The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 27, 1942, Page 1

- THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEW'S VOL. LVIIL, NO. 8969. ALL THE TIME™ JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1942 MLMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRI(I- I'bN CENTY e ALLIES SMASH AT SECOND JAP INVASION Nippon Forces Strike First Blows at India Java, LastIndi es Stronghold JAP BOMBERS REFINERY ON SEA LANE ' Bay of Bengal Supply Lines| Threatened in Far Western Thrust | Japanese bombers carried the war time, it was disclosed today. Alr {raids were made on the Andaman | Islands, athwart the shipping lanes m lin the Bay of Bengal. o) MACASSAR Banda Sea 7 The raids Tuesday and Thurs- | day are Japan’s farthest west blows ! struck to date. They were accom- panied by bombing and machine | gunning of Port Blair, principal town of the islands, which lie 350 | miles southwest of Rangoon be- | tween lower Burma and the tip of | India. i The intensified threat to a key |section of the empire’s lifeline and {one of the back door routes for seaborne supplies to Russia and ‘Chlna put the Japs within close |striking distance of the sea lanes [to_Calcutta. | India’s Chittagong district has been mentioned as port of suppnu | to Chungking over the new India- | North Burma route. EM. 1. POLLEY v Arafura Sea | AT €OuATOR : 2 3 11 Wide World Features Air power may capture Java, crescent-shaped center of the Netherlands East Indies, and only air power will save it from Japanese armies and flotillas that have pointed ever nearer since December 7. Similar to New York State in size and density of population (Java is the most densely populated land mass in the world) this 650-mile long island has only a few mountains, little jungle. All the rest is devoted to agricul- ture and on its tremendous rice and maize crops a Japanese invasion army -could grow fat. Four big civilian airports, 12 military ports, many dispersal air fields and many more secret airports form the center of Java's defenses. Good, hard-surface highways ringing the island and criss-crossing its interior were built to make the mmt of the Mghly mcchanm’d co!ohml Dutch army. Nippons Increase Pressu!e in Balan LAST NIGHT: Well Known Juneau Civic| Leader’s Death Is Mourned by All Juneau residents were shocked last night with the report of the sudden death of Ernest M. Polley, well-known Juneau resident and civ- ic leader for more than 40 years. Mr. Polley collapsed in the 20th Century Theater, shortly after act- | | | HITISLANDS NEW DELHI, India, Feb. 27 —! FORCES OF MacARTHUR Make Gains-Fighting Continues Light WASHINGTON, Feb. 27—Fighting front in the Philippines, the War Department announced this morn- ifig in the official communique. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces of Americans &nd Filipinos are to- day holding advanced positions rep- enting gajns ranging from six- nths to five miles. & i seececad U. S. FACES DEPRESSION Henderson Says War Is Lowering Level of “Living - ! NEW YORK, Feb. 27—Price Ad-|Hitler do ministrator Leon Henderson in a ‘U’d‘“fly radio speech last night said that ‘the level of living” in the United States will soon fall below the low-| est pgint that was reached in the| great depression, beecause the na- | tion's productive capacily is rh- voted to war. He said war production will cost, the nation more than 50 billion ;dullmx this year' and at least 75 billion next year. “In other wor said Henderson, “in 1942, as our contribution in the way of mer-| |chandise of death, we are prepnred to deliver a “greater quantity of goods than this entire nation had | to keep alive in 1932. that we stand today, staring at the griml prospect of inflation. “It means that the level of living within a few short months will be ing as master of ceremonies for the American Legion's patriotic pro-| |gram. He was 54 years old. His} * passing was attributed to a sud- !den heart attack. The death of Mr, Polley climaxed a | long career of civic and govern- mental work in Juneau and| throughout the Territory. He died while engaged in the type of work | | he loved best of all—that of serv-; |ing his country, his friends, his city, out of sheer goodness of heart. | |He was satisfied - with the know- | |ledge that he was helping others.