Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1940, Page 4

A—4 ¥» Desperate Shortage of Manpower Kee French Are Forced To Spread Line Thin On 200-Mile Front Little Chance Is Seen For Help From British For at Least a Month By the Associated Press. BERN, Switzerland, June 7.—A desperate shortage of manpower is forcing Allied Generalissimo Max- ime Weygand to fight a purely de- fensive war along the Somme, in- formed foreign observers declared today, with little chance of ma- terial aid from the battered British expeditionary force for at least a| month. Advices reaching both neutral and belligerent legations in Switzer- land said that France has superi- ority only in artillery, as contrasted | tremendous advantage of | with a manpower, motorized equipment and planes on the German side. Under these conditions, the ex- perts said, any large-scale French counter-offensive is virtually im- possible for at least a month—and | declared that then it might be too | late to stem the Nazi advance. The best estimates reaching Switzerland gave this summary of the problem facing Gen. Weygand: | Manpower. The French now have 20 divisions concentrated along the Alps, 20 divisions on the border from Switz- erland to the Moselle River and 50 divisions along the front from the Moselle to the English Channel. ‘The British are reported to have little more than five combat divi- sions in France. The remainder of the B. E. F. is being regrouped in England after the Flanders defeat. | The French figures presumably represent the divisions on active or potentially active battle fronts— about 1350.000 men out of a total estimated force of some 5,000,000 The remainder wduld represent reserves, corps and army troops, sup- | ply and other rearguard formations, units being re-formed after the bat- tle of Flanders and troops in train- ing. ‘The Germans are said to be using 40 divisions in the western offen- | sive, including five “panzer” or armored divisions of about 1500 vehicles each, including armored motor cycles. These attacking divisions are backed up by some of the 65 divisions which swept through Holland and Belgium and now are resting in reserve, while 20 Nazi divisions were reported ranged along the Siegfried Line. The French divisions in Gen. Weygand's defense line are spread ' over a 200-mile front, while the Nazis have concentrated power a points of their offensive. Against such odds, the experts asserted, Generalissimo Weygand cannot afford to spare more than five divisions at different points for | small counter-offensives, and even shifting of that many was termed dangerous to his position. Land Equipment. Despite reported heavy losses of artillery left behind following the Dunkerque withdrawal of the North- | ern Allied forces, the French still are said to maintain their superiority in this category. Reports reaching here today said hundreds of carefully hidden French “75s” have been used in the flexible Weygand Line to smash German mechanized units. The French were said to be “piti- fully weak” in mechanized equip- ment, however, since much of their equipment rushed into Belgium was abandoned during the retreat. Air Strength, All sources agree that the Allies are seriously outnumbered in the air—especially since the threat of Italian intervention and German air raids on the Rhone Valley forced | the French to send many crack fighters to the south. The main German attack was re- ported to have the advantage of a number of special air divisions which have dive bombers and fighter planes incorporated under the same command as light and medium tank | units, with radio communication between the air forces and tanks enabling close co-operation in action. Savannah Editor Dies SAVANNAH, Ga., June 7 (#)—W. G. Sutlive, editor of the Savannah Evening Press, died at his home here last night after an illness of | several months, “ THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, English Channeél _—n "fl u"nn TROUVILLE LOUVIERSe BERNAY 3 EVREUX 4 DREUX R q ’V ©, T < «© > VILLE fl ABBE 'E?M\” 4‘%// PICOUIGNYRGE, AMIEN 2 p MONTDIDIE% “ CHAU COMPIEGNE, ROUEN LES ANDELYS R e A CHARTRES® PERONNE 4 BELGIUM 7 0ISE L) ST. OUENTIN N Y, ASFELD NEUFCHATEL WREIMS EPERNAY FRENCH OFFER STIFF RESISTANCE—The Nazis today acknowledged the French were offering