BOUGAINVILLE THREAT

Grey River Argus, 13 December 1943, Page 5

BOUGAINVILLE THREAT

ENDED BY AMERICANS. (Rec. 7.30.) SYDNEY, Dec; 12. American light bombers and fighter ’planes are now using Torokin airfield on the north-western side of the United States’ beach-head at Empress Augusta Bay, on Bougainville Island, in the Northern Solomons. Use of the new field enables Allied bombers to receive fighter protection on their raids against Japanese positions to the north. This is reported by war correspondents in the South Pacific area. In six weeks’ fighting since the American landing at Empress Augusta Bai', the Japanese have lost, at the minimum, two thousand killed. The American casualties have been about thirteen hundred, with fewer than' three! hundred killed. Japanese airfields on Bougainville Island have been kept inoperative by a constant hail of bombs and shells. The Japanese naval forces face a tremendous problem in supplying their garrisons on Bougainville Island with food and war materials. Allied light naval craft constantly patrol the enemy’s lines of escape, while Allied aircraft hammer his installations. War commentators suggest that Bougainville has now ceased to be a threat to the Allied plans in the Pacific.