| Show 5 FT w iw jar u ass assy sy y ff y w iwa sy R ss sy wt c I 1 65 ifa 9 av A F 5 pad gag LA 45 L g i E 30 how long will war last answer A answer remains in doubt I 1 I 1 successful american offensive result of thorough ali planning two possibilities may alter picture in russia by leivi and ami commentator 0 features peature ea iain 1313 it II street N W vali ington do I 1 C how flow long will tho the war lost last two things llave have llop happened pene d in tho the lant weeks which anve made people ask that question again even it the remains as deep in the mire of speculation as ever the first event 1 Is s the significant pissing passing of the first milestone on the rod road to tokyo on tile the little islands and about taulagi harbor which british admiral jellicoe in the last war suld said contained the finest natural harbor in the world the marines landed and now have tho the situation well in hand the first american offensive in the war was accomplished not with out losses but with success and ns as n result of a plan worked out nearly live five months ngo ago it was a surprise attack and yet there were many in washington who guessed that something was about to pop in the pacific they did not know what they have any idea that it would be on the scale of the battle of the solomons dut but for a full week before it took place I 1 found great interest in certain quarters in the activities of the japanese in thosa islands the people I 1 talked with probably know what the navy was planning they were not naval officers but they did know that tho the japs were busy as aa bees completing a fine airfield on guadalcanal Guadal canal and setting getting ready to prepare other complete installations stal lations on the nearby islands especially developing and protecting the tulaga harbor for a submarine base also japanese forces there would bo be too near the island of df new cole cale donla on which american forces are stationed starlone d tor for comfort new caledonia is muth imus further south opposite the western coast pt of australia I 1 mentioned this activity of the japanese in the solomons on the air more than once right up to tho ovo eve of f the battle and nobody questioned zoned my script I 1 mean there was no question from the censor perhaps even tile tho censor in on the anyhow the blow was just about to be ba struck it was struck and it may mean the turning point in the battle of the so much on tho the credit side russian picture but bitt in the same weeks which saw this achievement of american arms the tha russian picture began to untold unfold as darkly as the pessimists pictured it the story of the campaign of the caucasus Is not over yet but the nazi armies have carried on so tar far at a tempo beyond that which even the pessimists did not calculate upon two things may brighten the russian picture the sudden appearance on tile the northern fronts of a mysterious army of red reserves which some believe have been hid bid den in the long shadows that cloak all of cussins russins Rus sias sins war plans second the revelation of much greater losses on the part of the germans tn than are evident at this writing based on developments to date however washington hopes for a short war as one military man put it to me but Is preparing tor for a long one I 1 suppose a short one we would uld be defeat of hitler by 1944 1044 a long one any longer than that with the fighting in the foreast for east to continue still longer and then the indefinite period when united nations troops will have to patrol the world to keep a semblance of order the reasons for these prognostic are first tho the fact thit hitler now has food and oil in his grip second with a strong german army in control of the caucasus and rus sias chief area of raw materials and war industries cut off the red army can be of no positive military assistance istance to the united nations unless those mythical reserves turn up this means that germany cannot be barken by blockade that a powerful expeditionary force will have to defeat hillers Hit lers armies more predictions speaking of predictions there have been many of late concerning the war and a number have been gathered together in a very readable page book called prophets and portents thomas Y crowell company by rolfo boswell no swell these somewhat vague prophecies do not intrigue mo me very much but they are interesting reading one however which has been quoted considerably of late Is more modern than most of the rest and Is remarkable to me because it actually uses tile tho word fascism although it was written in 1812 and so for ns as I 1 know that word had never been used to do dc scribe a form of government it Is by heinrich heine written after his self exile to paris this Is what wrote just a hundred years ago when revolution starts spreading around tho the world wo we shall witness the advent of the most frightful of all flomen who ever set out to fight ight against tho the established way of life this opponent has not appeared as yet but will arise under the name fascism and will bo be tho the most competent enemy who over has counter marched against tho the existing order war will be only tho the first scene in tho the titanic drama and will all be just a curtain ralser raiser the second act will be tho the european revolution and world revolution tho the gigantic conflict between those who have and those who lack the future tells us ua of crue cruelties cruel ties of blood of and of vast in and plotting I 1 warn our grandchildren grandchild en to come into the world with shoulders and backs pad ded heavily it well may be that tile the ancient belief of absolutist tyranny will stop step out upon the worlds stage onca again this time in new attire with now new war cries and shibboleths bolet hs where men are men afen and women are absent just about the time that news came to washington that the japs had landed on attu aatu island in tho the aleutians Aleut lana ians I 1 received a 0 copy of tile the kodiak dear benr now I 1 have ho had a nodding peanut tossing acqua acquaint nt once ance with a couple of kodiak be bears rs at the washington zoo for many years but most people I 1 never connected their name with an american base oft off alaska where this journal Is published the bear Is a six page seven column newspaper with a red hot head headwaiter writer and some very p peppery correspondents on its staff I 1 would not estimate or identify its circulation if I 1 could since it is printed for the american forces that Is probably a military see secret ret but whoever the readers are they certainly are a lively lot according to the accounts of their doings and they have a variety of tastes that Is clear from a two column headline on a page one story it reads baseball visiting fishing girts religion keep outfit busy where men are men the story reads and women just arent something must be done to take up idle moments the men have constructed ted themselves ping pong tables and tournaments are frequent but gentle render reader dont lot men tion of that innocuous pastime of table tennis mislead you the baseball has started to cleave the air the reporter continues and many have taken up axe and knife throwing not so innocuous I 1 would say fishing tackle Is out too and the chronicler predicts that it wont be long before tho the smell of fresh hi frying on the griddle will be a delight the very idea Is a delight right now twice a week religious meetings are held but as for the ladles indies the last paragraph reveals the sad truth the news on that score is limited to heartbreaking heart breaking accounts of soldiers who dont get those letters from back home any more it il seems the writer from far kodiak concludes absence makes the heart grow fonder for somebody else ask the man who n no 0 longer ong r owns one to men there Is real pathos in that its bad enough to be a soldier in a foreign land but in the lonely domain which the kodiak bear reveals as its habitat it must take a lot of ping pong knife throwing etc to make up tor for the things inanimate and otherwise these boys left behind them |
