kr-I* SUNOCO. FRIDAY. MAY P?: iq ^-| The British in Crete report that two of the three important points seized by the ^'iazi air invaders have now been recaptured. ^ Cairo dispatch tells of severe hand tohand fighting at Candia, the largest city in Crete. Last night the word was that the enemy forces brought by aviation had taken the town. The British and Greeks launched a counter-attack, battling from house to house, and thus they recaptured Candia. | Much the same story at Retimo, another place seized by * the Wazls in their attack from the sky. Retaken by the Allies. The Third important point is Malemi, the airport. There too the British and Greeks made a counter-attack against the Nazi air troops who had seized the flying field. The Cairo bulletin reads ss follows?- ^In the Malemi area our count er-attadk was pattially successful, but later in the day it was held up as the enemy had been sble to CRETE - 2 land considerable re-enforcements by air in this sector." Malemi is the key to the situation tij in Crete tonight. The British report that the Germans have landed their heaviest re-enforcements there.-Y^aturally, since it»s the one airport sky they hold* At last reports new forces of ^^a^troops were coming by air. The Germans are operating a twenty-four hour air service between the Greek mainland and Crete. The British report that their anti-aircraft batteries have shot down sixteen troop-carrying planes. The Battle on the surrounding sea is as important as the conflict on the Island iteelf -- more so perhaps. the greatest sea and sky war of all time. What has London to say about the Berlin claim of a great victory many British warships tombed, damaged sort oj^ partial confirmation. A British spokesman today declared that Naval losses in the defense of Crete are "almost inevitable." Which would indicate that some warships been destroyed or battered by sky attack. But, says the British spokesman, the Nazi claims are exaggerated. No such !/ - - - - - CRETE - 3 heavy damage was done as Berlin maintains - in telling of two battleships and other craft heavily bombed Mfxi and i". t« four cruisers sunk yesterday. Exaggerated}- says London. Berlin today tells of more successes In the sea and sky battle off Crete, but nothing like yesterday’s claims x£ are made. The Nazi air force has sunk three more British destroyers, say the Germans. Also, five British speed boats. Nazi accounts tell of two British cruisers on fire at sea - among those hit yesterday, presumably. 7 ^ One outstanding fact is - A Germans have not been able to break through the cordon of British warships. y^e Germa They may have hit naval units with sky bombs, but they^v# not been able to force open a way for troop-ships to get to Crete and zkxx re-enforce the invaders that landed from the J this condition continues, it remains to be seen what the issue of the battle on the island will be - whether the Germans will be able to win control if>-Cret» entirely air. Or whether the sky route is not enough all by itself^ A to sustain the battle on the ground. di CRETE - 4 The British report naval successes off the coast of Libya. Submarines of the royal Navy have sunk a big troopship, a huge tanker and an Italian destroyer. So says the London Admiralty, with the added indication that successful attacks were made against the line of communication of the axis forces in North Africa. NEAR Eki^ Stories of discontent amon^ the French in Syria are climaxed by a vivid incident reported today. One of the most famous fighters of France has deserted to the British and Free French forces. Colonel Collet, famed as a desert fighter. He was Commander of guerilla forces, fighting for the cause of France in the various insurrections that have broken out in Syria in the past score of years. He achieved colonial renown for skill and daring in one of the most difficult branches of warfare— guerilla fighting in the desert. ^ Dispatch from Beirut now relates that Colonel Collet has Joined the numbers of those Frenchmen who are bitterly against dealing with Nazi Germany and want Britain to win. Beirut minimizes his desertion by saying he tried to take his entire desert fighting force with him, but failed. When they found that they were being led into Palestine to join the British and Free French, ninety—five percent refused and turned back. Colonel Collet took with him some two hundred men*—4lo says the story from Syria. Syria also reports a British air attack on the French airdrome at Damascus. The British have announced that they will f|F.AR EAST - 2 bomb Nazi air units maxing use of Syrian flying fields, and have made the threat