The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 1

0 1944 NOVEMBER 1944 MM. Tub. Wttf. Than Frt. tat Weather Forecast Southern California Mostly cloudy today with occasional showers: clear.

Ing in coastal areas tonight; Wednesday partly, cloudy with scattered showers over mountains) continued cool. San Bernardino rang yesterday! 6539. Cnntral and Northern California Clearing today except cloudy extreme southern part; Wednesday clear) higher daytime temperature 1 8 15. 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24 4 1 1 18 25 5 6 12 13 19 20 26 27 7 21 28 TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 14, 1944 FIFTY-FIRST YEAR SIXTEEN PASES UP- Associated Press HP) United Press (o a copy 81,10 a month km rw nin.T oranoi bitt.t icrwa ffa A-161 0 tSm BecnarqitiQ SE1 o) tmm vi: lemke, Leading Mighty Tirpitz Yanks Disrupt U. S.

Cigarette Famine Spreads Verny, South Of City, Falls Without Fight Thionville Garrison To North Gives Up After Heavy Barrage PARIS, Nov. 14 (Tuesday) Goebbels Tries To Stay Hitler Ghost Rumors But Signs Increase That Himmler Has Taken Over as No. 1 LONDON, Nov. 13 (AP) Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbel3 swung into a campaign today to persuade the world that silent, secluded Adolf Hitler is in "excellent, vigorous health," and not a ghost upon whose prestige Heinrich Himmler is trading as the real master of Germany. Despite these protestations) the mystery appeared deeper than ever and the subject of increasing speculation, within as well as outside the reich.

There were increasing signs I -i jti WOUNDED PILOT GETS BACK With brakes and landing gear shot up in a sortie over Manila, a Navy fighter pilot crash-landed on a U. S. carrier deck. The plane lost its tail (background) and flight desk crewmen aided the injured pilot from the cockpit U.S. Ace on West Front, Missing A.

U. S. FIGHTER BASE, England, Nov. 13 WP) Col. Hubert 31-year-old fighter pilot from Missoula, Mont, known is the "flghtlng-est" American pilot commander in Europe, has been missing since Oct.

30, it was announced today. Fellow pilots saw him go down Inside Germany while leading his Lightning-Mustang group on a bomber escort mission. At that time, he was the leading American ace operating on the western front, credited with shooting down 9' Nazi planes and destroying 8Jj on the ground. It was learned today that he had planned to make the Oct. 30 mission his last as he had requested that he be relieved from combat duty on Nov.

1. Earlier in his career, he had rejected offers of assignments that would have removed him from active participation In the air war over Europe. Zemke's fate is not known, but his wing man thinks he may have been the victim of poor flying weather. Budapest Siege Arc Tightened South, East Forces Nearing Junction LONDON, Nov. 14 (Tuesday) UP) Marshal Malionovsky's Second Ukrainian army closed its steel arc tighter around the southeastern approaches to Buda pest yesterday, capturing the railway town of Jaszapati and, according to a German announcement, breaking into the important communications center of Jaszber-eny.

The day's advance, in which at least 10 towns were seized, carried 13 miles northward and brought Malinovsky's southern and eastern columns within 20 miles of a junction. German commentators, asserting the fighting on the Hungarian capital's flank had reached new fury, said the Russians were attempting to encircle Budapest, with red army troopy in Czechoslovakia likely to join Malinovsky's forces in a vast maneuver. Meanwhile, Marshal Tito announced in a communique that his Yugoslav partisan forces had broken into Skoplje on the railway escape route for German forces fleeing from Greece toward the homeland. It was not clear whether any Germans remained south of Skoplje, a city of 65,000, which lies 120 miles northwest of Salonika and about 200 miles southeast of Belgrade. But control of city would block through rail traffic from the south.

Worker's Shooting by Shipyard Guard Upheld LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13 (TP) A coroner's jury today held that the fatal shooting of Gerald B. Edwards, 18, by Harry V. Mason, guard at California Shipbuilding was justifiable homicide. Witnesses testified that Edwards attempted to leave the ship-yard gate without checking through the proper channels.

