Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne united nations rush reinforcements to far east battle fronts in effort to check spreading of jap attacks nazis ag again take offensive in afifa EDITORS NOTE 9 a ex tittered 1 la 6 thee col amne the agel rt of f this newsy pera at r those of the new nal rat and n n net released ne leal by western newspaper union t wv yh ar mav ml irsai va f vi W 3 ns 0 jf i vv af ift w mt t fu P v as 9 w x I 1 va 75 1 76 IA I A 4 alss Ls somewhere in the pacific ocean this dramatic picture taken of a U S navy offensive patrol plane carrier being circled by a navy dive bomber as it begins its antisubmarine anti submarine duties note in the picture that on both the side and under part of the plane there have been deletions of certain parts and insignia epich which might give information to the enemy also on the top rigging of the carrier you will notice further deletions for the same reason LUZON epic battle hailed as an epic of warfare thit that would live in all history the defense of bataan peninsula and of the fortresses holding the entrance to ma nila bay had been diverting large jap forces needed elsewhere than in the philippines the adding to macarthurs Mac Arthurs embattled and smoke begrimed army of a b battalion at of blue jackets and marines rines was welcome news and showed that perhaps not all of the men of cavite and Olon had been withdrawn but that they had been given a post of honor with the df defenders enders up on the mariveles mountains they were entrenched and no matter what the hurled against them they were holding firm on one moonlit night a ment of small boats moved down the coast using the same tactics th that at had hurled the british back on malaya the effort was to get in on mae mac arthurs flank and confuse the defenders at the same time signalling sign alling for an offensive on the central fro front n but the shore defenders Aders and a Y tillery opened up on the jap dmd ers left scores of them struggling in the water and the few that made shore were quickly mopped up by the filipinos there was apparently at least one japanese warship which managed t to 0 run through the eight mile strip of water between the fortresses at the entrance of manila bay one of the united states intrepid torpedo boat skippers piloting his tiny craft at close to 80 miles an hour swept down on her in the moonlight and launched two torpedoes which struck the ship she is believed to have been sunk the attack was carried out directly into the glare of the warships I 1 searchlights and under the full power of her guns but so skill fully did its skipper maneuver that hat she was vas not struck and escaped with all hands to tell the tale WAVELL and reinforcements the statement by general wavell that great reinforcements were to arrive and calling on on the singapore defenders to defend the city as aa tol to 1 bruk was defended was more than a little significant bobruk was the bastion that held out for months despite being sur rounded on three axis forces anxious to wipe it out and finally was relieved by the allied winter drive Wavel wavelle ls statement to the singapore army smacked of a situation which might see sufficient reinforcements sent to malaya to do the same thing not only to relieve the garrison but send the japanese on the run again whether this reinforcement was going to be sent to singapore itself or whether a method was to be found of striking at the japanese rear which might be lightly held was not revealed but either cither method it was pointed out might work no british commentators felt that the war in the south pacific would be lost utterly it if singapore was but the ability to hold the east indies would immeasurably be weakened if this was to happen hence Wavel wavelle ls strong appeal to the cites defenders to hold out at all costs GERMANS not out yet reading endless stories of russian successes in battles on the east front and the continuous hammering back of brommels Rom mels forces in north africa had brought many over optimistic souls to feel that the war was over and that all which re bained was some sort of mopping up process the turning of the tide in north africa and the success of german counterattacks counter attacks in the crimea showed that with favorable weather condi eions the nazis were still very much to be reckoned with the crimea was a much warmer battlefield than the 40 be below ow zero northern sectors where the russians undiscouraged by the cold and more at home in such weather were able to hurl the nazis back constantly on a wide front but the minute the w weather eather moderated inthe in the crimea they found themselves more or less up against a stone wall y on the british and american america n forces was falling the brunt of the japanese blitz and its successes on mala malaya y a and in th the e philippines showed that this was n no 0 minor war but an effort against t powerful an tag ts therefore events generally generalli lk pointed to what washington had assured the people was coming a long and war not won though generally speaking the news was not as unfavorable as it might have been there was much less to be cheering about than there was to be worrying about and the seriousness of the situation was apparently keenly appreciated by all