Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / Nov. 26, 1942, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Alamance Gleaner Vol LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1942 NO. 43 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS U. S. Troops Fighting Nazis in Tunisia As British Push West Through Libya Close Strong Pincers on Axis Forces; Ceiling Is Lifted on U. S. Farm Wages (EDITOR'S NOTE: Wban ?pinions an expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Nowapnpor Union's nows analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) __________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. Pictured at their weekly joint luncheon in Washington, U. S. chiefs of staff plan future strategy. Left to right: Admiral E. J. King, command er in chief of the E. S. fleet and chief of naval operations; Gen. George C. Marshall, chief of staff, O. S. army; Admiral William D. Leahy, chief of staff to the commander in chief of the army and navy, and Lieut. Gen. H. H. Arnold, commanding general, G. S. army air forces. TUNISIA: Kick for Rommel American soldiers battled against German troops in their first regular engagement of World War II when the British first army and a smaller United States force clashed with Axis troops defending the naval base of Bizerte in Tunisia. While United States Rangers par ticipated in the raid on Dieppe this was the first time that a strong force of United States soldiers and the Germans faced each other in battle. When the Morocco radio?con trolled by the Allies?announced that contact had been established be tween the Allied force and the Ger mans the broadcast was confirmed by German wireless. The Morocco radio estimated at the time of the broadcast the Axis had landed 10,000 German and Italian troops in Tuni sia, and said enemy forces were reported arriving in transport planes and by sea. M-i uii; i ko uu a uxisu of the size of the American force. However, Lieut. Gen. K. A. N. An derson, British commander of the combined operation in Tunisia, said that it made up one-tenth of his striking force and included special units. The British nine-tenths con sisted of veteran soldiers, superbly trained, who haye met the Germans in previous engagements. Lieut. Gen. Dwight E. Eisenhower announced that the drive in Tunisia was "advancing as fast as possible according to plan." Several French garrisons were battling incoming Axis troops, con centrating on transports and shoot ing soldiers as they came to earth. However, the opposition from the poorly equipped French was consid ered more as a harassment than a serious hindrance, but was given a warm welcome by the Americans and British. Eisenhower reported that the Mediterranean waters were "swarm ing with enemy submarines" de tailed by the Axis to disrupt Allied landing of reinforcements and war stores. In London Prime Minister Churchill announced that Allied countermeasures had resulted in sinking 13 enemy subs in North Af rican waters, five of them in two days. MAXIMUM PRICES: Amended Regulations Office of Price Administration of ficials have announced amendments to the regulations covering certain essential food products such as but ter, eggs and fruits. Under this OPA policy food pre pared and sold on the premises is excluded from the maximum price control. Sales by a farmers' co operative are covered, but sales by a farmer of the products on his farm are not included, unless made to an ultimate consumer. War procurement agencies can buy any of the products at higher than established prices. Sales de ' liveries to the U. S. or United Na tions in some cases are exempt. Meanwhile, after a four-week en forcement drive throughout the country, more than, 4,000 grocers were served with OPA license warn ings. These charge violation of the general maximum price regulation. NEW GUINEA: Trap Closes Word of ever-increasing action on New Guinea came from General MacArthur's headquarters where it was announced that American and Australian ground troops, converg ing on the Jap invasion base at Buna, had joined forces for the at tack. A ' Continuous air attacks supported the steady advance in New Guinea, an official communique said. The Allied forces had been closing on Buna, only Jap base in southeastern New Guinea, ever since American troops were landed by air late in October. Australian troops have pushed down the north slope of the Owen Stanley mountain range to near Buna from the west. The Ameri cans approached up from the south. "The enemy, under command of Lieut. Gen. Tomatore Horii, now faces the Allies to the west and south, with the jungle and the sea at his back. Our air force is at tacking without respite," the com munique said. GUADALCANAL: Touch and Go , While American and Japanese warships hammered at each other in a gigantic Solomon Island battle, Australian Navy Minister Makin warned his people that the outcome of the naval engagement will deter mine Japan's plan for the invasion of Australia. A navy communique from Wash ington said that the fight which raged on the sea, in the skies and on Guadalcanal resulted from "a de termined effort on the part of the Japanese to recapture positions in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area" which U. S. marines had captured last August. Navy Minister Makin warned that there should be no undue optimism or complacency over Allied suc cesses in Africa and New Guinea. "The Solomons," he added, "are the screen between the enemy and Aus tralia, and if the Japanese should break through the Allied naval cor don they certainly will attack Aus tralia." FARM WAGES: Ceiling Lifted It was announced by the Office of Economic Stabilization that for the time being the ceiling on agri cultural wages has been lifted. Ac cording to OES Director Byrnes, this plan will be in effect until the department of agriculture can de termine two things: (1) What effect farm wages have on farm production in the more critical farm labor shortage areas; and (2) Where increases in farm wages may threaten to cause an increase in the price sellings on farm pro ducts. 