SUNDAY, JULY 12, 1942 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE TH . MIC IG AN BA.v y V A (11 a SB N-A la 1 1 a 1 The Week In Review Domestic - Foreign They taunted the Nazis about the spring offensive that didn't come. They laughed at Hitler's boasts about his still intact striking power. After two weeks of a summer of- fensive every bit as severe, every bit as savage and merciless as any spring campaign the Nazis ever conducted, no one was laughing. Instead they watched with increas- ing fear a reckless German assault that grew in fury day by day, an assault that smashed across the Riv- er Don in two places, an assault that led the Russian Army's official news- paper Red Star to describe the whole situation as 'most tense.' And indeed the situation is most tense. Sevastopol has fallen, and the troops held there so long are ready to launch a full-scale attack across the narrow neck of water which separates Kerch from the Cau- casus. That's one danger point. The second is the area west of Ros- tov where not much pressure is at present being exerted, but where the Nazis once swept almost within shouting distance of that land of heart's desire for Hitler's henchmen, the Caucasus. They might well use the same route again. The third and present point of bitter dispute, and one of the war's vital battlefields is the area in and around Rossosh, a town which the Nazis have finally entered after days of terrific tank and infantry action. However, the battle still rages out- side the city and the Soviet position is not yet hopeless in this sector. The fall of Rossosh is dangerous for two reasons. Rossosh is on the Moscow- Rostov railway and it means that the Germans have now snapped that vital supply link. It also means that they can strike ahead towards the Volga and if successful entirely iso- late the Caucasus-a move which would eliminate much of the chance for a successful defense of that long- time German goal. Battle Of The Don Still farther north a struggle which will probably be written into history books as the Battle of the Don looks like it will be labelled a German vic- tory in those same books. For here the Nazis have thrown hundreds of tanks and hundreds of thousands of men into an action which equals in size the titanic struggle around Smo- lensk last fall. In the face of tremendous losses the Hitler armies have established two bridgeheads across, the Don - unfortunately a river which is nei- ther broad nor deep-and driven in- to the suburbs of Voronezh, another key point on the Moscow-Rostov rail- way line. This successful assault, if continued, also promises dire strate- gic results. With control over Vor- onezh and Rossosh a Nazi drive to- ward the Volga would not only cut off the Caucasus but would trap part of the Soviet armies-which are hold- ing firm far west of the Don-in the center. Such is the 'most tense' situation in Southern Russia. True, Timoshen- ko, a well-tried and capable general, has attempted counter-attacks to re- lieve the pressure, but such has been the size of the German reserve that none of the waves of Nazi attackers had to be shifted. As a consequence the usually successful tactic failed. Perhaps principahy responible is that under newly restored Field Mar- shal von Brautsitch the Nazis are once again united under a real military leader, and the lack of consistency which marked Hitler's reign as actu- al commander-in-chief has come to an end. There is still another more than ordinarily active sector on the Rus- sian front and again the Germans were on the offensive. The Nazis opened an important attack near Kalinin north of Moscow which may be the beginning of another fierce drive on the capital. Here, however, they made little progress, and their huge fatality list heartened the Rus- sians. The Soviets were on the offensive only once during the week as they struck from northern bases at the Nazi raiders which continually har- ass the huge Anglo-American con- voys bound for Murmansk. One sub claimed extensive damage to the Tir- pitz, that proud remaining leviathan of the Nazi fleet. Planes also took their toll at German raiding bases. Soviet officials saw a Russian hour of destiny approaching. They were pretty certain that when the hour came they would make Russia mis- tress of her own destiny, but they wished fervently for a second front which would make it certain. Yugoslavian Front So far the only second front was in Yugoslavia where a desperately skillful band of guerillas-that had become in fact an army-drove divi- sions of first class Nazi troops almost Russian Situation 'Most Tense' Squabble Over Spies joined the Nazis in the futile chase of the old fox who like the famous Willie Keeler 'hits 'em where they ain't.' At week's end he was still where