Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin may map Balkan offensive
Invasion of Bulgaria may be decided upon when Big Three hold conference soon
By Ned Russell, United Press staff writer
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Millett: Post-war rivalry for jobs must be based on equality
Fair play means men and women will compete if democracy is to grow strong in America
By Ruth Millett
…
What have I to to do to get more then the headlines?
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You can help me transcribe these news stories. DM me if you’re interested in helping me out with this (linked to news from today):
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=djft3U1LymYC&dat=19431119&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
Völkischer Beobachter (November 20, 1943)
Der große Streit um Afrika beginnt –
Vor dem Raub der französischen Kolonien
Als Preis für die anglo-amerikanische ‚Hilfe‘
vb. Wien‚ 19. November –
Wenn der französische Emigrantengeneral de Gaulle ernsthaft geglaubt haben sollte, die Briten betrachteten ihn als einen gleichwertigen Bundesgenossen und Churchill meine es ernst mit seinen häufig wiederholten Phrasen von der Wiederherstellung der Größe Frankreichs, so zeigt die Haltung der britischen Regierung im Libanon-Konflikt nach vielen anderen Maßnahmen, vollends die Feindseligkeit Londons gegen alle kolonialen Aspirationen der Franzosen. Die letzten Zweifel verscheuchte ihm heute die Daily Mail mit der Feststellung, daß selbstverständlich nicht mit einer Wiederherstellung der unbegrenzten französischen Souveränität in Nordafrika gerechnet werden dürfe.
In einem längeren Artikel unter dem Titel „Afrika ist der Schlüssel zu Europa“ erklärt der bekannte Journalist Ward Price, der gegenwärtige Krieg habe jedem Briten zu vollem Bewußtsein gebracht, wie wichtig es sei, daß die Südküste des Mittelmeeres nicht feindseligen Einflüssen offenstehe. Wörtlich heißt es dann weiter:
Die Hälfte dieses umfangreichen Territoriums befindet sich in den Händen unserer französischen Alliierten. Angesichts der großen Anstrengungen, die Großbritannien und die USA darauf verwandt haben, dieses Gebiet von den Bedingungen zu befreien, die ihm durch den deutschen Waffenstillstand auferlegt wurden, muß man erwarten, daß der Regierung dieser Länder die Benützung von Luftstützpunkten in Nordafrika gestattet wird.
Das läßt an Deutlichkeit nichts zu wünschen übrig. Den französischen Emigranten wird klipp und klar angekündigt, daß sie einen entsprechenden Preis für die „Hilfe“ der Anglo-Amerikaner zu zahlen Haben – und dieser Preis besteht in nichts Geringerem als der Souveränität über das französische Kolonialreich. Klassisch britisch geradezu ist die Begründung, die Ward Price diesem Anspruch gibt: Mister Eisenhower selbst mußte zugeben, daß die Yankees nie und nimmer nach Afrika hineingekommen wären, ihnen die verräterischen französischen Generale nicht freiwillig Tür und Tor geöffnet. Imstande hiezu waren sie lediglich, weil Deutschland großzügig darauf verzichtet hatte, das französische Kolonialreich im Waffenstillstand der deutschen Aufsicht zu unterstellen. Heute werden die selbstmörderischen Hilfsdienste, die Darlan, Giraud, de Gaulle und so weiter den Briten und Amerikanern leisteten, von den Engländern plötzlich in ein schweres Opfer umgefälscht, das sie, die Anglo-Amerikaner, der französischen Sache gebracht hätten, und die Rechnung dafür wird präsentiert.
Einer will den anderen betrügen
An dem Artikel der Daily Mail ist schließlich noch interessant, daß die Briten heute bereits für sich ein „Mandat“ über das italienische Libyen fordern. Da sie bereit sind, Europa dem Bolschewismus auszuliefern, suchen sie also für sich bereits, ähnlich wie nach dem ersten Weltkrieg, das große Geschäft in Kolonien zu reservieren. In Moskau freilich wird man darüber ebenso ingrimmig lächeln wie in Washington und Neuyork. Denn Roosevelt so gut wie Stalin haben in Nordafrika ihre eigenen Pläne, die ein wenig anders aussehen als die Londoner Träume.
