Describes First Japanese Air Raid On Manila

Northern Advocate, 10 January 1942, Page 4

Describes First Japanese Air Raid On Manila

[Special to “Northern Advocate”! AUUKIaNU, This uay. Mr. Alan Heath, an engineer who has reached Auckland, yesterday described the first Japanese raid on Manila. "The Japanese bombers came home in three formations, two lots of 27 war planes each, then nine, and it was the nine that seemed to do most of the damage," he said. Mr. Heath said that the ship on which he was about to leave for New Zealand to visit his wife and family was one of more than 20 that sheltered in the bay at Manila. The vessel was turned back at Corregidor, the island fortress in Manila Bay, and on their return within the harbour the passengers were told of the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan. 27 Ships in Harbour There were many ships in the harbour, one passenger claiming to have counted 27, and more kept arriving, including some from Hongkong. Several Japanese air attacks, ail from a high altitude, were witnessed by Mr. Heath during the four days that his ship remained at anchor. The enemy raided a military aerodrome in the vicinity on the night of December 8, and a large fire could be seen across the water. No details reached the ship, and on the following morning there were no attacks, but more ships came in. Bombers Arrive “We saw the Japanese bombers come over, 27 of them, at about lunchtime on December 9,” he said. They were in perfect formation, at about 10,000 feet, flying along the coast. They made for the air field, and later for Cavite. Another 27 then appeared. They shot across the harbour, dropped their bombs, and hit two ships. One, a freighter, two away from us, was hit twice once in the forward hold and once aft. I heard that two men were killed.

“The ship went on burning all that day and although efforts were made to save her, she sank the following day in shallow water.” Fighters Not Warned

Another ship hit in this raid was reported to have been beached Shrapnel, probably from anti-aircraft guns, fell all around his ship, but there were no casualties. The people aboard, experiencing their first air raid, were more excited than scared, although the men were kept fairly busy caring for the women and children. Fifth column activity was blamed by a Manila newspaper for the failure of defending fighter aircraft to intercept the bombers on their first attack. It was claimed that the land line connecting the lookout tower with the air base had been sabotaged, and the fighters were therefore not warned in time to meet the raiders. Germans Among Crews

An attack on Corregidor itself was also seen by Mr Heath. He said he saw many of the bombs explode harmlessly in the water, but some struck a large building, which he could not identify from a distance, and set it ablaze. The fire was still raging the following day. He did not see any of the raiders shot down, bi.t the American gunners claimed five or six successes.

Before his ship sailed she pulled alongside a wharf, and Mr Heath spoke to some American soldiers. They told him that the crews of the Japanese aircraft contained a percentage of Germans. All Stay With Ship

No dive-bombing attacks were made while he was there, but they began shortly afterwards when the Japanese found they could “get away with it.”

Mr Heath said that the captain of the ship called the passengers together and said he intended leaving. There would be no escort and those who preferred to stay could do so. Nobody stayed and they had an uneventful trip to Australia. Mr Heath had spent three and r.-half years in Manila and had disposed of his home and furniture. Not One Letter Lost Net one letter has been lost of the 13,500,000 flown between England and Lisbon in the last year by the British Overseas Airways Corporation. Seaplanes and aeroplanes have safely covered 750,000 miles with 4000 passengers and neither war nor weather has caused the service to change its time-table since it opened in 1939. Throughout the Battle of Britain, severe weather and hazards of war, the air link between England and Portugal, and by Clipper on to U.S.A., has remained unbroken. Mails for prisoners of war are flown to Portugal and letters from them are flown, free of charge, back to Lisbon where the Portuguese Post Office transfers them to British Airways. In July a special lightweight lettercard was devised for airmails to prisoners of war. It costs only threepence to fly one of these cards to Lisbon and on by neutral plane to Germany. Four thousand five hundred of the new letter-cards weigh "just one pound; the same number of ordinary airmail letters one cwt. and a hall'.