Persistent Toll Taken Of Japanese Skipping

Northern Advocate, 30 September 1944, Page 5

Persistent Toll Taken Of Japanese Skipping

(Special) SYDNEY, This Day. Catalina flying-boats of General MacArthur’s command patrolling at night over the southern Philippines are taking persistent toll of Japanese shipping.

In their latest strike they surprised an enemy convoy in the Sulu Archipelago between Mindanao and NorthEast Borneo. They sank a 10,000-ton transport and damaged a 6000-ton vessel. A huge oil dump was destroyed by Liberators raiding the Ceram-Boe-roe area. Adverse weather has hindered air operations in this theatre, It is now revealed-that a few days before Sunday’s record long-distance aerial blow at Batavia, Java. Netherlands East Indies, bombers also based on Australia made a flight over Batavia and other centres in Western Java. They dropped 150,000 pamphlets printed in Dutch and Malay telling the people of the latest Allied advances in the Pacific and successes on the European front, including liberation of part of Holland. Prisoner of war camps were among the “targets” bombarded with pamphlets.

Heavy Carrier Raids

Carrier aircraft struck hard against enemy shipping and defence installations in the Visayas group of the Philippines on September 23, attacking airfields on Cebu. Leyte, Negros, Luzon and Mjactan Islands and all shipping found in adjacent waters. A particularly heavy strike was delivered on Coron Bay. between Busuanga Island and Culion Island, West- Philippines, where a number of enemy ships, including two valuable fleet tankers were sunk.

Seven enemy aircraft were shot down and 29 aircraft v/ere destroyed on the ground at several fields which were thoroughly bombed and strafed. The following damage was inflicted on enemy shipping (including the two tankers mentioned above): One destroyer, one troop transport, three large cargo-vessels, three large oil tankers, six medium cargo-vessels, five small cargo-vessels, three destroyer-escort j type vessels, all sunk; two large oil tankers, one large cargo-vessel, one medium oil tanker, 15 medium cargovessels, one small transport, 21 small cargo-vessels, two destroyer-escort . type vessels, all damaged; and morethan one probably sunk. In addition,/ between 20 and 30 small craft wer£!. sunk or damaged. \