Mason warned him, witnesses said, but Edwards rushed the guard and Mason fired twice. Jap Plans for Counterattack Short Gains Made On Leyte Against Rising Resistance GEN. MacARTHUR'S HEAD QUARTERS, PHILIPPINES, Nov. 14 (Tuesday) (AP) The artillery-backed American offensive on Leyte island, which ground to short new gains today, has dislocated Japanese preparations for a counterattack with the five divisions they are known to have Committed to this pivotal Philippine battle. Today's communique reported five imperial divisions had been identified, without specifying whether they were estimated at their full strength, which would mean probably than 60,000 men.

The Jap first division has been thrown into the battleline along the Pinamopoan-Ormoc highway, and the 26th division has been identified by its dead. The 16th, 30th and 102nd divisions previous-had been reported in action. The American offensive drive said the communique, has "penetrated his (the enemy's) potential assembly areas, compelling him to premature and piecemeal com mitments of his forces for the de fr-nse of the main bastion of the Yamashita line." POSITIONS CONSOLIDATED That line runs through the rugged hill country surrounding shell-blackened Ormoc, Japan's last strbnghoid on the island Fresh troops, under Gen. Tomo-yuki Yamashita, were preparing a large-scale attempt to break American encirclement on three sides. Advance elements of U.

S. First Cavalry division are consolidating positions they have seized on Mt. Catabaran and Mt. Cabungangan, dominating peaks east of the Pinamopoan-Ormoc highway. The main force of the 24th division, pushing down the twisting Ormoc highway, "is closing slowly along the Ormoc road in the face of increasingly strong opposition," the communique said.

ARTILLERY EFFECTIVE American long-range artillery "continues to create havoc" along the Ormoc corridor, the communique reported, and dive-bombers Saturday attacked bivouacs at Valencia, near the center of the road. Numerous buildings were destroyed and many casualties resulted from strafing. A headquarters spokesman disclosed the Japanese have infiltrated some American positions and sent small suicide squads against the moving Yank line. These assaults were stopped before causing any substantial damage. Enemy air activity "continues at a moderate scale, with persistent harassing attacks on shipping and ground installations," the communique said.

Nine Nipponese planes were shot down. Warren Lauds Grocer Inflation Control SACRAMENTO, Nov. 13 (IP) Gov. Earl Warren today issued a statement commending. California grocers for a campaign now underway to give emphasis to the need for inflation control.

Himmler had taken over as No. 1 possibly even militarily. The Moscow radio said orders given German officers in East Prussia to "fight to the last man" were signed by Himmler. PROFUSE EXPLANATIONS The Berlin radio spokesman, Dr. Rudolf Semmler, said Himmler in broadcasting Hitler's proclamation yesterday, acted as the fuehrer's closest collaborator.

Semmler claimed the words were Hitler's but he said the German people "will follow their leaders" using the plural. The German news agencies solely for export and not in their home serviced declared that the fact Himmler, and not Hitler; broadcast the proclamation issued yesterday inder Hitler's name "was in no way proof" of widespread reports that Hitler was incapacitated or dead. But the perplexed German people could know only that, in their gravest hour, their fuehrer had forsaken them visibly and audibly. They had only the explanation that he was "too busy at headquarters, working unremittingly to bring a turn in our fortunes," to appear in pifhlic or. make broadcasts.

UNDER DOCTOR'S CARE That there were perplexities, doubts and fears in Germany was reported by Moscow radio, quoting advices from "inside Germany," Moscow said "fantastic rumors about Hitler" were spreading. The latest report; on Hitler's condition, coming from a generally reliable source, was that he was last week under the care of four doctors including Prof. Horster, an outstanding brain specialist who treated Fiejd Marshal Rommel before he died. The other doctors were named as Prof. Morell, Hitler's permanent medical adviser; Dr.

Zabel, attending physician regularly attached to his staff, and Prof. Suerbruch, famed German surgeon who was known as anti-Nazi and thus would have been called in only for dire necessity. Borax Firms Fight SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 13 UP) Seven borax firms and 11 of their officers pleaded not guilty of violating antitrust laws in fed eral court here today. Chile Falls for Mars 'Invasion' Radio Station Faces Governmental Ire SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov.

13 UP) At least one from a heart attack and injuries to several persons were attributed today to the panic caused by Chile's radio "invasion from Mars" last night, a broadcast which upset this country just as the radio show on the same subject produced by Orson Welles did the United States in October, 1938. An adaptation of the Welles broadcast, based on the H. G. Wells story, "War of the Worlds'," was broadcast by a Santiago station. This Chilean version was as realistic as the American show and sent hundreds into the streets in panic and flooded newspapers and army and navy headquarters with excited inquiries.

