Pacific News-Review

Notes And Comment On

The Progress Of The War

From April 15 To May 16

Apl 15’ Europe has had 150 hours of non-stop air blitz, and it is assumed that this is preparatory to the long-awaited invasion It is estimated that 22,000 tons of bombs have been dropped on the enemy’s railway communications.

Apl 17' The Crimea battle is ending in mass slaughter for the trapped Axis army (Germans and Rumanians). There is no escape for the enemy.

Apl 17' General MacArthur has announced that he will not seek the Pre sidency of the United States.

Apl 19 • As a precautionary “invasion premde ” all diplomatic privileges have been withdrawn in Britain. No foreign diplomats may leave the country and diplomatic despatches and cables cannot be sent without censorship.

Apl. 19: Australians are advancing on Madang (New Guinea) and crushing air attacks are being launched against Hol landia (Dutch New Guinea).

Apl. 22: The Allied air offensive over Europe goes on without pause. The RAF and US Air Force, by night and day, using 5,000 planes, are blasting vital rail way junctions and communication centres Apl 24; The Japanese again are try ing to take Imphal (Burma)—this time from the south-west. Their attempt from the north-east was a failure, but they got close enough to shell the towns air strip with mountain guns. The Com mander-in-Chief, Admiral Mountbatten, says that the Japanese have already failed in their primary objective.^ Apl. 24: American troops seized the Humboldt Bay area, on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea, on Saturday. Land ings were made at Hollandia and Tanah merah, and also at Aitape (Mandated Territory). It is estimated that 60,000 Japs, on the northern coast of Mandated New Guinea, have been cut off by this move. , Apl. 27: The air-strip area near Hol landia is on the point of capture by American troops, under cover of the RAAF, operating from Tadji aerodrome, in the Aitape sector. Australian troops have advanced 14 miles up the coast from Bogadjim. towards Madang.

Apl. 27: The British have now taken the initiative at both ends of the Mani pur Road, in Assam, and it is doubtful n the Japanese protecting this vital supply route can hold out much longer.

Apl. 27: Australian troops captured Madang and its aerodrome on April 24.

The Japanese abandoned large quantities of ammunition, equipment and supplies.

Apl. 28; Colonel Knox, US Secretary of the Navy, 70, died suddenly. .

Apl. 29: Australians, advancing quickly from Madang, captured Alexishafen, miles north. Apl. 29: The whole Japanese counter offensive, 50 miles into India, is faltering and probably will peter out altogether after the monsoon breaks, very shortly.

May 1: Air blows on Europe continue relentlessly. Berlin suffered the most devastating daylight attack of the war on April 29, when 1,000 US bombers dropped 2.000 tons of bombs on the city.

May 3: German agents within spam are being rounded up; agreement with the United Nations, exports of wolfram (to harden steel) to Germany are to be drastically re ducech May 4: Truk, Satawan and Ponape, Japanese bases in the Carolines, were attacked by US carrier-based aircraft and surface craft on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. More than 800 tons of bombs were drooped on Truk. One hun dred and twenty Japanese planes were destroyed in combat or on the ground.

May 6: A Japanese communique says that Admiral Mineichi Koga, Comman der-in-Chief of the combined Japanese Fleet, was killed in action in March, while directing operations from a plane.

May 7: This morning very strong forces of US bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked Berlin in force. About 2,000 planes took part in this heaviest day light raid on the German capital.

May 8: Very strong forces of American heavy bombers returned to Berlin within 24 hours, while Liberators attacked Brunswick, further west.

May 10: The Russians have cleared most of the Germans from the streets of Sebastopol, and the fall of the city is imminent. .

May 11: The Russians have occupied Sebastopol, and captured two German and Rumanian divisions. It is estimated that the enemy has lost over 100,000 men in this phase of the Crimea campaign.

May 12: Six hundred and twenty-one prisoners, including Australians, Ameri cans, Dutch, Chinese, Filipinos. Poles, Czechs, and 462 Sikhs, who were captured in the Malayan campaign, have been rescued in the Hollandia area by the US Forces.

May 12: An all-out offensive was launched in Italy last night by the Allied Eighth and Fifth Armies, against the

Gustav line, from the Cassino area to the west coast of Italy.

May 14: Advances have been made against very stiff resistance by the Eighth Army, in the Liri Valley, south of Cas sino, and beyond the Rapido River, north of Cassino. Desperate German counter-attacks have failed to break the Allies’ offensive.

May 14: The Japanese in Honan pro vince (China) having completed the occu pation of the whole of the Peiping-Han kow railway, are striking west towards Sian, at great speed.

Military observers regard this as a great disaster. It is believed that Japan is now embarked upon a far-reaching cam paign to knock China out of the war; and that she will try to do this before the Allies’ campaigns in Burma and the Pacific can challenge her position in Indonesia and Asia.

May 15: While Anglo-American air fleets pound Hitler’s Europe ceaselessly, many signs indicate the imminence of the invasion, for which the whole world is tensely waiting. , .. , May 16: It is announced that the British and American armies, attacking in Italy, have broken the German defence line.