Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. naval carrier aircraft smashed probably the last strong Japanese naval force, including the super-battleship Yamato, in the east China Sea as the Japanese steamed out in what was apparently a "banzai" effort to turn the tide of war.
In what was determined to be another indication that the German Reich was in its death throes, Hitler split state and Nazi party offices, enabling top Nazi leaders to abandon their posts and leaving non-party "surrender stooges" in their place.
The treasure of Hitler's Reich was found by the Third Army hidden in a salt mine at Merkers after two talkative German women spilled the location to military police. Found were more than 100 tons of gold bullion, the currencies of many nations, and stacks of priceless art works.
New Japanese Premier Baron Kantaro Suzuki installed a "battle" cabinet, changed the army and air commands, and told Japan that the war "warrants not the least bit of optimism whatever for our nation's survival."
The Soviet Red Army stormed to the Danube 18 miles northwest of Vienna, encircling two-thirds of the Austrian capital. Russian forces later in the week seized the center of the city.
Virginia's quota of $149 million in the seventh war bond drive was the largest of the war.
Workers on a giant construction contract at the Radford Ordnance Works were out on a wildcat strike. A reduction in wages for some workers led to the walkout.
The first Allied trains were to roll across a 2,588-foot Rhine bridge that U.S. engineers had built in 11 days, approaching a record that had stood since Julius Caesar bridged the river in 10 days to take war chariots across.
Jurists from 38 nations set to work in Washington to create a structure for a World Court.
Lt. Samuel C. Epes of a prominent Richmond family was indicted in the poison and suffocation death of his wife, pretty auburn-haired Mary Lee Williams.
The U.S. Ninth Army, in a neck-and-neck race with the First Army toward Berlin, captured the German city of Hannover and swept on to the Elbe River, only 58 miles from Berlin.
U.S. fighter pilots destroyed 397 German planes in the German air force's worst day of losses during the war. Most of the planes were destroyed on the ground because they lacked the fuel to fly.
Veteran 41st Division troops landed on Jolo island and captured its capital, Jolo city, in the southwestern end of the Philippines.
Spain broke off relations with Japan, accusing the Japanese of murdering Spanish nationals in Manila.
A new soft-coal wage agreement with a $1.07 a day basic wage increase was signed by coal operators and the miners' union after Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes had been ordered to take over 235 mines hit by wildcat strikes.
American casualties totalling 432 dead and 2,103 wounded were announced for the first nine days of the battle for Okinawa.
With the last words "I have a terrific headache," President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga. of a massive cerebral Hemorrhage. Vice President Harry Truman, who 11 years earlier had been a Missouri county judge, was sworn in as president and asked Roosevelt's cabinet to stay on. Hundreds of calls jammed the switchboard of the Roanoke Times as many were reluctant to believe the news of Roosevelt's death.
by CNB