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The Brussels Post, 1943-1-27, Page 7RIDE A COCK FIORSE TO BANBURY CROSS Rigbt out pf Mother Goose is this little girl in London, who rides her pony Pixie wherever she goes. She is Claire Cotton, daughter of a Brazilian consulate official. Britain Replaces Aircraft Carriers Strength of Royal Navy Greater Than In 1939 A. V. Alexander, first lord of the Admiralty, declared that "al- though we have had heavy losses in aircraft carriers, we have more now than we had at the begin- ning.of the war after replacing our losses." Britain has announced the loss of five aircraft carriers, the Ark Royal, Courageous, Glorious, Hermes and Eagle. Since the start of the war she has completed the Indomitable, Formidable, Victorious, and Illus- trious — 'and, from Alexander's statement, apparently also has 'added the new Indefatigable and Implacable to the fleet. Jane's Fighting Ships • listed them as scheduled for completion in 1942. This would indicate a total of seven, the only pre-war carrier remaining unsuuk being the Furi- ous. Alexander told a Sheffield audience last September 20 that the Royal Navy's capital ship, carrier and cruiser losses of the last two and a half years had been replaced. "We have bad in the last three or four months very heavy attacks by U-boats," Alexander said "and we have taken a very heavy toll of the, enemy. Casualties In W. r Under 1914-18 Toll German Losses in Russia perhaps 4,000,000 In All A despatch from London says Renter's military correspondent has estimated that "the United Nations --not including Chins. — enter 1943 with armies totalling approximately 15,000,000 men." In addition, he said, "Allied air personnel is approaching the 5,- 000,000 mark." The German army, "probably 8,000,000 men at its peak, has suffered heavily in casualties in Russia, losing perhaps 4,000,000 in all," the correspondent dealer - ed. Japan, he said, "is reported to have an effective army of from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000." Now, in case some of the younger people may have thesidea that the last war was, by com- .parison, a minor affair, let us have some figures of that as well. In the War'of 1914-18, the Al- lied and Associated Powers (in- cluding the United States) mobi- lized a total of approximately 40,- 000,000 men. The Central Powers (Germany and her allies), mobilized 19,509,- 000 Men, or a grand total of just under 60,000,000 men. The total casualties of the wee Were these: Dead, 7,781,806; Wounded, 18,- 681,257; Prisonera or Missing, 1,080,580, er total casualties of more than thirty-three millione. . Some people are inclined te doubt figures of casual -Lica on the Eastern Front in this war, hold- ing them to be "fanthatic," They aye not necessarily inaccurate or exaggerated when one remembers the castialtioa Of the lestpwar.Up to this hour 'out' own Canadian casualties have been eomparative- ly 1ight on land. Huns Use Rockets To Start Bombers Take -Off With Blazing Rock- ets a Terrifying Sight A British aircraft authority said rockets are used at the take- off of the Germon Junkers 88 medium bombers to give quick acceleration. Writing in the annual review issue of "Iron Age," steel trade journal, C. G. Grey, well known in the British aviation field, said such rocket -propelled starts have been used for two years. Grey quoted an escaped Neth- erlands flyer as saying that "few things are more terrifying than to see a heavily loaded bomber full of bombs and gasoline tak- ing off at snight with a huge rocket blazing under each wing and knowing that if one engine cuts the whole thing will turn over and go up in one burst of flame." Fired Electrically The author also reported that rockets are being used in another way by the Russians. He said two or three rocket bombs for ground attack are carried under each wing of the new Stcamovik bomber -fighter. The bombs are carried on rails instead of normal bomb racks. They are fired elec- trically and are given their direc- tion by sliding along the rails. This, he added, with their rocket propulsion, carries them more nearly in a straight line with the course of the 'plane than if they were ordinary bombs. Catapulting Hurricanes Grey said that