p m B rt A giant battle Is in progress on the Russian front. The Nazis have launched a hure offensive, and this has been going on for forty-eight hours, r/e’ve known nothing about it. A new and monstrous conflict of war has been clashing with violence for two days - in secrecy - you might say. All behind the veil of censorship, almost complete concealment. The new battle was revealed today - by Hitler. From the war front he went to Berlin and made a speech, and in this he gave out the first news of what he called - ’• aa a* new phrase”. He said that the olitzkrieg machine had resumed its drive with powerful operations - ”which”, shouted Hitler, ”will help to destroy rt oa^ enemies in the East”. The Hitler speech today was notable bt cause the Nazi dictator gave his version of the reasons for the war against the Soviets - that sudden end of tne Hitler - Stalin friendship, the blinding^urprise v.hen the i^azis launched their sudden and unsuspected assault against the Red Array. There has been world wide speculation^ Why did Hitler so abruptly and surprisingly turn on Stalin? uitler today stated that the Soviets V.AR - ^ had ade a series of demands on Naal Germany, cie said that those I I tii' demands were presented by Stalin’s Foreign Minister Molotov, on a visit to Berlin. Stalinas demands vere as follows:- First - a free hand in Finland, Germany to allowr the R^d Army to take as much of Finland as it liked. Second, similar demands concerning Rumania, Stalin wanted to grab some more of that country. Third - the right to send Red Army troops into Bulgaria. Fourth - Soviet control of tne Dardanelles riitler said that/ Stalin demanded that he be allowed to establish military ba^es on those vital straits belonging to Turkey. ^itler declaimed that he refused to grant these demands, whereupon the Rod Ai?tty proceeded to mobilize heavy forces where they might readily striKe at the Nazi power - near East Prussia, for Bs example. Xh^ most p?ointedly concerned another phase - *** ' ' ■■■ I I----.—--------------- ----------- ^ ^ ------ -«=.—• --------- ..u.-™ .••1 I of tne war. | riitler said that his general had informed hiii that they could not guarantee a successful Invasion of Britain as long as the Red Army stood at ttieir bacics. in particular - the entire ^AR - 2 Nazi Air Force would have to be used against Britain, and this j could not be done as long ^ the fif'd Army stood there, threatening. Hitler came around to the belief that nas war with Soviet Russia was inevitaole. tie XB said today that he made the hardest decision of OMuf his life - to turn to attalpic the Soviets, tie stated that the ^ \ Nazi command was astou^ided lat the amount of military material possessed by the Red Army -j vastly stronger in the equipment of war than had been xjox svjppostd. ^ence the hard fight the blitzkrieg forces have had. Hitler wound up along that line by saying that he and his armies were saving the virestern world ---- C\ from the peril of a red congest from tne East modern version of a Ghengis Khan. Such is the Nazi Dictator's TffrSion~noi' why Germany A z’ turned X on Soviet Russia in \an attempt to knock the ned Army out of existence.\ And Hitler boasted that Soviet ' \ ^ Lo ^‘ussla Ksr* being destroyed, woutil never raise its head a^aln. A A tie made other kaarx boasts - that tiazi Cermany would defeat any enemy, wnlcn presumably meant the United States, if \ I VbAR - 4 we should go Into tne war. f But the i^azi Fuehrer aid not promise I a quick xiKjtxax> ta^.tbiK victory to the Germans. He indicated that the conflict would long. The most immediate headline in the Hitler harangue today WAS the disclosure that a new giant Nazi offensive is in full swing. Beyond this, there is no war word from Berlin. The Nazi High Command is deep in silence. The only inkling we have Is a military communique from Budapest. Hitler’s allies, the Hungarians, announce officially that tne blltzkrfeg forces are driving the Red Army back everywhere between the Dnieper Fiver and the lionets basin - that Vital da Donets Area of coal and Soviet industry. What do we have from the side of the Soviets? Moscow reports a series of victories. The defenders of Leningrad are smashing faswr forward and Soviet marines have gained foothold A (K on^Nazi-occupied Island at the BRkataBE entrace of the Gulf of f Uv tdut Finland. far north Stalin’s troops have broken a drive \ against Murmansk. On the southern front, the Rod Army reports br^'lllant succ esses, iixis units defeated. Some encirclements. The Red W h R - 5 Army claims to liave trapped large enemy forces - the itlnd of encirclement of which the Germans usually are boasting. 