America at war! (1941– ) (Part 1)

492

$28.5 billion more asked by Roosevelt

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt has asked Congress for additional appropriations and contract authorizations of $28,500,767,496 for the use of the Army and Navy.

The requests boosted projected total defense appropriations for the 1941-42-43 fiscal years to $100,438,000,000.

Mr. Roosevelt made his requests in four letters to Speaker Sam Rayburn. He asked:

  1. $12,525,873,474 for the Army.
  2. $15,961,945,021 for the Navy.
  3. $7,000,000 for start of work on a highway linking the American republics.
  4. $5,950,000 for the FBI to enlarge its war counterespionage activities.
493

Second major drive stopped by MacArthur

Luzon defenders win respite as invaders call reinforcements
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer

Washington, Jan. 19 –
General Douglas MacArthur’s gallant rear guards today fought into the seventh week of the Battle of the Philippines and sent Jap attackers rocking back with “a costly toll” of dead and wounded.

American and Philippine veterans, against great odds, for a second time smashed a major Jap challenge of their Bataan stronghold on a front only about 35 miles wide, and won a new, if brief, respite in their bloody war. At least four Jap planes were shot down, brining the U.S. total for the war to at least 74.

Despite a week’s hammering by Jap frontal attacks and deadly bands of skilled infiltration troops, the U.S. forces still packed sufficient punch to counterattack and regain positions which fell temporarily into Jap hands.

Claim U.S. reporter taken

Japanese forces sent skirmishing parties against General MacArthur’s Bataan lines today, the War Department reported, possibly in an attempt to find an opening for a big new attack.

There was a lull in major operations, the communiqué revealed, and fighting was of a “desultory” nature.

The pause in the Japanese attack appeared to reflect General MacArthur’s success in beating off the large scale frontal and infiltration efforts which the Japanese have launched in the past week.

The surprising American stand forced the Japanese to relax their pressure temporarily. Presumably they are utilizing the pause to bring up fresh reserves and again redistribute their troops in preparation for new efforts to find soft spots in General MacArthur’s lines.

MacArthur praises troops

There was indications, however, that the valiant stand of the American forces was not without cost. Jap propaganda dispatches claimed that prisoners were taken in the heavy Bataan battle, including Franz Weisblatt, United Press staff correspondent, who has been in the field with General MacArthur’s men since the opening phase of the war.

In his latest report to the War Department, the American commander…

494

Third ship sank off East Coast –
23 die in flaming tanker torpedoed near Carolina

Standard Oil vessel is attacked without warning, goes down within five minutes; 13 saved, brought to Norfolk, Va.

Norfolk, Va., Jan. 19 (UP) –
Twenty-three of a crew of 36 men apparently drowned or were burned to death yesterday morning when the American tanker Allan Jackson (6,635 tons) was torpedoed by a submarine, burst into flames and sank within five minutes off the North Carolina coast, the 5th Naval District revealed today.

It was the third merchant ship sunk within five days close to the Atlantic Seaboard. These attacks by enemy submarines and other sinkings in the North Atlantic indicated that the Germans were stepping up their submarine warfare.

There were only 13 known survivors of the Allan Jackson’s crew. Six of them, including the skipper and two of his mates, were in the Naval Hospital here for treatment of “serious injuries.”

Four bodies were picked up in the water by a vessel that brought the survivors here last night. There was little hope that any of the rest of the crew survived. The others, it was feared, were trapped and cremated when the Standard Oil tanker became a pyre with flames shooting 100 feet into the air immediately upon being struck by two torpedoes.

The survivors told of sitting helplessly in the one lifeboat which they were able to launch while their shipmates screamed and burned to death on deck or struggled in flaming, oil-covered water around the sinking tanker.

