Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 March 1944 — Page 2

PATTONMAY GET

inte

Dbservors Believe General Would Fill Need Under -

. Combat.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (U.P). —News that Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr, is to command a new allied army prompted unofficial spec‘today that the colorful fora Th army chief may lead one of the tough landing operations in the coming western European invabi) Gen. Alexander M. Patch Jr, who headed the army forces that the marines on Guadalcanal, succeeded Patton as 7th army

commander. Any ideas that the shift was a

“INVASION FORCE|

Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. Jr. . . . succeeds Gen, Patton as commander of the 7th army. He is a veteran of Guadalcanal.

FRU S. SEIZED

plinary move resulting from the a episode in which Patton was involved were dispelled when the’ war department revealed that Patton had been given command of another, but unidentified army. . It was recalled also that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke highly of Patton’s ability as a combat leader when the controversy over his slapping of two enlisted men was raging last winter. In his present job as commander of allied invasion forces in western Burope, EisenJhower will need tough and proven field commanders. And despite the furor over the slapping incidents, most observers here agree Patton fills the bill . Eisenhower acknowledged that Patton's maltreatment of the enlisted men was “reprehensible” but believed that Patton had made amends by his apologies. Eisenhower praised Patton as the “mainspring” of the Tth army’s drive from Gela to Messina in Sicily and lauded his “unquestioned value as a commander of an assault force,”

U. A. W. LEADER SET : High naval officials regard the FOR EARLY INDUCTION | american submarine campaign as DETROIT, March 22 (U. P).— Victor G. Reuther, 32, key man in the United Auto Workers (C. I. O.) was slated for early induction to- pecoming

day after passing his army physical. with each passing month. AnHe Is the father of three children. |nouncements of American under-

Reuther, assistant director of the

war policy division, U. A. W.-C. 1. O. bag remain at a high level. said when he learned the interna-| tional union had asked for an oc-|announced that 15 more Japanese cupational deferment for him he S wrote his draft board that the request was without his knowledge.

Three other top officials, Secre-

tary-Treasurer George F. Addis and |struction of 14 others. Vice Presidents Walter P. Reuther and Richard T. Frankensteen, nave [ships have been sunk or damaged received occupational deferments|by U. S. submarines, which will expire soon, union heads|492 sunk, 36 probably sunk and 114 said.

¥ AR,

NEW SUB BASES

Seen _ Intensification of Undersea War on Jap Shipping. :

WASHINGTON, March 22 (U. P.). —Naval experts believed today that the American submarine fleet will soon intensify its campaign against the already battle-shaken Japanese sea communications system with the ald of newly won advanced bases in the Marshall islands. . The Marshalls, it was observed, provide the United States submarine bases closer to the Japanese homeland than any now available. By reducing sharply the distance that submarines must travel to and from refueling points, these advanced bases will serve to increase the time that the vessels can spend on actual patrol against enemy ships: -~

one of the most important of all Pacific operations.

Successes ‘Increase

And there is evidence that it is increasingly successful

| seas successes are coming with more | frequency and the totals in each

For instance, the navy yesterday

hips were sent to the bottom in| | Pacific and "Far Eastern waters. Less | [than two weeks before, on March 9, | it reported the sinking of 16 enemy vessels, and on Feb. 29, the de-

To date, a total of 642 Japanese

This includes

damaged.

Yanks Seize

By UNITED PRESS An estimated 90,000 Japanese were isolated in the South Pacific today after U. S. marines seized two islands in the St. Matthias group to complete the encirclement of ‘the Bismarck archipelago in a manéuver timed to match a heavy bombardment of Kavieng, New Ireland, by American battleships. While the marines were occupying the islands of Emirau and Elmusao almost without opposition Monday, the battleships delivered probably the heaviest naval bombardment of this theater, firing 1000 tons of shells into Kavieng, 84 miles to the south. The landing in the St. Matthias islands was the northernmost penetration of the Southwest Pa‘cific. It brought allied forces only 580 miles south of the big Japanese base at Truk in the Carolines and completed the ring around the Bismarck archipelago. Eye-witness accounts of the Kavieng bombardment said the barrage knocked down nearly every building at the New Ireland base as the battleships raked the targets at will after silencing a few shore batteries. Allied airmen continued their widespread attacks, striking enemy bases from the Marshalls in the Central Pacific to New Guinea in the southwest. Four Japanese positions in the Marshalls were attacked Sunday by army, navy and marine fliers, who dropped 30, tons of bombs and returned safely to their bases, in a follow-up of the heavy battleship and carrier-based plane attack on Mili atoll Saturday. Solomons-based medium and light bombers hit Rabaul, New Britain again, while other Allied air units ranged over northern New Guinea, damaging a 6000-

