NEW DELHI: Seventeen tons of war materials are necessary to place one fighting man on the battlefront and 81 tons more to keep him fighting, said Col. J. Eaton, of the Ordnance Branch, G.H.Q. India, in a broadcast from New Delhi.

Replacement of army requirements, he said, was no easy matter. For 1945 alone, 2,000 tons of crockery, which was the equivalent of 17,920,000 cups or 4,480,000 mugs, were needed. This year’s requirements of soap exceeded those for 1944, when 24,000 tons was reached.

Owing to meat being rationed, leather was in short supply… For military transport, 310,000 quarts of brake fluid were required. About 96,000 batteries, without which vehicles would be useless, were demanded for replacement in 1945.

[Meanwhile, as reported from Hollywood,] It will be best for the Allied cause if the Russians dominate the German film industry after the war, says Fritz Lang, once Goebbels’ choice for Germany’s film czar and who has been making films here for the past eight years. The Russians are realistic, says Lang, and understand just how to handle any attempts at subtle propaganda which would be plain to the Germans but elusive to the Allies.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020