The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

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J. till Iw; tvaalBf raodd 1171 CasMlidMed Ju. l3X Wilmington, Delaware, Friday, July 7, 1944 20 Pages Price Three Cents JVl Km liio Am ItfrtHtffiS kMSHIb ittSaibriBliB Gain ne i erican Capture Village Ringling Huge B29's Blast Sasebo and Yawata On Enemy Mainland Arnold Reveals Attack Made Frid Night in Third U. S. Aerial Blow At Nippon Proper; Second Foray By Big Planes Against Foe's Steel Center By Associated Press WASHINGTON, July 7.

Super Fortresses of the U. S. 20th Air Force bombed the Japanese naval base of Sasebo and the steel center of Yawata on the Island of Kyushu Friday night, in the second attack by the huge B-29s on the Japanese mainland. Gen. H.

H. Arnold, chief of the air forces, announced the assault in a communique at Washington. It was the third time 17 Are IGUed As Train Falls Into Gorge 15 Soldiers Are Victims Of 50-Ft. Dive Into River 250 Others Injured As Death Tqll of 40 Looms JELLICO, July 7 OF). At least 17 persons, all but two of them soldiers, were killed last night when a troop train plunged into a 50-foot gorge of the clear river 11 miles south of here.

The engineer and firemen died on the wreck. Dr. E. P. Muncy, resident physician of Knoxvilies General Hospital, said the death toll probably would exceed 40.

The locomotive and four cars were piled at the ravine's bottom, and a fifth hung over the precipitous edge, where it left the Louisville and Nashville Railroad tracks. Recruit Pinned in Wreck Or.e soldier, identified by Army Public Relations as Private Leonard Battag of Evanston, 111., was still pinned in the bottom of a wrecked car 12 hours after the crash, with four dead men piled on him. He regained consciousness and talked with rescuers as acetylene torches cut through twisted steel nearby. The youth, in the Army only 13 days, asked a doctor if he was in a plane. "It sure looks like it," he said.

'This is a lot better hole than that train." Work of extricating the victims from the locomotive and five cars which tumbled down the steep 50-foot bank to the shallow stream was slow and unofficial estimates placed the rasualti.es as high as 25 dead and 250 hurt. Carried Only Soldiers The train was a special carrying only soldiers and the train crew. An emergency train was made up from the 12 cars which did not leave the track and left this morning taking 50 of the injured to Lake City. en route to the government hospital at Oak Ridge, KP Wirephoto. One of the three big rings of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus smolders after fire burned to the ground the big top of the circus shortly after the afternoon performance had started in Hartford, Conn.

since Pearl Harbor that American planes have rained bombs on Japan proper. Sasebo, comparable to the U. S. naval establishments at Norfolk, or Bremerton, was hit for the first time since the start of the war. It lies to the west of Yawata, which was the target of the first B-29 Super Fortress attack on the Japanese home islands on June 15.

Arnold's Communique Arnold, who also is commanding general of the 20th Air Force which operates directly under the joint chiefs of staff, issued this communique "Headquarters 20th Air Force. Communique No. Three: B-23 Super Fortresses of the 20th Bomber Command attacked naval installations at Sasebo, Japan, tonight. 'Bombs were dropped also on in- Funds Cut, Field Staff Gets Leave State Unemployment Unit Curtailed by U. S.

Slash in Budget The entire field staff of the Unemployment Compensation Commission has been placed on annual leave as a result of a severe reduction in the amount of federal funds made available to that agency for administrative expenses for the fiscal year which began on July 1. Officials of the commission explained that the agency's submitted budget of $132,000, which represented the lowest annual expenditure estimate in the agency's history, had been reduced $16,000 as a result of overall reduction in funds for unemployment compensation administration by the Congress. A substantial part of this reduction will be taken care of by drastic cuts in other types of agency expenditures, but it was necessary that the greater part be absorbed in personnel. The clerical staff at the agency has already been cut so severely that any further reductions would impair the efficiency of the commission's operations very greatly. Accordingly, members of the field staff have been encouraged to find other jobs which they could fill on furlough from the commission's service.

If they do not find jobs, the commission officials indicated, there will be sufficient funds remaining to allow them to serve on half time for the fiscal year ending next June. Soviet Forces Gain Within 10 Miles of Wilno Germans Admit Advance To Center Only 97 Miles From East Prussia Line LONDON, July 7 OP). German reports said the Russians were advancing today within 10 miles of Wilno, where Moscow reported the Nazis had declared martial law. Smashing beyond the old Pplish bastion of Kowel, the Russians were approaching the Bug River at a point about 135 miles southeast of Warsaw along the main trunk line. Virtually all the pre-war Polish frontier was crossed save for a section before Luniniec in the Pripyat Marshes.

