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Show A KING: Takes a Trip WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Bulgarians Are Rebuked by Russia For 'Allowing' Nazi Troops to Enter; Turkey Closes Strategic Dardanelles As Crisis Looms in Mediterranean (F.DITOK'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Hie news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) f (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) ' 1 I '-I "A ft.-v.J.-.'. .w.vi.-.,.'.v MfnfffiWni-nriWiWi' ENGLAND: At Crossroads The sending of Anthony Eden into Turkey was no empty gesture on the part of England, but a vital move in the war as the nation approached j what appeared to be its most dangerous dan-gerous parting of the ways. The Nazi move in the Balkans, plus the infiltration into Italy, plus the move into Spain, plus the appearance ap-pearance of German troops in Africa, Af-rica, plus the removal of French citizens citi-zens from the invasion coast, all pointed in different directions and tended to place English war directors direc-tors on the horns of a dilemma. It appeared that the British must decide (1) whether to extend and continue their successful drive in Africa; (2) whether to concentrate on defense of the channel and fighting fight-ing the submarine menace; (3) whether to lighten the African force by sending troops to strengthen the defense of Greece 'and to the aid of Turkey. Most British leaders did not believe be-lieve that all of these varied objectives objec-tives could be accomplished at the same time. They viewed with dread the possibility that one or another of these German spearheads might SOM Ell' HERE IN ENGLAND This rudiopholo shows King George of Britain Brit-ain fright) as he greeted John G. (Ti-nant, (Ti-nant, new V. S. ambassador to the court of St. James, upon the latter 's arrival in Britain. When Ambassador Lord Halifax arrived at Annapolis, President Roosevelt journeyed to Annapolis to greet him. Not to be outdone, King George went halfway across England Eng-land to welcome American Ambassador Ambas-sador John G. Winant with a hearty handshake at a railway station between be-tween London and Bristol. Winant, ex - governor of New Hampshire, had made the trip to Lisbon by plane, and from Lisbon to Bristol by another plane. He was accompanied by President Conant of Harvard and by Benjamin Cohen, who is Winant's personal assistant. London newspapers said they considered con-sidered the King's gesture in breaking break-ing all precedent to go to a railway station to greet an ambassador was caused by the Roosevelt action in going to the shores of the Chesapeake Chesa-peake to meet Lord Halifax. King George kept up the parallel by taking Winant and his companions compan-ions in his own automobile to tea with Queen Elizabeth. The place of the meeting was carefully guarded by the censors. Winant was nervous at all this attention. at-tention. He said, simply, biting his lip and shifting from foot to foot: "I'm glad to be here. There's no place I'd rather be than in England." Eng-land." ITALY: Taken Over they disapproved of the Bulgarian action because it "does not lead to consolidation of peace." Whether this meant Russia would take any action to prevent Nazi troops from penetrating too close to soviet borders was not immediately learned. London at first did not believe be-lieve that Russia had any action in mind but looked upon the statement merely as "a mere verbal protest." One thing was sure: The signing of the Axis-Bulgar pact was to have far-reaching effect in the progress of war in the Balkans. The signing had been prefaced by the infiltration of uncounted thousands thou-sands of Nazi troops in civilian clothing, and two days before it all happened, Nazi generals, also in plain-clothes, practically took over the leading hotel in Sofia as their headquarters. The day before the signatures were placed on the historic document docu-ment Britain issued a warning that she would withdraw her embassy if the treaty were signed. The next step was the cutting off of all telephonic communication between be-tween Bulgaria and the outside world. In all this, the blotting out of another autonomous country was carried out in the true Nazi method, the blueprint being followed in every ev-ery detail with mathematical precision. preci-sion. The following day the city of Sofia was in German hands, completely under German control, the British ambassador had asked for and demanded de-manded his passports, and Bulgaria's Bul-garia's home rule was ended. MARTIN DIES: Steps Out Again The Dies committee, quiescent for several weeks, stepped back onto Page One when Representative Dies charged that American Peace Mobilization, Mo-bilization, Inc., which in Washington is largely made up of government employees active in opposition to the lease-lend bill, receives its chief support from Communistic "front" organizations. ' Public meetings against the lease-lend lease-lend bill were being run by the "Keep America Out of War Committee," Com-mittee," but the sponsors of the meetings, when asked what other groups were involved, would only answer "and other peace and labor groups." Mr. Dies said chief among these-was these-was the Mobilization body, and he cited that one of its vice presidents is Vito Marcantonio of New York, the only American Labor party member in congress who has been voting against national defense and U J ANTHONY EDEN The "prime fixer" went to Turkey. just be a feinting move with the very purpose of causing the British to put their chief attraction at the wrong spot. There was little chance that the British would do anything that would jeopardize their defense of the Island Kingdom itself. Robert ' . ' ;i, V ! ; i S r "Sri : L. ' f "4 G. Nixon, returning correspondent, described in detail the defense of the entire English coastal territory, north, south, east and