STEEL PLANTS MAIN TARGET

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 224, 19 June 1944, Page 6

STEEL PLANTS MAIN TARGET

Second U.S. Raid On ' Japan ENEMY SURPRISED

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) iN'EW YORK, June 16. The super-Fortresses which raided Japan dropped tons upon tons of boiW on Japanese steel plants in northern Kyushu, but suffered some losses, me attack was carried out to the almost complete amazement of the Japanese, savs Roy Porter, who represented the combined American radio networks on the super-Fortresses’ raid. "Explosives were dropped on coke ovens ami open hearth furnaces/ he said. Mak poured into the skies. Bullets and fragments dug deeply into the bombcte, but the engines kept turning. •‘Nearly all the planes left great ■masses of wreckage overhung by a gigantic pall of smoke stretching for miles into the air. The attack demonstrated tha Thmvli the enemy waS caught by smprise° he has prepared his defences and Jan marshal enough night lighters 0 cause at least some interference to oui bombing pattern. . . „ . “For the most part, during the first period of this regular mission against the Japanese mainland very lut e opposition developed except searchlights and nah. In the second phase the dak died down. The third period was the crucial one. Then, Japanese lighters pressed home their attack with only meagre results. "The super-Fortresses reporting to their base early today could show some bullet holes, but very little material damage The super-Fortress, planned and built as an offensive weapon, has-proved itS ln°aSecond broadcast Mr. Porter identified the target as the Imperial Stell and Iron Works nt Yawata, m northern Kyushu. He said that a preliminary raid bv Super-Fortresses was made last week hgainst Bangkok. Eleven war respondents accompanied the raiders. The Associated Press correspondent said that the raid against Yawata maj have knocked out one-fifth of Japanese steel production, Japanese Claims. A Japanese communique states that American bombers also bombed Shimonoseki on Honshiu Island. The communique’claimed that seven planes were shot down and three damaged, and. added that except for several casualties Buffeted by the ground forces, Japanese air force and ground installations suffered almost no loss. Fires which were started m several places were quickly extinguished. Tokio radio said that ft is presumed the Super-Fortresses took off from bian, in Shensi Province. The raiders hit the Yawata iron works with only a few bomb fragments without damaging the plant or facilities. The Japanese Cabinet met this morning and the Ministers of Home Affairs, Munitions, Transport and Communications reported that damage was very slight. Tokio radio also announced that several planes raided Korea early yesterday. The Japanese army claimed that the raid* ers inflicted no losses. The Domei news agency says that several aircraft attacked south Korea, possibly as part of a general assault against Japanese railway communications, in- . eluding the Fusan railway ferry terminal on the coast of south Korea, 140 miles from Moji. EXTREMELY NERVOUS Reaction Among Japanese (Received June IS, 9.50 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 11.. While General Doolittle’s raid on Tokio was in the nature of a stunt designed to produce psychological effects, the recent Super-Fortress .attacks are. likely to inaugurate a series of bombings on the Japanese homeland, that may become as common as the'Allied raids on Germany. says the “Herald-Tribune s Washington correspondent. The Japanese Government is aware of that danger and has warned the population to make emergency preparations. A Domei dispatch from Canton admits that the American Air Force in China is planning to .make the Japanese homeland the main objective of the raids. The Japanese are reported to be extremely .nervous about the .expected raids, which are interpreted by them that the tide of the war is henceforth running against Japan. , , ' SIZEABLE TASK FORCE Loss Of Four Bombers (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 16. A Washington message gives the text of a United States War Department preliminary communique regarding the air attack on Japan. “A sizeable task force of Fortresses bombed the industrial areas of Yawata, on Kyushu Island, _in the Japanese homeland, on June 15,” the communique said, "Preliminary reports reveal that though enemy aircraft were encountered by a few unite and anti-aircraft fire was moderate to intense over the target area, only one of our planes was shot down. “Pilots who participated in the mission report that the bombing was accurate and that large fires and explosions were observed. The planes operated from bases in China which were completed .recently. Two Fortresses were lost as a result of accidents. The crew of one is safe. A fourth plane is missing. There were vo casualties on board the aircraft which returned.” ' PREPARATORY WORK Building Of Airfields LONDON, June 16. The biggest job of airport construction In the W’orld preceded the bombing of Japan, reports the “Daily Express” correspondent from the Twentieth Bomber Command air base. Six hundred thousand conscripted Chinese worked for three months in the rich rice country of western China constructing several huge bomber fields entirely by manual labour. President Roosevelt and President Chiang Kai-shek planned the airfield system during the Cairo talks, after which Chinese engineers were chosen to supervise the work. The Chinese Government decided in January to conscript labour for the project. The Chinese in this area are not coolies but farmers, and they found the work arduous, but stuck to the job. Many women also were employed. Eye-witnesses say that the scene when 110,000 labourers were concentrated on the biggest airfield was unforgettable. Everything was carried in baskets or wheelbarrows.