Bradford Evening Star and The Bradford Daily Record from Bradford, Pennsylvania • Page 1

RADFORD Vol. XXXVI. No. 96. NEA Features Bradford, Wednesday Evening, June 14, 1944.

Associated Press Four Cents attiLe ear aen EVEN STAR WEATHER: Scattered thundershowcrs. Minimum this morning 61. Temperature at 2 p. m. 63.

Magres Jo Tough Going But Yank Rangers Make It Fifth Skirts Orbetello and Continues Push 13 Jap Ships Sunk, In U.S. Attacks On Guam, Saipan British Drive 23 Miles Inland; Yanks 10 Miles From Cherbourg The War Today by DeWitt MacKenzie Associated Press War Analyst The Allied position in the furious and fluid battle of the Cherbourg Peninsula has improved steadily, as witness the extension of their front from 60 miles to about 100 during the past three days despite determined resistance. "i 4-' 46 Local Men Take Tests in Erie June 23 (Navy photo from NEA) Phctos above should give you some Idea of what Allied invasion forces were up against in storming the cliff-backed beaches of France. On heights of cliff seen in these pictures, a Nazi gun emplacement commanded a vital sector of the beach below. At the assigned moment, the V.

S. Army Rangers struck. At left, they are pictured as, with stealth and speed, they climb a narrow ladder up the cliff-face. Once atop the brow, they stormed the enemy, "immobilized'1 the gun. Closeup at right shows Rangers going up to consolidate position after wiping out Germans.

Drive on Viipuri Northern London, June 14-(AP)-Red Army troops have advanced to within 30 miles of the important port of Viipuri, crushing Finnish troops resisting from strongly fortified positions, Moscow announced today and enemy reports said Russia's whole northern front from the Arctic to the White Sea and Gulf of Finland was ablaze with action. By LYNN HEINZERLING Rome, June 14-(AP) -Fifth Army elements have swung around the heavily-defended strong point of Orbetello, 71 miles northwest of Rome, and captured the important junction of Highways No. 1 and 74, some four and a half miles beyond the town, Allied Headquarters announced today. Reconnaissance elements pushed still further north. Resistance Increases "In the coastal sector our troops, having encountered increased resistance south of Orbetello, developed their strength in the mountains and late June 12 cut the road junction of Highway No.

1 and 74. Rec onnaissance elements farther said a communique. (This movement are moving headquarters presumably blocked the retreat route of the Ger mans defending Orbetello.) To the east the Eighth Army advanced 60 miles north of Rome. Gains also were made both east and west of Lake Bolsena and Allied troops were closing in on Narni, seven and a half miles below Terni and 43 miles due north of Rome. Move Toward Gradioli Tire town of Latera, four miles northeast of Valentano, was gathered in by Fifth Army units and the advance moved on toward Gradioli, less than two miles farther northeast.

Other Fifth Army forces were closing in on Bolsena, on the eastern shore of the lake. Meanwhile the Eighth Army con tinued to march up the Tiber Valley on a broad front and armored units penetrated several miles north of Magliano. These troops were advancing under heavy shell fire. While the Germans were withdrawing in some places without resisting, elsewhere advanced Allied patrols encountered concentrated fire from automatic weapons and (Continued on Page Ten) State Post-War Committee to Meet Next Week Harrisburg, June 14 -(JP)- Pennsylvania's 10-member Post-War Planning Commission, named by Gover nor Martin under authority granted by the 1943 Legislature, may meet here next week to launch its job of coordinating the commonwealth's reconversion program. Headed by Henry W.

Prentis Lancaster, president of the Arm strong Cork Company, the commis sion will have a $200,000 appropriation to carry out a legislative mandate to "undertake studies and research" to help prevent mass unemployment after the war. Other members are: Charles R. Barber, mayor of Erie; Mrs. Hannah M. Durham, Al-lentown business woman; Dr.

S. W. Fletcher, dean of agriculture of Pennsylvania State College; Edward Hopkinson, Philadelphia attorney; Thomas Kennedy, Hazleton, secre tary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America; Dr. Weir C. Ketler, president of Grove City College; Ira F.

Lewis, Pittsburgh Publishing Company head; Col. Richard K. Mellon, state Selective Service director; and H. Melvin Vivian, Kingston lumber dealer. All will serve without pay.

