Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 February 1941 — Page 21

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FRIDAY, FEB. 7, 1841

DESERT, JUNGLES--AND FIGHTING MEN

Armies Roll On in Endless Stream Across Libyan Front;

~ British Reaching Objectives, but Italians Are Becoming a Bad Insurance Risk.

ih By ROBERT J. CASEY Copyright, 1941, by The Indianapclis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.

ON THE LIBYAN FRONT, Feb. 7.—The rolling up of

the Italian Army seems to be taking on the dispassionate

inevitability of a steamroller.

You begin to hear repetitions of the old unofficial theory that the visiting Black Shirts must presently abandon Ethiopia or be carved up by the rapidly increasing numbers of native patriots who have been awaiting a military situa-

tion like this for some time.

. All the armies in this end of the world—and that now

includes forces from the Belgian Congo—seem to be on

the move.

1t is obvious that the British at last are getting somewhere and equally obvious that I1 Duce’s troops, unsupported and unsupplied, are getting to be a bad insurance risk. : Like Tales of H, G. Wells

You don’t hear much about this three-cornered operation except as towns fall—towns of no particular significance except that they are

towns and on the road to somewhere else. Even air observers have a hard job plotting positions of troops in the broken country. beyond the frontiers, south and east. But messengers do get over the hills to- advanced radio posts. officers come back from these fronts with tales of fantastic achievements —the undetailed, half-guessed performance of fighting men out beyond the blues, stir the imagination of listeners like something out of Henry Rider Haggard, who described terrain like this, or H, G. Wells, who énvisioned such warfare in “The War of Worlds.” Viewed broadly, this panorama of conflict each day begins to resemble more and more | something unearthly—an endless, dreary battle for a series of great desolations— desert junglelands of burned-out fires. But the English major who remembers green countrysides with unning water and flowering’ gardens explained something of why this should be. ;

{ | = Had to Protect Cd

* “When you blay a game in a stadium you don’t have to keep the stadium after you win, do you?” he said. “If Mussolini could have got hold of the Canal it would have been a serious matter. We had to fight him where he was, and this was it.” Only a few weeks ago soldiers who pushed into Eritrea and Ethiopia were just the same as other soldiers who lived and baked and got lean and hard in the military dry kilns of the desert. They came out of a region as dead as the craters of the moon where the dust, has been so dense you can’t see your feet, where the thermometer hits 120 at noon and may go below 40 at night; where your skin dries and cracks, and your eyeballs feel like hardboiled eggs. Some of them started pushing through the tangled bush. Some ‘dragged cannon and tanks across porphyra outcrops and through valleys spiked with rock.

Roads Are Camel Tracks

At least one detachment started up a long, heart-breaking slope to the central plateau of Ethiopia where, not so long ago, the climate claimed more Italian lives than did Ethiopian spears. : Roads in most of this region are ca tracks and burro trails

poorly mapped, never meant for mechanized equipment that grinds ceaselessly upward balancing on rock shelves above precipitous drops, smashing through barriers of vegetation, leveling boulders. Up in these altitudes the nights come down even colder than those of the desert—you never get your breath. Yet, somehow, the advance goes on relentlessly. = Soldiers who learned how-to breathe air filled with grit are now learning how to get along without breathing at all. There are hints enough in official commentaries that the Italians and native mercenaries are doing a fair job in withdrawal. They avoided one trap at Agardat and, cut off at Barentl, started a quick orderly dash over the trail that eventually joins the Asmara - Addis =~ Ababa Road. They are tearing up roads, if any, and destroying bridges where they find any. Military spokesmen agree that so far their morale is good and whatever anybody knows about this shadowy campaign itis generally conceded that no- decisive -engagement has yet been fought. Some day the Italians may decide to make a stand... Where that - will be is another of those things nobody can gather from reports of isolated battles as they are shaping ‘at the moment—certainly nothing

one can make out from maps on|

which one collection of mud huts looks to have the same military signifiance as another. But this alsp is obvious: If retreat is difficult then pursuit over this lung-cracking terrain is twice as difficult. And each day, the advance continues. :

SAYS U. S. SECURITY RESTS WITH BRITAIN

Times Special GREENCASTLE, Feb. 7.—As long #s Britain rules the seas, Amerjca is secure from invasion, Col. Alvin M. Owsley, past National Commander of the American Legion, said here yesterday in a chapel address. He warned students against what he termed the false security of mere “wish for peace.” “We will ‘be in this war,” Col Owlsey predicted. “Taking refuge in the fact we are still at peace is only a step toward destruction,” adding England will fall unless America comes to the rescue.

