The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 25, 1942, Page 1

CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY WASHINGTON, D. C: THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE OL. LVIIL, NO. 8967. LLIED AERIAL THRUSTS MADE ON JAPY “ALL THE NEW'S ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1942 \PRICE TEN CENTS e — Anti-Aircraft Guns Fired, Los Angeles Area CALIFORNIA | AREA FORCED T0 BLACKOUT Shells Thunder Out But for Why or af What Is Military Secret UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT | REPORTED TO BE SEEN No Bombs, However, Are Dropped, Nor No Planes Shot Down Early Today (BY ASSOCIATED PRESS) Anti-aircraft guns thundered over the metropolitan area of Los Angeles early today, for the first time since war has been declared, but hours later, what they were shooting at, remained a military secret. An unidentified object was re- ported seen moving slowly down the coast. Santa Monica and various other areas reported a balloon or air- plane was sighted. Some observers claimed they dis- tinctly had seen two planes over In San Prancisco the Western Defense Command announced no bombs were dropped and no planes (Continued on é;x_e_l’lv:le)— Malla: Axis Anfidole FomncnmNs of Malta include hidden anchorages and submarine bases, innumerable pillboxes and anti- aircraft guns between the big coastal batteries. Ancient used, as at Gibraltar, for storing munitions and supplies. site of seaplane base and navy yard, can house entire British fleet. " 74 FORT MADDALENA k.4 . X! f)\,'_fi/"/ !.1, '~ o ‘, UM TR 77 ET. S LUCIEN e MARA 7 o e (3 \BIRZEBBUGIAY £ A%\ = =] SUBMARINE AND E'f SEAPLANE BASE BARRACKS & MILITARY AIRFIELDS FORTIFICATIONS & BATTERIES -8 SEAPLANE gy’ SUBMARINE BASES \16 . BASES —e One of the things the Axis would like most to hold in a death grip is the little island of Malta, less than 100 square miles in extent yet one of the most bombed spots in the world. It sits across the main path of shipping in the war-ridden Mediterranean, 58 miles off Sicily, a perpetual thorn in the side of the line between Axis men and materials in Europe, and Axis armies in Africa. Today Germany and Italy reportedly are building up a great force in Sicily, perhaps for the purpose of storming the British-owned island fortress. But Britain has no intention of permitting it to become another Crete, hence is reinforcing the batteries and coastline defenses, building new secret anchorages and submarine bases, and overhauling the bomb-proof shelters and rock-tunnelled galleries where men, muni- ticns, food and guns are kept in readiness. Joe Brown, Comedian, fo | | rock-tunneled catacombs, far beneath the surface, are | | DEFENDERS, BATAN AREA KEEP ALERT | Engage in S'uccéssiul Sharp Encounters All Along \ Peninsula Front JAPANESE SUFFER TREMENDOUS LOSSES |Estimated tgflhirty Thou- sand Either Killed or Wounded, Campaign | WASHINGTON, Feb. 25—Small groups of Gen. Douglas MacAr- jthur's forces have been uniformly | | successful in aggressive local ac- | {tions as sharp encounters occurred |all along the Batan Peninsula line. This is the official communique is« sued this morning by the War De- partment. Heavy casualties have been suf-| fered in the Philippine campaign by Gen. Hommas's Fourteenth Army, It is estimated his losses | |are as high as 30,000 killed or| wounded. This is cited as contrib- | uting to the lag of the Japanese | otfensive against the American-, | Filipino defenders. It is said that the Japanese have| |buried over 2,000 killed in attempt- | {ed landings on the west coast and | %ulso in thrusts against the west-| {central section front. U. S. Money Barred | " Make Trip North; Brings 4 s [l % Bride for Army Officer - | rnae 1o y HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 25— - 3 Joe E. Brown, famous movie com- 0 edian, flew here yesterday to make ¥ a personal delivery of a bride. He i ek will escort Edith Richards to An- WASHINGTON — Agricultural | chorage, Alaska where she will be- advisers are urging the President come the bride of Lieut. Arthur to veto the Guayule Rubber Act|Reighle, former football player just passed by Congress giving .R' lush rubber bonanza to the Int national Rubber Company in Ari- zona and Southern California. By this act the government would Jease ‘lands, materials, and guayule seedlings from the International Rubbgr Company for $2,000,000 and at the end of 10 years would turn them back to the private company with all the improvements; and since it takes several years for rubber. plants to develop, the gov- ernment presumably would turn the rubber plantations back to the private company just about the time they become a thriving .and] profitable business. Even the contracts for synthetic‘ rubber ‘factories, being built through Jesse -Jones' loans, contain safe- guards for the government's future propgrty interests. Most - interesting thing as originally passed by the Sen- ate wefit quite far in safeguarding the puplic's interests. It provided that the government might “pur- chase” ‘the land from the Interna- tional Rubber Company and