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The Alamance Gleaner VoL LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1942 NO. 44 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Strong Allied Forces Solidify Gains As Violent Fighting Rages in Tunisia; Russ Shatter Nazi Stalingrad Lines; Japs Lose Strongholds in New Guinea (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed la these eolnmns, they are these of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net neeeeearlly of this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper Union. ' TUNISIA: Rising Tide The tide of battle was rising even higher against the battered Axis forces in Africa. Veteran Brit ish sdldiers, familiar with the Nazi type of warfare, inflicted heavy damage on a German armored col umn in Tunisia while French allies battered down two German assaults on their positions. A communique from Allied force headquarters in North Africa an nounced that French patrols are operating "far to the rear of Axis advance positions" and that Amer ican Flying Fortress and pursuit planes shot down or destroyed nine German planes in a raid on the Tunis airport. Even as the advance guards were testing the enemy's strength, a continuous flow of guns and tanks made its way eastward for the decisive blow. However, a spokesman at Allied headquarters voiced a warning that the Germans are well entrenched in the Tunisian cities of Tunis and Bizerte "with large air forces and there will be severe fighting before they are ousted." He said that Allied action around Bizerte is "growing heavier." The Allied forces had driven two strong wedges across Tunisia, reaching the the Mediterranean at two points. RotnmeVs Race Mobile armored units of the Brit ish eighth army were reported 35 miles from El Agheila, which of fered Marshal Erwin Rommel's tat tered Africa Corps its best chance to make a stand. But Rommel knew he would find no rest from Allied bombs. Bad weather prevented Allied air men from maintaining their deadly attacks on the retreating Germans. A British military commentator pointed out that "If the Axis armies still are planning to make a fight of it, it certainly will be at El Ag heila ..." He said there was con siderable evidence that the Axis forces were close to exhaustion aft er fleeing across North Africa at such a fast clip. But he added that Rommel apparently had received some tanks which had been left at rear line repair stations. LAVAL SCHEMES: For Axis Alliance Climaxing a long series of moves by the Vichy government, Dictator Pierre Laval revealed that his French government is seeking an open alliance with Germany as "the sole guarantee for peace in Eu rope." In his first speech since being in vested with full political powers by Marshal Henri Petain, Laval said that "It is in the interests of France and peace in the future that we are seeking with Germany a reconcilia tion and an entente. It is to try to save our territory and our empire that we are following this policy..." Laval, the Quisling of France, rid iculed Allied promjses to return the DICTATOR LAVAL "In the interest* of France seized portions of the French em pire in the future, pointing to the British possession of French Can ada and parts of the West Indies long ago. "On the other side of the world," Laval continued, "Japan, an old na tion by its history and a young one by its dynamism, has just taken from Britain and the United States immense territories, treasures and raw materials. "It is with complete independence of action we are choosing this course. I am convinced Germany will be victorious." OFFENSIVE: Russia Moves For weeks there had been little important news from Stalingrad ex cept that the Soviet forces were holding their positions within that stronghold city. Then a special communique from Moscow told of the beginning of the Russian drive which was to rip open two wide gaps in the Nazi lines ringing the city and then push the Germans steadily westward, away from the Don river. First reports of this struggle said that 15,000 Germans had been killed in its opening phases and that the Nazis had retreated 40 to 50 miles. Also 13,000 prisoners were taken, said the Russians, while even Ger man sources were admitting that their troops had been forced to take new strategic positions further away from the Don. This latest campaign began just three months after the Nazis began their siege of Stalingrad and during that time they had often claimed it for their own. Now the Russians had the initiative and for the first time were meeting the Germans on a basis of near-equality of manpow er and equipment. Front line dis patches said that these forces were taking the enemy's full measure by outfighting and outgeneraling him in all sectors. This Russian victory was looked upon as one of great importance by military strategists, many of whom claimed it would have a direct bear ing on the whole outcome of the war. For most, however, it was too early to make such a claim definite ly. A more complete report of the Nazi