Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 April 1943 — Page 13
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VEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1943 |
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3 Hoosier Vagabond
NORTHERN TUNISIA (By Wireless) —Africa is - 8 strange’ country, and this war is very little like the fast war in France. ‘Yet here, too, many an Amerfcan sleeps beneath a field of poppies—poppies so red ud Vivid that their beauty is strangely saddening. The desert battlefields and the northern battle ground, too, are alive now with flowers. They grow wild, in patches as thick as grass blanketing solid acres. They grow ‘together in vast stretches of red, yellow and orange, all of it framed by the lush green, of new
grass *Eveh the dullest spirits among us can’t help being touched by their ironical loveliness. ms : 1 have stopped now and then : ; ts see some. of the battle graveig yards. The ‘Germans bury their dead in small cenie- . teries along the roadsides, but we concentrate in ‘fewer and bigger graveyards, usually on the edge of some town, Arabs are hired to dig the graves.
Wooden Crosses Rise in Rows
AT GAFSA there is an American cemetery with more than 600 graves. It is in desert-like country, and the graves are aligned in precise rows in the naked gray earth. Each is marked with a Waist-high wooden Cross.
In a nearby tent is a great pile of ready-made crosses, and a stack of newly carpentered wooden markers in the form of the Star of David, for the Jewish dead. As all the American dead in the Gafsa area have been ‘located and reburied in the permanent grave- | yard, this cemetery section “will move on to other fronts. The little German cemeteries are always bordered with rows of white rocks, and in some there will be a phrase neatly spelled out in white rocks
By Ernie Ple|
with a border around it. One that I remmenber said, in rough. translation: “These dead gave: their ‘spirits for the glory of Greater Germany.”
In one German cemetery of about a hundred graves
“we found 11 Americans. They lay among the Ger-
mans, not segregated in any way. Their grayes are identical with those of the Germans except that beneath the names on the wooden crosses is printed “Ameriganer, » ‘and below that the army serial number. We presume their “dog tags” were buried with them. Te
Markers May Be Booby Traps
ON ONE of the graves, beneath the solder’s serial number, is also printed: “T-40." The Germans apparently thought that ‘was part of his number.
‘Actually it only sowed that the man had had his first anti-tetanus shot in 1940.
My friend Sgt. Pat Donado of Pittsburgh was
-with me when we looked at this graveyard, and as ‘we left he said:
“They respect our dead the same as we do theirs. It’s comforting to know that.” We also came upon a number of Italian graveyards set out in fields. These graves, too, were well marked, and each had a bouquet of wilted marigolds. At the side of one little Italian cemetery, which was beautifully bordered and decorated, were half a dozen additional graves, apparently dug at the last minute before the retreat. They were just rough mounds, unmarked except for an empty quart wine bottle stuck up-side down at the head of each grave. Inside the hottles we could see scraps of paper, apparently with the dead Italians’ name and numbers on them. Naturally we wouldn’t violate these graves by pulling out the bottles, but even if our inclination had been rowdy we would have - been]. afraid to. There are rumors, which I have not been able to
verify, that such grave-marking bottles are sometimes
booby traps.
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
. ‘HAROLD H. BREDELL, the Jawyer, who left here recently to take a position in Washington with the American Bar .association, was in New York recently and called on Ensign Hal Woodward, inviting him to dinner. Woodward had eaten but said he’d go along : for a sandwich. Mr. Bredell picked a -nice looking place; a French restaurant. It was Chambord’s. They ‘couldn’t make much cout of the menu, as it was in French. Theh down at the bottom they saw something in English that made their hair curl. It was a note: “$4.50 minimum per person.” After much fidgeting, they got up nerve enough to leave. As . an anticlimax, they wound up in a place where they had to pay $2.50 each. . .. A dog poisoner is reported to have been at work in the area around 19th and Brookside. At least two dogs have died, it’s reported, and some suspected hamburger was found in a yard. A veterinarian determined that one of the dogs was poisoned hy arsenic. Now the parents of small children in the neighborhood are fearful some of the little tots ‘may touch poisoned meat and then put their hands in their mouths.
