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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By. Edward C. Wayne Nazi and Italian Activities in U. S. Are Curtailed by Government Action; 'War of Nerves' Continues as Fighting Centers in Near East and North Africa (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analvst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) (Released bv Western Newspaper Union.) v. A -f : I What is said to be the most modern short distance reconnaissance I plane in the world is this double-fuselage ship of the Nazi luftwaffe. It is superior in maneuverability to a pursuit plane and has strong offensive as well as defensive weapons. Cannons and machine guns of the latest ! construction are carried in the ship which is powered by two powerful ' motors. Its crew of three has unobstructed views on all sides through the j glass-enclosed cockpit. NETS: A Tightening Following up the sinking of the-Robin the-Robin Moor, the government tightened tight-ened still further its nets about fifth columnists, first by freezing all Axis assets in this country, and, second, by ordering all German consulates closed down, also news agencies and travel bureaus. Another order, that barring the leaving of the United States of any German nationals until further notice, no-tice, plus the word that was sent out that there would be a tightening of immigration permits, was held to be contingent on Germany's attitude to the American protest on the Robin Moor. The fact that the remaining 35 Americans aboard the ship were eventually saved, the state department depart-ment said, did not change the diplomatic diplo-matic situation regarding the vessel. America, President Roosevelt indicated, in-dicated, was going to be firm from now on with regard to fifth column activities and sabotage, and was going go-ing to see to it that it was known who was coming into the country under un-der the guise of "refugee." WAR: Of Nerves In spite of considerable activity in the Near East and the North African Af-rican fronts, the war settled down to a "war of nerves" again, with the nervous tension reaching far and wide as Germany massed men and machines on the Russian border. The troops were not placed geographically geo-graphically close to the border, but were so disposed that they were within an exceedingly short distance in time from what many believed was a "bluff" objective. The announcement that a Turkish-Russian-Nazi pact had been drawn up did little to relieve the nervous tension, as it was not immediately confirmed, nor was it clear whether this would solve the situation. For few thought that any such agreement, made under the threat of an army force variously estimated estimat-ed at from a million and a half to two million men, would be long adhered ad-hered to if the men were withdrawn. Senator George, head of the foreign for-eign affairs committee, frankly expressed ex-pressed the belief that Germany, by the move against Russia and the concentrations in the upper and lower low-er Balkans, was "trying to make sure of her eastern front" before attempting at-tempting the long-expected invasion inva-sion of Great Britain herself. However, even Senator George saw in the move the conviction by the Germans that it would be a long war, and an effort to obtain satisfactory satis-factory supplies of wheat and oil. Still others believed that a Russian-Turkish pact, implemented by troops of sufficient numbers to continue con-tinue to enforce respect and strict adherence, might permit Germany to move southward through Russia and Turkey into the Near-East and the Middle East, and thus to close the pincers on the entire Eastern Mediterranean country. This was the stage setting that caused the spread of the war of nerves into Britain itself, for day after day went by with only the most desultory German bombing efforts ef-forts against England. AIR: Special Arm? The question of whether the United Unit-ed States shall have a separate air force or whether the army and navy should each have its own was being be-ing debated. The senate had a bill for a separate sep-arate air arm, under a new cabinet cabi-net officer, just as the army and navy each has its own secretary. There were many taking stands on each side of the question, but the general feeling was that the bill, if it reached debate, would pass. However, some pointed to the experience ex-perience of the British eastern Mediterranean Med-iterranean fleet, abandoned by planes when the RAF decided not to defend Crete. The ships found themselves practically at the mercy of the German bombers, and losses were heavy indeed. The others pointed to the stories about the Illustrious, a British plane carrier, presumably as well equipped as any fleet could be to cope with enemy planes- yet almost destroyed twice in recent weeks by the fire power of enemy bombers. The first school maintains that the reason the fleet was in severe trouble trou-ble off Crete was that it was deserted de-serted by the RAF over which it had no control, the RAF being a separate arm. The navy should have had its own planes, and depended on them, it was maintained. The other school, in pointing to the Illustrious, showed how the navy cannot expect to manage man-age even its own planes efficiently, as the two services