BISMARCK SEA. 1943-03-03. PHOTOGRAPHED FROM A BEAUFIGHTER BOMBER AIRCRAFT PILOTED BY 260353 ...

Places
Accession Number 127966
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white, Landscape
Physical description Black & white, Landscape
Maker Parer, Damien Peter
Place made Pacific Islands: Bismarck Archipelago, Bismarck Sea
Date made 3 March 1943
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

BISMARCK SEA. 1943-03-03. PHOTOGRAPHED FROM A BEAUFIGHTER BOMBER AIRCRAFT PILOTED BY 260353 FLIGHT LIEUTENANT R. F. UREN OF NO. 30 SQUADRON RAAF. A JAPANESE TRANPORT SHIP ON FIRE DURING THE BATTLE IN THE BISMARCK SEA. IN A JAPANESE ATTEMPT TO REINFORCE THE LAE-SALAMAUA AREA GARRISONS, A CONVOY OF EIGHT JAPANESE TRANSPORTS, ESCORTED BY EIGHT DESTROYERS, LEFT RABAUL IN NEW BRITAIN. THE MOVE WAS ANTICIPATED BY THE ALLIED COMMAND AND THE CONVOY WAS INTERCEPTED BY AEROPLANES OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE AND THE RAAF. IN THE ATTACK, MOSTLY AT LOW LEVEL, ALL OF THE TRANSPORTS AND FOUR OF THE DESTROYERS WERE SUNK WITH A LOSS OF ABOUT 3,000 MEN. (FILM STILL).