Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 May 1941 — Page 1
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The Indianapolis Times
FORECAST: Considerable cloudiness with light showers tonight and tomorrow; not much change in temperature.
VOLU
THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1941
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice. Indianapolis, Ind.
| PRICE THREE CENTS
Here is the first eye-witness
ME 53—NUMBER 44
story of the British evacuation from
treece, told by two war correspondents who.accompanied the retreat.
{
By RICHARD D. McMILLAN and HENRY T. GORRELL
United Press Staff Correspondents
WITH GREECE, via Cairo, May 1. ( That was what British
BRITISH TROOPS EVACUATED FROM
—It was worse than Dunkirk! Imperidls who came safely out
pf Dunkirk and again came through the deluge of German bombs in southern Greece told us as we joined them
at a secret rendezvous to
board ships for the journey
#, across the waters of the Mediterranean,
a ~ We came out of conqu fhe British expeditionary fo e battle of the Mediterran rades in the rear guard for
ered Greece, and the bulk of rce came out to fight again in ean because their valiant comces piled the Greek mountain
passes with German dead and the Royal Navy carried on
—
unfalteringly under the merciless bombardment of Adolf
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
Many of the troops among 11,500 in the convoy on which we embarked from Greece were veterans of the
battle of Dunkirk.
“The bombing at Dunkirk,” one of them told us, “was
nothing compared to what Greek campaign.”
we have experienced in the
+ The British Imperials—many of them sons of the World War heroes of Flanders—marched slowly but
steadily, in perfect order. they made a seemingly endle the bomb-torn sycamores.
They were three abreast and
ss line as they moved through
Once they passed a field of scarlet poppies that were a brilliant patch in the spring sunlight. Sometimes they
sang as they marched and
| (Worse Than Dunkirk,’ Say Britis
on one stage of the journey
we sang with them for all we were worth.
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AS WE MOVED toward the sea, the waiting ships
and the bombs, some of the Greece were told by men st
stories of the bitter battle of ill stained with the grime of
Mt. Olympus and the dust of Thermopylae. A terrific battle was fought by the Imperials on the
slopes of the ancient home
of the Greek gods and that
engagement, later was re-enacted at Thermopylae, where New Zealanders and Maoris stood at the battlefield on
which Leonidas and his 300 the Persians.
men fought to death against
Behind them were gunners from the streets of London
and the villages of England,
Wales and Scotland.
h Soldiers
At Brallos Pass, south of Lamia and in the mountain. slopes, the Australians held another pass. They, too, were
supported by the British gun
ners.
On the left flank, the British Army spread out over Brallos Pass and to the Gulf of Corinth, at the Tolofor
sector. : This thin line—from Th
ermopylae to Brallos to Toloe
for—was the rear guard. These were the men assigned to the grim task of holding back the German onslaught after
the collapse of the Greek A E. F. marched to the sea. The New Zealanders and north of Mt. Olympus to the
rmy of Epirus while the B.,* the Maoris had held the pass sea before they fell back to
Thermopylae, where they again took the full shock of (Continued on Page Five)
gl
BRITISH TROOP LANDINGS ANGER IRAQ
ts in
DAY OF REWARD 5 SAD FOR GOP
Democrats Are Intrenched In State Jobs as Ripper Laws Take Effect.
By EARL RICHERT Thousands of Republican Jjobseekers looked gloomily at the calendar today—the day on which they had hoped to obtain state jobs as
a reward for loyal party service—
end settled back to await the outcome of the court fight over the G, O. P. rinper legislation.
This Way to
|
And the thousands of Democratic &8
state job-holders who had thought they might lose their jobs today leanea back in their chairs comfortably, believing be scme time‘ before the suits are settled afd that they would win those.
