The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, January 19, 1945, Image 2
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iti
Washington, D. C.
GREEN U. S. COMMANDERS
BLAMED FOR SETBACK
Those in the know inside the Pen
tagon building say that if there is
ever a thorough army probe it will
show that U. S. intelligence fell
down even more badly than former
Chief of Staff Gen. Peyton March
indicated regarding advance prepa
rations for the German break
through. Even American news dis
patches told of German activity be
hind the lines and lights burning
at night.
Military experts also say, how
ever, that other factors contributed
to the serious setback, one of them
being failure to have experienced
colonels and lieutenant-colonels as
field commanders. They trace this
back to a ruling by the late Gen
eral McNair, commander of the
ground forces, that no colonel over
48 could serve in combat overseas.
This meant that many of the regu
lar army, national guard and re
serve officers who had been under
fire in the last war, trained their
men in the United States, went with
them to the port of embarkation,
then were left behind at desk jobs
in the U.S.A. Youngsters, who were
only lieutenants or captains in 1941,
took their places. These youngsters
had all the courage and vigor in the
world, but they lacked one thing so
all-important in battle—experience
under fire. ,
106TB DIVISION CAVED FIRST
Military experts point out that the
division reported to have caved in
first when the Germans counter-at
tacked was the 106th. It had just
gone into the line and not one hostile
shot had ever been fired over its
head. This division gave way like
straws before a tornado.
If a comittee of congress
should ever take the trouble to
look up the officers of the 106tb
division it will find that just be
fore it sailed all its older field
officers were removed, and
younger, but very green officers,
put in their places. Had the
106th division held for only a
few hours it would have made
ail the difference in the world
to the rest of the army and to
the length of the war.
Military experts say somewhat the
same thing happened at Kasserine
pass and Salerno. At Kasserine
pass, green field commanders
nored the' first rudiments of defensi
namely that a halted regiment
should dig in and prepare field forti
fications in enemy territory.
Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall was
made the goat at Kasserine pass
and transferred back to the U.S.A.,
just as Maj. Gen. Ernest Dawley
was made the goat at Salerno. How
ever, high-up officers, who have
studied these battles, say the real
fault was not theirs, but that all
colonels of the 34th division which
lost so heavily at Kasserine were
replaced by green field commanders
just before the division saw action.
To get the entire picture, it is neces
sary to recall that after Pearl Har
bor the army collected the majors,
lieutenant - colonels and colonels
from the regular army, national
guard and reserves who had battle
training in World War I, calling
many from civil life, and put them
in charge of troop training. As a re
sult the army had a sizable group
of experienced field officers not
easily stampeded.
McNair Copies British.
Then in June 1942, General Mc
Nair, commanding the ground
forces and an A-l general in most
respects, suddenly decided to copy
the British. He found that British
colonels were around 45 years of
age, so gave verbal orders that no
American colonel over 48 could
serve with combat troops.
Army experts say that undoubted
ly, some colonels and lieutenant-
colonels needed to be weeded out for
physical or other reasons. The army
has been too lax with its physically
unfit during soft and easy years of
peace. However, they believe that
General McNair swung far too far
in the other direction.
Fortunately a lot of the troops
landing in Normandy were sea
soned under fire in Italy. Gen.
Mark Clark has done a great
job there of baptising troops.
Others, such as General Patch’s
Seventh army were seasoned at
Guadalcanal, but obviously
there were not enough sea
soned troops to man the long
front extending all the way from
Holland to the Alps, and the
Nasis kept probing one spot
after another until they found
the softest part of the front.
Perhaps their intelligence even
knew that green commanders
had just come into the line.
• • •
CAPITAL CHAFF
C. One of the last acts of the 78th
senate was to cancel from the fed
eral government’s list of assets,
money borrowed by four southern
cities in 1861, just before the Civil
war. These have been listed as “un
available cash” since that date.
