The Herald-Sun from Durham, North Carolina • 1

Weather Kartfc Carolina: Cindy and with occasional Ilf ht rain and driule Loral temper- estern Front Vast airborne array lands In Holland to fashion new trap for Germans Read The Morning Herald for foil war reports PRICE DAILY 5c SUNDAY 10c 10 PAGES AND Dutch Border Crossed By British In New Offensive 20000 Prisoners Seized Allies 20 Miles From Cologne As Heavy Tank Fight Rages At Duren By HOWARD COWAN London Sept 17 (F Gen Dwight Eisenhower unleashed the powerful First Allied Airborne Army today sending more than 1000 air transport and glider loads into Holland at the northern tip of the Siegfried Line in a bold attempt to skirt it and drive for Berlin That clearly was the assignment of the sky soldiers already re ported in field dispatches to have driven the Germans from several Dutch towns near the Reich's frontier While Supreme Headquarters did not say where the thousands of American British and Polish sky As Yanks Cross Meuse River Rushing arms and supplies across the Meuse River near Liege an armored half-truck is shown crossing one of the pontoon bridges which have been hastily built by Army engineers while a crowd of Belgian civilians look on Signal Corps (International Soundphoto) Tank Passes Trap In Siegfried Line An American tank passes through a hole blasted by Army engineers in a belt of steel and concrete obstacles in the Siegfried Line near Aachen Germany Four columns have now fought their way onto German soil (AP Wirephoto via Signal Corps Radio) Reds Brave Nazi Batteries To Launch Massive Frontal Assault On Varsaw troopers landed the Germans declared they hit Dutch soil in force at Nijmegen 12 miles west and slightly north of where the already breached Siegfried Line ends at Kleve Simultaneously the British Second Army broke across the Dutch frontier south of the landings in a great offensive timed perfectly with this first entirely airborne operation in military history The Germans said part of Lt Gen Lewis airborne Army came down at Tilburg and Eindhoven 8 to 19 miles inside Holland and close to where the British Second is fighting up from the south A field dispatch said the British were two miles inside Holland and driving toward these cities 315 MILES TO BERLIN But the most important stroke ap peared to have fallen at Nijmegen which is on the Rhine and only six miles from the German frontier Here Berlin is 315 miles to the east Some German accounts declared the airborne Army had landed on both the north and south banks of the Rhine at Nijmegen From Kleve northward the Germans are believed to have counted on the North Sea instead of a steel and concrete wall to balk invasion While it was believed only a matter of time until the combined weight of these airborne divisions and Lt Gen Miles second British Army wheel on or around the Siegfried Line the First Army was hammering away through a hole in the fortifications 26 miles from the Rhineland city of Cologne FIGHT AT ROAD JUNCTION The German-controlled Scandinavian telegraphic bureau quoted a German military spokesman as saying that tank battles were raging between Allied forces and the Nazi defenders at Stolberg and Duren towns more than 20 miles within the Reich on the road from Aachen to Cologne The dispatch referred to a particularly big battle at Duren a road junction 20 miles southwest of Cologne German commanders fell back on old World War I tactics and sent wave upon wave of Infantry against Americans fighting on the German side of the Siegfried Line east of Aachen and these were cut down in a storm of fire "Assaulting waves faltered then Associated Press correspondent Don Whitehead reported "The Americans held every See HOLLAND on Page 7 Finnish Troops Battle Germans On North Front Helsinki Prepares To Declare War As Nazis Fire Villages Stockholm Sept 17 UP) A state of war exists between Nazi Germany and Finland the Finnish press reported tonight and a formal Finnish declaration was expected momentarily as the Cabinet met amid a rising tide of anger against the former ally A Finnish source here said two Finnish brigades already were fighting the Germans in Northern Finland and the Russians were reported demanding the right to occupy the northern half of Finland where German-set fires were blazing Anger swept Helsinki as the withdrawing Germans in the north applied the torch to vilages and farm homes In the Suomisaalmi district where the Finns won their greatest victories over the Russians in the 1939-40 war and at Kuusamo south of the Arctic Circle near the Russian frontier hundreds of women and children were compelled to watch as thpir homes went up in flames (The German propaganda