The Bakersfield Californian from Bakersfield, California • Page 1

MANCHURIA! Reds Storm Warsaw From City Outskirts THE WEATHER Tcmpernttirp Hisli yesterday Low luday (J3 Kuinfall Season (Airport) on Your tiso (Airport) I'D Son sou (Land Company) Yt'iir HBO (Lund Company) 00 (Rainfall fieuros are for the fiscal year beginning 1). Continued clear with no material change. Buy a May Save a Life Vol. 56 TWO SECTIONS BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1944 12 PAGES No. 312 U.

S. A rmor Thrust Traps Thousands German Attack Is Smashed American Forces Rush Past Coutances for 8-Mile Gain SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, AMERICAN EXPEDI- pTIONARY FORCE, July 29. American armor defeated the Germans in a big tank battle in western Nor- jnandy today and resumed powerful drive which had captured Coulances and carried to the sea, trapping thousands of Nazi troops in a to Ihe north. The lirst major German counter- fiction against the First Army offen- isive fanning out through Normandy VMS crushed decisively in an hours- long battle of United States Shermans owl German Tigers and Panthers some 11 miles' south of St. Lo near the east bank of the Vire river jn the vicinity of Tessy-Sur-Virc.

Normandy information at supreme headquarters late today was outdated by front reports of the big tank battle, and American advances beyond the points mentioned by spokesman here. The spokesman said the Americans captured St. Malo dc la Lande, miles northwest of Coutances, and NEW TYPE BOMBING LONDON, July 29. high air force authority announced today that the American breakthrough in Normandy was preceded by a new type of saturation bombing which covered an area of" 10 square miles with bombs dropped from 2423 planes. The total of 4302 tons of explosives left enemy soldiers demoralized, he said.

All types of bombs, with the exception of incendiaries, were rained down on the Germans, knocking out tanks, installations and vehicles. reached the coast in that area. They reached the area of Lengronne, miles west of St. Denis le Cast, and southeast of St. Lo advanced a mile Jn the area of St.

Jean den Baisants Other American forces sped down the highway below Coutances, rolling up a gain of nearly 8 miles In the first few hours and approaching the Brehal road junction. Panzers Flee United Press Correspondent Hcnrj T. Gorrell reported from the front that U. S. armor, in its first big tank engagement since the Sicilian campaign, broke up a concentratior of Nazi panzers and put the rem Hants to flight.

After German planes plastered the entire area of the tank battle, a German armored column struck in the darkness at 3 a. m. in an attempt to break up a parade of Shermans southward into the heart of Normandy. Continued on Page Two eris Couronce Notre Montmortin Warsaw Is Under Telepholo THOUSANDS NAZIS tank units defeated Germans In a fierce western Normandy tank battle after capturing Coutances, trapping thousands of Nazis in a pocket to the north. First Nazi counterblow was crushed in a battle near the east bank of the Vire river near Tessy-sui-Vire.

Death Strikes in Robot Form Near Correspondents REPORTERS GIVE VIVID DESCRIPTION OF RESCUE WORK IN RUBBLE FOLLOWING HIT By COLLIE SMALL and J. EDWARD ML'RRAV I'niled PreHs War Correspondents LONDON, July 29. (IP) Nazis adopted a new "mass attack" technique in hurling flying bombs at London and southern England during the night, sending the robots ovei in batches with brief lulls between each onslaught. The attacks took a fresh toll of casualties, including patients in a hospital which was badly damaged. Among the victims were nurses, some of whom despite their injuries, helped volunteer rescue squads carry patients from the hospital under showrs of sparks and red hot embers.

SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND, July we first heard the dread hum of the robot bomb we were waiting for a bus with a half dozen Britishers and an American sergeant. Seconds later the hum crescendoed into a roar that enveloped everything about us. The Britishers already were flat on their stomachs in a nearby doorway. The American sergeant hit the top of the pile, and we landed on top of him. That pile of scared human beings emitted the whole range of human terror sounds during the awful seconds we could hear the death whistle of the diving bomb.

Rain of Glass It crashed. The pile bounced with the great earthquake jar of the whole street. The explosion roared up between the buildings and pieces of glass fell outside the doorway as flakes of paint and clouds of dust fell down on us. It was over for us. We were alive.