1942 Production Meanwhile the department of ag riculture was estimating the 1942 production of principal farm crops and comparing them with last year. This is the way these figures looked: 1*42 Production 1MI Prodoctloo Cora !,!??,141.WO bo. 1,172,Ml,W# bo. Wheat M4,M4.bW bo. *4S.*I7,*M bo. | Cot too 11,12*,ISO balob lb.bbO.bW bain LEND-LEASE: Still Up Even while the United States was undergoing the huge task of pre paring for the North African inva sion our allies were getting even more lend-lease aid than before. This fact was revealed by President Roosevelt when he announced that amount of goods and services .fur nished the other United Nations last month increased one-third over any previous month. A record-breaking $915,000,000 worth of lend-lease was chalked up in that period. This, the President indicated, should convince all that the Axis was wrong in assuming that our aid to the United Nations would de crease once we began a strong of fensive action. Also, said the Presi dent, our lend-lease aid will not de crease in the future. Production schedules are aimed at supplying both the needs of military forces and many of the needs of the United Nations. Among items which did not show up in the cold figures of the report was news that before the U. S. air craft carrier Wasp was sunk, that ship had carried two priceless loads of British Spitfire fighting planes to Malta and that American engineers and soldiers are expanding the capacity of railroads taking supplies into Russia. The President pointed out that two-thirds of the goods were mili tary items, including large numbers of planes and tanks that helped turn the tide in Egypt and to hold the lines in Russia. DARLAN: Legal Authority? The status of the French fleet at , Toulon appeared unchanged as the Vichy radio reported that a large ' number of French troops had ar rived to occupy the city. Although Adm. De La Borde, com mander of the Toulon naval squad ron, renewed his pledge of alle giance to Marshal Petain, crews were reported unable to leave their ships, indicating Axis mistrust of the sailors. A Nazi broadcast said that "all strategically important points on the Mediterranean coast of south ern France are now protected by German and Italian arms." Adm. Jean Darlan and the Vichy government continued their bicker ing over which is the legitimate au thority in French North Africa. Dar lan, over the Morocco radio, pro claimed that his authority is legal because it came from Marshal Pe tain himself. He pointed out that ADMIRAL DAK LAN Takes North African reins. whatever the marshal might say now should not be heeded "because he (Petain) is unable to let the French people know his real thoughts. Darlan, in one of his first demon strations of power, appointed Gen. Henry Giraud commander in chief of French forces in the region. Vichy radio replied with an order attribut ed to Petain "prohibiting" French colonial troops from obeying Giraud. Also it was stated that Giraud "broke his officer's word and thus lost his honor. He received his self conferred title of commander from , a foreign power." London dispatches said that the appointment of Darlan was unpopu lar there because he worked to as sist the enemies of Britain and America since the fall of France. Hope was expressed in some quar ters that Darlan's assignment was only temporary. DOUBLE FEATURES": Dim Out? Meeting in New York city, the motion picture National Board of Review passed a resolution recom mending theater owners suspend double features for the duration "as a saving of time, critical materials and manpower needed for winning the war." Previously, Lowell Mellett, chief of the Office of War Information Bu reau of Motion Pictures, had ap peared before the board asking for the elimination of double features. Geography Makes Modern History in Huge Mediterranean Theater of War No man may wear his street shoes into a Mosque, the Mohammedan house of worship. Since Moslems (or Mohammedsns) dominate the the ater of war In North Africa, scenes like this are customary. (Specially prepared lev Western Newspaper Unlen ky til* National Geographic Society.) OF THE many regions that stretch behind the world's shifting battle lines, none is more fantastic than those of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East (the "Middle East" in British geography). In size alone this theater of war, and preparations lui nai , is s^cv-ialuiai . it luycio a broad band of land and sea that extends from somewhere in the vicinity of bomb-shaken Malta to the shores of the Black and Caspian seas. Within this general area, four significant campaigns already have been fought with varying degrees of intensity and blood shed: The battles for Greece, Libya, Syria and Iraq?plus a fifth struggle near by for East Africa, which resulted in the re