Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 June 1942 — Page 9

| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1942

Washington

WASHINGTON, June 24—Under the impaet of such a loss as Libya we are all likely to be thrown off balance. I find myself tying to the judgment of those American military men who believe this war will be won or lost in Europe, and not on any of the fringe battlefields. We went up to unjustified heights of optimism over the Midway victory and now we are dropping into unjustified depths of spirit over the beating in Libya. Mercurial public sentiment here and in England goes to extremes, first in one direction and then in the other. The loss of Libya is proving a deep shock, even more so in England than here. Churchill appears to be facing a political crisis, as he did last winter after the fall of Singapore. As some of our military men see it, the danger is that we will spread our forces so widely that we will be weak everywhere and strong nowhere. Already the call is heard to send heavy reinforcements to the Near East. Japanese activities in the Aleutians and along the Pacific Northwest coast have increased the pressure for more diversion of our forces there. China, India and the southwest Pacific are relentless in their demands. No front is unimportant. But adequate force cannot be placed on all fronts and it 1s necessary to decide where the most useful campaign can be made, while accepting risk in other places.

U. 8. Concerned With Europe

OUR HIGH COMMAND has regarded Europe as the decisive area. That was acknowledged publicly after the recent Molotov visit in the statement that the United States and Great Britain were in agreement with Russia as to the urgency of creating a second front in 1942.

High American army officers who visited England a few weeks earlier indicated in public statements that they were thinking in terms of an offensive in Europe at the earliest possible moment, beginning with an enlarged air campaign. In their consternation over the quick loss of Tobruk, some in London are suggesting that secondfront plans should be delayed in order to send larger forces to the Near East. Substantial military opinion here is not likely to favor that, or any other diversion that will prevent the prompt carrying out of a heavy combined British and American offensive.

Germany Is The Key

THE OUTCOME OF the war depends on smashing Germany. Only when Germany is defeated can the united nations forces be free to finish the rest of the war. So long as Germany is undefeated, we are threatened with the loss of Russia and the loss of England, which would obliterate the last bases of operations in Europe. We would then be thrown back to American shores and probably could get nothing more out of the war than a stalemate if that. With typical American directness, the thought of this group is that the best chance of defeating Germany is to smash at her while Russia is still fighting. The first opportunity open is by air. The R. A. F. is showing the way. Soon an American air force will add its weight. These military men believe that to be effective raids must be continuous and be aimed at strategic

industrial points. That plus sustained pounding of the populations in the main producing centers will make it impossible for Hitler to continue. Another substantial line of military opinion is that this air attack will have to be followed up by ground invasion to bring about defeat. While that difference exists, the same opinion is fairlv well agreed that the decisive blow must be aimed directly at Germany and the sooner the better.

Ernie Pyle is now in Washington, getting ready to go abroad. He hopes to start within the next few weeks.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

PICK ANY THREE numbered texts from 1 to 136, name vour favorite fighting man in the A. E. F. and the telegraph companies (both Postal and Western Union) will send it across for 66 cents. The 6 cents is the tax. The service is the replica of the system inaugurated late in May of enabling the men overseas to cable home regularly. Both services are the contribution of the communications industry to the nation’s war morale. The numbered just like. the regular birthday and holiday greetings. Almost every kind of family situation is covered in the 136 messages. You can report on anything, including the birth of a baby boy or baby girl. Oddly enough, however, no cognizance is taken of twins. er larger batches. so Inside can only assume that if you have triplets you have to send your message three times. The shortest message is No. 29, which says just plain “love,” which, we guess, tells that story all right. The longest is No. 117: “Glad and proud to hear of vour decoration. Everybedy thrilled.” The way the three-number message is handled is simple. One example is this: Pvt. Jon E. Jones, serial number, APO whatever-it-is. 46-15-73. Then your name. Translated, 46 is “All well at home.” 15 is “No news of vou for some time.” and 73 is “Are vou all right? Worried about you.” Saddest of all is No. 116: “Sorrv, cannot money.” That's terrible news in any language.

Peep, Peep . . . and Peep!

AT THE TEPEE drive-in, 38th and the Allisonville rd., a high wire fence separates the parking lot from the east side of the fairgrounds. Sunday (3 p. m), an army “peep” drove up to the fairgrounds side of the fence, a waitress walked across, stood tiptoe on a wooden stake and handed a coke to the

texts function

send

SUBSIDY PLAN PUSHED BY OPA

Report 500 Million to Bolster

Hard-Hit Business.

