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Zurich Herald, 1943-08-26, Page 6ALL HANDS LENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR In an emergency every man aboard a fighting ship must know his station. The above photo shows the crew of a Canadian destroyer during "aband on ship" drill. A leading -seaman checks with the officer in charge of this particular station and ma kes sure every man is on hand. VOICE OF PRESS A REPORTER JOINS UP When an R.C.A.F. mobile re- uniting unit stopped off at Kirk-. lead Lake, Ont., a while back, the editor of the Northern News sent Stew Bridges, his star re - poster, to cover the event. In the due course Stew Bridges re- turned to the office wearing a pleased expression. "Where's the story?' his editor demanded. "Oih, the story?" mumbled Stew Bridges. "Sorry, I forgot all about the story. We got talking and the first thing I knew I had joined the R.C.A.F. —Maclean's Magazine. —0— EACH OF US The thought of the week comes from Brooke Claxton, Montreals M.P., who said in a speech at Cleveland: "The Government can order, control, tax and ration, but the extra effort which measures the difference between democracy and dictatorship, between victory and defeat, can only be given freely by each of us." —London Free Press. —0— INEFFICIENCY The nicest indictment of med- iaeval inefficiency we've seen for some time is that of a transport authority who points out that the 19 stone piers of Old London Bridge were "constructed without engineering experience adequate for the enterprise" so the bridge functioned only 600 years. —London. News -Chronicle. —0— JUST REVENGE Porcupines don't know there is a war on. Otherwise they might have spared the tires of a Plum- per, Idaho, man's car. Instead, one animal stuck in a couple of quills and put two tires out of business. Its action was in re- venge, of course, for being run over. —Lethbridge Herald.. —0— MORE THAN SANG FOR SUPPER Casting bread crumbs on the lawn is ahnost as self -rewarding as casting your bread on the wa- ters. A robin in Kentucky drops a dollar bill on the back porch - of a man who fed the birds, 'hereby doing more than sing for its supper, —Hamilton Spectator. —0— HARD-BOILED TEA All this advice about how to brew a good cup of "the bever- age that cheers" from a minimum of tea is going to be wasted, we fear, on Jim Cur*•an of the Soo Star, who says tea isn't worth a hoot unless it's been boiled twen- ty minutes. —St. Thomas Times -Journal, —0— IT'S AWFUL Now it's the men who are be- ing hit. The number of fur felt hat shades is to be reduced from 42 to 18 and wool felt shades from 18 to 10. Boys, it's awful! —Owen. Sound Sun -Times. —0— THE FUNNY SEX Funny sex: They paint their legs to look as if they wore stock- ings or they wear stockings that make their legs look bare. --Brandon Sun. • Ceylon, which was an ancient centre of civilization, has been held in turn by the Portuges°, Dutch and British, Swiss Maintain True Democracy Self -Government Has Work- ed For 651 Years, Says The Cleveland Plain Dealer Here than 4,250,000 people have just paid homage to a successful idea—the idea that men do not have to speak the same language to dwell in harmony as a nation; that free men are capable of de- fending themselves and that dem- ocracy is the best form of gov- ernment. These people knew what they were doing, for the idea has work- ed for 651 years. It works today although their land is surrounded on all sides by an enemy who stands for the antithesis of every- thing they cherish. Yet this small nation has much to teach the great powers of the world, for Switzerland has stood as a beacon light through Europe's stormy history. Perpetual Pact Formed It was on Aug. 1, 1291, that the men of the mountain regions of ITri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed a. perpetual pact to defend themselves against the tyranny of the then. dominant House of Haps- burg. Other men joined them un- til the Swiss confederation was formed. Today its people speak four languages, 2,900,000 Germans, 830,000 French, 240,000 Italian and 44,000 Romansch. Yet few nations in the world are as unified as is Switzerland. The secret may be the high degree of self-govern- ment which the Swiss enjoy. The Swiss still hold their open- air Parliaments in their cantons. But this earliest form of democ- racy is no barrier to swift