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i) H One gateway to
: middle Burope
and Berlin which
the Allies may
open in their at-
tacks on the “soft
underbelly of the
Axis” is the Adri-
atic with its vul-
nerable coasts of
Albania and
Yugoslavia. From
convenient Allied
embarkation
points in North
Africa the map
shows distances
to Durazzo, chief

port of Albania.

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The War

Victory Through Air Power?

The heavy pall of

smoke that for years has hung like a cloud

over the teeming industrial centers of Germany’s Ruhr Valley

is thinning out. Factory after

stream of weapons and materials

for Hitler’s Wehrmacht, but lies
smashed into rubble, its workers
driven from the area by the steady
pounding of Allied bombing planes
over the last few weeks. The ton-
nage of bombs dropped has soared
to almost unimaginable figures.
And still the RAF, RCAF and the
Eighth US Airforce carry on their
round-the-clock raids on German
industrial centers, intent on carry-
ing out the apparent conviction of
some Allied leaders that “airpower
alone can defeat Hitler.”

The supporters of victory through
airpower appeared this week toa
be riding the crest of a success
wave. They could point to the
bombing plane as the dominant
and decisive weapon at Pantelleria,
China, the South Pacific. What
they. failed to add was that in
each of the three points where an
Allied victory was made possible
by the airplane, very special con-
ditions obtained. While planes
could bomb and reduce to surrend-
er an island like Pantelleria be-
cause the smallness of the target
made a concentration of bomb-
power possible, it is obvious that
no such tactics could succeed with
an island the size of, say, Sicily.

The use of airpower over the
Western Front is another matter.
Here it is a question of the bomb-
er being the dominant, but not the
decisive, weapon. Even the RAF
admits this. Homer Bigart of the
New York Herald Tribune quotes

factory no longer pours out its

clared on June 2 that bombing
alone would not defeat Germany
and that the devastation of the
Ruhr industrial centers did not
portend the immedite and dra-
matic collapse of the Axis power.
Bigart added:

"Tt is easy to exaggerate the im-
portance of the (Rhur. It contains
Jess than one-fifth of Germany's
industrial capacity and only one-
third of its coal and steel output.
As the magazine, The Economist,
points out, the key industries of
the war effort are farther east—
the new steel works at Salzgitter,
the tank center at Fallersleben, the
chemical works at Leuna, Halle
and Leipzig, the new industrial
development in Upper Silesia and
Poland.” =

Those industrial centers are not
immune to bombing, but far have
been little touched. Night bomb-
an RAF commentator who de-
ing is difficult during summer be-
cause there are only seven hours
of darkness and the trip from Lon-~
don is about 1,000 miles one way.

Those observers who have been
cautioning against too much opti-
mism over the possibilities of vic-
tory through airpower seemed to
have the facts on their side. These
facts are that no saturation bomb-
ing can be directed against the
more vital areas of Germany until
fall. This is the truth which damp-
ened this week the unwarranted
enthusiasm over the bombings of
the Ruhr.

Where Will Japan Move Next?

Widespread speculation as to the results of the special meet-

ing of the Japanese

Diet is still without an answer.

Premier

Tojo spoke to members of J apan’s parliament but as was expected

by most observers, offered no elue
as to the intentions of the military-
fascist clique that rules the coun-
try. He spoke in general terms of
being prepared for counter-action
in the event of an Allied offensive,
and promised a new Japanese drive
in China, and little could be read
into his remarks.

It is generally conceded that
Japan would not hesitate to violate
the Soviet-Japanese non-agsres-
sion pact if she thought such a
course would be to her advantage.
But the main factor governing her
actions ih this regard is the exist .
ence of the Soviet Far Bastern
army, and second, the proven
might of the Red Army in the
battles against the Nazis.

%

viet Union
eastern flank while engaged in a
titanic struggle in the West has
prevented a f{wo-front war against

The far-sighted policy of the So-
in safeguarding her

herself and created the immediate
conditions for a two-front war
against Hitler Germany, the pivot
of the whole Axis.

This policy, the kernel of the
global strategy of the United Na-
tions, has proved of inestimable
value to all the Allied nations.

Tt would be a mistake to dis-
count, however, the possibility that
the desperate position of the Axis
may force upon Japan a big gam-
ble. This seems to be the one seri-
ous diversion the Axis has up its
sleeve.

