JAP DEFENCE BEATEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1944, Page 5

JAP DEFENCE BEATEN

LATEST RAID ON RABAUL

SYDNEY, January 20. When making the devastating strike at Rafoaul, New Britain, during which three enemy cargo ships exploded and §ank, two were left burning and probably sank, and three others were seriously damaged, the bombers sighted the target at 1 p.m. Eight vessels were anchored on the west side of ] Simpson Harbour and four more inj Keravia Bay, where (three destroyers were also circling. Diving through intense anti-aircraft fire from the perimeter of the harbour, the destroyers, and armed barges at the harbour entrance, the bombers scored direct hits with 1000 and 20001b bombs. Corsair, Hellcat, and Lightning fighters engaged the enemy interceptors so well that nearly all the bombers escaped unscathed. •On Bougainville Island strong American patrols crossed the Torokina River at the northern end of Empress Augusta Bay on Sunday and Monday, and occupied positions near the lagbons on the east of the rivermouth. Japanese planes raided the area on Sunday night, but caused little damage and few casualties. Australian troops in New Guinea are consolidating their hold on the Sio area, on the Huon, Peninsula. Air activity was limited to patrolling. Thunderbolts shot down two Japanese fighters over Wewak, and a Liberator damaged an enemy cargo ship 40 miles north-west of the Japanese base. One Lightning fighter was lost when strafing an enemy machine-gun nest at Madang.