Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 October 1942 — Page 21
Hoosier Vagabond
g SOMEWHERE IN "ENGLAND, Oct, 15.—1It isn’t every first lieutenant that is-honored by a lot of at-
tention from his commanding general, but Lieut. Jim
Dale, of Pueblo, Colo., gets more notice from his gen-
eral than he knows what to do with. It's because:
Jim looks so young. Actually he’s 25, and married, but he looks as though he might still be in high school. This provides a constant foil of the general, who is a goodnatured,. soft - voiced, much -re.spected commander. He “picks on” Lieut. Dale, you
might say, in his kidding way. He'll .
say to visitors in Jim’s presence, “Now, how do we expect to win a war when we're fighting with ‘babies?” : : And one morning a Bunch of us were talking just outside the generals office. Lieut. Dale had his lieutenant’s bar on one shoulder pinned . on a little carelessiy and crookedly. The general came along, give it a flip with his finger, and said “Look at the jaunty angle the children are wearing their bars these days.” T6 all of these quips Lieut, Dale grins sheepishly and blushes furiously, and says later he doesn’t know whether the general likes him or ds “riding” him. That's an easy one—the general likes him immensely, and gives him very responsible jobs to do.
And He's Still Smiling
THIS CERTAIN GENERAL is more beloved by his troops than any I've met, although I must say I've not run onto an American general over here yet who was disliked. This general has been in the army all his life, served all over the world, and. is a strict. disciplinarian by using good nature instead of shouts and snarls. One of his regimental commanders gave me an ‘example 6f the way he works. One day they had a review, Next morning the general called the colonel
in, snd began speaking of the review: “The dermis attitude led the colonel to’ start swelling with pride. “Fhat was quite a review yesterday,” the general said genially. . “Yes, I thought it was pretty good,” the ‘colonel
“They must have ‘studied pretty hard to get ready for it,” the general said. ; “Yes, they sure did,” bearhed the colonel. “I thought they had,” said the general, still genially. “But they must-have studied the wrong page!”
The Unidentified Officer
items such as the one above. why writers don’t men‘tion the general and the colonel by name. It's because of censorship, or military security, as it’s preferably called. The enemy would like to know what officers are commanding what outfits, and where they are and so on. To mention the general's name would give away the whole secret. So there is censorship against naming any officer above the rank of lieutenant colonel unless his name has been specifically released, as in the cases of Gen. Eisenhower or Gen, Spaatz, for instance. Sometimes that results in some funny incidents at home. For instance, when the king and queen visited northern Ireland this summer the king was ridden around in a peep driven by an American lieutengnt and accompanied by an American colonel. A picture of them was taken, and radioed to America. When it came out in the papers, the cutlines named the lieutenant, but referred to the colonel as “an unidentified American officer.” Now it happened that the lieutenant and the colonel were both from Council Bluffs,, Ia. Everybody in western Iowa knew the colonel from his picture. But. the caption insisted he was “an unidentified American officer,” while the young lieutenant got all the official glory for being pictured with the king. The colonels wife hasn't heard the last of it yet from her ends.
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
LEE EMMELMAN, local Republican leader and one of the original Tyndall men, was on a fishing trip recently with a party of which Dewey Myers, the Democratic nominee for mayor, was a member. Ever, since then the rumors have been out that Emmelman is backing Myers for mayor. “Tain’t so,”, says Lee. “I like Dewey, but I'm for Gen. Tyndall for mayor.” .. . And while we're discussing. rumors, the latest nutty notion making the rounds is the rumor that Uncle Sam’s “going to freeze our bank accounts.” That sounds silly, If he did, how could folks buy war bonds and pay their taxes next year? It’s too silly to need denial. So there! ./ . Just in case some of you folks missed the news stories, the salvage campaigners are asking us to step on those tin cans just a little harder, to save freight space for other purposes. ‘Step on ’em hard, but don’t take a hammer and hammer them shut. That's all,
Nurse’ Those Miles
TOM ROBERTS, the advertising man, has been doing a bit of research in preparation for gas rationing. He already knew his car would do 17 or 18 miles per gallon on the open road, but since most of his driving in the future will be in the city, he made a test to see what sort of mileage he was getting in town. He was horrified to discover it was only 10. Now he’s a likely prospect for a gas saving device salesman. Or would that be cheating. . . . The wind blew down a metal sign calling attention to Maritime Service enrollment the other day. Al Wheeler, in charge of the enrollment, reports that almost before he knew the sign was down, he received a
Washington
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15.—Little attention has been given to what looks like a most timely and construc-
