America at war! (1941– ) (Part 1)

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (June 27, 1942)

SECOND FRONT PROMISED BY ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL
Victory prospect better than ever, leaders declare

German strength to be diverted from Russia; aid to China also studied in detail

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill today promised to divert German strength from Russia in “forthcoming operations” – obviously by opening a second front, presumably in Europe.

In a joint statement following Mr. Churchill’s safe return to London, the two leaders said they have “no doubt that the overall picture is more favorable to victory” for the United Nations than when they conferred last August and against last December.

The promises of “forthcoming operations” came only two days after the War Department here disclosed establishment of a European “Theater of Operations” for U.S. Army forces, under direction of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Undisclosed thousands of U.S. troops are already in the British Isles.

Transportation difficulties

Emphasizing the difficulties of transportation which must be met by the United Nations to wage successful war “on every continent and in every sea,” the President and the Prime Minister said:

While exact plans… cannot be disclosed, it can be said that the coming operations which were discussed in detail at our Washington conferences, between ourselves and our respective military advisers, will divert German strength from the attack on Russia.

To make clear that the Pacific War is also in the forefront of their plans, they said:

We recognize and applaud the Russian resistance to the main attack being made by Germany and we rejoice in the magnificent resistance of the Chinese Army. Detailed discussions were held with our military advisers on methods to be adopted against Japan and the relief of China.

Of the intensive submarine warfare being waged by the Axis against United Nations shipping in the Western Atlantic, they said:

While submarine warfare on the part of the Axis continues to take heavy toll of cargo ships, the actual production of new tonnage is greatly increasing month by month. It is hoped that as a result of the steps planned at this conference the respective navies will further reduce the toll of merchant shipping.

Allies in full agreement

The statement, released simultaneously in Washington and London, took “full cognizance” of Allied disadvantages and advantages, but on the whole, it was an optimistic comment from the two ranking leaders of the United Nations.

The statement said:

The United Nations have never been in such hearty and detailed agreement on plans for winning the war as they are today.

“In the matter of the production of munitions of all kinds,” Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill said their surveys gave:

…on the whole an optimistic picture.

They said:

The previously planned monthly output has not reached the maximum but is fast approaching it on schedule.

Shipping crisis studied

While Mr. Churchill was at the White House, he and the President called in ranking shipping experts of Great Britain and the United States to work out means of solving this major transportation problem. The statement today gave no concrete indication as to what these steps will be.

The references in the statement to Russia and China reflected the detailed talks held earlier this week by the President and the Prime Minister with Dr. T. V. Soong, the Chinese Foreign Minister, who asked them for added air support, and Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov.

Unusual importance was attached to these conferences, and this importance was supported by the President and the Prime Minister in their statement today.

The optimism concerning producing as voiced by the President and the Prime Minister followed an announcement yesterday by Mr. Roosevelt that America in May produced nearly 4,000 planes, about 1,500 tanks, 2,000 artillery pieces and anti-tank guns and over 100,000 machine guns and submachine guns.

[NormanStewart]

20¢ bombsights used to raid Japan

Washington (UP) –
Improvised bombsights costing 20¢ each were used by the American B-25 bombers which raided Japan April 18, the War Department revealed today.

The secret Norden sights, normally used in the planes, were removed because the raid was to be made at low altitude where the Norden sights would not be vitally needed and because of the possibility that they might fall into Jap hands.

Meanwhile, 23 members of the raiding expedition were presented the Distinguished Flying Cross at Washington by Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces.

Brig. Gen. James Doolittle, who led the raid, watched the ceremony. He has already been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Others of the 79 men who accompanies him will be decorated later.

[NormanStewart]

Wallace vote breaks tie as Senate revives CCC

Washington (UP) –
Vice President Henry A. Wallace came dramatically to the aid of the President and the Civilian Conservation Corps last night and with his vote broke a Senate tie to give a new lease on life to the previously-doomed CCC.

The Senate, by a vote of 33–32, approved an appropriation of $76,529,800 to enable the CCC to carry on its activities during the 1943 fiscal year. The chamber thus defied the House, which voted to liquidate the agency, one of the earliest New Deal creations.

The differences between the two chambers will have to be ironed out in conference on the $1,157,498,426 Labor-Federal Security Appropriations Bill which contained the CCC funds. The bill was passed by the Senate after the vote on the CCC.

The CCC, along with the National Youth Administration, had been under fire of a Senate economy bloc headed by Senators Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) and Kenneth McKellar (D-TN).

Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) voted for retention of the CCC and Senator James J. Davis (R-PA) was not recorded in the roll call.

The unexpected victory nipped an economy bloc attempt to kill the National Youth Administration, whose funds are contained in the Labor-Federal Security Bill. A similar attempt was made in the House against the NYA but the agency survived. When the measure reached the Senate, the threat against NYA was revived. However, the Senate adopted on voice vote an amendment to grant $7,500,000 to the Office of Education to aid college students registered in courses essential to the war effort.

[NormanStewart]

RAF raid draws German threat

U.S. Air Corps men arriving steadily in Britain
By Sidney J. Williams, United Press staff writer

London –
Germany, making dark threats of vengeance for the 1,000-plane raid on Bremen, suggested today that Maj. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, new United States Army commander in the European Theater of Operations, had “had a hand” in the attack.