| Mr. Polley was born on June 9, 1887. in South Boston, Massachu- |setts. He was educated’ at Win-| ichester High School in that state !and later took a correspondence | course in architecture from the In-‘ ternational Correspondence School. | Landing of Japanese reinforcements at Olongapo (1) was reported by the United States War Department il a communique indicating start of long expected assault in force against Gen. MacArthur’s lines in Batan. Japs again bombed refugee camp at Cabcaben (2) and artillery fire on U. 8. forts from Cavite coast (3) cflfidnud Enemy Sub Shellslsland ol Aruba {as a carpenter for the Alaska-Ju- (neau mine for 14 years prior to | 1018. In the summer of that year, {Mr. Polley volunteered his services to the army and was enlisted along with Homer G. Nordiing, now chief electrician at the mine. Both were |cent direct to. Camp Humphries, | | Virginia, and were assigned to thc‘ U S. Engineers Training Regiment. | |He was discharged in F‘ebrunry\ {1519, and returned to Juneau,| ishortly thereafter moving with hxs‘ family to Sitka. ! At Sitka, he assisted in the for-| mation of the American Legion Post | and was one of its first com- | manders, He was elected fo the| | Territorfal Legislature for the 1923 |session on the Repujilican ticket, rand returned to Juneau in thnt‘ year. He served as a Representa-| tive from the First Division. | On May 15, 1923, Mr. Polley was appointed Tax Collection Clerk for the Territory and served in that An eflq-y llhnnrlne, b protecting the Panama Callll, shelled the Dutch West Indies islang of Anlb. and torpedoed three tankers off the coast. An airview of the huge oil storage an I refining installations of the Lago Oil Transport Co., | and an affiliate of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, gt St. Nichcln, Aruba, which also was re- ported shelled, is shown, surer Walstein G. SmitH. Active Legionnaire Mr. Polley was paruculnrly active tconunued on Page Six) He came to Alaska as a youth in| the early 1900's and was employed | capacity for 12 years under Trea-| not much above the 1932 average, and that in 1943, we surely will fall below thnt of 1932.” Halch Hurt When Aufo Overturn ‘New Mexican Senator Suf-| fers Infernal Injuries in Highway Mishap | ALBUQUERQUE, Feb. 27. |Carl A. Hatch (D.-N. M.) was in- | jured internally, possibly seriously, when an automobile in which he was riding overturned on the high- | way about 80 miles bOULheBSl of here | today . W. R. Lovelace said examina- tlon disclosed Hatch sustained in- ternal back injuries. Hatch suffered from exposure be- cause he lay beside the road fo {almoét half an hour | arrived. The Senator was en route home to |Clovis from an Albuquerque flood | control hearing. The accident oc- curred when the car struck a stretch of new road and the dgiver appar- ently lost control of the wheel. Ay 20 W TR REBEKAHS' FIRST AIDERS IO MEH The Rebekahs Pirst Ald Class Wlll meet tonight at 7:30 o'clock. The | esennom will be held in the Odd Fellows’ Hall and’ all members of the class are requested to attend. ADVANCE American, fibbino Troops | P between light forces-on both sides | to Indian territory for the first|continued on the Batan Peninsula | (ONDITIONS It means| — Sen. | before help 'Guam Wake Isles Prisoners | Work for Japs | TOKYO, Feb. 27. — A broadcast | announced that 100 prisoners taken | from Guam and Wake islands by the Japs will be put to work today, reclaiming wastelands. | The announcement said they would work in groups of 80 for seven hours a day. Officers and non-commissioned officers will be \e‘(empted it was smwd NAZIS CAN BE BEATEN BY SUMMER jRussian Ambassador Lit- | vinoff Predicts Early Fall of Enemy NEW YORK, Feb. 27. Maxim | Litvinoff, Russian Ambassador to the Unitet States, speaking over the radio last night, declared Hitler | could “be destroyed by summer.” | He said that simultaneous offen- | sives on two or more separated | fronts would be necessary, and pre- ‘dlcted that this spring or summer wnuld see the making or breaking lm the German offensive and the Axis effort. “We should like our Allies and friends to see this as “clearly as * he said, “and act ac- AUSTRALIA AWAITING JAP THRUST {War Counul Meefs in Mel- bourne-Japs Capture New Britain Port MELBOURNE. Feb. 27. — The greatest war planning conference ever held in Australia today con- vened with the Commonwealth War Council meeting in secret session with high advisers of the Allied Nations to shape a new offensive strategy blsed on the possibility of\ | imminent Japanese attack on this continent. Laid before the meeting were plans on which the Australian and Allied strategists have been work- | lEGISlMURE OFALASKAIS GIVENBOOST Senate to Have 16 Mem- bers-House to Have 24 Members WASHINGTON, Feb. 27—The Senate has completed Cungres—‘ ' sional approval on H. R. 468 in- creasing the Alaska Territorial Leg- islature, The Alaska Senate will be in- creased from 8 to 16 members and the House of Representatives from 16 to 24 merbers. e - Japs lose ARMADA HIT BY RAIDERS IN SUMATRA 'Fleet Concentration Off Coast Is Target for U. S. Bombers BANDOENG, Feb. 7—Bombing planes of The Netherlands Fast Indies Allies, already successtil in smashing one Japanese invasion fleet off Java's eastern . today launched. an attack against the newly mustered enemy ada off the coast of Sumatra, west