Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 August 1943 — Page 11

i

the broadcast ¥

: oosier Vagabond

pe eli SOMEWHERE IN SICILY (By Wireless) ~We had ing up at right angles in its metal sack, gobbled

many kinds of human beings among the wounded in

our: Clearing station tent during the time I spent

We had a couple of slightly wounded Puerto Ricans, one of whom still carried his guitar and sat upon his stretcher and strummed on it ever so lightly. There were fullblooded Indians, and Negroes, and New York Italians, and plain American ranch hands, and Span-ish-Americans from down Mexico ~~ There were local Sicilians who “had been hit by trucks. There was _@& captured Italian soldier who said - his own officers had shot him in "the face for refusing to attack. There: were two Anierican aviators who had been fishied out of the sea. There were some’ of our own medics who had been wounded as they worked under hellfire, Y _ There was one German soldier who had been shot while apparently trying to escape to Italy in a

th. He objected furiously to being given a shot of rphine, apparently thinking we were torturing him, You could see bewilderment and gratitude in his face

deen, "He He was young and thin and scared to. flea

- When the ward boys brought him water and then food.

And when finally the chaplain, making his morning rounds. gave him cigarets, candy, tooth-powder and

\ soap, the same as all the rest, he sat up grinning.

It took him five minutes to find out how to get the “cellophane wrapper off his pack of cigarets, and our whole tent stopped to watch in amusement.

¥ ungry as Bears

» SOME OF THE wounded were sick at the stomach. One tough-looking New York Italian, faint with malaria, tried to crawl outside the tent to be sick but passed out cold. on the way. He was lying there on thie ground in his drawers, yellow as death, when we noticed him. They carried him back, and 10 minutes later he was'all over kis sudden attack and as chipper as anybody. . Some were as hungry as bears. Others couldn’t

‘eat a bite. One fellow, with his shattered arm stick-

PAUL BROWN, county surveyor, seems partial brown suits. Sort of a trade-mark, eh! , . . It doesn’t work out that way, though, with Prosecutor Sherwood Blue. If we remember correctly, he wears brown oftener than blue. . .|. Seen in front of Wasson’s yesterday: Mr. District Attorney Howard Caughran, with a refractory curl that refused to stay inside his hat. . . . He was with his | assistant, Paul Pfister. ow A passing Wasson’s was Prank C.| Dailgy, the former Mr. \ D. A. He [has a nice tan. ... The building on Monument circle be-

tween the Electric building and °*

Circle theater is getting painted— ‘cream color with light green trim. It looks very nice. . . . Bob Hutchinson, legal advisor for Curtissx: and also its tennis ace, was a half-hour late getting to the scene of an industrial team match Sunday, but he had a ggod excuse. He said that just before he: left his wife opened a window that hadn’t

'\ jeen touched for weeks, and in doing so she stirred 4 nest—literally. Bob said he spent nearly *

up a hornets’ hour trying to shoo the hornets out of the house thout getting stung. He made up for his tardiness - winning his match. * .

A New Worry. for Don

po WARRICK, ‘secretary of the state bankers association, is worrying about his golf game. He used to play in the eighties but has to hurry now fo get in the nineties. He isn’t sure whether it's his playing or the new ball. He hopes it’s the latter. . . . Mrs.

“i Mary Easley, an -examiner for the state personnel

division, has an unusual hobby. She E0kiects tooth-

‘Blast Injuries

CLEVELAND, Aug. 18—As “saturation raids” using bigger: and bigger block-busters, break upon the cities of Germany, it is reasonable to assume that the essualties include a greater and greater number of so-called “blast injuries.” . This type of injury, seen rather infrequently in world war I, has continued to mount in importance in world war II as the belligeremtts increased the “size of aerial bombs and the power of explosives used in shells and forpedoes as well as in bombs. It is my guess that the bazooka, whose rocket charge is capable of blowing in the armor of a 30-ton tank, is causing many blast injuries. As the name ‘indicates, the plast injury is due to the detonation of a charge of high explosive. Such an explosion causes the crea- _ tion of a sudden wave of pressure in the atmésphere. } This blast wave, as it is called, travels in all directions

¥ from the point of explosion,

Impact Causes Injury IT IS THE impact of this blast wave upon the which causes the so-called blast injury. As is " well known, individuals close enough to the explosion be burned by the hot gases. They may also suffer

LI melo bones from being hurled against objects or

they may have objects thrown against them, But it is entirely possible to have a blast injury which has no burns or broker bones or visible marks £0 the exterior of the body associated with it.

