WAR Paris tonight is jittery with wild rumors - panicky reports tna, tne Germans have broken through. i Nazi motorized column at Laon, fLfty miles south of the frortier. N^zi mechanized dashes to Arras, Noyon - not far from /A ionp? visioned the Maginot Line broken - Hi Paris. Popular fancy tier's mechanized units piercing deep into France. These wil! rumors and panicky reports were immediately and ijxtaxl insistently denied by the French Government - Premier Heynaud himself issuing a statement, "No* the Nazi forces have not penetrated far into France" - he assured the public. There was a report that the French Government intended to leave Paris. Thatfs denied. / Premier Reynaud officially stated (( that the government is, using his words, in Paris and will remain in Paris, crop of wild ones followed the officially announced events of the day: ^The giant battle of Belgium continues "with increased fury. The battle-line extends north and south, cutting up and down central Belgium. The heaviest German drive is against the southern WAxi - 2 half, between wamur and Sedan. This threatens to outflank the Allied forces to the north. The French command reports in the outflanking attempt that Hitler is hurling huge masses of fresh troops, squadrons of tanks and fleets of war planes - a tremendous onslaught, greatest in history. A A CK a * Tfea- French military A declare that the German high command appears to be willing to sacrifice any number of men, planes and tanks’to break the front in southern Belgium. nereTs a Paris dispatch which that the Hitler motorized columns have driven through and penetrated areas behind the Allied line. The French are counter-attacking and say that isolated mechanized units of the Nazis were wiped out. Premier Reynaud revealed that the Germafi assaults have created what he celled - "big pockets." These big pockets threatening the Allies from the rear. "But," he added, "the French high command has reported to him that they have the situation - "under control. At the southern end of the crucial fighting front, the action is in some ways most critical of all. At Sedan, masses of WAR - 3 Nazi tames, planes and infantry battering at the Maginot Line, trying to break through into northern France. TheyWe achieved partial success. Premier Reynaud states:- nThe enemy made big pockets in the Sedan sector, but our troops are seeking to reduce them.n And he added:- ^We reduced many othfers in NineteenFourteen to NineteenEighteen.n Other French dispatches say that the thunde.ing Nazi attack made some progress in the Sedan area, but suffered tremendous losses in tanks and men. ^'Paris describes the situation as- serious, and adds that the Allies are studying what it calls - "radical measures to meet the danger." We are told that the French forces in the battle are being regrouped and reorganized. This means that they are changing from the ideas of the war of defense to the realization that it!s a war of movement, a swift thrusting attack. Premier Reynaud, in an address to the Chamber of Deputies today, indicated important changes. He used these words: "We may perhaps be obliged to change methods and men." And a change of men is taken to^mean - a change of command, xne^y® commander, is .General Gamelin, but the brains at the fignting front A WAR - 4 is supposed to be General Alphonse George^. Tonight Paris is wondering what the Premier meant when he said - "a change of men.n Will Georges take the place of Gamelin? What about the British’ The B.E.F. is a*< the northern half of the battleline, extending from Namur north to Antwerp. A The British are covering Brussels, the Belgian capital. And there some of the fiercest of fighting is going on. Today’s British communique tells of driving Nazi motorized units out of the historic City of Louvain, near Brussels. This was the first admission that the Germans succeeded in getting into Louvain. A The British story tells how an entrance into Louvain was stormed by Nazi shock troops. They threw up barricades. Then the British counter-attacked, and in fierce street fighting drove the Germans to the outskirts. Then further counter-attacks hurled them out (7-f-L iA-C. of the city altogether. X-vfto Correspondents with the British tell us that the fighting in Belgium is not at all like the trench battle^ of the World War. Now there are no permanent fortified lines. It's movements on wheels, sudden changes of position, the Germans WAR - 5 using little heavy artillery, depending upon the swift strokes of air bombing instead. The whole battle a confused changing maze of t-irust and counter-thrust^^ One British unit was astonisned to find itself suddenly surrounded in a village, but that B.E.F. outfit moved just as suddenly - punching a swift way out. On the sky side, that illimitable upper side, the London Air Ministry today announced a successful stroke by the largest fleet of British bombers ever engaged in a single operation. While swarms of R.A.F. planes were supporting