SUMATRA BASES ATTACKED

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24614, 10 July 1945, Page 5

SUMATRA BASES ATTACKED

STRIKE BY BRITISH NAYAL AIRCRAFT PLAN TO CUT JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES (8.0. W.) - RUGBY. July 8. Piece by piece the pattern of the combined offensive to cut the Japanese tentacles round the rich East Indies is being put together. In their latest strike against airfields in Sumatra, aircraft of the British East Indies Fleet stamped a line of 50001b bomb holes down the centre of the runways at Medin, Binjai, Median, Lrnjen, and Lkokseumane. The attack was in strength by Hellcats and Seafires, which also sank two small ships off the coast loaded with timber and oil. These airfields lie along the northeastern coast of Sumatra, tfie shores which form the southern side of the Malacca Strait. They are bastions in the defence wall the Japanese have built to keep open the passage of supplies through the strait to th®

enemy forces in western Malaya and for the export back by sea of tin and rubber to war industries. If the British Fleet, steams up these waters, if British submarines are sighted near shipping channels, or if Liberators of the , Royal Air Force Indian Ocean General Reconnaissance Group are detected in their long patrols when seeking out the white wakes of fugitive vessels, aircraft based on these airfields would rise and give battle. The Japanese are already anxious about future events in the Malaya Peninsula and the continued ssfety of the great base of Singapore, All civilians are to be evacuated from the town and the Japanese news agencies are forecasting every day landings in Malaya. The loss of ships creeping along the coast has become a matter of importance to them. What is left of their navy based on Singapore is facing a problem. . In the north the Japanese see the advance.of the Chinese into IndQChina. while the British Fleet waits hungrily at the western end of the Malacca Strait, and In the east are the Australians in Borneo, . The Tokyo radio says a British task force of 16 warships, Including two air-craft-carriers, began minesweeping on Saturday to the south-east of the Nicobar Islands. ,

SUICIDE PLANE ATTACKS

BRITISH CARRIERS DAMAGED GUAM. July 8. “Three aircraft carriers of a British task force, including the Indefatigable and the Victorious, were hit by Kamikaze aeroplanes during recent strikes on the Saki Shimas.” says an announcement from Admiral Nimitz s headquarters. “The carriers suffered minor damage, but'they continued to operate. . , .. , “The enemy has lost 140 aircraft destroyed or damaged during the two months in which the British Pacific Fleet has been hitting the Saki Shimas. The British have had only one ship destroyed, the Ulster being rendered inoperative. British casualties for the period totalled 70 killed and 34 seriously wounded.” N The Associated Press says it was previously announced that the British carriers, the Illustrious and the Indomitable, were also op:rating in the p&ciflc The correspondent of the Associated Press on Guam reports that the three British carriers were struck by five Kamikaze aeroplanes. The Indefatigable was hit twice on the same day. Another unidentified carrier was hit twice on successive days, said the Victorious was hit once. Fire-fighting repair squads on all three carriers cleared the flight decks so rapidly that aircraft were able to take off and land very soon after the explosions. , The carriers also experienced three near misses. Two Kamikaze aircraft actually brushed the decks, but their own momentum swept them overboard, where they exploded harmlessly. A third suicide aeroplane touched a carrier’s superstructure, dived across the ship above the flight deck and .then crashed into the sea. ECLIPSE OF THE SUN SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION FROM AIRCRAFT LONDON. July 8. Scientists in the Northern Hemisphere will study a total eclipse of the sun, which will be visible to-morrow in northern latitudes. In the Soviet Union sciehtists will observe the eclipse from aircraft. The eclipse will be total in northem Canada and northern Scandinavia, j and will be partial in the rest of Europe land North America.