The Pittsburgh Press (January 28, 1942)
SINGAPORE EVACUATES CIVILIANS
Four Jap armies drive on island; Allies rush aid
Enemy’s invasion fleet losses in Macassar battle balks blow against Java
By Joe Alex Morris, United Press war editor
Great Britain’s fighting forces braced for the Battle of Singapore today and reinforcements rushed to the aid of the United Nations key naval base in the Far East.
Although Allied fronts generally were stiffened against the Axis, the Japanese offensive down the Malaya Peninsula still was hammering at British defense lines and an order was issued for civilian evacuation of the north shore of Singapore Island by noon Friday (midnight tomorrow ET).
The Japanese claimed to be within 25 miles of the Johore Straits separating the peninsula from the island, and it appeared that the British were setting up a defense arc close to the straits town of Johore Batu in an effort to hold the enemy outside of artillery range.
Four pounding columns
The British last had reported heavy fighting against four pounding Japanese columns which had advanced to within 43 miles of Johore Straits, and the evacuation preparations at Singapore meant that every measure was being taken for a strong last-ditch defense.
Throughout the Far East, the Japanese threat to key Allied bases and communication lines remained grave, but:
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American Flying Fortresses leading an Allied drive to destroy the big Japanese invasion armada in the East Indies sank another large transport, set a second transport afire and straddled an enemy cruiser with bombs, raising the U.S. toll of enemy ships to 14 or 15 and the Allied toll to 31 in the Battle of Macassar Straits.
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British dispatches said that defense lines were holding about 43 miles north of Singapore Island and in London, Parliament was told by government spokesmen that “priority” strength and reinforcements were beginning to show results in the Far East.
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American fighter pilots shot down six to 12 more Japanese in an air battle near Rangoon, Burma, where the enemy had attacked an airdrome last night; British Blenheim bombers started big fires in another raid on Bangkok, Thailand, and British lines were reported fighting the Japanese east of the Sawleen River, on which the important city of Moulmein is located.
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British forces in Libya were believed to be organized to strike at the Axis armored forces, which have regained 145 miles south of Benghazi, in an effort to achieve a decisive knockout blow following a devastating RAF attack on the enemy concentrations.
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The Red Army forces forward southwest of Moscow, probably recapturing Bryansk, in a drive to close the southern army of a pincer on Smolensk. More than 100 villages were recovered according to reports in the last 24 hours.
Greatest attention still centered on Allied thrusts against the Japanese in the Far East.
Foe still makes progress
These blows, while crippling, are but counter-attacks on the big-scale Japanese drive in the Far East and the enemy still was making slow but costly progress toward his main objectives.
Communiques issued by the United Nations headquarters in the East Indies and by the Dutch indicated that the Battle of Macassar Straits still was in progress, although the Japs had made costly landings in Balikpapan, on the east coast of Borneo, and in Southwestern Celebes.
Dutch land forces were believed to be fighting the enemy on the land and today’s communique said that the flying fortress attack had sunk one transport, set another afire and straddled a cruiser with bombs.
Sumatra town attacked
Jap planes meanwhile heavily attacked the Dutch town of Emma Haven, in Western Sumatra, firing two merchant ships and hitting a third. They also renewed bombings of Southeastern Borneo and the Ambon naval base.
On the Malaya Front, the British to be battling for every inch of ground.
The Japanese, again sending strong bomber fleets to attack Singapore, were pushing forward on land with four main drives. One was on the west coast, in the Senggarang sector; another was near Ayer Hitam, southeast of Batu Pahat; a third was south of Kluang in the center of the peninsula and the fourth was south of Mersing on the east coast.
Jap claims weaken
That meant that the Japanese had broken into the British defense line that had followed the main trans-peninsula road, but there did not seem to be any important breakthrough of the defense lines.
The Australians appeared to be less concerned about the threat of immediate invasion as militia held out in the hills against Japanese forces landed at Rabaul, on New Britain Island, some 800 miles to the north. Australian air attacks have damaged at least four enemy ships at Rabaul.
