JUNCTION EFFECTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25717, 13 December 1944, Page 5

JUNCTION EFFECTED

AMERICANS ON LEYTE

ENEMY FORCES DESTROYED

(Rec. 11 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Dec. 11. The southern segment of the Yamashita Line has now been eliminated, and a junction of the 7tli and 77th Divisions has been effected. Enemy forces trapped between them were destroyed, and great quantities of supplies of all kinds were captured. This is stated in General MacArthur's communique. The fighting at Ormoc before its fall was most desperate, and the entire enemy garrison was destroyed. In the north the 32nd Division, in spite of almost impassable terrain, is slowly surging forward. Patrol planes at night harassed enemy shipping at Manila and in Lingayten Gulf. Reconnaissance planes set on fire a small freighter off Mindoro, damaged five luggers at Bohol, and shot down an enemy transport plane. Air patrols on the north coast of Mindanao damaged harbour craft in Butuan Bay. Heavy units carrying 79 tons of bombs attacked petroleum installations at Tarakan and Balikpapari (Borneo), and with direct hits ruptured pipe lines and storage tanks, flooding the area with flaming oil. A 1000-ton freighter in harbour was sunk, and another was seriously damaged. Patrol planes attacked installations at Tawitawi, off the north-east coast of Borneo. Medium units and fighter-bombers ranged over aerodromes, camps and supply areas in the Moluccas, runways were cratered, buildings destroyed. and fires started. Air patrols bombed installations and small shipping in the Lesser Sundas, destroying bridges and damaging coastal vessels.