Altoona Tribune from Altoona, Pennsylvania • Page 1

-7' Weather: Today, Warm and Sunny Tomorrow, Fair Warmer merican IS. i A aye Western Normandy Nazi Line Anchor Smashed by Yanks JfPv' (ih. UMi r-tej) fer cfrj Reporter Find: isians Plunge jward Baltics And East Prussia Germans to Call Up All Reinforcements To Make Stand on East Front As Soviet Forces Steadily Advance By RUSSELL C. LANDSTROM LONDON, Thursday, July 6 (AP) While overwhelming Soviet forces lunged toward the Baltics and East Prussia almost at will, slaughtering German defenders and capturing towns in incredible numbers, the Moscow radio broadcast early today a report from Stockholm that Adolf Hitler had just reached a decision to throw all his Nazi reserves into the gigantic struggle on the eastern front. The radio report said "an extraordinary meeting has just been held at Hitler's headquarters.

Col. Gen. Kurt Zeitzler, chief of the German general staff, and Col. Gen. Ernst von Busch, commander-in-chief of the eastern front, were present.

7 j'AMm PRAS FOR FALLEN BUDDY Head bowed in prayer, a United States arine kneels beside the body of his buddy, killed during the invasion of Saipan, in the Marianas. (AP Wirephoto from U. S. Coast Guard). Yanks Push Ahead For Quick Saipan Clean Up Germans Fight Desperately; Big Allied Guns Pound Enemy Nests of Resistance By JAMES M.

LONG SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, Thursday, July 6 (IP) Bayonet-wielding American troops crashed into the rubble-strewn, streets of burning La Haye du Pults late yesterday capturing the railway station on the northern rim of that shattered German west Normandy defense anchor and coiling around both sides of the city In an apparent by-passing plunge. Hundreds of big Allied guns dominated the situation, pounding German Resistance nests inside the shell-ruined city and beyond it on the road leading down toward Brittany. But front reports told of fierce German resistance both at La Haye and in Mont Castre forest from two to four nitiles southeast of the stronghold. On the opposite end of the front German tank-supported counter-attacks force Canadian troops off Carpiquet airport, but the Canadians held firmly amid the wreckage of the village itself, three miles west of Caen, BRITISH IN BATTLE British troops on the Canadian flank also were locked in a swaying vicious fight on Heaghtg between Baron and Esquay, five miles south of Carpiquet. Gen.

Dwight Eisenhower watched the furious battle for La Haye on the Fourth of July and returned to England yesterday after conferring with Allied field commanders. The fall of La Haye, regarded as imminent, is expected to force the Germans into a five-mile retreat toward Lessay. A front dispatch from Associated Press Correspondent Don Whitehead said American troops broke into the city on the northern side while other units were engaged in an enveloping movement from the east and west, thereby avoiding costly a frontal attack. An. Allied communique issued at 11:30 p.

and trailing by some hours the events in the field, told of the capture of St. Nicholas De Pierre, three miles northwest of La Haye, and Neufmeenil, one and a half miles north of the German hinge town. "Resistance is strong and the enemy is well-positioned on high ground," the bulletin said of the attack on the western side of the Cherbourg peninsula. "In the Paen area the enemy is counter-attacking strongly, our position at Carpiquet remains firm." Nazis Getting Hard Up For Equipment By DON WHITEHEAD WITH AMERICA TROOPS OUTSIDE LA HAVE DU PUITS, July 5 (if) Germans battling U. S.

doughboys In this area are using captured Russian and Czech equipment, which indicates the German industry is having a hard time supplying the army with tho best Nazi-made weapons. The Americans fought their way into the ruins of La Haye du Puits this morning and seized the railway station and yards in 5 the northern part of the tow while other units were enveloping it from the east and west, Among the German units in front of the Americans fighting on this sector are the 265th division aod elements of the 243rd, the 77th and the 91st, which was virtually wiped out in the Cherbourg drive. (Cnntinurd on Pag I Cel. 7) Eisenhower Under Fire On Inspection SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, July 5 Gen. Dwight D.

Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied invasion forces, has returned to his headquarters in England after a five-day trip in Normandy, where he held conferences with Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, Lt. Gen. Omar N.

Bradley, and went on a Fourth of July lighter plane sweep behind the German lines. In a motor trip, Eisenhower also went past an enemy resistance pocket on the American side of the Normandy bridgehead. Eisenhower, intent on studying the entire front for himself, started on the British and Canadian sector in the east and worked over to the extreme west coast positions of the Americans. He was in exposed positions most of the time) and twice German artillery barrages started just after he had left certain areas. He flew to France in a transport Saturday.

