Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 March 1943 — Page 1
ee ——
Wserpes —nowarn} ¢ VOLUME 54—NUMBER 10
—
8 H ARMY CIRC FRAN IC ROMMEL Tl
~ Maknassy Quiet as Americans Entered—Then {is Came Back
- By PHIL AULT : United Press Staff Correspondent [ - WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES IN MAKNASSY, March 22 (Defayed).—A former school teacher from Lancaster, Pa., captured Mak-
assy. Just before dawn today Lieut.
Mervin Sneath, 26, led a patrol in
Jeeps and halftracks up to within 500 yards of this town. ‘He radioed 4 his position to his commanding officer and back came the orders:
“Proceed by foot into the village.” | WfThe ground was heavily mined,
but Lieut. Sneath ordered his men
to climb out of the jeeps and halftracks and follow him.
“I was really scared,” he said, opposition because the enemy had mines and booby. traps.”
And
GROCERS FEAR HIGH SPOILAGE IN DRIED FRUIT
Cut in Point Values May Speed Buying of Cans in Upper Brackets.
By. HELEN RUEGAMER Dried fruits are - beginning to spoil on the shelves of Indianapolis grocery stores and unless they are _- included in the list of rationed foods which: may be reduced in point value next month, mass spoilage will result.
< This was ‘disclosed ‘today by city|
“wholesalers and retailers -as they prepared for a miodetate buying boom in canned goods through next
Wednesday, the end of the Mirst a- .
tion period. Grocers do not expect housewives to invest many of this period's _ points in dried fruits because of the high point value. And unless the points are reduced or the dried
items are eliminated from the ra-|. =
tion list altogether, many grocers face a high bill for spoilage.
Lower Values Considered
~ Some will be able to use cold ~ storage facilities, but even they admitted that the dried. fruits are almost unsalable after being Stored any length of time, Washington announced today that fiew and lower point values for April may be announced next Sun-
day. Substantial * reduction in point values are expected to be made to ‘encourage point-thrifty housewives ‘to resume buying items on which point values have been high. Most housewives cautiously held on to their points and started the final week of ‘the ration period with ~ more than half of their points still in their books.
Cut In Juices Seen
The biggest cuts, it was under#todd, will be made in canned fruits fruit ‘juices, particularly the r-sized cans which have been virtually immobilized on grocery store shelves. ‘Other high-point items which * probably ‘will be cut are canned grapefruit, pears, peaches, pineapples, berries and fruit salad. Low-point ‘items which have sold ‘well probably will remain unchanged Yor may be moved slightly upward. " The blue A, B and C stamps expire Wednesday, March 31, but stamps D, E and F become valid this Thursday to help out those confused . (Continued on Page Five)
U. S. BOMBERS RAID PALERMO, KILL 38
' .By UNITED PRESS About 20 four-engined American - bombers raided the axis base of Palermo, Sicily, yesterday, damaging or demolishing several municipal buildings and killing at least 38 persons, the Italian high command reported today in a broadcast communique. Tentative reports showed 184 persons wounded in the Palermo raid, in addition tothe dead; the. com-
munique said.
TIMES FEATURES ON. INSIDE PAGES
“but I went ahead. We found no pulled out but we. found plenty of
jp
- (FORECAST: Warmer tonight and tomorrow forenSon.
TUESDAY, MARCH B08 :
ES M
MAKNASSY IS A TOWN of about 50 houses clustered around the
station on the narrow-gauge railroad.
The residents seemed happy as
the Americans entered and one old man burst into tears when he saw the familiar uniform of a French liaison officer. It appeared to be a peaceful town, but soon the Germans came. Stuka dive bombers came ‘through the loose clouds to the east. I counted 10 of them as they circled and then peeled’ of into dives against our advanced artillery positions. Then I heard the stuttering sound of anti-aircraft fire and then Stukas pulled out and disappeared in pairs over the mountains. Later Sergt. Pete Paris, former New York magazine illustrator and now:on the staff of the army paper “Yank,” told me he was in one of the advanced positions when the Stukas struck.
With a “gee” and a “haw Warren Suarks of 6520 Coil ave. drives his. feaim, and his. plow - Soars
Jutire victory from the sod. This is the beginning of the garden ‘back of Mr. and Mrs. ‘Walter Harrer’s home, 6081 Gladden dr. Victory gardens are on their way, but wet ground in most parts of the city is
holding up the: plowshare.
TOBIN. DESPAIRS OF LABOR UNITY
Article on \ Factional Selfishness Follows Disclosures in Times.
