Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              A Paper For The Home
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
The Weather
Sunny, pleasant; Monday,  rain,  moderate
39TH YEAR, NO. 22 — ^5 PAGES
CMTED  PBCS8
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 1945
PRICE TEN CENTS
U.S. 15th ARMY
ACTION
Brownout to Stop, More Gas Expected; Will Still Need Wage, Price, Manpower Rules
Washington, March 31. (UP)— Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes promLied tonight to end the midnight curfew, t^e brown¬ out and the prohibition on racing I as soon as Germany is defeated. f Although he held out no hope for more food he indicated V-E Day would mean more automobiles and refrigerators for civilians within months and perhaps "a small In¬ crease in the basic gasoline ration."
But price, wage, and manpower controls must be continued into the indefinite future, not only un¬ til Japan is defeated but until the country has converted its economy back to a peacetime footing, he snid.
Byrnes' promises and warnings wrre contained in his second re¬ port to President Roosevelt and Congress on war mobilization and reconversion. Snen Early Victory
He submitted it "with high hope fnr early victory in Europe mixed with profound sorrow at the sacri¬ fices which must be made to ac¬ complish this vlctor>' and to defeat Japan."
Byrnes  complimented  the public for   the   spirit   with   which   it   ac¬ cepted    restrictions—made    neces¬ sary  by  lagging war production— on Its pleasures. I        With the exception of voluntary curbs  on   travel,   these  emergency restrictions.   Byrnes   said,   "should be withdrawn on  V-E Day."  But L    other   maaaure*   to   relieve   man- hAPowcr    thortrnges    and    Iceep    the "_^economy   on   an   even   keel   must continue.
"The need for manpower legis¬ lation continues" because: "it is clear that we do not have a com¬ prehensive, efficient manpower syatem."
V-E Day will see a relaxation of production controls "to encourage private enterprise to reconvert with maximum dispatch."
Munitions deliveries will drop 40 per cent by the end of the .'rst year after Oermany collapses, and 30 per cent of the country'! re¬ sources should be released by nine months after V-E Day, Byrnes said. >lore Civilian Uooda
That means that while the war against Japan is still going on, civilians will have more of many things they are now running out of - pots and pan.i, autos, alarm clocks, irons,  rcfrigcrntors.
'Transportation will continue ^^ight for some time, however, and pjV-E Day will provide "no immedi- ' ale relief." However, Byrnes said, "a small Increase in the ba-sic gas¬ oline  ration  appears  feasible."
As for food, he said, two facts must be taken into account: a drop in the supply and an increase in demands. This year will be worse than  1944.
Byrnes' report dealt in detail with Plans for the economy after V-E Day   and   with   forecasts   of   what
German Bossie Collaborates With Americana
Ai           .. ¦   •**^
Jr   '  m^. \
^•^T^i
Joins Only
Drive of 170 Miles
Isf and 3rd from Berlin
1
British Cabinet, Parliament Standing by for Peace Offer
London. March 31 (UP)—The I.,ondon Sunday Di.spatch said tonight the British war cabinet believes German peace offers are liitely to be received this week¬ end and that the Cabinet and Parliament are standing by.
However, the paper said, the peace offers probably would be desperate attempts to bargain and would be turned down after reiteration of the unconditional sur¬ render policy.
The Dispatch added that no central authority capable of making an unconditional surrender offer is believed to exist in Germany.
GOERING'S PERSONAL SURRENDER?
London, March 31 (UP)—^The Ixtndon Exchange Telegraph today quoted a Zurich report that Hermann Goering, pompous No. 2 Nazi, had committed suicide rather than face the consequences of Germany's collapse.
French Army Crosses Rhine; Eisenhower Tells Crumbling German Army How to Surrender
By BRLCE W. MUNN
Paris, Sunday, April 1 (IP)—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhowei put a fresh, new American army on the high road to Berlin deep inside central Geimany today and issued detailed sur* render instructions to crumbling German foices, as his tanks roared through a town only 170 miles from the Nazi capital.