| ton freighter-transport at Hol-

2 More Is

es,

: i wk landia, destroying’ “many” ed planes at Aitape, and ay three small craft along the Madang coast. - ‘ Torpedo and dive bombers attacked enemy positions around’ Torokina and Bougainville in the Solomons, where the Japanese were estimated to have lost 6000 dead in a futile 10-day attempt to breech American positions on the Empress Augusta bay beachhead. they were guided to Truk in an attack early last Wednesday by huge flood lights under which Japanese laborer were attempting to repair the damage inflicted by carrier-based navy plane assault last month, *

CHARGES U. S. SOLD WAR DEVICE TO NAZIS

BOSTON, March 22" (U. P.).— John Hays Hammond Jr, an inventor, was quoted in the Boston Traveler today that Germany purchased from the U. 8. patent office at 10 cents per patent the secrets of radio control for glider bombs. The article, passed by the office of censorship, contended the united nations might have had exclusive use of a radio controlled “flying bomb” had Hammond's discoveries and patents been safeguarded. Instead, they were placed on sale at the U. S. patent office by authority of an American admiral, it charged. Hammond said he first demonstrated his experiments with radio control in 1911. He said he showed

or boats by radio from a considerable distance. The government bought 200 of his patents in 1933, but subsequently placed them on sale, he charged.

He declined to name the admiral.

Indicates Another Army

“He absolutely refused to accept procrastination or any excuses for delay with a resulting rapid advance of the army which had much| to do with the early collapse of re-| sistance in Sicily,” Eisenhower re-| ported. | Word of Patton’s new assignment was interpreted to mean that the! United States now has at least one | army organized as such in Britain. | So far only U. S. armies identified | abroad have been the 5th and Tth| armies in the Mediterranean and the 6th in the Southwest Pacific. | It was believed here that the job of spearheading the invasion of Europe could be the sort calling for | Patton's particular driving qualities. | Eisenhower, it was believed, may * want him for one of the toughest! . and most Important assignments in the invasion command. The allied team of commanders | now being lined up against Ger-| many has been strengthened by the assignment of Patch to the 7th ‘army. He is recognized as one of | the most successful generals in the! Pacific operations. Guadalcanal Is considered by most critics as the | turning point of the Pacific war antl! it 'was Patch who brought opera-| tions there to so satisfactory a conclusion. .

| {

YANKS USING NEW ‘BLOCKBURNER’ BOMB.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (U. P.).—American airmen are now| dropping on Nazi Europe a new 500-pound “blockburner” incendiary bomb which cannot be extinguished once it starts blazing, the war department revealed today. | In an official review of incendiaries, the department said the new| bomb, known also as the M76 or! “Goop,” was a “tremendously de-| structive fire agent developed by the | U. 8. chemical warfare service. It contains a mixture of jellied oil and | finely powdered scrap magnesium, | which, when set off by a small pow- | der charge, gives the bomb its deadly effect. The report noted that aerial fire bombs now pay greater dividends per pound of weight in bomb racks than do high explosive bombs and | that the use of incendiaries therefore has increased twelvefold since! the start of the war. !

3 JAP SHIPS SUNK BY YANK BOMBERS

CHUNGKING, March 22 (U. P).. —Planes of the 14th U. 8. air force, ranging from French Indo-China to the East China coast, sank three ships, destroyed a railroad train and strafed a Japanese troop column, It was announced todav. * Fighters and fighter bombers? Satuday sank two 800-ton car-| BO vessels north of Jaiphong, in| Indo-China, inflicted “many” cas- | ualties on the troop column near | Thanhoi{ and destroyed the train! south of Langson. A 1000-ton stee] | vessel was attacked and sunk at | Campha. |

GIRAUD ANNOUNCES | RAID ON NAZI ISLE.

