| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne german air blitz on island of crete results in defense to death fighting U so S attitude toward france changes As vichy berlin strengthen relations EDITORS NOTE when opinions opinion are expressed in these thee columns column the they are those of 1 I the she news new nna lytt and not necessarily ot of this newspaper 1 released Ke leased by western newspaper union ts y v V s w sy I n y vhf s sf iv y fy i ra r v i h y W vm J 0 tn 11 NEW YORK one of the U S navys new torpedo boats foretro fore foreground gro und and a coast guard cutter are shown cutting through the water of the hudson river during recent maneuvers these 55 mile per hour craft are equipped with torpedo tubes and depth bombs to battle larger destroyers and submarines CRETE an air test the big island of crete which prime minister churchill said would be defended to the death by an army composed of general freyberg and new zealand british and greek troops under his command suddenly became the center of the war when a dramatic and unexpected invasion of the island was made by airborne air borne nazi troops there were some early reports that the germans were coming also in normal transports but there was little doubt that the air test was preeminent and that the world was witnessing the first large scale such endeavor since the days of the invasion of norway and of the low countries particularly holland britain reported that the first 1500 soldiers who landed in chutes were wearing the new zealand uniform and coldly announced that they could expect to be shot all of them it was quickly reported were either killed or rounded up rapidly germany as promptly retorted that if any of the parachutists were treated as spies and shot germany would reply ten to one in kind but the british and greeks have long to wait or long to contemplate what to do with the first 1500 by the second morning of the invasion the british radio was re porting that the nazi invasion force was and on the second afternoon hiked this figure to this brought the german force to at least one full division and a good way into the second division and the british quickly estimated that this figure meant that the germans had from 2000 to airplanes on duty in southern greece the usual silence and mystery as to what actually was transpiring immediately was clamped down by the british ministry of information which contented itself with issuing such generalities as the situation is in hand leaving it up to the germans to give the world what information could be gleaned the german claims as usual were broad the nazis asserting that many important points had been captured and that many british planes had been destroyed on the ground british sources seemed willing to admit that the germans had utter mastery of the air but general freyberg said that every hilltop had its sentinel in crete that an elaborate method of signaling had been worked out and that even those parachutists who arrived at night were promptly spotted reported and given action from the ground forces neutral observers however pointed out that in order to effect large scale landing of troops who were not parachutists the germans must have obtained at least temporary control of landing fields or must be using emergency fields british reports told of many transport planes shot down with their cargoes of men both on the island and into the waters surrounding it however they also told of huge unwieldy transport planes towing numbers of gliders loaded with men and munitions a mode of transportation not reported in wide scale use before how large the force on crete was remained a military secret of the greeks and the british though there was considerable figuring done by Y those who had followed the course of the invasion of greece the british claimed that most of its army in greece had been taken back to egypt there to rejoin the army of the nile and to be rearmed from new supplies part of which had come from the united states while it was known that some forces got into crete and that the greeks salvaged considerable portions of one of its armies the quantity was largely a matter of guesswork most of the troops who got back to egypt were australians and british hence most observers veis believed there was probably about one division of new Ze alanders in crete and possibly the same number of british and perhaps two or three times that number of greeks british dispatches admitted practically complete control of the air by the germans over crete and hence it was considered still more likely that the germans who had no particular need of crete might be trying the attack to test out in actual warfare what the parachute ests could do when well supported from aloft VICHY A turning point the flop of vichy strongly into the nazi encampment proved likely to prove a turning point as to americas entry into the war for one thing it flopped one popular poll on convoys from a minority rity to a majority and the lad ministration in washington which had been accused in some quarters of watching these polls before acting promptly announced that the convoy question has practically been settled president roosevelt it was said does not like the word convoys and is more in favor of the navy taking over portions of the atlantic and pacific even as far as the red sea for instance and helping to create protective lanes through which aid to britain ships could move safely this is the method american shipping experts have liked from the start but it was significant that americas courso course was charted along these lines the day after the polls reported 52 per cent in favor of convoying and 41 per cent opposed and the other 7 per cent it undecided public attention then turned to vichy and secretary hull warned france that she would have to give this country a plain and honest statement of just what her collaboration with germany would consist of before france could hope to restore franco american relations to a state of amity this attitude was indeed a far cry from the days of 1917 and 1918 and the time when the first doughboys dough boys landed in france with lafayette were here as their slogan hulls strong declaration came at the same time when it was announced that a british flotilla was hovering about the ports of martinique where the french aircraft carrier bearn beam and other vessels were bottled up there was some disquiet over the report that these ships had been out at sea but the british reported they were simply on maneuvers but if they were poised for an attempt to run the british blockade it was likely that there would be either fighting or scuttling or both in the south atlantic well within our sphere of influence PLANES and months statistical proof that thousands of planes like rome cant be built in a day was given by admiral towers who reported to secretary of navy X knox nox that in the past 10 months the navy has gained 1304 planes of all types the navy now has planes of all types including trainers and this compared with the british estimate that germany was operating about 2000 to planes in the battle of crete alone not counting those enuse in other theaters of the war it also was significant that admiral towers report to mr knox was that the navy already is experiencing perien cing a shortage of pilots which compared with germanys germanas Germ anys reported pilots trained before the war started in fact it was this pilot training program which first called the attention of the world to germanys germanas Germ anys rebirth as a military power in spite of the restrictive efforts of the treaty of versailles of the 1304 planes which the navy has added to her forces only about of them are combat types admiral towers revealed the goal of fighting planes for the american army and navy combined was therefore envisioned as far in the future admiral towers revealing that not until january 1942 will the existing shortage of pilots be relieved not until then will the number of pilots begin to catch up with the number of planes DRAFT A new deiv plan pennsylvania called out in excess of young men in the draft trying out what was called a new plan aimed to give the a break the plan was this the were to be called out and immediately given a searching examination along all lines including their final medical examination by the army doctors then they were to be returned to their homes and jobs those who were eligible to army life being placed on call in from 10 to 30 days and the rest of them to return to their normal jobs secure in the knowledge that they would not be called this was aimed to remove much of the uncertainty which grew out of the previous method of selective service picking dr william mather lewis selective service director of pennsylvania said he was advised that if the experiment proved a success there it would be applied to the entire nation at the same time president roosevelt put into being the OCD or office of civilian defense with mayor fiorello laguardia of new york its head working without salary as will all of his intermediaries also plans for the home guard were worked out at washington this group to function entirely se separately P from the OC OCD D which would ostensibly have a membership of millions of american men women and even children one of the first tests of the united states against possible war was an entirely complete blackout of the hawaiian islands where even the isolated hamlets were darkened and planes of the american army and navy flew overhead to inspect the he situation and to see how complete it was |