It was apparent that the Germans were trying to draw a reply which would tell them just what Gen. Eisenhower was doing and whether planes of the U.S. Army Air Forces were yet ready to join the Royal Air Force in smashing German cities one by one.

Meanwhile, it was officially revealed that United States Army Air Forces personnel are in the British Isles with other American units which have been arriving there in increasing numbers.

United States fliers have flown in RAF planes, but no American units yet have engaged in combat, it was said.

While British planes were ranging over German-occupied territory during the night, bombing airdromes and other targets in offensive operations of limited scale, and a small German plane formation made a savage attack on Norwich, the German radios began blaring threats of vengeance.

‘Barbarians attack crusaders’

The Berlin radio said:

Britain will pay heavily, in due time, for the murderous, barbarous attack on Bremen, where German women and children lost their lives.

These are terror attacks by barbarians against the crusaders of European culture.

Maybe Eisenhower, the new commander of American forces in Europe, had a hand in the Bremen attack. The British will pay for all attacks Eisenhower may cause to be launched against the German civilian population.

The Führer many times said he was against bombing civilians, but Churchill and Eisenhower decided to wage war on German women and children. The British population will pay with their lives for every German victim of terror raids.

RAF raids invasion coast

British planes, in night operations, centered on the 170-mile stretch, of the French invasion coast between Cherbourg and Boulogne.

Though the steady raids on this area are undramatic and little publicized, reports from France have disclosed the enormous cumulative damage they have done and perhaps German interest in them was increased by an announcement that Britain, with the aid of American, Canadian and New Zealand instructors, is now training glider pilots for offensive operations.

Three German planes were destroyed over Britain during the night.

In the only serious raid, a small force of planes caused damage and casualties at Norwich, in eastern England. A joint Air and Home Security Ministry communiqué said damage was done mainly to residential and shopping areas.

The German planes dropped flares to light the city and followed with incendiary and explosive bombs. Some dived almost to housetops.

Several fires were started, including one in a large hospital.

[NormanStewart]

I DARE SAY —
Quest in a dimout

By Florence Fisher Parry

We figured that the best possible place to be during the blackout was at the movies so we saw, in solid comfort and calm Ten Gentlemen from West Point.

When it was over, the blackout was over, and we walked out into the pleasant dimout.

Finding ourselves vaguely hungry and thirsty, we decided to stop somewhere and have a late snack. From this point on my report might necessarily be personal.

My daughter wanted an ice cream soda or some fruit drink. I, disliking sweet beverages, would have liked a coolish glass of draft beer to me a delicacy and one which cannot conveniently be had in the home. I cannot believe that our simply desire for such thirst quenchers was unusual. Surely there are many mothers and daughters who, like us, unescorted and mature, would like to stop in of an evening at some place where we could enjoy a quiet half-hour over a quiet table.

Where O where?

We passed a little place celebrated for its good food, but a long-crowded bar occupied most of its area and at this bar stood many men and women drinking, almost exclusively, hard liquor in one form or another.

We stopped in another place nearby but found it to be just a glorified bar. I saw no food served to anyone, and no soft drinks.

We walked about the streets vainly searching for a place without a big, crowded bar. Then we drove out into the East End and continue our search through the Oakland, Shadyside and Highland districts. We ended up in our own neighborhood drugstore, where she got what she wanted and I gagged over a sickening sweet chocolate ice cream soda.

Not long ago in our neighborhood, there was a nice little corner place where they serve fountain drinks and nice foods. It was a rendezvous for neighborhood schools, but it went out of business for lack of patronage. There was not enough public left, it seemed, interested in patronizing a place without a liquor license.

Then there was a cozy little beer garden right around the corner from where I live, run by such a nice young couple. It was friendly and neighborly and the residents around that could gather there and have a glass of beer and awfully good sandwiches of an evening. But it couldn’t make out. They had to add a bar.

It happens not to matter particularly to me whether or not I can find a place to stop in on a hot, summer evening and have a glass of draft beer, but it’s a nice summer beverage; it’s a friendly family drink. There are still a lot of people who like beer on tap but don’t like it bottled and who’d prefer it to drugstore beverages. And it seems to me that there ought to be room for a nice little respectable beer gardens, quiet, pleasant, sociable gathering places fit for family patronage.

If there’s such a place in Pittsburgh, I have yet to hear of it, for every café I know boasts its cocktail bar.

Time to cut down

It is hard to believe that any intelligent and informed American would wish the return of such a fanatical outrage as Prohibition, which has taken its place as one of the major mistakes in our national history. But I do think that moderation in drinking could be a major feature of our defense propaganda. Millions of dollars are spent in informing Americans how they can be of use to that country in this awful crisis, but how much of this money, I ask, has been appropriated to an intelligent campaign against the increase in liquor drinking?

We need, now if ever, healthy bodies and clear minds. If today we had, in America, fewer cocktail bars and more pleasant neighborly beer gardens, inviting enough to attract those thousands of Americans who, like you and me, would really like refreshments of an evening, served in nice, quiet surroundings. I honestly think this simple recourse alone would do much to tempt many young people away from the congested and noisy cocktail bars.

