Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edw edward C wayne entire world Is thrust into battle As democracies unite to fight axis after germany and italy join japan in declaring war on Unit united edS states EDITORS NOTE eben 0 opinion pinions ar expressed la ia theme tol eol amii arans the they C those of 1 the lb news new a opinions a yet and no not r ay of this hl newspaper released ni oil by western newspaper union WAR around the world germany and italy were only four days behind japan in declaring war on the united states but washington was even taster faster in its reply r to the berlin rome challenge than to that given tokyo for on the very same day within afew a few hours hour after hitler and mussolini had announced their nations at war W r with the united states congress heard the presidents new war message and passed without A a dissenting vote formal recognition that a state ot of war existed congress followed this declaration of war with a swift and unanimous vote authorizing tees and the national guard to be sent an anywhere in the world an and d likewise extending their terms of service for the I 1 wars duration when the formalities were over and the united states found itself at war it 11 meant the real beginning of tho the second world war var of the he t twentieth century for the conflict has now spread to six continents of the globe disaster first the war with japan which had completed the missing parts of a true world war wai started on a note of disaster at sea following her age old of war the japanese had struck viciously and with force at six major points point of american tenure e in the pacific while her envoys envois of peace were still in communization with the american state department her answer to president roose belts last minute plea for peace in the pacific had been buento to swoop swoon down out of le leaden adeff skies on a sabbath dawn and deal death and destruction to pearl harbor the united states mid pacific stronghold the government declined to give full details of what happened other than to say that the casualties were large 1500 killed and about the same number wounded and the damage was extensive though g an mm 1 R i 41 4 T A rear hear admiral isaac campbell kidd commander of a battleship of the pacific fleet was the first high ranking officer of the navi navy to be reported killed in action during the japanese attack on pearl harbor definite losses consisted cofone of one battleship dap capsized sized and a destroyer sent to the bottom president roosevelt roosevelt went to the nation with an address in which he explained that thal the government had been unwilling to give out all the details until it was sure that the japi capi I 1 nese knew them hinting that to do so would aid and comfort the enemy this did not minimize tears fears that the disaster at pearl harbor was a major one at the same time the japanese launched a strong attack on the philippines also on the british in malaya and in the waters around singapore the japanese were apparently patently ly super confident and reckless of their deployment of fleet and airplanes in ono one 48 hour houf period following the wars beginning the U S announced the sinking of a japanese battleship the serious crippling of another and the sinking of one cruiser and one destroyer this was the first american answer to the pearl harbor surprise blow A report also from manila indicated that in the first s surface clash between the two fleets the japanese were forced to flee under tinder the cover ot of darkness and this battle ended without result but the main reaction was a desire to hearod hear of a victory however minor also the people were anxious I 1 ous to receive news of action on the part of american arms yet there was much of this in the background of events and many tales of heroism and american success came from the manila battlefield there were those observers who saw in the fact that the japanese did M not t immediately follow up the attack on pearl harbor evidence that punitive work on the part of the united states navy had been prompt and devastating RAIDS new fever evidence that the pacific coast could not consider itself safe at tall all from air air raids and alid that everi even inland points or the atlantic coast might be attacked was seen in a triple appearance of japanese planes over the golden gate reports that others were seen kofl alaska oregon lower california and the coast ol of panama an dother unverified rumors chief reaction to these chese warnings was the realization on the part of the people of their utter ed for anything of this sort there was little evident inclination to panic 4 I 1 W 77 A N x k ire ayn this air raid warden edgar lee vice commander of a new york american legion post is shown as he phoned an alarm from new york cites empire state building observation atlon post that bed had spotted two planes he phoned his alarm to army hash flash to put aviation fields on the alert and to warn the civilian population and disorder but rather a reckless disregard of the dangers of being u unprepared san francisco though the planes were actually over the harbor entrance wener through a halfhearted half hearted blackout and the coope operation cooperation co ope ration was so spotty that the defense chiefs were outraged and railed at the people peon p le one actually saying it would have been better if inthe the planes had gotten through and dropped their bombs perhaps the best evidence of came from new york w where ere a simple query about a rumor of a plane sighted out to sea bounced back and forth