Hundreds of Enemy Troops Drowned

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 66, 22 March 1944, Page 5

Hundreds of Enemy Troops Drowned

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.-—Copyright ' (Special Australian Correspondent) Received Tuesday, 10 p.m. SYDNEY, March 21. Allied planes annihilated a Japanese convoy of five vessels, two of them heavily-laden troopships, off Wewak (New Guinea) on Sunday. Hundreds of enemy troops as well as the ship’s crews were drowned. Returning airmen said they saw more than 500 Japanese strag gling in the water. The men had no chance of survival since the convoy went down 70 miles from land. It is believed that these enemy troops were reinforcements for the Wewak garrison. More than a hundred Liberator, Mitchell and Boston bombers attacked the convoy, beginning at about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning. They dropped their bombs at tbe minimum altitude and did not return to their bases until not a single enemy ship remained afloat. The transports sunk were of 6000 and 4000 tons respectively. They were soon followed to the bottom of the sea by three escorting corvettes. General MacArthur’s communique yesterday revealed that in earlier at tacks on the Japanese convoy off North east New Guinea a 3000-ton freighter was sunk and a destroyer and a 5000ton freighter severely damaged. It is believed this was the convoy whose destruction was finally completed on Sunday. While the enemy ships were under aerial bombardment a second force of a hundred Allied bombers struck at Wewak itself. Mitchells and Bostons dropped 113 tons of bombs, causing heavy damage among supply dumps and installations. Later our fighters sank an enemy troop-laden barge and a coastal vessel near Wewak. The Japanese attempted to provide some air cover for their ships, but it is stated that it was ineffective. Two enemy fighters were shot down, while from the whole series of operations against both the convoy and Wewak itself three Allied planes are missing. Sunday’s was the fifteenth Alliei aerial attack on Wewak during March and more than 1500 tons of bombs have been dropped in these raids. As well as shipping, 105 Japanese planes have been definitely destroyed in these blows against Wewak with 26 probably de stroyed. The Allied losses in all operations have been 10 planes. General MacArthur’s communiques for 1944 have reported the following Japanese shipping losses in the South west Pacific area:— Destroyed: Two destroyers, 14 auxiliary warships, 73 merchant vessels, 435 barges, 65 small craft. Probably destroyed: Twenty-four merchant vessels, 45 barges, four small craft. Damaged: Four cruisers, 13 destroy ers, one submarine, nine auxiliary warships, 59 merchant vessels, 290 barges GO small craft. On Sunday night Allied destroyers made their most northwesterly penetration along the New Guinea coast since the early days of the Japanese war to shell enemy installations at Kairuru and Muschu Islands just north of Wewak. They sank or damaged a number of small craft and started large fires. In a day of extensive Allied air operations General MacArthur’s latest communique reports that Rabaul (New Britain) has been given still another hammering. Our Solomons-based .bomb ers dropped 60 tons of incendiaries on the now isolated enemy base, causing fires in the town and waterfront areas. In the Admiralty Islands, where American troops are patrolling extensively to clear out enemy remnants, Allied destroyers have bombarded Japanese hideouts.