As the pile untangled, a teen-age girl kept whimpering, "Now everything will be all right." With panes of glass still falling in the street, we started up the street toward a black mountain of smoke that rolled skyward less than a block away, but we were slopped by a cloud of dust that prevented breaching. Defense workers wearing goggles and holding handkerchiefs to their faces passed us and fire engines stormed up the street. People came out of that dust scared people with mouths opened and eyes staring out of dust- coated faces. A policeman asked a man behind us where the bomb hit. The hurrying: man stopped, then shouted: "Aw, shut up." AVe came finally through the fog of dust upon a crazy pile of smoking rafters, rubble and mortar.

It on Page Two Index to Advertisers Page 5 11 Abrams, Dr. R. F. Amateur Boxing Baptist Church Beardsley Dance Booth's Brock's Citizens Laundry Culllton, John 'Dorman Photo East Side Cleaners El Patio Pavilion Flickinger-Dlgier Fox Theaters Full Gospel Ivers Furniture KERN La Granada Ballroom Lim, 8 Lutheran Church Mother Scott Phillips Music Co 2 Rialto Theater 6 River Theater 6 South Chester Beauty 6 Southside Assembly of God The Barn Avenue Dance Union Cemetery Theater Allies Clamp Assault Arc on Florence, Map New Strike Siege Tolephntu St'PER FORTS KAII) B-29 Superfortresses today bombed Anshan In eastern Manchuria in first daylight assault of these long-ranging superbombors. The B-29, which carries a tremendous bomb cargo, is pictured with twin bomb bays both open.

Bombs drop alternately from bays so that plane's center of gravity remains unchanged. ROME, July 29. The British Eighth Army drove the Germans back through the Tucson hills to within 5 miles of Florence today and steadily tightened an assault arc on the historical cultural center, while the American siege of Pisa bogged down to a temporary stalemate. The entire German line on the Florence front sagged under the weight of a converging British drive which overran half a dozen of the central Italian city's outposts. All the ground south of the Arno and PeaH rivers was being cleared, and the Allies -were In position for a frontal attack on the main German positions In the Gothic line.

Furious Battle Rages Polish troops, pushing up the Adriatic coast, captured the southern part of the fishing port of Senigallla at the mouth of the Mlsa river, 17 miles northwest of Ancona. The hardest fighting In Italy was on the approaches to Florence, where the Allies were pressing the Germans northward from their last hill line before the city. A furious battle was going on 5 miles southwest of Florence, where nigh ground overlooking the city already was in Allied hands. New Zealand units of the Eighth Army struck forward more than 2 miles from their bridgehead across the Posa river and broke through one of the main parts of the German defense line to seize a footing in the hills looking down on Florence, which the Germans had declared an open city and presumably would abandon when its outlying defenses overrun. Drive on Arno The Eighth Army drove within ZVj miles of Montelupo, on the Arno river 11 miles west and slightly south of Florence, and within 2 miles of Empoll, 5 miles farther west, with little resistance at some points.

They took Bottlnacclo, 3 miles south of Montelupo, and Scognano, a mile to the southeast. When the New Zealanders wedged into the German line beyong Cer- bala, hub of secondary roads 8 miles southwest of Florence, the Germans counterattacked violently with the support of tiger tanks, the forward elements of the Eighth Army had to pull back about 800 yards at one point, but elsewhere they stood fast and consolidated their gains. Southeast of Florence, troops of the Eighth Army advanced more than a mile after crossing the Grevo river 2 miles below Impruneta White Russian Army Storms Polish Capital on 20-Mile Front July Moscow reported in a communique luday that the area south yf Den- blin, 50 miles southeast of Warsaw, had been completely cleared of the enemy. By HENRY SHAPIRO MOSCOW, July 29. OJ.E)— Soviet tanks and cavalry reached the southeastern outskirts of Warsaw and were storming the defenses of the Polish capital today after a 25-mile dash up the east bank of the Vistula river.

