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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-01-07, Page 3SWASTIKA, SWATTED Swift thrusts by allied bombers knocked these Afrilca Korps planes out, of the fight before they 1 ad a chance to take to the air and counter attack. Then the British Sth Army advanced so swiftly it 1 ad no time to clear littered wreckage from Benina Airfield, near Benghazi. • Life Of Contrasts E Fund .In• Desert By De Witt Mackenzie in Christian Science Monitor I am writing from an inhospit- able zone in Libya which each day is baked by a merciless sun. Yet I'm wearing British battle dress, which is made of extremely heavy wool and buttons right to the chin. Underneath this load I have a wool jersey, and I would give a good deal right now for an overcoat. Tonight I shall all but freeze in my bed on the ground despite woolen pajamas, an eiderdown sleeping bag, several wool blank- ets, and a raincoat piled on top. In the desert, oceans of sand stretch away to blazing horizons. Out of this waste ,will arise the dread sandstorms. * Yet there are times when the desertis most attractive. In the spring the air Is balmy and this , ' normally arid region produces a great variety of lovely flowers. Daisies and Buttercups This is winter, but yesterday, on a hillside where sand grudgingly gives way to determined bits of grass and shrubs, I picked white daisies and buttercups, which re- minded me of my own bills iu Ver- mont. Queer specimens of aumial, ser- pent, and insect life move about. I rubbedmy eyes with . amaze- ment when I encountered a gray coated kangaroo about six inches tall. He had big hind legs for Jumping and absurd little front arms. iIis tall was long, with a busts at the end, and he hada_ handsome pair of butterfly ears. It tnas a kangaroo rat. Aotually, -while this war theatre is generally referred to broadly as "the desert" it is not by any means all drifting sand. There are many stretches of higher ground which, produce, shrubs and some grass. Then there is a, consider- able belt of fertile land which ex- tends roughly from the attractive seaport of Derna westward to Ben gust. There are further green je. bola and wadis: hills and gorges —interspersed with desert clear to Tripoli. • ' The country surrounding El Agheila is pure desert. Winter in the desert extends Brom November to April, and there is 'much rain. In December and 'January the temperatures drop. to freezing„ and it is particularly cold on top of the great escarp- ments which rise abruptly out of the desert floor. These tablelands. figure largely In the fighting, be- cause they afford natural defenses. Summer Is Hot Summer Is the. dry, hot season. Then temperatures soar to maybe 120 degrees or more Fahrenheit in theoretical shade, with soli tem- peratures much higher. I. have seen the soil temperature on the Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal hit about 175—and that's hot. Beginning the micldlo • of Maroli the hot, southeast wind known as the Khamsin blows periodically over a period of 50 days. This is one of the great trials of fighting' men, for it is' like a blast ,from a furnace. The Kltamsih frequently is 80 leaden with sand that you can't WA) through it. The troops, broadly speaking, camp in tents arta trucks, All equipment 1s reduced to the mini- mum because of the problem of transport and it should not be for- gotten that this ie a battle of transport; The trek from (laird to El Ag - hells, is 1,500 miles or; more, There is only one Main .road and that Is the military highway 'skirting the Mediterranean. This vital question of transport is linked inseparably with the greatest hardship of a soldier, be he Alliedor 'Axis, and that: is the scarcity of. water ht a land where men sweat and acgjuire thirst. Camp sites generally are. bused ort some water point. Theseare frequent but manyof them- dry up in the summer. Where there 10 good water, it generally Is not abundant. Army, Carries Tanks Bach tntit has its huge water tants which travel with the ad- vatice. Indeed, every vehicle car- ries water and he is an unhappy soldier who has an empty canteen on his hip. In the present drive, the Bri- tish have chased the enemy so fast that some of the Allied troops have had to snake their water bot- tles do two or three days for all purposes. That, means about a quart of water. You would be eur- pbised how far you can make half a teacup of water go if you must. Nevertheless,, the desert has many real attractions. This time of year there Is mhucll delightful weather. The air has a bracing tang and for days on end there's a pleasant warmth in the mid-day sun. Gn the whole, the desert is healthful enough despite its hard- ships. British and Ainerican troops appear to be extremely well. They are, of course, out in the open all day and they are early to bed when there is no fighting. Camps must observe rigid black- out rules ]est the enemy see a light and drop bombs. It is dark. before 6 pan. these days and this means that the boys are in bed by 8 o'clock or so. There's nothing to do but sleep when you can't have