Vol. M. To.

8 10 March 1915

By burning food, the hotly puts out beat.. Just after eating a big meal, the body puts out the most heat . But after several hours, this heat output goes down . if possible, in cold weather, eat little but often. During winter operations, rate of march and maneuver should be determined by the grade, the character of the terrain, the altitude, the weather and the comfort of the men . Arbitrary tables in field manuals may not apply.
* * e

"We follow our artillery closely and when it lifts we fire grenades from the hip. We try to get a air bursts 10 or 12 feet from the ground. BARs spray the area at the same time and we find that this combiimt ion of fire is effective in making Jerry keep his head down. " "A private recently made good use of his ability to speak German and his knowledge that the Germans have been wearing American uniforms . As he was returning from a patrol, two 'supermen ' sprang from concealment and proudly announced that he was a prisoner of war. In just the right: tone of exasperation, our hero told his captors in perfect German not to be fools, that they were impeding his mission of scouting the American lines . They allowed him to proceed . He soon returned with his sergeant, killed * one and captured the ,other of his late captors . "

"Enemy mines which have been lifted should be placed in small groups but not stacked . Casualties have been caused by stacking mines unlit the heavy pressure detonated those at the bottom . "

"When artillery is bursting in trees, men should lie on the ground close to a tree. Even in thick woods enough rounds are ground bursts to cause casualties if men stand against trees . (Note : This conflicts with a previous Combat Tip from another outfit advised standing against tree trunks .) "Don't slop at the edge of a minefield In woods. German artillery and mortars are usually zeroed in on them . If you can't go forward or around (except in bunker lines enemy minefields are seldom More than 104) yards long), pull back at least 250 yards ." Men should not, through weariness, go to sleep without food . When exhausted, cold and hungry, doctors know that vitality is at lowest ebb . In cold weather, no matter bow tired you are, if you have something in your pocket, eat it before going to sleep. This will help keep you warm.
" The fire of our 155mms usually brought down immediate counterbattery tire from the enemy, This was overcome by putting the observer well forward and placing a smoke candle screen in front of battery posit ions . The screen prevented the enemy from observing his fire and made his coonterbattery ineffective ."

Fitting shoepacs takes more than normal care. Consider what each man prefers to wear underneeth and, in general, have a loose rather than tight fit. Bad fits mean blisters or cold feet. Wet feel: may actually be the cause of frozen hands . Since water is a good conductor of heat, wet feet drain heat from the body and cause exposed parts such as nose, ears, face and hands to be more vuln erable to cold. C ration cans may be heated by tying them on any type of exhaust manifold for h.our from thirty minutes to an "We found that some failures of oar light automatic weapons to fire the first two or three rounds -- especially on patrol missions --were due to the weapons having been carried into warm rooms during a briefing. This caused moisture In condense on the weapon, and the ice which formed when it was again exposed to the cold interfered with the initial operation of the piece ." "Liners cut. out of 10-in-one ration boxes increase the warmth of shoepacs . We scud the liners up with the chow so that men can replace those which have become we "

A German artillery general : "It seems to be an established principle of allied artillery not to tire in rainy or foggy weather, at lunch or dinner time, or at night. When shelling took place during these times, l concluded. that special . orders had been issued by higher headopuarters and I immediately warned my unit. commanders to be prepared for an attack ."

ARMY

TALKS

HREE sergeants who shared a passion for practical jokes recently founded a little club. They called it Rumors, Inc . The club members devoted their spare time to bootlegging lies to the other men in their outfit. Every day or so the sergeants went into a huddle and polished up a story and released it through proper latrine channels. One morning the chow line buzzed with a new ruling that had just arrived at headquarters : Troops who had been overseas two years were going to be furloughed home on a special program of mass rotation. That one caused tremendous excitement but nobody ever located the directive. Another day a man in the know reported that canned beer from the - States would be distributed with PX rations . Tongues were hanging out for days but the PX people knew nothing about the deal.

Once the grapevine had it that ten sacks of mail from home had been destroyed when a road mine blew the company jeep into little pieces . Another time there was anxious whispering about the Germans using gas in an adjacent sector and wiping out whole units. Some of the men particularly the new men bit every time. Most of the rumors left only a dull hangover of disappointment in the minds of their victims . But the one about poison gas spread terror until the CO called the men together. The sergeants got a big laugh out of their little game. They thought it was good clean fun. It just went to show that Barnum was right a "sucker" is born every minute. Instead of calling their club "Rumors, Inc." the sergeants might have called it "Murder, Inc ." That would have been more accurate. Rumors can annihilate morale. They can kill men . And lose battles .

