m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
* VOL. 47. No. 34. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1945. PEILCOPY-^igi
80,000 GERMANS
TO BE TRAPPED
IN SAARLAND
PARIS, March 19, —(/P>—■*Third
Army tanks shot to within 14
miles of Mainz and came within
45 miles of closing a trap with
the Seventh Army, on perhaps
80,000 Germans, who are making
a confused retreat from the rich
Saarland.
The famous Fourth Army Div
ision captured Sprendligen and
moved closest to Mainz
Patton’s Tenth armored divis
ion sprinted within 19 miles of
Kaiserlautern, the key base, while
the Seventh Army is progressing
up to six miles a day through
Siegfried line fortifications, with
in 26 miles of Kaiserlautern.
The Third Army captured Dil
linger, it’s great steel mills, and
crashed into St Wendei only 16
miles from the Seventh Army
fighting in the Zweibruecken area
where the meeting armies will trap
j all the Germans in the Saar
bruecken area.
The German retreat from the
area is so disorderly that tanks
;and self-propelled guns, and ar
tillery are being abandoned.
BRIDGE SPAN
| FALLS WITH 200
ARMY ENGIN’RS
WITH AMERICANS ACROSS
THE RHINE, Germany, March 19,
—f(/P)—The Ludendorf bridge,
^ whose central span collapsed sat
urdas, can be repaired and will
soon be in operation as a vital
life-line supporting the U. S. 1st.
Army operations east of the Rhine
Tiver, it was expressed by U. S.
Army officials who declared the
loss of the structure had not even
* temporarily affected the First Ar
my’s ability to hold it’s expanding
bridghead.
An American broadcast station
in Europe, recorded by Columbia
Broadcasting System, said the
“bridge collapsed with about 200
Army engineers working on the
central span, which fell to the
river about 70 feet below.; There
is no official report of the dead
and injured. .
The collapse is blamed on the
weakened main supporting gir
^ der, which had been weakened by
an enemy demolition charge be
fore the Americans captured the
span.
At about the same time the
bridge collapsed, 4 German offic
ers were executed for cowardice
* or negligence in permitting the
bridge to be siezed intact.
AACS OFFICERS
VISIT NOME
Col. Haskell E. Neal, Lt. Col.
Mason H. White, Major Philmore
L. Moen and Major William E.
Geyser visited Nome last week
and enjoyed a trip through the
city, escorted by Captain Ken
neth R. Higgins.
9
CELEBRATES
89th. BIRTHDAY
Robert (Bob) Ledgerwood, a
real oldtimer and sourdough,
celebrated hi* 89th birthday Sat
|9 urday March 17 th.
AIR TU \M«IV'■»'!’
CARGO PT Amfs
FLY TO BARROW
LADD FIELD, Fairbanks, Alaska,
March 19, —(JP)—Operating ithe
Navy’s and army’s globe-girdling
Air Transport Command, Army
officials announced that last month
it flew more than 200,000 pounds
of bulky cargo across the Arctic
Circle, to support the Navy’s oil
drilling project at Point Barrow.
The operation has established
two high-water marks, “it is the
most northernly such operation,
ever undertaken,” and “the am
ount of carge moved, outstripped
any similar undertaking.”
The round trip of more than
a thousand miles, “the Barrow
run, the pilots need every bit
of skill and experience they’ve
pncked up in the far north,” said
Brig. General Dale Gaffney, Com
manding officer of ATC’s Alaskan
Division.
A. POLET NAMED
ON TERR. BOARD
JUNEAU, March 19, SPECIAL
TO THE NUGGET—The Alaska
development Board bill, with
an appropriation of $120,000, Fri
day passed the House. The
f
Board will name it’s own man
ager.
The Board will probably con
sist of A. Polet, of Nome, Leslie
Nerlanr of Fairbanks, Wilbur
Western of Anchorage, and Jack
Talbot, of Ketchikan.
A bill for the Department of
Agriculture, creating a Commiss
ioner, with appropriations to $37.
