The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 1

Temperature Yesterday 61; 38 Same Date Last Year 61; 43 Tuesday, October 19. of last year Max. 49; Min. 37. McGIIX OBSERVATORY READINGS WEATHER FORECAST Fair and moderately warm.

For complete weather reports see pace fourteen. VOL. CLXXIII. No. 250 MONTREAL, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER IS, 1944.

I'WKNTY I WO PACKS PRICE FIVE CENTS Atlantic U-boats More Active; Sinkings Reported from Halifax BRITISH FIGHT WAY INTO CENTRE OF VENRAY; GREA RUSSIAN DRIVE ON EAST PRUSSIA OPENS; JAP FLEET RUNS AWAY ON SIGHTING U.S. NAVY MOSHER DENIES C.C.L. TO ROJTRIKES Leader Says Labor Congress Will Not Give Free Hand to Employers in War or Peace Germans Palling Back on Scheldt BATTLE IN STREETS Germans Reported Evacuating As Canadians Tighten up Pocket BERLIN ALARMED Advance Preceded by Heavy Bombings as Far as Insterburg ATTACK 25-MILE FRONT Creary, assistant chief of the naval staff, said here today that "U-boats are increasingly active in the Atlantic" in comment on Halifax reports of ship losses due to undersea craft. Capt. Creary, speaking in the absence of Vice-Admiral George Jones, chief of the naval staff, and Navy Minister Macdonald, said he did not wish to elaborate but another officer said "a few" German subs are back on the Atlantic shipping lanes after a period during which not many were brought into contact.

In Saint John, N.B.. yesterday Rear-Admiral L. W. Murray, commander-in-chief of the Canadian Northwest Atlantic, said he thought recent accounts of a four-day running battle between a westward-bound convoy and a U-boat pack in the North Atlantic were somewhat exaggerated. "In this case I thing the merchant seamen were taking the reporters for a ride," he said.

Naval authorities here would not comment further but from reliable sources it was learned that Germany is not believed to have 200 subs left of her once-huge fleet It was also learned that no word has reached Ottawa of the sinking of freighters off Sable Island or Yarmouth. N.S. Goderich, October 17. Navy Minister Macdonald, here on a speaking tour of Ontario, said today "there has bren some increase in the activity of U-boats in tne Western Atlantic." lie would not comment further on reports that German undersea raiders have appeared in force off the Canadian coast. 'Out in Force Says Paper Halifax, October 17.

CR German submarines are "out in force again" in the North Atlantic, a news story published by the Halifax Mail said today. The story quoted an Allied captain who crossed the Atlantic witn a recent convoy as estimating that the U-boat fleet numbers "at least The captain said that his convoy was attacked by several of the raiders and a Canadian vessel was hit but was able to limp to port with a number of casualties. The Halifax Herald today carried a newspage story that two freighters were sunk recently within a few days off Sable Island and Yarmouth. N.S. The story said that many of the crew in the Sable Island sinking were lost.

Sinkings Not Reported Ottawa. October 17. W. BIG HURRICANE FLORIDA-BOUND Storm Warnings Oat; Cuba and Oilier Islands in Path ol Blow Miami, October 17. A tropical hurricane isolated the Isle of Pines tonight, sent advance gales over western Cuba and threatened the Florida keys with their worst blow since the disaster of 1935.

The winds knocked out the government radio in Nueva Gerona, principal city of the tourist islet south of Cuba, and there was no word from the population numbering nearly 10.000 persons. Centred, at 10:30 p.m., a short distance north cf the island, the hurricane was bearing down on the vicinity of Havana. Cuba's capital, which was told to expect the full force of the winds about 6 ajn. Wednesday. The United States Weather Bureau said winds of 75 miles an hour or higher would be blowing by early Wednesday morning over the Florida keys, where some 500 Great War veterans lost their lives in a storm on Labor Day, 1935.