Wilno, city of 207,750 which has changed nationality six times since the last war, lies but 97 miles from the border of East Prussia and is a rail and highway center. A Moscow dispatch quoted Yustas Paletskis, chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Lithuania, as saying the German martial law edict barred persons from the streets between 8 p. m. and 5 a. m.

and forbade walking in groups greater than two. Paletskis said there had been uprisings in Kaunas, Mariampole, and Vilnius. Minsk Being Mopped Up While at least four Russian army groups pushed westward, other Soviet forces mopped up bewildered German stragglers east of Minsk, leagues behind the main front. Moscow said 5,000 were killed last night. The midnight communique (See RUSSIAN WAR Page 4) Death Toll is Circus Tent Fire Reaches 152; At Least 250 Hurt nee ay Chinese Break Japan's Siege Hengy ang Nipponese Force Driven Back 25 Miles Lifting Threat to Railway Line CHUNGKING, July 7 OP).

Chinese troops have made a smashing-comeback in Hunang Province, breaking the siege of Hengyang and driving back a distance of 25 miles the main body of Japanese troops which had by-passed that vital rail junction in their drive south along the Hankow-Canton railway, a Chinese army spokesman declared today The victory, scored with the aid of reinforcements moving up from the southwest, has "removed for some time to come" the Japanese threat to occupy the whole of that vital rail line and cut China in two, the spokesman said. Anniversary Marked Announcement of the sudden success came as China entered the eighth year of her war with the Japanese invaders, confident that with the help of the United Nations she eventually would drive the enemy from her soil. "Liberation is close at hand," declared Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, China's president. The Army spokesman said that only scattered Japanese remnants which are being surrounded and wiped out now remain south of Leiyang, railway town 34 miles south southeast of Hengyang. (See CHINA Page 4) Berlin Closes Bread Shops to Save Fuel MADRID, July 7 UP).

The Germans have ordered the number of retail bread shops in Berlin cut from 20,000 to 2,000, declaring the move necessary to save fuel in the bomb-ravaged capital. German newspapers reaching Spain said wholesale bakers will need fewer trucks. In Today's Paper WAR NEWS -5 13 6 18-19 16 12 17 6 17 17 12 15 8 12 Amusements Answers to Questions Classified Comics Culbertson on Contract Death Notices Editorials Financial Obituary Radio Sports Society Women's Interests 8nd at least 30 other injured service men were sent tcf Oak Ridge pital in ambulances. State Guard Company from U. S.

Artillery Opens Attack Across River Near St, Lo Yanks Slowly Fashioning Circle About La Haye In Series of Thrusts; Nazis In Grave Peril of Being Trapped in Caen Area By Associated Press SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, July 7. Gen. Omar N. Bradley'3 American Army, springing at dawn today in a new attack on the Nazi-defended bottlenecks through the marshy lowlands of Normandy, stabbed forward more than a mile across the Vire River and captured the village of Airel. This attack toward the west above St.

Lo surged forward under a concentrated hail from big guns which dazed enemy machine-gunners and sent German artillery observers scampering. Local American attacks around La Haye du Puits at the western end of the blazing 25-mile front almosC surrounded that pivotal point. The Americans were now attacking along a huge semi-circular front, with the newest offensive pressing in from the eastern side of the arc, and the German grip slowly melting under the pressure around La Haye th western end. Airel Falls Quickly Airel, eight miles northeast of the important road junction of St. Lo, was taken in the first hour of the new attack across the Vire.

The barrage which initiated it was one of the heaviest yet seen in Normandy and the American advance wa3 so rapid the Germans did not have time to blow up one of the bridges across the river. After taking the bridge the infan- (See INVASION Page 4) Colonel Car swell Ordered to South Named Executive Officer Of A-A Center At Camp Stewart Col. Robert M. Carsweil of Wilmington has been named executive officer of the Anti-aircraft Artillery Training Center at Camp Stewart. Ga.

He has been serving as chief of staff at the Anti-Aircraft training center at Camp Edwards, Mass. He succeeds Col. H. F. Grimm at Camp Stewart.

Colonel Carsweil started his military career as an officer in the Delaware National Guard, with which he served on the Mexican border before and during the World War. It was there he gained his appointment as a second lieutenant in the regular army. He was assigned to the Eighth Cavalry and attained his majority while with that unit. In 1920 he transferred to the Coast Artillery Corps. Colonel Carsweil served in the Philippines and Corregidor and in Panama.

