Epic Story of American Bombing

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 137, 12 June 1942, Page 4

Epic Story of American Bombing

TWO FLEETS BLASTED

; ■.;,'■ (By Telegraph—Press A.~>m;ci;iUihi—Cop^nglil ) (Rec:ia.Boa.in.) HONOLULU, June 11. \ Part of the epic story of the.Battle of Midway Island was told by American army pilots who collaborated with navy flyers ml smashing Admiral Yaijiamoto^s fleet and saving Hawaii from invasion: \ It is a story of courage and of the fighting i efficiency of land-based planes against two foVmid- ' able.•invasion fleets, one consisting principally;.of transports, ".the "other iof a strong battle formation. It is also a story' of the effectiveness of highaltitude bombing. ' The principal action occurred-on June 3 and 4 with substantial numbers of American planes .waiting in .the air for the enemy when he first appeared far west.of Jflttdway Island on the afternoon of June 3.* . , , ..... , . , . The first contact was. made with the ..enemy by army Fortresses flying at a medium altitude. Their'bqnibs hit- and damaged one cruiser or battleship, which was left in flames. also one transport aiid one destroyer. ... . . J.. Then the following mottling army flyers took off anticipating the arrival of Japanese planes from the second enemy fleet, which was much closer than the force bombed on the previous afternoon, to attack Midway.

Marine Corps flyers also hopped off and were waiting in the air when the.Japanese arrived within 20 minutes. ■■• l

The Marine .Corps dive-bombers swooped ori the enemy, adding further desruction to that suffered by ' the enemy navy. Dive-bombers and ' torpedo ;planes also participated' in ', the attack, but the details of their exploits are not yet revealed, i

Meanwhile the Japanese attacked Midway Island,- first striking from a high level with demolition bombs. This attack lasted for 38 minutes and was directed at two objectives.

Japanese dive-bombers then slipped from the. sun and attacked the ground installations. These were followed by fighters, which carried out strafing. It is estimated that at least 180 enemy planes participated.

Marine Corps fighters engaged the enemy while the ground defenders used every tiling from anti-aircraft to small arms. The Japanese did not bomb the runways, apparently expecting to use them if occupation of the island was effected.

Shortly after this attack, American planes returned to loacl more fuel and bombs. This was a critical period for the defenders, but the enemy did not return. They were (oo busy protecting themselves. The bombers took off again in the afternoon, made another contact with the enemy, fleet, and succeeded in damaging other large vessels.

Colonel Walter Sweeney, leader, of the Flying Fortresses, described tie attacks on the two days, and said the Japanese anti-aircraft fire was exceptionally accurate, but that none of the bombers was shot down, whereas the bombers downed three or four Zeros. Colonel Sweeney said the Zeros, evidently respecting the fire-power of the Fortresses, seldom came in close.

"When we first made contact with the enemy there were over 20 ships lined up in columns," he said. "When the Japanese sighted us they immediately deployed, trying frantically to avoid attack.

"We picked the biggest ships and laid' our bombs in patterns and observed direct hits on one cruiser, one transport, and possibly on a second cruiser and also one battleship. Frankly we did hot remain long as the enemy anti-aircraft fire was too hot.

"Next morning, we attacked a larger force' which was closer .to Midway. The enemy's great battle line had destroyers, outside, then cruisers, battleships, and carrier's.

"We picked out the biggest carrier. Our bomb pattern blanketed this carrier. We had at least one direct hit on the port bow and saw flames and smoke follow the explosion, then returned to our base, loaded more bombs, and found the enemy again at 4 p.m. *

"We saw one carrier and one capital ship, burning and neither making headway.. There were no undamaged carriers visible, so we bombed a heavy cruiser, struck it with direct hits amidships, and then left the scene, other American planes carrying on."