Current Events December 10, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY DECEMBER10, 1943:

Damage Totals
Millions; Fishing
Boats Battered

 The storm, which followed a 'fair" forecast by the weather bureau, struck suddenly this morning,
with heavy rainfall and hail storms in some sectors, and snow in higher altitudes.
High waves caused some minor damage to small boats at several points along the coast. Twenty four hour storm warnings were hoisted along the coast from Point Conception to. San Diego.

The Red army has captured Znamenka, hub of a system of railroads linking the Dnieper

river bend •with the area south of View, Premier-Marshal Joseph Stalin announced today in a special order of the day.

The Soviet column that smashed into the town was one of several driving through crumbling Nazi defenses

in the Dnieper bend and fanning out from the Kremencbuz bridgehead.

 The Fifth Army lias cracked German defenses on both side:s of the Via Casilina at Mignano in a bloody nine-day offensive brought to a smashing climax by American trroops who seized Mt. Samucro in "the battle of the clouds," Allied headquarters announced today.

Announcing a liberalization of voluntary censorship restrictions on the press and radio. Director Byron Price today placed in his own office of censorship greater responsibility for clearing material for publication and

broadcast.

This fundamental change in censorship policy. Price said, "means, in effect, that the office of censorship will itself undertake to act as an appropriate authority under the codes" by passing on material in restricted categories whether or not it has been announced officially by other government agencies. "The

office of censorship will not, however, originate news.

The War Today
                 • • •
Nazi Position In Balkans
  Is More Grave With
   Each Passing Hour.

By DEWITT MACKENZIE
Associated Press War Analyst
There's a Chinese proverb that he who rides a tiger finds it difficult to dismount, which describes rather accurately Herr Hitler's increasingly dangerous- effort to -ride !the-un*- tamable Balkans.See complete report below)





( E T included the article below because, on that date he was stationed on Catalina Island for training in the U. S. Maritime Service  at Avalon California. The U.S. M. S. recruits working with the staff and personnel at the base managed to remove boats and secure equipment, preventing loss and damage.)
Damage Totals
Millions; Fishing
Boats Battered
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9.—(TP)
—Two spectacular waterspouts whipped up by high winds appeared off the Southern California
coast during a heavy storm that struck the area today, but no damage resulted.
A waterspout is caused by a whirlwind of great force drawing up water from the sea. It is very
rare.
One of the waterspouts formed off Point Firmin, moved southward and broke when it struck Cabrillo Beach. The spout clumped tons of water onto the beach, which was clear of pedestrians. '
A second waterspout formed off Palos Verdes estates during the storm and swept seaward.
The storm, which followed a 'fair" forecast by the weather bureau, struck suddenly this morning,
with heavy rainfall and hail storms in some sectors, and snow in higher altitudes.
High waves caused some minor damage to small boats at several points along the coast. Twenty four hour storm warnings were hoisted along the coast from Point Conception to. San Diego.
The Samuel Goldwyn studio power house in Hollywood was struck by lightning during the
storm but no one was injured. The studio closed down for the day. Power transformers were struck
by lightning at a number of points in the Los Angeles area, causing temporary power service interruptions.
Damage in Millions
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9.—
(INS)—
Striking strongest in the San Francisco bay area, a windstorm of almost hurricane force early today caused damage running into the millions along the California coast. Half of Monterey's famed and colorful fishing fleet of more than one hundred boats, including large purse seiners, was driven ashore, and damage was estimated at more than $500,000.



                  IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 10, 1943.


Hub of Railroad System Between
       Dnieper Bend, Area
           South of Kiev.
LAST OF 4 RAIL LINES
By EDWARD D. BALL
' London—(AP)—The Red army has captured Znamenka, hub of a system of railroads linking the Dnieper
river bend •with the area south of View, Premier-Marshal Joseph Stalin announced today in a special order of the day.
The Soviet column that smashed into the town was one of several driving through crumbling Nazi defenses
in the Dnieper bend and fanning out from the Kremencbuz bridgehead.
The capture of the heavily fortified German bastion cut the last of four rail lines centering In that
town and brought the weight of the Russian Dnieper bend offensive directly against Klrovograd, the next stronghold in the path of Red army forces threatening to outflank Krivol Rog.
Stalin's order of the day said
Znamenka had fallen after three days of fierce fighting and termed the town a "powerful strong point in the German defenses In the Kirovograd direction."
                                                    Fight In Snowstorm
The Russians declared the great German counterattack west of Kiev in the Zhitomir and Korosten bulge has been checked after three days in which 350 German tanks and 5,000 enemy troops were destroyed.
The German communique, however, asserted that the Nazis "gained further ground in spite of stiff enemy
resistance."

