Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 June 1943 — Page 11

Hoosier Vagabond

A, SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA (By Wireless) —I have From babies to old men, everybody is garbed in

SDAY

taken quite a shine to the natives of Africa’s Gold Coast, Slave Coast and Ivory Coast. They seem so happy. It makes you forget how grim people at war are, and it. sort of makes you happy too. These are the people our own

American Negroes; came from.

They are as black as our blackest Negroes. You seldom see a lightcolored one. . You can look at ‘any fisherman along the coast and if you can find a si magnificently powerful physical specimen anywhere in the world I'd like to see him. ! ; They have many qualities that surprise me. They have, first of all, a lively sense of humor. They're always laughing, and their wit isn’t just primer wit, either. It's often very subtle. : ‘ They work slowly, as all people do in the tropics, but ‘they are not shiftless. And they are honest. In some countries you hardly dare take off your clothes for fear they will dispear, but along these hot coasts honesty seems to inbred. . : Furthermore, they are meticulously clean. The little sandy yards of their homes are swept constantly with big coarse brooms. I think that if you gave one of those Negroes 20 buckets of water a day he’d take 20 baths. ” : They are in every respect a contrast to the Arabs of North ‘Africa.

Native Costumes in Wild Color

AS SOON as a coast Negro gets home from work he changes from the ordinary shorts and undershirts

‘ia. which he usually works into native dress. That

consists of nothing but yards and yards of wildly bright cotton print, thrown over one shoulder and draped around the body. : The wildness of color and fantasy of design of these cotton prints is the most striking thing about the Central African natives to me. To see a village street full of Negroes late in the afternoon is to see something so beautifully colored you can’t believe it’s true. . .

Canada "(Lowell Nussbaum is on vacation. This is the

second of a series of articles on Canada’s manpower situation.) ;

OTTAWA, June 16.—Canadians grouse and obey. They toe the mark in ‘their network of stern wartime manpower laws and orders because, for one thing, they do not judge them by an American's standards of ‘individual liberty in peacetime, but by a very difSE ferent yardstick of what's fair and necessary within a whole maze of rigid and effective Canadian wartime controls of civilian life. “Everything is different nowa1 days,” said the chambermaid in the government's palatial battlemented hotel here, where once royalty and the wealthy dined beside a moatlike canal. “Everybody who comes here really works. And the taxes I & pay! Still, maybe it's better this Mr, King way. , You know, Canadians all grumble—it sort of keeps up our morale.” An inspector of war

power rules fall harder on ¢

lations do on potential fighters. “If they handle ci-

_ vilians this way, why don’t they conscript for foreign

Inilitary service?” et However, he answered himself, saying, “Of course, the restriction of .foreign service to those who volunteer for it is getting to be merely technical: Men are called up for home service and after they're trained an officer lines them up six inches from a wall and asks -all who'll not go over to fight for Canada to step back a pace, and naturally no man does. And I will say the government does a nice job of keeping prices down.”

Living Costs Controlled:

CANADIAN PRICE-CONTROL is spectacular. The cost of living index inched up but 2.7 points during 13

~~ LONDON, June 16 (By Wireless). —Talking with pilots and other airmen of the American 8th air force, one gathers a slightly different picture of the air war from what one reads at home in books about airpower. I came over here with the idea that the air attack on the continent was a simple matter of dumping such a great weight of bombs on war factories that eventually Germany would be .unable to produce enough war goods. Then, in time, her ability to fight would dry up as a result of creeping paralysis. That might be a sufficient formula if the allies were content to allow the war to drag on through the ages. Actually, ‘I find that the smashing of targets on the. und is only one part of the American heavy ‘bombers’ mission. The other part is to draw German fighters into the air and knock them down. That is where many whom I have talked with think the emphasis should be put. i

Must Smash Air Force AS THE battle of Britain demonstrated, a nation is not defeated in modern war so long as its air force 4s not broken. The first requirement for’ the defeat of Germany is the smashing of her air force, especially her fighter . force. When the German fighters are gone Germany will be ready to go too.

