GRIM FIGHT ON OKINAWA

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24536, 9 April 1945, Page 5

GRIM FIGHT ON OKINAWA

Advance Against Capitol

HEAVY ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT

(Bee. p m.) April. 7. The ‘-New York Herald-Tribune’s’ correspondent on Okinawa says grim fighting, rivalling that, on, IWo Jima in intensity, raged . oyer rolling, craggy country in fee 24th .Corps’ 'sector, where the Americans fientgd .ttis mam enemy positions oh the western hall, of a six-mile 'front extending, across island, r The ‘troops said.the bitter enemy resistance surpassed anything encountered in the Leyte campaign. The next lew diys might bripg the bloodiest fighting of . the Pacific war., ‘The Marine 3rd Amphibious Corps continued, to dr i ve. southward against, negligible enemy resistance on me; Ishikawa Isthmus op Okinawa.” says Admiral Niraitz’s communique. ;,“By noon to-day they had advanced about 3000 yards to the, vicinity of. the capital, Naha, on tne west coast, and Ora Bay. on the eastcoast. - v “The 24th Army Corps, in. the south is ‘moving through difficult terrain; In which the enemy is fortified behind an extensive system Of strongpoints. pillboxes, blockhouses, shd trenches. , “Carrier" aircraft, ship’s gluts, and heavy artillery continued to bombard enemy positions. A small group of aircraft attacked our forces early in the day.' Twelve were shot down. ■ - “A British carrier task force .attacked airfields and other installations on Ishigaki and Miyako in the Sakishimas on April 6 and April 7. British fighters destroyed five enemy aircraft and three others on. the ground. information on the action of the fast United States carrier task forces yesterday shows that our aircraft sank four small cargo ships and many small craft in the Eiukius area and destroyed two aircraft on the ground, in addition to those previously reported damaged. •"After attacking Japanese surface forces off Kyushu,to-day. some of our heavy Fleet units suffered minor damage during an aircraft.attack, but are fully operational. Marine aircraft bombed and strafed the Pelews. . The • Tokyo radio announced that American troops advancing on Okinawa’s capital, Naha, had reached a line south of Oyama, Shinoushi. and Arakski, but the Japanese were counterattacking fiercely. The present war outlook did not permit of any optimism whatsoever. . .. The radio also announced the death in action of Lieutenant-General Kunbayashi, commander of Iwo Jima, ana Rear-Admiral Ichimaru. commander of the naval forces at Iwo Jima.

BOMBARDMENT OF SAKIBHJMAS BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET

SLIGHT DAMAGE TO SOME SHIPS

(Bee. 8.30 p.m.) GUAM, April 7. Admiral Nimitz has announced that British warships and aeroplanes extensively damaged ground installations in the Sakishimas and out out of action 31 Japanese aircraft in a threeday attack beginning on March 31. Some major units of the British Fleet were slightly damaged by Japanese aircraft, but all the major units remained fully operational. The Associated Press correspondent says that the battleship Kinv Georgy V was possibly damaged. British naval observers returning from the strike said five enemy aircraft made a concerted attack against the King George V. Four out of 10 aeroplanes which attacked the British Fleet simultaneously with the Okinawa landings were shot down.^