Evening star., 1943-10-03

10 Cne nOrtn the advancing Red
back to the Dnieper where Hitler, in
personal visit to his commanding gen.
erals, declared dramatically. if not con-
vincingly, Here I am and here I stay"
Farther to the northwest other Red
troops have penetrated into White Rus
sla and the prospects of continued ad-
vance seem bright at the moment
In the Southwest Pacific there is
every indication that the Japs are at
tempting to withdraw all of their forces
in the Solomons area to Bougainville
Island, excepting for tiny Buka, the most
northern of this vital group of islands.
On New Guinea. too, the Japanese are
giving ground rapidly and the ground
work is being laid for a drive from two
directions against Rabaul Japans most
important base in the Southwest Pa
oific.
The news for the week like that of 50
many weeks preceding it was most en-
couraglng but the enthusiasm over the
new victories was tempered considerably
by serious renewal of submarine war
fare in the North Atlantic which. based
on rather sketchy reports at the mo-
ment, seems to have cost the Allies three
escort ships including at least one of
the old four-pipers traded to Great Brit
ain for island bases. two other escort
ships and seven or eight freighters
Casualties Reach 115,OOO.
SOLDERING also was the announcement
that American losses in the war so far
have reached a total of $4,000, of whom
2l94o are dead, 33,199 missing, 3l,971
wounded and 24594 prisoners. Until
more definite word is received, the great
er part of the missing must be presumed
to have given their lives
Many warnings to avoid undue opti-
nllsm came during the week. led by a
statement by winston Churchill on Tues
day that Britain must be prepared for
two more years of war. This warning of
tough road ahead was echoed by Di-
rector of War Mobilization Byrnes, who
declared at Fort Belvor that the Allies
are not as near victory at this point as
Germany was during the Battle of Brit
ain or Japan was Immediately after
Pearl Harbor.
Continuing on this same note, Rear
Admiral De Witt c. Ramsey told the
Veterans of Foreign Wars that the roads
to Berlin and Toxic will be rough and
perhaps long, While Senator Lodge, re-
turning from a tour with other Senators
to the war fronts. cited the anger of the
men on the firing lines at the optimistic
attitude Of the people back home. an
optimism which they believe stems from
failure to tell the American people the
whole truth. Senator Lodge pointed out
that reports received by the civilians also
reach the mon At the front By radio. and
that our fighting men rapidly are learn
lng that our propaganda which makes
all o,T Allies good and all our enemies
bad is bunk"
German Morale Weakens.
These various statements which would
tend to tone down predictions of an
early end to the wal no doubt reach
Germany as we'll as the people of the
Allied countries and the effect upon the
German people, bombed without letup
day and night, and aware Of the un-
broken series of defeats which are push
Ing their armies back from their ambi-
tious goals, probably will be satisfactory
Taking MI. Churchill's statement at its
face value the Allies, certain of victory
can look forward to two years more of
war with a lot more courage and forti-
tude than the people of Germany who
can forSee nothing but defeat and de-
struction piled on defeat and destruction
until the final collapse. And the Ger
man morale, which is reported already
badly strained, perhaps won't last tor
the two years, for which Mr.. Churchill
says we must prepare.
Draft U-Boat Crews.
In fact, in the ranks of the German
Navy which provided the breeding
ground for the revolt which finally took
Germany down to defeat in the First
World War, trouble is already indicated.
Reports were current that the German
feet had suffered seriously from sabo-
tage, but these reports lack confirmation
However, Rear Admiral Francis S. Low
declared over the radio that the Ger
mans find it necessary now to draft
crews for U-boat work and that the eff
fectiveness Of the submarine suffers
badly as a consequence. If the Germans
learn of the feat of 1t Robert Pershing
Williams who sank three German sub
marines and possibly fourth while
flying in an Atlantic convoy, there will
be even less readiness to go to sea in the
untersee boats.