Show weekly Wee fitly news analysis allies storm river barriers to mount twin drives on reich EDITORS NOTE when opinions are ar expressed in these columns they are those of western newspaper union news analysts sad and sot not necessarily of this newspaper 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 brok broken en oft 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 tor 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 patton shows em how from thomas J definbaugh baugh of cumberland md came the latest story of lt 1 l gen george S pat tons personal in m of his troops under fire during daring the allied comeback against von offensive A in january yanks reached the iha swift and ley icy sure river and faced the gen patton task g of crossing it to reach the strategic town of bettendorf commanding the country countryside sid e when 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 s he jumped into the swirling water and swam over ever to prove to his troops it could be done inspired by pattons Pat tons daring the soldiers fought like madmen for bettendorf Bet and took it after a bitter day and a half battle ter mile in width and its banks flattened out hodges men steadily expanded their bridgehead for a thrust across the rolling roiling hill country lying just below the vital ruhr valley prime source of german war industry 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 attained the 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 after having cleared huge pockets of enemy troops to their rear meanwhile the russians launched 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 for extended use of terrain to economize dwindling forces Z 4 18 kw k 40 1 1 Z t flood waters spilling over the banks of the ohio river and its tribu barles again made thousands homeless and threatened war production aerial view shows newton ohio with a population of 2000 isolated by b y the inundation 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 ot 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 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 the leather necks were compelled to root them out in close in fighting CIVIL AVIATION on upgrade reflecting the nations increasing air consciousness and the prospects for greatly expanded civil aviation after the 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 most youths from 16 to 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 mean s 0 of I 1 serving larger areas and thus overcoming the limits of vehicular travel MANPOWER near with the senate still strongly opposed to compulsory labor work or fight legislation headed for a showdown in conferences with the house with sentiment strong for the grant of additional power to the war manpower commission to continue to exert pressure toward the I 1 channeling of workers into needed industry at the same time congress moved to draft unmarried nurses to provide the needed to attend the growing battle casualties under legislation considered nurses would be given the right to appeal induction would be offered commissions even tt if drafted and would be eligible for benefits under the GI bill of rights vigorously opposed to the houses work or fight measure providing for army induction or fine and jail for failure of 18 to 45 year old men to accept war essential employment the senate pushed a substitute bill under which the would set the limit on the number of employees any establishment could have and regulate the hiring of people C W BRYAN PASSES great commoners Commoner 1 s brother widely known as the b rother brother of the great commoner but an able politician in his own right charles W bryan three times governor of nebraska died in lincoln N neb eb at 78 first coming into prominence as secretary to his illustrious brother william jennings bryan during the historic presidential election of 1896 he rapidly scaled the political ladder swinging delegates at succeeding democratic conventions and managing the great commoners campaigns of 1900 and 1908 in 1924 1224 when a bitter factional battle split the democratic convention co anven and john W davis was nominated on the ballot brother charley as charles bryan was called was put up as his running mate to help heal the wounds caused by the great commoners alliance with william G mcadoo against al smith NATIONAL FORESTS all time high dividend an all time high dividend of 3 31 representing 25 per cent of the 1944 cash receipts from national forests will be shared by counties in 40 states USDA reported the largest U S treasury checks ever written in connection with federal timber s sales forage water power and other uses on national f orest forest lands are accounted for almost entirely by the this is the story of skippy a boston terrier that shared in the heroism attending the saving of an american freighter bombed off leyte though fired by jap explosives with 14 members of the armed guard casualties the vessel was saved by the crews quick control of the flames and the merchant manning of the I 1 dented wartime demands for lumber and by the use of rangelands tor for food prod unction twenty se seven ven counties in washington were apportioned the largest large st amount of any state with more than one fifth of the