1941 Red Cross Scrapbook : page 7 - December
Collection: Red Cross Scrapbook 1941
Title
1941 Red Cross Scrapbook : page 7 - December
Subject
World War, 1939-1945
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
Description
Article published in Arkansas City Traveler newspaper on December 8, 1941
Creator
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler
Source
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Publisher
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Date
1941-12-08
Contributor
Red Cross volunteers
Rights
Used with permission of copyright holder. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, “1941 Red Cross Scrapbook : page 7 - December,” Digital Arkansas City, accessed April 25, 2024, https://arkcity.digitalsckls.info/item/36.
Text
3,000 Are Reported Dead And Wounded, Two Warships Sunk
White House Says American Forces Are Engaging Attackers
Washington, Dec. 8. (AP) —The White House disclosed today that American forces lost two warships and 3,000 dead and wounded in the Jan-anese attack on Hawaii.
The White House said the surprise dawn attack of the Japanese yesterday resulted in the capsizing of an old battleship, the destruction of a destroyer, damage to other vessels and destruction of a relatively large number of planes.
It added that several Japanese planes and submarines had been accounted for.
See 1,500 Dead
An official White House statement, the first authentic government appraisal of the attack yesterday, said that casualties were expected to mount to about 3,000, nearly half of them fatalities.
It was disclosed that active resistance was “still continuing" against the Japanese attacking force in the vicinity of Hawaii. Reenforcements of planes are being rushed to the islands the White House said, and repair work is underway on ships, planes and ground facilities.
The White House said that Wake and Midway islands, in addition to the island of Guam and Hongkong, China, had been at- tacked but that details were lack-ing.
In Through Darkness
Asked whether there was any official information why Japan was able to get inside the outer defenses of the Hawaiian group,
Presidential Secretary Stephen Early said it was the consensus of experts that probably all the attacking planes came from carriers which had moved forward during the night and sent their planes aloft. The attack came at dawn yesterday.
There was no identification of the battleship which capsized beyond the statement that she was an old one. The ship turned over!
in Pearl Harbor, the navy's giant Hawaiian base.
The statement said that several other ships "have been seriously damaged,” that one destroyer was “blown up,” and several other small ships were “seriously hit.”
In making the announcement of the attack on Hawaii, Early said there bad been a tremendous public reaction throughout the country to Japan's assault. It was expressed, he said, in hundreds of telegrams and telephone calls pouring into the White House. They all stressed horror at the attack and “pledged loyalty, full aid and support to the President," he related, adding that they came from all types of persons, from cab drivers to state governors.
Philippines Hit Again
A correspondent of the Associated Press reported simultaneously that the bombing of military objectives continued in the Philippines today.
Discussing Japan’s ability to make a surprise attack on Hawaii, Early said that apparently the carrier-based Japanese planes were of the dive bomber type.
The attack came about daybreak, he said, so that the carriers would have had all night to approach the islands in darkness. The planes naturally would have taken off, flown to a high altitude, and come in from the darkness, he asserted.
Several hangars were destroyed in the bombing of army and navy air fields the White House said, and “a large number of planes were put out of commission.” Bombers In From ‘Frisco’
However, a number of bombers were said to have arrived in the islands safely from San Francisco while the engagement was underway.
Two hundred marines, all that remained of the American marine detachment in China, have been interned near Tientsin.
The statement asserted that It seemed apparent many bombs had been dropped in Honolulu. It seemed to indicate that the casualties were largely at army and navy stations at the key Pacific outpost.
Before the White House announcement Japan had claimed a smashing victory over the Pacific
fleet.
The pattern of the Japanese
master plan was taking shape with an invasion thrust into Thailand, which borders on Japanese-occupied French Indo-Chi-na, an unsuccessful landing attempt in British Malaya, and with simultaneous attacks by air on Singapore and on the Philippines, where parachute troops were dropped. At first glance it seemed as if the Japanese were
attempting to immobilize the main naval bases of the Anglo-American fleets until the Thai-land-Malay peninsula drive had gathered momentum.
Calm But Determined The feeling here could be summed up plainly: “We didn’t want a fight, but they certainly asked for it."
There was a noticeable absence of any war hysteria as the hour for the special session of con-g r e s s approached. However, there was no mistaking the mood on Capitol Hill or throughout the city and the nation that stretched across the continent behind it. The pledges of support that poured into the White House from all sources showed the country was solidly united in a common cause behind the President, regardless of past differences and disagreements.
As soon as the word of Japan’s attacks reached the capital yesterday, the armed services of the nation were placed on a virtual war footing, and the government took these major steps: Ordered all defense plants and vital facilities to take extra ordinary precautions against sabotage:
Closed the borders to all Japanese and started a roundup of “previously known suspicious aliens;
Imposed a censorship on all outgoing radio and cable communications, a n d invoked drastic wartime regulations on the publication of data relating to important army or navy information;
Barred trading with the enemy—thereby severing all transportation or other communication with Japan and forbidding financial transactions with Japanese.
Grounded all civilian aircraft except commercial airlines.
When the first wave of Japa-nese warplanes struck at Hawaii, it was 1:40 p. m. in Washington. The Japanese envoys had requested an appointment with Secretary Hill for 1:45 p. m. They were 20 minutes late and they were somber faced like men arriving for a funeral. Hull kept them waiting before they were admitted to his office at 2:30.
In Hawaii at that moment the attack was going full blast—as Secretary Hull was well aware when he received the two envoys.
