GREAT AIR BATTLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1943, Page 3

GREAT AIR BATTLES

FOUGHT NORTH OF AUSTRALIA Attack on Port Moresby Heavily Defeated MORE THAN A THIRD OF ENEMY FORCE DESTROYED 76 JAPANESE PLANES SHOT DOWN IN TWO DAYS ‘ LONDON, April 13. General MacArthur’s aircraft have, in the last two days, shot down 76 Japanese planes, 37 over and round the Port Moresby area, 24 at Oro Bay and 15 in other actions. The big air battles north of Australia have been followed by a warning by the commander of the Allied land forces in the South-West Pacific, General Sir T. Blarney. He said the Japanese drive to the south is now on. Much would depend on the result of the next few weeks’ air fighting. The Japanese had greatly reinforced their troops in the South Pacific since they were stopped last year. The profound shock of their losses in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea and other engagements had taught the enemy, General Blarney observed, that he could not move large forces without air superiority. The Japanese, he said, had 200,000 troops in the island arc north of Australia.