The keys are a scant 90 miles across the Florida Straits from the northern coast of Cuba. Boarded up and battened down, the city of Key West was braced for the blow. The city, a military centre, is on a small, flat island barely above sea level. Extending a hurricane alert northward over the Florida peninsula to a line connecting Daytona Beach and Cedar Key, the weatner bureau warned Floridians to expect gale winds tomorrow morning as far north as Vero Beach on the east coast, and Fort Myers, on the west. The bureau included the Okeechobee reeion.

where the toll was about 2.000 deaths in 1928 when hurricane winds blew the water out of shallow Lake Okeechobe and flooded the flat surrounding swampland. Since then, a protective dyke has been erected. Cayman Crops Destroyed Kingston, Jamaica, October 17. 'CP. C3ble) All crops on the Cayman Islands, in the Caribbean Sea.

have been destroyed by a hurricane that raged for three days, according to word reaching here. There was no loss of life. The islands Grand Cayman and Little Cayman are located about 200 miles northeast of Jamaica in the Caribbean. Storm warnings from Miami. in the last few days have indicated a wind storm was raging in the vicinity of the isles.

With the 1st Canadian Army, Oc tober 17. (CP. Cable.) Ontario infantry fought tonight to within VA miles of Schoondijke, one of the newly-organized German pivot positions in their shortened lines within the pocket soutn ol tne Scheldt estuary. bchoondijke is three miles soutn of Breskens and five miles west and slightly south-of Hoofdplaat, one of the first towns occupied in the back-door beachhead landing last w-eek. Behind a screen of rearguards the Germans are pulling back in the pocket to a new defence line, as the Canadian attack gathers momentum and hammers the enemy from dawn to dusk.

The Canadians slogged forward all dav throueh the Dourinir rain and rnud, pressing the Nazis against this new position on the road leading from Schoondijke west to Oostburg and Sluis. There is no good line like a canal here lor the Germans, but the country is criss-crossed with dykes and it will take dogged fighting to over run the area. Meanwhile the Canadians have a HUNGARY ARMY NOW DESERTING Two Commanders Dismissed by Nazis, More Join Russians London, October 17. T) High Hungarian army chiefs have gone over to the Russian side and two army commanders have had to be dismissed, the German official DNB agency announced tonight as the Nazis strove amid deepening confusion to hold Hungary in the war at all costs. The Berlin and Budapest radios poured out clouds of official ex planations, appeals, boasts and ac cusations tending to obscure tne situation, but it appeared a Hungarian army revolt was under way.

DNB announced that the commanders of the 1st and 2nd Hungarian Armies had been ousted and that Bela Miklos Von Dalnok," commander of the First Army, had deserted to the Red Army along with his staff. Specific mention of his name was believed in London to be at least implied confirmation of neutral reports that the 1st Hungarian Army was marching on Budapest with the intention of ousting pro-Nazi Premier Ferenc Szalasi and the German military who hold the capital In the welter of proclamations, a broadcast order of the day from Budapest called on all deserters to return to their posts by noon, Oc tober 20 lurtner supporting reports of anti-Nazi decisions within the Hungarian army since regent Nicholas Horthy asked for an armistice on Sunday and was subsequently "retired" and disavowed by the Szalasi "Arrow Cross" Hungarian Nazi party. The Hungarian paper Uj Magyar-sag said Horthy's armistice appeal was broadcast Sunday only after Andreas Hladki. Horthy's propagan da chief, had seized the bandouca radio station. The Brussels radio said large (Continued on Page 7.

CoL 5.) REFUSES TO FIGHT Jap Claims ol Big American Ship Losses Are Refuted PHILIPPINES AGAIN HIT New U.S. Landing in the Western Carolines. Reported by Nimitz Pearl Harbor, October 17. (JF) Sustained action by carrier-based planes against the Philippines and a new landing in the Western Caro lines were reported tonight in a communique of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

The carrier plane attacks extend ed operations which have been in progress against Japan's inner defence ring since October 8 and are meshed with land-based strikes by Gen. Douglas MacArthur who re ported a fighter sweep over Mindanao. Made in September but kept sec ret until today, the new landing was achieved without opposition on Ulithi atou the western Caroline group. Eighty-first Division Army troops, ol tne same group wnicn aided in the invasion of the south ern Palaus, went ashore on Ulithi September 20 and 21. Ulithi is 100 miles east of Yap and is northeast of Palau.

