JAPAN HELPLESS?

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 July 1945, Page 5

JAPAN HELPLESS?

ALLIED • ATTACKS CONTINUED NO OPPOSITION ATTEMPT PEACE PROPOSALS REPORTED

GUAM, July 18. ( The heavy Allied naval bombard-; ment of targets near Tokio last night' and early this morning has been fol-' lowed by another mass attack by carrier-borne aircraft. The Tokio radio has admitted that hundreds of aircraft have been over the Tokio area to-day, attacking airfields and military installations in at least five districts. The air assault started about noon and was kept up for three hours. TT The battleship King George V and other units of the British Pacific Fleet co-operated with United States warships, including the 45,000-ton. battleship lowa, in shelling war pro-r duction areas within 60 miles of the; Japanese capital. It was the first tin} 6 : that British ships had shelled the Japanese mainland and the United States Fleet’s third bombardment in, four days. Witn each broadside nine, tons of explosives were hurled against; vital war production targetSj includ- ? ing copper plants and steel and en- ’ ( gineermg works. Hundreds qf carrier) planes covered the warships as they, ranged up and down the coast with- ■ out meeting any opposition. Accord- • ing to correrspondents some of our' ships penetrated to within six miles, of the snore. , _> u The attacks launched by British I and American carrier aircraft atj dawn yesterday were continued all; day against installations in the Tokio I area. Late yesterday afternoon powerful surface units of the combined forces, under cover of strong fiights of aircraft, moved towards tne| coastline of Honshu at where, last, night, they continued the heavy bombardment of coastal stallatiens. The attack was made under low clouds, which prevented air observations. The Guam corrrespondent of the Associated Press says the great battle -line stood off the coast m rain and mist, steadily hurling 27001 b 16-inch . shells into Hitachi's highly concentrated aircraft, electrical, and Diesel engine plants and copper smelters. Correspondents say the bombardment started about midnight and lasted two hours. The Japanese offered no opposition. They are apparently hoarding aircraft for the invasion they know cannot be far oft. Privateers sank six and damaged . 24 craft of various sizes m wide- , spread operations. They also attacked lighthouse and shipping installaticns. i

CHALLENGE UNACCEPTED.

NEW YORK, July 17. Plainly contemptuous of the enemy, Admiral Halsey permitted radio broadcasts from the battleship lowa during the bombardment of Japan, savs the “New York Times correspondent on Guam. It was another challenge to the Japanese war lords to send their air force and navy out to fight, but they did not do it. Instead, the Japanese declared in a radio broadcast that civilians in the bombardment areas must scurry to the hills. There was no suggestion that the enemy possessed the strength to prevent the frequent repetition of the combined air and surface attacks, lhe towns of Sukagawa and Takahagi, adjoining Hitachi, were included in the target area. The successful bombardments of Japan have resoundingly demonstrated the vulnerability of the enemy’s coastline. The bombardments of steel plants at Kamaishi and Muroran are believed to constitute the first large-scale use of naval gunfire in this war to reduce enemy industries. The bombardments did not come as a matter of course. On the contrary, there was considerable debate whether to risk expensive battleships against possible air, torpedo-boat, and shore battery attacks. The Japanese are slow to react, but when they do reaction is violent. So far, in the current operations, they are lying low, probably to conserve their strength against'a possible invasion. AIRCRAFT ACTIVITY RUGBY, July 18. For the fifth time in eight days, according to the Japanese, many hundreds of Allied carrier-based aircraft to-day'kept up the attacks in the fiokio area and the southern coast ol Honshu. The Tokio reports pu the force at some five hundred to fifteen hundred and says the attacks went on for three hours. (Rec. 2 p.m.) GUAM, July } B -, Admiral Ninntz announced that the Anglo-American Fleets continued the bombardment and carrier-plane attacks in the Tokio area to-day. Actverse weather prevented an accuiate reconnaissance of the damage.

