HEAVIEST TO DATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1943, Page 4

HEAVIEST TO DATE

AMERICAN AIR ATTACKS ON JAPANESE BASES

IN INDO-CHINA & ON HAINAN ISLAND. NEW PHASE OF AERIAL WAR IN PACIFIC. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK. May 5. The heaviest American bombing onslaught that has been made on Japanese bases in the Far East is announced from the United States Army Air Force headquarters in China. The attacks, which were made yesterday, were on Hainan Island, off southern China, and the dock area at Haiphong, Indo-China.

“These surprise raids, which are the first of the direct blows against Japan, pointing eventually toward Tokio. mark a new phase of the aerial war in the far Pacific,” says a correspondent of the Associated Press of America. ,

The attacks were made by Liberators which were recently sent from the United States to augment MajorGeneral Chennault’s medium bombers and fighters. Both Hainan and Haiphong are important centres on the sea and air routes from Japan to the South Pacific.

A Japanese airport at Samah, at the southern end of Hainan, was practically wiped out. An immense fire was started in oil stores, and four hangars were blown up. Barracks and naval installations were also hit. Mitchell medium bombers made the attack on Haiphong, which was shrouded in clouds, preventing full observation. One huge explosion was observed in the dock and warehouse area, where an ammunition dump is believed to have blowm up.

The raids apparently completely surprised the Japanese, and there was no fighter interception. Some Zeros were sighted near Haiphong, but the enemy planes did not attempt to attack, and all the American planes got safely back to theii’ bases.