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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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VOL. 46.—No. 89. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JULY 31, 1944. PER COPY—15c
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Rommel Reported
Slain in Battle
Of Normandy
if: S. FIRSf ARMY IN'
FRANCE, July 31—CAP)—A'n
A^ftfenean staff officer said in
formation gathered from French
civilians coincided with reports
fitetn German prisoners that Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel died of
wcAinds received" on the Caen;
fiteht.
‘Details from French civilians,”
arttd the officer, “strengthened the
report of the German field mar
shal’s death, but it is not yet con
ardfcred certain.*
The officer said: “According to
prisoners’ reports, Rommel was
shot several times in the lungs
a strafing allied plane, and
then struck in tfrdhead when the
cat* in which he was riding turned
otter'.”
“Whether he is dead or not.
trtakes little difference," the offi
cer concluded. “With the wounds
he received, we can be pretty
damn certain he is not command*
! - ing any army."'
American Troons
Advance U Miles
In Normandy
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
OE THE ALLIED EXPEDITION
ARY FORCES • IN ENGLAND.
July 31.—<AP>—An American
oblnmm, bursting through the Ger.
mans' scrambled Seventh Army,
raced to Avaranches. 18 miles
beyond previously reported posi
tions and established a pivotal
line theatening to flank the en
tire German defense in wsetrn
France.
Avaranches is <50 miles .across
the Normandy Peninsula, from
the “D” Day beachheads. A firm
grip on the tpwn will permit the
Americans with powerful tank
columns, to swing around the
Germans toward Paris, 160 miles
a#ay' or to chop off the Brest
Peninsula, at any rate the allies
have thrown a 105-mlle arc across
the base of the Normandy Penin
sula, ready for a break into cen
tral France.
The situation, according to
qualified ■ observers, has immense
possibilities. The ring around
Avaranches traps another group
of Gefnians fighting arolmd Gran
ville and othef area’*! to the north.
SiriSe Tuesday last, 10,000 pris
oners have TMteif captured. Rent*
narttS of at leaift eight Nazi divi
sions ai*e bdfhg grbund up by the
AmerfcamwkH ma6hlrief
Meanwhile,' the Germans faced
another threat in the
gomery offensive with British afld
Canadian forces, which are mov
ing forward on’a seVeh'-mlle front
beginnWg at tCaunidnt' on Sunday
at dawn and have smashed for
ward to a depth ’of eight trifles at
•if e * center off the etietiips liiit,
^kihg the village^of Galet at the
peak of the spearhead,'add roll*
ing ’ over a dtfJferT otftfer hamlets
and towns in the a
• . •*
enGstrom iN tomvW
WlfH YOUNG SON
H. Engstrom arrived in town
from Basin Creek, where he has
located his headquarters for the
summer. Accompanying hftfi on
his trip for supplies was his small
son.'
Subscribe to Tfte "Nugget.'
^ ^ ® ^ P 5 ^ N O S MOKE — OVER PALA U— Smoke rises from Jap buildings and
ships as Navy carrier-based planes attack the enemy stronghold in the southwest Pacific.
3,000 American
Planes Bomb
Nazi Targets
LONDON, July 31.—<AP>—More
' than 3,000 American planes
struck the Munich area, and
French air fields, Rumanian oil
works in Bucharest and Ploesti
1
while 2,500 planes from Britain
were casting n$w destruction in
Germany and‘France, and another
force of more.than 500 struck ob
. jectives within 180 miles of the
Russian lines
Many hundreds of planes oper
ated tactically before the advanc
ing Americans and Britons in
Normandy, bfeisting areas behind
battle areas,; hitting rail yards,
and bridges as far south as Touls.
British Units
Score Successes
Against Robots' <
LONDON, july 31.—CAP)—Brit
ish anti-aircrift Hurits' and 'figtftgr
pildts scbted’ ^'successes kgafhst
• the sporadifc hlvos of robot bbrhbs
hurled at th southern England
and London area, but some of
| the bombs w*re breaking through
and causing considerable damage
j antt casualty.’
Much of London's population'
hide left thd city over the week
end, in spiteof the improved de-;
ferises.