My Day

HYDE P. PABK, Tuesday.—Late Sunday afternoon I came to New York City and the president returned to Washington} I left rather guilty that I could not be in New Yok city in time to join the mayor for which opened the series of “Unity at Home—Victory Abroad,” which he

iil

chicken-noodle soup which a ward boy fed him while the doctor punched and probed at his other arm to insert the big needle that feeds blood

And while we are on the subject of plasma, thei.

doctors asked me at least a dozen times to write about plasma. “Write lots about it, go clear overboard for it, say. that plasma is the outstanding medical discovery of this war,” they said. So I beg you folks back home to give and keep on giving your blood. We've got plenty on hand here now, but if we ever run into mass casualties such as they have on the Russian front, we will need ‘untold amounts of it.

Chaplain From I iignagolis

A FRONT-LINE clearing station is made up of doctors and men who were ordinary, normal people back home. But here they live a rough-and-tumble life. They sleep on the ground, work ghastly hours, sometimes are under fire, and they handle a flow of wounded that would sicken and dishearten a person less immune to it. They'll get little glory back home when it’s all over, but they have some recompense right here in the gratitude of the men they treat. Time and again as I lay in my tent I heard wounded soldiers discussing among themelves the wonderful treatment they had had at the hands of the medics. I have already written about some of the enlisted men of this clearing station, so before finishing I'll give you the doctors’ names. This is one of the two clearing stations that are a part of the 45th division. The station commandant is Capt. Carl Carrico of Houston, Tex. His wife and 8-year-old boy are in Houston. He is a slow, friendly man, speckled all over with big red freckles, who takes his turn at surgery along with the others. He usually works in coveralls. The other surgeons are Capt. Carson Ogleshee of Muskogee, Okla.; Capt. Leander Powers of Savannah, Ga.; ‘Capt. william Dugan of Hamburg, N. XY. and Lt. Michael de Giorgio, New York. The station’s medical doctor is Capt. Joe Doran of Iowa City. The dentist is Capt. Leonard Cheek of Ada, Okla. And the chaplain is Lt. Arthur Mahr, formerly of the First United Lutheran church, Indi- - anapolis. Other chaplains of the division are frequently around inquiring for men of their outfits or giving last rites,

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

pick" holders. She has them in: all sizes and shapes, and of glass, china. and other materials. Her husband, H. M, Easley of the New England Life Insurance Co., had to have a collection, too, so he chose novel glass paper weights, He prefers the kind with bubbles in them. . . . Dick Moser, formerly with the Surplus Commodities Corp., and now a pharmacist’s mate in the merchant marine, is home on leave from Sheepshead Bay, L. I. He goes Sunday.

Nig Waods Goes to Navy

GERALD E. (NIG) WOODS, currently supervisor of foreman training at the Curtiss-Wright plant but best remembered for his athletic prowess at Butler a few years ago, reports at Quonset Point, R. 1., Aug. 31, for naval indoctrination. He was commissioned a lieutenant last May 30, but didn’t receive his orders until last week. . . . It. Roger Callis, formerly with The Times’ advertising department, was home on leave yesterday. He's been piloting a B-25 bomber in the Caribbean. . . . Lotus Benning Stewart has resigned as publicity director for the state health board. . A swarm of bees looking for someone to feed them for the winter chose the Rochester (Ind.) home of Hugh Barnhart, who happens to be the state conservation director. Caused quite a commotion for a while.

Host to CAP.

HOMER CAPEHART will be host Sunday at his Daviess county farms to about 120 members of the local civilian air patrol wing. An 80-acre pasture will be cleared of livestock for landing of the planes. The ground crew will travel to the farm, scene of the famous ‘Cornfield Conference” of a few years ago, in trucks. Women of the Plainville Christian church will serve chicken and corn on the cob . .. Yum, yum!

