Sunday, April 30, 1944

SUSPENSE IN THE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL "RACE". The Massachusetts and Pennsylvania primaries this past week make President Roosevelt and Governor Dewey even more heavily favored than ever to be their parties’ candidates for the White House this year. But while the presidential race is a pretty ho-hum affair in both parties, Turner Catledge writes in today’s New York Times that there actually is some suspense over the Democratic and Republican vice-presidential nominees. The biggest question, of course, is whether Vice President Wallace will be forced off the ticket --

"Vice President Henry A. Wallace very obviously is seeking renomination. He is making as open a bid as any candidate ever made for high national office. He has the ardent backing of the more aggressive labor element and of ultra-liberals in general -- the men and women and organizations who have furnished the greater part of the evangelical fervor that propelled the New Deal and swayed economic group voting in the first two Roosevelt terms -- and some of these have carried a demand for his renomination straight to the White House. But among Democratic party leaders, including some within the Administration and extremely close to Mr. Roosevelt, it would be hard to find one more unwanted than Mr. Wallace. In the earlier days of pre-convention planning and manipulating, the opponents of Mr. Wallace, who include the more conservative or the less extreme -- have it as you will -- persons around the President thought their task of stopping him was finished. But these party leaders have been thrown into somewhat of a stew by an attitude the President has recently taken which adds up to the question: 'If not Wallace, who?' Faced with that question, it has suddenly dawned upon these leaders that they have overlooked the rule which they, of all persons in the Administration, were supposed to know best, namely that 'you can’t beat somebody with nobody'. They began to realize that with all their talk about Rayburn, Byrnes, Barkley, Truman, Stettinius and others, they had not centered on one, and from the attitude recently exhibited by the President, they have also begun to wonder if the old rule might not be amended: 'Neither can you beat somebody with everybody.'"

There are a number of possibilities for the Republican vice-presidential spot, writes Mr. Catledge, but fortunately for the G.O.P. this will likely be a much simpler affair -- Governor Dewey will simply give the nod to a favored colleague --

"On the Republican side, the Vice Presidential problem seems, at this writing, much less complicated. Should Governor Dewey continue to roll along and, as many observers predict, show up at Chicago with sufficient delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot, he will simply have to nod to someone and that someone will become the candidate. If Mr. Dewey should need some additional delegates to guarantee his nomination, or if by the improbable chance his stock should begin slipping and measures to support it became necessary, his managers undoubtedly would try some well-precedented convention trade, which would set up the ticket. Thus, present trends indicate strongly that the Republican Vice Presidential candidate will be selected either directly or indirectly by Mr. Dewey. Having this in mind, political seers and Dewey-minded people in Washington speak most often these days of Gov. Earl Warren of California, former Governor Stassen, Governor Bricker and Representative Everett Dirksen of Illinois."

Don’t touch that dial!

posted by Michael 7:53:00 AM

. . .

A PARTICULARLY PAINFUL LESSON. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "On the Burma front, a thoughtful soldier wrote to his mother in England: 'Don’t worry about me, mum. I’ll keep my head down.' Later hit by flying shrapnel, he wrote again: 'In the future I’ll keep both ends down.'"

posted by Michael 7:51:00 AM

. . .

Tuesday, April 25, 1944

WHEN WILL THE INVASION BEGIN? (VII) Any time now. The clock is ticking:

The British Government has announced today that "for military reasons," overseas travel will be banned "except for business or urgent national importance which cannot be postponed." Exit permits may be used until midnight April 27. This, from the A.P.

The Anglo-American "aerial invasion" of Hitler’s empire is now in its eleventh day, with some 3,000 warplanes taking part.

Also from the A.P. this morning – The commander of Canadian forces in Britain has proclaimed his troops have finished their training and are "prepared and eager."

And the Germans seem to be preparing their long-suffering people for yet another defeat. The Muncher Neuste Nachrichten proclaimed that "the greatest battle in the history of the world will take place along the Atlantic," but that "the enemy is preparing overwhelming material superiority to strike with a force that will overrun our defenses."

posted by Michael 7:49:00 AM

. . .