the big, four - engine Focke - Wulf Kurriers, which have been harrying Atlantic convoys, start their trips from a big airdrome near Bordeaux, in the south of France. They fly out around Ireland, up to Ice- land and thence to Norway, where theyhave a runway some- thing over two settee long,- from which they take off and fly on the reverse course. To combat the Kurriers, Grey said, Britain has been catapulting Hurricanes from the decks of big merchant ships. If a Iturricane alighted on the water, however, it invariably turned over on its nose and killed or drowned the pilot, so the pilots took to bailing out with their parachutes after shoot-, Ing down or chasing off the enemy. In spite of the fact that each such engagement meant the loss of a •aturrictute, the method has stopped Rimier dePredailons, Cray ss id. $hocks For Britons Coming This Year --- More Britons expeet to get their marching maims sows Not all wilt march to the front but there will be more of them at war work on thehome front. Forecasters predict 1043 will be full of ahocks for the veliole na- tion from 'teen-agers to pension- ers.' The aim is to throw the war effort into even higher gear and s •• in enough new workers to release enough fighting -age men to replace expected casualties. The, government is reported considering- registration of men up to 55 and women up to 50 for industrini work, The conscription age for girls may be lowered to inelude 19 - years -old or even those a year younger. Drastic concentration programs are under way for luxury and non essential industries. SCOUTING . Of special interest to Canada's Boy Scouts, who have become leaders in the field of war sal- vage, is the fact that Charles Le - feria, Canada's director of Sal- vage, is a.former Boy Scout. Mr. latferle belonged to a Troop on famed and much. bombed Malta, and was one of the contingent of Scouts representing the island at the coronation of Ring George V and Queen Mary in 1911. * * Toronto's newest Boy Scout Troop, the 201st, is about as cos- mopolitan as it would be Possible to find a Troop. The Troop is sponsored by the Kiwanis Boys' Clubs and the Scoutmaster is P. F. Harris. This little league of nations has a membership of 28 boys divided among the following races and nationalities: Finnish, Jewish, French-Canadian, Polish, Negro, Russian, Ukrainian and Anglo-Saxon. Thus Boy Scouts again illustrate the true meaning of world brotherhood. 5 ., 5 Boy Scouts of 'Granby, Que., have an enviable record in the field of enlistments in the armed services. The Troop was organ- ized in November 1927, and since that date has enrolled 232 boys. Of this number 53 are in the Troop today, while 103 former members are in the armed forces. Incidentally Granby has one of the largest enrollments of Scouts in proportion to boy population in the Dominion of Canada. 5 5 5 • The Mayor of Hendon, a bor- ough of London, had the rather odd experience of swearing an oath of allegiance to the Ring twice in one day. On the day on which he assumed office, as Mayor he took the oath, and later on the same day was enrolled as a Eoy Scout and in the course of the ceremony repeated the oath. ✓ OICE O THE P RESS NICKEL NICKNAME Canada's second issue of the twelve -sided nickel is made, like its predecessor, of a combination of aim: and copper, The change in material probably demands a new name for the coin, and any day now, someone is Early to pop up with the suggestion of "zop. per," --Windsor Star SOME SLIDE! A young Russian aviator parted from his plane at 20,000 feet or thereabouts. His parachute failed to open, hut in falling he hit and slid down the side of a snow-cov- ered hill or mountain and came to a stop, breathless but un- scathed, in a snow bank at the bottom of the hill. --Winnipeg Free Press EDUCATION A. well educated boy should know how to—sell things, make things, run machines, milk cows, drive horses, plow, keep books, repair anything, read between the lines, shake hands as if he meant it, eep smiling, be "from Mis- souri", earn money—save it. —London Free Press. A PLACE TO SAVE The U. S. War Production Board is urging everyone to con- serve matches. It is estimated that People in North America strike more than 500,000,000,000 match- es