Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 April 1943 — Page 5

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ARE REPULSED

1st Army Prevents Rommel From Breaking Through Encirclement.

(Continued from Page One)

Was attacked as were other scatered supply targets, while Cairo reported that bombers attacked Naples again on Tuesday night, starting fires and causing considerable damage ; The major battle in the Medjez-El-Bab sector Tuesday night was the result of a decision by Rommel to commit a large force of axis troops to the task of trying to upset the allied plans by breaking out of the encirclement (The German radio claimed that Nazi forces on the western or Medjez-El-Bab front had “reached objectives” after inflicting heavy losses on the allies). ‘Some of Rommel’s strongest and most experienced infantry and tank units "attacked on an eight-mile front south of Medjez in full moonlight after the British had occupied Banana ridge, four miles east of Medjez, against light opposition. The attacking forces were between Medjez and Sidi Mahoud. Their infantry advanced first and infiltrated as far as the road running south from Medjez despite heavy

British artillery, mortar and ma-|

' chine gun fire. The British 1st army stiffened

and, fighting on familiar ground,

began inflicting heavy casualties. By dawn, the enemy’s losses were 80 severe that he began withdrawing the 334th German infantry division and the first, second and third battalions of the Herminn Goering regiment, which were attacking.

Tanks Enter Fray

But Rommel had not yet given up his objective. As the infantry tried to break off the engagement under a heavy artillery battering, between 60 and 80 Nazi tanks

‘roared into action,

The British artillery threw hundreds of shells at them, covering the early morning battlefield with smoke and explosions. Black smoke splashed with orange flames spiraled up from the wounded tanks as they sought to deploy. Entrenched gunners of the 1st army -began picking off the Hermann Goering grenadier armored troop-carrier vehicles and tanks of the 501st Nazi tank battalion, which previously had been in -action in northern Tunisia. As the light improved the accuracy of the British gunners increased and Rommel’s hopes went up in the smoke of 27 shell-battered tanks left on the battlefield.

Positions ‘Improved’

‘Meanwhile, yesterday the 8th army under Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery threw back two counter-at-tacks with very heavy losses on the Enfidaville front. “Our positions were generally improved and all gains firmly held,” Gen. Dwight D, Eisenhower's communique said. (Radio Algiers said the 8th army

* had advanced nearly four and one-

half miles beyond Enfidaville.)

Ish o If Nazis Try

LONDON, April 22 (U.P.).—The British government charged today that the Germans are preparing fo use poison gas against Russia and warned that if they do :v, Britain will retaliate with mass gas raids on German cities. A statement issued by Prime Minister Winston Churchill's office at 10 Downing st. shortly after midnight said that the government has received reports from several sources that Adolf Hitler is planning to resort to gas, apparently in a final effort to defeat Russia before England and the United States open a second front in Europe. “Accordingly,” the statement said, “his majesty’s government takes an early occasion to renew the warning that the prime minister gave last year—namely that any use of poison gas against our Russian allies by the Nazis or their satellites will be followed immediately by the fullest possible use of this process of war upon German munition centers, seaports and other military obJectives throughout the whole extent of Germany.” Intelligence reaching Britain from many European sources reports the eastward movement of gas contain-

Chemical War|

ers in large quantities. Knowing Germany's desperate desire to crush Russia this summer, it is considered, among the best-informed here, that it is touch and go whether the Nazis

of warfare, but they may effectively be deterred if persuaded that the British can and will retaliate in kind. The steadily mounting superiority of. allied air forces over the Luftwaffe would expose the entire Reich to reprisals worse than the damage the Germans could inflict. British production of poison gas and the scale of its delivery have increased tremendously in the year since Churchill first served notice that Britain would retaliate if gas were used against Russia, the statement said. Only 24 hours after Churchill’s initial warning, the German radio said that Germany would abide by her pledges not to use gas unless her enemies did so first. The government's latest statement added that Britain has taken the necessary precautions against a German gas attack on this country. However, only about one person in 300 was carrying a gas mask in Lon-

don today.

Little Food Waste af Camp,

sion and ‘he reports to no one but |

Maj. Gen. Frank W. Milburn, divi-sion-commander. One of Col. Woolums' jobs is to control food waste. To know what is going on, hardly a day passes but that he makes “spot” checks of 83d division garbage pails. He has at times awakened at 4 a. m.

