FIVE SHIPS DAMAGED

Grey River Argus, 27 February 1943, Page 5

FIVE SHIPS DAMAGED

IN RABAUL HARBOUR

Allied Raids on Thursday

(Special to N.Z. Press Assn.) (Rec. xi p.m.; ,SiAi\ivx, reo. 20.

Air aitucns on tne Japanese snipping in hluoaui Harbour nave become almost a aany routine. A rourtn successive uawn raia oy riymg r ortresses. or General niauArcnur * command was made on Thursday. bevuji snips m tne naroour were homoOne vessel of eight thousand tons, thought to oe a seaplane tender, was severely damaged by lour direct mts. vvnen last seen, tne vessel was endeavouring to beach, but was settling ciown by tne stern. a second vessel of four thousand tuns was hit, and three smaller merchantmen were damaged by; near misses.

As tiie Allied heavy bombers have maintained their attacks on enemy shipping throughout. the South-west Pacific, twelve Japanese vessels have been bombed in the past two days, but the results of the at"uecks are not known. While the Allied bombers’ main attack on Thursday was against the shipping, shore installations and aerodromes of Rabaul, other enemy vessels were bombed at Babo, in nortnwest Dutch New Guinea; and the Alex’s Hafen, north-west of Salamaua. At Babo a direct hit was made on the bow of a four thousand ton cargo ship. At Alexis Hafen two direct, hits or close misses were scored against a smaller vessel. Allied aircraft have been continuing the hammering of enemy positions, store dumps, and supply trails in the Lae-Mabo-Waria area. It is apparent that Japanese have concentrated considerable quantities of stores in these localities. Discussing the heavy offensive beino' waged by General MacArthur s A’r Force, the Sydney*-“Herald” says editorially: “Bombing did not drive the Japanese out of their bases, but it-is inflicting aircraft and shipping losses which are a useful contribution to the war of attrition now oeing waged as a prelude to stronger blows in the future, when adequate forces dan be set free from other theatres to strike them. “At the same time,” it adds, “a concentration upon the Allied policy of ‘smashing Hitler first.’ will not preclude local offensives of the type already carried through in both General MacArthur’s and Admiral Halsey’s command areas and the recent sustained bombing .of the enemy’s air and sea'-bases may be the prelude to further essays in those offensivedefensive tactics, which have driven the Japanese from the only territories so far reconquered from them.'’

ON guadalcanar

JAP WOMEN FIGHTERS.

NEW YORK. Feb. 25.

The American mopping-up patrols in the Cape Esperance area have found the bodies of three Japanese women. This in the first positive evidence of Japanese women on Guadalcanal Robert Miller, United Press correspondent, who gives the news in a delayed despatch from the island, says the discovery recalls stories early in the campaign, the enemy were employing women aviators, gunners, and spies, and that they had even brought up a contingent of women especially to befuddle the United States Marines. The women were well nourished and apparently died of natural causes. Other Japanese women are believed to have lived near the enemy headquarters at Visale.