The Alamance Gleaner
Vol LXVH GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1941 No. 17
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne
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German Air Blitz on Island of Crete
Results in Defense to Death' Fighting;
U. S. Attitude Toward France Changes
As Vichy-Berlin Strengthen Relations
(EDITOR'S NOTE?Wkm eplnlens art tiprtiMi 1b thtM ieluu>, tkar
are Umm ?f the ntwa aaaljil aal net uieatwlly #f this newspaper.)
i* k? Western Newspaper Union.)
NEW TORE.?One of the C. 8. navy's new torpedo boats (foreground)
and a coast guard cutter are shown cutting through the water of the Bud
sou river during recent maneuvers. These SS-mlle-per-hour craft are
equipped with torpedo tubes and depth bombs to battle larger destroyers
and submarines.
CRETE:
An Air Test
The big island of Crete, which
Prime Minister Churchill said would
be defended "to the death" by an
army composed of General Frey
berg and New Zealand, British and
Greek troops under his command
suddenly became the center of the
war when a dramatic and unexpect
ed invasion of the island was made
by air-borne Nazi troops.
There were some early reports
that the Germans were coming also
in normal transports, but there was'
little doubt that the air test was pre
eminent, and that the world was wit
nessing the first large-scale such en
deavor since the- days of the inva
sion of Norway, and of the Low
Countries, particularly Holland.
Britain reported that the first 1,900
soldiers who landed in chutes were
wearing the New Zealand uniform,
and coldly announced that "they
could expiect to be shot." All of
them, it was quickly reported, were
either killed or rounded up rapidly.
Germany as promptly retorted
that if any of the parachutists were
treated as spies and shot, Germany
would reply "ten to one" in kind.
But the British and Greeks didn't
have long to wait or long to con
template what to do with the first
1,900.
By the second morning of the in
vasion the British radio was re
porting that the Nazi invasion force
was 7,000, and on the second after
noon hiked this figure to 11,900.
This brought the German force to
at least one full division, and a good
way into the second division. And
the British quickly estimated that
this figure meant that the Germans
had from 2,000 to 9,000 airplanes on
duty in southern Greece.
The usual silence and mystery as
to what actually was transpiring im
mediately was clamped down by the
British ministry of information,
which contented itself with issuing
such generalities as "the situation
is in hand," leaving it up to the
Germans to give the world what in
formation could be gleaned.
The German claims, as usual,
were broad, the Nazis asserting that
many important points had been
captured, and that many British
planes had been destroyed "on the
ground." I
British sources seemed willing to
?Hmtf that th>uGermans had utter
mastery of thd air, but General
Freyberg said that every hilltop bad
its sentinel in Crete, that an elabo
rate method of signaling had been
worked out, and that even those
parachutists who arrived at night
were promptly spotted, reported and
given action from the ground forces.
Neutral observers, however, point
ed out that in order to effect large
scale landing of troops who were
not parachutists, the Germans must
have obtained at least temporary
control of landing fields, or must be
using emergency fields.
British reports told of many trans
port planes shot down with their
cargoes of men, both on the island
and into the waters surrounding it.
However, they also told of huge,
unwieldy transport planes towing
numbers of gliders loaded with men
and munitions, a mode of transpor
tation not reported in wide scale use
before.
How large the force on Crete was
remained a military secret of the
Greeks and the British, though there
was considerable figuring done by
hose who had followed the course
>f the invasion of Greece. The Brit
sh claimed that most of its army in
Greece had been taken back to
Egypt, there to rejoin the army of
he Nile, and to be rearmed from
lew supplies, part of which had
:ome from the United States.
While it was known that some
forces got into Crete, and that the
Greeks salvaged considerable por
tions of one of its armies, the quan
tity was largely a matter of guess
work.
Most of the troops who got back
to Egypt were Australians and Brit
ish, hence most observers believed
there was probably about one divi
lion of New Zealanders in Crete,
ind possibly the same number of
British, and perhaps two or three
times that number of Greeks.
