Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. 64Ilie News Of Ilie Day In Pictures9 Member Of I be Associated I i css.
. THE "NOME NUGGET
* -
VOL. 42. No. 59. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, MAY 13, 1940 Price per copy is*
Greatest Battle in History is Nearing
Speculate on German Secret Weapon “Nerve Gas”
Pres. To Ask More Money For National Defense
* Roosevelt To Ask
More Money For
National Defense
WASHINGTON, May 13 UP) —
President Roosevelt plans to send
to Congress this week a recom
mendation for more money for
national defense. Secretary Ste-1
phan Early said no specific!
amount was decided on yet but
the President is holding a series,
of conferences with his defense
advisers starting today. There is,
already pending before Congress,
requests upward of two billion
dollars for defense requirements^
for the year starting July first.
It is conjectured that he will ask;
for half a billion more.
Neutrality Laws
To Apply To
Small Countries
...—
WASHINGTON, May 11 UP) —
President Roosevelt expanded
his previous neutrality proclama
tions to include Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg. In
a new proclamation he applied
the provisions of the neutrality
act to those countries as well as
the other belligerents. The Presi
dent sent a message to King Leo
pold of the Belgians that he and
the people of the United States
hoped that the “policies which
soek to dominate peaceful and in
dependent peoples through force
and military aggression may be
arrested.”
New British
War Cabinet
Has 5 Members
LONDON. May 11 {IP) — Brit
ain’s new prime minister Church
ill announced the formation of a
new war cabinet including Labor
party leaders Major Clement At
tlee and Arthur Greenwood. The
cabinet also includes Churchill’s
predecessor Neville Chamberlain
and Lord Halifax foreign secre
tary under Chamberlain.
The war cabinet contains only
five members and replaces the
old eight-man cabinet of Cham
berlain. The members are, pre
mier and minister of defense
Churchill, Lord President of the
council Chamberlain, Lord privy
seal Attlee, foreigrt secretary
Halifax and minister without
portfolio Greenwood.
RECORDS EARTHQUAKE
SHOCK PROBABLY AT
TOP OF ALEUTIANS
PHIDADELPHIA, May 11 (/Pi
— Officials of Franklin Institute
reported their seismograph regis
tered a slight quake at 6:06 a.m.
Pacific Standard Time. The cen
ter of the quake they said was
4,800 miles distant, "probably at
the tio of the Aleutian islands.”
NORWAY
*-"-*-*-railroads
Severe aerial bombardment figured in the Allied retreat in eastern
Norway. Germans, reported to have captured Roros, were apparent
ly hammering at the Allies wit ha two-headed drive along parallel
railroads at Tynset and Roros on one side and at Ringebu (3), forc
ing the enemy to retire. Narvik (1) again was the tagret of British
naval guns. At Steinkjer (2) Nazis were reported sealing the city
as an obstacle to a British advance southward on Trondheim.
Dutch Report All Airdromes
Re-captured From Germans
100 French Civilians Are Killed
UNDATED. May 11 UP)— Dutch
forces aided by British warplanes
shattered the German foothold in
Rotterdam it was announced in
London in a peak of action on the
second daj’ of the great conflict
loosed by the Nazi invasion of
the low countries. The Nether
lands foreign minister reported
that all airdromes which the Ger
mans seized yesterday in lightn
ing attacks by land and air were
recaptured as forces of western
Europe surged over the historic
battleground of the lowlands.
The Pope expressed messages
to King Leopold, Qeen Wilhelm
ina and Grand Duchess Charlotte
in a prayer that “this stern trial”
of their countries end in the re
storation of liberty and independ
ence. Myron Taylor, President
Roosevelt’s personal emissary to
the Holy See was among the dip
lomats who conferred with the
Pontiff.
While warplanes operated be
hind the front lines, German fli
ers dropped more parachute
troops in Belgium and bombed
Brussels twice. Indecisive fight
ing swept the two hundred-mile
front.
The French general staff said
French troops are “maintaining
our advance" in Luxembourg and
reoccupied outposts deserted yes
terday in the Moselle region
wh n the Germans hurled again
st them full divisions of from 15
to 15 thousand troops.
The German command, from
Hitler’s secret headquarters de
clared its forces are “on a swift
forward attack" after the penetra
tion of the Netherlands, Belgium
and Luxembourg. They claimed
three victories yesterday; the des
truction of between three and
four hundred enemy planes on
the ground, twenty three more in
air fights at a cost of eleven or
perhaps sixteen German planes;
damaging a British battleship
and one cruiser off Narvik Bay
by air bombs also sinking of two
merchants ships; and the sinking
of an enemy submarine and des
troyer.
The French reported a hundred
French civilians killed and
wounded by German air raids on
France. The Germans charged
that two civilians were killed last
night by Allied attacks in the
Ruhr region.