a year and thereby use up 70,- 000,000 board feet of lumber and 50 tons of steel. —Stratford Beacon -Herald —0— SHAKESPEARE'S GUT The Germans have ordered all of Shalcespeare's works to be pulped. Before the war they ac- claimed him as a true Aryan dramatist, but now, as a humorist puts it, 'they've discovered he isn't really Hitlerature. —London Answers • —0 -- BRIDE'S PROBLEM Life gets more and more com- plicated. )3rides used to be told that all they had to do was feed the brute, but now they have to give him nutrition. —Toronto Saturday Night —0— WHEN DIMES WERE DIMES Sure your peat-grandpappy could buy an unrationed sirloin steak for a dime—and every now and then he had a dime. —Detroit News —0— YOUTH IS OLD HABIT With, some women,' staying young is an old habit. —Kitchener Record - The British Army has a special- ly -built incinerator for deatroy- ing- secret papers. Not even the ashes remain. LIFE'E LIKE THAT By Fred Neher "Nothing in the rule book says I can't!" THE WAR WEEK — Commentary on Current Events Dummy Fires Over Berlin Fail To Foil R. A. F. Pilots Newsmen chosen by lot were a lowed to ride British planes bonthieg Berlin on the night of 3in. 16 for the first time Orl 011 offensive flight from Britain. Jams MacDonald, New York Times imigespondetta represented the United States newsmen and in the following dispatch tells oftisr leaturictaniaell:heavy attack on }, ti I was a passenger aboard one of the planes comprising the largo three that battered the German Capital. I saw a great number of 4,005 -pound hIgh-explosive bombs and thousands of incendiaries blastiug buildings right and left, and starting widespreadfires remi- niscent of some of the big German raids we have gone through in Landon. The plane to Mitch I was as- signed as a passenger was man- ned by a crew of seven, (Inc by one, the giant bombers roared sway into the thickening dusk. atinutes passed. Still more planes heavily loaded with high explosives and incendiaries went away while we waited. Signal To Go Faintly from the control room came the voice of the WAAP— Women'a Auxiliary Air Force — giving its our signal to go. Our four motors, which had been idling all this time,burset into a thunderous roar. Slowly we began to move. We had to take the full length of the runway be- -tore we were airborne because we were carrying one 4,000 -pound bomb and a very big cargo of in. cen diaries. In a matter of seconds, the air- field had disappeared from view, Soon we were out over the sea and had started a long climb to high altitude. As we neared 10,000 feet, "Skipper" said to me over his intercommunication, "Would you mind going forward into the bomb aimer's compartment in the nose and connecting up your ox- ygen supply pipe?" Somehow I managed to get into the nose of the plane and sat on the floor and let the forward gun- ner connect my Aose-mouth mask - with the oxygen supply. There •wasn't any monotony, at least for me, in that overwater leg ot the fight. I was fascinated • with the "intercom" conversation 'of the crew. Five Minutes from Coast Then in a pause in which there was complete silence, I heard the voice of Warrant Officer Clayton saying impersonally, "We're now five minutes away from the coast- line of enemy -occupied territory." I could feel the alertness of everyone aboard. Then soon atter tbat, Clayton informed us we were well over enemy territory. By this time, night had closed in but there was a bright moon in the sky and vis- ibility was good. My unpracticed eyes couldn't spot anything un- toward even when I heard the forward gunner sing out, "Enemy night fighter off to starboard." Lying on my stomach and peer - Jug through the plane's nose, I finally saw a tiny black speck moving through the sky. S,uolden- ly that big Lancaster flipped far over on its side and did a steel:, almost vertical dive for what seemed like a thousand feet, then leveled oft We had taken advan- tage of some cloud below its to bide from our would-be.attacker. When you're carrying a two -ton bomb ADA 10t5 of incendiaries, it is not wise to risk being hit by an enemy plane's incendiary bullets. Ninety Miles From Target Presently I 'heard once again the impersonal voles of Clayton saying, "You're now 90 