SOLOMONS Tonight a critical battle is raging on the L ovj 2. » island of Guadalcanal^ The Jap enemy succeeded in landing reinforcements - sufficient fresh forces to bring the struggle for the island to a climax. news bulletins use such phrases as:- "intensive Japanese reoccupation drive"; "powerful Japanese attempt to recapture their lost bases;" "^marines and army ground ^forces fighting desperately to the Jap sky squadrons have succeeded in bombing the maintain their toeholds." And, at the same time, | air base v/e hold on Guadalcanal and the Ilying lield has been shelled by the guns of warships off the coast. has The1 South Sea island of Guadalcanal's t a sort of oval shape, about a hundred miles long and twenty-five miles wide. The length of the island is traversed by a range of mountains. On the northern shore is the air base - of ke, i.portasoe. This .as SOLOMONS - 2 the goal captured by our forces in their famous landing attack weeks ago, and they have kept it ever since. They have been fighting incessantly, beating off many Jap attacks, and-, gaining more ground. Their position tonight is described as about this - our troops hold the air base and adjacent strips of land. They have dug in and now are defending themselves against a culminating attack. The sequence of events that led to the present critical situation is given by a Navy bulletin issued today. In a day-by-day account, it states:- On October Thirteenth, during the afternoon, the airfield at Guadalcanal was twice bombed by enemy aircralt. Three enemy planes were shot down, and one U.S. fighter was lost." The communique goes on to state that toward ni^ht, American reinforcements were landed on Q\m Guadalcanal. troop transports were attacked by -Mr Japanese bombers, the enemy did not do so well# ^ A w . 7r none of our ships were damaged. During the night of the thirteenth, the Guadalcanal air base was heavily bombarded by Japarnes® warships, a force consisting of destroyers, cruisers and battleships. They shelled the airfield and in an exchange of fire our shore guns scored three hits on Jap destroyers. The next day, October Fourteenth, the Navy communique states: nDuring the arternoon, Guadalcanal airfield was attacked by two separate groups of enemy bombers, each with fighter escort. Our fighters were unable to intercept the first flight, which contained about twenty-five.n Tie Navy report adds that the second Jap air attack was made by fifteen bombers and our planes shot downAfiit**$ of them - also four fighters SOLOMONS - 3 SOLOMONS - 4 escorting them. Only one American fighter plane was lost. October Fifteenth, The Japs landed tropps on the north coast of Guadalcanal Island, west of the air base that our soldiers are holding. The landing was covered by destroyers, cruisers and a battleship. These were attacked by our planes. Three direct hits were made on one enemy transport, and two other transports were left burning. The Jap battleship was bombed and damaged. dn—bliis' saffie^d& 3 ?> today, the Navy states "Other enemy forces, including heavy units, had been sighted in the vicinity of Guadalc anal. Island. The mention of heavy units must mean big cruisers or battleships. And the Navy bulletin concludes:- "U.S. army troops are participating in the defense of Guadalcanal. SOLOMONS - 5 This follows a statement issued in Washington by Secretary of War Stimson - that soldiers of the regular army have been landed to help the marines in the climactic hour of their fight. For climax it is. The enemy has landed reinforcements, in spite of the smashing and sinkings inflicted on the Japs in recent days by our warships and warplanes. We, too, have landed reinforcements, and now the Japs are moving on Guadalcanal with more troops and equipment. Climax, indeed, for our brave men who are defending space of tropical shore f^r-'-their ^eeuntryH G EN ERA L_AR NOLI) While in Washington on Tuesday, I had a long talk with General Arnold, Commander of the Army Air, The one thing we discussed was the quality of American war planes. General Arnold had recently retruned from that record-breaking trans-Pacific flight and his tour of American war bases in Pacific areas. His inspect ionAconvinced him that our battle planes are right up with any other -- equal or superior. General Arnold told me of an interesting thing that happens from time to time in his own oflice in Washington. There he has an extended series of charts and graphs showing the performance of every military