Show VIA J aal A KI 11 washington D C BOMBER OUTPUT though not announced by the whito house two impelling factors actors were behind tho the presidents sensational letter to secretary stimson asking for or an immediate increase in the monthly output of 0 bombers one was the obvious need of providing britain with more and bigger planes to carry the offensive to germany second known only to inside authorities was intelligence information that the nazis arel area increasing the bomber force of their the reports are that the german air force now consists of the following six main air fleets each comprising 1000 bombers fighters and 73 75 planes a total of also there Is an independent air unit of 2760 2750 planes a naval air service of 1000 an opera tion altra in ing unit of and a transport organization of planes in addition to these first line ships Is a reserve of others plus trainers and transports grand total about planes german airplane production capacity Is estimated at planes a month including about BOO bombers bombero however except tor for bombers germany Is not now using her full production capacity as she need that that many new planes a month nazi march production Is estimated at 2200 ships of all types but only 1600 in april in may however intelligence reports are that nazi plane piano production to Is being stepped up tip to replace balkan and north african losses reports are arc vague about what the nazis are doing doln 9 with tho the nine goy gov and eleven private air aircraft crift plants in france most mosil of khem located in jhb occupied zone also regarding the eight dutch factories including the tha fokker works and the lov lorenteen enteen belgian plants these plants have largo large potential producing capacity but best beat information mation la is that the nazis are strip ping them of their machine tools and other othea equipment how much thia will boost the nazis planes a month Is only a guess duesi U S goal weakest link hitik 4 ln in german plane production to Is aluminum from cap lured pl planes enes tho thie british estimate that the nazis use about pounds of this vital metal per ship the american average is pounds the undisclosed bomber goal of 1041 to which roosevelt referred in his letter to stimson Is a month the four now new assembly plants in omaha tulsa kansas city and fort worth should produce about bombers bombera a month to double their output it will be necessary to build and equip at least as many new plants plus taking over an increased ratio of automobile and other plant facilities to turn out the ohp necessary parts the letter which director general knudsen sent auto makers that they will have to hold down their 1842 1943 car production to per cent of this years output ta in considered only ollya a beginning insiders predict that there will be another big cut soon 0 LATIN ADMIRALS the state department scored a ten striate when it finally persuaded the navy to invite the chiefs of latin american navies to visit the united states the junket definitely carried weight for the united states navy without any its ends ands or buts Is the most powerful in the world and the thing that counts counti in south america today Is the belief that this country can really ward oft off nazi invasion behind the tha scenes the man who helped most to dress the stage tor for latin american admirals was johnny thomason better known tor for his bis prolific pen portraits of the marines RM pants fix bayonets jeb stuart salt winds and gobi dust thomason Tho manon now a colonel in the tha marines had served in latin america knew the importance of the admirals visit other U S brass hats admiral harold stark chief of naval operations turned fumed ithol and fretted only wanted to show the good neighbors a few east coast stations at this point johnny thomason remarked this visit Is giving you a pain in tho the neck how about letting me take it over thomason insisted that the trip was important enough to do it right demanded more entertainment money from the white house and got it at first he worked on the idea of meeting the admirals with U S cruisers at Barr barranquilla anquilla colombia taking them out to the mid atlantic to view the U S naval patrol at work this was given up as too long and a coast to coast in spec tion of U S naval stations was substituted dietry 00 the GOP controlled kansas legislature hit bit rep jack houston long kansas democrat with every thing but the water bucket in gerrymandering man dering his district but he takes it philosophically when a salesman makes good on the job he says with a ON erl his territory Is increased U S military intelligence places the number of german panzer divi not over 20 out of a total of sZ sofio fiO divisions yak w 11 NIP xi CRETE an air test the big island of crete which prime minister churchill said would bo be defended to the death by an army composed of 0 general freyberg and new zealand british and greek troops undo under his command suddenly became ie the center crof of the wai war warthen when a dramatic and unexpected invasion of the island was made by airborne air borne nazi troops there were some early reports that the germans were coming also in normal transports but there was little doubt that the air test was preeminent and that the world was witnessing the first large aca scale le such endeavor since the days of tho the invasion 0 of norway and of the low countries particularly holland britain reported that the first 1500 soldiers who landed in chutes were wearing the new zealand uniform and coldly announced that they could expect to be shot all of them it was quickly reported were either elther killed or rounded up rapidly germany as promptly retorted that it if any of the parachutists were treated as spies nd shot 04 germany would reply ton ten to ono one in kind but the british and greeks have long to wait or long to contemplate what to do with the first 1500 by the second morning of the invasion tho the british radio was reporting that the nazi invasion force was and on the second afternoon hiked this figure to this brought the german force to at least one one full division and a good way into the second division and the british quickly estimated that this figure meant that the germans germani had from 2000 to airplanes on duty in southern greece the usual silence end and mystery of as to what actually was transpiring immediately med lately was clamped down by the te british ministry of information which contented itself with issuing such generalities as the situation Is in hand band leaving it up to the germans to give the world what information could bo be gleaned the german claims as usual were broad the nazis assorting asserting that many important points had been capt captured dred and that many british planes had been destroyed anthe on the ground british sources seemed willing to admit that the germans had utter mastery of the air but general freyberg said that every hilltop had its sentinel in crete that an elaborate method of signaling had been worked out and that even those ats who arrived at night were promptly spotted reported and given action from the ground forces neutral observers bb servers however pointed out opt that in order to effect large scale landing of troops who were not parachutists the germans must have obtained at least temporary control of landing fields or must be using emergency fields british reports told of many transport planes shot down with their cargoes of men both on the island and into the waters surrounding it however they also told of huge unwieldy