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VOLUME 55—-NUMBER 6

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SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 194

Germans Yearning for Peace,

Dwell on Glories of the Past

By PAUL GHALI

Times Foreign Correspondent ? BERN, Switzerland, March 18.—Whatever its implications for the course of the war, a crisis in morale, involving an almost general yearning for peace, is sweeping Germany. Even soldiery on leave reflect this mood and frequent desertions are reported among them. Germans tend to dwell on memories of the past. They do not dismiss the possibility of defeat and no longer hold any hopes on a secret weapon. They wonder if the Hitler era has not been just a big mistake.

Thijs recrudescence of

melancholy is significant

enough to have inspired Das Schwarze Korps, organ of the S. S. (elite guard), to indulge in several columns of com-

ment in its latest issue.

FINNS CLING

10 SLIM HOPE

FOR ARMISTICE

Verdict on Russian. Terms’

Expected to Be Made Public Today.

STOCKHOLM, March 18 (U.P). ~Finland was expected momen= tarily to_make public her decision

on peace or continued war with?

Russia today, and d es from Helsinki said only a slim hope retained there that the armistice negotiations could be continued in spite of the Finnish rejection of Moscow's original terms. The Stockholm Nya Dagligt Allehands said that a Finnish government communique on the peace negotiations was expected some time today. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter quoted well-informed Swedish quarters as saying the Finnish reply. which was forwarded (0. Moscow yesterday, formal willingness to continue negotiations.

Modifications Ignored

The dispatch reported that the}

Finnish | “ignored modifications in the Er terms which Swedish

* mediators were believed to have relayed verbally to the Finnish

government. The implication was that Finland might reconsider her position if Russia formally offered the modifications. The fate of the peace talks now vested with Moscow. Jack Fleischer, United Press staff correspondent at Helsinki, said informed quarters there held out “a slight, very alight ‘hope that the negotiations may not be broken off. “It hasn't been and still isn't easy for the majority of Finns to see their hope of an ‘acceptable peace’ fade into nothing,” Fleischer wrote.

Objections Listed

Finland. specifically objected to Russian demands that she intern German troops, withdraw her own forces within her 1940 borders and extradite all war prisoners and civilian internees in advance of any formal peace negotiations. Russia was reported to have offered verbally, through Swedish mediators, to modify the demands for internment of German troops and extradition of civilian internees, but this never was confirmed officially.

BELFAST, March 18 (U. P).~— Hugh Macatéer, chief of staff of the outlawed’ Irish Republican army, and two other hunger strikers were removed in serious condition from the Belfast prison to a hospital Friday, on the 24th day of. their “fast unto death.” Thirteen other I. R. A. members remained in prison still refusing food.

RAF TO SHIFT EAST AFTER NAZI DEFEAT

CAIRO, March 18 (U. P.).—Air Marshal Sir Keith Park, air officer

' commander in chief in the Middle

East, revealed at a press conference yesterday that the allied high com-

mand plans to transfer “hundreds|

of squadrons from the United Kingdom and Italy to India and the

_ Far East by way of Egypt “as soon

as Germany is knocked out of the war.”

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

Amusements. . 10, Ruth Millett. Eddie Ash ... 8fMovies ...;.. 1

sass UIONOLILS ivan

BWIA TADIWODN

IRISH HUNGER STRIKE

‘and for the first time in weeks

LEADER COLLAPSES

Award Metz High Honors For Bravery

CAPT. WILBUR H. METZ, display advertising salesman for The Times, has been awarded the soldier's medal for gallantry not in 2d action with the hk &] enemy — the highest award for valor not in actual combat. The citation was for the “prompt and * decisive action which saved lives of nearby crews and valuable equipment” when a bomber exploded at an 8th army air force Liberator station in England where Capt. Metz is group ordnance officer. The award was announced by Maj. Gen. James A. Doolittle, 8th AAF commanding general. The medal was pinned on him by | Brig. Gen. Leon W, Johnson, Lib- |

if @

Capt. Mets

(Continued on Page 2—Column 5)

YANKS STRIKE AT'S. GERMANY

Berlin Claims Wild ~ Air Battle Rages Over Reich.