AUXILIARY TO INITIATE

New members will be initiated at 8 p. m. Monday by the Maj. Harold C. Megrew Auxiliary 3, United Spanish War Veterans, Friendly; 512 N. Illinois

Berlin Rations Food in Belgium

By DAVID M. NICHOL

BERLIN, Feb. 7.— Belgian rations for the new period which began yesterday include the following daily quantities per person, according to a decree of the Agricultural Ministry in Brussels:

Choice of: (A) Roasted barley or malt for coffee substitute + (B) Another coffee substitute containing 3.3 : grams of barley or malt Margarine

utter Suet, lard, or fat bacon..........

Sugar Dried peas, beans, and lehtils..... 6. . Fresh or frozen meat (includeing 20 per cent bone) 3 Other cereals ........cscesesecess Arti cial honey or syrup (with at least 30 per cent sugar con-

- WwW. Wr WIN

Pot (a bit over a poun Beer, because of its grain contents, also is rationed ac- . cording to bread tickets. Three grades may be obtained, for which one must surrender 25, 50 or 100 grams of bread cards, depending on one’s choice for a half liter or slightly. more than a pint.

THAI TO MAKE LAND DEMANDS

Wants Territory Seized by French; Position Seen As Strengthened.

By A. T. STEELE

: BANGKOK, Feb. T7.—Thailand’s poace delegation in Toyko is prepared to submit far-reaching territorial demands on French Indo-China. However, Thailand officials admittedly are anxious to close the books on her first modern war and say they are willing to “be reasonable.” ’ The final agreement, if it comes, will be a compromise. At the start of the war Thailand demanded the retrocession of two strips of territory lying on the west bank of the Mekong River opposite the Indo-China towns of Luang-Pra-bang and Pakse, with a total area of about 50,000 square kilometers.

French Grabbed Land

Though it is pointed out that these two pieces of jungleland are only a small fraction of the total area that the French had taken from Thailand in a series of grabs since 1869, Thailand has insisted that it must have at least. the Luangprabang and Pakse sectors in order to bring the whole northern frontier up to the natural boundary of the Mekong. Now, .in view of the costs and sacrifices of their war, the Thailanders want more. Historically, Thailand believes it has a claim on the whole two Indo-China states of Cambodia and Laos with an expanse of 467,000 square kilometers, or more than half Indo-China’s en-

claim is what Thailand hopes to

mediation. Position Improved

Thais consider themselves in a favorable bargaining position. Since the war entered an active phase on Jan. 5, the Thailand armies claim to have occupied a section of IndoChina approximating in area the two pieces of territory they demanded at the beginning of the hostilities. : The Thailanders claim the capture of 172 prisoners, many of whom were deserters.

Group to Honor Lincoln's Mother

The annual pilgrimage of Ine diana officials and citizens to the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln will be held, as usual, on the birthday anniversary of her son, Abra= ham Lincoln, next Wednesday. Headed by Frank N. Wallace, acting commissioner of the Department of nservation, and Col. Richard Yieber, of the Indiana Lincoln Union, the pilgrimage will place a wreath on her grave in Spencer County. . The grave and memorial are located near-the wooded knoll on which Thomas Lincoln built the log cabin to which he brought his family in 1816. There will also be an inspection of a building now under con= struction which will complete the - Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial.

