‘Too damned scared’ to look –
Rick marks first victory with praise for new aces
It was 25 years ago Capt. Eddie downed first German
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‘Too damned scared’ to look –
Death takes former chief of Army’s Ferry Command
Maj. Gen. Robert Olds victim of arthritic condition complicated by pneumonia and heart ailment
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Northern Tunisia – (by wireless)
One night at Kairouan, three of us correspondents, finding the newly-taken town filled wirth newly-arrived British and American troops, just drove out of town into the country and camped for the night. We didn’t put up a tent. We just slept in the open.
The mosquitoes were fierce, and we draped netting over our hands. We were in a sort of big ditch right alongside an Arab graveyard. But neither the graves nor the mosquitoes bothered us that night, for we were tired and windburned, and before we knew it, morning had come and a hot sun was beaming down into our squinting eyes.
And what should those sleepy eyes behold but two Arab boys standing right over our bedrolls, holding out eggs. It was practically like a New Yorker cartoon. For all I know they may have been standing there all night.
At any rate, they had come to the right place, for we were definitely in the market for eggs. They wouldn’t sell for money, so we dug into our larger box and got four eggs in trade for three little cellophane packets of hard candy. Then we started all over again and got four more eggs for a pack of cigarettes.
Americans run everything
We thought it a good trade, but found later that the trading ratio which the Germans had set up ahead of us was one cigarette for one egg. We Americans have to ruin everything, of course, but as one tough-looking soldier said:
If I want to give $50 for an egg it’s my business and my $50. And from all I’ve seen of Arabs an extra franc or two ain’t gonna hurt them any.
All this happened before wee had got out of our bedrolls. But the youthful traders didn’t leave. As we were putting on our pants, each boy whisked a shoe-shining box from under his burnoose and went after our shoes. Then when we started a fire and were feeding it with sticks, one of the boys got down and blew on the flame to make it burn better. It was easy to see that we had acquired a couple of body servants.
The boys were herding about two dozen goats in some nearby center. Now and then, one of them would run over and chase the goats back nearer to our camp. We called one boy Mohammed and the other Abdullah, which seemed to tickle them. They were good-natured, happy boys of about 15.
One of them tried on my goggles. He seemed to imagine that he looked wonderful in them, and giggled and made poses. He didn’t know the goggles were upside down. Also, he didn’t know that I was hoping fervently his eyes weren’t as diseased as they looked.
Paid in worthless money
The boys told us in French that the Germans had made them work at an airport, opening gas cans and doing genera flunky work. They said the Germans paid them 20 francs a day, which is above the local scale, but it turned out they were German-printed francs, which of course are now absolutely worthless.
Our self-appointed helpers hunted sticks for us, poured water out of our big can and helped us wash our mess kits. They kept blowing in the fire, they cleaned up all the scraps around our bivouac, they lifted our heavy bedrolls into the jeep for us, and just as we were ready to leave, they gave our shoes a final brushing.
We paid them with three cigarettes and two sticks of gum each, and they were delighted.
Wants goat food
When we were ready to go, we shook hands all around, au-revoired, smiled and saluted. And then one of the boys asked apologetically if we could give them one more thing maybe. We asked what it was they wanted. You’d never guess. He wanted an empty tin can for his goats to chew on. We gave him one.
Hadji is the Arab word used in place of “Sir” before the name of anybody who has journeyed to Mecca and become holy. Seven journeys to Kairouan equal one to Mecca, so we correspondents now go around calling each other Hadji, since most of us have crossed the city line more than seven times.
Another word we’ve adopted is djebel. It’s Arabic for hill or mountain. On the maps every knob you see is Djebel This or Djebel That. So, we also call each other Djebel, and if you think that’s silly, well, we have to have something to laugh at.
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Tropical diseases are being beaten by Army physicians
By Robert T. Letts, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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All around film town
Executive gets ‘mad’ – and whatever was it that happened to the gangster movie?
By Erskine Johnson
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Standard oil raps stand of stockholder
Firm asked to go on record against post-war cartels with Germany
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Boeing profits drop despite gain in sales
Company increases deliveries of Flying Fortresses by 8 times
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Japs survive daily attacks against Kiska
But almost constant raids may bar effective use of base by enemy
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Fighters tote heavy bombs to blast Japs
P-40s wreck bridges in Burma with 1,000-pounders
By Walter L. Briggs, United Press staff writer
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Simms: Polish crisis hits U.S. program of unity in peacetime
Impression grows Russia intends to map post-war borders, a situation Senate would oppose
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Washington –
The crisis now involving Russia, Poland, Finland and Eastern Europe is doing great damage to American plans for post-war collaboration with the United Nations.