With her air cover removed she will then be exposed

to everything. : Be TE aware of this, as indicated by her shifting of production into fighter planes rather than bombers. Germany has not too much fighter margin now, Some allied estimates give Germany only a little more than 1000 single seater fighters. Bi Maj. Gen.’ Ira Eaker says our 8th air force de-

stroyed 350 enemy fighters last month, plus 93 more NEW YORK.

. two days they were all downtown buying wild cloth

. which is the equivalent to breaking the lock on

CITY, Tuesday—Last night one of » army benefits, “The Army Play Soldiers and Sailors club

JUNE 16, 1943

By Ernie Pyle

some vivid hue—they aren't in stripes or in checks ‘or even. solid colors, they give the appearance of being a million colors thrown onto a piece of cloth willy-nilly, in which the over-all ‘effect turns out to be as beautiful and natural as a garden of flowers. They buy the cloth at native markets. Some of it is manufactured locally, but most of it comes from England, America and India. You hardly ever see two pieces alike. z The riotous colors sort of get in your blood, so I decided to go native a little myself. My flannel pajamas were slightly heavy for this climate, so I went to a bazaar to buy some tropical pajamas, But everything on the counters looked just as thougly it had been made for Kansas City. I was disappointed. So the Indian trader whc ran the bazaar said he’d make me some. By buying the cloth myself, I could ‘go as wild as I wished.

“Psycopathic” Pajamas So I went to a native outdoor market. One of the women joined in my whimsy and helped ‘me find wilder and wilder stuff. J When I took the cloth back to the tailor he had| no doubts whatever that I was crazy, but apparently he felt kind of crazy too, for he laughed and laughed | ‘and went about his measuring with a vim. Three days later my monstrosities were ready. They were really wonderful. Back at camp I put them, on and gave a style show for a gang of American officers with whom I

was staying. At first they all yelled and hooted in derision, as I had expected they would, but within

and having pajamas made for themselves. Everybody from colonels on down now has some psycopathic pajamas in the making, Personally I haven't slept too well since I got mine. They are louder than a London air-raid siren, and have everything in them except the battle of Gettysburg. They are a screaming explosion of birds, flowers, castles, snakes, palm trees, the great earthquake of 1934, elephants, boats, pointing fingers and evil eyes. I hope they last till I get back home again. Then I can say I'm shell-shocked—and Ziove it.

By Marguerite Young

months to last Nov. 1; in about the same time the U. 8. index rose 8 points. : A cost-of-living bonus helped to accomplish this OPA’s dream. The cost of living is revealed every three months and when it has moved a point, a cash bonus automatically goes to workers. It is paid by the employer or the government or both. * Regular wage rates are pegged also, but adjustments have been many. The average weekly earnings of manufacturing workmen rose about 13 per cent in the year ended last Sept. 1. Farmers’ gross cash receipts also went up, about 20 per cent. Then the government attacked food price increases and other threatened further rises directly by subsidizing producers for specific purposes such as to reduce the retail price of coffe 4 cents; tea, 10 cents; milk, 2 cents. There is a 100 per cent excess war profits tax. These, and steep ‘income taxes, keep the average businessman just about where he was during four years before the war, officials estimate.

No Propaganda Needed

W. L. MACKENZIE KING is prime minister of Canada. Governmen{ spokesmen say when they decide on a new manpower control—they just put up a sign! They considered a campaign of public educa-

tion to promote compliance with compulsory transfers, but did not conduct any because they found that notices posted in newspapers and public build ings evoked overwhelming voluntary compliance. The enforcing agencies, 280-odd ‘selective service and manpower offices, dot the country. They have about 5000 salaried staffers, and 7500 non-salaried officials, particularly judges. . " The citizen has some recourse from official decisions. For example, if he objects to the particular job transfer arranged for him, he can appeal to a referees court composed of workers’ and employers’ representatives and an impartial chairman. However, if he loses there, he is subject to penalties, including forced labor in a work camp.

By Raymond Clapper

probably destroyed and 176 damaged. There probably should be a considerable discount in these figures, as it is simply impossible to eliminate all the duplicate claims. But even allowing for much shrinkage, the damage to the German fighter force is obviously large. Air Marshal Sir Arthur T. Harris says that as soon as the German fighters are knocked out of the way the British will switch to "daytime bombing. Considering that the British bomb weight is far heavier than ours, that change would immensely hasten the destruction of Germany.

