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Show lass Taife Gums to First U. S. Army Men Rally As German Armored Units Stab Over 20 Miles Into Belgium Gen. Hodges' Army Lines Appear To Be Stabilizing Along the Northern Half of the 70-Mile Defensive Battle Front -THE WEATHER Partly eltidy east portion; eloody west portion this afternoon, after-noon, tonight and Wednesday; few snow flarries over monntaln extreme north portion; not vlte o cold tonight. Temperatores: High 4 Low .. .11 . Yanks Meet Nazi (tamterattack ' FIFTY-NINTH YEAR, NO. State to Fix Streets Vhen R. R. Abandons City Commission, Hotel Committee Meet With State Road Heads The Provo city commission and the hotel committee of the Provo Chamber of Commerce had received re-ceived assurance today that the state will pay for the repairing of 11 of 13 blocks on University and Center Streets when the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad abandons its tracks. At a meeting Monday at the state capitol in Salt Lake the city commission, the chamber com mi t tee and members of the state road commission agreed to the action which was taken. A joint application was made to the state road commission by the city commission and the chamber committee to have the state repair re-pair the streets which constitutes the state highway, where the tracks of the railroad now run. Nine blocks will be repaired by the state on Center Street and two on University Avenue. Clayton Jenkins, secretary of the chamber and a member of the hotel committee com-mittee said. Meanwhile. Cliff Tolboe. chairman chair-man of the hotel committee, said today that he expected that by the end of the week, negotiations for purchase or dropping the option on the property on which the Sali Lake and Utah Railroad station in Provo is situated, would be known. Attending the meeting from Provo were Mayor Maurice Hard-big. Hard-big. Commissioners Joseph H Swapp and B. D. Palfreyman; Mr. Jenkins. Mr. ToTftoeTT&hn Beesley end Bob Bullock, members of the hotel committee. One Killed, One Missing From Utah County Killed L. Gean Christiansen, shlpfit-ter shlpfit-ter 3rd class, formerly of Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove. " Missing Set. Albert Dean Mitchell, Lrhi. Wounded Pfc. Werner Loeffler, American Fork. Pfc. Edward K. Dana, Pleasant Grove. L Gean Christiansen. 26. ship-fitter ship-fitter third class, was killed in . ; a i . . V T i i r nr. .. : . ux, ,t. cording lO worn parents, Mr. and Kirs, n. r. Christiansen, American Fork. Born at Pleasant Grove, he received re-ceived his schooling at Tooele and later moved to Nevada, where he was employed as a miner and rancher. He entered the service in August. 1942. Surviving are his parents; eight brothers, Armo Christiansen, Christian-sen, American Fork; Lloyd Byron By-ron and Ned and Francis Christiansen, Chris-tiansen, Tooele; Leonard and Wobert Christiansen. Ely, Nev.; Don Christiansen, Cherry Creek. 4 three sisters. Mrs. Money Jones antf Mrs. Harry Horslchur, Pioche, Nev., and Miss Betty Christiansen, American Fork. Sgt. Albert Dean Mitchell. Alpine Al-pine school district, son of Supt. and Mrs. David R. Mitchell, Lehi, vas reported missing over Germany Ger-many Nov. 25. His wife is the former Mildred Adamson. A Lehi high school graduate, Sgt. Mitchell attended the Utah State Agricultural college at Logan Lo-gan before enlisting in the army ir force In 1941. He left for 6verseas duty as a B-17 gunner Oct. 22. Awaiting further word are his wife; parents; a sister, Mrs. Mae Louise Hampton, Prineville, Ore.; and two brothers, Lt. Richard Rich-ard F. Mitchell, in the south Pacific, Pa-cific, and Ralph Mitchell, Lehi. Pfr Werner Loeffler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Loeffler, American Fork, was wounded in action in France Nov. 30, and How is hospitalized there. Overseas since August, 1942, he has seen action in Italy and France. He entered the army in (Continued on Face Eight) Churchill Group Yields to Demand LONDON. Dec. 19 CU.PJ Prime -Minister Winston i-nurcnm nu Jis colleagues retreated tonight before labor demands for immediate imme-diate consideration of the Greek rials and agreed to debate it in commons tomo rrow . when jEhurchJjris expected to apeak 141 Hsn TD, Government Seizure Of Montgomery Ward Property Imminent Firm Reiterates Determination Not to Comply Com-ply With WLB Directive For Compulsory Maintenance of Union Membership CHICAGO, Dec. 19 Government seizure of Montgomery Mont-gomery Ward and Company properties in seven cities appeared ap-peared imminent today as the firm reiterated determination determina-tion not to comply with a War Labor Board directive which included a demand for maintenance of union membership. The company met the minimum wage scale set by the WLBfor employes of its Detroit stores, but a company spokesman said Wards would not acede to other WLB de mands. In Washington the WLB said