Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne hillers Hit lers spring drive into balkans follows usual pattern of nazi blitz As greeks and jugoslava Jugo slavs fall back axis powers register african gains EDITORS NOTE when opinions opinion are expressed in these volumes volum to lumir ns they are lhoir of the news new analyst and not necessarily necea rHy of this athla newspaper new paper tRe BI leased by western newspaper paper union 0 N T I 1 A 00 W 1 eli EL LIBYA beyond this nazi armored tank waves a swastika from a building ft in this libyan coastal town since the nazis joined coined the italian troops in the libyan sector previous sensational successes ss by the british have been wiped out and much territory formerly won is now in axis hands BALKANS nazi power boiver the sudden onslaught of the nazi troops on five fronts against and greece came with terrifying swiftness and in the early days of the conflict it was evident that a delaying action was the most that the greeks could offer and that fhe ae jugoslava Jugo slavs prepared mentally but unprepared physically to resist could do little but harass the advance of the invader hungarian troops were also ordered to enter yugoslavian Jugo territory separated from hungary after the war of 1914 1918 events moved swiftly in those first few days immediately the city of belgrade perilously close to the border and in the center of a plain was declared an open city and that the jugoslava Jugo slavs would not defend it however the first act of the nazi bombers was to deliver a series of assaults on belgrade closely followed by similar attacks on sara bevo nis zagreb and other points of military importance to the invading army the attack on belgrade may or may not have put the city entirely hors du combat but the immediate effect was to shut off all communication with the outside world and that caused the reports of the early phases of the new war to be fragmentary and conflicting to the utmost degree one heard that the jugoslava Jugo slavs were invading neighboring countries had were bombing sofia and in the same breath the germa germans n s claimed the capture of nis the razing r az of belgrade the cutting of vital railroad lines only the british reports seemed to carry conviction together er with those from athens the former predicted a general withdrawal and the latter told how that withdrawal was being carried out but from the start it had been expected by this country that kalonika Sal would be defended and that the british had to troops in that general neighborhood and were prepared to make a serious defense of the port then the british announced that kalonika Sal might fall and gave rise to the general belief that perhaps the british forces were not so numerous or so strong as at first stated suddenly came the word that the british had only to troops on the scene and that they were in the second line of defense ready to veer to east or west as the situation demanded this was the answer to the dispatches of the first few days which did not reveal the british in contact with the enemy eneany at any point they were in this report placed in the vicinity of katerine which put them somewhat in the center between two main forces of greeks closely following this dispatch came a report from berlin claiming that their troops had entered salon ika and from athens itself came the following terse yet disquieting report the german blitz has split greek forces in two with a wedge driven down west of kalonika Sal trapping uncounted thousands of troops defending the line of the truma river right on the heels of this report unpleasant to americans who were hoping that the nazi attack on northern greece might be halted came the word from london german troops have entered kalonika Sal follow jacksonville fla A negro stole a car and the police knew the car was gone and figured hed soon run out of gas and abandon it but the car kept moving and was reported here there everywhere they figure where he was getting gas money they found uncle sam was providing the man had found a courtesy card in the car and was using it to get credit to buy gas ing virtual evacuation ot of the port by greek troops british troops have not yet gone into action one of the five fronts on which the germans attacked was around in southwestern a vital railroad link between the greece british and yugoslav Jug forces E early arly in the conflict german panzer divisions captured and drove a wedge through the bardar valley the germans reported taking more than prisoners in this action and radioed photographs showing long lines of truckloads truck loads of serb and clotian prisoners going along mountain roads passing for ward moving nazi divisions on the way while the united states led by president Roosevel ts promises of sympathy and aid to and greece during this invasion was watching with anxiety and hope for some more favorable news the general tone of opinion was that the story of poland and finland was being ing rewritten before their eyes americans interested in seeing something like this happen again scanned the news dispatches in vain for signs that the nazi putsch was bogging down the shock of the fall of kalonika Sal was matched by the shock to learn that the british forces were relatively small but the fact that they were in a reported second line gave some measure of hope to those anxiously watching the defense that something might happen when the second line was reached and went into action FASCISTS move in africa the war was not only taking a nazi turn in and greece but in northern africa as well with combined fascist nazi troops