Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              A Paper For The Home
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
The Weather
Fair today;
Monday,   fair,  wanner.
39TH YEAR, NO. 19 — 40 PAGES
UNITED FRBSS
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 1945
PRICE TEN CENTS
BIG GUNS HIT BRIDGEHEAD
BUT YANKS GAIN
15 Square Miles Of Tokyo Ruined
3,500 City Blocks Laid in Waste, 1,500,000 People Made Homeless in Most Damaging Blow Ever Given a City
By FRAKJK TKICMAINE
Guam, Sunday, Mmrcli ll.—(1>P)—(Vis Nsvy Radio)—Fifteen square miles In the renter o( Tok,vo's Industrial ares were rrdured to "twisted, tumblx-dnun, rubble-streun" wreekace by yest4>rday's great B-39 Incendiary raid, .MsJ. iien. Curtis t<einsy snnounced today sfter vleulng  rrconnsisssnee photoKrsphs.
Seven large hres still burned at 1 p. m, Saturday—11 hours after the  raid.   Thirty-live  hundred  lity   blocks were   laid   waste,
Pictures tai<en 10 to 12 hours after the raid Indicated that Tokyo reeled under what some airmen unoHicially predicted may well be the mo,it   destructiv"   blow   ever   InHlctcd   on   sny   city  by   human   means
While Tokyo smouldered, a fleet | of India-based B-29's battered the Malayan railway center of Kuala Lumpur, 200 miles northwest of slgapore. Saturday. It was the second raid on that rail center and a bulletin said its railroad yard.s were the principal target Target Totslly Destroyed
Gen. I,«niay, commanding gen¬ eral of the 2l8t Bomber Command which sent more than 30O Supcr- fortres.ies from three Marianas Ifilands on yesterdays record strike,  said today:
'The target attacked is now en- tlrtiy buriMd. Thia fire left noth¬ ing but twisted, tumbl»^own nib- ^fel. in IU path. Thaw tmuU sre Incontrovertibly established by re- Iconnais.sance photoRraphs taken on the afternoon of the strike."
Liemay said the area was totally destroyed and clearly identifiable.
•It   covers  a   total  of   42-J,.'iOO,OO0 .<'|uare feet, which  Is approximate¬ ly 9.700 acres or 15 .-(nuRre miles." Ruin* Identified
He snid Identifiable industrial nnd urban targets lie In ruins within the destroyed area, inilud- ing the previously damaged Ueno railroad station, the Rising Sun petroleum terminal, the Ogura Oil c:o, Nisshin Spinning Mill, the .Inpan machine industry, and the Marunouchi telephone exchange which before the wbp had 9,000 automatic lines and 150 long dis¬ tance lines.
The target area additionally In- rhides I'/c Kanda Market. Hattori Co and hundred.s of smill business e.stablishments "direrlly concerned wifh wnr Industry." and many ad- iministrntivc buildiii'js and thou- _sand.s of "home industries." All apparently were wiped out. 1,.190,000 MomelesB
This area has a poplation density of 103,000 per.sons per square mile. Thus approxinintely 1,,')00,000 sud¬ denly were mnde homeless In the enrlv mnrniiig hours of Saturday when the Superforts began drop¬ ping Ilieir hundred.s of tons of in¬ cendinry bombs in tTie most dcvns- tnting  flre  rnld of the war,
A .Japanese rommuni(]e said the Imperial Btnbles on the grounds of Emperor Hirohito's palai'e was set nfire. The stahle.s were burned in a B-29 raid Feb. 2.%.
Fires were visible for 200 miles. Cripples Ijtnded on Iwo
Only one or two B-29's were be¬ lieved lost during the raid or en¬ route home, 21st Bomber Command officials snid, "Sonic" planch, they added, were known lo have l^uided 'Continued  on  Page  A-lOi
APANESE SEIZE
Take Full Control As Tokyo Fears American Invasion
SOFT COAL PARLEY APPEARS HEADED FORTHECOURTS
Union Heads Bitter At Surprise Move Of Mine Operators
By CHARLKS B. DIXMES
Washington, March 10, (UP>- The first major difference in the wage-hour parley between the United Mine Workers and soft coal operators sppeared tonight to be headed for a session in the fMieral   courts.
