America at war! (1941– ) (Part 1)

[NormanStewart]

Uncle Sam hits back –
U.S. aircraft begin to even Pacific score

Second Jap battleship hit; Axis satellites may declare war
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
Further war declarations or ruptures of diplomatic relations with the United States by Axis satellites were likely today as U.S. airmen began to even the naval score with Japan in the Pacific.

The successful bombing of a second Japanese capital ship cheered the capital.

The nation is at war on two points – Atlantic and Pacific. But the Western Hemisphere is becoming more solidly aligned by the minute against the Axis and the period of disunity at home seems to have ended with the first bomb explosion in Hawaii.

Good news starts

Against Germany, Italy and Japan is being thrown the force of the world’s most perfectly machined and industrialized nation. And the good news is beginning to come in.

First word is awaited from the Atlantic front, where war began yesterday with declarations of hostilities by Rome and Berlin which were immediately acknowledged by the United States. Whether the Axis will attempt a “morale” air raid on Washington, New York or some other seaboard city is unknown. The fighting forces hope to stop it offshore if it comes.

Bombs of Army, Navy or Marine fliers have already sunk one Japanese battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer and badly damaged a second battleship.

Seek to restore balance

At that rate, it appears the U.S. flying men shortly will be able to restore the balance of naval power in the Pacific as it existed before Japan sank the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and inflicted unrevealed damage on our own fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was announced by the Governor of Hawaii that 20 Japanese planes were lost in Sunday’s attack on Hawaii.

The last “good news” came in the Navy Department’s Communiqué No. 3, which said:

Adm. Thomas C. Hart, Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Fleet, reported that Navy patrol planes scored bomb hits on a Japanese battleship of the Kongo class off the coast of Luzon. The ship was badly damaged. This is the second Japanese battleship to be bombed effectively by U.S. forces.

Haruna sunk

The first battleship attacked by U.S. forces was the 29,000-ton Haruna. It was sunk. The second, Adm. Hart reported, was believed to be the 29,300-ton Kongo.

Earlier in the day, the Navy has revealed that a small garrison of Marines were making a valiant stand to defend Wake Island, the tiny outpost between Hawaii and Guam. That garrison sunk one cruiser and one destroyer which had tried to attack.

Sufficiently accurate information on what was lost in Pearl Harbor is now common knowledge here – although unpublishable – and the rate at which U.S. fliers are reducing the Japanese fleet is encouraging.

Remains less favorable

But the balance of naval power remains considerably less favorable to the United States than it was before Sunday’s attack. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox arrived in Honolulu last night for a personal survey of the damage which the public will scarcely minimize after White House emphasis upon its seriousness.

Hungary is almost in step with the Axis today with the formal announcement in Washington that diplomatic relations with the United States have been broken. Hungary explained here that she was not declaring war.

Radio Berlin broadcast that Hungary has declared war against the United States.

Romania may follow

Romania is another subordinate European state which may follow that course.

The course of the neutrals – Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal – remains to be seen, nor is it known here what Germany may demand of that part of France governed from Vichy.

Finland, already at war with the Soviet Union and with Great Britain, is seeking to avoid involvement in the general war flaming throughout the world. The situation is further complicated by Great Britain’s recent declaration of war against Hungary and Romania.

Greece, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway are captive countries, seized forcibly by Nazi arms, and Albania fell early to Italy.

Meets in January

The Western Hemisphere was rapidly falling in line with the anti-Axis powers in a worldwide choose-up-sides for battle and there will be a conference in Rio de Janeiro in January among the 21 American republics.

Here next week, Mr. Roosevelt has called a conference of management and labor to agree on a changeover from war to peace production efforts which must adopt a seven-day production week, and without strike or lockout interruptions, too. The accomplishments of the conference are expected to take the place of drastic anti-strike legislation which was roaring through Congress when Japan struck.

The Congressional isolation bloc has vanished as though bombed and it is the present intention of Congress to vote all the funds and authority the administration and its military advisers ask to prosecute the war. Restrictions against sending National Guardsmen and selectees outside the Western Hemisphere were voted away unanimously yesterday and the Senate turned immediately to consideration of a $10-billion supplemental national defense appropriation. The sum of the bill was increased by about $2 billion by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Taxes will rise

Taxes are going up soon and far. Congressional leaders agreed that the burden will increase tremendously and other officials are arranging simultaneously to reduce the number of variety of things the public may buy with what is left over from the paycheck after taxes are paid.

National Selective Service Headquarters are pondering plans for registration of practically everyone for such essential service as may be necessary and draft deferment lists are already being revised to make more men immediately available for the armed services.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Maxim Litvinov, the Soviet Ambassador, conferred and predicted increased collaboration against the common enemy. But there is no word here about bases for our planes in Siberia so that they may shuttle back and forth between the Philippines and the Asiatic mainland, dropping their bombs on Japan as they cross each way. The Soviet Union and Japan are not at war. Instead, they have a mutual non-aggression pact.

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Soviet Union, U.S. pledge rising war collaboration

Russia leaves no hint on possible aid in fight against Japan; Litvinov announces ‘full understanding’ reached in talk with Hull

Washington (UP) –
The Soviet Union and the United States are informally pledged to increased collaboration against their common enemy, the Axis, but there has been no hint as of today whether the Soviet plans to offer this country the use of Siberian air bases for its war against Japan.

The Soviet Union and Japan are not at war. They have a mutual non-aggression pact.

Diplomats here have felt that the Soviet Union would probably continue its present status with Japan unless attacked, because of the necessity of concentrating all efforts on the front threatened by Germany.

However, air and naval bases along the eastern Siberian coast would be strategic points for U.S. bombers to start raids over the Japanese mainland.

Nothing was mentioned about such aid yesterday after a conference between Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov.

Litvinov said after the conference that the Soviet Union and the United States had reached a “full understanding” on their common struggle.

Soviet ‘to do share’

Mr. Hull said in a statement earlier that the Soviets “will do their full share” in the all-out fight against the Axis. He also pointed out that when Litvinov arrived here Monday – the day the United States declared war on Japan – President Roosevelt assured him of his “firm determination” to continue aid to the Soviets.

The Hull and Litvinov remarks came amidst reports from Europe that the Soviets had rejected Nazi proposals for peace. Some reports speculated that the halting of the German drive on Moscow might be a preliminary to a Russo-German peace. But Litvinov said:

I have no doubt whatever that we will continue resistance against the Germans to a final complete victory.

Mr. Hull’s statement – given out before he met Litvinov – appeared to be designed to refute reports that Russia was reluctant to move in the Far East lest she becomes involved in war with Japan.

Litvinov sidestepped all inquiries as to what assistance the Soviet Union might give this country.

His only answer to specific questions about bases was:

We shall see.

Naturally we have a common cause and a common enemy. We are fighting Hitler more than anyone else. We fully understand each other.

Litvinov’s conference with Mr. Hull was one of a series which included a talk with Harry L. Hopkins, Lend-Lease supervisor, and Lord Halifax, British Ambassador.

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Nazi peace feeler spurned by Russia; Japan denounced

‘We shall see,’ Litvinov says about Soviet plans for bombing Tokyo after he confers with Roosevelt; Reds rap Nipponese treachery
By the United Press

Russia’s official Radio Kuybyshev broadcast today that the Soviet Union would never sign a peace treaty with Germany except in agreement with the United States and Britain and added:

By that time, there will no longer be a Hitler in Germany.

There was as yet no official announcement from Russia as to what action it will take in the Pacific War.

But in Washington, Maxim Litvinov, the new Russian Ambassador, the one man among great European statesmen who for years had said that joint defense by the democracies against aggressors was the sole hope of civilization, said to questioning newspaper correspondents:

Naturally we have a common cause and a common enemy. We are fighting Hitler more than anyone else. We fully understand each other.

Litvinov sees Roosevelt

Mr. Litvinov conferred yesterday with President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador.

Asked as to the extent of assistance Russia might give in the Pacific, such as bombing Tokyo from its Siberian bases, he said, “We shall see.”

“Fine!” he exclaimed when informed that a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer had been sunk off Wake Island.

Henry Shapiro, United Press correspondent in Kuybyshev (temporary Russian diplomatic headquarters), reported that Pravda, the official Communist Party organ, bitterly denounced Japan today, saying it had attacked the United States and Great Britain treacherously and obviously after long preparation.

See defeat for Japs

Pravda said:

The Japanese aggressor has plunged into a very hazardous adventure which bodes him nothing but defeat.

And if he counted on the possibility of a “lightning victory,” he is in for a disappointment no less than that suffered by the bloodthirsty Hitler as the result of his bandit attack on the Soviet Union.

In Washington, denying reports of a possible Russo-German peace, Mr. Litvinov said:

I have no doubt whatever that we will continue resistance against the Germans to a final complete victory.

Reds cite ‘powerful front’

Asked regarding the possibility of a firm American-British-Chinese-Dutch-Russian alliance, he said:

We shall see. Naturally we have a common cause and a common battle. I cannot make any statement about Japan.

Radio Moscow quoted an editorial in Pravda, which, in discussing the Pacific situation, mentioned the United States, Britain and China as constituting a “powerful front.”

The editorial said:

The first partial successes by Japan in the Pacific are not decisive. The fact that Germany and Italy have declared war on the United States does not alter the position materially.

The Japanese wanted a quick victory, but they will be disappointed. They are confronted by a powerful front of the United States, Britain and China.

Expect long war

The opening of a new front in the Pacific will mean increased activity on the Chinese front.

The United States, which was already against the Hitler front, has used the interval before the war declarations to increase its production of war materials. Its production is not on full-scale so far, but that will soon be made up.

The war in the Pacific will be long and difficult. The colossal superiority of manpower and the possession of raw materials by the United States will prove decisive.

A CBS correspondent in Kuybyshev said that the Russian government was advised officially of Japan’s declaration of war on the United States only yesterday when a State Department message reached the U.S. Embassy.

‘Dreams buried in snow’

He quoted Pravda as saying in substance:

Hitler hoped to capture Russia up to the Ural Mountains in one or two months. Now his dreams are buried in snow.

Hitler is ready to talk peace with Russia tomorrow if Russian leaders are willing to talk peace with him. Hitler is now dangling peace proposals before the Soviet Union, hoping that they will nibble. But the Soviet Union will sign a peace treaty with Germany only in common with Britain and the United States.

It was added that the article was written before the German declaration of war on the United States yesterday.

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Newspapers assure Roosevelt of support

New York (UP) –
The American Newspaper Publishers Association said today that the nation’s newspapers had assured President Roosevelt of their support and “await your call for any service we can render.”

Press Secretary Stephen Early said in reply that Mr. Roosevelt:

…is most appreciative of the pledge of active support for the defense of the American way of life which you give on behalf of the newspapers of the United States.

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ABCD means JIG is up for Axis bloc

Mexico, Missouri (UP) –
Said Col. C. R. Stribling of Missouri Military Academy when informed of America’s declaration of war:

It’s as plain as ABCD [America-Britain-China-Dutch East Indies] that the JIG [Japan-Italy-Germany] is up.

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Roosevelt says ore supply is adequate

Washington (PWB) –
President Roosevelt, in a press conference announcement today, showed optimism over the winter supply of iron ore for defense manufacturing.

Noting that the Great Lakes ore traffic has now been closed down by ice, the President said that during the past season, ore deliveries had been boosted to 86 million long tons, in contrast to 60 million last year and the 66-million record in World War I.

Mr. Roosevelt said the result is that ore stockpiles contain two million more tons than at this time last year.

