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Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1943, Page 3

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FOR JAPANESE CONVOY ATTACKED OFF NEW GUINEA COAST. SHIPS MAY BE SHELTERING. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 31. Flying through storms and heavy clouds, Allied reconnaissance bombers have searched without result along the north New Guinea coast for the Japanese convoy of four medium-sized transports, escorted by two destroyers, which are thought to be attempting to land reinforcements and supplies in the Hansa Bay . area, midway between Wewak and Madang. After a temporary improvement on Saturday, flying conditions throughout the South-West Pacific area have again deteriorated. The convoy was last seen on Saturday evening, when a 5000-ton transport was damaged by a near-miss and left smoking 12 miles north-east of Hansa Bay. The absence of further news of the ships does not mean that they have left New Guinea waters. They may be sheltering along the coast under the adverse weather front which has protected them on their voyage to New Guinea, hiding them from air observation. If the ships have succeeded in disembarking supplies as well as reinforcements at a point along the coast cast of Wewak, the gain will be valuable to the Japanese in the area who have been largely dependent on the limited supplies able to be brought to them by barges hugging the shelter of the coast. However, some commentators suggest that the bombing attack by the single Liberator on Saturday may have caused the convoy to turn out of range of Allied bombers. This has happened on earlier occasions. Twenty-year-old Lieutenant Lark Martin, from Georgia, was the pilot of the reconnoitring Liberator which first sighted the ships on Saturday. An antiaircraft shell fired by one of the destroyers put the radio out of commission and so damaged the hydraulic system that the aircraft was left without landing brakes. Then a patrol of nine Zeros, which were probably based on the nearby Nubia airfield, was sighted. Five of the Zeros showed no eagerness to fight, but the remaining four pressed home the attack After two had been shot down and a third badly damaged, the remaining attacking Japanese fighter broke off the engagement and rejoined its more discreet companions. Damaging Raids. In spite of storm conditions. General MacArthur’s bombers yesterday made a damaging strike against Japanese aerodromes near Wewak. Flying Fortresses dropped 13 tons of bombs, including fragmentation bombs and incendiaries, in a raid before dawn on Wewak and Boram airfields. Today’s communique from the South-West Pacific headquarters reports: “An ammunition dump near the aerodrome was detonated, explosions continuing for 10

minutes. Fuel fires were started and numerous other blazes in the dispersal areas indicated burning aircraft. The intense anti-aircraft fire initially encountered was considerably diminished by the explosions of 10001 b. bombs. Many searchlights were active. Five were put out of action by low-level strafing, three being destroyed and two probably destroyed. Liberators made a 1500-mile round trip flight to attack Kendari, the important enemy base in Celebes. A jetty and a 3000-ton merchant vessel were the principal targets. The movement of Japanese barges along the New Britain coast was interrupted by a Flying Fortress on armed reconnaissance. At least five barges were destroyed in a sweep covering the Stetten Bay area. The Japanese have been making extensive use of barges to ferry supplies from Rabaul to outlying garrisons, just as they are employing them to supply their outlying New Guinea bases from Wewak.