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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-12-02, Page 2ENGLAND'S LEND-LEASE FOOD FOR YANKS In ease you've been wondering, here's some of the return the Americans are getting for their land -lease to Great Britain. All these foods—including the familiar shredded wheat—are grown or pro- cessed in England and are turned over to U. S. forces, along with British -made clothing, as payment for some of the goods sent to Britain on a lend-lease basis. THE WAR - WEEK — Commentary on Current Events Will Non -Belligerent Turkey Throw In Its L©t With Allies? Under fascism the historic Dodecanese Islands — seized by Italy from Turkey in 1912 — became strongholds from which Mussolini hoped to control the Eastern Mediterranean, Strate- gically the most important of the group is tiny, rugged Leros with one of the best harbors in the Aegean. There Italians built a naval and air base which threat- ened two vital waterways, the Dardanelles 250 miles to the north and the Suez Canal 450 utiles to the southeast. The fall of Italy made Leros and adjac- ent islands prizes of a race be- tween Nazis and British. For the former they were outposts of Fortress Europe) for the lat- ter they were springboards for a Balkan invasion. British units were rushed from the Near East t.•hold them against Germans front near -by Greek islands. Battle off Turkey Much of the ensuing fight was obscured by censorship but last week the outcome became clear. British headquarters in Cairo, which had previously admitted the loss of two islands, announced the fall of Leros. Outnumbered on the ground and blasted by a virtually unopposed Luftwaffe, 3,000 British and 5,000 Italian troops surrendere. after five days of fierce battle. Germans promptly launched an air attack on the sole remaining British gar- rison in the Aegean archipelago, on the Greek island of Samos, 41 miles north of Leros and with- in sight of the Turkish coast. A Costly Nazi Effort The Nazi ei_ort — first real Wehrmacht victory in more than a year—was generally viewed as a desperate and costly attempt to bolster the German position in Southeastern Europe, aimed chiefly at impressing Turkey. In this it appeared to have missed fire, Recent Turkish conferences with the Allies in Cairo, after the Moscow Conference, were fol- lowed last week by a Cabinet meeting in Ankara. From the Turkish capital came various signs that Turkey might end its neutrality. The question of whether Tur- key will throw in its lot with the Allies is one of the vital ques- NEW CHAPLAIN Honorary Brigadier C. 0, lisp )burn, SLC., F,D., who has been promoted from the ruck of Honor - wry Lieut. -Colonel and named Prtn- 'Opal Protestant Chaplalu of the 1Canadian Army, lie is rector of AN Saint:) Anglican Church, Ot.- taws. tions in the war situation today. Turkey would toss substantial v eight on the military scales, already tilting sharply against Hitler, if it would join the Allies either passively with land and harbors for bases or actively with its well-trained Army and vig- orous Air Force. Immediate gain for the Allies would be availability of air bases from which Axis key points in the Balkans could be intensively bombarded, possibly by shuttle raids to 'fields in Southern Italy. Ploesti with its oil treasures is only about 300 utiles from Is- tanbul, while Bucharest and So- fia aro even less. Turkey's Air Strength More than three years ago Turkey began rebuilding its Air Force, which then numbered only about 300 first-line planes. Now it almost certainly is several times that and many could be funneled in swift' by British and Americans to excellent mil- itary airfields, The largest and best of the air- dromes is Ekhiseher, about 200 miles southwest of Istanbul, but others are well placed all over the western part of the nation, including Istanbul, Ankara, Iz- mir, Adana and Diyarbakir. Turkey's Army Turkey's peacetime Army strength is about 200,000 which could be swiftly raised to 500,000 by general mobilization, with 1,500,000 more trained or parti- ally trained men in reserve. The Turkish sold: is reputa- tion for toughness and courage is well established