good by staging several air raids. The one today would indicate that Nazi planes are still being given facilities in French Syria on their way to fight against the British in Iraq. Turkey reports that a number of German business men have passed through on their way to Iraq. The business men are tewi-t-rwit believed to be Nazi war pilots and aviation mechanics. Reinforcements ^ for the Nazis in Iraq^and they’re passing through Turkey. A dispatch. however, states that no regular formation of German troops has gone through, and there’s no indication that the Turks will permit any such transit. Nor has any xzxx war material crossed Turkish territory. There’s a dramatic report about the British forces in Southern Iraq — Basra. It states that the British commander has committed suicide, because of what is described as ”the desperate position of his troops.” This rumor is entirely unconfirmed. It is said to emanate from Baghdad and was transmitted by the Berlin radio and picked up by London. fmss > 'U Official circles in Washington are^eported to be somewhat relieved on the subject of France - this because of the formal declarations made by the French Vice-Premier, Admiral Darlan. He*s the Vichy official who has been negotiating with flitl/^r in the^stabllshing of that much debated Franco-Nazi colll^^^ation. Darlan* s address headlined in the news today, wjnS to the effect / that this collaboration was absolutely nectf§sary to France. He / said that France would have to make t^ms with the Nazis - or / perish, and France was determi^d live, he cried. Darlan i1 1 i 1 i i 1 jiiiiiiniiiT; that the Vichy Government wil not turn over the French fleet to Nazi Germany. He stated that | most indefinitely. Nor would Marshal Petaln yield the French colonies to the Nazis. Darlan said that neither the cession of the Navy or the colonies was included in the terms of Franco-Nazi collaboration. These assurances were welcomed in Washington today, though officials of state were still inclined to be a bit wary. Maybe France will not turn its fleet over to the Nazis, but there still might be some naval cooperation on the part of the French. And as for colonies, the Vichy Government mi^ht permit the Germans 0 I ■ gfiAUCE - S to have military facilities in such places as Syria and Morocco, without formally handing over colonial control. wm ii ]i !! PRIEN Nazi Germany has lost its Number One individual hero, Lieutenant-Commander Gunther Prien. he was the submarine captain who performed an exploit of almost incredible daring early in the war — when he got his U-boat through the powerful defenses of the British naval base at Scapa Flow, and torpedoed and sank the battle­ ship, ROYAL OAK . The ^ondon Admiralty at that time paid generous homage to the courage and resource of the enemy submarine commander. Several weeks ago, the British reported that Germany»s premier U-boat ace was missing, and today Berlin issues a terse announcement saying that Lieutenant -Commander Prien has failed to return and must be lost. s jljgQSIAV Canada today announces that the Jugoslav Government f is moving to the Dominion - the exile regime headed by young King Peter. Governments of nations conquered by the Nazis have removed to various places, most of them to Britain. Now Canada becomes the seat of a royal regime in exile. Boy King Peter and his ministers will direct the Jugoslav cause from this side of the ocean i ! ■ 0 -■ ' ’ C^IMA V»e have enough war news - coming from Europe, But just the same we must remember that there's another conflict raging - that one in the Far East. It's ecclipsed for the most part by the greater clash across the Atlantic, but every so often it flares in the headlinee* Today the Japanese claim what they describe as "one of the most decisive of victories." Tokyo declares that the Japanese spring offensive has gained control of all istm the Shansi province north of the Yellow River. The Chinese Army, they say, has withdrawn south of that stream. Today's tMX Far Eastern war story is the more significant, because of a Japanese statement tliat the Chinese Communist Army did not cooperate in the defense against the Japanese attack. This ties in vrfith news from the Chinese side - nationalist accusations that the Chinese Red Armies are not doing their bit. A uHi Nationalist newspaper at Chungking blames the Communists for the trapping of a hundred thousand troops by the Japanese. The Chinese Reds, on their part, deny it all - and say they have been lighting bitterly against the Japanese. o ; Secretary of the Navy Knox today spoke of - sacrifices. He said we must be prepared for them. "We