Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              A Paper For The Home
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
The Weather
Sultry;  thunderatorm* Sunday night, Monday
38TH YEAR, NO. 36 — 40 PAGES
1Y tr*    Kens    A«r«l«-«
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, JULY 9, 1944
PRICE TEN CENTS
BRmSH TROOPS INJAEN
Soviets Fighting in Wilno Streets; 5,000 Allied Planes Attack Europe
Reds WOm Fordng Germans 95 Miles of T'> Abandon City
Foxhole Buddies on Saipan
4,000 Lay Shattering Barrage on Battle Line Of Struggle for Caen
Little Opposition Met by Fleets Which Also Continue Smashes at Rail Lines \ceded by Germans; Refineries Hit by Planes From Italy
By WALTf^K ( KO.NklTK
Allied Supreme Headquarurs, London, Sunday, July 9. (UPl- More than 4,000 Allied warplanes roared jver the llHining Norinan ballle- hclda yesterday and laid a shnlleriiig barrage acros.s the Gerniaii front linea around Caen, while a inislily sky Heel of well over I.IKIO Italmn- based raiders bombed Nazi oil relincries and airhelda in Austria and Hungary.
Headquarters announced that the overnll number of 5orlie.s woulrl total more than 4.000. inrluding ^^^.^——^———^—^—— l.-'OO flown from NormHiidy air-<"hlch slill were smoldcriiig from « flelds in rlosc .lupport of American; ravage l'..500-ton nighl bonibard- and British ground Bttacko. j ment  by the RAF'.'t heavyweight.*.
The    ofTensive     continued     after.     Thunderbolt fighters covered the^ darkness    last    night    when    RAr* Marauiici.--   and   laked   thr   eneui.v I fantrv   broke  illto  the streets'within heavy  bombers  in  "some  atroiigth'; hnes with niaihlri^ gun and - -¦
East Prussia
Drive 225 Miles   , In but 16 Days; Whole Line Falling; Menace Key Outpost Of Brest Litovsk
Ky ROBERT MUSEL
London,    Sunda.v    Jul.v (UP)—Soviet  tanks  and
in
On Road to Paris
Nazis  Wilt  Under Fierce Assaults, May Drop Back to New Defense Line After Montgomery Victory in One of Most Decisive Actions of the War; Yanks Back in La Haye Fourth Time
' It's onl.v a banana, but Marine .«gt. NellShober of Fort Wayne. Indiana,   veteran   of  Guadalcanal
and Tarawa, shares hU spoils I naval and air bombardment the with a native goat. Goat was > Yanks laid down in Saipan drive, one  of  few   animal   survivors  of  i  <U.    S.    Marine    Corpa    Pholo. i
Goebbels Fears Long Wait Before Germans Can Start Another War
Hy JOSfcl'H U. (>KI<iU
Loudon. July 8. - lUP) — Nh/I Propaganda Minister Joseph tJoebbels told the (jermaii people today that the Reich is in "grave danger" and that if it IS dc.ilroyed (iermany "v.ill not have a ehanie to repeal this .struggle for anolher 10, 20 or   fiO   years.'    the   DNB   news   agency   reported.
Goebbclif warning, coming almoat immediately after Adolf Hiiler's adminaion to German indus- triailsla thnt Ihe Reich'a indu.«lrie» were being far outstripped hy the Allien, waa directed to a ma.os meeting of 'JlXl.OOO Germana at an unidenti¬ fied town "in tiic eaat' and broadeaat for German ronaumplion. Srarlng Ihe Frople
In an apparent attempt to frighten the German people into working and fighting with the energy of   desperation.  Goebbels  ^aid:
Our eneiiiie* have made I cynically clear what fale awaits the nation in the event of the defeat  they  hope   and   strain   for.
"Our enemies will not be aati.sfied with deatroy- Ing our indu.striea paralyzing our economic life, tranaporling our aoldlers and workera to Siberia and   (^lashing   our   country   to   pieces,
•-.N'o    they   wiah   on    their   own   teatimony   to
destroy   the   German   nation   in   iUn   nationai   sub- .^tancc."
"KxUtenee at .Make"
Goebbel.'i aaid that while former wars were fought for tcrritor.v. strategic froiitiera or roni- mercial interests, "today the c.\ialonce of whole nations   la   at   .stake."
