Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 April 1943 — Page 15
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IF SDAY, APRIL , 1943
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Hoosier Vagabond
"NORTH APRICA—The American's love for ets Rever ceases to delight me. We are a people who are , fundamentaily kind to animals, You'd be surprised
at how many nationalities aren't. pout soldiers over here are shocked--I' ve heard i them remark on it a hundred times—at the way the Arabs mistreat their dogs and burros. You'd laugh if you could see the collection of pets at one camp "I visited recently. There were countless dogs, several cats, one gazelle, one monkey, two or three rabbits, a burro, and believe it or not, half a dozen chickens. A gazelle, as somebody said, is a cross between a jackrabbit and i a moose. Actually it's a tiny, dolllike deer, delicate and dainty, and Sands no higher than a big'dog. . You've heard of the pgazelle’s speed. They say they've been clopked at 60 miles an hour. They run wild in the mountains near here, and the French hunt them with shotguns. Many of our officers have fone, on gazelle-hunting trips. Personally I could no more shoot one of them than I could a friendly dog. About the cutest dog on the post is a fuzzy little mongrel called “Ziggie,” which belongs to Corp. Robert Pond of Denver. He paid 500 francs for it. . When the American actresses were in Africa, Ca-
~ ole Landis took Bob's dog in her arms and asked if
she ‘could take it home with her. Seems she has two Great Danes and wanted a little dog to go with them.
{ Bob, coolly superior to glamour, said “No.”
| All Kinds of Beards
i 4
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} i § : I i * i 8 § Mar ¢
I HAPPENED to fall in with four young lieutenants of a bomber crew who had recently arrived from America. They had been on three missions in their first 10 days, and had got shot up every time. Not shot down—just shot up. : ‘The third time one engine was knocked out, and
S id rudder fell clear off just as they landed at the i
By Ernie Pyle|
home airdrome. They really started get ting their thrills in a hurry. I asked them whether this sudden taste of violent adventure pepped pen up or whether they were beginning to wonder. They laughed and said their only feeling was one of regret and annoyance that their plane would be out of commission for a few days. The four were Pilot Ralph Keele, a Salt Lake City Mormon, Copilot William Allbright of Western Springs, Ill, Navigator Robert Radcliff of Richland Center, Wis, and Bombardier Eugene Platek of Antigo, Wis. The soldiers have grown such a crop of beards that you think you've driven into one of our Western towns just the week before the annual Pioneér Days celebration, Over here Hollywood could find every type of beard that ever existed. Some are big and fierce, some blond and curly, some wispy and foolish, some of the sourdough kind, others as prim and sharp as a boule-
vardier’s. You'll even find the old Irish-type jaw-|
whiskers. I let mine grow for two weeks but nobody noticed it, so I gave up.
Not in Combat Zone?
IN ALL this area near the front there is no such thing as a post exchange. The army instead issues free such necessities as cigarets, soa, razor blades and so on. But at one forward post the other day I tried to get some tooth powder, and was told disgustedly by the sergeant that there wasn’t any, because we weren't in the combat zone. “Not in the combat zone?” I said with astonishment. “Who says we're not?” “Some guy at some desk far, far away,” he said. “I don’t know where he SuDects us to get in, in the! first place, and in the s lace I wish he were here & few nights when Sin start whistling. I'll bet you couldn’t get him out of & slit-trench all night. Not in the combat zone! “Nuts!”
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
MARY SINCLAIR read about the troubles several families have been having with robins fighting their geflection in window panes and phoned us with a remedy. “Tell them to soap the window with bon ami ifres sv); she said. “It worked after we had
tried everything else we could think of to stop a cardinal from batting his brains out against a window pane.” If that doesn’t work, you might try removing the glass, Mrs. H. W. Oberlies, one of the victims, phoned to say she thinks she is making progress in discouraging her p particular robin, She says she stands By the window and everytime s es the robin start for the window, she slaps the glass with a newspaper. ae A Mrs. Gibbs phoned her to suggest that tying a kerosene rag on the window stopped bird that had been flying against her window. . . . ha phoned ration board 49-6 the other day and id her husband had been in the army quite a while and could the board please give him a furlough? They said they were sorry—no furloughs. . . , Clapp’s Market in Irvington lists pork, beef, lamb and veal on its window, ‘then adds {acetiously: “Buy all you
§ pe buy.”