Erst in diesen Tagen wieder gab der Chef der Pan American Airways, der Clipper-Imperialist Trippe, im Tone stolzen Selbstbewußtseins eine Übersicht über die Fortschritte des amerikanischen Luftfahrtwesens in Afrika. Zwischen den Zeilen seines Berichts, der bezeichnenderweise in einer südafrikanischen Zeitschrift erschien, stand unverblümt die Feststellung, die USA hätten die Briten im afrikanischen Luftfahrtgeschäft schon vollkommen abgedrosselt.
Und was Stalin in Nordafrika will, haben ja seine Sendboten in dem neuaufgezogenen französischen Parlament in Algier ebenfalls mit wünschenswerter Deutlichkeit zu verstehen gegeben: die Demonstrationszüge, die sie in der Stadt organisierten, forderten nicht mehr und nicht weniger als die nordafrikanische Sowjetrepublik.
Einhelligkeit besteht also, was Nordafrika angeht, zwischen den „drei Hauptalliierten,“ um mit Ward Price zu reden, nur in einem Punkt: die Franzosen sollen die Zeche bezahlen. So ist die Saat aufgegangen, die die landesverräterischen Generale vor einem Jahr auswarfen.
U.S. Navy Department (November 20, 1943)
Communiqué No. 485
South Pacific.
The small vessel reported lost in the communiqué dated November 18, 1943, issued from Allied HQ Southwest Pacific, was the USS McKEAN (APD-5). This vessel sank November 17 as a result of attack by enemy aircraft off the southwest coast of Bougainville Island.
The next of kin of the casualties will be notified as soon as possible.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 17
Marine Corps and Army forces covered by powerful units of all types of the Pacific Fleet have established beachheads on Makin and Tarawa Atolls, Gilbert Islands, meeting moderate resistance at Makin and strong resistance at Tarawa. Fighting continues during these operations. Army Liberators made diversionary attacks in the Marshalls.
The Pittsburgh Press (November 20, 1943)
8TH ARMY SMASHES AHEAD 5 MILES IN ITALY
Fighting lull ended; Yanks also advance
Germans lose heavily as they try to half push near Adriatic
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, Algiers, Algeria –
Allied troops have advanced on both ends of the Italian front to break a week’s lull, it was announced today, with British 8th Army troops driving forward five miles through stiff German opposition to capture Perano, northwest of Atessa.
Battling in miserable weather, the British forces inflicted considerable casualties on German troops who tried vainly to halt their push toward the flooded Sangro River. The advance was scored as U.S. forces of the 5th Army gained new ground above Venafro, across the peninsula on the western end of the line.
Raid rail lines
Weather hampered aerial activity but fighters raided road and rail lines near Rieti, only 15 miles northeast of Rome, destroying or damaging several locomotives and freight cars.
The 8th Army’s successful attack, breaking a long weather-enforced lull on the wintry front, took place 12 miles inland from the Adriatic while at other points on the 8th Army’s line patrols made thrusts across the Sangro River into the strong Nazi defenses northward.
The capture of Perano gave Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s forces control of the 12-mile stretch inland only a mile from the Sangro from which they can harass enemy positions.
Vigorous patrol fights took place between 8th Army forces and enemy units north of Rionero, further inland, and the Nazis were bested several times in skirmishes which cost them casualties.
In the sudden renewal of fighting, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark’s American wing of the 5th Army north of Venafro also scored a slight gain in the face of heavy artillery fire.
Improve positions
A communiqué described the action on the 5th Army front as an improvement of position. The Americans were battling through deep enemy defenses laid in the mountains to protect the best roads northward toward Rome.
The communiqué said in reporting that mud, snow, rain and cold still impeded the Allied armies:
Bad weather conditions continue.
Night bombing planes on armed reconnaissance hit at the town of Lanciano, 13 miles southeast of Chieti and near the Adriatic coast.
Air action was limited by the weather, the communiqué said, but planes struck above the battlefront area and ranged over Metković, Yugoslavia, to attack railway targets and enemy motor transport. Two enemy aircraft were destroyed. Three Allied planes were missing.
