The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 2

THE BOSTON DAILY GLOBES-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28. 19-12 Nazis Use 'Bobby Traps' to Stem Drive on Tunis Today and Yesterday Ob the War Fronts 'D1! (Friday and Saturday, 2T. and 28) If Adolf Hitler, Fuehrer of the Third Reich and gerdva pro tern of German Army, has been, kicking hinistlf Axis Armies Reel Back on All Fronts Sinclair Lands Doolittles Men for Support a pocket on the coast of New Guinea, after fighting their way through dense jungles. Admiral William T. Halsey's "remarkable victory" in the Solomons had altered the situation there considerably.

A struggle lay ahead before the Japs are driven from Guadalcanal In all probability the Japenese Navy will strike again in that area. Axis forces, fleeing before the lor not occupying all of France when fce had the Armistice opportunity, -lie must now te after learning that his surprise attack on the French Fleet at Toulon had failed and that the French Navy had set' tied 64 warships under the very noses ot his invading force, shooting them doivn when they attempted to board warships on which explosives had not done their WrirV 1 i 1 1 1 nr" 1 r-m ilium I lr III Ml vWrfai WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (AP) Secretary of War Stimson foresaw a "stiff fight" for the final mastery of Tunisia today and said the Axis was resorting to "booby bombs' in an effort to slow down the Allied advance. Such bombs consist of wallets, watches, notebooks and the like, left as though abandoned in retreat. When picked up by a curious soldier, they explode.

At a press conference, Stimson briefly reviewed developments on virtually all the major fighting fronts. i There was every indication that the Germans had suffered a "major reverse" in he said. He described the Russian counter-tattack as particularly remarkable. In "one of the outstanding operation of the war." forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur had cornered a considerable number of Japanese in tJJ ine xsnusn first Army was re ported within 12 miles of Tunis in a drive on that vital capital city and airport, and aYnks, British and French were only 25 miles from Bizerte, naval base which the Allies must control before any further moves are attemntprf Th Germans were reported tn havl Big Offensive Rages for Tunis, Bizerte Continued from the First Page It was calculated that the heavily-armored Allied force that has rolled eastward from Algeria to corner its enemy at the tip of Tunisia might have upward of 150,000 British, American and French troops to throw into the battle.

CHUNGKING RAID VICTIM A Chinese colonel and a Chungking, help a peasant woman (center), whose home attack. coolie, both air raid wardens in was destroyed during a Jap air Communiques Japs Tried to Kill Rescuers In Guadalcanal Mass Suicide Continued from the First Page "LONDON, Nov. 27 (AP) Axis Armies are reeling back on all fronts. British Air Minister Sir Archibald Sinclair said today. "The dispositions of the Ger mar.

nign command already are confoxming to the will of the Allies, he told the Foreign Press Association. The second front in North Africa has forced Hitler to divert a fifth of the air force he used against the Russians, and as a result: "The heroic Russians, unflinching and indomitable in defense, now are passing to the attack and hewing their-way through the massed German and -their allied divisions." The Air Minister said the RAF and the united States air forces already had been engaging half the German and' all the Italian air xorces tne European and African tneaires. "No longer is it we who ask our selves Hitler is going to do," is how to parry our strokes. Twice within a month the German Army has been soundly beaten. In addition the German high command has been outwitted and nutmanon.

vered in North Africa." attacked enemy reconnaissance units. "3. Allied planes operating in forward areas shot down 11 enemy aircraft with the Iofs of two of our planes. Both of our pilots were saved." MacArthur ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Saturday, Nov. 28 (AP) The Allied noon communique: Northwestern Sector Timor: Our medium units with fighter escort bombed and destroyed enemy occupied-buildings and huts in Nova Lusa and Beco.