tive proposal. It. comes from the Chinese foreign minister, T. V. Soong. It is that an executive council wl the united nations be set up as quickly as possible. Most of us have thought of this sort of thing as something that could be done after the war. ‘But Dr.- Soong points out that effective machinery for co-operation will have a better chance if it is put into action before the war is over, instead of afterward as was the case with the League of Nations. Your best chance of getting cooperation is while there is still doubt if the united nations can survive unless they co-operate. = Certainly all of the united nations have stronger and more immediate incentive to co-operate now than will be the case after victory. The allies are snapping av each other a good deal now, and it isn’t too good. We are still far from having a united nations as an entity, as something to attract the common loyalty of the people in each country. We all have a common enemy but . we lack cohesion. It must seem to Hitler as if he is fighting three separate nations instead of the united nations, and he certainly is doing his best’ to. encourage that division,
We Must Have a Policy
: . WOULD NOT the creation of an executive council of the united nations, some central body to provide more substance and form than now exists, help ng a stronger sense of duty? Would ‘it not ha both psychological and practical effect in strengthening our side now? It is not a matter of military ea-gperagion, which. we get through the combined
My Day
WASHINGTON, Wednesday. —I went up to: New York ‘city: on Monday afternoon to attend a meeting A re an people. My evening was a joy ause M Gellhorn ‘Hemingway, just returned Caribbean, ‘was in New York city and came “to dinner with me. She was full
of vivid impressions’ and interest- iv -ing, as always, about what she a
Toad
The pleasure of seeing: a friend’ i
mi a
phone call from the Indianapolis Welding Co. asking if they might replace it—free. They did, too.
Around the Town
HERMAN W. KOTHE, president of the Contemporary Club, is just getting his voice back after a tonsilectomy. . . . Dick Tucker, the News’ military affairs reporter, reports Oct. 24 for Volunteer Officer Corps training. . . . Corp. Al Beveridge was to return to Maxwell Field, Ala., today after a short furlough here. Friends say he looks like a new man— all tgnghened up. . . . Harry E. Jordan, former superintendent of purification department for the Indianapolis Water Co. and since 1936 secretary of the American Waterworks Association, was visiting friends around town yesterday. Dropped in and saw the boys and girls at the Water Company offices.
Customers’ Memories
THE GAS COMPANY, in its monthly Gas Flame, presents to its employees a thought that might be studied profitably by some other business folks around town. Says the utility: “Because of the war, it is increasingly ‘difficult to give customers the kind of
»
- service we want them to have. Besides, all of us are
emotionally upset and we are prone to say, or at least think: - “Look, customer, there is a war on,” and treat the customer accordingly. Do you think you could get away with it? In a pig’s eye you could. When it comes to arguments, customers have memories like elephants. They’ll remembe® discourteous treatment, rough’ talk, short answers and being pushed around. When the war is over, do you think this mistreated customer would go on doing business with us as if nothing had happened? Do you think she would remember that the trouble occurred during the war days of priorities, scarcities, rationing? In a pig’s eye she would.” ‘We aren't mentioning any names, but we hope this is read by some people around town who bite your head off when you ask for something they're out of. .
By Raymond Clapper
chiefs of staff. The need goes into the political field, into matters of high policy and the psychology of our side. : We know, furthermore, that problems of reconstruction will begin as, soon as territory is recaptured from the enemy. In France the united nations must have a policy for handling recovered territory, When Burma and the East Indies islands are retaken there must be a united : nations policy of dealing with them. Why would it not be Hoi preparation to have a going united nations concern, prepared to deal with these tasks, not as the! United States, Great Britain, Russia, China, or the Netherlands, or what nation, but as our side, as the united nations? % . :
A Visible, Central Agency
ALREADY CONSIDERABLE inter-allied machinery has been created piecemeal. The united nations have a number of administrative agencies already functioning. These are in the form of joint economic committees, joint production committees, combined rawmaterials, munitions and shipping: boards, and combined food and resources boards. In these we have the, beginnings of the kind of action machinery that- Sthe united nations must develop if it is to be anything more than a name. An executive council for the united nations would provide a visible, central agency that would begin to assimilate this kind of piecemeal activity into the nucleus of an international organization such as must exist if we-are to have any kind of law and order and intelligent restoration from the ruins that the war is creating. Meantime, intp such a central council “might be channeled some of the differences within the united nations that are beginning to get out of hand because they are being approached by long-range bombardment with open Jesters sud speeches instead of ‘in counc :
By Eleanor Roosevelt
seemed Jo whisper, “Stay with me now. tor soon a shall ‘forget my gentleness and bring you boisterous ‘winter winds.” / g “The China ald council, which ha Jed dhe
. American committee “for Chinese - war - orphans, has
just sent me a little booklet about the children of
By Ernie Pyle
YOU MAY HAVE wondered, in reading newspaper}
“3281 WAT! washington blvd, vice president of | re | the. Fletcher Trust lo} jeo
, Jimmy House and Amy Ann Foley, pupils at the Brookside kindergarten of the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten society, disassemble some cherished. toys to contribute to the nation’s scrap heap. It was a school project, a march of the young toward victory, : y
Paul Hoover casts a wistful, last glance back home at some which the children of the Brookside kindergarten threw on the natio:
scrap pile.