Article in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda, at Moscow, strongly attacked the Japanese, warning that initial successes in the Pacific did not mean final victory.
Since the Soviet Union has not declared war on Japan, the article’s reference to the “growing appetite” of Japanese militarists was regarded as significant.
Reds take rail center
The Red Army, continuing its gains on the Eastern Front, reported capture of the important railroad town of “B,” which was believed to be Bryansk on the front southwest of Moscow, although it might be Byelgorod, north of Kharkov.
The Germans were reported “fleeing” westward after the Russian advance which broke up efforts of Hitler’s reserves to halt the Red Army.
There were increasing indications that the German were growing short of oil, but the extent of the shortage was mere guesswork.
One indication, however, was seen in Libya where the British reported that they encountered only two Axis airplanes in a day of furious bombardment of enemy armored forces.
The RAF fliers said that they had destroyed 120 enemy vehicles and believed that 200 Axis officers were killed in one attack.
94 Allied airplanes downed, Japs claim
Dispatches from enemy countries are based on broadcasts over controlled radio stations. They frequently contain false statements for propaganda purposes. Bear this fact in mind.
TOKYO – Imperial Headquarters communiques said today that 94 enemy planes had been destroyed in the southwestern Pacific in the last six days.
A total of 59 were said to have been destroyed in aerial action in Burma and Malaya Monday night. At least 20 were shot down when large formations of British and American aircraft attacked a Jap convoy near the mouth of the Endau River on the Malayan east coast, a communique said.
Another communique said 35 enemy aircraft had been destroyed by Jap naval and air units since January 22 in raids on the Dutch East Indies and Australian islands. It admitted the loss of four transports in a “fierce fight” with enemy submarines and aircraft in action off Borneo. Occupation on that oil port was completed Sunday, it said.
Another communique said Jap forces now were 50 miles from Singapore in Johore State, Malaya.
Domei News Agency reported from the Philippines that American-Filipino troops are retreating “in disorder” along the coastal road in Bataan Peninsula.
WAR BULLETINS!
AEF asked in Australia at once
LONDON – The immediate dispatch of American troops and air forces to Australia was urged today by Lord Denman in the House of Lords. “One squadron of American planes at Port Darwin today would be worth 10 times that amount a year from now,” he said.
400,000 Japs withdrawn from China
CHUNGKING – The Chinese military spokesman said today that Japan has withdrawn nearly 400,000 troops from China for service in the South Pacific. Japan had nearly one million soldiers in China, the spokesman asserted, but five to six divisions have been shifted to the south.
Big battle rages in South China
CHUNGKING – A new and severe battle is being fought in South China along the banks of the River Tan, a Chinese war communique said today. The battle is one of a score of actions between the Japs and Chinese on a 1000-mile front.
RAF attacks docks in France
LONDON – British planes attacked docks at Brest and Boulogne on the French invasion coast during the night and all returned, the Air Ministry said today.
Northern Ireland raps De Valera’s move
BELFAST – Prime Minister J. M. Andrews of Northern Ireland said today that Prime Minister Eamon de Valera of Eire had no right to protest against the sending of U.S. troops to Northern Ireland. Mr. De Valera yesterday protested the failure of the U.S. and Britain to consult him before sending American troops to Northern Ireland.
Passenger ship sunk by U-boat; 250 feared dead
71 survivors adrift six days; sub victims total six craft
By the United Press
Six more victims of Axis submarines operating in the Atlantic were disclosed last night and today.
Three of them were off the Canadian coast, two off the United States and one in the Atlantic. Indications were that loss of life was heavy in only one of the torpedoings.
At the same time, the Naval Port Director of Port Arthur, Texas, warned gulf shipping interests of the presence of a submarine off Arkansas Pass.
The torpedoing of an Allied steamer in the Atlantic, with 250 of the 321 persons aboard either killed or missing, was disclosed when the SS Coamo arrived at San Juan with 71 survivors.
