4jift Y it igun 4it Weather Cloudy and COld VOL. LIV No. 71 VOL. IV N. 71ANN ARBOR, lnICmIGAN, FRIDAY, FEB. 4, 1944 PRICE FIVE CENTS Soviet Forces Tr n SOLDIERS MUST VOTE: Erman Divisions _ " ',' Namur Island Captured by U.S. Marines Three Airstrips on Roi Island Can Be Repaired For Use by Americans By WILLIAM HIPPLE Associated Press Corrspondent U.S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD- QUARTERS, PEARL HARBOR, Feb. 3.-Namur Island at the northern tip of Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands and four nearby islets have been captured by Marines of the Fourth Division in the developing Central Pacific offensive. Seizure of these tiny spots of land, announced today by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, gives American forces full opportunity to repair and use the three airstrips on Rol Island, cap- tured earlier. The Roiairfield, with its dispersal area on Namur, formed the most for- midable air base, the Japanese had constructed in the Marshalls in more than two decades of operations. At the southern end of the atoll, on Kwajalein islet, stiff Japanese re- sistance continued. An enemy coun- ter-attack there Tuesday night was thrown back with heavy Nipponese losses. New troops and mechanized equip- ment had been landed by the inva- sion fleet, Nimitz said. With this added strength the seventh infantry division renewed its attacks after daylight Wednesday and the enemy was being annihilated. Islets near Namur which were tak- en by storm, presumably Wednesday, were Gagan, Edjell, Debuu and Edi- gigen. Known American dead on Kwaj- alein Island were 27, with nine miss- ing and 190 wounded. PP * , Clpper Killed. In Pl ane Crash WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.--(P)-Ray- mond Clapper, whose tireless energy as a reporter won him the title of "the newspaperman's columnist," has been killed in a plane crash over the Marshall Islands-victim of his own belief that the only way to write a wartime column was to see some of the war first-hand. The Navy's announcement that Clapper was a passenger in one of two planes that collided, crashed into a lagoon and left no survivors, im- mediately evoked expressions of re- gret from many high Washington officials who knew the writer and radio commentator for a score of years. C onvocation for Servicemen Will Be Held To ay All Army and Navy trainees sta- tioned on campus will attend a mil- itary convocation at 4:15 p.m. today in Hill Auditorium which is designed to give them a picture of the Uni- versity as a whole. President Alexander G. Ruthven, who will give the main talk, will at- tempt to give the servicemen a com- plete picture of the campus, not only from the standpoint of what it is trying to do for servicemen and civil- ians, but also of the position which it holds in the community, the state, and the nation. This will be the first military convocation ever to be held here. He will introduce the heads of the various schools and colleges as well as other leading administrators. Joseph A. Bursley, dean of students, will preside at the convocation. Short talks will be given by Col. Frederick C. Rogers, commandant of the 3651st S.U., and Capt. Richard Cassidy. NewDerry Is Left Dark by Gremlins Gremlins, that's what it was! They snuck in during the night and blew out the main fuse so that Helen Newberry was in darkness until 1 p.m. yesterday, Mrs. A. S. Monagham, dorm. switchboard operator, with the aid of Har on Signs Soldier Vote Petition 3 } m Representatives Have Betrayed Amerkcans THE 10,000,000 American boys fighting and dying for their country in the Pacific, in Italy, and in the Aleutians have been betrayed by their own elected representatives. Despite pleas by the War and Navy Departments and by the President for federal soldier vote machinery, the House yesterday rejected the bill of Rep. Worley (Denm., Tex.) Though high officials have declared that effective voting by servicemen scattered all over the world cannot be accomplished under 48 different election systems, the House is proceeding toward passage of a bill leaving the ballot up to the states. The same coalition of Republicans and Southern Denn- ocrats who defeated the proposal for a roll call vote on Tuesday are today backing the "states' rights" measure. According to a recent National Opinion Research Center Poll more than 60% of the people in the nation favor a federal bill for service voting. Yet these representatives of the people openly flouted their will. IHow long will the American people passively let their rights be takien front themu? The united effort of an aroused people is necessary. To fight for democracy abroad, we inust preserve democracy at ho rne world LNrew.ineBrief Nzis Admit Withdrawal 50 Miles into Old Poland Berlin Announces Sudden Evacuation of Rovno, Lutsk During Great Russian Trap By JAMES M. LONG Associated Press Correspondent LONDON, Feb. 3.