1 $ The President of the United States has ajproached Stalin, the Coioiflunist Dictator of Soviet Russia, on the subject of religious freedora. Averell Harriman, ^resident Roosevelt's emissary to -A osco ' a , has urged Stalin to grant liberty of conscience in the Soviet Union- This was stated by Roosevelt today. the tnird time, in quick succession, that hm has made ^ A a declaration concerning the Cofomunist realm and the right to worsnio. The question has aroused a storm of controversy, with religious leaders protesting against assum.,tions that tolerance toward faith is practiced in the Soviet Union. Last night v.e had the rresident's remark about "an entering wedge." He ho.ed that a beginning had been made in the matter of procuring religious x freedom in Russia, and today he told a xioxjUE White nouse News Gcnference that a practical stef>had already been ta^en. This^was don« through the medium of the American supply mission which,, unaer the leadership, of Averell Harriman, has been uiscussing with Stalin the problems of sending the completest aid to tne Red ixrmy. The ^resident said that Harriman had been given Specific instructions to lay the matter of liberty of conscience before otalin. Tne . resident did not xx^ reveal today just v;hat bOVISI RELIGION-^ those s,^ecii*ic instructions were, nor did he specify the exact time wnen Harriman ^ot them from »iashington. But he indicated that the instructions had teen sent at a comparatively recent date. CiOi>e 3uliticai associates of the r*resident are reported to I'lave told the United i'ress that the idea was to make Bovlet Russia ana the policy of aid to the Soviets more acceptable to the Catholic Church and to other Christian and Anti-Communist elements in the United c^tc^tas. From one well informed quarter in ir.ashington the suggestion emanates that i^resident Roosevelt hopes xiuui that an understanding can be established between Moscow and ?a.)al Rome - an agreement between the Kremlin and the Vatican. That*s a spectacular idea, indeed - and it immediately brings to mind the mission of Myron C. -^aylor to the Vatican. As a t^residentia^ Emissary, Myron C. Taylor, made a ?uick and urgent trip to ucme to confer with i. pe Fius the twelfth. Nobody knew just what it was all about, and there was all sorts of speculation—including the assumption tnat the Pontiff of Rome was asKed to taKe a favorable attitude toward the British American policy of aid to the Soviets. ou now the question arises—v.as Myr^^n ^ Taylor's trip to SOVIET KSLIG I0.i>«xx-3 confer v.'ith the t'ope connected with Averell Harriman* s representations made to Stalin on the subject of religious freedom? President tiuojeveit v.as asAed about tliis today. Ke resoonded with neither an S affirmation nor a denial, which rather strengthensa the theory that it*s A all attempt to diminish the antagonism that-exists between the Roman A Catholic Church and the Boisneviic Regime. V’vhat answer did Iayj.v. the Pope in Rome? And what reply nas Harriman ^ot from i<taiin in the Kremlin? Vire don*t know. President Roosevelt was queried on both )oints today.. He said that the question of none would have to wait until the return of Myron ^ Taylor, and that he could give no details about the Moscow talk until he had had a report from Averell Harriman. Ail in all, it*s a startling development—the President trying to get Stalin to grant freedom of religion. That—and the reported attempt to bring about an agreement between the Red Dictator and the roue. How will it work out? Will Stalin, with the Blitzkrieg battering, make sweeping concessions to religion and church? A uld the Vatican accept them? and how will the American people feel about so violent a transformation? The answers to these questions -sJixxii should be fascinating. y\ Xi Another ^-'ananiania merchant vessel torpedued—this one A in the 6outh Atiantic. The Unit 3 d States Embassy to Brazil reports that the seven-thousand ton tanaer, i,. C. fth_lte, \^as sunit four hundred auid fifty miles off Brazil. Survivors have been rescued. 'He are told txiat the tanxLer I. C. white was Aaierican-ovmed, though flying the Panamanian flag. Yet this seems to*be contradicted in some fashion Dy a ^iev^ YorK story wnich states that the ship was formerly operated by an American oil company but later was transferred to the Britishj—about six months xyxx ago. A PRISONERS ^ord from the Englisii Channel is -- tnat there^ been a delay in the exchange of prisoners. Something has happened to halt the dramatic transfer arranged by the British and the Germans. "1_ day loag the English Channel was in a state lor of strange quietude -- strangewar time. A while of peace, —• a aa truce. This -- for the purpose of sending German prisoners The transfer was to have been effected today. The British brought xheir quota of German prisoners to a channel port and embarked them on a transport. But then at the last minute the London