He declined the use of a French chateau, and slept in a tent, in which a steel cot was the only "luxury" to accompany a bedroll and four G. I. blankets. After- conferring with General (Continued on Page 8, Col. 8) "We didn't see a thing not a damned thing.

I'm a sa-a-a-d tack." Gabreski, an Oil City, boy, went out again today and promptly got his German. During his 30-day leave, he said he intended to marry Kay Cochran of Grand Raplds, a girl he met in Hawaii three years ago. Vol. 88-No. 159 Thursday, Lad, 4, Killed When Struck By Automobile Little Edgar Mills, 4, son of Mr and Mrs.1 Edgar E.

Mills, 310 Walton avenue, yesterday afternoon was killed when he dashed oil-: into the street as the auto of. James Irvin Bennett, of Tyrone R. D. 2, coming Tlong nr. moderate speed according to a report to Coroner Daniel Replog'.

The driver of the car, Mr. Een-n tt. made every effort to avoid hitting the child but he saw the boy on such short notice he was unable to stop. He made a quick turn to avoid striking the youngster but his turn was not quick enough and the left front fender hit the boy. The child was rushed to the Altoona hospital where he died about an hour later.

The coroner was investigating last night but had not yet rendered a verdict. What witnesses were available it is said declared the car was not going at high speed and the driver had done all possible to avoid striking the child. The boy is survived by his parents and a sister, Carol Ann Mills, at home. Gen. De Gaulle Will Meet FDR Today WASHINGTON, July 5 (IP) Elimination of the question of recognizing the French National committee as a government cleared the air today for General Charles de Gaulle's momentous meeting with President Roosevelt tomorrow.

A ruyal welcome has been planned. American diplomats have designed it deliberately to show that despite this government's policy on that issue, the leader of the French group is due. the highest respect here. Newsmen considered the recognition question as written off, in the light of a press conference statement today by Secretary Hull. The secretary of state said it was his understanding that de Gaulle's conversations with American officials will be general, specializing on no one particular thing.

The probability of such an understanding was made even more definite in French diplomatic quarters where it was said de Gaulle had no intention of insisting on legal recognition. Thus if appeared 'that a preliminary exchange between Washington and Algiers had eliminated the most explosive question and prepared the way for a friendly though less formal understanding on a working level. But the success or failure of de Gaulle's quest for closer relations between the French committee and the United States depends almost entirely on how well he and President Roosevelt get along. The last time they mst was at the Casablanca conference in January, 1943. and-sparks flew.

It is expected that de Gaulle Will have several talks with the President while he is here. Flying Bombs Strike Hospital LONPON, July 5 WH) Dozens Of babies were carried to safety tonight by nurses some holding three or four infants in their arms at a time when a flying bomb struck a hospital in southern England as the Germans' blind attacks were stepped up on the eve of Prime Minister Churchill's appearance in commons to make a promised statement on the robots. All of the babies were saved and the casualties were 'small with only one fatality a nurse. Famous pilots, who participated Jn the battle of Britain, now are taking a leading part In the fight against the flying bombs, it was disclosed tonight. They are led by Air Marshal Sir RodericxHill, commanding the entire defense scheme against the robots.

Fighter pilots reported they were very successful during the day in destroying the bUK-bombs ver wide areas. I 1 a I I i Four Cents Fourth Avenue Soldier Killed In France Staff Sergeant Frank Sciarrillo, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nick Sciarrillo, 1016 Fourth avenue, serving with the United States infantry the third day of the French invasion, was killed in action June 8 in France according to a telegram to the parents from the war department late yesterday afternoon, I The young soldier, overseas nearly two years, was the veteran of a lot of the toughest campaigns of the United States Army, having served in North Africa, Tunisia, Sicily and then with the American invasion forces in France. Born Oct.

13, 1917, in Altoona, he was educated in the Mount Carme parochial school and later graduating from Catholic High school. After that he was employed as a pipe-fitter in the Altoona works car shop. He was inducted in Feb ruary, 1942, trained at Camp Wheeler, and Camp Blanding, and then went overseas Aug. 8, 1942, landing in England. From there he went to North Africa where be saw action from the start.

Then followed the campaigns in Tunisia and Sicily after which he was sent to England. When the jn vasion came he was among the early troops to land on French soil and on the third day he was killed. He was a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic church of this city. He is survived by his father and mother, two sisters and a brother all at home, the Misses Edna and Yolanda Sciarrillo and William. Tyrone, R.