Rumors masquerading as cold fact are swallowed whole. The longing to go home the dream of victory fear of the unknown the boredom of waiting the tension of battle the discomforts and anxieties and privations of war all blunt a man ' s judgment and make him over-receptive to hearsay. Good-news rumors are welcomed. Even a bad-news rumor is better than nothing. 'At least it's something to gripe about.
BORN IN INNOCENCE

1 . Teefive picked it up where talk is kind of free . . .

And sabotage the entire war effort. The Germans are doing it every day. A man doesn't have to be a mastermind to manufacture a rumor and get it into circulation . Any one can do it . All you need is a good memory or a little imagination and no conscience. In war-time especially, the rumor racket thrives . Soldiers have been suddenly thrust into a strange, uncertain environment. They are hungry for news of home, news of military operations . Limited communications and censorship security often bottle-up specific details for weeks. The situation leads to worry, to hope, to speculation . Where information ends, guessing begins. 2

Rumors . start in a variety of ways. Not all are engineered deliberately by a sergeants' brainstrust. Many . a rumor is born innocently enough and passed with the best of intentions from man to -man . Unfortunately good intentions don't make a rumor harmless. The evidence is everywhere : Two battalions, occupying a hill in a forest near G , had been in contact with the enemy for several days. One afternoon the Germans hit with an infantry attack supported , by tanks . A bedlam of firing and yelling echoed through the thick woods. Three men from one of the battalions rushed down the hill to the CP to report the progress of the battle . "Our casualties are terrible," a Pfc panted . He described how his outfit had been overrun, cut oft and captured . The Major lost no time in ordering a light tank platoon into action. Hours later the situation quieted down and the true facts of the attack were discovered . Two enemy tanks had penetrated the front line . They crashed around in the woods but did no heavy damage . One tank was promptly knocked out and the other withdrew . The German infantry had been driven back before
ARMY TALKS

it reached our line . In the entire operation, three Yanks had been wounded. What had been rumored as a disastrous rout turned out to be quite a different matter . The men who made the false report at the Bn CP thought they were honestly describing the situation . They had lost their heads . They promised it would never happen again but the harm had been done. All too often, under the pressure and confusion of attack, soldiers exaggerate the strength of the enemy and the extent of the losses . he is inflicting. Their eyes and ears play monstrous tricks . Being prepared for the worst, they recognize the worst even when it has not arrived. One dark night when the Germans counterattacked a dug-in company with a flame-throwing tank, two Yanks panicked at the wrong time and rushed to the rear . One of them was slightly singed and the other had an arm wound . On the way back they ran into two supply men who were waiting with ammunition destined for their company. They warned them to scram because the company had been wiped out and the enemy tank was heading toward the improvised dump.
RUMOR WIPES OUT COMPANY

distorted beyond recognition. A chance remark at breakfast about a battalion's being in a tough spot often has, by noon, . grown to the point where that battalion is wiped out . A brief comment that a rifle company is running into stiff resistance will be magnified before sundown until a whole regiment has been forced to retreat ten miles. A division commander offers this suggestion for controlling the rumor racket at the front line : "If men would put some stock in the old adage about believing half of what they see and none of what they hear, they'd save lives and get this war over sooner. " When you're at the front you can't be too careful about reporting what you see. Adding two and two and getting five is bad arithmetic it leads to dangerous reports.

The supply men didn't wait for verification of the rumor . They jumped into their jeep and made tracks . It was a tragic mistake. Eventually the company was destroyed not by the initial attack they repulsed that one but because they never got the ammo that the supply men were sent to deliver. Rumors run rampant under critical battle conditions when they are hardest to control and when they can sabotage on the greatest scale. Truths and half-truths are quickly
10 , March, 1945 3

2.
. . .and told it to the sergeant who said that it "could be".

