The Daily Register from Harrisburg, Illinois • Page 1

TII1S EMBLEM I) wearer as an honorably discharged veteran of World War U. THE DAILY REGISTER Published Continuously Since 1915 THE DAILY REGISTER, HARRISBURG, FRIDAY, AP1UL 27, 1945 NEW SKK1KS, VOLUMK 30, NO. 255 TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JUNCTURE WITH REDS Germany Cut in 3 Fragments; Seal Doom of Hitler Nazi Diehards In Berlin in 'Death Pocket' Fall of Capital Only Matter of Hours, Reported Seek Release of French Political Prisoners; Held in Fortress By CORINNE HARDESTY United Press Staff Correspondent PARIS, (April 27-- (U.R) --The newspaper Liberation said today that the International Red Cross has negotiated the release of Edouard Daladier, Leon Blum and all other French political prisoners held by the Germans. United Press Staff Correspondent Th ort 1 f' lie asu Marshal A -i Henri Philippe Petain, the "Hero LONDON, April sian siege forces clamped the German defenders of'Berlin into a last shrinking death pocket around the Tiergarten today and a Swedish report said the fall of the razed By ROBERT MUSEL capital was "only a matter of hours." Fanaticaal Nazi diehards, purportedly led by Adolf Hitler, were reported falling back into the Tiergarten at the heart of Berlin for a last hopeless stand against the constricting ring of Soviet steel and troops. Red Army assault forces plunging ior the Tiergarten from the north were reported to have overrun the Moabit district, a workers' area adjoining the central business district reaching within half a mile of the Brandenburg gate.

Matter of Hours The most optimistic of a flood ef reports indicating the Nazis were beaten in Berlin came from Stockholm, the nearest neutral listening post. A Mutual Broadcasting correspondent there reported: "It is only a matter of hours before the Russian high command of Verdun," returned to Paris in disgrace and was imprisoned to await trial for his life as a collaborationist and traitor to France. Daladier, France and thrice premier of minister of war in the dark days of May, 1940 and Blum, also a former premier, were arrested by the Petain government for their opposition to the Vichy regime. All Taken to Germany Daladier was a defendant in Vichy's infamous Riom "war guilt" trials. Liberation said Leon Jou- haux, veteran French labor leader, also was among the French political prisoners whose release was arranged by the International Red Cross.

All three were taken to Germany when Allied armies overran France last summer. It had been thought the Nazis would hold them as hostages in the southern redoubt in an attempt to bargain for their own safety. Liberation did not say what arrangements had been made for the release of the French prisoners, but it was presumed they would cross into Switzerland from southern Germany. Petain in Fortress Petain was taken to Montrouge (Continued on Page Six) eyewitness reporters say tnat all resistance outside the fortress (in the Tiergarten) is unorganized and sporadic, and that by nightfall today. Berlin will be considered liquidated." United Press Correspondent Henry Shapiro reported from Moscow that Marshal Gregory K.

Zhukov's assault battalions storming through Siemenstadt broke into Charlottenburg and linked up with Marshal Ivan S. Konev's troops battling northward from the botanical gardens. Nazis Hold Hostages "A circle is drawn around the heart of Berlin, with spearheads thrusting from the Gocrlitzer station northwestward and the Pankow district southwestward within rifle range of the Tiergarten," Shapiro reported. The Soviet army newspaper Red Star reported that the Russians had pressed on to the heart of Berlin without delaying to clean up all the resistance behind their foremost spearheads. It said the Germans were holding hundreds of Russian hostage at strategic points in Soviet-hel territory, who would be endanger ed by efforts to blast out doome Nazi nests.

Red Star said an increasing number of German officers ant men, after using up all their am munition, were putting on civilian clothes- and trying lo escape mingling with crowds of old men and women who carried white flags. Refuse Request of Truce Many civilians remained in Ber lin. Soviet dispatches said. On one main street an old man was said to have set up a stand to peddle guide books to Berlin among the Soviet troops at one mark each. The undependablc Paris radio reported that a papal nuncio's request for a truce to evacuate Japanese Begin Molotov Balks To Crack on At Stettinius For Chairman South Okinawa Sawtooth Ridge, Highest Point on Isle, Falls to U.