The court move was Indicated /iftcr it was learned rellablv that the National Labor Relations Board on Monday plans lo vote down a petition on the operators to outlaw the union's ,10-day strike notice.
ICdward R. Burke, president of the Soutiiem Coal Producers As¬ sociation, when asked about the possible veto of the petition, told ]the United Pre.ss that if such ac- j tion was forthcoming he would j appeal immediately to a federal I district   court,
I Start* s Qiisrrel
Burke's tiling of the petition with j i the NLRB yesterday has resulted in the flrst major quarrel of the j I wage conference. Any court action growing out of the wage hearings I would further jeopardize the cliances of a peaceful agreement on a wage contract for the next two years.
An NLRB spokesman last night said he believed the operators' petition would liave to be turned down because the board's leg.il ."Ir.ff felt that h dispute already was in existence between the miners and the mine owners. The UMW accused the operators (Continued on  Page  A-10)
'Howling Mad* on livo
THK ROAD TO RERUN
KASTERN FRONT: 31 miles (from   Zaeckcrick).
WESTERN FRONT: 276 miles (from   Erpel).
ITALIAN FRONT; 524 miles (from   Po  dl  Primapo River).
^Pvt. Leonard Novak, Nanticoke, Saw Blood Run in Bonn's Gutters
By A>X STRINtiER
Bonn,   Germany,   Manh   9.   'D.' laved*   (UP)—This   cultural   center on tlie Rhine- birthplace of Beeth¬ oven   fell   to  tho  American    First I>ivi«ion   today.
The building In which the great composer was born waa dcstrnyetl nithough the museum and univer¬ sit.v suffered comparatively sli'.;lii bomb damnKC, The art treasures apparently hud been removed by the Cermans some time ago. Town  ((iiiet  Now
Exicpt for a few snipers, nil I.s quiel here tonight. Doughhoyf Willi nothing to do, stand Idly on street corners leaning against buildings, German civilians and liberated French drafted laborers are moving about freely.
It was a strange contrast to the Rrci^   battle   thnt   raged   here   last
•\?M Today'H Issue
('lassilled   B—11
Kditorlal    _ C—2
¦Movie*    B—10
Social     A—U
Sport*    R—1
Outdoor            B—S
RsdIo    „ _ B—10
night -one of the fiercest since the American offensive began. The Germans fought for every block and il is hard for the Yanks today lo believe that Inst night was not just a nightmare.
"You siiould have been here." said Pvt. Leonard Novak, Nanti¬ coke, Pa., who was in the first platoon  to enter the city.
'Viome of these streets were pretty mes.sy. There was blood running down the gutters not ours but the blood of some of our buddies.     It  was   pretty  hot."
Crowd for Coal Dust
At the entrance to the town this afternoon crowds of civilians thronged around a long line of railway cars loaded with coal dust brickets. They carried away the precious fuel in everything from bags to hand-pulled v/agor\fi.
In town, a young German boy. about seven, rushed into a build¬ ing, stopped In front of a group of Yanks, gave a brisk Nazi salute and a "Hell Hitler." The dough¬ boys shooed him out. In a few minutes he cnme back timidly anri gave the GI's s good old American salute.
Washington, March 10. (UP)— Vice Admiral Jean Decoux, gover¬ nor-general of French Indo-Chlna, and the commanders of the army, navy and air forces of the colony were placed under "protective cus¬ tody" today by the Japanese army, which seized complete control of Indo-Chlna in apparent fear of an American landing on the Asiatic coast
At the same time. Premier j Quniaki Koiso, in a radio broad¬ cast to the Japanese, warned that an invasion of the home Islands! waa Inevltsble and admitted gloom¬ ily thst sir raids on Tokyo un¬ doubtedly would he intensified.