Then he drew them on to school 54.
FIGHT 9 DAYS
IN 1 BUILDING
Russians Find Pensioned Invalid Shot by Drunken Nazi Officer.
By M. S. HANDLER United Press Staff Correspondent MOSCOW, Oct. 15 (U. P.).—The
story of an amazing nine-day battle for a modern apartment building
on the outskirts of Stlaingrad—a|’
building that undoubtedly will go down in Russian history as a symbol of that city’s defense—was related today in a dispatch to the newspaper - Pravda. The battle for the structure was typical of hundreds of such engagements at Stalingrad. The building, of four stories, is windowless and its doors have been blown off. The corners have been shattered by bombs. But Russian machine guns, antitank guns and rifles point through the embrasures of the bricked up windows. Surrounding the building is a network of. trenches.
Seized by Germans
The story of the battle was related to Boris Polyevoy, special Pravda correspondent, + by Lieut. Tzvetkoff who was Russian commander inside the house. ’ The officer. said that the Germans captured the adjoining street in mid-September after intensive artillery and aerial attacks, and then ‘occupied the house. They dug a labyrinth of trenches in the inner courtyard and set up a strong artillery emplacement behind a pile of kindling wood. Russian guards counter-attacked, Polyevoy said, and reoccupied the street. They entered the house only by fighting their way up the stairs, and entrenched themselves hurriedly .to await the German counter-attack which came the following morning.
Found Dying Woman
The lieutenant said that. when he and his. men cleaned up the house in preparation for the new German assault he found a dying woman, covering the body of her 18-month-old grandson. She. was lying across the threshold of one apartment. Before she died, the woman, a pensioned invalid named Anna Kapustina, told her story to the Russian lieutenant. She said she had been trapped in her flat with the grandson and her 15-year-old daughter. When the Russians began to drive ‘the enemy from the house, she said, a drunken German officer rushed into her apartment and began emptying his pistol into the grandson’s bed. When she rushed at the officer he fired three bullets at her, and soldiers carried off the daughter. The woman reached the threshold
and collapsed.
ROSTER LISTED FOR RATION BOARD 49-8
The roster of nine rationing boards for Marion county®was completed today with opening of board 49-8 at ‘113 W. 30th st. The board will be in charge:of. north central district 2. Hours will. be .from 9 a. m. until noon and from 1 p. m. to 4 p. m. except Saturdays, when the . board will ‘be closed in the aft-} Boundaries of the district are:
East along 38th st. from White river
to College ave., south: to Fall creek, along Fall creek to Burdsal blvd, to: White river ‘and ‘along White river to 38th st. Residents: will get permits at their local board for all
rationed products. Chairman of the board is W. H.
Morrison, 3601 N. Pennsylvania st.
real estate dealer. Mem-
are 4 H. PF. Clippinger,
:
lll. Hell's Elbow on the Volga
By LELAND STOWE . Copyright, 1942, by The Indienapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.
WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE RZHEV FRONT. '—We had vodka for breakfast and then I met the lieuten-
ant-colonel from Hell's
Elbow.
However often and shamefully I may friilate the gopher when bombs or shells sound like they have my name engraved on them, let it still be recorded that, once at least, I found the courage to down a full glass of
Vodka before breakfast.
"(Kindly forget to mention the farther fact that I failed ‘Regimental Commissar Pavlov completely when he insisted that my appetite would be much better on
two glasses than on one!) - Anyway, even at 7:30 in the morning, it would be a shriveled ‘soul, indeed, who wouldn’t drink a toast to the officer who commanded
Hell’s Elbow. "Lieut. Col. Polevoi is one of the outstanding heroes of Capt. Emma’s outfit. When we sat down to breakfast in the headquarters: dugout, the. lieutenant colonel had’just come back from ‘a night in'Hell’s Elbow, across the Volga. I strongly suspect that Guard Col. Shafranov had called him back just so I could see what kind of commander his front-line troops have. The colonel has plenty of reason to be proud.