(A Daily Express dispatch from Stockholm quoted a'Ger- man spokesman that the German army "will make no stand east of Warsaw." I Front reports said German resistance southeast of Warsaw had evaporated as never before on the eastern front as Marshal Konsran- tin Rokossovsky hurled his powerful First White Russian Army against the capital on a 20-mile arc curving from the east bank of the Vistula to the northeast. While one column speared through to the southeastern outskirts, an other drove to within a few miles of the Minsk Maz railway station. If miles east of Warsaw on the from Sledlce. Rokossovsky appeared to be con centrating the entire strength ot his assault on Warsaw along the east bank of the Vistula and reports published abroad that his forces hat crossed the river in amphibious trucks have proved without foundation. Praga Objective His immediate objective presumably was the east bank suburb of Praga, controlling alf railways running Into Warsaw from the east.

Two bridges span the Vistula from Praga to Warsaw proper on the west bank. The full of the by-passed stronghold of Brest Litovsk, 115 miles east of Warsaw, to elements of Rokos- sovsky's army yesterday released huge additional forces for the assault on the capital and its early capture was anticipated. Thirty-four generals were commended by Premier Marshal Josef Stalin in an order of the day for their part in the seizure of Brest Litovsk. Fight ing in The First Army was expected to capture Sledlce, half way between Continued on I'nge Two KLIER KILLED SALINAS, July 2ft. (U.B Second Lieutenant Beyrl At.

Johnston. 24, Los Angeles, stationed at Salinas Army Ah 1 Base, was killed last night when his twin-engined training plane crashed near Monterey Naval Air Station, it was announced today. CHARGE DESTROYS TOMU NELSON. B. July (U.B— A heavy charge of dynamite at Brilliant, H.

today destroyed the mountainside tomb of ihe former leader of British Columbia's Pacifist Doukhobor cult. Peter Verigln and his son. Peter Ver- igin II. BAN INFORMATION WASHINGTON, July 29. an outgrowth of the Argentine affair, agriculture department em- ployes have been instructed to provide no information or comment to the press, the trade or to "other non-governmental officials" on negotiations of this country with foreign governments, except when specifically authorized.

This instruction was given in a departmental memorandum signed by Secretary Wickard and War Food Administrator Marvin Jones. STRATEGY OF DOOMED NAZIS MAY LENGTHEN WAROBSERVERS SAY LACK OF RESERVE FRONT-LINE TROOPS HITS GERMANS; WITHDRAWAL SAID BEST POLICY By JOHN M. HUiHTOWER WASHINGTON, July 'Jit. reaction to flic smashing American breakthrough in Normandy is awaited in military quarters here with most intense interest: because of the duos it may supply on the length of enemy resistance in Europe. Basically, the question is whether the Gorman nrmta's under Hitler's new terror triumvirate, Himmlcr, Goebbels and Goering, will be committed to a logical strategy of lighting retreat or a fanatical plan of fighting to the last man for the sake of holding ground.

Authoritative opinion here is that whatever the Germans try ttj do they are doomed by the Allies' superiority in every phase ot the European campaign on all fronts, but their strategy will directly affect the length of time it takes Allied arms to triumph. Short on Reserves The key to thisjielief is that the Germans are considered no longer to have abundance of first-lino reserve troops. Thus when they try to strengthen one vulnerable point Japs Report Thai Cabinet Resigns BUS, TRUCK TIRE RATIONJIANCELED COUPONS INVALIDATED, RE-EXAMINATIONS DUE WASHINGTON, July Office of Price Administration has decided to cancel nearly all outstanding ration certificates Cor heavy bus and truck tires, effective at midnight, tonight, so that needs of operators may be re-examined In the light of sharply reduced allocations and new priority rationings. The agency is making the drastic move, it was learned today, because certificates for about 100,000 heavy they weaken another, inviting Allied attack. Their only safe strategy Is to retreat in order to prevent the final destruction of their armies on the field of battle.

On the Normandy front the Ger tling up Allied forces in the narrow beachhead. They committed to that task us many divisions as they could without vitally fenses of the narrow part of the English channel around Calais. In Open Country Now American troops have smashed through the enemy's western flank Into open and undefended country. They can be counterattacked only with fast-moving armored divisions. But the only quirk available armored divisions are beyond Caen and if the Germans weaken that see- tor the British will break through.

