Evening star., 1942-01-18
More Air Support
Rushed to Malaga,
Australia Reveals
By C. YATES MCDANIEL,

Associated Press War Correspondent.
SINGAPORE. Jan. 17-Relays
of British fighters and bombers,
which have been longing for a
chance to catch the japanese at
a disadvantage, have found
their opportunity and wrought
havoc among troops. freight
cars and truck conveys along
the Gemas-Tampin line, 110 to
120 miles north of Singapore
Island, an official statement
said tonight.
ut was disclosed authorita-
lively In Canberra, Australia,
Saturday that plane reinforce
ments have been sent to the
Malayan front, and these may
have taken part in the British
air offensive. The Australian
government was declared to have
taken firm stand in the matter
of fastening aerial help to the
battle of Singapore in which
fresh Australian ground forces
have gone into action
AS this vigorous air attack was
proceeding inland, other airmen
struck at concentrations of barges
and small ships along the west
coast where picked Japanese
spearhead was attempting to en-
large its foothold among mangrove
swamps south of the Muar River,
within 80 miles of Singapore.
Freight Yard "Plastered."
while our bombers were plaster
ing the marshalling yards at Gemas,
fighters were machine cunning a
long serpentine line of transport
vehicles from a low altitude" on the
Gemas- Tampin road, the statement
said.
The pilots said they caught the
motor transports stretched for 2
miles along the narrow road from
Tampin toward the East, and that
they left many fires among the
1000 or more vehicles.
Bombers unloaded scores Of large
caliber bombs on the railway yards
and conveys at Gemas, scoring hits
and starting more than 50 fires, the
pilots said.
Japanese bombers which struck
again at Singapore Friday succeeded
In dropping a few bombs in the
naval dockyards area, but caused no
serious damage, an Official state.
ment said. Six people were killed
and % injured.
Ihls attack was followed by a TO-
plane assault in which at least $50
civilians were killed or wounded. by
lar the heaviest casualties acknoWl-
edged in six weeks of war.
Little Action on East Coast.
Swarms of British fighters dived
on clusters OF enemy launches and
barges in the mouth of the Muar.
llttering the dank waters with
wreckage and bodies. At least one
launch blew up under the spray of
machine-gun fire from the low
flying attackers; invading troops
packed tight into the barges were
cut down like wheat.
The fighters came back with
bombers to blast and strafe those
mechanized enemy forces which
managed to reach the south bank of
the stream to form a bridge-head
there
(Tokio reports purporting to
come from a reporter with the
japanese Army in Malaga said
the Japanese spearhead, or what
remained of it, had reached the
"Batu Pahat sector" at dawn
Saturday. Batu Pahat is coast
al town at the mouth of a river
20-odd miles south of the Muar,
and about 10 miles above Singa-
pore, but "the Batu Pahat Sec
tor" might include considerable
territory above the town.
To the east on. the short fighting
front. in the sector where fresh
Australian troops have checked the
Japanese advance and smashed some
OF their tanks, the Japanese limited
their activities to cautious patrols.