Show weekly news analysis russ situation more serious as nazis move new troops to front by edward C wayne J EDITORS NOTE wien when opinions ominio as jr es expressed pressed in in these aes columns they ire are those of tie the news new analyst and not act deco necessarily scarily of this newspaper RUSSIA situation serious spring officially had arrived in the united states with the opening of the wartime baseball season but it was hardly far advanced on the russian front though warm enough in the southern portion but the nazis spring drive was on and the russians keeping themselves highly on the alert had never seemed so active and were attempting to continue to beat the germans to the punch and moscow reported constant attacks on german positions berlin was admitting breakthroughs here and there with huge tank attacks and the reds were proudly declaring that much american equipment had arrived best report tending to show the russian situation was serious had emanated from neutral sources and said that hitler had begun to move additional troops from occupied france probably from other occupied countries onto the beleaguered beleaguer ed russian front if true and it might well be this might be tied in with general marshalls marchalls Mar talks in london hinting that the time was ripe for invasion perhaps on the other hand russians were claiming continued vic victories in hopes of convincing fence sitting england that thai she ought to cross the channel at all events thi e were signs that the german spring offensive was fairly started in russia and also that it was getting nowhere fast BRITISH days still dark from the unsuccessful mission of sir stafford cripps england was forced to the admission that her days continued dark indeed britain had the galling reminder that she was keeping large fleets of naval vessels in the indian ocean that her troops were bravely fighting in burma that she was buffe suffering r heavy losses on several fro fronts ts and that india was blandly talking over postwar post war conditions while the taps laps were at her very gates crates in fact after the loss of the hermes an aircraft carrier and two cruisers in the waters off ceylon word came that the british were planning to send a punitive fleet for a final showdown with the jap navy in the far east but britain was having a tough ume in libya in the mediterranean generally and the threat to australia was a serious one indeed the failure of the cripps mission had been handled by bernard shaw government antigovernment anti speaker as to have been expected but the rank and file of england feel that kg r Y ax V ilk 0 o juan antonio rios is shown taking the oath af 6 office as president of 0 chile hile at inauguration ceremonies in santiago the event was attended by b 40 9 foreign ambassadors and various dignitaries of the chilean congress at t left is dr jeronimo mendez former vice president at right is dr florencio Floren clo duran president of the chilean senate way about it nor did sir stafford himself who left india a grim and sadly disappointed man his last word to the hindus had been that britain naturally would have to withdraw her proposals but that she would not withdraw from attempting to defend india but would do her duty whether the indians helped or hindered many believed the breakdown of the conferences had laid the groundwork for possible revolution or civil war within india either of which would surely seal her fate if the japs as they certainly would should move in with a strong invasion force As to friendliness with the japs few believed the indians felt that way the Jao Jau anese smacked too much of occidental civilization and thinking to suit the indians but as to fighting an outsider the indians had neither the means with with which to fight nor the inclination much more likely was it that the moslems and the indians would tangle many observers felt it was possible that the united states which already had sent a considerable air force to india might aid the british enough to save the country from invasion but this was dependent on time which was working still for the growing power of the allies but which the japanese might be able to curtail RAF A ton a minute inspiration T finally the british had hit a tempo of bombing germany which was catching the imagination of the man in the street in one raid they had dropped a too ton a minute in high explosives sending thousands of tons of bombs across the channel in a single squadron this was something that the british had done which served more to highlights ira in the weeks nets washington the war productions boards latest curtailment had affected the production of trucks and the order was that production of all light medium and heavy vehicles for civilian use must be ended by may 31 london beatrice miller lillie lady peel in private life received a telegram of the probable death of her son 21 year old sir robert peel in action on a ship on which he was second class seaman as she was about to sing before a rural english audience she finished her concert new york A federal judge declared that general motors high officials had mismanaged bonus funds had made an unauthorized distribution of stock in the company and ordered tour four including alfred P sloan junius S morgan george whitney and donaldson brown to reimburse the company by more than four millions of dollars washington the said daily government expenditures for war purposes during march averaged sydney australia first class private george jay gould 23 oldest son of the late jay gould and great grandson of the railroad magnate is serving in the U S army here he admitted at least a temporary shortage of funds washington the army had commandeered mande ered 85 more air liners for use in transporting troops and supplies taking over one fourth of all the air liners now plying the commercial lines inspire this country than anything else some of the squadrons had totaled as high as planes a figure which the british compared with the estimated which germany had sent over during the height of the air war on one day over british objectives the londoner was getting a good deal of satisfaction over these bombings at last he felt britain was on top in one department of the war the air raid business at last the germans were feeling the heavy hand of air bombs as the british had there were some desultory raids by germans Gern igns over england but for the moment the air supremacy over western europe had been definitely with the british it was so much so in fact that a real land offensive on the continent was definitely talked of AMERICANS up and doing speaker sam rayburn of the house had reviewed the situation as far as the present attitude of americans toward the war outlook was concerned when he revealed pertinent ne nt facts about the armed forces and their progress he pointed out that america now had on foreign battlefields six times the number of men we had in europe after eight months of the last war he declared that planes were being turned out at the rate of a month that garand rifles were far ahead of production schedules with already enough on hand tor for every soldier in uniform to have one that tanks were ahead of schedule with one factory turning them out at the rate of a trainload a day that the building of merchant ships