agency Transocean said Naiz withdrawal had been completed from Kandalaksha just east of the prewar Russian-Finnish boundary and added that the movement had been "very much hindered" by the Russians) A report that two Nazi destroy ers fired on a Finnish passenger plane flying over the Gulf of Both nia from Helsinki to Stockholm was taken here as an indication the Germans were attempting to blockade Finland Finnish press commentaries on the incidents of the German attack on Suursaari (Hogland) Island in the Gulf of Finland and the mining of Kotka Harbor demonstrated the temper bf the Finns who said these acts "can only be considered as expressions of desperation by the German supreme command" The newspapers unanimously said Finland was "prepared to face all arising from her arrangements in making a truce with Russia which included a promise to intern and disarm any Germans still in Finland after Sept 15 One responsible Finnish source said Finnish Government is going to take the steps necessary to show the Germans that Finland will not and cannot tolerate The first Swedish correspondent to return to Stockholm since Russian terms were carried to Helsinki also declared the Soviets insisted that Finland declare war on her one-time co-belligerent who already has fought soldiers for possession of strategic Hogland Island in the Gulf of Finland Gunnar Mullern correspondent for the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet said the Russians want air bases in Northern and Central Finland and along the western coast for the duration of the war with Germany and are demanding most of the islands in the Finnish Gulf Two Villages Virtually Destroyed By Great Hurricane Elizabeth City Sept (JPh-Avon and Rodanthe small villages on the "outer of Pamlico Sound were virtually destroyed by last great Atlantic hurricane according to reports here tonight White an insurance man who visited the two villages on Hatteras Island said only 12 houses at Avon were in "normal and that 63 were completely destroyed All others were floated off their foundation population is about 500 Only two houses were left standing at Rodanthe a village of about 300 White said The food stocks In both communities are low White said and the cistern water systems were destroyed Mrs Horton Austin of Hatteras Village said Avon residents declined to be evacuated Hatteras she said was not damaged badly Berlin Says First Attack Halted Russians Now 15 Miles From Riga By ROBERT MUSEL London Monday Sept 18 IP Under murderous fire from German batteries atop Warsaw's 130-foot cliffs Russian and Polish troops yesterday launched an almost unprecedented frontal assault on the Polish capital across the quarter-mile Vistula River from Praga the German High Command said last night While other Russian forces were reported to have smashed to within 15 miles of Riga capital of Latvia Berlin said that "the first attempt of the Soviets to cross the Vistula from Praga to Warsaw indicating that subsequent attacks might have been made or I were expected I MOSCOW IS SILENT official war bulletins I ignored the scanty German reports that Red Army troops crossing the river on pontoon assault bridges might be attempting to scale the cliffs upon which Warsaw stands overlooking the Vistula The Soviet High Command did not mention the progress of operations north of Praga a frequent Soviet practice when large assaults are underway Berlin said that while troops of Marshal Konstantin Rokossov 1st White Russian Army were attempting to force the Vistula between Warsaw and Praga other large forces launched an even stronger thrust to break Nazi defenses between the Vistula and the Bug Rivers in order to win crossings northwest of the capital NAZIS IN FLIGHT A communique from General Bor Polish underground leader in the blazing capital said that the Germans were fleeing across the Vistula from the east bank of the river barrier northwest of Warsaw to escape entrapment in the closing sack between the Vistula and the Bug The Germans General Bor said were using hastily-placed pontoon bridges to flee to the west bank in the area of the Kampinoska Forest eight miles above the city The German report of attempted Soviet crossings from Praga meant that Marshal Rokossovsky was attempting one of the most difficult possible military operations and one never before accomplished in long history of warfare With destruction of the four bridges between Warsaw and Praga by the Germans a cross-river Vast Sky Blows Precede Landing Allied Fleets Rip German Positions London Monday Sept 18 UP) The German Air Force was able to send up only scattered and futile opposition Sunday to a vast aerial armada