SECOND DAY’S ATTACKS IN TOKIO AREA

Grey River Argus, 20 July 1945, Page 5

SECOND DAY’S ATTACKS IN TOKIO AREA

BY AMERICAN AND BRITISH NAVIES AN® PLANES JAPANESE MAIN FLEET AND NAVY YARD BECOME TARGETS

. GUAM, July 18. For the fifth time in eight days according to the Japanese, many hundreds of Allied carrier-based aircraft to-day kept up the attacks in the Tokio area and the southern coast of Honshu. The Tokio reports put the force at some 500 to 1500 and says the attacks went on for three hours. Admiral Nimitz announced that the Anglo-American Fleets continued the bombardment and' carrier-plane attack’s in the Tokio area to-day. Adverse weather prevented an accurate reconnaissance of the damage. Tokio radio announced that, airfields and military targets in the Tokio area were hit bv 1500 carrier planes. LATEST OFFICIAL REPORT (Rec. 10.4) WASHINGTON, July 18. Attacks by surface craft and aircraft were begun on Tuesday by British and American forces against military targets and shipping in and around the Island of Honshu, the central island of Japan, and the attacks were continued on Wednesday. Admiral Nimitz in a communique stated: The attacks were continued under adverse weather conditions, poor visibility limiting the operations of carrier aircraft. On both days poor visibility prevented reconnaissance planes from obtaining complete information as to the results. American carrier .aircraft on Tuesday concentrated their main effort against installations in the Tokio area, while British forces struck at targets to the northward. American aircraft burned four seaplanes on the water. They also damaged five. They sank three small craft, and damaged ten others. They destroyed two hangars, two locomotives, an oil dump and a dock. They also damaged factory buildings, as well as radio stations, lighthouses, / warehouses, one train, three locomotives and a hangar. British aircraft destroyed thirteen planes on the ground at Niigata, Matsushima, Masuda and one hangar. They destroyed throe locomotives, damaged a railway station, barracks and hangars. American aircraft on Wednesday launched a heavy attack, under extremely difficult weather conditions against combatant shipping off Yokosuka (on the north side of Tokio Bay). They attacked through accurate and intense enemy flak. No reports of damage are yet available. At about 11 o’clock on Wednesday night light United States forces, under the command of Rear-Admiral Carl Holden, moved into waters off Cape Nojima southward of Tokio. They there bombarded coastal installations. This action was continued until early on Thursday morning. One large-ex-plosion was seen, but complete reports are not yet available. The ships bombarding the Japanese coastline included the cruisers Topeka, Oklahoma City, Atlanta and Dayton; the destroyers Ault and John Week. American Marine aircraft struck the islands of Tokuni and Okinoyerabu in the Anami group, and the Falaus and Yap. American Army Mitchell planes struck at installations and damaged two small cargo ships at Paramushiro, in the Kurile Islands north of Japan.

'PLANES DISCOVERY OF JAP. FLEET. AT NAVAL YARD. (Rec. 10.40.) WASHINGTON, July 18. American ’.planes from aircraft carriers on Wednesday, extended the British and American attacks in tne Tokio area into the second day. The American carrier ’planes struck Japanese combat ships and also tne great Yokosuka Naval Yard in Tokio Bay. This has been indicated oy Admiral Halsey and Admiral Fornes. The 'planes discovered the hiding place of a major portion of the remnants of the Japanese Navy, which has been desperately hiding, under camouflage, since the defeat in tne Philippines last October. The Yokosuka Yard probably is the most obvious place for the ships to hide, since it was the’ last place in which tne enemy expected the Americans to seek them. A New York “Times’s” correspondent says: Our Fleet has been prowling in the seas off Japan for more than nine days without retaliation from the enemy. Four times it steamed boldly close enough to snore targets so that they could be shelled accurately. The. Japanese leaders’ answer was to advise the people co crawl into covered shelters. They warned that horizontal dugouts lacing seaw’ard were dangerous, and that the best protection would be afforded by the octopus type of dugouts used for bombing raids. 'l'his series of attacks has unquestionably caused great damage to vital Japanese military and industrial installations, and undoubtedly is causing tne Government a loss of considerable face tvith, the people. But the enemy either is saving his ’planes to repel Invasion, which, he thinks, mav not be far off, or he may be short of petrol that he cannot put a large force in the air. Whatever the reason, we have demonstrated our complete mastery of the sea and air over japan. JAPAN’S’TACTICS. A WAITING GAME. ! (Rec. 10.40.) NEW YORK. July 18. Tokio radio says: The British and American attacks in the Tokio area were a trick to revive the lagging American war effort. It is insane to think that one can effect a complete air and sea blockade and destroy our Resources t>y means of a sporadic raid and bombardment. What tne enemy are getting from their present efforts is so trifling that they could easily have left it all to the SuperFortresses. It is impossible appreciably to damage the Japanese “airfields, because they all are -equipped .with certain facilities to avert air raid damage. The radio concluded: “Japan has put up no aerial opposition, because we are following a wait and see policy. We have found that this attack is not worth meeting. What tne enemy air leaders should realise is that the-y are in a war and not in a game of chess, and also that their miscalculations and their oversights Will end, not in the loss of men made of ivory and wood, but in the deaths of men of flesh and blood. They should know that, Japan is fully determined to fight on until she wins the war.” THE NAVAL ATTACKS JAPANESE ESTIMATES. NEW YORK. July 18. Tokio radio stated 1 that thousands of residents of Hokkaido were killed and wounded by shellings and bombings on Saturdav and Sunday. A Domei Agecny dispatch described the naval raids as a reconnaissance in force to test Japan’s air