[NormanStewart]

Axis sub sinks American ship

5 killed as 324th vessel goes down in Atlantic
By the United Press

The submarine toll off the Atlantic Coast of the United States, in the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico reached 324 today with revelation that a small American ship had been sunk in the Caribbean with the loss of five lives.

It was revealed at a Canadian West Coast port that a Canadian ship under United States registry, had been torpedoed off the Pacific Coast by a Jap submarine, presumably the one which attacked Vancouver Island and the Oregon Coast last week. The vessel was towed to port and no one was hurt.

The American freighter sank 12 minutes after receiving the torpedo and her crew couldn’t get off her lifeboat, launching only rafts. The submarine surfaced, asked First Assistant Engineer C. W. Herman, of Mobile, Ala., if any of the men were inured seriously and required medical attention.

Mr. Herman replied negatively.

The submarine officer then gave him 40 packages of cigarettes, a jug of water, and a cake, called out:

Come over and see me in Germany when the war is over.

…and submerged.

The Navy late yesterday revealed that a British vessel was torpedoed off the east coast of South America two weeks ago.

Of the crew of 60, two are missing. Nine survivors have reached an East Coast port. 15 hours after it was torpedoed, the ship was known to have been afloat.

[NormanStewart]

Bomber is damaged in Bellefonte landing

Bellefonte, Pa. (UP) –
An Army B-19 four-motored bomber rounded 500 yards across the Bellefonte Airport, leveled a hanger and plunged into an adjoining farm, damaging three buildings, in a forced landing last night. None of its four-man crew was injured.

Landing at the west end of the grass landing field, the big bomber bounced out of control across the runway, smashed through a small hangar and ripped through a fence before coming to rest against a tree, badly damaged. A corn crib and garage on the Harry W. Garbrick farm were wrecked and the barn was damaged.

The plane’s crew included:

• Lt. W. L. Jernigan, the pilot;
• Lt. J. C. Fitzgerald, co-pilot;
• Two unidentified privates.

Lt. Jernigan said he landed because his gas supply was low and the radio was not functioning.

[NormanStewart]

Sugar ration boost depends on shipping

Washington (UP) –
The prospect of any increase in the present sugar ration appeared dim today as price administration officials pointed out that any decision on rationing will be influence by shipping forecasts for the next six months.

A stepped-up war effort – possibly including a second front – would divert shipping from the Caribbean and practically close down sugar shipments from Puerto Rico and Cuba, they said.

While imports during April and May were beyond expectations, OPA officials said that any estimate on future imports were sheer speculation. Information now being compiled by the OPA will give a reliable estimate of sugar consumption under the rationing program.

The OPA expressed alarm over “distorted” pictures of available sugar supply created by reports of “bulging sugar warehouses.” They pointed out that quotas for sugar inventories were cut down and much of the sugar now in warehouses would in normal times be in private and commercial larders.

[NormanStewart]

King, Queen see AEF ‘at work’ at Irish base

British monarchs watch sham battle, lunch with troops
By Helen Kirkpatrick

With the U.S. Armed Forces in Northern Ireland –
The United States forces in Northern Ireland put on an impressive show for King George and Queen Elizabeth in their first visit to Northern Ireland in four years.

Two days of their three-day visit were spent reviewing U.S. military units. The men and equipment of the armored forces were reviewed Thursday morning and the royal visitors watched a realistic battle rage over the Irish mountainsides in the afternoon.

Fight sham battle

The royal couple came ashore from a British cruiser and were received by British and American officers.

Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, U.S. Commanding General in Northern Ireland, accompanied by four other American officers, with top-ranking British officers and members of the Ulster government were on the dock to receive the royal party. U.S. Ambassador John G. Winant met the King and Queen at a luncheon given by the Ulster government and accompanied them the following day on a visit to the U.S. Army.

One of the most stirring displays ever witnessed in these islands was presented to the party Thursday when they visited the camp of an American armored formation. The finale was a mock battle in which infantry, artillery and tanks participated. The maneuvers won the admiration of the royal party, which included several generals and ministers.

Privates eat with King

An entirely novel feature, to the British, was a running commentary of the demonstrations given over a loudspeaker by Lt. Kermit Hansen, of Omaha, Neb.

The royal parry lunched in the officers’ mess a a large horseshoe table. Opposite them were 54 private soldiers who lunched there specifically at the King’s request.

Pittsburgher in AEF wants to date Queen

You can have your Hedy Lamarrs, Dorothy Lamours and Joan Bennetts.

As for Pvt. Henry Matschner, he prefers – the Queen of England.

A Pittsburgher now in the AEF in Northern Ireland, Pvt. Matschner was among the soldiers who lunched with the King and Queen when they visited American troops there yesterday.

He confided to his comrades:

I’d like to have a date with her.

Another district AEF man who met the royal couple was Pvt. Joseph W. Valley of Broughton.

Pvt. Valley, 26, was a truck driver for a North Side express firm before his induction into the Army from County Draft Board No. 23 in February 1941. He was formerly a Snowden Township High School student.

[NormanStewart]

‘Seven ocean fleet’ bill passed, sent to Roosevelt

Aircraft carriers rank first in $8.5-billion measure approved at secret session of Senate

Washington (UP) –
Legislation authorizing a “seven-ocean fleet” and embodying a revolutionary change in naval warfare in which aircraft carriers will replace battleships as rulers of the sea today awaited President Roosevelt’s signature.

