SANTA ISABEL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 56, 3 September 1943, Page 5

SANTA ISABEL

EVACUATED BY ENEMY?

LONDON, September 2 There are signs that the Japanese have pulled out of Santa Isabel Island. An Australian correspondent says that when heavy bombers madV their latest raid there was no opposition whatever from the ground. In the past the planes have had to contend with heavy anti-aircraft fire, and the correspondent says it looks as though the Japanese have retreated another step northwards in the slow battle of the islands.

The enemy had built up a strong supply base at Rakata Bay on Santa Isabel, and that was the main importance the island had. There has been no official confirmation of the evacuation yet. The next base is Kulambangra, which is already outflanked by the recent landing north-west of it.

A correspondent, stressing the Japanese air inactivity in Burma, says that possibly the enemy is finding it hard to replace his losses in the South Pacific. Already the Japanese have been combing Burma for pilots for the South Pacific. The correspondent expressed the opinion that in the attacks on Wewak last month the Japanese lost almost as rriany aircraft as their factories could produce.