The Brussels Post, 1942-1-21, Page 6✓ OICE
OF THE
P RESS
SAVING FOR THE FUTURE
It is a great tribute to the; eta.
%Silty of the Canadian people that
even in the midst of war tile'
:continuer to take thought for the
future, .
Mr. George W. Bourke, west:
dent of the Canadian Lite Inear.
awe Offlcers' Association, stated
.he other day -that fife insurance
iia tome at the end of 1941 reaoh•
ed an all-time high of $7,500,000,-
000, and that new sales in 1941
were 10 percent higher than in
1040. 1'our million Canadian policy-
holders
olicy9iolders axe united in, this cooper.
*five pool, and out of their savings
;175,000,000 already has been in-
vested in the Canadian war loans.
Life insurance is a vital factor
in the economic strength of the
,batten as it is in the economics of
the individual.
—Ottawa Journal.
—0—
STYLE IN INDUSTRY
There may be some male sniff-
ing over remor•ts that a costume
Sas been designed for women
workers in war industry that com-
bines "allure" with utility: There
should not be. That allure will
!help win the war.
No woman does her best when
&Le does not feel that she is look -
tag her best. The consciousness of
being smartly and. attractively at-
tired, even among factory mach -
lute, will distinctly add to the ef-
ltelency .of the fair workers,
—Windsor :Star.
"POINTED" RECEPTION
1st the Dutch East Indies the in-
habitants are setting up shanpen
•d stakes of bamboo in all the
clearings in the islands so that
,any parachute attackers will be
impaled it they attempt a land -
lag. The natives don't welcome
visitors of that kind and -tliey
'went to make sure no person will
Do so dull theut Ile won't see the
point.
—Peterborough Examiner.
—0—
"THIS IS LIVING"
A, psysehologist has estimated
that the average seventy -year life
aonsiste of twenty-five years of
work, twenty years of sleep, seven
years of sports and walking, five
peace ot shaving and dressing,
seven years' pleasure, three years
et waiting, two years eating, one
rim telephoning, thirty hours an-
nually looking in mirrors, and four
Sours annually wiping one's nose.
—St. Catharines Standard.
—0—
MORE POWEii_-TO THEM
Sympathetic words, uttered by
Senator Soaper," Chicago news
ooiumnist: "The kids who were
whittling model planes only yes•
terday, to the great confusion of
the tidy householder, are now fly-
ing real ones for 'Uncle Sam,. and
all is forgiven."
—Stratford Beacon -Herald.
—0--
WON'T
e_WON'T WORK
Admiral Yamamoto wrote to a
irieard that he would dictate peace
in the White House. The plan is
not sound. White House steno-
graphers do not understand a
word be Sapanese.
—Welland Tribune.
MODERN SEE -SAW
Maps See -Sawing Down Mansi-
on Coasts." It's a long teeter-
totter, however, that has no bumps,
--Windsor Star.
DEFENDERS OF OUR PACIFIC COASTLINE
Inrim earnest American troops pian a mach Inc gun behind sandbag bank "somewhere on the
west coat." Their job of training to protect our P aeific coastline is no longer just a "war' game." '
TkiE WAR • WEEK — Commentary on Current Events
Position of Russia and Germany
After Seven Months, of Fighting
On San. 1, 1941, Hitler boasted
"Soldiers, the year 1941 will
bring consununation of the great-
est victory in our history.', On
San. 1, 1042, Hitler hoped. "the
year 1942 should — and we
pray God that it may — bring
the decision which will save our
people."
In the first half of the twelve
month period between these two
speeches, the full force of Hit-
ler's Blitzkrieg in England failed
to destroy England or to damage
the morale of the British people.
In the second half' of the year
the unparalleled strength of the
Nazi armies and air force failed
utterly to conquer Russia.
Hitler's Plan
Seven months ago it seemed
incredible that Hitler Would at-
tack Russia. It was thought by
the Allies, that the existing econ-
omic pact between the two coun-
tries would develop into an out-
right military alliance. In retro-
spect it would appear that Hitler
considered Russia to be poten-
tially hostile. Germany could not.
launch en- all-out attack upon
England with the menace of the
Red army in her rear. There-
fore, the Nazi plan was to clean
up the Russians, in a few weeks,
and then finish off England.
