HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1942-07-09, Page 6VOICE
FEPR
H E
SAVE A MINUTE
Minutes make hours, hours
melte days, days make years and
ears make a lifetime. So we all
to save minutes. Some safety
wizard has doped it out.
Take a man whose earning car-
oer has 25 years to go. That
makes 13,148,640 minutes. (Fig -
Iva it out, if you will. We did,
allowing for six leap years), We
dash across the street against light. If we win, we save a min-
' te. If we lose, we donate up to
thirteen million minutes to Death.
..--Kitchener Record,
LIGHTHOUSE HEROINE
Speaking of heroines, we think.
Mrs. Harold Fraser, wife of the
:lighthouse keeper of Ship Harbor,
N.S., deserves some recognition.
She has lived on a small island
4'or 38 ears, brought up a family
of five children there and taught
Chem herself because there is no
school. And she has just visited
the mainland for the first time
in ten months.—Brockville Rec-
order and Times.
THE REASON WHY
Frederick C. Oeschener, trained
'P.P. correspondent just out of
e ermany, says the war can be
ended this year by the new phase
sof war just opened by Britain in
the air. In brief, he says, the
ermmans cannot take it. The
Britons did, but they were British.
-.–St. Catharines Standard.
OLD-TIME SURGERY
Dr. Allan Defoe has a good
word to say for the old horse -
end -buggy days. Many a time,
he says, he had to pull a hair out
of :his horse's tail to use for a
Thread in an operation. He does
net recommend these practices,
but says that he often had to
wort to it in earlier days.—Ham-
ikon Spectator.
WORKERS IN SLACKS
Sound reason dictates the de-
ti
en b Premier Hepbu that
la in the Ontario Civil Service
y wear slacks or paint their
legs to simulate stockings, if they
wish to do so. After all, it is not
what these girls wear on their
legs that counts, it is what they
do with their hands and their
heads.—Windsor Star.
CANADA'S FRONT
While the military experts and
others talk of the possibilities of
eecond fronts in Europe, there is
e front that needs attending to
eight here in Canada the Farm
A.ont. "Crop Commandos" can
meet the crisis.—Brantford Ex-
Tresitor.
LINGERING FOGS
Weather men claim that most
fogs disappear between 8 and 10
o'elocik in the morning. But we
have seen some humans remain
'In a fog" until well on in the
afternoon.—St. Thomas Times -
Journal.
Chicks Hatching
Despite Bombing
Though Regularly Shel leci
Farmer Refuses to Leave
Chicks are hatching, ewes lamb-
ing and cows calving on a farm
on the Dover Cliffs which is reg-
ularly shelled by Hitler's guns,
only 22 miles away,
Shells have fallen in and
around the 'farmyard, the nearest
in Britain to the Nazi artillery,
a banra.ge balloon over it has been
sihot down 80 times, and often all
bands have had to shelter under
their tractors and implements
*Cam 'machine -gunners in the sky
47verhead. But the farmer and Ms
people stubbornly refuse to leave.
* * *
These defiant farmers, Mr. Gil-
bert Mitchell, his wife and sister-
in-law, took over Reach Court
Warm, St, Margarets -at -Cliffe, near
Dover, a year before the war with
a dairy herd of 34 cows. In 1939
they plowed up a large proportion
a?. the 120 acres of permanent
pasture to grow the feeding stuffs
no longer so easily obtainable from
overseas. Defence works were put
top all round their farm, but dur-
ing the Battle of Britain they
Meadfastly refused to leave, gath-
ering in not only their own bar-
rest but rescuing crops on other
farms which had to be evacuated,
* *
Further defence works have
now been erected and most of
Beach Court Farm is being taken
Over by the military. But they are
carrying on with what is left, and
Mr. Mitchell is managing for the
Kent War Agricultural Committee
ago, extensive area et surrounding
farmland which would otherwise
have borne no crop this year. His
39 -year-old sister-in•law, M is
Grace Harrison, has joined the
Women's Land Army, and is now
driving tractors, while Mrs. lllit-
;hell is hatching chicks in the
Vest vttlutrebit; ineahatnrs in Bri-
tain,
ROYAL COACH, 1942 MODEL
a'aRefit
Britain's King George investigates the riding qualities of a U. S.
