i the Alamance gleaner^
7 No. 6
c============ GRAHAM, N. C., THIjRSDAY, MARCH 9, 1944
U*"
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS .."I
US. Forces Rip Jap KdfiTD^fe^
Complete Organization of New Aa, '
Supervise Surplus War Goocb^Sa]^
Heaviest Aenal Attacks Blast Germany
^??? n..... .j
L_ - b, ^
New Guinea?Following a ?trict medical examination, New Guinea na
receive training equipment for military police duty in Papuan foot
Uli against bandits and tribesmen.
CONGRESS:
Democratic Revolt
Reelected by the senate's Demo
cratic majority as its floor leader
ifter breaking with President Roose
uelt on the tax veto, burly Sen. Alben
Berkley (Ky.) took back the reins of
i balky party, but not without an
eye on restoring harmony in its
ranks with its principles.
Barkley's break with F.D.R. came
is a result of the President's rasp
ing attack on the $2,300,000,0(10 tax
bill, which he said was an "inedible
crust" offering relief to "the greedy
Instead of the needy." It was not
the question of the increased taxes
but rather of the size and nature of
the new levies which promoted the
differences between the Chief Exec
utive and congress, and Barkley's
position indicated stiffening congres
sional independence in formulating
legislation, rather than an all-out
repudiation of Democratic princi
ples.
The same attitude prevailed in
the house, where 80-year-old Rep.
Robert Doughton's declaration that
be "parted company" with F.D.R.
on the tax veto set the stage for
oongressional overriding of the veto.
WAR GOODS:
SeW Surplus
*ith the U. S. treasury preparing
? sell 20,000 horses, 10,000 motor
irucKs and 4,t>uu mo
torcycles released
by the army, the
Surplus War Prop
erty administrator,
William L. Clayton,
was completing or
ganization of the
newly created agen
cy to supervise dis
posal of all such
goods.
Although the treas
? ?:>? a'ready has disposed of 100 mil
Rnlo'tara worth of surplus materi
1 c a3v to lend-lease and other U.
I S :..vv.cs, the new unit was estab
lldei by.tiie President upon recorrv
I teidatton ol the Baruch postwar j
comm'ttee to supervise j
115 - of excess government goods so |
lirit to glut and disrupt ordinary j
I Principal ta'k of Clayton's agency
I sill be to determine selling and dis
I trbution policies and insist on mini
l?j-n prices, leaving actual sale of
I Material to the various government
I apartments which originally pro
I hired the goods.
I EXTEND CCC:
I Subsidies Included
I iuLllh consumer subsidy foes un
l?Je to override a presidential veto,
I?* Penate passed a bill extending
of the Commodity Credit
I Ration until June, 1945, and per
|"??? its use of from 750 to 900
? *jUee doUars for paymnts to hold
? "wn retail food costs.
I'or accePtance in the
I 1"hose banking committee ap
I*imilar legislation, the bill
1 'or continuation of price
1^?^. Programs to assure farm
I a feature endorsed by
1^ "o" opposed consumer subsi
lfc?r government payments to
and others to cut retail
It-a?^ent check by CCC showed
?bo IS ?? of its three bil
ltduw 'unds hav^been obligat
?fe remainder are available
I Ate?. operations. V.'ar Food
Idtest*!5 Marvin Jones' re
Il^L an additional $500,000,000
I b?*1 was turned down.
I L. Clayton
AIR WARFARE:
Hit London
Stung by Allied bombers' destruc
tion of their cities, Germany's once
vaunted Luftwaffe appeared in force
over London again after a two-year
lapse, blasting the British capital
with block-busters that ripped up
residential and factory areas.
As the Luftwaffe struck at London,
big Allied bombers continued their
attack on Nazi war-plane plants
throughout Germany, seeking to
cripple fighter production and re
duce aerial resistance to U. S. and
British forces when they open the
second front.
From January, 1943, to the same
month in 1944, the RAF and AAF
lost 3,835 bombers in operations over
western Europe, it was announced,
with 2,688 of the craft being Brit
ish and 1,147 American.
Open Fighting
With their lines lying exposed in
the broad Roman plains, both Ger
man and Allied forces alike came
under the heavy fire of artillery and
aircraft around the Anzio beach
head, and the enemy's armored
moves met stubborn resistance from
U. S. and British troops.
To the southeast, wet weather
muddied the mountainsides and
slowed up Allied advances against
the Germans around Cassino. 'So
bitter was the fighting in Cassino it
self where the Nazis clung to part
of the town that a U. S. Doughboy
with Yankee wit reported to his
commanding officer that "... To
day, we captured a parlor, bedroom
and kitchen . .
