ALLIED GAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1943, Page 4

ALLIED GAIN

VALUE OF VELLA LAVELLA • ISLAND

OCCUPIED IN CENTRAL SOLOMONS GOOD SITES FOR AIRFIELDS. MENACING JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. New Zealand as well as American fighter pilots provided air cover for the Allied occupation of Vella.Lavella island, in the Central Solomons last Sunday. This is reported by an Australian war correspondent who accompanied the United States force.

Following on the landing, Japanese aircraft made repeated efforts to attack the American ships and troops. Their attempts cost them 14 planes. Coral snags restricted the beach space available for the landing, but the shore parties appear to have encountered no formidable enemy resistance. Rear-Admiral Wilkinson, commanding the South Pacific amphibious force, told a war correspondent that the new bridgehead is likely to be developed into an effective base, spear-heading into the enemy’s Solomons territory. Vella Lavella is 25 miles long and 15 miles wide. Much of it is densely wooded and a steep razor-backed mountain ridge, up to 3,000 feet, runs almost its whole length. However, low plateaus in the northern half of the island are regarded as ideal for the construction of airfields and landing strips. The Japanese do not appear to have developed the natural' airfield potentialities of the island. By directly menacing the already hazardous Japanese supply line, the American occupation of Vella Lavella is believed by observers to virtually clinch the destruction of whatever enemy forces are still holding out in the Central Solomons area.