Tonight the lazis !fa~ o:illf: ~ ~ t-=11 ~ ~ corner ofthe shattered town fl' ~ of Caa f ino. The Geraan garrison -~ - i• pinned in a small sector at the north of the ruina, and is alaoat surrounded, I\ troops h•Yin captured the rubble that was once the railraad atatio. And thi• leaYes the stubbornly fighting la1i1 only a narrow corridor to escape, f1 if they in~end toge away. The surprise of the whole Ua-ing is that th Ger■ ans should hold any part of Cas•ino at all - after the cataclya ■ ic boabard ■ent of the day before yeateriay, which churned the town · into a The purpose of the record-breaking deluge of high explosiYe was to obliterate the defenders at Cassino under the sheer weight of bo ■be and shells. Yet, at the tiae we heard that there waa still Germ a n resistance, with Bazi gunners holdini out llALY_- 2 ~ Ln the fantastic ju■ble of ruins. Bow could that be? What was the explanation? We get soae inkling The atory is that the cataclysa : of boaba and shells reall1 did wipe out the lazi defenders of Cassino, but at the saa, tiae the work of utter destruction wa• a hindrance to the Allies as well as lk a help. Becauae, when fit.th Ara1 forces tried \o push forward into what had beea the town, the7 wer• blocked by the very chaoa the bo ■bardaent had created, shapeless hills of aasonry - alttrnating with deep bo ■bea craters. The inferno of A innuaerable giant explosions had built what was virtuall . a series of~iRMilres barricades and deep pitaJ This was so auch the case that bulldozers had to be brought up to clear•••~ a way for tanks, bulldozers pushing aside ~ the rubble and filling u the craters. All of which resulted in - delay. Allied troops 1%ALY - 3 were halted by the effect of their own boabard ■ ent. And this delay enabled the Germans to send forces back ~to the town, gunners to cli ■b through the ruins and 1et up etrong points, froa which they opened fire. frhese lazi troops had been sheltered in deep wine caYea Just outside d Cassino - the underground cellars like caYeraa in which Italian country-folk store the ~ . abundant wine of Italy. In ■uch subterranean places, lazi troops were safe fro ■ all the stora of boabiag, and the7 just aoYed back into the ruins of Cassino - to put up another fight. Today's dispatches fro■ Allied headquarter• declare that one result of the whole thing bas been - a revision of ailitary opinion concerning air tactics. That is - a change of ideas ,e-:c••8it•~ the Yalae of an aerial blitz in support of ground troops. The result at Cassino would see■ to indicate that an overwhel ■ ing ltALY - 4 destruction of a ton fro ■ the air aa1 be a diaad•antage as well as a help~ to the b aaaault aad capture of a town. This aay be a lesson to be learned I\ that fro• the newa tonight/+\ •tla Geraan gunner• are still I\ putting . up a desperate fight in one corner of the chaoa of wreckage that was the iowa of Cassino. Air action, baaed on Italy today, featured a aaae of hietoric grace and char• - Yienna. Long rang~ Aaericaa boabera flew fro• Italian base• and struck at the Auatriaa c a p i t ~ r 7 objecti•e• there. /\ • le think of Vienna as the stately, aerry place of altsea, Johann Straaa, the Beautiful Blue Danube. But Vienna has l also great araaaent factories - plant• turning out warplanes and heav1 artillery. And Yienna ia a lumber One railroad center for Ger ■an war tranaport. ) . And, lying astride the Danube, it•• one of the great inland ports of Europe. ' So, there are plenty of IJALX - 5 allitary objectives in Vienna, the city of walt1e1. And Aaericaa warplanes today boabed iaportant targets on ihe banks of the Beautiful Blue Danube. roLLOI !!ALY - And the air ara of the Allies reached out into the Balkans again with RAF boabers raining an ~ ~ ° " f - incendiary attack on Sofia,A.. '1:R- satellite ca pl• el of , , I\ · Bulgaria. The second assault in two consecutive daya. IIISIAI R!QQQJITIO! le 1 arn today that Soviet Russia, in eatablishing diplomatic relations with the Badoglio regiae in Italy, did not consult with the GoYern■ ent of the United States. Thia was atated today by Secretar7 of State Cordell Bull, who added that he did have aoae advance intor■ ation about the Moscow recognition ot diJ Badoglio - but loacow ~ - not consul td- Washington about it. Secretary Bull aade it clear that laahington i1 now aaking loacow about the surprise ■aneuver - •bJ the sudden recognition of Badogliof lhat waa the reaao tor it? It •1-;eaa" ennfare•ee +aoda,, he ga ■ a tlle " lu tlet la41glli * bl1eru111~a tn:at tll1 l•zi•*xn•aptixn;t■ff~ A ► 16,f6 St 'h • t :ad ~ a . . , .... ,• h•!'