Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 April 1945 — Page 1
~By Al Capp
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Dana And A
. By. VICTOR ALL INDIANA today its greatest sons. And in a comfortable,
VOLUME 56—NUMBER 33
PETERSON mourned the loss of one of
old, white farmhouse on a
dusty road-three miles north of Dana the sadness was
deep and poignant, .. There live William C.
Pyle and Mrs. ‘Mary Bales,
father and aunt of Ernie Pyle, the G. I.’s champion, who
4.
r.
was killed by a Jap machifiegun bullet on a little isle off
Okinawa.
Mr. Pyle and Aunt Mary were stunned by word of
his death.
- Mrs, Ella Goforth, a neighbor, said they received the news: from another neighbor woman who heard a news
flash in a radio broadcast.
“They're just not able to taik about it now,” Mrs.
THIRD ARMY POUR OVER CZECH LINE
Magdeburg Is Seized; Storm Four Other
Reich Bastions.
By BOYD D. LEWIS United Press Staff Correspondent
PARIS, April 18.—American armies rolled into Czechoslovakia, captured Magdeburg and stormed four other keystone cities of Hitler's crumbling Third Reich today. Nazi spokesmen admitted the general offensive had swept away their Western front, Flying columns of Lt. Gef. George 8. Patton's American 3d army broke across the German frontier
into Czechoslovakia -early today on the final lap of a 200-mile dash
in two.
an undisclosed point near the northwestern tip of the enslaved | Czechoslovak republic, barely 100 miles from Prague. ~~ * Ninth Takes Magdeburg American 9th army troops finally captured the ruined city of Magdeburg, 60 miles southwest of Ber-’ lin, except for a small suburban
_ district lying on the east bank of}
the Elbe. The Nazi garrison, largely fanatical Hitler youths, quit after 24 hours. of ferocious street fighting, | but the first: American troops to
iE tha Bibe fours all four of | the Magdeburg bridges had been » blown ‘up. |
‘Russians Are Within|
Sight of Berlin; Say It’s Afire.
By ROBERT MUSEL
TRUMAN T0 BE CAUTIOUS FOR 17 100 DAYS
Tells Armed Forces He Will Carry On in Keeping With Tradition.
By LYLE C. WILSON Unité Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 18 (U. P)).
—President Truman's report to congress and the armed. services outlineda cautious pattern today for the crucial 100 first days of an administration he promised to conduct in “the American tradition.”
United Press Staff Correspondent LONDON, April 18.—The | official Soviet newspaper Red Fleet said today that the Russians were fighting “within sight of burning Berlin.
The dispatch made no di-| rect reference to the big Berlinbound offensive nor did it locate advance Soviet positions, But the Nazis admitted the Russians were only 17 miles northeast of the capital, s A German D. N. B. dispatch said the offensive had reached its “climactic phase” with nine attacking
‘may also be represented.
muck and danger of battle.
Plans were being made, as he broadcast last’ night, for a meeting of the Big Three foreign ministers here preliminary to the San Francisco conference. China and France
In his broadcast to the millions of uniformed Americans, the new President told of his shock at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death. “He never faltered,” he said, “nar shall we.” Mr. Truman spoke to the troops as a veteran who knows the mud,
Responsibilities Clear “I have done as you do in the
Soviet armies scoring new penetrations west of Kuestrin on the War-|
| saw-Berlin superhighway and north are clear. The breakthrough was made at| of Wwriezen, 23 miles northeast of | These duties will be carried on in
the capital.