total or oregon was second with 31 counties dividing california rated third with to be allocated to 38 33 counties combined receipts tor for washington and oregon totaled or more than one third of the amount for all states the olympic national forest in the counties of clallam grays harbor jefferson and mason in washington reported the largest income of all national forests and purchase units a total of as com padd with in 1943 FARM DEBT cut sharply at its peak in 1923 when it totaled over wt billion dollars the nations farm debt dropped to 54 billion dollars by january 1945 with a 20 per cent reduction taking place within the last 5 years As a result of the tha 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 REVERSE LEND LEASE australia new deiv zealand reverse lend lease supplies from australia and new zealand to the united states now exceed united states lend lease chipi shipments t to those countries oscar cox general counsel for lend lease administration tra tion told the house foreign affairs committee early this month in the first full year of reciprocal aid australian contributions were 10 per cent of total australian war expenditure in 1943 44 the proportion rose to 20 per cent and budget estimates for 1944 45 anticipated expenditure of 22 per cent of total war costs on reverse lend lease more than 90 per cent of food and clothing lor for american forces in the south and central pacific is supplied by australia and new zealand T the h e A australian u s tr alla n p policy 0 1 i c y has b been ee n to c concentrate 0 n ce n tr a t r reciprocal ec 1 p r 0 c al len lend d le lease as e assistance on services and supply which the australian economy is best fitted to meet transportation camp accommodation airfield construction warehouses and hospitals are examples of services but the major contribution has been in food and general supplies in spite of difficulties caused by a recent drouth which has reduced wheat crops in australia by more than bushels it is anticipated that australia will meet her commitments I 1 I 1 wounded pet revives stricken master antiaircraft anti aircraft guns against incoming enemy raiders between un loadings of supplies As bombs ripped capt andrew W gavins cabin skippy wounded by shrapnel was blown into his masters room where the officer lay unconscious amid the wreckage licking Capt captain tain gavins forehead despite his own injuries skippy revived him FLOODS thousands homeless familiar but tragic scenes were reenacted enacted re again as the ohl ohio 10 r and tributaries tributa ries rose over their to flood surrounding lowlands J 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 ol 01 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 tennessee arkansas and mississippi thousands of residents of these aj a also were forced to move to th I 1 j lands CLOTHING more for kiddies in addition to cotton fabric previously allotted for low and medi um priced childrens clothing additional yardage has been allocated tor for the manufacture of about 6 million more kiddies garments the tha war production board revealed outing flannel print cloths claths broad cloths claths poplins hoplins pop lins lawns and cham chain brays will be among the material allotted for the extra childrens dresses overalls coveralls toddlers dresses jacket type pajamas one piece pajamas two piece button on pajamas wants infants gertrudes infants kimonos simonos ki monos infants gowns creepers rompers and crawlers allocation of the cotton fabric was part of its program to increase the output of cheaper clothing and thus help cut rising apparel costs which OP Administrator chester bowles called one of the most dangerous wartime inflationary threats these gifts are different with the president himself not permitted to receive gifts from foreigners without congressional approval mrs roosevelt has been the recipient of a wide variety of such presents already the recipient of a jewel crusted gold crown and a harem costume mrs roosevelt lately was ivas given an mink coat from the quebec fur breeders bleeders Bre eders assoria as association socia the only one of the presents she planned to roosevelt mrs use she told newsmen speaking of the gold crown which she received from an african potentate following the casablanca conference mrs roosevelt declared its the most terrific thing you ever saw nobody could wear it if its too heavy U S investments forein foreign n holdin holdings american investments in foreign countries to over 13 billion dollars in 1941 while foreign holdings in the U S approximated 8 billion dollars the national foreign trade council reported in an exhaustive hau stive analysis based upon treasury department testimony at recent congressional hearings 1 l of the american investments invest ment most two thirds were divide divided d between e europe and canada of the 4 billion in europe 1 billion were in germany and over I 1 billion in britain besides the 4 billion dollars in canada and newfoundland U S investors put more than ls billion in south america and more than ah billion in asia of the amount in asia million dollars were in the philippines million in china and manchuria and 90 million in japan it was revealed released by western newspaper union |