If they hold it and let the Americans go, their Caen area forces will be outflanked and hit from the rear. Theoretically, at least, (he Germans could, throw pontoons across the Seine and rush up some of their Conltiuiod on Pawn Twn duty tires are in circulation, while ns lllu pinned their hopes on bot- only 60.000 casings will be available In August. It was understood the cancellation order will apply to all but the relatively few certificates issued in the last few days. All other operators will be re- ciuired to file new applications with local ration boards. There is no assurance that all of the tires allocated for August will go to present certificate holders.

Other applicants will take precedence if they are engaged in work rated more essential. Materials and facilities are available for boosting production of large sized tires, but a shortage of skilled labor has bottlenecked the program. Mines Explode 300 Yards of King George AMERICAN SOLDIER, ACCIDENTALLY SETTING OFF BLAST, KILLED FIFTH ARMY 11 KAUQf A K- T1CRS IX ITALY, July I'S. (Ui- laycd) German mines were exploded less than ijon yards from where King George VI of England, Archbishop Francis .1. Snellrnun of New York.

LieiHcnanl- Genoral 'Mark W. Claik and other British and American military leaders were lunching today. The King had just finished inspecting an impressive display of Fifth Army strength. The American soldier who inadvertently set off the mines was killed ii.stantly. The concussion was felt at the luncheon table, but no one there was injured.

SAN FRANCISCO, July TO. (UP.) The Thailand cabinet headed by Premier Luang PiUil Songgram has resigned, Tokyo radio announced today from Bangkok. The broadcast was recorded by United Press. Songfn'am's cabinet was a puppet of the Japanese government. The country has been under the Japanese thumb since it capitulated to the invaders December 8 without a shot being fired in Bangkok.

Tokyo did not amplify the announcement of iho cabinet's fall. It quoted a dispatch from Bangkok, attributing the information to the Thai publicity bureau. This was the second manifestation of trouble in Thailand within the past 13 months. In April, Thailand was placed under martial law under order of Song- gram. "L'nrest in the country may mean defeat in war," Songgram's order said.

"Anyone who violated the military regulations and orders may be executed." The Japanese took over Thailand shortly after outbreak of the Pacific war. The Japanese ambassador presented HI. ultimatum to the Thai government, demanding right of foi- Japanese troops to attack British territory. After a long session, the cabinet ordered its forces riot to resist the Japanese. Premier Songgram also held the foreign ministry, succeeding Wichit Wichlt-Wathakan, who was appointed ambassador to Japan October The government theoretically is headed by its 18-year- old prlnc'-, Anunda Mahidol.

Fall of the Songgram cabinet follows by II days the announcement of iho resignation of General Ilideki Tojo's Japanese war cabinet. IMKS Falling from a moving freight train Tuesday. Vermin T. l.ugue, hrakcmun on the Southern Pacific, suffered injuries from which he died July L'7. Funeral services will bo held at the Cunningham O'Connor Uos Angeles.

B-29s in Anshan Day Raid Planes Strike Palau; Marine Invaders of Guam, Tinian Advance WASHINGTON. July 29. (U.PJ— The Superfortress raid on Japanese industrial targets nt Anshan, Manchuria, and Tangku, China, achieved good results and- our losses were "extremely light," the war department announced today. By VERX HAUGLAND Assoc-ated Press War Editor Striking boldly at the industrial heart of the enemy, Superfortresses raided Japan's great arsenals in Manchuria for the first time today. Four hours after the war department announced raids upon the Mukden area of Manchuria, the Tokyo radio acknowledged attacks upon the important industrial cities of Anshan and ill MnncLvuriu.

The war department withheld details. The jumbled Tokyo broadcast indicated that the Japanese may have claimed the destruction of one of the bombers, and added, "no material damage was suffered by industrial installations, but residential quarters sustained some slight damage." Anshan is an iron and steel center of 200,000 population. Penhsihu produces coal and cement. The B-29S hit in daylight todny, in contrast to their two previous 15 and July 1 against Japan, at night. Attack on Palau Tokyo radio had other bad news to attack by 500 carrier- based planes upon Palau Friday, and a simultaneous strike by 20 carrier planes "south of Palau." There was no Allied confirmation of these raids.

