Evening star., 1942-06-13
Big y. S. Convoy Reaches Ulster;
American Planes Hunting Down
jap Invaders on Outer A|eutians
Heavy Air Attack
Drives Foe From
Attu Village

While the Nation celebrated
the great combined 51-to-5 vic
tory over Japan in the battles Of
Midway and the Coral Sea,
American warplanes today hunt
ed down small japanese invasion
forces which have landed on the
bleak Aleutian Island of Attu.
1,500 miles off the coast of
Alaska.
Attu lies at the tip of the Aleutian
Archipelago, about $50 miles from
Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
Dispatches from Toxic broadcast
by the German radio quoted I'm
perial japanese headquarters as an
nouncing that operations in the
Aleutians were continuing.
The dispatches said informed
quarters in Toxic interpreted the
announcement to mean that Japan
intended to occupy the islands as a
future base for operations against
the United States.
Midway Called Diversion"
Again attempting to sugar coat
the humiliating japanese defeat at
Midway. Toxic quarters referred to
the attack on Midway as merely a
diversion while the main objective
of seizing the Aleutians was car
ried out.
The Navy, announcing Japans
first attempt to invade United States
soil in North America. said enemy
ships had also been sighted in the
harbor OF Kiska, in the nearby Rat
Islands.
japanese operations in the Aleu-
ton area are still in progress" the
Navy said. although continuing
Army and Navy aircraft attacks
have forced them to retire from the
populated regions of the islands.
Attacks of the Army anc Navy
forces in the area against these op-
erations are continuing.
Weather conditions in these out
lying islands precluded air search
operations until we'll within the last
"a hours"
Driven From Attu Village.
A Navy spokesman declared spe-
ciflcally that the enemy had been
driven away from Attu village. q
lonely outpost OF little military value
Qualified Army and Navy sources
said they regarded the Japanese
activity at Attu and Kiska as
nothing to arouse deep concern.
The temporary loss of such iso-
lated islands was believed to figure
among the calculated risks" which
Admiral Ernest J. King, fleet COM
mander in chief, has said the high
command had to assume.
The small scale Of the Japanese
thrust, executed against virtually
defenseless points in the desolate
and fog -shrouded chain of islands,
indicated it was chiefly a face-sav-
ing venture to bolster the morale OF
the japanese people shocked by the
disasters at Midway and the Coral
Sea.
Unofficial figures based on first
hand reports of the Japanese
thrust at Midway Island showed
that the attack cost the enemy an
appalling price - three, possibly
four, aircraft carriers: hundreds OF
planes and probably more than
10000 dead
Naval sources here said the COM
bined Midway and Coral Sea actions
cost Japan probably half of her
best aircraft carriers and thus had
broken the spearhead of her air
sea striking power. The official
scorecard showed 81 Japanese ships
sunk or damaged compared with
four United States ships sunk and
one damaged.
Aleutian Attack Expected.
The two engagements, it was said
had long delayed If not destroyed
Japan's chances of major offensive
action on the American side of the
Pacific.
Naval authorities had expected a
japanese attempt to get foothold
on stepping stones to the Alaskan
mainland since the Intellectual Japa-
nese air raids on the naval base at
Dutch Harbor June 3.
1t was believed that the japanese
might hope to set up aircraft recon-
naissance bases in the islands. Attu
has a small radio station and ma
tive village with church and a
trading post. 1t is some TOO miles
east of the nearest Japanese land
the northern tip of the Kurile chain
and about 300 miles west Of Dutch
Harbor.
A rocky, mountainous islet, Attu
is about 20 by IS miles, with many
bays and long inlets. Reefs make
offshore navigation hazardous, and
the islanders are normally isolated
except for yearly visits from the
Coast Guard. Kiska is a block OF
land some 80 miles to the southwest