss frontier at St. Margarithen. Earlier this week M'veow announced that Herriot had be-m freed from a prison camp west of Berlin by tlm Red army. The French agency reported that H iriot had arrived in France contra-1 (Turn To Page 3. Column 6)

Pfc. Douglas Neidigh Believed Freed From Nazi Prison Camp

From a telegram received last j night, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Neid-1 igh of Willshire. Ohio, believe | that their son, Pfc. Douglas Neid- ] igh. 19. who has been a German j prisoner of war since January 30, 1944. is again free. Tlm message from their son, which was radioed to this country, read: “Best wishes to all at home. God be with you till we meet : again, all well and safe.” Pfc. Neidigh was first reported missing in action in Italy and j later the war department' notified , his parents that he was a prisoner of war. From the tone of his radio message, the parents believe that Im was liberated with other Ameri- j can soldiers when the American armies marched through and took . control of Germany. Pfc. Neidigh I was in a prison camp near Berlin. the family said. The young soldier ’ entered the service in April 1943. He formerly was a carrier for the Daily Democrat. The father is employed here at the General' Electric plant. Get Release Kits Washington. Apr. 28—American prisoners of war newly liberated from German camps, now are receiving “release kits” supplied by the American Red Cross to

To Pay Subsidy To Butterfat Producers Announcement made by the I war food administration that a | feed subsidy of 17 cents a pound ; will lie paid to farmers for the butterfat they produce in April is good news to cream producers of Adams county. A subsidy of ]o cents a pound was paid for butterfat produced in tiie first three months of this year. Tiie payment of the April sub-' sidy is in accordance with tlm t provisions of an amendment to; Senate Bill No. 298, extending lhe ' life of the commodity credit cor-i poration for two years. ■ — o Names Committees For Ordination Os Pastor — At tlm meeting of the advisory board of llm First Preslbyterian church last evening. Dr. Fred Patterson. local moderator, named committee chairmen to have charge of the program for the ordination services for Rev. John W. McPheet- ■ rs, Sunday evening. May 13. at 7 o'clock. Rev. MoPhceters and family will arrive here Tuesday evening. Th y will occupy the residence of Airs. John Shirk on Winchester street at few days until their household goods a”o arranged in the manse.

I . . i W Ok; * M •IM k HI llfv ' ■■Hi £ the new assembly and evacuation centers set up by the army in France. Socks, toilet needs, stationery, candy, and cigarettes are given the liberated men. many of whom had been unable to save personal possessions during the confusion of their release from the enemy. The kits also contain chewinggum. cards, a book, and a leather cigarette case.

Legion Auxiliary To Conduct Poppy Sale Observe Poppy Day Saturday, May 26 Poppies to honor America’s dead warriors of two World Wars will ; be worn in Decatur on Saturday. ! May 26. Mrs. T. C. Smith, president of the American Legion Auxiliary. ■ announced today. The little red flowers will pay j tribute both to those men who have i died for their country in tlm present war and to those who fell 27 ■ year«s ago in Franco and Belgium I among the swaying poppies. The ■ money that is received for tlm flowI ers will be used to aid the af!'!i"t---j ed veterans of both wars and their families. Extensive preparations for tlm observance of Poppy Day are being ade by the auxiliary here itiuL r the leadership of Mrs. Smith ami Mrs. Elmer Darwachfer. Poppy chairman. Everyone in the ci'y will bo able to buy the flowers ot remembrance from the many volunteer workers of the auxiliary who will be on the streets all througii the day. The flowers are made of crepe paper on the pattern of the wild ipoppy of Flanders. They have been ordered from Marion, where disabled veterans made them under the direction of the Indiana department of teh auxiliary. Making ticpoppies lias helped these veterans keep their minds and fingers occupied. causing tlm otherwise tedious months to pass quickly and at Um same time furnishing the men with (Turn Tn Pagv 4, Column 6) —O— American Invasion Fleel Oil Okinawa Tokyo Reports New Operations Likely 1 — Guam. Apr. 2S. (UP) —Tokyo ■said today (hat a 100-ship American invasion fleet off Okinawa appealed to be preparing for "new operations.” The fleet includes four or five battleships, six cruisers. ID-odd destroyers and approximately 80 transports, a Tokyo broadcast said. On Okinawa itself. 24th army corps troops in the southern sector reached the vicinity bf Machinate airfield, two miles north of t!v> capital city of Naha, in a general advance. Enemy strong points in the west coast village of N'akama were by-passed. The Americans were believed already through the strongest Japanese defenses and the complete conquest of the island appeared in (Turn To Page 4, Column 4)

