RUSSIA . Soviet Russlfa today ordered a total mobilization of its human power - Russia’s enormous human power - men, women and even children of a population of a hundred and ninety •-4 three millions.) They are all being put to v/ar tasks of working or fighting - total mobilization against the spring offensive that Nazi Germany is about to start, Red Army bulletins tell of heavy German attacks. air and land, but these were beaten back - and In some places the Russians staged successful assaults FRANCE The recall of American Ambassador Admiral Leahy from Vichy, France, is officially described as for the purpose of consultation.] President Hoosevelt has notified our Lnvoy to the Vichy regime to re"ttHHXto Washington to consult personally with the leaders of our government over her^^ Hence, the recall of Admiral Leahy does not re a formal break of relations. That’s the official version, j Yet, it is quite clear that the return of our AmkizxafBr Ambassador is a definite expression of American hostility toward Laval. With that pro-Nazi collaborationist assuming power, we respond V witn a gBSiAQ gesture that^ the next thing to a formal break. A Ambassador Admiral Leahy will not return Immediately for those consultations. His ?.lfe Is il^-, has had an operation and delay his departure fror. France until she has A recovered sufficiently to travel. This will probably be several weeks hence. All of vrtilch Is a sufficient conunentary on tne recall for consultation. Ahy summon a statesman nome at tnls time, when he can't leave for several weeks? Il'f z' FRANCE - Laval today presented to Chief of State Marshal Petain a list of the Ministers he has chosen. The names on the list are not revealed, but we hear that Gpneral Dentz is one of them. He's the French Commander who waged a campaign against the British in Syria, and baval is supposed to be naming him as Minister of War One important development is this. Admiral Azarian, whom baval succeeds as Vlce-Fremier, becomes ^^ead of the French armed forces a - military and naval. This has been previously announced, and today*s contribution is the significant detail that Darlan, aw as Army and ^avy Commander, will be responsible to 6 ub Petain - and not Laval. This may mean a great deal with reference to the French fleet, which is causing so much worry. We hear that Laval would llice to turn the French warships over to the Nails, and he could do so legally if Command er-in-Chief Darlan were placed under his authority. But Darlan is responsible to Fetaln, and the aged Marshal has no desire to let the Nazis get the French Fleet - so we are told. Meanwhile, new anti-Nazi outbreaks are reported FRANCE - Incidents of xafca sabotage and terrorism hare'OCOTrr^ in northern France. AndlLondon reports that the Nazis are shooting French hostages again - this In reprisal for attacks against Germans during recent days, ever since the return to power of l^al was announced. I"’ MALTA. Today in London an island was decorated - not merely one ^ whole island of heroes, Malta - which has endured more than two thousand air raids, ^ing George awarded to the people of that fortress the George Cross, a civilian decoration granted for supreme courage under fire monarch of the Kingdom of Britain cabled to the Governor of Malta, and said:- "To honor her brave peoples, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism and to a devotion that will long be famous in history, ^ralse^teat well deserved - after more than two thousand raids. w- 4= • t' ! I f ' t. I j!5- 1 0 / ITALY We have so:De later amplification of the story of a government shake-up in Fascist Italy. Mussolini is said to have prugxi purged the Fascisist Party, removing hundreds of officials. Tnese szst are accused of such things as profiteering and dealing illegally in rationed goods - the black market. Other charges are still more significant - political. Many Fascist office holders have been purged because of being lukewarm toward Hitler*s Germany - or even coldly hostile to the Nazis. X e latest Informafiloa states that Mussolini has been compelled to appoint the iVince of Piedmont as Commander of the Italian Army in Central arid Southern Italy. The ^rince is a member of the Royal House of iavoy, and is described as an opponent of the Nazis. The meaning of his military appointment to Army command is said to be thisl*l Italian military circles are increasingly indignant at the domination exercised by Hitler’s military commanders in southern I taly. Sicily and Libya. jThey’ry especially angry because complete military authority in Italian Libya has been transferred to the lir *1 iit ii iM- 'ail 'R! i ITALI - 2 German Commaniler, Field Marshal ftommel. So by placing the anti-Nazi ^^rince of Piedmont in charge of Italian forces in Central and Southern '‘‘taly, Mussolini is trying to xpaxarsR appease the growing resentment ml ii ill \P M ji boem >. The Chinese in Burma announced that they halted two powerful enemy drives today, and inflicted heavy losses on the Japs. The Chinese are fighting at a place called Yanl, forty-nine miles north of their former stronghold - Toungoo. On the British side, the Japs are pressing strongly against the great Burma oilfields, which the defending British have devastated - scorched earth. Today’s Burma dispatch A wells, states that out of eight thousand^^ii'^^slx thousand have already been wreciced - and the remainder will be blown up if the enemy continues to advance. So many thousands of oil wells toT.hgrxa.thc^ surprising - an indication oernap* of the magnitude of the Burma fields. These, however, produce a rather low grade of .^-etroleum A1 together,I "Ihe Burma situation bb tonight appears no better than before. In fact, military observers in London regard the xzbsb prospects of the defense as - desperate. 1 PHILIPPINES Tonight’s late bulletin from tne War Department tells of an artillery duel at Corregidor. The guns of our Manila Bay forts and those of Japanese batteries on the nearby shore blazed A away at each other. And the fire of our artillerymen was accurate - as usual. TheyVe distinguished themselves for A sharpshooting all through the Philippine fighting./ Today the guns of Corregidor silenced three Japanese batteries.