SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 August 1943, Page 3

SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS

ON JAPANESE SHIPS & BARGES MADE BY ALLIED AIRCRAFT. FREIGHTER SUNK & 18 BARGES DESTROYED. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 12. The Allied air forces in the South-West Pacific yesterday made widespread attacks on ships and barges with which the Japanese were attempting to reinforce and supply their garrisons in the Solomons and New Guinea area. One enemy freighter was sunk and two damaged, and 18 barges were destroyed in the day’s operations. Off New Ireland, Liberators on reconnaissance attacked a light cruiser, two small cargo vessels, a lsT)0-ton merchantman, and nine barges. The 1500-ton merchantman was sunk, and one of the small cargo vessels damaged by a near miss. Another damaging near miss was scored on a 2500-ton freighter off Cape St. George, at the southern extremity of New Ireland. The vessel almost capsized, and stopped. The 18 supply barges destroyed were in Vitiaz Strait, and along the

New Britain and the north New Guin-

ea coast. k Allied Beaufighters made a surprise \ attack on the Japanese seaplane base at Taberfane (Aru Islands), destroying three small boats and a float-plane on " the water. Six other float-planes were intercepted. One was shot down and two were damaged. In New Georgia, where adverse weather hampered air operations, the American advance toward Bairoko, eight miles north of Munda, continues. Bairoko, according to an Australian war correspondent in the area, is likely to become the scene of fierce fighting. The Japanese are dug in on both sides of Bairoko harbour. They seem unwilling to make a sea evacuation, and appear determined instead to render the American reduction of their fortress position as slow and as costly as possible. The enemy defences at Bairoko comprise six lines, all linked by tunnels, enabling the defending garrison to make a gradual retirement. Pillboxes and dugouts in the roots of banyan trees form an important part of the defence system.