The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-11-16

| N~NSA3ANA AANAAA a6E 4I done since 1t is a question of the United States saving its face"
 1nglis' testimony about the con- voy order was brought out through questioning by Sen. Homer Fergu- son, R., Mich, early in the second day of public hearings in the Con- gressional investigation into the Pearl Harbor disaster.
 Navy Department Prepared
 Ferguson apparently was attempt ing to show that the Navy Depart ment was taking precautions against Pacific attack prior to the actual Japanese assault. He asked Inglis whether there was "any evidence of German submarines or ships in the Pacific at that time"
 T have no knowledge of such evidence" Inglis replied.
 Inglis testified that on Nov. 25. 1941, Stark issued the escort orders to the 18th Naval district at San Francisco, the 14th Naval district at Honolulu, the 18th Naval dis rict at Manila and the commanders of the Pacific and Asiatic fleets.
 It instructed them to route all trans-Pacific shipping through the Torres Straits between Australia and New Guinea. It instructed the commanders of the Pacific and Asiatic fleets to provide the nec- eSsary escorts"
 Navy Response Asked
 Ferguson aksed Inglis the reason for the escort order, but Inglis said he was not in Naval Intelli- gence at the time and could only offer an opinion. The Senator brushed aside the offer and asked for an official Navy response. Inglis said it would be supplied.
 Ferguson tangled with Inglis over whether he reviewed his testimony in advance with Committee Counsel William D. Mitchell. Inglis said they discussed his testimony but didn't particularly review 1t.
 Were there any deletions as a result of such conferences?" Fer guson asked.
 Inglis said there was after Mitch ell and Asst. Counsel Gerhard Gesell suggested changes. For eX- ample, he said he deleted para graph which contained the sugges- tion that the American people, as a whole, were not united prior to Pearl Harbor.
 His Own Opinion Ferguson asked him whether he got that idea from a statement made by President Truman at the time Army and Navy reports on the Pearl Harbor disaster were made public last August. IngliS said it was his own opinion and that he believed the situation contributed to the fact that the armed forces were not as strong as they might have been."
 Did you know that when the Navy Department submitted ap- propriation requests, the budget di- rector and the executive branch of government cut them down and Congress put them up again?" Fer guson asked.
 IngliS said he had some recollec- tion to that effect.
 The committee was prepared to hear the Japanese version of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, parts of which already have been related.
 Attack Data Revealed
 In a Navy Day speech Oct. 27, Secretary of the Navy James F. Forrestal revealed that Japanese documents seized when Manila was retaken early this year included in- structions for the attack to the Jap anese fleet.
 He said the plans were distrib- uted Nov. 5, 1941; the date for the attack was set in orders dated NOV. T. and the final order for execution was issued about Dec. A." The at tack came at 7:55 a. m. (Honolulu time) Dec. ', 194l.
 Before going into the Japanese picture, however, committee mem bers wanted to know more about the American story as reported in yesterdays opening session by Inglis and Col. Bernard Thielen of the War Department General Staff.
 Their opening statement was mostly an old story to close follow CTS of the Pearl Harbor case dur ing the last four years.
 Questions Unanswered
 Inglis and Thielen left unan- swered a host of committee ques- tions but promised that subsequent witnesses would supply the requested information. The questions includ- ed:
 1. Why there was delay in get ting reconnaissance planes in the air at Pearl Harbor the morning or the attack. f.
 2. What Navy officers were notl- fled that a Navy destroyer sank Japanese submarine in Hawaiian coastal waters an hour before the attack. n,.
 3. Why Admiral Harold R. Stark, as chief of naval operations aI washington, ordered shipping 10 oaose use of the great circle route