TERRORIST THREAT

Evening Star, Issue 24334, 24 October 1942, Page 5

TERRORIST THREAT

JAPS WILL COURT MARTIAL ALLIED AIRMEN THE INSOLENT ENEMY (Rec. 11.55 a.in.) LONDON, Oct. 23. The Japanese announcement that American pilots taken prisoner while bombing Japan will bo court martialled brought an immediate British broadcast from India demanding • that the Japanese inform the Allies of the location of schools and hospitals in Japan, so that they can be avoided during raids. . The Associated Press’s New Delhi correspondent says the broadcast, which was made in Japanese, recalled that the Japanese arniv had bombed Chinese cities , relentlessly, and also recalled that the Japanese requested the evacuation of Nanking before bombing. “On this analogy tho Allies have every_ right to demand the evacuation of civilians from Tokio, Osaka, Kobe, and other big cities. If any remain and are killed by bombs tho fault is theirs alone. This at least is the reasoning of our Japanese enemy. No threats of tins sort will have tho slightest effect on Allied war strategy. The Allies’ pilots take no notice of terrorist methods.” LOSS OF AMERICAN PILOTS BELATED ANNOUNCEMENT CRITICISED NEW YORK, October 22. _ The ‘New York Times,’ in an editorial, says: “ Though the public believed that tho air raid on Japan was carried out without loss of American planes or airmen, except a plane and crew interned in Siberia, the War Department now admits that the men the Japanese named wero missing, thereby revising the generally-believd account of what happened. Surely it would have been better to announce these facts before Japan forced tho announcement, or at .least refrain from making statements encouraging a mistaken impression. The practice of withholding bad news or. making good news sound better than it is is costing the armed services heavily in loss of public confidence.” [Four American airmen whose names closely correspond with those broadcast from' Tokio actually were among tho army’s list of flyers missing as a result of storms encountered after the raid on Tokio in April was completed, said the Secretary for War, Mr H. L. Stimson, who added that there were relatively few airmen missing after this raid. Some of the flyers may have been forced down by lack of petrol in Jap-anese-controlled territory. One plana was interned in Russia, and several others were involved in a forced landing in China. _ Very few of these planes were missing.] '

FURTHER CRITICISM PEOPLE LOSING FAITH IN COMMUNIQUES (Rec. noon.) NEW YORK, Oct. 23. ‘ P.M.,’ in an editorial, charges tho United States Army Department with deceiving the American people, in soma cases to the point of approaching outright lies. ‘ P.M.’ recognises that certain information must be withheld .est it give aid and comfort to the enemy. Nevertheless, it insists that such part of facts'as the Army Department deems advisable to tell must be told truthfully and candidly, and recommends Mr Elmer Davis, Director of War_ Information, to take over the job of informing the "people truthfully on such_ parts of the military picture as the High Com* mand can reveal without betraying military information. 1 ‘ P.M,’ then quotes Mr Stimson’s statement on May 18 that no planes were left in Japan. Some were damaged, but none was shot dqwn and none damaged to an extent precluding it from proceeding to its destination. ‘ P.M.’ points out: “ While Mr Stimson’s statement was legalistically correct, the American public was deceived and gained the impression that the United States lost no planes and no flyers, yet on May 20 General Doolittle privately told the wife of one of the missing airmen that he thought her husband was in Japanese hands. The American, people learned tho truth_ from the Japanese radio before Mr Stirason admitted the losses. This fact gave the Japanese radio a propaganda instrument and destroyed faith in United States Army Department communiques to a point where it could only be restored bv complete and drastic reorganisation. ‘The American people have been put in a position where they know that false news has been contained in the reports of our own High Command. Such a' situation cannot continue.” _ 1 P.M.’ also instanced an Army Department statement of May 15 that the Ford Willowrun plant was in full operation, whereas three months later it transpired that the Willowrun plant had not completed a single plane.

QUALITY BEFORE QUANTITY U.S. TANK AND PLANE PRODUCTION (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 11.15 a.m.) RUGBY, Oct. 23. The volume of American tank and plane production has been purposely lowered in order to achieve higher quality and heavier hitting power. President (Roosevelt, in making this. statement in Washington to-day, said the lessons learned in actual combat had caused the Government to take this decision. He said the programme a year ago called for a large production of M 3 tanks, but experience, especially in tho Libyan Desert, had made it advantageous to change over to M 4 tanks. Tho result was a lowering of the schedule, which was originally set at 45,000 tanks for 1942. The President added that-the plane programme had been fixed at CO.OOO for 1942, but the proposed lesser number meant more gun power. An important ■ United States aeronautical mission has arrived in Britain and is making an extensive tour of British aircraft factories. The mission is headed by Mr T. J. Wright, Director of Aircraft Production in the United States War Production. Board. The. mission will study 'British production methods. ATLANTIC SINKINGS WASHINGTON, October 22. The navy announced that an enemy aircraft sank a medium-sized United States merchantman in the North Atlantic early in July, and the crew landed at an east coast port.. A submarine also torpedoed a .medium-sized American merchantman in the North Atlantic in the middle of September. 5 Three members of the crew died a'nd : 37 were rescued by an escort vessel, ] which was forced to sink the ship by I gunfire as it wallowed in the waves with I its deck awash.