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Show I -WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS . Losses Pinch German Economy; Civil Strife Upsets Greece; 4-H Selects National Champs Released by Western Newspaper Union. I ! (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of i Western Newspaper Union's news analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.) ( J I fii-Jr ' i . j . fjgf : -i I . k Displaying awards captured in national competition at the 4-II club's 23rd annual congress in Chicago, III., champs include (left to right) Mildred Mil-dred Kccd, girls leadership winner; Donald Mowery, boys' achievement winner; Mary Jo Morgan, girls' achievement winner, and Donald Sullivan, Sul-livan, boys' leadership winner. (See: 4-II.) 4-H: Champs Left fatherless at 15, with the family deserted by the hired hand, young Donald F. Mowery of Terre Haute, Ind., took upon himself the man-sized job of running a 158-acre farm. At 18, he had earned nearly $14,000, and with it, the 4-H club's boys' national achievement championship cham-pionship at the 23rd annual 4-H congress con-gress in Chicago, 111. Adjudged the girls' national achievement winner was 19-year-old Mary Jo Morgan" of Laurel, Miss., with an income of $6,808.25 drawn from nine years of club work in gardening, canning, clothing, foods, poultry and home improvements. Both boy and girl winner will receive re-ceive a trophy from the president and a $200, college scholarship. To 19-year-old Donald F. Sullivan of Potsdam. N. Y., and 20-year-old Mildred Reed of Bristol, Conn., went the national boys' and girls' 4-H titles for leadership in their clubs and communities. Awards for these honors are the same as in the achievement fields. PEARL HARBOR: Trials Off Because separate army and navy Investigating boards found that Maj. Gen. Walter C. Short and Rear Adm. Husband E. Kim- mm mel were guilty p-ipV- i only of errors in jl Jj judgment in defen-''v)i defen-''v)i sive preparations at t ?f H Pearl Harbor at e f 'fyt A time of the Japs' ' :.yij I attack, the war and "M4Z i navy dePartments r ' 4 decided to drop , ' , courts - martial pro- k cee dings against Adm. Kimmel them. At the same time, the departments declared that the boards' findings would remain secret se-cret for the duration so as not to impair national safety. Although not providing the grounds for courts-martial, the two commanders' errors in judgment were serious enough to warrant their retirement from service, it was said. LIBERATION: Political Scuffles Diplomatic as well as military problems pressed the Allies in Europe, Eu-rope, with British troops coming to the assistance of the rightist government gov-ernment in Greece in the latter's fight against leftist elements, and the U. S. condemning Britain's interference in-terference in Italian politics. Of the two, the situation in Greece was the most serious, with many killed and injured in rioting following follow-ing the leftists' refusal to give up their arms on the grounds that the rightists' were being allowed to keep theirs. With Greece on the threshold of the vital Suez canal i passage from the far east, Britain maintained a deep interest in the situation. Said Britain's commander comman-der in Greece, Major General Sco-bie: Sco-bie: ". . . I stand firmly behind ' the (rightist) government, and shall aid them to the limit of my resources. re-sources. ..." . Although directly slapping at Britain for its resistance to the naming nam-ing of Count Carlo Sforza as foreign minister in a new Italian regime, the stiffening U. S. State Department Depart-ment also declared that , all other united nations should be given full opportunity to develop their own democratic forms of government. WAR PRODUCTION To prevent the possibility of incurring in-curring shortages in the Japanese war, U. S. arms production will be maintained at substantial levels after aft-er Hitler's fall, with only about 20 per cent reduction in output. As a result of the government's new plans, only about 2,000.000 rather rath-er than 4,000.000 people are expected expect-ed to be released from war industries indus-tries on V-E (victory in Europe) day, and manpower and materials controls probably will be retained for the most part ' GERMANY: Army Commands With the great battle for Germany raging along the western front, the country's top army commanders took over complete control of military mili-tary operations from intuitive Adolf Hitler. Under supreme