PACIFIC:
Closer to Tokyo
? - - - - ? uu 1
i Surging beyond Japan s crummiug
outer Pacific defenses, U. S. carrier
forces struck within 1,400 miles of
Tokyo to blast at the Mariana is
lands, so called gateway to the ene
my homeland.
While planes from the carrier
force ripped Jap defenses in the
Marianas, other U. S. air and naval
units continued hammering down
enemy resistance in the New Britain
area, blasting shipping centers used
as feeder points for barges supply
ing embattled Nipponese troops in
South Pacific outposts.
As U. S. naval and air forces tore
up the Marshalls, Carolines and
Marianas, the enemy's vaunted navy
and aerial auxiliary still showed no
face to scrap, with the Tokyo radio
telling its listeners that the Jap
chiefs will order a fight only after
drawing the U. S. from its bases.
ARMY BEEF:
Small Plants Tapped
To assure the military services of
needed supplies, the War Food ad
' ministration prepared to order 3,000
smalL packing and slaughter plants
i and local butchers to set aside 50
per cent of their "army style" beef
beginning April 1.
At the same time, WFA announced
manufacturers of Cheddar cheese
will be required to reserve 45 per
cent of their March and 55 per cent
of their April production, compared
with 35 per cent for January and
February.
Since the small packers and butch
, ers sold their entire output to civil
ians, their reservation for the serv
ices is expected to cut into domes
tic supplies. Previously, the govern
ment obtained its beef from about
425 federally inspected plants, but de
cided to tap the other sources upon
the belief that more than normal
numbers of cattle were being mar
keted in the smaller centers.
RUSSIA:
Army Anniversary
Celebrating the 26th anniversary of
the creation of the Red army with
"Molotov cocktails," Russian
forces continued bending back Ger
man lines at both ends of the 800
mile front. Meantime, it was also
indicated that peace negotiations
with the Finns progressed.
As the Nazis announced retirement
movements on the eastern Estonian
border, the Reds drove on to* im
portant rail and highway-nub of
Pskov, communication/gateway to
the Baltic states.
At the southern extremity of the
front, the Russ kept chewing off
chunks of the German wedge ex
tending far to the rear of their lines
in Poland, with the iron, copper and
coal center of Krivoi Rog falling into
their hands after almost 2% years of
enemy occupation.
Stub in the Finnish peace moves
was the presence of 175,000 Nazi
troops in the country's mineral-rich
north.
WORLD AIRWAYS:
Blimps in Pieture
Forgotten recently because of the
spectacular action of the airplane in
the present war, the huge, sleek
dirigible has slipped quietly back
into the picture, with the U. N. Air
ships Incorporated's application for
five routes from Washington, D. C.,
to large cities in all parts of the
world.
Using noninflammable helium, the
U. N. Airships Inc., would operate
passenger and cargo dirigibles over
41,633 miles of world routes to Cal
cutta, India, via Dakar, French West
Africa; Buenos Aires, Argentina, via
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Capetown,
South Africa, via Zanzibar, British
East Africa; Brisbane, Australia, via
Los Angeles, Honolulu, Chungking,
China, and Darwin, Australia; and
finally to Moscow via Glasgow, Scot
land.
Although the dirigible's speed is
limited to 75 to 100 miles per hour
as compared with the airplane's 150
to 200, blimp enthusiasts say the
huge lighter-than-air craft can cruise
greater distance* and provide pas
sengers with more luxurious quar
ters. _
BREAK STRIKE:
Army in Los Angeles
With a strike of its AFL electrical
workers tying up repair of damaged
power unes ieeaing
war plants and pri
vate homes and
business houses, Los
Angeles called upon
the army to take
over the city's mu
nicipal water and
power department
and restore stricken
facilities.
Power lines were
downed during one
01 souinera camui ma a scvcicoh
storms on record, 7.3 inches of rain
flooding homes and chasing small
water craft into coastal ports. Glanc
ing over the drenched countryside,
rough and tumbly film actor Wallace
Beery groused: "One advantage in
the South Pacific is that down there
they've got islands."
