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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1942-8-5, Page 6NO SCORE—YET Nazi torpedo bombers swoop down to mast level over Allied convoy bringing material to Russia in Barents Sea battle which took place early in. Ju ly. THE WAR - WEEK — Commentary on Current Events Hitler's Mighty War Machine Pushes 1n t o North Caucasus Adolf Hitler's legions stood last week at the gates of bhe Ceueas- se. Almost a month bad passed, says the New .York Times, since the Wehrmaeht launched its great 1942 offensive in Southern Russia. For the U. S. S. R.—and for the halted Nations—the moment was the gravest since the enemy's guns echoed over Moscow's sub - oriel last Fall. From the Rostov entrance to the Caucasus the Wehemaoht could move in two directions, both aimed principally at cutting the .Soviet from its principal reserves et oil and at ultimate penetration of the Middle East. It could strike directly eastward across the plains Of the North Caucasus, a region of vast collective farms, offering stay terrain for meohamized units. Four hundred and flfty miles away lay the mouth of the Volga, where it empties into the Caspian e t Astrakhan. A march along such a line would isolate the Caucasus, thrive a wedge between the Red Army forces there and in upper Russia, put the Germans in posi- tion to intercept Allied supplies coming up the Caspian from Iran, It would also give them a base to push southward, another 450 Miles along the flat shore of the Caspian, to the great petroleum wells of Baku. There they would stand 150 miles from Iran, From Rostov A southward march from Ros- tov, along the Black Sea coast, might net the oil district of Mai- kop and reads Batum, terminus of the pipe line from Baku. The distance would be 400 miles, the route would take advantage of foothill shoreline and thus avoid the hazards of a thrust directly into the lofty main Caarcasue range. At Batum, the Nazis would be on the Turkish border. The upper prong of the • colossal pincers strive to the Middle East would be closing in hard. A eonqueet of the Caucasus would not necessarily mean elim- ination of Russian resistance, The Soviet forces beyond the Don were surely powerful and ready to apply scorched -earth tactics if beaten back. The possibility of a counter -blow on the Wehrmaohtet flank at Voronezh, 200 miles north od Rostov, could not be overlooked. Prom bases across the Volga, from the Urals, Turkestan and Siberia the Russians could draw supplies end fight on, But if Hitler gained the land between the Black and Caspian Seas there was no doubt that the Red Army's strength would be greatly impaired and that the Wehrmacht would gain a treasure house of raw materials `to carry on a protracted war. 011, The Greatest Prize Overshadowing all other Caucas- ian resources—grain fields rival- ing those of the Ukraine, mines yet to be fully exploited—is oil. Three thousand years ago the dis- ciples of Zoroaeter built shrines to the "eternal" fires lit by gas from the Caspian oil beds. Marco Polo came to the Caucasus to see the oil dipped up in skin bags, loaded on eame!s and carried off tp feed the alabaster lamps of Persia. _ Alfred Nobel, who gave the world dynamite and a peace prize, came and built the first of the pipe lines that carried the oil of the Caucasus to the Western World, Joseph Stalin, a son of the Caucasus, knows better than any of his colleagues in the gov- eimment what the products of the Caucasus mean to all the rest of Russia. Today, through every important Caucasian town run the pipe lines; every city has its refineries; Oil production figures in Russia are a military secret, but estimates are that in normal years the Maikop and Grozny fields north of the main mountains produce 10 per cent of all, Russia's oil supplies and the Baku fields, south of the range, yield 70 per cent. For A Meohenized Economy On this 011 much of Russia's life depends. The highly median - !zed Red Army must have it for planes and tanks and armored ears and motor lorries. Industry wants it for transportation and power. The peasant and his horse have long since ceased to domi- nate Russian agriculture; today there are 500,000 tractors, 106,000 combines, 211,000 heavy farm trucks, all demanding oil to drink on pain of starvation for Rue - Mane. Russia's oil requirements are so large that she imported oil in 1938 and placed her civ- ilians on rations despite the fact that she is the second largest oil- producing country in the world. To keep the oil of the