April 13, 1942 – NBC News Of The World + Special Report from Brazzaville – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
April 13, 1942 – America enters its Nineteenth week of war, and the news goes from bad to grim. Reports that Corregidor could fall at any moment, that Japanese forces are quickly closing in on the remaining holdouts. Optimism that any relief would be coming were evaporating. American and Australian naval forces were busy off the coast near Darwin and Japanese troops were gaining ground in Burma. Further adding to the pessimism were the breakdown in negotiations between Sir Stafford Cripps and Indian leaders over where India was standing in this war. The only glimmer of anything optimistic came from reports that American and Australian bombers were taking their toll on Japanese shipping and positions along the coast in New Guinea. But, as reporter Martin Agronsky noted in his report, those successes were small potatoes compared to the successes the Japanese were experiencing. But the biggest complaint about the war was coming from Allied side where calls for taking an offensive rather than defensive strategy was critical but going mostly unheeded. And time was running out for Corregidor.
Meanwhile in Europe – British heavy bombers were staging more attacks on the Ruhr industrial region of Germany as well as northern parts of Italy and docks along the French coast. Ten British bombers and one fighter were reported missing. Confirming earlier reports, Sir Stafford Cripps was arriving home earlier this day after a disappointing series of meetings in Karachi, with Indian leaders.
On the Eastern front, the weather was helping out the Red Army with torrential rains flooding various villages. Further reports indicated German losses over the siege at Leningrad were described as “frightful”.
And a report from the Free French Equatorial Africa capital of Brazzaville describes fighting along the Libyan front and the capture of an important Italian garrison by the Free French army.
All that, and a lot more for this April 13, 1942 as reported by NBC Radio.
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