The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-01-13
War

encountered. The strike was not
made without cost; 80 OF the four
motored American craft failed TO
return, as did five Of their escorts.
However on the profit side of
the ledger we're upwards of loo
German t7terceptors downed and
the three Important industrial
plants destroyed or badly damaged.
With this balance IN mind, a mill
tary spokesman described the OPP
Grafton as a major military sue
cess
At Wichita. Kan, Gen. II. H
Arnold chief of the L. 5. AIR
Force said; Germany has been
deprived of hundreds OF planes
that she would have turned out In
the factories
Arnold added that. "as a result
of the air attack, hundreds of pro
jected German fighter planes VIII
never be manufactured to stop the
Allied bombers or Allied troops
preparing to invade Europe
The raid, termed by some Lon
don papers as the heaviest OF the
war, was directed against plane
plants at Halberstadt. Oschersle-
ben and Brunswick. There was
no immediate indication in official
circles as to the tonnage OF bombs
uuloaded upon the Messerscnmltt'
Focke.Nulf and Junkers factories.
Forty more German planes were
destroyed on the Russian 'front.' pc
fore they could get off the ground
Tho official Soviet communlque'
telling of additional gains by the
Red Army, said that MOTORIZED
force pierced Nazi defenses in the
Kirovograd sector and 'wreche9
the two-score planes at for"aru
airdrome. A..
However. this vas among the
loss sensational developments OF
the Russian war as the SoNlets
urIeasbed their sixth offensive IN
little more than month anG
vent forward deep into POLAND
and toward the Rumanian trohtiel'
Tho new Russian drive oyerran
20 towns and villages, lntIicteu
death upon more than 2'OOV NaHiS
and advanced ten miles along
~ mile front In two days. 1t was
,oirted at the White Russian ran
center Of Mozyr, and was salu 10
he rithin nine miles OF that huD'
snearheads Of Gen Ntkolai Na,'
utin's first Ukrainisn army au'
,anced beyond captured Na.o!'
ubose fall was announced III
srecial order OF the day by 6re
rier Marshal Joseph STAIN. One
ia ARMY column was said IN naI'
tkfront dispatches to be "ltn,u
An miles southeast Of Pinsh, nor'n,
,est If Saruy. The latter town Is
* miles beyond the old Polisn
border Its fall split Germah
troops In the Ukraine and those IN
White Russia. ,
Meanwhile. TO the southeast
offer Russian troops driving lot
the key rail junction OF zhmerinAa
we're said to have reached the BUS
River at an undisclosed point. An
other front report said a soVlet
snearhead was within ten miles OF
the sheptovka rail center and we're
reetirg determined German re
sistance.
So serious had the German po-
sition in Russia become tnat
swedish dispatch to the London
Daily Mail eaid Berlin termed the
situation more than critical aud
Hitler conducted continuous CON
fereuces with bis highest sener-
ais. H.
fifth Army probed into the OUT
skirts Of Cervaro, four miles from
casino. and the fall Of the village
was expected shortly. The Berlin
radio said last night that the town
was evacuated.
On New Britain Island IN the
Southwest Pacific. American ma
rines strengthened their hold On
the Cape Gloucester area AFTER
tbvarting a Japanese attempt to
land troops near that base. The
L G forces at Arawe still held
that key point, too, DESPITE an
enemy claim that It had been re-
/ taken.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur's COM
muniuue also revealed that 43 enc
my barges. four luggers and other
small vessels we're sunk or dam
aged BY Allied air and surface
units. Most we're troop-filled when
caught between Saidor and Pos
on thn Ner. Cn.non cnatt