The Alamance Gleaner
VoL LXXI . GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1945 No, 3
' ?J , _
?? WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Allied Armies Squeeze Nazis As
Big Three Map Knockout Drive;
AFL, Industry Buck Labor Draft
' Released by Western Newspaper Union. I
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eolamns. they are these ef
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily ef this newspaper.)
I
With one member carrying cumbersome anti-tank weapon, Berlin
hmne-guarders mobilize for action as Russ march on capital.
EUROPE:
Plan Knockout
As Swedish reports played up a
big shakeup in the German govern
ment in an effort to form a more
respectable regime for approaching
the Allies for peace, the Big Three
conference continued in the Black
Sea area, with Messrs. Roosevelt,
Churchill and Stalin announcing
completion of plans for the knock
out of the Nazi military machine.
Although Hitler would remain as
the head of the German state under
the reported shakeup, actual power
would pass into the hands of wily
Fritz von Papen, ace diplomat and
Reich chancellor before the Fuehr
er's ascension to dominance. Al
though a conservative In tone, Von
Papen, reports had it, would have
as Finance Minister Hjalmar
Schacht, who devised the Reich's
CUeftatn SUlin, Roosevelt and Churchill
hi confab.
> complex pj-ewar barter system, by
whicfi the Reich attempted to do
business without formal exchange.
In agreement on military plans,
file Big Three also were reportedly
m harmony on postwar occupation
of Germany, with Britain taking
over the northwest, the U. S. the
southwest and Russia the east.
Ttvin Thrusts
While the Russians drove in from
the east, the U. S. and British
undertook a large-scale offensive in
the west, with Field Marshal Ber
nard Montgomery's Tommies at
' tempting to outflank the Siegfried
line terminal of Kleve on the north
ern end of the front and move down
the Ruhr valley.
r oflowing 11 hours of intensive
aerial and artillery bombardment,
Montgomery's forces, paced by
tanks and flame throwers, fought
deep into the Reichwald forest
screening Kleve, while the Ger
mans rushed up reinforcements in
in effort to curb the offensive. Not
only would a British break-through
imperil the industrial Ruhr val
ley, but it would place the Tommies
at the rear of Nazi troops holding
a line against the U. S. First and
Third armies farther south.
While Montgomery's offensive
mounted, the First and Third
armies continued to chew deeply
Mo the once formidable Siegfried
fiae, with the battering Yanks en
countering new earthwork defenses
beyond the west wall's concrete
bnkers, pill-boxes and tank
traps. Strongpoint after strongpoint
hi the Siegfried line fell as the Nazis
appeared to be falling back into the
earthwork system, stretching as far
bock as the Rhine in some places.
Attack in West
While a great battle raged for the
battered Prussian stronghold of Ber
. Kb, another great and equally im
portant fight flared for Silesia's in
terior industrial district
In pressing their great offensives
along the sprawling eastern front,
the Reds threw numerous bridge
heads across the Oder river,
whose ice-packs were thawed by
warm winds. With artillery laying
down heavy barrages. Rod armored
columns, backed by waves at in
fan try, pressed into the fortified
rones before Berlin.
Farther to the south, the Russians
beaded for Silesia's interior in
dustrial district around Schwied
aitz and Wuenschelburg, nestled
deep in the shadow of the towering
Sudeten mountains rimming Czecho
slovakia. Capture of this region
would add to the cooquest of the
eastern Slesian industrial district
end further impair Nazi industry.
WORK OR FIGHT:
Bill Bucked
Still strongly opposed by labor
and industry, the administration's
"work or fight" bill forcing men be
tween 18 and 45 to accept essential'
jobs or face induction or fine and
imprisonment received close sen
ate consideration after house pas
sage.
As the solons took up the bill, the
AFL's executive council meeting in
Miami, Fla., declared that no
actual manpower shortage existed,
but that some plants were hoarding
labor to keep up production costs
and allow them a greater percent
age of profit, and contracts were
being let in tight labor areas while
establishments were forced to lay
off help in others. The AFL . recom
mended a substitute under which
hoarded labor would be drafted.
