NAIRU SHELLED
BY RAIDER FLYING JAPANESE COLOURS
Attack Soon After Daylight Yesterday
CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE DONE
BUT NO CASUALTIES REPORTED
The bombardment of the island of Nauru by a ship believed to be a raider has been announced by Mr Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, stated a 8.8. C. broadcast this morning. The island was shelled soon after daylight yesterday. The ship was sailing under a Japanese name and flying the Japanese colours. Considerable damage was done, but there were no casualties. Nauru Island, which is held under mandate, has no defence against bombardment, but only against a landing party. Yesterday’s attack was all the worse as it was carried out under the guise of the colours of a friendly nation.
On December 8 ships sheltering from a gale off Nauru were seen to be attacked by two enemy sea raiders. Only two of seven ships which were in the Nauru and Ocean Islands area since reported their arrival at another port and by December 20 the five vessels were presumed lost, ’there was no mention in the reports of that occasion of shelling of the island itself, and Sir Albert Ellis, New Zealand representative on the British Phosphate Commission, stated that there was no reason to believe that the cantilever and other plant on Nauru Island had been damaged by enemy action.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 December 1940, Page 5
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222NAIRU SHELLED Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 December 1940, Page 5
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