of transports and gliders which landed an Allied liberation army in Holland For hours before the great air fleet touched down thousands of Allied aircraft ranging from fighters and British Mosquitos to American Fortresses had fanned out over The Netherlands hunting the Luftwaffe and heavily bombing flak posts enemy barracks gun positions and airports in the vicinities marked from our landings Several times German interceptors dived from clouds at the Allied transport then scurried back to cover Other enemy fighters attempted to break through the heavy screen of Mustangs Thunderbolts and Lightnings which escorted the transports At least nine FW-190's were shot down American losses were listed as two bombers believed to have been knocked down by flak although antiaircraft fire was relatively light A Strategic Air Force communique said that no enemy air See FLEETS on Page 7 Monty Tells Troops Entire American Position In China Placed In Danger Yank Air Bases Near Kweilin Are Destroyed As Japs Sweep Ahead By CLYDE A FARNSWORTH Kunming China Sept The 14th Air Force has destroyed and virtually abandoned its air bases near Kweilin provisional capital in invaded Kwangsi Province it was disclosed today in the face of a grave Japanese threat not only to that city but also to the whole structure of the American military effort in thi country Chenese reverses in the Hunan-Kwangsi area in recent months has brought among some observers here a critical re-evaluation of the Chinese war reverses which generally are put down to ineptness and confusion of command lack of integrated communications and many other deficiencies (The Chinese High Command said that one of four Japanese columns striking westward from Canton had pushed to within 53 miles of Kweilin while farther north a column pounding down from Hunan Province split at Taohsien 90 miles east of Kweilin One element pressed on west for a frontal assault while the other cut southwest in an apparent attempt to encircle the city from the south) There has never been any question of the valor of the Chinese soldier In guts he can give us lessons" said one American DEFENSE FLANS COLLAPSE But his handling against the present Japanese drive has resulted in collapse of plans for the defense of Kweilin on its distant approaches A 14th Air Force officer in position to know said a shining exception to the story of ineptitude has been the performance of Gen Hhueh Yueh commander of the Ninth war zone Pitifully under-armed his men were used to the strongest advantage But now the brunt of battle has passed from the ninth to the fourth sixth and seventh war zones Chungking has issued orders which have indicated a disregard or a lack of knowledge of field situations An example was the decimation of one army which evidently for reasons of "face" was ordered to drive back into Hunan railway city of Hengyang when it might have been digging in for the defense of Kweilin This Army disintegrated when the Japanese threatened to envelop it and survivors took to the hills to fight on as guerrillas As an example of the Chinese confusion on the eastern front 200 Japanese or puppet dothesmen lured a whole division into position for destructive flanking attacks by a major Japanese force near Hangyang One hears that the little artillery the Chinese had including a few pack howitzers which the Americans furnished for training was used in a generally ineffective manner On at least one occasion the guns were so placed they could not even reach the Chinese front lines The Chinese made the mistake of sending a handful of old Russian-manufactured tanks against a Japanese anti-tank gun without artillery support although such support was available and lost two of them At times Chinese infantry has Pacific Sectors Are Marked Out British Will Strike At Malaya Sumatra Washington Sept 17 (ff) Britain's assignment in the war against Japan is understood to be primarily a series of amphibious operations against the Malaya-Sumatra flank of Japan's crumbling empire This means the Quebec conference of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill confirmed a division of the Pacific-Asiatic battlefront into four general sectors: The British sector southwest of the Philippines The New Guinea-Philippines area under Gen Douglas Mac-Arthur The central sector embracing Formosa and the Japanese homeland under Adm Chester Nimitz The Kurile Islands area also tinder Nimitz which will become of paramount importance if Russia gets into the war Britain's assignment is based primarily on locations of bases and supply lines As a practical matter naval authorities here have argued if the British were to put a fleet into the