When the army moved in on presi
dential order, the strikers who
walked off the job in a wage dispute,
went back to their work after a 10
day layoff.
ARGENTINA:
New Chief
Having drawn the displeasure of
Argentina's celebrated "Colonel's
Club" which stands as the dominat
ing force in Argentine politics. Gen.
Pedro Ramirez turned over his pres
idency to Gen. Edelmiro J. Farrell,
army favorite.
Ramirez' action climaxed the cri
sis created when his foreign min
ister stood for declaring war on the
Axis and subsequently was fired on
the insistence of the ultra-neutral
"Colonel's Club."
Although Ramirez' foreign minis
ter left his cabinet, he evidently lost
the confidence of the "Colonel's
Club," which then promoted Far
rell to the high position.
W. Beery
I Take Out OUCH? |
Long the terror of even the brav
est of heart, dental drilling may soon
be relieved of moeb of Its pain by
general adoption of a new technique
used by the army.
The new technique is simple In it
self, the dentist pouring cold water
into the patient's month at the rate
of eight ounces a minnte, while drill
ing, and draining the same amount
out through another tube. By circu
lating about the mouth, the water
cools the drilled tooth, the pain of
which Is caused by heat generated
by friction of the drill.
Because of the relief of the pain
and the greater rotation of the drill
In the reduced temperature, the den
tist can do t better job on the tooth
and perform almost M per cent
more work, army dental technicians
They toll you it actually happened.
I dunno ... He was managing edi
tor for a New York syndicate. Now
with OWI . . . Several years ago a
comic strip was submitted to him
... He liked it. Recommended
it for syndication . . . The boss to
whom he delivered it took it home
. . . Next day he memo'd it wouldn't
do. The kids he showed it to didn't
care for it, he said . . . The young
cartoonists were disappointed, of
course . . . They finally got their
strip started in a cheap comic week
ly?for practically nothing per week
. . . Every year they brought it
back to the m.e., who liked it, but
he couldn't get it on his chain . . .
The boss still didn't like it . . . An
other syndicate made an offer, but
the boys gave the m.e. another
chance . . . They were turned down
... It now grosses $5,000 per week
via royalties from newspapers, radio
and gadget makers . . . The first
syndicate boss, who spurned it so
many times, demanded to know what
happened . . . The strip is the re
nowned "Superman."
He Is a nice kid?alwayj laughing
or smiling ... He worked for an
; ad agency before the war started,
where they used to kid him a lot be
cause he liked colorful cravats and
apparel ... No zoot suiter, more
Lucius Beebe . . . One day they
nearly drove him out of the place
because he turned up wearing a pur
ple-colored vest . . . Then came
the draft, and he was among the
very first accepted . . . After 17
months in action he showed up again
. . . Now, wherever he goes, his
old pals show him considerable re
spect, even though he wears purple
... On his chest.
His life's ambition was to be a
name bandleader . . . Studied al
most every instrument ... He final
ly became one of the great arrang
ers, instead ... He couldn't "front"
for a band, it seems . . . Wasn't
the type, the agents said ... So he
was hired as head arranger for a
well known orchestra . . . The lead
er of which was a "front man" be
cause he looked it . . . The front
man could never read a note of mu
sic, but he had a baton man's "per
sonality," whatever that is . . .
Each performance the arranger
stood backstage and saw the "lead
er" take the bows for his work . . .
Not long ago the arranger (who
knows nearly every instrument) was
inducted. Because of his musical
background, by golly, he was made
army bandleader, a commission due
soon. The* bandleader's front man
was drafted a few weeks ago . . .
You guessed it . . . He's a private
in the infantry?still trying to keep
in time!
New York Novelette: She was a
waitress in a small Midwest hotel
. . . Because her feller played in
the band . . . One day a stranger
offered her a screen test chance . . .
She spurned it . . . She wanted to
be near her Joe?hoping he'd ask her
to marry him ... All uvasudden
her Josephus wrote one of those
screwy nonsensical national anathe
mas which periodically sweep the
land ... So he upped and left for
The Big Burg . . . Leaving her be
hind, of course . . . Two months
later she followed her broken heart
... In New York he bluntly told
her that his plans did not include
her. He said he was waiting for a
movie agent who was bringing him
a contract for Hollywood any mo
ment?and would she please leave?