Naval planes rip Jap bases
Fleet joins in assault on Gilberts, Marshalls
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
A U.S. carrier task force pierced the Jap shield of mid-Pacific bases Thursday to send out planes that bombed Nauru Island and joined Army bombers in a non-stop offensive against the Marshalls and Gilberts, Pacific Fleet headquarters disclosed today.
Tokyo radio said the attacks on the Gilberts continued into their seventh day yesterday when “several score” planes raided the islands. Twenty of them were said to have been shot down. A retaliatory Jap raid on American-held Funafuti Island on the Ellice group was also claimed.
In actions possibly presaging increasing blows to crumple the long, island-held enemy defenses across the Pacific, the fleet units hit Nauru with 90 tons of bombs and attacked Betio Island, in Tarawa Atoll of the Gilberts.
Big fires were started and several enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Nauru, tiny 6.5-square-mile phosphate island which lies 500 miles west of the Gilberts and just south of the equator inside the Jap fringe of islands guarding her Pacific conquests.
One small ship was set afire and two of seven enemy Zero fighters appearing belatedly during the attack were shot down. Not one U.S. plane was lost and only one pilot was wounded by ground fire.
Nauru, which produced 4% of the world’s phosphate before the war, had never before been hit by carrier planes. Liberators had raided it several times. It is only 1,200 miles southeast of the big Jap naval base at Truk, in the Carolines.
Other raids listed
Shortly before announcement of the Nauru raid was made by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’s headquarters, a communiqué disclosed the attack on Betio, where large oil fires were started.
The day before, land-based Liberators hit Mili and Maloelap, in the Marshalls, shooting down one and probably two enemy planes, damaging several others and battering airfields, barracks and oil dumps. At noon Thursday, Mili and Tarawa were hit. Five Zeroes were seen but none attacked.
It was the first time the enemy had been able to mount opposition to the attacks which began last Saturday – only two days after Adm. Nimitz’s Armistice Day address in which he said, “The time has come to attack.”
Japs left wondering
The raids, which left the Japs wondering where they will be hit next, also lent weight to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox’s statement that a U.S. naval force was prowling the Pacific, looking for the enemy with scant success in drawing him out for a fight. He said the Navy has not encountered any units of the Jap fleet since Nov. 2.
The raids so far on the Marshalls and Gilberts – brought under continuous bombardment for the first time in the war – had been carried out without loss of an Army bomber. Their strength and bases were not revealed. The Ellice Islands lie to the south of the Gilberts and Marshalls.
The difference of the advertising parts of a US Newspaper and a German newspaper is stunning. History is sometimes more visible in what is normal life to people than what is in the headlines.
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In Washington –
Foe of subsidies scolds those who charge betrayal
Congressman criticizes Mrs. Roosevelt and League of Women Voters, denies people support program
…
Need for increased taxes is denied by House report
Administration expenditure estimates called too high; inflation ‘gap’ minimized
…
Draft board places Lou Costello in 1-A
Hollywood, California (UP) –
Comedian Lou Costello announced today he had been reclassified 1-A by his draft board in Paterson, New Jersey, and ordered to report for immediate physical examination.
Costello, who will be 38 years old next March, is the father of two daughters, aged 7 and 5. His infant son, Lou Jr., drowned in the swimming pool of the Costello home Nov. 4.
Costello said:
I’ll be the happiest guy in the world if I can pass the physical examination.
Costello recently recovered from rheumatic fever.
Victor McLaglen to wed
Hollywood, California –
Husky Victor McLaglen, 56, portrayer of two-fisted movie parts, announced today he will wed his secretary, Suzanne Rockefeller Brueggeman, 31. It will be the first marriage for Miss Brueggeman. McLaglen’s first wife died two years ago.
Army’s barman makes good – but not as a B-A-R man
Peacetime dispenser of beer and whisky overcomes his first ‘big mistake’
By John Lardner, North American Newspaper Alliance
…
Peace feelers from Germany again rumored
Conservatives seeking to ward off punishment awaiting nation
By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
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Col. Greer: Enemy blunder shown clearly in holding war
Nazis sacrificed men at Stalingrad and in North Africa
By Col. Allen J. Greer, North American Newspaper Alliance
Buffalo, New York –
The phenomenal successes of the Prussians in their wars during the last century gave to the German general staff a reputation for infallibility in military planning that persisted even after German defeat in World War I, its prestige was revived by the decisive victories the Nazis won against Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece and against Russia in 1941.
