f L^T^_-_£aN0C0^_FRIDAYjL_JAN^_2_^_12A2. GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: Here is news more important than this morning’s news about the fall of Manila.\ In fact you might say the fall of ManiJt-^ is countered on the diplomatic frpfit by an historic event of .. statecraft. This afternoon an agreement was announce* pledging the allied countries to a fight to the finish No separate peace. It is signed by twenty-sixe different nations./ The four principals of these are the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Russia and China. The rest of the conquered countires and those Latin-American republics that have declared war against the Axis. OneOf the two principal clauses of the agreement pledges the nations to employ all of their resources, military and economic, in the war. The other clause binds them not to make a separate peace. The agreement pledges each nation in its war against such A ci R-2- jl JLNT - 2 Axis powers as the nation in question is now fighting. The way it*s phrased it takes into account the fact that Soviet Russia is not at war with Japan. The Soviets pledge merely concerns European Axis powers - Germany and Italy in particular. Today’s act cf alliance reaffirms the principles of the Atlantic Charter, the eight point program on which President Rosevelt and Prime Minister -ri I Churchill agreed in their previous historic meeting. I The twenty-six nations express their adherence to the war aims of human rights, and justice and religious freedom. The conclusion and signing of this pact comes/ ^ 1 ^ as the first definite and important thing accomplished | by the visit of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to this country, the first result to be announced. llfiRILA This day, the Second of January, will be marked by a black ring. The American people will hold it in memory as a reminder of a duty -- the eventual liberation of the Philippines. That duty is one thing implied in the fact that tonight the old city of Manila, so familiar in our minds and our affections, is in possession of the Japanese enemy -- with slant-eyed patrols marching through the streets, keeping guard. Today’s announcement of the fall of Manila included the statement by the Ifcar Department that the Jap command had sent in just enough troops to preserve order -- the patrols marcfiing through the streets right now. The fall of the city is a shock largely because it occurred so soon. For days it was pretty well understood that Manila could not be held for long against the overwhelming numbers of Japanese invaders. Yet last night it seemed as if the event might sti 11 be several days off. We are told how General ViacArthur bad regrouped his troops, uniting his forces that had b en fighting to the north and to the south. This implied that the American and Philippine forces had drawn together to form a semi-circle in front of the city. Now we know that the operation was continued with the further movement, General iacArthur pulling his troops around to the north --up around the northern curve of lAanila Bay for a new defense line. Leaving Manila wide open for the Japanese to enter. Manila was not defended apparently, could not be, and was not to be. And that was part of the meaning of the proclamation some days ago declaring the capital to be an open city, not subject to bo.:bing -- though the Japs went ahead and bombed. The open city part of it implied that armament had been removed, defenses dismantled. It would have been futiel, a mere thing of reckless destruction, to try to hold they place^^ The site of the city is strategically impossible for defense against enemy assault, and Manila is not MMIM - 3 the kind of city adapted for battling it out street by street . It haa a lot of buildings of solid American or European construction, but most of the houses are of the native type -- the light construction typical of the Orient. So an attempt to hold Manila with a last ditch fight around and in the city would have been a military blunder. With Manila goes Cavite, the far famed naval baseite lies south of the city, and had to be abandoned in accordance with General -“acArthur’s strategy of fighting it out in new battle positions to the north -- where the geography is much better adapted to defense. At Cavite were vast quantities of American naval stores. These were removed methodically, nothing left for the Japs to seize -- except some hospitals with wounded. There part of the hospital staffs was left behird to take care of the wounded -- a duty of devotion which meant they’d be made prisoners 'f —- JiiANILA - 4 The Jap capture of Cavite raises the question -- **hat about txk the United States Far Eastern Fleet? It*s not a large naval squadron, consisting merely of some cruisers and destroyers. But its home base was Manila -- Cavite. So what happened to it? The news today brings us the answer. The bulletin from the Dutch East Indies tells of Japanese air attacr^s on American war vessels that have been cooperating with the Dutch -- bombing assaults that were futile and did little damage. From this we gather that the 'United States Far Eastern fleet is now in Dutch East Indian waters, having joined or Holland allies inthe particularly gallant fight that they have been making -- attacking long enemy lines of sea communication. The latest is an announcement issued by the Navy Department in Washington. It says -- yes, American warships are cooperating with the Britisl an^ Dutch. MANILA - 5 The Cavite naval base will be useless for the enemy -- at least as long as the fortress of Corregidor guards the entrance to Manila Bay. Called the Far Eastern Gibraltar, it is a rock of commanding strength -- though it is said not to be particularly well equipped to fight off air attack. The heavy guns of Corregidor command the entrance of Manila Bay So while they are able to fire, there will be little chance of the Jap fleet getting into Manila Bay -- where it might use the Cavite Naval Base. Everything out there now hinges on the next phase of defense by the American and Philippine forces. General MacArthur has extricated his slender army from a most difficult situation where it was spread out and beset by incessant attacks of an enemy enjoying vast numerical superiority. He*s now engaged in a new gK battle. Manila captured, the Philippine war tidings now focus on another place. Here's tonight's bulletin issued by the War Department. It's a brief account of the situation iiANILA - 6 just off the wire. It reads:- "American and Philippine troops an north and northwest of Manila are continuing to resist stubbornly Japanese attacks -- which are being pressed with increasing intensity." I PHILIPPINE MILITARY SITUATION We are told that the abandonment of Manila leaves General MacArthur in a stronger military situation -- now that he has