This incident took place a few alerted to round up the invaders weeks ago on the M-- bridgehead : and more often than not, neither When the 88s opened up some parachutists nor any evidence of shorts fell in the Bn CP area which their landing are discovered. was located in a direct line with the Usually the facts reveal an overguns and the bridge site . They active imagination on the part of caused a few casualties . The officer the observer . Here is the result of in charge of the CP immediately one investigation : "Reports of ordered it moved 15 parachutes falling during the to the right rear. As the move- Rumors are not confined to the afternoon were ment began, an ETO . One of the most disastrous run down and war occurred in ammo carrier rumors of the Pacific . Starting found to be balls the Southwest from an adjacent among Australians, it spread to of anti -radar company passed U .S . troops arriving in New window . Rumors by . He sized up Guinea . According to the rumor, were started by the situation (he Atabrine, used as a suppressive AAA men who thought) and for malaria, caused sexual impo- had seen shining hurried back to tence . Jungle fighters stopped objects falling Atabrine . When report to his CO takingplaced under the tablets through their field were tongue that the Bn CP of each soldier in formation glasses . This may was withdrawing. by their company commanders, account for 'a On the strength he held them until the CO was large percentage of this news the out of sight and then spit them out of our recent CO of G Com- on the ground . As a result some - parachute alerts. pany cleared up units had almost eighty percent Our watchfulness casualties from malaria . This should not be misunderto the standing in time one rumor caused more than five relaxed . . The Jap to forestall a times as many casualties as in a dropping of eneguns, and almost resulted wholesale evac- disastrous American defeat . Ru- my agents is uation. mors can be more deadly than still considered a Just an example bullets . strong possibility . However, all of a rumor at observers should work . The ammo carrier believed he was reporting make efforts to distinguish parachutists only what he had seen with his from 'window,'* which appear simown eyes . In the excitement he ilar at high altitudes on clear, sunny failed to distinguish between a days . Whenever there is any doubt, movement and a withdrawal. observer should include in his report altitude of drop and any other perThere's a big difference. In other cases, men observing tinent information that would aid relieved units going back to a rear in evaluation." area have jumped to the conclusion Similarly, a sentinel in another secthat a retreat is . in progress. Instead tor reported that a hostile plane had of getting the facts they start a hot dropped parachutes beyond a wooded rumor that takes a long time to coal area . No one else saw the chutes but the sentry stuck to his story. off. One of the most persistent of all front-line rumors deals with the * Metallic strips, tissue paper thin, dropdropping of German paratroopers. ped from aircraft to interrupt radar detec._ The report is turned in, units are tion. 4ARMY TALKS

His report on the location, time and had. Later in the week the total course of the plane checked exactly of Yanks murdered by civilians under with AAA records showing that an mysterious circumstances had fattenenemy plane had flown over at the ed to seventeen. specified hour. Rumors about GerThe Regiment Civil Affairs Officer man paratroopers in the woods He began to probe for the facts. spread quickly until the official questioned all units and attached explanation was published : "Flak units in the area . He made addibursts following the plane in the tional inquiries through civilian chanmoonlight gave the appearance of nels. The only basis for the grisly parachutes." tale appeared to be that when a Quite a different type of rumor large neighboring city had been taken, recently flared up in an occupied three or four French soldiers had town near the German border. It been shot by civilian snipers during was sparked by enlisted drivers of the clean-up fighting. a unit attached to an infantry regiWho was responsible for planting ment stationed nearby . They told a this rumor ? It was probably the lurid talc of two men from another work of Nazi agents, plotting to regiment of the same division who foster bitter feeling between the Amerhad been found murdered. ican troops and French civilians. According to their, story, which Nevertheless, the story demonhad all the excitement of a yarn out strates clearly one of the common of True Detective, the partially disearmarks of every successful rumor. robed bodies had been discovered The drivers who repeated the story in the second-floor bedroom of a originally hadn't actually seen the home. The drivers hadn't actually evidence . They had only talked to seen the bodies but they had talked some one who knew some one else to a corporal who knew a man who who claimed to be an eye witness.

3.
. . .the sergeant dressed it up and sold it to supply . . 19 March, 1945 5

. . .who passed it to the top-kick and didn't bat an eye . ..

Any respectable rumor must have authority to give it credibility. Usually the authority is two or three times removed "some one who knows the buddy of a sergeant at Headquarters ." Most of the rumors that have wide circulation in combat zones can be filed in three pigeonholes : First the deliberate falsehoods invented for the amusement of a small group like the rumors spread by the first-mentioned sergeants. Second the rumors which result from an overheard remark and which are exaggerated and distorted and garbled in the retelling so that the final product bears no resemblance to the original. Third the rumors that come from an imperfect or too hasty estimate of the situation. No matter what their source or how they start, rumors never accomplish any good . The more they are repeated, the more harm they do. Some rumors are bloodless. They simply deflate morale and cause needless disappointment. Some pack dynamite. They confuse 6

