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THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 43. No. 44. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1941. Per Copy is*
German - Russian Relations Critical
35 Survivors of Robin Moor Arrive at Capetown
U.S. Orders Closing Of All German Consulates
ALLIES SLASH KEY DEFENSES
DAMASCUS-NAZI WARPLANES
OPENLY AID VICHY FRENCH
UNDATED, June 16 '(£>) — Brit,
ish and Free French columns are
reported to have slashed through |
the key defenses of Damascus1
and Beirut, leading the British I
to predict an early capitulation!
of both capitals.
Nazi warplanes are now openly
aiding the hard-pressed Vichy j
French forces and are reported!
to have sunk a light British cruis I
er and damaged a heavy cruiser!
off the Lebanese coast. The Gar-;
man command, making this claim1
also declared that Nazi air form-'
ations raided airports on the Brit
ish fortified island of Cyprus, 70 j
miles off the coast of Syria.
Vichy Defenders
J
Of Damascus
Thrown Back
UNDATED. June 14 f/P> — Brit
ish imperial and Free French
forces closed in on 4.000-year-old
Damascus at the end of the first
week of the campaign to take
Syria and Lebanon out of Vichy’s
control. Authoritative sources in:
London said the Vichy defenders
of the Syrian capital had aban
doned the town of Kissque, ten
miles away, and were flung back
close to the walls of the unforti
fied city.
Accuse Vichy Of
Fighting for Nazis
Secretary of State Hull sting
ingly accused Vichy of doing Ger
many’s fighting in Levant and by
the sharpness of his words, raised
the possiblity that the United
States might act soon to back up
her warnings against collabora
tion with Berlin. Among the pos
sibilities is a refusal for further
funds to the Vichy government,
from the approximately half a
billion French asserts, frozen in
the United States; or a breach in
diplomatic relations, opening the
way to recognize General De
Gaulle's Free French Committee.
French ambassador Gaston Henry
Kaye, voiced “surprising disap
pointment" over Hull’s statement.
British Start
Drive Axis
Out of Libya
«/
UNDATED, June 16 'W—Quiet
for weeks, the North African bat
tlefront flamed into action anew,
as British troops punched across
the frontier of Libya and attack
ed Axis forces in the Gambut sec
tor, west of Bardia, ten miles
from the Egyptian border.
In London it was indicated that
Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell, com
mander in chief of the British
Army of the Nile, may launch a
new offensive to wrest Libya
from the Axis.
The German command said 60
British tanks were destroyed in
a British attack in the Salum
area, on the Egyptian-Libyan,
border which collapsed under the
combined resistance of Axis
troops and warplanes.
The Briitsh said their forces
destroyed 12 Axis vessels in the
Gambut sector but other details
were lacking.
Mussolini’s command described
a battle raging on the Salum
front and asserted the British,
striking in force after several
days of patrol activity, were re
pulsed everywhere.
Hitler’s command credited the
Luftwaffe with shooting down 1.1
British planes and noted tersely
that fighting was still going on in
the Middle East.
“SOURDOUGH"
STATIONERY
At Nugget Office
Capture of Crete (2), Thasos, along with the is-lands of Samothrace and Lemnos (A), was regard
ed in London as the strategy which would enable the German to “leap-frog” into Dodocanese Is
lands (B), and place the Axis powers in position to move toward Alexandria and the Suez Canal (3),
or drivd on Syria (4), by-passing Turkey. Conquest of Syria would be the opening wedge toward the
rich oil fields of Iraq and Iran (3).
f "
35 SURVIVORS ROBIN MOOR
ARRIVE CAPETOWN FURTHER
DETAILS SINKING EXPECTED
UNDATED, June 16 iJP) — 35
survivors of the U. S. steamer
Robin Moor, reported sunk by a
German U-boat in the South At
lantic on May 21, arrived at Cape
town, South Africa, on a British
ship. Eleven cf the other surviv
ors of the 46 persons aboard Am
erica's first torpedo victim of the
war, previously arrived at Re
cife, Brazil. u
Further identification of the
Nazi sub was expected from the
survivors at Capetown, since the
group included the Chief Officer
of the Rcbn Moor who talked to
the sub's commander before the
.Robin Moor was sent to the bot
tom, torpedoed amidships and by
a barrage cf shells.
The passengers and crew said
they were given 30 minutes to
abandon ship.
WASHINGTON, June 14 f/P) —
Under Secretary of State Sum
ner Welles declared in a dis
cussion on Berlin statements, that
American “have never been im
pressed by what they regard as
a bluster of threats.”
