LOSSES OF JAPANESE

Southland Times, Issue 24887, 29 October 1942, Page 5

LOSSES OF JAPANESE

TWO DESTROYERS SUNK (Rec. 11.15 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 27. Two Japanese destroyers have been sunk and at least three other warships, including a battleship and an aircraft-carrier, have been tlamaged in the sea and air battle in the Solomons. Japanese troops pierced the American lines guarding the Henderson airfield on Guadalcanar on Monday, but were thrown back and the positions restored. These newest developments are announced in a United States Navy Department communique which followed a warning by the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Frank Knox, that the “Japanese have a lot of strength in the Solomons and it is a tough, stiff fight, with the outcome not yet clear.” In addition to the sea and air fighting close to Guadalcanar Catalina fly-ing-boats have attacked a Japanese carrier force 400 miles to the north-east of Guadalcanar, hitting a carrier and a cruiser. The Navy Department’s communique says:— “On Sunday morning a Japanese destroyer sank the United States Fleet tug Seminole and a small harbour patrol boat near Tulagi. Our shore batteries scored three hits on a destroyer. Grumman Wildcat fighters from Guadalcanar strafed and further damaged the destroyer. FLYING FORTRESS ATTACKED “Six Zero fighters attacked an Army Flying Fortress which was on a search

mission. One Zero was shot down and the Fortress returned safely. Two United States minesweepers engaged three Japanese destroyers near Guadalcanar. Navy and Marine dive-bomb-ers joined in the action and sank two of the destroyers. “During Sunday night and early yesterday morning Japanese troops succeeded in piercing our lines on the south side of Guadalcanar airfield. Army troops attacked and threw them back and regained their positions. Marine Corps troops on our western flank reported small gains after heavy fighting. “During Monday morning our bombers and fighters from Guadalcanar again attacked enemy cruisers and destroyers which had been twice attacked on Sunday north of Florida Island. They scored a direct hit on an enemy cruiser. (In Sunday’s attack three cruisers were hit, one being left on fire and dead in the water). Navy Catalinas attacked an enemy force 400 miles north-east of Guadalcanar and hit one carrier with a torpedo and one cruiser with two bombs. One of the Catalinas was damaged by heavy antiaircraft fire. JAPANESE SHIPS DAMAGED Further reports of the air and naval battle fought on Monday east of Stewart Island (200 miles north-east of Guadalcanar) reveal that one Japanese cruiser was badly damaged, - one Japanese carrier badly damaged, a second carrier damaged and one battleship hit. Monday’s action was fought between rival task forces. One United States carrier was severely damaged and one destroyer was sunk.” AMERICANS’ COURAGE ORDEAL ON GUADALCANAR (Rec. 10.50 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 27. “With inspiring courage, faith and devotion the United States Marine, Navy and Army forces have stood as steady as a stone wall under a terrible ordeal of shelling and bombing preliminary to an all-out Japanese bid for the Solomons,” writes John Dowling in a dispatch to the newspaper P.M., written on October 15. “For three days Japanese bombers in waves of 30 escorted by Zeros were over our position. For three nights Japanese battleships, heavy and light cruisers and destroyers hurled everything they had into our lines. Yet our people are still here smiling. Under cover of this never-ending barrage the enemy landed 12,000 fresh troops within 10 miles of our positions, but not without losses to himself. The Japanese now have 17,000 men ready to attempt to wrest the airfield from us, but it has already cost him 20 warships sunk or damaged to get here and the Marines are ready. “The story of these past days is as inspiring as it is tragic, as full of courage as heartbreaks. For three days we have had no sleep and little food, simply because we have had no time. Our magnificent Marine, Army and Navy flyers have huddled sleeplessly all night and then flown torpedo planes and dive-bombers all day. Their story is an epic of the air. They are flying until the planes fall apart and then patching them with spit and tin and sending them up again.”

SINKING OF WASP SAILORS LAUGH AND SING (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 27. Sailors in the water were singing and laughing when they were ordered to abandon the Wasp, according to a survivor, James Turner, who is visiting his family in Atlanta (Georgia). Turner, who is a ship’s fitter, second class, was sitting in the bow when the first torpedo struck, hurling him to the deck and bruising his hands and knees. The ship listed heavily, but righted herself again before the second and third torpedoes struck. When the sailors were dropping their inflated liferafts destroyers paused in their depthbombing operations to shoot a shark approaching the swimmers. W. C. Chapman, a fireman, declared in Miami: “It felt like an earthquake when the torpedoes shook the ship from stem to stern. The men in the forward part of the ship were thrown around like ninepins. Everyone aboard was calm. It seemed just like boat drill.”