LONDON, March 18 (U. P).—A great armada of American Flying Fortresses and Liberators smashed at Nazi targets in southern Germany today and Berlin broadcasts sald the luftwaffe had tangled with the raiders In a wild aerial battle raging across southwestern Germany and eastern France. Thundering out across the Reich under a massive umbrella of Amer-

ZURICH, March 18 (U. P.).— Ten American heavy bombers were reported to have landed this afternoon at the Zurich airport.

ican fighter planes, the 8th air force's heavies pounded enemy airfields, aircraft plants and other war industries in the south of Germany. A communique described the raiding force as “very strong,” indicating that the bomber formations totaled hundreds of planes. The Nazi DNB news agency flashed the first word of the attack

made no mention of weather hampering the Luftwaffe's defense.

May Be ‘Showdown’

Swarms of German fighter planes rose to challenge the raiders as they swung across the Reich from eastern France, DNB said, touching off a series of “heavy” air battles over hundreds of miles of German skylanes.

It acknowledges that the Germans have little cause for mirth nowadays, and certainly not about so serious a

subject as peace.

It concedes that after five years of war, it is natural for Germans to wish for peace: Workers, women, and above all, soldiers who would like to face life instead of

death, for a change.

But Das Schwarze Korps berates what it calls “small folk” whose “horizon is limited by a good pork chop with

sauerkraut.”

What is the_spirit of the German population? Since Stalingrad, criticisms, plaints and revolt against thread-

(Continued on Page 2 —Column 3)

YANK GLIDERS LAND ENGLISH WITHIN BURMA

Large Force Catches Japs Unaware, 150 Miles ~ Behind Front.

By GEORGE PALMER Upited Press Stall Correspondent AMERICAN AIR COMMANDO HEADQUARTERS, Burma Frontier, March 17 (Delayed) .—Daring American glider and transport pilots landed British and Indian troops 150 miles behind enemy lines last week to start a new offensive to drive the Japanese out of northern Burma. Hand-picked volunteers under the command of Col. Philip G. Cochran of Erie, Pa. fighter pilot, set the British forces down at night on two fields which had been prepared

AMERICAN AIR COMMANDO HEADQUARTERS, Burma Frontier, March 18 (U. P.)—Flight Officer Jackie Coogan, “The Kid” of pre-war Hollywood fame, participated in the allied air-borne invasion of northern Burma as a glider pilot, it was disclosed today. :

by American army engineers landed in advance with jeeps and mules. (Southeast Asia command headquarters reported that the landings were made north and east of the Kabaw valley. The London radio reported that the air-borne troops of the British 14th army came down “somewhere east” of the Irrawaddy river after flying from Assam province in India and said their job was to disrupt Japanese communications.)

Enemy Surprised

A large force of American gliders swooped down over north central Burma about 9:30 o'clock one night last week to start the daring commando operations which took the enemy completely by surprise. It was several days before the apanese even were able to locate the point where the main glider force had landed. By that time all of. the British and Indian troops had been set down safely and their columns had branched out into the dense jungles to begin their drive. Before the main force was flown in, the advance unit of U. S. army combat engineers and their equipment, together with a contingent of air command personnel, were landed to build air strips. The engineers and glider pilots went to work immediately. “Burma Bus Service” The following night, huge twinengined C-47 Skytrain transports landed the British troops on. the rapidly constructed runways and the forces moved out to harass the enemy. (A London radio broadcast, recorded by C. B. S., said “hundreds” of British troops were landed night

DNB's account suggested that

after night on what B. B. C. Cor-

(Continued on Page 2 —Column 7) (Continued on Page 2—Column 1)

Early Enactment of New Simplified Tax Bill Seen

(Tax Table, Page 3)

WASHINGTON, March 18 (U.P.). —Early enactment was seen today for the house ways and means committee’s tax simplification plan which would relieve 30,000,000 individual income taxpayers of the necessity of computing their taxes and simplify the task for the other 20,000,000. : ~ There was virtually ho immediate opposition to the plan, which would not materially change the amount of taxes due from any taxpayer. It already has the backing of the treasury, the internal revenue bureau and the joint congressional committee on internal revenue taxation, all of which helped draft it. The plan would not actually be used by taxpayers until next Jan. 1, when ‘the proposed new withhold

into effect. The first time the new simplified computation methods would be used would be next March 15, when taxpayers must file final returns covering their 1944 income. In effect, the plan would combine the present normal and surtax schedules in a new Schedule of graduated surtaxes ranging from 20

(Continued on Page 2—Column 5)

SHELL NAZIS BEYOND DNIESTER;

“RUMANIA FEARS GERMAN PLOT

* FORECAST: Cloudy tonight with occasional light snow; partly. cloudy tomorrow; much colder with lowest temperature tomorrow morning ab out 20. : : A

3.

