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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1943-09-30, Page 31t THE WAR WEEK — Commentary on Current invents Prime Minister Churchill Reports To The Nation On Progress Of War Prime Minister Churchill, ap- pearing before Commons in his first full-scale report on the course of the world-wide struggle sipce his historic conference with President Roosevelt at Quebec, surveyed the whole sweep of the war with serene confidence. ' Calling the Mediterranean bat- tlefield the "third front," the Prince Minister told the House of Commons that the second front "already exists potentially" and "already is rapidly gathering weight.. , . The second front ex- ists and is a main preoccupation already with the enemy," • "It has not yet been thrown into play," he continued. "That time is coming. "At what we and our American Allies judge to be the right time this front will be thrown open and a mass invasion of the Continent from the west will begin." The British Government, he de- clared, "will never be swayed or overborne by any uninstructed agitation, however natural, or pressure, however well meant," and "will not be forced or cajoled into undertaking vast operations against our better judgment in order to gain political unanimity or a cheer from any quarter." Saturation Point 1944 For such an undertaking, he warned, will be the beginning of the "bloodiest portion of this war that still lies ahead for Great Britain and the United States." .And if these statements suggest delay in opening another land front, that impression is further heightened by his emphasis on the continuation of the air war to the "saturation point" in 1944, and by his coupling of the new front with the impending conference of the Foreign Secretaries of Great Britain, Russia and the United States, and with the hope of a meeting between President Roose- velt, Marshal Stalin and himself "before the end of this year." Surrender A Windfall The date on which the Italian invasion originally had been planned, he told the House, was September 15, but it was moved up to September 9, "as the re- sult of decisions taken before' the fall of Mussolini." "The Italian surrender was a windfall," he said, "but it had nothing to do with the date of harvesting the orchard." Mr. Churchill drew careful dis- tinction between the German and the Italian people with respect to postwar settlement, and made it clear that Prussian militarism must be wiped out completely and finally. He termed the Naples invasion the "most daring amphibious op- eration we have yet launched or which I think ever has been launched on a similar scale in the war." He explained that the Allis could not have gone farther north unless they had dispensed with aid from shore -based aircraft— a fact which the Germans must have known. Even in landing at Naples, he said, Allied forces were depend- ent "to an important extent" upon carrier -borne aircraft in which the Allies are becoming stronger and stronger. Invasion Minutely Planned Mr. Churchill's calci descrip- tion of the minute and exact planning that had gone into the Italian campaign—it was a com- plete answer to critics in the same forum where he had met and mastered so many previous criti- cisms. The Prime. Minister told the Commons that the Mediterranean campaign is not "a substitute for a direct attack across the Chan- nel on the Germans in France and the Low Countries"—that he never has regarded it as such. "On the contrary," he said, "the opening of this new front in the ivlediterranean was al- ways intended to be an essential preliminary to the main attack upon Germany and her ring of subjugated and satellite states." Elimination of Italy He' disclosed, however, that he and President Roosevelt set Italy's elimination from the war as their principal objective whe.x they met in Washington last May and added that no one "would have expected it to have been so rapid- ly achieved." Turning to the air war, the Prince Minister announced that weight of bombs dropped en Ger- many in the past year was three times that of the preceding 12 months and that the United States and British aircraft sup- ply now exceeds that of Germany by more than four to one. Saying that the almost total destruction of German war cen- tres was continuing on a great scale, Mr, Churchill disclosed that the percentage of plane losses to the R.A.F. in the first eight months of 1048 was less than the same period last year. He announced also that during the four months ending Sdptem ber 18 not a single merchant vessel was lost by enemy action in the North Atlantic and that enemy U-boats had not sunk one Allied ship anywhere in the world during the first two weeks of September. ✓ OICE O : H E P RESS WRITING OVERSEAS The real danger is from well- intentioned letters which impose anxieties upon the men in the Canadian services, especially when these are sent to men overseas. Home is such a long way off; they feel so helpless when home problems are presented to thein, It is a kindness to write chatty, newsy letters which put the best face upon everything and present no family difficulties for the man in uniform to solve. —Toronto Star. —0 -- STILL A GOOD IDEA "Keep your mouth closed when angry," advises a health expert. Very good idea, unless you think you can lick everybody, And then it's still a good idea, unless you want to be disillusioned. —Kingston Whig -Standard. —0-- NO 0—NO MORE WORRY One important problem has been solved by the Army and Air Force, Thousands of women no longer have to worry about what to wear.