The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, August 19, 1942, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LIX., NO. 9116. JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1942 MEMBE! R ASSOCIATED PRE PRICE TEN CENTS ALLIED FORCES INVADE FRENCH COAST @ Commando Raid Staged; Fierce F ight Rages JAP SHIP IS SENT DOWN, ALEUTIANS Either Enefir(ruiser o Destroyer Sunk by U. S. Sub BULLETIN—WASHINGTON, Aug. 19.—A United States sub- marine has sunk a Jap cruiser or destroyer in the western Aleutians. This is according to a Navy Department announce- ment. The Navy statement further said that weather conditions made it impossible to determine the exact identification of the ship destroyed. The sinking brings to 23 the total enemy ships sunk or dam- aged in that area, the Navy De- partment says. ——————————— U.S.TAKES UPPER HAND INSOLOMONS Naval Victories Enable Re- i inforcing, Supplying of Land Forces AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Aug. 19.—Extremely bitter land fighting in the Solomons may continuesfor weeks or months, it was reported today by a New Zealand correspond- ents dispatch under a “South Pa- cific Port” dateline, United States forces “have won sufficient success in sea engage- ments to enable the reinforcing and supplying of land forces.” The dispatch added “Japanese naval units in the Solomons’ opening operations have either been sunk or | have fled to the Caroline Islands,” it said. The Washington Merry - Go-Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert S. Allen on active duty.) . | WASHINGTON—Real fact about, the plans of dynamic Henry F. Kaiser, the miracle shipbuilder, is! that at first he was given the| green light on building cargo planes | —with a great big IF attached. | That IF was—provided he cou]dw find the critical materials to build his flying freighters. ‘ In other words, the brass hats| gave their O.K. with their tongues | in their cheeks. For they knew! that with plants closing down all| over the country for lack of steel| and other materials, Kaiser, no| matter what kind of a miracle| man, would not have much chance. They did not realize, however, whom they were up against. Kaiserl immediately hired the best minerals expert he could find, Herbert G. Moulton, and began digging inwi the metals bottleneck. One of these is chrome, used for harden-‘ ing steel, especially in such vital parts of an airplane as the pro- peller collar. And Kaiser found that a ferro-| silica furnace he was building on the West Coast, by changing its lining, could refine all the chrome he needed. He also dug up figures showing that between the United States, Canada and Great Britain, the| United Nations produce 90 percent of the world’s nickel or about 165,- 000 tons annually, while Germany and the Axis produce only about 13,000 tons. So Kaiser, determined to carry out his plan of producing giant (Continued on Page Four) Japs Have No A irfield On Kiska, Army Says; Using Small Seaplanes iR ‘V-GIRL’ —Theowne Petty, 19-year-old Colorado Springs, Colo,, telephone operator named ‘V-Girl’ in a beauty contest, was awarded a trip to Los Angeles where this picture was made.” NEED UNITY OF COMMAND, SAYSSOLON Mon WaIIgre—nin Anchor-| age Calls for One Head for Alaska Defense ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 19.— Senator Mon C. Wallgren of Wash- ington State, now in Anchorage with other members of the Senate Sub- Committee investigating Alaskan defenses, says he believes a unified commmand is the Territory’s most ur- gent military need. After visiting various posts and talking with commanders of pilots and ground troops, as well as civil- ians, Wallgren declared himself con- fused at the division of duties be- tween Army and Navy in the job of ousting the Japs from the Aleu- tians. He praised the progress made in building the Alaskan highway and said “Seattle and the Northwest have realized the commercial and tourist considerations are dutweigh- ed by the military needs at this time. ¢ “The commercial highway follow- ing the West Coast route can be built after the war.” e — J. B. CARLISLE RETURNS FROM TRIP TO SITKA J. B. Carlisle, Liquor Enforcement officer for the Territorial Treas- urer's office, returned yesterday from a business trip to Sitka. He was away for several days on of- ficial work, (BY WILLIAM WORDEN) ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug) 19.— American bomber pilots’ failure to encounter sition over Kiska and the other | Jap-held outer Aleutians, has led to the belief that the enemy has been unable as yet to establish ianding fields in any part of the islands. An Army Air | that the Japs Force officer said are using single | ther from carriers nor land, but that this is apparently of their present air defense. | Japs Surprised The reasons for the enemy’s fail- {ure to create Kiska beaches or the rocky up- lands are in doubt, inasmuch as it made. Army sources believe that the | Japs are surprised at the strength {cf American bombing in the face |of the long distances, fogs, winds, and almost impossible fly; conditions. May Never Succeed Sore persons familiar with the Aleutians' peculiar geological for- | mation say that Kiska rock is ex- | tremely hard and glasslike and imay have proved too much for | excavation, foreing runway build- jers to fill in the depressions for their projected airfield rather than | knocking off the humps. This would be a long and lubor- ious process, and it is barely pos- sible that the enemy may never be able under war conditions create a runway long and smuuth enough for bombers even if able to hold the islands indefinitely. R BRAZILNOW PREPARING FOR BATTLE Recall Soldiers from Leave as Country at " Gates of War” RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 19.