Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 32

ursue Nazis North of Rome; Emanuele Steps Aside Allies Father Out-Son King GENERAL CLARK IN CENTER OF ROME Nazis Abandon r- I ft 1 vf I let-. Yanks Blast Rail Yards in Northern Italy By EDWARD KENNEDY Rome (AP) fy Italian King Yields Powers To Umberto Naples, Italy (AP) King Vittorio Emanuele III stepped aside as monarch of Italy yesterday as he previously had said he would do upon the liberation of Rome and handed to his 39-year-old son. Crown Prince Umberto, all "royal prerogatives." Italian political pressure had been brought to bear against him since the conquest of Naples. In a decree signed by himself and countersigned by Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio, head of the Italian liberation government, the King named his son lieutenant general of the realm. The monarch, however, retained his title as head of the House of Savoy and remains as king without power.

King Vittorio Emanuele, who became ruler July 29. 1900, had announced last April 12 his "irrevocable" decision to withdraw from public life "on the day on which CROWN PRINCE UMBERTO VITTORIO EMANL'ELE Hard Fight Againsf Nazis Yet Before Us, Warns F.D.R. i jr Lieut. Gen. Mark W.

Clark, commanding general of the Allied Fifth army, rides in the front seat of a jeep at the head Pope Thanks God Holy City Not Ravaged Rome (AP) Pope Pius XII gave thanks to God before an enormous crowd including soldiers of the victorious Allied Fifth Army in the square before St. Peter's last night that Rome was spared the ravages of war. The pontiff also expressed thanks to "both belligerent parties for saving the city. His words, delivered with his hands outstretched. brought prolonged applause from the multitude.

It was perhaps the greatest crowd gathered there since his coronation. The assemblage was estimated at between 250,000 and 000 persons. Early in the afternoon word spread through the city that the Pope would mark the Allies' en trance into Rome by appearing on the balcony of St. Peter's at 6 p. m.

Half an hour before that time a great crowd was gathered there and long Hnes of people still were mak ing their way on foot to the Ba- ilica. Rome was virtually intact as the Germans had limited their demo litions to a few installations of no artistic or religious importance. The Vatican was entirely unmo lested. The dome of St. Peter's, domi nating the city, bounced back the rays of the sun as the crowd converged on the great circle in front of its structure.

A Swiss guard on duty at St. Peter's said the Ger mans always had respected the neu trality of the Vatican and he expressed the hope the Americans would also. Allied troops moving into the city in ever increasing numbers passed by the portals of Vatican city, where only a few papal gendarmes were on duty. Although the Germans had pro tested Rome was an open city, many of the streets were littered approaches, and covered the roads with heavy fire. British troops on the coastal flank of the Allied advance pressed to within six miles of the Tiber river below Rome.

Hopes of trap ping the entire German force in this sector appeared to be bright. as few bridges over the Tiber were available to them. An Allied drive from Rome to the coast would seal their line of retreat. Fifth Army troops pushing through the Alban hills captured the towns of Gottaferrata, Marino and Genzano and by-passed some enemy pockets of resistance. As evidence of the disorganization of the German forces in that area, it was disclosed that 377 prisoners taken at Velletri represented 50 dif ferent companies.

Some Fighting in City Burned-out German combat vehicles in the streets of Rome offered abundant evidence that the enemy turned the Eternal City into a battle-ground Sunday, at least to the extent of fighting a delaying action from block to block. Some inhabitants reported that the enemy mounted guns on the roof of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, which is Vatican extra territorial property, but this was not officially confirmed. The Romans look thinner than they did before the war, but they were very happy today and there was no doubt they were glad to see the Americans, and to be delivered from the Germans. There was no special guard around the Vatican. (In a broadcast to the Italian people, Mussolini appealed to them to "make life as hard as possible" for Allied troops and assured them that "our will is not of a procession of vehicles past the Coliseum in the heart of Rome.

