The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945

by The New York Times

  On the other hand, citizens who permit themselves to be denied the chance to help win the war without protest and without exposing to public opinion those individuals or groups who engage in these un-American and subversive activities are also aiding and giving comfort to the enemies of democracy.

  WILLING TO FIGHT

  Negroes want to win the war. They are willing to fight and work to win the war, and they do not propose to stand silently by and see democracy crucified on a cross of gold, greed, prejudice or self-centered selfishness.

  To Negroes this is not a racial war. It is a war between conflicting and diametrically opposed philosophies. On one side are those who despise any semblance of individual liberty and freedom. Against these are those peoples of every race who have been struggling toward democratic government and increasing liberty, opportunity and freedom for the individual. Is it inconceivable that Negroes, having desired liberty, opportunity and freedom all these years, should about-face and cast their lot with those who seek to destroy the very things they prize most?

  As American citizens they will continue to strive for a full measure of the rights, opportunities and obligations which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution guarantee to all Americans. At the same time they are irrevocably opposed to any nation that makes war upon our country.

  James T. Taylor,

  Dean of Men, North Carolina College for Negroes.

  Durham, N.C., April 15, 1942.

  MAY 10, 1942

  The Coral Sea Battle

  Engagement Is Viewed as the Opening Clash in Decisive Phase Of the War

  By HANSON W. BALDWIN

  The great Battle of the Coral Sea is the opening engagement in the decisive phase of the Battle for the World.

  Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia correctly interpreted that action as the beginning of the days that will shake the world. The belligerents are commencing the operations that during the Summer will probably preface the way to victory or defeat.

  In the exotic and island-studded waters off Northeastern Australia the initial success in the great campaigns that have now been joined has probably gone to the United Nations. We appear to have had the advantage in the sea-air clash that late yesterday was reported in some dispatches to be continuing.

  The Japanese almost certainly have lost a considerable number of naval units and of planes, and it seems certain that their losses in this engagement are more important than those they have suffered in any previous action.

  Our own losses are not yet given, though they are described by a communiqué from General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia as “relatively light” compared with those of the Japanese. We must be prepared, however, for losses; perhaps for heavier ones than this phrase seems to mean, though the Navy Department’s communiqué last night, saying no reports yet received substantiated the loss of any American carriers or battleships, was an encouraging one.

  MAIN FLEETS NOT ENGAGED

  There is no clear picture of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and none may be available for some days. But, judging from the fragmentary reports, the action was not fought between the main bodies of the opposing fleets, but between large task forces.

  The fact that the communiqués about the battle have been issued by General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia indicates that the United States naval forces participating were under his command. Most of our Pacific Fleet is under command of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, with headquarters in Hawaii. It is, however, possible that forces of our main fleet might have been temporarily attached to General MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific command. If the operations in the Southwest Pacific should be intensified it is probable that a large part of our main Pacific Fleet might have to be concentrated there.

  The Battle of the Coral Sea seems to have been a prelude to greater actions. Official and unofficial comment still stresses that even our most optimistic claims yield no ground for hope that the strength of the Japanese Fleet has been broken.

  Large parts of that fleet, including capital ships and carriers as well as light forces, have been concentrated in the mandated islands in the vicinity of Truk since the war started, and from the approximate vicinity of the battle in the Coral Sea to Truk is only 1,200 to 1,500 nautical miles. Japan probably will—if her mind is set upon Australia or New Caledonia or the islands in the vicinity—readily reinforce her naval units in the Coral Sea.

  One characteristic of the Japanese is tenacity; they will keep trying until they win or are dead. For them there is no middle ground. Nevertheless, if Japan has lost two carriers and the other units claimed, she has suffered her most severe setback of the war.

  JAPANESE MASK INTENTIONS

  The sparse information from the scene of action makes impossible any logical deduction as to whether or not the Japanese task force was really attempting invasion of the New Hebrides, New Caledonia or Australia. The Japanese intentions in the Battle of the World are not yet clear.

  Vice President Wallace has warned of a Japanese attempt against Alaska and the Aleutians and even our West Coast—a step that is possible, but until other things are accomplished by the enemy, improbable. Reports from London and China indicate the enemy is massing troops in Manchukuo opposite the Russian frontier for the “inevitable war” for the Maritime Provinces.

  Meantime, the Japanese are still fighting along the Burma Road in Southern China, and from Akyab airport they have raided the railhead and port of Chittagong in India, a step that might be a possible precursor to full-fledged invasion. With typical Hitlerian technique they are threatening everywhere, thus masking their real intentions.

  But the naval battle in the Coral Sea may soon force the showing of their hand.

  In Europe, Adolf Hitler still marks time as the ground dries on the Eastern Front. His armies might have marched against the Russian guns in the south at nearly any time after April 20, but if the German intention is to strike for Moscow and also in the north, it will be some days or weeks before the terrain is dry enough after the Spring thaws to permit extensive operations. Any time between now and June 15 may be the deadline in Russia.