Fierce Battle in Oder The German high command re-! | ported a “defensive battle of utmost ferocity” in .the Oder valley before Berlin, where the Russians were attacking with a “far superior array of men and material” It acknowledged Soviet penetrations south of Frankfurt, on either side of Seelow, 26 miles east of Berlin, and south of Wriezen. A Nazi communique claimed that | the Red army's offensive in the| Neisse valley southeast of Berlin| ‘had’ bogged down’ in the German | {defenses between Cottbus nd, Goerlitzz. A supplementary Nazi|
field, when a commander falls,” he I have assumed them,
| keeping with the American tra- | dition “I know the strain, the mud, the misery, the utter weariness of the soldier in the field. And I know, too, his courage, his stamina and his faith in his comrades, his coun= try and himself. “We are depending on every. one of you.” The five-minute broadcast- was |beamed from 32 short wave sta{tions in this country. It was rebroadcast hy army and navy stations. {Amplified transcriptions reached tho. forward elements which |coul®n’t get’ it. atrer ish 18,000,000 armed Americans o
said. “My duties and responsibilities |
captured 615 broadcast. reported violent tank | {heard the report to the services.
The Americans
prisoners in Magdeburg, including battles southeast of Cottbus, ‘and
a regimental commander and his|said the Russians were moving
Quotes Lincoln’s Words The President ended with a para-
staff. But they failed to catch the|heavy armor into into their two graph from Lincoln's sécond in-
“and homeland war industries.
Harry Hansen 2 Ration Dates. 15: 2| Mrs. Roosevelt 11 i: I Device... 20 Sports Mes vane 16 i He os. ie
fanatical young Maj. Gen. Regner|Neisse bridgeheads south of Forst augural address:
who organized the Hitler youth de- | fense. Beat Off Tanks
Fifteen miles south of Magdeburg, the 9th army's 83d infantry division (trained at Camp Atterbury) beat off a tank-led German counter-attack on .its bridgehead east of .the Elbe, after calling in American’ fighter-bomber support. A Nazi radio commentator said | today thgt both the east and west] fronts have “ceased to exist” as result of allied breakthroughs from | both directions. “What is left is a' number of bat- | | tle sectors now in the process of forming,” the commentator, Max Krull, said in a Berlin broadcast. “With the enemy preakthrough | 5 from the west and .another from | the east and wedges pointing fronr both directions toward Berlin, the organic structure of the German
{
(Continued on n Page 3==Columy 1) |
and at Rothenburg. Berlin earlier revealed that the! Red army also had linked up alll its Oder river bridgeheads to form
| a solid 45-mile front east of ‘Berlin
and had all but isolated Frankfurt, the capital's: main outer defense bastion. To the south, the Germans said, | other Russian forces stormed nine miles beyond the Neisse river, a!
area, 45 miles northeast of Dresden |
tion with the American 3d army. The Russians threw operational | reserves into battle beyond the || Neisse in ang attempt to force a quick decision, the D. N. B. agency | said. | Altogether, perfiaps 2,000,000 So- | viet troops were on the march to the west along a 180-mile front | from the Baltic port of Stettin to Goerlitz in the Sudeten foothills, | the Nazis said. :
On the War Fronts
April 18, 1945 EASTERN FRONT-—Soviet newspaper says Red army is fighting within sight of Berlin, WESTERN FRONT-Third army enters Czechoslovakia; 9th army clears Magdeburg to Elbe line; British tanks drive within 2¢C| miles of Hamburg.
AIR WAR-—Allied air forces re- . » ”
sume assault on Germany after destroying 1447 German planes in previous 48 hours. PACIFIC~B-29's blast Japajiese suicide-plane bases secon in 12 hours; Filipino Hl ye rescue 7000 civilians from Baguio on northern Luzon.
| ITALY—Eighth army drives with- |
in 10 miles of Bologna. | » n
B-29's in New Blow at Japs Blast ‘Suicide’ Plane Base,
By UNITED PRESS American Superfortresses blasted Japanese “suicide” plane bases on Kyushu again today, extending the crushing aerial offensive against the -enemy’s dwindling air power
The attack, the second within 12 hours, came on the third anniver-
TIMES INDEX
Amusements , 8|James Leary., 12 Business .... 9|Charles Lucey 12 Comics . 19 Movies Crossword ... 20 Obituaries ... Editorials .... 12 Pred Perkins. 11 Forum ....... 12 Ernie Pyle.... 11 Meta Given., 15 Radio . '.... 19
In mops ‘rvs
. Ls sary of Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle’s historic raid on Tokyo, which now is nearly one-tenth destroyed as the result of fire raids. More than 100 big bombers struck at the six main airfields from which Japanese “suicide” pilots have been attacking American warships off Okinawa. Roaring out from the Marianas early today they passed some of the Superfortresses returning from | yesterday afternoon’s raids. The 21st bomber command’ announced that the B-29 raid early
8 Monday had burned out an addi5| tional 52 square miles in Tokyo,
boosting the total destroyed to. 32.7 square miles—nearly a tenth of the 's 360
“With malice towdrd none; with charity for all; with firmhess in the right, as God gives us’ to see
ERNIE BY JAP MACHINE GUN BULLET
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up| the nation's wounds; to care for {him who shal] have borne the bat- | | tle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which . may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace anfong ourselves, and}
[tributary of the Oder, to the Niesky | with all. nations.”
