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0 4 Laying Of Mines Job For Experts Written By Homer Metz In Christian Science Monitor Two of the most dangerous and albeit most unsung, tasks of the war are mine laying _. and. mine sweeping, strictly jobs for experts and they can't be learned by the trial' and important, error method, Recently we had occasion to. discuss oceanic mine laying and a bright-faced,, clear-eyed British Navy young- sweeping. with ster who has been engaged in these perilous assured us that when the war is over and all the returns are in the nurdber of enemy ships sunk by Allied mines will astonish every. one, le. even went so far as to imply that the losses would far exceed the submarine and airplane toll. : ¥ And, of course, he well may be right, Official British sources admit that fn recent months both the RAF and the Royal Navy have greatly increased the number of - mines they have laid in enemy "waters, which indicates their pre- viously deposited = calling cards paid big dividends. Surrounded by Secrecy Mine laying, of necessity, is cloaked in the utmost secrecy. We do our best to conceal the number of ships we know our mines have sunk and the enemy does likewise. The. longer the lecation of a mine field is kept hidden the longer will that field exact its toll in shipping. A grim - business, to be sure. But effi- cacious warfare, . Mine laying has one important advantage over other forms ot naval action. It can get at enemy waters, inaccessible to ships, For example, in the Baltic, where German U-boat ¢rews are trained, mine laying is done by RAF planes at night. Planes also have laid mines in the Kiel Canal and at the mouth of the Rhine. In the past 16 months, according to an authoritative British source, the RAF has flown some 3,000,- 000 miles laying mines, and in the - past six months more mine laying flights -have been made than in all previous months of the war, Just the other night the British Radio said that in less than one week recently 500 mines had been secreted in 'enemy waters. Together, in all combat the- atres, it is estimated that the Royal Navy and the RAF have put upwards of 100,000 mines into the water, while the number of American-laid mines has been conservatively put at 20,000. Mines Into Munitions Even China's warship-less Navy still fights on with mines as wea- pons. As a recent Chungking dispatch points out, thousands of Chinese naval officers and sailors are dropping mines in Japanese shipping lanes from ordinary fish- ing junks, . "And then there's the story of' how China's ingenious fighting men are collecting washed up Japanese mines and using them as scrap with which to make mu. nitions. On the defensive side, it is largely due to the remarkable courage and resourcefulness of the men who man the Allied mine sweepers that vital-shipping .con- tinues/to move freely through the British Channel and other water- ways, Undoubtedly one of the out- standing achievements of these unheralded heroes was the over- coming of the menace of the Nazl magnetic mine which sank so many British ships in the first year of the war. The story of how this was ac-. complished has recently come to Hght. It is an inspiring and thrill ing tale of the happy teaming o courage and wisdom. One night a German plane dropped a magetic mine in shals low water off the British coast. When the tide went out it was found lying stranded on the beach. Two experts noychalantly ap. proached the lethal machine. One stood G0 yards away with a note- 350k. The other walked up to the mine, looked it over slowly, - and returned to the man with the notebook to- tell him which part he was going to remove first," . Secret Discovered Then the examiner strolled back to the mine, removed the part, and. returned to his colleague to - report his next move, Each time a section was taken off the pro- eedure was repeated "until the mine was dismantled, : Fortunately the mine didn't go off. Its sccret was discovered and effective means for combat. ing it devised. . - _ But had it gone off and killed the specialist working on it, the other man would have had all the data up to the point of the ex- plosion, : i Now when two experts go out to examine a mine, the one who looks it over doesn't bother to walk back to report to, his com. panion, He uses a portable tele- phone. ; They are 2 undertakings "somewhere in the Atlantic," He Swift thrusts by allied bombers knocked these Afrika Ko re tue a chance to take to the air and counter attack. Then the British 8th Army advanced so swiftly it had no time to clear littered wreckage from Benina Airfield, near Benghazi. SWASTIKA SWATTED #13 ES Ee BEAD : poly 4 spre i HA PERS LY } hd £ i and @ rps planes out of the fight before tuey had Life Of Contrasts Found In Desert By De Witt Mackenzie In Christian Science: Monitor I am writing from an inhospit- able zone In Libya which each day is baked by a merciless sun. Yet I'm wearing British battle dress, which {s made of extremely heavy wool and buttons. right to the chin. Underneath this load I have a wool jersey, and I would give a good deal right now for an overcoat, Tonight I shall