HEAVY BLOW ADMITTED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 23 March 1945, Page 5

HEAVY BLOW ADMITTED

JAPANESE LOSS OF IWO JIMA New York, March. 22. Tokio radio quotes the Prime Minister, General Koiso. as saying in a broadcast that Iwo Jima’s loss was a heavy blow and the going in future would not be easy. “If we do not rise up now in burning anger when shall we do so?” General Koiso reiterated that there was a great possibility of an American landing on the homeland. He warned listeners that there was only one choice —victory or death. Admitting that the United States is gaining the upper hand in the Pacific war because of abundant material resources, Tokio radio asserted that soon the wonderful capacity of Japanese technology would enable Japanese science to smash this material strength. The radio added that Japan had ceased imitating Anglo-American military science and had begun th£ development of her own war instruments. Japanese rocket artillery used in the Philippines and Iwo Jima was only a preview of what would appear in the future. HAINAN ISLAND ATTACKED Tokio radio announced that approximately 120 Super Fortresses, Liberators and lightnings raided Hainan Island on March 21. It Was claimed that Japanese defenders inflicted substantial losses.