-Premier Marshal Stalin announced tonight that ten German divisions-probably between 120,000 and 150,000 men-have been trapped by a new double-headed Red Army offensive in the Ukraine, while Berlin announced the sudden evacuation of Rovno and Lutsk (Luck) in a sensational 50-mile Axis withdrawal deep inside old Poland. Springing the greatest trap since Stalingrad, the First and Second Ukraine Armies under Generals Nikolai F. Vatutin and Ivan S. Konev cap- tured 300 towns and villages in a shattering five-day 100-mile breakthrough to join forces along the Zvenigoroda-Shpola line, 45 miles below the middle Dnieper River. The ten German divisions were locked in a circular pocket approxi- mately 50 miles in diameter. They now face annihilation. It seemed un- 0 likely the German command could -Dily Photo by Katie Tripp Lt. Too lHarflhon is shown signing a petition presented by Belle Rosenthal, calling for a federal soldier vote bill, before he delivered his lecture Wednesday for the Post-War Council. The petition with signa- tures collected by various students was telegraphed by Michigan Youth for Democratic Action to Rep. Earl Michener. AMID BOOS, TUMULT: House Votes . oWn Plan for Federal Servicemen's Blli WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.-(P)--The House voted on a roll call vote of 328 to 69 tonight to leave with the states, rather than the federal government, the election machinery for soldier voting in this fall's important elec- tions. Previously the House members had refused to stand up and be counted, as President Roosevelt had suggested in saying that any legislation merely leaving the service vote responsibili- ty to the states was "a fraud." But tonight, in a long session spar- kled through its dragging hours only by outbursts of sharp feeling, the members went on record twice. Be- fore getting to a final vote, they had rejected 224 to 168 on a roll call a proposal by Rep. Worley (Dem., Tex) to provide the federal ballot bill. On both lineups, Republicans and southern Democrats teamed up with University To Hold Exercises Februwary p19 The University will hold mid-year graduation exercises for the second time in its history at 10 a.m. on Sat., Feb. 19 in Hill Auditorium. President John A. Hannah of Michigan State College will give the commencement address on the sub- ject "The Debt We Owe." He will ad- dress a graduatig class of 489 stu- dents, only half the number that graduated at this time last year. President Hannah will be present- ed by President Ruthven, who will make a few introductory demarks. The Rev. Ernest C. Stellhorn of the' ZionLutheran Church will give the invocation., Students and the general public will be admitted only by ticket. These can be obtained in Room 1, Univer- sity Hall after Feb. 9. Symphony and Swi as Tickets Are on Sale Now General ticket sales for Michigan's latest addition to campus activities- Symphony and Swing-to be held Feb. 13 in Hill Auditorium will begin the winning side, although in both instances there were some Republi- cans and some Democrats from the south who voted for the federal bal- lot the Administration sought. "We're not afraid to be counted," shouted Republican leader Martin, of Massachusetts. Before getting to the roll calls, the House rejected an amendment simi- lar to one which Senate Administra- tion leaders agreed to during the day, limiting use of a federal ballot large- ly to military personnel overseas. Rep. Woodrum (Dem., Va.) plead- ed against rushing too much. and then remarked that "the spec- tacle we are making here, tonight isn't adding to the prestige of the House." Allies Make 'Big raids ... LONDON, Feb. 3(.-(P)-A near- record force of 1,100 Flying Fortres- ses and escorting Thunderbolt, Light- ning and Mustang long-range .fight- ers flew a round trip ,of more than 700 miles: through bad weather and dumped perhaps 1,500 tons of bombs, on the big German shipbuilding-and naval base of Wilhelmshaven today. Pope Won't Move LONDON, Feb. 3.-(A)- The Germans were reported tonight to have notified Pope Pius XII that the fate of Rome will be "subject to military considerations," but the Pope has refused to abandon "his Rome." Willkie To Give Ideas ... WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.- (I)- Wendell L. Willkie was invited to- night to lay before the Senate Fin- ance Committee any concrete sug- gestions he may have for increasing revenues in line with his assertion that federal taxes ought to be boost- ed by $16,000,000,000 or so. Spain Stays Neutral. LONDON, Feb. 3.-(1)-A special session of the Spanish cabinet, pre- sided over by Generalissimo . Fran- cisco Franco, has decided to main- tain Spanish -neutrality; DNB said tonight in a broadcast recorded by tle Associated Press. ** * Alexishaf en Bombed . ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, Fri- day, Feb. 4.--(P)-Allied bombers dropped 77 tons of explosives on Alexishafen, the Japanese plane and supply base on the northeast coast of New Guinea, the high command said today. * * * 6,500 Workers Strike ... DETROIT, Feb. 3.