stiff resistance on the “Weygand Line” that trapped their tanks, but in the Abbeville sector Q) the Nazis forged through Pont Remy on a 17-mile line toward Dieppe and Le Havre. The French Paris (5). threw back another thrust in the Peronne region (2) and counterattacked. The German tanks managed to push south from the Ailette Canal (3), but the French fought bitterly at Chemin des Dames (arrow heads, 4) on the heights above the Aisne, More air raid alarms sounded in A. P. Wirephoto. French Pilots Like U. S. Planes, ‘Want More, Mlle. Curie Finds Troops Declared Confident of Discovering Means to Checkmate Germans This is the second of several articles by Mlle. Eve Curie, based on a recent tour of air bases at the French front. Mlle. Curie is director of women’s activities in the French Ministry of Infor- mation and daughter of Mme. Marie Curie, co-discoverer of radium. By EVE CURIE. PARIS, June 7.—Our car, having left a little country road, was wan- | dering through some open fields | and jumping heavily over the clods | of earth so as to reach a plane dis- creetly hidden under a group of trees. What a queer countryside! The quiet little village, centuries old, | the low and lovely farm with its square courtyard. the cattle, the fat cows lying in the meadows, the young and stupid little calves and the lazy dogs sleeping in the sun- shine. And then we saw under each big tree Aam” American - plane; ‘s Douglas or a Glenn Martin, dis- | guised as a grasshopper, painted in | green and brown by the mest ar- tistic camouflage. Under each smaller - tree, cherry or apple, in each garage or isolated barn, there were hundreds and hundreds of long yellow bombs two or three feet long, protected by light wooded cases and scattered in small piles. Tons of | bombs everywhere. If the cows, if |the calves, if the dogs knew, they would not feel so comfortable, so secure under this lovely sunshine. | There were dozens of bombers, of Douglases and Glen Martins, within a few miles from there. With their propellers, their round aerodynamic | head, they looked very much like | the commercial planes in which only a few weeks ago I was traveling all over America. The plane I was going to see was a Glenn Martin, That very morning it had been brought back with a big hole, big as two hands, in the lower part of the framework. Nice shot done by a shell of the “Flack,” the German anti-aircraft guns. One man was wounded. The other one, the pilot, | brought the plane back in spite of its bullet-damaged upper part. “You Get Used to It.” Six mechanics were working on the Glenn Martin. The pilot, a | | young captain, watched the work phlegmatically. Behind his dark | | glasses he had a fine young face | that was extremely sun burned. As all civilians do in all wars, I asked ‘a stupid question: “How does it | feel to be attacked by anti-aircraft | guns, Rog?” |~ “You get used to it. You don't | hear much except the noise of the propellers. But you see a lot. You e the fireworks of the tracing COOL As Spring Water e o CLEAN As a Whistle * ¢« FRES H As a Daisy bullets and the smoke of each anti- aircraft shell all around you. Of course, we must become indifferent | to these events, to all events. We | have a definite mission to fulfill at a | precise place, at a precise hour. Our | groups of planes fulfills about 20 missions a day over the German lines and sometimes deep into the Ger- man territory, where we bomb mili- tary objectives. We have good results and comparatively few losses. That, of course, is because the planes are so good.” I was to get more details about the planes in a talk with the colo- nel, the head of this whole group | of bombers. He fought and won the last war. He absolutely intends to win this one. He is very seriously, | very coldly optimistic about all the | questions which interest him at Lhe! moment—these questions being the French aviation, the French Army, the French victory. “First, about the planes,” he said. “You see these pilots of our group, these young boys, who a few weeks ago were in North Africa, far away from the battle and who have been, all at once, brought up here and thrown into the war. If they are in such marvelous spirits it is, first | of all, because they like their| planes.” | They like their bicycles, as they | say. “We