MAGNIFICENT STAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 December 1941, Page 4

MAGNIFICENT STAND

MADE BY SMALL GARRISON DEFENCE OF WAKE ISLAND. TOLL TAKEN OF HEAVY ENEMY FORCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 25. The Navy Department has disclosed that fewer than 400 Marines, with twelve fighter planes, held Wake Island, for fourteen days against heavy Japanese attacks. The heroic garrison, with only six five-inch guns, twelve three-inch anti-aircraft guns and a small number of lighter weapons, sank a Japanese light cruiser and three destroyers and also shot down a number of enemy planes.

AIR FULL OF DEBRIS DESTRUCTION OF JAPANESE SUBMARINE. AMERICAN BOMBER’S FEAT. (British Official Wireless.) ■ (Received This Day, 12.25 p.m.) RUGBY, December 25. “An army bomber from General De Witts Western Defence Command on the west coast of the mainland successfully attacked an enemy submarine off the California coast. Soon after the submarine was sighted it made an emergency dive. A bomb was dropped and the submarine emerged and then sank. Two more bombs were dropped, apparently scoring direct hits and filling the air with debris.”

JAPANESE AIR RAID (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) MANILA, December 25. Japanese bombers twice attacked Cabanatuan, 48 miles east of Tarlac, causing considerable damage to buildings and the railway station.