-~(P)-Produc- tion remained at a virtual standstill tonight at four of the six plants of General Motors Corporation's Chev- rolet Gear and Axle Division where approximately 6,500 employes were on strike. U .. Troops Fight Way Into Cassino Nazi 'Suicide Squads' Fight To Keep Hold In Outflanked City ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN ITALY, Feb. 3.-(I')-American in- fantrymen thrust into Cassino today for an hour of bitter street fighting and formed their lines tonight for a second assault on the tottering Ger- man stronghold in their drive to open the way for a 50-mile advance to form a junction with Allied landing forces south of Rome. Facing them were Nazi "suicide squads" fighting to hold on in this outflanked city on the Fifth Army front. In a field dispatch sent from a for- ward command post outside Cassino, Associated Press correspondent Hal Boyle said American-troops charged into the town just after dawn today and topk prisoners before they with- drew under the fire of heavily armed German tanks. The leader of the American thrust, red-haired Lt. John Murphy of Phil- adelphia, Pa., was quoted: "We are forming up now for another attack; we can't quit on this thing in the middle of the row." (A Cairo broadcast heard in Lon- don declared that "street fighting is going on in Cassino. Tanks have forced a breakthrough and Allied in- fantry is pouring into the town.") The battle for Cassino heralded the approaching end of three months of hard, bloody fighting to crack the enemy's main mountain defense line across Italy. muster sufficient reserves to break the Soviet ring, engaged heavily as it is on virtually every sector of the long eastern front. To the north the Russian Lenin- grad Army under Gen. Leonid A. Govorov, converging on Narva, seven miles inside Estonia, captured 50 more villages, said the daily Soviet communique. Gains also were re- ported in the drive westward from Novgorod and Novosokolniki all along the 230-mile northern front. Moscow was silent on the startling German announcement of Axis . re- verses inside old Poland. Russians Are Now Fighting in Estonia LONDON, Feb. 4, Friday.--(P)A Reuters dispatch from Moscow -said today it was officially announced that the Rusians were now fighting inside Estonia. ]lars haillSays Present .Battles Are Previews WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.-(M)-Gen- eral George C. Marshall told the na- tion tonight that "great battles" im- pending in Europe and the Marshall Islands thrust in the Pacific is only the preview to more action there, but he asserted that the people at home still fail to grasp the magnitude of the effort needed for victory. The U.S. Chief of Staff, disclosing he had receeived "vehement protests" from the public because flame throw- ers were used against the Japanese, said that this shows a lack of "under- standing of the meaning of our dead on the beaches of Tarawa." ALL-DAY CONFERENCE: Recreational workshop To Be Held in Rackham Saturday Snowman announces Visit of Prowinent Bard Leader Sponsored by the Coordinating Committee on Recreation, Defense Councils of Wayne, Washtenaw, and Macomb Counties, Willow Run Area Rrecreation Project, the southeastern Michigan recreational workshop for volunteer- and professional workers will be held in the Rackham building from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12. The all-day conference will be given in cooperation with the Washtenaw County Youth Guidance Committee, the University Department of Physi- cal Education and Athletics, the De- partment of Physical Education of Michigan State, the University Ex- Subsidies Are Discussed in Forum Here "The entire war is a subsidy; the government is paying out money to accomplish a public purpose," Don- ald Montgomery, Director of Con- sumer Relations for the Internation- al UAW-CIO, Detroit, said in a talk last night. Mr. Montgomery was one of the principal speakers at a forum on "Are Food Subsidies Desirable?" which was held in the auditorium of the Ann Arbor High School last tension Service, and the Adult Edu- cation Program. In connection with the workshop an exhibit of recreational materials prepared by Edith Thomas, Library Extension Service, will be shown in the Rackham foyer, Included on the program will be panel discussions on recreation and related fields such as music, recruit- ing and training volunteer leaders. The general assembly which will start the workshop off will be direct- ed by Ross L. Allen, of the Depart- ment of Physical Education and Ath- letics. Other speakers who will ap- pear throughout the day's program are: Kenneth Wible, sup't of Public Recreation, Highland Park; Hans J: Schmidt, director of the Williow Run Area Recreation Project; Olga Mada, director of recreation, Local 50, UAW- CIO; and members of the University and Michigan State faculties. Servicemen Will Make V-Ball Inter-COlle iate Michigan will play host to all oth- er colleges for 1944's Victory Ball theme, according to Rupert Straub, general chairman for the affair. Featuring Les Brown and his or- .... ... .