title: “On The Move” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “Lillian Roberson”
title: “On The Move” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Wanda Zhu”
The Germans had superior weapons, but they couldn’t match the Allies’ mobility and firepower. Asked once to name the most valuable Allied systems, Eisenhower cited the jeep, the 2 1/2-ton truck, the DUKW landing craft, the C-47 transport plane and the bulldozer.
This revolutionary vehicle was a key reason the U.S. Army in Normandy became the world’s first truly mobile military force.
The toughest aircraft ever built, the C-47 could drop a “stick” of 12 paratroopers. It could land almost anywhere.
It was fast, it was reliable and it was a deathtrap. The armor was too thin, the gun too small.
Detroit’s greatest triumph, this six-wheel-drive vehicle had so much power and traction that it could smash through small trees.
The main weapon of the German infantry, this was the best machine gun in WWII. It fired a whopping 1,200 rounds per min.
The top tank of the war on the western front. It had a smaller gun than the vaunted Tiger but was more mobile and reliable.
Originally an anti-aircraft weapon, it became the most feared gun of the war. It halted many Allied assaults.
Its final version, a nearly 80-ton behemoth, carried a high-velocity 88-mm gun and a variety of machine guns.
Allied German Troops 155,000 50,000 Aircraft 12,000 890 Landing craft 4,100 — Ships 1,200 21 Tanks 950 127
Getting ready
The Attack is On
Troops poured across the Channel to consolidate the Normandy bridgehead, but progress inland was slow. The town of Caen-a key objective for D-Day-was still in German hands at the end of the month.
The British forces finally captured Caen, clearing the way to Paris. In late July, a massive bombing operation called Cobra enabled Gen. George Patton’s forces to take over the pivotal town of Avranches.
Patton’s forces gathered steam and moved east. In a disastrous counterattack. German troops fell into a trap at Argentan; 10,000 were killed and 50,000 taken prisoner. By the end of August, the Allies took Paris.
title: “On The Move” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “Tracy Campbell”
New York, like most great cities, is in constant, seemingly random. motion. But there was logic behind NEWSWEEK’S move, explains Editor-in-Chief and President Richard M. Smith. Badly needed renovations at 444 would have dislocated employees for several years; moving to new space took advantage of the hard-learned maxim of the news-magazine business: you can pack only so much pain into 48 hours.
It’s no small matter to move 550 employees (roughly half of NEWSWEEK’S worldwide total), their files, computers and favorite chairs, and plunk them down again in time to get out a weekly magazine. Jean Barish, vice president of administrative services, had only a little more than a year to prepare for the move. Editors providently prepared a cover story in advance for the issue that closed on Saturday, April 16. Then they learned of an interesting study on how nutrients may help prevent cancer. “If this were any other week, I’d switch covers,” Editor Maynard Parker said. Then he switched covers anyway.
NEWSWEEK’s new home has a grand history-it was once headquarters for General Motors-but the neighborhood is more varied than 444’s. Saks Fifth Avenue and the Four Seasons are no longer a five-minute walk away. (Tower Records and Planet Hollywood are close, though.) But that’s OK. How can a news magazine object to change?
title: “On The Move” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-19” author: “Michael Barnes”
title: “On The Move” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-09” author: “David Becerra”
Inexplicable, and oddly painful for the Swiss. With its centuries-old reputation as a prosperous enclave of peace and stability, Switzerland has long been a haven for money fleeing crises elsewhere on the globe. Rarely has this been more dramatically illustrated than now, with the possibility of war looming in Iraq and the world’s three major economies (the United States, Germany and Japan) in an unusual synchronized slump. This time, so much money is seeking sanctuary in Switzerland that the authorities are trying to scare some of it away, lest the rising value of the franc price Swiss exports out of global markets. At one point this month the franc had risen 10 percent against the dollar since January, while also climbing steadily against the euro. As the standoff over Iraq continues, the franc continues to rise on war talk and fall with hints of peace. “We are in emergency times,” says economist Janwillem Acket at Bank Julius Baer in Zurich. “We all have our steel helmets on.”