It has one of the best harbors in the Western Pacific. The landings were kept secret be cause the Japanese possibly were unaware of them until recently. Advance patrols landed on Fas- saran and Mangejang islands in the Ulitht group on both sides of the main entrance to Ulithi lagoon September 20. The next day troons occupied the four islets of Mogmog, Potangeras, Asor and Sorlan. Ulithi also is known as the Mackenzie Islands.

They roughly are half way between American-oc cupied southern Palau and Guam. The communique reference of ac tion against the Philippines was limited to a single sentence: "Carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet are continuing to attack objectives in the Philippines." Earlier, Admiral Nimitz announced that, bombastic Tokyo radio broadcasts to the contrary, the Japanese fleet fled Formosan waters when it sighted the united Mates 3rd Dieet. "On discovering our fighting strength unimpaired, they avoided action and have withdrawn toward their bases," Admiral Nimitz disclosed today. One look at the powerful 3rd Fleet commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey convinced the enemy no change was prudent in its policy of avoiding a showdown fight at sea.

For days the Tokyo radio had blared to the world the "brilliant war results" had been achieved by Nipponese naval and air forces, that in the end Halsey's fleet "will have vanished from the seas." Japanese newspapers heralded the event to the homeland under such headlines as "desperately fleeing enemy warships completely destroyed." Spiking enemy broadcasts that 40 to 52 American warships had been sunk or damaged, Admiral Nimitz said: "There has been no damage of consequence to our battleships or carriers. However, two medium-sized ships were hit by aircraft torpedoes and are retiring from the area. Fortunately, the personnel casualties in these two ships were small." This report covered the fighting, now in its second week, between American carrier planes and shore-based enemy aircraft over the Ry-ukyus Islands, Formosa and Luzon in the Philippines. War correspondents at headquarters interpreted "medium-sized shins" as referring to cruisers or destroyers. The carrier task forces commanded by Vice Admiral Marc A.

Mitscher, Admiral Nimitz announced, destroyed 160 enemy planes October 13, 14 and 15 in repelling (Continued on Page 7, Col. 8.) Keller is at Halifax; 500 Wounded. Return Halifax. October 17. KP; Bearing a complement of Canadian wounded headed by F.

L. Keller, the hospital ship Lady Nelson arrived here tonight from Britain. Keller, who led the 3rd Division into France on D-day and later was wounded in action, was expected to proceed without delay to Montreal and Ottawa. He is to speak on behalf of the Seventh Victory Loan. About 500 other casualties were aboard the hospital ship.

Bearing leg and arm wounds, Gen. Keller had his left arm in a sling but he was able to walk, and army public relations officer who visited him aboard the hospital ship on arrival said he was looking well, though tired and drawn. Gen. Keller, the army public relations officer said, had high praise for the way the returning soldiers were treated aboard the hospital ship. He complimented K.

E. Hollis, the vessel's commanding officer, and Capt. M. O'Hara, master of the Lady Nelson, and paid tribute to the work of the nurses and orderlies. During the trip over, the Nelson ran into a stretch of rough weather, and Gen.

Keller said OHara's handling of the craft during this period had done much to ease the discomfort of her complement of wounde. 'Et Gazette Staff Reporter.) QuebfC October 17. The Cana-cLtr. Congress of Labor' on the seccr.d dsy cf its fifth annual convention at the Chateau Fronlenac ere today stated through its pre-i r-t- A. R.

