PACIFIC AERIAL WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 April 1943, Page 5

PACIFIC AERIAL WAR

JAP. BASESBOMBED . LITTLE OPPOSITION SYDNEY, April 1. To-day’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters is:— Dutch New Guinea: At Timika our medium units bombed and strafed the aerodrome, supply installations, and the nearby village of Keauka, causing extensive damage to buildings and roads. At Babo our heavy bombers effectively attacked the town and aerodrome, starting fires which were visible 60 miles off. One enemy fighter attempting interception was shot out of action. All our aircraft returned. New Guinea: Near Madang one of our heavy units bombed a newly-con-structed bridge across the Timper river, scoring a direct hit which left a 30-foot gap in the structure. One of our heavy units bombed the coastal road between Wewak and Madang. At Finschhafen subsequent reconnaissance revealled that as a result of our attacks the previous day fires were burning along the entire waterfront between Finschhafen and Heldsbach for eight hours. At Lae one of our heavy units bombed the aerodrome. At Salamaua our attack aeroplanes and long-range fighters, in a series of co-ordinated strikes, bombed the township and Kela village. The whole area was thoroughly combed from a low altitude with bombs and cannon and machine-gun fire. No enemy aircraft was encountered. •

BLOCKADE EFFECTS

SYDNEY. April 1

The Allied air forces are intensifying their blockade of the beleaguered Japanese garrisons at the bases along the north New Guinea coast. Following Tuesday’s rout of an enemy destroyer convoy ’attempting to deliver supplies to these garrisons, our aeroplanes on Wednesday made violent raids on Salamaua and a road connecting Wewak and Madang. This is the first occasion on which the existence of a new road, evidently constructed by the Japanese as part of their overland supply line, has been revealed. Wednesday’s raids were part of the Allied plan.to starve the enemy forces of supplies. The success of this plan is indicated by the way in which the Japanese have turned from one method to another in desperate attempts to maintain supplies. Merchantmen, submarines, and fast surface warships have all been driven off by our aircraft. The dumping of supplies at bases beyond effective Allied bomber range, and their subsequent porterage along overland trails, has not been successful. The latest heavy raid on Salamaua, reported by General MacArthur’s communique to-day, is officially .admitted to have been a "follow-up” of Tuesday’s attack on the destroyer convoy.’ As the convoy was closest to Finschhafen when it was forced to Hee. this base was hit first in . a destructive raid on Tuesday. On Wednesday our attacks were extended to Salamaua to guard against the remote possibility of stores having been put ashore there. Announcing the bombing of the new Wewak-Madang coastal road, to-dav’s communique reports a successful attack by a Liberator on a bridge over the Timber river, near Madang. A 30-foot section was blasted out'of the bridge, which is 150 feet long and 20 feet wide. The building of the new road with Wewak as its north-western terminal reaffirms the growing importance of this base, which is outside the executive range of Allied fighters on escort duty with our bombers.

AMERICAN BOMBING

RUGBY, April 1

A Washington Navy communique stated: “North Pacific, March 30: In the morning, army Lightnings attacked Japanese positions at Kiska. Early in the afternoon, army Liberators, escorted by Lightnings, attacked Japanese positions at Holtz Bay on Attu Island. All the United States planes (returned safely. Later in the afternoon, Liberators, escorted by Lightnings, attacked the main Japaixese camp in the Kiska area. One United States bomber was shot down by antiaircraft fire. South Pacific: On Tuesday afternoon. a force of Dauntless bombers escorted by Wildcats, attacked Japanese installations at Munda. Hits were scored and fires started. The United States planes returned safely.

ALLIES’ OFFENSIVE

RUGBY. April 1

Mr. Stimson said at Washington, to-day, that the American Army and Navy were preparing detailed plans for forthcoming operations against Japan. These plans were discussed in detail at the recent meeting of the Pacific military leaders, and now the joint Chiefs of Staff were preparing specific orders. Mr. Stimson added that there is evidence the Japanese have been augmenting their air power in Burma, China, and the South-west Pacific.

NEWS CENSORSHIP.

CORRESPONDENT’S CRITICISM

CHRISTCHURCH. April 1

■•All responsible correspondents recognise the need for security and there are many war correspondents with operational experience in a sufficient number of battle zones to know more about the art of security than some censors know about its practice,” said a British war correspondent of the London “News Chronicle.” Mr. Patrick Maitland, in an interview in Christchurch. "I have been under censors in nine other parts of the world and all of them recognise the principle that a correspondent’s message should not be censored before the correspondent, has had an opportunity to discuss deletions. In none of these zones was it the practice to supplement mes-■ sages.” he said, adding that this policy applied to both telegrams for publication and service messages to newspaper offices. “Blind censorship, under which a correspondent does not know how his message is altered, or if it is transmitted, is an obstacle to the functions of a war correspondent, as is recognised by the United States Navy in its official directions to keep the public intelligently informed.” he added. ~ , Mr. Maitland said that correspondents were deeply grateful to Mr. Noei Monks of the London “Daily Mail,” for his exposure, a few months ago, of Australian and American censorshin in the South-west Pacific. Some correspondents had left the Southwest Pacific area, and several 'more were preparing to do so. He said that he himself had remained a little longer than he judged worth while for his newspaper, in the hope that there might soon be an improvement in the transmission. Difficulties in the area were considerable. Mr. Maitland said that in the past six months he had travelled 40,000 miles, covering the war in the South-west Pacific, but because of delays in transmission and various sorts of obstruction, his newspaper had considered it worth while to publish only about six columns of material that had reached the home office. Some of it arrived five weeks old.