The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 4, 1943, Page 1

{ THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE . “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LX., NO. 9231. i ibasioie ot it A S JUNEAU, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1943 MEMBE "R ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTY ALLIED FORCES DESTROY BUNA JAP UNITS Fierce Air Activity Breaks Out, No. Africa Score Killed when Landslide BuriesBus ENEMY IS OVER SCORE NAZI PLANES SHOT DOWN Allied Forc;;Make Heavy! Attacks-Americans Take Lead ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN | NORTH AFRICA, Jan. 4—Allied Air Forces destroyed 28 enemy planes | last Saturday and damaged 34 more | in a burst of fierce activity described | as the greatest yet in North Africa Twenty-three enemy planes were shot down. The Americans lost only two planes whle the Royal Air Force lost five planes. Nineteen enemy planes were de- stroyed in a single encounter. Flying Fortresses, escorted by twin- tailed P-38s, made a sizzling raid over Tunis and Tunis harbor and at La Goulette, where bomb bursts were registered on two ships, docks, powerhouse and oil tanks. In this battle, Fortresses brought down the biggest share of the bag, 17 of about 50 attacking enemy German Mes- serschmitts and Italian fighters to a single Fortress lost anywhere in the day’s operations. Heavy Raids Pulled Off, U.S. Forces WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 — Two enemy destroyers were blasted and the Japanese airfield at Munda was twice heavily bombed in a series of air raids by American forces and against enemy warships and shore bases in the Solomon Is- lands during the past two days, the Navy reports. One destroyer was set afire and was burning badly, while the other appeared to be in a sinking condi- tion. The Washington ‘Merry - Go-Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty.) WASHINGTON—One of the first | bills to come before the new Con- gress will be a tough test of their patriotism. They will be asked to give up air-conditioning so that bet- ter airplanes may be made for the fighting fronts. A bill is all prepared, authorizing WPB to lift air-conditioning equip- ment out of public buildings, for installation in aircraft plants. The purpose is not to keep the mechanics comforatble, but to preserve an even temperature for accurate manufac-, ture of precision instruments. Experts have found that airplane parts made in a southern plant show different tolerances from parts made in a northern plant, and therefore they give imperfect performance to- gether. So WPB, as soon as the bill is passed, will move air-conditioning equipment from Washington build- ings to Pratt-Whitney Aircraft plants where precision instruments are made. The cooling system for the Capitol | Building itself, in which the cham- | bers of the House and Senate are located, will not be affected. But the equipment used for the Senate Office Building and the two, House Office buildings would be removed. That is not all. The War Pro- duction Board, whose Conservation Division originally fathered the scheme, will suffer also. ‘WPB is counting on rapid passuge | of the bill by Congress and has; already contracted with General El- tric Co. for $35,000 of new starting equipment to be used with the air- conditioning machines. NOTE: Cooling equipment for the (Continued on Page Four) MOSCOW. — On Sunday, the city of Mozdok, in the west cen- {tral Caucasus and ths nearby town | |of Malgobek. They advanced on kall other fronts where offensives lare in progress. Mozdok is at the | approaches to the rich Grozny oil fields. MOSCOW.—The official ports that during the past two weeks 266 Nazi planes have been | destroyed, including 98 transports. {In the Stalingrad area Soviet | plane losses were 122. Within Sta- lingrad on Sunday the Sovjets blew |ing about 400 Nazis. Southwest of the Volga city, the Russians cap- tured two towns and a railway [train filled with munitions. The | Soviets have taken equipment, in- cluding 8,000 head of cattle. On the middle Don, the Red Army occu- pied several towns. Among the Ger- man prisoners taken are mauny |Nazis who said they were rushed | from France to 'the Soviet front. NORTH AFRICA. — Allied air- men had their biggest day to date on last Saturday, shooting down 28 Axis planes and damaging 34 more over Tunisia and Algeria. Only seven United Nations' planes were lost. NORTH AFRICA. — Widespread | {Allied aerial attacks are revealed | in Monday's communigue on Axis positions in Tunisia, Libya, Crete {and Sicily. At La Goulette, Flying Fortresses scored hits on two Axis {ships, docks, oil tanks and the |power house. An Axis merchant- man was also hit. Axis targets on Créte were bombed Friday, Satur- day and Sunday. | CAIRO.