The Wrangell sentinel., 1942-04-10
BataaD'S Heroes Go
 Down Fighting As
 Chief Orders Attack
By Associated Press

day, crushed at last by the in-
 eyitable disaster that for three
 months had been beaten off in
 as great a defense as ever was
 offered by hopelessly Outnum-
 bered fighting men. and for
 most of the 36,O00 American
 and Filipino troops there was
 left only death or capture.
 Corregidor and the other
 Manila bay fortresses were re-
 ported still holding out but
 there was little hope that they
 could long stand and no hope
 at all that the majority of the
 men on Bataan could ever find
 shelter there.
 In the second most active Pacific Indian ocean theatre-that of In dia, Burma-the Ganges basin had been laid open to attack by superior enemy naval forces and enemy troops had beaten forward to with in 30 miles of the central Burmese oil fields, the principal source of supply for China's armies
 Last Order ro Attack Bataan went down fighting on it's feet and never on it's knees. His whole force reeling with fatigue. weak from short rations and in some instances from disease. General Wainwright's last known order was an order to attack This he issued after his right flank had been en- veloped and his first corps stag gered forward for the supreme and doomed effort, an effort. said the War Department communique, that failed due to the complete physical exhaustion of the troops
 With this Wainwright's left had fallen, his center had fallen. his right had fallen and from Washing ton President Roosevelt sent him word to make whatever decision that he felt must be made. This meant the General was free 10 end resistance if, as appeared, contin- ued resistance would only mean a futile loss of more blood
 Bitter Victory
 There were acids in the enemvs victory and always will be veeause of what the Bataan line had done first under Macarthur and then under Wainwright to an antagonist whose power aground was in the ratio of at least five to one odds, and in the air 100 to zero.
 To the last as had not been before
  running the Japanese blockade from Australia with supplies for Bataan and Corregidor. but, said War Sec retary Stimson, flor every ship that arrived we lost nearly two ships" Even as he sadly conceded a great reversal. Secretary Stimson thus vowed in behalf of the country. this is only a temporary loss; we shall not stop until We drive the in- vaders from the islands
 Less Tragic News
 Developments elsewhere were less tragic but grave in themselves. The British Admiralty disclosed that Japanese planes had sent the heavy cruisers Dorsetshire and Cornwall
 
 and this meant that heavy enemy naval forces now prowl in the Fay of Bengal and remained opposel only by light British units. The enemy had already destroyed sever al Allied merchant ships. For tha first time, he hurled his bombers at the British naval base of Trn- n mined damage
 Big Naval Fight Forecast
 While some London naval report CTS speculated that one of the big gest naval battles of history was about to open in the Bay of Bengal this could be made possible only by the arrival of large British naval units of which there was no con- firmed word.
 While India proper thus lay un- der grave menace-a menace which appeared to have had the single good effect of sharply improving the prospects for a British-Indian settlement making India a national government now in exchange for full aid in the war the Allied position in Burma was steadily wor- sening. The British on the Allied right flank, outnumbered three to one aground and without air sup port, had been pushed still further "' back by the enemy's flanking at tacks and so imminent was the per il to the oil fields that the British command made preparation to ap- ply torch and dynamite to them. At the Allied left, held by the Chinese n hnrrn TnnMnt thnrn rrrnn rn Inn.rrr