Hailed as an epic of warfare which
will live in all history, the defense of
Bataan peninsula and of the fortresses
holding the entrance to Manila bay have
been diverting large Jap forces needed
elsewhere than in the Philippines.
The adding to MacArthur's embattled am
smoke-begrimed army of a battalion of
bluejackets and marines was welcome news
and showed that perhaps not all of the
men of Cavite and Olongapo had been with
drawn, but that they had been given a
post of honor with the defenders.
Up on the Mariveles mountains they are
entrenched and no matter what strength
the JAPs have hurled against them they
have held firm. On one moonlight night
a whole regiment of small boats moved
down the coast, using the same tactics
that had hurled the British back at Mala
ya, The effort was to get in on Mac
Art hur' s flank and confuse the defenders,
at the same time signalling for an offen
sive on the central front.
But the shore defenders and artillery
opened up on the Japs, left scores of
them struggling in the water and the few
that made shore were quickly mopped up
by the Filippinos. Apparefttly at least
one Jap warship managed to run thru the
eight-mile strip of water between the
fortresses at the entrance of Manila bay.
One intrepid United States' torpedo
boat skipper piloted his tiny craft at
close to 80 miles an hour, swept down on
the Jap warship in the moonlight and
launched two torpedoes which struck the
ship. She sank.
The attack was carried out directly
into the glare of the warship's search
lights and under the full power of her
guns, but so skilfully did the skipper
maneuver that he was not struck and es
caped with all hands to tell the tale.
NASTIS ARE NOT OUT YET
Reading endlees stories of Russian
successes and hearing them touted over
the radio has brought many over-optimis
tic souls to feel that all that remains
to do is some sort of mopping up process.
The turning of the tide in north Af
rica and the success of German counter
attacks in the Crimea shows that with
favorable weather conditions the Nasties
are still very much to be reckoned with.
The Crimea is a much warmer battle
field than the 40 below zero northern
sectors where the Russians, undiscouraged
by the cold, very much at home in such
weather, are able to hurl the Nasties
back constantly on a wide front. When
the weather moderated in the Crimea the
Germans revived like flies in spring.
On the British and on us is falling
the brunt of the Jap blitz and the Jap
successes in the south Pacific should
appall the hardiest soul.
Our fine, proud Marines are being com
pelled to act as coolies in the capVured
areas, to pull JaJanese squirts around in
jinrikishas in Shanghai and if they are
not cursing a country that prates of "bus
iness as usual" and "leading a normal life"
they are not human, which we well know
they are.
Washington's birthday was marked by a
number of strikes among workers in the air
plane factories and munitions plants over
being asked to lose a holiday. Toleration
of anything like that - the circumstances
being what they are - shows absolute im
becility at our seat of government.
The American people had better begin to
get SCARED AND MAD - FIGHTING MAD.
Australia is next on the Jap program.
The Aussies have proved themselves to be
almost super-human fighters and are being
sent help but whether "too little and too
late" we shall soon know.
Senator Thomas of Utah "has right" when
he demands that without further delay the
Allies shall gang up and center their ef
fort on bombing Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe,the
Jap plane and shipbuilding centers. Cut
off their source of supplies for warfare
without stalling around longer. Senator
Thomas lived in Japan 35 years and knows
whereof he speaks.
Australia is a marvelous continent. The
country yields gold, silver, lead, copper,
tin, coal - diamonds. According to the
World Almanac Australia exports;annually
$208,000,000 in wool}$80,000,000 pf Wheat;
gold, $45,000,000; meats $38,000,000;
butter, $38,000,000; hides and skins,
$21,000,000. Even if the "scorched earth"
policy is carried out as planned by the
Australians if they lose - Japan's win
nings will be too great to contemplate.
Lieutenant General Homa, enemy leader
in the Philippines who committed suicide
over his failure to lick General MacArthur,
has been succeeded General Yamashito who
conducted the blitzkrieg on Malaya and
Singapore* Here's hoping General Yama
8hito will commit hari-kari tomorrow for
the same reason that General Homa killed
himself.
The longest stretch of straight railway
track in the world is the Trans-Australian
railway. It extends across the Nullarbor
plain and runs for 330 miles without a
curve.
Mrs. Lyle Saxton entertained the five
members of Moose Pass Library board Monday
afternoon.
A quantity of new books for the library
have arrived in addition to those listed
on the front page of this issue.
GOOD DINNERS AT TRAIL LAKE INN.