they weren't, and doing plenty of damage. Egyptian Interlude Big news last week was Rommel's race towards Alexandria, and its fi- nal halt because of tenuously thin supply lines, terrifically exhausted munitions headed for other Near East and Middle East posts and thus were well reinforced. While resting the RAF went after German truck and tank depots with considerable success. They left the long distance bombing of supply centers and trans- ports to American four-motored bombers which grew' more active as the week wore on. Now it appears that Rommel and Auchinleck are coming to grips again as a huge air battles rages, as the agent Otto Abetz. The French con- trolled positions to be given up in- clude Toulon, base of an almost com- plete French navy. What might hap- pen if the French navy is forced into action in the Mediterranean is not problematical. Alexandria would be about as safe as the proverbial hor- net's nest. England after her brief reaction against the fall of Tobruk half set- tled down again this week, and as usual was the source of news only because the RAF continued its raids, men and stiffened Allied resistance. Nazis advance on the south, and as Why U.S. Must Hold Aleutians ~ 'a I P* HARBOR a-'ter' A -- - " '. 40*... ' TOKYO TO SEATTLE ON T HE 0 US. bases Q Jap bases UNALAS A ® Russian bases ]Kisk /, .UTi ag. Aniha as, 0 so + " Attu nalaska - Atiu c 1% ,Buldir Agattu /fKiska f.Tanaga r,- m 'wtia } Amchitka ,a 10 100 200 300 MILES 500 600 700 800 THE ALEUTIANS--TSrPP/NG S TONES - One Army general as good as told the Attorney General of the United States, the director of the Office of War Information and a Presidential secretary to go to hell this week- and he got away with it. The trouble started when Elmer Davis-to whom the executive order of June 13 gave complete charge of all war information-objected to the high-handed manner in which the Army was treating both the press and the public as it steadfastly refused to give out even a hint of what was tak- ing place at the trial of eight Nazi saboteurs who were landed on the Atlantic coast by German U-boats last month. Davis, backed by Attorney General Francis Biddle and Presidential sec- retary Stephen Early, felt-and still feels-that the public is entitled to any and all of the facts of the case which would not disclose necessarily confidential military matters. Tough and tight-lipped Maj.-Gen. Frank R. McCoy, president of the commission hearing the case, seemingly does not give a damn about the public, nor about Davis, Biddle and Early. He says no one shall know anything- and he is making it stick. Open And Closed The official statements concern- ing the proceedings contain little more than a bare, "The commission opened the third day's hearings . .. and, "The commission closed the third day's hearings.. ." For a news- hungry American public, these are far from satisfactory. General McCoy's nose-thumbing reached a peak on Tuesday when he flatly refused to even see Davis's personal representative and com- pletely ignored a written plea from Biddle. A second plea brought the cryptic information that "the gentle- man needn't wait." The gentleman- Henry Paynter, one of Davis' assis- tants in the OWI-is still waiting, however, and is beginning to feel something like the original Forgotten Man. Elmer Davis is nominally director of all war information; but right now an Army general is doing the directing. Although the outcome of the squabble is uncertain, round one must be chalked up to the Army. FBI Hits At Bund While the trial of the eight sabo- teurs continued throughout the week despite the prestige-and-power bat- tle ranging around it, the Federal Bureau of Investigation struck hard at an equally dangerous and more abundant type of Nazi-members of the German-American Bund and other pro-Axis organizations. Readers of the daily papers saw headline after headline announcing the capture of 29, 84 or 158 bundists and aliens in widespread raids by the FBI. Loyal Americans were amazed and worried at the astounding num- ber of arrests being made--the total early in the week was officially put at 8,844. In addition to this the FBI listed as seized: 3,000 guns, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, 1,652 sticks of dynamite, 1,645 short-wave radios and 956 swords, bayonets and knives. As a result of the drive to cleanse this country of any elements which might endanger its war effort, a Federal grand jury at New York brought in indictments against 29 national and sectional bund leaders, charging them with conspiring to defeat the purposes of the Selective Service Act and to violate the Alien Registration Act. One of those named in the in- dictment was Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, former national head