Milford chronicle., 1943-03-12
Milford. Friday, March 1s, 1913
A WEEK OF THE WAR


The victory of American ali
forces in the battle of the Bismarcl
Sea carried implications almost al
great as the victory itself. In re-
porting our complete success:
against the japanese convoy. Gen
eral Macarthur said it could moi
fail to have most important re-
suits" on the enemy's strategic and
tactical plans ns-because. in addition
to losing 10 warships. - trans
ports. 80 planes. an estimated 49,
600 troops and unknown numbers
of naval personnel, the japanese
failed in their attempt to reinforce
their hard-pressed forces in north
east New Guinea. AS result OF
this major disaster the Jap gar
risOns at Lac and Salamaua must
now face the Allies New Guinea
drive without the supplies and re-
Inducements they so badly need.
Under Secretary of War Patter-
son said the Japanese loss of 81
planes, as compared to our loss OF
-four. was propOrtionately very high,
and showed the excellent work that
American aircraft of both Army and
Navy are doing in the Pacific
Allies ReOccupy TuniSian Towns
News from Tunisia continued fa-
vorable last week. as Allied forces
reoccupied Kasserine. Feriana and
Sbeitla. German concern over the
vigor and extent of our counterat-
tacks. said Under Secretary Pat
terson. was evidenced hy their en-
ployment of mines and BOBBY traps
in their retreat in the central sec
tor, as well as by their own attacks
against the British in the north
The battle for Tunisia is divided
into three fronts. In the central
sector, Allied forces are pressing
the Withdrawing Axis troops back
along the same roads they followed
in their original advance. driving
on south and southwest of Sbeitla
to retake territories lost in the
German drive few weeks ago In
the north. the British First Army
has repulsed several enemy attacks
in setbacks that cost the Axis heav-
lily in casualties and losses. South,
in the area of the Mareth line. AL
lied armored forces pushed ahead
to engage the Germans in infantry
and tank fighting. And supporting
this three-fold offensive, Allied
planes have been active over the
entire front, bombing enemy tar
gets from Tunis and Bizerte in the
north to Gabes and the Mareth line
in the south, and carrying devas-
tating attacks against the enemy's
equipment and forces in all three
battle areas.
Mr.. Patterson told the press that
British and American planes have
been striking successfully in the
Mediterranean. against Italy. Sar-
dinia. Sicily and Tunisia, and citing
a recent engagement in which AL
lied planes destroyed % enemy
planes with loss of four, he said
the score in aerial combat contin-
ues favorable.
L. =. Planes Raid kiSka
During February, in nine prey
iously reported American air raids
on Kiska in the Aleutians. at least !
1000 bombs were dropped and ~
enemy planes shot down. The Navy
communique that estimated this
damage to the enemy-held base
said no L. S. planes were lost dur
ing these operations.
The Battle Of the Atlantic
Secretary of the Navy Knox. dis
cussing the submarine situation.
told reporters that the Germans
have between 300 and 400 subma-
rines available for operations in
the Atlantic. He pointed out, how
ever, that a considerable portion of
these are not active. as large per-
centage of their time is consumed
in going to and from selected areas
of operations. AS for the recent
RAF and USAAF bombings of Nazi
bases on the coast of
France, Mr.. Knox said the attacks
are proving effective but just how
effective in terms of direct hits he
could not say.