definitely on the forward move again As in a football game the british had evidently lost the ball and unless the anzack could hold the fascists for downs there might be a drive to a touchdown in libya it was odd that the reports of the advances in libya by the italo german forces should have coincided with dispatches saying that gen sir archibald wavell and large numbers of picked troops had been sent to greece whether this was true or not could not be learned but if so it was an interesting coincidence that the backward movement of the british in libya tallied in time with the rumor that wavell was gone to another field the british in their forward drive had gone past sidi bahrani to derna and thence to benegasi Ben gasi the libyan capital photos of british troops taking down street signs putting up their 0 own wn and other reports tended to the belief that italy was knocked out of the war in africa and that it was all over but the shouting suddenly berlin reported a minor success on the libyan front and then w with it h equal suddenness britain began announcing that there would be withdrawals that Wavel wavelle ls forces would pick their own line of defense and fall back to that came the fall of benegasi Ben gasi and then the fall of derna with the british still back pedalling and fighting a rear guard action all the way in eritrea and ethiopia however the british continued their success making mass attacks on massaua the sole remaining point of military importance highlights H I 1 G H L I 1 G H T S in the news NORFOLK va coast guards men were dragging waters off the eastern shore of virginia seeking wreckage of a huge patrol bomber thought to have carried 10 navy men in its crew to the their ir deaths bodies of some of the crew had been found and others were sought the men were making a simple transfer flight when the accident happe happened ned the accident was being in investigated vesti gated by naval authorities a STRIKES new turn strike news continued sensational but took somewhat a turn for the better with the dykstra mediation board settling the auis allis chalmers strike and making headway both on the threatened walkout against U S steel and the big ford strike at river rouge but the news while somewhat better from the standpoint of the national defense was stul still disquieting enough most sensational of the stories was the claim that CIO chieftains had been canvassing local unions throughout the united states seeking to find what sentiment if any there was for a general strike if the bridges deport deportation deportal at ion move should be carried out the bridges case was in the hearing stage when this move was uncovered in washington when sidn sidney ey hillman of was was asked by a house committee investigating the national defense program to investigate the report mr hillman expressed surprise at the question and said he did not believe that any such move was being carried out mr hillman said that philip murray president of the CIO and chairman of the steel workers organizing committee would not tolerate a strike against the defense program this report by mr hillman came just one day after mr murray had made a surprise visit to the white house at the invitation of president roosevelt and then had made a flying trip to detroit and later had an that the projected strike against U S steel would be held in in abeyance for a time ostensibly to permit work by mediators and eon con cilia tors to avert the strike entirely entirely Y the report came from a mediator in new york that part of the coal strike difficulties had been settled he said that the reopening of other mines had been delayed and apparently the main difficulty was a difference in attitude between northern and southern appalachian appalachia n mine mine operators concerning the demands of the united mine workers the mediator said I 1 we are trying desperately to effect a complete accord and to stabilize this backbone industry for a period of two years he also said that the schism between the two geographical portions of the operators group was c causing ausing the chief difficulty fi in the meantime there were signs that the mediation efforts effo arts in in the ford strike were bearing f fruit ruit when governor van wagoner of michigan wired president roosevelt as follows please do not approve certification of the ford strike to the defense mediation board before I 1 have h ave talked with you I 1 am in conference now with philip murray and james dewey the conciliator this made it look at least for the moment as though some settlement of the dispute which has tied up in defense material might be at hand SHIP AID on the ships for britain end of the aid law was well on an the move with the president formally seeking from congress the right to take possession p of the 36 danish merchantman merchantmen mercha merchant namen men now in american waters mr roosevelt said his advisers were convinced convince ed th they e y had every right to take over the german and italian ships ship s regardless of the protests of the two axis governments it was plain from the white house comment that the government proposed to combine the three thre groups of ships into one fleet and in time to use the whole fleet in defense transport the government will go far it was believed beh eved to keep this line of transport open and under way until un til deliveries begin on the new merchant ships now being constructed in addition at the british same time the is announced that this C country 0 ty states turning over to them 10 united U t cl in coast guard cutters for aid the war against nazi subs |