Oldest Newspaper in Alaska. 4*The News of The Day In Pictures** Member Of The Associated Press
THE NOME N UGGET
VOL. 44. No. 32. NOME. ALASKA, MONDAY, Mar. 16, 1942 Per Copy iu
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British Blast Island Near Turkey
Forestall Possible German Thrust
t
UNDATED, March 16 ( AP) — British warships and
planes, within the past 24 hours lashed out at the east
ernmost Mediterranean foothold of the Axis, the It
alian island of Rhodes, just off the Turkish coast. The
assault suggested British readiness for any spring
time move by the Axis to supplement the war in Rus
y si a by a southward stab at Turkey.
The most astonishing of the latest reports of the
war in Russia was Berlin’s bald admission that the
Red Army breached the German line on the central
front dur:ng a heavy snowstorm and “heavy defensive
fighting developed there.” That appeared in a special
communique by the Hitler command while the reg
ular comunique admitted that the Russians renewed
mass attacks against German forces on Kerch Penin
^ sula in the Crimea.
The common opinion of many war observers is that
if Hitler can’t get his promised offensive under way
in Russia he certainly will make a stab toward the
Caucasus through Turkey. In such an event, Rhodes
might readily serve as a forward base for a flanking
assault on Turkey’s Mediterranean shore.
Hitler Warns Germans Of
* Long, Hard Struggle Ahead
r7 rr
BERLIN, March 15 (AP) — Hitler soberly warned
the German people Sunday that a hard struggle lies be
fore us and tacitly admitted in an unheralded speech
That the Nazi drive of annihilation against the Russians
was postponed until summer. Until today, Hitler and
other speakers of the German propaganda office spoke
meaningly of the drive in the spring, but today he shun
ned reference to the spring season and thaws.
► He said “only today do we realize the full extent of
the preparations of our enemies, but whatever fate
may have in store for us, it can only be less onerous
than that which lies behind us.”
Australian Prime Minister Asserts
Australia Essential to Americas
f CANBERRA, March 13 (AP) — Saturday, Prime
Minister John Curtin warned the United States in a
broadcast that “Australia is the last bastion between
the West Coast of America and the Japanese. If Aus
tralia goes, the Americas are wide open.”
Stressing that an attack is the best defense, Curtin
asserted “I say to you that saving Australia is saving
the America’s west coast. If you believe anything to
the contrary, you believe yourself that the tide of war
flows badly for you in America. For us Australians,
it flows badly. Let me address you as comrades, It is
to the people of America that I am now speaking.”
President Asks Cooperation State
Governments Conserving Rubber
WASHINGTON, Mar. 14 (AP) — President Roose
velt wrote the State Governors asking them to aid in
conserving rubber, limiting the maximum speed of all
motor vehicles to forty miles an hour and requiring
frequent checking of tires for possible repair and re
treading. The White House announced that identical
letters were sent to the Governors of all States and
said the step “constitutes another important means
for federal and state cooperation in the war effort.”
63,700 Nazis Killed
Within a Month
Moscow, March 13 (AP)
** — Saturday, A special Rus
sian announcement listed
4,000 Germans killed on
the northwestern front in
15 days, making a grand to
tal of 63,700 Nazis official
ly reported slain between
Leningrad and Moscow
within a month.
Russians At
Approaches To
Kharkov
Moscow, March 15 (AP)
— Monday, Soviet forces
smashed through the Ger
man fortifications on the
Kharkov-Kursk-Orel front
below Moscow and recap
tured numerous villages
and are at the approaches
to Kharkov itself, the Pitts
burgh of the Ukraine, the
Russians reported. Indica
tions that the recapture of
Kharkov is imminent were
given last night in front
line dispatches.
Furious battles flamed in
the Ukraine and Donets
Basin where numerous
German captives were tak
en and hundreds killed.
Many junior officers were
said to have surrendered.
Reds Tighten
Neck of Trap
Moscow Front
London, March 14 (AP)
—The neck sack which the
Russians are drawing
around the Germans in the
Rzhev and Vyazma area of
the central front between
Moscow and Smolensk, is
growing steadily narrower!
a military commentator
said.
