ISLAND CONQUESTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20861, 13 August 1942, Page 3

ISLAND CONQUESTS

THE SOLOMONS GROUP JAPANESE OCCUPATION The British Solomon Islands, which are strung out in lines from north-west to south-east, from the Bismarck Archipelago off .the north coast of Papua toward the gap between Fiji and New Caledonia, have been undergoing progressive occupation by .the Japanese since January 22. This action was preceeded in midDecember by occupation of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, north-east of the Solomons in the direction of Hawaii. Operating from their mandated Caroline Islands, north of New Guinea, the Japanese opened the attack on New Britain, of which Rabaul, at the northerly .tip, is the principal centre, and the Solomons with sporadic bombing raids. On January 20 came a fierce aerial onslaught on Rabaul by 80 aircraft, which shot down the whole of the five Wirraway fighters .that the Australian garrison was able to put in the air. On January 22 a force landed at Kieta, on the island of Bougainville, 200 miles east of New Britain and the most northerly of the Solomons proper. The same day 110 Japanese aircraft assaulted Rabaul, and the invasion began .next morning. Twenty-five warships arid transports entered the harbour, while other warships and three aircraft-carriers lay further out. Odds Against Garrison The odds against the Australian garrison were more than 10 to 1, but they inflicted more than 2000 casualties before they began a desperate retreat southward through mountains, jungles and swamps. Of their strength of 1400. half became casualties or prisoners, bu.t the other half, over a period of months, reached the coast facing New Guinea and were rescued. On February 15 came the fall of' Singapore and on the 19th the first air raid on Darwin, while sporadic bombing southward through the Solomons contiimed. Simultaneously with the attack on the Netherlands Indies, the concentration of enemy invasion forces in New Britain was continuing in readiness for landings on the New Guinea mainland, which were made at Salamaua and Lae on March 8, in spite of continuous attacks on the convoys by Australian bombers. Coral Sea Battle Apart from bombing operations, there was a lull in this area until the fall of Corregidor on May 6, which was followed by the Battle of the Coral sea when a large Japanese fleet proceeding southward, apparently with the intention of attacking either the south coast of New Guinea or the New Hebrides group and New Caledonia, was attacked and driven back by United States naval and r.aval aircraft operations.

During the first week of June the Japanese occupied the outermost of the Aleutian Islands, south-west of Alaska; and about the same time it was reported that they had strongly fortified Sohana Island and Queen Carola Island in the northern Solomons. July 22 brought a further strong Japanese .landing in New Guinea at Buna and Gona, and shortly afterward it became evident that the virtual occupation of the Solomons had been completed, the announcement being made on August 2 that the enemy was in possession of the large southerly istand Guadalcanal The Japanese, it was reported, were in force and apeared to be constructing several aerodromes,