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VOL. LIH No. 99 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, FEB. 26, 1943
r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PRICE FIVE CENTS
Russians Blast
Nazi Defenses
Near Dnieper
Red Army Advances
Despite Bad Weather
And Continuing Strong
German Resistance
By The Associated Press
LONDON, Feb. 26, Friday- The
Red Army punched new holes in Nazi
defenses on the approaches to the
Dnieper River west of Kharkov and
stormed and captured Mingrelskaya
in the western Caucasus only 33 miles
from the big Black Sea port of Nov-
orossisk, the Russians announced
early today.
Despite continuing strong German
counterattacks and impeding muddy
weather the Russians also gained
ground in some sectors of the Donets
Basin and west of Rostov along the
Sea of Azov in the drive toward Tag-
anrog, the regular midnight Moscow
communique disclosep.
More Captured
The additional localities captured
west of Kharkov in the drive to en-
velop Poltavapand Konotop were not
identified in the communique record-
ed by the Soviet Monitor.
But in the Western Caucasus the
Russian# said two battalions of the
101st German light infantry division
were, crushed after refusing to sur-
'MOSCOW, Feb. 25.- VP)-- The
finest buildings of Rostov were
blown up or burned by the Ger-
mans before they retreated, and
hardly a house in the entire city
remains intact, an official Tass
news agency broadcast said today.
render when Mingrelskaya, 30 miles
west of Krasnodar, was surrounded.
Of the two battalions of approxi-
mately 1,600 men, all were killed save
200 who finally surrendered, and the
communique said eight guns, 77 ma-
chineguns, one ammunition dump
and several equipment stores were
captured as the Red Army moved on
toward Novorossisk, the single large
base remaining to the Germans in
the Caucasus.
Swift Attack
"West of Mingrelskaya the Ger-
mans tried to relieve their units, but
were thrown back as a result of a
swift attack," the Communique said.
The noon conmunique yesterday
and the midnight bulletin issued ear-
ly- today disclosed that the Axis had
suffered approximately 5,000 casual-
ties since Wednesday night in opera-
tions extending from just below Orel,
hinge of the southern and central
fronts, to the Western Caucasus.
The midday communique an-
nounced fresh gains on the ap-
proaches to Orel yesterday, but dis-
patches indicated stiffening German
resistance at many points, especially
in the Donets Basin where the Rus-
sians for weeks have been trying to
reach Stalino from the Krasnoar-
meisk-Kramatorsk sectors.
Allied Bombers
Blast Jap Ships
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
AUSTRALIA, Feb. 26, Friday- (/P)-
Allied bombers, winging for the third
straight time across New Britain for
attacks on shipping at Rabaul, pos-
sibly damaged a seaplane tender and
three cargo ships, the Allied High
Command announced today.
In two previous raids, General
Douglas MacArthur's bombers scored
a hit on a large Jap warship believed
to be a cruiser, drove another big
warship aground on a reef off nearby
Cape Gazelle, damaged two other
warships and a 10,000 ton cargo ship
and probably damaged still other
merchant ships with near misses.
As on other occasions the latest
attack was just before dawn.
Other Jap shipping also took a
pounding from bombers elsewhere in
the southwest Pacific.
50 Women
To Train as
WarA ides;
Major F. W. Earhart from the of-
fice of the Chief of Ordnance, Wash-
ington, D.C., yesterday authorized the
training of women in the University
for positions as engineering aides in
government arsenals and in district
proving grounds to begin March 15.
Fifty women, selected from arsenal
employees, will arrive on campus to
take the concentrated 48 hour per
week course for 14 weeks. While they
are here they will be paid $120 per
month plus a subsistence allowance.
Their week will be divided into
class and laboratory work allotted to
the study of mechanical drawing,
metallurgy of engineering materials,
manufacturing processes and metal
processing.
Applications
Prof. R. H. Sherlock, coordinator
of the ESNWT, said yesterday that
University women may apply to his
office and be considered for this
training. The applications will be
forwarded to the proper military au-
thorities. "Michigan is the only insti-
tution in this country offering this
training," he said, "and women are
coming from as far away as the Gulf
coast andI from the Pacific coast to
take it."
Col. H. W. Miller, chairman of the
department of mechanical and engi-
neering drawing, is administrative
supervisor and Prof. O. W. Boston,
department head of metal processing,
will be the educational advisor.
150 More
The women taking the course are
Civil Service, employees of the army,
and they will add the 150 women now
in the Engineering College taking
similar courses, all a part of the En-
gineering, Science and Management
War Training program.
To be considered for this training
a woman must have completed four
years of high school including two
years of high school math. Superin-
tendents and engineers in the differ-
ent arsenals have recommended the
women from their organizations, and
they will return to work and receive
regular base pay according to Civil
Service rates.
