Evening star., 1945-01-06
Fornosu
CONTINUED From First page.)

making their first reconnaissance oa
the China coast.
But Mr.. James significantly re.
ported that pilots who flew ovel
China's mainland declared they
could have flown inland to Ameri-
can interior air bases to refuel.
This report disclosed that Ameri.
can carrier planes possibly coult
make shutting air raids on China
mainland targets in major force
After refueling and rearming al
Chinese-American land fields, they
could fly back to their carriers.
Following closely on Admiral Nc
Gains air sweeps over Japan's stra-
tegically important Formosa and
Okinawa airfields, another task force
of Admiral Nimitz's mighty Pacific
Fleet shelled Japanese bases at Haha
and Chichi Jima in the Bonins yes
terday.
Ineffective Opposition.
In his terse report on the For
nosa- -Okinawa strikes, Admiral Nim-
itz told Of sweeps over virtually al
operating enemy airfields on the two
island bases linking Japan with the
Philippines.
THE enemy offered ineffective ali
opposition" the communique said.
The feebleness Of opposition prob
ably was explained by three fac
tors.
First, cloudy weather shielded the
approach of Admiral McCain's force
and made difficult any japanese
sorties from their land fields.
Second, Admiral McCain's flyers
with the weather's aid, probably
achieved considerable surprise
Third. with his surprise advantage
Admiral Mccain presumably struck
with such overwhelming numbers
OF planes that the Japanese prob
ably were pinned down before they
could strike back.
Installations Pounded.
In the Bonin bombardment at
tack. task force ships concentrated
their shellflre on Futami Ko Harbor
installations on Chichi Jima. The
major targets Of the task force guns
at HAha were the town Of Okimura
and Higashi Harbor.
Fires were started in Okimura and
a Japanese ship was sunk west OF
Haha Jima.
Enemy shore batteries offered
meager return fire, They did. how
ever, inf1ict minor damage to task
force ships.
The Bonin bases lie about l0o
miles north Of heavily pounded Two
Jima in the VOLCANOES, Like Two
Jima, they have probably been used
by Japanese planes striking at the
Saipan base of Tokyo-raiding Super
Fortresses.
Mr.. James made no mention OF
opposition encountered by Navy air
men scouting the China coast.
Il thought could even smell
chop suey," chortled 1t. Dan KaMs
Cudahy, Wis. pilot of a Navy He'll
cat fighter.
Planes Travelled Light.
Mr.. James indicated the planes
were primarily on a reconnaissance
mission and travelled light. They
spotted some ships but had no tor
pedoes and their machine guns were
no match for the defense weapons
Of the enemy.
Green pastures and rice fields
formed the background Of the China
forays.
The correspondent disclosed that
Marine flown Corsairs, which are
speedier than the Navy Hellcats
took part for the first time from
carriers and gave a good account OF
themselves.
The first object of the task force
assaults was to take on any enemy
air opposition and destroy it.
The Japanese committed q new
model fighter in the defense of For
mosa, their base which tunnels men
planes and ships to invasion-m
aced islands to the south. Several
were included in the bag of aircraft
shot down.
One bond more adds up the score