Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              A Paper Fop The Home
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
The Weather
Cloudy, not «o warm. followed by showsm: Monday   cooler,   ihowert.
39TH YEAR, NO. 85 — ^0 PAGES
VMITKD rSSSB Wlf* News SottIc*
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, JULY 1, 1945
PRICE TEN CENTS
JAPS FEAR NEW INVASION
Byrnes Is Secretary Of State
Truman Announces Nomination Will Go To Senate Monday; Confirmation Sure
War Agency Bill Blocked In House
Southerners Refuse Compromise on FEPC; Seek Funds Elsewhere Until New Bill Passes
[Maybe They Don*t Want to Believe
Xauaa City, Mo., June to. (UP) —MmM J. Byrnes wai named ta- ill(bt by President Truman as the new Mcretary of state.
White    House    press    secretary ^    Charles  G.   Ross    told     reporters <    that  "ttie  President   on    Monday ¦'    will send to the senate the noml nation of James F. Byrnes as sec¬ retary of slate."
In that rapacity. Byrnes will be Mr. Truman's right-hand man as he seel<s to develop a bipartisan foreign policy on a lonir-term hasis, capable of withstanding ad¬ ministration changes. Sun of ConflniMllon
Byrnes, an old senate colleague of Mr. Truman and a close per¬ sonal friend, appeared certain of senate confirmation because of his many close friends on capito!  liMI
The President announced the resignstion of Edward R. Stet- tinius jr. as secretary of state and his appointment to the United Na¬ tions Council  on  Wednesday.
Today's announcement was re¬ flective of his preparations for the first sessions with Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin near Berlin soon. Mr. Truman plans to spend most of next wcelt prepar¬ ing for it. Oaae Friends
Mr. Truman and Byrnes hav* b«en close friends since senata ••rvlce drew them together in IMS. Whan the late President Roosevelt diod, Byrnes was one of the tint "elder strntaamen" to reach the new chlof Mooutive'a side. i Since that thne the SpsrUnburg, 8. C, attermy haa seen the Presi¬ dent at least twice, presumably giving him information on the late Mr. Roosevelt's foreign policies and relationships with Allied leaders.
Byrnes saw service in the senate. as a justice of the Supreme Court and later as director of war mobili¬ zation. He resigned that post Isst winter and remained at his South CarolinA home until after Mr. Roosevelt's  dieath.
Byrnes will accompany the Pres¬ ident to the Big Three meeting. So will the chiefs of stiff* of the nrmed services. Harry L,. Hoplcins. Joseph E. Davies and a large staff of International  experts.
He will become the fifth new man   In   the  C.ibiiict.
Stettinius' new Job will be to lead the American delegation to the United Nations council and to rep¬ resent the Prcn.dent personally be¬ fore the senate as it heR-ns ' on- slderstion of tiie rhsrter on Mon¬ day, Siettlnlus will have a White House  office.
NANTICOKE GIRL HURT IN FALL FROM AUTO
Teresa Paczltowslti. 18. of 1121 South Marl<et street, Nanticoke, was admitted to Mercy Hospital last night at W.TiO for lacerations of the elbow and body bruises. She was pici<ed up on South Main street, Wilkes-Barre. after she had either fallen or was niished from an automobile, according to police. She was tmable to name the party she had been riding with.
Washington, June 80. (UP)— 'Southern Democrats b1oci<ed House action on the $771,000,000 war agency appropriation bill tonigh and thus signed a death warrant, effective at midnight, for the Kaii Employment  Practices Committee.
Their move also cut off other war agencies from their regular source of funds, but they will br kept functioning through other arrangements until the dispute over the war agency bill and the FEPC has been resolved.
No attempt to pass the war agency bill will be made until nest week. House Blocks Pl»n
With Omgress racing against time to complete action on appro priatlon bills involving billions of dollars before the fiscal year ended at midnight, Southern senators had abandoned their filibuster against the FEPC, The Senate approved a $2R0,000 Item for the FEPC—the House had included none—and passed the war agency bill.