all but. freeze in my bed on the ground despite * woolen pajamas, an' eiderdown sleeping" bag, several wool blank ets, and a raincoat piled on top. siretch away to blazing horizons. Out of this waste will arise the dread sandstorms. Yet there are times when the desert 1s most attractive, In the spring the air is balmy and this normally arid region produces a great varlety of lovely flowers. Daisies and Buttercups This is winter, but yesterday, on a hillside where sand grudgingly glves way to determined bits of grass and shrubs, I picked white daisies and buttercups, which re- minded me of my own hills In Ver- mont. Queer specimens of anmlal, ser- pent, and insect life move about. I rubbed my eyes with amaze- ment when I encountered a gray- coated kangaroo about six Inches tall. He had big hind legs for jumping and absurd little front arms. His tail was long, with a bush at the end, and he had a handsome pair of butterfly ears. It was a kangaroo rat, Actually, while this war theatre is generally referred to broadiy*as "the desert," it Is not by any means all drifting sand. Thero are many stretches of higher ground which produce shrubs and some" grassj Then there Is a consider- able belt of fertile land which ex- tends roughly from the attractive seaport of Derna westward to Ben. gasl, There are further green fe- bels and -wadis--hills and gorges ---interspersed with desert clear to Tripoll. ! The country surrounding _FEl Aghella is pure desert. Winter In the desert extends from November to April, and there fs much rain. In December and January the temperatures drop to freezing, and it {is particularly cold on top of the great escarp- ments which rise abruptly out of the desert floor. These tablelands figure largely In the fighting, De- cause they afford natural defenses. Bummer Is Hot Bummer fis the dry, hot season. Than temperatures soar to maybe 120 degrees or more Fahrenheit in theoretical shade, with soll tem- | peratures much higher, I have seen the soil temperature on the Sinal Peninsula east of the Suez Canal hit abqut 176--and that's hot. Beginning the middle of March the hot, southeast wind known as the Kbhamsin blows periodically. over a perlod of 60 days. This is one-of the great trials of fighting men, for it is like a blast from a furnace. aes leaden with sand that you can't see through it. : -- The troops, broadly - speaking, * camp In tents and trucks. All equipment Is reduced to the mini- » mum because of the problem of transport and it should not he for- gotten that this is a battle of transport. The trek from Calro to El Ag- hélla 1s 1,500 miles or more. There Is only one main road and that is the military highway skirting the Mediterranean, ; 4 This vital question of transport fs linked {inseparably with the greatest hardship of a' soldier, be he Allied or Axis, and that is the scarcity of water in a land where men aweat and acquire thirst. Camp sites generally are based on some water point, These are , good In the desert, oceans of sand The Khamsin frequently is so frequent but many of them dry up in the summer. Where there is water, it generally is not abundant. * Army Carries Tanks Each unit has its huge water tanks which travel with the ad- «vance. Indeed, every vehicle car ries water and he Is an unhappy soldier who has an empty canteen on his hip, In the present drive, the Brl- tish have chased the enemy so fat that some of the Allied troops ° ave had to make their water bot- tles do two or three days for all purposes. That quart of water. You would be sur- prised how far you can make half a teacup of water go If you must. Nevertheless," the desert has many real attractions. This time of year there is much delightful weather, The air has a bracing tang and for days on end there's a pleasant warmth in the mid-day sun. On the whole, the desert is healthful enough despite its hard- ships. British and American troops appear. to be extremely well, They are, of course, out in the open all day and they are early to bed when. there Is no fighting. Camps must observe rigid black. out rules lest the enemy gee a light _and drop bombs. It Is dark before 6 p.m. these days and this means that the boys are in bed by 8 o'clock or so. There's nothing to do but sleep" when you can't have lights that are good enough to read or work by. means about a . Cats A Necessity In Lumber Camps Useful In Keeping Rats and Mice Under Control, The common house cat {8 a mighty useful member of sgociely it treated [right and kept In its place. And one of the places where Tabby is most useful is around the big Tumber camps In the North country. In forested areas, where the lumbering industry is now at its height, a number of well-fed cats are considered necessary to keep the rats and mice down, Rats are attracted to the woods' camps by the quantities of grain kept for the horses and by the garbage to which they can gain easy ac- cess. Mice, 'lkewise, find the camps a paradise and without the cats would increase beyond ;all bounds. he So the cooks and camp manag- ers look upon the cats as almost a part of the large crews necessary to keep the job running smoothly. Not pampered but well fed