Flashes PROMISSORY NOTE Belleville, 111. When Lt. H. L. Cochran of Belleville started to drive his car he found this signed note on his windshield: "Dear sir: Sorry I had to borrow five gallons of gas.

Will return it some night. Your truly Police withheld the borrower's name. AMONG THEIR SOUVENIRS St. Louis When captured German war equipment is packed for shipment to Denver tonight it will be several tons lighter than when it rived last week. Lt.

Jack Kramer pf the Seventh Service Command, estimates sou venir hunters, young and old, have caned off at least that much alu-j By J. B. KRl'EGER Associated Press War Editor Big guns as well as a swarm of carrier planes poured explosives on U. S. -owned Guam and other Marianas Islands during the heavy three-day strike against these enemy defenses flanking the Philippines, Tokyo radio acknowledged today.

Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in the Central Pacific, reported the carrier task force sank 13 Japanese ships, damaged 16 and destroyed 141 planes, but did not claim that surface ships bombarded the islands. Nimitz did not say, either, that the bold foray into Japan's inner defenses had been concluded. Agree I'pon Targets He and Tokyo agreed that Guam, Saipan and Tinian Islands of the group lying approximately 1.500 miles south of Japan were the principal targets. Guam, southernmost and largest of the group, was seized by the Japanese in the first six days of the Pacific war.

This sea action and the mounting battle for Changsha in South-central China overshadowed develop ments on the other fronts. Chungking revealed that the Chinese desperately defending Changsha, key point on the Hankow-Canton Railway, were holding their own. The defenders turned back an enemy attempt to cross a river east of the city and killed 300 Japanese in one sector. Besieged on 3 Sides Changsha is besieged from three sides and the invaders at one point were within six miles of the city. The Japanese need it to cut off Eastern China from the Allies.

Mokmcr Airdrome Biak Island off Dutch New Guinea is now in use by Fifth Army Ah-force planes, Gen. Douglas Mac-Arthur disclosed. This meant the Allies have a new base within 880 miles and heavy-bomber range of the Southern Philippines. The field came into Allied use five days after the Japanese were pried loose from the drome. MacArthur's troops continued driving westward on Biak toward two other airfields, Sorido and Boro-koe.

One infantry column was within half a mile of the latter. Seven Ships Sunk In Geelvink Bay, wherein Biak lies, cannon-firing Mitchell bombers sank four cargo ships and three coastal vessels. The Japanese invasion of India, launched with fanfares months ago, was fast receding. A ridge 18 miles from once-threatened Imphal was cieaied of enemy troops, southeast Asia headquarters announced. Chinese troops aiming for a junction with Lt.

Gen. Joseph Stilwell in Northern Burma reported new successes, defeating an enemy column near Lungling and captured a village some 20 miles from the principal Japanese base of Tengchung. Digestive Disease Of Unknown Cause Is Sweeping World Chicago, June 14-(P-A digestive disease of unknown cause which is sweeping the world was described to the American Medical Association today by Dr. Hobart A. Reimann, of Philadelphia.

It has caused no known deaths, but has been mistaken for a variety of other diseases, including flu and dysentery. It is also wrongly blamed on food poisoning. Its signs are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, aching, abdominal discomfort and cramps. A person may have a few or nearly all of these. He may remain up and about or have to go to bed.

He gets well in a few days, usually less than a week. This disease, said Dr. Reiman has been observed in the United States, Gcnnany, Canada, England, Denmark, Australia and elsewhere. All the physicians who have studied it believe the disease both Infectious and communicable. To date the disease has seven medical names and one popular name, intestinal flu.

EMPLOYES PRAISED Ambridge, June 14-(tf)-Rear Adm. E. L. Cochrane, chief of the Navy's Bureau of Ships, today sent a message to the 10,000 employes of the American Bridge Company here praising them for setting a construction record of 16 big tank landing ships (LST'sj in two months. By RICHARD McMURRAY Associated Press War Editor British tanks drove 23 miles into Normandy today and were curling around Caen in a violent armored battle with four German Panzer Divisions after advancing through Caumont and Villers-Bocage.

100-Mile Front The French front widened to 100 miles and at both ends, the Germans were counter-attacking with great vigor and skill. The anchor towns of Montebourg, 14 miles from Cherbourg, and Troarn, 111 miles from Paris, frequently changed hands. The British battleships Rodney and Ramillies pumped thundering salvos into Troarn, seven miles east of Caen, in support of the grimly battling Tommies. Americans at Montebourg reached within 10 miles of the great port of Cherbourg yesterday before being set back. Carentan at the base of the Cherbourg Peninsula was firmly in American hands and headquarters said the Germans had been pushed several miles west in bitter fighting.