A Word From the Judge
WE'VE RECEIVED lots of letters from folks commenting on the recent story about the ruckus aboard a St. Louis ‘streetcar when a motorman. called a pas.genger a “Hodsier” and got his head shoved through the window by the passenger. The judge, you'll recall, fined the motorman $100 and said he'd do the same thing as the passenger if someone called him a “Hoosier.” Several writers point out that thére’s : difference . between the word, “hoosier;’ and the nickname, “Hoosier.” The only letter we're going to quote is from George J. Grellner, judge of municipal court 2 in St. Louis, the man who fined the motorman. Judge Grellner relieves us Hoosiers with the statement the facts were misunderstood. The motorman, he says, was “using the name ‘Hoosier’ in a sarcastic and defamatory way for almost everybody who
Finland WASHINGTON, Api 28.—Americans watch with regret the drift toward a break in American-Finnish gelations. Our friendship for the Finns is wide and deep. We like them as people, respect their sense of responsibility and honor in paying their debts, and admire their democratic struggle to maintain inde.pendence . in a position which makes them the victims of geography. Our sympathy ‘went out to " them when they were first attacked by Russia, and later when the Germans moved into their country as alleged allies. Understanding the tragic para= dox which placed that freedom- : * loving people on the side of Hitfer and against our Russian and British allies, Washn has been slow in forcing a showdown, hoping the Pinns might find a way to withdraw from the war before it was too late. . To complete the paradox, Finland's trusted sister nation, Sweden, is now threatening to fire on Nazi forces which have been attacking her neutral sub‘marines and mining her waters. So both Swedish and American friendship for Finland are involved in the situation.
Break Would Be Bitter
: THE UNITED STATES, informally at least, has tried at various times to help Finland find a way out. Recently it was reported that we had offered to ‘help her open peace negotiations with Russia, Now our government—which the Finns consider their best friend among the large powers—is indicating -impatience over the Finnish policy, and talk of an open break follows the recall from Helsinki of all our legation staff ‘except the charge d'affaires and two
It is devoutly to be wished that this bitter cup may be avoided. For it would indeed be bitter for
as well as for Finland. - So, speaking in the spirit of all those peacetime
My Day
. 108 ANGELES, Cal, Tuesday —Last ‘Saturday i we reached Deming, N. M., leaving an overa trip from Phoenix, Ariz. We deposited GH ge 8 ack Bel i remem om a: previous ‘trip trip with my husband. This small town hasn’t changed much in 20 years. We wafidered down the street and went into a little restaurant for our morning ‘coffee and the pleasure of shaking
‘hands and talking briefly with a
number of citizens. I only wish I could have seen more people in : Deming, for I know how many : anxious hearts there must be | waiting even. now to have final
news of who to0k part in the fighting on Corregidor. :
one they cared about,
boarded the streetcar. I am sure no one would like to have Indianans referred to in such a manner and I so informed the defendant at the time....I was merely endeavoring to protect the use of the name ‘Hoosier’. . . . I intend to see to it in the future that people in St. Louis do not use the word ‘Hoosier’ in a derogatory or defamatory manner as I have entirely too much respect for my friends from your state.” Three cheers for Judge Grellner.
