HEAVY AIR ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 February 1943, Page 3

HEAVY AIR ATTACKS

MADE ON JAPANESE BASES LARGE FORCE BOMBS KOEPANG. LAE AREA ALSO POUNDED. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 10. The Allied air force in the SouthWest Pacific area has struck heavily at another Japanese base north of Australia. This time the objective was Koepang,' an important enemy strongpoint in south-eastern Celebes. Great destruction was caused among buildings, installations and dispersed aircraft. A large force of Australian-based Liberators made yesterday’s raid in bad weather, which hampered observation of the results. •An 8000-ton vessel in Kendari Haramong the targets. On their way north, our Liberators were intercepted by a flight of Zeros which broke off the engagement after one fighter had been shot down. Kendari is the- chief Japanese aviation supply base in the Netherlands East Indies. It has not recently been greatly used by the Japanese as an operational base. This attack followed Monday’s devastating raid on Dobo, in the Aru 'lslands. “This systematic shattering of enemy' bases is a signpost of victory in the Pacific,” comments the Sydney “Sun”; war correspondent. “It is part of General MacArthur’s ‘air power will win’ strategy.” Another heavy air attack yesterday, was made in the Lae area of New Guinea. It was directed mainly against Malahang township and airfield. Havocs and Beaufighters made a sweep, destroying two grounded Zeros which are believed to have been damaged in an earlier raid or in air combat. The Japanese, have again made an aerial reconnaissance of the Allied base at Meranke, in south New Guinea. A reconnoitring float-plane dropped two bombs, without causing damage. NOT BEING CONSOLIDATED TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY JAPAN. ACCORDING TO “ECONOMIST.” LONDON, February 9. “The Japanese are not, as Mr Curtin suggests, settling down to vast exploitation of their new empire,” comments the “Economist,” referring to Mr Curtin’s recent comment that Japan is buying cheaply the time she needs to exploit the resources she has acquired and prepare for an onslaught which the United Nations will find it costly to fight out. The “Economist” adds: “The process of the development of these new resources is as much a drain on Japan’s war effort as support to it. This does not mean that the blows they will strike will not be formidable or that they have by means shot their bolt. They are not consolidating their empire, but they are not fighting much either, and their reserves of military #Juipment are accumulating. Japan is rr military menace, whether or not Nanyo (the South Seas area) is developing according to plan. Mi’ Curtin was right to remind'the Allies how entrenched Japan’s position is becoming and how undisturbed its military force is.” Referring to the programme for building up the supply area for Japanese industry, the “Economist” says it involves a number of contradictions which the Japanese show little sign of resolving. The Japanese Government Tis determined to maintain its programme of self-sufficiency of food in Japan, which strictly limits the amount of extra industrialisation. It also penalises producers of food surpluses in the new supply area —Thailand,Burma and Indo-China. “Yet, without further industrialisation,” the journal says, “the Japanese . cannot possibly maintain their war effort and organise their new empire. All plans require equipment, machinery and expert control. . . . Japanese industry cannot meet the need. The lack of shipping, if anything, is more serious than the lack of capital and technicians. The new empire is an empire of islands, and everything must be water-borne. The clause ‘if shipping is availably’ applies to every trade agreement throughout the empire.” ,