Pacific it would create a number of new supply problems and tax shipping facilities already pushed to the limit See SECTORS on Page 7 British And Greeks Close In On Rimini Nazi Heavy Tanks Thrown Into Fight Rome Sept 17 (JP) In a desperate effort to prevent an Allied breakthrough into the Po River Volley the Germans were hurling big Tiger and Panther tanks at Canadian and Greek troops of the Eighth Army who were reported today to only two miles from Rimini Germans Fleeing Before Chutists Enemy Surprised By Bold Holland Thrust By WALTER CRONKITE Representing The Combined American Press With The Allied Airborne Forces In Holland Near The German Frontier Sept (4:40 (URJ Thousands of Allied parachutist and glider troops landed behind the German lines in Holland tod a liberated village after village from enemy troops who fled in panic before them and as I write are pushing on to their first big objective which they expected to reach by nightfall I landed with the glider troops in this greatest airborne operation in all history an invasion in which most of the intrepid men engaged are Americans seasoned in the Normandy invasion Within the first hour of their landings the Allied troops had liberated several inhabited places from which the Germans fled They are pushing steadily toward the first major objective Thousands of the troops were dropped over an extensive area near the German frontier LIGHT OPPOSITION Opposition is comparatively light Half an hour after we had landed the small arms and mortar fire in our sector had ended and only the distant rumble of battle somewhere to the south where the Allied armies are advancing toward was audible Some of our gliders and some C-47 tow planes went through antiaircraft fire to reach their landing places but our dive bombing Mustangs and our vast aerial support silenced the enemy guns one by one By JUDSON With The First Allied Airborne Army Over Holland Sept 17 UP) Parachute troops and glider-borne infantrymen of the First Allied Airborne Army surprised German defenders and landed with negligible opposition in Holland today in the first employment of this mighty combined weapon since its formation little more than a month ago I watched troop carrier command one of the units of Lt Gen Lewis Air Army drop thousands of parachutists from hundreds of C-47 Douglas transports The See LANDING on Page 7 Secretary Hull To Back Press Freedom Principle Washington Sept of State Hull said today he would back any practical measure to give international recognition to the principle of news freedom With the Senate likely to act this week on a resolution calling on this country to take the lead in espousing international exchange of independent news as a means of promoting world peace The Associated Press submitted the following question to Mr Hull: "In view of the developing widespread interest on the subject of international news freedom is there any thought that you would care to express about your own views on this subject? The Secretary replied: "The whole question of freedom of information has been under study in the Department of State for some time I have consistently supported the cause of freedom of news and I would support any practical measure to give international recognition to this (jg) Norman Call of Lake-wood Ohio or on the skipper Lt (jg) August Hess of Lohrville Wis The Navy indicated the casualty list was as yet incomplete with the Department saying next of kin are being notified "as soon as names of survivors can be The Navy gave no indication on the location of the sinkings or of the exact time they occurred The Bedloe was formerly known as the Antietam The two Coast Guard craft had normal complements of about 35 men each Quarles is a graduate of the Naval Academy and formerly served on the Nevada He was born in Lennig Va Jan 23 1911 and is the son of Mrs John Quares of Nathalie Germans Can't Stand Their Great Losses London Sept 17 (UK) Field Marshal Sir Montgomery said tonight in a broadcast to his troops that the German enemy has suffered such immense losses in the west that "it is becoming problematical how much longer he can continue the "Whatever orders are issued in Germany whatever action is taken on them no human endeavor can now prevent the complete and utter defeat of the armed forces of Montgomery said "Their fate is certain their defeat will be absolute "The triumphant cry is now 'Forward into Montgomery -said "Good luck to you all and good hunting in Americans Land i On Angaur Isle Wildcat Division Strikes In Palaus Pacific Fleet Headquarters Pearl Harbor Sept UP) Speeding their conquest of Southern Palau Islands Marines advanced northward one third