Daily Post - 05.02.1943, Blaðsíða 4

4
DAILY POST
War in the Pacific
“Sparring For Positions” In
Solomons Sea Battle
London, February 4th.
The Japanese continue to put
forth big claims about Ameri-
can shipping destroyed in the
naval and air engagement still
in progress in the Solomon
area. An official Washington
spokesman to-day described the
present phase of the battle as
confused and sparring for po-
sitions. He declared that the ac-
tion was still going on, and
that Japanese aircraft are be-
lieved to be operating from
land bases and not from air-
craft carriers.
The Americans to-day report
some progress on Guadalcanal.
General MacArthur’s HQ re-
port that Allied heavy bomb-
ers raided Rabaul yesterday for
the fifth night in succession.
The aerodrome was heavily
bombed, and two enemy fight-
ers were shot down during the
raid.
SALAMAUA RAIDED
Salamaua was among the
’many other targets of Allied air
activity in the South-West
Pacific yesterday, when they
made sweeps over enemy occu-
pied areas stretching from the
Aru Islands west of New Guinea
to Buin in the Solomons in the
east.
Only 160 Miles Separate Allied
Armies In Tunis
London, February 4th.
The gap between the British Eighth Army and the Allied
jorces in Tunisia is steadily but slowly narrowing. Only 160 miles
now separates General Mongomery’s men jrom the most south-
em Allied jorce to the north-west.
The latest North-African
messages speak of Axis rein-
forcements arriving, but it was
also announced last night that
another Canadian contingent
had arrived in North Africa.
Otherwise the only news
from the Allied land forces in
Tunisia and the British Eighth
Army is of patrol activity. —
This has been kept up in all sec
tors. The Americans still hold
Sened, and are reported to have
captured a strategic hill 8 mil-
es south-east of Buerada, and
west of Pont du Fahs.
Allied Air activity continues
unceasingly. Off the Tunisian
REYKJABIO
“Penny
Serenade”
with
IRENE DUNN and
CARY GRANT
coast four small vessels were
destroyed by Allied aircraft
yesterday. Torpedo carrying
aircraft last Tuesday night
scored a direct hit on an Ital-
ian tanker off southern Sicily.
It was left beached and listing.
An enemy motor ship was also
hit by Allied bombers, which
have also raided Gabes and
targets near Maknassi. Ameri-
can Liberators last night went
for Messina and Palermo on
Sicily, and six enemy planes
were shot down over the battle
areas yesterday. All these op-
erations cost us only one air-
craft.
Fleet Air Arm
Improved
The First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, Mr. A. V. Alexander,
revealed to-day that the Fleet
Air Arm was now much better
equipped with the latest types
of aircraft than ever before. Be-
sides getting torpedo carrying
aircraft both from Britain and
the United States, we were al-
so expecting delivery of dive
bombers from America.
Norwepian Soldicrs
In U.S.
Camp Hale, Colorado.
Nearly a thousand sturdy
Americans of Norwegian des-
cent or origin arrived recently
at Camp Hale, Colorado two
miles up in the Rocky Moun-
tains, for winter training with
the United States army’s moun-
tain and ski troops. They will
form a “Norwegian Battglion”
of ski troops in the United
States infantry.
The battalion is composed
solely of soldiers of Norwegian
origin or ancestry. One of the
requirements of membership is
an ability to speak Norwegian.
Their commander is Brigadier
General Onslow Rolfe, an ac-
Lntheran Unity
The National Lutheran Coun-
cil, representing eight church
groups and two-thirds of tbe
five million Lutherans in the
United States has adopted a
resolution naming sixteen dele-
gates to a conference which the
other groups will be invited ío
join. The purw:e of the con-
ference will .,e to promote
unity among all Lutherans in
the United States.
The Council voted a million
dollar 1943, budget, almost
double that of last year. Half
of the new total is for the Lut-
herans who are serving in the
American armed forces.
tive skier from the mountainous
state of New Hampshire.
Soviet Cavalry Swoop
London, Febr. 4th.
The exploits of a Russian caválry unit are to-day mentioned
in dispatches from the Eastem Front. This unit penetrated far
behind the enemy lines, destroying railway lines, buming bridg-
es, wiping out small enemy garrisons, and generálly disrupting
the German communications and defences. More than 4,000 en-
emy troops were killed, and 40 tanks 300 lorries, and a number of
guns were destroyed. The raiders then made their escape suc-
cessfully. ,
KEY TO DONETZ BASIN
Another most important suc-
cess is the capture of Kupiansk,
also announced in the special
Moscow communiqué last
night. This place has been call-
ed the key to the Donetz Basin,
and is a most vital railway
junction connecting with Khar
kov and Kursk. It has been in
enemy hands since last June.
The capture of more places in
this area is reported to-day.
25 MILES FROM KURSK
No less important is the news,
also announced last night, —
that armoured Russian spear-
heads have cut the railway be-
tween Kursk and Orel, and dr>-
ven a sizeable wedge into tbe-
enemy defences in this region.
This means an advance of 60
miles since this sector was
last mentioned in the Moscow
communiqués, and our Allies
are now further west than they
ever reached in their counter-
offensive last year. They have
now reached within 25 miles of
Kursk. In both these areas has
Russians continue <to wipe out
encircled Axis garrisons, and
enemy columns trying to es-
cape.
From Other Froaats
A message from New Delhi
reports to-day that RAF air-
craft twice bombes Rathe Da-
ung yesterday. Simultaneously
our Wellingtons concentrated
on Akyab Island and on ene-
my occupied villages on the
mainland nearby. All our air-
craft returned safely.
Some land fighting is also re
ported to be going on in the
Rathe Daung area
London, February 4th.
Cape Town messages to-night
report that the South African
Parliament has accepted the
motion put by General Smuts,
to allow South African forces
to fight outside their own
country. The motion was carri-
ed by 75 votes to 49. The Gov-
ernment majority is now twice
as large as when the war start-
ed.