AMERICAN SUBMARINES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1942, Page 3

AMERICAN SUBMARINES

ATTACKS ON ENEMY SHIPS. LONDON, February 26. A Batavia communique states that in the past few days American submarines operating in East Indies waters have torpedoed two enemy transports, one Japanese naval auxiliary vessel, and one freighter. An American submarine also attacked a Japanese squadron consisting of cruisers and destroyers, but it was forced to dive and the result could not be seen. It is presumed that one ship was hit by a torpedo. J The island of Banka, off Sumatra, as • well as other places in southern Sumatra, are presumed to have been occupied by the enemy, the communique adds. LINES OF_ ATTACK

ENEMY’S APPARENT AIM IN BURMA. LONDON, February 26. “The Times” states that all news from the front indicates that the enemy’s first and chief objective is the great port and city of Rangoon, terminus of the pipe-line from the oilfields and, till now, the principal base from which supplies have reached China by the Burma Road. The attack to the north seems to be in the nature of a diversion. “The Times” adds that the Japanese have advanced more than 150 miles in the teeth of fierce and unflinching opposition. They have had great superiority in numbers and have fought as fiercely as Japanese soldiers have always done and have shown unmatched skill in jungle warfare. GENERAL BENNETT ESCAPE FROM SINGAPORE.

WITH PARTY OF OFFICERS & MEN. LONDON, February 26. It it reported unofficially from Canberra that Major-General Gordon Bennett, the commander of the Australian forces in Malaya, has escaped from Singapore with a party of British officers and men. After adventurous journeying in small boats they have reached the Allies in the East Indies. General Bennett said that lack of water, incessant bombing and the enemy’s greatly superior numbers eventually compelled our forces to surrender. The Delhi radio has confirmed the report of the escape of Major-General Bennett from Singapore to Batavia with seven members of British regiments and eight members of the Singapore Volunteer Defence Corps. Major-General Bennett escaped from Changi Fortress, where he had been interned along with Lieutenant-General Percival, the British commander-in-chief. MONGOL ARMY DESERTS FROM JAPANESE. CHINA DESIRES AIR LINK WITH INDIA. CHUNGKING, February 25. A communique states: “A Mongolian ■ army of 15,000 men, comprising two : divisions of Japanese-equipped Mongol 3 cavalrymen, recently abandoned their Japanese command and joined the Chi- , nese forces near Paotow. The defec- , tion followed the fatal poisoning of . their commander, Pai Trangh-siang, at ‘ a banquest given by Japan's Gestapo.” £ It is also announced that the Chinese ‘ forces have been continually attacking / the enemy outposts at Yochow, in £ North Hunan Province, and have inflicted more than 1000 casualties on the £ Japanese. " A Chinese Government spokesman 1 today expressed China’s desire that India and China should be linked by air transport. He stressed the vital im- * portance of an air route between the ‘ two countries in view of the extension * of the war to Burma and the position r of the port of Rangoon.