HEAVILY BOMBED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21009, 4 February 1943, Page 3

HEAVILY BOMBED

JAPANESE AT AKYAB

DUSK-TO-DAWN ATTACK

(10.30 a.m.) LONDON. Feb. 3 “We have lust given the Japanese troops defending Akyab a night that they will always remember,” states a despatch from the Daily Mail’s special correspondent, who was aboard one of the planes that on Monday night blitzed Akyab from dusk to dawn.

Heavy bombers plastered the island with tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs. One pilot remarked after the raid: “If we drop much more on that island it will sink.” Fires were started on the island until it seemed that the whole of Akyab was alight. The Japanese must have gone to ground because there was almost no “flak.” The weight of bombs dropped on Burma was more than double the total during the last few months. A communique from New Delhi states: “Yesterday four formations of Royal Air Force Blenheims attacked Japanese positions at Rathendaung and three other villages further south. Fighters followed the bombing with low-level machine-gun fire. “Last night our aircraft attacked objectives bn Akyab island, including mti-aircraft batteries at Fakir Point. None of our aircraft is missing.”