But when the measure returned to the House. (Chairman Clarence Cannon. D., Mo., of the House ap¬ propriations committee asked that the bill be sent to conference to compromise differences between House and Senate versions. His request required unanimous con¬ sent and Southern Democrats shouted him down.
Cannon explained to reporUra be now will have to aak the rules conuntttce, whlcta has been con sistently hostile to the FEPC, to send liie bill to the floor so the House can vote on the propoaal to send it to conference. If that com¬ mittee refuses, the measure will go back to the appropriations com mittee to be redrafted-presum¬ ably without the FEPC itcrn. ApproTe Deficiency  Bill
The House wound up its day at 7 p m. by approving a conference report on a $3,600,000,000 omnibus deficiency bill, which included next year's funds for Lend-I.,ease and the Office of Price Administration. The Senate followed suit 1^ min¬ utes later.
The deficiency bill carried a pro- vUlon which will permit all war agencies except the FEPC to .spend funds necessary for their activities pending passage of the war agency appropriation.
This provision mnde all 1!»46 fis¬ cal year appropriations retroactive to .j'ulv 1 in bills that had not be- lome law by that date. .Since the FEPC had no assurance that it would he included in the war agency bill, it was considered high¬ ly unlikely that it would take the risk of spending funds under the deficiency   measure.
The Senate FEPC fight ended when Southern members aban¬ doned their filibuster tactics and offered no fight against a com¬ promise   proposal.
Senate Democratic T.,eader Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky offered the compromise amendment and the Senate accepted it by a vote of 42 to 26, The amendment might have been subject to a parliamen¬ tary objection which would have (Continued  on   Page  A-2)
WAC Men from Hidden Valley' Gef First Wis/i-Goocf, Hot Bath
By HIUH CKIMPLER
Manila, June 30, (UP>- A pretty WAC and two Army fliers, who spent 47 days in "Hidden Valley' of Dutch New Guinea, before be¬ ing rescued by glider Thursday, today got their wish—they had ateamlng hot showers,
Cpl. Margaret J. Hastings of Oiwcgn, N. Y.. Lt. John 8. Mn- Collom. Trenton, Mo., and T SRt. Kenneth W. Decker, Kelso, Wash., were lifted out of the saUcer- shaped plateau where they had been held in u paradise-like nat¬ ural prison hv glider, I'rieklest Ever Attempted
The glider imd been released over the valley and landed on an air¬ strip Improvised by Filipino troops dropped by parachute shortly after a C-47 plane crashed killing 20 passengers and the crew. The girl and the soldiers were the only sur¬ vivors.
A low-flying transport plane Jtrked the glider aloft and towed it to Hollandin In one hour and 20 minutes in the first such rescue in the Pacific and probably the trick¬ iest glider operation ever attempt¬ ed.     The   three   who   niiracuouslv
In Toriay'a laaue
nasslfled  B—»
r^Horial    <¦_?
Mnvie*    „ B—A
I'orlal    „ _  R I
iPn/ts     B_l
"adio      Il_g
Outdoor   „ _    B—«
Japs Adding A Comic Touch
German prisoners of war show varied emotions during showing of   atrocity   fllnis   in   Halloran
Ganeral Hospital In New Yorlc Group at right regiaters keen kaen   Interest   in   brutalities   of
their countrymen. Those at left try to black out sadism by cover- ing their faces.
How U, 5. Invaded Horway
Heroic Saga of 16 Paratroops on Skis; Harassed Big German Force for Weeks
Bf CHARLES P. ARNOT
Oslo, June 30. (UP)—Twenty- one rugged Yanks, the only ski paratroops in the American Army, were enroute home to Flatbush and points west today with a fantastic adventure story.
Eleven of these winter war varans hail from Brooklyn, and loTabout two weeks Dodgertown will be getting a first hand ac¬ count of their solo "invasion" of Norway.