The government today was reported to be planning punitive measures against the radio station which broadcast the show. Sent to Grave In Norse Fjord Three Direct R.A.F. Bomb Hits Destroy Last German Giant LONDON, Nov. 13 (AP) The 41.000-ton German battle ship Tirpitz, last "unsinkable giant in Adolf Hitler's fugitive navy, capsized and sank early yesterday morning in the icy Norwegian waters of Tromso fjord when hit squarely by three six-ton earthquake bombs dropped by R.A.F. Lancasters, the British announced tonight.

Attacking out of the Arctic mists, it took the British only a few minutes to finish off this great potential killer which never had engaged in a single surface battle, and which the Germans were five years in building at a cost of $50,000,000. The cost to the British was one bomber, out of an attacking force of 29, an air ministty communique said. Three bombs landed on the deck of the Tirpitz, which blew up in side, keeled over, and sank slowly, ending a three-year chase by the British and Russians. ARCTIC THREAT REMOVED The sister ship of the ill-fated Bismarck went to her grave just a few days after reports from neu tral countries had speculated on an imminent invasion of Norway by the allies. The Tirpitz, already cripplod previous air and midget submarine assaults, had been a threat to the Arctic supply lines to Rus sia, and a potential menace to any landing in Norway.

She had kept some units of the British home fleet watching her moves for a long time. The successful mission of the big bombers, carrying the new armor piercing 12,000 -pound bombs, was led by Wing Comdr. J. B. Tait and Squadron Leader A.

G. Williams. Taking off from Britain on the historic flight, the planes "landed away from base," presumably in Russia. Roaring up before the Germans could throw up their usual protective smoke screen, the Lancas ters caught the battlewagon in an explosive vise and the three direct hits were registered in quick succession. FIRST BOMB STOPS GUNS "Her guns had been firing like blazes when we first' arrived, said an Australian pilot, Flight Lt.

B. A. Buckham of Sydney. "The guns stopped after the first bomb. Not a shot came up after that.

Smoke began to pour up. "Afterwards there were several explosions. One of them was very big and one of my crew shouted out over the inter-com, 'She's on fire, skipper. She's on "The fire did not seem to last very long, not more than two or three minutes I should say. It was difficult to see exactly what was happening." "The ship was already on its side when we came off our run," his tail gunner said.

After capsizing, the Tirpitz settled on the bottom of the shallow fjord. Only the keel and some parts of the bottom can be seen above 'vater. Arrest of Wounded French Pretender Ordered by Paris PARIS, Nov. 13 UP) The French government today ordered the arrest of the pretender to the throne of France, the comte de Paris, who was reported wounded at Perpignan after crossing the Spanish frontier into France. The interior ministry issued a warrant to all department prefects on two counts--illegal entry into the country and violation of a law against the residence on French soil of the head of a family in exile.

Reports from southern France said the comte' was in hiding after being wounded, but there was no report on the cause of the in jury. To War Front PARIS, Nov. 13 (m The American cigarette shortage has spread to the European war theater. Enlisted men In Paris were Informed today they would get no cigarettes this week. At post exchanges for officers the ration was reduced to five packs a week, which seems low' to heavy smokers, but added to the chagrin of soldiers who get none at all.

Cigarette supplies at the front also were low, with soldiers reported cut to two packs weekly in some sectors. American cigarettes all diverted from Army supplies still were available on the black market in Paris at $1.50 a pack, and the price was rising. scaped Army Officer Seized Prisoner's Flight In Warplane Fails NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 13 UP) Robert G. Kaslow, former Army Air Corps officer, who escaped from the Craig field, guard house Friday night and fled in an Army plane, was captured here tonieht bv F.B.I, agents.

The assistant pecial agent in charge of the New Orleans t.ts.i. office. Zack Van Landingham, nnnnn nrpd that Kaslow. 21. of Johnston City.

N. who was serving a 30-year sentence at the Alabama field for of the articles of war, was taken in custody at 5 p.m. in the cocktail lounge of a New Orleans hotel. Van Landingham said Kaslow was dressed in the full uniform of a second lieutenant in the U. S.

