r kiI^--_^lJNQC0^_TUtSDAY^_MAECH_10^_1942 GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: The Japanese tonight have three beacheads firmly established on the vast and still partly .r unexplored island of New Guinea^ But they still have not taken the most iinporta^ point, Port Moresby, by which the Australians,kefp the command of Torres Strait, the strait betyeen New Guinea and northernmost Australia. The Japanese made violent attacks on Port Moresby today/ with repeated raids by heavy b omb ers. The Australians admit that all they can do here again iy to fight delaying actions; that they / i haven’t enough air strength to carry the war to the J apanese One spokesman at Canberra, the capital of the Co mm onwealth, declared that the Australian Government is under no illusions. That a full scale Japanese assault LEAD - 2 c u, ■; T 1 ^ ' ' - - may be attempted soon^^The first objectivefjv/ h Port Darwia, Broome and V.'indham. Today raid on Port Moresby, only three hundred and fifty miles from Australia, vras the tenth that the Japanese have made. Netherlands East Indies officials admitted today that their commanding officers at Bandoeng had been obliged to surrender to prevent a general massacre. But.Soerabaja still ^ holding out, although surrounded A by Mi overwhelming Japanese forces. The Japanese today published a claim that they had caotured more than two hundred and ninety thousand soldiers of the United Nations durinr the first three months of the war. \ to March Seventh, at Honp Kong, r Manila, Singapore, Rangoon and Batavia, they had taken more than a hundred and nineteen thousand prisoners I TV. The capitulation at Bandoeng added another hundred thousand, ^hey claim to have destroyed eleven hundred LEAD - 3 I and eighty-two aircralt of the United Nations; as N well as a hundred and thirty-five ships. Ail of which is enemy propaganda. An American reporter who covered the fail of not only Singapore, but Batavia and Bandoeng, cabled a story today in which he used the words, "Java fell because the little Dutch boy's finger was too small to plug the dyke." That the Japanese threw against Java an invading force of hundreds of thousands ol men; and there just were not enough Dutchmen to stop them. The Burma news tonight comes from Mandalay, far up the Irrawaddy River. The British Army that had been defending Rangoon was able to move north. thereby giving the lie to the Japanese claim that it the smoldering renialns of Rangoon. ■r II had been cut off when the Mikado's armies moved into ^ In spite of having to announce one more J i ■J retreat, the British spokesman insists that His Majestyfe; LEAD - 4 forces defending Burma are now stronger than when la \ the Japanese first began their invasion. Furthermore, he said that within a month there will be a big !'t’ \i surprise for the Japanese. The British talk as though they have been able to destroy the usefulness of Rangoon entirely, that is as a port through which the Japanese might move men and supplies by sea. If that is true, the Mikado*s generals may have a difficult job keeping up their communications across the formidable Tenasserin ! i I t Mount ains. However,ll^y capturing Rangoon, the Japanese are in possession of jbwi " bases within threw hours of Calcutta, and fabulous India. The ironic part of the British situation iJ | Hindustan is that the bulk of the defenses are in the northwest. The British always expected to have to protect theiuselves against the Russians, and the Afghans. Few military leaders ever visualized an LEAD - 5 attack frOiH the other side, the way the British themselves entered Hindustan. On the subject of India, Prime Minister Winston Churchill will make an important announcement the next time Parliament sits. This was revealed today by Sir Stafford Cripps, speaking as leader of the House of Commons. Of I'! I II J ATROCITIES From all parts of the earth occupied by Japanese troons, there come stories of atrocities /A unequalled since the hordes of Genghis Khan overran th world. So many of them reported from China in the last few years that readers actually became accustomed and hardened to them. Tteijifsfe apparently A the brutalities of the Mikado’s men in China are nothing to what they‘d prepared to do in the future A or what they’ve already d been doing since December. General MacArthur has transmitted brief reports of shocking behavior#| But 1 attest and worst of all is the story today in the British House of Commo by Foreign Minister Anthony Eden. Among other things, fea’ told categorically that fifty British officers and ni 0 n bbound hand *and foot and killed with < A .. . „ y i bayonets. /"""The atrocities on civilians, both men and | women, were similar to the krutxi barbarities v/hich 7 ATROCITIES - 2 aroused horror at the time of the Nanking massacre in Jfineteen