;4R. HUGH GIB LON. EEI5AI x _ jakuary _ i 1._1242- GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: Moscow reports tonight the capture of two places of great importance. One -- ^lista, the other -- Velikie Luki. And the location of those two places tells with precision the magnitude of the victories claimed in the Soviet. Elista is in the Caucasus -- it is the capital of the Kalmyk Republic. Last night Lowell Thomas told you how the Soviets had by-passed Elista, encircling it — and tonight we are told the city has fallen. It was one of the forward points of the Nazi advance toward the Caspian Sea, and its recapture by the Soviets would seem to indicate collapse of the German push toward the Caspian. RUSSIA 2 in- Southorft-R-trr-g-ra- with i—s110 Qy S’tT"itrt iwn. The Moscow communique today Stated that i their defensive on the southern front during the past six weeks the Red Army forces have put a million Nazi tfcoops out of actionvA The—Gerw-a^—loeeeg—i-n ■ .lifta urter t-o -'*****+; -- a million killed or captured or left without the armament for fighting. The capture of Velikie Luki by the Red Army — l truly startling success. That city is on the northern front -- the line facing Moscow. Velikie- Luki was a key strong point of the Germans, jin their retirement last winter they held onto it with grim tenacity. For a year the Soviets have been assaulting the place with one drive after another. N-ew they—hctv» 0 i—Iftfrg'C—r a t a km*' Velikie Lairds Moscow says the city was stormed and the entire German garrison wiped RUSSIA - 3 * to be flxlve-ivo » "\ out. This loss for the Germans i»£ not to be passed V over with an explanation that it was a case of withdrawing to prepared positions for the winter. Velikie Luki itself was a number one prepared position and itsix recapture indicates the Soviet offensive on the Moscow front must be rolling Buxy- deeper t t, a 1 y ±sx k 8 dftng11 itttj 1 qi 1 the Magw* fK ^ t SORTS AFEICI North Africa there’s a flare of activity in Tunisia. The Allies have started a three—prong defensive designed to cut the coastal corridor between Tunisia and the adjacent Italian province of Xibya. y / London reports an enemy position captured southwest of Tunis -- that and other gains by the Americans and British. If our men are able to hammer their way southern through the narrow belt to the coast in .xxxfciixhR N by Tunisia, they would cut the routeAwhich Rommel mifht with the Axis ^s in Tunisia. Rommel’s main army, meanwhile, is believed to be establishing a defense line immediately east of Tripoli, the number one Axis £ase in Libya. The battered North Afrika Korps will ry to make a stand there -- acc^^ding to a report flashed by radio Morocco. As for the third sector, the French NORTH AFRICA - 2 force that is p shing its way northward across the Sahara and into Italian Libya -- this desert army feports the defeat of an enemy motorized column in Fezzan, southwestern Libya. GIRAUD One of^he cardinal points of statesmanship in the war at this moment, is the question of the French regime in North Africa, headed by General Giraud, and o the Fighting French forces under the leadership of General DeGaulle. The two factions are negotiating, flCAc'P trying to an agreement - which would be of the "ffic Ctul/JC cj, C' greatest importance to^the United Nations.^ Today, the DeGaulle spokesman in London gave out an official statement of at least one condition for a settlement with Giraud. He said the DeGaulle people will not cooperate with the Giraud regime until the French North African Imperial Council is eliminated - removed from the picture. Now, what is this French North African Imperial Council? It is part of the colonial government that has been in control of the French North African colonies all along. The DeGaulle spokesman characterizes GIRAUD - 2 the Council with these words: "packed with Vichyites." The Council, of course, functioned with the regime at Vichy, and was one of the Korth African organizations that Admiral D rlan brought over to the cause of the United Rations - wherr'ft rlaii y^^-^ianM-gth-sider. The DeGaulle people object to CVv^ ^ the its former Vichy connections, Wt Free French spokesman today stated that DeGaulle will not recognize any ^ pc £ pf**- North African administration that inc udes formerly connected with Vichy - "even slightly connected,w said he ’’This, " declared the spokesinant is the cardinal qdeation .hich .uSt be dacidad bafor. there is any union bet.een DeGaulle and the Giraud