As the loth American Army joined the American First and Third aniiies in the final battles of the European war, the French First Anny stoiTned across tlie Rhine on a 10-mile front around Speier and made contact with the U.S. Seventh Army in the vicinity of Hockenlieim, 21 miles north of Karlsruhe.
Tlie  French  assault,  aimed  at tlie Bavarian  Alps where  the  Nazis
hope to make their last stand, gav(< Eisenhower a total of nine armiea
racing across inner Germany thunderously accenting his invitation to
all enemy forces to surrender forthwith and avoid unnecessary loaa ot
'life.
Spying a cow wandering around the ruins of Ueislautern, these two Yank  soldiers  lose  no  time
In  getting out  their mess  pans.  1  flU    pant    to Here    Bossie     stands     patiently     beverage.     (U. while the Seventh Army soldiers  | Corps  Photo.)
the    brims    with S.   Army   Signal
HOPE TO AVERT
SOFT CUES
Operators Accept Order to Continue; Lewis Has a 'but'
WMblngton. ApriPwi Sunday) — The  aoft  ooal   wmfe   contnot
Negros Island Capital Captured by Americans
Japs Surprised; Hold 32 — All but One Major Island
By H. D. QIIGO
Allied Headquarters, Manila, Sun¬ day, April 1. (UP)—American 40th Infantry Division troops have cap¬ tured Bacolod provincial capital o(  Negroa  Island,   in  a   lightning
Why Bother Capturing Adolf?
London, March 31. (UP)— What would you do with Adolf Hitler? Hang him? L«t blm go free?    Torture him?
The Evening Standard aaked that queation. Thousaoda of Liondoners had ready answers. The  women  seemed  to  demand
drive which  cauKbL Japanese de-|  more  violent  punishment faafltfcrit'lWtiHWise  they were
i-xpired at  13:01  today  with nu
' unabfe tb set off extensive demoli¬ tion   charges.   Gen.   Douglas   Mac- i;SS"a;W;i;:;t'Sr?h."tmiSJ  (Arthur announced today. .Mine Worfcrrs to minUmie mln-       The Americans crossed the Mag- ing coal as ordered by the War  I sungay and Lupit rivers, after cap-
It began when Foreign Secre¬ tary Anthony Eden was asked in Oommons what a British .soldier should do if be captured Hitler.
Eden replied that hc was quite
Labor Board. There was whether VMW Preaident John L. L<ewis would lell the miners to continue working under terms of the WLB onler.
Lewis refused to Miy a word to reporters as he left the con¬ ference, referring them to Van Horn.
"By resolution," Van Horn began, "the iiiaintenann> men wili be (lerniilted to man the .Minea—"
He did not finlith thr sentenre. Howrvrr, it was reralird that In thr past whrn the I'MW haa htruck in aiipimrt of wage de¬ mands, as it did ill IB4S, it haa petanitied niaintrnanre mrn to ¦tay on ihe Joli.
Pressed further by rrportrrs. Van Horn said the Joint rontrr- ttnoe wouid reronvrnr at 11 a. m. Monday but that -nhr enUrr matter will be rcsolvrd by not later than 4 p. m. today."
With the conferrncd in rrcesa and with Lewis apparrnUy refus¬ ing to accept tbr WI<B eon- tract extension oriier, govermnrnt ¦eiiure appeared to br about the only   thing   that   could   happen
no word    turing all bridges intact,' and enter-! content  to   leave  the  matter  to
wiil   br   necessarv   after  V-J   Day. I  h^lore   4   oclock   to   resolve   the
It covered not only the state of the j  »"•*••'• 	
nation   but   also   the   ytate  of   the
W'orld. He said that while wc keep going full speed toward victory over Japan, we muat also, hs wnr production slackens, reduce gov¬ ernment expenditures, make recon¬ version aa easy as possible for 'Continued   on  Page  A-2)
Washington, .March SI. (I P)— The conference of aoft coal mine operatora and Ignited Minr Work¬ ers apokrsmrn rrcrsnrd at ap¬ proximatrly 9:M p. ni. tonight, at the requeat of i:>IW Prrsidrnt John L. Lewis who aaid he (Continued on  Page A-14>
Reporter Deep in Germany Finds ^ jFveryboc/y Suddenly Anti-Hitler
^.