received these American | bombers three months ago. We re- | alized immediately that this was the | solution of the problem: here are bomber planes that can also be used as pursuit planes. Although lhe}‘i carry nearly 2,000 pounds of bombs, they are so easy to handle, so safe, that our men do not fear in the least a good fight with a Messer- schmidt occasionally. During one of our recent missions the Glen Martins and Douglases, after hav- ing thrown their bombs at the ap- pointed place, were attacked and accepting the fight, turned round, | faced the German pursuit planes, | brought three of them down, dis- persed the others and came back with no damage at all. And then, what is so fine about these planes is that they are so simple, so rustic. There is nothing too complicated, too delicate. The engines never stop except for a catastrophe. You have just seen | a damaged plane in the field over here. A few hours of work and the plane will be up in the air again. If we had more’ planes we would very quickly get control of the war in the air because our men are much better than the Germans. We | would transport war from the| French sky to the German sky, which is the thing that the Ger- mans fear above all. We would win.” “If we had more planes.” That is Chrysler's AIRTEMP SUMMER AIR CONDITIONER As Low as 314700 Completely Installed ’T put up with hot weather this summer. Have Griffith- Consumers install a Breeze” air conditioner in your bedroom or office. cury just flick a switch and put “Cool Breeze” to Summer Comfort Is Inexpensive at Low Pepco Rates. jifty Chrysler Airtemp “Cool clean. When the mer- climbs upward small. \ work. Enjoy the quick relief as sticky, stifling air is changed in a to air that’s cool, fresh and Get Griffith-Consumers’ low prices on Chrysler’s Airtemp Room Cool- ers—Ilearn how easily you can have this summer comfort. able for home and office—large or Models suit- Call MEtropolitan 4840 for Full Information, Today! (RFFiTH: (ONSUMERS (OMPANY 1413 New York Ave. N. W. MEtropolitan 4840 the sentence I hear everywhere. The colonel passes then to another subject. “Now, about the men. The French Army is a defensive army, an army which, paradoxically speaking, prepares herself not for | war, but for peace. Each time s war starts there is a surprise, a pe- | riod of adaptation for the French— often a defeat. Having premedi- | tated war in all its details for a| precise date, known in advance, having loved war and hoped for it, the Germans are always ready for it—materially and morally ready. The French up to the last moment hope for peace. They have to stand the shock, the despair of having to | go to war again. They have to pass from a peaceful mood to a war mood. They have also to get ac- customed to the new means of de- struction. In the 1914 war the new weapons were the automatic arms, later on the toxic gas. This time they are the mechanicized units and the aviation used for mass at- tack. But now, the surprise is over. Bche\-e me, this war is only begin- ning.’ Then reaching for a map where | the line of the front was very pre-| cisely indicated, he said ow about facts. Somebody said—TI think it was| Napoleon—that the only victory is| to destroy the armed forces of the enemy. The Germans have done nothing of the sort. The French Army is still there—all right, she is a little farther west, a little farther south than we would like her to be, but she is intact. Allied forces have resisted magnifi- cently on the earth, on the sea, in the air. The French soldiers have changed a lot in two weeks. I can see it in my group of planes, in my squadron. A month ago these boys were very young, a little careless and almost too daring. Now they are men with an inflexible will, bitter men, serious, hard—men determined to fight to the last and to be the strongest.” (Copsright. 1940.) Plumbmg Firm Fined In L. S. U. Scandal NEW ORLEANS, June 7 (#).—The American Heating & Plumbing Co., Inc., of Baton Rouge, La., was fined | $5,000 in Federal Court here yester- | day under a guilty plea to a charge of diversion of W. P. A. materials and labor on Louisiana State Uni-‘ versity plumbing contracts. George Caldwell, former umversx!v building superintendent, also named in the indictment, pleaded guilty on | February 12 and was sentenced to | two years in the Federal Peni- tentiary. Canberra tenants complain that | rents are higher than in any other city of Australia. WASHERS AT LOW PRICES [ Sale of 1939 Models Maytag. .. 