British dispatches admitted prac
tically complete control of the air
ly the Germans over Crete, and
lence it was considered still more
ikely that the Germans, who had
10 particular need of Crete, might
ie trying the attack to test out in
ictual warfare what the parachut
sts could do when well-supported
from aloft.
nCHY:
4 Turning Point
The flop at Vichy strongly into the
Vazi encampment proved likely to
?rove a turning-point aa to Ameri
:a'a entry into the war. For one
thing, it flopped one popular poll on
mnvoy* from a minority to a ma
jority, and the administration in
Washington, which had been ac
:used in some quarters of watching
these polls before acting, promptly
announced that the convoy question
las practically been settled.
President Roosevelt, it was said,
does not like the word convoys, and
is more in favor of the navy taking
over portions of the Atlantic and Pa
cific, even as far as the Red Sea,
for Instance, and helping to create
protective lanes through which Sid
to-Britain ships could move safely.
This is the method American ship
ping experts have liked from the
start, but it was significant that
America's course was charted along
these lines the day after the polls
reported S3 per cent in favor of con
voying and 41 per cent opposed and
the other 7 per cent "undecided."
Public attention then turned to
Vichy, and Secretary Hull warned
France that she would have to give
this country a plain and honest
statement of just what her collabo
ration with Germany would consist
of before France could hope to re
store Franco-American relations to
a state of amity.
This attitude was indeed a far cry
from the days of 1917 and 1911, and
the time when the first doughboys
landed in France with "Lafayette,
we're here" as their slogan.
Hull's strong declaration came at
the same time when it was an
nounced that a British flotilla eras
hovering about the ports at Mar
tinique where the French aircraft
carrier Bearn and other vessels
were bottled up. There was some
disquiet over the report that these
ships had been out at sea, but the
British reported they were "simply
on maneuvers."
But if they were poised for an at
tempt to run the British blockade,
it was likely that there would be
either fighting or scuttling or both in
the South Atlantic, well within our
"sphere at influence."
Big Job
This is General B. C. Frey
berg, a New Zealander, who was
in charge of the Greek-British
defense of the island of Crete
when the Nazi forces first loosed
their air blitz against that strong
hold. When the British were
forced to withdraw their air
force his duty became a gigantic
task.
PLANES:
And Months
Statistical proof that thousands of
planes, like Rome, can't be built in
a day was given by Admiral Tow
ers, who reported to Secretary of
Navy Knox that in the past 10
months the navy has gained 1,304
planes of all types.
The navy now has 3,476 planes at
all types, including trainers, and
this compared with the British esti
mate that Germany was operating
about 2,000 to 3,000 planes in the
Battle of Crete alone, not counting
those in use in other theaters of the
war.
It also was- significant that Ad
miral Towers' report to Mr. Knox
was that the navy already is ex
periencing a shortage of pilots,
which compared with Germany's
reported 100,000 pilots trained be
fore the war started. In fact, it was
this pilot training program which
first called the attention of the world
to Germany's rebirth as a military
power in spite of the restrictive ef
forts of the Treaty of Versailles.
Of the 1,304 planes which the navy
has added to her forces, only about
600 of them are combat types. Ad
miral Towers revealed.
The goal of 50,000 fighting planes
for the Americsn army and navy
combined was, therefore, envisioned
as far in the future, Admiral Towers
revealing that not until January,
1042, will the existing shortage of
pilots be relieved. Not until then will
the number of pilots begin to catch
up with the number of planes.
DRAFT:
A New Plan
Pennsylvania called out in excess
at 18,000 young men in the draft,
trying out what was called a "new
plan" aimed to "give the selectee a
break."
The plan was this. The 11.000
were to be called put, and immedi
ately given a searching examina
tion along all lines, including their
final medical examination by the
army doctors.
Then they were to be returned to
their homes and Jobs, those who
were eligible to army life being
placed on call in from 10 to 30 days,
and the rest of them to return to
their normal Jobs, secure in the
knowledge that they would not be
called.