JAP. LOSSES ESTIMATED. (Rec. 11>3 { v |'^ inG toN, July 18. Official figures indicate that the Anglo-American forces have killedl or taken prisoner nearly 1,500,000 Jap anese to clear the way lor what Admiral Nimitz galls the Pre-mvasion stage. ' It is estimated that 600,000 others are cut off or by-passed on the Pacific islands, besides the thousands who have perished in China. The “Army and Navy reports that Anglo-American operations have accounted for 1,141,500 Japanese, _ and the most recent estimate ol Japanesw naval losses adds 262,000 to that fig ure. The Japanese, nevertheless, are estimated still to have five to lOmillion men including the cream of thEmperor’s Army. However, the Japanese Air Force has been whittled down to probably 4000 planes and the Navy has virtually ceased to exist. THOUSANDS OF JAP CASUALTIES July IS. Tokio radio announced that airfields and military targets in the Tokio area were hit by 1500 carrier Pl Th?' radio broadcast another report that thousands of residents of Hokkaido were killed and wounded by shellings and bombings on Saturday and Sunday. ~ A Domei Agency dispatch described" the naval raids as a reconnaissance in force to test Japan s air power and to select likely landing points. It added: We must exnect further naval bombardments. Th homeland must be defended without fear, now that the Allies task foic-s can attack us at any chosen time rmd nlaco. The Domei Agency urged civilians not to succumb to fear like the neoole of Kaimaishi. smee they had not ’ previously experienced lulling shells. Many remained m shelters Jong after the enemy warships retired, being unable to shake off fear. A great majority of Tokio residents are now living in underground shelters, preferring to stay there rather than move elsewhere. . The newspaper" Yomiun Hoch:is military correspondent expressed the view that the naval raids did not presage an immediate. invasion, but he admitted the possibility of a surprise landing.

RUSSIA AS MEDIATOR. BERLIN, July 18. It is suggested that Mr. Stalin may present the Big Three conference at Potsdam with a Japanese offer of surrender. W. Fleisher, Far Eastern expert of the New York “Herald-Tribune,” said he had information that Russia might be acting as intermediary between the United States and Japan, and that Mr. Stalin might present a peace proposal from the Japanese Government. “This might explain why President Truman plans to hurry back to Washington when the Potsdam conference ends,” he said. “In Washington, State Department sources emphasised that the effort to define unconditional surrender for the Japanese sought a face-saving formula for a Japanese surrender without softening the Allied war aims,” says the New York “Herald-Tri-bune” correspondent in Washington. “An unnamed Congressman who conferred with Mr. Truman before his departure for Potsdam said that the President insisted that any surrender definition should not lessen the war responsibility of the Japanese nor allow Japan to retain or regain military strength for another war. Nevertheless, Mr. Truman expressed the hope that such a formula could be devised, which the Japanese would accept, thereby making invasion unnecessary and saving upwards of half a million Allied casualties.” The correspondent adds: “The Navy has been pressing the. White House to find a formula which might shorten the war without invasion. Far East experts inside and outside the State Department were agreed that the Emperor’s deposition should not be demanded, because the Emperor alone might be able to persuade the Japanese in China to accept unconditional surrender, and also because thcJapanese would restore the Imperial system as soon as the Allies’ backs were turned.” RUSSIAN ENTRY. (Recd. noon.) NEW YORK, July 18. The Tokio radio quoting the newspaper Asahi’s Zurich correspondent says there is reason to believe that Russia will not consent to American propositions, therefore the forecasts that Russia is entering the war against Japan are mistaken.