Army jeep during a recent visit to American forces in northern
Ireland. The jeep is being driven by Russel F. Mann, of Oxford, Ia.
MD AL
er)
rm
Weekly Column About This and That in Our Canadian Army
An ingenious reporter made a
tour of gasoline stations a few
weeks ago an demonstrated how
to buy gasoline without giving up
cellar ns.
B4 wrote an article that was
featured heavily in his paper and
a number of readers spoke of it
WO a fine public service.
To the Enforcement Counsel of
tatte Wartime Prices and Trade
Board the article looked a little
differennt.
They said: "It would have been
a. Sine public service if the bright
young man had brought the in-
formation to us so we could act
on it instead of telling 200,000
readers how to do RI"
A Barrow view? It wasn't that
the lawyer feared 200,000 people
would break the law. But he did
know from sad experience that
a percentage would.
It's something like those "Crime
Doe* Not Pay" movies. You show
potential gangsters and racketeers
1hcw to do something they hadn't
thought of and then point a
moral.
Nine times out of ten the,person
at whom the moral is. pointed pays
no heed to it, And those who do
heed it don't need it!
A somewhat similar situation
arose a few months ago when a
racket was uncovered in one Can-
adian city. This one was operated.
by a man who took fearful chances
with a drug which he administered
to young men who did not want
to serve in the army.
Reporters who got hold of the
story admirably, from a newspap-
er's point of view, wanted to get
their teeth into the story and un-
cover
ncover all the details.
When, however, it was explained
to them that publication of these
details not only might encourage
other malefactors to start similar
rackets but might also result in,
deaths from ignorant, toying with
dangerous drugs the whole story
dropped from sight.
This parallel between what we
civilians do, and what happens in
the Army gets very strong at
times, doesn't 'it?
Yes, I mean just that. The deal -
LIFE'S LIKE THAT
By Fred Neher
er in gasoline who aids a motorist
to evade the gasoline regulations
in every bit as daugerotts to the
war effort as the low Character
who aids draft violators to escape
their duty.
A. number of people with whom
I have been talking recently have
posed an interesting question. It
is: "What is the Reserve Army
going to do about men in rural
districts• and smaller centres who
want to join but have, no Reserve
Army unit near them?"
A few days ago I travelled for
some time on the same train as
"Sam" Browne, Director -General
of the Reserve Army, and that
was one of the questions we dis-
cussed,
At the moment the Reserve '
Army is so far below strength in
the centres in which units are
established that the first job to
be done is it recruitment up to
strength and the training of niers
who are handy to the armories.
Except in towns where there are
armories it is hard to find suit-
able headquarters. Eventually,
however, plans will be considered
to moke reserve training available
to as many men who are not
eligible for active service as pos-
sible.
Major•General Browne was on
his way to Montreal to address a
meeting of the Recruiting Com-
mittee that has set itself the task
of raising 10,000 men for the Re-
serve Army in that city.
He said that similar campaigns
in Toronto and the West had been
very successful and that they had
reached their quotas in a very
short time.
A funny thing got into the papers
a few days ago. It was a story
from Ottawa saying that the Army
'would follow the lead of the
Wartime Prices, and Trade Board
by prohibiting uniform trousers
with ouffs and pleats.
What's funny about that? Just
this, that it has been in the dress
regulations for a long time that
officers' slacks must not have
e•uffs. They never have had pleats.
So, as a matter of fact, the In-
dividual Oitlzen's Army, in doing
without muffs and pleats on its
trousers is following the Army's
lead, not the other way round.
Here's a piece of Citizen's Army
slang for a change. This is to be
found on invitations. It is:
"B. Y. 0. T." or "B.Y.O.C." or
"B.Y.O.S." The meaning? Simple!
Bring your own tea, or Bring your
own coffee, or Bring your own
sugar.
And why not? There's a war on!
Best of all would be, "Come on
your own feet"—there's plenty of
use for gasoline in the Tank
Corps.
From Cricket Bats
To Gun Furniture
.A. north of England factory
which used to make cricket bats
has now turned over to produc-
ing butts and stocks for Tommy
guns and rifles, says The St.