Speska Agsin Today
Koiso spoke on Japanese army day. He and Field Marshal Oen Sugiyama, war minister, wnll ad¬ dress the Imperial Diet tomorrow to review the war and. according to the Domei News Agency, ex¬ press the "determination and con¬ fidence of the government In over¬ coming the present national crisis."
Deooux wns nrrested, the Japa¬ neae radio said, when he refused to comply with Japanese demands that Indo-Olilna co-operate in the "Joint defense" of the country, onlv 600 miles awny from Amer¬ ican forces in the Philippines. Japanese troops occupied the governor-general's residence In Saigon.
Gen. Georges Ayme. supreme commander of the French colonial armv in Indo-Chlna; Vice Admiral Marie Daniel Regis Bcrenger. com¬ mander of naval forces, and Gen, Sylvester Tavern, air force com¬ mander, also were taken into cu.stody. Csll French Uisloysl
The Toliyo radio, reported by the Federal Communication Commis¬ sion, announced that the seizure of Indo-China. ruled by a puppet government since 1941. was neces¬ sary because the French govern¬ ment was disloyal to Japan and was helping Allied preparations to invade the country.
The Japanese troops took com¬ plete charge of the three large cities of Saigon. Hanoi and Cho¬ lon. seizing all Industries, barracks, airfields, government residences, police stations, railroad stations and utilities,
French Troops In Shsnghsl Dlssnned
Japanese troops have disarmed nearly 2,000 French troops and police In Shanghai and have taken over French-controlled communi¬ cations in the city "in concert with actions of Japanese forces in French Indo-tniinn," Tokyo Radio sr.id   Saturday  night.
The Shanghai action started at l-.ia a. m. Saturday morning with 1,200 French troops and 979 armed police being disarmed Tokyo said in a broadcast heard by United I'ress  in  San  Francisco.
GIVE TRANSYLVANIA BACK TO ROMANIA
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Kuestrin Encircled By Soviets
Highest ranking Marine in Iwo Jima battle, Lt. Gen. Hol¬ land M. Smith (right), com¬ mander of Fleet Marine Force tn Pacific srea, registers expres¬ sion appropriate to hla nickname.
"Howling Mad." 'Within sight of goal the northern tip of Iwo, he looks over territory with Maj. Gen. Clifton B. Cates, command¬ ing ths 4th Marine Davlslon. (IT.    S.   Marine   Corpa   Pboto.)
Deadly Jap Mortar Fire On Iwo Is Weakening
still Resisting But Nearing End; 4th Reaches Beach
By FRANK TRE.MAINE
Guam, Sunday, March 11. (UP)— Marines on Iwo Island maintained their slow advance Saturday as Japanese resistance diminished and the victorious end of the bloody campaign approached. Substantial gainj were made by the 4th Divi¬ sion along the eaatern coast and one spearhead had reached the beaflli  on   that  front.
Enemy resistance was decreas¬ ing at numerous points along the line as three divisions closed In on the last two pockets of the split Japanese garrison.
The Japanese still held tena¬ ciously to pillboxes and snipers were active. But their terrific mor¬ tar flre and counter-atatcks were definitely slackening. 4th Reschea Besrh
A patrol of the 4th Division reached the easternmost beaches at 6 p. m. Saturday. Army and Navy aircraft continued to roar overhead, blasting enemy positions in  conjunction with  fleet gunfire.
The end of the 20-day-old cam¬ paign drew steadily nearer ss the Marines cut down the two com¬ paratively small pockets of resist¬ ance sIonK the northeastern coast.
One last frantic counter-attack was staged Thursdny night and Friday morning, when the Jap¬ anese forces attempted to infil¬ trate the Marine lines "on a large
Japs Get the Bird, MacArthur a Medal
Manila, March 10. (UP) Douglas MacArthur today re¬ ceived the Philippine Common¬ wealth's highest decoration—Tho Medal for Valor—for "extraordi¬ nary courage and valor in the face of overwhelming odds."