lights- that are good enough to read or work by. Cats A Necessity In Lumber Camps Useful In 'Keeping Rats and Mice Under Control The common house cat is a mighty useful member of society if treated Might and leept, in its place. And one of the places where Tabby is most useful le around the big lumber camps in the North country. In forested areas, where the lumbering industry is now at its height, a number of well-fed eats are considered necessary to keep the rats and. mice down. Rats are attracted to the woods' camps by the quantities of grain kept for the horses and by the garbage to which they can gain easy ac- cess. Mics, likewise, find the camps a paradiseand without the oats would increase beyond all bounds. So the cooks and oamnp manag- ers look upon t1ie cats as almost a part of the large crews necessary to lceep the job running smoothly. Not pampered but well fed and housed in the barns and shanties, the eats grow sleek and fat and have thick coats of fur against the severe weather of the northern winters. Although located in the depths of the forests, these cats don't do much prowling around and catching birds and game, for they are too well fed. A good lumberman will never abandon his cats when the job is finished, leav- ing them to hunt and become wild cats, a menace togame and .birds. THIS CURIOUS WORLD By William Ferguson ■ SOME DAs/ THE CANADIAN' BRANCH OF NIAGARA FALLS WILL CUT AROUND BEHIND•GOAT ISLAND AND STEAL THE WATER THAT NOW GOES OVER THE AMERICAN FALLS...L4Ale/MC+ 71445,Ai41.e/aveAN cern• 19 2 0r Nell 950Ylce, I)0. fls THIS SOLDIER. AT THE POSITION AARAZZEWIErir ?)OWL AR/194 ORDER AR11J. OF Ar ,'VT/r7,•M' 5-00 16--* EARTH IS STRUCK BY !it -.11 a Nt •dYai H f t ka ON AN AVERAGE OF .G/QTY T/M.'S ,c: t/s7eY S cenev,G7/ ANSWER: Parade rest. Nii11T: Should the flag amine ;down at sunset" "Wise Old Owl" is Stupid Bird ,Doesn't Know Enough To Build His Own Home Since the days of unclear Greek mythology, the owl has been re- garded as the wisest of birds, but now it seems that this• is only one more- of those old-time beliefs tvltich have stood the test of time for centuries, only to be disproved by the findings of 20111 century science, writes The St, Thomas Times -Journal. It is now reported that behind his huge round un- blinking eyes the owl hides one of the most meagre I,Q.'s possess- ed by any bird, 1•Ie is a bird. •moron who would rate very low in a,te'st of what -every -bird' -ought -to- know. 'rhe wise old owl of old does not know enough to build a home of lits own, as most species liave to use ,an old squirrel or wood- pecker hole or a prairie dog's bur- row. .At the best, an owl's nest is never any more than. a loose platform of sticks, He rarely knows enough to get out of the way of tate shooter, whereas the crow, for instance, under similar thrown - stances, is very difficult to shoot, Bolts Mice Whole But perhaps the owl's biggest • imprudence, the habit that dis- claims more than anything else his prerogative to the title of "wise," Is his manner of eating. The owl never seems to learn that he can- not bolt his mice whole, despite the tact that he suffers terrible attacks of indigestion at every meal. The owl insists on bolting his mice down practically whole, while the hawks and shrikes are wise enough to tear theirs apart into comfortable mouthfuls. Alter digestion begins, all of these birds of prey disgorge the fur and bones back up through the throat in the form of pellets. They get mildly "siert to their Stomach" in the pro- . 0ess, but the owl's eating manners cause him to become sicker than the others, When the hunting is good, the owl suffers indigestion at least once a day, simply because he is t00 ignorant to learn. lessons from experience. The fellow who first said that the owl was a wise old bird just didn't know what he was talking about. Signals Service Enlists Pigeons Thousands of Birds Serve With Royal Air Force ,ar,.w.-�.a-.. �e•o-tr^.sar^�'".w"'R.!•o•�^+-v+""•r•o-s.v . RADIO REPORTER RIvX FROST he Market Basket"! et"1 Undermost promising young artist, had this intriguing title a new and no easy task on their bands. , valluable,series of broadcasts gets one personality .did shine out, one under way in the New Year, soprano voice rang clear ane Every Thursday evening 10.15 to sweet . Gwen Lambert, petite 10,30 that familiar and ellen.), brunette of Newmarket, captured personality of Mrs. H. M, Aitken, the hearts and imagination of lis- whose chase -the -blues -away pro- teners and judges alike. So it's grammes you hear every Monday orchids to 23 -year-old Gwen, who through Friday 10,3Q to 10.45 commenced her professional radio a,m, will bring to listeners career with CFRB last New Year's throughout the province, a Guide Eve. It has always been an embi- to Buying—helpful hints with an • tion of Gwen Lambert's to hit the eye on .current food values and airwaves, She has been studying shortages. How to keep the busy singing for several years and since war working family healthy, well • commencement of the wax has feet and adequately clothed gladdened the eyes and ears of bow to make