action when it comes to protecting the country. Hitler and the detractors of democracy are completely re- futed by the example of the con- federation in defence. Every Swiss serves in the army. Completely Mobilized When war came in 1939, Switzer- land mobilized completely. Since June, 1940, the lumber', of men in active service has been,reduc.d to 200,000. The cost of this ;'is'heavy on a small country, particularly one which depended so much on tourists and the luxury trade as did Switzerland. Yet the people bear the cost cheerfully, for they know that nothing could & repay them for the loss of that='.liiberty which they have maintained and defended since 1291. a, Butting Sheep Wins Bout With Bear Probably it never happened be- fore and never will occureagain, but it is reported from •„Sussex, N. B., that a sheep did'; knock out a bear. Bruin, spying the tethered sheep in a field owned by Adam Hughes, charged', The sheep also charged, butting' bruin between the eyes. Down went the bear. He lay dazed fora few moments, then struggled to his feet and ambled away in search of an easier meal. LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher ' "Never mind how long I've been here. . . - Get me down! 1" THE WAR • WEEK — Commentary on Current Events As Global War Enters Fourth Year? Are Allies Turning Tide Of Battle Three years ago last week the Nazi legions poured acmes the frontiers of Poland to loose upon the world the second great con - filet in a generation, says the New Yank Times. A European war at first, it became a world war after Japan's Pearl Harbor attack last December. Last week as the war's third year was ending, British bombers were taking off to pound German pork and industrial centres with a view to relieving pressure on Russia. In Egypt there was om- inous quiet as the armies waited for the zero hour that might de- termine the fate of the Middle Eaaa. I+n China, the Japanese were in retreat, possibly with drawing forces for attacks elsewhere, and in the South Pacific they were hard-pressed as the first Ameri- can offensive threatened their position in the Solomons. India was tense for the blow that may come in November when the rains end. On the other side of the world Brazil, by entering the was, had supplied new and strategic bases for fighting the Battle of the South Atlantic. The War Spreads This was the world war picture last week as the third year of the war drew near its end. The fires .the Germans had lit when they marched into Poland in the early hours of Sept. 1, 1939—had spread around the globe. On that first morning there were just two na- tions at war, Germany and Po- land. The number of nations in- volved has risen from two to forty- two, thirty-one of them on the side of the United Nations, eleven on the side of the Axis. It is a war that has spread in waves. Poland was engulfed in the Bret wave, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the second, Yugoslavia and Greece in the third. Minor wars— Finland and Russia, Italy and Greece—sprang up and were in- corporated into the big war. It beat against the defenses of Eng- land hl the west, turned east onto -the steppes of Russia. Battles were Bought in North Africa and West- ern Asia and sea fighting brought the war to South America. Ger- many's partner, Japan, carried it on tp the other aide of the world, linked it with the war in China, made it, save for the fragile peace existing between Russia and Ja- pan, all one. As Fourth Year Begins The prize for victory, then, be- came the tVorld. But for Adolf Hitler, with three years of many victories behind him, that goal still seemed far from realization. Before him, still in being despite herculean efforts to destroy it, was the Red Army, and behind him a growing Anglo-American strength. In the Far East the Jap- anese, after five years of war with China and almost eight months of war with the Western democ- racies, faced American power on one side and on the other a Chin- ese Army that would not stay 'beaten. These were the proiblems the Axis nations must try to solve in the fourth year of the war. Froin their very nature they raised anx- ious questions in the United Na- tions. Can the Russian armies continue to hold out against the Wehrma.cht and launch new blows of its own? Has the growing strength of the United Nations reached the point where an invas- ion of the Einropean