THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW THROUGHOUT the world this week, wherever people gathered to discuss the developments in the European war, two questions were being-; asked: When will the Allies strike at western...
...Roosevelt told newsmen at a press conference that he believed in the principle of self-determination and that the United States would recognize no French government until the people of France had an opportunity to vote...
...Rodion Malinoysky's forces prepared to close in...
...In a nation-wide radio address, Secretary of State Cordell Hull was even more blunt...
...The great enemy bastion of Truk was undergoing systematic attack in preparation for a reported invasion...
...Reds Keep Their Secret Rolling over muddy terrain that two years before had bogged the Germans down, the Red Army continued its amazing westward drive...
...It was apparent that another crisis in the affairs of the French Committee had arrived...
...Charles de Gaulle...
...Only a few men knew the answer to the first, if indeed an answer were ready...
...To the second question not even the highest ranking official in Britain or America could give the answer...
...Hull did temper his remarks by encouraging de Gaulle and his associates to take the lead in establishing law and order in liberated France—a concession which brought an expression of satisfaction from de Gaulle...
...In the field of political developments the news was dominated by the French Committee for National Liberation and its temperamental leader, Gen...
...de Gaulle...
...It was apparent from the sensational pace of the Russian advance in the past month that Soviet military men had perfected a system of supply that far surpassed anything now in the use by either their allies or the efficient Germans...
...Odessa, the last great Russian city in German hands, was evacuated as Gen...
...Particularly was this so in the daring raids on the Japanese base of Palau, located in the Caroline Islands some 500 miles from the Philippines...
...How does Soviet Russia maintain the sensational striking power which this week had all but swept the Ukraine clear of the Axis invaders...
...He flatly rejected the de Gaullist claim and asserted that whatever authority the Committee exercises in France, once the invasion is underway, will be under the supervision of the Allied commander-in-chief...
...asked: When will the Allies strike at western Europe...
...Self-Determination' At mid-week Giraud had rejected the new post...
...Several steps in this direction were taken by the Committee this week...
...Following these steps, de Gaulle broadcast an address to the French people in which he made it clear that "no authority is valid unless it acts in the name of this government...
...In Rumania, another Russian army had launched a drive reported to be aimed at the Ploesti oil fields...
...Developments in the Japanese offensive into India, revealing the true scope and power of the enemy's drive, were causing the so-called military "experts" to revise their earlier judgment that the Japanese were engaged in mere diversionary tactics...
...The step was the culmination of long maneuvring on the part of de Gaulle forces to push Giraud into the background...
...These were the two big questions regarding the military phases of the war...
...Henri Giraud, and substitution for it of the post of "chief of the armies" to be held by Gen...
...Pres...
...Other steps taken by the Committee included the naming of two Communists to official positions on the Committee and the appointment of liaison chief to handle affairs between the Committee and the Allies when the invasion of France begins...
...Meanwhile, the big news of the Pacific war continued to come from India...
...There were indications that the invaders were out for big game and were prepared to set up an independent Indian government, under the pro-Japanese Indian, Subhas Chandra Bose,—a shrewd political move intended to fan the flames of the deep-going anti-British sentiment...
...The army of Marshal Gregory Zhukov stood at the borders of old Czechoslovakia...
...Although it was reported that British officials were somewhat inclined to go along with de Gaulle, the United States made it plain that its policies of limited recognition of the Committee were not changed...
...There were some who doubted if a date had been set, but it was a generally accepted theory that the vast preparations in Britain were pointing to a definite day soon when Allied troops would embark on the greatest amphibious operation in all history...
...In the island warfare, American naval forces continued to inflict heavy losses on enemy shipping and airpower with miraculously little loss on our side...
...Why, they wanted to know, will not Moscow relax its rules against foreign observers and permit its allies, who will soon be facing the most gigantic supply problem in history, to study the techniques being used on the Eastern Front...
...American and British generals, puzzled by the Russian speed, were bluntly asking how the Soviet armies were being supplied...
...In what seemed bold defiance of the French policies pursued by Great Britain and the United States, the Committee took action to assure its claim to being the official government of the French people...
...Chief among them was the abolition of the post of Commander-in-Chief of the French armies, held by Gen...
...The ultimate form and personnel of the French government, he said, will be chosen by the French people...
Vol. 8 • April 1944 • No. 16