This was aimed to remove much
of the uncertainty which grew out at
the previous method of selective
service picking. Dr. William
Mather Lewis, selective service di
rector of Pennsylvania, said be was
advised that if the experiment
proved a success there, it would be
applied to the entire nation.
At the same time President Rooes
velt put into being the OCD, or Of
fice of Civilian Defense, with Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia at New York its
head, working without salary, as will
all of his intermediaries.
Also plans for the home guard
were worked out at Washington,
this group to function entirely sep
arately from the OCD, which would
ostensibly have a membership of
millions of American men, women
and even children.
One of the first tests of the United
States against possible war was an
entirely complete blackout of the
Hawaiian islands, where even the
isolated hamlets were darkened,
and planes of the American army
and navy flew overhead to inspect
the situation and to aee how com
plete it was.
Hess Known for Loyalty
To Hitler, Nazi Germany
Was to Succeed Goering as Nation's Leader;
Washington Legislators Closely Study
Letters From Constituents.
By BAUKHAGE
National farm and Homo Bom Commanutor.
OWNO Service, IMS H Street,
Washington, D. C.)
WASHINGTON.?It'? a mad world
these days and Washington is a
nervous corner of it.
Outside the iron pickets which sur
round the White House, human pick
ets walked. Their banners protested
against convoys, against sending
American soldiers abroad to light.
Soldiers who may be sent abroad
to fight charged the protesting pick
ets, knocked down the men, pushed
the women around. Home-returning
theater-goers stopped to cheer the
soldiers.
On Capitol Hill mail protesting
against convoys poured in.
' That afternoon Washington was
stunned to hear that a young farmer
in Scotland helped a German officer
who had just dropped from the
skies, into his cottage and gave him
a glass of water. The officer was
Hitler's trusted lieutenant, Rudolf
Hess, and the news of his sensa
tional flight dropped into the midst
of the Washington melee, to make
confusion worse confounded.
The fighting pickets, Hess in the
headlines, pushed history back for
me Pickets were attacked in front
of the White House at the beginning
of World War I. I saw Hitler lay
the accolade of succession to Nazi
leadership upon Hess the day World
War II began.
Some of the fighting pickets of 1914
are staid grandmothers today.
bess mn leader
If you had asked ma, in 1939 when
I was broadcasting from Berlin, who
of all men in the Nazi party would
be the least likely to desert its lead
er I would have said Hess. He was
not a striking figure, he did not pa
rade in the brilliant uniforms of Herr
Goering, he did not make the fiery
speeches of Herr Goebbels. But he
was the real head of the party, the
inside man. And so when he sud
denly turned up in Britain, I could
not believe that he was there except
to be about his leader's business.
I can see Hess that day in Berlin.
It was a solemn sight, the hurriedly
called meeting of the Reichstag in
September, 1939 There may have
been many in Germany then who
still hoped that Britain and France
would not fight for Poland. Hitler
had promised he would )ain his
ends without shedding German
blood. The bitter memory of the last
war, the starvation, the defeat, the
humiliation were still sharp in the
memories of the people. Then they
had had no victories to cheer them.
Hitler himself was pale and worn
when he walked into the Kroll Op
era house where the Reichstag
meets. His speech was restrained,
be seemed to me like a man who
had made his will and said his pray
ers. He spoke almost apologeti
cally, said his greatest desire waa
to be the Reich's first soldier. Then
| he announced that be was going to
the front, "and," he added, "if any
thing happens to me in battle. Party
comrade Goering win be my suc
cessor?' Goering, in a gaudy uni
form, on his high pedestal, saluted.
The crowd cheered.
Then Hitler turned to the right,
where the tall, lanky Haas was seat
ed on the stage in his simple brown
uniform. "And if anything happens
to Comrade Goering, Comrade Hess
wUl be his successor." The crowd
cheered. Hess rose deliberately,
| looked at his chief and saluted.
I could think only of a great, well
trained and faithful St. Bernard
slowly and obediently answering his
master's whistle.