] Fourth Blow for G. 0. P,
hroday the bulk of the Repubn decentraiization program went nto effect, but the G. O. P. officials ‘ere blocked from making any apyintments under the new laws j the restraining order issued refretly by Circuit Court Judge Earl
Cox. Pine Democrats were particularly tePPY because yesterday the Supreme Court dealt the fourth blow to the elected G. O. P. officiais when it denied a motion asking that Governor Schricker be for“hidden to make any appointmenys under the new laws. Sources close to the Governor re-
that it would] §&
time. Six-year-old Diana Marcia making it also Flower Health Day
May Flowers
Today is Child Health Day and May Day at one and the same
Hoffman, 401 E. Michigan St., is by doing her bit to alleviate the
drought which might have menaced the growth of her favorite tulip.
ported, however, that he does not | contemplate making any appoint- |
DEBATE MOTOR
Fix Control; Deputy Secretary Hinted.
Secretary of State James Tucker and Atty. Gen. George Beamer were to get together this afternoon over law books in an effort to reach an agreement as to who has control of the Motor Vehicles License Bureau. It is reported that Mr. Tucker feels he should have control of the Bureau under a 1937 law which charges the Secretary of State with the duties of registering motor vehicles. The Bureau had been under the Governor's control under the 1933 McNutt Reorganization Act which was repealed last midnight. The Democrats, it is understood, contend that status quo should be maintained, until the court suits now pending over the G. O. P. Rip-
‘per laws are decided.
It is reported that Mr. Tucker may name R. Lowell McDaniel, of Wilkinson, Indiana manager of the Corn Belt Liberty League, as deputy secretary of state in charge of the Motor Vehicles Bureau. ,
Givens Bans Use of Name
It also is understood that if he does name Mr. McDaniel, no other personnel changes will be made for the present. Mr. McDaniel, 46, manages three farms near Wilkinson. The appointment of a deputy secretary of state to have charge 'of the bureau is regarded as nec|essary since it has been discovered that there is, no statute creating
LICENSE SHIFT:
Tucker and Beamer Seek to §
Hershey Replies
RN
Lewis B. Hershey
DRAFT BOARDS GIVEN SUPPORT
They Know Best When to Defer Army Call, Selective Service Head Says.
By SAM TYNDALL The Local Board is in a better
| position to know when to defer the |
GUFFEY ASKS CONVOYS NOW
Normandie May Be Part of New Ship Pool Asked By Roosevelt.
WASHINGTON, May 1 (U, P).— Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D. Pa.), |one of President Roosevelt's most ardent legislative supporters, told the Senate today that the United States should begin convoying mer- | chant ships to Great Britain imme- | diately because of “the peril that confronts us.” Senator Charles W. Tobey N. H) replied with an announce- | ment that he will offer his anticonvoy resolution as an amendment | to the Administration’s bill for requisitioning foreign shipping. This | maneuver will be designed to force a roll-call vote on the convoy question, perhaps next week. ; The Maritime Commission meantime went into action on the President's plan to create an immediate pool of 2,000,000 tons of shipping to aid Britain. It called a conference of tanker operators this afternoon for the announced purpose of findling 50 tankers “to serve the British.”
Transhipment Proposed
Original proposals to such American tankers to British registry have been abandoned for the present because Britain is suffering an acute shortage of merchant seamen, Maritime Commission sources reported. An alternate plan to be considered at the conference will involve luse of the tankers with American
(R.|
transfer
GERMANS BREAK TOBRUK'S LINES |
Russian War Commissar Asks World Peace; Turkey Calls Up Eight Reserve Classes;
Some Greeks Escape Nazi Trap.
By JOE ALEX MORRIS
United Press Foreign News Editor Germany intensified her Mediterranean offensive today,
The British moved additi
The arrival of the Imperial reinforcements angered the| Iraq Government, which is be-| lieved to have strong pro-
Nazi tendencies.