ALGIERS, Marchi 22 (U. P).— French commandos made a hit-run raid on a German-held island between Corsica and Italy Saturday night with “complete success,” taking 36 prisoners without notable . losses, Gen. Henri Honore Giraud's headquarters announced today. The | communique said several Germans | were killed. i ————————— | TWO ALLIED FLIERS | SCORE ON 20 PLANES

LONDON, March 22 (U. P. — Lt J. Luma of Helena, Mont. 2nd Flight Lt. B. MacFadyen of Toronto, royal Canadian airforce Mos_quito pilots, destroyed or damaged 20 German planes Tuesday, it 1

reported today, The two pilots knocked down enemy planes they en‘and then strafed German

2

three

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Coats—Third Floor

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airfields, leaving 17 planes baring | el

any occasion—on

ceasons thereafter. A remarkable group. of gracious and graceful styles—fitted or box—in fine soff wools and in|

the prettiest light, bright or basic colors.

With Flattery

In Every Line

retty oats

Fashions to do you up proudly, to compliment

Easter Sunday and through the

5

he could control torpedoes, bombs :

~ Trap 90,000 Japan Troops

“RUSS WARNING Soviet ‘Says Country Has Taken Responsibility for

~ Consequences.

+, MOSCOW, March 22 (tu, PY— Russia warned Fihland-today that

by rejecting the Soviet terms for an armistice she had “assumed all responsibilities for the consequences.”

in Stockholm last month.

that Russia's terms were unacceptable without further clarification and promising to continue efforts to. reach a satisfactory basis for peace: - The press refrained from comment. : Recalling that the foreign commissariat had published Russia's terms March 1, the announcement said that Finland's reply a week later revealed that “the Pmnish government hesitated to accept the Soviet conditions for an armistice without perliminary discussions.” Russia replied March 10 that she considered the Finnish answer unsatisfactory and called Finland’s attention to the fact that the Soviet proposals given to Paasikivi were “minimum and basic conditions.”

————————_ COCAINE PIONEER DIES NEW YORK, March 22°(U. P.).— Dr. Carl Koiler, 86, an ophthalmogolist credited with the introduction of cocaine as a& local anesthetic, died at his home yesterday.

Germans R hroug ~~ Tunnels to Cassino Fr

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Na-

ples, March 22 (U. P.).—~The “Green Devils” of the Nazi 1st. paratroop division traded blow for blow with New Zealand infantrymen in ‘he streets of Cassino today -while|I scores : mortars raked the allied lines heavily from commanding positions along the lower slopes of Mount Cassino,

of German field guns and

Front reports said German re-

The warning came in an announcement of the foreign office information bureau reviewing the exchange between the two countries after Juho K. Paasikivi, former Finnish premier, extended peace feelers to the Soviet legation

Soviet newspapers gave prominent display today to yesterday's Finnish communique announcing

sistance inside the devastated town and in the surrounding hills had strengthcned measurably as the Nazis shuttled reinforcements through a maze of tunnels and raconnecting their various strung points. 5 United Press War Correspondent James E. Roper reported from the battlefront’ that the Germans launched a strong attack at 5:30 this morning against allied hill positions overlooking Cassino in an effort to win new artillery “platforms” from which to step up their shelling of the town.

Planes Supply Troops

The thrust was beaten off, how ever, after a short, sharp action. In the surrounding hills, the Germans appeared to have gone over to the attack on a limited scale, although the offensive still remained in allied hands, British infantrymen tried twice yesterday to break into the German guns on hills 165 and 236, just west of Cassino. The first attack wave ran into a German mine field and was forced back when the Nazis began moving through a deep ravine toward the British rear. The second thrust, a flanking attack around the north end of the German-held hills, bogged down under heavy enemy fire, A small band of Indian Gurkhas

L spokesmen denied - reports t the allied situation. but it was admitted that the ability of ‘the Germans to shuttle reine

forcements through the secret passage from the ent Roman amphitheater just - of the

town had added to the difficulties of the attacking New Zealanders. the

by allied planes and artillery last Wednesday, 238 enemy troops have been captured inside Cassino.

NAZI BOMBS START FIRES IN LONDON

LONDON, March 22 (U. P).— German night raiders attacked London early today, killing a nume ber of persons when one highe explosive bomb hit a crowded vee hicle and another landed outside the building of a publishing firm. A canister of explosive incendie aries set 12 fires in one street, setting a garage ablaze and touching off a gasoline blast, Many people were evacauated as the fires spread to a big block of workers’

apartments and smaller houses. Nine of the raiders were shot down. The German force was estimated at more than the mately 100 which last week gave the

was reported holding out tena-

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