JAP. ARMADA INTERCEPTED

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 244, 16 October 1942, Page 5

JAP. ARMADA INTERCEPTED

BATTLESHIP DAMAGED BY BOMBS U.S. POSITIONS UNDER FIRE ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS LANDED

P.A.Cable.

WASHINGTON, October 15,

A major battle is being fought at sea off Guadalcanar Island, in the Solomons, in which heavy units of the Japanese navy are engaged. The action is still proceeding, but a special communique just issued by the U.S. Navy Department reveals that a Japanese battleship has been damaged. Apparently the Japanese force is being opposed chiefly by U.S. land-based airicraft. Early this morning, states the communique, Japanese transports were sighted off Savo Isiand (off the north-western; tip of Guadalcanar) covered by destroyers, cruisers, and a battleship. A striking force of U.S. planes went out to attack the Japanese fleet and three direct hits (were obtained on a transport, and two others were set on fire. The Japanese battleship was damaged. A Navy spokesman said that only sketchy details of the battle were available at present, and the battle was still in progress. An earlier announcement said that Japanese troops from transports covered by naval units had been landed on the north coast of Guadalcanar, to thei westward of the American positions. This Navy Department communique added that on Tuesday night Japanese surface vessels bombarded the airfield and shore installations on Guadalcanar. The Associated Press of America correspondent says that while the Navy has made no interpretation of the facts reported in this communique, it is obvious that the Japanese have rallied forces for a major effort to crush the American offensive in the Solomons. The first objective of such an undertaking would be the destruction or the capture of the Marine base at Guadalcanar. It seemed certain, therefore, that a major battle on land and possibly at sea was impending. 1 The War Secretary, Mr Stimson, has told a Press conference that American Army ground and air forces recently arrived in Guadalcanar to reinforce the Marines, and seized important positions in the Solomons, to which they were holding tenaciously against vigorous J apanese counter- attacks. Mr Stimson also said that substantial Army forces were now in the New Hebrides, the Fijian Islands and other points where their presence was undisclosed previously. All these forces were under the commander of the Air Forces, Major- General Millard Harmon, who had headquarters in New Zealand, but who spent most of his time at the advanced base at New Caledonia. The Army and Navy forces in this area were fighting in the closest possible co-operation under the unified command of the Navy, he added.