The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 1

Mi 8TACES OF BED RIVER For the twenty-lour hours ending this morning at 7 o'clock, Red river tell 1.1 ft and read on the government gauge 27.8 feet above zero. Shreveport 17.5, 0 3 fall. fill Mmnklal IP-0' TheAP ALEXANDRIA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1944 VOU-J PRICE 5 CENTS PER COPY SIXTEEN PAGES ENGLAND. 1 (g AT (iM PAftATROO CLASH Let the Soldiers Use the Pool (Editorial) The action of the City Fathers in announcing that they will make a trial period of excluding the use of the city swimming pool from the soldier population, is a great mistake. Yesterday was D-Day, and time to look into the above affair was limited, but today we are making the statement that this movement is a mistake and one that should be abandoned right away.

There are few enough places to help the soldiers to while away the time before being sent over into the maelstrom fighting for us. A letter from an Alexandria citizen, which is signed by her, but is accompanied with the request that her name be withheld from print is not being used today, but the letter is well-written and contains many statements that are sound and should be observed. We ask that the City Fathers meet right away and rescind their action. It cannot do any service to the children of the city, and can do a lot of harm to the soldier population and their families. The children have a section of the pool in which they can play and splash around.

Children, now during school vacation, can use the pool in the mornings if it is crowded in the afternoons The soldiers and their families should not be barred from the pool at any hour. Most of the soldiers come to town in the afternoon and evening and the pool should be open to them seven days a week. Any other attitude is unpatriotic. nLV" CHrfrnr -i if I Beaches Cleared of Enemy; 50-Mile Sky Train Pours Out Allied Reinforcements SUPREME ADVANCE COMMAND POST, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, June 7. (AP) Headquarters announced today that Allied troops had repulsed German counterattacks in the Caen area of France.

All beaches now have been cleared of the enemy, although some presumably still are under artillery fire. Some of the beaches have been linked up with those flanking them, headquarters added. Heavy fighting inland was reported. 50-Mile Beachhead SUPREME ADVANCE COMMAND POST, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, June 7. (P) A great battle between airborne troops flared over Cherbourg peninsula today as both the Allies and the Germans dropped fighting men from the skies over a wide area in the second day of the invasion of France.

Berlin admitted beachheads had been established over more than a 50-mile stretch of the peninsula. Waves of Allied parachutists and glider troops pour coast as indicated above. Heavy fighting was rttENCH INVASION COAST Allied landings have taken place along the north French in progress at Cary, France. FORCES III SUP ILLIED AIR RANGE AIR OVER I COMMAND 0 Lake Charles Gets More Newsprint WASHINGTON (IP) The lake Charles, American Press was among 21 newspapers which have been granted 2.097 additional tons of newsprint. The War Production Board's announcement said the American Press was granted an additional 28 tons.

Support Assault Forces' ed down from a 50-mile longf- reinforcing sky train, seizing key positions and helping Gen. Bradley Heads U. S. Ground Forces in Assault American, British Naval Vessels Dominate English Ghannel Routes (By The Associated Tress) LONDON, June 7. Successful beyond all expectation in the first round of its huge invasion task, a great combined fleet of American and British naval vessels dominated the invasion routes across the English channel today, protecting the masses of men and machines rushed to support yesterday's successful landings.

British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Allied naval commander-in-chief, declar-- today, burgeUut Again Today LONDON, June 7. Hair forces, taking su-m command of the air invaded France, lew-lover 13,000 sorties from yesterday until dawn Ay in support of assault Japs Reported to Have Reached Edge of Changsha On Outskirts of Major Goal Despite Bitter Priest Says U. S. Farmers Should Unite and Work farning in new attacks Fighting ed his forces were 100 pet-cent successful in the convoy job against an anticipated Joss of 10 per cent of the assault forces. "We have won the first round," Ramsay said confidently.

"I can see no sign that the enemy will be in a position to beat us in the second round." He added it was "remarkable" that the Allies had lost only a few combat ships and this did not af- (NOW TURN TO PAGE SIXTEEN) 1 Vtmd the beachhead, list night more than British bombers fsi a stream of explosives German reinforcements 3Hj toward the fighting front. As they returned U. S. raiders out over Dover strait to-nrdthe small portion of France SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, Allied Expeditionary Force, June 7. (P)---Lt.

Gen. Omar Bradley is commander of U. S. ground forces participating in the attack on Europe, it was disclosed today. Lt.