thus not be under obligation to return it after 10 years of improvement. The Senate bill also provided that the government might acquire the property by condemnation instead of having a maximum figure of $2,000,000 fixed. The Senate bill also provided that lands might be acquired in any part of the West- ern Hemisphere, thus letting Mex- ico in on the deal under the Good Neighbor Policy—a * country where| guayule already grows. HOWeVer,|qoq Hitler the vital ition when certain Southwest Congress-| B e men .got through with the hill in the House, it was purged of all these protective provisions and confined the Secretary of Agricul- ture to leasing the land and re-| linquishing it after 10 years of im- provement. Note—During the final Senate debate, Senator Downey of Cali- fornia stated that the emasculated \Gontinyed on Page Four) abovt.| this *Guayule Act is that the bill| with the -University of California at Los Angeles. Brown will re- main in Alaska for some time |and entertain the soldiers now sta- tioned there. { e FARM BILL REDS SMASH Sales Resirctions Must Allied Nations, the President said two of the most important needs .‘Roosevefiells Senate| erican foodstuffs is vital to the| ing the pending/ bill, which he | posal to restrict sales of govern- Soviet Russia the Russians announced today ini ' Not Be Imposed i NAZI FOR(ES ‘ WASHINGTON, Feb. 25—Presi- dent Roosevelt today stepped di- charged, represented “selfish in- terests” at a time when the very | ment-held stocks of farm commo- | dities would “do irreparable dam- MOSCOW, Feb. 25—An entire German army of 45000 men has| a special communique. The Sixteenth Nazi Army, en- i AI ST AR Av rectly into the Senate dispute over | existence of the country is at stake. Germans su"er one 0 | The letter, read at the opening age to the war effort and the farmers of the country. been shattered and 12,000 of the enemy killed in a smashing 10-day circled in the vital Staraya dis- trict in Russia, 140 miles south| . farm prices with a letter protest- Biggest Se'ba(ks in |of the Senate session, said the pro- Declaring the production of Am- Red army victory below Leningrad, of Leningrad, suffered one of the, jon Hitler's legions. | A tremendous amount of stores jand booty fell into Soviet hands in addition to enormous losses in at this time are livestock and oil production. Production in these fields would be impeded by the proposed re- strictions on the sale of corn, wheat ‘modity Credit Corporation, he de- clared. e men and material. The defeat| HE FoolED ’EM needed to protect his imperilled| yAGERSTOWN, Md, Feb. 25— ‘;I_orcesA Holding Staraya in Rus- A plant official approached a lab- Isia was the keystone to all his po- orer during a defense stamp drive {sitions on the northwestern front. p,¢ the laborer turned a cold TR ishoulder to requests that he buy Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson, director 5 stamp. of the fish and wildlife service,| «But 11l take a bond,” the work- estimates America’s annual con- man added. sumption of wild game and fish is “What denomination?” he was 4,623,000000 pounds and in an asked. “A $5,000 one will be about right” ke replied. He got it, emergency could be increased to 6,000,000,000 pounds, Gen, MacArthur reports that | since February 7 the Japanese had ! }{orb!dden the circulation of Unit- ed States currency in the occupied iareas of the Philippines. He said| | frequent reports indicated Filipino' hostility toward the invaders. | | In Batangas Province south of Manila, the communique said, a truck driver named Cueva deliber- ately drove his vehicle over a cliff, |killing himself and 11 Japanese soldiers who were passengers. | Thirteen other enemy soldiers| | were seriously injured. i It is understood the Japanese ’soughz scme one who knew the !roads of Batangas Province {o |drive a truck loaded with 24 Japa- |nese soldiers. Cueva, a truck driv- {er, volunteered for the task and n he came to a sharp turn he | deliberately pushed the accelera- Itor to the floor boards, plunging the truck and lcad over a cliff. | > — ROAD ROUTE IS FEASIBLE, SAYSREPORT {Army Inspector Refurns fo | Edmonton After Trip to Fort Nelson EDMONTON, Peb. 25—A spokes- {man for the United States Army | Commission returned to Edmonton today from an inspection tour of | most crushing defeats ever inflicted and other commodities by the Com- | Highway as far north as Fort Nel-| Nav A iine of United States warships pound through Pacific waters en the way to attack the Jap bases on r with a destroyer cutting a zig-zag be- Marshall and Gilbert islands. fore it. (Pathe News Photo)., Leaded with bombs for BIG SEATTLE FISHWHARF Many Sein_e—Nets Burn- In background is an aircraft carrie y Goes o“n‘_Warpth i Taking Oif o Make Naval History ‘Special Delivery” to Jap bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, a plane takes cff frem its earrier. The picture was made from the hangar deck of the carrier. (Paramount News Photo). FLAMES HIT - Weather Bureau Finds That Present War Is NIPPON'S INVADERS BLASTED American Planes Engage | Big Formation Over Java with