END OF BATTLE IN SIGHT

Southland Times, Issue 25512, 4 November 1944, Page 5

END OF BATTLE IN SIGHT

PHILIPPINE ACTION PROGRESSES

(Rec. 10.5 p.m.) . • WASHINGTON, Nov. 3.

On the 10th Corps front on Leyte Island elements of the 24th Division crushed the enemy’s final positions in the Leyte Valley and rapidly covered the last six miles into Carigara, effecting a junction with forward cavalry units, says General Douglas MacArthur’s communique. Enemy remnants are being driven west and south towards Ormoc.

On the 24th Corp’s front, elements of the 7tK Division are pursuing disorganized enemy parties into the mountains. Our troops have reached a point on the west coast 26 miles south of Ormoc.

Final remnants of the enemy’s

forces are being driven into the small, confined Ormoc sector where they arc enveloped on all three sides by our ground forces.

The enemy losses are now estimated at more than 30,000 and the. end of the Leyte-Samar campaign is in sight. Enemy air activity has been directed principally against shipping which sustained some damage. In numerous interceptions our fighters shot down 27 enemy planes. Corsairs bombed and strafed shipping installations and oil storage areas on Koror Island in the northern Palaus and hit trucks and barges on Babelthaup Island. The airfield on Yap Island was bombed and strafed.

A Pacific Fleet communique reports that a single enemy P.T. boat last Sunday night attempted to attack one of our beaches on Peleliu Island where cargo has been unloaded. It .is believed that a torpedo was launched but it did no damage. There were a few casualties. The enemy vessel was sunk as it tried to escape. The Tokyo radio reports that a small American task force has been sighted 200 miles east of Lubon Island. MONTHS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE U.S. War Against Japan (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 2. Mr Roosevelt, broadcasting from the White House, said: “We are all overjoyed with the .news from the Pacific. Never before in history have such long lines of supply and communication been kept up, even while we are fighting a major war in Europe. Our advances towards Japan are many months ahead of our own optimistc schedule, but we must remember that any mill-” tary operation conducted at such a distance is a hazardous undertaking. Progress may be interrupted by checks and setbacks. However, ultimately the advance will halt only at Tokyo itself. “We also do not expect that winter will bring a lull in Europe. On the contrary, we expect to keep striking-the enemy on the move. We will hit him again and again, give him no rest and drive through to’ Berlin.”