miles from the target." Hardly were the words out of his mouth than ground gunners began sending shells up at its, splitting the aky with jagged ' Mattes of light as they exploded. Either their Orin was poor or "Skipper's" piloting Was excel. lent. They didn'tcome near en. ough for us to hear the explosions above the noise of our motOrs. "You are now nearing the tar. get," said Clayton. Then I saw a sight 1 bad heard about frosn. many of my RAF friends and read about In some publisatione: Dummy thee lit bl Germans on bogus landing fields, imitation freight yards, and:flinisr structures disguised as important buildings. These fires on the oub skirt of Berlin were intended to Make the raiding Omen think they were over the City and drop bombs on them, only to have then). fall harmlessly in open nettle. We ignored them, Found Target It was only ,e mono- et or two later when I saw the real thing. Waves of raiders that had taken off before ue back in Brits', bad found the target anti dropped their loads and made way for us new arrivals. Below and slightly to the right of me were several straight strings of Tights going like street lamps. These trings, which seem- ed to crisscross one another at right angles, were caused bY in- cendiaries tbat had just burst. Looking down, I was fascinated as the white lights of fresb in- cendiaries turned to yellow ansi. then red, when suddenly there vvas a blinding flaah, a great cone of light with its point on the ground, 'and its everovidening base reach- ing to the sky. Saute 'kite" had released a 4,000 -pound bomb. We were flying at too great a height to hear wbat must have been a colossal explosion. Immediately after the big bomb, numerous small fires merged Into one great seething caldron in which the skeletons of some build. Ings were clearly distinguishable. The fires were sao bright they par- tially illuminated the bomb aim- er's compartment, silhouetting our bomb aimer as he poised himself over his instruments ready to aim. Presently it was our turn to bomb. Up to this moment, we had been zigzagging, diving, climbing and twisting our way through the enemy's frantic antiaircraft fire. Now we leveled off in straight course directly across the target area. In the middle of it, the big Lancaster leaped 'upward like a surprised animal. We had released our two -ton bomb. We tore on across the conflagration below and none of us saw our bomb burst, but crews in the renewing Planes did. Shetia Burst Close Sy Again we circled for position to run across the target from an- ther direction and drop incend- iaries. As we started this second "run," I heard above the din of our motors three dull thuds dir- ectly underneath us, thuds like heavy weights were being dropped on padded floors. Three antiair- craft shells had come uncomfort- ably close, bursting in fragments some of which scratched the un- derparts of our plane, but did not do any appreciable damage or harm anyone. Having completed the second "run," the Skipper said over the intercom to the bomb aimer: "Johnny, there's one fire down there that seems to be dying down. Let's start it up again." Once again we took aim and. streaked across that steadily grow- ' ing blaze, "Bombs gone," announced John— ny when we had got aoross. "Okay," said the Skipper. U -Boats Repaired At 'Floating Le.see The Berlin Radio says the Ger- mans are using "tanker submar- ines," which are able to refuel and repair U -heats "everywhere in the operations area." These "floating bases," the Radio said, can operate es effici- ently under water ite on the tow - face, anti can submerge along with the craft they are refueling or repairing if hostile forces ap- proach. "The German tanker submar- ines," it was added, "have been built in German shipyards in oyez...increasing. numbers during 11)42, and have been et/inlayed inn various operations aretis in the in centime." Alcohol it being obtained from bananas by a new process in French Guinea. Bluey and Curley of the Anzacs "A right Guess" • 16— IS..., I5 VTNAT YouR. TIN 'AT SlIcKINV IN MB. BACK BLUE. 1910.3411,0104.1.14.1.1..333.2.13004WOMMIIR•2 • By Gurney (Australia) 140T DAWG! I WAS asST WAITtm. FOR. YOU "TO EALPLOOE ,11 44 p \\\ 4'1'1 • Virtaar, • 4? 4f..•:s.'• „sr.— .„