Editorial Ickes-Nation's Gas Troubles Not His Fault .. . I it Q341 laitj W eather Thundershowers VOL LH. No. 4 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1942 2:15 A.M. FINAL Churchill Visit May Herald Second Fi rout -v l British Eighth Army Forced To Withidraw n Libya Battle English Divided Into Two Sections After Heavy Hammering By. Axis For Period Of 25 Days Rommel May Try To Cut Coast Road CAIRO, June 18.-(P)-Split by 25 cdays of hammering by powerful Axis armored forces, the British Eighth Army withdrew to new positions to- d tay, one section taking up fortified places near the Egyptian border while the other fell back into the defensive perimeter of Tobruk to defend that Libyan coastal stronghold against violent siege. Only the shore road remained as a tenuous link between Tobruk and the British main body. With that exception the situation nearly duplicated that which existed during almost eight months of last year when Tobruk, holding firm on the flank against every assault, stood as a drag on a drive into Egypt, 80 miles to the east, by Nazi troops which had by-passed the port. Rommel To Cut Road Informed persons expressed the be- lief that Nazi Marshal Erwin Rom- mel would try quickly to cut the coastal road as a preliminary to a grand assault -on the fortress. The Nile valley and the Middle East appeared to be in no immediate danger, however. Although British. tank strength is admittedly less than Rommel's, no big Allied formations have been trapped. Withdrawals have been conducted skillfully and at high cost to the enemy. So much of Rommel's offensive power has been spent that it is pos- sible the most he hopes to achieve 'ow is to take Tobruk and drive the British clear back to the Egyptian frontier. Had he succeeded in his original goal of taking Tobruk in the first few days of his offensive, the story might have been different. Germans Plan To Take Tobruk The German plan now seems to be to try to take Tobruk, .use it as a port of entry and build up for a possible autumn offensive against the Middle East. Tobruk, Libya's best deep-water harbor, is of tremendous importance to either side; to the Nazis because its capture would eliminate their bugbear of, an 800-mile supply line from their major base at Tripoli, and to the British for the like eras- ure of a maintenance problem over hundreds of miles of desert. Any plans the Germans may have for an autumn onslaught depend on their ability to divert sufficient men and armor from Europe. Should the Middle East fall, the Axis not only would gain the food and oil resources of this area but both the east and west gates to the Indian Ocean, thus opening the way for Germany to get much needed rubber, tin and other materials from the far Pacific territory controlled now by Japan. New Shi Bill Passes, House American Fleet Will Be Bigger Than All Others WASHINGTON, June 18.--{,)-A warship construction measure sailed swiftly through the House today in a drive to make the United States Fleet stronger by the end of 1946 than the combined navies of all the rest of the world. The vast program, calling for more than 500 fighting ships in the cruis- er-carrier-destroyer category and Nazis Pound Sevastapol In Spite Of Great Losses Kharkov Tank Battles Rage; Soviets Hold In Crimea; Berlin Claims Capture Of Two Fortifications MOSCOW, June 18.-(P-Setas- topol admittedly was hard-pressed tonight but from the shell-pocked bastions which line its chalky heights the Red Army and Navy troops who have withstood 14 days of battering from land and air were reported still beating back the tank-led waves of reinforced Axis assault. (The German High Command as- serted its troops were winning bit- terly defended ground at the Soviet Naval Base whose fall would remove Soviet Ratifies British-Russian Battle Aliance Russian Parliament Cheers As Molotov Mentions New European Front In '42 MOSCOW, June 18.-(/)-Thun- dering a vote of complete confidence,, the Supreme Soviet tonight at its first wartime session ceremonially approved the British-Russian Treaty, after hearing Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov express the deep hope that the "common enemy soon will feel on his own skin the mighty blows" of Russia, Britain and the United States. Molotov told the cheering Russian parlianient, as Premier-Defense Com- missar Joseph Stalin nodded agree- ment, that the question of a second front in Europe was given "serious attention" both in London and in Waslhngton. In the latter city Molo- tov concluded a full understanding with the United States on the war and on post-war problems. Roosevelt Cables r -(The three great world powers an- nounced on