Page Four
CLOU'D BUSTER
Saturday, January 8, 1944
The Balkans
By Ens. W. 0. Shanahan, USNE
Academic Department
Every conqueror of eastern Eu
rope has found the Balkan peas
ants to be restless and troublesome
under foreign rule. Adolf Hitler’s
regime has not been an exception
and during the last months he has
had new cause for alarm over his
Balkan conquests. Much blood has
been spilled in Jugoslavia and
Greece, while neutral Turkey
shows signs of i-estlessness. As
Russian and Anglo-American
forces convei'ge on the Balkans
from east and west, peasant
armies, sniffing the air of liberty,
have become moi’e daring and
courageous.
This is especially true in Jugo
slavia where the successes of Gen
eral Tito’s Partisan army have
goaded the Gei*mans into a bitter
campaign. While Anglo-American
forces were conquering Sicily and
the toe of Italy the Germans made
a strenuous effort to snuff out the
Partisan army before it could re
ceive assistance from the allies.
Some ten or twelve divisions were
used against the Partisans, or
about the same strength that now
opposes the Fifth and Eighth
Armies in Italy. The failure of the
German campaign was serious, for
supplies in great quantity are
flowing to the Partisans via the
Adriatic.
Our decision to supply Tito’s
army with war materials involved
more than military considerations.
There are two patriot armies in
Jugoslavia. One under General
Draja Mikhailovitch is recognized
as the national army of King
Peter’s exile government in Lon
don. Though Mikhailovitch’s Chet-
niks were first in the field and won
some local victories, the real
liberation army has emerged un
der General Tito, a former
Croatian metal-worker.
All the typical complications of
Balkan politics underlie the dif
ferences between Tito and Mik-
h.ailovitch. German agitators have
intensified these differences and it
is true unfortunately that the
peasant armies wage war upon one
another about as often as they
fight their common enemy. Yet
Tito’s Partisans have borne the
brunt of the fighting against the
Germans and their defensive vic
tory earlier this year merits at
tention. Since the Partisans con
trol sections of the Adriatic coast
there is now a regular movement
of supplies from Italy to Jugo
slavia. Technical experts from
American and British armies ad
Cloudbusters Win Nine Straight
PICTURED ABOVE is the Cloudbuster basketball team which has
scored 531 points in 10 games while holding the opposition to 348.
Leading scorer is Cadet Bud Palmer with 140 points. Whitey Myers
has 133 to his credit, Tippy Dye 71, and Stan Skaug 70. First row,
reading left to right. Bud Palmer, Whitey Myers, Don Elser, Bob
Forsberg, Russell Guensch, Ken Laird. Second row: Lieut. R. A. Raese,
USNR, head coach, Stan Skaug, Charlie Crowley, Harry Scully, Lou
Lange, George Burns, and Lieut. 0. L. Cochrane, USNR, assistant
coach. Third row: Lt, (jg) Robert Primmer, USNR, assistant coach,
Tom O’Brien and Lariy Meyer, managers, Bob Artman, Norman Jones,
Ben Peckerman, Toppy Nason, and Bill Gregory, manager.
vise Tito and assist in training his
peasant followers. American avia
tion support in the Jugoslav cam
paign is now commonplace.
Less public attention has been
given the Greek patriot armies.
Again there are several in the
field, all mutually hostile to one
another and the Nazis. Allied ex-
pei-ts, not to mention Russian in
fluence which is a powerful fac
tor in the Balkans, have tried to
unite the Greek guerillas. All ef
forts have been countered by the
Germans who insinuate charges to
keep old hatreds alive. The Nazis
have even supplied the feudists
with arms in the hope that they
will exterminate one another. If
the complicated threads of Greco-
Macedonian politics can be un
raveled, a Greek patriot army com
parable to Tito’s Partisans will
make more trouble for the Ger
mans in the Balkans.
The question mark that has sur
rounded Turkey since the start of
the war has not been removed,
though the recent discussions at
Cairo make it clear that Turkey
is closer to Great Britain than
ever before. For this reason the
Germans keep very formidable
garrisons in the Aegean and
Dodecanese Islands which at once
menace Turkey from the west and
guard the sea approaches to the
Balkans. Turkey’s steadfastness
in the face of German pressure has
increased the uneasiness in Bul
garia.