Iraq troops surrounded an important Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, 65 miles west of Baghdad near the Syrian frontier. The British were understood to have submitted a peremptory demand to the Iraq Government, calling for the removal of the Iraq troops to avoid what was described as a probable “unfortunate incident.” British Mean Business The British demand left little
doubt that they are prepared to
{erews and flying under American | empjoy Imperial forces to disperse
| breaching the outer defenses to Tobruk, while Britain moved strongly to bulwark her position in Iraq, site the vital Mosul oil fields and gateway to the East.
onal troops into Iraq in obvie
ous preparation for any Axis pincers thrust at Suez throught Syria, Palestine and Mesapotamia.
that Tobruk could be evacuated by sea if necessary. Tobruk has been under siege for | 22 days and the Axis made a similar penetration on April 14 and failed to hold the advantage.
The German attack was preceded by a heavy air bombardment—part of a general air offensive in which the Nazi High Command reported fierce attacks upon Malta and the British base at Suda Bay, Crete.
The increasing likelihood of a general Nazi offensive in the Medi= terranean caused the British to land more troops in Iraq, backdoor to Turkey, Syria and Palestine. Turkey, still apparently attempte ing to steer a cautious course of armed neutrality, called up eight classes of reservists—all the classes
flags to transport oil from American
|the Iraq troop concentrations if from 1908 to 1916—and announced
eo H. Dale Brown Appointed fo 'the post of commissioner of motor (individual draft registrant than the | gulf ports to American ports in the necessary. 'that the class of 1921 has been vehicles, that position having been | national Selective Service admin-| North Atlantic, where the fuel willl The penetration of British outer |called up for training. . Marion County Liquor Board
the | | be transferred to British tankers | defense lines at Tobruk was revealed | British experts are convinced that By NOBLE REED
ments under the new laws, although | ge is not restrained from doing so.
Bobbitt Disturbed
Arch N. Bobbitt, Republican state chairman, contended that with the | McNutt 1933 Reorganization Act repealer going into effect last mid-
created by proclamation of Governor under the now defunct [fects Law. | today by Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Her-| Senator Guffey told the Senate cairo. |pincers movement against the Suez The problem of who has control | goo” .national Selective Service that he is “not afraid” of the word| The announcement indicated that|Canal. One arm is the Italo-Gere
of the bureau arose yesterday when | wo 'v.ve’ director, to the highly | “convoy.” the situation of the Tobruk garrison man column in North Africa. The second arm, it is presumed,
| istration. This was the answer given here | for delivery. by the Middle Eastern Command at| Germany is about to launch a great i
“night and with the new acts large-
ly ineffective because of the injunction that Indiana “is a state without a government—or at best with a de facto government.”
The Democrats contend, however, | Republican county chairman. that “status quo” is maintained in
the state government until the
pending suits are settled. All told, 13 G. O. P. ripper laws |
became effective at midnight—that (Continued on Page Five)
Rescue 6th Army From 18,000 Pies
PROVIDENCE, R. I, May 1 (U, P).— Reinforcements from Ft. Adams arrived in the nick of time yesterday to save the Sixth Army Corps headquarters here from being overwhelmed by 18,000 pies. Mess Sergt. Louis J. Moore, faced with an impossible ratio of 60 pies per man—there are only 300 soldiers here—sent a distress call to the Fort. Motorized reinforcemenis responded, loaded most of the pies aboard two trucks, and staged a strategic withdrawal, The pies were the gift of a bakery where a strike left an undistributable pastry surplus. _ Sergt. Moore estimated that.his maneuver reduced the pies-per-man ratio to 7'% to one, here and at Ft. Adams.
