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Show 1:44 li, .J rMl' 1 f " . i'l I U. S. First to Experiment With Use of Air Troops Demonstration Arranged by General 'Billy' i Mitchell at Kelly Field in 1928; Officers 'Not Impressed.' By BAUKIIAGE IVnoi Analyst and Commentator. THE LEIII SUN, LE1H. UTAH -WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Pacific Front Flares Into Action as Good News From European Sectors Continues . Released by Western Newspaper Onion. (KDITOR'8 NOTE: When pinions are expressed In these columns, tney "'""",: Western Newspaper Union's news analysis ar-d not necessarily of this newspaper-; WNU Service, Union Trust Building Washington, D. C. When the story of the present war is written, the outstanding logistical novelty the feature which differs most from the methods employed In the movement of fighting units In previous wars will be the use of airborne troops. Already the airborne units have been revealed as vital factors In the invasion landings, where they have been used on a scale which dwarfs anything heretofore from the first widely publicized Russian experiments ex-periments in 1930 to the German air Invasion of Crete or the remarkable achievements of smaller units In Burma. Since it is taken for granted that the Uniteo6tates is going to carry the major burden in the later phases of the invasion, it Is a matter of satisfaction to know that the idea of transporting troops by plane was first developed by the United States army. No one will be surprised that it was that stormy petrel of aviation, Gen. "Billy" Mitchell, whose wings beat so futilely against the hide bound brasshats of his day, who is credited with arranging the first demonstration of troop transporta tion by air. The report of his first fruitless demonstration Is buried so deep in the war department files that I can only quote from lay sources concerning con-cerning it But it seems that in 1928 ten soldiers parachuted from a Martin Mar-tin bomber onto Kelly field in Texas. With them went machine gun equipment. equip-ment. All landed safely and in three minutes after they hit the ground the machine gun was assembled. Officers who observed the "stunt" (which is what it was then considered) con-sidered) were not impressed. That is, the American officers. Some Russians Rus-sians were present. They made notes, and some two years later their paratroopers were descending to earth to the "ohs" and "ahs" of American movie audiences. Germany observed but went to work in silence, with the results with which we were made painfully familiar from the days of the invasion in-vasion of Poland on. But "Billy" ' Mitchell's idea slumbered in the files and he did not live to see its renascence here four years ago. Nazi Refinements These facts have been forgotten by most people who probably think that the Rusian experiments were the first. The Germans picked up and improved the Russians' technique, tech-nique, working out their paratroop plans as a part of the developments of their then peerless Luftwaffe, whose threatening shadow moulded European diplomacy before the outbreak out-break of the war. The German paratrooper demonstrated demon-strated their real value in the blitz against the low countries. It was not until April of 1940 that the United States troop carrier command, com-mand, which carries troops in transports trans-ports and gliders, was organized. Now it is larger than the whole of our air force of three years ago. The airborne force, created a few weeks earlier, is now numbered in entire divisions, as we know from German reports, and includes tens of thousands of fighting men and technical personnel. The British paratroopers were used effectively as far back as 1942 and they made the first contact with German troops in North Africa in November of the same year. The U. S. airborne forces are made up of botff paratroop and glider forces. They are separate from the troop carrier command which transports them, just as the foot soldier is distinct from the sea man who carries him from shore to shore. The paratroopers (a part of the airborne forces) alone serve fre quently as aerial commandos, seiz ing enemy airports of suitable ter rain where the troop transports or ghder planes cannot yet land. The Paratroopers wnen operations require large numbers of men and more complicated compli-cated equipment, such as those per formed back of the shore defenses and even much farther inland in France, paratroopers are supplemented supple-mented by the troops landed from transports and