Revolving Door Victim
JOHN 8. LLOYD, the accountant, is back at his desk after a siege in the hospital. Mr. Lloyd, who is national president of the Mercator clubs, was going through a revolving door in a Cleveland hotel several weeks ago when someone shoved the door too hard and he lost his balance and was thrown into the hotel lobby. The tendon in his right knee was torn loose from the bone. . He still has the leg in a cast but is able to sit in his chair with the leg on a hassock. . . . Tom McGuffey, catering manager of the I A. C, was around saying goodby to the boys at the club Monday. It was his last day before induction. . . . Harry Bittner Jr., general manager of radio station WFBM, has been commissioned a naval lieutenant (j.g). He was sworn in:Monday but hasn't received sailing orders yet. :
A Bird Out o f Hand
WE THOUGHT. this business of robins turning _pugilistic was with. for the season, but not. so. The Herbert” Woolléns have one of the critters. For several days, Mrs. Woolen peeked through the slats of a venetian blind and watched a couple of robins build a nest. Everything was all right until the mama robin had laid her eggs. Then. the papa bird happened to look in the window pane. And there he saw his reflection, which he mistook for another male
- robin. Immediately he started flying against the win-
dow, trying to drive the ‘other bird” away.. It kept
up until Mrs. Woollen tried closing the blind. That|
killed the reflection and the robin quit his antics. Now all is well except when the blind is opened. Then
it starts all over again. It’s quite a show.
By Ludwell Denny
years when, while the other nations welshed, Finland by her conduct created that friendship which is wide and deep, we can only hope she may find a way, though the move be desperate, to extricate herself from her military association with Hitler. Admittedly, .there is no easy way. Assuming that Helsinki would like to make a just peace with Runssia and that Russia would agree to such a peace, how does Helsinki get rid of the Nazi army of occupation now holding the northern part of Finland?
Finns Deserve Better Fate -
IF THE Nazis refused to leave, which no doubt they would, they probably would try to take over control of the Finnish government in order to protect their position. The Helsinki government then would have one of three thoices: .(1) Become a puppet regime, or (2) set up a neutral government in exile, presumably ‘in Sweden, or, (3) establish a belligerent government in
. exile as the Norwegians, Dutch and others have done.
Probably the second alternative would rapidly merge with the third, because neutrality in exile could hardly be maintained long after Hitler established a Quisling in Helsinki. The independent spirit of the Finnish people would’ turn against the open Nazi occupation. If so, a neutral government in exile would lack support at home as well as among the allies. The practical effect probably is that if the Finnish government breaks with Hitler it will join the allies; as the price of survival. Rec all the risks and problems involved for this little nation on a spot’ so hot, one thing
‘seems obvious. She will have a much better chance
of obtaining and maintaining her freedom if she is a’
member of the united nations. the losing side. If she waits until the summer offensives begin, she may miss her chance to get out of the war. She
For now she is on
will then be caught in the defeat and disaster being| sanctuar
prepared for the axis by the allies.
: Barn Certainly the Finnish people and their friends do | chi
not want that.
‘By Eleanor Roosevelt
with Gen. Soanlon and. Col. Milton Murphy. They were both kind and showed me many things of great interest. The colonel has made a great effort to keep
down the dust and sand, which is one of the great|Bun
drawbacks in all these desert camps. Flying conditions are practically always good in these parts and
very few days are lost, which is a great advantages:
in the training period. ; Corona, the first hospital visited on Monday morning, was once a health and pleasure resort. The
grounds have been well landscaped and, as you go in, |
you think you are in an attractive hotel, which must be a pleasant atmosphere for the convalescent boys.
There is an indoor swimming ‘pool and individual
baths, where the Patients wan have tie bene of hot sulphur water. I should think there are great
But at Front:
He Quotes the Bible to Men
(Following is the third and last of a series of dispatches on Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of the 8th army and outstanding leader in the allied drive on Tunis.)
By RICHARD D. MacMILLAN United Press Staff Correspondent
LONDON, April 28.-—Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgom- ; ery’s exploits in the North African war have earned him the name of “the desert Cromwell.” He believes - in a blood and iron policy. He quotes the Bible to his men. But to correspondents who watched him—as I did—break Nazi Marshal Erwin Rommel’s veteran Afrika Korps and drive them 2000 miles across the desert he was a general who violated all of the Nazis, well-proved rules of warfare—and still beat them at every turn, Montgomery, ready to gamble when necessary but always striving to mass strength that leaves nothing to chance, is the man who - brought ‘the infantry back into its own in this war. Today, in the rocky hills of Tunisia his infantry is proving itself on ground where tanks are helpless. Montgomery surprised the Germans with his tactics at El Alamein when, after carrying out a clever bluff by camouflaging his armored strength, he sent his toughest infantry into moonlight battle ahead of tanks.’ Since that day he has made the infantry the spearhead of all of his big attacks in direct contradiction to the Nazis’ slavish devotion to armed warfare. Sometimes the infantry attacks
on ‘moonlight nights, but at the -
Gabes gap, Montgomery again crossed up the enemy, by attacking in the dark of the moon under ‘a terrific artillery bombardment.
