Evening star., 1945-07-26
$50 B-29s Blast
Three JapCities
Bombs
200 Tons Dropped
On Chemical Centers
And Important Port
Ey the Associated Press.

by the Associated Press.
GUAM, Friday, July 27.-A
sky fleet of more than $50 Super
Fortresses dropped more than
1900 tons of fire bombs today on
three industrial cities scattered
over three home islands of
Japan.
Splitting into three task forces,
the Super Forts in the early morn
ing darkness roared in at medium
altitude and showered their incen-
diaries on these three prime tar
gets:
Omuta, one of the empires most
important chemical centers, on the
southernmost island of Kyushu.
Matsuyama, important port city,
on the western shores of the neigh
boring island of Shikoku.
Tokuyama, another chemical Gen.
ter, as well as refining city, on the
main home island of Honshu.
Enemy Fleet Immobilized.
Meanwhile, the Japanese fleet Is
immobilized, temporarily, at least.
Caught in the Inland Sea, where it
had been hiding since 1t was pound
ed in March by Vice Admiral Marc
A. Mitscher's carrier planes, major
remnants of the feet were attacked
with torpedoes, bombs and bullets
by 1900 planes of the American and
British fleets Tuesday
Twenty warships, including six
aircraft carriers, three battleships
and five cruisers, were damaged in
degrees from heavily" to
Slightly
The extent of damage will de-
termine whether the Japanese Fleet
ever again will be potent force In
the Pacific war.
Five Ships Heavily Damaged.
Officially, Admiral Chester w.
Nimitz's communique today, report
ing results of Tuesdays strikes,
listed five OF the ships as heavily
damaged" which means they cer-
tainly will be out of action for
long period. Five moderately dam
aged" probably will require a con-
siderable time for repairs.
British planes probably sank an
escort carrier of the Kobe class and
damaged an old destroyer.
OF equal importance in speeding
the end of the war were heavy new
blows on the enemy merchant fleet,
already reduced to such an extent
it could not move sufficient supplies
for the homeland or fighting fronts.
!. 10 Jap Planes Downed.
In all, 80 enemy merchant ships
and So small craft were sunk or
damaged.
With the japanese finally offer
ing token resistance in the air, 10
enemy planes were shot down. To-
gether, American and British air.
men destroyed or damaged 100 other
japanese aircraft Tuesday and
Wednesday morning.
OF the air-borne enemy aircraft,
16 were downed over targets. The
other three were attempting to at
tack Admiral William F. Halsey'S
fleet, which probably was within
100 miles of shore, but there was no
indication they inflicted damage.
Through Tuesday, $40 japanese
ships had been knocked out and 778
airplanes destroyed or damaged in
is days of strikes by units under
Admiral Nimitz's command. Most of
this damage was inflicted by the
Halsey force. t
Huge Fires Started.
Keeping the enemy homeland un-
der almost constant alert, nearly 100
B-29s struck three big oil targets in
the Tokyo area last midnight with
demolition bombs. Pilots said they
created large fires in each of the
targets, the Mitsubishi, Hayama and
Asaishi plants at Kawasaki. One B-29
was shot down by antiaircraft fire.
B-29 headquarters said the Super
Forts had destroyed total of 143
square miles of urban industrial
areas in 80 Japanese homeland cities.
Marine Corsairs hit Kyushu
southernmost of the home islands,
and 18th AAF Liberators bombed
Kurabu airfield on Paramushiro in
the Kuriles.
Far East Air Force planes struck
targets from Malaga and Java to
(See FLEET. Page A-l5.)