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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Parity Vote Heralds Farm Price Rise; Allies' North Africa Strength Grows As Yanks Erase Rommel's Advance; RAF Raids Strafe Nazi U-Boat Nests (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily 01 this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper Union. . ' I' , saws. - . , fcjr , , EASTERN FRONT: Russians Roll On All along the eastern front the Russians had continued a series or blasting offensives. Each offensive was a battle unit in itself, but added to all the others it formed a pattern that was inexorably moving westward west-ward across the map toward the Dnieper river. Military observers were asking whether the German defenses on the Dnieper line were as strong as the anchors the Axis had lost further east in the Don and Donets river basins. If sufficient time had not been available to strengthen this secondary line, then the Nazis faced a crisis more serious than anything that yet confronted them. In the upper Ukraine the Red armies had moved steadily forward on a wide front toward the Moscow-Kiev Moscow-Kiev railway, their offensive based on a triangle formed by recaptured Sumy, Lebedin and Akhtyrka. To the south the Germans had fought violently in an effort to halt the Russ maneuver for enveloping the remainder of the Donets basrn from which hundreds of thousands of Axis forces were seeking to retire in some semblance of order. SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: To Have and to Hold Three activities had continued to occupy the attention of American and other Allied forces in the Pacific war theater. These were 1 To hold the territorial gains they had already al-ready exacted from the Japs; 2 To destroy enemy aircraft installations, dock facilities and ships in nearby occupied territory; 3 To. gather strength and momentum for further full-scale land and sea blows at the Japs. In unremitting "softening up'' tactics, tac-tics, heavy American bombers in attacks at-tacks on the Jap base of Rabaul in New Britain scored hits on two Japanese Jap-anese warships, drove a third onto a reef and damaged a 10,000-ton cargo vessel. U. S. planes scored hits on a Jap barge at Rekata bay in the northern Solomons and strafed enemy positions at Munda. Indications appeared that the British Brit-ish drive against the Japs in Burma was gathering steam preparatory to a major movement to retake Burma and open the supply road to China. The strength of the British was indicated indi-cated by the fact a Jap effort to raid Assam airfield resulted in the loss of 30 planes. TURKEY: Watches and Waits A watchful waiting policy based on a determination to stay out of the war if possible but to enter the fight if necessary was enunciated by President Ismet Inonu of Turkey. Inonu pointed out that the final decision deci-sion might not be in Turkish hands. Calling all Turks to intensify their preparedness against any eventual- On their way to continue the offensive against the Japs at Salamana in New Guinea, Australian troops pass through a group of Americans who had been in action earlier. This photo was made after the successful close of the Papuan peninsula campaign against the Japs. , I 2d TUNISIA: Rommel Pays Dearly The 50-odd miles that Marshal Rommel had originally advanced against American forces in Tunisia had cost the "Desert Fox" dearly. For not only had most of that gain been lost in retreat, but the Axis offensive had been converted into a first-class Axis setback, with heavy casualties. Pell mell through the Kasserine pass Rommel's Afrika Korps tank forces had retreated to the southwest south-west under powerful Allied gun and aircraft attack. Seasoned observers termed Rommel's maneuver, a typical typ-ical Axis hit-and-run action. The Axis had found the American forces overextended and trying to man untenable un-tenable positions. The Axis had struck hard. When the American high command met this offensive with a more powerful counteroffen-sive, counteroffen-sive, the Axis ran for cover. Thus Rommel's first major bid to cut Allied communications lines had been thwarted. As the Allied fortunes in Central Tunisia thus turned brightly upward, reports disclosed that General Sir Bernard Montgomery's British eighth army had been on the move in North Africa and had struck with augmented power in southeastern Tunisia. Smashing with tanks into the Mareth line, General Montgomery Montgom-ery had seriously threatened Rommel's Rom-mel's rear. HITLER BOASTS: Nazis Not Yet Beaten Adolf Hitler's absences at key Nazi party gatherings had caused speculation as to his health and reasons rea-sons for remaining under cover. But wherever he was, his remote-control message to the German people via a Munich proclamation was as harsh and fanatical as if der fuehrer had delivered it personally. Ominous to the people of occupied Europe was Hitler's declaration that "we shall not scruple about foreign lives when such hard sacrifices are exacted from our own lives." Germany's future and the future of Europe, he said, will be decided on the Eastern front. He boasted that enemies who believed they almost had Germany down would be "terribly "ter-ribly disappointed." "No matter how great the coalition coali-tion of our enemies may be," his proclamation added, "it is smaller in power than the strength of the alliance of our peoples." 