Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 March 1945 — Page 1

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FORECAST: Fair and warmer tenight and tomorrow. &

HOME

\ SCRIPPS — HOWARD §

VOLUME 56—-NUMBER 10

THURSDAY, MARCH

1945

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

PRICE FIVE CENTS

Saarbruecken Symbolizes Collapse Of Nazi Dreams

MIGHTY AIR COVER

By MALCOLM MUIR JR. United Press Stat Correspondent SAARBRUECKEN, Germany, March 22.—This once proud industrial capital, where Adolf Hitler scored one of his first big triumphs, was a nine-square mile rubble heap today. It was here that Saarlanders voted in 1935 to join /the Reich. " Their territory had been detached from Germany under the Versailles treaty and a plebiscite offered them a choice of rejoining

Germany. ‘becoming a part of France or retaining autonomy. More than 90 per cent of the 136,000 voting chose to, cast their lot with Hitler. The few remaining citizens here today seemed to realize that the shambles symbolize collapse of the Nazi dreams they helped inspire. They stared dejectedly at the ground as American troops kept pouring into the battered city. “I've seen 100 beat up towns but never before a God-awful mess

like this,” said Cpl. William 8. Henderson of Hillsdale, N. J, a member of the spearhead battalion, Lt. Col. Louis G. Kelly of Rochester, N. Y., appointed Adolf Honnert, food distribution official,

as acting burgomeister, Honnert described himself as a “repentant Nazi,” but there was no other

candidate. Honnert said Saarbruecken had been paying its price. since early last December when the Ameri-

cans first approached. Since then the city has quaked under 17,000,000 pounds of bombs. Factories, communications, shipping districts and residences were blasted. Six bridges fhanning the Saar were destroyed. The Maschinenbau A. G. works which turned out thousands of steam and Diese] enginés and motors for the Reich is a snarl of steel. The stately Schloss castle and

courthouse in the Senter of the city are pyramids of shattered | masonry. The real inhabitants of the city today are Russians, Italians and Poles—captives who were brought in for forced labor, There are nearly 10,000 of them, emaciated figures lining up before the hastily improvised soup kitchens, They smiled greetings as we bounced by in our jeep but they seemed too tired to wave.

STATE LIQUOR BOARD NAMED BY GOVERNOR

Dr. Burrell E. Diefendorf to Head ABC Under New Laws.

Governor Gates today named a

new alcoholic. beverage commission i

to administer the revised liquor code enacted by the 1945 legislature.

Newly-appointed members of the four-man commission are:

Dr. Burrell E. Diefendorf, dentist| {

of Mitchell, chairman. James Doss, Indianapolis newspaperman. Lefler (Lef) Anderson, manager of the La Porte state auto license branch, Elmer B. Lohman, retired -Columbia City and Marion hotel executive, now living in Ft. Wayne. Dr. Diefendorf and Mr. Anderson are Republican members, Mr. and Mr. Lohman, Democrats.

A practicing dentist at Mitchell

since his graduation from the In-| diana university dental school in | 1914, Dr. Diefendorf is 53, married | |

and the father of three children. Lawrence G. O. P. Chairman

From 1934 to 1944 he was the Republican county chairman of Lawrence county. As such he was a political associate of G. O. P. State Chairman William E. Jenner, who resides in the same congressional district. Mr. Diefendor¥ likewise has been affiliated closely with the regular state organization headed up by Governor Gates. He opposed the 1944 senatorial bid” of James M. Tucker, also a resident of his district, the ninth. He belongs to the Mitchell Ma-

sonic lodge, the Elks, and is a charter ‘member of the Mitchell Rotary club.

Mr. Doss is statehouse reporter

Associated Press. He will resign to accept the A.B.C. appointment.