I.lDs'r.er. that it has not given a "no-strike- pledge, and that cr-es rot intend to give away "one ct the most important weapons of labor during this war or in peace time" Ke stated emphatically that, r.e the congress will do its best tD avcid strikes, it can not give a 2ree har.d to employers regardless the circumstances accompanying tr war. IHt. Mother made this statement a heated debate started by a resolution taking the convention to support 1G.00Q packing house who have threatened to go cn "strike if the various companies, those in Western Can-aii, snould refuse to sign a master agreement covering all empioees cf the industry in Canada. The resolution, although finally adopted unan.rr.ausiy by the convention, caused considerable discussion be-cause a rurr.ber cf delegates protested against "any support of rtr.ices because it would sabotage tr.e war effort." Otner resolutions adopted by tne approximately 600 delegates, among them many women, stressed the need for a post-war educational program, especially for voung workers; the liberation of Indin leaders; the taking ever of a.l Canadian broadcasting lnrI.

t.es by tne government as a rr.f'.s to control arid enlighten the purlir regarding the democratic principles demanded by the masses PACKING HOUSES RAPPED The resi.utlon on the question trp-'t for the packing nouse paid tr.b-ite to tne ac-t. cf tne government, wn.cn appointed a commissioner to tne dispute, it urged the ft'ercers attending the congress to tnrcw their full weight cf tne Canadian Congress of Labor into "the cause wn.cn will free the shackles cf packing bouse workers placed c-n tnem by an industry wnicn nas in tne true sense cf tne word, not skinned tne workers, bu' aiso tne -a a- eflort by making extra j-rcLts during the last five years." Tne president's denial that any no rtr-ke pledge had ever been g.ren by the C.C.L. was given in answer to tre remarks of one delegate from Ontario, who wished canf.rat.on of the motion, and urged that a distinction annul be rr.kse between supporting the meat vomers eerr.ar.ds and giving them greer. l.ght to go on a str.Ke. Tne Ontcrio delegate.

George -rLarrs. of Toronto, expressed the -ear tnat such an attitude bv the C.C- would tend to lose public sympathy lor the labor movement alerted by the congress. He insisted tnat tne C.C.L. was pledged to a no-strike" policy, whereupon gave xus empnatic ce- Secretary-treasurer of the C.C.L.. Pat Conroy, speaking to the same motion, staled that the conditions preva.lir.z in the packing plants in Canada would not service the mtr-fsts nf the country.

H. director of the Canad-ar Sect.wn of tne United Autcmc-olie Workers of America. tne narking house industry has benexploit-ng tne workers for far vyc long a U2 besides making ruge pron.tr, Ke supported Mr. I3sner on the 'r. pledge cuesi.e-n.

saying. "We will avoid but we certainly will not -ay mto tne hands of the capitalists by giving tnem a free hand ever th-e workers." J. E. MrGuire. who also supported the resolution, mentioned the cf tne Montreal Tramways Company as a "shining example" of a case where the strike weapon on Paze 7 Col 1.) INDEX TO THE NEWS Page Two T-adlo r.ews and reviews.

cn bridge. Tne Neighbors cartoon. Page Three Theatre and music news. Page Four news and features. 'Sl-ndie1 by Chic Young.

Page Tire Women's news and features. Pare Eight EditrriaL Page Eleven Gluyas Wl.ar.s' cartoon. Pare Twelve Service casualties Pare Thirteen City Iran goal 253.000.000. Industrial school levy hinted. Tupiess.s hints new school tax.

Anglirans lacy rehabilitation. not 'wonder Pare Fonrteen Obituaries Pare Firteen Social and Personal Page Sixteen Durrian suffers arm injury. Playing tne Field. Golf by Sam Snead. Page Seventeen Baron Jack wins at Jamaica.

Mysterious plunger at Rockingham. Pare iihtren riirrto Jlrper U.S. election. Ko.sevtlt barks Onks accord. Page in Abrer by Al Capp Crossword puzzle.

Para Twenty Stock markets moderately higher. Haci Klines 3rd Quarter. Big Section Along Meuse QUIT OVERLOON AREA Americans and Nazis in Aachen Sector Gathering Forces for Showdown London, October 17. W) Power ful British 2nd Army forces slashed forward against suicidal German troops in Holland tonight as American forces sparred with the Aachen garrison on a highly-explosive 85- mile battle line paralleling the Netherlands-German border. West and north of Antwerp, meanwhile, Canadian troops steadily overcame difficult weather conditions and waterlogged terrain in their job of clearing the enemy from the banks of the Scheldt estuary and opening up Antwerp, Europe's second port, to Allied war shipping.

