Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-25
Pacific Front

Action on the Pacific front was more
significant in its implications than i'm
portant in it's accomplishments last
week.
The week was marked by a series of
jabbing attacks against the Japs, to
which they replied with only two light
gestures in the form of air raids on
Canton and Funafuti in the Ellice
group. The Canton raid was of no con-
sequence, but the raid on Funafuti
caused some casualties and damage, the
extent of which was not disclosed
Perhaps outstanding in their portent
were three long distance bombing raids,
each of which did considerable damage
and all of which testified to the growing
against the Japs.
The first of the raids occurred Monday
when American, and perhaps Canadian,
flyers winged their way down to Para
mushlro, where the japanese have a
naval base on the tip of the Kuriliap
chain OF Islands. Meeting only light OPP
position, the American bombers plas-
tered many buildings and other installa-
tons along the coast of Paramushiro
Strait, which separates the island from
the Kamchatkan Peninsula. The total
distance of the flight was about 1900
miles round trip
The attack on the base. the first Of
flcially acknowledged although the week
before there were persistent and ur1
denied rumors of an earlier raid served
notice on Toxic that her waning air
and naval strength must be stretched
even thinner to forestall Allied attack
from the North. Especially disturbing
to the JapS is the fact that in the
Aleutians there is a naval force of some
strength which has been carrying on a
steady Smelling of Kiska and which was
described on Friday as tossing heavy
callber shells into the shore installations
Heavy-caliber shells mean as a minimum
8-lnch shells of a heavy cruiser and
could range upward to 16-inch as carried
by the most powerful battleships.
The necessity of r"oviding naval and
air strength to fend off attack all the
way from Paramishiro down to the
Solomons and westward to Burma puts
tremendous problem before the worried
warlords of Nippon especially as Allied
attack can come in considerable strength
along any of the many paths to japan.
Raid Macassor and Java.
To emphasize this fact, heavy bombers
flew 2,000-mile round trip from Aus
tralia to pour destruction on the jap
anese on Macassar in the Celebes. The
island, its lights glowing brightly, was
caught entirely unprepared and a great
deal of destruction was accomplished
and many fires which glowed brilliantly
long afterward were started.
Thursday. the longest raid of all came
when Allied bombers made roundtrip of
240o miles to attack Soerabaja, the naval
base on Jap-occupied Java. AS in the
raid on Macassar, the Japs were taken
entirely by surprise although they did
get some antiaircraft guns into action.
Considerable damage, especially to an
important oil refinery and oil storage
facilities, was done, thus hitting the Japs
in vital spot.
The action for the week, generally,
was not as extensive as in other weeks,
but the three raids were spectacular
and set the pattern for other sensational
developments which are undoubtedly due
to come soon.
Kiska took a beating all week both
from the air and from surface ships and
the stepped-up tempo of the attacks may
be the forerunner of an effort to recap
ture the islands from the Japs and thus
cut them off from all footholds in the
Aleutians.
1000 Yards From Airfield
Down at Munda, Allied troops are
within 1000 yards of the airfield to which
the Japs are clinging with their usual
tenaciousnesS. The American strategy
appears to be to center largely on pre-
venting any reinforcements reaching the
defenders and on smashing at the Nip
ponese bases step beyond Baikoro
north Of Munda, was smashed by 1873 tons
of bombs launched by an armada of $50
planes, the greatest number employed
to date in the Pacific in a bombing VEN
ture. BUN on Kolambangara and the