<* Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. fc’Tlie News of The Dav In Pictures"* Memlier Of Hie Associated Press
THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 44. No. 59. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, MAY 18, 1942 ♦ Per Copy is*
.Decisive Stage of War Is Reached
Forest Fires Virtually Unchecked Interior Alaska
* —- - ———
Decisive Sta^e of War Is Readied
As Nazi Prinz Eugene Is Torpedoed
UNDATED, May 18 (AP* — A new decis;ve stage was
reached in the global war as indicated by word that the
expanding Russian offensive cut the German commun
ications in southern Russia; hints that the British are
preparing to open a second European front: and the
^ claim of Jap invaders that they were within four miles
of India's frontier.
Improving the United Nations’ position facing the
German dominated continent, a heavy blow was struck
at German sea power with the aerial torpedoing of
the 10,000-ton German cruiser Prinz Eugene off the
southern tip of Norway. The warship was “evidently
making its way back to a dockyard in Germany” when
attacked by the RAF yesterday. The British said that
apparently the Prinz Eugene was gravely damaged
although the British lacked a complete report.
The cruiser had taken refuge at Trondheim after its
Fehruary dash through the English Channel in com
pany with the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
The vessel was already damaged by a British sub.
The Germans, however, declared that the attack was
“ineffective,” crediting the cruiser escort with downing
7 fighters and 22 bombers or more than half the at
tacking formation.
4 The Germans said further that the British lost 52
planes yesterday in night actions against German na
val forces in occupied territories.
Reporting on the U-boat campaign, they said opera
tions off the east coast of the U. S., in the Caribbean,
and off Missippi and in the Gulf of Mexico, netted
the destruction of 17 more ships totalling 105,000 tons.
Travel by Private Citizens to Alaska
Virtually Prohibited by Army. INavv
SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 (Delayed) (AP) — Tra
. el by private citizens to Alaska, particularly depend
ent women and children were virtually forbidden by
Army and Navy authorities because of lack of trans
portation facilities and the “definite hazard involved.”
A statement of policy for such travel was issued by
the headquarters of the Western Defense Command
and the Fourth Army, because of the increasing num
^ her of applications by private citizens for permission
to go to Alaska. Wives and dependents of military per
sonnel, including civilian workers employed on mili
tary projects are forbidden to return to Alaska. Per
mission is granted to a few persons—actual bone fide
long-time residents.
Gasoline Rations For
Oregon. Washington
k i.
WASHINGTON, May 16— Gas
rationing will begin in the states
of Washington and Oregon on
June 1. This is the official an
nouncement of the Office of Price
Administration.
Approximately 700,000 auto
owners in the two states will reg
ister May 28 and May 29.
Cards of nonessential motor
ists will allow only 15 gallons
the first month until July 1.
* Seattle Is Given
Walk Notice Now
SEATTLE. May 16 — Lloyd
Graber, Seattle Transit System
Manager, warned today that
thousands of persons must walk
to work starting June 1 when
gas rationing becomes effective
unless employers immediately
wprk out a coordinated plan of
•daggering work hours.
Graber said the transit sys
tems trolleys, coaches and buss
es are operating now at 100 per
<*nt capacity at the peak hours
anc' <annot be assumed to pick
l,P hie additional load when
motorists have to lay up their
Crfis because of gas rationing.
U. S. Bombers
Destroy 13 Jap
Planes In Burma
London, May 15 (Delay
ed > (AP)—Saturday, Unit
ed States Army bombers
destroyed fifteen Japanese
planes Thursday in an at
tack in northern Burma or
the airdrome at Myitkvi
na, Reuters said in a New
Delhi dispatch.
Alaska Air Travel
Not Curtailed
SEATTLE. May If) Rober
O. Bulwinkel. of Pan America!
Airways, said today that his con
' pany’s service to Alaska wouh
not come under the program an
nounced yesterday of the arm;
drafting air lines for wartim
use.
Bulwinkel said that since th
! PAA service to Alaska is opera
j ed under a foreign air mail eon
, tract, the program does not af
| feet this service.
Sunday Driver
*
Disappears From
Eastern Seaboard
Undated. May 18 (AP)—
The Sunday driver all but
disappeared from the At
lantic seaboard yesterdlay
as the pinch of gas ration
ing was felt from Maine to
Florida. He might have
gone for a walk or used a
trolley or bus. or stayed at
home, but wherever he oc
cupied himself, he wasn’t
on the eastern highways.
Some effects of the first
Sunday under rationing
were: Church attendance
dropped in Philadelphia
and Albany, N. Y. Albany
Ga.. reported no accident
calls; street cars and buss
es were jammed and park
ing lots vacant.