losses had to be heard from a neutral source before such reason ing could be accepted. One thing was clearly evident: the Russians had been taking ad vantage of the long lull in the fight ing by carefully preparing their op erations. Further, this campaign was timed to harass the Germans just as the British and American forces were blasting their full strength at Tunis and Bizerte in the North African theater. NEW GUINEA: Japs Lose Destroyer The battle in New Guinea had been hard. Despite the loss of a destroyer, the Japs had succeeded in landing additional troops under cover of darkness. But that didn't prevent the Allies from closing in on all sides of the enemy positions at Buna. Dispatches from the battlefield re ported that the Jap destroyer and two smaller craft were sunk by medium bombers. Other medium bombers supported ground troops by bombing and strafing the enemy. Some Australian units managed to get into Buna itself for a short time, inflicting heavy damage be fore retiring. American forces were said to be threatening the Japanese from three sides, apparently sever ing the enemy communications to Gona, 12 miles northwest. U. S. dive bombers blasted the Jap air drome at Buna with more than 100 allied aerial sorties in one day, aimed at softening up the enemy base for a knockout blow. The destroyer sunk in late action was the third warship the Japs have lost at Buna. Previously when a reinforcing Jap fleet appeared and attempted to land help, Allied bombers sank a cruiser and a de stroyer, forcing a third destroyer to flee. From Washington came word that an additional American destroyer had been sunk in the great naval battle of the Solomons in mid November. This brought the total of American losses in the action, which smashed a Jap invasion armada, to two light cruisers and seven destroyers. The Japs lost 28 ships, 16 of them warships and 12 transports. BRIEFS: SILENCE: December 7, 1942, first anniversary of Pearl Harbor, will come and go without any spe cial message from President Roose velt. A White House announcement said that the President will not de liver an address on that day, "nor take official notice of that anni versary." Rather it is felt that De cember 7 should be observed "as a day of silence in remembrance of a great infamy." Cranky Tank Corp. Bernard J. Kessel, Brook lyn, N. Y., was one of the crew of a General Grant tank which went on a rampage, ramming and destroying 75-mm. guns and 54 motor vehicles in Oran after being separated from their nnit. They penetrated the city hours before other Allied units en tered, emerging without undue mis hap. Such stories reflect the morale of D. S. troops now fighting the Axis in North Africa. COMPULSORY LOANS: Congress May Decide Legislation in the new session of congress will be topped by a plan for compulsory loans to the govern ment. Sen. Walter F. George (D., Ga.), chairman of the senate finance committee, said in an interview. - George commented that congress should take the initiative if the treasury and other agencies are not ready with a program shortly after the first of the year. Various estimates of the amount covered by such a program range up to 15 billion dollars a year. Re ports indicate it would involve such pronounced increases in levies as to take almost 30 per cent of the income from citizens in the low in come brackets. - As far as possible, George said, he intended to see that taxation did not become unbearable for individu als and corporations. He pointed out that the legislation might involve some readjustments of present high tax rates to compensate for the ex pected compulsory savings demand. BRITISH CABINET: Shake-Up In an unexpected shake-up. Sir Stafford Cripps stepped down from the British seven-man war cabinet to becofne minister of aircraft pro duction. Capt. Anthony Eden took over Cripps' leadership in the house of commons while Herbert Morri son, minister of home security, re placed Cripps in the war cabinet. Just why Cripps left the cabinet was not immediately made clear but for some time he is known to have disliked certain phases of the war effort and it is felt he may have left because he could not agree with many actions of Winston Churchill's advisers. That there were stronger motives in the action was the belief of many observers who pointed out that this was a bad time politically for Cripps to disassociate himself from Church ill. British successes in Egypt and elsewhere in Africa have given much strength recently to the Churchill government. Other sources claimed that Cripps had been want ing to get out of the cabinet for some time but had refrained from doing so previously to save embar rassment for Churchill. When Cripps left and Anthony Eden took over his leadership in commons, many British citizens saw a further grooming for Eden to some time succeed Winston Churchill as prime minister. AIR ACTION: Hits Japs While the Jap has had plenty of reason to feel the impact of United Nations' airpower in the Southwest Pacific, until a few weeks ago he had been