American carrier planes attacked Palau. 530 miles east of the Philippines, Tuesday and Wednesday, destroying 26 Japanese planes and sinking a destroyer and seven smaller vessels. In the Marianas, Americans on Guam killed 2000 Japanese in beat- Continued on Puge Two GEN. ROMMEL REPORTE1DEAD WOMAN SAYS WOUNDS FATAL TO NAZI LEADER Charges on 72 U. S.

Officials Probed by Dies Committee Police Arrest One in Hammer Murder Case LOS ANGELES, July 29. Three youths armed with a hammer and tire irons beat to death Henry Flores, 32, early today, Deputy Lieutenants N. B. Cooper and Gilbert Encinas reported. They nrreated Robert 23, on suspicion Qt murder and are necking two alleged companions.

WASHINGTON, July I'll. (URI Charges on'collusion between high- runkfng government officials and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in piomoting the candidacies of New Deal office seekers were under scrutiny today by the-House special committee on un-American activities. Committee Chairman Martin Dies (D-Texas) late yesterday made public a preliminary report charging led- oral employes will) being "in frequent communication" with i'. I. O.

political action committee officials during recent campaigns. The report included a statement the committee's chief investigator. Robert E. Stripling, who said: I'. A.

('. "From evidence gathered I am of the opinion that the C. 1. O. political action committee is in reality not so much of a labor political committee as it is the political arm of the New Deal administration.

"While it is true the top officials of the P. A. C. are identified with labor, yet the people who are actually running the organization seern to have no background with labor, but are fresh out of the government." Among those listed in this category arc 0. B.

Baldwin, former farm security administrator, now assistant P. A. C. chairman; and C. Mcl'cak, former employe of the War Production Hoard; Raymond S.

Me- KeoLigh, former Illinois congressman: Charlotte Can-, former War Manpower Commission employe, and George S. former assistant FSA now with the political action committee. Roosevelt Implicated The report implicated Airs. Eleanor Roosevelt through alleged telephone calls to her from Baldwin and P. A.

C. Chairman Sidney Hillman. and through alleged communications and White House visits by Verda head of the C. 1. O.

women's division, who was charged with "Influencing" the recent defeat Senator D. Worth Clark (D-ldaho). The report also stated that the 1'. A. C.

might have engineered the defeat of. Representative Joe Stornes Dies committee vlee-chair- ma n. Among high-ranking government officials accused In the report are Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, David K. Niles and Jonathan Daniels, administrative assistant to President Roosevelt; Lowell Melletl, a former administrative assistant; Chairman Maury Maverick of the Smaller War Plants Coi position; Samuel Rosenman, special counsel to the President: Price "Administrator Chester Bowles and Director IClmer Davis Office of War information. CANISY.

France, July 29. senior American officer said today prisoners had reported Field Marshal Erwln Rommel was severely wounded in a strafing attack near Lisieux, east of Caen, and a French woman who has en behind the enemy lines said the marshal died later in a Bernay hospital. A German captain told his captors Rommel's car was thrown Into a ditch he was unconscious for six hours. This account said the Incident took place about two weeks ago and Rommel still was in a critical condition. The woman, who is H.

member of an organization, equivalent to the Red Cross for dealing With war prisoners, located ihe attack near Falaise. also on the British front. She said the Germans stationed here had spoken of Rommel's death as an accepted fact, but the report lacked confirmation from any authoritative Allied source. The woman, about 40 years of age, carried credentials of the Vichy war ministry for dealing with prisoners and had been inspecting the plight of French -Senegalese forced to work in munitions plant at Dancy. BASEBALL NATIONAL LEAGUE (First.

Game) At R. H. E. ST. LOUIS 14 14 0 BROOKLYN 2 10 1 Batteries: Lanler and O'Dea; Webber.

Fuchs (2), Branca (7), King (91 and Owen. At R. H. E. PITTSBURGH 5 1 BOSTON 050 Batteries: Sewell and Davis; Tobin.

Klopp (9) and Masi. (First Game) At New H. CINCINNATI 4 7 0 NEW YORK 5 7 0 Batteries: Heuser Mueller; AUen, Adams (S) a.nd.