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Show I WEEKLY NEWS AALYJ5 , Naval Victories Pave Way for Assault on Japs' Inner Lines; Reds Press Back Nazis in East Released by Western Newspaper Union I (F.DITOK'S NOTE: When pinions are expressed in these column they are those of Western Newspaper Lnion new analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper ) t ' if ' it ' " ' I "; f , ' r - . I t , ""( i ' ' i 1 1 Natives on Leyte island in Philippines walk through their smouldering smoulder-ing village, caught in cross-fire of U. S. and Japanese fighting. EUROPE: Russ Press Nazis Fighting with their backs to the wall against masses of Russian men and material, the Germans doggedly slowed the Reds' march through East Prussia and Hungary. In Holland, however, the enemy withdrew from the southwestern portion of the country, with only minor pockets of resistance remaining remain-ing along the Schelde river, where they had successfully blocked the Allies' free use of the big inland port of Antwerp. In East Prussia, the Germans only succeeded in slowing up the Russian Rus-sian charge, originally paced by over 600 tanks and swarms of bombing bomb-ing planes, after the Reds drove 14 miles within the province on the road toward the capital of Koenigs-berg. Koenigs-berg. As the drive slowed, there were evidences in the Nazi home army's fevered defense preparations in the huge concrete bunkers used to impede the Russian advance. In an effort to divert German strength, strong Russian forces opened up an offensive along the Nraew river above Warsaw, making small penetrations in bitter fighting. Gaiety Vanishes In Hungary, great battles raged along the Tisza river, 50 miles from the capital of Budapest, with the heavy rumbling of big guns plainly heard in the city. Famed for its spas and sidewalk side-walk cafes, Budapest took on somber tones, with the German DNB news agency reporting: "There is no more gypsy music. Everything is rationed. Labor battalions of tens of thousands of men have started to work on entrenchments." Even though some Hungarian generals gen-erals were reported to have gone over to the Russians after Regent Horthy's ill-fated plea for an armistice, armis-tice, the Hungarian army remained in the fight by Germany's side, although al-though the Germans themselves were compelled to throw in large forces to bolster sagging Axis lines in the southwestern part of the country. coun-try. According to military advices, the German evacuation of the Aegean islands, Greece and lower Yugoslavia Yugosla-via was said to have gained them some 18 divisions, or about 250,000 men. The enemy appeared to have withdrawn the major bulk of these forces despite the pressure applied, against his communication lines by Tito's Partisans, later aided by Russian Rus-sian and Bulgarian troops. Escape Entrapment Their position jeopardized by increasing in-creasing Allied pressure, some 40,000 Germans streamed northward from southwestern Holland to escape es-cape entrapment from the rear by a flying British column moving toward to-ward the North sea. Although subjected to the withering fire of Allied planes, the major portion of the enemy force managed to withdraw, only leaving behind the isolated units on both banks of the Schelde. As the Allies brought their full weight to bear on these units, 4hey were slowly compressed. com-pressed. In Italy, the Germans increased their artillery fire in an effort to further slow up Fifth army forces bogged in the mountain mud. Indicative Indi-cative of the Nazis' determination to hold on to the Po valley throughout through-out the winter was their planting of more mines, and their stringing of more barbed wire, across the battle-front. TIRES: Increase Quotas With an increase of 250,000 over the preceding month, the nation's total tire quota for November was set at 1,850.000, of which 890,000 are for passenger cars; - 570.000 for tractor-implement machinery; and 390,000 for trucks and busses. According to OPA, the quota of passenger tires should satisfy normal nor-mal November replacement needs for "B" and "C" ration holders, but not materially cut backlogs. PACIFIC: Japs Humbled With 60 of her warships sunk or damaged, Japan's once proud imperial im-perial navy no longer dominates far Pacific waters, having given way to a U. S. fleet which is standing prepared pre-pared for a grand assault upon the enemy's inner defenses. Staking a major portion of their navy on a brazen attempt to smash General Douglas MacArthur's supply sup-ply lines to the Philippines, the Japs suffered approximately 24 warships sunk, 13 probably sunk and 28 damaged dam-aged by U. S. surface vessels and aircraft, which met three enemy forces in the vicinity east of Leyte. Their supply lines secured, General Gen-eral MacArthur's troops continued their drive on Leyte, crowding surviving sur-viving enemy soldiers onto the mountainous western end of the island. is-land. In establishing their beach- Adm. Halsey of 3rd fleet (left) confers con-fers with Vice-Adm.. Marc Mitscher before be-fore great Philippine sea battle. heads along the eastern coast, and then driving inland into the strategic Leyte valley, U. S. doughboys inflicted in-flicted 24,000 casualties on the Japs. In assesssing the full effect of the U. S. victory in the second naval battle of the Philippines, authorities said that the enemy's losses in ships sunk and damaged seriously impaired im-paired his ability to resist the American advance for months to come. Because Japanese repair yards already al-ready were taxed to capacity before the latest battle, damaged enemy ships will have to await a long turn before reconditioned for action, it was said. 