Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 June 1942 — Page 19
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1942
- Washington
WASHINGTON, June 5.—Like millions of other Americans, Governor Stassen of Minnesota is trying Yo think through to some way of preventing this war from being fought in vain. I am harping too much on this theme, perhaps, and hereafter I hope to restrain myself from too frequent twanging on the same string. But the lowdown on the situation as I see it is this. The American people already have generated the momenfum that will grow and win the war. The drive is there and the results are beginning to show. But I think there is danger that we shall be cheated out of the peace that should come from this war uniess we are on guard. This administration is making a fight to insure that we shall not fight this war in vain. What Vice President Wallace and Secretary Welles are saying is not just surface talk. They are talking for a purpose. This administration is making a fight to insure that we are not in this war just to start the same old game over again, the same old game that will be followed by a grabbing contest and then another world war.
A World Association
I BELIEVE THE administration needs the support of every American citizen in that determination. Without America in there pitching, this war would be fost. Without America in there pitching, the peace will be lost. I'm certain of it. The Republican governor of Minnesota puts out a plan for the purpose, as he says, of stimulating discussion. Governor Stassen proposes a world association of free people. Those participating would agree to meet certain minimum standards which would include freedom of worship; a fair system of internal justice with a protection of the rights of the accused; granting to
out increased world trade, seeeking to prevent either
all literate persons the right to participate at reasonable intervals in the selection of their governmental leadership. Nations would participate on a basis which would give recognition to their individual resources, the number of their literate people, and their contribution to the expenses of the world association.
The Stassen Program
GOVERNOR STASSEN says this world association might well take these definite steps: 1. Promptly establish temporary governments over each of the axis nations, preferably utilizing citizens of the united nations whose axis ancestry goes back to the axis nation involved. These temporary governments to serve until axis peoples can establish proper governments of their own. 2. Establish an airways commission to control great international airports of the future which will be important in aerial commercial development after the war. 3. Establish an administrative body to take control of gateways to the seven seas. 4. Establish a commission whose prime task would be to increase the literacy of peoples of the world, recoghizing that ability to read and write is the foundation of progress. 5. Establish a code of justice for relations between peoples of the world, and machinery for administration of the code. : 6. Establish a trade commission to gradually work
stifling obstructions or heavy dumping of goods, both of which break down economic systems and cause world distress. 7. Establish a world legion as a world police force to enforce the administration of world justice and to make effective administration of airways and seaways. This police force must be supreme in the world. We must not again rely on systems of balance of power, or of extraterritorialism, or of races in armament.
Ernie Pyle, in poor health for some time, has been forced to take a rest. However, he is expected to resume his daily column within a short time.
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
GETTING MEDICAL services is going to become quite an accomplishment, one of these days, as more and more of Marion county's 83¢ physicians accept army and navy commissions. Definite figures aren't available yet, but it’s believed nearly 200 either have gone already or are to leave shortly, In another couple of months, the armed forces will have all our physically fit physicians 37 and under, and a lot of the older ones, too. Dr. John R. Newcomb, head of the county's medical procurement and assighment service, estimates that the medical ranks of the county may be reduced one-half by the end of the year. That will throw a tremendous load on the doctors who are left. Already many of them are having difficulty taking care of their business. At least one surgeon is so busy that he has to see his patients at the hospital in between performing operations. If the war goes on long enough, it may become unpatriotic to go to a doctor with anvthing less than a skull fracture,
Rube Goldberg Dept.
