Show N nazi submarine menace Is allies chief problem pro fabricated U boats said to boost german output vanishing Luft puzzles united rations nations military observers by news analyst and commentator UNU service 1313 11 II street NW washington 1 0 it will be a long and bitter war that rit was the remark or of the australian minister of 0 defense in n recent interview two days later I 1 heard n gen general cial who had visited many fronts make a 0 similar statement you havo have heard the same prediction made froin dozens of officials and the strange thing Is it Is ustia usually lly preceded with an account of allied successes nothing but a but stands between the enu enumeration meri of victories achieved and the prediction of the long hard road ahead since this perplexed me I 1 tried to got get a concrete answer from various persons as to just what lies on the long hard road out of the answers two obstacles stand out tile the submarine and the story of the vanishing only recently has it been definitely revealed that the greatest and most effective weapon Is the submarine for a long time the british permitted only the most general statements regarding tho the sinking of allied or even neutral ships by U boats lately because tt it was realized th that at the people were in ignorance of the extent of this menace more detailed statements have been made although still no figures are given out we know that america Is building ships faster than american ships are beling being ounh bunk wo we know that tile the margin between launchings and sin kings Is very narrow and we know that launchings alone do not really balance sin kings hull for hull bull because the enemy sinks loaded ships valuable cargoes are destroyed trained men not easily or immediately replaceable are killed or at least taken out of action for ions periods gaps are left la in the war effort with each lost cargo when I 1 was in berlin covering tho the outbreak of the european war in 1930 1939 1 heard a great deal of talk about germanys germanas Germ anys counter blockade lowthe how tho nazis could fill seas their U boats there was much talk of the great numbers which could be produced by the american method of tho the assembly line I 1 had no idea how much truth there was in those statements then men in the months that followed not much was said about the V U boats for a period when they were operating on our coasts america was conscious or of their presence but when they were driven out of sight of our shores they were driven out of mind as well nazi boasts largely confirmed now we learn how great their depredations are on the shipping lanes where they converge in the eastern atlantic con confirming flrming to some degree the german boasts which are sounding again it Is stated by british naval observers that the germans are pre fabricating the subs making the parts in factories scattered all over the retch reich and assembling them in great underground caverns hewn gout fout of the rock or covered with concrete on the shores of the day of biscay in france therein lies a clear and simple explanation of the allies greatest problem the chief obstacle on the long hard road 4 the second obstacle may be a fancied one but it is real in the minds of many the unknown is usually more tor tible than the known and perhaps this one Is nt at least partly a myth but no hardheaded realist can allord afford to underestimate the potentialities those who believe this obstacle exists say it la Is hidden behind the mystery of the vanishing 11 according to military men there are arc at present very few german planes on the russian front I 1 heard a recent estimate of one seventh as many as a year ago there are not many german planes over africa the allies have at least achieved parity in air power where Is the german its presence darkened the skies of europe once has it really vanished been used up tip worn out tho factories fac which turn out replacements all destroyed by allied bombers Is its necessary fuel and lubrication exhausted some people think that this his nt at least to a large degree ilc Birc Is true hut but that explanation does docs not seem scent reasonable german advances in synthetic gas we know that germany hos has made remarkable advances in the manufacture of synthetic gasoline and oils we know that some oil has been retrieved from the oil all fields in russia new ones developed in austria if germany Is not yet starved of gasoline and lubricants if tile the has not really disappeared from the earth its absence from the air may have ano another ther moaning meaning wo we know that in spite of the heavy german losses in men and material in russia germany still has a large and powerful army possibly over fully equipped divisions trained men it Is estimated that aside from soldiers engaged in russia and north africa the garrisons in the occupied countries there must be a striking mobile army of a million men and more of course these are estimates but they are not overestimates and besides this army there is the vanished the assumption is that this great army like the air force is resting conserving and building up its strength for or one of two things either a long last stand defense of the borders of the reich or one more powerful offensive meanwhile we know that every day that japan Is allowed to occupy the rich possessions of her stolen empire she Is nearer to the exploitation of their resources the development of which will make her stronger and every day she is left undisturbed by a major attack she is able to increase her fortifications wear down the chinese and spread her stiver silver bullets among the less lesa loyal war lord followers on the fringe of chiang kol kai central army there are two factors which make the road ahead a hard one the present success successful fule operation and the rapid replacement of the german submarine flotilla and tho the probability that germany is holding back a powerful army and air force either for another telling blow or to de fend its strongly fortified terrain ideologies put them on an ice As I 1 go wandering round the town taking a look in every quarter with apologies to wan eyed reilly I 1 have acquired data in the last few days that have convinced me that we will have to expunge the word ideology from the bright lexicon of war it we are going to win I 1 have observed three places where the ideologies have gotten in and done more damage than a buffalo moth in an overstaffed overstuffed over staffed stuffed sofa of course in north africa it may be the climate or the rainy season ideologies have done some of their most devastating work I 1 have conversed with an army officer an official who knows that terrain and also what it produces a newspaper philosopher and a radical all of them look ut at the situation or on tile the shores of the mediterranean a little differently the official explains explain that the politics aro are very important the redl cal happy over the success against all fascists but infuriated fur furia ted over using them even to help defeat themselves shouts we should have shot darlan darien tho the day after he served his purpose well remarks the official somebody did they the army officer calls the whole controversy a backyard row that will be forgotten as ground dries up and the allies got get a few victories but the correspondent philosopher paused to analyze ile he said you have heard that one thing that greatly improved the morale in the russian army was making the officers supreme and re moving the authority of the com which were originally placed at their elbows you know the russian officers could make no move without the okay of the commissar and yet the officer was responsible if anything went wrong now the officer has the final word many of the former who had military training have become officers |