Soldier Dies In Action The war department last night announced three Blair county cas- ualties. They are: Technician fourth grade Paul J. Light, son of Mrs. Love Light, Tyrone R. D.

3., killed in action in the Mediterranean theater of operations. Private First Class Henry G. Mills, son of Mrs. Ruth R. Mills.

208 East Fourth street, wounded in action in the Mediterranean Private First Class Earl N. St. Clair, son of Mrs. Margaret St. Clair, 2109 Beale avenue, wounded in action in the Mediterranean Two Suspects Held In Attack On Child PITTSBURG, July 5 (Police tonight continued questioning two suspects in an effort to ascertain the assailant who brutally attacked and stabbed a 10-year-old girl in dense woods near Highland park, The child, Helen Hrinsin of Blawnox, is in an oxygen tent in Pittsburg hospital, critically injured from three stab wounds in the chest, County Detective Joseph Stack said the child identified a Westmoreland county suspect taken to her bedside today, exclaiming: "That's him." Slack said he was dubious, how- ever, that the suspect was actual- ly the assailant.

The girl was in highly nervous condition, The attack occurred yesterday on a bridle path near the park. The child told detectives a tall man with a moustache coaxed her Into an automobile with an offer to drive her home, A freshly dug hole near the scene of the assault led police believe the assailant planned to bury the child, who, police said, apparently got away and stag- gered to a nearby farm house while the hole was being dug. Ihwhall Score NATIONAL tf AOI'E Philadelphia Piftihnrc 4 inrinnali 4. Brooklyn I. HoKlon Chleatn t.

St. Lorn 1. Ne Vork 1 (night) AMKRICAN I.K.Mir New Ytrk 8. Cleveland 1. Wahlntin 3.

Chirac I (nithl) s. I.m'. rhilarielnhla 3 (niaht) i Detroit Boatoi 1 Uwllljht). July 6, 1944 "Zeitzler said the German army was faied with superiority it could not equal and Hitler was said to have ordered that all reserves were to be flung into the battle at once to stop the Soviet advance." The report that the Germans had decided to throw in every possible reinforcement to make a stand in the east came after Red troops had crashed closer to Wilno (Vilna) in pre-war Poland, capturing two important rail junctions on the line from Minsk, and after the Germans themselves had said in broadcast that the viltal communications center of Kowel in cen'tral Poland had been evacuated, possibly indicating a new Russian offensive south of the Pripyat marshes. lr The presence of vonBusch at the council of war would underscore the urgency of the demand for further reinforcements in the eUst to avert complete disaster, conceivably a break-through to the reich itself.

Any decision by Hitler to drain the fatherland and those spaces it still feeds upon of last reserves doubtless was hastened by the threat perhaps the accomplished fact of the fresh Soviet drive in the Kowel area. The early morning supplement to the Soviet communique said the Germans had thrown in reinforcements on some sectors of the central front and had fought savage defensive battles west of Minsk. These were as fruitless as their battles earlier in the 13-day-old Soviet drive, however, and Moscow said enormous losses had been inflicted on the Germans in the last two days. Besides advancing along the Minsk-Wilno railway in the drive that captured Molodeczno and the railway town of Smorgonie, 21 miles beyond. Red troops also smashed 26 miles west and northwest from Minsk and- took Vol-ma and Rakov.

2700 NAZIS WIPED OUT The supplement said that 2,700 German officers and men were wiped out in two days of fighting in the vicinity of Rakov, an important highway junction. Sixty-five tanks and self-propelled guns and more than 1,000 vehicles were destroyed in this drive and great quantities of war material, included ammunition and supply dumps, were captured. One unit clearing the forests southwest of Minsk took 2,000 Germans prisoner and bagged tremendous booty. East of Minsk 800 Nazi troops were wiped out and many prisoners taken during mopping up operations, the supplement said. Premier Stalin personally an-(Continued on Fage 8, Col, 6) asis Killed 120,000 In Minsk, Reds Say By Associated Press The Germans killed or tortured to death 120,000 persons in Minsk, capital of White Russia, and no residents were left in levelled Zhlobin, the news agency Tass said today.

