AIR ATTACKS ON FORMOSA

Waikato Times, Volume 196, Issue 22549, 6 January 1945, Page 4

AIR ATTACKS ON FORMOSA

Carrier-based aircraft are operating over the island of Formosa, which means that the Americans have cut a swathe clear across the Pacific to or near the China coast. If the carrier fleet can maintain its patrols in these waters the Japanese Empire will be cut in two as far as shipping is concerned. Probably Japanese air strength on Formosa and the China coast can still escort patrols through the Straits of Formosa and thus maintain a service between Japan and the Netherlands East Indies and Indo-China, but this line of communication is steadily becoming more tenuous. There may come a day when Japan will wish to take its southern fleet back home, and it may then have to run a dangerous gauntlet up the coast of China.

The latest development in air warfare in the Pacific is that a Super Fortress base is in operation on the island of Guam. Giant aircraft from that island have already raided Japan. The Super Fortress strength must be considerable if it is necessary to extend the base beyond Saipan, a short distance north-west of Guam. Japanese authorities admit that the almost daily visitations of the giant bombers have become a serious factor in Japanese wartime production. This is but the beginning of a campaign that will expand as long as Japan continues to resist. The repeated attacks on Formosa may have no immediate significance but there is no doubt that the air attacks are part of the “softening” process that will eventually lead to an amphibious assault on the island, for next to the Philippines Formosa is perhaps the most important objective in the Pacific. It is the last stepping-stone to the China coast.