Uses Commando Style
HE HAS ARMED his 8th army veterans with long, ten-inch knives, too, and they fight in commando fashion when the opportunity offers as it does now in the hills of northern Tunisia. Never were troops more diversifled—Indians, Highlanders, Grenadier Guards and cockney exstorekeepers from London’s east side—and never were soldiers called upon to fight in more varied conditions than in North Africa, Bui Montgomery's. demands for physical fitness were so rigid that his soldiers rapidly adapted them selves to either desert or siege warfare. Another secret of Montgomery's success as a tactician is his famous big gun barrage, which also is a throwback to the first world war. His method is simple. The British guns lay down an intense barrage and then lift it slowly, permitting the front line troops, with bayonets fixed, to advance against the German anti-tank gunners. In darkness or in daylight as the circumstances. dictate, they try to outflank and wipe out the anti-tank position. Then the British tanks crash into the enemy positions in massed formation. . Montgomery's personal courage and example has much to do with the success of the 8th army. Once
AUDUBON GROUP PLANS MEETING
Society to Discuss Bird Life in Sessions at Butler U. May 7 and 8.
Discussions of bird life from prairie ‘chickens to hawks will be held at the 45th ahnual meeting of the Indiana Audubon Society, Ine, May 7 and 8 at Butler university.
The programs will include talks and exhibits by leading ornithologists of Indiana and Kentucky.
May 7 Program 10:30 A. M.—Registration and exhibits. 1 P. M.—General session, President J. a Se Del presiding: O, Ross, Butler universi udubon society
effec birds, E. ER. Martell West 4, ur I on a fishtina Jooks at birds, A. E. Andrews, “8: 30 1 M.—Annual bi
ter, Howard Michaud Dr. M. D. Baumgartner; response, A. Barn-
hare, . M.—Talk on Sites ara bird sancar: Dr. Earl Brooks. y
tugs toastmas-
y 8 6:30 A. M.—Bird hikes. 30 A. M. »
therapeutic treatment of all kinds. here
a .
With great brown hills’ (djebels) as a backdrop, Ameriéan medium tan ks and a supply truck advance across a sage-sprinkied plain in Tunisia, This is the kind ‘of country where our forces are now pushing the Nazis back.
aboard his tank on the battlefield at El Aqaqir, I watched him move among: the burning German armored units. He came upon a silent British artillery post.
Always Keeps Word
“WHAT'S THE MATTER?” he asked the Britisii officer in charge. “We have only a few rounds left,” the officer replied, pointing out that he was saving his ammunition for ‘a greater emergency. “A. few rounds,” Montgomery echoed. “Well, fire them! and at 4 o'clock you'll get double reinforcements.” The officer obeyed and, sure enough, more shells had arrived by 4 p. m.
“There you are,” the officer told
his crew. his word.” As .a matter of fact, Montgomery also was keeping his word in a litile promise he made himself long before. When he was a small boy he saw troops going off to the Boer war and is supposed to have remarked: “When I grow up I'm going to be a soldier and I'll have an army of my own.”