and slow military operations, lead directly or indirectly to casualties. The only- safe way to deal with front-line rumors is to adopt an "I'm-from-Missouri" attitude . Close Daosn'tp your eyes to hearsay. information on to the next foxhole that you can't personally vouch for. The CO will keep your unit posted on the battle picture . He'll let you know when other outfits are withdrawing - when enemy parachutists are landing in your rear . By - ignoring chance and spurious remarks you'll save yourself a lot of worry. And by refusing to pass on "unofficial" reports you can also make life a lot less rocky for the next fellow. A sergeant in the Field Artillery recently made this excellent statement : "One of the best allies the Krauts have is the rumor-spreader. He's the fellow who knows nothing and tells all. To troops fresh : in combat, the rumor-spreader can lower efficiency and directly hamper military operations. To experienced troops the rumor-spreader is harmless because they have seen the results of his line . It's to the new men that he does real damage. "Ninety-nine percent of the rumors

ARMY TALKS

are unintentional but they're just as harmful as the one percent . Casual remarks and conversations overheard are. the main sources of rumors . In combat the best thing to do is to ignore all you hear except from official sources . Report only what you see and when in doubt, state your doubt. "I'm particularly interested in rumors because on about D plus 5 to D plus 10 they scared me more than anything before . or since . They scared me to the point where I couldn't concentrate on my job. Any one going into combat should keep his mouth shut and his ears shut to everything but _official statements and above all, keep your eyes open. You'll catch on to the game faster and live longer ." " SPLIT 'EM WIDE OPEN WITH
RUMORS "

5. The top kick told the old man . ..

Most experts admit that the world's greatest rumor factories are Nazicontrolled. Right now much of their tremendous output is directed toward one objective : Divide the United Nations make them suspicious of one another get them to bickering among themselves . After

pretty thick 10 March. 1945 7

they've quibbled about little matters they'll split wide open on the major issues. The rift will undermine the efficient prosecution of the war. More important, it will make it impossible for them to enforce an effective peace. Germany's survival as a power depends in . a large measure on the success of its propaganda program. Its rumor mills are operating around the clock . Their production can't be curtailed by 'Allied bombers over the Reich. The mills operate underground with branches everywhere. Munitions are powerless to cope with Nazi rumors . A 1o5 can't explode an idea . A tank can't crush a concept. Only reasoned action by the individual can kill a rumor, and his only weapon is common sense. The Germans use various techniques in spreading rumors. W hispering campaigns, phony radio broadcasts, puppet orators, cleverly planted news items are just a few. Vital cog in the mechanism, however, is the fellow in the foxhole, the riveter in the shipyard, the housewife in a crossroads village. These people must cooperate as rumor-mongers. They must pass on the sugar-coated lies, the counterfeit facts, the dis-

