Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 July 1942 — Page 1
“ FORECAST: Probably showers and thunderstorms and cooler toda,
Capital
EDITION
TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1942
Entered as Second-Class Matfer at Postoffice,
Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sun€ay.
PRICE THREE CENTS |
Over Our Chances,
‘Midway Changed Outlook’ —Casey
A Correspondent Who Was There Is Optimistic
estimate Jap Strength.
but Doesn't Under-
Home from seven months with the fleet in the Pacific, Robert J. Casey herewith begins a series of articles dealing with the little understood aspects of the war in that sector.
By ROBERT J. CASEY Copyright, 1942, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.
We had been heading up toward the Aleutians when somebody ordered us back to Pearl Harbor. We hadn’t yet begun to comprehend the magnitude of what the fleet had done at Midway. We hadn’t quite figured out the purpose of the Japs in continuing their
feint gainst the rocky islands
on the road to Dutch Harbor.
But whatever the score, whatever the purpose of the little invasion force up there in the fog, as we started home we realized one thing, an incredible, startling, cheering truth:
The heat was off.
Little has come out of the Aleutians since June 3 concerning what
goes on in the battle of the mists. . ..
Jap cruiser sunk and a carrier damaged by an army bomber , . . three Japanese destroyers sunk, - one damaged by navy patrols.
» » ”
Pacific Outlook Changett
BUT YOU GATHER, if only from the expressive silences of military spokesmen, that condi- . tions in Alaska haven’t changed much since the main fleet turned out of the mists toward Honolulu. e battle of Ef Midway, if one may be permitted to read the signs, already has aad its effect on the : fate of Dutch ;: Harbor a n d Juneau. It ‘ has had great bearing on the future of Mr. Casey places th a t seem less remote—such as Brisbane and Aukland or Seattle and San Francisco. The battle of Midway has changed the prospects of the Pacific fleet—for that matter of the whole Pacific. It would be nice to think that we have always had the affairs of this endless ocean well in our hands. And it’s a very fine indication of the present state of our seagoing war that we can look back across the past six months without shivering when we realize that it wasn’t so.
Fighting for Keeps
WE MAY HAVE been in no immediate danger of losing the war after Pearl Harbor. But there were times, some “of them no later than the morning of June 4, 1942, when there were excellent prospects that we might be doing our Pacific fighting from a base on the west coast of the United States. The Japanese are fighting this war for keeps, and that they have put into the job a lot of excellent warriors excellently equipped. Our fliers think that Hirohito’s pilots are not ‘only good but generally excellent. And the Jap fleet was well-made and well-manned.
” ge Nn IT WOULD probably be irksome no end to a censor. to suggest that our operating force"in the Pacific was inferior to any collection of ships afloat, including the arks of the archangels. So we shan't even toy with the idea. However, at the beginning™ of 1839, according to Jane's “Fighting Ships,” the navies of the world were in delicate balance. Britain had 12 battleships and three battle cruisers, the United States 15 (Continued on Page Four) -
TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES
Amusements . 7; Millett ...... Eddie Ash ... 14/1 Comics ...... 17 Crossword ., 17 Editorials ... 10 Peter Edson.. 10 Mrs. Ferguson 10 13| Mrs. Roosevelt 9 Side Glances. 10 Society .. 11, 12 Sports ... 14, 15 State Deaths. 5 War and You 3 Al Williams... 9
Jap transports in Kiska ... a
CONVOY'S TRIP ‘A NIGHTMARE
Former Accountant Tells Of Losing Pants on
Way to Murmansk.
The following eyewitnesses ac-count-—one of the first ever published of a convoy trip to Murmansk was written by Walter Klemme, a former cost accountant, who joined the merchant marine a year ago after the army and navy refused him. » » EJ By WALTER KLEMME (Copyright, 1942, by United Press) NEW YORK, July 14—The voyage to Murmansk was a nightmare of Uboats, German bombers and icebergs. They fired torpedoes at us by the score; big Focke-Wulf planes rained bombs on us. We got through with the bulk of our convoy, although we had some losses. Looking back, I don’t remember a man who was afraid of the worst the Germans could give. They stayed on their jobs, no matter how many hours it took. We left the United States in February, and I, for one, didn’t know we were going to Murmansk. We joined a convoy off Canada and the first day out had a submarine attack. Every ship sent up flares, but none was hit.
