The Wilmington morning star., 1943-11-07
Two Jap Cruisers Sunk
In Fight For Solomons
CONTINUED From Page One)

Continued From Page One)
Rabaul since General Macarthur
told his press conference Oct. II
that he intended to knock out that
japanese base, key to enemy de-
lenses in both the south and south
west Pacific.
In those attacks, 1872 enemy air
craft have been listed as destroy
ed, probably destroyed or dam
aged in the air and on the ground,
with 259 definitely destroyed on
the ground and 1853 shot out OF
the air.
A heavy cruiser, seven destroy
ers, a gunboat, IL merchant ships,
% seagoing small vessels, four
coastal ships and 70 harbor craft
have been sunk. Seven heavy cruis-
ers, two light cruisers, two de.
stroyers, submarine, a submar.
inc tender, a destroyer tender, 10
merchant ships and two tankers
have been damaged.
In the Bismarck sea, early Sat
urday morning, Catalina from
Admiral Halsey's forces bombed
a destroyer in a convoy in the
Kavieng area. Headquarters also
reported that last Wednesday
night, Liberators scored bomb
hits which disabled 10000 tor
tanker and set fire to a cargo
ship of more than 10000 tons north
of NASSAU island.
Bomb Airfields
Continuing to crater into USE
lessness Japan's airfields on in.
vaded Bougainville faster than
the enemy can restore them, Al
lied planes have dropped 140 tons
on bases at both ends of the is
land-near BUN On the south. al
Buka on the northern tip.
"Our airforces struck at the
gathering enemy reinforcement al
Rabaul," headquarters said.
Opening the action, our naval
planes from the right wing (Hal
sey's) consisting of destroyers,
torpedo bombers and fighters at
tackled enemy warships in the har'
Dor.
"Our Army planes from the cen
ter, consisting of heavy bombers
and fighterescort, later attacked
the township and waterfront In
stallations.
"In the first attack, five heavy
cruisers and a light cruiser and
two destroyers were hit by tor.
pedoes and another light cruiser
was hit by bombs.
''One of the heavy cruisers was
observed to blow up. The extent
of damage on the others could
not be accurately observed.
Second Attack
''In the second attack, 81 tons
Of explosives were concentrated
On the warehouse and waterfront
areas, causing explosions and huge
fires near the oil and coal wharves
''The entire area was blanked
in smoke with flames rising sew
eral hundred feet in the air from
burning fuel dumps, buildings and
supplies piled high near the
Wharves. A merchant vessel tied
to Copra wharf was hit and set
on fire.
"Over 70 enemy fighters inter-
cepted our naval air units. Twenty
four were shot down with % more
probable. Only 20 enemy planes
could be mounted to stop our
Army air units. Two of these were
shot down and two more probably
destroyed.
Eight of our naval aircraft did
not return to base and one Army
fighter is missing. A number of
our planes were damaged"
The cruiser sunk in the Bis
marck sea was in convoy attack
ed near Kavieng, New Ireland, at
night. Three direct bombhits sank
the warship. A destroyer also
was bombed. One Allied plane was
lost in the attack.
North of NASSAU island, which
is at the northwestern tip of New
Ireland, big four-engined bombers
in attacking another convoy dis
abled a 10000 ton tanker and left
a big cargo ship aflame and list
ing.