•+ru Lbw le+ri CID-L Ill i h f l l N Iii 111 A ■ te U8 ea v• • -• Iii--••..... 11111 --:111 R tt:t I R 1 14 1 Cau11••i1 u. lledlte11a11e1nt_ 1 ° 8 le 1188 s a x ■ DrJ --~---- -- - - Affairs. tb• uuatere ■ ee s • • • *• ,..htlllih t~i ,_re@ p: ■ ers ere: •n-.ro- o..1 • l"r- ""'• 11 - n coo+ult c1acv1uiag Ite]7 wttll @&ell etler 011 11cuwt1oae :_ll@QGfil! President Roose• lt's couent on the Soviet surprise ove is that he doesn't thin the recognition JI A ~ of Badoglio bas "" any international iapact. ttLtbuugh, of course, it did have a good deal of e • i ■pact. illll! Today in southern Russia, the Red army was .oward the River Dniester, which is the old Soviet with Rumanie, the frontier of the former Rumanian ProYince of Beasarabia. Moscow p ctures the Russians a1 hurling the Germans back f~r a distance of eighteen ailea in twenty-four hours - and they are said to be tithin ten ■ ilea of the river. · London, on the other band haa a report that aoae Red aray units have already reached the Dniester, but this ia not confirmed. Further north, where the Russians have long since crossed the for ■ er border of Poland, a new and highly significant advance is announced - proclaimed in the Stalin order of the day. The Russians have captured the key city of Dubno, advancing toward the lumber One railroad center of £astern Poland - the City of~• Lwow. Moscow says that the Soviet armies have now liberated about seven-eighths of the Ukraine, thfi 1pas14 - 2 great province which the Germans had overrun entirely~ Th• Bitler forces now hold only about twenty-one thou1aa4 1quare ailes of Ukrainian territory. Finland's reply to Moscow was forwarded today - ~lthough Sweden tried to stop it. The Finns and the Soviets have been conducting their peace negotiation• through the ■ediu■ of the S•edieh Go•ernmen:fle hear that the Finnish reply is a rejection - the ter■a preaented b7 Moacow are t u r ~ ~ a ~ u ~ that A either a rejection or a deaand for aodification will cauae the Soviets to break off negotiation• - loacow having given . Finland a deadline of noon on Saturday tor accepting the ter■ s ot peace. Sweden is eager for Finland to get out of the war and today' s dispatch fro ■ Stockhol ■ atatea that Swedish Iing Gustav hiaaelf ande a personal appeal to the Finnish Government leaders - asking the ■ not to reject the Soviet conditions, not to insist that the f l note be transaitted to Moscow. But Finland tuvirte~ cm- fira, an d the Swedes had thereu p on t o forward fJILAI~ • 2 the diplomatic co ■aunication - which went to Moscow toda7. A Stockhola newspaper states that, with the Finnish rej ction of the Soviet teras, th• United State• i1 going to break relations with Finland. Well,•• can oaly ea1 that laerica baa displaJed a lot of frien~•hip for the little northern republic - even though the Finns are on the aide of oft lazi eneaies. lashingtoa ha ■ been urging thea to break with their evil partner• and get out of the war. And, it is not unlikelJ that a refusal of the Finns to caae toter•• with Moscow •ill result in the aeverence of relation• between the United States and Finland. l0LLOl_liNLAID ~ President Roosevelt etated/\today that our relations with Finland re ■ ain unchanged, but that he didn't know what was really going on over on the Finlaad . aide of the fence. Ke added that be has received no repl7 ia reapoaae to hie pl••- argiag the Fiaaa to withdraw 'fiJi -w-G;t-1:.a~~ I ~'\heir hateful partnership with lazi Ger■allJ., JDIIA lewa fro ■ distant Buraa tells ot a daring stroke of war -- an airborne operation that bas landed troop• one-bundred-and-fitt7 ■ iles behind the Japanese lines. ~ In the Chin hill• of lort~,1 Bur ■ a, ho■e ot the warlike Chin tribes, A:/:;:;. japaneae coh■n• - ~ puahing toward the border of India. To ha ■ per tbe ~ r ■oYeaents the Allied coa■ and decided