SHATTERED & DISPERSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 March 1943, Page 3

SHATTERED & DISPERSED

JAPANESE CONVOY MAKING FOR LAE Three Ships Sunk by Allied Bombers INCLUDING 10,000-TON TRANSPORT INCESSANT ATTACKS BEING MAINTAINED LONDON, March 3. Generaly MacArthur’s bombers are still making attacks on what is left of the Japanese convoy off New Guinea. When the convoy was about 70 miles from Lae it had. lost three out of 14 ships. A 10,000 ton transport went down first and two smaller transports soon afterwards. The large Japanese convoy, which was attempting to reach Lae, New Guinea, has been shattered and dispersed by Allied heavy bombers, which are maintaining incessant attacks, a special Australian correspondent states in a message cabled from Sydney. Two transports, totalling 18,000 tons, have been sunk and at least two other ships (a 6000-ton transport and a 5000-ton cargo ship) have been severely damaged. Thirteen protecting Japanese fighters have been shot out of action. All this damage was inflicted in the Bismarck Sea area, north of New Britain, before noon yesterday, and the reports of our later attacks have not yet been released.

TOLL TAKEN OF ZEROS

The Japanese have had a force of 30 to 40 fighters protecting the convoy, and the battle is continuing. Observers believe that the convoy has suffered greater damage than has so far been announced. Flying Fortresses and Liberators, loaded with 5001 b. and 10001 b. bombs, dived low over the convoy in the initial attacks, which were made in adverse weather with rain, haze and thick cloud. Escorting Allied fighters engaged in a series of dogfights with the convoy’s air umbrella, and destroyed five Zeros with eight more listed as probaoly destroyed . They were last seen falling toward the sea with smoke trailing from them. Simultaneously, other Allied air formations pounded the enemy aerodrome at Lae to minimise the chances of the Japanese sending out additional fighter cover from this base. It is officially revealed today that the convoy of 14 ships—the largest ever to attempt to reach. Lae—comprised three cruisers, four destroyers and seven transports or cargo ships. The first attacks on the vessels were made by the Fortresses, which scored five direct hits on a 10,000-ton transport, which was later reported to be awash and sinking. A direct hit on a 5000-ton cargo ship caused a fire in the forward hatch. Then a 10001 b. bomb, striking an 8000-ton transport amidships, split the vessel in two so that ; she sank within two minutes. This th,, wave of Fortresses was intercepted by seven Japanese fighters, three of which were probably destroyed. CRUSHING DAMAGE . When a second wave of Fortresses ' went over the now scattered convoy the visibility was poor, but a near miss was scored against a light cruiser. Twelve Zeros attempted without success to break up the attack. Observers with this flight reported that the destroyers had gathered round the damaged 5000-ton ship, indicating rescue or salvage operations. Liberators and Fortresses comprised the third attacking wave, of which operations scant details are available. The spokesman at General MacArthur’s headquarters said that the pressure of the Allied air attacks is so heavy that the intelligence officers have not had time to interrogate the bomber crews fully, and that the details of the crushing damage inflicted upon the convoy are, therefore, by no means complete. The latest reports released indicate that last night remnants of the convoy had turned south in Vitiaz Strait, evidently making for Lae, the main Japanese base in New Guinea. No official estimate has been made of the number of enemy troop reinforcements carried by the convoy, but the Sydney “Sun” estimates the figure to be between 7000 and 10,000. JAPANESE AIMS SPECULATION IN LONDON. LONDON, March 2. “The facts of General MacArthur’s recent communiques admit of no doubt that the Japanese are strongly rein- ■ forcing in the great arc of island positions . which front and flank northern Australia,” declares “The Times” in an editorial. The paper adds that while the Japanese were expected to adopt a defensive strategy after their Papuan and Guadalcanal failures, it is possible that this is not their intention. x “It is certainly strange that after last June the great Japanese effort should have come to a standstill which even their naval losses in the Coral Sea, Midway and the Solomons battles cannot entirely explain,” comments “The Times.” “It is possible that a new offensive is being laboriously mounted with the same care which preceded the series of onslaughts that carried the Japanese to the borders of India and the outer defences of the Australian continent. “Yet, Tokio may after all have resolved to follow a defensive strategy. The resistance of their garrisons in Papua and on Guadalcanal may have encouraged them to count on wearying the Allies by a stubborn defence in an island-to-island war. “Mr Roosevelt has pointed out that the Japanese communications must be ‘cut near the top,’ and that China must become a base of operations for this purpose. There may be no immediate prospect of a large-scale offensive against the Japanese through Burma, but the complexities of the war in the other theatres should not obscure the importance of the Chinese lifeline. It must be repaired if Japan is to be decisively beaten.”