President Sergio Osmena pin¬ ned the medal on MacArthur. The decoration, equivalent to the U. S. Medal of Honor, wsa authorized in 1931, but MacArthur was the first person ever to receive It.
Brig. On. Carlos P. Romulo, resident commissioner of the Philippines, said today would be set aside as "MacArthur Day."
Taking Fortress 38 Miles from Berlin; 70-Mile Siege Arc Joined Around Danzig
By ROBERT Ml SEL
London, Sunday, March 11. (UP) —The (Jermans announced laat night that Red Army troops had virtually encircled Kuestrin and fought their way through the greater part of the old walled fort¬ ress st the confluence of the Oder and Warthe rivers, 38 miles from Berlin.
Other Soviet troops. Moscow dis¬ closed officially, had broken across the eastern arm of the Vistula be¬ fore Danzig and joined a seige arc around the former city having a total length of 70 miles.
Front line reports said Soviet cavalry formations, splitting the German lines near Danzig's out¬ skirts, had driven within seven miles of the main city. In a simul¬ taneous threat to a second major Baltic port, the Russians drive within flve miles of Stettin's waterfront In swaying battles with German tanks asllylng out from the citv. GriUcsl Tront Before Berlin
But while these struggles rsged, the critical point of the Eeastern Front campaign was before Berlin, where by Oerman accounts the Russifins were throwing tremen¬ dous forces Into an effort to erase the Kuestrin salient In the center of their Oder bridgeheads.
Tho enemy raio admitted thnt Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's troops had fought their way com¬ pletely through the main section of Kuestrin dn the north bank of the Warthe, just east of Its confluence (CVintlnued on Page A-10)
r ARTHUR STILL SILENT ON REPORT
The .Japanese wnr ministry has nwarded "Meritorious Scr\-ice Medals" to seven carrier pigeons for "distinguished services." the Domei News Agency said Satur¬ day.
The broadcast rc< orded by the FCC said the award "corresponds to the Order of the Golden Kite swarded to  soldiers."
MILE
Cermans Admit Second Crossing; Fighting Furious
Artillery Creates Inferno In Ludendorf Bridge Area; Smash Nazis' Wesel Pocket; Close Trap on 22,000 Men
By J.\rK FLEISCHKR
Paris, Sunday. March 11 (UP)—The Germans opened a tremendous artillery attack on the American bridgehead on the ea.st bank of the Rhine ye.«terday, but First Army troopa gained almost a mile in advances that won vital heights overlooking the "hottest area in Europe."
Berlin admitted even more extensive American gains, acknowledging that assault troops made a second crossing of the Rhine four miles north of Rcmagen and captured Honnef in furious house-to-house fighting.
A security blackout still masked operations in the bridge¬ head area, but Allied Supreme Headquarter.s announced that the Oth Infantry Division of Lt. Gcii. Courtney H. Htidges* First Anny blasted out 500 to 1,500-yard gains in the bridge¬ head area Saturda.v—almost a mile.
The Germans, now fighting with furious desperation to seal off ths breach into their inner fortress, rained shells from one of the largest artillery concentrations they have yet assembled on the Western Front.
Kront dispatches described the Ludendorf Bridge area as s raging inferno of German shell splinters snd spent American shrapnel from of    anti-aircraft    batteries
1st Cavalry Takes Jap Line's Anchor East of Manila
scale." The Americans hurled them bark and the 4th MiKine Division killed 564.
Maj. Gen. Graves B. Erskine's 3rd Division drove to the northeast coast of the craggy bastion on Friday, and today w^dencd their posltioifs along the shore while Armv pianes. operating from the (Continued on  Page  A-IO)
War   SuiniiiarT
London. March 10. (UP)--Premler .Toscf Stalin acceded today to a wrillen request of the Romanian government nnd returned Transyl¬ vania to thnt countrj-. Radio Mos¬ cow announced.
Tlie announcement followed an exchange of letters between Stalin and Romanian Premier Petre Groza. In his letter. Grozn promised to protect Transylvania minorities "guided by moral, demo¬ cratic and just principles."