Wards' offer to make Detroit wage increases retroactive to Sept. 7, 1943 did not comply with the directive which ordered them retroactive to Dec. 7, 1942. Avery Stands Firm Sewell Avery, chairman of the board of Montgomery Ward, said the Detroit wage increase was made independently and that he had not changed his previously-announced previously-announced attitude that the company com-pany "cannot in good citizenship" comply with the WLB directives. A company spakesman said the waoge decision did not alter the company's stand. At Washington the War Labor Board said the firm's offer to comply with the wage directive did not change the WLB's decis ion to refer to the White House the company's defiance of WLB orders. The WLB said that in addition to the minimum wages. Wards in Detroit had been directed to make other upward wage adjust- ments, to institute maintenance of membership, dues checkoff, arbi-j tration of grievances, and to1 recoffnize seniority n maUne promotions. Avery, the 70-year-old chair man of the board of directors of Ward's, announced last night that the company would not abide by the WLB order "and give to the union special privileges which Ward's believes to be not only unfair un-fair and uneconomic, but illegal." The announcement, made at the conclusion of a five-hour meeting with company officials, followed jby only a few hours an ultimatum jby WLB Chairman William H. I Davis that unless the firm com plied with the directives by this morning the case would be referred refer-red to the White House "for further fur-ther action." Davis did not say what "further action" would be taken but it was presumed the case would be refer- J red to Economic Stabilization Director Di-rector Fred M. Vinson with a recommendation that the government govern-ment seize the firm's four Detroit stores, where employes are or p1W. anH nrnmHiM in si othpr cities Properties in cities other than (Continued on Page Eight) Brickyard Worker Loses One Arm In Accident Robert (Bob) Gossard, 33. was resting and in "good" condition today at the Utah Valley hospital after amputation of his right forearm fore-arm between the wrist and elbow. Mr. Gossard sustained the injury in-jury yesterday at the Provo Brick and Tile Company when a brick press fell on his arm. According to Dr. J. J. Weight attending physician, Mr. Gossard had his hand in the brick press when it accidentally fell, separating separat-ing his hand at the wristbone. Amputation was made between the wrist and elbow, Dr. Weight said, because of badly lacerated muscles. Blood plasma was administered to lessen shock and loss of blood. the attending physician said. Mr. Gossard has a wife and family His home is at Lakeview. Supreme Court Pays Tribute To Late Justice Sutherland WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 u The supreme court Mon-onday Mon-onday paid tribute to one of its former members, the late Justice George Sutherland of Utah, in special memorial service. Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone described Sutherland, who retired in 1938 after serving aft an associate of justice of the high court for 16 years and died July 18. 1942, as a conservative who advocated progress but "with the torch of the law still burning." Attorney General Francis Biddle, speaking for members mem-bers of the court's bar, eulogized Sutherland's "consideration "considera-tion of the feelings of others." He said Sutherland's philosophy phi-losophy sprang from a lingering environment of the 19th century "untouched by the impact of life under conditions of modern mass production." PROVO, UTAH U. S. Grand Jury Indicts 2 Firms On Fraud Charges WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (U. Attorney General Francis Biddle today disclosed that a Federal Grand Jury in New York has in dicted two corporations and four of their principal executives on charges of conspiring to defraud the government in connection with production of navy ordnance and the Norden bombsight. Two indictments charging illegal ille-gal conspiracy were returned against the defandants, all of whom are from New York. Named in one indictment were. Corrigan. Osburn, and Wells, Inc., industrial engineers. Cmdr. John D. Corrigan. USN R. and Robert H. Wells, co-owners f the entire voting stock of the corporation. Carl L. Norden. Inc.. manufac- wren oi wis wurucii iahiii. Theodore H. Barth. president, and Ward B. Marvelle, vice presi dent, who control the business and 'policies of the Norden company Biddle said Carl L. Norden. inventor of the bombsight and former president of the Norden company, was not involved in the alleged conspiracies. Norden no longer is connected with the Norden Nor-den company. Mother, Two Children Die In Idaho Fire BOISE. Ida.. Dec. 19 U.R The death toll of a fire which destroyed de-stroyed a three-room frame dwelling at Orchard. 30 miles southwest of Boise, was raised to three at noon today when Mrs. Eleanor Ledford. 