JOE EMMA, merchandise coniroiler for Block's, has one of those Rube Goidberg minds. He's been worrying a lot lately about so many of our ships being sunk by submarines, and he’s been trying to invent some way to stop the sinkings, After bumping his head on a door, he quickly conceived a brilliant idea which he’s been explaining to his friends. The plan, he explains, is to equip all ships with huge sausageshaped balloons. These wouid be left, uninflated, along the rails of the ship. Whenever a submarine appeared and let fiy with a torpedo, a member of the ship's crew would turn a valve and mix a couple of chemicals that would create gas instantaneously, fill
On the Spot
WASHINGTON. June 5—No one has protested current eriticism of congress more loudly than Sam Rayburn, speaker of the house. Now the speaker himself is coming in for criticism, because of the
rebuff to his leadership early this week when the house deserted him and rejected the Texas-Florida pipe-line-and-
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the balloons and lift the ship out of the water until the torpedo had passed. That's the crux of the idea. The mere details would have to be worked out bv the navy or some more technical inventor, Joe says
Welcoming the Fans ITS A LITTLE late now, but maybe not too late to report a Memorial day incident, Cycle Officer Ahlering tells us that over the week-end he passed a erocery out E. New York st. in the vicinity of Davidson st. and was startled to notice a sign painted on the window reading: “Welcome, Race Fans.” Ahlering, by the way is the polite Officer 313 whose courtesy almost made one of our friends enjoy being arrested for speeding a month or so ago. . . . Howard Ficber of Fieber & Reilly is recuperating from an appendectomy performed at Methodist hospital last week. . . . Familiar sight at Ohio and Meridian around 6 p. m.: Clarence Jackson heading for home with the inevitable cigar clenched in his teeth and carrying the equally inevitable briefcase full of papers to be studied at home,
Around the Town
DOROTHY RAGAN, who was advertising manager for Charles Mayer & Co. before she went west, is back in town telling her friends all about the west coast blackouts. . . . Jim McCoy of the Century Paper Co. is telling everybody about the “newest perfume-— “Burnt Cologne.” . . . Fonnie Snyder of the Union Title Co. is still thrilled over that recent perfect bowling score. . . . Chris Fisher, the mayor's messenger, has joined the ranks of pigeon haters. It happened while Chris was ankling through University park on an errand to the War Memorial building. It made him so mad he picked up a stone and threw it at the offending bird. . . . Sherwood Blue is passing out invitations, we hear, to a picnic he’s giving next Tuesday afternoon for his office staff and friends.
|
By Thomas L. Stokes
- }
Instead of bringing the bill before the house in| the regular way under a rule permitting full debate, he chose the course of suspension of rules, which limits debate to 40 minutes, forbids amendments, and requires a two-thirds vote for passage. The bill fell far from short of even a majority. The speaker apparently had not taken sufficient pains to sound out the house. An outcry arose as)
Pulse of Liberty Beats In Nation, Says Writer Free of Nazi Clutches
_ Only after getting out of the clutches of the Nasi Gestapo could Jean Graffis write the revealing article below. Mr. Graffis was one of the American journalists seized and interned when Germany declared war on the U. S. Released after five months, under a U. S.-German allen exchange agreement, he wrote this article upon his recent return to New York.
By JEAN GRAFFIS Times Special Writer NEW YORK, June 5.—When America and England actually open up a new western front against the German army in Europe, France will be with them. The humblest peasant living within the heavily armed strip 60 kilometers deep along France's Atlantic coastline knows the tasks and disposition of every wehrmacht unit
in the neighborhood.
Through the ancient concierge ‘grapevine telegraph” system, which now handles military information instead of gossip, all this information turned in by individual patriots has been pieced together to form a complete picture of the
whole.