Additional ore boats will go into service next season, he added.

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‘Dangerous’ aliens will be interned

Washington (UP) –
Enemy aliens will be interned for the duration of the war only in cases where there is “strong reason to fear for the internal security” of the United States, the Justice Department announced today.

This announcement, however, was not expected to save from detention camps the bulk of the 2,303 Germans, Japanese and Italians already seized as “dangerous” aliens. They will be given hearings by review boards in each judicial district. Altogether there are more than 1.1 million German, Italian, Japanese nationals in the country.

Attorney General Francis Biddle informed U.S. attorneys and the Immigration and Naturalization Service that aliens seized were to be permitted to see attorneys and their families. They may also send and receive censored letters and use telephones under supervision.

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Walsh raps Tobey’s plea for inquiry

If Navy was derelict, Roosevelt will act, Senator says

Washington (UP) –
Senator David I. Walsh (D-MA), in a stirring rebuttal to renewed demands for a Congressional inquiry into Sunday’s Hawaiian setback, said yesterday that if the Navy High Command in Hawaii was derelict in its duty, President Roosevelt will act “in such a manner as to retain the confidence of the American people.”

The Senate Naval Affairs Committee chairman pledged he would make every effort to:

…strike a blow against inefficiency, against anyone derelict in his duty, against anyone slackening in the defense of our country.

He pleaded:

But at least in these early days of war and said disaster, let us have confidence in our President and trust he will lead us to victory.

His impassioned oration was in reply to Senator Charles W. Tobey (R-NH) who demanded to know whether Mr. Walsh’s committee contemplated an investigation of the initial “disaster.”

Former isolationists

Mr. Tobey’s question pitted against each other two men who only a week ago had been eye-to-eye as members of the isolationist bloc.

The “time is past” for criticism that is not constructive, Mr. Walsh told Mr. Tobey, who only a few minutes before had voted for the declaration of war against Germany and Italy.

We must have confidence in our war President – not a Democratic President, not a New Deal President, but a war President serving in a new role which will mark his place in history; and I hope and pray it will be a high place.

He told Mr. Tobey:

It is not always possible to obtain accurate information of a naval encounter immediately after it has happened.

Two questions

Every man there in the service had to ask himself the question:

Are they [the Japanese] coming back and what can we do to meet them?

…rather than:

Gather all the details, find out what has happened and report to Washington.

Mr. Walsh said:

Every man out there in the service must know the facts – they cannot be kept silent.

He pointed out that a war President must check “his natural impulse” to reveal all the facts; he must remember that “we cannot disclose too much that will comfort the enemy.”

Senator Walsh concluded:

I think we should wait until the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thinks it is his solemn duty – to retain the confidence of the American people – to speak for our information.

Tobey insistent

Mr. Tobey had insisted earlier that “the people in this crisis want the truth” and said he had “listened in vain” to Mr. Roosevelt for information on the Hawaiian attack.

His remarks came after Mr. Walsh had told the Senate the Navy had just received the Hawaiian casualty list, but that it would not be made public for two or three days so the next of kin could be notified first.

They were countered by Senator Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), World War I veteran, who told Mr. Tobey the President “would be wrong” to disclose the facts of the naval engagement to the Japanese.

Mr. Tobey then read from a Christian Science Monitor article of Dec. 9 and, emphasizing such phrases as one asserting that the Navy had been “caught napping,” said he had been told by two Senators that “the mechanical listening devices [at Hawaii] were not in working order.”

Senator Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) accused Mr. Tobey of being willing to “indict all those men in Pearl Harbor on information of a newspaper article and two Senators.”

Mr. Tobey shouts

Mr. Tobey shouted:

Why wasn’t the steam up? I could ask a thousand questions. I wouldn’t want to tell all I heard.

Mr. Lucas labelled Mr. Tobey’s remarks as “billingsgate and harangue,” based on admittance of a lack of facts.

Mr. Lucas said angrily:

You may think you can run the war from the floor of the Senate, but you can’t. When you come to the Senate and give to the world such information, you do an injustice to your country and your people.

Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI) said:

The one consolation in this affair to me is that the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts is chairman of our Naval Affairs Committee. I have confidence that he is on guard and that he will move with courage and effectiveness whenever it is necessary.

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Italians urged loyalty

New York –
The supreme duty of six million Americans of Italian origin is loyalty to the United States, Generoso Pope said today in a signed editorial in his daily newspapers, Il Progresso Italo-Americano and Corriere d’America.

[NormanStewart]

U.S. subs hunt near Manila; Japanese lose 27 planes

By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer

The Philippines battlefront

U.S. forces reported heavy fighting against the Jap invaders in the Philippines today at points indicated on the map above.
1) U.S. admits Japs land in large numbers in north. Aparri area reported recaptured by U.S.
2) U.S. Navy admits heavy damage at Cavite; Manila has two alarms, no bombs. Jap battleship knocked out of control by Navy planes.
3) Americans fight Jap landing parties in Legazpi region.

Manila, Philippines –
Adm. Thomas C. Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet, revealed today that a Japanese battle fleet fled to avoid battle when U.S. warships approached.

Official communiqués reported that U.S. warplanes have taken a heavy toll of Japanese planes and ships.

Adm. Hart said a 29,300-ton Japanese battleship of the Kongo class had suffered one heavy hit and two lighter hits when bombed by a naval plane. The bombs put the warship out of control. This success was in addition to the sinking of 29,300-ton Haruna, Adm. Hart added to information released in Washington last night.

Adm. Hart said the U.S. fleet “contacted” the Japanese war fleet a considerable distance off Manila. The enemy ships sheered off to avoid battle.

Developments today:

1. U.S. submarines are ranging the narrow seas of the war zone and are expected to report major success when they communicate with their home bases.

2. U.S. and Philippine planes have struck hard at the Japanese Air Force; Filipino pilots were credited with shooting down two Japanese planes in action and the Americans bagged 25.

One U.S. Army aviator single-handedly accounted for 14 of the Japanese planes, shooting down two in the air and knocking out 12 on the ground at Aparri on the northern tip of Luzon this morning.

Jap’s attack heavy

The Japanese Air Force continued its heavy attacks, raiding Batangas Province, 50 miles southeast of Manila, twice and causing two more air-raid alarms in Manila.

An NBC reporter in Manila said it had been officially confirmed that the Kongo-class battleship hit by U.S. bombs was the Kongo itself. He reported that the Japanese sent at least 113 bombers over the Philippines today, attacking various objectives including an airfield at Batangas.

To decide on Spaniards

In Manila, all Axis aliens were placed in protective custody and a decision was being pondered concerning action against Spanish nationals and members of the Falange Fascist Party.

U.S. pilot killed

The Army announced that Capt. Colin Kelly Jr., 26, who scored the three direct hits which sank the first battleship, had been killed in action.

Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commanding U.S. forces in the Far East, replied today to a message from President Roosevelt, congratulating U.S. forces on their defense:

The Far Eastern Command appreciates deeply your message. We shall do our best.

Heavy damage at Cavite

U.S. and Philippine forces were reported to be fighting Japanese landing parties in the Legazpi area, at the southeast tip of Luzon Island, 210 miles from Manila, and it was admitted that Japanese troops were now in greater force in northern Luzon.

Adm. Hart said the Navy’s Cavite base, eight miles southwest of Manila, had been hit by a powerful Japanese airplane attack. There were extensive fires and great damage was done, he said. Small ships lying at the yard were also damaged.

One bomb directly hit a dispensary, Adm. Hart said, and everyone in it was killed, including nurses and doctors. He emphasized that the dispensary was in the center of a fortified area.

Await subs’ reports

He said that loss of life figures had not been completed but that it was known most of the dead were civilians.

Adm. Hart said that submarines of the Asiatic Fleet had not yet reported.

He added:

But we expect big results. When a torpedo hits a ship, it stays hit.

The submarines were the big game hunters of the fleet and they used only elephant guns, not shotguns, Adm. Hart said.

He announced the Lt. H. A. Utter had been attacked by three Japanese fighters. He shot down one, Hart said, and then made a forced landing, taxied his seaplane to the coast, repaired minor damage and took off next morning, returning to his base.

Filipinos win air victory

Describing the attack on the second Japanese battleship, Adm. Hart and Lt. C. A. Keller sighted it off northwestern Luzon and held contact with it for a long time despite anti-aircraft fire, guiding the attack of bombers led by Lt. Cdr. J. V. Peterson.

The Navy fliers then pressed their attack despite heavy gunfire, he said.

Adm. Hart said that the Navy had lost two large planes in the Gulf of Davao Monday, approximately one hour after the Pearl Harbor attack. One pilot was lost and some members of the crews were wounded, he said.

Since Monday, he added, one large Navy plane had been shot down at Laguna de Bay, 30 miles from Manila, and all members of the crew were killed.

He said Navy pilots had been most active and that several planes had suffered minor damage. Some fuel tanks had been punctured, he said. One pilot landed successfully with one of his two motors burning, he commented.

Philippine town raided

Discussing naval operations, Adm. Hart said that no Japanese battleship had yet approached within sight of the Philippine coast, and he deprecated reports which “always call every craft a battleship.”

An Army communiqué said a small Japanese force was reported to have pushed ashore in Legazpi, at Albay Bay.

Despite the improved position of the Japanese at the northern end of Luzon, the Army communiqué said the situation there had not changed materially.

BBC, heard by CBS, quoted a Manila dispatch as saying that U.S. forces in northern Luzon had recaptured the Aparri region on the north coast. BBC said:

United States troops are reported to have smashed every Japanese effort yesterday to set invading forces firmly ashore and it is reported that the enemy is even being driven back at Aparri, where they had established a temporary foothold. The region around Aparri is said now to be back in American hands.

Seven thousand civilians held to be non-essential were evacuated from the walled area of Manila, which contains the general headquarters of U.S. forces in the Far East, Fort Santiago and other military establishments.

The Philippine National Assembly, at a special session, approved an emergency powers bill which authorized President Manuel L. Quezon to spend all available unexpended public funds for national defense and civilian protection.

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British estimate Jap fleet strength

London, England (UP) –
The Press Association, a British news agency, giving “reliable approximations” of the strength of the Japanese fleet, said today that the most recent information credited Japan with 15 aircraft carriers “not taking into account ships sunk by the U.S. Navy.”

The Japanese craft were said to include six seaplane carriers and nine other aircraft carriers.

Japan’s naval strength, which has been one of the world’s most closely guarded secrets, was believed to include 10 battleships, 12 8-inch gun cruisers, six 6-inch gun cruisers, 14 cruisers armed with 5.9-inch guns, about 126 destroyers and 86 submarines, the Press Association said.

The Japanese were also said to have a force of destroyers and small craft used in northern waters for the protection of the fishing industry and in the mandated islands.

The strength of the Japanese Fleet Air Arm was estimated at about 1,550 planes, about 500 of which were embarked on carriers and other ships. The rest were reported shore-based in Japan, Formosa, Indochina and the mandated islands.

There is no separate Japanese Air Force. The Army and the Navy each has its own. The Press Association gave no estimates of Japanese Army air strength.

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Hitler nervous, Swiss paper says

Zurich, Switzerland (UP) –
The newspaper Die Tats reported today from Berlin that although Adolf Hitler spoke calmly in yesterday’s war speech to the Reichstag, definite nervousness could occasionally be detected in his voice.

Die Tats said that once while slowly approaching one theme, Hitler broke a match or pencil and at another time tore a scrap of paper to bits.