Thirty-Seven^^^ European and Chinese women alike were the victims of the Nipponese conq uerors And it is noteworthy that the Japanese officers refused A any representative of the International Red Cross to visit the camp into which the survivors were herded. The British Governmen't was unwilling, said "IdeM to publish any account of Japanese atrocities until they were confirmed beyond the possibility of doubt. Bu'^now there is no longer room for doubt. Similar stories are beginning to leak through from Java after the surrender of the main Dutch force in the Bandoeng area. Officers of the Netherlands army tha-t have reached Australia report®^ that the Japanese yoaa p 01 n ^ P prisoners roughly. The na'tives, on the other hand, they handle comparatively well, the idea being to pit Asiatics against Europeans. HITLER The Soviet leaders apparently believe that at least one of Hitler*s moves in the Spring will be against Turkey. That's the interpretation Moscow now offers for the bomb plot in Ankara, supposed to have been an attempt on Nazi Ambassador von Papen. As a matter of fact, Papen wasnear the / ^ / bomb when it exploded, end—Nevertheless, Soviet subjects have been arrested by the Turkish authorities. The Soviet spokesmen tonight are charging that the Nazis promoted that bomb attempt^ that it's all part of a' scheme to blackmail Turkey into becoming a part of the Axis, The plausibility of this theory is that it would coincide with the strongly anticipated move of the Jaoanese on India, A Hitler attempt to embroil the X Turks would be the western part of an Axis pincers movement on the heart of the British Empire in Asia. HITLER - " In this connection, it may be worth noticing that ^erman^ heavy planes, operating out of Sicily, have bee||i bombing Malta without cease for twenty-four hours. * Government still is determined to stay neutral and will fight if invaded. RUSSIA % I — t interesting^h-i-ftf■ in today's news fro: Russia Mt—Soviet generals JSsp^e moving a wholi army, including heavy artillery, across the ice of Lake and th~e delta of the Lovat River, which empties into Lake Ilmen^^^The waters are frozen rock, and the Soviet engineers have changed that surface into a series of highways, along which the Red divisions are moving Reports are again coming out of Russia of a conspicuous lowering of the Nazi spirits. Of course j these may be wishful reports^ they come from the Soviet side. One general who interviewed many prisoners is Quoted as having said:- "Shortlj^ after the outbreak of the war, the Germans advanced with gusto. Now they are holding fast only out of fear." This wouldn't be v7orth repeating except for stories that come- oimtfltan-»oucly—otrt of France, that RUSSIA - 2 i! 1 the iiiazis have withdrawn nearly all of their troops from occupied French territory. This has been reported by military attaches of other countries stationed in -jUt Vichy. South of the River Loire, there are not more than six thousand German troops in all occupied France, ^ A barely two regiments, and they not young fresh troops. - ! lazis have even it hdrawn their customs guards and passport Dolice from France. this is all A on account of the extraordinary^^^^«?=e^ of the war in Russia. And it is interesting to learn that one division. which was brought back from the Russian front for a brief rest in France, was embarked at Riga and brought to Brest through the English Channel. / HIGH COMMAND There have been many swift changes in the high command of our military forces of late. Now the most revolutionary of all is a suggestion from Congress. Senator Bennett Champ Clark of iissouri wants to unify‘all our fighting forces into [ one department, a department of National Defense, with a new Cabinet member to boss the job. The Missouri Senator would abolish the V/ar and Navy Departments entirely, and also abolish Secretaries Knox and Stimson. Our sea forca^*^ if Senator Clark’s > idea were adopted, would b^^inder the command of a naval officer who wonUr be known as Admiral of the Navy. At the head/of the land forces would be an officer knowny4^ General of the Army. Not only the secretaries of the Navy and War would be abolished - but se^^oul^ the Under —Secretaries and all their p if- assistant secretaries m i ^ '1 HIGH COMMAND - 2 Senator Bennett Champ Clark would put all !