the ground troops against the German attack, that biggest bomber—squadron raided far behind the German lines - rsltlsa. into Germary, striking at vital communications that supply the Nazi battlefront. The London dispatch reads this way:- nRailroad junctions, crossings and important automobile roads were among the objectives successfully attacked.” And it adds, "Only one British plane tsi± failed to return." To summarize^- -the-stupendeue-%a%tle for-Be grew- 'nore critical-today,--and wil-l-4>e German advances were slowed down by increasing resistance, to v%xiicn WAR - 6 they countered by hurling new masses of men and metal ^driving with ponderous and swift moving strength to crash the southern wing of the Allied Line, a giant outflanking operation. ^Further south, battering to break the Maginot Line and sweep into France. London and Paris declare, and Berlin confirms the declaration - that the Hitler objective is to win the channel ^ ports for a blow directly against England. Th. tt^SI^Srfcri ^3»St:, '.Tpl.l t-j ■pr N Mussolini will have - nlittie if any result.” R» advice - don»t A go into the war, donft join Hitler against the Allies. The Fascist Dictator won’t pay z much attention to the American President thinks Rome. SCI* urCjt ^ Heretsr^soaathi^about a proposal which the United States is said to have made to Italy^ a proposal for an increase of trade between the two countries. The idea being r- that if Mussolini stayed out of the war, Italy would get substantial trade benefits from the ? United States. How was that suggestion received? Today there’s a report from Rome that Count Ciano, Mussolini’s Foreign Minister, told American Ambassador Phillips \ ^ that Italy warn no longer interested in building business with the U.S tt^P53?>^How should that be interpreted? Phillips is said to have put th£r' question to SiraaopcsH]* Ciano, and Ciano replied:- ’’Understard 'A it as you see fit.” These American angles, of course, seem to point to what all the world expects - Mussolini w^M join Hitler against the A A Allies, the Duce i* only waiting to be convinced that Nazi Germany ITALY - 2 iw reax-^y winning. All sorts of rumors are afloat. One in London today told that Italy had invaded Jugoslavia, tnat Italian units had crossed the Jugoslav border - without any opposition. A British government spokesman declared that he very much doubted the story. Italjr officially denies it. ifi th£H conet But the chief theme :oncetn is Switzerland. seeking a protectorate over A There’s a a that Italy the Alpine republic, and that Nazi Berlin had advised the Swiss to accept Fascist Italian protection. Whiqh would of course mean - ir hand over the Alps as a base for a new attack on France. Switzerland is under arms tonight, six hundred thousand men mobilized - one-sixth of the population of the countiy . The Gcv ernment is taking the greatest precaution againso a fifth column. There’s acute apprehension of Trojan Horse tactics, because out of a total population of four million, three million Swiss japqpAxjMk speak German and a quarter of a million speak Italian. And that does suggest possibilities of Nazi and Fascist penetration. There’s one rather ghostly bit of news in the Swiss sitjation. Today, the League of Nations got ready to move from Geneva ITALY - 3 The League, designed to establish international peace and order, issued a belated protest against the German invasion of the Low Countries. Then - got ready to go to Lisbon. Why is it moving? Because of the fear that Switzerland will soon be invaded / The archives of the League have already tr* been transferred to France. Sixty top officials are fcxix packing for Lisbon, been- a-sked cat>Ja^—beoaus% —Ift-L-j-eben, -the. Lea&ue. o£- ifttends^ to Hnajbnta±n--irts frataew^yk-of iftt-ernationair- —* defense Today the President appeared before & a joint session of Congress and personally delivered a special message - a reconmiendatij that new vast sums of money be spent for national defense./ The message had been hastily prepared - bustling activity at the Wnite House. The haste was not surprising, considering the swift cataclysm of events in Europe during the past few days. The joint session of the Senate and the lower Hou&e, had been summoned in a hurry, with a notice of only twelve hours. So the element of tempo gave today1s event an aspect of emergency. The money the President recommends for armament is even larger than had been forecast. The sum is one billion and a hundred and eighty-two million dollars. Of tl*i^eight-^nt^^ < 5 ^ 1 '1 s “i: o~~he ' prrt— up inr-eesh-r—Two te—vfThi-a- total-of - mere- 'then -ena N two billion which the White House TCcsdb to.. ____ in addition to anotnea /\ A A has already requested the present session of Congress to appropriate. So, the present defense . axx program, as proposed - comes to a grand sum of three billion, a hundred and eighty—two million dollars. That approaches the figures of World War days, when this DEFENSE - 2 nation poured