ATTACK ON SUMATRA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 95, 22 April 1944, Page 5

ATTACK ON SUMATRA

FURTHER DETAILS SURPRISE FOR SABANG Rugby, April 20. A south-east Asia communique states: “Bombers and fighters from aircraft-carriers, which were escorted by a powerful Allied fleet of battlesnips,. cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, carried out a surprise raid on Sabang and on the Iho Nga airfields, northern Sumatra, at dawn on Wednesday. Heavy bombs were used and the fighter escorts strafed ground targets. “At Sabang numerous direct hits were made on dockyards, the power station, the wharf, barracks, hangars, workshops, and a radio station, and in the town area large fires were left burning. Heavy bombs fell on two merchant ships, each of 4000 to 5000 tons. Two Japanese destroyers and an r scort vessel were strafed and set on fire. Twenty-two planes, including six large transport aircraft, were destroyed on the ground. A 10001 b. comb tel. on an oil tank, which was left burning. On the Iho Nga airfields several aircraft were destroyed on the ground.

“The enemy appears io have been taken completely by surprise, but replied to the attack with intense antiaircraft fire from light guns. Three enemy torpedo-bombers, which later approached our fleet, were shot down by our fighters. One of our aircraft was forced to land on the sea, but the pilot was saved by a submarine which surfaced and carried out the rescue under fire from snore batteries. All the other aircraft returned to base.”

The attack against Sumatra indicates that Admiral Sir James Somerville intends to cripple bases from which the Japanese could launch a naval offensive westwards, says the Associated Press Ceylon correspondent. The raid is interpreted as a forerunner of other amphibious operations.

The Evening News naval correspondent points out that Admiral Somerville’s attack on Sumatra is the first naval raid against Japanese-occupied teriitory in this part of the world. Coming within a day or two of the announcement that Admiral Mountten’s headquarters had been moved to Ceylon, the attack has great significance. The retaking of Sumatra would be a vital factor in our regaining Singapore and the Malaya Peninsula. Until the Japanese are driven out of Sumatra, no operation for the recapture of Malaya could hope to succeed, and Sabang is an obvious jumping-off ground as a base for amphibious operations against Sumatra.

Reuter comments that the tactics ot the attack follow closely those used by Admirals Halsey and Nimitz in the Central Pacific against the outer ring of Japan’s defences.

Reuter points out that the German ; overseas news agency’s Tokio corres- ' pondent recently estimated the * strength of the British Fleet in the j Indian Ocean as seven or eight battle- , ships, five aircraft-carriers, eight J heavy and eight light cruisers and a ( number of destroyer flotillas. . i By attacking Sumatra, Admiral j Mountbatten has struck his first j major blow’ against the Japanese in , the Dutch East Indies. It was only ( last Thursday that the transfer of his . headquarters from New Delhi to j Kandy (Ceylon) was announced. ( North-west of Sabang lie Nicobar , and the Andaman Islands, which were £ raided by Indian-based aircraft a few j days ago, but Sabang is the western j outpost of the rich Dutch possessions , which the Japanese overran after ! Pearl Harbour. A thousand miles east of Ceylon, it is 680 miles west of . Singapore across the Malacca Strait — ‘ the “gateway to the east”—and was a , coaling station of some importance in j peacetime. Iho Nga is on the mainland of Sumatra some 20 miles soutn of Sabang and a few miles west, of the’ important town of Kuta Raja, terminus of the railway which skirts the north-west coast of Sumatra. JAPANESE DID NOT COME OUT TO BXTTLE Recd. 8.20 p.m. London, April 21. “Challenged bv a powerful Allied fleet to join battle off the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese navy has given proof that it is not prepared to fight outside the protecting belt of islands in the Indian Ocean,” says the Daily Mail’s naval correspondent. “Admiral Somerville’s task force, which struck a surprise blow against Sumatra headed into an area over which the enemy must keep daily air ’ reconnaissance. If they had been prepared to give battle there is no reason why they should not have been ' able to able to get to the scene before the Allied bombers and fighters took off to pound the airfields and docks at • Sabang. “The reason the Japanese refused to fight in the Indian Ocean is clear. Within the shelter of the protecting ■ islands, the Andamans, the Nicobars and the Netherlands Indies their 1 can operate with land-based air cover. This avoids the handicap of facing I Allied fleets which have an overwhelming superiority in aircraftcarriers. This principle has been scrupulously observed by the Japanese in all their Pacific fighting. It seems that in the Indian Ocean also they will wait for us to attack inside the island barrier before putting to sea to meet us.” PINCERS FOR JAPAN SEBANG ACTION INDICATES THEY ARE CLOSING Recd. 10 p.m. New York, April 21. “The attack on Sabang is . interpreted in naval circles as a tightening of the pincers against Japan’s extended outposts,” says the New York Times’ Washington correspondent. “It is pointed out that the attack provided striking evidence of the Allied naval preponderance in the Far East. It is significant that British warships, which previously were preoccupied with the Atlantic, are now able to be the snearhead of such an important attack.” A British spokesman in Washington described the attack as a challenge to the Jananese Fleet nart of which is believed to be at Singapore, the approach to which is covered by Sabrng. FOLLOWIN' 1 LINES OF QUEBEC MEETING ■ Reed. 10 n.m. New York. April 21. The New York ' r imes says 1 have been unconfirmed suggestions that the British am extmmelv interested in reconouering Singapore end 1 Burma, whereas the Americans am - ’-nnre concerned in striking alnn" the ’ direct, route tn Janan. However, both • | British and American naval lin Washington <o-da” unmsefv V" I repudiated any hint of official d’fl’tj ; ence. They added that the Soulli-na-4 Asi - campaign is following- the lines laid down at the Quebec Conf rem co. i The Secretary for War, Mr. H. L. - Stimson, commenting on the Far Eastern situation, said: “There is no occasion for mystery in connection wtih the India-Burma theatre, where Allied , forces hold ground and air superiority and the Allied military position is sound.