The other two ships sunk since last Wednesday were the Panama-registered tanker Norness, torpedoed three times off the eastern end of Long Island, and the Coimbra, a tanker flying the flag of an Allied nation, sunk abut 75 miles from the port of New York. Two of the Norness’ crew were unac…

496

Issue made clear –
Brazil defies Axis warning

Break means war, foreign minister told
By Allen Haden

Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 19 –
A new clarion-like urgency has been injected into the current consultation of American foreign ministers here.

The issue is no longer whether this or that text is acceptable, or whether Argentina and Chile can distill some compromise to avoid breaking off relations with the Axis.

The issue has come very close. No longer is it a question of backing a more or less remote and powerful Uncle Sam. Never before has South America so needed to remember that union makes strength.

For, in typical gangster “or else” style, the German and Italian Ambassadors to Brazil on Friday warned Foreign Minister Dr. Osvaldo Aranha that if Brazil broke off relations with the Axis, it meant war. This has been confirmed to your correspondent by a high Brazilian official here. And on Saturday, President Getúlio Vargas refused to be scared and ringingly answered the Axis threat.

A “war of nerves” developed of the conference today, the United Press said, amid rumors that the Axis had warned the South American nations that a joint diplomatic break would bring war with Germany, Italy and Japan.

The rumors, some of which were traced to Argentine and Chilean sources, were believed designed to support Argentine opposition to the resolution calling for a complete break with the Axis.

Brazil is no longer a neutral.
…

497

North of Singapore –
Japs push back Allies at river

British airmen rush to aid; foe hits Navy’s oil
By Harold Guard, United Press staff writer

Singapore, Jan. 19 –
Jap troops attacked heavily today at opposite ends of a 40-mile line on the west Malaya front and forced a British withdrawal below the mouth of the Muar River, 90 miles from Singapore.

Strong British Imperial air forces rushed to the aid of the ground troops and made a heavy bombing and machine-gunning attack on Jap transport along the roads in the river area.

They also attacked ships and invasion barges in the river.

It was agreed here that the Japanese might possibly come much closer than 100 miles to Singapore – it is possible to say that such an advance is probable. But with every mile of the advance now, optimism here rises. There is even talk about driving the invaders back up the peninsula in time.

A communiqué of the Malaya Command said Jap fighter planes attacked British bombers and British fighter planes intervened.

In a dramatic dogfight, one Jap plane was downed, one was damaged and a third was probably destroyed and it was admitted that three British planes were missing.

Describing the new Jap offensive, the communiqué said the Japs attacked in the Muar River and Segamat sectors. In the Muar area, toward the river mouth on the west coast, it was admitted that the Japs succeeded in infiltrating a number of men along the coast and said there had been some withdrawal of…

498

Too much double-check –
Red tape jams guns

Allies fight with too little munitions as orders play tag along chain of Washington desks
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington, Jan. 19 –
Red tape – the paper work and protocol required by a bureaucratic maze of check-and-double-check – had caused unestimable delay in getting American munitions to armies fighting the Axis.

In the Philippines, in Malaya, on the long Russian front and in China, where there are insufficient arms, it can be charged in part to time wasted in movement of official papers down a long chain of Washington desks.

Since Pearl Harbor, the red tape has been slashed drastically in both War and Navy Department. Earlier it had been cut effectively in the Lend-Lease administration, which is parceling put of $13 billion worth of munitions to the United Nations. But officials say streamlining must go much further.

It is a problem certain to get very early attention from Donald M. Nelson in his new role as war production czar, and from William S. Knudsen as the “great expeditor” at the War Department.

The Lend-Lease administration, in spending its first $7 billion up to November, followed a labyrinthian inter-office pattern requiring an average of 33 days to clear a requisition for munitions. The long phases of procurement…

499

Priorities system instituted by U.S. along Burma Road

American Army officers supervise traffic as first step in imposing military control to clean up highway’s rackets
By Leland Stowe

Rangoon, Burma –
Under the pressure of unprecedented attention from the British and American governments and the pressure of the Pacific War’s exigencies, another attempt to reform the Burma Road and eliminate the contraband and racketeering abuses, which have dominated its 3.5-year career, is being launched.