—All Brazilian soldiers on leave were re- called urgently to duty today, and the navy forbade furloughs of regulars and reserves as Brazil, at the “gates of war,” hastened steps to meet the threat of the Axis. Axis submarines recently sank five Brazilian ships. One submar- ine lurking off these coasts has been destroyed by a United States plane, a Brazilian official an- nounced. A merchant marine spokesman said that all Brazilian coastal waters are clear of shipping and that 13 ships in the submarine zone had reached port safely. It was learned authoritatively here, meanwhile, that two submar- ines have been located in widely separated positions, one of them seing of enormous size. It is be- lieved that the large sub may be one similar to those which have been reported officially to have been operating off the South Afri- can coast, so large that they carry midget submarines within them. — .- HOONAH COUPLE MARRIED Wallace Howard Ross, and Anna Lawrence, both of Hoonah, Alaska, were married this mofning by u. Commissioner Felix Gray in Juneau. Witnesses were Priscilla Morgan and R. T. Monagle. S eee FRANCES HAMLIN NOW | i [ | Mrs. Frances M. Ham=in has been |employed with the Fiscal Division of the Alaska Office of Indian Af- fairs, General Superintendent ‘Claude M. Hirst, announces. IN INDIAN OFFICE! | | land-based aerial oppo- | !float seaplane fighters based nei- | the extent | usable runways on is known such an attempt has been | plane the “Berlin Sleeper.” NAZIS POUR 'RESERVES IN. RUSSIA FIGHT Full Scale Drive Against| Stalingrad Expected | Momentarily ‘ DRAINS WESTERN | ] EUROPE FOR MEN Soviets Fall Back in Don| Bend Area Toward | | OGreatSteelCity | (By Associated Press) The Germans are pouring .\trun:‘ reserves into the Don River Bend | area and the Caucasus battles, | from south of Voronezh to lhe’ high plains of Pyatigorsk. The bolstered onslaught presaged a full scale drive against Stalin- grad along the Baku rail line (n‘ the shores of the Caspian Sea. The Russians are fighting back | fiercely, according to today's com- munique. The dispatch declared | that Nazi gains since May 15 han-‘ cost 1,250,000 casualties, twice those | of Russia, | Hitler is draining western Europe | for new fighting men required in| the East, the Soviet dispatch says.| Russians fell back slightly in the | Don Bend, where the counter-of- fensive started the first of this week appears to be spent. Th also are giving ground in the reg-| ion of Pyatigorsk, 170 miles south- east of the destroyed and aband- oned Maikop oil fields. In London, a British source said | that the Germans have made some | progress toward Stalingrad, reach- ing but not cressing the Don River | at its bend. It was declared, how- ever, that Russian rbsistance has stiffened in the Caucasus, slowing the German’s progress considerably. | —————— HABITUAL DRUNKARD LIST | A list of 31 names, described by | the Ketchikan City Police as ha- | bitual drunkards, has been issued | by Chief of Police Daniels to all Ketchikan. bars and liquor stores and they must be denied any in- jloxlcams. . | ) , arrives with an armed escort as he brings the U 8. secret bomb- ion in a huge American bomber at a U. 8. flying base in England Somebody dubbed this - Rescued from lee (ap This picture, taken from a circling of a U. S. Army Flying Fortress gathered about their craft after a fuel shortage forced it to land on its belly on the Greenland ice A Va\v patrol bomber took the men off in a darln‘ rescue. cap. Guard Baggage for Berlin Fler < Navy rescue plane, shows crewmen " Air Raid” in Senate (aiches Members Who Scatfer fo Shellers By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Aug. 19. — “Air raid” in the Senate: It is one of those off days and there is only a scattering of Senators in their seats or wandering in and jout of the cloakrooms. There is a handful of newsmen in the press gallery. The public galleries hold perhaps 150 persons. S0 faint that it almost is no noise at all, the sound of a siren drifts down through the skylight. Business drones on. Senator Smathers, in the presiding officer’s chair, is calling | for reconsideration of a hill already |passéd. An assistant sergeant-at- arms runs in and whispers in the | ear of Majority Leader Barkley. The Senator is on his feet so |quickly he scatters papers on his |desk: “Mr. President, if there is nothing further, as in legislative | session, T move that the Senate ad- journ until Monday next.” That faint siren round was the second and final air raid alert. Tt is 2:59. The Senate is three min- !