Show weekly news analysis european war gat gathers hers steam after preliminary skirmishes by joseph W la aisse EDITORS EDITORS NOTE wh anen en opinions are jr expressed in in these columns they are those of el tie the news analyst and sot not necessarily of the newspaper THE WAR lineup As day after day passed into history the war of 1939 engulfed more nations and brought more millions face to face with dread actuality on britaina Brit ains side came the union of south africa one third of whose european population speaks german A few days later canadas prime minister mackenzie king ordered a declaration of war published in the canadian official gazette after 10 days of fighting the lineup found germany and her ally slovakia with population against a total ally population of the figures nation population germany slovakia V VERSUS poland france great britain including united kingdom australia new zealand union of south africa canada india still aloof were the imponderables egypt treaty bound to britain had severed diplomatic relations with the reich turkey also treaty bound called up her reserves as frances gen maxime reached ankara but the greatest imponderables were russia and italy both leaning germany ward whose jump to adolt adolf hillers Hit lers assistance could place france and britain in in an extremely uncomfortable position war of words past master at the art of propaganda is germanys germanas Germ anys dr paul joseph goebbels whose technique after one week of war was obviously taking better hold than the ironclad censorship of france and britain the allies f first I 1 r s t aw mistake was to confine announcements noun cements to useless official opening GEN GOERING the way for lie ile wooed france nervous conjecturing jec turing ministries of information worked at such a snails pace that the london daily mirror commented the mills of the gods grind slowly but seemingly those of the air ministry are geared even more slowly soon of news pictures was banned by london leaving U S readers with nothing but german propaganda photos aside from war while war and its repercussions held U S interest per cent the following newsworthy events drew tittle little attention IN BALTIMORE twenty six year old mrs harold ickes wife of the 65 year old interior secretary presented her husband with a baby boy IN CLEVELAND col roscoe turner veteran aviator sped miles per hour to win the thompson trophy the third successive time thus winning then he announced retirement from the air racing business IN NEWARK elisha waterman executive vice president of the fountain pen company was beaten by C 1 I 0 pickets as he tried to enter the plant IN NEW YORK willys over land claimed it was dropping a bombshell into the automobile field with an unprecedented new low price car for 1940 meanwhile the british propaganda office gave co correspondents such patently cooked up stories as one that the ex kalser kaiser had warned hitler he faces disaster herr goebbels was smarter if 11 more unethical his radio stole a warsaw wave length and warned the poles to evacuate but he did allow U S correspondents to visit the front and released announcements which were acceptable to the press because they were partly true and more damaging tor for the same reason but the major war of words came from germanys germanas Germ anys field marshal hermann wilhelm goering who sw swore ore at britain and cooed coded at france renewing the well substantiated rumor that germany will be ready tor for peace when she has conquered poland sample A country britain which was built up on force dares speak of moral principles there has been too much lying in world history but what we experienced now beats everything ery thing weve known the british talk about morals that too after they swallowed many peoples t we want nothing of the french it is the english government which incited people we know england win will fight till the last frenchman remember that you frenchmen next day britain reiterated no peace talks if germany stays in poland western war in 1914 it took two weeks to start a real dogfight on the western wester n front the war of 1939 proved no exception in the first seven days allied troops made steady gains fee feeling ing out the enemy on all parts of the front but not until the allies had dug in almost to the recessed siegfried line did adolf hitler withdraw several divisions from poland and rush them westward to the rescue As the second week got under way two salientes and counter offen seemed brewing into two major battles see map alap the first was near where a french offensive pointed eight miles into german territory to the west i EH GERMANY SITE OF FIRST COU PARIS offensive WHERE ALLIES Gr MADE FIRST OR GAIN EXPECT FRIENDLY ti ROUTE THROUGH AUSTRIA TO AID aa 4 POLAND A TRIA SWITZ FRANCE ITALY L WESTERN FRONT italians chuckled of at france nazi aai troops sought to relieve this pressure and possibly reach frances highly touted maginot line meanwhile just north of switzerland french troops pushed into the black forest hoping to open a path via austria to sorely pressed poland in rome military observers chuckled huc kled over this offensive kno knowing full well that france had originally n intended to aid poland via highly vulnerable italy which de aided instead to stay neutral eastern war As war in the east reached its second week adolf hitler released a masterpiece of understatement by decree germanys germanas Germ anys far eastern fron tiers were restored to their 1914 po sitione see sec map alap since germany had already regained about twice the area she lost in 1919 some naive observers may have wondered why der fuehrer continued his march to warsaw but while he was about it hitler had evidently decided to take a little more plus all the land poland got from austria hungary in 1919 this was no easy job blustering and boasting of the wars first days was silenced as poland lived up to her promise promis 6 the retreat had really been strategic after all moreover marshal edward really iia LATVIA baltic 0 LITHUANIA e at EAST PRUSSIA lq FROM Y 1919 1920 r t POLAND Z ra HUNGARY 1919 20 RUMANIA EASTERN FRONT losses regained and then some had about unused troops As the poles dug in behind the bugg and vistula rivers london heard that the eastern fronts greatest battle was growing on a mile front even berlin admitted fierce battles biggest of polands bolands Po lands unspoken worries was the juggernaut at her back door russia thousands of reserves poured through moscow bound for the west after mobilization was decreed in connection with the ger man polish war was the