command of foxy Field Marshal Von Rundstedt, close to Hitler since his rise to power in 1933, German generals were using us-ing every trick in the book in an effort to slow up the Allies' powerhouse power-house drive to the Rhine. Masses of field artillery were concentrated against vital Allied points; tanks were thrown in in counterattacks to blunt Allied spearheads, and green troops were seasoned on less active fronts and then hurled into the main fighting. Despite tremendous German losses, the Nazis were reported to have no less than 6,000,000 men afield on all fronts, including includ-ing supply and maintenance units. Although only about 1,250,-000 1,250,-000 between 19 and 46 were said to be of crack quality, the high command has shown a disposition dis-position to sacrifice the inferior troops in forward and rearguard rear-guard actions, where they would eventually be written off. Economic Pinch Pinched on the military front, Germany Ger-many will be equally pinched at home this winter, economists predict, pre-dict, what with the reduction in Nazi occupied territory resulting in decreased de-creased food and steel supplies. Prior to this summer, both the German army and home front were well fed as a result of food imports from conquered nations; but with the Allies advancing both in the east and west since midyear, mid-year, the Nazis have been compelled to fall back before being able to stock up with 1944 harvests. In addition, addi-tion, 1944 agricultural production in Germany has suffered because of labor la-bor and fertilizer shortages. At the height of their European Euro-pean ' conquest, the Nazis' controlled con-trolled a continental steel industry indus-try with a capacity of 60,000,000 tons; but here again, German retreat resulted in the loss of about 21,000,000 tons in Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Balkans and Hungary, and Allied bombings were estimated to have chopped off an additional 6,000,000 tons in the Reich itself. Hard Fighting Their backs to the wall, the Nazis still fought viciously in an attempt to stave off the steady Allied surge to their homeland. Latest threat developed de-veloped in southwestern Hungary, where a great Russian breakthrough beyond the Danube carried within 40 miles of the Austrian frontier. As the Reds rushed onward, the Nazis were expected to reform their lines around 50-mile-wide Lake Balaton, which would appreciably decrease the length of their front at a period of the war when the economy econo-my of manpower, rather than of maintenance of territory, was the overriding consideration. On the western front, most spectacular spec-tacular advance was in Lieut. Gen. Patton's drive on the vital coal-laden Saar basin, but hardest lighting centered cen-tered east of Aachen, where the U. S 9th and 1st armies continued to grind forward toward the edge of the sprawling Cologne plain, with the Reich's industrial heart about 20 miles away. PACIFIC: Real Sailor Interesting sidelight on the war In the Pacific, which saw continued bad weather hampering the U. S. drive on Leyte, was crusty little Admiral Halsey's postponement of a bombardment bom-bardment of Manila to rescue 38 American pilots forced down a'-sea. As Admiral Halsey's Third fleet sailed toward the great Philippine port, it encountered a gusty storm,' and 40 of its pilots were caught in the air. When a tabulation showed them to be missing, Admiral Ilalsey called off the raid, ordering the fleet to search for the fliers. After an extensive combing of the sea, 38 of the airmen were rescued. Then, the salty little admiral ordered or-dered full steam ahead for Manila. PENSIONS: For Vets9 Widows Getting together to settle their differences dif-ferences on the subject, the house and senate shaped a common measure meas-ure on providing pensions for widows wid-ows and orphans of World War I vets and sent it to the White House for approval. Under a bill passed by congress, widows of World War I vets, having an income of less than $1,000 a year, would be eligible for a $35 monthly pension, while widows with children, with Income of less than $2,500 annually, would get $45 for the first child and $5 for each additional. addi-tional. The bill also provided payment pay-ment of $18 for one orphan and $36 for three, plus $4 for each additional. addi-tional. Although passed four times before be-fore by the house, such pension bills previously were pigeon-holed before they could reach the senate floor. |