'Situation Unfavorable' Speaking at a mass meeting in Osaka, Premier Koiso urged the Japanese people to increase their productive effort, declaring: "... officers and men had to die for their nation because we did not send them sufficient material . -. .". :Since the Japs were compelled to abandon their outer, defense ring, Koiso said, the situation had become be-come "regrettably unfavorable." CHINA: :""Vr;.r" Highlights Crisis Impatient with Chinese Generalissimo Generalis-simo Chiang Kai-shek's slowness in cooperating in the unification of the country and the rehabilitation of its tattered armies, and having incurred in-curred the Generalissimo's - displeasure dis-pleasure for pressing for quick action, Gen. Joseph W. ("Vinegar Joe") Stilwell has been recalled to the U. -S. . . Stilwell's removal once again brought the critical Chinese situation situ-ation into full light, with latest accounts ac-counts stressing the political disunity dis-unity existing in the country between be-tween the Generalissimo's government govern-ment and the northern Communists, and the Generalissimo's seeming desire de-sire to save his military forces to maintain his control after the war. Ever since coming into command of the China-Burma-India theater early in 1942, Stilwell encountered difficulties in seeking to develop the Chinese war effort, being hampered by inadequate authority, the inefficient in-efficient handling of equipment and, finally, the Generalissimo's personal hostility to him. LEND-LEASE: Food Slii jmpr:ts Except for a slight increase in milk products. lend-lease shipments ship-ments of food during the first nine months of 1944 were smaller than in the corresponding period last year, the Foreign Economic administrator administra-tor announced. Biggest change was in beef and veal, the FEA said, with less than 1 per cent of the V. S. supply lend-leased compared with 1.7 per cent in 1943. Shipments included 12.1 per cent of the supply of U. S. eggs; 15.9 per cent of edible fats and oils; 6.9 per cent of canned fruits and juices, and 10.3 per cent of canned fish. At the same time, the FEA said U. S. forces overseas received large quantities of food from Britain, Australia Aus-tralia and New Zealand under reverse re-verse lend-lease. SURPLUS PLANTS: Government Policy Even as the U. S. government sought to prevent the fostering of monopoly in the disposal of surplus war plants, the British moved to establish es-tablish control over facilities erected 'during wartime with public funds. U. S. action was reflected in the justice department's declaration that it considered the Aluminum Company Com-pany of America a monopoly, and, as such, ineligible to purchase three of the 60 million dollar government-owned government-owned plants which it has operated operat-ed during the war. In Britain, the government announced an-nounced that it would lease, but not sell, the 1,000 factories it constructed construct-ed to meet the wartime emergency. emergen-cy. The government also said it would turn back to private ownership owner-ship plants taken over for war work, with the questions of compensation for improvements, or markoffs for depreciation, left open. DOCTORS: Army Cuts Call With approximately 40 per cent or 60,000 of the nation's physicians in the services and veterans' administration, ad-ministration, the army announced it will not recruit any more doctors from civilian ranks, meeting its needs from graduates of its specialized special-ized training program and individuals individ-uals now being processed. Because expansion in personnel and stepping up of Pacific opera- In recognition of the sacrifice and contribution made by a family fam-ily which has lost two or more sons and has only one surviving, the war department has approved ap-proved a policy of returning to or retaining in the continental United States the sole surviving son of a family in cases where two or more sons have been lost, except where the surviving son is engaged in non - hazardous duty overseas. tions have ' increased demand for medical officers, the navy, . on the other hand, announced that it must add at least 3,000 more physicians to its present ' rolls of around 13,000. In addition to the navy, it was revealed re-vealed that the federal security agency and the veterans' administration adminis-tration also are seeking additional doctors. j AGRICULTURE: Market Prices With farm sale of spring pigs rising ris-ing rapidly, hog prices took a spill in recent markets, with the average aver-age at Chicago dropping 40 cents in one day to $14.25 per hundredweight. Countering the drop in the hog market, however, was a steady cattle cat-tle market, with the bulk of steers selling around $16. Sheep and lambs brought steady prices. As 141,000 hogs, including about 115,000 spring pigs, moved to 20 leading markets October 31, large holdovers were reported at some packing centers at the close of the day's trading. In the previous week, 113,000 hogs had been shipped. With higher prices for livestock live-stock and livestock products balancing bal-ancing a decline for crops, the general level of farm prices stood at 194 per cent of the 1909-'14 figure in mid-October, the department of agriculture reported. At the same time, the USDA said, prices farmers paid for commodities commodi-ties were 176 per cent of the 1910-'14 1910-'14 level. , Including prices paid, interest and taxes, the parity index stood at 170 for the fifth consecutive month, with the average for all farm commodities com-modities still 14 per cent above equalization. Commodities still below be-low parity included wheat, oats, barley, bar-ley, rye, grain sorghums, hay, peanuts pea-nuts and eggs. While the all-crop index fell to 188 of the 1909-'14 level, livestock and livestock products prices rose to 199. At 177, the feed price index jumped 7 per cent over mid-October in 1943. STOCKS: Dividends Up Reflecting the war bourn, dividends divi-dends on common stocks listed on the New York Exchange showed a 7 per cent increase in the first nine months of this year over 1943, totalling lte billion dollars. Pace-setters were amusement stocks, which showed a 35 per cent increase; automotive, up 33 per cent; rubber, up 29 per cent; petroleum, petro-leum, up 14 per cent, and aviation, up 15 per cent. |