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en ema
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When the Lights Go On—
YOU'RE LISTENING to the Navy Salute proover WISH at 1:30 p. m. tomorrow, youll hear the song: “When the lights go on again all over the world.” The song is being played as an Indianapolis sailor's nostalgic greeting to his daughter on her 17th birthday. The sailor is Charles Behrman, a first class baker, somewhere with the fleet. The daughter is Betty Ann Behrman, 3238 N. Graceland. Mr. Behrman wrote the station last month and requested the
. song be played. It's against the censorship rules tq
play request numbers at a specific time—enemies of our country might send messages to each other in that manner. However, stirred by the request, Yeo-
| Washington
WASHINGTON, April 1.—As President Roosevelt has indicated, the next step is to reach the same accord with Russia that now exists with Great Britain gs a result of the visit of Anthony Eden. And after that a meeting of minds with China. This is not a matter of treaties or formal agreements, but of a general meeting of minds on some fundamentals, on the direction in which we want to go. For instance, with regard to Germany, there are two broad courses that might be followed when the defeat comes. One course would be to try the same policy used after the last war and set up a new German republic. . That course is not favored on the basis of past ex- . ‘The other course is to divide Germany up. is what we favor. It is what the British favor. is ‘what. Germany's neighbors, such;as the Dutch, vor. It is what Stalin has indicated he favors. Many Difficult Questions Arise THAT WAS ONE of the big subjects of the Eden ~ eonversations here. As a result of the general con- ~ gensus that this was the line of approach to follow, work can now go forward on tentative studies of how such a policy might be applied. Ri dozens of difficult questions arise intly. ‘What is to be done during the first three or four gonths after German resistance collapses? + What 1s to be done about German heavy industry? Shall it be broken up, or allowed to exist under policing to see that it is not used as the foundation for ¢ German rearmament?
a marie , Wash, cpaitaysls victory aides in laa of Minnesota are organized to cover every in the cities and fixed areas in the rural districts, © Their first duty is the dissemination of injormation. They are expected to distribute. any literature that comes out. They - are the oniés who tell their neigh‘bors anys information about the various war, drives, whether it is the e gathering of scrap, paper or
hey may be. asked ‘to do any ta moment's notice. The
, just neighbors 4 k. Nevertheless, the : te of the work accomis tremendous. Late yesterday afternoon, i v Dillon and the city of Min.
man 2/c Bob McConnell of navy - and formerly with WISH got special permission from Washington after writing to Mr. Behrman te verify the fact he is a sailor, and not a spy. . . . Incidentally, the Hi Sailor broadcast now has its piano. The boss at Kile's Motor express read where a piano had been loaned to the navy.by Mrs. Katheryn Bicknell but that a truck was needed to haul it. So le sent a truck right away and got the piano.
Blame the Printer
SEVERAL OF OUR agents have been inquiring why we haven't said anything about a sign on some of the streetcars with an yngrammatical reference to doing something to “we war workers.” To fell the truth, we were all set to tell you about it until we opened our mail a couple of days ago. There were
several letters taking us to task for pur use in last EN
Friday's column of the word “insignias. ” One of our sharpshooters, Lorena Denham, remarked: “From my school days I seem to remember thaf insigne is the singular and insignia, plural. Am I right?” You are singularly correct, Lorena. Confidentially, our error was all the fault of the printer who sets this copy: He usually corrects our mistakes, but this time he slipped. So blame him.
A Pat on the Back
THE RED CROSS gets a nice pat on the back in|"
a letter from Pfc. Art Phegley, the former Haag drug stores’ auditor, who is over in Africa. He says: “The Red Cross is doing a good job here jor the enlisted men. service center; decent rooms and accommodations: good, inexpensive meals, and marly recreational facilities. I went on a Red Cross tour last Sunday which proved quite fascinating. We visited the tombs of the ancient kings in the area called ‘Sakhara.’ These tombs are built underground and are wonderfully preserved through the centuries. Their artisanship, their ingenuity end their picture language is greatly to be admired. It is not too difficult to follow the deeds of the king as depicted iri pictures—that Is, with the help of the guide.”