getting off fairly comforta bly in Burma and China. But now a new air offensive in these areas seems to be taking shape. Both the Chinese and American bomber com mands are taking part in it. Two Chinese bomber squadrons countered a Jap drive in Central China by blasting munitions ware houses and an airfield near Shasi. This air force gave needed strength to the Chinese ground forces which were putting up stiff resistance to an all-out Jap attempt to push them out of the area. Meanwhile, in Burma, the largest force of U. S. bombers yet to attack the Japs there, blasted the railway center at Mandalay. Enemy de fenses were reported weak and large fires in warehouses and in the railway yards were started. WHO'S NEWS This Week By Lemuel F. Partom Psychological By products of North Africa Mount Daily Consolidated Features.-?WNU Release. MEW YORK.?Just after he won the world heavyweight cham pionship, Jack Sharkey was dining at Tait's restaurant in San Fran Cisco. The waiter brought him a lob ster with on* claw missing. Jack wanted to know about that. The waiter ex plained that two lobsters had been brought together in a crate from Martinez; that they had a fight and this one lost its claw. "Take this bum away and bring me the winner I" bellowed Jack. The qnlte human desire te string with a winner is mani festing itself in Latin-American countries, and perhaps else where, since the V. S. A. cut loose and started swinging in North Africa. Dispatches from several countries tell of senti ment shifting to the Allies, and away from the Axis. More specifically, Argentina's distin guished hair-splitting legalist. Sr. Enrique Ruis Guinaiu, is caught 08 dead-center for Just about the first time In his long and amiably noncommittal ca reer. As foreign minister of Argentina, he cables to the O. 8. A. his felicitations and his expression of Argentina's "solidarity" behind our North African campaign. There is the rumble of the band-wagon as well as of guns throughout the world. During the Pan-American confer ence at Rio de Janeiro last Janu ary, gleaners among the senor's learned and bland evasions could not find so much as a straw in the wind. Seven months earlier, he had been elaborately feted at Wash ington, with state dinners and a big, Jovial stag party by the President, and as time passed it appeared that we might not even get our bait back. Our later cultural phalanxes moving on Argentina, seemed equal ly ineffective. Argentina remained our hardest nut to crack. Perhaps General Eisenhower has cracked it. Representing Argentina at the League of Nations for many years, Sr. Ruiz Guinazu was an eminent personage in the great academic tournaments which deplored but sidestepped the oncoming Axis Jug gernaut. He was president of the League of Nations council in 1935, and in that year voted with the op position when it was proposed to throw a switch on Mussolini, en route to Ethiopia. He is a veteran of Argentinian statesmanship, pro foundly learned in International law, and political theory, for several years ambassador to Switzerland. Cautious and cryptic, although al ways gracious and smiling, he is at last on record?for "the safe guarding and security of the Amer icas," as he cables Secretary Hull. IT WAS nearly two years ago that 1 Robert D. Murphy, then counsel lor for our embassy at Vichy, started on a little publicized tour of North Africa, "in We Have Had a specting Lawrence of North ? u r 'on Africa on the Job ??**?? little newspaper handouts of the time would have it. There were subsequent trips which made it clear that Mr. Mur phy's interests were not confined to consular efficiency. General Eisen hower supplies additional and final proof in leading the greatest sea and air borne invasion of all time strategically and politically read ied by Mr. Murphy's preparation. As to the bournous and all the other traditionally romantic fix ings of such enterprise, it's quite the reverse so far as Mr. Murphy is concerned. He is a trim-rigged dip lomat, whose genial and ready smile, as well as his name, sug gests his Irish antecedents. He has been correct and dependable in dip lomatic punctilio. Mneh of Mr. Msrpby's activity seems to have been adroitly political. He rallied Free French adherents everywhere and be made strategical use of American food and clothing sup plies. The latter was, of course, denounced as appeasement of Vichy, with an insistence that the supplies would find their way into German hands. The Germans put us right on that, If we were reading their Paris newspaper Aujourd 'Hui, of February lfi, 1941. They vtlli fied Mr. Murphy as a conspira tor working with the DeGaulle forces. America Girds for Still Greater Effort As Pearl Harbor Anniversary Nears A Review of Outstanding Engagements of Our Country's First Year at War. By CHARLES A. SINGLER Released by Western Newspaper Union. With the approach of Docember 7?the "date of infamy"? Americans everywhere will reaffirm their determination to work, fight and sacrifice to win the war, and spend a little time in retrospect. No