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Show WEEKLY. NEWS ANALYSIS Jap Forces Smashed in. Sea and Air As Allies Pound Main Supply Bases; Germans Fall Back to Massico Ridge; Higher Dependency Allotments Fixed (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper Union- f w T T" , -v r ; it. i - f 4 iN i , ' . I " & "-- X' ITALY: Tough Going Rooted from their Volturno river line, the Nazis fell back on prepared pre-pared positions along the Massico ridge, 2,500 feet high. Following their usual tactics, the Germans were expected to hold out until the Allies take the time to concentrate superior numbers along the different points in the mountains to overpower the rugged outposts. When driven from Massico ridge, the Nazis were expected to retire to the Garigliano river, some eight miles distant. Behind the Garigliano river, it was thought they might make a stand in the mountains, which dip almost into the sea in this sector. Although the Nazis' action is of a delaying nature, it involves bitter fighting, since German artillery planted on the mountain sides can fire down on Allied forces fighting their way up, and Nazi machine gunners and mortar batteries can hide in the rugged country and spray U. S. and British soldiers crawling forward in the open. I SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: New Fight Following Gen. Douglas MacAr-thur's MacAr-thur's grand strategy of crippling the position of the enemy in a certain cer-tain area by knocking out the main base from which it operates, Allied aircraft pounded the big Jap supply center of Rabaul on New Britain island. is-land. I Once the feeder point for Jap troops in the central areas of the Solomons and New Guinea, Rabaul has lost much of its strategic importance im-portance with the enemy's surrender surren-der of these territories. But it still is being used to supply the Japs in the northern areas of the Solomons Solo-mons and New Guinea, and as a base for enemy shipping and aircraft, air-craft, can endanger any Allied move northward. Concentrating on Rabaul, Allied bombers sank more than 100 vessels lying in the harbor, and destroyed more than 200 aircraft. Striking close to Japan's home waters, wa-ters, U. S. U-boats have sunk 98 more enemy merchant ships, to bring to 460 the total bagged. DRAFT: Propose New Allotments Wives of American servicemen would continue to receive $50 monthly month-ly from the government, but payments pay-ments for support of children would be raised to $30 for the first child and $20 for all others, according to new dependency allotments established estab-lished in congressional bills. Under the present system, wives receive $50 monthly, but only $12 is paid for the first child and $10 for every other one. The new allotments allot-ments also would boost payments in most cases to collateral dependents, depend-ents, such as parents, grandchildren, brothers or sisters. Payment to one parent for chief support, for instance, in-stance, would be $50 monthly instead in-stead of the current rate of $37. Under the new bills, regular dependency de-pendency allowances would be paid to the husbands and children of the WACs or WAVES, if they relied on them for chief support. The government govern-ment would make the whole of the first monthly payment, instead of waiting for the soldier's contribution of $22, and payments would be expanded ex-panded to include the top three enlisted en-listed grades in addition to the present pres-ent four lowest. U. S. army engineers clear path through ruins of a large town in southern Italy, where bitter fighting has raged along the road to Rome. Picture shows streets piled high with rubble, against a background of blackened and hollow buildings, stripped to skeletons by bombings. ALLIES MEET: Talk in Moscow Swooping down over Moscow, two brown Liberator bombers finally came to rest on the Russian capital's capi-tal's chief airdrome. From the planes stepped American Secrefary of State Cordell Hull and British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden. Waiting to greet them was Russian Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Mo-lotov. Mo-lotov. Although the officials were' expected ex-pected to discuss the possibility of Hull, Eden and Molotov. the U. S. and Britain opening a second sec-ond front in France, it was anticipated antici-pated that the chief consideration would revolve around re-establishment of European boundaries after the war, with emphasis on Russia's claim to the Baltic states and parts of Finland, Poland and Rumania. Meanwhile a new lend-lease agreement agree-ment signed in London, pledges the U. S., Britain and Canada to increase in-crease supplies to Russia this winter win-ter to help her avert famine and carry on the war against Germany. Dnieper Battle Rages The titanic struggle on the Dnieper river increased in violence as the Russians poured more troops across the broad waterway and the Nazis rushed reinforcements to bolster then sagging lines. Although apparently successful in stabilizing their lines in the north, the Germans found the going rough in the central and southern sectors. The. Russians were successful in shifting their attacks from one point to another and keeping the Nazis off balance. These tactics were evident in the Kiev, Melitopol and Kremenchug regions. re-gions. After being held near Kiev, the Reds