Caucasus from the Russian armies, to win it for themselves, Germany has sacrificed thousands of German and Rumanian and Hungarian lives. On a front extending from Voronezh, far up the Don, reach- ing out toward Stalingrad on the Volga, and enveloping Rostov at the mouth of the Don, divisions have been hurled in relentless at- tack. They were not achieving suc- cess everywhere last week; at Voronezh the Russians were beat- ing down German attacks, advanc- ing themselves. But the peril to the Caucasus overshadowed all else. Key Cities Stalingrad, where the Soviet dictator in the days of the Russian civil war organized Red Arniy sup- plies, is a key industrial and communications center. As from Rostov, . the Wehrmaobt f r o m Stalingrad could attempt • to cut the Caucasus from the rest of Russia. With the city as a base, the Germane could also strike for the Caspian. Allied supplies from Fran and up the 'Caspian flow borough Stalingrad.. Rostov was captured briefly last year by the invaders; their subsequent with- drawal marked the beginning of a Winter of bitter Nazi setbacks. It is a port set high on the Don's bluffs, a city of more than half a million people, a junction of oil pipelines from the Caucasian wells, of railways tapping great aalbeat end harleY farms. .As the Germans hurled them- selves from many fades at Ros- tov's limes, worried Soviet diplo- mats paid hurried visits to American and Englesh leaders in Washington and London, There was no announcement of the subject discussed, but there could be but one subject. The same sub- ject was being talked about in petitions and at mese meetings in Greet Britain and the United States. Foreign visitors in Russia neared it from the 11115 of the Russian themselves: "When will there be a second front?" "May Victory Be Yours" Drilla and American officials had long since agreed on the "ur- gent task" of establishing another front in Western Europe to help ease the pressure on the Russian armies. Beyond that there was no official word, no official action. Many observers had seen in the steadily worsening shipping situ- ation in the Atlantic a sign that a second land front could not be established this ISummer•. Where had noted that American forces in the British Isles were steadily being increased and believed that they would not be ]eft idle. The mass -scale air bombings of Ger- man cities launched by the Bri- tish in June, which some observ- ers bad seen as the second -front effort, had not been continued. Brom Moscow came reports that Russia, at any rate, did not see in them the second front it had ex- pected. But Russia and the Caucasus were not trusting all their hopes to the prospects of a second front; they looked 'chiefly to their men. From the days of Timer the Tartar and hie Golden Horde to the pre- sent the Caucasus has been fought over many times. Its sons—Cir- caselans, Caucasians, Georgians, Cossacks, Tartars, Mongols—are warriors. Their traditional dress has a cartridge belt sewn terrors the chest and a dagger fashioned in front, From time out of mind their usual greeting has been "Be victorious," and the usual reply, "And may victory be youre." Stars To Compete For Seagram Cup When a dozen or more strokes under par fails to win first place in any tournament the boys are really hot, and Canadian fans are eagerly awaiting the meeting of Jimmy Demaret and Ben Hogan in the forthcoming Canadian Open Golf Championship at Mississ- auga on August 6, 7 and 8. Wben Bob Gray returned front the Hale America he brought the news that these two stars were planning to take in the Canadian Open. Should they both tee off on August 6th they'll no doubt attract a large gallery, and the fasts can look for some sparkling golf before the Seagram Gold Cup finds a new owner, Fur Traders Need No Ration Cards The fur trader and the pros. pector who roam through Canada's remote northern territories, and Indiana and Eskimos living in the hinterland can still get sugar without producing ration coupons. The Wartime Prices and Trade . Board has announced that opera- tors of stores and trading posts dealing with Indians, trappers and others living in "unorganized" areas may supply ,sugar to such groups for any necessary period on the basis of one-half pound per person eaoh week. Persons in organized areas who come to trading posts or stores only once in several months for their supplies are not being pro- vided with ration cards, the Board said, and may buy sugar without producing coupons. Berlin Is City Of War Cripples Travellers