Northeastern Sector New Guin-ea-Lae: Our medium bombers attacked the airdrome dispersal areas and installations. Buna-Gona: Fighting continues in a step by step advance against organized positions; enemy local counterattacks were repulsed witn neavy losses. Our air force in direct support of our ground forces repeatedly bombed and straved enemy positions. Port Moresby: An enemy flight dropped bombs in the bush, caus-f ing no damage. Huon Gulf: An enemy submarine was bombed at night with unobserved results.

a i.auie iuite inio me area but the Americans wen. equipped with heavy guns and tanks and had adequate air support so that no fears were felt ior their advance. As Admiral Jean Darlan was speaking from Algiers on the scuttling of the French fleet, the radio suddenly went off the air. apparently because of an air raid. All in.

all, the French sank more than $300,000,003 worth of ship-" ping to satisfy their honor. Captains went down with their ships. Crews fought to the last minute in the predawii sortie by the Germans. Stoically, all that was left of these crews faced imprison ment and worse. TUNISIA The War Department said the Allies had lost only two planes, snooting down or destroying on tne ground 51 ol the enemy aircraft.

STIMSON The Secretary of War forecast a "stiff fight" for final mastery of Tunisia and said the Allies had to make their way through "booby traps" such as wallets, watches, notebooks and the like, leit as though abandoned in re treat, when picked up, they ex ploded, he said. FLEET To answer the question on many American lips, i. Why That was the setting and in it, as always happens when armed units are burst open into their surviving human components, thousands )f separate tragedies and hundreds of little comedies with unexpectedly happy endings played themselves out all day long. Rescue boats picked up more than 800 of our men, about 250 of whom were wounded. Those not hurt were laughing and joking as they stepped ashore after hours in the oil-soaked waters.

Their most frequent comment was, "You can't fight battleships with tin cans," just as if they hadn't done just Soviets Gain on Flanks and Inside Stalingrad Lieut. Larsen's torpedoes hit the side of the battleship directly under Maj. Sailer's bomb. This was pool-shark shooting, to say the least. The assaults continued interminably and so frequently that the battleship, which was able to go only from four to six knots, could make only 10 miles in the entire day.

Lieut. Coffin's men, fresh from Navy luxury, arrived all spruced up freshly-bathed, shaved and combed, in neatly-pressed flying suits. As the endless day wore on they gradually assumed a grimy look like the rest of us here. Bullet holes sprouted in ever-increasing numbers in their fuselages as the same planes returned again and again for attack. But still the battleship remained unsunk.

Admiral's Dislike Darlan May MOSCOW, Saturday, Nov. 28 (AP) Russian troops were de clared officially today to have seized four more villages and sur rounded a fifth in the continuing Stalingrad offensive that claims a toll of more than 116,000 Nazi dead and captured, but the Red Army's pace apparently has been slowed, through stiffening German resistance. to the issuance only of the regular midnight com munique instead of additional special bulletins, the Russians said their troops had scored gains on both German flanks in their ef forts to encircle the entire Nazi siege Army. The extent of these gams were not given. Inside Stalingrad the Red Army also advanced 450 painful yards to occupy additional buildings, the communique said.

Dispatches said the Russian garrison now had established land supply lines through contact with Red Army War's Length British in Ubya, were expected to make a stand at 1 Agheua. Bad weather had hampered operations against the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands, but American flyers "are taking advantage ol every good day to make the Japs at Kiika as uncomfortable as possible." As for Tunisia, Stimson said the Axis was believed to have brought in about one full division, 12,000 to 15,000 troops. These forces were holding a 30 to 35-mile strip along the Gulf of Tunis, including the citiei of Bizerte, Tunis, Sfax and Gabes, all of which have excellent airports. Air fighting continued to rage as Allied bombers, protected by fighters, loosed loads of high explosives on the air fields at Tunis and Bizerte and battled the Axis craft that rose to meet them. A delayed Allied communique reported that American and British planes destroyed at least 22 enemy aircraft in combat and on the ground during Wed nesday and Thursday.

