Show weekly news analysis sub shells california oil field in first assault on U S mainland by edward C wayne EDITORS E NOTE when opinions are r 0 expressed in these columns they are those of 0 tie the news newl analyst and nf not cot necessarily of til this s newspaper SHELLS on west coast the west coast had been waiting tor for enemy shell fire since the day the japs launched their sneak attack on pearl harbor but when these first shots came they came from the sea and not from the air as most persons had believed they would in the pacific twilight as the president addressed the nation over the radio on the progress and course of the war an enemy submarine appeared off santa barbara calif and fired from 15 to 25 shells into the elwood oil fields near that city oil wells in the area are located right on the beach no casualties and only slight damage to the oil fields were first reported radio stations carrying the presidents speech did not go off the air until he had finished speaking and then a blackout of the entire area was ordered ROOSEVELT progress report revealing that thousands of united states troops already are in the southwestern pacific president roosevelt in his latest fireside chat told the world that soon the united nations and not our enemies will have the offensive we hot they will win the final battles and we not they will make the final peace while enemy shells were landing on the california coast the president promised to carry the war to the axis enemy in distant lands and far flung waters wherever he can be found america he said will harness its unequalled unequal led production facilities to the war effort and produce totals of guns planes tanks and ships formerly deemed impossible CHURCHILL heeds critics sir stafford lord cripps beaverbrook Beaver brook winston churchill heeding the sharp criticism that followed singapore and the channel escape of the scharnhorst gneisenau and prince eugen to helgeland Hel goland bight streamlined his cabinet out went lord beaverbrook Beaver brook because of ill health and his retire uvalde texas john nance garner former vice president in a rare interview said there is no lack of morale no complacency among the people 0 washington D C senator gillette charged that huge interests had been deliberately blocking agrical tures effort to provide grain alcohol from which synthetic rubber could be manufactured 0 0 0 london trend of serious british thought was seen in sir stafford cripps london tribune which said in the present year it is possible tor for the allies to be defeated there 1 aa at the three man planning committee which acts in an advisory capacity to 0 o donald bf nelson chairman of the war production board at a meeting in n washington D C left to right thomas C blaisdell assistant director of if the national researches planning board fred searles consultant on ordnance rd nance ammunition division united states army and robert nathan assistant issi stant director of progress reports war production board ment was followed by a statement that he might come to the united states in liaison work chief burden on churchill had been his frequent appearances before the house of commons meeting his critics with bursts of oratory that won him one parliamentary battle after another but at what cost to his vitality and accomplishments could readily be imagined into this breach churchill fired the man of the hour sir stafford cripps fresh from his triumphs in diplomacy in russia a man who had the confidence of the man in the street and who was to take over the job of being the governments man before commons there were other changes but these were most vital the cabinet was reduced to seven men and some action of this type had been vigorously demanded some heads had to fall fail and those chopped out of the cabinet had been targets tor for popular abuse it was evident that out of the rearrangement and re shuffling churchill would emerge victorious and would continue his conduct of brit ains part in the war BURMA defense stiffens the addition of well trained chinese troops to the northern flank of the british in the burma battle had found chiang kai men able to take at least temporarily the offensive japs holding an important river near Chieng mai were driven back and the china troops took up offensive positions some believed within the borders of thailand additional RAP RAF planes were added to the tiger squadron of the volunteer american forces assigned to protect the burma road and although the port of rangoon biad had been highlights in the weeks news is no despondency in the nation but there is justifiable alarm cripps was named war minister 0 ottawa canadians awakening to the nearness of the war began to realize at long last that they were fighting to protect themselves one member from the west coast said it if we dont watch out all of canada from the to the coast will be japanese 0 columbus ohio ohio sauerkraut producers said their whole industry was threatened because of lack of tin cans and refusal of to promise any tin cans for 1942 made useless chiang was thought already to have opened new sources of supply by other ports churchill was believed to be seeing the light that empire was going to have to relax its firm hand on the natives and eventually to give over to them much of the work of freeing themselves from the attacking japanese in india changes in the british cabinet had seemed to indicate this at any rate and many observers felt that all the disastrous outcomes of the early battles could only be overcome in the last analysis by letting the natives get into the fight in a big way instead of leaving them to be made into fifth columnists by the advancing japs these observers pointed out that javas population of persons would be hard to conquer JAVA mighty battle from the narrow waters to the east and west of java had come reports of mighty air and naval engagements gage ments proving that the last stronghold of the dutch in the east indies was not going to be given up without a bitter struggle also that the japs were not going to bypass java without at least a major try to capture it american and dutch warships had come to grips with the invasion force attempting to take glamorous ball bali from the blind side hoping to swarm over the mile wide island and thus overlook their quarry java from a vantage point separated from the mainland only by a mile wide strait first reports had been highly optimistic ti