wg KrV 4 1 Weather Thundershowers,_.: ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1944 PRICE FIVE CENTS ------ ---- e .on.v .. a .. a a.r a.ra.ra' ea us p ,100 Bombers Raid German Oil Plants - a U.S. Troops In Cherbourg Surge Ahead La Haye Du Puits Appears Doomed By the Associated Press SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, AL- LIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, July 8. -- U. S. troops surged for- ward along a flaming 33-mile battle- front today in a drive to crush the whole German line based along the marshes at the base of the Cher- bourg Peninsula, and the outflanked enemy anchors of La Haye Du Puits and St. Jean De Daye seemed doomed. Spectacular American Drive The most spectacular American drive was a new one southeast of Carentan, where doughboys struck under one of the heaviest artillery barrages of the campaign, forced the Vire River so swiftly the dazed Ger- mans did not even blow up the main bridge, and thrust spearheads north and south of St. Jean in a three-mile advance which all but isolated that enemy road junction. Engineers Make Foot Bridge Supreme Headquarters in a brief communique, No. 64, reported the drive southwest along the Carentan- Periers road, which threatens to by- pass the marshes in the center of the American front, had made some progress. Swift-moving infantry seized dom- inating high ground west of St. Jean and other doughboys moving down from the northeast late in the after- noon bridged the canal linking the Vire and Taute Rivers which form a natural barrier on the northern ap- proaches to the town. Fight in Ruins of La Haye This pincers movement was made possible by engineers who throw a foot bridge across the canal in 20 minutes. La Haye was in even sorer straits, and it appeared that the enemy soon must fall back to Lessay, four and one-half miles south, or let the Americans spring the trap which was a scant two miles from closing south of the city. There the Americans were in pos- session of the wooded heights of1 Mont Castre, two miles east of La Haye, unhinging all German hold- ings in the sector and leaving thes Americans in a position tostrike for the dry soil of the plains below, toward Lessay, less than five miles away. As doughboys fought back into the1 ruins of La Haye, the Germans threw reinforcements into battle in an at- tempt to salvage a rapidly deteriorat- ing situation, counterattacking all the way from around La Haye to the Carentan marsh, but the Americanst hurled them back. Play Season d OnWednesday FLAME RACES THROUGH CIRCUS TENT-Flames and smoke burst from mje main tejt of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus at Hartford, Conn., just after the start of the fire which claim ed 152 lives while 250 other persons, burned or injured were scattered in three hospitals. The majority of the victims in the greatest fire in circus history were women and children. Not a single circus em- ploye was known to have perished and none of the animals died. !i> 4'>- * * * * * * FDR, De Gaulle To Discuss Fight Of Underground National Committee Question To Be Ignored By the Associated Press WASHINGTON, July 7-President Roosevelt told a news conference yesterday the talks with General ly with the fight of the French un- Charles De Gaulle would deal chief- derground,n now approaching the Germans in southern France, and scale of full-fledged battle with the would touch in a general way on problems of civil administration. Mr. Roosevelt declared that the question of recognition of the French National Committee would not come up, as it had not come up in De Gaulle's recent talks with British Prime Minister Churchill. Military Problems To Be Discussed With this prime obstacle out of the way, it appeared that the two leaders would be able to discuss military problems and the recon- struction of a free France on a basis that could lead to complete erasure of the strain which has character- ized Franco-American relations dur- ing the past few months Before going to the White House for lunch with President Roosevelt and the start of their talks, De- Gaulle made two brief speeches, one before the French civil missions here and the other before the French military and naval missions. His theme was that France must rise Five Oficials o Circus Hl d for Manslauhter By the Associated Press HARTFORD, CONN., July 7 - With five persons already under charges of manslaughter, state's at- torney Hugh M. Alcorn, Jr., asserted tonight that more arrests were "probably" on the basis of prelim- inary inquiries into yesterday's cir- cus fire which cost the lives of 152 persons and injuries to 200. The state's attorney, in a formal statement issued while state police Third Air Raid On .h'p Islands Hits Steel Mills By the Associated