  But this is an indivisible war and what happens in Russia is closely linked to what has happened in the Southwestern Pacific. For the wrecks of ships littering the waters of the Coral Sea may typify—if they are Japanese ships—the wreckage also of Herr Hitler’s hopes.

  MAY 10, 1942

  CHURCHILL WEATHERS STORMS

  Less Popular, He Holds His Leadership Because No Man Has Arisen to Challenge It

  By RAYMOND DANIELL

  Wireless to The New York Times.

  LONDON, May 9—Two years ago today, as dawn broke over Europe, the Nazi Wehrmacht opened the attack that was to crush the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and even the might of France in a few short weeks. Before sunset that night Neville Chamberlain had resigned as Prime Minister and Winston Churchill succeeded him.

  Two full years have elapsed since that historic date—two years of blood, toil, sweat and tears, two years of almost unbroken British defeats. Yet Mr. Churchill still stands almost unchallenged as the leader of his country. The chain of disasters set in motion that May morning in 1940 when Adolf Hitler gave the order to advance came with breathtaking rapidity. First the Netherlands fell, Belgium capitulated, leaving the stranded British Expeditionary Force to be rescued by the miracle of Dunkerque. In a short time France sued for peace, leaving Britain almost defenseless and alone against the Nazis across the narrow moat of the English Channel.

  CHURCHILL’S SPIRIT PREVAILED

  By his unflinching courage and determination and the power of his oratory, Mr. Churchill was able to galvanize the spirit of his people, to lead them in passive defense against the Nazi effort to terrorize them into surrender by almost incessant air raids on their towns and cities. He called on them to behave so that after 1,000 years men thumbing through the pages of history would say, “This was their finest hour.”

  And
the people have fulfilled his expectations.

  In those days there was no thought of the possibility of defeat, but neither was there any definite plan of victory. Mr. Churchill, who promised so confidently that if the United States would “give us the tools we will finish the job,” has admitted recently that in those days he himself could not see or clearly define the road to victory. But the writer is in a position to say that he never doubted that the day would dawn when “the New World with all its majesty and might will come to the rescue of the Old.”

  That may be history’s verdict of his leadership: That he inspired and led his people, carrying on an almost hopeless fight against awful odds because of his conviction that the English-speaking, freedom-loving peoples on both sides of the Atlantic must surrender or die.

  SHUNNED DICTATOR RULE

  In those first weeks and months of his leadership he was a man of destiny. There was nothing he could have demanded of his people that they would not have given freely and gladly. President Roosevelt’s first 100 days after his inauguration on that drear day in March, 1933, are the only American parallel.

  Mr. Churchill could have made himself a dictator, but he did not. Instead he gathered to himself and his Cabinet absolute powers over the life and property of these islands and then shrank from using them.

  One criticism of his government frequently heard in Leftist circles is that it has been more sparing in the use of the powers over property than over life, but that is a rather doctrinate view. It is true that under Mr. Churchill British men and women can be conscripted for military service or work in essential industries. It is also true that private enterprises have sometimes placed the interests of their stockholders ahead of national interests, but it is also true that, along with free enterprise there have been maintained free speech, a free press and the essentials of civil liberties.

  There has been considerable grumbling about the inequalities of sacrifice among the British people and to a large degree it is justified. But it is no unique peculiarity of this country that great wealth brings special privileges. Thus it is true that, even under rigid rationing of foodstuffs, clothing and gasoline, the rich come off a little better than the poor.

  ATTACKED ON HOME FRONT

  A balder criticism of Mr. Churchill is that he is so preoccupied with problems of grand strategy that he has not the time to give the attention they deserve to the home front or to matters of domestic policy. The truth is that Britain today has no Prime Minister in the peacetime sense. She has a Minister of Defense who holds the title of Prime Minister and she has a supreme war lord in the same person. But there is no one with the responsibility and authority to look after things at home, for it is one of Mr. Churchill’s greatest weaknesses that he cannot delegate power or jettison friends and associates who have become burdens to him.

  Today Mr. Churchill is less popular and holds a less powerful grip on the loyalty of the people than he did even a year ago. It is likely that if the same situation existed as in World War I when Minister David Lloyd George challenged Prime Minister Asquith’s leadership there would be substance to the rumors that Mr. Churchill’s term is about up. The fact is that there is no outstanding leader to whom the people could turn, except perhaps Sir Stafford Cripps, who seems content for the moment to serve under Mr. Churchill’s leadership.

  This country is suffering from a dearth of victories. It is tired of retreats, of Dunkerques. It is disillusioned with defensive psychology, and it is beginning to be fed up with oratorical eloquence, unmatched by successes on the field of battle. In short, the people here who were willing to accept the will for the deed during the period from Dunkerque to the German retreat from Moscow are now demanding action.