S. GUAM, ApriJ Parley Deadlocked As Compromise Plan Is Also Refused LYLE C. WILSON iff reported a new on the northwest coast of the stra" tegic island. American troops assaulting the southern defenses shielding Naha, capital of Okinawa, captured bitterly-contested Sawtooth Ridge, highest point on the island, and wedged deeply into the enemy line less than a mile from the inland town of Shuri. (U.R)--The Russians were conceded today to have won two of their three major demands on the United Nations but they have now deadlocked the World Security Conference on the issue of major chairmanships.

"The whole chairmanship thing is in a mess;" an American delegate sadly told the United Press. Molotov apparently had won on Near Second Junction in Bavarian Alps 69th Infantry of First Army Meets Russians at Torgau By BOYD 1). LEWIS United Press War Correspondent PARIS. Am-il can and Russian armies have joined forces on the Hibe river "uelow Berlin in a historic juncture that cut Germany into three broken fragments and scaled the doom of Hitler's Nazi regime. Vanguards of the two armies merged their eastern and western fronts yesterday at the river town of Torgau, 75 miles south of the German capital, at the crossroads of the long and bloody trails from Stalingrad and the beaches of Normandy.

The juncture split the Reich into three crumbling islands of resistance centering around the North YANKS CROSS THE DANUBE. Infantrymen ride high and dry atop a tank destroyer fording the i i i i tnnr nau TVUII 1 aid the Russi an demands for three votes and for the right of veto by Sea ports, Berlin and the Bavarian out opposition at this point, redoubt in the mountains of southern Germany and Austria. Near Second Link-up Still another American-Russian link-up appeared imminent in the Bavarian foothills bordering Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat, where Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army established radio contact with a Red army force apparently only 30 to 40 miles away.

Doughboys of the U. S. First Army's 69th Infantry division pushed out from the river 30 miles from the Elbe lo join up with the 173rd Russian Guards regiment in Torgau, on the west bank of the Elbe. As they went forward, hundreds of war-wearied German prisoners ined the roadsides to watch the parade of American power that foretold the death of Nazidom and the final destruction of Germany's mili tary might. Final Victory Near- The electrifying news of the blue Danube near Berg, Germany.

The Seventh Army armor and i a crossed the river virtually with Telepholo from Signal Corps Radiole.lephotu) were landing men and materials from barges in the vicinity of Mina- tagawa on the Motobu peninsula, which juts out of northwest Okinawa. The landing put American units in the rear of Japanese pockets refugees from the Berlin battle zone had been declined by the Germans. The Mutual broadcast from Sweden said the Germans had built a fortress in the Tiergarten which was the last formidable core of Nazi resistance, and from which the defenders might have to be smoked out. The fortress was built during the war, the correspondent said, in great secrecy. It was reported to have hospitals, power stations, water facilities and a network of underground passages radiating to strategic points nearby.

MINES Sahara 4, 5, 6, 16, Washer work. pr-abody 47 works. Wasson 1 works. Blue Bird works. luring works.

Indian Head works, still holding out on the peninsula and should speed the opening of the Unten harbor navy base to American ships. Capture of bloody Sawtooth Ridge was regarded as the turning point of the Okinawa campaign. From hereout, it is a downhill battle with the Americans looking down the enemy's throat. Two of the last three airfields the island were almost within th Americans' grasp. Some 400 miles to the northeast a fleet of 150 B-29 Superfortresse today hit seven Japanese suicide plane bases on Kyushu, souther most of the enemy's home island: for the second time in 24 hours.

33rd Division Battles Toward Center of Baguio MANILA, April 27-- (U.E) American doughboys of the 33rd Division today battled toward the center of Baguio, summer capita of the Philippines, against fierce Japanese resistance. Front dispatches said the fall of the mountain city was imminent despite a last-ditch fight by its Japanese defenders. On Mindanao, 24th Division roops racing across the island to split the Japanese forces in two vere less than 20 miles from Gulf after a 12-mile spurt along highway Number One. At last reports, units of the 33rd were little more than 700 yards rom the center of Baguio. They mashed into the city after driving he Japanese from the commanding eak of Mount Mirador and advanc- ng 300 yards further along the sin Baguio highway.

