PERSISTENT ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 March 1943, Page 3

PERSISTENT ATTACKS

ON JAPANESE BASES , IN NEW GUINEA SHIP BOMBED SUCCESSFULLY AT BOGIA. HEAVY ONSLAUGHT MADE ON WEWAK. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 28. Continued strengthening by the Japanese of their bases in the New Guinea area is evident from General MacArthur's latest communiques. Today’s release reports a successiul Allied air attack against an 8000-ton vessel in the harbour at Bogia, about 20 miles north-west of Lae. This is the first occasion on which Bogia lias been mentioned in • a* South-West Pacific headquarters communique. On Friday strong formations of Flying Fortresses smashed shore installations at Wewak, about 100 miles north-west of Bogia, which is evidently replacing Lae as the principal enemy base in north-eastern New Guinea. As Allied pressure both from the air and oy our ground troops on the, Lae-Salamaua-Mubo sector has increased, it is apparent that the Japanese have been forced to build up strength further to the north-west, , where the maintenance of supplies and reinforcements is unlikely to prove so disastrously expensive. A spokesman at General MacArthur's headquarters said that the attack on Wewak was one of the heaviest yet made. It was directed against shipping, waterfront installations, the town area and the airfields. In a threehour raid, 19 tons of 500 and 10001 b. bombs were dropped. A 4000-ton cargo ship was twice hit with 5001 b. bombs. When the attack was at its height, our heavy bombers swooped to within 75 feet pi the ground, which is exceptionally low-level bombing for the Fortress, which was originally designed for stratosphere attack. Following earlier reports of heavy anti-aircraft opposition at Rabaul and Gasmata, reports of the Wewak raid also mentioned an intense anti-aircraft barrage there, indicating that strong ground protection has been mounted for all important enemy bases in the New Britain-New Guinea area. The main Japanese bases in northern New Guinea have all been under attack during the weekend. For the first time, Australian-made Beaufort bombers were used against land targets when they made a raid in the Salamaua area. Beauforts had previously been in action as torpedo bombers and as medium bombers against ships, as well as being used extensively on reconnaissance. Their first attack on a land objective was directed against Kala village, a collection of buildings north-west of Salamaua. The latest reports of Friday’s Liberator raid on Ambon, show that the 6000 and 8000-ton cargo ships previously reported to have received direct hits were left burning fiercely. MACARTHUR’S REPORT I INEFFECTIVE ENEMY RAIDS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, March 28. Today’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters states:— “North-western sector, Dutch New Guinea (Merauke): Seven enemy bombers at midday raided the town, causing some damage to buildings, but no casualties. “Tenimber Island (Saumlaki): Our heavy units bombed the town and jetty area, damaging buildings and installations along the waterfront. “North-eastern sector: A low-level sweep was made up the Markham Valley. Anti-aircraft fire was intense, but no enemy planes were encountered. “Salamaua: Our planes, with a fighter escort, bombed the building area, causing explosions and fires. Intense anti-aircraft fire was met, but no interception. “Mubo: One of our attack units bombed enemy positions in S dry creek area. “Buna: A lone enemy plane attempting a raid jettisoned its three bombs into the sea off Cape Sudest when threatened with interception by our fighters.” After referring to the raid on Bogia, the communique described an attack in ■ the Lae area as follows: —“Our attack units, escorted by long-range fighters, bombed and strafed enemy installations near Malahang aerodrome. Strong opposition was encountered from antiaircraft positions. Later, our attack planes bombed enemy positions. “Oro Bay: One enemy aircraft raided under cover of darkness, dropping four bombs without damage or casualties.” REPEATED BLOWS AT SOLOMONS SEA AND AIR BASES. CONVOY FOR ALEUTIANS TURNED BACK. LONDON, March 28. In the Solomons, American aircraft have made six raids on Japanese sea and air bases. The Japanese tried to hit back with a raid on Guadalcanal, but caused only slight damage. Washington announces that a Japanese convoy heading for the Aleutians was engaged by American naval forces at longe range. The Japanese force, when last seen was headed in the opposite direction.