Show 4 weekly beekly news analysis Asia lysis v lands in north ireland as U S and british pool supplies by edward C wayne EDITORS NOTE when opinions us are expressed is in these columns they art are those of the news analyst and not cot necessarily of this newspaper OVER THERE new in erin when uncle sam landed an infantry force of several thousand men at an undisclosed port in northern ireland it marked the first arrival of american troops in a european port since world war no 1 commanded by maj gen russell P hartle the yank army of brawny clean limbed farm lads from the middle west proceeded to camps prepared months before few doubted that this detachment was but the advance guard of many more to come it was believed too that the base they occupied might be the springboard from which an invasion of hillers Hit lers europe would be made this view was voiced in the address of welcome by sir archibald sinclair british air secretary who said this is a coming portent for mr hitler nor will its significance be lost on general tojo from here assuredly I 1 you will sally forth with us to carry the war to the territory and free oppressed peoples of europe you are the vanguard of american arms SUPPLY COMMAND V U S british pool the creation of a supreme allied supply command that will speed and ordinate coordinate co the production and flow of vital munitions and supplies to the fighting fronts was seen in the announcement by president roosevelt and prime minister winston churchill that the united states and great britain will pool all munitions nit ions shipping and war materials to further ordination coordination co of the united nations war effort three joint boards have been set up to merge the combined war resources of the two nations and make them partners in vital fields of supply in addition to joint military and naval commands these new agencies will include a combined war materials board munitions assignment board and combined shipping adjustment board board members it was announced noun ced will confer with representatives ot of the soviet union china and such others of the 26 united nations as necessary to attain common purposes SHIPS japan losing them the british dutch and american bombers and ships of war were not formally coming to grips with large bodies of japanese naval ships but they were whittling away at them and japans losses were assuming important proportions A count of japanese ships reported sent to the bottom in the first seven weeks of the war totaled batavia the dutch army airmen in an attack on a convoy in strait claimed that they struck a large transport carrying troops which turned completely over and rolled about keel upward 0 0 berlin hillers Hit lers own newspaper printed an article written by a nazi officer listing 12 common faults of americans that they had bad too many automobiles eat griddle cakes and grapefruit and keep grinning all the time among other things new york A berlin workers slogan smuggled out of the reich was as broadcast were winning ourselves to death N g S X V Z 41 1 MU justice owen J roberts is shown left talking to newsmen after laying before president roosevelt the report on the pearl harbor attack made public in its entirety by the president the report fixed responsibility on adm husband E kimmel and gen walter C short for dereliction of duty justice roberts was chairman of the commission of six that visited hawaii not counting those damaged and probably sunk this it was pointed out has been an average of better than two a day despite the fact that when the war started japan had the jump on the other nations by virtue of the surprise and that opening successes had weakened the allied hitting power As this increased the ship sink ings had grown and there were in indications that throughout the first year of the war they might continue to grow A continuation of this rate observers said would cost japan more than vessels of all types and that no navy in the world except the united states could stand replacing such losses latest exploit was an attack by air and sea forces of the united nations against jap war ships and troop convoys in the straits of reported as the greatest demonstration of combined allied might since the wars beginning th force was revealed to have sunk or damaged at least 28 26 japanese ships in a running battle these straits are of the utmost tactical importance and are believed to be a passageway for a chief japanese attempt upon australia itself all ali the united states destroyers engaged in the attack came out of the attack undamaged and suffered only four casualties one man seriously wounded and three slightly the successful attack came at an opportune moment with japanese thrusts against australia causing prime minister curtin of that commonwealth mon wealth to issue appeals to both britain and the united states for aid U S destroyers and planes as well as dutch bombers took part pait in the attack highlights in the weeks news new york the CIO and were going ahead with their peace plans leaving john L lewis very much on the outside despite the fact that he who had boasted that be he upset former union plans had suggested this latest effort at unity washington even eve n fish have been put on war rations fish in pools of the great smoky mountain national park now get pig livers instead of sheep livers london ineptness of italian conduct in war was reflected in the report that warships of britain had intercepted and captured the ton vessel duchesse Du chessa dacosta DA osta GUILTY verdict on hawaii the stunning news that an admiral and a lieutenant general the naval and military commanders responsible for the defense of hawaii had showed such a lack of competence that they had bad failed even to talk over with each other deliberate war warnings handed them by their superior officers on november 24 and 27 in ample time to have circumvented cum vented the japanese surprise attack fell sickeningly on american ears the immediate removal of both adm husband E kimmel and gen walter C short from their commands after the pearl harbor debacle was fully justified by the investigating commission headed by justice roberts of the supreme court the report had been atte utterly aly frank comprehensive and left little unsaid president roosevelt to whom it was handed ordered that it be given to the public without alteration or censorship the words that condemned the commanders were dereliction of duty but the astounding revelations were twofold