Jap Signaling To 'Subs' Off U.S. Told by De Witt

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20.--(AP)--Japanese attacks on the West Coast during the early stages of the war were aided by signaling from the shore, says Lieut. Gen. John. L. De Witt, who as commanding general of the Western Shore Defense Command supervised the removal of the Japanese from that area in 1942.

In his final report on the transmigration, De Witt adds that it brought virtual elimination of the signals and a reduction in the number of submarine attacks on ships sailing from West Coast ports.

Legal Difficulties Encountered

The 600-page report, which was issued yesterday, noted difficulties of authority in connection with the signals.

Signaling was observed from buildings that could not be entered without a search warrant and radio messages were intercepted and their source determined within an area of a city block but the Justice Department, the report said, was unwilling to make "mass raids" and at the time, the Army still lacked authority.

For several weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the general's report said, every ship leaving West Coast ports was attacked by enemy submarine.

Three Attacks Cited

The submarines, De Witt said, also apparently were apprised of the range of coastal-defense guns and on one occasion an enemy vessel surfaced and shelled the coast from the only position in which it would not be in range. The report cited three specific instances of attacks by enemy submarines or airplanes, each upon unprotected spots.

The report also noted that invariably, Japanese communities on the West Coast flanked strategic installations while there were no Japanese in nearby, available farming sections.

"It was difficult to explain the situation ... by coincidence alone," said the report.