would catch up with schedule by midsummer and other items of like importance rayburn felt that the temper of the people was such that no lessening rather an increase of this good work would be demanded he said that on one recent day men had been on strike in all war industry and added that was men too many some americans were puzzled by the demands in view of our production that all old style army rifles the Spring fields and the infields En fields of the last war all that were fit to fire at least be turned back to the war department for shipment to other members of the united nations this was to include a highly controversial trover sial point the recalling from the he 48 state guard organizations all their rifles they were to get shotguns as were the military police and the war department announcement added that is all the arms they need but guard officers were loud in their claim that the removal of the rifles was going to ruin the morale of the guards and asked where it was going to get the shotguns there was little answer to this latter plea but the thought of thousands of serviceable rifles going out ot of the country brought protests to the department from various political leaders including senator russell of georgia war material was moving through the factories at a terrific rate but daily the people were feeling the pinch more and more OUR NAVY busy building despite the published details of the losses of the java sea and at pearl harbor also the heavy losses of merchantmen merchantman merchant men in the atlantic also the occasional ship reported missing and presumed lost irl in earlier actions many believed that the navy was doing a big job particularly in the pacific and doing it well one recent report told of activities of submarines in points as far removed from each other as near bau ball right off java and in japanese waters probably close to the coast of japan four more jap ships had been sunk bringing the total since december cem er 7 to ships sunk or damaged this was a toll far enough in advance of our own to make any layman realize that a battle with such unequal results could have only one ending those who chafed chafee against a navy which could not wipe the japs oft off the seas in a matter of weeks and i which in the only two large engagements lost heavily were forced to admit that in actual ship and tonnage losses the japs were doing very badly and there also was the realization that once fleet supremacy was established in the pacific the japanese ane se supply lines and therefore their conquest must fall immediately because of its own weight also those who believed in the job the navy was doing pointed with pride to the thousands of troops and tons of supplies transported to australia with a single loss of the other thousands of troops and huge supplies sent to england without loss japanese transports have been sunk but our troops were getting to their destinations safely that was a superiority not to be denied many felt that this move had won an important victory in the war and that japan afraid of our link with australia had definitely turned aside from a real effort of invasion of that continent and would live on the hope that the allies could not develop a real winning offensive from that territory BATAAN aftermath the final loss of the battle of bataan even though heroic garrison disdained disdain ed surrender and continued to lob shells over the japanese positions as long as they could man their guns left the united states a little more chastened chasteney chast ened a little more grim still vitally determined to win the war one result of the japanese victory at long last over the legions of filipinos and american soldiers who had fought so bravely and determinedly edly side by side tor for more than three months was the lifting 0 of f the veil of secrecy about what ha had d been going on it was revealed that the forces on bataan had been less thin than men that they had no air force that strong efforts had been made to succor them to open to them a supply line that of the ships which chic h had been sent there two had been sunk for every one that arrived it also was learned that the only regiment of U S infantry on the island had been the thirty first that there had been only two battalions of tanks and the rest of the gloomy picture of insufficient forces was all told another dividend had been the filing from the safer walls of cor regidor of pictures ot of feature arti cles telling of the closing phases 0 of f the battle material which had been heaped up and refused to pass the censor but now could be told because it no longer would be ot of aid and comfort or information fi pe enemy ai americans saw pictures of nearly naked jap prisoners saw the types of faces and bodies of the nations prime enemy saw them herded to the rear by american boys in uniform saw the filipino soldiers lying wounded side by side with our own doughboys dough boys realized perhaps tor for the first time what the fighting on bataan had really been like the reaction and aftermath throughout the nation had been two told fold a renewed determination that the war ar should be won and a pow erful demand that the future news bring us victories and offensives rather than further defeats and withdrawals in the meantime the japs con linued to move into other islands had attacked cebu with a fo torce men undoubtedly r awk from the rear of luzon once front had fallen the attackers met resistance but it was generally conceded that the battle for the philippines was lost for the time being just as its loss had been conceded by most leading observers from the beginning of the war MARSHALL invasion hinted general marshall our chief of staff and harry hopkins president Roosevel ts personal representative with some others had made the long hop from the united states to london in a bomber and this led many to believe that an american british offensive on the continent was not far distant the longer it was delayed the more likely many believed tor for it gen marshall harry hopkins to be in a northern clime the germans evidently thought it was coming through occupied france which would have many advantages geographically for the british american forces others thought a juncture with russia in the tar far north and a sweep down through norway might be the tha plan but there had been more than a hint of a spring invasion on a large scale and general marshall deny it LABOR faces congress the tenor of the congress reg 99 jc less of presidential and general administrative opposition to make an issue of labors 40 hour week had reached a crisis in senate and house moves were on foot to bring this question to a vote even in face of white house disapproval and a possible veto representative smith of virginia offered a comprehensive plan for an eight point labor policy tor for the duration of the war representative vinson of georgia had announced the framing of a labor and profits bill senator reed of kansas saying that the people were getting niad mad over labors 40 hour week and were demanding action hotly denied that the mail support for the longer work week was the result of a propaganda pro prop pagan agada campaign and urged that tha se OR Tr committee hinves investigates I 1 mors that it was released by western newspaper union |