Gen. Bradley and his family resided in Alexandria for more than a year in 1941 and 1942. Bradley won fame in Tunisia by capturing the French naval base of Biserte in May 1943, with thousands of Germans while in command of the American second corps. Thrifty of his men's blood but a thorough master of tactics, he is known as "the doughboys general." Bradlcv was born in Clark. 51 years 'ago (Feb.

12, 1893), and was in Gen. Eisenhower' class at West Foint. 1915. Like Eisenhower's his rise was slow at first but rapid in recent years. He was a colonel recently "as February, 1941, but had climbed to a lieutenant generalcy by June, 1943.

'Slender, quiet, straight-forward, and gray, he is in such good physical condition that he has completed marches and obstacle courses in which many young men fell out from fatigue. NEW YORK, June A broadcast by anti-Nazi Atlantic underground station Germany, said today Nazi Forces had given up the town of Baytux, six miles inland on the Cherbourg peninsula and 16 miles northwest of Caen, after a night battle with the Allies. NEW YORK, June 7. () The British information service said today that the British Sixth Airborne division has captured and is holding bridges north of Caen, France. LONDON, June 7, (JP) DNB said in a Berlin broadcast today that an entire Allied air-borne division has been landed on the western coast of the Normandy peninsula.

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, NAPLES, June 7. (TP) The Fifth army continued its advance rapidly today toward Civitavecchia on the coast northwest of Rome. beat back Nazi tank-led counterthrusts, and the Nazis also dropped sky troops. Four-Months Training For four months the Germans have been building an airborne fehhas been re-captured, to broke through rain clouds a formations swung out, led Discussion of Cooperatives Held in Rural Life Parley If American farmers would unite and work out their problems in cooperation, it would be possible for them to build for themselves a more secure life, according to speakers at four sessions yesterday of the Rural Life School for Catholic priests and rural leaders. The school, which is being conducted at Camp Grant-Walker under the auspices of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, completed its second day yesterday, with speakers addressing the group in the tree-surrounded pavilion at the camp.

Rapid transit, combined with the consolidation of funds and commodities, had ruined the small town of Westphalia, Rev. Hubert Durcn, of Westphalia, said in a discussion on cooperatives. In credit unions and cooperatives Father Duren said he saw an op 12 Allied Troop Carriers and 12 Gliders Missing Unaccounted for in Overnight Reinforcing Operations Ttcveys of American Thunder-xl: fighters. Kjit crews found the sky "JKlit over the battle area, with of cloud Through clear 9 they saw a heavv traffic of crossing the channel in both actions, the smaller ones es- Il'Ry to NINE) LT. GEN.

OMAR X. BRADLEY Four Bodies Found After Air Crash Near Marksville Bodies of four men from Ellington Field, Houston, who were killed Monday in a mid-air collision of two planes 18 miles south of Marksville, were recovered this morning by a searching party from the Alexandria Army Air Field, it was announced at air field headquarters. A total of five men were killed in the accident. Victims were listed as: First Lieut. Chester T.

Pickering, 25, Iowa City, Iowa; Second Lt. Richard I. Harris, 23, Sacramento, Aviation Cadet Joseph R. Gassman, 20, Lancaster, Aviation Cadet Edmund B. Gadzinski.

Middleton, and First Lieut. Millard F. Rosenberg, 41, Oakland, Calif. Washington WITH THE I AIR FORCE, June 7. P) Twelve C-47 troop carriers and 12 gliders were reported missing today from ermans Chased Miles North CHUNGKING, June 7.

(JP) Japanese troops were reported today to have reached the outskirts of Changsha, their major goal in the renewed offensive in Hunan province. Previous dispatches told of bitter resistance by the Chinese against the Japanese drive on the province capital, a bar against enemy control of the Hankow-Canton railroad. Six Japanese columns had been reported slashing southward against the thrice-ravaged city. Earlier a Chinese communique said tliat in continued attacks along the Salween front in Yunan province, the Chinese forced the Japanese out of Chiaotou, and that Chinese troops reached Chiangtso and Watien in the drive toward Shweli river valley. Watien is an important Japanese base about seven miles below Chiaotou, where Japanese have now occupied fortified positions in the hills south and southwest of the town, the announcement said.

Supported by fighter bombers of the 14th U. S. Army Air Force, and the heaviest artillery yet employed on the Salween front, the Chinese have attacked the Japanese in the vicinity of Lameng, about 20 airline miles northeast of Langling and overlooking the Salween river crossing of the Burma road, the communique added. Other Chinese forces, intercepting Japanese trucks carrying reinforcements for the Lameng garrison, have cut the Burma road between Lameng and Lungling, the communique declared. Forty casualties were inflicted on the Japanese at Chaikungtang, north of Tengchung, where Chinese troops are continuing pressure on the enemy, whose position is considered desperate, the communique asserted.