HOW TO HELP THE INVASION. As Zero Hour nears for the invasion, Walter Lippmann reminds us that the American people -- and their President -- can still do more to help win the great decisive battles to come. His persuasive pitch for comprehensive national war service, in today’s New York Herald Tribune --

"The Germans are encircled and are cornered but they still have hope. A fixed force, however formidable, is worth resisting on the great chance that if some part of the plan goes wrong, we shall lack the final punch to deliver the knockout blow. Many a man has gotten out of a hopeless fight by just managing to hang on and not to get knocked out because the other fellow did not have that last punch. This is the tremendous danger which the invasion forces face, that they will come ashore, that they will move in, as in Italy, and then lack the reserves to push through to victory. If that happened this summer, we might well face a bloody stalemate, and the need to try it all over again next season, and with every plan we have made in Europe and in the Pacific thrown off schedule. It is imperative, therefore, that once the invasion is launched, it should have behind it such reserves that the longer the enemy resists, the greater will be the forces that come piling up against him. That will break him. He may withstand the first blow. But if the second is harder, not softer than the first, and the third harder than the second, he will have nothing left to fight for. . . . This is the reason why our responsible military leaders are asking the American civilian population to back them up with a national war service act. There is no other way to tell our troops and to make it clear to the enemy that when the invasion begins, it can never be stopped. We are simply not doing our duty if we leave matters where they are now . . . . It is clear as daylight that the way to shorten the war decisively and conclusively is to mobilize the civilian population, men and women, so that there can be no question in anyone’s mind that the attack has behind it waves upon waves of men and equipment. . . . No man will ever regret that in this fateful hour he did too much. He will never be forgiven if he does not do enough."

Yet on this issue, once again we are lacking in Presidential leadership, writes Mr. Lippmann --

"The President . . . is committed to a National War Service Act. The fact is, however, he has not fulfilled his commitment. In his message of last January he pledged it with reservations and qualifications which convinced Congress that he was not serious about it. His inaction and silence have confirmed that conviction. . . . The President cannot wait any longer to take this matter in hand, and to bring it before Congress and the country, not as his personal view, but as a demand, backed by the evidence and convictions of our military leaders. If our people really see that this act is a military necessity, they will not fail."

posted by Michael 7:36:00 AM

. . .

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "A Dixon, Calif. newspaper ran a want ad: 'Owner of a truck would like to correspond with a widow who owns two tires. Object matrimony. Send picture of tires.'"

posted by Michael 7:30:00 AM

. . .

Sunday, April 23, 1944

THINGS LOOKING UP FOR THE REPUBLICANS? Could it be that the Democrats will go down in flames this November, even if President Roosevelt runs for a fourth term? George Gallup writes today that "Republican chances of winning the election look better today than most observers are inclined to believe." Mr. Gallup bases his analysis on voters’ response to how they’d vote in three different situations, if they faced a matchup this fall between the President and Governor Dewey --

(1) If the war is still going on, Roosevelt would win handily with 55% of the vote, to Dewey’s 45%.

(2) If the war is over, Dewey would win in a landslide. Roosevelt would get only 42% of the vote, compared to 58% for Dewey.

(3) If "the war is still going on in Europe, but it looks as though it might be over in a few weeks or a few months," the two candidates would practically split the vote, 51% for Roosevelt and 49% for Dewey.

Mr. Gallup is most intrigued by the third possibility, and when he breaks down the numbers he shows it would actually mean, in all likelihood, a victory for Dewey. The Governor, according to this survey, would lead in the east central, west central, and far west states, while splitting the vote in the New England and Middle Atlantic region. Only in the southern states would the President hold a strong lead. And the Democratic dominance of the South means that a mere 51% of the popular vote probably wouldn’t be enough to re-elect F.D.R., as Mr. Gallup explains --

"Although replies to question 3 show Roosevelt with a slight advantage among civilian voters throughout the country as a whole, it should be noted that the Democrats normally need about 52 per cent of the popular vote in order to have a majority of the electoral vote. This is because the heavy Democratic popular vote in the South does not spell a proportionately high number of electoral votes."