.|to spend five hours poking into

every garbage can in the division. “There is little food wastage in the division,” he said. “There can’t help but be some, for it would take a miracle man to plan meals for thousands of men and provide the exact amount of food the men need yet have none left over. “It's a case of having some food left over or not giving the men enough food — letting them go hungry. “We try to give them all the food they neeg, yet keep the waste at 8 minimum.” I suggested we go look into some of the division's garbage cans. He agreed immediately. ¥ I picked out the mess halls indiscriminately and we poked into more than a dozen garbage cans. There wasn’t much in any but one or two of them, They were’ cans unemptied for several days. ‘Almost all the cans contained {nothing but such things as eggplant, potato and turnip peelings, bare meat bones, cabbage and brocoli leaves, egg shells and orange and grapefruit shells. There were some slices of bread and Some whole oranges. “Some oranges are spoiled when we get them,” Col. Woollms said. Little bread is thrown away, the colonel explained. . “Our mess sergeants have. been taught to save unused bread and to use it for fresh toast or to brown it in ‘an

oven and use it in soup.

PEARSON'S 1873-1943

Garbage Pail Survey Shows

(Continued from Page One)

Better control over food is exercised through the presept system used in ordering it. The mess. sergeant and first sergeant get together daily to figure out how many nggn probably will’ be eating in the mess hall five days hence The amount of food needed then is ordered. A count is kept of the number of men who eat daily in-each mess hall If the mess sergeant ordered food for 100 men and an average of only 90 $e three meals. there, he is debited with 10 meals He must work off that debit by ordering less, so that by the end of the month the meals ordered and the number of men eating must be the same

He Has Some Choice Control is exercised, also, by allowing the mess sergeant to turn down most foods on: the menu “if he knows his men won't eat them. For instance, a mess sergeant’ with a lot of men from New York knows his men won't eat their share of

hominy grits. He is allowed to take,

say 50 per’ cent of “the allotment, leaving the balance in the quartermaster depot. The extra portion of hominy grits probably would be taken by some mess sergeant with a predominance of men from the South. The sergeant from New York can pick up other food turned down by other mess sergeants to replace the hominy grits. The mess sergeants and their officers have been trained in conservation in special army schools. Too, Col. Woolums and quartermaster officers lecture to them continually on it. And they know if they do waste food, an inspection is going to catch up to them and shortly thereafter they no longer will be mess sergeants.

resort to this further ‘bestial form|

.| thus produced met every specifica{tion of seamless steel tubing.

| tanks, = After frial by the die mak-

AT BODY PLANT,

atamentation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's strength were Senators A. B. (Happy) Chandler (D. Ky.) and Edwin C. Johnson. (D, Colo.). Johnson said “We have a firstclass war in the Pacific,” and urged that “we give MacArthur everything he wants.” The nation at large was determined to avenge the executions by smashing at Japan’s military might with renewed “vigor and ultimately by punishing the Japanese officials concerned. :

Chevrolet Workers Turn Out - Several Hundred War Products.

(Continued from Page One)

with less loss of man-hours than would result from a model change in peacetime,

Helped Allison First

The conversion was not simple. The Chevrolet plant Was a highly| A few, but only a few, members Specialized, one-purpose factory. of congress called for immediate When it was seen that orders for yenrisals—execution of some Japanmilitary trucks could not keep the|ese prisoners now in American vast plant and its workers em- hands. . ployed at full capacity, it was de-| way Information Director Elmer cided to seek a variety of sub-|pnguis told a press conference that er ilige the he did not think Emperor Hirohito » would be among those held responOfficials said that as many as sible because “the emperor hasn’t 160. different types of bearing shells have been made, most of them for its “cousin” General Motors plant, Allison, In making these bearings, a bottleneck in seamless steel tubing was circumvented. Chevrolet and Allison engineers, knowing the supply of seamless steel tubing was limited, devised a way ‘| to use a sheet steel plate, not as critical a material as tubing, for the bearing shells. They did this by using giant presses that had been used to stamp out truck bodies, and |’ a series of forming dies. The blanks

than you or 1.” The army air forces are going to start getting their revenge now. Their chief, Gen, Henry H. Arnold, sent this message to every air force unit at home and abroad: “Remember those comrades when you get a zero in your sights—have their sacrifice before you when you line up your hombsighe on a Japanese base.”

“They’ll Pay for That”

to line up their sights on Tokyo, again and again. That has been promised by President Roosevelt and the war department. If the Japanese hoped to: prevent future raids by the executions, they are in for a surprise. ‘The bitterness of American military personnel was virtually unlimited. Typical of the feeling around Both the war and navy.departments was the remark that “theyll pay for that.” A navy man recalled that Adm. William F. Halsey, now naval commander in the South Pacific and then commander of the task force which carried Maj, Gen. James H. Doolittle and his raiders to within 800 miles of Japan, “promised that if there was anything left of Tokyo when our men arrived there we'd burn that, too.” “Well,” the navy officer said, “F agree with him. It's a damned good idea.”

