Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503160014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roughly 100 Thunderbolts and Mustangs of the 8th Air Force had been sent to help protect the Remagen bridge over the Rhine River from dive-bombing German planes. Meanwhile, four miles north of Remagen, U.S. assault troops had made another crossing of the river.
The War Production Board had cancelled all allotments of both steel and copper for making civilian goods through June, stopping most of the $195 million worth of approved civilian production for the coming quarter.
The American Viscose Corp. announced it planned to build a rayon plant on the banks of the New River across from Radford as soon as war conditions permitted.
As the union's dispute with the Southern coal operators accelerated, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, called for a strike vote by his 400,000 members on March 28.
BBC radio declared in a German language broadcast that it had new information indicating that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had been a part of the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. Berlin had claimed Rommel had died of wounds suffered in the fighting in France.
Veteran 41st Division troops invaded Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines against light opposition from a surprised Japanese garrison.
A fleet of 300 B-29 Superfortresses rained 2,300 tons of bombs on Osaka, Japan's second-largest city. That brought the total tonnage dropped on Japan within 96 hours to 7,000 tons.
The worst meat shortage since the start of the war had cleared out butchers' counters from one end of the United States to the other.
The British were using a new 11-ton "world-shaker" bomb, capable of destroying nine city blocks, against the Germans.
American 1st Army troops fought out of the Remagen bridgehead to reach and stop traffic on the Cologne-Frankfurt superhighway. Meanwhile, three great allied armies, including the U.S. 3rd and 7th, opened an offensive against the last German forces west of the Rhine, slashing deep into the Saar River basin.
After 26 days, the Marines had won the battle of Iwo Jima at the cost of 4,189 killed, 441 missing and 15,308 wounded.
The weather bureau was warning that winter was far from over even though the thermometer hit 87 degrees in Richmond on St. Patrick's Day.
After joining in wiping out German resistance west of the Rhine, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army swept across the river, surprising the Germans by advancing without an opening artillery barrage.
by CNB