While early in 1942 the Germans won victories in Russia and North Africa, the tide has turned. In North Africa, Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery decisively defeated Marshal Erwin Rommel at El Alamein and forced the Axis forces to begin the long retreat which ended with their destruction in Tunisia.
Show Nazi blunders
The Allies had air supremacy and superiority in ground forces. Common sense demanded that Rommel withdraw toward Tripoli but he remained and the Allied victory which followed showed the blunders and fallibility of the German High Command.
The next German disaster was at Stalingrad where the Germans continued to attack after chances of taking the city has disappeared and withdrawal was postponed until it become impossible. The High command’s blunder cost 340,000 German casualties.
Nazi force sacrificed
While Allied troops landed in North Africa in November 1942, instead of the Germans realizing they could not hold territory beyond a sea controlled by Allied warships and evacuating as many troops as possible, they sent strong reinforcements which, although delaying the Allied conquest, ended in their destruction. This was another blunder by the German High Command.
In 1943, the Germans opened their summer offensive on July 5 against Kursk without the necessary superiority in air or ground forces to assure success and without securing surprise. Disastrous defeat was the logical result of blunders in planning and preparation.
Retreat to Dnieper
The German defeat gave the Russians the opportunity to start their counteroffensive which is still progressing. When the Germans were driven from Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov, they retreated to the Dnieper River.
Even then probably they contemplated an ultimate withdrawal to the Polish-Romanian border but stopped temporarily at the Dnieper, supposing that the Russians did not have the power and means to continue their drive. This may have appeared reasonable but it turned out to be another costly blunder of the German High Command.
Nazis consider prestige
The Russian victories that followed, the hasty German retreat and the highly-dangerous situation of their troops now in the Dnieper bend and the Crimea all resulted from the German persistence in remaining too long in positions they had not the strength to defend.
Today, German forces are dispersed in Italy, the Balkans and Norway, all far less important areas than the Russian front. Reluctance to abandon these countries is understandable but sound judgment should demand that it be done.
Apparently, considerations of prestige at home and abroad, not strategic judgment, have dominated and are still governing the decisions of the German High Command.
Aussies renew drive in Guinea
Push on Jap pocket close to Finschhafen
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer
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Simms: Russia moving to terminate hermit status
U.S. officials believe she will take place in world affairs
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Editorial: Cold comfort
As we face the prospect of an undeniably chilly winter, there might be some cold comfort in the recollection that America shivered through and survived another coal-short wartime winter. That was the winter of 1917-18, and if you are old enough to remember it, you probably remember that we had not only Meatless and Wheatless Days, but Heatless Days as well.
There was no nationwide coal strike in World War I, and the industrial demand did not approach our present needs. But there was a railroad car shortage and a badly snarled transportation system in our one wartime winter, which, with severe cold in January and February 1918, made that winter for many a time of prolonged discomfort.
All plants and offices, except government offices and the most essential industries, shut down on Monday. Bars were also closed on Monday, even though there was no liquor shortage then. Streetcars loaded and discharged passengers at every second or third stop to save electricity. And though nobody had ever heard of the dimout, unnecessary outdoor lighting was prohibited on certain nights of the week. Some states imposed even more rigid controls.
A cold and angry mob in Philadelphia stormed coal trains as they arrived in the yards. In West Virginia, ministers left their pulpits to mine coal. A group of 200 Kentucky businessmen were volunteer miners in their spare hours; a band escorted them to the mine and women fed coffee and doughnuts to the night shift.
We had no radio, no OWI, and no government-made movies to spread information 26 years ago, but an extensive program of education for coal users was set up. There was a “Tag Your Shovel Day” when schoolchildren tied tags with printed coal-saving instructions on the family shovel. Thirteen million pamphlets on “Coal Saving at Home” were distributed. Many cities had “discussion stations” were householders could learn the care and economical feeding of furnaces. Factories were urged to wash their windows, let in the daylights, and turn off the lights.