"Tool-Die Shop Converted Quickly

Another section of the factory is producing aluminum parts for the Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines Chevrolet is manufacturing at other plants. This production started out in a small way but has grown to the point where more than 150 parts for the air-cooled Pratt & Whitney motor are being miade and assembled. One-half of the plant's man-hours’ are- devoted to' this project located in the portion of the factory ‘formerly used by truck assembly jigs, storage and shipping. One of the first departments converted was the tool and die shop which’ machined turret plate for

ers, the production departments were given this job and other jobs have been taken on by the die makers, who are also doing work for outside contractors. Some of the space is. still devoled to making open cabs for military trucks and upholstery for tanks and other military vehicles.

Air Deflectors Stamped Out

Automotive practices have been applied in several other instances. Instead of using a hand-operated tube-bending machine to form oil pipes and tubing for engines, a punch press with special dies is used. It forms seven different parts in’ one opertion. Instead of heat treating the!’ aluminum air deflectors, they are stamped out. This eliminates the usual warpage. Chevrolet has made this new method available to other manufacturers. Instead of spraying paint on the air deflectors, they are dip-painted by the automotive process. These are a few of the “tricks of the trade” that the automotive men

Jalan Gets Warning

President Roosevelt, in his statement yesterday disclosing the executions, said Japan had been told that this government “will : hold personally and officially responsible for these diabolical crimes sll of those officers of the Japanese government who have participated therein and will in due course bring those officers to justice.” Mr. Roosevelt, whose statement was issued here through the White House, described - the executions a ‘recourse by our enemies to frightfulness . . . barbarous.” “The effort of the Japanese war lords thus to intimidate us will utterly fail,” he promised. “It will make the American people more: determined than ever to blot out the shameless militarism of Japan.” Neither in his statement nor in the state department’s note to Japan. protesting‘ the outrage was

have taught the aircraft makers. |there any indication of reprisals.

Big, massive suite of striking bosily “+ + » attractive carved wood trim. . . pleated back and er. Two beautiful tables, 2 ma tifully covered shield-back chair, glass top cocktail table, floor lamp jad hassock.

oH

g-wearing covnut finish end

On Japan F for Executions,

. (Continued from Page One)

anything more to say about Japan

Some day Arnold’s men are going

The note categorically branded as “false the charge that American aviators intentionally have attacked non-combatants anywhere.”

That was the Japanese explanation for the executions. Tokyo radio broadcasts and a government, note to this country, dated Feb. 17, charged that the Doolittle fliers who! were captured admitted having intentionally bombed non-military installations and civilians. Confessions Extorted Of these purported confessions, the state department’s note to Japan said: “ , . . There are numerous known instances in which Japanese official agencies have employed brutal and bestial methods in extorting alleged confessions from persons in their power. It is customary for these agencies td use statements obtained ander torture, or alleged statements, in proceedings against the victims.” The note apd Mr. Roosevelt's statement revealed that the government does not know how many of the fliers were slain. The war department, in releasing details of the Tokyo raid Tuesday night, said five men were known to have been captured by the Japanese; three were believed to have been captured, and nothing was known of the fate of two others. Mr. Roosevelt’s statement said two crews} were captured; that would have] been 10 men. Mr. Roosevelt's statement said! the death sentence had béen ordered, after trial, for all of. the captured fliers but was commuted for “some” of them. The note to Japan said the’ sentence was understood to have been commuted! “for the larger number of them.” | Congressional demands for re-| prisals against Japanese prisoners were few.

Fear Senseless Brutality

But there were good reasons against reprisals. Officials said a'| course could lead to a purposeless series of brutal offenses against helpless prisoners by both sides, and | cited these other factors: 1. The United States is fighting’ to maintain international law and respect for civilization. 2. Such measures could only be, expected to bring further retaliae' tion by the enemy against Ameri. cans they hold. 3. Should this country by the | longest stretch of the imagination get into such a game with the heads | of prisoners for chips, the Japanese | would have a big advantage be= | cause they hold far more prisoners. of war than we do. Japan captured 18,000 U. S. soldiers and from 3500 to 4000 naval personnel in the Philippines, in addition - to. 10,500 Philippine scouts and unknown thousands of members of the Philippine commonwealth army. More than 1000 army and navy personnel have been captured elsewhere in the Far East.

‘TRADITION OF CRUELTY’,

CHUNGKING, April 22 (U. P.). -l The * exé¢iition “of ° American ’ fliers | announced by President Roosevelt was “not at all surprising,” a Chinese military spokesman said today. “The Japanese have a deep tra-

Sion ¢ of cruelty,” he said.

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