The News-Herald from Franklin, Pennsylvania • Page 1

THE NEWS-HERALD THE WEATHER Light himw today mill tonight. Tui'Nliiy himw fliinli'H mill i little lolilcr. FINAL EDITION Exclusive NEA and Central Prent Pictures and Feature. C7T1I YEAR NO. 19,557.

FRANKLIN AND OIL CITY, MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1945. FOUR CENTS. CM IrTOLDEII KBMCTOKY ftt BUY 1 rrr 11 5 mil Russians Hurl Might at Nazis in est Battle Bigg YANKS IN WHITE FIGHT BULGE BATTLE IN SNOW rlm' 'March to Being 1 Hard Early Capture of Belgian Town Due; Yanks Are Joined Nazi Garrison, Ringed by Yank Troops and Armor, Battles Desperately; Our Artillery Raps Transport Columns. YANKS SHOVED OUT OF NOVILLE By Stalin Forces Berlin Admits Soviet Offensive Raging on Both Ends of Front from Lithuania to Yugoslavia; 115 Divisions in Blow. DRIVE IN POLAND IS MOUNTING By BOYD D.

LEWIS. PARIS, Jan. 15. UP American tanks and infantry stormed the near defenses of Houffalize today and a dispatch from Lt. Gen.

Courtney H. Hodtres' headquarters forecast the By BRUCE W. MUNN. LONDON, Jan. 15.

UP One of the greatest battles of the war raged today along a virtually unbroken front from Lithuania to Yugoslavia, with possibly and Germans locked in at least nine closely synchronized struggles. "Bitter fighting has flared up on the entire front," the German high command reported. The Russians already were calling their great winter offensive the march to Berlin. Nazi military spokesmen warned 'V WEARING THEIR CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS, American infantrymen of the 3rd Army move along the snow drifts of the Luxembourg area at the southern end of the "battle of the bulge" which now finds the Nazis fleeing frdm their self-created trap. Engaged in this advance are (left to right): Sgt.

Richard C. Trigueiro, Lomita Park, Pvt. Paul C. Rios, Kansas City, Sgt. Curtis L.

Corns, Prospect Hill, N. and Sgt. Harry S. Horvitz of Detroit Mich. This is an Army Signal Corps photo.

(international) NVASION ARMY 200 Carrier Planes in New Blow at Airfields On Island of Formosa 30 MILES INLAND early capture of the Belgian base which once was at the center of the collapsed Ardennes salient. Houffalize was invested on all sides, and assault forces of the First and Third armies were closing in for the kill, with one spearhead driving down the main highway from Liege to within a mile and a half of the key transport center. A few miles to the northwest, outriders of the First and Third armies met for the first junction of Hodges' and Lt. Gen George S. Patton's troops since the first phase of the German offensive which split the 12th Army group wide open.

Encounter Stiff Nazi Resistance. United Press Correspondent John McDermott reported from Hodges' headquarters that two First Army columns were shouldering in toward Houffalize against stiff German resistance. By early afternoon one had struck down the trunk highway from the north almost to the outskirts of the town. The German garrison, ringed by American troops and armor, was fighting desperately, and fragmentary units were trying to filter through the U. S.

lines and escape over the thinly guarded back roads to the east. Hodges' artillery was pounding the German transports milling around in the battle zone and generally falling back to the shelter of the Siegfried defenses. Troops of 30th Division Inside Thirbnont. Troops of the 30th Division were battling inside Thirimont, four miles southeast of Malmedy, where the bitterest battle of the First Army front had been going on for more than 24 hours. This battle was holding up the push down into the northeastern' shoulder of the salient by Hodges' left wing.

While the First Army columns were slugging down through Wilbrin and Dinez to the northern approaches-of Houffalize," desperate German counter-blows below the town drove the van- guard of the Third Army out of NovilJe, five miles south of Houffalize, only, a few hours after the town was captured. Ice, snow, bitter cold and fog which prevented air support slowed down the concerted drives by the First, Third and British INDIANA FLIER MAKES LANDING ON LINGAYEN that the Red army, intends to end the war." Russians Aiming for Krakow. So far Moscow had confirmed only Marshal Ivan S. Konev's push across the frozen plains of south-central Poland, aimed squarely at the great Nazi defense bastion of Krakow and the rich industries of German Silesia. But Berlin said the Red army offensive had raced to both ends of the front, with sledge-hammer blows so near each other that it was difficult to determine where one attack left off and another began.

