22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLVII. No. 85. N O M E , A L A S K A, M O N D A Y, J U L Y 1 6 , 1 9 4 5 PER COPY —15?
U.S. Can Hurl
3,000 Planes A Day
Against Japan
__
GUAM, July 16^/P)—Ameri
can land based air power in the
Pacific can hurl three thousand
planes at Japan in a single day by
coordinating tactical and strategic
air forces, which are now being
realigned for great pre-invasion |
assaults on the homeland.
Lt.-Gen. Barney Giles said in
i
predicting that the first contin- j
gent of Eighth Airforce Super
forts under Doolittle will arrive
“by the middle of next month.” j
|
Giles is the new strategic air
forces deputy commander, and
he added pointed comment that in
Japan itself “there is nothing left
as an individual target” worth
even a thousand plane raid.
Under the new alignment Giles
explained, the “fury of the Super
fort program will about be doub
led.” Superforts will concentrate
their “full destructive weight
where it will put Japan out of the
warmaking business as far as pos
sible.”
The Twenty-first Bomber Com
mand on Guam, old Superfort
groups in China and India which
have been inactivated will all be
consolidated under the new
USASTAF, the official designa
tion of the United States Army
Strategic Air Forces. Gen. Carl
Spaaz, with Giles as deputy, heads
the consolidated strategic forces.
Truman Nominates
Vinson To Succeed
Morgenthau
WASHINGTON, July IS——
President Truman nominated War
Mobilization chief Vinson to suc
ceed Secretary of the Treasury
Morgenthau. Truman acted ahead
of schedule in order to comply
with the request of Morgenthau
that the new secretary be named
withou delay so he could tackle a
number of pending financial prob
lems.
Truman as first planned to sub
mit Vinson's nomination only af
ter returning from the Big Three
meeting in Berlin.
20 YEARS APART —Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, on a
visit to Seattle, compares a model of the B-29 Superfortress, giant
USAAF bomber, with a model of an early Army triplane which
he piloted in 1922,
King Leopold
Says He Will
Not Ah rlicate
- %
BRUSELS, July 16— (/P) —The
Belgian cabinet met in an emer
gency session after an announce
ment by Prime Minister Van
Acker that King Leopold had de
cided against abdicating, but had
also decided not to return to Bel
gium immediately.
Rumors are current that the
King addressed a message to the
Belgian people saying he wanted
to await the general election be
fore making up his mind on the
course of action, but there is no
confirmation of this.
Van Acker told newspapermen
yesterday in view of this situation
the Regent Prince Charles has
“refused the resignation” conse
quently the present government
will go into office again.
2000 B29s Have
Made Iwo Landings
GUAM, July 16—(jP)—The First
Bomber Command says that near
ly two thousand Superforts have
made emergency landings on Iwo
Jima since the advance base was
set up in April.
Australians Within
Five Miles Of
Borneo Oil Center
MANILA, July 16—{/P)—Jap re
sistance is melting into the jungle
as Australian troops pushed to
within five miles of the big Bor
neo oil field center of Sambadja
in the swamps near the west
coast.
The Aussies made five miles in
two days. General MacArthur re
ported that after two weeks of
hard slogging in which gains were
usually registered in yards against
desperate enemy resistance.
I
The pipeline ran from Sambodja
to the refineries at Balikpapan,
but it is suspected that both it and
the wells will be found sabotaged
by the retiring Japs.
The Australian coastal drive on
Sambodja is also aimed ultimately
towards Samardina thirty-six
miles northwest of Sambodja.
Byron Nelson Wins
Golf Title
DAYTON, O.. July 1«— (JP) —
Byron Nelson won the national
professional golf title by defeating
Sammy Byrd four and three.
Marines Capture
Ihiya Island
Unopposed
-
By ROBERT GEIGER
IHIYA ISLAND, Okinawa, June
5 (Delayed)—Rugged and tensed
Marines of the Eighth Regimental
Combat team splashed ashore on
this little island three hundred ten
miles south of Kyushu on June
third behind a stiff rocket shell
fire barrage beneath low flying
air cover and found no one but
docile natives.
The only Japs in the whole
garrisoning a tiny island island
nearby watched the barrage and
promptly rowed over in a long
boat to surrender the entire one
hundred fifty-six men garrison.
Admiral Nimitz today announc
ed the unopposed occupation of
Ihiya and Aguni on June third
and ninth respectively, but didn’t
mention the third.
Ihiya is eight miles long, about j
twenty miles northwest of Okin
awa’s northern tip. Aguni is about
thirty-five miles west of central
Okinawa.
The garrisons were evidently
called by Okinawa more than two
months earlier to aid in the futile
defense of the island.
3 Cities Erased;
13 Badlv Damaged
In Sea-Air Strike
GUAM, July 16—<7P)—Dealing
the enemy a devastating succes
sion of blows the United States
sea and air might virtually erased
three Japs cities and struck heav
ily at thirteen others. They sank
or destroyed one hundred fifty two
surface craft over the week end.
The powerful Third Fleet all
but leveled two Jap oil centers in
northern Japan, while its carrier
planes burned another to the
ground and winged offshore to
knock off one hundred eight thou
sand tons of shipping, and joined
American land based aircraft to
bomb and strafe thirteen addition
al Jap towns and cities.
Domei said the fleet had with
drawn presumably because of bad
weather but warned it might re
turn at any time and any place.
Domei said twenty-five hundred
carrier planes took part in the
strikes on northern Honshu and
Hokkaido, fifteen hundred Sun
day and a thousand on Saturday.
The agency claimed in early re
ports that the damage was slight.
Tokyo radio said “enemy” sub
marine shelled Shiriya on the
(Continued on Page Four)
President Truman In Berlin, Tours
Wrecked Heart Of Ravished Berlin
POTSDAM, July 16 — (&) —
President Truman talked with
Prime Minister Churchill and
toured the wrecked heart of Ber
lin preliminary to the first Big
Three meeting at which the war
with Japan will likely be the lead
ing topic.
The first American President to
visit Germany in twenty-five
years, Truman has the opportun
ity to see Hitler’s ruined and
looted Chancellery, the battle
scarred Reichstag, the wreckage
of the Tiergarten.
The Soviet spokesmen said they
had no word of word of when
Stalin and Molotov would arrive
in Potsdam, but added “they will
be here in time for the opening
conference.” The opening sessions
originally scheduled for today are
apparently delayed until tomor
row.
Stalin and Molotov are gener
ally believed to be in Potsdam.
Churchill, chewing dourly on his
cigar, inspected the Reich’s Chan
cellery in the afternoon asked the
Russina escort how the Nazis
there died.
The President slipped out of
Potsdam for two hours after his
tour and inspected the United
States Second Armored Division
along one of the superhighways
that Hitler built. This is a division
of the American Occupation Force.
In Berlin Churchill called on
Truman in the first meeting since
Roosevelt’s death, but this was
(Continued on Page Five)