OCR Text |
Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne A.E.F. Takes Over North Ireland Base As U. S. and British Pool Supplies; Jap Convoy Blasted in Macassar Strait; Hawaii Report Blames Commanders (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) i (Released by Western New.SD.ipar Union.) ' 3" S 1 ' - K ' i I - yi if1:. Justice Owen J. Roberts is shown (left) talking to newsmen after laying before President Roosevelt the report on the Pearl Harbor attack. Made public in its entirety by the President, the report fixed responsibility on Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. Gen. Walter C. Short for "dereliction "dere-liction of duty." Justice Roberts was chairman of the commission of six that visited Hawaii. PAN-AMERICA: Half-Loaf Won? What had first looked like a half-loaf half-loaf victory for American diplomacy at the Pan-American conference at Rio de Janeiro, was gradually assuming as-suming the proportions of a larger loaf. Most of the South American and Central American countries had gone to Rio intent on a solid-front breach with the Axis. Some already had broken relations, some had declared de-clared a state of war. But Argentina and Chile had remained re-mained adamant. Whether that meant simply long coastlines to worry wor-ry about, or Axis leanings, or economic eco-nomic hopings made little difference. differ-ence. Enormous pressure was brought to bear, but they would not go "whole hog" along with the rest. Finally, in true diplomatic management, manage-ment, our conferees managed to pull out the plum of a resolution which committed all nations to a breach of relations, but allowed any individual indi-vidual to do so at a time he might select. Uruguay and Peru were the first to sever relations, followed by Paraguay Para-guay and Bolivia. The lineup following fol-lowing the breakup of the conference confer-ence was "At War": United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Domini-can Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Salvador. "Broken Relation": Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay and Bolvia. Only four maintained any form of normal intercourse, in-tercourse, namely, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. It was regarded re-garded as certain that the first three would soon sever relations and that the fourth, Argentina, would eventually eventu-ally take this step. AUSTRALIA: Readies for Defense Despite the heroic fight on land before Singapore, and the strenuous strenu-ous efforts being made to gain air supremacy and control of the long Malayan coasts, most commentators and observers actually believed the "island city of apathy" would eventually even-tually be besieged from the mainland, main-land, and might well be lost. This intensified the belief in Australia Aus-tralia and in many American quarters quar-ters that the real battle of the South Pacific would center on the east coast of Australia. Some trained observers, among them W. W. Chaplin, who had made a year's close study of the East Indies In-dies and Australia, including Singapore, Singa-pore, publicly expressed the belief that Java and Sumatra constituted a "Maginot line" of defense in the East Indies, and that Japan was intent, in-tent, in taking the Philippines, Singapore Singa-pore and Borneo on so surrounding and going behind that line that they might attempt to duplicate Germany's Germa-ny's similar feat against France. SQUADRON: Wiped Out Despite the attacks by Japanese and Thailanders in the rear of the main Malaya battle for Singapore upon the British-American-Chinese defenders of Burma "the modern roads to Mandalay" had reported a two-day "bag" of 32 Japanese bombers, bomb-ers, believed to be an entire squadron. squad-ron. While military secrecy covered the development of the land action, thousands of Burmese, wild with delight, de-light, watched the American and British fighters in mad dog-fights overhead at mid-day. OVER THERE: New A.E.F. in Erin When Uncle Sam landed an infantry infan-try force of several thousand men at an undisclosed port in Northern Ireland, it marked the first arrival of American troops in a European port since World War No. 1. Commanded Com-manded by Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, the Yank army of brawny, clean-limbed farm lads from the Middle West proceeded to camps prepared months before. Few doubted that this detachment was but the advance guard of many' more to come. It was believed, too, that the base they occupied might be the springboard from which an invasion of Hitler's Europe would be made. This view was voiced in the address ad-dress of welcome by Sir Archibald Sinclair, British air secretary, who said: "This is a coming portent for Mr. Hitler, nor will its significance be lost on General Tojo. "From here, assuredly you will sally forth with us to carry the war to the enemy's territory and free oppressed peoples of Europe . . . You are the vanguard of American arms." SUPPLY COMMAND: U. S.-British Pool The creation of a supreme allied supply command that will speed and co-ordinate the production and flow of vital munitions and supplies to the fighting fronts was seen in the announcement by ' President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Wins-ton Churchill that the United States and Great Britain will pool all munitions, mu-nitions, shipping and war materials to "further co-ordination of the United Nation's war effort" Three joint boards have been set up to merge the combined war resources re-sources of the two nations and make them partners in vital fields of supply sup-ply in addition to joint military and naval commands. These new agencies agen-cies will include a combined war materials board, munitions assignment assign-ment board and combined shipping adjustment board. Board members, it was announced, an-nounced, will confer with representatives represent-atives of the Soviet Union, China and such others of the 26 United Nations as necessary "to attain common purposes." SHIPS: Japan Losing Them The British, Dutch and American bombers and ships of war were not formally coming to grips with large bodies of Japanese naval ships, but they were