The Herald-news., January 13, 1944, Page Page Two, Image 2

About The Herald-news. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1940-current

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Page Two
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Nazis Reel Under Combined Pressure
Of Heavy Air Attacks and Sea Losses;
New Air Blows Strike Japs in Pacific;
Fifth Army Steps Up Assaults in Italy
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinion* are expressed In these colnmns, they are those of
Western Newspaper Unioi ’■ news analyst* and not necessarUy of this newspaper.)
Released by Western Newspaper Union. —
RABAUL^
'1 ' '.Z
NEW BRITAIN
=AR AWE* r
NeW Britain— Map shows points of U. S. landings on New Britain
island at Arawe on south and Cape Gloucester on north. (See: South
west Pacific.)
INVASION:
Eisenhoicer Commands
Hitler’s high command shuttled
troops in western Europe as Amer
ica’s four-star Gen. Dwight D. Eis
enhower assumed command of Al
lied forces and the stage was set for
the big second front.
Britain’s Air Chief Marshal Ar
thur Tedder Stood at General Eis
enhower’s side as deputy command
er, with Britain’s Adm. Bertram
Ramsay as the leader of'naval
forces, and -Britain’s Air Marshal
Trafford Leigh-Mallory in charge of
all air forces.
As the Allies’ supreme command
buried itself in the mass of invasion
detaiT7”the tensed Germans reported
heavy aerial bombardment of their
channel fortifications and Comman
do attacks along the French coast
to test their defense. As th 6 Ger
mans awaited the grand assault,
said Nazi Marshal Erwin Rommel:
Our defenses are technically cor
rect.
FORTRESS EUROPE
Step Up Action
Bringing heavy artillery into play,
Lieut. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth army
blasted the Nazis from strong points
blocking the 75-mile road to Rome,
while farther to the east, the British
clambered past the enemy’s Adri
atic bastion of Ortona, won after
more than a week of vicious street
to-street fighting.
As U. S. and British troops
punched their way through the
Nazis’ stiff mountain defenses in
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Germany’. Scharnhortt.
southern Italy, aerial and naval war
fare in Europe stepped up,
Fleets of Allied bombers winged
their way over the English channel
to pound Nazi fortifications along
the French coast, and the RAF
rained another 2,234 tons of explo
sives on battered, hapless Berlin.
Following the British home fleet's
sinking of the 26,000-ton Nazi battle
ship Scharnhorst off North Cape.
Norway, light Allied and German
naval units tangled in the Atlantic
off the French coast, with airplanes
being called into play to help sink
three enemy destroyers and a
speedy blockade runner.
RUSSIA:
Reds Advance
Delivering trip-hammer blows all
along the 800-mile Russian front,
Red armies surged forward again
in the south as Germany's harassed
high command shifted forces to
check the big push.
The Reds' heavy blows in the
south fell as Genfian resistance stiff
ened in the north around Vitebsk.
Quickly shifting the gravity of their
attack, the Russ struck on a 110-
mile front in the south, first punch
es hard at Zhitomir, then punching
still harder above Qiat railway hub
at Koresten.
Thij winter's Russian offensive
was a real slugging mat.ch, with each
side in the south primarily con
cerned with exhausting the other.
HIGHLIGHTS . • . in the week’t newt
INSURANCE: British maritime
insurance companies have reduced
the war risk.rates on cargoes to and
from the United Kingdom to about
half the fotmer rate, reflecting the
greater security of the seas.
RESTAURANTS: The nation’s
restaurants, hard pressed by food
restrictions and difficulties in keep
ing employees, are serving 25 mil
luc persons daily
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC:
Bombings Jar Japs
Japan’s great air and shipping
base of Rabaul on New Britain
came within closer
range of U. S. bomb
ing planes with the
marines’ capture of
two air strips on
Cape Gloucester on
the western end of
the island.
Following up
heavy bombing
which helped crum
ple the enemy’s
strong line of pill
boxes, the marines
stormed remaining
Jap positions with
Gen. Krueger
flame throwers. As the marines
advanced at Cape Gloucester, ele
ments of Lieut. Gen. Walter Krue
ger’s Sixth army encountered heavy
resistance at Arawe to the south.
The Allies made increasing use of
air power to jar the Japs loose on
the wide Pacific front, dropping gas
oline tanks on enemy strong points
on Bougainville and sending fleets
of bombers to pound installations on
the Marshall islands.
