July 2, 1945; Fire Bombs Hit 4 Industrial Centers:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, JULY 2, 1945:

COUNCIL BLUFFS. IOWA; MONDAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1945.

 

Australian Troops Make Successful Landing

at Balikpapan; 600 Superforts Drop 4,000
Tons of Incendiary Bombs On Four Cities

WASHINGTON. (AP) — Superfortresses returned to Japan Monday, less than 24 hours after striking the heaviest aerial blow of the war against the empire in fire raids on four Important industrial centers.

The new raid, carried out by a medium force of about 60 B-29s, was directed against industrial plants at Shimotnu, south of Osaka, on the main Japanese home Island of Honshu.

* * *

By Leif Erickson

GUAM,(U.P)  The greatest flood of fire ever unleashed in warfare leaped through four of Japan's important industrial centers Monday, bursting from a record 4,000 tons of incendiary bombs.

Nearly 600 Superfortresses—a  record number over Japan at one time—shoveled down the fire bombs with 'good to excellent results."

Most clearly visible target was Japan’s greatest magnesium producing center vital to the aircraft industry The entire waterfront was aflame crewmen said.

Bombs were reported "well placed ' in industrial areas.

Other aerial blows by smaller planes harassed the enemy from Java to Japan's inland sea, sinking: or damaging 26 ships and crippling airfields and supply bases

The B-29s, in their biggest attack of the war struck before dawn at these targets—all fire-bombed for the first time.

KURE—Greatest naval base and shipyard on the Inland sea ,a city of 275,000 about 200 miles west of Osaka on the southern coast of Honshu.

SHIMONOSEKI — Vulnerable bottleneck of rail transportation at the western entrance to the inland sea, the city of 196.000 served as the embarkation point for troops and supplies moving to Korea and north China.

KUMAMOTO — Transportation, commercial and military-training center, city of 210,000, it was one of the most important industrially in western Kyushu.

UBE—Major coal-producing center and top magnesium maker of the empire lies 25 miles east of Shimonoseki near southwestern tip of Honshu.

Full Observation Obscurred

Returning crewmen said cloud cover prevented full observation of results at all targets except Ube, which was hit by the 313th wing based on Tinian. Pilots said the whole Ube waterfrort was ablaze with the Superforts firebomb loads well-placed within industrial  areas of the city

 

Troops Dedicate

Pyle Monument

IE SHIMA, Ryukyu Islands, July 1---

—Soldiers of the 77th infantry division dedicated a monument Monday to Ernie Pyle on the spot where he was killed by a Japanese sniper bullet April 18. The concrete monument, replacing a painted board sign which was erected at the time of the correspondent's death, bears two  brass plaques made from shell casings.

One contains the statue of liberty shoulder patch design of the 77th, the other reads:

"On this spot the 77th infantry

division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle,

April 18, 1945"

 

A combat engineer group of the division erected the monument