JAPANESE CHAIN OF BASES

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23858, 29 January 1943, Page 5

JAPANESE CHAIN OF BASES

.Air Attacks North Of Australia SIGNS OF ENEMY PREPARATION (Special Australian Corresp., N.Z.PA.) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 28. Further evidence of the forging of a great chain of Japanese airfields and naval anchorages north and north-east of Australia is contained in General MacArthur’s latest operational report. The Allied air forces in the last 24 hours have attacked enemy bases not previously mentioned in communiques. Japanese air activity has been light, but a small Allied merchant vessel is reported to have been sunk by enemy bombers off Wessel Island, near the north-eastern tip of Arnheim Land. Casualties among the crew were light. The new enemy bases attacked included Faan and Roematt Islands (in the Kei group), and the Aru Islands, all in the Arafura Sea. Building and jetty areas were bombed by Hudsons at Faan and Roematt Islands, and another formation of Hudsons bombed and machine-gunned enemy surface craft at Dobo. in the Aru Islands. A direct bomb hit was scored on a lugger. To the north-east of Australia a raid was reported to-day by South Pacific Command bombers on Ballale. It was the first disclosure that the Japanese had succeeded ih establishing an airfield on that island. Ballale is three miles north-east of Shortland Island, in the Solomons, and 295 miles northwest of the Henderson airfield on Guadalcanar. The main Japanese New Guinea bases of Lae and Salamaua were again heavily raided by Mitchells and Havocs, with Lightning fighters as escort. Beaufighters strafed the north New Guinea coast round the mouth of the Waria river, between the Mambare river and Salamaua. The one hundred and third Japanese raid on Port Moresby /was made by three bombers early on Wednesday morning. One of the attacking aeroplanes was hit by an Allied fighter and probably failed to reach its base. The implication of the continued widespread Allied bombing activity is that the Japanese are making rapid progress with the forging of their chain of island bases. This arc swings down from Celebes through Timor and the Kei, Aru, and Tenimber Islands (Timor Laut) along the north New Guinea coast and out through New Britain to the northern Solomons on the eastern flank. "With the Papuan campaign in full swing and the spotlight focused on the grim struggle for jungle strongpoints, the activity in these islands is eclipsed by the more spectacular fight,” writes the south-west Pacific war correspondent of the Sydney "Sun.” "But the Japanese have not forgotten about them. The enemy has been steadily building up for whatever he plans next.” UNITY HOPES FOR SPECIFIC SETTLEMENT (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 27. "Informed circles expect that a specific settlement of the North African political situation will be announced, supplementing the vague communique issued after the Casablanca conference,” says the Washington correspondent of the New York “HeraldTribune.” “The settlement will end the discord, ensure military , success in eliminating the Axis from North Africa, and enable concentrated air attacks to be made against Italy. Observers point out that the large R.A.F. raids on Berlin occurred 48 hours after the conference began on January 14. Mr Churchill and Mr Roosevelt doubtless ordered the raids as part of the comprehensive war plans then under discussion.” As the first tangible result of the meetings between General de Gaulle and General Giraud, missions will be exchanged between the Fighting French in London and General Giraud’s headquarters in North Africa, states the diplomatic correspondent of the Press Association. The missions will be small, apd they will comprise mainly military, economic, and liaison officers, who will not deal with the complex political questions which still exist. The decision to appoint missions was taken at a meeting of the French National Council, to which General de Gaulle, after his return to Britain, fully reported on his meetings with General Giraud. “As far as the North African newspapers are concerned, General de Gaulle might just as well have stayed away from the Casablanca conference,” states the Algiers correspondent of the British United Press. “The newspapers not only cut out his photograph from the group including Mr Churchill, Mr Roosevelt, General Giraud, and himself, but they buried, in an inconspicuous corner, the fact that he was there at all. Every Algiers newspaper carried large photographs of Mr Churchill, Mr Roosevelt, and General Giraud, with General Giraud sitting in the centre. The newspapers stated that General Giraud discussed plans for French North African participation in the war, adding that he had obtained promises from Mr Roosevelt of priority in war weapons.” ARMS CONCEALED FROM GERMANS CLAIM BY GENERAL NOGUES LONDON, Jan. 27. The claim that he obstructed the German Disarmament Commission in North Africa for two years and that he succeeded in concealing much modern armament belonging to the French Army in Morocco, was made by General Nogues, the former French Resident-General in Morocco, in an interview with Mr G. Ward Price, the correspondent of the “Daily Mail." The general added that not a single case of betrayal had occurred. As a result he was able, after the Allied landing, to send 15,000 troops from Morocco to fight in Tunisia, together with tanks and guns which he had saved from German confiscation. “I was able to keep Morocco free from German penetration, so tljat it will now serve as a starting point for the campaign to liberate France,” he said.