Ten enemv nlanes were destroyed on the ground at Tunis, the report said. The RAF acknowledged loss of seven planes, but said pilots of three of them landed safely. The Berlin radio offered no figures in support of its statement that the Axis had gained aerial superiority over Tunista. Nazis Taught French How to Scuttle Scuttling is a device the French learned by example from their German conquerors, with whom self- destruction long has been a traditional offset against British naval superiority. The late Kaiser Wilhelm II fiave his inferior Navy its watchword in 1914: "Run for it or scuttle, but never give up a ship to the enemy," and suicide has been practiced the German naval and me rchant marine through both World Wars.

J.ne most, sensational German scuttling operation on this side of the Atlantic sank the pocket battle ship Graf Spee in the River Plate Montevideo -in December. 1939. The Graf Spee's commander did not go down with- his ship but he dutifully committed suicide with pistol shot in the head. Yanks Mop Up on Guadalcanal for Thanksgiving WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (AP)-American ground troops on, Guadal canal Island spent Thanksgiving Day mopping up isolated Japa nese patrols, the Navy reported to day, and Secretary Knox declared that the situation in the Southeast em ooiomon isianas looks verv well." ine secretary reiterated at his press conference his belief that the enemy would make another attempt at rconquest of the islands, but he said that the moment interest centered on the campaign in New Guinea, where the fighting is "very ana -our progress is pretty as wouia De unaer the cir cumstances." Satisfactory? When a memorandum passed round a certain government department, one young pedant scribbled a postscript drawing attention to the fact that the sentence ended wiui a preposition, which caused the original writer to circulate an other memorandum complaining inai xne anonymous postscript was "offensive impertinence, up with wnich I will not put.

inarmo Koval Ic nnu (tminlup iW --'f -g of Ih containtrl am ly Scuttling 1 didn't the French Fleet esr3T Capt Leland P. Lovette. Naw n. iKuuuus tiuei, saia mat vueis forces had been patrollinir nuhu. Toulon Harbor for some time and umt proDaDiy wouia nave been impossible for the French, to flee Toulon, he said, had a very narrow harbor entrance, about twice the width of a city street RUSSIA The Soviets sW4 down in their drive, but keot turn ing in the German flanks behind Stalingrad German resistance was increasing, Moscow said.

GUADALCANAL The American ground troops spent their Thanks, giving mopping up isolated Jap pa-trols. NEW GUINEA Jap ground troops were smashed back in attempts to counterattack American and Aus. tralian positions, Gen. MacArthur said. The Japs suffered heavy losses.

BANDAGES Development of a tough, translucent film which shuts out infection from war wound and burn was reported yesterday. Th bandage, paper thin, is pliable sul-fadiazine. Inspection of wounds is made easy, because there Is no reason to remove it, John Hopkins sur. geons said. MME.

CHIANG Mme. Chiang Kaai-Shek, wife of the Chinese gen eralissimo, is in the United States for treatment for the after-affects of injuries in an auto crash at a war front five years ago. Her exact whereabouts was a military secret MANPOWER President Roose-velt was reported concentrating on the manpower problem with reorganization of the Cabinet under consideration. RATIONING Common sense ad. ministration of nation-wide gasoline rationing was promised in Washing.

ton. units north of the city along the western banks of the Volga River. Two hundred more Germans fell inside Stalingrad, the Russians said, but this fighting was only a small part of the greater enveloping battles the Soviets are fighting far to the west of Stalingrad in the Don River bend. Of the fighting northwest of Stalingrad the communioue said, "Our cavalry units encircled Hit lerites in a large populated place and are fighting for its occupation." Southwest of Stalingrad on the lower arm of the Russian pincers movement the Soviets acknowl edged repeated German counter attacks, but said their troops still were gaming ground, presumably along the Stalingrad-Novorossisfc railway toward Kotelnikovski. In one battle 600 Germans fell, the communique said.