The Senate sped the $8.5-billion fleet expansion bill to the White House after the first secret legislative debate in 18 years.

The measure, approved by voice vote, superimposes 1,900,000 tons of warships upon the current two-ocean Navy program – itself the most ambitious building enterprise in history – to give the United States a 5,649,480-ton naval striking force.

Battleships outmoded

During the session, held behind locked doors lest Axis sources learn valuable information, members were told by Chairman David I. Walsh (D-MA), of the Naval Affairs Committee, that the battleship – once the backbone of the fleet – has been outmoded and is to be supplanted by the carrier with its convoy of planes.

Also discussed were statistics on progress of construction of the old “two-ocean” programs authorized when France was falling before the Nazi onslaught.

Senator Allen J. Ellender (D-LA), a committee member who attended the session, said the information:

…showed that amazing progress has been made in our effort to build and complete our two-ocean Navy.

Plane carriers due

The new legislation ignores battleships, but calls for 500,000 tons of aircraft carriers – about 20 to 30. It also provides for 500,000 tons of cruisers, 900,000 tons of destroyers and escort vessels and some 800 small patrol craft.

Passage came after Senators shouted down an attempt by Senator Bennett C. Clark (D-MO) to end further battleship construction.

He maintained that to forbid further construction would merely carry out the announced intention of the Navy Department which, he said, had notified Mr. Walsh that it had indefinitely deferred work on the last five battleships authorized by Congress. He added that construction would not be undertaken until the Navy consulted with the Naval Affairs Committees of both houses.

Army bill advances

Senator Ralph O. Brewster (R-ME) revealed last week that the five ships were of the Montana class, designed as 60,000-ton super-dreadnoughts, the biggest and most powerful fighting ships ever planned.

Mr. Brewster said the Navy, instead of going ahead with these vessels, would expand its aircraft carrier program proportionately in the light of the lessons of naval warfare learned in the Coral Sea and Midway Island battles. In these engagements, carriers proved to have the deadliest sting.

The Senate’s speed in approving the gigantic measure was matched by the Senate Appropriations Committee in providing funds for the Army. A subcommittee whipped through the $42,820,943,000 war supply bill for 1943 without change after only two days of testimony from high Army officials and it was indicated the Senate will pass the bill Monday.

[NormanStewart]

140-year-old birth certificate

The current confusion over birth certificates, linked to various aspects of the nation’s war effort, would be greatly reduced if all families preserved birth records as well as the family of C. L. Ritchey of 3373 Parkview Ave., Oakland. This certificate is 140 years old and records the birth of his grandfather, William Ritchey, in Snake Spring Valley, Bedford County.

[NormanStewart]

Jap ‘bribery’ fails to move Burmese

Chungking (UP) –
The Japs are encountering difficulties in promotion of their “co-prosperity sphere” in Burma and other conquered territory, reliable sources revealed today.

Jap officials are offering Burmese men 10 rupees each if they will return to their homes, plus an additional 50 rupees if their wives return without much success.

The action was interpreted as an effort to bring economic and political stability out of the existing chaotic state.

Jap looting of rice and other foodstocks resulted in acute hardships among the Burmese. Reliable sources revealed that Japs in the homeland are facing a rice shortage.

The invaders have been unable thus far to establish a “puppet” administration in Burma similar to those in the Philippines and ither occupied areas because of an ever-present danger of a Chinese offensive.

[NormanStewart]

Churchill watches Carolina Maneuvers

Fort Jackson, South Carolina – (June 24, delayed)
Prime Minister Winston Churchill sat under a barrage of live artillery shells today to go through battle maneuvers with U.S. forces that may be fighting soon alongside British troops:

…not as invaders, but as liberators.

War as our soldiers fight it was enacted with super-realism for the British leader here at the world’s largest infantry post. Interrupting for a day his Washington conferences with President Roosevelt, he spent the day watching troops from the 8th Motorized Division, and the 30th and 70th Infantry Division wage simulated warfare.

Publication of this account of his visit to South Carolina on Wednesday was withheld until Mr. Churchill’s safe return to Britain.

Mr. Churchill said he was:

…enormously impressed by the thoroughness and precision with which the formation of a great wartime army of the United States is proceeding.

[NormanStewart]

MacArthur’s fliers blast 6 Jap raiders

Melbourne, Australia (UP) –
Allied fighter planes, in a wild aerial battle over the New Guinea mountains, damaged and probably destroyed between six and 10 Jap planes, against a loss of four of their own and only two pilots, Gen. Douglas MacArthur reported today.

The Allied planes challenged a fleet of 18 Jap heavy bombers, protected by a strong fighter escort, which tried to raid Port Moresby, the Allied base on the southern New Guinea coast.

As the enemy began dropping bombs near the airdrome, without doing serious damage, the Allied planes drove them off and chased them for a final battle 100 miles from Port Moresby.

Allied planes also bombed and machine-gunned an enemy supply ship which was approaching Lae, New Guinea.

[NormanStewart]

Hitler’s Westerns

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

I’m sorry to learn that Adolf Hitler loves Western stories written by people who have never seen the West. Frederick Oechsner of the United Press, whose story of the Nazi leader’s personal life is now in print, tells us that once. Since practically everyone in the good old USA loves Westerns written by people who have never seen the West, the Führer’s fondness for them may be more normal than some of his other predilections.