June 11 that they had reached complete understandings on "the urgent tasks of creating a sec- and front in urope in 1942.") Molotov disclosed that President Roosevelt had cabled an invitation to the trip which resulted in the Washington agreement. He told the parliament that the Washington agreement would accel- erate and increase deliveries to the, Soviet Union in spite of the damag- ing Axis attacks on convoys destined for Murmansk and Archangel, Soviet Arctic ports.. ' He declared that although several Allied ships had been sunk en route to the Soviet Union, such attacks had not prevented increased deliv- eries. U.S. To Aid Monetarily Molotov revealed that the new agreement with the United States envisaged American aid mounting to $3,000,000,000. The supreme Soviet officially ap- proved these resolutions: 1. To approve the government for- eign policy. 2. To ratify the treaty between Russia and Britain on the "alliance in the war against Hitlerite Germany and her associates in Europe and on collaboration and mutual assistance thereafter." The treaty was signed in London on May 26. Molotov declared that the conver- sations in London and Washington strengthened the conviction that "victory over German imperialism will be considerably faster." Molotov emphasized that the Brit- ish pact governed both wartime and post-war cooperation and said that the London treaty and the Washing- ton agreement were "destined to hasten the rout of Hitlerism and serve as the basis for post-war rela- tions among the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States" Detroiter Indcted For Aiding German a threat to the flank of the expected Nazi thrust from the Crimea toward the oil lands of the Caucasus. .(The German communique said its shock troops "stormed the main forts in the northern part of the de- fense system, including the Maxim Gorky Fort, the most modern and strongest bastion of the whole fort- ress," and drove through to within two miles of Sevastopol Harbor.) (The Germans had claimed ear- lier that they had seized two great fortifications, Fort Stalin and Fort Siberia. The Russians have never ,mentioned fortifications by these names in their dispatches.) A battlefront dispatch to Pravda,. official Communist Party newspaper, described the Soviet defense as un- yielding with infantry standing at their posts in the face of tank at- tacks and with point-blank artillery fire taking a terrific toll of the Ger- mans. On a single battlefield the Ger- mans left 1,500 dead in a day, the newspaper declared. Yet, it added, the Germans had grimly continued virtually unceasing attacks since yesterday afternoon. "The enemy attempted by every means to break through our defense, but failed," the Communist Party organ asserted. "Fighting continues in two directions, to the north and south.", On the Kharkov front, barring the northern route to the Caucasus, the Soviet Information Bureau said the Rtussians repulsed another of the tank-led infantry attacks by which Field Marshal Gen. Fedor Von Bock was attempting to regain lost ground. Heydrich Assassin Shot, London He rs LONDON, June 18.-(P)-Two men accused as the assassins of Rein- hard Heydrich, No. 1 Gestapo execu- tioner known to millions' in occu- pied Europe as "the hangman," were found in a Prague church this morn- ing and "shot whiledresisting ar- rest," the 13rague Radio announced tonight. The announcement came two hours after the expiration of a German ultimatum to the Czechs ,to deliver up the assassins of Heydrich or take the consequences. The British Broadcasting Corpor- ation. told the Czechs in a broadcast from London tonight that the Nazis had "decided to discover" the assail- ants of Heydrich after realizing that their -threats of heavy reprisals were "in vain." The British broadcast emphasized that the Berlin announcement was issued only, two hours after expira- tion of the ultimatum to the Czechs. Aid Is Given Free China By Air Force Col.Haynes Named Chief Of Bomber Command Sent ByU.S. Army Jap Air Strength Reing R eiforeed CHUNGKING, China, June 18.- ()--Existehce of a United States Army Bomber Command in imperiled Free China was disclosed today at a time when the Japanese enemy was heavily reinforcing his air strength to defend his conquest of Burma and attempt to mop up the armies of Chiang Kai-shek. Col: Caleb V. Haynes, big, 46-year- old North Carolinian who personally directed the harrowing aerial evacu- ation of Burma, was named chief of the command. Just where and when the American force will go into ac- tion is an important military secret. Haynes To Command Already operating in the China war theatre are the "Flying Tigers" of Brig.