of a mile on Peleliu Sept 16 (west longitude date) and Army troops occupied the entire northeast curve of An gaur The third day of fighting on Peleliu was preceded like the others by bombing and naval gunfire a Navy communique at 9 Pacific time announced Enemy opposition on Peleliu was heavy throughout the day with the Japanese using artillery and mortars in considerable numbers against Marine positions By RAY CRONIN Associated Press War Editor The Americans took another crack at crumbling arc of Pacific island defenses Sunday when soldiers of the 81st (Wildcat) Divi-siqn swarmed ashore on Angaur in the Palau Islands just six miles southwest of Peleliu where Yank Marines already have captured an airdrome and wiped out 1400 furiously battling Japanese soldiers Pacific Fleet headquarters officially reported the invasion of Angaur Island and stated "all initial objectives have been gained against resistance which so far has been relatively Before the doughboys hit the beaches carrier planes teamed with the big guns of warships to blast Japanese positions Tokyo radio said fighting raged in coastal area Angaur is a small phosphate island heavily wooded While the island has no airdrome it may be found suitable for construction of a field It was tough going for the Marines on Peleliu yet they were gaining ground against strong opposition They took the airfield See AMERICANS on Page 7 Reconversion Faces House Ballot Today Recess May Come At Close Of Week Washington Sept 17 UP) Congressional leaders were reported making plans tonight to "bobtail" the postwar conversion measure put off points of disagreement until after the election and thus clear the way for a recess by the end of this week A leading House member who asked not to be quoted by name said this is the prospect: The House will vote tomorrow on the two disputed provisions in the conversion bill proposals to place Federal employes under unemployment compensation protection and to grant migratory war workers funds up to $200 a family to finance their return to their original homes when peace comes The best judgment now is that the House will reject these two Senate-approved ideas just as it did before though only after a hard fight on the floor By returning the proposals to the conference committee the House then creates another stalemate Conferees are discussing now revising the conversion bill eliminating those two points and bringing the remainder about which there is no argument to House and Senate floors for foregone approval Under the plant the travel grants and the compensation subject would be brought up in separate bills after the legislators return in November After the conversion problem is out of the road the House will act on the conference report on the surplus property bill Agreement was reached between House-Senate conferees on this legislation Friday night be eastern -anchor of the Gothic defense line in northern Italy An Allied communique said Greek and Canadian veterans were locked in a fierce struggle with the Germans for the heavily fortified town of San Martino on Monte L'Abate two miles from Rimini Capture of Rimini would permit Eighth Army armor to sweep into the Po Valley and cut across the rear of the Apen-nine-based Gothic Line To the west on the Fifth Army front the communique said bitter fighting was raging as American British and Indian troops pressed into the center of the Germans' last prepared defenses in northern Italy The line on which the Germans were facing Fifth Army attacks was officially described as "the strongest prepared defensive positions yet encountered in Italy" The Nazis had converted farm houses into forts by reinforcing the walls with steel and concrete Deep shelters have been cut into the sides of the towering Apennines for protection against Allied plane attacks In support of Eighth Army troops inching their way toward Rimini Marauders which heretofore have been concentrating their attacks on the Fifth Army front switched over yesterday to the Adriatic side and Joined RAF fighters and bombers in a devastating as-saulton German defense around Rimini See CHINA on Page 7 Today's Morning tHerald Monday September 18 1944 LOCAL Thousands of Durham students will return to school Page 10 Allan Bone Joins Duke University music staff as instructor director of band Page 10 STATE Wake Wake Forest College will open Fall term Tuesday 8 Washington Roanoke Island residents seek Federal aid as food shortage mounts Page 7 WASHINGTON Navy reveals loss of destroyer and two Coast Guard vessels in last Page 1 British assignment against Japs believed flanking assault on Malaya and Sumatra Page 1 FOREIGN Allied airborne army