But with every new exposure of Hitler’s personality, public confusion grows. Dorothy Thompson started out by saying he was a weakling and a nitwit. Since then, a score of different versions of his habits and temperament have been given us.

He’s a maniac one day and a military and political genius the next. To some, he’s a mystic, to others a pervert. One man contends he is learned and wise, while another argues just as hotly that his behavior is a form of paranoia.

Well, no matter who is right or who wrong, I don’t like the guy, and I confess it gave me a turn to learn that he shares the average American man’s passion for two-gun literature. Somehow, I had always thought of that habit as peculiar to harmless, decent, God-fearing citizens.

Also, remembering how we used to hide Diamond Dick paperbacks in the haystack at home, reporting to them as delightedly as a sot resorts to his bottle, when such reading was supposed to be wicked for little boys and positively out of the question for little girls, I wish Mr. Oechsner had left that part out of his story.

At the same time, it cheers me up a bit. One can’t help but feel that, once the devil is licked, he may become as harmless as the late unlamented Kaiser, woodchopping at Doorn – who also had a passion for Westerns written by people who had never seen the West.

[NormanStewart]

Government must convince people of necessity of rationing program

By Orlando Davidson, Scripps-Howard staff writer

“The government must get over to the average citizen that he, as well as the scum he deals with, is acting criminally when he buys on the black market.”

Washington –
The inside critics who are so concerned over the vast black markets they see as a grave possibility in the near future do not by any means regard them as inevitable. But they do say that it will take a lot of intelligence on the part of both the government and the people to avert disaster.

Here are some of the things which must be done, according to two independently-made government studies on the subject:

1. The people must be convinced of the absolute necessity of the government’s program. The most conspicuous example of how not to accomplish that aim has been the tragically-bungled job of convincing the public of the grim necessity of conserving, possibly even confiscating, rubber.

The fact that he can still buy rubber heels doesn’t improve John Citizen’s understanding of the problem. Nor do those rubber-tire ashtrays he can still get in drugstores. And so on.

2. The public must be convinced that neither certain persons not certain classes are getting more than their just share. Which, of course, brings up Congress and the X-cards, a stupid case of mismanagement by OPA as well as Congressmen. Rationing clerks virtually forced unlimited gasoline cards on some of the lawmakers – on many other people, for that matter.

Public skeptical

The public is properly skeptical of the ability of some men to act dispassionately on matters affecting business fields from which they were drawn and to which they’ll return. Donald Nelson has done much to end unsatisfactory situations in some branches of WPB. Some local OPA chairman has talked in a way that indicated they were thinking of retailers first, the consuming public second.

3. The government must get over to the average citizen that he, as well as the scum he deals with, is acting criminally when he buys on the black market. Punishment, quick and firm, ought to get over the point. Widespread understanding of the net effect of black-market operations – the rich get more in the poor get less – could build a powerful public weapon of censure – a campaign in which, incidentally, the British have largely failed.

One absolute essential is that the bootlegger during this crisis not become the more or less socially acceptable figure that he did in the ‘20s. Government agents should aim specifically at destroying the mutual confidence that is the backbone of any illicit market.

4. Public cooperation is infinitely better than mere public acceptance. Give the farmer, the garage machinic, the mailman, places on local boards. Let them help make the rules and they’ll obey them.

5. Getting into the field of larger policy, widespread undercover chiseling is almost inevitable and unless something more than nibbling at the fringes is done about that $17-billion extra economists say will be kicking around wild in the next 12 months. No mere legal dam can stop that kind of torrent.

6. The government must show consideration in some concrete way for the businessmen forced to the wall by rationing and priorities. There are already signs of a bitterness which in some cases affords a rich sounding board for the siren song of the black bourse.

Profits are high

The sinister possibilities of that evil way of business cannot be exaggerated. Profits are so high – rum runners used to come out comfortably ahead if they got one load in five through – that desperadoes and gangsters who will stop at nothing are soon calling the tune.

Attempted corruption of government officials is their specialty. Corruption of the soul of a nation is their ultimate end product.

Americans still haven’t really been deprived of a great deal. The price ceilings are holding firm, principally because they were fixed very high. But before long, the heat will be on.

That’s what Berlin will watch with interest.

[NormanStewart]

Fathers face war problem

Volunteering hard decision for family men
By Ruth Millett

There is probably no group of young men in America today faced with a tougher personal problem than young men who have wives and one or more small children to whom they feel an obligation but who, because they are young and able-bodied, also feel that they should be in this fight.

Many of them know that their wives could get good jobs if they went into the Army – which would take care of the financial problem. But that would mean that the children would either have to be left all day with a hired girl – perhaps none too intelligent in her handling of children – or sent away to live with grandparents, to whom their care is almost sure to be something of a burden.

Also, there is the ever-present concern that if they go into the Army, they might not return or might come back unable to support a family, which would mean that their wives would be left to provide for the children.

Yet, if they are thoughtful men, they are bound to know that whether their children grow up in a democratic world where they will have a chance or whether they have to live menaced by injustice, hardship, and terror depends on the outcome of this year.

