JAPS AT BUNA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 307, 30 December 1942, Page 5

JAPS AT BUNA

“BLGODILY REPULSED” ALLIED AIRCRAFT MORE ACTIVE (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) (Recd. 9.15 p.m.) Sydney, Dec. 29. When the Japanese trapped by the Allied forces on the right flank of their Buna position attempted to break out at midnight on Sunday they were “bloodily repulsed.” This is reported by General MacArthur's communique to-day. A subsequent Allied counter-attack with artillery support drove still another wedge deep into the enemy’s final defence line. Enemy naval craft, believed to have been submarines, shelled the Ameri-can-occupied Buna village for about four hours between midnight on Sunday and dawn on Monoay. The shelling caused no damage. The Allied ground forces are revealed to have captured a number of dual purpose anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns in the Buna airfield fighting. Allied aircraft have again been active ever the fortress area in support of our ground operations. Havocs bombed and strafed enemy supply dumps and attacked the few Japanese who were sighted along the coast. Marauders bombed a Japanese wreck half a mile off the coast of Gona. This had been used as a supply dump and anti-aircraft guns had been mounted there. After three direct hits the wreck was left smoking heavily. Beaufighters strafed enemy barges near the mouths of the Kumusi and Amboga Rivers. The 400-mile-an-hour Lightnings have not been reported again in action. It is revealed that the Allied air commander, Lieut. - General Kenny, has been patiently husbanding them for a major air battle. He achieved his wish and threw them in as a shock weapon against the most formidable Zero concentration he could find in New Guinea. The Lightnings have been used in the Southwest Pacific mainly for reconnaissance work, for which their high speed makes them particularly suited. RAIDS ON RABAUL HEAVY ALLIED AIR BLOWS (Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) (Reed. 10.45 p.m.) Sydney, Dec. 29. Liberators scored three direct hits with 5001 b. bombs on a large Japanese cruiser in Rabaul Harbour. The cruiser was left in flames and is believed to have been destroyed. The latest raid on Japan's key South Pacific base was made on Monday morning in bad weather, which again prevented full observation of results. After the attack on the shipping in jhe harbour our planes bombed the township with high explosives and incendiaries. Later reconnaissance showed the cruiser burning fiercely and beginning to buckle. Reconnaissance following Sunday's raid on Rabaul by Flying Fortresses and Liberators showed a 15,000-ton and Liberators showed a 15,090-1 on transport still lying on its side in the harbour, while two smaller vessels were burning off Sulphur Point. This devastating weei<-end attack, made by three waves of heavy bombers, was the greatest raid on Rabaul since the sustained offensive in the last week of November, when major battles were being fought in the Solomons. Rabaul has now been raided six times during December. In other widespread Allied air attacks runways on enemy aerodromes at. Finschhafen. New Guinea, and Gasmata were bombed by Liberators. Beaufighters and Hudsons kept up relentless attacks against enemy targets on Timor. Fighters attacked store dumps and traffic on the Laivai-Laga Road, while bombers scored hits on undisclosed targets at Laivai and Fuiloro. An intercepting Zero was shot down. The Laivai-Fuiloro area, in which the Japanese are building an aerodrome and are accumulating supplies, has now been attacked on four successive days. Large parties of Japanese were apparently at work on the ’drome. Discussing the heavy Allied air blows against the Japanese in this theatre during the past few days, the Sydney Sun to-day says editorially: “It is pleasing to observe that .the Allied airmen have a definite and notable superiority. But Japan will not crumple because of slow attrition in the South Pacific. Only by blows at her heart will the war be won. At present we are twisting her little finger. No doubt it is painful #o her. but while we appear to have stemmed the course of invasion we have not yet begun to drive her back to any considerable extent.” Dr. Peter Russo, a former resident in Japan, also writing in the Sun today, declares: "There is reason to believe that. Japan is holding in reserve tremendous resources and forces, comparable in their surprising effect ivitv to the materials she used during the early days of the Pacific war.”