Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. “The News of The l)av In Pictures" Member Of I In* Associated Press
THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 44. No. 22. NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEB. 20, 1942. Per c°py
Ja s e First Assault Australia
_
U. S. Forces Are Now Aiding In Defense of Java
AT SICHT OF BOMB S—Paul Tarnofsky, a senior post
air raid warden In Brooklyn, N. Y., demonstrates the proper way
to extinguish an incendiary bomb. He wears an asbestos fire
fighting suit, and uses an asbestos blanket to smother the bomb.
U. S. Pilots and Ground Forees
Helping In the Defense of Java
BATAVIA, Feb. 19 (AP) — An expeditionary force
of the United Nations, including “a relatively small
number of Americans,” both ground troops and bomb
er and fighter pilots of the U. S. arrived in Java to help
defend the island stronghold against the inevitable
Jap assault, it was announced. The combined expedi
tionary forces, which were known previously to also
include Australians, was said authoritatively “by no
means large enough yet, but the arrival of the services
is an indication that the Netherlands Indies don’t fight
alone.” The Dutch forces meanwhile fought stubborn
delaying actions in southern Sumatra, southern Bor
neo and southern Celebes.
Japs Make First
Direct Assault
On Australia
SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (AP)—
More than a hundred Jap
bombers and escorting
fighter planes attacked the
north coast city and port of
Darwin, potentially vital
as a United Nations naval
supply base, in two raids,
in the first direct assaults
on the Australian main-'
land. Prime minister Cur-i
tin, from a hospital sickbed
announced that 72 bomb
ers with protecting fighters
participated in the first i
raid this morning and an
other wave of 21 bombers
returned to the attack in
the afternoon. Four of the
second group were said to
have been shot down.
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182 Jap Ships
Known Sunk
Up to Feb. 14
BATAVIA, Feb. 19 (AP —
A total of 182 Japanese
ships have been sunk or
damaged by United Na-j
tions forces up to Feb. 14,’
according to an authorita
tive compilation published
by Aneta. Of the total, 109
were sunk, 28 probably
sunk and 45 damaged. The
number didn’t include the
heavy losses known inflict
ed on the enemy in the in
vasion of southern Sumat
ra, which started Satur
day. American ships and
planes are credited with 84
of the known sinkings, 15!
of the probable ones, and
28 of the damaged ships.
Buy Defon.se Bonds and Stampij
FDR to Make
Radio Address
Monday Nigli?
■ Washington, Feb. 20 (AP)
The address the President
is to make to the nation
Monday night, the White
House said, is a touch of
strategy, but probably di
rected principally at the
presentation of a picture
of the world at war as
Roosevelt sees it.
The President’s press sec
retary Stephen Early told
reporters ”1 think when he
finishes the speech, it will
be made very clear that
the oceans and each of our
coast lines are no longer
saving or protecting the
country as they were said
to be by some, not long
ago.” The President can
celled his press conference
today because of a head
cold.
Pocket Sul)
Sinks Brazilian
Ship in Atlantic
Norfolk, Va., Feb. pO (AP)
— The 4,000-ton Brazilian
freighter Olinda was sunk
bv an Axis sub off the At
lantic coast on Wednesday,
the 5th. naval district an
nounced. Crew members
who landed here declared
the submarine was “pocket
size.” The entire crew of
46 was picked up in two
lifeboats by the rescue
ship after alternately drift
ing and rowing for 20
hours.
Francisco Nogueira of
Sao Paulo, Brazil, said he
and Captain Jacob Bene
honde were ordered
aboard the sub by its com
moner and questioned con
cerning the nature of the
cargo, where it was from,
and its destination. Crew
members said U. S. naval
planes were sighted ap
proaching while the sub
was still on the surface and
the sub immediately crash
dived.