-Gen. Claire L. Chennault's American volunteer group. Informed estimates of the present aerial dispositions of the' Japanese Air Force in the Burma and Chinese theatre makes it seem certain the enemy is expecting some strenuous opposition in the sky, something the Chinese have never been able to pro- vide. The Japanese are reported to have 500 planes in Burma and 300 in China, with a new influx of aircraft about Canton and Hankow in the southeast. P They have left aerial reinforce- ment of the Manchurian theater to the very last, apparently, although they are reported to have restored the Manchurian Army to its full strength of 33 divisions, approxi- mately 660,000 men, and seem to be awaiting only the propitious moment to attack Siberia. Because of the excellent airdromes in the Manchu- rian area, the Japanese can estab- lish strong air forces there very quickly. Japs Have Large Air Fol'ee The recent enemy attacks on Mid- way Island and the Aleutians are interpreted in some quarters as prep- arations for attack on Siberia. The Japanese, it is believed, wanted to eliminate the possibility of a United States attack from the east in the event of hostilities with Russia. That they failed to do so will not neces- sarily deter them from a Russian adventure. The main thing they are waiting for is an indication that the Russians are weakening in their fight with Germany. Strike Closes Navy Arsenal, HaltsOutput Employment Of Negroes In War Production Jobs Is Cause Of Walkout BULLETIN DETROIT, June 18.-(P)-Offi- cials of the United Automobile Workers (CIO) reported late to- night that an unauthorized work stoppage which interrupted pro- duction at the Hudson Naval Ord- nance Arsenal had been "broken." DETROIT, June 18-(P)-Protest- ing the employment of eight Negroes to operate machines formerly used} by white workers, several thousand day-shift employes, members of the United Automobile Workers (CIO), stopped work today at the Hudson Naval Ordnance Arsenal. Immediately, R..,J. Thomas, UAW- CIO president, denounced the stop- page as a "flagrant violation," of the unionconstitution and ordered the workers to return to their jobs, "at once"~ or face expulsion. At the same time, Secretary of Navy Knox, in a telegram to Capt. A. S. Wotherspoon, in charge of the plant, declared that the work stop- page "warrants assumption that the men are not only disloyal and sub- ject to immediate dismissal, but may be prevented' from obtaining employ- ment in other plants engaged in war production." Work Must Go On "Immediate resumption of work," Knox said, "is therefore imperative." The plant, operated by the Hudson Motor Car Company, is owned by the government which bears all op- erating costs. It is engaged solely in vital war production and has been designated as a military reservation. Capt. Wotherspoon said the stop- page halted all-day production and that only a part of the afternoon shift reported for work. "The plant management was car- rying out the instructions of Presi- dent Roosevelt in avoiding racial discrimination by advancing Negro workers to production jobs," he said. Stoppage Began At 9 a.m. The stoppage began at 9 a.m. when two Negroes were placed on ma- chines in each of four buildings. All had accumulated seniority with the Hudson Motor Car Company and all were union members, Capt. Wother- spoon said. Thomas was in Washington at the time of the walkout. He immediately made plans to return here by plane to aid in a settlement. The walkout, he said, "amounts to sabotage of our war effort, and plays into the hands of the enemies of our nation." Thomas said the stoppage violated the union constitution provisions re- garding race discrimination and also the section stating there can be no cessation of work except on author- ization of the International Union. For Second Time Prime Minister To Confer Immediately With Roosevelt On Conduct Of War WASHINGTON, June 18.-(P)-The White House disclosed tonight that Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain was in the United States again to begin immediate conferences with President Roosevelt on "conduct of the war and the winning of the war." Presidential Secretary Stephen Early made the announcement'and, answering a question whether speculation on a second front was permissible, he declared without the slightest hesitation, "I think that is perfectly justified." Churchill once before, since the United States plunged into the world conflict, had crossed the Atlantic to see Mr. Roosevelt. That was in Decem- ber, and it resulted in the declaration by the United Nations, to which 28 nations now adhere. Arrives In U. S Early would not go into details on