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The Alamance Gleaner VoL LXXI . GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1945 No, 3 ' ?J , _ ?? WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Allied Armies Squeeze Nazis As Big Three Map Knockout Drive; AFL, Industry Buck Labor Draft ' Released by Western Newspaper Union. I (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eolamns. they are these ef Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily ef this newspaper.) I With one member carrying cumbersome anti-tank weapon, Berlin hmne-guarders mobilize for action as Russ march on capital. EUROPE: Plan Knockout As Swedish reports played up a big shakeup in the German govern ment in an effort to form a more respectable regime for approaching the Allies for peace, the Big Three conference continued in the Black Sea area, with Messrs. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin announcing completion of plans for the knock out of the Nazi military machine. Although Hitler would remain as the head of the German state under the reported shakeup, actual power would pass into the hands of wily Fritz von Papen, ace diplomat and Reich chancellor before the Fuehr er's ascension to dominance. Al though a conservative In tone, Von Papen, reports had it, would have as Finance Minister Hjalmar Schacht, who devised the Reich's CUeftatn SUlin, Roosevelt and Churchill hi confab. > complex pj-ewar barter system, by whicfi the Reich attempted to do business without formal exchange. In agreement on military plans, file Big Three also were reportedly m harmony on postwar occupation of Germany, with Britain taking over the northwest, the U. S. the southwest and Russia the east. Ttvin Thrusts While the Russians drove in from the east, the U. S. and British undertook a large-scale offensive in the west, with Field Marshal Ber nard Montgomery's Tommies at ' tempting to outflank the Siegfried line terminal of Kleve on the north ern end of the front and move down the Ruhr valley. r oflowing 11 hours of intensive aerial and artillery bombardment, Montgomery's forces, paced by tanks and flame throwers, fought deep into the Reichwald forest screening Kleve, while the Ger mans rushed up reinforcements in in effort to curb the offensive. Not only would a British break-through imperil the industrial Ruhr val ley, but it would place the Tommies at the rear of Nazi troops holding a line against the U. S. First and Third armies farther south. While Montgomery's offensive mounted, the First and Third armies continued to chew deeply Mo the once formidable Siegfried fiae, with the battering Yanks en countering new earthwork defenses beyond the west wall's concrete bnkers, pill-boxes and tank traps. Strongpoint after strongpoint hi the Siegfried line fell as the Nazis appeared to be falling back into the earthwork system, stretching as far bock as the Rhine in some places. Attack in West While a great battle raged for the battered Prussian stronghold of Ber . Kb, another great and equally im portant fight flared for Silesia's in terior industrial district In pressing their great offensives along the sprawling eastern front, the Reds threw numerous bridge heads across the Oder river, whose ice-packs were thawed by warm winds. With artillery laying down heavy barrages. Rod armored columns, backed by waves at in fan try, pressed into the fortified rones before Berlin. Farther to the south, the Russians beaded for Silesia's interior in dustrial district around Schwied aitz and Wuenschelburg, nestled deep in the shadow of the towering Sudeten mountains rimming Czecho slovakia. Capture of this region would add to the cooquest of the eastern Slesian industrial district end further impair Nazi industry. WORK OR FIGHT: Bill Bucked Still strongly opposed by labor and industry, the administration's "work or fight" bill forcing men be tween 18 and 45 to accept essential' jobs or face induction or fine and imprisonment received close sen ate consideration after house pas sage. As the solons took up the bill, the AFL's executive council meeting in Miami, Fla., declared that no actual manpower shortage existed, but that some plants were hoarding labor to keep up production costs and allow them a greater percent age of profit, and contracts were being let in tight labor areas while establishments were forced to lay off help in others. The AFL . recom mended a substitute under which hoarded labor would be drafted. Claiming that only 150,000 work ers were needed, the National Asso ciation of Manufacturers said that voluntary cooperative efforts of in dustry, labor and government had largely been successful in recruit