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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1942-08-27, Page 7THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1942 TIE S1DAFORTI'I Ngi-,W$ PAGE SEVEN. The Fighting in North Africa: Modesty Overdone By Brigadier General H. 8, Sewell, "Nothing could be more unfair than the idea that in the Middle East it is always the Aanzaos who attack, and the British who retreat," These were the Words of 1VIi'. Waiter Nash, New Zealand Minister to Washington, at a press conference in London three weeks ago. He went on say that he did not know why the British keep so dark what their troops are doing in Africa, and that he thought the explanation is that, because of the inherent sportsmanship of the British people, they are always eager that little countries like New Zealand get full credit. At the satne time they belittle their own case, Two False Conceptions Punctured On the same day that Mr. Nash's remarks were published, an article by Russell Hill, well known war cor- respondent now in Cairo, of the New. York Herald Tribune, appeared in 'that paper. This gave factual inform- ation from an impartial and qualifiedi observer. I quote from his article: "Reports reaching Cairo indicate that there is a fairly widespread mis- conception in many parts of the, United States about the seriousnessi of the British wra effort in the Mid- dle East. The notion—so consistent-' ly and cleverly fostered by Nazi pro- pagandists —has apparently gained ground that the British are letting others bear the brunt of the fighting for them.. "I have just passed several hours in discussion with competent Royal Air Force and army authorities and have obtained statistics which enable, me to puncture two false concep- tions: that Dominion and colonial troops have been doing most of the desert fighting; and that Great Brit- ain is letting America carry the bur- den of supplying the armies out .here.. "It may be fifth columnists and it may be sixth columnists. Call them seventh columnists, if you like, but; whoever they are, they are playing into the hands of our enemies by ex- aggerating the magnitude of Ameri- can help to the Middle East and minimizing that of the British. The purpose of this is, first, to create dis- sension. between the Allies and, sec- ond, to encourage complacency in America by making Americans think they are doing more than they are. can supplies to the Middle East, the bulk of the equipment here has beau supplied by the British. One may take as examples tanks and planes, since it is upon these two tyles of weapons that we have concentrated. Singe I cannot, for obvious reason.% give exact numbers, I will give, per - °outages, which, are Just as revealing for this purpose. "At the present time, according to these figures, which may be regarded as °Masi, slightly fewer than one- third of the aircraft -operating in the Middle East are American built, These include Bostons and Consoli- dated heavy bombers, each of then as good as any aircraft of its type, so we have no need to feel ashamed of then. "But the other two-thirds should not be forgotten. They come from Britain, which depends, for its life largely upon air defense. They in- clude the best, of the short-range and long-range lighters, the Spitfires and Beauftghters, as well as large numb- ers of Wellington medium bombers, They include also craft like the Hur- ricanes and Blenheims, which ,have been useful, even though they are no longer the best in their class, "As for the air crews, the Ameri- cans have made a good beginning with their heavy bomber detach- ments, but it must be recognized that numerically they constitute no more than a very small percentage of the Allied air crews out hero, "The tank situation is similar, In the November campaign the percent- age ercentage of American -built tanks in action was between twenty and twenty-five. Now it has risen to about forty and it includes General Grants and Lees, which are the best tanks the Allies have in the desert. Again, the other sixty per cent must not be forgotten. Their light armament has placed them in an inferior position vis-a-vis the German cruiser tanks, but their crews have gone into action bravely and have done much, in spite of this inferiority, to hold the desert front. British Components Listed "Axis propaganda attempts to create ill-feling between the British Isles and the Dominion troops have been just as vicious and persistent as the efforts to cause misunder- standings between the British and the Americans. The line generally taken is that the British troops stay behind the lines, while the others do the fighting for them, "It may be .instructive to analyze the composition of the forces that have been engaged in the present "Figues show that in spite of the desert campagin since iField,Marshal steady and increasing flow of Amer •Erwin 'Rommel began it on May 28. The World's News Seen Through THE CIIRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR An International Daily Newspaper is Truthful—Constructive—Unbiased—Free from Sensational- ism—Editorials ensational- ism—Editorials Are Timely and Instructive and Its Daily Features, Together with the Weeldy Magazine Section, Make the Monitor an Ideal Newspaper for the Home. The Christian Science Publishing Society One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts Price $12,00 Yearly, or $1.00 a Month. Saturday Issue, including Magazine Section, $2,60 a Year. Introductory Offer, 6 Saturday Issues 25 Cents Name ------ --------- -_— SAMPLE COPY ON REQUEST Duplicate Monthly '-g'4.tatements ' We eau save you money on Bill and Charge Forms, standard sizes to fin Ledgers, white or colors. It will pay you to see our samples, Also best quality Metal Hinged Sec- tional Post Binders and Index The Seaford' News • • PHONE 84 tL As a Royal Canadian Navy ship -of -war pulls away from the dock, officers of the Army and hte Navy stand at the rail, Here is symbolized the co-operation between two services which enables swift movement of military forces on Canada's coastlines to shore positions, inaccessible by other means of transportation. Between all three of the armed services there is a high degree of co-ordination in defence. There have been four Dominion in- fantry divisions in action at one time or another. "Of British troops, meaning troops from the