ARMY CRACKS
NAZI DEFENSES
American Troops Seize Mt.
    Samucro in 'Battle of
        The Clouds.'
By EDWARD KENNEDY
Allied headquarters. Algiers—(AP)—
The Fifth Army lias cracked German defenses on both side:s of the Via Casilina at Mignano in a bloody nine-day offensive brought to a smashing climax by American trroops who seized Mt. Samucro in "the battle of the clouds," Allied headquarters announced today.
At the same time it was disclosed that Canadians, infantry and tanks, spearheading the Eighth Army along the Adriatic, were smashing forward on an eight-mile front after forcing a second crossing cf the Moro river.
Fighting against the strongest man-made defenses and toughest natural obstacles yet encountered in Italy, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark's veteran British and American troops have wiped out the German mountain line on both sides of the main road to Rome \ and are stabbing into secondary defenses in the direction of Cassino.
                                                   Not Many Miles Gained
Measured in miles, their advance has not been great since Ge:n Clark gave ths word for the onslaught, and they still arc faced by a formidable network of fortifications covering the hillsides as far as Cassino and beyond.

CHANGES MADE IN
 CENSORSHIP POLICY
         Restrictions on Press and
         Radio Are Liberalized By
                      Director.
Washington—(AP)—
Announcing a liberalization of voluntary censorship restrictions on the press and radio. Director Byron Price today placed in his own office of censorship greater responsibility for clearing material for publication and
broadcast.
This fundamental change in censorship policy. Price said, "means, in effect, that the office of censorship will itself undertake to act as an appropriate authority under the codes" by passing on material in restricted categories whether or not it has been announced officially by other government agencies. "The
office of censorship will not, however, originate news.
Issuing to a press conference revised censorship codes for' the press and radio. Price said numerous restrictive requests of the government had been eliminated In th« interest of encouraging a more liberal
presentation of war news, especially regarding war production, merchant marine operations and
diplomatic negotiations not connected.
Price again emphasized that onlythe office of censorship has authority to request that certain news not be published or broadcast and invited appeals when requests were received from other sources."Unquestionably news is being suppressed needlessly by newspapers and broadcasters because of miscellaneous requests emanating from totally u n a u t h o r i z e d sources throughout the country, including
even publicity agents," Price said.
In some cases, he said, "even Chambers of Commerce have tried to say what could be printed." Saying
that he had noted some inclination among newspapers to acceded to such unauthorized requests, Price
added: "I want to be sure we don't build up that ty'pe of psychology. I want
to put newspapers and broadcasters on their guard against it. I have found editors who think that army
regulations issued to publication relations officers on what should not be given out are orders to newspapers.
They are not and the war department never Intended them tobe."

90,000 III at Capital.
Washington —(AP)— Approximately 90,000 Washingtonians have been attacked by influenza since an outbreak of a mild form of the malady shortly after Thanksgiving Day, the District of Columbia health department estimated today. Out of 52,312 pupils in elementary schools, 14,762  failed to report today.

The War Today
                 • • •
Nazi Position In Balkans
  Is More Grave With
   Each Passing Hour.
By DEWITT MACKENZIE
Associated Press War Analyst
There's a Chinese proverb that he who rides a tiger finds it difficult to dismount, which describes rather accurately Herr Hitler's increasingly dangerous- effort to -ride !the-un*- tamable Balkans.
The Nazi all,highest.is in-"despair; -of keeping his seat, and-he dare not let go, for fear of being torn to
pieces. His position has become more grave with each passing hour since the Turks, in a manner of speaking, partook of honey and water in the Allied camp, thus making a traditional Balkans gesture of
friendship which has further disturbed the Fuehrer's satellites.
Bulgaria, Germany's key ally onthe peninsula, is reportedly veering further away from the Reich. Many people in Sofia, the capital, are said to expect their country to jump to the side of the United Nations if
there's an Allied invasion of the Balkans with Turkish support. 
                                                             At Peace With Russia
Color is lent to this report by the fact that the Bulgarians, while theoretically at war with America and Britain, are still at peace with their fellow Slavs or Russia. This bond of race is strong. Indeed, another report has it that a Muscovite military mission is in the Bulgarian capital, and if that's true
it speaks volumes.
Personally I should rather have the Bulgarians as friends than enemies. I have visited them in their
cities, and have even ventured far into the Balkan mountains among the primitive folk of that wild region.
They are a hard, fierce people, not afraid tq kill or be killed, and possessed of'boundless determination
once their minds are set.
Small wonder that Hitler has strengthened his forces along the Greek and Bulgarian borders with Turkey, and has redoubled his efforts to crush the Greeks and Yugoslavs, who arc battling with the fierce love of liberty which has characterized them through the centuries. This fresh Balkan crisis has vastly increased the menace to the great right wing of the Nazi chief's harassed battle-front in Russia.
Keep Fighting From Homeland Brigadier General Horace Sewell. the British . military expert, astutely points out that the main object of German strtaegy is to keep the fighting as far away from - the homeland as possible. That's why Hitler is pouring German lives so prodigally into the Russian warmill—to relay retirement of his line as much as possible. That's why he now is straining to keep the Balkans in hand. That's why he has been clinging to his winter line through the mountains of Italy so doggedly.
Those are the only land fronts on which he is being forced at the moment to fight with infantry. Hitler's greatest danger, of course, is the creation of a huge vice by the projected Allied invasion of France. Once he has to defend that front in a big way with infantry, he will be under a strain which he cannot long stand.