Gargoyle
Will Go on
Sale Today
"Those neglected souls, the engi-
neers, will at last be given a little
attention in the 'campus to Pampus'
issue of the Garg which goes on sale
today," said Bernice Galansky and
Pat High, acting editors of the cam-
pus humor magazine.
Featured in the issue are the ad-
ventures of a naive engineer, Single-
ton Farejon, '42E, who took a trip
to South America.
Ed Zalenski, Daily Sports Editor,
reports on a favorite South American
game in "Latin Nightmare," and
Stardust meets up with a torrid La-
tin.
Even the regular columns, Campus
Talk, and Preposterous Persons, have
been given a pan-American slant,
and rumor has it that the cover girl
was imported from below the Rio
Grande.
Jose Armadillo, that illustrious
diplomat from Guana Guana, is
pinch-hitting as supervisor of the
issue for J. Baroque Wormsley, who
is now on the War Labor Board.
Germany, Italy Bombed
LONDON, Feb. 26, Friday- (A)-
Waves of Britain's heaviest bombers
swept across the Straits of Dover for
45 minutes last night, followed by the
sudden shutting off of Axis radio sta-
tions on the continent and an alert
in Switzerland which usually means
both Germany and Italy are being
attacked.
Vast
Plane
Lor
Strike
Impends;
Allies Smash Axis Guard in Tunisia
v
Advance Positions
Broken as British
And Yankee Pilots
Blast Nazi Bases
By The Associated Press
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 25.- Allied
armies on the offensive with strong
air cover in both western and south-
ern Tunisia slashed through the Axis
rear guard in Kasserine Pass tonight
and penetrated advance positions on
the edge of the Mareth line.
Under the field command of Gen.
Sir Harold Alexander, British and
American forces were declared to
have launched the long-awaited dou-
ble squeeze on the Axis bridgehead in
North Africa.
Kasserine Pass, from which Mar-
shal Erwin Rommel last Sunday
threatened to break into Algeria, was
being savagely cleared of the last
Axis defenses while to the east Allied
planes loosed a deadly air barrage on
the enemy's rear, striking his air-
fields, supply depots and transport
columns.
Axis Still Getting Reinforcements
(The Axis still is getting large
numbers of troops and supplies,
Canadian press correspondent Ross
Munro reported from field headquar-
ters. He said an American pilot pa-
trolling the Sicilian straits saw large
enemy convoys steaming toward Tu-
nisia and that the pilot had seen 40
large German troop transport planes
landing troops at Bizerte.)
Allied tank columns and infantry
were reported threatening German
positions at Sbeitla and Ousseltia
above the Kasserine gap.
Thus, Instead of Rommel assuming
a dominating position on the Alger-
ian frontier, dispatches showed he
was being compelled to pull back his
shattered armor toward the coastal
corridor in eastern Tunisia.
In the south, his Mareth Line ap-
peared due to suffer a large-scale
attack from the British Eighth Army
veterans of Gen. Sir Bernard L.
Montgomery.
Allied Planes Sink Supply Ship
French headquarters announced
that the Germans had been beaten
back west of Ousseltia with serious
losses when they tried to launch an
attack. Prisoners were taken.
(RAF headquarters in Malta said
torpedo planes had sunk a large sup-
ply ship, heavily damaged another
and attacked an escorting destroyer
north of Trapani, westernmost point
in Sicily. Trains were attacked in
Italy, Sicily and Tunisia and another
convoy was assaulted north of Italian
Cape Alice with undisclosed results.)
The Italian communique as heard
here from the Rome radio tried to
ignore the new situation in Tunisia,
dismissing the Allied counter-drive
as "local activity."
Brown Instructs OPA
To Loosen Restrictions
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-- (P)-
Price Administrator Prentiss Brown
announced today that he has in-
structed his staff "to keep alert to
changing conditions and to relax any
rationing rules without delay when-
ever it becomes possible to do so."
In line with this policy, the OPA
announced a relaxation of rationing
restrictions on the purchase of 240,-
000 new autos effective March 6.
Anyone in a gainful occupation or
in war work whose old car is no
longer serviceable may buy a 1942
convertible of any price or a 1942
car in another model costing more
than $1,500, or a new 1941 car of any
model and price.
Flying Fortresses Go Home at End of Successful Raid
-t
Boeing Employees
Will Hold General
Meeting Monday If
Flying Fortresses speed for home leaving in the background the Mediterranean and smoke columns ris-
ing from bombed planes and fuel dumps at Nazi held El Aulina airdrome north of Tunis, Tunisia. The raid,
timed to hit the field while German transport planes were unloading reinforcements, was termed highly suc-
cessful with at least 40 Nazi planes destroyed by bom bs and an equal number by fire. Bizerte lies in upper
left corner. (AP photo by Margaret Bourke-White).
highway Post
Still Dispu Led
In Legislature,
Conference Group
To Determine Fatej
Of Commissioner Jobt
LANSING, Feb. 25.- ()- A hard-
headed legislative conference com-
mittee held in its hands today the
fate of the Republican-sponsored bill
to abolish the elective office of state
highway commissioner. It was passed
by the Senate but the House refused
to accept Senate amendments.
