The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-12

per ships as their first stop west Of Hawai-.
 Wake Is Isolated
 Wake is the most isolated of oil the important islands in the west Pacific. The nearest other pinpoint of land Is the island of Taongt in the Japanese rnandated islands, 400 miles to the south. From Wake to Hawaii 1t Is 2,000 miles and in the opposite direction 1t IS 1900 miles to Guam.
 It was at Wake that the garrison awoke Sunday morning to the roar of Japanese bombing planes and the boom of Japanese naval guns.
 Yesterday the navy revealed that within 40 hours the garrison was attacked four times by enemy air. craft and once by light naval units There are no details about how many men were in that garrison but they fought back, are still fight ing and will continue to resist.
 And their baliant stand has not been in vain,
 Despite the loss of part of the defending planes and the damage to material and personnel" the nSyy's communique said, "the de- lending garrison succeeded In sink ing one light cruiser and one de- stroyer of the enemy forces by air action."
 And then 1t added that a resulnp- ton of the enemy attack and a probable landing attempt was ex. pected. =...
 The future of Wake Is in the lap of the Gods and the hands of It's "leatherneck" defenders who are upholding their motto, "Semper Fi- delis"-Ever Faithful,
 Strength 0s Sap Fleet
 London, Dec. i2-tUp)-The Press Association, c British news agency, giving reliable approximations" Of the strength of the Japanese fleet, said today that the most recent in. formation credited Japan with i6 aircraft carriers not taking into ace count ships sunk by the United States 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 worlds most closely guarded secrets, was believed to inc clude 10 battleships, l2 6-inch gun cruisers, six 6-iflch gun cruisers, 14 cruisers armed with 6.9.inch guns, about l26 deStroyerS and S6 subma. rines, the Press Association said.
 The Japanese also were said to have force Of destroyers and small craft used in northern waters for the protection of the fishing industry and In the marlaated islands, where the Japanese long have maintained destroyerS, submarines and smaller vessels.
 The strength of the Japanese fleet air arm was estimated at about 1850 planes, about 500 of which were eIn- parked on carriers and other ships. The remainder were reported shore. based in Japan, Formosa, Indo- Chira and the nandated islands. There Is no separate Japanese air force. The army and navy each has it's own.
 The Press Association gave no es- inmates of Japanese army air strength.
 War COmmuniqne
 Washington, Dec. 12-(Up)-A War department communique today announced that that Japanese are making a ''series of concentric thrustS on the island of Luzon."
 Concentrations were reported at Legaspi and of the west coast Of Zambales.
 The communique, based on a re- port by It. Gen. Douglas Macarthur, commander of the United States Far Eastern forces, also said that the en- eny is augmenting it's forces in the northern part of Luzon at Aparri and Vigan.
 It did not say whether any actual landings had been made at Legaspi, a port on the Pacific side of the Phil ippines south of Manila.
 From Hawaii, no operations were reported, while the department said that there YVES llo change" in the west coast situation.
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