goods go further and soldiers in various camps through- last longer — how andwhen to out the province, with sparkling use substitutes ... these are the songs. But Gwen has also taken good things Mrs. Aitken's weekly on another war responsibility, she Market Basket will contain, And has taken.. over duties in a New - incidentally, the programme is to market branch bank for the dura - be an evening feature because it tion, and so helping out on the .. is recognized that it has appeal manpower shortage, problem be- • and interest equally to men' and tween singing lessons and army women , , As Mrs, Aitken her- concerts. We wish her lots : of ' self says, "While the men earn Good Luck and a happy, success the money, it's the womenfolk ful radio career. Incidentally, the who spend it, thus the household Ontirio Caravan gets rolling budget is definitely a mutual around the province again im- affair" . The first broadcasts mediately searching for new tal in this new series will give use- ent and another award winner. ful pointers ou the buying, con• Galt and Huntsville are already serving and cooking use of those on the January schedule. much discussed food items, meat, butter and shortening. There's Recently the CBC newsroom an interesting background to The distinguished itself by making the .Market Basket you'll like to know first release to the public of the about. Mrs. Aitken is donating news of the landing of American . her thne and services and Radio troops in North Africa within e Station CFRB is donating the matter of seconds after the state - time .. making the series a war- • ment had been released in Wash - tine gift and serviee to Ontario ington. The CBC also had an - listeners, Knowing the sparkle other scoop to its credit a few and interest Mrs. Aitken spins days ago. The CBC listening into all her work, we suggest you post Ottawa, which makes a point make a point of dipping into The of tuning in foreign broadcasts Market Basket every Thursday and reporting outstanding news 10.15 to 10,30 p.m. over CFRB. items to the central newsroom, * e were tuned in to Dakar Radio in "Rolling the countryside in Western Africa, and apparently search of new voices — new tal- was tuned in to Dakar Radio in ent" - . that is the phrase many North America to learn that of you will have heard over the Dakar and all French West CFRB airwaves Thursday eve. Africa had officially come over nings 9 to 9.30 during the On- to the United Nations. An alert tario Caravan broadcasts. Judges editor put the news on as a flash who were called upon to decide over the CBC national network the whiner of the three months' half an hour before the announce - professional contract, an award • ment came from any other 501170e offered by the Caravan, to the in North America. Good work! The pigeons are at war again, and their role is even more ardu- ous than it was in 1914-18, In those days they were mainly mili- tary; now we are hearing of the cherubs who sit up aloft, the "homers" of the R.A.F. They map get an unexpected name as night flyers. At least twice recently pigeons released after dark arrived next morning at their lofts with messages from aircraft about to make a forced landing. There are thousands of birds, swift and reliable, in the signals service of the Air Force. Pigeons are in the crews of all bombers and reconnaissance craft which operate over the seas around Britain. If a machine is forced down, or the radio fails, a carrier pigeon and its message may prove to be the sole' link with the base, Trained To Sea Flying Experts in the Signals Direc.• torate of the Air Ministry con. tiwl the birds. The Racing Pigeon Service, a committee of leading fanciers, helps thousands of people to place their pigeons at the disposal of the nation. Owing to the greater speed and range of modern aircraft the pigeons' task in this war is harder than it used to be, They are trained first to become used to sea flying. Experienced birds keep their wings closed and do a "dead drop" until they are clear of the slip -stream from the air- crews. ,Then, opening their wings, they fly around twice or thrice and make for home. The Army Carrier Pigeon Ser- vice is also continuously on duty, and several hundred horning pig- eons, in training -a9 messengers for the U. S. Army, are being • accustomed to battle conditions by aeroplanes which dive at theta and' crackers which explode near at hand. at 1 STAR DANCER IIiORIZONTAL 1 Star of a famous group of dancers. 12 Doctor (abbr.) 13 Edible fungus. 14 More acid. 16 Brim. 17 Banquets. 19 Concise. 20 Advertise- ment. 21 Destructive insect, 23•Roosts. 49 Local 24 Jumbled type. positions. 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(abbr.). 35 You. 60 TO' sully. 37 Natural 02 Neuter power..pronoun. 39 Surgicatool, '63 She. 41 Ream (abbe,), popularized 43 Greaser. — dancing, 46 Burden. 64 She started a 47 Hundredth of ''school of a right angle. dance in—. POP—Pulling a Fast One! YOU'RE A M I Li TARP MAN, AREN'T You WHAT MAKES YOIJ ASK THAT 9 By J. MILL.AR WATT YOUR WELL -DLZILLED T,EGTH .69026011 u u 9 aal,,,01. by The Dell A u1115(9