BATTLE DETAILS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1943, Page 3

BATTLE DETAILS

SPLENDIDLY SUSTAINED ATTACKS BY ALLIED BOMBERS & FIGHTERS. JAPANESE AERODROMES NOT FORGOTTEN. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 4. “The brilliant victory stands in its true perspective when two facts are realised,” sa|s the Sydney “Sun” war correspondent. “The first is that the loss of the 15,000 ground troops does not include the naval personnel and the crews of the transports, which would raise the total by another few thousands. The second is that the victory is equivalent to the wiping out of at least a Japanese division, with enormous amounts of equipment.” The details of the separate attacks which were made on the convoy are by no means complete. Further reports of the operations, which were begun on Tuesday, show that after sinking two ships and directly hitting two others, Flying Fortresses scored one hit and one near miss. When intercepted by 15 to 20 Zeros, the bombers destroyed three. The results of this action were not available in yesterday’s account of the battle. In a final attack at dusk on Tuesday, Fortresses registered two direct hits and two near misses on a 6000-ton ship, which was left sinking. Near misses damaged two other cargo ships, while two out of 15 Zeros were sent spinning into the sea. NIGHT OPERATIONS. Throughout Tuesday night Australian long-range Catalina flying-boats kept contact with the convoy, and in an attack before dawn yesterday they scored a hit on a warship, believed to be a cruiser. Later in the morning Havoc fighterbombers inflicted crippling damage in mast-high attacks. • A 6000-ton cargo ship was hit and left in flames. Another of equal tonnage was hit a number of times, and it burst into flames before it exploded. A similar fate befell a third 6000-ton cargo ship, while a'smaller 150-foot vessel exploded with a terrific blast. After two more 6000-ton cargo ships had been hit, Mitchell medium bombers took up the attack. They sank a destroyer and two 5000-ton cargo ships, while an 8000-ton transport was left burning fiercely after two direct hits. Later other warships and transports were hit, till not a single vessel of the convoy had escaped. The details of

the final operations have not been revealed. During these attacks dogfights raged overhead between large formations of Allied Lockheed Lightnings and enemy fighter planes of mixed types. These actions, which greatly assisted our bombers in their pursuit of the enemy ships, took place at from 20,000 ft. to 25,000 ft., and caused considerable destruction among the enemy fighters. Meanwhile, the Allied air force had not forgotten the Lae and Finschhafen airfields, which could serve as bases for the convoy’s air umbrella. In addition to the 55 enemy planes which were shot out of the combat over the Bismarck Sea, seven more enemy fighters were destroyed or damaged in air battles over the Lae aerodrome. Our attacks on the field were maintained throughout yesterday. The Allied air action against what was left of the convoy continued into last night, when the last battered ships finally turned tail in an endeavour to escape.