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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 21, 1944
Page
1
The forecast notes rain in the south with colder conditions across the state. Extreme northern areas may see freezing rain or snow with lows 20 to 26 in the north and around 28 in the central region. Friday looks cloudy and colder with statewide cooler air and lingering rain in southern portions. Maximum 57 and minimum 37 reported locally.
U S bombers pounded Mukden and Dairen as part of a large three theater offensive. Allied forces pressed on Leyte driving the Yamashita line into retreat while sustaining heavy enemy casualties and overrunning supply depots.
Lt Gen R M Scobie, British commander in Greece, said progress in clearing insurgent forces from Athens and Piraeus as of 9 A M today. An ultimatum warned ELAS holdouts would be attacked with all arms, while a noon communique reported more prisoners and weapons captured. Jean Rallis, the pro Nazi former premier, was mentioned in the report.
The war dispatch notes a sizable German counteroffensive in the West with Von Rundstedt risking his forces in a decisive, costly gamble. Allied superiority remains, but censors report uncertainty and no expectation of a compromise peace or a White Christmas on the front.
WPB Vice Chairman Samuel W Anderson warned that Allied setbacks in Europe will force bigger war production efforts. He said civilian production freezes may extend and demand for shells guns trucks and materiel will rise. The brass mills on the Army 1945 ammo program were placed on the national urgency list with top labor priority.
A 19 year old girl Mabel Lucille Brown was found shot to death near Jacksonville Alabama last night Sheriff W L Borders said two Jacksonville men were held on murder warrants as the investigation continued Brown formerly resided in Piedmont Springs She was killed by a single bullet and found in the kitchen of Odis Kimberly 34 by Kimberly and Nellie Burton 19 Kimberly and Burton were jailed on murder warrants sworn by a brother of the deceased
Baton Rouge December date. LSU closes for Christmas and the case of the coed who distributed a leaflet criticizing the university's stance on sex appears resolved. President W B Hatcher had asked Gloria Jeanne Helle of Havana Cuba to resign or be dismissed, but details end with the president's statement.
In Athens and London on December 21, forces under Lt Gen Scobie attacked ELAS concentrations after a stated ultimatum expired. Rocket planes and Sherman tanks shelled positions around Averoff prison and the military academy as Britain faces crossfire over Greek affairs and possible inter Allied action. Lord Faringdon's rousing critique in the Lords sparks mutiny warnings and calls for unity among British troops in the theater. King George II faces backlash in parliament amid debates over Greece’s dictatorship and retention of leadership.
The President and Mrs Roosevelt gave 258 White House staff a Christmas gift a scroll of the D-Day prayer engraved and ribboned in an early Yuletide ceremony. Children in the East Room were to receive toys and candy as part of the celebration.
War Secretary Stimson stated at a Washington news conference that Allied unity remains intact despite German aggression in Europe. He cautioned that a failed Nazi thrust could shorten the war and noted possible forthcoming Allied talks in London ahead of a Roosevelt Stalin Churchill summit.
Congressmen returning from European battlefronts hail the supply organization as the greatest job of its kind. House Military Committee members cite excellent frontline conditions, high morale, and troops wanting for nothing as they report from Europe and other fronts. Infantry gains top-quality replacements under a new draft system while casualties near 500000.
President Roosevelt says the new three year postwar highway program marks major policy changes. It authorizes a federal contribution of 1.5 billion dollars on a 50 50 matching basis with the states to create jobs, cut congestion and accidents, improve farm to market roads, replace wartime worn highways, and start an interregional highway network.
U S 14th Air Force fighters attacked Hong Kong shipping after a Hankow raid. The Black Lightning squadron of P 51s sent two missions of two planes each to Hong Kong sinking a 4000 foot tanker and likely a destroyer and two freighters. They then attacked Kaitak airfield destroying two enemy planes in the air and three on the ground. Lt Col Edward C McComas led the first mission with Capt John Meyer as wingman.
Washington reports that the Associated Press asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the government antitrust case, arguing the core theory is unsound and would force sharing of news copy among competitors. AP contends the principle could destroy initiative and reduce competition in the news industry.
Mrs Genevieve Linn of Butte Montana files a suit to clear her marital status claiming two divorces and an annulment from marriages to Eugene Garfield Linn. She says they wed July 22 and November 8 after a common law relationship on October 18 and asks consent judgment to settle the tangle.
Soviet forces on a 125 mile southern Slovakia front pushed Nazi garrisons from Kassa and Rimaszombat and captured 13 towns in the Rimaszombat area as they close on Losonc. The Red Army said it has taken 41,244 prisoners in 41 days along the Hungarian Slovak border.
Newark police warned children after a five pound box of white candy eggs containing sodium cyanide was stolen from a car. Schools and radio channels were alerted and patrols ordered to spread the alert as authorities investigate. Detectives suspect a child took the pellets, which could kill by tongue contact.
Secretary of War Stimson said at a press conference that about seven percent of the 160000 men to be drafted in January and February will be Negroes. He also stated the army has no intention of lowering physical standards, insisting troops must be in top condition.
Par iss reports say the German drive pushed 33 miles into Belgium beyond Malmedy, breaching the Liege Arlon road south of Liege fortress. Allied forces halted a northward push toward Monschau and Stavelot, while a second wedge pushed toward Luxembourg and toward Sedan as clouds keep air power grounded.
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