By Raymond Clapper
What are to be the trade relations hetween the various states? What currency controls? What kind of supervision by the united nations? As President Roosevelt says, no advance decisions can be made with finality. Nobody knows what the conditions will be at the end ‘of the fighting. We can only prepare for some of the possible conditions, and have our general direction definitely in mind. The allies are determined upon a complete victory over Germany, Last time there was no march to Berlin. This time the united naticns armies will march into Berlin, -
First Task: Fighting the War
WHILE THE POST-WAR conversations and studies go forward, it is emphasized kere that President Roosevelt is still spending most of his time upon what he considers by far the most urgent task—that of fighting the war. He considers tha far from completed. Talk of what is to be done with {he vigtory, important as it is, yet falls far back in second place in the budget of the president’s personal attention, Above all this government is not interested at this time in the boundary claims of various countries. They are only of secondary interest in America anyway. Our main interest is in having 4 stable Europe. We want some arrangement over there that will not explode again and draw us ina third time. ‘ We decidedly are not going out to crusade for every minority in Europe. Some of those countries are using their leverage among their foreign-born populations in this country to put on political heat through senators and representatives. The Poles are very active in this regard. : Emphasis here at the moment is on driving the Germans out'of those overrun countries, rather than trying to untangle the age-old and hopelessly mixedup boundary questions.
By Eleanor Roosevelt
They had on exhibition many of the garments they have been making. I must say it was interesting to see the boxes all packed ready to go out, because in my mind's eye,-I could see what they would mean to the people of Great Britain when they had made their journey across the ocean. Afterha quiet ‘dinner with Miss En t and her two we went to the auditorium for the meeting honoring the St. Paul victory aides. They filled the hall and I was astounded at the number—some four thousand. Governor Stassen was present and introduced me. In both Minneapolis and St. Paul a group of WAACS were inducted. This was the first time I had seen these girls take their oath and I thought the cere-
mony very nice. I could not help thinking how diff¢rent it was for # girl in Great Britain to enter a service of this kind. In all probability, unless she went far overseas, she
would never be more than a night's journey away
They have’ turned one of the hotels into a
WIR
SECOND. SECTION _
U.S. Pushing Plans for Heavy Japan Bombing
Gigantic Problems of Supply and Dictarce Being Slowly Solved
This is the third of a series of articles by A. T. Steele who has
Just returned from the Far East. By A. T. ST
STEELE
Copyright, 1943, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Ine. IN THE BOMBARDMENT of questions which assails anyone who has just returned to the United States from China, there is one query which recurs with monotonous regularity: Why aren’t we bombing Japan? . Looking at a map, where Japan and China seem almost to touch, it does appear that hitting at Japanese cities from our bases in China should offer no insuperable
difficulties. But te the men are measured in hundreds
on the spot, where distances of miles instead of inches,
where supply problems are agonizing and where big airdromes are few and vulnerable, the task of striking deep
into Japan’s vitals looms up for what it is—a_ job of truly formidable dimen-
sions. ‘There is, however, a silver lining to this dilemma. Preparations for heavier and more frequent bombing" of important Japanese bases are going forward. During the coming months, our air force will range farther and plunge deeper into the core of Japanese military and naval power than ever before. The promise has been made to China, and it will
| Scale of Miles
Here are some choice bombing
| targets which soon mniay come
within the range of American planes.
PROTEST RISE IN LIVING GOST
Consumer Group Delegation Appeals to Brown For Action.