Nazi propagandists said the Soviets had flung 115 divisions, plus more than 15 tank corps, into four fronts alone, while a United Press dispatch from Moscow figured German strength in Poland at 100 divisions. On the single new front reported by Moscow, Soviet dispatches said the Germans had been unable to rally, and the Russians were rolling westward at a clip which threatened to split the Nazi armies in Poland. Budapest Still a "Hot Spot." The German high command said the main battle zones, from south to north, were Budapest, the Danube valley northwest of the Hungarian capital, the Hungarian-Slovakian border area, the Krakow front, the Pulawy region of the Vistula valley 66 miles south of Warsaw, the Magnusze area 33 miles below Warsaw, the Vistula-Bug triangle north of the Polish capital, Soviet bridgeheads across the Narew on either side of Puluts'c north of Warsaw, and a broad front in East Prussia. The Nazi command claimed that 175 Russian tanks had been destroyed ''in the great winter battle between the Carpathian mountains and the Niemen," 82 in the Narew bridgehead and 51 in East A Moscow dispatch said Konev's offensive was expanding so rapidly that it was impossible to tell whether the Red marshal's ultimate objective was Germany itself, the capture of Third U. S.

Fleet, Still Under Radio Silence, Swings North From the South China Sea. WARSHIPS JOIN IN ASSAULT By MAC K. JOHNSON. PEARL HARBOR, Jan. 10.

UP Enemy broadcasts said 20 American carrier planes presumably from Admiral William F. Halsey's rampaging Third Fleet raked airfields and com-inuuicatioux ou the Japanese island bastion of Formosa- The broadcast indicated that thej Third fleet, under radio silence since I It wrecked 3R enemy ships in attacks along a stretch of the French Indo-China const last Friday, had swung north from the South China Sea for its third assault on Formosa in two weeks. Small Fires Started at TaUao. A communique issued by Japanese army headquarters said the carrier planes bombed airfields and commuiii-cations facilities and also strafed and blasted Taichu, Slioka and Takao and several other villages for four and a half hours. The communique acknowledged "some damage" to airfields and said "small fires" were started at Takao, where 30 civilians were reported to have been killed or wounded.

The raids lasted from 8:30 a. ni. to 1 p. ui (Tokyo time), the communique said. Five of the raiders were shot down ant one damaged, the communique said.

It was broadcast by the Domei agency, transmitted by Tokyo radio ami recorded by FCC monitors. Report 33 Vessels Sunk. Carrier planes also attacked Formosa Jan. 2 and 3 and again last Tuesday iu an attempt to prevent the Japanese from moving air and troop reinforcements into embattled Luzon in the Philippines. During the raid last Tuesday, "3 ships were sunk, including two destroyers or destroyer escorts, and 104 damaged, including a destroyer and five destroyer escortA B-20 superfortresses from China kept up the rain of bombs on Formosa yesterday, while Lilierators from Gen.

Douglas MacArthur's Philippines bases hit the island stronghold Thursday (Continued on Vaa 6.) GROOM HELLCAT v. Ln tVITH U. S. FORCES ON LUZON, Jan. 13.

Delayed I UP Ensign Robert D. McFarland, 21, of Indiana, pilot of a carrier-based Wildcat fighter plane, today made the first American landing on hastily-repaired Lingayen airfield. While flying ou a patrol. Me-Fariaud discovered that his fuel lines were clogged and headed for Lingayen. His engine ertt out as lie came down, but he was able to nose his iplane over in a bomb crater and escape injury.

Berlin is Russians' Goal: FINAL DRIVE OF WAR IS ROLLING Main Push is Across Polish Plain, Aimed at Krakow Whole Front is Now in Action. By LOITS F. KEEMLE. United Press War Editor. The evidence from both Berlin and Moscow is that the Russians have embarked on what they intend to be their final offensive of the war, designed to crush Oermauy between the millstones of the Red armies in the east aud the other Allies iu the west.

