The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 2, 1942, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS VOL. LX., NO. 9204. JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1942 ALL THE TIME” — = MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS CRACK U.S. TROOPS CUT BIZERTE ROAD Huge American Convoy Lands, New Zealand Algerians Have Cheer BOATS (ROSS PACIFICON SECRET TRIP New Tealanders Cheer Outfits Reinforcing Gen. MacArthur WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. — The Navy Department revealed today that one of the largest A. E. F. units ever to cross the Pacific has landed safely in New Zealand after sailing | from a West Coast port under sealed orders. New Zealanders lined the shores and docks to cheer the arrival of the Yanks as they marched down the gangplanks, excellently equip- ped, ready to carry the fight to the Japs who already are slipping in their hold in the South Pacific It is reported that this convoy | is much larger than the first con- tingents of overseas forces. The | convoy crossed the sub-infested wat- | ers without any interference. The secret orders, under which it sailed, | were not opened until the vessels had made open water. CLOSING ON JAPS ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Aus- | tralia, Dec. 2—The Allies drew a | tigher ring around the trapped Japs | in Buna today and the Japs are well aware of their peril. They sent | { (Continued on 45 YEARS IN JAIL 1S SET, NAZI AGENT NEW YORK, Dec. 2.—Anthony Cramer, 42, mechanic convicted of treasonably aiding two of eight| Nazi saboteurs landed in the U.S.| from a sub in June, has been sen- tenced to 45 years in prison and|, fined $10,000 by Federal Court. 1 The Washmglun! Merry-Go-Round * By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty.) WASHINGTON—AR hour or two | before Wendell Willkie was sched- uled to deliver his speech before the | New York Herald Tribune forum |, proclaiming that a “war without a purpose is a war without victory,” he turned off the telephone and lay down for a catnap. His radio broadcast was to be at 10:30 P.M. At 9:45 P.M. he got up and turn- | ed the phone on again. Immediately it rang and the operator said, “This is the White House calling.” She | had been trying to get him for some time. Secretary of War Stimson then came on the phone. Willkie and Stimson have known each other in New York Republican politics and known each other well . Mr. Stim- son, however, was stiff and formal. He said: “This is the Secretary of War | speaking. I understand you are going to make an address tonight. It is my duty to tell you that if you make that address you will seriously interfere with the opera- tion of the armed forces of the United States in North Africa, and | endanger the lives of thousands of[ American soldiers.” “Have you read the speech?” ask- ed Willkie. “No,” replied Stimson, “but I have had it called to my attention.” Willkie then read him the para- graph of his speech which referred | to North Africa and criticized Ad- miral Darlan, as follows: “Shall we in America be quiet, for instance, when our leaders, after promising freedom to the French people, put | into control over them the very man | whn has helped to enslave them? | (Continued on PfllZP Ffllll‘) ) {MRS. DAVIS'S MOTHER Jap Slnps Hit by Bombers These Official Army Air Corps photos show direct hits being scored” by Allied bombers on a Jap destroyer, top, and a Jap supply ship, below. Huge American Flying Fortresses are conducting daily raids on Jap bases in New Britain and New Guinea with increasing success. FIVE MORE JAP SHIPS BRIDE AT 12 i SENT DOWN Action by U. S, Subs in Pacific Brings Mount- ing Toll WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. — The Navy Department announces that Upited States subs in the Pacific recenty sunk a Jap destroyer, tank- er and three cargo ships as well as damaging two other enemy cargo carriers, raising the total of enemy merchant tonnage sunk or damaged to 43,000 tons. The grand total of enemy ships of all types announced sunk or dam- aged by American undersea craft in the Pacific now stands at 48. ———————— ICKES GIVEN CONTROL OF I i | ™ i | GAS RATION WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. — The| President has given Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes par- tial control of oil and gas ration-; ‘mg and has reorganized the gov- |emmental petroleum administra- uon under Ickes. Twelve-year-old Dorothy Obeirne (above) studied her home work while waiting for her husband to come home at Newport News, Va. | The President thus appeared to Dorothy, in the seventh grade, was |have disposed of reports that married to C. E. Murphy, 23, at |Ickes would be shifted to the Sec- South Mills, C. |retary of Labor job and as chief = of the War Manpower Commission. In effect, the President gave Ickes the power to determine the amount, areas and the time of ra- tioning petroleum products wher- ever a shortage exists or threatens. PASSES AWAY IN SOUTH Word reached Mrs. Trevor Davis yesterday that her mother, Mrs. Andrew Ressing, passed away in Olympia on Monday morning. Let- ters telling of her serious illness Unlike most aboriginal peoples, had been delayed in transit and the Maoris of New Zealand have the news of her déath came as a increased in numbers during recent complete