ing needed help, and said that lower employment ceilings in unessential plants could "flush out" surplus workers. Reductions in absenteeism, elimination of wasteful labor prac tices and shifting of skilled help would serve to draw the most from available manpower, the NAM said. PACIFIC: Manila in Flames Overwhelmed by American forces moving from the north, and squeezed by other U. S. units mov ing in from the south, Jap defend ers of Manila destroyed all bridges over the Pasig river dividing the city in two and put the business dis trict to the torch. As the Manila business district's reinforced concrete, streamlined and air conditioned buildings bil lowed in flame, winds blowing in from the bay spread the fire, forc ing the removal of freed prisoners and internees by truck to outlying The general, It seems, does all the talking for the Mae Arthurs! When Mrs. MacArthnr was asked to comment on her re action to the fall of Manila, her aide said she couldn't alter her policy of public silence without permission from general head quarters ? meaning MaeArthur himself. suburbs. As U. S. troops worked their way through the barricaded streets, they came under heavy sniper gunfire. In telling his troops that they "... have redeemed a country's pledge to recapture its lost land, . . ." General MaeArthur said that the conquest of Manila marked the ead of one phase of the war and </ie opening of another. Declaring that his command was ready to car ry on the campaign against the Japs, in what was interpreted as his bid for continued leadership of Allied forces in the Pacific, Mao Arthur proclaimed: "On to Tokyo." SURPLUS GOODS t Investigate Sales With congress announcing Ks In tention to go into the whole ques tion of surplus property disposal now to develop fair practices rather than to wait until most of the goods had been sold, the senate war investigating committee "ranged over the whole matter, with em phasis on operations of an auction eering firm allegedly soliciting busi ness through high officials. During the course of the commit tee's inquiry, it was learned that purchasers bought surplus mate rials at bargain prices and then re sold them to the government at big profits, and that test tubes, stopper corks and surgical dressings were being classed as surplus while fac tories worked around the clock turning out more of the same items, i In investigating the affairs of Sur plus Liquidators, Inc., it was brought out that Herbert Bayard Swope, consultant to Secretary of War Henry Stimson, had written to Jesse Jones, former secretary of commerce, asking for the latter's consideration of the firm's plans for disposal of surplus goods. There not only was pre-arranged bidding at Surplus Liquidators' auctions, it was charged, but sales were made with out any competitive bidding at all, and in some cases buyers later were asked to pay higher prices for goods they had previously bought. COURT-MARTIAL: Stirs Nation In a case that stirred nation-wide interest and created a flurry on the floor of the U. S. senate, the army's sentencing of Pvt. Henry Weber, 27, of Vancouver, Wash., to hanging for re fusal to bear arms in a drill was changed to life im prisonment at hard labor. As Weber's wife said that his deep personal conviction Henry Weber a**?* ,!?Png war should have en titled him to consideration as a con scientious objector before his induc tion, he, himself, declared: "I am | interested in a world in which all men can live peaceably. To be a good soldier you have to learn to hate and to kill. I am willing to do anything I can to get the war over as long as I do not have to kill othei1 people." Exclaiming "... It is inconceiva ble to me that army officers would sentence a man to death because he refused to drill," Senator Wheeler (Mont.) threatened to press a con gressional inquiry into the case when it was first announced. "Who ever sentenced that boy to hanging ought to be discharged," he said. CANADA: Draft Trouble Reaffirming its traditional privi leges of self-government under the British North America act (the Canadian constitution), French speaking Quebec's 22nd legislature convened in the same week as English - speaking voters in the Grey North district of Ontario re pudiated the dominion government's compromise overseas draft policy. Strongly opposed to an overseas draft, the Quebec legislature's firm declaration of self - government, coupled with the assertion that the minority's interest in any change in the dominion's constitution should be respected, indicated that French Canadians aimed to maintain their position on conscription. Meanwhile, repudiation of the gov ernment's compromise overseas