The main Russian drive, the only one so far confirmed by Moscow, appears to be across the Polish plain, aimed at Krakow, tiermau Silesia and the direct road to Berlin. At the same time, Berlin says that other drives are in progress all along the front from East Prussia to central Hungary. The military picture thus presented is a dismal one for the Germans. Their strained resources in manpower and equipment are bound to be pegged down to approximately their present positions in tiie vat two-front war which is being opened and should be (Continued on Page 6.) TO CLAW JAPS 4 ti fit a becond armies w-hich were- squeezing the Germans out of the salient. Aranguards of the three armies were barely two to four miles from Houffalize early today and closing in from all sides at a speed that foreshadowed its capture within a matter of hours.

Strong German rear guard covering the town were reported trying desperately to flee over secondary roads to St. Vith, 18 miles to the northeast, where Marshal Karl von Ruudstedt was rallying the remnants of his battered armies for another stand. (Front and Shoef reports did mt. make clear the situation west of Houffalize or whether the new junction of the armies had cut off any German troops. The best information indicated, however, that the pressure on the side of the salient had squeezed the Germans eastward and most if not all of them had withdrawn to or fbeyond the lateral line through Houffalize.) St.

Yith Now Menaced. St. Vith itself, the last German stronghold on Belgian soil, was menaced by American First Army columns fighting slowly down across the north-(Continued on Page 6.) WILSON NAMED TO BE NEW ENVOY TO TURKEY WASHINGTON, Jan. 13. CP-Edwin C.

Wilson, 51-year-old career diplomat, was nominated by President Roosevelt today to be Ambassador to Turkey. He would succeed Laurence A. Steinhardt, new U. S. envoy to the Czechoslovak government.

Wilson served until last May as American representative to the French Committee of National Liberation at Algiers. Then he became director of the State Department's office of special political affairs under Lea Pasvolsky, special assistant to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Wilson's nomination completed the assignment of ambassadors to the European countries. Stein-hardt's recent transfer to Czech government-in-exile rounded out this country's representation among the regimes exiled to London by the war.

a FROM LINGAYEN Pour Across Agno River and Advance to Within Less Than 80 Miles of Manila Today. JAPS' DEFENSE LINE BROKEN Kv WILLIAM 15. DICKINSON. CEXEUAL i M'AUTHUK'S Luzon, Juu. American invasion troops, stuhbiug 30 miles inland from the Lhtaaycu fjitlf, poured across the' Agno fliver nnd'nd-' vanced' to- within 80 miles or less of Manila today.

The forcing of the Agno in strength shattered tit one stroke probably the strongest natural defense line north of Manila and optimism grew at Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters that the Philippines capital would be in American hands within a few weeks, rather than months as first believed. While the main American columns spread more than a quarter of the distance from Lingayen to Manila In a frontal advance, other forces widened the six-day-old beachhead along the gulf itself to A7 miles. Mortar Fire is Heavy. A front dispatch disclosed that American troops striking east from Diimortis at the northeastern tip oi the bridgehead had been halted temporarily by mortar and sniper tlr west of tlie Apangat River, three miles from the enemy air base at Rosario.

fighting" flared, the dispatch said. (A Japanese communique said today that American forces were "gradually closing in" on Japanese positions on both sides ot the Paugasinan U'ro-vince) yki'm, Japanese units were said to have counter-attacked Ameri can troops who landed near 'Dainortis on the northeast side of the beachhead and to have killed or wounded 1,000 of them in fighting last Thurs day and Friday). (Tokyo said three to four American divisions have landed in the Lingayen Gulf. A Japanese military commenta tor said the invasion offered the Japanese a "golden opportunity for anni hilating the enemy," hut conceded that flexible American strategy made the "opportunity for a defensive campaign hard." (Continued on P.fge 6.) Indian Troops Are Consolidating Hold Along Burma Coast SOUTHEAST ASIA COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, Kandy, Ceylon, Jan. 115.

