JAPANESE SHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1943, Page 3

JAPANESE SHIPS

ANOTHER NINE SUNK BY AMERICAN SUBMARINES IN FAR EAST AIR ATTACK ON FORMOSA REPORTED BY TOKIO LONDON, November 26. In Far .Eastern waters American submarines have sunk nine more Japanese ships. These comprised seven freighters, one tanker ami an aircraft Iransport. A Chungking message states that an American medium bomber squadron operating in China, has sunk 35 Japanese vessels to date and damaged eight others. One airman has sunk 20,000 tons of enemy shipping. A Tokio message reports a raid by Allied aircraft on Formosa, off the Chinese coast east of Hong Kong. Fifty planes are reported to have taken part and Tokio says three were shot down. The report is not confirmed from Allied sources.

GREAT EXPANSION

OF AMERICAN SUBMARINE SERVICE. DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY CARGO FLEET. NEW YORK, November 26. As a direct result of the successes of American submarines in the Pacific, the navy’s submarine service is undergoing a vast expansion, involving new construction and the training of large numbers of personnel, says the “Herald Tribune’s” Washington correspondent. The object of the programme is to sink in 1944 the remaining two-thirds of the Japanese cargo fleet which has so far escaped destruction. The Navy Department has issued a call for volunteers and has relaxed the requirements for the service.

The Foochow correspondent of the “New York Times” reports that in the past four months many Japanese merchants have been leaving Shanghai. Only two or three ships a month are arriving from Japan, compared with three or four a week formerly. Because of this there are not enough goods coming from Japan to make business worth while. Japanese merchants are reported to be ' looting Shanghai shops before departing.