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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Terrific Air Offensive Against Nazis Is Opened With Epic Rr.id on Cologne; Violent Fighting in Battle of Kharkov Drains German Reserves in Ukraine (KDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are thoe of the news analyst and not necessarily ot this newspaper.) I , - , - Released by Western Newspaper Union. . I 200 MILES J ' JrJJI J Wf LIBYA: Allies Meet Rommel's Drive From Cairo came the first reports of the opening of a new offensive by the Nazis across the sands of Libya in a drive for Egypt, then Iraq and the rear gate to the Caucasus. It was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel Rom-mel who was leading the German tank forces ag3inst the British in this hot desert campaign. But Rommel's Rom-mel's rush met not only the British. It met the full power of American-made American-made tanks. And with these tanks, Lieut. Gen. Neil M. Ritchie's British troops turned the first spearhead of the Nazis and the terrific engagement of armored forces began once more. The fury of the battle was described de-scribed as so fierce that a decision in the Tobruk area would not be long in coming, for one side or the other would be forced soon to yield. GULF: Frontier Command As the submarine menace continued contin-ued to mount in the Gulf of Mexico, Mexi-co, the U. S. navy created a gulf sea frontier command and the army at the sa?ne time placed the coastal region along the gulf in a military area. This would mean that the district dis-trict along the gulf coast from Florida Flor-ida to the Rio Grande would be subject sub-ject to dimouts and blackouts. Rear Admiral James Laurence Kauffman was chosen by the navy to command gulf sea frontier and Lieut. Gen. Walter Krueger, head of the southern defense command for the army, was in charge of the land fighting forces in the district. No evacuation of citizens was ordered or-dered and the army emphasized that civilians within the military area would not be restricted except as to lighting. Headquarters for the navy forces fighting the submarines in the area will be at Miami. POISON GAS: Halts Chinese "Poison gas" was the cry from China as the Japs were reported to have resorted to this method oi fighting to stem a sustained drive by the Chinese to capture fallen Kinhwa and Lanchi in the Chekiang province. This was not the first time that the Chinese had accused the Japs oi using poison gas. Last fall at Ichang, a Yangtze river port, it was officially charged that gas had been used. Also in recent fighting in Burma, Bur-ma, the Jacs had used gas when The above map shows why Hitler drove his armies toward Kerch. Beyond Rostov and the Crimea lies the fabulously rich land called the Caucasus. Larger than the state of Texas, it is wealthy in oil and metals. met-als. However, Russian warriors at Kharkov may well shatter the Nazi dream to bits. RUSSIA: Kharkov Claims While local encounters were being reported on the Kharkov front in the Ukraine, the operation was considered con-sidered as having resulted in two vital factors: The Kharkov battle drained German Ger-man reserves and diverted a minimum mini-mum of 36 German divisions which had been massed for an all-out offensive of-fensive against Rostov. A Russian communique stated that while "attempting to improve their positions, the Germans threw in large reserves for three days in continued counterattacks. All counterattacks coun-terattacks were repulsed with great losses to the enemy." Claiming a brilliant success in the 19-day Kharkov campaign, the Russians Rus-sians admitted the loss of 75,000 troops 5,000 killed and 70,000 missing. miss-ing. However, a ReeJ army communique com-munique claimed the capture or killing kill-ing of 90,000 Germans. The same communique pointed out that Soviet offensive operations in the Kharkov region were started only in order to forestall the anticipated an-ticipated blow of the Nazis. The Russian plans did not include the capture of Kharkov. The communique communi-que concluded: "Now that these battles bat-tles are nearing their end, it can be said that the main task put forward for-ward by the Soviet command to forestall the German blow has been completed. MEXICO: Power for Camacho hard pressed, the Chinese had reported. re-ported. This time, an army communique from Chungking said, the Japs had used this method of fighting only after stubborn resistance by the Chinese had threatened to turn the Chekiang offensive into a Jap defeat. de-feat. CIVILIAN DEFENSE: West Coast The equipping of West coast police and firemen with gas masks gave evidence that the Pacific seaboard is bracing itself for an enemy at- HITLER'S EUROPE: Gets a Taste From London came the first word of the new United Nations offensive against Hitler on his home grounds occupied Europe. This first word Was described as part propaganda and part actual heavy aerial warfare. war-fare. The propaganda effect was to strike a definite element of fear into the hearts of the German people peo-ple by announcing that high U. S. officials had arrived in London to plan an all-out attack upon the Nazis. There was loud talk of non-stop bombing attacks on the Reich. Said some reports, these attacks would be the heaviest and most fearful the world had ever seen. For the first time American bombing crews were taking their places in the non-stop bombing raids being dealt to industrial indus-trial centers of the Rhineland. The