arriving at Istanbul from Berlin said the German cap- ital is a city of legless, armless, eyeless war wounded, of cabbage and potatoes, watery beer and four cigarettes a day, and of plentiful money, but little to buy. Despite deteriorated living con- ditions, however, these observers felt the stolid Germans could carry on three years, or even more, if their, army suffered no impressive defeat. $DJVIDUAL e MAtiracc tict-WWKI - A Weekly Coiunan About This and That in Our Canadian Army Some of the men who tome in for more than their percentage of wisecracks intim Canadian, or the British, or the American --and probably in the German and Jap- anese, for that matter—Army, are the Intelligence Officers. The res• son is obvious—but the facts don't substantiate the bidding. Those of us on the outside aro apt to think of "Secret Service" and to conjure np visions of dar- ing spies who disguise themselves as organ -grinders or vegetable salesmen or glamorous sirens or something litre that. People like E. Phillips Oppenheim are respon- sible for that idea. I am not saying that there is not a certain percentage of clever espionage work done by the intelli- gence staffs of all armies but I do know that for every disguised operative who aneake around in enemy territory there are a buu- red careful, meticulous workers who spend long hours in offices at General. Staff Headquarters sifting little bits of information than, reach them from many sources. They have a long, trying and arduous job to do, a job that calls for keen analysis, infinite pains- taking—which has been called ".genius"—devotion to duty and practical imagination. Nothing is 'too trivial for them to note, noth- ing so big that it can hide wanted facts from them. As you follow through the organization of your Army you find intelligence officers at Division, Brigade and Unit 'Headquarters, all engaged in the vastly important job of gathering information that will be of value to the High Command. How do you imagine for instance that our official communiques are able to state that "so many men and guns composed the opposing forces"? Don't think *at some prisoner broke down and told it. To begin with, no individual soldier below the rank of a general would know it. .And, it must be remembered, international law protects a soldier from answering other than his name, rank, etc., if he is captured. That is, of course, 'when you are dealing with an enemy who re- enacts international law. But when you have a number of intelligence officers, trained in their jobs, questioning a large number of prlsoners on different parts of..tbe front and rapidly for - .warding their information through the channels povided to a central point where it is all correlated and analysed it is surprising to the lay. man ]sow much accurate informa- tion of incalculable value to the General Staff can be obtained even, from answers that adhere to the instructions given to all soldiers to reveal nothing of their side's dispositions to their oalitors. The same thing applies to the innocent little remarks oma of us make at times to our friends, or to casual strangers WO meet on the train or 1n a street car or at some gathering. We may think we are being very circumspect, we may feel that the information that our next door neighbor's boy is hone on his,ast leave does not convey anything. It doesn't in itself, es- pecially if we have been very care- ful not to say whether he is going east or west but, and this is a big, but if in five or six towns five or six other people let out similar Information something like 'this may happen Let us assume that the five or six soldiers referred to are from three or four different units. The inno- cent remarks are collected by ene- my agents and relayed to a cen- tral point. At once it is known that in the next few days a con- tingent of however many troops those four units represent is going overseas. To that seine point cone little bitb of other informa- tion—gathered, for instance, in a tavern or coffee shop near a rail- way yard where a yard foreman or one of his helpers innocently re- marks to a colleague that he has "to take up a 14 -car special to- morrow for the port of Such -and - Such." The central correlator of information has an approximation of the time and size of the move- ment. That's all he needs! The next step ie to send word to a raider command that within so many days a troop convoy may be ex- pected to move from "Such -and - Snob." S ample, isn't int? So let's keep our months shut. And let's ask no