Among those killed at Minsk were "several tens of thousands of Hamburg Jews brought to the Minsk ghetto," it added. In the Lelchitsy district of the. Polessye region, Tass charged, the Germans killed 8.000 residents deported 3,800 to Germany, and destroyed all but 32 houses out of 7,562. Onl- 800 residents remained in' Vltebr'VTOnnr'RussItfhS captured it, the report said. Big Aerial Offensive Lashes Nazis By GLADWIN HILL LONDON, Thursday, July 6 (P) Two tremendous forces of RAF bombers swept over the southeast coast of England last night and early today and shortly after the first group roared towards the cintinent heavy explosions and gunfire were heard in the Pas De Calais rocket-bomb area of the French coast.

Later a second force of bombers was heard droning away toward Europe. Allied air forces gave the most impressive offensive since D-day yesterday with at least five strong daylight bomber forces and thousands of fighters blasting the Germans from the channel to the Mediterranean and American heavy returning to their English bases after shuttle-bombing the Nazis from England to Russia to Italy. The 7,000 mile circuit clamped tight an aerial ring 0f steel around Germany exposing the whole of Hitler's Europe to the bombs of the Allies. (Continued on Pane 8, Col. 8) 5th Army Faces Hardest Fight Sipce Anzio By JOHN F.

CHESTER ROMii, July 5 (P) American troops have fought doggedly forward to within less than IS rllnn miles of the big Italian west coast port of Livorno (Leghorn) and are engaged In the preliminaries, of what may prove their hardest battle since the Anzio beachhead, Allied headquarters announced today. Frontline reports showed the Germans were dug in on high ground running about 35 miles inland from Castlglioncello on the coast through Rosignano and Vol terra to Casole d'Elsa, which is about 15 miles west of newly-captured Siena. "It is clear that the enemy Intends to hang dpggedly to Rosignano and Volterra in his endeavor to delay our advance on Livorno," said an- official Allied communique. VIOLENT FIGHTING Violent fighting was in progress along almost the entire length (fntiaaed oa Fife 8, Col. ii 26 Jap Ships Destroyed By U.

S. Subs WASHINGTON, July 5 Of) Destruction of 26 Japanese vessels by Allied submarines was reported today, underlined by. a statement, from, Secretary Forrestal that undersea warfare against Japan "progresses with mounting success." The general Pacific campaign against Japanese outer defenses, Forrestal said, has gone "at a somewhat faster pace than had been hoped for." American submarines' torpedoed 17 of the Nipponese craft including a light cruiser, a destroyer and 15 cargo and transport vessels. From the British admiralty in London came news of the sinking of nine more Japanese supply ships by British submarines. Acceleration of the attacks on the Japanese shipping lanes may be anticipated, said Forrestal, declaring that submarine crews deserve the "lion's share of the credit for knocking the props from under Japan's conquest" Air forces, he told a news conference, also are battering the Japanese merchant fleet with in-Creasing success and the campaign "will be accelerated by our advance into the Marianas." Forrestal declared that "logistic-ally speaking, we are getting close to the place where we can force the enemy to stand up and fight." He added promptly, however, "I have no illusions but that the fighting which the enemy will do when he is cornered will be bitter1 and costly." Two medium size tankers, vitally important in moving fuel for the Japanese garrisons were In the latest bag of the American submersibles.

Russian Coal Commission Arrives At Penn State STATE COLLEGE, July 5 (IP) Three members of a Russian coal commission studying that in- dustry in the United States, arrived today at the Pennsylvania State of heavy industrial eouipment of the government purchasing com mission of the Soviet Union in the United members are Barbanov and N. Komarov. At the conclusion of the conferences Here the mission will go to Indiana, to observe operations of the Rochester' and Pittsburg coal company there. 35 Plane Score July 5 Wing Commander J. E.

(Johnny) John on, A Canadiun spitfire pHot and leading allied ace in the European war zone, shot down two more German planes today to run his score to 35 all destroyed in aerial combat. U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, PEARL HARBOR, July 6 (IP) U. S.

Marines and infantry pressed for a quick cleanup today on strategic Saipan island within bombing range of Japan, powerfully aided by American carrier tusk force smashes at enemy banes on islands to the north and south. The, Nipponese, squeezed into a corner at the north end of this Marianas island, are making a final gesture for their emperor. The showdown clash is being fought In an area the Japanese expected they must one day defend. It is filled with pillboxes, blockhouses and shelters. Every cave is manned by enemy riflemen and machine gunners.