750,000 ON RAILROADS TO TAKE STRIKE VOTE

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (U.°P.). —Bi.-M. Jewell, secretary of 14 major ‘railroad labor unions, said today that strike ballots be senf 750,000 employees of Class 1 rail: roads Feb. 15. : ‘The decision to ask a strike vote on demands for vacations with pay for :railroad workers was reached

by union leaders after George M.

w 5 f

tire area. Somewhere between {ts|§ original claim and its historical

get as a result of the Japanese i

A |three-ton coal truck backing ou: of a coal yard was toppled half over by an Indianapolis Belt Railway engine this morning at

Kentucky Ave, but no one was hurt.

ENGLAND WARM TOWARD WINANT

Glad He's Not Type They'll Have to ‘Butter Up’; Feel * He Can Be Trusted.

By WILLIAM H. STONEMAN Copyight, 1941, by The Indianapolis Times anc The Chicago Daily News, Inc. T.ONIDON, Feb. 7—Without having to cross their fingers, the Brit-

ish today warmly welcomed the appointmant of John G. Winant, twice Republican Governor of New Hampshire, £5 Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Winant is well known to British Foreigr. Office officials, who often encountered him in Geneva. He has a reputation here as a slow but sure, ‘eminently decent and enlightenasd citizen, who can be trusted. Source of satisfaction is also found in the fact that Winant ‘has been associated with international affairs and can be depended upon not to take a parochial view of the situation which he will find here. ‘The British themselves may be tired, by this date, of dealing with highly individualistic and untrained Arherican politicians who, though pleasant and even charming, have not had previous experience enough to be able to talk business. Certainly, they are tired of ‘buttering up!” American ambassadors, and they are glad to know that Winant is not the type of man whom they will have to try to impress. Some people might have preferred a professional American diplomat who krew the diplomatic ropes sufficiently well not to have to learn them! curing such a hectic time as the present. The names of at least two stch persons had been mentioned and both of them seemed qualified to run the embassy withou’ tioping it. upside down, and 0 represent their country in Lonon. | Tiven these people are ready to admit, however, that Winant was far above the standard set by many of President Roosevelt's other diplomatic appointments and, for a “perStwtal appointee” is just about perect.

13 CONVENTIONS SET Indianapolis will entertain more than 10,000 delegates to 18 different conventions here this month, Henry T. Davis, manager of the Indianapolis Convention and Publicity Bureau, announced today. Included will be the Union Printing Crafts Toi State Bowling Tournament, Feb. |

The capture

- pelled from the M:. Mason

ago,

against Alexandria and Suez.

| Today, the remnants of his defeated Army are straggling backward 0. the furthermost corner of {he Tripolitanian province of Libya, hoping: to hide there from the British. Whether they will be pursued to the end of the trail rests with Gen. Wavell, It seems apparent that Marshal Grazieni decided not to risk de-

tics: of holding positions with inadequate equipment resulted such = calamitous losses that he changed his strategy at Derna and presumably tried to continue the change at Benghazi. The Derna garrison retreated in time to save much of its force. Whetlier the timing was as effec-

itive at Benghazi, however, is not yet certain,

Rome reports a furious battle raging south of Benghazi,

which. is the only direction of re-

treat. > It is posgible that the Italians ‘held too long to Benghazi and the British have caught up with the retiring column. It is unreasonable to believe, however, that the larger part of Marshal Graziani’s remaining ‘force has. thus become entangled. On: hundred miles south of Bengrazi, the coastal line of retreat swings northwestward, with Tripoli 500 miles away. That is the natural path of retirement for the Italians. If Ciraziani is following the normal rules of strategy, much of his salvage darmy already is in Tripoli, with himself establishing headquarters there. If Gen. Wavell de-

The driver of the truck, Carl Wright of Mooresville, said he did not see the switch engine come ing until he was on the track, which runs past the exit from the Coal Producers Commission Co, owners of the truck.