London radio let the German Ger-man people know that Britain was being visited by U. S. Services of Supply Commander Somervell, Air Borne Command (Ground Forces) Commander Lee, SOS Chief of Operations Op-erations Lutes, and SOS Transportation Transporta-tion Services Chief Gross. Army Air Forces Commander Arnold and Chief of Naval Operations (Air) Towers had arrived previously and were already in conference with British military and government leaders, said an official report from Allied headquarters in London. OS Commander Somervell told a London press conference that U. S. and British officials were conferring on a program to standardize military mili-tary equipment, including tanks and planes. From Washington came a report quoting Army Chief of Staff Marshall Marsh-all as saying that American tooops are "landing in England and they will land in France." Cologne But the Nazis had something to listen to t!jat was stronger than propaganda. It was the whir of 1,250 British bombers and the thud of 6,000,000 pounds of high explosive bombs as the RAF unleashed the "most devastating aerial raid in history" his-tory" to level and burn three-fourths of the industrial city of Cologne in a single night. , Called the first of the "four-figure" bombing raids on German industrial centers, this raid on Cologne saw a British bomber swoop over its objective ob-jective once every six seconds. Equipped with both British and American-made planes the raiders were reported by London sources to have made the vicious Nazi annihilations annihi-lations on Britain last year look feeble fee-ble by comparison. Even Berlin admitted that terrific damage had been done. The Royal Air force used so many planes in the mass raid that anti-aircraft defenses de-fenses were of little use. This method meth-od wa described as "super-saturating" the Nazi target field so that his aim was constantly diverted. One after another the planes dove low to blast their objectives. One Canadian flier was quoted as saying that when his turn came so much of the city was in flames that he felt like leaving leav-ing the scene and seeking another target It didn't seem possible, he said, to do any additional damage. AUSTRALIAN FRONT: Exchanges After a lull of over a week, aerial fighting on the Australian front began be-gan again. This time it took the shape of a series of exchange blows by first the Allied forces and then the Japanese. Heaviest Allied attacks were by American and Australian planes striking at enemy invasion bases at Rabual and Lae. There was also a heavy raid on the Jap seaplane base at Tulagi in the Solomon islands. With Mexico's proclamation of hostilities, 11 of the 21 American republics became aligned in the war against the Axis. In addition to the United States, war has been declared by Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Gua-temala, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Domin-ican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador Sal-vador and Honduras. Eight other Western hemisphere nations have broken off diplomatic relations. In paving the way for war on the Axis, the Mexican senate approved a bill to suspend 14 constitutional guarantees, including freedom of the press and the right of habeas corpus. cor-pus. The vote was 53 to 0. Gen. Salvador Sanchez, chief of Mexican general staff, announced that a supreme national defense council with Camacho at its head was being established to mobilize resources re-sources and manpower. The high command has ordered strong army units into positions on the gulf and Pacific coast. GASOLINE: Rationing After WP3 Automotive Division Chief Kanzler had stated that gasoline gaso-line rationing on a nationwide scale would help in relieving potential rubber rub-ber and automotive replacement parts shortages, Board Chairman Nelson said that administrative difficulties dif-ficulties will make it impossible to start a rationing system before July 1. The Office of Price Administration meanwhile was reporting that the June ration quota of new passenger automobiles will be 40,000, plus carryover of unused quotas from March, April and May. James M. Landis, left, director ol the Office of Civilian Defense, talks with Stanley W. Donogh, assistant regional director OCD director ir Seattle. Speaking at Portland, Ore., Landis said: "This is a priority region, tops in our strategic thinking. think-ing. I've directed (civilian defense) equipment here to the anger of othei regions." tack which Secretary of War Stim-son Stim-son considers likely.' Gas mask pouches made their appearance ap-pearance in coast cities from Seattle to San Diego. Mass distribution oi masks to civilian defense workers was begun at the same time. The defense activity followed Stim-son's Stim-son's warning that a reprisal raid by Japan for the Tokyo bombing is a distinct possibility. New shipping precautions were taken along the Gulf of Mexico when night shore lighting from New Orleans Or-leans to Brownsville was ordered blotted out by the army. SMALL BUSINESS: Tivo Moves The house of representatives has passed and returned to the senate legislation setting up a Small Business Busi-ness corporation to make loans which would enable small firms tc obtain war contracts. Meanwhile the commerce depart ment was issuing suggested procedures pro-cedures for establishing Business Wartime clinics to aid local business men in working out current problems prob-lems of dislocation and changes ir their businesses. |