aircraft in the world. Each chart, reveals the quality of a plane -- and doesirt^ identify wb-inS plane, does not give the nationality of the sky fighting machine in question. So when critics of American war planes come around, like questioning journalists, General Arnold shows them the charts and graphs, has them study these, GENERAWKNOLD - 2 and then pick the type of plane they think to be th.e best^ What Kind oi aircraft do they comaionly select - not knov. ing Atrll^xnationality's of th© -pi^tn e ^hd w& - Air rCor^r told Jie that in every case — such critics pick an American plane Tlat1 f tr.e v,ay tn» blind selection#work€ WAP. CRIMINALS The British Government has one of the most delicate of war problems on its hands - this in connection with the punishment of Nazi war criminals. The iKii dilemma, with all sorts of intricate perplexities, is thrust upon London by Moscow - the Soviets making a drastic proposal in the war criminal affair. It all stems from the United Nations1 declaration of a few weeks ago - that Hitier and his gang, the Nazi killers of hostages, guilty /\ of atrocities, shall be tried and punishea a 1; an international court of justice. The British Government affirmed this, and so aid President Roosevelt. The declaration was forwarded along to Moscow for Soviet approval. And now that approval is forthcoming - with additions. Moscow says - Yes, and also more. The plan envisaged by Great Britain WAR_CRIMINALS_- 2 and the United btates and other United Nations, is to try and punish the Nazi criminals after the war. To which the Soviets respond - Yes, but why not now? Moscow in a axua measured statement proposes that proceedings begin immediately - with trial and punishment of such Nazi war criminals as have become prisoners of the United Nations. The Moscow declaration states the following:- "The Soviet Government," it says, "considers it necessary that any one of the leaders of Fascist Germany who, in the course of the war, has already fallen into the hands of the states fighting against Hitlerite Germany, be brought)^ trial before a special international tribunal and punished with all the severity of criminal 1aw• And the Russian demand names one name - Hess. The notorious Rudolf Hess, who was formerly Hitler's WAB_CRIMINAL^- 3 chief lieutenant, a prisoner in England. So try A and punish him right awsy, says Russia. The Soviet note caused an instant buzz in England - arguments pro and con. Today!s London bulletin quotes a variety of opinions expressed by Britishers. Some support the Soviet demand completely, and argue that Hess should be brought to trial at TP once, and shot without delay. Others hold that . A. such action would be against international lain. further opinion is that Hess, who landed alter a voluntary flight to Scotland, does not come under the category of a prisoner of war and is not entitled to prisoner of war protection. He is a prisoner of state 'still others reason that the full story of the Hess A trip to England has never been made public, and these suggest that Hess may be, 'as one Englishman expressed it: nA rlen ipotent ia ry, in. which case he is entitled to his immediate release.” WAR CRIMINALS - 4 The latest most authoritative word is that ia A j ^ the British Government consider Hess in the same / class with Hitler, Goering, and the other Nazi big shots they scheduled to be tried after the war. The same applying to hess - after the war. Under this contention, the British Government would reject the Soviet demand for the immediate trial and punishment of Hitler’s former chief lieutenant One argument prominent in the British discussion is that of - retaliation. What would the Nazis do if the trial and punishment were to begin right now, with Hess? The Germans hold no British prisoner of rank as high as the former top flight Nazi. But they have captured a number of high British officers - generals and an air marshal. So would they retaliate on these if “ess were condemned and shot? The Soviet note, while namin^Hess, might apply WAR^CRIMINALS_-^5 to other German prisoners also. It is likely enough that the British may have captured Nazi officers and officials who might be classed in the category of VT ear criminals - responsible for Nazi outrages, such as hostage shooting. In other words - German officers who ordered such things. Suppose ^ th^se were to be tried and punished - how would the Nazis retaliate in answer to that? Might it not lead to the mutual shooting of prisoners?' Already, there has been an exchange of retaliations against prisoners of war - thd Ha Germans and the British shackling a number of the captives they hold, putting prisoners in manacles. All of which makes it easy to see that the Soviet demand that confronts the British is a difficult dll,..., and,' it Is going to Lk, a lot of dolic.o,-=.rt diplomacy in London to solve. WAP CRIMINALS - 7 In Washington this afternoon, Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles Expressed American gratificatioh that Soviet Russia agreed with the vie?