BITTER FIGHT RAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 95, 23 April 1945, Page 6

BITTER FIGHT RAGES

SMALL GAINS REPORTED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 9 a.m. WASHINGTON, April 21. Admiral Nimitz's communique today says that the 24th Corps pressed its attack in the southern sector of Okinawa yesterday and today, making small gains through heavily-de-fended areas. High ground on the approaches to Hill 178 changed hands several times today in bitter fighting. Small gains were made in other segments of the front.

Naval guns, army,, and marine artillery continued to bombard enemy emplacements with heavy fire. . Carrier planes attacked troop concentrations in the southern part of the island.

bMabrines reduced the remaining pockets of resistance on Motobu Peninsula yesterday afternoon, and now control the entire area. Troops of. the 10th Army placed the United States flag on the summit of Eigusugu peak, on Ie Shima, this morning, after overcoming bitter resistance from caves, pill-boxes, and other strong-points. U.S. forces are mopping up on the island, which is now in American possession. A few enemy aircraft attacked Yontan and* Katena airfield on the night of April 20-21, causing minor damage. CARRIER PLANE RAIDS. American carrier planes j^tacked j installations in the Sakishima Islands on April 19 and tonight, shooting down one plane and strafing several others on the ground. bHellcats and Corsairs bombed the Palaus tonight. Admiral Nimitz's communique does not specify the distance which the i Americans gained today, but the last (reports indicated that the line now ! runs jaggedly across southern Okinawa from a point about 800 yards north of the Machinato air strip' to a point 200 yards north of Yonabaru airfield.

The United Press correspondent on Guam reports that the Japanese fortifications on south Okinawa are superior to those on Iwo Jima. Many can be reduced only by hand-to-hand actions. Hill 178 guards the approaches to Yonabara arifield.