JAPANESE FEARS

Evening Star, Issue 25169, 8 May 1944, Page 3

JAPANESE FEARS

AIR WAR MOVING WEST SUMATRA IN LINE OF ATTACK (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent)] SYDNEY, May ',. Japanese fears of Allied two-way air. blows at Sumatra and Dutch New Guinea have been expressed by Tokio radio. The ai&ouncer said that Palembaug, the capital of Sumatra, was in danger from Australian-based bombers, as well as from forces from Ceylon and Calcutta. The Allies might attack Palembang 'with thousands of planes. Palembang, a seaport on the Mii-ii River, iu Southern Sumatra, is about; 780 miles south-east of Sabang, which was raided by planes from the Allied ludian Ocean Fleet on April 20. This Tokio announcement coincides with reports by General MacArthur's week-end communiques of more raids on western Dutch New Guinea. Striking from newly-won bases in Dutch New Guinea, United States Fifth Air Force ,bombers are relentlessly pushing the air war further west. Reconnaissance shows that the Japanese are endeavouring to meet this danger by increasing their air strength at bases in Western Dutch New Guinea and on outlying islands. The present -main Allied forward base at Hollandia is 1 200 miles east of the Celebes, in the Dutch East Indies, and 1,250 miles south-east of Mindanao, in the Philippines. . ' In British New Guinea, the increasing air pressure on Wewak, the mam concentration base for the trapped Japanese Eighteenth Army, is giving the enemy garrison no respite. Raiders have unloaded nearly 300 tons of explosives and poured many thousands of rounds of ammunition into airfields and installations in the past three days. Wewak, which is 350 miles south-east of Hollandia, has been steadily pounded by Allied formations for the' past two months. SHOW-DOWN COMING. Bi" things are about to happen in the Pacific. s*ys the Washington correspondent of the ' World : Telegram. Preparations are being quietly made while attention is focussed on the invasion of Europe, and the public doe* not realise the amount of equipment at present ready for the Central Pacific or the force we are able to bring into p'ay. The time table is months ahead of schedule, and the forthcoming news may mean a show-down by a big blowdesigned to bring out the Japanese fleet now or never. TRUK BOMBED AGAIN. United States army bombers dumped 87 tons of bombs on Ponape on Thursday states a Navy Department communique'. Liberators attacked Iruk mi Friday and encountered only ngno anti-aircraft fire. Navy Venturas bombed Paramushiro on Wednesday nteht, causing explosions and large fires Venturas alav bombed barracks and runways ou Nauru Island.