Evening star., 1942-10-19
y. S. Forces in SoIomons Braced
For Full Scale Jap Land Attack;
Germans Press On in Sta|ingrad
M'Arthur Bombers
Blast Enemy's
Supply yLines
By the Associated Press,

By the Associated Press.
Tending off aerial attempts to
soften them up, American forces
intrenched on Guadalcanal Is
land braced themselves today for
an expected full-scale assault by
large numbers of japanese land
fighters.
AS the enemy moved his artillery
into position and placed troops and
equipment at strategic spots along
the islands north shore, Gen. Doug
las MacArthur's headquarters in
Australia sent out four waves of
heavy bombers to harass Nipponese
supply lines and depots in a wide
sweep over the Northwest Solomons.
Whether the vigor of these bomb
ings, coupled with the devastating
reception accorded enemy raiders
over Guadalcanal, was delaying
frontal assault by land troops could
only be conjectured.
However, the Navy said yester-
day that there had been no reports
of fresh japanese landings since
Thursday.
Heavy Ship Concentrations.
But ''heavy concentrations Of
enemy ships are still reported in
the Bum Shorthand area" Solomon
waters about 300 miles northwest of
Guadalcanal, the Navy's COM
munique continued.
The supporting enemy ships in
this area were the special target
OF Allied bombers, which were be-
lieved to have hit three cruisers
and several other vessels.
A communique from Gen. Mac
Arthur's headquarters, reporting the
second successive night attack on
BUN, said the airdrome used by
; the japanese in their Solomons op-
erations was bombed heavily.
After lighting up the crowded
harbor with parachute flares, the
Allied raiders spilled % tons of
bombs, including many thousand
Founders, on the enemy ships be-
low. In the last of the four attacks
a cargo vessel was strafed and set
aflre and seven flying boats we're
destroyed or damaged.
The last raid saw enemy vessels
burning flercely as the result of
earlier attacks" the communique
said.
Airfield Believed Still Held.
An indication that the American
held airfield on Guadalcanal was
still intact, despite recent lombard
ments by enemy surface vessels and
air raids, was seen in the Navy COM
munique, which reported that Army
Flying Fortresses and Navy and Ma
rine Corps aircraft had repeatedly
attacked enemy troops assembled
in force on the northwest end of
Guadalcanal.
The Navy said United States
fighters and anti-aircraft batteries
completely wiped out a flight of IA
enemy bomberS which raided the
airfield with an escort of eight fight
ers Saturday morning. Two of the
fighters also were downed.
The same afternoon, however,
another group of about IS enemy
bombers and number of fighters
carried out a second raid with bet
ter luck for them. Only one enemy
bomber was reported probably de-
stroyed. United States losses in the
two raids consisted of one plane.
The Solomons communique did
not cover all of the information
received here from the field, ac-
cording to Navy spokesman who
explained that some additional in
formation was being withheld be-
cause 1t would prove valuable to the
enemy at this stage.
Communication Lines Hit.
Gen. MacArthur's headquarters
reported that Allied planes
ranged the japanese communica-
tion lines around New Britain and
New Guinea, attacking an enemy
(See sol ONIONS, Page A-6)