and housed in the barns and shanties, the cats grow sleek and fat and have thick coals of fur against the severe weather of the northern winters. Although located In the don't do much prowling around and catching birds and game, for they are too well fed. A good lumberman will never-abandon his cats when the job is finished, leav- ing them to hunt and become wild cats, a menace to game and birds, THIS CURIOUS WORLD By William Ferguson Some AY THE CANADIAN BRANCH OF NIAGARA FALLS WILL CUT AROUND BEHIND GOAT ISLAND H = AND STEAL THE WATER THAT NOW GOES {| ovER THE AMERICAN FALLS, .. LEAVIA/G | 748 AMERICAN depths of the forests, these cats . "Wise Old Owl" Is Stupid Bird Doesn't Know Enough To Build His Own Home Since the days of anclent Greek mythology, the owl has been re- garded as the wisest of birds, but now it seems that this Is only one more of those old-time beliefs which have stood the test of time tor centuries, only to be disproved by the findings of 20th century sclence, writes The St. Thomas Times-Journal. [It 18 now reported that behind his huge round un- blirkint eves ihe onl. hides one of the most meagre 1.Q.'s possess. ed by any bird. He is a bird moron who would rate very low in a test of what-every-bird-ovght-to- know. The wise old owl of old does not know enough to build a home of his own, as most species have to use an old squirrel or wood- pecker hole or a pralrie dog's bur- row. At the best, an owl's nest fs never any more than, a loose platform of sticks. He rarely knows enough to get out of the way of the shooter, whereas the crow, for instance, under similar circum stances, Is very dificult to shoot. Bolts Mice Whole But perhaps the owl's biggest imprudence, the habit that dis- claims more than anything else his prerogative to the title of "wise," fa his manner of eating. The owl never seems to learn that he cane not bolt his mice whole, despite the fact that he suffers terrible attacks of Indigestion at -every meal. The owl insists on bolting his mice down practically whole, while the hawks and shrikes are wise enough to téar- theirs apart Into comfortable mouthfuls, After digestion begins; all of these birds of prey disgorge the fur and bones back up through the throat In the form of pellets. They get mildly "sick to their stomach" In the pro- cess, but the owl's eating manners cause him to become sicker than the others. When the hunting is good, the owl suffers indigestion at least once a day, simply because he 1s too Ignorant to learn lessons from experience, The fellow who frst sald that tho ow! was a wise old bird just dldn't know what he was talking about. Signals Service Enlists Pigeons | Thousands of Birds With Royal Serve Alr Force The pigeons are at war again, and their role is even more ardu- - ous than it was in 1914-18, In those days they were mainly mili- tary; now we are hearing of the cherubs who sit up aloft, the "homers" of the R.AF. They may get an unexpected name as night flyers. At least twico recently pigeons released after dark arrived next morning at their lofts with messages from aircraft about to make a forced landing. There are thousands of birds, swift and reliable, in the signals service of the Air Force. Pigeons are in the crews of all bombers | ; "The Market Basket"! Under this intriguing title a new: and valuable series of broadcasts gets under way in the New Year. Every Thursday evening 10.156 to #10.80 that familiar and cheery personality .of Mrs. H. M. Aitken, whose chase-the-blues-away pro. grammds you hear every Monday through Friday 10.30 to 10.45 am, will bring to listeners throughout the province, a Guide to Buying--helpful hints with an 'eye on current food values and shortages. How to keep the busy war working family healthy, well fed and adequately clothed -- how to make goods go further and last longer -- how and when to use substitutes , , . these are the good things Mrs. Aitken's weckly Market Basket will contain. And incidentally, the programme is to be an evening feature because it is recognized that it has appeal and interest equally to men and women . , . As Mrs. Aitken her- self says, "While the men earn the money, it's the womenfolk who spend it, thus the houschold - budget is definitely a mGtual affair" . , , The first broadcasts in this new scries will give use: ful pointers on the buying, con- serving and cooking use of those much discussed food items, meat, butter and shortening, There's an interesting background to The Market Basket you'll like to know about. Mrs, Aitken is donating her time and services and Radio Station CKFRB is donating the time . . . making the series a war- time gift and service to Ontario listeners. Knowing the sparkle and interest Mrs. Aitken spins into all her work, we suggest you make a point of dipping into The Market Basket every Thursday 10,15 to 10.30 p.m, over CLIRB. . * . "Rolling the countryside in ~ search of new voices -- new tal- ent" . . . that is the phrase many of you will have heard over the CIRB airwaves Thursday eve. nings 9 to 9.30 during the On- . tario Caravan broadcasts, Judges who were called upon to decide the winner of the three months' professional