TAKEN BY SURPRISE

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21599, 9 December 1941, Page 5

TAKEN BY SURPRISE

CALMNESS IN AMERICA PROTECTION OF PANAMA nulled Pre.*a Asan. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 Japan took all America by surprise today when, without warning, aeroplanes attacked Pearl Harbour, Honolulu and Guam, with admittedly heavy damage and loss of life. Nevertheless, America’s war machine on both the administration and combat sides began functioning swiftly and efficiently. White House announcements, although electrical, were received calmly.

A message from Panama City says the entire Canal Zone is on a war basis. Dozens of fighter aeroplanes are patrolling over the isthmus all night, while a blackout of the area has been ordered.

The Under-Secretary for War, Mr R. P. Patterson, has called on the United States to put munitions production on a 24-hour basis.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr Henry Morgenthau, has invoked the vital provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1917, to prevent any commerce or communication with Japan or her allies.

An immediate and vast expansion of the United States armed forces is regarded in military circles as certain. It is believed one of the first steps will be to call all enlisted reserves to active duty, involving the return to the army of trainees recently discharged because they were over the age of 28. Men up to the age of 35 will be liable to immediate call. Directed From Germany The Director of Office of Production Management Priorities, Mr D. N. Nelson, in a radio broadcast said: "All important elements of the Axis are now in action—direct military action—against the United States.” Mr Nelson, speaking with the approval of White House, added: “We are facing an attack directed primarily from Berlin. Beginning from tonight, the United States must have only one goal, military victory.” Washington itself was on a full war basis as night fell. Colonel Lemuel Bull, director of civilian defence. broadcast a request to all local air-raid wardens to stand by for orders and not to leave their homes without reporting where they could be reached.

The Navy Department has announced that the threatened nationwide strike of the united welders and cutters has been cancelled as “the unions’ answer to the trouble in the Pacific.”