After Senate Republicans mustered
19 votes to jam the measure through
their chamber, House leaders balked
at, the provision giving the governor
power to appoint the highway chief
directly, and eliminating the high-
way board the House had proposed.
To Confer with Kelly,
It appeared the conferees would
consult with Governor Kelly to learn'
his reactions before sitting down to
negotiate a compromise, but it was
indicated the committee will not get
down to cases until Monday evening.
The conferees are Reps. Nelson A.
Miles, Holland; Maurice E. Post,
Rockford, and John P. Espie, Eagle,
and Senators Elmer R. Porter. Bliss-
field; Jerry T. Logie, Bay City, and
Chester M. Howell, Saginaw.
Meanwhile, the Democrats face the
necessity of nominating a candidate
for highway commissioner at their
state convention in Detroit Friday,
uncertain whether the candidate ever
will campaign.
The uncertainty lies in the fact the
Senate Republicans were able to ob-
tain a two-thirds majority and give
the bill immediate effect. Such a
move, if the House finally concurs in
the measure, would block a public
vote on the highway commissioner at
the April 5 election and also would
make a move to initiate a referendum
difficult.
Exemptions Grow
At the same time, the controversial
time question loomed up again in the
legislature as the number of com-
munities grew which were exempting
themselves from a legislative act fix-
ing Michigan time as Central War
Time.
A bill to place the entire state on
"slow" or Central War Time, forbid-
ding any community to exempt itself,
was introduced by three Saginaw Re-
publican representatives.
'Air. Superiority
Of Allies over
Axis Foreseen
Army Contemplates
Overseas Force of
4,750,000 in 1944
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.--()-A
new picture of America's growing
military might was studied by Con-
gress today with a disclosure the
Army contemplates an air force equal
to the entire aerial strength of the
Axis nations by the end of 1943, and
a total overseas force of 4,750,000
men by the close of 1944.
Testimony by Maj.-Gen. I. H. Ed-
wards, assistant Chief of Staff, that
Army strength overseas will total
2,700,000 at the end of this year was
made before a Senate Appropriationsc
subcommittee, revealing an "upward
revision" of a previous estimate of
2,500,000.
Publication of Edward's testimony,
given in executive session, was per-
mitted after he had been allowed to
go over the transcript and eliminate
material he desired to keep "off the
record."
The new estimates, Edwards told
the committee exploring the man-
power situation, are based on a study
of the shipping situation by a com-
bined shipping committee of Army,
Navy and other U.S. agencies in co-
operation with the British.
"The rate of sinkings is improved
and we certainly hope it will be im-
proved more, because we have taken
every measure; the Army and Navy
combined are doing everything they
can to reduce that rate," he testified.
General Edwards said an Army
Air Force of 900 squadrons, embrac-
ing a personnel of 2,450,000 men, is
projected for this year, giving the
United States air strength equal to
all the air forces of the Axis nations,
including Japan, -to add to the 900
squadrons of other United Nations.
Thus the Allies would have a two
to one air superiority over the enemy.
Army Is Relieved
Of Cotton Picking
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-O)-The
Army's order for soldiers to pick cot-
ton in Arizona was recalled today
amid indications that the War De-
partment issued it originally at the
request of congressional sources, then
discovered the War Manpower Com-
mission and the Agriculture Depart-
Senate Backs
COn Some Foods
Prices on Several
Farm Products May
Be Forced Upward
Associated Press Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24-Legisla-
tion forcing higher ceilings on
prices of some farm products shot
through the Senate on a 78 to 2 vote
today with the backing of both
friends and foes of the Administra-
tion.
Democratic leader Barkley of Ken-
tucky supported it, although with
"some trepidation" and with an ex-
pression of hope that it would not
tend toward "runaway inflation." It
now goes to the House.
Food Bill
How much the measure, if finally
enacted, might add to food bills of
consumers was a question neither the
Agriculture Department nor the Of-
fice of Price Administration was pre-
pared to answer immediately be-
cause of many technical factors in-
volved. However, OPA officials said
the sum undoubtedly would be con-
siderable.
