SECOND BLOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25309, 20 August 1943, Page 5

SECOND BLOW

WEWAK AGAIN BOMBED DESTRUCTION COMPLETED NAVAL CLASH IN SOLOMONS (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) (Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 19. Reporting three heavy blows against the Japanese, General Mac Arthur’s communique to-day says: “We have completed the destruction of the rem-, nants of the Japanese air force centred on Wewak. Of the 225 planes originally assembled yesterday’s surprise attack destroyed 120 on the ground, and three in the air, and damaged 50 on the ground, leaving still existent 52 undamaged, in addition to the 50 damaged. “Our attacks in all categories were continued in incessant waves to-day. The enemy mounted 30 fighters to meel the onslaught, 28 of these being shot down. The fields were then combed to practical annihilation. Only 10 planes of the 225 escaped. The other 215 are now gone. , , . “We then struck the town and harbour area, setting on fire three mediumsized cargo ships, sinking a number of barges, and leaving 20 large fires in supply and dump areas. We lost three planes, bringing our total to six. This closes the combat. “In face of the extremely adverse weather our heavy bombers flew a total of 2600 miles to attack at night the oil refining centre and shipping in the harbour at Balikpapan, Borneo. Descending to masthead height, the planes scored direct hits on four large vessels, probably tankers, destroying theni instantly or setting them on fire. Two other large ships were seriously damaged. Fires were again started in the refining area, but an accurate assessment of such damage is impossible because of poor visibility. All our aircraft returned to base. “Allied surface units during a halfhour night engagement off the Vella Gulf in the Solomons ambushed an enemy force of four destroyers escorting a number of barges, seriously damaging two destroyers, one of which probably sank, hit a third, and probably destroyed most of the barges. Some of those remaining probably succeeded in landing on the north-east coast. In spite of sporadic attacks by eight enemy planes we suffered neither damage nor casualties. One of our supply convoys withdrawing from the area was attacked during the night by enemy aircraft and one small cargo ship was set on fire and destroyed.”