July, 1, 1945; JAPAN PREPARES FOR INVASION:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, JULY 1, 1945:

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 1, 1945

Island North of Okinawa

And Balikpapan, Borneo,
To Be Sites, Tokyo Fears

Japanese radio Sunday told Ita lictenvra that Americans

were preparing to attack Okinoerabu Island, 40 miles
north of Okinawa in a prelude to Invasion of Japanese
home islands. It also declared that American invasion of the oil-
rich Western Borneo oil center at Balikpapan wos imminent.

 By United press

GUAM, July 1.—Japan reported Sunday that an American fleet had reconnoitered 12-mile-long Okinoerabu Island as a possible prelude to invasion, 40 miles north of Okinawa, while U.S. Army Thunderbolts and heavy bombers raking the homeland and offshore shipping sank or damaged 18 more enemy vessels.

Enemy broadcasts said several U.S. destroyers and minesweepers approached Okinoerabu  in the Amami group and "carried out coastal" reconnaissance, a normal procedure prior to amphibious operations.

The horn-shaped island is only 250 miles southwest of Japan.

The Japanese themselves offered a good reason for a possible new 'American invasion 'north of Okinawa. They suggested that Okinawa was too far away from Japan for U.S. forces to use it as an immediate supply base for amphibious operations.

 By United Press

MANILA, July 1.—Powerful fleets of Allied aircraft pounded the rich western Borneo oil port of Balikpapan for the fifth straight day, General Douglas MacArthur disclosed Sunday, as Japanese broadcasts predicted an imminent landing in the area.

The Allied campaign la Northwest Borneo, meanwhile, rolled ahead swittJr with Australian 9th Division troops taking control of 125 miles of the British North Borneo and Sarawak coastline.

Refinery Wrecked

The Australians found the Japanese had wrecked all oil refinery facilities at Luton, center of the Seria Fields, but the great rubber plantations of Sarawak State were almost undamaged.

 

Explosive Cables

Suspended by Japs

By Associated Press

MANILA, July I.—The Japanese defenders of Balikpapan have strung balloons with explosive- garnished cables over that flaming Southeast Borneo oil port, but failed to prevent continued heavy bombing by more than 125 Allied planes. General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters disclosed today.

 

Chinese Take

Military Post

By United Press

CHUNGKING, June 30.—Chinese forces driving down from Kwangsi Province have Invaded French Indo-China and captured a former French military post seven miles inside the border, while other Chinese troops  stamped out the last resistance in the former American airbase city of Liuchow, it was disclosed Saturday,

The drive into Indo-China swept up the important four-way road center of Chungchingfu (Trung Khanah Phu), 70 miles south of the great Allied base of Poseh in Kwangsi Province, and set the Chinese directly astride two invasion routes to the Indo- Chinese capital of Hanoi.

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