AGRICULTURE:
Meat Production
Farmers received an all-time high
of four billion dollars for livestock
slaughtered under federal inspection
in 1943 as meat production also
reached an all-time high of more
than 24 billion pounds.
Fifty per cent more meat was pro
duced than during the 10-year pre
war average, but after allocations
to the government, civilian con
sumption was held to the prewar
rate of 132 pounds per person. Be
cause of rationing, however, sup
plies were more evenly distributed
than formerly.
Meat output for 1944 was estimat
ed at 25 billion, 600 million pounds,
of which 8 billion, 500 million pounds
will be required for military and
lend-lease purposes.
CCC Program
To help stimulate production and
fulfill comlnitments to support crop
and livestock prices, the Commod
ity Credit corporation spent 3*^ bil
lion dollars during the 1943 fiscal
year. .
As of December 18, CCC possessed
32.898.338 bushels of wheat under
1942 loan, while 96.101,516 bushels
were redeemed. CCC wheat stocks
at that date totaled 86,928,000
bushels.
Principal objective of the ccC’f
1943 program was to increase the
production of vegetable oils, dairy
and poultry products and meats, and
at the same time to underwrite OPA
price ceilings.
U. S. NAVY;
42 Carriers
The U. S. finds itself well equipped
as naval operations throughout the
world ‘quicken, with Uncle Sam’s
navy boasting of ^.aircraft carriers,
including sleek desiroyer-escorts for
protecting convoys. The U. S. start
ed the war with seven.
Corsair and Hellcat fighter planes
taking off from the carriers’ decks
have increased their striking power,
and a deadly new dive bomber has,
been put in service. D^ng 1943,
the navy trained twice as many pi
lots as. in 1942, and three times as
many combat planes were sent to
the front. ft
During 1943, arming of merchant
ships was speeded, 4,000 now being
outfitted with weapons.
PRESSURE COOKERS: The gov
ernment has taken pressure cook
ers off the ration list, but all pur-
chasers will be required to specify
that they Intend to use the cookers
for preserving food'. Retailers have
been, instructed to take the custom
er s word for it. Those wanting,
cookers for other purposes must
make application with the War Food
administration office in Washington.
The Herfld-Newt—Wolf Point, Roosevelt County, Montana
FOOD:
Chickens, Points
As the War Food administration
requisitioned 170 million pounds ol
dressed chicken and fowl for the
government, OPA slashed point
values on canned vegetables and or
dered frozep vegetables point-free.
WFA’s action Was prompted by
the government’s Inability to obtain
more than 20'per cent of the fowl
they required in recent months, and
the army was said to be particularly
anxious to get the. poultry _f or Sun
day dinners at camp and hospital
diets. Civilians may be little affect
ed by WFA’s order, however, since
it does not apply to stock stored
after December 30, 1943.
Because of comfortable stocks of
canned green and wax beans, zero
point values were established for
them. AlO per cent reduction in
consumer demands for canned peas
and tomatoes during the last two
months led OPA to chop their point
values for No. 2 and 214 cans to 15.
In an attempt to move frozen vege
tables from storage to make room
for record pork stocks, all point
values were removed.
RAILROADS:
Strike Off
Seeking to avert a threatened
strike after the switchmen, conduc
tors and firemen and enginemen had
refused his offer to arbitrate their
wage demands against the carriers.
President Roosevelt quickly seized
the nation’s railroads for the gov
ernment.
Representing about 150,000 men,
the three'unions had balked at pres
idential intervention even after the
trainmen and engineers accepted
FDR’s proposal, as a result of which
they received an overall pay in
crease of 9 cents an hour.
Also accepting FDR’s offer at the
last minute were the 15 non-operat
ing railroad unions representing
1,150,000 employees, who suddenly
agreed to a former government pro
posal of pay increases ranging from
10 cents an hour for the lowest paid
to 4 cents an hour for the highest
paid, but also insisted on overtime
compensation past 40 hours.
Biggest Year
Nineteen hundred and forty-three
was the greatest year in the history
of American railroads.
(1) 725 billion ton-miles of freight
were handled, a ton-mile equaling
one ton hauled one mile.
(2) Passenger traffic totaled 85 bil
lion passenger miles.
(3) Gross earnings exceeded 9 bil
lion dollars, although net operating
income amounted to 1 billion, 385
million dollars.
