The White Falcon - 06.03.1943, Page 2

2
U.S. Forces Take
Sbeitla In Africa
American forces in Africa, re-
coiling from former setbacks in
the Kasserine Pass area, are
speeding south and west through
Sbeitla and Feriani in central
Tunisia in pursuit of Rommel’s
fleeing panzer columns. Mean-
while, British First Army forces
are counter-attacking in north-
ern Tunisia, and British Eighth
Army units in the south are
pounding Mareth Line positions.
Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s Amer-
ican Fifth Army, coming from
Kasserine through Feriani, has
joined forward elements of the
British Eighth Army in the regi-
on of Gafsa.
Some British units have ad-
vanced around the southern
flank of the Mareth Line across
the Shott el Djerid marsh to
Gafsa. The main British forces
facing the Mareth Line have been
bringing up siege artillery and
howitzers to demolish Axis posts.
A second American Ujrust from
the Kasserine Pass is headed
north along the railway toward
Kairouan and Sousse. The Am-
erican drives, which at present
are meeting little resistance, are
placing Axis African forces in
the precarious position of fight-
ing off attacks on both the north-
ern and southern extremities of
the' Tunisian corridor, while
warding off slashes at central
Tunisian points such as Sbeitla
and Feriani.
In northern Tunisia, the Axis
offensives in the vicinity of Beja
and Mejez el Bab have been
entirely stopped by the Brit-
ish First Army, which has clear-
ed the enemy from all ground
taken recently, including the
Mateur area where the fighting
has been heavy. German losses
in the north have been severe.
Ai recent setback cost 25 tanks
and 1,000 prisoners.
Infantrymen
Stage Gay Show
(Continued from Page 1)
successfully dodged insults from
the crowd.
The climax of the evening’s
entertainment was a contest to
decide the comparative merits
of swing and hill-billy music.
The “Kentucky Colonels,” swing
addicts, lined up against the
“Orange Blossom Rascals,” Corp.
Burns Jarrel, Pfc. Paul F. Varal-
la, Pfc. Richard R. Cline and
Pfc. Leonard C. Childress, who
were helped by the “West Vir-
ginians,” S/Sgl. Noah A. Hender-
son, Corp. Elias Damron, Pfc.
Oscar T. Riffe and Pvt. Woods
W. Ellis.
Then the battle began. Amid
banjos, guitars and harmonicas
pn one side and beating drums
and screaming cornels on the
other, the “Kentucky Colonels”
won.
The show was directed and
produced by T/5G, Hy Kapf-
nmn,
‘Gl Farmers’
Won’t Pick
Cotton Crop
The on-again off-again cotton
/picking by Uncle Sam’s soldiers
is off-again today, having been
cancelled by the War Depart-
ment on advice hy Agriculture
Secretary Wickard.
Wickard told the House Agri-
culture Committee that approxi-
mately 1,200 civilian cotton pick-
ers quit their jobs near Phoenix,
Ariz., because of low wages paid
in the vicinity. However, since
18,000 farm hands are available,
Wickard stated no emergency
exists, and therefore it is un-
necessary to enlist support from
the Army.
Wickard also revealed that in
conversations he has held with
President Roosevelt it was de-
cided the War Dept, could not
assign soldiers to harvest crops
without permission of the Agri-
culture/ Dept.
—Russia
(Continued from Page 1)
1
has resulted in the loss of 11,000
troops of the German 10th army.
The Nazis also lost their big de-
fensive position at Demiansk, and
Timoshenko’s forces now have
reconquered 900 square miles
and liberated 320 inhabited loca-
lities.
Furious tank battles now are
raging to the north of Rzhev as
the Red Army thrusts westward
from the Demiansk zone. The
Germans were reported to have
lost at least 300 tanks during
these operations in the past ten
days.
Berlin radio admitted that the
Russians 'have resumed large-
scale attacks on a broad front
from Velikye Luki to Kholm.
Fierce fighting still rages on the
southern front where the Rus-
sians report new gains west of
Rostov and west of Kursk.
Desperate German resistance
has slowed the Soviet sweep in
the Kramatorskaya sector. But
Nazi counter-attacks have failed
dismally, merely costing the Ger-
mans heavily in equipment and
men.
Meanwhile, reports from
Washington and London stale
that tremendous lend-lease as-
sistance has aided the Russians
considerably in their successful
offensive. The figures reveal, in
part, that more than 5,000 planes
and 6,000 tanks have been trans-
ported safely to Russian ports.
This supply boost, plus the per-
sistent aerial battering of Nazi-
held Europe, is playing an im-
portant part in ridding 1hp So-
viet of German forces,
The camera stopped Jimmy
Simmons’ rapid juggling act at
1/10,000th of a second here. Actu-
ally, two of the balls are in
motion, but this time the eye
was quicker than the hand.
—Camp Shows
(Continued from Page 1)
up balloons, then manipulating
them into shapely figures or ani-
mals, and he also dances.