MERRY-GO- to rebuild his little town overnight remtorcing operations portunity beyond the beachheads in Nor army for just this purpose, led by Kurt Student who en-. gineered the landings in Crete. RAF Mosquitos last night de-1 stroyed five Junkers-52 troop carriers. Three waves of U. S.

Ninth Air i ROUND 0REW ftAHSON Service with the Armyl (NOW Tl RN TO PAGE THIRTEEN) of Rome by Allies Fifth Army Infantrymen Near Lake of Bracchiano ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Partly Cloudy Tonight, Thursday Alexandria: Partly cloudy tonight and Thursday; lowest temperature tonight (iC. Louisiana. Mississippi, Alabama, extreme northwest Florida and Arkansas: Partly cloudy this afternoon, tonight and Thursday. LOCAL WKAT1IFR Recorded by the Army Air Force weather station. Army Air Field, for the twenty-four hours ending at 7:30 a.

m. today. Central Wa" Time. Maximum Temperature. 93.2 Minimum Temperature.

63. 2 Precipitation 0.11 Reds Preparing Great Offensive Against Germans Oil Leases Filed on 5,000 Acres and return the revenue to the residents of the town. "Do everything in a cooperative way," he continued. "Raise your birds and sell ynur commodities. Cooperation between the consumer and the producer in the small town is to the advantage of both." The credit union operates on a principle of cooperative lending and borrowing of money within a group of united persons, according to Charles Eickel, of New Orleans, who addressed the group on "Credit Unions." "Usually a share in the credit union costs $5," Mr.

Eickel explained. "Dividends and interest (NOW Tl UN TO PAGE THIRTEEN) Rages Over Getting Support fm- GOP Can-Some Leaders Say He Million votes, OWI Appro-on by Davis Despite t- Against mandy. This was the first specific report of losses from air-borne operations since the invasion began. In three waves the C-47 sky-trains and gliders flew equipment and reinforcements to the beachheads late last night and early this morning. Two of the waves were towplane-glider combinations.

Air borne engineers were among the troops dropped. The planes also releaser1 parapaks filled with rations, ammunition and other supplies. Returning fliers said the whole Cherbourg peninsula was a mass of white and colored parachutes this morning where the troops had descended. Each C-47 is capable of carrying 24 fully equipped soldier? together with pilot-co-pilot and navigator. CG-4A gliders can seat 15 men but seldom are loaded that heavily.

iiorth Rapides 7-u ueounk Located Claiming FCC Germanv. in M. sides are H. Marr, Dallas, Lists Land with Court Clerk Bulletins Things Coin? Well AT AN R. C.

A. F. STATION, Somewhere in England, June 7. VP) Canadian fighter pilots back from their first sorties of the second day over the invasion beaches of northern France reported that "things generally are going well" on the American-held stretches of Europe's shore. Planes Support Drive LONDON, June 7.

(Allied warplanes thundered across Dover Strait slortly after 8 a. m. today in the direction of the French coast to lend support to invasion forces battling their way inland against German defenses. Italian Points Bombed LONDON, Juiv) 7. (yPj A Berlin broadcast declared today that (NOW TURN TO PAGE TEN) is TROOrS TAKE IT EASY' 1 Naples, June 7.

iTi Fifth Army infantrymen, chasing Nazi Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's fleeing army, have punched their way 10 miles' north of Rome to a point i only five miles short of the Lake of Bracchiano, it was announced today. Another column has driven at least HI miles northwest of the Italian capital after crossing the Tiber and still is forging steadily ahead behind enemy rearguards. Patrols probing west from Rome I reached ponls three to five miles from the sea and nearly a dozen i miles north of the Tiber's mouth. Only spotty resistance was be- dun not easily of Wenrifll w.llkie. -j-ui-war to t0 So a ion get him with the SUPREME A I I) FORCE, June soldiers were HEADQUARTERS, EXPEDITIONARY 7.

(P) American leaning on their there an( that the will wi DewO'. GOP ineir nil-. t. rifles along the French roads taking it easy and waiting for chow as Lieut. James Crawley of Springfield, 111., flew his C-47 transport over the beachhead yesterday evening.