WASHINGTON, April 1 (U. P.). —A delegation of 50 men and women representing consumers’ organizations, -local office of civilian de~ fense grpups, and women’s clubs, yesterday appealed to Price Administrator Brown and members of congress to prevent further rises in costs of living. Their program included immediate rationing of scarce commodities, uniform regional price ceilings, subsidies fo farmers and processors where necessary to keep prices down, grade labeling of canned goods, and giving consumers a ‘voice in the government on planning and enforcing rationing. 7 Most of the delegates were from New York; Newark, N. J, Chicago and Columbus, O. : Dr, Colston E. Warne, president of Consumers Union, New York, said the delegation was sponsored by the Council of Organized Consumers,
according to the delegation’s literature, were the New York City Consumers council, the American Women's Volun y Servicés, the National Maritime Union auxiliary, the "Mothers’
{rom home. Our g will travel miore than that
Langue of Mame Ye cluby, C. L O. industrial
be kept, despite impressive obstacles : . . Few Carriers to Risk
UNLESS CARRIERS are used —and we have few to risk for such a purpose—the bombing of Japanese bases is, first of all, a problem of supply. For long range bombing of this kind, you must have heavy bombers, or medium bombers especially equipped for long-distance flying. These bombers, when they can be spared from other more urgent fronts, have to be flown 15,000 miles before they even reach their base of operation. All gasoline, all personnel and all maintenance equipment required to keep these huge craft flying have to be flown into China from India, which is the nearest point that can be reached by ship and train. Most bombs also have to be carried by air into China, often for distances as great as 1000 or 1500 miles, to ‘reach only the points from which the bombing missions can begin. Chinese arsenals produce limited quantities of light and medium bombs, but cannot begin to sup- . ply the needs of any large-scale bombing offensive. In: the second place, bombing Japanese bases is a problem of distance. There are Chinese troops within 900 miles of Tokyo, but that doesn’t mean that there are suitable airdromes that close to the enemy capital. Any attempt to : construct such facilities in guerrilla areas behind the Jap--anese lines would inevitably provoke attack from Japanese ground forces which could reach and wipe out such installations with ease. The most advanced Chinese airfields capable of accommodating heavy bombers are still well over 1000 miles from Tokyo. 8 » »
Some Easier Targets
THERE ARE, of course, many Japanese bases closer at hand which can be bombed with ease and with damaging effect if we can get the planes to China in sufficient quantities to do the job. Our present air force in China is much smaller than most Americans suppose. Because of this and because of supply difficulties, it has had to limit its operations to nearby objectives. - The effective attacks on Hongkong, Canton and Haiphong and the da aging raids on Japanese ‘are only a sample of what American pilots will be doing in China when they get the
8 »
CHINA FRONT
White ci HAINANGYSH | Fighting fronts. |
3
ps | lontsin:
IHOPEH Le ba anen
PHO Kwangchowgn Y (Fr. hog Ta
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MANCHUK Seized Japs in 193)
JO
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KOREA Gulf of Pohoi
ISHANTLING
M A ————
A general map of China showing possible bombing bases which “could be used by the United States,
struction of the powerhouse controlling the mines—but as a morale booster, its effect on the Chinese in occupied regions was electric. Many fine targets lie within less than 1000 miles of Chinese bases, Japanese bases on the island of Formosa and Japanese installations at Nanking, Shanghai, Tientsin and Peking are within easy flight. Manchuria, the great continental ‘base of the Japanese army, is also within practical range. The day will certainly come when American bombers will be striking regularly at such major bases as Dairen and Mukden. In Manchuria and North China are situated some of Japan’s biggest mines and largest industries. That area is Japan’s major source of iron. "The biggest coal mine in the Japanese empire is only a few miles from Mukden. Near Mukden, too, are arsenals and aircraft’ factories. In western Japan, inside the practical radius of flight for heavy bombers, are such centers of industry and shipping as Nagasaki and Shimonoseki.
THE DOOLITTLE RAID on Tokyo, though highly successful, was expensive and demonstrated what a tough job of planning and execution such a project involves. But it has been done once and can be done again. I wonder if it is generally realized what a terrible vengeance was wreaked not on the Americans but on the Chinese. It was as a direct result of the Tokyo raid that the Japs launched their offensive last summer in Chekiang province, eastern China, which must rank as one of the bloodiest and most barbaric chapters of the whole China war. Their object was to capture and destroy Chinese airdromes which
tools to work with. The longest ‘they believe the American pilots
American raid out of China, so far, was the attack on the Kailan coal mines, in extreme northern China. It failed of its purpose—the de-
By PAUL GHALI 1 CO hea Deas auapolis Times
BERNE, Apgil 1—Statistics emanating from neutral and even allied sources, concerning the diminution of Germany’s war production as a sequel to royal air force raids, should be viewed with extreme caution. That . is the opinion .of an eyewitness of :the latest. Berlin air raids, just arrived here. This informant, when confronted with figures given by observers here, simply shrugged his shoulders and de-, scribed them as mere wishful thinking, adding that if the bombings have wrought havoc in the minds and mordle of the German people, their effect on the Nazi war potential has been up to now relatively small, This traveler, ‘who lett Berlin after fithe terrific March 1 bombardment— the latest ones, according to reliable sources, have been far less effective—discloses that neither East nor North Berlin, nor the important industtial district, has been
had tried to reach and from which future raids on Tokyo might have been possible. The Japs pillaged and burned nearly every town and village in
Kinhwa may be handy for U.S. bombers when the all-out offensive starts against the Nipponese homeland.
their path, They raped indiscriminately. They turned their horses to graze on the peasants’ crops and ruined what was left. They carried off or destroyed stores of food and grain. They made bonfires of farming imple.ments. They killed recklessly. In the course of their advance, they subjected undefended cities to incessant and murderous bombardment, for no other purpose, apparently, than to show their spite against the men who had dared to fly over the palace of their emperor.