Another tpp-nolch attraction
is Freddy Reeves, garrulous
comedian. A fixture in New York
City for several seasons, Reeves’
outstanding contributions were
in Rio Rita and Earl White’s
Scandals, and he’s a nightclub
lure ,from ’way back.
Len Gunn is the mystifying
magician of the unit, while Jim-
my Simmons combines an intri-
cate juggling routine with breezy
patter. Mitchell Davidson serves
as the “orchestra,” playing eith-
er piano or accordian, and also
has arranged all the musical
numbers for the others.
The second performance will,
he staged at White Rose Monday
evening. Then the Navy will host
the cast Tuesday, while the No.
1 Kec Center will he the scene
of Wednesday’s showing. Fri-
day evening the troupe will in-
vade the No. 2 Rec Center.
Present plans call for a lengthy
tour of outlying districts before
playing in this area on a large
scale.
The talented Engineer orch-
estra and Mel Goldberg, Special
Service, will participate in to-
night’s performance.
Allies Hit Berlin
With Heavy Bombs
—Pacific
(Continued from Page 1)
Island in the Dutch East Indies,
while a medium size Jap am-
munition ship was destroyed at
Wide Bay, New Britain, when
a bomber scored a direct hit on
the stern with a 500-pound pro-
jectile.
An Allied airfield af Darwin,
Australia, was attacked by 15 Jap
fighters in a daylight raid. Dam-
age was slight, and when Amer-
ican fighters intercepted, six-Jap-
anese planes were shot put of
action.
The 10th U.S. Air Force dam-
aged Gokteik Viaduct, one of
the railway engineering marv-
els of the Far East. This vital
link in the railway between
Mandalay and Lashio is 2,000
feet long and its many steel tow-
ers are buttressed on a natural
bridge 550 feet above the'river
gorge. Direct hits on the viaduct
were reported hy the crews.
A Chungking report says that
all Japanese attacks in the east-
ern coastal provinces of China
have been unsuccessful, except
for the Jap occupation of the
former French territory of
Kwapgchowan, southwest of
Canton. In the Hupeh province,
three Nipponese columns with
strong artillery and air support
were repulsed while trying to
cross the Yanglze River.
Japs Hit New Low
In Clothing Dept.
European clothing, including
hats and silk stockings, will do
a disappearing act from the ward-
robes of all civilians in Japan,
according to recent notice by the
Nip Ministry of Industry.
Men will wear grey suits of
a uniform pattern and women
will return to the ancient cos-
tume of the kimona with its nar-
row sleeves, it was revealed.
Pfe. Keith T. Pitzer sketches .a typical maiden of Poland as
Kentucky Colonels play “Musical Salute to Our A Hies" in “Sec*
Unit Eight,” newest local musical revue.
Residents of Berlin were cal-
led upon this week to leave their
offices and homes long enough
to clear the German capital’s
streets of debris, the result of
a huge bombing raid by Amer-
ican and RAF planes.
Many sections of the city lay
devastated after the fierce raid
—the most powerful assault
against Berlin—and flames were
reported to be visible two days
later from Hamburg and Brem-
en. Repeated waves of “Thund-
erbolts” roared over the capital
shortly before midnight and
dropped almost 1,000 tons of
bombs on industrial targets.
Many of the projectiles were
powerful 4,000-pound and 8,000-
pound “block busters.” The Ger-
mans admited that more than
200 persons had been killed or
injured in the attack, and it
was indicated rescue workers
still are removing bodies from
shattered buildings.
The RAF reported that 19
bombers failed to return, bub
British pilots said Berlin’s anti-
aircraft defenses were noticeably
weak. The Germans claimed only
10 RAF planes had been dest-
royed.
Cologne also was subjected to
a severe aerial assault as the
Allies maintained their 24-hour-
per-day schedule over Nazi-oc-
cupied Europe. It was the strong-
est sortie over Cologne since the
1,000-plane raid of last May. Ten
planes were lost.
Fast Mosquito planes blasted
factories at Hengelo in Holland
and Liege in Belgium, while
Whirlwinds repeated their visit
to Maupertius, near Cherbourg,
France. No planes were lost in
the operations, and it was the
fourth straight day RAF raiders
had silenced the radios of Eur-
ope.
The RAF prepared for its blow
against Berlin by lashing out at
Wilhelmshaven, Nurnberg, Dun-
kirk, Cherbourg Peninsula and
Rennes. Heavy damages were
inflicted upon military objects,
according to British reports.
Lorient, vital link in the Nazi
production program, is just a
shell of its former self, a news-
paper correspondent .revealed.
He said that less than five per-
cent of the city had escaped de-
molition at (he hands of Allied
bombers. .
Spain Offered Aid
“America is willing to help
Spain so long as she keeps war
from her land,” declared Carl-
ton J. Hayes, American Ambassa-
dor to Spain, at an American
Chamber of Commerce meeting
at Barcelona, Spain, this week.
Spain’s importation of petro-
leum products in the last six
months has equalled the capa-
city of the large Spanish tanker
fleet, Hayes explained. He stress-
ed that shipments of gasoline had
been made available for non-
military uses only