Several obstacles block Lewis’ early return to AFL
Green’s report ready for council – UMW head’s reply to bid kept secret
By Ned Brooks, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Simms: Rumors flood Washington in lieu of news
Story of Big Three adds more material
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
WASHINGTON – Washington today is a city of rumor. It reminds me of Paris during those 11 hectic days of November preceding the armistice of 1918.
The simultaneous release here, in London and in Moscow of the first official announcement of the meeting between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin in the Black Sea area. has served to increase the flood.
Envoys with European pipelines are convinced that peace forces inside Germany are already moving to dispense with Hitler and organize some kind of setup for dealing with an ultimatum expected at any time from the Big Three.
Hitler support wanes
According to these sources, Hitler is rapidly losing his support save for the Himmlers, the Goebbels and the fanatical Nazis who already feel the noose closing about their necks and who have everything to lose by surrender.
As for the rest, an increasing number of Germans – including many generals – are desperately seeking an out which would save at least something from the inevitable wreck.
Some informed diplomats are convinced that Berlin may be invested or occupied by the Red Army within the next few days. They also expect an Allied breakthrough to the Rhine and beyond within an equally short time.
Officials won’t talk
American officials are not quite so inclined to talk. They were badly burned last fall when their forecasts of an early end of the European war proved to be erroneous. Overoptimism at that time led to decreased war production and there were stories of ammunition shortages on the Western Front. Then came the Nazi counterattack and a news blackout which gave this country one of the gloomiest Christmases since Pearl Harbor. So nobody wants to be blamed for any more of that sort of national disillusionment.
Nevertheless, the impression in diplomatic circles here is that the crackup of Germany cannot be delayed much longer. While resistance may continue for some time after the fall of Berlin, few experts believe Hitler and his fanatics can hope to defy the Allies indefinitely.
Three invincible machines
So far as the Russians, the Americans and the British are concerned it is observed, they will continue to have, in being, the invincible war machine. After Berlin falls however, and with all the other principal industrial and communication centers, the Wehrmacht will be through as an integrated machine. The best Germany could hope for would be to keep up, for a while, a sort of guerrilla resistance which the Allies could and doubtless would crush probably within a comparatively short period.
Another widely credited report here is that most of the military leaders in Germany are in contact with the generals of the Free Germany Committee headed by Field Marshal von Paulus at Moscow. These officers have been telling their colleagues inside the Reich to cease the struggle and save their country from destruction.
These are just some of the rumors current here. Obviously, no war is ever until the last shot is fired. Every intelligent military leader knows that overconfidence is one of the most fatal of all mistakes. The last, dying bite of a wounded beast can be the most dangerous and most painful. Which is why one observer remarked: “The situation is too widely promising for speculation.”
Allies plot Reich’s defeat by end of next summer
Chiefs of Staff working out details for final blows in east and west
WASHINGTON (UP) – Announcement that the Big Three powers were jointly making detailed plans for the “final phase” of the European war seemed today to mark Germany for the knockout blow before next summer’s end.
The announcement was made in a progress report from the “Black Sea area” where it was disclosed that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph V. Stalin are in conference. They have completed the military phases of their own talks. Their chiefs of staff are now working out the details.
Complete agreement
The official announcement of the current Big Three conference said:
There is complete agreement for joint military operations in the final phase of the war against Nazi Germany. The military staffs of the three governments are now engaged in working out jointly the detailed plans.
Observers felt that military leaders would not be formulating “detailed plans” for the “final phase” until they felt confident that this phase would be completed with a relatively short time.
Much significance was seen in the statement that the plans are being formulated “jointly” by the military staffs of the three governments.
Closer collaboration
They believed that such joint planning meant there would be much closer collaboration henceforth between the Eastern and Western Fronts.
Use of the phrase “joint military operations in the final phase of the war” did not necessarily mean that Russian and British or U.S. troops would literally be fighting side by side, these observers believed, but it did show clearly that operations on the two fronts would be made to dovetail.
A timetable for bringing Germany to her knees probably has been or is being drafted.
Charges refuted
Some observers believe that if the Russians succeed in crossing the Oder in force now and drive a flanking movement into the plains north or south of Berlin, the Western Allies will hurl everything they can assemble into a simultaneous assault on the Western Front.
Regarding military cooperation between Russia and the Western Allies, observers here regarded the announcement of joint plans and planning as official refutation of charges that such cooperation has been lacking.