WASHINGTON, June 24 (U. PJ). —Price Administrator Leon Hen-

soldier. Off went the pesp, the soldier sipping his coke through a straw. . . Murphy's thought up 2 swell idea. They white-papered out one of the windows except for a small section across the bottom . leg high. And then they put a girl in the window (nice legs, too) to parade back and forth displaying some new leg makeup. And then, youd know, wouldn't vou, that instead of attracting droves of women, it would stack the men up three and four deen, wondering what the girl who went with the legs looked iike? Us, too.

A Hop in Front of Feeney

MRS. JO ANN LANGLEY (R. R. §, Box 358) has run onto a new racket. . , . A chap peddling subscriptions to a “flying paper” to earn his way through fiving school. He got insulted, too, when she refused. Accused her of being unpatriotic. Almost all the flying he’ll ever do is across county lines, Mrs. Langley. . . . Harold Feightner, secretary of the Indiana Brewers’ Association is in St. Vincent's following an operation. He'll be tucked in there for another 10 days, but he’s getting along quite o. k. . The drugstore at Pennsylvania and St. Clair has a sign in the window: “Closed. On Vacation.” One of the librarians up that way tells us that the proprietor told her it would cost him less to close up for a week than to fry to gel! someone to run the place.

Sherman Sure Was Right

SOMEBODY IS ALWAYS trying to take the romance out of life. Now take the Indiana Girls’ State week at Indiana Central. At the same time they were on the campus, there were a number of soldiers studying Allison motors. First rule was no dates. Well, the young couples got around the problem by leaving notes for each other in the lunch room. And then one of the Girls’ State directors found a girl weeping bitterly because her train pass was for Friday and she was expecting a note from her very best soldier friend on Saturday. Yessir. war is hell.

derson believes it will be impossible to hold price ceilings at March levels during the coming winter unless government subsidies totalIng some $500,000,000 are made available to hard-hit industries, his associates revealed today. Mr. Henderson was said to feel that eventually it would be imperative to have funds to back up the price levels if the cost of living to Americans was to remain stable. Without subsidies, Mr. Henderson’s associates explained, the best they could do was to fight a delaying battle against inflation and hope for an early end of the war. Congress is expected to revive the subsidy proposal shortly. How much money will be needed is still a matter of speculation, although OPA officials generally agreed that $500,000,000 should be enough for the first year.

U. S. Absorbing Costs

The British are spending about $1,000,000,000 a year, and the Canadians between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000 to keep prices down. Chief benefactors of subsidies would be businesses and industries suffering from transportation dislocation. Already the government is absorbing additional costs for transporting sugar and coal into the northeastern states, made necessary by abandoning water transportation in favor of rail movements. Reimbursements are expected to be made shortly to gasoline dealers in the Atlantic coast areas, whose

The Door’s Ajar By Wm. Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, June 24 —Despite the RussianBritish agreement of June 11, President Roosevelt's efforts to safeguard the rights of smaller nations after the war appear to be in danger of being eventually frustrated. After careful study, some of Washington's shrewdest diplomatists are of the opinion that the Anglo-Soviet pact has loopholes in it as big as the proverbial barn door. If they are correct, countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland may have little to say about their pdst-war fate. It will be decided for them by their more powerful neighbors.

Under the agreement. it is pointed out, Russia—for example —can take whatever measures she wishes within nearby territory in the time between the armistice and

the conclusion of peace. It would appear that only after peace is signed—not after the armistice—does the pledge to abide by the principles of the Atlantie Charter come into the picture.

‘Cooling Off Period’ Danger Zone

IT IS ALREADY widely accepted in this country and abroad that between the armistice and the final peace there must be a long “cooling-off period.” And it is during this time that difficulties are expected in connection with the little countries now overrun by Hitler. Russia has long contended that the Baltic and other neighboring states harbor elements “dangerous” to her peace. Moré than six months ago when Anthony Eden visited Moscow, Stalin insisted on a treaty

