OVER NORTHERN AUSTRALIA & ISLANDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1942, Page 3

OVER NORTHERN AUSTRALIA & ISLANDS

Fourth Japanese Raid on Darwin ENEMY LOSSES IN TORRES STRAIT & ELSEWHERE GUERILLA WARFARE IN NEW GUINEA LONDON, March 16. Japanese planes crossed the coast of Australia today and raided Darwin for the fourth time. Fourteen bombers came over in two waves. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, announced that slight damage was done. No details as to casualties were available. It is learned that the Japanese used at least 30 planes in the widespread but largely ineffective raids yesterday on the islands in Torres Strait off the northern extremity of Queensland. There were no casualties. One Japanese heavy bomber and two fighters were destroyed and several others damaged when they were early intercepted, today’s R.A.A.F. communique says. It confirms that Allied fighters are now in action alongside the Australians, and says that in the dogfights, the pilot of an Allied fighter, having exhausted his ammunition, rammed and crashed a Japanese fighter. The Allied pilot’s own wing was torn off, but he managed to land. R.A.A.F. planes in the last two days raided enemy points in the New Guinea area and Portuguese Timor. The Japanese bombed the Port Moresby aerodrome from a high level. Yesterday, the Royal Australian Air Force attacked the enemy-occupied aerodrome at Dilli, in Portuguese Timor, without loss to themselves. Friday’s attack on the Japanese occupied aerodrome at Rabaul, in New Britain, was made by an American Flying Fortress on patrol. Two planes were destroyed on the ground and the runway was seriously damaged. While the air war continues in the New Guinea area, a correspondent says that in the Huon Gulf country, where the Japanese recently landed, experienced Australian bushmen are waging guerilla warfare, with swift sorties against the enemy.