power and to select likely landing points. It added: We must expect further naval bombardments. The homeland must be defended without fear, now that the Allies’ task forces can attack us at any chosen time and place. The Domei Agency urged civilians not to succumb to fear like the people of Kaimaishi. since they had hot previously experienced falling shells. Many remained in shelters long after the enemv warships retired, being unable to shake off fear. A great majority of Tokio residents are now living in underground shelters, preferring to stay there rather than move elsewhere. Tokio radio announced that. Lieu-tenant-General Tadaichi Wakamatsu, one of Japan’s outstanding strategists has been appointed Vice-Minister of War, replacing Lieutenant-General Shibayama. JAPANESE LOSSES WELL OVER MILLION WASHINGTON, July 18. The "Army and Navy” reports that Anglo-American operations have accounted for 1.141.500 Japanese, and the most recent estimate of Japanese naval losses adds 262,000 to that figure. Official figures indicate that the Anglo-American forces have killed or taken prisoner nearly 1,500,000 Japanese to clear the way for what Admiral Nimitz calls the pre-invasion stage. It is estimated that 600,000 others are cut off or by-passed on the Pacific islands, besides the thousands who have perished in China. The Japanese, nevertheless, are estimated still to have five to ten million men including the cream of the Emperor’s Army. However, the Japanese Air Force has been whittled down to probably 4000 planes and the Navy has virtually ceased to exist.

New U.S. Carrier HIT BY JAP SUICIDE PLANES 327 CASUALTIES'. WASHINGTON, July 18. One of America’s newest aircraftcarriers, the Ticonderoga, suffered severe damage and 327 casualties including 144 killed, when two Japanese suicide planes struck her near Formosa on January 21, reports the Navy Department. Notwithstanding the heavy damage the crew took the Ticonderoga to Bremerton Navy yard where she was repaired and strengthened and has since rejoined the fleet. The Ticonderoga had just returned from the Third' Fleet’s daring sweep of the South China Sea when a Japanese plane came through a cloud* bank and crashed on the flight deck, exploding between the gallery and hangar decks, which were packed with aircraft refuelling and rearming. The fire fed by the gasoline spread swiftly, but was being successfully fought when another kamikaze crashed into the ship’s superstructure, seriously wounding Commander Burch. Captain, now Commodore Kiefer, who suffered 65 separate wounds changed the course to avoid the wind' fanning the flames, and continued to direct the ship for 12 hours, refusing treatment until assured all the injured men had been attended. In a second suicide attack five enemy planes were shot down.

U.S.A. Battleship Hit 78 CASUALTIES. WASHINGTON, July 18. Tpe Navy announced that the old battleship Nevada, a veteran of Pearl Harbour, Normandy, South France and Iwo Jima was hit by suicide planes and’ shells from a shore battery at Okinawa and considerably damaged. The ship suffered 78 casualties but fought on. The Kamikaze struck at dawn on March 27. Seven marines manning a 20-millimetr.s battery’ shot off the wing of a diving plane, then died at their stations maintaining fire until the plane struck the Nevada. In a duel with a shore battery on April 5, the Nevada was hit five times. The Nevada fired 71 shells from one battery alone, after which the target area resembled a gravel quarry after a week’s blasting. MACARTHUR’S BOMBERS. WIDESPREAD RAIDING. WASHINGTON, July 18. General MacArthur reports fighters and bombers attacked airfields, shipping and industrial targets on the northern coast to the southern tip of Kyushu, fired and destroyed two coastal freighters and several barges. Fighters attacked the Usa and Miyazaki aerodromes. Heavy bombers continue the destruction of enemy industries in_Formosa, and hit ammunition storage facilities at Mako and the Pescadores, bombed factory buildings in Tainan, and railway installations on the west coast. Night patrols on south China coast wrecked five cargo vessels and caused explosions in the Canton industrial area, and damaged railways in Indo-China. General MacArthur reports: Australian troops pushing inland from the Seria Mira oilfields occupied Marudi, over 30 miles from the coast.. Patrols in the Balik Papan sector recovered quantities of abandoned supplies and equipment. A naval bombardment of enemy installations near Ealik Papan destroyed four barges and a number of gun emplacements. Heavy bombers harassing the coastal areas of Celebes cratered the Sidate runway, and burned several warehouses. Other air and' light surface units destroyed numerous enemy watercraft in the western Halmaheras. N.Z. CORSAIR CRASHES FATALITY IN BOUGAINVILLE (Rec. 10.50) SYDNEY, July 19. A New Zealand Corsair bomber crashed in a dense Bougainville jungle. Royal Australian Air Force pilots co-operated with Australian and New Zealand medical units in a long and hazardous search for the lost aircraft. The New Zealand pilot was eventually found dead in the cockpit. The Department of Air said that immediately the crash was reported, an Australian and New Zealand ambulance proceeded in the general direction of the crash. At the same time two R'.A.A.F. Wirraway planes took off to serach for the crashed Corsair. One Wirraway sighted the, plane in dense jungle, and directed an Australian infantry patrol to the spot. The patrol had to go through mine infested country. Meanwhile the Australian ambulance, after penetrating far into the jungle, became bogged, but the orderlies pressed on through more mined territory to contact a New Zealand search party. They then decided to

split forces. The Australian party blazed a path through unexplored’ territory. Eventually - they reached the coast. The New Zealanders became lost in the jungle. They were forced to spend a night without food or drink. BIG BRITISH DOCK FOR SOUTH PACIFIC (Rec. 11.10) VANCOUVER, July 19 The newspaper, “Daily Province,” reports: The largest floating dry dock ever built will be constructed in Vancouver for the British Admiralty. The dock will be for service in the South Pacific, and will be between twenty-five and thirty thousand tons. It will cost at least twenty-five hundred thousand dollars. It will float the Navy’s largest ships, including the King George V, and possibly larger future vessels.