Army Tanks, Bayonets Quell Disloyal Japs at Tule Lake

By NICK BOURNE
United Press Staff Correspondent

TULE LAKE, Calif., Nov. 5.--Troops marched into the Tule Lake Japanese segregation center today with tanks and machine guns to impose military rule upon disloyal Japanese who defied civilian authorities following a labor controversy a fortnight ago.

Japanese internees refused to harvest crops for all Japanese internment centers on the grounds they were being held as prisoners of war. Japanese held here either have pledged allegiance to Japan or have refused to pledge allegiance to the United States.

Col. Verne Austin, in command of the troops, announced officially that the Army had taken over jurisdiction of the camp from the War Relocation Authority.

No official reason was given for the act, but it was reported that the W.R.A. asked the Army to intervene after the severe beating of Edward Brobeck, a security guard, by Japanese internees last night.

There were no reports of shots being fired by the troops. However, it was stated on good authority at the camp that approximately 20 Japanese who resisted the military occupation were injured.

About 500 of the 15,000 disloyal Japanese who had been congregated here from the nine other relocation centers were rounded up by the soldiers.

Many were held in the camp administration building, where demonstrating Japanese had scored one near-victory Monday, holding W.R.A. National Director Dillon Myer and 100 white personnel virtual prisoners for four hours.

The Japanese sat with their hands clasped on their heads for two hours, with soldiers equipped with machine guns guarding them, while their leaders were questioned.

One soldier told me: "They were getting near our ammunition depot when we caught them."

I was sitting in an apartment with two W.R.A. officials at 10:30 o'clock last night discussing the situation. We heard boys cry: "Fight! Fight!" in front of the apartment, but we paid no attention.

Then came sounds of motors and sirens. I asked the W.R.A. men: "Is that what happens every night at 10:30?"

They said, "No," and we put overcoats over our pajamas and went into the street.

Tanks, Bayonets Seen

We saw tanks and columns of soldiers wearing steel helmets and carrying machine guns and bayonets.

Two barbed-wire fences, 40 feet apart, surround the camp. In this 40-foot strip, tanks and armored cars move ceaselessly, under the glare of floodlights spaced 30 yards apart. Soldiers call the area the "shooting strip."

Maneuvers had been held in the camp during the daytime previously, but one W.R.A. official said: "This is the first time I've seen them at night."

I followed a detachment of soldiers with fixed bayonets into an apartment.

"Are these maneuvers?" I asked.

"No, this is the real thing," one replied.

Then I went to the administration building and saw soldiers and internal police herding disheveled Japanese into an office, with lines of soldiers with fixed bayonets and machine guns guarding them.

Jap Police Held, Too

White members of the internal police of the W.R.A. camp administration were aiding the soldiers. But man of the Japanese under guard wore the internal police uniform.

The Japanese prisoners were held for two hours, their hands clasped over their heads, while questioning of leaders continued.

One soldier later announced: "We're going after them down below tomorrow," indicating additional leaders of the Japanese residing in the lower portion of the camp remained to be rounded up.