My Day

WASHINGTON, Tuesday. — Yesterday afternoon about 35 Hi-Y students from the northwest came in to see what rooms are now open in the White House. I talked to them for a few minutes while they had

refreshments in the state dining room. These young boys are between 15 and 18 and their trip is sponsored by the Young Men's Christian association. A great many of them had earned all or part of the money which they had used for this trip. I imagine. as the war goes on, that fewer and fewer trips will be possible. Yet, I am always glad to feel that even a few young people can take back to their communities t h e impressions gained by seeing their country and their country's capitol. 'It may be possible for them in the future to see a great deal more of the world. but perhaps nothing will ever 5 as vivid xs the first irv-s on which ¢~-2s from a trip 22:83 tae waecls Uo (ed Sic es. » is such

* variety. of Senery, SuEh a variety of oscupaiied,,

Fi, 32 . eR Sen = as 5

which would give Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and parts of Poland, Finland, Bukovina and Bessarabia to Russia after the war. Eden, however, put Stalin off. He reserved answer until he could refer the matter to London and until London had had a chance to dis-! cuss it with Washington. And Washington objected. Mr. Roosevelt said America was in the war largely because of its opposition to the big and powerful thus disposing of the weak and small. Such a treaty would utterly destroy the Atlantic Charter and all it stood for. So the idea was dropped.

Phrasing Seen as Odd

THE TREATY OF JUNE 11 now takes its place. Article 3 part two. sets forth that Russia and Britain “declare their desire to unite with other like-minded states in adopting proposals for common action to! preserve peace. ...~” However, “pending adoption of such proposals, they will after termination of hostilities take all measures in their power to render im- | possible the repetition of aggression and violation of| peace by Germany or any of the states associated’ with her in acts of aggression in Europe.” Article 4 stipulates that Article 3 shall remain in force until Russia and Britain, “by mutual agreement, shall recognize that it is superseded by adoption of] proposals” for a world peace organization. Where-| upon, in Article 5, they agree to collaborate “after re-establishment of peace” and they “will act in accordance with the two principles of not seeking territorial aggrandizement . . . and of noninterference in the internal affairs of other states.” Both in the phrasing and the sequence of the articles, some observers see what they fear to be a complete nullification of the Atlantic Charter guarantee to small nations.

By Eleanor Rooseveli

that I think it is impossible for any young person not to get a sense of the greatness and power of his nation. That sense is a good thing to have at the presen: time. It awakens a confidence both in the present and in the future. As I looked at the faces of these young boys, I felt a pride and a confidence in the mavcerial we produce to meet the future. One boy came from across the border in Canada, several of them from near Seaside, Ore., which has Just been shelled and the war seems close to them. On Wednesday. July 1, I am told that a campaign instituted by the “retailers for victory” will undertake to stop all sale of ordinary merchandise in retail stores of the country for 15 minutes. from 12 noon to 12:15 p. m. and will be devoted to the sale of war savings bonds and stamps. That will mean that in big cities, in little towns and small villages. stores can plan a ceremony where as many citizens as possible can attend and buy stamps and bonds. Thele is a great advantage in having the time set, becer ice it is so easy to say to yourself: “Oh, I'll buy one the next time I come in,” and he next ume, never comes.

{| mounted.

i priation of funds from accounts of

transportation costs also have Mr. Henderson said $38,000,000 in subsidies would make it possible to maintain gasoline

‘prices at March price levels.

“Fat” Is Cut Out

In pointing out the need for subsidies, Mr. Henderson's aids said many industries and merchants | were coming closer to financial ruin! because of higher raw materials! prices, production costs and trans-| portation. Already a large amount of “fat.” representing extensive services od customers, has been cut out to assure continued operation while staying in line with the price ceilings. Opponents of the subsidy system | believe it will be too expensive and. once started, will be almost impossible Io stop.

STAYS SENTENCE OF BANK AID IN THEFT

Federal Judge Rchert C€. Baltzell vesterday staved the execution of a 15-month sentence he pronounced | on Richard A. Kurtz pending a| physician's report upon the condition of the 64-year-old former head of the travel and foreign exchange department of the Union Trust Co. Mr. Kurtz pleaded guilty to a federal indictment charging misappro-

persons in this country sending money to refugees in Europe. Before he was sentenced, it was ointed out that he had paid back 211 but $4515.07 of the shortage.

OLD EVERYTHING

| could be considered a

| fighters, were blowing landing fields apart.