Add one more thing to this -- the poll shows Dewey would do better in all five regions of the country than Willkie did in 1940. All told, this might be the year of a great Republican revival, regardless of whether our troops win complete victory on the battlefronts by election day.

posted by Michael 7:31:00 AM

. . .

THE FOOLISH FINNS END PEACE TALKS. An A.P. dispatch this morning says that the Finnish government has rejected the latest Russian peace proposals, after two months of negotiations. This, despite the surprisingly moderate Soviet terms -- Finnish expulsion or internment of German troops, restoration of the 1940 borders, immediate repatriation of prisoners, 50% demobilization of the Finnish army, $600 million in reparations to Russia, and the return of Petsamo. Extremely mild, considering that the Red Army will soon be primed to go stomping right into the heart of Finnish territory, and face a much more favorable battlefront than they did in their 1940 invasion.

But the Finns, God help them, don’t see it that way. Time magazine has a report this week from correspondent John Scott, who says that life in Helsinki is pretty much normal and that Finnish observers believe their government "should not close the doors to further negotiations with the Russians, but should try to get better terms."

That might be simple self-delusion, but another A.P. report today suggests that it might be out-and-out derangement, on the part of Finnish Prime Minister Linkomies and his political cronies. The A.P. summarizes the view of this clique as follows -- "There is still a possibility that Germany will not lose the war even if she does not win it -- in other words, the struggle may end in a compromise. . . . One must conclude that time is working in favor of the Finland. There still are several possibilities the country may emerge from the war with success."

It’s so tragic. Finland would probably not be in this war were it not for Russian aggression in 1940, which ignited a chain of events which puts her now as the only democratic state to take up arms alongside Hitler. She should have realized her profound mistake long ago, and Moscow is giving her ample opportunity to do it now. Alas, it will take more fighting, and more bombs raining down in Finnish cities, before this pathetic nation finally awakens to the extent of her foolhardiness.

posted by Michael 7:27:00 AM

. . .

SOMETHING REALLY HANDY. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "Somewhere in the Atlantic, Lieut. Commander Edward J. Van Gieson received a large envelope in the ship’s mail, was pleased to have his 1944 auto license plates."

posted by Michael 7:20:00 AM

. . .

Tuesday, April 18, 1944

IS DEWEY AN ISOLATIONIST? Wendell Willkie’s overwhelming loss in the Wisconsin primary ignited a huge debate over whether the Republican Party is once again turning isolationist, or whether if the rejection of the internationalist Willkie was due to other factors. It’s also stirred up a lot of curiosity about the foreign policy views of Mr. Dewey, now the odds-on favorite for the G.O.P. nomination, but still not a declared candidate and not too well known for anything other than his splendid reputation as Governor or New York. Mr. Dewey hasn’t said anything as of yet, but the editors of the New Republic aren’t waiting. They’ve already decided that Mr. Dewey isn’t worth listening to, because he’s a Republican --

"Independent voters of liberal or progressive tendency, who have been wondering whether after all a progressive Republican might not be better than a tired and compromising Roosevelt, will now have to recognize that their speculations have become academic. A fourth term is their only hope for a decent peace. The inner machine of the Republican party is running smoothly, and it is financed by the same old interests that have long had the chief stake in the party. The best test of what Mr. Dewey would do in the White House is what the Republicans as a group have been doing in Congress. It is, by and large, a record of stark reaction and isolation . . . ."

And so on. It’s pretty galling to see a candidate assailed for stands he’s never taken, stands that he might vehemently disagree with. And it’s awfully forgetful of the New Republic to disregard the fact that the G.O.P., "long" run by the "same old interests," nominated the progressive Mr. Willkie in 1940. Let Mr. Dewey, if he is to be the Republican nominee, set out in good time his views on America’s role in the post-war world. It’s not fair to judge him by the standards of a candidate until he formally becomes one, and tells us what he believes.