. . . She found herself staggering
down the hall towards the elevators,
where out stepped the guy who of
fered the screen test back home! He
recognized her and had no trouble
selling Hollywood to her right there
. . . You anticipate me . . . Her
Joe still is waiting for the same
agent with his movie contract?and
wondering whatinell happened?
Quotation Marksmanship: Mark
Twain: Imagination was given to
man to compensate him for what
he is not; and a sense of humor was
provided to console him for what he
is . . . Karen Cooper: In war, as
in baseball, those who do the strik
ing are atfainst the men who are in
there pitching . . . Louis Nizer: I
don't like people who smoke a pipe
of peace only for the purpose of cre
ating a smoke-screen . . . H. Whit
man: Billions of Jack Frost's para
troopers descended upon New York
... A. Lincoln: By giving freedom
to the slave we assure freedom to
the free . . . Richard Todd: We can
never lose our way if we remem
ber Lincoln's Gettysburg address ...
C. Carton: Speeches as long as a
rainy week-end . . . Herald Trib
une: Chennault Thorn In Tokio'a
Side, May Prove Dagger In Its
Heart
5enerous Treatment ot Axis Prisoners in United States \
Improves Conditions tor Captured Americans;
Red Cross Reports
Men in German Hands
Well Fed and Housed
By BARROW LYONS
WMU Staff Correspondent
In soma 30,000 familias
throughout our land today the
folks are thinking of some sol
dier from home who has fallen
into enemy hands?now a pris
oner of war far away. When our
troops make the great push
against the mainland of Europe,
there will be more boys taken
prisoners.
In the war prisoner camps within
the United States, we hold some
175,000 enemy soldiers captured
mostly on the battlefields of Africa,
Sicily and Italy. Of these, 125,000
are Germans, 50,000 Italians. Only
118 are Japanese.
Many protests have been made
to army authorities, because of the
good treatment given these prison
ers. Lots of people don't under
stand why enemy prisoners should
be given the same comforts, the
same medical attention, the same
food as our own soldiers.
But there is a reason so compel
ling, that none can complain when
it is understood. It is not for the
sake of the prisoners, but in the
interest of our own soldiers held by
the enemy. They are the real object
of our forbearance and solicitude.
And, of course, our national honor
is involved, for we agreed to give
prisoners the same food and care
as our own men under the Prisoners
of War convention signed and rati
fied at Geneva on July 27, 1929.
Reelproeal Good Treatment.
Reliable reports made to the army
indicate that the good treatment we
have accorded prisoners has won
for our own men in German prison
camps conditions that are at least
as good as those under which Ger
man soldiers live.
These facts were revealed for the
first time to your correspondent by
Maj. Gen. Allen W. Gullion, provost
marshal general of the army, who
has general supervision over prison
ers of war. The actual guarding of
the prisoners is a function of the
prison camp commander who is un
der the control of the commanding
general pf the service command.
Censorship reveals that letters
from relatives and friends express
much gratitude and happiness over
the way we are treating their men.
"We are Informed by the Inter
national Red Cross that the Ger
mans say that because of our good
treatmest of their soldiers, they
are givjfig our men more liberties
and betttr treatment," General Gul
lion told your correspondent. "The
Geneva conventions required that
each piisoner be given the same
food as soldiers of the capturing
power receive in base camps. Ac
cording to the reports of Swiss ob
servers, the Germans are living up
to this provision; our men in some
instances are getting even a little
better food than the German sol
diers, although the German facili
ties do not compare with ours.
"I think there can be only one
answer to the complaint that we are
treating the prisoners we take too
well. One gets it when one asks the
question: Is it better to yield to a
very natural, vengeful impulse to
take it out on our prisoners, or to ob
serve our treaty agreements and pro
tect our own men?"
Few Eseape.
There have been complaints also
that the prisoners we hold have not
been sufficiently guarded; that too
many have escaped to become a
menace to the home population.
General Gullion points to the facts.
Of the 173,000 prisoners we now hold
in this country, about 100 have es
caped, but all except three have
been recaptured and are in custody.
The only men at large are two Ital
ians who escaped from a branch
camp at El Paso, part of the Lords
burg, N. M., camp, and one German
who got away at Crossville, Tenn.
There has been complaint from
organized labor lately because we
have used some of the war prison
erg for tasks in lumber camps and
on road work, where there was no
American labor available. General
Gullion gives labor assurance that
prisoners of war are not being put
to work on any job where civilian
labor is available in adequate sup
ply. Prisoner of war labor is a
temporary expedient to relieve the
existing shortage of man power.