turn of the Ethiopian King of Kings to his ancient throne. Today, the east Mediterranean and the adjacent land-bridge of na tions, which links the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia, form a gigantic chessboard, made up of in dependent and occupied countries, of opposing colonies and island bases. It includes Axis-occupied Greece and Libya; British-held Egypt; technically at peace while bombs fall on her cities and battles rage in her deserts; and uneasy, neutral Turkey. It holds the all important approaches to the Egyp tian and Russian fronts by way of the Red sea and the Persian gulf, through Iran and Iraq, across the Levant States (Syria), Trans-Jordan and Palestine. The mere list of place names on the routes of men and materials bound for the battle lines indicates the international complications and physical difficulties. To these far flung regions, the war has brought innumerable problems for techni cians and diplomats?and ceaseless activity. New motor roads appear and airports spring up in desert wastes. New harbor facilities are built in old ports, toward which con voys of troopships, oil tankers, freighters and vessels of all kinds, race under the constant threat of fhn anamv in tbo oil Key Points Manned. At key points throughout the east ern Mediterranean and beyond, the armies of fighting men and ma chines have gathered. Axis forces may operate from Italian Taranto, Greek Piraeus, Libyan Tobruch; from the German-captured island of Crete; and Italy's Pantelleria and Dodecanese islands. On their side, the United Nations stand at such vital spots as Suez and the Nile delta, in the Egyptian deserts and on the island of Cyprus; at Syrian and Palestine ports and inland oil fields of Iran and Iraq. On a map you can see at a glance how geography dictates the war's movements. You understand why the British base of Malta, athwart the Axis life line to Libya and the Egyptian front?and less than 60 miles from Italian Sicily?is the most bombed spot on earth: How the oil pipe lines from the Caspian fuel the Russian fleet on the ^lack sea: How variations in the earth's surface, from the sunburnt Qattara Depression of Egypt to the eternally snow-capped mountains of the So viet Caucasus, determine the meth ods and tools of warfare. The Mediterranean and Near East areas, however, are extraordinary for more reasons than contrasting battlegrounds and governments. There, where East meets West, to day's machine-age conflict is being played out against a background as old as the recorded history of man. Where New Meets Old. Multi-motored bombers fly over the traditional Garden of Eden, now largely desert, and over the City of Babylon, seat of empires that rose and waned thousands of years be fore Christ. Flying boats land on the Sea of Galilee, and tanks rum ble along routes that once were car avan trails such as the Three Wise Men followed to Bethlehem. Brit ish and American engineers set up anti-aircraft positions, and plan un derground storage tanks for gaso line and water for their winged forces near ancient routes followed by the Children of Israel and the foot-weary armies of Alexander and the Crusaders. They install mod ern machinery for unloading mass war shipments in Persian Gulf ports rrf AraKinn Miohtc rnmanoo on/?K om Sindbad the Sailor knew. The Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx rise within sight of busy, crowded Cairo on the Nile, British base and capital of Egypt. In the bazaars of Damascus (probably the earth's oldest inhabited city), American soldiers from Boston or St. Louis, Oregon or Florida, may bargain for candied fruits, or sit around smoking braziers where Or iental chefs fan spitted mutton with a chicken wing, or serve such clab bered milk of sheep or goat as has been a mainstay in the Levantine diet for thousands of years. Cradle of Civilisation. This part of the world has often been called the "Cradle of Western Civilization." From the regions of the eastern Mediterranean spread the alphabet, knowledge of mathe matics, medicine, politics, and phi losophy; lessons in sculpture, ar chitecture and drama. There primi tive wheels turned on their bulky axles, and men learned to use sails and save their arms from the heavy pull of galley oars. Near the Euphrates in what was Mesopotamia (now Iraq) is Ur of the Chaldees, birthplace ot Abra ham. For Bible studenta these are the Holy Lands: Land of Goshen, where the Israelites toiled; Mount Sinai ot the Ten Commandments; Jerusalem, Jericho, and the River Jordan. The world's three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Moham medanism, were born in this comer ot the globe. In Jerusalem are tound three shrines, sacred to the adherents of these faiths?the Wail ing Wall, where reverent Jews come to pray and lament, the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and And Now? And now, what? Fast action and stirring deeds on the African front have replaced the earlier talk about that continent's possible strategic importance. Bat the prophets, aware that anything can happen (and often does), are maintaining a Sphinx-like silence. Here an In dian soldier is shown chatting with an Egyptian. the Moslem Mosque of Omar. Leg endary site where Jesus was bur ied, the Church of the Holy Sepul chre is shared by most of the world's Christian religions, includ ing the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Jacobite, and Coptic. Moslem World in Allied Sphere. The