Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. C Wayne Wayn I U. U S. S to Britain Shipping Losses Brings Convoy Issue Into Open Debate British Soldiers Are Saved As Nazis Complete Balkan Ballan Campaign EDITORS EDITOR'S NOTE When NOTE When opinions opInIon are expressed In these thue columns column they are those of or the news new analyst And not necessarily of this newspaper no Released by Western Newspaper Union I CONVOY Argument The convoy anti-convoy and pro-convoy pro fight in the senate picked up when the Tobey and Nye resolutions were given formal consideration in com com- I Both resolutions were defeated in committee but only by a vote of 1310 1310 13 10 and this showed what strength the non-interventionists non had gained The resolution would have tied the Presidents President's hands most effectively in the question of using the American American American Amer Amer- I ican navy to protect shipments to I Britain and other defending Both would have demanded that the President get congressional approval approval ap ap- ap for any convoying that might be done and pledged congress to give or withhold it within 14 days This would have slowed the pace of the naval in commander-in-chief to a walk There was little repetition however of the charges that convoying convoying con con- already was being done Senator Nye in some of his speeches began to give figures of U. U S S. S losses of equipment en route c 9 R 4 N iy SENAT SENATOR R NYE His llis bill 40 0 loss Iou at of sea to Britain by sea and said that these ranged from 40 per cent to I more than half He then quoted a high defense official as saying they were nowhere near 40 per percent percent cent and were getting less constant constant- ly However it was still stin apparent that Britain preferred to send American aircraft across the ocean by air rather than on the water and the President backed up this effort by announcing he was asking for a survey to get all the commercial air transports possible presumably to ferry the pilots back and forth who were in the transatlantic shipping shipping shipping ship ship- ping of warplanes to Britain That this was a big industry and getting bigger was seen by the new revelations of the prices being paid to American pilots for doing the fer fer- fer Some of these salaries were quoted at 1500 a trip which didn't seem so much but it was a good deal for a days day's flying and some of the bombers were making it in 12 hours Of course there was the wait before before before be be- fore you got back to earn another 1500 but the pilots were getting astronomical waiting salaries as well But there were signs that as American production was stepped up this business was beginning to get out of hand and that there was wasa a woeful shortage of planes capable of bringing the pilots back to Amer Amer- ica There also was revealed another British immediate request for a quantity of mosquito torpedo boats and also the fact that American supply supply sup sup- ply was short for Secretary Knox said Well let them have some and more as we finish them up GREEK Bill Presented The debacle in Greece seemed to tobe tobe tobe be small potatoes as far as men and munitions were concerned as compared with but the pattern turned out to be almost iden iden- There was little question but that the fighting had been as hard at one place as at the other with probably more successful work done by the British in Greece than they did in France It seemed that the Greeks were better operators co-operators than the French whose morale was utterly shot long before the British began to fall back and had to contend with clogged roads and fleeing millions But Churchill let the commons have the Greek bill of expenses as soon as he knew what it was and announced he would permit a full debate on this motion A vote of confidence in the conduct conduct con con- duct of the war by the British government gov gov- and and a vote of approval on the giving of aid to the Greeks Churchill said the British had put soldiers into Greece including I y L 1 A r I I WINSTON CHURCHILL His llis bill killed in Greece one division each about half hall of the total force of Australians and New Zealanders He said that of this number there were about casualties killed and wounded and missing about got away to fight on other fronts and were still Mill ill unaccounted unaccounted un un- un accounted for This presumably included those left to screen the retreat retreat retreat re re- re- re treat suicide battalions and those lost at sea in sunken transports The prime minister said British losses were small compared to th the losses inflicted on the Germans who on some occasions for two days at ata a time were brought to a complete standstill by forces one-fifth one their number He said further that the conduct of the troops especially the rear rearguard rearguard rearguard guard merited the highest praise and that the British demonstrated that prolonged air bombing by day and night had no power to shake their discipline or their morale Some members of the house wanted wanted want want- I ed to know if the had fled to Crete or had reached their own bases Churchill said he believed the latter to be the case He admitted admitted ad arl that the army in Greece had been forced to abandon or destroy all of its heavy equipment which could of course not be removed He was highly positive however not only of the escape of men 1 but hinted that the other unaccounted unaccounted unaccounted un accounted for probably would die I or be taken prisoners prisoners but but might possibly escape somewhere else temporarily The Nazi announced the Greek war over the formation of a Q new government similar to that of occupied France and the affair affair af af- af fair officially at an end RUSSIA At Crossroads Indication that Soviet Russia is facing a situation that is becoming I less and less healthy for the Soviets Soviet's peace of mind came when it was officially announced by Moscow that I German troops well equipped with tanks and heavy artillery had moved into Finland by water with I the evident intention of staying th there re Th The official announcement coupled with this move by the Nazis at least former allies of Russia Russi wih with the decision by Russia not long ago not to permit further shipments of arms and munitions over her rail rail-i roads or through her country by air airor airor airor or land Just what the German objective was in Finland was not immediately apparent but it was evident that if the Germans intend to go on southward southward south south- ward through Turkey and Syria into Iraq and Iran Ilan the Germans will certainly bottle up the Black Sea for Russia and few believed the Soviet would stand for that without fighting perhaps on the side of the Turks perhaps alone This is the eventuality that most friends of an eventual defeat for Hitler and Mussolini and Japan have looked forward to and Churchill Church Church- ill hinted at it not long ago |