transport planes towing numbers of gliders loaded with men and munitions a mode of transportation not reported in wide scale use before how large the force on crete was remained a mi military litan secret of the greeks and the british though there was considerable figuring done dona by those who had followed the course of the invasion of greece the british claimed that most of its army in greece hod had been taken back to td egypt there to rejoin the army of the nile and to be rearmed from now new supplies part of which had come from the united states while it was known that some forces got into crete and that the greeks salvaged considerable portions of one of its armies the quantity was largely a matter of guesswork most ol of the troops who got back to egypt were australians and british hence most observers believed there was probably about one division of now new Ze alanders in crete and possibly the same number of british and perhaps two or three times that number of greeks british dispatches admitted practically complete control of the air by the germans over crete and hence it was considered still more likely that the germans who had no particular need of crete might be trying the attack to test out in actual warfare what the parachute ests could do when well supported from aloft VICHY A turning point the flop of vichy strongly into the nazi encampment proved likely to prove a turning point as to americas entry into the war for one thing it flopped one popular poll on convoys from a minority to a majority and the administration in Nas washington hington which had been accused in some quat quarters of watching these polls before acting promptly announced that the convoy question has practically been sott settled bottled led president roosevelt it was said eald does not like the word convoys and la Is more in favor of the navy taking over portions of the atlantic and pacific even as far as the red sea for instance and helping to create protective lanes through which aid to britain ships could move safely this Is the method american ship ping experts have liked from the start but it was significant that americas course was charted along these lines the day after the polls reported 52 42 per cent in favor of convoying and 41 per cent opposed and th the other 7 percent undecided public 1 attention then turned to vichy and secretary hull warned france that she shw would have to give this country a plain and honest statement of just what her collaboration with germany would consist of before france could hope to restore franco american relations a state of amity this attitude was indeed a far cry from the days of 1917 and 1018 1918 and the time when the first doughboys dough boys landed in france with lafayette were here as their slogan hulls strong declaration came at the sume same time when it was announced that a british flotilla was hovering about the ports of martinique where the french aircraft carrier bearn beam and other vessels were bottled up there wits was some disquiet over the report that these ships had been out at sea but the british reported they were wera simply on maneuvers but if they were wee poised tor for an attempt t to run the british blockade it was likely that there would be e ither either fighting or scuttling or both in the south atlantic well within our sphere of influence mr hulls message to vichy showed plainly that the state department part ment has utterly lost faith in verbal pledges transmitted by the french envoy to this country gaston henry haytt the report that amba ambassador asador leahy would be recalled gained in stature uee and writers on the continent or recently returned from there believed that possibly tills this action which could not fail to got get ac across ross to the body of the french people might sway them to take a firmer stand toward germany y C tAA jafe big job r id i 6 41 Q this is general BC freyberg a new zealander who was in charge of tho the greek british defense of the island of crete when tho the nazi forces first loosed their air blitz against that stron stronghold when the british were forced to withdraw their air air force his duty dray became a gigantic task PLANES and months statistical proof that thousands ot of planes like rome cant be built in a day was given by admiral towers who reported to secretary of navy knox that tn in the past 10 months the navy has gained 1304 planes of all types the navy now has planes ot of all types including trainers and this compared with the british estimate that germany was operating about 2000 to planes in the battle of crete alone not couri counting ting those in use in other theaters ot of tho the war it also was significant that admiral towers report to mr knox was that the navy already Is experiencing perien perlen cing a shortage of pilots which coni compared pared with germanys germanas Germ anys reported pilots trained before the war started in tact fact it was this pilot training program which first called the attention of the world to germanys germanas Germ anys rebirth as a military power in spite of the restrictive efforts of the treaty of versailles of the 1304 planes the navy has added to her forces about of them are combat types admiral towers revealed the goal of fighting planes tor for the american army and navy combined was I 1 therefore envisioned as tar far in the future admiral towers revealing that not until january 1042 1942 will the existing shortage of pilots be relieved not until then will the number of pilots begin to catch up with the number of planes DRAFT A neto plan pennsylvania called out in excess of young men in the draft trying out what was called a new plan aimed to give the a break the plan was this the were to bo be called out and immediately given a searching examination along all lines including their final medical examination by the army doctors then they were to be returned to their homes and jobs those who were eligible to army life being placed on ca call H in from 10 to 39 30 days and the rest of them to return to their normal jobs secure in the knowledge that they would not bo be called this was aimed to remove much of the uncertainty which grew out of the previous method of selective service picking dr william mather lewis selective service director of pennsylvania said he was advised that if the experiment proved a success there it would be applied to the entire nation at the same time president roosevelt put into being the OCD or office of civilian defense with mayor florello fiorello laguardia ardla ofner vork ork its head working without salary as will all of his intermediaries also plans for the home guard were worked out at washington this group to function entirely sep aracely from the OCD which would ostensibly have a membership of millions of american men W women 0 men and even children one of the first tests of the united states against possible war was an entirely complete blackout of the hawaiian islands where even the isolated hamlets were darkened and planes of the american army and navy flew overhead to inspect the situation and to see how complete it was LABOR the general handling of the strike situation rapidly by the defense Medi mediation atlon board continued though widely criticized in certain quarters as being achieved at a price which eventually would make this nation a prey to inflation and rapidly coir soaring prices however there was a shipyard strike on the west coast which seemed tor for a time to defy settle ment although the much larger coal and motors strikes were well in hand ia t |