draft policy to avoid a head-on col lision with Quebec meant that Pre- , mier King may be compelled to J call a general election to thrash out the question publicly and strengthen an administration's hand on dealing with the touchy problem. RAIL TRAFFIC: Car Shortage One great artery linking the na tion into a whole, the U. S. railroad system's operations in one section must strongly affect activities in an other as the recent heavy snow storms and frigid weather in the northeast have proved. Because of the delay in returning rolling stock from the storm area, and the necessity of giving impor tant military freight the right of way, an acute shortage of box cars has developed in the middle west, it was said. The situation has been all the more complicated by the fact that terminal mills and grain elevators have made a heavy demand for box cars in the face 1 of a record 1M4 harvest and a large carry-over. Freight difficulties have been i equally matched by passenger serv- I ice troubles, it was also said, what i with the severe winter weather de laying the arrival of many trains ' in midwest terminals and resulting I in travelers missing connections on < lines leaving for the west. I Notes of m Newspaperman: Story at a Song: Once upon a time (March, 1943) songwriter John ny Burke dined at the home of Harry Lillis Crosby. . . . Gary, oldest son of Crosby, was spouting monosylla bic thumb-noses at the principles of American education. In sum, he hated school. . . . Burke waved a worldly finger. . . . "My boy," he said, "you should be glad you're go ing to school. How would you like to be a fish? A fish can't read or write or go to ball games. All he can do is swim around and when he gets tired of swimming one way, he turns around and swims the oth er. If you like that sort of life, you might grow up to be a fish." . . . Mr. Burke was impressed with his own philosophy. ... He hastened to his partner, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Repeated the dissertation on fish. . . . As a result, "Swingin' on a Star" was bom and cast in "Going My Way," starring Bing. . . . Soon after the picture premiered the ditty made The Hit Parade and stayed on it for 20 straight weeks. ... It became a minor national anthem with kids who asked kin if they'd like to be a fish or a mule. . . . Clergymen used the theme in sermons, and Joe E. Lewis parodied: "Would you like to hang on a bar, with a dame like Hedy LamarrT" . . . Very soon a book on the theme will be published. They may make a film based on its story, too. . . . Anyway, that's what came of a kid saying he didn't like school and why J. Burke and J. Van Heusen pay surtaxes. Ambassador to Bruil A. A. Berle's wife is known for her frankness. Recently at a dinner in Washington Mrs. Berle cor nered a Russian General and asked him a few pointed ques tions. The dialog went some thing like this?his answers are in parentheses: "What is Rus sia's present aim?" (to defeat the enemy). . . . "What are yon going to do with Germany?" (Conqner her). . . . "And with Poland?" (liberate her). . . . "And what will yon do when yon arrive at the Rhine?" (Take a swim). We have fust finished Noel Cow ard's "Middle East Diary," and the following paragraph in it belongs here, considering Coward's recent "jam" over his comment in the book about Brooklyn soldiers. . . . "At ten o'clock," he observes, "I .went to call on General Eisenhower. He combats untiringly the little cracks and lampoons and jokes spread by the British against the Americans and vice versa. I believe he even sacked an important member of his stall for making a minor contribu tion to this dangerous, subversive racket. One silly little man with one laborious joke can cause an incred ible amount of damage." Frank Munn called the American Album of Familiar Music cast to gether and said: "I just wanted to tell you a little story. Frank Hum mert once approached me and of fered a spot an this program. ... I asked, 'For how long do you want me?' " 'Maybe 13 weeks,' he said, 'maybe 13 years.' "I just wanted to tell an of you that tonight is the anniversary of my 13th year on the American Al bum of Familiar Music." Munn holds no contract. A hand shake cemented the deal. The eolyum's recent experience (because of an omitted comma in a telegram) recalls this one about a refugee college prof, dining in a res taurant near Columbia University. . . . Speaking English with that ac quired precision which so often shames the native born, he ordered "figs and cream." . . . The waitress brought a dish of figs covered with cream. "I ordered figs and cream," be protested. "Well," she said, "there they are." "But," he persisted, "this