Veteran Newsman

Formerly of Columbus, Ind., Mr. Doss, a veteran newsman and political writer, at one time was city editor and reporter for The Times. He began his career ‘on the old Columbus Ledger and later worked for the Pt. Wayne Journal-Gazette and the Ft. Wayne News Sentinel. He has been with the Associated | Press for more than a decade Married and the {father of a daughter, Mr. Doss is a member of the Indianapolis Press club and the Columbus Elks lodge. Republican county chairman of La Porte county for the past four years, Mr. Anderson formerly was in the oil and gas business in La Porte. He now manages the auto license. branch there. Previously he was a deputy sheriff and surveyor of La Porte county. He is a member of the American Legion, the Elks, the Shrine and a past commander of the La Porte American Legion post. He is 49. Lifelong Democrat

Elmer B Lohman operated hotels In Columbia City and Marion for 11 years. He retired a year ago. A lifelong Democrat, he is a member of the Elks lodge and the American Legion. Under the newly-enacted alcobeverage law, Chairman

a second vote should the bi-partisan commission be deadlocked on any issue. The new board will April 1. Retiring members of the A. B. C. are Bernard E. Doyle of Hebron, chairman, and William Storm. of Indianapolis, Democrats; Neal Mc-

take over

Doss

| | |

Boilermaker 1-¢ and Mrs. Jerry Ryan . .

. he's known in the navy

as a “good man.”

for the Indianapolis bureau of the | IE.

to keep off mud and rain on the right are (foreground) Pvt. Gordon Pvt. Brown and (back row) Pfe. Pvt. Fritz C.

U.S. TRIES TO EASE SHORTAGE OF MEAT

WASHINGTON, March 22 (U. P)). —The government today sought to alleviate the meat shortage by increasing the subsidy to cattle slaughterers. The increase will be up to 50 eents a 100 pounds. The plan was announced by Price Administrator Chester Bowles before

the senate banking committee. His disclosure came after he had spent two days. before the committee defending his agency's meat price policies against heated criti-

Pvt. Warren L. Brown, 2123 College ave, and his buddies in the 34th division gun crew used pliofilm powder bags for extra pants legs |

5th army front in Italy. M. Shuferd, Lincolnton, N, C,, an Raymond P. Schulte, Dixon, Ill;

Heitkamp, San Antonio, Tex.; Pvt, Steven Boor, Gary, and Pte. Alfred Castanet, Coverdale, Pa. -

rt) “———————————————

[Discord Echods

In Democratic Hoosier Ranks

Everything is rosy on the surface, but there are dark rumblings within the Democratic state committee following a “harmony” session yesterday. Official reports emanating from the closed-meeting at the Claypool hotel have it that the brethren gathered to exchange non-commit-tal greetings. G But unofficially up poppéd an issue loaded with dynamite, This was a proposal which would empower the state committee to

Amusements. . Business "..... 24 Ruth Millett.. 15 Commies. -2T-Movies 23 Crossword ... 28 Fred Perkins. 15 Editorials .... 16 Ernie Pyle ... 15 Peter Edson... 16 Radio ........ 21 Fashions ..... 20 Mrs. Roosevelt 15 Porom ....... 16 Wm. P. Simms 16 . FrecRles: ... . 27 Sports Meta Given | 20 Tom Stokes John Hillman 16 Up Front = 18 ‘Inside Incpls.

Patterson of Indianapolis; Republicans,

CONVICT CARLINE ROMEO

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22 (U P.).—Francis Van Wie, the 58-year-old “ding dong daddy” of the streetcar lines, was found guilty on three counts of bigamy today by a jury of nine men and three women after 10 minutes’ of deliberation. (Earlier Story, Page Seven).

TIMES INDEX

23 Jane Jordan.. 27

cism-of-packers-and-Republcan-sen

ators, ‘The critics said packers were going broke.

Packers Assail OPA

The additional subsidy will be

‘Ibased on the amounts paid by

Slaughterers for live cattle, It ‘will be computed on the basis of the amount paid by the individual slaughterer in excess of the “floor” - established for live cattle prices, and will reach the maximum of 50 cents a hundredweight when the slaughterer pays ceiling — top permissible—prices for cattle.

and packers told the committee they are losing money under present OPA policies and regulations on handling of both beef awd-pork. But Bowles said he thought the new subsidy “will pat packers in a reasonably good pésition.” Senate Republicans also blamed OPA for shrinkage Lo the supply oi meat, Senator Robert A. Taft Blot Ohio and other Republicans -

15, Women’s News 20

(Gontfued on Page Column 1

Spokesmen for meat slaughteréré|

retire” the party's nattormat

mitteeman.