I have hopes Mr. Dewey will support a foreign policy based on sound principles of internationalism, for one reason above all -- the Chicago Tribune is highly suspicious of him. The flagship paper of pied-eyed America Firsters worried in a recent editorial that Dewey will "fall into the trap set for him by the anti-American newspapers" (such as the New York Herald Tribune), and support a continued U.S. partnership with Britain, Russia, and China. That’s at least some comfort that the New Republic is likely, in this instance, dead wrong.

posted by Michael 7:52:00 AM

. . .

THE MYSTERY OF THE NAZI RETREAT. It’s been another good week on the Eastern Front, with a pair of gallant Red armies killing and chasing a hundred-thousand-odd Germans and Rumanians through the Crimea to a small enclave surrounding Sevastopol. The Russians reportedly advanced 46 miles in one day, and the liberation of Sevastopol itself is surely near.

But as one German retreat follows another in the East, a mystery arises -- why have the Nazis squandered huge quantities of irreplaceable equipment and hundreds of thousands of dead by standing fast at nearly every point in the line? Or, as Barnet Nover says in today’s column, "The question arises why once Germany’s offensive power in Russia had been destroyed beyond recovery, a large-scale retreat to a thoroughly defensible position had not been ordered." As Mr. Nover explains --

"The last German offensive in Russia was launched early in July 1943, and came to a complete halt a few days later. Within a few months the Red Army had crossed the Dnepr. At that time some military experts predicted that if the Wehrmacht found it impossible to reestablish the Dnepr line a retreat far to the west might be ordered. The German army, it was said, might reestablish itself alone the line of the northern Bug and the Carpathians, thus shortening its Eastern Front by many hundreds of miles and in that way conserving much manpower. Nothing of the kind was done. The Germans held on fiercely to every strong point. They retreated when they had to, but they held their ground where and when they could. . . . Now it is doubtful whether any German line, even one as far to the west as a Danzig-Warsaw-Przemyal-Carpathian line could hold."

Mr. Nover ascribes part of Hitler’s motivation for fighting this way to simple pride, but the second reason he gives is more intriguing --

"He may have also taken into account the possibility that a wholesale retreat, while strateigcally sound, would prove psychologically disastrous. The spectacle of the German army abandoning at one fell swoop and without a struggle hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory it had won at great cost in blood and treasure might have stunned the Germans and created panic among Germany’s satellites. It would have been regarded as a confession of great weakness."

Which, I think, makes the point again at how important psychology is in this war. Germany will collapse not when her armies give up, but when her people do. And anything we can do to bring ordinary Germans closer to the brink -- our bombing campaign, and well-coordinated offensive blows timed to achieve maximum effect on morale -- will do more than any purely military action to shorten the war.

posted by Michael 7:48:00 AM

. . .

HOW THEIR GARDEN GROWS. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In Los Angeles, County Park Superintendent J.R. Wimmer proudly pointed out the luxuriant ornamental plants around the County Agricultural Building. Commented visiting Horticulturist A.J. Barton: 'That’s a fine crop of marijuana, my friend.'"

posted by Michael 7:41:00 AM

. . .

Sunday, April 16, 1944

WHEN WILL THE INVASION COME? (VI) Any day now, writes Edward T. Folliard in today’s Washington Post, who reminds us that April was a favorite invasion month for Hitler --

"The electrifying news will probably come here at night in Washington. In the wire room at The Post, a bell will jangle; the flow of routine news bulletins over the press association wires will stop abruptly. Then the keys will beat out this historic message: 'Flash – invasion begins.' Thus we will know that the greatest military adventure of all time has started, and that the war in Europe, now four and a half years old, has at last entered the decisive stage. When will it come? If we judge from the record, the invasion season already has arrived. Hitler, in ending the period of 'phony war' in 1940, plunged into Denmark and Norway on April 9. The invasion of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg came a month and a day later, on May 10. Then followed the drive into France and the occupation of Paris on June 14. In the following year, Hitler again chose this month for one of his lighting strokes. He invaded Yugoslavia and Greece on April 6."

