BATTERED BUT UNBEATEN

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23801, 21 November 1942, Page 5

BATTERED BUT UNBEATEN

FEATS OF AMERICAN CRUISER PART IN SOLOMONS j BATTLE i (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright.) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Nov. 10. Battered and torn by many Japanese shells and once given up for lost , the United States light cruiser has arrived from the Solomons with an extraordinary record. The Boise was chiefly instrumental in sinking six Japanese warships in a single enThe Navy announced that Admiral E J King, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Fleet, made a special trip to Philadelphia from Washington to welcome Captain Moran and the crew of the heroic vessel. The Boise lost three officers and 104 men killed in a violent night battle off Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal on October 11 and 12, when a cruiser and destroyer task force intercepted a Japanese force bearing troops to the Solomons. The Boise, bore the brunt of the fighting in which the Japanegft lost two heavy cruisers and one light cruiser and three destroyers. Well out in front, the Boise took brutal punishment from the 8-mch armament of the enemy heavy cruisers. Flames leapt mast high, enveloped the Boise and roared deep into her hull. Other American ships gave up the Boise for lost and continued on their course. Two hours later the undaunted Boise steamed towards them from the darkness. ... . u _ A Navy spokesman said that tne Boise was saved by the swift, skilful, and heroic actions of Captain Moran and the crew, who flooded an exploded magazine, extinguished fires, shored up wavering bulkheads, and plugged shell holes with bedding.

JAPANESE IN BURMA

PREPARATIONS FOR OFFENSIVE (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON. Nov. 10> A Chinese military spokesman at Chungking said the Japanese had commandeered all rail equipment in Burma, and massed upwards of 300 aeroplanes and assembled collapsible boat! and other equipment necessary for crossing the turbulent Salween river. The Japanese objectives are the capture of Kunming, and the disruption of the air service between India and China. An offensive is expected any moment, but the Chinese have made full preparations in which the American Air Forces are participating. A British Official Wireless message states that many bombs were seen to burst across the runway and a large fire was stared when Royal Air Force bombers on Wednesday night attacked the Japanese aerodrome at Maiktila, says a New Delhi communique. One enemy fighter was damaged. On Tuesday night heavy Royal Air Force bombers attacked the Japanese aerodromes at Rangoon and Magwe. Two large fires were started at the former aerodrome. From all these operations all the British aircraft returned. . , .. ... The Secretary of State, for India (Mr L. S. Amery) in the House of Commons said the Government's aim continued to be self-government for Burma as soon as circumstances permitted. The impossibility should be recognised of discussions with representative Burmese, a great majority of whom remained in Burma, until the country had been freed from Japanese control.

BRUTAL ENEMY TREATMENT

BRITISH PRISONERS AT HONG KONG ' I FORCED TO WORK IN CHAIN GANG (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 19, The Cnungking correspondent of the “New York Times” states that Miss Young Hu-ming, the Chinese Girl Guide who in 1937 ran the gauntlet of Japanese fire at Shanghai to rescue e doomed battalion’s flag, has arrived after an adventurous escape from Hong Kong. She described the bestial treatment of British prisoners of war who were forced to work from dawn to dark and were driven in a chain gang overseen by sadistic guards. They led on three ounces of rice at dawn and another three ounces upon their return at night. “I cried whenever I saw them and so did the other Chinese,” said Miss Young. “Yet, whenever the British saw us they tried bravely to smile. Many were dying of malaria or dysentery and their bodies were covered with sores fend eczema. They looked like the raggedest beggars with their shredded clothes, haggard and bewhiskered faces, and deep sunken, glassy eyes. “Chinese who try to smuggle food and clothing to the prisoners are shot, but they continue to risk their lives out of compassion for the suffering of the Britons. It is pitiful to watch them labouring to enlarge the Kaikak air* field. Suddenly all eyes turn skywards at the sound of aeroplanes, hoping they are the Allies’.”

USE OF AUSTRALIAN MILITIA

POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE CONTROVERSY SYDNEY, Nov, S». A lively fight is brewing for Labour in all states over the proposal by the Prime Minister of Australia <Mr J. Curtin) to extend the area of operations of the militia for service anywhere in the south-west Pacific. The position is likely to be complicated in the Federal Parliament by an Opposition move to remove all restrictions upon the use of militiamen overseas. The Melbourne correspondent of the “Sydney Sun" states that in raising the issue Mr Curtin has committed himself irrevocably, and he desperately needs the approval of the State Labour executives to ensure his own and Labour’s political future. A factor in Mr Curtin’s favour is that flat opposition to the suggestion might result in the downfall of the Labour Government, and a complete split in the Labour Party similar to the break-up over the conscription issue in 1916,

MR WILLKIE’S PAST SPEECHES

CANADIAN AUTHORITIES* REACTION (Rec. 9.40 p.m.) TORONTO, Nov. 19. In view of Mr Wendell Willkie’s past utterances the authorities are withholding approval' of a civic reception for him on November 25 until they know what he intends to say. A spokesman said Toronto was not the place for disparaging words about the Empire. ’ Hurricane In Honduras.—-Fuller information about the hurricane which struck British Honduras on November 8, states that the death roll is not likely to exceed 25. There were no casualties among Europeans.—B.O.W. Rugby. November 19.