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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1943-03-18, Page 7THE WAR . WEEK -- Commentary on Current Event$ Round The Clock Air Raids Mean. No Rest For Germany niv.er;y day since Feb. 24 has teen Allied eirraerr over targets in 'Germany and German-occupied territ'or'y hour after hour, round the aloeAc, comments the New York 'Times. The Germans, who initiat- ed large-scale bombing of big oit1es., were being blasted in the greatest air assault In history. British experts, who estimate the weight of bobs dropped on Eur- ope during 1942 at 4,000 tons a monten assert that more than 10,- 000 0;4100 tons fell in the same area last month alone. The Opening Bars Behind tiffs growing fury were eke signs of a new purpose. There were strong prospects of an Allied invasion of Europe In 1942. The very prospect of it reflected the prevailing military opinion that air blows alone would not bring vie - tory. England, despite a ten-month air Blitz that shook her to the core, rallied and irelcl firm. Be- . fore a territory can be won, in the words of Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, "a man must be sent to stand on it," But the battering bombers have been giving German war plants, communication cen- ters and submarine bases can dis- rupt production and soften de- fenses against the day of invasion. Last week Captain Harold Bal- four, Parliamentary Under-Secre- tary for War in Britain, called the bombings "the opening bars which will rise to the crescendo of the •march on drape." Arc of Combat Those opening ,bars were being - played across a vast keyboard. Great four -engined. Laneasters, StirSlings and Halifaxes have roar- ed each night across the arc whose radius extends 600 miles from London, enclosing the greater part of Germany's war industries and those of the lands the Nazis have conquered. By day American Fly- ing Fortresses and Liberators have smashed at targets nearer hone bases. The nature of the targets sen ectocl by the Allied Higb Com. - mead seemed to set the pattern 4'or things to come. First of all the assault has been direoted against the submarine, which has proven one of Hitler's most effec- tive weapons. Sime the first of � the year Wilhelmshaven, the mari- time center whose shipyards are producing' U-boats, has been hit bard three times and medieval Nus emberg, the holy place of the Nazi party and home of Diesel engine plants, once. Lorient, chief operating base for submarines on Eitncers western. coast, has been 1 •''bombed ten times 'while Brest and •St. Nazaire have been hit twice each, Factory Centers Hit War plants and rail' and road networks have also been battered. Cologne has been raided four dimes this year, and 113 times since the start of the wax; Harem., a great rail center in Germany, has been bard hit. Essen, home oe the Ifrupp armaments works, has been attacked heavily. Hen- gelo, In the Netherlands, where factories are turning out 'war ma- � teriais for the Germans, has been plastered w4th bombs, Berlin A Target Last week a fourth in the cur- rent series of attacks hit Berlin. It was a "thunderbolt" raid, a short sharp attack in which the full loads of the attacking planes were poured upon the city in half an hour. According to German re- ports many fearsome four and two -ton block -busters, perhaps aimed at the near -by Potsdam railroad station, fell along Ber- lin's Tinter den Linden, the wide and famous avenue that is flank- ed by palatial public buildings, tourist and shipping obeices, motor- car showrooms and jewelers' shops. In the raid Allied airmen dropped more than 900 tons of bombs, twice the hightest amount the Luftwaffe is estimated to have dropped during an all-night raid on Britain. ' In one twenty -four-hour period of the "round the clock" bombing more than 2,00Q operations flights. were oampleted by British pilots, tights totaling 150,000,000 miles. Iv these operations there were fewer,,planes than a year ago, but they carried„ more bombs. • The German Defenses The Germans have built defenses, against these attacks. They have antiaircraft guns that reach with remarkable acoulaey the 20,000 to 30,000 feet altitude from which British night bombers make their runs over targets, and even. the 30,000 to 35,000 feet from which American. daytime fliers drop