and after near- ly two years of intensive Lend - Lease aid fro4t the United States and Britain he is believed by far the best -equipped of all Balkan fighting men. The Army is rich in anti-tank and antiaircraft artillery and in coastal defence guns as well as lighter weapons. Tanks are avail- able in small numbers, but due to the terrain and lack of roads in Tur'cey—and in the near -by Balkans where they might fight OTTAWA REPORTS That The Contribution of Qur Farms In The, War Effort is Of Ever Growing Importance. Remarkable agricultural develop. ments have taken place In Canada during the four war years, To pro- vide food for Canada's armed forces and to meet the increased requirements of the people of the United ICingdom has been a major job which has been recognized as au invaluable achievement, * * Canada's accomplishment has been summarized by Hon. J. G. Gardiner, Minister of Agriculture, as follows; "We have armed de- fensive and offensive forces rapid- ly approaching a million mon. More than 7,000,000 of our people over 10 years of age are producing to maintain and save the lives of as many as possible of the million who will defend our way of life, About one-third of this 7,000,000 are engaged in producing food on our farms. They are part of that groat body of the men and women who are necessary to maintain the fighting force which is doing the most important job of the mo- ment. " There are many other accom- plishments, however, not so well known, although nonetheless vital to the well-being and offensive power of sailors, soldiers and air, man in every theatre of war. As the areas of battle have been ex- tended, the dependence of the armed forces on the farm home front has increased, and this de- pendence extends from clothing and personal equipment to the weapons of war. * * * The war, too, has demonstrated the necessity of a close bond be- tween agriculture and industry. In- dustrial production is closely de- pendent on agricultural output and the mechanized agriculture of to- day needs industry as an outlet for its surplus production. The de wands of war have taxed the in- genuity of Canada's scientists— plant breeders, botanists, entom- ologists, pathologists and others, in developing new crops and is combating the insects and diseases that might destroy then in the fields or in storage. From farm to battlefront there is a continuous struggle to safeguard the high quality of tate products. * 0 * The foundation for the multi - Vichy of war contributions by Canada's farms is largely seed, therefore it is important that good seed he used. During the progress of the war, many sources of seed have been cut off, but home pro- duction has been developed with the result that most seed formerly Imported now is produced in Can- ada. It is equal in quality to that which was imported. Flax for fibre and flax for oil are crops which have been out- standing in Canada for the great offensively—this is not regarded as a major handicap. Under the vigorous leadership of Kemal Ataturk and his suc- cessors the Army Staff has been kept at a high level of profici- ency and committed to aggressive tactics. Turkey's Harbors Turkey is weak in the naval category, with only one 22,000- ton battle cruiser as a backbone of forces that include two an- cient 8,000 -ton cruisers, eight destroyers and a dozen subma- rines. Its harbors along the Aegean, including one at Izmir, could be an invaluable jumping-off point `.owever, for naval blows against Greece and the Aegean Islands. Significantly, perhaps, British official sources declined informa- tion on Turkish naval installa- tions. c'*r.! t itY::y iP..i&'ice+ r46 !:414W(t:[l. DELA GIO LADE Borders Chesterville to the east for approximately one and one-half miles. Diamond drilling now under way on the Pelangio. GEORGE CHAPMAN & CO. 200 BAY ST. — TORONTO. AY. W,1311.