BLOW TO ENEMY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1945, Page 5

BLOW TO ENEMY

Rec. 11 a.m. KUGHBY, February 5§ In four operations, two in the past two weeks, British naval aircraft of the Eastern Fleet have completed a series of attacks whicH will go far to stop the supply of refined oil products from Sumatra to Japan. In the past two weeks the powerful East Indies force, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian, and including* the aircraft-carriers Illustrious, Victorious, Indomitable, and Indefatigable, has struck the most damaging- blow yet at the Japanese oil supplies, which are of major importance to their war effort in thij theatre. The attacks were made by carrier-borne aircraft on oi refineries on Palembang-, southern Sumatra.

Attacks against the Paid joe refinery were carried out on January 24. The importance of the installations to the Japanese was shown by the heavy scale of the defence. In this area are many airfields with defending fighters, an inner and an outer ring of A.A. batteries, and an extensive balloon barrage. Avengers, with a strong fighter escort, including Fireflies, bombing from above and divebombing through the balloon barrage, scored direct hits on the oil refineries, and hit or damaged many other buildings.

This attack involved a long flight over enemy-occupied territory. The striking force was intercepted by Japanese fighters some miles short of the target. In the ensuing fighting' 13 twin-engined and single-engined fighters were shot down, and six were probably destroyed, and 34 aircraft were destroyed and some 25 damaged on the airfields surrounding the target. The second attack, against the Soengi Gerong refinery, was made 'on January 29. The bombing conditions were good, and the attack was pressed hard home through the balloon barrage and heavy flak. Photographs show that many of the principal installations received direct hits, and were afterwards burnt by oil fires from adjacent oil reservoirs. During the attack the aircraft, flying at 3000 feet, were shaken by a particularly violent explosion. Fighter opposition

MALAY ISTHMUS

LONG BOMBING MISSION

Rec. 11 a.m. RUGBY, February Si To attack Chumporn, the Japanese! supply and transhipment base on the east coast of the Kra Isthmus, on; Saturday, R.A.F. Liberators and United States Liberators of the Eastern Air Command flew their longest

was on a reduced scale, as the enemy had been unable to replace the losses inflicted on the previous visit. Eight enemy aircraft were found and shot down over the target area, and there were three probables. Four were destroyed on the ground.

Attacks by enemy aircraft directed against the fleet were driven off by our fighters, with the exception of one raid, in which seven aircraft got through. Six were shot down in flames by our Seafires and Hellcats. The fate of the seventh is doubtful. Among the British ships in company with the aircraft carriers were the King George V, the Argonaut, Black Prince, Euryalus, Grenville, Kempenfelt, and Ursa. Our total losses in these two operations, involving one of the largest forces yet used by the East Indies Fleet, were 15 aircraft. None of our ships sustained damage by enemy action, and our casualties were exceedingly light.

bombing mission. The crews were ii£ the air for fifteen hours, and the distance covered, mostly over the Indian Ocean, was over 2300 miles. In spite of the distance all the squadrons, both, American and British, bombed in formation, and when they left the Chumporn railway station and tran^ shipment sheds were a mass of flames*' An important bridge on the BangkokSingapore raiivay had received a direct hit, the railway track had beeni torn up in many places, and large numbers of railway trucks and wagons: destroyed. The defences offered noopposition, and all the aircraft returned safely. The importance of Chumporn in the Japanese supply: scheme lies in its geographical posi^ tion at the narrowest point of the Malay Peninsula, more than severe hundred miles north of Singapore.-^ 8.0. W. /

In their first attack' on PangkalanBrandan, at Medan, on December 20, the naval aircraft found the cloud conditions over the target unsuitable and had to confine the attack to the harbour and quays at Belawandali. Low clouds and rain squalls made the observation of results difficult, but jetties, warehouses, and railway yards were hit by low altitude bombing, and petrol tanks and an oil tank were set i on fire by fighters. On the same day j airfield installations and harbour craft in north Sumatra were damaged by fighter attack. On January 4, the East Indies Fleet launched a second attack on the refinery at Pangkalan-Bran-dan. On this occasion the weather was favourable and the defences were surprised. Both bombs and rockets were employed, and at an early stage, before • smoke obscured the results, it could be seen that already all the buildings vital to the refinery except one were, hit and burning. As a result of this series of carefully planned and co-ordinated operations serious damage and destruction has been done to all oil refineries in Sumatra. GRAVE MATTER FOR ENEMY. How grave a matter this will prove for the Japanese may be judged from the fact that hitherto some threequarters of all the aviation spirit used by them has been produced at these refineries. It is believed that there is a surplus refinery capacity within Japan itself, but the possession of this will not solve her problems, as she now lacks tankers. To transport crude oil to Japan, refine it there, and then transport the petrol to the battle areas would require double the tanker tonnage needed to take the petrol direct from Sumatra to the battle areas.

Thanks to the persistent efforts of Allied submarines and carrier-borne aircraft, Japan's tanker tonnage is unequal to such a task. Thus carefully co-ordinated naval action, involving the employment of all arms of the service, air, and submarine, is bringing about in the Far East a state of affairs similar to that occasioned in the west by the efforts of R.A.F. Bomber Command and the United States Strategical Air Force.

An interesting feature of the Far East operations lies in its demonstration of the strategical mobility conferred on aircraft operated from carriers. Since the Sumatra oil refineries are outside the range of Allied shorebased bombers, they could not have been attacked without the employment of aircraft-carriers. Without these attacks the work of the Allied submarines in intercepting tankers would not have accomplished such complete success. This success will go a long way to help the battle now raging round the Philippines and Formosa between Japanese shore-based aircraft and Allied naval aircraft —

Palembang is an inland town about 200 miles north of the southern extremity of Sumatra. Medan is on the coast, 300 miles south-east of the northern end oi the islands