PACIFIC BOMBING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 August 1943, Page 3

PACIFIC BOMBING

EXTENDING IN RANGE & POWER

AMERICANS ATTACK OIL PORT IN BORNEO. DEVASTATING BLOW STRUCK AT SALAMAUA. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 15. Brilliant new records have been established by Allied airmen operating in the SouthWest and South Pacific areas in raids on. Salamaua, New Guinea, and Balikpapan, an important oil port in Borneo. The greatest, weight of bombs ever dropped in 48 hours on any objective in these war zones devastated Salamaua, the threatened Japanese base on the north-east New Guinea coast. Under attacks on Friday and Saturday, when 349 tons of bombs were rained on the enemy base, portion of Salamaua “virtually ceased to exist.” Salamaua is being menaced by Australian and American ground forces and is under fire from Allied artillery.

The raid on Balikpapan was a record flight for land-based aircralt in the Pacific theatre, and was made by a force of Australian-based Liberators. Our bombers flew more than 2500 miles to make the first Allied air attack on an enemy target in Borneo. Two large refineries were set on fire and a ship in the harbour was left burning after a direct hit. All our bombers returned. Liberators, escorted by Corsairs and Warhawks, dropped a record weight of 49 tons of explosives op the Kahili and Ballale aerodromes at Bum, the heaviest raids ever made on these targets. Considerable destruction was caused among grounded aircraft. NEW DISTANCE RECORD. The round trip to Balikpapan bettered the previous record for land-based bombers in the Pacific —made by aircraft attacking Wake Island from Hawaii—by 100 miles. Balikpapan is the port for the greatest oilfields in the Netherlands East Indies, and is a large refining as well aS shipping centre. The Japanese have established a seaplane base and several aerodromes in the area. Our attack on this objective was made at night. The Japanese are also employing Balikpapan as a supply base for many important centres of enemy activity nearer the Australian coast.

The initial air raid on this objective following that on Surabaya, Java, on July 23, indicates the increasing vulnerability of Japanese-occupied areas. Liberators flew nearly 2400 miles from Australia to attack the important naval base and port of Surabaya, where an oil refinery was also the principal objective and was hit. Balikpapan was occupied by the Japanese in February of last year, and Surabaya in March. The oilfields and refinery installations in the Balikpapan area were reported to have been destroyed by the Dutch defenders before enemy occupation. However, the Japan ,se claimed to have restarted production some months later.

General MacArthur's communique says that Friday’s attack on Salamaua —a record-saw 177 tons of bombs dropped. On Saturday the target area was again shattered by 172 tons of bombs. Friday’s raid was also the second heaviest attack made on a single objective by the combined South-West and South Pacific air forces, including airmen from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The record raid was on July 13, when 186 tons of high explosives were dropped on beleaguered Munda airfield, New Georgia. ' ALLIED ADVANCE IN THE SALAMAUA AREA. FOLLOWING ON HEAVY SHELLING. LONDON, August 15. In the South-West Pacific, Allied troops have made a small but important advance in the Salamaua area, lhe enemy positions for three weeks had been subjected to the heaviest shelling yet seen in New Guinea.