The United States agreed at the
Geneva convention to return all
prisoners of war to their own coun
tries at the conclusion of the war,
hence the fear of competition with
free labor is groundless, the gen
eral says.
Prisoners Cat Palpwood.
Prisoners have been in logging
operations where American workers
have left the woods to work in ship
yards and machine shops at much
higher wages, he explains. They
have been useful in cutting and
peeling pulp logs needed critically
for containers in civilian industry
and for newsprint, of which there
is a shortage. Prisoners have been
used also in maintaining roads in
soma areas where other manual la
borers are very scarce. The tre
mendous importance of road main
tenance, in view of the heavy traf
fic, is obvious.
Prisoners have been used also in
laundries. Nearly everyone today
has suffered inconveniences because
of the shortage of laundry labor,
and can understand this expedient.
The story of Japanese prisoners
is less happy. When a Japanese
soldier is taken prisoner he is
washed up?he never wishes to re
turn to Japan for he is disgraced
forever in the eyes of his country
men.
We have in this Country scarcely
more than a hundred Japanese pris
oners, and General MacArthur has
only a few hundred more, accord
ing to General Gullion.
They are given the same food
and accommodations as our own
soldiers, because we hope by ac
cording such treatment to amelio
rate the lot of our own 18,900 men
held by the Japanese.
Yanks Had to Blast
Japs Out of Holes
On Marshalls
Doughboys of the Seventh infantry
division who captured Kwajalein
and other islands of the Kwajalein
atoll during the invasion of the Mar
shall islands literally had to dig the
Japanese out of the ground. CoL
Syril E. Falne, infantry, of New
Straitsville, Ohio, who is now in the
United States, acted as deputy chief
of staff of the division during the six
day campaign. He said the Japa
nese defenders of the mid-Pacific
coral base had taken refuge in hun
dreds of shell craters by the time
the first waves of infantry hit the
shore on January 31 (February 1,
Pacific time).
"It was just like killing rate," he
declared. "The whole island was
rubble, after the preliminary bomb
ing and shelling. The Japs had
crawled underground wherever they
could, and the infantrymen had to
stop at every hole and fire down
into it, or throw grenades into it."
Playing Possum.
The Japanese were up to their
usual nasty tricks, went on Colonel
Faine. Even after they were hope
lessly defeated, they refused to give
up. At one point in the action, an
American aid station was estab
lished close to a pile of three ap
parently dead Japs. Only two of
them, it turned out, were really
dead. The third, at the bottom of
the heap, pulled himself up after
playing possum for a long time and
fired one ineffectual shot at an -
Americanan^cer. Other Japs blew
themselves up with grenades.
The landing on the Marshalls,
Colonel Faine said, was preceded
by one of the most intensive bom
bardments of the war. Both army
and navy planes participated, and
later, warships pounded the Jap de
fenses. "One airstrip on the Wotje
atoll was so chopped up," Colonel
Faine said, "that not only couldn't
the Japs get a plane off it, but you
couldn't even have run a wheelbar
row along it."
Amphibious Warfare.
The aerial hammering kept up as
the invasion armada, containing
more ships than there were in our
whole navy at the start of the war,
swept over the horizon. As the
landings started. Seventh division in
fantrymen who had received special
amphibious training drove their own
"alligators" and "ducks" toward
shore, and later ferried supplies
back and forth from the mother
ships.
The doughboys had relatively easy
going when they first hit the beaches
advancing 1,300 yards on the first
day. On the second day, they began
to run into lines of pillboxes, against
which they advanced with combat
engineers right behind them. With
flamethrowers, grenades, and other
weapons, the infantrymen calmly
cleaned out each pillbox as they got
to it The engineers used 400 tons,
of dynamite on two islands alone,,
levelling everything on them. i
......
The irit German soldier to be taken prisoner In Iceland was Ser
geant Manfrak, who balled out of his Jankers plane after it bad been hit
bp U. 8. army lighten. He Is shown at Intelligence headquarters, en
joying the rations en the tray before him, despite a bandaged arm and
numerous braises.
TELEFACT
FEW JAP PRISONERS HAVE MSN TAKEN BY U. S.
A O Afl
MWNtSf <00 WW ?
ooMANt inxno
QP iiiiiiifmi^tmi^ilt
"*"**? 170,000