whittling away at them, and Japan's losses were assuming important proportions. A count of Japanese ships reported report-ed sent to the bottom in the first seven weeks of the war totaled 100, not counting those damaged and probably sunk. This, it was pointed out, has been an average of better than two a day, despite the fact that when the war started Japan had the jump on the other nations by virtue of the surprise, sur-prise, and that opening successes had weakened the allied hitting GUILTY: Verdict on Hawaii The stunning news that an admiral ad-miral and a lieutenant general, the naval and military commanders responsible re-sponsible for the defense of Hawaii, had showed such a lack of competence compe-tence that they had failed even to talk over with each other deliberate war warnings handed them by their superior officers on November 24 and 27, in ample time to have circumvented cir-cumvented the Japanese surprise attack fell sickeningly on American ears. The immediate removal of both Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. Gen. Walter C. Short from their commands after the Pearl Harbor Har-bor debacle was fully justified by the investigating commission headed head-ed by Justice Roberts of the Supreme Su-preme court. The report had been utterly frank, comprehensive, and left little unsaid. un-said. President Roosevelt, to whom it was handed,, ordered that it be given to the public without alteration altera-tion or censorohiprr- The words that condemned the commanders were "dereliction of duty." But the astounding revelations revela-tions were twofold that the commanders com-manders had shown a lack of interest inter-est in performing their duty that they had failed to talk over with each other the measures that each was taking for the defense in the face of a war threat The army man had "assumed" that the navy man was sending out offshore patrols to find where the enemy might be. The navy man assumed as-sumed that the army airforce was on the alert. Neither actually was. Demands for court martial to mete out punishment to those .responsible .re-sponsible for the Pearl Harbor disaster dis-aster were heard from members of congress. Demands were likewise made for the expulsion of any "incompetents" "in-competents" holding responsible positions po-sitions in the war effort. Many senators and representatives asserted that the commission's conclusions con-clusions pointed to a pressing need for a supercommand with control over the operations of both armed services. LUZON: Critical Stage That the battle of Luzon had reached critical final stages was apparent. ap-parent. General MacArthur reported report-ed that not only were his troops being subjected to an all-out Japanese Jap-anese land attack by forces of at least ten to one superior strength, but that Japanese warships in Subic bay were able to fire their guns into his positions. Constant Japanese reinforcements were being landed in Subic bay on MacArthur's left flank, where , the heaviest Japanese attacks were being be-ing launched, and he reported that the numerical odds were rising constantly. con-stantly. Commentators, while declaring the battle of the Philippines was a losing fight from the start, placed the highest importance on the long and brave resistance of the American-Filipino army. power. A continuation of this rate, observers ob-servers said, would cost Japan more than 700 vessels of all types, and that no navy in the world, except ex-cept the United States, could stand replacing such losses. ' Latest exploit was an attack by air and sea forces of the United Nations Na-tions against Jap war ships and troop convoys in the Straits of Macassar. Reported as the greatest great-est demonstration of combined Allied Al-lied might since the war's beginning, begin-ning, this force was revealed to have sunk or damaged at least 26 Japanese ships in a running battle. These straits are of the utmost tactical importance, and are believed to be a passageway for a chief Japanese Jap-anese attempt upon Australia itself. All the United States destroyers engaged in the attack came out of the attack undamaged, and suffered only four casualties, one man seriously seri-ously wounded, and three slightly. The successful attack came "at an opportune moment with Japanese thrusts against Australia causing Prime Minister Curtin of that Commonwealth Com-monwealth to issue appeals to both Britain and the United States for aid. ECONOMICS: America's first foodstuff rationing came from the office of Leon Hendersonsugar. Hen-dersonsugar. After controversial statements about supplies, and after considerable buying up of sugar by panicky housewives, a ration was set at about one pound per person per week, as against a normal consumption con-sumption of about a pound and a half. The shortage, said Henderson, would be about a third. He said measures would be taken to recover sugar from hoarders. At the same time the tire situation situa-tion was becoming more acute, with many tire dealers having only a four-month supply on hand, and absolutely ab-solutely no more for civilian use in sight. New car production was about to stop, and 450,000 auto workers were to be idle until their factories made the changeover. Labor peace was practically assured as-sured by a C.I.O.-A.F.L. agreement, and the War Production board reported re-ported no work stoppages in war-essential war-essential industry, and none in sight. MSCELLANY: New York: A Berlin worker's slo gan, smuggled out of the Reich was broadcast: "We're winning our! selves to death." Batavia: The Dutch army air men, in an attack on a convoy m Macassar strait claimed that thev struck a large transport carrying troops, which turned complete over and rolled about, keel upward Berlin: Hitler's own newspanor printed an article written by 7 officer listing 12 common faults o Amencans-that they had too many automobiles, eat griddle-cake Tan grapefruit, and keep grinning aU time among other things. me . New York: The C.I.O and A F L were going ahead with their peacl plans leaving John L. Lewis v.? much on the outside, testftTLT that he. who had boa upset former union plans hart gested this latest effort al unUySUg- |