Stories of Sieges

SINGAPORE Is SILENT--George Weller --'Harcourt, Brace ($3).

ROUND TRIP TO RUSSIA--Walter Graebner--Lippincott ($3).

In Ethiopia, Chicago Daily News Correspondent George Weller (Not to Eat, Not for Love) was at his desk one Sunday morning, when a chatting British major suddenly adopted a grave expression: " 'This morning's radio gave me a jolt,' he said. ... 'I mean about Japan.' " 'Did the Washington talks break down again?' " 'I mean about the bombing.' " 'What bombing?' " 'The bombing of Pearl Harbor.' " 'The bombing of what?' " Dazed Correspondent Weller cabled his Chicago office. The reply came: "Singa-poreward airwise . . . quickest," and soon Weller was flying eastward over Suez.

Also over Suez, several months later, was TIME Correspondent Walter Graebner.

Separated by a whole continent, both correspondents were to see fronts of the same war, to be behind the scenes during the respective sieges of Stalingrad and Singapore.

Of the two, Weller was the more fortunate. being in closest contact with the fighting throughout. Singapore is Silent is carried along on a spate of spectacles. Round Trip to Russia was handicapped by the Soviet ukase denying foreign correspondents ready access to the fighting fronts; it is chiefly a sober recording of day-to-day life behind the lines.

Three-Dollar Eggs. That life drew from Correspondent Graebner the expletives "startling, admirable and almost incredible." The splendid, undamaged fac,ades of Moscow's newest peace-built houses often hid jerry-built structures; floor space per individual was limited by law to ten square yards. Total war had laid on the occupants of these draughty buildings a burden staggering to a visiting American. No civilian might travel by air or rail, or possess an automobile. No hotel might rent him a room. Eggs sold at $3 apiece.

After reading it, people used the daily newspaper to make cigarets, for wrapping, for toilet paper; what was left was put between blankets for added warmth. Nearly all Moscow's restaurants were closed, and a large proportion of the shops.

"Ninety-five percent of all the food consumed ... is rationed," and "even Government officials cannot control themselves at the sight of food." Concluded some observers: "The annual civilian consumption in Russia is less than the annual civilian waste in the United States," and "by comparison, even Germany -- as late as 1939 --was a land of luxury." Correspondent Graebner believes that such self-sacrifice, added to the staggering losses at the front, is borne less because the dictatorship decrees that it must be than because of patriotism and popular faith in the national leadership. To those with whom he spoke, Socialism meant "there'll always be a job for me." It also meant "no necessity to keep up with the Joneses." Heaviness in the Air. On the other hand Graebner noted that the "[Soviet] Government is not entirely for the people." Hundreds stand in food queues, regardless of whether or not there is food at the end of the line for them, simply because the Government does not bother to inform them. "Too efficient, too ruthless, too heartless," in most respects, "Government instead of being for the people is for Russia as a State and for1 the bureaucracy which controls it." Along with the high popular courage and "simple, kindhearted, fun-loving" behavior, Graebner was conscious of "an unmistakable heaviness in the Russian atmosphere."

The Enemy Is Disengaged. "More people," says George Weller, "died in Singapore's four heaviest raids than in two years of bombing of Malta." As the Japs pushed skillfully down Malaya, Singapore became a center of hopes, fears, rumor, and death from the air. The Prince of

Wales and the Repulse were at the bottom of the sea, and in Singapore's navy yard there was "a general atmosphere of a large studio rather confusedly at work upon B pictures." Official communiques were framed in guarded language ("Our troops success fully disengaged the enemy"). Though Weller believed that "plain speaking . . .

could no longer be allowed with safety to the forces," he and his fellow correspondents protested violently against not being allowed to use such a phrase as "the siege of Singapore": " 'But surely you can't deny that we are besieged.' " 'Besieged, yes,' said the military censor, 'but I object to the noun "siege".' " Such bureaucracy was seriously harmful in the more vital areas of the war. But it is Weller's view that the picture of Singapore as a decadent, liquor-swilling, escapist community is totally false. Decisions came from London, and from Lon don, too, should have come the planes without which the Malayan forces were helpless. The decision to arm and train Malayan troops was made too late and would have clashed bitterly with the prevalent opinion among many that the Malay ans were not to be trusted.

Tactics with Firecrackers. The rubber planters, civil servants and clerks of Malaya formed a sort of Home Guard and went out into the jungle, where few escaped death or capture. They flew ancient pleasure and training planes against Japanese Zeros. The regular battalions of British, Indian, Gurkha and Australian troops fought with tragic bravery. Weller's account of these men in action is also a brilliant story of Japanese fighting methods.

To confuse the enemy, to force him to look every way at once; above all, to get around to his rear and make him believe himself hopelessly surrounded -- this was the Japanese method. In the endless green of the forest a few cyclists, a handful of snipers and a liberal use of firecrackers could force exhausted British troops to expend the strength they needed against the far more deadly, incessant attack from the air.

Brotherhood Is Scarce. Through both these books, warning steadily of tragic postwar possibilities, runs the theme of international suspicions and hatreds. Mutual dislike was a feature common to the letters Graebner found on Austrian, Ba varian and Prussian soldiers. Lack of a second front, says Graebner, has turned many Russians against Britain and America. Occupied Persia fears Russia, is "sick and tired" of the British, accepts Americans enthusiastically only, perhaps, because they are "new." Graebner believes that American popularity is dwindling in Trinidad, South America and the Middle East as a result of violent "bad behavior" on the part of newly arrived Americans.

On their part, Americans hotly resent walking examples of British snobbishness, are loudly disparaging in their comments on British fighting qualities.

In Malaya, Weller found equally omi nous differences. British mistrust of native qualities was paralleled by Malayan hatred for the 2,000,000 Chinese in their midst.

Nepalese Gurkhas would serve in the army only if they were not officered by Indians.

Yet Weller's own conclusions are based essentially on the idea of eternal racial antagonism. Japan, he insists, is "America's enemy for all time." Japan will never forgive defeat, and there will never be a "common ground of ethical beliefs" for the two countries. Consequently, America must take under her "full and unequivocal" administration such bases as Singapore, New Caledonia, Cam Ranh Bay, Penang. A "tradition of [American] political activity" must be created south of the Chinese coast ports.

Readers may feel that the problem of American security in the Pacific has implications that stretch much farther than the mere seizure of bases, and cannot be decided on an emotional belief in permanent enmities.

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