American sth Army Reaches Swiss Border Spectacular Drive Cuts Northern Italy In Two, Traps Nazis j Rome, Apr. 2S—(UP)—A Zurich j dispatch said today that the ! American fifth army had reached 1 the Swiss border in a spectacular [ GO-mile dash that cut northern | Italy in .two. trapped tens of . I thousands of Germans, and iso-; luted Milan and Turin. The dispatch said the Americans entered Como, on the Italian , side of the frontier, last night | after an advance from their last reported positions west of Lake Garda. The patriot-controlled Milan radio reported that the Americans i also had entered Milan, Italy's ■ second city, but this was not eoni firmed. The radio said patriot ; forces already had liberated the I cily ' . I ! Turin, the other great Indus- i ) trial center of northern Italy, also i i was isolated by the advance I ; which cut the last roads to Aus- ; tria from northwest Italy. I The German garrison in northi west Italy now was hemmed in I on the east by the fifth army, . on the north by neutral Switzeri land, on the south by the LigurI ian Sea. and on the west by ■ ' other Allied forces along the I Frenc h border. r rhc kites! position of Amorican troops given in today's Allied communique — which has boon running far behind actual front- . line positions — was near Bergamo. 26 miles northeast of Milan amt 32 miles from tlm Swiss hor- - ,der. 1 Earlier Swiss dispatches reported a violent battle between Italian partisans ami 1.500 German (Turn T'» Page 1, r’ -I ra.i 5) ■I - - --- -o - Mussolini Arrest 1 Rumor Unconfirmed Former Aides Also Reported Arrested Rome, Apr. 2S — (UP) —The I Italian capital today eagerly 1 'awaited the return of its chief; ' balcony performer, Benito Mussolini. whom patriots claimed to have captured in northern Italy. Definite confirmation of Mussolini's arrest still was lacking, ; but the Italians already were planning his swan song performi ance in Rome —a trial for collaboration for which the' penalty i ’ 1 I death. The Rome radio said that MusI solini and iiis cohorts captured with him would be tried hy a i people's court. However, it was believed the United Nation- war crimes commission might have something to say about that. Along with Mussolini, the partisans claimed to have taken former Fascist party secretary Roberto Farinacci, former propaganda minister Alessandro Pavolink former internal affairs min- , ister Guido Bufarini-Guidi, and . Marshal Rodolfo Graziani. Rome radio said the Italian J government had decided to de- ' grade Graziani, former chief of . (Turn To Page 2. Column :t> O Service Station Is Looted Last Night ' Gity police today investigated a ' breakin at the Weet End Texaco service station, corner of Seventh , and Monroe streets, sometime dur-1 ing the night. The only loot obtained was ap-1 proximately $1 in pennies, the op erator. Clyde Toman, told author!- i ties. Entrance was gained by fore-j ing open the back door, which was badly damaged by the intruders, j

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Rebels Appeal For Help From American Army Two Yankee Armies Less Than 30 Miles From Nazi Citadel Paris, Apr. 28—(UP) —RevoluI tionists seized control in Munich today and radioed an urgent appeal for American help in overthrowing the Nazis. At mid-day. however, a broadcast purporting to come from the Gauleiter in the city claimed tiie upri.-ing had been suppressed. From confused radio broadcasts ami censored front dispatches one clear fact emerged—the fires of revolution had been lighted in J Bavaria, once the strongest cita--1 del of Nazidom. And two American armies were ! racing in on Munich from positions less than 3il miles to the west and north in answer to a ' desperate appeal from the rebels : for immediate help. Hours after the speeding American tank columns picked up tiie j Munich rebels' call for aid. a . speaker purporting to be tlm . gauleiter of tiie city broadcast ! an announcement that the revolt I had been put down and order I restored. . I Tiie gualeiter called on Bavaria ! to continue what obviously was i a hopeless fight against tiie con- ■ verging American armies and I declared that the Munich "trait- ! ors" had been dealt with rutli- . lessiy. There was no confinnation of | the Nazi claim which in itself ' was tie- first enemy admission that tiie di'eaded peace revolution had begun, just at it did in lIIIS i in th" final horns of World War ' One. Field dispatches from th • third I army front identified tiie rebel ' l-.-ader as Gen. Hans Ritter Von j j’pp, ht'i i' pui'ii <' <i lib HlihT lot' tiie Hitler government and one I of the fii.- l Nazis elected to tiie j Teil-bstag. Regensburg and Augsburg, twin : outer citadels of Munich Go and : 30 miles to tiie north and northwest, were in American hands and German troops were surrendering by the thousands all around the city's approaches. At ilu same time, American . seventh army troops raced down to tiie Austrian bolder at Fues- : ten, 55 miles soutbw -st of Montell. in an apparent bid to envelop : the former Nazi citadel and choke oft any possible reinforcement through tiie Brenner Bass from Italy. At Fuessen the Yanks were only 3(1 miles from Innsbruck. 1101! llelll 2'.!!»■ t() the Bl'tOllP!* Pass. (Turn To I’ag’e 4, Column 6) O Island Os Mindanao Is Virtually Split — Slight Ooposition Met By Americans Manila. Apr. 28— (UP) —Tlm I 24th infantry division virtually ' split tlm Philippine island of Mini danao in half today by slashing I ahead 10 miles to within sight of i Davao gulf. Tn their drive down the homestretch to the gulf, the 24th mot only scattered opposition. Ono hundred Japanese encountered at the village of Bulatukan. on tlm I road to Digos, were dispersed I quickly. Digos. whore the doughboys i will reach the gulf, is 27 miles ; southwest of Davao city. Averj aging 10 to 12 miles a day. the I 24th had driven across Mindanao I in 10 days from their original l beachhead at Parang. 88 airline i miles to tlm west. On their way ; they captured Cotabato. capital of i (Turn To Page 4. Column 5)