According to an announcement made here, the first step toward military control of the highway’s traffic was worked out with the approval of the Chinese government.

The new plan puts U.S. Army officers attached to Gen. John Magruder’s military mission to Chungking in charge of traffic over the entire 1,400 miles of Burma-Yunnan Highway from Rangoon to Kunming. The road was divided into two segments and an American officer appointed to supervise each section in cooperation with Chinese officials.

Police still lacking

To this extent the Chinese authorities apparently with complete willingness and considerable relief have handed over to the Americans the responsibility for taming the Burma Road and increasing its monthly tonnage totals of Lend-Lease war materials actually delivered to China. On the other hand. it has not yet been made clear whether the road will be reformed to the extent of the inauguration of a military police system along the entire length, as experts long have urged.

In any case, the Chinese have now granted U.S. Army officers supervision of the Burma Road, with policing, machinery and similar essentials still indefinite, or not worked out, but with the Chinese authorities unquestionably showing an extremely cooperative spirit.

Lend-Lease materials

If the new program succeeds, of course the Chinese forces will receive much more Lend-Lease war materials than was ever possible in the past. Some observers here also remark that if the plan succeeds there shortly will be many thousands of tons less of American war materials left stored in Burma where they might be transferred to the British forces in case of emergency.

It is stated that commercial traffic – which until now has usually superseded war materials in transit privileges over the road – will be strictly subordinated to those Lend-Lease materials which China needs for the immediate prosecution of her war efforts against Japan.

American officers and Chinese road executives will establish priorities for cargoes to be trucked from Rangoon or Lashio to Kunming. War “must” materials will be classified first, it is said; materials for the Yunnan-Burma Railroad second maintenance equipment for the road itself the third and last of a non-essential – for which it would seem there would be no space in the present emergency, although some commercial goods might conceivably be allowed to trickle through.

New depots

The American officers plan to create new depots or relay points for lorries along the highway.

The effective development of the Burma Road reform – late as the effort is in being launched l depend chiefly upon two factors. First, upon the degree of Chinese anxiety to clean up the road and put it on a strictly war-serving basis. Second, upon the personal acuteness, even more than upon the personal energy of the U.S. Army officers who have been appointed to supervise the road.

500

Burma Premier held by British

Detained for contact with Tokyo authorities

London, England (UP) –
Premier U Saw of Burma was held incommunicado today by British authorities, apparently somewhere in the Middle East, on the charge that he had been in contact with the Japs since the outbreak of the Pacific War.

Authorities refused to give details of U Saw’s arrest or of his whereabouts but said he would not be permitted to return to Burma.

Announcement of his detention came only a few hours after the German radio had broadcast Tokyo newspaper allegations that the sultan and other dignitaries of British Borneo had offered “cooperation” to the Japs and had asked their people to stop resistance.

U Saw left London Nov. 5 after expressing disappointment that Britain was not ready to make Burma a dominion. He went to the United States, saw Secretary of State Cordell Hull at Washington, and had got as far as Honolulu on his way home when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor Dec. 7. He returned to the United States and a United Press Lisbon dispatch revealed that he had left there Jan. 3 for Cairo by airplane.

The Prime Minister’s office gave no indication of how U Saw had established contact with the Japs but presumably the British kept track of his movements in the United States and Hawaii.

In London, he was permitted to examine Britain’s war efforts and discussed defense measures for Burma because of his country’s vital interest in the China War.

501

Five still missing after crash sinking

Newport News, Virginia (UP) –
Six survivors of the United Fruit freighter San Jose, which collided with the Grace Line cargo ship Santa Elisa and sank off Atlantic City, New Jersey, Saturday night, were recovering from exposure here today.

