Show weekly news analysis Aam lysis russians cheered by U S pact pledging support of second front EDITORS NOTE NOT F when opinions ioas are expressed in ia these columns they are hose aos of 0 tie the news analyst and not necessarily cessa rily of tin this s newspaper ALEUTIANS foggy details when the jap radio announced that nipponese troops had bad made a landing on the aleutian islands there was no immediate denial by the U S government for the navy had to wait for the fog to clear in that area to check these clai claims ms when the weather turned better it was found that enemy landings had been made on the island of attu aatu at the extreme tip of the island group which stretches oft off alaska in the pacific ocean also jap ships had put into kiska harbor on an island islan d nearer the north american mainland navy operations were called into play immediately to squelch any threat of a jap drive tor for alaska it was believed that the landings took place at the time of the first raid on dutch harbor and about the same time as the beginning of the midway island battle rear admiral john H towers U S navy chief of the bureau of aeronautics classed the jap thrust as of no real importance and figured that it could even become a liability to the enemy RUSSIA diplomacy and death 77 1 i A k 3 MOLOTOV in full accord with F D R in russia even as the citizens army took up arms to defend to the death their city of sevastopol word came from washington moscow and london that gave them cause for cheer although their immediate fate was darkened it was the word that the soviet union and the united states had reached a full understanding with regard to the urgent tasks of opening a second european front in 1942 after a conference between russian foreign commissar molotov and president roosevelt in in washington methods of speeding U S war aid to russia were developed and the fundamental problems ot of postwar post war operation cooperation co to safeguard peace and security were decided upon the state department of the united states had further good news tor for the russian people it was that a lease lend agreement similar to that signed betheen the U S and britain as well as china had been entered into with the soviet the good news from london was that russia and britain had signed a 20 year mutual assistance pact but in the sevastopol area and around kharlov the nazis continued their pounding at russian lines civilian morale was good said moscow reports but in sevastopol every man woman and child capable of bearing arms had found it necessary to be mustered into service as the germans dealt them a continuous bombardment BOTTOMS UP for jap navy eight japanese aircraft carriers at least half of that count rys known carrier power were sunk or so badly damaged in the midway and coral sea battles that they will be unfit for early action informed naval sources have estimated aircraft losses were considerable reports indicate inasmuch as the decks of most carriers were filled with warplanes war planes when they were damaged or sunk although official reports on personnel losses were lacking unofficial estimates are that approximately japanese were killed in the coral sea and twice that many in the midway battle based on issued by the U S army and navy and allied headquarters capital ship losses of japan and the united states from december 7 up to and including the midway battle are as follows JAPAN I 1 battleship I 1 seaplane tender i 4 aircraft carriers 16 cruisers UNITED STATES 1 battleship 1 seaplane tender I 1 aircraft carrier 1 cruiser the official concern only those ships whose loss is unquestioned unofficial reports include ships whose loss though unverified is fairly certain it has been estimated that at least 67 ships including above have been knocked out of japanese fleets or badly crippled twenty jap warships were reported sunk or damaged on march 18 in the south pacific the taulagi raid on may 4 accounted for an even dozen fifteen more were reported sunk or damaged in the coral sea battle and the midway fight added another score to the list TREASURE HUNT this time rubber although it was only one cent a pound that fact stop amer americans from stripping their homes garages and factories of every available pound of idle and to them useless rubber the rubber salvage program got underway upon president roose belts order collected by the nations gasoline filling stations the scrap rubber is being transported to central collection points by petroleum industry trucks and sold to the rubber recovery corporation undersecretary of war patterson reported that army and navy crude rubber requirements during the 21 months after april 1 1942 will be tons compared with the present U S reserve of tons he said he hoped the difference would be made by the synthetic program rubber coordinator newhall stated that the synthetic program will produce tons in the rest of 1942 and tons during 1943 WAR information gets an overhauling at long last there came word from washington that all the information functions of the government agencies were being consolidated by the creation of an office of war information to be headed by elmer davis well known writer and radio commentator all the duties and activities of the office of facts and figures t the office of government reports the division of information for the office of emergency management and the foreign Inform information atlon service of the coordinator co of information will be under the authority of the new office according to a white house announcement no further director davis will have full authority to eliminate all overlapping and duplication and to discontinue in any department any informational activity which is not necessary or useful to the tort fort under policies laid down by the president this office will issue directives to all departments and agencies of the government with respect to their informational services sei vices 11 this means that while the various agencies and departments will still continue to operate their activities Z x i q f v BYRON PRICE to collaborate with davis must now conform to such direction as the office of war information may give them the presidential order provided tor for close collaboration between byron price director of censorship and davis to facilitate the prompt and full dissemination of all available information which will not give aid to the enemy SYNTHETIC RUBBER and cracking cra c king U S chemists have perfected a new petroleum cracking process for making high grade aviation gasoline that should also help break the bottleneck in synthetic rubber production according to the war production board the same refining plant turning out aviation gas would be able also to turn out butadiene a vital ingredient in making synthetic rubber according to this announcement although both these products come from the same petroleum base up to now they have been produced in separate operations plants which can handle the production of tons of synthetic rubber from butadiene will be in use before