FHE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednsdav, Friday,
By The Nome Publishing Company, Nome. Alaska
Telephone Main 114 P. O. Box 518
Entered in the Post Office in Nome as 2nd Class Matter
Subscription Kales Payable In Advance
Delivered by carrier in Nome and Little Creek for $2.00 per month.
By mail, postage paid, outside of Nome & vicinity, $1.50 per month.
.tlKMBKK OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jap Tactics In Solomons Similar
To Hitler's In the Low Countries
WASHINGTON — Naval officers who have re
turned from the Pacific summarize the Japs’ tactics
as similar to those Hitler used on the land when he
first went into the Low Countries. It’s a combination
of air and surface sneak attacks.
Furthermore, the Japs have developed small air
bases all over the Pacific, so that almost every little
island is a stationary airplane carrier.
Meanwhile, the American Navy has been operat
ing on the old-fashioned rules of warfare, the equi
valent of the French tactics when they still put their
faith in the Maginot Line.
Naval officers back from the Solomons point out
that, if we could once get the Japs out in the old-fash
ioned line of battle, with all our battleships, cruisers,
carriers and destroyers operating as a unit, the enemy
would be l'cked. However, the Japs don’t fight in this
antiquated Battle of Jutland style. The last thing they
want i to face our fleet in full formation. Their tac
tics are to isolate small groups of American vessels,
pop them off before help can come, .thus gradually
whittle down the U. S. fleet.
First Solomon Defeat
For instance, when the Japs dodged into the
Solomons on the night of August 9 they had only two
cruisers and four destroyers. This was such an in
sign TL r.t force compared with the American armada
which lav guarding our transports that the U. S. com
mander never dreamed they would have the neive to
attack.
Yet they did it, and sank about three times their
weight. They did it by perfectly timed, perfectly exe
cuted strategy. Their airplane flares lit up Tulagi har
bor at exactly the right minute. Their ships closed in
on ours and opened fire at exactly the right minute.
It was their clockwork precision, plus nerve, plus our
stupidity, which caused our defeat.
In contrast, American senior officers are accus
tomed to operating with big fleets and according to
long established rules of warfare. Peacetime naval
maneuvers were largely a matter of routine. Every
body knew pretty well what the “enemy” fleet was
going to do; and if the “enemy” commander made an
unexpected move, frequently he was criticized among
his fellow officers.
Halsey's Attack
For instance, fiery Admiral William F. Halsey,
new commander of the fleet at the Solomons, once
commanded a destroyer squadron in peacetime naval
maneuvers and received an order to attack, simulat
ing battle conditions.
Halsey laid down a smoke screen and ordered his
destroyers full speed ahead, dashing among the “en
emy' cruisers. Later he was ordered up before a board
of inquiry on the grounds that he had needlessly risk
ed naval property bv dashing full speed through a
cruiser squadron. Before the proceedings started, Hal
sey was asked if he wanted an officer from the Judge
Advocate General’s office to defend him. He said he
would present his own defense. That defense was:
“I was ordered to attack. I attacked.”
After the first disastrous defeats in the Solomons.
Admiral Halsey was placed in command—it is hoped
not too late.
U. S. Soldiers—U. S. Farmers
Forthright Senator McNary comes from Oregon,
where the farmers have had a lot of trouble this year
getting men to pick their fruit and harvest their wheat.
So McNary wrote to Secretary of War Stimson i
pointing out that there were two Army cantonments
in Oregon, that it might be an excellent thing for the
nation’s food supply and for national cooperation gen
erally if some of the soldiers were given furloughs
and allowed to help Oregon farmers with their crops.
Secretary of War Stimson wrote back rather tart
ly that soldiers of the U. S. had to work at war, and
that the idea was preposterous.
A little later Senator McNary noticed newspaper
accounts of the way American soldiers in England had
taken time to help English farmers harvest crops. So
he wrote Stimson again.
“The work of our men in training for war must
be shot to pieces in England,” McNary said, “in view
of the fact that American soldiers are working in the
harvest fields.”
The Secretary of War replied a little lamely that
if American troops in England were working in the
harvest fields, they were doing it on their own time.
But he welcomed no more suggestions about helping
farmers here at home.
!
Mass Plan
Used For
Paratroops
Helena, Mont., Nov. —
The army is using mass
production to jump out of
airplanes and land the 1st
Special Service Force now
with both feet on the
ground—and guns blazing.
On an average of 300 sol
; diers bale out of transport
planes over Fort Harrison
1 every day, most of them
, making their first para
chute jumps.
The 1st Special Service
Force, composed of select
ed volunteers from both
j the Canadian and U. S.
armies, is the first interna
tional unit to be formed as
part of the American forc
es.
It is scheduled to receive
special training encompas
sing winter, desert and
mountain tactics as well as
the parachute curriculum.
Officers explained that
the parachute, for men of
the 1st Special Service
Force, is simply a means of
transportation and little
emphasis is placed upon
the niceties of the chutist’s
trade. The men don’t
learn to make any trick
jumps.
Packers Jump Too
“They just learn how to
step out of the plane, how
to guide themselves to
where they want to land,
and how to take up the
shock of landing,” an of
ficer explained.