It is hard to believe that this man
would dasert his master. Hess was
fervent. He may not have been as
religious as his frequent calls upon
the Almighty may have indicated,
but he had a fanatical devotion to
Germany. His loyalty to Hitler from
the earliest contact with the Fuehr
er-to-be was based on a great faith?
on a belief that Hitler, and Hitler
alone, would save Germany.
m ? ?
LagsMotor* Study
Lett art From Vetera
The senator I wanted to see was
busy and I was waiting in his outer
office talking to his secretary who
was an old acquaintance of mine. He
had a sheaf at letters in his hand.
In sptta at the rules for keeping the
windows cloead in order not to dis
turb the air-cooling system in the
senate office building, the window
eras open. A breeze caught one o<
tha lattera. It dropped on the floor
and I picked it ud.
"I don't want to loee that," the
secretary said, "it's important. Read
it"
It was an emphatic protest on tha
subject of a measure before con
gress, written in a Arm hand, in
good, straightforward Knglish.
"Notice tha paper," said my
friend, "see that hole in the corner.
There was a string through that
The pad was fastened to tha tele
phone. And it was written with tha
pencil tied to another string. I hap
pen to know the man who wrote it
He runs a flour and feed store, but
I'd know just about the type of writ
er it was from the paper."
"Why," I asked him, "is it that
important?"
"It's important because the people
who write on that kind of paper,
with a pencil, are important people
to us. They elect us."
(This secretary always said "us"
because he had been in politics with
the senator for 10 years, ever since
his chief was a member at the state
' legislature.)
For the past few weeks letters
like that?and other ones, too, which
I'll speak of in a minute?have been
flooding the post office in the Capitol
building. They have concerned the
question of convoys. And they have
had a lot to do with how congress
voted.
LETTERS SPUE DEBATE
When the letters atop, the debate
?tope. That's an axiom. And on an
important question the number of
letters (rows each day until It
reaches a peak. Then suddenly the
number drops. The drive is over.
It's time to vote and settle the issue.
There are several kinds at letters
which come in to congress, to com
mentators and writers. There are
the "nut" letters which are easy to .
identify. They don't count. There
are the form letters, or letters
which, though sometimes they are
individually written, all have the
same phraseology. They are organ
ized propaganda, easy to identify
and to assay. Then there are the
letters on expensive stationery. Usu
ally their writers are known. They
are in the minority. Then there are
the letters I spoke about first. Not
always in pencil or on scratch pa
per. But simple and spontaneously
written. They count.
But here is another Interesting
point Just because there are more
letters on one side at a question
than there are on the other doesn't
mean that the apparent majority is
an evidence ofi the real attitude of
the community. More people who
are against a measure will take pen
in hand than those who are for it
One senator, hi a community
where we all knew the sentiment for
a particular reason was very much
pro-convoy, told me his letters were
running throe to one snti. "They
would have to run ten to one against
a measure before it would mean
that the majority of my constituency
were against it" he told me.
? ? ?
PEOPHET IN WASHINGTON
A prophet haa come to WiAtf
too?but be will not prophesyI
Ee ia John Maynard Keynes, tall,
alim, preciae. He waa a member
of the Britiab delegation to the Paria
Peace conference of 1919. With the
Ink hardly dry on the Veraalllee
treaty he wrote that " ... the
Carthaginian peace (a peace of
force) la not practically right or pos
sible . . . lite clock cannot be eet
back . . . without Betting up euch
atraina in the European atructure
and letting looae aucfa human and
apiritual totem aa . . . win over
whelm not only your 'guaranteea'
but your inatitutiona, and the diet
ing order of your society."
I aaked Mr. Keynea, who ia here
in Waehington aa a Britiah treaaury
official to conault on the lend-leaae
law, if he thought it waa neceaaary
to prepare for a new kind of peace.
"Yea," he answered, "but I am
much more concerned now with
lighting the war."
