Evening star., 1942-11-28

SOCtGCeu PTeSS correspondent,
giving an eyewitness account OF
the napnl battle at Guadalcanal
November ~ to IS.
BY EUGENE BURNS,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
WITH THE UNITED STATES
PACIFIC FLEET, Nov 16 Delayed
We have been Staying the Japs
for the Aast four days. We left some
10000 of their best pioneer troops
swimming in the ocean. We sent
tens of thousands of tons of their
irreplaceable forced steel into the
Jap sinkhole off Guadalcanal.
AS we steam away from that
wreckage the "well done" from
Admiral Chester w. Nimitz, COM
mander of the Pacific Fleet, is still
ringing over our loudspeaker system.
This we know:
The entire Jap transport feet of
II vessels was hopelessly destroyed.
A Jap battleship was badly dam
aged and perhaps sunk by cruiser
gunfre, and then seven torpedoes
and several heavy bomb hits.
Five Jap cruisers were badly DAM
aged and perhaps sunk by shellfire
and heavy bomb hits and torpedoes.
Many Jap destroyers were hit and
sunk
A Jap airgroup was knocked from
the sky.
Some of our heavy ships have yet
to send in their bag. Indications
are that 1t will be considerable.
CA Navy communique Novem-
ber 16 describing this action
listed the japanese losses as one
battleship sunk, three heavy
cruisers sunk, two light cruisers
sunk. five oestroyers sunk, eight
transports sunk, one battleship
damaged, six destroyers damaged
and four cargo transports de-
stroyed)
The smashing victory, the biggest
since Midway, took Navy pilot to
fly beyond the safe distance of his
gasoline supply to locate the Jap
transport fleet and to send back a
more accurate disposition of the
enemy than yet achieved in the
Pacific war.
San Francisco Waded In.
1t took the cruiser San Francisco,
already damaged by flaming
crash-diving plane, to wade in and
polish off Jap destroyer, explode
a Jap cruiser, and then slug it out
with a Jap battleship of the Kongo
class-8-inch batteries against IA or
Is inchers at range of 1000 yards.
1t took the Army's Bits and
fighter planes to keep the Jap fleet
harassed, to knock down their
fighters, to soften the opposition, to
demoralize the Jap air force and to
give our attacking force much-need-
ed protection.
1t took an Army transport with
6-inch guns to get into the fight.
1t took men in compartments deep
below the water line to man their
battle stations while relief crews
stood by hour after long hour, until
night came, ready to replace instant
ly wornout crews.
1t took the marines, who had been
bombed and shelled and harried for
four months and who had talked
of home and had cherished pocket
book pictures of loved ones and who
had been sick with dysentery and
ioked about pulling their belts up
tighter to stand of. the Jap and to
hold Henderson Field so that air
superiority never was lost. =
Battle Took Gods Help.
1t took Gods help. The seamen
will be the quickest to acknowledge
it. Our striking forces moved in
on the Jap with everything but
numbers in our favor. The weather
was right. The disposition of the
Jap was right. The disposition of
our forces, gathered from thousands
OF miles, was right.
To fill out the background of the
picture: For four months the Jap
had perfected his plans for this
knockout blow to keep this Toxic
Guadalcanal air express, via Jap
inundated and occupied islands, in
tact. His schedule was upset the
dawn of August Z, when the biggest
United States naval force ever as
sembled in the Pacific landed
marines who proved a five-to-one
match with the jungle-fighting Japs
He then used Rabaul as a ter
1ninal to his hop, skip and jump route
from Toxic by making his airpower
available to the tips of his conquest
Because his planes from Rabaul
could not gain supremacy of the air
over Guadalcanal, he projected a
terminal to BUN, Faisi, Rekata Bay,
Gizo and Buka.
The Jap used everything in the
book to wipe out American forces
from their projected Gaudalcanal
base. Submarines shelled positions,
transports attempted and made
landings. Small patrol boats, land
ing barges, destroyers, cruisers were
used to bring in overwhelming num-
bers of Japs. They hacked at the
marines, United States Army forces,
Coast Guardsmen, day in and day
out. night in and night out.
Camouflaged Invasion Barges.
At one time they had so invasion
barges camouf1aged with trees and
brush on their way to Guadalcanal
Two young Navy carrier pilots hit
that group and strafed it and sent
it back to it's base, after which the
marine pilots Joined with the Navy
pilots to wipe it out.
The Jap then prepared for a giant
frontal assault to overcome any op-
position and to take the field at all
costs and to drive American forces
into the sea.
On october 25 the Japs had what
seemed overwhelming power massed
to shell the island with battleships,
to knock it out with a carrier-based
airplanes, and to occupy 1t with a
strong transport force.
On october 26 an American task
force sought out the enemy ships in
his own submarine filled waters
northeast Of Santa Cruz and al
though outclassed 2la-to-1 engaged
him. We lost a carrier and a de-
stroyer. The Japs suffered damage
~ ope ra-rior ,~a-h ne tho 1orS of q