British 2nd Army troops fought through the streets to the centre of the Netherlands highway town of Venray. eight miles from the Ger- man frontier, and pushed an armored column three miles south and cut the Venray-Deurne road. At nightfall British Tommies with bayonets and hand grenades were reported fighting halfway through Venray, with the Germans selling their lives fanatically to defend every house and shop building. Other British forces who threw a bridgehead across a canal five miles southwest of Venray bea off strong German attempts to crush the lodgment, a field dispatch said. In the Overloon area, north of Venray, the Germans were reported pulling out of a pocket approximately 5.000 yards long and from 700 to 2,000 yards wide along the Meuse river, leaving the area a no-man's land.

Slogging through pouring rain and mud 1st Canadian Army men in the Scheldt pocket guarding Antwerp tonight were pressing the Germans against new positions on a line running from Schoondijke westward to Sluis, about four miles inland from the coast, said a field dispatch from Ross Munro, Canadian Press war correspondent. An earlier front dispatch from Munro said Canadian infantry entered Iizendijke, six miles south of Breskens on the south bank of the Scheldt estuary. The country before the Germans' new defenco line is criss-crossed with dykes and dogged fighting lies ahead of the Canadians before they can overrun the area. The eastern end of the Germans' shrinking Scheldt pocket has been enveloped by the Canadians, and there was no let-up in the attack: to win the 1st Canadian Army's greatest prize, Antwerp, ACTIVITY IN AACHEN AREA. The United States 1st Army probed cautiously north and northeast of Aachen, where the Germans, repelled in five furious attempts to break into the encircled city of Aachen in recent days, had rolled up a heavy concentration of tanks and mobile guns.

More than 1,300 American heavy bombers with an escort of 800 fighters smashed at the major German city cf Cologne, 40 miles east of Aachen, in an effort to cut off supplies and reinforcements for German divisions standing between the 1st Army and the Rhine. On both sides of the battlefront. now sharply defined after a month of attacks and counterattacks, there continued a day and night struggle for supplies as each side gathered itself for the next phase of tha battle of Germany. An Allied official likened the situation to that which preceded the Allied breakout from Normandy in July. "It has become apparent to correspondents that the state of German supply is better than had earlier been supposed much better in fact." reported William S.

White, Associated Press war correspondent, from inside Aachen. White estimated the Germans had lost 1,500 men captured and 1,000 killed in their desperate attempts to recapture Aachen, or approximately 25 per cent, of their attacking forces. The German radio said everything pointed to a mighty pre-winter offensive by the Allies somewhere in Germany or Holland. (Continued on Page 7. CoL 3.) Invasion Communiques Allied Allied Supreme Headquarter communique No.

192, issued yesterday: "Steady progress continues north of the Leopold canal. Gains of up to 1,000 yards were made against somewhat decreased enemy opposition. A small counterattack on Eede was repulsed, lighter-bombers supporting our ground forces concentrated their attack mainly on the village of Costburg. Many fortified buildings were destroyed. "Strongpoints in Sluis and Schoonndijke were also hit.

Enemy counterattacks in the Woensdrecht area were held and military targets at Bergen Op Zoom were bombed by fighters. On the east of the Dutch salient we made gain In tliff Vrnrav rv. I'iaM of Venray an enemy battery of tit-Id (tuns was hit by rocket-firing fighters. "lifhters flew offensive patrol over the battle zones in Holland. "Our units continued to make slow progress in Aachen in (Continued, on Page 7, CoL good grip on this pocket south of the Scheldt and are beginning to shake it to pieces.

Once it is cleaned out Lt-Gen. Crerar's men will be half-way to victory in the battle to open Antwerp, whose importance as a potential supply base for the Allies increases daily. If the great port is to be opened the north side of the Scheldt also will have to be cleared, and the German garrisons on South Beve-land and Walcheren Islands, at the mouth of the estuary, must also be eliminated. The Germans here on the Scheldt are playing the old game of delaying the Allies wherever possible. It has been the lot of the hard-fighting Canadians to overcome such attempts right along the French, Belgian and Dutch coasts, but this has been the-toughest of them all Geographically the enemy ha3 every advantage at the Scheldt, since with all its dykes, canals and waterways the battle has been reduced principally to an infantry job.

