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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Sep 20, 1944
Page
1
Mostly cloudy outlook for tonight and Thursday with scattered showers in extreme south. Local report records max 88 and min 70. Community and military notes cover furloughs hospital train service war chest leaders meetings and church events across Morgan and Cullman counties.
Acting Prime Minister Ernest Von Born announced Finland’s focus on rebuilding after losing Karelia and Petsamo under the Moscow armistice with Soviet Russia and Great Britain. The pact requires Finnish troops to disarm and be handed to the Allies, with airfields temporarily at Allied disposal, and confirms border restoration after the Winter War.
RAF heavy bombers pounded Munchen Gladbach and Rheydt behind the Siegfried Line, targeting two key railway junctions feeding the Ruhr to Holland route. Five planes were lost as Mosquito raids hit rail and road targets deeper in the Reich and Berlin noted an attack on Budapest.
An official report says Crete is blockaded by Allied forces to prevent German escape while air and sea attacks intensify. Carrier planes destroyed vehicles on Crete, Melos was bombarded, and a German wireless station hit. Dalmatian islands Mijet Korcula Brac freed by Yugoslav Partisans and Allied forces, with ongoing operations and enemy losses.
Hillsboro in Lawrence county, likely the only town with an all woman government, did not hold an election Monday. Legally the election may be postponed six months and a date is to be set later. Mayor Sue Hardin has not run, and a council member may reside elsewhere. The all woman government includes Mrs Edgar Landers, Mrs Paul Horton, E D Odom, Mrs Duke Bailey, Mrs John R Moseley. Mrs L S Terry is city clerk. The town marshal is a man. Hillsboro is debt free and holds funds.
Former Rome Police Chief Pietro Caruso testified at his life trial that Field Marshal Kessler ordered him to provide 80 Italian hostages for execution in reprisal for an SS column bombing. He said the order came via Kappler and that he reduced the number to 50 after seeking guidance from Buffarini Guidi. He blamed the Germans for the St Paul’s church raid and said he did not know its Vatican rights violation. Co defendant Robert Occhietto testified he fed information to the Nazis and to Lt. Gen. Clark's fifth army.
Seattle dispatch reports the return of Japanese Americans blocked in the Pacific Coast defense area since 1942 begins under an Army approved screening program. Rev A G Murphy chairman of the evacuees service council notes the process is active in Seattle Portland San Francisco and Los Angeles with a Tokyo girl allowed to resume high school at Rasadena California.
Soviet fronts report a major Baltic offensive driving German forces from Latvia toward Riga. Red army advances six miles from Riga, with 25 mile pushes on a 75 mile front near Kekava and Valga, while capturing Plavinas and 2,000 plus towns in four days.
Voters will decide on Friday September 29 between Tom Harrison and H R Sandy Summer for mayor for four years. Decatur City Council certified Monday election results after a two hour meeting with minor changes to totals at the courthouse and several precinct counts adjusted.
American forces report Palau’s southern two islands nearly in hand as Mitchell medium bombers target Japanese defenses in the Southern Philippines. Marines seize Peleliu eastern coast while Angaur pockets remain. Navy announces loss of the first Palau invasion ship and three vessels including submarine Flier with 65 crew. Tokyo says 930 POWs aboard two Nipponese transports were sunk. Mitchell bombers hit Bunyan airfield on Mindanao marking first U S medium bomber raid on the Philippines.
American Fifth Army breaches the Gothic Line on a six mile front above Florence after a week of fighting. Troops seize Castel Guerrino and LaCroce, push toward Firenaza, and threaten the main enemy position. British Eighth Army and Allied corps hit Rimini as Brazilian, South African, British and Indian troops advance in mountain areas.
Six Phenix City restaurant operators and a man described as deriving income from 101 tickets were indicted by a federal grand jury in Birmingham for income tax law violations. They face charges of understated income or failing to file a 1941 tax return, announced District Attorney Jim C. Smith.
Two recent developments in official frankness illuminate postwar diplomacy. Reports from Kunming and Washington show easing censorship and tense liaison with Stalin, while Italy’s hush-hush conduct hints at Allied strains. The piece notes Britain and America pressuring China for war effort reforms amid fragile cooperation.
British armor and Allied airborne forces clash for lower Rhine crossings in Holland as air drops rush troops and supplies. Linkup of British second army with paratroopers at Nijmegen nears Essen in the Ruhr while U S First Army holds Siegfried Line beaches amid heavy attacks.
The Rhine river divides entering Holland with the Waal as the largest branch carrying about two thirds of the water to the sea. A northern fork becomes the Neder Rhine then the Ek near the sea. A third branch, the Ijssel, runs directly north. The delta spans about 80 miles between Waal and Ijssel mouths.
Airborne and British army units push through Lower Rhine and Eastern Holland in tandem with parachute and glider troops. German broadcasts fear Western front collapse as Allied armor widens a 50 mile front and aims toward the Siegfried line and Northern Germany while facing stiff Nazi resistance near Nancy Metz and the Belfort gap.
The Chamber of Commerce pleads for help to solve an acute housing shortage since the war began. They report many applicants and few listings and urge those with houses or apartments to contact the chamber within ten days.
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