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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Released Diplomats, Newspaper Men Tell Inside Stories of Axis Unrest; Armored AEF Arrives in Ireland; WPB Cancels War Plant Construction Released by Western Newspaper Union Jfr r J.-3.i;L J l -4 ,Si K8 1? j "Sorry, No Gas" just a sign of the times in eastern seaboard states since gas rationing went Into effect. A sharp curtailment in automobile travel is the direct result of Axis submarine activity against V. S. coastal shipping trade. RE-ENFORCEMENTS : Land in Ireland Shipload upon shipload of United States soldiers, fully equipped for mechanical warfare, have arrived in Northern Ireland to bolster the already large American garrison there. Enthusiasm was at high pitch in Britain. One military observer pointed out that the arrival of thousands thou-sands of American soldiers in Ulster allows planning for offensive operations opera-tions on the continent "on a scale of at least 20 divisions or 300,000 men. The U. S. communique stated: "British Isles: The war department today announced the arrival of additional addi-tional United States army troops. The number is substantially larger than previous contingents and includes in-cludes tank units." The debarkation was carried out swiftly and secretly. Secluded bases already had been prepared for the men. RUSSIA : Kharkhov and Kerch For some time Hitler's objective on the southern flank of his eastern front had been clear. He wanted badly the oil that the Caucasian area could give him. His much-feared "spring offensive" shaped up that as the mud of Hussia's Crimea began be-gan to dry. - With overwhelming numbers he swept the Russians before him on his march across the Kerch peninsula. penin-sula. Then from Berlin came the report that the fighting in this area had ended and that the Russian troops had been "annihilated." But Moscow even later reported that in the town of Kerch itself there was still street fighting and that the defenders de-fenders were hanging tenaciously on to their foothold at the eastern tip of the Crimea. It was near Kharkov, rurther north, though, that the Russians claimed their greatest successes. The Kerch peninsula might be lost to the Germans but Nazi defenses around Kharkov had taken a terrific ter-rific pounding from the Soviet artillery, artil-lery, tanks, planes and infantry. One report said that the Russians in a "new push" had taken 300 towns, slain 12,000 Nazis, captured 1,200 additional soldiers and had destroyed 400 tanks. In the Kharkov battle, Russian Marshal Timoshenko seemed to have taken the Nazis by surprise. The Soviet high command reported report-ed that the Germans first fled in panic before the onslaught of Russian Rus-sian planes battering their lines at altitudes as low as 70 feet. Then the Nazis rallied and the fight-'. ing gained a new peak of ferocity. 'INSIDE' STORIES: Of Axis Internees Inside stories of conditions in Axis nations were related by diplomats and newspaper men who arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, after five months of internment in Germany and Italy. United States and Axis internees were exchanged in Lisbon. Correspondents were unanimous in their belief that Germany will gamble . everything on an all-out drive this spring. To meet this showdown, Hitler is reported to have prepared 300 army divisions. Of these, 210 divisions have been assigned as-signed to the Russian front. Competent observers in Berlin predict that Germany must "shoot the works" this summer and that the fortunes of war will turn definitely definite-ly against the Nazis unless the all-out all-out drive is successful. Hitler's declaration of war upon the United States was termed the biggest blunder of his career. The German people did not expect it even after Japan attacked the United Unit-ed States. Germany's older generation genera-tion remembered all too well that the U. S. helped decide World War I. Italy's war against this country is exceedingly unpopular with the people, peo-ple, according to interned correspondents. corre-spondents. The Italians dislike the Germans and care nothing for the Japanese. Mussolini, too, is unpopular with his people. King Victor Emmanuel lost much of the respect that was his when war was declared in his name. But observers were agreed that a revolution is doomed to failure unless un-less it has the support of the army. The army still is loyal to the throne. CONSTRUCTION CUT: Production Stressed Behind the War Production board's decision to cancel contracts for war plants which cannot be completed and in production by mid-1943 lies two major considerations: A severe shortage of raw materials. materi-als. Belief that spring and summer developments may bring a turning point in the war. Construction will be stepped up on facilities such as synthetic rubber and aviation gasoline plants and will be cut down on such projects as new steel plants. Because of the raw material shortage, the WPB had decided to concentrate available supplies on arms and munitions production rather rath-er than on the plants in which they are manufactared. Officials explained that the WPB has determined to produce 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, and eight million mil-lion tons of shipping in 1942. They will deal with the increased program pro-gram for 1943 when that time arrives. RAISE: For the Shipbuilders Payable in war bonds, a wage increase in-crease averaging eight cents an hour went to the workers in the major ma-jor shipbuilding yards throughout the nation. This announcement was made after a 21-day conference in Chicago of private shipbuilders, union officials and government representatives. rep-resentatives. Five hundred thousand workers throughout the country were effected by the wage increase. President Pres-ident Roosevelt had requested the War Bond raise as an aid to checking check-ing inflation and at the same time allow shipbuilders to meet increased living costs. MISCELLANY: Smash: In Pittsburgh, Actress Katherine Hepburn smashed a news-photographer's news-photographer's camera when he snapped her picture without asking her permission. Gestapo: A Stockholm dispatch said that Eeinhard Heydrick, right-hand right-hand man of Heinrich Himmler, Gestapo chief, had .been appointed Gestapo commissar general in all German occupied territory. Break: First American republic to declare war on the major Axis powers, Costa Rica has now broken off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. Bul-garia. Cash: Customers at a Chicago night club had a million dollars worth of fun recently. During one night's entertainment, they pur- Snce aftL party was that each table of 10 persons buy at least 0,000 in war bonds The clubman-agement clubman-agement furnished free food. The guesTsboughtmorethanthetrquotas. AIRLINES: War Footing At President Roosevelt's direction the war department placed domestic domes-tic airlines on a wartime footing by ordering the transfer to the army air forces of a substantial proportion propor-tion of available flight equipment for operation by army personnel; by having the airlines convert approximately approxi-mately 70 ships into cargo carriers which they will operate for the Air Service command; and by giving emergency military missions priority priori-ty on the remaining 70 ships to be owned and operated by the airlines. BRIGHT LIGHTS: And Shipping Losses Because dim-out regulations in New York were held "unsatisfactory" "unsatisfac-tory" by the army, drastic new regulations reg-ulations will affect the lives of the city's millions. Acting with the approval of the army and navy, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered a program which tor the first time will screen aU floodlighting in railroad yards, manufacturing plants, docks, shipyards ship-yards and terminals. Evidence of the gravity of the coastal shipping situation was seen j" the fact that a submarine, which lay in wait at the mouth of the Mississippi Mis-sissippi river, sank a large American Ameri-can cargo ship and killed 27 mem-hers mem-hers of the crew. The daring attack at-tack was made in midafternoon . when the ship waited a mile and a ' hall from the mouth of the river 'or a pilot to take her into the river. Another ship, a Mexican tanker, was attacked by an Axis submarine with- sight of resort crowds at Miami Beach, Fla. Scores of persons watched the ship burn. |