Thorns Times -Journal.
It occurred to its manager when
war broke out that his machines
could be adapted for making the
wooden "furniture" of guns. The
suggestion was pooh-poohed at
first; but he won the day and got
his contract.
Today, the machines, which
three years ago were turning out
cricket bats, are shaping four
slabs of wood into rifle butts in
as many minutes. Other machines
complete the ninety-two processes
which are necessary. before the
butts and stocks go into the am-
monia chamber to mel17. They
are then treated with linseed oil.
The craftmen who made the
cricket bats maintain that today,
out of a pile of other rifles, a sea-
soned war veteran will still choose
their works for its "feel".
Cow Helps Soldier
To Escape Nazis
A French soldier who escaped
from a German prison camp in
Silesia said that he had led a cow
across most of Germany, and had
been mistaken by Nazi patrols as
'a farmhand taking the animal to
pasture. He and the bedraggled
cow arrived in Amiens four weeks
after he left the prison camp. He
said the cow had nearly died of
fatigue; and they had to rest sev-
eral days in the Rhineland. He
sold the cow to an Amiens but-
cher.
REG'L ,R FELLERS—That's a Help
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THE WAR - WEEK Ct mrnentary on Current Events
United Nations In Agreement
0 , Plans For Conducting War
Adolf Hitler has said "the de-
cision lies in the East," and in
that direction last week a grand
German bid for advantage ap-
peared to be shaping, according
to the New York Times, A long -
foreseen pincers drive toward the
Middle East — the upper prong
through the Ukraine and the
Crimea, the lower prong across
Libya and Egypt—seemed to be
passing from a preliminary stage.
.Against the Wehrmacht's steadily
mounting pressure the armies of
the Allies fell back. There was
no cheer for the anti -aggressor
peoples in the realization, that the
Nazi aggressor—despite Winter
and Spring of setback and stale-
mate—could still grasp the in-
itiative, choose the field of battle.
But there was hope that the lines
in Russia and North Africa would
stiffen, that from Allied high par-
leys, capped by the latest confer-
ence between President Roosevelt
and Prime Minister Churchill,
would emerge a plan and a course
of action to turn the title.
Middle East
A Nazi conquest of the Middle
East—roughly the region running
from the Caucasus .through Asia
Minor to the Nile Valley—would
have far-reaching consequences.
It would: (1) gain for the Ger-
man military and economic ma-
chine the petroleum sources on
which the Russians and the Anglo-
American forces in Africa and
Asia depend; (2) win control over
the Mediterranean and Red Seas
and thereby cut the British Em-
pire in two; (3) open an avenue
to junction with the Japanese in
India or the Indian Ocean; (4)
slam the Persian Gulf door of
supply to the U.S.S.R. In short,
it would spell catastrophe for the
United Nations, darken their pros-
pect of victory, certainly prolong
the war.
Stroke Against Germany
Against the Fuehrer's convic-
tion that the decision in World
War II lies eastward of the Reich's
frontiers stands the conviction of
the Anglo -American -Russian team
that the decision must be sought
in Europe itself by a concentrated
stroke against Germany. That
belief goes back many months,
It was expressed in the Atlantic
Charter, which held up Hitlerism
as Enemy No. 1. It has been
maintained despite the blows de-
livered by Japan since Pearl Har-
bor and by the need to disperse
forces. It has been strengthened
in talks between London, Moscow
and Washington.
An offensive against the Ger-
man homeland—presumably syn-
ohronized from the first front,
Russia, and a second front in
Western Europe—would have ob-
jectives as grand as those of Hit-
ler in the Middle East. It would:
(1) squeeze the Wehrmacht in
the nutcracker of a two -front
war; (2) put into play the mil-
lions of troops and reserves of
materiel unused and waiting in
the British Isles; (3) relieve pres-
sure on Russia and Egypt; (4)
encourage revolt among Europe's
subjugated millions, the restive
"third front." In short, it would
be designed to knock Germany out
of the war; then forces could be
concentrated to deal with Japan.
