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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Final Battle in Campaign for Tunisia Marked by Fierce Enemy Resistance; Allies Strive to Reunite Reds, Poles; Labor Front Studies Coal Mine Issues (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) I Released by Western Newspaper Union. I V . V ' 1 ' y r t ' ' - J V V - I . T. - . J 1 - - - .... 'N l b x, h - ' . Wearing the uniform of a division general of the French army, Governor Gover-nor Jean Rapenne of French Guiana poses on the portico of the governor's gover-nor's mansion in Cayenne with two members of the V. S. military mission. At left is Lieut. Com. J. Marvin Krause. Right: Col. Paul L. Singer. Governor Rapenne assumed political leadership following the ouster of the pro-Axis regime of former Governor Rene Veber.' TUNISIA: Slow but Sure Meeting fierce fire, Allied troops fought methodically to the approaches ap-proaches of the Axis' final two bastions bas-tions in Tunisia, Tunis and Bizerte. While French and American forces pressed against rocky Axis entrenchments en-trenchments in the north, and British Brit-ish units contained the enemy in the mountains in the south, the Allied First army's armored columns fought German tanks in the plains in the central sector. Driving the Axis from Long Stop hill, the First army cleared the road leading to the Tunis plain to the east. A little to the south. First army formations shot it out with German tanks in flat country, then swung off toward the Axis' vital central cen-tral sector base of Pont du Fahs, which was rapidly encircled. Resisting bitterly, the Axis was giving up territory by the foot only, relying on mortar and machine gun fire to stop Allied infantry advancing under cover of massed artillery barrage. bar-rage. Using freighters and motor barges, the Axis continued to run the gantlet of scathing Allied bombers bomb-ers in the Sicilian straits in an effort ef-fort to keep their embattled troops supplied. Helmet Saves General Only a helmet saved the life of Lieut. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, leader of American ground forces, as shell fragmentation struck him down while on observation on the Tunisian front during the bitter fighting. Although Al-though fragmentation glanced off the helmet, particles ripped into the general's gen-eral's shoulder, injuring him painfully. painful-ly. Lieut. Gen. Ben Lear has assumed as-sumed his position pending his recovery. re-covery. RUSSIA: Break With Poles Charging that the Polish government govern-ment in exile was using Nazi propaganda propa-ganda in order to force territorial concessions from the Russians, the Reds formally broke diplomatic relations re-lations with the Poles. In consultation consulta-tion with the United States, British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden immediately im-mediately got to work patching up the rupture. Immediate cause of the break was centered around the Nazi charge that they had uncovered the graves of 10,000 Polish army officers near Smolensk, allegedly murdered by the Reds before they were driven from the area. The Poles asked the International Red Cross to investigate investi-gate the charge. Polish officials said that they have been unable to locate lo-cate the officers despite a general amnesty granted Polish prisoners of war by the Russian government. At the same time there were indications in-dications of another diplomatic break, this one between the United States and Finland. Withdrawal of American embassy officials from Helsingfors reputedly followed Finland's Fin-land's declination of a U. S. offer to mediate her war with Russia. Catch Breath Russian troops held against Nazi attacks in the Leningrad area and Red airmen continued to pepper German supply lines along the whole front. Minor action was reported above Kursk, where the Reds are wedged into Nazi lines, and at Novorossisk, the Germans' big base on the Black sea shore in the Caucasus. Cau-casus. POISON GAS: Nazis Prepare For the last two months, the German Ger-man people have been drilled against poison gas attacks. This information reached Allied sources in the wake of Great Britain's Brit-ain's warning that she would use poison gas against Germany should the Nazis start such warfare in Russia. According to reports, fire fighting squadrons in Germany were instructed in-structed on the effects of gas. SOFT COAL: Labor Shoivdown John L. Lewis forced a showdown on the government's war labor policies. poli-cies. Backed up by approximately 450,-000 450,-000 members of the United Mine Workers, Big John demanded a $2 a day raise; an $8 minimum wage for all employees, and portal-to-portal pay, or, pay from the time a worker enters a mine to the time he leaves. At stake was the President's "hold-the-line" order, based on the WLB's policy of granting a 15 per cent wage increase over January, 1941, rates. Lewis has opposed this formula for-mula from the beginning. Although the UMW was committed to continue working until the end of last month many mines reported stoppages and slowdowns during the week preceding the deadline. UMW did not authorize the disruptions, but neither did officials order the workers work-ers to return to their jobs. PRODUCTION: Ships and Planes Stating that American shipyards could produce 20 million tons of shipping ship-ping a year, Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, chairman of the U. S. Maritime Mari-time Commission, has revealed that yards are constructing five vessels a day. Land's announcement coincided with one made by Undersecretary of War Robert Patterson, in which he told the Atlanta War Effort committee com-mittee that American aircraft manufacturers manu-facturers turned out 6,200 airplanes in March. Like Land, Patterson declared de-clared that many more planes could be produced if critical materials and men were available. Deriding Nazi claims that they have sunk 30 million tons of Allied shipping since the start of the war, Land