- The greatest single bombing
assault in the history of aerial warfare, in which RAF planes cascaded well
over 2,500 tons (2,800 tons, American measure) of high explosives and
incendiaries onto Berlin in one furious 30-minute spell Tuesday night, left
vast areas of the German capital aflame yesterday.
Allied troops, in another bold
amphibious thrust at the Japs' Pacific strongholds, have seized Green Island,
between New Ireland and Bougainville, 'thus sealing the doom of the remnants of
Jap forces in the Solomons, estimated -at 22,000. (E. T. AND HIS FELLOW SHIPMATES ON THE TROOPSHIP S. S.CAPE HENLOPEN ALL REMEMBER THIS SMALL ISLAND. It was unique, in that our ship was too large to enter the harbor ares requiring troops and equipment to be loaded as we circled just outside of crescent shaped lagoon. Evidence indicated that this was an area that was taken by a hard-fought group of Marines and soldiers along side a group of Kiwis. We moved a unit to either Manos Island or Emiru Island,.)
Here
are the main dates:
Aug. 10, 1942—First
landing on Tulagi.
Aug. 10-12, 1942—First
landing on Guadalcanal.
Aug. 29, 1942—Occupation
of Guadalcanal.
June 23, 1943—First
landing at Rendova. in
New
Georgia group.
June 23, 1943—landing
on Choiseul, south of
Bougainville
Nov. 6, 1943—First
landing on Bougainville.
Feb. 14, 1944—Occupation
of Green Islands.
completed
(June 11, 1945--Occupation of Green Islands
was winding down when troops were moved on
the SS Cape Henlopen to other areas.)
Leave Ravaged
City
Blazing Once
Again
Not a House Left
Standing in One District;
Over 1,000 RAF
Planes in Night's
Operation; 43
Aircraft Are Lost
- The greatest single bombing
assault in the history of aerial warfare, in which RAF planes cascaded well
over 2,500 tons (2,800 tons, American measure) of high explosives and
incendiaries onto Berlin in one furious 30-minute spell Tuesday night, left
vast areas of the German capital aflame yesterday.
Berlin clamped down the strictest
censorship yet imposed on news dispatches to neutral .capitals, but Swedish travelers
fleeing the Reich said it was the worst night Berlin had yet endured. The
northern and northwestern sections of the city were struck particularly hard,
and in the Schoeneberg district-not a single house, was left standing, they
said. One said the Hotel Bristol in Unter den Linden was demolished by a
blockbuster and at least 200 dead removed from the
building.
More than 1.000 RAF planes
participated in a night of widespread operations which included also a feint
attack by Lancasters on Frankfurt-on-Oder, 50 miles east of Berlin; Mosquito
sorties against objectives in western Germany and Holland, and mine-laying
activity. The entire operations cost 43 aircraft, the Air Ministry said,
reducing an earlier announcement of 45 lost. .Berlin said 51 were brought down.
Mosquitoes
Follow Heavies
Crews of Mosquitoes which ranged over
Berlin after the main force had left reported a "very large area of fire,
with smoke rising to a height of 20,000 feet, the Air Ministry said.
Judging from the stories of
refugees reaching Sweden, the once confident capital of a government which had
lulled1 its people into believing it would never
be bombed was a sprawling mass of
smoking wreckage.
Landing Cuts
Solomons Japs
Move Ends . , .' : •
Campaign in
Those Isles
Allied troops, in another bold
amphibious thrust at the Japs' Pacific strongholds, have seized Green Island,
between New Ireland and Bougainville, 'thus sealing the doom of the remnants of
Jap forces in the Solomons, estimated -at 22,000. Swarming-ashore 'at dusk
Monday evening under cover of a great; U.S.
air and sea armada, American-;: and
New Zealanders swiftly took possession of all their main objectives, with: only
scattered and weak opposition on land and from, only three Jap fighters in the air.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Announcing
the operation, which placed Allied troops 120 miles due west of Rabaul,
declared that "for air strategic purposes this' completed the campaign for
the Solomons.
Jap forces on the islands are
isolated from their sources of supply at Rabaul, and starvation and disease are
certain to ensue. The Jap's position is hopeless and
their ultimate fate is
sealed." In night attacks which
preceded the Green Island assault, escorted U.S. heavy bombers from the
Solomons and New
Guinea struck at airfields at Rabul
;and Cavieng, New Ireland,' dumping more than 500 tons of bombs. Seven Jap
planes,
were shot down.
Most of the 22,000 trapped Japs are scattred on
Choiseul, .Buka, Shortland and Bougainville Islands, but withsuperior Allied
air, sea and naval forces throughout the Solomons it believed in naval circles
that Jap (illegible) for their garrisons would be no longer .practicable.
With airfields virtually blasted
into uselessness and their barge traffic paralyzed, the Japs the Solomons
probably will attempt to sneak from their remaining
Bases at night to New Ireland or
New Britian, it was. believed.
There ;are many- sandy level
areas on Green suitable for the construction of airfields well as harbors and a
lagoon which can ;be converted into Bases for warships
Gen MacArthur, discussing the
future the war 'in the Pacific, also said that Japan could not be defeated by
bombing and blockading alone.
We must defeat the Japanese army,
and for that purpose our strategy must devise ways and means to bring our ground
forces-into contact with his decisive points."
It took a little less than a year
and a half to drive the Japs from the Solomons.
Here
are the main dates:
Aug. 10, 1942—First
landing on Tulagi.
Aug. 10-12, 1942—First
landing on Guadalcanal.
Aug. 29, 1942—Occupation
of Guadalcanal.
June 23, 1943—First
landing at Rendova. in
New
Georgia group.
June 23, 1943—landing
on Choiseul, south of
Bougainville
Nov. 6, 1943—First
landing on Bougainville.
Feb. 14, 1944—Occupation
of Green Islands.
completed.
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