“Ne use making any vacation

Henderson Wants! 4

The Indianapolis Times

SECOND SECTION

By Raymond Clapper Bombings, Fight for Food, Tribute to Dead Highlight Global War

— Lp Argan

1. The cameraman stood at the bottom of a 12-foot bomb crater to take this picture of a private home in Darwin, Australia, wrecked

by a Jap bomb.

2. Serap metal lying under what was once an RAAF hangar at

Darwin is all that remains of a Hudson bomber.

In the background

is the skeleton of another hangar also wrecked by Jap bombs.

3. The scene shifts to England where members of the crews of anti-aircraft units, having more time on their hands these days, grow vegetables to help in the “grow more food” campaign. 4. An American squad fires a salute over the graves of four U. 8S, army soldiers who died since the arrival of the AEF in northern

Ireland.

America’s Men With Wings at Midway Junked All Old Rules in Naval Warfare

This is the third of a series of stories on the battle of all time” by Robert J. Casey, who was with the do.

at Midway.

naval 5. fleet

“are

By ROBERT J. CASEY Copyright, 1942, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Ine,

WITH THE PACIFIC FLEET OFF MIDWAY, June 8 (Delayed).—When we get over our justifiable condition of amazement and shock, we may be able to tell something

about the fantastic battle for Midway

island—its technique and

possible effects, not only on this war but on naval warfare. At the moment we feel as the old frigate captain must have felt, when asked to make a report on the Monitor and the Merrimac, or as a Maori warrior might feel trying to catch the significance of a tank attack. One is without standards of discussion for such

a melee as this.

For this ranks as the first all-out

naval-air battle in the history of the world. And what it may lead to one shudders to econ-

template.

We who saw what there was to see of this battle have only an indefinite idea of what was

done or how.

Our force quit working only when enemy o0b-

Mr, Casey

jectives no longer remained in the area. When we moved off, it looked as if Japan was

sitting back where she had always sat as a third-rate naval power; her offensive reserve dissipated, anywhere from five to nine of her ships on the bottom, about 10,000 of her finest naval and marine per-

sonnel drowned, and 200 of her planes destroyed. From Dec. 7 till June 4, Japan definite menace to the United States. But on June 4, with the better part of a first-class fleet, adequate air support and transport and supply ships, Japan came across the horizon, cockily convinced

{ that nothing stood between her

and Midway island, and little between her and the mainland.

E 2 Es

Strategy Changing

YAMAMOTO, despite his recent unfortunate experience in the Coral sea, had thought this expedition too simple to merit his personal attention.

He knew, as did everybody else, that never in history had such a force as this been launched against the United States. He knew that in the nature of things, with a two-ocean war in progress and long communication lines requiring protection from Dutch Harbor to Sydney, the defenders probably would be able to muster only a very inferior naval force. Midway's land planes, he felt, could be taken care of by carrier while the battleships

ADMIRAL

American surface ships, inadequately protected in the air, could do little against his superior gunpower—that, anyway, seems to have been the theory. Basically, the ideas of this strategy were sound. Save for a bit of quicker thinking on the part of the United States high command, everything might have come off as Mr. Yamamoto had foreseen. Success on the sea always had been earmarked for the side with a preponderance of battleships.

Ed n an

First Test of New Idea

BOMBING of ships by airplanes, of course, is nothing particularly new. It was even being tried before the end of the last war. But it was not until June 4 at

to making a large-scale test of the idea. It was the first time a couple of fleets got together with all the old panoply of naval war and then subordinated everything else to air operation. Previous experiments in this technique had been generally inconclusive because one-sided.

The Italians were sitting quiet-

ly, like ducks on a pond, at Taranto; the Prince of Wales and Repulse cannot be said to have been pursuing any normal naval operation when sunk near Singapore. There was definitely no fleet action at Pearl Harbor. The Coral sea engagement was something of the same sort as this, but smaller and incomplete —a sort of laboratory model for a seagoing massacre like that of Midway, ”

Bigger Than Jutland

JAPAN CAME DOWN on us with a force which the best thought in Tokyo had agreed could not be stopped. Two to four battleships, four carriers

(and possibly five) and about a dozen cruisers, a quantity of destroyers estimated anywhere from 15 to-30; 20 auxiliaries, including four large transports, , seaplane tenders, etc., in a landing conVoy. Without repeating the reasons for uncertainty in the count, we may point out that the Japanese losses were anywhere from five to nine ships. They sank one of our destroyers. You get some of the significance of these figures when you consider other battles that have made history. Jutland, for instance, resulted in the bottling up of the.imperial German navy for the duration of

- the war and when fought was

considered the most desperate sea fight since the invention of gunpowder. But in that engagement the British lost three capital ships and the Germans two. Britain lost 3500 men, Germany 3000. Japan at Midway lost more than 10,000. # » Carriers Important

This, of course, is history, but one cannot help think of it when he notices the casualness with which our recent performance was treated by those most concerned. Japan says that the battle of Midway did not amount to anything at all. that it did not alter the general setup in the Pacific. And some of our communiques seem to agree with that.