23. the mother of two infant boys who succumbed succumb-ed in the flames, died at a Boise hospital The children who died were Everett Ledford, 2, and his brother broth-er Marshall, one. Also confined at the hospital are Charline Ledford, 6, and her sister. Aline. 4. The physician said both girls were "painfully burned." Coroner William McBratney, said no inquest will be held. He said he believed the fire started from faulty wiring, adding there was no chance to extinguish the blaze because of lack of equipment. equip-ment. Superfortresses Hit Jap Targets WASHINGTON, D. C, Dec. 19 (U.R) Superfortresses in a three-way three-way daylight strike today hit enemy targets at Omura, Japan, and Shanghai and Nanking, China, Chi-na, the war department announced announc-ed today. The raiders over China reported re-ported they shot down five enemy ene-my planes probably destroyed three and damaged nlno others. COUNTY. UTAH, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1944 PRICE FIVE CENTS Fight Against FDR Nominees Called Off Same Names Will Be Sent to Senate, Says President to Pepper WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (U.R) Sen. Claude Pepper, D., Fla., announced after a telephone tele-phone conversation with President Roosevelt today that he was going to abandon his fight to delay senate confirmation con-firmation of six top state department de-partment nominations. Pepper said the president told him that if the senate failed to act on the pending nominations in this f.nsion ot congress the same list would be forwarded to the new congress which meets Jan 3. "In icw of thfcl fact ther i is nothing we could accomplish by delaying senate action until thr next congress, and we are willing to let the matter come to a vot-j immediately," Pepper told reporters. re-porters. Pepper, who had led a "New Deal" revolt against the nominations nomi-nations on grounds that they were too conservative and "out of character with" the Liberal record of the Roosevelt administration, adminis-tration, said he was authorized by President Roosevelt ' to .ay that if any one of the nominees failed fail-ed to carry out administration policies he will be dismissed. Collapse of the delaying action on the part of Pepper and Sens. James E. Murray, D., M.mt , and Joseph F. Guffey, V., Pa, indicated indi-cated that the senate might reach a vote on the six nominations before be-fore the day is ended. Seeking such a vote, the chamber bogen its session at 11 a.m. mi hour earlier than usual. Sen. Robert M. LaFollette, Prog , Wis., who had joined the three New Deal Democrats in sponsorship of a resolution to put off a confirmation vote until the next congress, said he would make a brief speech protesting the pending list but had no intention in-tention of conducting a filibuster. ActiiiK Democratic Leader Lia- ! ter Hill. D.. Ala., and Sen. Tom .' Connally, D., Tex., whose foreign I relations committee has approved approv-ed the nominees, arranged to keep the senate into session late into the night if necessary to dispose dis-pose of the confirmations. THREE BANDITS HOLD UP HOTEL SALT LAKE CITY. Dec. 19 CU.PJ Three bandits held un a nieht clerk and bellboy at the Ambassador Ambassa-dor hotel here last night and es caped with $80. Police said they believed two of the bandits were Involved in another robbery last week. FDR Returns from Three-Week Vacation at Warm Springs, Ga. By MERRIMAN SMITH United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (U.R) President Roosevelt, tanned and rested from his rigorous Fourth Term campaign, returned to the White House today after a three- Mystery Balloon Found In Montana Of Jap Origin I KALISPELL, Mont., Dec. 19 I (U.R) There was only one live topic of conversation today in this Flathead county summer resort re-sort where the war suddenly dropped drop-ped into the laps of 8.000 natives i U n nwM f n w. ...f apiaii. .Tana. Ill llic iui ill J I a iwm.? I 1 11 I UdllUVH. Since the day last week when O. B. Hill and his son Owen spotted the camouflaged-blue sphere in the woods southwest of town, Kalispell has taken a buzzing buzz-ing new interest in the war being fought thousands of miles across the Pacific ocean. Townspeople made sure, however, they knew whom they were talking to until federal authorities had checked the balloon. The Hills came across the paper balloon on the snow-blanketed forest floor as they walked to a stand of timber thev olanned to chop down. The processed paper balloon was collapsed, ana it trailed trail-ed an elastic cable which had hmn nit indicating that a BOn- dola might have been attached. Speculation on who or wnat was riding in that gondola boiled up in every conversation today. Experts on free ballooning said that the Japanese craft might have drifted this way at speeds (Continued, on Page Eight). Pacific Helper t i Strengthening its naval power in the Far East to lend