Continent becomes possible? Can the British hold the Italian -German forces in Egypt away from Suez? Where will the Japanese launch their Fall offensive and will there be forces enough there to turn it tack? The fourth year will pro- vide answers. Stalingrad Stands Out of the fighting that rages over the long Russian front one solid fact stands out, The Russians still hold Stalingrad. The Volga city controlling the vital artery of water commturication in Cen- tral Russia is this year's main German objective. The German High Command announced that it would fall last week. Afire and in ruins, it still resists the invader. Hitler must have Stalingrad to pen the Russian armies behind the Volga and exploit his gains in the Caucasus. It will not suffice to pass by ouch a stronghold and strike directly at Astrakhan and the Caspian Sea. This explains the massive assault and the tremend- ous sacrifices the Germans are making, A week ago, when Nazi tanks swarmed across the Don elbow, Stalingrad seemed doomed. But in the interval the Russians summoned fresh reserves. Now they may have a ehance to repeat the indomitable defense of Lenin- grad and Moscow. Reich Hit From Air From Royal Air Force head- quarters in Britain last week came a grim estimate of the damage that 'had been inflicted on Ger- many since the beginning of the year, Five square miles spread about in nine of Germany's large cities had been wiped out. More than 1,000,000 persons had been made homeless. More than 500 war factories had been destroyed. Reich Marshal Goering made a boast at the beginning of the war, that no enemy planes would be allowed to penetrate the German anti-aircraft defenses. The Reich was now being hit from the air from two sides. R. A. F. bomber's were striking with increasing force from England in the west; from the east, planes of the Red Army were carrying out raids from East Prussia to as far as Berlin, attacking the new centres of production which have been established since the R. A. F. be- gan hitting the Ruhr and Rhine districts. American bombs on Tokyo last •April awakened Japanese leaders to the danger of future raids from Chinese bases within easy strik- ing distance of flimsy Nipponese cities. Two such bases were at Chuhsien and Lishui, amid the tea plantations and terraced moun- tains of Southeast China. The Jap- anese war machine was set in motion against the airfields; 100,- 000 troops pressed toward them in a pincers move along a 250 -mile stretch on the Chekiang-Kiaugsi railroad still held by the Chinese. By mid-July the whole rail line had been occupied and the Mik- ado's legions were in possession of both bases. Tokyo declared that the air-raid danger had been el- iminated, spoke of using the cap- tured rail line as a link in an all - land route to Singapore. Last week it appeared that the Japanese boasts had been pre- mature. Once more China had turned the tables on her enemy. Japan was in rapid retreat. In six weeks Chiang Kai-shek's men had recaptured fifteen cities, among them Chuysien and Lishui, had re- taken 200 miles of the Chekiang- Kiangsi railroad; claimed 40,000 Japanese casualties. The sudden change of military fortune puzzled observers in China. In part it was attributed to the bombing of Jap - a n e s e airfields by American planes, in part to the fighting qualities of the Chinese soldier. But these factors, it was held, could not wholly account for such major withdrawals. Chinese military experts were inclined to attribute the Japanese retreat primarily to a change of policy by the Mikado's war lords. In their opinion Tokyo has decid- ed to strike elsewhere, is giving up a conquest in order to shift troops to the new scene of action. Military experts pointed to four possibilities: (1) That Japan, her hand forced by the approach of Winter in Siberia, was making ready a long-delayed stroke against Russia; (2) that the gen- eral staff, alarmed over American invasion of the Solomons, was about to reinforce Nipponese de- fenses in the Southwest Pacific; (3) that Japan planned to take advantage of Indian disorders and strike at the subcontinent; (4) that a new offensive in North 'tChina, aimed at cutting the road to Russia, was to begin, Meanwhile American aviation continued to aid. Last week Am- erican bombers blasted the Nip- ponese air base at Lashio, Bur- mese terminus of the now use- less Burma Roacl. And in Chung- king the arrival of the first group of Chinese fliers trained in Am- erica was a further symbol of Chinese-American collaboration. The importance of Brazil's en- trance into the war should not be minimized. For one thing, it • will now be possible for the V.