Tanker Torpedoed
Our first stop was a British port. From it, we started out again and in 20 hours a tanker ahead of us was torpedoed. One of thé ships lost its barrage balloon. So we put back to port and restarted. This time, however, we headed for a rendezvous to be picked up in a convoy. Three days ot, the submarine and air attacks started, and I literally lost my pants. It sounds funny now but at the time it didn’t. ‘We were on a 24-hour alert and I was lugging ammunition up from the locker rooms to the deck guns. They were blasting away at a submarine, half awash on the surface and shooting back. I was climbing a ladder with my arms full of shells when our deck (Continued on Page Four)
NORTH CAROLINA OIL BLAST KILLS FIVE
Bulk Plant, Houses, Rubber Pile Destroyed.
WAYNESVILLE, N. C, July 14 (U. P.) —Five persons were reported killed, at least eight others were injured seriously and five houses were wrecked today by an explosion that destroyed a Standard Oil Co. bulk plant and 25000 pounds of
1scrap rubber.
W. L. Hardin, manager of the plant and one of those injured said “it happened in someway.” “When we saw there was going to be an explosion we rushed to warn people in, nearby houses— several of which were later demolished,” he said. The first and major blast was
10| Geo. Weller... °
9 followed by a of smaller con-
’
BASTILLE DAY SPURS SPIRITS OF OPPRESSED
Signals Anti-Axis Drive; ‘Report Gestapo Leader in
Jugoslavia Slain
LONDON, July 14 (U. P.).—The anniversary of France's Bastille Day was a signal for anti-Axis demonstrations throughout Europe today, and in Jugoslavia, the chief of the German gastapo, Major Helm, was reported shot and killed as he
walked along Zagreb’s main street. Jugoslav officials here reported the shooting and said other gestapo agents walking with Helm fired at passersby and at thé window from which they believed the shots which kijgpgd Helm had come. They also reported that patriots in Zagreb, Gradski and Podrum, throwing hand grenades, had killed and wounded about 700 of the enemy. A French underground army promised a second front, early deliverance and revenge on their oppressors, were defying the Germans on an increasingly large scale,
Patriot Killed
fices of the French Tricolor Legion and Jacques Doriot’s Peoples (Fascist) Party in Bourges. French Gendarmes, accompanied by German polic& had. taken.a “terrorists’ nest” in Pas de Calais department in the north of France. One pdtriot was killed. Other reports said that railways had been blown up at Monchy, near the mouth of the River Somme, and at Anviaux. Lieut. Gen. Nieholff, German military commander at Lille, announced that 50 communists had been deported for sabotage. It was against this rising tide of disaffection and the prospects that it. would increase on Bastille day that Gen. Oberg, chief of the gestapo in France, ordered all male members over 18 of the families .of French patriots accused of sabotage and attacks on Germans executed within 10 days if the patriots aid not surrender.
Hostages Seized
All women would be sent into forced labor and all children sent to reformatories. Oberg’s definition of family included cousins and sons-in-law. Lieut. Gen. Alexander von Faulkenhausen, German military commander of the departments of Nord and Pas de Calais, France, and Belgium, announced yesterday that he had seized a “large number of hostages.” Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French—re-named the fighting French to include patriots resisting in France—had advised against violence.
FREE FRENCH FORM FIGHTING MOVEMENT
LONDON, July 14 (U. P.).—The “Free French” movement became the “Fighting French” movement today. A British foreign office spokesman said the government had accepted the change, which was made so the movement would include Frenchmen in occupied and unoccupied France resisting the enemy, as well as those fighting with the "united nations’ armed forces. Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s committee henceforth will be known as the “French national committee.”
