NAVAL FORCES JOIN IN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 237, 4 July 1944, Page 5

NAVAL FORCES JOIN IN

Targets In Dutch New Guinea Pounded ALL DAY ATTACK

(Received July 3, 10 p.m.) SYDNEY, July 3. Japanese defences on Noemfoor Island.' in Geelvink Bay, western Dutch New Guinea, were pounded in all-dtiy air and sea attacks on Saturday. Strategically situated, ouly 55 miles west of Biak Island, which is now firmly in Allied hands, Noemfoor was also the target for heavy bombing raids on Friday. , , Blancs of the Fifth and 13th United States Air Forces recently amalgamated under Major-General Kenney's command on Saturday combined to attack troop and supply areas with 230 tons of bombs. Their strikes, which lasted throughout the day, were concentrated on the north-west corner of the island. Later, under cover of darkness, Allied light naval units bombarded possible enemy gun positions on tlie same sector. No Japanese air opposition 'was encountered. Persistent Allied bombings have driven enemy planes off Noemfoor’s three airfields. Noemfoor, lying midway between Biak and Manokwari, at the western tip of Geelvink Bay, is an oval-shaped island about 15 miles long, by 12 mjles wide. Its three airfields are Kamiri, Korasoren, and Number. The first two. only three miles apart, are both 5000 ft. long, but are capable of extension. Number, on the south-west coast, is 4000 ft. long. Mopping Up On Biak.

American ground forces on this sector are still mopping up enemy pockets ot resistance. On Biak Island they have killed 177 more Japanese, bringing the tojal of enemy dead in this campaign to 3055. In the* nearby Sarmi-Maflin Bay area where the Japanese are holding stubbornly to two airstrips, 347 more enemy troops have been killed in local fighting, bringing the Japanese losses to 2703, including 30 prisoners. Liberator bombers operating from New Guinea bases made their first strike against Boeroe Island, in the Banda Sea, just 250 miles east of the Celebes group. Big fires followed the dropping of 58 tons of bombs on barracks and an airfield. Three parked planes were destroyed and an intercepting fighter shot down. West of Boeroe, a 1000-ton enemy cargo vessel was sunk with a direct bombhit. T> . The Aitapc-Wewak sector of the British New Guinea coast, where elements of three Japanese divisions are trapped, is being attacked from sea and air. Destroyers on Thursday night fired 1000 shells into targets in the area. Six barges were sunk at Wewak and a number of small ships damaged.