haven»t begun to sacrifice yet," he said, "and we*re only going to win through a series of sacrifices matching those being made by the British people." To which he added: "It*s going to take all that we have." ■The Seeretaryip-who^- ha^al-ready spokaa—4n favor-efr rppftanng the ty- -law | 1 1 ill I"T'lurn iiiiinir nrc^rij tihnt wn nrnnt freedom of the sears. I • ^ deb ^ Debate on foreign policy flared in the Senate tBsx today, with Senator Josh Lee of Oklahoma making another demand that President Roosevelt declare a state of full emergency. The Lee pronouncement was issued as a retort to a speech by Senator Nye of North Dakota. Senator Nye is a leading isolationist, and he declared that in future times the United States may be held guilty of inciting the waif in Europe. Senator Nye recalled that two years ago he told the Senate that he didn’t think war would break out in Europe unless the Allies were urged on to it by the government at Washington. Today he intimated that the Administration may have made certain commitments abroad. commitments which might lead us to war. Lee rejoinder Included a denunciation of American isolationists. The Senator from Oklahoma assailed the America First Committee. He said, "Our people are asleep." And added, "Because they are drugged, drugged by the deadly appeasement.” ■IT ^ ill I STKIKES Today a Senate committee heard a drastic demand concerning the shipbuilding strike In San Francisco. Chairman Land of the United Stcites Maritime Coiamission, stated that an end must be made to the walkout of seventeen hundred machinists - both A. F. of L. and C*I*0» Their strike has tied up shipbuilding in San Francisco with serious effect for national defense* The Maritime Commission chairman asserted that it was - ”An outlaw strike." He characterized it in these words:- "As flagrant as any in my experience." He suggested tnat the Administration use strong measures. if necessary. "I believe there is justification," said he, "for every possible step the Government can take - up to and including the use of United States forces." - 0 - There was a scene of crowds at Ravenna, Ohio, today — thousands of men thronging to a big government plant, swarming through the rain - while traffic was stalled for miles on the muddy roads. The slogan was - Back to work. At Ravenna the Government has a thirty-five million dollar shell-loadlnt, plant. Labor trouble developed - a walkout described §IB1KM 3 - ii as ft wildCcit s'brlks* That today lad to tha closing down of shall—loading oparations* haverity—fiva hundrad man wera discharged^ this as an affort to and tha strike. The workers to be taken back^ re-employed ~ minus the agitators. That^s what produced the crov/d congestion - re-employment, workers wanting to go back to their jobs. - 0 - In New York State, a milk strike is threatened. A hearing concerning milk prices was held today, and the President of the Dairymen’s League stated that if the farmers could not get a better rate - there’ll be a repetition of the milk strike of three years ago. SAFE In an office at La Porte, Indiana, they had trouble with the safe. ~ The big steel vault. The combination had jammed, and they couldn’t get it open. Something had to be done, and breaking into that masaive strong box of steel would be quite a task. So to whom could they apply? Near oa Porte is a state prison - and now you have the idea. Not such an original story - the thing has happened time and again before. Somebody applying to a prison to get an expert safe cracker to open a vault. Almost any penitentiary can be V depended upon to have its quota of professional bank robbers with long records for getting into safes of the most difficult sort. But wait a minute - this takes us to the twister in the story. The prison authorities sent a convict who had never cracked a safe in his life, never once ted burgled a vault. Twenty-two years ago. Wild Bill Shutter was convicted of murder, and sentenced to prison for life. In the hoosgow he ^j/^ developed an interest, fl© never expected it to mean anything practical, never thought he’d get out of prison. Yet he devoted himself to the study of the art of cracking safes. He had talent as a locksmith, and the moi>t expert field of that craft is SAFE - 2 1 st66l vaults and the conbinations that open them* So^ 3 E£ux ••e_-UQir it^tta 4 when the prison authorities got the appeax for somebody to upen a safe, they might have sent anyone of half a dozen professional banx robbers. But no, they chose Wild Bill Shutter, who had never burglared a safe in his life but knew more about it than anybody else. P.S. He quickly opened the safe.