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War Department gives communiqués

Washington –
A War Department communiqué indicated today that Japanese forces are making persistent attempts to land on Luzon, the main island of the Philippines group, from several directions.

The communiqué – the Army’s fifth of the U.S.-Japanese War – reported the Japanese to be making “a series of concentric thrusts” to Luzon.

It told of “enemy concentrations” off the coast of Zambales, a province just north of Manila, and at Legazpi, a port on the tip of Luzon about 200 miles south of Manila. It was the first mention of activity off Zambales, which is immediately north of the chain of forts protecting Manila.

The communiqué also reported that:

The enemy is augmenting its forces at Aparri and Vigan.

Communiqué No. 4, issued last night, said there was “reason to believe” that defenses in the north and northwest of Luzon – Aparri is in the north, Vigan in the northwest – were “continuing successfully.”

Today’s communiqué said nothing about progress of fighting.

It noted “no operations reported” in Hawaii, and “no change in the situation” on the West Coast.

The text of Communiqué No. 5, issued by the War Department as of 9:30 a.m. EST today:

Philippine Theater.
The Commanding General of the Far Eastern Command reports the Japanese are making a series of concentric thrusts on the island of Luzon. Enemy concentrations are reported at Legazpi and off the west coast of Zambales. The enemy is augmenting its forces at Aparri and Vigan.

Hawaii.
No operations reported.

West Coast.
No change in the situation.

[NormanStewart]

Ford to extend UAW contract to bomb plant

At least 60,000 men will be employed at Ypsilanti, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan (UP) –
An agreement, under which provisions of the Ford Motor Company’s union shop checkoff contract with the United Automobile Workers (CIO) would be extended to employees of the firm’s vast $58,500,000 bomber plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan, was disclosed today.

Ford personnel director Harry Bennett said no new contract would be required but that the 60,000-70,000 men eventually to be employed at the plant will be blanketed under the existing agreement with the UAW-CIO. Union sources confirmed the plan.

Extension of the agreement which already embraces 120,000 Ford workers throughout the country followed disclosure by CIO president Philip Murray last month that he had conferred with Ford officials on the matter during the CIO national convention.

Although present orders call for Ford to turn out 75 completed bombers and 100 complete sub-assemblies a month, they are expected to be stepped up considerably in view of the war against Japan, Germany and Italy. The bomber plant, which with the airport cover 975 miles, can be geared to build a four-motored bomber every hour.

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‘I’ll go where my husband goes,’ says U.S. citizen wed to Nazi naval attaché

American wife of German envoy declares ‘I won’t go home’
By Evelyn Peyton Gordon, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
I telephoned the California-born wife of VAdm. Robert Witthoeft-Emden, German naval attaché here. A solemn but pleasant admiral answered the phone personally.

“Darling,” I heard him summon his wife.

I asked her:

Are you an American citizen?

“Yes,” said Frau Witthoeft.

What will you do when members of the German staff start for Europe?

I will go where my husband goes. Wouldn’t you?

At Warrenton, Virginia, is the Countess Caracciolo di Melito, visiting her father, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Oscar T. Crosby.

Miriam Crosby married her handsome Italian count at Naples in 1915, a few days after Italy declared war on Germany. She is an Italian citizen. Her husband is in unoccupied France on a repatriation commission, and their son, Ludovico, is in the Italian Navy. She has been in this country nearly two years.

For some weeks, the countess has been consulting the State Department and the Italian Embassy about her status, and both have advised her not to worry. But today the situation is more complex. Will she return to an Italy which at the moment is empty of both her husband and son? Can she remain at her father’s estate? Can she be interned?

Up in New York are Signore Lais and her daughter, Edna. Signora Lais is the American-born wife of a former naval attaché of the Italian Embassy. When Adm. Lais was recalled to Italy months ago because of a “leak,” his wife and daughter remained in New York. But they are Italian citizens, or were at least until recently.

In a beautiful villa in Florence, Italy, is Signora Rosso, the former Frances Wilkinson Bunker of Washington and Chicago. When she was married in Paris a few years ago to the then Italian Ambassador at Moscow, she became an Italian citizen, and eventually her assets in this country were impounded. Her ex-husband, Arthur Bunker, an OPM dollar-a-year man, has had no word from her. Neither has their daughter, Adele, who is selling Christmas books at Brentano’s.

Frau Thomsen, wife of the German Chargé d’Affaires, was not answering the telephone. Some time ago, when there was a threat that diplomatic relations would be broken, she said:

I won’t go home – ever. I won’t go back to that place.

Nobody believed that she felt as she often said she felt about Hitler. These next days will tell whether the titian-haired Hungarian Bebe Thomsen was only acting a part.

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U.S. to recruit closed plants as arms works

Government will utilize factories shutdown by shortages
By John W. Love, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
Until the government gets a better slant on the present supplies and future flow of vital materials from the Far East, severe reductions will be applied to all the civilian industries using them. That appears to mean practically all metal industries.

The new case of factory shutdowns thus created, it is disclosed, will be utilized to turn over still more of these plants to armament manufacture. The emphasis is now definitely swinging to such conversion. Though a number of new plants are yet to be erected, the transformation of existing works is to be the main order of expansion in arms production for winter and spring.

Certainties of heavy disemployment in any circumstances for intervals of weeks to months, plus an imperative need for every tool which can be utilized are ending the long argument over whether planes and tanks should be turned out in revamped old plants or in specially designed new ones.

Auto rationing seen

For these reasons, members of the auto industry here would not be surprised to see the manufacture of passenger seats cease altogether by March, if not sooner. Rationing of new cars is expected in any event, with buyers required to have priority tickets.

Makers of cars were notified yesterday they could produce 102,000 passenger models next February, or a little more than a fifth of last February’s output, but the order temporarily stopping the sale of tires at retail impressed them more.

This order is expected to be followed by others which would husband the strategic metals derived from Chinese, East Indian and Philippine sources. Though all of these, except tin, can be obtained from American or nearby sources, time is needed to open new mines and enlarge others, and the risks are regarded as too great to permit chances to be taken until the whole story is known.

Agencies study supplies

Half a dozen agencies in Washington have been going over the American outlook for supplies which have been interrupted by the Pacific War, and in today’s meeting of the Supply, Priorities and Allocations Board, under the management of Donald M. Nelson, all this information was being brought together.

Orders similar to that applied to tires would remain in effect either until the naval situation cleared somewhat or the government determined the assured American supply.

May centralize purchasing

Out of the present uncertainties may come a centralized importing agency under RFC management, government takeovers of warehouse space for storing the materials it is about to acquire, and general standardization of the civilian goods still allowed to be made, from refrigerators on down.

Another upshot may be centralized purchasing by the Army, Navy, Maritime Commission and Lend-Lease.

Machinery adaptable

The uncertainty is partly the result of incomplete reorganization of the OPM and its related supply agencies. Further moves in this process are expected next week or the week after.

In the movement to convert existing plants to the production of arms, defense agencies have collected a quantity of information on the mechanical resources of these plants. It is understood that in the Chevrolet works in Buffalo, now being converted to make airplane engines, about 30% of the machinery is adaptable.

In a typical Detroit assembly system, about 40% of the machines and machine tools can be used to make bomber engines; about 50% can be used to make tanks; for machine guns, the proportion is lower. The rest of the tools would be greased up for storage.

Known as the Reuther Plan – for the officer of the United Auto Workers who proposed it – the conversion movement has not been so enthusiastically supported by workers in the industry in recent months because of the layoffs required during the changeover, and the discovery that fewer men would be employed afterward than before. This number may be increased, however, by running the plants day and night.

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CANDIDLY SPEAKING —
Women needed for defense jobs, but not as wardens

They can be ‘much more valuable’ in other posts, officials say; work categories listed
By Maxine Garrison

WANTED: 500 first-aid instructors.
500 volunteer housing canvassers.
200 ambulance attendants.
200 water safety guides.

As many stenographers, typists and file clerks as are available.

NOT wanted: Women air-raid wardens.

There, in a classified ad nutshell, is the story of Pittsburgh’s Civilian Defense needs at the moment.

The great preference of women applicants for air-raid warden posts, coming on top of the fact that there have been 3,000 applicants (both men and women) this week alone, complicates matters at Civilian Defense offices in the City-County Building.

Men are preferred

It is explained that air-raid wardens are not the most immediate need and, besides, men are preferred for those posts.

But that women need not feel slighted… […]. Instructors are needed for the primary first air course (an instructor must have completed the first two courses).

There is an immediate call for canvassers to compile lists of available houses, apartments and rooms for defense workers. There is a shortage of ambulance attendants (who require first-aid training in such matters as lifting a patient from stretcher to ambulance).

Rush of clerical work

Water safety guides will be those people who can swim well and can handle small river craft in case of emergency.

The 3,000 applications within a week makes it clear why stenographers, typists and file clerks are wanted.

In brief, say Civilian Defense authorities:

We do want women – lots of them. But we don’t want women air-raid wardens, and we hope they’ll understand how much more valuable they can be in other capacities.

For efficiency’s sake, Pittsburgh’s Civilian Defense organization next week will inaugurate a method used here, as far as is known, for the first time in such work. To facilitate the enrollment of thousands of department store workers, registration centers will be set up in four downtown department stores.

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Donate Christmas boxes early, Henderson urges

Washington (UP) –
If you’ve received any packages marked “Don’t Open Until Christmas,” please ignore that injunction.

That appeal was made today by Price Administrator Leon Henderson who asked that gift boxes and wrappings be contributed to the national waste paper collection campaign.

Mr. Henderson explained that paper board is in great demand to package war materials and the “raw material” from which it is made is used paper and cardboard cartons and boxes.

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U.S. in seventh war

By the United Press

The United States was engaged in its seventh war today. They are:

War	Started	Ended
Revolutionary War	April 19, 1775	Jan. 14, 1784
War of 1812	June 18, 1812	Feb. 17, 1815
War with Mexico	April 25, 1846	May 30, 1848
Civil War	April 15, 1861	Aug. 20, 1866
War with Spain	April 21, 1898	April 11, 1899
World War I	April 6, 1917	July 2, 1921
World War II	Dec. 11, 1941

[NormanStewart]

America First set to disband; victory urged

National directors’ action approved ‘in advance’ by Lindbergh

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
The America First Committee, pre-war foe of administration foreign policy, prepared today to disband its organization.

In a final statement announcing dissolution plans, national directors of the committee reaffirmed their belief in its principles but said the nation’s only wartime goal was “victory.” The statement said the committee’s objectives had been “an impregnable defense for our nation and avoidance of involvement in the European and Asiatic war.”

It said:

Our principles were right. Had they been followed, war could have been avoided. No good purpose can now be served by considering what might have been, had our objectives been obtained…

We are at war. Today, though there may be many important subsidiary considerations, the primary objective is not difficult to state. It can be completely defined in one word: Victory.

Gen. Robert E. Wood, national chairman, said the national directors’ action had been approved “in advance” by Charles A. Lindbergh, one of the committee’s principal spokesmen.

The statement appealed for preservation of “fundamental” American rights during the war and expressed hope that “secret treaties committing America to imperialistic aims or vast burdens in other parts of the world shall be scrupulously avoided.”

