Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1944-07-13, Page 3rrhursaah July 13th, 1944 WINOHAM AIWA:Keg-TVA/MS °Long Distance Telephoning is heavier than it was a year age PAG' Irs .netit_po,, the first three months. of year Long Distance lines handled calls at a rate which would represent an increase, over the full year, of nearly three and one-half million calls. So you see we're not out of the woods yet—and won't be until the war is won. Please continue to keep wartime communication lines clear 6-use Long Distance for essential calls only. Delays can cosi lives! REMEMBER— NIGHT RATES• NOW BEGIN AT 6 Ms Oirgof al.)4!,178 Wail 60 0 fole Tooke es An announcement ;steed by The Department of •Munitions and Supply, Tioneuroble C. IX Howe, Minister THE invasion of Europe has thrown a vast and critical burden. upon the petroleum resources of the United Nations. In the first eight days of the cam- paign alone Allied aircraft flew 56,000 sorties. Many thousands of oil-burn- ing warships and landing barges are shuttling ceaselessly across the Chan- nel. Tanks, trucks, jeeps, mobile artillery, ambulances, by the thou- 'sands are in action. The driving power behind all this activity is petroleum — gasoline and fuels drawn from a dwindling crude al supply. But—there is only so much oil. If existing supplies are to prove adequate, the most stringent economy of gasoline and fuel oil must be prac- tised here at home. Canada is able to produce only 15% of her own gas and oil needs. The remainder must be imported from the common pool of the United Nations and the bulk of this is shipped here by tankers. Critical manpower is needed to produce our gasoline and Oil, Precious lives and precious ships Canadians May Enter U. S. 'Without 'Passport Ottawa, — Canadians and British subjects resident in Canada who may have been considering a summer holi- day in the United States as the result of recent relaxed Foreign Exchange Control Board restrictions had some of the red tape they face cut by a simplification of border, crossing regu- lations. A joint announcement by the Canadian and United States govern- ments issued in Washington and Ot.. tawa said "Canadian citizens and British subjects domiciled, permanent- ly , residing or stationed in Canada" now inay enter the United States for visits of 29 days or less without a passport visa or border crossing card. Allies Bag 114 Planes London, — More than 1,000 United States heavy• bombers, under strong escort, drenched 11 high-priority targ-. ets in Central Germany With 3,000 tons of bombs, stinging the Germans to put up ;the biggest aerial battle in six weeks, in which 114 enemy planes and 36 American bombers and six fighters were shot down. Huns Lash Back, In Italy Rome, — A bitter struggle remin- iscent of the fight for Cassino several months ago raged today in the ruined Village of Rosignano, 13 miles south of the big Italian port of Livorno (•Leghorn), as the Germans struck back furiously at American forces' along a 30-mile front extending inland from the west coast. Hardest fighting on the British 8th Army front was in the neighborhood of Arezzo, city i36 miles southeast of Florence, where Allied infantry drove the enemy from 2,815-,foot,' Monte Lignano, four miles south of Arezzo, Declare 66 Miners Dead Bellaire, 0., — Sixty-six men en- tombed in the Powhatan mine. were officially pronouneed dead. hut rescue Workers set up 'drills to, bone two shafts deep toward them on the faint chance they may be ,found. alive,. • 146 Die in Circus Fire Hartford, Conn., — The tragic task of identifying victims of last "week's circus fire proceeded slowly here, and Mayor William Mortensen said some were so badly burned that recognition would be impossible, Of the 6,000 watching the cireus • when the Main tent burst, into flames, 146 are dead and more than 250 others injured. Mortensen said ' a municipal funeral might be given those who could not be identified, Caen Gets Record‘ Blasting With the Canadians In Fiance, — From their frontline positions Cana- dian troops in the Caen sector wit- nessed one )of the greatest aerial at- taeld hi NOtitandy Since. the start of the itiVaWW,,,Ilisetteeds. of R.,A,V, 10.4syy b °alba. $leiresi. **concernedly a life** Gettlian ',Teiritraft tire $Id icioied toot upon of high" ettObsitei orl bittithent VOL De Gaulle Meets• Roosevelt Washington, — Gen. Charles de Gaulle, predicting that the last Ger- man will be chased from France be- fore the end of 1944, opened his talks with President Roosevelt aimed at laying a foundation 'of friendly under- standing. iMr. Roosevelt said the question of recognition of the French National Committee would not come up, as it had not come up in Gen, de Gaulle'a recent talks with Prime Min- ister