By DAVID M. NICHOL

BERLIN, Feb. 7.—The German version of “Mademoisselle from

Armentiers” has been causing some domestic difficulties for the army of occupation in France, it is indicated

lin the.current issue of Das Schwarze

Korps, the weekly publication of the S. S. (Elite Guards), which scolds irresponsible gossipers and offers “relief and comfort to hearts which are unnecessarily tortured.” “No, dear German woman, there is nothing in the story of the ‘warrior from the north who succumbs to the charms of the deceiving siren and, like Tannhahser in the Venusberg Mountain, forgets his own home in the process’ as Comrade Otto Xanauer so aptly writes. “That is not only true because Frenchwomen are no more alluring and do not wish to be more so than the woman at Posemuckle (the local equivalent of Watsis, Iowa), but also because the German soldier in France has, in general, something else to do than to follow in the steps of Cassanova.” : Das Schwarze Korps singles out for special attention the sessions of a German on leave, with his masculine comrades: “A male round table when it has worked through its’ man-murdering war with all the heroic details and strategic plans for the future, wants a little, light affair and expects the soldier on leave from France to regale it with glimpses of the live life of the army of occupation. A man on leave knows what is due to his friends. . “It is true that he has not experienced these anecdotes himself. He has only heard them from others and he can have no idea that the same anecdotes were told in whispers between 1871 and 1914 by his long-bearded forefathers. . But he believes them, just as do his comrades, who go home and tell them to their wives. From there, by way of the milkman and the eggwoman, they reach the wives and fiances of the soldiers, to whom they are told more precisely with names and dates.” “These women know, of course, that their men would not behave improperly, but the worm gnaws at their hearts and the next time their men come home and do not sleep well because the coffee they bring with them is too strong, then it is the charming French women who

fending Bénghazi. His previous tac- Axis

sleep.”

War Moves Today

By J. W. T. MASON United Press War Expert

of Benghazi in the British North

African blitzkrieg is the culmination of an unprecedented achievement in colonial warfare. Within two months, an Italian force of at least 250,000 men has been driven from Egypt and ex-

Libyan province of Cyrenaica, with

the loss of more than 100,000 prisoners, while British casualties are trivial. There is no previous record of the heart of a colonia! empire collapsing under such tragic conditions. Two months Marshal Rodolfo Graziani was awaiting only the arrival of final consigaments of mechanized vehicles to start his long heralded offensive

than crossing the border into French Tunisia, 100 miles to the west. Should that occur, a condition unique in modern warfare would arrise. France has capitulated to Germany and Italy, but the French North African Empire, under Gen. Weygand, clings to a form of independence, refusing to allow its territory to be used as bases by the

If Graziani is compelled to make

in|his final retirement into French

territory, would Gen. ‘Weygand allow the Italians to reform their shat forces? It is hardly to be

normally would insist that the Italians be interned on French soil. Yet, if the alternative were a threat by Gen. Wavell to pursue the Italians into Tunisia, Gen. Weygand would be in a quandary. A battle between Italians and British in French territory might excite the French colonials into re-entering the war with Great Britian, especially if the Italians were completely defeated. Should Marshal Graziani have to throw himself on the mercy of the French in Tunisia to keep the British at bay, that, in itself might stir the French to action to redeem themselves, and join the British. This situation has possibilities so unusual in warfare to the detriment of the Axis that it might be the compelling influence if Gen. Wavell decides to press his campaign into Tripolitania. ] The fall of Benghazi and the possible future consequences in Tripo- : Marshal

cides to continue his offensive

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES _

| Truck Toppled by Belt Engine

have appeared to them in their|

expected that Gen. Weygand|

The truck driver saw the engine too late,

The switch ‘engine fireman, Thomas Collum, said the truck backed out onto the track and then couldn't get off. He said he

yelled to the engineer, A. A. Lewis, to stop, but it was too late.

Nazi Soldier No Cassanova,

Worried German Wives Told

“Down with the round table!”

says Das Schwarze Korps. mans took to be real coinage.”

fused by her husband with a strong feeling of national pride which virtually forbids her to adopt anything but a reserved attitude toward members of the occupying force, perhaps slightly tempered by a little social. polish.” “Besides,” writes Comrade Knauer, “anybody who is on duty until 6 p. m., and then has a lot of old clothes to clean, runs no danger of becoming an idler.” :

CITY'S FIRST SGOUT TROOP 30 YEARS OLD

The first Boy Scout troop in Indianapolis, which was organized a month after national scouting and

has had only one Scoutmaster, will celebrate its 30th year at a supper Monday in the Tuxedo Park Baptist Church.