Air Corps and was accompanied by "a New Orleans girl whom he had known approximately one year." The agent saia tne gin was being held for questioning but he declined to identify her. He said she was about 25 years old. The plane in which the flier was said by Craig field officers to have escaped crashed Saturday 'at Hig-gins airport near here. It was unoccupied. Van Landingham said Kaslow told F.B.I, men he parachuted from the plane at 5,000 feet above a swamp near here and made his way into the city on foot.

Kaslow was arrested last March for stealing $1,500 and an automobile from a fellow officer at Craig field. He escaped from the guardhouse and was retaken in Santa Monica, California, after a gun battle with police. His court-martial and sentence followed. Ominous Sips Said Appearing in Cologne (Bv United PresB) Gordon Fraser, Blue network correspondent, quoting a German soldier near Schmidt, said Monday that ominous signs are beginning to appear on lamp posts in Cologne. The signs read: "Capacity two SS men." en a blood transfusion at the scene.

The air transport command's sixth ferrying group said names of the dead would not be released until relatives are notified. The dead included an Army nurse. Not all the 11 victims died instantly when the plane struck the peak, rebounded and disintegrated, scattering bodies and wreckage in Wildcat canyon in the Mt. Wilson area. "We heard one man, somewhere down in the canyon, crying for help during the night," rescuers quoted the sailor.

"We tried to locate and help him, but in our condition we couldn't get down there. We heard him dying." Deputies said the sailor had disregarded his own injuries to minister to the Negro soldier, more seriously hurt. The dead, they added, included three majors and several Navy men. (Ui') The U. S.

Third army, in simultaneous drives from north and south, stormed the thick fortress belt eirdline Metz Monday and captured Forts Verny, Thionville and two other citadels as the Ger mans began withdrawing from the historic French bastion city to escape American en circlement. Verny, 5 miles south of Metz and one of the nine great forts of its inner defense system, and two smaller forts nearby fell without a fight as the U. S. Fifth Infantry division drove for the city on a 10-mile semicircle front, reaching to within four to five miles of its limits. To the north, the 95th Infantrv division attacked Fort Thionville on the east bank of the Moselle from lone-held positions in th town of Thionville on the west bank, and quickly beat its garrison into submission with a drum-fire barrage.

WITHDRAWAL BEGUN Supreme allied headquarters, announcing the occupation of the three forts south of Metz, said the "enemy began a withdrawal in the Metz area," obviously as a result of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's wide outflanking drives which left the Metz forts precariously suspended. Tanks and infantry on the right flank drove six miles, reaching within 20 miles of Saarbrucken.

Meteor, Not V-2 OTTAWA, Nov. 13 Dominion observatory officials today said a blinding flash reported in the North Bay, district early this morning possibly was caused by a meteor and not some German robot weapon. before running into counterblows that forced them back a mile. The resistance on the flanks, aimed at keeping open a nine-mile-wide corridor to and from Metz, generally stiffened but Patton's eight divisions nevertheless captured a total of 12 more towns and averaged an advance of one to four miles along' their. 60-mile front.

SHORT OF RESERVES The main casemate of Fort Verny, called Fort L'Aisne, is a massive citadel with steel and concrete walls six feet thick, protecting 150-mm. guns and a normal garrison of 120 men. That the enemy should abandon such positions after the bitter defense of Fort Driant was interpreted here as indicating that the German command is now so short of reserves that it no longer can leave garrisons behind to fight to the last man. German forces still were in the Metz town area, but the city's entire defense system is based on its encircling forts, which have withstood assault since the time of Attila the Hun. Striking in a sleet storm that prevented aerial support, the Yanks opened a frontal assault on Metz' chain of 22 concentric fortresses for the first time since the (Continued on Page 2, Column 7) change In existing orders might cause "harmful effects on the morale of other men in similar status overseas." Gillette said he had taken the matter up with Stimson after a number of members of the 34th from his state, some of them recuperating from wounds, had opposed returning to foreign service after they had been on combat duty two to two and a half years.

The war department said th 34th, according to its last reports, had participated in the fighting in Italy around Cassino. Japs Take Isle Near Peleliu Marines Evacuate Tiny Ngeregong U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, Pearl Harbor, Nov. 13 (IP) Two hundred Jap troops occupied tiny Ngeregong island, eight miles northeast of American-held Peleliu in' the Palau group under coVer of a storm last Tuesday night, Adm.

