DESTRUCTION IN JAPAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 July 1945, Page 5

DESTRUCTION IN JAPAN

BOMBARDMENT’S TOLL ’PLANES, SHIPS AND WORKS BAD WEATHER - CONTINUES

GUAM, July 19 A communique from Admiral ; Nimitz’s headquarters says:— “The British and American air and surface attacks against military targets and shipping in and around , Honshu, which began on Tuesday, were continued on Wednesday under adverse 'weather conditions. Poor ( visibility limited the operations of , our carrier aircraft on both days and prevented reconnaissance planes from obtaining complete information of the results. The American carrier aircraft on Tuesday concentrated mainly , against installations in the Tokio ■ area, while the British forces struck at targets to the northward. !' “The American aircraft burned ; four seaplanes on the water and damaged five, sank three small craft, and damaged 10 others, destroyed two hangars, two locomotives, an oil. dump, and a dock, and damaged fac-j tory buildings, radio stations, light-1 houses, warehouses, a train, three' locomotives, and a hangar. The Brit-I ish aircraft destroyed 13 planes on ' the ground at Niigata, . Matsushima, : and Masuda, and a hangar, destroyed . three locomotives, and damaged a ■ railway station, barracks, and han- > gars. , A . I “On Wednesday an American air-1; craft launched a heavy attack under! extremely difficult weather conditions! against combatant shipping off Koko-,' suka through accurate and intense - flak. No reports of the damage are ' ve; available. TIT , _ 1 ‘ “About li o’clock on Wednesday night light United States forces under. ■ the command of Rear-Admiral Carl! Holden moved into the waters oft j Cape Nojimazaki, south of Tokio, and •. bombarded coastal installations. The,' action continued until early this j morning. A large explosion was seen, , but complete reports are not yet , available. The ships bombarding the ■ coastline include the cruisers Topeka, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and Dayton,,, and the destroyers Ault and John, Week 1 “Marine aircraft struck at Tokuno ; and Okinoerabu Islands, in the Amamis, also the Palaus and Yap. Army Mitchells struck at installations and damaged two small cargo ships oft Paramushiro, in the Kuriles. ’ General MacArthur has-announced ;, that airmen from the European | theatre of war are now operating!, against the Japanese. They made; their first operations against Kyushu: from bases in Okinawa on Monday, i hying heavy bombers. The Tokio radio claims that no attacks have been made on the Tokio | area since early this morning, but it, admits that British and American!' warships are still off Honshu. FOUR MORE CITIES BOMBED i

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) GUAM, July 19. More than 600 Superfortresses, the largest number sent against Japan, carrying 4000 tons of bombs, attacked Choshi, Fukui, Okazaki and Hitachi, reports the Associated Press. Choshi is the most important fishing harbour and the primary source of protein lor Tokio and Yokohama. Fukui has many electrical machine tool plants, and is one of the most important industrial cities on the west side ol Honshu. Okazaki holds the highly: inflammable industrial overflow ol the city from nearby Magoya, ana contains many shadow factories lor; aircraft parts. Hitachi was recently, shelled by Anglo-American warships. The Tokio radio, quoting the Aircraft Ordnance Director, LieutenantGeneral Saburo Endo, said that plane production had made remarkable progress despite the raids, and soon would be numerically equivalent to that of the Allies. . . The radio said that Vice-Admiral Sukamaki bemoaned the aircraft bottleneck. A , . The Dome! News Agency reported that the Japanese Society lor bombing America held an enthusiastic i ally yesterday. The hall was packed to capacity. SEA AND AIR MASTERY NEW YORK, July W. The correspondent of. the “New York Times” with the United States Fl “ Ourr a fieet has been prowling the seas off Japan for more than nine days without retaliation from the enemy Four times it .has steamed close enough to the shore for targets to be shelled accurately. “The Japanese leaders answer was to advise the people to crawl into covered shelters. They were warned that horizontal dugouts facing seaward were dangerous, and that the best protection was afforded by the octopus tvoe used in bombing raids. “This series of attacks has unquestionably caused great damage to vital Japanese military and industrial in stallations and is undoubtably causing the Japanese Government considerable loss of face with the people, but the enemy is either saving planes to repel an invasion he thinks may not be far off, or he may be so short of petrol that he cannot put a laige force in the air. Whatever the reason, we have demonstrated our complete mastery of sea and air over Japan. JAP. CAUTION EXPLAINED. NEW YORK, July 18. The Tokio radio claims that the British and American attacks on the Tokio area were a trick to revive the lagging American war effort. “It is insane to think one can effect a complete air and sea blockade, 01 our resources by means of a sporadic raid and bombardment, said the radio. “What the Allies are getting from the present efforts is so trifling that they could easily have left it all to Superfortresses. It is impossible appreciably to damage Japanese airfields because all are equipped with certain effective facilities to avert air raid damage. Japan put up no aerial opposition because we are following a wait and see policy and found the attack not worth meeting. What the enemy war leaders should realise is that they are in a war and not a game of chess, that their miscalculations and oversights will end, not in the loss of men made of ivory and wood, but in deaths of men of flesh and blood. They should know Japan is fully determined to fight on until she W Th<f h great majority of Tokio residents are stated to be now living in underground shelters, piefeirm. to stay'there rather than move elsewhere. OPERATIONS IN BORNEO COLOMBO, July 19. It is reported from Burma that the Tnnanese are abandoning their ®gehead over the Sittang River, but are still resisting Allied attempts to cut their escape route. A South-east Asia Command communique says: “On the lower Sittang River, Gurkha troops who occupied the Laya railway station were shelled by the Japanese. Laya is 26 miles north-east of Pegu on the line from Pegu to Martaban. Our troops have established several patrol bases in the area. „ ~ “Round Myitkyo, 29 miles north-north-east of Pegu, the Japanese have reacted vigorously to attempts to nrobe their strongpoints in this sector. The enemy has not contested our occupation of certain villages, indicat-