In the Nalchik-Tuapse sectors ot the mid-Caucasus the Russians said their troops still were holding and that more than 300 Germans were killed and hundreds of others cap tured. at Stake Red Army has planned and is conducting this operation ai a battle of encirclement and annihilation. From the very beginning the aim of this great engagement has 1 been the destruction of the enemy The Red Army struck initially against the rear of the enemy. The first Russian blows being delivered against the communications behind the German lines, Stalinqrad was used as a trap to tie up the strongest German force. The battlefield may now be likened to a chess board on which the German and Russian forces fight on intermittent squares.

The Russian columns are isolating the German troops into eplii groups in order to annihilate them. While the great Russian pincers, stretched througn the whole length of the battlefront, are attempting to close around the total of German forces in a north-south direction, many small Russian pincers are enveloping dispersed German-' groups inside the great i .7 loop, parucuiariy an easi-w. direction. German strategy in Russia i substantially influenced by erations of military prestige- 58 no doubt for this reason that tne Germany Army is clinging to desperately to the terrain it cow hews at the cost of high losses. Hitler cannot sustain a demonstrative ce-feat in Russia, which would be od-vious by loss of terrain.

He can. not sustain a major withdrawal addition to the defeats, in Africa. It would be open recognition the bankruptcy of the German w-fensive of 1942 and of the deduce fighting power of the Gennsw Army. Thus, German strategy Russia is hampered by psycnologi kal and political motives. Meanwhile, the great aiu the Don will be decided by the respective reserves and the comD morale of fighting Armies.

(Boston Globe-N. A. N. Inc. You May Always Constipated If- yet thorough bowel movement Dr, Edwards' OUt Tablets.

Olive Tablet are witnply not only to reUere constipation i but to stir up liver bile and tone Inteattnal muacular action. Follow label direction. All drupw" that. Japs Tried to Kill Rescuers Hundreds of Jap sailors, small dark figures bobbing in the water, tried to continue the battle against their rescuers by shooting at all the oncoming boats. In the end they killed themselves or deliberately dove under water, staying there until drowned.

The rescuers had to arm themselves with machine guns. There were no Jap sailors with lifebelts in this battle as they had in the battles of Midway and the Coral Sea. Altogether, only 25 allowed themselves to be v-rescued, by us. In -the midst of this basin, which crackled with the fire of small guns, schools of sharks threaded their way, hacking at corpses and the wounded. Over it roared steadily an all-day long shuttle service of airplanes, running to sink the Jap "unsinkable battleship." The about five knots, was screened by five destroyers, which were left behind from the battle, while the rest of the Jap force, if any, scurried off.

Capt. George Dooley of Hopland, led Marine torpedo planes in the first attack, and made another an hour later, scoring direct hits in each attack. The Lieut. Albert D. Coffin of Indianapolis, leading a squadron of Navy torpedo planes to reinforce Guadalcanal against the Jap transports, which then were moving out of range to the northwest, tripped over the spectacle of the battleship.

Lieut. Coffin almost halted, fascinated, and dropped three torpedoes into the ship before continuing on his way. Pool-Shark Snooting Then Omaha-born Lieut. Harold "Swede" Larsen joined the fray witht his friend. Maj.

Joe Sailer, of Philadelphia, who led dive-bombers. Maj. Sailer, thousands of feet above Lieut. Larsen, with synchronized watches that ticked off the seconds, were saying by the radio, "Mark one, mark two, mark three, mark four, and and and go!" Maj. Sailer dropped as Lieut Larsen launched a torpedo squadron of eight out of a bordering squall.