JAPANESE ADD TROOPS SHANGHAI, May 1 (U. P).— New Japanese Army forces have been landed at Riatze, in South China, as part of increasing Japanese efforts to halt the smuggling of military supplies to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces. Japanese military quarters
said today,
"TIMES FEATURES ¥ ON INSIDE. PAGES
Shpper ......17| Movies ....10, 11 mics 29 | Mrs. Ferguson 18 ++.28 | Obituaries .... 7 18 26 | Pyle 17 «+. .18 Questions ....17 18 Radio 14 ...17| Mrs. Roosevelt 17 .. 3 Serial Story . 29 . .17) Side Glances .18 ..22 Society ....20-23 18 Sports ....24, 25 6, State Deaths . 1
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The Democratic-controlled County Council today appointed H. Dale State Treasurer James. Givens no-| : : i ity Brown, Seventh Ward G. O. P. chairman, as a member of the new tified Edward Stein, commissioner controversial question of uniformity
Marion County Liquor Board.
|
of the Motor Vehicles Bureau, that
The appointment, which completes the board's personnel, was made ‘his name no longer was to be used on a written recommendation sent to the Council by James L. Bradford, |
Mr
. Brown's appointment
was made |
(unanimously. George Sadlier,, Democrat, president of the Council, | said Mr. Bradford's Tecommendation / was followed “as a matter of political courtesy to the Republican | Party.” | Records in the County Recorder's | office revealed last Friday that a] piece of real estate had been trans- | | ferred to Mr. Brown by the Thomas | | McNulty family. The law requires, | that Liquor Board members own real estate.
Fees Criticized by Council
Mr. Brown formerly was head of | the Brown Casket Co. at 2238 N. Meridian St. He was named ward chairman by Mr. Bradford and dur-
ing the last campaign received several hundred dollars from the county |
folding chairs. He served as reading clerk in the Senate during the 1941 General Assembly. Members of the Council criticized the provision in the new liquor law which gives members of the Board $2 fees each for every liquor permit application. Councilmen said fixed salariés should have been provided. The Council was required to appoint a Republican in order to balance the liquor board politically as required by the bipartisan provisions of the 1941 Stout Liquor Act. Two Democrats Renamed The Democratic controlled board of County Commissioners also was required to appoint a Republican. They chose Charles C. Meischke Jr., North Side grocer and Fifth and Sixth G. O. P. ward “supervisor,” who also was recommended by Chairmen Bradford. These Republican appointments (Continued on Page 12)
13 STATE PRINTING
FIRMS SUBMIT BIDS
| Thirteen state printing firms today submitted bids to the State | Printing Board on 16 different types (of printing and supplies to be used |dufing the coming year. | Cooper C. Clifton, board director, announced that the bids will be {tabulated and checked by the Ac(counts Board and that the success[ful bidders will be announced at 10 a. m, Wednesday.
G. O. P. committee for providing|
| About $800,000 worth of printing ‘business is involved.
throfsh for more than two months.”
F. 0. R. SEEKS FUNDS
FOR ROAD TO CANAL
Asks $20,000,000 to Finish Pan-American Highway. |
| WASHINGTON, May 1 (U. P.)—| President Roosevelt today asked Congress to appropriate $20,000,000 to complete the Inter-American | Highway as far south as the] Panama Canal as a new measure | to strengthen the defenses and | economy of the whole Caribbean area. : He submitted the matter to Conress with a detailed report irom Secretary of State Cordell Hull and a bill to authorize the appropria- | tions. “While defense considerations | have not motivated the suggestion. | the War and Navy Departments | believe that a through highway | from the United States to the Panama Canal would be of real value from the standpoint of the defense of the Caribbean area,” Hull's report said.
on certificates of title. Mr. Givens’ name on the titles -was required since he was head of the Department of Treasury which had control of the bureau under the old McNutt Ww. Mr. Stein then asked Mr. Tucker to use his name under the 1937 law, and Mr. Tucker is reported to feel he now is responsible for the conduct of the bureau and should have control of it.
