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Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. “The News of The Day In Pictures” Member Of The Associated Press
THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 43. No. 81. NOME, ALASKA, Wednesday. Sept. 10, 1941 Per Copy is#
U. S. Freighter Sunk Near . .celand
‘Impending Rout Nazi Armies Already Discerned*
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Churchill Wants More Aid From American Navy
American-Owned Freighter Sessa
Torpedoed By Sub 300 Miles From
Iceland-Three Survivors Rescued
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 UP) —
The State Department reported
that 24 crew members, including
one American are “presumed to
be lost,” in the torpedoing of a
former Danish ship flying the
Panamanian fl.-.g, on August 17.
about 300 miles sou'hwest of Ice
land. The news of the sinking,
from which only three men sur
vived, came close at the heels
of the sinking of the American
freighter Steel Seafarer in Red
Sea waters by an aerial bomb.
British sources at Cairo blamed
a German bomber, based in
Greece.
The State Department an
nouncement said the navy picked
up three survivors from the
steamship Sessa, about 300 miles
southwest of Iceland. Her cargo
consisted of food stuffs, cereals,
and lumber intended for the gov
ernment of Iceland, but the ship
didn’t carry arms or implements
of war.
The State Department said
that even before the news of
the Sessa's sinking was heard,
it was apparent that the Steel
Seafarer incident had intensified
the crisis in relations between
the United States and Germany
over the issue of freedom of the
seas. The captain of the Steel
Seafarer and crew of 35 men
were reported officially safe.
There is a general expectation
that the President with use his
address to the nation Thursday
night, for a forceful declaration
of a policy of freedom of the
seas.
Torpedoed
And Shelled
WASHINGTON. Sept. 10 (JP)—
The State Department disclosed
that the American-owned freight
ed Sessa was both torpedoed and
shelled by a submarine, presum
ed to be German, without warn
ing, while enroute to Iceland
from the United States. The
Sessa, according to statements of
three survivors picked up by the
American destroyer Lansdale,
sank in two minutes after b^ing
torpedoed.
Forbids Industrial
Expansion Solely
For Civilian Needs
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (JP)—
Industrial expansion to meet
purely civilian demands, was
forbidden by the Supply and Al
locations Board, if the planned
expansion will require the use
of large quantities of material
critically needed for defense.
The policy was established in
temporary denial of a proposal
to expand the plant in Tennessee
of the Eastman Corporation, at
Kingsport, Tenn., manufacturer
or plastics board. It was said that j
there are a hundred similar ap-1
The State Department announc
ed that it was informed by the
Navy Department that the sur
vivors of the Sessa are: H. K.
Bjerrajaarad, chief mate, a Dan
ish subject: G. L. T. Ljunggren.
seaman, a Swedish subject: and
J. de Oliverira Correia, seaman,
a Portuguese citizen.
News of the Sessa came as
President Roosevelt worked on a
speech which informed parsons
said will demand that Germany
give a strict accounting for Am
erican iives and shipping lost at
sea because of Nazi operations.
U. S. Freighter
Sunk In Red Sea
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 UP) —
The State Department said it
was informed that the American
freighter Steel Seafarer, was
sunk by an airplane bomb in the
Rod Sea. on September 7th by an
unidentified plane. A1 members
of the crew were saved. The ship
was owned by the Isthmian
Steamship Company.
To Investigate
Railroad Dispute
HYDE PARK, Sept. 10 (JP) —
President Roosevelt ordered the
creation of a board to investigate
the facts in the dispute between
most of America’s railways and
their employees. The dispute
threatens to stop all rail opera
itcns at a time when vital de
defense materials are moving ov
er the lines. The personnel of a
five-man board will be announc
ed later.
Nine hundred thousand em
ployees of 14 non-operating un
ions set 6 p.m. tomorrow for
the strike of 350,000 workmen
of 5 operating brotherhoods who
voted to go out Monday.
The fact finding board has 30
days to report to the President
before the strike is effective. Un
der the Railway Labor Act, no
strike is effective until 30 days
after a report is filed.
FDR’s Represent
ative Confers Pope
VATICAN CITY, Sept. 10 (JP)
—Myron Taylor, President Roose
velt’s personal emissary to the
Vatican conferred for half an
hour with the Pope, within 24
hours after ending an air jour
ney from the United States, es
pecially for the meeting.
Save $2.00 by paying in ad
vance for your subscription.
plications on hand and no single
one can be properly graned until
it is known how much a strain
on scare materials is involved in
granting all of them”
Churchill Express
es Wish Greater
Aid from U.S. Navy
j i
—
LONDON. Sept. 9 UP) — Prime
| Minister Churchill, in a sweeping
; review of the war, expre-sed the
wish for “greater help" from the
American Navy and warned that
Hitler n ay come to “close quar
i ters” with the United Sts’es and
turn the who e Atlantic into one
vast war zone.
Addressing the House of Com
mons assembled for the first time
since August '6th, Churchill de
■ dared blunily that the battle of
the Atlantic is not yet won. with
tile implication that both Brit
ain and the United States arc |
ready for any Atlantic eventual-!
ities. In hi= statement, he said
“strong British and U. S. forces’’
in Iceland now include “some
very considerable United States!
and Brit.sh naval air forces.’’
Churchill gave the British peo
pie a somewhat cheering picture
•of the battle on the seas with the
! sudden increase of British suc
! cesses in the past two months,
but made it plain that a long
right is ahead.
He made only passing refer
ence to the Spitzbergen, Norweg
ian Arctic archipelago which Ai
ded forces raided to prevent its
coal going to Germany, but men
tion of tiie action brought loud
cheers. He said: “The Allied
front now runs in an immense
crescent from Spitzbergen, in
the Arctic Ocean, to Tobruk in
the western desert. Our section
of this front will be held by Brit
ish and empire armies, their
growing strength fed and equip
ped by ocean-borne supplies ■
from Britain, the United States,'
India and Australia. I'm glad to
say that adequate naval power
will be at hand in the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans to secure I
these sea routes against attack.”-!
