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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS , Allied Forces Join in Smash on Nazis Vaunted Alpine Redoubt; Shape Postwar Security Body ' Released by Western Newspaper Union. I (EDITOR'S NOTE ! When opinions are expressed In these columns, they art those of Western Newspaper Union's news Analysts nd not necessarily of this newspaper.) Completely underground, this V-2 factory fell to U. S. 1st army troops at Klcinodungcn, Germany. Rocket bombs stand on assembly line. EUROPE: Fortress Goal Fires still burned hotly in Berlin as U. S., French and Russian forces beat down on Adolf Hitler's vaunted Alpine fortress to smash that last mountain redoubt where Naziism was expected to put up its dying stand. Coming as other U. S. and Russian forces reportedly joined hands in a historic junction on the Elbe river below Berlin, the steady reduction of the German capital and the drive on the Alpine retreat signalled the fall of the great empire the once Austrian paperhanger built up only to lose as the U. S., for the second time in the 20th century, tipped the scales of victory. Some of the fiercest fighting of the whole war raged In rubbled rub-bled Berlin where the Germans, obeying Gauleiter Goebbels' order or-der to resist to the end, offered a fanatical block to block, house to house defense. With the capital cap-ital reduced to an inferno by uassed Soviet artillery and airplane air-plane bombardment, Germans reportedly fought from house tops, from rooms and from basements base-ments in a desperate effort to stem the advance of over a million mil-lion Russian troops. Even in Berlin's dying hours, the Germans, reputedly led by Hitler himself, poured reinforcements into the city as the 1st White Russian and 1st Ukrainian armies gradually forged a ring of steel around the capital. Signifying the totality of the war between the two countries, the opposing armies employed women wom-en in auxiliary front line services. No less than 350,000 U. S. and , French troops were engaged in the drive on the Germans' last Alpine fortress, with Lt. Gen. Patton's 3rd army closing in on the northeast, Lt. Gen. Patch's 7th from the north and the French from the west. Birthplace Birth-place of Naziism, Munich lay in the path of the advancing Allied forces as they moved on the foothills of the rugged mountains enclosing the enemy redoubt. To the east, Russian forces drove on the redoubt from Austria, while farther north, U. S. and Red troops also joined in a fight to clamp a pincer on the Germans' last great arsenal of Czechoslovakia. While fighting raged to the north, German forces made a desperate scramble to withdraw northward from the Po valley in Italy, with rearguards seeking to slow up U. S. and British efforts to overtake the main body of enemy troops and cut them to ribbons. PACIFIC: Clever Foe Having first displayed his ingenuity ingenu-ity at constructing defensive fortifications fortifi-cations at Iwo Jima, the Japs gave another demonstration of their ability abil-ity on Okinawa, where U. S. forces encountered bitter opposition in their drive to clean up this stepping-stone, 325 miles from Tokyo. Making use of the hilly terrain of Okinawa in much the same fashion as on Iwo Jima, the Japs built strong entrenchments in the slopes, with connecting tunnels permitting fhe transfer of troops to endangered sites. Concealing themselves in these caves, the enemy frequently burst out after Yanks had moved past to attack them from the rear. With the Japs strongly holed up in the rolling countryside, big guns from the U. S. fleet were brought into play to help artillery and airplanes air-planes pound the hilly defensive network net-work and allow the foot soldiers to pick their way forward through the battered foe. PUBLIC PAYROLL: Big Increase The total public payroll federal, state and municipal and the total number of public employees, has more than doubled in 12 years, the National Civil Service league claims. Since Pearl Harbor, the league states, the federal service has increased in-creased by 153 per cent and its payroll by 233 per cent, while employment em-ployment of state and municipal munici-pal workers has decreased 3V4 per cent, with payroll up 10 per cent. SAN FRANCISCO: Security Parley Though 800 delegates from 46 United Unit-ed Nations took their seats for the momentous postwar security parley in San Francisco with strong resolve to shape an effective organization to maintain peace, the conferees faced no easy task with need for reconciliation of U. S. and Russian differences over the character of the new body. As the delegates entered into their historic deliberations, the Russians insisted upon the adoption of the Dumbarton Oaks plan, along with the Yalta agreement for three votes for the Soviet government to match Britain's six, and the right of any of the major powers on the permanent perma-nent Big Five security council to veto the use of force against it. Though the American delegation accepted Dumbarton Oaks as an adequate framework for building the postwar security council, there was some sentiment for amendments to assure more safeguards for peace, particularly one empowering the new organization to alter any peace- Secretary ot Stale Sttttinlus (left) greets Russian Foreign Commissar Molo-tov Molo-tov (right) as Red Ambassador Andrei Gromyko looks on. making provision that might lead to future warfare. With virtually all executive power lying in the hands of the security council dominated by the U. S., Britain, Russia, France and China, smaller nations indicated a desire for the broadening of their voice in the formation of decisions. Under the Dumbarton Oaks plan, six smaller small-er countries would be picked yearly to serve on the security council, while the others would constitute an assembly, for discussion and recommendation. rec-ommendation. Even as the conference got under way, Russia signed a 20-year treaty with the Moscow-sponsored Polish provisional government looking toward to-ward mutual assistance in the event of future