Allied Strategy
The translation of the broad
Allied plan into action has had to
wait on time—time to gear vela-
' tively unprepared economies to
total war. In a sense, the military
effort of the United Nations ev-
erywhere has been a delaying
battle until the aggressors' head-
start in building armies and arms
could be overcome. It seemed
clear that last week's weighty dis-
cussions in the White House were
concerned with whether sufficient
time had yet been won, whether
delaying tactics must still be the
chief. Allied strategy or whether
the threat to the Middle East
could be countered by the opening
of the promised second front
against Germany.
Allied Setbacks
The world map has turned a
scowling face on the democracies
during the past seven days. North
Africa tells of a British disaster;
the Ukraine of a savage Nazi at-
tack that has pushed back the
Russian lines; the Western At-
Rf;6LAR•
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lantic of a still unsolved ;aula-
marine problem; the Western
Pacific of a Jaxpanese threat cl;.at
hangs over every square mile of
land and water from rho Ala ra-
tians to New Guinea and from a
point somewhere west of Midway
Island to the trampled fickle of
South Carina and the rainy wiade'r„
ness of Burma. Defeat lie, !s«:e
hind the "United Nations, de.q,ite
the magnificent fighting of elle
Russians and the Chineete the: six
raids over Europe and our oven•
naval victories in the ('oral !Sea
and off Midway. We have ire
prepared for further setback %
Well-informed militate, verb as
know some of the. reaeons Tor
these defeats. The reel iro,l�le
obviously was that on side did
not have enough strength at i.he
right times at the right pi;ees.
There have been failures. in ;tangy
eralship. It may be, also, 'hat
we have been dealing with pi:;'si-
cal laws which no general, how.
ever gifted, could hare nvereeme
in the time so far at our disposal.
Non-military nations mey ha"a a
superior material and spira;ual
strength, but this does not wean
that they can easily and qu_akly
bring it to the right point of .,:on-
tact. To win this war we ii re
to learn how to do this.
Coming Operations
Neither the general public nor
the newspapers which try to serve
it have enough information to lay
down a strategy for a world ear.
That fearful responsibility — the
duty to way yes or no ro specific
plans—falls largely on Two :nen,
President .Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill. They :crust
decide how much strength we can
join to the existing strength of
China, of Russia and of several
other fronts. These were the
questions which they discussed iti.
Washington, and the joint state-
ment which they issued recent'g'
declares that as a result of the
discussions the United Nations•
"have never been in such hear
and detailed agreement on plans
for winning the war as they are
today." China's critical need of
aid received consideration. It is
promised that "coming opex'l�-
tions" of the United Nations "will
divert German strength from the
attack on Russia."
40,000 Children
Died Fleeing Nazis
Free French authorities laid
not long ago that 40,000 children
died on the roads of Franca lid
June of 1940 in the exodus old
refugees fleeing the Nazi terror.
They quoted a statement made
to an assembly of the French -
Red. Cross Society held at Nice
in unoccupied France.
The newspaper Petit Nicois was
quoted as saying that the figurer
made public at the assembly
"leave us dumb with horror".
"40,000 little bodies buried by
the Red Cross in graves dug IA
the fields," the newspaper ex-
claimed. "How many others were,
killed and buried in imkneein
graves ?"
Spitfire Pilots
"Take The Cake"
Every time Spitfire pilots sta-
tioned at an airfield near London
shoot down an airplane they lit-
erally "take the cake".
The Czech mess caterer hake, a
special cake for every successful
pilot --but not until he .has es-
eured himself that the enemy air-
craft was destroyed and not juet
"winged". ,
Until recently, the Czech, wl'.•sse
name must remain secret becalse
his family is still in Czeeheelo-
vakia, prepared the food for the
pilots of the "ace" ustralian No.
452 Squadron, and two of his
hest cake "customers" have been
Squadron Leader "Paddy" Finu-
cane and Squadron Leader Kith •
"Blucy" Truscott.
Truscott, who has just returned
to Australia, took his last cske
with him to eat on the journey.
"Paddy" Finucane who is now
leading another squadron based
at the same airfield, recen ed :•tie
37th cake the other day.
By GENE BYRT E ,
OONT
K4OW
jtty. V. §, Par. nUlm. MI rigida to