ALEUTIAN BASE RAIDED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23756, 30 September 1942, Page 3

ALEUTIAN BASE RAIDED

JAPANESE VESSELS DAMAGED SEAPLANES DESTROYED fKcc, 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 28. Successful attacks on Japanese shore installations, ships, and aircraft at Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, are reported in a United States Navy communique, which says: “A force of heavy Army bombers attacked enemy installations on September 24. but the results were not observed. The following day a strong force of Army bombers and pursuit aeroplanes, accompanied by Royal Canadian Air Force aeroplanes, attacked shore installations and ships at Kiska. “Two submarines were strafed, six seaplanes destroyed on the water, and a seventh shot down. Bomb hits started fires on one or two transports in the harbour and one damaged ship was last seen beached. "It is estimated that 150 Japanese were killed or wounded.” JAPANESE MOVES IN CHEKIANG COLUMNS ATTACKED BY CHINESE (Rec. 10 p.m.) CHUNGKING, Sept. 28. Chinese forces have inflicted considerable casualties on Japanese columns striking west-south-west of Kinhwa, the capital of Chekiang Province. One enemy column lost 300 men in a fourhour battle. The remainder fled. Later the Chinese engaged a second enemy column near Wuyi, south-east of Kinhwa, where fighting is progressing.

DISASTROUS FLOOD |1 IN CHINA

3000 REPORTED DEAD IN SHANSI (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 27. The Chungking correspondent of the Associated Press of America says that belated dispatches report that a eighty wave from the Yellow river, six to 20 feet deep, flooded eastern Shansi Province late in August, leaving 3000 dead and 40,000 homeless. The subsiding waters deposited layers of mud two to three feet deep. The loss of crops threatens to cause famine. U.S. OFFICIALS FROM FAR EAST

(Rcc. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 29. Four American Consular officials, formerly stationed in Far Eastern territory now occupied by the Japanese, have arrived in Australia on their way to take up new appointments, w J, E. Weill, formerly United States Vice-Consul at Shanghai, and Miss fern Cavender, a clerk at the Shanghai Consulate, are going to Welhngton. Mr Weill declined to comment on the treatment he and his companions had received from the Japanese. He said he had been held m “protective custody” by the Japan. es e in Shanghai. Road Deaths in Britain. —Deaths from road accidents in Britain during me third year of the war totalled 7693 This is nearly 2400 fewer than in the second year of the war, but substantiall Y higher than the number in the last year of peace.—London. September 28.

EGYPTIAN FRONT

AIRRAIDS ON TOBRUK AND BENGHAZI (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29. Patrol activity and air operations continue in Egypt. To-day’s Cairo communique states; “During Sunday night our patrol activity continued. In the southern sector our patrols attacked enemy patrols and working parties and inflicted casualties. Yesterday (Monday) there was nothing to report from our land forces.” Benghazi, Tobruk, and a landing ground near Sidi Haneish were attacked by Allied aircraft on Sunday night. Night fighters shot down a Heinkel 111 in the delta area. Dust storms hindered air operations in the desert area, but one German machine was shot down. At Tobruk heavy and medium bombers attacked searchlight stations and petrol dumps. Direct hits were scored on the outer mole at Benghazi. The amount of cargo unloaded at Suez, through which General Alexander’s command draws its entire supplies of reinforcement, now averages 80C0 tons a day. compared with 800 tons a week before the war, reports the Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” Quay accommodation at Port Tewfik, on the southern entrance to the canal, has trebled since the outbreak of war. This capacity will be doubled when big new docks are completed on the east side of Suez Bay. The dock labourers are mostly Fellahins from villages of Upper Egypt. They get a bonus for particularly speedy unloading. The work proceeds for 24 hours a day seven days a week.

RAIDS ON BRITAIN GERMANS USING NEW MESSERSCHMITT LONDON, Sept. 28. After a raid-free night a German raider dived from the clouds above an East Anglian town yesterday morning and dropped a stick of bombs. Shops and houses were damaged and some people were killed. Another raider tried the same tactics over south-east England, but its bombs missed the m The aeronautical correspondent of the “Daily Express” reports that the latest Messerschmitt 210, a long-range fighter, which is an improvement on the Messerschmitt 110, is operating over Britain. The new type has a more powerful engine and better streamlining and the crew is housed well forward of the wings for better visibility. British fighters have already shot down two Messerschmitt 210’s and seriously damaged several. The Air Ministry says that the Royal Air Force dispatched an offensive sweep over north-vyest France on Saturday afternoon, but because of heavy clouds and severe icing the operation was abandoned. Eleven aircraft have not returned and extensive searches have been unsuccessful. It appears from unconfirmed enemy wireless announcements that some of the missing pilots have been captured. ARMY OR WORK IN MINES

CHOICE FOR YOUNG MEN IN BRITAIN

(Rec. 12.15 a.in.) LONDON, Sept. 28. Men aged 25 at the time when they registered for military service are being given the opportunity of working in coal, tin, iron ore, shale oil, and gypsum mines instead of going into the forces. It has been found that many young miners have resorted, to any subterfuge, even absenteeism, to get out of the pits into the services. FARM PRICES IN U.S. (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 28. Administration leaders have rejected a new proposal by the farm bloc in the United States Congress to include farmers’ costs plus reasonable profit in farm prices under the antiinflation h - * 1 .