Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 July 1942 — Page 1

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FORECAST: Not much change in temperature through tomorrow forenoon.

FINAL HOME

PRIPPS ~ HOWARD §

FATE OF EGYPT

Churchill Upheld After Warning Of ‘Mortal Peril’

VOLUME 53—NUMBER 97

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THURSDAY, JULY

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2, 1942

Coast Guards Rescue Mickey From Sinking Ship

Acme Telephoto,

‘When the crew of a coast guard rescue vessel reached a sinking freighter, they found Mickey, the freighter’s mascot, sitting forlornly on a ladder The water Was rising rapidly and Mickey barked a “thanks, pals” when he was snatched to safety. (Official U. S. Coast Guard Photo.)

<TRAGE- THREAT - ‘GLUE IN KILLING

<. Sheriff's Office to Friends of Slain Youth Here.

A man reported to have threatened Oscar (Tommy) Kersey with a gun during an argument about a ‘month ago was being hunted today by authorities attempting to solve the murder of the 17-year-old youth. . Also under investigation was Kersey’s acquaintanceship with several women, many of whom he had met in taverns. Sheriff Feeney, who is conducting ‘the ‘investigation, said he would question a “number” of Kersey’s friends and relatives today to establish a possible motive for the murder. Shot Three Times . Kersey’s body was found along 46th st. near Road 52 Tuesday afternoon. He had been shot three times in the head with a smallcaliber revolver. Sheriff Feeney said Kersey’s move.ments had been traced until 16 p. in. Monday, when he last was seen-on Massachusetts ave. near the offices of the Automatic Sales Co. where he was employed. W A friend of Kersey who works in a Massachusetts ave. restaurant told of the argument between Kersey and a man three or four weeks ago which culminated with the man’s drawing a. gun. The stranger was not identified. Mother in Lexington

. Kersey’s body, was, identified . at the City morgue yesterday by George M: Baker, 2106 College ave., an employee of the Automatic Sales Co., and a laundryman who identified the “Tommy” laundry mark on the dead youth’s clothing. Kersey’s father, J. G. Kersey, and his step-mother live at 30 N. Lansing st. and the youth himself had beeni rooming at 408 N. Alabama st. His mother lives in Lexington, Ky. The youth had been employed . steadily by the Automatic Sales Co. ‘for three months and his employers described him as a good workman. He was known as “Tommy” because, friends said, he disliked the

name Oscar,

Quiz

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| TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

.... 21,Jane Jordan.. 18 Cm 10 19 16 8 16 26 15 27

= 27| Movies. . : 26| Obituaries. . 16| Pegler 16 Photography. . . 18| Questions . 16 . 20 16 18 . 18 Society... ..17, 18 Sports. 21, 22, 23 : , 49

Mrs. Roosevelt Serial Story. . Side Glances .

|received “X” cards, the former in

|258 Members of ‘Congress

Hold 'X' Cards for Gasoline

WASHINGTON, July 2 (U. P.).—Two hundred and fifty-eight congressmen—212 representatives and 46 senators—received unlimited “X” gasoline rationing cards, an exaniination of rationing board files here

disclosed today.

Mrs. Lionel Atwill, wife of the movie actor and former wife of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, received two “X’ cards—one for each of her two cars.

In her applications, Mrs. Atwill| said one car was needed for the transportation. of materials and equipment for construction, or for mechanical, electrical, structural or highway maintenance or repair| services, or for transportation of workers to enable them to render! such services. The other. car, she said, was needed in the performance of religious duties,

Figures Unofficial

Of the representatives who got unlimited gasoline rations, 113 were Democrats, 98 Republicans and one Progressive, out of a total house membership of 485 In the senate, 32 Democrats, 13 Republicans and one Progressive received “X” cards. The senate has a membership of 96. Local rationing officials emphasized that figures compiled by reporters who were allowed to go through the files were not official. Some of the congressmen. applied for cars owned by their wives. Both Senators VanNuys and Willis

the name of Marie VanNuys.

Representatives from Indiana re-|«

ceiving “X” cards were Boehne, Harness, Landis and Springer.