—There were no reports Sunday of land fighting in Libya |except accelerated fighting by the {French forces driving north from report mud conditions in Tunisia ‘but said there was a flare-up of | fighting in Central Tunisia where the French repulsed German at- tacks. WASHINGTON.—American Navy dive bombers, flanked by fighters, iblasted two more Japanese destroy- ers in the New Georgia group of the Central Solomons Saturday. The Navy also reported one enemy destroyer was left burning badly and another in a sinking condi- jtion. Eleven Japanese planes at- tempted to cover the desfroyer de- tachment, apparently without suc- cess. The communique disclosed two new air attacks upon the Japanese airfield at Munda in the Central Solomons. WASHINGTON.—The Navy dis- closed Sunday that an American battleship in the Solomons beat joff the heaviest air assault ever made on a dreadnaught, downing 32 out of 84 Japanese planes and susl cruisers and one destroyer. The action occurred prior to and. dur- ing the already announced naval engagement of November 13-15 in the vicinity of Savo Island, press b(llspatches reported. MacARTHUR'S HEADQUAR- TERS.—Allied ground forces have completed the destruction of the | defeated Japanese forces | MacArthur’'s Monday communique j:md ‘The Allied troops are prepar- {ing to envelop the remaining Jap- | anese remnants at Sananada. The communique reported Allied air at- Itacks upon Japanese installations at Rabaul and Gasmata, New Bri- |tain, and at Madang and Lae in |New Guinea. H RS NEW DELHI. — British planes Saturday attacked Japanese air- Thumbnail of War; Frontline Bnels —By the Office ol War Information Direct to The Empire | Russians took the large important Soviet | communique issued at midnight re- | up a German munitions dump, kill- | Lake Chad area. Press dispatches | aining damage so slight that it subsequently sank three Japanese | in Akyab and Magwe Burma and Japanese coastal ship- | ping in the Bay of Bengal. A Brit- fields at ish communique said two small | Japanese steamers probably were sunk and another small craft was | damaged. LONDON.—Allied aireraft swept |over Northern France, Belgium and The Netherlands for six hours Sun- day in one of the biggest daylight raids in weeks. A British-American | communique reported tonsof bombs were dropped on the Nazi sub- marine base at Saint Nazaire. Sev- |en Allied planes were lost in the day's operation. RAF bombers at- tacked undisclosed targets Ger- many Sunday night. LONDON. — The RAF, without| losses, sent bombers over Northern France to raid Nazi railroads and troop concentrations. BERLIN.—The German radioad- mits the loss of an suxiliary cruis- bergen. MOSCOW. — The Russian com- munique, early Sunday morning, announced continued Soviet suc- cesses on all fronts of the four- pronged winter offensive against | the Germans. On the Central Front, the Russians were reported well beyond Velikie Luki, 90 miles from the old Latvian border. The Soviets frustrated a German thrust west of Rzhev and south and troops drove ahead, occupying sev- eral localities, including the Remo- nynava rail station 26 miles south of Kotelnikovski. On the middle Don, the spearhead reaches to- wards Rostov and the Russians cul 1 road linking two large German occupied places. In the Caucasus, | fighting centered at Elkrotovoj where the Russians wiped out 400 Nazis in street fighting. raids on Tunis set huge fires among dock installations and railway yards. | sepied over the city and two were | | broken up before the Axis aircraft reached Bone. Four Axis planes were shot down and others were damaged. Six Allied planes are missing from last Fridays opera- tions. NEW DELHIL—British and Am- erican communiques reveal con- tinued aerial sweeps against the Japanese bases, which were “started | last Wednesday and continued Thursday and Friday. The Myitnge railroad bridge in central Burma and the Japanese airdrome at {Shwebo were smashed and other | objectives damaged. | Navy submarines in the Pacific |and Far East wateys sank seven | two large cargo ships and a Japa- nese destroyer on Saturday. MacARTHUR'S HEADQUAR- TERS.—American and Australian troops have won the battle of Buna, a special announcement said Sunday, and this revealed the Al- |lies have smashed through the last Japanese defenses in the Buna arew of New Guinea and are now en- gaged in moppingup a few remaining ‘smpers ‘The announcement said in the‘the Allies occupied Gairgpe Folnt‘ Buna Mission area of New Gumea,‘Saturday after a bitterly ‘contested | engagement. The announcement: |added several casualties were in- flicted on the Japanese in all ac- tions. Resistance continues at San- anada track, north of Buna village Daring air raids have been made upon Lae and Salamaua. Numerous fires were started at Lae and nu- | merous fires were started at Ala- maua which was bombed by me- ldlum units. This is an occupied | Japanese town. ler and a destroyer south of Spitz- | southwest of Stalingrad the Soviet | The Axis aimed three at-| | tacks at