The entry into Baguio capped 20-mile drive through fierce mountain country during which the 3rd killed 6,713 Japanese and ook only 45 prisoners. Baguio, 130 miles north of Maila and 30 miles inland from Lin- ayen Gulf, was both the summer apital and a popular resort town happier days. Japanese puppet ovcrnment officials recently fled major powers. The Polish question was yet to come up. Objects of Two Proposals Important American delegates are protesting sharply the conference management which permitted a deadlock to occur on the "relatively unimportant" matter of who shall bang the gavel and where.

Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov, however, has objected officially to two proposals, the United Press was informed. The first was that Stettinius, representing the host nation, be permanent chairman of the conference itself. Molotov said the chairmanship should rotate among China, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, the sponsoring nations.

The second proposal--a compromise effort--was that the conference chairmanship rotate but that Stettinius be permanent chairman of the powerful conference executive committee. Molotov wanted that chairmanship to be rotated, also, among the four powers. Foreign Delegates Surprised Sentiment appears to be strong for making Stettinius a permanent presiding officer. Foreign delegates also were expressing surprise today that the routine detail of who should preside had not been determined in advance. Major significance of the chairmanship dispute is that it will stop all conference progress unless it speedily adjusted.

Assignment of these two important posts is the irst move toward permanent organ- zation for conference business. The lone issue on which Molotov seems to have been thrown for a oss is on participation in this con- erence of the Lublin Polish government. American objection to he "Lublin" Polish government is firm that belief was spreading juncture on the Elbe was announced simultaneously in Washington, London and Moscow. Leaders of the Big Three hailed the event as the decisive triumph of the European war. "This is not the hour of final victory but the hour draws near President Truman declared in a brief White House statement.

"The last faint, desperate hope of Hitler and his gangster government has been Patrols from tile two armies met for the first time on the Elbe Wednesday afternoon at 4:40 p. m. (8:40 a. CWT) but the first junction in force was not effected until 8 p. m.

(1 p. m. CWT) yesterday 69th and the Soviet Guards r'egime'nt joined hands in Torgau. Resistance Collapses Maj. Gen.

E. F. Reinhardt, commander of the 69th, led his division into the battered river town where almost two centuries ago another Russian army joined its Austrian allies to fight Frederick the Great of Prussia, their common enemy in the Seven Years war German resistance appeared to have collapsed completely in the juncture area. The dusty roads west of Torgau were reported choked with thousands of beaten soldiers and German civilians, all fleeing for the Mulde river in a See Approach Of General Nazi Collapse Germans Say Battle Of Berlin Might End European War WASHINGTON, April --The sudden folding of Nazi defenses from northern 'Germany clear down to Italy was seen by military observers here today as a sign of possible approaching German collapse. (The German high command implied yesterday that the battle of Berlin might end the European war.

It said in its daily communi- que that the struggle was "of decisive importance for the future of the Reich and for the existence of Allied armies yesterday seized the northern German ports of Bre- Gillespie Local Of PMW Protests Wage Contract G1LLESPIE, Jll April 27--UU! --A strike of an estimated 2.GOO coal miners forced suspension of nearly a mii.es in this area today The are members of Local One, Progressive Mine Workers of America. They voted the strike last night in protest of a now PMWA wage contract. The local, largest PMWA local in the state, adopted a resolution at a meeting last night in protest of wage increases ior top and nage men as being too small The contract would increase top men's pay $1.07 a day anf, those of tonnage men by i Want Tonnage Increased The a lop men be granted increases i a to those given underground workers and that tonnage men be allowed one-seventh increase. Goering Flees Berlin with Huge Nest Egg panicky rush to enter the Ameri- of Vienna. men and Stettin, Regensburg southern Germany and Brno Czechoslovakia.

The U. S. Third and Seventh armies in the south were pouring across several bridges over the upper reaches of the Danube while other forces seized Verona in northern Italy. Observers believe the sudden slackening of German i resistance may be attributed, to the surround- ng of Berlin and 'occupation of a arge part of the'Nazi capital, the mmincnt or actual union of western Allied and Russian forces and rout of German forces in Italy. The only show of Germa strength appeared at Hamburg i the north and Passau in the soull' suggesting that the Nazis still ma: have power to make a stand ii Denmark and a small part of Gcr many near the Kiel canal, and ii the redoubt in the southern moun tains.