eastern-Mediterranean . and Near-East areas within the wartime sphere of the United Nations are, however, predominantly Moslem countries. There is found the world's heaviest concentration of the follow ers of Mohammed, whose ways may seem strange to many a British Tommy and Anzac, many an Amer ican Doughboy, engineer, or tech nician meeting them for the first time. The Moslem disciple lives accord ing to dogmatic religious rules, in cluding prayer, fasting, and the holy pilgrimage, especially to Mecca. Pork and wine are strictly forbid den. During Ramadam, the sacred ninth month of the Moslem calen dar, good Mohammedans observe a rigid fast between dawn and dark, when they neither eat nor drink, or engage in any activity that might come under the head of pleasure or comfort, from smoking to smelling perfume or flowers. From Egypt to Iran, this is Arab country, where the Sapping bur noose, the mosque, and the "ship of the desert"?the camel?are still typical features of the scenery. Yet, more and more, long before the outbreak of the war, the "Change less East," was changing fast under ttte impact of Westernized industry and Western habits. Old Meets New on the African Front This picture tells its own story! The csmel (sometimes humorously called the "ship of the desert") Is valuable Id desert warfare. But for combat and for swift maneuvers the airplane is still Indispensable. WHO'S NEWS This Week Bp Leaad F. Paitea General Strickland Wat the Toughest Buckaroo of Skiet I I Consobdaled Feature??WHO Belease. ^ VIEW YORK.?Just after the las* World war, there was an air plane rough-rider known as the only] man who could crowd Jimmy Doo little in put tine ? plana through murderous punishment and landing all of a piece, with his ship still holding together. He looked like Francis X. Bushman and spoke softly. That was yoemg Lieut. Ashy Casey Strickland, jut new Brig adier General Strickland, lead ing ear bombers against >? met and giving onr side jut about Its first chance to cheer without keeping its fingers crossed. As chief of the timber command of the United Statu . army air forces?overseas last Inly?he rede the first plane of onr bomber formation which wronght historic havoc and har ried the Axis on Us way. There's a sidelight oo General Strick land in Us commendation of Ma filers In a saecesafal attack a few daya age: "finalblag them right down on their own airfield! That win teach those moahi jr? a lessoe! We'll drive these rats sat of their holes! Tonight treats far the whole sesadron, sad it's go ing to he u me." He was bora in Braggs, Ala., Sep tember 17, 1865, attended A la heme Polytechnic college, where he played football, and joined the army in November, ltlT, not a West Point er. He was a first lieutenant m the reserve corps and served overseas in the artillery. In July, ISM, ha switched to the regular army, get ting a joint commission u first and second lieutenant, the latter a for mality incidental to the former. He was a captain in 1930, a major m 1635, a lieutenant colonel in 1M6, a colonel in 1641 and a brigadier gen eral last July. He completed the army flying school course in 1923 and attended tactical school in 1939. ? pOR obvious reasons, it is a pleas 1 ure to spot a sound Americana item in the news these days. Here's a nice one in the story of the New Come. Oof Front Deep in H interlaid symphony To Swing a Baton Ho'wird Barlow to swing its baton for a spell at Carnegie hall, even if his first program was of foreign origin. Mr. Barlow swung a cowboy's quirt be fore he ever waved a baton, worked in lumber camps and engaged in other uniquely American occupa tions before his career as a musi cian. He caught the real Americas ' idiom, in speech aad music aad in his IS years conducting the CBS orchestra, be played Amer ican composers and fostered American renins In 1M9. he was awarded a certificate ef merit by the Natiaaal Associa tion for Composer* aad Caadao tors as "the outstanding native interpreter st American matte" daring that season. When he was around IT. Mr. Bar low left his home at Plain City, Ohio, where he was born, far a job on a Colorado ranch, near Denver. He rode an Old Paint and rode an Old Dan and made the little dogies git along far about two yearn and liked it so well that he almost mad* ' it a business. However, he was di verted to the University of Colorado, where he swarmed all over the mu sic department in his glee club and orchestral activities. A necessary sabbatical interval of heaving logs and slabs in an Oregon lumber camp landed him at Reed college, Oregon, where be picked up an A.B. de gree. a scholarship at Columbia uni versity, and $25. Thus accoutred, he crashed New York, conducted choral societies and made his debut as an orchestra conductor at tba Peterborough, N. H., MacDowell fes tivals in 1919. As an aside, he had served as sergeant with the AEF. He eea dncted the Americas National orchestra from 1923 to 1925, aad joined CBS in 1917. High musi cal dignitaries were inclined tn high-hat the radio then, as n medium for serieas music. Mr. Barlow stepped right into the classics and has been a pisannr in proving that an subtlety ef ' tone or musicianship is boyoad the capacity ti a good lead- , I speaker. The Philharmonic calls - him after qolte a Mag absence ef Americans from its pillam. w
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Nov. 26, 1942, edition 1
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