Churchill in London. Nazi Lose 31 Top Officers London, — Germany has lost four more of its generals—two killed and two captured—it was announced, in- creasing to° 31 the number of top- flight Nazi officers •killed in action or accidents or taken by the Allies since warfare blazed out on three fronts in June. , Alberta, Quebec Vote Same Day Edmonton, — Alberta 'electors will go to the polls in 'a general provincial erection on August 8, the same day as the voters of Quebec. Premier E. C. Manning announced the election date, and said nominations would be held July 29. •It will 'be the second war- time electioh in Alberta. The last election was March 21, 1940, when the Social Credit Government was return- ed to office. Fire In Quebec Spreads Senneterre, Que„ —' The town of Pascalis, about five miles south of this Abitibi town, was reported " a com- plete loss" by forest fire. About 500 from Pascalis were being Moved here and billeted• in all available rooms and buildings, Several hundred women and children of Cadillac, mining centre 38 miles north of Val D'or, Que., were evacuated, by special train and bus as forest fires swept about the town. Soldier Killed at Ipperwash Sgt. Fred Joseph Barlow, 28, of London, waS killed almost instantly at Camp ,Ipperwash Tbursday, night when a heavy, demolition charge exploded in his hand during manoeuvres, A veteran of three and one-half years overseas service, Sgt. Barlow fought on the beaches of Dieppe and received not a scratch. Churchill Reportg On Robot Platt& London,. German robot bombs concentrated upon London have killed 2,752 persons and sent 8,000, to hos- pitals in the last three weeks prime Minister Churchill disclosed. London Was evacuating children, as in 1940, The world'i largest city put into use its shelters held in reserve for em- ergencies. Schools, hospitals and churches were among the buildings hit by the robots, which carry 2,200 pounds of explosives. change In German Generals Lfutdon, The Berlin radio an- nounced that Yield Marshal. Gen. Xarl Rudolf nerd von Rtindstedt bad been roatoVed as conittatider • of forums hi. 0.14 oest and had been I* placed by Field Marshal Gen, Quesl.. ther von Kluge, who led the German armies in thi sweep through 13.135Sia in the first autumn of that war, only to be stopped at the gato of Moscow. NOW Head FPI' CBC Ottawa, -- War Services Minister LaFleche announced in the' Commons the resignation of Rene Morin, of Montreal, as chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Board of govenors and Howard B. Chase, of Montreal, as his successor in this post. Mr. Morin will remain on. the Board of Governors. Nine Killed, six Injured In Quebec Camp Ottawa, — Defence headquarters an- nounced that nine Canadian Active Army men were killed and 36 other persons, including one civilian, were injured in the St. Bruno, Que., ex- plosion, believed "to have been caused by the p'remature detonation of a shell in the barrel of a three-inch mortar," Canadian Navy Bags U-Boats Ottawa, — The Canadian Navy's fifth U-boat kill in recent months was announced by Navy Minister Mac- donald, The frigate Swansea, which aided in destroying another U-boat recently, brought the latest Nazi undersea raider to the surface with depth charges and then polished it off with gunfire. Swansea was assisted by a Royal Navy sloop, the Pelican. Royal Family Sees Fortress Bases Somewhere in England, Maj.- Gen. James H. Doolittle, commander of U.S, Army 8th Air Force, took the royal family on a tour of four Flying Fortress bases and evenbody including thousands of camera-clicking soldiers had a great time, • Invasion Chief Tours Front Shaef, — Gen. Eisenhower, com- mander of the Allied invasion forces, has returned to his headquarters in England after a five-day trip in Nor- mandy, where he held conferences with Gen. Montgomery, Lt.-Col. Omar N. Bradley, commander of the United States 1st Army, and went on a fighter plane. sweep behind the German lines. A WEEKLY EDITOR LOOKS AT Ottawa tVriHen specially for the weekly newspapers of Canada When the final report was made of the House of Commons Sub-Commit- tee on Post-war problems of Women, there was an 'interesting section on farm women and there were recom- mendations in' regard to electrification of the farm. home, farm housing, pro- Vision for a plentiful 'supply of run- ning water, etc. One striking recom- mendation will be of interest to our rural readers. It listed a number of remunerative enterprises in agriculture, such as mushroom culture, dehydra- tion of fruits and vegetables, boarding houses and other projects which might attract young women back to the farm,. Where necessary it was recommended some sort of assistance be given to help establish young wo- men in small