The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-12-17
ny ALBERT y. LENaS

me seremlana began 10 shake
their heads. But less fAinthearfed
military strategists explain that
what Is taking place IN the for
mer Rarbary state Il likely % be
the pattern for our entire over
seas campaign from now untii
the day when triumphant dough-
boys march down Inter den LIN
den. The future steps viii be:
I. Swift blow launched. say, on
Italy or France or Norway.
?. stubborn resistance hv an
experienced foe in well-fortified
xones.
, A wait for airpower and re-
Inducements
4. The next push. We might a.
well get used TO this method. they
add. because Bixerte IL a sort 81
dress rehearsal for everything
which may follow.
The 1ei4-is struggle COM
menced in trench warfare and
ended In maneuver. But this con-
flict started with movement and
in many theaters IL developing
into positional combat. At the
time Haig and Petain were glued
10 deadlock fighting, Pershing
trained his A. =. p. in open
tactics. When, until recently.
everyone was talking about light
ming thrusts. blitzkriegs and
mechanical speed. Marshall be-
gan organizing millions Of ground
troops who eventually can beat
down a mass Of enemy divisions.
In the current operations we
have one advantage not often
recognized by jittery layman:
Even IL driven from Tunisia. we
have our feet solidly planted on
a continent with Algiers. Nor
Deco. West Africa. Siarra Leone.
Liberia. the Gold Coast. the Con-
20. Egypt and the whole Of the
southern UNION from which TO
mount later offensives. The Axis
has its back to the wall-or. what
is worse. TO the sea. II we lose
one venture we can start again.
II Germany meets a single major
reverse in Africa, her goose IL
cooked.
Most people were wrong: They
thought censorship began with
the war. Now comes the shock
ing revelation by Kent Cooper,
general manager Of the Associat-
ed Press. that sntedating Pearl
Hsrbor by years a muzzle was
deliberately clamped on the news
OF the globe by a coterie Of ex-
tremely able but selfish finan-
ciers in London, Paris and Ber-
I'm. This clique. led by Sir Rode
rick Jones OF Reuters. a polished
bk autocratic British Tory, d.
vided the world among its agen-
cies and barred the United States
from both access TO and delivery
reports. except on their terms.
They edited facts 10 suit their
own narrow nationalistic pur-
poses. They ruthlessly attempted
To crush any competitor-and
succeeded until Sir Roderick
himself was backed into a corner
bv an American who feared
neither his buster nor his bluff.
Britannia ruled the cables under
the waves until this American
and his partners made true and
biased international news
available 10 all
This weeks terrific blitz on
the Karlsruhe junction Of rail-
roads running from Germany to
Italy was the most recent drs-
matte highlight Of the great
British and American program 10
wreck the Axis transportation
system. Flyers who have re-
turned TO New York from the
European aerial front diyulge
Their. 10 another method Of Grip
ping which. although not 30
sensational az the great bomber
offensives. IL an exciting game
that thrills individual pilots.
II il called train busting and
It's discovery was by accident.
Ingenious avlaiors found that II
one poured q vollsy Of machine
gun bullets into a locomotive
steam would escape from pune
tured pipes and often the boiler
would explode The Germans set
Nd antisircrzft weapons IN ths
coal ears and cabooses and COW
cred vital spots with srnor. Their
tormentors retAiiated BY equip
ping their planes with cannon
We have been doing a good joo
Of whiting away japanese naval
and commercial craft in the Pa
eific. However, New YORK ship
ping experts. who for years
roamsd hippo ports. add a note
Of caution to tina current SYM
phony Of optimism We should
not place sole emphasis On ths
number Of boats sunk. tnsy
argue. because most q them are
Of much smaller sizs than are
thoss Of the United States
Ths Japs have been construct
ing great quantities Of little yes
sells which consume negligible
amounts Of steel They swarm