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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS . Allies Shift Weight of Attacks Against Nazis to Belgium Front; Vital Issues Face New Congress Released by Western Newspaper Union. (iJDITOK'S NOTE: When opinions am expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) -f 1 .- 3 i Sr iJ.-' ; - - - v fa i i I i s f v 1 Democratic leaders leaving white house after pow-wow with President Roosevelt before opening of 79th congress included (left to right) Vice President Wallace, Speaker Rayburn, Senate Majority Leader Barkley, Vice President-Elect Truman, and House Majority Leader McCormack. PACIFIC: Step Up Attacks With General MacArthur's forces consolidating their positions in the central Philippines, U. S. airmen stepped up their attack on enemy shipping and installations about the main island of Luzon to the north. At the same time, carrier - borne aircraft blasted the Japs' big air bases of Formosa and Ryukyu, serving serv-ing as reinforcement centers for the Philippines. The anxious Japs themselves looked nervously to an American invasion in-vasion of Luzon, with the enemy trying to comfort himself with the assumption that he had sufficient forces to meet a thrust there, and shorter supply lines favored him. Not only did U. S. bombardment of shipping about Luzon hamper the movement of materials about the main island itself, but it also imperiled im-periled the movement of material to the southern islands. CONGRESS: Rolls Up Sleeves In assembling for its first session, the 79th congress faced a stiff job on both foreign as well as domestic issues relating not only to the successful suc-cessful prosecution of the war, but to permanent peace as well. In international affairs, of course, recent incidents in Poland, Greece and Italy are expected to lead toward to-ward congressional pressure for a stricter definition of our foreign policy, while attention also will be devoted toward the development of an organization to preserve the peace with proper respect toward the interests of all nations. On the home front, the manpower problem will remain foremost, with need for maintaining an adequate production force and at the same time meeting military demands for more men. The line against inflation infla-tion also will have to be held in the face of higher wage and price demands. de-mands. FARM DRAFT: Seek Youth Asserting that War Food Administrator Adminis-trator Marvin Jones had advised EUROPE: Tables Turned With U. S. forces having reacted quickly to Field Marshal Von Rund-stedt's Rund-stedt's great winter offensive, which carried deep into the hilly Ardennes forest, the big German bulge in southeastern Belgium shrank under the steady hammering of the American Ameri-can First and Third armies ploughing plough-ing forward in swirling blizzards. As elements of the First and Third armies punched at the western nose of the Nazi bulge, other units of these tried battle forces gouged into the north and south flanks and advanced ad-vanced within a dozen miles of each other, threatening to cut the German sack in two. But even as the First drove southward from Malempre and the Third northward from Long-champs, Long-champs, Von Rnndstedt was reported re-ported setting up a new defense line half-way back from his deepest penetration, with strong Nazi armored formations throwing throw-ing in constant counter-attacks in a deadly battle of attrition to cover up the move. With both sides bringing their heaviest weight to bear in the withering with-ering battle of Belgium, and with Von Rundstedt seemingly determined deter-mined to continue the fight in the hilly Ardennes, the enemy appeared to have temporarily succeeded in turning the struggle away from the vital Ruhr and Saar valleys, heart of his heavy industries. As the Allies threw their full weight into the battle, it was revealed re-vealed that elements of the British Brit-ish Second army joined the V. S. First in the attacks on the northern north-ern flank of the bulge, and Field Marshal Montgomery was given overall command of forces in this sector. Not only the British Second but elements of the U.S. Ninth and Seventh armies also were moved into the line to mount increasing pressure, the Nazis said. With the withdrawal of the major strength of the Third army from the southern end of the western front, U. S. troops dropped back from extensive ex-tensive holdings in the Saar and Palatinate in the face of heavy German Ger-man pressure designed to exploit the realignment of forces. Neiv Regimes Europe's troubled political affairs took two new turns, with the formation forma-tion of a liberal government in Greece expected to end civil strife, and the Russian - sponsored Lublin committee's establishment of a provisional pro-visional government for liberated territory looked upon to further complicate the Polish problem. Although Gen. Nicholas Plastiras assumed leadership of the new Greek government, principal attention atten-tion was focused on Foreign Minister Minis-ter John Sofianopoulos, 57-year-old agrarian liberal, whose inclusion in the cabinet foreshadowed a sufficiently suffi-ciently liberal policy to attract revolting re-volting Leftists. In declaring itself the provisional government of liberated Poland, the Lublin committee, which favors territorial ter-ritorial concessions to the Russians and a regime friendly to Moscow, clashed with the Allied - backed Polish government-in-exile in London, Lon-don, which contests Red land claims and radical internal social policies. INSIDE GERMANY Reliable and uncolored reports emanating from inside Germany indicate in-dicate that the Nazis appear to possess pos-sess both the manpower and the material ma-terial to string out the war on the western front. It took Von Rundstedt's lightning thrust into Belgium with 200,000 men to point up the Germans' ability to replenish their shattered western armies after the rout in France. These troops' supply of grade A weapons also focused attention atten-tion on the Nazis' industrial machine. him that no critical reduction in farm production would result, War Mobili-2 Mobili-2 a t i o n Director James F. Byrnes called for the induction induc-tion of deferred farm workers between be-tween 18 and 2fi years of age. There are approxi- mately 364,000 young J. F. Byrnes men in this group, it was revealed, and Byrnes asked Selective Service to apply the most crucial standards in the further deferment de-ferment of any of them. With the army calling for young men, he said, the only alternative would be to induct in-duct 26 to 29-year-olds in war industry, indus-try, a move which the War Production Produc-tion board warned might hamper munitions output. Farm state senators were quick to protest Byrnes' action, Senators Reed (Kan.) and Johnson (Colo.) citing department of labor statistics to show that the average work week in industry dropped to 46.1 hours in one year ended September, 1944. Said Johnson: "From these statistics, sta-tistics, it doesn't take a smart man to discover ways and means of decreasing de-creasing the manpower shortage. short-age. ..." |