JAP. WAR MINISTER. (Rec. 11 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 18. Tokio radio announced that Lieu-tenant-General Tadaichi Wakamatsu, one of Japan’s outstanding strategists, has been appointed Vice-Minister of War, replacing Lieutenant-General Shibayama. JAPANESE~TRANSPORT NEW YORK, July 18. A Japanese War Ministry spokesman announced that the army has taken over control of all automobile production, also existing cars, horses and carts, bicycle trailers and even carrying poles. The spokesman declared that this was due to war conditions making private enterprise more difficult to operate and to overcome interference from business managements. JAPANESE - CLAIM NEW YORK, July 18. The Domei Agency declared that Japanese wiped out Allied forces which, it is claimed, landed a fortnight ago at Ternate Island, west of Halmahera. It added that eighteen Allied ships were sunk or damaged in the operation. R.A.F. CONTRIBUTION "RUGBY, July 18. A Guam message says: The man who led the air defence of Malta at the height of the siege, Air Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd, is now Commander of the British Air Force in the Pacific. He has been to Guam for talks with high American officers on the part the R.A.F. will play in the bombing of Japan. He told correspondents that Lancaster heavy bombers and later new Lincolns will be sent to the Pacific. MACARTHUR’S SUMMARY. (Rec. 1.5 C p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 18.

Australian troops pushing inland from the Seria Mira oilfields occupied Marudi, over 30 miles from the coast, states General MacArthur’s communique. Patrols in the Balikpapan sector recovered quantities of abandoned supplies and equipment. A naval bombardment of enemy installations near Balikpapan destroyed four barges and a number of gun emplacements. Heavy bombers harassing the coastal areas of Celebes cratered the Sidate runway, and burned several warehouses. Other air and light surface units destroyed numerous enemy watercraft in the western Halmaheras. Fighters and bombers attacked airfields, shipping, and industrial targets on. the northern coast to the southern tip of Kyushu, afired and destroyed two coastal freighters and several barges, Fighters attacked the Usa and Miyazaki aerodromes. Heavy bombers continue the destruction of enemy industries in Formosa, and hit ammunition storage facilities at Mako. and the Pescadores, bombed factory buildings in Tainan, and railway installations on the west coast. Night patrols on the South China coast wrecked five cargo vessels, and caused explosions in the Canton industrial area, -and damaged railways in Indo-China. CHINESE~ALLIANCES LONDON, July 18. The Chungking correspondent of the Associated Press states: The Chinese Peoples’ Political'Council has passed a resolution urging .that the Government initiate negotiations for a twenty years’ military alliance with Britain, Russia and France. The United States was not included in the resolution, on the ground that its traditional policy is not to entei' into such alliances. The Council also requested the Government tp name Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal. It advocated immediate ratification of the United Nations Charter. REVOLTS” PREPARING LONDON, July . 18. A correspondent of the Associated Press at Chungking stated: Chinese observers believe that the mutiny of Japanese puppet troops led to the Chinese capturing an Indo-China port, on Monday night. They believe this mutiny foreshadows widespread insurrections in Japanese occupied territory. Puppets who generally hate Japanese invaders are known to be awaiting an opportune moment for a revolt. Japanese are alive to the danger. Recently they disarmed a large number of puppets in vital Hangchow, Shanghai, and Nanking areas, which they fear may become Allied invasion objectives.

CAMPAIGN IN BURMA COLOMBO, July 18. A South-east Asia Command communique states: There is nothing to report from the lower Sittang River front. On the Toungoo-Mawchi- road Japanese fired on our troops at a point 17 miles cast of Toungoo. Reconnaissance in force along the road from Heho towards Taunggyt, 117 miles east of Meiktila, drew sustained fire from Japanese 75 m.m. calibre guns located east of Taunggyi. A report has been received that 26 Japanese were killed and many more died of injuries after jumping over a cliff during an attack on their positions 44 miles east of Yamethin, which is on the main Mandalay-Ran-goon road. For the second time in three days Liberators made a round flight of more than 2500 miles to bomb the warehouse area of Songkhla, in southern Siam yesterday, destroying many buildings, starting fires and hitting a beached ship. NEW GUINEA”FIGHTING _ SYDNEY, July 18. A Sydney “Sun” correspondent in New Guinea stated: The capture of ‘•The Blot” the final peak on the Wewak flank of the Prince Alexander Mountains, produced the toughest fighting since the capture of Wewak itself. In the past three months, the Australian unit involved has suffered more casualties than were sustained in two years of fighting in the Middle East.

