Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              A Paper For The Home
SUNDAY INDEPE^fDENT
The Weather
Warmer.
36TH YEAR, NO. 29—64 PAGES
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1942
PRICE TEN CENTS
600,000 YANKEE TROOPS ARE IN 'BAHLE STATIONS'
XandBattleships^ Crush Nazis
Pound  Nearer   ICharkoV    \(^ommander of Women*8 Army Sworn in
With Monster Tanks only Heavy Artillery Can Stop
Infantry With Two-Man Rifles Perched on Top; Path of Wreckage
By HENItr HHAPIKO
Moscow, Sunday, May 17. (UP) — The Red Army announced today that its steam-roller Kharkov of¬ fensive is pounding steadily for¬ ward, over battlefields strewn with shattered Natl tanks, but acknowl¬ edged that in tha Crimea the Ger¬ mans have advanced to Kerch and the gateway to the Caucasus.
Marshal Seymon Timoshenko's Soviet forces were reported in othcr front-line advices to be •urging upon Kharkov'a inner de¬ fenses behind monster "land battle¬ ship" snd American triple-turret tanks after smashing desperate German counter attacks before the cily.
I.,ate front dispatches failed to confirm reports originating in Stockholm. Sweden, that the Rus¬ sians slready were fighting in the outskirts  of  Kharkov   itself.
The Germans, sent reeling baek after suffering great losses, were (Bid fsntically attempting to Ihrow up a new line of defenses closer to the Donets Basin city on the fifth dsy of the struggle.
Infantry men with two-man rifles were riding atop the Russian "land hsttle.'hlps." massive tanks with thick steel hides making their first appearance in battle.
Nail Tank* Utter Path
The Red army's communique early loday said that around Khar¬ kov "our troops fought offensive battles and successfully advanced, rapturing booty and prisoners."   In
: one sector, it was stated. 70 wrecked German tsnks littered the path of sdvsnce,
1 On the Crimean battlefront, 320 miles to the south, the communique reported that "our forces waged in- len.^r halllfs in the region of the Inwn of Kerch." lying at the ap- proarh to the three-mile-wide Kerch .'Straits which separate the Crimea from the oil-rich Caucasus. The communique indicated that lhe Germans had su-ceeded in pushing eastward along the 15-niile frnnl upon Kerch, from which Rus- .«i«n troops were reported Saturday In have struck in a strong counter- "tUck against enemy forces en- Irenched on nearby heights, I
Sink Transport In Arcllr Sea
In llie Fsr North, in the Rarent.^ fea above Murmansk, warships of •he Russian Arctic Fleet and ¦Soviet planea were said by Ihe, hiRh command tn have sunk an 8.noo-ton enemy transport, and a minesweeper, and to have damaged snother minesweeper so badly that H   probably   sank.
T'he communique reported thc ''"•tiurtion of s« German planes (•¦ridn^, agaln.'t the loss of 13 Rn».iian   planes.
."'nviet'..! acfoimla said that unit sfler unit of German troops were h''ing cut to ribbons In thc flghl- Int   aronnd   Kharkov,
Thc Moscow radio, reporting the Tonlinued  on  Page  A-10)
Gestapo Grabs Dutch Leaders
London, May 16. (UP)—The Nasi Gestapo haa arrested nearly 2,500 Dutch army offlcers and prominent citizens and shipped them to concentration camps in Germany In a ruthless attempt to crush a rising tide of unrest spreading over occupied Europe, tha Dutch government announced tonight.
Tha arrests were carried out after the arrival in the Hague of Reinhard Heydrich, the "hang¬ man" and No. 2 man of the C>es- tapo, and constituted the biggest roundup of hostages in Holland since the German occupation two yaars   ago.
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Many Now In Australia Were on Way to Luzon BEFORE Pearl Harbor
THREE EFFORIS TO CROSS SALWEEN
Left to right. Judge Advocate. Ganeral, Major Gaatca) Myron C. Cramer;   Army   Chief   af   Stair, Oneral   George   Marshall;   Mrs.
Alvata Kulp Hokby and Secre¬ tary of Var Bfimson are shown as Mrs. Hobby takes oath aa head of newly formed Women'*
Army At^xillary Corps. She Is te he top-ranking ofRcer and director.
Laval Spurns U.S. Demand
Says Note On Martinique '. Is 'Offensive'; Ready to Resist
WaahlngUn, Mmy !•. (LP>— The t'nUMl States ia prepared fer an opan areak with Uie rollabora- tienlata af l>aiiee If they block a aatiafaetory Mautrallty arrange¬ ment for French paaseaslena In the H'ast Indiea, aa Infermed aaurea aaid tanight.
it weuld be intolerable, aceord¬ ing to authoritative aptnion here, for thia gevemnient te permit eentlnuation et a sitaatlen whteh might develop aarian* Axis tkreata againat thtt Americaa.