It also urged its members to support the nation’s war effort.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER 8972
Authorizing the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy To Establish and Maintain Military Guard and Patrols, and To Take Other Appropriate Measures to Protect Certain National-Defense Material, Premises, and Utilities From Injury or Destruction

WHEREAS the United States is now at war; and Whereas there exists a serious and immediate potential danger of sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities which may menace our maximum productive effort; and

WHEREAS the Congress of the United States has in recent enactment recognized this danger by enjoining efforts to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense, and providing severe penalties therefor; and

WHEREAS it is considered necessary in the interests of national defense that, in particular situations where hazardous, dangerous, or other unfavorable conditions may from time to time exist, special precautionary measures be taken by establishing and maintaining military guards and patrols or other appropriate means to protect from injury or destruction national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, whenever he deems such action to be necessary or desirable, and the Secretary of the Navy, whenever he deems such action to be necessary or desirable, to establish and maintain military guards and patrols, and to take other appropriate measures, to protect from injury or destruction national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities, as defined in the Act of April 20, 1918 (40 Stat. 533), as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940 (54 Stat. 1220), and the Act of August 21, 1941 (55 Stat 655).

This order shall not be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 12, 1941

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EXECUTIVE ORDER 8973
Transfer of Employees Possessing Qualifications For National-Defense Work

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 12, 1941

WHEREAS there exists a critical shortage of persons qualified in certain occupations and professions essential to the successful prosecution of the national-defense program; and

WHEREAS there are in the executive branch of the Government employees possessing skills and qualifications in such occupations and professions who are employed in positions in which they can be replaced:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403) and by Section 1753 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U.S.C., Title 5, Sec. 631), it is hereby ordered that whenever the Civil Service Commission shall find (a) that there is employed in the executive civil service of the United States any person who is qualified to perform work directly connected with the national-defense program for which there is a critical shortage of qualified persons, and (b) that the position occupied by such person can be filled, the head of the department or agency concerned shall be requested by the Commission to authorize the release of such person for transfer to a public or private agency to perform work directly connected with the national-defense program; but no transfer under this order shall be made without the consent of the head of the department and of the employee concerned.

Any person, except one holding a temporary position, transferred under this order whose services are subsequently terminated without prejudice shall be entitled to reemployment benefits as stated below provided that he is still qualified to perform the duties of his position and that he makes application for reinstatement within forty days after the termination of his services or forty days after the present national emergency shall have ceased to exist:

1. He shall be reinstated within thirty days of his application in the same department or agency, and in approximately the same locality, in his former position or in a position of like seniority, status, and pay, provided that such a position then exists.

2. If such a position does not exist, and such person is therefore not reinstated within thirty days of his application, his name shall be entered on the Reemployment List established pursuant to Executive Order 5924 of September 20, 1932, to be considered for certification to positions for which he is qualified elsewhere in the Government service.

3. No employee reinstated under this order shall be discharged from such position without cause within one year after his reinstatement.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 12, 1941

[NormanStewart]

Romanian declaration of war on the United States
December 12, 1941

Guvernul Regal Român are onoarea de a comunica Guvernului Statelor Unite ale Americii că, în conformitate cu dispozițiile Pactului Tripartit și respectând obligațiile de solidaritate cuprinse în acest pact, ca urmare a stării de război care a avut apărută între Statele Unite ale Americii, pe de o parte, și Reich-ul german, Italia și Japonia, pe de altă parte, România însăși se află în stare de război cu Statele Unite ale Americii.

The Royal Romanian Government has the honor to communicate to the Government of the United States of America that, in conformity with the dispositions of the Tripartite Pact and respecting the obligations of solidarity contained in this pact, as a result of the state of war which has arisen between the United States of America on the one hand, and the German Reich, Italy and Japan on the other, Romania herself is in a state of war with the United States of America.

[NormanStewart]

Bulgarian declaration of war on the United States and Great Britain
December 12, 1941

След като Германия и Италия обявиха, че се намират в състояние на война със Съединените американски щати, тъй като смятат, че Съединените американски щати са извършили през последните месеци редица вражески действия, българското правителство, за да изпълни задължението си съгласно член III от Тристранния пакт, реши също да скъса дипломатическите отношения със Съединените американски щати и да обяви наличието на състояние на война с тях, както и със съюзника на Съединените щати - Великобритания.

After Germany and Italy declared that they are in a state of war with the United States of America, because they consider that the United States of America has committed in recent months a series of enemy acts, the Bulgarian Government, in order that it may fulfill its obligation in accordance with Article III of the Tripartite Pact, has decided also to break diplomatic relations with the United States of America and to declare the existence of a state of war therewith as well as with the United States’ ally, Great Britain.

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (December 13, 1941)

Japans Wehrmacht

Von Generalmajor Okamoto

Der ehemalige Militärattaché an der kaiserlich japanischen Botschaft in Berlin, Generalmajor Okamoto, hatte die Freundlichkeit, uns den nachstehenden Aufsatz zur Verfügung zu stellen. Der Artikel aus der berufenen Feder des ehemaligen kaiserlich japanischen Militärattachés zeigt den stolzen Geist der traditionsreichen japanischen Wehrmacht.

Die Wehrhaftigkeit einer Nation ist stets von der Stärke des Nationalstolzes und von der Höhe des kulturellen Standes abhängig. Nur ein Volk, das einerseits seine geistigen Fähigkeiten auf das höchste zu entwickeln vermag und auf der, anderen Seite das Soldatische und Kämpferische im Herzen besitzt, kann insbesondere heute allen Waffenerfordernissen und Wirtschaftlich politischen Voraussetzungen entsprechend die stärkste Wehrmacht entwickeln. Trotz allen modernen Errungenschaften ist für die Wehrhaftigkeit doch das Entscheidende, ob ein Volk in seinem innersten Kern die soldatische Natur besitzt oder nicht. Deutschland mit seinem Germanentum, Italien mit seinem Römertum und Japan mit seinem Bushido (Ahnenkult und Ehrenkodex) sind in der Weltgeschichte drei kulturbringende Völker mit glänzenden Traditionen des Soldatentums.

Die heutige japanische Wehrhaftigkeit ist unmittelbar auf den Geist des Samurai (Ritter) zurückzuführen. Der Samuraistand, der seit dem 13. Jahrhundert die führende Schicht des japanischen Volkes bedeutete, zählte bei seiner Auflösung im Jahre 1868 drei Millionen Familien.

Die Grundsätze der Samurai

Die Grundprinzipien des Bushido waren das Führerprinzip, absolute Treue der Gefolgschaft mit Lebenseinsatz und spartanischer Wehrschulung. Die große Familie des Ritterstandes mit seiner sieben- bis achthundertjährigen Wehrtradition wurde im Jahre 1872 durch den Tenno Meiji (den Gründer des modernen Japans) mit dem Gesetz der allgemeinen Wehrpflicht erweitert. Im Jahre 1882 verkündete Tenno Meiji für die gesamte Wehrmacht Japans fünf Grundsätze des Soldatenethos: Untertanentreue, Sittlichkeit, Tapferkeit, Pflichttreue und Einfachheit nebst Ehrlichkeit bei allem. Diese waren auch Wesenszüge des japanischen Ritterideals, die durchsieben bis acht Jahrhunderte hindurch gepflegt und immer wieder gestärkt wurden.

Die Reorganisation des japanischen Wehrwesens, die die Staatsreform von 1868 mit sich brachte, blickt trotz der Einführung der europäischen Kriegstechnik zu dem ursprünglich japanischen Vorbild der Wehrorganisation zurück.

Der Oberbefehl des Tenno über das Volksheer (das Prinzip der allgemeinen Wehrmacht). Im 11. Artikel der japanischen Staatsverfassung heißt es „Heer und Kriegsmarine stehen unter dem Befehl des Tenno (Kaiser Japans)“ und der 12. Artikel besagt: „Die Organisation von Heer und Marine und ihre Friedensstärke wurde vom Tenno festgesetzt.“

Auf diesen beiden Grundsätzen basiert das japanischer Militärgesetz. Tenno ist an sich nicht eine durch die Verfassung als Oberhaupt des Landes und der Wehrmacht bestimmte Persönlichkeit, sondern er ist der Repräsentant des japanischen Herrscherhauses, das in dem japanischen Glauben mythologischen Ursprungs ist. Tenno ist für das japanische Volk die leibhaft gewordene Gottheit in der Reihe des Göttergeschlechts der Sonnengöttin. Tenno tritt dem Volke gegenüber im Auftrag seiner Urahne als Verkörperung der drei Tugenden „Tapferkeit, seelische Reinheit und Barmherzigkeit.“ Im Vollzug dieser Herrscherprinzipien vertreten Generationen des Tenno (bis jetzt 124 Dynastien) durch Wort und Tat jene Haupttugenden des japanischen Volkes: „Opferwilligkeit und Opferfähigkeit.“

Das erhabene Vorbild des Tenno

Solches bedeutet für einen jeden Japaner, nach dem erhabenen Vorbild des Tenno, nicht nur sich selbst, sondern auch die Seinigen freudig zu opfern, wenn es in Zeiten großer Not, wo Körper und Seele zu leiden haben, um die Wohlfahrt und das Glück des Ganzen geht. Diese sittliche Auffassung vom Sinn der Opferbereitschaft des einzelnen für das Wohl des Ganzen ist in Japan eine traditionelle Selbstverständlichkeit und somit Nationalcharakter des japanischen Volkes bis auf den heutigen Tag.

Die Wehrhaftigkeit und kulturelle Leistungsfähigkeit scheinen sich gegenseitig zu widersprechen. Wohl können diese beiden Kampf- und Friedensleistungen nicht gleichzeitig auf derselben, Höhe bleiben, jedoch ergänzen sie sich, und keines von beiden war und ist ohne das andere möglich, wenn man die Geschichte eines Volkes als Ganzes Versteht. Denn in dem Kern der japanischen Kulturleistung floß – seit über 2000 Jahren ein einziger Strom – das gefühlsmäßige Erbgut des japanischen Volkes: die Einheit des Kaisertums, des Volkes und des Landes. Diese innerste Überzeugung eines jeden Japaners bedeutet zugleich die sittliche Forderung, die im Geiste des Samurai zur höchsten Entfaltung gelangte und im heutigen Soldatentum Japans unvermindert fortlebt.

Nach deutschem Muster

Zu dieser soldatisch-patriotischen Tradition der japanischen Wehrhaftigkeit trat bei der Modernisierung der Waffenführung ein großer Beitrag der deutschen Wehrfähigkeit hinzu. Zur Schaffung der modernen Einrichtungen in der japanischen Wehrmacht war es zahlreichen japanischen Offizieren vergönnt, in Deutschland sich mit der modernen Waffenführung vertraut zu machen. Außerdem hatten sich viele deutsche Offiziere als Lehrer für das japanische Heerwesen betätigt. Japans Heer hat in diesem Sinne den deutschen militärischen Kräften und Errungenschaften außerordentlich viel zu verdanken.

Die japanische Wehrmacht hat sich seit ihrer Gründung von 1872 bei jeder Auseinandersetzung glänzend bewährt und jedesmal den Sieg davongetragen, was die erfolgreiche Entwicklung Japans zu einer der stärksten Weltmächte wesentlich förderte.

Japan schreitet, nunmehr seiner historischen Aufgabe bewußt, mit entschlossenem Einsatz der gesamten Volkskräfte zur Schaffung einer ostasiatischen Völkergemeinschaft, in der der Zusammenschluß zwischen Japan, Mandschukuo und China die tragende Rolle spielt.

Der Zweck der japanischen Bestrebungen ist, mit den japanischen Kräften, die von Gerechtigkeitssinn erfüllt sind, alle ostasiatischen Völker, die den unmenschlichen Machenschaften raumfremdermächte ausgesetzt sind, aus ihrem Sklavenleben zu befreien und ihnen mit dem Prinzip des friedlichen Zusammenlebens und geteilten Wohles ein neues Leben zu schenken.