Bombs had exploded in the of-|
they made “rifle grenades.”
# » »
government imagined it could. But the workmen—especially flag-raising ceremony at the plant
1ST RENT CASE
Landlord Refused Obey Ruling Of OPA.
Charging his rent had not been “frozen,” a tenant has filed suit in Municipal court against his landlord in the first. complaint of its kind here. Robert Haley, the renter, brought the action yesterday against Clar-
ence C. Shipp 3404 Guilford ave, the house owner. In his suit, Mr. Haley charged that the house at 626 Spring st. owned by Mr, Shipp, had rented for $15 a month on July 1, 1941, and
Charges To
for $21 a month, He said that he handed Mr. Shipp $15 for the rental period from July 2 to Aug. 2 which the latter accepted but said that he was going to have the full $21 and Tetfused to issue a receipt.
Mr. Haley said that within 30 minutes the water was shut off and he charged that Mr. Shipp “boisterously” ordered him to vacate the premises. Mr. Shipp could not be reached (Continued on Page Four)
LOCAL TEMPERATURES
6am ... 72 8am. ... 76 7am ... 73 9am. ... 7
Swings: From Stokers to Tanks With Greatest
By WILLIAM CRABB If there’s one word to describe Holcomb & Hoke it’s “vers The. mayor and army and navy officers used a lot of other to describe the firm’s ability to produce more tank parts
TENANT SUES IN
has been renting since May 3, 1942,
They're making tank parts at Holcomb & Hoke but in w; Four workmen still with the "helped make grenades 25 years ago are Henry Lewis an ' Kirschner (kneeling, left to right), holding one of the gre Otto Froelich and Louis Seitz (standing, left te gt)
td »
the old-timers—who att: yesterday realized that tl to do different things! hurry—has been respo: their success. .
Started With Bru
For instance, Holcom started out making br was in 1896.
Hoke’s brush interest. an
| & Hoke manufactured)
five-pin bowling alleys. Holcomb Co. still ms brushes in another part ¢ After they’d sold aboi five-pin bowling alleys {| the firm made “butter-ki;
along and Holcomb & | its part, manufactured r —1,250,000 of them—for | “Butter-kist popcorn” I eral years after the w company took on two lin stokers to keep homes refrigerators to keep st cold.”
Made Rifle Grena Otto Froelich, assistan’
four workmen still with pany who helped turn ou nades 25. years ago. He tool room then and he de jigs and fixtures for the this time. “Even though our expe of a different kind than (Continued on Page
SAN FRANCISCO, Ju P.).—A small naval pai} went aground early tod
navy announced. All 13 ct
bers. were removed sai breeches buoys.
poppers.” Then world wir
STUCK OUTSIDE GOLD: |
rocks, outside the Golden |:
Don Flows Red and Redder Still; Aid Is Awaited.
By LELAND STOWE
Copyright. 1942, by The Indinanols. Tines OP%nd The Chicago Daily New
MOSCOW, July 14. The “Don flows red and redder still, as German Col, Gen, Paul Ludwig Von Kleist throws dozens of tank and shock divisions into the great and
increasingly critical battle of the Don. The might of the German offensive hammers and thunders uninterruptedly over a front of 250 miles from Voronezh southward to a sector somewhere between Lissichansk and Voroshilovgrad. The Nazi armies get relatively smal] bites of territory at great cost, but their tanks continue to crunch steadily and inexorably.
progress; ‘however. painfully, they may shortly. hold positions so advanced along the Don and below its eastward curve as to free Field Marshal Feodor Von Bock’s hands for a frontal assault against Rostov.
Darkest Days Ahead
Only with the Germans’ left or northern flank solidly protected could they risk this drive for the gateway to the Caucasus. © So the hard-pressed, magnificent :| Soviet armies have entered the inevitable period of their greatest trial, days which are as dark as well as blood red. These flaming days, before autumn, may largely decide the fate of more than 1,000,000 human beings —not only in the Soviet Union but in Britain, the United States, throughout continental Europe, throughout India, China, the East Indies and Australia. One cannot watch the first econvulsions of this Armageddon of 1942 without the most solemn real- : ization that millions of Russians
issue, Just one other million—perhaps only pone other 500,000—would unquestionably stem this Nazi ‘tide. '| But not on the steppes of the Don. Not in Russia.