gliders. This frequently fre-quently means that the paratrooper if ' ' I 1 t" 1 1 . i i must capture or prepare air strips for this purpose. Allied airborne troops were used effectively at the landing in Sicily, t mVioro HeriAral Mnntsnmprv aid they shortened the campaign by at ' least a week. They also proved of great value in New Guinea. The full extent of their per formance in the invasion of Europe has yet to be revealed but we have General Eisenhower's own word as to their value and his praise has t jtl J" koan nnotini a1 I uXfrifi'ssi ...Hit UCCU UUOball tCU, I The chief function of the soldier j France This telephoto pictures French family salvaging belongings of the air until recently has been from ruins of home laid waste by exchange of artillery fire in Normandy. the destruction of enemy communl- j cations and installations such as EUROPE; ammunition and supply dumps, i n . n . Dig I Their beachhead firmly established estab-lished and their forces ' mounting ay t" ' bourg. Cut off from the main body of their troops by the lightning advance of XJ. S. forces which dashed across the skinny Cotentin peninsula to cut In two, a desperate German garrison garri-son remained under fire of U. S. artillery, naval guns and aerial bombardment in a sacrificial delaying delay-ing action, and meanwhile steadily demolished the modern harbor fa cilities which the Allies could put. to good use in landing supplies and reinforcements. While the V. S. stalwarts ringed Cherbourg, British and Canadian units in the Caen area to the east hammered at Marshal Erwin Rommel's Rom-mel's armored divisions, which continued con-tinued their counterattacks in bloody fighting designed to check any Allied breakthrough from the expanding beachhead perimeter. Italy Driving over muddy terrain, Allied Al-lied troops continued to chase the Germans back to their main defense line in northern Italy, with fighting 1 chiefly marked by brief, stubborn stands by Nazi rearguards. I In falling back to the north after the Allied armies had smashed their lines below Rome, the Nazis were withdrawing toward the waist of the Italian peninsula, where landings could not be made to their rear. Anchored In the center at the base of the Apennine mquntains, the new German defense line was set up to guard the fertile farm-land and industrial in-dustrial regions of northern Italy, prizes of the wracked country. Finland With the formidable Russian army steam-rollering over the wild Karelian Kare-lian isthmus in southern Finland and training its sights on the little country's coun-try's capital of Helsinki, there was talk of the possibility of a peace with Moscow. The once strong Karelian defenses which had held the Reds back for days during the war of 1939, cracked and crumbled under the weight of the Russian attack, supported by dynamiting bridges and wrecking railway junctions behind the lines. Now they are prepared to engage the enemy in large-scale operations ihonw attacks inland, the Allies which reached major proportions ;grasped at their first great prize for the first time in France. Pre- 0f tne French campaign, as U. S. ceding the Normandy landings, one , tro0ps stormed the big port of Cher- ol their jobs was to prevent ae-struction ae-struction of certain points like bridges and other installations which the troops advancing from the beachhead wanted to make use of later. In this case, they had to take the bridges from the enemy defenders defend-ers and then hold them against counter attacks of the local reserves, re-serves, armed with tanks and field artillery, until their own advancing ground troops or air reinforcements arrived. Such action is possible because Jeeps, one-ton trailers, howitzers, heavy and light calibre machine guns, mortars, mines, and other equipment including food, medical supplies, water, and of course ammunition, am-munition, can be transported by the troop carrier command. The troops have food and ammunition sufficient suffi-cient for about three days sustenance suste-nance without replenishment The pilots of the troop carriers are trained under most difficult conditions and must have an extra share of courage and intelligence. They fly slowly and about their only escape from the speedy fighters is to skim the hilltops, dodge the hay- , stacks, keep as low as possible in valleys or between obstacles like trees and buildings which serve as protection. Glider Pilot's Job Although the glider pilot has no engine to worry about, he must know meteorology, navigation, aerial reconnaissance, photography, maintenance