Original Format
Newspaper clipping
Title
1941 Red Cross Scrapbook : page 7 - December
Subject
World War, 1939-1945
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
Description
Article published in Arkansas City Traveler newspaper on December 8, 1941
Creator
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler
Source
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Publisher
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Date
1941-12-08
Contributor
Red Cross volunteers
Rights
Used with permission of copyright holder. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, “1941 Red Cross Scrapbook : page 7 - December,” Digital Arkansas City, accessed April 25, 2024, https://arkcity.digitalsckls.info/item/36.Text
3,000 Are Reported Dead And Wounded, Two Warships Sunk
White House Says American Forces Are Engaging Attackers
Washington, Dec. 8. (AP) —The White House disclosed today that American forces lost two warships and 3,000 dead and wounded in the Jan-anese attack on Hawaii.
The White House said the surprise dawn attack of the Japanese yesterday resulted in the capsizing of an old battleship, the destruction of a destroyer, damage to other vessels and destruction of a relatively large number of planes.
It added that several Japanese planes and submarines had been accounted for.
See 1,500 Dead
An official White House statement, the first authentic government appraisal of the attack yesterday, said that casualties were expected to mount to about 3,000, nearly half of them fatalities.
It was disclosed that active resistance was “still continuing" against the Japanese attacking force in the vicinity of Hawaii. Reenforcements of planes are being rushed to the islands the White House said, and repair work is underway on ships, planes and ground facilities.
The White House said that Wake and Midway islands, in addition to the island of Guam and Hongkong, China, had been at- tacked but that details were lack-ing.
In Through Darkness
Asked whether there was any official information why Japan was able to get inside the outer defenses of the Hawaiian group,
Presidential Secretary Stephen Early said it was the consensus of experts that probably all the attacking planes came from carriers which had moved forward during the night and sent their planes aloft. The attack came at dawn yesterday.
There was no identification of the battleship which capsized beyond the statement that she was an old one. The ship turned over!
in Pearl Harbor, the navy's giant Hawaiian base.
The statement said that several other ships "have been seriously damaged,” that one destroyer was “blown up,” and several other small ships were “seriously hit.”
In making the announcement of the attack on Hawaii, Early said there bad been a tremendous public reaction throughout the country to Japan's assault. It was expressed, he said, in hundreds of telegrams and telephone calls pouring into the White House. They all stressed horror at the attack and “pledged loyalty, full aid and support to the President," he related, adding that they came from all types of persons, from cab drivers to state governors.
Philippines Hit Again
A correspondent of the Associated Press reported simultaneously that the bombing of military objectives continued in the Philippines today.
Discussing Japan’s ability to make a surprise attack on Hawaii, Early said that apparently the carrier-based Japanese planes were of the dive bomber type.
The attack came about daybreak, he said, so that the carriers would have had all night to approach the islands in darkness. The planes naturally would have taken off, flown to a high altitude, and come in from the darkness, he asserted.
Several hangars were destroyed in the bombing of army and navy air fields the White House said, and “a large number of planes were put out of commission.” Bombers In From ‘Frisco’
However, a number of bombers were said to have arrived in the islands safely from San Francisco while the engagement was underway.
Two hundred marines, all that remained of the American marine detachment in China, have been interned near Tientsin.
The statement asserted that It seemed apparent many bombs had been dropped in Honolulu. It seemed to indicate that the casualties were largely at army and navy stations at the key Pacific outpost.
Before the White House announcement Japan had claimed a smashing victory over the Pacific
fleet.
The pattern of the Japanese
master plan was taking shape with an invasion thrust into Thailand, which borders on Japanese-occupied French Indo-Chi-na, an unsuccessful landing attempt in British Malaya, and with simultaneous attacks by air on Singapore and on the Philippines, where parachute troops were dropped. At first glance it seemed as if the Japanese were
attempting to immobilize the main naval bases of the Anglo-American fleets until the Thai-land-Malay peninsula drive had gathered momentum.
Calm But Determined The feeling here could be summed up plainly: “We didn’t want a fight, but they certainly asked for it."
There was a noticeable absence of any war hysteria as the hour for the special session of con-g r e s s approached. However, there was no mistaking the mood on Capitol Hill or throughout the city and the nation that stretched across the continent behind it. The pledges of support that poured into the White House from all sources showed the country was solidly united in a common cause behind the President, regardless of past differences and disagreements.
As soon as the word of Japan’s attacks reached the capital yesterday, the armed services of the nation were placed on a virtual war footing, and the government took these major steps: Ordered all defense plants and vital facilities to take extra ordinary precautions against sabotage:
Closed the borders to all Japanese and started a roundup of “previously known suspicious aliens;
Imposed a censorship on all outgoing radio and cable communications, a n d invoked drastic wartime regulations on the publication of data relating to important army or navy information;
Barred trading with the enemy—thereby severing all transportation or other communication with Japan and forbidding financial transactions with Japanese.
Grounded all civilian aircraft except commercial airlines.
When the first wave of Japa-nese warplanes struck at Hawaii, it was 1:40 p. m. in Washington. The Japanese envoys had requested an appointment with Secretary Hill for 1:45 p. m. They were 20 minutes late and they were somber faced like men arriving for a funeral. Hull kept them waiting before they were admitted to his office at 2:30.
In Hawaii at that moment the attack was going full blast—as Secretary Hull was well aware when he received the two envoys.
Original Format
Newspaper clipping