The Navy observer reported seeing -at, 4rr in Russian Offensive, Well Supported The Allied Army was rich in field guns and tanks and was projected from the air by American Bnd British bombers and crack fighting planes. In warming up for the attack, Allied planes arid an armored column were reported in a War Department communique to have de-'stroyed 40 enemy planes yester-jriay at an advanced airfield, while 11 other Axis aircraft were said to have been shot down in combat "with the loss of only two Allied pjanes, both of whose pilots were paved. que said, continued to pound enemy communications in the Tunisian defense triangle, while both and bomber patrols attacked Axis reconnaissance units. That the main Allied assault to the Axis from North Africa "would not be long in coming was indicated earlier in the day when Berlin radio reported that was in progress for the i.vital railroad junction of Mateur, miles south of Bizerte. The drive appeared to be aimed at snapping.

the only rail connection TDetween Bizerte and Tunis and" isolating the German-Italian I garrisons in the two cities so that they, might be destroyed eep-jerateiy. Advance Successful Arj Allied communique, while ig- inoritig-'the Ihrust at Mateur, an nounced earlier tnat troop or lGen. K. A. N.

Anderson's force had capturea Mejcz 1 JtsaD, mnes southwest of Tunis, after stiff resistance and was "advancing successfully." Radio Morocco reported that French forces under Gen. Henri Honore Giraud were racing eastward in cooperation with their Allies. The swift pace of the Allied advance, as it gathered up loose ends preparatory to striking with its full weight, proved to military observers that Anderson was alert to the rush of Axis reinforcements from Sicily and intended to launch his main assault at the earliest possi ble moment. "Naval and land forces have been able to pour men and materials irsto Tunisia," the Berlin radio said, adding that "deployment of Axis forces was still in progress." jAir fighting Continues might be able to send as many as men, many of them British veterans of hard fighting in France, into the battle to throw the Axis from its last footholds in Tunisia. Preliminary brushes, in which Axis tanks took a bad beating, indicated, mo, tnat the Allies were hauling up great quantities of artillery.

TO EASE MISERY OF CHILD'S COLD RUBOfHICKS kVAPORUD 11 vn ON St! I rl iiKT I mB 1Mb katna ihlBoad In sturdy --w. tht iam Thermo Koyal rcgordltis by off a tuai. Says Noted Authority South Pacific WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (AP) The text of Navy communique, No. 203, follows: SOUTH PACIFIC (an dates are East Longitude.) "1.

On Nov. 26: "(A) At 4 a. m. two enemy bombers dropped bombs on United States positions on Guadalcanal Island. No damage was suffered.

United States dive bombers maintained patrol over enemy positions throughout the night of Nov. 26-27. "(B) United States Army and Marine Corps troops engaged in mopping up isolated enemy patrols. No major ground activity was reported." North Africa WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (AP) The War Department communique, No.

252, said: "NORTH AFRICA: "1. Successive attacks by our planes and an armored column yesterday destroyed 40 enemy planes at an advanced airfield. "2. The Allied Air Forces successfully bombed enemy communications in northeastern Tunisia, and fighter and bomber patrols Pertinax Ml NEW YORK, Nov. 27 The Ger- mans have failed in what must have been one of thir main purposes ever since the Anglo-American Ex peditionary Force landed in North Africa: to capture the French fleet gathered in Toulon.

The news from Vichy and Berlin must be taken as correct because Admiral Jean de laBorde is a man who would scuttle his ships rather than let them fall to the Nazis, and, at this late hour, his ships could not escape. But if Admiral de laBorde had, for any length of time, set his head against the policy of collaboration which, until the 11th hour, Laval tried to carry out, why didn't he endeavor to take his force out to sea and join the Allied cause when it was open to him to do it? Was it of his own choice that he made Toulon the graveyard of the French Navy? That the presence ol so many fine ships on the side of the Allies could have served French interests in the future and helped French morale, can easily be imagined. Why did Admiral de laBorde allow the great opportunity at hand to slip by unused? He enjoys the reputation of a brilliant leader. But for the dexterous handling ot politicians by Admiral Francois Darlan, Admiral de la Bbrde would have become long ago the "Admiral of the Fleet," the supreme com mander of the Navy. By 1937-38.