shoek, | vears, This meant that Ickes would not| have authority over to save rubber. e gas rationing NATIS LOSE VITALHILLAT STALINGRAD Two-day Battle Gives Yaz- hnaya Hill Back to Defenders MOSCOW, Dec. 2—Stalingrad’s | defenders, rolling back Nazi weak- ening siege lines, have recaptured Yazhnaya Hill, dominating the southern side of the Volga city and have pushed out from two to five miles further from Stalingrad The Russ Army newspaper, Red Star, reported that an enemy divi- sion defending the hill was defeated lin a two-day battle. This gain | further undermined the German siege of Stalingrad which was be- gun just 100 days ago. The news of the victory on Yazh- naya Hill came as the Nazi com- mand reported pulling some of the besiegers back to meet the threat of the Red Army offensives driving | successfully west of Stalingrad on | the Central Front | New Soviet air activity was noted in the latest drive. Yazhnaya Hill is ‘one of the famous pair which over- |looks the city from the banks of | the Volga. Kurgan Hill, to the north, | was recaptured previously by the crack guard troops of Maj. Rodintzev. Seven counter-attacks have been | made recently by the Nazis, using | as many as 70 tanks and two regi- ments of infantry in desperate struggles to regain the lost position, Red Stm uddcd KNOXSAYS * WAR VIEW ~ NOW ROSY Declares Japs Have Lost Five Times Number U. . Has NEW YORK, Dec. 2—Viewing the war outlook as the brightest in three years, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox disclosed today that Jap casualties are believed to be five times greater than those of the United States. He stated that the ,Unibed States Navy 'is larger and more powerful “than the day before Pearl Harbor or the day after Pearl | Harbor.’ Balancing the nation’s books of were near the end of a year of fight- jing, Knox told the National Asso- | ciation of Manufacturers'Convention {“we expended a lot of ships and material but we exacted a toll the enemy can ill afford.” He asserted that while the Jap casualty figures couldn't be trusted even “if they published them” the | United States Intelligence Officers |estimated that since December 7 1941, to November 25, of this year, “the Japs in all theatres of war have lost, either killed or perma- (Connnued on Page Three) STATE DEPT. SKIPS OVER DARLAN (OUP WASHINGTON, Dec. 2.-—Secre- tary of State Cordell Hull made it clear today that the US. is too {busy winning the war in North Africa to worry about the report lof the Morocco radio that Darlan has taken over the authority of ichief of state in that area. | He told reporters that at present the United States is absorbed in the task of driving the Axis forces, out of Africa. Oen. e Residents of Algiers in French North Africa greeted American soldiers with smiles and the Picture radioed from London to New York. sign. Dimond Backs Senate | Probe Info Alaska's (ensorsh|p Headache CANADA AND U.S. T0 GET INBIG PACT Two Nations Are fo Lower Trade Barriers, Other Important Moves WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 The United States and Canada intend to promote mutually and advantage- ous economic relations following the present world war, by lowering trade barriers, enlarging production and exchange of goods. The State Department makes the announcement that the United States and Canada have agreed to begin conversations soon amon3 themselves and with representativ of other United Nations toward reaching post-war settlements for a better world and wide economic relations. Agreement will be reached by an exchange of notes blending Canada with the nations and pledged to further post-war aims embodied in lend-lease agreements. e NO ALERY THURSDAY |aska have held up press dispatches No practice alert will be held tomorrow evening, it was nounced today by R. E. Robert- |son, Director of Civilian Defense the | However, all members of Civilian Defense Corps and Al- aska Territorial Guards are re- quested to attend the showing of the special defense film in the grade school auditorium at 8:15 o'clock. Title of the film is “The Alr Raid Warden” and the showing is for members of the C.D.C. and A'T. Guard only. A public showing will be made later. There is no admission charge. i g Most of the islands of the south- west Pacific were made by vol- canic action. |papers with stories upon their | turn an-‘ | in Seattle. Ithe equator. WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. Alaska Delegate Anthony J. Dimond said today he positively agreed with the private testimony given by Gov. | Ernest Gruening on the abuse of/ censorship in “handling of private | communications to and from the| Territory of Alaska” as given at a closed session of the Senate Judi- ciary Committee. | Gov. Gruening charged unneces- | sary abuse of the censorship by the Seattle censorship staff and his protests brought out the infor- mation that the operation of war- time censorship will be investigated by the Senate Committee Others Interested Delegate Dimond said Gov.