NEARLY NEUTRALIZED

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 21, 19 October 1944, Page 5

NEARLY NEUTRALIZED

Formosa Air Base

NEW YORK, October 17. Major-General Curtis Lemay, chief of the Twentieth Bomber Command, who directed the Formosa raids, told correspondents at a secret Super-Fortress base in western China, that the first two attacks on Okayama and Heito had obliterated Japan’s two main aerial staging repair bases on Formosa. Only a medium force was required to knock out the third and last, of the centres of the enemy’s air power at Einansho. General Lemay added that henceforth Formosa would no longer be a target for the Twentieth Air Force'. Striking against Formosa for the third time, the Super-Fortresses attacked Einansho today. This is an important Japanese airfield supply depot ' 10 miles south-east of Tainan and Okayama, says a communique of the Twentieth Bomber Command. Some fighter resistance was encountered, but the anti-aircraft fire was meagre and no planes were lost. Photographic reconnaissance reveals the excellent results of yesterday’s mission. Of 34 buildings forming the Okayama target, all except two were destroyed. Most of the subsidiary buildings werehit. American carrier-based, aircraft are continuing to attack targets on Luzon Island, states a Pacific fleet communique.