those in power including the president his abinet cabinet and the con congress gress I 1 RUBBER keeps coming although Ure tire rationing was apparently here to stay the rubber situation was relieved somewhat when it was announced that shipments from the east indies were continuing qt it almost al mosta a normal pace A glance biance at atthe the map showed that r considerable areas of the dutch east indies were still technically out of the active war zane and the defeat of 0 the japanese armada in the straits halted a jap threat which might have halted much of the rubber shipping summarily jesse jess jones ejones secret secretary biry of commerce and federal loan administrator was author of the statement that rubber shipments 1 continued to be received he said enough had come in materially teri ally to increase the united states reserve supply for instance since the war started on december 7 he asserted that tons of raw rubber had be been en received truly a considerably amount he said we are unloading some every day and rubber is being shipped every day from the dutch east indies we will continue to get it as long as we can keep the ahe lanes open and as long as they carload can load it some rubber is still coming out of singapore this was even after the city had gone under siege the japs had launched an air attack on soura baya which was the only major javanese port to undergo such a war blow but it was recalled that it would take more mo r e than an ari air blitz to put a huge port like this out of normal action continue heavy the U boat raids on the north atlantic continued heavy with a total of 16 ships attacked of which two escaped and 14 went to the bottom with about an average loss of life since our entrance into the war ao wo navy tankers had been tor the first managing to reach ke eland under her own power but e second one the neches going down with a reported estimated loss of 56 men with men escaping to fight again the location of the neches torpedoing was not immediately announced by the navy but ship losses had been small in the pacific after pearl harbor more than equalled equal led two to one by allied sin kings of jap ships there were growing reports of allied naval strength in the pacific showing that increasing numbers of ships were active actie e in those wa waters te rs and in one case having carried the attack to the japanese held marshall and gilbert islands generally in the th e australia defense zone with terrific ri fi c results in this action though no strictly war vessels of nippon were sunk the navy reported arted several auxiliaries w were ere sunk and damaged which might include tankers transports supply ships used for naval purposes t that our forces lost 11 planes but no ships showed that probably yone one of our aircraft carriers wai was inthe in the neighborhood and that a vessel ol of this size was being used in a task force offensive action demonstrated that admiral nimitz was keen on getting even with japan for pearl pear harbor RUSSIA B buying insurance the russians having fought the tite germans back considerably past their announced winter linet line on the northern sectors might be s said a id to be buying insurance against the nazis spring drive some observers including senator tydings in addresses had wame warned I 1 that the germans had some divisions of soldiers that they had been holding out of action just for the spring offensive against russia the red armies wore not however believed to be losing anywhere nearly as heavily on the whole front as were the germans so this taste of victory even though temporary was expected to stand them in good 1 stead whon when the time comes to ha hang ng on after may 1 1 experience of 1940 and 1941 was that the russian winter would not break until about that time to any appreciable degree and at that point the germans might be expected to launch another all out attack the red armies were well into sk province reporting that the germans instead of fighting holding actions were now hastily moving back to better fortified lines and trying at alcos ancos all costs I 1 to pvc as much material and a as many men as possible it was considered probable that the russians would be beable able before the coming of springy spring to shove the germans at least back to sk thus giving the nazis miles to cover in reaching moscow again a distance that the russians had already fought over twice once going and once coming and which they would defend even more stubbornly than the first time and they would it was pointed out be able this time to get an everi ever increasing amount of allied aid and not be subject to the same quality of surprise which gave the germans so much advantage the last time the battle lines nonbeing now being so well drawn it would be impossible for foi the nazis to gain much momentum INSURANCE on war damage the senate by passing a bu bill giving owners ot of property free insurance up to for war damage showed that I 1 it t is willing still further to commit the public credit to eventual victory in the war some senators brought up the point during the debate that if property owners are to be given insurance without paying premiums why should not no the congress also give free insurance rahce to civilians killed as the result ot of the war |