The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, August 25, 1944, Image 8
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THE NEWBERRY SUN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1944,
^‘WILD LIFE
, SOUTH CAROLINA
INSIDE A ROCKET - BOMB SITE
By George Slocombe
PROF F-BANKLIN SHERMAN
CkCMSOM COkktet ©► loouon*
GALL INSECTS
Those ancient enemies of England,
Napoleon and Louis XIV., would
have been gratified to think they
had some share in launching the
flying bombs.
I have just seen the cunning use
the Germans have made of old
Frenah fortifications near Cherboug,
limited few kinds of plants. Some
B'alls are inhabited by only one indi- ^
Nauralists find this group of in- vidual gall-insect; other galls may ^built by Louis XIV.’s great military
sects highly interesting, and close be apartment-houses with an occu-j engineer, Vauban, and reinforced by
study of them unearths complications j pant in each compartment. j Napoleon.
and puzzles aplenty. | Late spring and summer is best | Having had recent experience of
You have perhaps seen an oak tree time to collect them for rearing. The I the receiving end of the flying bomb,
with knots the size of walnuts or galls may be placed in a fruit-jar |_l naturally examined the sending
even apples on the twigs and smaller with cheese-cloth fastened over the
blanches. These were probably ih- mouth. If they are nearly mature
sect-galls. The unnatural growth is you may have the insects crawling or
a '‘gall”, it is caused by an insect.
There are many different kinds of
insect-galls: a round marble-sized
one on golden rod; a ribbed oblong
one on blackberry; a mossey-like one
on rose; several different sizes and
flying in their glas scage within a
week or two. ou may even want to
preserve or “mount” the insects
(glued to card-board points, on pins)
for microscopic examination.
Some of the gall-insects have “ad-
types on oak and hickory twigs and ! ternating generations”; thus a gener-
leaves, and on terminal twigs of dog- js.tion of adults may be like its grand-
wood. Open one; you may find ah parents, rather than like its imme-
active maggot, the larva of the gall- | diate parents. Also some insects
insect itself ■ live in galls caused by other insects.
One common explanation for these j Still again there are truly parasitic
unnatural growths is that when the insects which develop on or in the
parent lays its eggs in the inner bodies of the gall-insects and may
hark or saipwood, it injects a tiny I emerge from the galls and yet not
droplet of poison which causes the be the true gall-ins«cts.
plant-tissue to grow in this strange
fashion. ,
Each species of gall-insect attains
its own particular form of gall, con
sistent in form and size. Most of the
speleies affect only one plant or a
Thus it is in many branches of
natural history: when you dig deep
into the study you may find mislead
ing complications apd sidelines, but
practice and ken observation help to
develop skill and accuracy.
Now is the time to get
your boy ready for School.
We Have Just Received a Nice
Line Of Boy’s Clothes In—
Suits
Leather Jackets
Sweaters
Raincoats
Top Coats
Sport Shirts
Sport Coats
Socks and Underwear
Also “Brown Headlight” Overalls and Coveralls
Clary Clothing Co.
Card of Thanks
I wish to thank each of you for
your vote and support last Tuesday.
I will do my very best to conduct
the office of Magistrate in fairness to
all and for the good of all.
Lonnie M. Graham
end with painful interest.
The most interesting “doodle-bug”
installation yet captured by us is
hidden in a curve of hills in a love
ly green valley near Cherboug.
The sun was shining and the sea
was blue when I approached. Sud
denly behind a fringe of trees on a
bluff overlooking the sea and screen
ed by a steep hillside, I saw two
curving walls of greenish concrete
covered by a forest of tall scaffold
ing and screened by brown, leaf-like
German camouflage netting.
They looked as long and 'high as
the walls of Westminister Abbey
and as fantastic in this peaceful
setting as a mountain railway built
ifor giants in a cosmic world’s fair.
; Between them was an unfinished
emplacement for a launching ramp
of Hitler’s reprisal Wteapon Num
ber Two. It had been building near
ly a year, and on D Day, when work
was suddenly stopped and all the
| German engineers engaged on this
I secret enterprise were rushed back
jfrom the threatened area, the bomb-
jsitp was near completion.
I Reprisal Weapon Number Two, I
am told by experts who have exam
ined this bomb-site, is pisrhahly a
bigerer and more powerful VI. pos
sibly ririco a* - no”’“’^u' in ir- efforts.
The wine-span of VI is 16ft. The
width of the launching ramn of
this bomb-site is 25ft. It is 250ft.
long and 160ft. high at the point
nearest to England.
The walls curve upwards as the
ramp rises. They are built of con
crete 10 ft. thick, and girders are al
ready in place for a roof of 16 ft.-
| thick concrete and steel.
I climed over the girders of the
I roof and could imagine the winged
bomb as it left the great aperture of
the tunnel below, rose like a ski-
jumper into the air, and soared over
the blue sea to England.
The bomb-sight is built snugly in
to the steep side of a the hill crown
ed by the old French fort and honey-
j combed with long and wide tunnels,
( some of them going 250 feet deep in
to the heart of thehill.
