JAPANESE FLEET

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 13738, 23 April 1945, Page 4

JAPANESE FLEET

REPORTED AT SEA

TOKIO PREDICTS BATTLE

Melbourne, April 20

The Japanese Navy has put to sea for a mighty battle, according to a Tokio radio domestic broadcast intercepted by the Australian Department of Information listening post. ’’The fate of the Empire depends on this battle,” said the broadcaster. ‘‘The Imperial Army and Navy, which have waited and waited for •this very moment since Guadalcanal', have engaged the enemy in the Okinawa area and will eventually launch a general attack with their full force,”

According to another broadcast, Tokio newspapers published front page photographs of Admiral Toyoda, commander-in-chief of the combined fleet, over the caption, ‘’Decisive victory at hand.” The Tokio radio also reports that the city has been strafed for the first time by a large force of American fighters. . Airfields around Tokio were the main targets. A Batavia broadcast says that foreign diplomats have been evacuated from Tokio to an undisclosed place, which is described as the new centre of diplomatic activity in Japan.