said our shipyards will produce pro-duce almost 19 million tons this year. This will be greater than the rest of the world combined. Patterson revealed that production of major items in the army supply program exclusive of aircraft will approximate $1,600,000,000 in April. This will be about 15 per cent greater great-er than the January total. ALEUTIANS: No Picnic Swirling mists and rains continued to hold up American bombings in the Aleutians. Although prepared to dump 50 tons of explosives on each trip over Attu and Kiska, weather has held U. S. fliers to a mere handful hand-ful of raids. Meanwhile, pilots report the Japs have succeeded in heavily fortifying the Aleutians. On recent flights over the islands, they have encountered strong anti-aircraft bursts, and airmen air-men believe the Japs have deliberately deliber-ately withheld some of their fire. Both Attu and Kiska have few suitable suit-able beaches upon which American troops could land, most of the shoreline shore-line being steep and craggy. The Japs have these few beaches thickly thick-ly covered and aptly manned, remembering re-membering the Yanks' successful surprise landings at Guadalcanal. Eight months ago, the army said the Japs probably had 10,000 men stationed in the Aleutians. Airmen believe that these troops have since been strongly reinforced. Summed up: American observers believe the battle of the Aleutians will be a big one, and no picnic. RAF: Bombs Rip Duisberg Seventeen bombers failed to return re-turn following the RAF's heavy raid on the important German industrial center of Duisberg. Over 1,000 tons of explosives were dumped on Duisberg, famous for its engine works, as the RAF returned to the wars after bombing Stettin, Rostock and Berlin. ' , Meanwhile, RAF bombers continued contin-ued to attack Nazi communications centers. i RATIONING: More Tires, More Gas Because of the increased quota of tires for civilians, OPA has amended its gas rationing regulations outside of the 17 eastern seaboard states and the District of Columbia. Following Rubber Administrator William Jeffers' announcement that more Grade A tires would be available avail-able for essential use, the OPA boosted the maximum allotment of gas for occupational driving from 470 to 720 gallons per month. The figure is based on an average of 15 miles per gallon of gas. ' Formerly, only doctors, ministers and some classes of salesmen received re-ceived the cherished "C" card allowing allow-ing 720 miles for occupational driving. driv-ing. Average allotments on "B" cards approximated 470 miles. Now "C" cards will be available on application, ap-plication, showing all traveling will be done on jobs, or the car is being used to transport three or more persons to war industry. The OPA also ruled that rationing certificates for replacing tires on farm tractors may be issued by local lo-cal boards in areas where recapping facilities are inadequate. SHIPPING: Allied Losses The Allies suffered a net loss oi one million tons of merchant shipping ship-ping in 1942, the navy department reported. The "net" figure was arrived at after deducting losses from existing exist-ing fleets and new construction during dur-ing the year. The navy declared, however, that figures were incomplete, incom-plete, since building records were not received from some of the Allied Al-lied nations. In announcing the losses, the navy pointed out that they included submarine sub-marine sinkings, mines, airplanes, capture and otherwise. According to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, submarines accounted for 50 per cent of the losses. The navy's statement followed a report by the Truman defense investigating in-vestigating committee that 12 million mil-lion tons of Allied merchant shipping ship-ping had been sunk during the year. CHINA: Fight in Mountains Forty thousand Japanese assaulted assault-ed the Chinese army's positions in the mountain range flanking the Pieping-Hankow railroad. Both sides suffered heavy losses as the Chinese resisted fiercely in the passes and on the heights. The Chinese also reported throwing throw-ing back two Japanese attempts to land along the China sea coast. The first attempt found troops trying to reach the beach under cover of a lone warship's fire. But when Chinese Chi-nese cannon forced a withdrawal, the Japs returned, the next day with four warships. Again heavy fire frustrated frus-trated a landing. Meanwhile, American airmen were active over China, combatting. Japanese Jap-anese fighter planes from an advanced ad-vanced Allied base in Hunan province. prov-ince. ;. NEW HORIZON: 'Old Capitalism Deaa" "The capitalism of complete laissez-faire which thrived on low wages and maximum profits for minimum turnover, which rejected collective bargaining and fought against justified jus-tified public regulation of the competitive com-petitive process is a thing of the past." No words of a soap-box orator these, but rather the keynote of an address made by Eric A. Johnston, president of the Chamber of Commerce Com-merce of the United States, at the initial session of the chamber's 31st annual meeting. Continuing, Johnston said: "Political "Polit-ical and economic freedom are integrated, inte-grated, and that what impairs one also hampers the other in like measure. meas-ure. The horizons of opportunity being opened up are larger than ever before." SHELTER IN TUNISIA t"ww v " w (" - v. t it : Protected from the burning sun by a solar helmet commandeered from an Axis prisoner, this American corporal cor-poral relaxes in his foxhole in central cen-tral Tunisia. His dog keeps him from getting too lonely. MISCELLANY: FUEL OIL: American Liberators bombed the huge Thilawa oil refinery refin-ery south of Rangoon, scoring hits on the distillation and storage installations. instal-lations. DRAFT FATHERS: Secretary of War Henry Stimson said drafting of fathers was necessary if the army was to take advantage of the opportunities op-portunities offered for speedily ending end-ing the war. |