Reported icidents included ro
bot bomb his on children’s play
grounds, a 1 M. C. A. building,
a hospital ad several houses.
RAF bomlers returned from
the Pas de Calais area on the
coast, where they struck the sup
ply depot a Watten, where the
Germans hsre constructed mas
sive concret emplacements be
lieved kri becohriected Vith their
new 'flylHg eh-lcn rocfcdftT
Nazis Hold Eighth
Army Through
I Counter Attacks
—
ROME, July 31.—(AP)—Coun
; teratt-acking at every opportun
ity, Nazi infantry and tanks held
the British Eighth Army at Bay
hills, five to seven miles south
of Florence, at a cost hardly like
ly to prove worthwhile to the
! enemy's depleting armies.
| The allied headquarters said ar
| tillery laid down a barrage in
; thundering curtains of fire, but
(the German units llfched back
from Florence's last defenses.
Along the Fifth Army front of
30 miles on the lower Amo river
big guns on both sides continued
to trade fire across the stream
with no indications that the
Amefleans had penetrated beyond
thesoutH&m limits of Pisa.
On the east coast of Italy, how
ever, Polish troops reported fifehV
ink ' in the* street** of SenlgilHa,1
abetlt^oNnile# brfoW Rimini, and
,9^ aftilne'mftfes froth tries m'Outli
of'thk'Po rivet
1*7 Jap Ships
Sunk IS Report
« »
WASHINGTON July 31.—TAP)
—The Navy announced today that*
submarines have sunk 17 more
Japanese vessels including one
destroyer escort vessel, raising
the total to 38, the number of
vessels reported by the ‘navy.
IN NOME FOR FEW
DAYS ON BUSINESS
John Hegness, oldtime Alaskan,
is in Nome for a few days, just
having returned from the Arctic,
where he has been assisting the
government oil surVy party, in
the' Pt. Bart-ow district.
Leaning Tower
Of Pisa Said
To Be Levelled
NEW YORK. July 31.—'AP>—
A Berlin broadcast to America as
1 serted that American artillery fire
: has leveled Italy’s leaning tower
I of Pisa. There was no allied con
I firmation of the report.
The Berlin announcement was
coupled to an assertion that there
were no military installations at,
or near the tower.
Allied dispatches last week stat
ed the Germans were using the
tower, the twelfth century tower,!
one of the original seven wonders!
of the’ world, as an observation
post.
; --_
Liberators Smash
Four Airdromes
At Sorong
j ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD
j QUARTERS ON NEW GUINEA,
i July 31.—(aH—Today, General
Douglas MacArthur reports that
some' of his Liberator bombers
smashed the four Japanese air
dromes at Sorong, on the north
west tip of Dutch New Guinea.
The heavy rain was aimed at
Moemi, Sagan, OtaMte and the
Utarom airstrips, almost nullify
ing the Japanese remaining air
strength on New Guinea.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Medium
bombers and strafed the east coast
of Halmahera Island, which lies
directly across the Halmahera Sea
from Sorong, and is in the path
of the Philippines, the major goal
of MacArthur’s forces.
The Halmahera attack followed
up the Thursday raid when al
lied planes shot down 15 Japan
ese planes over Halmahera, and
destroyed 30 more on the ground.
Wood Addresses
Nome Employers
“Oakies, Arkies and Brpoklyn
ites just don’t seem to find a use
ful nitch in Alaska, ’’said Peter
Wood, while addressing a group
of Nome’s citizens Friday eve
evening.
"But getting to the problem
before us, we must make every
I effort to finish the job this year,”
• he said.
In explaining the part played
by the War Labor Board, Wood
said the Alaska division is com
posed almost 100 per cent of
Alaskans at least some of them
*
I have been here more than two
years.
Employers are given a break in
preference to the employee, in- j
%s much as he has more head
j aches than the laboring man.
We must see farther ahead and
j plan to take the unemployment
situation which will in the very
! near future be upon us, in good
! stride.
Many wdl find themselves out
I of a job, and should now make the
| necessary preparations to keep
i themselves employed in some per
; manent job.
j Steady workers will find they
j will have the advantage over
! those who periodically take time,
off for drinking or other unnec
essary excuses.
