The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 1

i(i 1 THE WEATHER Lafayette and vicinity! Cloudy -with rain and log tonight and Bundayi low est during night 43, MERRY CHRISTMAS some loved one will be only la spirit. may your Christ- SINGLE COPY, 5 CENTS LAFAYETTE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1944 CONSOLIOATCO UFAYr.tK AZCTTC JUIV I. FULL WIRE NKWB SERVICE or THE ACSOCIATEO PRESS Volume XXXI, No. 203 1944 a) ft 1 ii C.ra 1 I PA Cai; MU 1.. Snow Sole Sign 4 t.

-r i i 5 i On West Fror -t Library, 1 2 itii I7 Try To Get Turkey Up To Most Fighting Fronts England Helping Yank Holiday -Vi if. Destroy 101 Nazi Tanks In 24 Hours Indicating Panzer Battle Not In Slovakia Allied Headquarters Silent On Nazi News Of Third Slowing Luxembourg Drive LOSSES OF MEN ARE HIGH I- SNOW RIGHT FOR REDS If Knell oils On Tire Hopes Of A Motorists Reduction In Scheduled Passenger Car Casings Means Tighter Home Output 1 -i ja. ri. Russians At Southern End Front Imperil Sizeable Force Pushed From Matras RAF and U.S. Planes Pound Again After Heavy Three-Day Fog Partially Lifts (By The Associated Press) PARIS.

Dec. 23 The pent-up fury of Allied air power, shackld hy a week of bad weather, was loosed today against the armor of Field Marshal von Rundstedas drive 4rt miles deep in Doughboy lines and first reports indicated a staggering blow may have been dealt the German counteroffensive. (By The Associated Press) LONDON, Dec. 23 A heavy snowfall along the western front has guaranteed a white Christmas for Americas fighting men, but in that respest alone will It be like the traditional yuletide. A great proportion of the Doughboys will be fighting for their lives.

Some have the prospect of spending hristmas surrounded by Germans, others of wielding guns in counterattacks designed to drive the enemy bac into Germany. As on Thanksgiving, turkey has been taken to the front for every U. S. soldier. But not all will get it on Christmas Day.

Most of those in the actual line will eat the usual canned radons. Their turkey will be saved and they will have Christmas dinner when they come out of battle if they come out. Some Germans may feast on American Christmas turkey, too, for they have captured much material In their winter offensive and it is probable that yuletide items were included in the booty. Hundreds of thousands of Christmas parcels from home already have reached the troops in France. But some soldiers are complaining they have received none and declare they must have been lost or stolen.

The Christmas dinner planned for each soldier of the British Second Army consists of canned chicken, fig pudding, a box of cigarettes and candy, and a small flask of rum. In Britain, many English families will share their holiday rations with Americans far from home. In Birmingham alone more than 500 Americans will be entertained in private homes. The army has decorated mess halls with evergreens. The Red Cross Is planning dances and other entertainments.

The Yanks themselves are playing Santa Claus in a big way. An example is one U. S. hospital where the patients have donated their own candy and other iA MXAyA BV EDDIE GILMORE (The Associated Press) MOSCOW, Dec. 23 An official Soviet announcement of the destruction of 101 German tanks In a 24-hour period ending Thursday night gave realistic support today to German reports that the Red Armys great winter offensive is getting under way.

The fact that the long eastern front now lies under hard, firm snow, witn deep freezes, offers the Russians Just the kind of weather needed for their slashing attacks. Throughout the war they have always commenced their biggest winter operations in Just such weather and temperatures. The Soviets are better equipped than the Germans and the record shows they are consistently able to outfight -them when the cold sets Uf. The Russian high command did not say where the Nazis suffered this huge loss of Panzers. The Germans, however, reported that a mighty force of 270,000 winter-hardened Russian troops was on the move in snow-swept Latvia where an estimated 30 Nazi divisions are pocketed against the Baltic.

Further official reports of these huge tank losses would mean that a terrific Partner battle Is going on somewhere and the sector is not likely to be Slovakia, for it is a mountainous country not suit- A. yC V- 5v i "IJrt 3n GIii Dark ihrrrlfl l)r turrlasting iGiijlit. cfje Unprs Auk iHrara (Of AU EIjr ttrars Ar Hrt 3n GJlirr (By The Associated Press) WASHINGTON. Dec. 23 A card motorists, long hopeful of getting new tires, got their bad news today a reduction in the output of passenger car casings.

