THIS WEEK: The War Fronts, The’

The Lash Over Europe

The War

Canadians im the Fight

Canadians were full of pride this week as reports came in of
the Allied drive in Sicily that to date has swept the southeastern
section of that important island clear of Axis troops, eaptured.

the important city of Syracuse, and
swept on into the important plain
of Catania, with that city the prin-
cipal objective.

Landing as a part of General
Montgomery's combined British-
Canadian command, the Canadians,
understood to be units of the First
Division, have nevertheless been
fiven separate tasks as part of the
Allied drive up the Sicilian coast
to Messina, only two miles from
the Italian mainland. And from all
reports, they haye covered them-
selves with glory, living up to the
expectations built around them as
the spearhead force of a European
invasion.

By all accounts, the Sicilian in-
vasion, while not regarded as the
second front, is apparently seen as
a central move in the opening of an
European invasion. Taking no
chances on enemy counter-action,
the Allied command poured men

and equipment onto the beaches
from over 2,000 ships, one of the
greatest armadas in history. The
results so far have been spectacu-
lar. Italian forces have been
steadily driven back, over 12,000
prisoners taken. German forces
are small—the bulk of the fighting
is being done by Italian troops
and they, apparently affected by
confusion on the home front and
anti-Mussolini activities among in-
dustrial workers, are reported to
be fighting back halfheartedly.

It is too early to say when the
island will be occupied. It is not
too early to say that the combined
Canadian - British - American forces
are well on their way to another
smashing victory that will rank
with Tunisia. Almost certainly,
this action will be looked back on
as the one that presaged the in-
vasion of Hitler Europe and the
defeat of fascism in 1943.

Hitler Shows His Hand

While the events in Sicily have tended to overshadow the
fighting on the Eastern Front as far as Canada is concerned, one
of the decisive actions of the war has nevertheless been fought

out along that 165-mile front be-
tween Kursk and Orel in the last
two weeks, and the results are cer-
tain to have far-reaching effect on
the United Nations’ strategy in the
coming months. =

In brief, the Nazi Wehrmacht,
for the first time since it invaded
the Soviet Union, has been unable
to get its summer offensive under
way. The Germans have been
decisively beaten in what they
themselves termed “the most fero-
cious battle in history.” Their
powerful war machine, readied and
rested for months, built up into
a battering ram of 450,000 firstJine
troops, backed by an estimated
15,000 planes and thousands of
tanks, and concentrated for assault
along a very narrow sector, has
broken itself against the steel line
of the Red Army, losing an esti-
mated 70,000 men and thousands of
tanks, planes and guns.

The lesson here for the Anglo-
American high command is obyi-
ous. Stalin’s May Day message,
which declared that the winter Red
Army offensive had seriously weak-
ened the Nazis and created the pre-
requisites for victory over fascism,
has been proven correct. That mes-
sage was born of the quiet confi-
dence of the Soviet people and the
Red Army of their ability not only

to hold off the 1943 Nazi offensive
but to counter-attack at the mo-
ment of an Allied invasion from
the West. There seems little doubt
now that Hitler’s summer offensive
in the Bast has been brought to a
dead stop. There may be other
actions on other sections of the
front—eyen minor break-throughs
—but the Nazis abiliy to wage
blitz warfare against the USSR is
a thing of the past.

In terms of military strategy and
coalition warfare, the events on the
Eastern Front have made defeat
of the Axis in 1943 a certainty pro-
viding the Allies can seize the op-
portunity for a second front im-
mediately. For the Red Army vic-
tory has revealed in sharp focus
the real internal and military weak-
messes of Germany. While the
Nazis have suffered terrible losses
in both men and material Since
June 22, 1941, the main sore of
the enemy is a shortage of man-
power. This is best illustrated by
their failure this year to attack
on a number of fronts as in the
past. The famous Soviet econo-
mist, Eugene Varga, writes thatno
Jess than 15,000,000 able-bodied men
haye been withdrawn from Ger-
man industry and fed into the army.
The eight or nine million foreign
workers driven into Germany can-

not fill the gap. The second fac-
tor is a shortage of fuel, partly re-
sulting from the aerial pounding
of the Ruhr region. The third fac-
tor, closely linked with the other
two, is the erisis of German trans-
port.

Thus the Nazis face the necessity
of restricting their expeditures in

men and material. On the other

hand, the Allied coalition must
force Germany to spend men and -
material. The logic is jnescapable
—a further extension of the ‘Sici-
lian campaign into an all-out
Buropean offensive that, linked
with a simultaneous Red Army
counter-offensive, will smash Hit
ler into defeat.

United States

Reaction Perils Production

US war chiefs have looked at May-June production estimate
figures with alarm, and told a shocked America that if the final

figures on arms production are no

estimates, the important invasion
of Europe may be delayed too long
because of lack of essential equip-
ment, and, therefore, loss of time.

For tne iast two months, May and
June, production has fallen below
goals set for it. And under the
US army’s timetable of planning
ahead, the production goal must
be set higher month after month,
until the growing army is com-
pletely equipped, with sufficient
reserve equipment to provide for
changes in the war. This year the
largest part of the 8,200,000-man
army must’ be equipped, or US
military plans will be upset. Pro-
duction of shipping and a few other
items is still up to schedule, but
this does not help the ground
forces. Slumps in small arms,
heavy artillery, etc, are particular-
ly dangerous.

