The White Falcon - 20.01.1945, Blaðsíða 3

3
“NAAFI” CHIEF
IN ICELAND VISIT
PRAISES WORK OF
AM. RED CROSS
Air Chief Marshall Sir H
Robert M. Brooke-Popham,
in Iceland Monday on a brief
inspection tour of the Brit-
ish Navy, Army and Air For-
ce Institute, had high praise
for the work of the Americ-
an Red Cross among both
British and American troops
here.
“The facilities available to
the men are marvelous and
your girls show such a com-
mendable spirit towards the
men. It must mean a great
deal to them,” he said, ad-
ding, “And I can tell you that
they appreciate such ef-
forts.”
Sir Robert is commanding
head of the NAAFI, which
corresponds roughly to a
combination of the Americ-
an PX, Red Cross and Y.M.
C.A. They operate the Brit-
ish canteens, restaurants and
amusement centers for all
branches of the service, all
over the world.Through such
profits they also sponsor the
E.N.S.A. (the British “U.S.
O.”) show groups.
Marshall Brooke-Popham
pointed out the vital part the
NAAFI is playing in the war,
bringing supplies and “lux-
uries” as well as amusement
to many troops in isolated
parts of the world —< things
that they would otherwise
he unable to obtain. Where
possible, such supplies are
supplemented by local re-
sources, but this cannot oft-
en he done. He cited one case
here, where it was done suc-
cessfully. Prior to the arriv-
al of British forces in Ice-
land very little beer was
manufactured here. How-
ever, a bottling plant was
found to be available, so by
importing hops from Eng-
land, with the cooperation
of a local brewer, beer was
soon being made for Eng-
lish troops.
Sir Brooke-Popham stated
that in his tour lie had found
supplies “a hit more plenti-
ful now” in most parts of
the world “through the mar-
velous cooperation of you
Americans.”
A veteran of World War
I, he is the holder of the G.C.
V. O., the K.C.B., C.M.S. and
the D.S.O. Prior to his pre-
sent command, Sir Robert
was stationed at Singapore
as Air Officer in command-
of the Far East.
FRENCH WORKERS
THWARTED GERMAN
PLANS TO BOMB U.S.
According to a United
Press dispatch, the Germans
at one time had a plan to
bomb New York and Wash-
intgon by using long-range
bombers built in Paris. The
French, however, held up the
work to such good effect that
the Germans had to leave
Paris before the planes were
finished. The bombers were
to have been flown through
the stratosphere.
ARMY WILL CONTINUE
RECRUITING OF WACs
The Army will continue
recruiting WACs through
1945, the War Dept, ann-
ounces. This year’s recruit-
ing program will emphasize
the need of qualified women
in Army hospitals, including!
pharmacists, laboratory te-|
clinicians, dental technici-
ans, and psychiatric work-
ers. There is also said to he
a continuing need for WACs
possessing skill as clerical
workers, typists, stenograph-
ers, tabulating machine op-
erators, radio operators, con-
trol tower operators, para
chute riggers, and crypto-
graphers.
Hillman Says PAC
Must Rally Support
For World Cooperation
Sidney Hillman told the
California CIO council this
week that the immediate job
of the PAC will he to org-
anize for the 1946 Congres-
sional elections and to rally
support for elements seeking
world cooperation. “We are
going to remain nonpartis-
an and we are not going to
capture or be captured by
the Democratic party.”
Wife Of 4-F Gets $4,000
In Allotment Checks
The Office of Dependency
Benefits is demanding from
Mrs. Arline Bookman, Los
Angeles, the return of $4,000
in allotment checks. The
money was paid to her from
Nov., 1942, to Oct., 1943, but
Mrs. Bookman says that her
husband, now divorced, can’t
be in the Army because lie’s
crippled and classified IF.
WELL-PAID GI
One of the highest paid
two-stripers in the Army is
Cpl. Joseph Aurelio of Chi-
cago. His wife gave birth to
twins recently, increasing
their family to nine children
and hiking their Army al-
lowance to $284 a month.
British Correspondent Lauds
Yanks Who Died Rather Than
Retreat Before Huns’ Try
At Breakthrough
Correspondent John Hall
of the London Daily Mail,
with the American forces
when the Germans began
their futile counter-offens-
ive last month, has written
an account of the first days
of the breakthrough. “When
flie full story can he told,”
he stales in part, “the world
will learn how many Amer-
icans stood there and died
rather than retreat or sur-
render.”
DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS.
“Many here,” he said, re-
ferring to Britain, “still cling
to two dangerous illusions
—• one that American mili-
tary power is limitless, the
other that Germany has been
left with very little of any-
thing. These are the evils of
propaganda and shiftless
thinking.
“Rundstedt looked for the
sector he thought weakest.
It had been quiet for weeks
on that front. Measured
against vital spots like the
Ruhr and the Saar, nothing
in front of us there was
worth fighting for.
“Paratroops were drop-
ped behind our lines and
had been at work several
hours, cutting telephone lin-
es, attacking command posts,]
and doing everything poss-
ible to create confusion and
prevent the American lead-,
ers from fighting an orderly
defense.
NEW “WEAPON”.
“Added to that was the
enemy’s new ‘weapon’ —-
the trick of using vehicles
and armor exactly like Am-
erican equipment and put-
ting German soldiers into
American uniforms.They got
through — tanks, men, and,
self-propelled guns. They
rode west, pulled off the1
highway or lane into a for-
est covert and fired, say, a
dozen rounds at American
battery positions. Then, be-
fore counter-battery attack
was possible, they packed
up and raced to another cov-
ert.
“BRASS HAT KILLERS.”
“Part of Rundstedl’s plan
—- an important part — was
to paralyse the direction of
defense measures, lie order-j
ed some of his Amci-ican-
dressed and civilian-clothed
“infiltrators” to attack head-
quarters, to kill full colonels
and upwards, with special
directives to kill, generals.
They were ‘brass-hat-kil-
lers’ and they were a failure.
“Some of the enemy’s self-
propelled gun units had ord-
ers to shell headquarters in
the hope of disrupting the
battle direction at high level.
They too failed. Then the
Luftwaffe took up the same
task.
FLIERS “SUPERB."
“I cannot praise enough
the brave young American
fliers who went into the Bat-
tle of the Ardennes. I watch-
ed them actually scraping
the tree-tops to search out
hiding enemy tanks. They
were superb.
NAZIS IN GOOD SHAPE.
“The German dead and
prisoners I saw were all men
of good physique, and most
of those alive were full of
pep and convinced of Ger-
many’s final victory. The en-
emy’s artillery barrages
show no marks of shell rati-
oning, and he seems to be
well supplied with fuel for
tanks and transport. In spite
of everything that has been
said to the contrary, I have
seen no evidence that the
Nazis are short of men or
materials.”

Eighth Air Force
Blasts Enemy With
Record Tonnage
During 1944 the U.S.
Eighth Air Force flew 357,-
272 combat sorties — strik-
ing the enemy, his industrial
plants and his armies in the
field, with 900,000,000
pounds of high explosives
and incendiary bombs. In
the same period more than
7,000 enemy aircraft were de-
stroyed by fighter pilots and
bomber gunners, excluding
those which may have been
destroyed by U.S. bombing
atttacks on enemy airfields.
Additional damage in-
flicted upon the Nazi war
machine by the Eighth Air
Force were: 6675 railroad
cars destroyed, 3,300 loco-
motives knocked out, 4,0141
motor transport vehicles de-j
stroyed, 128 armored veh-
icles destroyed, 41 tanks de-
stroyed and 107 damaged,
245 gun positions destroyed
and 67 ammunition and fuel
dumps blown up.
Approximately 32 percent
of the year’s tonnage of
bombs was in direct sup-
port of the ground forces,
while 29 percent was aimed
at the German aircraft indu-
stry and 13 percent at the
German oil industry. About
7 percent was directed aga-
inst flying bomb sites.
ALL-TIME RECORD
•According to a statement
released by the U.S. Dept,
of Commerce, American con-
sumers spent the record fig-
ure of $97,000,000,000 for
goods and services during
Yanks Knocking Off
Japs at 13 To 1 Ratio
According to a recent OSYI
report, Yank fighting men
are killing Jap soldiers at
the rate of 13 Nips for every
American lost in battle. To
date, stated the report, U.S.
troops have killed at least
277,000 Japanese soldiers at
a cost of 21,000 American
fatalities.
1944.
Members of the 343rd U.S. Engineer Regiment found
this captured German gun in Belgium and salvaged the
metal in its railroad carriage.