Evening Courier, The (Newspaper) - December 7, 1944, Champaign, Illinois COURIER'S OCTOBER DAILY AVERAGE CIRCULATION THE EVENING COURIER CHAMPAIGN tUt North Nell Street URBANA 111 North BMW A MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS 238 Entered Illinois THURSDAY DECEMBER 7 1944 By Carrier U S URGES TREE FOR G if Three Cents Copy Yanks Sweep Around Leyte Below Ormoc Gen MacArthur's ters Philippines Dec 7 CAP American cavalrymen in a ing amphibious flanking maneu ver surprised Japanese forces 10 miles below the vital port of Ormoc on Leyte's west coast as other American forces Were breaching the Nipponese line two miles further it was disclosed today Al Associated press correspondent said the riding heavily armed amphibious tractors came around the southern horn of Leyte on a more than three-day trip the longest ever made by amtracs under their own power They knifed into Japanese tions at Tabgas and adjoining Ba- logo village Lt Col O'Neill K Kane com- mander of the force said the Jap anese were caught completely off guard and his men drew only ger mortar and fire Some Yanks reported seeing anese in full flight Japs Say Airfields Damaged dispatch did not make it clear whether the operation was still going on or if it were only a raid to throw the Japanese off balance Meanwhile Tokyo radio claimed Japanese paratroopers had landed at four points behind the can lines on Leyte to destroy fields The broadcast unconfirmed by Allied sources said a grand scale offensive was launched Wednesday against the many enemy airfields on eastern te It is from these airfields that Yankee planes have been wiping out enemy reinforcement con- voys and cratering Japanese fields throughout the Philippines Gen Douglas MacArthur's com- today noted successes on land sea and in the air In ground lighting doughboys of the 24th army corps penetrated the my's river line at a point Pearl Harbor Years Later RUSSIA MONGOLIA The third anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl bor Dec 7 1941 finds can forces driving into the Western Pacific fighting in the Philippines bombing kyo from bases in the nas islands and waging naval warfare on the approaches to Japan Moves which have ried the American forces for- ward are indicated by The Solomons campaign be- gun Aug 7 1942 with the in- vasion of Guadalcanal the Southwest Pacific drive be- gun in New Guinea in ember of 1942 the Aleutians campaign in the spring and summer of 1943 Central Pacific atoll be- gun Nov 21 1943 with the landing at Tarawa On the Asiatic mainland The nese hold the areas shown in black AP WIREPHOTO about 12 miles southeast of moc Japanese supply port Widespread Air Attacks MacArthur's communique ported two U S columns shoving doggedly northward reached points south of on the west coast and Kang Dagit village ther inland as they breached the Nipponese Ormoc At sea the Japanese line of re- by water through moc bay has been cut by naval and air forces the communique announced With the increasing sure of our ground troops the my's situation must be regarded as serious The fur arm dealt blows from the Philippines to Timor Three Japanese freighters were sunk one off Hoc peninsula in southern Luzon one off Bohol island in the archipelago and a third off the north coast of Flores be- tween Timor and Java Netherlands East Indies in the Reds Advance On Budapest London Dec 7 AP Red army vanguards sweeping lower Lake Balaton were 35 miles of the Austrian frontier today as Berlin reported a powerful Russian offensive on Budapest from three ing in sides The gravest threat to the be- I leaguered Hungarian capital came from spearheads of Marshal Feodor I Third raine army units driving up the west bank of the Danube The Germans said they had abandoned Ercsi only 13 miles south of Budapest in the face of the tide of Russian armor which Soviet war bulletin said made gains up to 16 miles The Germans also reported the Russians employing fresh tanks northwest of Budapest yesterday breached the German Une in a northwesterly direction Over Germans To U S in November Washington Dec 7 AP than German of war reached the United States last month The War department reported today total of all nationalities held war prisoner in this country on Dec 1 was It was made up of Germans 156 Italians and Japanese The Japanese figure increased 201 November i Plenty of Plans To Use State's Surplus Funds Springfield Dec 7 AP The state's fat Treasury s u plus looks like a sizzling hot issue in the 1945 legislative frying pan The spiraling balance which now tops 1 10 million dollars pears tion headed for since its its first spectacular growth from a 10 million dollar figure of three years ago New demands on the surplus are expected from various groups How much of it will be spent ing the biennium will hinge primarily on post-war budget by Republican Gov Dwight H Green Many Uses Already Planned The governor emphasizes the surplus is intended for actual and necessary post-war needs It will be up to the G 0 Legislature to decide on its use The Administration plans to a chunk of the surplus for a long range state soldier re- habilitation program But that's only one of many ects on the post-war list that en- visage some support from the Treasury cash pile There are projects blueprinted in general for public safety health Japs Teach Hard Way Tactics Equipment Perfected From Reverses Sunday morning Dec 7 while Japanese bombs still By EUGENE BURNS Of the Associated Press San Francisco Dec It has taken us three to get the of fighting the Japanese They forced good air sea and s In the three years we have had defeats and victories that were too costly in they are saving your sons lives as the