The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945
Page 61
ATTACK DELIBERATELY PLANNED
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
VICTORY WILL BE ABSOLUTE
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the inbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
DECEMBER 9, 1941
PRESIDENT’S POWER GREATLY ENLARGED
State of War ‘All But Lifts The Limit,’ Legal Advisers In the Capital Say
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (AP)—A state of war all but lifts the limit from Presidential powers.
Statutes which operate in such periods authorize the President to take over transportation systems, industrial plants, radio stations, power facilities and ships, and place some controls on communication systems.
Many of these powers have been available to the President under his emergency proclamations and as Commander in Chief of the armed forces.
One highly placed Administration legal adviser says that in wartime the government has the power “to take what it needs to meet the emergency.”
The same thought was expressed by Alexander Hamilton more than a century ago when he wrote:
“The direction of war implies the direction of common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength forms a usual and essential part in the definition of the executive authority.”
Here, in brief, are some of the other powers given to the President in times of war or great emergency:
Temporary connections of power lines may be required.
Parts of the 1930 Tariff Act may be suspended to permit free entry of needed commodities.
Additional Army officers may be commissioned and their rank may be raised. Retired officers and nurses may be recalled to active service.
The Coast Guard operates as part of the Navy (already ordered).
The Army may take over lands for certain purposes.
The Secretary of War may rent any building in the District of Columbia.
Use may be made of strategic materials purchased for stock piles.
Securities Exchanges (there are nineteen in eighteen cities) may be closed, or trading in any selected securities may be suspended.
Restrictions may be placed against imports from countries found to be discriminating against United States products.
Labor laws providing for an eight-hour working day may be suspended in connection with work on government contracts.
Some of the formalities in making purchases, such as advertising for bids, may be omitted.
The monthly apportionments of funds for governmental departments and agencies may be disregarded.
DECEMBER 10, 1941
ISLANDS INVADED
Landings at 2 Places in Philippines Reported in ‘Heavy’ Attack
By The Associated Press.
MANILA, Dec. 10—Two Japanese landings on the Philippine island of Luzon were reported today by the Filipino Constabulary, and an Army spokesman announced that “all indications point to a heavy enemy attack with land troops supported by naval contingents and aircraft.”
A communiqué issued a short time later from the headquarters of Lieut. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, United States commander in the Philippines, declared that “the enemy is in heavy force off the northern coast of Luzon, extending from Vigan to Aparri. [Vigan is on the coast of Luzon, about 200 miles north of Manila; Aparri, 200 miles farther north, is the northernmost port of Luzon.]
The communiqué reported that United States bombers had done heavy damage to Japanese naval units, scoring direct hits on three transports, one of which capsized.
[Six transports, believed to have been under heavy naval protection, were in the fleet that the United States bombers attacked, The United Press reported. Bomb hits were scored close to the three ships remaining after one had capsized and two had been hit.]
The announcement came soon after officials had uncovered a fifth-columnist plot that set off two false air-raid alarms and pointed the way to military targets with lights on the ground while Japanese planes were first attacking the Philippines.
Before last midnight this blacked-out capital had two alarms declared officially to have been fraudulently turned on. Alfredo Eugenio, Philippine national air-raid precautions head, announced the arrest of two workers, and he said two others were under surveillance. Their nationality was not disclosed.
Earlier a United States Army spokesman had announced that “certain areas were marked out by light signals”—both flares and fireworks—during the raids on Nichols Field, outside Manila, early yesterday.
Last night, he said, the persons in charge of the sirens sounded the two false alarms after having received telephone calls from unidentified persons. He expressed the belief that fifth columnists hoped to cause panic among the uneducated masses by a multiplicity of alarms and to lull others into a feeling that the alarms were not worth heeding.
The first alarm last night sounded at 7:41 o’clock and the second at 9:50. Each lasted about an hour.
United States pilots and anti-aircraft crews were said to have stood up well under their first bombings and ground-strafing at Clark Field, sixty miles north of Manila.
Despite a bright moon, no Japanese air attacks on the Philippines were reported overnight. A few anti-aircraft shots were heard, and United States planes droned steadily overhead on patrol, but there were no bombs. Army authorities had expected the Japanese to take advantage of the favorable attacking weather.