Committee Formed
To Plan Synthetic
Device Activities
A committee of nine officers, rep
resenting various phases of Pre-
Flight activity, has been appointed
to work with Lt. (jg) G, W. Bul
lock, USNR, Synthetic Device Of
ficer, in developing a variety of
interesting displays for the Syn
thetic Device Building which offers
cadets informal opportunity to
gain useful knowledge to augment
their regrular classroom studies.
Members of the committee are
Lieut. William R. Fisher, USNR,
Nomenclature & Recog:nition; Lt.
(jg) Louis B. Jensen, USNR,
Navigation; Lt. (jg) Owen A.
Cruce, USNR, Military Arts;
Warrant Officer Faustin E. Wir-
kus, USMC, Gunnery; Ens. S. 0.
Rosengren, USNR, Self-Preserva
tion; Ens. William Shanahan,
USNR, ENS; Lt. (jg) J. W. Mor
ris, USNR, Climatology; Lieut.
Robert B. Pitkin, USNR, Ath
letics, and Lt. (jg) C. Hill Peddy,
USNR, Military.
The Synthetic Device Building
is open to cadets from 1830 to
1930 four week day evenings with
the exception of Wednesday and
Saturday. Films which are not
regularly shown to the cadets in
their classroom work will be shown
for the first part of the hour, the
cadets then being free to spend the
remainder of the time studying
and observing the displays.
Overheard
At Chow
. . . SEATS! CARRY ON! . . .
Pasa’ food down! . . . “You fellas
ever been to sea? You’d like be
ing second class seamen, yeah ya
sui’e would.” . . . Hey, get some
moi'e of that stuff. . . . “Ever
scraped barnacles off’n a ship’s
hull? Wait’ll ya become 2nd class
seamen. . , . Pepper, please. . . .
“Ya’ say yer goin’ to Bainbridge,
mate? Howdja get the ticket? Oh,
flunked Navigation, eh? Better
get a T. S. slip from the Chaplain
on your way out!” . . . Who wants
the butter? ... “Did I ever tell ya’
’bout the time I painted the ship’s
hull, yeah, I useta be a seaman,
some life!!” . . . Ya’ want some
beans down there? . . . “Quit
singin’ the Bainbridge blues, will
ya! . . . Ya’ say code bothers ya?
Oh, the food, yeah, have some
more.” . . . Passa jelli. . . . What!
Ain’t got no mo’?? . . . “Dya’ like
rowin’ a boat? Yeah, ya’ do lotsa
rowin’ up Bainbridge way; lotsa
fun!!” .. . PIPE DOWN IN THE
MESS HALL . . . Pssst, got the
gouge for sentry post No. 2
watch? . . . “Which reminds me,
guard duty at Bainbridge really
passes the time, yeah. Four on,
four off, zoff, zon, arms bend—1...
2 . . , Yeah, they got calisthenics
too, beginning at 0600.” ... Water
down! . . . “Ya’ goin’ to Bain
bridge too, mate? Couldn’t frog
kick,eh? Tough! ... STAND BY!
KNOCK IT OFF IN THE MESS
HALL! . . . Yeah, you’ll have fun
in Bainbridge, great place!” . . .
CADET, WHAT’S YOUR
NAME?! ... “Oh, oh, the Report!
. . . MARCH OUT!
OFFICERS
(Continued from page one)
Jr., instructor, ENS, and Allen 0-
Scarbrough, dental officer.
Promoted from ensign to lieu
tenant (jg) are John C. Busby,
disbursing officer; Donald L. El
ser, assistant coach of track, and
George W. Passage, instructor,
recognition.
Cadet William Pettit Gregory?
40-H-l, bicycled 2000 miles during
the summer of 1940. In 1934 he
visited family relations in Eng
land, and did most of his traveling
on a bicycle.
A former sportswriter who for
sook journalism for aviation is
Cadet John Cadigan, 40-H-3, of
Lynn, Mass. He worked for the
Boston Evening American.