Chester W. Nim-itz announced today. A small U. Marine patrol, which had been on the island for reconnaissance, quickly evacuated, and the enemy was subjected to ships' fire and aerial bombing and strafing. Nimitz said in his communique the marines were removed aboard LCI's without casualties.

The Japanese were equipped with knee mortars and machine guns. Probably they came in small boats across the reef-infested Denges passage from Eil Malk island two miles north of Ngeregong. The purpose of the enemy occupation is vague but probably was for reconnaissance. One U. S.

destroyer and two gunboats quickly blocked Denges passage to cut off possible further landings and bombarded Ngere gong. During Thursday night American planes bombed and strafed the islet and sank one barge. Planes also sank a previously damaged Jap destroyer near Go- lou. Life Term for Attack MARTINEZ, Nov. 13 (IP) -Raymond D.

Smith, 21, a Rich mond shipyard worker, today was given a life sentence to San Quen- tin prison by Superior Judge A. F. Gray for an assault on a 5-year! old girl. Lingling and Kweilin. (Associated Press Correspondent Clyde A.

Farnsworth in a dispatch from Kunming said that with the loss of Liuchow "southeastern China for a long time to come, if not forever, thus has been eliminated as a possible zone of "an inland offensive against the Japanese Operating from bases outside of southeastern China, U. S. planes over the week end destroyed a Jap navy tender, 13 river steamers, 14 locomotives and three rail bridges in French Indo-China. Three Jap radar stations at Yo-chow were disabled. 11 Killed, Two Survive Army Plane Crash on Southland Peak Submarine Darter Destroyed by Crew To Prevent Capture WASHINGTON, Nov.

13 UP) The Navy announced today the submarine Darter was destroyed by its own crew to prevent cap ture by the enemy after it had run aground in an undisclosed area. All the complement of 65 offi cers and men survived unharmed and escaped to an advanced naval base. The year-old vessel was the thirty-third submarine lost by the U. S. fleet since Pearl Harbor.

In that time the fleet has lost a total of 218 combat vessels including the underseas craft. Ethel Barrymore Taken to Hospital NEW YORK.Nov. 13 HP) Ethel Barrymore, 65, first lady of the theater, was under treatment with penicillin tonight after her removal to Flower hospital early in the day when her illness was diagnosed as pulmonary congestion and a cardiac condition. Fire Toll Up to 4 CALEXICO, Nov. 13 UP) Two more persons, Mrs.

Edna Walton, 31, and her son, John, 7, died today, bringing to four the number of fatalities from a fire that destroyed the Walton home early Saturday. U.S. LOSES LAST MAIN SOUTHEAST CHINA BASE WAR VETERANS MUST GO BACK TO COMBAT DUTY LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13 In a makeshift shelter on nearby icy Strawberry peak, a rescue party of soldiers, police and foresters fought tonight to save the lives of two injured men, only survivors among 13 military passengers aboard an Army cargo plane which crashed during a storm Saturday night. The rescuers started down late today, but wind-driven snow forced them back to the crash scene, where they sought refuge beneath a crumpled wing of the ship, at an altitude of 6,175 feet.

Later rescuers succeeded in taking the two survivors to Pasjadena area Army hospital where they were identified as PM 3c Buford Chism and Cpl. Kenneth Bedford. Their home addresses were not released, however. Chism was less seriously injured than Bedford, who was giv CHUNGKING, Nov. 13 UP) The Japanese drive to clear American air power out of southeastern China appeared near completion tonight with the Chinese high command reporting only localized street fighting in Liuchow, former site of the last main U.

S. air base in that area. The city, which the Japanese announced last Friday they had taken, was abandoned by the U. S. Fourteenth Air Force on Nov.

8 after all runways and installations had been destroyed. The current enemy offensive already had swept the Americans out of air bases at Hengwang, WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 UP) Secretary of War Stimson rejected a suggestion that some 3,000 members of the 34th division, now resting at their homes, be relieved of further combat duty. He wrote Senator Gillette, Iowa Democrat, that to permit them to remain in this country "would be in neither the military nor national interest." Gillette made public the letter which added that "personal desires cannot be given precedence over military needs" and that any V-.