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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Greer Incident Is Believed Nazi Test Of American Foreign Policy Position; Japanese Paper Sees German Defeat; General Winter Nears Eastern Front (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) i RpImcph by Western Newspaper Union.) . One Was Attacked; One Sailed Safely r r i " s" ---- f -i ' , " s? W, or ,- T ,....,..rrh,r, iiaa,1l. Almost at th same time that a Nazi sub attacked the U.S.S. Greer near Iceland, the safe arrival at Vladivostok was announced of the 8,428-ton 8,428-ton American oil tanker, Associated. (Below) The Associated carrying 85,000 barrels of high-octane gas for use by Soviet aircraft is the second tanker reaching the Siberian port without incident despite some Japanese talk of stopping American ships in a Japanese sea zone. The Greer, undamaged, dropped a depth bomb in a counterattack on the sub. The incident is the first in which an American warship figured in the present war. Showing (at top) is the U.S.S. Roper, sister ship of the Greer. GREER: A Test by Nazis The encounter of the U. S. Destroyer De-stroyer Greer 200 miles southwest of Iceland with a German submarine turned out to be an .incident of the utmost importance in defining America's Amer-ica's position in the world war. It was not so much the nature of the battle, but the wording of the German announcements concerning it that increased its significance to Americans. For the Nazis not merely admitted admit-ted that it was a German submarine sub-marine which was involved, they placed the blame squarely on President Presi-dent Roosevelt, not only because of the President's general foreign policy, pol-icy, but went beyond this and charged that Mr. Roosevelt had given giv-en general orders for the American navy to start shooting. The Germans asserted that the Greer was the aggressor in the fight, had not merely contented itself with ascertaining the position of the submarine, but had begun the shooting, shoot-ing, and that the German craft had defended itself without "being in a position to know" the nationality of the U. S. craft. The President took the attitude that the Oreer was on proper U. S. business on the high seas, that he saw no reason to consider a German blockade zone as having any effect JAPAN: Sees Defeat? Arrival of a second tanker-load of oil at Vladivostok without Japanese interference was accompanied both by a stiffening of the British-American attitude toward Nippon and a sensational article in Japan News-Week News-Week practically predicting a Nazi defeat in this, the third year of the war. No attempt was made to suppress the publication in a paper which often reflects the views of high government gov-ernment circles. At the same time a national newspaper news-paper poll disclosed that Americans had voted 70 per cent in favor of a curbing of Japan even at the cost of war. Japan's News-Week said:. "The situation ushering in the third year of war is such that although it does not indicate that the Nazis and their ill-founded plans have been defeated, defeat-ed, it does mean that by the end of the third year the finish of the horrible carnage should be within the grasp of the Allies. "However well Hitler may have thought he planned his march to world domination, it is now quite apparent that even he is fallible." Regardless of the official or unofficial un-official character of the publication, observers saw in the permission to circulate this article a powerful sign of a milder Japanese viewpoint toward the world situation, and a doubt in thinking circles as to the wisdom of the Axis tie-up for Japan, an affinity which the United States and Britain Were doing all in their power to break down. on the freedom of the seas for American Amer-ican vessels, and that the Greer, in attempting to "eliminate" a German Ger-man submarine after an attack, had acted properly. In many quarters it was believed that the prime purpose of the U-boat attack on the Greer had been to create an incident which would test out the strength of the President's foreign policy, and perhaps create a national tempest to have American Amer-ican troops withdrawn from Iceland, and the naval vessels ordered to keep out of the eastern parts of the Atlantic. Perhaps, if the Germans had said: "We are sorry, but the torpedoes were launched from a considerable distance, and we had thought the Greer was a British destroyer," the furor over the incident would have died in a day or two. No bones were broken or armor plate dent. But the Germans decided de-cided instead to charge Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt with having ordered the American Amer-ican ship to attack the U-boat, and the reaction, as far as could be seen, was quite the reverse 'of what the Germans had planned and hoped for. One congressman said: "I'd believe Roosevelt against Hitler any day in the week." And that about summed up the general public reaction. Most interesting inter-esting was the excitement of certain super-isolationists, who immediately, immediate-ly, following the encounter, had said that the Greer was attacked by a British submarine in a gigantic plot to get the United States into the war. The acceptance by Germany of the submarine's identity deflated these arguments abruptly. LENINGRAD: Defense of City Despite conflicting reports about the status of the battle for Leningrad, Lenin-grad, it was evident that the defense of the city already had started, and that once again the Russians were surprising the world with the tenacity of their, resistance, and their willingness to make huge sacrifices sac-rifices for eventual victory. Early in the German invasion of Russia it had been stated that if the Russians were willing to make the necessary sacrifices, and were willing to fight on even though forced into retreat that might cost 1 them Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev, the Germans would find them as tough a nut to crack as the Japanese had found the Chinese. France had the same opportunity, but had failed. Would the Russians really fight. The answer to that question already al-ready had been written in the history of 2Vz months of warfare on the eastern front, and the Russian defense de-fense of their homeland was challenging chal-lenging the admiration of skeptical England and even more skeptical America. The end of September was going to bring the end of favorable blitz weather for the Germans, and most military observers believed the Nazi army was in for a tough winter in Russia. Claims were still conflicting, but the admission by the Germans of upwards of 1,500,000 casualties on their own side spoke volumes for the real character of the Russian defense. de-fense. The Finns were claiming "confusion" "confu-sion" in Leningrad and the "city in flames," while Moscow reported its defense intact, and counterattacks on the borders of the city succeeding. The German communiques claimed only that her longer-range guns had found the city's industrial plants, but told of severe resistance "by men, women and children." First days of the Russo-German struggle had even brought in some allied quarters the question of whether there really was fighting; of whether this war was not merely a giant Nazi plot to draw British forces onto the continent into another Dunquerque. The Russian battles had smothered smoth-ered these doubters to a point where there was sharp British criticism ot ! their own government for not giving the Reds more enthusiastic aid. The defense of Moscow and Kiev had been even more successful than that of the more exposed Leningrad. |