| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS reds middle don drive toward perils huge nazi armies in caucasus french pace allied tunisia offensive wavelle Wavel ls burma campaign campain n aids ch chinese inese EDITORS NOTI NOT E when opinion 01 0 are pressed in theoe column they lire those choie 1 ap per UM vilont Ui lont new and not of this newspaper released ne leased by western newspaper union D 4 4 A J S A 11 4 ts 0 4 I 1 I 1 1 A french soldier center chats affably with a british tommy and two helmeted american troops in algiers what are they discussing how long it will take to drive the axis out of Tunisia into the mediterranean then the offensive offe asive against europe SOVIET SURPRISE offensive perils nazis two other soviet offensives had been launched earlier the first at stalingrad Stal ingrad and the second to the northwest near both had taken their toll of nazi men and equipment neither had threatened disaster to the german winter occupation cu of russia but now had come t the he third red offensive this time aimed at the middle don area it had started much the same as the other two with drives through german communications the capture of air air fields and the cutting off of rail lines and roads this third offensive however had a momentum and continuity the other two had lacked its apparent objective to capture strategic and cut off all the german troops in the don volga caucasus area how well this roughshod drive had succeeded over german resistance was indicated by a red high command announcing the capture of kamenik Ka rail and communications center only 85 miles from the fall of on the moscow railroad was also reported in a single weeks operations 60 nazis were killed or captured the reds announced so rapid and furious had been the assault that axis troops in in the caucasus and don volga area appeared appealed to be in in imminent danger of being cut off soviet reported that german armies armies in in the vicinity of govaya klita and K kazyanskaya Kazan had retreated in in disorder abandoning equipment and supplies in their flight further confirmation that the nazis were reeling ba back ck before tile the soviet sweep came in in german high command admissions that the russians had broken into the axis defense front on the central don after attacking with a stron strong 9 L cst st concentration of tank formations at stalingrad Stal ingrad the reds were r reported e continuing to wage offe offensive lisl ve battles to the north at Vc likie lukl luki which is only 80 miles past cast of the latvian border german geiman cou coun n ter attacks wore were hurled back RETAIL PRICES to be standardized St andri dizel starting shirting Stir ting with meats and soaps retail prices for foods and other gro gio acry items were scheduled for standardization under unkei a new program announced by the office of price administration under the new plan starting january 15 individual ceiling prices for grocery items based on march 1942 levels was to be replaced placed ic by a ti fla dollars and cents price ceiling pur pose of the new order officials said was to establish a simpler method method of determining what the top legal pride price should be the plan specified that retail stores b br grouped as independents chains and supermarkets each stove store in in the same class would have the same ceiling prices standard prices were to be of two types eichof fixed dollar and cents or percentage markup OPA officials declared that the now new regulations would eliminate a lot of reports and paper work BURMA wavell marches the burma road and china still lay many leagues distant but gen archibald Wavel wavelle ls british imperi als had begun the long march from india designed ultimately to sweep the japs out of burma and establish direct and effective junction with generalissimo chiang kal kai slicks hard pressed chinese armies content with methodically taking first things first the british concentrated on nearby objectives striking suddenly between the bay of bengal and the masu river wavell drove into burma with the japanese coastal air base at akyaz as his initial target in the first stages of the campaign enemy resistance had been slight jap strategists had apparently patently ly relied on the dense burma jungle to impede british progress while they organized in force to hold key objectives air power assumed an important part in the campaign with british planes bombing jap held towns along their route and american planes strafing cashio burmese terminal of the burma road in retaliation Jal lation the japs bombed calcutta long range significance of Wavel wavelle ls m move ove would be greater than its immediate results military observers agreed first by moving aggressively into burma wavell was safeguarding wavering india moreover he was obtaining close up operating space for his air forces to harry jap holdings at rangoon and mandalay but most important of all the allies were giving china visible proof that they were capable of deeds as well a as words NORTH AFRICA rommel marathon deeper into Tripoli tania the remnants of marshal brommels Rom mels afrika korps had plunged in spite of british general brilliant flanking move hemming in the nazis rearguard rear guard the retreating main