Stalin replied that the Soviet government hnd issued a decree acceding to the Romanian request.
The area, comprising n large part of northwestern Romania, was ceded to Hungary by Germany early In the war. When Riusslan Iroops crossed into Romania in 1044, the Soviet government agreed to help liberate Transylvania.
WESTERN FRONT—Germans open tremendous artil¬ lery attack on Rhine bridgehead, but 1st Army troops gain a mile; Americans capture Honnef across Rhine in furious house-to-hous fighting, enemy says.
EASTERN FRONT—Germana aay Red Army virtual¬ lv encircles Kuestrin and fights way through greater part of the city, 38 miles from Berlin; other Soviet troops form siege arc around Danzig.
PACIFIC Marines   on   Iwo   drive   forward   against
diminishing resistance; victorious end of bloody campaign in .sight.
AIR 1,850   U.   S.   heavy  bombers   and   fighters  hit
.seven Ruhr railroad targets; tactical planes thwart desperate German air attack on Remagen bridge.
PHILIPPINES—1st Cavalry Division drive in Anti- polo, south anchor of Shimbu Line; MacArthur fails to confirm Japanese reports of American landings on Mindanao.
ITALY—Americans tighten iron band around Ver- gato, fortress town on road from Pistoia to Bologna.
SOUTHEAST ylSM—Tank-led Gurkha troops attack Fort Dufferin in heart of Mandalay.
By U. D. QLIOO
Manila. Sunday, March 11. (UP) ' -General of Army Douglaa Mac- Arthur announced loday thnt ele¬ ments of tho 1st Cavalry Division have driven into Antipolo, south anchor <• the heavily - defended Shimbu Line east of Manila, but made no mention of American landings on Mindanao Island where the Japanese said flerce flghting waa In progress.
At the north end of the Shibu Line, where there Is s series of inter-locking mountain caves tlist must be reduced individually, troops of the flth Infantry Division advanced southwest of Montalban, some 10 miles from Wawa.
Front dlspatclies said the dis mounted cavalry units battled tlieir way into Antipolo yesterday in a one-mile advance, but had not yet cleaned out the town. Tho Sixth Division also advanced a mile through the Japanese network of caves. Nesr Laat Escape Road
In norlh central Luzon, the 2Sth and 32nd Divisions made further advances in their twin drives through rugged mountain terrain toward Balete Pass, one of the last escape roads for Japanese forces being driven Into the mountainous northern parts of the capital island. The pass was hit with 247 tons of bombs
The" 158th RegimenUl Combat Team, working with the llth Air¬ borne Division south of Manila to compress olher Japanese troops Into the southeastern tip of Luzon ((Continued on  Page A-10)
scores
firing at Germnn planes making suicidal but futile attempts to blast the bridge.
Bul American strength In the bridgehead was growing hourly, United Press Correspondent Ann Stringer reported. Unbelievable quantities of material were piling up east of the Rhine and great lines of trucks stretching for miles were pouring more across the river. "Thia Is tho hottest nrea In Europe" she snid, rommonting on Germnn reaction. (Her stOry is on Page A-.S.) SniaNh Wesel Pooket
To the north, the C^anndlan First Army collapsed a pocket of Ger¬ mnn resistance on the west bank around Wesel with a swift two- mile thrust through Its center and the U.S. Third Army reached to within two miles of Coblenz in a swift tank attack on that important Rhineland  town.
t (In a hrfla4lcant heard In I.ondnn Sunday. Radio Pres^ re¬ ported thnl American troop* were fighting In the suliurhn oi Coblenz.)
1
As the German artillery barrage
Intersified,   their   ncrial   passes   at
the    vital    bridge    became    almost
continuous.
Stringer watched five German dive   bombers   go   down   in   flames.
aaid one bomb dropped so close ts the bridge Friday Its exploelon splashed water In the faces of doughboys racing across tho trestle beside tanks. , .,^^
Oerman  Planea Chased
One attack Saturday was mad* by six bomb-laden .Messerschmitt 109's escorted by five Kocke Wulf 190's. U. S. Brtr Air Force fighter! from Britain, helping 9th Air Force tactical planes protect the area, intercepted them over LIni, two miles south of the bridge.