# ” ”
City Bombed for 21 Days
THE CITY OF LISHUI, site of one of the airports from which Tokyo could have been raided, was bombed for 21 consecutive, days, until more than 60 per cent of its buildings had been laid flat. Once they had captured the airdromes, the Japs cut them to pieces with ‘long deep parallel trenches, for which, of course, they used press gangs of Chinese peasants and villagers. Then they ~ withdrew. :Not for many months
will East China recover from that
Bombs Fail to Wreak Havoc in Nazi War
Production, Says Traveler From Berlin
vals. Between each raid, exper|duction plants, nor the Skoda armf-
teams of Nazi workers have had time to put things right agpin, regular . production being only interrupted for a few days. 2. When the allies believe that they have hit important factories in -the Rhineland and the Ruhr, they have very ofteh only hit dummy factories. For nearly a year now, the Nazis have been transferring their vital centers of production to Saxony, Silesia or Austria. Other important air factories have been transferred from Rostock to: Hungary, where they feel perfectly safe. - Neither the Leuna Werke, most important of all synthetic oil pro-
HOLD EVERYTHING
ments factories in former Czechoslovakia have ‘yet been . hit. So confident are all these plants in their security that they are lit up by night as though R. A. FP. bombings were just a grandmother’s tale. 3. The reason for the relatively little destruction of the Nazi war potential is the efficiency of the flak protecting the few factories remaining in the danger zones. Travelers from Germany unanimously insist, perhaps not without some slight touch of propaganda, on the extreme efficiency of the new German Vierlings flak, composed of four guns mounted on the same movable frame.
Moral Effect Bad Finally, it. must be emphasized that if Germany's. war production figures have not yet reached a record low level, despite R. A. F. and American bombings, it is because practically all Europe works for
| | Germany today. When one factory|
is blown to pieces in the Rhineland,
HE
orgy of vengeful destruction. Obviously, one of the Japanese aims was so to terrorize the Chinese population that they would resist any jgeffort to re-establish bomber bases in their territory. Similar tactics have been employed in Southeast China, where there has been much indiscriminate bombing accompanied by leaflet raids in which the people were warned, in effect, that “this is what happens to Chinese who give help to American pilots.” But the Chinese are not easily intimidated.
tJ 8
Arnold Makes a Promise
FREE CHINA has numerous airdromes, scattered = over her whole area, but very few of these are large enough or sufficiently well equipped to serve as bases for heavy bombing * operations. That's another reason why the bombing offensive against Japan has been slow in starting. Moreover, unless sufficient fight er planes are made available to protect these fields, they are vulnerable. The more bases there are, the better will be the opportunity of playing hide-and-seek with. the numerically superior enemy. Because of our numerical weakness in the China skies, our air force there has had no other choice but to adopt hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. When Gen. Henry H. (Hap) Arnold, chief of the American army air force, went to Chungking to report to Gen. Chiang Kai-shek on Casablanca, he was able to study American airsproblems there at first hand. Gen. Arnold promised China that the volume of airborne supplies would ' be stepped up, that more airplanes would be sent and that bombing operations would be intensified. These promises are on thg way to fulfillment, though world strat: egy, with its emphasis on Europe, puts limitations on the amount of help - that can be assigned to China at this stage of the war.
(TOMORROW: | Why China cannot take offensive.)
HOTELS ASK 2 MEATLESS DAYS
Places in National
Capital.
WASHINGTON, April 1 (U. P.).— Hotel operators have asked the District of Columbia.board of commissloners to order two meatless days
a week fof all public eating establishments here. ‘Pointing out that a movement is on foot in New York to set aside a second meatless day, and that the national society of restaurateurs is advocating the idea on a nation. wide scale, the hotel tion said such; an order would help people get ted to meat rationing and scarcity of supply. ‘The two meatless days would be exclusive of Fridays, a religious fast day for many persons. The hotels’ request has met opposition. from