The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-10-12
U. s. Triumph 
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. I NR@~@NN~8 NN~ANa ANNHAAHI~N NNNN NE~N@N bombers that made up our aerial striking force flew 830 sorties dur- | ing the two-day attack. And the entire task force hurled 774 tons of explosives into the three coral islets-Wake, Wilkes and Peale-- that make up the wishbone- shaped island coinmanly known as Wake.
 800 Tons
 The bombing planes dropped S2C tons of that destructive total, while the escortirg cruisers pump in S7S tons and the destroyer screen added 8l tons more. The land-based Navy Liberators that joined the attack dropped an additional undisclosed tonnage.
 Throughout the raid the Japanese failed to send single surface ship to interfere with the American task force, leaving the defense of the island to coastal batteries, anti-air- craft guns and fighter planes.
 Rear Adm. Alfred F. E.NMontgomery the task force commander, said that about three-flfths of the Japanese water storage facilities, and a goot deal of their oil, warehouses, bar. racks and administration buildings had been destroyed,
 Tn addition, he said, the islands main radio station probably wal wrecked and damage was inflicted on three power plants and two water distillation plants.
 The Navy's new Griilnman He'll cat fighter proved itself against the Japanese fighter defense on the first day. Except for few enemy planes caught aground on the first pre- dawn bombing yesterday, the He'll cats accounted for all 3l Japanese aircraft trapped and destroyed or the runways and shot down more than 30 in aerial combat.
 To the best of my knowledge the Zeros failed to down a single Navy fighter, although 1t is possi. ble that one or more Hellcats may have been tagged" as the fate oi missing carrier planes is seldom definitely known.
 1S Planes Lost
 Commanders John Raby, 35, Pen- sacola, Fla, Leanord B. Sutherland, 38, Fort Payne, Ala, air group com manders, and Commander John O. Lambrecht, 40, Pittsburgh, Pa, op- erations officer, agreed they had heard no report of any Hellcats be- ing shot down by the zeros.
 Thirteen American planes were lost in the two-day assault Seven airmen later were rescued from the water.
 During the first half-hour of the initial raid yesterday, Southerland said, "dogfights broke out all over the sky like measles" with the He'll cats down ing every Zero in sight.
 Admiral Montgomery, a graying, quiet-spoken aviation specialist, unanswered this great striking force within easy range of Wake without being spotted by the Japanese and the first attack caught the enemy completely off guard.
 He proved that large formations of carriers can maneuver and launch their planes simultaneously There were no collisions between the carriers and their escorting war ships, nor between the swayrns of planes that took of and landed continuously throughout the attack.
 The first bombing wave left this carrier flagship in the pre-dawn darkness yesterday morning and, although Wake Island was known to be heavily defended, the raiders met only light anti-aircraft fire.
 Japs Surprised
 Within 20 minutes, however, the surprised Japanese had recovered and manned all their guns, and they threw up a terrific fiak bar rage.
 Most of the six to eight inch coastal guns guarding the islets were knocked out by the bombers, but the Japanese attempted to shell one of our cruisers, probably with one battery, and the warship gum ners blasted 1t out of action.
 That was the only time the task force was forced to fire @ shot in its own defense, and none of the enemy's planes tried to attack our surface units.
 So complete was our domination of the entire battle area, that some photographic planes flew to within 30 feet of the ground to take pic- lures of Japanese troops in their trenches, firing rifles at the attack ing planes. The Hellcat fighters went in at very low level to machine gun the troop packed trenches.
 The Hellcats cleaned up every Japanese plane in sight by nine a. m. of the first day, but the enemy either moved in a number of dive bombers and fighters during the night or brought endorsements out of underground hangars. These were knocked out promptly today.
 Among the 6l or more enemy planes destroyed were ten out of group of bombers caught by our fighters today while en route to re- inforce Wake.
 Heads Attack
 went along on today's repeat bombing in torpedo plane piloted by Lieutenant Commander Paul E. Emrick, Butler, Pa. @ veteran tor pedo squadron commander.
 We took off at a. m. at the head of an attack formation and broke through a heavy cloud form asiCn over Wake without meeting sny fighter opposition, although light anti-aircraft guns on the ground threw up fierce barrage as soon as we penetrated the overcast.
 One huge fire already was burn ing from the previous waves at- tack as we started down from 5000 feet. had trouble relieving the pressure on my ears until the bomb bay opened at 800 feet and I looked down at the target. The pain was forgotten as I dabght quick glimpse of our string of a dozen bombs spraying the target.
 Not single bomb landed in the water. it looked like string of fire