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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1942-8-19, Page 2k. Announcement of the safe arrival in London of a detachment of Canadian firefighters releases she above photograph, taken at an inspection parade on the eve of their departure. Major General L. R LoFleche, associate deputy minister of National War Services, is shown inspecting the men, accompanied by Flight Lieut. G. E. Huff, officer commanding the Canadian Corps of Firefighters for Service in Great Britain, F/L Huff appears at Gen. LaFleche's right. These Canadian volunteers, of whom there are now two detachments in England, are well trained in firefighting, many of them veterans of some years with Canadian fire departments. INDIVIDUAL 4ai®e�:; rm A Weekly Column About This and That in Our Canadian Army "Reveille will be at 3.30 a.m." erbat'e how the order read when the unit of the Reeerve Army with which I attended Summer Camp prepared to return to its armoury bnd to disband for a week's rest from evening parades, the citizen. *chafers to their jobs in offices, factories, stores, warehouses, rail- way yards and the dozen other elapses of industry from whleh they came. Sounds a little tough to the av- erage man who can sleep in until six er eeven, doesn't it? But it was not tough by the time we had finished fourteen days of training. We took it is our stride as we had taken the daily 6 a.m. reveille,the long hours of training and the oc- casional ' night operations which farmed part of the intensive pro- gramme undertaken by units of the reserve army in summer camps throughout the Dominion. Our units were made up of men between the ages of 17 and 19, and 36 and 50, And when I say men, I mean it as regards both ends of the scale. It is a toss-up whether the youths or the middle- aged were the keener men. There was cea'tainly very little "soldier- ing",—to soldier- ing", to use a term that should be banished from our vocabulary. After a heavy route march there was a fair sized "siok-parade" but it was not the "sick -parade'! to which old soldiers are accustom- ed, The line-up consisted of men anxious to have their blisters or callouses fixed up so that they would not have to miss drill per- iods the next day — not of men determined to wangle a "light duty" permit from the medical officer so they could evade the morrow's responeibilities. There were many. things about this year's Reserve Army camps that amazed the old soldiers who attended them and easily the most outstanding was the enthusiasm with which the new recruits ab- sorbed instruction. The only "awk- ward squads", after the second or third day, were the voluntary ones that assembled under good natur- ed non-commissioned officers dur- ing off duty hours. You would find them in the tent lines practising anything from left and right turns by numbees to the "present arms" from the "order." During the morning and afternoon 15 minute rest peroids when the only smokes of parade hours were indulged in, discussion groups formed them- selves around officer's and N.C. O.'e to pay them questions as to the "why" of this, the "how" of that, and the practical application of training to warfare. It Was, until you thought about it, incred- ible! When you thought about it the •newer soon became apparent. These men have joined the re- serve army, according to their age classifications for two reasons. The youngeteie in order to save time in their preparation for ser- vice when they ave old enough to volunteer; the middle aged to fit themselves as fast as possible for home defence duties when they become necessary. The Reserve Array men of today are not "Saturday night soldiers", they aro patriotic citizens debar- red by age or other limitation front. taking their full part in the job of work we have to do. They are eeeeariug for a grim buSamos and they are going more than half way to meet their instructors in the use of the death dealing equip- ment made available to them for training. The men in my platoon, by the time they returned from camp, bad fired more wounds from Bren gone in two weeks than in the last war I had fired from a rifle by the time I iiad been in the army ten months. They fired with rifles en abort and long ranges. They. received instruction in the hand- ling and stripping of the Bren gun. They learned about hand grenades and they put in strenuous hours praotising the right way to deliver these presents to an enemy. They bad their first lessons in "battle - drill." They practised seeking through the open and through cover. They learned the basic principles a bayonet fighting — but they didn't learn to "grouse." This brings us to the second season' referred to above. There are two things that soldiers grouse about most. One is the endless round of unimaginative drill, the other, have you guessed?