“RAISED HELL”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20876, 31 August 1942, Page 5

“RAISED HELL”

AMERICANJMARINES MARIN ISLE RAID GRIM TOLL OF ENEMY l* ... ■ ; - * 1 . • TWO LEFT. OF 300 MEN (By Telegraph—Preen Ashp.—Copyright.! (2.40 p.m.)PEARL HARBOUR, Aug. 28 Graphic tfirsL hand accounts of the United States Marines of the recent raid' on the Japanese seaplane base al Makin-Island were given by Lieut.Colonel Evans Carlson, who led the raiders, and Major James Roosevelt, a son - of the President, u U, r The Marines wiped out the seaplane- base and installations, destroyed :three radio stations. • 1000 barrels of aviation petrol,■■ ibombs and foodstuffs. said Major Roosevelt.: Only twefi Japanese out of a force of .‘IOO survived-the Marines sudden attack The American losses were less than 10 per cent of the enemy's.: u Li'eut.-Colonel Carlson revealed that the Marines were on- the island for 20 minutes before they Were discovered, although the 7 Japanese- maintained -a continuous alert, with snipers strapped to the tops of 70ft. coconut trees for "We fought until 11.30 a.m. on the first-day .when tile first Japanese air raiders came over,” he said. “Meanwhile; we had sunk a 3500-ton Japanese transport and a gunboat. The Japanese planes strafed and bombed confusedly, dropping more on their own troops than on us. • The light ended at 4 p.m. on the second day. There were 1700 natives on the island and they had been ill-treated by the Japanese. The natives looked upon the Americans as deliverers and served • as an auxiliary intelligence corps. , . , "One of my hardest jobs was to reserves from entering the firing line because they all wanted to shoot. By accident an officer and men in a: boat got lost and came up at the rear of the Japanese. They shot 1 eight and knocked out the Japanese radio station. They spent the day cutting enemy communications, killing Japanese messengers and generally, raising hell. - • - "The battlefield was some sight when we left —dead Japanese were behind almost every coconut tree.” Lieut.-Colonel Carlson said the Japanese were able to operate against Samoa Australian lifeline from Makin Island: 'As : the Marines destroyed everything this base is not much use Fiat present. Apparently several British subjects had been on the island when the Japanese landed but the? Marines found rio indication of their fate.