The end of the European War still'was two months awa.v when eight American planes took off from Scotland on March 24 for "Operation Norway," commanded by 25-ycar-old Maj. William Ctol- bv. St.  Paul. Minn.
The U. S. Office of Strategic Services planned the invasion when Gen. Dwight D. Eisen¬ hower requested that something be done to prevent the Germans from shifting tlieir troops in Norway-numbering nlmost ."500,- (K)0 men- to the Wc^icrn Front. Only Ifi got throng!)
Colby's unique ta.sli force was well qualified for the dangerous assignment. Morn than half his troops were Norwegian-born and b!I hud gone through intensive parachute and ski training, plus a battle "drop" 200 miles behind tiio German  lines  ii.  France.
It was tough at the outset. Only four of the eight planes reached  the  designated  jumping
spot ISO miles northeast of Trond- heim. One plane got lost and dropped five men in Sweden. The other three were forced to turn back and two of them crashed while trying to land in Scotland. But Colby and half his force
Kt through. Soven hours after iding In four faat ot »imw, the major collected IS men. One had hurt his leg in jumping and they took him to the nearby Swedish border where he was admitted as a Norse refugee. Met the Uadrrground
The other four members of the party were picked up later and together they made their way through deep" snow and tempera¬ tures running to 20 degrees be¬ low zero to a rendezvous with seven members of the Norwegian underground.
Within a week, Colby's force began its private war. One Sun- d.iy morning they entered a small town while the Germans were in church and blew up a railway bridge on the m.iin north-south rail line. They sprinted away on skis before the Nazis could in¬ terfere.
The Germans set out four patrols on skis, including a num¬ ber of Quislings who were ex¬ pert skiers. They chased the Yanks for 130 miles over the mountains before they gave up. Then tlie Germans tried sending
OF
WAR SEEN ON »R LOAF'
survived the transport crash suf¬ fered only minor burns and abra¬ sions.
They lived on food dropped to them by Allied planes, with which they were In constant contact by radio, and jungle fruits given them by the friendly natives who were so Impressed by the beauty and poise of Miss Hastings they wanted to make her "Queen of the Val¬ ley."
Asked what they were most looking forward to after their or¬ deal, they answered In unison "a shower." The WAC corporal's second wish was for a "permanent wave." Taken for Women
Because male natives wear no clothes, the air crash survivors and the Filipino paratroopers were mistaken for women.
"The ft.-st day the paratrooper: landed, the natives got a crush or one boy in particular," Mit^ollum said, "A native put one of his arms around him and we could hear sweet nothings being whis¬ pered in ills ear. We had a show¬ down then and there and finally set the  natives straight."
McColIum described the native as the "happiest people I have ever seen." They were armed with bow arrows and spears and apparentl had farmed the valley for genern tlons.
The valley Is 20 miles long ati' varies in width from 12 to sir miles. It la surrounded by tower ing mountains.
By Ht/Sgt. Oeorge R. >oigt
Marine  Corps  (IJombat  Corres¬ pondent Okinawa  (Delayed)—Sugar I>oaf Hill no longer looks like a hill. It looks like a huge  mound of loose dirt piled on a city dump.
It has been pounded out of shape by bombs and shells, enemy and friendly. Thousands of foxholes and tunnels have been dug and re- dug on its sides. The churned earth is covered with the nfter- liter of a costly battle.
It Is ours now, after being stormed and taken, lost and re¬ taken, and has been left in the wake of troops of Major General Liemuel C, Shepherd's Sixth Ma¬ rine Division  pushing south.
All  the  vegetation  that  remains Is   an   occasional   blade   of   grass and four blackened stumps of trees standing on  the crest. Remnants  of Battle
Tens of thousands of cartridge casings, machine-gun and rifle, are scattered over the slopes. Pieces of battle dungarees, torn and bloody, lay among ripped stretchers and wrecked ambulance jeeps.
Dozens of scarred tanks and as¬ sorted vehicles arc battered and overturned  around   Us foot.