switched their attack to Melitopol to the south. When the Germans rushed reinforcements to the area, the Russians then shifted to heavy attacks on Kremenchug to the north. OL' MAN RIVER: Back in Business America's inland waterway system sys-tem once a principal artery for transportation and freight has come back into its own m World War II. Addressing the 25th annual Mississippi Mis-sissippi Valley association convention conven-tion in St. Louis, Mo., Defense Transportation Trans-portation Director Joseph Eastman declared America's inland waterways water-ways will carry 157 billion ton-miles of freight in 1943, a ton-mile being the movement of a ton one mile. With 95 per cent of the freight on the Mississippi consisting of essential essen-tial material, Eastman said the river's riv-er's system embraces 5,000 barges from 100 to 3,000 tons in capacity, and 1,000 towboats from 200 to 2,500 horsepower. Last year, Eastman revealed, re-vealed, I6V2 billion ton-miles of freight were carried over the system. sys-tem. The waterway system has been moving record loads despite a decrease de-crease in facilities .because of the transfer of many Great Lakes and inland carriers to ocean service. U. S. PLANES: Production Lags Because of changes in models, engine en-gine shortages, labor needs, faulty distribution of raw materials and plant reorganizations, American air-craft air-craft production for 1943 will fall below be-low President Roosevelt's announced goal of 125,000 planes, the Office ol War Information said. War Production Pro-duction board officials have cut estimates esti-mates of output to 90.000. In reviewing the aircraft program, OWI noted that the period of experimentation experi-mentation has passed, with the result re-sult that production is now being concentrated on proven models. Engine En-gine improvements have given American fighter planes increased speed and climb, while developments develop-ments in armor and gunnery have added to the strength of heavy bombers. bomb-ers. Dwarfing even the famed flying fly-ing Fortress, a new long-range bomber capable of carrying heavier loads will soon make its appearance. JAPAN: Expand Industry Japan has moved for maximum industrialization of East Asia as part of her program to meet the Allies' impending onslaught on her rambling ram-bling empire. By recent order, the famous business busi-ness house of Mitsibushi was directed to double the capital of its subsidiaries, subsid-iaries, with the Japanese government govern-ment itself putting in 50 per cent of the new money. Further, Mitsibushi's shipbuilding, steel and aircraft industries are to be reorganized, with vital plants moved to China and Manchuria to escape Allied bombing. The other 10 financial houses which share their rule over Japanese business with Mitsibushi are also expected to come under close government control. FOOD: 1944 Outlook Although food production in 1944 will probably equal or even exceed this year's, civilian supplies may be smaller, the bureau of agricultural economics reported. Military, lend-lease lend-lease and other government requirements require-ments will more than offset any increase, in-crease, it was said. Supplies of cereals, chickens, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, potatoes, pota-toes, dried beans and peas should be as plentiful as this year, the bureau bu-reau declared, with greater enrichment enrich-ment of bread and flour promising more iron and B vitamins. However, shorter supplies oi meats and dairy products are in prospect, the bureau reported, with a resultant decrease in calories, protein pro-tein and calcium. Stocks of fats and oils should equal this year's production, pro-duction, it was said. Happy Meeting When Pvt. Mary Elizabeth Elliot, El-liot, Kingston, N. C, (pictured at right) arrived in England with a WAC contingent, she met her fiance, Sergt. Wallace R. Best, Raleigh, N. C, (at left), also on overseas duty. Reunited, the couple decided to serve Uncle Sam as husband and wife, and they climaxed their romance by marriage, which made Pvt. Elliot the first WAC to be wedded in the European theater of war. CATTLE: Less Slaughter Because cattle slaughter for tht first nine months of 1943 dropped to 7,962,000 head from the 9,067,005 killed during the same period last year, 700 million pounds less beef have been produced. During the first few weeks of October, Oc-tober, however, cattle slaughter showed an increase over preceding months, with 406,961 head killed. On October 19, 20 major markets received re-ceived 200,000 cattle for a record run, with Kansas City receipts oi 57,000 setting an all-time mark. According to reports, many thin, grass-fed cattle were finding their way to the stockyards instead of to the feed lots of the Midwest's corn belt. Prime fed cattle were selling only slightly below the July peak. WAR BONDS Final tabulations reveal that the 15-billion-dollar Third War Loan was over-subscribed by nearly four billions. bil-lions. Of the $18,943,000,000 worth of bonds sold, $5,377,000,000 was taken by individuals. The popular "Series E" bonds account for $2,-472.000.000 $2,-472.000.000 of this great sum. Treasury officials are gratified al the response, because it was the intention in-tention to market this issue among individuals, estates and business corporations cor-porations to as large an extent as j possible. |