Carentan and Caen both are communications pivots. Location Announced Gen. Eisenhower's headquarters, in announcing all these developments in the quickening battle of France, placed the greatest tank Ji-V British and Canadian sector between Tilly-Sur-Seulles and Caen and around Caumont. The Germans said they were fighting "south of Caumont." In ideal weather, more than 1,500 heavy U. S.

bombers pounded the battlezone and targets in other parts of France and Belgium including the Paris and Brussels areas. Another force striking from Italy battled through Nazi fighters and bombed seven refineries in Hungary and Yugoslavia. Headquarters said in the first week of the French invasion, 56,000 sorties were flown with a loss of 554 planes, less than one per cent. The attacking craft plunged 42,000 tons of bombs on the foe. Advance on St.

Lo Other Americans whipping across the Cherbourg Peninsula advanced several miles southwest of the Cerisy Forest toward St. Lo. The French front was expanded to 100 miles and Gen. Montgomery's rapid plunge south of Bayeux appeared to be the most decisive break in the German front in Uie nine days of violent invasion combat. Caen itself was under heavy naval bombardment though it is nine miles inland.

Beyond Carentan, the Americans neared the two-thirds mark in their drive across the Cherbourg Peninsula. Organized sabotage grew in France, undermining German defenses. Prime Minister Churchill begged off a debate in Commons on Gen. De Gaulle as a gulf between the French Committee leader and Washington widened. De Gaulle's committee in Algiers served notice that it expects the Allies to respect its "authority" inside France.

It named administrators. Sweden Limits Exports Sweden substantially limited ball bearing exports to Germany. The U. S. asked Spain to ban all war shipments to the Nazis tungsten, olive oil, hides, skins, wool.

In ideal weather, great fleets of Allied planes banged bombs, bullets and cannon shells at the Nazis in Normandy. Overnight, British heavy bombers from Italy followed up the American daylight assault on Munich. Night bombers from Britain assaulted communications to the battle zone, rail stations and yards, air bases and bridges. Around 1,000 U. S.

heavy bombers split forces and bombed a German oil refinery at Emmerich and air bases and bridges in France and Gelgium today. The Germans reported another strongly escorted force from Italy in battles over Hungary southwest of Budapest. German air strength was reported at Eisenhower's headquarters re duced to 2,000 planes, whereas the Allied invasion planes over France number more than 11,000 Gen. Eisenhower, forecasting new invasions, said the Normandy operations were "only part of a far larg er pattern on a combmed assault against Uie fortress of Germany." Exhibiting: Famed Skill General Montgomery is exhibiting all the skill and initiative which have made him famous. Right from the start he has used every ounce of the great strength at his disposal not only to lengthen the front but.

more important, to extend its depth from those dangerous beaches and gain strategic points so as to prepare for the main counter-attack which still is to come. As a result we appear to be in good shape to meet this crucial test. In connection with this anxiously awaited Nazi counter-assault, we get the highly interesting report that Marshal Rommel, who is commanding the Nazi field forces for the defense of Hitler's Atlantic Wall, has had a clash with his boss. Marshal von Rundstedt, an old-guard Prussian of the square-head school. We are told that Rommel a tactical genius and a man of quick action wanted to fling reserves into the peninsula as fast as possible so as to catch the Allies off balance on the beaches.

Von Rundstedt, conservative prcfen ed to sit tight until he saw whether Cherbourg represented the main Allied thrust. Faced Great Dilemma Well, the great dilemma of the German command certainly has been whether to strike at something which actually was happening or whether to wait on dangerous potentialities elsewhere. However, I think such a condensed summary of the problem is an over-simplification. In the first place the Nazis weren't able to move their strategical reserves from inland readily because the Allied air forces had destroyed every bridge between Paris and the peninsula, and other-w i disrupted communications. Also, Von Rundstedt probably had in mind that in flinging reserves against the invasion without strong air protection he was inviting ter-1 rible punishment from the mighty Allied air fleet although it was (Continued on Page Ten) DeGaulle Cancelled Orders to French Invasion Troops Washington, June the final hours before the start of the invasion of France, Gen.

