Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. *’i lie News of tlie I)a\ In Pictures" ’Member of 1 lie \ssociated Press
~ THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 44. No. 94. NOME, ALASKA, Wednesday, July 15, 1942 Per Copy is*
Draft Directed Call Husbands And Fathers Last
►
Hitler s Juggernaut Gains Momentum
Russians Unable to Take Initiative
UNDATED, July 14 (/l1) — Hitler’s invasion jugger
naut appeared to be slowly gaining momentum in the
drive on the Russian industrial belt along the lowei
Volga and the oil fields of the Caucasus seemed more
than ever only a great diversion on the flank or rear,
with exhaustion beating down the resistance of the
Red Army to curb or halt Hitler’s all-out effort.
By comparison with the threatening disaster in the
battle of Russia, outstanding developments in other
war zones such a the repulse of another eatward lunge
by the Axis forces in Egypt and an overnight RAF
, raid in customary strong fashion on industrial objec
tives in Germany’s Ruhr valley, seemed inconsequen
tial.
The Russians, once successful in their winter counter
offensive which rectified the vast battlefield to their
advantage, seemed unable to seize the initiative tc
save the isolated sectors. Illustrated by today’s Mos
cow reports the Germans were put on the defensive in
a sector of the Kalinin front northwest of Moscow,
while they ploughed into the Volga and Caucasus in
the south. Russian reports said a German attempt at a
"vertical envelopment” of Russian positions northwest
of Moscow by airborne troops, was liquidated, many
of them shot down before landing and the remainder
wiped out aground. Despite this, it was conceded that
the Germans, with numerical superiority, chose the
zones of offensive action and gained ground both near
Rzhev which lies southwest of Kalinin, 130 miles from
Moscow, and in their drives across the Don basin, the
lower Volga and the upper Caucasus.
Russian Reports Contain Little Optimism
Russian reports had little optimism left and the scant!
territorial claims which the Germans made were al
ready conceded.
Hitler’s command announced that the trans-Don of-1
tensive extended gains further south with the encircle
ment of a body of Russian troops northwest of Voro
nezh. The Russians admitted the enemy had broken
through at Voronezh, on the upper Don, 300 miles
south of Moscow.
Magnuson May
Come to Alaska
Congressman Warren G.
Magnuson of Washington,
who is well known in Al
aska and in Fairbanks,
plans to make a trip to Al
aska as soon as Congress
disposes of the pending tax
bill. He revealed these
plans in Washington, D.
C. shortly after he was in
formed of the progress of
army survey work on the
railroad which will con
nect the States with Al
aska.
Congressman Magnuson,
who was “tickled to death
with this development, for
it means we will get a sup
ply line to Alaska, and that
is what we have been fight
ing for,” declared that the
Navy department would
send Under Secretary Jam
es Forrestal to Alaska with
him if Forrestal could get;
away.
Magnuson, who recently
returned to congress from
a tour of duty with the
Pacific fleet as a lieutenant1
commander, said the navy I
also is keenly interested in
the problem of getting ad
ditional supply routes to
Alaska.
House, Senate
Disagree Over
Legislature Bill
Washington, July 15 (/P)
On the legislation to ‘ in
crease the membership of
the Alaska legislature, sent
into conference in an ef
fort to adjust a disagree
ment over when it should
become effective, the
House voted to make the
bill effective next year but
declined to accept the Sen
ate amendment to make
: the bill effective immed
I iately.
ARMY ANNOUNCES
COMMANDERS IN
EUROPEAN THEATER
1 LONDON, July 14 i/Pi — U. S.
| Army headquarters announced
that Maj. Gen. M. W. Clark of
New York is now in command of
all American ground troops in ;
the British Services and Supply
organization. American forces in
the European theater are under 1
the command of Maj. Gen. J. C.
H. Lee of Junction City, Kansas.
The announcement came from
the headquarters of Lieut. Gen. |
Eisenhower, commander-in-chief j
of the American forces who dis- |
closed also that his command ex
tends to Iceland. Maj. Gen. Clark
hitherto was Eisenhower’s chief
Of staff.
Russians Assert German Manpower
Low-Time For Opening 2nd Front
UNDATED, July 15 (/P) — Russia’s resistace to
Hitler’s blitz has so sapped German manpower that al
ready several Nazi divisions have been moved to the
Eastern front from Belgium and France, Russia an
nounced. implying that the way is being opened for a
western European front. While admitting territorial
osses which constitute a dire threat to isolate the vital
Caucasus and perhaps force a general Russian with
drawal in the south to a line along the Volga river,
! Moscow >aid that 35,000 of the enemy were killed or
wounded in a ten-day period at Voronezh, and an
important sector, west of Voronezh was reported
recaptured. This sector is about 300 miles south of
Moscow, and the northern anchor of the badly dented
line of Timoshenko’s armies opposing the all-out Ger
man ei'Ur to break through at S’alingrad-on-the-Volga
*-nd isolate the oil-bearing Caucasus region, part of the
main Aiiied supply route to Russia.