Mr. Wood, northwestern Alaska
I director, opened the meeting to
discussions, which led far from
j the questions at hand, but were
for the most part interesting.
The department will aid and as
j sist both the employer and em
ployee.
War Planes Put j
Guam Airdrome j
Into Condition
U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD
QUARTERS AT PEARL HAR
BOR, July 31,—<AP>—American
warplanes put Guam’s Orote Pen-i
insula airfield into operation to-1
day, and American warships are
anchored in Apra harbor, the
one-time U. S. Pacific stronghold
on the route to the Orient.
The stars stripes flying over
many places on Guam, took on the'
semblance of former American oc-'
cupancy.
“Our ships are now using Apra!
harbor on the west coast of Guam,
the site of the former naval base,”
said Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,
in a communique, “and several of
our aircraft hav$ landed and taken
off the Orote Peninsula air-strip.”
On Tinian Island, the commun
ique reports, the U. S. marines
have captured Tinian, and swept
ahead to bottle the Japanese de
fenders of the island into the south
ern end of the island, 'where re
sistance is increasing, ftl the Amer
icans are forcing the several
thousand Jap troops into the ever
smaller pocket.
The’restoration Of Guam's Apra
harbor to American control means
a sort of' home-coming for hun
dreds of naval officers^ and enlist
ed men from the warships an
chored in the harbor.
Many recounted the occasions
when in Apra, while the rest went
ashore at Agana, the capital, for
relaxation.
ATG EVENS
Regular meeting of the Alaska
Territorial Guard Tuesday eve
ning at 1900 hours.
• ' ' ' '
Russians At Gates
Of Famed Capital
Of Poland
— ■■■ i ■ »■
LONDON, July 31.—(AP>—Ger
; man broadcasts indicated today
that the Russians were at Warsaw,
ana had previously taken Kaunas,
i after a fateful Sunday in which
other Soviet forces stormed Severn,
I miles inside the Suwalki triangle
j in East Prussia.
At Warsaw the radio report
I stated German troops prevented
! the Russian forces from break
j ing into the town proper.
A German commentator said
j the Soviet army had formed an
arc round one side of the city,
and that artillery was playing
havoc at an easy range, on its old
; spires.
The latest Moscow report plac
ed the army about 20 miles south
east of Poland’s capital.
An early fall of the city is ex
pected.
West of Kaunas the Germans
are throwing in fresh reserves in
an attempt to halt the Russian
push in East Prussia itself.
All long the 1,000-mile front
the Russians reported advances,
taking over 1140 populated local
■ ities. —
In the trapper area of Brest
Litovsk 2,000 Germans surrender
ed after 15 000 had been killed,
Moscow said.
Navy Announces
Drop In Subs
WASHINGTON, D C„ July 31.
—<AP>—Navy officials today an
nounced a cut-back in the subma
rine building program, indicating
the loss of fewer submersibles
than expected, and the need of
eight other types of ships and
weapons.
The number of undersea craft
in service now exceeds 200, the
Navy ’ said.
The need is for aircraft car
riers, cruisers and new-type as
sault ships, 40mm. guns and roc
kets and rocket-firing equipment,
for both planes and ships, also
high octane gasoline.
Transport Plane
Down In Crash
T
WASHINGTON, July 31.—CAP*
—The War Department announced
today that a C-54 transport plane
presumably went down Wednes
day between Iceland and New
foundland, with 26 aboard, includ
ing 15 army and three navy
stretcher cases.
The plane was enroute from
Scotland to Mitchell Field.
CAA ENGINEER TAKES
INITIAL SOLO FLIGHT
George Karabelnikoff, local
CAA resident airways engineer,
made his first solo flight July 25.
George has laeen helping construct
airports in this part of the coun
try for some time and now is
hoping to get some use out of his
labors by taking off and landing
on these same airports. George
soloed in the 75 horsepower Piper
Cruiser of Rainbow Skyways and
says that this is one case where,
if he makes a bumpy landing he
won’t be able to blame it on the
airport