Charles de Gaulle is reported here to have suddenly cancelled the orders of several hundred French officers scheduled to land with the first waves of Allied troops. Reports from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's Headquarters to the highest military officials here disclosed today that as a result, cooperation between the French population and Allied armies has been impaired in the occupied Normandy areas. This is according to officials who are investigating the situation now, even though De Gaulle finally relented to the extent of allowing 20 French officers to go along with the forces assigned to liberate then-homeland.

Two Little Girls Drown In Reading Park Pool Reading, June 14 -IJP)- Kitty Lee Wynn, 11, and Victoria 10, went swimming yesterday to celebrate their promotion to a higher grade In school. Others among the 400 bathers in Carsonia Park pool saw Victoria sink under the water. She was rushed to a hospital but artificial respiration failed. When Victoria's sister, Gloria, learned what had happened, her first question was, "Where is Kitty?" The other bathers formed a human chain and recovered Kitty's body. Forty-six men selected by the local Draft Board will leave here June 23 for preinduction physical examinations at Erie.

Nine of the group are volunteers and 13 are fathers. Eight to Enter Navy On the same day, eight local boys will leave for Erie to be inducted into the U. S. Navy. Both contin gents will travel by bus.

The eight boys listed for Navy induction, all volunteers, are: James Pascarella. William Max Hearnley. Leo Francis Pierotti. Carl Vernon Swanson. Ivan Andrew Buchanan.

Richard Theodore Grisell. Sam Milton Kiser, transferred here from Cleveland, O. Harry Dean Layfield. List Those to Take Tests The following men re listed to leave ior tneir preinduction physical examination: indicates volunteer. Leland Robert Allen.

James Vincent Colosimo. Paul Anthony Frontino. Rocco Anthony Curcio. Norman George Knowlson. Claude Freeman Watson.

John Edward Zenner. Floyd Mearl Eddy. Walter Eugene Northrup. Richard Orlando Kelley. John Allen Cassick.

Kenneth Brown Fair. Joseph Paul Downs. Harold Robert Cookson. Gordon Lyman Fiske. Francis Elva Yeaples.

James Edward Shaughnessy. John Lamar Henry-Ross Wellington Nelson. Ralph Edward Morey. Charles Alson Gallagher, jr. Jay Donald Mong.

Richard J. Miller. Donald Wasson Morgan. Richard Parker Shaw. Edward Harry Finn.

Walter Edward Campbell. Harvey George Kerstetter. Paul Edmond Vance. John Francis McCormick. Richard Russell Whelan.

Elio Joseph Tasin. Eugene Persichini. Louis Ross. John Lester Brown. Robert Franklin Shaffer.

Herman Samuel Aronson. Jack Edwin Davis Fockler. Jay Helbrook Johnson. Richard LeRoy Robertson. Wayne David Marsh.

James Arnold Jones, transferred here from Terre Haute, Ind. Laverne Edward Jones, transferred here from Warren, Pa. Archie Daniel Luba, transferred here from Philadelphia, Pa. Ted R. Snell, transferred here from Waynesburg, Pa.

Robert Gerald Reese. Wage. Field Off ice In DuBois Closed Pittsburgh, June 14-(iT)-The Wage Stabilization Field Office at DuBois, has been discontinued and schedules have been changed in three others, Frank J. G. Dorsey, regional director, announced today.

The changes affect the Altoona field office, which will be open Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays, the Erie office, now open only Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the Johnstown office, which will be open Monday and Tuesday of each week instead of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Sales of War Bonds Cross $650,000 Mark The Northeastern Container Corporation, through Lester Edwards, its president, yesterday placed orders with a local banking institution for $65,000 of Fifth War Loan Bonds, thus bringing the total reported to date in the local drive to approximately $650,000. This amount is 13 per cent of McKean county's quota of $5,200,000. Announcement of the third large purchase of $65,000, coming directly after the $500,000.00 of the South Penn Oil and $75,000.00 from the Bradford Savings and Loan came as cheering news to local War Finance leaders. Later in the day the F.

W. Wool- wortii cwinpany, under manager W. Glenn Flynn, placed orders for $2,000 of bonds, all being credited to the local firm, thus giving Wool-worth's the credit of being the second small firm to report its purchase. The three official bond booths at Whelan's, Woolworth's, and Mc-Crory's, were augmented by the appearance of one outdoors in front of the Johnston store, and one similarly in front of the Rose Kreinson store. All five booths reported a heavy sale of both stamps and bonds during the day.

