U-boat yards hit in biggest Yank bombing
1,000-pounders hit right on targets in daylight raid near Bremen
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
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Labor draft delay urged by Roosevelt
Complicated system feared; service dodging charged by Rickenbacker
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Jap Solomons bases hit in 4 more raids
Washington (UP) –
American airmen have carried out four more attacks against Jap positions in the Solomons, including two against Vila in the new Georgia group, the Navy announced today.
In the second attack on Vila, U.S. dive bombers started a fire.
The other three attacks were minor. All U.S. planes returned.
Woman gets 2 years for keeping a slave
Corpus Christi, Texas (UP) –
For the first time in the nation’s history, a woman faced a federal prison sentence today for keeping a slave.
Miss Susie Skrobarczyk was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment under the U.S. Peonage Act after she and her father Alex, 62, were found guilty of forcing Alfred Irwin, 48-year-old Negro, to work as a slave in their Bee County farm. Her father received a four-year sentence.
Neighbors had testified that Irwin was kept in a chicken coop and was whipped or beaten with chains when he disobeyed. One neighbor told the court Irwin frequently came to his home at night bleeding from wounds presumably inflicted by the Skrobarczyks and begging for food.
The Negro testified he gave up trying to leave the farm because he was “afraid.” He said he was captured and brought back after one unsuccessful attempt.
Month’s delay in livestock ceilings seen
OPA cites plea for test period after meat rationing begins
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Japan retains many vessels, Allies warned
MacArthur aide denies cargo fleet has been weakened greatly
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Nazis operate relays of 150 U-boats at sea
But Hitler could throw in 500 subs in one big-scale gamble
London, England (UP) –
Informed believed today that Adolf Hitler has 500 submarines at his command – compared with Germany’s 200 at the peak of the World War I campaign – and is operating them in sections of about 150 as the U-boat drive grows.
Generally, no more than one-third of a submarine fleet in on the fighting front at one time while another third is on the way to and from bases and the remainder is being refitted and refueled.
But commentators pointed out that if Hitler elected to make one grand-scale gamble, he might be able to throw all 500 of his U-boats at the Allied sea lanes. Any such effort, however, would necessarily be preceded and followed by virtual cessation of the campaign.
Not yet at peak
At any rate, the Nazi submarine threat was not believed to have reached its peak, although it has hit a quick tempo with an Arctic convoy fighting off the heaviest attack yet made in those waters.
The U-boat wolfpacks prowling the seas were believed to number roughly 12 submarines each, operating in relays when they find a particularly tantalizing convoy.
The crews are bolder and the submarines bigger and faster than they were at the start of the war. As a result, the U-boats often surface in the daytime, circle around a convoy just beyond the horizon, and lay in wait ahead while a second pack is attacking.
Lacks trained crews
Such an operation – with submarines having a surface speed double that of the convoys – was formerly carried out only by night. A Sunderland flying boat on patrol recently spotted six U-boats on the surface in the Atlantic within a few hours.
Germany’s main weakness in that field is now believed to be a shortage of trained commanders and crews. The wolfpack operation is the best answer to that, inasmuch as one experienced officer directs the operation of as many as 12 submarines.
Meantime the Navy’s small ships are carrying on daily in every operational zone – the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean – with the most effective remedy yet found, which is getting on top of the submarines and showering them with depth charges.
Two major phases
The anti-submarine campaign resolves itself into two major phases:
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Long-term policies such as bombing and even eventually occupying the U-boat bases; and the construction of faster Cargo ships and more auxiliary carriers or long-range flying boats, which is a matter for the High Command and the government leaders.
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The urgent question of finding enough escort craft equipped with listening instruments, depth charges and guns to protect the convoys immediately.
Methods of detecting and destroying submarines have kept abreast of the improvement in the U-boats themselves, so new methods are hardly as urgently needed as extra destroyers, frigates and corvettes.
U.S. platoon takes Gafsa without firing a shot
Only mines slow up advance as U.S. troops move through oasis town and push ahead after Germans
By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
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Citizens who pay mere spectators in tax plan battle
They can root for Ruml or House proposal but Congress will choose; party lines to be set aside
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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