In diesem Sinne war die Lösung des mandschurischen Problems (1931) das erste Stadium zur Schaffung der Neuordnung Ostasiens. Das zweite Stadium dieser Entwicklung begann mit dem Chinakonflikt (1937) und endet mit der Lösung dieses Problems.

Der Entschluß zur Neuordnung

Mit dem Abschluß des Dreimächtepaktes, der am 27. September 1940 unterzeichnet wurde, trat Japan mit Ostasien in das dritte Stadium seiner Neuordnung.

Japan stärkte nunmehr seinen Entschluß, allen Schwierigkeiten zum Trotz, mit Deutschland und Italien zusammen, die für die Neuordnung Europas in erfolgreichem Kampf auf dem Wege der Zielerreichung stehen, Schulter an Schulter einer totalen Neuordnung der Welt entgegenzumarschieren.

Es besteht kein Zweifel darüber, daß die Durchsetzung unseres Zieles eine große geeinte Volkskraft erfordert, die eine mächtige Wehrmacht zum Kern hat. Gegenwärtig verfügt die japanische Wehrmacht über mehrere Millionen Mann Heer, eine mehrere hundert Einheiten zählende Flotte und mehrere tausend Flugzeuge. Diese Streitkräfte Japans befinden sich bereits seit 1931 entweder im Krieg oder in Kampfbereitschaft und sammelten ihre Erfahrungen. Die japanische Wehrmacht zu Lande, zur See und in der Luft (die Luftwaffe ist in Japan nicht selbständig, sondern ist verteilt auf Armee und Marine) wird immer mehr Vervollständigt, um mit den bereits siegreich bewährten Wehrmächten Deutschlands und Italiens gemeinsam dem wirklichen Frieden der Welt zu dienen.

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Stärkster Widerhall auf die Führer-Rede –
Judas Kriegsagent ist nicht mehr weiß zu waschen

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

vb. Wien, 12. Dezember –
Die vernichtende Abrechnung des Führers mit dem Scharlatan Roosevelt, dem Treiber zum europäischen Krieg, dem Brandstifter auf dem ganzen Erdball, steht in allen Betrachtungen über die mitreißende Reichstagsrede im Vordergrund – auch beim Feind, denn gerade dort legt man den größten Wert darauf, den Kriegsagenten Judas weiß zu waschen. Im Übrigen zeigen diese Bemühungen ebenso wie die beispiellos verlogene Berichterstattung aus England und den USA über die Vorgänge im Pazifik und die Lage an den anderen Fronten an, daß auch die lautesten bisherigen Mauloffensiven noch beträchtlich überboten werden sollen.

Für Churchill sind die wohlüberlegte Erstickungsstrategie Roosevelts gegen Japan und die unverhüllte Kriegshetze seines Spießgesellen in Europa einfach nicht vorhanden. Er redete von „einem vorbedachten perfiden Angriff Japans,“ während sein Rundfunk es kurzweg ein „Märchen“ nannte daß Roosevelt den Krieg gesucht habe und es als „einzigartige Behauptung“ bezeichnete, daß der Führer den Kriegsplan Roosevelts für 1943 erwähnte, obwohl dieses Dokument in den USA überall veröffentlicht und besprochen worden ist.

Diese eifernde Verteidigung, die aus dem Infamsten Kriegstreiber aller Zeiten einen bewährten Friedensfreund zu machen sucht, beweist, daß man im feindlichen Lager vor allem die offenkundige Kriegsschuld Roosevelts als peinlich belastend empfindet und diese daher auf das rücksichtsloseste wegzulügen sucht.

Der entlarvte Heuchler

In den verbündeten und befreundeten Ländern vermitteln das Presseecho und die Äußerungen politischer Kreise der Öffentlichkeit mit größter Eindringlichkeit die Wahrheit über die Person Roosevelts, dem der Führer die heuchlerische Maske endgültig vorn Gesicht gerissen hat.

Die römische Morgenpresse legt in ihrer Bewertung der Reden des Duce und des Führers den größten Nachdruck auf die Eindeutigkeit, mit der von beiden Staatsmännern die Verantwortung des amerikanischen Präsidenten am Ausbruch des Krieges und an seiner Ausweitung über die ganze Erde hin betont wurde. Schreibt Messaggero:

In jeder Phase des allmählichen Zusammenbruches der Mächte einer veralteten Welt der Plutokratie, des Judentums und der Freimaurerei war die aufhetzende Tätigkeit Roosevelts unverkennbar.

Es handle sich jetzt nicht mehr darum, ein auf Gerechtigkeit beruhendes neues „europäisches Gleichgewicht“ zu schaffen, sondern darum, Europa selbst zu verteidigen. Der Sieg werde auf der Seite der Völker sein, die für die höchsten Ziele der Menschheit kämpften.

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U.S. War Department (December 13, 1941)

Communiqué No. 6

Philippine Theater.
Japanese air activity continued throughout the day with raids on Manila and at Davao on the island of Mindanao. Attempted Japanese landings were repulsed south of Vigan and north of San Fernando as well as at Lingayen on the island of Luzon.

Operations of enemy parachutists were reported at Tuguegarao and Ilagan, in the extreme north and northeast in the island of Luzon. Some enemy troops landed in the vicinity of Legazpi in the extreme southern portion of the island of Luzon.

Previous reports of enemy naval concentrations west of Zambales Province on the western coast of Luzon were confirmed.

The Commanding General, Far Eastern Command, has notified the Commanding General, USAAF, of the brilliant performance of the U.S. Army and Navy fliers and the fliers of the Philippine Commonwealth in attacking enemy units with total disregard for their own safety.

One spectacular instance was the feat of Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. of Madison, Florida, who successfully attacked the battleship HARUNA, putting that warship out of commission. In this destruction of this important unit of the Japanese fleet, Capt. Kelly lost his life. Another brilliant victory was scored by Lt. Boyd D. Wagner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who shot down two enemy planes and wrecked several others that were on the ground in the vicinity of Aparri in northern Luzon.

Hawaii.
There has been no renewal of Japanese attacks on Oahu since the initial operations on December 7, 1941.

West Coast, United States.
Rumors of landings of enemy parachute troops on the West Coast have been thoroughly investigated and completely discredited.

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U.S. Navy Department (December 13, 1941)

Communiqué No. 5

The Navy Department announced that it is unable to communicate with Guam either by radio or cable. The capture of the island is probable. A small force of less than 400 naval personnel and 155 Marines were stationed in Guam. According to the last reports from Guam, the island had been bombed repeatedly and Japanese troops had landed at several points on the island.

Wake and Midway continue to resist.

The above is based on reports until 9:00 a.m. EST today.

Communiqué No. 6

U.S. airmen turned back the fishing vessel ALERT of U.S. registry in the Gulf of Nicoya, on the west coast of Costa Rica. The vessel was boarded on its return to port and was found to have seven Japanese in the crew. They were taken into custody. The ALERT was loaded with a cargo of 10,000 gallons of diesel oil.

No new developments have been reported from combat areas as of 3:00 p.m. EST today.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 13, 1941)

WAR BULLETINS!

Roosevelt summons aides

Washington –
President Roosevelt today called in Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and a group of Navy officials, presumably to discuss progress of the war and U.S. strategy.

Axis retreats in Libya

Cairo, Egypt –
Axis forces are falling back steadily along a broad front west of Tobruk and about 40 miles inland from the coast in an effort to avoid encirclement and destruction, dispatches reported today.

Navy base blacked out

Newport, Rhode Island –
The Newport Naval Base was blacked out for a half-hour early today on receipt of “certain advices,” but officials later said the precautionary measures were the result of “mistaken identity” of airplanes.

Chinese airmen bomb Canton

New York –
Radio Halifax, heard by the United Press, said today that Chinese planes had bombed Canton, and it was believed that the Chinese were preparing an offensive to retake the city, as part of their new drive to relieve pressure on Hong Kong.

Queen Wilhelmina pledges help

Washington –
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands has assured President Roosevelt of cooperation in this country’s war against Japan.

Poles declare war on Japan

Washington –
The Polish Embassy announced today that Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski has received notice from his foreign minister in London that the Republic of Poland has declared the existence of war with Japan as of Dec. 11.

Reds rout Nazi reserves

Moscow, USSR (UP) – (TASS agency broadcast recorded in London)
Dispatches from the Kalinin Front northeast of Moscow today said the Germans had thrown hastily-formed reserves into an attempt to halt the Red Army offensive, but been forced to yield additional ground. The Nazis abandoned wounded men.

Japs claim air mastery

Berlin, Germany (UP) – (official news agency broadcast recorded in London)
Tokyo Imperial Headquarters said that in a battle over Malaya, the British Air Force in the Far East was practically destroyed and Japan is master of the air. British losses were put at 129 planes and Japanese losses at 17.

Puerto Rico has air-raid alarm

San Juan. Puerto Rico –
Army reports that unidentified airplanes had been sighted off the Puerto Rico coast resulted in an air-raid alarm throughout the island at 2:45 a.m. AST today and there was a blackout until dawn. There were no reports that bombs had been dropped.

Philippine airfields bombed

Washington –
War Department Communiqué No. 7 today said that Japanese aircraft bombed Cebu and Clark Field in the Philippines, and that the enemy’s plan appears now “clearly revealed” as an attempt to gain improvised air bases outside of the area held by our ground defenses.

Thailand due to freeze credits

Los Angeles, California –
Thailand, which capitulated to Japan, has frozen all U.S. and British assets and will break off diplomatic relations with those two nations, Radio Tokyo announced today in a broadcast heard here by NBC.

Florida on alert for air raid

Jacksonville, Florida –
Reports indicating the possibility of an air raid put naval and military establishments on the alert today and all radio stations in the Jacksonville area went off the air for nearly three hours, naval authorities reported.

Manila airfield raided

New York –
CBS’s Manila correspondent broadcast today that, according to a U.S. headquarters communiqué issued there today, Japanese bombers attacked several Philippine airfields. Nichols Field, just south of Manila, was raided but damage was believed slight, the broadcast said. A Japanese bomber was believed shot down by a harbor defense anti-aircraft gun.

Plea for Red war on Japs unlikely

London, England –
Reliable quarters said today that Britain had decided for the present to refrain from asking Russia for a declaration of war against Japan. British official quarters were represented as believing that Russia’s war with Germany should be pressed to the utmost without any major diversion.

Newsmen will leave Germany

London, England –
The German official news agency said today in a Berlin broadcast heard by the United Press that U.S. newspapermen in Berlin would leave with U.S. diplomats.

Nazis flying for Japanese

Washington –
Nazi pilots flying warplanes made in Germany have been operating over China recently and may have participated in the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, Maj. Gen. P. Kiang, chief of the Chinese military mission to the United States, said today.

North Luzon reported ‘clear’

New York –
The NBC correspondent in Manila, recorded by NBC in New York, said today that:

The U.S. High Command announced this morning that in northern Luzon, the area had been entirely cleared of Japanese invaders.

[NormanStewart]

Victory program –
Home front is organized; 10 million men may fight

Washington (UP) –
The fight for the survival of the United States took shape today on the home front and along the far-flung battle lines.

On the actual firing line, the Philippines have become the central theater of conflict in the Pacific.

The task at home has also become clearly defined.

More men will have to be called to the colors – perhaps 10 million in all.