Fateful Days of History
Pravda (Communist party organ) ‘| frankly underscores the gravity of the situation: “The assault of the _Hitlerite hordes has created the most serious danger to a series of vital centers of ‘our country. We must stop the enemy. Here, in these places where |out. fathers and their forebears routed the invaders, let us be worthy of their deeds.” There are times in the world’s history when the future of humanity may be decided, as compared with past milleniums, within the ticking of a ‘clock. That decision need not be within the echo of tanks, howitzers and bomb explosions. The Don flows red—down Whitehall and down Pennsylvania ave. There is nothing more to say.
| RAF. RESUMES RAIDS ON NAZI WAR PLANTS
WASHINGTON, July 14 (U. P.). —President Roosevelt, the war production board and an unidentified tailor ganged up today to cover the modesty of M. R. Wolfkeil, a San Pedro, Cal, shipyard worker whose 386 pounds couldn't be squeezed into a pair of war-scrimped pants. His tonnage wouldn’t fit under a ceiling, either. That is, a ceiling price on work clothes. Mr. Wolfkeil, who in His own ‘words was in danger of becoming a “California Mahatma Ghandi,” wired his problem to Mr. Roosevelt, pointing out that he had voted for him three times and had never asked a favor be-
explained. “Please instruct Leon Henderson (pricé administrator) to send me priority for cloth and set price ceiling for pants. Rush. Need for pants is urgent.” The telegram was turned over to the WPB, and went to the desk of Jack E. Doran, chief of the work clothes unit. - Doran, while commenting that Wolfkeil’s 386 pounds would keep him from looking much like the Mahatma even if he had to wear
a sheet, promised prompt action
as soon as he got some exact measurements. Wolfkeil wasn’t slow in replying. Jiesaid he was “preity well ans conditione ¢
(chest); 57 inches arour ships (waist); center of gravity to keel | length of pants.)” He also said that “thi only: country in the wor
Ruhr_ Again Is Target of Long-Range Bombers.
LONDON, July 14 (U. P.), — British long-range bombing planes, resuming their ‘offensive against German war industry, attacked the Ruht during the night and left many fires burning. the air ministry said today. Five planes were lost. It was the first time since the night of June 16-17 that the Ruhr was bombed. Since then in eight raids, one of them a 1000-plane attack, the royal air force had been sent against the |big German submarine centers -| where the Nazis are turning out the craft which are preying on allied commerce.
| BERLIN, July 14 (U. P.). — Twenty-one British planes were shot down yesterday and last night in
If they are able to maintain their
alone cannot be asked to decide. the!
—————
Nazi Technique, The 'Mot-Pulk'
By UNITED PRESS Germany, using a Swiss newspaper- as a mouthpiece, reported today that the Nazi high command was using anew technique in its Russian offensive—the attack by “motpulk” or massed motorized squares instead of by tank wedges. It was explained that the Germans attack in armored squares. Protected by tanks which form the square, motorized units and even mobile repair shops, along with food, ammunition and supply trains, advance en masse.
The “mot-pulk” is able to change the direction of its attack at any time, Berlin quoted the Swiss newspaper as saying. The motorized infantry was said to move out from the “mot-pulk” to make an attack | on a Russian position, As soon | as it has broken into the first line of fortifications, the mo[“torized “square moves forward and the infantry is withdrawn. If resistance continues between the main line and the advanced groups, it was said, “mot-pulk” units are left behind to deal with it.
ROMMEL HELD
By Nazis to Regain Ground in_ Egypt.
CAIRO, July 14 (U, P.).—British Imperial forces have beaten off a new axis attack on their costal line, it was announced today.
