TOKIO ADMISSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 October 1943, Page 3

TOKIO ADMISSION

WITHDRAWAL FROM CENTRAL SOLOMONS MORE ABOUT LATEST NAVAL ACTION BRILLIANT AND SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN ATTACK (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) SYDNEY, October 10. A Japanese withdrawal from the central Solomons has been admitted by the Tokio radio. Quoting an Imperial headquarters communique the radio said that the forces “carried out a suceessl'ul transfer” from Kolombangara and Vella .Lavella to rear positions after having caused heavy Allied' losses in these islands. A powerful Japanese naval force was smashed by United States destroyers in the Central Solomons on Wednesday night. In one of the most daring Allied actions of the war in the Pacific, the Japanese lost a light cruiser or heavy destroyer flotilla leader, and two destroyers sunk, another destroyer probably sunk, and two or three destroyers seriously damaged. The American force suffered damage and casualties, which are officially described as moderate. Giving an account of the battle, a report from the South-West Pacific headquarters says that aerial reconnaissance on Wednesday afternoon indicated that the Japanese were sending a destroyer force from Bougainville to escort a considerable number of barges and small combatant craft to central Solomons waters. An American destroyer force was dispatched north to intercept the enemy flotilla, and was shadowed by Japanese aircraft throughout the evening. A small forward force of destroyers under Captain Frank Robinson Walker arrived 15 miles north-west of Vella Lavella in Bougainville Strait at 11.30 p.m., and soon afterwards sighted the Japanese ships in three groups, all close together. The first group included four destroyers and a light cruiser or heavy flotilla leader, the second group comprised four more destroyers, and the third a varied assortment of gunboats, light naval craft and barges. Without waiting for reinforcements, Captain Walker decided to attack the greatly superior enemy force. His destroyers engaged the first two groups of nine enemy warships with torpedoes and gunfire. The most damage was done to the first group. The second group speedily lost heart and made off at high speed. The third group was never engaged; it waited on the outskirts of the action for some time and then fled. “This was an extraordinary performance by the Japanese, whose destroyer commanders hitherto have lacked neither courage nor aggressiveness,’’ writes an Australian war correspondent with the United States Fleet in the South Pacific.

Admiral Halsey, commander of the South Pacific forces, has sent the following dispatch to Captain Walker: “Our hats are off in pride for your brilliant and determined action. God bless all of you.”