a hand to U. S. Fleets operating against the Japs, Great Britain has named Adml. Sir Bruce A. Fra-ser, Fra-ser, above, as commander-in-chief of new British Pacific Fleet 300 Fortresses Blast German Counterattack LONDON, Dec. 19 (U.R) The United States Eighth air force sent more than 300 Flying Fortresses For-tresses into the battle to blunt the Nazi offensive thrust on the western west-ern front today, blasting road and rail junctions in front of the U. S. First army front. The attacks swept 'the entire area from Trier opposite the Luxembourg Lux-embourg front to Gemund at the north end of the First army line. The Fortresses carried out their attacks with a small escort of Thunderbolt fighters. The daylight operations of the Eighth air force followed up similar blows by the RAF during the night, in which the reinforcement reinforce-ment bottlenecks of Munster and Nurnberg were attacked, as well as the last remaining Nazi fleet units at Gdynia. Poland. Flying 1,600 miles round trip, the four-engined bombers struck at the 12,000-ton pocket battleships battle-ships Admiral Scheer and Lutzow and a number of submarines berthed at Gdynia. The crippled 26.000-ton battleship Gneisenau also may be at Gdynia. WOMAN FACES MURDER CHARGE EUGENE. Ore.. Dec. 19 (U.R) Miss Gladys Turley. 36, Eugene newspaperwoman charged with the shooting of her best friend, was arraigned in circuit court here on a charge of assault with intent to kill. weeks vacation at Warm Springs, Ga., to deal with serious diplomatic, diplo-matic, military, and domestic problems. Although he kept up with his paper work on a daily basis while resting at the "little white house" on the Warm Springs Foundation, Mr. Roosevelt came home to wide assortment of official tasks a complicated foreign affairs situation, situ-ation, furtherance of plans for a meeting of the "big three,"- completion com-pletion of the administration's program for the new congress, final drafting of the government's new financial budget, and hAs Jan 20 inauguration. Mr. Roosevelt left Washington November 27 and reached Warm Springs the next day. He left the Georgia Spa, famous for the after-treatment after-treatment of polio patients, on Dec. 17. stopped yesterday to inspect in-spect the 107.000 acre Marine corps training base at Camp Le-jeune. Le-jeune. N. C. and arrived here at 8:30 a.m. (EWT) today. (This was the first public disclosure dis-closure of Mr. Roosevelt's whereabouts where-abouts for the past three weeks. He was accompanied on his trip by correspondents for the three press associations.) Problems competing for the President's Immediate attention included: 1. The military reverses on the Western front where the Ger mans have driven the American First back into Belgium and Luxembourg. 2. Mounting diplomatic pressure for a meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Josef Stalin as a consequence of the explosive Greek, Belgian Italian, and Polish situations. 3. The senate controversy over nominations to six high State department de-partment posts. 4. The War Labor Board-Mont-(Continned on Page Eight). r I Ifypy Carrier Planes Blast Luzon In Sixth Day Raid 94 Ships, 461 Planes Blasted In First 72 Hours Against Luzon By WILLIAM B. DICKINSON United Press War Correspondent ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, HEADQUAR-TERS, PHILIPPINES, Dec. 19 ue) Carrier planes of the Third fleet, credited with destroying de-stroying or damaging 94 ships and 461 planes in the first 72 hours alone, sent an unparalleled unparal-leled aerial bombardment of Luzon into Its six straight day today with a new round of attacks. at-tacks. With th e ground campaign on Leyte In its final stages and the beachhead on Mindoro secure, a front dispatch said Filipinos in Manila confidently expect American Amer-ican invasion forces to land on Luzon and reach the Philippines capital city "soon." (A Japanese broadcast yesterday yester-day said an American convoy of "considerable strength" had been sighted in the Sulu Sea south of Mindoro, and speculated that further fur-ther American amphibious landings land-ings might be in prospect, perhaps per-haps on Luzon.) A dispatch from Pacific fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor re ported that Admiral William F. Halsey's Third fleet planes still were battering away -at Luzon after sinking 28 Japanese ships, damaging 66 others and wrecking 461 planes last Thursday, Friday and Saturday alone. Land-based p!anes- of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Southwest Pacific command extended the aerial neutralization campaign over the remainder of the Philippines Philip-pines and reported that his air craft, together with those of the Third fleet, had destroyed or damaged severely 741 enemy planes in the week ended Sunday. Over 100 Ships Though MacArthur gave no over-all figure for the number of ships sunk by land-based planes, it was indicated