Newsmap - Volume 4, Number 40
1/21/1946
"Newsmap" was distributed to members of the military and provided news about the progress of World War II. Each issue generally includes information on the front and back, featuring text, photographs, illustrations, and maps. The back is usually a poster.
The publications were designed for posting on bulletin boards or other display areas. The front would have been displayed during the week the publication was issued; and on the following week the back was displayed.
Transcript
[Poster divided in two section, left and right sides, straddled by main headline]
[Headline] UNO 51 NATIONS UNITE FOR PEACE [/Headline]
[Left side of poster] On 10 January, delegates of 51 peace-loving nations met in bomb-scarred London, rolled up their sleeves and went to work to build a permanent alliance to keep the peace: The United Nations Organization.
The new quest for world security began in October, 1944, with a four-power conference of the United States, Britain, Russia, and China at Dumbarton Oaks. These nations planned the new organization; together with France, they formed the nucleus of the meeting at San Francisco in June, 1945, where the UNO charter was adopted. At San Francisco it was decided to call the first UNO Assembly as soon as possible after the final defeat of the Axis. Now, less than five months after V-J Day, the United Nations were ready to join in democratic partnership.
As the outlines of the UNO began to take shape, it was clear that the nations were resolved to continue their wartime cooperation. The Assembly voted swiftly to set up the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council and elected Paul Henri Spaak, Belgium's foreign minister, as first President. The shadow of past war and the threat of the atomic bomb were urgent warnings which the delegates were determined to heed. Each nation was moved by a common need: to forge an effective instrument of security and freedom; to replace international anarchy with international law.
First to be elected were members of two important bodies, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.
[In two columns]
[Left column] SECURITY COUNCIL [Illustration of bent and distorted arrow deflected off defensive wall] The Security Council is the heart of the UNO. its eleven members have the power to use armed force or economic pressure against nations which disturb the peace.
The Big Five—the U. S., Britain, China, Russia, and France—have permanent seats on the Council. Six other nations, representing all parts of the world, have been elected as non-permanent members. Australia, Brazil, and Poland have been elected for two-year terms; Egypt, Mexico, and the Netherlands have been elected for one-year terms. [/Left column]
[Right column] ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL [Illustration of a basket full of produce and canned goods] To secure an equitable distributionof the world's goods and insure freedom from want among all peoples, this Council's eighteen members will study social, economic, and humanitarian questions.
In addition to the Big Five, places on the Economic and Social Council went to five American nations, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, and Peru; six European countries, Belgium, Czechoslovakia,Greece, Norway, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia; Lebanon in the Middle East; and India in the Far East. [/Right column] [/Left side of poster]
[Right side of poster] [Photograph of assembly, captioned: "Opening Session of the UNO at Central Hall, London, 10 January, 1945"] [World map with UNO member countries in red and other countries in white, labeled:"UNO members, their colonies and territories". Inset of northeastern U.S., including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, labeled: "★ Proposed UNO Sites" and labeled cities "★ ORANGE", "★ MIDDLESEX FALLS", "WORCHESTER ★", "⊙ Boston", "AUBURN ★", "KINGSTON ★", "★ PROVIDENCE", "★ HYDE PARK", "★ CAPE COD", "★ RIDGEFIELD", "SOMERS ★", "⊙ New York", "★ PRINCETON".
[In two columns]
[Left column] The permanent UNO headquarters will be located in the general areas of either New York or Boston. The map (above) shows the sites under consideration by UNO's Interim Committee, now touring these areas. In New York State, the Committee has inspected sites in or near Kingston, Hyde Park, Somers-Yorktown (Westchester County). Princeton, N. J., and the area around Ridgefield, Conn., have also been tentatively approved. Six sites in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are being considered.
American delegates to the UNO, now in London, are shown in conference in the photo at right. Left to right are: John Foster Dulles, Rep. Sol Bloom, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, Edward R. Stettinius, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Senator Tom Connally, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank Walker, and John G. Townsend, Jr. [/Left column]
[Right column] [Photograph of American delegates at conference table.] NEWSMAP FOR THE ARMED FORCES [/Right column]
[Bottom of page] NEWSMAP Volume IV PREPARED AND DISTRIBUTED BY ARMY INFORMATION BRANCH ★ MONDAY, 21 JANUARY, 1946 • WEEK OF 8 JANUARY TO 15 JANUARY VOLUME IV NO. 40F
★ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE — 654909 PREPARED
FROM PUBLIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION
[Poster in three columns] [Left column] [Background photo of French sailor; illustrated silhouettes of ships with labels as follows: "3 BATTLESHIPS", "7 CRUISERS", "15 HEAVY DESTROYERS", "14 SUBMARINES", "10 PATROL VESSELS", "13 DESTROYERS", "10 AUXILIARIES"; captioned: "Ships Not Shown in Relative Scale."] [/Left column]
[Center column] THEY LOST EVERY SHIP BUT WON THE BATTLE TIME: 27 November 1942. PLACE: The port of Toulon in Southern France. BACKGROUND: Though Hitler's forces defeated the French Armies in 1940, the French fleet—third largest in the world—was still very much afloat. Hitler desperately wanted that fleet. With that addition to his own navy, he might well put up a tough battle for the Atlantic. But he feared that the French fleet might mutiny, and so promised not to molest it. Throughout 1941 and '42, the Vichy government kept over half the French fleet floating at anchor in Toulon harbor, but without sufficient fuel to leave. Meanwhile Hitler secretly made plans to have the Vichy Government surrender the fleet to him for the good of "the common destiny of Europe."
By 26 November 1942 his plan was ready. German motorboats had sowed mines across the harbor entrance, effectively sealing it. Great German siege guns were brought up on the railroads. Nazi planes and boats were in readiness. Armoured columns approached the city. Should the French sailors choose to fight, they would have no chance of saving their ships.
ACTION: On 27 November 1942, Field Marshal von Rundstedt ordered immediate surrender of the fleet in the name of Der Fuehrer. (Marshal Petain sent the same order, though it never arrived.) https://catalog.archives.gov/ Admiral de Laborde, in charge of the fleet, gave the order to fire one shot. That was his answer. It was the prearranged signal to scuttle the fleet!
The officers and men of the French Fleet knew what their duty was.
The apparently sleeping ships suddenly came to life. Acting on a prearranged plan, the commander of every vessel—from the huge battleships to the smallest patrol boat—went into action. Explosives stored in the ships' holds were touched off. French ship fired on French ship to speed the sinkings. On shore, factories were destroyed, guns of the coastal batteries were crippled, arsenals were blown up. Soon the whole harbor and surrounding installations were no more than ruins. The mass of the French fleet—France's pride and Hitler's hope—was a smoking wreckage.
The French sailors, their work done, were marched off to concentration camps. But they marched with honor. They had won for the Allies on of the strangest naval battles in history.
P.S. Some of the vessels scuttled at Toulon were later reconditioned and joined the rest of the French Fleet in the battle for the Atlantic. [/Center column]
[Right column] [Photographic illustration of sinking ships] [/Right column]
[Bottom of page] NEWSMAP Volume IV PREPARED AND DISTRIBUTED BY ARMY INFORMATION BRANCH
★ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE — 654909
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