war goes into the fourth year When I made the first eyewitness transpacific telephone call from Pearl Harbor to the United States 1941 exploding and our was burning we had yet to fight a jor naval air or amphibious war for Defense Had the fleet steamed out of Pearl Harbor Dec 7 the result might well have been ly disastrous As measured by present-day standards every man-of-war was woefully inadequate While visiting the U S fleet's flagship before Pearl Harbor the commander-in-chief pointed out a small battery of 1.1 anti-aircraft guns There Burns is the answer to the he said I think the ship had two such batteries of four barrels each highway educational and welfare j day three years later that ship purposes which are backed by has perhaps more than 100 much Governor Green and will require sizeable outlays Where materials are available the work will not have to wait until after the war Diversions Urged Also in the picture are sales tax diversion proposals which would affect the surplus because sales ax revenue has been a big factor in its expansion The Illinois Municipal league wants the state to refund a of two per cent sales tax col- lections to cities with no strings attached Another proposal would ive counties a share Governor Green has hinted he favors some form of tax diversion particularly to cities for post-war projects years ago state administra tion opposition defeated a to rebate of such tions to counties A Southern Illinois group has recommended that 10 million lars of sales tax receipts be set aside by the Legislature to aid impoverished school districts which have limits The exhausted local tax surplus would be frozen at its present level under this proposal No State Property Tax Levy Again This Year Springfield Dec 7 AP This year as every year since the sales tax was adopted in 1933 there will be no state erty tax levy in Illinois The state tax fixing board made customary decision yesterday at its annual meeting heavier anti-aircraft rifles Carrier Tactics Ancient Our Asiatic fleet which took on the full brunt of the Japanese was guns navy after Pearl Harbor worse Most of its ships could not be elevated to fire at an incoming plane Our carrier tactics were not far behind our old ships In battle Cloudy For Champaign dy rain afternoon night and this forenoon followed by de- creasing diness Friday afternoon tie change in t e m p e rature Lowest tonight 30 Highest Friday 40 Temperatures Wednesday 35 minimum 30 mean 32 today 7 a m 33 9 a m 34 this morning 31 Precipitation none total for De- cember 19 Humidity 7 a m 90 average Wednesday 88.7 Degree days to date cor- responding date last year Sunset today p m sunrise Friday a m Additional temperatures and problems before Pearl Harbor the carriers usually were spotted a hundred miles behind the line and some of their planes ried smoke tanks in the bomb bay The purpose of the carrier planes an admiral explained Was ly to do the spotting put down smoke screens engage enemy spotters and perhaps harass the enemy In November 1942 our ships fired their main battery at an enemy surface force for the first time since the ican war years before Disaster at Savo Island Likewise we had not fought a night action until August 1942 when at Savo island a small anese cruiser force almost wiped out our Guadalcanal screening force We lost four cruisers in minutes without inflicting any appreciable damage to the nese At our first amphibious landing at Guadalcanal supply lines failed our men were bombarded almost nightly reinforcements and replacements did not come air coverage was lacking At Attu in the Aleutians our men were not equipped with the right toels and the right clothes as a result were high And yet all these Pearl oor Savo island Attu canal off because we learned the know-how of gle fighting carrier battles night fighting Swift and Company Sues 11 Railroads Chicago Dec 7 AP Swift and Company yesterday sued 11 railroads in federal court for a total of alleging they had charged in excess of the tariffs lor meat shipments by the Interstate Com- merce commission The railroads and alleged over- charges St Paul Chicago Chicago Milwaukee and Pacific Rock Island and Pacific Chicago and Northwestern 02 Erie Illinois tral Wabash Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Chicago Great Western Missouri Pacific 647.08 Chicago Burlington and Quincy and New York Chicago and St Louis House Passes Payment Of Rantoul Physician Washington Dec 7 AP The House has passed and sent to the White a izing payment of to Dr E S Axtell of Rantoul HI for ing physical examinations of government employes The services were performed Single Drop Bombs in Heart of Tokyo By VERN HAUGLAND Of the Associated Press Twenty-First U S Bomber Command Headquarters Saipan Dec 7 Two Superfortress bombers on reconnaissance flights bombed Tokyo last night and ly today in separate strikes seven hours apart the 21st U S bomber command announced day The two attacks constituted the fifth and sixth visits to the nese capital by B- the initial one Nov 24 Brilliantly Lighted Tokyo radio said three or ped incendiary bombs on the city Thursday morning nese time or Wednesday U S time The enemy said a small fire started by the bombs was promptly The first plane in the raids day was commanded by Lt Col Robert K Morgan of Asheville N C who led the first raid on Tokyo Nov 24 Tokyo last night was brilliantly lighted Just like flying over New said Morgan ly promoted from major He was able to Incendiary Area Bit The second Little commanded by Capt J T A Ar- cher of Texas bombed through an overcast But Archer said that photographs through clouds showed the best precision instrument bombing re- sults yet