The Swiss have well-rehearsed strategies for dealing with times like these. Back in the late 1970s, when an inflationary surge shook the developed world, the franc jumped 43 percent in just 18 months. The gulf war and 9-11 both brought sudden spikes. In the past, the national bank has cut interest rates to zero to discourage foreigners from buying francs. But these days the bank has little space to act. Since 9-11 it’s already lowered rates five times, down to a money-market target range of 0.25 to 1.25 percent, which is the lowest rate in the developed world outside Japan. “It’s like an avalanche,” said Andreas Koeffer, a currency trader at Zurich Cantonal Bank, as the franc reached new highs earlier this month. “If the whole world wants to buy Swiss francs, it can’t be stopped.”
As in the past, buying francs (along with gold) is the least scary alternative in these troubled times. The creation of the euro–and the disappearance of the mighty Deutsche mark–has left few European choices for traders looking to diversify. The dollar is still widely viewed as overvalued, and most traders are still betting against the yen, too. “In an environment like this, people don’t care about how much money they earn; they care about not losing money,” says Nannette Hechler-Fayd’herbe of Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich. “People are driven by very practical reasoning: political neutrality just makes Switzerland look safer.”
Ironically, Switzerland is suffering like the rest of the world. The economy edged into recession last year, and the official forecast is for growth of less than 1 percent in 2002. Exports of a slew of products from fine watches to Gruyere cheese are on the slide. Big-spending American tourists have been staying away by the planeload since 9-11. And those that do come are spending less. Says Rudolf Schiesser, manager of the 976-year-old Three Kings Hotel, beside the Rhine in Basel, “We are not exactly in a Dom Perignon phase.”
The trouble for Switzerland, though, is that the investors’ faith is well founded. Except for a brief tussle with Napoleon, Switzerland has stayed out of every international conflict for almost 500 years. Strikes are almost unknown, and the Swiss worker is a model of diligence. (Voters recently rejected a proposal to cut the workweek to 36 hours.) Unemployment and inflation are negligible. The same four parties have ruled the country in coalition since 1959. Almost alone in the developed world, Switzerland holds enough gold to cover the value of every bill and coin in circulation, reinforcing the image of stability. The franc is a safe bet–even if outsiders who flock to it tend thereby to destabilize it. “The currency is our Achilles’ heel,” says Thomas Meyer, boss of Disetronic, an export manufacturer of tiny insulin pumps. “Maybe we should change our image by being a little less orderly.”
Not likely. In recent years (with the notable exception of troubled Swissair), many Swiss companies have been expanding widely but cautiously, without racking up big debts. Fortunately, that cushions the big ones from exchange-rate fluctuations. Take giant food company Nestle, an old hand at the globalization game, which now has factories in 85 countries. “If you are a multinational, [the exchange rate] may look like a problem when you consolidate your figures in Swiss francs, but that’s just a visual effect,” says company spokesman Marcel Rubin. “You are doing your business in local currencies.” During the 1990s, so many local companies downsized or moved part of their production abroad that “Switzerland has been deindustrialized,” says spokesman Markus Niederhauser of Sulzer engineering, which cut its work force in the city of Winterthur from 12,000 to 700 in just the past two years. “Almost no one has big plants here any more.” And that means fewer Swiss exporters price their goods in Swiss francs.
That also helps explain why the concern of economists is not accompanied by panic in the boardroom. “Currencies move all the time; what goes around comes around,” says Michael Pragnell, CEO of Syngenta, the agrochemical company. “The financial markets understand and expect us to manage it.” Swiss companies may even profit from the challenge. Says Gerold Buhrer, an M.P. from the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition: “A strong Swiss franc forces us to be as competitive as possible and concentrate on areas where we can achieve competitive advantage.” Among big businesses, at least, there’s a general confidence that Switzerland can survive wild swings in the currency markets–no matter what the Money Exterminator may imply.