Mr. Folliard tells us that the western Allies are now in the position that Hitler was back in 1940, as he contemplated an invasion of Britain -- having to make an all-out effort to drive the enemy from the skies before the land battle can be fought. Toward that end, Secretary Stimson announced this week that Anglo-American air power is now being put to its "full use" in the current air offensive -- meaning some 1500 to 2000 U.S. warplanes are now being sent every night against Nazi aircraft factories, airdromes, and concentrations of fighter planes. Mr. Folliard says of the Stimson statement, "That would appear to be another way fo staying that this is 'it' – the all-out effort."

And then will come the invasion. If not literally any moment now, then perhaps as little as days away.

posted by Michael 7:48:00 AM

. . .

WHERE WILL THE INVASION COME? The Washington Post also offers a map in today’s editions describing six possible Allied invasion routes --

"(1) Through Norway and Denmark and thence into the heart of Germany -- Distance to Norway: about 300 miles. (2) Through the Pas de Calais and Lowlands -- best defended route of all -- Distance: from 32 to 135 miles. (3) Directly across the channel into northwestern France -- Distance about 114 miles. French coastline is fortified. (4) Through the Bay of Biscay to seize beachheads in Western France -- Distance: about 450 miles by water. (5) Allies may also strike through Southern France -- Distance, about 395 miles from Allied territory in North Africa. (6) Through Yugoslavia and Central Europe into Germany from the South -- Distance to Yugoslavia: 140 miles."

Maybe I’m off in left field, but based on the Nazis’ relative success at keeping our troops bottled up in Italy, I would think that it’s a lot more likely that the invasion will come through either western or southern France. The other routes allow the Germans too many opportunities to once again confine Anglo-American infantry and tanks into a relatively small battlefield, where territory will be bought at a terrific cost-in-blood, and our advance will be as slow as a snail’s.

posted by Michael 7:39:00 AM

. . .

HERE THEY COME, CLIPPITY-CLOPPITY. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In East Africa, jolly British Air Marshal Sir Keith Parkm flying low over Kenya Colony’s game lands, rubbed his eyes, took another peek at the herd of pink elephants below. The elephants, explained a knowing aide, had been rolling in reddish clay and they were indeed pink."

posted by Michael 7:36:00 AM

. . .

Tuesday, April 11, 1944

THE RUSSIANS RECAPTURE ODESSA. As the Russian Front starts to become the Balkan Front, the seemingly never-ending Red offensive in the southeast seems headed toward an early climax. Everywhere the Germans appear to be on the verge of a full-fledged rout -- Odessa captured with stunning suddeness, the German defense lines cracked at the top of the Crimean peninsula (where 100,000 Nazi troops have been trapped), a continued Soviet advance now 65 miles into Rumania. With Odessa liberated, Rumania’s Ploesti oil fields are now the biggest target on the Red road-map, and the Russian troops in northern Rumania, commanded by Marshal Konev, aren’t wasting any time trying to get there.

And thankfully, the U.S. is getting into the act -- U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators have dealt a heavy blow by air to the Rumanian capital of Bucharest, just a day after launching a major air raid on Hungary’s capital, Budapest. The Nazis, now the occupiers of their one-time Hungarian ally, have announced by radio plans to evacuate Budapest. And the International News Service carried a report today from the British Daily Express that Rumania’s premier, Marshal Antonescu, is considering making an "immediate request for an armistice" to the Big Three. It’s probably just hooey, but it could well have been passed along by increasingly terrified Rumanian officials who wish it were true.

posted by Michael 8:08:00 AM

. . .

MAYBE THE PRESIDENT SHOULDN’T RUN AGAIN. President Roosevelt is still being coy about whether or not he’s running for a fourth term. So, you can assume he’s considering it. But Walter Lippmann’s column yesterday in the New York Herald Tribune makes an interesting point. It might be better for the Democrats in the long run, and for the country, too, if the President stepped down -- even if that meant a G.O.P. victory in November. I can’t imagine many Democrats buying this reasoning, but it makes sense to me --