west, giving a picture of a nation rather anxiously anxious-ly hoping for invasion than fearing it. But Britain's Mediterranean and Middle East situation was causing tremendous concern, with the two vulnerable points at each end of the inland sea, Gibraltar and Suez, and with Greece to be aided, Turkey to be strengthened, and African gains to be held and consolidated. The crucial move in this whole dilemma was the sending of Eden, the prime "fixer" to Turkey. The conference with Turkish leaders lasted only 2 hours, and ended in a complete accord, it was reported. First definite action resulting from Turkey's concern over the situation became known when it was announced that the Dardanelles had been closed. Those strategic straits, which separate the Mediterranean from the Black sea, are of vital concern to the axis powers for they form the outlet of German occupied territory to the Mediterranean. BALKANS: Lose a Piece Bulgaria lost its autonomy to all practical purposes when Bogdan PhilofI and Von Ribbentrop signed a dramatic treaty through which the Bulgars officially joined the Rome-Berlin Rome-Berlin Axis "for the duration." This was widely viewed as an unwilling un-willing surrender, but a move which could hardly be criticized by fair-minded fair-minded persons, as it was a surrender sur-render to a pistol held firmly to a nation's heart Russia, however, felt otherwise. Shortly after the pact was signed and the Nazi troops had entered Bulgaria, Bul-garia, that nation was handed a message mes-sage from the soviet foreign commissariat com-missariat which in effect expressed displeasure with the Bulgar's attitude. atti-tude. According to the Russians. There is little doubt that Italy actually has been taken over by Germany. This is a significant step which several observers have reported re-ported bit by bit from time to time,, but it has scarcely received the attention at-tention it deserves. This movement started with the sending of diverse commissions into . Italy from the Reich, then it was followed by the sending of units of the Gestapo and the storm-troopers; more lately by large, forces of armed and uniformed troops, planes, tanks and the like. These moves have been "covered up" in press dispatches from time to time, and the latest step, the sending of huge numbers of troops, was diagnosed by such subterfuges as these: (a) The Germans announced that Italy had given valuable aid in the bombing of England, and therefore Germany would send help to Italy in Africa and Greece. (b) The Germans said that they would start operations in the Mediterranean Medi-terranean to harass British bases there, and that they would have the consent of Italy to do this. The actual case, according to competent observers, is that Italy, badly whipped in Greece and Africa, was bogging down in the sending of supplies to Germany, supplies that had come willingly enough before Italy entered the war, but which, since Italy's series of defeats, had been falling off appreciably. Italy was in. sad need of raw materials ma-terials for her factories, particularly particular-ly those producing munitions and materials for war. Also, severe rioting against the war and the government was going on in several vital industrial areas of Italy, and Germany realized that she was in danger of losing an ally -not one that was helping much, but one which, if she lost, would make Germany "lose face" at home. LEASE-LEND: Filibuster Senators opposing the lease-lend bill, H.R. 1776, refused to call it a filibuster, but the length and virulence viru-lence of opposition speeches sounded sound-ed very like one, and charges that filibuster methods were being used came freely from desks on the administration ad-ministration side. Leaders in the fight against the bill were Senators Wheeler, Hiram Johnson and Gerald P. Nye, with considerable unexpected help from various others, including Senator Reynolds of North Carolina. Many of these senators were taking tak-ing radio time to carry their fight to the people, and there were indi cations that the bill was getting much more bitter opposition on the senate floor than had been expected Much of this battling took place on a very high plane, with little personal per-sonal mud throwing and calling of names. Both opponents and proponents pro-ponents of the measure were setting themselves up as patriots, the op ponents vigorously denying that they were pro-German, and all of them were very much anti-Hitler and anti-oppression. MARTIN DIES He stepped back to Page One. appropriations measures ever since the congress convened. The Dies committee, during previous pre-vious investigations, pronounced to be a Communist Front organization the American League for Peace and Democracy. Mr. Dies said that from what he had learned so far, the Mobilization chapter in Washington Wash-ington appeared to be the successor of the League for Peace, which became be-came defunct after getting the Red label from the Dies body. Executive secretary of the Washington Wash-ington chapter of Mobilization, Inc., was Mrs. Sarah A. Montgomery, wife of the consumers' counsel for the AAA. Dies served a subpoena on Mrs. Montgomery to bring her records before the committee. Subpoenas were served for several sev-eral weeks on the chapter, Dies said, without avail in getting the records before him. He continued to demand them, and would continue con-tinue to do so, he said. COTTON: For Shelters Members of congress from the southern states were jubilant wljen a New York engineer, E. C. Wallace, Wal-lace, declared that cotton was better bet-ter than reinforced concrete as roofing roof-ing material for air-raid shelters. Wallace said that a seven-foot thickness of cotton would resist the penetration of a 6,000-pound bomb falling from 30.000 feet. He said the cotton could easily be fireproofed, so that incendiary bombs would have little effect. |