UP Veteran troops of the fl6th Indian Corps, consolidating their newly-won positions on Burma's west coast, have beaten off a determined Japanese counter-attack northwest of 'Myebon, headquarters announced today. Stubborn Japanese resistance against British tank and infantry forces was reported a mile northwest of Myebon which was seized following the British invasion 32 miles southeast of Akyab, important west coast Japanese planes attempting to raid British shipping off Myebou peninsula were driven off with the loss of at least three enemy aircraft, a communique said. Headquarters also reported stubborn. enemy resistance iu the Kaladan valley, 10 miles southeast of Kyauk-taw, with British positions under artillery fire. Lieut.

Gen. William J. Slim's British 14th Army was revealed to have pushed 120 miles south of Shwebo, encountering no Japanese opposition in its drive on Mandalay. CRUSADE FOR SOULS. Plan now, to hear Dr.

Nathan Cohen Beskin, converted Russian Jewish Rabbi, at Free Methodist Church, Jan. 17-28. 13Jault ATTENTION, ELKS! Reservations must be in by miduiglit tonight, for Fish Fry, 'Jan. 19. It Krakow, the seizure of the Kat- owice steel and coal basin, or the flanking of Warsaw.

The Hermans already were reported falling back toward the Czestochova-Katowice line to cover the Silesian frontier of the "Holy soil" of Germany itself. line broadcast quoted the Soviet writer, lyla Ehrenburg, as saying in Communist party organ Prnvda 1 hut "the Red army is heading for in Berlin we shall he." Luiiled Press Correspondent Henry Shapiro, fresh from a trip to Lublin and Warsaw, reported from Moscow that a l'olish army more than HOO.OOO strong was holding Konev's right flank, its forward units, which lie visited a few days ago, "appeared to be awaiting impatiently the order to fling themselves across the Vistula and complete the liberation of Warsaw." New Polish Army in Action. For the' first time the new Polish army held a vital, separate sub-sector closely co-ordinated with the first White Russian army's Narew front, Shapiro reported. (Continued on Page 6.) Doughboys Finding French Capital is Expensive Place Bv JOSEPH W. (JKIGG, Jr.

PARIS, Jan. 15. UP Doughboys 4S-hour leave in Purls are finding the French capital one of the most expensive places iw the world. They may arrive with fat bankrolls of francs, accumulated from weeks of front-line pay, but they go through them in the 4S hours with no effort at all. There is no Indication apart from the usual number of sharks to be found everywhere, including New York, Chicago and Loudon that the French are out to trim the Ol's.

Everything here is expensive for everyone. The cost' of living has soared nboiit 300 per cent, since 1939. It still is soaring and the exchange rate of (Continued ou Page 0.) Veterans' Aid Plans Yet in Embryo Stage Many Legislatures Have Bills Pending and Some Action is Forecast This Year. By United Press. State veterans' aid programs still are in the blue print stage with little or no action taken by legislatures to help the returning soldier, a survey revealed today.

Many legislatures do, however, have veterans' aid bills pending before them and some action is anticipated this year. The New Jersey legislature is an exception. It passed a bill last year granting servicemen loans up to $3,000 to establish themselves in business. The state guarantees 90 ier cent, of the loau to the lending bank. Public Works Programs.

Proposed veterans' legislation ranges from free tuition at the state university to bonuses aud huge public work programs. The Ohio legislature has before it $25,000,000 appropriation bill to give veterans a bonus of $12.50 for each month of service overseas and $10 for each month served in this country. Another bill before the Ohio legislature would permit servicemen to hunt without a license. Illinois also is studying bonus bills ranging from to $1,000. Nebraska's unicameral legislature (Continued ou Page 6.) NEARLY40OOLOST IN BATTLE OF BULGE WASHINGTON, Jan.

15. UP American losses in the zone of the German 'break-through in the Ardennes totalled nearly 40,000, Secretary" of War Henry L. Stimsou announced today. to live anywhere iu the Philippines, the only surviving American resident of San Fabian on the Lingayen beachhead told me today. It was a big day in the life of Irving W.