"[Roosevelt] will, of course, be under heavy pressure from his fellow Democrats who will feel that his refusal to run is the equivalent of conceding the election to the Republicans. He will be urged to run to save the party to which he owes so much. Yet, in fact, if one considers the Democratic Party and its best interests in the long run, there is a compelling argument in favor of its not remaining in power. It is that its mandate has run out, its time is up, and that to overstay its time when it would normally go into opposition, is to invite a catastrophic defeat at the next election. For the party as an historic party in American life the long future will be far brighter if it retires from office before it is angrily driven from office. It can retire now with a record of accomplishments which, when all has been said against them, will remain. It can retire having organized the country successfully, and even brilliantly, to withstand the greatest peril that ever threatened it. If the party retires now, when it might continue in office, it will be a coherent opposition capable of returning to power if the Republicans do not govern successfully. If it continues in office until it is overwhelmingly defeated, it might be a generation before the party recovered. . . . Mr. Roosevelt may well by retiring voluntarily exercise greater influence, than by remaining in office, for the things he most cares about."

That may be taking it a little far. Any President, no matter the degree of his opposition, has more power than a private citizen shouting from the sidelines. And certainly Mr. Lippmann isn’t talking about the Democrats, in President Roosevelt’s absence, just throwing up their hands and offering to cede the election to the G.O.P. But judging from what a number of Democrats have said publicly, you do get the impression that they feel strongly that without Roosevelt, their goose is cooked for 1944. And how much does that say about the weakness of the Democratic Party this year?

posted by Michael 8:02:00 AM

. . .

THANKS LOADS. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In Chicago, Rosemary Karier found a wallet containing $1,438, returned it to the owner, got a reward of 25 cents."

posted by Michael 7:56:00 AM

. . .

Sunday, April 9, 1944

TOO BAD FOR WILLKIE -- AND MAYBE STASSEN? A week ago some of the political pros were saying Wendall Willkie had to come out with a 50-50 split of pledged delegates in the Wisconsin primary to keep his presidential campaign on track. Others said that he ought to be able to do far better than 50-50, since he was the only man on the ballot who’d actually been criss-crossing the state campaigning. Well, so much for the debate. The voters finally had their say, and Willkie ended up with none of the state’s 24 delegates. Zero. Thomas Dewey got two-thirds of the delegates, and he didn’t even field a full slate, having discouraged some delegates from running in his behalf, since he’s not really a candidate. (Friends say he may be changing his tune now.)

Moreover, Dewey’s spectacular victory not only kayoed the Willkie campaign, but maybe the Stassen effort as well. This just in --

"The strategists behind Stassen’s candidacy, the Washington Post learned last night, have talked it over since Gov. Thomas Dewey’s sensational victory in Wisconsin, and have just about concluded that there is no stopping the New Yorker. Therefore . . . they are discussing plans to jump on the Dewey bandwagon themselves."

That would still leave Dewey with two avowed opponents for the nomination, Bricker of Ohio and Dirksen of Illinois. Three delegates were elected in Wisconsin on behalf of General MacArthur, but the General says he has no interest in the nomination and, unlike Dewey, he appears to mean it.

So, with one victory in one major primary, Dewey seems to have all but cleared the field -- without doing one single day of campaigning. Not too shabby for a non-candidate.

posted by Michael 7:44:00 AM

. . .

YET ANOTHER ALLIED SETBACK IN ITALY. Another Anglo-American attack on the German stronghold at Cassino. Another failure. At least this time the Roosevelt Administration isn’t mincing words about it. Secretary Stimson put it simply enough: "The simple fact is the Germans stopped us." If there’s one place on the map that the Axis defensive strategy has been a success, it’s been on the Italian peninsula. Why have things gone so wrong for us there, as Hitler flags and fails in most other respects? An article in the Army and Navy Journal puts it straightforwardly enough --

"There was the decision to enter Italy by the toe of the boot. This called for an advance along the mountain range, which offered ample opportunity for German defense, as we unfortunately have learned. In executing the decision there was inadequacy of force and our artillery lacked the heavies required. There was the old story of too little and too late at Anzio, with the result rthat, although the landing was a surprise, which is always possible through naval support, the troops, instead of moving or being able to move to cut the Via Casilina, the supply line of the German forces at Cassino, began consolidation of the beachhead, where they are besieged. Had we invaded southern France, which the Germans at the time were workin to make impregnable, or into the upper Adriatic Sea, where contact could have been made with Tito’s forces in Yugoslavia, critics of the strategy followed insist, a radically different situation would exist. . . . It is true that the terrain in Russia has offered few obstacles to the progress of the Red Armies compared with that in Italy, but it probably is likewise true that, had Stalin concentrated against one section of his front, there would have been created a situation comparable to that at Cassino. That he avoided by striking where the Germans appeared weakest and using mobility to lunge elsewhere, once resistance could not be broken."

