Show mI Nazi Submarine Menace Is Allies Chief Problem 1 PreFabriCated Pre Boats U-Boats Said to Boost Ger- Ger German German man Output Vanishing puzzles United Nations MIlitary Observers B BAUKHAGE News New and Commentator Service 1343 1143 II Street N W Washington D C CIt CIt It will be a long and bItter war That was the remark of the Aus Australian minister of defense in a re recent recent cent interview Two days later laterI I heard a general ho bo had vIsited many fronts make a similar state state- statement statement ment You have bave heard the same prediction made from dozens of And the strange thing IS It Itis itIs is usually preceded with an account of Allied successes Nothing but a abut abut but stands between the enumeratIOn enumeration tIOn of VIctorIes achIeved and the predIction of the long hard road ahead Since tins thIs perplexed me I 1 trIed to get a concrete ans answer er from van varl vanous ous persons as to lust Just what lies on the long hard road Out of the an answers answers two obstacles stand out the submarine and the story of the van vanishing Only recently has hasit hasIt it been definItely revelled that the enemy s a greatest and most effectIve weapon IS the submarine For a along along long time ume the Brit sh permItted only the most general statements regard mg the sinking of Allied or even neutral ships by U boats Lately because It was realIzed that the peo pIe were m in Ignorance of the extent of this menace more detailed state state- statements statements ments have been made although still no figures are gIven out We know that America is ships faster than American shIps are being sunk We know that thai the margin between launchings and is verY narrow And we know that launchings alone do not really balance hull for hull because the enemy sinks loaded valuable shIps cargoes are de- de trained named men not easily or immediately replaceable are wiled killed or at least taken out of action for forlong forlong long periods gaps are left in the war effort WIth each lost cargo When J I was m in Berlin Berhn covering the outbreak of the European war In iii 1939 J I heard a great deal of talk about Germany s counter blockade how the Naz s could fill seas WIth theIr U bolls boits There was much talk of the great numbers which could be produced by the moth meth method od of the assembly line Ime I had bad no Idea how much truth there was m in those statements Then m in the months that followed not much muchas as assaId as assaid saId about the U boats For a pe nod when they were operatIng on our coasts America was conSCIOUS of theIr presence but when they were drIven out of sIght of our shores they were driven out of mInd as well wellS S S NazI Boasts Largely Confirmed Now we learn how great the r dep depredations I are on the shipping lanes I Where they converge In the eastern AtlantIc confirming to some degree the Gerran Gernan boasts which are sound sounding mg ing again agam It IS stated by British naval observers that the Germans are pre fabricating the subs mak mg ing the parts In factories scattered all over the Re ch and assemblIng them m in great caverns hewn out of the rock or covered with concrete e ox or the shores of the Bay of Biscay m in France Therein lIes a clear and sImple explanation of the AllIes greatest problem the chief obstacle on the thelong thelong long hard road The second obstacle may be a fancIed one but It IS real In the of many The unknown IS usually more terrible than the known and perhaps thIS one IS at least partly a myth but no hard hardheaded hardheaded headed realist can afford to under underestimate estimate the enemy s a potentialIties Those who bel eve this obstacle eXIsts say It IS Iud hidden den behind the mystery of the van Luft According to mIlItary men there are at present very few German planes on en the RussIan front I heard hearda a recent estImate of one seventh as many as a year ago Thue are not many German planes over the Africa AllIes have at least achIeved parity In air pow power power er Where Is the German Its presence darkened the skies of Europe has once It really van vanIshed used up Worn out The factories whIch turn out re replacements replacements placements all destroyed by Allied bombers Is Its necessary fuel and lubrication e lausted Some people I think that this at least to a large degree Is true But that explanation I tion does not seem reasonable S S German Advances In Synthetic Gas We know that Germany has made remarkable advances In the manu manufacture manufacture facture of synthetic gasoline and oils We know that some oil has been from the oil oilfields fields m in Russia new ones developed m in Austria If Germany is 15 not yet starved of gasoline and lubrIcants if 11 the Luft has not really dIsappeared rom from the earth Its absence the theaIr theair I aIr may have another meaning We I know that m in SPIte of the heavy Ger German I man losses m in men and material m in I Russ a Germany stIll has a large and powerful army PossIblY over fully equIpped trained divisions men It IS estimated that aSIde from fromI I soldIers engaged m in RUSSIa and North Africa the garrIsons In the occupIed countries there must be a striking mobIle army of a million I men and more Of courSE these i are estimates but they are not over overestimates estimates And bes des thIS army there IS the The assumptIon is 15 that thIs great army lIke the a IS nesting conserving and building up ItS strength for one of two things el ci elther cither ther a long last stand defense of the borders of the ReIch or one more powerful offensIve MeanwhIle we know that every everyday everyday day that Japan IS ed allo to occupy the rich possessions of her stolen empIre she Is nearer to the ex cx of theIr resources the do de development of whIch will make her stronger And every day she IS left i und tind by a maJor attack she IS able to increase her fortIficatIons ear vear down the Chinese and spread her slIver silver bullets among the less loyal war lord followers on the fringe of ChIang Kai Kal shek s central army There are Vao t factors whIch make the road ahead a hard the one pres present present ent successful on and the rap d replacement of the German submarine flotIlla and the probability ty that Germany IS holding back a powerful army and aIr force eIther for another tell ng blow or to de defend defend fend ItS strongly fort fled fied terrain terrainS S S S Ideologies Ideologies- Put Them on Ice As I 1 go wanderIng round the town taking a look ill in every wIth quarter es to Wan E ed l Reilly I have acquIred data m in the last few days that have convinced me that we ss ill have bave to expunge the word Ideology from the brIght lexIcon of war If we are go gong ng to wm win I 1 have observed three places where the es as have gotten m in mand inand and done more damage than a buffalo buffalo falo moth m in an overstuffed sofa Of course m in North AfrIca It may maybe maybe be the climate or the rainy ramy season es have done some of theIr most ng stork ork I 1 have con conversed conversed versed wIth an army officer an official cial iho ho knows that terrain and also what It a no ne v paper ph philosopher and a rad cal all of them look at the on on the shores of the MedIterranean a lIt lIttie littIe tie d The officIal ns i that the polItIcs are very the tant-the tad rad cal cal happy over the success against all FascIsts but m in infuriated over using them even to help defeat themselves shouts shouts- We should have shot Darlan the day after aUer he be served hIs purpose Well remarks the officIal some somebody somebody body d d didn t I they The army officer calls the whole controversy a backyard row that w l be forgot ten as ground dries up and the Al AllIes Allies lIes get a few victories But the correspondent ph paused to analyze He sa d You have heard that one thing that greatly Improved the morale m in the Russ an army was making the officers supreme and re removing moving the author ty of tho corn com which were originally placed at the r elbows You know the Russ an officers could make no move Without the okay of the com comm comm m and yet the officer was re ble If anything went ent wrong Now the officer has the final word word- many of the former commissars who ho had military training have become officers |