The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-27
REDS CLAIM EASTERN FRONT COLLAPSES French Indo- China Bombed First Time
JAPANESE SLOW DOWN TANKS
 MANILA DRIVE
BY WILLIAM B. DICKINSON

-
 Gen. MacArthur'S Head quarters, Luzon, January 27. - (UP) - Stiffening Japan csc resistance slowed the American drive on Manila barely 40 airline miles north of the Philippines capital to- day as field dispatches said the enemy had started she'll ing the recaptured air base at Clark Field.
 GA Tokyo broadcast re- corded by the EGG said Japanese submarines had torpedoed and heavily dam aged two American trans ports and a seaplane tender in the Mindanoa Sea south of Leyte in the southern Philippines.
 Japanese artillery and mortar fire turned the Clark Field airstrips temporarily into No Mans Land and American vanguardS were pulled back slightly while guns and planes worked over the enemy emplace- ments in the bills to the west.
 American medium tanks in con siderable numbers also were rein- forcing the southern Spearhead pointed toward Manila. Reconnais- sance patrols had penetrated as far south as Angeles. some 40 air miles northwest of, Manila and four miles south of the main Clark field air center.
 The Japanese were not expected to make more than a delaying stand in the Clark field area. They were believed atempting to gain time to establish defenses farther to the southeast, presumably at the San Fernando river or at Calumpit, the latter only 25 miles from Manila. Troops of the 40th Division combing the hills west and north- west of Clark field already have cap- tured a number of Japanese guns and machinegun nests by-passed in the rapid advance south of the Dam- ban river.
 Far to the north, the first corps outhanked Rosario, Japanese anchor stronghold in the northeast corner of the invasion front, with the oc- cupation of high ground northeast of the town and the capture of Cauringan, three miles southeast.
 Other first corps troops pushing through San Manuel, Is miles south- east of Rosario, destroyed an en- emy tanks in sharp fighting farther east and north.
 Medium and heavy bOnbers at tackled enemy shore defenses and barracks around Subic Bay and else where on Bataan peninsula on the western side of Manila Bay. Many coast defense positions were wreck ed and explosions touched of in sup ply areas.
 Gen. Douglas MacArthur's com munique reported that Fifth Air Force planes supporting the in vasion from Dec. g to Jan. Is had destroyed or wrecked 79 enemy loco- motives 466 railway cars, 468 motor trucks, 67 staff cars, Is tanks, five armored cars and 13 field guns on Luzon.
 In the central Philippines, air and naval patrols destroyed 10 en- emy barges off the north coast of Cebu.
 Long-range reconnaissance planes from Philippines bases bombed ship ping and shore installations at For mosa and adjacent waters. Large fires and explosions were set off at Takao and among buildings on the southwest coast of Formosa
 Direct bomb hits and low-level strafing destroyed 1,000ton freighter and damaged two others and a fourth large cargo ship, plus seven coastal vessels.
 Another plane made the first at tack from Philippines bases on the China coast, bombing the water front at Annoy, more than 700 miles north of Manila.