Show weekly news analysis british drive into libya forces axis to fight on two fronts by edward C wayne j EDITORS NOTE when opinions opinion ui are expressed in ia these columns they are r those of the news analyst and nd sot not necessarily of this newspaper BRITISH open second front the long awaited bitterly de banded second front in north africa has f finally been 0 opened by the british with a surprise attack of surprising bower power and terrific impact upon the combined german italian forces in libya the severity of the military blow drew for a time all interest from the magnificent stand the russians were making and presented hillers Hit lers generals with the difficult problem of either conceding the royal air force complete mastery of the african skies or the withdrawal of many hundreds of planes from germany or from the russian front rapidly the british drive went 50 60 80 miles into libya and a glance at the maps had been sufficient to show that the typical nazi blitz tactic was being employed instead of a frontal attack against the axis forces the british moved to the south and shoved tank spear heads in an enveloping action which reached To bruks garrison that had rushed out into a sortie and were practically able to join hands with their advancing comrades in arms from the south this trapped what the british reckoned as half the german tank i A t WINSTON CHUB CHILL the second hall half would follow forces reckoned at two divisions in a triangular space bounded by bobruk bardia and the mediterranean coast on this triangle the british were pouring all their fire by land sea and air and battles were developing which might turn out to be the forced surrender of all the axis forces in the trap or a debacle similar to those which germany had forced on weaker opponents that it could be another dun querque guerque was impossible for the axis forces had no possibility of escape by sea it was stand and fight against forces at least equal to their own of especial interest to americans were the reports which told of feats performed by american made equipment particularly airplanes and tanks one fourth of the british tanks were said to have been built either in the U S or in canada objectives of the british attack in north africa were twofold the destruction st of every axis weapon of war in the territory the knocking of italy out of the war the first of these churchill said would be halt half accomplished when the battle of the bobruk triangle had resulted in a british victory the second half would follow immediately he added indicating that there would be no slowing down of the drive As to the second objective it was not so obvious what the british plans were some felt certain that the british once in undisputed posses sion ot of all north africa save french territory would launch an expeditionary invasion against sicily and then use it as a base for further invasion others felt sure that britaina Brit ains only idea was to sold hold its gains and with the mediterranean free of menace to launch air attacks on all of italy from the nearest points in libya and tripoli and so to discourage italians with the war that they would rise against it the british felt sure that this would cause the germans to attack italy just as the germans turned against russia and that thus another problem of occupying a hostile country would arise to plague the nazis however that might be the present attack had been extremely vigorous and carefully planned under a unified command with the navy pounding shore points the air force in undisputed mastery of the air and the well mechanized ground forces willing to hammer away at the enemy with a will berlin claim faint the important and strategic city of on the don river was claimed as a german capture in dispatches from berlin and on the same day the russians admitted that the nazi advance had been resumed the sixth month of the russian war found the germans renewing an attack against moscow at moz haick according to the reds who admitted that their troops had been forced to give ground but that the battle was continuing this town 57 miles from the border of the city marked the high water mark of the german advance the nazis claimed that at six munitions factories a fighter plane plant and a tank factory fell into their hands they called the city the spigot to the russian oil barrel the town had been defended by the russians for seven weeks they did not admit its loss russian dispatches had described the work of the townspeople of moscow in preparing the finishing touches on the cites defenses as the germans redoubled their efforts to get into the capital one dispatch stated that the attack on moscow was being carried out by the greatest concentration of troops ever seen in modern warfare TOKYO tinder box oddest of all the potential volcanoes in the world had been the far east situation with tokyo hard pressed by the nazis to plunge actively into the war on the theory that it would create a new front for the british and american navies to cope with but kurusu had found secretary hull not at all frightened at the prospect and with the exploratory talks quite in their midst the head of the american state department had called a conference of the nations american british chinese EMPEROR HIROHITO japan prepared for the worst and dutch representatives from which the chinese ambassador had emerged with a broad smile coincidentally the british had renewed their blunt warnings to japan not to plunge another area of the world into a bloodbath blood bath but to reflect that the personnel of the british navy had expanded per cent and that the navy now was in position to divert considerable of its forces to the pacific at the same time it was evident that tokyo itself was preparing its people for the worst that japanese leaders were badly frightened over the spot they were in was evident yet few of them could see a way out without war STRIKE sixth appeal the sudden end of the coal strike and the answer of john L lewis that he was willing to accede to president Roosevel ts sixth appeal for labor peace in the captive coal mines brought a question to the fore in the strike crisis who was the winner in this bitter battle the president or lewis some reporters described the sudden ending of the strike as a distinct victory for the president in that lewis had agreed to binding arbitration of the strike something he had held out against since the fall down of mediation board efforts to end it but when the personnel of the deciding committee became known t the e matter of the presidents victory became dubious because the committee included dr john R steelman head of the