that the toll exacted ex-acted by army and navy planes together for the eight days through thro-ugh Monday well may exceed 100 ships and 750 planes. On the ground. Brig. Gen. William Wil-liam C. Dunckel's invasion forces on Mindoro, only eight and a half miles across the Verde Island strait from Luzon, were encircling a large pocket of Japanese in the hills east of captured San Jose in the southwest corner of the island. Japanese opposition continued to be insignificant, with six enemy troops killed and three prisoners captured in one 24-hour period. American engineers promised to have airfields ready on Mindoro's sugar cane fields in record o personal per-sonal time. On Leyte, 300 miles southeast of Mindoro, the 77th division neared the outskirts of Valencia, principal Japanese stronghold in the Ormoc corridor and head-( head-( Continued on page eight) Leading Ace Shot Down In Battle HEADQUARTERS, U. S. 13th AIR FORCE, Dec. 19 (U.R) Lt. Col. Robert B. Westbrook, leading lead-ing ace of the 13th air force with 20 Japanese planes to his credit, was shot down in the Macassar Straits Nov. 22, it was revealed today. Westbrook's plane was hit when be started strafing a Japanese Jap-anese gunboat whose ack-ask fire was hampering other 13th air force Lightning fighters in an attack on two freighters. His right engine caught fire but he reported by radio: "I think I'm okay." Then his plane suddenly plummeted plum-meted 700 feet and broke up in the water. Other pilots swept low over the spot but found no trace of him. Reds Bring Budapest-Vienna Railroad Under Big Gun Fire LONDON, Dec. 19 (U.R Mos cow reported today that the Buda pest-Vienna railway, the last practical escape route for the garrison of the beleaguered Hun garian capital, had been brought under Russian artillery fire. A Soviet broadcast said the jaws of the Red army pincers clamped on Bundapest were only 15 miles apart, and the corridor between them was swept by shellfire, partially sealing off the German and Hungarian troops in the city. "Budapest has already lost its military and economic importance for the Mrehnnacht, and has be PARIS, Dec. 19 u. Massed American tanks, guns, and men moved up today to meet German armored columns striking more than 20 miles into Belgium, and a front dispatch dis-patch said Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' First army lines "appeared to be stabilizing" along the northern half of the 70-mile defensive front. The British radio said the battle to stem the big coun-teroffensive coun-teroffensive of Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt "is now in full swing." United Press correspondent Jack Frankish, with First army forces, said reports were circulating that the German Ger-man advance in Belgium had been slowed to a snail's pace if not completely stopped. Rallying from the shock of their most stunning setback set-back since Kasserine Pas in Tunisia, Hodges' Doughboys had succeeded in regrouping to meet the onslaught which WI n 1 Nazis 5triKe DOCK (NBA TeUpkoto) The heaviest German counter-offensive of western campaign (white arrows) co-ordinated with a savage V-bomb barrage, continues to roll on U. S. Pint Army front, punching Into Belgium and Luxembourg. ' Belgians Alarmed As Germans Return In Counterattack BRUSSELS, Dec. 19 (U.R) The German counter-offensive spread alarm through Belgium today, and Ferdand De Many, national independence front leader, offered of-fered to remobilize the disbanded resistance force to help fight the Germans. De Many made his offer in a letter to Maj. Gen. George Ers-kine, Ers-kine, chief of the Allied military mission in Belgium, but Erskine was expected to reply that army forces were capable of handling the situation. Newspapers detailing the enemy's ene-my's progress in eastern Belgium sold out quickly. Occasional fist fights broke out 8 round newsstands news-stands as customers scrambled for copies. Rumors circulated freely through -Christmas shopping crowds in Brussels. Growing with each successive telling, some had the Germans half way along the 80-mile corridor cor-ridor between Brussels and the German border. In offices, ordinarily conservative conserva-tive businessmen concluded conversations con-versations with "if" regarding a German re-entry of Brussels. Continuing robot bomb attacks added to the tension. Americans who tried to calm their Belgian friends were told: "It's all right for you to be calm, but don't forget we lived with those people for four years. We do not want them back." De Many told Erskine in his letter that his organization was disposed "to take every step to obtain with a very short delay remoblllzation of the patriotic militia and the Belgian army ot partisans." AUXILIARY OILER REPORTED SUNK WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 OiJfO The 23,000 ton naval auxiliary oiler Mississinewa was sunk recently re-cently in the central Pacific by enemy