FIRE-BOMB HAVOC

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20744, 20 April 1942, Page 3

FIRE-BOMB HAVOC

CITIES JAPANESE WARNED MORE ATTACKS LIKELY (11.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, April 19. The Tokio radio quoted an Imperial Headquarters announcement that hostile planes bombed Tokio, Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe. It added that the planes approached from several directions and reached Tokio and Yokohama at 1.30 p.m., two enemy , planes raided Nagoya, 170 miles from Tokio, at 3.30 p.m., while a single plane dropped incendiary bombs on Kobe, but no serious damage was caused. . Central defence' headquarters later amended the reports by stating that no damage had been done, and admitted that fires were caused by incendiary bombs which fell at six places in Nagoya and three in Kobe. The report claimed that so far nine enemy planes were reported to have been shot down, and added that six Ameri. can aviators attached to the carrier Corktown were captured after being forced down in Japan. These men were named. The mother of one of the captives, residing in Washington, said she had been officially notified that her son was captured during the raid on the Marshall Islands in February. Planes From Carriers The Tokio official radio asserts that the planes which bombed Tokio and other cities came from aircraftcarriers, which sped off immediately after they launched the planes, while the planes flew to China after the completion of the raids. The radio says that surveys showed Japanese transportation and communication facilities are functioning without important alterations after the American bombing raids. “The only accomplishment was the wounding of children in primary schools and the killing and wounding of patients in a hospital,” it added. It is notable that soon before the announcement of the Tokio raid, a Japanese broadcast stated that fire had destroyed 400 houses in the village of Oguni, in northern Japan, with many casualties. Raiders “Repulsed” The Columbia Broadcasting Service listening station at San Francisco said the first Tokio announcement of the bombing of Tokio, was contained in an English-language broadcast which was repeated shortly after a Japanese broadcast, which injected a new angle that the enemy’s planes did not attempt to hit military establishments. The broadcast added that the planes were repulsed by a heavy barrage from the defence guns. The previous training of the people of Tokio for air-raid defence was immediately put into practice and the losses were exceedingly light. The Japanese Government broadcast a warning to the people to prepare for further attacks by the United Nations’ planes, adding that the empire had been brought into the war zone. The War and Navy Departments had no immediate confirmation of the bombing of Tokio, and there is no indication when a communique might be issued. However, it is pointed out that if the bombings were a longdistance attack, the aircraft would be many hours returning to their starting point, and reports would not be available until then. The newspaper Yomiur: warned Japan that she must be prepared for more raids as long as the United States possessed aircraft-carriers, and added: “Now that the United States has attacked Japanese territory for the first time, the Japanese nation must resolve anew to smash completely Britain and the United States.”