U. S. NEWS REVIEW

[Music] some of the most important strategic fighting in the battle of the pacific is being done by australian troops on the dutch portuguese island of timor like the philippines it was captured by the japs more than a year ago the world has learned from reports of the japs themselves that american and filipino troops are still resisting in the hills of the philippines on this island of timor a band of australians isolated from the mainland when the jab force moved in fought on for 10 months before contact was reassembled they withdrew into the jungle and set up an unconventional headquarters friendly natives helped the australians in every way they helped find food when army rations gave out early in the fight the australians were grateful for an occasional feast of deer meat or even water buffalo grateful even for a baby crocodile that the natives brought in coconut milk was always safe and fresh to drink keeping clean was not easy in the jungle but with the help of the natives they rigged up this ingenious shower bath typical of these tough resourceful troops were kept in baldwin former schoolmasters private weekly who accounted for 47 jets his pals were two brothers charlie and stan sadler they planned hit and run raids on neighboring japanese occupied villages they had no heavy artillery and dwindling supplies of ammunition but they had plenty of guts they disrupted lines of communication blew up bridges set fires to cats strike their jet patrol they learned and played every trick of gorilla warfare the burst of fire from their guns was the first indication the enemy had of their presence their native allies with spears and flaming torches routed the last of the jets the score of many such expeditions was 600 dead jets with a loss of only 17 australians without a radio to reach the mainland the menu they could not go on indefinitely that ammunition would eventually be exhausted they picked up scraps of wire odd pieces of tin melted solder out of old gear at night they went through the lines and stole the generator and battery out of a car with these odds and ends they both have crazy contraptions that really worked after many heartbreaking attempts they finally got a signal through to darwin when the mainland listening post heard the first feeble flash from timor it was received with great excitement and then with suspicion all stations were ordered off the air to prevent interference the troops had been presumed lost and the message that came through sounded like a typical trick to lure more australian soldiers into a trap but the men of the force were known personally to the signal officers so to test the authenticity of the message they tapped out the questions to prove your identity give christian name of jack sergeant's wife answer immediately quickly the reply was sent out the single word that was to bring them food ammunition and the admiration and wonder of the whole world and so the release plans came dropping supplies and mail to the men who have not heard from home in 10 months giant major ludlow commanding officer of this unbeatable unit thanked his men for their decision to remain and finish the fight in the words of their own tough corporal jones they will stay until they can say pack up your gear you're not needed here this island has run out of japs [Music] at its proving ground at aberdeen maryland the army is getting in the scrap new weapons for old are coming from museums and army warehouses these 10-inch caliber shells for guns now obsolete weigh 2 400 pounds apiece two of them will make an eight-inch howitzer these old-time utensils of war which modern battle tactics have rendered useless are now mobilized captured enemy tanks and guns of the last war are taken from the public parks and squares of the nation and dumped into the army melting pot scrap is needed to keep our blast furnaces operating on a 24-hour schedule this 1921 model which never saw service at the front will yet be used the relics of a still older war are garnered cannonballs molded for the battles of gettysburg and bull run are prepared for the battles of rome berlin and tokyo these railway mortars were built to reduce the german fortifications of 1918. today the mortars yield a train load of scrap anti-collectors items these tractors trucks and half tracks are only dead weighted presents but each has the scrap for a new tank or truck this german tractor which cost 85 000 to build is now worth its weight and scrap enough of four anti-aircraft guns tanks of every size shape and nationality american ones built too late for the last war german french and british at the ratio of half a pound of scrap to a pound of steel each will build one twice its size torches reduce the guns to scrap proportions their muzzles hold a prophecy of fire of a different kind [Music] this was the largest of the german field pieces which batted the forts of the edge in the early days of august 1914 cutting it down to melting size eight four-ton trucks will be its contribution to the cause of the united nations the value of scrap is obvious when we understand the tremendous saving it effects in the manufacture of steel in making 90 000 tons of steel 121 000 tons of raw material are saved with the use of scrap 45 000 tons of ore 000 tons of coal 22 000 tons of limestone the saving in manpower transportation and furnace capacity is equally impressive the time element is cut in half scrap is vital the army is salvaging its own it needs yours too [Music] may 13 1933 in nazi germany 25 000 books outlawed by hitler were burned on that day innumerable classics of literature went up in the flame of the new order [Music] in england nazi firebomb rage threatened similar damage to england's literary treasures