The suggestion appeared to be laden with dire ouster potentialities

for the present national committee~ man, Frank McHale, But McHale

1says not, He pointed out that the ouster of

a national committeeman is the ex-

(Continued on Page 8--Column 3)

FAIR AND WARMER

TO FOLLQW FROST

The frost that covered some of the rocftups early today disappeared quickly and the weather bureau predicts a quick return of warmer

temperatures. The forecast includes fair for today and tomorrow.

Ga.m. .... 34 103m... 46 am ....34 lam... 48 8am. ., 35 12 (Noon). K 50 Sam. ..; 41 pm... - 52

MORRIS PLAN pays Interest o on “Save a tomorrow ash.~Adv.

ings! vin Fund morning! Morris Plan, 110 B. W

Left to |

skies

News of Indianapolis Men and Home Folks—From Three War Fronts

Capt. Theodore W. Sedvert . down his second

Local Pilot Bag Without Usi

{ CAPT. THEODORE SEDVERT,

need ammunition to knock down his second German Messerschmitt.

. he didn’t need ammunition to knock

| |

Messerschmitt.

s Nazi Plane ng Ammunition

vi] didn't |

{

Indianapolis air force pilot,

He spotted the Nazi plane, dived for it and then discovered he |

was out of ammunition, “The German must. have been | Just looked at me and grinned,” “I got so sore I pulled out my 45 pistol and emptied it at him but I missed.” Then Capt. Sedvert flew over the German plane, dived and forced it

ERE Jo iCtash, All" day ther, Herman W. Sedvert, 533 N. Bradley ave. has

been ~getting phone calls about his son's latest accomplishment. Capt. Sedvert, whose ~ wife, Dorothy Mae, lives at 1314 N. Gale st, is credited with one probable plane knocked down besides his latest feat, He's _had 210 Nour in“ the air

plane, his “dream ship.” ‘A Technical high school gradu- ¥ » 5

Wife of Sailor

| is going to be Iowa-bound.

For it'll be back in Davenport, Ia.,

| her what he did out in the Pacific wi

the captain said. {student

{18th tactical alr force flying ovef

feet from the ground. He pulled it up but not enough to. prevent the and flies a P-51 Mustang fighter | E

out of ammunition, too, for he |

« |

ate and former Butler university the captain started his overseas flights in England, then went to France and now is with the

Germany. He's had only one crackup that his father knows about. That was in the States when he was instructing pilots at Phoenix, Ariz. One of the students went into a dive too fast and Capt. Sedvert came to when the plane wds a few

crash.

Capt. Sedvert’s mother works at | Allison Sivigon. »

on Carrier

With: Ernie Pyle Waits Here

{ WHEN THE war's over, Mrs. Jerry Ryan,

1142 N. PoRincoivena st.,

that her husband, Jerry, th the navy.

will tell |

And it'll be in Davenport that the Irish sailor will go into business |

Hoosier Heroes— 1 DEAD; 1 MISSING: 9 WOUNDED; | SAFE

‘Lt. I. F. Peak Jr. Is Killed

On German Front.

has been killed in Germany and another former resident is miss-

ing. been wounded and one is safe. KILLED Lt. I. F. Peak Jr. formerly of

3025 N. Meridian st., in Germany.

MISSING Lt. Russell E. Masters, Anderson, over England. WOUNDED Pvt. Robert P. Gandolf, 2906 | Rowena .st., in Germany.

S. Sgt. Homer J. Watson, 25 N, ‘Highland ave, in the South Pacific. Pfc. Robert Paul Hagaman, 4546

“Pvt. Brookside pkwy., in Germany." Pfc. Martin J. Maloney, Buchanan st. in Germany. ; SAFE Cpl. Frederick O. Kafader Jr, 1214 Orange st. in Moscow.

(Details, Page 19)

TOKYO POPULATION SHRINKS, SAY JAPS

LONDON, March 22 (U. P).— The Japanese telegraph service in

today quoted Minister of Home Affairs Shigeo Adachi as saying the population of Tokyo has shrunk to probably under 4,000,000, (Standard references place the |lasty knowh population of Greater! Tokyo at 6,496,613.5 He explained that the evacuation of recent air raid victims accounted tbr much of the depopu-

further intensified.

