THE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VrOL. 47.—No. 55. NOME, ALASKA, MAY 12, 1944. PER COPY—15*
DEFER HEN SIX MONTHS
ALLIES IN FIRST
SPRING PUSH
» NEAR CASSINO
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NAPLES, May 12.—(AP)—Allied
troops were smashing out today
in the f rst big Spring push
against Hitler’s European wall,
j assaulting the Gustav line in Italy
along a 25-mile front from Cas
sino to the sea.
Some initial objectives have
been taken in the greatest offen
sive of the Mediterranean war
fare
The mighty drive jumped off at
11:00 p. m. last night, under a
record-shaking barrage of allied
artillery.
Front line dispatches said the
Germans were driven from some
of their front line positions by
fierce fighting.
It is a full, allied stroke by the
combined forces of American,
British Dominion. Polish, French
and Italian troops
British and Indian forces of the
Eighth Army, crossed ‘he Raptdo
and Gari rivers early today, press
ing on toward the first objectives
of the Gustav line
A front line dispatch from Can
adian Press Correspondent Doug
las Amaron, declared that Gari
was a small stream about five
miles sou*h of Cassino, running
•between the Rapido and Liri
♦ rivers, where the forces had sec
retly regrouped.
General Clark’s Fifth Army
struck on the westward flank,
running in from the Tyrrhenian
sea.
The British Eighth Army was
transferred from the Adriatic and
is now plunging forward in the
bloody Cassino sector, 25 miles
inland, on a curved front, attempt
ing to drive up the Liri valley.
Ultimatum Given
, To Four Axis
War Satellites
WASHINGTON, May 12— fAP>
—The United States, Great Brit
ain and Russian issues were a
virtual ultimatum *o the four Axis
satellites, in declaring they must
decide now whether they intend
to go down in utter defeat with
Germany.
The ultimatum was addressed
to Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria
♦ and Finland.
The three-power declaration
stated:
‘‘There is yet time for the peo
ple of these four satellites, if they
jump off the German wagon
now,” and the declaration made
clear that every day they remain
at Germany’s side brings “more
disastrous consequences to them
and more vigorous terms will be
imposed upon them.”
AIR FORCES
ATTACK VITAL
NAZI RAILROAD
LONDON, May 12.—(AP)—Air
forces today attacked Germany’s
vital system of military railroads,
with approximately 4,000 planes,
and dropped over 7,000 tons of
bombs, dealing the transportation
system its most crushing blow of
the war.
> Fifteen large centers .were hit
I
BRIDGE BUILDER S—As trucks wait to cross a stream on Cape Gloucester, Marine engineers
finish a “Tubelox” bridge built to substitute for one washed out by a flood.
Japs Jittery Of Intentions Of Yanks
SPECULATION
RIFE AS TO
W AR ACTIVITY
UNDATED — War nerves
spread throughout 'he Japanese
forces in the Pacific today, with
the Tokyo radio speculating on
‘‘the lack of major engagements
in the Pacific the past few
months.”
The radio went on to say, “This
is probably 'he lull preceding
major events.”,
1 It added:
“The Americans are preparing
an offensive from the Aleutians
where they have constructed four
large airbases, and have at their
disposal some 100 planes of the
l naval forces and five to six in
fantry divisions, including para
troops and airborne troops.”
1 The Japanese defenders in the
northern Kuriles are preparing
against the American operations,
i the commentator predicted, and
“the area will one of these days
become the main theater of the
war.”
Bewhiskered baseball players
of the 1890’s wore neckties.
-v
^uititau is JHiuIut’s Bau
W — » *9
Mother is that some one, no one can ever do
without or replace!
Mother is winning the war today, even in
enemy countries. She does not want war, and
in some small way is doing her bit to bring it to
a close.
I ‘‘Mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.”—
Henry Ward Beecher.
_:J
Liberators Set Fires At
Jap Bases On Truk
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC,
May 12.—<AP>—Liberator bomb
ers from Solomon Island bases,
set fires at Japan’s naval base
of Truk Wednesday, while other
bombers cratered the runways on
Woleai Island in the western
Carolines.
Headquarters reported the Lib
erators were over Truk at noon
Wednesday, where they were met
by 20 Japanese fighter • planes
One Liberator was shot down.
Woleai is 525 statute miles
west of Truk.
Other attacks have been made
on these same islands by bombers
from the Marshall Islands.
The communique told of bomb
ing and strafing attacks by all
types of planes Wednesday, on
Wewak and Hansa Bay, New
Guinea, in those areas where the
Jap garrison, trapped between
Alexishafen and Aitape, is con
centrating.
