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Show I0mgfon Washington, I). C. MAGNETIC TORI'lonO: Here la one ronton why we needed the Azores so hndly as mi untl-sub-iiKiriue base. The U-bonts riot only hnvo new devices but also a new strategy nnd may coriverne around the bottleneck to the Mediterranean between the Azores and Gibraltar. DEVICES: Latest Nazi torpedoes arc superior to the former type which exploded only on contact. New torpedoes are exploded (1) on contact; (2) by magnetic attraction on coming close to tho steel hull; (3) by the vibration vibra-tion of the engines of the ship under un-der attack. This makes it possible for the submarine to succeed in its mission much more frequently than before. A torpedo is much less likely to miss, since missing actual contact con-tact with the target does not now mean, as previously, that It misses the target. STRATEGY: Convoys have now discovered that Nazi subs are hunting in packs of sufficient number to employ the same sort of naval strategy which large units of naval vessels are able to use. A group of submarines will surface on one side of the convoy, and thus decoy the escort vessels in that direction. Meantime, another group of submarines on the other side of the convoy will approach within easy firing range and discharge dis-charge their torpedoes. Observers believe, however, that the main artery of commerce from the United States to the European theater of war the North Atlantic run is still so well guarded that the submarine menace is licked so far as that run is concerned. It is feared, however, that the Nazis will now strike at another vulnerable point, namely, the Straits of Gibraltar. Gi-braltar. Since these straits must be passed by all Allied merchant shipping ship-ping supplying the Mediterranean theater of war, including North Africa, Af-rica, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Italy and the Adriatic not to mention all the shipping now passing through the Mediterranean bound for the Straits of Suez and India this area is due for a concentrated submarine attack. A VISIT WITH STALIN Secretary Hull might have got some Interesting pointers for his Moscow trip from Cuban Ambassador Ambassa-dor Concheso, only Latin American diplomat who has met Stalin. Brilliant Senor Concheso is both Cuban ambassador to the U.S.A. and Cuban minister to Soviet Russia. Recentl" he came back from a visit to the Soviet capital during which he presented his credentials to Foreign For-eign Minister Molotoff, and expressed ex-pressed the polite hope that he might also call upon Stalin. Knowing that Stalin was one of the busiest men in the world, however, Concheso did not press the point and actually did not expect to see him. So he almost fell out of his ballet seat one night when someone tapped him on the shoulder and told him that Stalin would see him in 20 minutes. min-utes. How Stalin knew the Cuban diplomat was enjoying the famous Moscow Ballet, Concheso did not know. However, he was told that a motor mo-tor would call for him at the theater in 15 minutes, and he should be ready. Concheso consulted a British diplomat, also present at the ballet, who told him that the man who had tapped him on the shoulder was the Russian chief of protocol, so he had better be ready. It was May, but zero weather in Moscow. However, Ambassador Concheso did not find it cold in the Kremlin. (Churchill wore a zipper-suit zipper-suit when he called on Stalin, and Mrs. Hull has been worrying on behalf be-half of her husband about the cold in the Kremlin.) Only two officers guarded Stalin. One officer met the Cuban at the entrance of the building build-ing and escorted him to Stalin's office. of-fice. There he was met by another officer who took him the rest of the way. There was no pomp or ceremony. cere-mony. GENIAL JOSEPH Stalin himself was not fierce, but kindly and genial. His eyes, according accord-ing to Ambassador Concheso, are deep and penetrating, but with wrinkles wrin-kles of humor in the corners. The Soviet premier seemed surprisingly sur-prisingly well-posted on Cuban problems, prob-lems, knew something about its labor la-bor laws and its economic questions. ques-tions. However, he was not familiar with Cuban - U. S. relations and seemed to think that Cuba was still politically dependent on the U.S.A. The ambassador explained that the Piatt amendment had been abrogated abrogat-ed and Cuba now enjoyed complete freedom. CAPITAL CHAFF C Capt. Ralph Ingersoll, drafted away from his editorship of the newspaper PM, was detailed by the army to help pilot the Five Flying Senators on part of their war-zone trip. It is reported that Ingersoll is being queried by the war department depart-ment as to who leaked certain information in-formation to the senators . . . Gov. Matt Neeley of West Virginia, former for-mer U. S. senator, will run for the house of representatives in the Firsi West Virginia congressional district I |