Claiming that only 150,000 work
ers were needed, the National Asso
ciation of Manufacturers said that
voluntary cooperative efforts of in
dustry, labor and government had
largely been successful in recruit
ing needed help, and said that lower
employment ceilings in unessential
plants could "flush out" surplus
workers. Reductions in absenteeism,
elimination of wasteful labor prac
tices and shifting of skilled help
would serve to draw the most from
available manpower, the NAM said.
PACIFIC:
Manila in Flames
Overwhelmed by American forces
moving from the north, and
squeezed by other U. S. units mov
ing in from the south, Jap defend
ers of Manila destroyed all bridges
over the Pasig river dividing the
city in two and put the business dis
trict to the torch.
As the Manila business district's
reinforced concrete, streamlined
and air conditioned buildings bil
lowed in flame, winds blowing in
from the bay spread the fire, forc
ing the removal of freed prisoners
and internees by truck to outlying
The general, It seems, does all
the talking for the Mae Arthurs!
When Mrs. MacArthnr was
asked to comment on her re
action to the fall of Manila, her
aide said she couldn't alter her
policy of public silence without
permission from general head
quarters ? meaning MaeArthur
himself.
suburbs. As U. S. troops worked
their way through the barricaded
streets, they came under heavy
sniper gunfire.
In telling his troops that they
"... have redeemed a country's
pledge to recapture its lost land,
. . ." General MaeArthur said that
the conquest of Manila marked the
ead of one phase of the war and
</ie opening of another. Declaring
that his command was ready to car
ry on the campaign against the
Japs, in what was interpreted as
his bid for continued leadership of
Allied forces in the Pacific, Mao
Arthur proclaimed:
"On to Tokyo."
SURPLUS GOODS t
Investigate Sales
With congress announcing Ks In
tention to go into the whole ques
tion of surplus property disposal
now to develop fair practices rather
than to wait until most of the goods
had been sold, the senate war
investigating committee "ranged
over the whole matter, with em
phasis on operations of an auction
eering firm allegedly soliciting busi
ness through high officials.
During the course of the commit
tee's inquiry, it was learned that
purchasers bought surplus mate
rials at bargain prices and then re
sold them to the government at big
profits, and that test tubes, stopper
corks and surgical dressings were
being classed as surplus while fac
tories worked around the clock
turning out more of the same items,
i In investigating the affairs of Sur
plus Liquidators, Inc., it was
brought out that Herbert Bayard
Swope, consultant to Secretary of
War Henry Stimson, had written to
Jesse Jones, former secretary of
commerce, asking for the latter's
consideration of the firm's plans for
disposal of surplus goods. There not
only was pre-arranged bidding at
Surplus Liquidators' auctions, it was
charged, but sales were made with
out any competitive bidding at all,
and in some cases buyers later were
asked to pay higher prices for goods
they had previously bought.
COURT-MARTIAL:
Stirs Nation
In a case that stirred nation-wide
interest and created a flurry on the
floor of the U. S. senate, the army's
sentencing of Pvt.
Henry Weber, 27, of
Vancouver, Wash.,
to hanging for re
fusal to bear arms
in a drill was
changed to life im
prisonment at hard
labor.
As Weber's wife
said that his deep
personal conviction
Henry Weber a**?* ,!?Png
war should have en
titled him to consideration as a con
scientious objector before his induc
tion, he, himself, declared: "I am |
interested in a world in which all
men can live peaceably. To be a
good soldier you have to learn to
hate and to kill. I am willing to do
anything I can to get the war over
as long as I do not have to kill othei1
people."
Exclaiming "... It is inconceiva
ble to me that army officers would
sentence a man to death because he
refused to drill," Senator Wheeler
(Mont.) threatened to press a con
gressional inquiry into the case
when it was first announced. "Who
ever sentenced that boy to hanging
ought to be discharged," he said.
CANADA:
Draft Trouble
Reaffirming its traditional privi
leges of self-government under the
British North America act (the
Canadian constitution), French
speaking Quebec's 22nd legislature
convened in the same week as
English - speaking voters in the
Grey North district of Ontario re
pudiated the dominion government's
compromise overseas draft policy.
Strongly opposed to an overseas
draft, the Quebec legislature's firm
declaration of self - government,
coupled with the assertion that the
minority's interest in any change in
the dominion's constitution should
be respected, indicated that French
Canadians aimed to maintain their
position on conscription.