to atrike a blow at the enea7 lines ot co-unication -- a blow to be launched b7 air. lll&io A ■ erican transport plane• aa4 aJ gliders loaded up with British and Indian troopa,,ttlew far to the rear of the Jape. There they landed, and took up strategic p ositions -- fro ■ which theJ are cor.duct.ing a successf'nl batt.lek tlf..R ~ ~ , In the Southwestern Pacific A ■ erican troops ~••• captured an iaportant flying field on lanua Ialaad in the Ad ■ iral ti~e~s~·---- - - - - - - - - - - - - - The caapaign on that archipelago began with the Aaerican aeizure of the island called Loa legroe, aleo the aite of a tey air base. And then the next objecti•• ••• Manus, which i• the largest bit of land ia the Adairalti••· Die ■ oanted units of Uaited State• ■al: ca•alry w . ere the in•aders in both cases -- one~ ~ borae ■en trained to aaphil,ioua operations. They landed on Manus on Wednesday, under covvr of violent naval bo■bard ■ent. And now tonight's report:-- the7 1 v captured the air b a se. This virtually co ■pletes the conquest of the Adairaltiea -- that island group which outflanks the 11-" Japanese bases in the Bismarck archipelago. Other news fro ■ the So thwestern ~acific tells of more fierce fighting on Bougainville Island. There the Jape leQJlched another of their fanatical attack~crack eneay regiaent am succeeded in driving into the A ■ ericaa lines, scoring an advance. Tonight's news tells ua that the salient has now been wiped out, the Japanese intruders cut to pieces by Aaerican araored forces. e> In the air-another long-range boabing raid - A baa a ■ aahed the Jape at SoerabaJa, the great naval base on the island o~ Java. llLQUl!ili The literature of adventure is studded with stories of tremendous j o urneys - like the Greek classic, • Anabasu, the arch of the Ten Thousand. Or - like Marco Polo ' s travels, or Stanley in search of Livingston. And today we have another, which deserves a place in the book - a hike all the way across the ' black island of lew Guinea, a aarch that ranks as perhaps the greatest ~ndurance ■ arathon of the war. It took forty-nine days - plowing through the ayas ■al Jangle and cli■bing oYer the~➔p'A Owen Stanle7 lountains. The story was told in lam ington today by Private Clarence Holcomb of Sand Springs, Oklaho ■ a, who has za•t returned home for recuperation. Be tells how a company of the Thirty-Second Infantry Division started out froa the south coast of Be• Guinea, headed for the north coast_ for Buna, the Japanese base, which was to IEW_GOXNEA - 2 be attacked. The company numbered a hundred and ninety-two men. They toiled through the swaaps and wadted through the jungle ■orrass, and then they cfaiabed the ■ ountains. •In soae places,• said Private Rolcoab toda7, •the drop waa straight down for hlldreds of{eet - and a aiaatep would cost a aan his life. You had to hang onto Yinea and roots to keep fro ■ rolling down the aountains. But so ■ehow, ■ oat of us kept plodding and pulling ourselves along.1four food,• he adds, was mostly rice and water - plenty of water but not ■uch rice~ftte even see • e ner ~~ LJOc_Jr--. Ill G 01ft ~A • .3 ,,r1: IPtpc: •I kept dreaming of fried chicken, great ,~~. heaping aounds of it - and it kept ■ e going.A It ■ay have kept hia going, but drea■ s are not so nourishing, and Bolco ■b lost sixty pounds, riorn down to a 1keleton. After forty-nine days, only seven of the budred-and-ninety-two ■ en reached the north coast - the others dropping out llong the way. And at Buaa tbe reaaining seven had to go into action at once, attacked by the Japa - and Bolcoab was shot in the foot, a1 if hia feet had not been through enough al~•ady! Tody is St.Patrick's Day all over the world, and at the bite Bouse it w as something in a dd ition - a wedding anniv ersary , t he Thirty-Ninth Anniversary of the marria e of Mr. and rs. Frank l in D.Roosevelt. However, there was no celebration, because such an wife. iomet i11 ;{. but more properly hubby sends flowers to wifie and gives • ti•••• her a fond reminfscent kiss. and lbe7 taJt eenti■ental rt ■ i nlaceuc~ab0 11 t tbeir wuddius lbo■ a , ...... It takes two to aake a wedding, and the sa ■ e number to 11ake a wedding annivers a ry celebration, and in the lhi t e Hu s e to da y thee was on l y one. The ~~ . Yl&T~~. President t;het e, ~at; the First Lad~he • g cuae ril /\ A - - c , ~ ~ . in the Ca;ibb~~A- a~d sci all the President could do wa t::G send her wed in anniversary RQOSE'{ ELT_ - 2 g re e tin s - and that wa n't any too eas y. Today's dis pat ch from Washington states t h a t he is having trouble keeping t a bs on the exact •hereabouts of - as she g oes hopping by air from one ~ island to another. The belief is, however, that the President, by enlisting the services of the War Department, was able to find out where she was today. ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ F : 1 r c 3 And so, with the assistance of the Army,/\he was probably able to flash greetings to her, something like - •rond Memories•, •Love and Affection• and maybe there might be a eminiscence of Silver Threads Among the Gold - that sweet line; llax ■x "Oh my darling you will be, will be, A lw ays youn and f a ir to me.• The ~aeaington 101d is that P~eeiftea~ R-Qeaeuelt custoaaPily eeleb1ates the oeeaaio~ witb an aaai~croery gift more sabstantlal than wepda - Anyway, it's the bite Bouse wed d ing annivers a ry, a nd today the parades were marching and the bands were playing. But that was to celebrate St. Patrick' s Day and the Wearing of the Green. And .. here's Roger with his green carnation and his bright green tie. Pat, here's )like! I mean Roger, the Mike is yours. The return of the Swedish liner GRIPSBOLY with~im_,; roup of Am ric a ns released from Nazi captivity brings its q uota of insviring stories - and some) tun =- ~ not so inspiring. For example, there " k2 ~Yrs. Lillian Fisk Harrison, a noted artist who lived in Paris for twenty years and who was interned at Vittel with some other forty Americans. F;he 1ft ~ n t e r n e d ~ r i e d favor with charges that some the Nazis and acted as informers - spying on the others and giving information to the Germans. She states this i~ copyrighted story in the Hartford Courant, and asks: ~ . IJ • "What did they gain from it?" Some of them, she answers,«gained little concessions. Some obtained a rooa with a bath, for instance, or other small JJ I advantages. An d she adds that when the Americans in the internment camp were asked whether they would like to return to the United States, some of them shouted,lo Which soun ds like th e ty p e of Americ a n expatriate who has stayed so lon abro ad , that he is not an American --- any lon erA 1"'9'9e- case, the stories about Americans interned in enemy Europe have fre uently featured angles of feuds and fights - with plenty of aw work. I suppose that's ,._:. I\ inevitable when la ■ a numb r of mutually incoapatible characters are herded together and left together. / / _ / ,,,,. / / , / -~ L I remeiber listen,ing to ,,, ,a_ ac-t war correspond.ent no A ., ,.,, , , , / Pack waa United Pr•ss Buuau Mussolini took hi / The Americans in R I ,;' , / / haple&13 country / / , / , ae wer rounded / . / the / , Ita-i). ,, at Ro-me, , rhen , iti to the wai>. u-p' / and ' inte,rned. ,,, / / And , Pack , said , !t wa o/ ( omething awful. / , / / ,7'bey were interned in the ola"City o~ , Siena, / , , the most beautiful towns on earth, ' a p;cture -- stcard k in d of p l a e - ~ lived in a sttmptuoua hot,1. I\ !RSINIST -- The town of Brunswick, Uaine, is having something of a nightmare tonight -- because of an armed arsenist who is on a raapage of sho ting and setting fires. He has been identified as an eighteen- year-old war worker who was once in reform school for tr7ing to set a fire, -- and last night be bad the town ~ set seven fires, end blazed /\ in a reign of terror} away with shotguns at people who tried to stop him. 7(All day today they were looking for him, but couldn't find hia, and the police believe that the firebug terrori was in hiding k11 a-.,.. -- intending to go on another raapage of ars•n and shooting tonight. ~ they are waiting for him right now -- town and state police Portland. Yore over, a and fifteen deputies sent froa l o c a ~ t a t i o n has twent7- A five Marines/in readiness. ~b■■e Jlorces are mobilized to hunt d o w ~ ~ g , if he should appear again tonight setting fires and shooting it out.