—food. There was no room for either of these complaints. Especially the latter, whioh caused many an old soldier ,to gasp. Fed under the new ecale of rations N.C.O.'s and men enjoyed — and that word ie well chosen — such meals as these: Breakfast: grapefruit j u f o e, wheat or oat meal porridge, scrambled eggs on toast, bacon, marmalade, toast and -coffee. Lunch: soup, cold roast beef, two vegetables, apple pie, tea. Supper: beef stew, two vege- tables, bread pudding with ehoco. late sauce, bread, butter, tea. Sometimes there was cake, One meal was baked Virginia ham. On Friday's, fish and macaroni andheese c marked thetw obi g meals — and you didn't mix it all ep in the same tin "dixle" that had •held your shaving water earl- ier. Do those rations look heavier to you than the amount you consume at home? They are!. But soldiers —even Reserve Army soldiers at- tending camp for only two weeks —need heavy rations. You can't be on your feet from six in the morning till sometimes nine at night, carrying a nine - pound rifle, a bayonet, web equip- ment over rough ground and smooth, marching or doing pimp Mal training, without good food and lots of it! That's why we are rationed. That's why eight ounces of sugar, LIFE'S LIKE. THAT By Fred Neher 40111 ale Iilibmll X11111...Lar _► "Take care of these, Joe. - two My wife's gone to the country for weeks." • a minimum of tea and, coffee must suffice. Ono of the jobs of the Wartime Pr10ee and Trade Board is to con- serve food for our soldiers, here and. overseas — and thoee of us who are good: soldiers will help the Board do. that job, • VOICE OF THE PRESS A ROUGH IDEA Bombing on a huge scale must disorganize the defences and stun the people who are going through it. At Cologne, it is said that one bomb fell on the average every six seconds. If you are afraid of lightning, think what it would be like to go through a thunder storm with Anew lightning flash every six seconds. Then remem- ber that probably none of those lightning strokes hit your town, while every bomb scores a hit and blows up something. That will give you a rough idea, at least, —Fergus News -Record —0— SOME FOOL'S VICTIM If a psychiatrist investigated the fears of non -swimmers he would probably find that early in life they had been mischievously or deliberately pushed into the water, or ducked when they did not expect it 'and got a fright. Children should never be made afraid of the water. —St. Thomas Times -Journal —0— AREN'T WE ALL? Explaining his attempt to es- cape from a Quebec military hos- pital, a captured German merch- ant seaman said that he was "fed up with the war." We haven't accomplished our purpose until we have made another Nazi, much more highly placed, feel the same way. —Windsor Star —0- 50 YEARS AGO In one day recently seven car- loads of cheese were shipped from Listowel for the British market, and three carloads from Atwood. This made e20,000 worth of cheese shipped in one day from the factories of one district. —Stratford Herald,July 24, tr tfor d 1892. —0— OH, MEMORIES! Word comes from Regina that Saskatchewan will need 30,488 men for harvest labor this season. Oh, for the good old days of the Harvest Excursions! —Owen Sound Sun -Times —0— YOU'RE BRITISH, AREN'T YOU? What's this? Are you going around with your head in a Ailing? Are you losing heart be - amuse the war is going a bit thick these days? What's the matter? Keep that sihin up! You're British aren't you! —Windsor Star —0— TRY TO AVOID THIS It is a terrible thing to raise children who are just'as thought - leas of you as you were of your parents. —Brandon Sun Develops New Way Of Using Rubber Reclaiming rubber is usually a long and costly process, because it must be re-formed into raw material and then re-manufactur= ed into the article required. But a new system has come into op- enation in Britain whereby scrap - tires are utilized for the direct manufacture of certain articles. The process is simple, and ensures` no wastage. The treadand under - tread tread are made into a compound for manufacturing such essential goods as rubber soles, heels, baby carriages, tires, brake blocks, washers and other Herne invalu- able for inachanical purposes. The body or carcass of the tire is made into other articles, by far the most important being repair patches. Old tires also turn out washers for vehicles, insulation and mounting pads, the latter pre- venting wear and friction when the body is mounted on the chassis. THE WAR • WEEK Commentary on Current Events - WHERE WILL RED ARMY MAKE LAST STAND TO STOP NAZIS? - Not one step back! 