HEAVY POUNDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 December 1943, Page 3

HEAVY POUNDING

OF NEW BRITAIN BASES. SUCCESSFUL .OPERATIONS. “ • ft SYDNEY, December 7. Japanese bases in New Britain have been pounded by General MacArthlir s aircraft. The heaviest strike reported in today’s _ South-West Pacific communique was Cape Gloucester, at the western tip of the island where about 550 tons of explosives have been dropped in the past fortnight. In the latest attack, Liberators, escorted by Thunderbolts, dropped 155 tons of bombs on enemy supply installations and gun positions. Australian-manned Beaufort bombers last Saturday night made four strikes at shipping in Rabaul harbour and against nearby Lakunai aerodrome. A torpedo hit was scored on a 6000-ton freighter moored in Blanche Bay. When the bombers left the ship was burning fiercely. R.A.A.F. Beaufighters and Bostons attacking in the Cape Hoskins area at the northern end of New’ Britain destroyed five loaded barges and a small coastal vessel. In attacks reported today,' Admiral Halsey’s bombers dropped about 170 tons of explosives on Japanese positions on Bougainville Island. Naval units shelled enemy installations both on Bougainville and Choiseul Islands. The main land fighting in the southern Pacific is still occurring on the Huon Peninsula. Here the A.I.F. force moving up the coast in a drive to impede the passage of supplies to the Japanese garrison at Wareo has made important progress. Stiff fighting continues round Wareo, where the 'Japanese hold strong defensive positions.