Barges Sunk; Chase Invaders From Mongaingn
By KOBERT P. MARTIN
Chungking. May 16. (UP)—Jspa¬ nese invaders of Southwestern Yun¬ nan province lave suffered at least 1,300 casualties from strong Chinese counter-attacks which hurled back three enemy attempts to cross the Salween River and forced a hasty Jspanese retreat from the town of Mongaingn, communiques said tonight.
Several hundred enemy troops were killed snd a number of in¬ vasion barges were sunk when thc Chinese suddenly attacked and re- puLsed the projected enemy river crossing near Konghum north of the Burma road. A late communi¬ que said Japanese occupation of Mongaingn cn Wednesday was fol¬ lowed by a savage Chinese counter¬ action that retook thc city and left more than 1.000 enemy dead or wounded.
I Radio Rome, usually Inaccurate, tonight reported Japanese capture of the stralegicaliy-imporlant city of Yungchang (Paoshan). 100 miles above the Burmese frontier on the Burma Road. Yungchang haa been a I I'ase for American Vol¬ unteer Group pilots in their at¬ tacks on enemy Invasion columns.)
Supported by airplanes, the Japa¬ nese made their first attempt to cross the Salween on Tucsday and tried twice on Wednesday, a com¬ munique said. All three attempts were repelled by Chinee defenders of the east bank, guarding the Southern Yunnan area inln which the Jspanese already have penet¬ rated (iO miles by .seizing the nearby cily of Tengyueh.
"The comnnniique said th- situa¬ tion at Tengyueh was "unchanged."
C isr mans on Defensive
Nazis Supreme But People Had Terrible Winter; See Awful Costs
2nd Battle of Coral Sea Awaited in Australia
Frederirk O. Oechaner, head nf the I'nited Preaa aaff in Ber¬ lin, Interned In Germany the laat five months., has reached IJsbon with American diplomats.
By DON' CASWEIX
to raid Jap bases at Lae, on New j^gp -orts Guinea   Islands,   Rabaul   on    New|      The   French
By KALFH E. HKINZCN
Vichy, May 1«. (UP)—Plerr« Laval bluntly rejected tonight what ht described as Washington's "offenaive interference" In French internal affairs, inrluding demands that Martinique and other French West Indies possessions break away from the Vichy government and "act Independently."
Laval's angry reply, bringing Vichy's relations with Washington to a new danger point, also re¬ jected a "demand" for the equit¬ able surrender to the United States of 140,000 tons of French merchant ships   now   immobilized   In   Carib
Ry f-HEDKRHK V. OECHS.NKR
(Copyright, 1942, by United Press)
D.I.  •    .   J .1.        ¦    ..I.    »      , ,   ,   I      The   French   nole   which   Laval
Brltam and those in the Loulsiade ,„„ouneed,   as   well   as   the   text
Archipelago, and the Japaneae con- „f the  note containing the  United
inue   to   hammer   Port   Moreaby, gt.tes demsnds, tarried a stronglv
these actions w  -^
the  "sideshow'
Melbourne, May 16.  (UP)—Allied and Japanese alr and naval forces were believed preparing tonight for
a renewal of the Coral Sea battle ''"•"=   '",  "•""•""    '"•'ri   ""'•"oy. States demsnds, tarried a strongU -one  which  may  decide   the   fate '^^^T. "^""J"'"'""* "'f" ""'*''">?''«'•   warning   that   France    is of Australia.   Official silence for a '"«.   »'deshow    to main operations prepared lo resist anv use of "un- week  since  the  first  phase of the Y"''' "^"^ '"'eln in the Coral Sea justlfled violence' in in attempt to Lisbon. Portugal, May 16. (UP) - engagement   ended   last   Saturday *'"">'"°"''- seize   fhe   merchant   ships   or   the
Germanv  has  just  pa.ssed  through off     Northeastern    Australia    was     The latest Allied raid was made West Indies possessions, her  worst  winter  since  1918,  with interpreted as the calm before the yesterday with American and Aus- Fear l'se by Axis food,  labor snd  general  conditions storm. tralian fliers catching the Japanese;    The    American    note    expressed
growing  ever  more   stringent   and      in   their   first   attempt   to   drive '"'*<'P   "'   '-**   ¦"<!   raining   down strong apprehension lest the French the   German   army   facing   a   new southward from bases strung along ''.'""''¦'''" ''"""¦ays and starting big West    Indian    possessions    become spring   offensive   in   Russia   after « l,7.V>-mlle arc north of Australia. ''¦¦" '" buildings. | (Continued  on Page A-10)
having taken a mauling in several the Japsnese had 21 ships sunk or sectors  during  the  severe  Russian damaged before the rest fled back, winter. : to the north. They are now helieved