■ /i
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DRAFTEES OVER 30 YEARS OF
AGE ORDERED INTO ESSENTIAl
INDUSTRY BY DRAFT DIRECTOR
WASHINGTON, May 12 — AP)—A blanket
draft deferment for “an indefinite period ’, ordered
all men 30 years of age and older" to essential “nec
essary" industry, and men 26 years of age, were
promised civilian status “for the time being,” Maj.
Gen. Lewis B. Hershey said in a news conference
today.
MUNZ IN NEAR
CRACK-UP ON
FIELD AT NOME
Bill Munz, popular owner of
Munz Air Service of this city,
proved highly fortunate Wednes
day afternoon, when undertaking
a landing on the municipal air
port, minus -the use of one of the
plane’s skis.
! On his take-off from Solo
mon, Mr. Munz reports, one of the
tie-straps holding the ski. came
loose, and when the plane settled
in mid-air, the wind velocity evi
dently caused the ski to break
free, unknown to the pilot at the
time.
Arriving in Nome, Mr. Munz,
while still in the air, wAts advised
of his predicament, and he kept
the plane in the air, until a crash
landing crew of military forces
could be summoned. On their ar
rival, Mr. Munz edged his plane
to the ground in a crash landing.
Spectators on the field at the
time of the landing, regard Mr.
Munz’s feat of maneuverability at
the “stick” as one truly “remark
able in every sense of the word.”
His handling of the plane prov
ed so clever, a near-perfect land
ing was accomplished, and result
ed in no injury to himself and
but slight damage to the plane.
Mr. Munz carried no passen
gers at the time, only freight and
express from the point of take
off.
Of such ability are Alaska
"bush” pilots made!
ALLIED TROOPS
PROGRESS ON
KOHIMA AREA
KANDY, Ceylon, May 12.—
fAP>—Allied troops made “init
ial progress” in clearing the Jap
anese from hillside strongpoints
on the southern outskirts of Ko
hima, today.
American planes, sweeping
three enemy airfields, destroyed
13 challenging fighters, the allied
communique said. Two other
planes were probably destroyed
and six damaged. The Americans
sustained no loss.
South of Manipur state in the
village of Kohima, artillery broke
up Japanese concentrations.
The communique further stated
patrols were in contact with Jap
anese jungle fighters, and that
northeast of Kohima, fighting was
reported in the village of Potsan
cham, just south of Bishenpur.
■There were no reports from)
General Stillwell’s operations im
northern Burma or on the central
Burma front!
Y* \t
Average age of a city dog is 111
years, as against an average of 9
years for country dogs.
Robert E. Lee, the Southern j
general, started his career as an
Army engineer.
• He added:
“For the time being it would
probably mean for about six
months, and ‘indefinitely’ would
apply to registrants over 30, and
would probably means for six
months or longer ”
DEWEY AIDS IN
PROTEST OF
POLL TAX BILL
WASHINGTTN. D. C„ May 12.
— A?—Governor Thomas E. Dew
ey of New York voiced his op->
posit on to the poll laxes to Wa1~.
tei White, secretary of the Na
tional Association for Advance
ment of Colored People, who.
promptly declared, the GOP gov
ernor's statement was “not
enough.”
Replying to the telegram. White
asked Dewey to help break the
threatened senate filibuster on
the long-pending anti-poll tax
bill.
The New York governor re
plied, ‘‘I have always fought,
against the poll tax and any other
device which would deprive free
people of their votes.”
BOMBERS IN
28th DAY OF
HAMMERING
LONDON, May 12—fAP)-»
American heavy bombers thun
dered back at the heart of the
Reich, carrying the pre-invasion
assault through the 28th straight
day, following up the heavy ham
mering of the French invasion
coast last night by a fleet of 700
big RAF bombers.
The first reports left the tav
gets unnamed on the heavy Amer
ican daylight blows, but the Ber
lin broadcast said that bomber
formations over western Germany
were streaking toward the south
west, and there were also fighter
plane formations over west,
southwest and central Germany,
indicating widespread attacks.
American medium bombers got
in the day's first assaults in at
tacks on airfields and other in
stallations in northern France.
Channel residents witnessed one
of the most impressive displays of
aerial allied might ever seen, as
the cavalcade of light bombers
and fighters raced forth and back
to the continent all morning.
Folkstone, on the English
side of the Channel, rocked with
some of the heaviest explosions
of the war, touched off , on the
French coast.
4
AUTHOR DIES
UNDATED — Sir Arthur Quil
ler Couch, British author, known
to his readers as “Q”, died at hi*
home in Fowey Corbwall, at the
age of 80 years.
The author had been declining
in health since March, when he
was knocked down by a Jeep aa
he was taking his daily walk.