A former Indianapolis resident)

Robert: \X McDermid, 301T

w Glider Takes Army Wounded To Hospital in Nine-Minutes

a broadcast recorded by B. B. c.|

with his father, J. J. Ryan Sr.| Jerry's one of the best-liked per | sons on his ship, an aircraft car-| !rier. Ernie Pyle tells all about him in today's column. (Page 15.) “He wants. to run his dad's | plumbing and heating shop after | the war,” his wife, brunet ‘with | sparkling blue eyes, said. “He was | learning the steamfitting business | when he left for the navy. In fact, he’s vice president of the company |. . . he was given the title, his dad | says, because he was the only one in

| |

talking about this “visitor” { he often came down to eat popcorn | with the boys.

According to the Hoosier Vaga- |

bond, “Ryan's oil shack is a social center. There is always somebody hanging around. “Jerry brews coffee for his guests| in a nickel-plated pot over an electric grill,” Ernie says. “The pot has| a red hash mark for a hitch of serv|ice in the navy. And soon he is go-

ing to award it the purple heart. It

| | (Continued on Page | 6—Column 3)

fury of the American assault on the

SHIELDS 1ST ARMY ASSAULT ON RUHR

6 | s EACER Both Nazi and Allied Observers Hint

‘Win-the-War’ Offensive May FOR ‘PAYOFF | ‘Have Begun. BLOW AT FOE

BULLETIN WITH U. S. 3D ARMY, Germany, March 22 (U. P.). —American troops today captured the I. G. Farben factory, the biggest chemical plant in Germany on the west

Believe Patton's Rampage bank of the Rhine at Ludwigshafen.

May Shorten War by | PARIS, March 22 (U. P.).—The U. S. 1st army 30 Days. |

'drove from its Rhine bridgehead today against the ¢ southern flank of the Ruhr under an aerial barrage laid down by more than 3000 American and British ‘warplanes. One of the war's biggest tactical air offensives was in | full swing along the Rhine front from the Swiss border to the North sea. oy German and allied military commentators indicated Saar merely is a foretaste of im- that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's “win-the-war” offensive pending operations. {might already have begun. The campaign now being mounted, | Field dispatches said a 66-mile pall of artificial smoke, I believe, is one which will end theithe biggest and most sustained smoke screen in the tacwan is ho secret to the Germans | tical history of warfare—blanketed the northern end of the that this attack is coming. \Western front.

(The London Daily Express to- It stretched along the Rhine from the Nijmegen are day bannered: “Rhine: Any Hour| tretche g t J g a

Now.” It quoted German reports|SOme 66 miles upstream. that the allied all-out offensive is) Hides 3 Aviles : about to start.) ‘ : Ruhr to Be Battlefield Behind that smoke screen Field Marshal Sir Bernard Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower al-| Ll» Montgomery was deploying the massive armored and inready has warned the workers of | fantry forces of his British 2d, Canadian 1st and American the Ruhr that their homeland is, \9th armies for what both sides agreed would be the decisive about to become a battlefield. The only thing the Germans don’t | | assault on the Rhine barrier.

Know is when the attack will start. Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ U.

Boyd Lewis, P. European

inspection of the

By BOYD LEWIS United Press Staff Correspondent

| SHAEFPF, Paris, March 22. — The

(Continued « on Page 5—Column 3)

(Continued on “Page 5—Column 4)

On the War Eronls

(March 22, 1945) WESTERN FRONT —American 1st | PACIFIC—American troops and| Army Opens battle for Ruhr on Filipino guerrillas crush last or-| Droad front east of Rhine. ganized Japanese resistance on|EASTERN FRONT—Russians bat-

