Show weekly news analysis brazils declaration dfwar of war aids western hemisphere solidarity EDITORS NOTE when opinions sn ar e expressed in these columns they are those of western newspaper union sews new a analysts and not necessarily of tois this newspaper LARGEST CONVOY arrives in england shape of things to come in europe was clearly etch edby the announcement that the largest U S troop convoy ever attempted in this war had landed safely in great britain military experts quickly viewed this move as a speedup speed up gesture in united nations second front plans included in the convoy were t many thousands of soldiers an and d airmen plus vast quantities of war materials troops were swiftly dis embarked and scattered to the interior of england there to join other units already in training for the attack on german held europe special units and task forces in the convoy added weight to the theory that U S troops will play an increasing role in future commando raids or other action on the continent because a number of pilots were included in the troops experts concluded there would be a step up in the U S aerial offensive reports from A british port indicated that the convoys crossing had been made without incident and all ships in it arrived safely this safe passage duplicates the feat of troop convoys which have gone over before each time without loss perfect weather with warmth and sunlight favored the voyage MORE ACTION in the pacific As U S forces were continuing their mopping up activities in the solomon islands word from another sector of the pacific indicated that the marines had done it again this time it was the gilbert islands that felt the power of a marine detachment as it smashed a jap seaplane base radio installations and stores on the island of makin island in the gilbert group this action came in the form of a hit and run attack with no attempt to effect a permanent foothold caught entirely by surprise the japs were so confused that bombers from other bases actually destroyed their jap planes on the ground in reporting the raid the from the headquarters of adm chester W nimitz indicated that it had been entirely successful in accomplishing its objective maj james roosevelt son of the president was second in command of the attacking party while col evans F carlson headed the detachment tach ment tactics used were those developed by the marines as early as ten years ago and resemble those employed by the british commandos under cover of fire by units of the pacific fleet they stormed the strategic isle wrought their destruction and retired meanwhile all was not quiet in the solomons scene of the earlier and more extensive action by the U S forces here the marines were busy cleaning out the japs that retreated to the hills after initial successes were scored by the american attackers while the marines are believed to be firmly established in tu lagi florida and guadalcanal Guadal canal three of the more important islands of the group some of the japs had escaped and these were causing some trouble trouble for the marines came from another source but an official from pearl harbor revealed that it had been treated with typical marine thoroughness this was a night attack by fast boats of japs who stormed the marine held positions from the sea after a night and day of fighting japs were dead and the other 30 were captured marine losses were 28 killed and 72 injured bijur ed M Z V 49 M e i A g r ile 0 j U S fliers in london celebrate after the first raid on en hillers Hit lers european arsenals target of the first raid was rouen france which was left in sames flames center holding the wire from the first bomb dropped by a flying fortress is capt william Musse musselwhite Iwhite of jackson miss WAR production an important date straight from the source that thai should know the war production board the nation learned how it was doing in the battle of the assembly lines donald nelson chief told the U S frankly where it stood it amounted to this war production is ahead in some categories behind schedule in others biggest problems are shortages of materials and balancing of output among various agencies and service branches these he said are getting vigorous attention no longer is war production a vague and generalized objective factories are no longer just turning out planes tanks ships and guns rather such production is now of specific numbers of specific items aimed to fit into the broad general plan of strategy as devised by the chiefs of staff such production also now has a date objective nelson said that U S war production is being planned to provide the maximum impact on the enemy by july 1 1943 this does not mean that our offensive will necessarily reach its peak by that date but this is the definite strategic goal of production and all production will be gauged by the one question how much will it contribute to the war effort by july 1 1943 thus the sights are leveled and it will be easier for americas production experts to determine what materials should be diverted to particular war productions to allow for this all important maximum impact on july 1 1943 BRAZIL AT WAR first in south america angered by months of axis aggression brazil became the first south american nation to declare war upon germany and italy thus swelling the ranks of the united nations to 29 brazils declaration of a state of war climaxed a week filled with mass demonstrations against the axis sinking of five brazilian ships with the loss of approximately lives the state of war did not include japan although brazil broke diplomatic relations with all three axis nations last january the declaration of war cleared the way for immediate measures to secure the protection of what has been termed the most vulnerable land area on the atlantic side of the western hemisphere the natal bulge only 1600 miles from daka c in africa military men long have pointed to this sector as the place where axis forces would strike first if they were able to consolidate their african and european positions brig gen amaro soares scares bittencourt brazilian military to the united states said that brazil is defending the continent and that we must congregate and reunite all our military elements for the defense of the northeast the point on the bulge of brazil for invasion by the axis ELECTRIC POWER less lor for civilians in a move to readjust its wartime power expansion program the war production board has halted or suspended work on 85 public and private power projects in addition the assigned such low priority ratings to 28 federal projects that completion probably will be postponed until after the war unless new demands arise the said that civilian inconvenience and sacrifice must be expected the move is expected to lead to widespread curtailment of civilian consumption of electricity and power service after this year materials saved by halting construction will be used to complete more vital utility construction jobs under the readjusted program gave the green light