their bombs. German fighter plaues, cautious because of the defensive power of the bombers, harry the attacking planes as they make their way to and from the targets. There are losses. The heavy op- er,atibns of 1i'ebr ary are est9m- atedto have cost the Allies 171 Pianos, twenty. of thein Anreriecu. They are losses that must be paid in , weakening Nazi defenses for the invasion to come. But i.hey are small when compared with the ever-growing reeervoir of Ailited trig rIeengtb. The exact size of the Allied air forces is a military secret, but from public statements, made by various officials some hints can be gleaned. America expects to have an airforce of 2,450,000 men armed with at least 21,000 planes by the end of 1943. American plane 'production, • according to a report last week from Under Sec- retary of War Robert Patterson, hit 5,500 in February, a rate that means • 65000 planes of all types and 42,900 combat planes a year. These figures may be conserv- ative, since British sources liave estimated that America will pro- duce 100,000 planes in 1943 and Britain 35,000, Axis Production Against this the Axis is estim- ated to have some 20,000 planes altogether, of •which from 4,000 to '7,500 are German combat 'places. The combined production of all the Axis nations is estimated at 2,200 a month. This figure is ex- pected to slump by June or earlier beoause Geemany is taking more and mare melt from her factories for service on the front lines. Where Is The Luftwaffe? Is the Nazi air force short of oil or gas? asks The Providence Journal, Is it no longer capable of putting up a. strong fight? Has it been forced to scatter- its strength, and thus weaken itself, because the United Nations are now in. a position to hit at Hitler from nearly all points en the com- pass at the same time? Or can the mystery of its recent appar- ent weakness be best explained by the theory that it has been go. Mg through a period of reorgani- zation and re-equipping and that it is merely gathering 'fresh streugth," as Goering says, in order to deliver surprise blows at "the right hour"? But how long can they wait for that hour to come There came a moment in the Luft- waffe's blitz on Britain' water well- informed sources bad good reason to believe that the British would collapse if the blitz continued only a week or so Ionger than it did. How long can the Reich stand be- ing blitzed? What will happen to German morale and production and communications and over-all abil- ity to fight if the Allied raids show no letup, but instead mount in severity day after day, night after night, week after week, for a lunch more protracted period than the period of the Luftwaffe's effort to grind England into rubble? SCOUTING Proof that Scouts do not cease to be Scouts when they join the aimed forces is seen by the num- ber who continue to assist in op- erating Boy Scout Troops where they are stationed, and who form Rover Scout Crews on their sta- tions. The latest to be reported conies from Cairo, Egypt, where former Scouts serving there have formed a Rover Scout Crew, --o— One of the most noticeable re- sults of the recent National Boy Scout Week was increased mem- bership in many sections. In Ot- tavi%a, one Cubmaster was amazed to find 22 recruits waiting to join up when he arrived at his Scout Week meeting. ---o--- The 6th London Pack of Wolf Cubs, which has an enviable rec- ord of war service does not do things in a haphazard way. The group has already announced its plans for 1948 war service, which includes donations to be made to Russian Relief, Red Cross, Queen's Fund, Community Chest Fund and Chins Up Fund for British Scouts, Last year the Pack salvaged 23 tons of wastepaper and gave $111.40 to various war charities. Another British Boy Scout was recently awarded the British Em- pire Medal. He is Scout John David Gri; aged 15. Scout Grix, for two nights during the heavy air raids on Norwich, rode his bicycle through the heavy bomb- ing to carry out his civil defence duties, and also directed firemen their troops, introducing many and rescue parties through the devastated parts of the City. 6,6 �3. HZTC -BIKER OF THE FUTURE >w5 Getting aboard a Sikorsky helicopter is an easy matter for 'a hitch -hiker or a tardy passenger who missed the take -off. In this demonstration of the windmill plane, which