Peace in the labor movement? . No, it’s still far off, if ever possible; according to Daniel J. Tobin, president of the international teamsters union. Writing in. the Abril issue ot the International Teamster, the union’s official publication which will be mailed out through the United States tomorrow, President Tobin will say: “Individual selfishness, a great desire on both sides (A. F. of L.and C. I. OJ) for its full 16 ounces of its pound of flesh, and the desire to wrangle over small matters to the injury of the great multitude of the workers, in my judgment, will make it impossible to reach an understanding or agreement.” And Mr. ‘Tobin, a member of the joint committee of the two rival labor groups newly formed to: settle jurisdictional disputes, is one of the ~ |most powerful and influential labor leaders in the world. His article, “A.F.L.-C.I1. 0. Agreement. Explained-Selfishness Prevents Labor Peace,” follows dis=closure in The Indianapolis Times of the public agreement and an accompanying “secret clause” entered (Continued on Page Five)
BEGIN LONG-DELAYED
ony STREET REPAIRS
| Unimproved Sections Will Be Graded.
Clean-up of downtown streets, held up for weeks by cold weather
Men in Sérvice 20 Millett - ...:.. 10
piisements: , 13 sees 8 aly 14
Weve : 9 Millett
Obituaries“... Pegler seesece 10 9
2} and broken-down machinery, was to get underway today. Following - their ‘repair at a cost of $1182, five Sweepers and six
‘Movies Ghee bw 13 flushers,
‘| standing that
I : > ° Showdowns in Mine Wage 3 % ® .. . % ® : : : Dispute Is Believed Near By FRED W. PERKINS : Times Spécial Writer WASHINGTON, March 23.—Like in the old cowboy song, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John L. Lewis, who used to ride herd on the same side of the fence, are a-headin’ into the last roundup. Showdowns have been predicted before between these Iwo, but they
were worked out by compromises.
This time it looks sure that somebody has to give. And in the mid-
dle of a war the receding party would appear to be the bellicose and bushy-browed president of the United Mine Workers. The decision had become necessary today through two official actions announced simultaneously. One was an 8-to-4 vote: by the war labor board, with the labor members dissenting, announcing
.|that there would be no weakening
in its wage-control policies. The other was a statement by the president calling on Mr. Lewis to submit himself “peacefully” to these policies, and to the adjudication of the national war labor board. Is Lewis Giving Ground?
Lewis had warned previously that the soft coal miners would not work after March 31 in the absence of a new contract embodying a $2 a day wage increase.
Mr. Lewis appeared to give some je
ground today for he proposed to the Northern Appalachian soft coal mine operators in -New York that pending continued negotiations, the present contract be extended for 30 days from April, with the underany subsequént agreement reached shall be applied retroactively from April 1. The operators, however, countered with a resolution which differed from the unions -in. that no specific deadline was mentioned.
House farm bloc leaders served notice today they will continue to}
| fight for increased farm prices de-|-
spite the war labor board’s any radical change in food ! might force upward revision of the “little steel” wage formula. Rep. William Lemke (R. N. D) asserted that government “bureaucrats” apparently are unaware that “a revolution” is sweeping the coun-
‘| try from New York to California, |’
demanding relief for the nation’s food producers.
‘Meanwhile the White House fe-| Go
it had received no replies)
Roosevelt's. request to
KNOX WILL ATTEND APRIL 9 BOND RALLY
State Also to sb Push sale Of Securities.
Col. Frank Knox, secretary ofsthe navy, will be here April 9 for a state-wide war bond rally to be held in the Cadle tabernacle. The announcement was made by
Eugene Pulliam, chairman of the}
Indiana war finance committee. He
said :that not only war bonds, but
the sale of all government securities will be pushed in the second Indiana war loan campaign, which Col. Knox will open. ; Goal of the month-long drive will the sale of $300,000,000 in war bonds, tax notes, treasury certificates and other’ government securities. * Also to be here are Admiral John Downes, commanding officer of the Great Lakes Naval Training sta-
tion, representatives of the 11 naval |-~ stations and organizations in the
state, and Lieut. Comm. Eddie Peabody and his chorus from Great Lakes. : Mr. Pulliam: said no bonds will be sold at the rally and that admission is free. - :
U. S. RAISES ENVOYS” RANKS IN AMERICAS
WASHINGTON, March 23 (U. P.).
a act masdoeal ra ar ok op seven from, siisies ambassador. :
Envoys to the other 13 4
{small patients are making under her
“I WAS FLAT on the ground,
float down and then there was a big roar and clouds of smoke, The earth shook so hard my teeth chattered. But those soldiers really took
it. They kept right on firing back.