Newspapers reported that a single Japanese plane had appeared over Davao but dropped no bombs, and residents of Lucena, Tayabas, reported that United States planes had driven off three Japanese planes.
The Cavite Naval Yard aflame following a Japanese bombing raid, Luzon, Philippines, December 10, 1941.
“It was tough enough and we were glad when it ended,” one gunner said, “but the next time we’ll do better. Even when the bombs were raining down we kept noticing little things we were not doing right. These
kinks are ironed our now. The next time we’ll give ’em hell.”
An American pilot expressed confidence that the United States fliers could take care of the Japanese fighter planes, which he said were heavily armed with 20-millimeter hub-firing cannon and numerous machine-guns. The Japanese ground-strafing tactics, he said, indicated German tutelage if not actual German participation. Reports that a German flier had been captured after having parachuted out of a burning plane could not be confirmed.
The Japanese Air Force is using German equipment in its attacks, informed sources said. Participants in yesterday’s air clash at Clark Field said they had picked up and identified beyond question empty German-marked 20-millimeter shells fired by the cannon-carrying Japanese pursuit planes. American machine-gunners also shot a small spare gasoline tank bearing the name of a German manufacturer from the underside of a Japanese fighter.
An American aircraft gunner said rumors were afloat that some Germans had been shot down in Japanese planes, but, he asserted:
“The Japs we shot down were Japs.”
Thus far the Japanese pilots were reported to have got decidedly the worst of it in individual dogfights over the islands.
Still unverified was the report that Japanese troops now were in full control of Lubang Island, southwest of Manila Bay, with the help of fifth columnists.
An official Army announcement yesterday said material losses in planes as a result of Monday’s air fighting over the Philippines had been “heavy on both sides.” No figures were given.
United States naval sources denied reports that the seaplane tender Langley had been bombed during a Japanese attack on Davao. They said the vessel was safe and carrying out routine duties.
DECEMBER 10, 1941
CENSORSHIP RULES SET BY PRESIDENT
FIRST, IT MUST BE TRUE
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9—President Roosevelt laid down two primary rules of censorship of war news today, reserving to himself and high-ranking officials the right of decision over material released. News to be released, he said, first must be true, and then it must pass a test whether it conforms with a rule that it must “not give aid and comfort to the enemy.”
These basic stipulations were described at the first press conference held by the President since the outbreak of the war with Japan. After reporters had protested that officials at the War and Navy Departments had given inquirers the “run-around,” even on matters of record, Mr. Roosevelt said that discretion for giving out news could not be left to captains or majors, to lieutenant commanders or commanders.
Reporters would get news as soon as information is available, if it conforms to the rule, Mr. Roosevelt said. The mere fact that one bureau in a government department gets a flash, he went on, is not sufficient authority for its release. He told reporters that they were in no position to determine whether it conformed to the rule and neither were heads of these bureaus.
CITES BRITISH COMMUNIQUÉS
The decision is up to the heads of the War and Navy Departments, said the President, and news has to be accurate and has to be approved. He cited the current London communiqué system as a model which might be followed by this government in its eventual handling of war reports.
In reply to a question, the President said that officers in the services were being checked for leaks.
“Can you make any comment,” a reporter asked, “on domestic responsibility for the surprise of the command at Hawaii by the Japanese?”
Mr. Roosevelt replied that he did not know and neither did any member of Congress.
The President’s mention and support of the British system aroused some apprehension here among reporters who have worked in London during the war. There, too, the rule was that stories must be accurate and must not give aid and comfort to the enemy. There, also, the final decision was left to military and naval officials, and the chief criticism of the American reporters in London was that the military mind often tended to rule that almost any news that was bad for the British gave aid and comfort to Germany and Italy.
DECEMBER 11, 1941
Blackout Rules Listed
Orders by the Police Department of New York City to be followed by all residents in a total blackout were issued to thousands of air-raid wardens last night at special meetings. The principal orders and instructions follow:
LARGE BUILDINGS
Extinguish all exterior lights, illuminating signs, etc.
Extinguish or effectively screen off all interior lights.