Western Air Lines
x\mend Application
For Alaska Service
_
SALT LAKE CITY. Sept. 9 (IP)
—Western Air Lines have amend
d their application for the pro-j
posed Lethbridge to Alaska ser
vice. Thomas Murphy, District
Traffic Manager said the amend
ments are /now on flic with the
CAA at Washington and are for
changes of roue and schedule. •
As amended, the service will
fly from Lethbridge, Calgary, Ed j
monton and Grand Prairie,
thence to Juneau and Anchorage,
then shuttle services to Nome
and Fairbanks. This route elim
inates White Hourse, in the or
iginal application. Five flights a
week will be made in place of
three. These changes were made
to aid the Alaska Defense Com
mand.
The Treasury Department or
the Federal Reserve Banks will
hold your Defense Savings Bonds
for safekeeping free of charge.
Germans Admits Struggle Before
Leningrad Increasing In Violence
Russ Assert Rout Nazis Impending
UNDATED. Sept. 10 (/Pi — Ger
man military dispatches acknow
ledged that the bloody struggle
before Leningrad is increasing
in violence hour by hour, even
as the Russians declared official
ly that the “impending rout of
a'! German armies can already
be discerned.’'
An authorized Nazi spokesman
conceJ J too. that Leningrad is
still the outlet through the Ger
an-,Finnish siege ring across
Lake Ladoga, but insisted that
the million Red Army troops en
trenched in the o d Czar st cap
ital are doomed to early surrend
der or death.
Previously Hitler’s command
asserted that Leningrad was com
pletely cut off from the rest of
Russia. The Berlin spokesman
made an amendment today, how
ever. that the high command re
ferred only to the severing of
land communications. While the
Russians still held the eastern
•and northern coast territory of
Lake Ladoga, the Germans said
they have no adequate harbors
there from which to supply Len
ingrad. Moreover, the lake be-;
gins to freeze in October.
On the central front, the Ber
lin radio reported that “compet-!
ent” quarters said ihat the Ger-;
mans captured the key town of;
Vyazma. ICO miles west of Mos-1
cow and lying 90 miles east of
Smolensk, on the Napoleonic
highway to Moscow. Vyazma is
60 miles northeast of the Yelnya
sector where Red troops are re
ported pressing powerful counter
offensives at Smolensk.
German front line dispatches, j
; admitting that Leningrad’s de
fenders are putting up a terrific
battle, said the Rusians are “fir
ing from all barrels.” A Nazi
who rk-w over the lines describ
ed the area as an inferno of rifle,
machine gune and artillery fire.
Beth Moscow and Benin re
ported heavy rain storms drench
.r,g the nor.hern front.
Midway between Smolensk
and Kiev, the Russians reported
that Red troops routed the 29th
German infantry division, smash
ing an asault in the Gomel sec
tor and inflicting thousands of
casualties.
Russians Pursue
1O0.8OO Germans
Jr
MOSCOW, Sept. 9 (CP)— Soviet
armies^on the central front are
pursuing the broken remnants of
a German force of a hundred
thousand men, back westward to
ward Smolensk, having thrust
I the Nazis back 16 miles in two
| days and'recaptured 150 square
j miles of territory and 50 villag
| es, in a gigantic, continuing bat
! tie, official dispatches reported.
A comunique reported that
j within 10 days, Rumanians be
' seiging Odessa, :eft more than
20 000 dead at the approaches to
that Black Sea port. As the Red
navy leads daily sorties against
j the Germans and her allies, a
| big counter thrust on the central
front, however shone as the ros
; iest star in the Soviet horizon,
j Military observers expressed
Leningrad Plants Under
Continuous German Fire
BERLIN, Sept. 9 (/P) — Great
industrial plants, isolated in be
seiged Leningrad are under con
| tinuous German artillery fire,
i making operation impossible,
■ while Stuka and level bombers
add to the destruction in day and
night assaults, the authoritative
I Dienst Aus Deutschland said. A
I communique from Hitler’s head
I quarters said Leningrad and its
1 three mil ion two hundred thou
; sand population and extensive de
i fending forces, were cut off when
I “speed divisions of the German
I army, excellently supported by
j air force combat units, reached
; Neva, on the broad front, east of
j Leningrad.”
! -
Germans Decree State of
Civil Siege Around Oslo
OSLO. Norway, Sept. 10 (/P) —
A state of civil seigc on Oslo and
I surrounding districts was de
| creed by the German commis
I sloner of Norway, Joseph Ter
I boven. The step follows a sim
' ilar order covering certain Nor
1 vvegian coastal regions, put into
effect August 2, to deal with dis
turbances to public order and se
! curity. Then it was explained of
1 fieially that the move was a pre
cautionary step, taken because
the war had moved to a “decis
ive stage in Norway.”
Today’s decree as issued by or
[ der of German authorities, said
because of “criminal disturbanc
es of labor and peace” by Com
munist Marxist elements in re
cent days.
the belief that success might re
lieve the pressure on Leningrad,
J compelling the Nazis to with
draw some Of the troops from
the north sector to save the sag
ging lines in the center.
=?
PRIME MINISTER CHURCHILL VISITS ICELAND
O *,>
Accompanied by a U. S. Marine officer (left), Brit jh I’Time Minister Winston Churchill (knee-length
coat) ar.d Ensign Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., (center) salute the United States flag as they inspected
U. S. Marines during a recent visit to Iceland on Churchill’s return trip to England from his meet
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ing with President Roosevelt.