'The exe- eutlon of this task means the preservation of our .country, the destruction of the hated enemy and a guarantee of vlotory, With those wordy, Joseph Stalin lust week called on the Red Army for -a desperate stand against the advancing Wehrinaeht, says the New York Times, He gave notice to his 190;000,000 countrymen' that their nation -had ' never faced a graver moment—not even in a past. that has been scourged by invad- ing Tatars, Mongols, Swedes, Poles, French and another gen- eration of Germans. The feeling of crisis had been matched only last Fall when Adolf Hitler's guns were heard in Moscow's suburbs and the capital's citizens were sum- moned for "the hour of supreme sacrifice." It was a feeling that rippled ominously from seared meadows and orchards of the Don valley, from bloody river crossings and machine -littered fields . at the. fringe of the Caucasus, into the capitals of the Allies abroad. The plight of the Russian colossus was the plight of the whole anti - aggressor cause. Phe Axis sweep to the Don in the first month of the grand 1942 - campaign had overrun some 30,000 square miles of grain and cattle country. It had breached the Ros- tov entrance to the Oauoasus, opened the way for a drive to the lower Volga and the Caspian. If the Germans could add the farms of the North Caucasus to their White Russia, Ukraine' and Don Basin conquests, they would pos- sess perhaps a quarter of the Soviet's' cultivated land. I6 they could take the oil fields of the Caucasus, they would hold the fountainhead of 80 to 90 per cent of the Soviet's petroleum, At the Volga and the Caspian they would be in position to sever the Allied supply line from Iran. Russia's Final Stand? German successes along the Don, according to the Christian Science, Monitor, raise the all- important question whether and where the Nazis can be stopped. h o! or 1n the litbeatt eY a WW g Urals? Will they be 'able to cross the Caspian Sea and threaten India from bases in Iran, Turkmen, and Afghanistan? As long as the Russian armies remain intact, withdrawing from one position to the other, Germany cannot even dream of having won victory over Resole. The Russian Front is extremely flexible but its "final stand" will always de- pend upon the army. No natural obstacles except the mighty Volga River protect the Russian hinter. land. The Urals are a geographical conception, the traditional divid- ing line between Europe .and Attie, but their hills, and forests never mislead Russia to a- Maginot Line complacency, .The importance of the Urals is based on their natural resources and the industries which have been built around them but not on strategic considerations. From that point of view, the Cau- casus alone shields the two amain apnroaclres to the oil of Baku. Russia's Manpower The Russian military strength, therefore, depends primarily upon its manpower and the amount of available planes, tanks and guns. It does not matter whether the three latter are produced in fac- tories. close to the front, or far from the front, or shipped from the United Nations. What matters is that trained soldiers, get them in time for use. In manpower the Russians have a great advantage over the Axis and their W. satellites. While the WO- tmen take over the work of men, millions of soldiers are mobilized. Russia can put into the field train• ed armies- of 10,000,000' and 20,- 000,000 soldiers without affecting its war industry or agriculture. • Every year 1,600,000' young- Rus- sian men come into the military age. Their number will rise to 2,000,000 by 1946. On the Other hand, the German manpower res- ervoir supplied 640,000 men who reached the age of 20 in 1940, while the number of now recruits' will decline to 680,000 by 1946. Russia. thus prodtices tbree times as many young men` fit for mill - tare service as Germany, • The Russian armies can retreat. and resist over a distance of-aev- er'al thousand miles, jluesia has 3,000,000 Square miles of forests chiefly east of the Urals and there its aa'my could disappear before the'' eyse of the invader without the clanger of a oreehing defeat As the - Germane advance, that prospect becomes increasingly probable. Nazi Drive For 011 If the Nazi forces axe driving for Resale's great oil reserves of the Caucasus, their -purpose is not only to secure the oil for thein• selves, but to deprive -Russia' of one of its most vital .supports in the war, Germany wants to Cut' off' the oil from the powerful Russian- war machine and put out of combat those tanks and airplanes upon which everything depends now and which already have dealt most severe blows at the enemy. Russia has a completely mechanized agri- culture which deprived of oil could not function. While the huge spaces of Rus- sia will permit its army to with. draw properly, thus evading in• definitely a final German victory, the Germans would attempt to bloeka'l%e Russia economically and to reduce its fighting power to insignificance. TheGermans are on their way to the Volga and an occupation of Stalingrad and Astrakhan at the Caspian Sea .would out of all com- munications between the Central Front and the forces which, protect the Caucasus. Besides this mili- tary threat which as such may be less serious in the case of.a strong - army defending the Caucasus, the flow of Russian oil toward the in- dustrial centres of European Rus- sia would come to an end. Russia would suffer tremend- ously under the loss of 85 per cent of its oil output. Great stocke of oil have been accumulated, how- ever, and 'in addition with the re- maining production Russia's aran• ies world not be crippled. War tactics would have to be • changed, transportation w o u l d. have to be curtailed, agriculture neglected, but there would be suf. Silent oil for the war machine.e W must not forget that even the. Ger- man war machine is coneidered to run on less than 70,000,000 barrels of oil annual consumption under full warfare. The next winter would permit Russia to reduce its war of movement and tines save much gasoline and permit new -stocks to accumulate. Russian agriculture would suffer but power substitutes made from grain and wood, most abundantly available in Siberia, would permit the continuation of the use of trac- tors and -vehicles: Finally, more horses could be raised in a rela- tively short period as the oil stocks• would permit the maintenance of curtailed consumption of oil over a period of several years. Scorched earth policy would de - Drive Germany of the conquered oil at least for several months. But it could not be prevented from utilizing the abundant oil resourc- es of the Caucasus sooner or later, once in possession of this region. Front the Cauoases German armies would threaten the oil of Iraq and Iran and make the Un-. ited Nations position there most precarious. The wellydevelopod Russian river and canal system would permit the distribution of the oil to the Ukraine and -over the Polish and Baltic river syr. tomms to the consenting centers of Gerany. levee if Russia can withdraw nil its 40,000 tank cars and Lbs large number• of airbarges, destroy all pipelines and oil wells and save the Black Sea Fleet by the ,can• cession of free passage through the Bosporus to United Nations ports, - the whole strategy of the war -would have .to be changed. Germany would have gained a most important base on her way to Tudia, and its strong air fleet, once supplied with the urgently needed oil, could harass the Un. "lied Nation- Supply lilies in the Middle East and keep the Russians at bay behind the Urals with the main instrument of the air foss and a relatively small land army in the east Thus, the hull( of the. Garman army would be freed' to fight els awl: eve. REG'LAR FELLERS—Lip Reading By GENE BYRNES / MY r l YFATHER SEE FATHER WEARS RIGHT ON N0S6END THE WAY i HIS CrLASSES. OF HIS // // j/ d i5 t QCT/r % •NES THAT'S NUTHIN'1 MY GRAN'PA WEARS 'EM OVER 1415 AAfiIRN NARU' f ®* AA i r , m•'—. y� / -7"•�� �u • - , �"r CRAZY TO WEAR yl ASSES IF THAT'S T,NE) WAY HE DOES. JJ J-"' 'e V r N0, HE AIN'T.' HE WANTS 70 SEE WHAT HE'S TALKIN' ABOUT! --/ /` ' .:. � 6 d. ,�`�11• ._ �o d/r y red � s ?' 1 ,a "`, M ' -" �am .,,...,.. �� V,11,111.. omen. An IeM r aif;<A t 1,0 _ .�•,