questions of our soldier, sailor and airmen friends. On the other hand, don't forget that the. Intelligence Officer of the Unit or Headquarters near you ' 'will be very interested in anything you have to tell him that you think may be of use in his work. And, while we are on the sub- ject of helping people to do their jobs, here is some intelligence work we can do in the inclividaial Citizen's Army. The V,,artime Prices and Trade Board is fighting an enemy that will be as danger- ous after the was' as the common foes are today, the enemy called Poet -War Inflation. The board maintains an intelli- gence system on somewhat 'the same lines as the Army. Not a reg- iment of snoopers but a number of trained business men whose job it is to watch for the infiltration of uncontrolled inflation behind our economic lines They, too, note little bits of unrelated information that filter in from all over the 'country and from their correlation of there facts are able to deter- mine how to dispose their forces, It you know of anything that is contributing to higher prices tell the nearest representative of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. He will hold your name in omit.. dance and you help him fight your. economic battles. ✓ OICE OF THE P RESS TEN SONS IN UNIFORM! Ten sons in the armed service of Canada. Such a record is in- deed oustanding. It reveals not only the patriotism of the sons themselves in thus engaging vol- untarily in the active service but also the spirit of the parents which promote this outstanding record of service. Such a family is that of Gus Shaw of Bloomfield, Prince Ed- ward Island. Three of his sons are in the navy, four in the army, two signed up and still awaiting their calls, and the tenth still too young to enlist in the active ser- vice army has joined the reserve. —Halifax Herald —0— PRESERVING GOODWILL A manufacturer normally em- ploying '2,000 people writes the • following t0 London Times; "Four hundred of our people are away on war services, and must be pro- vided for when they return. Our power to maintain them when the war is over is dependent on the preservation of cur goodwill, Therefore we must continue to advertise, even in wartime net wastefnlly but to that reasonable extent which will protect our workers and the public," —St. Thomas Tinres-Jotu•nal BOYS ON THE FARM While eneouragemenb is being given to high school boys to stay on the farms and so help with the harvest, there is something which is bothering many people. It is this: How many farmers' sons have taken advantage of the presence of the high school boys from the city to go to the city, themselves, to take jobs in the factories? —0— LOTS OF REPLACEMENTS There is an estimate that 2,• 000,000 Ups have been killed its the war with China, after five years.. The item does not mead mach to a nation of 80,000,000 prolific breeders. —St. Catharines Standard —o— ONE OR THE OTHER Tho time is, past when we should have English Canadians, European Canadians, New Cana- dians or French Canadians. We are either all Canadians or we aren't. —London Free Press WHAT DOES HITLER CARE The Russians claim that 105,- 000 Nazis were killed in the Se- vastopol campaign, but Hitler does not worry about such mat- ters. That's why Germans were born. —The New Yorker —e— "SUPER" CLASS Chinese proverbs are in the "super" class. Here is a sampler "Fool nae once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." —Kitchener Record! —o— THOSE CARE -FREE DAYS Can you remember the care- free days when all they used the 17..S. fleet for was to take the President fishing? —Quebec Chronicle -Telegraph —o— MORE SLANDER Have you heard of the Scotch girl who powdered her nose with a marshmallow before she ate it? —Peterborough Examiner —o— MIGHT BE WORSE Still it might be worse if the. curbstone experts and parlor gen- erals ran the war. —Brandon Sun Infant Mortality - A 40 percent rise in infant. mortality over normal in Nazi- occupied Europe was reported by. the British Famine Relief Com- mittee, a fact-finding organiza- tion of churchmen. LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher _ • (I,eleiied bt,lUireJ ataS DIARY. "He's .Ambidextrous." REG'LAR FELLERS—A Bargain c...._ WHERE D1DJA GET THAT DOfa? WAWA SELL'IM SURE, 11.1. SELL '1M' HOW MUCH? GWAld! HE'S A MUTT! HE AINT WORTH wry CENTS! I'LL GIVE YOU A DIME FOR 'IM! THATS ALL HES WORTH: By GENE BY l' NES YOU'RE CRAZY! THE MAN WHAT "GAVE ME THIS Doy GAVE ME IdIPTEi:Fj JUS 10 GEf RID OF IM ! } [14-1' 6.20 .1)1 nl )%i.00 5 nn ,lig" „ie,"d