attempt will be made here to given an overall picture of what has happened during this fateful year, but rather a review of some of the great battles in which American soldiers, sailors, marines and fliers have been engaged. Without diffl/niltv utm rsrall thnt ? ? fateful Sunday afternoon when, over a radio suddenly gone wild, the shocking and bewildering reports came in. Pearl Harbor had been attacked! People could hardly be lieve it. But it was true. The next day the United States declared war on Japan, and on December 16 war was declared on Japan's partners in crime, Germany and Italy. Since then many thousands of brave American boys have been wrapped in the Sag they loved, or have found a last resting place be neath the ocean's swell. These men have illuminated the pages of Amer ican history with deeds as bright as the orange flash of a cruiser's guns. Fall of Wake Island. All will remember with reverence the epic of Wake island, when a handful of U. S. marines, marooned on a tiny atoll in the Southwest Pacific, made history in Courage. On this occasion a heroic garrison of less than 400 marines defended Wake Island against a powerful Japanese attacking force, from De cember 2 to 22, until they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. With a few out-dated planes and a gun or two onr boys sank seven Jap warships, one cruiser, fonr de stroyers, one submarine and one gunboat. Fall of Bataan. The next staggering shock of the war was the fall of Manila and the U. S. naval base of Cavite, in the Philippines. America took heart, though, when it learned of the mag nificent defense which was put up by U. S. and Filipino troops in the rugged terrain of Bataan peninsula, under the leadership of OeK. Doug las MacArthur. As it was impossi ble to get reinforcements through the Japanese naval blockade of the Philippines, Bataan appeared doomed. We recall that in Bataan's darkest hour MacArthur was spirit ed out of the islands in a remarka ble under-cover dash to Australia by the "mosquito boat" hero of Subic Bay, Lieut. John D. Bulkeley. Lieut. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright took over on Bataan?Wainwright, the stony-faced general whom the boys loved as much as MacArthur. Lacking food, heavy guns, planes and tanks, and facing an over whelming superiority in enemy forces, Wainwright's men were final ly overwhelmed by Jap forces esti mated at 200,000 on April 0. Long after the guns on Bataan ceased firing, the guns of Corregi dor (Wainwright's Rock) kept fir Official V. 8. navy photo (bowing wreckage of the battieihlp Arizona after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. tag. Wainwright and some of his men had, fortunately enough, suc ceeded in getting on the Rock be fore Bataan fell. Completely cut off from reinforcements, and heavily outnumbered, Corregidor surren dered to the Japs on May 8. Wain wright and his gallant band are now presumed to be prisoners of the Japs. Battle of Java ?ea. The battle of the Java sea began February 37, when the Allied fleet attacked the superior Japanese fleet, off the Netherlands East Indies. In this engagement 13 United Nations tyarships totaling 47,708 tons were lost in a series of engagements last ing from February 27 to March 1. Included in toe U. S. losses was the 9,090-ton cruiser "Houston," and the 1,193 ton destroyer "Pope." The Allies lost all five cruisers which par ticipated In the action. These losses were hard to take, but America began to smile again? in fact it howled with delight?when the big news broke that Brig. Gen. James ("Jimmy") Doolittle, famous speed flier and World War I ace, had dropped plenty of "eggs" over Tokyo with a squadron of North American B-25s. That "mission" was fulfilled on April 18, and it went over big, both here in America and in Tokyo. First Real Victory of War. In the battle of that island-studded ocean known as the Coral sea. which is near the Solomon islands and about 1,000 miles northeast of Aus tralia, America's first real victory of the war with Japan was scored. The action occurred on May 4 and called forth deeds of valor as thrill ing as any in all American history. The Coral Sea battle was the first great naval defeat ever dealt the imperial Japanese fleets. And yet this great battle was 'ought entirely In the air, by the planes of oppos ing aircraft carriers. The ships engaged in this battle never got sight of each other. They slugged it out without firing a single gun at another ship?the first en gagement of its kind in history. In this first great victory for the U. S. in this global war the Japs lost more than 15 ships sunk and at least 20 others severely damaged. The action perhaps saved Australia from invasion. However, America paid a price for her victory in the sultry Coral sea. In this engagement the 880-foot aircraft carrier Lexington, famed ship that laid the foundation for our modern navy's aircraft carrier op erations, went to the bottom. This happened on May 7. The destruction of a Japanese ar mada some hundreds of miles off