More money will be thrown into the battle of production – about $5 billion a month – for more warships, more fighting planes, more guns.

More taxes are in store – a “several-billion-dollar” war tax bill is just around the corner.

And more sacrifices. People will have to get along with fewer of the things made of raw materials imported from the Far East.

Congress is getting ready to act on draft legislation that will require 40 million men from 18 to 65 to register. Only those between 18 and 44 (inclusive) will be subject to military service, permitting a draft army of 10 million strong. The rest will be subject to non-combatant duty under pending legislation which may be acted upon by the middle of next week.

Funds to equip the expanding forces with more weapons are provided in a $10,572,350,000 supplemental defense appropriations bill which was voted by the Senate yesterday and now goes to conference with the House.

On top of that, a new long-range naval expansion program to add 900,000 extra tons of fighting strength – 166 warships – to the fleet. This will cost in excess of $3 billion.

Heavy taxes to meet the staggering war bill will be discussed by Congressional experts starting Jan. 15.

Labor and industrial leaders will meet here next week to devise methods for uninterrupted armaments production. Mr. Roosevelt has given assurances that the 40-hour week will not be sacrificed in the contemplated seven-day week production schedule.

Spies mopped up

Coastal defenses are being bulwarked against the threat of enemy attacks. Potential spies and saboteurs are being mopped up by federal agents who have bagged 2,541 Axis aliens during the first week of the war. The War Department completed plans for radio blackouts when air raids impend.

The Senate appropriations measure – raising the government’s total stake in the war against the Axis to $69 billion – was passed by voice vote.

The Senate acknowledged the growing importance of planes in modern warfare by adding to the House version approximately $1 billion for Army and Navy air programs alone.

Allies to lead in planes

OPM Production Director W. H. Harrison said today American airplane output, coupled with Britain’s, will surpass that of Germany by next summer. The German monthly rate has already been surpassed, he said, and the future Allied program will outdistance Germany in actual numbers as well.

The Senate passed the bill after adding $360 million to the original $2-billion increase voted by its appropriations committee.

The floor additions included $68 million more for the Civil Aeronautics Authority for developing landing areas; a $290-million increase in funds for defense housing; and $1,500,000 to finance collection of the new $5 annual auto use tax and other levies in the last revenue bill.

[NormanStewart]

Tokyo admits attack failed on one island

AFL workers help to fight invaders in Pacific outposts

Washington (UP) –
The Stars and Stripes still fly over Wake and Midway Islands, tiny Pacific outposts, a Navy communiqué disclosed today.

A Tokyo communiqué admitted that U.S. Marines were still holding Wake Island against Japanese attacks.

Simultaneously, the AFL claimed that “on the basis of new information from authoritative sources,” a group of American construction workers in Guam:

…seized whatever weapons were available on the island and engaged the invaders in hand-to-hand fighting in which the American workers gave a very good account of themselves.

Advised of capture

The AFL previously said it had been advised by the Navy that about 1,100 workers in Guam and Midway were “captured and taken prisoner” by the Japanese.

The AFL said that on the basis of present information, “Guam remains in American hands.”

The Navy communiqué which announced continued American resistance at Wake and Midway said:

There is no confirmation of the alleged occupation of Guam by the Japanese.

Marines hold Wake

If confirmed, the AFL report of hand-to-hand fighting between American workmen and Japanese invaders in Guam would write another glittering page in the annals of American heroism. The report came 24 hours after a Navy communiqué revealed another brilliant “last stand” – the gallantry of the beleaguered band of Marines defending Wake Island.

The AFL announcement telling of the hand-to-hand fighting in Guam also said that:

In the Hawaiian Islands, the 10,000 AFL building trades workers, showing a contempt for Jap marksmanship, are staying on the job and have decided to work night and day to rush to completion American fortifications and other vital structures now being built there…

Free American workers will never be slaves. We are giving and will continue to give our sweat, our skill and our blood to blast the military masters of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Fascist Japan off the face of the globe.

The heroic stand of the handful of Marines at Wake Island drew high praise today from President Roosevelt who said the “devil-dogs” were doing a perfectly magnificent job. The Marines were revealed Thursday to have sunk a Japanese light cruiser and a destroyer, and to have repulsed four aerial attacks and one naval thrust.

Wake, a coral reef about four miles long, is 2,000 miles west of Hawaii. Guam is 1,300 miles farther. Midway is 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii.

[grayknight1781]

@NormanStewart

No one will vanquish Germany. No one will destroy German unity

Spoilers

@NormanStewart

had never interfered in American affairs; had aided the United States in winning its war of independence

I could be here forever debunking what Hitler has said, but I just want to point out that the only German involvment in the American War for Independence were mercenaries known as the “Hessians” who fought for the British.

[NormanStewart]

Use wicked bolos –
Luzon natives beheading Japs

Enemy fails to gain; rain aids Philippine defense
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer

Manila, Philippines –
Filipino civilians are fighting side by side with U.S. and Philippine forces against Japanese landing forces in the Aparri area of northern Luzon Island, dispatches from the front reported today.

An NBC correspondent in Manila, recorded by NBC in New York, said today that:

The U.S. High Command announced that in northern Luzon, the area had been entirely cleared of Japanese invaders.

Dispatches said townspeople, villagers, farmers and fishermen went from their homes to aid the defense forces and with their bolos, the wicked Philippine knives, beheaded many of the Japanese soldiers on the beaches as they landed.

Recruiting stations are crowded throughout the islands and youths of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps are enlisting because they are too impatient to await their commissions.

Filipino morale is high and the people are tranquil despite heavy Japanese aerial bombings of the Manila area.

There was a dawn air-raid alarm, but the “all-clear” was sounded after 50 minutes without incident. The alarm was sounded because a small group of enemy planes was seen headed for Manila, but the planes were turned away.

An Army communiqué said last night was uneventful except for local activity in areas where the Japanese had landed troops.

It noted that Japanese forces at Legazpi, at the southeast tip of Luzon Island, had not been reinforced.

Rain aids defense

Rain, rare in the Philippines in December, had come to the aid of the defense forces in some parts of Luzon.

The Manila Bulletin reported that among Axis citizens arrested were four German brothers of De La Salle College and three clergymen of a Manila church.

[NormanStewart]

Navy censor named

Manila, Philippines –
G. H. Yette, manager of the Press Wireless Radio Office, was recalled to active duty today as a Navy warrant officer. He was assigned to be Navy censorship supervisor at the United Press radio station.

[NormanStewart]

Shifting into high –
Ford goes on 24-hour day, full week war schedule

Detroit, Michigan (UP) –
The Ford Motor Company, with defense contracts totaling more than $900 million, began turning out arms to beat the Axis on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week schedule today.

Edsel Ford, president of the company, announcing the schedule, said it was in effect, wherever practical. Workers in the $37,500,000 Pratt & Whitney airplane engine factory at River Rouge, Michigan, were put on two 10-hour shifts, seven days a week.

An around-the-clock schedule was also instituted at the $58,500,000 plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan, which will be turning out Consolidated B-24E bombers by spring, its airfield, in the engineering laboratory, tool and dye plant and magnesium foundry.

Mr. Ford said:

We have taken this action in response to the government’s declaration of all-out effort on the war. We have asked employees in the present defense operations to volunteer for a seven-day schedule can be maintained for the shop while the individual employee puts in only the normal week. The response to this request has been unanimous.

The auto industry is closing down plants no longer needed because of restricted passenger car quotas, but Governor Murray D. Van Wagoner of Michigan said in Lansing that he did not believe layoffs would cause much unemployment. The war would speed up arms production, he said, and they would be absorbed by defense plants.

Harry Bennett, Ford personnel director, said the company would close most of its non-defense plants next week.

Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors, has estimated that 90,000 of the corporation’s 300,000 employees throughout the nation will have to be laid off.

Meanwhile, officials of the UAW-CIO asked for an immediate conference with heads of Chrysler Corporation, to “conclude an honorable agreement” on the seven-day week “swing shift,” on defense work.

At the same time, a Chrysler spokesman said Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler plants would close next Friday – four days earlier than previously scheduled.

[NormanStewart]

U.S. bombers force Jap ship back to port

Puntarenas, Costa Rica (UP) –
Three U.S. bombing planes today chased and overtook the Japanese fishing vessel Alert and forced it to return to Caldera Harbor. The incident gave rise to rumors that Japanese airplanes were attacking Costa Rica.

The planes chased the vessel, “harassing it with bombing,” after which the ship was brought back to port, where its crew of seven Japanese and three Americans were made prisoners.

[NormanStewart]

U.S. State Department (December 13, 1941)

740.0011 European War 1939/17497: Telegram

The Minister in Hungary to the Secretary of State

Budapest, December 13, 1941
[Received December 13 — 2:36 p.m.]

710

The Prime Minister informed me at 5:30 this afternoon that Hungary considers war to exist between Hungary and United States. All codes destroyed.

PELL

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (December 14, 1941)

Das 5. Schlachtschiff von den Japanern versenkt

Weitere harte Schläge gegen USA und England
Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

vb. Wien, 13. Dezember –
Während sich die japanischen Operationen in Malaya und auf der Hauptinsel der Philippinen Luzon planmäßig weiterentwickeln, haben die Japaner von dem britischen Pachtgebiet Hongkong die Hauptinsel Kaulun besetzt und beginnen von dort aus Stadt und Stützpunkt, die auf einer Insel gelegen sind, zu beschießen. Weiter meldet die Marineabteilung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers, es habe sich jetzt bestätigt, daß bei dem Angriff auf Hawai außer der West Virginia und der Oklahoma auch das Schlachtschiff Arizona versenkt worden sei. In der Seeschlacht an den Malayaküste hätten die Briten außer den Schlachtschiffen Prince of Wales und Repulse noch einen großen Zerstörer verloren.

Damit erhöht sich also die Zahl der bisher von den Japanern versenkten Schlachtschiffe auf fünf, während die Japaner selbst trotz aller amerikanischer Schwindelberichte noch keinen Ausfall schwerer Einheiten erlitten haben. Die Arizona war ein Schlachtschiff von 32.600 Tonnen, das 1915 von Stapel gelaufen war und als Hauptbestückung zwölf 35,6-cm-Geschütze trug, außerdem eine sehr starke Flakartillerie. Das Schiff hatte eine Besatzung von 1.375 Mann. Durch einen gründlichen Umbau war es in seiner Kampfkraft vor einigen Jahren erheblich gesteigert worden.

US-Schlachtschiff Arizona (Aufnahme: Archiv)

Zu den Kämpfen um Hongkong gibt die Heeresleitung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers bekannt, die Japaner hätten mit der Besetzung der Südspitze von Kaulun die Hauptverteidigungsstellung Hongkongs besetzt und träfen jetzt Vorbereitungen zu einem Großangriff auf die britische Zwingburg. In wenigen Tagen ist es ihnen gelungen, die Briten vom Festland zu verdrängen. Man muß sich angesichts dieser Tatsache daran erinnern‚ daß in der britischen Berichterstattung dieser Kämpfe dauernd davon gesprochen wurde, daß Truppen Tschiangkaischeks die gegen Hongkong marschierenden Japaner aufs schwerste bedrängt haben sollen‚ wie überhaupt die Darstellung der militärischen Lage in der englischen und amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit ihr Heil darin sucht, die tatsächlichen Erfolge der Japaner durch alle möglichen Schwindelmeldungen zu verkleinern und in ihrer psychologischen Auswirkung zu beschränken.