‘ubes behind the air raid schedule. The exodus begins. The Capitol elevators already have stopped run- ning. The stairs are jammed as wardens and deputy wardens (all| Capitol or Senate employe guide the lines of Senators, pages, clerks, sightseers newsmen and Capitol spielers through the north door and out across the plaza. The line wavers as it emerges from the air-cooled Capitol into a surging !wall of Washington heat, but the wardens hustle it along. It's a city block to the basement of the Senate Office Building. Across the Capitol Plaza to the | east, there is no sign of activity in the U. 8. Supreme Court Building. ‘We wonder why for we know that the Supreme Court is sitting. We find out later. The Supreme Court, deep within the thick walls of its | Munition Dump Blown Up| marble edifice, was unable to hear the alarm. They probably wouldn’t (Continued on Page Four) DESTROY BATTERY OF GUNS' { | | | | as Combined Opera- tions Progress BERLIN IS MAKING (LAIMS OF REPULSE German Announcement 1 However, Does Not Ad- | mit Raiders Driven Off | (By Associated Press) At 5:30 o'clock this afternoon, a Nazi broadcast reported that “The German counter attack against the British troops land- ed at Dieppe is taking a suc- cessful course, Advancing Ger- man troops have repelled the enemy with hourly increasing British losses of men and mat- erial.” It is significant that the broadcast did not claim that the Allied raiders had been driven off. V. 8. BULLETIN A communique from United States Army headquariers for the European Theater of War dispatched from London at 4:15 a. m. Pacific War Time, an- nounced “In combined opera- tions, a raid is being made in the Dieppe Area by a detach- ment of U, 8. Ranger Battal- ion, taking part with the Can- adian forces, British Special Service troops, and a small de- tachment of Fighting French “Operations are still in prog- ress. Tanks have been landed in the center operation and heavy fighting is proceeding.” BATTERY DESTROYED The communique said that Allied troops are attacking the right flank, have destroyed a six gun German battery and blew up a munition dump, then reembarked. The landing party on the left flank was initially repulsed but later carried the beach by as- sault, the bulletin said. MAJOR AIR FIGHT Dispatches from Folkestone, on the English Channel, said that air activity on a major scale continued to swirl over the channel this afternoon as the Commandos pressed the at- tack. Big formations of RAF planes flashed through the skies toward Dieppe and the roll of gunfire continued. The German announcement said that the assault was led by tanks and backed up by strong air and naval forces. FERRESRIS € F S h FAILUREIN | INVASION | SAY NAZIS DNB News Kg;ncy Claims‘ All Allied Forces Turn- ed Off Confinent BERLIN, Aug. 19—-The German D.N.B. news agency reported this afternoon that the large scale Allied attempt to land on the| French coast near Dieppe ended in a debacle late today. “Not a single armed British, Am-‘ erican or Canadian is left on the| European continent,” D.N.B. md‘ adding that more than 1500 prison- b (Cununued on Puue Plve) —— BIG ATTACK IS STARTED EARLYTODAY Selected Military Units Re- ported Landing Near Dieppe CANADIAN TROOPS AR MAKING MAIN ASSAULT Hundreds of Planes Are Thrown Into Action Protecting Advance (BY ASSOCIATED PRESS) Tank-led United States troops, British Commandos, Canadians and Fighting French stormed the Nazi-occupied French “in- vasion” coast near Dieppe before dawn today, carrying at least one beach by assault, Heavy fighting still raged this afternoon. It was announced that the “troops taking part in the raid and landed at all points include selected military forces, consist- ing mainly of Canadian troops.” United States Army bombers and fighters are joining in form- ing a protective “umbrella” over the land assault forces. Bitter German aerial opposition is re- ported. MANY PLANES ATTACK Observers on the English shore said that more planes than have ever been seen or heard over the Channel shuttied across to at- tack the enemy or to reload, indicating that perhaps a thou- sand or more Allied aircraft are in action. As the battle developed, with the Germans conceding that Al- lied forces are attacking from both sides of Dieppe, there is still no «official indication as to whether it is an attempt at op= ening a second front or not, The British Broadcasting Company told the French people many hours earlier that this Is not an invasion, presumably to forestall popular revolt. | HAVE RESERVES However, military strategy would indicate that the British have strong reserves massed in southern England ready to take advantage of any “soft spot” the commandos might find in Nazi coastal defenses. The first word that reinforce- ments are being sent will indi- cate strongly a full fledged in- vasion attempt is now under way. The BBC warned the French not to rise in support of the Allies until they have been given the word, in order to prevent a repetition of the tragic St. Naz- aire battle, when French patriots fought the Nazis for days after British commando raiders had withdrawn. Bloody reprisals were exacted by the Germans in that in- stance. Taking part in today’s spec- tacular assault are American Rangers, named for the Rogers Rangers of Indian fighter fame in American Colonial history and chosen “from among an avalanche of volunteers for com- mando training in the British Isles.” NIGHT BULLETIN LONDON, Aug. 19.— Reem- barcation of the Allied forces taking part in the Commande raid on Dieppe has been com- pleted the night communique of the British Government states. The anneuncement added that casualties on both sides of the all-day battle are likely to be heavy. The announcement also states that a German radio location station has been destroyed, anti-aircraft battery wiped out, 95 British, aircraft are missing and 72 enemy planes are known to have been destroyed.