New Orleans owed $31,164.44, Little
Rock, Ark., $5,823.50; Savannah,
Ga., $205.76, and Galveston, Texas,
$83.36.
C The CIO claims that Secretary of
Labor Perkins has become radical-
Iv anti-CIO
Note* of a Newspaperman:
Peter Donald forwards the story
about three GIs just back from over
seas who went into the automat and
found that the only available table
was one that was occupied by a
spinsterish female. Wanting a little
privacy, they decided to sit down,
hoping by means of conversation to
make her finish up and leave in a
hurry . . . The first GI said: “Boy,
life overseas sure was tough. 1
didn’t have a bath in eight months.”
"Think that’s bad?” said the sec
ond. “I couldn't even wash my
hands in four weeks.”
“We were so busy,” the third add
ed, “I couldn’t change my under
wear in five months.”
At that point, the old gal looked
up and said: “Would one of you
stinkers mind passing the salt?”
The government has stopped horse
racing in America. We wish it were
as easy to stop America’s Trojan
horses.
An American citizen of Ger
man ancestry was walking down
Powell Street, in San Francisco,
when he was stopped by a sol
dier who asked: “Can you tell
me the way to Chinatown?” .. .
He replied: “Yes, of course, it
Is two blocks over and two
blocks to the left, but you don’t
want to go there because you
are a Jap” . . . The soldier re
plied: “And you are a German”
. . . The citizen said: “How did
you know?” . . . The soldier
replied: “I know because I’ve
killed a lot of them the last two
months in Italy and I’m on my
way home to Seattle” . . , The
citizen of German ancestry
looked at the uniform of the sol
dier and saw on it a Presidential
citation, the Purple Heart and a
few other campaign ribbons.
Telling this story about hint-
self, he said: “Boy, was I em
barrassed! The soldier was of
Japanese ancestry and a mem
ber of the famous 100th Infantry
Battalion!”
Edward Stettlnius, who is certain
ly the most modest and democratic
of our Secretaries of State, used to
visit the Broadway night clubs occa
sionally a few years ago. One night
he went into the old Paradise with
r male companion . . . Hgadj&aits^
'Albert Berrymah scanned them with
an appraising afid unrecognizing eye
. . . “Hello, Albert,” said Stettin-
ius, "don’t you remember me?”
"Oh, yes,” fibbed Albert (trying
to place the man), as he showed him
to a none-too-good table.
The part I like is that Stettinius
(who was then only chairman of U.
S. Steel) knew headwaiter Albert,
but Albert didn’t know him!
Ernest Hemingway went to Chi
cago years ago after working in
Kansas City. He had lived in Oak
Park, 111., and was r an old school
mate of Ted Tod’s, now working for
Warners’ ... At the time. Tod was
working for the Chicago Herald-Ex
aminer as a reporter, and Heming
way hoped Tod would try to get him
a job on the paper . . . Tod went in
to speak to Frank Carson, the city
editor. He told him all about Hem
ingway—what a good writer he was
... He said: “He hasn’t worked in
Chicago, but he knows it, knows
names, etc.” . . . Carson looked up
and ho-humm’d: “Does he know any
Chicago coppers?” . . . “No,” said
Tod . . . “Well, I don’t care how
good a writer he is,” replied Carson.
“Our reporters have to know the
Chicago coppers” ... So Heming
way didn’t get the job. Instead he
went to Canada—worked on a To
ronto paper and from there started
his climb.
If it hadn’t been for his not know
ing any Chicago policemen, Heming
way might stiil be working on the
Chicago paper.
All this talk of what to do
with Germany—and, of course,
it is more than talk, it is a
grave, great problem—reminds
me of this tale ... An apostle
of eoneiliation once asked the
late Georges Clemeneeau if his
hatred of the Germans was
based on knowledge. “Have you
ever been to Germany?” he in
quired.
"No, Monsieur,” replied the
Tiger, “I have not been to Ger
many. But twice in my lifetime
the Germans have been to
France.”