An unofficial Stockholm
report said the German
area-way for reinforce
ments or retreat has been
cut to 20 miles. At the peak
of the German offensive
last fall it was estimated
that there were between
600,000 and a million Ger
mans in the area.
Japs Attack
Port Moresby,
J
New Guinea
Sydney, March 13 (AP)
— Japanese fighters attack
ed Port Moresby, New
Guinea, with machine guns
today. A Port Moresby cor
respondent of the Sydney
Herald reported that plan
es also attacked at a point
60 miles to the west along
the coast, near Yold Island
Mission, and one member
of the RAF was wounded
during the attacks.
NOTICE
Now is the time to look over
! your job printing needs for the
spring and summer. The Nug
get Office will be glad to consult
with you as to your wants and
j prices on same.
Sentries Shoot
Absent-Minded
Boeing Workers
Seattle, March 14 (AP)—
Sentries shot two Boeing
workers when they absent
m'.ndedly drove their auto
through the barricade at
plant No. 2 at 3:30 a. m.
Jack Vandelaar, aged 42,
W o o d ingville mechanic,
the driver, was shot in the
neck, and George Smith,
aged 25. laborer, in the
back of the head, neither
seriously.
Five Officials
Die In Plane
Crash In China
Chungking, Mar. 15 (AP)
Five Americans, including
a member of the United
States military mission to
China, and a United States
economic adviser, together
with the chief of the Brit
ish military mission to
China, were among the 13
who died in the flaming
crash of a large Chinese
transport plane.
The dead are: Lieuten
ant Colonel Otto C. George
Dr. Fenmore B. Lynch,
Lieutenant Frank L. Koh
ler, pilot, Emil S. Scott, co
pilot, and Major General
Lancelot Dennys head of
the London military mis
sion.
• SOURDOUGH"
STATIONERY
\ 1 Nugget Office
United Nations Lose 12 Warships
Japanese l ose 8 In Battle for Java
WASHINGTON, March 14 (AP) — The Navy dis
closed that the United Nations lost 12 warships in a
furious sea battle at Java this month, against superio
enemy sea forces, but took a toll of 8 Jap warships.
The losses were to Dutch, British, Australian and U. S.
cruisers and destroyers which attempted on Feb. 27
to block the landing of Jap troop convoys. The action
occurred between the island and Soerbaja. The 13th
warship listed as "preusmed lost,” was reported
beached.
The Allied losses were made public in a joint British
admiralty and U. S. Navy Department communique
which listed Allied 'osses as: cruisers—U. S.. Houston
British, Exeter; Australian, Perth; Dutch. Java and
Dsruyter; destroyers —U. S., Pope; British, Electra,
Jupiter, Encounter. Stronghold; Dutch, Electra; also
the Australian sloop Yarda; and the British destroyer
Evertsen which was listed as beached.
The Jap losses according to early reports were: one
cruiser hit and burning; a cruiser sunk; a cruiser dam
aged; a destroyer sunk; a cruiser of the Mogani class
on lire and possibly sinking; and three destroyers afire
and sinking.
Russian Forces In Siberia Armed
And Reach For Japanese Attack
i ,
LONDON, March 16 (AP) — Russia’s well armed
Siberian forces and naval bases are ready for instant
action against Japanese attack which advices from
Chungking indicated might be launched in the near
future.
British reports said a dispatch from the Stockholm
Daily Mail said the Soviets “issued battle orders and
they can be put in instant operation.”
Vladivostok is across the Sea of Japan from the Jap
anese coast and Nikolaevsk is about 1.200 miles up the
Russian coast, at the mouth of Amur River opposite
the northern Russian-owned half of Sakhalin Island.
The Daily Mail quoted the Swedish press as report
ing that the Jap army in Manchukuo has been increas
ed to more than a mililon men. It was said that Soviet
authorities in the Swedish capital “laughed at even a
million Japanese constituting a serious menace to the
independent far eastern Soviet army, normally a mil
lion and a half men.”
CASUALTIES WERE SLIGHT BUT —
I
!
I Solemn postscript to tjie U. S. Navy’s crushing assault on the Jap bases in th*
!Marshall and Gilbert Islands was this burial at sea of one of the few casualties
i suffered in the surprise attack. (Paramount News Photo).