Press American bombs fell on the Jap- anese homeland for the third time last night. Simultaneously Chinese'{spokesmen announced their troops in a surpris- ing counteroffensive broke the 12- day seige of Hengyang and reversed the Japanese advance throughout southeast China. Superfortresses showered explo- sives and incendiaries on Sasebo, one of Japan's naval bases, and the in- duptrial center of Yawata which pro- duces a fifth of Nippon's steel. Both are on Kyushu, southernmost of the main islands of Japan. Ya- wata's steel plants were the target of the first B-29 raid on Japan June 15. Saipan Defuense Futile The brief U. S. Army announce- ment gave no details. But presum- ably B-29s aimed their bombs at steel mills in the process of recon- struction and naval drydocks busy repairing warships damaged in the futile defense of Saipan in the southern Marianas Islands. Carrier planes raided Guam and Rota, flanking Saipan, without meeting a single enemy fighter. Troop Trcain Crash Kills 19 Search Continues for 40 Missing Soldiers JELLICO, Tenn., July 7.-(A)--The engine and four cars of a southbound troop train plunged 50 feet into a desolate mountain gorge today, with a possible death toll of 40 soldiers and trainmen, Wreckage of four cars-two of, them burned-rested in the rocky Clear River after leaving the Louis- ville and Nashville Railroad tracks 11 miles from here. A fifth car hun commissioner Edward J. Hiceky still questioned witnesses, said there ap- peared to have been "inadequate fire fighting equipment" on the grounds of the Ringling Brothers- Barnum and ailey tircus. What equipment there was, said Alcorn, was manned by "inadequate personnel.". Tent Treated with Gas "There is also in our possession," he asserted, "information that the tent itself had been in use only since the road show started this season and that it had been treated with paraffin which was diluted with gasoline, making the entire tent highly inflammable." In his capacity as state fire mar- shal, Hickey questioned between 40 and 50 persons. In the group were circus officials and workers and spectators who saw the big top collapse in a fiery heap. Approximately one-third of those who lost their race with death in the terrifying scramble of the tent remained unidentified. Many Victims Unidentified One by one numerous dead were identified but many victims, so bad- ly charred as to be unrecognizable, may be given a municipal funeral with scant hope, Mayor William Mortensen said, that they would ever be definitely identified Five officials of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus, whose big top went up in a puff of black, oily smoke yesterday, had been arraigned and held in high bail on a charge of manslaughter Police court prosecutor James F. Kennedy declared that premiminary investigation had established that the huge canvass had been water- proofed a few months ago with a solution of gasoline and paraffin. Commissioner Hickey, who es- caped with his life at the fire, or- duered immediate disuse by a small- er show in Waterford of a tent pro- cessed in similar fashion. Hichey said such topping would not be per- mitted in Connecticut. While state flags were at half- staff on orders of Governor Ray- mond E. Baldwin,. in Hartford's three hospitals surgeons and nurses toiled to save the more seriously burned. They used quantities of blood plasma. Patterson Will Address JAG's Here Tuesday 1,000 Army Men Will March in Review Parade Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson will be the main speaker at the graduation exercises of the Sixth Officer Candidate Class and the 17th Officer Class of the Judge Advocate General's School, Tues- day morning. in the Rackham audi- torium. Approximately 1000 men including 235 from the JAG school and more than 700 more troops of the 3651st S. U. ROTC-ASTP will march in a review parade at 5 p. m. Monday in Ferry Field, according to an an- nouncement made yesterday by Col. Edward H. Young, Commandant of all Army units in the Ann Arbor area and Commandant of the JAG School. The public has been invited to attend this parade which will be the first time in history that all the troops in Ann Arbor have paraded together. The troops will be divid-' ed into six companies for the pa- rade. The music will be provided by the 40 piece navy band which is being loaned to the army for the occasion by Capt. Richard E. Cas- sidy, USN, commanding all naval units in Ann Arbor. Maj. Gen. Henry S. Aurand, Com- manding General of the Sixth Serv- ice Command, and Maj. Gen. Myron C. Cramer, the Judge Advocate Gen- eral of the Army, will also attend the graduation exercises. Soviet Troops 100 Miles from East Prussia Reds Encircle Wilno; Lett Revolt Reported Through Underground By the Associated Press LONDON, July 7.