ing a tendency to conserve his forces and play for time. • Although operating under difficulties, the British relief work in the liberated areas in Burma is going ahead smoothly and all obstacles are being swiftly overcome. The distribution of supplies and the provision of relief to the people in the liberated areas presented difficult problems, and these were accentuated by the rapid advance of the 14th Army liberating great areas. The job was tackled grimly, and figures released show that it has been entirely successful. In one area alone 353,0001 b. of rice were distributed to starving people. In Arakan, the number of destitute people in need of relief at the time of liberation was 43,000. This figure is now down to 600. borneoTadvance July 9. . “The Australians measure their advances in yards as they continue to meet stubborn Japanese resistance in the push north-eastward from Bahk 7 papan,” says the Manila correspondent of the Associated Press. ‘ Stiffening resistance has also apparently stalled the Australian .column on the outskirts of the Sambodia oilfields. “The Australians put the Sepinggang airfield into use a fortnight alter its capture. The 4620-foot runway is capable of expansion to 12,000 feet, and it will provide a base for Dutcn piloted Mitchells, as well as other Allied bombers and fighters.” CHINESE SOLDIERS CHUNGKING, July 19. In an interview with the correspondent of “Yank,” Chiang Kai-shek expressed the opinion that an American land offensive was unnecessary. The Chinese Army, if adequately and properly supplied, accompanied by strong American support, could defeat the Japanese on the Continent. The correspondent asked Chiang Kai-shek if it was true that he said one Chinese soldier equalled three Americans . Chiang replied that that was an erroneous impression. The point he made was that one United States soldier costs 10 dollars compared with one dollar per Chinese. Moreover, the Chinese soldier was more suitable for Asiatic climatic conditions.

MOUNTBATTEN & MACARTHUR

(Rec 1 p.m.) MANILA, July 19. 1 Lord Mountbatten held a threeday conference with General MacArthur to arrange complete coordination between the respective Commands, reports the Associateu Pi ess correspondent. Lord Mount batten and his staff, also conferred with Generals Kincaid, Kelly, Wh-te head and Eichelberger. Lord Mountbatten arrived at Manila on July 27, and is returning to India to-day. WORST MONSOON. "RUGBY, July 19. The Japanese are still withdrawing in their Sittang bridgehead, northwards towards Myitkyo states a Rangoon correspondent. The Ghurkhas made two unsuccessful attempts,, with air aid strike, to capture a village south-east of Myitkyo. July 11 wdl long be remembered by our troops in South Burma. It provided the worst deluge of this monsoon. It rained haia for 18 hours. In none of three monsoons we have known have such abnormal conditions been e^P.e^ I just returned from a tour of the w ai district where the whole countryside looks as if it has been overwhelmed by the bursting of a giant dam. During a comprehensive visit to troops in Burma Sn C. J. btuai i Kin° the Prime Minister s personal representative in this theatre foi amenity and welfare matters, answered a wide variety of questions asked by officials. officers and other ranks writes an observer with South-east Asia Command. Entertainment and leave facilities and the Burma Stai figured in the list. - N.Z. CRASH IN JUNGLE. SYDNEY, July 19. When a New Zealand Corsair bomber crashed in the dense Bougainville jungle’ Ro y a l 4 A Vstrahan An Force pilots co-operated with Australian and New Zealand medica units in a long and hazardous seal ch for the lost aircraft. The New Zealand pilot was eventually found dead in the cockpit. . , • The Air Department said tnat immediately the crash was repotted Australian and New Zealand ambulance parties proceeded in the general direction of the crash. At the same time two R.A.A.F. Wirriways took off to search for the crashed Corsair. One Wirraway sigh-tea the plane in dense jungle and directed an Australian infantry patrol to the spot. The patrol had to go through mine-infested country. Meanwhile an Australian . ambulance, after penetrating far into toe jungle, became bogged, but the orderlies pressed on through .more mined territory to make contact with the New Zealand search party, they then decided to split forces. Tne Australian party blazed a path through unexplored country and eventually reached the coast. The New Zealanders became lost in the jungle and were forced to spend the night without food or drink. WALL STREET AND PEACE. NEW YORK, July 18. Persistent reports of Japanese peace feelers have plunged the New York stock market to the lowest level for three months. A wave of speculation, amounting almost to hysteria, reached the dramatic proportions which preceded the end of the European war. A State Department spokesman in Washington denied reports that Mr. 1 Stalin had taken a Japanese peace | offer to Potsdam. In spite of this, selling orders poured into the Stock Exchange. A total of 1.450,000 shares changed hands to-day, compareci with 1,560,000 yesterday and 790,000 on Monday.