By CLLVTON CJONOER
With the U.S. Ninth Army Roll¬ ing Toward Berlin, March .'Jl. (UP) .—The long column of armored cars, silhouetted in the moonlight againat an embankment, moved along the highway. All lights were oul and we watched carefully that we didn't ram the vehicle ahead.
All my cowtMiy books said you should never move along a skyline where you offered such a perfect target as we did. But that long line of armor  of  this  Second  Di¬
viaion was reassuring.
White flags of surrender made a ghoslly flapping from every bouse
ye  passed. the soldiers   also  had  moved  out
In Wrong Place Cliange Colors Quickly
Suddenly   the   column   halted   nt      "Here we arc nil anti-Hitler," he sn  intersection where the flash of said.
cd the city yesterday. Bacolod Iwas quickly overrun and fast mech- : anized units immediately ranged li.orthward toward the Tallsay air- lllcld. Bacolod airdrome was cap¬ tured Friday. 'Little Opposition
i Only opposition encountered was near Murcia, southeast of Bacolod, jwhich is being reduced, MacArthur .said.
Large quantities of fuel and sup¬ plies were destroyed by American planes, supporting ground troops who landed Thursday on the fourth largest Philippines islnnd.
MacArthur reported that the Americai division on Cebu, east of Negros, had cleared enemy pockets of resistance north of L,ahug air¬ field and in the lower foothills of the central range. An enemy at¬ tempt to Infiltrate positions at Pardo was repulsed. Driving In Norih
On the southern Luzon front, aeven-mile advances were scored against little resistance while in the center the llth Corps continued to drive north against light oppo¬ sition. In the northern seetor, the 1st Corps seized Galiano, nine miles from the coast, and drove three miles to the southeast on the NnRUilian-Baguio   road.
Heavy and medium bombers con¬ tinued neutralization raids. They cascaded more tlian .ll'O ton.s of bombs on Lcgaspi, Luzon, wreck¬ ing enemy defenses and setting larse fires and explosions.
On     Mindanao     and     Formosa, bombers  struck  at  airdromes  and oil refineries. Sink 10 Ships off China
Medium bombers maintained the blockade of the southern ap¬ proaches to Japan, sinking 10 ves¬ sels including two destroyers off the French Indo-Chlna coaat.   Five
the judgment of the British soldier.
Letters to the newspaper ex¬ pressed other ideaa.
One writer suggested that Hit¬ ler and his aides should be kept in a concentration camp "biult and organized exactly on the same lines as one of his notori¬ ous camps on the continent."
"Well,   right   now   you   are   out on    the    point    of    our    northern .  .  ,,      n, ^„^n
column with eight reconnaissance I were merchant shipa totaling-3,000 vehicles," he said. "Everything! tons. MacArthur said. ahead of us turned off four milee I To the north other planes dc- back and now we are clearing the stroyed three freighters ranging road for everything behind. We Ifrom 1,000 to 4.000 tons each and may be making news anv minute; sank a deatroyer south of Hainan, but if I were you I'd go back nnd With the Invasion of Negros, the wait for t!ie  tanks." (Continued  on Page A-14)
Moving   bnck   wc   asked   direc-1	
tions   from  a  farmer  whose  house   aiinQipo  TDAp W Finn was packed with German civilians, i AUdiltS   I HMr 0£,UUU
•Thank  God you've  come,'  they,J^ps  ||\|   NEW  BRITAIN Cl Hed  out. I 	
The   farmer   said   all   the   Nazi! officials had left two days a.zo and I By INITED PRESS
CENTRAL BURMA FIGHT IS VIRTUALLY ENDED
Calcutta, March 31 (UP)—British 14th Army troops brought the battle for central Burma virtually to an end today by seizing the road and rail hub of Kyaukse, 24 miles south of Mandalay, against desper¬ ate last-ditch Japanese resistance.