■ the air forces under the Army command. However, the actual patrolling of the coasts of both the Continental United States and our island territories, would be under Navy supervision, with the Marines carrying on as they have always carried on. The Missouri Senator^doesn*t happen to be very close to the President. In fact, up to December i' ■ Seventh, he was one of our foremost isolationists. So it is interesting to observe that it is he who is presenting this revolutionary bill after Senator Chandler of Kentucky had told reporters he had heard that the White House was considering the same move -- one high command for the Army, Navy and Air. However, President Roosevelt today lost no time in spiking any chances there might be for Senator Clark's plan becoming a law. The President made it clear that any bill for one supreme unified command would pass only by defeating all the t r - k high coaMANp_-_2 ;i'd Administration forces in Congress. The Y:hite House objection being that it isn’t necessary. Our armed forces, he said, are working together quite well, under the present set-up, hence there is no need for the change that is suggested by the Senator from Missouri. Reporters then asked him, what about the statement made by Senator Chandler, the statement that Mr. Roosevelt himself had been considering just that kind of a change, a supreme command? As he frequently does in press conferences, the President answered the question by asking another. He asked. What does the term "supreme command" mean? He said I that he didn’t know himself, and he doubted whether anybody else knows exactly. Then he pointed out that last night he had made one move toward simplifying the organisation of I our military establishment, by making Admiral King I Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, as well as Chief of Naval Operations. ^ ITE:i_VETO President Boosevelt has the sympathy and support of a Republican leader in one of his wishes. Republican Senator Vandenberg of Michigan wants to help | the President obtain authority to veto individual items i in appropriation bills. That authority is desirable because of the addiction of some lawmakers to inserting » riders in bills. That subject came up last week as you may recall. The farm bloc in particular and other grouDS have a habit of b neak-igyp these riders ^^to money measures with the idea that if the President wants to veto them, he has to veto the whole works. The next appropriation bill that comes »befere c the—SenVandenberg will offer an amendment giving | A the President the power to veto any individual item or ^ items. ^Rr ^nViiin nnint e-f e lattev-he r —R uu5 e V u I't on 'the—s ub j ©©"t ■ —govera^^r s of PORK The Price Administrator has at last called a halt on the staf'gering price of pork products. go into effect for another thirteen days} -aa— affec . ^ wholesale price. No wholesaler, after /\ ■ /A March Twenty-Third, may charge more than the highest 1 price that prevailed between March third and March seventh. That ruling temporary^ 'ni±-'xi;3rl lio .!^ CP^ good for sixty days. After that there will be a A permanent ceiling put on the wholesale price of pork. ano] farr^—apply to sausages, canned meats or ^ doul manufactured meats, except'canned spiced—ham luncheon A meat. These distinctions are somewhat baffling. The Price Administration Office announces that if the retailers get gay and put up their prices too high, they will feel the force of Uncle Sam*s hand. ! 1 j hoar ooaebedy—efty infu» ‘c- on* milliofl-.or so pipt!h~ih»V AUTOS Congressman Wright Patman of Texas is jumping to the rescue of motor car dealers. He v/ants to help them out of the jam into which they were plunged by Leon Henderson’s freezing of the cars they have in stock Patman is Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business. He will offer one bill ordering the I fteconstruction Finance Corporation to help the dealers with money. In addition to the money they have tied up in cars they*^^?^ not allowed to sell, many of the dealers have expensive lipases on show rooms^they can’t use. So Patman will draft a second bill to reliev^e them on that account also. i: 11 t SUBMAFINES Four more of our cargo ships attacked by submarines. One tanker torpedoed and cut in two, three and a half miles off the Atlantic coast. The submarine, after firing the torpedo, sailed between the two halves of the tanker. Furtherjsouth, the surviviors of a tanker flying the flag of Panama, were landed somewhere in the West Indies. At another V/est Indies port, the survivors of a freighter, nst were brought ashore. And a nev/spaper at Havana reports that two of Uncle Sam*s warships arrived at a certain port towing a tanker which had t been attacked and shelled by an enemy submarine. I* The enemy set her afire but did not sink her, and United States planes sank the submarine. According to newspaper figures, this brings the list of ships attacked in American waters up to SUBMARINES - 2 seventy-six, of which sixty-nine have been sunk. On the other side of the led'er, the Government of Brazil has just turned over to-United States ■! fieei* the Italian liner COIATE GRANDE, one of the luxurious vessels in the tourist trade. She had been A in a Brazilian port since Italyini'll the war. Presumably she v/ill be turrled over to the shipping pool :j of the Allies. ■