JAPANESE SHIPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25172, 12 March 1943, Page 3

JAPANESE SHIPS

FURTHER ALLIED ATTACKS NEED FOR MORE AIRCRAFT (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Mar. 11. Japanese shipping at various bases along the 1000-mile arc north of Australia was attacked by Allied aircraft on Wednesday. The presence of enemy vessels at widely-dispersed points indicates that the Japanese are still reinforcing their perimeter outposts. Most of the Allied raids reported were on a small scale. Six Japanese vessels were bombed or strafed in attacks extending from Banda Sea to the north coast of New Guinea. At Wewak, 350 miles north-west of Lae, near misses with 10001 b bombs were scored against two medium-sized cargo ships, one ship of 5000 tons being severely damaged. At Boetong Island, southeast of the Celebes, a direct hit was scored on a 7000-ton cargo ship, which was left burning and probably became a total loss. At Boerqe Island, west of Amboina, two cargo ships were bombed, but the results were not observed. At Regolia Sermat, an island in the Tenimber group, a coastal vessel was strafed and damaged. Heavy Attack on Wewak The heaviest Allied attack was made by Flying Fortresses against Wewak, the enemy base in Northern New Guinea, which is assuming increasing importance. Besides striking at shipping in the harbour, our bombers attacked warehouses. Liberators made raids on enemy shipping north of Australia. It was reported at General MacArthur’s headquarters to-day that liferafts carrying the bodies of Japanese who perished in the Bismarck Sea battle had been sighted off the coast of North-east Papua. A two-knot current flowing from the Bismarck Sea no doubt accounts for the presence of the rafts in this area. An enemy bomber reconnoitring Trobriand Island, in the same locality, was shot down by our fighters. American war correspondents in this theatre continue to urge on the United States the need for air reinforcements in the South-west Pacific. Stating that during the Bismarck Sea battle Majorgeneral Kenny’s “comparatively slender resources were stretched to the utmost,” the Christian Science Monitor’s representative here, Mr E. W. Lucas, asks: “What if two convoys from different points of the compass had approached New Guinea instead of only one? ” Hcairst Press Campaign ‘ The powerful Hearst press is reported to be running a vigorous campaign urging increased assistance for the American forces in the Southern Pacific and suggesting that one week’s entire United States aircraft production should be devoted to this theatre.

The Hearst press, however, has been so notoriously anti-administration, and so consistent in its sniping of President Roosevelt that Australian observers in the United States believe that its ad•vocacy of the cause of this theatre may prove an embarrassment and merely provoke a stiffening of the present Washington attitude, which has minimised the danger of the continued Japanese southward aggression.