Capture of Kyaukse, command¬ ing the vital Mandalay-Rangoon railway and the main north-south road, gave the Allies control of a 78-mile stretch of the rail line as far south as Thazl, with the excep¬ tion of a few miles Just north of Kyaukse.
"Ihe stiff Japanese opposition by rear-guard forces at Kyaukse, ap¬ parently enabled a large number of enemy troops to escape to the Shan Hills to the east.
FOR OKINAWA
5th Fleet, British Pouring Furious Bombardment Ashore
By L'NITED PRESS
Tekya rMH* anwawnced SmCay that Japaneae army planes are attacking "a full American fleet off Okinawa Island" in the Ryukyua. The broadcast said the battle waa '^tlll raging" and pre¬ dicted that It would be "as fierce' as the ;<ernnd Rattle nf the Phil¬ lppinea—the Ameriran landings on Leyte.
By FRANK TREMAINE
Guam. Sunday, April 1. (UP)— American carrier-based planes have destroyed or damaged 49 Japaneae sliips in almost continu¬ ous attacks on the Ryukyus Islands it was announced today as Radio Tokyo repbrted that a huge, heavi¬ ly guarded transport armada was bearing down on Okinawa, 330 miles south of Japan, led by mine¬ sweepers.
More than 100 Superfortresaes from the Marianas blasted targets on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Big guns of Adm. Ray¬ mond A. Spruance's U. S. fith Fleet hammered Okinawa with fhou- sands of shells Saturday for the ninth auccessive day. The British Pacific Fleet again battered the Saklshlma Islanda between For¬ mosa and Okinawa. 'Trrmendous Damage
The Japanese were reeling under .some of the heaviest blows of the Pacific War. Radio Tokyo said one-fourth to one-third" of aH of America's naval power now was concentrated in the far western Pacific on Japan's doorstep. Inten¬ sifying attacka which have cost the Japanese 967 planes and 104 to 108 ships destroyed or damnged in two
THE ROAD TO RERLIN weeks.                                      American
Eastern   Front:    31   miles (from     Dispatches   '["r"„t^«   *'""iE""
Zaeckerick) I""' flagship  said  Okinawa was a Weitim   Front-   170   milcs    (in I scene  of "utter  desolation"  nnd  a
EisenncrarenT | thick black cloud  of smoke cover-
^Itaitan   ¥^ni:    624   miles (from^d  the  island^   Pilots   saw  no  hu-
Po dl  Prlmaro River). (Continued on  Page A-14)
300-MILE FRONI
I     Tlie  Allied  supreme   commander i ! declaring   the   Germnn   high   com¬ mand had lost control, told enemy units  to send surrender emissaries to    the   nearest    Allied    command 'I post.    They were told  to maintain J discipline and display  the oustom- ] ary signs of surrender, particularly by abandoning their arma. 15th in Central Urrmaiiy
An announcement from Gen. Omar N. Bradley's 12th Army group headquarters said the new 15th Army of Lt. (jcn. I..eonard T. Gerow   had   joined   the   American
War   Saniinarjr
German guns seemed very close 'head. A lieutenant came down the line and stopped when he saw •Ur jeep which theae armored men •'ways   call   a   peep.
ho In hell are you?" he asked. ¦ess.   following   Combat   Oom- nd A," I  replied.
'n Today'a laaue
Classitied   A—21
Kdiloriai    C—8
Movies    _       .     ..
Social     ;..
Sports   „ B—1
Outiioar    ...„ B—«
Radio     B-I
The entire scene was sourly reminiscent of Italy, where every¬ bodv  was "anti-Fascist."
Finallv wc ran on to another American platoon. Tliey wero heading for a minor bridge seven miles down the road. It had not yet blown up so the platoon leader decided to rush it with his scout .section and fry to .seize the bridge intact.