Wartime America did what it could in that 1917-18 winter, and yet a lot of people were cold, a lot of people will be cold this winter, too, in spite of forewarning and more complete information on making your coal supply last longer. Distribution is in better order and the railroads, though overtaxed, are functioning admirably. But the demand is tremendous. And four work stoppages in recent months didn’t help a bit.
Everyone will have to take every fuel-saving precaution possible in the cold months ahead if we are to get through in tolerable comfort, for the situation is undeniably serious. After that there isn’t much to do except shiver and bear it, remembering that most people who went through the cold discomfort of 1917-18 have long since forgotten it.
Ferguson: Women’s handicap
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
Are women more easily propagandized than men? John Roy Carlson, now in the limelight for his reports on American Fascism, says they are.
We will not quarrel with the statement. Honest, self-examining women realize how often their zeal misleads them. We are born with an urge for reform and often destroy the things we wish to keep by the intensity of our enthusiasm for an unworkable scheme. Note how many women wreck their marriages by trying to change their husbands.
We have had reason to develop self-confidence slowly. That reason was male. The most interesting research is a study of American history. You can’t remain calm while you read of the brow-beatings our pious fathers gave their docile women by thundering at them about God’s commands.
The male has always set himself up as a divine interpreter. It was his powerful penetration that sensed what Jehovah wanted women to do, and he was never timid about proclaiming those wishes to her. For generations, she accepted the propaganda concocted by the male.
Besides, God implanted to our natures an undying desire to be liked and admired by men. We adore these bossy creatures and can’t help it. It is our worst handicap.
Women fear men’s dislike and they cannot endure men’s ridicule. This is the true reason for our gullibility and our lack of influence in public affairs.
Poll: U.S. voters shy the facts about Canada
Poll finds friendly feeling, but little knowledge of dominion
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
If Canada is to have a chance to play the role of interpreting the Old World to the New – our northern neighbor still has to spread a few facts about herself south of the border, and Americans must absorb them, judging from the results of a survey by the American Institute of Public Opinion.
Attention has been focused on Canada through the fact that the Canadian Legation in Washington and the U.S. Legation in Ottawa have been elevated to the rank of embassies. This move followed on the heels of a debate in the Senate on the Connally resolution, in which supporters of the resolution advanced the view that Canada and the other Dominions were actually not “free and sovereign nations.”
Americans need facts
In spite of these developments, and the fact that Canada has risen to fourth place among the United Nations on the basis of war production, most Americans still need some elementary facts about the Dominion.
For example, in the course of the survey, the Institute asked:
The population of the United States is about 134 million. What would you guess is the population of Canada?
Only 8% of the U.S. voters interviewed could come within a million of the correct figure – about 11,600,000. Estimates ran all the way from one million to even higher than the population of the United States. About half of those interviewed could not even hazard a guess.
Role in Empire
Canada also faces a fact-reading task in informing Americans as to her actual status within the Commonwealth. Although the Dominion has not paid any taxes to Britain for many years, some 72% of the American voting public think Canada still pays part of her taxes directly to Britain, or don’t know whether she makes any tax payments to Britain. Only 28%, judging from this survey, know that no taxes collected in Canada go to Britain.
What impressions U.S. voters do have about Canada, however, are generally favorable to the Dominion. For example, the largest single group of those with an opinion on the matter believe that Canada has been more successful in keeping the lid on prices than the United States.
Survey percentages
Representative Americans from all walks of life were asked:
Do you think that Canada has been more successful than we have in keeping prices from rising during the war?
| More successful | 38% |
| Less successful | 7% |
| About the same | 8% |
| No opinion | 47% |
A majority of Americans believe Canada’s war effort is “all out.” Field reporters asked:
Do you think Canada is doing all it possibly can to win the war?
| Yes | 59% |
| No | 8% |
| No opinion | 33% |
In both factual knowledge about the friendliness toward Canada, states closest to the northern border rate higher than other sates. For example, 62% of the population interviewed in the border states area thought Canada was doing all she could to help win the war, as against 58% in other states.