Hammond formerly of MlddlChoro. when Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Migration forces stormed ashore neat his home. A short gaunt figure, Hammond presented a pathetic picture in his tattered blue shirt and ragged shorts made of gunnysack. He was unshaven, wore a native-made straw hat and apparently had gone barefoot for many months.

The Japanese abuse was an old story to the io year-old milling engineer who (Continued ou Page $.) 'j Our Bombers Rap Key Rail Yards in Reich Huge American Armada Strikes at Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Freiburg and Reulingen Today. LONDON, Jan. 15 UP More than 000 Liberators and Fortresses, escorted by nearly TOO Mustang and Thunderbolt lighters, struck damaging blows today against four key rail yards in southern Germany as a fol-lowup of HAF night attacks oil shrinking Nazi oil supplies. British Lancaster heavy bombers with a Mustang escort escort joined the daylight attack, hitting two benzol plants in the Ruhr, the Robert Muser works on the outskirts of Boch-uni and the Ewald Fortsepzumt works about three miles northeast of A communique from strategic air force headquarters said the huge American armada struck shortly after noon at rail yards in Ingolstadt, 45 miles north of Munich; at Augsburg, 35 miles northwest of Munich; at Reut-lingen, 20 miles south of Stuttgart, and at Freiburg, 40 miles south of Strasbourg. Attack Rocket Sites.

Meanwhile, the Air Ministry announced a renewal of the Allied air assault against Nezi rocket-launching sites in Holland and reported for the 57th day since last Nov. 15 that "enemy air activity" had been directed during the past 24 hours against southern England. Similar announcement of German rocket and buzz bomb attacks have missed only out of the last 70 days. A dispatch from advanced Ninth Air Force headquarters revealed that the Luftwaffe now has at least four (Continued on Page 6.) night sky as their. bombs found vital targets.

Hundreds of Direct Hits. Hundreds of direct hits also were reported in the attack on Dulnieu, whose fuel depot 17 miles southwest of Munster, was one of those from which the German army drew supplies for the break-through in Ardennes. Berlin was hit twice during the night, first at 8:30 p. m. and agaiu about midnight.

Other RAF night raiders attacked railways behind the western front. A communique from supreme headquarters in Paris said Allied planes shot down 235 enemy planes in 12 hours of whirling combats over Eu-(Coutlnued ou Page 6.) Abuse of Filipinos by Japs Will Never be Forgotten Over 1,100 RAF Bombers Hit Oil Plants, Depots in Reich EDITOR'S NOTE Francis L. McCarthy, United Press correspondent who has covered the Pacific wir since Pearl Harbor, has returned to- Luzon fur the first time in nearly 10 years and is accompanying Gen. Douglas Mac-Arthur's forces ou the road 'back to Manila where he was born. Here is oue of his dispatches from the Lingayen Gulf beachhead.

By FRANCIS L. MCCARTHY. WITH U. S. INVASION FOhCEii ON LUZON, Jan.

Delayed) UP Japanese abuse and oppression reached such uutmaginable proportions in tlK-last three years ihat the Filipinos never agaiu will permit any Japanese By LEO S. DISHER. LONDON, Jan. 15 UP More than 1,100 RAF bombers took over the offensive against Germany's shrinking oil supplies last night and early today, bombing a synthetic oil a fuel depot and Berlin in a sequel to yesterday's raids in which 243 enemy planes were destroyed. Soon after dawn, American heavy bombers with an escort of fighters soared back over Germany for a new round of attacks.

Four-engined Lancaster bombers attacked the Lenna synthetic oil plant at Merseburg, 17 miles west of Leipzig, one, at 9 p. m. and the other after midnight. Returning crewmen reported tremendous explosions split the Lf iTi if ffif-T mmi imr' it Tl BUSY WITH FUEL LINES AND OIL CANS, crewman aboard a U. S.

Navy, aircraft carrier get a Grumman Hellcat ready to pounce on the Japs around Manila Bay. Note the two rockets under the near wing. Though they're relatively new weapons, rockets are being used by the Navy with marked success. Navy choto. (Iitternatiorm Soundpioto).