News.of the fall of “The Blot” was signalled down ravines by a police boy on a native drum. A human conveyor belt was used to run an entirely defended camp on to the summit of the peak, which is 1,630 feet high, thirty minutes after the Sixth Tnvision assault troops had taken it. Men scaled up grades which, some said, were worse than those on the Owen Stanley Ranges.

BOUGAINVILLE DEVELOPMENTS

(B.N.Z.A.F. OFFICIAL NEWS SERVICE.)

BOUGAINVILLE, July 18

A total of 16,000 Japanese have been killed by the Allied forces on Bougainville since the first landing on November 1, 1943, by American Marines. This includes 8000 killed in the enemy’s unsuccessful counter-attack on the Allied perimeter in March and April last year, and more than 6000 since the Australians came to Bougainville last November. Uncounted thousands have died under Allied bombing in which the New Zealanders have played the greatest role or from wounds and disease. The latest official estimates give the number of Japanese remaining on the island as 13,700. They are concentrated mainly in the south within an area roughly 20 miles by 10 miles. When the Australians took over the Japanese held all of the island except the tiny Torokma perimeter and certain larger areas covered by protective patrols. To-day the enemy can claim to about one-sixth of the island’s total area. The Australians have regained control of 3,000 square miles and have freed 10,000 natives from Japanese influence. ' . With the Bougainville campaign moving to a climax the Australians, helped all the way by New Zealand Corsairs, have cleared the last of the Japanese from Choiseul _ Island, 30 miles south-east of Bougainville, sealed off a large force of Japanese naval troops in the north and penetrated to within shelling range of the Kara airstrip, which represents the first ol the enemy’s inner defences before Bum. This has been achieved in nine months of the bitterest jungle, .fighting backed by the ceaseless New Zealand air Constricted on the ground and hammered, from the air the. Japanese are drawing in outlying garrisons lor a final showdown in the Bum double fortress” where the main battle lor Bougainville will be fought. U.S.A. BATTLESHIP DAMAGED.

(Rec. 11 y^g HINGTON) July 18 The Navy announced that the o.d battleship ‘Nevada, a veteran ot Pearl ■Harbour. Normandy. South France and Iwo Jima, was hit by suicide planes and shells from a shore battery at Okinawa and considerably damaged. The ship suffered 78 casualties. but fought on. The Kamikaze struck at dawn on March 27. Seven marines manning a 20-millimetre battery shot off the wing of ft diving plane, then died at their stations maintaining fire until the plane struck the Nevada. In a duel with a shore battery on April 5. the Nevada was hit five timet. The Nevada fired 71 shells from one battery alone, after whichthe target area resembled a gravel quarry after a week’s blasting. AIRCRAFT CARRIER HIT. (Rec. 1.55 p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 18. One of America’s newest aircraftcarriers the Ticonderoga, suffered severe damage, and 327 casualties including 144 Killed, when two Japanese suicide planes struck her near Formosa on January 21, reports the Navy Department. Notwithstanding, the heavy damage, the crew took the Ticonderoga to Bremerton Navy yard, where she was repaired and strengthened and has since rejoined the fleet. The Ticonderoga had just returned from the Third Fleet’s daring sweep of the South China Sea when a Japanese plane came through, a cloudbank and crashed on the flight-deck, exploding between the gallery and hangar decks, which were packed with aircraft refuelling and rearming. The fire fed by the gasoline spread swiftly, but was being successfully fought when another kamikaze crashed into the ships’ superstructure, seriously wounding Commander Burch.. Captain now Commodore Kiefer, who suffered 65 separate wounds changed the course to avoid the wind fanning the Hames, and continued to direct the ship for 12 hours, refusing treatment until assured all the injured men had been attended. In a second suicide attack five enemy planes were shot down.