With the announcement by the Kiwanis club of its intention to set a quota for its members of $88,500 during the Fifth War Loan drive to provide for a Grumman Hellcat fighter plane for the TJ. S. Navy, the daily pace of the Fifth War Loan drive is rising rapidly. Two announcements of unusual interest will be made in the press within the next day or two of special events, one fostered by the Girl Scouts, and the other in which both Bradford and McKean county will be especially interested. of Life minum, steel and synthetic rubber.

GESUNDHEIT! Rock Island, 111. Mrs. R. C. Mitchell was about to congratulate herself on the neat manner in which she had parked her automobile.

But just as she was making the final maneuvers, she sneezed, her foot slipped off the brake and her machine rammed into another car. She told police the sneeze was to blame for the collision. MILITARY SECRET Binghamton, N. Y. "Give you the name of my husband? I should say not.

You'd draft him!" Exclaimed a woman telephoning the draft board to learn whether her mate would be drafted next month. Front Blazes Bricker Expects 250 to 300 Votes On First Ballot By JACK BELL Associated Press Staff Writer A prediction came today from the forces of Gov. John W. Bricker of Ohio that he "will receive between 250 and 300 votes on the first ballot" at the Republican presidential nom inating convention. This report, supplied by directors of the field staff of the Bricker for-president committee, accorded their man a total of 174 votes now-50 pledged and 124 definitely clato ed-and figured the total for Gov.

Thomas E. Dewey of New York at 285 72 pledged and 213 Dewey supporters, on the other hand, say he has a total of 39. Five hundred and twenty-nine votes are needed to nominate and the Bricker people viewed the field of uninstructed delegates as fruit ful and said the Ohioan is growing stronger each day." The "first ballot analysis" from the Bricker camp came as the elec tion of a Republican to Congress from the 19th Illinois District shuffled House standings to the point that for the first time in 13 years the Democrats lack an actual majority of the House membership. This election yesterday, of Rolla C. McMillen, unopposed, gives the Republicans 212 members.

The Democrats still have 216 but there are four minor party members and thus the Democrats have exactly the total. There are three vacancies. Senator Vandenberg (R-Mich.) yesterday put the party on record as far as one individual can for a foreign policy plank declaring for effective cooperation of the nations of the world toward postwar peace and the termination of military aggression. Pittsburgh to Welcome Negro Air Medal Winner Pittsburgh, June 14-(P)-The city is planning to honor one of its first Negroes to receive the Air Medal Capt. James Wiley who is home on leave aver completing 85 bombing missions.

Attacks Admitted Finnish and German radio broadcasts declared the Russians were attacking in the Lisa sector between the Arctic ports of Murmansk and Petsamo, and Berlin asserted Soviet forces also were striking southwest of Narva in Estonia. The Moscow communique was restricted to the Karelian Isthmus fighting, saying Soviet troops captured several Finnish strongpoints during yesterday's battling. The Russians are within 20 miles of the Mannerheim line, main de fense barrier across the Karelian Isthmus, Moscow bulletins indicated, after cleaving the second belt of approaches. Stout Resistance Finnish advices relayed through Stockholm said that stout resistance was confronting the Russians in the Kivennappa sector, with the Vam-melsuu River front still intact. Behind Kivennappa there Is hilly country and many small lakes, and on the eastern side of the isthmus marshland about 20 miles long and three to four miles wide presents a natural obstacle to the Russian troops.

One dispatch from Helsinki via Stockholm said some sections of the Finnish press advocated a defend-or-die spirit, but other advices said the Finns, resentful of lack of German aid, were ready1 to evacuate not only Viipuri but virtually the entiie isthmus. Henry J. Bennett Rites on Thursday Funeral services for Henry J. Bennett, 57, who died at his home in Canfield Creek, Eldred, Monday evening, will be held from the home Thursday at 11:30 a.m. The Rev.

H. Haskins, pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Port Allegany and former pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Eldred, will officiate. After services in the home, the body will be removed to Brockport, where further services will be held from the Brock- port Mountain Church. Burial will be in the family plot In the Brock-port Mountain Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Still's Funeral Home.

KILLED BY ELECTRIC SHOCK Pottstown, June 14-i7P-Clin-ton Detwiler, 42, Stowe, took hold of the brass casing around a bulb on an extension cord while delivering coal in a cellar and received a fatal electric shock yesterday..