Even artillery support is re- (Contlnued on Page 7 CoL 4.) 1,300 BOMBERS HIT ATCOLOGNE 10th Raid Is Made on Battered City So Far in October London. October 17. T) Thlr teen hundred heavy bombers of the U.S. 8th Air force poured 4,000 tons of explosives on Cologne today in that ruined German city's 146th raid of the war and the 10th in October alone, while heavy Lancasters again hit the dyke on Walcheren Island at the mouth of the Scheldt where Canadians are fighting to free the port of Ant werp. Germany meanwhile was breach ed from the south when Italy-based MS.

heavies assaulted Vienna again More than 3,500 British-based British and American heavy bombers have hit Cologne in the past four days, and R.A.F. Mosquitos have struck it three times in the past week, leaving little doubt that the Americans, once they finish off Aachen, are headed for the Rhine river metropolis. R.AJ Mosquitos slashed at Cologne with 2-ton bombs Monday night, "just to keep their home fires burning" as one returning airman said. Then the U. S.

heavyweights went over a few hours later. The heavy R.A.F. Lancasters which hit the Westkapelle dyke on Walcheren island had already knocked eight holes in that sea wall in earlier attacks and inundated two-thirds of the Dutch island. It is from Walcheren and the neigh boring isle of South Beveland that heavy German artillery can harass 1st Canadian Army forces battling in the Scheldt pocket north of Ant werp. All the heavies on today's raid returned safely, the Air Mm istry said.

Even though the Americans on the Cologne run went in about 10 a.m., in an effort to beat the cloud (Continued on Page 7. CoL 4.) much enemy troop movement north of woensdrecnt towards tne ser gen op Zoom area. Yesterday Coloene was struck with 4.000 tons of bombs by 1.300 American planes, ihis is the tenth blow this month. R.A.F. Lancasters hit the dyke on Walcheren Island again to help the Canadian siege.

Vienna had a raid from Italy-based American bombers. The Germans are reported stiffening their resistance before Bologna and a bitter fight for that Italian city is seen in the making. The Fifth Army has reached a point nine miles from the vital city. On the Adriatic front Canadians and New Zealanders are closing in on Cesena. Berlin reveals a great new offensive directed towards the interior of East Prussia.

Moscow has nothing to say as yet on this, but the Soviet communique reports heavy bombings along the presumed path of the invaders as far as Insterburg, 37 miles inside the East Prussian border. The German radio said the invasion is along a 25-mile front on both sides of the Lithuanian town of Vilkaviskis. Moscow announces a further cleanup in the Riga area, and an advance to within two miles of the Carpatho-Ukraine border. The Russians are nearing a junction between the north and south pincer-heads in Translyvania. Admiral Nimitz refutes the Jap claim to have inflicted great damage on the American naval force that has been attacking Formosa.

He reveals that the Japanese naval units fled on sighting the American warships. The damage to the American ships is of little consequence. Two medium-sized ships were hit by torpedoes and retired from the fight. Formosa was attacked for the I third time in four days yesterday. Moscow Makes No Report on New Offensive; Reds Progress in Balkans London, October 17.

(IP) A great new Russian offensive aimed straight west toward the heart of East Prussia was reported by alarmed German broadcasters today, and the Soviet midnight communique described heavy Red air force bombings all along the path of advance as far as Insterburg. 37 miles inside the German Junkers' homeland. The Russians did not directly confirm the offensive by Gen. Ivan D. Cherniakhovsky's 3rd White Russian Army group, but left little doubt that it was in the progress, announcing that Red bombers Monday night hit Insterburg and the intermediate railway junctions of Gumbinnen and Stalluponen.

along tne route the Germans said Cherniakhovsky's drive was directed. The German radio said the new attack was along a 25-mile front on both sides of the Lithuanian town of Vilkaviskis, and declared it was backed by forests of artillery and spearheaded by low-flying Stormovik, planes. The Russians were at the border at points east of Insterburg. The Moscow communique announced a further cleanup south and southwest of Riga, the captured Latvian capital, with the remaining German forces in that Baltic state driven into the corner between the Gulf of Riga and the Baltic Sea. One of their last useful ports, Ventspils, was bombed heavily.