its treasury so lavishly into the actual battle that A was raging. And the w&rd in Washington is that the President is likely to ask for a still further huge sum to bolster up the armed force of this nation, on land, at sea, and in the sky. President Hoosevelf CongressAfr0dajMHh«lrl,f!» A /f p-A-c-AZLrv-Q. ttiOETg&t of the aviation needs of the United States. "I believe,” A said he, ”that this nation should plan-at this time a program that would provide us with fifty thousand military and naval planes.” he did not, however, ask for money to finance an air program so huge. The Army and Navy right now have a little more than fifty-five hundred planes. The President- ssichthat during the-past—year- Hilitar^ aircraft pfcoductiota has been staged up~~from Six thoi^and \ \ A N \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 1 of the war plane orders the Allies have been placing in this country. \ \ ] \ \ V \ A 1 And the President advised Congress not to take ar$r action which \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ v might impede the delivery of Military "aircraft to the Allies.”That, \ from the v viewpoint of ourV? of ourV)wn national defense,” said hV, ”wd^ld be X \ \ extremely si\ortsighted.” The way the defense money is to be raised was left to DEFENSE - 3 (the) Congress. In January, when he presentech^oig military budget, the President proposed a special national defense tax of four hundred and sixty million dollars. Today, however, there was no specific recommendation of how the financing should be done. It!s either a case of heavier taxes or of raising the forty-five billion dollar limit of the national debt; The President leaves the alternative to Congress. Let the lawmakers decide. The special message touched upon one point, concerning which there has been some debate and uneasy surmise. How the huge sums of army and navy money have-been spent, are being spent, and will be spent. There has been talk that Uncle Sam has not been getting a dollar1s worth of defense for every dollar that he has laid out - that we should be a great deal better armed for the cash that it has cost. The President today characterized that as - loose talking and loose thinking, he referred to people who say the United States^rmy and Navy are not first class,^that we?ve been wasting a lot on them. He replied by declaring tiiat the Navv is stronger than ever before. The Army at its greatest BAKLOW Th^re »&£ a big explosion at the Barlow bombing test today. But it wasn’t the bomb that exploded - it was JSarlow. The inventor of the much debated new type of high explosive was all set to give a demonstration before a congressional committee. There has been a lot of argument about the bomb, which Barlow claims to be vastly more powerful than anything the Army now has. Some of the army experts donft agree^and today!s proceedings were designed to settle the question. It was to be settled at the expense of two hundred and fifty-two goats. For the first test, eighty-four goats were staked at various intervals of distance^froa• Barlow claims that his bomb will kill every living thing within a wide rad**, and was A * going to prove it with the goats. The congressional committee had not yet arrived, but the colonel in command of the army proving ground at Aberdeen, Maryland, told Barlow to get his blow-up concoction ready to be touched off. v-e It!s a carbon-liquid-oxygen type of explosi^m Barlow had a thousand pounds of carbon steeped in a vat of liquid oxygen. so now he hoisted the carbon out of the oxygen, and it hung BARLOW - 2 suspended from a kind of derrick. Observers at a safe distance could see steam arising from the carbon, as the liquid oxygen evaporated into gas. There was a delay - the congressional committee had not yet arrived. The lawmakers were late. Ten minutes passed, with Barlow getting more and more impatient, and then he exploded. He roared that the explosive properties of his bomb were going with the wind, and that the liquid oxygen evaporated from the carbon. nIfm going to call it off,” he shouted. nThe bomb has already lost a hundred pounds of oxygen. Ifm not going to be the goat.” No, the goats were supposed to be the goat. The inventor proclaimed that the army officers had framed the delay to discredit his explosive. Whereupon he stalked off, jumped into his car, and drove away. acriving-lateT- ^rlow—hftiled-Ohg-irman Senatog-Shoppard-of aft4-«h«rged--it-wag-ail a plot—hla. The Senator— pareee3ion-ftnti"Ct?axed -the~indi^n«nt-iftventer -to-return W--frh» ttg-gyvrrmrK-- Rrrt—h»-- COC-ldn * t^pgT-fcUad e-&aT±OW~t gg O frau^riaent. he agreed to ws ~--to set another date for the A BARLOW - 3 liquid-oxygen-carbon try-out, a date two weeks hence. And so it all ended, with everybody chagrined - except the goats. One thing was proved - that if the Barlow bomb is as explosive as Barlow himself, it!s devastating indeed! The carbon-liquid-oxygen concoction remains in doubt, but therefs no doubt about Nu-Blue Sunoco