‚Erfreuliche Nachrichten für die Alliierten‘

Beispielsweise gab der US-Sender Boston folgendes zum Besten:

Für die Alliierten liegen heute erfreuliche Nachrichten vor. Irgendwo im Stillen Ozean hat die japanische Flotte bei einem Zusammenstoß die Flucht ergriffen.

Eine ebenso verschwommene Phantasiemeldung zieht aus dem Ausbleiben von Meldungen der im Pazifik operierenden amerikanischen U-Boote den kühnen Schluß, es würden „große Erfolge erwartet.“ Kurzum, wir sehen auch hier die gleichen Methoden vor uns, zu denen früher die Briten ihre Zuflucht nahmen, wenn es ihnen besonders schlecht ging. Dahin gehört auch das Märchen von der „Versenkung“ des japanischen Schlachtkreuzers Haruna, das bereits von japanischer Seite als plumpe Erfindung gekennzeichnet worden ist. Es ist bezeichnend, daß jetzt der amtliche Bericht des US-Heeres über die Kämpfe auf den Philippinen plötzlich nur noch von einer „Außergefechtsetzung“ dieses Schiffes redet, was natürlich auch ein aufgelegter Schwindel ist.

Japaner bei Cavite erfolgreich

Konteradmiral Hart mußte, während sich die US-Presse an erfundenen Siegen berauschte, auf der Pressenkonferenz in Manila mitteilen, daß die Docks des Flottenstützpunktes Cavite an der Westküste von Luzon immer noch in Brand ständen, weil es für die Rettungsmannschaften unmöglich sei, sich den Brandherden zu nähern. Es seien schwere Verluste besonders unter dem Marinepersonal eingetreten. Ein großer Teil von Cavite sei zerstört und die amerikanische Luftwaffe habe schwer gelitten. Hart schloß:

Alles in allem muß man sagen daß vom japanischen Standpunkt aus der Angriff auf Cavite als erfolgreich angesehen werden muß.

Vormarsch auf Singapur

Nach einer Meldung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers haben japanische Luftstreitkräfte am Freitag heftige Angriffe gegen Batanga, Iba, Clark Field und einen weiteren US-Stützpunkt in der Nähe von Manila gerichtet, Wobei 33 amerikanische Flugzeuge vernichtet wurden. Die Marineluftwaffe hat bei dem letzten Angriff auf Hongkong ein britisches Torpedoboot versenkt sowie ein Kanonenboot und ein Handelsschiff schwer getroffen. Auf der Malayahalbinsel seien weitere Verstärkungen gelandet worden. Die Engländer hätten dem japanischen Vormarsch in Richtung Singapur nur schwachen Widerstand entgegengesetzt. Japanische Marinetruppen haben die internationale Niederlassung auf der Insel Kulangsu, die der Hafenstadt Amoy gegenüberliegt, besetzt.

Japans Ernährung gesichert

Der japanische Landwirtschaftsminister Ino traf in einer Rundfunkansprache folgende Feststellung:

Wie lange auch der Krieg mit den USA und England dauern wird, für das japanische Volk wird es keine Ernährungssorgen. geben. Selbst bei einem völligen Ausfall der Reiseinfuhr seien große Mengen Weizen und Kartoffeln vorhanden, um einen Ausgleich zu ermöglichen. Es sei auch dafür gesorgt worden, daß im Fall feindlicher Luftangriffe die Versorgung der großen Städte mit Lebensmitteln gesichert sei. Im Übrigen werde Japan zweifellos in der Lage sein, aus den anderen Ländern Ostasiens Lebensmittel heranzuführen und den ungeheuren Fischreichtum der Gewässer in Japan noch verstärkt auszunutzen.

Diese Feststellungen wird man in London und Washington nicht gerade erfreut zur Kenntnis nehmen, da die ganze Kriegshetze gegen Japan sehr wesentlich von der Illusion ausging, man könne das Inselreich durch eine Blockade aushungern. Während Tokio mit aller Ruhe darlegen kann, daß auch diese Wahnvorstellung gegenstandslos ist, mußte der englische Ernährungsminister, Lord Woolton, im Rundfunk bekanntgeben, die seinerzeit von Churchill versprochenen Sonderzuteilungen für Weihnachten müßten leider ausfallen, weil angesichts des Krieges in Ostasien keine entsprechenden Zufuhren aus den USA erwartet werden können. Auch die laufenden Rationen seien unter diesen Umständen keineswegs gesichert.

Die Engländer bekommen also schon jetzt zu fühlen, daß das Kriegsabenteuer gegen Japan sich auch im Mutterland wie im ganzen Empire als ein Störungsfaktor ersten Ranges bemerkbar macht. Gerade weil dies so offensichtlich der Fall ist, zieht die Churchill-Agitation in Gemeinschaft mit den Roosevelt-Juden alle Register, um die Wahrheit zu übertönen. Dabei ist allerdings zu beachten, daß in der englischen Presse die Kampfkraft des japanischen Gegners im Allgemeinen anerkannt wird, während eine solche Einsicht in den USA noch weitgehend fehlt.

Ein Berichterstatter des Londoner Daily Express in den USA schildert die dort waltende Stimmung der Bevölkerung als „eine wilde Mischung von Patriotismus, Begeisterung und menschlicher Besorgtheit.“ Der Krieg in Europa interessiere die breite Öffentlichkeit in Amerika kaum noch, aber man habe auch nicht den Eindruck, daß man in den USA Begriffe, was ein langer und schwerer Krieg zu bedeuten habe. Seit vielen Jahren habe man sich dort an ein Luxusleben gewöhnt, auf das zu verzichten jetzt schwerfallen würde, wobei allerdings der britische Beobachter außer Acht läßt, daß ungefähr ein Drittel der Bevölkerung in USA nach amtlichen Feststellungen unterernährt ist und bestimmt kein Luxusleben geführt hat. Wie weit vollends die geistige Unterernährung geht, zeigt die Plumpheit der Lügen der Roosevelt-Agitation, die sich auf eine völlige Urteilslosigkeit ihrer Opfer verläßt und nur ein krampfhaftes „Keep Smiling“ zur Richtschnur zu haben scheint.

---

Im Geiste Wilsons –
Roosevelt verlangt den Freibrief

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

dr. th. b. Stockholm. 13. Dezember –
Präsident Roosevelt will sich, wie Reuters aus Washington meldet, die gleichen „drakonischen“ Vollmachten geben lassen, wie sie Wilson während des Weltkrieges besaß. Wilsons Vollmachten wurden vom Kongreß erst nachträglich bestätigt, während diesmal der Kongreß von vornherein seiner völligen Ausschaltung zustimmen soll. Da Roosevelt von jeher als Diktator der USA auftrat und den Kongreß von Fall zu Fall vor vollendete Tatsachen stellte, so werden die neuen Vollmachten nur die „Legitimierung“ eines längst vorhandenen Tatbestandes sein.

Nach Beratungen zwischen dem Kriegsminister Stimson und General Hershey wird dem Militärausschuß des Repräsentantenhauses bereits am Samstag ein Gesetz zugeleitet werden, das die Dienstpflicht für alle amerikanischen Männer im Alter zwischen 18 und 65 Jahren vorsieht. Die Neunzehnjährigen sollen eine einjährige vormilitärische Ausbildung erhalten.

Alaska als Sprungbrett gedacht

Ein neuer Beweis für die amerikanischen Angriffsabsichten gegen Japan ist der Ausbau Alaskas zum Ausfallstor gegen den asiatischen Kontinent. Ein Sonderberichterstatter der United Press berichtet, daß Alaska von amerikanischen Militärsachverständigen als das wichtigste Aufmarschgebiet zu einem Vorstoß gegen Asien betrachtet werde. Von Attu, der am weitesten in den Stillen Ozean vorgeschobenen Insel der Alëuten, sind es 1.200 Kilometer bis zur Nordspitze Japans und 800 Kilometer bis Kamtschatka.

Während der dreimonatigen Reise durch Alaska stellte der Sonderberichterstatter fest, daß Armee, Flotte und Luftwaffe fieberhaft mit dem Ausbau von Verteidigungs- und Angriffsstellungen beschäftigt sind. An allen strategisch wichtigen Punkten seien starke Befestigungen, Stahl- und Betonbunker, unterirdische Flugzeughallen, U-Boot-Häfen und Häfen für Wasserflugzeuge angelegt. Diese Befestigungsarbeiten, die schon vor Jahren begonnen wurden, kosteten bisher 300 Millionen Dollar.

Beschränkung der Autoerzeugung

Die amerikanische Regierung gab am Donnerstagabend die ersten kriegswirtschaftlichen Maßnahmen bekannt, die die wirtschaftliche Freiheit in gewissen Branchen einschränken. So muß die Automobilindustrie ab 1. Jänner ihre Produktion auf ein Viertel des Umfanges von 1941 einschränken, der ohnehin bereits geringer ist als in den Vorjahren.

---

Normandie beschlagnahmt –
Umbau als Flugzeugträger?

tc. Neuyork. 13. Dezember –
Der große französische Luxusdampfer Normandie (83.423 BRT.), der sich zu Beginn des Krieges in den Hafen von Neuyork gerettet hatte, ist von den amerikanischen Behörden beschlagnahmt worden. Wie verlautet, wird die Normandie möglicherweise als Flugzeugträger umgebaut werden.

---

U.S. Navy Department (December 14, 1941)

Communiqué No. 7

There have been two additional bombing attacks on Wake Island. The first was light, the second was undertaken in great force. Two enemy bombers were shot down. Damage was inconsequential.

The Marines on Wake Island continue to resist.

Enemy submarines are known to be operating in the Hawaiian area. Vigorous attacks are being made against them.

The above is based on reports up until noon today.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (December 14, 1941)

Not confirmed!

Axis sources yesterday reported the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona (32,600 tons) and the sinking or crippling of the battleship USS Pennsylvania.

Neither report was confirmed from any American or British source, and newspapers were asked to be careful in handling the rumors. Therefore, the Press briefly printed the two reports yesterday under the headline “Not Confirmed” and did not use any headlines or pictures bearing on the reports.

The alleged sinking of the Arizona was reported in a broadcast of the DNB (official German propaganda agency) on the basis of a Tokyo report.

Tokyo also reported by radio (in a broadcast heard by the United Press listening post) that RAdm. Husband E. Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was killed in last Sunday’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The broadcast quoted a Rome dispatch of the Stefanie Agency (official Italian propaganda bureau) saying that Adm. Kimmel was killed aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which the Italians claimed “was sunk or at least heavily damaged.”

Neither of these reports has been confirmed from any American or British source. They may, or may not, be true. They should be read with caution. Both came from roundabout sources.

Indicating the uncertainty of these unconfirmed reports, the German radio (heard by the United Press listening post) tonight quoted Japanese headquarters as admitting that it had no confirmation of the claim that Japan had sunk the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The Japanese now say they never claimed sinking the Lexington (although radio and other dispatches several days ago said that they had).

Under the circumstances, the Press does not feel justified in using large headlines or pictures on these reports. If we err in this war, we hope it will be on the side of conservatism and understatement and in accordance with the requests of the U.S. government.

WAR BULLETINS!

Knox returns from Hawaii

San Diego, California – (Dec. 13)
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox arrived today from an inspection trip to the Hawaiian Islands and left immediately for Washington, declining to comment on his findings. He went to the islands after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Hungary at war with U.S.

Washington – (Dec. 13)
The State Department announced today the Hungarian government had notified Herbert C. Pell, U.S. Minister in Budapest, that it considered “war to exist” between Hungary and the United States.