withdrawn his forces around to the north of Manila Bay. And a glance at the map bears this out. The geography involved is simple enough. Manila Bay, on the west, is separated from the ocean by the Batan Peninsula. That strip of land extends from the north, and reaches southward to the channel that is the entrance to Manila Bay. In the channel stands Corregidor -- the island fortress called our "Gibraltar of the Far East." So there we have the elements -- the Batan Peninsula extending southward and just below it -- the stronghold of Corregidor. Tonight General MacArthur*s forces appearl | to hold defense lines across the country just north of the Batan area. And, if the Japanese pressure should force a further withdrawal, they could pull back into tb peninsula, and defend it foot by foot. SITIATION - 2 Eventually, if they should be forced down to the southern end, they might retire across a narrow strai' to the Fortress of Corregidor. All this tonight puts the spotlight on the Batan Peninsula spparating Manila from the ocean. It may be the scene of a last stand in the Philippines -- theatre of a stubborn defensive operatic^ designed to cost the Japs as heavily as possible. I and gain as much time as possible. So what's it like? Can we picture this bit of Philippine terrain, i which nowbecomes of such critical importance in the J I I've just been talking to a young Philippine Soprano, Enya Gonzales, who is having a brilliant career in the United States. Her home in the Philippines is around that bend of Manila Bay to which General MacArthur's American and Philippine troops have retired. In fact she was reared within a few miles of the town of Malolos, which may be a key point in General MacArthur's new defense lines SITUATION - 3 1 Senorita Gonzales said the country leadin^i to the Bat an Peninsula is mountainous. The peninsula itself is fringed withtall summits on both sides of its length. Down the middle its flat. Not jungle country No jungle in Batan. And the Senorita went on to say that the flat land down the middle of the Batan Peninsula consists of rice fields and coconut groves. The people are a farming population -- tropical agriculture. The Peninsula has a number of towns and villages. The roads are none too good -- nothing like the superb highway system south of Manila in the Cavite area, which t^e Japs have taken So it appears that the Batan peninsula offers good defensive possibilities -- mountainous country leading to a narrow corridor of flat land betv.een mountains. Such is the bit of Philippine terrain which is to be the scene of the next phase of the battle in the Philippines. i RUSSIAN CRITICISM \ a Tonight we have some Soviet explanation of yesterday’s criticism of the Jnited States -- the article in the official newspaper of the Communist party denouncing American action at Manila as cowardly. What have the Soviet authorities to say about it? They say that the author of the contemptuous^ piece in the newspaper Pravda merely intended to m expresswh^t is described as follows: "Disappdintment ^ that the Philippines were not better defended." That’s why he called it cowardly for us to declare Manila an open town. The United ^ress dispatch from Stalin’s temporary capital concludes as follows: ”Soviet quarters said the author alone was responsible for the abusive, ridiculing tone of the article, despite the fact that it was published in the official org?ii of the Communist party." r s MALAYA It was announced in Singapore today that the British will fight for every inch of ground in Malaya. They will use every effort to defned the country that lies north of Singapore. And General Chiang Kai-Shek has sent a force Into Burma to cooperate with the Indian army of General Wavell -- another sign of broad cooperatio among the Allies. LIBYA I In Libya the capture of Bardia is an pi r important thing for the imperial forces. The Axis K r armies, in their retreat, left a strong force to hold h s that fortress -- trying to make it a sort of Axis Tob ruk. The British defense of Tobruk was an important factor in the present successful drive by the imperail forces and Bardia might perhaps have functioned in a similar way -- if the Germans and Italians were able to launch another offensive in the | desert war. But now the imperials have captured tks Bardia, and there won*t be any Axis Tobruk. As for the main battle front farther to the west the British are getting ready for another attempt to encircle and destroy the remaining Axis troops. DISCHARGES President Roosevelt made a statement today which he asked the news men to play up; give it as wide publicity as possible. It concerns the fact industries have been discharged for reasons which the president described in these words: "Simply because One adjective was "stupid. The other "unjust." "I am deeply concerned," said he, "over the increasing number of reports of employers discharging workers who happen to be aliens or even foreign-born citizens. This,"said he, "is a very serious matter." "It is one thing," the president figured. to safeguard American industry and particularly defense ind\;stry against sabotage. But, it is a very different thing to throw out of work honest and that throughout the country many workers in American | they were born abroad or because they have foireign g sounding names." The president used a couple of adjectives to describe the firing of such workers. loyal people who, except for the accident of birth, | are sincerly patriotic." I AUTOMOBILhS From Washington we hear that the government | may take automobiles from civilian users. If war needs require, civilian owned cars may be commandeered This was stated by Price Administrator Leon Henderson who descrived it as "one ofthe gloomy possibilities. Those were his words. He pointed out that there was no precedent 3 for such a drastic action as the seizure of civilian automobiles. Neither Great Britain nor Germany has found it necessary to commandeer privately owned passenger cars. But we may have to, said he. However, no sxxch. action will be taken until the stock of new cars has been exhausted -- the new cars which private person s are not allowed to buyl It looks as if more new cars will be manufactured during January than had been previously supposed. The estimate is now two hundred thousand - and that’s double the figure that previously had been considered likely. The reason for the probable incr^^ of the automobile manufacturing quota is the fact that 1 AUTOMOBILES - 2 a lot of parts are already on hand -- parts already fabricated and v;aiting to be put together to make automobiles. The government wants to get these out of the way as quickly as possible, have the cars made up without delay -- so that the automobile plants can be turned to war production in the shortest space of time. And now Hugh a final message from you