steps had to be taken to preserve at least a record of the most important documents in books from possible destruction to accomplish this the english are now photographing them on microfilm ordinary motion picture film is used but a whole page of a book can be copied on one frame of film an area of about one square inch an entire book can be photographed on a single small roll of film the process is similar to the one developed by our government to microfilm the millions of letters being sent abroad to the men in the armed services by vmail thousands of rare books shakespearean portfolios and rare documents have been recorded in this way and shipped to safety in america here they are received and permanently housed in the library of congress in washington dc for study by our students on arrival each film is checked and stamped by the librarian for reference and study the film is put on a large viewer which enlarges each photographed page so it may be easily read a description of each microfilm's book is placed in a card catalog the original film is then filed away in safety in the basement of the library of congress here they will remain for the study and enjoyment of future generations of free people [Music] working longer hours and with increased zeal the men of canada's fishing industry this year will do much to ease wartime food shortages in the united states stepped up production during the herring season has resulted in the greatest haul in 16 years [Music] net 1600 feet long costing six thousand dollars each must be kept in perfect condition on route to the fishing grounds they are checked and repaired a hole that will let the school escape means a money loss to each crew member and a severe drop in the national food supply canada's famous herring fleet taken over by norwegian fishermen sails into deep bay british columbia to carry on the job formerly handled by japanese a sounding device helps locate the catch and the fishermen can tell to within 10 tons how many herring are below and often which way they're running on the basis of the estimate the weight capacity of the net is determined a half mile of net known as a purse stain is laid from the stern of the western ranger one edge is held at the top of the water by core close the rest of the net drops to a depth of 210 feet as soon as the net is in position completely surrounding the school the job of pulling it in has begun the bottom of the net has been drawn together to make a gigantic bag this is called pursing the net must be hauled in very slowly otherwise the great weight of millions of herring will rip it to tatters this is a 500 ton catch part of a record hall of one million tons of herring this is food by the ton vitamins for the home front and the fighting truck the herring are bailed from the first scene in a huge scoop net operated by a power winch guided into the school of fish the scoop net is hauled up and over the same boat then dumps it load into the hold of a pack boat baling takes from three to four hours and is the longest phase of the entire fishing operation this particular catch is unusual in that all the fishing boats were able to place their nets in this one small bay although these are noted as fine fishing grounds herring have never before been seen here in such large numbers trailing a wake of thousands of screeching seagulls the pack boats pull away from the fishing grounds loaded from keel to deck with food for tomorrow's dinner pale on november 19 1942 a special moscow communique picks out a single event in the vast wave of the russian counter-attack five thousand nazis killed many times that number wounded in a battle at the approaches to ordonequita in the central caucasus the mountains lie thwart the caucasus from the caspian to the black sea over them the road lifts from ortunikitsa in the north to tiblitzi in the south up over that road the trucks pour oil from baku and arms from the persian gulf into the body of russia down over that road the germans hoped to fall on the baku oil the cotton and manganese and the red tangerines of the black sea coast this is a skirmish on the high margin of the battle among the soundless peaks of the tallest mountains in europe the germans are alpine troops austrians or bavarians the russians are covers or georgians or cabardines cunning in their own mountains they have the indomitable pride of mountaineers everywhere kentuckians or scotch highlanders the germans form up in dark piles at the bottom of a snowy valley they assemble a modern field piece but some of their guns are old mountain howitzers on the wagon wheel carriages of world war days this is the most personal kind of war each man must know the mountains and know his enemy each man is the hunter and the hunted the russians rope together slide forward in the crevices their automatic weapons echo at a movement in the snow against the vast towering splendor of the mountains the enemy can be seen only when he moves the russians keep inching forward they flatten out along the crag nest in the rocks the german sharpshooters with the sunburst device on their caps pump away steadily a russian is wounded he spread eagles down the rock a companion edges out under fire and drags him to cover the old german howitzer like a ghost and still the russians come on hunting the enemy out of each fold in the mountains above the ortonakita road closing the range from peak to peak the last german patrol hot without shelter in the cup of a tiny valley they run one of them is hit he stumbles away and falls the others surrender the russians move in as the clouds come down on their heads the clouds and silence of their own [Music] mountains [Music] [Music] is [Music] engines [Music] is [Music] [Music] engines [Music] you