"Rvery single German must now act as though his   lilc   ia   in   danger,'   he   said.
Dc.'<pite the deepening crisis. Goebbels told Ihe Germans they "still hold all chances of viclory in our hands." aaserting that the Alliea face growing  difllculties.   too.
"Ue must not only look al our own ditlieulliea. which from rlcse proNimity always look more menacing than if viewed in proper tie.i," he said.
Real Battle* let to (ome
Goebbels said thai the real decisive fighting was slill to come and rlaimed that the course of Ihe invaaion so far "haa confirmed the expecta¬ tions  of  the   German  command."
"At Cherbourg. " he aaid. "German troopa not only fnught to the laat cartridge but to the laat drop of hlood. showing that the word capitulation did   not  exift  in   their vocabulary."
in some strength ' lines wiin niHinin<» gun and cannon : began lo leave east coast air-; fire. Nearly 100 Thunderbolt fighl- dromea and headed toward France, er bombers, attacking from tree- <The German home radio heard lop height, walked their honihs by the FCC reported thai Allied across German defenses at ."iO-fool nuisance raiders were over West- inlerval.i. Not a aingle German ern   fJcrmany   early   today.) i plane   ntlcmplcd   to  interfere  with
l.4iKse« Two to One jthe   raid,   and   the  Nazis   threw  up
Headquarters announced that the'only a feeble anti-aircraft barrage Normandy-based flghters shot down thai caught one Marauder, two tierman planes against a Iosh Siinullancou.sly, other Marauder of one. .Spitfires of the air defense foiniations reached inland to smash of Great Britain meanwhile set flre a railway bridge across the Eure to a wircleaa station at Combourg,'River at No<ient-lc-Roi. 70 miles :'0 milea southeaat of St. Malo, i aoulhwest of Paria. and another and   strafed   various   targets   from   aiross  the Loire al Saumur.
Hammer Rail IJnes
Al niid-aftci noon another force of Thunderbolts and Lightnings bombed the network of railway lines  feeding  into  the battle  area,
Brittany   to  Laon.
Wave upon wave of U. 'S. Marauders thundered over Ihc heads of the charging" Briti.sli Hoops    throughout    the    morning
of Wilno, capital of 'Soviet Lithuania, .vesterday in a lieadlong 27-iiiile advance over the Lithuanian border, wiiilc to the .south otiier Russian troop.s captured Baranowicze, clearinj: the wa.v for a mijrht.v three-pronjfed Red Army as¬ sault nn the fortress city of Brest Litovsk.
Gen. Cherniakhov*ky'* forces Srd White Ruaaian Army, plunging to within 0,1 milea of Eaat Prusala
By PHIL ALLT
Allied Supreme Headquarters, London. Sunday, July 9. (LP)—British tioops smashed into Caen Saturday, sweep¬ ing throuRh 12 .suburban forts in a juggernaut offensive to within half a mile ot the center of the city, and Berlin hinted that the Germans were abandoning the burned and battered bastion on the road to Paris.
Patrols may already have penetrated the inner city, and it appeared that Gen. Sir B. L. Montgomery's British Second Army had met and mastered the main tierman force facing the French beachhead in a battle that may go down a.s one of the decisive actions of the war.
American troops jit their end of the 12()-iTiile offensive front swept into La Haye du Puita for the fourth time and on tlieir east flank captured St. Jean de Daye, drilling a deep hole near tiie center of the German front.
l4ite dispatches from the Caen front said Canadian anti-
.«plallering   their   bomb   loada   over j hilling 40 different points between
enemy   gun   batteries   and   strong polnta in the Caen aector. many of
Chapellc   and    Combourg. (Continued   on   Pige   A-81
be-
Fanatical Jqp Attack Stopped on Saipan
],5UU More Die in Hopeless Chaise; 66 More Planes Downed in Bonins— Takes Loss Since June 20 to 869
By MILLI A >I F. n RKE
Pearl Harbor, July 8. il'Pi- Desperate Japanese troops cornered on the norlhwcslern rim of Saipan counler-atlai ked U. S. forces before dawn Thursday morning and gained thiec-fquiths of a mile in several nours of bloody fighting in which L.'iOO of tiie enemv were ki'led and numerops .Ajr.eri an i»-ii;a!lits wiie iii.uuMi.  ii  was announced today.