Hc suggested we would be safer with    the   tanks   bnck   down road
Australian troops have trapped 32,000 Japanese in the Gazelle Peninsula at tlie eastern end of New Britain, the Melbourne radio, quoting an official army report, said Saturday.
Two-thirds of the by-passed island have been regained and the Australian air force now has a new airstrip at Jacquinot Bay In the  southern  sector.
The official report said that the number of Japanese killed by com¬ monwealth troops in the Ailape area of northeastern New Guinea had reached 2..'^00 within the last the I week.
Gain.s   have   been   scored  against
So •ve tiirnrH down the deserted the enemv garrison at Bougainville rofltl snd the jeep did at least .').^ in the Solomons Liie broadcast, miles sn hour back to the road heard in New York tiy the United the main force had taken. Press, said.
WESTERN FRONT—FiUeenth U. S. Army enters battle as Wehrmacht crumples under giant "knockout" blows; First U. S. Army drives to within five miles of Kas.sel and 170 miles of Ber¬ lin.'
EASTERN FRONT—Soueia. capture Ratibor and Bieskau, storm into Moravian Gap on road to Prague.
P/lt'/i'VC'—Tokvo reports giant invasion armada ap¬ proaching Okinawa Island, 350 miles south of Japan, a.s U. S. air attacks continue.
AIR More than 3,500 Allied warplanes blast enemy's
last big synthetic oil plant and batter communica¬ tions over wide area.
PHILIPPINES—Americans battle through outskirts of Bacolod, capital of newly invaded Negros Island.
ITALY—Patrols active on land front as Allied war- planes slash all rail lines facing Eighth Army front.
CHIN.A—Tokyo claims Japanese attack Laohokow after capture of former U. S. air base outside city on Tuesday.
SOUTHEAST -iA7.4—British seize road and rail hub of Kyaukse. 24 miles south of JIandalay, virtually ending battle of central Burma.
Near Italian Border As Southern Flank Opens Moravian Gap
By ROREBT ML'BCL.
London, Sunday, April 1, (UP)— Spearing 17 miles Into Austria, the Red Army drove within 33 miles of Vienna yeaterday while on the flanks of a 300-mile offensive front Soviet forces streaked to within 142 miles of Italy's Adriatic coast and breached the vaunted de¬ fenses of the Moravian Gap.
Marshal Feodor I. Tolhukhln's Third Ukrainian Army overran more than 70 Austrian towns and advanced to within 12 miles of the bomb-wrecked aircraft factory cen¬ ter of WIener-Neustadt, but its closest approach to Vienna was In the Sopron appendix of Hungary. There the Russians seized Kop- haza, three miles from Sopron and capital's metropolitan limits.
Storming Into Austria on a 2,3- mile front, the Russ.ans captured Wlcsmath, 36 miles south of Vien¬ na, and Rechnitz, two miles inside the frontier opposite the Hungarian junction of Siombathely, on the wings of their advance. Outflanking Germans
The Russians also captured DeutjKhkreutz. 86 miles south of Vienna and five miles southeast of Sopron on the pivot of a drive that was swinging northwest Chrorugh Austria's Burgenland to outflank the Sopron position and Lake  Neusledler  to  the east.
At Wlesmath, Soviet spearheads atruck within 12 miles of the Vienna-Graz trunk railroad Unk¬ ing Austria with the last German holdings in Yugoslavia and Italy, a Soviet communique  revealed.
Eaat of Vienna, on the northern bnnk  of  the  Danul>e.  storm  unlta of    the   Second    Ukrainian    Army, captured   the   "hedgehog"   position I of  Nltra and  drove on  acrofs  the i Vah   River   in   a   14-mlle   gain   to' capture Galanta, only 27 miles east of the Slovak capital, Bratl.tlava.