is figs WITH cream!" "So what?" she so-wfaatted. "What's wrong with it?" "Vadam," said the professor icily, "would you say a woman and child were the same as a woman with child?" Newspapermen will ten you that corrections sometimes are worse than the original story. . . . This is i concrete example: "Our paper carried the notice last week that Mr. John Doe was a defective in the po lice force. This was a typographical error. Mr. Doe is really a detective In the police farce." Army and Navy Turn to Rocket Weapons As Answer to Need for More Fire Power Munitions Schedule Greatly Stepped IJp To Meet Demands War rockets are not new. The Chinese used crude projectiles in 1232 against the Tartars; the British fired them at American troops in the War of 1812, during thehattle of Blandensburg, when they routed Stansbury's Ameri can brigade, and then marched on Washington. Francis Scott Key, going aboard a British prison ship in the Chesapeake to discover the fate of a friend, was obliged to stay aboard dur ing the British rocket ship at tack on Fort McHenry. On the basis of this experience, he wrote the rocket references in the American national anthen: "And the rockets' red glare, The bombs bursting in air." Rockets, however, were never used before in 20th century warfare. In this war these projectiles have become-Important and destruc tive weapons. Their considerable use in combat-is one of the principal weappn innovations of this war. Amazing expansion of use and pro duction of American rockets, since the bazooka was invented in 1941, has been reported by the army, the navy and the Office of Scientific Re search and Development. The increaie In rocket production, of course, based on increased re quirements for rockets to use in combat, lis shown by these facts: In November,' 1944, the navy's bu rean' of ordnance reported that by the end of the first quarter or early In the second quarter of 1945, the navy would be spending approxi mately $100,040,004 per month on rocket ammunition alone, which Is as much as Is now being spent per month on all types of naval ammu nition. In December, 1944, however, the navy's bureau of ordndhee said that In a few months navy rocket produc tion would be stepped up by nearly 300 per cent. The army, which placed its first rocket orders of this war in 1941, had approximately 41,444,444 In rocket eontraets darinx IM2. Dor Inf IMS, the expanding rocket pro doetlon program had ehot op by 2,444 per cent over that of 1942. And in 1944 the program waa farther increased by another 444 -per cent over 1443 production, according to the army ordnance department. During 194S the army will be spending approximately $12,000,000 per month on rocket ammunition alone, while the navy will produce rockets tor all branches of the armed forces and will bo responsi ble for loading and testing -the pro jectiles. The army will be respon sible for the manufacture of a rocket propellent charge that will not dis solve in ordinary solvents, such as water, and of rockets of sizes not produced by the navy. New Typos More Powerful. Rockets ussd by the American armed forces today, including the navy's latest typo airplane rocket and the latest plane type used by the army air forces, are even more potent weapons than the bazooka, which was the army's anti-tank rocket first put into production in 1941, and first used in combat in the North African invasions. According to the National Defense Research committee, rockets are accurate weapons when fired from high speed aircraft And the navy reports that rockets fired from planes can be pin pointed on the target In thla war American rockets are fired from naval craft, aircraft, and from the" ground or from ground ve hicles. Similar in principle to the * uia m ui uuiy sKyrocKei, mese new rockets are artillery type weapons, with the rockets being equivalent to shells and the launching devices equivalent to guns. Fired from tubes that vary in length and diameter according to the type of rocket, the weapons have warheads carrying ex plosives, or smoke, or incendiary chemicails. The tube that extends to the rear of the warhead contains the propellent, a material that, after being electrically ignited, generates expanding gas. The gas, pushing against the head, forces the rocket forward. The M-8 rocket, that was devel oped after the bazooka, is a 4.9 inch projectile that equals in fire power the 105-mm. medium artillery gun. The M-8 rocket weighs only 38 pounds. The M-8's launcher, M-12, weighs 35 to 40 pounds, while a 105 mm. gun weighs approximately 13 tons. The M-12 launcher costs only $104, while a 105-mm. gun complete costs $8,406. M-8s Clear the Way. The navy put