Much of this information is in the hands of American
and British officials. They the time is ripe. But at that moment the Frenchmen will act, too. Back of the front lines they will be sabotaging communications, dynamiting bridges, ambushing officers, blocking roads, burning barracks and otherwise harassing the Germans
from the rear. It the allied invaders use parachute troops to land in the rear of the German front line, they will be directed and helped by local Frenchmen. And finally, if they get a chance, they will fight hand to hand against the Germans. s
® »
Hope for Redemption
THIS CONCEPTION of a
France redeeming herself was given to me in personal conversations with dozens of Frenchmen during the past winter and spring. Frenchmen forced into Germany in labor battalions, French newspapermien allowed in Berlin: French railway workers, even a Garde Mobile officer of the still elite French national police, furnished various portions of this picture which I believe to be authentic. But through their genuine enthusiasm and desire that the invasion be begun as quickly as possible, I detected other facts which indicated that any landing party on the Nazi-occupied coast will meet desperate, bloody resistance. For one thing, German strength is obvious in the scores of inland airdromes. They are so cleverly camouflaged that often they can-
BRITAIN AHEAD Russia Learns How fo Combat Nazi Tanks:
IN AIR SCORE
2 Axis Planes Shot Down
For Every Sky Fighter
will act accordingly, when
British daredevil commandos, such as these whe are wading ashore on their return from a raid on Boulogne, undoubtedly would spearhead any all-out invasion of the European continent. Hitler has erected a formidable, heavily armed “seawall” from Norway to the Spanish frontier,
not be detected from a train passing within 25 yards. These airfields, unless spotted and knocked out by bombing or taken over by parachute troops, could provide immense obstacles for an invasion force. More formidable is the fortified and heavily garrisoned coastal strip, which the Germans maintain from northern Norway to the Spanish frontier. =» =
8 Upkeep Costly to Nazis ALREADY THE upkeep of this enormous seawail against America and England has deprived Hitler of priceless material and manpower on the east front. An invasion, successful or not, involving expenditure and replacement of still more ' military forces, would be a body blow at Hitler's grand strategy on all fronts. According to Nazi plans, this ordnance would be used to batter transports carrying our invasion forces. If they succeeded in approaching the beaches in smaller landing boats, the invaders then would be met by a storm of point blank fire from hordes of 37 mm, cannon and machine guns spotted behind rocks, on crags and other vantage points. Finally, gaining the beach, American and British soldiers would be strafed by pursuit; destroyer and dive-bombing planes. Digging into foxholes in the sand or behind brush, they would find their objectives ahead blotted out by heavy smoke screens. The Germans expect that only by conquering these infernos could the invaders get their first
real toe-hold and proceed to regular land fighting. Back of the seawall defenses, of course, they would run into heavy concentra-
tions of German infantry, panzers and field artillery. There is some wishful thinking among Frenchmen who are anxjous for an allied invasion. The Garde Mobile, with whom I held a furtive train-to-platform conversation in the dead of night when the American diplomats’ train laid over on a siding somewhere in occupied France, was most optimistic.
s 5 ” Commandos Point Way WHILE HIS officer companion patrolled the platform to make sure we were not observed by the Gestapo in the second car ahead, he spoke freely. Five thousand British soldiers, he said, with the fighting assistance of an ever more militant French population, could have made the recent Commando raid on Saint Nazaire the spearhead of a real invasion. France is putting its self-re-spect together again, he declared, and is now ready to co-operate in every way, fighting actively with any and all weapons in an allied invasion of the continent. “We are ready in spirit,” he said. “We are willing to die to repair our mistakes. . We will fight in the lines and behind the lines when it starts. But we can not start it. We are bound fast. “We are only hoping, only praying that America, which has saved us before, will come again—but soon. We are waiting for the British too. Their raids have hurt the Germans here.” For two hours the officer stood on the platform, ignoring a steady rain, expressing what seemed to me the anguished hopes of a whole stricken nation trying to escape Nazi slavery. Other informants, some of them German soldiers, indicated that
Nazis Shoot at Each Other During Attack in France
LONDON, June 5 (U. P.)—~Two correspondents who accompanied British commandos on their raid between Boulogne and Le Touquet early yesterday, said today that the Germans got so jittery they shot
at each other.
The correspondents said German sentries didn’t know their posts were being invaded until the commandos waded up out of the waiste deep surf and attacked. They had established themselves on the fore-
shore before a shot was fired.