and radio communication. communica-tion. He must learn to land quickly and near trees or other obstacles where the troops can take cover; one means of making a quick landing land-ing is purposely to snag a wing on a tree trunk or the bottom of the plane on rocks. The men inside are protected by a steel framework. And then when the pilot lands, all he has to do is fight his way back to his own lines with the rest of his one-time passengers. Like them, he has to know all the commando knows. Some of the tales which have already al-ready gone into the growing saga of the airborne forces are marvelous. One is told of an adventure which heavy artillery and aerial bombard-took bombard-took place early in the invasion of ment. France- j As the Reds pounded up the Kare- A glider, its towline cut, was sud- lian isthmus in the face of negligible denly left in the dark of the moon. opposition, the bulk of the German Some light is necessary for a land- 'troops in Finland stood guard over ing, of course. In the period when j the vital nickle mines in the north, the moon was clouded, there was I nothing for the pilot to do but to CHINA keep on descending. He did and p n . landed unexpectedly but on very ' JOpS t reSS UriVe smooth terrain. The troopers quick- Spurred by the bombing of its ly debouched and sought cover as big steel center of Yawata, Japan they are trained to do. But there ' continued to press its major offen-was offen-was no cover. They found they were j sive in China, designed to secure the on the wide, flat roof of a building, 'eastern coastal sector of the coun-They coun-They found an entrance through try against future Allied operations the roof and cautiously crept down there. the stairs. To their surprise, they At the same time, the Japs struck discovered they were in a building back at Chinese troops in northern full of German soldiers and which Burma, fighting to open a back door housed the German headquaters to their country through which refer re-fer that area. But the Americans lnforcements and snnnliM rnnlrt he transported from India. No less than three Jap columns were operating in eastern China, with two acting as protecting screens for the main body which plunged southward toward the big PACIFIC: Lure Jap Fleet Its inner defense lines imperilled by U. S. operations in the Marianas, strong units of Japan's imperial fleet closed for a major battle with the U. S. navy, which had long dared the enemy to come out and fight First indication of the presence of strong Jap naval forces in the Marianas Mari-anas area was in the engagement of large squadrons of carrier-based en emy planes in battle with U. S. task forces supporting ground operations on Saipan, where marines and doughboys occupied the whole southern tiD of the island and pressed on against the big settle ment of Garapan. Announcing that the enemy had lost 600 planes in the opening phases of the Marianas campaign, U. S. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz reported that strong Jap naval formations un doubtedly ventured to sea to afford cover for the carrier-force, relying upon long range land-based aerial reconnaissance to size up the U. S. position and their own chances of success. While the two great fleets maneuvered for battle, U. S. troops secured airfields in the Dutch New Guinea area, placing U. S. air forces within 880 miles of the Jap-held Jap-held Philippines, which the enemy has converted into a strong defen sive' pivot Production Behind-the-Scenes Stuff: News-shoD-talk includes the n-Tucged reasons for the unpopularity l'i Tve Gaulle in certain high political ii. , .fntpsman said: tie is to explain "e - - oi ue , . of surplus aluminum avail- place, One statesman .aid INDUSTRY: War First .... u k War board is moving slowly toward the EvMonment of plans for the recon- version of industry from war peacetime basis, future Jure of civilian goods will remam dependent upon military requirements. require-ments. WPB Czar Donald Nelson in- dicated. ..; hefnre a senate KrmTJwI-J-J DeGau . f nn - before any such production could be e" P Teeter Permitted. nnn . ?'nin8 ot,nroach with some Revealing that tne uu,vU p-ut. dahina) ers mainly are needed in foundries aee-da da dee . ft w foYges. synthetic rubber plants. w Thu got on u. - coast shipyards and tank factories. &oU. It is said Mr. .WW wiU Nelson said that the war jvianpuw cerury to u :Tth; hride" when srs as -r,u ; .3 P3 ilster: -now - Reconversion right." Mr. c. is tavt While indicating that civilian pre- answered, "but am ------ duction would have to wait on the with the groom . . . - output of war goods. Nelson aiso ,uu . . . - toe IUUU1U U i'ti" - Americans ... , . - tTinn'- nlnma fnr nn flVtnlilri not 1 veaiea mat me ro - . wi-nt!" orderly reconversion included per-first to yell: "We Will Flghtl , mission for manufacturers to c-uy Radi, Har. machinery, tools and dies for con- The Squelch Proper. Radi. nar burner items starting July 1. rls relay. Under WPB plans, manufacturers between Jane Cowl and Philip Merl-also Merl-also will be allowed to apply for vale when they appeared to The materials for the production of a Road to Rome" hit TheU . quarrel working model of any product de- ing finally aroused director Lester signed for postwar marketing so as Lonergan, who succinctly said. I to enable them to solve mechanical just want to remind you. MU problems now and be in readiness Cowl, that the bUUng on tWs pl.J Js for immediate large-scale output ; Jane Cowl and PhUip erivale. not Long opposed by older, estab- Jane Cowl vi. Philip Merivale. lished companies still tied up in warj work, newer concerns will be al- Oop: Recently Nazi prisoner of lowed to manufacture civilian goods war escaped from the stockade at whenever thev may be free to do so, CamD Crowder. He learned the Nelson said. Familiar Scene Secret Weapons . rV&U cr'J irJT: location of the camp's supply ware house and got there without being detected. He broke in, shed hit PW uniform, put on an American uniform uni-form that draped him perfectly. But then he made the boner resulting in bis capture. I Hunting through a stack of hats he put one on that fit him. Then he stepped out across the . camp ground, and was seized almost at once. i He had on the hat of a WAC. were armed, and needless to say the Germans were somewhat surprised. sur-prised. They surrendered without much trouble. However, it is not always as easy as that and since it isjm axiom of military history that for every new ! seaport at Canton. Capture of Can arm of offense, an arm of defense . ton would extend Jap control over is developed, we may expect fresh the whole eastern coastal sector, in obstacles to be created which these (which the enemy already has estab-youngest estab-youngest sons of Mars will have to lished many heavy industries in ex- meet as tney grow older. B R I K F S . . . by Baukhage More than 2,000.000 dozen essential essen-tial items of infants' and children's wearing apparel will be produced during June, July and August, according ac-cording to the WPB. Release of an additional 12.000,000 pounds of dried prunes from the 1943 production to civilians has been authorized by WFA. . ploiting the natural and human re-I re-I sources of China. M0RE TANKS l The army has ordered a reduction I in the quantity of .50-caliber ma-! ma-! chine guru for airplanes that are be- Rumanian authorities are having ing n4i on contract One com-s? com-s? much difficulty equipping their ipany's schedule has been cut down army that all men called into i by 40 per cent and six other manu-service manu-service are instructed to bring along facturers face smaller cutbacks, two changes of underwear. On the other hand, construction of tanks is going to be increased con- The number of persons working j siderably. Losses of these vehicles on farms in the United States on ; on the Normandy front have exeppd. April 1 was about 3 per cent lower ed expectations. The production than in the same period last yer schedule of tanks of all classes was curtailed several months ago. Loaded with explosives and propelled by a mixture of air and gasses, Germany's pilotless rocket plane launched from the French coast loomed as the Nazis' boasted secret weapon. Following reports of the first appearance of the rockets travelling at low level at about 250 miles per hour and tapering off at a 30 degree angle to explode ex-plode with the force of a 1,000-pound 1,000-pound bomb, another, more terrifying, ter-rifying, rocket streaked across the British sky, whirring at 600 miles per hour and leaving pursuing pur-suing Spitfires far to its rear. As the Nazis directed the rockets at London and British channel ports, the Allied air command sought to check the surprise attack by bombarding the French coast from which the infernal machines were being launched and intensifying antiaircraft anti-aircraft fire over the threatened areas. ; - PRICE CONTROL: Postwar Curb If an inflationary cyclone similar to the one following World War I is to be headed off, the U. S, may be compelled to maintain price control for some time