Stamp to Ease '42 Tax Urged
WASHINGTON, May 1 (U. P). — Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr, said today the Treasury is studying plans for selling special securities which the public could buy as a means of saving up to meet next year's stiff income taxes. : Mr. Morgenthau said generally the plan under study was designed to help taxpayers save money now to pay the higher taxes next year. Treasury officials, he said, were interested in a plan whereby a citizen could buy weekly or monthly some small Federal security which would mature around income tax payment day lhe following year.
of draft deferments. Admitting that “some inevitable
and that “some confusion” exists, the nation’s top Selective Service administrator said he “is more intertested in the personalized administration of the Selective Service System than in bowing to the God of uniformity.” Gen. Hershey, who reported on draft problems to the national executive and national defense committees of the American Legion, said that “most cases alleged to be similar in circumstances and grounds for deferment are “similar only in the desire for a deferment.” “There are no two cases exactly alike in the United States” he said. “Local Board discretion in matter of deferments is much preferred to an adherence to a strict national (Continued on Page 12)
‘BUREAU GIVES HOPE FOR DROUGHT RELIEF
LOCAL TEMPERATURES
10a. m. .... 11 a. m. 12 (noon)... Ipom.... 72
Without changing the temperature much, light showers will fall on Indianapolis tonight and tomorrow to help relieve the drought situation, the Weather Bureau predicted today.
Youth Whose 'Heil Hitler' Broadcasts Puzzled FCC May Pay $10,000 for Prank
PEORIA, Ill, May 1 (U.P. .— Charles W. Johnson, 21, who posed convincingly as a foreign agent “while waiting for the draft,” learned today that his pranks might be costly. Johnson, who was too young to register for the draft last October, was released under a $2000 bond on charges of operating an unlicensed radio station without an operator's license. Irving L. Weston, superintendent of the Great Lakes area of the Federal Communications Commission, arrested Johnson after his mysterious broadcasts were traced by recently-perfected equipment from Ft. Myer, Va, Army radio operators reported that Johnson's communications had been “coming
f $
They said the youth often interrupted Government broadcasts to demand official information. In each instance, they said, he would identify himself as “Fritz” and sign off with “Heil Hitler.” FCC officials reported that from his bedroom studio Johnson would send such messages as: “Staff plans now coming in but very detailed and long. Too much trouble to re-encipher again. I am a crytographer. You must give information in exchange for this stuff. Heil Hitler, Fritz.” On several occasions he asked for the location of Government station calls. Another in#tance he broadcast: “This station is now in the hands of the enemy. Your insolence will
(hot be tolerated by Gerjan troops.
&
This station is now controlled by the German signal corps. The name is ‘Hans von Keitel’ Heil Hitler.” Ft. Myer operators said that when they asked him for his call letters, he retorted, “Say ‘please.”” Johnson, who attended Bradley College, Peoria, and took a correspondence course from a Chicago electrical engineering institute, said that he sent the illegal broadcasts because he was “bugs about radio.” “I was just whiling away the time while waiting for the draft,” he added. “I didn't mean any harm.” His bord was posted by his father, Charles O. Johnson, a Peoria insurance executive. Officials said the youth would face a Federal grand jury next week. Maximum penalty for violating the #ederal Communications Act is two years’ imprisonment and $10,000 fine.
mistakes” are made by Local Boards, |
“Nazis Would Start It”
“We ought to convoy our ships,” {he told his colleagues. “I realize that the President has said convoying means shooting and shooting is close to war. In most things (I bow to the wisdom of our great President, but I feel and I hope he feels, that whatever risks are involved in convoying our ships at least to the mid-Atlantic, are justified in the face of the peril that confronts us. “If there was any shooting, Nazis would have to start it, (Continued on Page Five)
HARRY SACKS GETS SUSPENDED TERM
‘Convicted in Purchase of Stolen Microscopes.