Nazi   leadership   remains   firmly hiding among their numerous bases —^i^"—     m^^m^^^m^m^^-m^^ in  the  saddle,  ostensibly  confident' in   the  South   Pacific,  waiting  for      Ru.ssia's mighty offensive smaah-governor    general   at   Martinique, of final victory, although stress on  reinforcements    before    again    st- ed      ' '      "' _......._
the   home   front   now   is   expressed tempting  another  drive,   this   time night    behind    new-type    massive;aeemed  to be  a  good  chancs that in   the   slogan:    "Victory   at   any in  greater force than the last, tanks   described   as   "land   battle- Laval's   protest   might   he   ignored
cost." j    An official communique Issued by,ships'   after shattering  a  German by the State Department in Wash-
Food Supply Slashed JGen.   Douglas   MacArthur's   head- counter-attack   launched  in  an  ef-j Ington
Regardless    of    Ihe    steady    de-!quarters last week announced that fort to jiave  the  vital  city  In  the terioration of interial conditions in jthe baltle had ceased "temporaril.v"
Germany, it would be foolish to and there was no resson to expect assume that the Nazis are on the that the Japanese would nol sail verge of collapse, either internal- forth again, hoping to cut the life- Iv or  militarily.
During    our    internment,    there 'ven   try  to  Invade  this  subconti- were   several   perceptible   signs   in- "»nt,
dicatlve of a steady worsening of Although Allied fliers continued conditions. One of the most im- ___^____^^___^__^——— portant was a considerable cut in food rations  in early April.
I   learned   from   reliable that a  further cut   in meat rations This    reduction
The German high command con¬ ceded  that a desperate  battle  was line  to Australia  from  America or: being  waged  outside  Kharkov,   in-
Changed Course in Mid'Ocean; Full Philippine Story Told; Unify Army, Navy Commands With Offensive Warfare Planned
It was officially revealed in Washington last night that Mme 600,000 American troops are already in "battle stations" as the Inited States marshals its forces for what some consider the atart of an immense Allied offensive.
This information, part of a review of the first five months of war issued jointly by the Army and Navy, ended also the m.vstery of how it had heen possible to get so many American troop.s in Australia so soon:
They were on their way to reinforce General MacArthur's army in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The course of the convoy was altered in mid-ocean to take the troops to .\ustralia. There waa non-official suggestion that knowledge of thia convoy may have caused Japan to strike when it did.
But with the destination ef the convoy forced to change and the Japanese swarming over the Philippines, it was from then on impossible to send aid to the forces which finally were cornered in Bataan and then forced baek to Corregidor.
Saved Planea and Fleet
Efforts to take in food and ammunition were par¬ tially successful but at terrific cost—losing two ."thips of every three. Finally thai had to be stopped and the American fighters went on drastically reduced rations.
The review told also how the remainder of tht Asiatic Fleet available after fighting the Japanese landing on the islands, and the he-avy airplanes which had been there, were removed long before the end came. The fleet late*' took part in the Battle of Java Sea. The planes were moved when they no longer had big fields necessary for safe landing?, hut con¬ tinued to fight from outlying bases.
Pointing out the manner in which the whole world outlook of America had to change and how the opera¬ tion of the U. S. militar.v establishment had tn be shifted to meet a world-wide war, the prompt collab¬ oration of the Army and Navy was demoastrated.
Then, the report strcs.sed the fact that the "Ameri¬ can concept of conducting war always has been and will continue to be offensive in nature."
OfRcial Army-Saiy Report
_ Washington,   Msy   18.    (UPi    Here  Is  the  text  of  the   Army  and
closer    to'Kharkov "Saturday IAVmirii'George^^^ ¦¦•P'"'^ °" ""^  Progress of  the war to date:
On Dec. 7, 1941, while diplomatic negotiations were in progress In Washington, the .lapanese made a .<ieries of surprise air attacks on naval vessels and miiitiry and naval installations in and near Pearl Harbor. Territory of Hawaii. These nttacks resulted in the sinking of several naval vessels and serious damaRc to several others. In addition, a number of Army and Navy comhal planes were destroyed at various airflelds In Hawaii, and many buildings, including barracks, hangars  and  repair  shops, were wrecked.