Free France

The Question of De Gaulle

The reaction of antifascist fighters of the French underground
to this week’s decision by the British and American governments

to intervene in the dispute within

tional Liberation in favor of Gen-
eral Henri Giraud can only be im-
agined. Left to themselves, there
was every indication that the

French leaders were on their way
to working out a _ solution that
would have met with full support
from all Frenchmen. There was
overwhelming evidence that de-
Gaulle had the greatest amount of
public support, that his policy of
cleansing the ranks of both the
army and the governing French
bodies of all ex-Vichy followers is
the policy that fits in with the
needs of French participation in
the anti-Axis war. .

However sincere the Anglo-Amer-
jean leaders may be in their ex-
pressed desire to see that the de-"
Gaulle-Girard dispute does not in-
terfere with Allied military policy,
the decision to place General Hisen-
hower in direct control, plus Presi-
dent Roosevelt’s invitation to Gen-
eral Girard to visit the United

the French Committee of Na-

States, must - appear not just a
military expedience but an open at-
tempt to save the hides of the gang
of pro-fascists and just plain mud-
dlers who brought ill-fame to the
name of France during the heydey
of Vichy.

One of the worst features of the
whole business to many observers
is the press treatment of the mat-
ter. DeGaulle is made to appear
an uncompromising, somewhat mu-
lish stickler for minor detail. Alle-
gations are made of his growing
“ynpopularity” with Churchill. At-
tempts are made to show that his
interference in the army have al-
ready caused much unrest among
the officer personnel. To the latter
aceusation, observers agree- To
most democrats, it must appear that
that the French armed forces can
never hope to achieve any degree
of organization so long as the ranks
are permeated with such elements
as General Boisson, General Ne-
gues et al, notorious pro-fascists.

British Labor

Welsh Miners Condemn Lewis

Leaders of the British labor movement this week spoke
sharply against efforts of the New

out
York Times and other US

newspapers to make it appear that John L. Lewis is a “hero” to

British miners. They were Will
Lawther, president of the Miners’
Federation of Great Britain, and
Arthur Horner, president of the
South Wales Miners’
Declared Lawther:

_ “Ninety percent of British miners
have maintained that their prime
duty is to produce coal for the war
effort. Just as we condemn strikes
here at home, so we resent any in-
terference with. production by min-
ers elsewhere. The British and
Russian miners are firmly linked
together to crush fascism, and
American miners should join with
us.” :

Horner, while expressing support
for the basic demands of the Am-
erican miners, accused John L.
Lewis of “utilizing their discontent
to serve purposes contrary to the
real interests of “the labor move-
ment.”

Speaking for all Welsh miners,
he emphasized that all sectional in-

Federation. ~

terests must be subordinated at
this stage of the war to the main
task of smashing fascism.

“The U.S. government should see
that the miners are given the re-
ward to which their efforts have en-
titled them.

move the basis for fifth column ad-
ventures.”

Meantime at Southport, Presi-
dent Jack Tanner of the Amalga-
mated Engineering Union opened
the annual convention of the union
with an appeal for stronger links
between the metal workers of the
Soviet Union, United States and
Great Britain. Tanner declared
there had been too few connections
between kindred organizations in
the three countries, emphasizing
that the coming invasion of
Europe from the West needed the
full weight of organized labor be-
hind them lest the drive be weak-
ened.

Their justifiable sriev-
ances ought to be adjusted to re- -

nesburg, aS part o
paign to “stamp ou

The African war
arrested when the
duce passes or P
Some of them were

‘misdemeanor’ knoy
jn residential ar
whites.”

The Pass Laws,
signed for policing
tions, have become

ceipt for the paymer
tax of one pound,
South African. Oth
clude one signed hy
worker's employer. per
to leave his place |
special night pass,
the employer, permiti
be on the streets 5
and 4 a.m. Sie
More than a year ¢
ernment promised to \&
a
Ci®@ Deman !
CIO President F
of all organized lab fe
Los Angeles “zoots ®
velt he describes the
work of a carefully pf] Me
paign to stir up disuni
hatred aimed at one r
comfort to our enenii ©
Agents of the ef a
country and in our?
in South America ere ©
ing use of the out: BF
propaganda against
the United Nations, 5
Meanwhile, R- J.T ©
dent of the Unite =
Workers of America,
President. August ©:
Detroit CIO Council
Pat Quinn joined wit”
leaders in accusing ~
spired Ku Klux Kis”

i

New India
—— GK

‘appointment ¢
Linlithgow this