Tribune: "Japan Recognizes Free India" — why not? After all, they cobbled it together out of bits of clay, anti-British hate (pages 6 and 7 are full of it), and the usual Japanese syrup.

"Chungking Admits Nippon Successes." The Japanese are at the western bank of the upper Salmeen River in Yunnan, near the Myitkyina area, and the lower Chungking stretch of the Burma Road. Seems like a tiny gain to me.

Editorial squib: "Fence-sitters are slackers to the national cause and something should be done to their citizenship.... The fact that we are not at war does not mean we can forget that there is a war going on."

What's News? The Russians have taken Melitopol — the "second Stalingrad." Fifty German divisions may be trapped in the Dnepropetrovsk pocket. Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania are nervous and the Germans are nervous about their intentions. The bombing of Germany continues unabated.

In the South Pacific, MacArthur marches onwards and the Japanese around Finschhafen already appear to be looking for a way out.

Local Radio tonight quoted the Burmese Foreign Minister as stating that the Burmese would fight for the defense of the Western approaches to the Co-Prosperity Sphere while the Filipinos would fight to defend the Eastern approaches. Incidentally, Bose and his cabinet declared war on England and America.