FORTRESSES BASH JAPANESE

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 252, 26 October 1942, Page 5

FORTRESSES BASH JAPANESE

ATTACKS AGAINST SHIPPING.

P.A. Special.

SYDNEY, Oct. 25.

The most devastating air attacks yet made on Japanese shipping have been carried out by Australian-based Flying Fort - resses. Eleven vessels, aggregating about 70,000 tons, have been sunk or damaged in Rabaul harbour. A raid on Friday morning was followed by a second in force early on Saturday morning, when a 17,000-ton seaplane tender received a direct hit arnidships with a 500-pound bomb. It was left smoking and listing and it is believed to have been sunk. The extent of the support given to the United States Navy by aircraft of General MacArthur's command is shown by the fact that 21 enemy ships have now been sunk or damaged in these continuing raids. Not a single plane was lost on Friday or Saturday. Uncertain light made it difficult to observe the full results, and it is thought probable that the darnage may prove greater than has been claimed. On the way to the target on Friday morning the Flying Fortresses encountered a severe monsoonal storm. "It was the worst storm I have struck in operational flying," said the captain of one of the Fortresses. "I would rather tackle 15 Zeros than go through it again." The most successful pilot was Captain Franklyn Green, of Texas. He flew below the level of hillside searchlights to score waterline hits on a cruiser which listed badly and gushed oil. His second victim was a merchant vessel. Two direct hits set it afire, the flames lighting the sea for miles around. A United States Navy communique states: . "United States naval forces recently carried out operations on Gilbert and Ellice Islands, with the following results: Two small enemy patrol vessels were sunk and an enemy destroyer and one merchantman damaged by gunfire, near Tarawa Island. No heavy enemy forces were encountered during the operations. "There has been no report of any new action in the Solomons."