All they can hope for now is that they might be made eligible for new tires late in 1945, and OPA held out little encouragement for this. Its Just as though Santa Claus stayed home on Christmas Eve. In addition to closing the door to A motorists for a long time to go, the production curtailment also means and card holders will not receive as many tires as had been planned for them. Production of passenger car tires in the first quarter of 1945 will total about 5,000,000, compared with an original schedule of 8,000,000 for the three months, and a cut of 1,650,000 from the fourth quarter of 1944. The War Production Boards rubber bureau said the reduction was designed to divert manpower and convert facilities to the production of tires for the armed forces.

They have heavy demands. In another action, OPA invalidated tire ration certificates dated March 31 and earlier, effective December 27. Few of the old certificates remain unused In the hands of consumers, the agency said. Any person whose certificate is invalidated hy the action can reapply to his local rationing board and reestablish his eligibility. Merry Christmas Near-Riot As rain Off For New Orleans ed for tank operations There was a liklihood that large-scale glft8 for a py at which 700 'British fighting was taking place In the five- youngsters will be feted.

Similar events mile-wide strip between the Ipoiy and wlll take place In France, Belgium and iilAS DEEPER AS SAID AGREE MOST iCOBIEJERMS Cairo Radio Reports Elas Headquarters Already Moved Outside Of Athens Jap Aerial Candle Burning At Both Ends Over Home Factories And On Philippine Battlefronts Fort Raid And Strikes From rkfirtp flHTC1 VII Manilla To Java All Take 1 Ul I IUu All 01 VIL BROADCAST CHRISTMAS EVE Pontiff's Chritmas Message To Be Rebroadcast In English At 11:15 A.M.CWT BY LEONARD MILLIMAN the Gran rivers north of Budapest, although the high command was saying nothing about lt. Berlin broadcasts described the Soviet surge In Latvia as a big push of extreme operational importance. Red army units at the southern end of the front drove to within nine miles of the important Slovakian rail center ol 1 Losonc (Lucenec), threatening to en-, gulf a sizeable force of Germans pushed from the Hungarian Matra mountains by another Russian drive up from the south. Merry Christmas Canadians Dig Into New Line On Italy Front Holland. Merry Christmas EXECUTE FIRST NAZIS CAUGHT IN U.

S. UNIFORM (By The Associated Press) PARIS, Dec. 23 The first German spies captured In American uniform during the Nazi counteroffensive were executed today. Supreme headquarters announced. One officer candidate and two non-commissioned officers were put to death by a firing squad.

The Germans were described as part of a group trained to impersonate Americans and admitted they were assigned to reconnolter the conditions of bridges BY JAMES M. LONG (The Associated Press) PARIS, Dec. 23 A powerful German armored smash hammering 40 miles across Luxembourg and Into Belgium had reached within 29 miles of historic Sedan by Thursday noon, and Nazis have entered the bypassed Belgian road key of Bastogne, lt was disclosed today. Supreme headquarters said the strong central wedge of the German counteroffensive had careened 18 miles beyond Bastogne 0 St. Hubert, 29 miles northeast of Sedan, scene of the 1940 Hitler breakthrough, two days ago.

A field dispatch said the Germs had entered the surrounded city of four miles inside Belgium, had won control of Wiltz, 10 miles ther east Inside Luxembourg. These ac tions also occurred Thursday. Events of the last 48 hours still were cloaked in the security news ban. The plunge to St. Hubert marked the deepest penetration by the Germans, sweeping clear across Luxembourg and 20 miles on into Belgium.

It has sprung from Vianden near the Reich frontier. The Germans northern wedge also was reported about 40 miles into Belgium In the area west of Habiemont and Mal-medy. Berlin broadcasts reported that George S. Patton's Third Army had wheeled northward and was beating against the Germans lower flank in Luxembourg and slowing the Nazi drive there, but supreme headquarters was silent about such a move. (Todays German communique said the Saar town of Dilllngen hau been retaken by the Nazis and the right bank of the Saar river cleared on a broad front.

