YI r 4hp aI -~, ,-- *0'~ Weter Light snow VOL. LIII No. 49 ANN 'ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, DEC. 1, 1942 PRICE FIVE CENTS U.S. Sub Sinks ig t Ships Off Jap Coast V - 4 Enemy Boats Are Damaged By The Associated Press PEARL HARBOR, T.H., Nov. 30. -Eight enemy ships totaling 70,000 tons were sunk by an American submarine, most of them only a short distance from the Japanese shore, Leut.-Comm. Thomas Bur- ton Klakring said today. Four other ships aggregating 20,- 000 to 25,000 tons were damaged, he told interviewers. The sinkings, he related, occurred for the most part in full view of the inhabitants of large Japanese cit- ies. One transport was sunk in a harbor entrance. The dates were not specified. Asked just how close his sub- marine approached the, Japanese shoreline, Commander Klakring re- plied with A smile: "Well, one Sunday we watched the pony races for an hour." Allied Forces Noqw 12 MlesL from Tunis Bombers.Hammer at Tunrisia Capital as Troops Move on City LONDON, Nov. 30.- Allied armored forces drove clser than 12 miles to partly isolated Tunjis today while their bombers asauited the capital, Bi- zerte and Tripoli in a crescendo of destruction aimed at driving the Axis from all Africa. Lieut. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters said the British First Afmy and its superbly armed United States supporting columns were fight- inig east of +ouped Deeida, a rail Junction 12 miles northwest of Tunis, which already is within range of field artillery. The Allies were astride the main railway in Northern Tunisia which had been out, thus severing a. vital communication line to the French naval base at Bizerte where the Ger- mans are entrenched strongly. The British and Americans appeared to be driving a wedge straight to the coast along the railway with the sub- jugation of Tunis apparently their first objective. Afterwards, Bizerte, Sfax and Gabes could be isolated and picked off one by one. Tripoli, the last remaining supply port in Libya for Marshal Erwin Rom- mel's Africa Corps, dug in at the El Agheila defile 400 miles to the east, was assaulted day and night by U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators and the RAF. Other planes bombed the big Comiso airdrome in Sicily from which the enemy replenishes his Af- rican air forces. Adamic,'Gives Plans for Post- War Europe Suggesting an American peacetime army abroad as an answer to the and- now-what period following the Armis- tice, Louis Adamic, noted author and editor, last night outlined his proposal for the reconstruction of Europe after the war. "The whole world will be prostrate when the war ends," he declared, emphasizing the fact that America's role will involve the formation of an American Reconitruction Mission to help out in starvation-ridden Europe. "The world is falling in our lap. What are we going to do about it- dump it out as we did in 1919?" he demanded as he urged the formation of a government organized commis- sion to train now these "missionaries of the democratic way of living." The project will involve the pro- ,vision of medical supplies, agricul- tural, social, political and economic aids, and the furnishing of a diplo- matic army to "help the next genera- tion from being dragged into another ,, f Investigators Probe Fire; Toll Reaches 484 ;"> By The Associated Press BOSTON, Nov. 30.- Under orders to establish the facts no matter where they lead, investigators probed mi- nutely today into the horrible "flash fire" that took an officially estimated toll of 484 lives at the Cocoanut Grove night club. While the human cost of the Satur- day night holocaust rose with the deaths of some of the more seriously injured, including the cowboy motion picture star, Charles (Buck) Jones, a fire prevention official flatly told an inquiry board that conditions at the club were "good" with "a sufficient number of exits and a sufficient num- ber of fire extinguishers." The same inquest heard bandaged, 'SOMETHING NEW': Band Presents Varsity Night Show Today By MONROE FINK a combination concert and variety show, something new in entertain- ment-that's. Varsity Night, 1942, to be presented by the University Bands at 8:30 p.m. today in Hill Auditorium. With radios Joe "boxes-boxes- boxes" Gentile to keep the show mov- ing along, a total of eight different events in addition to the music of the Concert Band under the direction of Prof. William D. Revelli will make the program one of the biggest ever presented by the Bands. Concert Band First Getting the program off to a