after the conclusion of the present conflict until production produc-tion begins to balance demand, OPA price director Jean Carroll declared. de-clared. "If the automobile industry, and the same applies to producers of washing machines, refrigerators, electric irons and the like, can fill all its orders in the first year after the war, there obviously will not be much need for the OPA" Carroll said. "But ... it may take these industries two or" three years to satisfy consumer demands. If this happens, a lot of people will not get cars and other things they want, and this will produce a definite inflationary in-flationary prospect . . To prevent sky-rocketing of prices in certain lines, it may be necessary neces-sary to continue general control over all items until goods become available in quantity, Carroll declared. MISCELLANY DAIRY PRODUCTS: More butter but-ter and cheese will be available for civilians this July than last year, for the government has reserved a smaller proportion of these dairy foods for military and lend-lease needs. The July butter "set -aside" has been reduced from 50 per cent of the available supply to 45 per cent, and for Cheddar cheese the reduction reduc-tion has been from 70 to 60 per cent Ouch: It happened before Supreme Su-preme Court Justice Aaron J. Levy. The man before him said: "I would like to change my name. It's been a source of great embarrassment to me." "What is your name?" asked Hiz-zoner. Hiz-zoner. "Levy," said the fellow. "Rarely in the life of any jurist," was the caustic retort, "come. Vi ara a m rt nr mYiinYt Ytm n o try onf To doughboys of World War I. this with such pleasure." ' World War II scene in typical F rench j village occupied by Allied soldiers Shawt-shawt: Returned bomber must bring back memories of some of pllots haye favorite story not new the short-lived gayety back of the lines , . ... ... -. , . t i .l t , ,i to some of us on the papers. It deals before resumption of the push to the ... ., . front. 016 U s- 1,0111061 crew flying over Switzerland, which was hailed NAVAL OIL: a radio by the ground crew of a it j p . i Swiss anti-aircraft battery. "This is Linaer control neutral territory. Get away or we'll Stirred by the navy's agreement open fire." with Standard Oil company of Cali- "Yes, we know," replied the fornia for the operation of its rich Yanks, to which the guns ack-acked. Elk Hills. Calif., field a year ago, "Hey," radioed the Americans, congress established a new prece-"your shells are exploding 1,000 dent by passing legislation under yards below us." which it will directly control ex-j "Yes," was the reply, "we know." ploitation of naval reserves. Approved by President Roosevelt1 Newspaperman Stuff: Editor and despite his objection that it would Publisher reports that Lowell Mel-endow Mel-endow congress with executive pow- fctt (who recently quit his post as ers, tire legislation stipulates that ass't to the President to do a syndi-congress syndi-congress shall specify the amount cated column) has just been granted 01LW,hiCh removed frora 5 raise by the St. Louis Post- Elk Hills, and the navy secretary Dispatch-a raise he requested 40 may not condemn lands or enter years ago into any contracts or leases without At that" time. Mellett asked his prior consultation with congres- managing editor for the pay-hike sional naval committee when e Division of authority as pre- P-D was am th w ..! scribed in the legislation would only colyum. It pays him the Z uneconomi- rot when a rpnnrto. lead to inefficient and cal administration, the said. . President CHEAP CLOTHING: Spur Production Dollar and cent ceilings on low- priced clothing were announced by As a matter of principle, Mellett Mel-lett asked the present editor to pay $5 extra. He got this reply: "Okay. Sorry you had to wait so Inno fn .. a w. Merciless Truth: John Erskine re- tv. nffin i n-: a j - . Calls a pnlloo. t. - . . me umic ui r ute uiiiuiusirauon as -is ucau wuo usea to say part of a special production program you couldn't teach a man mathe-to mathe-to stimulate manufacturing of these matics there was a girl in the items. room, or' if you could, he wouldn't Cotton house dresses will sell for worth teaching. $1.49 or less, women's cotton slips! for 65 cents, men's shirts for $1.33 Hehenehc The editor of This Week and shorts for 39 cents. Extra size convulsed the column with the one dresses will retail at $1.69 and over-1 .ut toe "ntry who heard a size slips at 75 cents. I noise and called out: "Who goes The WPB has allocated 17 million thtTtsV' A voice from the darkness yards of cotton fabrics for the pro- ""wed: "Lieut Jones. Let me gram which is limited to July i throun-" August and September. The sched'! T1 cant let vu Proceed, sir, with-ule with-ule calls for 2,142,852 shirts, 5.000,004 Password," .aid the sentry pairs of shorts, 1.596,000 house' J00 fergoodnesssakes." said the dresses, and about 1.021,272 cotton fficer' "yu know me well slips. j enough. Let me through." To guard against shoddiness, the''.."No can do" was the retort tvne and minimum v..