LATE NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24826, 28 January 1942, Page 6

LATE NEWS

SEIZED AS HOSTAGES AMERICANS IN PARIS (Rec. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 26. The Vichy radio announces that 200 American citizens living in Paris have been sent to a German concentration camp, and will be held as hostages against the treatment of Germans in the United States. JAPANESE SEA DISASTER MACASSAR STRAIT BATTLE (Rec. 1.20 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 27. Reports reveal that Dutch and American planes and units of the United States Fleet are still pounding the Japanese convoy in Macassar Strait, where the greatest single sea disaster suffered by any nation in the present war has befallen Japan. In addition to the Dutch claims, American forces have sunk at least 51 Japanese ships of all types in the Macassar Strait battle. Some of the many transports sent to their doom were trans-Pacific liners. They were more than 20,000 tons each, and probably carried 3000 men. The smaller vessels are believed to have carried 1000. The majority of these, it is assumed, were drowned, killed, or injured. “We could not miss them,” said one of the Dutch pilots. “The Japanese were sailing in tight formation. If we had more planes we could have scored three times more hits.” Authorities say that this is the first time the Japanese were caught without air superiority. The object of the convoy, it was thought, was to destroy the Dutch strength at its source. BRITISH AIR OFFENSIVE HANOVER AND EMDEN BOMBED (Rec. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 27. British bombers last night attacked Hanover and Emden in force, and others operated over north-western Germany. Another force bombed the docks at Brest. Three aircraft are missing. There was no enemy air activity over Britain.