forces." He added that DeGaulle had no personal a.bitions in North Africa - but -as nerel, opposed to anything reminiscent of Marshal Petain's regime in Vichy. GIRAUD - 3 This declaration today is the first official indication of the positip* of the Fighting French in the negotiations jpflh Giraud - ancl^the most delicate of negotiations they are.1 JT^e conversations between the two French factions are of a sort that require bcfe ^ ^Kthe. - - ~ 1 u o t : ^ i in r-re connird erlitg xx bitter divis-irnns among the French lea and people. It ha6 been reported that DeGaulle planned to visit Giraud, and thrash/an arrangement out^ in personal talks. Y/e now understand that this visit has been called off, the reason being - the DeGaulle hostility to the former Vichy elements in the French North African Imperial Council. Will Giraud eliminate fU Uj cJa^yJ/c ? the Council* te-e-s—it ? That remains to be seen. From American diplomatic quarters in London we have the belief that the two French factions want to get together, but the Axi causes of contention GIFAUIL- /4 between them are so grave that w* agreement is /(CvtU^r ^ imminent. And from these same American diplomatic quarters we receive a hint of another stumbling block between the Fighting French and the North African administration. They s^y that the general arrangement hoik proposed by the DeGaulle forces this - that DeGaulle A shall become the political leader in North Africa, and Giraud the military commander, limiting himself to military affairs. NAVY BULLETIN The Navy today tells of two air attacks launched against the Japs in the Aleutians. One assault ran into trouble,apparently,while the other scored an explosive hx success. On Wednesday a United States Air Squadron flew to the Japanese base at Kiska. Its objective v/as two enemy cargo ships or transports. The Japs were bringing in supplies and reinforcements. The American planes were intercepted by enemy zeros, and an air fight followed. One of their planes was shot down,while we lost three -- two fighters and a medium bomber. The next day, Thursday, our bombers sallied to the attack again -- this time they accomplished their mission without any loss whatever, and scored five bomb hits on the two big ships in the harbor of Kiska. NAVY BULLETIN - 2 This is reported in today’s Navy Bulletin which tells of bombing attacks in a very different area -- the distant Solomons. Our American war planes based on Guadalcanal struck another blow at the much bombed place called Munda, blasting the enemy airfield there. t 7 > 3 WAKE ISLAND We have tonight a vivid eye witness account of the mass bombing of Wake Island by American flying forces. This occurred on Christmas Eve, but the story was\ delayed in transmission until today -- the account given^by a UniW4-correspondent who was -- ------- -A- —* ---- — in the raid. Newspaperman Olen Clements rode in one of the bombers. He says it was the biggest mass raid of the grVvT Pacific War, and it wreaked havoc on Wake Island -- that bit of land so horeoically defended by a small force of Marines early ikii in the war. Peale Island was also hit -- in the bombing that hurled upon the Japs seventy-six thousand pounds of high explosive. The enemy on Wake and Peale Islands was taken utterly by surprise. "Frightened Japs," cables correspondent, "could be seen in the brilliant moonlight­ running madly for their dugouts The bombing attack was on for a long time before it6was any anti-aircraft fire. "Finally after what WAKE ISLAND - 2 seemed an eternity," relates the newspaperman, " a few Japs managed to reach two ack-ack guns, and let go wildly." The anti aircraft fcwas ridiculous, according to the Press man who states: "Shells burst Av A J fully six thousand feet above and two miles away from the nearest American plane." He tells how belated Jap searchlights were turned on and swept the sky trying to pick out the planes. The searchlights were shot out by American gunners. The fighter opposition was negligible. Several Japanese planes were seen and one exchanged shots with a bomber at long range. "The Japs did not want to mix at all," says the war correspondent. And he goes on to describe the havoc in these words: "Oil tanks were afire in the middle of Peale Island. More tanks were flaming near the entrance of the harbor, and columns of black smoke were rising." He says that there was blazing destruction everywhere WAKE ISLAND _ 3 on Wake Island were visible for seventy-five miles** BOUNTAIN TROOPS Here’s a