Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS heavy fi fighting ahting follows sicily landin landings gs As allied forces strike for key points U S navy scores again in pacific battle cut dairy product supply for civilians EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are arc those thos ot of western newspaper unions news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper r released by western newspaper union T E L IE 1 A C T WHY WE BOMB VALLEY RUHR IRE REST OF GERMANY production aa AA aa A h aa t COAL 63 0 i 4 4 4 4 4 70 SICILY allies advance As a great bridge of ships poured troops onto conquered beachheads of sicily american forces drove 20 miles inland to join up with the british at ragusa an im important communication junction dominating high ground in the area along the eastern coast of the island the british captured the naval base of augusta and then made landings to the south of the great port of catania the movements placed gen bernard forces within 55 miles of messina terminal of the ferry route from the toe of the italian boot only around the american beachhead of gela did heavy early fighting develop here the celebrated goering division teamed with an italian force to counterattack counter attack and though the enemy drove through to the sandy shore gen george pat tons troops sealed the breach against the axis troops defending sicily the allies were reputed to have put up at least 10 divisions of men in the early stages of the campaign with air bromes established in the islands picturesque olive groves of the southeast allied airmen assaulted enemy landing fields shot up motorized convoys and roads and bombed shipping c to the north PACIFIC win another round hovering in the approaches of the kula gulf american naval units took another broadside at Jq japanese warships seeking to s aly enemy troops penned at the munda airfield on new georgia is island lanot in the exchange of salvos four and probably six jap cruisers and destroyers were sunk no american losses were announced near munda american troops picking their way through the thick jungle encountered stiffening resistance from the entrapped enemy earlier U S forces had wiped out a japanese stronghold on an inlet to the northeast of the island collaborating with the sea and ground forces american airmen continued hammering at japanese installations throughout the mile arc of offensive the enemy air base at vila above new georgia island and another in the islands to the northwest were raided in new guinea the allies were making use of the supply route from the beach where general macarthur had established a base early in the offensive to bubo about 15 miles inland and just below the japanese stronghold of Sala maua WAR BUREAUS get after paring the OPAs request for funds by 22 million dollars and the office of war by 16 million dollars congress appropriated for the governments war agencies in bills approved by president roosevelt A total of million dollars was appropriated for the department of agriculture the department of the interior received million dollars including 22 million dollars for the irrigation of food producing lands other bills provide for million dollars for new war housing and 15 million dollars for flood relief also signed by the president was legislation for authorizing the use of government held silver for industrial du purposes for establishing a pharmacy corps in the army for providing for emergency flood control work and for settling boundary lines between iowa and nebraska CROPS prospects down overall crop production for 1943 is expected to be about 10 per cent below last year according to estimates of the department of agriculture with a tight situation in corn already existent it was predicted current acreage would yield 2 billion million bushels 15 per cent below the 1942 harvest wheat production is expected to approximate bushels millions below 1942 oats were expected to be down 86 per cent at 1 billion vz million bushels barley down per cent at million bushels and rye down 41 per cent at bushels generally good yields were expected from the acres of soybeans seeded approximately 39 per cent less sugar beet acreage was planted than in 1942 however higher acreage for dry beans peas peanuts flaxseed rice and potatoes spelled higher production truck crops were elpe expected acted to drop 11 per cent in signing the agricultural supply bill president roosevelt deprecated the elimination of crop insurance from the measure congress had provided over 3 for liquidation of the servi service e RUSSIA reds counterattack counter attack attach bitter fighting on the russian front spread with russian units counter attacking fiercely above orel northernmost pivot of the mile front bending southward to belgorod announcement of the counter at tack was made by the nazis after the russians had claimed that they had checked the germans in the orel belgorod region after initial breakthroughs break in the battle of the giants london said the nazis had thrust wedges of 20 miles into russian lines above belgorod but that the reds had temporarily slowed the drives and were now throwing their tanks and artillery at the german hanks flanks in in an effort to pinch them off from the main forces besides claiming successes