#
Father a Clergyman
HIS EARLY ENVIRONMENT was far from being military. His father was a clergyman and Montgomery and his two brothers and two sisters were brought up in a vicarage. Later he went to St. Paul’s boarding school from where he sent frequent notes to an aunt recording his progress in his studies and - particularly in sports. Then he went to Tasmania where his father was bishop and spent 10 years there, returning to England to enter Sandhurst in preparation for a military career. He was a rugger and hockey star at Sandhurst and the records there list him as “an exceedingly
“Monty always keeps
hard working young officer, not
much given to social activities.” It was a long time before he had any prospects of an army of his own and things looked especially bleak for him when the ‘German armored divisions—directed by Rommel—pinned Montgomery’s outfit back against the beach at Dunkirk during the battle of France. Montgomery, like his present superior, Gen. Sir Harold Alex-
. ander, was taken off the Dun-
PARLIAMENT MEMBER BECOMES A MOTHER
LONDON, April 28 (U. P).—Another tradition was broken in the house of commons yesterday when
it was announced that American-
born Mrs. ‘Beatrice “Wright had
given birth to a daughter, thus be-]
ing the first woman to become a mother while a member of para. ment. Mrs. Wright, daughter of F. Roland Clough of Boston, has two other children by her former husband, the late Flight Lt. J. R. Rathbone, who was killed during a bombing raid ‘on Germany. She later married British army captain Paul Wright.’
COMMUNIST TO SPEAK . “Hitler and the Axis Can Be De-
5; | feated in 1043” will be the topic of | ~ Rens. | Morris Childs, secretary of IMinois-
Indiana district of the Communist party, when he speaks at 7 p. m. Sunday in Castle hall. The program is sponsored by the Indianap-
olis May day committee and will in-|
clude the showing of a series of Russian movies. GE
Your Blood Is Needed April quota for Red Cross | Blood Plasma Center — 5400 donors. : eg Donors- s0 far this month— 2663, ) ! Yesterday's quota~—200. ‘Yesterday’s denors—121, | You can help meet the quota | by calling LI-1441 for an’ appointment or Soins to the rps second ' floor ’ Chamber
The smoke of battle still obscures soldiers at Hight as field ambulance workers of the Indian medical service dash up on the firing line ‘to aid a .Ghurka soldier, wounded in a Tunisian fight. *
kirk beach at the last minute. And again Monty made a promise. He promised himself that one day he would beat Rommel at his own game—tank warfare. He began an ‘intensive study of the Nazi equipment and methods and especially of tank warfare. His chance finally came at El Alamein
, and he made certain when he
struck that Rommel did not have enough to stop him. True,. Montgomery was never able to trap the Nazi desert fox on that long retreat across Egypt and: Libya. into Tunisia, But he chewed up the famed Afrika Korps at every stop and by the time Rommel reached Tunisia he was a far different factor in the ‘Mediterranean war than on the day he paused at El Alamein in his drive toward the valley of the Nile.
Rates Monty ‘Greatest’
I HAVE MET all kinds of generals in this war, in Flanders, in
Belgium, in Albania and Greece. But foxy-faced Monty of El Alamein is the most successful and . probably the greatest of them all. More important, he has convinced his soldiers that they can have complete confidence in his leadership. Long ago one of them
VAST POST-WAR PLAN OUTLINED
Long-Term Projects Urged In- Second Report of
Resources Board.
WASHINGTON, April 28 (U. P.). —The war and post-war periods cannot: be “artificially separated,” and emergency projects should be made to fit long-term needs, according to a report—“Wartime Planning for War and Post-War”— released’ last night by the national resources planning board. The report is the second part of “The National Resources Development Report for 1943” which President Roosevelt recently submitted
congress. It is the duty of the board, the 116-page report said, “to act as a clearing house” in co-ordinating planning by legislative, federal,
state and local agencies, and by|[|"
civic and private groups. : War Experience Valuable
, “National growth can no longer|}
be left to chance,” the report said,
and the mobilization of the coun=-|
try’'s resources for war has forced
recognition of the necessity for] posi-was Planting and 1ayeht new}
methods of co-operation for the full use of resources. The period of peace, it said, of-
fers the greatest opportunity for|j
combining these principles and newly-found methods to create for
the world's peoples “a greater de-|
“The report discloses that an esti
mated $7,605,000,000 “public ‘works ‘|shelf* was potentially raniei) programs of
i iar construction
told me: “At last, we've got a great commander — a man who can beat Rommel.” That was the highest tribute at the time that he could pay Montgomery.