-Russian troops closed tightly around the outer per- imeter of Wilno today, placing that ancient city, less than 100 miles from East Prussia, under artillery and air bombardment, and continued their westward sweep all along the 350- mile central front, Moscow an- uounced tonight. South of Wilno the Red Army ploughed within four miles of the important railway junction of Bar- arowicze and in the area of the pripet marshes Soviet forces captured the district center of Stolin, only 38 miles from Pinsk, the broadcast Russian communique said. Nearly 800 towns and villages were taken by the sweeping advance on all fronts and more of Germany's dis- organized forces were killed or cap- tured. The Germans themselves conceded that the Russians were within ten miles of Wilno and their hopes of an effectual resistance along the 300- mile Daugavpils-Wilno-Brest-Litovsk line seemed to be fading rapidly. Brest - Litovsk and Daugavpils (Dvinsk) both were bombed heavily Thursday night. The communique said many military trains were destroyed. In Moscow Yustas Paletskis, chair- man of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet for Lithuania, announced that the Germans had put Wilno under close martial law, with a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., and no one permitted to walk the streets at any time with more than one other person. Quoting underground sources, he said civilian uprisings had occurred in Kaunas (Kovno) and other cities in the confines of old Lithuania and that great- guerrilla groups were- gathering to greet and aid the Red Army. Battle Raging 13 Mlles Below Port of Livorno By the Associated Press ROME, July 7 - A bitter strug- gle reminiscent of the fight for Cassino several months ago raged today in the ruined village of Rosig- nano, 13 miles below the big Italian port of Livorno (Leghorn), as the Germans struck back furiously at American forces along a 30-mile front extending inland from the west coast. After three days and nights of savage house-to-house fighting in- side Rosignano, American infantry was reported in possession of two- thirds of the flattened village. At best it was a grim 'yard-by-yard ad- vance for Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clrk's doughboys as they tackled succes- sive Nazi strongpoints and repulsed the inevitable enemy counterattacks. Inland from Rosignano American and French troops engaged in in- creasingly furious combat as they probed into the mountainous out- posts of the Germans' formidable Gothic line, the strongest natural defenses in Italy. Just ahead of Allied forces are peaks rising to 6,300 feet. Remnants of 24 German divi- sions reinforced by hundreds of new guns, mortars and other weapons, fought hard to give Nazi engineers and labor battalions time to com- plete this defense belt. Reconnais- sance disclosed, for example, that the enemy is working feverishly on fortifications in the Futa Pass area, 20 miles north of Florence, though Allied troops still are 20 mountain- ous miles south of Florence Although the enemy was knocked off high ground at several points yesterday, the day's fighting left the front substantially unchanged I Nazis Put Up Heaviest Fight In Six Weeks Yanks Shoot Down 114 Enemy Planes By the Associated Press LONDON, July 7-More than 1,100 U. S. heavy bombers under strong escort drenched 11 high-priority tar- gets in central Germany with 3,000 tons of bombs today, stinging/ the Germans to put up the biggest aerial battle in six weeks, in which 114 en- emy planes and 36 American bomb- ers and six fighters were shot down. Battle Over German Silesia Another great battle in the clouds raged over German Silesia, where about 75 miles southeast of Breslau more than 500 heavyweights from Italy struck oil plants near Blech- Hammer and Odertal, leaving them wreathed in fire and explosions. An undisclosed number of German in- terceptors was shot down. The big task force from Britain went after an assembly plant at Mockau, synthetic oil plants at Lutzkendorf, Bohlen and Merseberg, a bomber assembly plant at Bern- burg, a bomber component plant at Ashersleben, engine works and ball- bearing plants at Leipzig and an assembly and repair plant at Halle. Twin Attacks Synchronized Some of these plants had been partly rebuilt since being hit pre- viously. The twin attacks were closely syn- chronized, the bombers from Italy striking at the targets near the Po- lish border only 15 minutes after the last bomber had left Leipzig for the return to Britain. At the same time smaller forma- tions of Liberators bombed an air- drome and rail yards in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, against lesser opposi- tion. Air Battle in Leibzig Area But the day's big air battle was over the Leipzig