Deadly Dividends

In the faded blue skies over the Marshalls, death kept a steady vigil. Swarms of Zeros raced up to meet the U.S. raiders. Japanese gunnery improved. (Commented a U.S. general dryly: "Jap gunners are getting more practice now.")

Targets of the U.S. Seventh Air Force spread over a watery expanse greater than all of Europe. Last week the Seventh's chief, quick-witted, popular Major General Willis H. Hale, tallied up the dividends of 60 days of bombing:

P: Two principal enemy air bases in the Marshalls have been "neutralized" to 20% of their original effectiveness.

P: Three other bases have had their effectiveness cut by 20 to 60%.

P: In 50 missions, 811 tons of bombs have been dropped, 119 enemy planes destroyed. U.S. losses in men and craft totaled 3% of those engaged.

Elsewhere along Japan's outer defense periphery:

In New Britain, U.S. Marines brought seven days of breathless climbing and vicious fighting to an end by capturing Hill 660. A minor battle by global standards, it was also one of the bloodiest yet fought by the Marines in the Southwest Pacific. The dividend: early use of the Cape Gloucester airfield, whence bombers could strike at Rabaul.

In New Guinea, Australian troops seized Sio, a Japanese barge center. The dividend: when these units join Americans, now pressing ahead on the rugged Huon peninsula coast, the stage will be set for a drive on Madang.

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