LEND-LEASE:
Aid to Russia
With many of its great industrial
cities razed and natural resources
overrun, 314 billion dollars of lend
lease'^assistance bolstered Soviet
Russia in its critical hours.
To the Russ, the U. S. has sent
nearly 7,000 planes, 3,500 tanks, 130,-
000 sub-machine guns, 150,000 trucks,
25,000 jeeps, 225,000 field telephones,
and 750,000 miles of field telephone
wire.
In addition, the U. S. has sent
1,000,000 tons of steel, 350,000 tons
of non-ferrous metal, 400,000 tons of
chemicals, 600,000 tons of petroleum
products, and more than 18,000
metal cutting tools.
Besides sending wheat, flour,
meats, fats and oils, the U. S. also
has supplied 10,000 tons of seeds to
Russ farmers.
Traffic Toll Drops
On the basis of reports for 11
months, the National Safety Council
estimated that America’s traffic
death toll for 1943 would reach 23,000,
13,000 below the prewar year 1941.
The north central region of the
U. S. showed the sharpest decrease
for the 11 month period, with 29 per
cent less fatalities than in the simi-
Thia was a fatal accident.
lar period last year. The mountain
region recorded a drop of 28 per
cent, the south central 24 per cent,
the north Atlantic 22 per cent,
and the Pacific 6 per cent.
Mount Vernon, N. Y., was the
largest city in the country without
a fatality in the first 11 months of
1943, while among cities of 250,000
population or more, St. Louis report
ed the biggest decline of 52 per cent
and Philadelphia the smallest with
1 per cent.
OPA UPHELD
Officials of the Office of Price Ad
ministration in replying to a house
committee charge that the OPA was
guilty of “usurpation and abuse of
its powers” pointed out that the
courts have upheld the OPA orders
in nearly all tests.
Out of 4,991 cases to the end of
September, the courts have ren
dered decisions favorable to the
OPA in all but 291 actions, official:
said. They also, denied that OP?
regulations have caused "wide
spread business failures."
SBS
MJ Off, tw MAMON
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Washington, D. C.
LITTLE PIGS GO TO MARKET
Agriculture officials are staring
with bulging eyes at the telegrams
received from the livestock markets.
The number of hogs killed In a sin
gle day has parsed the figure of
300,000, and is still going up.
November has already set an all
'time record in hog slaughter of
5,900,000 (federally inspected). De
cember will go still higher. Cattle
slaughter also set a record in No
vember, but is now tapering off. Not
so with hogs.
Nothing like this has ever hap
pened in the history of the world.
Nature, plus a low ceiling price on
corn and the delay in putting a ceil
ing price on hogs, is now scatter
ing pork all over the landscape. This
will continue through January, Feb
ruary, and into the month of March.
In spite of the pork flood, however,
there is no surplus, ^nd officials iir
sist that there must be no "holiday”
from rationing. OPA and War Food
administration agree on this. They
have had many differences in the
past, but they stand together on the
matter of red points.
Fact is, they have debated remov
ing pork from rationing, but ran
into so much prospective grief that
they gave it up. For if housewives
could buy pork without stamps, they
would use their stamps for beef and
butter, which are still short. Or if
OPA tied the points to the product,
making separate stamps for pork,
others for beef, and others for but
ter, etc., there would be outcries
from different groups, such as Jew
ish people, who ban pork.
Conclusion is that the ration books
must be left alone, and the only way
to solve the bounty problem is to
make federal purchases heavier and
move them more rapidly.
Army purchases of beef were ex
tremely heavy in the beef months
of September through November. To
"day, Lend Lease purchases of pork
are growing heavy and will hold up
through the "hog run" now flooding
the market.
But this does not always take the
meat out of storage. Lend Lease
shipments to Russia can be made
only when Russia is ready to eat
the pork, since they have no storage
space. Britain, on the other hand,
can store pork, and is taking ship
ments faster than the rate of use.
With livestock production high,
and submarine sinkings low, more
beef and pork are getting to Allied
fighting forces overseas than ever
before.
MORE STRIKES AHEAD
There are a lot more strikes in
the country than the public is aware
qf. The government has abandoned
the policy of regular announcements
of the number of strikes and the
number of man-hours lost. Thus the
strikes do not get into the news
papers.
But here are some figures which
reveal that the no-strike pledge of
labor organizations is not very ef
fective.