He always insists on seeing that
every detail is worked out as near perfection as possible before a battle, but once the action has started he can make decisions with lightning rapidity and take advantage of any break that comes his way. In the battle of the Mareth line, for instance, Montgomery refused to attack Rommel’s positions until he had time to move up his full strength and to send a flanking column around the southern end of the line through the mountains on one of the toughest maneuvers ever attempted in. the desert war. He knew he could count on his men to get through and they knew they could count on him to keep them supplied and to strike from the front when the time came. That is about what happened except for one unexpected development. After an intensive artillery onslaught, Montgomery’s 8th army’ struck in the moonlight against the Mareth positions, concentrat-
ing at the northern or coastal
end. The 8th army, however, ran into Wadi Zig Zau, which was a
FIREMEN ARE SOUGHT FOR EDGEWOOD AREA
An appeal for more volunteer fire watchers for the Edgewood “area during the simulated ‘“bombing” raid next Sunday was made today by Elmer -E. Houze, area director, after a conference with John H. Moore, chief air raid warden of the district.
Men and wonien are needed and those willing to serve as auxiliary
policemen and fireme nare asked
to report to headquarters in the
township trustee's office on ‘Epler
ave. at 2 p. m. Sunday.
SPELLMAN SEES REFUGEES
JERUSALEM, April 27 (Delayed) (U.P). — Archbishop Francis J. Spellman of New York visited Polish refugees at Nazareth and made an excursion to holy places on the
‘western shore of Lake Tiberias to-
day. He will leave for Damascus tomorrow.
HOLD EVERYTHING
“deep ravine with some water run‘ing through.’ It was bridged but the Nazi counter-attacks almost wiped out the British progress and it began to appear that the
© drive might be stopped cold.
Breaks Mareth Line
BUT AT THAT moment the British flanking attack toward El Hamma began making important progress. Without a moment's hesitation Montgomery shifted strength to that sector. “Let us reinforce success,” he said. Soon the offensive surged for= ward again. The Mareth line was broken. Montgomery used his tanks effectively in driving Rommel into northern Tunisia and, once the Tunis ‘plain is reached, he will have a chance to turn them loose again. But he had learned an important lesson early in the fighting in Egypt. That was never to send his tanks against enemy tanks of similar strength without superior artillery cover. ‘Many times in the desert, the allies have lost heavily because they were outgunned by the German armored units and because Rommel had a habit of drawing them into ambushes where hid-
* den anti-tank guns cut loose sud=
denly with a tremendous barrage. Montgomery avoided that error and used his own artillery with _ great skill. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who sent Montgomery 10 command the 8th army, probably pictured him most accurately with these words: . “He is a vehement, formidable gerieral; a grim, slim figure of Cromwellian: austerity, whose life has been given to the study of war, who has atiracted to himself in extraordinary measure the confidence and devotion of his army. ”» That was Churchill's way of praising Monty of El Alamein. But it was no more sincere than the remark of a begrimed little British soldier I saw sitting by the roadside near the yellow mosque at Sidi El Rahman. The little Tommy watched Montgomery, riding over the desert in pursuit of Rommel, pass by in a flurry of dust and sand. When the general's car had whirled past and the dust had settled, the soldier looked after him and remarked: “Cocky little blighter, isn't he? But, blimey, we'd follow ‘im anywhere.”
JAPS PRACTICE IN CHINA SKIES
Nips Loam How to Handle Planes Before Facing
U. S. Airmen.
By ROBERT P. MARTIN United Press Staff Correspondent
WITH THE CHINESE ARMY, Salween River front, April 21—(Delayed) —Japan is using China fronts as a mammoth training area for air and ground forces in preparation for the future battles which will deter mine whether she survives as a conquering power. Chinese military circles estimate
| Chennault, chief of allied air forces
in China, revealed the details of a