Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. **Tlie News of the Day In Pictures” Member of I lie Associated Press
' THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 44. No. 86. NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY. JUNE 26, 1942 Per Copy ms#
German Drive Pushes Soviets Back
Eyewitnesses Dutch Harbor Raid Arrive In Seattle
Eyewitnesses Report on Dutch Harbor
Arriving In Seattle on Army Transport
Gallant Gunners Lay Deadly Screen of Anti-Aircraft
Fire About Jap Raiding Planes
SEATTLE, June 25 (AP) — In the first dramatic
eyewitness report on what happened at Dutch Har
bor, evacuees and seamen told upon arrival here on a
transport, how the Jap air attack at 5:45 a.m. June
3rd caught the civilians by surprise and how gallant
gunners on ship and ashore laid a deadly screen of
anti aircraft fire about the raiding planes. While Army
and Navy men manned anti-aircraft guns, some of the
ship’s crew snatched up rifles and blazed away at the
dive bombers.
Number Jap Planes Downed Not Announced
The lifting veil of Aleutian fog andmilitary restric
tions revealed for the,first time that the commander
of the Dutch Harbor naval base issued commendation
for the courageous duty, under fire, by the Army g-ans
port’s crew of gunners. How many Jap planes down
ed was never officially announced and reports brought
by witnesses of the raids failed to clarify the point.
Major Fletcher of Unalaska said applications were
made for 35 death certificates after the day’s bombing,
r Service men aboard the ship were tight lipped about
what damage was done at Dutch Harbor but several
of them sajd “The damage was light, considering.” !
“Considering what?” interviewers pressed an Army
corporal.
98 Evacuees Aboard Ship
“Considering no matter how long you have been
warned and have been expecting a raid, there’s bound 1
to be some surprise when they finally do come over j
in force. No matter how much stuff you toss at them,
some of them are bound to get through." The corporal
declined to identify himself, but acted at spokesman
for the half dozen walking wounded, included among
a passenger list of 98 from Dutch Harbor. There were
17 women and 18 child evacuees.
The corporal continued “It was hot stuff and we
were credited with knocking down 11 of their planes
Personally I didn’t see any planes fall. How many the
Navy got I don’t know, but, you know, when you’re
doing your job you don’t have time to watch around
l what the other fellow is doing.”
More Action In 2 Days Than In 7 months in France
C. W. Flack, aged 45, ship’s porter, said “I spent 7
months in France as an artillery man in the last war,
but I saw more action in two days at Dutch Harbor
than all those seven months.”
Major Fletcher is on his way to confer with the
Indian Bureau about the evacuation of the natives
“who are shaking like leaves.”
Knox Asserts Navy W ill Drive
Japs From Kiska and Other Islands
Establishments at Kiska Believed be Only Temporary
WASHINGTON, June 25 (AP)— Senator McNary
said he was assured by Secretary Knox that the pro
t tection of the western coastline will be “immediately
strengthened and enlarged.” Expressing concern about
Jap inroads in the Aleutians and shellings along the
Oregon and British Columbia coasts, McNary said he
urged on Knox the necessity of the protection of the
Pacific Coast states and Alaska against further Jap
aggression. McNary said that Knox told him that
the Navy is alert to the situation but thought the in
cident off the Oregon coast an isolated one.
McNary told Knox that unless the Japs are driven
out of the Aleutians and the northwestern coastal
waters promptly “we might cancel the advantages
\ gained by the Midway victory.”
The Senator said that Knox advised him, in the
Navy’s opinion, the Jap establishments at Kiska are
only temporary, intended as an observation post, and
that when the weather cleared an effort will be made
to drive them from Kiska and other island groups.
German Drive
Develops In Face
Red Resistance
_
Moscow, June 26 (AP) —
Against powerful R e d
Army resistance, the Ger
man offensive in the Uk
raine' developed into a re
inforced major drive. To
the east the Russians are
being furred back slowly,
by the sheer weight of
troops and tanks, past Kup
yansk on the Oskol river.
Dispatches said, after ab
andoning Kupyansk, 60
miles southeast of Khar
kov. the Russians repulsed
a series of fierce assaults
in which the Germans
tried with tanks and plan
es, to force a wedge into
the defense line.
Germans Encircle
Russians |
Berlin, June 26 ( AP) —I
German and Rumanian
troops, in an encirclement
maneuver, southeast of
Moscow, captured 21,000
Russians, a hundred tanks,
260 guns and quantities of1!
other weapons, the Ger-!
man command reported.
Canadian Boat
Survives Sub At
tack In Pacific
Ottawa, Canada. June 26
(AP)—The Canadian Navy
announced that a Canad
ian built merchant ship
was brought safely to a
west coast Canadian port
after a “determined at
tack” by a Japanese sub
marine. There was no loss
of life. The Navy gave no
details of the attacks be
cause of security reasons,
but said it occurred “off of
Canada’s west coast.”
Get Air Support
CHUNGKING. June 25 (/Pi —
With the force of its fighting
planes doubling, bomber and Am
erican Volunteer Group attacked
Hankow, Japan’s major inland
base in occupied China, and sank
one Jap warship and three trans
ports on the broad Yangtze river
there. An AVG communique an
nounced that other vessels were
probably damaged and military
establishments blown up Tues
day in the Flying TigeTs’ debut
over Hankow, Hupeh province,
China’s greatest interior city.
