RAID ON SABANG

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24876, 24 April 1944, Page 5

RAID ON SABANG

BASE DEVASTATED CLOSE ALLIED CO-OPERATION (Reed. 30.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, April '23 More than 25 British, American French and Dutch warships sliced t! the rim of Japan's stolen empire ■ when they devastated Sabang, (Sumatra, on Wednesday, says a United Press correspondent who witnessed ; the bombing. The Allied fleet, which included a - United States carrier task force, sailed t from Ceylon on Sunday and zig-zagged across the Bay of Bengal in open battle formation. The Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet, Admiral Sir James Sonierville, signalled on Tuesday: "The target for Allied aircraft to- ' morrow in Sabang. So far we don't seem to have been spotted, and J. hope to catch them with their kimonos up. Once our presence is known we must expect an attack. We must give a good ac- , count of ourselves." At dawn, on Wednesday the first wave of bombers swooped down on the tiny targets. By 7 a.m. swarms of warplanes were rolling over Saining in continuous procession. British Barracudas Hew alongside American Daunt--1 esses and Avengers, while around them clustered Corsair and Hellcat fighters. . Bombs hit the power station, coaling station, wharf, barracks, radio station, radio location station, Japanese ships in the harbour and planes on the ground.