JAPANESE LANDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25051, 15 November 1944, Page 5

JAPANESE LANDING

SMAEt PELEW ISLAND AMERICANS WITHDRAW (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 The Japanese have occupied the small island of Ngeregong, in the Pelew group. A Pacific Fleet communique announcing this says that under cover of a storm on the night of November 7-8 about 200 enemy troops equipped with knee-mortars and machine-guns, landed on Ngeregong Island, north-east of Peleliu, which previously was occupied by a small patrol of American marines. Several landing craft took off our patrol without casualties. Two of our gunboats and one destroyer blocked the Denges Passage northward, from which the enemy apparently had come, and bombarded the island. Corsairs and Avengers on November 9 and 11 attacked Ngesang, on thaup,' in the Northern Pelews, and sank a barge and set fire to a fuel tank. Hellcats bombed Koror, on Babelthaup, and sank a barge and hit a radio station. Corsairs sank a Japajieso destroyer near Golou, in the Pelews. Liberators bombed Koror and started several fires. Catalinas hit several small islands in the Northern Pelews. American land-based aircraft are now using airfields on Peleliu and Angaur. Liberators on November 10 and 11 bombed airstrips at Iwo Jima and started large fires. Thunderbolts attacked Pagan Island. Corsairs attacked Rota and enemy positions in the Marshall wore further neutralised. Ngeregong is relatively unimportant and probably served chiefly as an outpost for closer observation of enemy activities, says the New York Times correspondent at Pearl Harbour. The landing of enemy troops, however, and the ousting of our small force is a reminder tha,t the enemy never gives up, even against hopeless odds, and does not intend leaving the American forces alone, even if we hold Peleliu. PANIC IN CHILE r H. G. WELLS' RADIO PLAY (Eecd. 6.35 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 13 Although the newspapers in Santiago, Chile, announced the programme several days previously, Chilean people went into a panic during a broadcast of H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds." It is based on Orson Welles' radio play which caused similar consternation in the United States in October, 1938. Sunday's broadcast caused Chileans to rush into the streets. Some suffered heart seizures and many accidents occurred. Several persons were injured and considerable time was required to restore calm.