U. S. Needs Fighter Escort

IT HAS become clear that we must use bombers to get the German fighters. We send over fighter sweeps but the Germans stay on the ground. Ah At one American fighter station I listened in by radio on a talk among some of our fighter pilots

making a sweep over Belgium. One pilot said, “No|!

customers in sight.” The leader, Col. Eran Peterson, replied, “They're all eating down there and won't come up.” ; : ' The Germans know we ‘are ony baiting them to come up and. fight. The Nazis are trying to avoid attrition and save their fighters for use against bambers bent on destruction in Germany. Whatever criticism can be made of our Flying} Fortresses, and some are made, they have fire power, which is constantly increasing. Much also lies in the training of our gunners, and I understand this is one field in which progress may be expected. American bomber missions are proving deadly to German fighters, but they would be still more effective with fighter escert, and the bomber crews hope. for the day when fighters will be equipped to go in all the way with the bombers. ' ; : The biggest need in the next few months is the attrition of the German fighter force out of the air,

fortress Europe.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

food.

Mussolini

|

Cd

Failed

To Dissuade Hitler ‘From Starting War

III—CRISIS OF

AUGUST, 1939

BUD EKINS established an all-time speed record for

expulsion from Italy.

He was sent to Rome as United

Press bureau manager at the beginning of July, ‘1939,

and before the middle of August he was escorted out of ° the country by two secret service men. remained less than five weeks. He had tipped his New York

What had he done?

Altogether, he

office about a persistent report in Rome that Il Duce was

sick.

It was an informative message, couched in baseball

slang, that Bud discreetly phoned from his own home in the suburbs of Rome to the private residence of one of the

United Press news editors in London.

It was a practice

generally followed by foreign correspondents— i. e., to inform the main office of a report in their bailiwick that cannot be sent as news but might possibly be checked by correspondents in other capitals of Europe. The only trouble was that Ekins, being new in Rome, didn’t realize that every outgoing call, no matter how innocent it appeared, was recorded on a special phonograph record and played off later in the foreign-language audition room of the OVRA headquarters, and that the more

cryptic the message, the more suspicious were the OVRA listeners; also, and most important. of all, .he didn’t realize that it was a Fascist dictum that Mussolini could not be sick. Reynolds, who was reorganizing the U. P. office in post-civil war Madrid, and Eleanor, who was covering the Franco government in Burgos, were both ordered to Rome. Reynolds was to replace Ekins. . The day we arrived, Aug. 15, we dropped in at the’ Foreign Press club. There we found Betsy ‘Mackenzie of the London News Chronicle 'and Maxwell Macartney of The Times, London, who were effervescent with suggestions of how not to be expelled from Italy. “There are three sacrosanct rules here,” Macartney said, in his clipped; Scotch way. “And if you break any one of them, out you go. You never write anything that hints the lira isn’t sound. You never write anything that might cast doubts upon the valor of the Italian army. And certainly, at no time, do you dare hint that the duce is not a Gibraltar of good health.”

Betsy told us that she had learned from diplomatic sources— which is the vague way an English correspondent refers to the _ British embassy—that Ekins had been expelled on the personal order of Mussolini himself. He had not even - consulted Ciano. The first Ciano heard of it was when Ambassador William Phillips called on him at the Chigi . palace about the matter. Ciano then went to the duce to see what could be done. Mussolini was in bad humor and was reported to have said to Ciano, “You worry about your Salzburg trip, and I'll handle this myself.” » ” »

A Talk With Ciano

A FEW DAYS after Ciano returned from Salzburg, where he conferred with Ribbentrop and Hitler about the impending Rus-so-German pact, we met him, by accident, on the terrace of the Ambasciatori hotel, where he was having dinner alone.: He was sitting in the usual corner reserved for him. His-table was so located that he could be struck at only from the front, but there was always a table in front of him at which were seated two burly plain-clothes men with, bulging

Bud Ekins made the mistake of altempting to tip off his office

‘that Mussolini was ill and was ordered expelled from Italy.