By David Dietz

The blast injury most frequently seen in aerial bombardments or in battles is an injury to the lungs. The effect of the pressure wave is to cause damage to the tissues of the lung. Hemorrhage or bleeding occurs at one or more points in the lung. X-rays show consolidated patches in the lung

which resemble those seen in pneumonia. The cause, however, is entirely different. While the lungs are affected most frequently by blast injury, other damage is frequently seen, including perforation of the ea drums and tears of the liver, spleen and other abdominal organs.

Damages Brain

IN SOME cases the blast injury has been known to cause damage and hemorrhage in the brain. The usual symptoms of a blast injury to the lung are chest pain, short breath or difficulty in breathing, cyanosis or a blueness of the skin due to oxygen lack, and a state of shock that is completely out of proportion to the extent of visible injury. A particular type of blast injury known now as “immersion blast injury” is encountered in naval engagements by men who are swimming in the water when high explosives are detonated in the water. In these cases the pressure wave is transmitted not by the air but by the water. Abdominal damage, rather than lung damage, is most frequent in the case of immersion blast ‘injuries, Where the injury has been to the lung, the use of oxygen is particularly ‘important in the treatment. For,\as already indicated, difficulty in breathing and various manifestations of an oxygen shortage, such as cyanosis, are prominent symptoms.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

Now that there are sighs of things happening more rapidly on many fronts, people in far greater num‘bers are beginning to think of what should be done: at. home and abroad in the post-war period. They want to be useful, but. so often they do not know

what groups are at work, or what work has already}!

been done. I think that is one of the main ways in

which we can save time, if people who want to work |

can get together and not duplicate the which

- Ti

il

1} i

5

8

: g

: g

|

Br Ernie Pyle

interested in the interview with Frederick |

Points; Wreck 306 Evacuation Boats.

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, North Africa, Aug. 13 (U. P.).—Allied planes have opened the battle of Italy with heavy raids on railroad and highway lifelines into the

evacuation boats in the final round of the Sicilian cam-

paign, it was announced today. All resistance on Sicily has ended, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s communique said, and American‘ and British forces have joined hands in

officially wound up the conquest a the island. (An Italian communique said the last axis rear guard units have abandoned the northeast coast of Sicily and reached - the Calabrian coast.) The Sicilian campaign, which lasted slightly over five weeks, was completed ahead of the time-table laid down by allied commanders, it was announced.

Range. Up ‘Boot’

_ American and allied bombers and fighter-bombers ranged up the Italjan peninsula almost to Naples, blasting and strafing bridges and other railway apd highway objectives along the route over which the axis soon must evacuate its troops or reinforce them against an allied invasion of southern Italy, Light bombers of the tical air force rounded out their offensive on axis evacuation boats . in Messina strait yesterday with a series of attacks on disembarkation points" on the Italian mainland. An official tally for the almost continuous assault on evacuation craft from Aug. 5 to 17 showed 34 destroyed, 47 knocked out of action by direct hits and 225‘ damaged severely by near or partial misses. The craft included every type vessel from medium-sized supply ships to barges. . Allied artillery mounted in and around Messina bombarded axis positions across Messina strait. - Axis guns on the mainland were shelling allied positions in: northeastern ’ Prisoners Being Counted

swift advances of the Ame 7th and British army into Messina still were being counted. There has been no total announced for the ‘Sicilian campaign since that of 130,000 last week. Flying Fortresses which penetrated to the Istres le Tube and salon airfields near Marseilles, France, yesterday caused great damage among parked planes, it was announced. Only two heavy bombers were lost, while bombs were showered among 150 grounded planes at one field. Six enemy fighters tried to intercept. . Mitchell and Marauder bombers, aided by Lightnings, bombed and strafed railroad lines and highway intersections across the toe of the Italian boot, setting several railway cars and many trucks afire. The Battipaglia yards south of Naples was battered.