until nearly planes at mitchel field took oft off and crisscrossed criss crossed the he t approaches to new york and a goodly portion of new glands En war production industries dus tries evacuated with considerable loss to production the originator of it all ali turned out ou t to be an identifiable civilian who was absolved of all blame new york however realizing how tenuous its preparedness was proceeded to carry through a program of test warnings designed to get the ma chinery in order GERMANS J winter slowdown slow down the costliest cost liest failure in the history of human warfare was the dec isloA of germany to abandon the central and northern russian campaigns for foi the winter berlin frankly admitted that the th weather had gotten the best of them and that there would be no further attempts to advance until spring men were unable to fightlin fight figh tin in those low temperatures said the nazi high elgh command commande com mandi and fuel oils and were ruined by freezing conditions dit ions halting the mechanized forces the russians calmly announced that the germans had lost men in the campaign and went on fighting town after town village after village had been recaptured and there was no apparent diminution of the scale of the Ius russian sian effort if the nazis planned to dig in and simply cease the war of movement during the cold weather it was evident that the russians aimed to make this policy even more costly to the invader important had been the report of the capture of vital communication muni cation center miles east of leningrad a city so closely menaced by the nazis only a short time before production ainis aims increase president roosevelt had stressed the need of war production inc increases ceases and indicated that he would demand that au all industries go on a seven day week 21 hour day there were some minor reports of labor difficulties but the outbreak of war had stamped most of these out and others more reluctant nt to give up their demands were facing lar disfavor and difficulties within their own unions SPIRIT ivow united first and most salutary y reaction ot of the attack by japan on the united states and the subsequent declaration of war by a practically unanimous congress was the vanishing of controversy all and the unity of the people as to our war alms aims president Roosevel ts speech in which he outlined the U S alms aims as victory to in war and victory in peace met with universal approbation even from those who had been his sterrie st ernest st critics the president was firm in aligning germany and italy inseparably with japan solemnly warned the people to be ready for a long and difficult war and for reverses at the outset to all this most thoughtful persons agreed and from america first and all othir other isolationist and noninterventionist groups came an outburst of patriotism willingness to serve and a general all out reversal of their former tactics in this spirit joined lindbergh nye wheeler and the rest and representative fish of new york said he was going to offer his services to the armed forces as he did in leithe the last war climb aboard latin america as a whole was swift to rally around the american banner and though there were exceptions as to a wholehearted whole hearted declaration la of war even these nations assured the united states that they were with us at heart mexico made arrangements to rush herb her troops around through Aine american rIcan territory into lower california to present a defense front there against a possible japanese land invasion cuba panama costa rica and other went aalthe all the way in support of taft country and argentina which s saad aad she would remain neutral declared she ghe would consider this country it a fion belligerent nonbelligerent non thus permitting g us to refuel or repair war vessels in her ports without 11 time me limit the pan american republics decided it would be a good thing tor for all the foreign ministers to meet and to map out a united front for this hemisphere against the enemy to the ahe north canada its west coast sandwiched in between the united states and alaska alaka glided girded itself fo for r the conflict the united kingdom having followed this country promptly with a declaration of war against japan pres president ident Roose roosevelt veli truly pointed out that tour fifths of the people of the world are on our side and in this hemisphere the groundwork done during the past year and a halt half was bearing fruit BRIEFS from war warr fronts bonts mexico city president avila ca macho urged that mexico increase production as far as possible stressing that as the best way in which the nati nation on could help the united states washington congress had set in motion a bill providing tor for the sending of an american expeditionary force to the far east for immediate service the bill it was said might reduce the draft limit fro from 21 to 18 new york army navy marine corps lind and coast guard enlistments were at new highs following the war declaration the services I 1 reporting respectively in one da day 1500 1200 and honolulu pan american airways officials said their forces of 20 persons on wake island had been successfully cess fully evacuated and had been brought here bangkok the capital of slam siam was taken over by the japanese following the tha announcement that no re sl si stance was to be offered to the invaders washington the army planned no cancellation of christmas leaves for soldiers despite the fact that the nation was at war all were due back from their furloughs furroughs by january 4 |