only to enough power projects to assure electricity for war and indirect war production as now planned however a small margin has been included to care for possible additions to the present munitions program COMMANDO RAID official success 9 As allied service chiefs studied the results of the commando raid on dieppe official sources declared that the operation fulfilled its objective valuable information on nazi defenses was secured the raid employing british and canadian commandos supported by american rangers was a nine hour battle on the nazi fortified coastal defenses at dieppe midway between calais and le havre initial ger man estimates placed the invader force at but the exact number remained an allied secret the force carried tanks and artillery with them As the result of heavy fighting our casualties were high but n not 0 t unduly so in view of the operation the british said the navy lost a fairly large number of landing craft because naval craft did not leave the french coast until it was known that every possible man had been taken off the raiders were reported to have destroyed ammunition dumps a shore artillery battery a large antiaircraft anti aircraft battery and a radio location station reports from vichy placed british dead at later reports indicated that an unlucky break cost the allied troops heavy losses raiding craft carrying commando troops were intercepted by an enemy patrol boat just before they were about to land the commando craft was severely damaged by nazi f fire ire but e ven even more important a warning was given to the nazi coastal defense batteries which were the raiders objective the interception by the patrol boat was termed an unlucky 1000 to 1 chance reliable sources stated that the raid was a successful operation YOUR DRAFT STATUS may change soon married men and men now deferred because they work in essential industry will be called in the draft in the not distant future that was the statement of brig gen lewis B hershey national director of selective service before a well packed forum at a chicago university ver sity in respect to men deferred because of war work gen hershey said you just cant go on deferring a man for work reasons alone it if you can find an older man a woman or a physically handicapped person to take that mans place its going to be necessary to reclassify those aas and abs war work deferments and necessary means IM BRIG GEN LEWIS B HERSHEY work reasons alone arent enough just that necessary just because they are in war industry is no reason for permanent deferment the industrialists will simply have to train substitutes he was also asked about the prospects for aas deferred because of dependencies the first in order are the so called grandmother cases the men with second class dependents grandparents mothers brothers step brothers and so on I 1 think under the light right now As sure as september 1 comes around well obviously those fellows are next and the men with wives only are just as obviously next after that then would come the men with wives and children and the question there seems to be what is the degree of dependency COFFEE OVERALLS one down the other up the possibilities of coffee rationing appeared more imminent with the governments order fo restrict deliveries to dealers to 65 per cent of last years deliveries as compared with the present monthly quota 0 of f 75 per cent the decrease in coffee deliveries was but one of several actions which will bring the war ever closer to mr and mrs john public increased employment has resulted in steps by the war production board to make cotton looms turn out more rugged fabrics needed tor for serviceable work clothes the theatergoing theater going public may have reduced fare in the not so distant future operators of movie and stage theaters were warned by that shortages of materials would make it increasingly difficult to keep all show houses open RUSSIA B loody bloody battle good news resulting from allied offensives in the pacific was offset by continued reversals on the russian front As the nazi pincer mo move ment drove relentlessly toe to stalingrad Stal ingrad the official sov soviet ie t isec In unique admitted new crossings of the don river in the area northeast of kotel the said our troops fought intensive battles with large tank and infantry forces on various sectors the germans at the cost of tremendous losses managed to advance fresh nazi reinforcements brought out of the reserve pool or shifted from other sectors were thrown into the bloody battle tor for stalingrad Stal ingrad the reckless disregard of losses gave evidence of nazi desperation pe ration for a knockout blow to the red army stalingrad Stal ingrad is a rich prize its prime importance is in its location on the volga river along which the oil of baku and allied sup fi shipped through the persian reach central russia in addition the cites huge plants produce tanks and war supplies and its oil refineries fin eries add to its strategic value ALLOTMENT speed up dependents of enlisted men in the U S armed forces will be getting their allotments earlier than november I 1 under the terms of a bill passed by congress and now signed by the president I 1 after the president had affixed his signature the navy said it would issue such allotment checks very soon and the army announced that their payments would start early in september originally these payments would have started november 1 although applications filed early would be retroactive tro active to june 1 basic payment to dependents is 50 per month servicemen contributing 22 and the army or navy 28 it could not be determined how many applications for such payments had been made to the army or navy it was estimated however that about hall half the men in the service would have dependents receiving the allotments miscellany COMMANDER an ace of world war I 1 brig gen clayton L bissell was appointed commander of U S army air forces in china burma and india IMPROVED PROVED returning from an official tour of alaska sen mon C of washington announced himself much improved by the improved military situation in the aleutians Aleut ians SUNK american submarines hammering at japans extended P pacific and communication lines sank f k and damaged two more enemy ships two cargo ships and a large transport were sunk in the western pacific A large merchant ship was sunk off the Aleut aleutians ians TEAM henry kaiser western shipbuilding wizard and howard hughes noted round the world flier have announced they are joining in a program to build a fleet of flying freighters to carry important war supplies to the fighting fronts in all parts of the world RECORD A swarm of american curtiss P 40 fighters set a record at darwin australia by downing 13 jap bombers and zero fighters as the enemy launched its first attack since july 30 on that important port twenty seven bombers and their escort of 20 zero fighters madej made jyA ti aa attack score jap losses 13 out 11 47 U S losses none released by western newspaper union |