» » »
600 Raids in One Day
ABOVE AND BELOW Rzhev, the Volga twists and bends. One of these sharp little hairpins is Hell's Elbow. It is about a mile and one half wide, and only a little deeper than that—but it is on the German-held bank of the Volga and, as such, was a nasty advance position for the Nazis’ fire. More than a month ago, Leiut. Col. Polevoi led his men across the Volga and in a desperate thrust they drove the Nazis out of Hell's Elbow. But that was only the beginning. In this narrow rectangle, the Russian attacking troops had absolutely no cover except German trenches and dugouts which were all facing the wrong way. They had to dig in themselves, even as they fought thelr way to the base of the Elbow—and then the: Nazis’ fierce and persistent counter- ks began. The Germans poured artillery shells, ‘mortars and bombs onto the narrow strip of land held by red army soldiers. They did it for days and then for weeks. On one of the most terrible days, Nazi bombers made more than 600 flights over Hell's Elbow in 24 hours. They concentrated terrific artillery fire and then sent in tanks and infantry in recurrent waves. To any rationalminded outsider — you remember how it was not rational for the Poles, Norwegians, Greeks or Jugoslavs to fight?—it would have seemed that the little band on Hell’s Elbow was certainly doomed. “Our men never gave up a yard
of soil,” Guard Col. Shafrangv 1
said, with the phantom of
* smile. ® 8 =
‘By Moral Force’ oFROM THE FIRST moment I
had been struck by Lieut, Col.
Polevol’s face. The nose, the cheekbones, the jaw, sharp: As if chiseled ‘out of granite, It was a slightly haggard face, but his. gray-blue eyes ‘held- you whenever. he spoke. ‘He
is a Ukrainian in his late 30's.
He locks lke a blade of Toledo
all were:
lieutenant-colonel repeated: “By moral force.” I thought of those people, including Mr. Lindbergh, who in the winter and spring of 1941 were saying that both Britain and the United States could never outbuild Germany in fighting planes and Polevoi’s words echoed in my head: “By moral force.”
Those who said it couldn’t be
done had néver been to Hell's El- -
bow—nor would hey: ever get there,
17 Yards From Enemy
“BUT, I UNDERSTAND you had no natural protection to begin with,” I-said to the lieutenant colonel. He smiled. “That’s right. But we made fortifications. We dug trenches and improved them. Do you know, there’s one spot where our most advanced trenches: are only 17 yards from the enemy? And in another place, the Nazis are less than 50 yards away? But that’s an advantage. When you get really close to Fritz, .he can’t bomb ‘you without bombing . his own troops. And, you know, the German infantryman has very little heart for attacking. unless their bombers can pave the way.” The colonel had promised that I would get a chance to talk with some. Russian anti-tank men who had contributed greatly toward holding Hell's Elbow in more than one month of repeated attacks. Now they came filing into the dugout, led by a young Are menian lieutenant of 27—a dozen hard-muscled, grime-covered soldiers who had been in front-line positions only an hour before and had only had snatches of sleep for a week or more. » " ”
13 Men Stop 14 Tanks
The ‘Armenian lieutenant was a little fellow as straight as a ramrod, with burning black eyes, black hair and a tiny black moustache to match. In their last major engagement, his group of 13 had destroved 14 German tanks and in one fight the lieutenant had knocked out five tanks himself. He spoke very briefly, withe out any frills or any dramatic in
__cidents for decoration.
“My men use anti-tank rifles, but in our unit, of course, we also have anti-tank cannon, The Fascists started their last attack at 4 in the morning. Then*we counterattacked and we demolished nine of their 18 tanks. After that, the Germans retreated but they tried again about 40 minutes later. We were ready and this time we destroyed five “more tanks. Since then the enemy has not made another tank attack—not for four days, now.” I noticed that the ‘Armenian lieutenant wore two wound stripes. In this small group of his from Hell's Elbow were privates who spoke Tartar, Bashkir, Ukrainian and Georgian. With the lieutenant’s native Armenian and other Russian tongues, that made six different native languages in this group of 13 men. That is one of « the extraordinary things about the Red army. It is made up of very many races and some of its men, from the deep interior of the Soviet Union, may speak Russian haltingly, yet soldiers of every origin have distinguished themselves for valor in this war, 2 x » :
Shoots Tanks at 400 Yds.
