ENEMY’S HEAVY LOSSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25386, 18 November 1943, Page 5

ENEMY’S HEAVY LOSSES

RABAUL BECOMING “ TOO HOT ” WASHINGTON. (Rec. 10.15 p.m.) Nov. 17. The Japanese have suffered such destruction at Rabaul, according to a United States Navy spokesman, that they may have to abandon the base as being “ too hot to handle.” Their losses include important fleet units. The spokesman asserted that 102 Japanese planes have been shot down in the Rabaul zone in the past six days, compared with 15 American planes lost. These figures were so fantastic that even high Government officials doubted them until supplied with proof. Nevertheless, the Japanese continued to pour ships and planes into Rabaul. The spokesman listed the Japanese claims of Allied ships sunk or damaged since Pearl Harbour as follows: — Battleships, 26 sunk, 12 damaged. Carriers, 14 sunk, ,6 damaged. Cruisers 80 sunk, 37 damaged. Destroyers, 82 sunk, 31 damaged. Submarines, 147 sunk, 51 damaged. The United States Navy’s official figures of its own losses in all war theatres are:—One battleship, four carriers, nine cruisers, 33 destroyers, 14 submarines.