Over the entire hill and sur- roimding terrain in the disarray of ¦ill the things men carry with them into battle: packs, rifles, hel¬ mets, socks, shoes, tooth brushes, rations, letters from home, and plcturra of  girls  and  mothers.
Some of the equipment Is In ;ood condition. Most of it Is torn, Druken  and twisted.
Now the teams are picking their \,vav through the quiet shambles ••etrieving the bodies of dead Mar- ;nes. The bodies lie by the score in grotesque, twisted positions.
New Cabinet Members Promise Shal<.eups
PANAMA BREAKS OFF FRANCO RELATIONS
Panama City, June 80. (UP) — The Republic of Panama broke off diplomatic relations today with the Spanish government of Generalis¬ simo  Francisco  Franco.
A decree issued by President Enrique A. Jimenez said the break was made because the foreign poli¬ cy of the Franco government is considered contrary to the interests of the United Nations and to demo¬ cratic principles, "for which the United Nations are fighting to the death."
Spanish Charge d'Affairs Joa¬ quin M. (iortiza was offi<ially noti¬ fied of the government's action, which followed a recent recom¬ mendation by the national consti¬ tuent assembly.
Effect Most Likely To Be Felt in Two, Labor, Agriculture
San Fr-ncisco, June 30.— You have to hand it to the Japanese for one thing. They have more words for it than the Greeks ever thought of. Furthermore, they're not so fussy over how they use them or just what meaning they Impart to the newe of the world's most devastating war.
For Instance, even those hard¬ ened gentlemen of the United Press who have to listen sll the time to the outpouring of the Tokyo propaganda machine, had to stop and look again at what they got.
For here is Tokyo radio's con¬ tribution to war whimsy tonight:
"The war situation in the Paci¬ fic during the past week saw no major developments except the virtual close of the ground battle on Okinawa."
Say U.S. Navy in Pre-Landing Job North ofOkinawa
Think America Wants Fields For its Land'Based Planes Nearer to Japan's Homeland; Airmen Keeping up Blockade
By WILUA.^! F. TIREE
Guam, Sunday, July 1 (UP)—Japan reported today that an Amerfeaa fleet had reconnoitered J2-miIe long Okinoerabu Island, 40-miles north of Okinawa, as a prelude to invasion, while U. S. Army Thunderbolt* and Navy bombers raking the homeland and offshore shipping sank
Planes Hit Balikpapan For Fifth Straight Day
Japs Tell of Bombardment from Fleet Massed in Makassar Strait Off Borneo's Rich Oil Port
small planes out to scout for the raiders, but the Yanks' white parkas camouflsged them suc¬ cessfully.
Colby's second job was bolder. Dividing his tiny force, he filtered small groups through a cordon of (Germans and blew up a mile and a half of track on th* -main railway line in northern Norway. Cliase on Again
Not a single American was wounded in a brief gun battle with   the   German   track   guards
i there, but the most dangerous part of the mission was only be¬ ginning.      The    Ormans.     now
,  thoroughly   aroiLsed,   ordered  out
,  scores of  patrols  to  track  down
I  and kill the Americans.
For weeks llie Yanks made continual forced inarches of 50 miles or more a day. They ate wild reindeer when their food ran low. Once tliey ran into a German patrol and wiped out the Nazis to a man. while only one   American   was   wounded.
Their rations were down to a few handfuls of barley and wheat flour when their portable radio picked up word of the German surrender.
Then they came down out of the wilds and paraded triumpiu antly through the streets of Steinkjer, while 4,0(X) (German troops  looked  on  in  amazement.
By HtOH CRLMFLER
Manila, Sunday, July 1.—(UP)—Powerful fleets of Allied aircraft pounded the rich Eastern Borneo oil port of Balikpapan for the fifth straight day. Gen. Douglas MacArthur disclosed today, as Japanese broadcasts predicted an imminent landing in the area.