war office iatiixx said — there was a delay. »iust what the reason is we aon»t know. The Kxhan exchange will presumably take place tomorrow, and meanwhile the British are keeping their batch of German prisoners aboard the transport Oh which they are to sail. across to occupied France, and bringing British prisoners back home. UNRL^T Occupied Prance is naving tv^o kinds of terrorism. anti—>iazi and anti-Jewish. In Paris, six synagogues were dynamited, the doing of plotters of the extreme right. Meanwhiley^he death sentence imposed upon the man, 1 who shot Laval has been commuted. Paul Collette - who used pistol fire to demonstrate his opposition to the policy of collaboration with riazi Germany. He was tried and sentenced to be executed, Laval asked that the extreme penalty should be imposed' - and in this request he was joined by Deat, the A KwvcfljQ French Fascr»<leader who ciso was hit by bullets in 'toilette’s pistol fire Today Marshal Petain commuted the XB death sentence - prison, instead. \l k WILLtCIE Viendeil WillKle issued a blast today - and he fired it at the adroinistration. Vidllkie also took a fling at the isolationist v^lng of the Republican party. But that* s hardly news. Last year’s Republic-in candidate is always hammering at those G.O.P. leaders who oppose the White House foreign policy. But a k»illkie attack on the Roosevelt administration - that’s something else again. It’s news. In fact, the erst»vhile Republican standard bearer speaks out to answer those Republicans who accuse him of being a mere stooge for the White House. Willkie’s reply Is in the form of an article in the American tag3^ Magazine, published today. He speaks as follows:- ”I have no connection with the administration and am in disagreement with many of its domestic policies - and disgusted with its methods of handling the defense effort," he writes. He says the defense effort has been conducted in what he calls - " "a faltering manner". And he maKes the accusation of - politics. I am sickened by the amount of sheer political fenkgling going on when the very life of our country x is at r WILLKIE - S stake’*, writes Willkie. He flings at Democratic National Chairman Edward J. Flynn the word "duplicity**• Sometime ago Flynn said:- "We D^nocrats are willing to adjourn politics for the duration." Willkie retorts that Flynn’s Democrats have not adjourned politics, and are working at the political game twenty-four hours a day. So far as the Republicans are concerned, Willkie*s article in the AMERICAN Magazine calls upon the G.O.P, to clean house. l-’i ilfl NINE OLD MEN - old Well, lt*s a sad story — you just can’t please some people. Last night I Invited my Nine Old Men to attend the seventh game of the World Series. I realized there might be no seventh game, but it was the best I could do. All day I’ve been blasted by their rude replies. These concentrate on the fact that in the last dozen World Series, only three went to seven games. And the suspicion is expressed — that I issued the invitation because I probably wouldn’t have to make good on it. Hbre’s an appreciation from Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel, our short stop - who is so rotund he Invariably stops might short when a ground ball comes hiw way. Colonel Stoopnagle, our short stop who can’t stoopl ’’Stoop” wires:- ”1111 be glad to accept provided you promise not to invite me to the eighth game, as I am not only going to pitch that one myself, but I’m also going to catch it,” Now that. Colonel, sound s aljc a bit sarcastic. And listen to this one from Paul Webb, the Hillbilly cartoonist, our bearded DiMaggio, who plays the outfield for the Nine Old Men. As an outfielder, he is nearly ainvays out NINE OLD im - 2 Yet he has the effrontery to telegraph as follows:- ^Thanks for your kind Invitation to the seventh game”, he writes, ”in return I want you and the Nine Old Men to be my guests at the Louis-Nova fight last Monday. Joe Louis has promised to sit one round out with us druing the contest.” Author and Humorist Homer Croy also accepts, and adds:- ”But there is one catch, so far as I*m concerned. Am leaving tomorrow for Arizona — so could you arrange to have the seventh game played yesterday?” 4 SERIES Today’s game having been washed out, the only World Series news we have is that both managers are undecided about the pitchers they will use tomorrow. Joe McCarthy says that for the Yanks it For the Dodgers, Lippy Leo Durocher has been controlling his lip. He wontt say whether it will be his young speed ball star, Hlgbe, or his portly veteran, the staunch and imperturbable fat Freddie Fitzsimmons. And now the staunch and imperturbable Hugh James, with a suggestion for Siinday. it H in will be either right-hander Donald, or the young left-hander Russo. I I -■ 1