These tunnels, which are them
selves immune from air attack, had
been neatly connected with bomb
proof chambers in the base of the
ramp, and were possibly intended
for the assembly and storage of fly
ing bombs.
Allied engineers do not yet claim
to know all the secrets of this re
markable construction. There are
mysterious chambers around and be
neath the bomb platform which may
be dtesigned to protect bomb-site
WELLS
THURSDAY
CRIME DOCTOR’S STRANGEST
CASE
Warner Baxter, Lynn Merrick
RUSSIA’S FOREIGN POLICY_
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE
with Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescott,
Nina Foch, and Miles Hander
THE TIGER WOMAN
Added: FOX and CROW Comedy
I MONDAY and”TUESDAY -
Hero of the Home Front!
MAN FROM FRISCO
with Anne Shirley and Michael
O’Shea
Added: NEWS and COMEDY
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY -
BEAUTIFUL BUT BROKE
with Joan Davis, John Hubbard and
Jane Frazee
Added: COMMUNITY SING
Admission 9c - 30c every day
personal from the tremendous blast
effects of rocket discharge.
And standing behind the launch
ing platform, and possibly about to
be connected up with it, I saw a doz
en impressive steel and concrete'
tubes like enormous drain pipes six
feet high, four feet wide and 15 ins.
thick which might have contained
explosive Charges for a projectile.
But there was one sinister cham
ber of this vast engine of death
whose purpose was obvious even to a
non-expert eye. It was a massive
room of concrete 30 feet square with
enormous sockets for steel doors 2
feet thick like the doors of a safe
deposit valut. This grim death
Chamber stands behind the sending
end of tht platform and through a
6 inch slot in the yard-thick walls
the German commander of the
launching platform could watch in
safety from its terrific send-off the
departure of the flying missile as it
sped up the steel rails of curving
ramp and soared over, the sea to
distant England.
This particular bomb platform is
aimed directly at Bristol.
Similar, platforms are doubtless
hidden in the hills behind Dieppe
and Boulogne, and iperhaps as far
back as the Ardennes, aimed at Lon
don and the Midlands, even at towns
further north.
This Cherbourg bomb-site had not
been bombed by us, but a sight I saw
in the immediate neighborhood sug
gested how difficult it is to destroy
such air monsters directly by air
bombing. A mile or two below the
bomb-platform is a German submar
ine pen, also captured by us almost
intact.
Here the German passion for con
crete had proved their undoing, for
even their own’ demolition squads had
proved incapable of destroying it
Hence it has been posible to study
some at least of its secrets in detail.
Two years ago I wrote in the Sun
day Express a description of the U-
boat pens at Brest and Lorient,
based on reports published in the
enemy Press. This captured U-boat
base shows that the German report
ers had not exaggerated its thor
oughness and immunity from air
bombing. Within these enormous
caverns, 100 yards long and 30 yards
wide, with great doors like that of an
airplane hanger, opening out on the
sea, at least four submarines or E-
boats could lurk in perfect safety.
Many feet below me as I stood on
a platform which runs round the
great cavern, the walls of which are |
lined with bunks for U-boat crews 1
and repair workers, the water gleam- 1
ed dark and sinister.
But only two months ago this l
great submarine shed was bustling!
with activity, brilliantly lit from arc j
lamps in the roofs and walls, and
even air conditioned.
Today the submarines have vanish
ed and only two ancient hulks of
French barges lie rotting in the oily
water below.
PETAIN’S HOUR
Petain wants to stay in Vichy.
The Germans want to remove him
closer to their control.
It matters little to us whether Pe
tain goes under German protection
or remains to face the retribution
that is ooming from de Gaulle and
his Fighting Frenchmen.
The only thing that matters is
that the wretched old humbug does
not escape the penalty for the crimes
he has committed against his coun
trymen.
Mrs. Henry Bridges and two child
ren, Hope and Sonny and Miss Kav
White of Long Bramah, N. J., are
spending two weeks vacation in the
ithome of Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie Gill
iam on Cornelia street.
RITZ
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
Preston Foster, Victor MoLaglen,
Lois Andrews, Kent Taylor .
IN
“ROGER TOUHY, GANGSTER"
Comedy—IN A HARLEM
FOX NEWS
SATURDAY
Leon Errol, Johnny Downs, Jack Tea
garden and His Orchestra, Eddie
Quillan
—IN—
“TWILIGHT ON THE PRAIRIE”
Comedy—MR. CHUMP RAISES
CAIN
UNIVERSAL NEWS
MONDAY and TUESDAY
Anne Baxter, William Eythe, Mich
ael O’Shea
—IN—
“THE EVE OF ST. MARK”
A MERRIE MELODY CARTOON
M. G. «M. NEWS
WEDNESDAY -
Rod Cameron, Fuzzy Knight, Eddie
Dew, Vivian Austin
—IN—
“TRIGGER TRAIL”
.Comedy—NO NEWS IS GOOD
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