he was in charge of the Atlantic fleet ana participated in joint maneuvers witn Brmsn squaarons. lie was held in high esteem by the British Admiralty. Shortly after Munich, Admiral Darlan hastened to bury him in some bureaucratic post and the mutation was attended with far reaching consequences. Admiral Darlan's nominee. Ad miral GensouL a second-rate en era! officer, sealed the fate of the former Atlantic fleet at Mers-el- Kebir.

in July. 1940. Left to him self without any instructions from Vichy, he did not dare comply with the British ultimatum, which Ad miral Godefroy was to do, off Alexandria, a few days later. Last year, again, Admiral Darlan passed Ad miral de la Borde over, as he had to appoint a new commander in chief. About Admiral de la Borde'g mo fives, we are in the dark.

Admiral Darlan, when made a prisoner in Algiers, was immediately pressed by tne American command to com municate with the fleet in Toulon and urge it to sail to North Africa. Darlan agreed to do it but he knew that no friend of his would receive his message and, rather than issue a definite order he made a suggestion. Besides, his advice could not carry great weieht since a few davs before he had instructed Admiral Michelier to fight off Casablanca, a meaningless operation which cost the French Navy approximately 22 units, including the unfinished battleship Jean Bart Today the Germans have mad a clean sweep of whatever was left of the armistice convention BnH last toppings of autonomy wnicn me vichy Government had far been suffered to wear. That a of Explain Japs Scuttle Battleship "We've got to sink it," said Lieut Coffin, "or else the admirals "will stop building carriers and start building battleships over again." When night shielded the battleship from further attack, the ship's whole stern was cherry red from internal fires. It lay.

blood-stained on the darkening waters, but one battery just forward of midships kept their guns firing. The Jap destroyers i shot all day long without getting a single one of our planes and wounded only one man. In the end the "un sinkable battleship" had 11 torpedoes in it, and four heavy bombs and three medium bombs on it from above. In the meantime, Jap transports were milling around out of our range, "beating their gums," as the Navy says. Under the cover of darkness the Jap battleship force plunged on ahead of them to try another attack on Guadalcanal.

They reacnea us at 2 clock in the morning of Nov. 14 and shelled us with salvo after salvo of six, eight and it-incn sneiis ior minutes wnue Jap destroyers unloaded the "un sinkable battleship" and scuttled it The bombardment got only three of our planes, but damaged 17 others, which were repaired and back in the air by nightfall. The Jap force obviously was jittery and expecting the worst from every corner of the unfathomable darkness, for when they were attacked by a small force of mosquito boats tney cleared out instantly. They flew like an elephant before a champing, whiskered mouso. hut not before the mosquito 'boats had imbedded a torpedo in one of the cruisers.

Carrier Runs for Home Showing how one arm helps another in this kind of warfare, this single torpedo cost the Japs two cruisers. The Japs had left a cruisOr and four destroyers behind to help their cripples home. Our flyers, helpless in the darkness under the above-mentioned shelling, stored up their anger for the morning. Shortly after dawn they found the cruisers ciu nnianea on botn with three torpedoes and two heavy bombs. Then a Flying Fortress, piloted by Capt J.

E. Joham. of Santa Barbara, found the Jap sea tram of transports, and all the fooling around with cruisers and destroyers and such was stopped for the grim business of. stripping the Emperor of his divisions and their arms. were found only 150 miles west of Guadalcanal, and again a shuttle service was run iiym-nenaerson ieia.

