Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS allies storm river alve r barriers to mount twin drives on reich thousands homeless from floods released Rele aced by western newspaper union L tho hu t columns olom ns thy they are in these pressed EDITORS NOTE when opinions ar analtha r 1 12 and nj nt not necessarily of 0 this unions news new western IV eiter newspaper L aa 4 N I 1 I 1 1 I 1 flood waters spilling over the ballias of the ohio river and its tribu baries again made thousands homeless and threatened war production aerial view shows newton ohio with a population of 2000 isolated by the inundation EUROPE span barriers from the west and from the east the great battle for germany was begun with a sorely pressed nazi command which once its legions in triumph desperately attempting to stem the allied tide most significant of the allied moves was the U S crossing of the rhine in pursuit of a disorganized enemy who had broken off the battle to the west of the river and attempted to flee to supposed security behind its broad span previously uncrossed since napoleons time smashing quickly through enemy rear guards who tried to slow up the U S and british advance and give the main body of their troops a chance to escape across the rhine allied spearheads spear heads not only reached the historic river in short time but also spanned it with the intention of affording the disorganized enemy no opportunity to reform his ranks for a stiff defense of the waterway to lt gen courtney hodges alst 1st american army went the honor of being the first allied unit to jump the rhine below cologne crossing where the river measured a from thomas J definbaugh baugh of cumberland md ald came the latest story of lt gen george S pat tons personal inspiration of his troops under fire during the allied comeback against von offensive fen sive in january januar yo yanks reached the swift and icy sure river and faced the gen patton task of crossing it to reach the strategic town of bettendorf commanding the countryside when hen patton saw that boats offered a perfect target for german gunners while it would be difficult to draw a bead on a man swimming across he jumped into the swirling water and swam over to prove to his troops it could be done inspired they followed capturing bettendorf ter mile in width and its banks flattened out hodges men steadily expanded their bridgehead for a thrust across the rolling hill country lying just below the vital ruhr valley As hodges troops poured across the rhine in the wake of germans straggling inland the enemy tried to chop up the american beachhead with mortar and artillery fire and armored elements launched limited counterattacks counter attacks in an attempt to trim the expanding foothold while hodges famous alst 1st attained t the he singular honor of becoming the first military force to cross the rhine since 1813 the U S ath and british and canadian armies to the north and the U S 3rd ard army to the south also drew up to the river in record time poised for the leap aft after er having cleared huge pockets of enemy e y troops to their rear meanwhile the russians launched blaunche d a broad all out assault on berlin with red infantrymen paced by armored columns smashing deep into the enemy defenses west of the oder thus did the allies breach the germans two river barriers guarding both ends of the reich to carry the battle into the flatlands lying beyond where the comparative levelness afforded their armored columns opportunity to wear down an enemy whose recent strategy had called f for 0 r extended use of terrain to economize dwindling forces PACIFIC stubborn foe despite the loss of over men in the philippine and iwo jima campaigns the japs continued to offer stiff resistance to american cleanups clean ups in these sectors indicative of the tenacity of the enemy was his withdrawal to the hulks of battered ships in manila bay to continue the fight with small arms fire after having been driven out of manila itself although they already had lost over men on both leyte and luzon an estimated japs fought on from natural strong points against yank attempts tempts Lt to compress them in the mountains lying to the east of manila with more than japs already killed on iwo jima marines still were forced to inch forward on the northern part of the tiny island to flush enemy remnants from the rocky hill positions because the japs could retire to underground shelters during heavy aerial or artillery bombardment bombardi abent the leather necks were compelled to root them out in close in fighting FLOODS thousands homeless familiar but tragic scenes were re enacted ted again as the ohio river and tributaries tributa ries rose over their banks to flood surrounding lowlands and send thousands of homeless refugees scurrying to safety operations of war industries in the rivers paths were seriously affected as the waters rose and residents of the great cities of pittsburgh cincinnati cin nati portsmouth and louisville anxiously viewed the broadening crests which threatened to spill over and flood their environs of all the big cities portsmouth with its people was most seriously endangered with rising waters lapping at the 63 foot flood wall while state troopers and volunteers struggled to reinforce it with a sandbag levee with rain swollen rivers flooding acres of low lying farm land in ten bessee arkansas