-.i .1 Pntta him .u. . " -- omuuiii oi mate- T passwora, sir. i.-i iu ue usea in eacn earm.M have been specified, and standards wuai men a dier in the bored-with-it-all sol-nearby sol-nearby guardhouse of workmanshi yelled: "Oh , . . ... . -iiouucuon , -- Biana mere arsu. have been established. AID RUSS Two million tons of war materials tog all night-shoot him." Quotation Mart-v,-. . Eobinson: A BMr" " have been shipped to Russia on . ?hea he good for m lend-lease ba.i. during the first fom feel worse he feels better inuul5 01 me year. Leo Crowley! ' ""Why F. Grant: Hnw rareign economic administrator. an"! are e guilty of HatriouW 2C!. in.cld 40.000 trucks J Innis: The froSnS 52?J.?7- d .6'600 mo; Reswore crckerwhih ,c.iiCa. iu marcn and Aoril ai- . m. Cousins! Th. 1 more than 1,200 planes and nn .Ztj ounds of the b,.ih- "C7 mgbt and tank destrnvr. " . V , window. t"'" "awea the ered. Sine October. 1941 ats. destroyers were deliv- 9 tntal in 400 000 tons of supplies have b Z sent to the soviet union. windows. uvuie notTmnn. r water: Poeta m 7 " ' Tm' -numenmrenta.13' tleman" mev don't know Kitten AlSiiffJi un iowcls,Cu Pattern No. 51(S THESE seven, srnilb busybodies of kittens y"irLauvery good hUIt; deed. Each design for tow kitchen curtains, for the c: of a breakfast cloth, is abo 6 inches and is done n cross and outline. a - To ebtaln transfer patterns fa J luncuB, iMiuia oi stitches usf chart for wnrkinff th f;it- m "' o -.. .xiiicu 1011-EJ tern No. 51621 send in 1 name, address and the pattern J SEWING CIRCLE NEEDLEM new raonigomery a, San Francisco, Calii. Enclose 15 cents (plus one J cover cost ox mailing) for p: No Name Address- ,:le Fie wood fc dbyt by hii things lie or iging I Mild Digitalis Before the war digitalis ki ported almost exclusively from tral Europe. When foreign st-were st-were cut off, domestic neec; pended on wild digitalis whit been harvested for a nuir.ktj years on the Pacific coast Aussie Unionism More than 1,100,000 Austri are trade unionists. This is If thousand population comparec the 91 per thousand American are members of AFL or CIO. unionism has not been a s. growth. Not for Women Men's garments are not p: tioned for women. They fit: over a woman's bust and hi; are therefore less comfortabl; durable and less attractive those especially women. Bathtub Design The trend in postwar batht. sign is toward the low : equipped with a seat. The to will be easier and safer to ; and to get out, safer to te roomier inside and easier to : Peaniit Butter A peanut butter idea for ta is to top the toast or par with peanut butter and citrus malade. For lunch combine! butter and bacon in broiled wiches. Pasture Plants Give pasture plants the ; tunity to develop a good roots and get well established ! beginning grazing in the sprc; K girl iin' cli Isuddei fte Ma; ros En ing E Jarthy d her irimonj i Umeml I which rjman I lolls' te bin Jies in JTS" ,jaaed Pi Apparei m thai "f, at t up 1 IfOne a the I CBS I sumi 4S tO ! I sing ifx. J jforgi; e cast igoti the sti shich raj we: fe'raii i spei was at fiClme Jar' Htyp !ff ! too for 1 always 'hers WHY TAKE HARSH UM!, Simple Fresh Fruit I' Makes Purgatives Um.' essary for Most Feof ; trt overconif fitipation without harsh W Uiink jutce of 1 uniasi.n a glass of water urst Most people find tha iiccu surauiaies w Lemon and water is I WftTl T.AmAno Ufa est sources of vitamin y. 1 combats fatigue, helps res - and infections. They buff nhla omnniih nf vitaillinS P. They pep up appetiM and water has a fresh tang') clears the mouth, vases j-atarts j-atarts you going1. , Try this grand wale-oP ' yon ! Use California LemoBS. roe leplic IPing I froi Hchei th Irchie Phed Uls. y a Ni f-enc ais .kttei ,K;an . BEAOTYIJ Write for FREE 1 It tens a dellfhlhil .li tr ,1.1. r ii .k.. lost S textur wftcr . . soMOtber. Tr 32,000,000 Jars beea pur cssmttic counter, ia th it fealf ceaturr. A postal card -rins a this tntc. stinc story to too. THE ST1LLMAN CO. trvt. B AURORA. ILL. i"in NIC! 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