Show VIA washington D 0 mediterranean MIX UP inside story on general Wavel wavelle ls transfer to india as told in dip diplomatic M dispatches Is that wavell had been quarreling with churchill and had opposed political military moves such as the campaign in greece and crete and the expedition to solum more important from the american point of view wavell had favored the evacuation of all british forces from the entire mediterranean area and U S military experts agreed with himin fact urged it so although in a sense general wavell is being demoted yet in other respects he will be in a position t to 0 com command british forces from an area to which he had urged that british forces retreat for some time general wavell had contended that britaina Brit ains position in the mediterranean was indefensible the british force of only men in the near east faced a combined axis total twice as strong germans and italians in libya plus nazis in greece bulgaria and rumania the latter figure has been partially diminished by transfers to russia but wavell argued that the nazi fascist armies could concentrate attack att ackIn in one place while british troops had to spread out over a far flung line from libya to syria and iraq therefore he disagreed with churchill on all military moves mom which had a political motive U S worried over atlantic U S military and naval strategists sided with wavell were strong for the idea of bf a complete british withdrawal from the mediterranean the strategy behind this was twofold 1 the british have lost 40 per cent of their original mediterranean fleet the losses at crete were much worse than officially admitted and even in the syrian campaign naval losses were considerable therefore american naval men facing the probability of having to help the british fleet in the atlantic did nol no want the fleet further weakened 2 the united states is more interested te in what happens on the bulge of africa afric i a around dakar opposite brazil than it is inthe in the mediterranean to this end both general wavell and U S strategists favored the idea 0 of withdrawing british forces from the mediterranean entirely and establishing tab lishing a new line of defense across the very center of africa from port sudan on the red sea to freetown on the atlantic ocean this line of defense meant that about 1500 miles of the hottest desert in the world would be between the nazis and the british lines over such a deser tit is difficult for tanks tank sto to operate without heating up also it is difficult for the average bomber to carry a load over such distances so it was expected that the nazis would exhaust themselves in the deep h ht hot 0 t deserts of africa part of the plan contemplated a highway straight across equatorial africa from freetown and later from dakar to port sudan churchill says no Howe however verp churchill was flatly opposed p so were many other bri british t is leaders they felt that the shock of withdrawal fro from m the mediterranean traditional sphere of Bri british i influence and from suez which had been identified with the british empire for years would be too much for the british public this debate occurred before the nazi attack on russia and before the british march into syria but after the slowness of wavelle Wavel ls success in syria all these factors culminated in his transfer to india there wavell can concentrate on defense of the most important part of at the empire if the nazis creep up on the indian border in south russia also he will not be in the mediterranean for the defense of which lie he had no great enthusiasm AZE MERRY RRY GO ROUND it was a breathless day in washington the only breeze was kicked up by the little subway car running between the thel senate office building and the capitol passenger hattie hatlie caraway senator from arkansas clutched at her flying strands af f hair curly haired sen berkeley bunker of nevada who succeeded to the wat seat of the late key pittman never misses a senate session and is assiduously studying parliamentary pr procedure 0 c e dur C V vice I 1 ce president wallace las aas called him to preside during his ibs absence e nc e more than any other senator united service organizations have i lad ad some big gifts but none more couching ou ching than the savings brought n by one harry katz who emptied m n the desk pennies 44 nickels sight ight dimes and one quarter displayed in the department of agriculture lobby are four practical amphlett lamph lets cockroaches and their control ont rol bedbugs causes and ures cures house ants and how to control fleas the president has on his desk a lew leathers leather briefcase fastened se arely at one end with a st steel ee I 1 |