Dickstein Has One

Other prominent congressmen in the X-class are: Dickstein of New, York, Doughton of North Carolina, Hobbs of Alabama, Hoffman of Michigan, Norton of New Jersey, Patman and | Patton, both of Texas, Rankin of Mississippi, Rogers of Pennsylvania, Starnes and Steagall, both of Alabama, Wadsworth of New York, Woodruff of Michigan, and Wood-

Knutson of Minnesota, |

DOWNTOWN OFFICES

WILL CLOSE EARLIER

15-Minute Margin to Ease Transportation Problem.

Approximately 700 downtown offices, including city and state, will close 15 minutes earlier beginning Tuesday in compliance with the wartime program to ease transportation problems. Luncheon periods will be shortened to make the earlier closing time possible.

The move was recommended as the most effective way to spread the peak transportation.-needs of office workers, as earlier opening would further complicate the morning schedule. Other provisions of the transportation . program include hour changes for downtown stores, staggered- industrial shifts, later cpening and closing of high schools, pooling” of private cars, staggered payroll dates, selective stops on city transit systems and no rush-hour use of public transits by casual riders. .

BICYCLE RATIONING

Rationing of adult-size bicycles will begin on July 9, James D.

Strickland, state OPA director, an-|

nounced today. No new bicycles for adult use have

rum of Virginia.

STRANGERS’ LETTERS T0 SOLDIERS SCORED

War Department Frown On Practice.

Service organizations were warned today that the war department will take action at once to discourage clubs or civilians from writing to soldiers whom they do not know. It was feared such procedure might be used by the enemy to obtain information. The U. S. O. announced it had received the following statement from the war department: “War department approval will not be given, under any circumstances, to plans te encourage correspondence between soldiers and unknown civilians. Appropriate action will be taken at once to discourage any

such cotrespondence or plans now

inoney, another deati. ' But. the

been sold since April when they were | “frozen” by federal order. State and county bicycle quotas are to be announced shortly along with the requirements prospective buyers must meet to obtain a cerHileste of purchase, Mr. Strickland

WILL BEGIN JULY 9

{DELAY ACTION IN

AUSTRALIA ZONE

Allied Counter-Offensive Is Unlikely: for’ Six Months; Writer Says.

What 'is happening in the Australian war zone?. Harold Guard, who has seen at first hand the fight for Malaya, Singapore, Java | and New Guinea, supplies the | ‘answers. ‘ CRF Ns Nw

.By HAROLD GUARD United Press Staff Correspondent

SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA July 2.-—Australia almost certainly is safe from invasion for at least

three months, but it now is evident that an Australian-based counterofiensive by the united nations is unlikely in the next six months. A major shift in Japanese strategy resulted from the Coral sea and Midway battles and the American bombing of Tokyo. I have seen the results of that change in reconnaissance flights over enemy bases north of ‘Australia both before and after the turning point. Ten weeks of touring allied bases and flying with allied ‘pilots on bombing and reconnaissance tasks has convinced me that: 1. The allied command has taken a lesson in thorough preparedness from the Japanese and will not at(Continued -on Page Four)

MORE OF THE SAME— SAYS WEATHER® MAN ‘LOCAL TEMPERATURES 6a me... 59+ 10 arm > 10 7a. m. ...60 11a. m ...7%

8a. m. ... 65 12 (noon) .. 74 9am ...67 1pm ...7°

Another day of more likeable weather was the weather bureau’s good news today. The forecast was for “continued cool today and tonight.” Today's normal temperature is 75 and the record is 98 (hot) and 50 (cold). Yesterday's high was 84 at 4:15 p. m.

RUSSIANS SAY SEVASTOPOL IS STILL HOLDING

Deny Germans’ Claim of Capture; 7000 Nazis Killed at Kursk.