enterprises. * * *• * Do you know that the total tonnage of Canadian coins struck by the Royal Mint in 1943 was 1,050 tons, four hundred more than the year before. Operating on a 24-hour a day schedule, seven days a week, they turned out 3,000,000 coins each week. The mint produced 500,000,000 coins in the past five years, of which 329,000,000 were one-centers. That's something 'to tell the kids and make their eyes pop, * * Here's a very interesting survey of the tourist business as compiled by the Dominion Bureau of Statis,tics. Last year foreign travellers spent $89,- 500,000 in Canada, of which all but two and a halUmillion was by *United States folks. Canadian travellers on the other hand went across the line and spent an estimated $38,700,060 last year, a considerable increase over the previous two years, * * When Munitions Minister Howe told the House of Commons that there is no immediate prospect of gasoline curtailment, but if'the invas- ion became a longv protracted strug- gle there might be, he had figures to back him up. He instanced that it takes two thousand gallons of fuel to moVC att armored .division one Mile; a flit d(5,00() bombers and escort fight. err. e (inraiati,lr WO Up Write g,- INl~w 1111100 fit In one 30-day stretch the R.C,A,F, in Canada and Newfoundland used up an average of 548,000 gallons a day. Motor gasoline consumption in Can- ada from 1941 to 1944, including arm- ed services,' Alaska highway, agricul- tural uses and other war essentials totalled, the staggering gallonage of 3,429,354,440, * Canada having got its first order from the 'United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to be de- livered in 1945 and comprising 20.050 short tons of, agricultural machinery for international relief purposes, it is interesting to know that Canada and UNRRA are now discussing an order from Canada pr 20 millions pounds of fish; more than sixty million pounds of soap, and woolen outer clothing to a cost of $6,000,000. GAPT, BOB RIM TELLS OF INVASION (continued from page 1) miles inland. I could tell you quite a story about the trip, but that doesn't concern the battery. We were l&eld up on the beaches by mines, booby traps, mortar and shell fire and snipers. One of the, radio sets in my party was put out of action by shrapnel, another piece hit the radio I was carrying but didn't damage the working parts. I don't know how long we were on the beach but the first thing I knew our L.C.T's were beaching, The front of one dropped down and off came the first gun it was one of the batteries with Lieut. Jim McKague aboard.. He ran it up the side of the back off the beach and two minea exploded under- neath it, Fortunately neither Jim nor any of the gun detachment were hurt, and he had that gun in action a little later, I saw Sgt. Frank Hopper and Sgt. George Tervit land safely with their guns. B. S. M. "Tapper" Gray landed with my tank., The infantry by this time had cleared the houses and streets on the immediate sea front and my company proceeded south in the direction of T., the village we were to take. Everything was fine until we left the town and reached open coun- try when the rest of the two miles was 'done on our hands and knees and stomachs. Jerry's small arms and mor- tar fire was pretty hot and naturally there were casualitits. Snipers were bad. I saw an infantry major fall, shot through the back b,y a sniper. They hid in the grass and trees around us, my first target was the woods in front of the village of T—, and as the guns were ready when fire was called for the boys must have done a good job on the beach. We had landed around 8, a. m. and by 3 p. m. had captured the village T—, including quite a lot of prisoners. I spent three days .with the infantry returning to the guns on the third afternoon. Not having had any sleep during the three days we were pretty "droopy." I got out of my tank and while the crew were get- ting' it under cover stood talking to .B.S.M. "Porky" Mitchell a shell ex- ploded about 10 feet from us, we hit the ground and rolled into the ditch and another exploded in the hedge just beyond. pi B,S.M, "Tapper" Gray who, had seen it happen came running over with a stretcher. However we both stood up "Porky" had a couple of small pieces in his leg and I a welt on my chest from concussion. The Al- mighty must have been with us for us to be that close and still escape, The next job was to dig slit trenches for our tank crew of 5. Have we ever learned how to use a pick and shovel? say we have, for it may be either "dig or die", You are reasonably safe in a slit trench unless Jerry scores a direct hit or uses "airlitirat shells." The battery were well dug in and by this time, having been in action three days, were becotning used