run- ning start will be the Concert-Band's rendition of "March of the Steel Men," by Belsterling, to be followed by "Mannin Veen," by , ood. Other numbers on the Band's por- tion of the program will be "Sounds from the Hudson," by Clark, a cornet solo to be played by Sedgewick Fields, '44$M; "La Sorella," by Gallini; and "Calfskin Calisthenics," by Bennett, featuring drummer Bob Rosengarden, '46M. Glee Club To Sing From there on it's anybody's show, but the band will make its presence apparent long enough to play a special cantata, "As America Sang," sung by eight members of the University Men's Glee Club and narrated by Prof. Hardin Van Deursen of the School of Music. Swelled to full strength, the Glee Club will then present a series of songs representing the different Unit- ed Nations, to strike a patriotic note for the evening. Turn to Page 6, Col. 1 Four French Subs Escape from Nazis LONDON, Nov. 30. - (A) - Four French submarines were reported to- night to have escaped German cap- ture at Toulon by a hairbreadth and two of them were in Allied hands at Algiers and another was believed to be on the way there. The fourth, the little 597-ton Iris, was forced todput in atrBarcelona Saturday and today its crew of 21 officers and men were interned by the Spaniards. These were believed to have been the only units of the once-proud fleet of 62 or more warships to have es- caped sacrificial self-destruction or German capture at Toulon. burned and bruisedl employes of the night club tell of being swept through the doors into the street by the panic- stricken crowd and of being unable to get back inside. Meantime, in the city's two major morgues the gruesome task of identi- fying the horribly burned bodies of the dead moved toward a conclusion. It appeared inevitable, howeverthat the identities of a few would not be established. A group of Boston under- takers offered to bury the unclaimed dead without cost to the city. 170 in Hospital More blood plasma was flown from Washington by the Red Cross in an effort to help the more than 170 in- jured who lay in Boston's crowded hospitals. Additional doctors also were called to the scene. At the fire department's official in- quest, which has seen the presence of FBI representatives and high Navy officials, a highlight was reached in the testimony of Lieut. Frank J. Lin- ney of the fire prevention bureau. Club Inspected in November He inspected the Cocoanut Grove club on November 20. Asked if he had found any inflammables, he replied: "No. I tested the palm trees and they were all right. I found they had been properly treated." "Then the condition there was sat- isfactory to you?" asked Fire Com- missioner William Arthur Reilly. "Yes," Linney replied. Japs Trying for New Base Menace Center of Solomon Archipelago WASHINGTON, Nov. 30. - (A') - Navy reports indicated tonight that Japan's amphibious forces in the South Seas, having repeatedly failed to break America's hold on the south- eastern Solomons, may be attempting to develop a powerful base in the center of the archipelago. For the third straight day the Navy's Pacific war communique told of American air action directed at destruction of enemy ships or shore installations in the New Georgia Is- lands area. While the enemy's activi- ties appeared to be of a minor nature, Naval authorities here said they might be evidence of Japan's main strategy in the Solomons for the time being. Today's report disclosed that Army Flying Fortresses had attacked an enemy convoy of two cargo ships and three destroyers west of the New Georgia group last Saturday (Solo- mons time). Five bomb hits were scored on one of the cargo carriers and of ten Zero fighters which tried to intercept the attack three were shot down. The American planes suf- fered no serious damage. Gas Rationing Begins as Motorists 'Fill Her Up' Long threatened gasoline rationing started at midnight last night, and weary station attendants are resting up today after three days of rapid- fire service to motorists filling up before the deadline. But some 150 laggard Ann' Arbor motorists haven't yet applied for ra- tion books, registration officials re- port, and a special application cen- ter in Hutchins Hall has been set up to handle their calls. The center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and every night from 7 to 9 p.m. Red Army Slaughters 7,500 More Nazis To Bring Total To 27,500; Gains Made On Stalingrad Front Firemen Inspect Ruins after Night Club Fire City firemen inspect the ruins near the bar of