Mr. Truman- demonstrated sound|
{and possibly 65 miles from a junc- | radio technique on the air last!
night. His text was a model of] short-sentence composition. That! is the punchiest—and Smpleste method of transmitting id Recall Coolidge caked The first day of Truman admin-| istration routine left reporters gasping. The new President was a| country boy. He goes to work around 8 a. m, “Do we stay on this 8 a. m. sched- | ule?” asked Merriman Smith, United
Press White House correspondent | | {Continued on “Page 5—Column 1) |
Hoosier Harpies
5 LOGAL MEN DIE IN SERVICE ABROAD
Official casualty lists today announce that one more Indianapolis marine has been killed on Iwo Jima, and a paratrooper and two infantryman. have lost their lives In Germany. Also a serviceman has died in Dutch New Guinea. In addition, a local officer is missing in Germany, and one man pre viously reported missing, is a German prisoner. Killed Lith” a Marine Pfc. Donald H. Meyer, 625 N. Oxford st., on Iwo Jima.
N. Delaware st., in Germany. Pvt. John H, Bryan, 236 N. Eastern ave, in Germany. Pfc. John K: Pope, 960 N. Gray st., in Germany.
DIED
T. 5th Gr.’ Paul L. Harvey, 509 Virginia ave., in Dutch New Guinea, © MISSING ' Second Lt. Morton A. Geliman, 3533 Balsam ave, in Germany. °
, PRISONER Pfc. William J. Hahn, 1005 Albany st: rot germany,
: (Details, Page Page Seven) Morris
Pvt. Ralph K. Hammerstrgm, 721|°
Society ..14, . Tom - Btokes
Borrow yf te
Ard le ual at Sy 8
Goforth said. Mrs. from the Pyle home,
death, : She ran across the fi and his aunt. Then they tu
“They’ re not Nellie Hendricks;
heard the news, according to Mrs. Goforth. “Mr. Pyle had a letter from Ernie about two weeks “That was the.last word they had from
ago,” she said.
Entered as Second Class Matter at Postoffice
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1945 | I
heard the first news of Ernie's
PRICE FIVE CENTS
ndianapolis, 9, Ind. +1ssued 281y except Sunday
Il Indiana Mourn Loss Of Their Favorite Son
He told them in that letter that he thought he would be home sooner than he'd expected.” The elder Pyle and “Aunt Mary” were “working around the house” when they heard the news, Mrs. Goforth said. Aunt Mary often said that Ernie was born with. the wanderlust. Today that wanderlust had been stilled and’ :
(Continued on Page 4—Column 4)
taking the news very well.” him.
who lives across the field
eld to tell the writer's father rned on their own radio and
PYLE KILLED INSTANTLY
# Ernie Pyle
| Ww ar’s Createst Correspondent Dies on
Isle Off Okinawa in Company of G. I’s He Admired.
