The Pittsburgh Press (September 16, 1944)
JAP CIVILIANS FLEEING PHILIPPINES
Leathernecks advance toward key airdrome in invasion of Palaus
Army troops march almost unopposed through Morotai Island, south of Philippines
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer
Bulletin
Tokyo radio reported today that civilians are being evacuated from Davao on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. The Tokyo broadcast said evacuation started in “good order” Sept. 9 after a U.S. carrier task group began a series of air attacks against Mindanao. Tokyo indicated the civilians were fleeing from the city into the northern part of the island.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
U.S. Marines, supported by heavy fire from warships and planes, battled their way through strong Jap tank and artillery fire today to expand their Palau Island beachhead.
On the other end of the American offensive arc around the Philippines, Army infantrymen attacking the Halmaheras made an almost unopposed march through Morotai Island.
The Marines on Peleliu Island hammered out a beachhead of nearly 1½ miles and closed in on the principal Jap airdrome in the Palau group, 560 miles east of the Philippines.
Despite heavy fighting, in which the Japs brought up tanks, artillery and mortars and attempted several counterattacks, a communique by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said U.S. casualties on Peleliu Island were “light.”
The Marines found the going tough on Peleliu, which is less than six miles long and two miles wide, but Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s infantrymen, who landed simultaneously in the Halmaheras, found no organized resistance on Morotai, 250 miles south of the Philippines.
300,000 Japs bypassed
Gen. MacArthur said his invasion forces had taken “all objectives” and engineers already had begun construction work at Pitu Airfield at the southwestern tip of the 700-square-mile island.
United Press writer Ralph C. Teatsorth, who went ashore with U.S. troops at Morotai, said the landing was made without opposition, on two beaches less than a mile apart. Pitu Airstrip, only 1,000 yards from the beachhead, fell quickly.
The twin invasions, only 500 miles apart, under the closely-coordinated leadership of Adm. Nimitz and Gen. MacArthur, were believed to have bypassed 300,000 Jap troops in the Central and Southwest Pacific.
Thirty to forty thousand of them were in the Palau Islands, and observers said Japan may attempt to move some of these onto Peleliu, although such an operation would involve the use of barges within range of warships.
Aims for airfield
Big ships’ guns and carrier planes maintained a steady bombardment of the enemy defenses, but Maj. Gen. William S. Rupertus, commander of the Marine forces, seemed to be getting field artillery ashore to speed up the operation.
Gen, Rupertus’ immediate objective was the Peleliu Airfield, which has two runways, each 4,200 feet long. It is only large enough for fighters and medium bombers but could be lengthened to accommodate heavy bombers.
The Japs were fighting desperately with mortars and artillery in an effort to hold off the Marines, members of the 1st Division, veterans of Guadalcanal.
Adm. Nimitz said the Japs made several counterattacks supported by tanks shortly after the landing but were thrown back. The Japs threw sporadic mortar and artillery fire onto the landing beaches in a futile attempt to stop the invasion.
Carrier-based aircraft from VAdm. Marc A. Mitcher’s fast task force supported the immediate landing by bombing, strafing and firing rockets into installations behind the beaches, and also hit gun positions at the northern end of the island. One plane and four flight personnel were lost.
Adm. William F. Halsey’s Third Fleet, of battleships, cruisers, destroyers and carriers, patrolled the waters off the Palaus to frustrate any attempt to bring. in reinforcements.
The missing Japanese Navy, however, was not expected to make an appearance because of the potent array of American fighting power.
Gen. MacArthur, whose planes have long been raiding the Palaus in conjunction with Central Pacific bombers, disclosed in his communiqué that Far Eastern Air Force patrols had again hit the island group. The time and the extent of the attack were not given.
Of the Morotai campaign, Gen. MacArthur said it “has progressed according to plan,” with land and carrier-based aircraft continuing to support the ground forces.
His statement that “all objectives” had been achieved, indicated a rapid extension of control over the coastal areas held by scattered Jap troops. Beside the unfinished Pitu Airstrip, the soldiers also seized Gila Peninsula, on the southwest corner of Morotai, and the communiqué added that no organized Jap ground reaction had developed so far.
Adm. Nimitz, meanwhile, announced that Army and Navy bombers from the Aleutians raided Shumushu and Paramushiru in the Kuril Islands Tuesday and Wednesday night. while Army Liberators hit Iwo Jima, in the Volcanos, with 52 tons of bombs Wednesday.
Japs reinforce Philippines
By the United Press
The Japs acknowledged for the first time today that U.S. forces had made successful landings on Peleliu and on Morotai Islands.
An Imperial Headquarters communiqué, broadcast by Tokyo radio, said “fierce fighting” was taking place on both islands.
Another Tokyo broadcast indicated that the Japs were rushing preparations against an invasion of the Philippines. The dispatch said the city of Davao, on southeastern Mindanao less than 300 miles from Morotai, had been elaborately fortified.
Tokyo radio said Prime Minister Gen. Kuniaki Koiso had announced that Japan will launch a great offensive in the “near future” and Adm. Naokuni Nomura, former Navy Minister, had been installed in a “certain important post.”
Koiso’s announcement did not say where or how the offensive would be made, although he claimed it would show Japan’s determination “to crush Britain and America.”
In connection with Nomura’s new job, Tokyo radio announced that VAdm. Nichitara Tezuka had been named Chief of the Navy Aviation Headquarters.
