Show op WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward G C wayne java calls for increased aid from australia as japs intensify attack first war deaths on american soil caused by dud uda turpeda Torpe doat at aruba EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in th ahse less columns the aber are those of the news new analyst and nj not necessarily of at this newspaper new mews paper released by western newspaper union TT I JAVA goal of japs the fall of singapore represented the winning of a major victory for the japanese but tactically it was considered the moving of the western end of a jap pincers movement directed not so much at india as at java for the entire capture of the east indies and with it the enormous oil production vitally needed by japan had perforce to be regarded as the major objective with java at its center this had been proved by the events that had followed the triumphal entry of the malayan army into singapore intensified japanese attacks had started on bali and islands to the east of java as well as stronger movements to increase the japanese hold on sumatra the invaders fanning out from lembang Pa suma tras largest city javas population of had been told the enemy is at our gates and to prepare its defense to the last ditch at the same time java called for increased aid from australia but it was not immediately apparent what australia could or would do embattled as it was in a belated effort to straighten out its own defenses some commentators figured the japanese occupation of java and with it control of all the dutch east indies as a matter of days while others thought it might be a long battle and that substantial defense of the remainder of the east indies was quite possible however that might be allied ranks would give a good deal to know mow which way the nipponese cat was planning to jump if as and when the east indies had fallen to the enemy was it going to be an all out offensive against india or were the japs conscious that an eventually winning allied naval air and land attack could be launched against them from australia to turn their forces toward cape york movements of U S ships and troops seemed to indicate that this country viewed the latter possibility lity as a probability and that as a base for our future operations australia and new zealand seemed to offer the best chance for a supply lifeline life line VIERECK contemptuous spy As the viereck trial had opened in washington the nazi agent being tried for withholding information of his activities from the state department he was painted as a 11 contemptuous spy by william I 1 power maloney prosecutor maloney said viereck had used the congressional record to propagandize the united states according to orders from his teutonic overlords and stated that many long excerpts in the record from the speeches of the late senator lundeen testimony brought out that typical titles of books published by flanders hall in new jersey financed X SYLVESTER VIERECK ordered by teutonic overlords by viereck were lord lothian against lord lothian seven periods in irish history and it happened again all allegedly german propaganda the families who rule the empire sensational book much used in propaganda was published with funds from munich maloney taid said the government would prove ARUBA history afa made roii the first war deaths on american soil occurred at the dutch island of aruba shortly after american troops had arrived there to take over its defenses two days after the arrival of these troops had been announced german submarines attacked the harbor sank or damaged seven tankers with a loss of 59 seamen and then shelled the big standard daid oil refinery on shore american planes took the air spotted the subs and reported afterward that they had reason to believe at least one ol oi them was sent to the bottom ti two days day slater later after the damage had been checked up and gone over a dud torpedo 18 feet long was found on the harbor sands immediately identified as a german torpedo toi four dutch officers were assigned to the delicate task of taking it apart in the midst of their work it exploded killing them all they were the first casualties on land in the american hemisphere in the meantime the torpe doings in the atlantic were c continuing heavy including the first sinking of a brazilian ship in the present war this was the liner buarque a combination freight and passenger shi ship p sent to the bottom off the coast of virginia the sinking was not immediately announced in brazil as it was the annual carnival time and the government was afraid that serious rioting against axis nationals might occur the ship carried 74 in the crew and 11 passengers two were lost 83 saved RESULTS in marshall islands when an assault force of U S cruisers de destroyers and aircraft carriers commanded corrA by vice admiral williamf Willia nf rf halsey attacked K avul U 1 1 6 ai all 1 a ne P tz q A t vice admirl admiral william F halsey commander of the U S naval force that carried out the brilliant raid on japanese bises bases as he looks over the charts on which he plotted the action aga against in st the japs japanese bases in the gilbert and marshall islands they caused substantial losses to the enemy 38 33 airplanes one on converted aircraft carrier one light cruiser one destroyer two submarines two naval auxiliaries and three fleet oil tankers damaged and perhaps destroyed st by V J S attackers were three submarines four auxiliary vessels and an old cruiser OIL both sides Side lose the destruction of oil installations in the east indies which had been carried out well by the dutch as each more or less important spot fell to the japs had been terrific at Pa lembang where the entire countryside was covered with a pall of smoke when the refineries were blown up and wells blasted yet it was a two edged sword the dutch admitting that in about six months with good fortune the japs could manage to repair much of i the damage and begin to themselves s es with oil and in the meantime the oil was lost to the allied fleets which had been fueling from the dutch supplies and as oil was the principal vital necessity for which the japs originally had started the warp war and as a supply of it would conceivably permit them to continue fighting f in definitely or at least until antila untila a major defeat by the allied forces forc the tent of t the disaster 3 in the wies indies ex might be seen MAC ARTHUR increased bombardment despite a number of strong appeals that general macarthur be taken out of luzon for a more important im command washington had let it be known that no such move was afoot while new heroes were being made daily the congressional medal of honor having been voted to a filipino mess sergeant washington asserted that it was the generals own wish to remain with his faithful troops as long as it was possible to carry on the good fight the mess sergeant was jose calugas who received the highest award within the giving power of the government ern ment the citation told how when an american gun was put out of action calugas not even in that outfit ran 1000 yards without orders entirely beyond his duty and under heavy enemy fire to the gun arrived there he called for volunteers and himself organized a gun crew put the gun back into action again and continued at his new post as long as the battle continued the fall of singapore had evidently released many japanese planes for the battle of luzon washington quizzed as to why air air reinforcements were not being sent to bataan stated that plenty of bombers would have been sent if we had any way of getting them there SUGAR big printing ID job the government printing office had been presented its bigg biggest est job in history the making of sugar rationing cards which should be in the publics hands on march 7 word was that the printing department was well abreast of the task and price administrator henderson had been photographed looking over the first sheet actually to come from the presses while the GPO another bit of the washington alphabet was in charge of the printing it was farming out a lot of the presswork the job takes into consideration the fact that there are people in the nation and a book and application form is being printed for each the first big job was to get paper that would not make the job easy for counterfeiters counterfeit ers it took six paper mills to do this part of the job three hundred and nd fifty printing firms bid on the pre presswork for the sugar cards twenty three firms were finally selected RUMORS condemned by praising to the skies a front page cartoon in the washington star which excoriated the peddling of rumors which tended toward disunity president roosevelt had told his press conference that this was a dastardly practice and one in which the city of washington itself was the worst offender type of thing he meant he said included wisecracks wise cracks like britain will fight to the last american and armchair arm chair generalship like we ought to get out of the south pacific we cant win there and why help the russians turn on us later the fall of singapore and the escape of the scharnhorst gneisenau and prince eugen from brest to hel goland y bight two major disasters that had befallen the british had caused a storm of this it had been churchill very much on the spot and facing the most severe press criticism of his career who had coined the phrase better a millstone one around his neck that he be and create disunity cast into the sea than to |