Sponsored by Senator Bankhead
(D.-Ala.), the legislature simply di-
rects that no account shall be taken
of government benefit payments
when farm price ceilings are estab-
lished. Its effect on ceilings would be
in this manner:
Base Parity
The price control legislation says
no ceiling may be placed on a farm
product lower than 100 per cent of
parity. Parity is the price, calculated
by the Agriculture Department as a
fair one, at which the product's pur-
chasing power in terms of other com-
modities is equivalent to what it was
in a fixed basic period, usually 1909-
1914.
When the price control law be-
came operative, President Roosevelt
directed that government benefit
payments, as part of the farmer's
return for raising his crops, should
be figured in prices placed under
ceilings. Consequently, OPA has been
able to fix market prices below par-
ity, with the idea that the market
price plus benefit payments give the
farmer 100 per cent parity return.
Japs Withdraw
m eTTmTP ,Tf ' -Ii A
Dispute Continues
By The Associated Press
SEATTLE, Feb. 25.- Thousands
of Boeing aircraft employes, whose
work stoppage for a mass meeting
and parade today brought a three-
hour shutdown on two Flying For-
tress plants, voted to hold an around-
the-clock meeting Monday unless the
War Labor Board returns a favorable
decision promptly in their long-pen-
ding wage increase case.
Other Unions
They expressed the intention also
of calling upon other AFL union air-
plane builders for similar action, and
asked that President Roosevelt's in-
tervention be solicited.
While the thousands of workers
paraded, the aeronautical mechanics'
union filed a suit in federal court
here against the labor board. It de-
manded that the board be compelled
to act in the west coast aircraft sta-
bilization case or surrender Jurisdic-
tion to enable the union to negotiate
directly with the Boeing Company,
which has expressed itself in favor
of wage increases.
The Boeing plants in Seattle and
Renton were shut down by the com-
pany for half a shift after it reported
approximately 97 per cent of the
workers absent after the lunch hour.
'Treason'
A high west coast Army officer
branded the work stoppage by the
Aeronautical Mechanics' Union
(AFL) members "little less than
treasonable."
The resolution adopted by the mass
meeting, estimated by union leaders
at 20,000 persons demanded a satis-
factory labor board decision by Srn-
day midnight or the union "will hold
a 4-hour general meeting."
The unionists, who are asking that
their present base starting pay of
621/ cents an hour be increased to
95 cents an hour, late today received
a telegram from Brig. Gen. Charles
E. Branshaw, district supervisor for
the Army Air Forces at Santa Mon-
ica, Calif., in which he said:
"I would be derelict in my duty ...
if I did not emphatically protest this
action taken by members of your
union, which is in direct violation of
its solemn pledge that there would
be no work stoppage for the duration
of the war.
Fortresses Effective
"This action if little less than trea-
sonable when it is considered that
the Boeing Flying Fortresses. . .con-
stitute one of our most effective strik-
ing weapons, without which we can-
not hope to win the war."
The company complained that the
"walkout" was contrary to previously
arranged union plans which contem-
plated no interruption of work. It
had been arranged, the Boeing man-
agement asserted, that the meeting
was to have started at 1 pm. for the
benefit of off-shift workers and was
to have been held open until the day
shift could join it after going off duty
at mid-afternoon.
State Democrats
Convene Today
DETROIT, Feb. 25.-P)-Dele-
gates to the Democratic state conven-
tion were assembling tonight for to-
morrow's state convention, their
minds more occupied with the over-
turn of leadership which followed
their November election defeat, than
in picking a slate of nominees for the
April 5 election.
Big question before the assembling
delegates was who would take over
where the team of Murray D. Van
Wagoner and G. Donald Kennedy left
off, Van Wagoner after he was de-
feated for reelection as governor and
Kennedy when he resigned as state
highway commissioner to take a job
in Washington. There was a strong
suspicion not more than a small part
of the answer would be found at this
meeting.
Van Wagoner said he would attend
the convention, but was not in the
Pianist Surveys Army Musical Taste
By STAN WALLACE
"The boys in American army
camps love music, and they attach
a particular liking to both classical
as well as modern popular music ..-
a liking which is significant because
it proves that classical music is far
from being dead."
With a cordial smile and a bearing
that radiated friendliness Alec Tem-
pleton greeted all after last night's
concert in Hill Auditorium.
his every selection in a highly recep-
tive mood. One person said, "His
personality and talent made this
concert a long-to-be remembered
one in Ann Arbor."
"The wide use of the phonograph
in army camps has given the boys
many hours of relaxed enjoyment.
The personal appearances of popular
musicians have made dull moments
for the boys few and far between,"
Templeton said.
This is Templeton's second annear-
Templeton has a definite belief
that American composers will come
into their own. "Now," he said, "that
we no longer have an opportunity to
hear new European compositions,
American writings will have a defi-
nite chance to come to the front.
"Young composers now have a bet-
ter opportunity of being heard than
ever before, and they are turning out
some really fine pieces."
He spoke with his own clinned