and mississippi thousands of residents of these areas also were forced to move to the uplands MANPOWER showdown near with the senate still strongly opposed to compulsory labor 11 work or fight legislation headed for a showdown in conferences with the house with sentiment strong for the grant of additional power to t the he war manpower commission to co continue n to exert pressure toward the channeling of workers into needed industry at the same time congress moved to draft unmarried nurses to provide the 20 needed to attend the growing battle casualties under legislation considered nurses would be given the right to appeal induction would be offered commissions even if drafted and would be eligible for benefits under the GI bill of rights vigorously opposed to the houses work or fight measure Pro providing providen 9 for army induction 0 or r fine and jail for failure of 18 to 45 year old oid men to accept war essential employment the senate pushed a substitute bill under which the would set the limit on the number of employees P I 1 byees any establishment could have people and regulate the hiring of CIVIL AVIATION on upgrade reflecting the nations increasing air consciousness and the prospects for greatly expanded civil aviation after the wai war no less than student pilot certificates were issued during 1944 as compared with the year previously the civil aeronautics board revealed interested in aviation because of some relations service in the air forces or because increased income has permitted training women represent 15 to 35 per cent of the new students the CAA said M most ost youths from 21 years of age intend to enter the air forces later while the majority of men over 30 plan to use their planes for business travel As a further indication of the future employment of the airplane in american life CAA said country doctors and priests have become interested te in aviation as a means of serving larger areas and thus overcoming the limits of vehicular travel CLOTHING more for kiddies in addition to cotton fabric previously allotted for low and medi um priced childrens clothing additional yardage has been allocated for the manufacture of about million more kiddies garments the war production board revealed outing flannel print cloths claths broad cloths claths poplins hoplins pop lins lawns and cham brays will be among the material allotted for the extra childrens children S dresses overalls coveralls toddlers dresses jacket type pajamas onel one piece pajamas two piece button on pajamas infants gertrudes infants kimonos simonos ki monos infants gowns creepers rompers and crawlers allocation of the cotton fab ric was part of its program to increase the output of cheaper clothing and thus help cut rising apparel costs which Administrator OP chester bowles called one of the most dangerous wartime inflationary threats I 1 these gifts are different with the president himself not permitted to receive gilts gifts from foreigners without congressional approval mrs roosevelt has been the recipient of a wide variety of such f presents already the recipient of a je jewel I 1 el crusted gold crown and 1 a harem castu costume m e mrs airs 11 roosebelt Roos Roose eielt lately was wa given give an mink c coat from the quebec fur breeder bleeders Bre eders s association the on only y one a of I 1 the presents she planned to use she told newsmen mrs speaking of the gold roosevelt crown which she received from an african potentate following the casablanca conference le rence mrs airs Roose roosevelt declared its the most terrific thing you ever saw nobody could wear it its too loo heavy FARM DEBT cut sharply at its peak in 1923 when it totaled over 1012 10 billion dollars the nations farm debt dropped to t 0 avi 5 y 4 billion dollars by january 1945 with a 20 per cent reduction taking place within the last 5 years As a result of the war seimu economy farmers have enjoyed high income as reflected in the big increase of both realty and plant value since 1940 worth of livestock was nearly doubled machinery and equipment was up one third and land values rose about 25 per cent in addition farmers holdings of currency bank deposits and war bonds increased nearly 8 billion dollars during that time in reviewing the farm mortgage picture the federal reserve bank showed that federal land banks and other agencies substantially increased their investments during the while those of individuals declined the proportion of farm mortgages held by life insurance companies has risen slightly while commercial banks have experienced only a slight drop U S investments foreign holdings american investments in foreign countries to over 13 billion dollars in 1941 while foreign holdings in the U S approximated mated billion dollars the national foreign trade council reported in an exhaustive hau stive analysis ba based ed upon treasury tests department testimony mony at recent congressional hearings of the american investments almost two thirds were divided between europe and canada of the 4 billion in europe 1 V billion were in germany and over 1 billion in britain besides the 4 billion dollars in canada and newfoundland U S investors put more than 1 vi billion in south america and more than billion in asia of the amount in asia million dollars dollar were in the philippines million in china and manchuria and 90 million in japan it was revealed |