HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1943-12-02, Page 6ENGLAND'S LEND-LEASE FOOD FOR YANKS
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In case you've been wondering, here's some of the .return the
Americans are getting for their lend-lease b 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.
I -HE WAR - WEEK — Commentary on Current Events
Will Non -Belligerent Turkey
Throw In Its Lot With Allies?
Under fascism the historic
Dodecanese Islands — seized by
Italy from Turkey in 1912 —
becarne 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 tha
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
miles to the southeast. The fall
of Italy made Leros and adjae-
ant islands prizes of a race be-
'tween Nazis and British. For
the former they were outposts
of Fortress Europe; for the lat-
fer they were springboards for a
Balkan invasion. British units
were rushed from the Near East
t.. hold them against Germans
from 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,
8,000 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-
risoIc in the Aegean archipelago,
on the Greek island of Samos,
4 miles north of Leros and with-
in sight of the Turkish coast.
A Costly Nazi Effort
The Nazi et. -ort — first real
Wehrmacht victory in more than
ss 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
eigns 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. G. Hap -
hare, PMC., E.D. who has been
prornoted from the rank of Honor,
cry Lieut. -Colonel and named grin-
eepal Protestant Chaplain of the
Qanadian Army. He is rector of
.M1 Salute .Anglican Church, Ot-
latt.
tions in the war situation today.
Turkey would toss substantial
weight on the military scales,
already tilting sharply against
Ihitler, if it would join the Allies
either pa ..sively 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 miles from Is-
tanbul, while Bucharest and So-
fia are 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 hest 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,
ireluding 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 mer. 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 fro�.1 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 shall numbers, but due
to the terrain and lack of roads
in Tur':ey—and in the near -by
Balkans where they might fight
OTTAWA REPORTS
That The .Contribution of Our
Farms In The War Effort, is
Of Ever Growing Importance.
Remarkable agricultural•develgp-
ments have taken place in Canada
during the four ivar years. To pro-
vide food for Canada's . armed
forces and to meet the increased
reciuireinents of the peopleof the
United. Kingdom has been a major
job which has been recognized as
an invaluable achievement,
* * *
Canada's accomplishment has
been summarized by Hon. J. G.
Gardiner, Minister of Agriculture,
as follows: "Wo have armed de-
fensive and offensive for<ces rapid-
ly approaching a million men.
More than 7,000,000 of •our people
over 16 years of age aro 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
great 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-
men 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-
mands of war have taxed the in-
genuity of Canada's scientists—
plant breeders, botanists, entom-
ologists, ppthologists and others,
in developing new crops and in
combating the insects and diseases
that might destroy them in the
fields or in storage. From farm
to battlefront there is a continuous
struggle to safeguard the high
quality of the products.
* * *
The foundation for the multi-
plicity of war contributions by
Canada's farms is largely seed,
therefore ft is important that good
seed be 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 tor 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.
PELANGIO LARDER
Borders Chesterville to the east for approximately one
and
one-half miles. Diamond drilling now under way on
the
Pelangio.
GEORGE CHAPM.A�N &CO.
200 BAY ST. -- --TORONTO.
ROM:
Sack by Germans or Liberation by Allies?
Fate of Eternal City Remains Uncertain
•
ROME: At left is the Tiber, in background St. P'eter's and Vatican City.
The Constantine Arch.
Tho Colosseum.
Victor. Emmanuel monument,
increase in production for war pur-
poses. GVhereas only about 8,000
acres were planted to fibre flax
in 1939, there were close to 50,000
acres of it this year, chiefly in
eastern Ontario and western Que-
bec. The product of this flax fibre
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
oated 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.
All 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
MT House, 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 suc-
cesive hours on Newmarket Heath
in 1809 is best known. Now a
thousand hours is 41 days, 16
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,
* * b
To give a detailed' account of the
Captain's performances would
cover much paver. We there-
fore list but a few of them at
ramdoni. In 1806 he walked 100
miles over rough roads in 19 hours.
Exclusive of stoppages the time
taken was only 171/, hours, or an
average of 5•4 M.P.H. A year
later he ]eft 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 73 miles of
hilly road in 14 hours.
* * *
Purely for amusement (he
REG'LAR FELLERS—Rockabye, ,Pinhead
AND THETI, IN .1630
7NE BRAVE PIL4R1145
RGP;CHETW OUP. S%"dRCS
AND L.ANDEt' ON
PL'(MOUTA ROCK!
PLEASE-teAC%-1E2 L
IVE= SEEN PLYMOUTH
ROCK! ('SAWI IT ONCET
WHEN \ VISITE.rf
4itAN' FATNER' _
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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 To
grouse shooting and tramped at
Ieast 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
stopping. 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 a.m., he 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. He 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 so chagrined at the result
that he challenged Byrne and
thrashed him,
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, 86,178.
He added that India's defence
forces totalled nearly 2,000,000
men and that almost 500,000
troops had served overseas since
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
By Fred Neher
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ConnatlA.toA Nenu Fleln,wi
"Every time I call signals somebody up there yells, 'BINGO'1 1"
v.15.1.1. Hold NICE-
PiNNEW Suppose: °
YOU DRAW A PICTURE
OF IT FOR THE CLASS
AND U. PN 1ToN oTi�E�
THE OULLETIN t,oARD!
By GENE BYRNES
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