-I bloc nt w'ilKie has ARRIVES FROM MOSCOW CHICAGO, June 7. (A't Prof. Oscar Irf'nge, University of Chicago economist, arrived today from Moscow, Russia. NAZIS CLAIM ATTACK LONDON, June 7. (A') The German international information bureau broadcast today that German naval forces surprised and attacked three Allied destroyers in the mouth of the Seine river at 3:38 a.

setting one of them afire. There was no Allied confirmation. "'illfmi" followers I ing encountered bv the Fifth Ar- nun to the bitter mv forces but the Eighth army I1DK1 in PA nc Major General Lack of A ir Opposition to Second Front Puzzling Oil leases on approximately acres of land, the major portion of which is in township 5 north, range 3 east, were filed by M. H. Marr, Dallas, Texas, with Clerk of Court J.

T. Beaman yesterday. The total consideration in payment of oil rights was All of the land leased is near Catahoula lake in the northern portion of the parish. The price paid for the leases average $1 an acre. Those making lea.se.s and their approximate acreage were: Thomas C.

Barron, Cleveland Dear, et al, 175 acres in sections 1, 5 north, 2 east, and sectons 3 and 21.5 north, 3 east: E. B. Johnson. 40 acres in section 21; Mrs. Barbara Lee Schardel.

et al, undivided half-interest in 40 acres in 17; J. F. Chevalier, 40 acres in section 40; Carlos Sanson, 17 5 acres in section P. M. O'Neal, 120 acres in section 4.

Except where otherwise all (NOW Tl RN TO PAGE THIRTEEN) D-Day Finds Men, Women Ready to Join Services "emoted for Talking HEAI.X.,1 ARTERS, Red Star Predicts Blow by All Armies of United Nations BY EDDIE GILMORE MOSCOW, June 7. is prepared to throw the great weight of the Red Army into the growing offensive against Germany, Red Star, the Soviet. Army newspaper, said today. "A strong, mounting attack of all the armies of the United Nations will he fully developed." Red Star said. The great armic- which at Teheran gave solemn not to make a separate peace are beginning to move forward fr a meeting in Berlin, the newspaper added.

Muscovites got up ear'v this morning to read the invasion bulletins, despite one the wildest nights of during the war. try window the radio is Marina firth the latest and the Soviet press, in an unprecedented turned over whole pnge 1 1 'ho ILK.N 10 PAt.L MMttN) mona Force June Amc: ca best Jur gene was demo-el and sent C'enant coL Of Fi in advance had sacrificed only 53 aircraft in attempting to defend the beaches while American and British air forces hurled more than 13,000 planes across the ch; nnel in sup-; ort of ground operations. Some air officers are convinced there will be a baltie royal over France before many weeks The Germans are known to have 1,750 fighters and 500 bombers in the west with about three-quarters of the fighters based in the Reich to defend the homeland from strategic bombing attack. The Luftwaffe also is of having built up some sort of a LONDON. June 7.

oPi Destruction of German operational Liases by Allied bombardment was advanced today as a possible reason for the failure oi the Luftwaffe to show in force as tiie invasion of western Europe began and quickened in pace. With the lack of air opposition stii! a matter of surprise to Allied air ficers, it was thought possible that these bases upon which the Germans depended for close support of their troops had been kno( ked out. It also was believed that paratroopers probably had captured coirin "Can I enlist in the merchant marines?" the breathless brown-eyed boy asked the navy recruiting officer this morning. Told that there were no offices in Alexandria for such volunteers the youth from Pitkin, without hesitation said. "Well, give me the navy then.

Atter D-Day yesterday I surely want to get into this as soon as I can." According to Chief R. P. Mead head of the local navy recruiting office, this typifies tue sentiments s.J! i'i allowed to cruiling center yesterday for applications for navy enlistment. "We were certainly well satisfied with the respon.se the young people made to the urgency of D-Day," Chief Mead said. "We were busv all day with applicants in both the WAVES and the navy.

Out of town boys who were unable to get here yesterday are coming to the office this morning. ML-s Eleanor Strength, 2318 Orange street, employed in a local bank, is the latest volunteer to be (NOW II R.N TO tUt hll) London cocktail party, the announcement said. The conversation was said to have taken place almost two months ago when the invasion was expected almost daily. The general was reported to have said in the presence of several persons: "On my honor the invasion will take place before June 15." His action was reported to security police by a woman guest and Gen. Eisenhower immediately ordered him reduced to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel and sent home after an investigation.

His name was not given. after reasons. one of fee American Ending, he "id.sc.-t el I a a AMI StMENTS DON DrMruvrr. JOY K-225. Slnnrtirg Room Onlv.

HAUBER ANNEX Always a Bndcf- mH'rl PARK AMCSL.MLNT COMPANY-Rap-ides avenue at raiircad. reserve to repel invasion aithouzn o'lier v.cms. of six other 17-year-old boy and i three girLs who came to the re- I today the Nazis there is no sign of it yet. noon Up un.