Actually, there has been closer military cooperation all along then has been realized publicly, and there was no truth to reports that American-British military leaders were not informed in advance of the imminence of the current Russian offensive.
Nazis prepare defiant reply
Official denounces Big Three leaders
LONDON, England (UP) – Nazi propagandists were believed preparing a defiant and sarcastic reply to the announcement that the Allied Big Three were plotting Germany’s final defeat and post-war control of the Reich.
German news agencies carried the Allied announcement without comment for foreign consumption, but have not yet relayed it to the German people.
German press chief Dr. Otto Dietrich gave a clue to the probable propaganda line yesterday when – several hours before the Allied announcement – he denounced President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin as the “greatest war criminals of all time.”
Dr. Dietrich said:
They have made known that they have two aims to pursue. They want to make the German people give themselves up by a maneuver of agitation, and they want to promise eternal peace to a gullible humanity.
They have not succeeded in persuading the German people in past years to capitulate… they will not succeed now, either.
Propaganda drive aimed at Reich
WASHINGTON (UP) – The Big Three conference announcement was a propaganda bomb intended to give unhappy Germans a dreadful shudder.
If their morale was sagging yesterday, it should be drooping today. That is the way the war psychologists estimate the unveiling of the Black Sea area conference.
The Allied leaders broke the precedent of their first meeting by officially announcing this one, and its purpose, while it was still in progress.
Observers believe that a primary purpose in doing this is to exploit the psychological warfare value of the conference to the utmost at this moment while Allied armies are biting deeper into the Reich.
10 Britons killed in plane on way to Big Three meeting
Foreign and war officials among victims – shortage of gas blamed for crash
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Editorial: The Big Three – and others
The Big Three communiqué does not tell much. Having failed to keep the secret the whole world knew, they confirm that they are meeting with their military and political advisors in the Black Sea area. Perhaps their joint announcement at the close of the conference will be more enlightening.
The American people, at least, are tired of having to rely on Churchill crumbs in Commons and on Marshal Stalin’s acts to discover Allied policies and American commitments which President Roosevelt fails to report. Resentment against the President’s secrecy is building barriers of suspicion, which will cause needless trouble when the people are called upon to support the settlement.
We believe the President is sincerely trying to represent a basic American policy acceptable to Congress and the public. If so, it is all the more unfortunate that his yen for lone-hand methods and for keeping the people in the dark weakens him in these Black Sea negotiations. For his power is in direct ratio to the weight of enlightened public opinion behind it. Only as that popular will is known to our allies can the President speak with authority. Fortunately, there have been some such public expressions from Congress, from Protestant organizations and the Catholic hierarchy, from the press and other private agencies, despite the President’s lack of cooperation.
From these expressions, it is clear that the American people – regardless of party or creed or national origin – take very seriously the pledges in the Atlantic Charter, the United Nations Declaration and the Hull-Moscow Pact. They are fighting not only for complete military victory, but also for peace terms and post-war conditions under a democratic international organization which can prevent another war. This is more than sentimental concern and humanitarian regard for the rights of small nations. The kick in American opinion today is the practical conviction that a system of big power dictatorship and conflicting spheres of influence means war in the future as in the past.
Next to military unity, which the communiqué says has been achieved, the biggest issue at the Black Sea session is Allied political unity versus separate settlements – imposed by Marshal Stalin or Mr. Churchill, or both, without consent of the United States, France and the others. The test of this meeting is whether or not it speeds a representative conference with the other Allies, which the Big Three have prevented so far. When de Gaulle says France will be bound by no agreement to which it is not a party, he is speaking for every ally.
“Joint plans for the occupation and control of Germany, the political and economic problems of liberated Europe and proposals for the earliest possible establishment of a permanent international organization to maintain peace” are what the Big Three are discussing, according to the official communiqué. But there is not one word indicating that the Big three recognize that they alone should not and cannot really settle anything. Only a majority of the Allies, backed by a majority public opinion, can do that. Even then, the post-war forces of disorder and chaos will strain the strongest peace settlement.
Editorial: After three years–
Consider, for at least a moment, the story of Frank Hewlett, United Press war correspondent in the Philippines, and Mrs. Hewlett.
On New Year’s Eve, less than a month after Pearl Harbor, Frank Hewlett, the UP man in Manila, having suddenly found himself in the midst of a war, followed the dictates of duty and separated himself from his wife to “cover” Gen. MacArthur’s withdrawal to Bataan Peninsula.
Mrs. Hewlett, at her own insistence, remained in Manila, where her services as a nurse were in demand.