. 1st army already For several days the Germans, was on the mov on the jump-off date With rumors| It battered with tanks and infantry against the narrow Sieg of impending operations by Field| river barely 10 miles from the southern flank of the Ruhr. Marshal Sir Bernard Momigomery’s Simultaneously, the American 3d and 7th armies to the Usually the closer one gets to the front the more conservative one the destruction of all but a becomes about the war's end. REDS BREAK THROUGH pena of an estimated 80,Montgomery's headquarters {000 to 100,000 Germans in Gen. George S. Patton's ol N SOUTHERN SILESIA chopper operation in the Saar, the| The two armies merged into a Pan solid front west of the Rhine and Satin. Dominates. | overrun 400 German Towns © closed against the river with a rush And Trap 15,000 Nazis. ew tn infantrymen watching the big tank p | Ts a A UV iNing Germans bey carriers moving equipment up to; LONDON, March 22 (U P).—| Lt Gen. George S. Patton's 3d the Rhine. One of them patted the butt of|broken through south and west of lated German pockets inside the his carbine against a tank carrier {Oppeln in southern Silesia, advanc- | great Rhine chemical center of Ludand said: ing 25 miles and trapping at least wigshafen. Other 3d army forces —p— offensive that overran more. than digshafen and struck southward to400 German towns. '| ward the last enemy escape port opMarshal Stalin announced tonight ' posite K¥rlsruhe. BLOW | (Continued on Pare 6—Columa 4) Believed Ready to to Hit island 300 Miles From Japan.

nave been fishing for information| e northward from its St east of the Rhine. 21st army group. . ; gg” . . south’ elinched their most decisive victory of the war with On a 10-day front tour J |the Saar-Palatinate. dominating feeling was one of The generals had it. So did the| ; [that threatened to eliminate - the-- | Marshal Ivan S. Konev's army has| |army troops were mopping up iso“Brother, 1 wish we could just 15000 Germans in a sweeping; new| stabbed to the Rhine north of LudREPORT I, S, FLEET (that Konev's first Ukrainian army, Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Pitch's Tth GUAM, March 22 (U. P.).—The

U. S. 5th fleet today was reported) panay island; U. S. 5th fleet re-| tle through suburbs of Danzig approaching the Okinawa islands,| ported approaching Okinawa| and Gdynia on Baltic. 300 miles southwest of Japan, possi-| islands, 300 miles southwest of! ATR WAR-—American bombers rebly for new blows at Japan's waning| JaPan. | sume attack on Germany after ITALY—Lull extends into ninth! R. A. F. Mosquitoes blast BerSea and air power. day. { lin “twice during night.

(A Tokyo broadcast said 120

“

and Lighning fighters

Pacific fleet headquarters has screened the fleet's. activities with a security blackout since its planes {crippled 17 enemy warships and | wrecked 600 aircraft in Japan's is{land sea, Sunday and Monday. | “But radio Tokyo said the task | force with its dozen or more car|riers last night was “fleeing at full | speed” southward toward waters | east of the Okinawa islands, site of lan important naval ‘hase and several airfields midway between Japan and Formosa.

By JOHN Mc¢DERMOTT United Press Staff Correspondent SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY, | March 22.—~A big American trans"port plane dipped low over an air strip in the Remagen bridgehead | today and snatched up a motorless | glider laden with 12 wounded sol~ diers. Nine minutes later the glider came to rest less than 20 yards | trom the entrance of an evacuation ' |hospital some 50 miles behind the lines. Thus began the U, S. army's first glider-ambulance service in Europe. Col. William H. Amspacher of Norman, Okla. an army surgeon, hailed the successful feat as the

lation which he predicted would be beginning of a new and important

Plvise of army Medical history.

Ten of the patients were Americans. Two were Germans. Most were wounded this morning in the fighting on the rim of the U. S. 1st army's bridgehead east of the Rhine. : : “This is the swellest break any G. L ever got,” said a soldier from Elgin, Ill. “I got nailed by a Jerry bullet about 8 o'clock this morning, and here I am at the hospital for lunch. “1f T had come by ambulance, I wouldn't have got here before nightfall, and it would have been a ter rible ride over. those rough roads.’ Amspacher estimated that when in full operation the gliders could evacuate between six and seven ‘hundred wounded hid in good weather,

This was the picture of the’ Western front army launched a mighty

today as the U, 8, Ist tive from the take Germany's last great arsenal, Ruhr,