* ited States to collaborate in th construction of great bases, bot sea and air, in Brazil, and they will be adequately protected Again, the psychological effect of Brazil's action will be 1e1 throughout Latin -America and all the Latin sections of Europe, Why did Hitler decide to goad Brazil into active warfare? There seems to be only one reasonable" explanation, namely, his eonvie- tion that this would force a fur- ther diversion of American supply, and necessitate transfer to Brazil of essential equipment that would otherwise have gone to the Euro- pean and other fronts. Undoubt- edly, there will be a marked step . ping -up of shipments to Brazil (and from Brazil) but, on bal• 'trace, the development • is decided- ly favorable to the • Allies, • Getting Rid Of Bats In House The first step in getting rid of bats in an open attic must be tQ close all openings by which the bats can get in. Small bats ca get through holes hardly one-half inch across. The best maberiai for the job is oakum, which is tarred -felt fiber. Bats dislike the odor and will keep away from it. During the day all but two or three of the principal openings should be closed. These should b left open for a night or two until the bats have learned to use them and should then be closed several hours after dark when all the bats have gone out. When bats collect within walls or under floors, they can be driven out by the liberal use of moth flakes, which will be effective even in the daytime. Openings should not be plugged when there is a chance that bats are remaining within the house. SCOUTING . . . A birthday coincidence, pro- bably unique in the world, is con- nected with the life of Lord Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scout Movement. Lord Baden- Powell's birthday was February' 22nd, and that of his wife, the Chief Girl Guide, the same date. Their son Peter Baden-Powell was born on the same date and married a young lady also born on February 22nd. To make the sequence even more unique their first child, a boy, was also born on the same date as his parents and grand --parents. * * When a Boy Scout Headquart- ers in much bombed Malta was destroyed recently a framed pic- ture of the Scout Founder, Lord Baden-Powell, came through un- scathed. A newspaper photo- graph received recently from Mal- ta shows Rev. Bernard Hersey of the Grey Friars rescuing the pic- ture of the late Chief from the rubble. Assisting him in salvag- ing effects of the building are a Boy Scout and a Sea Scout. * * * ' "When I see a Scout Troop at work I think to myself, 'By Jove, here's another group of Comman- dos almost ready to take their place in the fighting line' wrote a British Scoutmaster, now a member of a Commando unit. "I am very thankful to Scouting. Each man in a Commando has to go through the training a Boy Scout goes through from the Ten- derfoot stage, with a few ad- ditions," * * * The Cornwell Decoration, which perpetuates the memory of Jack Cornwell, who won the V.C. in the First Great War when he Lost his life in the Battle of Jutland, has been awarded to Scout Jim- my Cluff of the 30th Stepney Troop, London. Jimmy lost a leg and suffered other injuries while on duty in a Nazi air raid and displayed the same heroism as that exhibited by his Scout 'hero, Jack Cornwell. The world's first Boy Scout Troop was organized at a camp on )3rownsea Island, Dorset, on July 25th, 1907, by Lt. -Gen, R. Baden-Powell, for the world's first Boy Scout camp. The sole surviving member of the camp staff, "P. W. Everett," now Sir Percy Everett, and still active in Scouting as Deputy Chief Scout, paid a visit to Can- ada shortly before the war. REG'LAR FELLERS—Question No, 5,726 TELL ME, POP, WAY iS iT THAT UleCLE ( ORG,E 15 MY UNCLE? BECAUSE HES MY BROTHER! ANYBODY WHO HAPPENED TO BE MY BROTHER WOULD BE YOUR UNCLE! IT WOULDN'T MATTER IF HE WAS THE BARBER,THE BAKE ' OR THE CHIMNEY SWEEP , HE'D STILL BE YOUR UNCLE A5 LONG AS HE WAS MY BROTHER.i By GENE BYRNES WELL, SUPPOSIN'I WAS L. YOUR BROTHER THEN WOULD I BE MY OWN UNCLE? .r 1110111111111•1011001.01.4....1 ern,.. At HRhb raar>ed _�_�,