Show nazi submarine menace Is allies chief problem prefabricated pre fabricated U boats said to boost german output vanishing puzzles united nations military observers by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator service 1313 11 street NW washington D C it will be a long and bitter war that was the remark of the australian minister of defense in a recent interview two days later I 1 heard beard a gene general rl who had visited many fronts make a similar statement you have heard the same prediction made from dozens of officials official 1 and the strange thing is it is usually preceded with an account of allied successes nothing but a but stands between the enumeration of f victories achieved and the P prediction red lc ton I 1 of the long hard road ahead since this perplexed me I 1 tried to get a concrete answer from various persons as to just what lies on the long hard road out of the answers two obstacles stand out the submarine and the story of the vanishing only recently has it been definitely revealed that the tha greatest and in most as t effective weapon is the submarine for a long time the british permitted only the most general statements ants regarding the sinking of aill allied e d or even neutral ships by U boa boats ts lately because M R was realized that tha t the people were in ignorance of the extent of this menace more detailed statements have been made although still no figures are given out W we e know that america is building s ships hp a taster faster than american ships are being sunk we ve know that the margin between launchings and sin kings is very narrow and we know that launchings alone do not realty really balance sin kings hull for bull because the enemy sinks loaded ships valuable cargoes are destroyed strayed trained men not easily or immediately replaceable are killed or at least taken out of action for long periods gaps are left in the war effort with each lost cargo when I 1 was in berlin covering the outbreak of the european war in 1839 1939 1 I heard a great deal of talk about germanys germanas Germ anys counter blockade how the nazis hazis could MI fill seas with their U boats there was much talk of the great numbers which could be produced by the american method of the assembly line I 1 had bad no idea how much truth there was in those statements then in the months that followed not much was said eaid about the U boats for a period when they were operating on our coasts america was conscious of their presence but when they were driven out ot of sight of our shores they were were driven out of mind as well nazi boasts largely confirmed now we learn how great their depredations are on the shipping lanes where they converge in the eastern atlantic confirming to some degree the german boasts which are sounding again it Is stated by british naval observers that the germans are pro pre fabricating the subs making the parts in factories scattered all over the reich and assembling them in great underground caverns hewn out of the rock or covered with concrete ori on the shores of the bay of biscay in france therein lies a clear and simple explanation of the allies greatest problem the chief obstacle on the long hard road the the second obstacle may be a fancied one but it Is real in the minds of many the unknown Is usually more terrible than the known and perhaps this one Is at least partly a myth but no hardheaded realist can afford to underestimate the potentialities those who believe this obstacle exists say it is hidden behind the mystery of the vanishing according to military men there are at present very few german planes on the russian front I 1 heard a recent estimate of one seventh as many as a year ago there are not many german planes over africa the allies have at least achieved acme ved parity in air power where Is the german its presence darkened the skies of europe once has it really vanished been used up worn out the fae factories which turn out replacements all destroyed by allied bombers Is its necessary fuel and lubrication exl exhausted lausted some people the swedish labor federation reports that the number of strikes and workers involved during 1942 was the lowest ever recorded only 34 strikes with some 1922 workers involved were reported the number of lost working days totaled only three times before in the history of Sw edens labor have there been a less number of working days lost through strikes think that this at least to a large degree Is true but that explanation does not seem reasonable german advances in synthetic gas we know that germany has made remarkable advances in the manufacture of synthetic gasoline and oils we know that some oil has been retrieved from the oil fields in russia new ones developed in austria if germany is not yet starved ot of gasoline and lubricants if U the has not really disappeared from the earth its absence from the air may have another meaning we know that in spite of the heavy german losses in men and material in russia germany still has a large and powerful army possibly over fully equipped divisions trained men it is estimated that aside from soldiers engaged in russia and north africa the garrisons in the occupied countries there must be a striking mobile army of a million men and more of course these are estimates but they are not overestimates and besides this army there is the vanished the assumption is that this great arm army y like the air force Is resting conserving and building up its strength for one of two things either a long last stand defense of the borders of the reich belch or one more powerful offensive meanwhile we know that every day that japan is allowed to occupy the rich possessions of her stolen empire she is nearer to the exploitation of their resources the development of which will make her stronger and every day she Is left undisturbed by a major attack she is able to increase her fortifications wear down the chinese and spread her silver bullets among the less loyal war lord followers on the fringe of chiang kal kai central army there are two factors which make the road ahead a hard one the present successful ope operation ration and the rapid replacement of the german submarine flotilla and the probability that germany is holding back a powerful army and air force either for another telling blow or to defend its strongly fortified terrain ideologies put them on ice As I 1 go wandering round the town taking a look in every quarter with apologies to wan eyed reilly I 1 have acquired data in the last few days that have convinced me that we will have to expunge the word ideology from the bright lexicon of war if we are going to win I 1 have observed three places place s where the ideologies have gotten in and done more damage than a buffalo moth in an overstaffed overstuffed over staffed stuffed sofa of course in north africa it may be the climate or the rainy season deaso ideologies have done some of their r most devastating work I 1 have conversed with an army officer an official who knows that terrain and also what it produces a newspaper philosopher and a radical all ot of them look at the situation on the shores of the mediterranean a little differently the official explains that the politics are very important the radical happy over the success against all fascists but infuriated furia fur Jated ted over using them even to help defeat themselves shouts we should have shot darlan the day after he served his purpose well remarks the official somebody did they the army officer calls the whole controversy a backyard row that will be forgotten as ground dries up and the allies get a few victories but the correspondent philosopher paused to analyze he said you have heard that one thing that greatly improved the morale in the russian army was making the officers supreme and removing the authority of the tha com which were originally placed at their elbows you know the russian officers could make no move without the okay of the commissar and yet the officer was responsible if anything went wrong now the officer has the final word many of the former commissars commissary commis sars who had military training have become officers BRIEFS B R I 1 E F S by baukhage feed grain supplies are 12 per cent larger hay supplies are B 9 per cent larger and supplies of grain and hay per animal on farms are somewhat larger than they were this time last year this year civilians cl will probably eat more peanut butter than ever before because peanut butter is high in both protein and tat fat |