Over the protest of Albert Ward, deputy prosecutor, Harry Sacks, one of the proprietors of the Sacks Swap Shop, 334 Indiana Ave. was given a suspended sentence of (1 to 10 years in Criminal Court | today. Sacks was convicted last week on a charge of receiving stolen goods by Special Judge Clyde Jones. Judge Jones suspended the sentence on the motion of defense attorneys despite a plea by Mr. Ward that the State went to “considerable expense to bring witnesses from Kentucky to Indiana for the trial.” Sacks was convicted on a grand larceny charge about two years ago and was on parole at the time of the trial last week. State Parole Officers Lawrence Ammon and Joseph Sullivan were in court today but made no statement. Sacks was convicted of buying 13 microscopes which witnesses said were stolen from the University of Kentucky. Two men serving sentences in Kentucky for the thefts testified they told Sacks the appa{ratus had been stolen.
the and
2 KILLED IN CRASH RENSSELAER, Ind., May 1 (U. P.).—Two persons were killed and two others seriously injured today when the car in which they were riding crashed into the rear of a parked truck on Ind. 53, six miles south of here. The dead were Ben Coines, 35, of Rensselaer, and Kenneth Overceter, 18, of Sheldon, Ill 2 ’
may be growing serious although the British have insisted from the start!
U.S. Enlarges
(Continued on Page 12)
Tank Units
WASHINGTON, May 1 (U. P.).—The Army, heeding German site cesses, with mechanized warfare in Europe and Africa, plans to motorize
five more “streamlined” infantry divisions and to expand its armored
forces, it was disclosed today.
ning July 1. The armored divisions—patterned after the German Panzer divisions —are being increased from four to six. Each comprises approximately 11,000 men and is equipped with the latest type of tank and weapons. The Army now has two such divisions at Ft. Knox, Ky.,, and Ft. Benning, and is rapidly organizing two others at Camp Polk, La. and Camp Pine, N. Y. Sites for the projected divisions have not been selected. , ‘ Germany is believed to have about 20 Panzer divisions. It was revealed that some quarters | favor using the Army's new “jeep” —60-mile-per-hour, quarter-ton reconnaissance car—as a full-fledged “tank buster.” The {four-wheeled
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\ sald? weakened until Rs EL kirk evacuation Mr. Mason limitations.
for trying to deliver a final crushing blow. The German blitzkrieg against Jugoslavia and Greece started on April 6. It was on April 21 that the Greek Government informed the British high command that evacuation of the British Army should begin. That was 15 days after the commencement of the Nazi offensive and almost simultaneously the German push at Thermopylae showed
elements of weakness. The Germans slowed down their driye at
War Moves Today
By J. W. T. MASON United Press War Expert
The successful evacuation of 80 per cent or more of the British Expeditionary Force and even some of the Greek Army from the Balkan campaign strengthens previous indications that a German blitzkrieg expends its force quickly and remains
The Army has one motorized division—the Fourth, at Ft. Benning, Ga, Funds to equip the others with approximately 3500 vehicles.each, it was said, are contained in the 1942 fiscal year budgetary program, begine
drive “bugs,” it was said, are ideally suited for carrying anti-tank guns and could swarm around the bigger, slower tanks and pepper them with high velocity shells. . The Army has ordered 4500 of the tiny cars and it was understood that deliveries already have been made on approximately half of them. The Army also was said to have strengthened its ground and air forces at Hawaii to a point cone sidered “impregnable.” . In addition, concentration of about 12,000 troops at Ft. Clatsopp, Ore, is planned preparatory to sending them to Alaska within the next five months when housing is expected to be available. :
it can acquire a fresh impetus. A
comparison of the Greek retirement with the Dune
gives some indication of blitzkrieg
It would seem that if a blitzkrieg meets serious opposition, it is not able to continue its characteristic rapidity of strong . pressure for much more than a fortnight. must be taken for recuperation even though an opportunity may exist
Thereafter, time seemingly
the time when they should have res doubled their efforts, since their air reconnaissance must have ace quired information of British preps arations for leaving Greece. To destroy the comparatively small British force, which now seems to have numbéred scarcely more than 60,000, was Hitler's major ob= jective. Yet, he failed, apparently because his blitzkrieg had not the necessary reserve power. Since April 21st 10 days have (Continued on Rage IN ar
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