More than 2,000 miles southward other American fighting men pushed their rapid conquest; of Noemfoor island, stepping stone tin the Invasion route to Mindanao, Japanese stronghold at the southern end of the Philippines. LIGHTNING ATTACK In a lightning two-day strike into Japan's Volcano and Bonin islands, an American carrier task force sank or beached three destroyers, sank two other vessels, damaged several others and destroyed 64 to 80 planes in combat. Nine American carrier planes were lost. Not one U. S.

surface vessel was damaged. Planes of the speedy task force struck first at Iwo island in the Volcano (Kazan) group. Fifty-five enemy planes, and probably 24 more, were destroyed at Iwa, which is 755 miles southeast of okyo. On independence day, the task force knifed northward into the Bonins to gve the Japs a taste (Continued on Page 8, Col. 6) 75 Trapped By Fire In Ohio Mine BELLA IRE, 0., July 5 (IP) Seventy-live miners rep orted trapped tonight by fire in fhe Powhatan mine of the Powhatan Mining 15 miles south of here, and 100 men were fighting the flames.

The Information came from two men at the scene Deputy Sheriff W. S. McLaughlin of Belmont county and Henry Aby of Clarington, a member of the rescue crew. Eurllcr, a mine superintendent had said that only 12 were in the burning section of the shaft and that their liberation was expected soon. Roy Fox, the superintendent, hag been in the mine since the fire was discovered at 1 p.

EWT. F.I RES AT THREE ENTRIES Rescue worker Aby said fires were burning at three entries. He reported that 199 made their way to safety. The fires started, he said, when falling slate struck a trolley wire. Aby said the fire was about four I miles from the mine entrance, and the trapped men erected a barricade to close the section from, flames.

Observer at the mine, the largest soft coal pit. in Ohio, said originally 74 men had been cauijht behind the slate fall, but that G. (r'nntinard nn Fate Cnl. K) 1125 ELEVENTH AVE. Lt.

Col. Gabreski Becomes Top-Scoring U.S. Ace Gabreski quit a pre-medical t0 discuw mining problems course at Notre Dame university wlth mdala of the school of min-to join the air force in 1940. He eial industries. They will remain got his first German plane Aug-j four days.

list 24, 1943, and his enthusiastic The mission is headed by I. G. ground crew had. been predicting Kurakov, chief of the department By HOWARD COWAN A U. S.

EIGHTH AIR FORCE FIGHTER BASE IN BRITAIN July 6 (IP) Lt. Col Francis Gabreski, 25-year-old Thunderbolt pilot who wanted to shoot down a 28th Gernnn plane before going home to get married, got wish today when he knocked down a Messerschmitt 109 near Evreux, France, and became the trip-scoring dC in the eut'ro P. S. air force. Just, when hi will go homj i not definite.

la joking conversation with fellow fliers tonight after dinner, Gabreski "I'm going to st3y on until the flVjt of August." "And get 35 so as to get ahead of Johnson?" a friend asked, not knowing that W'ng Commander J.J!. (Johnny) Johnson, leader of a Canadian prcflre wing, ha I got two more Germans today for a score of 35. Counting up the days lef; in July. Gabreski grinned and shook his head, "Aw, no, that'd mean too much." Gabreski got his 27th last week, i tying Maj. Robert S.

Johnson of Lawtan, and Maj. Richard I. Bong, of Poplar, Wis. He had been' pressing ever since for the 28th, but returned disconsolately yesterday, exclaiming: Annual Deficit of 2000 Doctors Seen CHICAGO, July 5 JP) The present policies of the armed forces and selective service will result in an annual deficit of 2,000 doctors each year after tho war, the journal of the American Medical association declared today. Terming the predicted shortage of physicians an "alarming situation," the journal asserted: "The responsibility must rest with the armed forces, the selective service system, the President and the congress of the United States." The journal's editorial appeared as President Roosevelt In Washington declined to interfere with a selective service board order banning occupational draft deferments for pre-medical itudenU after July ever since that he would break the record.

One of them today explained thai Gabreski figures all the 'angles. He refuses to use tracer bullets because "sometimes you slip up behind a and miss with the first few bursts. Thoe tracers give you away." Also lie goes into combat with half ths amount of ammunition normally carried', contending that a full load makes, the wings too heavy to turn onvenlently lnsid.9 a Messerschmitt. Gabreski came to the European theater in October, 1942, and for a time flew with a Polish RAF squadron. He holds the Polish Cioss of Valor besides the American Distinguished Service Cross, H'nnHnneit on Fate Cnl.

s) WEAR SIMMS DIAMONDS AND 10(1 WEAK THE FINEST.