Hit Pontoon Barges

Fighter-bombers destroyed . nine small enemy evacuation craft last night and other places scored five direct hits on as many clumsy pontoon barges trying to cross .the straits of Messina. Eight planes out of a force that attacked the Bizerte area of Tunisia last night were shot down by allied fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Nine allied planes were missing from all operations. Raids by light and fighter bombers on the Italian coast were concentrated from Reggio Calabria, which also was under fire from light and heavy artillery on Sicily, to Palmi, about 20 miles northward on the main railroad line. The communications center of | Castrovillari, up the foot of the boot northward from the straits, was hit by. medium bombers.

SUGGESTS DELAY ON. FINAL PEACE TERMS

Allies Blast Transportation|

southern provinces after de-| | stroying or damaging 306}

Prisoners captured in the final|

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 . B)—

Messina, whose capture yesterday|

‘In one’of ‘thie’ wir's switest victories ‘American, British and Canadian forces ‘clearéd the axis’ from Sicily Just a ‘month ands week after the initial attackr~Map shows invasion: points along the southeast coast and the pattern of converging allied attack routes. Prusros of the’ campaign is shown by July snd August dates of captare of each city.

RUSS TRIUMPH NEAR KHARKOV

Crack German Defenses as Nazis’ Counter-Attack

Grows.

MOSCOW, Aug. 18 (U. P.).—Russian troops have won a bitter battle southeast ' of Kharkov, breaking German defenses, and materially

sian army hammering the Ukrainian stronghold, the Soviet military journal Red Star reported today. . A crucial struggle that had raged for several days in ' the forested area below. Kharkov ended in a clearcut ‘Russian triumph which may prove a vital factor in. the grater battle of the’ northeastern | Second Ukraine. - Russian army units continued hammering at the northern, northeastern and eastern gates of Khar-. kov, where the German defenses were found. to be swronger .. than anticipated. " German Blows Failed In the general Kharkov area the Russians beat off a ‘widespread and persistent. counter-attack which was beginning to assume the proportions of a counter-offensive, The German blows failed to dent the Soviet lines, front reports said, while the unslackened Soviet offensive thrusts improved ° the Russian army positions in several sectors

Military ‘sources said the reinforced German army fighting on the Kharkov front was. struggling to break ‘the solid res enveloping its positions as far as 45 miles west of the city. Doom Crimean Nazis A Soviet victory not only would liberate Kharkov for ‘the second time this year, but probably roll back the Germans to the west bank of the Dnieper river and probably doom axis forces in the Crimea and on a narrow strip of the northwest

the Germans . Rave either worn themselves out or been bled white,

then resume the march westward and southward on.a grand scale.

TOURING - SENATORS PLEASED WITH WAR

CAIRO, Egypt, Aug. 18 (U. P.).— Five United States senators touring the war zones expresséd - optimism the trend of the war at a y conference held simultaneously with the announcement. of the American army’s entry into

Messina, Sicily, yesterday. “We have beeh impressed. by. the the allied war effort and the farther

*

date,” Senator “Richard B.: Russell

bolstering the left flank of the Rus-|.

'|day’s daylight attacks, bombing two

tremendous power and might of/

he au ] complete allied victory at an early

. While: twin-engined Mosquitoes

explosive and: fire bombs on a research and development: station, described as the largest of its kind in : Germany, ‘at ;Peenemuende, 60 miles northwest of Stettin. The twin night raids, in which 41 bombers were lost, rounded out 24 hours of ‘uniparalleled Anglo-Amer-ican ‘air blows against Europe with | Germany bearing .the brunt of the | assault.

CLD fighters inaugurated the

sweeps over ‘northern France and favorable weather foreshadowed increasingly heavy raids during the day. British-based + American * Flying Fortresses set the pace for yester-

kéy war factories in central Germany in their heaviest and deepest penetration of the Reich to date, while other big formations of fortresses from North Africa raided two axis airdromes in southern France for the first time. Other aircraft during the day sad night ranged far and wide over Europe from bases in Britain and Africa. Airfields and communications targets all the way from France to southern Italy rocked under the impact of allied bombs.

Hint Berlin Strikes

‘The mounting pitch of the. offensive was reported by Radio Algiers to have precipitated strikes in war. factories in Berlin and Stuttgart, ‘but this was not confirmed. The raid on Peenemuende last night, representing a round trip of at least 1200 miles, was believed to

have devastated the huge station |

specializing in research and development work. on aircraft radio location and armament. "Bright moonlight illuminated the

bombers to pin-point their targets. The air ‘ministry said preliminary reports indicated the attack was well ‘concentrated.