Three of the sinkings were disclosed with the arrival of survivors in eastern Canadian ports. They were a British tanker, a Norwegian tanker and a Greek freighter. The 33 survivors of the British vessel reported “some” of the tanker’s crew killed.
The Francis E. Powell, tanker owned by the Atlantic Refining Co., and the Pan-Maine were the victims off the U.S. coast. Fate of the Pan-Maine was not certain. Two were known to have been killed and at least one crew member was missing from the Francis E. Powell.
250 go overboard as torpedo hits
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (UP) – The SS Coamo arrived today with 71 survivors of an Allied steamer, torpedoed in the Atlantic with 321 persons aboard, about 250 of whom were dead or missing.
Some of the survivors were picked up Friday night by the Coamo, of the Puerto Rico Line, from lifeboats which had set out from the torpedoed vessel with 76 persons aboard. Five died during the lifeboats’ six days at sea. Twenty-two of the survivors were crew members.
200 swept overboard
Two hundred of those aboard the Allied steamer were swept overboard when the first of two torpedoes struck the ship, an officer of the steamer said. One torpedo struck the engine room and the steamer sank in 25 minutes. The torpedoing occurred at 1:50 a.m., January 19.
The steamer’s chief officer said two lifeboats were smashed by the torpedo explosions.
“I think two other lifeboats managed to get away,” he said. “The night was perfect and moonless and the sea was smooth when the attack came. The rescue took 20 minutes. The ship sank in 25 minutes.”
The captain of the steamer was among the missing.
The first torpedo struck near the bridge and toppled the vessel’s mainmast, the officer related. The ship heeled over, sweeping many into the sea.
Little girl among survivors
Survivors included, in addition to the crew members, construction workers and a 2½-year-old girl with her mother and father.
“The little girl was very brave,” the chief officer said.
The captain of the Coamo said the survivors had escaped in three lifeboats and believed that more either had been picked up, or would be soon.
The survivors were weak, but all right otherwise.
Father leaps with baby
Mrs. Maude Johnson, saved with her husband and their small daughter, Janet, said that the ship listed to port and the lights went out after the first torpedo struck. Johnson took the child in his arms and jumped overboard, and Mrs. Johnson followed him. They swam to the lifeboat, which was so crowded that Mrs. Johnson said those aboard were forced to stand in order to breathe.
Survivors on short rations
During the five days they were in the lifeboat, their daily rations were one biscuit, one-quarter of a cup of water and two teaspoons of condensed milk for each person.
Johnson said: “We owe our lives to the chief officer whose courage and tact kept our spirits up.”
“I cannot tell you how we felt when we saw the Coamo,” Mrs. Johnson added.
Little Janet was cheerful and lively during the days in the lifeboat, her parents said. She was wrapped in a greatcoat someone provided.
Those who died in the lifeboat included an aged woman and an elderly man. Names of the five were not disclosed.
28 tanker crewmen are landed safely
WASHINGTON (UP) – Eleven more survivors from the torpedoed American tanker Francis E. Powell have been rescued, the Navy Department announced today.
According to the Navy, the known survivors of this ninth successful submarine attack off the Atlantic coast now total 28, with two men known dead. If the crew totaled 32, as reported by the Coast Guard, two men remain unaccounted for.
The 11 additional rescued men were brought to Assateague, a coastal village on the Maryland-Virginia line. Seventeen survivors were landed last night at Lewes, Delaware.
One body was brought into Norfolk, Virginia, and another was in a fishing boat en route to shore.
The 7,096-ton Francis E. Powell, owned by the Atlantic Refining Co., was sunk by a submarine off the Atlantic coast late Monday night.
Sub attacks Pan-Maine
The Nazi “rattlesnakes” – so-called by President Roosevelt – may have been less successful in their attack on the 7,236-ton tanker Pan-Maine, owned by the Pan-American Petroleum & Transport Co.
A Navy spokesman said today that the Pan-Maine’s last message yesterday afternoon had reported a submarine attack, but that no further word had been received.
“Hope has arisen that all may be well with the ship,” the spokesman said.