It’s not the fault of our soldiers. Embarrassing as it is to admit, the plain truth is that the Wehrmacht’s strategy and tactics, not to mention those of the Red Army, have been superior to our own. This week’s issue of Time seconds the criticism, and states baldly maybe we should just stop throwing our brave troops at the Cassino stronghold and put them to better use elsewhere on the Italian line --

"The fighting, at least at Cassino, has now reached a stalemate comparable to that on the Western Front in World War I. Last week Allied troops advanced a mile to take Mt. Marrone, a dominating peak -- but at a point far in the hills, some 15 miles northeast of Cassino, where the prospects of an effective drive appeared small. . . . Assuming that the Allies are unwilling to devote the resources necessary for a major landing elsewhere in the Mediterranean -- and assuming that they insist on attacking with limited forces in Italy -- the are foolish to waste lives battering against the well-defended mountains near Cassino if they can use their efforts on the less-difficult although now also well-defended terrain behind Cassino."

posted by Michael 7:40:00 AM

. . .

EXCUSES, EXCUSES. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In Parry Sound, Ont., Russian Philip Malar stabbed Austrian Ted Kamanarski with a butcher knife, explained to the police that his offense was 'an act of war.'"

posted by Michael 7:36:00 AM

. . .

Tuesday, April 4, 1944

WITHER WISCONSIN? We may find out before sunrise tomorrow just how much of a chance Wendell Willkie has of re-claiming the Republican nomination this year. Wisconsin’s primary today is only choosing 24 delegates to the G.O.P.’s Chicago convention in June, but the results of the voting will function roughly as a plebiscite on the Willkie campaign. He’s the only Republican running a full slate of delgates. (Partial slates are being fielded on behalf of General MacArthur, Lieutenant Commander Stassen, and Governor Dewey, who maintains he’s not a candidate, and asked delegates running on his behalf to withdraw). Moreover, Willie’s put in almost two weeks of vigorous campaigning around the state, and nobody else has so much as made a speech. This puts the burden on Willkie to score a big win, as Paul Miller of the A.P. points out today --

"Supporters concede that unless a majority of the 24 Republican delegates turn out to the Willkie-pledged, he probably cannot hope for much of a following from this region at Chicago in June. Others say he’s through if he gets less than 12; these contend that if Willkie can’t do better than 50-50, after having barnstormed for 13 days, he may as well give up."

Complicating things is the fact that President Roosevelt is the only candidate on the ballot in the Democratic primary (so much for "democracy" in that party), and Democrats (as well as Progressives) can choose to vote in the Republican primary if they like. This should help Willkie, who’s openly sought support among "tired New Dealers" as well as Progressives and independent voters. He’s likely the best candidate the G.O.P. has for building a sizeable bipartisan coalition in the fall campaign.

I think he’ll do very well. We would have been better off if Willkie had won in ‘40, and he would be the best politician running today to lead America into the post-war period.

posted by Michael 8:00:00 AM

. . .

ODESSA CLOSE TO LIBERATION -- RUMANIA TOTTERING. The Associated Press put the Red Army within 24 miles of the great port city of Odessa on Sunday, and only 19 miles away on Monday. That’s five miles in one day. At that rate...the Russians will march into the city, the last great Soviet bastion still in German hands, by this coming week-end. What might be even a bigger story this coming week, the wheels are coming completely off of Axis Rumania. Red troops have crossed the Prut River in force at several points into northeastern Rumania, and the Rumanians don’t know what to do about it. Moscow claims one entire Rumanian battalion defected to the Soviets en masse, and others Rumanian units facing the prospect of fighting an overwhelming enemy couldn’t surrender fast enough. The A.P. reports that martial law has been declared in Budapest, and that much of the Rumanian population is now in a panic.