44| 'ABC .....%37| |Norge.... 39| \Thor. ....%33| : Complete with Filler Pump Hose |: 10 DAYS’' TRIAL PAY $1 WEEKLY CALL REPUBLIC 1530 In the north the | D. C, FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1940. GERMANS SAY STUKAS DID THIS—Dive bombers, says the German censor-approved caption, were responsible for this line of %recked autos strung along a road in Flanders. The cars, ps Weygand on Defensive according to these sources, were “taking the French on their retreat.” Photo by Clipper. —A. P. Wirephoto. Maj. Schofield Named Immigration Official By the Associated Press. Maj. Lemuel B. Schofield, former director of public safety at Phila- delphia, was named a special assist- ant to the Attorney General yes- terday to have administrative con- | trol of the Imfmigration and Nat- uralization Service. This service will be transferred to the Justice Department from the Labor Department next Friday un- der a reorganization plan submitted to Congress by President Roose- velt. Attorney General Jackson, an- | nouncing Maj. Schofield’s appoint- ment. said Solicitor General Biddle would continue the work of in- tegrating the new service with exist- | [ ing agencies in the Justice Depart- | | ment and also would continue as the Attorney. General's representa- tive in determining policy questions in connection with organization of the new unit. Commissioner of Immigration | Houghteling is expected to move his | quarters to the Justice Department when the service is transferred. While all questions in connection with administration had not been decided, officials said, the office of commissioner will be continued as | the official directly in charge. Secret Police to 'I"-robe Attempt to Kill Trotsky By the Associated Press. MEXICO CITY, June 7.—A spe- cial squad of secret police was as- signed today to investigate the still-unsolved machine-gun attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky, exiled Russian revolutionist, more than two weeks ago. CLEARANCE OF USED AND FLOOR SAMPLE Grand Pianos DRACHMANN — small apart- ment size with plain mahog- $225 WHITNEY—Made by Kimball. In practically new condition. Was $550. This one__$285 HUNTINGTON—Beautiful, well made, small grand with a nice tone. Regularly $435. One floor sample at___$295 WINTER — Mahogany finished opartment grand used on rental only and just like new. Regularly $465. This $295 STORY & CLARK—A quality small grand that has been used in several recitals only. Sells for $475 . A real BRAMBACH — Mahogany case grand only very slightly used. Was $550. Now ARTHUR JORDAN — A very sturdy grand in unusually d condition Originally 3%075. Very special at-_$325 CHICKERING—Mahogany fin- ished $675 model. Used in several of our recitals and $595 MASON & HAMLIN — Latest model mahogany finished grand, $1,195 model, only very slightly used $995 STEINWAY—Used but in such good condition that it looks like new. Sold new for VERY EASY TERMS NEW PIANO GUARANTEE Call National 3223 JORDAN’S Corner 13th & G Sts. ‘ British Report Air Raids |On Nazis Along Somme By the Associated Press. WITH THE BRITISH AIR FORCE IN FRANCE, June 6 (De- bla)'edu.—chb pilots of Britain's advanced air striking force declared today that they had pounded the | herve centers of German communi- cations through the smoke of bat- tle above the Somme River through- out last night They pressed home their attacks so low that their planes sometimes rocked to the force of the detona- tion of their bombs, they said. | When the flyers returned to | their bases early today and tore | the goggles from their reddened | eyes, they said their raids had s 6x9-ft. Waifair Rugs 9x12 ft. Seventh Street furnished with cool Summer Rugs. showing many good qualities now in full as- sortments and prices are quoted below. Waifair Fiber Rugs—9x12 Ft., 8x10-ft. Waifair Rugs---.._$11.95 4Y2x7%-ft. Waifair Rugs Sisal 9S;est’ Rugs—plain colors and interrupted stripes— t. caused considerable dislocation of | to¥n: Madeline L. Bosher, River- columns of German tanks, armored | dale, and Elizabeth E. 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