warfare. The treaty accentuated the differences dif-ferences between the U. S. and Britain Brit-ain with Russia over the formation of the future Polish government, with the western Allies insisting on the inclusion of various democratic elements in' the present communist commu-nist dominated Warsaw regime. ATROCITIES: Congress Boils Boiling over revelations of Nazi atrocities, congressmen leaned toward to-ward the imposition of a hard peace on Germany, while the Allies warned the enemy that mistreatment mistreat-ment of war prisoners would lead to punishment for those responsible. Revulsed by stories of abuse and starvation of American POWs and the brutal torture of depprtees inside in-side the Reich, congressmen declared de-clared that a harsh peace must bring home to the Germans the enormity of the cruellies and wipe out the Nazi philosophy. With their . warning contained in leaflets showered upon the rapidly dwindling Reich, the Allies vowed to ruthlessly pursue any person guilty of maltreating POWs until he is brought to punishment. Meanwhile, Mean-while, the U. S. accepted Germany's offer to leave American POWs in camps in the path of the advancing American armies. EMPLOYMENT: Readjustment Laid off from . high-paying war) jobs, discharged workers should realize that a tapering off of the war program necessitates their return re-turn to lower-paying civilian indus- . tries, with early shifting spelling a quicker restoration of the peacetime peace-time economy. Deprived of manpower in favor of the metal and armament industries indus-tries caly in the war effort, the logging log-ging and lumber and textile industries indus-tries are in need of 250.000 workers, work-ers, the War Production board said, with the government seeking to channel people back into these trades. In concentrating on the return of workers to these fields, WPB said that reemployment was necessary to assure the smooth operation of other civilian industries in the postwar post-war period, with automobile production, pro-duction, for instance, dependent upon textile supplies, and construction construc-tion and output of paper and packaging packag-ing materials related to the lumber business. LEND-LEASE: Soviet Pact The extent of lend-lease assistance assist-ance to Russia may well depend upon Moscow's course in the war against Japan, it was indicated, as the U. S., Britain and Canada signed their fourth mutual aid agreement with the Reds for the year ending next July. In keeping lend-lease restricted to wartime supplies, the new agreement agree-ment excluded long-range heavy-duty heavy-duty goods for which the Russians might pay later, as provided in pacts between the U. S. and British and French. With Russian participation partici-pation in the Pacific war, however, necessitating the use of heavy-duty goods, a similar understanding might be reached with Moscow. The decisive factor in Russia's great comeback against Germany after Nazi armies had swept deep into the country to cripple agricultural agricul-tural and industrial production, U. S. lend-lease assistance to the Reds totalled 7 billion dollars by the end of 1944. U. S. Nest-Egg Grows With total deposits of businesses busi-nesses and individuals amounting amount-ing to 66 billion dollars at the end of the year, and with heavy holdings of government bonds, America faces the immediate postwar period with a strong financial structure. Of the 66 billion dollars in deposits, de-posits, businesses owned 404 billions, individuals 21 billions, trust funds 1 billions, non-profit associations 2 billions, and foreign concerns 800 millions. Recent trends, however, have seen bigger businesses investing more in U. S. securities, while smaller enterprises and individuals individ-uals have been building up their bank balances. Exceeding all other records for a similar period, deposits increased in-creased almost 6 billion dollars during the last half of 1944, the Federal Reserve board reported, report-ed, with farmers contributing 700 million dollars of the total amount. MEAT: New Program Acting shortly after congressional hearings on the tight meat situation, the Office of Economic Stabilization, working with the Office, of Price Administration, the War Food administration ad-ministration and the war department, depart-ment, devised a new program to bring about a more even distribution distribu-tion of meat throughout the country coun-try and give packers relief from close price policies. Also as part of the program, the government agencies mapped an all-out all-out drive on black markets, with OPA enlarging its investigative staff by 500 and intensifying its court action ac-tion for triple damages on overcharges, over-charges, revocation of slaughtering permits and withholding of subsidies. subsi-dies. In attempting to obtain a more equitable distribution of meat, the government seeks (1) to divert more cattle from local slaughtering houses to federally inspected plants which can ship across state lines, and (2) persuade more local packers pack-ers to apply for federal inspection and sell to the army, taking the load off present suppliers, who have had to cut their deliveries to civilians civ-ilians accordingly. To assure packers of more profitable profit-able operations, the new program increases subsidies to slaughterers when live prices reach within the peak of market ceilings; retains the present additional 50 cent payment on all grades, and boosts the maximum maxi-mum charges on army beef. In addition, the government promised to pay the difference between packers' pack-ers' losses and costs to assure their continued existence. POSTWAR AIR: Big Future Speaking before tie Bond club in Chicago, Assistant Secretary of Commerce William M. Burden predicted pre-dicted the growth of civil aviation into a $2,000,000,000 'industry cm-ploying cm-ploying 400.000 people 10 years after the war. Because of the development de-velopment of the airplane, air lines will , have attracted most of the first-class passenger traffic both for domestic and trans-Atlantic flight. Burden forecasts. |