This followed German reports Friday of U. S. pullbacks on tliis Third Army front, indicating that Patton may have thrown a hard punch northward. (A sclll later Berlin broadcast today said that while Patton was hitting the lower base of the Nazi breakthrough, First Army forces had been drawn from the Aachen sector to hammer the upper end of von Rundstedts corridor.) Tremendous losses in men and materiel were being suffered and inflicted by the Americans. U.

S. units as strong as battalions were reported cut off it undisclosed points, with some wiped out to the last man. Supreme headquarters said that up to noon Thursday the Doughboys in Bastogne still were holding out. and reported Wiltz overrun, with no word of the fate of the American garrison. But information given correspondents in the field said definitely that Bastogne had been entered, and that the Germans had taken control of Wiltz.

Bastogne is on a main highway running south from Liege. Farther south a Third enemy derge was reported threatening Arlon on the same highway. Arlon is 22 miles below Bastogne, and 39 due east of Sedan. fog which for three days almost completely grounded the massive Allied air forces lifted sufficiently to permit Flying Fortresses and fighters based in Britain to hammer western German targets this morning. RAF Lancasters and Halifaxes last night pounded Coblenz and Bingen, rail heads feeding the German offensive, and Mosquitos punched at Nazi transport behind the Belgian battleline with 300 sorties.

German planes also were active, bombing and strafing U. S. battle sectors yesterday and last night. St. Hubert is 13 miles southwest of Larouche, an area where the enemy had crossed the Ourthe river at one place.

The Allied command gave no word of any further progress by a German column which veered 13 miles northwest of Bastogne and reached as far as Laroche and crossed the Ourthe river, nor by a second spearhead which branched to the southwest and cut the road south from Bastowgne to Arlon. (By The Associated Press) ATHENS. Dec. 23 A strong attack Left-wing as forces in northwest If1 against rightist guerrillas led by I -s. Napoleon Zeiras was announced to-lT by British military headquarters.

Tie official communique said a deep Ration into the Rightist (Edes) ter-7 hsi be-n made by the Elas. it was I ported unofficially that these ranged I to 20 miles. The Elas forces are com-hided by Gen Barafls. I forces landed this morning on i I north aide of Piraeus harbor, the I 1 (By The Associated Press) CHICAGO, Dec. 23 Thirty policemen rushed to the Illinois Central railroad station last night as some 3,000 persons pushed and shoved each other in attempts to board trains for Christmas holiday trips.

Police, who said calls were re 6aying that the commotion threatened to develop Into a riot, reported that many toes were stepped on and ribs v. ere elbowed, but no one sugered injuries. The disturbance reached its peak as time neared for departure of a train for New Orleans. One hundred persons got through the gates 500 with coach tickets were left behind because of lack of space. Associated Press War Editor Japans aerial candle was burning at both ends today In sky battles over homeland aircraft factories and Philippine battlefronts.

Thirty-eight Nipponese planes were have made good destroyed yesterday, mctly in the grow-, 1 a Sc out the Insurgent ing American air offensive over the (By The Associated Press) ROME. Dec. 23 Canadian troops and roadways along the Meuse, have established a six-mile wide front They were caught by U. S. Military Po-along the Senio river northeast of Faen- nee at Aywaille, 11 miles southeast ol the Vatican radio at 12:15 p.m..

Eastern za in Italy whll the Fifth Mmy to the Liege in Belgium, wearing American War Time, Christmas eve, four hours west made local gains south of Bologna, uni Dorms and armed wltH American after he delivers the address in Italian, Allied headquarters announced today. I weapons. They were driving an Amer- lt was announced in Rome today. The communique made the first def- lean truck. The major networks In the United jnjte mention in weeks of an advance States have not scheduled a relay of the from dlrectiy SOuth of Bologna, an-1 message.

I nouncing that American troops had im- 1 The Pontiffs 8:15 a.m. address v111 proved their positions in the area of' be rebroadcast by the Vatican radio In Monte Belmonte, a peak towering 2,000 Spanish at 9:15 a.m Eastern War Time, just east of Highway 65. In French at Polish, The doughboys, who have been under man. 1:15 Romanian, guns of-Germans on this mountain; -by-Wide World War Analyst mmy Portuguese, Progress also has been made in -C4 in subduing the Elas. truc silenced a section a-aeca last night while an Elas mes- rPl7 to Lt.

