ENEMY WARSHIPS HIT

Southland Times, Issue 25737, 30 July 1945, Page 5

ENEMY WARSHIPS HIT

BATTLESHIP SUNK RAID ON NAVAL BASE DESTRUCTION OF 129 JAPANESE PLANES CARRIER AIRCRAFT OUT IN GREAT FORCE (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 28. British and American carrier aircraft made a devastating attack on targets in the Inland Sea area of Japan at dawn today. The battleship Huuga is reported to have been sunk and several warships were set on fire. Interceptor opposition was fierce, and many enemy planes were shot down. The Associated Press correspondent with the 3rd Fleet says that dive-bombers, torpedo-planes and fighters at 3 p.m. streaked through accurate moderate to heavy flak and pounded Kure naval base. Three of the first four attacking Hellcats landed 1000-pound bombs on warships already hit on Tuesday and Wednesday. The raiders destroyed or damaged scores of enemy planes, many of which were shot down in combat. Fires raged through Kure and spurted into the sky from the remnants of the enemy fleet. Several warships will probably be out of action for the duration of the war. The correspondent pointed out that all the ten battleships with which Japan started the war have been knocked out. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz’s communique says that widespread attacks were made on Japanese sea and land installations. Enemy airborne resistance continued light. The attacking planes

shot down 15 enemy aircraft over the targets and six, including four torpedoplanes, were shot down by combat air patrols in the vicinity of Allied surface ships. No attacks were carried out against the American ships. Sixty-one aircraft were destroyed and 68 damaged on the ground. Nine vessels aggregating 8000 tons were destroyed and 35 aggregating 20,000 tons were damaged. The battleship Haruna, the light air-craft-carrier Hosho, the escort aircraftcarrier Kaiyo, the gunboat Duji, an old heavy cruiser, two destroyer escorts, two submarines and an unfinished air-craft-carrier were also slightly damaged. Thirty-five American pilots and aircrew men were lost in combat. Another report lists the damage as follows:— . By American aircraft. —The battleships Haruna and Ise and the cruisers Aoba and Oyado, which were previously damaged, were set on fire, and the escort carrier Kaiyo was again damaged. The battleship Huuga, which was heavily damaged on July 24, is now resting on the bottom with her decks amidships under water. Three sub-, marines were sunk and four destroy- 7 " ers, two destroyer escorts, two medium transports, three small freighters and one unidentified vessel damaged. One plane was shot down near the American ships and 18 shot down near the targets. Seventy-five were destroyed on the ground and 56 damaged on the ground. Reports are not available from the British carriers. Search aircraft yesterday sank a small cargo vessel and damaged two small cargo vessels and three schooners over Sushima Straits, in Kyushu waters. SUPERFORTRESS RAID Between 550 and 600 Superfortresses early today dropped 3500 tons of incendiaries on Ichonomiya, Ujiyamada, Tsu, Ogaki, Aomori and Uwajima, six of the eleven cities showered with leaflets by the 20th Air Force. The Superfortresses also bombed Shimotsu oil refinery. Part of the incendiary force for the first time fuelled on Iwojima, then bombed Aomori, the most northerly city the Superfortresses have yet attacked.

A few hours earlier Major-General Curtis Lemay, Chief of the 20th Air Force, had broadcast a warning to Japan announcing cities on the list for destruction within the next few days, reports a correspondent of the Associated Press of America. Major-General Lemay advised civilians in the cities named to flee to safety and restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who would end the war.

Superfortresses showered 60,000 warning pamphlets on each of 11 cities, Nchinomya, Isu, Uhiyamada, Nagaka, Nishingoya, Aomori, Ogaki, Koriyama, Uwajima, Kuruna, and Hokkaida.

Major-General Lemay said: “We cannot promise that only these cities will be attacked, but 11 will be destroyed, and at least four of them very soon, so heed this warning. Evacuate immediately.”

CAMPAIGN IN NEW GUINEA Japanese Fight Delaying Actions (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, July 29. Troops of the Australian 6th Division are pursuing 6000 to 7000 Japanese into the hinterland of New Guinea. The Japanese, with all their high mountain features gone, are fighting fierce delaying actions down the slopes of the Prince Alexander ranges behind Wewak. The 19th Brigade, which fought in Greece and Crete, is in the spearhead of ’ the attack. The New Guinea operations are widespread, brisk actions being fought along the coast 30 miles apart. The operations in southern Bougainville have been brought to a standstill by the heaviest rains experienced since the Australians took over the operations from the Americans.

JAPANESE TERMS OUTLINED Reply To Surrender Demand

(Rec. 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, July 29. The first statement has been made by an identified Japanese official on the Allied surrender ultimatum, says The New York Times. General Jiro Minami, president of the Totalitarian Political Party told Domei that the Japanese nation will be ready to talk peace only when the whole of East Asia was freed from British and American colonial exploitation and Japan and the other nations of the world are assured of a peaceful life based on justice and equality. Tokyo radio added that Minami admitted that Japan might be overwhelmed by armed force, but this involved the sacrifice of millions of human lives and huge quantities of materials, taxing the Allied resources to breaking point. The Allied people’s war weariness would not permit them to stand such great sacrifices. The Japanese Christian leader, Toyohiko Kagawa, in an English language broadcast said that despite America’s horrible cruelty to Japan, reconciliation was still possible if the United States would free China, liberate the Philippines, cut off India’s iron chains and give Indonesia independence. The Home Minister, Kenki Abe, who has completed a ' tour of Nagoya, Kobe and Osaka said that the people of central Honshu were determined to defend their land to the bitter end. The Domei News Agency’s commentator, Hiroshi Oyama, discussing unconditional surrender, said that Germany was already on her knees before the invasion, and, therefore, the outcome was obvious. “The East Asia picture is different,” he said. “The American forces have no nearby major base, but instead have won only a few small parts of Japanese islands. After four bloody years not a single enemy soldier stands on the Japanese mainland, nor is likely to without, paying a terrible and almost prohibitive price. The bitter lessons learned on all Japan’s tiny invaded islands should impress the American mind that Japan is firmly and doggedly determined to resist and will battle tooth and' nail for every inch of her sacred soil.” PREPARING FOR SURRENDER?

The former chief of the Domei News Agency’s English section in Manila, Ken Nurayama, who was recently captured on Luzon, said that Japan’s leaders had been preparing the people for surrender, which can be expected within a few weeks. He declared that the Navy would provide the dominant voice in the final decision on the Potsdam ultimatum. He added that Admiral Keisuke Okada, who narrowly escaped assassination when he was Prime Minister in 1936, was the current strong man behind the Cabinet. Nurayama considered that the recent intense regimentation of the Japanese people was intended to provide a tight check rein on fanatics in the event •of a sudden capitulation.