Moonlight Aided Fa

It was the first raid of the war against the station. Few. details were known about the exact work carried on there, but it was assumed that intelligence reports

it was of sufficient importance to

justify “sending a heavy force. of ‘bombers to a town which does not even show on most: maps of Ger-

many. <The bright moonlight also sithou~

:day of the offensive ‘with |

target almost like day, enabling the}

British Bombers Smash af ‘Berlin, Big Research Station

LONDON, Aug. 18 (U. P.).—British' bombers raided Berlin and a big research station near the Baltic cogst last night and other allied planes sent the now continuous aerial offensive against Adolf Hitler's . fortress into its second day with new attacks in daylight today.

struck at the German capital, hun-

dreds of four-engined R. A. F. bombers. dumped a great weight of °

By UNITED PRESS

peace last - night and said the German people would “gladly” dispose of some Nasi leaders once the war is ended. The broadcast, directed to morth American listeners, was recorded by the CBS and NBC short wave listen"ing stations here. The commentator said that this doesn’t mean, unconditional surrender.

down by the bombers, the air ministry said. "However, the toll of 41 bombers ‘was the largest in almost two months. No details were given of the Mos~quito raid on Berlin, but it was a reminder that the capital soon may feel the weight of a real saturation raid by four-engined bombers. It was the fourth such raid on Berlin in six nights. . While the raids on Europe have been almost continuous during the past two days, the latest offensive rourided out one week in which more. targets have been bombed than in any previous seven days since the start of the war. . The . tonnage of bombs dropped during the seven-day period : was second only to that of the last week in July, which included the shattering raids on Hamburg, British fighter command Intruder planes directed their attacks last night against airfields and railway targets in France, Holland, Belgium and northwest Germany, destroying four enemy aircraft. Fifty German planes, the largest

‘ACTIONISTS’ WANT FASCISTS PUNISHED

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 (U, P.)~—’ Count Carlo Sforza, former Italian foreign minister, said today that he planned to go. “to Italy or near Italy as Soon as possible” as. leader of ‘the Just organized Italian action

reaching the air ministry. indicated | party,

He said the party. sought punishment of the Fascist leaders, “not out of revenge, but out of mora]

orders and revolution and permit the revival of Italy itself.” He described the organization as the “most powerful” political party in

Italy.

RAF RAIDS BURMA

A Berlin radio commentator |. openly suggested a negotiated |’

STARTING. BIG FIRES]

PREDICT QUICK ITALY COLLAPSE |

Allies Expected to to Captalize On Panic and Gloom In Italy.

‘By JOSEPH ‘W. GRIGG 3nd United Press Staff’ Correspondent LONDON, Aug. 18.—While axis commentators talked about allied fleets concentrating in the western Mediterranean for a new invasion, informed London military observers believed today that bombed and strife-ridden Italy would be the tare get of a quick knockout punch. Capt. Ludwig Sertorius of the German Transocean News Agency, sald in a Berlin broadcast that the fleets piling: up in North Africa and newly-conquered Sicilian ports included some units from the east ern end of the Mediterranean. In guesses betraying Nazi ners vousness over the next allied move, Sertorius said a thrust: along the western Shore, of Tialy's mainland |

fleet had been Sighted off Catania, on the Sicilian east coast, but a dispatch from the island indicated that the report arose from the use of landing craft to ferry troops and Squipment up the coast around axis land mines. Capitalize on Panic

There was little doubt that the allies would take quick advantage of peace sentiment spreading among the Italians, the panic approaching revolution following aerial blows on their cities, and the deep gloom en= gendered by the fall of Sicily, Even while the Sicilian cam was still in progress, allied paign were turning Sicily into an ap erating base to use its. excellent

and Trapani and its 20 of more air Speculation centered on the pose sibility of simultaneous invasions at four points of the Italian with Rome, Naples, Bringisl and Taranto as objectives. Prospects

" |a slow, laborious movement up the

vasion at the toe.

reason and justice to avoid dis-| °