Coupled with this blow were
others in which Chinese airmen
also figured. There were reports
that Chinese troops, long with
out adequate air support, pushed
the Japs 12 miles back and re
captured Kweiks in the long har
I rowing battle for the Chekiang
i Kiangsi railway.
RAF Makes
Mighty Raid
On Port Bremen
London, June 26 CAP) —
Great fires were set by the
RAP' last night in the big
German port city of Bre
men, principal target of a
devastating assault, pro
bably the largest in the his
t.orv of aerial warare. In
dications are that the num
her of planes participating
exceeded the flights of 1130
and 1036 bombers which
! lid Cologne and Essen in
ruins on May 30 and June
1st.
Air ministry communi
ques told of one bomber
force of more than a thou
sand planes whose main
target was Bremen and re
ported intensive attacks on
air fields in the Low Coun
tries by a second force of
bombers and fighters. 52
planes are missing.
Axis Forces
About 100 Miles
Into Egypt
Cairo, June 26 (APi —
British headquarters an
nounced that leading ele- j
ments of Axis forces are
within 30 miles of Matruh
after advancing approxi
mately 100 miles into
Egypt. British covering
forces have engaged the
advancing enemy troops, a
communique said, but lat
er, that they had not yet
engaged the main body.
The British 8th Army is
reported drawn up before
Matruh for a decisive
stand with the main Axis
column moving along the
coast.
May Production
Figures Loom
WASHINGTON, June 26 UP)— |
President Roosevelt disclosed
that America’s mighty war effort '
in the single month of May, turn j
ed out nearly 4,000 planes and i
more than 1500 tanks.
Releasing official war produc
tion figures for the first time
since Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt as
serted that the U. S. also turn
ed out nearly 2,000 artillery and
anti-tank guns in May. These are
exclusive of anti-aircraft guns
and those to be mounted in tanks
He said he released the figures
because they are going to give
the opposite of “aid and com
fort’’ to the Axis.
"
Stop Telephone Commun
ication non-Axis Countries
LONDON, June 25 (IP) — An
Exchange Telegraph dispatch
from Zurich said the German
command ordered all telephone
communication between German
and non-Axis countries stopped
until further notice.
' —— --mmj
Russia and Japan Near State of ^iar
^ itli Jap Sinking Ru ssian Freighter
MOSCOW, June 2G (AP) — A Jap submarine tor
pedoed and sank the 4,761-ton Russian freighter An
garstroi on May 1st, off the coast of Japan, the Soviet
government charged in its first mention of the sink
ing, which the Japanese blame upon the United States.
The Russian crew, now in Harbin, Manchuria, on
their way home, reported that two Japanese sub
marines came to the surface immediately after the
Angarstroi sank at a point 32 miles off the Japahese
coast. The submarines stayed with the survivors in
smali boats until another Russian vessel picked them
up.
Million Japs in Manchuria for Attack on Siberia
Relations between Russia and Japan, already tense
because of the ever present possibility of war between
those ancient enemies, became definite!', strained
when the Moscow radio definitely charged that a Jap
anese submarine sunk a Russian freighter
Private information in Chungking, that the Japanese
have a million troops in Manchuria for an attack on
Siberia next month, brought the shadowy threat of
hostilities much nearer to reality.
Russian Vessel Sinks Attacking Sub
Sydney, Australia, June 26 (AP) — Members of
the crew of a Russian freighter said their guns sank
an attacking submarine, presumably Japanese, which
ittacked their ship off the east Australia coast recently.
Tokyo Version Of Jap Landing
Barren Outpost Aleutian Islands
TOKYO. June 25, (AP) — From Tokyo broadcasts
Thursday — Tokyo newpapers published the first pic
tures of the Japanese landings on a sparsely populated
Aleutian island outpost today and printed with them,
the first detailed Japanese version of the attack, writ
ten by a Domei correspondent.
Ackowledged Only Barren Outpost
The occupied island was acknowledyed only “a bar
ren outpost of four barrack line buildings.” One pic
ture showed a Japanese naval party scanning the scene
of their landing in preparation for what was called
“the next offensive,” while in another, Japanese sol
diers are advancing aross the Aleutian tundra. Another
picture was of two bearded American prisoners.
Here in part is the naval correspondent’s version of
the action as broadcast by Tokyo:
“Questioning revealed that the two men, with eight
others, had been transferred to this island on Decem
ber of last year. Asked if they thought American
troops woud ever be sent to retake the island, they de
dared rather bitterly, ‘Hell, No.’
“When the landing party assembled at a newly im
provised shrine, only f> hours after first setting foot on
the island, it was learned that sounds of machine-gun
fire earlier had been Japanese guns fired into the air
in an attempt to get a rise out of the enemy. The party
had come upon a group of four buildings ablaze with
light and opened up with machine guns to draw the
enemy’s fire. However, no response coming, they en
tered the houses and the American soldiers stationed
there promptly fled, half drunk cups of coffee, still
hot, mutely testified to their hurried exit.
No Enemy Action on Third Day of Occupation
Even before the anchors were overside, building
materials for making the place livable and air defense
facilities were being unlimbered and almost overnight
the barren outpost took on the aspect of throbbing life.
Buildings are being constructed, roads laid out, and
anti-aircraft batteries set up for an expected visit
from Dutch Harbor.”
The account said, on the third day of occupation,
with no enemy action yet reported, the correspondent
visited the commander of the expedition offshore. “Of
fering sympathy to the correspondent for lack of more
colorful material, the officer said, ‘Though the enemy
did not show fight, did you get enough material?’ ”