It is Troop One. It was founded

has been Scoutmaster ever since. The anniversary supper is spon-

is president. Scout chief in the Indianapolis district, will speak. The troop sponsored the first group of scouts to go camping in this area when a patrol of six went with their scoutmaster to a White River camping site. The troop was also instrumental in the formation of the first scout camps under the Indianapolis Council,

The publication says that Parisians themselves, through their literature and their former tourist attraction, furthered a reputation for their city which ‘the honest Ger-

“The Frenchwoman is a very bourgeosie, domesticated woman whose world is pretty well fenced in so that she feels mistrust and fear of anything foreign. She is in-

at the church in March, 1910, by the Rev. U. 8S. Clutton, pastor, who

sored by the Men’s Department of the church, of which J. B. Walker F. O. Belzer, former

SINK U.S. SHIPS, JAPAN ADVISED

Nazis Urge Tokyo to Declare War on China, Then Attack Supply Vessels.

By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS Times Foreign Editor

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7.—Japan is considering declaring war against China so that she will be free to

sink American and other vessels carrying supplies to that country. Germany, Japan's ally, is advising that step as the best means of bringing the Government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek to its knees. Before committing herself, however, Japan is insisting that Berlin bring more pressure to bear on Moscow, first to stop sending munitions to China, and second to sign a nonaggression pact with Nippon. « China, at “present, receives aid from two directions—from the United States and other sources by the Burma Road, and from Russia by the old caravan routes across central Asia. : : Thus, should Japan block supplies via the Burma Road by declaring war and setting up a blockade without first coming to an understanding with Moscow, it would tend to throw China straight into the arms of the Soviet Union. Russia would then be China's only remaining source of supply. And Japan naturally hesitates to give Russia such power of life and death over the 450,000,000 inhabitants of a country which she, herself, is seeking to dominate. She fears communism too much for that. So Germany, for reasons of her own, is trying hard to bring about some sort of entente between Moscow and Tokyo. Such an understanding is necessary before Japan

in the western Pacific and paralyze further American aid to Britain. That is what the Nazis want.

LUNCHEON SET MONDAY Catherine Merrill Camp 9 of the Daughters of Union Civil War Veterans will hold a covered dish luncheon ‘Monday noon at Ft. Friendly, 512 N. Illinois St. Mrs. Lelia Totten, camp president, will

will feel free to precipitate a crisis|

KANSAS CITY, Mo, Feb. 7 (U. p.).—Laddie, a 10-year-old Airedale dog wasting away in loneliness for his master in an Army camp 2000 miles away, today was giveniintravenous injections to keep him from dying. Army officials at Camp Ord, Cal, had made arrangements for Private Everett Scott of Chanute, Kas., to keep Laddie in camp and he was shipped here from Chanute last night. He was to have left in a TWA passenger plane today. But when he was taken from the crate, he was too weak to walk and he couldn’t utter a sound, His eyes were glazed and he was gaunt and dirty. Veterinarians said the flight would kill him, and they took him to an animal hospital.

Army Calls "Ona-Man Dog’; Too Ill to Fly to Master

Dr. V. ¥. Druley said early today that he had “perked up some, but it was too early to tell yet whether he would live or die.” He said Lad« die’ had not eaten or drunk waters for weeks and had nearly starved himself to death. : Mr. Scott enlisted four months? ago. Laddie ate little; he moped’

around the house and whined. % Finally, he refused to eat or drink anything, and when Army officers heard of his plight, they told Mr,

Scott to have him brought to camp*

immediately. Dr. Druley said Laddie obviously™ was a “one-man dog.” He saldi there ,were a few cases “in thou sands” of dogs that will die © loneliness for their masters, and Laddie was one, : ; ‘

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