I had always thought that the decisive battles that would determine whether the Russians were able to invade Hitler’s Reich would be fought in Poland, by Red troops headed due west. But now, it’s starting to look more like the monstrous Russian drive into the Balkans might outflank large masses of Nazi armies on the Polish front, and thus German resistance in the East might crumble sooner than anyone has previously dared hope.

posted by Michael 7:53:00 AM

. . .

AN EPIDEMIC OF SPRING FEVER? From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In Vancouver, B.C., teen-age girls indulged in a city-wide orgy of kissing inanimate objects, planted lipstick on mirrors, window-panes, restaurant saucers, doorknobs, milk bottles, billboards. Nobody knew why."

posted by Michael 7:50:00 AM

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Sunday, April 2, 1944

JAPANESE TROOPS MAKE GAINS IN INDIA. The war may be going well on the Eastern Front, in the Pacific, and in the air, but Japan’s invasion of northeast India appears to be making some dangerous headway in the state of Manipur. An International News Service dispatch this morning says Japanese troops have advanced 14 miles, bringing them to within 16 miles of the Allied base at Imphal, Manipur’s capital city. That would bring them within striking distance of Kohima, whose capture would cut off British and Indian troops tangled with Japanese forces farther south. And that would in turn jeopardize the railway town of Dimapur. If the enemy made it that far, he could sever the Bengal-Assam railroad, and with it the main supply line to Allied forces in Burma. So, there are some potentially huge gains for Tokyo in their Indian offensive, though it appears limited in scope on a map.

But it’s also, in political and propaganda terms, a fertile place for the Japanese to set up shop. As William L. Shirer writes in his column today, this is not an ordinary case of Axis aggression against a defiant nation. In fact, some of the area’s residents appear to welcome the invader in this case --

"The Japs could not have picked a better spot for their drive into India than the little state of Manipur. . . . Its connection with the British has not always been a happy one, for either side, a circumstance the Japanese undoubtedly were aware of. Thus the Japanese claim last week that the native Manipuris were collaborating with the invading forces might not be wholly propaganda. We hit here, one regrets to say, a weak spot in the United Nations armor in their struggle in the East. Our governments have nothing to say to the subject peoples of the East which might enlist their support of our side. We promise them freedom from the Japs, to be sure, but not freedom. In fact, we’ve told them that the Atlantic Charter does not apply to them. The lamentable political situation in India is itself a source of Allied weakness in the East. The Indian Nationalist leaders are in jail, apparently for the duration, without even having been accorded trials – a fact which constitutes a black mark against a people who have fought so valiantly for decency and democracy in the West. For Indians, too, are human beings, with a culture as old and as rich as our own. The remarks of even the moderate Indians in the New Delhi Assembly, which is little more than a glorified debating society, attest to the apathy of the vast majority of Indians about the war and their bitterness at their own bondage."

Those who buy the Roosevelt Administration’s line that "politics" is something that can wait until after the war should reflect on the harm being done in India, among other places, by the complacent Anglo-American belief that the war can be fought successfully without overturning the status quo ante. The Japanese, tragically, seem to know better what will work in India. Plus, as Mr. Shirer writes, their Quisling head of the "Indian provisional government," is no dummy, like the pathetic nonentities propped up by Nazi arms in Hitler’s vassal states. He is, in Mr. Shirer’s words, a "brilliant but erratic man," fueled not by personal ambition but by an "undying hatred of the British, who had treated him so roughly" when he actively opposed British rule a decade ago.

Our battles are being fought with more than arms. Our enemies know this. Do we?

posted by Michael 7:51:00 AM

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A UNIQUE WAY TO HELP THE WAR EFFORT. From Time magazine’s Miscellany section -- "In Grand Junction, Colo., Herbert Krueger rushed to the aid of Russian guerrillas as they walked into a Nazi machine-gun trap, let out a bloodthirsty yell just as the cinema screen collapsed over his head, was fined $25 for disturbing the peace."

posted by Michael 7:47:00 AM

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