the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston, Mass., after a fire swept through the establishment killing nearly three hundred persons and injuring several scores; more. It was estimated 1,000 persons were in the club at the time of the fire. KNIT ONE, PURL TWO: Students Spend Quiet Evening Knitting, 'Drinking Milk at Bell By MARK LIPPER For the first time in eight years the clatter of steins was missing amidst the usual murmur of student voices at the Pretzel Bell last night as a few faithful patrons settled down to a quiet evening of knitting and sipping cold milk pending suspension of the tavern's liquor license by the state liquor control commission. Mixed Company Male students as well as coeds wielded knitting needles and chatted over pitchers of milk. Empty steins were used to hold the balls of yarn. One student was knitting himself a sweater and at the same time reading a little Shakespeare. "Knitting while I study makes my homework more interesting," he claimed. He said he learned to knit when confined to a sick bed with pneumonia a few years ago. Poster in Window Members of the knitting bee hung a large poster in the tavern window showing their proposed program for the duration of the imposed prohibi- tion. Tonight it will be ping-pong and tomorrow it will be tiddlewinks at the Bell., The Pretzel Bell's liquor license suspension went into effect yesterday along with that of the College Inn because the liquor commission charges both student hangouts have been selling beer to minors. Philip Stapp, proprietor of the Bell, claims this is the first time the tavern has stopped selling beverages to the stu- dents since it started after the pro- hibition era in 1934. Attorneys for Stapp and for Clin- ton L. Starbuck, owner of the College Inn, were successful yesterday in ob- taining a rehearing on the suspension of the taverns' licenses scheduled for Wednesday at the commission's head- quarters in Lansing. Both owners expressed hope that they will have their suspensions lifted in a few days. They claim they will present plans to the commission for identifying minors in the future. FRENCH ADMIRAL HELD BARCELONA, Spain, Nov. 30.--W) -Admiral Jean de la Borde, com- mander of the French home fleet who gave the orders for the mass scuttling at Toulon last Friday, is in the hands of the Germans, French Naval sources said tonight. Volunteers Fill Essential Jobs Manpower Corps Helps to Staff Dormitories Manpower volunteers began their campaign to fill essential jobs in Ann Arbor yesterday, as 14=students signed up to work as paid waiters in the ser- iously under - staffed West Quad- rangle. Manpower Director Mary Borman; was emphatic in pointing out the im- portance of such work, and the direct relation of these jobs to the war ef- fort. "If the dormitories cannot find men to act as waiters and to fill other jobs in the kitchen and around the buildings," he said, "they will have to close down." Three students, Robert Dondero, Chuck Diehl, and Robert Barnes have set up an information center in Al- len-Rumsey House next to the resi- dent adviser's office. All students who are interested in helping out in the dorms should report to that office personally from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. any Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday. The West Quadrangle still needs six more men to work every Wednes- day night, eight volunteers to work at breakfast time every day, three men to work in the kitchen at every meal, and many men for other jobs. Meanwhile, Dick Dick, Manpower executive in charge of the scrap drive, reported that the Corps is supplying men to the Building and Grounds Department today to add to the 120 tons of scrap collected on campus. Theta Xi fraternity, making good on its promise to supply men for scrap work every Tuesday as long as they are needed, will send out eight men today to help clean up 'the scrap around the campus. Campus Cooperates Well in Blackout Students cooperated very well in the Sunday night blackout. Walter 75 Tanks Knocked Out West of Moscow as Germans Fall Back; Fighting Very Severe By The Associated Press MOSCOW,Dec. 1. (Tuesday)- The Red Army killed 7,500 more Germans and knocked out 75 tanks on the bliz- ard-swept central front west of Aoscow to bring the Nazi dead count to 27,500, and gained as much as six niles near Stalingrad yesterday in twin offensives that still were rolling dnwa'd deslite desperate Nazi count- er-attacks, the lssians announced early today. Another special communique-they have been. issued' almost daily for nore than a