Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. "The News of the Dav In Pictures” Member of The Associated Preaa
THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 44. No. 135. NOME. ALASKA, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1942 Per Copy l*
Japs May Try Retake Guadalcanal
Russians Threaten German Positions In Stalingrad
Portend Japs, in Desperation, Attempt
To Recapture Guadalcanal at Any Cost
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (/P) — Apparent Jap desper
ation to regain, seemingly at any cost, the Gaudalcanal
air base in the Solomons, have driven U. S. Marines to
portend a new struggle for control of the strategic is
land. Striving to halt their mounting costly losses in
flicted on their air and navy strength by American plan
es operating from the base, the Japs, under cover of
darkness, enlarged their Guadalcanal forces but at a
further expense of 11 planes and damage to a heavy
cruiser. The landing of enemy reinforcements was re
ported by the Navy yesterday as accomplished on Oc
tober 3 and 4 and in so doing raised the total losses in
the two-months-old battle of the Solomons to 230 air
craft destroyed and 30 vessels sunk or damaged.
A Nipponese cruiser, accompanied by a force of de
stroyers, engaged in the landing operations, was spot
ted by Navy and Marine Corps dive bombers who
scored one hit on the vessel. The Navy reported that
while one U. S ship was downed, the crew was saved.
A force of Navy and Marine torpedo planes renewed
the attack at daybreak and found the cruiser still smok
king from the earlier bombing, and drove in two tor
pedoes. Meanwhile American pursuit planes bombed
and strafed enemy troops and supply dumps at Guad
alcanal.
Germans Desperately Fall Back On
rreneli Warfare to Halt Russians
MOSCOW. Oct. 7 (/P) — Marshal Timoshenko’s coun
ter drive between the Don and Volga bit deeper into
the north flank of the German wedge into Stalingrad,
Russian dispatches said, and the Germans are falling
back desperately to trench warfare in an attempt to
halt the onslaught and save their positions at Stalin
grad, whose fate hung in the balance.
The German hurled whole new divisions, fresh from
the march, into the bitter street fighting against the
outnumbered defenders who sagged before the impact
but surged back and held through the 44th day of the
siege.
Dispatches from the battlefront said, across the step
pes northwest of Stalingrad, the offensive is firmly in
Russian hands in a relief attack, increasing in scope,
against hastily dug German trench lines, studded with
half sunken tanks as strong points. At one point along
the line, the Russians reported killing 1200 Rumanian
troops and capuring others who tried to hold a small
village. In other sectors, the counter thrust is declared
gaining ground and improved the Russian position.
Russians Beat Off Assaults By 45,000
Germans as Winter's Approach is Felt
UNDATED, Oct. 6 (/P) — Russian troops are official
ly credited with beating off another sledge hammer as
sault by 45,000 Germans in the 43-day siege of Stalin
grad. crushing 22 separate attacks, while north of the
city, the Red Armies knifed deeper into the Nazi pro
tective barrier. Soviet dispatches said the Germans
failed to gain on any front in the past 24 hours.
Once again, as though to obscure the lack of success
in the main Stalingrad theater, Hitler’s headquarters ;
stressed the developments in the Caucasus where “a
progressive German attack” was described as wrest
ing height after height from the Russians. A Nazi com
munique said “In Stalingrad, the Germans attacked and
in embittered fighting made further advances north
west of the city and a second Soviet group was en
circled.
With cold nights beginning to set in, heralding the
early approach of winter, German prisoners are quoted
as saying that Nazi officers and troops are becoming
disturbed about the progress of the campaign. Izvestia
said, “The Germans are in a hurry, see time passing,
fear delay, and are fiercely rushing forward,” but in
stead of forcing the Rusisans to retreat, the invaders
are pictured as sacrificing appalling numbers of men
and machines. The headlong Nazi assaults in a north
west suburb alone are declared to have cost the beseig
ers 2,000 men killed.
Month of Combat in Aleutians Reveals
anadian Fivers Match for
. By William Worden
Headquarters Alaska Defense Command, Oct. 6, De
laved, (VP) — American fighter pilots who never sa\v
1 Jap planes in the air before September first, finished
' their first month of combat against the invaders with
the remarkable average of two enemy planes downed
| by every American. The last figure was revealed bv Col
Phineas Morrill, commanding all fighting units in the
Aleutians, and war details of the 30 days of combat,
strengthened the theory that United States and Can
adian pilots, when given any kind of an even break,
are mere than a match for the Japs.
Two pilots. First Lieut. Pat DeBerry of Austin, Tex.!
and Captain Arthur Rice of Farmington, Utah, lead the
list of successful airmen engaged in such out-of-the-or
dinary activities as chasing a company of Japs down a
Kiska hillside, and getting in a burst of machine gun
fire, forcing enemy airmen to jump from their burn
ing planes at 50-foot altitude.
Th .»two ended the month with two Jap planes credit
ed to each. DeBerry got his when most ofhis guns were
i overheated and only five shells were left in one remain
ing weapon. He'blasted two Jap fighter ships in a dog
fight then flew home with his guns empty.
