GREAT DAMAGE ON FORMOSA

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24582, 2 June 1945, Page 7

GREAT DAMAGE ON FORMOSA

RESULTSOFU.S. AIR RAIDS HARBOURS CHOKED WITH sunken shipping

(Rec. 11.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, June !. Eighty per Cent, Of Formosa's IhdUS* trial capacity has been destroyed, says the Manila correspondent of the New York Times.”. Last year Formosa produced many thbllsandS of tons ofoOp- 1 per, aluminium, magnesium, aeroplane parts, and other vital materials. More thdh 10, wW tbns Of bbmbS have been dropped on Formosa with a pop.* illation larger than NeW idtk city. Aerial photographs • show large tiohfe of wrecked factbrieS and power piahts. Harbours are chbkfed With siiliketi shipping. MacArthur’s Communique General , McArthur’s communique Says: “In the Santa.Fe area of Luzon dur forces are liquidating enemy remnants, in the central area the enemy is Being driven farther into the mourn ‘“Bomiers dropped tons of bombs in support of a. three-pronged attack against enemy foreos .east of the central highway pf Mindanao,, The 31si Division has driven seven miles into the hills east of Malaybalay. Pressure was maintained on forces trapped m the hills West of Davao, , “Escorted heavy bombers dropped 520 tons of bombs on Keelung aiid Takao, on Formosa. Reconnaissance aeroplanes maintained a, day and night blockade of ertemy shipping lanes. They sank a medium cargo vessel at Shanghai and wrecked seven coasters in the Hong Kong area.' ; ....... “Two enemy aeroplanes ineffectively raided Tarakan, Our aircraft attacked airstrips, installations, and shipping at Romeo, the Halmaheras, New Guinea, the Bismarchs, and the. Solomons.”

ENEMY CORRIDOR IK CHISfA

WITHDRAWAL BY JAPANESE

AMERICAN GENERAL OPTIMISTIC

(Rec. 6.30) CHUNGKING, May 31. The Chinese have recaptured Ishan, 43 miles west of LiuChow. reports a front-line dispatch. Another Chinese column Is reported to be Within 85 miles of Lluchow. The Chinese, in west Hunan recaptured Chowahgpu, 12 miles west of Ranching, and are pressing on towards YehkoWpu, three miles to the eastwards. ' Lieutenant-General A. C. Wedemeyer, American commander m china, said that unquestionably the Japanese were withdrawing from the land corridor comnecting enemy forces in China with perhaps 200.000 troops in Indo-Chma, Thailand, Malaya, and Burma. He said he was very optimistic about the military future of China With Allied supply improving in contrast to the enemy's deteriorating position. China was not yet ready for a grand counteroffensive but was round the corner psychologically. The Japanese withdrawal was accelerated by the realisation that they could net achieve the purpose of the April drive to widen the corridor ana capture the American air bases without excessive costs, Said LieutenantGeneral Wedetaeyer. ‘ He credited the improved morale and fighting spirit of , the Chinese troops to better food and pay and the evacuation of the wounded. He described recent Japanese prisoners as a discouraged lot who were convinced that Japan had lost the war. Many of them were aware of the destruction in the Japanese homeland by American bombings.