torted half-truths that the enemy asked to believe that our Allies are man is Eisenhower. Sometimes Similar below-the-belt tactics can thrusts their way . If they don't fall fair and honest, we are unfortunately Roosevelt . There are never any be expected now that World War II into line, if they suppress the rumors likely to insist on documentary proof. details just the simple fact of is nearing its climax . Be on your they hear, the rumors will never That sort of prejudice is particularly death. Official denials can quickly guard. Don't swallow any tale achieve wide circulation, never be- dangerous in times like these. squelch the lie. But meanwhile about hostilities being over until come best-sellers, never gain wide What happened to the rumor so much worry and apprehension have you get it officially from your CO. acceptance. The whole Nazi pro- prevalent a short time ago that Hitler been created. The Nazis pulled a neat trick out gram will bog down. was dead and buried ? Wishful The day is coming when peace of their grab bag on 8 January of this A story current not long ago had thinking gave that one wide acceprumors will begin to flash around year . It took many people by surthe USSR pulling out of the war tance . Legal minds assembled a lot the world . Already a few premature prise and for a time threatened as soon as the Red Army had pushed of evidence that seemed to substanreports have popped up in certain friendly relations between the Amerthe Germans over the Soviet border. tiate the Dictator's demise. His front-line sectors. Fortunately not icans and British at a critical moment Do you remember ? The wise guys absence from the German scene many men -have been fooled. when the Germans were staging had it all figured out. They shook could be explained in no Other way.The Germans capitalized on this their Ardennes counteroffensive. their heads and warned : "Watch It -was welcome news. Unfortutype of demoralizer near the end of A broadcast masquerading as the Russia drop the Allies like a hot nately it wasn't true. World War I . The Belgian radio regular BBC news program praised potato." Did a German start it ? death Rumors about the sudden announcement of victory early in the heroism of British troops in That's typical of the way the Nazi of Churchill are beginning to appear' September traveled with a speed no checking the Boche drive and accused rumor specialists are working to with some consistency. The news : other news had been able to match the Yanks of falling down badly. drive a wedge of distrust into the is whispered about on -a packedduring the war. The denial, half an Naturally this announcement made solidity of the United Nations . The underground train or a crowded. hour later took a couple of days to the Americans boil . Although few headlines of any paper today show just pub --- started by an unknown who catch up with the first report. of them actually heard the broadcast how groundless the prediction was. has a friend who is very close . to Troops relaxed and Germans who it didn't take long for the story to The men who had it all doped out have- one of: the under-secretaries in _ the might have been captured were make the rounds . Many papers in dropped that rumor now. Now they're War Office .Sometimes the dead able to retreat out of reach . the States picked it up. Some large mongering another lie details different -- objective the same. Another typical tale spread by German propaganda agencies declared' that almost no Britishers were engaged in front-line fighting and that they were pushing Dominion and Colonial troops into all the hot spots. Thousands of Americans, Canadians and Australians were duped by the story until the facts were published . The figures on casualties and the actual disposition of British forces punctured the rumor flat. Every whispering campaign against one of our Allies does serious damage --- even though the falsity is eventually established. It seems to be a trait of human nature to believe the worst about the next fellow in the absence of black-andwhite evidence to the contrary. When we hear that one of our Allies is a blackguard, we are, perversely, likely to believe it on the flimsiest hearsay . When we are 7 . And that's the way that stories start and get around and stick!
--

ARMY TALKS

10 March . 1945

metropolitan dailies gave the the factual evidence is invariably story front-page prominence . An- flimsy. Usually the rumor is based on glo-American relations were getting nothing more reliable than hearsay. Many people repeat rumors it squarely on the chin. The true facts of the deception because they like to be first with a came later. The broadcast was trac- new tidbit of information . It makes ed to a station known as "Arnhem them feel important. There's no Calling" a powerful station oper- law against spreading rumors yet. But it's a hobby ated by the Nazis in Rolland, using that no one can RUMOR CONTROL be very proud of the same wavelength as BBC. these days . The 1. Never repeat a story you know "Arnhem Cal- is a rumor even though you point time may come ling" relays gen- out "its only a rumor ." (The fellow when rumoruine BBC broad- you tell it to probably will forget .) mongers are classified as war casts to the Allied 2. If you hear a story that sounds troops and even phony, demand facts and the author- criminals. An organizapicks up some ity for the facts. 3. If the facts aren't forthcoming, AEF programs. tion in Boston But there's a demand to know the source of the called the Rumor catch . After the rumor . Clinic made a 4. When you hear a story that runs comprehensive familiar chimes of Big Ben are down Americans whatever the collection of curshape of their noses flat, hooked heard, the Ger- or stubbed the British, Russians, rent rumors . Each mans fade out the French or any of our Allies, ask week some of real program and yourself : "Who benefits if I believe these tales were publicly debunksubstitute their this yarn, me or the enemy ?" own propaganda ed . Speaking news bulletin delivered in perfect from vast experience, the Rumor Clinic English . Later they fade back to gave this advice : (It was intended for civilians, but it's just as sound for GIs .) the original program . Subsequent broadcasts over this "The next time you hear some same bogus station were equally red-hot dope or some inside infor- clever and almost as disruptive . mation, ask the fellow who tells it But troops at the front are learning to put up or shut up . He may be to spot the voice of the announcer . a Fifth Columnist, he may be just They have nicknamed her "Mary of another good fellow who has inno- Arnhem" and now when Mary cently fallen for the Axis line, but begins to throw mud at the British you put him straight . This is a or the Americans or the Russians, total war ; we're all in it together. they have a good laugh and forget it . If you are a good American you will The next rumor you hear may work for the U .S .A., not for Hitler. not be immediately recognizable for And if you're working for the U .S.A. what it is . It won't be spoken in you won't peddle any Nazi rumors a sinister tone of voice. You won't about your fellow Americans or be able to detect the chuckle of your Allies, and you'll squelch the Goebbels in the background. The fellow who does ." rumor may sound extremely reasonRemember this classic advice about able . So have your guard up . a rumor that runs down somebody All rumors have this in common : else : "Who's behind it and how They pretend to convey facts but does it help me if I believe it ?"
10 ARMY TALKS

France's telephone network, destroyed or damaged during the country's liberation, has been largely restored through the cooperation of the US Signal Corps and the French Ministry of Postal, Telegraphic and Telephonic Communications . Civilians are helping round up more than 300,000 wire reels which were left on the roadsides, during repair operations . * * *

The Post-graduate Medical School of the University of London is giving special short courses in war surgery and medicine . In attendance are medical officers of the British, US and Canadian services, as well as members of the armed forces of Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium and Norway . * * *

French and Belgian factories are beginning. to turn out tires for use by Allied military vehicles.