0

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice Indianapolis 9, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday

PRICE FOUR CENTS

19-Year-Olds Bearing Brunt

Of Today's Fighting for Hitler

By RALPH E. HEINZEN Upited Press Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK, March 18.—Germany's casualties in Russia and Italy during the winter campaign have caused

an acute manpower shortage

macht as well as German industry. The losses of troops from 25 to 29 years old who began the war with the Polish and Russian campaigns have been so enormous that German casualty lists show that

category of soldiers to have the fighting forces. There

which cannot be filled without conseripting boys of 15 and

men over 55.

During my 13 months interment in Germany, which

| Local Man Is:Leader in Nazi Prison

8. Sgt. Emory E. Calhoun , . . the prisoner.

Red Cross Makes Life More " Bearable,~Calhoun

By JOAN HIXON

8. Sgt. Emory E. Calhoun, prisoner of war, is the first Indianapolis man reported to the Red Cross to be a group leader in a “Deutsch tourist camp,” his name for Stalag III B. When his mother, Mrs. May H. Calhoun; 2401 Roosevelt ave, a | widow, asked the Red Cross here what a leader did, she found out her son was a very important man in the camp.

FRITZ RESIGNS LABOR OFFIGE

Veteran State Federation Executive Retiring Due To Health.

Adolph J. Fritz, identified with the labor movement in Indiana for more than 40 years, today resigned as secretary and treasurer of the Indiana State

Federationof Labor after holding

Mr. Fritz, 69, will retire Aprill because of ill health, “I'm one of those kind of fellows who feel they can't get along without me . because I've been

Mr. Fritz at it for so long,” Mr. Fritz sald. “It's a hard thing to do.” A meeting of the federation executive board is being held at the Claypool hotel this morning to select a successor.

Mr. Fritz was elected at Logansport Aug. 12, 1916, and took office Jan. 1, 1917, succeeding George Schwab. He was a member of the molders’ union and formerly was secretary of the molders’ state conference.

He was widely known in the state .legislature as a lobbyist for A. F. of L. unions. Presidents of all union conferences in the state federation will meet at the Claypool this afternoon to discuss political action in the

coming campaign. LOCAL TEMPERATURES Sam... 33 0am... 31 Ta Moly 2-1lam...3 gam ..... 32. 12 (moom) .,.32 Sam .....31 ve 32

Complete in

and the dows of

Il the regular ‘Times ?

This edition of your Saturday : Indianapolis Times is

One Section

.

Mrs. May H. Calhoun . . . the prisoner's mother.

Writes

‘have reached the Dniester. Each

which is pinching the Wehryears of war.

19 are paying the highest toll.

virtually disappeared from is now a gap of five years

ended with’ my repatriation by the Gripsholm this week, I kept a chart of German war casualties which disclosed that only 10 per cent of the deaths came within the category of men 25 to 29, showing clearly that that vital strata of German youth almost has been wiped out by four

My chart showed that presently the German boys of

Boys of that age comprised

13 per cent of the military casualties of the four months, November through February. They are graduates of the “Hitlerjugend” who either volunteered before the draft age of 161% or they are boys

who after a brief schooling in simple maneuvers at the

$

ot | ‘On the War Fronts

March 18, 1944

ITALY—Allied bombers open heavy assault on Anzio beachhead.

RUSSIA—Soviets shell ‘Nazi lines beyond Dniester river.

AIR WAR—American heavy bombers reported over Europe.

PACIFIC—U. S. troops capture main Manus island airport in Admiralties.

Hint Iron Guard Is Forming in

Reich.