If the Germans should yield Pas sau the way would be open to Hit ler's eagle roost at Berchtesgadei and a union with the Russians wes in I Four Superior Coal Company mines, which supply fuel for the Chicago and Northwestern Kail- road, were idle as a result of the strike. They are located at Saw- ycrvillc, Wilsonville, Mt. Clare and all near here Also the Perry Coal Com- can lines and escape the avenging Red army. The remnants of Germany's northern armies were going down in the smoke and flame of encircled (Continued on Page Srx) The steady flow of German pris oners accentuated the picture ol approaching collapse. The take on Tuesday was 43,405 on the west ern front alone where a total of 2,500,000 prisoners have been taken captive since D-Day last June.

(Continued on Page Four) New Shoe Stomp to Be Volid August 1 WASHINGTON, April 27---Everyone can have a new pair rationed shoes Aug. 1, the Of- ce of Price Administration an- ounced today. OPA said a new shoe ration tamp would become valid at that Brandon Sends Resignation Stale Welfare Diredor to Governor Green SPRINGFIELD, 111., April 27-- OJ.E)--State Welfare Director Rodney H. Brandon today awaited appointment and confirmation of a successor to his post, after tendering formal resignation with Gov. Dwight H.

Green yesterday. Brandon's resignation said "effective immediately." But he told newsmen than he would "wait a few days" before leaving office so that a new chief of the state's largest single department could take over. The Senate last week refused to confirm Green's renomination of me for one pair of shoes for each Brandon. The other 11 directors wrthward from the city in ace of the American drive. the ation bookholder.

It did not re-, eal the number of the new stamp. Airplane 1, 2, and 3 arc now good for a pair of apiece and will continue to be valid indefinitely, OPA MM. were okayed without discussion. The 63-year-old welfare chief's meiMge to the governor said: of any possible embarrassment by reason thereof, I hereby tender my resignation, effective immediately." Brandon said he hoped he and Green would continue their "warm personal friendship." They had different, he said, "on the balance between professional and political management in welfare policies." In addition to his welfare activities, Brandon is a millionaire cosmetics manufacturer. He said he had always adhered to a policy of "service careers" as against use of "political patronage and political interference." A reporter asked him why his 1 press statement showed differences Eagarville, closed was pany mine here.

Other mines said 1o have suspended include: Consolidated Coal Company mines at Mount Olive and Staunton; the Mt. Olive and Staunton Coal Company mine at Mt. Olive; and a mine at Nokomis, owned by State Sen. Rice Miller, Hillsboro. Seek WLB Approval Union headquarters" at Springfield, said that all but a few small mines in the Gillespie district were believed to be closed.

George Baima, slate PMWA vice president, Believe Other Nazi Officials Also in Hiding BULLETIN! LONDON, April A Zurich dispatch of Ihe Exchange Telegraph said today that Keiclismurshal Henna nn Goering shot his five daughters and then himself when the Nazis sen- tcnccil him to ileatli and ordered him to execute his own death sentence. By DONALD G. SWEENEY United Press Staff Correspondent LONDON, April 27--UK--Radio Moscow today said that Reichs- marshal escaped i me Says Hour of Final Victory In Europe Near Junction Revealed In Announcements By Big 3 Powers WASHINGTON, April President Truman today announced the ol Russian IOITO.S in the heart ol Germany and proclaimed the approach of I lie victory over for which Allied people "have toiled and prayed so long The historic juncture, which the world ha.s been a a i i for days. was in force at CWT, nl Torgau, 7:5 miles due south of doomed Berlin. 'Toignu is at the apex of a triangle, the other points of which are lormed by Leipsig to UK- southwest find Dresden to the southeast.

Extinguish Hopes The comint! together ol the Allied armies. President Truman declared, means a 'the last faint, despeiale hope ol i and his gangster government has been ex- Hermann Goering had from Berlin by plane' (Continued on Page Five) In'view of the action of the I with governor instead of with Semite on my nomination for re-1 the Senate. Brandon replied: and to relieve you I "Let's leave that as a mystery." Former Local Man Killed in Plane On Okinawa Isle Relatives of Perry Johnson have been notified by War Department that he was killed in an airplane accident on Okinawa Island, April 13. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs.