In November alone, there were 120
strikes. The December figure will
be only slightly lower. In the week
before Christmas, 91,000 man-days
were lost in plants engaged in war
production.- Two days before Christ
mas, 21,000 people were out on
strike, and a number of critical
items were behind schedule.
Some of the strikes have no rela
tion to wages. Take for example
the strike which Washington officials
refer to as "the Baltimore back
house strike." The Western Electric
plants at Baltimore are producing
such highly important items as ma
rine cables and radar wre. But
white workers went on Strike be
cause white and colored workers did
not have separate toilet facilities.
The war department was obliged
to step in last week and take over
the plants—solely because of toilet
trouble. Workers began coming back
slowly, but four days after the plants
were taken over, over half the
workers were still out.
Unfortunately, there is eyery prob
ability that strikes will increase,
rather than decrease "in the future.
Next in line demanding wage in
creases will be aircraft, steel and
shipyard workers. John L. Lewis'
victory broke the line, has stimu
lated demands for increases in many
industries.
After the President yielded to
Lewis, George Harrison, railroad
brotherhoods chief, visited the White
House and slid:. "For Gawd's sake,
you give it co your enemies, why
not to your friends?” s
• • •
MERRY-GO-ROUND
fl. President Rios of Chile recently
told newsmen he expected to visit
the United States. This plan is now
set aside, due to the grave situation
<n Argentina and Bolivia.
<1 The Germans now make mines of
plastic; which cannot be located by
magnetic detectors. They are re
ported to have sowed a dense mine
field along the coast of France
to head of! the second front.
<1 Army has a special course of in
struction for cooks serving in cold
climates—Alaska, Iceland, etc.
<L Senator Wiley of Wisconsin, re
cently leading a visitor through the
labyrinthine subway of the Capitol
building, said: "I'll take you through
the catacombs—and they might real
ly be the catacombs to judge by the
smell.” <
Russian Generals Visit Allied Bth Army
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Major General Vasiliev is pictured saluting as his party of Soviet gen
erals drives away in a jeep after a visit to Gen. Bernard L. Montgom
ery’s-Bth Army command. Vasiliev was named as the commander who
directed the campaign which cut off the German armies in the Crimea.
Railroad President Becomes Colonel
Ralph Budd, left, president of the Burlington railroad, as he was sworn
Into the army as a colonel of transportation. He was placed in charge
of all railroads in the central western region when the army seized the
railroads as a strike threatened to disrupt service. Left to right are:
Budd, Col. D. A. Hart, Maj. A. Hillman, and Maj. G. E. Van Tassel.
Marshall Inspects Oahu Jungle Fighters
: " .. . ? ... . . ..IB .... • , -
Gen. George C. Marshall, U. S: army chief ‘of staff, and Lient. John
H. Ferguson (left) of the infantry, watch a well trained jungle fighter
crash a barbed wire obstacle with a fast lunge. Lieutenant Ferguson, an in
structor in jungle fighting, was the first married man to be drafted from
San Antonio, Texas. • *
Marching Through Mud on Bougainville
Heavily laden marine infantrymen slosh through deep mud of a jungle
trail as they near the battle front. Continued American attacks on
Japanese positions in the Pacific are steadily lengthening our striking
power from the air. As the battle continued on Bougainville, American
troops battled toward Rabaul which is considered a vital Japanese base.
Thursday, January 13, 1944
Furlough Fun a
fv;- >2''” tß™'4
'2: -
McKinley Park, a luxury hotel in
Alaska, has been taken over by the
army and Is used as a recreation
center for women war department
employees and soldiers stationed
there. Margaret Mylius is helped to
her feet by Lieut. Anselm Tibbs Jr.
as they walk to the skating pond.
Mediterranean Chief
JI
a v j
Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, who
was named supreme commander in
the Mediterranean theater of war
succeeding General Eisenhower ol
the United States. Wilson formerly
was the British commander in chief
of the Middle East.
FD’s Son, Grandson ।
HI??
Lieut. Franklin Roosevelt Jr.
shows his son, Franklin 3d, age 5,
one of his grandfather’s boat mod
els. This picture was made at Pres
ident Roosevelt’s Hyde Park home.
Given Highest Award
^nt*?.-^ ^MHIIIII
Lient. John C. Morgan as he was
awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor. He returned his plane to
England while the pilot and al! gun
ners were unconscious from injuries.