The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-07-23
Economic 4.
~MrhAahA
National and International Problems
Inseparable from Local Welfare

'As nation, Americans haven't been
fighting this war-not by long shot" ;"
said Life recently. "a comparative
handful Of boys and officers have been
fighting bravely and eagerly. But at
home the fighting hasn't even begun.
Most Of America is earning big money.
eating well, rolling up new betting rec
|ords at the horse races, dashing around
the country on rubber that is absolute
| ly irreplaceable The only battle
i the L. s. citizens have won so far is
the battle Of the newspaper headlines
|. Meanwhile the Axis pushes in,
rings us with steel, accumulates real
bases all over the world"
That is pretty tough statement, but
the facts certainly bear it out. The in
|creditible optimism concerning the war
that still seems to prevail in some
Quarters is not shared by real military
men. AS General Somervell, the Army's
chief of supply, said in the 4th of July
speech at Detroit, the United Nations
have taken terrific shellacking In
levery corner of the world. And most of
us, he added, have no idea Of the
magnitude and difficulty of the job that
lies ahead. The hard truth is that Hit
ler and his brother dictators have done
more to change the map of the world
than any cOnquerors in modern his
tory.
The Russians showed great valor in
the defense of Sevastopol. They were
lhOpelessly Outnumbered in both men
and equipment, and after the first few
days the Luftwaffe had command of
the skies. The Red Army made the
Germans pay tremendously for their
victory, and, according to the Moscow
account, Sevastopol was left a pile Of
useless ruins. But SevastOpol was a
| vital position, and it's loss is extremely
important. Now Germany can release
many battle-trained soldiers for service
elsewhere. SevastopOl is a key point in
Hitler's drive to seize the Oil resources
of the Caucasus, and to shatter the
L. S. supply line to Russia. That is
Iwhy the German commanders figured
lit must be taken, no matter how great
the cost.
At this time, II is impossible to ex-
lplan the British defeat in Libya-the
| facts are not available, and the Cairo
censorship has been complete AS Mr..
Churchill frankly admitted, the British
had the edge in numbers and in arms
lThe fate of Libya was settled on a
single day when 300 heavy British
tanks went into action, and only 20 We're
left at nightfall. No comparable losses,
Mr.. Churchill said, were inflicted on
the enemy. Romnel seems to have
lured the British into trap. The
British commanders seemed confident
THAT Rommel could not fight an often
Sive action in the desert heat. But
Rommel did.
AS yet, we have not fully appreciated
the extraordinary fanaticism of Axis
leaders and troops. With them it is
win or die" They take incredible
chances They fight under the worst
climatic and geographical conditions.
They violate classic rules of warfare.
|The commanders are, apparently, com
lpletely callous when it comes to shed.
ding the blood of their compatriots.
These Axis hordes can be compared in
many respects to the brutal hOrdes of
lGhenghis Khan. To stop them, to de-
feat them, will require comparable
lfanaticism, held in very different
cause, on the part Of all the United
Nations.
From the I. S. point of view, the
Jap landings in the Aleutians cannot
be passed off casually, as some opti-
mists have tried to do. 1t is true that
Ia few rock islands, shrouded in fog,
off the tip of Alaska, aren't important
| in themselves. 1t is also true that Aleu-
titan and Alaskan outposts could be
fused for devastating raids on the U. S.
proper. General Billy Mitchell once
said in effect, that whoever controls
Alaska would win the next war. There
raided Dutch Harbor and seized re-
mote Attu and Kiska just for the sake
of what military men call a diversian.
lThe Jap commanders have shown, all
along, that everything they do is part
|of carefully prepared plan, and that
everything has bearing on their
grand strategy. 1t will be hard to drive
the Japs out of their Aleutian foot
holds The Axis is seeking to encircle
this country now, and it has made
Gigantic progress. That circle must be
broken
x X X
Some Of the best news is found in
ship production figures Records are
being made SO fast in leading ship
yards, especially the West Coasts
Kaiser yards, that it is hard to keep
up with them. One yard recently COM
lpleted Il 1O,SOO ton Liberty ship in 40
ldays.
At the same time, some experts doubt
that the overseas transport problem
can be solved by ships alone. Major
F., de Seversky, for instance, looks for
ward to the time when a great part of
our supplies, men and equipment, will
lhn H,\k-n tn h,,;, In, -,