By UNITED PRESS Moscow reported today that the Russian army was battling furiously to turn back German atiacks in the streets of the Crimean naval base of Sevastopol and on the southern

tanks dam-

Russian official reporis flatly contradicted the German claim that Sevastopol had fallen. However, Joe Alex Morris, foreign editor of the United Press, said that although fighting contirued around the big naval base thers seemed lit-

“| tle hope the Black sea Lastion could

hold out long agains! the fierce

German assaults. Hold on Kharkov Front Dispatches made it clear, he said,

fighting continued in an attempt to delay the enemy. Soviet sources admitted the Germans were advancing slowly and in- some places had managed to break through. Encouraging news from the Kursk —— | front followed axis claims that the Sevastopol garrison, which under-

the narrow Khersones peninsula. On the Kharkov front the Russian army reportedly ‘was holding and beating off furicus attacks in which the Germans were suffering immense losses because they were being compelled to use large forces in close formation. :

Fought All Last Night

A communique yesterday from Adolf Hitler's headquarters said the Germans head © conquered Sevastopol. The first Russian; communique today reported that the Russians had fought the Germans all last night at Sevastopol. | Dispatches to the Soviet army newspaper Red Star admitted the situation was ‘exceptionally tense

land grave.”

. Meanwhile, the Germans claimed the remnants of the Sevastopol garrison, sworn to die rather than be conquered, had retreated to the Khersones peninsula, southeast of Sevastopol, and there faced annihilation on a ‘strip of ground about a mile wide and some three miles long. Adolf Hitler raised Col. Gen. Fritz Erich von Mannstein, who had directed the assault on Sevastopol to the rank of geners! field marshal, and the Rumanians, who had a (Continued on age Four)

FDR NAMES GROUP T0 TRY SABOTEURS

Military Commission Will . Hear 8 Men's Cases.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (U. P.):— President Roosevelt today set up a special military commission to try the eight Nazi saboteurs who were apprehended last ‘veek after they landed on the East coast from submarines. The military commission will con-

sist of seven members, presided over by ‘Maj. Gen. Frank R. McCoy. It will sit in Washington, meeting July 8 or as soon ther: Batter as practicalle,

Covdioade of Thrills’ To Help. the Army To Help Dependents of Its Fighting Men

The army, like the navy, takes care of its men. For ericans, that’s taken for granted. ' What is ‘more important, the army, like the navy, is now taking care of those whom the soldiers would be looking out for if it weren’t for the war. Many a wife has had these bleak facts to face: A child is to be born soon, her husband is abroad fighting for America, and there is no money, when a few dollars might mean a bouncing new life—or no

is taking care

that now. No soldier for America need fedr that his wife, mother or other dependent will want for what she or he needs. :

It takes money, of course, and that’s why the army is putting on the “cavalcade of thrills” Saturday and Sunday at the fair grounds. Approximately 90 per cent of all money taken in will go to the army to take care of soldiers’ dependents. Lucky Teter’s troupe and others are getting their expenses. Hardly three “months old, the Army Emerg orks t

ganization and run by ariny men, who are assigned io the work just as they would be to a company of infantry. = An example of how it works: A mother of two children came to Ft. Harrison a few days ago and said she had received no word from her husband for niore than a month and a half. . He was in foreign service. The unpleasant picture was this —ithe mother neéded money for her children and herself.” It was in the afternoon that she came to the fort. The next morn-|

flank of the Kursk front. where axis|¥% troops were repulsed with 7000 dead | 3 {and several hundred .{aged or destroyed.

that only bitter last-ditch street|3

went an unbelievably terrific. bate} tering for 25 days, wer= trapped on

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday.

N BALANCE

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Winston Churchill. | . “We are fighting for our lives, but allies. are stronger than a year ago. ”» Vy

EGYPT BATTLE NEAR CLIMAX

Cairo Says Defenders Are - Holding; Break-Through Claimed by Axis.

By JOE ALEX MORRIS United Press Foreign Editor The battle for Egypt raged to a climax today with the outcome still in doubt despite axis claims of a break-through on the fluid desert front at El Alamein on the 60-mile road to Alexandria naval

base. Both the British eighth army under Gen. Sir Claude Auchinleck and the Nazi columns under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel were striking for a knockout with all of the power they could muster and it appeared likely that the loser would have little or nothing left at the end of the main battle which ‘began Wednesday morning.