Philippine bay cleared of Japs

Manila, Philippines – (Dec. 13)
The Manila Herald reported today that the Lingayen Gulf area, 125 miles northwest of Manila, has now been cleared of Japanese troops.

Japs sink Norwegian ship

Manila, Philippines – (Dec. 12, delayed)
Japanese bombers sank the Norwegian ship Ravanass in Philippine waters, it was announced officially today. Twenty-eight survivors made shore.

Canada may draft women, too

Montréal, Québec, Canada – (Dec. 13)
Canada will soon have selective service for both men and women, Air Minister C. G. Power predicted tonight. The present Selective Service Act provides for compulsory service within Canada of men from 21 to 24. Power said Canada will organize manpower for shore defenses and that women would work in arsenals, shops and munitions factories.

British invade Thailand, Japs say

Tokyo, Japan – (Dec. 13, Dōmei News Agency recorded by the United Press in New York)
British and Chinese forces have invaded northern Thailand near Chiang Rai and a battle which has been continuing since yesterday resulted in withdrawal of the Anglo-Chinese forces in the face of attacks by Thai troops, the newspaper Nichi Nichi reported from Bangkok.

RAF raids French, Dutch coasts

London, England – (Dec. 13)
British bombing planes, attacking by day and night, set fire to large oil tanks on the French coast and a large supply ship off the coast of Holland, the Air Ministry said today. The supply ship was enveloped in black smoke and steam when bombs were dropped on it, the Air Ministry said.

Fighters carried out an offensive patrol of airdromes in France and Holland. It was announced that one plane of the Coastal Command was missing.

Earle notifies U.S. of war declaration

Washington – (Dec. 13)
The Bulgarian government today declared war against the United States and Great Britain under the Tripartite Axis Pact to which she is a signatory, Minister George H. Earle informed the State Department from Sofia.

Vichy approves neutrality policy

Vichy, France – (Dec. 13)
A policy of French neutrality in “the intercontinental war” but of defense of the French Empire wherever it might be attacked was approved today by the Cabinet. The decision was said to make certain France would not reenter the war unless provoked by aggression.

Japs admit dent in Navy

New York – (Dec. 13)
Radio Tokyo tonight acknowledged “some damage” to Japanese naval forces which attacked Wake Island Thursday while the British radio said Japanese troops were reported moving out of Hankow and Ichang on the Middle Yangtze River.

Brazil closes Axis journals

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – (Dec. 13)
The government’s National Press Council today closed two Axis publications here, the Italian L’Italia en Marcia [Italy in Progress] and the Japanese Revista Cultural [Cultural Review]. The leading Italian newspaper in São Paulo, and one of the oldest newspapers in Brazil, will reportedly suspend publication Monday.

[NormanStewart]

President signs –
AEF ban ends; married men facing draft

Congress considers bill to broaden Selective Service law

Washington (UP) – (Dec. 13)
President Roosevelt, in a move to implement America’s war effort, today signed a bill authorizing the use of National Guardsmen and selectees anywhere in the world.

The bill eliminates previous Selective Service Act restrictions prohibiting the dispatch of selectees or Guardsmen outside the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of U.S. possessions. The measure received Congressional approval earlier this week.

Would hold troops

The bill would also permit the Army to hold in service until six months after the war is ended all soldiers – enlisted men, selectees or Guardsmen. Mr. Roosevelt at the same time signed another bill which would give the Navy the same authority to hold its personnel.

Mr. Roosevelt made the bill a law as Congressional committees began consideration of sweeping legislation for a potential 40-million-man draft to swell the nation’s military and civilian defense forces, with a 10-million-man Army contemplated.

Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey said that to raise the necessary manpower for the Army, it probably would be necessary to draft married men.

Gen. Hershey said he probably would have to take a large number of men from industry and “invade homes quite considerably.”

Urges reclassification

The draft director added, in testimony before the House Military Affairs Committee:

We have thousands – probably hundreds of thousands – who should be reclassified, but not hysterically. We must go at it calmly and coolly.

…adding that:

The draft boards have been reasonably generous. I wouldn’t preach a crusade to take every married man, but I do believe that there are individuals on the border line that inevitably the line will be on the other side.

Gen. Hershey told the committee that previously he had not favored the induction of young men under 21, but he added:

My thoughts have changed materially since last Saturday.

Would register

Both House and Senate Military Affairs Committees considered a projected measure which is designed to register all men between the ages of 18 and 64, inclusive, and which would make available for military service those between 19 and 44, inclusive.

The Senate Committee, which may report its own draft bill on Monday, met in executive session with War Department and Selective Service officials. The House Committee, which has already introduced its bill, heard a series of witnesses at the opening hearing describe the urgency of the proposed registration law in the light of America’s expanding war preparations and defense.

Secretary of War Henry Stimson, in a letter read to the House Committee by Chairman Andrew J. May (D-KY), said that enactment would:

…provide a framework into which we can steadily and solidly build, stone by stone, the structure which will accomplish victory. We’re going into this thing on an all-out basis.

Stresses danger

Brig. Gen. Wade H. Haislip, Assistant Chief of Staff, told the committee:

The War Department doesn’t want to minimize the danger we’re in.

Gen. Hershey said:

The nation must find men for the land, and I think in the not too far distant future, for the naval forces.

If we are to stand the losses of war, it is most necessary that our age registration groups be as broad as possible.

Gen. Hershey, the first witness, told the committee that at least 40 million men would be registered in the 18-64 years classifications. This would include the 17 million already registered for Selective Service. For the 19-45 years age brackets – those who would be eligible for combatant service – there would be about 30 million registrants of which 25%, or 7,500,000, would be fit for military service, he said.

Sees all in defense work

The most vigorous testimony of the brief House committee session came from Gen. Haislip, who warned that, “before this thing is over, we’re all going to be in some sort of defense work.”

Rep. Andrew Edmiston (D-WV) objected that the men of the War Department are “prone to go too far.” Gen. Haislip replied:

I don’t think you can go too far in this war.

The Congressional meetings coincided with an appeal by the Army Recruiting Service for at least 20,000 Air Corps volunteers a month, between the ages of 20 and 26, and for 15,000 other volunteers between 18 and 35 to work in aviation ground services.

Offices to stay open

The Navy, meanwhile, announced that all recruiting stations will remain open 24 hours a day, including Sundays.

The Navy again urged all volunteers to bring with them their birth certificates or other evidence of citizenship and age.

Mr. Stimson, in his letter urging enactment of the draft legislation, said:

I desire to emphasize the psychological or moral effects of the passage of a great measure along these lines. It will make clear to the American people the character of the effort that will be required to defeat the vast forces arrayed against us.

To the outside world, it will be a symbol that we are providing the means to make good our declared policy to “accept no result save victory, final and complete.”

[NormanStewart]

Wake, Midway hold –
U.S. prepares for Axis drives

U.S. girds for Axis drive against Africa

Washington (UP) – (Dec. 13)
The United States, confronted by the “probable” loss of Guam and by the possibility of an early Axis drive to occupy strategic African shores facing this hemisphere, moved swiftly tonight to consolidate war efforts both at home and abroad.

The most important U.S. move was the signing by President Roosevelt of legislation freeing selectees and National Guardsmen for assignment anywhere in the world.

Speculation on the role these troops will play in fighting this nation’s two-front war was banned by official injunction, but it was pointed out that signing of the legislation made immediately available for service anywhere some 1,250,000 selectees and Guardsmen now in the Army.

Garrison’s defeat seen

Navy Communiqué No. 5 told of the likely defeat of the small Guam garrison which has been subjected to unceasing attack since Japan launched her onslaught last Sunday. The communiqué also stated that heroic resistance was continuing at Wake and Midway Islands.

The War Department in its seventh communiqué of the war asserted that Japanese landing attempts in the Philippines showed clearly that Nipponese strategy was aimed at setting up “improvised air bases” to bomb with greater ease the strong U.S. defense centers around Manila on the island of Luzon.

The State Department, meanwhile, confirmed reports from Berlin that the Axis satellite Hungary had handed the U.S. Minister in Budapest a note declaring a state of war exists between Hungary and the United States.

Causes no surprise

The move occasioned no surprise here, since only yesterday Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with this country, stating at the time that the action was not then a war declaration.

Shortly after the disclosure of Hungary’s move, U.S. Minister to Bulgaria George H. Earle (former Governor of Pennsylvania) advised the State Department that Bulgaria had followed suit, declaring war on this country under the Tripartite Pact to which she is a signatory. Bulgaria declared war on Britain at the same time.

While the Pacific still remained the principal sphere of war for the United States, it was disclosed that British and American officials were studying the possibility of a powerful thrust by Adolf Hitler in the Mediterranean region – aimed ultimately at placing his troops and the Luftwaffe on the West African coast opposite South America.

What countermeasures might be under consideration for such an eventuality were not disclosed here, nor would officials say whether the conversations between the U.S.-British officials involved any special joint action.

War council meets

President Roosevelt and members of his war council met in two separate conferences during the day to discuss the war in the Pacific and problems arising from U.S. involvement in the Atlantic. At one conference, he met with Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. The other was with Acting Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal and four ranking naval officials.

Other developments included:

• Senate and House conferees approved a $10,500,000,000 bill carrying funds and contractual authority for the Army, Navy and Lend-Lease aid, and for the expansion of the nation’s war industries.

• The United States Weather Bureau advised all weather stations to discontinue publication of all wind and weather forecasts which may be of help to the enemy.

• Maj. Gen. William N. Porter, chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, ordered immediate instruction of West Coast civilian and industrial groups in air raid protection methods.

Jap plan revealed

The War Department Communiqué No. 7 related that Japanese landing attempts on the northwest, north and southeast coast of Luzon – the main island on which Manila is located – were now revealed clearly as desperate efforts to find bases for launching more powerful air blows at key U.S. defenses on the archipelago. The communiqué stated:

The enemy plan is now clearly revealed as an attempt to secure improvised air bases.

The tenor of the War Department communiqué made it clear that the Philippines are the principal theater of war in the Far Pacific and that U.S. and Filipino forces are performing a heroic job of defending the important fortification centering in Luzon.

Secretary of War Stimson was disclosed by the communiqué to have authorized Lt. Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, chief of the Far Eastern Command in the Philippines, to award the Distinguished Service Cross “for gallantry in action beyond the line of duty.”

From the Philippines have come some of the most stirring stories of bravery against the fanatical invaders.

May promote men

MacArthur was also given authority to promote officers and enlisted men, the communiqué announced “for outstanding leadership in the present operations.”

The Army moved, meanwhile, to strengthen defenses in this hemisphere. Maj. Gen. Karl Truesdell, commander of the VI Army Corps, Providence, Rhode Island, was ordered to the Panama Canal Zone for duty with the Caribbean Defense Command.

Brig. Gen. Arthur G. Campbell, commander of the 2nd Coast Artillery District, Fort Hamilton, New York, was ordered to command of the harbor defenses at Narragansett Bay, Fort Adams, Rhode Island.

[NormanStewart]

Navy officer’s wife offers to serve

Greenport, New York (UP) – (Dec. 13)
Mrs. Margaret Lyle Crouter, wife of a naval officer and the mother of three children, swung a bottle of champagne today in the time-honored manner of christening new vessels for the Navy.

She said:

I christen you YMS-22.

And, as a new minesweeper slid down the ways, added:

And I’ll serve on you if they let me.

Her husband, Cdr. M. H. Crouter, was asked what he thought of the idea.

He said:

She expressed the sentiment of every American woman in the country.