—Guelph Mercury. —0— STILL "UNSEEN" New York says that television is not yet ready for the market. So we can still run and answer the telephone in our underwear or pajamas. . - —St. Thomas Times -Journal. —0— SUGAR FOR SOVIET Great Britain and the United States have jointly sent Russia a million tons of sugar. That partly explains why we have sugar rationing.—Kitchener Record. _0_ BAD SMELL The Danes obviously are com- pletely convinced that the "some- thing" rotten in Denmark is the Nazis.—Edmonton Journal. —o— COMMON Wisdom is common sense but not so conimon. —Kingston Whig -Standard. "Loose Talk" The Vancouver Sun, in a news - page story dealing with "loose talk," said recently a 10,000 -ton freighter built on this coast was torpedoed by a waiting enemy submarine at midnight of the day it left a West Coast Canadian port laden with cargo. Appar- ently the incident referred to occurred some time ago. The Book Shelf BY WATER AND THE WORD By Mrs. F. P. Shearwood The travels of Bishop News. , ham in northern Canada began with a voyage by sea of 59 days;,: from Strontness, Scotland, • td., Moose Fort in James Bay, througlt the treacherous ice fields of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay. From 1891 to 19d4 this indefae tigable young man travelled thousands of miles by canoe and portage; on foot and on snow- shoes; by dog train and ship, vis- iting the outposts of his enormous Missionary Diocese of Moosonee. These trips are vividly describ- ed, demonstrating forcibly the courage, the strength of mind and body which were necessary in undertaking them. In these days when the aeroplane has made such trips a thing of the past,, it is stimulating to read how less than fifty years ago travelling in northern Canada was such a perilous and arduous undertaking.' In January, 1901, Bishop Newn- ham snow -shoed 200 miles in seven days, on another occasion 390 miles in seventeen days, from Moose Fort to the Hudson's Bay post through Abitibi to Mattawa. The book pays high tribute to the skill, and industry of the Cree Indians, and to the great assistance given the Church by the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1904 Bishop Newnhazn was trans- ferred to the Diocese of Saskat- chewan, and after his retirement settled in Hamilton, Ontario. This book is a tribute not only to him, but to the countless peo- ple of Canada's northland who have laboured so long and so untiringlyin its development. By Water and the Word . By Mrs. F. P. Shearwood - The Macmillan Company of Canada .. . Price $2.50. SCOUTING .. i� A recent cgnsus of the Boy Scout Movement in Great Britain shows an increase in membership of 21 per cent over pre-war, fig. ures. * * Fifteen blind boys in Cyprus;, British Mediterranean island, be long to what is believed to be the' only Boy Scout Troop composed.' entirely of sightless boys in the; ..' world. They are under the leader ship of a lady Scoutmaster and.; during the past year have learned to swarm, to strike a tent withodtt57 help, and to pitch a tent with a' minimum of supervision. * * * Despite the fact that he has been motionless on a spinal frame for four years, Scout Leslie Coley; 13, of Nottingham, England has made and sold articles for Chinese re- lief. In recognition of his fortitude and courage, Lord Somers, Chief Scout of the British Empire, has awarded him the highest Scout award, The Cornwell Decoration. * * * So that blind people at Gates- head, England, could follow the war more easily, Patrol Leader Bernard Carr of the 20th Gates- head Boy Scout Troop has .made several maps in Braille. He first drew the map, and then with the aid of a sharp point pricked the coastline and then the towns, KIEL AND ITS CANAL ARE TOP ALLIED TARGETS N ET¢H. 1 _,l Osnobrueck GERMANY Dortmund 2 Essen ',Kassel N iS KIEL.