“>

ALLUNY EMPIRE

_ UY REYNOLDS end ELEANOR PACKARD

Hitler's telegram to Mussolini advising that Germany would not need military help from Italy in the invasion of Poland touched off a frenzied celebration by the Italian people. Here the dictators are shown at the Brenner pass in one of their frequent conferences in the early days of the war,

hip pockets. He saw us as we

- came in and called us over tq his

table.

After the usual exchange of social amenities, we ventured to ask him about his recent trip to Salzburg. His habitual smile immediately soured into a frown, and he replied: “It was a most cordial meeting that I had with the Fuehrer and Herr von 'Ribbentropp Naturally. ii. Is impossikle for me to say anything about what was discussed.”

Somehow, the conversation from then on became patchy with awkward silences and we felt that we had committed a faux pas mentioning Salzburg. We excused ourselves and went over to another table. The next day at the Foreign Press club, we learned how tactless we had been in asking about Saleburg. According to reports from the English correspondents in Rome, who had undoubtedly got them from the embassy, Ciano had had a terrible scene with Hitler.

Ciano’s greatest value to Mussolini was said to be that he never exceeded instructions, and he arrived at Salzburg with orders from Il Duce to concede far less during the negotiations than Hitler wanted. The result was that Hitler had flown into one of his hysterical rages in which he screamed, banged fists on the table, and threw things on the floor. Ciano was said not to have had even a chance to explain the Italian point of view. All he could do was to listen and say, “No,” until he could finally escape from the room and tell Ribbentrop that is was useless to insist on the matter as only the Duce could make such concessions.

td "

Duce in Bad Spot

THE NATURE of the conversations was secret, although Ciano’s newspaper, Il Telegrafo, admitted that among the subjects discussed were the problems of the Franco regime in Spain, the alleged desire of the Japanese militarists for an alliance with the axis, and the Danzig situation. Afterward, it was taken for granted that the

”

“Danzig situation” included the forthcoming Russo-German pact and the German invasion of Poland. That was the real secret. It was probably on that matter that Ciano and Hitler disagreed, since Mussolini did not see any advantage or necessity in going to war with England and France at that moment. In fact, he was far from prepared, and at the same time he saw all his plans for pressing his claims on France ruined.

Refusing to heed Mussolini, for the first time since the formation of the axis, Hitler went ahead with his plans to invade Poland and announced the first preliminary steps thereto on Aug. 24—the signing of the Russo-German pact. Also, for the first time, Hitler ran counter to the feelings of not only the Italian people but also of many of the Fascist leaders. If there had been one idea that Mussolini had succeeded in selling to his country, it was that Communist Russia stood for.all the evils, especially social, in Eu-

Tope.

It was difficult suddenly to ex-

plain to the Italian people that Italy’s ally, Germany, had lined itself up with Italy’s bugaboo— Communist Russia. Nevertheless, Mussolini, possibly even against his own wishes, tried to make the Moscow-Berlin alliance popular. He ordered Virginio Gayda and Giovanni Ansaido to lead the press campaign on behalf of Germany’s new alliance. The Italian press, in chorus, declared that the accord between naziism and communism broke up England’s encirclement of the axis countries. At ‘the same time, Mussolini started calling more men to the colors. He apparently wanted to create the impression that if Germany did invade Poland, and England and France came in, Italy would take up arms then and there on behalf of Germany. It was a bluff aimed to restrain England and France, as were other warlike measures faken almost simultaneously. Street lights were dimmed in

This is the last of a series of five eye-witness articles describing the American victory-on Attu Island in : the Aleutians. The writer, Sherman Montrose, is an Acme Newspictures cameraman whose pictures are distributed through the wartime pool of ‘the various photographic agencies.

By SHERMAN MONTROSE Times Special Writer HOLTZ BAY, Attu, June 16.— The invaders from Tokyo weren't just dropping in for a summer vacation when they occupied Attu last June. They were prepared for a nice, long stay on Uncle Sam’s soil. U. 8. troops put an end to that idea when the joint army-navy attack landed troops on the island. strategic area with its two bays and airport possibilities. But the Japanese had come with

every intention of staying. They| unbelievable

brought an almost un amount of ammunition, and the stay was to be made as pleasant as possible with huge quantities of

Lived in Tunncls Along the mile-long beach front of the west arm of Holtz bay, first objective seized by Americans, the Japanese had dug in well and deep. All of

their living quarters were|

tents in the entire{from the ares,

dwellings, ammunition and food dumps, bomb shelters and working quarters were dug straight into sheer hillsides. : An intricate system of intercommunicating trenches served a third of their camp area, reached all their anti-aircraft guns mounted on ‘the beach. Gun crews serving these weapons lived, ate and slept, literally, by their guns. .