obtained on Tokyo Both planes hit approximately the same target area the Y- shaped industrial heart of Tokyo bounded by the waterfront and by the river to the west and Ara river on the This is the most highly diary area of the Japanese cap- ital and contains the gas works and other prime Morgan said We aimed at the most ly lighted district The dier saw our bombs burst right on that triangular area U S Tanks Drive On Saarbrucken Stock Winners Get Top Money Chicago Dec 7 AP Fancy prices continued in the Chicago market fat stock show sales today benefiting ly farm boys and girls selling their junior entries f Top prices for a junior steer was a hundred pounds for an aberdeen angus shown by Sarah Ann Hoffman Ida Grove Iowa It was bought by the employes at the First National Bank of Chicago T Richard Lacy 18 of Kansas who had the reserve grand champion steer of the show a Hereford withdrew his animal de- ciding to enter it at the Western cattle show in Denver in J a uary instead of selling it now The First National bank rant also bought the grand pion barrow of the junior hog show A Chester white weighing 330 pounds at sale time was shown Dy Raymond Taylor 17 of and Ind It sold for a record a pound or a weight netting Taylor The grand champion wether of he show a southdown amb shown by the University of Kentucky brought an all time record price of a pound It was bought by Montgomery Ward Co ther forecasts may be found Dr Axtell at the United States page 18 office at Louisville Ky Allies Deepen Lamone Holding By NOLAND NORGAARD Of the Associated Press Rome Dec 7 Allied troops have deepened heir bridgehead over Lamone river southwest of and all enemy resistance east of the river has been wiped out Allied headquarters ced today Victorious British and Canadian units chased scattered German forces back to the Lamone river Southwest of Mezzano a second attempted crossing of the Lamone by Eighth army troops was hurled back Allied patrols with cooperation of Italian patriots mopped up scattered German parties in the coastal marshes northeast and north of Ravenna By JAMES M LONG Of the Associated Press Paris Dec 7 American tanks drove within three and a half miles of seared Saarbrucken today in a plunge to the outskirts of Forbach French rail town and outpost of the fried line Artillery of the same Third army bombarded the Little burgh of the coal and iron region for the eighth consecutive day while infantry was cleaning the Mass Sedition Trial Dropped Case in Doubt Dec 7 AP The mass sedition trial ended today Associate Justice James M Proctor declared a mistrial after 22 of the defendants said they did not wish to continue their case under a new judge who would have to be appointed in succession to Chief Justice Edward C er who died last week Only one defendant Prescott Bennett expressed a willingness for the trial to proceed Judge Warns Jurors The trial opened last April with 30 defendants died three won severances After announcing his decision Justice Proctor asked the jurors not to speak in any way about your impressions your views or any conclusions you may have reached in this case He further directed the jurors to leave the courthouse ately The justice thanked the jurors and the attorneys many of whom served by court appointment without compensation New Trial Uncertain The record of the trial includes more than pages of mony and more than ments The mistrial ruling now puts the future of the case up to Attorney General Francis Biddle He must decide whether to dismiss the or to order an entirely new start A new trial presumably would involve weeks of preliminaries as did this one and the discarding of the present vast record Man Confesses Killing Infant Davenport Iowa Dec 7 AP Robert Schlimmer 20 was be- ing held by authorities and Police Chief Reed Phillips said today Schlimmer admitted killing Jean Joyce 2 by walking on her in his home yesterday No charges had been filed Phillips quoted Schlimmer as telling officers he had placed the child on the floor and walked on tier because she was crying and would not go to sleep Police said the child had been left in while lier aunt had been rearing tier since the death of her mother left the house The aunt had been living in the same house with Schlimmer and his parents Police found the girl dead they said when they arrived at the house in answer to a neighbor's call related finding Schlimmer hiding in the ment Phillips said was mentally deficient Germans from the last streets of French border town southeast of the Saar capital Street fighting continued in lautern second city of the Saar The Americans extended their grip on the west bank of the Saar river to 22 miles New Cologne Defenses On the static Roer river front the Cologne plain for the second successive night was bright with strings of German suggesting that the enemy was working intensively to prepare de- fenses on the Erft river in of a forced withdrawal from the swift and swollen Roer The Erft flows within eight miles of Cologne It is 100 feet wide and paralleled by a canal Along the Roer the American First and Ninth armies were no closer than 22 miles from the aged metropolis on the R h i n e Nowhere had the Roer been crossed but the GIs were up to its banks on a wide front In some places east of the Roer Ninth army troops observed the Germans strengthening their under cover of smoke All of Linnich west of the river was in American hands although a few snipers remained First Army In Action Action flared up again on the northern part of the First army front Lt Gen Courtney H Hodges troops who cleared In- den several days ago struck a mile and a half toward Pier about midway between the river citadels