are so foreign to each other. They also pointed to the disastrous habit of army and navy aviation competing with each other, in designing de-signing planes and purchasing and equipping them, thus each developing develop-ing its own source of supply a bad economic procedure of production when mass methods are considered. Yet, it was pointed out even if the senate bill creating a separate force is successfully carried, it would be a long time before it would actually get into being, for the army and navy are too busily engaged in supplying themselves and training train-ing pilots right now to allow any of their energies to be spared to build up a new separate air arm. JAPAN: Admits Failure The upshot of the Japanese-Dutch East Indies afTair appeared to be a total defeat for the Japanese, though it was by no means clear whether Nippon was willing to let it go at that The long-awaited text of the final Japanese statement, once the Dutch had stood firm and refused all the Jap requests and ultimatums, was, briefly, this: "So sorry, but everything will be as It always has." The Japanese admitted they had accomplished nothing, but that normal nor-mal relations with the Dutch would continue. Yet back of all these was the growing conviction that Nazi Germany Ger-many would not be satisfied Willi a bland admission of defeat on the part of Japan, but might demand action, thus cither losing an ally or perhaps hurling the specter of war into the southern Pacific. KNOX: And Stimson Secretaries Knox and Stimson, also Canada's prime minister, Mackenzie Mac-kenzie King all made important statements carrying big sidelights on the war and America's national defense. Knox, speaking in Canada, said that the United States is "practically" "practical-ly" deciding that her course will thoroughly parallel that of Canada in the present struggle. He thanked the Canadians for remaining re-maining aloof from America's own decision-making, and reminded Canada Can-ada that at the time when she was making up her mind, America did not meddle. Secretary Stimson, in Washington, arguing that the $285,000,000 St. Lawrence river seaway ought to be constructed as soon as possible in order to provide a safe journey much of the way from American factories to Britain, foresaw a long war. One senator asked Stimson if it was not true that the project would take four years to construct, and if so, wouldn't the war be over long before it was finished. Mr. Stimson said, in the first place, that he thought it was going to be a long war, and in the second place, we ought not to go on a basis ! of thinking it would be a short one. Premier King, in the United States j for a visit, made Canada's answer j to American isolationists and ene- mies of the lease-lend bill who had accused Canada of demanding "cash on the barrel-head" for Canadian Ca-nadian production while Britain asked the U. S. for leased or lent goods. Mr. King said that Americans who made these statements failed to take into account the fact that Canada j was giving . the United Kingdom I enormous quantities of men and munitions mu-nitions which were neither leased nor lent but were an outright gift toward the winning of the war. He said that Canada was not forced to fight on behalf of Britain, that the decision was fully and freely free-ly made by Canadians themselves on a basis of complete autonomy. He added that he believed the United States, in much the same way, had arrived at the same decision de-cision to give all-out aid to Britain. CHUTE: British Style A dramatic story of how the British Brit-ish were using parachutists in occupied oc-cupied France was told. The little party of chutists landed near to the German-held airport made contact with British agents on the ground, also with French people sympathetic to Britain, gathered together to-gether and made a surprise nighttime night-time assault on the airport. They seized the control room, also the field itself, and a barrack room in which were German pilots awaiting await-ing the command to take to the air. Other squads went out to the landing land-ing field and destroyed 30 planes on the ground, also the buildings were set afire and burned. The chutists then sped for the coast where motor torpedo boats were waiting for a prearranged signal sig-nal to take them back to England. The maneuver was said to have been carried out so swiftly that the German headquarters did not know anything had happened until it was all over the chutists were safely safe-ly on their way back across the channel. The move was predicated by the sympathy of the French people, and this was borne out in repeated dispatches dis-patches and stories by returned refugees, ref-ugees, one of which told of British skywriters almost daily writing "Courage" (spelled the same in French and English) in the air over French territory. AFRICA: A full-scale attempt by the British to break over the Kgyptian border back into Cyrcnaica aj;ain. resulting result-ing in the capture of Fort Capuzzo, brought into the attack, according to Italian sources, larjje numbers of the newest American tanks. This did not check, however, with American production llcures. vh'fh showed that the only tanks sent '.n the lease-lend program had been those we could spare from the army, all of them of old design and manufacture. |