Nazi Time -Table
When the Nazi armies invaded
Russia last June, the whole world
had the previous Nazi time -tables
in mind. Hitler had conquered
Poland in three weeks, Holland in
four days, Belgium in two weeks,
Russians Get Booty
From German Army
The Soviet Information Bureau,
as if to refute Germany's claim,
of an onderlyeayithdrawal; to a
winter Pile tri Russia, issued sit
3S losing list of material captur-
ed between Dec. 26 Rad 31 on
the central front.
The list follows:
Sixty tanks, 11 armored cars,
287 field guns, 91 minethrowers,
461 machine-guns, 309 automatic
rifles, 2,211 ordinary rifles, 938
trucks, 249 motorcycles, 1,448' bi-
cycles, 30 tractors, seven wireless
stations, 226 carts, 40 locomo-
tives, 428 railway cars, one train-
load of clothing, several railway
carloads of equipment for signal
troops, 14 carloads of provisions,
54 carleads :of aviation bombs,
mines and shells, nine carloads of
sheepskins, three carloads of Per -
tonal effects of officers and sol -
dims, nine oarloads of motorey-
cies, one carload of bicycles.
"Captured ammunition dumps,
according ••to preliminary esti-
mates," said the Information
Bureau, "contained 20,860 shells
and 1,190 eases of shells and 12,.'
910 mines, 6,1.93,000 cartridges"
Why They Run
On;every front where they have
been engaged in this, war, the
Italians have not merely been
thrashed, liut thrashed by greatly
iufellor rtttrnbers. The armies of
Fascism run away, not because
thu Italians are not is brave rase,
but because their heart is not iii
.a. ,,ltuitous eonlliet ieikted•.on
thcsa by a l,anetic l.ea'derShip,
France in a month. He had
crushed Yugoslavia in ten clays.
Greece in ten days, and captured
Crete by air in another ten days.
With each conquest he bad us -
creased his supplies of food and
materials for war.
Advance in. Russia'
The almost universal assump-
tion was that Hitler's conquest of
Russia would proceed with the
usual speed of the Nazi war intt-
cltino. For as short time that
speed was maintained. One week
after the invasion had begun the
German High Command announc-
ed that, in a sweeping advance,
the German army had inextricably
trapped hall a million Russians
and had destroyed vast numbers
of Russian tanks and planes.
All through the summer anil
autumn months German successes
continued, until in September the
Supreme German Command an-
nounced the successful conclusion
east of Kiev, of "the greatest
battle of annihilation of this war
and all history." They claimed
that in this battle alone the Rua-
sians had lost 665,000 prisoners.
Nazi Claims
Hitler's armies had advanced
along, the, whole of the 2,000 guile
front and were hammering' at the
gates of Leningrad and Moscow
and advancing• into the Crimea. -
Hitler admitted that "we have
been mistaken about one thing.
We had no idea how gigantic the
preparations of this enemy wore."
To the sweeping claims of 2,500,-
000 Russian prisoners, the cap -
LIFE'S LIKE THAT
By Fred Neher
"Ruth lets me. listen to all the Joe Louis fights.... They're so short
she doesn't mind them."
ture or destruction of 18,000:
tanks and 14,500 airplanes, he an-
nounced that "Russia is already
broken and will never rise again."
Nazis Bog Down
Then there appeared signs of the
change that has assumed such tre-
mendous proportions. In places
the Nazi drive began to bog down.
Early in November Dr. Goebbels
issued his revealing warning that
the German' people must resign
itself to a "hard and relentless
war." But only a few clays later
Hitler was still boasting that the
Soviet had suffered casualties of
at least 8,000,000 to 10,000,000
men, and "from such a blow no
army in the world could recover,
not even the Russians."
Russian Counter Offensive
Then the Jlussians reorganized
their positions. With the aid Isf'.-
fresh troops from the East and
the merciless cold of the Russian
winter they began to push the
Germans westward as far, in some
places, as the lines they occupied
last August. The siege of Lenin-
grad was raised, Moscow was no
longer in danger and the Russian
offensive in the Crimea appeared
to promise the complete eviction
of the Germans from that strate-
gic peninsula.
