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Newspaper
La Crosse Tribune
Location
La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States of America
Date
May 08, 1944
Page
1
German planners face a crucial hour as Allied invasion looms in Western Europe. Officials expect a decisive test within days to determine if the Nazis can smash beachheads or stalemate the assault.
London reports Marshal Tito announces that German forces have launched strong drives to crush the Yugoslav Partisan army. He says Partisans are defending with heroism and mounting counter offenses in eastern Bosnia and Montenegro as fighting continues in Berane and surrounding areas.
Light coast force manned by French crews engaged a German convoy in the English Channel today. The action likely sank a ship and a trawler as enemy boats engaged, then the forces returned to harbor.
Soviet air and ground actions targeted Sevastopol as German and Romanian units reported fighting around the fortress. Moscow gave no land-drive details. Berlin described a fluctuating battle with Soviet forces piercing a southern salient while northern sector attacks were repulsed.
The Russian and Czech governments signed an accord to govern areas of Czechoslovakia liberated by the Red Army. The pact outlines administration duties and cooperation between Moscow and Prague in the liberated zones.
Washington states sugar rationing will persist in 1944 with little chance of major increases. April 1 stocks stood at 1,256,366 tons, 30 percent below a year earlier and the lowest for the date in many years. War Food Administration noted some shipping improvement for foreign sugar but urged stock buildup for possible war needs.
Allied dispatches report Japanese forces escalating actions in India and China as monsoon season nears. Imphal and Kohima face determined resistance, with heavy losses cited for Japan and Allied withdrawals shifting positions in northern Burma and Henan province in China.
Allied patrols landed at Bougainville bay near Hollandia and swarmed targets from Celebes to Timor. Aleutian and Kurile air units hit Paramushiro. Berlin radio claims Chennault's 14th U.S. Air Force is reinforced from India and moved closer to Tokyo for an air assault on Japan.
Firemen answered an alarm at 2 22 p m Saturday at 2119 Liberty street for a water rescue. Two fourteen year old boys George Klaus of 2110 Liberty street and Robert Hal seth of 1729 Prospect street fell overboard in a hunting skiff and were saved by neighbors Leonard Lewiston and Earl Wiskerden who retrieved them by boat. Another call reported a bedroom fire at Harold Weise 720 Gould street caused by children playing with matches. only curtains and bedding burned with mother evacuating the room.
Fingerprints from a woman found in a salt-packed trunk shipped from Chicago to Los Angeles were smeared, hindering identity. Lieut. Philip Breitzke said new prints would come from Los Angeles police. He still believes the victim is Louise Villegas, 24, who vanished from a downtown hotel on April 28.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill raising the public debt ceiling from 210 billion to 240 billion after Republicans opposed the original 260 billion request. Treasury Undersecretary Daniel W. Bell said the administration would accept the 240 billion cap and seek a higher limit next year, with a January return to request a new ceiling.
Flood waters of the Mississippi will cover side roads on Pettibone island by Tuesday morning. Meteorologist A D Sanial said heavy rains upstream could raise the crest to 10.4 feet by Wednesday if no further rainfall occurs. The Black and Chippewa Rivers are receding while Hastings still rises. Lake City to Winona saw a 0.6 foot rise in the past day.
Senator Bridges cited a higher authority than Attorney General Biddle and General Marshall for the Montgomery Ward Chicago plant seizure by troops and FBI agents. He warned the action was a shameful misuse of services and urged public protests to reach the president and Biddle to avoid future demoralization of soldiers and G men.
President Roosevelt nominated Vice Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch to keep his present rank for the duration of the war. Fitch holds the rank as commander of the naval air force in the south Pacific and would lose it if not continued by Congress upon his transfer.
Mississippi River floods recede from over one million acres of Missouri and Illinois farmland as the water levels fall today.
Captain Robert S. Johnson of Lawton Oklahoma a Thunderbolt pilot shot down two enemy planes over Germany to reach 27 kills becoming the first American ace in the European theater to break the World War I record set by Edward Rickenbacker. He ties Maj Richard Bong as the second highest ace in U S history with 27. Johnsons two unofficial today are expected to be confirmed and he flies with the Zemke squadron which recorded six German planes downed. Gentile on leave holds 30 enemy planes destroyed as the current American record with seven on the ground.
Allied announcers reported strong German patrols in the upper Garigliano valley near Sant Andrea three miles south of Cassino, driven off two hours later after heavy shelling. At Anzio the beachhead was quiet except for intense shelling near Carano in the center of the line.
Gert Hans von Gontard and three others face conspiracy to evade the draft in federal court. The 37 year old Busch descendant allegedly obtained deferment through a false medical history of chronic gall bladder trouble. His secretary testified she neither recalls such complaints nor writing anonymous letters to the Beverly Hills draft board.
Senator Vandenberg of Michigan criticized a new tax simplification bill on Monday, saying it raises income taxes for people with few or no children and questions how 1944 taxes could be raised unless essential to simplification.
President Roosevelt returns to Washington after a month’s illness leave at Bernard Baruch’s Hobcaw plantation Georgetown S C to confer with congressional leaders and White House aides on legislative matters He shows improved health with no major issues pending and plans a physical check up this week segments note fishing luck was poor during the stay
Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker said Romanian oil production was cut to one quarter of normal. He noted Allied bombers disrupted vital war materials supply to the eastern front by hitting key routes and that since November 8, 1942 Mediterranean bomb tonnage exceeded 200000 tons.
A Geneva dispatch quoted Fascist officers claiming Allied commands based in Corsica and Sardinia landed on the Ligurian coast of northwestern Italy in the last days for patrols pre preparing invasion. The report said some troops were killed or captured while others returned with information on German fortifications.
STOCKHOLM reports a Sunday American raid on Berlin destroyed Lehrter and Anhalter railroad stations and badly damaged Friedrichstrasse station. A Swedish eyewitness said fires burned from the attack, with 22 German soldiers found dead near Tiergarten and multiple buildings ruined along Behrenstrasse.
War production at Montgomery Ward and Company's Springfield subsidiary Hummer Manufacturing remained halted for the third straight day as 450 workers stayed away. AFL machinists urged President Roosevelt to intervene to settle a bargaining dispute, declaring they would remain idle until a contract is signed or the government takes over the plant.
Nearly 2,000 U S bombers and fighters struck Berlin and Brunswick as raids hit Bucharest and northern France. Liberators and Flying Fortresses led daytime and night assaults, with German fighters mounting a strong defense and amid a series of coordinated Mediterranean strikes toward Romania and Bucharest.
Report from London notes that air clashes with American planes continue over Germany. It remains doubtful that the German high command intends a policy of dive-for-die plane sacrifice, as Germany is currently outnumbered in the air.
The Berlin raid unfolds in dense clouds as Liberators suffer light flak while crews report close fighter encounters. In parallel, 1,000-ton bombing runs target Bucharest and the Orient Express route to Sofia with 29 German planes shot down and 12 Allied losses.
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