Later he returned to the Philippines, returning from there in October, 1941. $8,700,000 TO GO Delaware la still that much behind in the Fifth War Loan Campaign. Do your share by buying Bonds today. Here is the state's score (o date: Total Goal Total Bonds Sold Bond Goal Bond Sales $54,000,000 $45,300,000 8,000.000 3.700,000 in Ruins i ft i 4iji )(, Gailllc SeCS a 11 Freed '44 Ui iazis in Homeland Must Self Great and Mak General Savs in WASHINGTON. July 7 Gen.t Charles de Gaulle declared today that the "year 1944 won't pa.ss with- I out the last German in France being killed, captured or chased from our soil Speaking in calm and confident French to the staff of the French delegation, De Gaulle declared that France mu.t make itself "great, strong and free." "France knows that France must be great or disappear," he stated.

He spoke of the cult of greatness and stressed his idea that France must unify herself and rebuild herself by her own efforts. He expressed confidence that she would be able to build a political regime that would be strong and profoundly democratic and to remake herself from the point of view of social progress. Emphasizes Unit De Gaulle emphasized the need for closer relations between metropolitan France and her colonies, declaring that the empire is "one of (See DE GAULLE Page 4) Lawmakers Join Crew of Tanker Cross Ocean, With Cargo Of Gasoline, to Get LONDON, July 7 OF). Republican Representatives Hugh D. Scott, of Philadelphia, and Gordon Canfield of Paterson, N.

reached London today after working their way across the Atlantic incognito as members of the crew of a tanker laden with high octane gasoline. They said they made the trip with the knowledge and authorization of the speaker of the House to provide information on the Merchant Marine to Congress and the War Shipping Administration. The pair sailed June 26 when Congress recessed, and plan to return before it reconvenes. Canfield is a member of the House Merchant Marine committee. Scott who is a member of the commerce committee, Raid he would discuss post-war civil aviation with British and American officials here.

On the trip over Scott worked as a midships utility man and Can- field as after utility man. I I Free, S. i 'Big Top' Smoulders 4 1 i 5 4 '4 11 4: Huge Tent Will. (aoline, 1 arafline Mix- ture Before Season, i i i i HARTFORD, July 7 OPv The death toll in the greatest fire in circus history topped the 150 mark today, with the majority of victims women and children, as the full, grim unfolding of the catastrophe which destroyed the majn tent of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum fe Bailey Circus turned this stunned city into a center of grieving. Dr.

Alfred I. Burgdof, city health officer, fixed the death toll at 152, while 250 other persons, burned or injured when the big top first burst into flames and then collapsed yesterday, were scattered in three hospitals. Identification of the dead was slow, and Mayor William Mortensen saying it likely many of the charred holiday makers would never be known, announced that the city probably would be called upon to bury them. Meanwhile, a variety of investigate CIRCUS FIRE Page 14) Collections Increased On State Gasoline Tax The number of gallons of gasoline on which the state tax was collected in May, 4,245,004, represented 12.5 per cent increase over sales for the same month in 1943, the Motor Fuel Tax Division of the Delaware State Highway Department announced this week. Tax-exempt sales to the United States Government increased 23 per cent from 381,181 gallons to 469,042, the report showed.

An increase of 16.5 per cent was shown in net gasoline tax collections after refunds for non-highway use, from 3.238.852 gallons in May, 1943, to 3,771,759 gallons in the same month this year. mately 5,000 persons still will be needed through the remainder of the season. Reduction of 50 Per Cent This figure is a reduction of more than 50 per cent in the number of workers originally estimated as required when the War Manpower Commission started its drive for cannery workers early in the season. It has been brought about by obtaining the use of prisoners of war in the canneries, by the recruitment of workers from southern states, and by the use of women, high school boys and girls, and workers who are spending their vacations hi can neries. "One of the greatest factors in the success of th War Manpower Commission's plans for the canneries this season has been the use (See WAR PRISONERS Page 4) State Merger Of Red Cross Units Started Plam for Reorganization Of 37 Branches Into 11 Areas IVear Completion Plans for the reorganization of the 37 branches of the Delaware Red Cross into 11 branch area are now being completed by the chairman, R.

R. M. Carpenter, for the sole purpose, it is explained, to make the chapter more efficient. The boundaries of the various branch areas were also announced today at Red Cross headquarters. Reorganization plans specify that the membership of the Red Cross living within the area's territory shall elect a board of directors to administer the work of the Red Cross in that territory under the supervision of the chapter headquarters, and that from that board the necessary area officers shall be chosen.