Bone. One raid was lnber-‘ WASHINGTON. — American | more Japanese vessels, including | REDS PUSH NAZIS BACK NEAR MOZDOK Over Crumbling | MOSCOW, Jan. 4—The Red Army | | of the Caucasus is advancing along both banks of the Terek River, driving the Germans back north- west and west of newly-captured Mozdok and breaking the salient which the Nazi forces thrust for- ward more than four months ago toward the Grozny oil fields. Russian reports said the swift Russian recapture yesterday of Moz- | dog and Malgobek, 15 miles south- | east of Mozdok, was considered a | major victory. { Nazi Lines Fall i Like those of Stalingrad and Veli- | | kie Luki, where the Red Army con- | tinued its offensives, the German lines appeared to be crumbling ‘in almost all important sectors. The Russians said the Nazi llncs\ would stiffen in some points only to be hit in others by the hard- driving Red Army Several more unspecified villages were reported taken northwest of | Mozdok. Since the recapture of this Nazi- held - city, ‘the next major Russ | objective appeared to be Prokhlas- nehki, railroad junction of lines | | [Russian Advance Rolls oni | German Lines I § running east, west and south, lying | | about 35 miles west of Mozdok. [ Threaten Nalchik | | Reoccupation of the new goal | | would cut off German forces now | {under attack at Nalchik. | Winter rains and broken terrain | | made the Caucasus campaign slower | | than the drive across the Don | Steppes, but the entire German ! position in the heart of the northern | Caucasus area already is imperiled | by the Russian push south of Stal- | |ingrad, and now appears to be | | facing a greater danger from rrontal msnults |this year BASEAT | MERAUKE ATTACKED NORTH AFRICA—American| Tokyo Broadcast Claims “ ' Japs Assault New Allied Position NEW YORK, Jan. 4. — The Fed- ‘eral Communications Commission ! this afternoon recorded a Toyko broadcast quoting the Imperial head- ,quar\‘.ers as saying that the Jap air naval units have launched severe | | attacks against the Allied base under | construction at Merauke. i | The attack on the southern New Guinea base, the report said, was ‘made December 30 and 31, putting | |it out of commission. Merauke occupies half of a big island about 250 miles northwest of | Australia’s Cape York and is an equal distance west of Port Moresby, the main Allied base island. LIEUT. DONNELL . GETS PROMOTED; . NOWIS CAPTAIN | Lieut. Newman R Donnell Provost | Marshal for the Juneau area and Public Relations Officer, has been |promoted to the rank of Captain, {Lieut. Col. Roy W. Riegle, Com- mander of the troops here‘ an- nounced today. Capt. Donnell was commissioned in the U. S. Army from St. Louis, | Missouri. His wife and four-month- | told daughter, Dahpne, are residing | in Pasadena, California. | . Ralph Bruin and William Doug- | las, both medical patients, have been discharged from St. Ann's Hospital. More than a score of war workers were killed when a landslide, including huge boulders, crashed down on a bus on Constitution Boulevard, near Aliguippa, Pa. under the debris as rescue workers direct the recovery of bodies. Altied Vlclory This Year Is Prediction, Pacific (ommander By J. NORMAN LODGE (Associated Press Correspondent) WITH THE U. 8. FLEET IN |THE SOUTH PACIFIC, Jan. 4 A victory for the United Nations is the prediction of Ad- Commander miral Willlam Halsey, of the South Pacific Force of the Pacific Fleet. 1 asked the commander: “Can you give me an idea of what the new year holds in store?” This was his answer: “A victory for the United Na- tions, “Complete and absolute defeat for the Axis powers “But let’s not be stopped this me until we fix things up so they Headaches Are will never be able to rise again” I questioned him further, | you include Japan?” “Yes sir,” he answered, “and here’s a few messages I wish you would send to Japan for me: “To Hirohito as emperor “Do | a ||(l leader of a traitorous Japan dur-| ing her years of foul attacks on peaceful peoples—your time is short. | Tojo—when you unleashed 13 cowardly attack on Decem- | | you started something you | can't finish, Beneath your thin veneer of civilization lies a domi- | ngnt instinet to kill. Because of | this, you have released the greatest [ instinct to fight in the American | people ever in history They will be properly repaid.” Heaped On Next Congress as It Convenes on Jan. 5I FRENCHHURL BACK LARGE AXIS UNITS: \Armored Forces Crushed- U. S. Tanks, Planes Join Movement LONDON, Jan. 4—French forces, effectively backed by the best of United States tank gunners and planes, hurled back a heavy Axis armored attack yesterday southeast of Pichon and captured prisoners from both German and Italian ranks. Dispatches from the Allied Head- quarters in North Africa announces | that correlated with this action, were two raids by American airmen, fly- |ing light bombers and ngme.