Coast Guard officials at Philadelphia said five men were still missing from the San Jose. 29 members of the Santa Elisa’s crew were landed by Coast Guard boats at Beach Haven, New Jersey, and other survivors were understood to have been landed at other coastal points. Neither ship carried passengers.

3rd Naval District headquarters in New York said the collision was an ordinary maritime accident and no enemy action was involved. As a war precaution, both vessels were operating with dimmed running lights.

A hole was stove in the San Jose and it sank rapidly. Fire broke out on the Santa Elisa and was not brought under control until nearly noon yesterday. The Santa Elisa was towed into New York Harbor today.

502

Australia accepts ‘token’ refugees

Singapore –
That Australia’s acceptance of Chinese refugees from the Singapore area will be upon token rather than full-scale pattern is evident from advices reaching the Australian consulate general here.

Only 50 women, children and men, of non-military age, are authorized to take refuge in Australia. Each refugee must deposit a fee sufficient for two years’ upkeep.

Pat Hurley nominated as brigadier general

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt today nominated Patrick J. Hurley, Secretary of War under Herbert Hoover, to be a brigadier general in the Army.

White House Secretary Stephen T. Early said he could not disclose “for a while” what Mr. Hurley’s specific job will be.

504

U.S. War Department (January 20, 1942)

Communiqué No. 66

Malaya.
A delayed report advises of a successful attack by U.S. Army bombers on the Japanese-held Sungei Patani Airdrome in Malaya on January 15. Three large fires were started among enemy aircraft on the ground and in the hangar area. All of our planes returned to their base undamaged.

Dutch East Indies.
On January 17, five U.S. Army bombers attacked a Japanese flying field at Manado in northeast Celebes. After several bombs had been dropped on the field with undetermined results, our planes encountered a formation of Japanese interceptor planes. In the ensuring fight, nine enemy planes were shot down. Two of our bombers are missing and a third was damaged, with four members of the crew wounded.

There is nothing to report from other areas.

Communiqué No. 67

Philippine Theater.
The enemy has renewed the attack on U.S. and Philippine troops on Bataan Peninsula. Japanese pressure is particularly heavy at the center of the line. The attack is supported by aircraft. Three enemy planes were shot down during the past 24 hours. Gen. MacArthur has received a report from Mindanao telling of sharp fighting now in progress between Philippine troops and a Japanese force 35 miles north of Davao. Six U.S. Army bombers successfully attacked a Japanese cruiser and a large tanker 100 miles off Jolo. Several direct hits were scored, sinking the cruiser and leaving the tanker in flames.

There is nothing to report from other areas.

U.S. Navy Department (January 20, 1942)

Communiqué No. 31

Far East.
A motor torpedo boat under Adm. Hart’s Far Eastern Command entered Binanga Bay, inside the entrance to Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, and torpedoed an unidentified enemy vessel of 5,000 tons in a night attack. This small boat carried out its difficult task while under fire of machine guns and 3-inch shore batteries. Lt. John D. Bulkeley has been commended for executing his mission successfully.

Atlantic Area.
Enemy submarine activity is continuing off the East Coast of North America from Cape Hatteras to Newfoundland. The sinkings of the tankers NORNESS, COIMBRA and ALLAN JACKSON have been accompanied by attacks on other vessels within the territorial limits of the United States. Strong countermeasures are being taken by units of the Navy’s East Coastal Command.

There is nothing to report from other areas.

505

The Pittsburgh Press (January 20, 1942)

The Far East battlefronts

Fullscreen capture 1242021 123024 PM.bmp
1. Japs occupy Burmese port of Tavoy; U.S. planes believed based in Burma.
2. U.S. bombers start fires at Jap airfield at Sungei Patani.
3. Japanese direct main thrust 75 miles from Singapore.
4. Dutch planes make two raids on Jap-held Kuching, start large fires.
5. U.S. bombers down 9 Jap planes at Manado; Japs raid Dutch-held town nearby.
6. U.S. expects new Luzon attack; Manila Bay fort raided, Japs claim.
7. U.S. Army bombers sink Jap cruiser in Philippines.

