UNDER HEAVY FIRE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 188, 8 May 1944, Page 5

UNDER HEAVY FIRE

Raiding Enemy Gun Sites (R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service.) BOUGAINVILLE, May 5. Though the Japanese targets around Rabaul are burnt and blasted by ceaseless Allied raids from the Solomons, the enemy is putting un a grim but doomed <He£ence o£ the once formidable base which threatened the whole of the South Pacific. New Zealand airmen, flying Dauntlesses and Avengers, report that the anti-air-craft fire which meets them over the airfields and supply areas is as fierce as ever, and often very accurate. Major Roland F. Smith, D.F.C., commander of a United States Avenger Squadron, said after the last trip of his third tour in the area: “It was the most ack-ack I have seen, and possibly the most accurate.” The Japs are matching their wits against the bombers, varying their tactics and changing their gun positions, but Allied airmen are confident of wearing them down. Targets are becoming mote difficult to locate as the wily Nips spray their runways green to match the surroundings and hide supplies in hill plantations and the jungle. Pin-point-ing the target in these conditions calls for keen spotting and good judgment. Some New Zealanders have shown Particular skill at this, as well as at artillery spotting against the enemy on Bougainville—the result of army co-opera-tion experience in New Zealand. It is remarkable what they can detect through the jungle and camouflage. Japanese gunners try desperately to stave the bombers off the target, first With a screen of heavy fire to cover the raiders’ approach and then with light automatic fire, generally intense and accurate, while the aircraft is over the target

Trying Ordeal. “That is the stuff that shakes you,” said a New Zealand pilot. After releasing the bombs the aircraft run througli a curtain of machinegun and light auto matie fire us they withdraw from the area and stream out over the countryside, strafing all they can see. Tbe returning aircraft have shown how they can take it. Some have come back with holes in their wings big enough for a man to crawl through, and others with two-thirds of their elevators shot away or the rudder practically gone. Steering an aircraft through these hazards and bringing the diimaged machines safely home says lot for the airmanship of the New Zealand crews.

Squadron Leader H. M. James, Auck land, has led some outstanding Avenger attacks, one against the Talili Bay supply area, when his was the only force to reach the target through bad weather, and another against Lakunai airfield, in which 59 bomb hits were reported. Flight Lieutenant M. G. Stubbs (Wellington) led a determined Avenger strike against Vunakanau airfield when the ackaek was at its heaviest, scoring 51 hits on tile runway.

Lately, Avengers have included gun positions in their targets with marked success, notably against troublesome guns on the hospital ridge north of Rubaul. The battle against the guns, however, is mainly the job of the Dauntlesses. and a New Zealand squadron under Squadron Leader T. McL. de Lange, Auckland, has put un a fine showing. The dive-bomb-ers’ aim is Io distract the ack-ack and throw up as much debris as possible to cover the Avengers’ approach to the airstrip or supply target. ’’To get in on the target you’ve got to go right through the flak and just take it ns it comes,” said n Dauntless pilot. “The gun position is a pretty small target, and you’ve got to be right on the mark or it's useless. This combat with the guns hns an individual flavour. It’s yoi against the guns, like fighter against fighter.” ,