By JOSEPH L. MYLER United Press Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON, April 18.—Ernie Pyle, a peaceful little guy who became this war's greatest correspondent, has been killed in front-line action. . Secretary of Navy James Forrestal announced that the 44-year-old columnist for The Indianapolis Times and other Scripps-Howard newspapers, was killed: instantly by asJape anese machinegun bullet en Ie, a little island off Okinawa, (Dispatches from Guam said Pyle was killed on the outskirts of the town of Ie at 10:15 a. m. today, Guam time —Tuesday night, U. S. time.) He was killed, Forrestal“said, in the company of “the foot soldiers, the men for whom he had the Breatest admiration.” It was because he always sought the company of the foot soldier that Pyle became known as the fox-hole Yeporter;
President Issues Statement President Truman received the news in an already bereaved White House while conferring with Forrestal, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and Secretary “of State Edward R. Stettinius Jr. The President immediately wrote out a statement in which he said the nation, sorrowing for its late President, was “saddened again by the death of Ernie Pyle.” Cabinet members, generals, admirals, members of con. gress joined in mourning Pyle—joinéd with privates, sailors, sergeants and millions of every-day Americans to whom Pyle had described better than any other man what war is really like. Deserves Gratitude President Truman said “no man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American | fighttg men wanted it told.” © “He deserves,” the President added, “the gratitude of
® » »
all his countrymen.” “The nation is quickly sad
ABOUT ERNIE— ; <n dened again by the death of [ That Girl Gets Ernie Pyle. No man in this - war has so well told the story of First News of {the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it
Pyle's Death tw.
“More than any, other man he ALBUQUERQUE, N. M., April 18| became the spokesman of the ordie - le. “t nary American in arms doing so tw. P.) =M1% Geraldine Pyle, hay many extraordinary things. It wag girl” frequently mentioned in Ernie
Pyle's stories from the war fronts, was unable to give any information | today on. her husbund’s death.
Pictures and othér stories about Ernie Pyle, Page 3; Ernie's col« umn cabled from the Pacific and
PONTIFF URGES
A "JUST PEACE
Asks Fair Settlement to Avert New War.
ROME, April 18 (U. P.).—Pope Pius XII, acting on the eve of th& San Francisco conference, today
issued a special encyclical epistle warning the makers of the peace that both victors and vanquished will face a new war unless a fair and just peace is established. The Pope addressed his message to the Episcopacy throughout the world, inviting all to increase their prayers in order that God may grant peace, He had a particular word for “the men who will have to decide the destiny of all .peoples.” They, said the Pope, “should carefully consider before God that
(Continued on Page 4—Column 6)
How About a Deck of Cards?
HAVE YOU found that extra deck of playing cards around the house yet? Today marks the third day of the Veterans of Foreign wars and The Indianapolis Times collection of good, clean and complete decks for the G. 1.’s at Billings and Wakeman general hospitals and the Veterans administration on Cold Springs road. Remember, the wounded. of both world wars need those extra decks. So dig them out and drop them in the basket provided at the public library nearest your home. The need is urgent.
AUTHOR WINS DIVORCE LAS VEGAS, Nev, April 18 (U. | IP.) —Rosamond Marshall, author, of the best-selling novel, “Kitty,” was divorced here yesterday from |Barl Marshall of New York, execu- | itive .of the Radio Corporation of | | America. Lo.
Polish Issue Major Block
WASHINGTON, April 18 (U. P.). —American and British diplomats were hepeful today that Russian Foreign Commissar’V, M. Molotov would come to the capital prepared to make 1lth-hour concessions in
Read William Henry ChamberAin “Whither Poland” « on page 11 today.
the Big Three's toughest ah "problem~—the Polish issue. Unless he does, officials felt, Britain, Russia and the United States
will enter next week's world se-| | curity conference without their’
much hoped-for. united front.
To Harmony of Big Three
pected late this week and his arrival : will begin the first of the quarterly meetings of Big Three foreign ministers planned at Yalta. There was no doubt that the Polish’ deadlock would-be the top topic on, the agenda. One, American official went so far as to predict that Molotov's visit might result in an agreement which would admit a Polish delegation to the united nations conference. However, thers was little evidence that Britain and the United States on the one Hind or Russia on'the|«
(Continued on Page 4—Column 4)
‘other had chatiged views regarding | -'
¥ Spier. stricken at word of Pyle's
ath, Mrs. Pyle said she had been| yeceived before news of his death,
oer idk of, the tragedy before it appears on Page 11; editorial, was announced in Washington. [ Page 12.