Churchill Predicts Many Cong
Months Of Suffering In Struggle
Greatest Battle History Nearing
UNDATED. May 13 (/P> — Thei
French war office disputed the an
nouncement made by Hitler on
the western front where the Kai
ser's army was blocked for more
than a week in 1919. The Frencli
said the only fort the Germans
seized so far in the Leige forti
fied zone is Eben Emael. The
French communique said "Every
where our convoys, troops and
war materials are moving for
ward with perfect regularity.”
Prime Minister Churchill told
the House of Commons, suddenly
i summoned to meet, that the con
t flict in the lowlands was l'apidly
approaching “one of the greatest
battles in history.” He warned
that there were “many, many
long months of suffering in the
struggle ahead.” The 'government
was given a unanimous 381 vote
of confidence.
^Jazi officials in Berlin predict
ed a “gigantic battle today.” They
said Germany would shoot ten
Allied prisoners for every Nazi
parachute soldier killed, in vio
lation of international law.
At Bern, neutral military at
taches speculated on Germany’s
new secret weapon which enabl
ed the Nazi forces to capture the
fort Eben Emael, a “nerve gas”
capable of penetrating regular
gas masks, rendering the victims
helpless but with no ill after ef
fects.
The French high command said
the Germans attacking both Hoi
land and Belgium redoubled
their violence. Authoritative Brit
ish sources said the main Ger
man onslaught was developing as
expected, in an attempt to drive
a wedge between the Belgium
and Dutch armies. The Germans
also claimed that most of north
ern Netherlands was in their
hands.
Seven hundred Allied children
arrived in London and long lines
of Belgian refugees from Liege
and Namur streamed through
Brussels.
AMSTERDAM, May 11 (/P> —
The Dutch general staff announc
ed that British and French troops
operating in conjunction with
Dutch forces stopped the German
advance at the front. German
bombs smashed into the .center
of Amsterdam killing an esti
mated twenty while stout de
fense troops on the eastern front
ier lines gave engineers time to
complete inundation, with a main
flood of the water defenses, cut
ting Holland in half. One bomb
fell three hundred yards from
the post office and demolished
dwellings in the vicinity of the
Dam Broad Plaza which is locat
ed in the gloomy royal palace
but is seldom used. Four German
planes were shot down in a bomb
ing attack on Amsterdam's air
port. South of the city bombs
started several small fires.
\\ ar Briefs
LONDON. May 11 (/PI—Author
itatlve sources said Allied forces
landed in the Netherlands West
Indies islands of Caracao and Ar
uba to prevent possible sabotage
by Germans.
Germans Gain Foothold
BRUSSELS, May 11 l/P> —Ger
man ti. ,ps supported by planes
and tan 1-3 in an attack on Maa
stright r gion gained a foothold
against the Belgian defensive Dos
itions. A Belgian war commun
ique reported that the Paris-Brus
sols Railway Express was attack
ed by machine guns from planes
near Mons. It was not known
whether anyone was injured.
Fort Eben Emael Falls to Nazis
BERLIN. May 11 (/P)—The Ger
man command anounced that Eb
en Emael. the strongest fort in
the defenses around Liege sur
rendered this afternoon. The com
mander and a thousand men also
gave up their arms. The cor -
mand said the fort controls the
crossing at Maas river and Albert
'
Canal at and west of Maastricht.
The Germans said they took the
fort yesterday.
Germans Land Behind Maginot
NEW YORK. May 11 (/P)—Ger
man parachute troops landed at
dawn behind the French Maginot
line and attempted a threat ag- j
ainst the rear fortifications. A
Berlin broadcast picked up by the
National Broadcasting System, i
stated, speaking English, the Ger
mans announced and asserted
that no mention of this activity
was made by the French.
Capture Dutch General and Staff
BERLIN, May 13 l/Py — The
DNB news agency reported one
of the German armies sweeping
into the lowlands captured 18,000
Dutch soldiers at one point and
at another in south Holland, a
Dutch general and his staff were
seized.
Shatter German Army Tunnel
BASEL. May 13 UP) —French
artillery and Allied air bombs
this afternoon shattered part of
the Istein railroad tunnel under
Germany's ‘Gibraltar of the
Rhine" and closed it to military
traffic. The shattered section was
vital to the army railroad in the
West Wall fortifications and sev
ered the connection in the direc
tion of Germany here.
Count 400 German Planes Down
PARIS. May 13 (JP) — Official
French compilation said the Ger
mans lost 400 airplanes in the
first three and a half days of
the invasion of Belgium, Nether
lands and Luxembourg.
♦Vest Indies Status Quo Assured
TOKYO, May 13 f/P) — Britain
and Holand both assured Japan
that they had no intention of al
tering the status quo of the Neth
erlands rich West Indies posses
sions.
Italy Calls Reservists
ROME, May 13 (JP) — In the
midst of a rising anti-Allied cam
paign Italy busily reinforced the
Littorio line of fortified positions
along the western Alpine front
ier facing France and called out
additional reservists to reinforce
the army of a million and a quar
ter.
j
Plentifully supplied with equipment, these German soldiers are
standing on the deck of a troop transport nearing Denmark. The
German-censored caption accompanying the picture gave no other
information
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