area, where Eighth Air Force bombers from Britain sent 3,000 tons of bombs screaming down through the cloudless skies The German airforce, long semi- dormant, rose in fury to defend these vital targets, and American fighters reported 75 of the enemy destroyed in raging dogfights. Many of the German planes were Junkers 88's, not usually used for straight-away fighting combat. The Germans threw heavy smoke screens over the Leipzig area but this failed to guard the targets from the high-flying Fortresses, and the German fighters failed in most cas- es to reach the bombers. The American fighters lost six Planes. Their day's bag of 75-plus was the best since April 8, when 120 of the enemy were downed. State Primary To Be Held Next Tuesda Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County voters will ballot Tuesday in a state- wide primary to select Republican and Democratic candidates for state executive posts, national and state legislators and county officials. Incumbent Gov. Kelly is unopposed for Republican nomination while Democratic party members can choose from candidates Earnest C. Brooks, William J. Cody and Edward I. Fry. What looms to be the hottest race is for nomination as lieutenant-gov- ernor. Incumbent Eugene C. Keyes, (Rep.), is opposed on the GOP slate by Vernon J. Brown, present Auditor General. James H. Lee is the sole Democratic contestant for the nomi- nation. Earl C. Michener, Republican sec- ond district Congressional Represen- tative, is opposed for nomination by Galen Starr Ross of the same party and Redmond M. Burr and Donald Gay on the Democratic ticket. No Democrats are competing for nomna-on as state senator from the 12th district. Republican candidates are George N. Higgins and J. Daniel Thorn. County voters will also ballot on C''. 'j ''l -e - e' F ... 1... L "__ Opening the sixteenth summer sea- from the war as a great, strong an( son of the Michigan Repertory Play- free power. ers of the Department of Speech, Pershing Believes War Near End "The Damask Cheek," a new comedy described as "an amusing frolic in General John J. Pershing, 83 the family album," will be presented year-old Commander of the Worl( at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through War A.E.F., told General Charle, Saturday at the Lydia Mendelssohn De Gaulle in, a dramatic interviev Theatre. today that he believes the presen "The Damask Cheek" is the first struggle is nearing its end. In the series of four outstanding The aged and ailing Pershing re- plays by well known dramatists to be ceived the leader of the French Na presented during the summer session. tional Committee in his room a John VanDruten, the brilliant the Army's Walter Reed Hospital. playwright, and Lloyd Morris, critic Pershing rose despite his illness t and pedagogue, have combined to greet De Gaulle. They exchange turn out a new comedy laid in New views on the war and when Pershing York in 1909. The play unfolds the was asked whether he believed "W tale of a plain looking but lively and are nearing the end of the worl interesting English girl of good fam- conflict," he replied, "I do." ily who is visiting her American relatives. She always has been in love with E-Bond uota her cousin Jimmy, who, however, is engaged to a pert little actress, but as the "damask cheek" quotation for ort "'twelfth Night" would inply, "she never told her love." . With the Fifth War Loan driv How she captures, with suitable officially closing today, Ann Arbo displays of modesty, the coveted and Washtenaw County bond buyer Jimmy and how Ile happily discovers have topped every quota set for th that he had taken her too long for city and county except the E-Bon granted to realize that he was in love goal, it was announced yesterday. with her,. forms the basis for the play. Sales of E-Bonds in Ann Arbo .,....a,-..,,. 1'..r.a ,.na ~cf+,Anr -A .Q- 401l1 101 ,,' .a-.v n. m ni d id es w t g e Id On account of thep duties, Mr. PattersonL until Tuesday mornin the formal graduation is going to fly here f ton, D. C., and thet graduation will be set of the time schedule arrive, which is as y The 134 men in the Candidate Class will sioned as second lieul graduation ceremonies Young will administe office and Maj. Jerem nor, Executive Officer letter of appointment. pressure of his will not arrive ng just before exercises. He rom Washing- time for the t on the basis d for him to et unknown. e Sixth Officer be commis- Uenants at the Tuesday. Col. r the oath of niah J. O'Con- will read the to r s e r c4. JAG TO BE HONORED: Cand. Cole To Be Awarded Soldier's SMedal Cand. Buster Cole, a member of " the Sixth Officer Candidate Class aboard the ship on which he was' . an.Qvpc n era,. 4an it wav 00 .lraA all the injured had been cared for." the citation continues.