American Marines annd .»oldiera fell back 2 000 yards before Uic vicious counter-oflensive but rallied their forres before noon and amaahed fonvard again to regain 800 of ihe lo.il yards. The Japanese drive waa concentrated against the|
American   left   flank,   and   at     one   Leathernrcks and soldiers, will  try point it  moved to the edge of Tan-, to sell Saipan as dearly as possible.
after driving !?:» mile* in i« dsys.|tani\ gunners knocked out 17 German tanks vestordav. The.v drove   the   Nazis   from   house   to]fepoited  tile battle lai'Keh   was an  infanti'\' and aitlllerV 2m!^ Jre w^7p'o"pu"XTi^nVn!<>Pe'-«tion and that the fii'.st thrust had cracked mo.t of the observers expected the city to faiiiStrong ring of Geniian defenses around Caen, within the next =4 hour*. |    Hundreds of German prisoners were taken as the British
se^r"ed'iu" com.SI:nSuonr'wrthi''«cked through stone villages in Caen's western, northern Daugavpils. In Latvia, cutting the and noilheastein outskirts where German resistance, fierce Leningrad-Warsaw trunk lino and when the attack started before dawn, wilted late in the day thus   depriving   the   German   Gen.  ,,_j-,. i|,„ „,,„„„„„.„..;„„ _.„   ..i.„ ^
Lindemann'a   Baltic   divisions     to-  """^^   the overpowering assaults.
(Continued on Page A-«)        I    There  were signs  that  German  heavy  guns and  tanks
War  Suiuiuai'T
The one black spot of the war i one which can change the course for the United Nations - Central I of the war. eapecially in the drive China — sent  out good newa  thi* | on   the   Reich   from   the   west.     A
Yanks, French Closing in On Livorno and Florence
Savage Withdrawal Of Germans Costly To Both Armies
and riflemen had launched a powerful assault on the city, which liej" about midwav between Rosig- nano and  Colle  di  'Val.
British 8th Army hammered out small gains on the approaches to jArczzo at the center of the Italian mans' coastal defenses 12 miles battle line, and on the Adriatic below Livorno. and Castellina five! coasUl flank below Ancona. milea lo the east, were taken by; The American and French spear- the American.* yesterday. Volterra. heads were only 30 milea or less the fourth and lasl enemy alrong-jlrom the 'Gothic line and front hold on thia line, waa still in Ger- reports indicated the Nazis were man handa last night but front I throwing ever.vlhing in their diapsU-he.i    said    American    tanks Italian    aYsenal    into    the    sector.
apag  town
The Japaneae opened a ahort- liveil artillery attack on Isely Air¬ field from Tinian Island and air- raidrd Ameriian positions ineffec¬ tually aimultajieous with the ground counter-olTensive in the norlh.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz'.i Pacific Fleet headnuarlers com munique di.sclosed a total of .66 Jap
Right Flank Keeps Advancing
The   righl    flank   of   the   United Stales forces continued to advance
morning. Fro.n there came reports of a surprise Chineae counter¬ attack which was moving aucceaa- fully. A viclory will spoil .lapan's dream of a rail line from Man¬ churia to .Singapore and a great aid for coiicjuuat of the South China coast. Bark of the Cliinese waa the great Ingredient  for success in
were withdrawing to a new lina below Caen and the Berlin radio, pessimiatic throughout the day on the battle f.r the city, said last nighl thai "il is not improbable we may shorten our linea by withdrawing them beyond Caen." Warship* Pnund  Retreat
A   late   United   Press   front     dia- paldi   said   heavy   German     traffic was observed on several roads lead¬ ing   oul   of   Caen   and   that   Allied 0'', field guns «nd watohrps wore Vttm-" I barding  the  highway.s.     An  nfflclal ..      . I commentator here meanwhile warn-
the Americans nn   p^   against   the   danger   of
terrific artillerv barrage and bat¬ tering by 4,000 planea aided the attack which cauaed Germany to radio hints of retiring. The Amer¬ icana alao pushed ahead and the drive for Paris -or to cut Pans   - was   developing.
heavy
Tn the Pacific modern war.    An air umbrella was Saipan  met  and slopped  a  fanatic' (hernian  armored  counler-attacka. furnished   by    the   U.S.   14th   Air,drive   by   the   Ja^ps   being   pushed!     (-g^^  ^^.j(j,
Force.