Two (Jerman planes were shpt down and the remainder Jettisoned their bombs and fled.
Pilots reported a solid cloud cover over the br /gehevl area and front reports snid that sleet was lashing the batlKNield. Braving th* weather, nth Air Force planes flew 723 sorties over the bridgehead area. Crossed Rhine in Boats ....
Berlin accounts of the fighting at Honnef. which were uns^mfirm- ed by Allied Supreme Headquar¬ ters, said an American force which cro.sscd the Rhine In assault l)oats was thrown out of the town but s second force crossing in boats fought their way back  In.
With customary reluctance to admit tlie loss of any town, th* German account said house-to- hou.se fighting was going on—s statement   that   usually   means
i
one after tho oUier. ns they tried town has been definitely lost to attack the bridge Saturday - On the west bank of the Rhine, victims of ground gunners. De-i meanwhile, other First Army troops layed reports frnm United Pre.is smashed up lo the Ahr River along Correspondent John B. McDermott' iContinued  on  Page  A-ll)
Yank Begged to be Shot but Japs Burned Him and 140 Others
Luftwaffe Again Attacks England
London, March 10. (UP)--(3cr- man warplanes attacked England again over a 24-hour period end¬ ing at dawn today, causing dam¬ age and casualties, the air and home security nUnistrle* dis¬ closed.
Washington, March 10. (UP)— The wounded American begged the Japs lo shoot him. Instead, they poured gasoline on his hands and feet,  and  ignited It.
That was a mere detail. In all. 140 American prisoners of wnr were burned to denth or .shot while trying to keep from being burned to death.
It happened less than three months ago, on Dec. 14. The place was the Puerto Prlncesa prison camp  on   Palawan   Island.
The Japanese excuse: They didn'i want the Americans to be liberated by U. S. troops returning to the Philippines.
The story was told here by 1st Ll. Robert E. Rivenbark of Savannah, Ga.. who got It _from three survivors, two Marines and a sailor. Only six olher Americans are believed to have gotten away from y.e camp. Feared an Invasion
The camp commandant had re¬ ceived a report that an American invasion convoy was heading for Palawan. Actually. It was heading for Mindoro; Palawan was not in¬ vaded until weeks later. When .S. troops captured Puerto Prlncesa on Feb. 28, they saw the flame-black¬ ened evidence of what had hap¬ pened.
The men who told their story to Rivenbark were Marine Sgt. Doug¬ las W. Bogue, 27, of Omaha, Neb.; Marine Corp. Glenn W. McDolc. 24. of Des Moines, la., and Navy Chief Radioman Fern J, Bsrts, Sajt Lake City.
At noon on Dec. 14. guards with machine guns stopped the Amer¬ icans at their work on a Jap sir strip and herded them Into thre* .'50-man raid shelters. Ewesped  In  Flsmes
Wiihout warning, other Japs be¬ gan throwing buckets oi gasoline and torches into the shelters. In the screaming melee which follow¬ ed. Bogue, McDole and Barta got away.
Bogue aew "several burning Americans rush the Japs and fight them hand to hand." Prison¬ ers who gol to the beach or th* brush were hunted out by .Tap patrols carrying guns, gasoline and tocches.
One American gavo up. Thts to tlic wny he did it, according t* McDole:
"He raised up and said. 'All right
you Jap b , here I am and don't
miss me'."
The Japs didn't miss.  Afterwa»^ thcv burned his t>ody. dsw the Tortures
The three survivors — now st home on furlough — got away by swimming the bay. But while McDole still was holed up in s garbage dump, hc saw the Japs catch  up  with   another  American.
"Down the beach." he said. "I saw six Jaiw jabbing a bleeding, mud-covered American with their bayonets.
"Anolher Jap ran up with S bucket and a torch. The American begged to be shot and not burned.
"Thev poured gas on his hsods ssd feet snd Ut it."
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