conciliation service of the department of labor representing the public mr lewis himself representing the strikers and benjamin F fairless president of U S steel representing the mine owners there was little question about the stand that lewis would take in the fight for a closed shop contract for his members that was ii a foregone conclusion As to the other two dr steelman was generally given credit by labor for having won them the closed shop in commercial mines looking at mr fairless it was generally believed by the union workers and so stated by lewis more than once that mr fairless during other conferences had apparently patently ly been the only steel man willing to give in in fact lewis put the blame for the failure of previous negotiations squarely upon eugene G grace of bethlehem steel lewis had declared that he faced the decision of the committee with the utmost confidence in the outcome the ending of the strike was dramatic the union policy committee of waited 2 aa hours for its meeting they know the reason but lewis did he was waiting for a letter from the president of the united states it was delivered lewis took it into his private office he read it came out again with his thumbs in the armholes arm holes of his vest and descended into the cellar meeting hall he posed for pictures asked reporters to leave and the meeting opened fifteen minutes later the end strike call was sounded lewis had submitted to arbitration an arbitration he was confident could only end in victory for his union for the president perhaps because his letter had ended the strike for lewis at least lewis thought so new powers the president had given the office of production management additional powers by delegating to it the authority given hind him in the property seizure act last october thus if there are to be any seizures made under this bill in the interest of the national defense will make them the priorities board also was designated to act in an advisory capacity to the when any seizures are contemplated thus the president implemented the new powers given him and arranged for them to be carried out defense officials said however that they did not consider the act to authorize seizure of factories and that in their opinion the captive coal mines could not have been taken over under its authority PETAIN on oil spot marshal petain head of the vichy vich y government had been reliably reported as on his way to a conference with first hitler and then mussolini as the hour drew near when the french would have to de O 0 MARSHAL HENRI PETAIN low how much would he promise cide definitely whether to join the axis as full partner or not the conference according to the rome radio was to be held soon somewhere in occupied france the increased pressure on france was seen as a sequel to the british offensive in africa and the sudden resignation of marshal as commander of france in africa was seen as part and parcel of the same reaction germany observers said was prepared to offer petain a full peace instead of an armistice based entirely on how much increased aid the old marshal was willing to pi promise mise thus making france an axis ally in truth if not in name even in washington wahington a presidential source said that germany was planning a general european conference in december or january and that following it would probably come some high sounding scheme for cor economic rehabilitation in the name of peace and order two reports were current one of them that the french had bad been asked to give naval convoy to italian supply ships moving to north coith africa and had refused the other was that germany was asking france for soldiers to take over the policing of areas in occupied russia in the spring ALIEN HANDS helping nazis na is A berlin dispatch hence authorized declared that the labor problem in nazi war industries now that most of the manpower was engaged in war with russia was being solved by the use of alien labor aliens from occupied countries largely poles had been recruited outside germany and put into the factories with storm trooper managers and a plentiful sprinkling of police through the plants to discourage breaking of time rules and sabotage of other types croats choats and other nationalities believed friendly to germany also are manning many plants and are reported to be getting better food p pax living conditions etc athani thana i poles who get the least of all za the polish workers have yellow bordered black Ps on their left arms polish and belgian men are quartered in dormitories while those of so called friendly nations are permitted to live in suburbs near their work RUSSIA saves machines Machii ws A walter kerr dispatch from kul kui bysher had been enlightening on the subject of what dussias Rus sias losses had been in th the area tc occupied api upi r e d by german troops S A lovsky soviet spokesman had declared that russian factory equipment had been almost entirely evacuated from the occupied area kerr checking on this statement wrote that he had made a 2280 mile railroad trip from archangel through the soviet union and that machinery was being moved and in quantities that would astonish most americans his trip took 16 days because his passenger train was sidetracked often to permit trains carrying machinery and workers eastward were given preference day after day he saw an endless procession of freight trains of from 30 to 40 cars drawn by one to two locomotives carrying machinery machine tools and skilled workmen he said he never saw a wreck nor evidence of a previous wreck he also saw munitions being landed from america and britain at the wharves of archangel and lovinc rapidly on railroads to the interi of russia he said he did not drears that russia had so much rolling stock nor of such magnitude As for the russian supply of foodstuffs he said that refugees from the battlefronts were warmly clad and had food with them that the dining car on his train was serving fresh caviar vodka potatoes veal chicken lamb tea and coffee PRIZE at south bend at st marys college there had been discovered an art treasure a painting believed to be an original giotto one chicago art expert who confirmed the genuineness 0 ol 01 the picture set its value roughly and tentatively at the picture had hung in st marys mary galleries until six years ag ago W alv 0 A unaccountably it was lost it ali found several months ago and the rev gregory gerrer determined to find out who painted it the portrait is a wood panel painting of st francis of assisi one art expert said he did not believe there were half a dozen argi ordinal giotto paintings in this country released by western newspaper union |