that the commanders had shown a lack of interest in performing their duty that they had failed to talk over with each other the measures that each was taking for the defense in the face of a war threat the army man had assumed that the navy man was sending out offshore patrols to find where the enemy might be the navy man as as burned that the army air force was on the alert neither actually was demands tor for court martial to mete out punishment to those responsible for the pearl harbor disaster were heard from members of congress demands were likewise made for the expulsion of any incompetents compe tents holding responsible positions in the war effort many senators and representatives asserted that the commissions conclusions clu pointed to a pressing need for a super command with control over the operations of both armed services LUZON critical stage that the battle of luzon had reached critical final stages was apparent general macarthur reported that not only were his troops being subjected to an all out japanese land attack by forces of at least ten to one superior strength but that japanese warships in bay were able to fire their guns into his positions constant japanese reinforcements were being landed in bay on macarthurs Mac Arthurs left flank where the heaviest japanese attacks were being launched and he reported that the numerical odds were rising constantly st commentators while declaring the battle of the philippines was a losing fight from the start placed the highest importance on the long and brave resistance of the amer ican filipino army ECONOMICS sugar rations americas first foodstuff rationing came from the office of leon henderson sugar after controversial statements about supplies and after considerable buying up of sugar by panicky housewives a ration was set at about one pound per person per week as against a normal consumption of about a pound and a half the shortage said henderson would be ab about out a third he said measures would be taken to recover sugar from boarders hoar ders at the same time the tire situation was becoming more acute with many tire dealers having only a four month supply on hand and absolutely sol no more for civilian use in sight new car production was about to stop and auto workers were to be idle until their factories made the changeover labor peace was practically assured by a CIO agreement and the war production board reported no work stoppages in war essential industry and none in sight PAN AMERICA Half Loaf won what had first looked like a half loaf victory for american diplomacy at the pan american conference at rio de janeiro was gradually assuming the proportions of a larger loaf most of the south american and central american countries had gone to rio intent on a solid front breach with the axis some already had broken relations some had declared a state of war but argentina and chile had remained adamant whether that aid for aussien X 8 ly I 1 australian minister richard G casey arriving at the white house to confer with president roosevelt on plans to aid austra ila in its battle against japan japanese advance troops have already occupied kiy island outposts of the meant simply long coastlines coast lines to worry about or axis leanings or economic hopings made little difference enormous pressure was b arcs elal to bear but they would r 10 whole hog along with the rest finally in true diplomatic management our conferees managed to pull out the plum of a resolution which committed all nations to a breach of relations but allowed any individual to do so at a time he might select uruguay and peru were the first to sever relations followed by paraguay and bolivia the lineup following the breakup of the conference was at war united states canada costa rica cuba dominican republic guatemala haiti honduras nicaragua panama and salvador broken relation colombia mexico peru uruguay venezuela paraguay and balvia only tour four maintained any form of normal ter course namely chile eluz brazil and argentina it was ia regarded as certain that the first three would soon sever relations and that the fourth argentina would eventually take this step AUSTRALIA readies for defense despite the heroic fight on land before singapore and the strenuous efforts being made to gain air supremacy and control of the long malayan coasts most commentators and observers actually believed the island city of apathy would eventually be besieged from the mainland and might well be lost this intensified the belief in australia and in many american quarters that the real battle of the south pacific would center oli hirthe the east coast of australia some trained observers among them W W chaplin who had made a years close study of the east indies and australia including singapore publicly expressed the belief that java and sumatra constituted a maginot line of defense in the east indies and that japan was intent in taking the philippines singapore and borneo on so surrounding and going behind that line that they might attempt to duplicate germa nys similar feat against france mr chaplin said that given a position on the mainland from singapore a defense of that city would be difficult given positions in borneo and new guinea then defense of batavia and Sou would be just as difficult the real objective he envisioned as the loo mile wide coastal plain down the east coast of australia which is all there is to australia he said this explained the understandable stan dable nervousness of the aus sies concerning japanese invasion of new britain and attacks on new guinea the latter only a short hop from cape york on the mainland australia with territory as 14 la 19 as the united states but only tk population of new york city was regarded as an entirely feasible point of invasion by japan and its defense would require considerable forces most of which had left the continent to fight elsewhere SQUADRON wiped out despite the attacks by japanese and Thai Thal landers in the rear of the main malaya battle for singapore upon the british american chinese def defenders end ers of burma the modern roads to mandalay had reported a two day bag of 32 japanese bombers believed to be an entire squadron while military secrecy covered the development of the land ac zan ach thousands of burmese wild wita light watched the american M ana british lighters fighters in mad dog fights overhead at midday mid day lRe released leased by western 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