MacArthur revealed that more than 125 heavy, medium and tighter bombers poured 230 tons of bombs on the Japanese in low-level skip bombing attacks  that  blasted  the
enemy's underground supplies and exploded oil tanks.
Other targets included defense positions and barracks which were set afire so effectively that smolcc blanketed the areas. MacArthur said. Some heavy bomber units cascaded explosives on the South¬ eastern   Borneo   airfields   of   Oelin
buildings and watercraft in North Borneo.
(A Tokyo broadcast recorded by United Press in San Francisco said the naval force off Balikpapan was still engaged in mineaweeping "in the face of hea\-y attacks" by Japa¬ nese forces in the area. The enemy also  asserted   that  "furious   fight'
and   Tabano   near   Bandjermaain continued in the Brunei and "Tara- while   fighters   hit   air   facilities,!        (Continued on  Page A-2)
Chinese Enter Indo-China; Astride Road to Capital
By <i£URUe  WA.NU I
Chungking, June 30 <UP) - Chinese forces driving down from' Kwangsi province have invaded, French Indo-China and captured a; former French military post rcven' miles inside the border, while i other Chinese troops stamped out, tile last resistance in tlje former I American airbasc city of Liuchowi it  was disclosed   today.
The drive into Indo-t:*ina swept up the important four-way road' center of Chungchingfu (Trung! Klianh Phii> 70 miles south of the; great Allied base of Poseli in| Kwangsi province. It stt the Chi-i ncse directly astride two invasion routes to the Indo-Chinese capital of Hanoi. Besieged Two Weeks
The fall of Liuchow, more than 200 miles to the northeast in cen¬ tral Kwangsi province, ended two weeks of siege by several CJhinese columns and set the stage for a renewed drive on K\veilin, another 1 major air base city lost to the| Japanese last fall. I
Kweilin, 90 miles northeast of| Liuchow,   already   Is   the   objective
of other Chinese columns which at last reports had driven more than six miles north of Liuchow while the battle for the city still raged behind  tiiem.
The sudden Chinese offensive to the south marked the first time Allied troops have invaded Indo- Ciiina since the Japanese marched in unopposed in 1941 under an agreement with the Vichy govern¬ ment and placed it under armed "protection." Served as  Npringboard
Under this agreement Japan oc¬ cupied all French military and na¬ val bases in the strategically-sit¬ uated country and used these as a springboard for the attack down tlie Malaya peninsula against the Britisli naval stronghold of Singa¬ pore early  in  1942.
Tiie town of Chungchingfu, tal; en by the Chinese, is only 55 mile- north  of  the   Indo-China   railhea'i at Na Cham, one possible invasion route to Hanoi.    It also Is 21 mile northeast  of  C^ao   Bang,   guardi- the   highway   network   leading   tr Hanoi. 1,'!2 airline miles south.
or damaged 16 enemy vessels.
Enemy broadcasts said several U. fi. destroyers and minesweepers approached Okinoerabu in the Amami group and "carried out coastal" reconnaissance, a normal operation prior to amphibious oper¬ ations. The horn-shaped island ti only 250 miles southwest of Japan. Fleet Aim. CThester W. Nlmltl reported in his daily war bulletin that lun^-range Thundeibui;; had struck at Kyushu Friday. They roared in over the southernmost of the home islands and destroyed four plant'c on the ground at the Kanoya and Kushira airfields, Jap¬ anese "suic'dr" plane base. Army, Navy Ilanes Attack
The speedy Army fighter-bombers strafed dock installations along the Kyushu coast and set five luggers and two tugs afire. A steamer also  was  damaged.
Navy patrol bombers off western Kyushu sank a small coastal cargo ship and damaged five small cargo craft. One coastal vessel was sunk and another set afire and left sink¬ ing in the Yellow Sea.
Thre- small enemy raids a(alii|| Okinawa Saturday cost th« Ja||ki^ nese one plane shot down. '<Mj«y
Marine Corsairs and AvengeHI continued their almost-daily neu¬ tralization raids on the Sakishima Islands, southwest rt Okinawa, and the Amami group Saturday, as Tokyo reported the fleet movement north  of Okinawa.