story that Lowell Thomas has just phoned in from Lake Placid, where he is tonight. An urgent call has just come, a call from Uncle Sam for men to serve in the new Mountain Regiment. C. M. Dole, Chairman of the National Ski Patrol, is canvassing remote sections of the country, the wilderness regions, also colleges where there are so many husky young fellows, and other sources, for men who can qualify for the eighty-seventh regiment. According to what Lowell Thomas tells us, rhh men who are interested are asked to get in touch with their local registration boards or with the National Lki Patrol at Four Hundred and Fifteen Lexington Avenue, New York City, and do it within the next twenty-four hours. From this it looks as though Uncle Sam plans prf dotirg some mountain fighting. The call is for mountaineers, woodsmen, trappers, guides, rangers, and also skiers of more than average ability^—If they are of acceptable age and know how to live in the MOUNTA IN^TROOPS_-_2 wilderness under tough conditions! Already a lot of famous men have joined the eighty-seventh regiment -- that is, men who are famous in mountaineering and skiing circles, brawny men of the out-of-doors. "Get in touch with the authorities within the next twenty-four hours," says Chairman Dole of the National Ski Patrol! FOOSEVFLT s> Today was not only the beginning of a New Year, but also the first birthday of the United Nations. One year ago today, twenty-six nations signed at Washington the declaration that \formally. joined them together for the waging of war and for the arrangement of peace thereafter. The high significance of those signatures one year ago was voiced today by President Roosevelt. "They thus created," said he, the mightiest coalition in history, mighty not only for its overwhelming material force but still more for its eternal spiritual values." The President went on to summarize the results that have followed the formation of the United Nations. "The unity thus achieved in its dire danger," said he, "has borne rich fruit. The United Nations are passing from the/^ffensive to the defensive'^" This proclamation stresses that word "unity." £EWEY At Albany, New York today, a ceremony was staged, and nobody will need to be reminded that this was of national,as wp II as of state, importance. People ere well aware that the new Governor of New York State, Thomas E. Dewey, is bound to cut a figure in presidential calculations for Nineteen forty-four. It is true that Dewey, before his Election Day. victory, renounced all notion of seeking the Republican presidential nomination. But, his victory at th6 polls was so brilliant and overwhelming, that he cannot be keot out of the national political picture. CtnMiiflrtaft ; so there is a national spotlight on what Dewey had to say today in his ^_^inaugural address. j There were two subjects for which we might watch with interest, two themes for importane^t discussion by a Republican of Dewey*s eminence. DEWEY 2 One - domestic economy. The other - the kind of peace to be made after the war. As for the war itself, there was no doubt about what Dewey would say. He would make the oft repeated Republican pledge of all-out dedication to the cause of victory and loyal cooperation with the President iniLhe waging of the war. f Dewey—e x pj»^s s e d In point of domestic economy, Dewey took a fling at the New Deal in its attempts to cure unemployment. Speaking of the young people in national service and what they will do when the war is over, he stated: "These young men and women are entitled to expect something better than the hopeless period of DEWEY - 3 go verrment - made work and relief, of v^hich they have seen so much in the past decade. They are entitled,” Dewey w^nt on, "to a fruitful, productive place in a free economic society, dependent on the favor of no man or political party for their livelihood or for their security." The new Governor of New York then expressed an ideal for the individual, saying that the individual should have what he called - "a future limited only by his own skill and ability." In the international field, Dewey made the following statement concerning the peace to be procured after the war: "It will not be enougl^," said he, "to put down by force of arms the military argression that has been loosed against mankind. We need also to put down by force of ideas the reaction against liberal society which our enemies represent." c In other words - a xe sword to conquer the 5 word, and ideas to conquer ideas.