Meanwhile, repudiation of the gov
ernment's compromise overseas
draft policy to avoid a head-on col
lision with Quebec meant that Pre- ,
mier King may be compelled to J
call a general election to thrash out
the question publicly and strengthen
an administration's hand on dealing
with the touchy problem.
RAIL TRAFFIC:
Car Shortage
One great artery linking the na
tion into a whole, the U. S. railroad
system's operations in one section
must strongly affect activities in an
other as the recent heavy snow
storms and frigid weather in the
northeast have proved.
Because of the delay in returning
rolling stock from the storm area,
and the necessity of giving impor
tant military freight the right of
way, an acute shortage of box
cars has developed in the middle
west, it was said. The situation
has been all the more complicated
by the fact that terminal mills and
grain elevators have made a heavy
demand for box cars in the face 1
of a record 1M4 harvest and a large
carry-over.
Freight difficulties have been i
equally matched by passenger serv- I
ice troubles, it was also said, what i
with the severe winter weather de
laying the arrival of many trains '
in midwest terminals and resulting I
in travelers missing connections on <
lines leaving for the west. I
Notes of m Newspaperman:
Story at a Song: Once upon a
time (March, 1943) songwriter John
ny Burke dined at the home of Harry
Lillis Crosby. . . . Gary, oldest son
of Crosby, was spouting monosylla
bic thumb-noses at the principles of
American education. In sum, he
hated school. . . . Burke waved a
worldly finger. . . . "My boy," he
said, "you should be glad you're go
ing to school. How would you like
to be a fish? A fish can't read
or write or go to ball games. All
he can do is swim around and when
he gets tired of swimming one way,
he turns around and swims the oth
er. If you like that sort of life, you
might grow up to be a fish." . . .
Mr. Burke was impressed with his
own philosophy. ... He hastened to
his partner, Jimmy Van Heusen, and
Repeated the dissertation on fish. . . .
As a result, "Swingin' on a Star"
was bom and cast in "Going My
Way," starring Bing. . . . Soon after
the picture premiered the ditty made
The Hit Parade and stayed on it
for 20 straight weeks. ... It became
a minor national anthem with kids
who asked kin if they'd like to be
a fish or a mule. . . . Clergymen
used the theme in sermons, and Joe
E. Lewis parodied: "Would you like
to hang on a bar, with a dame like
Hedy LamarrT" . . . Very soon a
book on the theme will be published.
They may make a film based on its
story, too. . . . Anyway, that's what
came of a kid saying he didn't like
school and why J. Burke and J. Van
Heusen pay surtaxes.
Ambassador to Bruil A. A.
Berle's wife is known for her
frankness. Recently at a dinner
in Washington Mrs. Berle cor
nered a Russian General and
asked him a few pointed ques
tions. The dialog went some
thing like this?his answers are
in parentheses: "What is Rus
sia's present aim?" (to defeat
the enemy). . . . "What are yon
going to do with Germany?"
(Conqner her). . . . "And with
Poland?" (liberate her). . . .
"And what will yon do when yon
arrive at the Rhine?" (Take a
swim).
We have fust finished Noel Cow
ard's "Middle East Diary," and the
following paragraph in it belongs
here, considering Coward's recent
"jam" over his comment in the book
about Brooklyn soldiers. . . . "At
ten o'clock," he observes, "I .went
to call on General Eisenhower. He
combats untiringly the little cracks
and lampoons and jokes spread by
the British against the Americans
and vice versa. I believe he even
sacked an important member of his
stall for making a minor contribu
tion to this dangerous, subversive
racket. One silly little man with one
laborious joke can cause an incred
ible amount of damage."
Frank Munn called the American
Album of Familiar Music cast to
gether and said: "I just wanted to
tell you a little story. Frank Hum
mert once approached me and of
fered a spot an this program. ... I
asked, 'For how long do you want
me?'
" 'Maybe 13 weeks,' he said,
'maybe 13 years.'
"I just wanted to tell an of you
that tonight is the anniversary of
my 13th year on the American Al
bum of Familiar Music."
Munn holds no contract. A hand
shake cemented the deal.
The eolyum's recent experience
(because of an omitted comma in a
telegram) recalls this one about a
refugee college prof, dining in a res
taurant near Columbia University.