The Reich's southeastern ram¬ parts buckled and threatened to break under the pile-driver Rus¬ sian assaults l>etween the Yugo¬ slav frontier and the Central Czechoslovakian Industrial aren. An unconfirmed radio Luxembourg broadcaat said thr Germnns were nuitting Vienna, Bratislava and Prague fhe laat Important Euro¬ pean capital still under Nazi sub¬ jugation. 3,000,000 Faring Berlin
Simultaneously the Russians an¬ nounced the clearing of a stubborn German pocket between the Oder and Warthe rivers in the western (Continued  on   Page A-2)
hold   Kassel,   an   18-wuy   road  and rail   hub  on   the  superhighway  to the German capital.    But Maj. Gen. Robert W. Grow's 6lh Armored Di¬ vision gained five miles to reach a point five milcs south of the town. The 4th Armored  Division,  driv¬ ing into (Jermany aouth of the 6th, lunged  ahea<i some  20 miles  from the Grebenau area to reach Lauten- hausen,    19    milca    southwest    of Eisenach and only  170 miles from Berlin. Tnnk   columna  of  the  First and First and Third Armies In central I Viird   armies   were   making   gains Germany. u'-,) to 18 milc.i between Knaael and
Third  Ariiiiytanks   were   In   the  Padcrborn.     However,   a   security outskirts nf the great 18-way road  blackout   atill   concealed   the   full and   rail  hub of Kassel   only  five scope   of   tremendous   Allied   ad- miles away from the south.   Other vances   Into  central  Germany, tank spearheads drove even closer     Tlie 2nd Armored Division, new-
to Berlin reaching Lnutenhausen. seven miles east of Hersfeld and only 170 miles from their goal.
Keeping pace with this crushing drive in the center. Field- Marshal Sir B. L. Montgomery's British and American armies advanced on
ly disclosed to be in action with the American Ninth Army, brok* loose on the Ruhr superhighway and roared toward Hamm in a driva that sealed off the Ruhr'a arsenal olUai and was on the vergt of  mhSi^ih   First   Army  tank
the    Westphalian    Plain   and    the  forces  around   Paderborn
American    Seventh    Army    moved ahead   on   the   approaches   to   the Nazi shrine city of Nuernberg. Actual Gains (loakrd
Montgomery's armies drove s tank wedge 65 miles be.vond the Rhine, according to latest official announcements. The rxact point of the wedge was cloaked by a se¬ curity blackout, but there was no doubt the British were well beyond the great Ruhr rail center of MuenJiter. which Is less than M miles from the Rhine.
Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch's Sevenlh Army, paced by the 12th Armored Diviaion. smashed a deep
Two oth^e armored task forcea of Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' Firat Army linked up at Warburg, 23 miles southeast of Paderborn and 175 miles southwest of Berlin. A 9tb Armored Diviaion column (Continued  on  Page A-2)
GALE CAUSES DAMAGE IN CENTRAL NEW YORK
Syracuse, N. Y., March 31.  (UP)
- Winds reaching gale proportions
laslied  central  New  York  for sev-
„ , . ,        ..     eral   hours   late   todav,   unrooflnf
hole in Germnn defenses along theihon,„  ^j   ^arns.   smashing  stora
main river  nt Amorbacli   20 miles ja„j „,,igg windows and disrupting south of Aschaffcnburg. Tanks and I [p|p hone  and  power service.
armored cara raced more than 25 miles eaat. vaulting the Tauher river and driving within six miles of Wuerzburg at  Waldbrunn.
At this point the 12th Armored was within 60 miles of Nuernberg, and the alarmed German radio de¬ clared also that the drive was aim¬ ed at the great ball-bearing manu¬ facturing center of Schwelnfurt, 20 miles northwest of Wuerxburg, where one of the greatest air bat¬ tles of the war was fought Oct. 14. 1943.   In  that  battle  the Germans
Tlie Syracu."ic area suffered con¬ siderable damage as a 45-mile-an- hour gale ripped shingles from roofs and scattered glass on pedes¬ trians. Gluts of wind up to 7t miles  an  hour  were  reported.
Light and telephone aervice in Auburn were halted by a S5-mlle- an-hour gale. Treea and wires were blown down, but damage was said to be leas serious than In tht Syracuse area.
