Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. “The News of The Dav In Pictures” Meiul»er Of The Associated Press
_ THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 43. No. 121. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DEC. 15, 1941 Pe.- Copy i»
Knox Reports On Hawaii Damage
Allies Sinking Jap Transports In Counter Offensive
Japs Worried by Allied Counter
Offensive, Sinking 8 Transports
With Uneounted Soldiers Lost
UNDATED, Dec. 15 UP) — Jap
officials took worried cognizance
of an allied aerial and sub coun
ter offensive which has taken a
toll of uncounted thousands of
Jap troops enroute to the Or
iental battlegrounds. A joint
army and navy communique,
warned the Jap people “against |
the lurking danger of enemy:
subs” off Japan’s island coast and
urged them “to prepare for a pro
tracted war wherein hostile subs
and aircraft bombing will play a
role.”
Thus far, between them, the
U. S. air force and the Dutch sub
fleet, operaitng over and under
the China Sea, have sunk 8 troop
laden vesels headed for Philip
pine and Malayan landings,
along with two supply ships,
while the air force is credited
with damaging five additional
transports.
Formosa, Jap island off the
southeast China coast, was alarm
ed Saturday night when 12 plan
es. apparently reconnaisanee,
were sighted off Takao, a Jap set
tlement. It indicated th2t the
war on the sea and in the air is j
drawing closer to the island em
pire.
The struggle in the Philippines
resolved into a contest for air
supremacy, while the British
acknowledged that the Japs gain
d ground in the Kedah area of
northern Malaya where “confus
ed” warfare has taken root in i
the jungle fastnesses.
Hong Kong, British crown col
ony on the south China coast,
number 2 naval base in the East,
appeared to be the point of great
eH pressure from the Jap great-1
er east Asia offensive. The Brit
ish acknowledged the withdraw
al from Kowloon, city of the
colony, which permitted the Japs
to advance within rifle shot of
the island. Hong Kong is just off
Kowloon peninsula. Unless this|
is a forerunner of complete aban
donment of Hong Kong, it repre-1
sents a strategy permitting the'
Japs to plunge to the extremity
of the Kowloon peninsula, in the
hope of freeing themselves of the
Chinese armies, operating on
their rc^r, to cut them off.
Dutch Subs Sink
4 Jap Transports
$ ith 4,000 Troops
UNDATED, Doc. 13 <JP) — Sea
borne Jap troops, which gained
a foothold at Lingayen on the
west coast of Luzon Island, a hun
dred miles north of Manila, were
wiped out, a U. S. communique
from Manila reD^rted, as Ameri
can fighter planes pitched into
waves of Jap bombers in spec
troular dogfights over the Philip
pine capital.
The Batavia, Dutch East Indies
radio said 4,000 Jap troops were
lost when Netherlands subs sank
4 troop transports off southern
Thailand near Malaya and an
other naval force liquidated a
Jap settlement on the east coast
of Borneo.
Imperial Tokyo headquarters
obliquely conceded that Ameri
can forces are still holding out
on Wake Island when it saiid
military objectives there were
s verely damaged by an attack
by Jap naval units Thursday.
They admitted seme losses.
A Tokyo communique said 8
American planes were shot down
in aerial attacks over the Philip
pines. 14 others destroyed on the
ground, and 11 American flying
boats destroyed.
Tokyo naval headquarters
were silent on the official United
States reports that Jap warships
fled to avoid a battle, but claim
ing the sinking of a third U. S.
battleship, the Arizona, in ac
tion at Hawaii.
A Domei broadcast from Sai
gon, Indo China, a dispatch as
serting that British troops at
Hong Kong had withdrawn from
their first line of defense after
the Jap capture of Kowloon, on
the mainland facing the great
British naval base.
Reuters, the British news
agency at London quoted a
Shanghai Domei dispatch saying
Honolulu had undergone six air
raids in 9 hours after Secretary
Knox arrived there.
Small Garrison On ^ake And
Midway Continue Resist Japs
Navy Unable Communicate Guam
WASHINGTON, Deci 13 (/Pi -
The Navy Department announc
ed that United States forces at
Wake and Midway islands are
continuing to resist Japanese in
vasion attempts. It was added
that there is no confirmation of
the occupation of Guam by the
Japanese.