. . . Speaking English with that ac
quired precision which so often
shames the native born, he ordered
"figs and cream." . . . The waitress
brought a dish of figs covered with
cream.
"I ordered figs and cream," be
protested.
"Well," she said, "there they
are."
"But," he persisted, "this is figs
WITH cream!"
"So what?" she so-wfaatted.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Vadam," said the professor icily,
"would you say a woman and child
were the same as a woman with
child?"
Newspapermen will ten you that
corrections sometimes are worse
than the original story. . . . This is
i concrete example: "Our paper
carried the notice last week that Mr.
John Doe was a defective in the po
lice force. This was a typographical
error. Mr. Doe is really a detective
In the police farce."
Army and Navy Turn to Rocket Weapons
As Answer to Need for More Fire Power
Munitions Schedule
Greatly Stepped IJp
To Meet Demands
War rockets are not new. The
Chinese used crude projectiles
in 1232 against the Tartars; the
British fired them at American
troops in the War of 1812, during
thehattle of Blandensburg, when
they routed Stansbury's Ameri
can brigade, and then marched
on Washington. Francis Scott
Key, going aboard a British
prison ship in the Chesapeake to
discover the fate of a friend,
was obliged to stay aboard dur
ing the British rocket ship at
tack on Fort McHenry. On the
basis of this experience, he
wrote the rocket references in
the American national anthen:
"And the rockets' red glare,
The bombs bursting in air."
Rockets, however, were never
used before in 20th century warfare.
In this war these projectiles
have become-Important and destruc
tive weapons. Their considerable
use in combat-is one of the principal
weappn innovations of this war.
Amazing expansion of use and pro
duction of American rockets, since
the bazooka was invented in 1941,
has been reported by the army, the
navy and the Office of Scientific Re
search and Development.
The increaie In rocket production,
of course, based on increased re
quirements for rockets to use in
combat, lis shown by these facts:
In November,' 1944, the navy's bu
rean' of ordnance reported that by
the end of the first quarter or early
In the second quarter of 1945, the
navy would be spending approxi
mately $100,040,004 per month on
rocket ammunition alone, which Is
as much as Is now being spent per
month on all types of naval ammu
nition.
In December, 1944, however, the
navy's bureau of ordndhee said that
In a few months navy rocket produc
tion would be stepped up by nearly
300 per cent.
The army, which placed its first
rocket orders of this war in 1941,
had approximately 41,444,444 In
rocket eontraets darinx IM2. Dor
Inf IMS, the expanding rocket pro
doetlon program had ehot op by
2,444 per cent over that of 1942.
And in 1944 the program waa farther
increased by another 444 -per cent
over 1443 production, according to
the army ordnance department.
During 194S the army will be
spending approximately $12,000,000
per month on rocket ammunition
alone, while the navy will produce
rockets tor all branches of the
armed forces and will bo responsi
ble for loading and testing -the pro
jectiles. The army will be respon
sible for the manufacture of a rocket
propellent charge that will not dis
solve in ordinary solvents, such as
water, and of rockets of sizes not
produced by the navy.
New Typos More Powerful.
Rockets ussd by the American
armed forces today, including the
navy's latest typo airplane rocket
and the latest plane type used by
the army air forces, are even more
potent weapons than the bazooka,
which was the army's anti-tank
rocket first put into production in
1941, and first used in combat in the
North African invasions. According
to the National Defense Research
committee, rockets are accurate
weapons when fired from high speed
aircraft And the navy reports that
rockets fired from planes can be pin
pointed on the target
In thla war American rockets are
fired from naval craft, aircraft, and
from the" ground or from ground ve
hicles. Similar in principle to the
* uia m ui uuiy sKyrocKei, mese new
rockets are artillery type weapons,
with the rockets being equivalent to
shells and the launching devices
equivalent to guns. Fired from tubes
that vary in length and diameter
according to the type of rocket, the
weapons have warheads carrying ex
plosives, or smoke, or incendiary
chemicails. The tube that extends to
the rear of the warhead contains
the propellent, a material that, after
being electrically ignited, generates
expanding gas. The gas, pushing
against the head, forces the rocket
forward.