Syracuae firemen were called to cover a hole In a roof on the homs
lost 186 piancs in attempts to pro-  of an invalid woman, tect  their  plant. I    Moravia   and    four   neighboring
Fighting for Kassel Cayuga   county   villages   were   re-
Front   dispatches   indicated   the| ported    without    lights    after   tha Germans  were  fighting bitterly to failure of power lines.
Last Big Nazi Oil Plant Blasted by Bombing Raids
Set New Record For Bomb Weight In Single Month
-Amer-
By LEO S. DISHER
London,   March   31   (UP) ican  and  British  warplanes,  more than 3.500 strong,  blasted  the last I Hit Trucks, Trains big  .synthetic  oil  plant still  active,    Tajctical pjanes, operating befora
Sth Air Force alone to 73,000 tonik It set an all-time record. TM previous record tonnage was BB,40(I^ dropped during the invasion montli of .Tune last year, mostly on France. The 15th Air Force during tha month dropped well over 32,(X)0 tons of bombs on Southern Ger¬ many, Austria, Yugoslavia and Northern   Italy.
the Britiah Second Army in North¬ western Germany today, destroyed more than 600 vehicles heading toward the northeast beyond Muen-
Ital.v.
Today's  opcratons   set  new  rec-1 •'•""«f »>"' flerce opposition to tha ords  for  the  weight  of explosiveslS'hA'r f'orce raids, dropped in a single month for both     The  Luftw-affe sent  small packs the   U    S.   Sth   Air   Force   and   the "f.-flBh^er   planes   against  the  200-
in German.v todav and battered in
dustrial   and   rail   targets   between
Berlin and the rolling Allied forces
in  the Reich. _ ,        •- ,.
Another large fleet of Fortresses ster. Trains, moving from Muan- isav oe sin i-nDsssi siaii and Liberators, from Italian hases.Uter to Osnabrusck, were attacked MAY  BE  NO  FORMAL  NAZI hit targets in Austrlla and northern l^ft" dusk.
SURRENDER.-BYRNES    "°'"
Washington, March 31. (UP) War Mobilization Director .Tames F. Byrnes called the nation's at¬ tention tonight to the fact thnt there may be no formal surrender of Germnny.
Instead, he indicated, the real end of the war may be signaled by a simple announcement by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower that or¬ ganized German resistance has ended.
Manv competent Washington ob- ser\'era for some time have held to the belief that  there will  be  no
mile long column of iKimbers. First reports said that thtee jet planes    nnd    three    MesserschmM
Ijth Air Forte in Italy.
Oil Plant Fired .,,.„..„    „.,„    „..„    .„„
Explosion.>* and fires were caused j,^, ^ad been ahot dow at the synthetic plant at Zeilitz, southwest of Leipzig, and hits were scored on railyards at Halle and rail and industrial targets at Bruns¬ wick and Brandenburg, west of Berlin. Those objectives were hit by more than 2,1,50 heavy bombers and fighters of the 8tli Air Force, carrying some 3,000 tons of bombs.
Tlic  RAF  heavies   struck   at  the
Raid Grnnan Generals
London, March 31 (UP)—British light bombers yesterday attacked the fleld headquarters of Maj. (Sen. Friedrich Christiansen, German commander in Holland, and Field Marshal Johannes Blaskowitz, head of the northern German army, the
Ex;'hange Telegraph said today, formal German surrender. They Blohni nnd Vosa submarine build-1 The tnctic.il planes, hit Oldenzall, feel Ihat. ns Byrnes hinted, the ^ ing yards at Hamburg, one of the north of Enschede. Blaskowitz's real end of the war will be made!targets in yesterday's attack by headquarters, and those of C*rls- known to the whole world when'more than 2,300 American planes. Hansen at Hilversum, t>oth In Hol- Elsenhower announces that there| Today', homb load raised the [land. British Typhoor.s previously no longer U any formal resiaLance'IoLhI ttT^rf^: of explo.--ivc.': dropped:had destroyed oth»r headquartera In Kurope. on ths Relcb during March by the' of both German commanderi.