*
New divisions of the Brazilian Army and Air Force are preparing to join those already fighting on the Italian front . The Brazilian Navy recently took over South Atlantic patrolling duties from US warships, releasing them for service in other war theaters. * Since 1940 parts for more than 300,000 American and Canadian vehicles have been shipped across the Atlantic for assembly in British factories . The work is done in 39 plants employing 100,000 workers . Assembled vehicles are used by the Allied armies on the Western Front. * * * Activation of the French Atlantic Air Commandhas been announced . Its aircraft, manned by Frenchmen, are attacking German pocket son the French Atlantic coast at Saint-Nazaire, Lorient, La Rochelle and at the mouth of the Gironde . German bombs. taken . from enemy dumps are being used. 10 March, 1945 11

MORE about the G .I . BILL of RIGHTS

NE of the most popular issues of ARMY TALKS is GI Bill of Rights. Since its publication a number of questions have come up, demonstrating a continuing interest in the subject. There have been plenty of arguments, too, possibly because soldiers want clear ideas about the benefits offered. Certain provisions of the bill have been misquoted or misinterpreted. A lot of men think that if they've passed their 26th birthday, they're out of luck as far as educational privileges are concerned . Others think that in order to qualify for post-war schooling they must be mental giants . Both beliefs are false .

Under Title II of the GI Bill, a full year's study, with liberal financial assistance, is authorized every veteran who has served at least 90 days since the national emergency was declared (i6 September 1940) or who has been discharged with injuries after less than three months, provided his discharge was granted "under conditions other than dishonorable." A man or woman of 4o is just as eligible for educational benefits as a youngster in his upper teens . A four-star general may study for a year if he wants to. There is, however, a 25-year-old angle to the bill . It offers additional benefits to men who were on the sunny side of z6 when thy entered service. These men may continue their studies beyond a year, if they wish, until their total number of years in school equals the number of years spent in uniform (maximum four years). In other words, if they were in the Army for 36 months, they are entitled to financial assistance during three years of schooling. 12 ARMY TALKS

The only requirement is that the student shall prove the seriousness of his intentions by getting passing grades. The reasoning behind this exception is plain. Men and women under z6 are the ones most likely to have had their studies interrupted by the war. Of course it's quite possible you were still in school in spite of being over 25 . Perhaps you were studying accounting or law or medicine . What . about that ? Do you lose out ? Not at all. If you can prove that entering service interfered with such studies, you're as eligible for extended benefits as an under-z6 veteran. The financial assistance you get for post-war schooling under the GI Bill of Rights is generous . First, your tuition, books and incidental fees will be paid at any accredited university, college or vocational school you select. There's a limit of $500 a year on this, but you'll agree this is. _a very liberal ceiling. In addition, while attending classes you will receive $5o a month to live on, plus an extra $25 each month if you have dependents. Not $25 for each dependent, but $25 for all of them. The size of your family has no bearing on this allowance.
PART TIME JOBS

Are you asking how a man is to live on $50 a month ? Chances are this won't foot all subsistence expenses . It will be up to you to rustle a part-time job to make up the difference . Holding down a fulltime job will not be encouraged. You'll probably have to forfeit your $50-a-month living allowance if you land full-time work. .Perhaps you may prefer . to carry only .a half-schedule of claswork and thus spread a year of schooling over a two-year period. This may be arranged so far as tuition is con10 March, 1945