reminiscent of the ameri cand can D dutch resistance to the japanese landing forces in the straits of eighteen enemy warships and transports had been sunk or damaged four planes shot down with a loss to the allies of two destroyers st and tour four planes most significant in the battle however were the reports that thai the newest types of dive bombers presumably navy planes were being used and with telling effect for once it seemed that the allies had a considerable air force in action whether based on an aircraft carrier oi or on Sou could only be guessed at As to the word from tokyo the Japh japanese nese admitted that a strong naval battle was in progress but asserted that the allied ships ran off with severe losses and denied any serious losses to themselves just how well java with its 40 millions of population could be defended still rem remained to be seen with the japs pretty well ensconced on sumatra 20 miles of water to cross to get to java on that side and strongly entrenched on the northern islands and attempting in force to gain close footholds to the east and so practically surrounded on three sifts sides but with the fourth apparently ly open though to aid from allied bases the final phase of the battle for the east indies was well under way SPRING whose offensive some experts in studying the public reflexes to war talk felt that the constant worry and guesswork about hillers Hit lers spring offensive was chatter along the wrong psychological lines some hints of different thinking than an this had come out of the white house president roosevelt had dropped more than a few words to indicate that the spring offensive might not be hillers Hit lers at all here were a couple of his bis statements we must search out the enemy and hit him and hit him hard it is quite possible and at no far distant time that alaska and new york might be bombed these were not defensive utterances since the latter was coupled with the presidents thought that a house to house defense of our coastlines coast lines was neither possible nor the proper way to consider fighting the war it was not searching the enemy out to do this from this many gained the impression that the looked tor for and feared hitler spring offensive might not be of so much consequence as the spring offensive of the allied powers one observer pointed out had sent troops to ireland to burma to australia to java to iceland to aruba to countless spots of importance in the scheme of the war and that these movements few of them could be regarded as defensive in character they felt that it was quite in order in fact of better public psychology to think in terms of a bold and well timed offensive of our own than to speculate and fear a nazi action ECONOMIC fat wonderland though it was the current washington slogan that we must f fight our way to victory we c cannot annot produce our way to it the production curves were moving rapidly upward on the heels of cong congressional nal appropriations upward of 71 billions of dollars tor for war purposes one returned war correspondent said coming back to america was like returning to a fat wonderland of food and furs and frills leon henderson warned america along the same line saying that there was something like a 15 billion difference between the purchasing power of the people and the value of pur commodities that we were not saving enough buying enough bonds but had too much money to buy things we get the newsman had said simply we were too fat and not lean enough he said his first thought was can this country be at war yet dr gallup in his poll of public opinion seemed to feel that the general public was far ahead of the political leaders in their concept of what was needed in the way of spirit and realization whatever the public or the leaders were thinking or doing production was going ahead faster and faster in a wider and wider sweep of providing the materials necessary for war and millions of men had registered for selective service ready to man the guns that were being built and the planes the tanks and the ships G give ive Us guns and well all fight the eastern end of the huge japanese pincers unquestionably was ing aimed at australia and bor bo ang ings s of port darwin already had been carried out with considerable damage and casualties proving to the australians that the enemy was indeed at her gates instant response of the population only a few generations removed from hardiest handiest har diest pioneers and with a long record of providing some of the strongest fighting men in war fares history was give us guns and well all fight it was evident that help already had arrived from the united states in this area and that more was on the way australia most strategists felt was considered the real point for any allied offensive in the far east it also was clear that insofar aa a lt was within the australian gover ments power its manhood be given the guns only a few felt that the jap attacks on port darwin were of a character designed to keep the aussien from sending any considerable aid to java most believed with newsman W W chaplin that the battle tor for australia would begin even before the fau fall if fall there should be of the maginot line of the east indies the strong and exceedingly populous island of java an actual invasion attempt was believed a not distant certainty either at port darwin or at cape york the spearhead of the eastern coastal plain of the continent down under the only really populated section on this plain lies sydney and the city of melbourne and all towns of any consequence and toward this objective the main force of japanese blitz was be lieveld heading warrior in bataan K 0 o commandant of the naval brict rear bear adm francis VV ro rockwell Is the senior naval officer fight ins ing with general macarthur on bataan peninsula admiral Rock wells men are using artillery and other equipment salvaged from the he cavite naval base before abandonment RESCUED on the high seas bravery on the high seas had bad been recounted by survivors from the torpedoed tanker pan massachusetts the tanker was in flames yet the 20 who jumped overboard and swam about saw a following ship instead of fleeing from the torpedo danger keep on its course and rescue them all A few days later 52 crewmen an and d gun crew members of the 1 5 ton american freighter del delp P 2 torpedoed in the caribbean w saved by U S planes and ships sh released by western newspaper union |