This isn’t as good as the “West-
inghouse—I’m westing” gag—but
it’s going the rounds among the
icky set—and makes me ick:
“We’re broom-mates. We sweep
together. Dust us two.”
It happened at an army training
camp, reports Irving Hoffman. The
sergeant had twenty recruits lined
up for fatigue duty . . . They were
not as energetic as the sergeant
thought they should be ... So he
tried to cure them . . . “I’ve got a
nice easy job for the laziest mem
present,” he barked. “Will the lazi
est man raise his right hand?” . . .
Nineteen men raised their right
paws . . . “Why don’t you raise
your hand?” inquired the sergeant
O* tV>«, 9Mh lad.
i «
m
@3
h ^ W .
Capt. Stanley R. Hall, post exchange officer of the South East Asia
command, moves a 2,600 pound electric refrigerator into the PX with
the help of a group of G.I.S and a 35-year-old elephant. Jumbo, or
Karunavathi, was rewarded with a quarter stalk of bananas and a few
slices of bread. The G.I.s will share contents of refrigerator.
Gen. Arnold Welcomes Bong Home
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Gen. H. H. Arnold, commanding general of the U. S. army air
forces, is shown as he welcomed Maj. Richard Bong, who has just
returned from the southwest Pacific. This is first photo of General
Arnold wearing his npw five star insignia, denoting his rank of “Gen-
is still leading aeo of War.
oral of the Armies.” Bong
leading aeo of
Hold Italian Mule Lottery
CLASSIFIED
DE P A R T M ENT
Grantland Rice
Harvard Bodkins, 17 - year - old
school student, spotted Gimpel and
Colepaugh, German spies. He fol
lowed their snow tracks and discov
ered they came from the ocean. His
report to his father, a sheriff,
brought the FBI and the arrest of
the Nasi spies.
Hand Grenade Yank
0^
# lSS«f ,
t* W
Trained for rough hand-to-hand
battle, this coastguardsman of the
rugged Greenland patrol, yanks the
fuse of a hand grenade with his
teeth and prepares to let it fly at
the enemy. Even on Greenland be
secured practice against Nazis.
Polish War Orphans
Italian farmers, in liberated areas of Italy, who had lost much of
their livestock as a result of the war, are being afforded a chance
to acquire mules and horses. Drawings are held and the lucky winners
are given a chance to purchase the livestock. The drawings are held
under the direction of the Allied armies.
Bombing Plays a Strange Trick
One of the freak effects sometimes achieved by high explosive bombs
is seen in this photo, of a town in France, on the U. S. Third army
front. The big building at the end of the street took a direct hit and
was split down the center. One-half of the building disintegrated into
rubble, the other remained standing firm.
An excited bunch of kids, little
Polish war orphans, pile down the
gangway of a troop transport far
from war’s dangers. They had em
barked at Bombay, India, to find a
new home thousands of miles from
their ravaged homeland.
Mike’s Life Saved
The dollars and dimes contributed
to the March of Dimes, January 14-
31, will help to save others as they
did two-year-old Michael Sullivan at
St. Louis hospital, operated for to
fantile paralysis cases
¥N THE government’s effort to pro-
*• duce a 100 per cent war, an effort
which has led to the racing
blockade and will lead to the cur
tailment of other big-time games,
what will be sport’s future in 1945?
Racing isn’t the only sport that
will face the axe. There is sure to
be a sweeping re
classification of all
4-Fs not engaged di
rectly in war pro
duction. For ex
ample, there are
250 big league ball
players classified
as 4-F who will be
re-examined — and
should be. Also,
there is a large
number of profes
sional football play
ers and college foot
ball players who will be reclassified.
And there is a strong chance that
those who are passed up for active
war duty will be called to some
essential form of war help, apart
from sport.
But there will still be footbaU and
other forms of competition at West
Point and Annapolis and In all
schools housing Navy V-12 trainees.