And you get to wondering if, maybe, this type of warfare may not make the old standards of battleship losses obsolete. Well, maybe they do, but .it seems that aircraft carriers—the new capital ships—are definitely part of this new warfare. You cannot carry on any seagoing air blitzes without them and they are just as hard to produce as battleships—and harder to man. At the beginning of the war Japan had nine carriers listed in Jane's Fighting Ships. Of these, the Kagi and Akagi,

Plane Ablaze, Arm Injured. He Bombs Ship at 300 Feet

A MARINE AIR BASE, SOMEWHERE IN HAMAII, June 24 (U.

i P.) —His dive-bomber was in flames, | riddled by anti-aircraft fire. He was

near exhaustion from two previous attacks. One of his arms was bandaged, but he never flinched. Down, down, down his plane hurtled toward a Japanese warship steaming toward Midway island.

The blazing bomber was only 300]

It was one of the war's greatest tales of individual heroism. His captain, Corp. Card said, already had scored a direct hit on a Japanese aircraft carrier and a “near miss” on another vessel before his third—and final—attack.

Other members of the squadron

said the captain led them directly over the target on the third raid, but made the first dive himself. It

feet above the target when he re- | was believed he had been wounded

leased his death load. There was a The enemy |

deafening explosion. vessel rocked and began to sink. And the plane crashed just off the bow of its target. That was the story Corp. Eugene T. Card, 24, of Oakland, Cal, and Salem, Utah, told today from a hospital bed. The hero was his squadron leader, a marine captain whose

SApABIn Js “Sening 15 Moki?

seriously before he crashed. Corp. Card said none of the marine pilots dropped their bombs

' from above 500 feet,

WOMAN DIES OF BURNS WARSAW, June 24 (U.P.).—Mrs.

Arthur Thompson, T7, near Leesburg, Ind. died yesterday of burns name cannot yet be revealed. The|received when she adtempied $0

carried from 50 to 60 planes apiece. Two new carriers were ready to be commissioned at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Putting it all together, they had 11 carriers capable of handling 520 planes at a maximum,

As against that, we had newer carriers capable of handling 580 planes and our average speed and average carrier size were considerably larger. Because our force is spread out over two oceans, Japan was able to bring to most of the battles in the Pacific three carriers to our

one. “ " »

Stick Around Awhile

JAPAN HAS been singularly lucky with her carriers. A couple were banged up in the fight for the Philippines, but they got back home for repairs and were at sea again in a couple of months. In the Coral sea, however, the breaks began to go the other way. Our planes sank one carrier and sent a second northward at reduced speed and with dubious prospects of getting anywhere. Well, it doesn’t take a slide rule to figure that if Japan lost four carriers at Midway and one in the Coral sea and is nursing another in drydock, then she has only four, or five at the outside, available for work. It is significant that the United States force that wont out to meet the approaching Japanese at Midway was the largest force the United States ever sent anywhera against anybody in an act of war. As fleets go, it was a good ona —in equipment as well as in brains. But this priceless array won the battle with a couple of hundred boys in airplanes whose total equipmert cost probably as much as a coudle of destroyers. We'll have to stick around a while to find out how all this is going to turn out.

converted | battleships, w were the largest. They |

What Yous Buy With WAR BONDS

The mess kit is one of the most important items in the soldier's equipment. It consists generally of a pan, a plastic canteen and cup, a fork, knife and spoon, all in a canvas cover. The total cost runs up to about $2.00.

i Canteens and other iteme such { as handles on knives and forks, fo formerly made of aluminum, are. { now plastic. Alloy has replaced : stainless steel. You can buy many of these mess kits for our boys with your purchases of war bonds and stamps. Invest at least 10 per cent of your income in wag bonds or siszupe Sra, pay day your |