of Julish and and skirts and in one brief skirmish 100 Germans were captured Fur ther south the First army con- and expanded holdings around the captured Hurtgen for- est village of Bergstein North in Holland German crossed the Maas north of Venlo but the British beat them back in every effort to probe their lines Alsace Lorraine The last bits of Lorraine and sace were slipping from German hands Already Lt Gen George S Patton's Third army controls more of the rich Saar basin than the Germans in the ruhe corner at the edge of the Saarland and Palatinate U S Seventh army troops cap- tured Ostheim five miles north of Solmar last city in German hands in Alsace The foe to be evacuating the district His men and trucks choked the Rhine bridge at nearby The Colmar gap between the Seventh and the French First army rowed to a maximum of 23 miles but behind Allied lines many pockets of Germans were hiding in the snowy gorges and heights of the Vosges mountains lion Trees For Christmas i Kalispell Mont Dec 7 AP More than a million Christmas trees are being shipped from northwestern Montana to markets throughout the United States for retail at from 50 cents to apiece Great Northern railway officials said 420 carloads with between and trees to the car will leave this area Sent Overseas Washington Dec 7 AP Men under 19 years of age are now going overseas as infantry and armored replacements Under Secretary of War Robert P terson disclosed today This represents a change in icy necessitated by urgent tary requirements Patterson told lis news conference How long it will be necessary to do this depends entirely on the course of the he said Patterson cited a diminishing supply of men over 19 being in- ducted while the tempo of war has increased sharply It is another case of supply and demand with the demand gradually outweighing the he explained In January he said of every 100 men being inducted and trained as infantry and armored replacements SO could be sent overseas after training while the other 20 those under 19 re- mained in the United States until they Became 19 Nelson Leaves Ceylon After Military Meet Kandy Ceylon Dec 7 AP Donald M Nelson economic ad- viser to the Chinese government left Kandy after conferring with southeast Asia command military leaders Chungking advices on Monday said he was enroute to ton to report to President velt British Given Indirect Hint By Stettinius Washington Dec 7 AP Secretary of State Edward R Stettinius today put the United States on record as favoring com- plete freedom of political action for the people of Greece He formally endorsed a tion by Prime Minister Chuschill Tuesday that the people of Greece should have complete freedom to form a government either of the right or of the left But Stettinius deliberately re- frained from endorsing another statement by the British Prime Minister dealing with the use of British troops to prevent tion of what Churchill called a Communist dictatorship in Greece This was the second time this week that the State department has spoken out in favor of freedom for the people of Europe Earlier it protested Britain's in- in the formation of a new Italian government The Brit- ish action had vetoed Count Carlo Sforza as a candidate for either premier or foreign minister of a new regime at Rome Hope to Rebuild Country At his news conference today Stettinius handed reporters this I was interested to note that in his statement on the Greek tion on Dec 5 Prime Minister Churchill told the House of Com- mons Our position as I have said is extremely clear Whether the Greek people form selves into a monarchy or republic is for their decision Whether they right or left is for their decision These are entirely matters for With this statement I am in full agreement It is also our nest hope that the people and of Greece and our Brit- ish allies will work together in rebuilding that ravished country Stettinius was bombarded with questions about expanding the statement to make it more with respect to the use ol British troops in Greece He declined further comment however except to indicate thai today's declaration is not being of- conveyed to the British government Silent on Use of Arms He added it was being issued only to the press in this country in response to inquiries The secretary was asked ically Does this s government condone the use of tanks and planes against the Greek tion and whether this ment is making any tions to the British over the use of arms He said he thought his ment speaks for itself Stettinius also was asked er it would be correct to say that he endorses only that part of Churchill's speech which he ed and not any other part but be replied he could not comment He gave the same answer to a question of how the political dom policy applies to Poland British Clearing Athens of By STEPHEN BARBER Of the Associated Athens Greece Dec 7 Maj Gen R M Scobie British commander in Greece announced today progress was being made in clearing the area of leftist E A M forces who were being attacked by H A F planes and artillery Fighting however spread to Thrace British Spitfires and ers dived on nests of resistance pitched battle went into its second day Field artillery was used to clear out other held by the Elas the military arm of the E A M Premier George Papandreou whose government is supported by the British told correspondents the E A M was plunging reece into civil war He denied the leftist charge that he was at- tempting to impose a ship Delay Elections In London a Greek ment spokesman said the out- breaks had delayed elections by several He pre- that unless this ful situation it solved Greece will be years in rising out of the chaos ated by German
