NEUTRALIZING RAIDS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 230, 27 June 1944, Page 5

NEUTRALIZING RAIDS

MacArthur’s Bombers Out (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received June 26, 11 p.m.) ' SYDNEY, June 26. Long-range Liberator bombers of General MacArthur’s South-west Pacific command again pounded the Japanese air bases of Yap, Palau, Woleai and Truk, in the Carolines, on Friday. These continued neutralizing strikes are hampering enemy counter-blows .in the Mariannes and against Admiral Spruance’s hardhitting American sSth Naval Task Force. In their second successive daylight raid on Yap, the Liberators had to fight off 10 Zeros. One enemy interceptor was damaged and one Liberator was lost. Several parked plants were destroyed when 45 tons of bombs were dropped on the airfield. Yap, one of the main Japanese supply bases in the central Pacific, is about 940 miles north of Allied-held Hollandia, in Dutch New Guinea. The first daylight raid on Yap was made on Thursday, when the Japanese were taken by surprise and 22 grounded aircraft were destroyed or damaged. Woleai was also attacked iu daylight, and Truk aud Palau were raided at night. Two euemy freighters of 1500 and 1000 tons respectively, were damaged in the Banda Sea-McCluer Gulf area, off the south coast of Dutch New Guinea. The victorious American invasion troops on Biak Island are making good progress in their mopping-up operations. Today's communique reports thau an additional 345 Japanese have been killed. This brings the number of enemy troops killed or captured on Biak to 2678. The proportion of Japanese to American soldiers killed is 10 to one. The enemy's remnants are retreating to the north-west corner of the island, apparently in the forlorn hope of escaping to the New Guinea mainland.