/ that Axis A war criminals should be punished.| But the Acting Secretary declined to comment on the other angle of the Soviet note - that the punishment should begin right away, with Hess. RUSSIA The news from Russia is brief. Moscow reports ; /» that in battered Stalingrad, Red army troops have madi! a fighting advance in the northwestern *K±i section oF the city. Enemy Berlin claims that a new Nazi attack has penetrated deeply intR* the northern section, j ttFe^c-$±y^ and has driven on to the Volga. / One specialized type of humor these days is the kind of fun that Germans poke at the* Nazi» lk. little dangerous, that kind of joking. But the police-^persecuted—Germans take a chance. Here is M/1 the latest Teutonic w A as London gets it. Says one German to another, w'AThat is the largest city in the world?" The other German says: "London" or "New York. Whereuron the first German responds: "No, you are wrong. The biggest city in the world is Stalingrad^because German soldiers have been marching through the town for weeks and haven't got to the central railroad station yet. XXKXXXXX MALTA Today Axis plane's ^raided Malta - as they have been doing constantly since October Tenth. And once more they lost heavily, as they have been doing. Twelve more enemy planes shot down, and that makes a total of ninety-six in the past five days. d The Axis air fleets hav=© been letting Malta A alone for some while, then renewed their assaults,srr T'CJ v L c Mediterranean 4 -ho—T^TPtrh.—Tfrisirnga air activity is taken in some quarters to presage another drive by Rommel in Egypt. SELECTIVE_SEFVICE_ This afternoon, the Military Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, okayed legislation to reduce the draft age to eighteen. The vote of the Committee was ^ announced the -f l’&o'P of 'th eMicruee-wUl'bf^spefdye ctri on-b« the '-e i-yhleen -andn-ineteene a^r olass -. draft The Selective Service Director stated today that it won*t be necessary to draft married men with children. Major General Hershey estimated that our seven and a half million man army can be built up completely by calling young men of eighteen and nineteen. However, the schedule calls for the drafting of men with wives and no children, and of single men who have dependents that are not wives or children. Four hundred thousand of these will be called up in N o v e mb e r. j General Hershey made these statements to the Military Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and in testifying before that body, he opposed any suggestion that the eighteen and nineteen year olds should be allowed to complete their schooling beford being taken into the army. "We are fighting for our lives," said he. "High schools and colleges, and finishing this and finishing that -- must DRAFT - 2 be secondary." Hence, he opposed a draft bill provision that would permit youths to complete their schooling before being drafted. The House of Representatives today passed a bill RENTS to stabilize rents. This legislation restricts, not only the rent for houses and apartments, but i also the rates charged by hotels and rooming houses. The Lower House acted with a speed reminiscent of the early days of the New Deal. The bill was passed by unanimous consent - an extraordinary procedure for such an important matter. A single objection would have delayed action, but there was no objection - unanimo us. SAILOR There is a sailor in the Navy who certainly should be marked down as a great persuader. At Danver, A Electrician James Culp fell in love with Bobbie Yowell, and they decided to get married. bhe, however, is under age, and her father!s consent was necessary. That was difficult. It seemed most unlikely that Papa Rghhig would say, "Bless you, ray children." Sailor Culp, however, went to Bobbie’s father and started talking. He talked so eloquently, he not only got Papa’s consent, hR but also persuaded Papa to join the Navy.* Gu& ^2 - ^ ^