red bear about to strike too next day Mos cows pravda said no russia was merely preparing to disarm and eastward fleeing poles when the was was over war at sea still a mystery was the whereabouts of germanys germanas Germ anys giant bremen which left new york one day before war was declared reports placed her variously at iceland mexico south america and russia but she was probably snug in a spanish harbor manhattans Manhat tans waterfront ter front still housed the french normandie and british queen mary probably there for the duration though british and french lines no longer announced their schedules the lie ile de france sneaked into new york two british boats the georgic and samaria sailed in darkness this was fools fun unless convoys awaited the allied vessels when they left neutral waters after one week of war 12 british french boats had reached davy jones locker as the submarine campaign began gathering force dorcle small victory for britain was the fact that all german shipping had run rim to cover unless allied boats could sail the seas there might be a repetition of near tragedy in that year convoys were perfected war at sea could not fail to touch U S shipping the manhattan and other boats left for europe with giant flags painted on their sides new york brush wielders did a lan doffice job camouflaging allied vessels off cobh coah ireland the liner washington rescued 33 crewmen from the torpedoed british f er Olive grove but U S shipping was a breath holding business painted flags meant little in mined waters besides other neutral nations were beginning to suffer 1 A dutch mine sweeper hit her own mine and sank with 33 aboard 2 a greek freighter kosti was reportedly destroyed by a german mine in the baltic 3 danish fishermen fearing mines clung ashore DOMESTIC backfire of war As Eu ropes military machines got up steam franklin roosevelt found himself puzzling over two conflicting problems 1 how to keep out of war and preserve U S busi ness social normalcy 2 how to prepare against war yet be ready for it when and if it comes neutrality and normalcy paradoxically commodities stocks and bonds soared despite food surpluses and the present neutrality law which automatically clamps an embargo on arms shipments to belligerent nations reason wiseacres Wise acres of wall street most of them anti were pretty sure the president would summon congress to repeal the present neutrality law and substitute cash and carry to after a week of mildly effectual warnings to profiteers the cause of normalcy was still suffering meanwhile the white house played a waiting game holding a congressional summons in abeyance until public opinion had crystallized when housewives began complaining of rising prices when politicians began debating the merits of 1 ar 11 0 pi 3 SECRETARY WOODRING NG I 1 war should come a neutrality that sin of bullets but permitted highly vital oil to go abroad the president was apparently ready to act washington ex expected congress about october 2 but sen william E borah warned there would be no hasty change in the law emergency to most citizens surprise the white house revealed that U S military ary strength is far below the man peacetime level authorized by congress ordered therefore was a man increase in armed forces and a man boost in FBI under an executive decree declaring ai ahmit limited ed national emergency while secretary of war woodring mulled over his immediate expansion problem his minds eye might have looked to the future fatute and an even greater problem should the U S get its feet in Eu ropes mud within 90 days after a declaration of war an army of almost men could be drafted since th the subject po popped aped into headlines the joint army and navy selective service ervice committee announced there are about males between IS 18 and 64 of whom about are between 18 and 45 the normal military age in wartime older men would get industrial agricultural and other home jobs first draft would include I 1 those between 21 and 30 sec I 1 NEWS QUIZ are you reading anything except war news subtract 20 for each of the following questions you miss score of is perfect anything under 60 so good AW 0 1 who is this baltimore lady and where has she just gone with her husband 2 selection father divine has just bought a new five stor heaven at 1 walla walla CS J philadelphia 3 chicago 4 newport 5 bombay 3 while war waged in europe what disaster overtook the U S navy air force 4 true or false the U S justice department has closed its antitrust anti trust suit against the american medical association 5 why did this alleged remark start a rumpus we cannot allow workers to lose a strike even though it does cause bloodshed answers at bottom of column ond end I 1 those between 18 and 21 third those between 31 and 40 first to go single men m en without dependents deferments based on such factors as physical disability number of dependents positions held in industry agriculture or elective offices sentiment already a bit weary of war americas john public could still smile he chuckled over the essay contest being sponsored by polish state railways at new yorks fair in which persons had submitted manuscripts on what I 1 would like to see in poland the prize A free trip to poland but B ut most americans were dead serious about it in new york and philadelphia newspapers warned readers that much they see from abroad is 13 propaganda the national association of broadcasters urged commentators to exercise caution and restraint thanks to this thanks also to the livid memory of the first world war america was amazingly alert to as terrors most tongues were kept solidly in their owners cheeks in contrast to this caution was the readiness with which P america D condemned hitler while edi editorial toria writers fumed at the men at versailles whom they held responsible for holocaust john public blandly placed the blame on der fuehrer results of a gallup poll 82 per cent of the U S holds hitler responsible 3 per cent england and france I 1 per cent poland 3 per ent cent versailles treaty news quiz An answers 1 the duchess of windsor who with her exiled husband has lust just been repatriated by england 2 philadelphia 3 six fliehs were killed hilled when a patrol bomber crashed near san diego 4 false the U S supreme court has been ailed to review a decision by the district of columbia federal court dismissing the indictments 5 chairman J warren madden of off the national labor clabor relations board al S made the remark louice of revelation revelation the senate labor committees hearing on NLRB released by western newspaper union |