\ (Continued on Page Three) By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 I'ne 77th Congress—the Congress that initiated World War II and saw it through its first year— ha its swan song and ended on about the sourest notes of its carcer | The closing days of the House of Representatives were i | with futility. The House .u)uld get a quorum. Not even the immediate pre-election ing ‘permd did the House go into la slump of inactivity as during the }weeks before its demise | In the Senate, filibuters followed threats of filibusters and even there | the absence of a quorum called o halt to the day's business on morc than one occasion. Majority Leader Senator Barkle retiring Senator Norris and Speak er Rayburn were disgusted. All of them, plus several other Con sional leaders, said openly that Congress should have adjourned rly in December, I'ne result of it all is that th 1 Congress passed the buck to 78th. The poll tax measure affects only eXsht states ¥ e («c ununued on Page Two) Part of the bus (left) can be scen, the rest buried "ROUTED IN LARGE AREA Flying Fortresses Strike af t Shipping in Rabaul | Harbor ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Jan. 4—Gen. Douglas MacArthur reports today that Allied forces have completed destruction of the Japanese forces in the Buna Mission area and the “enemy’s sit- uation is now hopeless.” The Jap losses are very heavy and the “only remaining remnants of the Japanese Patuan Army are con- fined to a narrow salient extending from Sananda Point which we are preparing to envelope.” The official spokesman disclosed that 650 Japanese were killed in bitter fighting in the Buna area Sunday and an undisclosed number of prisoners were taken, including 35 coolie laborers. Meanwhile, Flying Fortresses struck at large concentrations of Japanese shipping at Rabaul and returning airmen saw flames arising from a' 10,000-ton vessel that is believed to have received two direct bomb hits. 3 JAPANESE DESTROYERS DISCOVERED small Nippon Fleet Local- ed Near Guadalcanal- U.S. ARMY NAVY NOW UNDER FIRE Siaie Deparmenf Shows | They Disregarded War | | Warnings Are Under Attack WASHINGTON, Jan. 4.—Mem- . WASHINGUON; Jan. 4 - Eight |bers of Congress are inclined to |- Panese destroyers were discov- red off the northwestern end of Guadalcanal last Saturday, the lavy reported today, and were at- icked by U. 8. torpedo boats. It is officially announced that -ne vessel was hit and three hits were believed scored on two more. The communique says: “Enemy iireraft bombed our PT boats and iflicted slight damage.” piew the newly-issue® White Book |as proof that the Army and Navy | disregarded months of warning by the State Department officials |when Japan planned her sudden ‘wm in the Pacific. | The book, reviewing 10 years of |American diplomacy preceding | Pearl Harbor, was issued Saturday night. It disclosed that Ambassa- |dor Joseph C. Grew had cabled lt'f_"“s l‘st“""“el""{r'he ‘:o”g ui:P 'from Tokyo January 27, 1941, of \lc;r::l Sh‘: :“gf’eydr:"‘;:d e |the danger that the Japanese might g Bt parachute cargoes on the beach at Tassaforonga on December 27. Sev- en parachutes with supplies were bombed and strafed by American Army planes. Whether the torpedo boats suc- ceeded in turning back the Jaj | attack is not stated. Battleship 0fU.S. in Air Batile WASHINGTON, Jan. 4—An Am- rican battleship, bristling with anti-aireraft guns, destroyed an ntire fleet of 20 enemy bombers a sea battle in the South Pa- Haunch 2 “surprise mass attack at | Pear] Harbor in case of trouble |with the United States.” | Other urgent warnings also had been transmitted by the State De- “unment omuuls the book reveals. GETS AWARD 'FOR ACTION IN ALASKA Navy Man Decorated for| Heroism in Dufch | Harbor Raid ‘ CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Jan.| ' * B (OU0E B 01 4.—Lieut. Robert C. Kirmse, 5 UBNR. has beell swarded the| . The hattlesiiiptdessioved ia /iotat Distinguished Flying Cross mr“,‘“"fi d";‘r"le"‘:"s :"’;"”;: the enemy meritorious action in the Pacitic, | ed TYIR I BUE b Kirmse, of Los Angeles, was dec- altp °tchs-Oully. gme, bembi. hij nd that was on the turret. The orated for executing hazardous Vit Bk ired. scouting missions during the bomb- " 1:, ?:c ALy r:e& by ing of Dutch Harbor last June.| ¢ CW% K iy ey . 'mas Leigh Gatch, who ceived [ragments from the bomb the neck and an artery was vered when the bomb hit the throwing him against the During one 24-hour period he flew re- at| 19 hours, participating in eated attacks on enemy ships Kiska, urret, > - cnning tower and knocking him IHAI SONG AGAEN conscious and tearing shoulder nuscles. He recovered in less than PHOENIX! Ariz.—A church bell hyee weeks and took the battleship donated to the metal drive has been replaced on a downtown sidewalk. =, It has this sign: “I've praised the Lord, now I go to make some ammunition.” o the second phase of the Bat- of Guadalcanal in November. i BUY DEFENSE BONDS