Mr. Keynea believee that we muet
raiae money for defenae by a type
of forced borrowing, a method by
which a part of all aalarlea are de
ducted and turned over to the gov
ernment. After the war, theae forced
aavinga, according to Keynea, would
help tide over the period when de
fenae production drape off and thua
help to avoid a depression like the
one that followed the last war.
Buy Vessels to
Link New Bases
Army to Spend $23,000,000;
Plan to Expand Forces
In Alaska.
WASHINGTON.?The war depart
ment has completed plan* (or a $23,
000,000 program for additional ves
sel* to serve Atlantic bases leased
from Great Britain and the army
garrison in Alaska, it was learned.
Plans for a "tremendous expan
sion" of the Alaska force also were
disclosed. Details could not be
learned, however, because of tight
ened army regulations that no in
formation will be given an plans to
strengthen outlying defense posts.
The ship purchases will be made
by the quartermaster corps, the
coast artillery and the air corps, it
was said. Host of them will be
small craft of varying types which
can navigate easily in small har
bors and shallow waters at the vari
ous bases.
Other Phases ef Program.
It was understood that $1,000,000
of the funds would be earmarked to
pay for three passenger liners?the
President Roosevelt, President Jef
ferson and President McKinley?
which were obtained from the mari
time commission for conversion into
troop transports.
Other phases of the program were
said to include:
Air corps?Acquisition of a num
ber at small armored boats, rescue
ships, picket boats and other shal
low-draft vessels.
Quartermaster corps?Purchase at
two 300-foot passenger-freight boats
of 3,000 tons each which would be
capable of transporting about 600
men and 1,300 tons of freight.
Coast artillery?Eight whale boats
and two motor sailers for target and
general defense work and four mine
planters.
Order Greater speed.
Greater a peed also was ordered
for the government's cargo ship
building program, and maritime
commission officials predicted that
vessels totaling between 3,500,000
and 4,000,000?the World war rats
would slide off the ways in 1041.
Arrangements have been made
for 40 new ways for the mass pro
duction at 313 merchant ships under
the war-aid appropriation. In addi
tion, 51 new ways are built or build
ing for the construction of 100 "ugly
duckling" ships ordered under the
government's emergency shipping
program.
The 01 new ways, combined with
existing facilities of private yards,
will be sufficient to attain the record
World war output of ships, a high
maritime official said.
Welsh Mother of Six
Children Rears 17 More
CARDIFF, WALES. - Cardiff!
"No. 1 Mother," as she is knoim.
who has six children of her own,
and who adopted IT others, recently
celebrated her golden wedding an
niversary.
She is Mrs. George Hawker, 73
"I've finished with my hobby
now," she said, when asksd if she
would like to celebrate the occasion
by adopting another baby. "They
are too much trouble for me now."
Several times during his married
life her husband, who is also 13,
walked home after work to find a
strange baby oo his wife's knee.
She says she has had a happy
life and her husband agreed with
her that the children made a happy
marriage even happier. "They were
all fine kiddles," he said.
Once they had so many children
that they had two pews reserved
for them at the chapel.
Only four of the children, three of
her own and the seventeenth adopt
ed child, were at home, but all the
others, spread in an parts of the
world now, had remembered and
sent telegrams of congratulation.
Mrs. Hawker, proudly holding
them in her hand, said, "All from
my lovely family."
Kit Canon'* Old Spoon
la Found in Arizona
PHOENIX. ARIZ.?A rusty old
spooo bearing the engraved nam*
of Kit Carson has helped trace the
roots the famous Indian scout took
across northern Arizona almost 100
years ago.
J. J. Paraen of Phoenix found the
spoon four years ago near Ash Pork
in the northern part of the state.
The other day he deckled to get
around to the long-delayed task at
polishing it.
As he rubbed off the rust and
grime, PameU saw the engraved
name "Com. Kit Carson" appear on
the handle.
Carson's expedition across north
i em Arizona has not been definitely
fixed.
JmL ' Ja&^Lv'fr e Jt_ X -.
