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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Nazi Troop Detachments Enter Spain; Hitler Threatens New Sub Warfare; U. S. Invokes Priorities on Aluminum And Tools, as New Defense Measure (FUITOIt'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are ihuse of the new analt and not neceaaarily of this newapaper.) iReleased by Western Newspaper Vninn t With the lease-lend bill close to a final vote stage, the curtain was about to rise on an increased tempo in the war, and opposition members of congress in both house and senate sen-ate were loud in their claims that 30 days would see this country added to those actively in the war. INDUSTRY: Priorities First real force of the current U. S. defense economy was felt by the aluminum and machine tool producers pro-ducers as mandatory priorities for these materials were announced. E. R. Stettinius Jr., priorities director of the Office of Production Management Manage-ment of the Defense Commission issued is-sued the orders requiring that producers pro-ducers fill all defense orders in preference to nondefense when necessary nec-essary to meet defense order delivery deliv-ery dates. In his statement Stettinius said that OPM had tried to keep allocation alloca-tion of aluminum and machine tools on a voluntary basis but it had become be-come "necessary and desirable" to enforce priorities so that defense industries could get the supplies they need. FAR EAST: Crisis for U. S. TO.NE OF WAR: Stepped Upward Generally speaking, the advent of March saw the war news on all fronts stepped upward to new peaks of activity, rumor and expectation of a far more bitter and decisive year than 1940. There were 'more than minimal signs that Hitler was preparing to launch vital moves on at least two fronts, with possibility that he might add a third theater of war to his effort and might include Japan to take over a fourth. Most war observers returning to this country and able to speak freely expected the invasion attempt to be dated somewhere between March 15 and May 1. Resumption of test daylight raids over England were viewed as a certain cer-tain sign that the day was not far distant The move in the Balkans was apparently ap-parently being made, with Bulgaria scheduled as the avenue through which Nazi hordes would be given an open road to the Greek northern frontier. Signs were less definite that this might be accompanied by a move to aid Italy in Africa, or that Hitler would make a general Mediterranean Mediterran-ean offensive part of his spring plan. A move which sent detachments of Nazi troops into Spain was explained by German sources as the sending of aid to Santander, badly wrecked LEASE-LEND: Fight Bitter The closing days of the lease-lend bill fight were bitter, but the outcome out-come was portended when final polls showed 52 senators ready to vote for it, and 20 opposed. This was somewhat less than the majority which administration forces had predicted would pass the bill and put it into effect, but still a comfortable margin. But the fighting in the last hours was bitter, and many senators went far out on verbal limbs in predicting predict-ing what would happen when the bill becomes law. Senator Nye boldly declared "war by April 1." Senator Reynolds provided pro-vided the most startling flop away from Rooseveltian ranks and made a three-hour speech against the bill which used up 15 columns of reading read-ing space in those anti-administration papers which printed its full text. The poll during the last days showed 46 Democrats, 5 Republicans Republi-cans and 1 Independent for the bill, with 8 Democrats, 11 Republicans and 1 Progressive against it. Uncommitted were 11 Democrats and 12 Republicans, 23 votes and it would take all of them to have upset up-set the majority of those who were willing to commit themselves. The comments of most of those who said they would heln Dass the Most vital to this nation was the crisis on the Far Eastern front, perhaps per-haps part of the major Hitler plan to weaken England by embroiling the United States and Britain in a war with Japan. In this great diplomatic poker game the stakes were the maximum. Steps in the struggle, much of which was being carried on behind closed doors and in diplomatic chambers, became gradually news items. The British announced that the waters off the Malay states were being mined. The Chinese reported 150,000 Japanese troops were ready to move in the general direction of Singapore. The Dutch East Indies called all ships into neutral ports. These were just outward manifestations that Japan, under Axis pressure, was staging a show in the South Pacific, a show that had repercussions repercus-sions from the White House when the President gently chided newsmen news-men and members of congress for letting General Marshall's statement of the seriousness of the situation become public property. in l" lit 's 1 Vp s In this game Germany was seen as a kibitzer, but one who had Japan handling her chips on a fifty-fifty basis. In the midst of it all came the announcement from Japan that Nippon Nip-pon stood ready to act as mediator to conduct negotiations for peace by all nations anywhere who were involved in-volved in war. This move received a cold reception recep-tion in Washington, Sumner Welles saying that with conditions at their present pass, this nation was looking to deeds, not words, and that Japan, 1RVN, SPAIN.