Generalissimo; Hitler
Late in Decemb000ignifi-
cant and sensatioftg-iounce-
ment was made the irl itler. had
removed Field -Marshal General
von Brauchtisch who led the Ger-
man armies into Russia, and that
Hitler himself had assumed the
personal command of the entire
German armed forces. The little
corporal of World War 1 was now
Generalissimo of World War 2.
Seeking an explanation for this
move, neutral observers believed
that the German reverses in Rus-
sia—which Berlin discounted as a
strategic withdrawal to winter
holding positions•—were so seri-
ous that Hitler had lost faith in
his Arniy Command, and that a
serious rift had developed be-
tween German Army Leaders and
Nazi Party chieftans on a ques-
tion of strategy.
Nazi Retreat
We do not know how long the
present remarkable German re-
treat in Russia will continue. It
appears to be Hitler's lilan to hold
as much Russian terrain as he can
until the coming of summer;
there is very little spring -time in
Russia.' Then, the German propa-
gandiats say, the Nazis will un-
dertake a great offensive to
crush the Russians and reach the
oil fields of the Caucasus.
Even though "Germany's mili-
tary operations have entered an
extremely serious and indeed a
critical phase," the Nazi ivar nta-
ehine is still a mighty foree and
should not be urder'estimated. On
the other hand, though Russia
may have been gravely weakened;
she is still very much in the war.
ND1VIDu,
err
ntri
AN NiAitigiCF,
A Weekly Column About This and That in The Canadian Arndt
"Why does our army need re-
intorcernent when it has pot yet
done any fighting?
Now there's a real question—a
question that was welcomed by the
Director General of Medical Sera.
ices when, in behalf of the ques-
tioner and readers of this column,
I posed it to him the other day.
'rho reason, believe it or not, is
traceable to'our' bad habit in eivll-
lan lire of nbt calling in a doctor
until most of the damage is done.
You see, I am speaking from ex-
pea'l.ence. In civilian life 11 you have
a stomach-ache yon balance your
dlseondort against the $2.00 or $8.00
a physician's call would cost. It the
ache disappears you forget all
about it—If it persists you call in
the doctor much later than you
should have,
But in the Army—that's differ-
enti Medical attention is tree and
when you "fall : in on sick parade"
you miss a thrill or•so. Small wpu-
der, 'alien, that medical officers
have a chance to find out incipient
troubles before they have a chance
to develop into possible dangerous
illnesses. 01 course, there' is an-
other thing the "M.O." finds out
at Nye same time—he finds out 1f
you aro "swinging the lead," in
which event — this, too, comes
from experience—you are apt to
get "2 No, 's and full duty."
You may he inclined to question,
as I did, the "stomach-aches. The
answer to that question is that
what seems like an ordinary stony
aohe may be an ulcer which caught
early enough in civilian life is
capable of control by special dietary
tsarrangements snob, as for instance,
a glass of mine and a biscuit be-
tween breakfast and lunch; and a
cup of tea and some toast between
lunch and dinner, with possibly the
addition of a slight raid on the re-
frigerator beton turning iu.
You couldn't do it in my day and
it is no more passible in the in-
dividual citizen's army of tbis
generation to arrange to call off an
attack or the movement of big guns
or the transfer of troopsfromone
place to another while you have.
a glass of milk or biscuit. Hence,
therefore, men whose condition re-
quires such treatment must be
found jobs at the base or, if there
is no room there, must return to
civilian life where they will be per-
fectly capable of carrying ou.
The itomeclr is only one abase
—an important one it Napoleon's
Chinese Give Aid
The Australian radio' said that
a Chinese labor corps has been
formed in Siitgapere, attached
to the Australian Imperial Force,
to release all troops for front titre ;-
duties.
The broadcast said .the Chi}tese I-
were working three eight-hour
shifts.
dictum that "an atulymarebes on
its stomach" was correct, But the.
A,rmy,even though it is highly me•
chanized, none the less still mar.
dies on its feet. It marches wttb
precision and this precision is noS
Just to please a drill Matraetor.
