NOTABLE VICTORY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1943, Page 3

NOTABLE VICTORY

WON BV ALLIED AIRCRAFT IN SOLOMONS e 36 JAPANESE FIGHTERS , SHOT DOWN. AGAINST LOSS OF SIX PLANES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, September 2. Allied airmen scored another great victory in the Solomons yesterday, when they shot down 36 out of a force of 60 Japanese fighters in a bitter running battle over the sea. Only six Allied planes were lost. This latest success, which demonstrates the marked Allied air superiority over the Japanese in the South Pacific, is reported in today's communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters. The battle developed .when swarms of Japanese fighters vainly attempted to prevent an attack on Kahili aerodrome, on the southern tip of Bougainville Island, by Liberator bombers, with a strong fighter escort. As the enemy swept in to intercept the bombers, Allied fighters dived among them and a fierce battle raged. The bombers pressed home their attack and scored heavily along the runway, but poor visibility prevented assessment of the damage. Japanese fighters continued the battle till the homeward-bound raiders were over Canongga Island, south of Vella Lavclla. The battered remnants of the enemy then broke olf the engagement. The Allies in the Solomons are shooting down five Japanese planes for every one they lose. The total of enemy planes claimed destroyed since the American landing in the Solomons in August last year, is now 1562.

Another Allied raid in the Solomons reported in today’s communique was on Rekata Bay, on Santa Ysabel Island, where heavy units pounded installations without opposition. A fighter destroyed a Japanese reconnaissance plane oil the south coast of Santa Ysabel. In a coastal sweep at Vella Lavella Island, our fighters destroyed a small cargo vessel and two barges near Paraso. Allied light naval craft on a night patrol sank a loaded barge and damaged two others in the Vella Gulf. ' WIDESPREAD ATTACKS. General MacArthur’s bombers attacked widespread enemy objectives in the South-West Pacific. Heavy units on recannaissance bombed the oil port of Boela, and the villages of Kokas and Sorong, on Ceram Island, in the Netherlands East Indies. The results have not been disclosed. Off New Ireland, a medium unit bombed a Japanese destroyer and an EOOO-ton cargo ship, with unobserved results. In a coastal sweep round the western end of New Britain, medium bombers destroyed or damaged 10 barges and strafed an enemy-occupied village south of Dorf Point. The Huon Peninsula area of New Guinea was attacked by Allied medium units which executed a coastal sweep between Finschhafen and Saidor. The jetty area near Reiss Point was bombed and strafed.

SOME GAINS MADE BY ALLIED FORCES IN NEW GUINEA. SYDNEY, September 2. A strong Japanese position on Scout Ridge, the southern bastion of Francisco Valley, at Salamaua’s “back door” has been encircled by American troops operating from Roosevelt Ridge. The Japanese established strong defensive positions on top of a steep-es-carpment and have delayed the American advance for a considerable period. Abandoning frontal attacks, the Americans made a flanking movement round the enemy strongpoint and have now almost surrounded it. Australian troops have made 'small but important gains against the Japanese who retreated to the Francisco River ' after the Allied victories at Komiatum and Tarnbu. On the south side ofithe river, where a small enemy force has been resisting stubbornly, the Australians have made territorial gains and captured a pillbox.