BLACK DAY FOR JAPANESE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23178, 17 April 1945, Page 4

BLACK DAY FOR JAPANESE

Friday, April 13 Outstanding “Strike” By Corsairs BOUGAINVILLE. April 16. Friday, April 13, was a black day for the Japanese on Bougainville. New Zealand Corsairs and Venturas and United States Mitchells dropped more than 100 tons of bombs on assorted enemy targets with marked success. Results nowcoming in tell a story of destruction adding to the mounting toil taken by the Air Force in the last three weeks. One of the outstanding strikes was carried out by 12 Corsairs against a strong Japanese defensive position on the Hove River, a tributary of the Puriata, where bitter actions have been fought recently. The task of the Corsairs was to blast pillboxes and other Japanese defences. The fighters swept in with “daisy-cutters” forward of the line of the Australian advance. When the smoke and debris cleared the Australian ground commander as veryaccurate. "The complete area was covered,” he said. There was no let-up over the weekend. Corsairs continued their close support with strikes in the south and maintained their good record of direct hits on small but vital targets. One strike produced an exceptionally large flash and clouds of black smoke. Nearby Australians reported that the concussion was terrific. Meanwhile the New Zealanders operating in the north took a hand in an artillery duel near Soraken, which has been continuing for a week. The strikes were directed against 75-mlllimetre and 150-millimetre gun sites with half-ton bombs and depth charges, and at least one direct hit on a gun location has been reported.