In its fourth communique of
the war, the Navy indicated the
continuation of heavy Japanese
attacks on Luzon, principal Phil
irpine island. Naval and army
forces, operating by land, sea.
and air, are coordinating their
resistance to the attack, the Navy
declared.
Navy Unable
Contact Guam
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (JP) —
The Navy announced that they
were unable to communicate
with Guam either by radio or
cable and added that capture by
the Jrpanese is probable, of the
force of fewer than 400 Navy
personnel and 155 marines who
were stationed at the island. The
communique said these had been
repeatedly bombed. Japs were
said to have landed at several
noir.ts. Wake and Midway are
continuing to resist. No mention
was made of civilians.
Wake Garrison
Still Holding! Out
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 UP) —
(Delayed) — The President said
the Wake Island garrison, so far
as is known, it still holding out.
He told a press conference that
the small group of marines there
is dring a magnifiscent job.
A number of announcements
pertaining to the war were made
including the designation of 8
defensive areas on both coasts
with restrictions to navigation to
apply to those areas, presumably
by mines. The areas include the
waters near Portland, Maine;
Portsmouth, N. H.; Boston, Nar
ragansett Bay, San Diego, San
FLOATING SEAPLANE HANGAR ENDANGERED
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A floating seaplane hangar at Seattle, Wash, which contained seven planes broke loose in a storm
and nearly swamped hen a tug (right), attempted to tow it.
Francisco, the entrance to the
Columbia River, the Straight of
Jurn de Fuca and Puget Sound.
The Treasury reported that
Monday, Tuesday and Wednes
day, defense bonds were sold by
banks totaling $5,502,000 up 126
percent ever the corresponding
period of last week.
1000 AFL Members
Prisoners of Japs
WASHINGTON. Dec. 12 -UP) —
(Delayed) — The AF of I. an
n im'-ed that the Navy informed
it that more than a thousand
members of its building trade's
unions were taken prisoner by
the Japanese when Midway and
Guam were captured by the en
emy. The A F of L said it was
informed that 700 of its workers,
most taken from California for
work on Army and Navy base
construction, were captured at
Midway, and 400 at Guam,
e___
To Esfahlish Mili
tary (lode Alaska
WASHINGTON, Die. 15 (/Pi _ •
Legislation to establish a mili
tary code for Alaska and to rat
ify the formation of the Alaska
National Guard was approved by
the House Military Committee. |
Delegate Dimond said a guard;
force is being organized in the!
territory although legal author-;
ity didn’t exist.
FDR Reports
To Congress
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (/P)—
President Roosevelt told Con
gress how Japan’s course of ag
gression in the Pacific was cli
maxed by the attack on the U.S.
at the very’ time she was voicing
' a desire for peace. He declared
‘‘There is the record for all his
j torv to read in amazement, sor
row, horror and disgust. We are
now at war, we are fighting in
; self-defense of our national ex
istence. our right to be secure,
our right to enjoy the blessings
of peace.”
The message also gave the
chronology of Ameriean-Japan
ese negotiations, also the history
prior to Japan’s onslaught in the
Pacific 8 days ago.
Explosion Iowa
Munitions Plant
BURLINGTON, Iowa, Dec. 13
'bP) — A terrific TNT explosion,
which destroyed the Meltime
unit of the Iowa ordnance plant,
killed at least 7 yesterday, but
left officials convinced of the
soundness of the construction of
the $60,000,000 defense project.
Seven persons were listed as
missing and more than 40 in
jured.
Lieut. Col. Keith Adamson,
commanding officer, said if built
the way World War plants were
built “we wouldn’t have any
plant left.”
Knox Reports 6 Warships Lost At
Pearl Harbor, 91 Officers, 2,638
Enlisted Men-Fleet Out After Japs
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 UP) —
Secretary Knox reported that
the battleship Arizona and five
other warships were lost in Sun
day's Japanese air raid on Pearl
Harbor. He said 91 officers and
2,633 enlisted men were known
dead. Known Japanese losses.
Knox s::id. included three sub
marines, and 41 aircraft.
After reporting to the Presi
dent on his return from a hur
ried five-day trip to survey the
effect of the raid at first hand.