week-telling of the op. erations in the Rzhev-Vyazma-Velikie tAi triangle of the central front sid: Naz Counter-Attack "Our troops, overcoming enemy re- sistance and. repulsing counter-at- tacks of his infantry and tanks, sue- cessfully continued their offensive and occupied several places. During one day's battle 17 tanks, 37 guns, 40 lnachine guns and 12 stores (of sup- ,lies), 'were captured and 58 tanks 'ere destroyed. The enemy left on Se battilefield 7,500 dead officers and men." On the Stalingrad front where Rus- san' armies :were trying to throttle the remnants of the Nazi siege army which originally numbered about 300,000, there appeared to be no Ger- man disposition to try to break out of a slowly-closing Russian trap. The special communique did not deal with the.:greater arms of this movement, but merely with the situation in the immediate Stalingrad area. The communique said,20,000 Ger- mians. had been slain in four days "near Stalingrad." On the basis of previous special bulletins, the toll of Nazis for the Stalingrad area alone now stands at 67,000 dead, and 66,000 captured, or a total of 133,000. 22,300 Killed on Central Front On the same basis the toll of Nazis on the central front is 22,300 dead and 400 captured, so the grand total for both fronts is 155,700 dead and captured. Of the situation of Stalingrad, the special bulletin said: "The offensive of our troops con- tinues in the Stalingrad. area. Our troops near Stalingrad, overcoming enemy resistance, advanced from six to ten kilometers (from 3.7 to 6.2 miles) and occupied several fortified places. French Refuse to Fight Allies Copyright, 1942, by The Associated Press NEW YORK, Nov. 30.- When Anglo -American forces landed in North Africa, Germany demanded that France declare war on the Allies and unite with the Axis, but the French Cabinet by the close vote of 8 to 6 refused, it was learned today. A French diplomat who was in the active service of the Vichy regime until the French Fleet scuttled itself at Toulon, gave the Associated Press, somewhere in Europe, a first-hand account of events in France follow- ing the American move into French North Africa. The Allied landing caught both Vi- chy and Berlin by complete surprise, and in all the Vichy negotiations with Berlin up to the occupation of Toulon, German authorities gave the French the definite impression they did not know what to do in France, this in- formant said. The Laval regime likewise was at a loss for a plan of action. This French diplomat described a turbulent, bewildering, 48-hour Vichy cabinet meeting where the German demand for war was rejected despite the urgings of government chief Pi- OIL TANKERS PAY OFF IN BUTTONS A ND THRILLS: w,. Story of Convoy Life Told by U. of M. Student (Editor's Note: Hoe Seltzer, formerly a sports night editor of The Daily, has written an interesting yarn of his con- voy trip this', summer. We've been promising it to you . . . and here it is. This is the first in a series.) By HOE SELTZER ONE THING I made very clear to myself at the outset. Under no circumstances would I ship out on a tanker. Tankers carry oil, you know, and oil is extremely burny stuff and .1 -- . . fn 1 of the globe as Murmansk or Aus- tralia or South Africa, where a hundred-buck port bonus can be stuffed in the sock for each port of call. So it was settled then. I would ship on a freighter bound for Russia or Australia. I signed on the S. S.- June 14 in New York and signed off Aug. 31. The -- is not a freighter. She is a tanker. I did not go to Russia. Nor did I go to Australia. I went to Texas and back. Twice. rT'ha nri hncrwith l+p cvohp n..qe say why I will probably be smack in the middle of a very sizeable con- voy anyway and I sign on the tank- er. The first question I ask my ship- mates is what is our cargo and they tell me black oil and I resume breathing again. Now you may not know but black oil is the crude stuff complete with branches of trees and lumps of mud and other foreign material and the soothing factor about it is the relatively high flach noint of the sIchr T-Tigh Early on the morning of Sunday, June 14 then I report to the ship, which has just dropped the hook off Staten Island. Most tankers have about a 100,000 barrel capacity but this ship is a fairly sizeable wagon as tankers go and when I step on her deck she is loaded to the scuppers with 135,000 barrels of oil. She is a nice even 500 feet long and, as I discover later, when riding empty and sticking 25 feet up out of the water she represents a target which makes the proverbial