Senators ask safe defense of coasts
Adequate provisions to guard U.S. shores demanded by group
Six Japs downed
16 U.S. pursuit planes intercept 25 enemy bombers over Java
…
Senators ask safe defense of coasts
China may base U.S. planes for attacks against Japan
…
Enemy fleet pounded by Flying Fortresses in East Indies onslaught
U.S. pilots attack eight warships, transports at base near Java
Burma peril grows
Allies wage desperate fight against threats of new conquests
Batavia, Java, Feb. 20 (UP) – (telephone to New York, 11:20 p.m. JBBT)
Japan closed two giant claws on the United Nations’ only remaining East Indies base of Java tonight with the conquest of the islands of Sumatra and Bali.
Fighting is still in progress on Bali, where Japanese invasion forces landed after American airplanes bombed or sank eight of their warships and transports, and resistance is presumably continuing on Sumatra.
But for all practical purposes, the two islands flanking the Allied main base of Java on both east and west are gone under the tide of the enemy’s offensive. Tonight, Java is braced for the decisive battle.
As yet, there have been no reports of enemy landings on Java.
Allies fight hard
Batavia, NEI, Feb. 20 (UP) –
Armed forces of the United States, including American air squadrons, battle desperately today against the mounting threat of a Japanese conquest of Java and the Burma Road.
Stinging blows were struck by the Allied forces against the enemy offensives, including the bombing of eight Japanese warships and transports by American Flying Fortresses, Liberators and dive bombers in a vain attempt to prevent a landing on the picturesque little island of Bali, only a mile east of Java. American and Dutch warships were also in action.
But the Japanese thrusts pushed forward, closing giant claws on Java and hammering at defenses of the Burma Road supply line north of Rangoon despite repeated British counterattacks.
Situation desperate
Dispatches from the blazing war fronts left little doubt that the situation in the Far East was desperate for the Allied defenses.
The fighting fronts showed:
Batavia
Japanese forces invading Bali, a mile east of the Allied main base at Java, but meet fierce resistance from Dutch forces, which destroyed all useful installations. American planes sink or damage three enemy cruisers, three transports and two destroyers, but enemy pincers are now closed on three sides of Java.
Timor
Japanese invade Dutch-Portuguese island. Tokyo broadcast claims that Australian defenders…
Henderson to fix price of stockings
Rayon hose affected in latest order
…
Sales tax seen issue
Proposal may result in friction among fiscal experts
…
Ray gun would revolutionize war
Army official pictures changes it would bring
…
Love rivalry blamed for soldier’s suicide
New York, Feb. 20 (UP) –
Police believed today that Technical Sgt. William Wilson, 41, killed himself because other soldiers at Fort Hamilton were giving him too much competition for the affections of Mrs. Helen McCarthy, 28.
Pvt. Maurice Fennelli summoned police at 2 a.m. to the hallway of an apartment building. There they found Wilson dying on the floor, with a bullet wound in his head. Attractive Mrs. McCarthy was kneeling at his side, mopping blood from his forehead and moaning:
Why did you do it? Why did you do it, Bill?
Great plane future seen
Airline official visions 11-passenger craft and long flights
…
Rationing of lingerie not for men, she says
Newark, NJ, Feb. 20 (INS) –
The little lady, God bless her, is all for letting men ration sugar, tires and what have you – but when it comes to rationing of lingerie – well…
Mrs. Don Ruotolo, president of the Midtown League of Women Voters, at a general discussion of the consumer interest committee, today recorded her objection to the present setup of the 16-man Newark Rationing Board.
Said Mrs. Ruotolo:
So far the board has functioned only in relation to sugar and tires. When it comes to rationing underwear and such things, I want a woman to decide it.
’Green mechanics’ blamed for industrial breakdown
By Paul Gesner and John Beckley
…
Last U.S. scribe to leave Singapore reaches Indies
…
Army plane insignia
39th Pursuit Squadron: The newest U.S. Army pursuit planes account for the motto of this squadron. It is one of the newest units of the expanding air force, and was equipped with Airacobras, speedy and deadly craft. A striking cobra in the clouds symbolizes the deadly mission of the planes.
Jap warships in bay
London, Feb. 20 (INS) –
A Calcutta dispatch to the London Daily Mail today said powerful Japanese warships were reported operating in the Bay of Bengal, possibly in preparation for a sea attack on Rangoon, capital of Burma and southern terminus of the Burma Road supply route to China.
Lag studied in war work
Patterson to report on expenditures for military purposes
…
Japanese ‘arsenal’ seized in Mexico
Many weapons taken at former legation
Mexico City, Feb. 20 (INS) –
Mexican Secret Servicemen today confiscated 38 machine guns, ten cases of rifles and scores of pistols found in a search of the former Japanese legation, and intended, according to police, for use in a Mexican authorities.
Yoshiaki Miura, the former Japanese Minister now en route to the United States for internment at Hot Springs, had planned to use the weapons to resist deportation, police said.
Miura abandoned his plan when he was ordered by radio from Tokyo to obey the Mexican authorities, it was said. The Portuguese Minister and Chargé d’Affaires, José S. S. Taverra, reported Miura’s defiant attitude.
The entire staff of the Japanese legation has been sent with Miura to the U.S. internment site, and will cross the border at Nuevo Laredo, Mex., into Laredo, Tex., today.
U.S. Navy Department (February 21, 1942)
Communiqué No. 42
Far East.
Six U.S. destroyers in company with Dutch warships attacked the Japanese landing force on the island of Bali and sank two enemy destroyers. Our destroyers suffered only slight damage and minor loss of personnel.
In addition to the naval battalion composed of bluejackets and marines fighting with Gen. MacArthur’s command, considerable equipment salvaged from Cavite and other sources of naval supply has been used to good advantage in the defense of the Bataan Peninsula.
Rear Adm. Francis W. Rockwell, USN, Commandant of the 16th Naval District, the senior naval officer fighting with Gen. MacArthur, reports that this equipment consists of 3-inch and 4-inch artillery as well as boat guns and machine guns of several types, with grenades, aircraft bombs and ammunition. A large number of hand depth charges have been available.
Stores of gasoline, diesel oil and lubricating oil were saved and are being used in field operations. Motor launches, tugs and facilities for repair of artillery, tanks, and trucks have been provided in addition to electrical and ordnance supplies.
Personnel of the naval air base organization who were previously employed on government contracts have constructed and repaired airfields and roads in the fighting area. Such heavy equipment as steam shovels tractors, cranes, trucks and graders have been operated by this organization to useful advantage on Bataan and Corregidor.
There is nothing to report from other areas.
FBI clears Navy Yard District of enemy aliens in night raids
…