All day our troops fought off the enemy planes and then we pushed
patrols east of the town. |
The inhabitants of Maknassy said the defenders consisted mostly of Italians, but that there were about 40 Germans in the garrison. took some Italian prisoners and some of them wept when they were given~American food. They wanted to know if they were going to be
taken to New York.
The inhabitants told us there was bad blood between the German and Italian officers. The Germans, they said, Telused to eat at the
same mess with the Italians.
UNHAPPY ITALY IS SEEN READY T0 SURRENDER
Prepared to “i Deal With Generous Conqueror, Barrows Says.
- By NAT A. BARROWS Copyright, 1943, by The Indianapolis Times d The Chicago Daily News, Inc. LONDON, March 23.—After three years of continuous defeats on the battlefield, which have practically wiped out her army and air force, Italy today is broken in war spirit and seeks only a generous conqueror to whom she may surrender. Italy’s desolate position as
‘| “prisoner of Hitler,” stripped of 5 everything valuable by her German |
Beers Shir’ of her empire’ and
A of the oid” wasig by the
force, has reached such a stage that
{Mussolini and his envoy to the -| Vatican,- Count. Galeazzo Ciano, are
believed ready and eager to get out of the war as soon as possible before the internal situation gets any | worse. This carrespondent’s sources give every reason to believe that Italy is prepared to bargain for conditions of surrender and escape the further consequences of her hapless alliance with Hitler, .
Gestapo Keeps Grip
It is not to be supposed that Italy could sue for peace before she has been invaded. The grip of the gestapo and the presence on Italian soil of at least three German divisions probably precludes that possibility. It is much likelier that the Italian people and such remnants of
.Jtheir army: as still exist within the
country would not attempt to oppose Anglo-American landings, It is now believed that Ciano has been concentrating on arranging to get Italy out of the war, almost under any terms,
Hitler Sees Crisis
Mussolini’s position if Italy were able to make such arrangements would be an .interesting development and possibly any such terms would include provision that. he. be permitted to get sanctuary in internment in some allied country, such as Brazil. Sufficient evidence has arisen in the past few weeks to show that * (Continued on Page Five)
COMES SPARROW PIE"
LONDON, March 23 (U. P.)—As a way to beat the meat shortage, the Daily Mail front-paged this recipe “Slowly simmer sparrows until they are nearly done, then put them in‘a pie dish. . Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a little bacon,
>
Entered as Secor d-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday.
i
?.he said. “I watched the bombs
They're plenty tough.”
We
On the War Fronts
(March 23, 1943) TUNISIA—Americans capture Maknassy in Tunisian drive for coast as British eighth army outfianks Mareth line. Rommel strikes at El Guettar in effort to break out of trap.
RUSSIA—Rad army captures 40 more towns in drive on Smolensk; Donets battle subsiding.
AIR. WAR--British bombers blast St. Nazaire and American raiders strike Wilhelmshaven,
PACIFIC—Allies occupy Mambare area on north coast . of New Guinea and kill 700 Jeapanese; Kiska raided 21st time this month.
ST. NAZAIRE, SUB
RAF Resumes Offensive as Yanks Concentrate on, Wilhelmshaven LONDON, March 23 (U. P)—A big force of Britain's four-engined bombers; rodring back into action after a weather-enforced ninenight rest, rocked St. Nazaire, one of Germany's biggest U-boat bases on the French Atlantic coast, with hundreds of tons of bombs last night, ‘The raid followed by only a few hours an American aerial assault on Wilhelmshaven, naval base and submarine building and repair center in northwest Germany. The American attack was described by participating pilots as the most concentrated yet undertaken by the eighth U. S. air force. Though the air ministry described last night’s raid on St. Nazaire as “heavy,” only one bomber was lost. Whirlwind fighter-bombers joined in the night's offensive with bombing attacks on railway targets in (Continued on Page Five)
HOOSIER FLIER KILLED IN EASTERN CRASH
HEMPSTEAD, N. Y., March 23 (U. P.) —Lieut. Earl D. Hayward, 22, of Lagrange, Ind. was killed early today when his army fighter plane crashed into the science building at Hofstra college, caving in part of the wall, and burst into flames. A fire started in the damaged room, but was controlled before it could spread to other parts of the building.
ROOSEVELT COLD CURED. WASHINGTON, March 23 (U. P.)—Having successfully warded off an incipient cold by a week-end of rest, President Roosevelt returned to his regular schedule today, including an afternoon press ‘confer-
ence.
cover with pastry and bake.”