British Isles, there have been one infantry division, well over two armored divsions and two arm- ored tank brigades, In addition to that, anti-tank, anti-aircraft, field and medium gunners have been predom- inantly British and all of these have, like the tank men, done heavy . and dangerous fighting. The majority of the service ordnance personnel is British- Indian divisions must be classed in a special category, since they include over one-third of British personnel. Adding it all up, one finds -that about sixty per cent of the troops which have been engaged so far are English, Scotch, Irish or Welsh. "Among them are men of such re- giments as the Coldstream and Scots Guards, the Worcesters and Green Howards, the Durham Light= Infantry, the East Yorkshires, The Rifle Brig- ade, the King's Royal Rifles, the Highland Light Infantry, the North- umberland Fusiliers, the Royal Tank Regiment, several mechanized regi- ments, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Horse Artillery. "In the Royal Air Force, where one also hears a great deal about the Dominion crews, even the greatest share of the burden is being should- ered by the men of Britain. Seventy Percent of all the flying personnel in the Middle East has come from the United Kingdom." "And what is a synonym, Willie?" asked the teacher. "A synonym," said Willie, is a word that you use when you 'can't spell the other one." Bringing Europe Back To Life Allies Now,At Work On Comprehen- sive Plan (By a Reconstruction Specialist) To -day almost the whole of contin- ental Europe is subject to a blockade which will not be lifted till the Nazi power in Germany has been com- pletely broken. This blockade is not only, or even mainly, directed to the denial of foodstuffs to the .enemy. Europe is not, even in normal times, wholly self-supporting in food and, since production in war -time is more incalculable than in peace, there re- mains the probability of grave—if only local—shortages arising at or before the end of the war. The blockaded area now includes the whole of Europe with the excep- tion Of Switzerland and the Iberian peninsula. Spain is in a precarious food position. The Scandinavian countries and Holland have become potential candidates for relief in- stead of sources of supplies. Greece, Norway and Belgium, three countries which in peace -time are importers of bulk foodstuffs and in the last war received at least minimum supplies from overseas, are mow entirely de- pendent on German -controlled econ- omy. Estimates of the post-war needs of food and raw materials of Europe are now being prepared by the Allies. The technical problems of agricul- tural relief, medical relief, nutrition, inland transport and of supplies and shippin gare under consideration. The aim is that, by the time Europe or any part of it is free, a compre- hensive plan of dealing with the emergencies that will arise shall be agreed by all the Allied Governments. There is no suggestion of taking arb- itrary action on statistics prepared' beforehand, but of developing plans of a flexible character to meet the situation which is likely to arise. The supply of foodstuffs will depend, perhaps, more on the course of the war outside Europe and the possibil- ity of placing stocks in positions where they can be drawn on at short notice - Reconstruction must synchronize with relief. 1t is important that, so far as possible, relief should be initiated on sound dietary lines so as to make huts foundation the basis for an all-round improvement in 'European nutrition in the years to some. A well fed Europe wil be a peaceful Europe. This result will not depend merely on a. realization of the need for improvement or in dietary education. It depends, not only for the industrial workers but to some extent 'also for the rural popul- ation, on such an increase in spend- ing power as will permit the purch- ase of something more than the cheapest types of bulk foodstuffs. Relief is both a political and an economic concern since adequate feeding, the prevention 01 epidemics, the return of people to their homes, the re -stocking of farms and the Provision of productive employment are indispensable foundations for a stable political regime in Europe. Betsy—"Do you have any green lipsticks?" Drug Store Clerk — "Green lip- sticks?" Betty—"Yes, a railroad man is go- ing to call on me tonight." RUSSIA'S SKI TROOPS Thousands of pairs of white lea- ther gloves for Russia's skiytroops are being made in Britain under the direction of four Czechs who owned Europe's biggest glove factory when the Nazis marched on Prague. The gloves are made from British cow "belly" skins, which in the nat- ural colour is buff but is treated with egg yokes to produce the white cam- ouflaged effect. The Czech manufact- urers were established in Prague in 1882. In peace -time they produced. from 40,000 to 50,000 dozen pairs a year of all kinds of leather gloves such as Nappa, Cape, Persian, suedes, glares, doeskin and horsehide and fabric gloves of simplex, meched. and art silk. The grandfather of the present directors had the finest private col- lection of gloves in the world. They included a pair of Napoleon's whish were the first gloves; , as distinct from mittns, ever made, and others worn by King Edward VII, ex -Emp- ress Zita of Austria-Hungary, Pope Pius XI and President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia. When exhibiting on the Continent before the war the firm was offered a pair of gloves by Mussolini, They were declined. The directors came to Britain just before the Nazis invaded their coun- try- Starting afresh with little their expeirence, the four experts have trained a staff' of about 250 British work -people. To -day, in addition to gloves for Russia's Arctic garrisons, they are helping the war effort on Britain's home front with "metal string" gloves for workers turning out shells and guns in the munition factories. ,i -s� "Any old tires or tubes?" may well be/the mail courier's greeting ,in On tario and Quebec from August 24 to September 0, During this period the mail couriers of both provinces will actas scrap rubber collectors bringing in the scrap from otttlying summer homes and farms. Those old dockside buffers are needed too, no matter how long they've been in the water, Every old rubber article can be used. Every salvage boost is a knock — at Hitler.