to the 'sounds of battle, 'During the day the Air cover was so good we rarely saw an enemy plane, but as we had no air cover at night Jerry was always around dropping his eggs. Our AIA wins would get the occas- ional enemy plane at night, Theidently manning the AlA guns around the bat- tery position were. Sgts. Joe Ellacott and Hammond, so Witigham is well represented in that part of Normandy. The following morning was my first opOortunity to look around. Major Hetherington, Capt, Lieuts: rick, Roberts and Jim McKague, Bdr. Bry- ce, Bdr; Joe King, ElSM's Gray and Corrigan, Sgts. Hopper and Tervit, and Ted Elliott and his brother, also LIBdt W. nogg were all 0. X, Snipers had not yet been entirely cleared from this locality and after a couple of our lads (not Wingliarnites) had been wounded, it was decided the sniper Was in a church steeple about 300 yards behind the gun •position, Machine guns were turned on the steeple, but still the, odd bullet come out at 'us, Sgt:,Tervit's font was turn- ed aroma and e steeple was blown ' to hits, The, sniping stopped, The priest at a mass next morning told the villagers that had the Allies not been shot in 'the back their 'steeple would still 'be there, This letter may seem a little dis- jointed as I have written a little bit each day for four days, Our regiment naturally suffered CaS- nalities both killed and wounded, How- ever in. spite of everything the battery came ashore as though at an exercise rather than in actual battle, Since then they have been in action almost continually and have fired hundreds of shells at Hitler's soldiers. Wing- ham can well •be proud of its 'Battery, Before closing I would like to say something about the French people, They have' been through a lot under Hitler, but in this particular part of France, an Agricultural district, they were. reasonably well treated. Now their villages are in ruins and horses and cattle dead in the fields, There- fore the first two or three days some of them were not too friendly. How- ever things are changing and there is no doubt they are with us. In one vil- lage an enterprising Frenchman and his wife had a restaurant opened on the third day with a brand new sign in English. It must have been prepared long before "D" day and hidden away. I could write lots more, but must close now, Give my regards to every- one. Sincerely, Bob Spittal, Capt. J. R. Spittal 2 Echelon, C.A,O'seas. CARTON AND BOTTLE SHORTAGE AGGRAVATES SUPPLY PROBLEM There are known to be large num- bers of empty bottles and cartons in the possession of householders in towns and rural communities through- out the Province. The necessity of conserving materi- als during the present emergency is obvious and the Brewers' Warehous- ing Company is running a series of, advertisements in this newspaper in an effort to speed up the return of emp- to return these as soon as possible to their nearest Brewers' Retail Store or collection depot. Ms-teX Murray Johnson — Phone 62, Wingham — And — Armstrong Vulcanizing & Service Station Bert Armstrong Phone 181 Wingham ties to the stores. Those who have empty bottles and cartons in their possession are urged • A worn-out tire is no good to you or to Canada. We are re- treading specialists; • clils.re in for details right away! , "REMEMBER I YOUR TIRES ARE GROWING OLDER EVERY DAY...THEY NEED OUR HELP" NO PERMIT REQUIRED A GOODYEAR RETREAD WILL KEEP YOUR TIRES IN SERVICE KEEP YOUR CAR ROLLING mai iiiiiiii mu; r [ WORLD. WIDE NEWS ,IN CONDENSED FORM ass ayitiAll fit" w° A Message to Canadian Motorists must be risked to deliver it to our shores. Invasions, and the difficulties of supply and transportation are not our only problems. Right here in Canada gas and oil are needed in enormous quantities for vital war purposes. The Cemmonwealth Air Training Plan has consumed as much as 548,000 gallons in a single day. Canada's Navy expanded since war began from 15 ships to 650—consumes over 2,150,000 gallons every week. Army training, war plant operation, food production, essential trucking — all are huge consumers of gasoline and petroleum products. Gasoline is ammunition ammu- nition of which . we have all too little. To waste a gallon of it is a crime against our fight- ing men. How `much gasoline was consumed slum Ing the 54 clays of pre-invasfon bomb. Mg? ..Mote than 200,000,000 gallons, How much fuel oil does a battleship' take In One refueling? Enough 10 heal an average house for 350 years, How much fuel does ono armootod division consume In every live miles of aducustel. 10,00 gallons. How many gallons of petroleum prod. Ws are ratlike-el to supply the needs of 500,000 turopoort Invasion Woo for sweeitt 4 6vof 25,000,000 gallons. Answering Your Questions about the Gasoline Shortage