cerned, but it will probably cancel any subsistence allowance. Your hands won't be tied in the selection of your school . It need not be near your home town . It need not even be in the United States . The Veterans' Administration has a list . of approved institutions and they'll be glad to help you make your choice . If circumstances justify, you can use your tuition allowance to hire a private tutor.. CHOICE - OF STUDY The choice of courses will be left to you . They may be academic or vocational . You may study ancient history or pattern making. You may prefer medieval art or civil engineering . That's up to you. It is believed that many men will want to take a refresher course on new technical . developments in the trade they left to join the Army. A wounded veteran whose injuries prevent him from returning to his former job may apply for educational benefits under the GI Bill of Rights, or if he prefers, may take advantage of the more. liberal terms of the Vocational Rehabilitation law. He'll be urged to use the one which most closely dovetails with his spec al needs. Under the Rehabilitation plan, his subsistence allowance amounts to $92 a month, with extra for dependents, and there is no limit to the amount of tuition or fees which may be granted . On the other hand, his studies must follow the rehabilitation lines recommended by the committee which has studied his particular case. These educational benefits do not cut into the mustering-out bonus previously approved for veterans. You are entitled to them in addition to, the $Loo to $300 which has been voted for every honorably-discharged service man or -woman. 13

Maybe it's not the chance to go back to school in which you're most interested. Perhaps your principal concern is buying or building a home, or starting a business . If this is the case, you'll want to know how to acquire the necessary money. Your job will be to find a bank or other lending agency which will accept you as a risk. To make it easy to establish your financial' responsibility, the Government will guarantee a loan up to $z,000 for any veteran. You may borrow less than $z,000 or more. -That's up to the agency with which you deal. But the Government will guarantee the repayment of any sum up to $z,000 which banks or lending agencies will lend you . Naturally before your loan gets bank approval you will be expected to show evidence that the property you plan to acquire is a sound investment. The loan may run for any period up to 20 years . Again that's up to the lending agency . The law dictates that maximum interest on the total loan whether for $2,000 or more or less shall not exceed four percent. The Veterans' Administration will pay the first year's interest charge on $z,000. Your loan may .be used for building a new house, for buying a home already built, for making housing additions, repairs or improvements (such as installing an oil burner or air-conditioning .unit), but not for the purchase of household furnishings . It may also be used to meet standing debts, mortgages, taxes or assessments against a veteran's home. Should you want to apply the loan toward the purchase of a farm or a small business, the law will expect you to convince the bank of "reasonable likelihood of success" in farming or publishing -- or laundering whatever enter14

prise it is you plan to tackle . Past experience in the field you select will be beneficial, though it may not be essential. Loans may be obtained from Federal agencies, as the Farm Security Administration, in addition to private financial institutions. The loan you negotiate may be split up between home-buying and starting a business, but the Government will not guarantee a sum in excess of $2,000 . Also, you may borrow money in order to buy a home at the same time you are accepting educational aid.
POOLING LOANS

If your wife was in the service, each of you may apply for an individual loan with a Government guarantee. Further, if you and one or two of your Army pals want to go into business together, each of you is entitled to a full loan in his own right, for purposes of pooling. As the law now stands, any balance that may be owed the Government on a guaranteed loan will be deducted from any- future bonuses which might be granted to veterans. Still another phase of the GI Bill of Rights which has been misunderstood by many soldiers is the section dealing with unemployment allowances . While it is hoped that few men will have to make application for these benefits, a familiarity with the terms won't do any harm. The bill provides for payment , of a flat $20 a week, whether the veteran is single or has dependents. Duration of eligibility will be determined by length of service, but the maximum period will be 52 weeks. For each of the first three months in service you are entitled to coverage lasting eight weeks, which means 24 weeks protection if you have
ARMY TALKS

served 90 days. For, each additional week in uniform you are extended ofprtecin 411 additional , week Maximum unemployment aid is therefore assured to any soldier who has been in the Army ten months. Payments will be made from Federal funds which will be administered through regular State unemployment agencies . Arrangements have been made so payments may be continued to jobless veterans who are moving from city to city in search of work . If a man's own State., unemployment: plan should offer him a better break, he is free to choose it instead of the GI Bill plan. Application for allowances under the GI Bill must be made within two years after the end of the war, or within two years after, the veteran's discharge, whichever is the later. No applications will be honored after the war has been over for more than five years. A kw rules restricting unemployment compensation are necessary in . order to make it impossible to abuse the benefits . No one will be eligible for compensation if he has walked out on a suitable, well-paying job, or if he has . been fired for proved misconduct . His unemployment must not: be the result of a strike , or lockout . Ile must also be willing to accept a

job provided the pay' and working comunity conditions are up to standards. If a man is forced to take work paying less than $20 a week, partial unemployment compensation will be paid . Payments will be adjusted so the total income in this event will not exceed $23. Should you borrow money to start a small business and fail to make a go of it, you will be, entitled to full unemployment compensation. YOUR OLD JOB ' Your right to return to the job you left when you entered service is covered by amendments to the Selective Service Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act . If you want to enter a .new , field, the Veterans' Administration will be ready with counsel and jobfinding facilities. In these and many other ways the GI Bill of Rights attempts to solve some of the problems a veteran will face upon his discharge. Its benefits are many and when they are properly understood and, intelligently used, they can help considerably in cushioning the rocky ride back to a normal civilian life . You'll get details in full before you are demobilized. Meanwhile, a working knowledge of the ,provisions will help you to plan your future.