The impression is growing here that Moscow now fully intends to have its own way with the territory, governments and peoples of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, regardless of Washington or London. If that is true, there is little or no chance that the U.S. Senate will ratify any subsequent treaty which would commit it to the policing of frontiers thus drawn.
With considerable reluctance, many here are coming to believe that a new European balance of power is in the making, with Russia and Great Britain dominating the scene.
Senate would reject role
A new European balance of power would leave the United States on the outside looking in. Doubtless we would be invited to “collaborate” in such a setup. But if we accepted, our role would be pretty much that of the signer of a blank check. We would have little if anything to do with major decisions. Our job would be to help shoulder the consequences if and when they turned sour. Such a role the Senate almost certainly would turn down.
It was the often-inspired London Times which, some six weeks ago, tossed up the first straw showing which way at least one breeze was blowing. For quite some time there had been rumors, both here and abroad, that Britain might eventually be coerced into yielding to the Soviet Union in the matter of Eastern European frontiers. Then came the London editorial.
Can make decisions stick
It declared:
The sole interest of Russia is to assure that her outer defenses are in sure hands. And this interest will be best served if the lands between her frontiers and those of Germany are held by governments and peoples friendly to herself… That is one condition on which Russia must and will insist.
Russia, the paper went on to observe, will be in a position after the war to make her decisions stick. But (inasmuch as the peace of Europe will devolve chiefly on Britain and the Soviet Union) it will make all the differences in future Anglo-Russian relations whether Britain freely concedes these things or whether they “are grudgingly accepted as a fait accompli after victory is won.”
Britain’s other task, it added, was to interpret all this to the United States – that is, explain why it is necessary to abandon the little nations of Eastern Europe to their fate.
Urge world organization
It is well understood here that some sort of post-war organization is necessary if there is to be any peace. An Anglo-Russian balance of power might well do the trick for a time. But what the leaders of the grand alliance have been proclaiming all along is that what is wanted is a world organization – a new system of collective security in which Russia, the British Commonwealth of Nations, China and the United Nations would take the lead.
Meeting of three urged
Therefore, it is said here with some feeling, it is high time President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin got together. It is tragically clear that some kind of understanding among them is both urgent and imperative.
As matters now stand, at least one of the major partners of the United Nations is threatening action which, if taken, would almost certainly destroy all hope of a worldwide peace organization, for inquiries here clearly reveal that if Europe or ay other part of the world is to be split up and partitioned by the arbitrary act of any individual nation, the United States will never become a party to any collective treaty of enforcement.
Excerpt from page 56 of the The Shadow of The Great Game
…The upshot was the British declaration of 8 August 1940 and, at Jinnah’s request, repeated by Amery in the House of Commons 14 August.
It offered dominion status after the war; an expansion of the Viceroy’s Executive Council to accommodate the representative of political parties; a War Consultative comittee which would include some prices; and a guarantee to the minorities as follows:
It goes without saying that they [the HMG] could not contemplate transfer of their present responsibilities for the peace and welfare of India to any system of Government whose authority is directly denied by large and powerful elements into submission to such a government
The British forever afterwards interpreted the aforementioned statement as His Majesty’s Government’s firm commitment not only to the Muslims of India but also to Jinnah as the sole spokesman over future India constitutional developments. …
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The British declaration of 8 August 1940 came as a rude shock to Congress leaders (because… they viewed this british confirming Jinnah’s view of Muslim state that should be governed by Muslims— Pakistan (so far… there was no clear cut boundary of what Pakistan should be and what it should comprise of) ). The veto power given to Jinnah on India’s constitutional developments would increase intransigence. Their reaction revoke their own offer made after the fall of France to lay aside their creed of non-violence for national defence, which they hoped would clear the way for cooperation with the Allies during the war.
However, Gandhi was worried that in their frustration some Congressmen might go too far and start an agitation against the government, which he had promised the viceroy he would discourage. So he worked out a strategy that would enable the Congress Party to show to the public that it was giving no quarter to the British authorities and yet take no action that would really hinder the war effort, which stand Subhash Chandra Bose compared to 'running with the hare and hunting with the hound’ (I have no idea what it means though).