He made the statement in re
ply to newspapermen’s queries
concerning the attitude of the
.United Slates on the German
spskesman’s threat that any ship
carrying contraband to England
ivculd be sunk. He said he would i
make no final statement until
the full facts of the sinking of
the Robin Moor have been receiv
ed. But known facts issued are
that the American merchantship.
in accordance with the tradition
al historical policy of this coun
try, was on the high seas en
g-aged in peaceful commerce,
when sunk in the middle of the
Atlantic, far from any combat
area.
Japan Endorses
Duce s Declaration
ROME, June 14 — It was
announced here that Japanese for
eign minister Matsuoka telegraph
ed Mussolini endorsing his decla
raton that Japan “would not re
man indifferent in the face of Am
erican aggression against the
Axis.”
Political circles in Rome also
said Croatia would sign the three
power pact, joining the other
southeastern European nations,
which are lined up with tire It
alian-German-Japanese treaty.
MAX SCHMELING PROMOTED,
AWARDED IRON CROSS
BERLIN, June 14 '(/P) — It was
announced here that Parachutists
Max Schmeling was promoted to
Sergeant and awarded the Iron
Cross, Second Class, for bravery
at Crete.
U. S. Orders
All German
Consulates Closed
WASHINGTON, June 16 i/P) —
The United States ordered the
closing of all German consulates
in this country and the removal
of all German nationals connect
ed with those agencies. Under
Secretary Sumner Welles made
the announcement after he hand
ed a note to an official of the
German embassy.
The order requires also the
closing the German Library of
Information, the Railway Tourist
Bureau, and the German Trans
ocean News Agency, before July
10. Welles asserted that it didn’t
imply a break in the diplomatic
relations with Germany and in no
way affected the German diplo
matic Staff at Washington. The
action was taken Welles stated,
because German consular officials
and other Nazi agencies have en
gaged in activities harmful to the
United States.
INDIANS IN ALASKA
TO GET HOSPITAL
WASHINGTON, June 13 —The
Senate and House conferees on
the Interior Department appro
priation bill retained the item of
$250,000 for an Indian Hospital in
Alaska.
Two other items were also re
tained, $50,000 for Alaska roads
and $34,000 for a study of herring
in waters of Alaska.
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
FOR THE NAVY
WASHINGTON, June — John
Dempsey, member of the Feder
al Maritime Commission told the
Senate committee investigating
the Defense program, that a num
ber of the commission’s new car
go vessels will be converted into
aircraft carriers for the Navy.
BIG BEN TICKS ON
•_ _ 9 > ;
:. ‘iwr*£
The face of Big Ben was blackened by the big Nazi air raid which
also chipped the Westminister clock tower where the historic time
piece is located. The hands of Big Ben were not stopped and it
continued to give the time. This photo was cabled from London.
GERMAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS
RAPIDLY APPROACH CRITICAL ‘
STAGE OVER NAZI DEMANDS
LONDON, June 16 {JP) — Re
liable foreign sources said that
German and Russian relations
are rapidly approaching a critical
stage where they must either be
cemented more closely in a pan
European economic scheme, or a
break to open hostility. The sit
uation, this source said, has aris
en from Germany’s pressure for
more oil, grain and ore from
Russia.
The conviction is that certain
Russian leaders have spread Ger
man influence, through the re
peated European victories, which
is endangering the Soviets’ own
ambitions to world power. Anti
German Russians were said to
have expressed the fear that if
German domination of the Bal
kans and the Black Sea is further
extended, it might reduce Russia
to a second-rate place among na
tions.
Russian diplomatic sources in
London however,refused to go be
yond insistence that “German
Russian relations will continue to
■be amicable.”
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Nations Playing
Came of Bluff
and Counterbluff
UNDATED, June 14 iff) —High
stakes in a contest of intemation
al bluff, with Hitler demanding
economic benefits in the Ukraine,
and Stalin playing a waiting
game and unwilling to fight, was
described by Swiss sources. Un
derlying the persistent reports
of Soviet-Nazi tension, the Jour
nal Degenive, which has authori
tative international contacts,
declared that Germany wanted
access to the Ukraine and the
right to direct the wartime pro
duction of the great breadbasket
of southwestern Russia. The
grain and cattle producing step
pes are twice as big as Texas and
Stalin is trying to dodge the de
mands. The Journal predicted
that Stalin would give in if nec
essary to avert a break with Ger
many. It was said he still en
visions “a general Communist
revolution with the ruins of Eu
rope prostrated by the horrors
of bombardments aind famine,”