NEW EUROPEAN FRONT

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22792, 17 January 1944, Page 5

NEW EUROPEAN FRONT

Plans Moving Forward

(Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 16. Plans for supplying the new European front are moving forward, state high officers of the Army Service Forces. Miracles of construction and preparation are being accomplished at British bases used by the United States Army. North Africa has been developed as a supply base of gigantic proportions. One American General described Oran, which is handling more than 4,000,000 tons of cargo a year, as the North African version of the port of New York. Naples is a great port of supply for the Fifth Army, Sicily is more a supply burden than a help. Corsica and Sardinia are expected to be useful in case of an invasion of Southern France. American supply officers plan to land six tons of supplies immediately for every man in the invasion, and an additional four tons for the first 60 days—practically a liberty shipload to supply 1000 men for two months. Much remains to be accomplished in the Pacific theatre, where the supply routes are long and difficult, but our supply bases arc gradually advancing, they stated. A New York message says that the German Press Agency claims that three German officers have jqst completed a successful tour of the British Isles, bringing back indications of the probable direction from which the Continent will be invaded, also important documentation on troops to be engaged, says the Berne correspondent of the “New York Times.” Neutral circles discredit the report, pointing out that the Germans are unlikely to announce it, if true. Berlin also reports the existence of a formidable reserve army “whose intervention in the near future will throw the Allies’ present strategical superiority completely out of line.” German military commentators claim that the army can intervene in the East in Italy or the coast of France when the time comes.