Knox told a press conference
that aside from the Arizona,
-hips destroyed included the old
target ship Utah, three destroy
ers, the Cassin, Downes and
Shaw: also the mine layer Og
lala. Damaged vessels included
the old battleship Oklahoma,
which capsized but can be repair
ed. “The entire balance of the
i fleet, and its aircraft carriers,
heavy cruisers, light cruisers,
destroyers and submarines are
uninjured, and all are at sea seek
ing to contact the enemy,” Knox
said. He quickly told the ques
tioner that the fleet included bat
tleships as well.
Km x said “The Japanese fail'
ed in their purpose to knock out
the United States before the war
began.”
Knox said flatly that the “U. S.
services were not on the alert
against a surprise air attack.” A
formal investigation, he said,
will be instituted by the Presi
dent, immediately. In the mean
time, he said, there will be on
changes in the command.
Japs Use Two-iWan Subs
Takirg part in the Japanese at
tack, Knox revealed, were two
man subs.
I
Enemy Operations
(h er Philippines
_
i
WASHINGTON. Dec. 15 t/P) —
The War Dept, said enemy
air operation continued over Lu
zon, in the Philippines and
ground operations are in pro-,
gross in three sections of the is
land. A brief communique said
there was nothing to report in
other areas, omitting mention of
Hawaii and the U. S. Pacific
coast for the first time in sev-1
eral days.
Outlining the military situa
tion at 6:30 a.m. PST, the com-:
munique said “In the Philippine!
theater, enemy air operations!
over the island of Luzon contin-j
ue and operations on the ground
are continuing in the north andj
northwest sections of Luzon in
the vicinity of Legaspi.
In southern Luzon, ground op
erations were mentioned, presum!
ably in the vicinity cf Aparri on -
the northern shore of Luzon'
where Japanese troops made
landings early in the invasion
and at Vigan, some 260 miles1
north of Manila, on the west
coast, where the Japanese gain
ed another foothold. The landing
at Legaspi. about 220 miles from
, Manila, was made late last week
1 and was effected without opposi
tion. the War Department dis
closed.
--
President
Speaks Tonight
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (/P) —
The President will speak, at the
celebration of the 150th anniver
sary of the adoption of the Bill
of Rights, between 7 and 8 p.m.
PST, tonight.
Germans Shoot
More Hostages
LONDON, Dec. 13 <A>) — A
Reuters Vichy dispatch said that
German authorities announced
that a hundred Jews and Com
munists will be shot, also a bil
lion twenty million franc fine,
$20,000,000, will be imposed for
recent attacks on German troops.
Authorize Expan
sion of Navy
0
WASHINGTON. Dec. 15 —
Authorization for the expansion
of the U. S. two-ocean navy was
approved quickly by the House
Naval Affairs c •• 'tee after
the size of the contemplated in
crease was reduced from 900,000
tons to 150.000 tons at the re
quest of the Navy. The measure
left the type of ships to be con
structed to the discretion of the
President and the Navy, but
Chairman Vinson said they in
clude no battleships. He added
“This doesn’t mean we are aban
doning the idea of battleships,
but it takes longer to build
them."
War Department
Announces Names
Of 158 Dead
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 «.-T” —
(Delayed) — The names of 3?
additional soldiers, lost in the
Japanese attack on Hawaii, Sun
day, were announced by the War
Department and brought to 158
the number of officers and enlist
ed men, the department an
nounced, killed in action or dead
from wounds at Hawaii and Man
ila.
Captain Colm Kelly. Jr., aged.
26. Florida-born West Pointer,
who helped even the score which,
the Japanese ran up at Pearl
Harbor when h:s plane dropped
three bombs on the Japanese
battleship Haruna, paid for the
sinking of the ship with his life.
One sentence of a communique
issued by Lieut. Gen. McArthur,
commander of the Far Eastern
army, paid tribute to the young
flier: “General McArthur an
nounced with great sorrow the
death of Captain Colin Kelly,
Jr., who so distinguished him
self by scoring three direct hits
on the Japanese capital battle
ship Haruna, leaving her in dis
tress and in flames." Just how
and when Kelly died was not
stated, but it is possible that
death came wihtout his know
ing that the Haruna was mortal
ly damaged.