4,403 NEW SHIPS: To Help Beat Axis Funds for the construction of 4,403 ships for the Maritime commission were approved when the house appropriations ap-propriations committee reported an appropriation bill providing $6,298,-530,435. $6,298,-530,435. The current shipbuilding program to thwart the Axis submarine peril and provide transoceanic facilities for men and supplies has been mapped through 1943, according to Admiral Emory Land, director of the Maritime commission. The schedule called for construction of 2,242 ships of which 554 were delivered deliv-ered before January 1, 1943. In addition, ad-dition, he said, it was proposed to extend the program to provide for 2,161 additional ships to be contracted contract-ed for during 1943. FARM PRICES: Wickard vs. Senate When Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard requested congress con-gress for a "clear mandate" to proceed pro-ceed with his 1943 farm production program, he asked for sanction to attempt the difficult feat of increasing increas-ing farm prices without raising prices to consumers. The "clear mandate" was appropriation by congress con-gress of $100,000,000 for incentive payments. But the senate farm bloc had ideas of its own about solving the farm income riddle. Legislation providing provid-ing higher ceilings on prices of some farm commodities passed the senate by a 78-2 vote. Under the terms of the new act, the government no longer would deduct benefit payments pay-ments from ceilings. How much this measure if finally approved by all branches of the government gov-ernment would add to the food bills of consumers was a question neither the department of agriculture nor the OPA was prepared to answer immediately, im-mediately, because of technical factors fac-tors involved. OPA officials, however, expressed the view that Increases in living costs would be considerable. AIR OFFENSIVE: Allies Harass Europe Although Allied land operation offensives of-fensives against Hitler-held Europe were still in the blueprint stage, the offensive by air continued to gather momentum. Wilhelmshaven, the major Nazi naval base, and Lorient, the vast Axis submarine base on the French coast, were repeated targets. The RAF celebrated its 16th raid on Wilhelmshaven by bombing key objectives ob-jectives without the loss of a single plane. In one of the raids on Lorient Allied fliers dropped more than 1,000 tons of explosives. In a summary of operations, an RAF spokesman revealed that 100,-000 100,-000 tons of bombs had been dropped on German objectives to date in the war and that 2,000 daylight sorties had been made by the bomber command com-mand in 1942 alone. CAFE RATIONING: Streamlines Bill-of-Fare Diners-out in restaurants and hotels ho-tels faced slimmer helpings on their plates and a streamlined bill-of-fare reducing the variety of foods offered, of-fered, as enforcement of the food administration's rationing orders for commercial eating establishments was undertaken. Aimed primarily at food waste, the orders governing restaurants, hotels and other institutions did, however, provide a larger proportionate propor-tionate allotment of canned and processed pro-cessed foods than individual householders house-holders were permitted to have. Because Be-cause allotments were based on the number of persons served in December Decem-ber rather than on the amount of rationed foods actually served, small cafes and stands would get a proportionately pro-portionately larger share of canned and processed foods than places that serve for the most part complete meals. Restaurant and hotel allowances were set at a minimum rate of 13 per cent larger than those for households. PRESIDENT INONU ... 'decision not Turkey's' ities, President Inonu declared: "We are grieved by and suffer from the global disaster. We shall do our utmost ut-most not to be entangled in it nor contaminated by it, but we know that it is not entirely within our power to stay out of the war." Turkey has spent more for defense in the last four years than at any time in her history, he declared. 4 TO 1 RECORD: For U. S. Airmen Americans learned with pride that their fighting airmen had destroyed four enemy planes for every one of their own knocked out of the skies in 1942. An official tabulation covering complete operations for the last year showed that army, navy and marine fliers shot down at least 2,587 of their foes. This total did not include hundreds of planes listed as probably prob-ably destroyed. Aircraft losses by al American armed services last year totaled 609. Some of the fliers were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, others simply did not return from combat missions . for reasons unknown. A majority of the 609 losses, however, resulted from actual combat with enemy airmen. air-men. 4TH FDR TERM? As informed observers were predicting pre-dicting that the war would still be in progress in 1944, politicos were prophesying that the Democrats would draft President Roosevelt for a fourth term. In the van for the "fourth term for Roosevelt" movement were Governor Gover-nor Neely of Maryland and Congressman Congress-man Adolph J. Sabath of Illinois Dean of the house, Sabath said he had discussed the proposition with the President and told him "he owes it to the country to run again." LEND-LEASE It had become increasingly clear in congressional circles that final passage of the measure extendine the lend-lease act until July, 1944 was a foregone conclusion. This was earlier indicated by the unanimous action of the house foreign affairs committee in approving the meas-ure. meas-ure. The authority of the original act by which nearly 10 billion dollars worth of foodstuffs, guns, airplanes and supplies have been shipped our Allies, will expire June 30 |