Times Special SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE, March 18.—There is fear in Rumania today that the Nazis will instigate an iron guard coup d'etat against Premier Marshal Ion Antonescu, should he pay too much attention to the “siren voices” of the allies. This fear is based on reports from Germany which indicate that members of the iron guard, Horia Sima's party, have been called from various Reich towns and assembled in an unnamed town in Germany, with instructions to be prepared for an imminent “trip abroad.” These refugee iron guardists in Germany are estimated at 500. This method of applying Nazi pressure on Rumania comes on the day when Russia's advanced units

BURMA—Air-borne British troops land deep’ inside Japanese lines in northern Burma.

RUSS MAY HAVE ISSUED TERMS

To Transylvania Is Likely.

By HELEN KIRKPATRICK Times Foreign Correspondent

time that Antonescu and his en- " LONDON, March 18—It is likely

Support of Rumania Claim!

tourage have failed to be sufficiently subdued by Nazi orders, the Germans have called on the premiere’s enemy, Horia Sima, and his party.

Putsch Was Staged

In December, 1942, when the first signs of the Rumanian people's wholesome disbelief in Nazi victory appeared, an iron guard putsch was staged in Bucharest. It

Sgt. Calhoun, who is 25, is the spokesman for some 500 men and carries their problems to the camp commander, He talks with the international Red Cross representative, probably receives the Red Cross supplies from America and helps administer first aid. There are 3000 men in the entire camp, he said. A leader must have “personality” and the men “must have

confidence in him,” local Red | left rma en route to Cross officials said. jeven. lest Germany

{Rumania when the Germans and

Has Sense of Humor n ¢ shipped him to his refuge—GerAccording to his mother, Em- |many. There was no longer any

oy is Jay te right kind of man need for his appearance in 2 : Bucharest. “He is steady, kind. firm and | gimqa's presence today at the head impartial,” she said. “His word | of his jron guardists seems to be a ba ood 3§ Bo ot Taziuics) prelude to a putsch similar to that teach nical ‘tried in December, 1942. Reports high school think “he was one of are that in their most recent interthe best thinkers” in their classes, |vigw Antonescu was warned by

she said. | Hitler himself not to play FinSgt. Calhoun has a sense of /jang's game. He was assured by humor about being in a prison | ger ‘fyehrer that Germany would camp. He writes: “I am in whe |gefend Rumania with all the means famous Hotel Furstenburg, where !g¢ the wehrmacht's disposal, but he I spend the time feasting and wag informed that if Rumania did

carousing in a truly medieval pot toe the line Germany had manner mistaken by the unso-

that the Soviet government has in dicated the outlines along which it

(Continued on Page 2—Column 6)

Russ Seize Town Periling Foe at

Odessa.

By HARRISON SALISBURY United Press Staff Correspondent

MOSCOW, March 18.— Marshal Ivan S. Konev's 2d Ukrainian © army drove to within sight of the Dniester river border of Bessarabia today and front dispatches reported frantic German preparations to evacuate their forces to the southwest bank. (A British broadcast reported by CBS said Russian heavy guns have begun shelling German lines beyond the Dniester.) Soviet troops also have captured the rail junction of Pomashnaya, eastern terminus of the last German east-west zailroad across the lower Ukraine, Premier Stalin announced in an order of the day,

Sweep Through Poland

Pomashnaya is 123 miles north of Odessa and its captupre meant that the Germans now will have to fall back to that Black sea port for next rail links between their battered Ukrainian forces.

is prepared to see Rumania get out of the war and, together with the Czechs, has assured Dr. Julius

ant party of Rumania, that it will support Rumania claims to Transylvania.

|the Rumanian government, or {what is the role of Prince Stirbey,

{to discuss the Rumanian position. |The British government has no iofficial knowledge of any peace {feelers from Rumania.

i | Some time ago Maniu, whose po-

Maniu, leader of the national peas-|

While Konev’s forces neared the { Dniester on a 40-mile front, the f 1st Ukrainian army far to the northwest swept to within 68 miles {of Lwow, one of the biggest com- | munications centers in southeastern {| Europe, in a new break through

was, There is no indication as yet) that carried more than 50 miles thwarted at the last minute by An- whether the proposals made by inside old Poland.

tonescu’s police. Horia Sima had Maniu were with the knowledge of |

The Soviet high command re- | ported in its midnight communique the capture of two towns yesterday

Italians kindly “arrested” him and/who has gone to Cairo, supposedly | only 10 miles northeast of the

| Dniester and the pace of the {Russian advance indicated - the | Soviet army would reach the river today or tomorrow.

