WHAT HE SAW

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 121, 24 May 1945, Page 8

WHAT HE SAW

SUICIDE ATTACK

DEATH FROM THE SKIES

The following is a psrsonal story in the "Sydney Sun" from Denis Warner, its correspondent with the British Flest in tne Pacific, wiien the ship he was on was subject to a suicide attack by a Japanese plane oft' the • Sakasnima Islands

"About 11 o'clock on May 5 Graham Stanciford, of the -Daily Mail,' and 1 climbed ladders to the observation point of our ship. It was a glorious morning, sunny, and pleasantly cooi. with just a few clouds. We could see our top fighter cover trailing high above us.- About 11.30 a.m. we got an alarm that several groups of enemy planes were attempting to penetrate our fighter screen. "We joined the ship's photographer, Lieut. Whitehouse, of Birmingham, who complained bitterly that there was nothing to photograph. At that moment we neard the scream of a fighter engine and turned to see a Tojo singleengined Jap fighter flying at a tremendous speed towards us. He was iust over the stern when we sighted him, 50 or 60 feet from us. White puffs of smoke were coming from his guns and bullets hissed along our decks and splashed in the sea.

"Our 'ack-ack' guns, big stuff, and pom-poms, Bofors and smaller weapons took up the challenge. I've never seen such flying. Tojo climbed vertically for maybe 700 feet clean through and away from the ack-ack. As he gained height the pilot banked sharply to the right, and I lost sight of the plane behind a smoke stack. "But our guns continued firkg. Stand ford and Wnitehouse were hair-crouch-ing behind our quarter-inch, armour plating. I craned my neck to catch another glimpse of the plane. I saw him and "screamed to the others to get down. With his right wing pointing down at an angle of about 45 degrees, the Jap was making his second attack. It looked as if he were going to hit exactly where we were. "I noticed the brown colour of the fuselage and the red circle on his right wing before I hit the deck beside Standford and Whitenouse. It was just in time. Beneath us, not more than 30 feet from where we were lying, the plane hit the deck with an appalling explosion. I just don't know wMat happened then. The blast seemed to lift me off the deck and throw me back again with awful force, but beyond that I can't say. I was too dazed to realise anything except that I was alive. I staggered inside with Standford and Whitehouse. SPLASH ONLY WAS LEFT. "Standford had a lot of blood streaming down his leg, but vaguely I could see he was not badly hurt. Whitehouse, except for shock, which we all felt, was okay, too. I just had a small burn on the palm of one hand. "Outside, bullets and shells were going off, and where we were was filthy with smoke. I went back outside, where I was joined by Wnitehouse. Standford went below to get his leg dressed. "I could just hear an officer on deck in an Oxford accent shouting: "Everybody muster, now muster." He didn t need to repeat his order. Men were rushing to the assistance of our wounded and quickly getting things under control. I realised then I was almost completely deaf. With all the activity below, I could only just hear the shouted commands. That " shook me, but I know now that nothing is wrong except the hand, and, although my ears were aching like hell, they'll be okay in a couple of days. "But that's not the story. There was absolutely nothing recognisable of the Jap plane, not even a nut or bolt. Much of the superstructure was holed. The armour plating where we were standing had been twisted and buckled. Unshatterable glass had shattered all | ovex us. There were shrapnel holes to left, right, above, and below. "It seemed to me then that a lot oi damage must have been done, but now. only two hours later, although there are plenty of signs of the smash, the ship is continuing as normal. Actual damage is slight, and casualties m , killed and wounded are almost un- I believably small. For such a splendid attack, so well placed, so finely executed, this. Kamikaze hasn t achieved much. "This pilot was no tyro. He was lone oi tt\e best I've seen, but his 'bodysmashing crash,' to quote Tokio radio, hasn't even blown up this ship. "There are a lot more things I d like to write, but just don't feel much like it at the minute. I'd like to write what I thought when I walked along the deck and saw the White Ensign still flying serenely in the breeze and what happened when fighters got on the tails of two more Kamikaze fanatics. But those things will have to wait. I have another story to write and I must get it down before evening. "Anyway, I know this is bad stuff. The real story is not what I felt and what happened to me, but the way men saw their friends die and carried on without a word, and the way they handled themselves in the few dreadful moments, and so quickly overcame the worst these filthy Japanese could do."