- German sentries are shown here "goose-stepping" on their posts at the point where Spanish territory meets that of "occupied" France. Detachments of Nazi troops have been reported to have entered Spain. by hurricane and fire. In many quarters, however, it was pointed out that Santander was 150 miles below the French border, and that this force might be the vanguard of a Spanish-Nazi army which would make an attack or a feint against Gibraltar. In a speech on the 21st birthday of the Nazi party Hitler told his people that a new phase of the war was coming in a short time and threatened threat-ened a new and more terrible submarine sub-marine campaign against British shipping. He said that new submarine sub-marine crews had been trained and new U-boats would be launched in the coming stepped-up attack. The general belief was that Hitler's Hit-ler's master plan of strategy was unfolding itself gradually in a series of moves, some of them military, some of them diplomatic. 'The plan, it was said, is based on the fact that in any invasion of Britain the Nazis would be under a disadvantage in not being able conceivably con-ceivably to put an equal force on the British Isles. This being so, the main Hitler plan was said to be to strike in several sev-eral different directions, i.e., Is f I tips i bill seemed to be along the line that they were voting for the bill with "some reluctance," but felt that it was the "only thing" to do. But those opposed were vitriolic in their condemnation, ranging all the way from Nye, who called it "the most outrageous grab of power pow-er in American history" to Reynolds, Rey-nolds, who attempted to make his opposition sound more restrained. SOCIAL: Revolution The old British caste system showed signs of crumbling under the pressure of the national emergency. The social "upper crust" were taking their hats off to the East End type of Londoner who was proving himself a hero in the war. Smashed beyond recognition in the September air raids, and with its population suffering the heaviest casualties of the war, the East End-ers End-ers showed their mettle as Britishers, British-ers, and refused to be driven from that part of the old town. They were reported still living there, in corrugated iron shelters amongst the rubble of their former tenements, braving the air raids by day and night, and going about their usual tasks calmly. This sort of thing is not getting them invited into the homes of Mayfair, but it was seen as bringing about a social revolution that may shatter the old caste system and bring a different way of life to the average "man-in-the-street" type of Briton. Not only in that way, but in matters mat-ters of economics a big change was seen for England. Instead of being the financial and economic power of the world, the England of the future was visioned as a sort of "half-farm half-factory country" shipping manufactured man-ufactured goods and emigrants to the Western hemisphere, and leaving leav-ing the dominions increasing amount of autonomy. Even those who feel certain that Britain will emerge tne victor in the war, and as such the arbiter of the new rearrangement of world power believe that the British empire em-pire will be much decentralized. Leading in this movement, with the apparent approval of Prime Minister Churchill was Ernest Be-vin, Be-vin, labor minister, who recently gave out his immediate objectives as: Nationalization of all transport road, rail, and water; state control of the Bank of England; public ownership own-ership of all coal, gas, electric and oil resources of the country. On top of Bevin's promises of better bet-ter things for the working man and woman, Churchill has promised better educational advantages for the masses. AMBASSADOR NOMURA "Talked peace, discounted war." instead of being a peacemaker, was stirring up trouble by her actions and troop and naval moves. That Japan was either divided in her reactions in the game of diplomatic diplo-matic and military bluff was evident from what was made public. Ambassador Am-bassador Nomura tallied peace, discounted dis-counted war. Japanese papers, some of them, said Nomura's task (of preserving peace) was hopeless. Two things appeared certain in the Far East. Hitler was moving warily and under cover, and Japan was moving under pressure from her Axis partners, apparently unwillingly. un-willingly. . $ Greece, Gibraltar, Africa, Malta, Suez, and in the South Pacific in order to screen the chief and central cen-tral effort to land troops in Britain. It is figured, so these authorities say, that this plan might conceivably conceiv-ably mislead the British into moving mov-ing considerable groups of war units from one territory to another, might keep the fleet busy at the wrong place, might cause the sending of many British air squadrons away from the isles themselves. Should this turn out to be based on fact, then it would push the date of the invasion attempt back from earlier ear-lier estimates, and make the May date seem more likely than one in March or April. |
