Show weekly news analysis reports conflict on fierce balkan fighting rass Russ Japs in pact by evars C wayne EDITORS NOTE when opinions ofia ioas jr re expressed in ia these columns colu moi they jr re those of tie the sews news analyst lyst and nd not necessarily of ct this newspaper BATTLE of 0 greece descriptions tending to show that the battle of greece was becoming even fiercer an dmore furious than anything which had taken place in france or the low countries were penned by newspaper correspondents during the early days of the balkan struggle although these correspondents were having difficult difficulty in getting their stories across never in warfare had there been such confusion in reports one days day the nazis nazi 3 predicted that them the jugo slavs would surrender in 48 hours that tens of thousands of prisoners had been taken that king peter had fled to turkey and that general had done likewise to moscow on the same day the jugoslava Jugo slavs denied all these reports and said their resistance was stiffening told ot of bitter counter attacks and urged the people not to believe false reports nazi reports that there had been a governmental overturn in croatia were followed by dispatches telling of the invasion of croatia by hungary on almost the same day came serbian dispatches telling of stem resistance north of zagreb in the very territory where the hungarian invasion was supposedly taking place athens was virtually the only source except berlin that was apparently patently ly getting news direct from the athens dispatches came a series of events that clarified themselves though the picture in the gross was still much muddled these told of two main achievements on the grecian front by the nazi invaders they were 1 the breakthrough break through from above the river valley and 2 the capture of kalonika Sal the latter came with a suddenness that was utterly shocking to those who had believed that the greeks would do the impossible and put up a stern fight it also was a shock to those who had believed that the brit ash were based on kalonika Sal A glance at the map showed the import of the news eastern thrace had been cut off 08 and how many greek soldiers were in that territory athens alone knew the nazis immediately sent out a dispatch saying that men had laid down their arms the greeks said they were continuing to fight but admitted the eastern forces had been cut off it was not immediately apparent why they would have to surrender for the way seemingly open for them if beaten to NEW YORK some of mayor la guardias experts have perfected a time bomb bus which has had successful tests its to be used for carrying away time bombs the interior is dynamite matting and a TNT bomb was exploded inside of it harmlessly the driver will still be successfully nominated as a hero LONDON about members of the duke of agostas personal bodyguard fascist troops regally attired and wearing silver plated pistols were captured among the italian prisoners in addis ababa Aby sinnia it was reported LOS ANGELES mr and mrs douglas fairbanks the former having been given the job by the U S government were off for south america to see six countries and to report whether america is doing all it can to better latin american relations lations ve 0 wat concrete evidence of the manner in which the U S army is being bein expanded in line with the defense speedup speed up is this view of the motorized ninth division during daring a review at fort bragg N C some met men and about 1500 vehicles of all types participated with three infantry companies marching in front of the motorized units retreat and themselves over the turkish border another vital phase of the battle then manifested itself when it became known that the greeks had decided to make their main defense line a V upside down stretching from near valona on the adriatic up to lake in the center and to the aegean near katerina on the east it became known that from mount olympus mythical home of the greek gods near the aegean sea to lake was the anglo greek line and that here the main resistance could be look looked ed for the contact came after about five 0 or r six days of fighting when the germans broke through at monastir Mo gap Bi and ran slap into heavy british and greek contingents what happened then was not clear but the greek dispatches immediately began to take on a new note of confidence the germans had b been e en hurled back thel their r advance had been shattered the germans were in full retreat these terms and 0 others of like ilk were used whether this would prove a turning point or a standing point where the war might halt its fierce movement remained to be seen typical 0 of t the puzzling reports were some that told of british and nazi tank battalions slashing in an open plain when the relief maps showed the lines to be drawn in a mountainous territory according to the most optimistic greek report the vanguard of german tanks motored armored cars motorcycles and dive bombers struck against the organized central line of highlights in the news washington aliens held in deportation por tation proceedings including crews of german and italian ships recently seized are going to be sent to two western army camps fort missoula montana and fort lincoln north dakota the camps will be operated by the immigration service walsenburg COLO when volunteer needle workers exhausted their supply of buttons for war victims garments the school children were appealed to within a week they had collected buttons washington wedding days hit the roosevelt clan again james roosevelt captain of marines marrying his ex nurse in los angeles and miss eleanor roosevelt mrs Roosevel ts niece and namesake marrying edward P elliott of yorkshire england the greeks and british on a 12 mile f front the report said the defeat of this german column was a terrific disaster the german tanks motorcycles and infantry were hurled back into a broken retreat on a 12 mile front from florina to fanitsa Va nitsa berne switzerland was one of the few points which was sending anything that sounded at all reasonable about the yugoslavian Jugo situation it seemed that the serbs gerbs were planning to defend a big triangle mostly mountainous which seemed to leave belgrade and other parts of the yugoslav Jug plain territory undefended one corner of this triangle was the southeastern town of Skol pie but the fall of this is point was early claimed by the nazis but for days thereafter the jugoslava Jugo slavs were reported from berne to be counter attacking vigorously in this neighborhood bo and to be driving southward from central with determination and courage determined not to be cut off from the gracco british lines part of the german strategy however was to accomplish just this and early it was claimed that the germans and fascists in northern albania had joined hands though this was not borne out immediately in subsequent stories from the front winston churchill did not try to gloss over the situation in fact in an early report to commons he seemed to take the attitude that the grecian yugoslavian defense was in all