Came the dreary weeks of inevitable defeat on Bataan, followed quickly by the siege of Corregidor and, for Mr. Hewlett, escape from the Philippines to cover the war elsewhere.
For three years Mr. Hewlett has been covering the war in the Pacific. He has seen it from its most disastrous days to the new days of triumph. And throughout, he was unaware of Mrs. Hewlett’s fate.
Except for the fact that he is one of the best of the war correspondents, Mr. Hewlett’s story is only another item in the whole grim episode which began with the surprise Jap attack on Manila and now has been brought to a climax by Gen. MacArthur’s return.
But to us at home, it surely can serve as convincing example of the sacrifice and day-by-day torture to which so many thousands of our citizens – those in the Philippines and those with relatives and friends in the Philippines – have been subjected. It is an inspiring story of courage and patience against insuperable odds. Let’s treasure it as such.
Background of news –
Manila, 1898 and 1945
By Bertram Benedict
As Manila falls into American possession, thoughts inevitably go back to the day in the war with Spain when the American flag flew over the city.
In each case, the Philippine capital lay open to capture because of a naval victory several months before – in 1945, the Battle of Leyte Gulf; in 1898, the Battle of Manila Bay. In each case the city was only lightly defended. But there the similarity ends. In fact, reading today of the capture of Manila in the Spanish-American War makes it seem 470 rather than 47 years ago.
At the outbreak of war in 1898, the U.S. Navy was divided into two parts, an Atlantic squadron and a smaller Pacific squadron under Cdre. Dewey. Dewey’s fleet wouldn’t be considered much of a fleet today. None of his six ships was over 6,000 tons, two were under 3,000, one was unprotected by armor. There were also a revenue cutter and two supply ships.
The commander of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific, Adm. Montojo, also had six ships, none over 3,500 tons, five under 1,500. There were a so-called battleship, two protected cruisers, two gunboats and something with a wooden hull which had to be towed because its machinery wouldn’t work. Several other Spanish warships at Manila were unfit for action because they were undergoing repairs.
Harbor entered May 1
The Spanish fleet sailed for Subic Bay to find out if this were a stronger position; not liking the setup there, Montojo took his force back to Manila. Dewey’s intelligence facilities were little better; he had to send several of his ships to Subic to find out if the Spaniards were still there, before making for Manila.
The American fleet entered Manila Harbor early in the morning of May 1. The shore batteries did not open fire until most of the fleet had slipped by. The Americans waited for the dawn, then opened fire on the Spanish ships at a range of about two and one-half miles, The American fleet sailed back and forth opposite the Spanish ships, and the Spanish gunners weren’t able to score any hits of consequence.
This was the pre-smokeless era, and after several hours the Americans had to stop firing for the smoke to lift so that they could see how much damage they had inflicted. When the smoke cleared, it was seen that the Spanish fleet had been badly damaged; another hour of firing finished it off completely.
Waited three months
Manila then lay open to capture, but Dewey had no troops to occupy the city; he therefore waited patiently in the harbor for infantry to come. It was three months before the troops sent out from San Francisco reached a total of 15,000. They landed unopposed. In the meantime, Aguinaldo, leader of the Filipino native force, had surrounded and besieged Manila with about 14,000 men.
Finally, on August 7, Dewey and Gen. Merritt sent a joint note to the Spanish commander at Manila. ordering him to surrender. He had some 13,000 men but no real facilities for resistance; he asked and was refused time to consult Madrid: on August 13, the Americans advanced, managing to keep the Filipino army out of it; the Spaniards fired only a few shots as token resistance, and then surrendered the city.
On the day before, a truce to all hostilities had been signed, but word had not reached the Philippines, so that Manila, like New Orleans in 1815, was an American victory won after the war was over.
U.S. credit agencies accused of ‘loan shark’ tactics
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
I’ve always thought that the California Chamber of Commerce did a pretty good job of attracting travelers, but apparently our local boys can’t hold a candle to those Berlin ballyhooers.
Why, every single newspaper I pick up has a story datelined Stockholm, or Madrid, or Lisbon which starts like this: “Travelers arriving from Berlin report that – etc., etc.” Honestly, that is the most visited city I have ever seen.
You just watch your newspaper – you’ll see story after story credited to “travelers arriving from Berlin.” Now honestly, if they can attract tourists to that bombed, battered, overcrowded spot, then Californians should hang their heads.
But, as usual, those Germans have done too thorough a job. They’ve gone and made their capital so attractive that about eight million Russians have decided to move in for the season.