of this island’s fortress. A squadron of United Nation’s planes, possibly including American fortress type of bombers, raided the concentration of Japane shipping in waters near Bangka Island, just off Sumatra’s coast. The squadron encouniered strong | anti-aireraft fire but returned in- | tact, . On the homeward flight the 222 Ships In Pacific Box Score Credits United States with 74 Sinkings (By Associated Press) A tentative box score of the Pa-| cific war shows that at least 222 | Japanese ships have probably been | sunk or damaged since the wax' began. The totals are based on United Nations’ communiques, some of which- may have been duplicated, but some Australian and British victims have not been listed. The United States is credited with a score of 74 sunk, seven prnbably,‘ sunk and 33 damaged. Of the totals, one battleship was sunk, one probably sunk and two damaged; cruisers, eight sunk, four | probable, 20 damaged; destroyers, 13 sunk, three probable, five damaged; airplane carriers, one sunk, 'two probable, one damaged; submarines, six sunk, one probable, one dam- aged; transports, 56 sunk, 12 prob- able, 20 damaged. . | ultimate heavy offensive strokes as | well as guard for Australia’s shore. Even as the council met, forces of invaders poised on the outlying Aus- tralian territory, the islands of New | Guinea and New Britain. Australian aifmen continued their ! blows while the massing Japanese | raided and captured the New Britain | port of Rabaul last night, dive bomb- | ing ships, bundlnga and slrdromes ing for days. The plans were for Newflll »S Ambassador ‘By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. 27—Joseph | Stalin and other bigwigs of the | Russian government purportedly | \pro(cr to deal with diplomats of | the “straight - from - the - shoulder school of speaking’” On that score, the selection of | Admiral witliam H. (Bill) Standley las the new U. 8. ambassador to Moscow should turn out to the |Red’s liking. Standley is a 69- year-old sea dog who speaks with- out camouflage. Back in June, 1940, even be- fore the Nazis had finally crushed |the Prench army, he demanded the United States immediately declare that a state of war existed between this country and Oermany Again in the fall of that year, when German bombers were badly | blasting Britain, he told the New | York Young Men’s Board of Tradé: ' To Russia Is Fighting | Man; Is Salin’s Slyle minded.” He assailed the stand of “2,000,000 mothers who pledged their undying opposition to send- ing wur boys to fight on a foreign sofl.” Baid Standley then, “When the time comes to defend our coun- try, it will be just too damn late.” He urged a declaration of war against the axis or, lacking that, the granting of full emergency pow- . ers to the President by Congress “I don't care whether it’s Roos velt, Jones or Smith,” he said. "1 think that's the only way to avmd‘ a dictatorship.” Admiral Standley, vigorous his age, has a natural liking people which made him an un- usually popular naval officer. He for for | trapped survivors of squadron fought off an attack of 10 enemy fighter planes, one of which the Dutch Command listed |as probably destroyed. Y, SN PR REDS PRESS FORWARD ON ALL FRONTS \German 16th Army Being Destroyed Division by Division, Moscow Says (BY ASSOCIATED PRESS) Russian armies today opened fierce new attacks at both ends of the 1,200-mile battlefront, lashing out from long besieged Leningrad in the north and on the Crimea Peninsula in the south. Stockholm dispatches reported So- viet. cavalrymen advanced to with- in 72 miles of the Latvian fron- tiers during the day. Soviet dispatches from flaming Staraya reported the Red armies were breaking down the stand by the German 16th Army, virtually dooming divi- sion after division of encircled Nazis, e CANADIANS (OUlD AD N ALASKA 'In Case of Invaslon Troops Could Help Defend United States OTTAWA, Feb. 27—Prime Min- |ister MacKenzie King the |House of Commons late sterday !that Canadians trained under com- | pulsory service could be sent to !Alaska or to the United States if belp were needed to repel invasion. The Prime Minister, said, in his cpinion, the Canadian Govern- ment's pledges of not using con- scripted men overseas would he in- operative when applied to Alaska or the United States. e e - Former American Destroyer Is Sunk LONDON, Feb. 27—The British has a keen interest in foreign af- Admiralty announces that the form- fairs and world geography. He er American destroyer Belmont, 1.~ rounded out 40 years of active ser- | 190 tons. sold to the British early in vice In the Navy as chief of naval the war, has been sunk. Presumably operations, retiring in 1937. | the destroyer was sent down in some “You fellows have got to get war- action but no further details are (Conunued on Pngt Two) given out,