The Germans fired a white verey light to expose the commandos on the beach, racing for the shelter of sand dunes, and tried to catch them in cross-fire. Tracer bullets from one German machine gun post could be seen streaking into another German machine gun post while the commandos crashed through barbed wire defenses and gathered the information and prisoners they had come after.
outside the fortified coastal strip, occupied France is very lightly held by her conqueror. Many inland areas which were at first heavily garrisoned, now contain few occupational troops, sometimes none at all.
French Quislings Used
WHEN HITLER needed more cannon fodder to throw at the Russians, trqops were gradually drained out of France's quieter areas. Small villages which had become accustomed to the constant roaring of Wehrmacht equipment and singing men in barracks, released into their old, sleepy routine, “Weeks go by and we don't see a single ‘haricot vert’,” one old Frenchman told me. “Haricot vert” or “string bean” is just one of many French descriptions for the German soldier.
Withdrawal of from
troops
these inland areas does not mean the Nazis are relaxing their ade ministrative grip. They appoint a French Quisling to carry out orders under their direction. If he fails in his responsibility to the German Kommandantur, he may be’ shot. There is also the fact, told me by French and Germans alike, of the large-scale replacement of the young and sturdy troops who took over France in June, 1940, Their tasks have been assumed by Wehrmacht men 40 to 50 years old, many of whom fought in the first World War, Most of them would prefer to be. back home with their families. They would not be first-line soldiers in any ‘army. . All these factors are weighed daily by the French people. They think an English-American ine vasion would succeed. And when it happens, they want to get in on it.
Artillery Main Factor in Guarding Flanks
By LELAND STOWE
Copy! t, 1842 by Th i er The Chicako Dai # mes
MOSCOW, June 5—One of the
most important tactical developments in modern mechanized ware
reached a new crescendo, the total number of armored monsters utilized on both sides at times as many as 1000, or possibly more. From this long, increasingly in« tensive experience the Soviet high command-—which has been remarke
1. The Russians have organized a “circular anti-tank defense” wherein their artillery’'s batteries are able to fire from every angle of a 360-degree circuit. 2. All guns, regardless of size, are prépared for possible use against
CITED AS HERO
OF PHILIPPINES
Yank Ran Gantlet of Fire To Get Truck and Save Wounded Officer.
Lost by England.
LONDON, June 5 (U. P).—Two German and Italian aircraft have| been shot down for every British
fare, probably the most significant land warfare innovation yet perfected in the second world war, has been worked out by the Red army
soon as the measure reached the floor.
Carrying Water on Both Shoulders
barge-line bill which Mr. Rayburn had espoused personally to the point of taking the floor in its support—rare for a speaker.
tanks. 3. The Soviet artillery arranges its batteries in deep echelons. Batteries to the rear thus cover the
ably flexible at adaptation of the Germans’ changing methods of warfare—has devised measures which reduce or cripple Nazi tanks opera-
MELBOURNE, June 5 (U, P) ~~" Pvt. Henry Skally of the United States army coast artillery has teen
That blow to his prestige is being talked of, not as an isolated incident, but as symptomatic of a situation. Mr. Rayburn’s stout defense of congress as an institution, and his
FROM THIS, CRITICS backtrack to other incidents, including passage of the congressional pension bill which provoked such an uproar in the country that it was repealed, and started the wave of eriticism of congress which called forth the speaker's defense. The speaker, it is argued, could have kept
plane lost during the war over Britaiff, the continent, the Middle East and adjacent territory, an air ministry tabulation has disclosed.