| Gruening presented many examples | of censoring private communica- | tions to the Senate Committee and said excerpts taken from commu- nications had been forwarded to| certain Government officials who | were believed interested in them Dimond said the Gov- ernor’s informaticn is in direct line with informaticn he has on hand| and the Delegate asked the com- | mittee for permission to appear be- | fore it next week as a witness. The | Delegate said not only private com- munications have been unnecessar- ily scrambled by the censors but| regular press or feature correspon- dents in the Territory have had their material held up for weeks, and then perhaps never released while traveling correspondents have ‘packed” magazines and also news: re- to the States with articles which Alaska correspondents were told had been “rejected.” Much Delay The Delegate also said he has been informed fhat censors in Al- from the States needlessly delayed after these dispatches have been ensored in Washington or other news centers, then again censored ‘The Delegate said it is 1 case of “too many cooks spoiling the broth” and exactly too many censors and sooner or later a great expose of censorship is to be made Alaskan * correspondents. Byron Brice, Censorship Director is also to be called before the Sen- ate Judiciary Committee. Price said he will welcome thesopportunity to inforn the committee of “many things censorship has accomplished in the war effort.” D by Norway's coastline is" 12,000 miles half the distance around long, | the s for American Soldlers 'AXIS BASES IN TUNISIA . THREATENED |Berlin Ade—Severing of Coastal Communica- fion Route ALLIED AIR RAIDS REACH MIGHT SCALE Flying Foriresses and Light Bombers Hit Day and Night LONDON, Dec. 2. — Lieut. Gen. Anderson’s crack shock troops are reported today to have captured part of the highway linking Tunis | with Bizerte, severing the last land " for Victory MUSSOLINI IN HOT AIR TALKTODAY 'Says Nobody Loves Italy- Urges People to Car- ry on War LONDON, Dec. 2. AFuschl leader | Benito Mussolini delivered his long- est speech of the war today, cough- ing and breathing heavily with the intensity of his effort to whip up the fighting spirit among the Ital- ian people whom he advised to cease spreading “silly stories of gossip.” His 8l-minute address showed some of his oldtime bombast. By a grim turn of the war against his Fascist, regime, in place of the usu- lavish promises, he complained “nobody ever has real- al bitterly that i1y understood Italy,” and had she stayed out of the war, both belli- serents would have maltreated her. Asks Resistance In one breath Il Duce minimized cry for peace in Italy, and in another, sought to coax.back (Centinued on Page Three) ROOSEVELT FIGHTS SHY ~ ONQUIZZING Dodges Answenng Oues- fions Fired at Him To- | day by Newsmen , WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. — Presi- dent Roosevelt declined to express | a guess today at the weekly confer- | ence with the newsmen as to the| time the war might end, and also in | answering a question said the Gov- | ernment has no official report on| the French fleet He also answered that there was nothing cooking when asked if ngea would become a combined Secretary | of Labor and Manpower plus his! present job. The President also refused to be drawn out on other issues during the bantering but he did note that differences between the Army and war Production Board on overlap- ping of authority has been straight- ened out without an Executive | Order, communications between the two Axis strongholds in Tunisia. A report from the Morrocco radio, not verified, said that this gain will isolate the enemy, leave the Nazis penned up in Bizerte with only one way of escape—by sea. The Berlin radio reported without elaboration that Allied troops have “reached the Axie defense lines be- tween Tunis and Bizerte.” The Morroco report also declared that Allied troops are battling the main Axis forces btween Gabes and Sfax. American and French troops prev- iously were reported crossing the Tunisian coastal road north of: Gabes and cutting off the enemy in Tunisia by land from the Libyan base of Tripoli. Meanwhile, Allied bombers kept up their ‘round-the-clock bombing of Bizerte, Tunis and Tripoli. Bizerte was the heaviest hit in the aerial warfare, sald to be approaching a scale unequalled since the Battle of Britain in the fall of 1840. United States Flying Fortresses and light bombers left huge shore front fires burning in Bizerte. A late dispatch indicates that Hit- ler is rushing troops to Tunisia by sea and air. -, ROUTE BIG NAZI RAID, AFRICAWAR ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, North Africa, Dec. 2.—American and British troops, tightening the ring around Bizerte, have smashed back with “heavy losses” the biggest German counter-attack in the Tunisian campaign. An Allied spokesman said the counter-aMack was repulsed north of Tebourba, Allied-held road junction on the perimeter of Axis defenses around Tunis and Bizerte. Tebourba is about 20 miles west of Tunis and 35 miles south of Bizerte. Meanwhile, American P - 38 fighters and British Spitfires, ranging widely over Tunisia, downed eight German planes with the loss of one Allied plane in the last 24 hours, a late dispatch reports. - (. OF (. TO ELECT EXECUTIVE BOARD TOMORROW NOON The election of members of the Executive Board of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce for the new year will be the main order of business tomorrow noon when the Chamber meets in the Gold Room of the Baranof Hotel. Many guests are expected to be present and President C. W. Carter urged all members to attend this election meeting.