around belgorod the nazis asserted they had progressed at the northern anchor of orel some extent of the fighting may be gleaned from nazi and russian claims which put total tank losses at FOOD less dairy products the pounds of butter cheese c canned ann ed and dried milk consumed by americans in 1942 will be cut to pounds in the next 12 months following the war food administrations allocation of supplies among civilians the military and lend lease of the four products only but butter ter production will drop for the period from 2 billion million pounds to I 1 billion million pounds under the allocation every person will receive pounds of butter for the 12 months compared with pounds in 1942 cheese output is expected to soar to million pounds but civilian quotas will approximate 41 pounds per person against 67 pounds last year despite record production of canned and dried milk every consumer will get 84 pounds less of canned milk for a total of pounds and I 1 pound less of dried milk or 16 pounds in all pointed out that these quotas are subject to change depending upon the rate of production throughout the next 12 months therefore they may go up or again th they edmay may go down U S WARPLANES criticize production pulling no punches the truman defense investigating committee delved into americas record aircraft production and came up with strong criticism of certain phases of the industry the committee attacked the cur wright aeronautical company for improper inspection of engines expressed disappointment with fords slowness in coming into bomber production declared certain makes of fighters and bombers had proven unsatisfactory in action and in turn praised the development of new models like the grumman hellcat and mustang 51 summed up the committees report reflected the growing pains experienced by the american aircraft industry in its gigantic expansion in the last few years whereas one plant was assailed for sacrificing rif quality for production several others were criticized for their slowness in putting out superior models martinique helps allies the aircraft carrier bearn beam the light cruisers emile berlin and bar fleur a half dozen tankers and several merchant ships were put into the service of the allied cause with the french national committees assumption of authority over the caribbean island of martinique previously in the vichy camp with martinique also went control of a ca cache he of 3 0 0 mil million 1 ion dollars in gold taken there upon the fall of france in its adherence to vichy martinique had been consi dereda danger spot to U S defenses in the caribbean bean on the outskirts of the atlantic ocean and midway between north an and d south america high commissioner georges roberts robert political position had resulted in a falling out with washington and all U S food shipments to the island were shut off with hunger rampant robert threw in the sponge sicily rugged ct island sticking out like a great big rock at the toe of the italian boot sicily is an island about the size of maryland with a normal population of 4 million flanking the straits that separate it from north africa it has been a frequent battleground throughout world history for whoever holds it threatens the western passage of the mediterranean sicily is peculiar in topography from its sandy coastal plains the land gradually rises to a plateau of 1600 feet then from the midst of this plateau springs a mountain chain which effectively divides the southern half of the island from the north chief peak of this mountainous backbone is mt alt etna teet feet because of its ruggedness sic ily has never been rich fruits fruit olives figs and wheat are the principal food products sulphur and asphalt deposits have been well developed GUNDAR HAGG goodwill good will envoy seemingly athletes are the best of the european ambassadors paavo nurmi the famous finnish long distance runner set the fashion years ago and now the latest of the goodwill good will ambassadors is the equally celebrated swedish track marvel gundar hagg chief virtue of these athletes is their outstanding ability and success in living up to their headlines hagg is a brilliant example in one of his early performances here gundar broke the american record for two miles in like lika most europeans hagg has come to the american cinder path determined to win not for the sake of winning but to uphold swedish prestige he goes about his training as naturally as take a walk when he works out in his native sweden he does so by romping over the picturesque countryside like any boy on a lark no fancy or artificial hi jinks for him DADS draft delay sought in an effort to forestall the induction of fathers the war manpower commission was reported to be studying plans for reducing list of essential occupations for childless married men at the present time there are 35 such occupations with thousands of specific jobs in those activities according to the same reports the was urging the army to reduce deduc e it its S dem demands an ds to the minimum recently the agency s said aid the services were planning the call of 2 million men within the ne next at year exclusive of replacements insistence si on drafting men for replacements the said would result in the induction of 0 fathers |