500, was passed by the Senate.
Eagle bounties are now off, in
Alaska, as a Senate bill is ap
proved by the House.
Quick action was taken by the
Senate on the House Memorial,
asking Congress not to pass the
Bill presented by Rep. Case of
South Dakota, for a non-quota
to Alaska, of Finn migrants, which
would ultimately lead to making
the Northland, a dumping ground
for European refugees. 1
TED LAW IS NEW
MANAGER FOR '
ALASKA AIRLINE
Ted Law, formerly with Mid
Continent Airways Inc., will be
the new general manager for the
Alaska Airlines and will arrive
in Anchorage this week, according
to information received from a
company official.
Mr. Law has recently purchased
a substantial interest in the com
pany and has already made plans
for reducing fares, Increasing ser
vice and extending the company’s
routes.
Confirming his interest in the
future of the company, he has
, wiggled a couple of DC-3’s out
of the surplus property commis
sion, which will be in operation
soon on the company’s routes.
Seattle, Minneapolis, Russia and
the Orient are in the planned
routes for the post-war.
POPE URGES
END IDOLATRY
ROME, Italy, March 19, —(lP)—
The Pope yesterday urged the
end of idolatry of absolute nat
ionalism, pride of race or blood
and the desire for hegemony in
the possessiion of worldly goods,
as an important step toward last
ing peace.
The pontiff, speaking before'
thousands of Italians massed in
St Peter’s Square, directed his
appeal particularly to “those who
allowed themselves to be seduced
by advocate of violence”, those
thoughtless followers, who he said
“are now beginning to reawaken
from their ceception in constern
ation, seeing what their docile
servility led them.”
The Pope warned that stability
could only be guaranteed if re
conciliation was carried out faith
fully and with broad mindedness.
The first Marines, recruited in
Philadelphia in 1775, were paid
$6 a month and given a daily ra
tion of rum.
RUSSIAN ARMY
98 MILES FROM
VIENNA
' ■■■■■■
LONDON, March 19,—<£>)—'The
new Russian offensive in Hun
gary has advanced to within 98
miles of Vienna, the German com
mand said.
In southern Silesia, the First
Ukrainian Army under Marshal
Konev, made gains up to 15 miles
reaching the area of Neustadt,
less than 3 miles from the border
j of Czechoslovakia, and attacked
'both sides of Neisse, 15 miles
to the northwest. The German^
said Neustadt was 57 miles south
east of besieged Breslau.
In the north Marshal Zhukov
wheeled his Russian divisions
westward from his operations a
round the capital, to Kolberg on
the Baltic Sea, adding impetus
tothe battle for Stettin.
Kolberg is now in Russian
hands.
ANOTHER
OLDTIMER
PASSES ON
A. Domingos, who was taken
to the hospital with a stroke last i
week, died quietly in his sleep
on Sunday.
He was one old pioneer who
has taken a great pride in the
| fact that he could date his arrival j
in Nome farther back than any |
other person in Nome. He pass- J
ed through the country before,
Nome existed, enroute to the Ko
buk, seeking for a mother-lode of
gold, which in theory was sup
posed to be there.
Domingos has lived almost con
tinuously in Nome except when
on his tin mining claims at Tin
City, about 130 miles north of
Nome.
He will be missed by many,
as a familiar figure around town,
and a typical old seaman of sail
ing ship days. He shipped out
from the Azores as a very young
boy, and to the time of his death
knew of no living relatives.
PLANES SWEEP
SOUTHERN J AP
ISLANDS
By Elmont Waite
USPFH, Guam, March 19(y<P)—
Hundreds of American planes
from the world’s mightiest task
force swept vital targets on the
enemy’s main southern island of
Kyushu yesterday, in a devastat
ing attack.
The carrier planes attacked
bases and installations on Kyushu
but Tokyo claimed that Shikoku
an island off southern Honshu
was also raided.
The 8-hour carrier raid came
just before more than 300 super
fortresses dropped more than 2000
tons of incendiary bombs on Nag
oya.