_
Counter Attack
ing In Burma
Rangoon, Feb. 20 (AP)—
British and Indian defense
forces are counter attack
ing repeatedly in attempts
to hold the hard-pressed
line on the west bank of
the Bilin River, an army
[communique said. The war
| bulletin said “fierce fight
[ ing continued during the
' past 24 hours behind the
i Bilin River.”
i
jStimson Asserts
| Should Expect
' Attacks on Coasts
, Washington, Feb. 19 (AP)
— War Secretary Stimson
said the nation should ex
; poet attacks “all along our
coasts and other places”
like the raids made by sub
marines on the Nether
hinds Caribbean island of
-\ruba. He also urged, at a
! press conference, that the
country be prepared, also
that pressure is being ex
iled by “thoughtless per
son," to scatter the defense
i for< os to meet such at
tacks.. Victory will be won
ho declared, by massing
1 our forces and carrying the
i war to the enemy. lie gave
j assurances that urgenl pre
I parations are being made
1 now for an offensive.
Navy Issues
Lists Of Men
Taken Prisoner
Washington. Feb. 19 (AP)
— The Navy Dept, releas
a list of 1,010 Navy and
Marine Corps officers and
enlisted men, presumed
taken prisoner bv the Jap
anese at the Islands of
Wake and Guam, Pieping,
Tientsin and Shanghai. A1
i so released was the roster
of 1200 civilians employed
on defense construction
work on the two Pacific is
lands, also presumed as pri
soners of war.
I
Japs Nearing Australia, Troops
Land On Bali, ByPassing Java
UNDATED, Feb. 20 (AP) —• Tokyo headquarters
declared that Japaese naval planes sank a 6,000-ton
Australian auxiliary cruiser, two destroyers, a sub
chaser and nine transports in the air raids yesterday
on Darwin, on the north coast of Australia. In addi
tion, it declared, another destroyer was heavily dam
aged and 26 planes downed or destroyed on the ground.
Three hangars, two barracks and other establishments,
including naval headquarters, piers and government
offices were blasted or set afire.
In Batavia, with the invasion ol idyllic Bali Timor,
also according to an additional Tokyo claim, the Jap
anese isolated the United Nations forces at Java, if not
to by-pass that stronghold, for a direct attack on Aus
tralia. The waters around Bali were threshed by tor
pedoes, bombs and shells from warships and warplanes
as the United Nations closed in, in an apparently un
successful battle to bar the strong sea-borne invasion
forces from the gleaming beaches. The Bali defenders
are again exacting a heavy price for Japan’s attack,
but evidently it was not enough. Japanese landing
parties swarmed from transports and cut through the
surf in landing barges despite counter blows by Allied
air and surface craft and submarines. The defenders
scored direct bomb hits on one or more Japanese cruis
ers and three transports, and eight near misses on a
destroyer. According to an early communique by the
i United Nations, four Jap fighters were downed and
! all the defending air force returned to their base intact.
.laps Resume Offensive on Batan
Shelling, (lorregidor fortifications
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (AP) — The War Depart
ment reported that the Japanese, increasing the pres
sure on MacArthur’s lines on Batan Peninsula, and
troop movements indicated the resumption of the en
emy offensive. Several flame throwers, the commun
ique said, were captured along with three pieces of ar
tillery, in a relatively minor local action, along with
other Jap equipment.
Meanwhile Jap batteries on the south shore of Man
ila Bay, poured shells into Corregido’s strong fortifica
tions, “without accomplishing a great deal of damage.”
The fire was concentrated on outlying Fort Frank,
j southernmost fortification.
Tokyo claimed new gains in western Malaya 1) while Singapore admitted heavy
fighting on that front. Japapese-occupied Bangkok (2), Thailand capital, twice
was the target of Allied airmen in 24 hours. In the Philippines (3), U. S. forces
braced themselves for an all-out attack by massed Japanese forces. Penetraton o
f an enemy submarine to within 100 piiles of Tokyo (4) was disclosed by the Jap
anese announcecent of the torpedoing of a Japanese freighter off the Jap coast.