U.S. FLIERS SINK JAP WARSHIP
Tanker fired also in raid in Philippines

Six Flying Fortresses help MacArthur meet new attack
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer

Fullscreen capture 1232021 32126 AM.bmp
Where Jap cruiser was sunk.

Washington, Jan. 20 –
American bombers – striking with fury in the Southwest Pacific – have sunk a Japanese cruiser, the War Department reported today, while Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s men fought an increasingly fierce Japanese attack in Bataan.

General MacArthur reported that a “forgotten force” of Philippine troops on the southerly island of Mindanao is still holding out against Japanese forces about 35 miles north of Davao, which the enemy has converted into one of his principal bases for the attack on the Dutch Indies.

The sinking of the Japanese cruiser was the third blow reported struck by the American air forces in the Southwest Pacific within the past 24 hours.

The attack occurred off Jolo, a small Philippines island just southwest of Mindanao at the northern entrance to the Celebes Sea.

The American planes scored several direct hits on the cruiser, sinking it, the War Department advised. A Japanese tanker was also hit and set afire.

The cruiser was the 40th Japanese ship to be sunk by American forces since the start of the war. 29 have been sunk by naval and Marine forces and 11 by the Army.

The Jolo attack was presumably carried out by American bombing craft based in the Dutch Indies. These U.S. planes have carried out four other attacks around the Celebes Sea in the past 10 days.

General MacArthur’s report indicated that the Japanese assault…

506

End enlistments, draft chief urges

Washington (UP) –
Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Selective Service Director, has appealed directly to the Army and Navy for gradual cessation of all voluntary enlistments.

Selective Service Headquarters said he had written to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, declaring that “a systematic and orderly method of selection” was vital if the nation’s manpower was to be utilized wisely.

The general pointed out that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had “brought our people to a high emotional pitch” and that many men were leaving essential civilian jobs to enlist, thus threatening widespread “disruption and dislocation” in industry and elsewhere.

Army and Navy officials declined to comment.

507

Coast-to-coast –
Daylight Time starts Feb. 9

Garland to get pen signing measure

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt today signed legislation placing the entire nation on Daylight Savings Time, effective at 1 a.m., Monday, Feb. 9.

The statute, which placed clocks one hour ahead, will continue in effect for the duration of the war and not more than six months thereafter. It can be nullified in the meantime by Congress, however.

The bill provided for Daylight Savings Time to become operative 20 days after formal enactment of the bill, and with the President’s signature today, the effective hour and date was thus made 2 a.m. Feb. 9, according to the White House.

William S. Knudsen, in his capacity as Director General of the Office of Production Management prior to passage of the bill, reported to Mr. Roosevelt that nationwide Daylight Savings Time would save an estimated 500,000 kW a year.

The pen with which Mr. Roosevelt signed the legislation will be sent to John P. Cowan of the War Department, who will forward it to Robert Garland of Pittsburgh, who led the national committee appearing before Congress recently in support of the bill.

Many states and communities have adopted a Daylight Savings schedule for the summer months, but the new statute places the whole country on that basis for the first time since the last war.

Gas price curb hinted

Washington –
The government will set ceiling prices on petroleum products and gasoline at service stations and other retail outlets if prices rise above last Nov. 7 levels, Price Administrator Leon Henderson said today.

509

Congress hatches nest egg –
Gravy train loaded

Lifetime income assured as legislators vote selves in on Uncle Sam’s pension plan

Washington, Jan. 20 (UP) –
Congressmen who haven’t had the foresight to lay away a little nest egg may not have to worry anymore.

The public’s chosen representatives have all but completed action on a little bill which, with minor reservations, assures them a lifetime income at your Uncle Samuel’s expense.

The exact amount of the pension would depend upon the length of service, but in numerous cases in both Houses, it would be around $4,000 a year and on some cases it would be even more.