Japanese commentators have pre¬ dicted frequently, especially since the fail of Okinawa, that IT. S. forces would seize additional island bases on the invasion route to Kyushu.
Okinoerabu, a comparatively flat
island  dotted  with   rice fields,  lies
21   miles  southwest   of  the  larger
island   of   fokuno   .Shima   and   30
miles north of Yoron  Jima—all  In
the Amami group.   It has a small
harbor at Wadomarl on the north-
j western   side   of  the   narrow  neck
I pointing  at  Tokunj.
I B-29-a Hit Oil Plant
j    \\'Tiile .Japan worried over Aijier-
ican   invasion   plans,   a   20th   Air
I Force  announcement   said   a   fleet
of 50 U. S. Superfortresses obtained
excellent   results"   In   yesterday's
demolition raid on  the big oil  re-
fine(y  at  Kudamatsu,  near Toku-
yama, on Honshu island
The raiders were not challenged I hy enemy planes, and anti-aircraft fire was meager and inaccurate.
The Kudamatsu refinery, manu¬ facturer of aviation gasoline and oil, was the fourth largest in Jrr pan. Its destruction, part of a re¬ lentless campaign to wipe out the enemy's war- making industry, (Continued on  Page A-12)
2 KILLED. 43 INJURED IN MAGNESIUM BLAST
Bridgeport, Conn., June 30, (UP) —Two persons were killed and 43 in.lured today In a mysterious ex¬ plosion at tile magnesium plant of the U, S. Alumnium Corp. of America.
Arthur Bradley, Bridgeport, a general foreman, and Peter Gvas- dnukas, Ansonia, Conn., were kill¬ ed when a blast rocked the entire plant, breaking walls and causing numerous fires.
Martin Nemetz, Joseph Gmltter. JoFcph Anthony. Samuel Marko- witz. all of Bridgeport, and Emil Dennert, Westpori, were critically injured.
The magnesium plant was pro¬ ducing easting for the navy, An¬ thony E. Fell, company personnel director said. An investigation will he made Immediately to determine the cause of the explosion.
Washington, June 30. (UP)—Four new cabinet members took ofllcci today in a shakcup whicli will in-1 elude far-reaching reorganization! of two departments — Liabor and Agriculture. I
A fifth new name was added | to the President's official family i yesterday when President Tru¬ man nominated James K. Byrnes, former War Mobilization director and Supreme Court Justice, to suc¬ ceed Edward R. Stettinius jr., as secretary of stale. Stettiniu.s re¬ signed to become ir. S,. delegate on the United Nations security coun¬ cil.
In a press conference shortly after he was sworn in, Lewis B. Schwellcnbach, who replaced Fran¬ ces Perkins as secretary of labor, said he planned to reorganize his department completely, if possible by Sept. 1.
Will Unite iJibOf i „it,
Schwellcnbach said he would bring into the department, with Mr. Truman's approval and as far as possible without legislation, the various agencies now dealing sep¬ arately with labor matters. He could not, however, take over the War Labor Board, the National Labor Relations Board and the National Mediation Board without i.-ongrcsslonal action.
The Agriculture department and War Food Administration were automatically merged under one chief when Rep. Clinton P. Ander¬ son (D., N. M.) took the oath of secretary of agriculture succeedinc Claude R. Wickard of Indiana, who becomes Rural Electrification Au¬ thority administrator.
Anderson replaced as war food administrator Judge Marvin Jones of Texas, who returned to his old (Continued  on  Page  A-2>
SUB KETE OVERDUE. NAVY PRESUMES LOSS
Washington, June 30. (UP)—The Na\'y today announced the 1.525- ton submarine Kete Ls overdue from patrol  and  presumed lost.
The skipper of the submarine was Lt. Chndr. Edward Ackerman. 29. Cincinnati. He was linted as missing in action along with the rest of the crew. The vessel had a wartime complement of from 80 to 85 men.