In rear seat, directly behind Clark, is Maj. Gen. Al with their knocked out guns and combat vehicles with which they had attempted to impede the Allied occupation. However, the only wrecked sections of the city are adjacent to the San Lorenzo, Tiburtina, Osti-ense and Trastevere railroad yards, which had been repeatedly bombed by the Allies. Stritch Rejoices Over Saving of Rome Chicago (AP) Archbishop Samuel A.

Stritch of Chicago, commenting on the liberation of Rome, declared yesterday "we hope that the way is now open for the declaring of Rome an open city to remove the danger to it as long as it is a military area." Asked for a statement on the liberation he said: 'The news came this morning that our forces have entered into Rome. It is a great satisfaction that this entry was achieved without the making of Rome a battlefield, and that the mother-city of the Christian world, with its priceless cultural monuments and venerated religious shrines, is preserved. ''We hope that the way is now open for the declaring of Rome an open city to remove the danger to it which is present as long as it is a military area. "Good men everywhere rejoice over the saving of Rome from further damage or destruction. "We have the greatest confidence that in our hands the city will be safe and our Holy Father the Pope will be given full freedom in the discharge of the duties of the supreme pastor of the church." Probe of Kentucky Governor Suggested Frankfort.

Ky. (AP) A resolution proposing an inves tigation of Republican Gov. Simeon Willis' administration witij a view toward impeachment proceedings against the governor was read in the Kentucky House last night, but its sponsor. Rep. Johnson Miller, Taylorsville Democrat, did not move for its adoption.

Miller, declaring from the floor that Willis should be investigated for "his broken promises and his refusal to adopt a state budget, said he would insist upon later adoption of the resolution if the governor "persists in his dictatorial ways." Choppy Seas, Cool Weather Over Straits London, England (AP) Dover strait was cool and choppy last night and low clouds and mist diminished visibility. The barometer steadied after dark and the temperature stood at 55 at 10 p. m. The weather de teriorated after early morning sun shine and by noon a strong southwest wind roughed the sea. High tides at Calais will be at 1:07 p.

m. Tuesday and 1:24 a. m. Wednesday, 1:43 p. m.

Wednesday and 2:04 a. m. Thursday (6:07 a. m. and 6:24 p.

m. Tuesday, and 6:43 a. m. and 7:04 p. m.

Wednesday, Central War time.) ESCORT CARRIER BLOCK The Navy announced yesterday the lost of the escort car Left Tiber Bank As They Relrea BULLETIN Allied Hradqiurtm. Naples (AP) The battle to destroy ft, German enemy in Italy tinues without pane" troops of the Fifth army advanced some five milt yond the Tiber, Allied hui. quarters announced today. The announcement said tait "only weak resistance" kt. ins encountered by the Fifti army vanguards.

London, England Germans retreating from Roist the Vichy radio announced lar. night, have abandoned the entt left bank of the Tiber river frr-its mouth to the city whose loss, fr Nazis conceded earlier, was a blow to their prestige. Included in the area repor.4 abandoned is the port of Ostii Fighting has "flared up on ta central Italian front where Km Zealanders are strongly prestj towards the upper Sangro vallej, said the broadcast, and "this movi in inHirata tViaf ihm AHi'aJ mi fensive may soon spread along tin entire Italian front right to ftt Adriatic." Nazi Left Expected to Retreit Withdrawal of the German lina on the Adriatic end of the bra'. was forecast by a Berlin raio spokesman in a broadcast recordec by the Ministry of Information. "It must be expected that tin German left on the Adriatic coast) will have to conform with ti changed situation on the righi flank." he said.

Reiterating the Nazi propaganda theme that capture of Rome availed the Allies little, he said the nn positions would aid the Genrfcn de- I fense and "the Germans already an entrenched in mountain position! north of the city." Rome Radio in German Hands A broadcast on the wave length f. of the Rome radio, which the Ger-mans controlled and apparently moved out of the city in their i treat, said Nazi, Japanese and sa- tellite envoys would take up resi-1 dence in the Vatican city. Hitler's high. command rushed the radio to say the Germans had "withdrawn" from Rome, but dis- patches to Stockholm of the Ger- -man-controlled Scandinavian press 1 bureau gave this summary of Berlin newspaper comment. "Giving up one of the Axis capitals involves a loss of prestige for Germany." Churchill's Words Recalled jj With the ceaseless aerial batter- jj ing of the Atlantic wall.

Britons i waited expectant and confident for the ground assault and some re- called Prime Minister Churchill! words after Dunkerque to a hush- ed Commons and a tense nation just four years and a day ago: "We shall never surrender. I (we) will carry on the strugsle until in God's good time the new world in all its strength and might sets forth to the rescue and liber- ation of the old." Battle-clad Canadians and a great United States Army mechan- ized and equipped for a tremen-dous part in that promised, task I of liberation now are swarminj over this island. Berlin Tries to Minimize Loss A Berlin broadcast, in an apparent attempt to belittle the setback! in Italy, declared that "if the enemy wants to force a decisive battle then he must carry out an invasion in the west on a grand scale." Lord Woolton, Minister of Fe-construction, implied the Germans might not have long to wait. Commenting on Rome's capture he said: "I am sure it is a precursor of things that are to come." A message read for the fallea Benito Mussolini from his retreat in northern Italy called on the Romans to "make life as hard as possible" for Allied troops, but it must have had a hollow echo in i city resounding to shouts of citizens welcoming their liberators. Correspondent Lutz Koch, broadcasting from the westwall whic6 he toured with Marshal Erwin Rommel, reported that along the beach were "tens of thousands tree trunks all wire-mined into a deadly net" which would becon "an exploding forest." Joliet Firemen Face Ultimatum From Council Joliet (AP) Demands of city firemen for 25 per cent pay raise were answered Monday by an ultimatum from Mayor Arthur O.

Janke and the city council ordering the men to withdraw their petition or face the police and firemen's board on charges of insubordination. Gripsholm Due Today New York (AP) The exchange liner Gripsholm will reach Jersey City late tday. bringing 51 ill or wounded American soldiers and 3 Canadians, who were prisoners ol war in Germany. Allied armor and motorized Infantry roared through the Eternal City yesterday not pausing to ight-see. crossed the Tiber, and proceeded with the grim task of destroy in two battered German rmies fleeing to the north.

Flashing forces of Allied fighter bombers spearheaded the pursuit, jamming the escape highways northward with burning enemy transport and littering the fields with dead and wounded Nazis. The enemy was tired, disorganized and bewildered by the slashing character of the Allied assault, which in 23 days had inflicted a major catastrophe on German forces in Italy and liberated Rome almost without damage to the his toric city. Planes Bomb North Italy Joining the relentless program of destruction, 500 American heavy bombers blasted railyards at five points in northern Italy between Venice and Rimini along which the Germans might attempt to move reinforcements and equipment to bolster Marshal Albert Kesselring's beaten armies. At 10 a. m.

yesterday Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, tad commander of the victorious Fifth Army, entered Rome in a jeep and drove to the city hall, where he formally proclaimed the Allied occupation, and praised the valor of his troops. Addressing his corps commanders and looking out over thousands of cheering Italians.

Clark declared that both the 10th and 14th German armies had been at least partially destroyed, more than 20,000 prisoners taken and untold quantities of Nazi equipment captured. Clark Praises Troops He lauded individually the French, British and American troops of the Fifth Army and paid tribute to the "gallant men and women ho made the supreme sacrifice" that made yesterday's occupation possible. Mussolini's famous balcony in the Palazzo Venezia, a few blocks from where Clark spoke, looked empty and deserted. Pope Pius XII, addressing an enormous crowd including many Fifth Army soldiers in St. Peter's square, expressed thanks to God that Rome had not been destroyed by war.

In Naples, it was announced that King Vittorio Emanuele III had signed a retirement decree conferring his powers upon his son. Crown Prince Um-berto, whom he named lieutenant general of the realm. However, the monarch retained the title as head of the House of Savoy, thus remaining a king without power.) Troops Welcomed Wildly The inhabitants' reception to the troops approached hysteria as the day wore on, and home-made confetti soon littered the streets. There was an almost carnival atmosphere. Little damage to the city was visible, the Nazis having limited demolitions to a few installations of no artistic or religious importance.

The speed of the enemy's flight once his lines before Rome burst, was evident in the great quantities of war material left behind, stock-pilei sufficient to equip several divisions. An Allied spokesman expressed the official opinion that the Allies in the final phase of the the tremendous pressure exerted by Battle for Rome had forced the enemy to flee beyond the capital rather than make a protracted fight for the city itself. Nazis Withdraw Rapidly Just 24 hours after the first Allied troops made their way through dense minefields and broke into southeastern suburbs of the city at 8 a. m. Sunday, the leading elements had passed completely through the capital and the last German sniper had been killed or captured.

Hour after hour the Allied war-planes swept down on highways leading northward, and tore the fleeing enemy apart. Twelve-hundred Nazi transport vehicles were destroyed from dawn to dark Sunday, and hundreds more yesterday. Farther north medium bombers smashed bridges and rail facilities, leaving wreckage and fire that one airman said looked like "the city dump on burning day." British Meet Opposition British Eighth Army forces ad--ancing from the east continued to meet stubborn opposition, particularly northeast of Valmontone, where the Germans were fighting in fixed mountain defense positions. The enemy had been driven completely out of the Sacco valley, clearing the towns of Fiuggi, Paliano, Guarcino and Cave. Palestrina, astride an important retreat road four and a half miles north of Valmontone, was seized by Allied troops Sunday.

The British were encountering demolitions on a major scale, and an Allied spokesman said the Italian villages they were being forced to storm were perched on rocky eminences several hundred feet high. The Nazis had mined all the continued. "We have had to start at the very bottom, assisting local governmnts to reform on democratic lines." "We have had to give them bread to replace that which was stolen out of their mouths by the Germans. We have had to make it possible for the Italians to raise and use their own local crops. We have to help them cleanse their schools of Fascist trappings." Mr.

Roosevelt said the American' people approve "the salvage of these human beings who are only now learning to walk in a new atmosphere of freedom." Some people, he said, may think of the financial cost of liberating Italy but he termed it a "form of relief." "We hope." he added, "that this relief will be an investment for for the future an investment that will pay dividends by eliminating Fascism and ending any Italian desires to start another war of aggression." It was the president's first major radio address for months. In it, he paid tribute to all the Allied troops who participated in the Italian campaign. "I extend the congratulations and thanks of the American people," he said, "to General Alexander, who has been in command of the whole Italian operation: to General Clark and General Leese of the Fifth and Eighth Armies: to General Wilson, the supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater, and General Devers. his American deputy; to General Eaker: to Admirals Cunningham and Hewitt: and to all their brave officers and men." OPA Increases Ceiling Price on 1944 Potatoes Washington. D.

C. (AP) Ceiling prices for early 1944 po tatoes were increased yesterday 20 cents per hundred pounds for the rest of this month, through an Of fice of Price Administration order effective in all states except Cali fornia and Arizona. The action, under which the increase in growers' prices may be passed on to the consumer, was taken to permit growers to recoup, to some extent, losses suffered because of bad weather conditions, OPA said. The action may result in an increase to the housewife of about one-fourth of a cent a pound, it was estimated. At the same time, and also for the rest of this month only, the minimum diameter of potatoes was reduced from one and seven-eighths inches to one and one-half inches to qualify for the ceiling on U.

S. number one grade potatoes. This ruling will eliminate a previous price differential between the U. S. number one grade and the "size potatoes.

Invasion Error Girl to Return to Work Friday London, England AP) Joan Ellis, the timid, blond 22-year-old girl who inadvertently sent the flash which caused the erroneous Associated Press announcement Saturday of Allied landings in France, said last night she would be back in the office in a few days and hoped to be able to do a good job for the AP when the big story does break. "Everybody in the AP has been so nice and considerate," Miss Ellis said at her home, where she is recuperating from nervous tension. "I expect to come back to work by Friday and try to convince myself that I can do the work in spite of the strain of having made such an error that caused so much trouble." Lone British Freighter Is Sunk in Atlantic Miami, Fla. (AP) A lone British freighter, manned by a French crew, was torpedoed and sunk early in May in the first reported outbreak of submarine warfare in the Atlantic ocean in many months. Six men are missing, but 47 others sailed 500 miles to the coast of South America in two lifeboats.

Washington, D. C. (AP) Hailing the capture of Rome with the jubilant phrase "one up and two to go," President Roosevelt declared last night that the aim now is to drive Germany "to, the point where she will be unable to recommence world conquest a generation hence." Mr. Roosevelt, in a nation-wide radio broadcast, cautioned that this struggle with the Nazis would be tough and costly and that the day of Germany's surrender "lies some distance ahead." Whether his reaffirmation that the fight would be pressed until Germany surrenders was a reply to the recent speech of Pope Pius XII was not stated. The Pope asserted last week that the idea that the war must end either in complete victory or complete destruction is a stimulant toward prolonging the ionflict and expressed hope for an early peace.

"Deep Satisfaction" Speaking of Rome as the great symbol of Christianity, the president declared "it will be a source of deep satisfaction that the freedom of the Pope and of Vatican City is assured by the Armies of the United Nations." But he declared that no thanks are due Hitler and his generals "if home was spared the devastation which the Germans wreaked on Naples and other Italian cities." "The Allied generals maneuvered so skillfully." he said, "that the Nazis could only have stayed long enough to damage Rome at the risk of losing their armioB." "Our victory," Mr. Roosevelt asserted, "comes at an excellent time, while our Allied forces are poised for another strike at western Europe and while armies of other Nazi soldiers nervously await our assault. And our gallant Russian allies continue to make their power felt more and more." Italy Invited to Help The president extended to Italy the invitation to help in establishing a lasting peace and said, "All the other nations opposed to Fascism and Nazism should help give Italy a chance. "The Germans, after years of domination in Rome, left the people in the Eternal City on the verge of starvation. We and the British will do everything we can to bring them relief We have already begun to save the lives of the men, women and children of Rome." The Italian people "are capable of self-government." Mr.

Roosevelt continued. "We do not lose sight of their virtues as a peace loving nation." Future Military Operations Speaking of the military operations still to come in Europe, the president said: "We shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting before we get into Germany itself. The Germans have retreated thousands of miles, all the way from the gates of Cario. through Libya and Tunisia and Sicily and southern Italy. "They have suffered heavy losses, but not great enough yet to cause collapse." In Italy; the president said, the people had lived so long "under the corrupt rule of Mussolini that, in spite of the tinsel at the top.

their economic condition had grown steadily worse. Our troops have found starvation, malnutrition, disease, a deteriorating education and lowered public health all by-products of the Fascist misrule. "The task of the Allies in occu pation has been stupendous," he (ASSOCIATED PRESS WIRE-PHOTO from Navy) Allied troops enter Rome," and to turn his powers over to the crown prince. Little more than a figurehead since Mussolini assumed the dic tatorship of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele had won a reputation the first years of his reign as a sympathetic monarch, interested in his people and their problems. Cmberto's; Power Grows Prince Umberto, tall and erect, opposed Fascism in Italy at the start but later made a truce with Mussolini.