probability a lost cause at the outset and warned turkey and russia that they would be next turkey evidently suspecting that germanys germanas Germ anys end move would be to demand passage through her country to th the oil fields and thence to syria and iraq as indeed some nazi newspapers predicted frankly promptly began to evacuate istanbul and to declare all of european turkey in a state of siege russia openly criticized Hun garys entrance into and gave further evidence of a change of heart as far as germany was concerned but took no drastic step except to prepare her armies to move for summer maneuvers churchill warned that some surprise move might come from russia and indeed the whole of E europe drope watched expectantly neutrality PACT soviet japan in an unexpected diplomatic move russia and japan announced the signing of a five year neutrality pact between the two countries in effect the pact provided that either nation would not become involved should the other find itself involved in war the pact came as a surprise to international observers who had been inclined to believe that the rus sian government was beginning to lean away from axis dominated policies it was said in some sources however that russia was anxious to be sure that she would not be attacked by japan should the soviet find it necessary to open a military drive against hitler in the balkans I 1 for japan the pact looked like a green light for a further stepping up of war against china and an expansion move to the south in the pacific area LABOR stress eases although soft coal miners were still locked in a disagreement that kept mines in 12 states idle it was obvious that this chii strike was just slow in settling and that the general labor situation was bet better ter the ford strike was settled henry ford for the first time in his bis career entering into an agreement with a labor union and the great river rouge plant with its employees was reopened statisticians figured that the strike had cost wage earners several millions of dollars the figure running as high as probably taking into consideration several thousands of workers who had been forced into idleness by the closing of the main plant the immediate lessening of pressure in the strike situation did not however mean that the whole thing wa sunder was under control for there were many bitter f fights looming over the horizon one of them involving gen W I 1 11 1 V 1 1 01 1 1 ni MI 1 1 1 1 IN I 1 V I 1 vl k I 1 I 1 I 1 J R 3 LEON HENDERSON almost a price czar eral era motors another threatening US steel and several others threatening smaller plants chairman dies of the un American investigating committee claimed there was a communist plot to tie up the vital aluminum industry it was almost a relief when the picture changed somewhat and the forces in washington began to train their guns on employers instead of employees for a change leon henderson vibrant former member of the SEC and head of the presidents price control setup was given additional powers and set up almost as a price czar his first pronouncements came as a clap of thunder he announced that there was ruthless profiteering among the producers and dealers in cadmium a vital defense metal this was his first shot and it was followed quickly by others he named 11 industries in which there was profiteering and announced that he intended to stop it he was asked what prices were too high and answered all prices are too high he then bared his weapons he said that his theory was that price increases would never bring out production and that jail sentences do it either he tallied talked about economic sanctions against profiteers and said in the cadmium instance that if the profiteering stop the government would put the dealers out of business and that they would have only themselves to blame he even stepped out into the arena and announced that he considered wages came within his territory because they were a prime factor in costs he said he would find ways and means to keep wages down if they got too high also isis americans took mr H henders with a grain of salt perhaps but I 1 it was a change in a picture which had painted the forces of labor as the big bad man who was halting nal national defense and showed a new picture in which the businessman B businessman Usi wa was s the villain and not the worker u s attitude following his messages mesi messages ages of comfort and friendliness to and to greece president roosevelt promised all possible aid as soon as possible to both countries and then took two steps which seemed to fall in m line with the general war picture dispatches were telling 0 of f er britian it AM planes rushing into the battle fj aj greece in constantly increasing 1 numbers but how many of these were being rushed across the miles from the united states was a military secret the two steps president roosevelt took openly were to take over for this country the defense of greenland by special agreement with the king of denmark the second was to open the red sea and the gulf of aden to american ships carrying aid to britain greece and to get by the neutrality requirements the president announced that the material would b be e carried into the suez canal but not out of it which would set the cargoes down in egypt which was technically a neutral nation how it would then get into belligerent hands the president hinted was none of americas business some isolationists whooped I 1 it t up against both of these moves on the part of the administration but the word was generally received throughout the country with calm most people figuring we were practically in the war and that this was another step the greenland decision a apparently P parent ly left hitler cold for he made little reference to it yet it was important jant because nazi planes had been reported flying over greenland and if the U S was to look ahead to the time when it would have an air base there that would have meant an air battle between american and swastika marked planes A too the germans had drawn the 4 9 mt blockade line within three miles ol 01 05 the border of greenland and three miles said naval experts was a mighty small bit of sea to handle from a neutrality standpoint but hitler had his say about the red sea plan saying curtly that if american ships entered the red sea they would be attacked by germans and sunk it possible this reply like his reply to the seizure of german and italian ships in this country left the people generally cold there was neither fear nor surprise nor anger among the men in the street just apathy with much more interest expressed in labor conditions than in the foreign policy moves being devised and issued by the white louse house I the only result of the greenlan greenland n episode was the recalling to DA D ap mark of henrik de kauffman to ow pen hagen De Kauffman in announcing that he would leave this country simply pointed out that his country was under the control of the nazis and that he could not obey the order of his king and turn the defense of greenland over to the united states released by western newspaper union |