Simms: British aim to strengthen old Entente
Churchill-Eden trip to Paris cited
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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France may ask for Rhineland
Territorial demands face Allied council
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France gets promise of Allied arms
Churchill says war may end in 6 months
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V-2 viewed as last hope for Nazi negotiated peace
Germans aim stratosphere bomb on civilian, military morale in France and Britain
By Robert N. Farr, Science Service staff writer
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8th Army tanks near inland port
Patrolling only activity on U.S. front
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U.S., Britain seek air compromise
Officials confer at Chicago session
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In Washington –
Flood control, highway plans get attention
Both bills rank high in lame duck session
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U.S. may mobilize science as permanent military aid
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Wallace linked to several jobs
Speculation also covers Hannegan
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WLB delays Weirton case pending suit by NLRB
Action against company for recognizing union will be given precedence in controversy
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Pyle honored by Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana (UP) –
Ernie Pyle, Scripps-Howard war correspondent, came back home again to Indiana today to receive an honorary degree from Indiana University as “an accurate reporter with a yen to write about common people and ordinary things.”
From the university, his alma mater, Pyle received the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters. It was his second honorary degree within a month, the University of New Mexico having granted him one earlier.
In the audience were his father, William C. Pyle, and his “Aunt Mary” Bales, who came to Bloomington from their home at Dana, Indiana, for the ceremony.
President Herman B. Wells of Indiana University conferred the degree.
Dewey on vacation at Sea Island, Georgia
Sea Island, Georgia (UP) –
Arriving in Georgia for a rest after his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency, Governor Thomas E. Dewey today said he felt “much more rested right now than I did a week ago, and I’m sure my trip to Georgia is going to help still more.”
Accompanying Mr. Dewey were his wife and two sons.
There was no official welcome and political discussions were banned, in accordance with Mr. Dewey’s wishes.
Pearl Harbour enlists in WAC
Los Angeles, California (UP) –
When a new group of WAC recruits left today for basic training, Pearl Harbour went along.
And that’s not all – she’s the seventh of her family to join the services since the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Pearl’s son is in a rest camp after taking part in fighting on Saipan and her five brothers are in combat areas.
Editorial: Whether Hitler or Himmler
The “Hitler” manifesto read by Himmler yesterday does not dispose of the widespread belief that the dictator is dead or at least unable to speak for himself. The labored explanation in the manifesto itself indicates that Germans, no less than others, think he would not have remained silent willingly during the past four fateful months.
This does not sound convincing:
If in these days I speak to you, the German people, only little and rarely, it is due to the fact that I work, work for the fulfillment of those tasks which the times have imposed on me and which must be fulfilled in order to give fate another turn again.
Whether Hitler is living or dead, whether he is a prisoner of Himmler or violently insane, whether he was seriously injured by attempted assassins or is simply too busy to speak, as the manifesto states, is all very interesting. But these questions are less important than many people seem to think – at least they are not decisive.
The significant fact, as pointed out by Prime Minister Churchill and others, is that there is no reliable evidence of German revolt or internal collapse. Allied military superiority, and not Hitler’s death, is what counts.
Though there is no sign of Germany quitting now, this defiant Hitler-Himmler manifesto and the twin speech by Goebbels tend to confirm two allied assumptions. One is that Germany’s rulers know they are licked, and that they are continuing the fight because they personally cannot survive unconditional surrender.
The other is that they still have hopes, however faint, that by prolonging a costly conflict they can create enough war weariness among the Allies to force a compromise peace. That would mean Nazi victory despite military defeat.
The last-ditch note runs through the Hitler-Himmler manifesto, and Goebbels speaks of the “last round” and of preparations to “fight in every house and every street.” Goebbels repeats the lie – denied by Messrs. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, and the French Foreign Minister – that the Allies want to “wipe the Reich off the map.” Then he says Germany “will fight until our damned enemies will be prepared to conclude a decent peace.” This is in line with the recurring reports that Germany is offering a compromise.
Fortunately, there is now less danger than ever before that Germany will win the war by such diplomatic trickery. There was a time when it seemed she might split the United Nations, by playing Russia off against Britain and the United States, or the opposite. For the Allies by quarrels to throw away complete victory now, when it is within their grasp, is unthinkable.
Whether the job takes six months more as Mr. Churchill suggested yesterday in Paris, or less as some Allied commanders believe, or whether it takes much longer, the enemy’s unconditional surrender is the fixed goal.
Background of news –
The Pearl Harbor probe
By Bertram Benedict
The Navy Department will make public within two weeks part, at least, of the report made Oct. 20 by a board of inquiry on the Pearl Harbor disaster.
Congress, after reconvening tomorrow, probably will not do anything about extending the time for Pearl Harbor courts-martial until hitherto secret findings of the Army and Navy on the disaster have been disclosed. Originally the period for such courts-martial would have expired on Dec. 7, 1943, under a two-year statute of limitations.
Last year, Congress extended the period to June 7, 1944. On June 7, 1944, Congress extended it to Dec. 7, 1944, one month after the 1944 elections. The Senate agreed to this date without a record vote. The House agreed by vote of 213–141, with all but one Democrat in the affirmative, and the Republicans in the negative by 139–42.
Congress probably has no power to order courts-martial, which are up to the executive branch of the government. If the reports now on file in the War and Navy Departments from their boards of inquiry on Pearl Harbor recommend against courts-martial of Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short, the two men may never be tried. Or other Pearl Harbor officers may be court-martialed.
Knox investigated first
Several days after the disaster at Pearl Harbor, the late Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, flew to Hawaii to investigate. On Dec. 15, 1941, he stated that Army and Navy forces there had been “not on the alert against the surprise attack.” On Dec. 16, President Roosevelt announced that a special commission, headed by Associate Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court, would make an inquiry and report on whether there had been “derelictions of duty or errors of judgment” at Pearl Harbor.
The Roberts Commission reported on Jan. 24, 1942. It found that the commanding officers at Hawaii and their chief subordinates had considered the danger of an air attack “practically nil.” Although they had conferred frequently on other matters, particularly sabotage, they had not conferred on the messages sent them from Washington warning against a Japanese attack.
On Feb. 7, 1942, Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short asked for retirement, and their requests were granted. On Feb. 28, 1942, Washington announced that they would be court-martialed; later, that the courts-martial would be postponed.
In its resolution of June 7, 1944, Congress directed the Secretaries of War and the Navy to investigate the circumstances at Pearl Harbor at once, and to initiate court-martial proceedings at their discretion. The Army and Navy boards of inquiry thus authorized were set up on July 14; they filed their reports on Oct. 20 last.
Previous cases recalled
In 1848, Gen. John C. Frémont was found guilty of mutiny and disobedience of orders; but public opinion was on his side, and he became the Republican Party’s first nominee for the Presidency, in 1856.
In the Civil War, Gen. Fitz John Porter was held responsible by court-martial for the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas.
In 1898, Cdre. Winfield Scott Schley assumed command at the Battle of Santiago Bay when his superior officer, W. T. Sampson, was absent at a conference with Gen. Shafter. The Navy Department deplored Schley’s conduct before and during the battle, and President McKinley submitted to the Senate a list advancing Sampson eight points in rank, Schley six points; the Senate refused to approve the promotions.
In 1901, Schley finally asked for a court of inquiry. It delivered findings adverse to Schley, but public opinion was inclined to agree with Mr. Dooley that Schley was condemned for winning the battle the wrong way instead of losing it the right way.
Public opinion was also on the side of the late “Billy” Mitchell, trenchant advocate of airpower, who was found guilty by court-martial in 1925 of conduct “to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.”