Wood Johnson who reside on North 2mma street, Christopher, and who brmcrly lived on Harrisburg RFD 1. They lived in the country near here from L931 to 1940 and 'erry attended school at Harco and Abney, finishing the 8th grade at Abncy. Then he went to the Gala- ia high school for three years, i shing his senior year at Christoher. After that he attended the outhern Jllinois Normal Univer- ity for a year. He married a Christopher girl, the former Shirley Webb, and was employed by the Bell and Zollar Coal when he enlisted in the Marine Corps.

SepL 1, 1942. He had been in the South Pacific for the four months before he was killed. with a $20,000,000 nest egg." The broadcast, heard here by Exchange Telegraph, said Goering departed in an unknown direction "after collecting his nesl egg." Moscow did not say when the alleged flight otok place, or from where. Tempelhof airdrome, last field in the Berlin area held by the Nazis, was overrun by the Red Army yesterday. Believes Others Disappear Radio Hamburg said yesterday that Goering had been relieved as commander of the German air force because of heart trouble.

Marshal Hitter Von Groin was appointed to succeed him, Hamburg said. Moscow earlier had suggested a the disposal of Goering was engineered flight into countries or his disappearance into the 'Hitler underground movement'." There was growing suspicion here that other Nazis possibly including Hitler himself--were using the battle of Berlin to cloak their disappearance into hiding. Suspicious of Reports The usually reliable diplomatic correspondent of Exchange Telegraph reported no definite evidence had reached London that Hitler still was in Berlin. The insistence of Nazi radio reports that the Fuehrer still was fighting in the capital's death struggle was regarded as suspicious in itself. lo "camouflage his one of the neutral His brother, Dwight, lived at 213 North called year, Main street until he was into military service last Raymond Booten Killed in Germany Pvt.

Raymond Booten, 33-year- old son of Mr. and Mrs. Milas Booten of Herod star route, was killed in action in Germany on April 11, a telegram delivered late yesterday by Deputy Sheriffs Loran Travelstcad and Everett Pulliam stated. Pvt, Boolen, whose father is a member of the county board of supervisors from Mountain township, had been in the army since June, 1940, and had been overseas since February, 1943. He was unmarried.

It proves, he added in an allusion lo the i a i Conference at San Francisco, that: "Nations which can plan and fight shoulder lo shoulder in the face of such obstacles of distance and of language and of comm i a i as we have overcome can live together and can work together in common labor of the inanimation of the world for President Truman, -the 'act that "the enemy has been cut two," warned the American people: "This is not the hour of i a victory in Europe, but the hour draws near, the hour for which all the American people, all the British people and all the Soviet people have toiled and prayed so long." According to i House Press Secretary a a Daniels, the look place 1 in force on A i 26--yesterday--at 1 p. CWT, when large units of American 09th Division joined with substantial Soviet lorces. Annoiinml Jointly 'the point of was 75 miles due south of Berlin. Patrols of the two armies consisting of small groups of soldiers met at 1:40 p. CWT, April 25.

but the was not a large, practical fact i yesterday afternoon. News of the was released simultaneously at 11 a. m. (CWT) in Washington, London and Moscow through simultaneous, although not identical statements. Mr.

Truman said "The Anglo- Amorican armies under the command of Gen. Eisenhower" in joining the Soviet armies in the heart of Germany meant: "The last faint, desperate hope of Hitler and his gangster government has been extinguished." Can Work for Peace The successes of the common Allied front against the German tyranny and inhumanity, the President said, made certain that nothing would divide or weaken the common purpose of "final Allied triumph in Germany." The President, mindful of the importance of the United Nations meeting in San Francisco, said the juncture "signalizes to ourselves and to the world that the collaboration of our nations in the cause of peace and freedom is an effective collaboration which can surmount the greatest difficulties of the most extensive campaign in military history and succeed." "Nations which can plan and fight together shoulder to shoulder in the face of such obstacles of distance and of language, and of communications as we have overcome can live together and can work together in the common labor of the organization of the world for 1 Mr. Truman said. Tribute to FDR The President also took the occasion to describe "this great triumph (Continued on Page Six) The Weather ILLINOIS: Cloudy and not so cool tonight, followed by occasional light rains Saturday. Mild temperatures Saturday.

LOCAL TEMPERATURE Thursday 3 p. 53 6 p. in 54 9 p. m. 53 J2 mid 49 Frktay 3 a.

tn ,45 6 BK 7 12 noon 111 NEWSPAPER!.