While silent concerning land action against East Prussia, the Russians announced a further slashing drive in northern Transylvania had carried within two miles of the southern border of the Carpatho-Ukraine territory which Hungary took from dismembered Czechoslovakia, and told of further small gains southwest and west of Nis in Yugoslavia. BATTLING IN BELGRADE Street fighting continued in Belgrade, with the Russians and Yugoslav Partisans teamed in battling the Germans for the Yugoslav capital. Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky's drive up through by Rumanian troops fighting to win that territory back from Hun gary, was within 30 mountainous miles of junctions with Soviet forces that have been pressing down from the north in southern Poland. Altogether in Transylvania during the day Malinovsky's men took more than 80 populated places, in cluding Ronasec, two miles from the Carpatho-Ukraine, Petrova, six miles away, and numerous communities along the Viseul river, Moscow said.

At Insterburg, also bombed Sun day night, the Soviets said fires were started among German mili tary trains; at Gumbinnen more than 30 fires were caused, with two trains blown up; and at Stalluponen an ammunition train was des troyed and explosions and fires of great size were observed throughout the vicinity of the railway aunction The German radio in its accounts of ground fighting said the Rus sians, who had stood for two months at Vilkaviskis, in Lithuania, a dozen miles from the border, began the assault Monday and had reached the border at an unspecified point. Late tonight German broadcasts said there was fighting near Nau miestis, Lithuanian border town just across the Ost Fluss from the East Prussian town of Schirwindt. German radio commentators said the Russians had penetrated the uerman lines at several places and said stubborn fighting was in pro gress for paths through the fortifi cations and earthworks so hastily thrown up by the old men, women and children of East Prussia during tne last lew montns. This drive, under one of the So viet Union's youngest and most brilliant generals, might develop into the major campaign against East Prussia. The principal difficulty apparently was the crossing of the many little streams that flow through that low region.

Two other strong offensives also were beating against the outer de fences of the German stronghold, however. The only one Moscow has announced was on the northern bor der along the Neimen River line It had approached within artillery (Continued on Page 7 CoL 6.) Canada, Russia Study Petsamo Nickel Deal Ottawa. October 17. Canada and Russia have been discussing the disposition of tne Petsamo nickel mines of northern Finland, which were operated before the war by the International Nickel Company of Canada, it was learned today. The mines fell Into Russian hands with the Russo-Flnnish armistice and since then there nas been speculation as to their ultimate disposition.

It was understood here there was a good chance the Russians would take over the properties and reach a settlement with the International Nickel Company. PRESIDENT- SET TO FIGHT BACK Roosevelt Will Break Security Control to Answer Dewey Washington, October 17. KB President Roosevelt, who has been taking it on the chin from his Republican opponent. Gov. Thomas E.

Dewey of New York, in the election campaign, is going to fight back. He announced today that he Is going to break the war-forged bonds of security control which keep his movements secret. At his press conference this afternoon the President confirmed a report that he would speak at an open-air rally in Philadelphia October 27, and that he would go in person to the Foreign Policy Association dinner in New York next Saturday. Questioned further, the President said the times and places had not been decided but that there was no doubt that he would make a number of other political campaign speeches. So far Gov.

Dewey has had It pretty much his own way. He has campaigned over much of the country and has bitterly attacked the President with statements which require answers from the President himself. The answers to date have been confined to press releases from the White House tending to show that Gov. Dewey had been quoting from statements and utterances without regard for the context and giving the words quoted an unjustified meaning. But the White House releases go only to the press which may or may not use them and probably never reach the ears of many of those to whom Gov.

Dewey addressed them and who were, perhaps, influenced. It is expected the President may go as far west as Chicago and appear also in Cleveland and in some eastern centres, possibly Boston. At his press conference today the President appeared in two roles. The correspondents were ushered into the big cabinet room instead of the President's familiar circular office close by. Mr.