Field Marshal Erwin ‘Rommel threw his men, Germans with Italian infantry, against the new British battle. line west of El Alamein, anchored on the Hill of Jesus and a strong ridge to the south. They were repulsed by artillery, machine gun and rifle fire.
Little Change in Front
days that Rommel attempted to regain—perhaps for a renewed offensive against Alexandria and Nile —the positions he lost to the British last week. Although there was little change on the land front, allied airplanes pressed day and night attacks on the axis bases and supply lines including Tobruk, Matruh and El Daba. Dispatches said that in a threehour attack Sunday night on Tobruk, the axis base on the Libyan coast, medium and heavy bombers dropped bombs at the rate of one a minute.
British Ships Shell Matruh
A direct hit was scored on an axis ship, several hits or near misses were made on others, docks were damaged heavily and fires were started. The raid was a follow-up to a
heavy and successful bombardment
by light British naval forces and planes of fleet air airm on Matruh, the Egyptian coast town between the present line and the Libyan border.
ON.NEW LINES
| British Defeat 2d Effort
SAVAGE BATTLE RAGES IN VORONEZH STREETS; FOE GAINS ON ROSTOV
Germans Are Closes 4
To Volga; Soviet Fights Back.
~ BULLETIN MOSCOW, July 14 (U. P.).—The Russian press warned today of the dane gers of the German drive, Pravda, official publica: tion of the Communist par. ty, urged editorially that. every army man, every worker, engineer and peas. ant “strain every nerve” to crush the enemy and save the fatherland. “Grave dangers hang over the fatherland, which calls you, sons of its own blood, . - to crush the terrible waz machine of the hated ene. my, halt him, smash his attacks and bleed and puls” ‘verize the Nazi -e the paper said.
By JOE ALEX MORRIS ,United Press Foreign Editor
The axis offensive in south. ern Russia smashed closer to Voronezh, the Volga and the Caucasus today despite Ruse
and mounting losses of men and machines, The Russians reported that heavy counter-blows had stopped an enemy offensive 125 to 135 miles northwest of Moscow in the Rzhev sec tor, and press reports to the Moscow Red Star told of strong counter-attacks by the: Red army in the Voronesity sector.
But on three vital frents in the south, the Soviet front line dise patches acknowledged that: VORONEZH: Mass enemy attacks twice broke through the Russian.
.]defenders, fighting from every" hill,
tree®and street corner, and pushed into the outskirts of the city. DON RIVER BEND: The Ruse sians were forced to fall back again
It was the second time in two!in the Boguchar sector, less tham
190 miles from Stalingrad on the Volga. ROSTOV: A German column driving down the Voronezh-Rostov railroad advanced beyond Millerove, Jess than 100 miles from Rostov. 3
The pincers drive: on Rostov, gateway to the Caucasus, was espes cially grave for the iet army, The Germans were advancing south of Millerovo and also from the die rection of Lisichansk; 90 miles due east of Millerovo.
Few Natural Parriers
This put them on a network of railroads on both sides of Veoroshi~ lovgrad, which may be their next goal, and on a front that permits flanking attack toward Rostov from three directions, including Taganrog, Fighting in this area centers in what was one of Russia’s most highe ly developed industrial and mining areas, laced by railroads and high~ ways and close to the broad plains that stretch across the northern Caucasus toward Astrakhan and the Caspian sea. Only the Donets and the broad
(Continued on Page Fou) -
On the War Fronts
July 14, 1942
RUSSIA: Red army reports effective counter-attacks northwest of
Moscow and near Voronezh but axis mass offensive plunges deeper into southern Russia toward Rostov and Stalingrad. Soviet press urgently warns of mounting danger and calls for Russians to strain every nerve in war effort.
“|raids over Gerany, oF ie or
AINt R. A. F. again raids Ger 3
~ strong bomber force; five plag lost. :
YUGOSLAVIA: Gestapo chie; assassinated; 700 persons repo killed in clash at Zagreb and o towns.
EGYPT: Allied airplanes renew and night aerial attacks on:
| bases; no change in frong 4
sian army counter-attacks: