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— ___ State and National News

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WILMINGTON, N. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1945 ESTABLISHED 186?

Seventh Army Crosses Rhine, Patton’s Men Reported 80 Mjjfs East Of River, Frankfort Entered By TL4*d, First Drives To Limburg Yanks Ashore In Ryukyus, Japs Report Naval Forces Continue

Bombardment Of Is- land Group

GUAM. Tuesday, March 27-

U s. warplanes and battleships bombarded the big Ryukyu island

of Okinawa yesterday, it was an-

nour-ced today, and Tokyo broad-

said American invasion for-

ce.- e swarming ashore on three

;,,;v islands to the west in a drive

which carried the Stars and Stripes v.w. 385 miles of the Japanese mainland.

Adn Chester W. Nimitz announ-

ced mat carrier planes and fast

battleships battered airfields and

shore installations on Okinawa in

the third attack on the island in

four days. Tokyo reported that the Ameri-

cans had landed on the islands oi

Aka. Zarnai and Tokashiki, in the Kerma group west of Okinawa, main island in the Ryukyu chain

which protects the approaches to southern Japan and the Asiatic mainland.

Nimitz announced tnat a small

number of Japanesjf planes sought to intercept the attacking fleet, which the enemy said included 15 aircraft carriers and 11 battleships, but six were shot down. That brought to 787 the number of planes destroyed or damaged by Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher’s famed Task Force 58 which started the present sweep with an assualt on

the Japanese mainland on March 18.

One American "light unit”—pos- s'bly a destroyer—suffered some

damage. Battleships — Including giants of

the new 45,000 ton class—turned their big guns of Okinawa’s shore installations in Monday’s attacks while carrier planes blasted air- fields and other targets not specifi- cally identified.

The attacks on Okinawa and oth- er islands in the Ryukyu chain started Friday and continued through Saturday before apparent- ly being broken off Sunday.

Nimitz also disclosed that Army Air Force bombers on Saturday hammered the airfield on Chichi island, north of newly-conquered Iwo and Mustang fighters followed through Sunday with another as-

sault. The Japanese sent planes out to

attack Iwo Sunday night, but Amer- ican "Black Widow night fighters turned them back before they could reach the island. A number of Jap- anese bombers were shot into the sea.

Tokyo, reporting the landings which pushed the American lines 873 miles westward from Iwo al- most to the underside of Japan it- self, said the Japanese garrison had launched “violent” counter-at- tacks against the invading forces.

In a broadcast at 4 a.m. (Jap- nesc time), or several hours be- fore Nimitz issued his bulletin, the enemy said the Americans had be gun landing Monday morning un- der cover of a heavy bombard- ment.

The enemy, who has been con-

ducting carrier attacks against the Okinawa group since March 24 (Sat- urday), has finally begun landing operations under cover of a heavy bombardment at 7 a.m. March 26,” Tokyo said. “Japanese garrisons were dealing violent counter-at- tacks upon the invaders.”

Tokyo originally said the land- tugs on the three tiny islands had stared Sunday morning (Japanese time) but claimed that through Monday night all had been beaten back, without a single American soldier landing.

The enemy said four U. S. naval task forces were off the Ryukyus and 430 carrier planes and war-

snips were bombing and shelling va-

rious targets, the principal ones be- ing Okinawa and the island of Mi- yako, 130 miles to the southwest. Japan claimed 12 American planes w ere shot down and 18 damaged.

Tokyo said among the ships in 'he various fleets were 15 carriers,

1 battleships, 10 cruisers and 3 destroyers which had been shelling nf,.y islands since Saturday morn-

ing. The enemy said the landing operations began Sunday morning.

WarOn WesternFront Held In Final Phase Inevitable Victory Over Broken German

Army Seen; 20 Nazi Divisions Already Destroyed, Allied Leaders Declare

By UNITED PRESS The war on the Western Front

has entered its final phase, lead- ing to inevitable victory over a broken German army, after a 42 day campaign west of the Rhine in which the equivalent of 20 Ger- man divisions have been destroy- ed, an Allied Supreme Headquar- ters summary said Monday night.

The statement, distributed by the Office of War Information, said that an overall ground and air plan, for the destruction of German armed forces, war indus- tries and communications in the battle had gone so well that ob- jectives were reached weeks ahead of schedule—and the Rhine was crossed as well.

Germany lost 223.000 men cap- tured and at least 75.000 killed or

seriously wounded, the summary said, and American casualties

were only a fraction of the ene- my’s.

‘‘Full of confidence and with the realization that the German army in the West is now, through defeat, an inferior machine, our forces moved in the next and last phase — the final defeat of Ger- many,” tile statement said. ‘‘It will be a bitter struggle but vic- tory is inevitable.

t “Never has such a resounding

defeat been inflicted on the Ger- man army at such small cost, with such speed.”

At anotner point it was said that tlie Germans had been ignomini- ously routed, that Field Marshal Karl Geirt von Rundstedt had been outwitted, that the German soldier had been outfought and out- maneuvered and that the German

(Continued on Page Two; Col. 5)

Lloyd George, Commoner And Statesman, Is Dead

TY NEWYDD LLANYSTUMD*WY, North Wales, March 26.—LP)— David Lloyd George, who as Prime Minister guided Britain to victory in the first World War and as a vocal elder statesman awakened her to impending disaster in this war by damning military measures as

too late or too little, died to-

night. Death came peacefully in his

farm home near here. He was 82 years old on January 17.

King George VI named him Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor last New Year’s Day, but this fierce cham- pion of the common man never

sat in the House of Lords. His second wife, the former

Miss Frances Stevenson whom he married October 23, 1943, was at his bedside when he died. She was his secretary for 30 years and the “glamour girl” of the Versailles peace conference. She was 25 years his junior.

His first wife, Dame Margaret Lloyd George, whom he married in 1888 when he was an unknown solicitor of 25, died in 1941.

Lloyd George, a small but ro-

bust man, had shaken off serious illnesses many times before, but he suffered an attack of influenza in January from which he never rallied. Since January 20 he had been in grave condition and un- der the care of a heart specialist.

His death leaves Vittorio Orlan- do of Italy the only survivor of the famous “Big Four” of Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Orlando at the Versailles Confer- ence where the peace treaty was

(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 5)

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE.

OFFICER CLEARED BY SERVICE BODY

Case Against G. C. Looney In Improper Form,

Group Declares

The City Civil Service Commis-

sion last night dismissed charges against Officer G C. Looney, who

was accused of cursing a white

waitress and assaulting a Negro Army veteran while intoxicated on

the night of February 28, when it

developed that the charges brought before the commission had not

been presented in the form of written complaints.

Referring to the legislative act

creating the Civil Service Com- mission of the City of Wilming- ton, Alton Lennon and W. K. Rhodes, Jr., attorneys represent- ing Looney,' pointed out that the

law provided that no matter

should come before the commis- sion unless written statements were filed either by the persons accusing the officer or by the of- ficer himself.

It was the contention of the at- torneys representing Looney that the affidavits gathered in the case

against the officer could not be considered complaints.

Following the explaining of the legislative act by Lennon, Nor- wood S. Westbrook, chairman of the commission, called for addi- tional discussion on the matter, and asked if there was anyone pres- ent interested enough to represent the City.

After a moment’s silence, Ed- gar Yow. City councilman, arose

and disclosed that he had been subposenaed, and was a member

(Continued on Page Three; Col. 4)

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Soviets Push To 31 Miles From Austria Moscow and Berlin Admit

Huge Drive In South- west Under Way

LONDON, Tuesday, March 27. —(A1)— Russian tank spearheads, pursuing Nazi forces across almost- conquered Hungary, lunged with- in 31 miles of Austria and 69 miles southeast of Vienna's city limits yesterday as Moscow and Berlin

disclosed that a great three-prong- ed push toward Germany’s back- door now was underway.

While elements of the Second

and Third Ukraine Armies swept toward Vienna along the south

bank of the Danube and battered within 16 miles of Gyor, key strong- point in Vienna’s defense triangle, MoMscow announced that the drive had been extended beyond the north bank of the Danube.

There, amid Czechoslovakia’s rugged Carpathian peaks, the Rus- sians captured the city of Banska Bystrica, 125 miles east of Vienna, after crossing a 36-mile stretch of the Hron river. At the same

time, Berlin said that these Sovie' forces had launched a powerful offensive across the Hron 92 miles east of Vienna and had captured the west bank fortress of Nagy- kalna.

As the mighty Soviet offensive raged toward the Bratislava gap, key to Vienna, Russian forces in northern Europe took 21,000 trap- ped German prisoners along the East Prussian beaches and lunged to within one mile of the former free city of Danzig by taking Heele and Pelonken, west and northwest of the big Baltic port.

Supported by American bombers which blasted Austrian and Hun- garian cities within 36 miles of the advancing Russians, Marhal Feo- dor I. Tolbukhin’s Third Ukraine Army advanced up to nine miles on a 63-mile front across north- western Hungary, seizing more

than 100 towns and villages. Mos- cow announced.

In the center of the pile-driving Soviet wedge, Tolbukhin’s t-oops captured the key, 11-way road and rail center of Papa, in a four-mile advance which cut the vital rail- road and highway linking ouU flanked Gyor, 25 miles to the northeast with American-bombed Szombathely near the Austro-Hun- garian border.

Shattering enemy defenses be- low Gyor based on this railroad- highway line, Tolbukhin’s troops hammered within 31 miles of the frontier and were six miles from the Marcal river, Vienna’s first de- fense line.

Roosevelt Asks Decrease In Present Tariff Laws

WASHINGTON, March 26.—(U.R) — President Roosevelt today recommended that present tariff

walls be reduced 50 per cent as a

mans of promoting a lasting peace and full postwar employment through g r e a ter international trade.

In a special message to Congress urging extension of the reciprocal trade agreements program, he said “trade is fundamental to the prosperity of nations, as it is to individuals.’’ He endorsed pending legislation by Chairman Robert L. Doughton, (O.-N.C.), of the House Ways and Means Committee. He

said it would accomplish the de- sired objective and ‘“mean more

exports and more imports” for this country.”

The Doughton measure would extend the life of the Trade Agree- ments Act beyond its present June expiration date and cut tariffs 50 per cent below the rates that prevailed last Januar- 1.

The present act, which became law in 1934, permits tariff reduc- tions 50 per cent below the rates fixed in the 1930 Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act. In some cases, the

additional slash proposed by Mr. Roosevelt would mean a maximum J

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75 per cent reduction from the 1930 rates.

Pointing out that the United States has reciprocal trade agree- ments with 28 countries, he said with reference to those countries that “much of our original au-

thority under the act has been used up.”

He said "we are left in this situation:

“Great Britain and Canada, our

largest peace-time customers, still maintain certain high barriers against our exports, just as we still have high barriers against theirs. Under the act as it now stands we do not have enough to offer these countries to serve as a basis for the further concessions we want from them. The same situation confronts us, although in a lesser degree, in the case of the other countries with whome we have al- ready made agreement; these in- gium, Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland elude France, the Netherlands, Bel- and most of the American re-

publics.” He therefore urged that tariff

cuts 50 per cent below present levels be authorized.

He suggested a non-partisan ap- proach to the Doughton bill and said:

(Continued on Page Three; Col. 1)

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TOKYO RADIO REPORTS IINVASION OF RYUKYUS |

Off the southwest coast of Okinawa Island, (arrow) largest in the Ryukyu group, American forces have landed, Tokyo reports. Without American confirmation, these landings, if true, would place United States forces about 325 miles south of the Japanese mainland (Kyushu), little more than half the dis- tance from Iwo Jima (lower right) to the mainland. (Star-News War Map)

Eisenhower Meets Army Commanders For Parley

WITH THE U. S. FIRST ARMY, March 26.—UP)—Gen. Eisen- hower and Lt. Gens. Omar N. Bradley, George S. Patton, Jr., and Courtney H. Hodges met today in U. S. First Army Territory east of the Rhine in what was described officially as “a' significant con-

ference.” There was a feeling of victory in the air as Eisenhower, the —-* Supreme Allied Commander, rode

in a ]eep across a pontoon bridge. Eisenhower met his generals at

the sprawling Petersberg hotel— where Prime Minister Chamber- lain stayed during his conferences with Adolf Hitler at Bad Godes- berg in 1938.

His conference with the comman- ders of the 12th Army Group and its two component forces, the U. S. First and Third Armies, 'ame as Allied troops gained al >ng the Western Front. Obviously jubilant. Eisenhower laughed and joked with his generals.

Declaring he expected Hodges’ First Army “to lick everybody they come up against,” Eisenhower said: “They did it all the way across France, and I see no reason

why they should stop on the road to Berlin.”

Bradley, the 12th Army Group commander, chatted with his old friends of the First Army. Eisen- hower and Hodges huddled at one of the maps showing the progress of the First Army’s breakout drive from the bridgehead since its at- tack exploded before dawn Sunday.

The hotel overlooks the Rhine

(Continued on Page Two; Col. 8)

U. S. PLANES AID RED ARMY DRIVE

Eastern Germany Pound- ed; Berlin Hit For 35th

Straight Night LONDON, Tuesday, March 27—

(dP)—U. S. heavy bombers, striking from bases in Britain and Italy, at-

tacked German industrial targets ahead of the Russian eastern of-

fensive yesterday and during the

night RAF Mosquito bombers fol- lowed up with their 35th consecu-

tive bombing of Berlin. A staff officer of the U. S. Eighth

Air Force said the American bomb- ers were able to switch their at- tention from western to eastern Germany because the situation in the West was “well enough in hand to warrant the shift.”

For the first time in a week American heavy bombers went back to the familiar job of blast- ing German oil refineries. A force of more than 300 Flying Fortresses escorted by 450 Mustangs attacked two oil plants, a gun factory and an armored car works in south- eastern Germany.

Flying Fortresses of the U. S. 15th Air Force lent their support to the Russian drive by attacking railyards at Szombathely, Brueck, Straszhof and Wiener Neustadt in Austria and Mustangs raked rail lines between Vienna and Czecho- slovakia.

Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker. chief of the Mediterranean Allied Air Force declared that the German air force is “virtually grounded; I mean just that.”

The Britain based Eighth Air Force heavy bombers and fighters split into two task forces over Leip- zig. One went after a synthetic oil plant and a natural oil refinery at Zeitz, 20 miles south of Leipzig, (Continued on Pake Ten; Col, 8)

FOE FEARS SPLIT IN WESTERN LINE

Nazis Plead With People To Fight On Despite

Serious Outlook

LONDON, March 26 —<-?>— Nazi propagandists pleaded with the German people tonight to fight on

"though the situation may appear hoeless,” and military commen- tators warned that the German Western Front was in danger of being split at Frankfurt-Am-Main.

Transocean’s Guenther Weber declared that "to the Germans it is immaterial whether we hold a mile of ground more or less, but it is vitai for us to maintain a con- tinuous front from the Swiss fron- tier to Holland.”

Although they are hardpressed also on the East Front, the Ger- mans eyed the West more appren- hensively. An official Berlin mili- tary spokesman declared that “the decisive fighting of the whole war now is unequivocally in the West.”

Propagandist Dr. Rudolf Semm- ler declared "we must not lose our

courage, strength or self-confi- dence. We’ve kept our heads over other situations which appeared to be hopeless so why should we act otherwise now.”

He conceded, however, that Ger- many was in the direst straits for material. *

"Don’t let’s deceive ourselves I (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2)

Red Cross Drive Chairman Urges Generosity In Gifts

With but two days left in the American Red Cross drive to raise $88,000 in New Hanover coir.ty, Robert Strange, campaign chair- man, last night urged all people who have not yet contributed to consider the sarifices made by servicemen, and to be as generous as possible in their donations.. Yes- terday the over-all total recorded at headquarters stood at $65,915.21.

Strange commended the large number of firms and employe groups that are reaching their suggested quotas. “We want to assure all our citizens, however,” Strange added, “that their generos- ity will not be used as an excuse

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for increasing their firm and in- dividual quotas in another year." If the 1946 goal is comparable to the current one, he stated, then the suggested quotas will be ad- vanced on the basis of the current campaign.

"Some firms have not yet been solicited,” Strange said, "but they will soon be visited by volunteer workers. All team captains are

urged to complete their canvass-

ing as soon as possible.” As an illustration of the fine response from firms that have been solicit- ed, the chairman cited the case

(Continued on Page Three; Col. 2)

Seven Annies Over Barrier, Foe Staggers British Second Rolls 15

Miles Beyond North- ern Rhine

PARIS, Tuesday, March 27-- Two power-packed American ar-

mies were plunging deep into the softening heart of Germany last night as still another Allied army— the U. S. Seventh — vaulted the Rhine. The U. S. First ripped 35 miles from the Remagen area and the American Third was reported to have gained 80 miles placing spearheads possibly within 200 miles of Berlin.

Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch sent his Seventh Army over the Rhine in a crossing described as "bold and successful” to give the Allies seven armies on the east bank and beyond. The crossing was

made without artillery or aerial bombardment. The exact location of the crossing was not announced.

All along the battlefront, the great Allied armies were on the advance. The Germans were fall- ing back everywhere.

Two of Lt. Gen. George S. Pat- ton’s famous Third Army armored task forces were believed running wild 80 miles or more inside the heart of Germany, far beyond Frankfurt, but they were operating under a security blackout.

Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ American First Army ripped through German lines east of the Remagen area sending one ar-

moured column racing 35 miles to Heckholzhausen and another 22 miles to Limburg, eight miles south of Heckholzhausen.

The Third Army smashed into Frankfurt from the south as the First Army reached Limburg, 30 miles northwest of the great Col- ogne-Frankfurt superhighway. Both

spearheads have broken complete- ly out of the rugged Westerwald forest and now are rolling through the comparatively level Lahn riv- er valley.

Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey’s British Second Army hit the Ger- mans another withering blow in the north by breaking through the Nazis’ defensive crust on the West- phalian plain in a five-mile drive that rolled 15 miles beyond the Rhine.

Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson’s Ninth Army, slugging deep into the Ruhr, drove into Germany’s indus- trial heart at better than half a

mile an hour and was reported within three miles of Essen.

German reports broadcast by the Frankfurt raido said one column of the Third Army had reached Hosenfeld in the area of Fulda, less than 200 miles from Berlin. Reliable military sources in Lon- don said the other column had reached the Wuerzburg area, 38 miles beyond a captured bridge at

Aschaffenburg and within 56 miles of the great Nazi shrine city of Nuerenberg.

Allied pilots reported a great ex-

odus of German troops and ma-

terial out of central Germany into the high Alpine ranges near the Swiss border, where the Nazi* may make a last stand in prepar- ed mountain redoubts.

Some Allied observers speculat- ed that Patton’s plunge to Fulda was racing for a junction with Russian forces to seal off the Nazis in the north from any escape to the southern mountains.

Correspondents with Brig. Gen. William A. Hoge's whirlwind Fourth Armored Division disclosed that the crossing of the Main riv- er was made at Aschaffenburg, where a bridge was seized intact. From Asciiaffenburg it is 38 miles southeast to Wuerzburg.

A second armored column rolled up to the Main river opposite Ha- nau, 15 miles north of Aschaffen- burg, but it was not clear whether the bridge there had been seized.

Tanks and infantry following up the breakthrough smashed Into Frankfurt, which was reported al- most deserted by its pre-war pop- ulation of more than a half mil- lion.

The major portion of the great industrial city lies north of the Main river, and German prisoners reported that all bridges across the Main either had been destroyed or were mined for destruction.

Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges* First Army Tanks, however, were only 30 miles north of Frankfurt after a 22-mile breakthrough' that carried into Limburg. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3)

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