Also, there will be some sport left
at those colleges which can muster
enough 17-year-olds to carry on, but
this leaves a scant margin. In the
main these 17-year«!ds have been
only fillers-in, turning in good jobs
just the same.
The main blow will fall upon all
professional sport, the play-pay
contingent. This will be especially
true if those who are still declared
unfit for war duty are sent into some
form of war work.
Just how this will affect profes
sional boxing and amatuer basket
ball remains to be seen. The rough
er blast will hit professional base
ball before it reaches pro football,
as the latter still has an interval of
seven or eight months before an
other season starts. But the base
ball training is scheduled to open
within three months—and that’s on
the shorter side.
For How Long?
How long will this last? Until the
war in Europe is won. How long will
that be? Your guess probably is as
good as that of any commanding
general. Many of the latter haven’t
set any records at guessing cor
rectly so far.
We have had enough—too much—
hopeful wishing to keep on making
the same mistake. Of course, the
pro football and pro baseball play
ers still participating in their sports
are only a minute part of 11,000,000
or 12,000,000 men in the armed serv
ices.
It isn’t any one sport alone. It is
the massed front of so many sports
that use up gasoline, men needed
for war work, travel accommoda
tions, and so forth. And It isn’t easy
to discriminate.
Along the narrow path of sane
reasoning, there seems little
chance that the war in Europe will
be ended by early summer, with the
war against Japan closing at a
much later date. This will make
it difficult for any pro baseball
league to open in April or May. It
will be a rough undertaking to make
up leagues composed of those under
18 and those older than 36 or 38.
At this time high school sport
should be encouraged in place of
being cut down. The toughest part of
the German army today is com
posed of those 11 to 14-year-old kids
Hitler started training and building
up 10 years ago. Over here we have
paid far too little attention to the
physical development of those in the
same age brackets.
One-Fourth Lost
We have been losing 25 per cent of
our 18-year-old draftees for physi
cal reasons, while Germany, Nor
way, Sweden and other European
countries have lost only 7 to 9 per
cent. To have 25,000 of every 100,000
18-year-olds unfit for military serv
ice is a rough indictment on the
way we have handled this part of
the job.
Football, with more than seven
months’ leeway, has a better break
than baseball has. But seven months
may not be long enough. Racing,
which was planning to open a new
season from California to Florida,
via New Orleans, takes the hardest
jolt. Racing’s losses will run far be
yond the combined losses of foot
ball, baseball and all other banned
or stifled sports put together.
Yet, there will be plenty of sport
in 1945, but it won’t be big-time,
big-money sport. In an all-out, 100
per cent war, there can be no dis
crimination of any sort.
We have already found out we
can’t win with a 60 per ceut effort
against Germany and Japan. The
public at large, including every
form of sport, should get back of
this 100 per cent effort with 100 per
cent support until the war is won.
You can see how a man with one
arm or one leg, or families with
husbands and brothers now buried
under crosses, or without crosses,
all over the world, should begin to
look with doubt upon fine-looking
young athletes dashing from goal
to goal or circling the bases in a
int it ~
AGENTS WANTED
LADY WANTED In every community, both
rural and city, to sell line o£ household
necessities to her neighbors. Our line in
cludes such scarce items as cheese ana
laundry soap. Liberal commission. General
Predaets Company <17-3). Albany. Georgia.
WANTED—MEN. WOMEN Agents to taka
orders for Parker's Corn Remover. Make
big money during spare time. 8. Parker.
1824 Corcoran. N.W., Washington. D. C,
LAND FOR SALE
California Tax-Delinquent Lands
Selling at fraction of true values; deeds
direct from State; inquire TAX LAND RE
SEARCH. P. O. Box 482. Eureka. Califorala.
Shakespeare Garden
Lightwoods Park in Birming
ham, England, is believed to have
the most complete Shakespeare
Garden in existence, as it contains
more than 200 of the 214 plant*
which are mentioned in hi*
dramas.
DON’T FOOL
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Robbing toe-
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CAIOX
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