Los.s of this craft, which was presumably operating in Far East¬ ern waters, brought to 44 the num¬ ber of submarines lost from all causes in this war. It was the 320th  naval  vessel   to   be   lost.
Jittery Japs Now Add Thought-Control Weapon
}yar Summary
FACIMf: Tokyo says U. S. Fleet approaches Okinoerabu Island as prelude to invasion 21)0 miles from Japanese main¬ land.
CHINA: Chinese troops invade French Indo - China, capture military post .seven miles in¬ side border; other units clear former U. S. airbase city of Licuciiow.
AIR: Fifty .Superfortresses le- portedl.v obtain "excellent re- .sults" in Friday's raid on oil relinery on Honshu Island.
HURNEU: Tokyo describes day¬ long Allied bombardment of Balikpapan on Eastern Borneo, predicts   imminent   landing,
llt'RMA: British pursue enemy units fleeing toward Thailand, kill ,">0 Japanese south of Pyin- mana.
PHIMPPINES: Ameri.ans mop¬ ping up Csgayan Valley of Northeastern Luzon drive Jap- I      anese  from Baggao.
!    Washington.    June    30.     (UP) — , Mapan   has  ordered   an   emergency j increase   in   production   of   txplo- isivcs,   Tokyo   radio   said   today   in! ' reporting   new   measures   to   meet i ! "the   decisive   battle   of   the   main-1 I land."    The cabinet ordered explo-1 I lives    manufacturers    to    increase; I production speedily and gave them first  call on raw materials. I     In    another    move    designed    to meet  American   blows  against   the I home islands, and head off an  in- I vasion,  the  Japanese army   named 'i\ new commander for the Tohoku I district     in     northern     Honshu, I which   followed   similar   action   in ' .southern  and  eastern  Honshu. I New Coininandrr
I    The new command was given to
lien. Keisuke Kujie, wiio will have
charge of defenses  in  the six  pre-
Ifcctures   of   Aomori.   Akita,   Iwate,
Yamagata, Mitagi and Fukushima.
At   till!  same   time   I'lc  ministry
of   transportation   opened   a   two-
|dav conference to consider  "emer-
Stncy measures" to strengthen tlic
railway system  in  preparation   for
an invasion.
! The enemy iiomed a new director j tor the South Manchuria Railway Co.
JLnder "Handicaps" < Making excuses for the loss of Okinawa, the Domei agency direct¬ ed an English language broadcast I to North America as-'erting Jap^n [had been under "serious handi- |caps" but these handicaps would not exist in the battle for the home islands.
i    One   was   the   "long   distance"-- 350   miles—from   the   home   island
to Okinawa and another was th* necessity of holding first line pliinci in reserve to meet the in¬ vasion of the homeland, it asserted.
The propaganda dispatch said obsolete types of planes were used in suicide attacks against the Oki« nawa invasion forces and the dis¬ tance made it necessary to cut down on the amount of explosives that could be carried. It said that when the home islands were in¬ vaded, "up-to-date planes will be rushed endlessly from our facto¬ ries" to join the "decisive battle." Thought  control Bureau
Other developments in invasion- jittery Japan included organization of a thought-control bureau to "boost morale and defend the na¬ tional policy under the present grave  war situation."
Attempting to detect a grave fissure in the American home front, another broadcast asserted 'hat thereslgnatlon of Secretary of -State Edward R. Stettinius jr.. In¬ dicated ^ "wide gap in the out¬ look of the war" between govern¬ ment and business.
The enem.v ft-oadcast asserted anti-war sentiment was gs!ning ground in American business cir¬ cles becau.se America had Inat more than 50 per cent of her Navjr in tie Okinawa operations and MM invasion of the Japanese h.'m.-iaa^ would place thr United 9ta!dS la an Inferior naval position M) Britain.
The broadcasts were recorded hjr the Federal Communications Oea|> miulon.
J