ALLIED STRATEGY IN PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 25642, 9 April 1945, Page 5

ALLIED STRATEGY IN PACIFIC

BRITISH EFFORT TO BE INCREASED (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 8. A high British official said that the appointments of General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as the Allied commanders in the Pacific were entirely satisfactory to Britain, reports the Washington correspondent of The New York Herald Tribune. The climatic campaign against Japan proper will be directed by American strategy and command, but this does not affect the British determination to send every available man, ship and plane to the Pacific after the European victory. The present Allied strategy also calls for Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten to continue as Commander-in-Chief in South-east Asia with Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, and probably IndoChina and Borneo, included in his command. It is not anticipated that a

Supreme Allied Command for the Pacific, as in western Europe, will be established.

It is thought that if Russia declares war against Japan, the Russians will retain command of their own Pacific forces, converting the war into a threefront affair, with the Russians operating from Siberia, the Americans moving in from the Philippines and the central Pacific, and the British mopping up in the south-east Asia and the Netherlands East Indies. GREAT ASSAULT ON HONSHU Super Fortresses Raid Aircraft Plants (Rec. 11 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 8. A very large force of Super Fortresses from the Marianas made a two-way daylight attack on Honshu, reports a 20th Air Force communique. They struck at industrial targets in Tokyo and Nagoya. According to Tokyo radio about 100 Super Fortresses and nearly 40 Mustangs raided Tokyo and Yokohama for an hour and a-half, beginning at 9.30 a.m. The Mustangs bombed and strafed west Tokyo, while the Super Fortresses attacked military objectives. It was the .first time that land-based fighters attacked Japan. The Mustangs, it is believed, were based on Iwojima. A later message says that it is officially disclosed that the attack on Honshu was the greatest assault so far against Japan. More than 300 bombers, escorted by fighters, rained incendiaries on the Nakajima and Masashino aircraft engine works at Tokyo, and the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at Nagoya. The Mustangs shot down 21 interceptors, probably destroyed six and damaged 10. Two Mustangs were lost. The 20th Air Force announced that the Super Fortresses shot down 64 planes and probably destroyed 31. The air opposition and flak was intense over the targets. Five Super Fortresses were lost due to enemy action.