currently has been devel- oped for the U, S. Army, the pilot dropped a rope ladder and caused the craft to hover, motionless, while another man climbed up. Scouting is playing an import- ant part in cementing friendship between the people of Iceland and the American and British soldiers and airmen stationed there. Amer- ican Scouts are assisting Icelandic Scoutmasters in the operation of novel American ideas which axe received with enthusiasm by the Iceland Scouts. Sweden, one of the few re- maining European countries not under the Nazi heel is also pros- pering in the field of Scouting. In the past three years, the number of Boy Scouts in the country has increased from 28,000 to 35,000, or 26 per cent. VOICE OF THE PRS HARD TO UNDERSTAND It's difficult to understand the attitude of mind of parents who refuse to sign consent forms for their children to undergo physi-. cal examinations, particularly tu- berculosis tests, in the health pro- gram that is being inaugurated jointly by the Board of Educa- tion and the Board of Health. Such an attitude suggests that possibly those parents are more urgently in need of examinations than their offspring --mental ex- aminations. —St, Thomas Times -Journal -•o— APPLE QUESTION Can you remember not so long ago when people were coaxed to help out the apple industry of Canada by purchasing and eating apples? Where are the good apples today at a reasonable price for the household? Oranges brought all the way from Cali- fornia are in much more popular demand than the Canadian apple. Even the Canadian black walnut has gone into the luxury class at 70 cents for a six -quart basket. —St. Catharines Standard NOT SQ BATTY Speaking in St. Thomas, Dr. H. B. Hitchcock of Western Univer- sity, said bats could fly with their eyes blindfolded and not strike objects, and that they also had a keen homing instinct like the pigeon. Maybe bats are not no batty after all. —St. 7.1c.mas Times -Journal FOOTWEAR MYSTERY Se40o1 pupils in a Chicago sub- urb are orperating a shoe ex- change, to which parents may bring shoes which their children have outgrown but not worn era, and reeeive larger ones in trade, Theoretically, it is a fine idea, hut parents around here would like to know how even the fastest growing youngster manages to have a serap of soles and toes left by the time be gets too big for his shoes. —Windsor Star --o— HELPING HITLER Steel workers are back at work but minus the wages they have lost and the men in the armed forces will also hiss the 4,000 tons of steel which would have been made each day the strike was in progress. —Niagara Falls Review TW$. OR. THREE PERBAPS "Every U.S. soldier sent over gets a book •on how to get along with the English." A man named MacTavish sent this in, with the remark that "they should gie a medal as well to the mon wha can learn that oot o' one book," —Ottawa Gritizen Full Government To Territories "It would be sheer nonsense — ignorant, dangerous nonsense to talk about grants of full gov- ernment to many of the depen- dent territories for some time to conte. In these instances it would be like giving a child of ten a latchkey, a bank account and a shotgu ." Hebert Morrison, British Home Secretary. INDUSTRIAL IN BATT HOL SERVING THE UNITED NATIONS WITH WAR ALCOHOL MOTOR cars become tanks. Luxury liners become troop transports. And ALCOHOL becomes a vital war necessity. Narrow indeed is the gap between the pleasurable things of peace and the fighting tools of war. Mixed with the gasoline of fighting aircraft, INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL keeps 'em flying. In the radiators of army trucks, ALCOHOL keeps 'em rolling. United with guncotton, :ALCOHOL helps to provide stabilized explosives for our shells. And in our hospitals this same versatile product brings comfort and peace to wounded men :: ALCOHOL has gone to war, and to provide it in the fabulous quantities needed, the full resources of our mighty plants have been mobilized for the duration. Until peace is won, war is our principal business. HIRAM WALKER & SONS LIMITED 1 n w s,...,66...,, .sem - .�M� .,e..6,..4m :Blaney and Curley of the..nil:acs is THAT 601..1PYouy1' E. 'TH1iOWiNG OUT r7 "Who's right?" 13 TASTES LIKE VERY GOOD SOUP �e mt./ '(NATE WHAT 16AID / By Gurney, (Australia eui 114E. COOK SPoZYS 1i'S COPF.E. /1 o.