JAPANESE CONVOY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24598, 1 June 1943, Page 3

JAPANESE CONVOY

NEW GUINEA WATERS )NE SHIP DAMAGED BY BOMB (Special Australian Correspondent) Reed. 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 31 Flying through storms and eavy clouds, Allied reconnaissance wmbers have searched without reult along the North Coast of New •Juinea for a Japanese convoy of our medium-sized transports, esorted by two destroyers, thought to >e attempting to land reinforcenents and supplies in the Hansa 3ay area, midway between Wewak md Madang. The convoy was last seen on Saturiay evening. It was then off Hansa 3ay. A 5000-ton transport was attacked :rom the air, damaged by a near niss and left smoking. Clash With Zeros When first sighted by an Allied reconnaissance piano on Friday the convoy v:w well out to sea about 70 miles east )f Wowak. The movement of the convoy ndicatcd the enemy's nervousness about Llie possibility of Allied air attacks. On Saturday evening the ships were 12 miles north-east of Hansa Hay. Then a patrol of nine Zeros, probably based on the,near by Nubia airfield, was sighted. Five Zeros showed no eagerness to fight, but the remaining four pressed home an attack. After two had been shot down and a third badly damaged the remaining attacking Japanese fighter broke oil the engagement and rejoined its more discreet companions. Lieutenant Lark Martin, aged 20 years, of Georgia, United States, was the pilot of the reconnoitring Liberator, which first sighted the ships. An antiaircraft shell fired by an accompanying destroyer put his radio out of commission and so damaged tho hydraulic system that tho aircraft was left without landing brakes. May Be Sheltering The absence of further news of the ships does not mean that they have loft New Guinea waters. They may be sheltering along the coast in adverse weather, which has protected them on their voyage to New Guinea. If the ships have succeeded in disembarking supplies as well as reinforcements at a point along the coast east of Wewak, the gain will be a valuable one to the Japanese in the area, who have been, largely dependent upon limited supplies brought to them by barges hugging the coast. However, some commentators nuggest that the bombing on Saturday may have caused the convoy to turn out of range of Allied bombers. This has happened on other occasions. After a temporary improvement on Saturday flying conditions throughout the South-west Pacific area have again deteriorated.

DAMAGING ATTACKS NEW GUINEA AIRFIELDS (Special Australian Correspondent) (Reed. 8.40 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 81 In spite of storms Allied bombers yesterday made damaging attacks on Japanese aerodromes near Wewak, on the north coast of New Guinea. Flying Fortresses dropped 13 tons of bombs, including fragmentation bombs and incendaries, in a raid before dawn on the Wewak and Boram airfields. A communique states: " An ammunition dump was detonated, the explosions continuing for 10 minutes. Fuel fires were started and numerous other blazes in dispersal areas indicated burning aircraft. " Intense anti-aircraft fire was encountered at first, but it was considerably diminished by the explosions of 10001b. bombs. Many searchlights were activ-e. Five were put out of action by low-lovel strafing, three being destroyed and two probably destroyed." Liberators made a 1500-mile flight to attack Kendari, the important enemy base in the Celebes. A jetty and a 3000ton merchant vessel were the principal targets. The movement of Japanese barges along the coast of New Britain was interrupted by a Flying Fortress on armed reconnaissance. At least five barges were destroyed in a sweep covering the Stetten Bay area. The Japanese have been making extensive use of barges to ferry supplies from Rabaul to outlying garrisons, just as they are employing them in New Guinea to supply bases out-lyino; from Wewak.

MacARTIIUR'S TOUR JUNGLE TRAINING CAMPS (Special Australian Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 31 General Mac Arthur has just completed a surprise tour of jungle training camps scattered through the bush country of Northern Australia. To make as extensive a survey as possible of the Allied troops in training, he flew hundreds of miles by bomber. The first known erf his arrival was when he announced himself to the commanding officers. General Mac Arthur wished to see routine training and not specially-prepared exercises. He lived with the troops in the field and accompanied an artillery unit on manoeuvres. During the tour General Mac Arthur visited the Australian headquarters of Lieutenant-General Robert Eichelberger, who commanded the American troops at Buna. He saw soldiers in almost every arm of the service preparing for the coming battles in the Southern Pacific. General Mac Arthur paid particular attention to infantry training based on the lessons of the fighting in New Guinea. JAPANESE CAPTURED (Special Australian Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 31 Two Japanese airmen have been taken prisoner from an island north of Australia. They were members of the crew of a float-plane shot don n hj: th& Arafura Sea. The third member of the crew died. The Japanese airmen spent several days in a rubber raft before they drifted ashore. Their plane was shot down on May 11 by a Beau lighter which was protecting a small Allied convoy. DARWIN AIR BATTLE (Special Australian Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 31 Only two Spitfire pilots were lost in the big air battle over the Darwin area on May 2. One Australian airman spent 16 days wandering in the North Australian bush before he. was found by trackers. His plane came down in the sea about 10 miles off" the coast, but how the pilot came ashore and the story of his subsequent wanderings is not known. He is still in hospital. SPEEDY X-RAY SYSTEM (Reed. 0.50 p.m.) LONDON, May 30 A new technique of mass miniature radiography developed by the Royal Air Force enables hundreds of people to be X-rayed in a day by ono small mobile medical unit and the results examined almost immediately, says the British official wireless. This allows tuberculosis, cancer, heart diseases and pneumonia to be diagnosed at an early stage, when a cure can be effective and rapid. The presence of a,* speck on a film one inch square discloses hitherto unsuspected tuberculosis. So successful is the R.A.F. pioneer work that a system to give every member of the nation a free X-ray examination of the chest will soon be launched. The incidence of tuberculosis in tho R.A.F. has declined noticeably since the inception of the scheme.