Five Thousand Ton Air Raids

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 22, 26 July 1945, Page 7

Five Thousand Ton Air Raids

U.S. ALMOST READY (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) .Hoc. -W a.m. . . • MANILA, July 25. The American air forces are about ready to hit Japan with 5000----ton raids, said Lieutenant-General George Kenney, Commander of the Far Eastern Air Force, at a Press conference. In the very near future more than 5000 planes will be available for a concentrated aerial smash against Japan. ."I confidently expect that when we land avc will find an almost total lack oi: opposition on the beaches, the same as in' New Guinea and the Philippines." General Kenney declared. "There is no place in the entire Japanese Empire which cannot fee' reached by Allied air power. There is nothing out of bounds for American airmen, and that goes for the Emperor's Palace as far as I am concerned. " . , General Kenney declared that the attack would be the' biggest display of air power the world had ever seen. The Japanese defences would be isolated before the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Japan, and'heavy bombing would isolate the area of the landing from the rest of the country. • Reconnaissance photographs show that 19 of Japan's biggest cities, including Tokio, have been more than half destroyed. Seventenths of the naval base of Kure is in ruins. , According to another report. General Kenney estimates that 10,000 Allied planes will' be smashing Japan and Japanese-held territory before long. './.- ,