Concealed Well

" Underground trenches with walls and r#ofs boarded and covered with tundra radiated frem the guns. in many directions. One tangent led to an ammunition storeroom, another to quarters for living, another to a machine-gun emplacement. Entrances to some of these underground shelters were so cunningly concealed they weren't apparent at 26 feet. : ‘When American soldiers moved

onto the beach on the west arm;

Dumps | hpt water—with

small caches of all types of ammunition. Two big warehouses were found burning. Two others, at least 125

feet long, were piled - high with

rice in rubberized sacks; each containing 50 pounds of the favorite food of the Japanese, plus a few cans of salmon. Two warehouses contained new weapons, the Japanese 25-caliber rifles and both light and heavy machine guns.: All were in their original packifg boxes and covered with protective grease. Antiaircraft shells for the three guns on the beach were piled high in at least two underground dumps.

Had Good Coffee

“In addition to staples of rice and fish—the latter both dried

ul area. A

huge tubs—one for cold and one for a drying shelf

Japs Meant to Stay on Attu, Built Camp Underground

accumulation of Japanese soldier knickknacks, fans and pictures.

Shoes. Fur-Lined All slept on hard boards with two blankets of good quality to protect

them from the Aleutian cold. There |

wasn't a stool or a chair in the camp. Instead, a few small tables of knee height. Warehouses were found with great quantities of winter clothing of good quality, featuring a knee-length sleeveless coat lined with goatskin and a sheep-lined overcoat. Leggings were wool-lined, as were caps with pulldown flaps. Shoes were lined with rodent fur and the soles covered with hobnails.

Yank Holds His Nose

There were no electric lights exfrom small battery affairs, and

—

Rome “and other large cities, while air-raid drills were also: carried out. Cafes were ordered to close at 11 p. m., and railroad passenger traffic was to be reduced by one-half. Italian ship= ping to both North and South America, as well as to the Far. Fast, was suspended, and all Italian vessels outside of home waters were ordered to return immediately. ”»

From Gloom to Joy

IT WAS a sad-looking Rome that confronted us when we emerged from the Ambasciatori hotel at 9 o'clock on Friday, Sept. 1. As we went down in the elevator, passed through the hotel lobby, and got into a taxi, we could see that the Italian people were worried. The elevator boy, the desk clerks; the doorman, and even the taxicab driver all bom= barded us with the same question: “Do you think Italy will get - into the war?” The morning papers in Rome hadn't carried a word about the invasion of Poland, but the Rome radio had announced it in its early broadcast, and the news had spread by word of mouth, On every street corner that we passed on the way to the office, we saw groups of men, looking dejected and excited, discussing the news. The funereal aspect of Rome was not relieved until late in the afternoon, when the last editions of the newspapers appeared, They published the telegram which Hitler had sent Mussolini that same afternoon. It read: : “I thank you cordially for the diplomatic and political aid which you recently have accorded to Germany. I am convinced that with Germany's military might, I will be able to accomplish the mission 'that we have to fill. I think," therefore, that in these circumstances I will not have need of military aid from Italy. I thank you, Duce, for all that I know you will do in the future for the common axis of fascism and national socialism.” This was the signal for a na-tion-wide rejoicing. Since that day, there has never been manifest a Roman-holiday spirit of like magnitude by the Italian people. The newspaper kiosks were rocked by the throngs who wanted to see with their own eyes the telegram that meant Italy was remaining out of the fighting, The smile on the face of every passer-by was a public manifestation of how the people felt, In the cafes and shops the people were joking and laughing once again.

NEXT — “Mussolini Hoodwinks England.” '

s s

(Copyright, 1943, by Reynolds and Eleanor Packard; published by Oxford University Press; distributed by United Features Syndicate, Inc.)

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