german body was able to continue its move several alternatives had been open to the now deflated rommel one was to make a stand at misu rata but since his previous efforts at such tactics proved fruitless military prognosticators were convinced his destination was nonstop non stop to tunisia to join gen walthen further to the west allied air power had steadily stepped up its tempo and this growing plane strength hint cd at an early end to the stalemate which had characterized the tunisia front in recent weeks land fighting was still of a desultory nature but in the air the united nations were increasing tile the intensity of their attacks against tunis and bizette Bizer te that the allied command had prepared grimly and well for its all out attack on tunis and bizette was evident in its use of french north african forces to envelop the axis axi positions from the south and east radio morocco quoting a french said the french had struck toward the cast coast southeast of pot pont du fahs 30 miles south bof of tunis taking numerous prisoners guns and supplies AXIS conference mediterranean cloves known only to those who were hurriedly summoned to hillers Hit lers headquarters were the subjects discussed when count galeazzo GaleaZ 20 ciano and chief of staff marshal ugo c cavallero of italy met with the fuehrer marshal hermann goering and chief of the high command gen wilhelm keitel but observers were quick to point out that new axis moves in italy france and africa were to be expected two immediate fac facts t s of significance were noted in the meeting one was the absence of mussolini an absence which strengthened current reports concerning his serious illness the other was the summoning to the conference of pierre laval vichy premier of france and arch collaborationist with the axis with hitler stubbornly defending his his last footholds in africa and with italian civilian morale shaken by repeated allied bombing attacks moves calculated to bolster both situations faced the axis chieftains still an ominous question mark in the mediterranean africa theater was franco ruled spain while the spanish dictator had mobilized his army in the south perilously close to gibraltar and morocco and had used his radio for brash axis propaganda lie he had not yet violated his neutrality pledge but the meeting of his foreign minister count jordana with portuguese premier de oliveria simultaneously with the axis conference was regarded by some observers as a cause for misgiving by the allies BUTTER Rution rationed ed in canada forecasting an action which many ex experts believe will be inevitable in this country canada officially under took to ration butter by coupon a weekly allowance of one half a pound per person butter became the fifth commodity rationed by coupon in the dominion the others are gasoline sugar tea and coffee rubber particularly for tires is likewise rationed but not by coupon voluntary rationing exists with a few other commodities modi ties notably meat chairman donald gordon of the wartime price and trade board said that thal butter rationing had been made necessary because 0 of I 1 hoard ers some gr greedy eedy and unscrupulous people he charged aggravated local butter s shortages hor and placed a serious strain on the distribution of the commodity As a result panic buying was in evidence MCKEN BACKER 6 shame shaine and infamy 1 I know that if those of us who are raising cries of objections to being rationed could visit the boys as I 1 did you would realize the utter shame and infamy of 0 your position this was part of the sermon capt eddie delivered to the M CAPTAI calvain CAl TAIN N ED EDDIE I 1 E R ICK E NB it on J seen the bos american people when he told by radio the story of his miraculous rescue following 23 days in a rubber raft after being forced down in the pacific with members of a planes C rew crew on a military mission speaking as a private citizen the famous hero added 1 I plead for additional effort an all out total ef fort to the end that we may increase production of planes ships guns ammunition and all supplies that our fighting men must have in greater abundance NEW GUINEA 3 ply offensive sive general macarthurs Mac Arthurs new guinea offensive continued with mopping up activities after the significant capture of bunn buna village enemy bastion on the northeast coast of tile the papuan peninsula two to immediate objectives had remained before macarthur undertook the large task of completely dislodging the japs from new guinea one was to clean up the bunn buna mission area take over its airfields and completely liquidate the remaining jap defenders the other was to continue tile the pressure against enemy positions at Sala maua it was significant of the increasingly gly efficient american Ameri cun service of supply that tor for the first time since he undertook the offensive that general macarthur Mac Aithur was able to launch attacks with coordinated co support of tanks artillery and aviation A from allied headquarters disclosed that 13 ton amer ichii built general stuart tanks had been in action in the swamps and jungles of kew new guinea the also reported the de destruction S trues of two medium sized i Z ed japanese cargo vessels in Fins chafen harbor miles north of buna |