of the German-American Bund. He was nabbed by the FBI in a small Mexi- can fishing village just in time to keep him from escaping inta small boat in which he intended to brave the Caribbean. Although the American public was surprised and rudely awakened by the ever-growing number of arrested Saboteur GEORGE JOHN DASCHI * r * t In A rgument The map above was drawn by Prof. Charles M. Davis of the botany department, who has long studied Far Eastern problems. It is a demon- stration of the importance of the Aleutian chain, and shows the relative positions of the three powers concerned. Russia has a stake in the fog- bound battle of the Aleutians as it may suffer from a lack of contact with the United States if the Japanese should strengthen their foothold and then invade Siberia. The stake of the United States is obvious. Protection of Alaska and prevention of a possible invasion through Can- ada are the principal defensive reasons for holding the Aleutians. The offensiye reasons involve helping Russia and maintaining bases for a fleet that could sweep down on Japan from the north. This on the contrary has been a week of rest for those armies, but it is a week which neither side has wasted. Rommel has made desperate at- temptsto gain reinforcements both through the air and on the sea. More numerousand larger air raids on Malta indicated-as it always has- that Nazi supply ships were racing across the narrower reaches of the Mediterranean. American bombers claimed some of the transports had been sunk through air action and the British fleet may have accounted for some. Others no doubt got through. In the air the Germans were less lucky. A fleet of plane transports was discovered by Amer- ican planes and 12 loads of Nazi sol- diers hurtled seaward before the oth- ers made their escape. The Allies rerouted troops and the British gain on the north. El Alamein is the battlefield and it is there that the fate of Alexandria is being decided as this is written. Bargainer Laval Something that may well affect the Egyptian front has just been re- ported happening in France. Reli- able Bern sources claim that French Premier Laval has bargained with the Nazis so that as usual only his friends from across the border were lbenefited. He has-the report reads -given the Germans carte blanche in all military and strategic estab- lishments in unoccupied France in exchange for the dubious privilege of moving the French government to Paris. There it will no doubt be fur- ther dominated by Hitler and his' the principal one being on Bremer - shaven. Japs Get Belted Halfway across the world things looked much better. The American Air Forces under Brig.-Gen. Chen- nault took the offensive in the air over China and bombed hell out of Jap bases on the Chinese mainland, at the same time promising similar treatment to Jap cities in the near future. The Chinese recaptured two towns and thus pushed the Japs back in their drive on the Kiangsi-Hunan railroad. Brighter indeed was China's picture as she entered her sixth year of war against the 'incident invad- ers.' Infernal Cea.-,orship In the Aleutians the infernal wea- ther or else the infernal censorship held up most information. But we were told that either four or five hitherto bothersome Jap destroyers are now rusting in Davy Jones' lock- er. Another and more ominous ru- mor told of a large convoy reaching Jap positions on Attu and Kiska. It all adds up at least to this: If the Navy doesn't tell more of what's happening in the Aleutians, the American people are going to get sore. -Hale Champion labeled a "selfish and power-hungry" farm bloc in the House of Repre- sentatives - continued during the week to throw obstacles in the way of the government's attempt "to use its feed resources to produce food for the wartime effort." A Senate-House conference com- mittee which has been struggling un- successfully since May 25 to iron out differences in the Agriculture De- partment appropriation bills of the two bodies, remained in disagree- ment although meetings were sched- uled for next week and new develop- ments gave some hope that the Sen- ate would finally win out. Administration Backed The Senate bill, which has received the strong backing of the adminis- tration, would allow the government to sell its surplus stocks of wheat at sub-parity prices with the idea in mind that this would encourage more abundant production of vitally need- ed meat, poultry and dairy products. The House, on the other hand- guided by the ever-selfish farm group -has thus far refused to heed the pleas of that section of the nation which is more interested in winning the war than in maintaining an in- flationary price level for farm pro- ducts. The stand of the House is made more ridiculous by the fact