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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Pacific Sea Victories Prove U. S. Naval Strength Is Growing as Japs' Declines; Russ Smash Nazi Threat to Caucasus; MacArthur Traps Japs in New Guinea f EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these eolumns. they are those of Western Newspaper Union's uews analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) I Released by Western Newspaper Union. hmPiff''Affrgi V n-"1" ".' .'- ! y -ir JsMt a i iii ma im ' .i r L ' . The North African coast was the end of the first lap of their journey to Berlin for thousands of V. S. soldiers who participated in the successful invasion in-vasion of French North Africa. The above photograph, one of the first pictures pic-tures passed by the war department, shows a detachment of U. S. troops landing at a picturesque Algerian Mediterranean village west of Oran. SOLOMONS: Smashing U. S. Victory Americans had scarcely received the news of the brilliant naval victory vic-tory in the Solomons which drove the Japs back reeling with 23 ships sunk and 30,000 sailors and soldiers drowned, when additional reports were forthcoming on the sinking of five enemy warships. The second action was the concluding part of a great three-day engagement which routed the Jap fleet from the Guadalcanal Guad-alcanal area. Shrewd and resourceful Vice Admiral Ad-miral William F. Halsey, commander command-er of the American forces, emerged from the battle as one of the outstanding out-standing heroes of the war, for it was his audacity and pluck in the face of superior Japanese forces that won a smashing three-day victory. vic-tory. Jap ship losses in the slugging encounter included one battleship, three heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, cruis-ers, five destroyers and eight troop-laden troop-laden transports sunk; four cargo transports destroyed on the beach near Guadalcanal, and one battleship battle-ship and six destroyers damaged. Enemy losses in the second engagement engage-ment were one battleship, three large cruisers and one destroyer sunk. Naval officials said there was "good reason to believe" that the sinkings reported in second engagement engage-ment were in addition to those previously pre-viously recorded. American losses were two light cruisers and six destroyers sunk. The major part of the sea action was fought directly off Guadalcanal island, which the Japs approached with three strong fleet task forces intent on effecting a landing that would dislodge the heroic American defenders. One of the decisive elements ele-ments in the battle was the daring of American surface units in steaming steam-ing directly between the lines of the Jap columns, firing broadsides in both directions. In this phase Rear Adm. Daniel J. Callaghan, former naval aide of President Roosevelt, was killed in action. While the navy rejoiced in its triumph, tri-umph, it accorded full credit to General Gen-eral MacArthur's aircraft which had originally spotted the Jap concentrations concen-trations and made repeated bombing bomb-ing attacks on the enemy shipping. NEW GUINEA: Jap Dunkirk? Steadily the jaws of the Australian-American trap had closed on the strategic Jap-held port of Buna in New Guinea. Significant of the importance of the New Guinea drive to dislodge the Japs was the presence in the field of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. While his land forces converged on the enemy positions, MacArthur's bombers had fanned out for widespread wide-spread aerial activities. On their calling list besides Buna were enemy ene-my installations at Lae and Sala-maus. Sala-maus. The critical plight of the Jap garrison gar-rison at Buna was emphasized by the arrival of eight enemy warships in the vicinity. In a grim game of hide-and-seek that ensued between American Flying Fortresses and the Jap vessels, one enemy cruiser and a destroyer were sunk and another destroyer damaged before the flotilla flo-tilla fled. Observers were of the opinion that the Jap warships might have been preparing to evacuate the Jap defenders of Buna. 18-19-YEAR DRAFT: High Schoolers Deferred President Roosevelt set aside three weeks beginning December 11 for registration of youths who have reached or will reach their 18th birthdays since June 30. The President's Presi-dent's order likewise provided continuous con-tinuous registration on their birthdays birth-days of youths who become 18 on or after next January 1. A presidential proclamation hailed the new registration as "advisable to insure victory." RUSSIAN FRONT: Reds Show Mettle The Nazi threat to the Caucasus mountain passes and the Grozny oil fields was lifted when the Russians staged a fierce counter attack in the Ordzhonikidze area which resulted in the annihilation of 5.000 German troops and the capture of 140 German Ger-man tanks, 70 field guns, 2,350 army trucks and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition. am-munition. The furious nature of the Red assault as-sault and the fact that the Russ forces were fully equipped with planes, tanks and other mechanized equipment indicated that this engagement en-gagement might be the signal for a far-flung counter-offensive all along the Soviet front. At the other end of the Caucasus front German attempts to break through the Soviet lines near Tuapse were repeatedly beaten back. Meanwhile Mean-while reports said winter was closing clos-ing down rapidly over the entire Russian front. As it had for weeks past, the Nazi front at Stalingrad remained at a stalemate, with German attacks beaten off by the stout-hearted Russian Rus-sian defenders. The industrial city's factory area was the principal target tar-get of the Nazis' effort to gain a firm foothold in this strategic Volga metropolis. NORTH AFRICA: 3-Pronged Pincer What was left of the tottering Axis empire in North Africa had drawn closer around Tripoli, as Allied forces menaced