SUN4DAY, JU3NE 28, M2 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE
______0 --The
Foreign--Near East Imperiled
Veek
Half of the strands in the slender
thread that prevents the Nazi sword
of Damocles from sweeping through
the Near East snapped last week as
much beleaguered, taken, and re-
taken Tobruk fell before the swift,
balanced striking forces of Field
Marshal Rommel.
The other strands were strained to
the utmost by the drive and fury of
full-tilt German assaults on Sevas-
topol and Kharkov. Thus the long
feared spring campaigns of Hitler
and his legions broke upon a world
that had forgotten their might, that
had complacently thought produc-
tion the only answer to the chal-
lenge of the Axis.y
It was apparent at the close of last
week that the Nazis held an upper
hand in the Libyan and Soviet thea-
tres of war, but confident officials
and peoples of the United Nations
merely turned it off with "The tem-
porary fortunes of war." No longer
can anyone look at those areas with
that attitude.
Outstanding General
Rommel ignored British press re-
leases and the much-publicized To-
bruk outer ring of defenses to cap-
ture the war-devastated city with a
minimum of difficulty. After days
of preparation with larger guns, and
it^ now appears with superior tanks,
the wily general who is certainly the
war's outstanding director of mech-
anized units and probably its great-
est tactician-strategist, swept into
Tobruk from all sides.
Once again Americans bitterly cri-
ticized their desert-weary ally, but it
was nothing like the ruckus kicked
up in London. Newspapers swore
that the government had completely
misled them, conservatives and lib-
erals paced the floor of the House of
Commons, and a few old boys in the
House of Lords had caustic words
for the military leadership of the
Churchill government.
Whether or not the storm of pro-
test would unseat Churchill or any
of his supporters did not change the
facts in Libya-or rather Egypt.
Rommel was in full movement over
the border headed for the next Brit-
Nazis Capture Russian Rail Junction
STATUT MILESLine of farthest
German edvanc
KN (December, 19411
wR~jrKUPYANSK.
K 1 E N C t;k~rCa ZYUM
13ARVENKOVA N
ONIEPERO
PE TROVSK
$TALI NO.
ZAPOROZHE
RUSSIA
M!rt I TOPOL
-O
A zov
CRIMEA KERCH
To Caucasus
And Oil Fields
Black Sea a
A full-fledged Nazi offensive in the Ukraine appeared under
way as the Russians acknowledged that a German drive (arrow)
had captured Kupyansky, a railway junction 60 miles southeast of
Kharkov, and a city of 18,000 population. The broken line indicates
the front previous to the Nazi break-through. Sevastopol still with-
stood the German siege.
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ish bastion at Matruh. He captured
the unprepared tank and infantry
groups. In short, Matruh is in des-
perate condition.
* * *
Invaders Halted
Russian defenders of the huge
Black Sea port of Sevastopol could
feel little safer than residents of
Sunday at the Wolverine
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Grilled Tenderloin Steak
Whipped Potatoes or Frenchfried Potatoes
New Green Beans, Carrots Julienne
Fresh Vegetable Salad or Florida Fruit Salad
Hot Rolls and Butter
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Guest Price 55c
Cairo. Hemmed in by German hordes
intent on successful ending of one
of the longest sieges in history, the
Reds were compelled to close breach
after breach in their defenses. Of-
ten they had no sooner closed one
gap then another was opened. But
still they hung on. What Leningrad
and Moscow had done it now ap-
peared Se astopol could do-that is,
resist the fullest effort of the Nazis,
makewaste of Hitler's greatest ex-
penditures of time, money and men.
Always behind the men of Sevas-
topol remains the thought: The clock
is running out, and every minute we
hold back the barbarians is a minute
blow struck for civilization. They
may not be able to hold, but they
are winning a victory no matter what
happens.
The loss of Sevastopol would be a
terrible one. The Nazi sword of
Damocles no longer poised, but strik-
ing with terrible force toward the
Caucasus would get OIL. Singapore's
would be repeated and the war's
end postponed almost indefinitely.
Nazis Advance
wmw
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East of Kharkov the Germans ad-
vanced too. They took more terri-
tory, but it was less vital and from
other parts of the long, obscure Rus-
sian front no news of importance ap-
peared.
No. 3 man in the Axis acrobatic
team-in point of time-Japan, also
was up to monkeyshines. Relations
between Tokyo's back-biters and
Russian diplomats were strained to
the breaking point when a Jap sub-
marine treacherously sunk a Soviet
freighter promised safe conduct. Ac-
cording to Moscow reports, 1,000,000
Japanese troops in Manchuria are
poised for a swift invasion of Siberia
next month.
Australia seemed still in the pro-
cess of building a land offensive base
while Japanese appeared to have
concentrated their main fdrces else-
where, both of them exchanging
token air raids of no import.
Meanwhile Gracie Allen knew as
much as George Burns about the
Aleutians. Navy officials seem un-
perturbed about a few thousand
stray Japs swarming over American
territory under cover of fog-at least
if they are worried they don't reveal
it.
That about covers things except
for the 'second front' but nobody
knows any details-which is as it
should be. They come out for it
one by one-the big shots, I mean,
but what we wonder is when the
little guys are going to be allowed
to get to work on the diversion front.
- Hale Champion
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