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Newspaper
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Location
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Jan 01, 1944
Page
9
The piece reflects on 1943 as not a harsh year, despite inconveniences and sorrow for some families. It notes wartime optimism, shorter casualty lists, and questions forecasts for 1944, warning that predictions often overstate outcomes and urging caution as the transition from war to peace looms.
Soviet forces pressed toward the Polish border advancing on a 200 mile arc west of Kiev. Zhitomir fell after fierce fighting as 150 more towns were captured. Other sectors saw gains from Vitebsk to Nikonoi with reports of heavy German losses and material seized.
Paris AP reports General Marion a French official lately named prefect for Upper Savoy was killed Saturday in Annecy. Two German officers with him were wounded one gravely in the ambush.
Axis propaganda claimed American land sea and air forces massing in the Aleutians for an attack on Japanese lands. Transocean cited Tokyo dispatches about Dutch Harbor Attu and Kiska with 90,000 men and 1,000 planes including long range bombers.
A 7 pound 12 ounce baby boy born at 3 58 a.m. January 1 to Milo Mach and wife at Mercy hospital Cedar Rapids leads the Gazette sponsored baby derby with no competitors from St Luke s hospital. Parents had 12 hours to report a home birth. Gifts from Cedar Rapids merchants await the winner. Other births listed include three at St Luke s on Friday.
Cedar Rapids rings in another New Year with larger crowds and merriment in taverns while police report four drunkenness arrests. Sheriff Jim Smith arrested a man for drunk driving at 9:20 p m as celebrations continued. One man, John Van Antwerp, resisted police at Unique tavern and received transfer to solitary after a scuffle. Paul Kubu was also arrested in an unrelated incident. Continued on page 2 column 4.
The DNB news agency says Nazi forces completed large scale mopping up in the Balkans killing or capturing over 87,000 guerillas in four months of 1943 death toll and captures include 37,790 killed and 49,659 captured. A Partisan report cites continued fierce fighting in central and southern Yugoslavia with Partisan units attacking in Livno Duvno area and other regions.
Staff Sergeant William Baker of Oakland California led a 13 day patrol on Bougainville and killed a Japanese patrol of eight. He says his brothers Phillip killed at Pearl Harbor and Robert died aboard the Wasp earned his vengeance. Baker has served 13 years, with combat in China the Philippines Hawaii and Panama before linking with the 37th division on the island.
Martha Jean Mathews a 13 year old girl in Hammond Indiana whose two week hunger strike ended after her aviation cadet brother Denis 18 spoke to her by telephone He urged her to eat and promised to come home soon Doctors said little hope remained though her weight had fallen from 35 to 20 pounds The Red Cross said it makes no recommendation on furloughs and reports facts to the commanding officer for his decision
Martin Leonard Johnson was born at 11 42 p m Friday at St Luke s hospital to Mrs Mary E Johnson 1102 Nineteenth street NW The baby s father C L Johnson was killed June 28 when 2300 volts of electricity passed through him while fusing a transformer on a telephone pole at Third street and Seventh avenue SE He was 40 and an Iowa Electric Light and Power company service foreman He and his wife had four other children.
The War Production Board ordered the closure of four aluminum production lines in two federally owned plants. ALCOA began curtailments that may cut up to 40 percent of output at ALCOA owned properties, which supply nearly half the nation’s aluminum. The actions come amid a metal surplus.
In Philadelphia 18 meat plants dumped about 1,000,000 pounds of meat into vats to be turned into fat and fertilizer after a War Food Administration order. WFA says the order frees cold storage space for perishable foods. critics argue it targets non spoilage meat. George A. Casey of Felin Co. says 200,000 pounds were destroyed for food.
Dublin reports 164 German naval officers and men were rescued from North Atlantic waters by the Irish ship Kerlogue. They are believed to be survivors of the pocket battleship Scharnhorst sunk near Norway or of recent Bay of Biscay actions where German destroyers were sunk.
American bombers hit Cam ball bearing plants at Ivry and Bois de Colombes near Paris and airfields at Chateau Bernard and St. Jean d Angely. 29 bombers and 3 fighters reported lost. 17 enemy planes shot down by fortresses and 11 by accompanying fighters.
London AP reports a Reuters dispatch from Cairo stating King Peter of Yugoslavia, with his exiled government, left Cairo for a secret destination. The departure marks a new turn in Yugoslavia's exile leadership.
Allied reports say Fifth Army seized three heights overlooking the Cassino highway as Eighth Army pushes along the Adriatic coast toward Pescara. British raid north of the Garigliano river yielded prisoners and destroyed bridges, while German defenses slow progress near Ortona and Cassino. Weather limited air support and some aircraft went missing.
Lt Gen Thomas Holcomb will retire as commandant of the U S Marine Corps with the rank of full general the first marine ever to hold that rank The Navy Department announced Roosevelt had already indicated Holcomb would stay on active duty for an important assignment His retirement pay will be that of a lieutenant general Lt Gen Alexander A Vandegrift succeeds him as commandant and is expected to lead in an advisory capacity for the President
The War Food Administration allocates about 67 percent of 1944 meat to civilians, roughly 132 pounds per person dressed weight. Total civilian supply estimated at 17.085 billion pounds from a 25.5 billion pound total meat allotment, with shifts favoring pork over beef and service shares, while future production remains uncertain.
A Washington report cites Gen George Marshall as a key source predicting that rail and steel stoppages could prolong the war in Europe. Union leaders and officials denounce the claim as propaganda while praising or faulting White House action on threatened strikes. The United Nations notes Axis hopes may rely on domestic unrest to delay collapse, with officials warning of extended fighting into summer and increased casualties.
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