Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-12-05

IuUu competed, WuTCH 20 per 10 re
aid to the Japs still on Gaudalcanal
was attacked by planes which sank q
destroyer and scored hits on four to
seven others.
Keep Japs OF Balance.
AS In the case of the Russian front,
1t is necessary to stand of bit and
| look at the entire area of the Pacific
| war to note the skill with which limited
| resources were employed to keep the
| Jap off balance.
Four days after Buna fell, American
| planes raided Kiska in the Aleutians
and in Burma the British opened a
| drive which carried them 40 miles on
the way toward the important defense
! point at Akyab.
American bombers smashed the rail-
| yards and docks at Rangoon and the
| hangers at the airtield were left blazing
while British planes blasted the tip Of
| Sumatra in what appeared to be the
| first stages Of march back across
Burma and into the Dutch East Indies.
American planes celebrated New Year
Day by dropping 10000 pounds of bombs
on Wake Island and killed, it was esti-
| mated, half OF the garrison and rem
| dered the islands facilities for the time
being useless.
| During the first week OF January AL
| lied planes bombed the railyard at Man.
| dalay where the dawn on that occasion
| did come up like thunder and an Amer
| lean task force sped toward New Georgia
| Islands to shell Munda
The Japs than began series of efforts
to restore their positions, series which
during the course of the year was to
cost them dearly in ship and plane
losses. A large number of warships and
transports were observed concentrating
at Rabaul during the week and on
January one convoy was spotted and
broken up by an air attack which cost
the Japs two transports and a thousand
troops who went down with them.
Convoy Broken Up.
Two days later another CONVOY moved
down toward Lac in New Guinea under
cover Of thick umbrella OF planes.
The convoy never reached its destina-
ton. American flyers shot down 1873
OF the enemy planes. damaged 48 more
and sank transports and sent others
lmping away.
Nothing OF moment occurred until
February when large number Of Jap
ships, somewhere between 80 and 40,
were sighted in Shorthand harbor ap-
parantly setting the stage for another
drive against the Allies. On February
the Japs abandoned Guadalcanal
losing three destroyers and suffering
damage to four others in the evacuation,
On February Is the Navy revealed the
details Of naval clash in the Solomons
during the course of which we lost the
cruiser Chicago and one unnamed de-
stroyer. The Japs paid with two de-
stroyers sunk, four probably sunk and
six damaged They lost 60 planes also.
Again striking in the Aleutians, Amer
lean planes blasted Attu's airfields on
February 20, but this cheerful news was
offset by the revelation of the loss of
the Argonaut, Americas largest sub
marine, with 102 aboard Disheartening
also was heavy attack by the Japs in
Burma and IN Central China
Early in March it was learned that IA
Japanese ships had left Rabaul under
cover Of fog headed for New Britain and
American planes set out in pursuit hop
ing for break in the fog. When the
break came, the convoy was found to be
much larger and the American planes
under Gen. MacArthurs command
Swooped down and when the fighting
was over % ships including 10 warships
had been sent to the bottom, 81 Jap
planes had been shot down and $4,000
troops on transports had been drowned
1t was one Of the great victories of the
war
Tuesday, March "a, American planes
sweeping in over Rabaul at dawn caught
$50 enemy planes on the ground and
destroyed them all, starting great fires
among the hangers and fuel dumps.
During the week of May 2 an ex-
PLANTATION of the greatly increased
tempo Of the air raids on the Japs
holding Kiska and Attu was explained
when the Navy revealed that an
American airfeld had been established
Toll