Germans Occupy
Kerch hut Soviets
Drive Them Out
London, May 15 (Delay
ed) (AP) —Saturday. Ger
man troops occupied all
have the harbor area of the
city of Kerch at the east
ern end of the Crimea, but
a Russian counter attack
promptly drove them out,
Reuters said in a dispatch
from the German frontier.
U. S. Attack
Surprises Japs
At New Guinea
Allied Headquarters in
Australia, May 15 (Delay
ed) (AP)—Saturday. Mac
Arthur’s headquarters an
nounced that Allied planes
bombed a combined air
field, runway and build
ings at the Japanese base
at Lae, New Guinea, Fri
day. in a surprise attack
and left large fires in its
wake.
"America Assuming
Leadership Of
United Nations’
i
London, May 15 (Delay
ed) (AP) — Saturday,
Lord Beaverbrook’s Daily
11 Express said editorially
i that indications were that
“America is assuming the
leadership of the United
Nations.’’ Beaverbrook re
cently called for the open
ti ing of a second front in Eu
-! rope.
! Buy Defense Bonds and Stamps
Forest Fii *es
Rage Unchecked
Interior Alaska
Anchorage, May 16 (AP)
— W. J. McDonald, Dir
ector of the Alaska Fire
Control, said forest fires in
the Alaska interior are
burning thousand of acres
virtually unchecked. He
outlined specifically an un
estimated blaze in the
Clear Creek buttes, south
of the Tanana river, in the
Wood river country, un
reachable by either ferry
or planes. Also a thousand
acres are ablaae at Steel
Creek, 10 miles north of
Fairbanks; and 500 acres
near Ester, 8 miles west of
Fairbanks.
Ten thousand acres near
Eska, close to Chickaloon,
are threatening the coal
mines but are being fought
by 50 men, also numerous
miners. 4.000 acres in Ihe
King’s lake region near
Palmer, which thus far
has been confined bv a tri
angle of roads. None of the
blazes have been control
led thus far but only one
barn has been burned and
there have been no casual
ties.
Democratic Whip In
House Passes Away
Scranton, Pa., May 18
(AP> — U. S. Representa
tive Patrick Boland, aged
02, Democratic whip in
the House, died of a heart
attack at his home on the
eve of Pennsylvania's pri
mary election in which he
was seeking renomination
for his seventh term.
Gruening Suggests Gold Prospectors
Hunt For Strategic Minerals, Alaska
YVPB Awards $500,000 To Finance Prospecting
ANCHORAGE, May 16 (AP! — A new career for
sourdoughs in hunting mercury, tin and other strat
egic minerals was outlined by Gov. Gruening as his
answer to the problem of what will become of Alaska’s
old-time miners when gold mining comes to an ex
pected virtual halt next year, due to the war.
The Governor, speaking here, said the War Produc
tion Board is sending a representative to Alaska with
an award of $500,000 to finance a strategic metal hunt.
The Governor said he suggested the money be used for
the maintenance of present prospecting set-ups rather
than to import new men to search for metal. He said
he thought it easier to train the old gold hunting pros
peetoi to look for tin than to teach a tin expert how to
hunt for any metal in the wilds of the Alaska interior.
The Governor spoke during a week-long visit here
for meetings of the Territorial Board of Public Welfare
Hitler Claims Capture of Kerch But
Kharkov Appears Falling to Reds
Germans Paying Terrific Toll for Gains
UNDATED, May 16 (AP) — Hitler’s field head quar
ters asserted that German troops occupied the Crimean
town of Kerch, gateway to the Caucasus oil fields, but
a greater prize appeared falling within the grasp of the
Red Armies—the big Ukraine city of Kharkov. Un
confirmed reports said Marshal Timoshenko’s troops
have already battled their way into the northeast sub
urbs of the city, fighting the Germans in the streets.
Simulaneously a Stockholm dispatch said the Rus
sians, flanking Kharkov to the south, breached the Ger
man defenses at Lozovaya in a drive to cut the Nazi
j communications with the entire front south of that
point. A successful lunge there, at the imperial big
hydro-electric city of Dnieperopetrovsk will threaten
the whole German campaign in the Crimea and along
the Sea of Azov. Dispatches said the Germans are pay
ing a terrific toll.
The Germans held Kerch for two months last year
( without risking a thrust across the Kerch Strait, un
der the guns of the Soviet Black Sea fleet, in an at
tempt at the great oil fields.
JAPS CLAIM THEY ARE WITHIN 1 MILES INDIA'S BORDERS
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Today's news reports Jap claim to have driven within 4 miles of India’s frontier
with Burma. Destruction of 15 Jap planes in northern Burma were also reported.