Realizing that, it is hard for their fathers to know that they are doing nothing much to help win the war, spending their time as many of them are on jobs that look pretty unimportant and could either go undone for the duration or be taken over by a woman, an older man, or one not physically fit for military service.

No one can advise these men what to do. Each has to make his own decision. Neither decision, to stay at home or volunteer for service, will seem wholly right.

All that these men can do is choose the way that seems to them to be the better way. Even their wives can’t help them, except by saying:

Whatever you decide is all right with me.

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (June 28, 1942)

Churchill aus den USA. zurück

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters”

dr. th. b. Stockholm, 27. Juni –
Churchill ist wieder in England eingetroifen. In seiner Begleitung beiand sich auch Roosevelts Mitarbeiter und Sondergesandter Harriman. Daß Churchill nicht noch länger in den USA. blieb, oder, wie es ursprünglich geplant war, auch Kanada aufsuchte, zeigt, daß er der parlamentariscben Opposition keine Bedeutung zumißt.

Bei den letzten Besprechungen in Washington ergaben sich noch große Schwierigkeiten. Wir meldeten bereits, daß Litwinow-Finkelstein schließlich doch noch hinzugezogen wurde, nachdem Stalin energisch vorstellig geworden war. Die größten Schwierigkeiten entstanden aber, als sich der Außenminister des Tschungking-Regimes‚ Sung, bitter darüber beschwerte, daß Tschiangkaischek keinerlei nennenswerte Hilfe mehr erhalte und sich ganz allein der Japaner erwehren müsse. Churchill und Roosevelt wußten natürlich keinerlei Rat und konnten Sung, wie der Daily Express aus Washington meldet, nur versichern, die klügste Taktik der Tschungking-Chinesen sei, gegen – Deutschland vorzugehen. Mit diesem „Trost” kann Sung die Rückreise nach Tschungking antreten.

Was Neuyork ermutigt…

Churchill selbst hat vor seiner Heimreise gemeinsam mit seinem Vetter Roosevelt versucht, die trübe Kunde aus Afrika durch einen marktschreierischen Ermutigungsrummel zu übertönen, besonders durch Meldungen über eine Sitzung des Pazifikrates, die aus rein agitatorischen Gründen angesetzt war. Nach der Rede Churchills habe dort eine so optimistische Stimmung geherrscht, daß die Vertreter Australiens, Neuseelands und sogar Tschungkings „bis zu Tränen gerührt” gewesen seien. „Es liegt etwas in der Luft,” stammelte der Vertreter Neuseelands‚ „das den Pessimismus in einigen Kreisen nicht rechtfertigt.”

Natürlich liegt „etwas in der Luft.” Man wird es zu gegebener Zeit schon merken.

„Diplomaten, die in den letzten Tagen Zutritt zu den Konferenzen hatten, behaupten, daß Roosevelt und Churchill, die in zerknitterten Sommeranzügen in einer dicken Wolke von Tabakrauch saßen, gigantische Schläge gegen die Achse planen,” so schmockt eine USA.-Agentur und setzt hinzu, die beiden Rekordraucher seien eben „Männer von ungewöhnlicher Vitalität.” Es kam darum auch – so ist den Hofberichten weiter zu entnehmen –

…zu gelegentlichen Wortgefechten zwischen Roosevelt und Churchill‚ da sie beide nicht auf den Mund gefallen sind.

Daß sie die zwei größten Lügenmäuler der Welt sind, kann auch ihr bitterster Feind nicht bestreiten. Und gerade dies ist im Lande des Bluffs, Humbugs und Ballyhoos überaus ermutigend!

Das „Symbol”

Inzwischen richtet sich General Eisenhower in London häuslich ein und der Sender Neuyork will wissen‚ daß man in London den deutschen Namen des USA.-Befehlshabers „als Symbol auffaßt.” Generalen mit englischen Namen traut man dort offenbar nicht mehr viel zu, so daß nach Tobruk in London der Witz umlief:

Ein Glück, wir haben dort sieben Generale verloren.

Besonders ermutigt war man in Washington durch die Erklärung Churchills, von einer Bedrohung Ägyptens und des Suez-kanals könne keine Rede sein. Und natürlich krächzt auch sein südafrikanischer Papagei Smuts nach, daß eigentlich alles recht ermutigend sei, da bisher erst die Hälfte der südafrikanischen Truppen in deutscher Gefangenschaft ist. Zugleich erfährt man, daß der Rest die ehrenvolle Aufgabe hat, den Rückzug der Engländer zu decken. Wahrscheinlich haben die „Kolonialen” diesen Kampf zu führen, weil man ihnen nicht ohne Grund immerhin noch mehr zutraut als den Inselbriten.

Eine scharfe Rede werde, wie Reuter meldet, von Churchill erwartet. Churchill werde dabei im Unterhaus persönlich auf den Mißtrauensantrag gegen die zentrale Kriegführung antworten. Augenblicklich sei er damit beschäftigt, mit seinen Kollegen im Kriegskabinett Rücksprache zu nehmen.