•:{1 -410a RO MEN Sack by Germans or liberation by Allies? Fate of Eternal City Remains Uncertain ROME: At left is he Tiber, in background St. Peter's end Va The Constantine Arch. The Calosseuna. Victor Emmanuel monument. increase in production for war pur- poses. Whereas only about 8,000 acres 'were plantedto fibre flax in 1939, there were close to 50,000 acres of it this year, chiefly in eastern Ontario and western Que. bet. The product of Bite flax .fibra is linen which has many war uses. Flaxseed oil has industrial uses, such as in paints, linoleums and other products, but it is indispens- able in munitions manufacturing, for all shells and bombs are coat- ed in oil and the flaxseed oil which Canada has developed is equal to any in the world. This year close to 18,000,000 bushels of this seed are expected from about 2,798,000 acres. 11 Sorts Of Sports By Terence Morton A Walker Extraordinary All who are interested in the history of Durham cattle will re- call the name Barclay of Urie or Ury (louse, near Stonehaven, but many are perhaps unaware that besides doing much to develop the Shorthorn, the family also pro- duced the greatest pedestrian of all times, in Captain Robert Bar- clay -Allardice. Of the Captain's many extra- ordinary feats of endurance, his walk of 1,000 miles in as many sue- cesive hours on Newmarket Heath in 1.809 is best known. Now a thousand hours is 41 days, 10 hours, and to walk 24 miles a day for nearly' six weeks, with only short snatches of rest, sounds al- most beyond human endurance, but the Captain made little of it, and the day after finishing the ordeal he was in perfect health, * * * To give a detailed account of the Captain's performances would cover much paper. We there- fore list but a few of them at ramdotn. In 1800 he walked 100 miles over rough roads in 19 hours, Exclusive of stoppages the time taken was only 171k hours, or an average of 554 M.P.H. A year later he left his house at 2 a.m. and walked a considerable dis- tance at attend a cattle sale, where he remained on his feet for five hours. He then walked home, having covered 78 miles of hilly road In 14 hours. a * * Purely for amusement (he backed himself heavily in many of his matches) he walked to the house of a friend in Allenmore in Aberdeenshire, where he dined and slept, He rose at 5 to go grouse shooting' and tramped at least thirty miles in the mountains. He dined with his host and in the evening set out for Ury, a distance of 60 miles, which he ac- complished in 11. hours without stepping. The Captain was not one to go to bed in the morning, so he attended to his duties and that afternoon walked 16 miles to Laurencekirk, where he at- tended a ball and danced most of the night. Returning to Ury by 7 am., lie spent the day partridge shooting. Supposing he walked only 8 miles when shooting at home, he must have covered at least 130 miles all told, plus being out of b ed for two nights and nearly three days, to make no men- tion of a night's dancing. * * * Much could be written of the Captain's powers as a middle-dis. tance and distance runner; as a weight lifter, having once lifted 1155 lbs.; as a boxer and trainer of pugilists. Ile prepared Alex- ander Mackay to meet Simon Byrne for the championship, but alas the fight proved fatal for Mackay, and it is believed—but was never proven that Barclay was s0 chagrined at the result that he cl]aIlenged Byrne and thrashed hien, 500,000 From India With Empire Forces Up to last June India's fighting forces had incurred 103,880 casu- alties, Maj. -Gen. G. N. Moesworth, Military Secretary, India Office, has disclosed. Killed were 5,618; wounded, 13,084; missing and prisoners, 85,178. He added that India's defence forces totalled nearly 2,000,000 men and that almost 500,000 troops had served overseas sines the war started. Between 30' and 50 gallons of gasoline are required in warm- ing -up the engines of a bomber. LIFE'S LIKE THAT r/Ozo,,,tri By Fred Neher • I,1e ,n!11u 111 1„ iy1111r1t,L. 11111,, '4111 p�111Ut!,,1,d 111X11 llil,i 41,111,1' "Every time 1 call signals somebody up there yells, 'BINGO'! 1" imannno REG/AR FELLERS—Rockabye, Pinhead 'AND THEN, 114 162o Mk eRAVtl PIL4RIYS REACHED OUR SHORES AND LANDED ON P L'ClOW N ROCK' PLEASE-raActich l NE SEEN PLYtelogint ROCK! 1 SAW 1T ONCET WHEN 1 VISITC.D /AY -z GR AN' FATHER c\......„ WELL HOW NICE PINHaaoi SUPPosa. `(OLS DRAW A Ptc'rJRa OF IT Foe -rex. cLAss AND 0.1. PIN 1 N THE 24114.11N 50,10! GENE BYRNES T O 6 G Px. U, 9. t',L *tO.. All