In effect, Umberto becomes the king's regent. Liberal Italian leaders loudly de manded abdication of Vittorio Emanuele after the conquest of Naples. The king's decision to re tire from public life paved the way for a compromise and formation of an enlarged war cabinet under Marshal Badoglio in which each of the six political parties forming a liberation junta was represented. Crown Prince Umberto early in 1943 began to come more and more into political prominence. Tasks that would be assigned only to a leader of some political impor tance were given him, including radio address to calm the Italian people fearful under heavy Allied air raids, and issuance of an order of the day calling upon Italian sol diers to fight harder.

Russians Honor Gen. Marshall Washington, D. C. (AP) General George C. Marshall, United States Army chief of staff, said last night "The final action in this terrible European war is now focused on a single battle in which every Allied force will be represented." "It is to be a battle to the death for the Nazis and a battle to victory for the Allies," he told an audience at the Russian embassy where he was decorated with the Order of Suvorov, first degree, highest honor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The decoration, presented by Ambassador Andrei A. Gromyko, was conferred on General Marshall "for outstanding military activities and merits in the leadership of the American armed forces in the fight against the common enemy, Hitlerite Germany." "I am profoundly honored," General Marshall said, adding that the decoration assumed great significance because "it is tendered by a country which made an historic defense against'the titanic as. sault of the German army at the height of its efficiency and numbers, a country whose armies are now in the actual process of destroying the Nazi military formations on the eastern front." Hot Gasoline Coupons Cooled Off in Canal Miami, Fla. (AP) Gasoline ration coupons worth 4,800,000 gallons were found floating in a canal 20 miles west of Miami. P.

N. Hiatt, OPA enforcement attorney, said the 960,000 coupons were part of a shipment from Jacksonville to Miami which had been reported stolen. "They got too hot to handle," Hiatt opined. during May, 1944. Casualties were reported as "light." 'AAk5l-m fred M.

Gunther. chief of staff. Natives of the Italian capital line up at right to cheer their liberators. (AP WIREPHOTO) U. S.

Aircraft Carrier Sunk In Atlantic Washington, D. C. (AP) The Navy, in new accountings of the war at sea. reported yesterday the loss of a U. S.

escort carrier and the sinking of 16 more Japanese merchant ships by American submarines. The small aircraft carrier Block Island was sunk by enemy action in the Atlantic last month with "light'' casualties, the Navy said in a communique. She was the 158th Navy ship lost during the war. In another communique, the Navy gave a fortnightly report on its submarine warfare against the Japanese. The 16 enemy merchant ships reported in yesterday's announcement lifted the total of Japanese ships sunk by American sub-mersibles to 589.

Cause of Sinking Not Given The announcement about the Block Island did not say how she went down whether by submarine action, gunfire, aerial bombs or mines. The Block Island, commanded by Capt. Francis M. Hughes of Selma, was the first American aircraft carrier announced lost in the Atlantic. "The next of kin of cas ualties, which were light, have been notified," the Navy said.

The carrier was launched June 6, 1942. Escort carriers generally are converted vessels, with flight decks built on merchant ship type hulls. Sixth Carrier Lost The Block Island was the 158th Navy ship lost in the war. One other escort carrier, the Liscome Bay, has been sunk. She went down in action during the Gilbert island landings last November.

Four big carriers the Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp and Hornet have been lost in the Pacific war. One battleship, the Arizona, was destroyed in the Pearl Harbor at tack. The other ships include six heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, 41 destroyers, 23 submarines and 77 miscellaneous craft. Included in the latest submarine bag, the Navy said, was a large transport (a type vitally needed by the enemy to move men into or get them out of endangered spots) one big, seven medium and two small cargo vessels, four medium and one small cargo transports. Since the start of the war, American submarines have sunk 539 Japanese ships of which 148 were combatant vessels.

In recent months, the average sunk has been close to one a day, a rate believed to surpass any possible replacement by the Japanese ship building industry. King George on Air New York (AP) The London radio, in a broadcast recorded by the Federal Communications com mission, said that King George VI would deliver a special broadcast tonight at 9 p. m. London time. 12 p.

ra. C. W. ISLAND IS LOST 7 i rier U. S.

S. Block Island by enemy action in the Atlantic.