The bill sets 70 as the compulsory retirement age for all government employees except members of Congress. A member of the Senate or House, or any other branch of the government, however, may retire voluntarily at the age of 60 after 30 years of service; at 62 after 15 years of service, at 55 after 30 years of service. Voluntary retirement under the 55-year-old provision carries a somewhat reduced annuity.

The measure, labelled the Ramspeck-Mead Bill, was passed by the Senate yesterday on a roll call vote of 42–24. The House still must act on minor Senate amendment, but little opposition is expected there.

Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) led a fight to force members of Congress to pay back premiums before they would be eligible to receive the…

510

Menace continues –
U-boat attacks fourth tanker

Ship escapes after torpedoing off Carolina

Newport News, Va., Jan. 20 (UP) –
The Navy struck back with all available warships and airplanes today to eliminate the German submarine menace along the Atlantic Seaboard, which within six days has cost the Allied nations four oil tankers – three sunk and one damaged by shellfire and torpedoes.

The relentless German underwater campaign, almost within sight of the Atlantic shoreline, is apparently directed at the fleet of oil tankers plying the sea lanes between Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic ports. Other ships in the vicinity of the latest attack were not fired upon, survivors said.

The latest victim of an enemy submarine was the American tanker Malay, an 8,206-ton Gulf Oil Co. ship. But it was more fortunate than the other three. It survived a 90-minute submarine attack off the North Carolina coast yesterday and limped into port here today. One of its crew of 33 was dead; four others were missing after attempting to launch a lifeboat.

Survivors told naval officials here how the submarine had singled out the Malay from a group of “several” other ships, subjected her to merciless shellfire and then sent a torpedo crashing into her side almost amidships.

The pattern of the attack was the same that sent the tankers Norness…

511

U.S. agencies drop 40-hour work week

Washington (UP) –
The 40-hour week in government departments, bureaus and agencies has been swept aside to meet the gigantic task of winning the war.

Longer working hours in general means no extra pay for the thousands of federal employees, a survey disclosed today. A few offices have planned compensating time off, but the war effort comes first.

The average workweek now is 44 hours, although several departments, notably War and Navy, are on a round-the-clock basis. Staggered shifts permit continuous operation without stretching the individual employee’s hours beyond 48 except in a few instances.

513

U.S. captives’ voices heard on Jap radio

San Francisco, California (UP) –
Tokyo radio broadcast by transcription last night the voices of two men identified by the Japanese as American war prisoners, including Cdr. Winfield Scott Cunningham of the Wake Island garrison.

It was an obvious copy of the German propaganda technique, whereby civilians in enemy nations are urged to listen to Axis broadcasts for news of captives.

The broadcast follows:

Radio Tokyo presents Cdr. Winfield Scott Cunningham, who hails from Annapolis, Maryland, and Mr. Hudley C. Sutherland, who hails from Portland, Oregon.

Because of the many war prisoners, we are sorry to say we will be unable to present all the American prisoners of war, but from time to time, Radio Tokyo will present other American prisoners. We continue with the electrical transcription of Cdr. Cunningham:

This is Cdr. Winfield Scott Cunningham, U.S. Navy, age 43 years. At Wake Island, I was in command of all the Navy and Marine forces. My home address is Annapolis, Maryland.

Since capture at Wake, the prisoners, including myself, have been very fairly treated and are all in good health and are looking forward to getting back to their homes.

To my wife at Annapolis, I wish to send my best greetings and I hope for her welfare. Also I wish to tell her I am in perfect health and expect to stay that way for a long time.

The next voice, identified by Tokyo as that of Mr. Sutherland, said:

I wish to send greetings to my wife and to my daughter in sunny California. The prisoners here, I think, have been treated so far very fine. Everybody here on board seems to be very happy and I think everything will turn out all right.

The transcription’s reference to “on board” indicated the records were probably made before the prisoners were removed from their ship.