The Russians, Moscow reported, hurled back rein
forced German detachments in one sector on this front
in the Don valley and maintaining a stubborn defense |
in others, after giving up more ground on the steppes i
within the Don river bend.
The German command repeated its claims of rapid'
progress along the whole vast battle line in southern
Russia, reporting further severance of Russian com
munications.
Qualified sources in London said Russia is pressing
anew for a prompt opening of a U. S.-British land
front in the west to dilute the potency of the German
drive in the east.
Locals Directed to Draft Single War
Workers Before Husbands, Fathers
W ASHINGTON, July 14 (vP) — Draft headquarters
specifically directed local boards to call up married
men last, taking single war workers before husbands
and fathers.
Local boards were instructed, in orders sent out last
night, to fill quotas in this order: 1—Single men with no
dependents; 2 — Single men who don’t contribute to
the war effort, but have dependents; 3 — Single men
with dependents who contribute to the war effort; 4—
Married men without children who are engaged in the
war effort; 5—Married men living with wife and child
ren or children only, who are not engaged in the war
effort; 6—Married men living with wife and children
or children only, who are engaged in the war effort.
I o be classed as a married man. a registrant must
have been married before December 8, 1941, and must
be living with his wife or children.
__ —_„__ ___
Navy Discloses American Ambush In
•>
Detailed Account of Midway Battle
WASHINGTON, July 15 (/P) — Japan’s invasion
armada ran into an American ambush in the battle of
Midway, official reports disclosed, in a communique
tonight which gave the first detailed account of the
battie. The supplemental report told how a naval task
force lay in ambush and struck hard with carrier
planes when the Army and Navy showed that attacks
slowed the enemy fleet, a great sized armada which
Japan sent to assault Midway in a hopeful prelude for
the conquest of Hawaii, disclosed for the first time to
have been composed of 80 ships.
Official records gave the results of the battle as:
Japanese losses—20 ships sunk or damaged, includ
ing 4 aircraft carriers sunk, 3 battleships nit, 275 planes
destroyed, and 4800 men killed or drowned.
The American losses were—the 19,000 ton aircraft
carrier Yorktown put out of action; the destroyer Ham
man sunk; an undisclosed number of planes destroyed;
and 92 officers and 215 enlisted men lost. The loss of
the destroyer and th-t damage to the aircraft carrier
were reported previously, but this is the first time
the names were given.
An immediate result of the battle was safety for the
vital Hawaiian area and the American West Coast and
the Panama Canal were at least temporarily secured.
The Navy issued the first story of “superb acts of
devotion” mentioned by Churchill in Parliament on
July 2nd, when they told for the first time that “from
some successful attacks on Japanese carriers, only one
aircraft returned out of ten.” One action the Navy"cited
was by the Navy torpedo squadron number 8, 30 men
n 15 planes led by Lieut. Commander John Charles
Waldron, aged 41. of Fort Pierre. South Dakota. The
sqaudron successfully attacked the enemy’s main bat
tle force without fighter support and in spite of blister
ing anti-aircraft fire and fighter opposition. All 15
planes were lost and only one man from the squadron,
Ensign G. H. Gay survived.
Another deed of valor was attributed to Major Lof
ton Henderson, during the Marines’ first attack on the
Japanese fleet on June 4th. His scout bomber, hit and
set aflame, Henderson was last seen diving his blazing
erait at the smokestack of a Japanese carrier.
FT. YUKON NAMED
FORT OF ENTRY
WASHINGTON, July 14 (VP) —
The Custom? Bur au redesignat
ed the Fort Yukon airfield, Alas
ka, as an airport for entry of
civil aircraft and airborne mer
chandise arriving from outside
the United States, the Treasury
disclosed.
War May End In '42
And Surely In '43
Washington — Rep. Andrew J.
May. (D-Ky;. era rman of the
Military Hairs c mmittee, pre
dicltd li t war would oni “pro
baby.- in 1942 tnd unquestionably
in 1943 " Tl .nforir.alion on
which he based ris prediction,
he .-.aid :> a “military secret."
SKY L E V I A T H A N—This is a drawing of Glenn L. Martin company’s proposed 250,000 pound flying ship. The design calls for the
ship to carry 102 passengers each with 80 pounds of luggage, plus 25,000 pounds of cargo from New York to London in 13 hours.