THREE-PRONGED ALLIED AIR ATTACK

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 200, 22 May 1944, Page 5

THREE-PRONGED ALLIED AIR ATTACK

Devastation At Naval Base Of Sourabaya FIRST EVIDENCE OF SQUEEZE ON JAPAN (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received May 21, 9.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 21. Co-ordinated attacks by aircraft from three Allied commands dealt a powerful blow at the Japanese naval base at Surabaya, Java, on Wednesday. About 100 carrier-borne planes from the South-east Asia and the Central Pacific area co-operated with Aus-tralian-based Liberators of General MacArthur 6 South-west Pacific command. This was the first time the forces of the three commands joined in a combined strike.

The official announcement of the raid came from the headquarters of General MacArthur, in whose command area Surabaya is situated. A special communique issued last night lists the following destruction: The important Braat naval engineering works demolished; two floating dry docks heavily damaged ; ten ships in harbour totalling 35,000 tons, directly hit (they included a tanker and possibly a destroyer) ; the Wonokroraa oil refinery destroyed; 21 Japanese planes destroyed, 19 on the ground and two in the air; heavy damage in the railway marshalling yards. One of the ships hit blew up and others probably sank. A hospital ship close to the target area was carefully avoided. When the power station was blown up and the oil storage tanks at the Wonokroma refinery were set on fire, smoke rose 5000 feet. Complete surprise was effected and the Allied losses were only three planes. The Japanese ground fire was weak. _ Escorting naval units for the carrier-based planes were British, American, Australian, French and Dutch manned ships. These naval forces suffered neither damage nor casualties. Huge Fires Started. Following the first blow by BritishAmerican carirer-based planes at dawn on Wednesday, the. follow-wp raid 'by American-manned Liberators from an Australian base was made about midnight. These heavy bombers found huge fires from the daylight attack still burning, and concentrated their bombs on the same general target area, causing further extensive damage. All the planes returned from the round flight of 2500 miles. This devastating ah' strike against Surubaya is of first importance, as demonstrating clearly the co-ordinated nature of the plans of the separate Allied commands in the war against the Japanese. t ■ Such a daring thrust into Java waters gives further convincing proof of the Allied initiative and discloses new "possibilities of aggressive moves. While General MacArthur’s forces have been leapfrogging along the (Dutch New Guinea coast closer to the (Philippines and the Netherlands East Indies, Admiral Mountbatten’s forces recently attacked Sumatra from the sea. At the same time Admiral Nimitz has been making a series of bold thrusts through the central Pacific. This was the seventh Allied air attack on Surabaya. Earlier raids were by Australian-based bombers, the most recent being on March 20. Surubaya is about 1250 miles north-west of Darwin. It is 1070 miles south-east, of Sabang, which was raided by British carrierborne aircraft from the Indian Ocean on April 20. , . The Allied fleets Which participated in the battle of the Java Sea on February 25, 1942, assembled at Surubaya. The Japanese seized the port on March 7, 1942, and rebuilt the installations destroyed by the Dutch. Surubaya s wharves and anchorages cun accommodate 80 warships. Its first-class naval installations, including docking facilities, have been extensively used by the Japanese. Surubaya is also one of Java s most important oil refining and distribution centre’s. [Before the war it was the centre of administrative and cultural life in the Indios, having a population of 34X1,000 Indonesians anti 26,000 Europeans. TOKIO ADMITS RAID Dutch Officials Thrilled (Received May 21, 10.10 p.m.) NEW YORK. May 20. The big double attack by Allied bombers on the Japanese naval base at Sourabaya is reported by Tokio radio. Sweeping in .from the direction of the Indian Ocean, 50 carrier-borne bombers launched the first attack on Wednesday. Then on Thursday Liberators from the Pacific bombed Sourabaya. The Associated Press of America says the attack serves a military as well as a psychological purpose. Damage and destruction to the port facilities will further aggravate the swiftly-mounting Japanese maritime difficulties, while Dutch officials in New York believe the attack will demonstrate to the native population the growing weakness of the Japanese and the Dutch intention to return.