Seventeen survivors of the Francis E. Powell were put ashore at the small fishing village of Lewes, Delaware, last night. They said the submarine had attacked at 2 a.m., but the Navy reported the attack occurred Monday night.
A wave upset one of the two lifeboats being lowered from the Francis E. Powell, and only three men from that boat were rescued. The survivors were in a lifeboat for seven hours before they were picked up by another tanker, the W. C. Fairbanks, three survivors were injured, one seriously.
Varanger crew saved
The entire crew of 40 on the Norwegian tanker Varanger, which was sunk Sunday, was landed at Sea Isle City, New Jersey. The same submarine may have attacked both the Varanger and the Francis E. Powell.
Thirty-three survivors of two more vessels torpedoed off the coast of Canada were revealed to be in hospitals at an East Canadian port. One vessel was a Norwegian tanker, the other a Greek freighter.
An official Berlin broadcast recorded by The United Press in London said German submarines had sunk 30 ships off the North American coast, and that six “great tankers” were among the last 12 sunk.
‘Some’ subs destroyed
The Navy has not disclosed the exact nature of countermeasures being taken to combat the menace of German submarines, although a spokesman announced last Friday that some of the enemy vessels would never “enjoy the return trip.” Aircraft, blimps and surface vessels presumably are being used to locate and destroy the Axis craft.
To reveal the number of enemy submarines captured or destroyed, the Navy said, would be disclosing information the German government would be exceedingly grateful to have.
Sub seen in gulf off Port Arthur
PORT ARTHUR, Texas (UP) – Gulf shipping interests were warned today of the presence of a submarine off Arkansas Pass at 9 a.m., according to an announcement from the office of Cmdr. R. R. Ferguson, naval port director for Port Arthur.
An official spokesman said the submarine had been sighted about 15 miles off Aransas Pass at altitude 26 degrees 46 minutes north, longitude 99 degrees 49 minutes west.
“It was not determined,” the spokesman said, “whether it was an enemy submarine, but it may be presumed that it was.”
Survivors of three sinkings reach port
AN EAST COAST CANADIAN PORT, Jan. 26 (UP) – Thirty-three survivors of a torpedoed British tanker were landed here today after spending 33 hours in an open lifeboat.
Survivors said many of the vessel’s crew were killed when a “big submarine” sent two torpedoes crashing into the ship’s hull.
It was the third torpedoing reported in the Atlantic off the Canadian coast within 24 hours. Thirty-three survivors of two other ships sunk by Axis submarines were being treated at a hospital.
One lifeboat missing
Twenty-one were Norwegians, the crew of a Norwegian tanker, and their condition was critical. Twelve were survivors of a Greek freighter.
Two of the men were injured and were taken to a hospital on stretchers.
Survivors of the Pittsburgh tanker said that their ship was found in the North Atlantic at night. The crew launch three boats from the sinking ship. One overturned and eight sailors crawled up on its hull, clinging there for three hours before being picked up by a second lifeboat. The third lifeboat, with 13 men aboard, still is missing.
Leaves convoy with gear trouble
John Nigas, British first officer of the Greek freighter, said his ship had to drop out of a convoy because of steering gear trouble. A submarine attack was expected because the radio operator had been hearing SOS calls for days. Three had come from ships in the convoy.
One torpedo was fired at the freighter, about 3:30 o’clock one afternoon. It exploded in the stokehold, willing most of the engine room crew and wrecking the radio room and three of the ships’ four lifeboats.
Two seamen were able to lower the remaining lifeboat and pull aboard 14 men who were in the water. Four died in a few minutes of their injuries and exposure.
Sub offers food, smokes
As night fell, the submarine came alongside the lifeboat, and the survivors saw three red fish painted on the coning tower.
“One bloke came up with a machine gun in his arms,” a survivor said. “The submarine captain motioned him aside.”
The submarine commander gave them half a tin of biscuits and some German cigarettes. In English, he bade them “Goodbye and good luck,” and ordered the coning tower closed.
All next day it snowed and four more men died of exposure.