JO March, 1945 15

Twin objectives of economic war- mohair than we needed from neutral fare are : to smash the enemy's countries ; we bought over 600,000 power to feed, clothe, and munition tons of chrome ore from Turkey his armies and to strengthen the and large amounts of tungsten from military effort of the United Nations . Spain and Portugal. Thus, the Germany organized Europe for Wehrmacht is forced to use many war by purchasing stock in war high-velocity shells without tungsten plants (later by outright stealing) carbide cores. outside 'of Germany . All were incor(3) Strategic Bombing. Economic porated into industrial concerns such warfare analysts informed the air as the Hermann-Goering Works . forces that wrecking the Mohne and Germany, vulnerable to the United Eder Dams, the third week in May, Nations blockade, sought to import would cause more destructive floods critical items through the No Man's than at any other time of the year; Land of the economic battlefield they advise' when the German war the neutral countries . The Allied effort will suffer most from bombing economic counteroffensive made use of railroads, ball-bearing factories or of three principal weapons : synthetic oil plants. (I) Blacklisting. For example, one month a firm in a neutral country ordered from the U .S . enough mani- STRENGTHENING THE ALLIES curing preparations for several years. The preparation contained nitro- Economic patrols explored and cellulose which Germany could con- hacked-out jungle trails in the wild vert to war production . A South interior of South America to increase American firm ordered a huge supply United Nations' stocks of rubber, of a type of needle which had not quinine and manila hemp . In been popular in South America . remote corners of the earth, we Investigation revealed that a bombing have stepped up production of raid on Germany had destroyed a vitally needed war materials: corun- factory making this type of needle, dum for grinding range-finder and important in textile manufacture, bomb-sight lenses, tantalite required and the Germans were seeking to for vacuum tubes, balsa wood for replace their losses using a neutral Mosquito bombers and life rafts, agent as a blind . The firms were block talc for radio insulators, mo- blacklisted and could make no fur- lasses for making synthetic rubber. ther purchases . The U .S. has received four and a half (2) Preclusive buying (buying so the billion dollars worth of Lend-lease enemy won't get the supplies .) Wool aid from its Allies, and has furnished is in the hands of United Nations them with 36 billion dollars ' worth agents instead of on the backs of of goods and services as a part of German soldiers because purposely the war on the economic front we purchased more wool rags and against the common enemy.
LISTEN: Tune in your American Forces Network for a dramatized version of the week's ARMY TALKS. Time : 1030 Saturday, 10th March . 1945. Printed for H .M . Stationery Office.

THE ECONOMIC FRONT

58.000.000 Ibs strategic materials flown out of China to Allies

30 00Q documents on ,enemy's' economy analyzed weekly'

Strategic bombing cuts German oil production 50 %

Sweden cuts ballbearing shipments to Germany 50%

Australia provides food supply for 95% . of Gen Mac Arthur's troops

Axis agents blacklisted

Tantalite production doubled

Production of Mica up

" A W, THAT'S JUST A LOT OF .

PROPAGANDA

"

PROPAGANDA is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language . It means different things to different people. The dictionary says that propaganda concerns any ideas: or beliefs ' that are intentionally spread. There are good ideas and beliefs, and there are bad ones ._ The enemy believes in lies, half-truths, rumors used to deceive. Army Talks is intentionally trying to spread the TRUTH . . We'r . . purposely giving you FACTS . Because we know you 'want it that way. And, like you, we believe that TRUTH fights on our side. We' re proud of our part in spreading facts about Trench Foot. . facts which may have helped in the campaign that reduced hospital cases by 75% ! We ' re proud of our feature articles, because they're giving you FACTS about the war. . .about the enemy you' re fighting. . .about the guys you're fighting with. . .about America . They are straight, documented FACTS that are true . . .that help you win the war. If that's propaganda brother, we're it 1