action but nearly 80 per cent of the crew was saved, the navy announced today. come an untenable, cut off out post." and it is already under Soviet artillery fire." Dispatches from Moscow said that bad weather and stiffened resistance re-sistance along new defense lines had slowed down the Hungarian campaign. After their long advance, ad-vance, the Russians now were up against defenses in which the Germans were prepared to make considerable sacrifices to prevent a Soviet break into Austria, they said. Two Red army columns advanced ad-vanced into southern Slovakia on a broad front and converged on (Continued on Page Eight) 2I8ERMAHY NANCY J! J? FRANCE . Z 25 50 MULH0VSIa .. MILES , pushed them out of Germany at P0"1 on 30-mile front, Frank- Allied Planes Attack-Low Attack-Low clouds and haze blanketed blanket-ed a considerable part of the battle bat-tle zone, but Allied planes again were swarming to the attack wherever they could find Nazi Panzers and infantry. Grim and tense, the Americans were pouring up into defensive positions. United Press Correspondent Corres-pondent John McDermott reported re-ported from another sector of the front in a dispatch which quoted a staff officer as saying: "We've got plenty to halt tha Germans. It looks like the Jerries want their finish this side of the Rhine." . At Supreme headquarters it was reported that the Germans not only were continuing their offensive against the U. S. First army, but were fighting harder against the American Third and Seventh armies Both Germany and the Allies maintained news blackouts over the battle in Belgium and Luxembourg. Lux-embourg. There were no specific locations beyond the disclosure last night that German tank dis-troyers dis-troyers were in the area of Stave-lot, Stave-lot, 20 miles inside Belgium and a like distance southeast of Liege. Censorship Prevails The shower of German V-bombs V-bombs on the areas behind the battle zone continued today, Frankish reported. He said the roads In the forward areas wera choked with traffic units moving mov-ing to the rear and tanks, guns and men moving forward. Rigid military censorship blacked out details on the progress pro-gress of the German counterblow, but field dispatches said probably probab-ly the greatest land and air battle bat-tle of the western war was under way and growing hourly in fury. Both sides were reported pouring pour-ing reinforcements into the big test of strength, but it was indicated indi-cated that the American 1st army had not yet countered in full force and was still falling back slowly all along the Hne. (The British radio quoted a report re-port from the First army front as saving the Americans had sealed one German breakthrough in the north, that German salients farther far-ther south were being held, and some ground had been regained.) Elsewhere on the long western front, American Ninth army troops carved out small gains at the edge of the Cologne plain above Aachen, and Third army forces continued their slow progress pro-gress into the German Saar valley val-ley above Saarlautern and Sar-regumines. Sar-regumines. On the American Seventh army sector, Lt Gen. Alexander M Patch's infantrymen extended their foothold in the corner of the Rhine Palatinate to as much as four miles on a 25-mile front, while farther south, American and French troops of the French First army scored local gains above Colmar and in the Vorges mountains. But both sides were throwing their main effort into the blazing blaz-ing First army front where the German high command appeared to be staking the Wehrmacht's best divisions on a desperate gamble to check the Americans west of the Rhine. Nazi tank destroyers, probably probab-ly well behind their tank spearheads, spear-heads, were disclosed to have reached the area of Stavelot, 20 miles inside the Belgium border (Continued on Page Eight) War In Brief WESTERN FRONT German armored columns plunge through storm of Allied bombs and shells in still developing offensive that has carried 20 miles into Belgium and forced back American First army behind Nazi border at many points on 70 mile front extending into southern Luxembourg PACIFIC Carrier planes of Third fleet send aerial bombardment bombard-ment of Luzon into sixth straight day while China based Superfortresses Superfort-resses rejoin American aerial offensive of-fensive on Japanese homeland, striking at war production center of Omura. EASTERN FRONT Moscow reports Budapest-Vienna Railroad, Rail-road, last practical escape rout for garrison of beleaguered Hungarian Hun-garian capital, has been brought under Russian artillery .'ire. ATJt .WAR RAF Lancaster! bomb Germany's last major fleet units in Baltic hide-away at Gyd-nia,' Gyd-nia,' Poland, and blast . enemy's western front reinforcements bot-tlyjecka bot-tlyjecka at Munster and Nurnberg. Nurn-berg. ITALY Canadian troops at 8th army engaged in hard battle around Bagnacavallo. |