Some part of the production
slowdown can be attributed to the
usual reasons: redesigning of
equipment, change-oyers due to
new needs, etc. Some slowdown
accurred in flood areas, but the
situation has been too widespread,
say officials, to be traceable to
these isolated causes.

US Army General Someryill,
writing in a trade paper for pro-
duction bosses, said last week that
“hy far the greater part of the
failure was due to the overconti-
dence that has swept the country

better than the preliminary

with favorable news from the bat-
tlefronts.”

United States progressives and
labor leaders, however, see more
behind the production lag than
“over-confidence.’ They point out
that it may have been due, rather,
to under-confidence—the result of
failure of the United Nations to
open the long-promised second
front against Nazi Europe. When
June 22, historic anniversary of
the Nazi invasion of the USSR,
passed with no indication of action,
morale of workers in war indus-
tries fell several points. :

Other reasons for lack of morale, ~
it might be noted, were the anti-
labor ballyhoo preceding the pass-
ing, over the President's veto, of
the Smith-Connally anti-strike bill;
the delay in passing anti-polltax
legislation; the infamous actions of
renegade John L. Lewis in attempt-
ing, with the help of notorious US
reactionaries, to undermine Roose-
velts war administration by ex-
ploiting (and incidentally sabotag-
ing) the legitimate demands of his
union members. “

It might aso be pointed out that
vital war production suffered when
riot mobs in Detroit and other in-
dustrial centres brutally attacked
Negro war workers and raised De-
troits absenteeism figures to an
unbelievable high. The riots, cred-
ited by unionists to fascist inspira-
tion, badly impaired national unity.

US Seamen Urge Second Front

While reactionaries and isolationists who have most actively
opposed every win-the-war policy of President Roosevelt be-
moaned the production slowdown, blaming it vaguely on lack

of morale, over-confidence, even,
in more stubborn cases, on the in-
fluence of trade unions, the or-
ganized labor movement in the
United States lost no time in mak-
ing concrete suggestions as to how
the slowdown could be remedied.

Feeling that much of the lack ot
morale was due to lack of action
in the opening of a land offensive
against Nazi Germany, a vigorous
call for “an immediate land in-
vasion of Europe” was made by
the National Maritime Union, CIO,
at its biennial convention held in
New York this week. The union
went a step further: production
was being sabotaged by actual ene-
my agents in the pay of the fascists.
The resolution went on to demand,
therefore, the “weeding out and im-
prisonment of Hitler’s agents in
America.” |

Three hundred ship’s delegates
were present, representing the
WIMU’s 50,000 members. In a letter
of greetings to the convention, read
by NMU President Joseph Curran,
President Roosevelt said that, “It
is of genuine interest to note that
12,000 member of your union proud-
ly wear torpedo pins.”

The initiative on all fronts can

now be seized by the United Na-
tions provided we act now, agreed
the convention, and the well-or-
ganized fascist forces active in the
US are well aware of this and are
doing their best to disrupt produc-

tion. In a separate resolution, the
union called for an immediate in-
vestigation of such fifth column
forces as the National Association
of Manufacturers, Congressmen
Wheeler, Nye, Connally, Martin
Dies, Hamilton Fish, Howard
Smith, Hearst, McCormack, Patter-
son and Roy Howard of the press;
Gerald K. Smith, Father Coughlin
and all elements in the Christian

Front and the Ku Klux Klan. °

Other resolutions called for inter-
national labor unity, and the no-
strike pledge was reaffirmed “de-
spite passing of the Connally-
Smith strike-fostering bill.”

The same week the CIO execu-
tive board, at an emergency meet-
ing in Washington, called upon or-
ganized labor in the US to support
President Roosevelfs domestic
policies in face of opposition by
Congress reactionaries and to give
full support to the President and
the war. In a sharply worded
resolution the ClO urged the labor
movement “which has been and
must continue to be, the backbonu
of support for the President's poli-
cies, to unite against the activities
of the enemies of our nation and
of organized labor.”

The board condemned race riots
jn various parts of the country as
seriously endangering the war and
even urged the President to speak
about the problem oyer a nation-
wide radio hookup.

Labor Party ,
In a decision of far |

cil of Trade Unions, aj |

last week, voted for! §

working-class organizaty
sential for the defeat
and the reelection of |
Tabor government.” Ty
and seventy delegates :—
ent, representing 800,0
tralia’s 1,100,000 trade —
The only major union ip
try remaining outside —
cil is the 100,000-strong .
Workers Union. 4

The vote for national |
which in practice means
tween the Labor and (—
parties, virtually assure
turn of Prime Minister
tin’s government with an
majority at the next ge
tion—to be held prohbat
21. The tory Opposition,
ex-premiers Arthur Fa @
Robert Menzies, had rj
the split in the labor
to put them back into;

Emphasizing that iy
labor unity iS as impor
as domestic labor unity, @
voted to affiliate with |
Soviet trade union com -
further called upon ti
tee to convene a world
gress at the earliest «
“so that international ©
play its maximum part
the war and building {
The convention also call

Wavell’s Apy |

The appointment
new Viceroy of+India:
press with strong cri

It is interpreted as :
tion of Britain’s presen
ward India.

“The defense of India
ing thought of as mer >
tary problem and not
lem of how to rally
people,” ‘said the Per
progressive publication —

While commenting fa

Sikorski ant

eS

Stanislaw Mikol,
Party, and one of
been named to suc
as premier of the F
killed in the crash
Gibralter.