HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1943-12-09, Page 3is
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THE WAR • WEEK .— Commentary on Current Events
The Direct And Indirect Effects
Of The Air Assault On Germany
The direct effects of the gr
air assault hi the destruction
German factory capacity, transp
and communications can be r
upon the reconnaissance ph
graphs; the indirect efforts ori G
loan finance, resources, comm
cations, productive efficiency
the whole fabric of the Ger
military -social mechanism can
said with certainty to be v
groat, But the total effect on G
man's ability to continue
struggle is not clear, at,least
to the layman.
Results On Battle Fronts
Many people feel that, whate
the terrors of the bombings
those who must withstand the
the results have yet to appe
clearly on the battle fronts. `T
is not quite true. Germany's wa
of air power in Russia and in Ita
is quite obvious and can .
explained only on the ground th
she has been deprived of the ca
city to produce the planes that s
needs. In the more specific ea
of the a1i,„,assaults on Rostock
Maack in' the spring of 1942, t
British had learned that the Ge
mans had accumulated great stocl
Of supplies in those ports for
offensive against Russia in t
north; after the bombers had fi
fished with Rostock and Luebec
the offensive had to be abandone
But such exact demonstrations
cause and effect are rare.
It is possible to photograph
'wrecked factory; it is not possibl
to photograph the non-existen
planes or tanks or guns which th
factory would have produced if
had remained, in operation. Th
front lines are bitterly aware o
what the Germans can do with th
material that reaches them, Mi.are less conscious of what the Ge
spans might have done had the
had everything of which the R.A,P
and the 8th Air Force have de
prived then. Yet the last is, o
course, the true measure of wha
the heavy bombers have done an
not until after the war will it b
possible to make even a goo
guess at it.
Pattern Bombing
It may he far more desirable to
bcmb one roiler•bearing plant than
a dozen steel mills, simply because
it is a long way, inclustriri1ly, with
stock piles,in be4iveen, from a
steel mill t� a finished engine
anountecl in a fighter plane, but
only a short way from one roller
'bearing plant to a dozen aircraft
truck and tack factories which
must have bearings at once. For
similar reasons it is not worth
while to' bomb coal or lignite
mines, or streches of ordinary rail-
road, but decidedly worth while
to strike' at synthetic oil or rubber
plants, or a locomotive works. The
pattern is as scientific as it can
be made. It represents calculated
risks for calculated results. There
is nothing indiscriminate about it.
Men are not being sent on guess-
work missions. Theirs is the most
precise work fighting men are do-
ing in this war.
Nazis Not Crushed Yet
By every outward test the Ger-
man war potential has been
seriously reduced. The Germans
have lost the war at . sea; they
have given up an empire in Russia;,
they are so straitened that they
have been able to make no more
than token reprisals against Bri-
tain for the terrible air attacks
which have shaken them so pro-
foundly. But it is evident that
a modern industrial organism is
a much tougher structure than any
one had supposed. Nowhere have
the German armies been found
without guns 'or ammunition, as
were the Czarist armies at times
In the last war. Nowhere have the
German . air defenses been reallycrushed. Nowhere has there been
a total loss of mobility or a total
collapse of civilian services. Since
the effects of war are cumulative,
•these things may begin to appear.
They have not appeared yet,
Allied Plan of 1918
In 1918 the Allied commanders
eat
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oto-
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HEADS DIRECTORATE
Col. H. R. Alley, O.B•E,,,of Toronto,
who has been appointed chief of
the recently formed Directorate
of the Veterans Guard of Canada.,
were planning, up to the very end,
a massive campaign for 1919, be-
lieving that nothing less would
suffice to break the military
strength they knew the enemy still
possessed. Happily, the campaign
was unnecessary, but the com-
manders were right in their action,
and we may well emulate them
today.
OTTAWA REPORTS
That' the Soy Bean Is Likely
to Have a Considerable Effect
on Canadian Agriculture.
Scientists delving into the pos-
sibilities of the soy bean have not
yet explored all its uses. Indus-
try has only begun to snake use
ofthis remarkable plant The
mature seeds of the soy bean
have a very high oil and protein
content and the oil may be used
wholly or in partial replacement
of other ils in vegetable, short-
ening, margarine oil, paints, soap
and linoleum. It is valuable as
a concentrated protein feed for
live, tock. Where human nutri-
tion is concerned, diet deficiency
disease, pellagra and rickets are
unknown in those areas of the
Far East v' ere soy beans have
been used in huinar. diet. Two
and •one half pounds of soy bean
flour has been found to contain
the nutritive egi.iialent of 54
eggs or three quarts of milk and
it has more of the essential min-
eral vitamins, enzymes and phos-
phates than are found in any
other field crop.
* *
In the contemplation of the
multiplicity of uses one imme-
oiate use should not be over
lookea by farmers — the effec-
tiveness ,of the soy bean in con-
trolling couch grass. By con-
tinually cropping infested land
with soy beans the weed can be
completely smothered in record
time.