While these attacks were still in progress and in accordance with joint  plans,  the  Army  and  Na\-y  took   immediate  steps  to  meet  the
%Var   SummarT
Donets Basin.
On the other side of the world. on the Burma front. Chinese de¬ fenders of Yunnan Province killed jat  least   1,300 Japanese  who  tried
volving what appears to be the big¬ gest massing of tanks thus far wit¬ nessed in the war, but boasted thst   320   miles   further   south   the
i three  times  to crosa I River.
the  Sslween a   hasty
RAF CONCENTRATES ".""L"! ON SUBMARINE BASE
is   contcmplaled.
and   also   forred enemy   retreat   from   the   town   of situation,   A  considerable  portion  of the  N»\y was then engaged, aa Mongaing. which the Chinese have it had been  for several months, in convoying American vessels carry- recaptured.   British   planes,   mean- mg  troops  and  supplies  tn our  nallying  ba.'os and  supplies to other
r',.i,v,.o» „i,.. ..t if.>«k .. Ik .     !while,   raided   the   port   of   Akvab countries under the  provisions of the Lend-l.«ase Act.    The existence
Crimean cii.\ or nercn at tne gate- „„ the Burma coast only 1« miles
way  to  the   oil-rich  Caucasus  had
from  the Indian  border.
<UP> -   British
bene captured  in savage  fighting,  i
Tlie  situation  was quiet  in  Aus- Thc   Russians,   contradicting   thc  tralia,   following  a  raid   Friday   hy Nazi   claim,   said   that   Red   .'Vrmy Allied  fliers on   the Japanese  base
New  Guinea,   and   it   was
Draftee Much too Handsome to Bf_ Right Mr. Sawicki for Mrs. Sawicki
expected during  the  middle of the     London,  May  IB.
summer     would    cut    the    weeklv Spitfires, resuming offensive sweeps troops hsd surged  out  from  Kerch "t   Lae,
ration to a half pound, the 1918 "^¦«'" Invasion ports in the channel in a counter-attack aimed at throw- believed both sides were girding level Potatoes are virtually un- "rea, attacked enemy harbor in- \r,g the enemy hack from the Kerch f""" » renewal of the Coral Sea ble in niany large cities like stallations   and   railways   in   low- straits and both in .Stockholm and hattie,   the   first   phase   of   which
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New York, May 18 (UP)—Ed- binnd Sawicki, 33, returned to his "iffense Job today and Mrs, Mary fiswirki, 35, wenl back to her home lnd two children, both satisfled lhey weren't married to each other,
Mrs. Sawicki saw Sawicki's name ,« a selective service list In Brook- vn. Her husband deserted her in 1937, so she had Sawicki arrested, bflieving him to he her spouse.
Xrs. Sawicki showed up today •*d asked where her husband was.
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"Right here," replied Warrant Officer Elwood Gorman. Mrs. Sa¬ wicki looked at the man, but wasn't sure he was her husband. Gorman left the room and the two talked. Gorman came back and wanted to know how things were coming along.
"I don't think he's my husband.' Mrs. Sawicki skid. "He looks a little like him. has the same name and occupation, but 1 havent seen him in five years. I guess I've changed a lot m.vself."
Magistrate Charles Solomon grin¬ ned and told .Sawicki. "Here's your rhsnce to get a ready-made fam¬ ilv."
Sawlck. hastily declined with thanks.
Mrs. Sawicki then decided hc wasn't  h'r husband after all.
•He's hetler lool<ins I lian my I husband ever was," she said.
Frankfurt and Cologne. Serious I^bor Shortage
The   labor   situation   Is serious factor for the Nazis.   Acute toiiVght labor shortages havc developed de¬ spite the absorption of some 4.000.- 000     foreign     workers     and     war prisoners.       Agriculture     alone     is short a half million workers,    Thc labor condition is so serious, in fact, that  a  recent   decree   makes   chil¬ dren   10   years   old   and   older   con- scriptable   for   farm   A'ork,     As   a consequence, schools   has   heen   advanced   from area.
level    raids   over   a    140-mile   area tendon the .N'azi claim of the cap today,   concentrating   on   the   Ger- ture of the city was  doubted, man    submarine    hase    at    Dieppe, ¦"r*: .!r Prance, the alr ministry announced"    it appeared that Marshal Semyon
ended   lasl   week   in   disaster   for the  Japanese.
Thc  Royal Air  Force,  after  five
of  a  state  of  war  required  a  .strengthening  of these  consoys  and  in <ome cases  the  use of Army  bombers to  furnish addition  protection.