M-8 rockets to their first real test in the Pacific amphibi ous operations. By tha time the Eu ropean theater invasions began, rocket-firing craft had become es sential equipment for landings on hostile beaches. On the China-Bur ma-India theater M-fl rockets, fired by army air force P-Sl Mustang fighter planes, carrying six rockets each, destroyed in 290 rounds of fir ing six large warehouses, 12 medi- * um-sired warehouses, one foundry, four locomotives, 10 Japanese air craft, two river boats and four na tive shacks; and damaged two me dium-sized warehouses, five medi um-sized buildings, one locomotive, and 13 Japanese aircraft. P-38 Lightnings, P-39 Airacobras, P-40 Warhawks, P-47 Thunderbolts, as well as the Mustangs, are the fighter planes equipped with rock ets by the army air forces. Grum man Avenger torpedo planes and such lighter navy fighter planes as Hellcats have been armed with rock ets. Navy carrier task forces are using rockets in ever-increasing quantity. . Army air force fighter planes, carrying rockets slung in underwing mounts, have combined rocket fire with bombing to destroy concentra tions of armored vehibles, rail lines, rolling stock, trucks and troop con voys, light field fortifications such as bunkers, pillboxes, artillery em placements, radio installations, and light naval and cargo cralt, both in Europe and in the China-Burma-In dia theater of war. For more than two years the navy has been using a type fid rocket weapon against Axis submarines. Now standard for all new amphibi ous operations is the rocket weapon that was used successfully in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France, in the landings on Arawe and subsequent landings in the Pacific. Blast Shore Installations. ' LCIs (landing craft. Infantry) at tacked with rockets at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Guam. Several thousand rockets were hurled at Japanese shore installations by LCIs on Guam. These rockets were fired by elec trical control from multiple banks of launchers that had been welded to forward well decks. Operational and tactical reports el rocket successes from field com manders and in various theaters of war have increased markedly over 1942. After analysing the wide de struction of enemy ground targets by rocket-firing F-47s of the Ninth air force, the operational research section of the foree recommended more extensive use of airborne rock ets. Since 1941 American rocket re search and development have been forwarded by the war and navy de partments, working with scientists of the Office of Sripntifl^ Pnenor/?h and Development. The latter is re sponsible, among other things, for initiating and supporting scientific research on weapons of war. The air technical service command tech nicians, the army ordnance depart ment, and civilian scientists of the N.D.R.C. group, developed airborne rockets for tactical use in the war after only two years of research at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, and oth er proving grounds. While rockets have great fire pow er and mobility, and may be fired without recoil, which increases their adaptability for use where guns can not be employed, only when fired from high speed aircraft are they of pinpoint accuracy. Ground forces' rockets have great possibilities as a barrage weapon. Rocket launchers, as compared with guns, are rela tively simple and cheap to manufac ture in mass production, according to the National Defense Research , council and the army and navy. Most all pursuit planes are new being equipped with basoefcas. This P-47 has six tubes, mounted under the wings- The rocket projectiles are fired electrically by the pilot. The picture shews a ground crewman loading one of the basookas. Three of the big rockets are standing ew end in front of one of the wheels in the foreground. This plane is alse armed with eight Jtcaliber machine guns. ? T??. -XL .j T 1- a ? - < ? a - two men with * basooka eaa blast a hole in a medium tank. This strange weapon, nevertheless, la light to carry and easy to handle. The forward man holds the tube and alms It, while the rear man loads the roeket missile. There Is no recoil, since the tube U open at both ends. The roeket poshes against the air Instead of a breech block. Rocket Bombs m imam mom V^A: fOWBMMRMMC A C\ w* "wwc untr ^ ,/ MWWHKW \ ? M? I \ 1 NhATto ACNOM ^\l J W 1 oS,E?'""0 For greater penetration, u wen aa more aeemraey, a'rocket bomk haa been developed. A n apiiWaa eharfe is set o# Jast aa the bomb leaves the dive bomber. This added
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Feb. 22, 1945, edition 1
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