MAJOR TASKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 143, 14 December 1942, Page 5

MAJOR TASKS

FINISHED IN SOLOMONS

MOPPING-UP REMAINS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) NEW YORK, December 12. The major objectives in the battle of' Guadalcanal and the Solomons have been accomplished, according to Major-General Vandegrift, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Solomons. The Japanese threat to Australia's and New Zealand's supply lines has been smashed.

More than 7000 Japanese had been killed in land actions alone on Guadalcanal, Major-General Vandegrift said. Remnants of the enemy were still being mopped up. The Japanese had lost ten men in ground actions for. every one lost by the Americans. General Vandegrift, issued a warning that the Japanese might, take'ad-■! vantage of inclement weather to land reinforcements on Guadalcanal. TASK OF EXTERMINATION. "But," he added, "all that remains of the present task is to exterminate the Japanese still on the island." After a month's absence, a bearded and footsore detachment of marines who had planned ar 48-hour raid against the Japanese have just returned, with hair-raising tales of their exploits in the jungle. They killed more than 300 enemy troops and destroyed three artillery emplacements. The raiders were commanded by Lieut-Colonel Evans Carlson, who was the leader of the Makin Island raid on August 17. . The United States Navy Department reports: "On December 9, a force of 11 Flying Fortresses and eight fighters attacked enemy shipping in Faisi harbour in the northern Solomons. Three bomb hits were scored on a tanker and two were observed to straddle a second tanker. The fighters shot down five intercepting Zeros, and. the Fortresses destroyed another Japanese fighter. All the American planes returned undamaged. ;

MUNDA FIELD BOMBED. ; "Fortresses bombed a Japanese .'flying field at Munda, in New Georgia. "Ground activity on Guadalcanal was limited to patrol contacts with small enemy groups. A Japanese artillery position containing mortars and machine-guns was silenced." A naval spokesman said that the flying field at Munda was 150 miles from the American positions on Guadalcanal. Maintenance of the new installation at Munda would enable the Japanese to concentrate considerable fighter forces for attacks on Guadalcanal. This they had been able to do in recent weeks.