  Victories would restore that confidence. More defeats will destroy what is left of it. It is beginning to be whispered about that Mr. Churchill is too much under the influence of such members of his kitchen cabinet as Professor Frederick A. Lindermann, his economic adviser, and Major Gen. Hastings Ismay, his personal chief of staff.

  Mr. Churchill is caught between two political fires now. His Tory associates have begun to say that perhaps Britain has “had the best of him.” They complain that he is too friendly with the Left. The Laborites, on the other hand, hold that he is not enough so.

  But he has guided the country safely through the darkest period of its history, and the British people will not turn to another for leadership until they are satisfied that they are getting something more than they have already. Britain, which fought so long alone, now has powerful allies in Russia and the United States, both brought into the war not through their choosing but by Axis aggression.

  Prime Minister Churchill in a familiar pose, 1942.

  MAY 11, 1942

  TOKYO DESCRIBES CORREGIDOR’S END

  Wainwright Called ‘Haggard’ as He Advanced to Foe’s Lines With White Flag

  TOYKO, May 10 (From Japanese broadcasts recorded by The Associated Press)—Nichi Nichi’s correspondent today gave the following “eye-witness account” of the surrender of United States Lieut. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright at Corregidor:

  “The surrender of the American commander was one of the most pathetic scenes witnessed by Japanese expeditionary forces in the Philippines.

  “The initial step in the surrender of the American forces came when the six-foot-high American commander, haggard from lack of sleep and from worry, advanced toward the Japanese lines, carrying a white flag and accompanied by his aides.

  “Ushered into the room of the Japanese commander, General Wainwright slumped into a chair offered him by one of the Japanese officers.

  General Douglas MacArthur (right) with Lieut. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, 1942.

  “The defeated American commander presented a pitiful sight, as he sat in the faint glimmer of a candle light, his head held in both hands, his eyes staring at the ground. In the barren room the candle light played on the three stars on Wainwright’s lapels as he awaited the entrance of the Japanese commander.

  FOE’S CHIEF GRIPS SWORD

  “When the Japanese commander entered the room with his hands gripping the handle of a sword, Wainwright and his aides stood up at rigid attention and saluted. The look of fatigue vanished from the faces of the American soldiers and they showed they were soldiers above all.

  “After a few minutes of impressive silence the Japanese commander asked Wainwright if all the Filipino-American forces were ready to surrender. On failing to receive a prompt reply, the Japanese commander told Wainwright he did not want to waste any time in mere talk if his terms for unconditional surrender were not accepted. He made it clear to Wainwright that the Japanese were prepared to wipe out the American troops if they wished to continue resistance and told Wainwright frankly that he could go back and prolong the struggle if he so desired.

  “Wainwright replied frankly that he had come to talk surrender, whereupon the Japanese commander asked him to issue an order for all American-Filipino troops in the Philippines to lay down their arms.

  “Wainwright informed the Japanese commander that this was rather hard for him to carry out, as the Filipino-American forces, though technically under his supreme command, were “scattered throughout the islands and there was a possibility that they would not obey his orders to the letter.

  “Wainwright, however, promised that the entire Filipino-American forces on Corregidor as well as on the islands in Manila Bay would surrender according to his orders.

  “The Japanese commander finally consented to accept Wainwright’s offer, as a result of which fighting was brought to an end on Corregidor Island.”

  MAY 13, 1942

  Editorial

  MIRACLE OF MALTA

  When Hitler said, “There are no islands any more,” he overlooked Malta. As an island Malta is insignificant and, except for its strategic position in the Mediterranean, might easily be overlooked. With its smaller neighbor Gozo it covers only 122 square miles. But this rock in the sea has had more bombs dropp
ed on it than any comparable area in the world. For almost two years the hail of explosives from more than 2,200 air raids has never ceased. Three-quarters of its buildings are in ruins. Thousands of its people have been killed. Yet Malta is still an unconquered fortress.

  Napoleon called Malta “the strongest island in all Europe.” That was when he thought he could conquer England, but before Helgoland had been fortified. But Malta has withstood the most continuous assault ever launched against so small a place. It was attacked within twenty-four hours of Italy’s declaration of war. Mussolini thought he could occupy it in three weeks. A year ago the Germans took over his unfinished task. No one can say they have not been efficient and persistent. So far they have lost more than 1,500 planes trying. But British and now American planes still rise in the air to meet them, plane for plane, and they must chance the most concentrated anti-aircraft fire on earth.

  The British mean to hold Malta to the death. They have just sent Lord Gort, one of their most dogged fighters, to direct its defense. Bombs fell on the court where he was being sworn in. They fall almost every day, sometimes every hour. But the Maltese are as hard to terrorize as the British. For supreme courage under fire the King last month awarded the civilians of Malta the George Cross, now treasured in their cathedral. No other portion of the British Commonwealth has ever received such a distinction. None has better earned it.

  MAY 22, 1942

  WILLOW RUN PLANT A WONDER OF WAR