Other crops are known to help
control couch grass but it ,has
been proved that soy beans give
by far the best results. An ex-
periment recently concluded at
the Central Experimental Farm
in Ottawa disclosed some inter-
esting facts. Four crops—soy
beans, corn, buckwheat and millet
—were grown continuously for
four years. In preparation for
all of these crops tie ground was
fall ploughed. Both soy beans
and corn were cultivated five
times and hoed twi:e during each
growing season. Before seeding
the buckwheat and millet the
• land was worked to keep down
the growth of couch grass and
give these smother crops a good
start.
* * *
At the end of the first year
only 5 per cent. of couch grass
remained in the soy bean plot,
there was 20 ,per cent. left in
the corn and 50 per cent, in the
plots seeded to buckwheat and
millet. By end of the second
year couch grass had completely
disappeared in the soy bean field,
10 per cent. remaind in the buck-
wheat field and 5 per cent, in
the corn and millet. There still
persisted 1 per cent. of couch
grass in the m.11et field at the
end of the third year's continu-
ous crop ling b t this remnant
gave up at the end of the fourth
year. Corn and buckwheat had
clone a thorough job in their areas
and soy bean t, ok only two years
to achieve the same purpose,
Clothing Gift
British clothing manufacturers
are preparing to ship $400,000
worth of dresses and coats to
Russia for women and children
in areas freed from the German
grip by the Red Arnry, it was an-
nounced. They will '"e a gift of
the trade.
.A basic principle in the train-
ing of youths of the Royal Ca-
nadian Army cadets is to teach
the value of good citizenship,
EACH `Eveready” Flashlight Battery
must pass the same rigid tests for
quality as in pre-war years. Remember,
too, the date -line on the jacket is your
guarantee of freshness.
When you need to re -load your flash-
light, choose the batteries which
have been . preferred by Canadians
for more than a quarter century --
"Eveready" Batteries.
"They Last Longer"
Canadian National Carbon Company Limited
Halifax MonEreai TORONTO Winnipeg Vancouver
City Of Bizerte
Exists No More
North • African City Deserted
Except For Allied Soldiers
Bizerte doesn't exist any more
except by name. It is a junk heap.
- It was last May that Bizerte
paid the final price for harboring
Hitler's North African headquar-
ters, but in the five months since
the Allied Air Force finished
pounding it to stop the Nazi sol-
diers from fleeing through it, B1•
zerte has never come b',ck.
Soldiers who have seen other
campaigns and other razed cities
say it never will.
Rebuilding looks impossible to-
day.
What was once a city of thou-
sands nate i; d serted except for
soldiers. There are no women, no
civilians, no business.
Empty buildings stare into the
debris -littered streets, through
6780 which are shrapnel holes.
Houses are slashed down the mid-
dle, baring the detailed interiors
of bedrooms, sitting rooms, nurs-
eries—for all the world like a
child's cardboard doll house with
the outer wall removed.
For blocks and blocks, not one
single house can be seen. The sane
is true of business districts. Bi-
zerte literally was bombed out of
existence.
But now signs of life are pro-
vided by the Army. Bizerte is now
a military reservation in front of
a few houses which remain semi-
inteact and which are encircled by
barbed wire.
* * *
The harbor, where once a thriv-
ing shipping business operated, be-
fore the Germans sought to use it
for an escape corridor, still shows
some life, but not much. Ringed
by palm trees, many of whose tops
have been sheared off by shrapnel,
it is marked by the smokestacks
of sunken ships—and only a small
per cent of those which lie at the
bottom show in the masses of steel
above the Mediterrean waters.
A few buildings near the water's
edge are in use by the Army.
Even they have been boarded up
in spots where the bombing ripped
big holes.
New Nazi Plane
Carries 130 Men
The Madrid newspaper Infor-
niaciones published last week a
series of photographs described as
the first pictures released abroad
of the new German M” sserschmitt
323 transport plane, said to be
capable of carrying 130 fully
equipped nien.
The photographs showed a six -
engined craft with multiple land-
ing gear and doors in the nose
similar to those of landing barges.
"Ferdinand's" Weak
Points Revealed
Some detailec information
aboui, the new German self-pro-
pelled gun known as "Ferdinand"
has just come ou. of Russia, says
Newsweek. The gun itself is the
familiar 88 -mm cannon, but the
tank -like vehicle is unusual. Its
armor runs from about 8 inches
in front to 3 in the rear. It car-
ries a crew of six, 'including a
radio operator, and is steered by
periscope. Two air-cooled 300••
h.p. motors furnish the powe, to
drive it about 12 miles an hour
on a highway, less in rough 'coun-
try. It must stop to fire, its moat
effective range being about 1,500
nerds. The Russians have found
that this slowness, plus the poor
visibility for the crew, makes it
vulnerable to attack even by in-
fantrymen usifig grenades or
Molotoff cocktails.
tails.
REG'LAR FEELERS ---Lis' Angel
i'IEARf HEAR!
WHAT'S NGO
IN HERE -A BATTLE?
1,0
,sporal
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MY BEST CHAIR! USING IT FOR
A TRENCH. HOW DAARB-YOU?
S
r DECLARE, PUDD113HEAD:
YOU DON`T SEEM TO HAVE ANY
SENSE! YOU NEVER CATCH PINHEAD
MISUSING MY FURNITURE
`T `CHAT WAY;
•
13y GENE BYRNES
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