TARGETS IN THAILAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25800, 22 March 1945, Page 5

TARGETS IN THAILAND

EASTERN AIR COMMAND COMMUNICATIONS BLASTED (R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service) (Rec. 11 p.m.) BURMA, Mar. 20. Making one of the longest flights possible to‘British aircraft in this theatre of war, many heavy bombers of the Eastern Air Command yesterday blasted vital railway communications held by the Japanese at Nien, west of Jumbhorn, on the east coast of Kra Isthmus, Thailand. It was a round trip of more than 2500 miles, and resulted in the devastation of the Nien marshalling yards and other installations. Vast quantities of supplies were destroyed. New Zealanders had a large share in the attack. Taking off at sunrise, the bombers returned singly. The crews made a long journey on'the course, which was virtually an ocean crossing where the only islands are occupied by Japanese. They reached base between 10 p.m'. and midnight, bringing a story of huge fires started, blazing trains, vivid explosions, and dense pillars of smoke, indicating that oil supplies had been hit. Owing to cloud being down to 3500 feet most of the attaqks were made from a low level. Some of the crews reported flying over prisoner-of-war camps, where they saw the upturned faces of men intently watching the raid. It was a heavy blow at the Japanese. The importance of the raid lies in the fact that since the disruption of the Burma-Thailand railway the Japanese have been bringing much of their supplies by ship to Jumbhorn, assembling them at Nien and running them across the isthmus on a line specially built to the head of Victoria Point, where they re-embarked for Rangoon. The disruption of this line means that the enemy will be forced to take supplies round by Singapore, an added journey of 1400 miles. Describing the raid, one of the New Zealanders. Warrant Officer D. M. Stewart, of Christchurch, said: “We saw a terrific, explosion just before we went in. Lovely fires were blazing and many buildings had already been burnt out. There was no sign of enemy fighters.”