Capt Joham reported a carrier in the force which sent up three Messerschmitt 109 s. and two Zeros. Before he finished knocking them iown the it 11 Present had run away, the. Japs apparently, being very short of carriers and more anxious to preserve them than troops. About three hours after the start of our attacks on the transports all "the Jap warships ran away from the scene, leaving the trooos without any umbrella against thtf 'rain of nd the try of long letters finally has reached Great Britain Sergt Jim Barry of the v-iaims Service rpreivow feet long, written on paper 2 inches i.

tne iarm of a roll. We never knew tha tuff narrow. Star and Stripes. government has sunk to the' level of a Gauleiter's office. The remnants of its -Army are, being dissolved on the evidence collected by the Germans that it was permeated by De Gaullist influence.

arrest of Gen. De Lattre de Tassigny, which really amounted to a nreven- tive measure, was, in that respect, a very ominous incident. There are, at least, two doubtful points which the Allied governments are expected to clear up by availing themselves of the greater freedom of movement inherent in the circumstances. The first concerns Dakar. An agreement was arrived at with Darlan about French West Africa this week.

Two weeks before, the United States Consul at Dakar had been confined to his house by Gov. Gen. Pierre Boisson and deprived of his privileges of sending coded cables to In the natural course of things, he ought to be in a position to freely exchange tele-! grams with his government. To this day, as far as I know, he has not: been heard from. The fleet at Alexandria, under Admiral Godefroy accounts for another problem which must be faced.

At a time when the whole of France is under the direct rule of the Nazis and the Vichy Government cannot even make a pretense of being neutral, will Admiral Godefroy be induced to Dart with his ships? Not more than Admiral de la Borde is he a friend of Darlan. Does he continue to think that the dictates of personal honor compel him to destroy his ships rather than hand them over? The last surviving fraction of French naval power is committed to him. British naval circles were confident last week that Godefroy'a obstinacy drew near to the end. 3ut that optimism was questioned by others. Must it be believed that sense of military discipline makes most French officers impervious to any intelligent motion of national interest? That all was not wrong with the Constitution of 1793 which said that insurrection might be a duty as well as a right? Boston Globe-N.

A. N. Inc.) II Duce Gravely III; Is Report; Emergency Rule Discussed MONTEVIDEO. Urueuav. Nov.

27 (AP) A reliable South Amer ican diplomatic source tonight reported Premier Mussolini gravely ill and said formation of an emer gency government in the event he becomes, incapacitated has been discussed. This source, whose name could not be disclosed, said that 80-year-old Marshal Pietro Caviglia, former Minister of "War and close friend of the. royal family, has been prominently mentioned in Rome as th nossiMA hanrt of ciif-Vi government, The Russian offensive In the Stalingrad area is' discussed by a noted authority on military strategy who has called the turn on many decisive phases of the war to date. Mr. Werner is the author of "The Military Strength of the Powers," written i 1938, in which, he predicted the useless ness of the Maginot Line.

When Hitler's armies, attacked Russia in 1941 he predicted a German defeat and said the Nazis would never take Moscow. By MAX WERNER I The fighting on the Don is the biggest battle of 1S42. There is more at stake than only the issue of one If German Army loses now, recovery as a major offensive military power is no longer possible for it. In this operation the Red Army eu nuitj seeks a great decision. The real stake in the battle of the Don and Stalingrad is whether or not the United Nations can win the war in a relatively short time.

The previous fighting in the 1942 Russian campaign was a major test of the defensive capacity of the Red Army and of the offensive power of the German Army. Stalingrad was more than a local issue. It has proved that the German Army cannot overtnrow the Russian defense system, and, therefore, cannot win the war. Now, in this battle of the Don, the test Is of the offensive power of the Red Army and of the defensive capacity cf the Wehrmacht Can the Ger man Army oe This is the first time the Red Army has waged an offensive of such a type. It is also the first time the German high command is faced with basic strategic decisions involving the very fate of Germany.

The Red Army is striking against the main forces, and the vital front of the enemy. Although not" ceoeranhicallv. strategically the front at Stalingrad is the center of the entire German-Soviet front- It was te scene ofj the great German offensive. It is the link between the-German Armies in the Caucasus and the front in Central Russia; it supports the German southern front. If the positions on the middle "Don are lost, the Ger-i man Army must envision the col lapse of its entire front in South-1 eastern Russia, from Voronezh to the Black Sea..