january 1 1943 but until this new process was discovered there were grave doubts as to whether or not a sufficient supply of butadiene to keep them going could be supplied it is believed beli belie evea veI that the new process will permit just that HOUSING conversion loans with a term as long as seven years a new type of war conversion loan up to is available for converting an existing structure re into additional living accod accommodations m 0 da for war workers in war production areas this new type loan was announced by federal housing commissioner ferguson at the same time it was revealed that during the first five months of 1942 new dwellings were started in war housing areas new home programs generally are from 35 to 45 per cent lower than a year ago CHINESE FRONT hancheng Nan cheng falls on the chinese front the japanese drive in province had advanced miles and forced the defenders to evacuate the town of nan cheng bringing the japanese within miles of closing the gap between their eastern and western forces dispatches stated that the chinese had recaptured the town of tsung jen approximately halt hall way between hanchang Nan chang jap base and hancheng Nan cheng A comei news agency report claimed that japanese troops advancing rapidly have occupied Kwang feng 18 miles southwest of bushan japanese forces northeast of wu ning were reported to be under severe attack and akyi west of the jap base of hanchang Nan chang was under production cheerful note donald nelson chairman of the war production board added a note of cheer to the current scene when he stated that U S war production is higher than we had any reason to suppose it could be when war plants were being planned he said industry can more than double present production by 1944 at war production in may 1942 was 4 times that of may 1941 the war effort is developing an industrial plant that will be able to produce more than enough goods tor for everyone when the war is over he said may war expenditures of were four times greater than expenditures in may a year ago in a washington radio address nelson warned against the threat oi of inflation to dealers and consumer alle alike I 1 would like to say abide by the price ceilings and abid rationing controls established by the office of price administration it smart to go to the bootlegger in war time were in a war and violating these controls is close to treason MANPOWER and war egort effort industry and the armed f forces arces must forget the quest for the ideal man for every job according to t 0 selective service director hershey who said the time was not far off when all men and women will be needed and selective service win will touch the fringe of men deferred because of dependency congress had acted to raise the base pay of army men to 50 per month and the plan for authorizing assistance to dependents of members of the armed forces cleared some method of procurement of physicians for the army and navy would have to be worked out said chairman mcnutt tf if more doctors did not soon volunteer for service I 1 during the first six months of war only physicians had volunteered ered compared with volunteers during the same period in the last war an army of will take one third of all physicians in the country twenty five thousand doctors are needed before the end of the year and more during 1943 communication the house ways and means committee has approved an increase of at least 50 per cent in the tax on telephone and telegraph charges of all kinds resignation in order that a younger man might take his place sir harry luke british governor of the fiji islands and high commissioner of the western pacific since 1938 has resigned OIL within six months the east coast should be getting an increased supply of oll oil according to the as the result of that agen cys authorization of immediate construction of a 24 inch steel pipeline from texas to salem in HEROES visiting washington on a tour of the nation in behalf of war bond sales 15 american and british war heroes paid their respects to LIBYA tanks at bobruk bir Hac haaheim heirn in libya had fallen and the british thought this might slow somewhat the desert thrust of the nazi forces aimed at tob but on came the tank army agri oty gen erwin rommel forgon forgona forgot a I 1 was the fact that last year the british had held that city throughout the libyan campaign and had made history during its siege there were mine fields and strong barbed wire defenses stretching almost 15 miles around the city and at its back door was the mediterranean sea but it was at the cefi center of the land front that rommel threw his heaviest tanks these were met by british soldiers at the controls of american made general grant tanks most successful weapons yet found to harass the mechanized units of the enemy there was some speculation at first as to whether or not rommel might try a flank thrust to reach the sea to the east or west of the c but from the start of the battle r fate ate of bobruk hinged on a front drive itself this fact stood out experts said because rommel was intent on taking the city itself and thus avoid the risk of leaving it as a british sore spot as it proved to be last year VENGEANCE promised czechs czecho in a broadcast from london czechoslovakian president eduard IP benes promised that following the war military law including the deach death penalty will be imposed on all nazis responsible for the bestial destruction in the czech nation benes declared flatly that on the first dakof day of victory the policy of personal responsibility would be carried out mercilessly against all exponents of the nazi party and the reich government on czech territory beginning with the former protector baron von neurath all leaders of the gestapo and SS for eduard benes lations mat ions and all germans in the political and military administration of bohemia and moravia in washington jan masaryk czechoslovakian vice premier and foreign minister urged destruction of several german villages by air bombardment in retaliation for the wiping out of the czech town of lidice ladice lidice ladice was eradicated as a reprisal measure for the killing of reinhard heydrich reich protector tor for bohemia and moravia to my mind said masaryk it should be ten teeth for one and ten eyes for one highlights in the weeks news president roosevelt and congress at the white house president and mrs roosevelt and british ambassador lord halifax were on hand to greet them on capitol hill they were greeted in the house chamber and by senate members engagement danielle darrieux Franc frances ds topmost motion picture star who made several pictures in hollywood now is engaged to porfiro santo domingo diplomat DEATH political quarters in berlin announced that free french soldiers captured at the bir haaheim Hac heirn outpost in libya are irregulars and as such are liable to execution under the german 9 td t d italian armistice terms with araa which forbids subjects to serve served 3 anti axis armies I 1 released by western newspaper union |