Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. uTlie News Of The Day In Pictures’ Member Of I be Associated 1 ress
. THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 43. No. 8. NOME. ALASKA. FRIDAY, JAN. 17. 1941. Pric* ^ 1W
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Knox, Stimson Urge Lease-Lend Bill
Attack on British Carrier Described “7 Hours Hell”
Willkie To Leave For England Survey Weduesday
Nazi Dive Bombers Attack British
Mediterranean Fleet-Eye Witness
Said No Words Can Describe Assault
i
Italians List 15 British Craft, 13 Warships and Two
Merchantmen Sunk or Damaged by Axis Since Jan. 9
UNDATED, Jan. 16 (/P)—Brit-1
ish RAF bomb-rs pounded Wil-!
b-lmshaven naval base overnight
and smashed the new German
air base at Catania in Sicily, the j
springboard for the Nazi aeTial
offensive against the British Med
iterranean fleet. Even as the re
* ports were made of these* assaults 1
fibsh details emerged of “'the j
seven hours of hell” rained on i
the aircraft carrier Illustrious by
German dive bombers on Jan- i
uary 10.
^ Hitler’s command acknowledg- j
ed that 20 were kil.ed and 35
wounded in the RAF’s night
long assault on Wilhelmshaven.
Tire British described the raid as
"the heaviest and mast success
ful” in a series of forty attacks
on the port. RAF pilots said the
fires started at the naval station
w’ere so fierce and widespread
that they had difficulty in pick
ing out specific targets.
An Associated Press corr.s
pondent aboard the Illustrious re
^ ported that 40 to 50 Nazi planes
dropped a hundred thousand
pounds of high explosives and
many torpedoes, whose concus
sion he said shook the 23,000 ton
ship as a “cat shakes a rat.”
A British naval officer on the
Illustrious said “It is th.s- most
terrifying thing I ever seen. It
seemed like all the fires of hell
were kindling. The blast of a
thousand pound bomb is so crush
ing and so incredible that no
words can describe it.
Th, German planes which part
icipated in the attack were report
ed to have flown from a base at
Catania.
The Italian command declar
ed that the RAP night raiders
inflicted only minor damage on
Catania only several being kill
ed and a £ow wounded.
Still another success of the con
certed Axis aerial drive against
the British Mediterranean sea
power was reported in Rome by
the paper II Giarnaslj: D’ltalia
which declared that British air
craft carrier Eagle was hit recent
lv by an Italian plane which laun
ched a torpedo in the Mediterran
ean bewteen Tobruk. Libya and
the Isle- of Crete. Official and un
official Italian claims previously
listed 15 British craft, 13 war
ships and two merchantmen as
sunk or damaged by the Axis
aerial drive in the Mediterranean
since January 9.
Wilhelmshaven
Bombed By RAF,
• Shelled by Navy
UNDATED. Jan. 17 (&)— Brit
ish dive bombers roared across
the channel to pay a daylight vis
it to Nazi bases along the French
coast. Heavy exlosions were
heard soon after they disappear
ed in the mist shrouding the
Strait of Dover. The thrust fol
lowed intensive overnight as
saults by German “torch raiders”
who set a hundred fires in Bris
tol, one of the main ports of
9 entry for U. S. war supplies.
While RAF squadrons again
blasted the big German naval
base at Wilhelmshaven “in a high
ly successful” attack a second
smash was made at the Wilhelms
haven base by the British North
Sea fleet, in 24 hours, the 41st
since the war began.
NOTICE
^ January 22, 1941, has been de
signated as Registration Day for
the Territory of Alaska for Sel
ective Service.
All male persons who have
reached 21 years and who have
not reached their 36th birthday
are subject to registration.
Registration will take place in
the District Court Room, Federal
Building, Nome, between the
4 hours of 8 A. M. and 5 P. M. on
the above date.
S. David Mazen
R. Brousseau
A J. J. O’Leary
Registration Board
30 Or 40 Planes
Damaged By RAF
Raid on Catania
CAIRO, Jan. 16 — Between
-30 and 40 aircraft were either
burned or severely damag. d by
the British raid on Catania air
drome in Sicily Sunday night.
RAF pilots said Catania was be
lieved to the the base from which
German dive bombers operated
they attacked a British naval
unit .escorting merchant vessels
to Greece, on Friday.
“Cocktail
Card'’ Law
For Girls
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15—Girls
close to the 21-year-old border
line will show “cocktail cards”
when ordering a drink in Calif
ornia, if a proposal of the W. C.
T. U. is adopted. The age oertific
ate would make it impossible for
minors to be served alcohol, the
organization belfieves. It points
out that in the case of men, draft
! registration cards serve the pur
pose.
The proposal will be put be
fore the state legislature.
WTite to your friends and rela
ives on the ‘Outside’, using Sour
ough Stationery. They 11 get a big
sick out of it
_t ..._
Secretary of War Stimson
Wilikie To Leave
For England
Wednesday
NEW YOEK. Jan. 15 UP) —
Wendell Wil kie reveafd he is
1 aving by plane for England
Wednesday. He announced, his in
tentions of making a private sur
vcy of wartime events abroad.
