The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-03-31
Flying F ortresses
 Again Lead Attacks
Continued from Page D

ment yesterday, added to @ rapidly rising toll of Japanese ships, naval vessels and planes in the struggle at the gateway to the United Na- tions' last base in the Pacific.
 Developments
 Development in the struggle to- day included:
 1. The attack on Lac airdrome by the Allied planes, believed to include flying fortresses, whcih struck through bad weather and dropped their bombs from 2600o feet.
 2. An estimate by Col. Eugene L. Eubank, who commanded the American bomber forces in the Philippines and Java campaigns, that his planes had destroyed or badly damaged 16 Japanese war ships and 4s transports up to March l. He said U. s. bOmbers definitely had destroyed 50 Japanese fighters.
 3. Other estimates of 28 Japanese ships-including at least IA warships sunk or damaged in the islands north of Australia since March l, raising the total to about 30 war ships, 60 transports and probably 200 planes, although some of the dam aged ships may have been attacked more than once.
 4. Premier Curtin gave a formal pledge at Melbourne that neither the Australian government nor the parliament would interfere or over ride the decisions of Gen. Douglas MacArthurs supreme command of the war in the southwest Pacific.
 5. Japanese forces still were re- ported falling back northWard upon Lac, to escape flood waters pouring doWnN the Markham valley.
 Curtin described yesterdays aerial attack on Lac as one of the most successful of the repeated attacks on the enemy invasion base.
 The allied planes, fighting bad weather, attacked airdromes in the Lac area from 26,0OO feet, Curtin said.
 He said that in yesterdays raid on Darwin seven enemy bombers dropped between 25 and 30 bombs in a single scutting run over an air drome and that no casualties or damage had been reported. One all lied plane was lost in dogfight, he said, but the crew were believed safe.
 Smash Best Fighters
 Tn their march into the Markham Valley, the Japanese had sought new air bases to disperse their planes and evade just such raids as that to- day, which had smashed dozens of their best fighters and bombers aground.
 Now they were back on the Huon Gulf, sheltering from the sheet-like rains which had flooded the entire valley.
 Port Moresby dispatches said that the enemy now faced a rainy season, just commencing, which would ex- tend through July and keep the valley only practicable land route to the vital south coast, under feet of water.
 Experts believed that, if the Jap anese had sought to march over land through the valley to Port Moresby, they had waited too long.
 They had bene rocked to their heels by the smashing blows of the American and Australian air forces which sank ships laden with rein forcements and supplies.
 They had set out through the Markham Valley nearly three weeks ago with the prime objective of es- tablishing a.1dromes which would give them new bases to challenge the growing power of the allied air | forces.
 Now the field they had marked out were deep under water and they were back at Lac and other bases on the Huon Gulf, with only losses to show for their campaign.
 It was believed here that the Jap anese had been compelled to aban- don big supplies of equipment and other stores in the valley.
 In their anemic aerial activities yesterday the Japanese made their