Success THREE BIG ENEMY TRANSPORTS SUNK Tokyo Headquarters Admit | 26 Ships Sunk or Dam- aged in Eaft Indies WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — The War Department announces that seven American pursuit planes to- day intercepted a formation of nine Japanes bombers, protected by |14 fighting planes, over Jaba, shot |down one bomber and one fighter, |and turned the enemy craft back. l()Lhm- successful aerial thrusts are also reported but definite informa- tion is withheld until officially con- firmed. [ | | | the MORE ALLIED SUCCESSES UNDATED-—Allied warplanes, | blasting at Japan's seaborne invad- ers, are credited officially with | siriking” three big ememy transports 'in the critical battle in the Dutch |East Indles, while the Tokyo spokes- | man acknowledged that 26 Japa- nesg transports have been sunk or damaged to date in the Far Pa- | cifie, | The Japanese spokesmgn, Com- | mander Tashiro, of the Naval Press Section, saild the Japanese expect- ied even heavier losses because the | United Nations now have more than 1,000 planes in the war zone land from 40 to 50 submarines. Word of the new aerial counter punches of the Allies came at Tok- yo headquarters asserted in English | language propaganda broadcast thut ! the Japanese planes have delivered !a “mortal blow to the British and | Dutch air forces.” | Tokyo claims 68 Allled planes /based on Java Island, especially at the airdrome near Batavia, an airdrome near Bandoeng, were de- | stroyed. j The Allied headquarters admit the Japanese raided the two air- dromes but damage was slight The Japanese broadcast from | Tokyo also claims direct hits were !scored on an Allied light cruiser and also on two 3,000-ton mer- chant ships. i - - - | ENEMY SUBS - STRIKE EAST - COAST HARD Real Pain in the Neck rwoMore rankersare sent By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. 25—This bomber ferry services from Aus- tralia to Cairo depend upon them And from Alaska to Pensacola, the Down-Reported At- facks Reach 24 war is a bigger pain in the neck to the Weather Bureau than it is to most government departments. You'd think, since the bureau no longer has te hand the public more Loss Estimated Over $200,000 air training schools and military air bases need weather as it was never needed before. When armies and navies go out to battle these days, the weather is almost as important a factor as the supply lines or yhether the powder magazines are stocked. Hit- ler has proved that more than once and pernaps at last to his own un- | coing. | WES PALM ACH, Fiorida, | Feb. 25—Enemy submarines, strik- ing with destructive force at American shipping on the Atlantic coast, have torpedoed two more tankers with the probable loss of 12 of the crewmen, the Navy. re- veals. The torpedoings of the two tankers brought to 24 ships at- tacked off the coast of the United the proposed route for the Alaska| SEATTLE, Feb. 25—A spectacu- then a little quickie 12-hour fore- lar three-alarm fire last night cast (the regular daily forecasts | son. |destroyed two warehouses and used to be for 26 hours) and He said construction through Ed- damaged a third on Seattle’s deesn't go in any more trying to imontcn to the northern end on fained Fishermen’s Wharf near put out those “long-rangers”, that ithe Yukon River “is entirely feas- Ballard. it could take this war easy. ible.” Unofficial estimates placed the Whether the road is to be built damage at more than several hun- just the reverss is true. The ‘15 not within the province of the dred thousand dollars because weather Burea troubles started commission, however, the spokes- hundreds of seine nets were stored u jong time back when exchange man noted, saying its job primar- in the buildings. Fishermen said weather information from contin- ily was to see the route at first 'hand and repert to Washington whether the construction is pos- sible. % The Commission decided “no bar- riers exist,” he said, but added that if the road is started it will be a huge job, tie nets cost $4,000 each. The fishing boats were pulled to, safety, Firemen said they believe the blaze started from an explosion of gasoline used on the nets. ——————— BUY DEFENSE STAMPS ental Europe and other places was blacked out. But those were hal- cyon days compared to what Chief Francis W. Reichelderfer’s boys are up against now In the first place, the Navy from Iceland to Singapore counts heavily lon the weather forecasts, The But all of this wouldn't make 0 much difference. The United States' meteorologists are tops, can pandle that added responsiohiiy What does make a difference is that WITHOUT making the weath- States, according to Navy records. B e THEY DON'T MiND BOSTON, Feb, Braves 26—The er forecast public, the weat: er bureau has to take care of the are pretty bappy over the deal that SLCLes O, clvillan IDaueuies aad hmught them long-hitting Ernie activities that are keyed to the|Lombardi from the Reds—even though the Boston Park was the onlv one in which Lombardi failed to hit a homer last year, winds and the raind and the snows. (Continued ‘on ané ’l;lnree) 4 3