Midway island, on June 4 and 5, was another action of the same kind. In this engagement U. S. army bomb ers roared off from their bases on Midway island?just another dot on the Pacific?to meet the most for midable array of warships that im perial Japan ever sent steaming against a foe. The armada was put to complete rout. The carrier Yorktown was lost in the Battle of Midway. It went to the bottom on June 7 in the final phases of the great sea-air battle. But before the grand okl "Y" went down she catapulted from her flight deck the dive bomber*, fighters and torpedo plane* that swung the tide of battle in favor of Old Glory. A heavy toll of Jap ship* was taken. Jape Invade Aleutians. Early in June, after bombing Dutch Harbor in Alaska, Jap forces invaded several of the Aleutian is lands, in the North Pacific. They made their main stronghold Kiska, and evidently believed that the ever lasting fogs that shroud these islands would be their protection. But Un cle Sam was up there, too, and soon the fleet's heavy guns, Catalina Fly ing Boats, B-lTs and B-24s (Flying Fortresses and Liberators) began bombing and blasting them out. On August 8, a U. S. navy task force, consisting of a great concentration of cruisers and destroyers, glided through the Aleutian fogs almost to When Major General Wabrwright, hero of Corregidar, saw that defeat was inevitable he said, "Til star with mj men." And he did. Gen eral Wainwright (shown above) is now a prisoner at the Japs. the very guns of the invaders and hurled 400 tons of TNT and steel into Jap shipping and shore instal lations in Kiska harbor. In the bat tle of Kiska only one observation plane was loot. Not as much as a machine gun bullet hit the fleet. Since that time the Japs have pulled out of the Aleutians, with the exception of Kiska, their main stronghold, and the United States has strengthened its position against them by occupation of die Andreanof group of the Aleutians? much closer to Jap-held Kiska On the very day when the Japs in Kiska took such a pounding from U. S. forces?exactly eight months to the day after Pearl Harbor?Old Glory was hoisted by U. & marines over the first territory taken back from the Japs. This glorious event took place on the mountainous is land of Guadalcanal, key to the Sol omon Islands in the Southwest Pa cific. This 100-mile long island lies athwart the strategic route to Aus tralia. The Japs had labored long in hacking an airfield out at the tropi cal wilderness of Guadalcanal. The marines took it away from them, and there has been a continuing day and night battle for possession of the airfield ever since. In their efforts to recover this vital airfield (Henderson Field) and the key is land, the Japs have risked placing the main force of their navy within range of MacArthur's deadly Fly ing Fortresses and the "Forts" that roar up off of Henderson Field. We have lost some fine shipa in the region of Guadalcanal, but losses on the island have been light compared to what the Japs have lost?according to navy reports their losses run four or five times as heavy as ours. However, there has been a running battle for continued possession of the island oil the part of the U. S , and for re-possession on part of the Japs. Day and night the pounding goes on, from sea and sky, but the marines, backed by the army and navy, have hung on and have made tome gains. A real show-down between 0. S. and Jap forces in the Solomons came about in mid-November when the greatest naval battle since Jutland in 1918 was fought. Supported by MacArthur's big bombers the navy, in a three-day running battle, smashed a tremendous enemy armada, lifting the immediate thieat to U. S. positions on Guadaifaftal. As we pause to remember sMnrl Harbor, we must, to get theaMrall picture, have in mind tbe*^rpn, work of U. S. air pilots over QrfMnL and U. S. air pilots co-0M|^^^m| with the Royal Air Force^^^K most daily or nightly <*M over Hitler's Reich, gad oqfl was known as Occupied FraSBIH must remember the fine wggfc dnoH by American troops in co-oparettow^S with Australians, who have pushed ? back the Japs in New Guinea, turn ing the tide of battle in the Owen Stanley mountains, saving Port Moresby, and helping to remove the threat from Australia. Day by day through all the months this has been going on?brave men dying?while we take time out to read about it. Opening of the Second Front. Things came to a head in the Afri can desert early in November. Thou sands of American boys, tank men and aviators participated in the great push of the British Eighth army against Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, which at one time was dangerously close to the Sues canal ? one of Britain's darkest hours. Swiftly on the heels of this battle, which became a rout as Brit ish forces broke through the El Aln mein line, America got the world shaking news of the opening of the long expected Second Front at an unexpected spot in North Africa, on Saturday, November 7. - -.. 1^. ?al
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