Editorial: Time to crack down
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Allied troops mop up enemy on Buna front
Japs ordered by Hirohito to resist to the last man
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer
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Millett: Teachers invite revolt by ban on girls’ slacks
Women’s war work attire is certainly nothing to arouse educators’ protest
By Ruth Millett
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
WITH U.S. FORCES IN ALGERIA – After two days of loading American soldiers aboard our troopship, and of hosting aboard thousands of bedrolls and barracks bags, at last we sailed.
It was a miserable English day, cold with a driving rain. Too miserable to be out on deck to watch the pier slide away. Most of us just lay in our bunks, indifferent even to the traditional last glance at land. Now it was all up to God – and the British Navy.
Our ships carried thousands of officers and men and a number of Army nurses. I felt a little kinship with our vessel, for I’d seen it tied up under peculiar circumstances in Panama two years ago. I never dreamed that someday I’d be sailing to Africa on it.
The officers and nurses were assigned to the regular cabins used by passengers in peacetime. But all the soldiers were quarters below decks, in the holds. The ship had once been a refrigerator ship, and now all the large produce-carrying compartments were cleared out, and packed with men.
Each compartment was filled with long wooden tables, with benches at each side. The men ate at these tables, and at night slept in white canvas hammocks slung from hooks just above the tables.
Water from 7 to 9, and later
It seems terribly crowded and some complained bitterly of the food, and didn’t eat for days. Yet many of the boys said it was swell compared to the way they came over from home to Britain.
Sometimes I ate below with the troops, and I’ll have to say that their food was as good as ours in the officers’ mess, and that was excellent. Some crowding is unavoidable. It’s bad, but I don’t know how else you’d get enough men anywhere fast enough.
The worst trouble was a lack of hot water. The water for washing dishes was only tepid, and there was no soap. As a result, the dishes got greasy, and some troops got a mild dysentery from it. The American Army officers, much to their credit, continued to raise so much hell about the ship that by the time we left it, things were in much better shape.
In our cabins, we had water only twice a day – 7 to 9 in the morning, and 5:30 to 6:30 in the evening. It was unheated, so we shaved in cold water. The troops took lukewarm saltwater showers, by Army order, every three days.
The enlisted men were allowed to go anywhere on deck they wished, except for a small portion of one deck set aside for officers. Theoretically, the officers weren’t permitted on the enlisted men’s deck, but that soon broke down. We correspondents could go anywhere we please, being gifted and chosen characters.
Instructions for “battle stations” in case of attack were issued. All officers had to stay in their cabins, all soldiers had to remain below. Troops in the two bottom decks, down by the waterline, were to move up to the next two decks above them.
Only we correspondents were to be allowed on deck during an attack. Being useless as well as gifted, we were honored with the divine right of getting ourselves shot if that’s what we wanted.
To Murmansk or America?
We correspondents knew where we were going. Some of the officers knew too, and the rest could guess. But an amazing number of soldiers had no idea where they were bound.
Some thought we were going to Russia over the Murmansk route. Some thought it was Norway. Some thought it was Iceland. A few sincerely believed we were returning to America. It wasn’t until the fifth day out, when the Army distributed advice booklets on how to conduct ourselves in North Africa, that everybody knew where we were going.
The first couple of days at sea, we seemed to mill around without purpose. Eventually we stopped completely, and lay at anchor for a day.
Finally, we made rendezvous with other ships and then at dusk – five days after leaving London – we steamed slowly into a prearranged formation, like floating pieces of a puzzle drifting together to form a picture. By dark, we were rolling, and the first weak ones were getting sick at their tummies.
Isn’t that a war crime? Or can you fire on retreating soldiers?
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U.S. Navy Department (December 18, 1942)
Communiqué No. 223
South Pacific.
On December 17, a force of Army “Flying Fortresses” (Boeing B-17), escorted by “Airacobra” fighters (Bell P-39) attacked the Munda area of New Georgia Island. Results were not reported.
Navy Department Communiqué No. 222 announced that 12 Japanese “Zero” fighters had been shot down in the vicinity of New Georgia Island on December 16. A correction has been received from the South Pacific stating that the number shot down was 3 instead of 12.
Communiqué No. 224
Pacific and Far East.
U.S. submarines have reported the following results of operations against the enemy in the waters of these areas:
- One large tanker sunk.
- One large cargo ship sunk.
- One medium-sized tanker sunk.
- Two medium-sized cargo ships sunk.
- One medium-sized transport sunk.
- One trawler sunk.
These sinkings have not been announced in any previous Navy Department communiqué.
The Pittsburgh Press (December 18, 1942)
SALES OF GASOLINE HALTED
OPA to allow war workers limited fuel
They will be able to cash in only one coupon at a time
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