Tokyo radio concluded:

The next broadcast will include the prisoners from Wake Island. Members of their families and friends are urged to listen to these messages. Be sure to tune in!

514

Enemy broadcast –
Allied defense lines cut by Jap forces on Bataan

MacArthur’s men threatened with encirclement; Nipponese dispatch from Manila says

Dispatches from enemy countries are based on broadcasts over controlled radio stations. They frequently contain false statements for propaganda purposes. Bear this fact in mind.

Tokyo, Japan –
Dispatches from Manila reported today that the left flank of the Japanese attacking forces had pierced the Allied defense line between Abuke and Matuv Mountain on the Bataan Peninsula of Luzon Island in the Philippines.

This advance, the dispatch said, imperiled remaining U.S.-Philippine forces with encirclement. By occupying an “important enemy position” south of the naval base of Olongapo, the Japanese expected to cut off the Americans’ retreat from Bataan Peninsula.

Battlefront reports from Malaya said that Japanese forces advancing down the eastern coast of Malaya made contact last night with Japanese troops proceeding southward on the western coast from Kuala Lumpur.

Advance in Johore

The eastern forces annihilated the British 9th Division at Kuantan and cleaned up the remnants of defending troops in the jungles of the central Malayan Peninsula before making contact with Japanese troops from the west, the dispatch said.

Japanese troops have now advanced to a point near Batu Anam, in Johor State, completing encirclement operations against 20,000 mechanized troops of the 8th British Division, the Malayan dispatch asserted.

British aircraft have virtually been swept from the skies, the report declared, and British defenders on Singapore Island were reportedly setting up mock airfields to deceive Japanese attackers.

Near southern tip

Dispatches from Malaya said Japanese forces were near the southern tip of the peninsula.

Radio Berlin, quoting the Dōmei News Agency, said a Japanese column reached the vicinity of Gongpent, a strategically important point in the central main road across Johor. The broadcast said the Japanese were now southeast of Malacca and had cut off the retreat of Australian forces on the Malayan west coast.

It reported that the most important water supply for Singapore had been cut with the seizure of a waterworks 28 miles north of Johor Bahru and that the “battle of destruction” against the surrounded main forces in the British was “taking a rapid favorable course.”

515

Army may sign 12,200 women in auxiliary unit

Plan outliners in request for House approval of legislation

Washington (UP) –
The Army will recruit an initial force of 12,200 volunteers to form a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps if enabling legislation recommended by the War Department is approved, Lt. Col. Ira Swift, of the Army’s General Staff, told the House Military Affairs Committee today.

Col. Swift estimated it would cost $10 million to get the program underway.

Although he set the initial force at only 12,000, Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA), author of the bill, said the force would probably reach a total of 20,000 to 25,000 women in non-combatant posts.

Marshall urges law

Earlier, Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, informed the committee by letter that the bill presented:

…a sound method of meeting military requirements.

I think it can be assumed that all of our available manpower and womanpower, in uniform and in necessity, will be needed to win this war.

Gen. Marshall wrote that there were many military jobs which women could perform better than soldiers.

Col. Swift said 9,700 women would probably be used in air-raid warning and “filter” stations.

Points to defects

About 6,000 civilian women workers are now working in air-raid information posts but there is a need for “military control,” he said. Defects of the existing system, he said, are absences of the unpaid workers and the great turnover in personnel.

Chairman Andrew J. May (D-KY) of the Military Affairs Committee said he had considered such legislation “neither necessary, appropriate nor desirable.”

He added, however, that since:

…the Army and Gen. Marshall want it, I think we should listen to the testimony then decide and go to work on the bill.

Under terms of the proposed legislation, the Women’s Corps would be organized on strictly military lines with lower ranking recruits receiving the $21 monthly rate paid to private soldiers. Volunteers would enlist at Regular Army recruiting stations. It was reported that uniforms for outfitting the proposed new feminine branch of the service have already been designed.