Sister Kenny in
Elizabeth Kenny came to Indianapolis today: to see the progress
famous treatment for acute infantile She’ll examine them this after--
Effects of Polio Treatment
{honesty and a sense of humor. She
tional a ‘who is here with her,
City fo See
control of mind over muscles. Sometimes she even calls the muscles by their Latin names and encourages the youngsters to learn them.
Sister Kenny is a reserved woman, | gray-haired. - She has a profound
doesn’t comment on diagnosis. She doesn’t consider it her business. Her Job is to treat. She is modest. But Warren Coss, | the . regional director for the NaFoundation for Infantile
‘| Russians Seize 50 Towns in
PRICE FOUR CENTS
“LINE
R iS ON YANK
JAWS OF TRAP ONLY 30 MILES ~ FROM SEA NOW
Americans Capture Maknassy, Hold Against : Counter-Blow; British Column Drives Close to Gabes Bottleneck.
By VIRGIL PINKLEY United Press Staff Correspondent
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, North Africa, March 2, —The Mareth line stood bent and outflanked by the British: eighth army today, leaving the axis army of South Tunisia. in a desperate dilemma as American troops raced for the sea to cut its northward retreat route. “Betrayed by the “little Maginot line” as France was by its namesake, Marshal Erwin Rommel was under assault from the south and west, with his only apparent hope a. speedy withdrawal—if he ‘could beat the Americans to the: 12-mile-wide Gabes bottleneck—for a stand in the TunisBizerte area. ’ The eighth army sent a column - wheeling around the Mareth line to within 80 miles of Gabes behind it, and was fighting in the area of Mareth village at its northeastern end. The United States forces seized Maknassy to reach,
within 81 miles of the coast. Flailing about desperately for relief from the vioaing
|trap, the Germans atacked the Americans southeast of EI
in the area of Hadjeb El Aioun, southwest of
{Pichon on yo ‘road to Sbeitla. First “reports Tid mthing
of the weight or éffect of the attacks. Allied Airpower Supreme a
In the frontal assault on the coastal section of the Mareth line the eighth army forced its way across: Wadi Zigzau yesterday morning and then captured a German strongpoint two miles from Zarat. Zarat lies five miles
northeast of Mareth village. Allied planes were supreme. Twenty-six enemy atreratt.
were shot down in yesterday's operations against seven for
the allies. One allied pilot is safe. (Allied -sponsored radios in North Africa broadcast that
the eighth army breached the Mareth line at its strongest point and now was pouring through on to the plain that
leads to Gabes. (There were signs that even Adolf Hitler had written
BATTLE ON DONETS Tr an sors to ake aneths FRONT IS SUBSIDING|
er “Stalingrad stand”—hopeless, and to the last man.)
El Hamma Is Threatened Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of the -eighth. army, achieved a brilliant tactical success
Smolensk Drive. in sending a force, including’ tanks,
MOSCOW, March 23 (U, P)— Red armies have captured nearly 50 towns and hamlets, some of them in hand-to-hand fighting, during the past 24 hours in converging advances east and northeast of Smolensk, the Soviets announced today as the German counter-offensive on the southern front showed signs of subsiding. “The claimed today that a great Russian offensive aimed at Orel, “hinge” of the central and southern fronts, had failed after eight weeks of fighting which cost the Red army 150,000 men killed and 10,584 captured. (Gen. Kurt Dittmar, German radio commentator, said in a broadcast over Radio Berlin that the German offensive on ‘the southern
|front is nearing an end and the
“winter battle may be considered over.” He dismissed the Soviet attacks farther north as a last attempt to achieve “some success.” The midday communique reported “fierce fighting” still raging in the Belgorod area of the southern front, but implied that it was on a reduced ‘scale there as weil as in ‘the Chuguev area of the Donets basin. On the central front, the Russians met a new German offensive north
of Zhizdra, 38 miles north north-|
east of Bryansk, with massed artillery and mine~throwers and frequent. ointeratiacks,
KISKA ‘1S BOMBED 21: TIMES THIS. MONTH
says
[that by the old treatment for p
German high command.
around the Mareth line, If prompts ly struck northward and was last reported to be within 10 miles of the axis strong point of El Hamma, which is only 20 miles west of Gabes. Americans under command of Lieut. Gen. George S. (Old Blood and Guts) Patton took Maknassy at 5a. m. yesterday without much resistance, but the Germans then started an aerial counter-attack that lasted all day. Stuka dive bombers and Messerschmitt strafing planes flew in for many attacks, but the Americans fought them off and sent armored patrols three miles east of miles from the sea north of Gal Rommel Gets “Final” Orders (Madrid dispatches purporting come from Vichy said that Hitler had dispatched his “final” ‘orders to Rommel and Gen. Jurgen von
_|Arnim, commander in ‘north