The latest tally, announced yes-
in devising an unprecedentedly effective defense t against Germany's powerful slashing
tions to an exceptional decree. Different Last June
The importance of the Red army progress in anti-tank defense can best be appreciated by recalling the
front batteries by their fire, thereby making it much more difficult for German tanks to knock out firstline Russian guns. 4. The Red artillery is placed in positions so that “firing liaison” es-
awarded the silver star for gale lantry in action in the Philippines last December, it was announced today.
tank attacks. During the 11 i months of RussoGerman combat, tanks have been used on a scale Leland Stowe never approached before and in the recent fierce Kharkov battles, their operations
this bill out of the house, as speakers have done with |terday, listed British losses at 5009 numerous measures in the past. planes and 10,044 for Germany and Nor was the house leadership able, only a few days|I ago, to keep the house from voting $50-a-month soldier pay, instead of the $42 desired by the war department, though it is doubtful whether, in an election year a speaker could stop such a stampede. Last year Mr, Rayburn had two narrow escapes on important administration measures, getting the draftextension bill through by a single vote and having an uncomfortably close call on neutrality act repeal to permit American ships to enter combat zones. Sam Rayburn is an amiable person, long & popular figure in the house before he became speaker, He likes to please, and one analysis of his leadership is that he tries to carry water on both shoulders—that he seeks to follow the administration and at the same time follow the predominant will of congress. He does not, it is reported, speak out very forcefully at the weekly meetings of congressional leaders with the president.
He was cited for heroism during the first bombing of Clark field,
near Manila, when his commanding officer was wounded seriously by gunfire from the Japanese planes. “Unable to check the bleeding, Pvt. Skally ran 80 yards through heavy machine gun fire to an aban« doned truck, drove the truck through enemy fire and placed the wounded officer in it,” the citation said. “Then, although subjected to ans other heavy attack from the air, by skilful driving around buildings and across country to avoid the enemy. Pvt. Skally brought the wounded officer to the hospital at Ft. Stotsenburg. This timely and courageous action saved the officer's
own recent failure as leader, are being linked by certain critical observers. They say that the speakership, often called the second most powerful job in the government, has much to do with the strength of congress as an institution, particularly in a time of crisis. The speaker, they say, is supposed to know the temper of the members, reflecting as they do the temper of the public, and to guide the house in expressing the will of the people fo their best interests.
A Prize Boner, Mr. Rayburn!
MR. RAYBURN, these critics say, certainly failed in this recent instance. He chose rare ard arbitrary orocedure to put over the bill which would have authorized a $144000.000 appropriation to complete the intracosstal waterway system in order to bring gasoline to the east by a pipe line and barge line across northern Florida and by extending the waterwav from Corpus Christi, Tex, to the Mexican border.
tablished between them and the socalled “junctions of resistance” is assured. By this means the enemy's tank waves can be smashed as they attempt to break through and such few tanks as manage to get through can be shattered by further antitank reserves thrown in at the right moment.
Artillery Decisive Factor
Of course, while the artillery is carrying out these closely co-ordi-nated tactics, Soviet tanks, antitank riflemen and anti-tank units are also combating the Germans. But the Russians’ experience again and again, has shown their new artillery defense to be a decisive fac-
situation previous to Germany's invasion of Russia last June. As a result of the Nazis’ blitekrieg through Poland, Holland, Belglum, France, Jugoslavia and Greece, most military experts, the world over, came to regard Germany’s tank divisions as virtually invinecible—unless they could be met by tanks their equal or superior in armor, firepower, speed and numpers. In the early stages of the war with Russia, the Nazis enjoyed several of these advantages, and, even in the Kharkov battles, they were able to throw in a superior number of tanks on a narrow front. Nevertheless, German armored divisions, in two weeks of the hardest fighting, never once were able to make
taly. British planes have carried out 63 bombing raids on Germany and 144 on occupied territories since last Jan. 1, In their last three shattering raids on Cologne and Essen, the British airmen dropped more bombs than the German high command ever claimed the luftwaffe showered on Britain during a similar period.
Step Up Devastation
In February, 1941, the Nazi high command announced that during the entire month of November, 1840, at the height of the battle of Britain, the luftwaffe dumped approximately 6700 tons of bombs on British territory.