Capt. Rice took part in the September 28 raid which
! strafed ships and ground troops so thoroughly, and he
drew the enemy’s anti-aircraft fire.
The pilots, to pass the time in the air, between dog
fights, sing the Jap words written to the tune of the
"Hu: Sut Song,” over the intercommunication radios.
Sixteen officers and men are believed lost in bomber
raids over Kiska early in the summer, and were award
ed the Purple Heart decoration by Maj. Gen. Buckner.
Making the raids despite bad weather, the man fail
ed to return to headquarters and it is unkown whether
they are dead or prisoners of war. Then men in one
ship, leading a flight of heavy bombers, attacked Jap
naval forces. The plane went over the target once but
was shot down on its second trip. The other ship was«
bomber with a six^man crew, sent on a photographic
mission of ground installations and enemy warships in
the vicinity of Kiska.
10.000 German
Refugees To Be
Sent to Athens
Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 5
<YP) — Greek sources said
10.000 German refugees
from the Rhineland areas
bombed by the RAF are ex
pected soon in Athens. Sev
eral Athens streets were de
dared evacuated on Ger
man orders to provide hous
ing.
Reliable Balkan sources
said German authorities in
Yugoslavia decreed t h e
death penalty for patriots,
who, bv showing lights,
have been guiding Ameri
can and British planes in
their flights over Yugosla
via to attack Axis-domin
ated territory.
Italians Claim Sink
33,000-ton U. S. Battleship
London, Oct. 6 (/P) —The
Rome radio broadcast a
special communique report
ing that an Italian sub put
4 torpedoes into the bow
of a U. S. battleship of the
33,000-ton Mississippi class
in the Atlantic, 330 miles
off Freetown, West Africa,
and the battleship w a s
“seen sinking.”
There was no confirm
ation from any other
Bombers Make
Almost Daily
Raids on Kiska
Washington. Oct. 5 (/P) —
The Navy said Army bomb
ers, operating from new
bases in the Aleutians, are
making almost daily raids
on the Japs at Kiska, and
Friday downed five enemy
seaplanes.
A communique said,
Thursday and Friday, a
large number of hits by
demolition and incendiary
bombs were scored on the j
enemy camp at Kiska and ;
the seaplane hangar there.!
Weather conditions permit1
ted frequent attack on Kis
ka and the “enemy is un
d e r continual fire.” A
photographic survey, the j
Navy added, disclosed that
two cargo ships damaged
by bombs in a previous at
tack were beached by the
Japs. The Navy now report
ed more than 38 Jap ships
sunk or damaged in the A1
eutians.
source, of this claim, and it
is not any indication that
U. S. battleships are operat
ing in that area. In Wash
ington, the Navy dept, said
it had no comment to make
on the claim.
First Jap Prisoners of War Reach
! Continental U. S., From Aleutians
A Pacific Northwest Port, Oct. 6 (Ah — Taken in na
val action in the Aleutians, five Japs were landed re
cently at a Pacific Northwest port and were whisked
away under guard to a previously prepared detention
spot, it became known. An official source confirmed
! that the prisoners were handed over to the Army by
the Navy after their capture. They are the first Jap pri
soners to arrive in the Pacific northwest and are believ
ed the first on the continental United States.
Behind their capture and arrival in the United States
lies the dramatic story of an engagement not yet of
ficially released, said the Seattle P-I, and added that
one of the five officers is believed to have been, at one
time, a Seattle resident.
The paper said ‘‘As they left the big gray ship and
stepped down the gangplank where the Provost Mar
shal's detail awaited them, the prisoners carefully
averted their faces from the shaft of light streaming
out of a nearby shed and walked with bowed heads the
length of the dock, under the curious scrutiny of Am
erican Army and Navy men, most of whom were see
ing the actual enemy for the first time.”
President Urges Americans Transform
New Buying Power into Giving Power
WASHINGTON. Oct. 5 (Ar) — Urging his fellow
Americans to transform some of their “New buying
power into giving power.” President Pros* .nit declar
ed tonight that donations to community and war chests
would “affirm before the world, our nation’s faith in
the inalienable right of every man to a life of freedom,
justice and decent security.” He spoke in a radio pro
gram launching community mobilization for human
needs.
He said: “Your giving will provide not alone strength
for our nation at war in a world of violence and greed
hut proof that the American people keep faith with
democracy, that we hold inviolate our belief in the
infinite worth of the individual human being.” He said
every successful community and war chest campaign
would be another step toward the ultimate victory of
human civilization.
I HUES BONDS—NOW !
Srw It nil Poster.—Now being displayed throughout the country is this
impelling poster pointing out the urgency of buying War bonds now lieforo
it is too li.te. This is part of the general War bond Campaign in which every
one is asked to invest at least 10 percent of his income in Vi ar Bonds. Illus
tration is by Laurence Beale ^iith.