Gen. R. be. British commander, on his ultimatum. The contents of 80 were not Immediately revealed.

A Cairo broadcast recorded by the 4 Eas headquarters al-- removed outside Athens 1 th Scobies first con- that there were reports the jean accepted almost all the Britlsa i adder's terms. 11(110 said lt was believed t--jV troop ip Athens and Piraeus '5d disarmed and that a new na-sT government should be form- Dutch, 3. Slovakian, 4:30. Merrv Christmas MACKENZIE Philippines where Yank infantrymen pushed through the mountains of northwest Leyte island to drive the disorganized enemy into the sea. Forward elements of the 77th Division pouring out of Ormoc Valley advanced three miles along the road to Palompon, placing them only 10 air miles from the Nipponese escape port which American artillery is shelling.

These American units and other divisions mopping up pocketed Japanese. In Ormoc corridor killed 1.546 more Japanese, slightly less than the recent dally averages. Tokyo radio claimed air victories over Japan and the Philippines even as it reported new reconnoitring raids by single Superfortresses over Tokyo and Hong Kong. An Imperial communique asserted 20 Superforts were shot down and 20 damaged in yesterdays Saipan-based B-29 strike at one of the big Mitsubishi aircraft plants at Nagoya. Japan.

The U. S. War Department announced not a single Superfort was lost although returning airmen reported 150 Japanese interceptors made one of the strongest fighter attacks they have yet faced. The War Department said five Japanese were shot down and Tokyo admitted, the loss of four. An unofficial Tokyo report claimed suicide air squadrons blew up two American warships of Mindoro Island In the Philippines today.

Japanese communique said eight warships and transports were sunk and 12 damaged in Philippine waters during the three preceding days (Continued on page 2, col. 1) for a number of weeks, advanced 500 yards In some places against dogged opposition. Canadian units were taking rapid advantage of their breakthrough at the Navlgllo bridgehead northwest of newly-captured Bagna-Cavallo. Backed up by armor which pushed xnose seeking expert opinion on possi-acroas the Fosso Munio under cover of unities of the German counteroffensive a heavy smoke screen the Canadians and no isn't) shouldnt overlook that both Secretary of War Stimson and Supreme Commander Elsenhower believe the Hitlerites may have given the Allies the chance to administer a far-reaching defeat. The way General Ike puts lt in hla historic order of the day to his troops is that by rushing out from his fixed defenses the enemy may give U3 the chance to turn his gamble into his worst defeat.

Colonel Stimson says that If the German drive fails, it definitely will shorten the war. The colonel bases his view, as he told a press conference, on the German offensives In 1918 towards the end of World War One. His recollections of these momentous drives, which all but won the conflict for the Reich, are from first hand experience, for he was In the thick of the show. DEWITT Nazis Conduct Jewish Pogrom In Budapest (By The Associated Press) GENEVA. Switzerland, Dec.

23 The World Jewish Congress announced today that 600,000 Jews were deported from Hungary during the past two months. I with some going to compulsory labor Germany but most of them being sent to tbe Auschwitz extermination camp. The Congress also reported that Iron Cross party, aided by the Nazis Is conducting a pogrom against 250,000 Jews who until now had been permitted to remain in Jewish houses in Budapest. That number had been reduced to 75.000 by the beginning of December and no Information has been received about them since, the Congress said. I was there when they drove almost to the channel, says the secretary.

Again almost to Armentleres. Again when they drove to the Marne. I remember how we felt as if they would never stop. And then I remember how, suddenly, on the 18th of July, we bit Into the German salient and it shriveled up like a balloon. And I remember how in what seemed a very short time after, the surrender came! Probably there are few World War veterans who havent had the same thought in mind, not as wishful thinking but as a military possibility.

Certainly theres a striking similarity between the Kaisers never-to-be-forgotten attempt and the Hitlerian effort thus far. So lets take a quick look at the 1918 drive not at all the phases but Just the initial onslaught against the British front across the Somme. Had that first rush Christmas $JDS MARINERS HEROIC TASK 0DS DELIVERED Associated Press) 23 President tte turns 180.000 mer- today they have per-j heroic task In delivering the greetings to the the President said 1 5r 04 receive from all of tor the job they have (Continued on page 2, coi. 1) (Continued on page 2, col. 1).