Roosevelt. In his wheel chair. was seated before a large, illum inated map of the main beach landing on the Normandy coast. With a pointer, and playing for the moment his role of commander-in- chief, he explained, for the first time in public, the execution of the secret plans started at Quebec a (Continued on Page 7. CoL 5.) that ratifying states provided ground facilities needed in their territories for international services; prescribe safety regulations and standardize radio equipment and weather and ground facilities.

The right to pick up and set down traffic to and from destination not in the country of origin of the aircraft and to engage in the local traffic of another country would be matters for negotiation. The authority to administer the convention would consist of representatives of the ratifying states with voting powers determined on an equitable basis. The operational executive could be nominated in the convention elected by the authority or named by the major powers with provision for representation of smaller powers. The authority would work through the execu tive which would in turn delegate its functions to the regional paneis. Canada in Agreement Ottawa, October 17.

BritishH proposals for international regula tion of civil aviation are in keep ing witn tne Canadian draft con vention prepared early this year, submitted to United Nations governments and made public in March by Munitions Minister Howe in the 1 louse of Commons. This was revealed today In the publication of a British Government White Paper in London, copies of which were made available here by the United Kingdom In formation Office. While the Canadian proposals were in the form of a draft agree (Continued on Page 7, CoL 3.) German Rearguards Suicidal WAR NEWS DIGEST, OCTOBER 18, 1944 Britain Seeking Air Agreement Fully Controlling World Traffic By JOHN MACCORMAC (By Wireless to The New York Times and The Gazette.) British troops have fought their way into the centre of the town of Venray and have cut the road to Deurne, about eight miles from the German border. Fighting is very severe, the enemy putting up a suicidal house-to-house defence. In the Overloon area to the north the enemy is abandoning a pocket along the Meuse.

The American 1st Army north and northeast of Aachen is moving cautiously, the Germans having received strong reinforcements of tanks and mobile guns. The Germans are proving much stronger here than had been anticipated. Allied supplies are piling up for a large-scale attack in the Nijmegen-Arnhem sector, and correspondents are comparing the situation before the Siegfried Line with that prior to the big breakthrough in Normandy. In Aachen house-to-house fighting continues. On the 3rd Army front steady rains have practically stalled all movement.

The French 1st Army In the Vosges Mountains has made slight gains in very difficult terrain and repulsed several enemy attacks. Canadian forces on the south bank of the Scheldt estuary, pushing eastward against the pocketed Germans, are nearing Schoondijke. which is three miles south of Breskens. They met only fluid resistance, but a stand is to be expected at Schoondijke, a newly fortified position The Germans are giving way slowly and holding out at every dyke until routed by infantry action The flooded condition of the terrain acts against the use of artillery. The German position on the Scheldt is fast deteriorating, and there is an apparent shortage of artillery ammunition.

On the South Beveland Isthmus at Woensdrecht the situation is unchanged. Repeated attacks by the Germans have been repulsed and the Canadians grip on the position remains strong. There is London. October 17. The British Government wants a new international air convention granting innocent passage and international traffic rights and eliminating subsidies.

It envisages its enforcement by an international air authority with an operational executive, subsidiary regional panels and technical subcommissions which would fix quotas for international traffic, prescribe rates and establish technical standards. This authority, whose powers would obviously be wider than United opinion favors, would ultimately be affiliated with a world security organization. The government will submit these proposals to the forthcoming United Nations air conference at Chicago and meanwhile outlined them in a White Paper issued today. The modern multiple engined aircraft, says the White Paper, has made possible a world network of air routes. It has made necessary international collaboration to provide cheap, efficient services so as to insure equitable participation in total international traffic; to control subsidies, standardize technical practise and to contribute to world security.

There should be a new international air convention which would reaffirm national air sovereignty: extend the peacetime right of innocent passage; the right to land trr refupling or emergencies; the right to disembark passengers, moil and freight from the country of origin of the aircraft and to embark them when destined for the country of origin of the aircraft; eliminate uneconomic competition by determining and allocating frequencies and fixing rates; provide for licensing international air operators; see 5.