lands in Holland to heighten German peril British smash across Dutch frontier Page 1 London Russians reported crossing Vistula for frontal assault against Page 1 SPORTS Detroit Tigers take over American League lead with two wins over Cleveland Indians while New York Yanks drop pair to Philadelphia Athletics Advance predictions rate If GL A eleven as good Jimmy Demaret plans to move In Nelson McSpaden golf pickings up after he finishes chore for Uncle Sam Super-Desiroyer Honors late Secretary Of Navy Bath Me Sept The name of Col Frank Knox late Secretary of the Navy was given to a super-destroyer today in the presence of the Commander iq Chief Admr Ernest King The $10000000 2250-ton Knox was christened by the Secretary's widow Mrs Annie Reid Knox of Manchester at the Bath Iron Works Corporation Several thousand guests ineluding national political figures and business associates of the late Secretary attended Workmen watched from every vantage point Blackout Relaxed In London Other Cities Brightly Lighted See WARSAW on Page 7 a German Army Surrenders To American 9th Not One Yank Life Lost As Foe Quits By HAL BOYLE Beaugency France Sept (De layed UP) footsore Lost of 20000 troops cut off while trying to escape from Southern France to the Reich surrendered to the Ninth Army today without the price of a single American life or bullet in one of the strangest treks in military annals Stubby Maj Gen Erich Eisner who had led his motely assortment of marines ground forces and regular Nazi Army troops all the way from the Spanish border in an attempt to get them back to the homeland yielded them as prisoners of war to high-ranking American officers In a simple but dramatic ceremony Even as he turned his trapped legions over to the Army at the southern' bank of the Loire River they still bore the arms they had refused to lay down until assured of the safety of American prison camps Although hopelessly trapped by a junction of the Third and Seventh Armies and were being ground to pieces by harrassing French Maquis and the pounding of Ninth Air Force planes the Nazi troops refused to agree to give up their arms until they reached the Loire River' because of their fear of French vengeance The surrender was arranged by See LOST ARMY on Pago Navy Reports Destroyer Lost AsiHurricane Lashes Atlantic London Sept 17 UP) London took tonight's relaxation of the five-year blackout like a sedate old lady who isn't changing her habits overnight and even a brief air alert failed to jab her imperturbability A little bus conductress summed up the situation with "I see no difference I as her bus threaded through the scantily lighted streets in the heart of London The city of London still was a It may be weeks before the street lighting goes on again because of the lack of a master switch system Tonight's alert was brief and there was no immediate report of any incidents It was believed by some observers to have been a warning against a flying bomb London's streets were thronged with the usual Sunday night strollers enjoying Indian Summer weather but they continued to pick their way cheerfully through the dark as they have since the beginning of the war Even the brief alert fitted into the picture It broke into the varied crowd noises as it has done on many another night in the past five years Some people scurried for subway shelter just in case Only a few patches of light showed as the brighter era began officially The stretch from Marble Arch down to the luxury hotel belt in Park Lane and through Piccadilly to Leicester and Trafalgar Squares was still dark LIGHTED UP At Derby 20 miles away the Streets were almost as light as they were in peacetime Manchester and Newcastle crowds also revelled in almost full illumination but the pall of the wartime blackout still lay heavily over most of London Two American CpL Robert Calvin Butte Mont and Jim Lawson 814 Madison Avenue Milwaukee Wis who were so busy with the war thlt they know the blackout was ended asked "Where's the change It still looks the same to Washington Sept UP) The destroyer Warrington and two small Coast Guard vessels sank at sea during last Atlantic hurricane the Navy reported tonight saying that reports indicated the loss of life on the destroyer was The 1850-ton Warrington commissioned in 1938 carried a normal crew of 230 men The Coast Guard vessels both 125-foot patrol craft were the Jackson and the Bedloe with normal compliments of 35 men each SURVIVORS TICKED UP Rescue craft picked up survivors from each of the vessels including the destroyer's commanding officer Comdr Samuel Frank Quarles of Nathalie Va The Navy gave no information on the commander of the Jackson Lt.