It is because you must have abste.
lute control of a unit on the more,
You undoubtedly know of several
eases wbeire "flat feet" do net ire
teeters in the slightest with the
workaday activities of 1000moi:ivii
engineers, even postmen and melt
in a dozen other vocations. The,
reason is that within the limita-
tions ot their jobs they can choose
their own time, go from bene to
there and largely control the
length 61 time they can talcs to do
it. Pat: one at those men in the
Army where he must be prepared
to move with his unit at a moment's
notice, to stay with that unit come
what may and the disability which
was not a disability in civilian lite•
Vases another problem for the
medical officer.
'Until I pestered army declass
forthe answer to the question,
"Why do you need reinforcements
when there is no lighting?" I was
Moline(' to ebuckle with glee at
the patriotic volunteer who put one
over the Medical Board and got
into the Army despite a defect that
he knew existed. S have changed
my tune now that I look at it from
the point of view of the taxpayer
who' pays that man his $1.30 a day.
I have no doubt that nothing but
patriotism underlies the desire to
outwit a Medical Board, but when
finally the defect so skilfully eqv-
ered up becomes apparent the nus
taken patriot has cost his fellow
taxpayers kundreds of deflate and
is luhnseif amble to tulfil the high
duty of lighting for his country.
He is another of the reasons why
the individual citizen's army needs
reinforcements while thane is no
lighting.
A few paragraphs back 1 quoted
the old phrase for a man who re-
ports sick when there is nothing
wrong with him—"swish tlg the
lead"—perhaps some student of
military slang can enlighten us es
to the meaning of this one. Off
• hand, -.it looks as though its origin
would come from the, Senior Service
but what the connectiou between a
man in the chains plumbing the
depths of the ocean has to do with
reporting sick, I don't know - do
your?
Leaders Broadcast
Christmas Messages
Greatest and most moving
thing in the Christmas broadcasts
of His Majesty the Icing and
Prime Minister Churchill and
President Roosevelt was not in
any art of oratory. It was in
the deep, reverent note struck
by all three 'Of humility and trust
in God.
Said the King:
"If shies before us are still
dark' and threatening, there are
stars to guide •us on our way.
Never did heroism shine more
brightly than it does now, nor
fortitude, nor sacrifices; nor
sympathy, nor neighborly kind -
tress.
"And with them the brightest
of all stars ie our faith in God,
These stars we will follow with
His help until light shall shine
and darkness shall collapse."
Said ,President Roosevelt:
• "Against enemies who preach
the principles of hate 'and prac-
tise them we set our faith in hu-
man lore and 10 God's -carefor
us and all men eveeywhere."
Said Mr. Churchill;•
"With God's help we shall in
to security for our children,"
Confidently, we can contrast
busee words with the torrents of
hate and pompous pride that
come from the lips oi;. our en
envies,, An ,English writer once
spoketof "the solemn beauty' of
the Christian: dream which gives
strength to our patient power."'
Itis :that dream, pitted against
paganismand barbarism, that is
our stay today.
REG'LAR FELLERS—The Perfect Host
n•
Churchill Calls
For Total War
"In this strange, terrible world
war, there is a place for every,
one, man and woman.. old and
young, hale and halt, Service in
a thousand forms is open. 'there
is no room now for the dilettante,
for they weakling, for the shirker
or the sluggard.- The mine, the
factory, the dockyard, the Halt
sea wave, the fields to till; the
home, the hospital, the chair of
the scientist, the pulpit of the
preacher — froin the highestto
the humblest, the tasks are all of
equal honor. All have tlreir'part
to play. The enemies: ranged
against us have asked for total
war, Let us make sure that they
get it."
Fortune In Toys
For Medical: Man
Alfred Gilbert, who graduated
with the degree of M.D. from
Yale in 1909, made a fortune—
but not out of pills, potions and
medical advice, relates The To-
ronto Teleg'r'am.
Crossing a railroad bridge fa
New York State one day he Was
inspired with the idea of making
structural toys. for ehilth'en,• and
borrowed $12,000 to get the busi-
mes1 started. .His .factory, which
builds a modernized form of the
old-time building blocks, now epi -
'ploys nearly 1,000 men and wo-
men.
A light -weight teak . earries
about four tons of armours .plate,
THAT LIFEGUARD YJHcs
SAVED YOU AT THE BEACH
LAST SUMMER 16 CALLING
" a?NI HT /NOW BE VERY
POLITE 70 HIM
'THIS IS ps HECK OF A
PLACE 80
0fjUARb /N A
!Ili