ATTACKS ON RABAUL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 November 1943, Page 4

ATTACKS ON RABAUL

HEAVY AND EFFECTIVE BLOWS STRUCK BY ALLIED AIRCRAFT details of mounting ENEMY LOSSES. MANY WARSHIPS DESTROYED OR OUT OF ACTION. (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received This Day, Noon.) SYDNEY, This Day. Nearly 200 Allied planes were employed in Friday’s big air strike against Rabaul. About 100 planes from Admiral Halsey’s command came fyom aircraft-carriers, while General MacArthur’s aircraft flew from New Guinea. This was the first joint attack by the two South Pacific commanders against the Japanese key base in the area, and the ninth great raid since General MacArthur confided to war correspondents, on October 9, that he planned to knock cut Rabaul by aerial bombardment. The Japanese losses officially reported in these attacks have been: — Planes, 552 destroyed, 116 probably destroyed, 94 damaged. Shipping, sunk or destroyed: One heavy cruiser, seven destroyers, one gunboat, 12 merchant ships (totalling 74,000 tons), 43 small ocean-going vessels, four coastal vessels, 70 harbour craft. Shipping damaged: Seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, one submarine, one submarine tender, two destroyers, one tender, ten merchant ships (totalling 57,000 tons), and two large tankers. The total Allied losses have been 45 planes. In four attacks alone, the weight of bombs dropped on Rabaul was 688 tons. “The latest Rabaul raid was damn successful, and will give us at least a breather, in the Solomons,” said a spokesman at South Pacific Headquarters. He added that it was likely that ships had been sunk beyond the claims of the communique. It is now revealed that when Friday’s attack against Rabaul was ordered, it was known that six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and 15 to 20 destroyers were in the heavily- protected harbour. All these cruisers were hit and they will be out of action for some time, since Rabaul does not offer repair facilities for heavy warships. Making this crippling assault against the enemy’s war shipping strength, Admiral Halsey's Dauntless dive-bombers and Avenger torpedo-bombers, protected by the Navy's latest 500 miles an hour Hellcat fighters, swept over the harbour with the sun behind them. The enemy ships raced back and forth, trying to dodge bombs and torpedoes. Some ran from the harbour seeking safety on the open seas. Although only two destroyers have been claimed as damaged, several others were heavily strafed. One naval pilot, his plane riddled with bullets, lost his companions when six Zeros attacked him. He fought them off and headed into squally weather. He was unable to find the carrier forces and flew on to the nearest airstrip. He landed safely in the Central Solomons, with only four gallons of petrol left.