Exactly the same lines of organization will be followed in each of the 11 areas designated to be branch areas. Mr. Carpenter emphasized today that the board of directors of each branch area should accept full responsibility for the administration of the Work of the Red Cross within that area, subject to the supervision and approval of chapter headquarters. The board of any branch area is also at complete liberty to organize (See RED CROSS Page 17) dustrial objectives at Yawata, target of the Super-Fortresses' June 15 assault on Japan. "Both cities are on the island of Kyushu." No additional information was available immediately.

Sasebo is on the island of Kyushu, west of the steel center of Yawata, which was struck June 15 by the B-29 Super Fortresses in the first air attack on the Japanese islands since medium bombers --under James H. Doolittle were launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet to hit Tokyo and other Japanese cities on April 18, 1942. Near Nagasaki The target of today's attack, which occurred on the seventh anniversary of Japan's initiation of the war with China, lies just north of the great Japanese port of Nagasaki. In the June 15 raid the great weight of explosives was poured on the factories of Yawata at the northern end of Kyushu Island, and air force officers reported a high degree of successful hits on the industrial targets. Four of the B-29's failed to return to their base in China after the Yawata mission.

One was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over the target. ana operational acciaents prevented two others from getting back. The fourth is listed as missing. Police Safe Looted In N. Y.

Headquarters NEW YORK, July 7 WP). Crimson-faced detectives were hard at work today trying to crack a most embarrassing case someone looted a safe in police headquarters of $750 in cash and war bonds. The sleuths were without a clue but Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine expressed the opinion that the brazen crime was perpetrated "by a dishonest employe." John J. Monaghan Francis T.

Monaghan sent to France and stationed ashore not long after the beachhead was established. John continued to shuttle across the channel on the LST. On the twenty-fourth, Francis saw (See BROTHERS Page 4) 1 i I (See TRAIN WRECK Paje 4) D-Day Message Arrives Too Late Father Dies Before He Learns His Son Is Missing in Action A War Department telegram an nouncing that Private Walter J. Dobek, 21, has been missing in action in Franc since D-Day, was sent to his father, Peter Dobek. But it never reacnea fwm-i that destination for the father had died on Tuesday.

Mrs. Dobeck died when Walter was a baby. The telegram was received yesterday by a sister, Mrs. Ann Zoladkiewlcz, 112 North Harrison Street, with whom the soldier made his home. He attended St.

Hedwig's Parochial School, and was employed at the Bond" Manufac Dobeck turing Company before entering the service in December, 1942. A member of an Engineer Corps-unit, he had been overseas since September, 1943. His other- sisters are Mrs. Rose Wyszynski, Mrs. Helen Mioduszew-ski, and Mrs.

Sophie Powell. His fatheT'6 funeral is being held tomorrow from 103 South Adams Street. Can Opener Production Restrictions Relaxed WASHINGTON, July 7 June brides got a break today from the War Production Board as it relaxed restrictions on the manufacture of can openers. The new regulations permit manufacturers to use iron and steel at twice the previously permitted rate for household type can openers and at two and one-third times the previous rate for institutional types. Size and weight restrictions on both type are removed.

4. Anniversaries, Coincidence Mark Meetings of Brothers State to Use More German War Prisoners to Process Crops Special anniversaries continue to mark the meetings of two Wilmington brothers, one a Coast Guardsman, and the other in the Navy. The meetings are also pure coincidence. They have met twice eince entering the service, once at their home, and the other and most recent, on the beachheac? in Normandy. The brothers are Francis T.

and John J. Monaghan, sons of F. T. Monaghan of 426 South Broom Street, himself a veteran of the First World War. Francis, soundman, third class, U.

S. N. waved to his brother, John signalman, second class, U. S. Coast Guards, as the latter's LST left an English harbor on D-Day.

Eighteen days later, June 24, they were reunited on the hard-won beachhead in Normandy. The beachhead reunion was the first since May 2, 1943, when they were home together, and was mere happenstance. Francis had been More Nazi prisoners of war are expected to be used in Delaware during the next few weeks to help the state reach its goal of 200,000,000 pounds of processed foods for the summer. Through special arrangements with the War Manpower Commission, canneries which in many cases are producing their own crops, have now been permitted to use the prisoners in the 'field for emergencies. "Summer's hot spells, which are causing crops throughout Delaware to ripen faster than had been anticipated, have brought about an intensified drive to get workers for the canneries to help save vitally needed food crops.

Elmer H. Smith, War Manpower Commission area director, announced this morning that approxi Back the to Buy anas Today.