NEW PHASE OPENS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 246, 28 July 1944, Page 3

NEW PHASE OPENS

NAVAL WAR IN EAST INDIES. THE BOMBARDMENT OF SABANG. DESTRUCTION OF AIRFIELDS i (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, July 27. Aircraft from carriers attacked neighbouring aerodromes, at Sabang, Sumatra, damaging hangars, buildings, and a radar station, and destroying four enemy aircraft oil the ground. Two others which attempted to approach the Fleet fighters were destroyed. One of our aircraft caught fire and was obliged to alight on the sea. The pilot was picked up by a cruiser uninjured. This was the only casualty suffered by our aircraft. A formation of enemy aircraft attempted to attack the Fleet on Tuesday evening. Three were shot down by our fighters and two damaged, the remainder being driven off before they could close with the Fleet. —British Official Wireless. The Eastern Fleet opened a . new phase of naval warfare in the East Indies with the daylight bombardment of Sabang, says an Associated Press correspondent aboard the flagship of the Eastern Fleet off Sabang (according to a dispatch from Colombo). Having established complete control at Sourabaya and Port Blair, Admiral Somerville’s Eastern Fleet is reaching out into East Indian waters, in which the chief prize is Singapore. About 850 tons of steel and highexplosives struck Sabang as Allied battleships, cruisers and destroyers cascaded shells, varying from four to fifteen inches, into the Japanese-held naval base at close range. t A.senior officer commented: “It will take a long time to repair Sabang, | owing to the difficulties of getting ma- j terials from Japan. In fact, they will j not he able to repair the place before we get there.” It is roughly three months since the Eastern Fleet last raided Sabang, but

that was a cautious air strike from carriers, the rest of the fleet remaining well distant from Sabang. This is the first time an Allied naval surface force has been in sight of Sumatra since the dark days of the Japanese sweep through the East Indies in 1942. Again the fleet reached the objective unobserved. The first thing the Japanese knew was intense strafing by fighters from the carriers. Among the Corsair fighters’ targets were three airfields, including one at Kota Raja, on the Sumatra mainland: but confirming the suspicion that Japanese air strength is weak, only four airmail were found, and all were destroyed.

HEAVY DAMAGE TO BASE. LONDON, July 27. A communique from South-east Asia Command Headquarters says that the bombardment of the Japanese naval base of Sabang by warships and aircraft of the Eastern Fleet on July 25 almost completely destroyed the harbour installations. Sabang is on the north-west top of the island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. Battleships', cruisers, and destroyers, covered and supported by carrierbased aircraft, carried out the bombardment for 35 minutes in a dawn attack. Dockyards, wharves, warehouses, and other shore installations were hit by 16 salvoes of heavy shells. Half the barracks area was devastated, and other buildings were badly damaged or probably destroyed. A radio station was shelled by a destroyer.

The warships and aircraft which carried ou the bombardment suffered no casualties or damage.