TOKIO RAID

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1944, Page 5

TOKIO RAID

JAPANESE ANGRY Worse to Follow i (Rec. 7.30.) NEW YORK, Nov. 26. The Super-Fortress mission to Tokio on this occasion was led by Bri-gadier-General Emmett O’Donnell. The .assistant-Air Raid Chief, Kenichi Kumagai, speaking on the Tokio radio, said the raid would increase Japanese war production because it heightened the anger cf the industrial soldier. The reconnaissance aircraft Tokio Rose, which was l over Tokio on November 1, discovered that the Japanese capital was ringed with airfields packed with aeroplanes. The entire Yokohama port are bristled with anti-aircraft guns. Tokio Rose is named after the Tokio propagandist, “Tokio Rose,” who last Jun e told the world that the Americans wanted Saipan to build a Super-fortress base. She added that the Americans did not know the Saipan terrain well enough to realise that the project was impossible. Brigadier-General E. O’Donnel, on his return from Tokio, said that the raid apparently took the Japanese by surprise. There was no fighter resistance and the flak was meagre and inaccurate. He added: “It was one of my easiest missions.” Another pilot sighted several enemy fighters as he reached the objective, but none came close. An American Associated Press correspondent at Saipan says: ißrigadi-ex-General H. S. Hansell, told the press that the results of the Tokio raid have not met expectations, but on Tie whole, the raid was profitable. Clouds prevented some ’planes finding their specified targets. But only four ’planes failed to bomb worthwhile targets. One ’plane was brought down by enemy action over Tokio. Another ’plane failed to return and is presumed lost. The crews said that a new type of Japanese ’plane (an. extremely fast twin-en-gined fighter) bore the burden of thc enemy’s defence. The flak was light,' except in the area of the imperial Palace. Some ’planes came home on two and three engines. Some of the ’planes have landed on Guam Island. General Hansell, before the raid, said at Saipan: These raids should be ■regarded as experimental. For months he had warned against the impression that these initial raids mean Tokio’s end or anything like it. Economic, experts had carefully studied Japan’s economy and had listed a number of prime objectives from which targets arc now being chosen. He said that the same procedure was used against Germany. A Super-Fortress named Tokio Rose cruiser! over Tokio on November 1 and twice subsequently, securing excellent photographs of strategic targets. Observers and photographers’ clearly saw and recorded Japanese airfields studded with fighl,11 aeroplanes, and also the Emperor’s . ’ace.

Somv-tim? after the raid U.S. reconnaissance pDnes over Tokio saw tires still blazing. 1 wy damage was done to one of Japan s • greatest aircraft plants, and power pj"ts, dams, airfields, and war factories "vN.ro systematically bombed. Yokoha’nka, Tokio’s principal port, was also attacked. The Superfortresses were based on Saipan, in the Marianas, which was captured by the Americans in July. (Rec. 9.30).’ NEW YORK, Nov. 26. A New York Times correspondent at the U.S. Pacific Headquarters says: The Bomber Command is planning pattern destructions' for Japan vastlyexceeding anything the Superfortresses are able to do from China bases. First, the distance from Saipan to Tokio is only 1500 miles, enabling Superfortresses to strike Japan two and a-ha'lf times from the Mariana Islands in the time required for a single mission from Orient bases. Furthermore, for the same amount ot fuel a plane can deliver five tons of bombs instead of two. Secondly, unquestioned Naval control in the Pacilie enables the United States to haul to the Mariana Islands a colossal volume of material needed for round-the-clock operations against the enemy.

JAPANESE CLAIM. FIVE SUPERFORTRESSES DOWNED. (Rec. 9.30). NEW YORK, Nov. 26. The Japanese Imperial Headquarters, in a communique, acknowledged the loss of seven Japanese planes in the Tokio raid. It claimed that five of , the Superfortresses were shot down, and nine were damaged.