150 Towns Fall

litical following is such as to com- | mand attention and respect abroad, | The Germans were reported in whether he is in the government or} panicky retreat, abandoning their

not, wrote to President Eduard’ © Benes of the Czech government-in-| dead and wounded in their haste

exile, setting forth the lines &long|to escape entrapment. More than which he and his party would like|150 tons and villages fell to the to see peace established with Russia. If Russa would guarantee Russians. yesterday in advances of Rumanian independence, Ru-|UP to 18 miles. mana’s claim to Bessarabia and| Though there was no immediate Bukovina would be dropped, he indication whether the Germans

phisticated as the continental. The only thing missing is a strait jacket. “There is a great variety of monotony and variety is the spice of life.” As for the Red Cross, it makes life more bearable. i “The Red Cross parcels we receive are certainly a Godsend to the boys, especially the cigarets,” he wrote. He said he had re-v ceived shaving kits, and felt “like

(Continued on Page 2—Column 2)

Hoosier Heroes—

PFC. JOAN PEARSON WOUNDED IN ACTION

Local Veteran Recovering,

Expects to Come Home,

TWO MEN FROM INDIANAPOLIS are listed as casualties, one a marine wounded in action and the other a soldier reported missing. > WOUNDED . Pfc. John F. Pearson; 111 N. Arsenal ave. MISSING Pvt. Verne L. Williams, 2211 N. Dearborn st. ' See. "PFC. JOHN F. PEARSON, a marine veteran of Guadalcanal, was

| wounded in the Pacific area Jan. 14, ig to received by his

0!

means of pressure. Assembly of iron guardists in Germany is. pos'sibly one means of such pressure. | This tenseness in Rumanian|German relations follows the disclosure of Prince Stirbey's mission

(Continued on Page 2—Column 8)

WASHINGTON

A Weekly Sizeup by ‘the Washington Staff of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers

WASHINGTON, March 18.—Add reasons for fastdeclining U. S. influence in world politics : : 1. Republicans’ triumvirate leadership in senate (White, Taft, Vandenberg) isn’t permanent, but old noninterventionist bloc now holds upper hand and will try to retain it in reorganization next year. SHOWDOWN, postponed until January, will be of prime significance, may even change course of post-war foreign policy, regardless of who is elected president. Taft will make bid for permanent leadérship to succeed White, now “acting” leader though triumvirate has

shorn him of power. Also by-passed is former Assistant Leader Austin, another supporter of administration international policy.

2. SENATE and house conferees have agreed to retain in $1,350,000,000 UNRRA authorization bill the amendment limiting expendi-

wrote. Maniu received Benes' reply early this week. Immediate Rumanian withdrawal from the war would be rewarded, according to Ankara sources, by .Soviet and

(Continued on Page 2—Column 4)

Chairman McKellar of senate appropriations committee, who expects to appropriate far less than the authorized figure—and far less than . UNRRA backers will consider adequate. oh $e 3. HOUSE REVOLT against program due to be drafted at forthcoming united nations monetary conference is simmering. Several members have already served notice that executive-department representatives at conference will be powerless to conclude agreement. ‘Rep.

tures to actual appropriations. Amendment was sponsored by Acting |

{would attempt a stand along the | Dniester or fall back deeper into | Bessarabia, front dispatches told of feverish preparations along the southwest bank for the withdrawal | of Nazi forces across the river. | New supplies of pontoons were | being rushed to the river by the enemy, it was said. The Russians crossed the Bug river to the northeast in such close pursuit of the Germans that they were able to

|use the enemy’s own pontoons and '

other equipment. Cut Communications

In their deepest penetration of the enemy's defenses, the Russians captured Klembovka and Olshanka, 13 miles apart and both 10 miles from the Dniester and 64 miles from the Prut river, 4 recognizes as the Rumanian border. The Soviet wedge of 40 to 100 miles widih already has cut all direct ccmmunications between German Marshal Fritz Erich von Mannstein's forces in the western and southérn Ukraine and was being widened hourly, * isolating enemy units for easy annihilation.

SAYS FOREIGN TRADE KEY TO PROS

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