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Show ' ' WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Jap Naval Losses Off Midway Island Strengthen U. S. Position in Pacific; Terrific Bombing Attacks by British Stun Nazi's War Effort in Rhineland (EDITOlt'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these j!!J'.?;iJ?rT lire those or the news analyst and not necessarily of this nespjper.i J Released by Western Newspaper Union. I ' ' - ill hJ v y - I ' f "t" fx This unusual photo shows representatives of the British commonwealth common-wealth gathered at the Washington airport to welcome Sir Owen Dixon, new Australian minister to the United Stales. Left to right: Walter Nash, New Zealand; Sir Owen Dixon, Australia; Ralph W. Close, Union of South Africa; Sir R. I. Campbell, British embassy, and Leighton McCarthy, Canada. MIDWAY: Melee "Pearl Harbor has now been partially par-tially avenged. Vengeance will not be complete until Japanese sea power pow-er has been reduced to impotence. We have made substantial progress in that direction." With these blunt, stirring , words, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, commander command-er in chief of the Pacific fleet, announced an-nounced a decisive United States naval na-val victory at Midway Island. In a remarkable demonstration of the coordinated co-ordinated power of the three American Ameri-can services navy, army and marinesa ma-rinesa Japanese invasion fleet was repulsed with the greatest losses of the current war. From 14 to 17 Japanese warships were sunk or damaged, according to early reports. Included were two or three aircraft carriers sunk and one or two lost; three battleships damaged, four or six cruisers damaged, dam-aged, three transports -damaged and one destroyer sunk. Continuing attacks at-tacks on the fleeing enemy made it impossible to state whether the ships bombed in pursuit had been damaged dam-aged previously. At the conclusion of the four-day action, Adm. Ernest J. King, commander com-mander in chief of the American fleet, hinted that the United States has a chance to knock out Japan as a sea power. The battle, he said, may determine the outcome of the war in the Pacific. Hawaii, he said, "must be held at all costs," because it is the keystone key-stone to the entire Pacific defense system. Midway, 1,312 miles from Pearl Harbor, is a vital outpost in the Hawaiian defense. U-BOAT MENACE: On the Run? Axis submarines operating along the Eastern seaboard have been driven out into the Atlantic, according accord-ing to Chairman Carl Vinson (Georgia) (Geor-gia) of the house naval affairs committee. com-mittee. His disclosure came in a formal statement which added that the "anti-submarine warfare organization organiza-tion has passed through its period of growing pains and is now well established and functioning effectively." effec-tively." "In dealing with submarines we have a tough and clever enemy," the statement said, "and it does not pay to be unduly optimistic. ' However, How-ever, the fact remains that in the last few weeks the submarine has largely withdrawn from our eastern seaboard and is operating farther at sea . . "The committee has full confidence con-fidence that we shall defeat the submarine." V-MAIL: For Soldiers U. S. army units in England and Northern Ireland are now using a new and unique mail system for contacts . with the United States. Known as V-mail, this system provides pro-vides that letters may be dispatched to a central station, censored and then photographed on small rolls of microfilm. Under army direction these rolls are then sent to the United States where they are developed and photostatic pho-tostatic copies are presented to the postal service and sent through regular reg-ular mails to the addressee. Value of plan lies in the fact that microfilm saves cargo space in eliminating mail shipments. POISON GAS: Another Warning Within a month after Winston Churchill had warned Germany that any use of gas warfare by the Nazis would be met with the same tactics. President Roosevelt has warned Japan Ja-pan that if she persists in using gas against China the U. S. will retaliate re-taliate in "kind and full measure." This statement by the President came as a confirmation of reports that Japan was using noxious gases in battles with the Chinese. He said sternly that if the practice prac-tice continued the United States would deal with Japan in the same way. This applies, said the President, whether the Japs use gas against China or any other of the United Nations because "such action will be regarded by this government as though taken against the U. S." In what manner this retribution might be carried out continued to be a matter of secrecy. However, Mr. Roosevelt's hearers immediately immediate-ly thought of the American bombing bomb-ing attacks upon key Jap cities. SEA RAID: On Australia The cities of Sydney and Newcastle Newcas-tle on Australia's southeast coast were shelled by Japanese forces in the first sea raid on that country's mainland since the beginning of the war. Termed "nuisance" raids by General Gen-eral MacArthur's headquarters, these first attacks caused little damage dam-age and there were few casualties. Submarines were used for the attack. at-tack. At Sydney the shells whistled over the city so fast it was impossible to estimate their number. Newcastle Newcas-tle was shelled for 30 minutes. Both cities were blacked out and residents resi-dents hustled 'to their air raid shelters. shel-ters. The attacks came only a week after four of the enemy's midget submarines were destroyed as they attempted a sortie into Sydney's harbor. Also in the same week three and possibly four other subs were destroyed in the' southwest Pacific. Pa-cific. Increased submarine activity off the lower Australian coast was believed be-lieved to be aimed at cutting Allied Al-lied communications and supply lines as well as anattempt to divert United Nations' naval units from the more major scenes of action, I.E., between Alaska and Hawaii. SECOND FRONT: In Germany's Air The stunning effect of the monster RAF bombing raid upon Cologne be-.came be-.came known to the world when the first newspapers from that historic Rhineland city reached neutral territory. ter-ritory. Cologne, as its people knew it, is forever lost, according to the dispatches. dis-patches. Whole quarters of the town are empty, and a Stockholm newspaper, news-paper, quoting a German dispatch, reported that all the property of at least 10,000 persons had been destroyed de-stroyed completely. The central district dis-trict of the city was ruined and damage reached far into the city's outskirts. The Koelnische Zeitung, Cologne newspaper, said: "Those who survived the night . . . and who on the morrow looked at the city were fully aware that they had bade farewell forever to their Cologne, because the damage is enormous and because the integral part of the character and even the traditions of the city are gone forever." for-ever." While the Cologne bombing was followed by a 1,000-bomber attack on Essen, home of the great Krupp armament plants, a complete picture pic-ture of the damage to that industrial center is lacking. However, England Eng-land was jubilant over these "second "sec-ond front" activities. The initial raid on Essen was followed the next night by a second "mopping up" raid, employing an estimated 400 bombers. BRIEFS: DAUGHTERS: Cautioning that severe se-vere labor shortages may develop, Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard has urged rural families to keep their daughters on the farm to help with war food production. INDEPENDENT Despite Adolf Hitler's surprise visit to Finland, a government spokesman stated that the nation would "continue to steer a strictly independent course." LOSS After two months of operations opera-tions over Burma, the U. S. air forces have announced the loss of their first heavy bomber in that area. Meanwhile they have been doing a terrific job of blasting Japanese Japa-nese offensive plans. FOOD Approximately 1,300 factories fac-tories employing 20,000 workers will be closed by orders originating in Vichy, France. The workers will be diverted to a labor pool to man farms expected to produce food reserves re-serves for next winter and to provide pro-vide volunteers for labor in German war factories. CHARTER All ships under the Dutch flag are being requisitioned for the duration of the war by the Netherlands government - in - exile. These ships are to be chartered by the United States under an agreement agree-ment reached between lease-lend officials, of-ficials, British and Dutch authorities. authori-ties. EXTENDED The Netherlands and Norway were offered the benefits bene-fits of U. S. lease-lend activities as these governments were presented with a master agreement similar to ones previously accepted by Great Britain and China. |