Among the group was onesbulletheaded, high-cheekboned bundle of iron named Asonov. He was a Tartar and also wore a wound stripe. ' He .-was obviously much more used to fighting battles than telling about them. All -he would Say was, “I saw five German tanks coming at my position. They were more than 400 yards away, maybe 500 yards, when I started shooting at them. I got two of them, one after the other.” Lieut. ‘Col. Polevoi intervened, as if afraid that a false impression would be created: “That's an unusually long range from which to knock. out a tank with an antitank rifle,” he said. “A really first class shot can do it. Usually, though, you have to have Siem closer than that.” . The Armenian lieutenant had one more thing on his mind: “The Germans lose courage as soon as you destroy a few of their tanks,” he said. “When they see their neighboring tanks burning, they always turn tail and run. We know that if we get a few of them, they’ll be finished.” The dugout’s windows had been rattling oc-' casionally while we talked. For some time both the Russian and ‘German artillery had opened :up along the front. Now these youngsters would be going back to Hell's
. Elbow across the Volga. - Before
leaving, Lieut. Col. Polevoi told how the Russians’ defense of Hell's Elbow seemed to have the, Nazis buffaloed. “All through September, the Fascists used to make seven or eight attacks per day, and always with tanks, of course,” he said. “But their losses mounted steadily and the Germans don’t like to have to pay dearly for what they can't get. Our men’s resistance has never been broken. So late-
Here's Why the Navy Needs Its Share of War Funds
'
Among other changes brought by the attack on Pearl Harbor was the disruption of a 122-year tradition among navy men. “The navy takes care of its own!” was the relief policy of the men-in-blue since 1820. ; But when 2340 . navy men . were killed and 946 injured within a few hours on Dee. 7, the emergency
was too great Bo aie Na Relief society, which in 1941. had $500,000. That's why she
Jopresentsd , more casualties than during the entire period of - the navy’s participation in world war I and the Spanish-American war. ‘It’s only “temporary,” this bid for public ' support, and the amount asked from the fund here is only
$35,000 With the amount, and ‘the bal-
ance ‘of the $5,000,000 subscribed in| the U. 8S, here’s what the navy will:
do for its victims:
Grant emergency funds ‘to desti- | tute families of navy men.
. Extend loans to navy men to meet emergency problems at home.
Care for Dependents Continued care for the navy
»War,
ly, the Germans have been shows ing very few tanks in our secte They're lying low again now. * doubt if they'll try another ma attack until they think they got a big superiority in forces.” » » » :
‘Safe in This Weather”
I SHOOK HANDS with one all and said good luck in Russi quite a number of times. seemed futile, really, to try to: anything. No, I couldn't go in them or have a look at Hell's a bow because ‘the general's 0 were, categorical. The R interpretation of hospitality ine cludes safety for any visitor in & war zone—at least the elimination of any exceptional or unnecessary risks. I shook hands last with Lieut. Col. Polevoi. As he and his men filed out of the dugout, I thought what providential good fortune if is to have officers and men li this fighting on your side in & You can always find allies. You cannot always find armies. Guard Col. Shafranov, Commisg= sar Pavlov and I went up to look around. It was an overcast morn= ing and the front, where firin y was crackling steadily, wa shrouded in mists. i “You: can stand around h i without danger today,” said the colonel. “The German artillery’s observation posts can’t see us in this weather.” 1 confessed to my hosts that T
would like to be able to describe Li
this captured Nazi dugout where I had spent the night with them, but was afraid that my description, read by some spy abroad, might possibly give the Nazis & clue as to where to direct their shellfire — even though almost everything in these uptorn bads lands looked pretty much alike. The colonel and commissar both laughed: “They know it already,” PaviQy. croaked, cheerfully. “Sure, : can write it. We get bombel practically every day, anyway.”
‘Football Rivals Vie in Orchard
SEATTLE, Wash, Oct. 15 : P.).—The University of Washs ington and Washington State. cols lege extended their traditi rivalry on the gridiron into the orchard today for a four-day ple picking contest. The team must pay off in milkshak Quarterbacking the Washingt State squad was Leroy Bradbu president of the student body, telegraphed the challenge for & contest based on the ave quantity picked per student. At the university, Kirby Tor rance, president of the stu body, already was recruiting stu: dents to help meet the shortage of labor in the fruit growing j where orchardists. are trying’ save a $60,000,000 crop. The u versity’s reply: “If we can beat you on gridiron we can beat you in fi orchard. We will bet the Cou pickers milkshakes.” _ Student recruiting gents trolled the campus with si “Join the apple core.”
HOLD EVERYTHING