In diesem Zusammenhang schreibt der Daily Telegraph‚ die Debatte im Unterhaus werde eine Rekordzahlan Abgeordneten aufzuweisen haben.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (June 28, 1942)

FBI seizes eight German saboteurs landed by subs in New York, Florida

Plans to wreck industries revealed; equipment and $150,000 confiscated
By Robert Evans, United Press staff writer

New York –
The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed tonight the arrest of eight Axis saboteurs who crossed the Atlantic by submarine from France to effectuate a two-year plan of sabotage against United States’ war industries, water supplies, railroads and waterways.

Apprehended before their ambitious plans could be underway, the eight confessed their complicity, J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the FBI, revealed at an extraordinary press conference at FBI Headquarters in New York.

Federal operatives found caches of explosives of all kinds – bombs disguised as lumps of coal, incendiary pencils, time bombs, dynamite – buried along with the uniforms the saboteurs had discarded when they landed – in two groups of four each – near Jacksonville, Fla., and on Long Island, near New York City.

Where the tipoff came from on this audacious undertaking Mr. Hoover did not reveal, but he said that the first arrests were made June 13 and the last two today at Chicago.

The government may ask the death penalty for the prisoners, if it so desires, for espionage is a capital offense in wartime.

The men, trained in a special sabotage school near Berlin, left from an unnamed French port late in May. Their plans were well-laid, for they were expected to operate over a two-year period. To aid their efforts at sabotage and undermining United States morale, they had $149,748.61 in U.S. currency, in addition to the explosive tools of their trade, and the maps to guide them.

Their known objectives, Mr. Hoover said, included:

• Aluminum Company of America plants in Tennessee, East St. Louis, Ill., and Massena, NY.

• The Cryolite Metals plant in Philadelphia.

• The Hell Gate Bridge, important transportation point in the populous New York metropolitan area.

• The Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Newark, eastern terminus of the line to Washington and points west.

• The Horseshoe Curve of the Pennsylvania Railroad near Altoona, Pa.

• The water conduit system of Westchester County, passageway of much of New York’s drinking water.

• New York City’s water supply system.

• The hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls.

• The saboteurs’ plans also included such minute details as placing bombs in the lockers of railroad stations and department stores throughout the country “to create panic and lower morale.”

Mr. Hoover made his disclosures of the arrests at 8:25 p.m. He said:

I have a very important statement to make. I want you all to listen carefully; this is serious business.

Then, step by step, he outlined the story of the saboteurs who came to America – all eight of them had lived here before – to do the job for which they had been specifically trained.

Four of them – including a U.S. citizen, Herbert Haupt, whose father was naturalized in Chicago in 1930 – landed at Ponte Vedra, Fla. His companions were Edward John Kerling (the leader), Werner Thiel and Herman Neubauer.

They landed June 17.

Four days earlier, on June 13, a submarine crept close to the shore of Long Island to discharge four men at Amagansett, on the south shore.

Those who landed in New York were George John Dasch (leader), Ernst Peter Burger (a naturalized citizen since 1933), Heinrich Heinck (alias Henry Kaynor), and Richard Quirin (alias Richard Quintas).

Both groups found isolated spots along the shore, dug holes and buried their sabotage tools in the sand.

But the New York invaders were doomed. There was a series of arrests here on the very day they landed. From then, it was presumed, came the information that resulted in the arrest of those who landed in Florida.

Today, Mr. Hoover reported to President Roosevelt and Attorney General Francis Biddle that all eight are in custody.

In addition to the specific tasks assigned the saboteurs, they were instructed to locate industrial bottlenecks and to do all that they could to impede United States’ progress in the war effort.

Their training, Mr. Hoover said, was “magnificent.” They were schooled carefully in a training center near Berlin. They were taught that the ways of sabotage were not difficult. They were taken to factories and railway centers in Germany where the ease with which sabotage could be done was demonstrated to them.

Technical experts in sabotage drilled them for months in the niceties of their work. Their plan of action was scaled carefully to extend for at least two years. English-speaking and personally acquainted with the country, they were expected to have no difficulty in traveling to their various rendezvous.

All that prevented them from carrying out their long-range sabotage was the quick roundup by the FBI.

Brief biographies of the prisoners showed how each had been carefully selected by superiors in Germany because of previous residence in the United States and their knowledge of the country, its customs and language.

Dasch – the leader of Group I, as Mr. Hoover called the Long Island party – was arrested June 22 in New York City. Before leaving Germany, he adopted the name George John Davis, by which he was to be known here.

He is 39, a German soldier in World War I at the age of 14. He entered the United States at Philadelphia in 1922 and worked in hotels and restaurants in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, White Plains, NY, and in Florida. Although he filed naturalization papers in New York City, he did not appear for hearing.

He married Rose Marie Guille, an American-born citizen, in 1930.

Burger was to be known here as Pete Berger. He is 36, an intimate of powerful figures in the Nazi Party and, in fact, a member of the party since 1924. He came to the United States in 1925 and worked in machine shops in Milwaukee and Detroit.

He was a member of the Michigan National Guard in 1931. In 1933, he became a naturalized citizen, but friends in Germany persuaded him to return there, where he became active in Nazi Party affairs as group leader, writer and propagandist.

Drafted into the German Army as a private, he volunteered for sabotage duty in the United States and spent four weeks at the special training school. He was arrested June 20.

Heinck entered the United States illegally by jumping ship. He joined the German-American Bund in 1934 and served as sergeant-at-arms at meetings in the Yorkville Casino in New York City. He went back to Germany in 1939.