Mrs. Pyle answered the telephone | 4 in a calm, but very low voice. She his genius that the mass and power said she could not give any more of our milifary and naval forces
details than were carfied in the never obscured the men who made announcement. them.
ARMY SHIFT TO PACIFIC BEGUN
Speed in Germany Advances Plan 4 Months.
The Pulitzer prize award for dis- Served Country Well tinguished correspondence in 1943 “He wrote about a people in arms was given to Ernie Pyle last May ; people still, but a people moving Ernie was in London at the time j, a determination which did nos the honor was announced. His peed pretensions as a part of award, carrying a prize of $500, was power.
“Nobody knows how many indie
| WASHINGTON, April 18 (U. P.).| |
~The army already has begun the given for his clearness and terse|job of shifting men and equipment|ness of style, his fair, judicious, yiquals in our forces and at home
Authoritative quarters disclosed | | terpretative writing. all Americans understand now how |today that the original schedule | wisely, how warm-heartedly, how tor deploying U. S. military might| honestly he served his country and
his profession. He deserves the | trom Sg Japah lise been pondence last May. [gratitude of all his countrymen.* {advanced about four The award was made by Sigma
Forrestal subsequently issued a [to the rapid crumbling of Derma) Delta Chi, national professional |formal announcement at the navy |strengu. | journalism fraternity.
{department. He revealed that Pyle Key service forces personnel are| {was standing at the time beside [being sent to the Pacific to build] More than 100 Sons of Indiana the regimental commanding officer and care for bases that “will be of New York paid tribute last year|of headquarters troops, 77th divineeded when full army strength is/to thie “Outstanding Hoosier of sion of the army. | transferred to the East. 1944—Ernie Pyle” by awarding him,| The secretary's statement said: | * Mass. troop movements from Eu: in absentia, their “distinguished! “With deep regret.the navy ane - rope, . of course, must await V-E service scroll” nounces the death on Ie Shima of day. *| Ernie was sprinkled with home- | Erfile Pyle, whose reporting of this The annéuncement that strategic aerial warfare against Germany has been completed was expected to mean a sharp setup in reassignment of air forces. Most of the troops in Europe are expected to go directly to the Pa|cific, probably through the Suez canal. Some will: be returned to the United States for furloughs. Little possibility is seen of relax-
jo Europe to the Far East. | well-balanced and well-informed in- |, helped with his writings. But
Columnist Ernie Pyle won the Raymond Clapper memorial award for distinguished war corres-
| (Continued ” Page 3—Cotumn 8) (Continued ol Page 3«Columa 3)
Pyle's Death Comes as Shock To Members of Times Staff
> LOWELL NUSSBAUM Ernie Pyle is dead.
modest individual that ever stepped into this office. He hated to be ing army production requirements| A Jap bullet got him. {interviewed,- but he submitted gras immediately after. V=E' day. Not| The mews flash that Ernie's pre- clously. You could tell, though, | more than .16 per cent of the | monition of death had materialized.that he'd rather take a whipping, nation's industrial capacity can > hit us hdrd at The Times. One of his visits was in Septemeshifted to eivilian requirements-.a | We' didn't get to see him often, ber, 1943, whén-he first arrived im that time, it is estimated. but ‘we felt we knew him intimately, |this country after, 18 months on ‘Demand fot heavy trucks fuel, tard we loved’ him. ~ [the front line.
| 5 Ernie. used to’ stop off and visit He was wearing the none (Cantinued - Pace Jolumn » some of his intimate friends here G.'I. clothing Arp 0 a . 'LocCAL TEMPERATURES ~ in town whenever he was passing | gray, slouch hat with with a floppy fam... 42 Mam... 18 through—en route to or from Dana. a khaki shirt, a brand new pair “1am... 4 | Usually, he'd drop -in at The gray flansel trousers, ! + 43- 12 (Noon).. 48 Th aio Tose beg 393, ihe, t » om 50 “He was ‘the shy
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