Trannferred lo Aimtralia
.Shortly after thc attack on Pearl Harhor, a large foree of Japanese land-based airrrafi bombed Ihe Philippine Islands. This attack had been expe.teri in the event of war anrt. as a security measure, steps had heen laken hy the Army lo reinforce the Philippine garrison in trained troops and modern materiel prior to Dec, T.
These reinforcements had been under wa.v since late spring of 1941. and be'ween August and the outbreak nf the war sizable aug¬ mentations in aircraft, modern artillery, and taViks had been sent. Further reinforcements were on the high .'eas enroute when the attack
Thc principal targets, a com-, assault upon Kharkov—transform- munlque said, were Dieppe, St,,ed into a virtual fortress by the Valcry-sur-Somme and St, Valery- Nazis—and would try rather lo en- en-Caux on the French coast and circle it and cut 'i\.\ communica- Ostend. Belgium. No enemy oppo- tions, possibly by entrapping Mar- sition was reported and all planes shal Fedor Bock's German forces, returned safely. '
Fuel tanks, dock gates and rail- „"""«'' , St«''»     relations     with
the  fail  reopening  of ways were -ttacked 1^ tbe Dieppe Pe^-^  ^^^^   n-      pr.Naz.
been   advanced   from area.   The air ministry said    some " J
Timoshenko might avoid a  frontal "'**"* of comparative  idleness   re- p,^p ^^^ j„,,p transports were ordered to siter course for Australia.
sunied   the  offensive   again   Friday Proceeding under naval escort they arrived safelv and formed a nucloui night, setting fire to three German ,0^ j^e American  forces subsequently dispatched to that country, supply   ships   and   hitting   others,
and Saturday British fighter planes ^^« had several small outposts In the Western Pacific which were
made extensive sweeps over France, held by slenaer defense forces made up entirely ot Nax-y and Marine RAF fliers in thc Middle East L'orps personnel, ihese included the islands of Midway. Wake and raided Axis Libyan bases while Guam. Afler a gallant resistance the defenses of Wake were over- Malta's gallant defenders shot down come by the enemy. Guam, after a similar gallant defense, also fell two more raiding planes and dam- into   enemy   nands.    Midway   Island   still   remains   in   our   possession.
Sentember lo November. German  interceptor planea left
In German sources, there are no ground   at   Dieppe,   but   refused estimates   whatever   of   the   total K'\«"  battle wheji   it German   casualties   suffered   so   far were  at a dLsadvantage.
diiring the war.    But well informed	
non-Germans fipure casualties al- loooo SfOl'ATS AT CA.MP rW").. dead*'" ' ''^¦"""' '"""'""* Vallev Forge, Pa., May 18 On nef«n«i»e Now
For (Jcrmany, has   entered   the
I he fi'd  toward  a to haps
new crisis and  per-
aged aix others.
The exchange of Axis and Allied
eOOflOO Troopa Keady
a   showdown   Saturday   night diplomats   and   other   national.s   be¬ gan     in     Lisbon     and     Reynolds
pnearcd  they when  Laval   angrily   rejected   what
hc called "offensive" U. S. demands Packard, chief of the United'Press
for French possessions in the West Rome bureau, arriving  in Ihe Por-
Indies   to  break   sway   from   Vichy tuguese   capital,   reported   Ihal   thc
and   for   the   ceding   to   Ihe   United people   of   Italy   sre   firmly   under
Valley Forge. Pa., May 18,   (UP)  Slatea   of   Frencn   merchant   ships Hitler's   thumb   and   still   fear   the
-More  than   10.000   Boy  Scouts  of nnw    immobilized    in    those    terri- Fascist bogey of Communism.    Bul, During  the   Hist  tliree  ueeks of the  war. and  in  conformity with
Delaware   and   Montgomery   coun- lories, Packard    said,    mos*    Italians    are previous  plans, approxinialely 600.000 American  troops were moved to
the  war definitely lies  w»re enrampel  loday at Artll- ready to rally to the United Nations batile  slaliniis.   many  of  lhem  thouaands  of  miUs  distant    srross  the
phase  of  a  grim lery   Park   in  an  "American   Day"^    Laval   was   replying   to   a^  note the day American snd British troops Atlantic   and   Paciflc   oceans.   und»r  naval   escort,  through   submarine
Four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Germany and Itsiy declareo war upon the United States. Thia immediately involved the nation in a conflict global in extent and involving strategic cnsiderations unique in the history of this rountry. It necessitated tne immediate garrisoning on a war basis of outposts extending from Alaska lo Australia in the Pacific Ocean and from Iceland to South America   in   thc  AtlanUc.
(Continued on Fagg A-ll)
' rail}-.
isant, not to him but to the French.land on luiian soil.
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(Continued   on  Page   B-41
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