He will be accompanied by Lan
don Thorne, a New York busi
nessman and John Cowles, Iowa
and Minnesota publisher.
Committee Ap
proves $909,000,
000 For Navy
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 UP) —
The House Naval Committee
gave its unanimous approval to
the urgent Naval request for au
thority to spend $909,000,000 for
400 relatively small new ships
and a vast expansion of ship
building and ordinance plants.
One-Third Italy’s
Forces In Albania
Are Disabled
—
UNDATED, Jan. 17 OP) — Dis
patches from the Albanian front
reported nr;w gains in the bitter
ly contested Tepeleni mountain
sector while the Greek press de
clared that one-third of Italy’s
j forces were knocked out of the
conflict. Italian Ipsses in the
campaign were estimated at 70,
000 killed, wounded, taken prison
er or sent back to Italy for frost
bite treatment.
HOPKINS IN ENGLAND
AS FDR’S ENVOY
LONDON, Jan. 12 — Harry L.
Hopkins, special representative
of President Roosevelt has arriv
ed in England. He came from
New York via Atlantic clipper to
Lisbon, Portugal.
Knox Testifies That In Event
Defeat Of British Fleet Axis
Navies Will Outnumber 1 S.
_
WASIPNGTON, Jan. 17 (/P) —
■Pivretary of tire Navy Knox, urg
'jng passage of President Roose
velt's lease-lend bill said that it
'was “In our best national defense
interests." He told the House For
feign Affairs Committee that th:
U i'.ed States Navy will be heav
ily utnumbered by the fleets of
|h • Axis powers if the British
seapower Is destroyed. Th; Navy
wi 1 probably commission a hun
died new fighting ships in the
next two years he said but dur
ing the same period "04 new
•units will be swelling th • Axis
forces.
The United States n:eds time
to perfect its defenses Knox said
, i , minding the committee that
! the two ocean navy construction
program now underway will take
six years to complete. “Only Brit
ain and its flert will g ve us that
'time and they need our help to
survive,”
Knox presented figures show
ing the U. S. fleet at 322 fighting
: ships n January 1, compared to
an . - .mated 653 in the navies of
G ri any, Italy and Japan. By
nex, January he said the figures
United States, will be 342
and of the Axis powers 803. On
. a: u?rj 1, 1943 the figures of the
J. S. w.li be 422 and of the
A w« rs 962.
I
II. S. Vulnerable To Invasion By
Air If British I leei Is Defeated
Is Opinion of Secretary Stimson
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 f/P) —
Secretary of War Stimson declar
cd "I think we ar. in very great
danger cf invasion by air if a
contingency of tiie British Navy
should be destroyed or surren
dered." The War Department
chief made the statement to th
House Foreign Affairs Commit
tee in response to an inquiry by
Representative Fish. Stimson pre
viously endorsed President Roo
v It's : . -lend b;ll to aid Brit
ain.
F -.',i started the questioning,!
asking whether the Secretary,
thought with this country’s nav-l
al strength any foreign nation1
cou d invade our shores. "Not.
now, probably n t” Stimson re
plied slowly. "Al any time this
year?" Fish press, d. “I wouldn’t |
dare say any time this year,” re-!
plied Stimson.
Dive Bombers
Attack Malta
UNDATED, Jan. 17 VP) — Brit
ish authorities at Malta, the is
land citadel in the Mediterranean
said ten Axis planes were shot
I
down in a tempestuous dive
bombing r:'d on the harbor of
the city yesterday. Three others
wer: damaged.
In contrast to the official Ger
man and Italian reports of the
attack the British said little dam I
. ge of military importance was
inflicted as British machine guns
•battered from rooftops and win
dows at the low flying raiders.
rr w ^rig^ .
Ambassador Leahy
Leahy Presents
Credentials To
Marshal Retain
VICHY, .Tan, 12 — The new
United States ambassador to
France. Admiral Leahy paid a
rail on Marshal Petain and had
a lengthy conversation with the
aged chief of state. Official quar
ters would say only that the talk
concerned the “general situa
tion.” Admiral Leahy presented
his credentials and also handed
the Marshal a p rsonal letter
from President Roosevelt.
Church Leader
Passes Away
NASHVILLE. Jan. 15 <;P> —
Horace Mellard DuBose, aged
82, r:tired bishop and southern
Methodist church leader for hall
a century, notably in the work
toward uniting the two branches
of Methodism died after two
/ears illness.
m,. i - M'ii'iiilrtiiaawrifn^frit^nf^ttnwftMfffyTi&Bpr. . ^ _ ...
Dwarfed by a battery of eight-inch guns Admiral William D. loihy, new ambassador to France*
vaves a farewell as he sailed from the naval operating base at Norfolk, Va., aboard the Cruiser Tus
caloosa for Lisbon, Portugal and thence to Vichy, ranee. With Admiral Leahy (left) are Mrs. Leahy
and Capt. L P Johnson (right) of the Tuscaloosa.