NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 106, 31 October 1942, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

HARD FIGHTING

APPROACH OF WINTER

From all the battle areas the news today is of hard fighting with no eventful movements. The fighting on the Egyptian desert fr,ont continues in its phase of difficult frontal fighting, which must continue until the enemy's defensive positions are effectively broken through. The battles in Russia are unchanged in character and in effect, and the news is still as satisfactory as can be expected. Both here and in the Caucasus the approach of winter points to an early check to the ferocity of the fighting, and in both areas the Germans are making increased efforts, so far without success, to finish their work before they are finally checked by the cold. There is no fresh news of the naval struggle which has been A reported as' in progress in a much-extended area in the1 Pacific, reaching apparently out to the Ellice Islands, far to the north of Fiji. But on Guadalcanal Island the battle is the subject of reports which show that the task of the American defenders, assailed by strongly-rein-forced Japanese troops, is extremely difficult. Brazzaville. Quite inconspicuous on the map is Brazzaville, on the river Congo, about 200 miles from its mouth. But it has changed from its pre-war status. Today it is the capital of Free France, and a key point on one of the great supply routes to the war zone in the Middle East. The whole of French Equatorial Africa, which stretches from the Congo to Libya, has declared for General de Gaulle, which means that there is a land and air route across the continent, clear of enemy interference, and with* good ports. Though the climatic conditions make the passage difficult, the route through I French Equatorial Africa is actually the shortest between the United States and Egypt, Moreoyer, the territory is producing increasing quantities of highly-valuable raw materials, which are being supplemented, also on an increasing scale, from the Belgian I Congo. • • . , Brazzaville has become the principal training centre for .the soldiers of Fighting France, and the principal base of supply to the Chad, from which a flank attack on the Axis army in Libya may become an important element in the African war. An Influential Voice. Radio-Brazzaville is the official voice of Free France. It is a powerful station, whose beams reach France, North and South Africa, Syria, Madagascar, IndoChina, North America, and Canada, in a 24-hour service. A special receiver of the type used for recording transatlantic broadcasts' picks up transmissions from all over the world; their reemission increases the artistic and musical repertory of Radio-Brazza-ville's programmes almost infinitely. This fine engine of propaganda is an example of Allied co-operation. Planned by the Free French, it was approved by the British Ministry of Informatics, and constructed in the United States. It is one of the many benefits of the Lend-Lease Act; and among the experts who went to Africa to work on the construction of the station are Canadians, lent to the Free French by the Canadian; Broadcasting Company. Such a sta-j tion offers unlimited possibilities, not only for rallying French opinion while war lasts, but for the future of Africa. The New Bomber. The new British bomber, the Mosquito, which remained on the secret list until the enemy secured one, nas now been briefly described. Its most unusual feature is that it is built principally of wood. It is described as having been developed from the famous "Comet," which was specially built to compete in the great LondonMelbourne air race in 1934. The Comet was designed solely for speed, and it is a great achievement to have produced an aeroplane which is still faster and is yet able to carry a formidable defensive armament (four 20mm. cannon and four .303 machine-guns are mentioned) and an effective bomb load. The general structure of warplanes in the last war was an elaborate system of wooden spars and ribs, covered with treated fabric. Such construction, still used in light and low-powered machines, is quite unsuitable for large or very fast ones, and gradually allmetal construction became general for heavy duty and military purposes. This was good for the aluminium industry. But with the enormous demand for aircraft aluminium has been in short supply. Wood and Plastics. Though the supply of aluminium is not critically short, alternatives are desirable, and trials have been made with some of the artificial materials known as plastics. There is an enormous variety of these, with an equal variety of qualities: some are more transparent than ' the clearest glass; some are flexible, some rigid; one at least has the strength of mild, steel. It has been proposed to build' aeroplane bodies by simply pressing large i sheets of plastic into the final shape. But a more practical plan is to use a suitable plastic as a cement to make a specially strong plywood. When I thin sheets of wood are saturated with a suitable cement and pressed together with the grain crossing, a product which is not only vely strong but is thoroughly weatherproof results; and in the making the sheets can be moulded into appropriate shapes. This is presumably the material of which the Mosquito is built.