British Report Encouraging

The British, communique, covering Wednesday's developments only, was encouraging. It said that Rommel’s attacks had been repulsed in the first stage of fighting except -for one tank thrust

_ which broke through the defense

positions. These tanks, however, were later defeated and at dusk Wednesday night the British described the results:as “not unfavorable to us.” The communique also said that British units were fighting some 17 miles west of the Alamein positions, indicating that Auchinleck was (Continued on Page Four)

HENDERSON SAYS HE NEEDS $161,000,300

Asks Senate Committee to

Restore House Cut. (Earlier Details, tails; Page Three)

WASHINGTON, Jt July 2 (U. P): Nn Price Administrator Leon Henderson, in a stormy session of a senate appropriations subcommittee, .re= quested today that the group raise 1943 © funds for his effice sto $161,000,000 instead of the $75,000 voied by the house. en Henderson told a closed meeting of the committee that the house cut in funds for the office of price administration means a. reduction below what his office is now doing

of congress. He would not authorize the inTerence, however, that prices could

under the price control. “mandate” |:

PRICE THREE CENTS

® x = ® 2 =

000 ALLIED TROOPS SSED IN MID-EAST 0 OPPOSE AXIS PUSH’

Prime Minister Acknowledges Loss of 50,000 British Fighters in Two Weeks; Says Allies Grow Stronger.

LONDON, July 2 (U. P.).—The united nations are “fighting for our lives” in the still undecided battle of Egypt, but 950,000 allied troops have been sent into the Middle East to oppose the axis twin offensive through North Africa and the Russian Caucasus, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the house of commons today. _Churehill, winning a vote of confidence by 475 to 25, painted a grave picture of the military developments in the Mediterranean, where axis armies claimed to have broken through the El Alamein sector today in a rush along the 60-mile road to Alexandria naval base. British dispatches, covering Wednesday's fighting, said

l lonly that the situation was “not unfavorable” at that time,

Churchill today said the battle of Egypt was “now in the balance.” The “general strength” of the united nations has greatly improved this year, Churchill said, but he acknowledged loss in the last two weeks of 50,000 men (mostly

prisoners) in Libya and Egypt and of huge amounts of =

equipment despite the fact that the battle of Libya started with allied superiority in all branches of the armed forces,

Warns War Will Be Long

On the other side of the balance sheet, Churchill said that British empire forces and smaller American forces sent to the Middle East so far totaled 950,000 men, 4500 tanks, 6000 aircraft, almost 5000 pieces of artillery, 50,000 machine guns and more than 100,000 vehicles. This total has been reduced by heavy losses in the desert fighting, including one perhaps decisive clash in Libya when the axis knocked out 230 of 300 allied tanks in one night without serious losses to the German forces and then went on to strike on “entirely unexpected” blow by eaphure of Tobruk. : Churchill warned that the war would be a long one and emphasized that “we are in mortal peril,” but he said that the Russians, bolstered by 2000 British tanks, would give Hitler still more “surprises” and that the allied forces in

India, Ceylon and Malta have been strengthened against attack.

Warns “Grave News” Expected Commons voted confidence in Churchill after the prime minister demanded “a decision one way or the other without favors, either for myself or for the government but suse taining the government or ‘changing the government.” : In his speech warning that “news of grave importance” must be expected from the Egyptian battlefield at any mo= ment, Churchill said that: 1. The axis armies of Nazi Marshal Erwin Rommel had advanced 400 miles across the desert and were approaching the Nile valley. 2. The fighting in North Africa had changed the milie tary situation drastically in the whole Mediterranean theater and put Britain in a “moment of mortal peril . .. unequalled since the fall. of France.”

Allied Strength Growing 3. The British held superiority in men, artillery, tanks and airplanes at the start of the battle for Libya. 4. He has never shared the view “that this would be: a short war or would end in 1942, but I affirm with confidence that the general strength of the united nations has greatly: improved since the turn of the year.” : 5. The balan¢e of naval power in the Pacific “has been definitely altered in our favor” as a result of the “splendid achievements” of American and other forces. in the batt

of the Coral sea, and’ Midway islands—battles “which. (Continued ¢ on Page Four)