it from the east, the west and south, while the Mediterranean Mediterra-nean on the north had fast become a lake dominated by United Nations air and sea power. From the east. Gen. Montgomery's Montgom-ery's Eighth British army had swept through Libya in pursuit of Marshal Mar-shal Rommel's battered Afrika Korps. From the west American and British forces had poured into Tunisia, aided by units of Gen. Gi-raud's Gi-raud's French North African army. From the South it was reported that 10,000 of the fighting French army, mechanized with American equipment, had struck northward from Lake Chad in French West Africa. Goal of the Anglo-British armies from the west had been strategic Bizerte in Tunisia sea-coast "springboard" "spring-board" to southern Italy. British paratroops flown in American planes had captured airfields deep in Tunisia, Tu-nisia, reports disclosed. The Morocco Mo-rocco raid described these para-troop para-troop operations as the largest ever carried out by air-borne troops. FRANCE: Laval Mask Off Pierre Laval could now write his own ticket. Observers believed that ticket would be filled out with orders or-ders for greater French collaboration collabora-tion with the Axis. For when doddering dod-dering Marshal Petain invested Laval La-val with dictatorial power giving him the right "on his simple signature sig-nature alone to make laws" the immediate im-mediate fate of continental France was in pro-Berlin hands. Petain's decree simply gave official offi-cial sanction to what had been an unofficial fact for months. Everybody Every-body in and out of Europe knew Laval La-val had been the real boss of the Vichy regime and Petain the figurehead. figure-head. Now Laval could emerge in his true role. Across the Mediterranean in Algeria, Al-geria, Admiral Jean Darlan continued contin-ued as the titular head of French North Africa. , But no longer had he Vichy's blessing and no longer was he heir-presumptive to Petain's post. Achieving the doubtful distinction of International Turncoat No. 1, Darlan Dar-lan had dexterously cast his lot with the Allies, following the successful American invasion. Previously he had been notoriously pro-Axis. His elevation to second in command to Petain had been a reward for his Axis leanings after the 1940 French Collapse. ROOSEVELT: li ar's 'Turning Point' American victories in the Solomons Solo-mons and in North Africa miill,.t well te hailed as an apparent turning j point in the war. President Roosevelt Roose-velt declared. But, he warned the American people, there is time only for working and fighting, none for exaltation. The President coupled his analysis analy-sis of recent military events with a rebuke to critics of the government's govern-ment's war and international policies, poli-cies, who speak "either out of ignorance ig-norance or out of political bias." Declaring that he had made a constant effort to keep politics out of the fighting of the war, Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt pleaded guilty, however, to having hav-ing permitted pressure to disclose the sinking of an American aircraft carrier 10 days before the November Novem-ber elections. He said he had realized real-ized that "if the news of the sinking sink-ing had been given out two or three weeks later, it would be publicly charged that this news had been suppressed by me until after the election." The result was that vigorous vig-orous protests had come from commanding com-manding admirals in the Southwest Pacific and at Pearl Harbor that military information was being given giv-en to the Japs, because they probably prob-ably had no sure knowledge of the sinking. GAS RATION: Curtailed in East Demands for petroleum products by the American Expeditionary forces in North Africa far in excess of original estimates resulted in a curtailment of 25 per cent in the gasoline gas-oline of motorists in the Eastern states. The OPA order did not affect af-fect the Middle West, where rationing ration-ing had been scheduled for December Decem-ber 1. Motorists traveling in the East from other states, however, would have to comply with the new rations which gave three gallons of gasoline gaso-line for "A" coupons, instead of four. Officials said the East Coast curtailment cur-tailment would result in saving about 20,000 barrels of gasoline a day. 'FREE RUMANIA': Fund Grab Foiled How a plot to spirit exiled King Carol of Rumania into the United States from Mexico and establish a "Free Rumanian" movement in this country was foiled, was disclosed with the indictment in Detroit of three leaders in the cabal. At stake was nearly $80,000,000 in frozen Ru- I r i Vf , i I s f EX-KING CAROL ... he eyed $80,000,000. manian funds now in custody of the U. S. treasury. The indictments charged violation of the Foreign Agents Registration and Espionage Acts. The defendants defend-ants were Glicherie Moraru, self-styled self-styled leader of the movement, Stefan Ste-fan Opreanu and George Zanfer. SEA SAGA: Boise Story Told Triumphant survivor of a battle in which she helped sink six Jap warships off Guadalcanal in early October, the heroic light cruiser Boise was undergoing repairs at an eastern American shipyard, after being battered by gunfire, swept by flames and losing 107 of her crew in action. That the Boise would be refitted in time to steam off to war again was emphasized by her commander, Capt. E. J. ("Mike") Moran, and navy officials. The Boise was lead ship of an American naval task force that engaged a Jap cruiser-transport cruiser-transport force bearing troops for the Southeastern Solomons and bore the brunt of the fighting in which the enemy lost two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and three destroyers. destroy-ers. Given up for lost in the battle, the undaunted Boise later joined its companion ships after receiving shell hits in vulnerable places. In the engagement, the Boise fired more than 1,000 rounds of six-inch shells in 27 minutes. |