a population of .'W.OOa
into   the   se*.     That   was   on   one  ,     ir.,..,„.. -   •., ,     ,   -¦
i flank.     The  other  U.S.   flank   Uepl, "•,„!^"'"''   «^«"'''   P*"-'-    It   !>" puahing.      All    three    airfielda    on' "'""'J''".'"^ '^e sea but has a Russian reports gave every Indi- Noemfoor   were   in   the   hands   of  lUL*!,.'!?."".??..''^*".', ".'"'.'•"?'^ '""'* cation   of  a   complete German   col-[MacArthur's   men   and   Nimitz   re¬ lapse   in   White   Rus.»ia.    That   will'ported    more    aerial    viclories    bv and   reached  a  point slightly  morel permt   the   Soviets   lo   c:ut   off   the Navy   fliers     An   attack   on  Japan than  a mile  from the uncompleted  Baltic   Stales   and   drive   into   Eaat by    both    land-   and    carrier-based airfield  al .Marin  Point,  al   Ihe  ex-jPru.saia and Brest Litovsk, the lat-,planes seemed developing.
ter   an   outpost   of  Germany   itself I
Recalling that Flast Prussia served'    Heavy  losses to both   sides were as an advance base for the Gtrman  the   result   of   the   fierce   German
trenic northern ond of the 15 miles long island.
".Several       thousand"      Japanese particinated   in   the  counter-attack.
Failed to Save the President^rant
By RKY.NOLDS PACKARD
Rome.   July   8.   lUPi-   American' and French troopa cloaed on Livorno   _ _ ¦¦^•¦a ^ aflf flk #
, Leghorn, and Florence today after  3-JlfUnfll f f gflf OH  SOUfll  iOOS ReOf
atorming through three of the foui i ^
main outposts of the German "liothic Line" in one ofthe blondica; batllea  of  the  Italian   campaign
A wide-open tank and infantry fight raged all along the 4o-odd- mile .Mh Army Front from the Tyrrhenian seacoast to the rolling hi"lla above Siena in western Ilaly as Allied armored spearheads knifed forward to within II miles •i- less of Livorno and about 2.^ Mile* of  Florence.
Ifeadquartera apoke-cincn aaid the TJaris were waging a savage with¬ drawal, and that i-aaualties were, running high on both sides.
(A BBC broadcast recorded by CBS said atreet fighting waa re¬ ported lo have broken out Inside Livorno. presumably between Italian Partiaans and Nazi troopa. and thnt the city'a Faaciat chiefa had fled.
Roaignano.   keystone of  the Gcr-
anese planes were destroyed and BfllTlicy lunged against the American damaged in the previously-an-'left flank before sunrise and reach- nounced carried attacks on Chichi ed the outskirla of Tanapag town, and Haha i.slands In Ihc Bonins: captured *>>' '-'• S. Iroopa aeveral group. 6.W miles from Tokyo. days ago.
ll was obvious now that the Jap- The enemy assault was pinned anese. trapped on a narrow strand down hrfnre'imon. Then the Amer- hy     the     iiiPNorable     ndvaiic:e     of (Continued   on   Page  A-8>
U.S. Air Umbrella Helps China Hengyang Surprise
ing space with outlets lo the coaat through the Oinc Rhcr and canal, making it a valuable addition to the  Allies' conquests  in   France.
The 11:30 p.m. Allied communi¬ que reported steady gains wera made Saturday on all active por¬ tions of the front, with the Amerl-
attack    on    Poland,    coining
from above and behind on Warsaw, and   Florence   were   coming  nearer
the manner In which il csn he uaed to the advancing Alliea.
by Russia beromea apparen'    It   is
down resiatance    in    Italy,    but    Livorno  '•;'"' ^l'^^ '" ^ "".ve "nd holding - all  high  ground  in   the  area.
