INVADERS LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1942, Page 3

INVADERS LOSSES

■ INCLUDE HEAVY CRUISERS & DESTROYERS As Well as Transports & Smaller . Vessels < DAMAGE ALSO DONE TO JAPANESE SHORE INSTALLATIONS ALLIED FORCES LOSE ONLY ONE AIRCRAFT LONDON, March 18. THE JAPANESE HAVE SUFFERED A CRUSHING BLOW AT SEA, NEAR NEW GUINEA, AT THE HANDS OF ALLIED AIR FORCES. TWENTY-THREE JAPANESE INVASION SHIPS WERE LEFT EITHER SUNK, WRECKED OR DAMAGED. Eight of the twenty-three ships were cruisers or destroyers. The American and Australian forces taking part lost only one aircraft. The list of the Japanese losses is as follows:— Sunk or gutted: Two heavy cruisers, five transports, many small vessels. Probably sunk: One light cruiser, one destroyer, one gunboat, one mine-sweeper. Damaged: One cruiser, one big destroyer, two troopships, five transports, one aircraft tender, one gunboat. Possibly sunk: Two destroyers. In addition considerable damage was done to enemy shore installations, including aircraft runways and anti-aircraft batteries. Three enemy planes were also shot down. Japanese air forces this morning raided the Solomon Islands, and Australian planes raided enemy-occupied positions at Koepang, in Dutch Timor.