^That was a good reply to Jap stories that the e;uns of Corregidor have been blasted out of r ction. The island fortress was bombed sigatnxtxbK again by flights of enemy planes. Their high explosives roared and our anti-aircraft batteries replied - one Jap warplane probably destroyed. Fierce fighting continues on the Island of Panay Tonight’s War department bulletin states that eight thousand Japanese troops are reported to have landed yesterday increasing tneir already overwhelming numbers. But the small force of defenders are hitting back with stubborn resistance. 1 pHTEIPPINES - 2- Secretary of War Stlmson stated today that the American and Philippiii® prisoners taken on the Batan Peninsula are being treated In accordance with the laws of war. The Secretary told a press conference that the »>aps are abiding by the humane principles perscrlbed by the Geneva Conventl'n - which laid down mdu^ w: rules of condulS with reference to prisoners of war. A At the same time, the war department Issued a statement about the numbers of prisoners we lost. The figure can't be precise because we don't know the casualties that occurred in the last hours of bitter fighting on Bataan. The War department estimates that the Japs captured sixty thousand prisoners - American and Philippine soldiers and civilians. Thirty^five thousand American and Philippine troops And there were twenty-five tnousand civilians on the Batan ^eninsxila when it fell. Here's something late, just in, a dispatch Irom United Press correspondent Frik Hewlett, who was at Batan until the very end. ne Hew la a nomber to Australia only this week. His story kEin begins as follows;- y outt .TPPIWES - ? last desperate showdown, the battle of Batan ended because T- 4 - 1 : i quinine pills ran out”, tie goes on to say that at the end. ten thousand of the defending soldiers lay in two lield j most of them seriously ill with malaria. And In camps another ten thousand were out of action - with lighter cases of malaria. All because af the supply of quinine ran out, the drug that is absolutely necessarj^ «falnst an malaria ^ A. in the tXBfix tropics Secretary Stlmson at his news conference revealed something the Army is doing in recognition of Philippine Corps bravery and loyalty. Hitherto, the Army Al^ftxy^has had a ruling whereby all aviation cadets must be American citizens That.excluded Filipinos, who are citizens of their own commonwealth. But now the Air Corps regulation is being changed In their favor. Hereafter, Philippine cltlsens, as well as Americ-'-n citizens. will be accepted as avlatlol^ cadets. The be< cretary mentioned not only the courage and loyalty that the RtitplHBl Filipinos displayed In tne epic of Batan, but also their skill and bravery as air fighters. Pnillppine pilots distinguisned themselves in the battles of the sky SURVIVORS The Navy gives no confirmation of a Japanese story about the rescue of American and British survivors of the Battle of the Java Sea, Toicyo propaganda broadcasts declare there are survivors, picked up by the Japs. Today in Washington the Navy A stated that it had no authentic information on the subject. We lost eight warships in the sea fighting that preceded the fall of Java. One of these was the Cruiser ^ouston. We know that the loss of life was heavy, but we don't know about possible survivors. The spokesman in Washington stated today that the "•avy does not want to raise, what he called - ”false hopes.” But he added that it was possible that some members of the crews of the American ships lost In the sea nf Java may have been picked up by the enemy. V. macarthur The latest on the question of General ?»facArthur is a bulletin from Australia stating that an important announcement will be Issued shortly. Geheral MacArthur will make a statement clarifying his as position. And^he will give a list of the officers of his staff - the personnel of his supreme command. The story from Australia says it is understood that MacArthur has received instructions irom Washington defining the extent of his authority. And the forthcoming ^acArthur statement will confirm this, saying - yes, nis Jurisdiction as Comn-ander has been officially defined, if this turns out to be true it will end a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about the status of Mai MacArthur. In Washington, Secretary of War Stlmson called the irhskK whole thing - " a tempest in the teapot”, he said MacArthur jurisdiction has amply been fan confirmed. The General has about the same powers that were vested In British General Sir Archibald Wavell when eb was given supreme Commend I A I United Nations in the ^southwest Pacific, early in the war - J yACARTHUR - the £upreme commend from which he speedily retired. And Secretary Stimson raised a question about the AacArthur spokesman in Australia Aho yesterday and the day before definitely stated that -lacArthur had not received from Washington a pa proper certification of his authority. The Secretary said he doubted whether ^he spokesman had been authorized to make any such statement. He added that he himself has been in frequent commuhicatlon with the General, and that MacArthur had never raised any question of Jurisdiction. fliers In th6 wilds of northern Australia, three American warplanes flying together were forced down, and nine American airmen found themselves marooned in the desolate wilds of the Never-iiever Land. They were a long distance from nowhere, and it was four days before they were found - four days xrk deep in the desert wilderness. So what ordeal did they endure - what j horror and hardship? Here’s what one of the American fliers stated today - "we sure lived high those four days". They lived in fine style - opulent luxury, in fact. They never had a better time in their lives. The reason was that they had an Australian with them, a veteran of the back blocks who knew all about the wilderness. He was an expert at making the best of things in the Australian brush. They had no food^frf^h 'the*, but the Australian plainsman borrowed a rifle from an American, disappeared in the distance and presently came back with a Kangaroo and a big fat bird on the order of a turkey. One American by a lucky chance, happened to have a few fishhooks along • The Australian took him to Just tne right place in a nearby streai^ FLIERS - 2 In twenty minutes they caught twenty fish. They broiled ^s^angaroo steaks and roasted the turkey. The Australian gathered some peculiar leaves, wrapped the fish in these - and cooked them at the camp fire. The Americans declare that with fish cooked like that, you'd wish every day was Friday. And so they luxuriated for four days, and when they were picked up thdy were sorry. K/'twCteJ ^ Ja'Jr ^ i ;: • % A i, i.« !i