contract, an award By s RT E R REX FROST "most promising young artist, had no easy task on their hands, But one personality did shine out, one soprano voice rang clear and sweet . , » Gwen Lambert, petite brunette of New#harket, captured the hearts and ithagination of lis. teners and judges alike. So it's orchids to 23-year-old Gwen, who commenced hér professional rad'o carcer with CFRB last New Year's Eve. [It has always been an ambi- tion of Gwen Lambert's to hit the airwaves. She has been studying singing for several years and since commencement" of the war has gladdened the eyes and ears of soldiers in various camps through out the province, with sparkling songs. But Gwen has also taken on another war responsibility, she has taken over duties in a New- meciet branch bank for the dura- tion, and so helping out on the manpower shortage problem be tween singing lessons and army concerts, We wish her lots of Good Luck and a happy, suecess- ful radio carcer, Incidentally, the Ontario Caravan gets rolling around the provinee again im- mediately searching for new tal- "ent and another award winner.- Galt and Huntsville are already on-the January schedule, * . . Recently the CBC newsroom distinguished itself by making the first release to the public of the news of the landing of American troops in North Africa within a matter of seconds after the state- ment had been released in Wash- ington. The CBC also had an- other scoop to its credit a few days ago. The CBC listening post Ottawa, which makes a point of tuning in foreizm broadcasts sand reporting outstanding news items to the central newsroom, were tuned in to Dakar Radio in Western Africa, and apparently was tuned in to Dakar Radio in North. America to learn that Dakar and all French West Africa had officially come over to the United Nations. An alert editor put the news on as a flash over the CBC national network half an hour before the announce- ment came from any other source offered by the Caravan to the in North America, Good work! BE --- STAR DANCER JIORIZONTAL Answer {o Previous Puzzle 12 She wore the _ 1Star of a famous group of dancers. 12 Doctor (abbr.) 13 Edible fungus. 14 More acid. 16 Brim. 17 Banquels, 19 Concise. 20 Advertise- ment. 21 Destructive insect, 23 Roosts, 24 Jumbled type. 25 Clearing out. 51 Eighth ounce, 27 Dry. : _ 53 Rajah's wife, 28 Print measure. 55 Small 29 Acts of selling, depressions. 31 Dulch (abbr.). 57 Mooley apple. 33 Groans. 58 Coral islands, 49 Local positions, simplest of ----asa' costume, 15 Liberator, "| 18 Visible vapor, 22 Slave. 26 Gem fromean oyster. . 30 Snell for a fishing line, 32 Stable, 34 Fright. 36 Printing mistakes, VERTICAL 38 To hate. 1 Drug obtained 40 Resembling from iris root. Adam. 2 Form of "be." 42 Geld house. 3 Brazilian title. 44 Common verb, 4 Native metal, 45 Fissure, 5 Quantities of 47 To seize. paper. 48 To erase. SYDE BONELRY, and reconnaissance craft which 35 You. 60 To sully." 6 Permifs. 50 Party for men . pi operate over the seas around 37 Natural 62 Neuter 7 You and me. only. Britain. If a machine is forced -power, pronoun. 8 Negative. 52 Silent. down, or the radio fails, a carrict 39 Surgical tool, 63 She 9 Billiard rods. 54 Sprite. : pigeon and its message may prove 41 Ream (abbr). popularized 1Q°Architectural 56 Courtesy title, to bo the wie link with the base 43 Greaser. "dancing. term. 59 In a high y . thi 46 Burden. 64 She started a 11 Packed in a degree. Trained To Sea Flying "47 Hundredth of school of graduated 61 Northeast Experts in the Signals Dirce. a right angle. dance in ----, series. abbr.). "| torate of tho Air Minist {an orate of the Air Ministry con- - ® trol the birds. The Racing Pigeon 4 EC CA 0 7 [8 [7 [op | Service, a committee of leading fanciers, helps thousands of 2 ig _] It {id people to place their pigeons at 6 7 18 7 the disposal of the nation. g Owing to the greater speed and - - range of modern aircraft the 20 a £€ Re pigeons' task in this war is harder ON a sage or than it used to be, They are 2 25 Re a7 EVERY SECOND, , trained first to become used to = 0 Kris ' i sea flying. Experienced, birds 8 22 5 2! keep their wings closed and do a OLOIE ; | So DER. "dead drop" until they are clear 32 23 | 3A ) POSITION of the slip-strecam from the air- 35106 i 7 --_-- PARADE RES erews, Then, opening their wings, TRAN ARMS, "they fly around twice or thrice 4 - i ge and make for home, Al 43 144 [45 46 : The Army Carrier Pigeon Ser- APTIENTONY vice is also continuously on duty, ar 49 50 ol 152 Oo and several hundred homing pig- JEP ) py cons, in- training as messengers 53 5 56 57 ¥.M.RZG, U. 8. PAT, OFF, for the U. S. Army, are being - "accustomed to battle conditions 58 &7 60 61 62 ANSWER: Parade rest. by. aeroplanes which dive at them ---- E and erackers which explode near 63 64 NEXT: Should the flag come down at sunsel? at hand. : sl - . POP---Pulling a Fast One! By J. MILLAR WATT . 1 ! YOU RE A WHAT MAKES YOUR MILITARY YOU ASK THAT WELL - DRILLED MAN, AREN'T TEETH You | ? EE + i old =A y (> Hitearcd bf The Dell tzndicare Ine.) | es 1-1 a ------ | >» AE Aah Lia hy ye pL a Lm SRY 0 Fah -- A tpg in a % SA ro Tra ad = ~ ) vhs PR