To prepare the ground for his new approach, Gandhi wrote to the the viceroy on 29 August 1940 that his desire not to embarrass the British Government during the war ‘could not be carried to the extent of the Congress Party committing hara-kiri’. And when he saw Linlithgow on 27 September 1940, he reiterated his view and insisted that he had the right of freedom of speech to dissuade the people from recruitment on the ground that his party committed to only non-violent action. ’ A person had a right not to join the army but not the privilege to propagate the same’, Linlithgow argued back, reported to london that ‘to preach non-violence in this war unlikely to remain academic question but impinge on the war effort’. Making an issue of his freedom to preach non-violence, Gandhi on 17 October 1940, launched what was termed ‘Individual Peace Disobedience’.
Under this movement, important Congress leader, one after the other, would speak in public to protest against recruitment into the Army, and get arrested. There would be no mass stir; merely protest by selected individuals. The Congress party opened its innings by sending in Vinobha Bhave, Gandhi’s staunchest disciple of non-violence, who got promptly ‘stumped’; in other words, he of was put behind bars. Nehru followed as number two. After he too landed in jail, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was sent in. And so on an so forth till all the top stars of the Congress Party got themselves picked up and packed into British prisons. Gandhi then retired to his ashram and devoted himself to social work and the spinning wheel, leaving the viceroy to handle the complexities of defence preparedness without any embarrassment from the Congress Party’s side.
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The number of Congressmen arrested during Gandhi’s "Individual Civil Disobedience’ reached a peak of 15,000 by the summer of 1941. The movement caused no excitement and attracted little attention and owing to the muzzling of the press war hardly known to be in progress. so the movement dragged on for a year with dwindling numbers participating. The effect on India’s war effort was nil. Nor did Gandhi’s movment deter Indians from taking advantage of the opportunities for employment : ultimately, the strength of the British Indian armed forces rose from about 190,000 at the beginning of the war to almost two million towards the end. And when it was decided to release the demoralized Congressmen at the end of 1941 - Nehur and Azad were released on 3[rd] December - Churchil called it : Surrender at the moment of success.
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U.S. Navy Department (April 30, 1943)
Communiqué No. 360
South Pacific.
On April 28, during the morning, a Japanese patrol of one officer and eight men, attempting to escape from Guadalcanal, was intercepted and wiped out by U.S. troops in the vicinity of Beaufort Bay, on the western coast of Guadalcanal Island.
On April 29:
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During the early morning, Flying Fortress (Boeing B‑17) heavy bombers bombed the Japanese‑held area at Kahili in the Shortland Island area. Poor visibility prevented observation of results.
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Later in the morning, Avenger (Grumman TBF) torpedo bombers and Dauntless (Douglas SBD) dive bombers, escorted by Lightning (Lockheed P‑38) and Corsair (Vought F4U) fighters, bombed Japanese installations at Gatere on the southwestern coast of Kolombangara Island in the Central Solomons. An anti-aircraft position and a pier were destroyed.
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During the afternoon, a group of Avenger torpedo bombers and Dauntless dive bombers, with Lightning and Corsair escort, attacked Pelpeli, two miles northwest of Gatere on Kolombangara Island. A fire was started.
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A formation of Avenger torpedo bombers and Dauntless dive bombers, supported by Wildcat (Grumman F4F) fighters, attacked Japanese positions at Munda in the Central Solomons. Hits were scored on the runway, on the revetment area and on an antiaircraft position.
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All U.S. planes returned from the above attack missions.
News Release
For Immediate Release
April 30, 1943
Japanese submarine sunk by patrol bomber
Blasted by two depth charges dropped from a Consolidated Catalina patrol bomber, a Japanese submarine was sunk while prowling off the Aleutian Islands.
The attack upon the underseas craft occurred some time ago, but the submarine’s destruction has not previously been reported.
Machinist Leland L. Davis, USN, 26, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, pilot of the bomber, was awarded the Navy Cross. Machinist Davis is listed as missing following another patrol flight made later on the day the submarine was sunk.
The Navy bomber was on a patrol mission when the Japanese submarine was sighted running on the surface eight miles away. Machinist Davis flew into the clouds to escape detection, came out one mile from the submarine as it began to submerge, and plunged downward in a bombing run.
Two depth charges were released just ahead of the wake. Almost immediately the submarine blew its tanks and emerged, bow first, with a large oil slick spreading from either side of its hull.
Members of the Catalina’s crew opened fire with their machine guns and raked the submarine from bow to stern, but the depth charges had dealt the underseas craft a fatal blow. Within a few minutes the Japanese vessel sank stern first in a death dive.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 30, 1943)
Threat of shutdown grows; 90,000 already out of mines
Reply to the President ignores ultimatum for Saturday
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Sanguine fighting rages –
Enemy putting up fierce last-ditch Tunisian struggle
African battle becomes grim mountain siege as Nazis counterattack vainly to halt Allies
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
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