NAVAL GUNFIRE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20864, 17 August 1942, Page 3

NAVAL GUNFIRE

SOLOMONS BATTLE NEW U.S.TaNDING? BOMBERS POUND ENEMY (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 17. The full-scale naval battle in the Solomons continues. No further official details have been announced, but a Washington naval spokesman states that American and Japanese warships are engaged in a terrific gunfire duel at close range. With air superiority, the Allied planes are also bombing the enemy ships. In the land fighting United States Marines are reported to have taken thousands of prisoners and to have inflicted heavy casualties, but there is still .no indication of a collapse in enemy resistance. The Allied casualties are also heavy. Bridgeheads were gained at considerable cost. “It is even possible,” writes one American war correspondent, “that in proportion to the numbers making the first assault the initial losses might fairly be described as terrific.” A report that our forces have made a bridgehead on a fifth island, either Georgia or Ysabel, is not yet confirmed. None of the islands on which our forces have landed are yet fully occupied. Strong enemy opposition is being maintained. The bridgehead on YsabeJ, one, of the. larger islands on the eastern side of the Solomons, would indicate that the United States forces are driving northward on both sides of the group. The Japanese are know’n to have flung into the battle naval reinforcements, including heavy ships from their base at Truk, in the Caroline Islands, north of the Solomons. . . Well-informed American opinion is that while the latest news does not give much room for optimistic speculation, it is generally encouraging. Reports that warships are escorting supply vessels to the Solomons indicate that the United States Navy controls the sea lanes from Australia and New Zealand and is able to move up reinforcements as required. The Washington correspondent oi the New York Times says that naval circles intimated that the United States offensive 'in the Solomons continues to proceed satisfactorily. However the Navy Department stated xnat nothing could be revealed at present beyond yesterday’s communique. Raids by Allied aircraft on Japanese troops and installations south-east of Timor, following the earlier attacks on enemy shipping in the same area, are held to support the • view that the enemy has been preparing for an .early counter-thrust to relieve pres 7 sure on the Solomons.