Quirin, 34, came to the United States in 1927 and, in 1929, at Schenectady, NY, indicated his intention to become a citizen. He was never naturalized, however. He worked as a mechanic in Syracuse, NY, for some time. He belonged to at least two pro-Nazi groups here before returning to Germany in 1939. He too was picked up June 20.

Kerling, leader of the Florida group, was to be known here as Edward Kelly. He was picked up by the FBI June 23. He came to the United States in 1929 when he was 20 years old and worked as a domestic for wealthy families in Greenwich, Conn., and Short Hills, NJ. He was active in the Bund movement and was a guest of the German government at the Olympic Games of 1936. In September 1939, he and a party of Bund friends bought a yacht with which to return to Germany. They were caught by the FBI in Miami on the suspicion that they were trying to get supplies to German submarines.

Haupt is only 22. He was arrested today in Chicago. The Haupt family – Hans Max and Erna Haupt are the parents – settled in Chicago 20 years ago, where Herbert attended public schools and was an active member of the ROTC. He went to Mexico in June 1941, and got into contact with German authorities who helped him return to Germany.

Thiel was arrested in New York June 23 in a large hotel at which he was registered as William Thomas. He is 35 and worked for two large auto companies in Detroit and a hospital in Hammond, Ind., at various times. He was active in Bund affairs in New York and Chicago and also held jobs in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Neubauer, 32, a sailor by trade, also worked in hotels in Hartford, Conn., and in Chicago, where he married an American citizen in 1936. He got a job on a ship in 1939 and made his way to Germany where, the FBI said, he:

…received sabotage training with the other men who accompanied him to this country.

Haupt joined Nazis almost year ago

New York (UP) –
The FBI made the following statement regarding the arrest of Herbert Haupt:

Herbert Haupt, 22, was a member of Group II, composed of four German saboteurs, who landed from a submarine south of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., June 17, 1942. He was apprehended June 27, 1942, in Chicago. Herbie, as he was known to his saboteur companions, is the son of Hans Max and Erna Haupt of Chicago, both of whom are naturalized citizens of the United States. Herbie Haupt was born in Germany, but is a citizen of the United States, having derived his citizenship through his father, who was naturalized Jan. 7, 1930.

The Haupt family came to the United States approximately 20 years ago and settled in Chicago, where Herbert attended a public high school, in which he was an active member of the ROTC. While living in Chicago, Herbert was employed as an apprentice optical worker, but on June 14, 1941, he resigned his position and, traveling through the Midwest, he entered Mexico at Nuevo Laredo, thereafter proceeding to Mexico City. While in Mexico City, Herbert Haupt was in constant contact with the German authorities.

From Mexico City, Haupt proceeded to Japan via a small Japanese freighter and from Japan, he proceeded to Bordeaux, France, on board a German blockade breaker. Upon his arrival in Germany, he was recruited as a member of the German sabotage group, and was given training in sabotage work by the German High Command.

[NormanStewart]

Boys 18-20 sign Tuesday in 5th R-Day

36,000 to register, but only 5,800 face immediate call

For the second time in American history, teenage youths will sign for possible military service Tuesday on the fifth R-Day since 1940.

An estimated 36,000 men, most of them only 18 and 19, will enroll in Allegheny County.

About 5,800 of them who have passed their 20th birthday face a call to service within several months under greatly increased draft quotas.

The others will not be liable for service until after attaining the age of 20, although plans are in the making to lower the military age by Congressional action.

The registration, third in the last four months, will be held at 168 stations throughout the city and county located mostly in schools and other public buildings, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Except for certain exempt classes, all men born between Jan. 1, 1922, and June 30, 1924 (both dates inclusive) must sign up.

Colleges, operating under speedup summer schedules, will remain in session despite Gov. Arthur H. James’ request that classes be suspended. Taverns must remain closed until 9 p.m. and state liquor stores will be closed all day.

Unlike previous draft eligibles, the latest registrants will not have to await a national lottery to learn their order numbers.

Instead, the men will be tacked on to the bottom of present lists in accordance with their birth dates – thus, a man born Jan. 1, 1922, will be placed first, one born Jan. 2, 1922, will be placed second and so on.

Under instructions received yesterday from national draft headquarters, no 20-year-old can be called to service until after the group which registered last February is exhausted of 1-A men.

Because most men in the older age bracket are married or have financial dependents, however, the 20-year-olds face early induction. When the list of all these men is cleared of 1-As, individual draft boards will then dip back to their 1940 ranks and begin general reclassification of unmarried 3-A men.

It takes 10 minutes

Aside from possible waiting in line, the process of registration will not consume more than 10 minutes a person.

Each man will have to give his full name, home address, present mailing address, telephone number, age and date of birth, address of someone who will always know his whereabouts, his employer’s name and address and his own place of employment or business.

Height, weight, color of hair and eyes, complexion and other distinguishing physical characteristics will also be recorded.

Men will be given certificates which they must carry at all times.

ROTC men exempted

Men in advanced ROTC courses at colleges need not register. Also exempt from registration are those already in service, including men now in inactive status with Army and Navy reserve units, and those studying at Army, Navy and Coast Guard academies.

Failure to sign up is punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 and five years’ imprisonment.