Parachutes at Fort Harri
son are packed by profes
: sional packers who may
be required at times to
; pick one of their own ’chut
es at random and make a
jumo. Special Service men
don't need much condition
ing; they’re well toughen
ed up before they come
j here.
Some of them particular
1 ly the Canadians, already ,
| have seen overseas duty —
! ;n France, Egypt or the:
; Far East. And a few of the
| Americans are veterans of
Pearl Harbor.
j
During the preliminary
training the men are;
j taught to fall properly by
having them jump from
two. four and six - foot
heights. They learn to ab
; sorb the shock with both
feet and then roll over
: limply.
From wooden “mock
ups" for facsimile fuselag
j es, they learn how to step
| out the door of the trans- j
port, giving themselves a!
haif turn as they go. And
in swings simulating para
chute rigs, they learn to
control themselves in the
ail*.
Most of the men freely
admit they are frightened
before the first jump, but
there are surprisingly few
who balk at the door when
the time comes. Those who
do are simply told to step
! aside and let the next man
i go. They are never given
| another chance, but are im
mediately sent back to
their original outfit which
they left to join the para
chutists.
Carry an Extra Chute
Officers explain his prac-1
tice thus: “If a man can’t
jump the first time, he i
may not be able to when
the critical times comes, j
I
*■
AND SCHENLKY" |
r*NRICHF.D by whiskies from Pennsylvania. It’s The Taste |j||8
I—a the world’s largest reserve! it Takes 4 States to Make!
Schetljey R«en»e - a prized ikaUnd.d with Grain Neutral Spirits
blending achievement. Rich, Mpij
Both blend the best from Ken- **
lucky, Indiana, Maryland and
SCHENIEY RESERVE. The straight whiskies in this p it:tt n , 5 y, or mo-e old; 35 o straight wh-skey, 49% Grain Naj*nt
Spirits. 5% straight whisksy, $ yrs. old. 1S% straight whiskey, 6 yrs. old. 1S% straight whiskey, 7 yrs. old. SCHENIEY ROYAL
RESERVE. The straight whiskies in thie product ore *l/i or moi* yrs. aid; 40% straight whiskey, 40 % Grain Neutral Saints, 23%
straight whiskey, 6'/j yrs. old. 17% straight whiskey, 7 yrs. eld. loth 8LEN0E0 WHISKEY, 86 proof. Schenlsy Oilfillers Corp., N. Y. C.
It’s not a matter of being
‘yellow’, some men just
aren’t constituted for para
chute jumping.”
Each man, of course, car
ries an auxiliary para
chute in case the first one
doesn’t open. He is taught
to count,’ “one thousand
and one, one thousand and
two. one thousand and
three,” when he steps out
of the plane. If by the
end of the “one thousand
and three” the first para
chute hasn’t yanked him
up, it’s time to look for the
second ripcord.
The ’chutist doesn’t have
to worry about the rip
cord on the first umbrella.
That’s automatically taken
care of by a long cord at
tached inside the plane
which pulls the ’chute op
en at the right time and
then cuts loose.
First jumps are made
from an altitude of about
1,200 feet from a transport
plane cruising at a speed
of about 100 miles an hour.
Later the men will learn to
jump from lower altitudes.
— Old Papers For Sale —
At The Nurget Office
The Poor Cave Man
Had No Newspaper
To Advertise In.
But You Have ?! g
| Skin Can Show Type Of Blood
Some Persons Allergic to Plasma and Serum Types
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. — Dr. Milton Levine,
University of Minnesota medical school, has developed
skin tests to use in connection with plasma and serum
transfusions, in order tc determine the type of trans
fusion which may be administered safely to individ
ual nation's.
Levine believes his develpment will aid in saving
the lives of many wounded who formerly have died
because the plasma or serum used in a*transfusion
was a type unsuited to the individual.
Heretofore, it was believed all plasma and serum
from the four blood groups could be indiscriminately
administered in transfusions.
Bur Dr. Levine, in his experiments in the bac
i reriologv department, discovered that some persons
1 are aiergic to one or more of the plasma and serum
I types.
Test Takes 10 Minutes
Symptoms of a patient found sensitive to the
plasma or serum administered to him include head
| aches, dizziness, nausea, difficult breathing and in
some cases, shock, resulting in death, Dr. Levine said.
During six months research he found a simple
way of determining sensitivity or allergy to the plasma
and serum types by skin tests which require only ten
minutes for a positive or negative reaction.
If a bit of plasma or serum is injected under the
top layer of skin, and redness and swelling in the in
jected area results after 10 minutes that particular
plasma or serum is the wrong type, Dr. Levine said.
Tests must then be repeated with other groups,
he said, until the proper type is found.
Disproves Old Belief
Plasma is distinguished from serum as the liq
uid portion of human blood which has not clotted.
Serum is the liquid portion of clotted blood.
Dr. Levine’s development disproves a former con
ception that all types of plasma and serum were harm
less in transfusion. As a result of this belief the
“blood bank,” where all types were pooled, came into
being. However, Dr. Levine pointed out that even
plasma and serum pooled as in “blood banks,” may
be used in emergencies for a patient known to be sen
sitive to a certain type. This is possible because the
percentage of the harmful type administered to the
allergic patient in a transfusion would be extremely
small, he said.