lank* Beyond >laln Fnrt*
 __  „,,,, „ After  capturing  St   Jean,   aeven
a" springboard which serves in botiil    '^*   »'°^*'   *"*•   painful   struggle  mile*   *outheast   of  Carentan.   the direction*. *'*¦' continuing in Burma and the > Vanka   linked   two  apearheada    in
Indian frontier, but continuing with  the central aector and  plunged on what   aeems   amall   but   never   the  south   toward   important   Pont-He- Gen. Montgomery aeemed on the'leaa important gaina  by  American, j bert   through   a   hail   of   fire   from verge   of  a   great   viclory  at  Caen, Britiah and Chinese forces. I 'Continued on Page A-9'
In Todau'a Issue
ClBHOlHed    B—»
Kdllorlal   V—t
y\n\ lea H—11
Social     A—IS
Hport*    IW-1
Radio    	
Outdoor 	
San Francisco, July 8 cUPi Loss of the famed President Grant, former round-the-world luxury liner. In a slorm in the South Pacific was disclosed toda.v by the War Shipping Administration co- Incident with the arrival of the Merchant Marine crew aurvivors here.
Xo Uvea were lost In the accident when the 13.050-ton vessel broke on a submerged reef barely lO-iniles from its foreign destination. No enemy action was involved.
Crew members, most of them from the San Francisco area, cele¬ brated their homecoming. It waa Ihe first time in five montha they had heen on solid ground. Ready for Hea Again
The men were met at the dock hy representatives of the American P'resident Lines and given 100 each for their first shore leave celebra¬ tion. They were in good health and eager lo ship again.
The merchant seamen told a story of a heroic three months' long atniggia to sav* their crippled veaael.
While weathering a heavy storm the big ship struck a reef al 9:10 a. ni. when only 10-milcs from port. All handa were held readv lo aban- I don ahip bill when daylight came it waa determined the veaael could be .saved.
I    Then  began  a  battle  that lasted I for over three montha.    The crew¬ men  called   the   epiaode   "100  Daya ^ on a Reef."
I OUier vessels rushed from the 'nearest port to help and guard the shin from enemy attack. Troopa and passengers were safely trans¬ ferred. Then. In the blazing jun¬ gle heat of the tropics, the men stripped to benin their lon,i. back- breaking sliiigcle  with   the sea.
Tried Time and Again
j Day after day fnr 100 da.vs they I worked and sweat to get the ship off Ihr rocks. Often Ihey nearly .succeeded. Bul always fate in- !terveiipd. Storms would throw the ship   back   on   Ihe   reef.
Finally,   a  sudden    lashing storm ^snatched    the    huge    ve.sael   away IContinued on I'ag* A-9)
By CiKURlie WANO
Chungking. July 8 'UP*-Rein¬ forced Chinese troops are pressing their four-day-old surprise counter- offensive successfully from three sides of Heiiyang, a Chinese com¬ munique said tocla.v. and a supply line haa been reopened through the citv's west gale, captured when thr ring of encirclement was broken Tuesdav morning.
Japanese planes have dropped new loads of incendiaries on the center of Hengyang. front dia- patchea acknowledged, but added that this constltiiles no threat to Chinese possession of the key Hunan province cily.
Victorious Chinese forces, on the move again afler weeks of defeat and withdrawal, were reported holding the initiative in all sectors ol the province, promising to smash flnallv the Japanese cam¬ paign to complete occupation of the l.OOO-mlle Peiping-Canton rail¬ road. China's main north and south supply artery, on which Hengyang lies.
The U. P   Itth Air Fore*, which
paved the way for the Chinese counter-drive by shattering Jap¬ anese communications lines and killing L.'iOO enemy troops, niain- thlned an air-tight umbrella ovf« [all fronts, sinking two supply boats attrinpling lo reach the enemy along the main Sinng River supply route south of Changaha.
In the Canton sector of Kwang- luug province the Chineae com- muique said. Chines troopa "further progressed" in amashing the Jap¬ aneae drive which had been atarted Doithward with the aim of meeting the advance south along the rail¬ road through  Hunan
A    communique    from    Lt.    Gen Jo.seph   W.   StilwcH's   headquarters reported that US.SAF 8-2,1 medium bombers and  P-40 fighters  bombed the   southeast   sector   of   Tungting Lake      biggest     Japanese     supply | center    in    Hunan    Province,    four] limes  Thursday,  leaving  fire.s  visi-1 ble   from   100   mile.s.     Other   B-2.'^s bombed the Tien Ho airdrome and. started   fires   in    the   supply   srea at Canton  the sam* day, th* com-1 inunique  aaid. •