Superintendents and managers of all apartment buildings will be responsible for shutting off all lights or drawing window shades if the main switches in buildings are not pulled.
Managers and superintendents are responsible for the instruction and training of protection personnel of building premises.
HOUSEHOLDERS
Remain in the house if possible.
Turn out or effectively screen off all lights at the blackout signal or on orders from responsible person.
Use no matches or lights outside the home.
Keep pets under control.
Keep off the streets or highways.
MOTORISTS
Pull over to the side of the highway, extinguish lights, close car and seek shelter.
Do not park at intersections, hydrants, police stations, hospitals or fire houses.
Avoid all congested areas.
PEDESTRIANS
Remain away from all congested areas.
Do not attempt to cross streets or highways.
Proceed to and remain at some place of safety.
Use no flashlights or matches; light no cigarettes on the street.
The orders requested that wherever possible the main electric switches and main gas cocks in large buildings should not be pulled. They closed with the request that all lawful instructions be obeyed.
A switch for an air raid blackout.
The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales in 1941.
DECEMBER 11, 1941
Blow Staggers London
By JAMES MacDONALD
Special Cable to The New York Times
LONDON, Dec. 10—Great Britain was plunged into sadness today by the staggering blow suffered by the Navy in the loss of two of its most powerful vessels, the 35,000-ton battleship Prince of Wales, flagship of the newly constituted British Far Eastern Fleet, and the 32,000-ton battle cruiser Repulse.
Both apparently were sunk by Japanese planes off Malaya. Some reports indicated they might have fallen victims to “suicide” fliers who dived on them with full bomb loads.
These are the first British capital ships sunk by the Japanese. Their destruction has given Japan a tremendous initial advantage in Malayan waters. Far from minimizing the loss of these vessels, some British observers foresee that their sinking will have a direct bearing on the course of the war all around the globe.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a brief solemn announcement in the House of Commons, confirming the Japanese announcement that the Prince of Wales and Repulse had been sent to the bottom.
The Prince of Wales, a sister ship of the King George V, was one of this country’s newest men-of-war and carried among her complement of at least 1,500 officers and men, Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Phillips, whose appointment as commander in chief of the newly established Far Eastern Fleet was announced Dec. 1. [Alfred Duff Cooper, British Minister in the Far East, confirmed that Admiral Phillips was aboard and said patrol boats were searching for survivors.
The Repulse, although built in 1916, was a hard-hitting modernized battle cruiser and normally carried a complement of about 1,200 officers and men.
The wife of Captain W. G. Tennant of the Repulse said she received word her husband had been saved by a destroyer. The fate of Admiral Phillips and of Captain J. C. Leach of the Prince of Wales was not determined.
The sinking of these vessels, combined with losses suffered by the United States Navy since Japan began the war, has taken o
n the aspect of a catastrophe. Virtually every one in this country is watching the Far Eastern theatre of hostilities with anxious eyes.
Britain’s grim determination to win through to a victorious finish, which was strengthened when the United States declared war on Japan, remains unswerving, however.
DECEMBER 12, 1941
SILENT GALLERIES WATCH WAR VOTE
Hear President’s Message And the Roll-Call On Germany, but Refuse To Stay for Italy
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11—Without hesitation and without debate, and as rapidly as parliamentary procedure would permit, the Congress cast two more war votes today to carry the United States formally and constitutionally into battle to the finish with the Axis on all fronts.
No member of either house voted “no” on going to war against Germany and Italy.
One, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who voted against the 1917 declaration of war against Germany and who voted on Monday against accepting the Japanese challenge in the Pacific voted “present.”
Substitution, by unanimous House consent, of Senate texts to prevent procedural delays removed even this reservation.
Formally the Senate voted war against Germany by 88 to 0. When the resolution accepting Italy’s declaration followed, the vote was 90-0, two Senators having reached the floor after missing the first speedy vote.
In the House the roll call on the resolution against the German Government showed a vote of 393 to 0. Six additional members appeared for the tally on the resolution on Italy, making the vote 399 to 0.
GALLERIES ARE CROWDED
Viscount Halifax, the British Ambassador, and Lady Halifax leaned tensely over the rail of the diplomatic [words missing] Roosevelt’s brief message was read. They departed before any votes were taken.