that a majority of small farmers agree with the President and the Senate and also that the proposed sub-parity sales by the government will actually have no effect on sales by farmers. The danger that the Agriculture Department would not be able to meet its payroll because of the lack of funds was postponed by a stop- gap measure providing money for the month of July, but this action was far from meeting the basic problem. May Break House Stand Strong administration pressure and a new Senate bill directing govern- ment loans to farmers at full parity for six major farm crops caused some sources to believe that a break in the House stand was at last appar- ent. Senator Russell, chairman of the conference committee, said that when the group met again next week he would ask the House members to call for another vote on the floor of the lower branch of Congress. He de- clared that he thought there was a possibility the House would alter its stand. The American public-inter- ested in stopping this petty bickering and in getting on with the war effort -sincerely hoped he was right. OPA Takes It Again The Office of Price Administra- tion-which has taken more body blows in the past few months than any other governmental department -spent another busy week in which it was lambasted first by the fire- spouting landlords of the nation and then by the equally fiery tenants. Although the hottest spot in the rent control controversy appeared to be Detroit-where landlords are de- manding everything from a five to 10 and even 15 per cent increase in the rent ceiling and the CIO is threat- ening a "rent strike" if any increase is made-trouble was breaking out all over the nation. Seattle Protest Property owners in Seattle be- gan to talk of a nation-wide protest meeting; New Haven, Conn., sent out reports of attempted wholesale evic- tions; and in Mobile, Ala., the con- stitutionality of the entire price con- trol act was being challenged by a property owner who demanded that the Federal Court stop enforcement of the act. The only indication of how the OPA itself-which was spending most of its time trying to prevent evictions -stood was contained in a telegram to the CIO in Detroit. It said that no action was being contemplated at this time in changing the rent ceiling. This was interpreted as a decided set-back to property inter- ests which had previously thought they were well on the way to success. Housing Plans Changed Closely allied with the rent con- troversy in the Detroit area is the long dragged-out squabble over 'bomber city' plans, which this week received a thorough going-over by U.S. Housing officials. With Henry Ford, Washtenaw County Republicans and property in- terests anxiously waiting to see if they have been successful in blud- geoning the government into com- pletely abandoning the greatly need- ed housing project, John Blandford, administrator of the National Ilous- ing Agency, said his recommenda- tions for Detroit would be announced in the next few days. He declared that several things had made a new plan necessary, but most important was a changed esti- ELMER DAVIS enemy aliens, it was even more sur- prised that so many aliens with such large stores of destructive weapons had as yet been unable to success- fully accomplish one major job of sabotage. After eight months of war Hitler's fifth-column had not destroyed one bridge, one railroad terminal, one power plant or one war factory. The nation kept its fingers crossed and hoped that the good luck would con- tinue. Saboteurs In Congress Still another type of saboteur- members of what President Roosevelt TJ~iREE.:.; M?'lrN rLAWY kIIiNP I t V-- IN AXIS eyes Egypt offers prizes worth the most desperate gambble.- Alexandria is the key to British naval power in the eastern Mediter- ranean. Cairo is Britain's Middle Eastern headquarters, is the capital of the Arab world and is the U. S. supply terminus for the front. The Suez Canal is known as the "jugular vein" of the British Empire. And BALTIM beyond Suez lie Iraq, Iran and India! - 'rot MATRUH_ _ ROSETTA DAMIETTA RTSAID' MIed iterranean ,Sea. "'::._".- -..;; : =Lae ALE YANDRIA::1_miteake B ay of ,,, ,' M n aa Pelusium EL DABA Arabs; DAMANHUR "--u- EL AMIRI Gulf -MANSURA ' tEL A AN- a EL ALMEIN'- - _ "TANTA-QANTARA a ~SALHIY -ZAGAZIG ISMIAILIA CANAL t POSSIBLE AN ' INVASION ROUTE -' Rommel might try avoid i- ' 'Delta. Canals, levees, ;BE AFAY Bitter y F " ' marshlands, particularly - Lakes e .. , " -, in north, offer difficult - CANAL'S . . , .terrain for armed col- -- VULNERABILITY umns. Canal has no locks, .'C' ~ ~ATARADERESIO thus hard to crip- DQATTARA 6EPRESSIO ,""CAIRO pe permanently, NILE RISING though sunken StEZ Nile flood waters HELWAN ships have stopped tit 'nit tr ,ir *mnrar~'ilu f w!