What You Bug Wilh | WAR BONDS
The power of the greatest navy in the world, our own two-ocean fleet, rests in large measure on its backbone—the battleships of the
My Day
NEW YOR CITY, Thursday—TI left New York city early Wednesday by train for Albany in order to spend a few hours with some friends. In the evening I dined with a group sponsoring the College Faculty Workshop. I spoke at their meeting on the subject of “Safeguarding the Children and Young People.” I spent the night with Mrs Earl Miller and took the train to Hyde Park this morning. Much of my day has been spent trying to sort out various things which are to be stored for the children, who may want them again in the future when they settle down again to quieter lives. Some friends are staying here in the big house and a few others came to lunch. I went over to my cottage in the afternoon and saw a few of my neighbors, Before long I hope to be there for longer and more frequent visits. Tf returned this afternoon to New York city in time to attend a supper meeting given by Mrs, David
wv
By Eleanor Roosevelt
Student Service. Then I shall take the night train to Washington. I have just seen a book written by a young private in the army, Donald F. Smith. It is called “Are You Sure of America, or The Spirit of Youth Today.” I hope it will be read by a great many young people, because Pvt. Smith takes up many of the questions which confront youth in this somewhat confusing world and deals with them honestly and simply. I have written a magazine article on a subject which I think of great importance to the boys in our armies all over the world, and also to their families at home. I realize quite well that there must be many divergent points of view on this extremely important subject and one can never hope to cover completely all the points that need to be considered when one is discussing great issues. We, at home, are really fighting, for without our help, cheerfully given, the things which are needed to carry on the war will never be produced, nor will they be conserved. We are changing the pattern of our lives, That is hard for a nation to do unless it feels very secure in the foundation of its beliefs, We can {ll afford persons of weakness and uncertainty in the months to-come. ; a
In four nights of raiding, begin-
ning with the knockout attack on Paris industrial suburbs Friday night, the R. A. F'. dumped an estimated T7000 tons of bombs into German war production areas.
In the Far East and Pacific thea-
ters, British planes have joined with American, Dutch and Australian air forces in shooting down at least 1250 Japanese aircraft.
Nati Losses Growing British reports since Jan. 1 show
the Germans have lost 64 bombers during night flights and 20 during the day over and around Britain, plus 18 over Europe for a total of 102. German fighter plane losses Suis) hf ue pu Wap HR at 9
Additional records showed that
defenders of Malta, the British!
ean island outpost, have
shot down 567 enemy planes.
Heavy German aircraft losses also |
have been reported in Russia and
line. They displace approximately 35000 tons and cost up to $70,« 000.000. We have something like a score of these huge ships in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Eight huge battleships are under construction and more are contemplated. To finance these modern goliaths of the sea it is necessary for every American evetywhere to buy more and more war bonds. We can do it if everybody does his share. Invest at
elsewhere over the continent, bring-| least 10 per cént of your income
he war 0 at Jost 14900
Se Spl
a compléte and devastating breakthrough.
Lesson for Allies
For this serious check to Hitler's tank corps, the Soviet military authorities now give chief credit to their artillery and the new methods with which it has confronted the Nagi armored divisions for the first time during almost three years of war. The weight attached to their artillery’s latest achievements by the Soviet command may be judged by the fact that the first decorations of the newly created order of the patriotic war, announced yesterday, were all given to artillerymen who
Kharkov battles. Anti-tank defense tactics which the Russian artillery has perfected may prove of great value to the American and British armies if théir commands swiftly profit by them
Outstanding : (hese 5
from the Red
distinguished themselves in the
tor in thwarting the Nazis’ massedtanks counter-attacks, especially their fast flanking movements, which so universally crippled the German army's opponents’ resistance in all Buropean campaigns. The Soviet artillery’s new antitank tactics promise definitely to complicate greatly Hitler's problem in the summer offensives along the Russian front. It seems possible
or cripple the Nazis’ hitherto pow-
SABOTAGE AT NOBLESVILLE? NOBLESVILLE, Ind, June 5 (U.
P).—Policé today awaited an in-
T to determine
possible sabotage in a shipment of |
consigned from Alabama
that they may serve to neutralise)
life.”
HOLD EVERYTHING