The M-8 rocket, that was devel
oped after the bazooka, is a 4.9
inch projectile that equals in fire
power the 105-mm. medium artillery
gun. The M-8 rocket weighs only 38
pounds. The M-8's launcher, M-12,
weighs 35 to 40 pounds, while a 105
mm. gun weighs approximately 13
tons. The M-12 launcher costs only
$104, while a 105-mm. gun complete
costs $8,406.
M-8s Clear the Way.
The navy put M-8 rockets to their
first real test in the Pacific amphibi
ous operations. By tha time the Eu
ropean theater invasions began,
rocket-firing craft had become es
sential equipment for landings on
hostile beaches. On the China-Bur
ma-India theater M-fl rockets, fired
by army air force P-Sl Mustang
fighter planes, carrying six rockets
each, destroyed in 290 rounds of fir
ing six large warehouses, 12 medi- *
um-sired warehouses, one foundry,
four locomotives, 10 Japanese air
craft, two river boats and four na
tive shacks; and damaged two me
dium-sized warehouses, five medi
um-sized buildings, one locomotive,
and 13 Japanese aircraft.
P-38 Lightnings, P-39 Airacobras,
P-40 Warhawks, P-47 Thunderbolts,
as well as the Mustangs, are the
fighter planes equipped with rock
ets by the army air forces. Grum
man Avenger torpedo planes and
such lighter navy fighter planes as
Hellcats have been armed with rock
ets. Navy carrier task forces are
using rockets in ever-increasing
quantity. .
Army air force fighter planes,
carrying rockets slung in underwing
mounts, have combined rocket fire
with bombing to destroy concentra
tions of armored vehibles, rail lines,
rolling stock, trucks and troop con
voys, light field fortifications such as
bunkers, pillboxes, artillery em
placements, radio installations, and
light naval and cargo cralt, both in
Europe and in the China-Burma-In
dia theater of war.
For more than two years the navy
has been using a type fid rocket
weapon against Axis submarines.
Now standard for all new amphibi
ous operations is the rocket weapon
that was used successfully in the
invasions of North Africa, Sicily,
Italy, and France, in the landings
on Arawe and subsequent landings
in the Pacific.
Blast Shore Installations. '
LCIs (landing craft. Infantry) at
tacked with rockets at Kwajalein,
Eniwetok, Guam. Several thousand
rockets were hurled at Japanese
shore installations by LCIs on Guam.
These rockets were fired by elec
trical control from multiple banks
of launchers that had been welded
to forward well decks.
Operational and tactical reports el
rocket successes from field com
manders and in various theaters of
war have increased markedly over
1942. After analysing the wide de
struction of enemy ground targets
by rocket-firing F-47s of the Ninth
air force, the operational research
section of the foree recommended
more extensive use of airborne rock
ets.
Since 1941 American rocket re
search and development have been
forwarded by the war and navy de
partments, working with scientists
of the Office of Sripntifl^ Pnenor/?h
and Development. The latter is re
sponsible, among other things, for
initiating and supporting scientific
research on weapons of war. The
air technical service command tech
nicians, the army ordnance depart
ment, and civilian scientists of the
N.D.R.C. group, developed airborne
rockets for tactical use in the war
after only two years of research at
Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, and oth
er proving grounds.
While rockets have great fire pow
er and mobility, and may be fired
without recoil, which increases their
adaptability for use where guns can
not be employed, only when fired
from high speed aircraft are they of
pinpoint accuracy. Ground forces'
rockets have great possibilities as a
barrage weapon. Rocket launchers,
as compared with guns, are rela
tively simple and cheap to manufac
ture in mass production, according
to the National Defense Research
, council and the army and navy.
Most all pursuit planes are new being equipped with basoefcas. This
P-47 has six tubes, mounted under the wings- The rocket projectiles are
fired electrically by the pilot. The picture shews a ground crewman
loading one of the basookas. Three of the big rockets are standing ew
end in front of one of the wheels in the foreground. This plane is alse
armed with eight Jtcaliber machine guns.
? T??. -XL .j T 1- a ? - < ? a -
two men with * basooka eaa blast a hole in a medium tank. This
strange weapon, nevertheless, la light to carry and easy to handle. The
forward man holds the tube and alms It, while the rear man loads the
roeket missile. There Is no recoil, since the tube U open at both ends.
The roeket poshes against the air Instead of a breech block.
Rocket Bombs
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aa more aeemraey, a'rocket bomk
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leaves the dive bomber. This added