GASMATA HARD HIT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21261, 25 November 1943, Page 3

GASMATA HARD HIT

THIRD-DAY BLITZ 329 TONS OF BOMBS NO AIR OPPOSITION iffy T«ksnu)ti—Fresa Asan Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) U 0.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 25. In three days General Mae Arthur’s bombers have pounded the Japanese supply base of Gasmata in south-west New Britain with 329 tons of explosive bombs. Their latest punishing assault was made on Monday, our planes unloading 142 tons of bombs. This was the heaviest aerial strike yet made against Gasmata. More than 100 Liberator and Mitchell bombers, with an escort of Lightning fighters, took part in the attack and, in addition to bombing, made extensive strafing sweeps, expending 35,000 rounds of ammunition. Considerable damage was caused among supply dumps and installations. The Japanese were unable to mount any fighter Cover but anti-aircraft fire destroyed one Mitchell. About the same time as the attack on Gasmata other Liberators dropped 52 tons of bombs on Cape Gloucester aerodrome at the western tip of New Britain, destroying or damaging five enemy planes caught on the ground. The latest communique from General MacArthur’s Headquarters, which records this stepped-up Allied air offensive against Japanese targets in western New Britain, also reports the destruction of a 7000-ton enemy freighter-transport near Kavieng, in New Ireland. The attacking Liberator scored a direct bomb hit amidships and. 30 minutes later, our airmen observed the crew abandoning the vessel and being picked up by an escorting destroyer.

In the northern Solomons, Admiral Halsey’s bombers are maintaining their neutralising attacks against enemy aerodromes. Corsair and Airacobra fighters on patrol over the American beach-head at Empress Augusta Bay destroyed the entire Japanese raiding force of one divebomber and six fighters.