Woman Parachutist
Trains Air Cadets
Enjoys Jump From Planes
Even After 494 Leaps.
TULARE, CALIF. ? Mrs. Fay*
Lucile Cox, who claim* the title at
world'* champion woman parachut
ist, lay* the still enjoy* jumping
from high flying plane* even after
11 year* and 4#4 jumps.
Mr*. Coat is a member of the of
fice staff of the Ranldn Aeronautical
academy at Tulare and is known in
the service as a 'chute rigger, her
duties including the inspection and
py<?^tn| of pgrtchutet.
She has been assigned to instruct
air corps cadets who wfll report for
training imAmr hfT Supervision In
use and care at parachutes.
Academy officials said they be
lieved Mrs. Cos eras the only wom
an 'chute rigger in the couutiy train
ing air cadets.
Mertyn Cox, her husband, air
show operator, said he let her make
her first Jump in hopes of curing
her of the urge.
"It didn't work," Cox said.
They met in a small Nebraska
town while Cos was on a barnstorm
ing tour. She said she hadn't even
had an airplane ride until then. Two
weeks later she Joined the show.
Included m her record of #t
jumps are two balloon awtnrinne
and the world's record for delayed
opening parachute drops for women.
A list of instructions prepared by
Mrs. Cox for begnmers hi parachute
work emphasized the following
points.
Clear the plane, stiffen the body,
pull the cord and relax for trader*
with flie ground. Touch the gioiaid
first with the toes, bend to the knees
?never stand up?and above all,
never worry about the 'chute open
ing It it was piupcily packed it
will open.
Scientist to Hot for
Bones of Folsoa Man
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M ?A Hew
Mexico university anthropologist
will turn bone eWnth this anew Is
an attempt to solve the boOtaf case
at the Folaom man who vsrii^rd
25,000 years ago from North ft mar -
lea as abruptly as he had come.
The Folaom man left Ma trail
from the Gulf of Mexico to the tip
at Alaska, but slthongh many dig
gings have revealed his camp aitas.
no actual booas have been (fiacov
ered.
Dr. Frank C Hibbee plana te
search two areas in Alaska far re
mains at the Paleo-Indian, tahhad
the missing link between the aborts
inal inhabitants at Sberte and In
dian tribes of North and South
America.
Dr Hihben theorizes that tha
tribesmen migrated across tha fros
en Bering straits and aerate I ad
down through the Yukon valley. Ha
unearthad an archeo logical strat
um, balow one idiatMal aa a Fol
aom layer, hi which appeared atone
points !??mhUne thoea pHlftd in ht
The Folaom Man's trail is marked
shaped from stone. He Is behaved
to be the only primitive man to heva
carved in his wespons s chaansl
similar to that an a bayonet.
Spring 1k? Touches off
Scries of Odd Mishaps
PARK CITY, UTAH,?The spring
thaw came early to Park CBy this
year, and alone mwny titles
and warbtisg birds, brought:
DmUmsal of a snitch angina,
when the roadbed settled in the da
frosting
A JMoot long landslide, which
blocked one af the city's ma)er
streets.
A hall-dozen minor auMIs in
the huge Park City mine, all result
ing from shifts in the thawing oatflk
A stalled ear for Mayor Karl Ro
se igh, wtioee track mired ia trying
to croas a filled-in ditch.
Australia Fosters Drive
For Pkystcnl Fitness
MELBOURNE.?A plan in encour
age physical fitness among the man.
women and children at Australia has
been started by the Australian gov
ernment.
Working through local authorities,
a national fitness council to each
state has encouraged athletic clnbe
and youth organizations to enroll all
youngsters in their activities.
Here Is on Effective
Cure for Your Insomnia
PORTLAND, ORE.?If you happen
to have a Mend who to troubled with
both insomnia and sash* double
he might seek relief counting sheep
for R. A. Jackson, Klickitat, On.,
sheep rancher. Jackson recently
?hipped a number of lambs to mar
ket which included EMS twins.
CSsJiiBUfS.y -t .