—Nazi U-boat Factory. Again and again Allied airmen have loosed tons of explosives on Kiel, Germany's port -of -entry to the Baltic, and again they will re- turn until this supply lifeline can no longer function in the battered Hitler war machine. Kiel is a main U-boat base, its 218,000 people all working for Hitler. Kiel built Germany's first aircraft carrier, and the powerful cruiser Prince Eugen. Kiel lies at the eastern terminus of the 8100,000,000 Kiel canal, which stretches across the peninsula south of the Danish border to form a link with battered Hamburg via the Elbe river estuary and thus connect with waterways throughout the Reich. Through it pass timber, iron ore, coal, oil, railroad supplies, cement and food- stuffs in trade with the pincered Scandinavian countries. The canal was completed in 1907 under the rule of Kaiser Wil- helm. The locks are 330 yards long, compared with the Panama Canal's 300 -yard. locks; the depth, 11 yards, with a surface width. of 44. A vessel can voyage from one end t, the other in eight hours, thus saving a long, dangerous and fuel -costly trip around Denmark, or extra freightage on Germany's creaking railroads. The canal is to the Reich what the Panama Canal is to the U. S., what the Suez Canal is to the British — a short cut from sea to sea, and hence of vital importance in carrying on'the war. OTTAWA REPORTS That the Need Is Urgent for More Women War Workers More and more Canada is com- ing to lean on the women of the nation to help her through the present struggle. Gradually wom- en are being drawn out from their traditional place in the kitchen to step into line at factory benches, climb over the growing hulls of ships, work inside the shells of future aeroplanes, or to pass the •: ;ammunition. Now the appeal had- .• Become stronger, the Government:- through its Department of Labor is asking every woman who can to give full or part-time to war work. * * * Canada is now entering the fifth year of war and a period when the manpower situation has reached a critical stage. The armed services, war industries and essential civilian industry- have already absorbed all avail- able manpower. The National Selective Service has found it necessary to transfer 9,275 men from non-essential work to essen- tial jobs and the cases of another 23,236 inen are being reviewed to decide whether they can do more important work than they are doing now. * * * Nowhere has the manpower RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS MEET TO RESTORE CHURCH • Following Soviet -sanctioned restoration of the Orthodox Church in Russia, these religious leaders met to elect the Patriarch of Moscow and to form a Holy Synod. Pictured, Ieft to right, are Bishop Alexis, Metropolitan of Leningrad; Rev. Nikolai Koltitsky, administrator .of the Moscow Patriarchate; and Metropolitan Sergius, who was named Patriarch of Moscow. shortage been more evident than on the land. In many ways there have been attempts to relieve this shortage, but harvesting time means a headache for every farmer now. Many women of the land did and are still doing yeo- man work in the place of their men -folk, and in innumerable in- stances it was their effort alone that kept the farm running, The work these women are doing could not be more valuable. They are keeping the supplies of food flowing across the Atlantic to our fighting men and to our Allies, * M * The record of Canadian wotiieu in this war is a great one. In fel:" tories and in industrial work the t -tuber of women workers has increased from 144,000 in 1939 to 419,000 at the present time. More than half of this number is engaged directly or indirectly in war industry. So far, more than 33,091 women have enlisted in the armed services and twice this number, about 64,000 more, are needed. In the nursing services — the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, the Royal Canadian Navy nursing service and the R.C.A.F. —women of Canada are sharing the burden of battle, The first wAnen to reach Sicily after the invasion of the island on July 10 were a group of Canadian nursing sisters who attended the wounded behind the front line. There are also 250 Canadian nurses serving with the South African military nursing service. Forty women doctors are working, with the Canadian Armed Services. Then there is voluntary:,.v{o4 being done. The coninOlitreilei of time and effort to the varioue activities requiring help have been valuable and there is always more work. to be done. But the time has now come when every woman must review her present work and decide whether it is essential or not. The Government is asking every woman to make an extra effort to ensure that she is serv- ing where her aid will be most beneficial. LIFE'S LIKE THAT MRS. PIP'S DIARY! --m By Fred Nehe.r, 4 fte- ▪ -_f¢iE.•r+ a vks teF r/- (Wort LrCOE.euea x.. re.tnr "It drizzled today, so I bought it with some of the money saving for a rainy day?' we were REG'LAR AR FELLERS—The Lost Chord OKAY, C,ENIwIL.' STRIKE UP THE BAND WE'LL BEGIN T� HE PARADET By GENE BYRNES THAT'S FIELD MARSHAL DVGAN ° ist,rr HE WAND$gME ?! NOW, MRS, DUFFY, IN A CLEAR, CALM VOICE DESCRIBE THE PORTABLE PHONOGRAPH AND WHEN DID YOU FIND IT MISSING? t -a MadmNlnM .- RAI. N.A. b1 DS.w A4 vNAN